April 11, 2005
What is in a name?
I was in Atlanta this weekend—a shopping trip organized by my lovely wife. At least, it was not for her wardrobe. Shopping for women’s apparel is a befuddling experience to say the least. When a man shops, he shops what is available in his size. Not so with the female members of our species. They seem genuinely surprised that the perfect item they have finally settled on is just a size 2. Why do they do that? No, it was not for her wardrobe. Furniture, lamps and art, I was told. I can now tell you from actual experience that Atlanta has more antique stores and art galleries than the entire rest of the world combined. Why, why I ask, did we have to go to every one of them? Why couldn’t we just buy the thing we saw 24 stores back? I don’t understand this? When you shop, aren't you suppose to buy what you came for when you find it? Why keep looking? Can someone please help me?
All this shopping reminds me of Nordstrom in San Francisco. American Airlines had lost my luggage and I was in San Francisco as an exhibitor for a legal conference. There were some items I needed lest I permanently tarnish my image. Lee Ann Herron, Juris VP of Sales, was also there and, given her shopping expertise, she took me under her wing. Off we went to Nordstrom. I found my stuff in the first 10 minutes. Lee Ann decided that, since we were there, she might as well do a little shopping, too. Did you know that Nordstrom had an English pub in the back of the men’s department for just such male emergencies? The beer was cold; the game was on the wide screen TV–life was good. Where, oh where, was the bar in the antique and gallery district of Atlanta?
That brings me to another related story. When I encounter new people, even those into art and antiques, I inevitably get "like the drink" comments in response to their learning my name, Tom Collins. To which my usual response is "You should meet my wife, Margarita!" However, in this case, they had already met my real wife "Martha". So I tried a new twist and replied, "You should meet my next wife "Margarita". Which by now, I was seriously considering! You have to be quick on your feet to get that and, I can tell you, no one did.
What does this have to do with "more partner income"? If your spouse or your significant other is into arts and antiques, I don’t have to explain the connection. You live with it.
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