This quick note is to inform you that while I'm working on a spreadsheet and listening to a Lileks Diner Podcast, I am stunned to note that he is going on about eye-contact etiquette in men's restrooms.
Aren't you excited by this?
Is he reading me?
(Nah . . . it's a universal topic, don'tcha' know.)
But I can dream!
*****
On a completely unrelated tack--
When should a guy replace a pair of shoes?
When the sole is flapping with each step; when the sole is beginning to separate from the upper; when the sole is beginning to thin but hasn't quite gone all the way through; or when they are simply looking tired and old and in need of replacement?
I ask because, naturally, one of my pairs of shoes is a combination of the last two choices. They are old (about two years old, but I don't have lots of shoes, so they've had plenty of use). But, the soles are still attached and no holes have developed.
Two digressions about shoes:
1. My brother Muleskinner once sewed his soles back on a particularly old and, I suppose, memorable pair of shoes. But Muleskinner has always had a bit of frontiersman about him.
2. I once heard/read (?) that Alan Alda wore the same pair of combat boots throughout all eleven years of M*A*S*H's television run. The story goes that he got the shoes from a soldier that served in Vietnam and always wanted to use them, holes and mud and stink and all, to give himself a connection to the hardships of the solder. I don't know if it's true, but it ought to be true.
So . . . when should I replace these shoes? I've been waiting for a good reason for several months now. But, until structural damage occurs, I haven't been able to justify the expense. Is it putting out a hoboish vibe around the department? Are people viewing me differently, judging me by my shoddy footwear? Am I the only one that actually pays attention to shoes? Do I have a foot fetish?
(Nope . . . not answering that one.)
1 comment:
I'm with Jack on this one. My campaign slogan/personal mantra is 'Hang Onto Your Shoes!' Like a velvetten rabbit for each foot, they get more real every time you wear them. Repair them when holes or other signs of wear and tear pose a danger to life and limb, and keep that strange man Dr. Shoe on State Street in business.
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