On Saturday, April 13th, 2002 Bob "aka Databob" Timmerberg cut his hair. This may not seem like a big deal to the casual observer. However, Bob had let his hair grow quite long. Moreover, this was no typical hair-cutting. He didn't go to the barbershop on the corner, or a hair stylist. He invited his friends to pick up a pair of scissors.

No...invited is not the word. He auctioned off the chance to cut his hair. All the money, ***and*** all the hair, went to the charity Locks of Love, which creates wigs for children who have lost their hair due to disease.

Bob made a party out of the affair. There was a bbq, and a bonfire in the backyard. Well, the bonfire lasted for a little while, then the police came by and asked us to put it out. This photographer was not at the scene, so no pictures of the cops were taken. (However, there were other cameras on the job that night, so it is possible someone else caught the moment.)

A lengthy preparation for the actual haircut took place in Bob's upstairs bathroom. Where he isolated 14 bundles of hair, rubberbanded a quarter of an inch above where he thought it would be a good place to cut. Then he returned to his living room, toasted his hair one last time, and let the bidding begin.

USS Discovery CO and Fleet Captain Kathy Schopp won the first bid, and a later one as well. Several other crew members, Bob's co-workers from Avaya, and his father, all were lucky winners as well. From the photographs it appears the haircut was quite painful for Bob, either physically, emotionally, or both. In all, $220 were raised for Locks of Love that evening.

After all the hair was cut, Bob shaved off his beard and mustache, and everyone agreed he looked 19 again, at the most, and the next time he went to a bar, he would most definitely get carded.

Marine Captain John Newmark, Reporting