blueparrot

I have bought a good number of boots from Macy's but not in over a year.   They are rather good at stocking 10 and 11 size.  The biggest shoe department I have ever seen is at Macy's  NYC flagship store.  There's a six floor DSW right down the street from there also. 

I participate in online forums such as this but only have one social media in my name, a twitter account that I rarely use and only for my techno-hobby stuff.  I have never nor will ever have a facebook account.  That is the first place HR types look when you apply for a job and regularly spy on you from then until they fire you and for a period after that.  I don't give any of those types any satisfaction of finding me. 

On 12/26/2018 at 5:39 PM, pebblesf said:

The biggest problem with buying online is sizing....So, you must be sure that whatever your purchase is returnable, but you will probably have to pay the return shipping.  I don't know if the shops Blueparrot mentioned are in Canada, but I'm sure there must be equivalents.  Buying online from the shops mentioned is safe also, because you know the shoes can be returned/exchanged.  What size do you wear?  Larger sizes are a little tougher to find, but there are still plenty to be found online....

I agree, so I generally try to avoid brands/styles I'm not familiar with their sizing online.  I generally can get into size 10 for Sam Edelman but need an 11 for Vince Camuto.  I bought stretchers from Bed Bath & Beyond so that makes it easier if they are a bit tight.  The best thing about the stores I mentioned is they have everything out on shelves for you to try on with no help from any sales people.  They lay out the shoes by size so 10's are in one row, 11's in the next. 

Some sellers on ebay are good.  I've used Zappos and 6pm (Zappos owns them too).  The past couple of years I've been finding bargains locally at Nordstrom Rack, Dillards Clearance Center, and Saks off Fifth stores.  I've also found some at Bloomingdales outlets.  I haven't been buying online as much since moving to Dallas.  Also buying anything has been curtailed due to running out of closet space. 

On 12/23/2018 at 11:19 AM, Hansi1973 said:

What a f... bit...!

I hope, that you will find a new job soon! Including understanding colleagues, that do not mind if their co-worker arrives in flats or heels!

I'm still looking.  Lots of jobs around but the wrong time of the year to be interviewing.  One more week and everything opens back up.  For now though I'm all dressed up with no place to go!

Leather is always best.  Polyurethane is known to peel and crack just sitting in the closet after a while.  Leather allows water vapor to escape so your feet and legs don't get soaking wet on even moderate days. 

Sam Edelman is one of my staples and I usually get a size 10 as 11 seems too big.  I had a pair in 11 and had to give them away because my feet were sliding around.  On the other hand Vince Camuto seem to run smaller though I do have two pairs in 10  but I had to stretch them. 

On 12/16/2018 at 10:59 AM, pebblesf said:

Darn, sure wish I was laying over in Dallas when you donated those boots, would have found my way the that thrift shop for sure.....

It's not very far from Love Field on Northwest Highway.

I have mostly three to four inch block heel boots.  These are divided between ankle, knee, and over the knee styles.  Most have a western style stacked heel, a few have a straight block. I have three pair about 4.5" and one lone ankle pair at 5" with a platform.  I ran out of closet space so I let go of 1/4 my collection last Saturday to St. Vincent de Paul in Dallas.  It took three days to decide which to part with and it wasn't easy.  I needed to do this to keep peace in the family.   Everything must fit into the closet. I had 60 pair so now closer to 40. 

During the early 70's a lot of homes in the USA had aluminum branch circuit wiring.  This caused a lot of trouble because they were not terminated properly and this caused a lot of fires.  Larger feeder and service conductors are fine (and still used) because proper terminations are used (compression connectors or mechanical connectors properly torqued).  My house in Albuquerque, which I still own and have daughters living in, had such and I replaced it with metal clad (MC) copper conductor cable.  I used metal clad instead of non-metallic cable because we also had mice chewing on the old cables and causing much grief.  The silly mice couldn't chew through the metal clad cable so they all moved out (I'm serious).   My last job was for an electrical manufacturer and I had to get their products listed by either UL or ETL (Intertek).  The UL standard for wire connectors (especially for aluminum) require testing that costs around $60,000.00  and takes months to perform the temperature/current cycling. 

The monthly cost of a train/bus pass for the Dallas area is $96.00.  If you need to go farther to either Fort Worth or Denton it doubles that.  Daily pass is $6.00.  Before I was sacked my train trip was about 32 miles each way with a short bus ride at the work end.  It isn't real fast, as it takes a long time stopping at many stations along the way.  The freeways around here are jammed with traffic and one will need blood pressure medicine to cope with it, so finding a job that is near rail stations is a very good thing.  Most higher paying jobs are on the North side of Dallas while the affordable housing is on the South side where I live.  Dallas has one of the better rail systems in the USA.  Most cities this size have only a few lines (Phoenix has only one and it is quite limited in where it goes) but here there are the Red, Orange, Green, and Blue lines going off in different directions.  You can even ride from DFW Airport to downtown right from the terminal on the Orange Line.  Some of the suburbs refuse to allow any rail or bus service into or through their cities.  They cite crime as a reason but I suspect it is also economic/policital as they believe everyone should drive a car.  Arlington (where the Cowboys play) and Grand Prairie and two west of here that don't allow it.  The train to Fort Worth has to detour north to go around them. 

Cali, I have a pair of Michael Kors that look a lot like yours but without that strap.  Same color and heel almost identical. 

Why is it I keep thinking this is Mike Holt's Code Forum?

I have one pair of Freebirds and I love them, want to wear them all the time.  I only wish they weren't so darned expensive.   I got mine at Saks off 5th on sale with extra 30% off that weekend but they still weren't cheap.  Dillards carries them but I never have seen them at their clearance center. 

I have seen these in size 11, but not sure they made them in 12.  They also made this style in black and snakeskin.  I had the snakeskin ones a couple of years ago but my wife wouldn't let me wear them so I got rid of them.  Sam Edelman made this boot in a short version called Reyes.  I have that boot in 10.0 grey and it fits the same as these 10.5. 

I bought these a couple of months ago from ebay for $70 but just started wearing them with the cooler weather.  They are Sam Edelman "Rylan" from a couple of years ago.  Brand new.  The color is dark red but photos seem to drift to brown due to color balance issues.  They have a 21" shaft and 4" heel with a partial inside zipper.  They are a soft leather upper and shaft with a small slit in the back of the tops.  These fit fairly snug over the calves and a good fit in a size 10.5.  I usually get 10's in Sam Edelman but this style seems a bit snug so the half size up seems to be perfect. 

1 hour ago, SF said:

What exactly is this "bulge" that you speak of?????   Some style of heel that I am unaware of??  I'm old and just not that "hip" anymore...  have fun, sf

It's a result of those jeans not having enough material in the front zipper area for "us".  I used to wear Tripp NYC skinny jeans size 11 and had that issue.  I had several pairs of those.  Nowadays there are many "ultra skinny" jeans in men's sizes so I wear those instead.   Fits behind, thighs, and calves tightly but a bit more room up front.  Low cut jeans can be swapped between sexes but that issue does come up if they are tight fitting.  I only have one pair of female sized pants which I rarely wear anymore.  They are "jeggings" in blue denim and yes they have the "bulge".  An oversized sweater, tee shirt (worn out), or sweatshirt will cover that bulge if you find it to be a problem. 

4 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

Florida voted in July to stop observing daylight savings, yet they are still blocked from implementing it by the US Congress.  Seems the lawyers in Washington need remedial review on the Constitution.  

How does Arizona get away with it?  I lived there over three years.  Part of the time we were the same as the rest of my family in New Mexico and the rest of the time we were the same as California.  Some of my "automatic" clocks refused to stay on standard time so I had to set them to Pacific Time that part of the year. 

Wiring in North America allows for different voltages depending on use.  Homes most frequently have what's called bi-phase or split phase.  It's three wires, one grounded (neutral) with two live wires, each 120 volts to ground and 240 volts between them.  Most loads use 120 volts.  Larger loads like dryers, ranges, air conditioners, shop tools, welders, etc. use 240 volts.  There are 15 and 20 amp circuits for common loads, 30, 40, 50, and 60 amp circuits for larger ones.  Commercial buildings often have 277/480 volt 3-phase service.  Larger loads run off 480, ceiling lighting runs off 277.  They have smaller transformers throughout the facility to provide 120/208 volts for outlets and other smaller loads.  Smaller buildings often have 120/208 volt 3-phase service.  Canada uses 347/600 volt service for larger buildings.  There is still a strange 3-phase service that provides 120/240 volts.  The third phase is called a "wild leg" and is 208 volts to ground.  Some parts of the country they actually serviced homes with this for their air conditioners.  Most power utilities won't provide that service anymore.  It's kind of dangerous because some people will attempt to use the wild leg to feed a 120 volt outlet.  I once encountered an office where they had an electrician install an outlet for their new computer.  The computer needed 120 volts.  The electrician was mostly used to residential work so he mistakenly ran the line to their 277/480 panel.  The computer caught fire.  I don't know how he missed that as the panel had a huge 277/480 sign on the door. 

Not too many great styles to be had this fall (in my opinion) but there are two that caught my eye:

This new style from Sam Edelman:

I saw them at Dillards at Northpark.  I will have to wait until they go on sale after the holidays, hopefully there will still be size 10's to be had. 

These boots from Lucky Brand are another style I really want:

Zappos has them so I will wait until they move them over to 6pm.com and mark them down.  These have the stretch panel instead of a short zipper. 

20 hours ago, Steve63130 said:

And by displaying the boots at the interview they will know exactly what they're getting if they hire you. On the other leg, if you don't get any job offers after a while, you may want to start wearing conventional men's shoes until you're employed again. You can't buy heels without money!

Steve

This point does ring a bell with Marco Rubio's experience wearing very similar looking  boots and getting negative press over it.  I thought about wearing my black OSHA approved safety boots but thought since the interview was in an office setting it would be better to wear dress footwear. 

Is this Chinese "points" system run by Experian, Transunion, or Equifax?

On 11/13/2018 at 1:22 PM, Jura said:

Do Dillard's do up to a size 12 in decent styles? 

I wear 10 to 11 so can't say for certain.  Check Dillards.com and see if they carry anything like that.  The clearance centers get what's left after the sales at their stores so not so many larger sizes.  They seem to have a lot of 10's and some 11's.  Lucky for me I bought shoe stretchers so can buy more 10's now and stretch them to fit.  I don't recall seeing 12's there.  Nordstrom Rack seems to have a lot of 12's. 

I returned to Galleria today on my motorcycle, wearing over the knee Frye "Kelly" boots with 3.5" heels, skinny blue jeans, and my motorcycle jacket.  I got a lot of smiles from people like I'm used to.  I even went into that store.  I didn't buy anything there but it sure feels better now that I did.

I interviewed yesterday with another firm.  It was  cold and windy in Dallas so I wore my fur hooded parka, warm sweater, new black pants, and almost new shiny black Antonio Melani knee boots (under the pants) with 3" block heels.   Even with the boots under the pants I still got compliments on the boots from several people, even the interviewer.  The interview went quite well and I was told to expect a second interview at the job site. 

13 minutes ago, p1ng74 said:

Wow, these kind of things shouldn’t be happening with all the attention that workplace diversity has been getting lately.  You would think the same kind of fairness that is supposed to protect from harassment due to gender and orientation would allow you to wear boots.  Unfortunately small companies tend to find themselves exempt many things.  If this lady was willing to spend the lies and energy to take you down over a pair of boots, who knows what she would have done if it was actually something more serious.  Good luck with the job search - sounds like you’ll find a better place soon.  

Just out of curiously, did she make any reasonable request that you not wear the boots to work?  Or was it harassment from the get go?  I’m trying to put myself in your shoes as this situation may come up for other people too...

Nope, she never told me not to wear them.  She wanted to STEAL them off me.  She wears the highest heels every day and with short tight skirts, leggings, and low cut tops.  It's all about jealousy, not a desire to keep me from wearing them.  This place had no dress code at all.  My boss wears shorts and sandals and the owner is all over the map unless he is meeting with clients.  Usually though he travels to them and most are in other states so he's gone a lot. For what it's worth my "agent" is submitting me to two companies right now so hopefully I will be working again before the end of the month (and my vacation pay runs out). 

I lived in Scottsdale for three years.  Here's the places I bought my footwear: 

Nordstrom Rack on Camelback  in Phoenix

Nordstrom Rack on Scottsdale Rd. near Loop 101 North part of Scottsdale

Nordstrom Rack at Tempe Marketplace

Nordstrom Rack on Chandler Blvd. (east of Loop 101 and near Chandler mall)

Check the stores in Scottsdale Fashion Square for sales, it's BIG so expect to spend some time there!  Dillards there has huge shoe dept.

Chandler mall is a large mall with many decent stores.  DSW store just south of the mall.

Arizona Mills outlet mall in Tempe (Saks off 5th moved out of there to the outlet center a few miles south on the reservation)

Dillards Clearance Center in Mesa (off US 60 freeway)

I accumulated so many pairs while living there it was a major effort to move them to Texas!