Daniel Greene

Category: Lifestyle

My views on politics, religion, health, intimacy, and more

  • My Favorite Shaving Cream – Discontinued!

    Edge ActiveCare Shave Cream has been discontinued. I am sad and frustrated because it was the best shaving cream I’ve used in over a quarter of a century. It is rich and creamy, helps the razor glide across my face and slice through my beard, rinses clean, and leaves my face feeling calm and moisturized! It’s not drying or sticky the way so many other shaving creams are. And now it’s gone! My husband loves it too, and this is our last tube of it. I looked online, and you can’t even get this stuff on EBay anymore. (Someone was selling it for $10 a tube, but they ran out. Someone else was selling it on Amazon for $14 a tube, and only had 5 left as of last night.)

    But there is a sliver of good news. I called S.C. Johnson & Son just now to verify that the product had been discontinued and to request that they start making it again. They told me that the product was, indeed, discontinued in March, but they also told me something great. When they discontinued it, they bought it back from retailers so they could sell it by mail order to customers who loved it enough to call and ask about it. And they’re not selling it for $10 or $14 a tube– they’re selling it for $4 a tube plus shipping and handling. I just bought four cases, six tubes per case! The shelf life is two years, so that should last me and my husband for the next couple of years or so.

    Sure, I could buy a bunch of cases and sell it on EBay for a profit, but I’m going to do loyal Edge ActiveCare customers a favor: just call S.C. Johnson & Son at 800-558-5252, tell them you wish they would put Edge ActiveCare Shave Cream back on the market, and order a case of six for yourself while supplies last. No, I am not employed by S.C. Johnson & Son. I just love this product and want to get it back on the market. Selling it on EBay for a profit is not going to accomplish that. Sharing this information with fellow customers and asking them to call, voice their demand for the product, and order it from the manufacturer at an affordable price just might do the trick! (And it couldn’t hurt my karma, either.)

  • I’m NOT Addicted to Pete’s Fish & Chips

    With all the “I’m Addicted to Pete’s Fish & Chips!” bumper stickers I’ve seen around the Valley, I would have thought I was missing out on a local legend (having never been to one myself).

    I’ll tell you a little secret though: those bumper stickers are free! If people had to pay for them, I don’t think there would be so many.

    I was starving after work yesterday, and here I was sitting in the drive-thru of Pete’s on 27th Ave & Van Buren, so I thought I’d take a commemorative shot of my first time at one of the legendary Pete’s. But I’m telling you the morning after driving the food home and eating it, it’s just a greasy mess! It’s not delicious or special or anything. It’s just over-greasy rectangular slabs of fried fish on top of over-greasy shoestring fries. So, I don’t love Pete’s Fish & Chips; in fact, I don’t even like them!

  • Just Married!



    Just Married!
    Originally uploaded by Daniel Greene.

    I’m posting this on the one-week anniversary of our legal same-sex marriage in California. Since I took it with my Sidekick and uploaded it to Flickr right after our civil ceremony, it’s been viewed (as of this writing) 199 times, had received 53 comments, and 6 people call it a favorite.

    A million thanks to all who made it possible for us to get married legally!

  • The Rich Can Play Prisoner!



    Sing Sing Prison Food Tray
    Firebox.com amazing gifts

    I saw this product today at La Grande Orange, an upscale culinary boutique in Phoenix, AZ and tried to post a cellphone photo of it, but it was very poor, so I’m simply referring to a webpage that sells the same product.

    For $14, you can be the brave and free owner of this orange melamine cafeteria tray, a genuine replica of the food trays used by prisoners of Sing Sing!

    I can’t help but recognize the same irony that Michael Moore documented in his account of the prison that held a fundraiser, and for a pretty penny wealthy patrons could be locked up in a real cell by a real uniformed prison ward!

    Don’t get me wrong: it’s a cute tray, and I love melamine for its retro appeal, but we don’t need crass materialism to remind us of the gap between the haves and have-nots.

    Or do we?

  • In Memory…



    In Memory…
    Originally uploaded by Daniel Greene.

    …of all those who have died in service to the United States of America.

    I almost kept this post to just that first sentiment, “In memory of all those who have died in service to the United States of America.” But that would be too safe. And I can imagine being criticized for copping out and pandering to blind patriotism.

    Yet I know that many Americans’ patriotism is not blind at all, but rather… forgiving. I am reminded of a story my Granny Greene recounted. She spoke of a woman she had known who worked for the USO during World War II. She said, “When you walked by a young man in the canteen and he patted your fanny, you just smiled and kept on walking. That’s patriotism!”

    And that’s what many of us do– smile and keep on walking. We know that countless men, and now women, have died in battles we wish had never begun. We know that the current war is not a popular war (and I use the word “popular” not only in the sense of “well liked” but also “of the people” because many American know that this is not our war, but a war waged by politicians either we didn’t vote for or we regret voting for). And we know that some people make it hard to be proud to be an American. And yet we forgive these deaths, these wars, and these people. We smile and keep on walking. We are proud to be American not only because of everything that is American, but in spite of things we might not quite approve of.

    I believe we have more reasons to be proud of our country than to be ashamed of it. And we must always remember that no matter whether or not we believe in war, our countrymen and countrywomen who have died in wars deserve our gratitude and our honor. We cannot know what it is like to fight in wars unless we have fought in them. But we can remember the inestimable value of every human life and have the deepest respect for each individual who gave his or her life for America.

    And let us not allow patriotism to blind us to the value of each and every human life lost on the other side as well. Our enemies are not necessarily evil, at least not down to every last person who has fought us in honor of their country. We must remember the fallen not only here, but there as well. We must force ourselves to have some compassion for the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons who have lost their beloved family members to these wars.

    And we must work toward peace for our sake and for theirs.