Year 2, Week 8 (Days 416 - 422)

Bow Tie Spotlight: This week I'd like to take a moment to recommend that you pay a visit to my friends over at ties.com. They have a range of neck ties, bow ties and accessories that are sure to meet your menswear needs. They were also one of my original sponsors and have consistently been sharing words of encourage along with their monthly contribution. This week's bow tie features blue sharks on a pink silk thread. Not only is it fashionable to wear a fishy print, it's also a great reminder to eat clean. 

This week's featured sponsors:

Xoelle

This Humble Abode

Ties.com

Knot Now

Year 2, Week 7 (Days 409 - 415)

Bow Tie Spotlight: This week I'll take a minute to highly recommend going to thrift shops and vintage outlets to dig out some snazzy bow ties. I was inspired to make this reminder, not only from taking a look at my own vintage ties, but after coming across this hilarious song appropriately titled "Thrift Shop." Check out an edited "clean" version here.

This week's featured sponsors:

This Humble Abode

Xoelle

Year 2, Week 2 (Days 374 - 380)

Bow tie spotlight: Over this past week I began my official training regimen for the Goruck challenge which I signed up to do in May. Part of the training involves carrying 7 bricks in a backpack during physical training that may or may not involve carrying a teammate on your back as well. As a way to include my family into my training I decided to wrap each set of bricks with a bow tie to represent a member of the family. Yup - the bows will remain on the bricks throughout my training and the challenge. This particular Mockingjay bow was handcrafted by yours truly using scraps of a t-shirt that was given to our teaching staff last year. Our oldest son is a big fan of the Hunger Games trilogy and so this bow serves as a reminder of him. 

I'm also glad to announce that I've got a special discount code for anyone interested in completing a spartan race this year. If you're interested in saving 15% off any race, you can use this link to get your discount. You're welcome!If you'd like in on the Spartan Sprint at Citi Field in April, just use code: CITIFIELD to get 20% off. That second offer expires on the 21st of January so get off the couch!

This week's featured sponsors:

Xoelle

BeauTies Ltd. of Vermont

This Humble Abode

Day 236

As the picture suggests, the school day is over and I need to take a step back and relax. This has been a great week. This afternoon one of my students bought me a snow cone piragua. It's the first time in 13 years that's ever happened. Minutes later a former student of mine thanked me for teaching her because she's currently ahead of all of the other students in her math class, in part, because of what I pushed her to do in class last year. This is shaping out to be a very gratifying year. Let's keep it up. Join the cause. Wear a bow tie. Send me a bow tie. Talk about bow ties. Take a picture of you wearing a bow tie. Follow my adventures and let others know about what I'm trying to do here. Have a great weekend, friends.

Today's bow was gifted by the wonderfully generous folks at ThisHumbleAbode. 

Day 150

Thank God for a productive morning. The day Lucas turns 3 had me up before 6. I completed a full WOD and ran 2.5 miles before I left for work. At work, my homeroom had a chance to talk about the value of our words before being inspired by Caine's Arcade. All this happened before my first period math class where my scholars are drawing bar models to find the total amount of a quantity given a fractional amount of the quantity. Great stuff!

Speaking of great stuff, this time came by way of the good people at This Humble Abode and I'm so fond of the relationship between this shirt and tie that I've decided to wear them together again! Happy Tuesday, folks!

Day 110

So what's up with guys making excuses for not wanting to wear short sleeve shirts? I don't get it. I really think some dudes just lack the confidence (you might have heard the term synonymous swagger thrown around) to rock something and really own it. You have to own everything you do. If I'm tying my shoe laces - man, I own that process. If I'm writing my aims on the board (when I remember to, that is), man I take pride in that scribble scrabble (actually my handwriting is often mistaken for a female's). You have to own what you wear. I recently came across an article on bow ties where men freely commented that they only wore a bow tie when they "needed to" because they were to afraid to introduce it into their daily wardrobe. Whatevs, man. Have some (pride, that is).

Ironically, today's bow is a gift from This Humble Abode. Look them up - they're awesome peeps. I'm ridiculously infatuated with this pattern. I may have taken a bit of attention away from it with the bold stripes, but it's all good. If you're inclined to pray, please pray for our little Javi. He's been suffering from some allergies this week and had some difficult breathing last night so my wife took him to the ER. On the better side of things, the boys have earned a sponsor and will be able to play in their first soccer league this upcoming June. How cool is that? Very cool.