Hi everyone,
Would like to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to all who contribute to the wet shaving community and the beginners or "noobs" to straight razor shaving like myself. The experience I've found poured out into the SRP forums has been extremely valuable and instructive so thank you so much!
So I guess a bit about myself.. I'm a 28 year old former marine living in Florence, SC; a newlywed (at least I still consider myself a newlywed) as of July '14, and a father as of 4 months ago. I've been shaving my face for years and my head for about 2 years now and I HATE spending money on cartridges only to throw them away and see them hit landfills so about 2 years ago I switched to a DE razor (which prompted the head shaving as I'd just been buzzing my head for years).
And then I came across Adventures in Wet Shaving ; DrMatt357 ; and geofatboy on youtube who all opened my eyes to straight razor shaving and introduced me to SRP.
I recently ordered my first straight razor (a GD 208) from a seller on etsy who had great reviews and recommendations for setting the bevel and shipping his razors shave ready. I also ordered a Poor Man's Strop kit from WhippedDog which I can't recommend enough! Great service! Great product (from my inexperienced point of view) with wonderful instructions included for the noob that I am.. Unfortunately I believe (note ... inexperience) that my GD 208 isn't quite shave ready... as I have some tugging and discomfort with my shave and there's what looks to me like an obvious change in angle on one portion of my razor's edge (and yes I'm quite sure my technique needs PLENTY of improvement, but I'm doing the best I can with the knowledge I've gained from observing the previously mentioned youtubers and from posts I've found here in SRP.
Possibly looking for honing service near me as I don't think I can afford a finishing stone right now and that's one more thing I'll need to teach myself.. wife, new house and new kid cost a lot :P

But again a HUGE thank you to everyone who takes time out of their lives to share their experience and knowledge with young pups like myself.