Man, that guy can golf!

Congratulations to Tiger Woods, who won the PGA Championship Sunday just one month after winning the British Open. I'm just tickled that we named our golf tie "Tiger" in his honor!

More on Leonardo

About Vitruvian Man...this handsome silk is due in soon. You'll be the first to know when it arrives!

Leonardo's tie

I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Da Vinci Code. I have opted not to see the movie. Perhaps I'll rent the DVD when it's available, but I seldom go to the movies anymore. Why pay top-dollar when you can have a private showing at home, with no interruptions?

This great-looking Josh Bach design, featuring Leonardo da Vinci's well-known Vitruvian Man, will debut in the Fall 2006 Beau Ties catalog. I don't think it will provoke controversy in the same way Dan Brown's creation has recently.

Net Neutrality

There's a lot of joy to running a small business, plus occasional frustrations.

Take Network Neutrality, for example. Right now Congress is mulling changes to the Telecommunications Act that would take away the Internet's level playing field. If this happens, small businesses like mine could suffer greatly. In fact, anyone who does business over the Internet--that includes you, if you buy from web sites, download music, or use search engines--could be hurt.

Put simply, today's Internet lets you look at and utilize any site you want, from this blog, to the Beau Ties web site, to national magazines, to government information. The speed and access are the same for them all. If Network Neutrality is threatened or lost, network providers could forseeably control the content you are able to get through your Internet connection. They might be able to charge web sites high fees to provide faster loading speeds, or to work properly on their network. The highest bidders' sites would be easiest and most reliable to access.

Needless to say, it's a cause for concern for small business owners who do business over the Net. How could a small business like mine compete with a huge cataloger if access wasn't equal? Where would we come up with the fees that might be required to get the same Internet presence as a large international company or Fortune 500 retailer?

I am keeping tabs on this issue and hope you will, too. There's a great deal of information and comprehensive explanations of this subject at www.savetheinternet.com if you are interested in learning more. (Countless other web sites are discussing the issue, too, but I find this one to be the most helpful.)

Photo opp

Dan's thoughtful sharing of his commencement photo (see the entry below) inspired me. (No, I'm not going to start studying for the LSAT!)

I love to print pictures in my catalogs of Beau Ties customers wearing their ties. It's a true privilege of my job--to get to see how the ties my company makes become a part of people's day-to-day lives. Nearly every day, we receive photos of men, boys, babies and even dogs looking dapper in their Beau Ties--too numerous to count, yet all deserving to be seen. And what is equally enjoyable, they are often accompanied by the story behind the picture, whether it's a special one-time event or just a moment in time.

I think that my blog can become a way for me to share the wonderful photos that my catalogs' limited space can't accommodate. I can post photos here from time to time. Anyone want to go first? You can e-mail them to me.

About those baseball ties

Okay, I heard your gripes about unequal representation of teams in my baseball collection. I couldn't agree more, but my hands are tied, so to speak (at least as far as bow ties are concerned). We were in the process of acquiring an extended line of Major League Baseball-approved designs when our vendor lost his license for MLB-related accessories and with it, his right to work with us on bow-tie-friendly fabrics.

In order to produce baseball bow ties, Beau Ties needs a licensing agreement with Major League Baseball or its affiliates. The license allows us to use the official team logos. No license, no new ties...and that's where we are right now. We're too small for MLB to consider working with us directly (we know this because we tried).

It's not that we don't like the Phillies. We just can't make ties for them, or another other team for that matter. Wish we could. You'll be the first to know if that changes.

Law & Order (and Style, not necessarily in that order)

My heartiest congratulations to Dan Alban, who recently completed Harvard Law School and brought his celebratory, post-commencement cookout right to the ceremony (in the form of his Barbecues Beau Tie!). Dan tells me he also plans to wear a Beau Tie when he takes the Virginia Bar Exam at the end of July. I hope it brings him good luck, excellent recall and clear thoughts.

I think the courtrooms where Dan will be litigating will be among the most fashionable in Virginia, don't you agree?