CrushedVamp

Here in the United States anyway, "women" bikes do have step through frames were as "mens" bikes do. Some bikes are a sort of hybrid where they are nearly step-thru but not as low as a women's bike style. My daughter's mountain bike is that way, halfway between the two extremes.

I wonder deeply if it has to do with litigation? I see that everywhere, for instance new cars. It really is hard now to tell if a car is a Honda CRV, A Toyota Rav4, or a Ford Escape... they really all look very similar. And the reason for that is litigation. With ever car having to abide by the same crash worthy testing procedures, along with strict gas mileage allowances, etc, in order for everyone to meet the new standards, the creative box they can fit into means car's profiles, unibody, and seat makeup pretty much will be the same. Not sure what I mean? Consider the making of a pair of high heels. Lets say we come up with a contest where we all make a pair of high heels. The first pair has loose constraints. A pair of high heels, 13 CM tall, with Stilleto heel. In that, there would be a huge variation on what we all create. But, add in more parameters like color, made of leather and plastic, must enclose the toes via points, and have a closed arch, and suddenly all the shoes become incredibly similar. It matters little if it is cars, high heels, or even houses... everything to me is becoming bland because of fear of litigation. Couple all this with a more entitled society and I can envision a woman slipping on a banana peel, claiming it was not her fault because it was actually the style of shoe she was forced to wear, and soon everyone is wearing sneakers/trainers.

To me... and this is quite judgmental I know, it just seems those who are less disciplined enjoy AI whereas others of us do not. I do not even have voice recognition toggled on my phone, whereas my wife does. She has not typed a thing into her phone for a year and it is quite comical. A person without patience she screams at her phone often because it does not understand what she is trying to say and I just laugh because had she typed it out it would have just been wayyyyyyy faster. But as a teacher she uses AI for everything, especially establishing her lesson plans which to me means, she is proving she has little value. But she wants quicker/easier on everything in life. Me, I am more disciplined and like to work things out for myself. Often, when faced with easier to do or harder, I chose harder because life experience has shown that is the better path to take long term. A case in point: I walk 5-7 miles a day for weight loss, she uses medical injections. As for Fuzzy Logic and AI, I think that was a form of early AI. The washer and dryer combination units I see advertised as AI do indeed spin faster if they detect shaking, but also detect the moisture content of the clothes inside. There really is no fuzzy logic there as it either is or is not under a certain percentage of moisture content. But I think the AI part comes into play where the logic in the PLC allows it to keep going, or stop, based on what those sensors depict.

Because how much money you put into the house is immaterial because it can be wholly deducted off your taxes. It is however, a good way to show how much work had to go into a property. It is not perfect I realize, as it is possible to put in $50,000 worth of electrical work and be something no one would ever notice, but as a rule $50,000 generally shows a fair amount of work went into a property. $10,000... not so much. It is why I used the amounts to show how much work went into the place. But the actually amount spent has no basis on the profit of a house. It can be completed deducted off your income taxes.

I am NOT a shorts wearer either, no matter how hot it is outside. Here, I do not think I am in the minority, but a few men do wear shorts all year, enough so that no one gives them a second look. I remember being at my chiropractor's office and a man came in wearing shorts, I remember because he kind of looked funny stomping off his shoes because we were having a snow storm and six inches of snow (150 mm) was outside. For dressing up, which you guys and gals know I do almost always, for truly formal events I do wear true dress shoes, but about 80 percent of the time I do wear plimsolls. The reason is simple. I try and match my shoes to my pants. With so many color variations of plimsolls, I can do that easily. And they are comfortable, easy to wash, and look good in my opinion. In super formal settings, not so much, but they are a huge staple of my fashion sense right now.

That is great to hear @Puffer but atlas with my new home, all that is here is woman wearing much boots it seems. (Lots of fisherwoman). But as the saying says, "what is seen in Europe, will be seen in the United States the following year. I saw that myself. It was around 2008 when I was in Ireland and saw a new fashion trend I never saw before, the miniskirt worn with leggings underneath it so those who were more timid could feel a little more secure. I liked the look, and it was but a year later it was suddenly all the rage in the United States... in 2009!

This is so true and yet I find myself rather jaded. As many on here know, we buy and sell a lot of property. Not really flipping them, but in a way too... kind of. This last house though, to be closed on in two weeks, really did it for me. I bought it for $180,000, (154,000 Euro) put $50,000 (43,000 Euro) into it in just materials with me doing the carpentry work, and ended up selling it for $250,000 (215,000 euro). It took me 2 years to do, working at a full-time job, which is not bad, an additional $70,000 (60,000), or $35,000 (30,000 Euro) a year for what amounts to a part-time side-hustle. But it seems like a lot of work and effort for $35,000 (30,000 Euro) a year? With this new house, located on an island on a point of land where every window has an ocean view, we paid $116,000 (99,000 Euro). It needs a lot of work though, which I think will be around $40,000 (34,000 Euro). The insurance company tells me the replacement value for this house is $203,000 (174,000 Euro), so that is only a gain of $87,000 (75,000 Euro), assuming I can sell the rebuilt house for that much money. It is good to stay busy, and I like carpentry, but I am not so sure the numbers are really working. Maybe I am just getting old though and tired of building new kitchens and bathrooms! I am not losing money, which is good, but it just does not seem to be a huge moneymaker for me either. I am really starting to question my life choices.

I think when it comes to the high heel height of what is acceptable to wear or not, I get the win for being the most dumb! When I first met my wife, and found out she LOVED high heels, I wanted to get some for her as a gift. At the time, about 2012'ish, there were far more choices in stores, but the clerk working there was not a whole lot of help. So when a woman was there buying shoes I asked her what would be an appropriate pair for my wife to wear to church. She helped me pick out a pair and said something I will never forget, "just remember, for heels at church you never want to go over 3.5 inches (9 CM)". My wife does have a few 10 CM's, and a very few 12 cm's, but when I buy her shoes I never go over 9 cm so she can wear them on dates as well as to church. But yes... my height standard for church was set by some literal random stranger in a store 14 years ago! Yep; that is dumb! (Edited after I found a picture of her in those first heels I ever bought for her. The lady in the post above helped me pick these shoes out. Just keep in mind this was in 2012).

This in no way relates to what many of you are seeing in scale, but I was talking with a doctor; a woman who told me she was 29 years old. When she found out where I lived, she mentioned she had been there to hike the many trails. Since I walk the 4.5 mile loop every day, we got talking about the difficulty of it, to which she said, "it's not a difficult hike. Not one I would do wearing my high heels though..." It just surprised me as she looked a bit more earth-based and yet used high heels to make a point on the trail's difficulty. In the office she was wearing high heeled knee-high boots so I guess it should not have been a surprise. I was glad to see and hear the younger generation at least has some in their closets!

I love sweater dresses as a whole. My favorite dress of my wife's is one. You would have to know us, but we banter back and forth a lot and often make these silly bets. Well, we were at the local mall and eating at the food court and beside us was a small woman's boutique. Way up high they had this sweater and so it began. I said it was a sweaterdress, and the wife said it was way too short to be a dress and was just a long sweater. So after eating we asked the clerk and sure enough I was right, it was a sweaterdress. A good clerk, her next words were, "would you like to buy it?" Sure enough, one in her size went home with us. I actually see it in several pictures now. We buy and sell a lot of property and on one such purchase, we are pictured with her wearing it. She likes it because she can tame its truncated hemline with leggings for a demure look, or go sassy and leave it short pairing it with pantyhose/tights.

I'm back. Nothing serious, I just moved to the new place and did not have internet here for awhile. I got things switched over this morning... As for your outreach... good for you and your church @mlroseplant I have always said as a Christian myself that we need to get up and get out there. When I was a kid we went to a church that was close to the local high school and the kids who had cars and drivers licenses use to park at the church every morning, and one Sunday the pastor told the congregation, "he was scared to death, but went out and invited these "bad" kids to a youth group pizza party". I am glad he did, but even 40 years later, the question has to be asked, what possibly could the pastor be scared of? Teenagers... in cars? I just wanted to scream, "they are just kids. They aren't going to break your ribs because you invited them to church". So good for you for getting out there for our youth. Thanks to recent events colleges are on fire right now! So glad to hear it.

Where I live, it is not high heels that are a problem for a lady (or a man perhaps) riding a bike, but her dress. Around here there are bikes everywhere because of the Amish who do not believe in having cars. That means both genders ride bikes, but it is not uncommon to see a poor girl or woman who has the long hem of their dress wrapped up in the sprockets and chain. A few times I have had to stop and help them get their hemlines unwound. Since they ride at night even, you quickly learn where the Amish typically tread and drive slowly.

You must use an oil heater of some sort? We do not have canal boats where I live, but we do have lobster boats and those guys use smudge pots to heat their cabins. It works I guess. as here it can get pretty cold. The coldest I have ever seen was -32 degrees (F) which is pretty darn cold if anyone considers -36 degree (c) cold! Either way, I hope you get some heat in your canal boat. We are in the same boat... but not... as the heater in our new place is not working, but I think a simple matter to get it going. The water system is not working either, which makes me more concerned. As I told the wife, this will be a lofty adventure, but should get better with each passing day.

Wow, that is crazy. Up until last Friday I worked at a large hydroelectric dam and knew the realities of being sucked into the intakes in the forebay of the dam. We NEVER wore life vests when working in that area because it was so dangerous that we wanted death to overtake us quickly! And because of freeing debris coming down river we worked there a lot! We had 2 divers get killed doing what that woman went through in some ways. It is known that all dams leak but on the front of a dam the water pressure is so great that even a hole too small for a person to pass through can kill you. The pressure sucks you up against the dam and pins you there. These divers ran out of air before they could be unpinned. There is a plaque on the headwall that forever depicts their deaths.

My wife is an attractive lady, and while older now, at the time she always wore high heels and was 30 years old. She however, has a heart condition. Just a heart murmur, but pregnant with our last child, they were concerned the extra strain of the baby would put both at risk, so she was sent to a cardiologist for examination. So she has her short skirt and over-the-knee boots on, and she has to take them off. I am sitting in a chair overlooking her, but behind her is this older doctor who gets mostly older people in his office and she is unzippering her long boots and wearing a pretty short skirt since it was early and not really showing even a baby bump yet. and oh the smile that was on his face! He definitely liked her struggling to pull off her boots!

I just found out yesterday we once had a canal system close to where I live. It was not very long, only 38 miles with 27 locks, and only ran from 1773-1850, but was built and a working canal system. I was getting the wife’s car fixed and in the waiting room was a book on hidden local history so there it was. No doubt there is a novel lurking in that wee bit of information somewhere! 🙂

We were not laughing at your expense as much as you allowed us to an example to use. But you can certainly blame me, and can only hope you accept my apology. I should have, and certainly could have; used myself for an example instead of your belly-piercing. A regretful oversight. Like me walking. I used to be a fair-weather walker for health, then one day I just decided I was going to be more committed. No matter the weather, whether a blizzard at -20 below zero (f) and blowing 20 mph, I was going walking, or 90 degrees (f) and not a bit of a breeze to cool me off. And if I didn’t, I would wear blue socks for a year. In that situation no one is going to die if I cave on my daily walking plan, nor anyone know if I wore blue socks the next day or not, but its just my way of holding myself more accountable. When I was younger, I lacked that. I am just trying to be better at follow-through. Accountability. Character. Integrity… whatever it is, this is just me trying to do what I say I will. And that really is the point here. NO ONE CARES. They don’t care if I wear or don’t wear blue socks. They don’t care if I walk everyday or not. They don’t even care if I wear polish on my toes, shave body hair or wear high heels… people are so busy with their own lives and problems at best they notice, but care… nope, they got their own lives to continue on with. It has taken me far too long to learn that, but I am now better off because of it.

We used to have this circus come to our town, which was a tiny little place with less than 1000 people. But that circus knew how to glean money from a tiny town. It was probably more wrong than right, but this circus had the acts that entertained the kids, but did so announcing acts with a lot of innuendo that talked over the kids and made the parents laugh. Then they always had a aerial performer come out wearing five inch high heeled mules who wore a costume that was 90% see-thru so little was left to the imagination of the fathers. The mothers got to watch both kids and husband smile so yes: everyone was entertained. But I liked it because it was like an 1880 circus, sitting right up front where you could see things instead of 17 miles back like in a hockey arena, and where you paid more money to see less than what this small circus allowed you to see. A circus where the woman doing the aerial act sold tickets, did the dog act with her dogs, a pony act, while the announcer and two other guys did everything else that had to be done. A true 5 person circus. But sadly they were at a small town in New Hampshire one year, a microburst exploded and the wind took the big top and flipped it over and a woman was killed. No fault of the circus company at all, but they were sued and that ended the fun little circus that used to come to town. But I am glad my kids got to see a fun little circus during their childhoods.

My wife has talked about getting some new heels... but because we are headed into winter, she wants some heeled boots. I dismissed her talk the other day, but apparently she is serious because she brought it up again. She has a favorite sweater dress that is grey, and her thoughts were, a pair of over-the-knee boots would look nice with it. Probably grey in color as well. The sweater dress kind of has a funny story to it. We were at the mall and eating at a food court when we saw it hanging high in a store beside us. My wife and I are best friends, so we banter a lot and soon that started; with her thinking it was a typical sweater and me saying it was a sweaterdress. Well we typically end up in these wagers to deduce who is right, so with dirty dishes to be done on the line, I went over and asked the clerk if it was a sweater or a sweaterdress. She said it was a VERY short sweaterdress, but was one, and if we wanted it. Needless to say it came home with us. Sometimes my wife will temper the look with a pair of legging underneath, but on some dates... she will wear it by itself even if it is very short. So she has been thinking it would look good with over-the-knee boots. Sorry to hear about your pending layoff. Where I was working, the company just sold it to another owner who has every intention of tearing the facility down. It will remain in operation for a few years, but I have no interest in riding a dying horse. Again I am sorry for your economic downfall of pending doom.

I have multiple reasons for full-body shaving, but one of them is because my wife and I were competitive swimmers. I know some ladies would probably think its odd to see a man fully shaven, but for her its not because swim teams often have "shaving parties" for swimmers just before major swim meets. She is used to seeing men completely hairless. Whether or not you actually get meaningful faster swim times I am not so convinced of. Myself, I think it will gain popularity. I just shave, but just because I am cheap and it is quick and easy. Once it's done that first time, it only takes a few minutes to keep the hair off.

I once wrote a novel where the murder weapon ended up being a stiletto heel. This husband and wife were going on a dinner date when they stopped by to pick up a check from a con artist. Things played out and realizing they were being scammed, the woman got so incensed she struck at the man connecting with his corraded artery in his neck, killing him. Well, I write fiction, but I had to wonder if this ever happened so I looked it up. You only need to ask Ana Trujillo of Texas who had stabbed her boyfriend, Dr. Andersson 25 times with her size nine, five-inch, blue suede high-heeled pump. By the time paramedics arrived it was too late to save the doctor. She was sentenced to life in prison where she now wears flip flops and not high heels... thankfully.

Was it a Honda CR-V? The wife has one, and just the way the gas pedal is, I have to turn my foot at an odd cant to push on the gas. It works, but on longer drives it really can start to pain my foot. On really long drives it causes it to cramp. And like someone else said, the modern cars, including the Honda CR-V in this country anyway, has a variable transmission, so cruise control does not work great on it at all. It can never find an idea shift point because it is not locked into a particular gear.

Oh, okay. That is very interesting. I would have never considered the unavailability of high quality, high heeled shoes at a reasonable price. It makes sense though. I am sorry that you can't find those heels and are working so many hours. I got the opposite problem: I am in between jobs and in between different houses (the movers come on Thursday) so I don't have a lot going on.

As promised here is a cropped picture of them...

To answer your question… whether it be getting a belly-button piercing or shaving a huge portion of your body, despite it not being seen by others there is a very tangible benefit… you see it. That in and of itself is self-care. But that need not be in and of itself. For instance, I shave from the neck down, which is a secret no one really knows about me. But there is more to it than just disliking body hair. I like how it makes me feel cooler in the summer, and how shaving greatly reduces body odor. It takes some time to accomplish, but a reality is, once its shaven it takes very little time to keep shaving. For me, all that is worth doing and even if no one sees that, it still has tangible benefits. I am by no means trying to convince you to get a belly-button piercing at all here, but that too can have self-care properties to it with no need to show it off. Myself personally, I have a HUGE interest in integrity, which is following through with what I say I am going to do. So for me, if I had deemed that was something I would do after obtaining a flat stomach (a lofty accomplishment by the way), I would feel less about myself for not following through with the rest of it. But that is me, and only me; I have a huge amount of self-discipline. It is called second-order thinking. If I declare to myself I am going to pierce my belly button, and then don’t, it makes it easier to not go through with further declarations down the road. No… I will do it. I might not keep it pierced, but I will do what I said I would do. But that is just me, I want to be true to myself which has an inverse action to it as well. I won't lightly make a declaration like that from the start because I will have to do what I say I will do. But I suspect men who do secretive things do so for their own well-being. Some wear panties. Some paint their toes a bright color. Some wear leggings… all manner of things that make them feel good, and not to show others. I don’t fault men who say, ‘but why not show off what you do and to heck with what others think’, and to those I have great respect. But I also understand men who like doing or wearing something no one knows about too. They don’t have a need to rebel against societal norms openly, but they are doing it only for themselves. And that's the great thing about this thread, we realize statistically a lot of men are not cookie-cutter men... and that is a VERY good thing.