Day 29/30: The End. The Children are Safe.

Last Chance to Donate!

Wow. What an adventure. We are finally at the end. Thousands of men will now finally rid themselves of the horrendous mustaches that we have been carrying for the past month. Rejoice! The children are safe! All in all, I have to say that my mustache growth was largely disappointing, and I will be thrilled to have a nice shave tomorrow.

A big thank you goes out to everybody who donated to me! And even if you didn't, I'm sure there will be new crops of people doing this every year! Together, you've helped me personally raise more than $420. And collectively, the Georgetown MBA team has raised more than $29,000, beating last year's fundraising total! Our team had, at last count, 96 members, so this works out to just over $300 raised per person.

While this has been fun, you won't catch me rocking a mustache ever again! For next Movember, I will be a staunch supporter of others, and help them to fundraise... just without the mustache. It was a little much, and by the end, it was annoying to have! Scratchy and tickly and weird!

This song perfectly sums up the relationship between me and my mustache:



And so, after 30 fun filled mustachioed days, this is where it ends! Next time you see me, I'll be clean-shaven.

It was good effort, but in the end, it just kindof looks like somebody sketched in some hair with a pen.

Day 28: Remember Remember the Cause Behind Movember

Donation Station!

Alright folks. Today and tomorrow are more or less your last chance to donate to the Georgetown MBA team and me!

We're in 23rd place nationwide, with a touch over $25K raised. A strong showing to be sure. If you've forgotten the point of all of this mustachioed madness, it is:

"Movember's primary objective is to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. We want everyone to know that most cancers are highly curable if caught in the early stages, therefore Movember aims to increase early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment. This will ultimately reduce the number of deaths from cancer."


 "There are still many issues to be addressed, particularly when it comes to diagnosis - a key focus for many Movember funded research programs. Today, there still isn't a test that accurately tells a man which type of prostate cancer he has, resulting in many men being over-diagnosed and having to undergo unnecessary and harmful treatment."
(Movember )

As I said in a previous post, I feel like your money is actually getting stuff done with this organization. Specifically, I pointed to their minimal administrative costs relative to other "charities" (Where the Money Goes).  I once donated $500 to Amnesty International- I then got $500 of various mail over the next two years asking for more money. Doesn't make sense. Let's not kid ourselves, no organization runs with 100% efficiency, but in spite of that, Movember is providing a huge stream of funding for researching male cancers. And, if the organization didn't exist, chances are that the funding would not either.

Granted, there's a lot of silliness that goes on with the constant Facebook floods of mustache update pics, but this is one of the few movements I know that can actually have tangible results while being fun and entertaining.

OKAY. So now, allow me to step off my soapbox. Today I wore one of the three ties I purchased on Black Friday. 

This one:

I then had multiple people comment that it was a "Republican tie." WHAT?! Seriously?! How can a tie be Republican? I bought it because red and simple is a traditional POWER tie. I thought it would be good for business formal situations! And it is! But apparently I also look Republican when I wear it... Go figure.

My roommate in particular, saw me wearing it today and commented: "Dude you look like you are a member of the Young Republicans." Sigh.

At the end of the day, believe me, I hate dressing up in business formal. I would prefer to wear jeans and a t-shirt for all of my daily interactions for the rest of my life. Just this past Saturday night, I headed over to Liz's place. We were going to grab dinner, and then spend the night at her place. When I showed up she said:

"So... are you wearing that?"

(I was wearing a plain green t-shirt)

Me: "Um... yeah."

Liz: "You don't have anything nicer to wear?"

Me: "This is a nice t shirt!"

Liz: (Head in hands) "I want to wear something cute and we won't be able to eat anywhere because you are in a t-shirt!"

Me: "Well I wore a t-shirt because it's cold and I would just be wearing my fleece over it!"

Liz: "Good. Because we're going mountain climbing."

Liz is a good sport about my refusal to dress up voluntarily. I was not so lucky in the past. I once dated a girl who said to me one night when I asked what was wrong:

"I dressed up to go out with you tonight and you look like you are staying in to play video games!" I was wearing this shirt:

Fun Fact: I have this shirt in both black AND white, and still rock it with pride!

That relationship didn't last long. It was kindof doomed right when she said that. 

Similarly, at the very first Finance Club meeting I ever attended, we were essentially given a dress code for meeting with the real life finance people. Black or Dark Blue suits, white or blue shirt, dark tie, shiny (polished) shoes. Suffice to say, that day I realized I would never have a career in Finance.

10:03 PM Update: Liz says- "STEVE. You look SO weird in these pictures. Maybe it's just my laptop screen but you look like an alien!"

Day 27: Daydreaming Paralysis

Only two days left to donate!

The amount of time I have spent distracted today is absurd. I am beginning to think I have one of those attention deficit disorders. This morning, I made it through my Marketing class, only to completely hit the wall in Stats. It does not help that Stats is ungodly boring. I don't believe there it is possible to make that class interesting. God only knows how I survived so many other equivalently boring quantitative classes on my way to (somehow) getting an engineering degree.

During Stats today, my thoughts were skipping around like a pinball machine.

Thoughts During Stats Class Today (presented chronologically)

1. Okay. I'm going to pay attention today.
2. I'm going to pay attention today.
3. Wait... I already know this this stuff.
4. I'm going to check Washington Post for a second.
5. Oh shit... What's going on?
6. God I hate Minitab. I'll just teach this to myself later.
7. Why do I come to this class?
8. Oh right... because I'm paying $100,000 for this degree.
9. Other people seem to be paying attention... What's wrong with me?
10. Seriously... EVERYONE else is paying attention...
11. Wait. ARE they paying attention?
12. It looks cold outside.
13. When do birds sleep? Is it too cold for them right now?
14. Oh my God... $100,000.
15. I need an internship or something to start paying back my tuition...
16. Why do I come to this class? 
17. Oh right... because I'm paying $100,00---------------------- 

ERROR! Oh shit... my brain has hit a circular reference!

Image Source

This is essentially daydreaming paralysis- the point at which the thousands of thoughts in your head mount an Invasion of Normandy on your productivity, rendering you completely immobile. 

We have come to kill your productivity!

As a matter of fact, I am in one of those ruts as I type, and I am really hoping that this blog is my escape pod back to a land where I can find my concentration and motivation!

Day 26: Stupid Phone Camera is Stupid

Donation Station! 3 Days Left! 

I've learned a ton during these 27 days that I've had some semblance of a mustache. The main thing that I'm taking away from this experience though is that my phone's camera sucks. Every time I post a picture here, I'm like: "Man... I look like shit!" And, while I suppose it is possible that I do indeed look like shit, I'm going to blame it on my phone's camera. Grainy, pixely, and all around crappy. I don't think it's a stretch when I say that 90% of the pictures I take on my Galaxy Nexus look like Bigfoot pictures. 

This was actually me at the bar. A testament to how shitty my phone camera is.

That is the one advantage an iPhone has over everybody else- iPhone cameras are just on a different level. Next time, it'll be an iPhone for me! 

Day 25: Writer's Block and Polar Bears

Donation Station

It's a funny thing. For how badly I felt like I needed Thanksgiving break, I do not feel very well rested. I believe the saying is "I need a vacation from my vacation!" Now we are right back in the scholastic swing of things, and I am very behind. I sense a lot of romantic nights spent with my accounting notes in the weeks ahead. At the end of the semester, I guarantee the action will be super hot. Because I'm going to light everything on fire. Accounting is the most frustrating subject ever. I like to compare it to Chinese. Whereas the English language has a very tangible number of letters (26), Chinese has thousands. And it's probably incredibly difficult to learn every single one. Likewise, in accounting, there are millions upon millions of accounts to keep track of, and I find myself frustrated and angrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Right, so accounting sucks. 

(End Rant)

On a personal note, I am suffering from insane writer's block AGAIN today. I feel like David Duchovny in Californication. I'm a writer with out inspiration! I would like to say though that my life is way more together than Hank's in the show. But back to my point. Blogging for 30 days straight is really difficult. I have the Evernote application on my phone so that I can jot down a note whenever an inspirational idea hits. And then you know what happens? I look at my phone later and it says something like "that thing about polar bears."

And then I'm like: "What the fuck was I talking about? Polar bears?! Was I HIGH?"

And then because I have ZERO recollection of what I meant to post, I simply scan the internet for something interesting that involves polar bears.

And then I find a picture like this:

Polar Bear Swims for 426 miles

And then I think to myself: "Man... 426 miles. That's like from the North Pole to Annapolis. And Annapolis is close to DC. Which means we could have polar bears running rampant in DC."

And THEN, I think: "What would polar bears in DC be like?"

If I had to guess, I would say a 30% probability of this...

But a 70% probability of things turning out more like this...

Okay. So here's hoping that a polar bear doesn't get you! 'Til tomorrow!

Day 24: Picture of me with an elephant on my head

Donate Donate Donate Donate Time is Running Out!

Well, after much anticipation, I FINALLY saw Skyfall today and... I don't know. I thought it was good, but I didn't think it lived up to all the hype. Personally, I liked Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace better. But overall, I can't complain- My life is unquestionably better with more Bond in it.

In other news, my Packers are getting absolutely destroyed by the Giants. I despise the New York Giants. They are NOT EVEN FROM NEW YORK. They are from East Rutherford New Jersey. Any place in New Jersey is bad, but East Rutherford seems like a particularly barren wasteland. Anyway, I hate that team. The Packers cannot ever seem to beat them when it counts and as a fan, this is psychologically taxing.

SO, this is it! We are finally in the last week of Movember! Georgetown MBA is ranked 20th in the country, slightly ahead of Men of Campbell's Soup who are at #24! A strong finish is required though so if you've been holding off on donating, now's your time to shine!

And for those of you who HAVE donated, you are fantastic and wonderful. Um... so anyway, I appear to be suffering from some major writer's block today so I apologize, but that's it for today's post. Also, I may or may not be ending this post early because Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is on in the background, and Indie is about to be lowered into the pit! Ahhhhh I MUST watch!

"You drink blood, and you not wake up from nightmare"

Day 23: 2000!

Time is running out! Donate here!

Big things, big things! Today, 24 days into the month of Movember, my blog has eclipsed 2000 hits. As I've said before, I'm no mathemagician but I believe this puts me in the Top 10 of the Internet- along prominent sites like Google, Facebook, and AskJeeves. This realization has been the saving grace of my day given the outcome of the Michigan game. By the way, fuck Ohio State. Prior to Movember, average viewership typically hovered around minus 43 hits per month. If I had to guess at the breakdown of viewership, I would say that:

-1,000 hits are due to me obsessively proofreading (and yet spelling and grammar errors is still kommonplacse)
-750 hits are due to people accidentally finding my blog
-250 hits are due to people who intentionally tried to read my blog

SO, 250 "real" hits / approximately 25 posts = 10 real hits per day

These 10 real hits are likely my girlfriend, and a rotating cast of 9 other friends. Not that I rotate my friendship with them. They just rotate their readership. Nevertheless, I love all of you.

Here is Blog Fan #1 in all of her Black Friday glory. 

"Steve, look at this bracelet, sweater, and sunglasses that I got when shopping in Richmond! I look like a celebrity going to rehab!"

Mustache Day #23

While examining the mustache today, Liz repeatedly said "It just doesn't look right..."

See you tomorrow! Oh yeah, fuck Ohio State.