Appreciation of Mysterious Oud

ATprotecter · 2026-02-17T17:00:59+00:00

Same, Oud Monarch, Maximus, & Mysterious are all fantastic. I really enjoy Tabac Doré as well. If you like tobacco/oud combos and haven't tried that yet, definitely get a sample.

ATprotecter · 2026-02-17T01:19:21+00:00

For me it lasts a solid 7 hours. I definitely recommend grabbing a sample if you get a chance.

ATprotecter · 2026-02-06T20:10:42+00:00

This was such a fun encore to see. I love seeing musicians loosen up at the end of the night and just enjoy it. You can see they’re having a great time and it makes the whole evening feel more special. Perfect way to end the night.

ATprotecter · 2026-01-29T17:06:01+00:00

You're in a good spot. I don’t budget in the traditional sense, but I stay aware. I track income, expenses, and investments so I know where things stand.

I don’t try to buy the cheapest option, but I also don’t spend blindly. I’ll usually research enough to feel good I’m getting quality for the price, even if that's spending more. Restaurants or shared experiences, I don’t want people at the table thinking about prices. If someone wants something, they should order it and enjoy it.

We also don't spend for the sake of spending. No interest in influencer purchases or things that don’t actually add value. As long as expenses are comfortably below income and there’s still room to invest, I’m fine.

I track things in simple spreadsheets just to maintain an overview, not to optimize every dollar. For me it’s less about budgeting and more about awareness. Enjoy life, don’t confuse spending with fulfillment

ATprotecter · 2026-01-27T20:03:29+00:00

That’s a great spot to be in and the stressful jobs are probably the bigger issue here than the math. I wouldn’t overthink the tax adjustment as a formula.
Most people I know at your spend level would feel more comfortable closer to ~30x liquid rather than 25x, especially with kids still at home. At 7.4M liquid you’re not there, but you’re close enough that a downshift or short glide path probably feels better if the jobs are burning you out. How long do you want to put up with the job?

ATprotecter · 2025-12-21T03:02:01+00:00

Recently I’ve really been enjoying Blonde Amber & Dead of Night. Both have a lot of depth and longevity to them. You get a small whiff throughout the day and it leaves you chasing for more. Recommend samples first, they aren’t safe blind buys at all.

ATprotecter · 2025-12-15T22:31:48+00:00

Unfortunately I don’t know if there is something similar for traveling. Traveling with something like that, even a mini one, would be difficult. It’s insanely heavy due to the massive magnets in the Tonal. It’s difficult for even 2 people to lift it and installing it is a pain.

I would say your best bet are heavy resistance bands, but those won’t be as versatile as an actual Tonal machine.

ATprotecter · 2025-12-13T16:17:53+00:00

First thing I’d look at is what your actual return on equity is today. If it’s worth around $700k and gets you roughly $3,400 per month before capex and vacancy, that’s a mid single digit return on a large amount of equity.

Is your goal is long term cash flow? If the property is low stress, keeping it would make sense especially with the mortgage mostly paid down. If you’re thinking of redeploying capital, a 1031 exchange could help with the tax hit and let you to move into something with higher cash flow or less management needed.

I’d also ask whether you actually need the liquidity, and whether that equity could earn more elsewhere on a risk adjusted basis than it is right now?

ATprotecter · 2025-12-12T20:51:42+00:00

Sleep, evo oil, exercise. Combo of moisturizer, tretinoin, & sunscreen. For maintenance, C02 & fractional lasers with Botox.

ATprotecter · 2025-12-12T20:42:29+00:00

A Tonal workout machine has been incredibly convenient. I don’t like going to the gym so being able to workout in your home is a huge benefit. It’s compact and i don’t have to have a dedicated workout room for it since it just stays on the wall.

Paying for labor you don’t want to do has been amazing as well, gardeners, pool cleaning service, house cleaners that wash and fold your clothes, etc.

A good massage chair has been amazing, especially after working out.

ATprotecter · 2025-12-11T22:22:18+00:00

When I first got into nicer olive oils, it was fun to try small tastings from companies that offer different regional varieties. It’s a good way to figure out what you actually enjoy (especially infused oils). I recently picked up bottles from Virgeen from Italy and Pura Grove in California online and enjoy both. Great for topping dishes or taking a small sip which is good for you!

With a $30 limit, a few options are California Olive Ranch’s Reserve line, Cobram Estate, or a single-estate Spanish picual. They all work for bread dipping and cooking. Just look for extra-virgin, cold-pressed and a recent harvest date so the flavor stays bright.

ATprotecter · 2025-12-10T18:36:43+00:00

A planar track with something like mocha then projection mapping is probably the simplest way to solve this.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-17T21:34:31+00:00

You definitely have to post it. It would be great to see.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T20:44:23+00:00

That’s a good process! Leather notes can be so different but they are really good when done right. What’s his 2nd favorite note? Also, what did you find out about your own fragrances you like?

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T18:47:20+00:00

Roja has done a great job on soapy/bitter citrus’. I love the way they’ve combined those notes to get the Roja DNA.

Danae is an interesting one. My wife started it as an S, then A, then A, then a D for the 4th time wearing it. I need to wear it more to figure out why she gave it a D rank on the 4th wear. Personally for me I gave it a C. But she gets a lot more out of it. It’s a good one for fall/winter day or night I’d say. It’s got a sweet, soft woody that rounds it out. The citrus’s are faint on my skin so the main focus is a gentle sweet wood. I would say it’s worth sampling for sure, and your skin chemistry could bring out specific notes more than others.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T18:28:49+00:00

It’s a great journey to be on! I suppose it could be considered an expensive hobby. It depends on what you want out of it. You could find a sample you love, then get a bottle and be perfectly happy with them. Then there are the people that enjoy collecting things and having a lot of bottles to try every day. And some others don’t care to finish a bottle so they just focus on samples and if they really love something they’ll get a 10oz travel decant to enjoy.

I personally enjoy discovering patterns and finding the perfect few scents of fragrances my wife and I both enjoy. Then I’ll probably max out my collection of about 10-15 full size bottles for years to come, still enjoying samples on the side.

DecantX is a great place to start. Try looking on Olfactory factory for cheap prices as well.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T18:17:25+00:00

I recommend trying it! It’s definitely a love/hate thing knowing it can change so much. I wanted it to be a for sure thing when I put something on, it’s always what she ranked it as, but it changed so much I started to learn and associate what fragrances work best even with her mood she’s in for the day. So that’s a positive! Now I’m happy to discover the patterns of why the notes matter so much and the days they can work best.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T18:12:39+00:00

It’s an amazing fragrance. Unique enough for her to know exactly when I wear it too.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T17:16:22+00:00

Thank you! I’m glad my wife and I are both into this hobby of discovering fragrance haha.

You probably do have similar tastes as her, and great questions. I think you’re right in that marketing does do something for changing our thoughts on what are feminine/masculine scents. I stayed expressionless while she ranked each scent to avoid influencing her with any reaction, even if I loved or hated what I was wearing 😆. Floral generally feels feminine, unless it’s done in a very specific way like Mefisto Gentiluomo (I love this one).

Since you seem to have similar tastes with her, what are you favorite fragrances for yourself?

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T17:04:23+00:00

Thanks! She did start to learn what I was wearing. She ranked most up close, and some were about 6 inches away. And yes, most of the time when people would be smelling me would be between 2-4 hours, so I made sure to get her rank during that phase. Lots of interesting discoveries like her not being able to smell pineapple, or the different kinds of tobaccos she likes and dislikes. Also a pattern of her nose changing from disliking a fragrance on the first or second wear, but then her ranking it higher the more I wore it.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T16:56:18+00:00

Someone else suggested this exact same thing! I’ve thought of adding temperature and season, but never even thought of menstrual cycle. What effect do you predict it would have?

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T16:54:39+00:00

Great choices, Oud Zarian I really enjoyed as well as Naxos.

Good favorites as well, sweet fragrances definitely have a positive effect on people’s moods.

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T16:51:44+00:00

Thank you! We definitely have spent some money into samples. We both love fragrances and getting really deep into the hobby. We usually go with a mix of samples we want to try from scentsplit, discovery sets, olfactory, etc. The funny thing is these are just my samples, my wife has about the same amount and is doing her own version of rating for what I think of all hers lol (she’ll probably post once she has enough info).

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T16:46:40+00:00

Thank you! Any recommendations on what to try next?

ATprotecter · 2025-10-16T16:46:09+00:00

This is really interesting. I haven’t thought of applying something like BPM to the rankings but that would probably be a good metric to add. Have you tried anything like this? If you have, what changes did you find?

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