Tank's Moustache March Blog

What a wonderful day this first day of March is! Twitter and Facebook are alive with moustache talk.  I wish that I could post to the blog with every thought/experience I have during the month but a lot of the time I get bogged down with the logistics behind the scenes.

That is why I am putting out to you to help make this blog what it should be.  If you have something to say about Moustache March, whether it be an event, a personal experience or just some general opinion, I would love to get it up on the blog. (I would especially love some of our women supporters to share their support)

If you are interested head on over to the Moustache March Contact Page and send me a note letting me know what you would like to talk about.

You can always check this blog and www.moustachemarch.com but if you prefer twitter, facebook or email we have options for you:

• You can follow my Moustache March account on Twitter.
• You can be a fan of us on facebook on the Moustache March Fan Page.
• You can also subscribe to the Moustache March mailing list. See what the email had to say today: Moustache March Email 02/28/2011

If that doesn’t do it for you I don’t know what to say, I do have a guest room at the house…

I constantly get questions about what Moustache March is, why we do it, etc. Well in the past I wrote a F.A.Q on the website that you can find here. But I thought I would write a little more here to help people understand.

The question I probably get most often is, “how can I get involved?” What a loaded question! One thing that we are trying to do this year is have our site be the spot where you can find all the different groups that are doing activities during the month. I hear all the time about different events happening and am hoping to connect people up to honor the ‘stache.

Which brings me to my next thing, honoring the ‘stache. That is our most important mission. There are a lot of groups out there that think you need to be clean shaven at the beginning of March, but my problem with that is that I would only have a moustache for the last few days of the month. So I started in October so that I would have a showing that would truly honor all that is the moustache.

The other big dilemma is the Moustache vs. Mustache debate. When we started we didn’t even think about it, we went with the moustache spelling because it is more traditional and the World Beard and Moustache Championships spell it that way. There is a great site at www.mustachemarch.com, the only problem is I haven’t heard anything from them since 2005 and it seems that they have given up, sad. I do support both spellings because it just makes sense.

So after my rambling here is a summary of what we want you to do to get involved:

• Grow a moustache, duh!
• Go to www.moustachemarch.com look around get motivated and get involved
• Take pictures, make videos, make music and get it online. Send it to us and make it fun. Whether it’s you by yourself in front of a mirror or 100 moustaches taking on the white house just do it.
• Network! Get people involved, get involved with events, motivate people, entertain people.
• Go to www.moustachestore.com and buy some stuff!
• While at the store become a lifetime member and show your support.
• Join the mailing list on the site so you know what is going on.

I am a little late on getting this news to you but I have just been bogged down with my fortune and fame. I am so bogged down I am just posting what I sent out to all the members of the Moustache March Mailing List. What’s that you say? You’re not on the mailing list? Well get on it now. Any ways on to the good stuff:

Yesterday I was on the local news for the American Cancer Society event. “Out and About” with Drew Carney did several segments for the 5-7am news. They actually posted most of the video here. You will also notice they used my mermaid picture for the link to the article here.

My true moment of glory, along with my dog’s, didn’t make the website cut, so I posted a poor video of my TV copy on youtube here.

I am really excited to attend the celebration event tonight with the ACS crew. Should be good times and hopefully I can score some sweet prizes and get my ‘stache shaved by a proffessional barber!

Sorry for all the heres here…

For those of you in the know, you will realize this is a picture of me next to a poster from the hottest thing from Broadway, Wicked. Each March I like to take in some theater, last year it was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Several months ago my wife was proactive and secured us some seats for Wicked‘s limited engagement in Portland. I think all of the shows have since sold out.

Now for those of you that have no clue what I am talking about, Wicked is the story of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West’s perspective. Now this is a musical, but I happen to be fond of the genre, yes I enjoyed Evita. It actually is a pretty fun story and a pretty entertaining show. Makes you take a good look at the perspectives you have in your own life.

So for all of you that think my March is only filled with beer, babes, bars and ‘staches, maybe this will show you that there can be, and is more to Moustache March.

Where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of the Capistrano, or something like that. I got the chance to take my Moustache down to Southern California this past week. It was a pleasant change from the cold, dreary Portland weather. We actually were out in Indio east of Palm Springs. It was nice, hot and dry. There was a pool near that had a lazy river in it. If you are not familiar with a lazy river it is basically a short man made river that goes in a circle so you sit on your raft and never have to walk back to the start.

The trip also gave me a chance to try out my new Pentax Optio W60 waterproof digital camera. I was pretty impressed with the results. I have some pics over at Flickr and a video on Youtube. This is the same camera I used down at the Dixie but this was it’s first trip under water.

Besides insane amounts of time at the pool, I did manage to do a few other things, most importantly a rare visit to In N Out, so good, went for the 4×4 animal style!

I did see some pretty strong Moustaches while down there but didn’t get much of a chance to promote the cause although I did sell a couple shirts and can cozies! Any ways, now I am back in Portland, quickly losing my tan, and being hailed on as I walked my dog this afternoon…

So at this point I am pretty sure everyone (because even I have with my strong distaste for commercials and my strong addiction to my DVR) has seen the long commercials advertising the newest in a long line of As Seen on TV products, the Snuggie™. It is a ridiculous commercial showing the advantages of their product over your run of the mill blanket.

Now some of you are saying, yeah that product sucks, I watched the Snuggie™ Parody on Youtube and it’s so true…Well I am here to tell you, you are wrong. See my wife suffers from overcolditis a common affliction for wives, girlfriends and chicks in general. So I thought what a great product for her but I need to interject with my theory on As Seen on TV products:

So as many people know I have a slight addiction to infomercials, especially the GT Express 101. The products just look so amazing and they keep lowering the prices and throw in an extra one to sweeten the deal. But then I get online and go to the website thinking how could I go wrong, that is until I see the shipping and handling. They usually want to charge like 10 times as much as the product is worth and then me being a cheapskate when it comes to S&H, has second thoughts, and realizes that I don’t need this product.

So any ways back to the Snuggie™, so I had pretty much written off this product even with the buy one, get one free and the amazing automatic book light. They wanted almost $16 for S&H doubling the price. But then a gift from heaven. Costco online decides to make it all happen. They offered me 2 Snuggies, 2 booklights all for $14.95 and here is the hot spot, no shipping!

Needless to say, I ordered immediately and 4-7 business days later I have a package in my hot little hands. I quickly walked over to my wife, we work together, who was conversing with a few coworkers and presented her with the gift, she opened it and laughed with fear. See just the day before she had shown me an article in Time magazine discussing the success of the Snuggie, they have sold a crap ton of these things.

But after all this we got it home and guess what, it is a great little product that makes sense. So yes I am telling you, I am a man’s man with a manly moustache that owns a Snuggie™ and not afraid to say it. I scored bonus points with my wife (she wouldn’t tell any one that) and we will save hundreds on our heating bill while still being able to blog or eat popcorn. Now I just need to find my Clapper and I will be set.

March 31st, 2008 seems like forever ago. It has been a long year and not necessarily an easy one for most. But that is why I am glad March 1st is finally here. The time when men around the world unite and enjoy all that is Moustache!

On the site, moustachemarch.com, we have a whole new look and new theme for the new year. Our own Mike coined the phrase “When Moustaches are Outlawed, Only Outlaws will have Moustaches,” which we decided to develop our year around.

I hope for your own sake that you will join us in this time of global uncertainty and honor something that is certain, the amazingness of Moustaches.

Just in case you are not aware, Joaquin Phoenix has retired from acting to pursue his music career. Now I am a big fan of his acting but I am a much bigger fan of his new beard. He must have gotten wind of Moustache March and be going strong for Facial Hair February.

Here is a link to a TMZ clip on Youtube w/ a sample of his rapping and a glimpse at his beard.

I decided to do the first ever Dad’s and Grad’s sale this year on the Moustache March site.  You all have that dad or grad in your life that lives or loves the ‘stache and what better way to show them you love them then by getting them a shirt(now $10) or bandana(now $2) from this year’s Moustache March store?