You can always count on New York being ground zero for any new idea or marketing concepts. I encountered another remade icon yesterday. There was a new Col. Sanders. The new Col. has a sharp new haircut. Old timers will remember the original Col. Sanders was fresh off the plantation. You could almost see the slaves working away in the kitchen where he stole all of his good recipes. Marketers rapidly tried to remake the Colonel into a kindly grandfather type. He had the longish hair still reminiscent of another age. He liked children and drumsticks.
Now the Col. has a neat razor cut. He doesn’t look old anymore. He looks almost edgy. What could have been taken for antebellum now looks GQ. Instead of a former slave owner he looks like the tow-headed I.T. guy with the Cuban girlfriend who works at your office – the guy who drinks mojitos and makes a kick-ass chili. It works for me.
Packing for a trip to New York has simplified over the years. Now I don’t worry about packing shoes. Everyone in New York has given in to the daily and frequent use of tennis shoes. To provide the illusion of variety, they call them athletic shoes or even “cross trainers” on the Upper West Side. Women on their way to work have forsaken purses for the far more useful “Ladies Backpack.” This bag usually holds stylish shoes for the office, snacks, and mace.
Since luggage has become a thing of the past I don’t have a lot of decisions as to what to pack. I need a series of loose fitting shirts that can serve as street wear or pajamas. I even notice I have become very picky as to the underwear I bring: Nothing new, nothing with a textured pattern or I will have a tattoo when I get off of the plane.
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