The following tells the story leading up to Operation Beardvaria. Events occur in real time:*
8 March 2009 12:11am
Email from: Teresa
Subject: Munich Oktoberfest
Hi guys,
I thought the other day it would be nice going to Munich to the Oktoberfest :-)
I could book us a table in a tent - either for 8, 10 or 12 people. Would be in the Lowenbrau-Festhalle. Would you be interested?
8 March 2009 04:16am
Email from: Teresa
Subject: Munich Oktoberfest
Hi Teresa, that sounds awesome! Count me in. I'm in Siberia now on my way back to London for the end of the month.**
30-March-09 - 2pm:
Text Message from DG: Billo. I'm back tonight at about 5:30. What's say we celebrate with a little Schnitzel Madness at the Bavarian Beerhouse.
Simultaneous Text Message from Simon: G. What time do you get back. I'm thinking that Schnitzel Madness might be a great way to welcome you back to London. My treat.
3 hours later
Text Message from DG: Ha ha. Nice one. You know me too well. Mine was first though. On the ground. See you guys soon.
16-April-09 10:20pm
Email from Teresa
Good news, The table's booked!. ...So, up to you now, too, to watch out for flights and accommodation possibilites. Munich - here we come!
20-May-09 4:24pm
Email from DG:
Subject: Can you send me the German town name and relevant dates. I'm doing some trip planning.
22-May-09 11:50am
Email from Mom
Subject: Ancestroal Homeland
The Gerhard and Zumstein families from whom you are descended lived at
Miesau, which when you Google it comes up as Miesau Bruchmuhlbach. About 3
km down the road is Sand where I believe the church was located. Going back
another generation the family appears to have been at Glan Munch weiler and
Lambsborn. These are all places very close to one another.
I will copy a couple of things and mail them to you as I can't get my
scanner to work
Miesau, which when you Google it comes up as Miesau Bruchmuhlbach. About 3
km down the road is Sand where I believe the church was located. Going back
another generation the family appears to have been at Glan Munch weiler and
Lambsborn. These are all places very close to one another.
I will copy a couple of things and mail them to you as I can't get my
scanner to work
22-May-09
Email from DG:
Subject: Re: Ancestroal Homeland
Email from DG:
Subject: Re: Ancestroal Homeland
awesome. i'm totlly going there in september. to the first one thatis. the Adam Gerhard place. that's as far back as I know so....what'sadam's dad's name? Horst? Michel? Jan?
30-May-09
Surface Mail from Mom (Contents include maps, summary chart indicating Name, Place and date of birth and death, german language marriage certificates). Summarizing the contents, the Gerhard direct ancestoral chain looks like this (Name, Relationship to DG, Birth year, Birthplace)
....and that's as far back as we know. Still, not bad though eh. 5 Great Granfathers dating back 260 years. Can't wait to go there and hang out and check it out.
David James Gerhard (1973 Canada)
Kenneth James Gerhard - Father (1942 Canada)
Kenneth C. Gerhard- Grandfather (1908 Canada)
Clarance Gerhard - Great Grandfather*** (1867 Canada)
Adam Gerhard - Great Great Grandfather (1841 Bavaria)
Johan Adam Gerhard - Great Great Great Grandfather (1810 Bavaria)
Joh Theobald Gerhard - Great Great Great Great Grandfather (1774 Bavaria)
Philipp Gerhard - Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather (circa 1749 Austria)
Kenneth James Gerhard - Father (1942 Canada)
Kenneth C. Gerhard- Grandfather (1908 Canada)
Clarance Gerhard - Great Grandfather*** (1867 Canada)
Adam Gerhard - Great Great Grandfather (1841 Bavaria)
Johan Adam Gerhard - Great Great Great Grandfather (1810 Bavaria)
Joh Theobald Gerhard - Great Great Great Great Grandfather (1774 Bavaria)
Philipp Gerhard - Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather (circa 1749 Austria)
....and that's as far back as we know. Still, not bad though eh. 5 Great Granfathers dating back 260 years. Can't wait to go there and hang out and check it out.
1-June-09 12:34am
Email from Teresa:
Subject: you can book Oktoberfest accommodation today 11 am.
Just a quick reminder - today, 1 June, you have a great (and maybe the last)
chance to book accommodation for Oktoberfest. Wombats opens their booking
website at 11 am English time. Book within 5 minutes, afterwards all rooms
will be gone...
chance to book accommodation for Oktoberfest. Wombats opens their booking
website at 11 am English time. Book within 5 minutes, afterwards all rooms
will be gone...
1-June-09 11:36am
Email from DG:
Subject: Re: you can book Oktoberfest accommodation today 11 am
SWEEEEEEET. After 26mins of relentless refreshing and entering my cardnumber I got billsy and myself space in dorm rooms for both nights. Ihope everyone else's luck was the same. If not. the key is to not giveup and just keep refreshing. Bring it on!!!
25-Juni-09 12:27am
Email von Teresa
Betreff: latest Oktoberfest news
...Dave, have you been successful finding a place to buy Lederhosen? Let us know as some others were interested in getting some, too.
25-June-09 9:01pm
Email from DG:
Subject: Re: latest Oktoberfest news
It's cheap costume quality but I figure there is about a 99.99999999999999999% certainty of spilling beer all over it so don't want to be thinking about how much I spent on lederhosen when I could be having a wicked time.
I haven't ordered yet but once I get my first paycheque in 9 months I will be all over it. PROOOOOOST!!!!
31-July-09 12:03pm
Email from DG
Subject: lederhosen
Subject: lederhosen
Want me to order you a lederhosen while I order mine???!!!
31-July-09 12:23pm
Email from Simon
Subject: lederhosen
Yep, do it.
31-July-09 12:35pm
Email from Flagship Fancy Dress
Subject: Your Order at Flagship Fancy Dress
Your order has been received and will be processed as soon as possible.
31-July-09 12:45pm
Email from Flagship Fancy Dress
Subject: Your Order at Flagship Fancy Dress
Subject: Your Order at Flagship Fancy Dress
We want to let you know that your order status has been updated to....DISPATCHED.****
3-August-09 7:45pm
Text Message from DG : My Lederhosen arrived!!!
Up until now. This has been a history of the communication relating to securing a table at Oktoberfest 2009, booking acommodation in Munich on one of the busiest weekends of the year and and buying online some kickass Lederhosen. This is the background which gave rise to the genesis of the brainstorming session that resulted in "Operation Beardvaria".
Operation Beardvaria gets a Name
13-August-09 3:16pm
Email from DG:
Subject: Beard-tember?
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the date I started growing my epic travel beard. To celebrate I am going to begin growing my Oktoberfest beard. What do I call this one?
Two years ago it was Beard-vember***** (aka ProjectChabal), last year it was Travel Beard/New Beard's Eve, but what about the2009 version?
Project Oktoberfest sounds cool but doesn't really make one envision beard growth. Beard-tember or Beard-gust just don't havethe same ring them as Beard-vember. Beard-toberfest could be good but it has yet to grow on me. Any ideas?
13-August-09 4:08pm
Email from Simon
Subject: Re:Beard-tember?
Operation Beard-varia. You know it makes sense.
13-August-09 4:22pm
Email from Jason
Hmmmm...at first mention Beard-varia sounds awesome, however I think that Beard-toberfest has people recognizing instantly the link between the beard and event. Also Beard-toberfest sounds like an event (which the beard growing is), while Beard-varia is more like a place (which the beard might be for small pieces of food).
13-August-09 4:32pm
Email from DG
Good insight by Jay. And just when I had almost officially changed the name to Beard-varia. Although I can’t help but notice that he didn’t actually provide any ideas.
It doesn’t really help idea generation that Beard-toberfest is pretty good and I hadn’t actually thought of it when I started the email survey. Might have set the bar too high there. Beard-varia does sound like a great place though. I propose a trip to the Beard-varian Beard-house in the near future to celebrate Beard-toberfest.
It doesn’t really help idea generation that Beard-toberfest is pretty good and I hadn’t actually thought of it when I started the email survey. Might have set the bar too high there. Beard-varia does sound like a great place though. I propose a trip to the Beard-varian Beard-house in the near future to celebrate Beard-toberfest.
13-August-09 5:00pm
Email from Simon
Email from Simon
I guess Beard-toberfest is okay.... if you like your mini-projects to have obvious, cheap, unsophisticated, unsubtle names without any clever word play.
Beard-varia sounds like Bavaria which is where the genuis lies, a witty little play on words, Beard-toberfest sounds like a movie co starring Adam Sandler and Rodney Dangerfield filled with lame fart jokes and no plot or dialogue to speak of, on the other hand Beard-varia is more Cohen Brothers - picture The Big Lebowski meets Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
13-August-09 5:00pm
Email from Danny
Beard-toberfest is a bit of a mouth full and doesn't roll off the tongue like Beard-varia does
13-August-09 5:07pm
Email from DG
Beard-varia is a place though. Although maybe if I called the project “Destination Beardvaria” that has a pretty good ring to it. Or maybe “What happens in Beard-varia stays in Beard-varia” you know because a lot of crazy stuff would happen there I bet. If it were a real place that is. But then that’s the idea, it’s up to me to make it real. Right. Beard-varia is back on.
13-August-09 5:17pm
Email from Simon
Email from Simon
Chabal is a person, Beard-vember is a month, new beards eve is a day, Travel beard is a...well, I don't know what it is, but the point is that the name of a beard growing project doesn't play by anyone's rules, least of all society's, and naming this one Operation Beard-varia adds another string to the already well strung bow of beard project naming variety.
The fact it's operation Beard-varia actually gives the name a nice framework. What's the operation? Going to Bavaria with a beard. Oh, that makes perfect sense. You are awesome.
The fact it's operation Beard-varia actually gives the name a nice framework. What's the operation? Going to Bavaria with a beard. Oh, that makes perfect sense. You are awesome.
13-August-09 5:36pm
Email from DG
Very well. Operation Beardvaria with the subtitle “What happens in Beardvaria, Stays in Beardvaria” (that won’t actually be the motto it just sounds cool to say – make no mistake there will be loads of sharing the stuff that happens in Beardvaria with all).
I’m working on designing a graphic and logo. Well technically I’m thinking about working on designing a graphic and logo. I can imagine really applying myself and coming up with a kickass logo though.
13-August-09 7:22
Email from Andy
Beard-varia does sound like a great place, and Billsy you have put some strong arguments forward for Operation Beard-varia.
What about Bundes-Liga-Beard-a? Terrible, i know******... perhaps more appropriate if you were actually going to a Bundes-Liga fixture and not the bier festival. Back to the spreadsheets for me, hopefully I'll be more creative in a couple of weeks when I'll have no reason to be working with spreadsheets.
What about Bundes-Liga-Beard-a? Terrible, i know******... perhaps more appropriate if you were actually going to a Bundes-Liga fixture and not the bier festival. Back to the spreadsheets for me, hopefully I'll be more creative in a couple of weeks when I'll have no reason to be working with spreadsheets.
14-August-09 11:22am
Email from DG
Subject: FW: Beard-tember
Sorry not to involve you guys in the “Operation Beardvaria: What happens in Beardvaria, stays in Beardvaria” event naming debate. Beard-toberfest was a close second.
Operation Beardvaria will span from yesterday until 4 October when, after a Saturday night at a massive Oktoberfest Beer tent in Munich I will shave it off.
For the logo I envision a circular badge with Operation Beardvaria written along circularly along the top and the subtitle What happens here stays here wrapping around the bottom with some mix of Bavaria related and beard related graphics in the centre and an appropriate font.
Operation Beardvaria will span from yesterday until 4 October when, after a Saturday night at a massive Oktoberfest Beer tent in Munich I will shave it off.
For the logo I envision a circular badge with Operation Beardvaria written along circularly along the top and the subtitle What happens here stays here wrapping around the bottom with some mix of Bavaria related and beard related graphics in the centre and an appropriate font.
It’s still a work in progress so any design assistance/advice would be welcome.
24-August-09 2:55pm
Email from Matt
So, do you have the logo developed yet?
24-August-09 2:55pm
Email from DG
Email from DG
Not developed per se. but I have been thinking about it and next Monday is a holiday so I might take Thursday and Friday off and finish my blog and design the logo and a few other admin type things.
Do you have loads of fonts on Corel draw? Perhaps the Oktoberfest font or one similar.
25-August-09 12:00am
Email from Matt
Here is the Bearvaria draft logo I made.
Beardvaria continues...This was written on Operation Beardvaria Day 13.Photos: 1) Draft graphic courtesy of Matt (also designer of National Beardographic and Bearded People).
*Not really but it's very 24-esque phrasing. All of the events are in the past. Some by several months. Some from earlier today. All actually happened. Though not all are actual quotes. The text thing from March is by best rememberance as I've since broken that phone and some of the emails have been edited for brevity but not many.
**Up until 2009 the closest thing I've come to Munich Oktoberfest is the Bavarian Beerhouse approximately 700m from my flat. It was also the venue of the 2007 50 Days of Beard-vember Party. Before that a photo of me in my Bavarian hat made it into the Bavarian Beerhouse Newsletter.
***Clarance isn't the coolest name these days but you should have seen his mustache. From the old timey photos it was awesome!
***Clarance isn't the coolest name these days but you should have seen his mustache. From the old timey photos it was awesome!
****10 minutes from order time to dispatch time has got to be some kind of online shopping record! Ordered it Friday at lunch and even with free shipping received it on Monday!
*****Did I ever tell you about the time I made the Big Book of Beardvember which photographically recorded the 2007 Project Chabal (also known as Beardvember) and then sent a copy to Grandma Gerhard. I never heard back from her. What's up with that?
******Ya, it wasn't great but in the mad mad game of Beard Project Naming all ideas are welcome.
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