Note to self: Don’t just do a Google Image Search for “beard,” because you will come up with all sorts of pictures of some US Olympic Swimmer named Amanda.
And if you’re at work, or your dad’s house, make sure your SafeSearch is turned ON!
Greetings from Beardsville!
That’s the imaginary land I live in where everyone has a beard and it’s ruled by a friendly lumberjack named Theodore. Every day he cuts fresh fruit down from a tree and distributes it to the masses. Mmm. Fresh apples.
So we’ve entered a new era in America with a new president, and sadly he does not have a beard. I did a little research and found out that every bearded president was a Republican. Coincidence? I think so.
We are 22 days into Year of the Beard and I have started getting a few questions that I would like address now, before things get out of hand.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”
Is that hard to believe or something? Next question.
“What does your girlfriend think of this?”
Excellent question. She actually enjoys the beard. She has often said that she’d rather I have a beard, because every time I shave my face just feels like sandpaper. And I’m not talking “Oh your face is a little rough,” I’m talking try-to-slap-me-in-the-face-and-you-might-cut-your-hand rough. I don’t know if I’m using the wrong type of razor or something, but I never get that smooth shave they tell you about in commercials. Well, no matter now. I won’t be using a razor for 11+ more months, so, who cares?
“When is the rest of it going to grow in?”
Very observant. I’ve said it before but I guess it deserves repeating: my beard is all neck. I get a few random stray hairs on my cheeks, more on the right than on the left, but the heart and soul of my “beard” lies right on my neck, sort of like Honest Abe you see below. So if you are waiting for the cheeks to really fill in, to give me that rugged, Brawny Man look, I hate to tell you that you’re going to be waiting all year. You’re going to have to settle for the Amish look.
“How is the beard going?”
It’s going okay, to be honest. Again, I would like a little more cheek growth, but I am what I am, so I will have to make do with what I have. Other than that it’s going great. It’s funny, when I used to be just lazy and not shave for a month or two, I would never be aware of the hair on my face when it was there. But now that I have a goal, and a website, dealing with my beard, I think about it a lot more and am very aware of it. It seems to me that this is the quickest it’s ever reached this “fullness,” although I know that’s not true. It’s just that I’m thinking about it more.
Also, I’ve gotten past the itchy stage, which is good. Well, I’ve gotten past Itchy Stage 1. I’m sure there will be many more itchy stages in the future, but I had a good 3 or 4 days there where I was scratching my neck like crazy, but I think I’m passed that because today I went all day without a scratch. I mean, that’s just great, because it was pretty bad there.
I believe that this weekend I will be having my first Beard Interview (possibly 2 Beard Interviews), so look for that update early next week. I’m very excited about that. It should prove very educational.
Beard on!
Cross off another to-do item in 2009.
First Annual …Now That’s Class Dodgeball Champions!
I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, Patrick, The Don, and Katie.
There were some great beards in the competition, including the legendary Max Montore! But we stood strong and prevailed.
Today is January 13th, which, of course, means it’s the 13th day of my beard. I’ll be honest it’s not exactly a stellar “beard” yet. On the 11th I was at a wedding reception and my friend Todd was there and he has a real full, burly beard. I said to him, “Wow Todd, you have quite a beard going there.” He said “Yeah this is day 10, I shaved on New Years.” Now, his day 10 was about 10 times better than my day 11. It was really embarrassing.
But hey it’s not a competition. But I totally lost. That’s not important. I’m here for a personal goal and so far I’m on pace. 13 days down, 352 to go. Shouldn’t be a problem at all, right?
There have been some demands for this, so I guess I will succumb to the pressure of the fans, although mostly everyone reading this at this point probably sees me every day.
But here’s a picture of where I’m at, for the fans:
As you can see it’s not really much. Some people, I think, can grow this in just a few hours. But it’s a start. It’s going to take me a while to even look normal with this facial hair, and to be honest, I’m not 100% positive it’s EVER going to look normal. I think the longest I’ve ever gone has been 3 months, so we’ll see what happens.
Keep those donations coming. The Great Cleveland United Way Domestic Violence Center needs our help.
Year of the Beard!
Hello beard fans!
Sorry for the lack of updates lately, it’s been a rough week. But, there is good news. First, I have a new favorite website, The Daily Goff. Every day the website features a new, fun fact about your friend and mine, Art Gough! What a delight!
More importantly, it is now day 9 of Year of the Beard, and I am starting to look like I have a beard. It’s not much, and as usual, the cheeks aren’t filling in at all, but my neck is almost in full beard mode. I’ll post a picture this weekend to show everyone the progress I’ve made so far.
I’ve also lined up some great interviews for the site with some local Cleveland favorites who have some downright amazing beards. Keep an eye out for those.
Finally, my work hired someone new and guess what he has… a beard! I’m going to have to introduce him to the website, see if he plans on going all of 2009.
That’s all for now. I just wanted to update everyone and let you know that 2009: Year of the Beard is still rolling!
We already have our first pledge from my buddy Bill! Thanks for the support Bill, although I feel like the whole “I’ll even throw in an extra $2 if you can make it the whole year” is hinting that I might not make it the whole year. We’ll see about that.
For anyone else who wants to donate to the United Way of Greater Cleveland, you can now go to the donate page where all the donating functionality has been updated.
Have a beard-tastic weekend!
Welcome to 2009: The year of the beard (dot com). I don’t know about you but I sure rang in the new year with a big bang. At one point I gave some a Stone Cold Stunner. But let’s talk about the website.
You may be wondering, “What is this website all about?” Well I’ll tell you. In early 2008 my buddy was telling me about a little goal he was working on. It seems that in late 2007 he and a few friends were talking about how New Year’s resolutions are always so negative. They’re all about “losing this” and “quitting that,” and they wanted to do something more pro-active in 2008. Really give themselves a challenge. So they decided to eat 365 pieces of bacon in 2008. That was their goal. A piece of bacon every day. 365 pieces of bacon in 366 days (they realized later that 2008 was a leap year but they just stuck to the original goal of 365).
The more I thought about this, the more I really respected it. Do something positive. So, when 2009 was approaching, I started thinking “What can I do to really challenge myself in 2009?” It hit me like a hurricane: Grow your beard! For one whole year, grow your beard. Don’t shave it. Don’t trim it. Let that beast go and see how long it can get. I understand that this can be considered “quitting shaving,” but it’s not really about that. It’s about letting the beard grow and flourish.
So I informed everyone I know and I generally got the following response: “Why?”
“For charity!” That’s right, besides my own personal quest to see how long I can grow the beard, I will also be growing my beard for charity. Very similar to walk-a-thons, or Jump for Your Heart (TM), I’m going to be raising money while growing my beard. Feel free to head over to the donate page where you will be able to donate money to the United Way of Greater Cleveland Domestic Violence Center. There are two ways you can donate, either by donating a set amount, or you can pledge a certain amount of money per month that I grow my beard. Be warned, however, because I plan on going all 12 months. $5 a month x 12 months = $60. You can do the math.
So this website will have updates tracking my beard growth. On it I will discuss beard things, have interviews with bearded people, post an occasional picture of my progress, and just generally talk about all things beard related. Feel free to comment or what-have-you.
So welcome to the website, and Happy New Year!
Here is a picture of me from this afternoon, after I finally became functional today. It is the cleanest shaven I will be in 2009.
