mlroseplant

I have found that in our area, people are either way nicer than normal, or way nastier than normal. There seems to be no in between. I'm glad that Paris seems to have gotten the way nicer end of the spectrum!

I ran across this short video the other day. I see it is quite a number of years old, but it escaped my notice until now. I've seen plenty of people over the years tap dancing in "high" heels, but this is the first time I've ever seen anybody tap dance in truly full height heels.

16 hours ago, HappyinHeels said:

I know the number of steps measured can vary but this is a function of the error range of consumer-grade electronics. I live about 3 miles/5 km west of the 88th meridian which crosses our road. I sometimes slow down and look at the GPS coordinate data on my car's display screen and can see a variance of up to 100 feet from other readings. Although the satellites themselves are accurate our consumer-grade devices have a built-in error rate. It is only when one gets to military-grade, and scientific-grade devices where absolute accuracy is required. I'm talking about going to six or seven decimal places in locator data instead of three or four. The health data is based upon the satellite function found on our phones. My point was to use something which so many people already have. As to having more than one phone I'd mention a method  I use in my weather observations and my work as a COOP observer with the National Weather Service (NWS).  I have three thermometres and take observations from all three. I add the results and take the average of all three which is an accepted practice within NWS. I suggest the same for anyone wanting to replicate our esteemed Danish member's experiment to get a more accurate result. HappyinHeels

The GPS based equipment that we use on construction sites these days is supposedly accurate to 1/8". I would believe that, when used correctly. We are able to do a lot of stuff that we couldn't before, like install underground conduit and stub it out of the ground before there's anything else there for reference. Yes, it's possible to screw it up, but usually they're pretty spot on, amazingly enough. However, these units cost thousands and thousands of dollars, and are not really suitable for carrying in your pocket.

13 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

I cut down a diseased black walnut tree, about a 14" trunk two weeks. No problem but then i got carried away and went nuts on an overgrown siding. Then two days later my reward was this.

Both legs, both arms and my belly.  Kinda put a stop to heeling for now. Anyway finally past the itching stage. Last week i really could have put a bullet in my brain, just kidding guys, but it would have been a relief.

Ooh. That's bad. I got into poison oak a couple of years ago clearing out what is now a rose garden for my wife. The problem was, I didn't even realize it was there, so I was pulverizing it with a weed whacker before digging it up. I now know VERY WELL what it looks like. It got so bad that I had to take a day off work and go to the doctor to get steroids, because I could no longer make a fist with my left hand.

Fast forward two years later, and some of it grew back, so I very carefully snipped the few bits of it off, and set them to the side for a long time before I dispose of it. Somehow, I still got a rash on both my forearms, and no place else. It was pretty mild, though. Still, I don't understand it. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, which I immediately took off and washed when I was done. Same with all the clothes I was wearing. One of the mysteries of life. I hope you heal soon. That is no fun at all.

I agree with you @Pierre1961, walking 5,000 steps outside in the real world all at once is more difficult than walking 15,000 steps intermittently all day long, until you get used to it. On the other hand, depending on how high the heel, I'd rather walk a long distance than stand in one spot for an extended period of time. Also, I suppose I could easily rack up several hundred steps walking between my stove and kitchen sink when I am cooking, but should this really count the same as several hundred steps taken on a purposeful walk outside?

@HappyinHeels, the iphone idea sounds intriguing, but I can see one problem with it. I am not really sure how accurate the pedometer on it is. I say this because I must carry two phones now at work. One personal and one company. I know, sounds ridiculous. It IS ridiculous. But at any rate, both of them are iphones with the same "health" application, and they never agree with each other about how many steps I actually took on any given day, varying by 10% or more. People who actually care about such things tell me that the fitbit or some other such purpose-built device is the way to go if you are truly concerned about accuracy.

I agree that the terms and purpose of this experiment are a little vague, and perhaps even contradictory, but who cares? Let's just wait for the data and reports and see what happens!

I find it very interesting that the most reaction to my thread seems to happen when the subject wanders. This is not the first time it has happened. Of course, I suppose this thread is reflective of me in real life. I tend to meander away from the subject on a regular basis.

And to think, I managed to cut down an entire tree yesterday, and nobody got hurt! It wasn't a terribly big tree, the trunk was about 8" in diameter, but still. I did get thumped pretty good on the shin by a log, but amazingly, it didn't leave a mark. I guess it's those little twigs that you have to watch out for.

It's one of those days. I walked out to my garage to check on atmospheric conditions, and I accidentally stepped on the very end of a twig, flipped the opposite end of it up in the air, and somehow-or-other it came over and took a chunk out of my big toe, drawing blood. I just stood there, stunned, and actually said out loud, "Really? REALLY? Unbelievable!" Then I snapped out of it when I realized I might get a bloodstain on my beloved Bonny sandals. I still can't for the life of me figure out how that even happened!

This is exciting! I have actually done a similar thing in the past, only a little bit differently. My goal was to walk 1,000 miles (1,609 km) in heels. I finally did it, but it took me a couple of years, due to time constraints, weather constraints, and due to the fact that back then, I sometimes had to work up the courage to go on my walks. I also did this in conjunction with my 2 mile (3.2 km) rule, which is when I get a new pair of shoes, I must be able to walk at least 2 miles in them in reasonable comfort, or at least have some hope of doing so in the future, or I get rid of them. The most I have ever walked at one time continuously was 5.3 miles (8.5 km). I did this twice during my "experiment." Once was in a pair of ankle boots (thin heels, but thicker than stiletto), and once was in a pair of block heel sandals. I think this is a great way to actually improve your endurance in heels to the point where you actually enjoy wearing them for long periods of time, and people will be amazed! People ask me a lot how I can do it, and I tell them that this is how. I don't see any other way around it.

Now, for my opinion on your choice of footwear. I have to agree with @Pierre1961 that the choice of stiletto heels may be problematic. In my experience, you will get about one of your 10 km walks in, and have to replace the heel tips. If you're very lucky, you'll get 15 km out of them. I assume you're walking on concrete. That is the reason why I stopped doing any walking like you plan to do in stilettos. I usually walk in slightly thicker heels--not super big or clunky, but something slightly thicker, because the tips last many, many times longer than stilettos. I get excellent wear out of heels that are about 16 mm across, and that is not really approaching a block-style heel--it's just a "thick stiletto."

Good luck with reaching your goal, and keep us informed!

11 hours ago, chesterx said:

My employer has recalled us from work at home. Today was the 1st  day in our new office. It is a further drive for me than our old office by about 20 minutes. I dont care much for that, but the building is very nice & I'm just dying to get a pair of pumps on the flooring. Concrete parking garage, Long marbled floor lobby, & tiled hallways thru-out. I was lucky enough to be behind the only women I saw wearing heels & they made such a lovely sound. I forgot how jealous I can get...

Luckily, I can't get jealous at work. No heels in construction. It would be quite inadvisable!

17 hours ago, kneehighs said:

She picked strawberries in heeled sandals?  That's dedication when sneakers would no doubt be more practical.

I mean, it's not much of a heel, is it? Actually, I hope it's not a trend. I've never seen her wear a mid-heel before. Seriously.

On 6/14/2020 at 5:10 PM, RonC said:

I enlarged this quite a bit so I could see what the ladies were wearing.  Not one heel in sight.  Sign of the times I guess, sadly.

If it makes you feel any better, there is at least one lady who rarely goes out in public without heels of some sort. My friend the tailor! I've put her on here several times before, and yesterday this was her idea of a good outfit to wear to go out to a farm and pick strawberries! On edit: I'm going to have to figure out a better way of resizing pictures. The image quality of this one is super bad compared to the original, and the original file size wasn't all that huge. Oh, well.

Either this whole coronavirus thing is messing me up, or I am simply becoming less sentimental as I get older. I just realized this morning that I have forgotten to mark the anniversary of the start of my public heel wearing. Though I have missed the date by almost a month, eight years ago I attended a choir rehearsal at my church wearing black clogs with about 3 1/2" heels on them. Nobody said anything except for one person, and she already knew what was going on beforehand. I'm ok with becoming less sentimental, as long as I don't forget my wife's birthday or our wedding anniversary. Should be pretty easy to avoid forgetting only one or the other, since they're on consecutive days.

I have replaced quite a number of heels and a few soles in my day. Here is what I have found: Like Krenzer said, stilettos wear out very quickly--I typically get 6-8 miles out of a stiletto tip on concrete. Mind you, I'm talking about a hard rubber replacement, Vibram or some such thing. The plastic tips that often come with new shoes from the factory wear out even more quickly than that. I've ground down a pair of stock tips in less than a mile on one occasion. That was very disappointing. To be clear, and to compare apples to apples, what I'm calling a "stiletto" is a shoe where the bottom of the heel, the part that touches the ground and gets worn out, is no more than 9.5 mm (appoximately 3/8") across in width. Often, it's even thinner than that. Most of my stilettos are 8 mm (5/16") thickness, or very close. My thinnest heels are about 6 mm (1/4"). Those have never been worn for anything but incidental outings (for example, walking from the car to the church or grocery store) and I STILL had to replace the heels after a couple of years.

For this reason, I quit wearing stilettos to actually walk in several years ago, much as I do enjoy it. Running errands--going to the grocery store, the post office, the barbershop, church--sure, I'll still wear stilettos. Going for a purposeful walk just to go for a walk, I've switched to slightly thicker heels mainly. If you go to a slightly thicker heel, at least 16 mm (5/8") across, you get several times the life on the heel tips. I don't keep as careful records as I used to when I first started heeling, and I do a lot more "incidental" heeling these days, in which case the miles don't get recorded, but it seems like I get anywhere from 30-50 miles (48-95 km) out of a good Vibram heel before it needs to be replaced.

As far as soles, I've only ever had to replace the crappy thin leather coverings that often come on women's "mid-level" shoes. Why you would ever slap a thin piece of leather on the bottom of a platform shoe is beyond me, but they do it, and they inevitably wear out quickly, or get trashed if you're caught in a rainstorm. Same if you have to ever walk in snow. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I used to be all about leather bottoms, not anymore. They're fragile, and they're a pain in the butt. The leather on men's dress shoes or finer cowboy boots is completely different. It's actually got some thickness and stoutness to it. I've only ever worn through a men's leather sole once, and it took me 10 years to do it. I've never worn through a man-made sole in any of my high heels, though I've tried pretty hard.

As with anything, your mileage may vary. I weigh less than 65 kg, but tend to walk pretty aggressively. All of the numbers I have presented are merely anecdotal, but they are based on my actual personal experience, and I have recorded every repair I have made in the last 8 years.  I hope you enjoy your boots for another 10 years!

16 hours ago, kneehighs said:

 To be clear, I'm not sharing their user names anymore b/c I suspect some here then go onto IG and contact the same girl.  You gotta pay your own dues if you want the girl(s) mates!

Wasn't me! I suspect you knew that anyway. BTW, how does the "no tables" thing work in practice? You just have to hold your drink and/or food the whole time?

3 hours ago, Puffer said:

This promo video for Louboutin 'Trouble in Heaven' perfume is worth watching!   (I have to say, however, that I prefer women with a few more curves.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_6MZW-2OaU

Yes, that's a good one! I ran across this a couple of years ago, and I hold it up as an example that one can, in fact, move fluidly and gracefully in extremely high heels. I realize the whole thing is slickly done and highly edited, but I would point out the area of 0:23-0:25 as a great example of "how to walk in heels." Yes, it's not much, and it's kind of a highly stylized Latin ballroom dance walk, but evidently it can be done. I would really like to see this model/dancer walk across the room or down the street normally in 5" heels, just to see how it's done! It could be very instructive. It seems unlikely that it will ever happen.

Here is another one that is not too bad for walking technique in real life: On edit, I would however, recommend muting the sound, but that's a matter of personal taste.

I replied two days ago to a high school classmate's Facebook post, which was captioned "Where are you on this scale?" I replied, "Two children, but I still wear the 'single' shoes." That shut the thread right the f*** down. Crickets. I seem to have that talent.

It may not technically qualify as foot jewelry, but I took these BCBGirls sandals on their maiden voyage this morning. I managed to get one mile in before it started raining. I've had them for some time, I've just never worn them out before. They have these odd little medallions on the buckles for the back straps. I had originally planned to cut them off, but I have changed my mind. They give this oddly satisfying sensation against the side of your foot with every step. By the way, these shoes don't bite. No blisters, no funny marks, no nothing. You just never know until you walk a couple miles. I am provisionally approving them until I can do my two mile test.

21 hours ago, Cali said:

Jumping is not the problem, its landing on a surface that can handle it. Only got hurt twice by jumping, but never from the roof, two story house. It's more sports, like sliding into third and getting your cleat caught in the netting they put in sod, or back packing 10 miles in the Sierra wilderness and the rock ledge you are hiking across decides to give way. I stopped ski jumping after I caught a friends head between my legs.  I not a couch potato.

This reminds me of a song from the late, great Jim Croce. Hope the humor is received in the manner it was intended:

13 hours ago, Cali said:

An Injury? Oh I wish that was the case, I'm missing bits and pieces all over the place.

Were you the kid that jumped off the garage roof with an umbrella as a parachute?

3 hours ago, Cali said:

 

It's because you don't have a body that contains many pieces of titanium, polypropylene, nylon, teflon, .....My hand was experimental surgery, one of the first of it's kind in the world when it was done. It was after the first experimental surgery failed, at that time only 2 of the 28 surgeries of that version failed. The damage was too bad to begin with.

Just to be clear, I was aware that you had an injury in the past, the exact details of which I of course don’t know. However, the humorous way in which you referred to it gave me a bit of a chuckle. 

I think the first method may work ok, given enough time, which you obviously have. However, I cannot understand how actually wearing the boots after you get them soaked could possibly do anything but stretch them out further. I mean, unless you sat in one spot and didn't move for several hours. I would just try letting them dry without wearing them. Possibly put them under an incandescent lamp to provide a minimal amount of heat. I think you are right to be reluctant to use a hair dryer, even on low.

21 hours ago, Cali said:

 

.  .  . since my hand contains non-OEM parts .  .  .

HA! Never heard it put quite that way before.

13 hours ago, RonC said:

I had a chance to wear the b.o.c. Apple wedges pictured above for some shopping today.  While I have had a couple pairs of wedges in the past, that was prior to me taking my heel wearing public, so I never really had much real experience walking in them.  I now understand when the ladies (and guys here) talk about the greater comfort of wedges despite their height.  These were very comfortable and stable to walk in despite the 4" heel height (mitigated I admit by a small platform under the forefoot).  Typically, after an hour and a half of shopping and walking about, my feet would be aching and feeling a bit numb,  I had next to no discomfort and could have kept going for some time yet.  I could feel the height and enjoyed that, but didn't miss the discomfort.  Might not be the last wedges I ever own!

I'm glad you actually got a chance to get out in heels! I think they're a classy casual look.

I haven't even looked at shoes for weeks, much less bought any. I wonder what is wrong with me?

Every time I see the ad on here that advertises a t-shirt with a vintage car on it that reads,"I'm not OLD, I'm a CLASSIC!", I cannot help but notice that it's always modeled by a 20 year old hot chick.

Yes, these are completely random thoughts. I have become Virginia Woolf.