Newbie around Pittsburgh!

Hi everyone and Happy Holidays! I'm jumping on this bandwagon after reading straigh razor shaving articles on the blog The Art of Man and think it's a worthy endeavor. I am one of the "Christmas gift receivers" and was given a straight razor, brush, and soap from my brother (didn't have enough for the strop in our gift budgets.) I'm not sure I it's worth using though as its a Kreigar plus at the least least honed before use. So can't jump right into the first shave but plan to read as much as I can to be prepared.

As for me, I'm a Costumier who's working as an EMT and enjoying it. Theater doesn't pay well and I don't live close enough to the city to make it even remotely worthwhile in my budget. As for my other hobbies, I recently began brewing beer which has greatly expanded and I'm sure will become another lifelong hobby. Any other questions, feel free to ask!