That's my son. Age: 7. Nickname: The Beast. Career Goal: To be Steve Irwin, Mike Rowe, or one of those guys who jumps out of planes with a snowboard-type thing and surfs air currents (he's "practicing" for all three.). Number of visits to the ER: 11. Diagnosis: Chronic, acute failure to fly.* What's this got to do with BCP? I'm getting there, stay with me.

The Beast is murder on shoes. He once went through 10 pairs of shoes in three months. This past spring, driven to the Internet by sheer frustration and a dwindling shoe budget, I found KEEN shoes. I bought him a pair of sandals in mid-May, and they were still on his feet as we went to press with this issue. They look practically new, nothing is broken, and he loves them. A pair of KEEN sneakers is staged and at the ready for the minute the weather changes. I now worship at the altar of KEEN. But I am not simply a KEEN devotee, I am an evangelist. I tell everyone I know about these shoes (and now you, too). I even found myself writing fan mail to KEEN (something I have never done), complete with photos of The Beast in action.

So, when I got an article from a reader passionately expressing his feelings about a BCP investment he recently made, I thought, "Why not?" It's not typically the kind of piece we run, but it has real value. It's an honest, thoughtful opinion about a service that may be of interest to you (see page 16). In fact, he wrote it because so many of his peers were contacting him with questions. I called the feature "Fan Mail," and I'm hoping that you'll help make it a regular fixture in CI. Is there a product, service, vendor, web site, or organization that makes you want to shout its praises from the rooftops? Then, tell me about it so I can share your story.

And I'll shut up about the shoes, now. Really. I promise. Well, except to say, they come in adult sizes (not to mention some really cute women’s styles) too. Here's a link to the web site: keenfootwear.com.

*The pediatrician actually wrote this on his chart. And, yes, he is really jumping out of a tree in that picture.