I broke a two-fer today. It wasn’t advantageous if I wanted to do my best at both but it helped me avoid feeling the intense pain in my neck twice.

I’ve held both these records before after beating Ashrita Furman’s mark, but he took them both back. Today I pushed the mark for each further than it’s ever been pushed before.

The records were for “Furthest distance walked balancing a lawnmower on the chin (non-powered)”. The previous mark was 249 meters (my previous record was 200 meters). The other was for “Longest duration balancing a lawnmower on the chin (non-powered)”. The previous mark was 6 minutes 27.99 seconds (my previous mark was about 5 and a half minutes).

Today I was shooting for both records but thought I would break them both in 1 lap. I ended up walking so fast I was done with the first lap in a little over 4 minutes. I needed to keep going, so I figured I’d go for another full lap. At about 760 meters I got a little overextended and started walking fast and just about ran into my stroller/pole/high camera and slowed so the lawnmower fell off my chin. I went almost a half-mile! 778 meters. That’s 3.1 times as far as the previous mark. It took me 9 minutes 14 seconds passing that mark by 2 minutes 46 seconds adding over 42% that that record.

It would be a lot less strenuous on my neck to just balancing the lawnmower without walking, but since it hurts so much, I prefer to get both out of the way at the same time if I can.

Update: The day after… my neck is ridiculously sore! #totallyworthit

Thanks for the help! Michael, Michael’s neighbor, and her son, Chris, Chirs, Patrick, Alyssa, Alyssa’s sister, mom, dad, Jennifer, and the little guys!

Tonight I broke a slippery Guinness World Records Title: “Most bars of soap stacked in one minute”. The trick was that the bars of soap had to be soaked in water for over one minute before the attempt could begin, and they had to be smooth (no oatmeal soap here), and they were defined as “smooth, solid object used for cleaning the body in water which becomes slippery when in contact with water”. These bars of soap were slippery. Even with my fingernails grown out, it was hard to even pick them up. Keeping them in a stack was even harder.

The previous record was 21, but after some practice, I knew I could pass that mark. The question was, how aggressive could I get? With grown-out fingernails, I could grab and stack. The trick was getting the stacked bars of soap to stick together and not slide off. I got 30 stacked and then ran into all sorts of trouble. The second to bottom bar slide off the bottom bar and was only attached by 20% of its surface area. Fortunately, the stack remained standing for over 5 seconds and I broke the Guinness World Record’s Title.

In the news: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/07/29/Man-stacks-30-bars-of-wet-soap-for-Guinness-World-Record/4161564410530

Then my son decided to make his own stack. I’m pretty sure it was higher than mine. He’s destined for great slippery things.

My wife took her support of me breaking Guinness World Records to promote STEM education to another level. She let me wrap her entire body with cling/plastic wrap (multiple times!). The record was for “Fastest time to wrap a person in cling film/plastic wrap”. The previous mark was 1 minute 59.71 seconds. I thought it would be a piece of cake to beat, I was wrong.

The person being wrapped has to be over 5 feet tall and the arms and legs need to be wrapped individually, including the bottoms of the feet. There can be no rips, tears, skin or clothing showing from the bottom of the feet all the way up to the neck (but not the head).

The arms, legs, and torso are easy. The joints are hard. There’s a reason I stuck with my wife for this attempt as it required getting personal to get everything covered. The wrap tends to bunch up at joints which makes it hard to cover them. The most clever move I had to make was over the shoulders and back down through the legs.

It took 4 practices and then another 12 official tries to finally get it. On many of the attempts, the wrap ripped and I couldn’t get going again. On 3 of the attempts, I called time and thought I’d broken the record but the judges found small patches that were uncovered (at the joints!)

On the final try, we finally got everything covered in 1 minute 57.1 seconds beat the previous mark by less than 3 seconds! My wife is a saint. In all I used over 1,000 feet of plastic wrap on her… and it takes just as long to get off as it does to put it on!

Today’s record was the 2-person version of the one I broke on December 31st of 2018 while in Costa Rica: Fastest time to bounce 5 ping pong balls into 5 pint glasses (team of two). Mike Hagman was up for the challenge.

Mike isn’t new to Guinness World Records as he once supervised a project while at SAP to be recognized as having the largest database in the world. I’m glad he finally broke a record he can be proud of. I have to say, from the time we started practicing together was months… wait, no, minutes, yes, minutes of practice before we broke it. To be fair, I practiced up for the record 7 months ago and I had to land 3 balls and he only did 2, but he was more consistent in getting them into his cups that I was into mine.

The first time we thought we broke the record we realized we didn’t say stop after the last ball which is required. We had to do it again. The previous record was 5.35 seconds and we got 2.52 seconds.

I applied for this title 3 years and 3 months ago. It was one of the very first records I wanted to break and it took me that long to prepare. The record was for “longest duration balancing a lawnmower on the chin (powered)”. That means the motor is on and the blades are spinning.

The previous record was 3 minutes 1 second. I know I can go much longer with a stationary object, but this object was not stationary. Not only could the spinning blades chop through matter, they also created angular momentum, thrust like a helicopter, and vibrations. I was also looking into the sun, faced gusts of wind, and had to deal with an electrical cord pulling the lawnmower around. That’s not to mention the live audience adding pressure. It’s a good thing I spent over 3 years preparing for this moment. Kids, do not try this at home. In fact, I never even let my 3-year-old son see me preparing for this record because I don’t want him to even think about trying it.

The previous record of 3 minutes 1-second fell to a 3 minute 54-second run. Check out the video for details.

Thank you to the team: Michael, Summer, Jonathan, Aparnika, Mike, Linda, Daniel, ESPN, and the City of Boise!

News Coverage:

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/07/01/Man-balances-running-lawnmower-on-his-chin-for-nearly-4-minutes/9831562005878/

https://www.power99fm.com/2019/07/02/man-balances-running-lawnmower-on-his-chin-for-4-minutes/

https://98rock.iheart.com/featured/crash-mornings/content/2019-07-04-guinness-record-for-balancing-a-running-lawn-mower-on-the-chin/

http://www.101wkqx.com/2019/07/02/who-would-ever-balance-a-running-lawnmower-on-their-chin-oh-wait/

http://www.93x.com/2019/07/02/man-balances-running-lawnmower-on-chin-to-break-record/

https://www.951wayv.com/man-breaks-guinness-record-for-balancing-running-lawnmower-on-chin/

https://y98.radio.com/blogs/kevin-intern-berghoff/watch-balancing-running-lawnmower-chin-world-record

https://www.theranch.fm/man-sets-guinness-record-for-balancing-a-running-lawnmower-on-his-chin/

https://www.arcamax.com/entertainment/weirdnews/s-2225146

https://www.1029thebuzz.com/2019/07/03/man-breaks-guinness-record-balancing-a-running-lawnmower-on-his-chin/

http://www.997cyk.com/2019/07/03/crazy-daredevil-breaks-guinness-book-of-world-record-for-balancing-running-lawn-mower-on-his-chin-the-longest-watch/

https://1063thebuzz.com/a-guy-broke-the-guinness-world-record-for-balancing-a-lawnmower-on-his-chin/

Tonight I set a record that wasn’t in my previous core-competency but now may be entering my repertoire. I beat out Maximouth of India for another mouth-stuffing record: most blueberries stuffed in the mouth. He got 86. I stuffed 146 blueberries in my mouth… and then I started gagging.

I was able to keep my mouth shut for 5 seconds and then spit them all out (my witnesses were nonplussed at the sight). After inspection, 22 of them were crushed and/or the skin was pierced so they had to be discounted.

The final tally was 124 blueberries stuffed in the mouth and removed unscathed. This compares to my record for moth candles lit in my mouth (I got 100, maximouth got 41).

I’ve been told I have a big mouth only once or twice in my life, but I don’t think it was meant in this manner. I have a crown going in on one tooth tomorrow and my wife suggested I take the temporary one off to make more room in my mouth. I did not as the tooth is quite sensitive underneath and the nominal gain wouldn’t have been more than a blueberry and the pain could have been catastrophic.

It’s always the silly ones that the news seems to like 😉 Here’s a sampling of the press coverage.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/06/17/Man-fits-146-blueberries-in-his-mouth-for-Guinness-record/2531560795039/

https://mix1077.iheart.com/featured/mix-morning-show-17707/content/2019-06-18-man-fits-146-blueberries-in-his-mouth-for-guinness-record/

https://scottandkat.ca/video-man-fits-146-blueberries-in-his-mouth-for-a-new-guinness-record/

https://www.wibc.com/blogs/hammer-and-nigel-show/breaking-another-pointless-guinness-world-record-has-just-been-set

https://www.wibc.com/blogs/hammer-and-nigel-show/breaking-another-pointless-guinness-world-record-has-just-been-set

https://www.realitytvworld.com/news/man-fits-146-blueberries-in-his-mouth-for-guinness-record-1071367.php

http://www.1045wjjk.com/2019/06/18/man-sets-new-record-for-most-blueberries-in-his-mouth-at-once/

https://kcrr.com/record-for-most-blueberries-stuffed-in-mouth/

Today I broke 2 world records at the grand opening of the new RCN headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both were a sweet victory because of the long history and multiple failed attempts.

The first was for the fastest time to pop 200 balloons with a nail. I first applied for this record on June 20 of 2016. It’s one of my oldest Guinness Word Record applications. I have tried to schedule it at multiple venues but have had cancellations multiple times from latex allergies. I also made an attempt as a middle school in Massachusetts but was slower than the 33-second current record because the wall was uneven and balloons were popping off the wall. Today, I nailed it. (Pun intended). The previous record was just over 33 seconds. Let this video speak for itself.

The previous record of 33.74 seconds was surpassed by a run of 14.77 seconds. I had a couple of bobbles but I’m still pretty thrilled with the outcome. I was especially thankful for all the help since it took 20 people a lot longer than 14.77 seconds to set up.

I then attempted the record for the fastest time to topple 5 targets with a pump-action foam dart gun. I practiced over fifty times today and was feeling confident. After gathering a group of people to watch, the gun barrel stopped revolving creating multiple misfires. I made several attempts, and every time there was a misfire (the barrel wouldn’t rotate so it was dry firing). I was getting discouraged because the last time I attempted this record it was disqualified because my measurement pictures were blurry.

I almost gave up until Jameson of RCN called the local Target and got the exact model of gun that was pre-approved on hold. We took the drive came back and the previous record of 7.77 seconds fell with a time of 3.94 seconds. It wasn’t quite as easy as all that since the replacement gun pulled hard to the right. After a couple of attempts, I aimed hard left of the cans and knocked all 5 down in 5 shots.

This may be the most unique record I’ve broken. It’s also nowhere near as fun as it sounds. The Guinness World Records Title is for “Most flavours of ice cream identified in one minute (blindfolded)”. It took me well over a year from start to finish to break it. I purchased at least 50 different flavors to get a combination of 14 that would work. In the end, I was able to identify 11 in one minute. I will say, my wife was ready to have her freezer back.

Practice requires at least 2 people. When I practice alone and know the flavor of ice cream, I can taste the flavor immediately. When I don’t know the flavor, sometimes I never taste it.

Chocolate chip cookie dough is also one of the easiest flavors to identify, and one of the worst to have in the lineup. As soon as you get a chunk of cookie dough in the mouth, you can’t get it out, and everything tastes like cookie dough. Coffee flavors are also easy to get (so long as you only have one) but they are overpowering. Most fruits also taste the same. The senses are also dulled with the pressure of one minute on the clock.

The previous record was 11 and I tied it since I got “Java” out as the 12th flavor before time expired but “chip” wasn’t spoken until time expired.