7/20/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Trick This!"

Well, when I started out, this seemed near impossible to do. I started out trying to do it off of the ground and then off a tee. I looked like a duck flailing as it was mauled by a wolverine. Then I tried hitting the ball off of the driving range mat, with a slight incline in it. I kept going under the ball and it would simply roll backwards. Then I put Tyson's wallet in front of it and tried that and eventually I got it to flop backwards just a few feet. But, overall, up to that point, it was a failure. Little did I know the kid in the video had actually stacked two balls on top of each other. This is exactly what the driving range owner suggested, so I did that and that worked fantastically. In fact, all 3 were higher than the kid's shot in the video. I didn't even think about him catching it in the video until after I just rewatched it. That wouldn't have been hard to do either, I just wasn't trying to. Anyways, check out the video.
Golf Trick (Medium: 3.97 MB)

7/14/2007: Marianne Completes "Print it!"

There is not a PaintShop on this computer but there is a paint. So this will probably take all day to download but that's an even trade because it took me all day to do this task. It's not that it was hard, I just don't know how to do a whole lot of stuff on this new computer yet. It's a pain and I did three pages which is a great feat (you have no idea how great) if it doesn't load...maybe I'll care by Tuesday.

7/4/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Slogan Slinger"

Ok, sorry for the late posting on this, however, I think it was worth the wait. While I think this was one of the harder tasks I've ever had to do, it turned out to probably be one of the best. I went into the local Ingles and looked for like 30 minutes for everything on the list, except for Calgon. I didn't even bother looking for it, as I have never even really heard of it. I just got a Sunkist and made up a slogan for it, which I think most should find quite amusing. Anyways, the checkout process was horribly embarrassing, but in the end it turned out for the best. I have recorded audio of the encounter. The sound is a bit muffled, as the recorder was in my pocket. You should be able to make out most of the slogans though. Here is the audio file:
Slogan Slinger (96 kbps)

Also, here are a few pics:

Outside Ingles

Rice Krispies & Frosted Flakes

Sunkist: It's F--king Sunkist.

7/2/2007: Stephen Has Completed "When I Was Your Age"

Here are the costs of some things in 1940:

Car: $800
Gasoline: 18 cents/gal
House: $6,550
Bread: 8 cents/loaf
Milk: 34 cents/gal
Postage Stamp: 3 cents
Stock Market: 131
Average Annual Salary: $1,900
Minimum Wage: 30 cents per hour
(Source)

That covers all the requirements except clothes.
Using interpolation from the other items, I estimate a shirt, pants, socks, and shoes would cost between $3 and $4.

6/25/2007: Stephen Has Completed "That's So Pizza"

Well, this was interesting. I had virtually no other human contact until I was called to come into Hickory today. Once I did, I was ready to let loose a barrage of sadistic, messed up stuff, and I did, but unfortunately my voice recorder batteries died. So I settled for a couple of recordings on the computer at work and then I spent an hour recording random crap on the computer once I got home. But I think you might enjoy it, perhaps as much as watching kayakers go over a waterfall and dumping 70 tons of jello mix into the water at the last second to cushion their fall, but not realizing that jello has to take a lot of time to set up and that you probably shouldn't have turned that sign backwards at the previous fork in the river, and getting that thrill of running from the cops through the wilderness for several years and combing ticks out of your beard with twigs. That kind of enjoyment.
Anyways, here is the audio:
That's So Pizza (1.45 MB)

6/19/2007: Stephen & Tyson Have Completed "Sportgy"

My goodness this was exceptionally time consuming. While we were able to successfully compete in 20 sports over the last 2 days, it took pretty much all of our free time. I just got all of the videos imported over the course of the last several hours. I hopefully can convert and edit them sometime before the end of the week and post it. The video should be pretty good! Here are the sports we chose:
Basketball
Baseball
Football
Soccer
Golf
Lacrosse
Tennis
Darts
Putt Putt
Billiards
Sprinting
Javelin Throw
Ultimate Frisbee
Kickball
Dodgeball
Skeeball
Air Hockey
The Caber Toss
Baseketball
Russian Roulette

Be on the lookout for the vid soon!

EDIT: Here is the video link!
Sportgy (Medium: 44.8 MB)

6/15/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Dream Vacation"

Ok this is a golf vacation primarily. So I will need a foursome. Ideally I could take my dad and brother, but knowing their time commitments with other stuff, they would never be able to take off for a vacation like this, though I don't think I would either. I would take Tyson, Braiden, and my cousin Nathan along.

Pregame: Edwin Watts Charlotte (June 30)
We start off by driving to Charlotte. We all buy our dream set of clubs and about 20 dozen golf balls each. I also must include gas in the cost.Estimated cost: $2500 per person for clubs/balls + $20 gas = $10020

First Stage: Kiawah Island Ocean Course (July 1-July 3)

Why not start off the trip with one of the hardest courses in the world? We will be purchasing this package: Villa Championship Summer Golf Packages
Starting from $323
Enjoy your stay in one of our spacious villas and play one round on the world renowned Ocean Course and two rounds at any of the resort’s other championship courses (based on a three night stay). Green fees, cart fees, range balls, daily breakfast and dinner at any resort restaurant that serves dinner, are also included.
Estimated Cost: $323 per person for golf + $40 gas = $1332

Stage 2: TPC @ Sawgrass (July 4-July 7)

Who can resist the chance at the island green? There are many packages with varying amenities, but I preferred this one, for the forecaddie experience.
THE PLAYERS Package
3 ROUNDS, 3 NIGHTS
From $886.00 /person
Book now and receive a FREE arrival round on Dye's Valley Course and a 1-hour lesson at the TOUR Academy TPC Sawgrass. (Tyson will need this badly before we continue any further ;P)
THE PLAYERS Package includes 3 nights accommodations at the Sawgrass Marriott Resort & Spa; Two rounds on THE PLAYERS Stadium course and one round on DYE'S Valley Course. Forecaddie experience included on Stadium round and seasonal on DYE's Valley Course.
After our free arrival round at the Valley Course, we will take a little trip to Disney World for some f--king awesome fireworks. Then we will head back and go Stadium, Valley, Stadium the final 3 days.
Estimated cost: $886 per person for golf + $112 per person for Disney + $80 gas = $4072

Stage 3: The Coves At Round Mountain (July 8)

How can we break with tradition? After finishing up on the 7th, we catch a jet home. I will pay some transient to drive my car back for me, part of the money now, most of the money later. We will be paying off the course's owner to have the course at our disposal and will be playing a twelve man captain's choice: Me, Tyson, Braiden, Nathan, Dad, Michael, John, Brandon W., Ray A., Brandon F., Mark P., and Scott M. We will all be in one group, it will take all day, and we will shoot better than 55 or suicide will be committed.
Estimated cost: $28 per person for golf + $5000 to buy the course out for the day + $340 per person for first class flight = $6696

Stage 4: The Pinehurst Experience (July 9-July 14)

Pinehurst? Why not? We will start with a drive down to Asheboro for Tot Hill Farm ($39 pp) followed by heading on down to Sanford for Tobacco Road ($59 pp). Days 2 and 3 would be Mid Pines and Pine Needles 2 times each ($270 pp). Days 4-6 would be Pinehurst #'s 4, 8, and 2 ($1235 pp). That package also comes with caddies, lessons, spa massages, etc. Altogether, a pretty expensive week!
Estimated cost: $6412 per person for golf + $80 gas = $6492

So just for the pregame and the first four stages the total cost is: $28,612

If I really had it my way, I would just keep on going until we hit about every course that I've ever wanted to play.
Bethpage Black, Blackwolf Run, Bandon Dunes, Couer D'Alene, Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Cypress Point, Poppy Hills, Spanish Bay, TPC @ Scottsdale, The Prince Course, Kapalua, Carnoustie, St. Andrews, etc. etc. Then it would be entirely likely that I'd never want to play golf again or not for a couple of days anyways. So, I think, for now, I'm just gonna stick with the shorter vacation. That would be awesome.

6/8/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Surprise! It's Your Birthday"

Sorry for the lateness. I am feeling a bit better now and I also won my h2h match, so woohoo! This was an interesting task, one that I took some liberties with. I don't know if it is exactly what you envisioned Marianne, as I put my own sick twist on it, but, anyways, I did this last night and have finished editing the video. Here it is:
Happy Birthday To Me (High: 15.9)
Happy Birthday To Me (Medium: 10.8)
Additionally, here is the Happy Birthday song in mp3 form:
Happy Birthday To Me (2.2 MB)

5/30/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Penny For Your Food"

Ok, this was a pretty crazy task. I put what I thought was $5.50 of pennies in a ziploc bag.


Then I went to New China restaurant in Morganton. Tyson met me there to help out. I ordered the Chicken Chow Mein. It came to $5.30


The cashier girl was as nice as she could be about it. Tyson and I started stacking pennies on the counter, while customers came and went. Somehow I badly miscounted when putting the pennies in my bag, as I was 14 cents short, so I pulled the classic run out to the car and grab more pennies. The pennies can be seen on the right side of the counter in this pic.


I don't know what she did with the pennies afterwards, cause she did not start picking them up before we left. Here's a better closeup shot of most of them.


Here's a shot of Tyson and I afterwards, as I held the empty ziploc bag and my take out order.


I also had a first. My fortune cookie was empty. What does that mean? :(


But that's not all. I have, for you, the uncut audio from the entire transaction. It is around 15 minutes long, so load it up and listen along while you are surfing the net.
Pennies For Your Food (6.7 MB)

5/26/2007: Marianne Has Completed "On Safari!"

It sure was an interesting day to say the least. If the people in my town don’t think I’m nuts than they’re nuts! I started off trying to observe people in regular places like gas stations and grocery stores but it didn’t work because people weren’t standing around long enough for me to capture them on film. I ended up filming at a park next to the zoo.
I dressed in my finest safari clothes and set off to watch an interesting mix of people. You can’t tell by the video but people stopped to watch at each location. You can hear them in the background and you can see me trying to get out of each location pretty fast, since I don’t know all the technicalities on stalking laws.
Filming five people was harder than I thought it would be. People move way too fast for me to be able to comment on their behaviors. In most pictures I just let their actions speak for themselves.
Here is the video:
On Safari! (High: 21.3 MB)
On Safari! (Low: 6.4 MB)

5/25/2007: Nathan Has Completed "You Wanna Trade?"

I started out the day wandering what in the world I was going to be able too start trading to people that they would actually want. I was going to start with the rubber band, but thought that if they wanted a rubber band they could just go get one. after thinking a little I thought what better thing to start with than a simple penny.

Then I traded that to a guy that had a pocket full of change for a nickel.





Then I went to a woman the vending machine a asked if she would trade the nickel for a dime. She thought what the heck, but she agreed.




Then I went to the back of the plant to a guy that I knew would love to have the dime to buy him a cup of coffee, so I traded him the dime for a quarter.




Then I went out and saw a lady with some Pop Tarts To Go, so i traded the quarter for one of her pop tarts.





Then I went to a guy that I knew loved to eat. I saw that he had a half empty bottle of Dasani drinking water, so I traded the water for the pop tart.




Then I thought I know a guy that recycles, so I will see what he would trade me. I went to him and he had a pen laying on his desk, so I told him that the bottle emptied could be his for the pen. Wouldn't you know it he jumped all over that trade.




So I ended up with a pen with like one hour left to work. I knew I had enough time for one more trade. I saw a guy working with a calculator and thought I wonder if he knows how to write out the things he is typing in. I went for the opportunity. I told him I would trade the nice looking pen for the calculator. Like a sucker I reeled him into the deal.


This is where I stand with one calculator. I know that I could have went bigger, but when you work in a place like I do you will take what you get.

I liked the task, but really didn't have the resources to go bigger, who knows I might take what I ended up with and go out and see what the world has to offer.

Thanks Todd for getting ME out of the rut of my daily routine at work.

5/24/2007: Todd Has Completed "Photo Scavenger Hunt"

This task was fun!
(Click for larger images)
I started out the day searching for things to take pictures of. On my way to work, I came across this sign and thought it was kinda funny.
Really who do these people honestly think they are calling these kids "slow"!





The next thing that I found was the yellow car/truck. The first one I saw was a yellow hummer, I thought to myself "Sweet! A perfect opportunity!" But then the light changed before I could get the camera out and I missed it.
This car was driving around some time yesterday afternoon, so I settled for it:





There is a family in my neighborhood that let their kids ride around the streets in a golf cart. I was hoping they'd be out today when I was on the way home. As I came to the cul de sac where they lived, the kids were in the front yard and I quickly drove by and snapped a shot of the golf cart. The woman standing in the front door gave me a suspicious look, but nobody followed me home so I think I'm safe!





I had to go to Wal-Mart (and I can go to Wal-Mart since I'm not banned for life), so I figured that would be a great place to get alot of this done. I hope the security cameras don't flag me as suspicious!
On the way to Wal-Mart we made a stop at Little Caesar's. I told the guy what I was doing and asked if I could take a picture of just a pizza box. He looked at me funny and said "Uuhh, surrrre!" So here's a hot-n-ready in all its glory.





So we got to Wal-Mart and headed for the electronics. I knew I could find an Xbox 360 there since we only have a PS2 at home. Lookie what I found:





Next stop was the toy aisle where I came across these gems:



And idn't he soo cute?





Then we left wal-Mart and headed home. I found a home plate from a TBall set that we bought the kids a few years ago.





And last, but not least, this lucky rabbits foot was a christmas gift for my wife (from my son I should add) a few years ago. The school let them earn money to buy christmas gifts for their parents from the school gift shop. She got a lucky rabbits foot and I got a dinosaur fossil stuck in some kind of green goop.

Those were some of the best gifts we ever got, seriously!

5/22/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Bad British Accent"

Ello mates. Stephen here with me task. Well I spoke with me bad accent to a few diamond geezers around the office today, but it wasn't to eventful friends. You can check out a sound byte I recorded here, I did:
Stephen's Bad British Accent (715 KB)

5/18/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Handicap Concert"

This one turned out to not be all that difficult. After lunch with the gang from work, Allison accompanied me to a handicap spot in front of Steinmart and she filmed the video of me singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (I had a karaoke CD of it). I did it in the original key and it was hard on my voice, but that was for the good since it projected well. While you don't see many people looking at me on the video, off to the viewer's left, there were about 8 people over the course of the song that stopped to listen, including one black guy who stood there for a large part of the song listening. I actually quite enjoyed doing this one. Here's the video:
Handicap Concert (High: 11.2 MB)

5/17/2007: Todd Has Completed "Star Wars Parody Song"

This is to the tune of "Pirates who don't do anything" by Veggietales!
Here is the song if you've never heard it.

Ok, now the change up:
Jedi who don't do anything

We are the Jedi Who Don't Do Anything
We just stay in the temple and lie around
And if you ask us to do anything
We'll just tell you, we don't do anything

Well, I've never been Yavin and I've never been to Endor
And I've never used a mind trick on Sullust or on Drall
And I've never been to Kamino and I've never been to Geonosis
And I've never been to Bespin in the fall

'Cause we're... {Refrain}

And I never did my training and I never use the force
And I never light my saber 'cause I never fight at all
And I've never walked on sand dunes and I've never owned a droid
And I've never been to Bespin in the fall

'Cause we're... {Refrain}

Well, I've never whacked a bantha and I'm not too good at nuna ball
And I've never thrown my blue milk up against the wall
And I've never kissed a gundark and I've never gotten mynocks
And I've never been to Bespin in the fall

{Refrain}

And I've never licked a binder and I've never sniffed a dewback
And I've never painted daisies on the back of General Tarful
And I've never bathed in bacta and I don't look good in leggings
And we've never been to Bespin in the fall

Thank you, Thank you very much!

5/15/2007: Nathan Has Completed "Fountain of Youth"

I found that people in today's world don't believe all that they hear. I went to a park in Morganton that Stephen had mentioned, because all the fountains around here for this task could be thought of as trespassing. I went to the park and saw a lot of kids playing around in the water. I went right in with them and started walking around waiting for someone to ask me that golden question. I finally got one kid interested and he finally did it. I told him that I was 75 years old and this fountain was the so called "Fountain of Youth". he looked at me like I was crazy and ran off. Another guy you will see in the video said hey and again asked the golden question. I jumped on the train to lead him on. I told him the same and he laughed. I also told him that I was to marry my hott looking secretary in two weeks and he said "No Way". I had to add that this was a turn off for her, me being this young. He laughed and again I got a walk off look like I was crazy. In all I had fun with this task and I hope that the people of Morganton don't think I am crazy for what I did.

The video: "Fountain of Youth" (Medium: 3.4 MB)

5/14/07: Allison Has Completed "Greeting Card Pitch"

Well I had a lot of fun making the greeting cards. I did not have much fun with "pitching" the cards I made. At the office today I put together 3 very lovely holiday cards.

One for Christmas:

(click the thumbnails for big versions)

One for Valentine's Day:


And one for Father's Day, which you're all welcome to use in a few weeks:


Personally, I feel that these cards are masterful works of art. Hallmark Card Store does not agree. Brad was in town tonight and we made a special trip to the card store. I walked in and found the first clerk I saw and explained why I was there and showed her my cards. She laughed, thinking I was joking. After showing them to her manager she laughingly told me that a: they don't buy card ideas at their particular location (but that I was welcome to submit them online) and b: they thought that the copywright laws would probably prohibit them from using the cards. Oh well. I'm going to keep on trying though, I think I've got a real knack for this. I'll keep ya posted.

5/11/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Pee-Wee's Playhouse"

This actually turned out to be a somewhat difficult task. It was pretty darn embarrassing at moments, but you know what, it turned out alright in the end.
No one said "room" at home. I then stopped by work in Morganton and fixed some stuff. One person said it there, to which I let out a strained yelp, which I'm sure confused them. Before lunch, I came to work in Hickory, where Allison and our coworker Daniel were well prepared to let me have it. I'd say I had to scream (albeit restrained) about 20 times prior to lunch. I seriously don't know why no one ever asked about it. Anyways, I recorded two sound clips during that time span. The first is of Allison and I talking. Obviously, as you will be able to hear, it is staged. However, upon seeing Daniel walk in the room, I turned on the recorder and got the second clip, which is not staged. After that, we went to lunch at Jason's Deli. This was the prime moment of the task. After Daniel and Allison let our coworker Erica know what was going on, she proceeded to use the word "room" a bit more than normal. As I screamed and screamed, I exercised less and less restraint. The last one was just flat out loud. I heard it echo off the walls on the other side of the place. While I stared blankly at the table, avoiding all eye contact, my coworkers informed me that probably over half the people in the place were staring me down. I let out another one in the parking lot when I got a text message from Nathan that asked if we were "eating in the dining ROOM". The only one I refused all day was when I was sitting in a meeting with my main two bosses and looked out the door to see Daniel holding a big white sign with ROOM written on it in big black letters, though the task didn't actually say I had to do written ones... ;P
So, in the end, it wasn't THAT bad, but it was, at times, pretty intense.
Here are the two audio files:

Pee Wee Word of The Day #1 (483 KB)
Pee Wee Word of The Day #2 (592 KB)

5/10/07: Allison Has Completed "Office Olympics"

Well I had a lot of fun with this one. It was a trial getting people to help me out. Since I work in an office that's usually pretty slack, I thought everyone would jump at the chance to be a part of the office olympics. Unfortunately for me, today a lot of people were actually busy. Eventually I got John M, John K, and Chris to help me out by promising them fame and fortune. I lied about the fortune part, but maybe by appearing on Rutless.com they will achieve fame. Maybe not.

I broke it down into 3 events.

Longshot: A contest to see who could shoot a rubberband the furthest down the hall. Each contestant stands behind a tape line on the carpet and shoots as far as he/she can. Whoever shoots the furthest wins the gold.

Basketball: A contest to see who could shoot the most paperballs (out of 10) into a wastebasket. Each contestant stands behind a tape line in the carpet and shoots all 10 paperballs at the wastebasket. Whoever gets the most out of 10 into the basket wins the gold.

Chair Spin: A contest to see who could spin the longest off of one kick on the floor or desk. A stopwatch is used to measure the time from kicking until the chair comes to a complete stop.

Overall, I suck. The boys killed me at office olympics.

In the Longshot, John M shot the furthest, getting the gold. Chris got the silver, and John K got the bronze.

(click on pics to see full size)

In the basketball, John M got 8 out of 10, winning the gold again. John K, Chris and I each got 3 out of 10. Since there was a three way tie, we each shot again and John K got 3 again, Chris got 4, taking the silver, and I got 2.


In the chair spin event, Chris slaughtered everyone with an outstanding 1 minute and 14 second spin, winning him the gold. John M took his only silver with 27.3 seconds. I actually took the bronze here with 25.3 seconds. John K showed his age (old) by only spinning a measely 22.6 seconds.


Overall, John M was the big winner with 2 gold and 1 silver.


Chris came in second with 2 silver and 1 gold.


John K brought 3rd place with 2 bronze.


I didn't place since all I could win was one measely bronze.


I still had fun though. Next year I plan to train a little longer.

5/9/2007: Stephen Has Completed "Van Gohn"

Ok, I did this one during my lunch break. I basically took a picture of myself on my cell phone, sent it to the computer, and then went photoshop crazy on it, Vincent Van Gogh style, until I had created a "digital painting". Once I was done, I was ready to sell it. Until today, I have never listed an item on ebay, so I had to go through the entire seller sign up process and then I had to create the auction listing for my "digital painting". I set it up as a 5 day auction. I figure, let's wait and see if it gets any press. I have two sets of links here, ones to the actual ebay pages and ones to local copies of the ebay pages stored on the rutless website (simply for backup purposes). Hope you enjoy! And please bid! ;P

Ebay Links:
The Actual Auction
Actual Search Result Showing The Auction

Backup Links:
The Auction
Search Result Showing The Auction
Search Result Showing The Auction Among Other Auctions

5/8/2007: Todd Has Completed "Old McDonald"

This being my first task and all, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I went into work with the full intention of getting a lot of laughs and a lot of strange looks. I got the day started on a pretty good note, but as the day progressed I found little time to get away to be an animal. When I was filming the first shot outside, I had told a few of the guys in the office what I was doing and when I started filming that part, they just happened to walk up and start harassing me. If you listen closely, you can hear them in the background “bocking” along with me. There were a few people off-camera that chuckled as they went by. In the shot with “guy in cube #39” (where I was making dog noises), he seemed like he was a little scared of me from that point on. He's a great guy, but I don't think he'll ever look at me the same again.

I had to leave from work and go straight to my son’s baseball game that’s where the last two shots were filmed. I had told the kids that we were going to make animal noises and they were so funny, I couldn’t help but include them in my submission.

All-in-all this was a fun task. Even though I don’t think I did it justice (didn't get to do an animal every hour), I do get extra points for adding in some cute kids, don’t I?!

Thanks Nathan for the laughs! Oh, and if you get a strange package at your door that smells of 3 year old pork rinds, I don't know anything about it. :)

Old McDonald Video (Medium: 2.9 Mb)

5/7/2007: Nathan Has Completed "Chalk Body Outlines"

This task was awesome to see how many different places in public that you can find to draw chalk people. I went with Stephen to find all different places to do this since we were together. He used his cell phone to take the shots, since I left my camera at home. The one on the tennis court was done and right after a couple of kids just played on the court without noticing it. The one on the railroad tracks got a lot of looks by people passing by, wandering what was going on. We had one old couple slow down to take a better look. I know that the other three will be seen at some point and will be asked who or what did them. The ones that I did were in places that tons of people and animals can see them. I wanted to see the looks on all the faces, but really didn't get to stick around since it was getting a little dark. I hope that the rest of the tasks will be this fun to do.
You can view the pictures here:

6/10/2006: Stephen And Seth Have Completed "Wal-Mart Games"

We went today about 3:00pm, right before Seth's work shift started at Wal-Mart. I was at a decided disavantage, as he already knows where most everything is in the store. We both chose twenty items and he finished putting mine back when I had about 9 items of his left. The items that I had to put up included aquarium solution, a grill, children's underware, a saturn shaped pillow, and so forth. Seth's items included a scooter, a folding chair, a desk clock, and a bunch more small items. Here are two photos of us holding the buggies of items that we had to replace:

Seth With The Items He Had To Put Up
Stephen With The Items He Had To Put Up

6/6/2006: Brad and Allison Have Completed "Racecar"

Brad came out to visit last night from Durham, and together we worked for about an hour coming up with 30 palindromes. Now, our words are mostly 3 letter words. This is just the way it is. We promise we didn't use the internet. We did, however, watch Golden Girls and pay attention to every word that was said to try and come up with these. Let me just tell you, those Golden Girls need to use more palindromes. Ah well.

Here's our glorious list: (and can I just add that there are an uncanny amount of naughty words that are palindromes?):
1. racecar
2. dad
3. mom
4. did
5. dud
6. bib
7. bob
8. tat
9. gag
10. tit
11. pup
12. mum
13. eve
14. tot
15. pop
16. noon
17. poop
18. toot
19. boob
20. ewe
21. peep
22. tut
23. wow
24. gig
25. madam
26. nun
27. deed
28. sees
29. level
30. eye

We had a few more, but upon closer inspection (i.e. looking in the dictionary), we realized they weren't really words!
So there ya go!

6/3/2006: Seth Has Completed "Use Heroin For Your First Time"

This goes to the tune of the Ducktales Theme Song

Life is a pain here in Morganton.
High fives, mustard, test drive
It's a rut blur
Might be buying Wendy’s
Or even hiding Cd’s
Rutless! Woo Hoo!
Everyday they're out there being
Rutless! Woo Hoo!
Tasks of daring, new, bad and good…
R-r-r Rut lurks behind you
There's the next task out to get you
What to do just get out and be
Rutless! Woo Hoo!
Everyday they're out there being
Rutless! Woo Hoo!
Tasks of daring, new, bad and good
Rutless! Woo Hoo!
Not pony tales, or cotton tales no
Rutless! Woo Hoo!

6/2/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Options"

Well, this task pretty much ended up sucking. I picked task #3. Which was to shake a can of Sundrop or Moutain Dew up for 20 minutes and open it in the passengers seat of my car. Stephen and I both thought that maybe 20 minutes was a bit too much. As in, maybe it would kill all the pressure in that extended period of time. It did just that. It was a big disappointment as far as the explosion went. We probably should have done it for about 3-5 minutes. Anyway, here is the video if you wanna check it out:
Shaken Can Option (Medium: 3.1 MB)

6/1/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Fake Black Eye"

Well, I got up this morning and read the task and went and fixed up the eye with some kind of eye shadow pen that mom had. It looked pretty darn good, but I noticed it wore away very easy. When I got to work, I noticed several strange looks from familiar people, but no one asked me about it. I even went to lunch with my brother, dad, and cousin and none of them mentioned it. It wasn't until after lunch that one person asked me, "What happened to your eye right there?" I used the elbowed playing basketball story as I mentioned in the acceptance. That was it. Some odd looks and one question. I repainted it when I got home for a quick photo session and I've posted the best photo below. Click on it to view the full size:

Stephen's Shiner

5/31/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Musically Declined"

Stephen came over and helped me out with this one. It was pretty late and I was about to just go to bed, but then he found just the right song to play along with, so it turned out ok. Here's the video, in two quality formats:
The Blew Danube Waltz (High: 14.6 MB)
The Blew Danube Waltz (Low: 4.4 MB)

5/30/2006: Allison Has Completed "Yeast Infection"

Well, I made a doughboy.. He sure was a looker too! I thought it would be a lot harder. I also thought when he was done baking he'd blow up and fall apart. He DID fall apart a little, but I used toothpicks to hold him together. I only got to show him to a few friends though, since I didn't get the chance to bake him til 8 pm. But those who did meet him (Carmen, Cheddar, and Meatwad) found him to be very .. um.. greasy? He was greasy, smelly and hard to keep together, but he was fun.. until his untimely demise.

Here is his story (click on the picture for the set) :

5/29/2006: Brad Has Completed "Commando Joe"

UNDERWEAR IS FOR SAFETY IF NOTHING ELSE! I must say, I've never gone commando with anything that zips and I never will again. If you have seen the movie, "Something About Mary" you are familiar with the Ben Stiller bathroom scene. Well yeah, it does hurt as bad as he portrays. Thankfully I have quick reflexes and was able to correct the situation without any major damage. However, after exercising caution during my other trips to the restroom, I must say that it makes for a much faster trip, only having to reach through one garment to take care of business. This is where another issue was noted. Even if you shake to the point that someone may think you're having fun, there is still that little bit that won't come off. I found that to avoid having that tiny wet spot on my pants, I had to wipe after going, which was very strange.
Going commando also made me think about sex way more than usual. I was much more aware of myself. So there we go. If you leave with nothing else, leave with the knowledge that if you must go commando, zip slowly, zip safely, and carry a band-aid just in case.

5/27/2006: Seth Has Completed "It's My Burfday"

Well for my Burfday Stephen and I went to Fatz. Much to my disappointment the burfday celebration I received was a little sub par. Here is a video of me eating away at my burfday treat.
Burfday Task Video (Medium: 5.9 MB)

5/26/2006: Allison Has Completed "Thomas Edison"

Okay, So, I made something kind of stupid. But seriously, I'm just not technilogically advanced. I thought about it all last night and today and all I could come up with was a StinkShield. Sure, it's not the "greatest thing since sliced bread" but it'll do. Since I am working both of my jobs today, I didn't have much time or resources to make something awesome. I thought about making an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter's.. but apparently I'm too late.
Anyways this StinkShield is made using ordinary swimming goggles and Eckerd's brand Chest Rub (like Vick's Vapo-Rub). It would probably cost around $6.00 to make. The manufacturer's (me) suggested retail price is $29.99. Might as well turn a little profit!
Enjoy the pictures:

5/25/2006 : Brandon Has Completed "Indoor Putt Putt"

This task was fun. Tyson played the round with me. I don't know who had the best score at the end, but I had a shot of a life time . I banked a shot off the cabinet in the bathroom from behind the shitter. lol
Edit: The final score was a tie: 32-32.
Video Links:
Indoor Putt Putt (Medium: 32.3)
Indoor Putt Putt (Low: 14.2)

5/24/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Lefty"

Well, if I had felt a bit better today, then maybe I would have done some sort of video or something for this, but I've got a full on head cold. Perhaps harder than doing stuff left-handed was to remember to do stuff left-handed. I started this morning doing my task. Brushing my teeth left handed was a bit odd, though the dentist says it's good to do that, as you will hit places you normally don't get to well. Anyways, I was constantly trying to focus on doing stuff left handed, though I actually realized most things I do, I do with both hands. So, I crossed things up. For example, I switched the items in my pockets. In one pocket, I usually keep my wallet, and my cell and keys in the other. Of course, I reached for the wrong pocket several times. Another thing I realized is when I unscrew the lid off of a bottled soda, I remove the lid with my right hand and then drink with my left. So I switched that up. It actually felt STRANGE drinking the Cheerwine with my right hand, proving how much I usually only drink them with my left. It also took probably twice as long to unscrew the lid using my left. Let's see, I opened doors left handed and I tried using my mouse left handed off and on when I had a chance to do so, but with it not being a left handed mouse, it really slowed me down. So, yeah, I did the task. It didn't even suck or anything, just made a few small things a bit harder. Thank God I didn't play golf or shoot basketball, well, at least before 7:00pm.

5/23/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Friendly Test"

Well, i did the minimum. I had to alott some time for work too. The results were actually pretty positive. Out of 25 people i directly waved at, knowing that they saw me. I got 20 waves and 2 friendly nods. Which, were more than just a "what the hell is this guys problem?" type nods. So, i count it as 22 out of 25. I did this to a variety of people. Covering both genders, most all age groups, and 4 different races. The middle aged people as well as the 3 children that i waved at were the most friendly. Some of the older people were the most hesitant, but i still got a wave. There were still 3 people who totally ignored me, though. One was an elderly man around the age of 70. He just looked right at me and kept on walking as if i was just trying to be a smartass. Damn ungreatful elderly. Just because they're old they think they dont' have to be nice. Haha. The other was a black lady about 25 or so. She seemed she was in a bad mood, which is why i waved at her actually with a big smile on my face, she just looked right at me and kept standing in line with the same look of murder on her face that was there before i waved. The third and final person who ignored me was a teenager who looked to be about 14 years of age. He came off as a stuck up, rich boy type. The reason i say this was because HIS COLLAR WAS POPPED! I saw this as a prime target and went out of my way to make sure he got a look at me. I waved and once again i was ignored as if i was retarded or not good enough to be his friend. Haha. Oh, and the only door opening i did was for Seth during my lunch break at Chik-Fil-A......he didn't say thank you. I believe his words were, "That's right, bitch!"

5/22/2006: Maggie Has Completed "Bed Head"

Well, all in all, this was a pretty easy first task for me. It certainly took away a normal daily routine. Which, I guess is the objective of this anyway. I didn't touch my hair throughout the entire day, excluding the natural putting my hair behind my ears. I did get a few comments throughout the day at school. A couple people asked if i was having a bad hair day and a couple people who i explained what i was doing to said it didn't really look that bad. At the end of the day when i brushed out my hair it hurt pretty damn bad.....and it itched. It pretty much just ended up being a bit frizzy and sloppy at the end of the day. Nothing too extreme. It was fun though. If you wanna check out the pictures throughout the day, then just click on the picture below:

5/20/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Lemonade Stand"

Well this one was cool after all. Even though I spelled Lemonade wrong, lol. I just left the sign up and watched from an open window because it was so hot today. I hope that's par for the task. I was thinking that the idea would push me over the top if it didn't. Here's a video of the sign: Lemonade Stand (Medium: 830 KB)

5/19/2006: Stephen Has Completed "George Fakington"

Well, I think this ended up being about 4 pages double spaced. It reveals many little known details about George Washington that you really need to know. There are two versions, a Microsoft Word version and a plain text version. Here you go:
George Fakington (MS Word)
George Fakington (Plain Text)

5/18/2006: Allison Has Completed "Random Paint Pic"

Well, it took me about two hours, but I have completed the task and come up with a very awesome drawing. I am so superbly proud of the awesomeness of this elephant holding up traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Click on the picture to see a bigger version:


I did another version with no sign and no cars. I like it better, but it's not really holding up traffic, so the second one is the final version. I also had a version before these, but accidently erased it when someone came up behind me at work and scared the bejesus out of me.

Elephants Rights!

5/16/2006: Seth Has Completed "Test Drive"

Today I went to Hickory with hopes of test driving the new 2006 Subaru Sti. Unfortunately the car at the dealership was inside and they wouldn't take it out for me. Luckily the Honda dealership in Morganton just received an 04 model from some poor soul looking to start a family. Oh well, his lose. I was able to test drive the car but not able to take pictures while doing so. I drove the car about 3 or 4 miles down highway 64 and then back to the dealership. This baby is fast. I was doing 60 within a few seconds of taking off. I want this thing so badly. Here are some pictures of the car sitting outside the dealership before I drove it.

5/15/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Stuffing It"

Today was a huge sucess with my task. By that i mean, it went completely unnoticed and not talked about at all. Even by the task members. Also, as a side note: Brandon informed me today that the task was not intended to be an all day task. It was just for a public outing. So that's what I did. Brandon and I met Stephen and Seth at Ham's once again for lunch. To be quite honest, the sock that I put in my pants didn't necessarily make it bulge out that much it all. Maybe it was the shorts i was wearing. Anyway, we met them there and i think everyone pretty much forgot because Rutless wasn't even mentioned. So therefore, my task wasn't mentioned either. I managed to get out of this thing as clean as could be. Sorry for the disappointment. hehe. However, i did fail to meet one requirement. That being the picture. I took it out to play basketball in the gym with Seth and Brandon, because well, i just wasn't gonna run around with a tube sock in my pants. Not because i didnt want anyone to see it, but because it was extremely uncomfortable to do so. Since i had completed my appearance in public like Brandon said, i didn't put the sock back in. I guess i could take a picture now, but that wouldn't prove much. Anyway, sorry to inform you all that there wasn't much of an outcome on this one. I'm pretty happy with it though!

[EDIT: This is Tyson's 5th in a row successfully completed. Since he has refusal points, he gets a half point taken away. Congrats.]

5/13/2006: Brandon And Allison Have Completed "Pillow Booked"

We got 25 autographs exactly. Brandon got 7, Allison got 18. You can see most of them in the flickr set below, though the last three that Allison got aren't on there since her internet went on the blink yesterday, which is why I am posting instead of her. Anyways, click the picture below to view the flickr set of Pillow Booked:

5/11/2006: Stephen And Tyson Have Completed "Alphabet Hoop"

Sorry for the slightly late post and lack of content since last Friday, but hopefully it was worth the wait. The game was fun. After playing a full game of Alphabet, it makes Horse seem a bit lackluster. For those who are uninitiated to the game of horse, basically you alternate shots. If you make your shot, the person who shoots next, has to shoot the same shot and if they miss, they get a letter. The objective is to force your opponent into getting all of the letters in horse, but in this case we are playing every letter of the alphabet. Our rules of "Horse"/"Alphabet" include:
1. Horse is a shooting game, no layups.
2. You can't keep shooting the same shot over and over.
3. When you are on your elimination shot, you get two shots.
4. The no wrap around rule.
The game lasted about 50 minutes, but I managed to edit the video down to around 8 minutes. I recommend the high quality video. If you wanna know who won, watch the video:
Alphabet Hoop (High: 31.3 MB)
Alphabet Hoop (Low: 9.4 MB)

5/6/2006: Allison Has Completed "A Pirate's Life For Me"

Um.. well... I did act like a pirate as much as possible today. I even used my favorite pirate pick up line on a guy at sagebrush and asked "can I swash your buckle?" He didn't get it. I used my pirate nickname, Captain Blinkey. I love acting like a pirate. I just wish I could have done it all day, but Sagebrush has rules and I like to make money.
Any who, here's a picture of me pretending to shoot a friend.. as a pirate:


Sorry I don't have video..I wish I wish I had a video camera.. Santa?

5/5/2006: Seth Has Completed "No Standing Order"

Unfortunately I have yet to pee today. It is 7:30 p.m. and nothing has happened. I guess it is just performance anxiety. Who knows? To make up for this I will pee sitting down the next 5 times I pee. If yall want photos I'll be sure to get them.

5/4/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Around And Around I Go"

Well, today was a pretty easy task. I pretty much just had to be an idiot. Therefore, I felt at home with this one. We did a couple takes of it. Brandon and Stephen even took a couple turns. I thought it was gonna be a lot worse when I stood up while I was spinning, but when I started running I just managed to keep my balance for a few seconds then it eased off. Anyway, take a look yourselves.
Around And Around I Go (Medium: 3.8 MB)

5/3/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Sweet Cherry Pie"

Well sorry for not doing this one crazy like all the other ones in the past. I will make it up to you guys and girls later.
The Task. It started when I got off of work and stopped at the local gas station near the house and bought 3 Towne House Fried Cherry Pies :)
Side note, one of the pies had a sell by date of May 06 and the others the 13th. I heated the first one up for about 1 min. I got through the first one in about 27 seconds. The 2nd one around 55 and the last 1 minute and 3 seconds. I don't know if that's good but I'm sure our man Tyson could have had them down in 17.2 lol. I had not eaten so I could go at them. Like I said before I will make the next task a classic.

5/2/2006: Stacey Has Completed "Lopsided Political Debate"

Stacey is nowhere to be found, which is to be expected after the thrashing he received in the political debate. Actually, it was expectedly quite the opposite, and it produced perhaps the most classic Rutless.com video to date, full of memorable quotes that contained humor and garbled word masses that only Jayson Morgan could produce. The video is approximately 25 minutes long, but if you stick with it, you will be treated to a number of hillarious moments. Without further ado, here are the links to the video:
Lopsided Political Debate (Medium: 61.9 MB)
Lopsided Political Debate (Low: 27.3 MB)

5/1/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Post Secret"

I probably had about 3 real secrets I was debating between, though I can assure you they weren't anything major. I finally decided on one, about how I used to treat my dog. I've always liked dogs, but when I was younger, I didn't really know the right compassion to have towards them, so I used to hit my dog wolf for barking or something like that; a lot harder than I should have, though now I wouldn't have at all. Nowadays, I don't even like to kill insects really. It was a period in my life I'm more than past. Anyways, that's my secret to confess to Post Secret, so I made a postcard for it. And so that it's not such a downer, I also made a humorous one as well. I sent them both at the post office around 8:30pm. Click either of the postcard images below to view them at full size.

Sorry, Woolifer
Dan Marino

4/29/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Kleenex Eating Champion"

10? 10?! 10?!?! Ninja, please! Ok, I guess I've gotten more talented as the time has gone by. My previous record of 10 just got OWNED! I had a few difficulties on some of them, but overall it was pretty smooth. Once I got going I knew 10 wasn't going to be a problem. Oh, and trust me...this is a lot harder then it looks. Anyway, check it out. It's some pretty impressive stuff. Go ahead and give my record a try! I dare you.
Kleenex Eating Champion (High: 22.9 MB)
Kleenex Eating Champion (Low: 6.9 MB)

4/28/2006: Stephen Has Completed "The Cat's Meow"

Well, this didn't turn out all that great, but anyways, here's what happened. The main dialogue occured when I asked my co-worker Tom to stop by so I could thank him for the Egg McMuffins that he brought in for everyone at work. At this point, I began interjecting meow into the conversation. You can listen to it here, though he didn't say much, as he was laughing mostly: Stephen's Meow (264 KB)

4/27/2006: Brandon Has Completed "He-Man"

After he got off work, Stephen drove us up Highway 181, just a little bit past the Brown Mountain Lights overlook and I climbed the highest hill on the side of the road and stood out on a really cool looking rock outcrop. Stephen filmed me as I screamed "By the power of Greyskull, I have the power!" You can watch the video by clicking here: He-Man Copycat (4.5 MB)

Brandon Imitates He-Man

4/26/2006: Allison Has Completed "High Fives to all the Guys"

I'm afraid there isn't really much to tell with this one... I worked at my job from 8:30 to 5:00 and pretty much stayed at my desk all day. If any guys came around to talk to me, i high-fived them. Normally I know every guy that comes by. Actually today some random older gentlemen dropped into The Grotto and was asking me about what I was working on. I got him to guess which state the data I was working on was from. When he finally guessed it, I gave him a high five. I did go to the mall for an hour or two earlier with a coworker. But this was actually for work. We were checking prices, so I wasn't really talking to anyone. Then, after work, I just went home. Sorry that's all there is.

here's a picture of Stephen giving me a high five:

4/25/2006: Seth Has Completed "Homework Pass"

Well it was about 5 o'clock before I made it around to doing Stacey's homework for him, but it worked out because I just got out of Discrete Math so my brain is up and running.

#1
PROBLEM: Raul can plumb a house in 48 hrs. Mira can do the same job in 36 hrs. How long would it take if they worked together?
ANSWER: Man, this is easy enough. The solution would be (48+36)/2. Therefore, your answer would be 42 hours because even when you are faster than the person you are helping you can't help but take the time to make fun of them. This making the job take longer than the fastest person.

#2
PROBLEM: A passenger car travels 30 km/h faster than a delivery truck. While the car goes 400 km, the truck goes 259 km. Find their speeds.
ANSWER: Yet again...too easy. The solution would be (400-30)/259. Therefore, the answer would be 1.429km/h for the truck and 31.429km/h for the car. See what the didn't tell you is that the truck driver weighs about 600lbs. and busted the tires on the truck. Also, the car was being driven by a monkey.

#3
PROBLEM: Wanda walked 234 km in 14 days. At this rate, how far would she walk in 42 days?
ANSWER: Moving along smoothly. The solution to this is (14/42)*234, making the answer 78. Wanda was picked up by a trucker going in the opposite direction and then murdered.

#4
PROBLEM: To determine the number of trout in a lake, a conservationist catches 112 trout, tags them, and throws them back into the lake. Later 82 trout are caught; 32 of them are tagged. Estimate the number of trout in the lake.
ANSWER: Last one! Unable to answer this one. Seems as thought there was a big fishing tournament held on the same day that the conservationist went back.

Well Stacey I hope this helps you out with you homework. If you need anything else just ask.

4/24/2006: Stacey Has Completed "Smile, You've Got French's."

Well, there really wasn't a lot to this task. The only decision to be made was where to commit my act of vandalism. Stephen had the perfect place in mind. "Shadowline." All I know about this locale is that it's a women's underwear factory, which sounds cool to me. I know I'd want to have a humorous website to go home to after a hard day of crafting women's lingerie. At any rate, check these mofos out:

The MustardThe Final Result
Also, I'd like for everyone to know that I just met Shelden Williams, Sean Dockery, and Lee Melchionni from the Duke Blue Devils. I talked to Melchionni for a few minutes and all that can really be said is that he is the man. It's a shame Redick wasn't there.

4/22/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Urban Legends"

You may already be asking yourself, why is Stephen making this post? The answer is, Tyson is no longer with us. Today's task has claimed his life. How? Well, we'll get to that in a moment. Tyson began his task by trying to summon Bloody Mary. The legend says that you have to go into a dark bathroom and spin around 3 times while chanting "Bloody Mary". When you flip the light switch on, Bloody Mary is supposed to appear in the mirror and then kill you. Tyson did this. As soon as the light came on, there she was, with scaly green skin that literally screamed for lotion. Her hand flew out of the mirror and grabbed his head. I snapped a quick shot and then ran to pull him away. Unscathed, but a little bit shaken, Tyson proceeded to attempt the pop rocks and coke legend. By the way, you all don't have to worry about Bloody Mary anymore, I took her out with a 12 gauge, Resident Evil style. Anyways, Tyson probably should have been more cautious when the Bloody Mary legend ended up true, but he went ahead and loaded his mouth with a full pack of strawberry pop rocks and then downed about a half a bottle of coke. At first he looked a little bit confused and burped a few times. Thirty minutes later, a Catholic Priest was giving his headless body the last rites. We are looking for a new cast member to fill his shoes, so if you are interested, you can email me at the email in my profile.
If you think you can stomach the photos of how Tyson left this world, click the image below:

4/21/2006: Allison Has Completed "It Came From 1982"

Well I'll tell you, this one was not as easy as it would seem. Last night immediately after reading the assignment, I went through every coin I had in my collection (my wallet, and my change dump). After looking for about 3 minutes I successfully came up with a 1982 Penny, Quarter, and Dime. I thought to myself "Piece of Cake". Turns out it wasn't so much a piece of cake. More like a grain of wasabi powder or something else really impossible to find. Today at work I asked pretty much everyone if they had any 1982 nickels. I got all No's. I even scavenged through several absent people's coin dumps. I even went through Dr. Kenny's super secret stash. No luck. I was starting to lose hope. Then at lunch me and the roomie had to go home to pick up my cell phone which I left at home, and she was kind enough to let me look through her stash. *Success!* After going though about 90 million coins in her stash, I found it. That one, pristine, 1982 Nickel.

Here's the photoset.

By the way, it is nearly impossible to take good pictures of the dates on coins.
This took a LOT of tries.

4/20/2006: Brandon Has Completed "My Lovely Little Lump"

Stephen and I went to film this one. I was about to do it at the hispanic soccer game at Freedom Park, but I decided to do it in front of a brightly lit Century 21 sign next to the main highway. Here is the video:
Brandon's Lovely Little Lump (1.6 MB)

4/19/2006: Stacey Has Completed "Duke Nukem."

Alrighty fellas, let me apologize in advance for another boring post. Despite my efforts to procure an issue of "The News Herald" via scanner, I was paperless. At any rate, I picked up a copy of "Star News," the newspaper local to the Wilmington area. It was beautiful. By that I mean, it was devoid of grammatical and mechanical errors. Even I couldn't find one. 'twas remarkable. So yeah, I'm not sure what Duke Conover, the "editor" of The News Herald, does everyday, but it's certainly not "edit." I seriously think he's probably the worst editor in existence. I'd like to punch him in the face about as much as I'd like to sleep with Wonder Woman, which is to say quite a damned lot. My favorite News Herald headline is probably "New Law Serves Duel Purpose." Can you spot the error in that last sentence? If not, go away--we don't want you reading our page. I wish I had made that up. I wish to God I had.

Duke really does need to be nuked. Or educated.

4/18/2006: Seth Has Completed "Unlucky Frank"

I'm sorry to say that while I have completed the task, the comic well is kind of crappy. I'm not really all that imaginative when it comes to stuff like this but I did try. It is only 12 frames long because I really didn’t have as much time during class as I had originally planed. Here is the link to the comic, enjoy!

4/17/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Mr. Stinklepuss"

Man, this proved to be a kind of difficult task. I was working in Morganton and around lunchtime I was called to go into the Hickory office, so on the way, I stopped by the Morganton McDonald's near I-40, exit 105. I was just going to do my task later on, but I thought I might as well do it to the drive thru server, just in case I didn't have much time later. So, after I received my food, I let loose. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, but you can hear my account of the situation by clicking this link: Mr. Stinklepuss Part 1 (281 KB)
After work, I was invited by my boss to go play some golf at Orchard Hills, so I went there. Afterwards, I met Tyson and Brandon at Tokyo Diner for a late dinner. Brandon brought my camera and we headed off to Flick Video. I went in and bought a DVD and then before leaving, turned the camera on under the edge of the counter and recorded as I asked the cashier if she would like to meet Mr. Stinklepuss as well, though the space on camera's card ran out rather quick, so it is a very short clip. You can listen to it by clicking this link: Mr. Stinklepuss Part 2 (81 KB)

4/15/2006 Stacey Has Completed "Tropical Fruit First Timer"

Once again, Rutless.com has chosen Harris Teeter for the location of a task. Stephen met me there and we did a photoshoot of my eating of a crossbreed between a pear and an apple, as the selection of tropical fruits at Harris Teeter sucked. It was nasty, so I washed it down with some lime juice, which was only a little bit better. Click the image below to view the photos from this task.

4/13/2006: Brandon Assigns "Photo Scavenger Hunt" To Tyson

This one is straightforward. You must find 7 of 10 of the following items and take photos of them.
The Items:
Funny road sign
Yellow car or truck
Dog
Lucky Rabbit's Foot
Toy/model punch bug
Home plate
Xbox 360
Pizaa box
Golf cart
Pig's feet
Requirements: Comment on the difficulty or ease of the assignment and anything interesting that happened and then post the pictures of each item, preferably as a flickr set.

EDIT: This one has been moved to the refusal pool, since it was never completed.

4/13/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Milly Vanilli Style"

Sorry for the late post, but this one ran late into the night and editing took awhile too. Stephen, Tyson, Stacey, and Seth came to help me out with this one. We did two songs. The first is an N'Sync song and the second is a Britney Spears song. There are four vidoes, with high and low quality videos of each. I, of course, recommend the higher quality ones. Right click any of the links below and save the videos to your hard drive to watch them.

Videos:
N'Sync - Drive Myself Crazy (High: 15.3 MB)
N'Sync - Drive Myself Crazy (Low: 4.6 MB)
Britney Spears - Lucky (High: 12.9 MB)
Britney Spears - Lucky (Low: 3.9 MB)

4/12/2006: Seth Has Completed "Discrimination Is Wrong"

Upon arriving to the local Hooters a sudden feeling of reluctance swept over me. I was accompanied by the legendary Kory Suttles. When we walked in we were greeted kindly by cleavage and tight orange shorts. I asked the manager if I could fill out an application. While waiting for him to bring me an application I talked to one of the girls behind the bar, and asked her what the chance of me being hired as a waiter would be. She laughed and muttered the words "good luck" to me. After filling out the application I talked to the GM Kevin Chodyniecki about being hired as a waiter. After staring at me with a look of astonishment he asked me to repeat the question. I could tell that he was trying to avoid any confrontation with me about discrimination. After trying a few more time for a response I then left, taking the application with me.

4/12/2006: Allison Has Completed "Lottery Of Indigestion"

Well Stephen, you are one hell of a task giver. This is the first task that really made me nervous. I'm not big on eating things I'm not meant to eat. That's why I don't eat Seafood. But you got me, good for you. I purchased two TicTacToe tickets from the Shell Station on HWY 127 in Hickory. I brought the tickets to the office, where I immediately scratched them off. Luckily, I still have a bit of luck left over after winning my office's NCAA pool, because one of the tickets was a winner! After the excitement of winning $1.00 died off, I remembered the daunting task. For a while I debated going back and buying a bunch more tickets til I had two winners, and claiming extra luck, but I'm not much of a cheater. So I gritted my teeth and ate the darn ticket. I went home to eat it, since I had no sauce, or peanut butter and jelly, which was my choice of sauce, at work.

Once home I made a peanut butter and jelly and lottery ticket sandwich. Here are the details. And I want you to know that the last picture (where my tummy hurts) was not exaggerated.

Thanks Stephen.

4/10/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Treat Yourself"

Well, when I got this task, I had two things in mind. The first was to go ahead and purchase the digital recording studio I've been putting off for months now. After extensive research on studios, I decided to hold off to make sure I got the right one, since it is a huge monetary commitment. The second option that I had been dying to do is get a steak at "The Anugus", a bar & grill in Hildebran, NC. I later remembered that they are closed on Mondays, which helped me avoid a wasted trip there.
So I began going over ideas for what I should treat myself to. A new video game? Some DVD's? Dinner somewhere else? Then I started thinking outside of the box. What did I really need to treat myself to the most? I decided in the end to treay my body to some much needed exercise by walking the ENTIRE length of the Catawba River Greenway from Freedom Park to the end of the greenway off of highway 18. I called local celebrity Jayson Morgan to accompany me. You may know him from Billtvshow.com or from his picture that was in the Morganton News Herald yesterday for doing absolutely nothing more than answering a stupid random question.
Anyways, we started out at the Freedom Park end of the trail, which I had never walked before, and followed it to the new pedestrian bridge that crosses the river behind Freedom High School. From there, we went left and followed the Greenway all the way to the absolute end. We started at 6:30pm and finished at about 8:40pm. This included about a 40 minute stop to talk to some very old friends that we happened across while near the end of our walk. So we walked the entire Greenway in about an hour and a half of net walking time.
I have included a set of Flickr pictures that highlights some of the places we saw and the things we came across, while I treated myself to a lot of exercise.

Click here to view the pictures from my walk along the Catawba River Greenway.

4/8/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Mad Skills"

We went about noon down to a local basketball court with some short rims. And when I say we, I refer to myself and the cast members who came to help me out with the task: Tyson, Seth, and Brandon. We did the dunks in order and the Dr. J cradle rocker was by far the hardest. Anyways, if you want to check out the action then first view the video of the dunks that I was supposed to imitate by clicking here: Top 10 Dunks Of All Time

And now you can click here to view the video of my imitation of the dunks: Stephen Butchers The Top 10 Dunks Of All Time (3.93 MB)

4/7/2006: Stacey Has Completed "Road Rage."

Alrighty fellas, as much as it pains me to say this, I have nothing to post by way of media. I couldn't get anyone to film for me so a video is out, and the "Afterwards" pictures that I took are pretty normal looking. As far as the task itself goes, let me describe it.

All in all, I got stopped at 8 red lights through the course of the day. That may sound like a lot, but I live in the center of town and I go through a ton of stoplights on my way to work or school, so I really got off pretty easy to only get caught by 8. Also, no one caught me in the act--meaning no other drivers saw me fulfilling my task, despite the fact that in two instances I waited for other cars to pull up beside me before slapping myself.

At any rate, sorry for such a dull update. I'm willing to go back and re-do this one with someone filming me if they will. Also, if it matters, I had fun doing this one-- Probably more fun than I should've.

4/6/2006: Brandon Has Completed "You Are So Beautiful"

I woke up at 5am this morning, just like every day I go to work. Everything was pretty normal until I got to my post and I looked straight into the eyes of my partner and broke out into "You Are So Beautiful To Me". And that's all he heard because I only know the first six words of the song. That didn't detract from the fact that it was funny anyways. I work in a prison and I have two inmates who work for me as janitors and I sang them a little verse of the same 6 words. Of course those don't really count, so I went to the Tokyo Diner drivethru and anyone who's eaten there knows everyone inside can hear the orders as they are being placed. There looked to be between 20-40 people inside. I figured that since there were so many people inside and with all the workers, it would meet the requirements. Here's a little video clip of what happened: You Are So Beautiful To Me (At Tokyo Diner)

4/5/2006: Seth Has Completed "Name That Tune"

Throughout the entire day I've been listening to Jack Johnson and DMB. Oh what a wonderful day. I started out with Jack Johnson's "Sing-A-Longs And Lullabies For The Film Curious George." My favorite song on the CD was "Jungle Gym." It reminded me of being a little kid. Possibly something I would listen to if I were 3, but not 18. Next was DMB's "Crash." My favorite song on that CD was "Proudest Monkey." I couldn't help but hear his amazing steroid ridden voice, and the "urban" flavor from the drums, sax, and violin. Also, I am so glad that they spend a lot of time writing this music. They won't even take the time to properly dump their fecal matter. Good call Dave, good call.

4/4/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Supermarket Sweep"

Well, today was a rather fun task. Stephen was kind enough to accompany me to the local Harris Teeter to complete my search. We used his brother's digital camera to do the job. None of the tasks were really that hard to find, actually. The green banana's stood out, as well as the giant tomato. Towards one of end of the store there was like a lawn and garden section, so we picked up the largest and most expensive items there. I also went straight to my favorite cereal, because ya know, me and the Capt'n make it happen. The rest of them were pretty easy as well. Anyway, here are some pics for you to check it out: Supermarket Sweep. Click on each picture for a brief description.

4/3/2006: Allison Has Completed "No Cell"

Well, I'll tell you. Nothing wakes you up to the fact that your mom is the only one that calls you other than not being allowed to answer your phone. Yep, today's task was easy like butter because only 3 people called me: Habitat for Humanity, (asking about the dishwasher I had requested they come get) my mother, and Stephen, who was calling to listen to my voice mail recording. I didn't have to change my daily routine at all really. I didn't call back the Habitat for Humanity because I had already gotten rid of what they were looking for. I never answer the phone when my mom calls, and I knew why Stephen was calling me. There wasn't anyone I needed to call today, since I was at work until five and from 5 - 7 I was moving stuff into my condo. I did change my voicemail message to say that I couldn't talk on the phone today because I was grounded by Rutless.com. But still, my mom was the only real phone call I got. Kind of makes me sad really:



*sigh*

My mom's response to the weird message was "What the Hell? um.... "

4/1/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Save The Snails"

I was a little skeptical about this one. I wasn't sure if it would work with it being April Fools day. Tyson and Stephen were there to back me up and record the audio. I ended up calling someone I halfway knew and it ended up perfect. The man told me he wasn't interested in my offer beause he didn't have anything but dirt in his yard. Are you confused yet? Well, just listen to this mp3 of the phone call and you can hear my end of the conversation: Save The Snails!

3/31/06: Stacey Has Completed "I Hope You're Good at Solitaire."

This task didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would, proving that there is a just and loving God somewhere out there, and spank him very much. At any rate, here's the photo of my solitaire onslaught.

Awesomeness, I know. You may have to look pretty closely to see my score of $215, meaning that I barely met my goal. I strive to always do the bare minimum in life. It took me three games to accumulate this much bling.

What am I going to buy with my imaginary $215, you ask? I think we all know it can only be a Bob Saget commemorative coin with certificate of authenticity and a limited edition carrying case. Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhh.

3/30/2006: Allison Has Completed "Find That, Emo"

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Well, this task was fun!
Today I met my friend Katie at Best Buy for a little help here. I didn't want to look like a weirdo carrying around all those CDs by myself. I felt like I was being watched the whole time. It was a very sneaky situation. We were being watched like hawks by the Best Buy employees. Very scarey stuff. I looked even weirder cause I was carrying around my big camera and taking weird pictures of CDs. But somehow we pulled it off.

I took three pictures each of three different band's CDs: one picture of the CDs in their rightful location, one picture of the empty space created on the rack after we had taken them, and one picture of each new locale of the CDs.

The three bands I chose were Action Action, Atreyu, and Rufio. I hid the Action Action CDs in the World Music Section. The Rufio CDs were moved to the vacuum cleaner section, and the Atreyu CDs into an oven. Yup, an oven.

This makes 9 pictures. Rather than post all nine here, I have created a set on Flickr for the photos. In doing this, I created a new flickr profile so that if any other group members would like to use this site for rutless picture hosting, they may. I'll post the username and password in the forum.

Without further ado, I bring you Find That, Emo. Just click on each picture for a description.

3/29/2006: Seth Has Completed "A Very Fortunate Task"

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Well around 3 o'clock I headed to China King Buffet to get my cookies. I ended up eating seeing as it was still considered lunch time and the buffet was relatively cheap. After finishing what I hope was as labeled on the buffet I went up to pay my bill. Before the lady at the counter rang me up I asked if it would be possible to get 30 fortune cookie. After repeating myself 3 or 4 times she finally understood that I was asking for 30 cookies, and for $3.00 I got them. Only thing is, the lady couldn't count, so instead of 30 cookies I got 32 plus the one I received with my meal. Please understand that any typos/grammatical errors in the fortunes are as is on the fortune and not a mistake of my own.
1. Your exotic ideas lead you to many exciting, new adventures!
2. You will step on the soil of many countries.
3. You will learn quickly, never fear.
4. You will have good luck and overcome many hardships.
5. Be calm when confronting an emergency crisis.
6. Courtesy pays.
7. Try your best to aviod arguing with your elders an superiors.
8. Do not wait for others to open the right doors for you.
9. Dispel negativity through creative activities.
10. Say hello to others. You will have a happier day.
11. A smooth long journey! Great expectations!
12. Courtesy is cumbersome to the that know is not.
13. Commitment is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.
14. Curiosity kills boredom. Nothing can kill curiosity.
15. You will always be successful in your professional career.
16. Do not seek so much to find the answer as much as to unserstand the question better.
17. Cut through organizational impediments and get some real work done
18. Your emotions are right on the surface, but that's okay.
19. Your sweetheart may be too beautiful for words but not for arguments.
20. Try your best to avoid arguing with you elders and superiors.(repeated)
21. Choose your own path.
22. A frivolous gift is a gift, nonetheless.
23. Past experience: He who never makes mistakes never did anything that's worthy.
24. You will have an exciting business adventure.
25. Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open mind.
26. Courtesy is a business asset--a gain and never a loss.
27. Your modesty will shame those with lesser knowledge.
28. Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
29. You are a man of rightousness and integrity.
30. A good laugh and a good cry both cleanse the mind.
31. Dare to dream, hope, believe, seek, feel, find, and lover.
32. You will soon take a very pleasant and successful trip.
Mine: Custom is a great guide.

Man that sucked to type out. Tyson, there were three with lucky number 13(2,3,and 15).

3/28/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Target Practice"

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Well, my car's starter gave out last weekend and I had to leave my car, along with my golf clubs, over at my brother's house. So this morning, when I got up, I had to go look in our storage building for the very first set I ever played with. I thought that would be a handicap, but I don't think it really was at all. I went to Riverside Recreation Complex at lunch and it took about a half of a bucket to hit the 40 yard sign 7 times. Then I just wailed on some old drivers that were in the bag with the rest of the balls. I think it confused the old fellow hitting balls to my left, as he couldn't seem to get his driver past the 40 yard sign. Maybe one day I'll come out here and the old range will be shut down and with dust blowing across the mats, I'll say... "Damn... for that one day... I was a legend." Ok, here's the video: Target Practice (4.02 MB)

That one was smoked

3/25/2006: Allison has completed "Little Extra Cheese On The Taco ?"

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Done. Today at approximately 4:15 p.m. I successfully went to a store to ask for help finding Vagisil. It wasn't half as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Actually, the only uncomfortable part was when I asked if I could take her picture. Then she wanted to know why I wasn't actually buying the product. But I explained why, so at least one more person out there knows about Rutless.com. Overall, this task was easy breezy.


Thanks to Diane at the Walgreens in Hickory.


Feminine products are fun!

3/24/2006: Seth Has Completed "Squat Thrust Frenzy"

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Man, squat thrusts really do wake you up in the morning. I woke up at 7:40 for my first set. When 9:40 rolled around I was in class. You might be wondering...Seth how did you do you squat thrusts if you were in class?...Well I just got up handed the camera to my professor and start doing them. I continued to do my thrusts every hour until 3:40. Here is a little video I put together for proof of my thrusting: Squat Thrust Frenzy

3/23/2006: Tyson Has Completed "Bleeding Carolina Blue"

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Let me start off by saying this has been possibly the worst day of my life. I'm just kidding, but it did suck pretty bad. The only reason being this was one of the most painful things i've ever had to do as a die hard Duke fan and as a sports fan in general. To wear the clothing of something that goes against everything that i stand for is more painful than you could ever imagine. Anyway, i started off my day by waking up to Brandon's phone call asking me to meet Stephen, Leslie, and himself at Ham's once again for lunch. Now, i had planned on sleeping as late as possible in order to avoid addiditional humiliation. They obviously weren't going to have any of that. So, i headed to Ham's expecting a good hazing from them as well as many other stares from the other customers. That's exactly what i got. At first glance each one of them burst into laughter. The meal went pretty normal and i managed to keep conversation away from my atire. Then my fellow cast member Seth deemed it necessary to call me and give me some additional hazing. After a good lashing from him, i went home and went about my day. At 3 o' clock i had to attend lacrosse practice at the local high school for which i am the assistant coach. I knew that this was going to be the worst part of the task. All of these kids knew very well that i was a die hard Duke fan, so it wasn't going to be easy to take a beating from them knowing how much trash i talk about Carolina. One by one they each showed up with some form of shock on their faces. I got plenty of comments along the lines of "nice pants, coach" or "what the hell are you wearing?" My personal favorites were ones that sounded like "ahhh, you've finally converted to a real team!" It was hard for me to keep my mouth shut and not blab my mouth about how much Carolina sucked, but that was not allowed. So, i had to do just that. I'm sure i'm never going to live this down from many of the cast members or the lacrosse players, but i guess that's something i'll have to deal with. I took a few pictures on a camera phone, but you're only going to get a couple, because i don't have the kind of money to be sending picture mail all the time.

The pajama bottoms
The hoodie and hat

3/22/2006: Brandon Has Completed "Him Name Is Hopkin Brown Giraffe"

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I got up around 7:30 this morning and watched the movie "Derailed". I called my good friend "J Morgue" to see if he wanted to help me with the task. We set out about 9:15. I tried two or three different places, but no one could print and copy it correctly. I didn't have any success so I had to call Stephen to get a print out of the flyer and then I had the copies made around 10:26am. Since it was so close to Stephen's lunch break, we decided to eat at Ham's. We called Tyson and he showed up for lunch. Got done eating at 12:04pm, went straight to the truck and grabbed the flyers. Stephen had to head back to work, so Tyson agreed to accompany us. I thought I would spice things up by not only posting some on poles, but also putting them all over different things and handing them out to people. So the first person I came up on was a guy getting out of his car and I asked him if he would help me find my missing giraffe. After he got a good look at the flyer, I walked off as if nothing had ever been said. Trust me that I did not discriminate against anyone. If anyone walked by, they got a flyer. Old people, a hispanic, etc. I was determined to find Hopkin Brown. My favorite encounter was when a high school aged guy pulled up beside of me, with his stereo blasting. I handed him one and said that if he heard anything, I would appreciate it if he called us. In no particular order, we posted flyers in these various locations: Stop sign, pawn shop, back window of an SUV, in a newspaper stand, on the door at Harris Teeter, on a dumpster, on the front of a construction truck, Jayson's back, and my personal favorite: in the suction tube in the Bank of America drive thru. When I walked up to the drive thru, the lady at the window asked me if she could help me. I asked her if she could help me by putting a flyer up for my missing pet. She said, "Oh my god, that's awful". Then she told me to send it on in, so I put it in the tube and walked off.
When I first heard about it, I thought it was hillarious. I had a blast and look forward to more tasks of equal quality. Here are some pics from my cellphone that show the receipt from where I made the copies and several places where I put up the flyers.

Receipt for copies of flyer

Flyer in window at Harris Teeter

Flyer taped to Jayson's back

Flyer on car windshield

Flyer on a stop sign

Me putting a flyer in the window at a Pawn Shop

3/21/2006: Stephen Has Completed "Alien Encounters"

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Ok, this task was pretty fun. I made two alien pictures, both related, and then inserted them into a letter I typed up in Microsoft Word. The letter and pictures are as follows:

To Whom It May Concern,

Yesterday, I was walking past the Burke County courthouse and noticed something white looking moving in the bushes. I approached cautiously, but then was surprised when out leapt two space aliens. They were very thin, with a white reptilian skin, and they had a sort of greenish glow around them. One of them appeared to wave hello to the civil war statue, but then the other spotted me and began to run. Fortunately I had my digital camera with me and was able to snap this photo of them right as they began to run away:


They ran around to the northwest side of the courthouse and I began running away, down the sidewalk towards Concord Street. As I fled, I heard a rather large roar and looked over my shoulder in time to see what appeared to be a “flying saucer” rising up into the air behind the courthouse. I raised my camera to snap a shot and at that very moment the saucer sped forward and hit the dome on the top of courthouse and knocked it clean off. Debris flew everywhere and the ship climbed quickly into the sky and out of sight. Here is the picture:


I looked everywhere for other witnesses, but there just didn’t seem to be anyone who saw the aliens. I think there must be a cover up in place because I went back by the courthouse today and the dome had been rebuilt overnight. I just thought you, the reporters, should know about all this. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

(Signature)

Max Merriweather

After drafting up the letter, I printed it and added a faux signature for Max Merriweather. Then Brandon and I went to the post office and dropped it in the mailbox at 6:17pm. The letter should be on its way to the local newspaper. Here are some pictures. The first is the printed letter and the second is a pic of me putting it in. I'll post a followup if anything happens as a result of this.

3/20/2006: Stacey Has Completed "Drive-Thru Samaritan"

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I know what you're thinking. "Stacey, you went and paid for someone else's food!?!?!? Someone you didn't even know!?!?!?!?" Yup, sure did. And what does one do with such a blatant display of wealth? Videotape it, of course! Here's the high-res. for all you rich DSL users out there: High Res WMV (9.48MB), and here is the low-res. for all of you who are just too cheap to get off 56K: Low Res WMV (6.44MB).

Anyhoo, Stephen and I had a blast doing it (Making this video, that is), and I look forward to my upcoming tasks. Speaking of which, Stephen's task will be posted shortly after this one. As for the pictures, what ones I have on here are all you're getting for now. The first is a pic of me before going through the drive-thru and the second is the truck that was driven by the person whose dinner I paid for. I had some technical difficulties getting those mammajammas on here, so that's it for right now. As you have undoubtedly surmised, I am not the most computer proficient guy around (An honor held for Stephen, I think). At any rate, there'll be more next time. Now . . . on to Stephen's task . . .