I started growing my beard out again the week of the HALF MARATHON. It started out innocently enough, I was just going to do a No Shave November, but then I remembered how I wanted to grow it out for the final two months or so of 2007 and couldn’t. So I was going to grow it out through the end of the year and then shave it. Then I started getting compliments about it. “that beard is epic” “your beard looks good” “it’s so thick!” People liked it, I kept getting unsolicited comments. So then I thought “okay, I can let it go a little while longer.”

I was talking to my friend Brandon at work last week, and told him I was leaning towards shaving it off. He told me I should wait, and I told him that now it’s gotten to the point where if I shave it off, it’s a little over two months’ work gone. Gladly, the beard is not tied to anything sports related, so I didn’t feel compelled to shave because of the Saints or Hornets. I had the beard in Nashville while watching the Cowboys game. [photo credit: Brandi]

Thursday I went to the gym to run since it has been too cold to run outside. I passed CGG as I was leaving, but looked away plus I had my beard and glasses on, and avoided eye contact. Friday I went back to work out, and he noticed me and called me by name. The beard lost it’s disguise factor. Also, I found out CGG is part of the cleaning crew, which makes me think he’s not really related to the owner. That’s another story.

Saturday night my friend Jacob and I were finally going to hang out after two postponements. I shaved my beard down to a mustache. I had just gotten tired of the beard, plus with the disguise factor going away and other factors, it had to go. I had gotten the mustache idea from when Jacob had done it a couple of years ago….to go out with a mustache. I ended up being late because the beard took so long to shave off. I thought the mustache came out pretty well.

Sunday before meeting up with family to go down to the WWII Museum, I shaved the mustache off. I’m clean shaven for the first time since late October. It’s a brave new world.