SUPER DEAL on the interwebs!

in December of 2013 Stamps-With-Foot and I were in San Francisco and visited an awesome shop called Windtip, which is in the shadow of the Trans-America Building.   They are in a former Art Nouveau bank building (Originally the Bank of Italy) that the store has preserved – including the vault.  As you might imagine, they have lots of fancy men’s shoes that made me tingle, But are more than a shoe store: “… a “one-stop shop” for the modern gentleman…  the store features a custom clothing department, professional & casual clothing, cufflinks, pens, leather goods, barware, cigar accessories, a barbershop, and shoe shine stand. And that’s just the store. A private club for our best customers houses a bar & lounge, private parlor rooms, a boardroom, golf simulator, and a wine cave.”  In short, a VERY cool place that any gent or his loving wife SHOULD check out if in the city.

Anyway,  while there I fell for a black leather Moore & Giles document portfolio that I considered, if only for a flash of an instant, plopping down some hard earned cash for.  Although perfect for my work life as a European-dwelling engi-nerd that prefers to more fast and light through airports, I came to my senses and walked away.  I have longed for it ever since and have asked for one as a gift for every anniversary, Christmas, birthday, and a few random Tuesdays and Thursdays since that first meeting.

I checked the other day on it, more to torture myself than anything else, and the manufacturer has discontinued the product.  Wingtip had bumped the price up and had it marked at $450!  Crap…  I started sketching it up so that I could get my cobbler (that sounds SO much more pretentious than it is…) to see about making it.  I needed a detail and did a image web search this afternoon 15 minutes before I had a super important call for my J-O-B and BAM!  There it was at Sierra Trading Post for CRAZY CHEAP!  I have bought hiking clothes from them for years at deep discounts, but had no idea that they would have something like this.  I double checked the item, looked if they had the black one in-stock, and called their customer service right then.

Yes they have it in black, yes they accepted my 4 year old 30% off coupon and just like that I got a $450 portfolio for $110.40 delivered free to my house in Seattle.  Done and done.  I was so excited that it made the work call after a pleasure and I have been dreading it for two days.

AM SO STOKED!!

Matt Talley _ Mand G_ SCORE 2015

MandG Port Matt Talley -2015 Origional Price copy

Matt Talley _ mandg_new price 2015 copy

Hey dad, I was thinking that I NEED a dirt bike…

My son, The Ruminator, sent me a text message this morning that said, “What is your address. Will you pay for half of a dirt bike if I save the other half?” What that means is that I am about to get a letter tugging at my heart strings asking for a two-wheeled, 2-stroke emergency room express transporter. My response was no, I will not pay for half. IF I get a hand written document listing 612 individual reasons (an agreement made between us previously), in completes sentences, why he needs a dirt bike, then I will pay for 1/3.

More than most things in this world, I want my kids to write real letters; documents that contain complete thoughts, written with an ink pen, that you have to put a stamp on and leave in a mailbox for the postman to carry away. My 11 year-old son is keenly aware of this desire as we made a deal last summer that I would get a letter a month for two years… I got three letters. He is eleven, I sort of/kind of understand, but I really did/do want him to write. More to the point: if I were to say get more mail from my offspring that included more information than a scribbled wish list and if he delivered on his 612 reasons, then I might be more open to negotiation for this and other objects of his pre-pubescent desire. I am not going to make this easy or hand it to him. If he has some sweat/brain-power equity in this transaction, then he will learn something and while I want to be liked, I want to be the ‘cool dad’, I think it is important to throw life lessons in his path as much as possible. I read another blog recently where the writer set a priority of “raising citizens.” That resonates with me.