Jos. A Bank Jacket

This isn’t the exact jacket I bought but very similar. Mine is 65% wool, 35% rayon and is a pretty good winter jacket. I wouldn’t wear it in the most frigid of conditions but in terms of an acceptable jacket to wear to bars and such, it works fantastic. I can even wear a collared polo t-shirt out and just wear the jacket as an exterior. It essentially eliminates the need for any type of sweatshirt unless I want to wear it. Best part is, it cost under a hundred bucks. I can honestly wear it every day and no one would say I’m over-wearing it because it’s so common place of an article of clothing. Without a doubt this was my #1 best investment of the year. I don’t need variety in winter month outerwear, this is it! Plus it doesn’t get dirty.

Taylor Burner Plus Irons &
Ping Stand Bag

I know there aren’t a ton of golf nuts out there but these two items were my best purchases of last year golf wise. I think I spent $400+ on the iron set I bought (I’m not sure this picture is the exact set I have) and they are a significant upgrade from the Tommy Armour 845 I had for 10+ years. My distance is 200+ with a 5 iron which basically can allow me to drive using an iron on most holes. Hitting the sweet spot leads to nice distance and I’ve been playing a nice draw as well. Forgiveness is noticeable. The bag is awesome as well. We’ll give Bill Schmidt credit for the recommendation as he said “the only bags worth buying are Titleist and Ping.” It has an abundance of pockets, a Gatorade holder, a nice stand, a handle to move the bag without holding the strap, and is lightweight to make a fantastically designed bag. I left out my Cleveland sand wedge but I’ll save that for another entry. A huge key to golf is having the right equipment.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This is a book I read about a year ago that has so many good tools that I probably don’t use most of them. It goes into prioritizing life, listening, speaking, empathizing, decision making and all the other good things that you usually don’t think about on your day to day. This book makes you think about them and I remember after finishing the book having a positive outlook on life. As months pass and you forget what you read, you will revert back to the real you but it’s still effective to have these principals instilled from time to time. Here was an interesting post I wrote back in the day after reading the book. Reading this book once a year would be an exercise that no price could be put on it.

Spotify & Sirius Radio

Although it seems pretty insane, I pay 200+ dollars a year for Sirius and 5 bucks a month for Spotify. This equates to a roughly 300 dollar budget a year for music which is less than a dollar a day. For me this is completely worth it. I listen to music everyday of my life. As I’m sitting here right now I’m listening to OMD, If You Leave on Sirius First Wave. Listening to music makes me happy. If I have to choose between not listening or listening, I’d practically never choose not listening. Sirius in the car, Spotify at home. I like the randomness of Sirius and my ability to hear songs I never would hear and the variety of their stations. I like how I can customize playlists with Spotify and share music with friends. Both of these services hold high value in my mind. AM/FM what?!