What?!?!?!? A SHOPPING Post?????

I shopped. I shopped in MADISON!!!! We may all breathe a collective sigh of relief. No small animals will be harmed due to my shopping frustrations.
This shopping trip was actually born out of true and sincere necessity. I'm planning ahead and preparing for the onslaught of my first Madison winter. I thought a winter coat was in order. So I picked this up:



this thing has enough bells and whistles on it to choke a horse. plus it has the dramatic faux fur (I specifically asked) trim on the hood.

I picked up the jacket at Context (www.contextclothing.com). it's the ONLY place in Madison to shop for me. I made a point of chatting up the owner whenever I go in. He's VERY cool and a really great merchant. Super knowledgeable about merchandising and marketing in general. Has a great point of view. Humble, yet confident. He really knows all about every garment in his store and he's great about letting you know all the features and benefits of anything in the place. While we were chatting, I asked him about shoe stores. He called it - nothing in town. While we were chatting about how it's so risky to carry shoes, he mentioned that he'd brought in a line about a year ago and it just didn't do that well. He knew I was shopping in preparation for winter and told me that the shoes he had brought in were specifically for cold weather as they were waterproof - perfect for the snow. He ran to the back and brought them out to me. I saw them, I loved them, I bought them.



groooooovy. I bought them partly because of the beautiful leather box they came in. DEE-LISH.

As he was ringing me up, he said, "Oh, I'm giving you the Context discount - gotta take care of the people who take care of us." Just like the boys at Gimme Shoes used to give me a discount in SF!!!

It's starting to feel a little more like home out here.

Ruined for LIFE

Went on my first trip with the new gig... headed out to The Hamptons for a couple of days. no biggie... standard work trip. best part was we took the jet... I totally geeked out and took some pics.

The jet:


My reflecton on the jet:


My shoe on the jet:


My boss on the jet:


My driver on the jet:


My direct report on the jet:


My nap on the jet:


I'm into it, man.

A Good Day

We spent a lovely day yesterday hanging out with Matt. The weather was warm with no sign of the oppressive humidity that I've been having such a hard time dealing with. Thank Buddha.
We met at the Farmer's Market at aout 10:30 and did a lap. Picked up some corn - 6 for a dollar. That was it... we headed out for brunch at some pancake house in Middleton. I immediately got sick from whatever I ate... I beg to go home to recover. couple hours later, we're back on the road. We're currently looking for pillows and a throw for the new monster couch in the living room. After a fruitless shopping trip, we dropped Matt off, headed home and I took a nap - feeling a little better from my earlier pancake poisoning.
Since arriving, we've been looking for a replacement for Tsing Tao, our go-to Chinese delivery place in SF. Low expectations abound, but that was fine as Tsing Tao was just barely acceptable. Like I said... just a go-to place for quick food delivery. Matt had given us some sort of local guide to the best restaurants in the area and we chose the #1 entry under Chinese food delivery. We placed the order when Matt called to say he was headed back to our place. The food arrived just before matt... I had about 2 bites from each of the 4 dishes we ordered. All I have to say is... I think I enjoyed my pancake poisoning more than that meal. The search will continue.
In a desperate attempt to salvage the evening, we considered going to a movie. I faced reality and admitted that going to a movie theater for me is like giving me a sleeping pill. We nixed the movie idea. Then Matt came up with the brilliant (?) idea of going to a local Indian casino - Dejope. See, Matt and I had gone to Las Vegas together a million years ago and the idea hit as we were reminiscing about the trip. Anyhow, we all looked at each other and said, WTF? Why not? and headed out. Twenty minutes later we were walking through the doors. I'm assuming that none of my valued fans have been to an Indian casino, so let me take a moment to describe.... basically, you can smell the desperation the moment you open the doors. Everyone in the place looks like they're there to make their millions to escape the lives that they've been assigned. There's gotta be something in the air... my first intake of breath put me right next to everyone in there. Thoughts of winning a b'zillion dollars at a twent five cent slot machine danced through my head. Cash out, head home, pack and move back to my beloved SF. Sigh.
I played "Big Daddy" and handed Mike a twenty (pulled one out for myself as well). We wandered around and promptly ended up 40 dollars in the hole. "Big Daddy" decided to keep the "fun" rolling and whipped out a couple more twenties... We wandered around and chose our "dream-making" machines... Mike turned his twenty into FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!! I turned mine into A HUNDRED AND FIFTY!!!!!!!! When our bankroll dropped to 350, we ran outta that place like liitle girls running from an, um, uh... Indian Casino (?). Matt followed close behind... bitter and angry at not being able to make his 5 dollars into anything more than additional space in his wallet.
So 350 bucks won't get us retired and back to SF... but it's a start.
Mad-land it is. For now.

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Yesterday was difficult.
I think we all know by now that shopping plays a huge role in my life. In SF I would go shopping on weekends when I got bored. Or when I was upset. Or when I just fucking felt like it! These past weeks I've been quelling the shopping ache by going out and getting stuff for the house. Wall hangings and a desk from UnEarthed, a couch from Steinhafel's, various and sundry necessities from Target. (Have I mentioned that I've been to Target more in the past 3 weeks than I've ever been in my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE???) Well, yesterday we had no real plans to do anything and the shopping ache was calling my name. I TRIED to make it go away by running out to Target and getting some window coverings for the kitchen. Didn't work. Then I remembered that there was a Macy's not far from the house. I thought, "Great. I'll go there. Maybe they'll have some shoes or something." Let me tell you... the Macy's out here is a far cry from the one in SF. Come to think of it, I NEVER went to the Macy's in SF. With everything else out there, it just didn't merit my time or money. Anyhow, we walked in and had to actually SEARCH for the men's shoe department. When we finally found it, it was about 75 square feet of major ugly. As I scanned the tables and displays not finding anything that even mildly interested me, I found my breathing getting shallow. I got light headed. Seriously. I really did. I was shocked and a little confused by my reaction. I was so immensely disappointed, that I was having an actual physical reaction to it. Knowing full well that this horrible little Macy's was my last bastion of shopping hope in this god forsaken shopping place, and it was coming up empty made me sick.
(I am SO not being dramatic here. I know you're all snickering, but I'm dead serious. I actually thought I was going to faint.)
I mean, think about it. The hopelessness of it all...
We wandered out of Macy's and into the small mall. Bath and Body, a Hallmark store, something called "Oriental Specialties (KEE-RIIIIIST!!!!!!!!!), Cornblooms (????), The University Bookstore. I had to sit down. And smoke. I had to smoke.
After my smoke, we went back into the mall. I could feel the desperation rising inside of me. Then I saw it. A shoe store called "Morgan's" or something like that. "I bet they have slippers." I thought to myself. "I could use a new pair of slippers.. Yeah... THAT's it. I'll buy slippers!!!". I had an old pair of Ugg slippers that I had gotten at Nordstrom's about a year ago and they could be replaced. Morgan's had a big Ugg sign in the front of the store, so I figured they might have the slippers. We went in and looked at the wide assortment of ugly shoes. The army of salespeople were helping customers describing things like how a shoe should be comfortable. whatever. I felt like screaming, "The uglier the shoe the more comfortable!! Period."
Then I spotted something. A shoe that sparked something in my memory. A spread from a men's fashion magazine. Granted, it was a spread from an OLD men's fashion magazine... but whatever. You get the picture. Okay... and in the magazine, the shoes were in a beautiful kinda' jewel tone blue... anyhow, I bought these:


I'm so ashamed.

We did it.

Yes, we attended the game. No, I did not wear the Bucky Badger T. I opted instead for True Religion Jeans, a white button down shirt and a red bandanna tied cowboy style around my neck. Also wore the blue suede Jack Spade bag... yeah, a bit on the "Red, White and Blue" side, but the bandanna was such a small part of the whole outfit... well, you get the picture.
ANYHOW... Seeing as how Camp Randall is about 5 blocks away, I was coerced into walking there. Oddly enough, there were people parking for the game out in front of our house (we could tell because they had truly committed to the whole "Red" thing). It was a beautiful day (albeit a bit on the warm side) and we wandered down Regent St towards the stadium. On our way, we started to hear the UW fight song floating through the air. At first I thought it was coming from the stadium... but I figured, no, that couldn't be it... it sounded less like a college marching band and more like a cell phone ring tone. Turned out this is what we were hearing

Sorry for the poor quality of the shot... I didn't want to get too close... for some reason the little girl in red playing the UW fight song on an electric organ in her driveway (over and over and over and over again) creeped me out. I stayed on our side of the street.
As we got closer, it seemed like things just got redder and redder and redder... including the faces of the college kids partying out in front of their houses. Oh! Speaking of the houses... people who lived within 4 blocks of the stadium were actually renting out their driveways as parking spaces. One house was obviously inhabited by a marketing genius. They were charging 15 bucks for space and you get a free "Bratwurst"; ergo their sign, "Spot and a Brat - $15.00" . Sorry, I was so amused, I missed the photo op.
A few more shots of our walk as we got closer to the stadium:




and we finally arrive


We managed to make our way up to the suite. Lovely. I can't imagine attending sporting events of this magnitude any other way. Loads of food... lots of beer... they were making bloody mary's... nice.
This is a shot of what was going on down on the field when we got to the suite. Some sort of marching band thing... kinda' fun. Everyone seemed very excited. THEN, they made a big "M" for us!!!

Funny... they had their back to us... odd.
All in all, it was really fun. We actually stayed for almost the whole time. I believe UW won 28 to 21. Or something.
I thought I'd end this post with this shot to drive home the whole "Red" thing. (no, i did not alter this photo in any way)

GO BIG RED!

Go Big Red?

Today we participate in what could easily be referred to as, "The Qunitessential Madison Experience". We're going to a UW Badgers football game.
On Tuesday, I got back to my office and found that I'd received an invitation to join - get this - the VP of HR and "other executives" at the opening game of the UW football season. Relax. It's not like I was the only one invited. There will be other LE "newbie directors" there. Apparently LE has a suite at Camp Randall (the UW football stadium) that they use to woo potential business outfitter customers. I reluctantly accepted the invitation. Good thing... apparently, this is a BIG DEAL. Not only is this a huge game for UW, but I found out it's a pretty big deal to get invited to the LE Suite at the stadium.
Last night after our Friday Dinner Out, we were wandering around State Street when I finally faced the question that had been nagging me since I accepted the invite to the game - What will I wear? Buddha knows that there is no shortage of UW Logo stores in Madison, so I gave in and we walked into one of them. I purchased two shirts. One for me and one for Mike. Mike went with a more classic approach to the UW logo. I decided on a ringer tee emblazoned with
Bucky Badger - the UW mascot.
Whether I wear it or not remains to be answered.