After seeing this vintage advertisement for TWA’s skyliners, I will only fly on the nation’s Mightiest Super-Skyliners.  That may mean that I will never fly again because of TWA’s untimely bankruptcy and subsequent acquisition by American Airlines.  I will however, still always have this poster to remind me of the good times I never had flying on the world’s most reliable mastodons of the air in a time when I wasn’t even a thought and people believed that teachers should not be allowed to teach pregnant because of the negative implications on the youth of seeing a pregnant woman work.  Ah, how we’ve digressed.

P.S.  Please note sarcasm.  And of course, as always, buy the hell out of this awesome little nugget of cultural history.  It’s a 26 x 38 print for only $11.98, which is a hell of a deal.

Ah, those crazy guys at Apple.  What will they think of next?  While I wait for my favorite technology company to come out with the iWife (I hear they’re still having a problem getting bugs out of the “de-sassing” app), I suppose I’ll just have to feast on this miraculous piece of tasty known as the 64 gb iPad.

Apple’s latest miracle is essentially a large, super cool iPod with some extras.  There are limited word processing programs that are iPad capable as well as the nearly quarter million applications available for download from the market place.  This little nugget of joy is less than 3 pounds and runs $867.97 from Amazon.  The best part about the brand new iPad?  I can run the entire country of Norway from it, not only because of Norway’s small size and relatively sparse population, but mostly because their Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg effectively managed the country from New York while stranded during the Icelandic volcano debacle.  Maybe this is an indicator that Apple should be developing a nation-managing game for the iPad?  Manage away future heads of state.

When I am finally able to buy enough land out in the middle of nowhere one day, I will be building two houses on it.  One will be in the style of art deco and the other will be a 1960s modernist style house.  And this fancy little number to my left, ladies and gentlemen, will be the couch in my mod house.  The Adesso Memphis series of contemporary retro sofas are all made with the steel legs at the bottom and with a soft velvet upholstery (read not the obnoxious kind of velvet like velour on clothing) and are available at the ever wonderful amazon.com for $443.50 or at Brands Place for $285.74.  Since I’m not sure of the discernable difference between the two sofas on each site, I’ve decided to post both links.  If indeed they are the exact same sofa, then you would be silly to buy it for 200 dollars more on Amazon when you can simply pick it up at the other store for half the price.  Either way, this is probably a must have for your living room.

Just call me the Frank Sinatra of the West Indies.  Or, at least, that’s what you could call me if I were wearing this fantastic hat.  This is the Borsalino Ruffia Fedora, and I found it while browsing the Hartford York website today at work.  It retails for $195.00, and is what can only be described at almost 200 dollars a “Cadillac” of hats.  The hat is constructed of Ruffia straw, is designed to be for summer wear, and is imported directly from Italy.  I would say that I have a minor hat obsession (I do), but that would be just another “minor obsession” that I have, adding to the already exhaustive list.  So, in the sake of honesty, let’s just call me a “sampler” of life, if you will, and just know that this hat is the next sample on my list of delicious experiences.  You would be wise to add it to yours as well.

Ah the cowboy boot. The American dream embodied in down home format. Whether you’re a Southern, work-a-day kind of country or your the Western cowboy kind of country, everyone has a little country in them somewhere. Me, I have a little more than a little (of the Western variety, of course) country, and I would proudly buy these boots right here.

Made by Anderson Bean, the Horsepower line of boot is made of premium leather and fits & walks like a dream. They run anywhere from $149.99 to $169.99 and can be bought at either Nigro’s Western Outfitters in Kansas City or at PFI Western Outfitters with a fair amount of ease. I would recommend you add these to your collection to express the rancher cool that’s undoubtedly hiding just below the surface.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the new frontier in manliness.  What you see to your left is the George Foreman (that’s right, George Foreman) Indoor/Outdoor Electric Dome Grill, and trust me, this thing is whack!  After personally seeing one of my friends use this for a recent game-day grill-out, I was won over and had to go track it down.

The grill is $99.99 from Foreman’s personal sight and is also widely available at Amazon.com in a slightly different version for $69.95.  It comes standard with the plate, dome and stand and boasts over 200 square inches of grill top to cook delicious steaks, brats, burgers and kabobs.

While I am presently barred from buying one of these (for ridiculous reasons that only Whitney could think  up, like:  “you already have a grill” or “you’ll probably burn yourself or the house down”), I have been promised that as soon as I sell my current grill I can add this fine specimen of summer culture to the deck.  You would be wise to do the same.