I have a habit of buying cool new neckties every few months. Normally it happens when Kohl’s sends me a postcard in the mail with an offer like “get $10 off your $20 purchase”. That’s a pretty good deal, so I’ll head over to Kohl’s and look at their ties (specifically the Jerry Garcia collection). The ties are usually marked at $40 “retail” but always seem to be on sale for about $20. With my discount, I walk out with a $40 (supposedly) tie for $10. Not bad.
Anyway, a few years ago Laralee told me that I had enough ties, and certainly didn’t need to keep buying more. I protested that in fact a man can never have enough ties, and they were good deals. She persisted.
I wear a dress shirt and tie to seminary every day, so I decided to do an experiment to see how many ties I really have. (Yes, I could’ve counted them, but what’s the fun in that?) I explained to my class that I’d be wearing a different tie every day, and we’d see how long I lasted. So, on the first day of the semester, it began.
After 59 days I wore my last tie: a gem that Dad gave me, and which probably dates back to the late 1970’s (carbon dating was inconclusive). That was just two weeks shy of finishing the entire semester without repeating a tie!
So I had to conclude that Laralee is probably, in fact, correct. I do have too many ties. I was even at Kohl’s the other day, coupon in hand, and looked longingly at a few ties but didn’t buy them– I bought some nice winter socks instead.
Just for fun, I took a picture of myself in my tie each day, after I returned home from teaching. The lighting wasn’t all that great (it was still early) and let’s face it: cell phone cameras aren’t stellar. Many of the photos are dark or blurry, although I think they still show off The Collection pretty well.
First, an animated GIF showing all 59:
And for more detail, the full mosaic:
Now it’s back to the beginning of the rotation…