100 Days, 100 Ties

During my last year at U of I (3 syllables are clinically proven to be much easier to say that than the 16 in its full name–the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), I lived in a rented, 7-bedroom house which had been called Rancho Destructo since…since, well, the Dawn of Man. The first semester there were 6 young men (John, Paul, Bob, Brooke, Dave and Don) living with 2 young ladies, who happened to be twin sisters. We all loved Kim and Kate like our own sisters, and they loved us like brothers…until they lived with us. When they moved out right before Christmas, I sincerely felt that they gave us a wonderful gift. The gift of life. They wanted to kill us. I think the only syllable that Kate said for the last two weeks of living there was “Pigs”. It was as 4-letter as any 4-letter word could be, as accusatory as any noun could be. Hmm, speaking of syllables, I notice (my brain just works this way) that all of our names were 1 syllable. Until Alfie replaced Kim and Kate, that is.

I'm back!

Anyway, I digress…since we also lived with a pool table, we loved the movie ‘Color of Money’, with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. Being guys, we’d quote it all the time…sounds like fun, doesn’t it?! The flick was on tonight, and I caught an action scene of Fast Eddie Felson sporting a tie on his way to kicking some 9-ball ass in A-City.

As you probably know from reading 100 Days, 100 Ties, I have a tie-buying problem. I don’t spend a lot of money, maybe a buck or two…but, I may never run out of ties. My sister-in-law reminded me that it’s Mardi Gras tomorrow, so perhaps I’ll give up buying ties for Lent (not that I’ve given anything up in years). We’ll give it a shot, but if I see something like I saw on Saturday, I make no promises to the Holy Trinity.

The H stands for two things: HOLY SHIT! and HOW MUCH?!!

While at the new Salvation Army in Skokie, I ran across two Lee Allison ties, which I’ll sport in the next couple of weeks, I’m sure. But, another treasure was this Hermès tie, and another one just like it. Ties like these come from the land of Whatever-Price-You-Stamp-It-With-People-With-Boatloads-Of-Money-Will-Pay. I got mine for $2.56 apiece, before taxes. Somewhere, somebody is asking their wife, lover, husband or housekeeper where their Hermès strips are. Check eBay, bitches!

Thanks for reading…Brooke

I'm sure there's a tie in there

Just another crazy Pulaski Day Weekend! I mean, it’s an incredible weekend, celebrated the entire breadth of Cook County, honoring the life of Casimir Pulaski (or Cazzie P, as he was known around the pre-battle campsite), who saved the life of the Father of our Country. If he hadn’t, perhaps Peyton Randolph (Pres of 1st Continental Congress), would have been first president. We’d have Randolph DC, the Randolph Monument, Randolph Apples and the Randolph Redskins.

And, most importantly, Mortimer Duke might not have had a brother named Randolph, and he may not have worn a sweet bow tie. What category would these guys be in? TWT (Tycoons With Ties)? HWT (Humanitarians With Ties)? In all likelihood, I’d say MODWT (Manipulative Old Douchebags With Ties) would be best…

As for my Tie du Jour, it was a loaner from my friend David Colker. Every time he sees me in a tie, David gleefully informs me that he doesn’t have to wear them very much any more. So, last week, he gladly dropped off about a dozen or so, from his days as CEO of the Cincinnati Stock Exchange (which became the National Stock Exchange). This first one is from the house of [the brand name of this TdJ has been withheld, due to the fact that the author removed the tie at the office on Friday, and will not be able to retrieve the aforementioned brand name until he gets to the office around 11am], and it went really well with the houndstooth pants that aren’t seen in this picture. Trust me.

Thanks for trusting. Thanks for reading…Brooke

At press time, I’m less than two weeks from the one-year anniversary of starting 100 Days, 100 Ties. It should have ended in August (I think it was), on Tie No. 100. But, with the help of my friends, and with the help of a seriously tie-acquiring problem, I’m now writing about Tie No. 234 or so. While there is an end in sight, finding 10 or 12 ties, left by my friend David Colker, at my office does not lead me to believe that the end is coming soon. More on that as we approach March 15…

Thursday I went back to high school. Kinda. After having our February gathering postponed due to the blizzard, my Leadership Evanston class finally met over at Evanston Township High School. It was an educational day, as we learned about local education. I have two new categories now, with three new WT members.

One of our daily activities was a visit to Washington School, where we met the principal, Kate Ellison, and the assistant principal, Erik Friedman. Erik (good thing I checked online for the proper spelling) was sporting a classic navy tie with white dots, and I just had to impose. And, lo, the PWT is born (Principals With Ties).

Witherspoon & Robey (sounds like a buddy cop movie)

Later on we were regaled with speeches by two big hitters in Evanston education. Eric (had to check again) Witherspoon is the superintendent of District 202, which oversees our high school, which has three or four thousand students, and hundreds of employees. In the same picture is the other charter member of the SWT (Superintendents With Ties) crew, Mike Robey, Assistant Superintendent of District 65, who is charged with our grade schools.

Okay, now even though it was a casual dress-type day, I decided to sport a tie, given the folks we’d be meeting. I wore another plain-ish strip, a red one this time, but I put it under a sweater, just so it would peek out a little bit. Voila! Casual.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Is the word in that phrase ‘spilt’ or ‘spilled’? My handy-dandy WordPress spell-check seemed to underline (aka disapprove) ‘spilt’, but then again it underlined ‘WordPress’ so maybe it’s on strike.

Reminds me of Halloween my freshman year in college (oh, here we go again with one of Grampa’s stories!)…my soon-to-be roommate, Jason Anderson walked into a costume party, clad all in white, with a paper towel pinned to his chest. He had bent a coat hanger in such a way that it was wrapped around his neck with one end and hanging over his body with the other. On that hanging end was attached an open carton of milk. What the hell are you, we asked. Dude…I’m SPILLED MILK! he replied. Or maybe he said SPILT.

Anyway, enough 80s fun. On to the Topic du Jour, which is a Tie du Jour. It comes from the house of Nautica. It’s a lovely blue with a wavy, khaki-esque nautical (hey, they know what they’re doing) pattern. I still have several ties that aren’t the flashiest–a lot of somewhat plain reds and blues that rarely get asked to dance. This one was kinda the nicest of the blands, so to speak.

Captured a Guy With Tie, although now that I think about it, he may be a GWT alum. Scott Whitaker is head of the Kellogg Entrepreneurship Internship Program over at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Very hazy picture, very nice guy. My friend Chris and I ran into him before he was to judge an entrepreneur contest for NU students.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Some days hurt. Some of those days you can share that hurt, and some you can’t. Optimists build up what is later revealed as fantasy, and then are surprised when the mirage becomes apparent. One day I’ll be able to share it, but everyone should just know that it’s going to be better. A lot better. Very soon.

Okay, now that we’re done with the deep portion of this (hate the word:) blog, can we get on to the (alleged) fashion piece? Yes, thank you, move along, thanks for shopping. Drive carefully.

My Tie du Jour seemed like one of those hard ties to match to an ensemble. Purple, red and white. Wow, did this one ever look different on the tie rack. It seems to be okay with this shirt, and actually one of my funky pocket squares (okay, it’s a small scarf! but it looks the same tucked into the suit pocket!) set it off okay. It’s from Calvin Klein, who apparently knows about more than underwear.

Tuesday my group project group from Leadership Evanston met to discuss our (what else?) group project. Tracy Francis was lookin’ awesome in this brown paisley tie setting off a red striped shirt. Amazing use of dissimilar color, in my humble and uneducated opinion.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

It’s much too cold to play tennis these days, at least here in Chicago, where Mother Nature today bitch-slapped us all in the past two days with a mild ice storm followed by about a half-inch of snow. “It is not spring,” she told the surprised citizens, as she executed the bitch-slap. “Now get your mittens and winter hats back on before I bitch-slap some more of you!” Mother Nature, always jealous of Zeus’s lightning bolt, takes out her frustrations in the form of bitch-slapping.

Tennis, the sport, was invoked this evening because my Tie du Jour is from the Wembley line of fashion items. It’s white with gray (Brit: grey) and blue (Brit: blue) threads making up the plaid. I put it with this solid purple Gene Meyer shirt to purple up that bit of blue, and it was good. The ensemble was greeted, and properly complimented, this morning at the Other Brother, by Anna, aka Little Green Pixie. Can’t wait to see her dress, made almost entirely of ties.

That is water in that cup

A couple of months ago, I gave a few already worn bow ties to my friend (and GWT alum) Todd Paul. My one condition was, when he wore ’em, he had to get a picture taken for 100D100T. Well, he gave me the opportunity to snap the shot…diggin’ it, TP.

Thanks for reading…Brooke