My Restaurant Reviews

I've been reviewing items online almost as long as I've been on the internet. I've started leaving reviews of restaurants in Silicon Valley now. Check them out here:

My Restaurant Reviews

Currently, I have reviews for Straits, Pizza Antica and Thea. So far, my reviews are centered around Santana Row, but it will expand.

Home schooling does not mean Parent schooling

In recent news here in California, there is a case in the courts now that is reinforcing California state law which basically says "persons between the ages of six and eighteen" are to be in "public full-time day school," or a "private full-time day school" or "instructed by a tutor who holds a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught". This has been state law for a very very long time. Yet now, we have scofflaws that claim they have a right to teach their own children whatever they want. Homeschooling is legal in California, as long as it is conducted per state mandated curriculum and by a licensed instructor. The excuse used by the scofflaws? "Parents should not have to attend a four-year college education program just to teach their own children." It's the old argument, "Oh my god, this is too hard to do right, so I'm just going to do it wrong and be happy!" Lazy, lazy, lazy. Oh and cheap too! You don't care enough about your child's education to pay for it yourself (since you don't want the state to do it)! Mr and Mrs Long, in my opinion, you are lazy, selfish, and cheap jerks who obviously don't do enough reading into anything to know what is the truth. You have no business trying to pass on your ignorance to anyone's children! That said, it is important for parents to teach their children about their own experiences, beliefs, hertitage, etc. Parental schooling does not mean home schooling. It is not a replacement for a formal education. It is something that should be done in conjuction with a formal education. Home schooling is just a place to do it if the law is followed. Parental schooling is not the same thing. If you don't agree with something taught in the classroom, then discuss it with your children. It is as simple as that.

Weeklong birthday

This has been a weeklong birthday of sorts. Monday, Allie took me out to Red Lobster. I had something with two lobster tales. It was fairly good, but at it made me miss Legal Seafood in New England. Yesterday, Ronie and Fern had a small a BBQ for me at their place. They got a super rich chocolate cake. We took home the remainder of the cake, but I'm not sure how I'm going to eat it all. Tonight, Allie and I invited her parents to join us for dinner at Cascal in downtown Mountain View. They ended up paying for it it with the excuse that it was still my birthday.

First time in awhile

For the first time in awhile, I went out. I met up with Miriam and some of her friends a Old Pro in downtown Palo Alto. The evening wasn't too crazy. There was some new randoms from her work place. I had trouble making it there though because I wasn't able to leave work until like 7pm. It was fun getting out for the evening. Allie, oddly enough, had separate plans for her friends, also in downtown Palo Alto on the same evening, but those fell through and then she got sick. Otherwise, she would've come too.

Journeyman

Here's a show I am disappointed to see go. It might have been kept on for a full season had the writers strike on happened when it did. I know a lot of people had trouble getting into the show too. I personally enjoyed the show a lot.

Obviously Married

I looked at my ring finger today with no particular intentions. I started playing with my ring. That's when I saw it. It is official. My ring finger is now has an indelible ring of reddish coloration under my wedding ring. It's weird. It's like, I had the thought that,"Well, there really is no going back now." I can no longer take off my ring and expect no one to know I'm married. I never did this for that particular intention, of course. In fact, I was often concerned when I had to take my ring off out in public because there was no identification regarding my wedded status. Now though, the mark is unmistakable. The worry changed to, "What will people think if I have to take my ring off and they see this mark? Will they think I'm trying unsuccessfully to hide the fact I'm married?" It's funny how this stuff works; no middle ground.

Pop goes Mensa

Every once in awhile, even the elite among us must venture into the realm of pop culture. MENSA, it turns out, is not exception, apparently. Their chairhuman just came up with his "Top ten smartest shows of all time (in no particular order)". Leave it to a MENSA member to list a top ten of anything in no particular order. Now, it must be made clear that MENSA in no way takes itself too seriously beyond the actual endeavor to find smart people. This is a group of people that freely laughs at themselves. So, in an effort to give closure to any readers of my article here, I ask forgiveness from both MENSA chairhuman Jim Werdell and Fancast for re-publishing their list, as follows (my commentary is in red):

1. M*A*S*H – It had smart repartee and was so much more than a comedy. Yeah, I'll watch its reruns when I'm bored and nothing else
is on.

2. Cosmos (with Carl Sagan) – Sagan was able to communicate something
extremely complicated to the layman and do it well, and that’s unusual for a
scientist at his level. It should be noted that Carl
Sagan became an outcast among his peers in the scientific community because of
his attempts to make science accessable to the everyone.

3. CSI -- The way they use science to solve their programs is intriguing to
viewers. Only if all the worlds problems could be
solved with a bit of science within an hour.

4. House – Again, it’s high level type of show; it’s the personality that
makes it a winner, plus it deals with science. I am
enjoying this show, but find I can't watch its reruns.

5. West Wing – you had to pay attention to stay up with it. The repartee was
fast and furious and you needed a fairly high level intelligence to keep up with
it. I did enjoy this show a lot. It would've
been nice if we really had a President like that. It's
impossible.

6. Boston Legal – It’s primarily because of the characters. The story lines
are okay, but the characters are incredible and the writers give them great
dialogue. I can watch this sometimes.

7. All in the Family – The show dealt with social issues before its time and
was on the forefront of trying to show people’s feelings, beliefs and the
complexities of personality, in both a serious and comedic way. This was an important show in its day. It's ironic that a
show with its social content couldn't be aired today even though we all think
things are better now. I think its more that we are happy with how
effectively we are hiding the underlining issues now.

8. Frasier – The repartee was sensational; the main characters were very
good. Even though they portrayed people who were likely of high intelligence,
they also showed their weaknesses. This is a great
show that I can enjoy watching over and over.

9. Mad About You – It’s a personal favorite, I loved the characters and the
back and forth. It was very smart. This was a good
show that went deep into human relationships. Sometimes a little too
deep.

10. Jeopardy – It’s about the only game show that really tries to test
people’s intelligence. There’s very little luck involved, and there are few game
shows like that. I don’t watch it all that much honestly, but from what I’ve
seen it tests more than knowledge, it tests intelligence too. It's fun at times, but isn't really about smarts; instead about
who can memorize the most information.

Nothing like San Diego

There's nothing like going to San Diego and then not being able to just relax and do nothing. I was there recently, and missed the great weather and the rainy weather too. Why? I was in doors all day at a convention for the engineering software I use called SolidWorks. I learned a lot, and was able to make a lot of contacts with others in my field. However, the only time I got to really get out and enjoy San Diego was after the sun was down. The block party that shut off several blocks of the Gaslamp Quarter that the convention organizers put on one evening was a lot of fun. Nothing beats the flow of free beer.

So far, so

My cuzin Les has been bugging to do sumfin with her for awhile now. We live in the same general metropolis for a few years, but haven't had a good chance to just hang out other than at family events and whatever. We made arrangements to meet up last Friday. Thoses plans fell through at the last minute. Instead, we met up this Friday. Even that got pushed out to later in the night. We ended up meeting up around 9pm, had a later dinner at Pizza Antica at Santana Row. The quality of food at Pizza Antica has been slowly been going downhill. I'll save that review for another day. It was nice to just chill and chat though.

Allie and I hadn't been out to a desent place for awhile, so I figured last night we'd hit up Straits, also at Santana Row. We were actually both impressed with the quality of food there. Its funny how much we end up talking about work, even over a nice dinner. We had also planned to goto the movies, maybe to see National Treasure. Nothing is out that is all that interesting right now, and National Treasure was more a compromise than an actual desired choice, so we changed our minds, hit up Blockbuster and watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and The Quiet.

The Big Game

I didn't outright confidently say that the Giants would win the Super Bowl, but I did say that they had a good chance at it.  If I was a betting man, I would've put my money down for the Giants to win outright.  I am on record saying this, so :-P    Some people thought it was the Patriot's game to lose.  Not so.  The Giants won this game because they played better Football.   I stated earlier in the season that the Patriots are a paper tiger.  Once someone found their weakness and exploited it, they wouldn't be able to keep up at their pace.  The Giants figured it out during the season, but just fell short.  That wasn't going to happen this time.  Patriots are a great team.  They had a formula that worked well for several seasions.  However, this is their peak.  It's not a matter of filling up holes or elimenating weaknesses anymore.  They will maintain a great franchise for some time, but the glory is starting to fade.  As for the Giants, they seem to pop up about once a decade in the Super Bowl.  I'm sure we will see them there again.

---

More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail!

Evening in San Diego

I'm in the Gaslight district in San Diego,
by chance the San Diego Chargers played
there play-off game against the New
England Patriots. Now that the game is
over,and the chargers have had there ugly
loss, the mood here is very subdued. Blue
and yellow balloons hang low along the
street outside of bars and rest'rants as
their helium deflates almost was quickly
as the Chargers. Fans are along walking
slowly in that sort of walk the commutes
'I don't really care...(but it's obvious I
really do.)'

Goodnight Chargers. BTW, what is a charger anyway?
___Sent with SnapperMailwww.snappermail.com

SolidWorks World 2008

January 20, 2008 to January 25, 2008 with Todd Blacksher, Rob Rodriguez and many others.

This was my first SolidWorks World!

SOLIDWORKS RX, Jan 11, 2016 "SolidWorks World 2008 - A Look Back" (backup link)

(Original post, backup link)

California Ballot Jan 2008

Proposition 91, Transportation Funds: This bill puts limits the California state budget. It's yet another prop that is trying to put unnecessary controls on the state budget that causes much of the budgetary issues this state suffers from. I'm voting No.

Proposition 92, Community Colleges Funding: This bill attempts to force the state to fund our schools. It sets up a new bureaucracy as part of this effort. What the heck? The legislature needs to do this, not some new bureaucracy. I'm voting NO!

Proposition 93, Change of Term Limits: This reduces the total number of years Representatives and Senators can serve in the state legislature, but allows more freedom as to where those individuals can serve their time. I am against term limits. The people should be able to vote for whoever they want for as long as they wish. However, this is at least 1/2 a step in the right direction. I'm voting a very marginal yes.

Proposition 94, 95, 96, and 97, Indian Gaming Agreements: Allows four specific Indian tribes in Southern California to grow their casino operations. In exchange, they will share more of their revenues with the state and other Indian tribes. The problem is that these bills make these new rules without taking the other tribes in to consideration. The other tribes aren't too happy about that. I'm voting an ambivalent no.

Local measures A and B are here in Santa Clara county where a private developer wishes to take a publicly owned property for private one-time profit, instead of keeping the property public and developing it for the common good. Can anyone say "Land Grab"? I'm voting a big, fat NO! The local commercials have old people saying how nice it would be to have affordable housing. But the plan will actually stuff hundreds of senior citizens into small apartment complex, while the bulk of the property is turn into massive high end homes sold to the very wealthy. Total scam. The property could be developed to provide hundreds of real houses to senior citizens and still have plenty of property left over for public use. So, No and No!

"Yeah, well, they shoulda ducked!"

The production is cheesy, of course, and Olivia Munn's comic delivery is amazingly (surprizingly) good.

Hard to find a good air purifier

Allie and I have been looking around for a good quality air purifier for a little while. Based on a recent Consumer Reports article, the Whirlpool air purifiers rated highest. I set out to find a local retailer who carried the this product. I want to find a local retailer since I may need to get filters locally from time to time, or may need to bring it in somewhere for warranty if there is an issue. After checking the Whirlpool website, I found several companies that carried Whirlpool products (all of which I already knew carried Whirlpool products). I visited a couple last weekend. No luck. So I wouldn't have to drive all over town anymore, I called Whirlpool customer service to get a better idea of who carried their air purifier products. They couldn't tell me anything more than a guess. I visited a couple more places during the week. No luck.

Well, I found Kenmore and Hunter air purifiers very quickly. Their products rated almost as well as the Whirlpool, so it looks like I'll be getting one of theirs instead. Seems to me a company would want me to find their product. I guess Whirlpool doesn't care.

epinions movie review: Namesake

I just completed a thorough review of The Namesake on epinions. There, I go into more detail about the movie than my previous review on this blog. Enjoy!

No profit from this I-told-you-so moment

It's many years late, and the longer it took, the worse things look. The housing-bubble has finally burst. Homes are just too expensive to be affordable to the average person trying to live a fruitful life. I remember having several different conversations with those in the real estate field a few years ago mentioning that this was a bubble and it was going to burst. I got the same know-it-all answer from each of them. "No [with a know-it-all-smile], after the demand has been satisfied, the housing market will stabilize and level off (or plateau or flatten). There will not be a decline." One person was so sold on this ridiculous and unhistorical notion that they rebuked me for not knowing anything about the market. Of course, I just laughed at that, illicitting a confused but still smug facial expression from that person.

In an inflation driven market based on free-market principles , the demand for supplies is never really flat. It cannot be. If there is a sustained reduction in demand, that is a sign of uncertainty and/or lack of necessity. If the demand flattens out, it is really already in decline. A stable market is one that has sustained modest growth. Well, the housing market never flattened. Prices had risen so high that the only direction to go for most areas is down. Exsurbs and isolated cities here in California have seen massive declines. Centers of activity have stabilized and are so far holding their own. These areas, however, are in the minority, and who knows how long that will last.

There's going to have to be a bail-out of the mess. I find it interesting just how Republican leadership is willing to bail-out industries in the past with wades of cash (e.g., Savings and Loan), yet now that the average American is going to be adversely effected directly, Republicans are too timid to respond to help. President Bush Jr.'s action so far is so limited in scope that it is only going to help an extremely small portion of those affected. And where are the Democrats? They are too timid to confront the Republican Party for its timidity.

This brings me to the point where I have to criticize a perception of our economy. Corporations are treated as though they are the most important element in our country, at times to the exclusion of the citizens' rights and welfare. A Corporation is an imaginary entity that only exists because a bunch of people agree the common fantasy. A Corporation doesn't really exist. If all of the employees and ownership walked away, it would cease to function and have no purpose. I question why a Corporation is viewed as more important than the individual humans that are apart of it, or even the citizenry at at large. Far too often, the Corporations are given massive privileges and leeway that are denied to actual voting citizens of our country. Human beings are treated as second class citizens when pitted against a Corporation. This is unconscionable and unconstitutional. Giving Corporations an elevated status is a flawed mindset that many neo-cons seem to believe in as though a religion of its own. Unfortunately, the mindset is quietly supported by many politicians, regardless of affiliation.

We have to stop putting imaginary entities ahead of our citizens. In fact, we have to stop victimization of our citizens by these Corporations. Victimization of the type that has lead to the current housing crisis at hand. It was also the cause of the Western U.S. power grid crisis during the Enron Embarassment.

So, I (and many others) ended up being right about this housing crisis. Unfortunately, I personally have no way of benefiting from it directly. As far as I know, there's no way to short-sell property with options as housing prices drop. I'm so invested in my current property, I can't really afford to buy into new property when the house prices hit bottom.

I'm not expert about anything I've mentioned here. Just one person that's seen all this before. I expected the housing crisis to hit much sooner and not so intensely. My mistake was not understanding how the sub-prime situation was allowing the housing bubble to grow much bigger than it would've had sub-primes been regulated much better. Hopefully the weakened economy will have enough support to keep it chugging along, even if at a slower right. I'm just kinda wish I had a way to get more benefit during this period.

Xmas things and stuff

Allie and I met Ronie and Fernado for breakfast this morning. It was good just to sit down and chat it up for awhile. We didn't get a change to do anything with them a bit closer to Christmas. They've been the host of several get-togethers over the past couple of years. We wanted to do something nice for them, so we put together a gift basket. We also insisted on paying for the meal, which lead to a somewhat comical attempt for them to pay half. It kinda felt like Allie's family when everyone fights over who gets to pay. I get a kick out of that, though I don't really understand it.

Christmas itself was fun. We spent time with Allie's family and with an Aunt of mine and then more time with Allie's family. I'm a little bummed that my friend Miriam had to cancel her get together today due to illnesses. Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet up with her soon, after she heals herself up. At least we got a chance to chat for awhile.

We did get a change to talk to my friend Dave this week. He's up in the Seattle area. Ya'no, I've had so many friends move out of the area. It's like, am I scaring everyone away? :) Or am I the grim ripper of California inhabitants; if I come into your life, you will be moving far away at some point? Well, that wouldn't be so true of Ronie and Miriam, and Allie too, but heck, it applied to Jenn, Jennifer, my parents, Dave and Little Miriam, my Ex, my Ex's mother, and her brother and new wife, and...that list is already too long and it doesn't include many I've lost contact with. (I miss you.) Its funny, I don't keep in touch with anyone I knew before 1997, but now its getting hard to keep in touch with many I've got to know since. I've been pretty up beat about this, but now that I'm writing it, it's a bummer.

Medical Myths and the Myths about those myths - Part 6 (woman decides the sex of her baby)

An old myth is that the woman decides the sex of her baby when she gets pregnant. Even today, some cultures still have this belief. So, what's the myth about this myth? When I was a child, I learned that it is the father that determines the sex of the baby. Of course, this is as big of a myth as believing the mother has control over this event.

The fact of the matter is that barring actual (and expensive) medical intervention, and for all practical purposes, the selection of a baby's sex is completely random. Neither the mother nor the father can make the selection through conscientious efforts.^[1] There are many different and often bizarre myths surrounding conception, as an article at babycenter.com covers.^[2]

Many different actions can be tried with to improve the chance of getting pregnant, but sex selection is still not directly in the hands of either parent. Granted, Y (male) sperm have been deemed weaker and can be more affected by a woman's pH balance more so than X (female) sperm, but more boys are born than girls on a world wide basis. Nature has already figured all this out for us, and if decision making has happened, it is a result of our species' evolution, and not preferences we conjure up in our own minds.

Creationist say what? Nothing?

Arguements for Christian creationist beliefs can often be summed up with one word, "nothing". The linked site is a classic example for creatisionist to attempt to prove evolution is somehow in doubt by scientists. It pretty much just takes a bunch of quotes out of context and pins them together to form what appears to be one cohesive argument against the validity of the Theory of Evolution. The main problem with this, of course, is that these are not valid references. They are quotes taken out of context from a diverse, unrelated, outdated and very often unauthoritative sources.

Many times, they quote from reputable publications, but don't make it clear that these quotes are of quotes by the source to argue against creationism. In other words, it is creationists quoting creationists. They try to make the creationist seem as though they are scientists that is lamenting evolution.

Another trick is they quote scientists of unrelated fields. I am amazed how often an oft-handed comment by Einstein or Steven Hawkins is quoted as proof that scientists question the Theory of Evolution.

They also grab quotes from newsletters or other unvetted periodicals and present them as though they were creditably published.

So, in the end, they are just quoting a bunch of random comments in a way the becomes original research of their own, finding a conclusion that in no way is reasonable if the whole of their sources are read.

Medical Myths and the Myths about those myths - Part 5 (reading in the dark is bad)

Another myth I have found to be false is the idea that reading in the dark, or otherwise straining your eyes can adversely affect your vision. According to a recent report, researchers have found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decrease vision, but that subsides after rest.^[1] Personally, I've never worried too much about what reading in the dark can do to my vision because it never made sense to me as to why it would have a permenant affect.

In fact, my own experience suggests that it is important to execise my eyes. Both my parents and my sister require glasses, having less than ideal vision. I've always tried to keep my eyes exercised. Until a few years ago, I never noticed any issues with my eye sight. Recently, I started noticing some imperfection in my sight, so I went into the eye doctor. Come to find out, vision in one of my eyes is 20/15, and it's 20/20 in the other. Apparently, my vision used to be in the 20/12 to 20/16 range. I was getting fussy about having lowly 20/20 vision. At times in the past, I doubted what I was doing. Now though, I at least have some sense of control regarding the health of my eyes.

Medical Myths and the Myths about those myths - Part 4 (hair and nails grow after death)

A myth I didn’t hear about until sometime in the past ten years is that fingernails and hair grow after death. However, I never believed this myth because I heard it in the context of history and how people believed vampires in the past. They used to dig up graves of recently dead people to look for signs of undeath. They apparently often found such signs in the form of what appeared to be hair and nail growth on a corpse. Please note that I personally am not 100% convinced this is the source of the myth because this directly contradicts a similar vampire evidence story (myth?) about people in the Dark Age believing bloated bodies of the recently dead was a sign of a vampire. Not to mention the fact that one of the beliefs about vampires is that if fed with blood, they return to the physical form from the point they become a vampire (meaning their hair can't grow). [How's that for talking on myths about myths? :-)]




The fact is, as I’ve heard from many difference sources by now, the body’s skin dries out sometime after a person dies. As it does so, it shrinks. The nails and hair remain in place, so it can appear as though they grow because they protrude farther out from the skin. That said, I would still guess it is possible the nails and hair do grow a tiny bit right after death, though they certainly do not continue to grow once all body functions stop.

Movie: I am Legend

I haven't been excited for a film in awhile. I was mildly excited to see I am Legend. I know the story from its previous incarnations and was looking forward to a big budget version that would do it justice. Though I enjoyed much of the film, I found that is lacked a strong story.

The movie is based on a book by the same name. Also, several low budget or independent movies have been made based on this book. This version deviated from the book and the other versions in some ways that seemed necessary, but in other ways, made this movie weaker than other versions. I will say I feel that if the movie would've followed the book, the movie would've been boring. Granted, the book does make excellent social commentary. With that said, it is not one of the better books written in the realm of fiction. I am of the sort that thinks if a movie can be made better than the work upon which it is based, then it should be. In this case, I will say that the movie was well paced. Choices in differences in the plot from the book through much of the movie were good.

However, not enough effort was given to the ending. Where the movie deviates from the book the most (the ending) is perhaps where it should've stuck to the original story more. The whole reason for the title "I am Legend" is that main character becomes as scary to the new vampire civilization in the new world as vampires are scary to us in our world now; deep social commentary. Instead, with this movie, there's a simple ending that doesn't do the rest of the movie any justice and ended up making this movie seem like a prequel to 28 Days Later (which, in my opinion, is a better film). At the end, I was like, "It's over already? That sucks." The voice-over by the heroine at the ended made an attempt to explain the movie title with the movie ended, though this was a very weak attempt at that.

One other point, the CGI was very weak and dated. It felt cartoony.

Movie: The Namesake

There was enough interest generated in The Namesake movie during its release, Allie and I felt it was worth renting it now. The movie is about an Indian family living their lives out in America. I was disappointed by this movie. Cinematography was annoyingly inconsistent. Some scenes gave too much space above or below the actors. Others where just simply centered on the scene itself, without much regard to where the actors actually were in the scene. Acting was good sometimes, but shoddy at other times.

Some of the scenes lost importance because the acting wasn't up to par. This one scene where the father is trying to have a conversation about life with his son didn't work at all because Kal Penn was trying so hard to be the teenage with angst that it actually distracted from the moment instead of making the moment what it was meant to be (and needed to be) for the film. I would say it was a case of overacting, but I think a better word for it is wrong-acting. Also, other scenes suffered from a lack of acting effort.

Editing was not well conceived or executed. The flashbacks of Gogol's character (Ken Penn) came off as just cheesy. Some scenes were awkwardly cut in order to hold off on that portion of the story until later in the movie. This, unfortunately, made the movie seem like it dragged on, with random spatterings of story telling. Overall, the story felt disjointed, without much reason for why it was edited this way.

The story itself meandered from point to point. There was no real main character, though it was supposed to be Gogol. Most of the movie seemed aimless. Character motivation was poorly executed. Again, Gogol's character kinda just took action that didn't really have a solid explanation. It made the character seem extremely superficial, even as he faced up to his heritage (which I am sure was an unintentional impression by the film maker). Well, either way the story wasn't well written.

The movie appeared to be a jumbled mess. I can't understand what many of the critics saw in this movie. It was a lackluster attempt to show something didn't really end up being all the important to the story (why the main character was named Gogol). This movie seemed to be an independent film for which the big studios wisely did not waste their money. I'm sure I would've cared about this movie more were I of Indian background, but even then I would have to admit it was not an example of good film making.

Medical Myths and the Myths about those myths - Part 3 (cutting hair makes is grow back thicker)

"Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker."

My own experience on this is that it is partially true. It’s not a complete myth. Studies have shown that shaving doesn’t affect hair in that way. Nor do I think the act of trimming hair causes it to grow back thicker and coarser. I do think that how the skin surrounding the hair is treated does have significant impact. I did my own quasi-scientific study on myself when I was an adolescent. In an attempt to grow more hair body hair (being an adolescent trying to speed up the maturity process), I rubbed the skin on my chest aggressively over a period of a few months or so. In the oft chance to see if what I was doing would work, I rubbed one side of my chest more often then the other side. Having seen no immediate hair growth, I stopped this practice. It was about a year later I noticed the results. As hair did start to grow in, it only grew in where I had rubbed my skin months before. Yes, the hair on my chest grew in with the pattern I used to rub my skin. Even today, the thickest portion of my chest hair still vaguely matches the initial pattern I establish during my adolescence.

Another example of the effect of skin treatment is more recent. Although I’m not rapidly balding, I’ve always had a high and somewhat asymmetric hair line at the corners on my forehead. A few years ago, I learned that DHT levels in the skin and body can influence hair growth. It can cause hair to grow in some parts of the body. It can also cause a receding hairline on a man’s forehead too. I started a passive search for products that could affect DHT levels in the skin. In that search, I discovered Nioxin. The brand makes a claim that its shampoo can wash away DHT from the scalp. I tried it. I didn’t see any immediate results. Eventually, I decided to just to use it up. After about six months or so, I kinda started noticing what appeared to be new tiny baby hairs at the edge of my hairline. I decided to try Nioxin out for another few months. I bought more and kept using it. Over the next year, I noticed the hair growing back even more. Now, we aren’t talking about thick new grass on the field. I did perceive the start of a recovery of what I have lost over the past decade.

After awhile, I mentioned to Allie that I noticed a difference. She didn’t believe me. Then one day, she’s looking at me while we are snuggling and all of a sudden she was all like, “Is this all new?” with an amazed look on her face as she ran her fingers along my hairline. At first, I thought she was just she was trying to stroke my ego, so I challenged the comment. But I know her. She’s not the girly type that does that sort of thing. She was being genuine. Since then, my hairline has evened out a bit, and continues to recover at a slow pace.

So, from my own person experiences I can say cutting hair doesn’t change it, but how you treat the skin surrounding the hair does definitely impact it, though it takes a long time.