Yup, I like my man purse

I had a suspision that this might happen:  Frau A got me a man purse for Christmas.  She explained,  "You thought you wanted one, and I knew it would take you forever to take the plunge yourself."  She was right, of course.  The concept of a man purse seemed to be functionally a perfect item for me, but there were too many style options to select one.  It required an expert to avoid disaster.  (Note:  after seeing her operate in Sephora in New York City, I now fully appreciate how years of training allow women to survive and flourish in what is effectively the most perfect testosterone vacuum ever created by science and choose from endless arrays of products.)

I was pretty sure a black one would go with a business suit and casual clothes, and that I would prefer something with minimal flair/decorations/etc.  I "tried on" a few in stores, but was never really sure.  Frau A was there for the man purse expeditions, and thought one of them was right for me -- turned out to be a good choice.  Here it is:

For me, function is more important than fashion, and on this level it's great.  The bag is structured like a satchel (similar to Indiana Jones and Jack Bauer, of course), with just a flap to close rather than a zipper.  I like fast access to the stuff inside.  Maybe I need an extra gun clip and a whip too.

Internally, a separator creates two areas.  The area closest to the body has small, soft pockets for things like a cell phone/iPod, plus a zippered pocket where I keep my wallet (feels more secure).  It also has a long key leash that makes it easy to find keys right away.

The area that lies away from the body has no internal pockets, and is perfect for a paperback, compact camera, gloves, and even a tote-sized umbrella.  It would fit an iPad no problem, and could temporarily carry a laptop too (except the largest ones).

I like the look too.  Nice, thick black leather with just a small adornment on the front.  The leather is starting to break in already, and feels strong but soft.  It's great to get something that I'll use every day.  Thanks, Santa. 

Dining by Pulley

While visiting Frau A's parents over Christmas, we stopped by Rosebank Farms (located in coastal South Carolina).

Rosebank Farms is touted as "one of the last working family farms on Johns Island", it was an adorable place to spend an hour.  The main attraction for Frau A is the "barnyard" -- a petting zoo.  You can spend quality time with potbellied pigs, miniature horses and miniature brahma cows, bunnies (ridiculously soft), a mule, and goats.  They also have chickens, turkeys, and peahens (didn't see a peacock though), but these are not exactly pet-able.

I was particularly pleased with one of the goats.   Next to his stable was what looked like an old gumball machine, that, for a quarter, dispensed a handful of dry food.  As soon as the goat heard you, he headed up a spiral staircase to await his handout, delivered by a pulley!  It's a nice way operant conditioning is used to make the feeding process a little more interesting.  We got it on video here:

The Psychology of Sephora

Guys, have you ever ventured into a Sephora store?  I have lived in NYC, but never actually went into one.  I was mostly prepared for the sheer volume and variety of products.  I would bet that their web site is the first to truly use all 16.7 million colors that modern computer monitors can display.  (Many lipstick colors looked basically the same to me, but the ladies inform me that subtle shade differences are really important.  Sorry, but I don't feel deprived that women have a better ability to discriminate colors in the red-orange spectrum.)

But the most amazing part for me was the product names.  They range from fun & funny to incredibly aspirational and emotional.   Guys need to take a graduate course on the psychology of this stuff.  You can't tell me that a product line called "Unconditional Love" isn't setting high expectations from shampoo!  The copy on the bottle uses phrases like "you see all people and all living things as beacons of light" and "you have unconditionally arrived realizing the love you sought was the love you already owned".  Oh.  My.  God.  It is like Barack Obama in a bottle.

The Sephora web site has a fingernail polish selector showing colors with more incredible names:

Finally, when the glitzy creams, shampoos, and makeup aren't enough to make the fairy tale real, one can settle for an Orgasm, Super Orgasm, or possibly the mystic Multiple Orgasm.  Men, take note:  there is something going on here that we don't understand.  However, a good start might be this gift for Valentine's Day that should, um, satisfy both parties:

Crowdsourcing Fireworks (New Year's in Munich)

Frau A and I returned to Munich, from our holiday trip in the States, on the morning of New Year's Eve (called Silvester in Germany).  We decided to spend most of the evening quietly with nice filet steaks and warm goat cheese-topped salad for dinner, followed by a movie.  However, we headed to Marienplatz around 11:30pm, brought a half bottle of champagne, and toasted the new year in the shadow of the Rathaus (home of the Glockenspiel).

It was one of the most interesting New Year's celebrations we've experienced...no celebrities counting down, no Waterford crystal balls descending, and really no formal, organized activities of any kind by the city.  (Note:  I would have linked to ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark, but their web page will NOT let you stop the video advertisement.  I hate that.  So it's a boycott.  Anyway, 39 years with Dick Clark is enough, right?)

Instead, a large crowd showed up with their own fireworks, putting on a show as impressive as any municipal display we've seen.  So they weren't the absolute largest ones (need a license for those), nor were they synchronized to music (better in theory than reality), but the length and energy of the experience were fantastic.

Through the window we could hear occational firecrackers go off starting at 6:00pm, but things really started getting crazy around 11:40pm.  "Small" fireworks are legal in Germany, and sold in many stores in the weeks leading up to Silvester.  It appears that sales were strong this year.  There was a constant stream of light and sound for almost the whole hour we were there, ranging from small bottle rockets to booming M80s (or the German equivalent).  It appeared people were aiming at the Rathaus too -- you would frequently see rockets or roman candles hitting the facade - one guy even had the aim to hit the clockface.  By the time we left, the entire plaza was filled with smoke from the pyrotechnic activity.

Check out the viedo we took:

There were probably a few people who were injured in the chaos, but we didn't actually see anyone get hurt.  Amazing.  Especially since open alcohol is allowed in Germany, and most people brought their own drinks for a midnight toast.  Glenn Reynolds posts frequently about crowdsourcing - perhaps this is the way to go for fireworks too, if the people are as motivated as the Müncheners were.

Update on Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 13:23 by Frau A

Now that I've learned how to rotate video....here's the longer one showing the full extent of the fireworks over the crowd and just how full of smoke the plaza became...you can barely see the Rathaus now.

Happy New Year!