Check out the New Blog

Please visit our new and improved blog for our second time around. 

http://followthestache2010.tumblr.com/

I'm not Afraid to go Back

Since many people over the last few weeks told me I resembled a convict, I decided it would be fitting if I attended the Gala Parte as, well, a convict.  Needless to say I received several compliments, such as "sick costume", "damn, that is legit", and "holy sh--, that looks for real!".  Hey, the mean streets of Antioch breeds a different kind of dog, I guess.

However, as "legit" as my costume may have been, I was clearly overshadowed by those who obviously spent in excess of $100 to get outfitted for the night.  I'm on a tuna fish budget, I can't eat caviar.  I lost.  But it got me thinking about next year (yes, there will be a next year, and it will be bigger and badder than this year, I guarantee it).  I have to start planning like, tonight.  I saw a Hulk Hogan, one of my childhood heroes (I have the red Hulkamania hat to prove it) that made me want to bust a leg drop on the guy dressed as Jake the Snake Roberts with a rubber snake around his neck, a Ringo Starr that made me want to sing Yellow Submarine, a NASCAR team with a champagne celebration that made me want to purchase a 12-pack or Budweiser and sit in front of a TV all Sunday, and a Frida Kahlo that made me want to throw up.  Wait, a Frida Kahlo?  Yes, there was a woman dressed as Frida Kahlo, and SHE won Movember MAN OF THE YEAR!  Don't get me wrong, her costume was amazing, from the uni-brow to the mustache, it all looked real.  I mean, she even had a little stuffed monkey on her shoulder!  But the fact that she put that costume on Friday afternoon, and the other hundreds of men who usually do not sport a mustache walked around with one for 35 days, leered at by mothers on the subway, avoided by women at the bars and harassed by family, friends and co-workers everywhere yet she still won, did not sit well with me.  But we move on. 

Major League Moustachers had a great run, and you still have until December 9th to donate.  So, if you would like to donate $1 or $100, please see the links to the side and donate to the individual of your choice.  Thanks for the all the support over the last 37, it has been tremendous.


I leave you with a small token of my appreciation, a little something I like to call my Movember Montage.  Enjoy!

The South Carolina Swamp Fox Stache...

... and in case you were wondering, yes, the toothpick comes standard with this model.

Here we are at the end

So it is 12:04am and the Mo is gone. It was harder to let go of than I had expected. Even as I was trimming with a pair of small kitchen scissors, I was considering keeping the moustache; not just for a few more days, but maybe for the foreseeable future. My moustache's life flashed before my very eyes. Little did I know that I had grown attached to my upper lip hair.

Despite my eagerness to return to normal life, I could not help but think how much longer I could go. But there I was with shaving cream lathered up and razor in hand. And before I knew it, it was all gone. Just memories. And though I will come across countless people who will never have know that I once had a thick and lustrous red moustache, I will always enjoy reminiscing about this special month and the journey and camraderie I shared with teammates and fellow Movember gentlemen.

Movember Mix-Up

After traveling back to California this week to hang out with my family and friends for Thanksgiving, I arrived back in NY today to mix-up at the airport.  As I exited my United Airlines flight, I was warmly greeted by two New York State Troopers and promptly taken into custody.  It seems as though I closely resembled a prison inmate, (name omitted), and they feared I was him (see comparison below).  After explaining the story behind my stache, presenting two forms of valid identification, and promising to cut my mustache immediately after the Gala Parte to avoid any further confusion, the troopers let me go and donated anonymously to the cause.

As we approach the final days of Movember, I am saddened by the thought of no longer being able to stroke the stache when I am deep in thought, or the absence of glares on the 7 train to and from work everyday, or even the stares from older women as they mistake me for someone in their late 30s.  However, along the way, I've gained a few brothers, or should I say bros?  Mo Bros.  

Thanks for the journey fellas, it's been a helluva ride.

me the logger

Pete demanded an update so here it is. I have never been compared to as many people as in the recent mo-phase of my life. Here are the top three:

1. Lawrence
2. Steve Prefontaine
3. Ron Jeremy

Pretty illustrious group I think. On that note - Fuckin' A, man!

The Dog Days of November

We are nearly at the 2/3 marker of our 30 day odyssey into the facial forest of Movember. I thought by now that I would be suffering from a bad case of facial hair fatigue, but thankfully I have not hit the wall yet.

There are some noteworthy developments since I last posted. So below is a summary.Things that have changed since I adopted the mo:

• Productivity and output has soared as my moustache has helped me get to work earlier, work more efficiently, and stay later.
• I have had to pay closer attention to cup, mug, and glass selection as the moustache frequently dips into my beverage. As a result of increased moustache swimming, I have had to get used to the idea of follicles dancing in my drink. I reached an all-time low recently when I did not even flinch at a hair in my drink despite my friend alerting me. I simply shrugged it off.
• A new part of the toothbrushing ritual is to clean and wipe away toothpaste froth from around the inner moustache edges after a good scrub. This easily lengthens the process by minutes.
• I have had to better anticipate sneezes or avoid sneezing altogether. The collateral damage that occurs following a tissue-less sneeze can require an Exxon Valdez-like clean up operation.
• So far I have gained a greater appreciation for the effort a moustache requires; nevertheless, I have no better understanding as to why someone makes the life-choice to grow a moustache in the first place.

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed thus far, the team has now raised an incredible $2,100! Victor (aka Juan Valdez) and Pete (aka Heaven's Devil) have led by example, both on and off the face. Down the stretch we come....




A picture my moustache took while it was writing this post. Impressive.

Juan Marichal with Me and My Mo

Here is a picture taken last night with Juan Marichal. Juan was the first and only Dominican baseball player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Marichal is a former right-handed pitcher in MLB who played for the San Francisco Giants most of his career and was known for his high leg kick, dominating stuff and intimidation tactics, which included aiming pitches directly at the opposing batters' helmets.

This picture was taken yesterday also and really gives you an idea of my mo's current creepy factor. I'm in DR until tomorrow and then off to San Juan tomorrow. So far, nobody's flinched at my mo - you’ve gotta love Latin America. Tomorrow, me and my mo take on Isla Verde. Stay tuned for more pictures...

The Mustache as a Symbol of Power

As far back as 1156 AD the mustache was seen as a symbol of power.  Admittedly I did not realize this until the further examination of an ancient samurai arms and armor exhibit.  Upon this realization I became instantly connected with my stache, or should I say, my new found symbol of power. 

That very same night I watched Manny Pacquiao destroy Miguel Cotto in 11 1/2 rounds of art and science.  If you know Pac Man, you know he, too, has a killer stache.  And while Pac-Man has superior hand skills, I am now convinced that it was the power of his stache that has given him the strength to go up in weight class and still pummel bigger and stronger fighters at will.

While my stache still has some work to do (you can judge for yourself, and please do), I am feeling an out-of-body power beginning to take over my daily life. 

The Wolfpack

Each day I have a new feeling about my stache.  I feel myself taking on a new persona to match my stache.  As you can see by the picture, it's fit for a bad ass.  I guess you can say I'm developing a whole new swagger.  I mean, I've been told that I have 'swag' before, reminiscent of Denzel Washington, but this swag is different.

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when Victor introduced me to his team, Major League Moustachers, I knew it was my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Victor invited me into his later. And a few days later, when JB, Jesus, Janusz, Cae, Bennett, Kevin, and the Mo Sistas Jennifer and Jolka all joined the Major League Moustachers, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added nine more Bros and Sistas to my wolf pack. Ten of us wolves, running around the New York City and Germany, looking for donations and generating awareness.*

So tonight, I make a toast! A toast to my wolf pack, and to all of you who have generously donated to the cause and given your support in any way.

Be sure to check out the new feature on the side where you can vote for the dirtiest stache.  This poll will run until November 30, so don't miss out on an opportunity to make your vote count.  Also, if you have any ideas on what feature should be added to the blog leave a comment and we will see what we can do to make it happen. 

*Based on ideas from The Hangover (2009)

Day 12 of the mo journey

Its fun so far. The bad experience of the first day was a fluke and apart from jokes and a lot of funny looks its actually not so bad. I even had some people tell me that they like the look, but I am pretty sure they were actually mocking me.

Whenever I tell anybody the reason for the stache people are very supportive and like the idea of movember - I hope this starts paying dividends in some donations for the good cause.

"Where's the cash at? Where's the stache at?"

I can answer the latter of the late Biggie Smalls' famous philosophical query. It-- the Stache--is right here, steadily creeping-in above my upper lip. Although I did not begin growing my Stache until November 9th (full disclosure), it has responded well and is making up for lost time. I look forward to getting some of the creepy sidelong glances on the subway that have been fodder for my fellow MLB Moustacheurs over the past week. Will it end up being a Magnum PI-stache or a Frankie Ruiz? A Brendan Ryan or Keith Hernandez? Only time (and careful shaving) will tell.

Can you see it?

Hello! I am growing a moustache... hold on, scratch that... I am doing my BEST to grow a moustache in order to raise money and awareness for the fight against prostate cancer for the month of Movember.

For those who dont know me, I can't grow facial hair. So I am trying everything I can to get my Mo... from eating mushrooms, tomatoes, to wild south american spices... am trying... and I am happy to say that YES, there is some progress.... Look for yourself

(you might want to zoom in 8x) hahaha

...and, don't forget to donate some dough!

A mind of its own

What I did not previously understand - as a non-mo bro - was that a moustache takes on a life of its own. A moustache is not merely hair that hugs the skin between the lip and the nose, it has its own personality. It takes its own form, grows as its own pace, has its own colour. My mo is rough, like a long prickly sheet of sandpaper. The first few days it grew very quickly, but has since become shy. And surprisingly, my mo is multi-coloured; the red above the lip cascades into blond at the side of the mouth, eventually morphing into a dark brown/black toward the chin.

Finally posting some pictures. First one is a simple portrait, second is an action shot. Note that in the second shot it is my moustache that made the copies.

Celebrate the Mo!

Yesterday was a rough, or rather, an awkward day. For the first time ever, I left my apartment to go to work with a MUSTACHE. I never thought I would be doing that. Never! But it happened. And now slowly but surely, I'm starting to embrace my mo. I'm starting to realize that Movember really is something that should be celebrated and touted. That the mo is cool! The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club. I think the first rule of Movember should be: Talk about Movember as much as possible. Celebrate it!

Yesterday I had an interesting encounter with a mo-bro. I ran into this guy I hadn't seen in a while and he was rocking a new stache. I was hoping this would eventually happen and it did - I ran into someone I know who is also growing the stache in order to raise money for Movember and two great charities. So after talking to him for a while I finally got around to asking him if he was growing his stache for Movember and his response was, "Of course dude! You think I'd grow this thing and look this stupid for any other reason?". We both got a good laugh about it and then started talking about how fun, yes, fun, growing a mo is. So we stared comparing stories and styles: him and his buddies from his rugby team are growing them while I'm taking on Movember with some of my buddies from work. He looks like Huckleberry Finn with a stache and me, well, like I put in my last post...I'm starting to look like Juan Valdez and you know what, I'm starting to like it and am going to celebrate it.

As the days turn into weeks and we get closer to the end of Movember, I'm starting to think that some mo-bros might be sad to shave their staches off. I dont think I will be sad to see this bad boy go, but who knows... In the meantime, however, I sure am going to celebrate it.

Into the Wild

I have been struggling with this for 204 hours now. I was not sure if I would ever get used to it and so far I have not. I can not seem to put the hair above my lip out of mind. But since I have decided on an inclusive approach - growing toward a fu manchu - I do not notice the hair below my lips. When I do graze in the region around my mouth I am caught off-guard by the parallel strips of soft hair bordering the chin. This is an around-the-clock effort. The only thing that I can think of that requires that kind of consistency is breathing. So hopefully growing lip hair will become as second-nature as breathing.

Picture coming soon.

Quieres café?

Yes, stereotypes exist and they suck. Many of you are going to think you've seen my picture in a coffee advertisement. Or was it a small role in Carlito's Way where you saw me? Maybe I made you a piña colada down at that resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico? Was I the guy you crossed the street because of in order to avoid?

You tell me...

One week down and only four more to go. Awesome.

From Classy to Trashy

So Week One is in the books.  I started out with a fresh shave and a little class, and now I have a nasty stache and a lotta trash.  On Thursday, after just four days of mustache growth, I began noticing people on the train looking at me in an awkward way, a way I hadn't noticed before.  Sure, I'm a little more conscious now about the way I look and am maybe paying too much attention to if others are paying attention to me.  However, I wore a hat and scarf to work on Friday and received far less looks on the train.  I guess they figured I was a traveler instead of a ... nevermind.

Then, on Friday night (morning, 1:30am) I was waiting for the train and for the first time in my life (while on US soil) I was approached and asked if I spoke English.  Again, I was wearing a hat and a scarf so I must have been giving off the Frenchie vibe.

Today, well, today you can decide for yourself by looking at the update below.  Please, leave your comments, comparisons, jokes, etc. in the comments section below.  Also, be sure to click on the Donate Here! link to the left (under Peter Aiello) to donate to the cause.  Any size donation is much appreciated. 

Weekly Update

Thanks. Peace. I'm out!

It's Starting to Get Creepy

So we all know the stache is not the best look for young guys but hey, that's part of what makes Movember so fun - sacrificing our great looks to raise money for charity! We are all about a week into this endeavor and its really starting to look creepy. You know it's creepy by the looks you get from random people. The questions. The curiosity. The "WHY?!?".

Oh well, as Mo-bros, we are committed. As Pete Rock mentioned, some of us had to start growing our staches a few days after Nov 1 because of certain work related obligations but those are all behind us and it's full speed ahead. I'm currently in Puerto Rico where the stache is more widely accepted and even embraced so it hasn't been too bad just yet. But tomorrow it's back to NYC and on Monday, a handful of us will be rocking the stache through the subways, streets and offices of Manhattan.

At some point tomorrow I will be posting my first picture. As Peter Rock said, all comments, comparisons, jokes, etc are all welcomed...as long as you DONATE!

I'm aiming for something along the lines of this picture by the end of Movember. We'll see how this all works out...

New Direction for Follow the Stache

So our team has grown to seven! Yeah, I know, for a team comprised of baseball players and/or employees you'd think we would at least get nine. Well, if all hold to their word, we will be picking up two more in the next few days (they had prior speaking or television PR appearances and mustaches on young people just don't come across well on television or in front of large audiences).

Anyhow, Victor (Captain of Major League Moustachers -- MLM) had a great idea to make this a blog for the entire MLM team. I agreed.

What Does This Mean?

Now each of the team members has the authority to post to the blog. Why is this good? More frequent updates, more people reading as we all have different friends, and MORE PICTURES! Speaking of which, updates are coming tomorrow.

What has Changed?

On the sidebar to the right there was originally only a link to donate to ME, Peter, AKA Pete Rock, AKA PA, AKA The Best Rapper Alive if all the Rappers Retired. Links have been added to donate to each of the team members as well as view our other social media pages. This will allow each of us to forward this to our closest friends and provide them with an easy, one-click process to donate to the cause. There is still a link to join the team as that hasn't changed.

What Now?

What are you waiting for? Start forwarding this to all of your closest friends, have them forward it to their friends, subscribe to this blog, visit our personal pages listed under each of our names on the sidebar to the right and get involved in any way you can to help us raise awareness!

Peace!

-Pete Rock

Welcome to MOvember

First, I want to thank all of you for visiting this site.

Now that I have that out of the way, I'd like to thank all of you for your support and generous donations. Sure, a bunch of guys growing mustaches for a month seems like something college kids would do to raise money for a field trip, and don't get me wrong, I think it's great that they would do something creative to raise money rather than hold their hands out to mommy and daddy, but we're growing mustaches to raise awareness about two diseases that will change the lives of many men, likely some of you reading this blog.

For more information on Movember you can watch a short intro by clicking on the video image below:



Each week until the end of Movember (November) I will post a picture update. I welcome any and all comments, and look forward to seeing how creative you are in coming up with nicknames and comparisons.

Here is my Movember 1, 2009 update. Smooth like a baby's ass.



Be sure to follow me on all of my other pages by clicking on the links to the left (Facebook, Twitter, Mo Space).

Thank you again for visiting and let's have some fun with this. Peace!