Can't Sleep... Clowns Will Eat Me...

I wasn't certain this combination would work. The green and purple make it look Joker-esque, but I believe the brown helps pull it together nicely.

Hey all... It's Saturday morning. Your humble narrator has gotten about four hours worth of sleep before pulling himself back into the store. It is supposed to be one of our "Minis Day" where folks can come use tables for miniature games, but no one is here yet, and two of our main miniatures guys are help some friends move today, so... we'll see what happens.

Tonight is Shady's Terracide game. At this point I have no idea what is happening. Either we are playtesting the Savage Worlds version of the setting, transferring the whole campaign over, or just playing another segment of it in S-Dub. To be honest, I have no clue. I'll find out later tonight.

Friday Night Magic was another "silly" night here, with 40 people packed in to play. We only have 46 spots, so it wasn't maximum, but it was close for the second week in a row. On top of it being release day for the new Core Set, it made for a very busy and tiring day.

Taking off for now... May check in later, but don't count on it. =P

-- GopherDave

Stupid Maturity...

Okay... I'm not sure when this happened,but I'm going to try to connect some dots.

I'm not scheduled to work the store today. I'm completely off of the schedule. However, I've been trying to rework our order schedule to where we're doing orders from our primary supplier twice a week, once on Mondays and once on Thursdays.

So, I'm getting ready to head into the store for a bit so I can take care of the order and a few other things. Now, I'm getting ready, and I begin to think that since I'm not going to be actually working the store today, I just need to be presentable. Hence I grab a shirt and some jeans and go do the shower/shave thing. Getting dressed and tossing on the shirt and jeans, I look... incomplete. So I go looking for one of my crew neck sweaters to toss over it all. I can't find either of the two that still currently fit me, so I grab one of the many Gopher vests I have and toss that on. The overall look *STILL* looks unfinished to me... *sigh* On goes the tie... and it finally looks put together to me.

Then I started to think about this a bit deeper. Anymore, to me casual means wearing jeans instead of khakis/dress pants, with the tie being optional... If I'm in for the night, then a T-shirt with jeans/sweat pants/shorts is okay. If I'm going to a concert, a t-shirt and jeans works. It seems I've found my general look for this stage of my life, though. It's one that I've toyed with and cultivated for some time, now, but it seems to have passed from the "uniform/can't-wait-to-take-it-off-when-I-get-home" stage to the "this-is-who-I-am" stage.

Odd... very, very odd...

-- GopherDave

Day 293 of 362

I experimented with a different tie knot today. I am not exactly certain which knot I used, but it's not the typical four-in-hand. I was looking at knot diagrams, and tied something I remembered from there. What I can't remember is which names go with which knots. Sigh... I hate getting old.

Hey all... It's another Friday, so that means Friday Night Magic and a late night for me at the store. I don't mind too much though... it's a good group, and typically fun is usually had.

Beyond that, despite waking up earlier than usual, I am running behind. There's much shopping to do for the store and I need time to do it. Sometimes, I wish I could clone myself, just so I could accomplish everything that needs to be done, but then I realize... I'm a douche... and there's no way I wouldn't get into an argument/fight with my other self. =P

-- GopherDave

Day 292 of 362

Hey there... only 70 days left in this "fashion upgrade" resolution. Still haven't decided how I'm handling continuing it beyond its determined expiration date. Mostly, if I'm doing it, and if so, am I going to continue posting pics to this blog. A few folks have said they enjoy it, but with only 20 or so followers, I do realize I'm doing this mostly for myself.

If I do continue, I am probably going to have to have some more sweaters done. I am growing weary of the same seven colors (black, navy blue, royal blue, red, burgundy, khaki, and white) and it is seriously beginning to hamper my sense of style as I find myself more often than not repeating favored combinations more and more often. There are other, more important, things on our agenda though. So those will have to wait a bit.

-- GopherDave

Four Logos

These are some of the ideas I am working on for the back of the "Gopher Mafia" hoodies that we're doing for select members of our community...




The opaque ears make it like sort of like some famous mouse...

 

...the outlines make it more "us", but still "mouse like"...

...no adornment at all makes it legally safe, but boring...



...replacing the "o" with an elongated, iconic Gopher head seems to work REALLY well.

Whatever the design happens to be, it's going on the back of a sweatshirt hoodie (pullover or zip-up has yet to be determined). The store name will be down the right sleeve and the logo will either be a small patch (in the same place as the sweaters) in the case of a zip-up hoodie, or it will be a full size front logo (like the t-shirt) if they turn out to be pullovers.

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? All welcome and encouraged. This is a work in progress, but we are on a bit of a time crunch as one of the Gophers leaves in early March for the military.

-- GopherDave

Day 30 of 362/Winter War, Day 3

This was my first time experimenting with a collar bar...

...and cuff links. Like the picture above, I'm still a bit fuzzy on how I feel about them yet.

Day three of three-hour naps. Still stylin' and profilin'... and still very, VERY SLEEPY. Overall, it's been a good weekend with great friends.

We've had lots of help and encouragement from the Gophers (our friends and customers), and that has made things run a lot smoother. Now if they could only sleep for me, I might be okay.

I will expand this post later, as I am running late because I took a three-and-a-half-hour nap. Bad GopherDave... No biscuit. =P

Until Later... GD

It's later...

The convention is over. A good (and profitable time) was had by myself and the rest of the Gopher crew. I have a few pictures to go through before I post some of the better ones on the blog.

Overall reaction to my new look was positive. I received many compliments on the whole cuff links/collar bar look for today. After wearing the two items all day, the jury is still out on them. I feel like my arms are practically swimming in a french cuff shirt. I'll probably try it a few more times to really get a feel for it. As it goes, if I'm going to do this on a regular basis, I should get more than one pair of cuff links, just to keep things interesting and open up options.

The collar bar thing is actually pretty good, but I think I have to get the bar replaced. When they electroplated it one end was semi-fused closed. I managed to get it open, but there is a rough spot in the opening that will play hell with the shirts. We'll see what can be done.

Now... I'm exhausted... It's bed time...

-- GopherDave

Day 26 of 362

The store sweaters are finally here. I'm now in the joyous fun of dealing with the embroidery company since two of them were horribly missized. Also unfortunately, they were both the same utilitarian color (Navy Blue) that could go with much of my neck wear wardrobe. Nothing ever goes without mishap around here... =P

If you look to the right, you'll see the edge of the store logo in black stitching. While the store we own is pretty much an open secret, we'll keep that "under wraps" until we get back from the convention. It's my plan to get folks to take a ton of pictures and I'll post some of the best ones that highlight the convention and our booth, as well as some pictures of dearest friends.

Doing a lot of little things to get ready. Just dumped more money than I wanted to on stock for the convention, but I have a good feeling that we'll sell the bulk of it. Tax refunds are starting to roll in and I'm certain we (and other dealers) will see a chunk of that money. As it boils down, if we make back what I spent, we're doing okay for now.

...And back to pulling my hair out trying to make all of this work...

-- GopherDave

Day 25 of 362

The store sweaters arrived today, but there might be a problem. The first one I put on was too small. The one I am currently wearing (after this pic was taken this morning) sort of fits, but is not as large as I assumed it would be given that I ordered size 3XL.

I'm a big guy. Big enough to warrant me ordering 3XL-sized items. However, while I have some 2XL sweaters that just too short, I do have one that fits perfectly. Heck, I have a 1XL-Tall sweater that fits wonderfully as well. So, I sort of assumed that any sweater sized at 3XL would fit with no issue.

Apparently, I was wrong. Good thing I'm on a diet again...

So, tonight, when I get home, I get to try on ten other sweaters and see what "fits" and what doesn't, and go from there to begin haggling with the place I ordered them from. Yippee.

peace... GopherDave

Day 20 of 362

Apparently this is a "new" old friend. I think I'll keep him.

This happy adventure continues... This fine day has me glad I opted for the Jim Tressel sweater vest look as it is currently snowing and cold in the Midwest. Bleah. For those of you who don't know who Jim Tressel is, he is the current football coach at The Ohio State University. Mr. Tressel has been called "the Governor" and "the Sweater Vest" by many members of the sports media. Just for the record though, I did it first. I have been rocking this look since the mid-80s. I just didn't do it much in public. Plus, my color palette is a whole lot more varied than his even though I only have five sweaters that fit currently. Nyah...

The necktie in the picture above was near the bottom of one of my tie drawers. Yes, I have drawers full of these things. Shut up. I have never worn this particular tie before, nor can I remember where I purchased it, but it looks good, and it won't be its last journey around my neck.

As for the culture around the game store... the shock of me dressing this way has worn off to where the regulars don't find it worth mentioning anymore. Another month or so of this and they'll probably freak the day I decide to NOT wear a necktie in the place. That's what I like about sudden, abrupt changes. It keeps people on their toes.

Beyond that, not much is happening besides getting ready for the local game convention. With only eight days before it happens, crunch time is upon us. We have moving help, both there and back, lined up. We also have Saturday morning/afternoon booth help lined up for the wife and boy as I will be busy at the store running an event.

After the convention, the next morning is a crash through inventory. We should be well-reduced after the convention, so it's the best time to do it for us.

Until later... GopherDave

Dav 19 of 362

Not much is happening on the clothing front except what's becoming the same old-same old. I still have not repeated wearing a neck tie yet since this started, and as I've stated before, I could probably keep that up for a few months. However, if the store sweaters arrive in time, I've already got some combinations in mind that will use some of the ties I've already worn this month. So there goes that potential streak.

I may try to do something like that in the future to keep it interesting for me, like doing a no-repeat month, or nothing but stripes, or even nothing but knit ties for a month. Who knows...

For business, Wednesday is usually one of my busiest days. Not from a sales perspective, but this is the day when the majority of our shipments come in. So there's check-in, system input, pricing, shelving, pulling special orders, updating the web site, yadda-yadda-yadda. Speaking of which, UPS just pulled up... Gotta go.

-- GopherDave

Day 18 of 362

So far so good on this sartorial upgrade thing. Though this may be the last time you see this particular tie. No big deal... it's not like I don't have more ties. =P

Update on the sweater front: The embroidery place sent me an e-mail saying they have everything except for one color. Luckily, the missing color is not black, so I told them to go ahead with the order and we made a substitute that's to my liking.

The wife and I also had a meeting today with our current landlord. We went into the meeting hoping to cement Option B as a back-up plan, only to be told that they hadn't done their due diligence to make certain that was even an option. So, for us at least, the meeting was a small waste of our time. Again, no big deal. We're just wanting ducks to be in rows. Sigh... the pace of business is sometimes slower than I'd like...

-- GopherDave

Day 15 of 362

Look, Ma! Fifteen days in and still on course despite the ADD/Bi-Polar side-effects of having the attention span of an epileptic gnat. Nyah, world. I say... Nyah!

Let's see... 15 days is 4.14364% of my goal achieved. Go me!

The tie today is a J. Garcia that I picked up as part of a combined lot on eBay some years back. Now, J. Garcia stands for Jerry Garcia, now deceased leader of the Grateful Dead. Seems he had an artistic side, and someone convinced him that his art would look good on a necktie. To be honest, most of it does. Heck, I like the look of the tie I am currently wearing. What I don't like is the feel. It feels thin and like it has no substance to it, which makes it difficult to get anything resembling a good knot out of it.

Now, the MSRP for this line of neckwear was $45.00 a shot. Not horrible, but not cheap either. For that money, there should be some heft to it. There's isn't. I've gotten $8.00 silk ties from K-Mart back in the day that had more "oomph" than this tie.

Still, it looks good, and I did get it cheap... So I guess I can't complain too much...

Oh who am I kidding? I couldn't even type that "no complaining" line with a straight face.

Okay... This tie is made by hippies for hippies, and it feels like it. People should generally stick to what they know... I mean, there's a reason you don't see Brooks Brothers selling tie-dye t-shirts. It's not their thing. So why did the supposed counter-culture put their mud-covered toes into an arena (conservative menswear) they purportedly wanted nothing to do with for 20+ plus years while they were burning draft cards and frolicking naked in fields?

I couldn't tell you... I haven't smoked that much dope in my lifetime yet.

Later... GopherDave