{"id":266,"date":"2022-02-21T12:39:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lettersforzerrius.com\/?p=266"},"modified":"2022-02-21T12:39:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:39:07","slug":"about-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/2022\/02\/21\/about-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"About Shoes\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As BestCommentor[1]<\/sup><\/a> so kindly pointed out after my last post, I have a long, complicated history with shoes[2]<\/sup><\/a>. I gave you two conflicting requirements in the last missive, but BC is right the requirements capture process was much more complicated and requirements have evolved over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not the only one who thinks about shoes. Apparently, Terry Pratchett did as well[3]<\/sup><\/a>. Shoes have a function to keep our feet safe and our bodies healthy, but the societal implications of shoes are sometimes in direct conflict of their main purpose[4]<\/sup><\/a>. And now, after 50 some odd years, I find myself left with the two Most Import Requirements in my world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Comfort<\/li>
  2. Looks<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I suppose they all come down to those two, although it was rightly pointed out it took a long time to do a reduction to those two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A List of All the Ways Shoes Can Fail You<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    1. They don\u2019t keep your feet dry[5]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/li>
    2. They don\u2019t protect you from something landing on your feet.<\/li>
    3. They don\u2019t support your arches[6]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/li>
    4. They don\u2019t protect the bottom of your feet from getting cuts.<\/li>
    5. The shoes attack your feet[7]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Situational Functional Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      When we consider the requirement of shoes to keep our feet safe and our bodies healthy, we need to unpack that a little bit. Not all situations require the same requirements. Sometimes, as part of my job[8]<\/sup><\/a>, we go on or through a manufacturing floor. When we do this, the situational functional requirements are at cross purposes. On the one hand, I am still supposed to be in business dress. On the other hand, I need closed toed shoes[9]<\/sup><\/a>. On more than one occasion I have worn dress shoes that cover my toes in some way.[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The frustrating part about making that compromise is that I KNOW that my dress shoes are not meeting the intent of the requirement. On a manufacturing floor, you need protection from some things that could happen in what is not a safe environment. In truth, I ignore this and move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      So, and yes this is my own fault, I have found myself in situations where I know the shoes I needed to have, and I didn\u2019t have those shoes with me. I probably had something close at home. In these situations, I tell myself I can buy what I need if I REALLY need it[11]<\/sup><\/a>, but I almost never do. Why? Inherently, I am cheap[12]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      But there are other situations where there are different requirements. For example, if I am going to be walking a long way, I need to consider blisters. I have had some horrible blisters on my feet over the past 5 decades[13]<\/sup><\/a>. At the same time, I love to walk[14]<\/sup><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A Word on Socks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      I don\u2019t know if socks have gotten better over the years, if sock producers have returned to a more traditional method of making socks, or if I have become resigned to buying socks that are a bit pricy. The end result is I now wear socks. I didn\u2019t used to. For pretty much half my life I avoided socks[15]<\/sup><\/a>. This made my feet quite smelly[16]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In the past few years, I have been successful in finding socks I like, but they are few and far between[17]<\/sup><\/a>. I tend to buy a lot of a style I like and helps me avoid blisters without looking too crazy with my outfit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What this LfZ Has Taught Me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      When I saw BC\u2019s comment on my last letter, I laughed really hard and wanted to explain the story of Toulouse and Iceland and a missed connection and walking through France in socks and ending up with only sandals to get home while in Reykjavik in a snowstorm but going walking at 4am through the streets of the capital of Iceland anyway. Instead, as I wrote it, I discovered that my problems with shoes are a metaphor for my challenges balancing external expectations with internal desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      But that\u2019s another letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      [1]<\/sup><\/a> Now known as BC. That ok JC?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [2]<\/sup><\/a> Or perhaps I should say, I have a long history of complaining about shoes in a complicated way and BC was there for more than one of those events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [3]<\/sup><\/a> https:\/\/moneywise.com\/managing-money\/budgeting\/boots-theory-of-socioeconomic-unfairness<\/a> shows up in my google news feed from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [4]<\/sup><\/a> The socioeconomic implications in the article speak for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [5]<\/sup><\/a> My sweaty feet do not help with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [6]<\/sup><\/a> I have very high arches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [7]<\/sup><\/a> I am sure there are more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [8]<\/sup><\/a> Which requires business office type clothes a lot of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [9]<\/sup><\/a> I hate almost all pairs of closed toed shoes. My feet sweat. A lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [10]<\/sup><\/a> And I hated those shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [11]<\/sup><\/a> I once went on a 72-hour road trip with one change of clothes saying I would buy something while we were in Chicago. That did not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [12]<\/sup><\/a> To be honest, I tend to pack too much when traveling anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [13]<\/sup><\/a> I once got a blister on the arch of my foot because I was wearing something to protect my arch. And it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [14]<\/sup><\/a> Walking causes blisters depending on the walk, the shoes, and the feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [15]<\/sup><\/a> But I would give in to the requirement to wear panty hose\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [16]<\/sup><\/a> Again with the sweaty feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      [17]<\/sup><\/a> It is not always the most expensive socks that make the most comfortable socks. I guess that is true for shoes too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As BestCommentor[1] so kindly pointed out after my last post, I have a long, complicated history with shoes[2]. I gave you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynamic.lettersforzerrius.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}