10 More Manly Traits (From My Wife's Point of View)

  • August 28, 2008 at 8:49 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Mary's notebook When I think about a man: pays, initiates, leads, doesn't like crying, my crying makes him melt, hates carrying purses, snores, gets up early, locks up, kills bugs.

Here's the other half of my wife's list about what she thinks about a man.

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How to Make Great Decisions: Part 3

  • August 27, 2008 at 10:49 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Garmin GPS

This is part 3 of a 4 part series on decision-making.
Check out How to Make Great Decisions: Part 1 and Part 2.

To some guys making a solid decision is like driving without a map to a place they have never been. Many people do fine with that kind of risk—it is an adventure—but a lot of people need the assistance of a decision making GPS, or “D-GPS.”

As you add a marriage to your life, then kids and a career, you begin to have more to risk. Decisions become more laborious and big decisions can become complex nightmares. If you get lost, refer to this roadmap.

Decision Flowchart

Power up

Before any D-GPS will work it must have a power source. The source for every D-GPS is prayer. Every single part of the decision making process should be proceeded with it. In fact, it is so important that when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, he reminded them that they needed to ask for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done (see Matthew 6:9-13).

State the problem

A D-GPS requires a destination. When you are making a decision that destination comes in the form of a problem statement. In other words, state the problem to that you are trying to solve. I like to keep it simple. For example, “Can I raise a miniature cow in my back yard?”

Collect data

“Should I take the highway or side streets? Would I enjoy the scenic route more than getting to my destination quickly? Where can I find a nice public restroom?”

Each decision comes with a laundry list of criteria. In this phase of the decision-making process, you will start to flesh them out. The main goal is simply to collect data. Your time and ability to process information are the only limiting factors.

It can be helpful to list your feelings and hunches. It is also important to include your intuitive judgments in the process. Lastly, do not forget to consult those who are directly involved. For example, if you are thinking about buying a new car, you should probably ask your wife for her input.

Until next time

In the next and final installment of this series, I will be introducing a great visual tool that will help you feel confident about your choices. Until then, watch out for pedestrians and avoid potholes!

Photo by Jobriga

How to Make Great Decisions: Part 2

  • August 26, 2008 at 11:21 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Tylenol

This is part 2 of a 4 part series on decision-making.
Check out How to Make Great Decisions: Part 1

We usually make decisions in partial ignorance. This is because time and resources confine them. That is why “hindsight is always 20/20.”

Uncertainty is ok

There will always be some level of uncertainty involved in decision-making. This can be a relief because we tend to obsess over our decisions. For example, after buying a house a new homeowner will often lie awake at night wondering if he did the right thing. Now he can say confidently that he has made the best decision possible given the time and resources available.

3 types of decisions

It is also a relief to know that there are only a few types of decisions:

  1. Yes or no: Can I afford a new tattoo?
  2. This or that: Should I have cereal, beer, or both (beereal)
  3. Contingent: If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

The option to do nothing

Of course, you always have the option to do nothing. In fact, you should always consider this as an option. Sometimes it is not a good choice to change.

My wife’s employer recently offered her some work that would pay $1000 per week. We turned it down because the intangible costs were too high (e.g. no family time). In other words, we chose to do nothing.

A promise of guidance

An important promise for you to remember is Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs…”

Derived, in part, from Introduction to Decision Making by Robert Harris. Photo by mrphancy

How to Make Great Decisions: Part 1

  • August 25, 2008 at 11:53 PM
  • Dustin Boston

wakeskate-Mono

We all make bad decisions, but some folks do it a lot better than the rest of us. Take, for example, the criminals who decided to rob a spy store that specialized in high-end security systems. They were caught on no less than 17 surveillance cameras.1 Or what about the inmate that tried to escape from prison one day before his sentence was over.2 I have a feeling he didn't make parole. Although I've never attacked a police horse with my shoe3, I've certainly made plenty of stupid decisions in my lifetime.

Here's a great story about making bad decisions

People wakeboard behind Personal Watercraft all the time. But when I tried it, something went terribly wrong. My fair skinned, red-headed buddy—Bird-man—woke me up early so we could catch the glassy water of Lake Powell before the tourists roughed it up. We made it out and launched the Sea-Doo before they even finished putting on their knee-high dress socks and flip flops.

Bad decision #1: wakeboarding in the main channel

We headed straight to the middle of the main channel about a mile away from the shore. If you've spent any time on a lake you'll know that the main channel is both the roughest part of the lake, and also the most dangerous part of the lake. We knew that I'm sure. Why did we go to the main channel? I have no idea.

Bad decision #2: letting the rope float willy-nilly

Bird-man and I grew up on the lake so it's not like we were novices. But there's something about a floating ski line and a jet intake that just don't mix. If you're lucky the rope will just break but in our case all 65 feet of it got sucked into the propulsion unit and wrapped around the drive shaft about 700 times.

Bad decision #3: no tools, who's holding the flag?

So there we were, stranded in the middle of the main channel. We didn't have any tools, nor any other way of getting the rope out of the propulsion unit. We eventually chewed (yes, chewed) through enough of the plastic-like ski line to dislodge the rope but by that time the seat and engine compartment were so filled with water that the Sea-Doo barely stayed afloat. And nobody was holding the flag, which is required by law in Arizona.

Our first good decision: scream like little girls

Bird-man and I realized that our situation was not improving and so we finally managed to make a good decision: we hollered for help until some house boater finished his shower and came to our rescue.

The poor choices persist

Like most men, I continued to make poor choices throughout my childhood, through my teenage years, and finally into my late teens and early twenties. The vast majority of my bad decisions were made on the lake because that's where I grew up. But I've made plenty of other stupid decisions and I'm still making poor decisions to this very day.

In the upcoming posts I'll tell you about what's making a difference in my decision making but in the mean time I'd love to hear about your experiences.

So, what's your story? What kind of bad decisions have you made in your lifetime? Tell me in the comments.

Sources

  1. Men Steal From Spy Store
  2. Sheriff: Escapee Was 1 Day From Release, via Dumb Criminals
  3. Woman accused of attacking Austin police horse with her shoe, via Dumb Criminals

Photo by popsarmchair

Find Out if You Won The Gourmet Shaving Givaway

  • August 17, 2008 at 5:13 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Thank you to everyone who participated in The Gourmet Shaving Giveaway. We had a few new folks step out and say hi, which is what we were hoping for.

LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving As an incentive to get the more secretive readers to chime in Michael Ham kindly donated 2 of his books, LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving to the cause. It's a great read and certainly worth buying.

At 5:25 PM MST, I closed up the comments on The Gourmet Shaving Givaway: Leave a Comment and Win!, and plugged in the number of comments (minus my wife and Michael's) and hit the Get Numbers button.

Gourmet Shaving Giveaway Results

The results were:

  • 1—db
  • 3—John

I'll be contacting them within the week and shipping out the books when I get back from vacation. Thanks again to everyone who participated and to Michael Ham for donating the books.

Show your support: If you didn't win, you can still purchase a copy of LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving on Lulu

The Gourmet Shaving Givaway: Leave a Comment and Win!

  • August 14, 2008 at 10:12 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Frozen moments

Have you ever seen a little kid fearfully throw himself off a high dive, arms and legs flailing, only to plummet 50 feet to the biggest, most painful belly flop of all time?

That's kinda how my latest attempt at de-lurking dBlogIt went. But the survey was a huge success! Well I've got a great surprise for you, but first the results of the survey...

Guys like to shave with sharp pieces of metal

In case you missed it the survey asked "What do you use to shave?" and you can still cast your vote. At the time of this post we're up to 60 votes and some surprising results. I figured that the electric shaver would come out on top with the regular razor in second but it was not so! In fact, 60% of men use a regular razor and 22% percent use a safety razor. That's what I'm talking about. You guys are some seriously manly dudes!

So what's the big surprise?

I was so thrilled at the response to the survey and also so bummed that only 3 people de-lurked that I thought I'd sweeten the deal a bit. And since so many guys were interested in shaving with a safety razor I arranged a special deal just for you, the loyal, (but very secretive) readers of dBlogIt.

THE LeisureGuy himself, author, blogger, and all around nice guy was kind enough to donate two copies of his wonderful book LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving. Gourmet Shaving is the the ultimate guide to shaving with a safety razor and it's packed full of his expertise on the subject.

LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving

Written for the man who wants to enjoy his shave.

User comment: "I bought this as a gift for my fiancé, along with a wet-shaving starting kit and a safety razor. He DEVOURED this book, and finds himself reading it again and again. He finally enjoys shaving. This book has helped him figure out so many things about wet shaving, and has recommended it to all of his friends and family. Truly a great source of information for any man."

How to win

To enter for a chance to win a copy of LeisureGuy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving, simply leave a comment to this post indicating that you want to participate in the drawing. On Sunday, August 17, 2008, at 5:00 PM MST I will enter the number of comments into the Random Integer Generator at random.org and select two random winners.

Make a splash like a fat kid doing a cannon ball. Leave your comment now!

Photo by Simon Davison

5 Rockstar's Real Names You Never Would Have Guessed

  • August 13, 2008 at 10:13 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Bono

Although it's (mostly) obvious that most of these old rockers have changed their names, I was surpised to find out what their real names actually were. Here's my list of 5 Rockstar's Real Names You Never Would Have Guessed:

  1. Bono (U2) - Paul David Hewson
  2. Alice Cooper - Vincent Damon Furnier
  3. Elton John - Reginald Kenneth Dwight
  4. Gene Simmons (KISS) - Chaim Klein Witz
  5. Sting - Gordon Matthew Sumner

Bonus: What every guy should know about U2

Not everyone digs U2—I'm not totally crazy about them myself—but I certainly have a healthy respect for the band. With that said, every man should know at least a few random facts about the band.

  • They're from Dublin, Ireland
  • Members: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr.
  • Formed in 1976
  • Most popular albums: Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree

References

Photo by U2005.com

If You're Standing on Truth, You Can Weather the Metrosexual Movement

  • August 12, 2008 at 9:36 PM
  • Dustin Boston

God created man and woman to be different. If he wanted them to be the same he would have made them that way. And yet in many cultures around the world there is an increasing trend toward the effeminate among males. Lately it's been deemed "metrosexual," or just "metro" for short.

As evidence of the trend the word has even been put in the dictionary. Webster's and Word Spy characterize metrosexual as an urban male with a strong aesthetic sense and inordinate interest in appearance and style
who is not afraid to embrace his feminine side.

Stuart Scott, an Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling wrote the following in a 2004 article for the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood:

On a larger scale, society as a whole has experienced a great and unfortunate loss of the significance of gender. So much so that it is very acceptable in today's culture even to deny one's gender and try to switch to the other.

And in fact, the transgender population is growing faster than you might think according to Joanne Herman, a transgendered individual, author, and spokeswoman for the LGBT community.

Even mainstream music is catching on to this fact. In his song I'm still a guy, Brad Paisley reiterates the sad fact:

These days there's dudes gettin' facials
Manicured, waxed and botoxed
With deep spray-on tans and creamy lotiony hands
You can't grip a tackle box

Yeah, with all of these men linin' up to get neutered
It's hip now to be feminized
I don't highlight my hair
I've still got a pair
Yeah honey, I'm still a guy

One could quote scripture or reference scientific evidence but in reality the simple, absolute truth that God created man AND woman is enough evidence of his intentions.

The Honey-Did that I Didn't Do: Unclogging the Drain

  • August 10, 2008 at 9:50 PM
  • Dustin Boston

Employees must wash their hands

This week's "honey-did" was supposed to be unclogging any drains that are stopped up around the house. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to any of my chores, let alone my honey-did for the week. Good thing I still have 6 days to get it done.

Here are a couple of tips for unclogging drains around the house.

Don't use chemicals

First and foremost, don't ever put Drano (lye, sodium hydroxide), or Rooto (sulfuric acid) down the drain. Although very different—one is a base the other is an acid—they can both be pretty bad.

  • First if you ever mix either of these chemicals with any other chemical, say bleach or ammonia which are pretty common household chemicals, you could cause some very dangerous reactions.
  • Second, they can be very corrosive to certain types of metals. Unless you know what kind of pipes you have running through your house you can't really be sure that you won't hurt them.
  • Third, a lot of times it won't work. In my experience the method I'm going to show you is the most effective and can clear up almost any clog.
  • Fourth, for the sake of your health and the health of the environment it's better to use non toxic stuff.

Use pliers or a plunger

Nine times out of ten it's just hair (and some other very gross stuff) that needs to be dislodged. In these cases all you need to do is take the strainer or stopper off and pull out the buildup. I like to put on a pair of latex gloves, and grab a pair of needle nose pliers so I don't have to touch it. It will be the most disgusting thing you've ever done and I almost vomit every time. If you're a little queasy, you might want to try using a plunger first. Sometimes it will push the buildup through without any effort.

If that doesn't work you've got more than a 5 minute honey-did on your list. Make this one a project and milk it for bonus points.

Photo by ratterrell

15 Manly Traits (From My Wife's Point of View)

  • August 9, 2008 at 12:41 AM
  • Dustin Boston

Mary's notebook When I think about a man: truck, dogs not cats, gun, strong, likes the bathroom, beer, sports, smelly, armpit hair, pocket knife, likes cereal, eats a lot, likes boobies, smells the butt of jeans to determine cleanliness, protects.

So my wife randomly grabs her notebook, semi-secretively writes something down on it, and then hands it to me. This a partial list of what she thinks of when she thinks about a man.

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