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I'm always surprised when I travel in large metropolitan airports and don't have a Tom Bihn sighting. The only one I've had was on BART (a medium-rail transit system in the SF Bay Area): I'd been pondering adding a Cafe Bag to my collection and spotted a young man in the Berkeley BART station with one. He as pretty confused when I asked him about it, and what size it was, though, so I'm guessing it was a gift.
I didn't have any Tom Bihn bag sightings on my recent trip, but there was a gentleman who looked just like Mr Tom Bihn on my flight from Spokane to SLC on Sunday. I had all these thoughts running through my head on what I was going to ask him if indeed it was him or not, but sadly I didn't. Too bad I couldn't have snapped a pic of him while he was napping on the plane or when I saw him again waiting for his next flight ;)
If only you could have slipped a TB bag into the photo next to him, it would have been perfect.
Maybe we need a new thread for Tom Impersonators? Hee hee!
I'm a poker journalist who has been covering the World Series of Poker since 2004. Poker players don't usually bring bags to the tables with them, but with iPads becoming the accessory of choice the last two summers, that may change.
This week I saw an Olive Ristretto tucked under a player's chair as I was walking through the field. That's the first time I've seen a Tom Bihn bag at the WSOP that wasn't one of mine.
Well, I didn't spot a bag, but another Tom Bihn owner spotted me last night. I was eating in one of my favorite restaurants and my waitress noticed my linen SCB and said "Oh, I have one of those too!" Turns out she has a medium cafe bag in Perriwinkle (she thought). So we talked a bit about the Swift (she's a knitter and although I'm not I have one) and the beauty of cork.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around "poker journalist"! Is that a profession? Never mind...I just G**gled it and was surprised, and yet not surprised, at what I learned. Cool stuff.
Today waiting in line at the Home Depot, the guy just behind me said, "Excuse me, is that a small cafe bag?" And of course, it was, in conifer. We chatted for a few minutes about all the bags we had (between us, we had pretty much the whole line-up). I mentioned that one bag I didn't have was the packing cube backpack or shoulder bag, but I was thinking that it might be handy for my trip next week to China. "Oh, I guess Wednesday will be my last chance to get it," I said. "Yeah, lucky that the showroom is open on Wednesdays," he replied. You know you've spotted a fellow fanatic when, not only do we wax rhapsodic about our bag collections, but we both knew the showroom schedule!
I saw TB bags all over the place at Sock Summit (Portland) last weekend! Mostly Swifts, of course, but a few Imagos, and I was carrying my small Ultraviolet Shop Bag and my small plum Cafe bag.
I was at Sock Summit too! But I don't recall an Ultraviolet Shop Bag or Plum SCB, so I don't think we crossed paths, Heidi Jill. I was carrying my black/wasabi Small Cafe Bag and plum/steel Swift. I saw many Swifts, even more Yarn Stuff Sacks, a Medium Cafe Bag or two, and a couple Ristrettos. One of the Ristrettos was carried by Amy Singer (of Knitty), who was in my KnitteRX one hour wonder class. When the teacher recommended bags with a wide strap that you can wear cross-body, she lifted up her Ristretto and asked if that was what he meant (it was).
Two different strangers asked me about my bags - one in the coffee line and one in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. They had both heard of the Swift before and were more interested in the SCB, and I had fun showing them all the features. These bags sell themselves!
Funny! So, will we see you Wednesday?Quote:
Originally Posted by flitcraft
Quite possibly. It depends on whether I have all my work done by then so that I'm not obsessing about being ready for my trip Thursday morning.
I took my Large Cafe Bag in 6 cities and the Brain Bag in 3 airports and there had been no sighting of fellow TB fans.
I, however, made my customary speech praising my Tom Bihn bags to anyone who would listen.
Exception was my return flight when a cold made me so weak, I could barely carry my Brain Bag and proceeded to sleep the next day away.
I was in NYC for a business meeting yesterday, and on the walk back to Penn Station I passed a a gentlemen wearing a Buzz sling pack (I think that's the name). I believe the bag was black and steel; I only got a very brief glimpse. Wasn't even really on the lookout for TB gear, the tag on the strap just happened to catch my eye as we passed each other.
Just had my first bona fide sighting. Nashville Airport sitting in a gate and looked over and a guy had a Checkpoint Flyer in Black/Steel on top of a rollerboard.
I asked him about it and he gushed for awhile about how he used to be a Tumi and Victorinox guy. He said he was a little doubtful but when he got he quickly converted 3 more people in his office. I pointed out my Tristar and bemoaned the fact that my Zephyr was staying home this trip. He wondered out loud if TB would always be sold by word of mouth.
We talked for a minute but he quickly determined that I was more of a zealot than he was and made an excuse to get on his plane to get away from me.
Just cool to finally see another owner out "in the wild"!
In July, someone in Dulles might have seen me en route to Uganda with my new steel/ultraviolet TriStar. I'm not saying the Tristar got me upgraded to biz class for the long haul on Ethiopian Air, but...