2009 Sep 28: Nice Boots!

So the work challenge is over, and it's back to trying to pass for normal. In the process of writing about my shoes, I've realized I have a lot more to say. I barely scratched the surface with those 18 posts because as casual as casual may get, I own a panoply of shoes and boots that are simply inappropriate for work. Well, unless your job is SWAT team member, or special forces. Otherwise, the boots pictured here are pretty much only appropriate for gay bars on the wrong side of town that make you stop in your tracks until your eyes can adjust to the dim light. Places too dark to see what's happening in the corners. Places where you want vibram outsoles and thick buffalo-hide between what's crawling around on the floor, and also, to protect you from germs. Places your mom, no matter how cool she is with you being gay, definitely wouldn't want you frequenting. Places that I would know absolutely nothing about...

For the record, I don't own the boots pictured here, I swiped it from a website picture of a particular pair of boots that I have been lusting after for gosh, probably ten years. It's the price that's prohibitive, I simply can't justify the cost, because I am not, in fact, a SWAT team member and 200 smackers is a lot of money for boots that won't get much use (alas...)

Which brings me tolast night.

Last night I was attending a life drawing open studio I try to make regularly, but have been missing for a lot of reasons, some lamer than others. At the end of the session, I was messing with my paper out in the lobby, cursing myself for having brought the wrong stuff, thinking I had the good watercolor paper but instead had grabbed the colored drawing paper, and in my self-chastising interlude I missed the model setting up his pose for the last half-hour session. Upon re-entering the studio, my dick takes one look at the model and announces "NICE boots!" I really do wish it'd check with my brain for social appropriateness before speaking, although I suppose the alternative, raising its hand for permission, might have been even more embarrassing.

2009 Sep 02: shoes every now and then

So, I took a couple days off the end of last week, and Monday was supposed to be the last day of our "relaxed dress" extravaganza at work, but it's been extended until the 14th of September, so I have more time to explore my collection.

This latest extension of "relaxed dress" makes me wonder if the powers high up are not contemplating permanently relaxing the dress code here. Face it, most of us grind at a desk all day and never ever meet the public. For me, that would be a mixed blessing. I own a lot of clothes (and shoes) I won't need to wear ever again unless I have to present before some governing body and that's not likely. On the other hand, I don't own a lot of clothes that actually fit anymore, and not needing to buy new dress pants would save me hundreds of dollars, especially if you count in the dry-cleaning costs, which I must, because I'm fussy. If you're going to do it, do it right. I don't iron, and dress pants look like crap after two passes through the washer, unless you buy cheap double-knit polyester from K-mart, in which case they look like crap before you put them in the washer. On the other hand, they don't look any worse after you wash them... but that's not a win in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I snub my nose at no-one who shops at these places for honest economic reasons. (Although I will add as an aside, my extremely "frugal" sister won't shop at WalMart because she finds their business practices unethical and reprehensible, and she falls quite far to the right of middle, no less.) That's the real kicker about civil service, they pay you crap AND demand that you dress formally, which for people with families, means you are forced to shop at K-Mart for you dresses, ties, dress shirts, shoes, if you intend to both feed and clothe your family. Contrary to the ideas of the people who made these rules, your outfit doesn't say "white collar professional" but instead screams "underpaid government worker".

But I digress.

Back to the shoes thing, these are my favorite "every day" boots. Some off-brand I found really cheap on ebay, the style really grabbed me, kind of old-timey, reminiscent of depression-era working class shoes. I could be an extra in "O Brother Where Art Thou?" with these babies on my pups. I replaced the leather insoles with some good quality Dr. Scholl's and they're very comfy. I love the height, they're high enough to be boots and give a little ankle support, but low enough they don't attack my achilles tendon. As stiff as they are, they don't rub anywhere and my feet don't hurt after a day of stomping around. They're truly odd boots though, they have leather outsoles with rubber treads glued on. You don't find real leather soles much anymore, especially not on cheap boots. And trust me, they are cheap boots, the leather is clearly from the rear end of some poor expired buffalo in some depressed part of the world, my guess would be former soviet union or South Asia somewhere. But they're just so darn stylish, who cares if they're not heirloom quality? Nothing is forever.

2009 Aug 26: Kelly Hiking Boots

Are these not the most amazing hiking boots you've ever seen in your life and don't you wish you had a pair? Apparently not, because I snatched them for $15 on clearance.

These are really amazingly well made hiking boots, men's size 8m, sturdy leather, comfortable fit, padded in all the places they're supposed to be to not chafe when one is... what, hiking up the side of a mountain? In these shoes? I don't think so! But perhaps some of those early expeditions to the South Pole would have been more successful, if they'd had a pair of these babies to light their way through a blizzard. The black rubber on the sides is in fact emblazoned with the inspirational message "Dream It. Be It." How can you not love shoes that are stylish, functional, and inspirational?!. The brand is "First Down" and I've never seen them before or since.

Bonus points for the reader: Can you tell the city in which I work? Big hint: notice the tower between my feet.