mlroseplant

I definitely went through the thong learning curve late in life. Come to think of it, I don't think I even owned a pair of sandals of any type until I was 40. Which is odd, considering that I'm Mr. Sandal today. I'm probably making up for lost time.

I had occasion to visit my bank again yesterday. I sheepishly admit that we're headed out tomorrow to probably buy yet another motorbike (but hopefully divest ourselves of two), so I needed greater quantities of cash than I normally keep on hand. The bank lady was there again, and I guess she must be for real, because all four times in my life I've ever seen her, she's been wearing heels, and actual high heels at that. On this day, she was wearing what I would call loafer pumps with slim heels. Thicker than stiletto, but definitely not block. Given my vast experience, I would peg them at 4 1/4" high, no platform. There were a ton of people around, so I didn't say anything, once again.

I had trouble with that also, but it's something that I forced myself to get used to for the sake of style. Part of it is psychological, part of it is physical. Kind of like learning to play the guitar. Yeah, your fingers are going to hurt for a while.

It's been a while since I've snapped a picture, and I've got some new sandals to show off, Calvin Klein Fia. Our church choir had a little get together at a restaurant last night, and during the dinner, it was announced that we have at last found a new music director. That is very good news, because I'm not taking over the job, I just don't have the time or the energy.

I have never had much luck with thong sandals lasting very long, so I went nuts and bought four pairs, hoping that among four of them, I would have something for at least a couple of years. This is the first pair to arrive. Shorts are by Talbots, and are called "Perfect Shorts." They're made of a very nice, dressier material, and would in fact be perfect were they a couple of inches shorter.

See, it wasn't that hard, was it? Free the toes!

Wow, I've often thought about CLs, but I don't care if somehow my crypto currency investments actually hit like some people claim they might, I couldn't bring myself to pay $800 for a pair of shoes. However, I might be able to be convinced under the right circumstances.

The only question remaining is what the heck is that thing on your other foot? 😜

Hello, and welcome. I can't answer your question, but perhaps @Jkrenzer can. Although he doesn't wear ballets, he has a lot of experience with the not-so-well known Chinese brands. Some are ok, some are junk.

I believe there is something to that because for me, it's never really been about the walking--it's the standing. I believe the walking ultimately helps my standing endurance, but the two are definitely different animals.

When my wife started this egg roll business in earnest, I went on a mid- and low-heel buying spree, because I wanted to wear heels to the events, but I didn't figure I could hack the 5+ hours of standing in high heels. Over the past three years, I find myself wearing those less and less, to now practically never.

What I cannot figure out is how the burning sensation in the balls of my feet has gradually left. I know women often complain about that particular pain as being the worst, and I do remember it, but I just don't seem to have that problem anymore. Maybe I willfully ignore it now. I'll have to pay better attention.

It is time for another trip to the cobbler. I have actually worn through a sole on my most durable pair of shoes, my True Religion mules, after 207 miles. I'm on my third set of heels with this pair, which have lasted an average of 80-90 miles each, a figure which is nothing short of remarkable, considering I was lucky to get 40 miles out of a set back in the day.

What is also amazing is that I wore 4 1/2" stiletto mules to church today, and then later to the grocery store, and I realized as I was getting ready for bed last night, I didn't even really think about it all day. It's been a long while since the day I wore 4 inch boots to the mall (in retrospect, WAY too high for me at the time), and didn't think I was physically going to make it back to the car.

I do not believe that I can credit only the years of walking in heels that has enabled me be able to wear quite high heels all day. I believe it is in combination of my foot exercises that I do to increase the strength and flexibility of my feet. I say this because I used to have foot pain from wearing flat work boots, and those days are also long in the past.

The job is beginning to gel a little bit. We are getting used to the equipment, getting used to the people we are working for (the customer), and we are getting used to pumping a lot of water! Not necessarily due to the new job, I can tell you I'm not going to make my walking quota this month. I'm not going to beat myself up about it either.

Two of the guys on my crew run marathons, and there's a third guy who is there occasionally who also runs marathons. They spend a lot of time talking about running shoes. I mean, more than I thought was possible. Perhaps now I understand how other people feel about me, talking about shoes.

That's a very good point about it being evolutionary. Part of it is merely style evolution and part of it is simply getting better at walking in heels over the years. As many of you know, I have walked over 2000 documented miles in heels over a number of years. Although it's not recorded in any sort of organized, accessible way, I can guarantee you that most of the first 1,000 miles was done in what I would consider mid-heels, which for me is 3 - 3 7/8 height difference. The second thousand miles was done primarily in high heels, 4 inches or higher, and especially the last 500 miles. I am pretty sure I never counted anything less than 3 inches, which is the point where a heel begins to feel a little bit like a heel for me, and really I like to be at least 3 1/2" regardless.

Someday I would like to master 5 inchers, but probably not with the idea of wearing them every day, just as a personal challenge. That will require a level of commitment that I don't currently have. I should concentrate more on becoming better in the shoes that I already have.

Quote from an older colleague at work, after struggling with something for a while: "You know, it's not always about doing it the easy way. [pregnant pause] Which is a good thing, because we're sure NOT doing it the easy way.

In a word, yes. While I also will not (generally) wear heels with any old guy clothes, I am also not ready to delve into anything that is not bifurcated on the bottom. How this is different or more radical than wearing Daisy Dukes with heels, I am not sure, but it feels more radical.

Back on point, I have got to where I am rather gradually over a number of years, and I have landed on 4 - 4.5" as the height that feels right to me. Absolute heel heel height is not as important to me as the steepness. I would never wear a 4 inch heel that had a 1 inch platform. Not only does it look kind of weird, it doesn't have the right feel to it. If for some reason the only thing available were 3 inch heels, I probably wouldn't even bother, to be honest. That's why I never really got into the Nike Sky High Dunks. Not enough lift to them.

Now that I have actually been to the first day of the job, I have thought of a few jobs that were more boring, but not by much. The job is this: We are to inspect, photograph, and carefully record the condition of somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 underground datacom vaults. These vaults are concrete structures, typically about 3m x 4m, and about 3m high that were placed underground to facilitate the installation and routing of fiber optic cable. This is at a data center owned by a company you've heard of, so naturally all of these cables are critical to their operation.

Because it is an underground installation, access is by manhole cover, which weighs, oh I don't know, at least 60 kg. You wouldn't want to drop it on your toe, lets put it that way. Then we have to lower a "sniffer" down in there, which tests for adequate oxygen levels and some other stuff. We have a special fan which will blast fresh air in there if it's not safe to breathe. Then a guy, attached to a special rig, with which we can pull him up if he goes unconscious, goes down in with a camera and takes a series of pictures inside the vault. After this is complete, we tear down the whole rig and do it all over again at the next vault.

We are hoping to do two vaults per day. We only managed to do one yesterday. But at least I know all of the guys on the crew personally, and don't dislike any of them. Although we plan to rotate tasks, my job yesterday was to stand outside the hole (outside the barricade) and periodically record the readings on the air quality monitoring equipment (the "sniffer"), as required by OSHA regulations. And take care of all the other paperwork/documentation required by our customer. Which is almost comically voluminous, considering we're essentially going into a hole and taking a few pictures. Ok, a lot of pictures.

I have been reassigned. Starting today, I will be on a project which may turn out to be the most boring job I've ever done in my life. I hope I'm wrong about it, but it does not look promising. At least it's close to home.

It seems like every time I run across Jessica Simpson shoes, I look at them. But I've only ever had one pair, and I had really bad luck with them. As in catastrophic failure bad luck. These Miu Miu sandals don't seem like they're going to break, and they have the correct platform to heel height ratio to my eye. To me JS seems to have too much platform and not enough heel on many models.

2 hours ago, redandwhite said:

Hi, been a while since been on here. Got some gorgeous boots photos that I’m dying to share with everyone, problem is all file sizes are too large. 
 

any easy way to downsize them without the quality being poor?

thanks

There are a number of ways, but what I do is just email the photos to myself, and I get to pick my file size within some ranges. I'm not saying it's the best way, but it works for me.

Now that I have to get back to real life, note that I did ride my motorbike to church yesterday in these heels, and I did not crash. Nor did I draw any attention from the police, at least not to my knowledge.

I hadn't worn my Miu Miu sandals in quite a long time, and I'm doing my best to spread the love to all the shoes I've decided to keep. Once again, I have no idea how I managed to walk in these things when I first got them, but I must have done so somehow. I wore these shoes for about 5 hours yesterday, and they were all right despite their extreme height. For whatever reason, Miu Miu brand seems to fit me just right, I only wish they weren't usually so expensive.

Haha, he was asking for it just riding the Harley! Vibrating, oil-leaking, cantankerous machines they were. They have improved somewhat over the years, largely thanks to competition from Mr. Honda. 

While I was in the Twin Cities, I did see a number of women wearing high heels, and I didn't go anywhere near an office. It appears that wearing heels just because has not completely dropped out of the culture.

Once upon a time, I was one of those "all the gear, all the time" kind of people. Now, everything is a compromise in one way or another between safety and practicality. Sometimes it's more compromising than others. One of the factors is that to me, it's darned uncomfortable to go highway speeds with no gear on at all. I don't know how people do it.

The only law I'm aware of in the U.S. concerning footwear and motor vehicles is that in Alabama, it's illegal to ride a motorcycle barefoot. The laws in the other 49 states seem to be silent on the subject. On the subject of helmet laws, again, it's up to each individual state. Iowa happens to not require helmets. Many states do.

5 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

Have you worn this pair lately?

I thought I posted it, but maybe I didn't. I wore them in June. Haven't worn them since, but hey, it's summer, and I don't like wearing enclosed shoe if I don't have to.

A new picture that my friend sent to me from our trip. We were having a good time trying out instruments at the swanky music store we visited. I'm probably at that moment laughing about what an incompetent player I am.

2 hours ago, Puffer said:

Certainly an interesting - and somewhat daring - choice for motor bike riding.   I am not a rider, and although I can see that a modest heel may have advantages in keeping one's feet on the rests/pedals (unsure of terminology!), I would imagine that mules are at risk of falling off, and those with open toes scarcely offer protection.   Anyway, you (and your feet and bike) have survived.

Your two friends aside, did your wearing heels to the concert excite any interest or comment from those present, who were presumably strangers?

The reason why I don't enjoy riding a "traditional" motorbike in heels, though it's quite possible (see below), is because one has to shift gears with one's left foot, and use the rear brake with one's right foot. On older British bikes this may be reversed. Imagine that. To me, this is very awkward to do in heels. On a scooter, there is nothing to do with your feet except look awesome.

I ride around our small town in shorts and mules all the time. This is probably foolish, but I'm 56 years old, and allowed to be foolish, and even the law allows me to be foolish. Yes, I can get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt in a car, but there is no helmet law. And certainly no high heel law. If I have to ride any further than a couple of miles, I wear the proper protective equipment, even if the footwear happens to have an elevated heel.

I got almost zero comments in the Twin Cities. I mean, it's not like Chicago or New York, but it's kind of close to that in being a Big City. People do not say hello when you walk by, they look down. You sometimes have to wait more than 30 seconds at a traffic light. Stuff like that. The one person who did comment on my shoes was a fellow patron at our motel. A young-ish woman of South Asian descent with two small children. I came across her on two different days, and she commented on my shoes at length both times, noting that I had on different shoes than I did before. Other than that, nothing of any note happened, either at the music store or the concert. Ha ha ha.

18 minutes ago, Bubba136 said:

Persecution of Christians is a historical fact. What Christians believe is forgiveness for the persecution and pray for the persecutors.  Being a believer isn’t easy!

What you say is true, historically. However, that is no longer true here where we live. How many people in the U.S. consider us to be a Christian nation, or would like us to be? Which, according to the U.S. Constitution, is not allowed at all, and for good reason. Still, we remain the majority, and therefore cannot truly be persecuted in the modern day in the U.S.