Kelsey Timmerman's Blog, page 64

5 reasons American Apparel is on "path to Hell"

"Dov Charney is at the moment of truth," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail consulting and investment banking firm based in New York City. "And all roads for him lead to hell. He's got to pick the best of the worst choices."

From the Financial Post story American Apparel a hipster darling no more as bankruptcy looms

Dov Charney is the controversial CEO of American Apparel, the US's largest remaining apparel manufacturer. Dov is reportedly very ...

Invoking the Great Touron King

Cartoon by Geoff Hassing

So this fella Matt Long wrote this piece titled, "Don't be a Touron."

Gasp!

Hand me my backpack, scepter, and crown. You might want to back up a little.

(adjusts crown, raises scepter which is really just a stick that happened to be nearby)

"By the power of Grayskull, I am the Great Touron King!"

The flashes of dozens of disposable cameras fill the sky.

That glow that you see radiating from me isn't my aura of power. That's just the sun reflecting off of my SPF 80...

Friday the 13th, let the adventure begin

I was once held hostage by monks in Nepal. (old column from the experience below the cut)

When I finally convinced them to let me go, they consulted some scrolls to see if the date was a good one to release a hostage. It wasn't but the next day was.

That trip, my first around the world, began on a Friday the 13th. I traveled for 6 months in Hawaii, Australia, Thailand, Nepal, and Western Europe. Those first experiences traveling led to my writing a travel column. I wrote about 200 columns a...

$10 to the forgotten people of Bangladesh

I was invited to speak to class in Indianapolis by John Clark, who runs a very cool organization called Provocate that seeks to connect Indianapolis to the world.

I was trying out some new material on being a glocal (think globally, act locally). The more I travel and the more I come into contact with extreme poverty, the more I realize that it is Bangladeshi's that are the most capable of helping other Bangladeshi's, just as it is Hoosiers who have to help other Hoosiers.

So now I donate...

Tornado Tourism: It's the journey not the destination…trust me

I can understand most acts of God.

If you live somewhere as beautiful as Key West or any other Caribbean island you might have to pay the price of dealing with a hurricane now and again.

If you live in Hawaii, there's the occasional volcano.

If you live in the rugged outdoorsness of the West, there's the occasional forest fire.

If you live in Santa Carla, there's the "damn vampires" that need dealt with now and again.

But explain tornadoes to me.

What are the peaceful folks of the Midwest paying f...

Are small towns killing themselves?

Quiet streets. Rush hour means three cars deep at a red light. My grandmother knows your grandmother. Going to the grocery and seeing 20 people you know.

This is life in a small town.

It's often over-romanticized. But the small town life is still what I prefer. To me, Muncie, where I live now, is a big city. It's not big enough to have bad traffic other than at all-you-can-eat buffets, but anywhere with a multi-screened movie theater and a mall is a big city in my book.

One of the small...

An Uncle's Job

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My brother, Kyle, and his wife, Jenn, just welcomed their first child into the world.

Max Timmerman weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and was born yesterday a few skips from Houston's Space Center. The sky's the limit for Max. He's got two really smart parents one of who – my brother – is a bit of doofus, but he'll be okay.

I've been a proud uncle to Annie's sister's kids, Jared and Cale, for six years now, but it's different with your own bro's kids, you know? I feel like I have a little more latitude t...

I want a shark bite

In honor of shark week, I'm dusting off an old piece from my column writing days. It's from 2006 so the stats might be a bit out of whack.

Sharks Bite?

The waters don't feel sharky, but I've been wrong before.

I'm 85 miles off the coast of Cuba, 40-feet beneath the ocean's surface. The water is murky and I am tooling along a lengthy coral finger. People dive in these waters to see all of the bright colors and unique fish. All I can see are shadows.

The coral finger is the big unmoving shadow ...

$10 for Tuesday: In support of wounded soldiers

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Captain Scott Smiley

Leaving your family isn't easy. I leave mine for a month or two at time. That's a tough goodbye. Each time I'm faced with it, I think about the men and women of our military. They are gone for much longer and traveling to lands far less welcoming.

Returning home is always sweet. I return with my hair a bit longer, a few pounds missing, and some great stories. Annie usually cuts my hair within a few days, a couple weeks eating dessert puts the weight back on, and I stew o...

Adventures in Spam: Dead Dad = Win

It's been awhile since I've done an "Adventures in Spam" piece. Here's my last one. Anyhow, I received the following email below and thought I would take a break from writing for a few minutes to respond.

My Dear,

It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country. Though I have not met with you before but I believe one has to risk confidence to succeed sometimes in life. There is this huge amount of Seven million Five Hundred Thousands U.S...