4 August 26

Today I turn 73 years old! My tie celebrates my ties -- it features a cascading image of ties hanging in my closet. I have five rotating racks of ties, and five times 73 equals 365, which is approximately the total number of ties in my collection! For breakfast I had a free bagel sandwich from Berea's Native Bagel Company. Besides spending the day with Beth I will get to enjoy dinner with Ben, Amanda and my grandchildren!

The number 73 is famous for being a "Sheldon prime", a rare mathematical coincidence popularized by the character Sheldon Cooper on the TV show The Big Bang Theory, where it is the 21st prime number, its reverse 37 is the 12th prime, and the product of its digits (7 × 3) equals 21.

12 April 26

Celebrating 18 years (plus four days) of blogging about my ties. This one features a cascade of an image of about 25 ties as they hang in my closet. I have some 360 ties, and most of them hang on five motorized racks. A few others are pre-tied or too strange in other ways to hang on the tie rack hooks. 

This is entry number 3,788 in my blog, which works out to wearing ties on 57.6% of the days since 8 April 2008. Borrowing a phrase from Douglas Adams, I think my obsession is "mostly harmless."

1 December 23

December is (always) National Tie Month. So I'm kicking it off with my tie-rack tie, which shows a cascade of images of my tie racks!

The original image:

17 October 22

Today is simply the right occasion to wear my tie-rack tie. Twelve years ago Beth took a photo of one of my tie racks and used it (through Zazzle) to create this wonderful "centerpiece" for my tie collection. I have four rotating tie racks, holding over 320 ties. Another 15 or so have to hang separately because their shapes or dimensions aren't suitable for the rotating racks.

 The original image:

27 January 21

This is my tie-rack tie, tied up today for Beth Kleppinger's birthday!! She has now reached her prime between 61 and 71 (catching up to me). The tie's cascading image is a photo of one of my tie racks in my closet! Beth gave it to me in June 2010, and while I still have the ties in the photo, they are definitely not in the same positions on the rack.

(the original photo)

15 November 19

Another odd Friday to wear a tie! Today I'm being interviewed by my EKU colleague Chad Cogdill as the first stage in a project to create a video documentary about MY TIES. Chad has "liked" many of my daily Facebook posts and was inspired by the evolving history in my tie blog. I'm wearing my tie-rack-tie, which features a cascade of an image of one of the racks in my closet.


One of my tie racks

13 August 19

It's International Lefthanders Day! Seriously, 13 August is an annual chance to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed in a predominantly right-handed world. The proportion of lefthanders is between 7% and 10% of the world's population. My personal favorite lefthander is Beth Kleppinger, who had this tie created from a photo of my ties hanging on the motorized tie racks she gave me for my closet.


This is one of my tie racks.

5 August 18

My own birthday was yesterday! Today I'm choosing to wear my tie-tie, or tie-rack-cascade tie. The basic image used for the cascade is a photo of some ties on one of my four rotating tie racks. I've been assured that my necktie obsession is harmless, and I'm convinced that the continuing expansion of my collection (which is enabled on almost every possible occasion by my family and friends) aids my own sanity in this world where irrationality, incompetence and violence seem to be winning.



The original image:

13 April 17

Nine years ago today I took up my sons' challenge to chronicle my daily necktie selections! Each day (Sundays and work days except Fridays) I try to match my tie to some special occasion, cataloging my choices at "Tied Up Today" and on Facebook. Today's blog entry is number 1778, which means that I've worn ties on 54.1% of the days since 2008. In my closet I now have about 275 ties, on four rotating racks. Most people think this obsession is perfectly harmless and keeps me out of trouble. Today's tie was customized from a photo of the tie racks, giving a miniaturized view of many of the choices.

(Other events for 13 April include the premiere of Handel's "Messiah" in 1742, and the birthday of Thomas Jefferson in 1743.)

13 April 16

My tie blog is eight years old today! Many people wonder "how many ties do you have?" and the answer is "over 200 novelty ties, plus about 40 stripes and solids." They are stored on three wonderful motorized rotating racks in my closet. This tie's design is based on a photograph of the ties hanging on those racks!

2 December 15

December is National Tie Month! I hope it is intended to inspire the wearing (and gifting) of great neckties. About five years ago Beth gave me this tie, designed around a photo of my own tie rack. I have about 220+ novelty ties, plus another 40+ solids, stripes and "ordinary" patterns. I am not forgetting Advent -- if you look very closely at today's portrait you can see several Christmas ties above my left shoulder.



Photo that was used for this tie pattern:
 

1 December 14

I learned today that December is NATIONAL TIE MONTH. I guess it was nominated for that honor so that people would be inspired to look for great ties to give to others. My tie today celebrates my own tie collection -- the design is based on a photo of the tie rack in my closet! You can see the actual photo at this previous blog entry.

6 July 14

Another opportunity to wear my tie-rack tie! Its design features a photo of the tie rack in my closet, showing about 20 of my ties at once. You can see the full image at this older blog post.

24 November 13

Today (24 November) is "Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day." One of my unique talents seems to be wearing ties with peculiar relevance to the calendar, and so today I'm wearing my "tie rack tie." It's a unique tie based on a photo of one of the tie racks in my closet. (You have to visit the tie blog site to see that photo.) Today's date is also arithmetically interesting, because 24 - 11 = 13.

19 November 12

For some unknown reason, November 19 is "International Men's Day." So I'm wearing my best proof of manliness, my tie-rack-tie, and I also took my photo in a Men's Room (of course). For this tie, Beth took a photo of my tie rack and then cascaded it on a white background. You can see the original photo of the tie rack in this entry from June 2010.

18 August 10

The third week of August is celebrated annually as "Thanks for All the Gifts Week." Today's tie was a Father's Day gift from Beth. The design is based on a photograph of my own tie rack, which was also a gift from her, and many of the ties in the photograph were also gifts. So, thanks for all the ties! Send more! You can see the original photograph on the entry from 27 June.

27 June 10

Although not on any official calendar, I am declaring today to be Necktie Awareness Day. It may occur on other days of the year as needed. It was inspired by this tie, given to me last Sunday by my wife. It features a cascade of a photograph of the tie rack in my closet, showing about forty ties at once! The original photo is included below.
































Note: I was a cook's helper at a Mission Discovery camp program in Fort Blackmore, Virginia, June 21-26, and I didn't wear any ties that week!