These little guys have names. The anteater is named Ants, the puffin is Puffer and the spider is Spinner. How clever and cute. But if you aren't familiar with the Beanie Babies craze, let me give you some key dates:
-1993: Ty Warner makes Beanie Babies
-1995: Beanie Babies become hot collector items; the company earns $250m in profit
-1999: Ty Warner announces they would no longer make Beanie Babies
-2000: Ty Warner starts making more Beanie Babies
Meanwhile, a parallel series of events were happening that may explain the phenomenon:
-1993: The Chinese year of the Rooster; Ty Warner decides to make a small plush doll for his niece, fashioning it out of an old pillowcase and box of nails
-1995: Consumers living high off the hog from the economic boom of the Clinton years will buy anything they see
-1999: Warner, a Y2K conspiracy theorist, sells all his material possessions and closes his company in fear of global economic shutdown and chaos
-2000: After failed attempts to develop a new refrigeration technique, Warner goes back to his roots in order to pay his alimony
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| Calls all women under 5'0" 'donettes' |
-Profession: Entrepreneur
-Favorite kitchen countertop material: Granite
-When life gets challenging, do you just take it on the 'chim'?: No, I just think, "Ahh, it could be worse."
-As a child, you enjoyed Honey Buns a great deal and would even steal you sisters' money to go and buy them at the dollar store. They also made you a 'chunky' kid. Would you or would you not call a love interest a honey bun?: Yes, because they're so delicious and good, but also wear on you in the worst ways possible, too.
-Tell me about how you almost got on Judge Joe Brown?: My friend was buying this girl stuff--a laptop, camera, cell phone, etc--but he wasn't allowed to meet her friends or family. One day, he asks for it back and she refused, so he takes her to court. The story is so crazy that the producers of Judge Joe Brown call him up and ask him to be on the show. I'm a key witness and I was getting prepped to be on there. I even had my wardrobe picked out--a shirt with my fraternity logo on it, you know, cause it would be good for publicity.
Well, she called my friend and manipulated him and asked to drop the case. He did. As soon as he did that, she issued a restraining order on him, which also forbids him to go to the community college where she goes to school. He's now finishing up his degree in Alabama and I didn't get to be on Judge Joe Brown.
-You're the 13th bearded gift exchanger. Are you jolly?: Yeah, I'm pretty jolly.
