Since I spend a lot of time in Asheville, NC, a place characterized by spontaneous drum circles, and since I go through musical instrument phases (when we branded Central Pacific Bank I took up the ukulele), I decided to get myself a djembe for Christmas. It is a beautiful thing. Hand carved from a single piece of wood. Goat skin head. Rope tuning. I have never had the coordination to use drum sticks. But I dig that you play a djembe with your hands. I like that it makes more than one type of sound. And I get a real…

So, we've been talking to a nonprofit organization, which I can't name, about a little problem they have. This outfit has been known for a long time for its "thrift stores", where people could get some decent clothing and other stuff for not-a-lot-of-dough. Then came the bubble, and people's cast-offs were often new-or-nearly-new designer things, as they filled their closets via VISA, and then purged them to make room for the next round. Suddenly, the decent stuff for not-a-lot-of-dough became really nice stuff for not-a-lot-of-dough. Downright boutiquey!Then, the bubble burst. And the stores became places where people could get nice…