100 Days, 100 Ties

I know I’ve predicted this before, but this post may be the shortest yet. I’m tired, I’m thirsty, I’m ADD-ing…and now the email from my iPhone to my gmail account won’t get delivered. Ahem. Echo-echo-echo…

That is now the sign for, let’s wait until tomorrow morning…

Have now been properly rested and sufficiently caffeinated, so let’s see how this goes.

After some technical difficulties which entailed emails from my iPhone going to some sort of limbo/purgatory, I’ve finally gotten a workable shot.

It’s from US Polo Association, which, come on, has got to be predicated on the popularity of the Ralph Lauren Polo brand. I imagine their sales figures/market value have to fall into these categories.

• True fans of the USPA brand – 7%
• Family members of USPA – 8%
• People who see “POLO” on the label, check the price, and giddily figure they’re getting a bargain on some kickass Ralphie gear – 39%
• People who see “POLO” on the label, know it’s not kickass Ralphie gear, but buy it anyway – 41%
• People who get the product because it looks good/fills a need, and don’t care about the label – 5%

I fall into this last category, as I bought this at Marshall’s or TJ Maxx, and liked the brown with the blue touches. While I certainly am usually aware of certain labels (and their relative value, in terms of finding a bargain), I truly was not label-watching in this case. So there.

Jim Nash: A great spy novel name

I found a new member of the Guys With Ties clan yesterday. Jim Nash, of Farnsworth-Hill, a real estate company HQed here in Evanston. This picture should guarantee that I’ll never be accused of being a lighting expert. Great, I made the subject stare directly into the sun, and I cut off half his face in shadow. Tie looks good, though.

And I totally forgot that my sister-in-law, Mo Kirk, sent me some pictures of RGWT (Related Guys With Ties) from a Bar Mitzvah that she and my younger brother, the strategically-named Grant Saucier.

In this first one, that’s Grant on the left, hiding his tie (is that a Liberty of London?) with his big paw whilst expounding on something to one of Mo’s brothers, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Michael Kirk (PBS’s Frontline).

In this other one, Grant & Mo are hanging with Eli (the new Bar Mitzvah) and Wolf, Mike’s sons. I guess these guys would be the charter members of WWT (Whippersnappers With Ties), although I guess Eli is a full-on GWT, due to his new status.

Thanks for reading…yep, though I was late, I was wrong about the shortness.

Brooke

This morning was good. My planning was good. No ill effects of travel, of late nights (since my daughter is down with my folks still), of forgetting to take my gingko biloba (I mean really, there’s a chicken-and-the-egg thing going on, right? Hello? Echo!). I shaved, deodorized, got dressed (underwear then pants, then do a little dance) and even remembered to take a picture! What has made me so proud is that I had a plan and rolled with it. That’s good!

This morning, this good, good morning, was our Networking Breakfast, hosted by Illinois Nut & Candy. The proprietor, David Levine, is a distinguished alumnus of GWT Univ. Their facade is very pink, very noticeable while driving past on Dempster. So, I thought that I’d honor that color scheme with my ensemble.

Paint the mother pink...

This striped strip is from DKNY, and I picked it up at Thriftgeek, which I’ve mentioned before. They are a thrift store which was open in Evanston for a year, and just recently moved down into the city. They had some fun stuff…I have several ties from there, as well as an old faux-leather (pleather, yeah!) gym bag that I use to tote all my racquetball crap.

Today’s meeting brought out a lot of Guys With Ties, and it made me realize something. Vince Roberts, a chiropractor with Reavy Rehab, has been on here, as a Guy With BOW Tie. The first GWBT, by the by. Well done, son. His 100D100T resume is getting to be quite like Paul Hletko’s…he, too, is a Friday Freebie winner, plus he gave me one of the bow ties for BTF. You, too, friendly reader, can be a winner. Just send two box-tops…

Next is Jim Pepa, a partner with Brown, Kaplan + Liss, an accounting firm Evanston. Jim’s tie is an attention-getter, and I don’t like it…I love it.

Larry Levin is a salesman at Jos. A. Bank on Sherman in downtown Evanston. He always has a big smile, and had some really cool things to say this morning at our NeBr. About me. And my tie blog. Which is nice.

Jesse Moreno of Next Level Planning Group was there, and he mentioned that he’d wear a better tie next time. I have to disagree, as I think this tie is pretty great. Um, Jesse, you can always give it to your favorite Evanston Chamber Membership Manager…

And, finally, after work, I went to [name of local establishment has been covered to protect the politician] for a [type of beverage has been covered to protect the politician]. Evanston’s 4th Ward Alderman Don Wilson showed up in his suit and tie, ready for a photo. Such a great guy…all of the GWTs are really, really cool, and I appreciate their willingness to be put on 100 Days, 100 Ties, I really do.

And, by the way, the weather, and the beer, at Nevin’s was perfect.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

All good things must come to an end, it is said. Some of them are available for a limited time…happy hour, McRib, the Titanic, and Bow Tie Fortnight are but a few. A funny/good thing about wearing bow ties for 3 weeks (no full 5-day weeks, but you get the idea) are the comments, many from people unbeknownst (is ‘beknownst’ a word?) to me. A sampling:

• “You should be selling ice cream”/”Are you the Good Humor Man”–a variation of this was definitely the leader, with 10+ versions coming across my bow.
• “Do you sell [Item other than ice cream]”–fried chicken, organ grinder music, washing machines.
• “My _____ wore bow ties all the time.”–Fill in the blank. Dad, uncle, grandfather, fried chicken salesman. An honor.
• “Nice guys wear bow ties”–this is a summarization of the sentiments received from two people. And being a nice guy, I liked hearing it.
• “Is there a horse race goin’ on that I don’t know about”–far and away, the winner. A guy I don’t even know said it getting off the elevator the other day. It may have been partly based on my seersucker jacket and white/brown saddle bucks, but oh, man, was that a good laugh for me all weekend.

Though I will miss BTF, it was nice to pull out a regular, albeit a bit staid, tie this morning. I mentioned the existence of this Tie du Jour a few weeks ago, when I talked about Wafa Zanayed, the proprietor of A-1 Tailor on Dempster. He had altered a tie for me, and he sold this tie to me that had been left at his shop in the late 00’s (have we figured out what to call that decade yet? oughts? single-didgies?).

So, if someone recognizes this tie as a tie that you or a loved one dropped off hurriedly and requested that it be finished by the next day, only to ignore it for the next 500 or so next days…well, then, make me an offer and you can have it back.

The TdJ is from Marshall Field’s, which most of you will remember as a downtown Chicago icon. They were bought by Macy’s a few years back, and their flagship store looks a bit different. But, luckily, Macy’s has quite a bit of cachet in terms of traditions, so they know how to handle the transition. I’m sure some will think I am speaking the language heretic, but the few times I’ve been down have been fine. If I started a tradition going down there with Julia this year, she’d be just as happy had it started at Marshall Field’s.

A colleague in the Evanston community, Carolyn Dellutri of Downtown Evanston, passed along this great photo of a tie wreath that she took over the weekend at an awesome Andersonville business called Necessary Extravagance. I’ll have to go check that place out…

Small pianist, big bow tie

Paul Hletko (partial resumé: double Guy With Tie alum, winner of a Friday Freebie, soon-to-be-announced winner of the Friday Freebie, Bow Tie Division) sent in a picture of one of his offspring, P.Q. (or “Paul Quinn”, when his parents want him to listen), sportin’ the bow tie for his piano recital. Can’t wait to see (big) Paul with his new red bow tie.

Thanks for reading…Brooke