Finally a Friday!

Heckuva a thing to say after a four day week following a week of vacation but, really, I think I needed a vacation from my vacation. As a result, today's conglomeration is pretty straightforward too. So what else would I do but conglomerate around the navy sportcoat? If it's the navy sportcoat and a non-thinking conglomeration then it must be a blue dress shirt. To necktie it all together I selected a red tie. It's got some nifty shades of blue ovals to, you know, take a bit from the shirt and sportcoat. It's a Paul Fredrick that looked really good in the catalog but never quite that good in person. It does make a pretty good knot though so it's not all bad.

And with that I'll bid a fond adieu until next week -- Sunday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Caught Up!

Another Mickey tie. Two is two too many for some but the pattern on this one is also less than obvious. Another Disney World label and also made in China. This one is a woven rather than a print so it's a little more substantial than Tuesday's tie. I conglomerated it with a purple stripe, straight collar dress shirt and black sportcoat. The purple stripe in the dress shirt really pulled out the light purple squares in the pattern. Not bad at all and what I was hoping would happen.

Sadly I spilled my first up of coffee on the shirt and had to change to a plain white. I did manage to miss the tie though. The shirt will wash (pretreated immediately!) but ties do not clean very well.

So that's it! I'm all caught up now. I'll be starting my new job on June 25. I'm really not sure if I'll be able to continue my conglomerating or not. I know that first day will be conglomerated and maybe I'll ask if there's a ceiling to the dress code rather than a floor. I really do hope that I can continue but if not then it's been fun while it lasted.

Catching Up VI -- Wednesday

I'm almost caught up! Wednesday's necktie is another Jos A Bank Signature. I'm not really sure if the pattern is hearts or clovers. I guess it doesn't really matter. I had a difficult time conglomerating this one but finally settled on the blue and navy windowpane dress shirt and tan sportcoat. I had considered several other blue options for both the dress shirt and coat but decided against being that blue.

Now, to be completely honest, I'm not wearing the coats in the pictures anymore. It's too warm to be coated and tied. I take the picture with the coat I would have worn with the conglomeration had it been more conglomeration type weather.

Catching Up V -- Tuesday

A new tie! I purchased this one on vacation. If you look at the pattern you might be able to tell where I went for vacation. I visited the Florida version of the Big Mouse's house and had a very good time.

The necktie actually has a "Walt Disney World" label and is made in China. Not a bad tie at all and even though it's one of those character ties that one is not supposed to wear to work (or ever according to some of "them"), the pattern is less than obvious.

The dress shirt really is white. And it's clean too. I bought a new camera for the trip because the old one had seen better days years ago. The rechargeables had not been charged again since vacation so the flash did not want to work. The combination of new camera and less than full batteries made for a poor picture.

I'm wondering if the compact fluorescent bulbs in the light fixture are causing the yellowing of the shirt. I'm also wondering if that's why my charcoal suit looks blue in some of the pictures I've posted. I'll have to put up with it anyway if that is the case. I've reduced my overall electrical use by about 25% thanks to those bulbs.

The new camera is a Canon Power Shot IS. I bought it the day before I left for vacation. Risky, I know, but I figured I'd have plenty of time to figure it out on the 3.5 hour flight to Orlando. It didn't even take that long before I was taking some reasonable pictures. The steepest part of the learning curve was learning the individual controls, mostly the zoom. I have not yet been able to take a decent macro type, close up picture.

Catching Up IV -- May 20 through May 23

There really aren't any overly notable ties in this set of conglomerations. The bottom two are Jos A Bank Signatures. The second one up may actually be a Signature Gold model but I can't quite remember. Only four? Yes! It was the week before vacation and by the time Friday rolled around I was already on vacation mentally so I took Friday off too. That's also the reason for the simple conglomerations. I was thinking more about conglomerating shorts and t-shirts.

Catching Up III -- May 13 through May 20

Two neckties of note in this series -- second up from the bottom and second down from the top. Both are Ferrell Reed City of London. Both are skinnier than I tend to like and both have a somewhat vintage feel to them. The bottom one of the two was mistakenly sent to New York first by the Ebay seller. She apologized and sent a decidedly vintage tie along as well. I'm not quite sure I'm up for a tie that wild but I may give it a shot anyway. What have I got to lose?

The other ties are pretty standard fair. The third conglomeration down from the top is one I'll be wearing again. I really like how it turned out. I like the colors and stained glass pattern of the top tie but the tie itself has seen better days. It's an older Jos A Bank Signature.

Catching Up II -- May 6 through May 11

There are a few things to note for this week. My specific necktie searching finally paid off a bit. The bottom picture in this conglomeration of conglomerations is the first tie I was looking for -- something different to pair up with my charcoal pinstripe suit. I visited with a salesman at a local menswear shop -- the only non chain in the area -- and he helped me select this tie based on my description of the suit. I think he nailed it pretty well, sight unseen, and even suggested the dress shirt color too. It's a JZ Richards necktie and cost as much as about 10 Ebay ties! I have not ever spent that much on a tie before. Yes, I did have buyer's remorse but when I conglomerated it all together, it subsided. A little.

The interesting thing about JZ Richards is that the ties are manufactured very near me in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is known as "The People's Republic of Boulder" and "Eastern California" thanks to their fairly liberal views in an otherwise fairly conservative state. One would be more likely to see tie dye rather than a necktie. Maybe next time I visit I should sport a tie dyed necktie!

Personally, I really like the town as a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there -- it's too expensive because they've really clamped down on growth. If I had the money, though, I would live there. Boulder is nestled up against the foothills of Front Range of the Rockies and next to the Flatirons. Gorgeous! The bike trails are extensive and have very nice scenery to entertain. The Pearl Street Mall is full of street performers at any given time, has several very cool bookstores, one of the best toy stores I've ever visited, a kite store, and the best burritos in the area. I couldn't find specific pictures of some of those places but this link has a general overview of Boulder that's fairly good.

The next conglomeration up from that is also the next necktie for which I was searching. Yes, a simple navy, red "regimental stripe". I liked the blue, navy, white stripe tie on my blue and navy windowpane dress shirt so well that I thought a navy and red would look as good on the navy and red windowpane. I don't like it as much so I may try and find a navy, red, white stripe. It shouldn't be too difficult to find.

The third up from the bottom is the also another specific search necktie. I had been trying to find another tie to conglomerate with the "orchid" Lands End dress shirt. It ended up being more difficult than I thought it would. And again, I ended up with another striped tie. I was really trying to avoid a stripe. I did get many compliments on the conglomeration so it must not be too terribly bad.

The remaining three ties are really nothing special. The first, going from bottom to top, is another Ferrell Reed City of London. It's actually a favorite of mine and one that I can put on anytime on mornings I don't feel like deciding on neckwear. The next up is another Jos A Bank Signature. It's a fairly difficult tie to conglomerate so it's saved for mornings when I've planned to wear it the night before. Last, but not least, a black and gold Robert Talbott Studio. This is actually my funeral tie. Seems to be anyway. No, it was not a funeral tie that day, thank goodness. Personally I think funerals should be colorful and celebratory.

Catching Up I -- May 1 through May 4

I'm playing catch up today. I have been coated and tied and conglomerated and I have the pictures to prove it! There's nothing really special about the first week of May's conglomerations so it's probably better that they get grouped together in one post. There are only four conglomerations because I took Monday off that week to recover from a very late (for me) night the Sunday before. I went to see the re-re-incarnation of the second incarnation of Black Sabbath (Ronnie James Dio on lead vox) and relive a bit of my youth. It's amazing to see Ronnie, at 60+, still able to belt out the songs and play the perfect front man. I conglomerated jeans and a t-shirt for the concert.