Its That Time Again

On Saturday the wife had a lunch date with a friend.  She brought the daughter along so that left the son and I with the afternoon free.  I wanted to shop for (2) things in particular: a basketball arcade game for our second garage and some new shoes.  I will leave the basketball game for a (possible) future blog but I did accomplish both of my goals for the day.

Shoe shopping for me means going to Shoe Carnival.  This store is great for me for (2) basic reasons.  First, the prices are pretty good and second, there are no pesky shoe salesman to offer their help or whose assistance is required to fetch your size from the back room.  No sir, you can just wander around and take your time with no salesman pressure.

When it comes to tennis shoes I like them black and with no visible logos.  Black shoes do not get as dirty (or do not look as dirty) as other colors.  As for logos, I do not like to wear clothes with visible logos as I do not think of myself as a free advertising billboard for apparel companies.  I even took off the dealer logos from my Buick.  Why should I advertise for them?  They ain’t paying me!

Shopping at Shoe Carnival is a little different for me than most shoppers.  Instead of looking at the displayed shoes until I find a model that I like, I usually just look at all the boxes until I see my size and then and only then do I look at the style to see if it meets my criteria.  It is easier this way as not all the shoes have my size available and I do not like to be anxious when I see a shoe I like only to be disappointed when they do not have my size available.  I have used this technique for the last (20) years or so.

The last (3) years though I have been extremely fortunate to find very quickly some shoes that are both in my size and meet my criteria of being black with no logo.  In fact, the store here in Kokomo has had the exact same model of shoe available each year.  The wife cannot understand why I would do this odd thing (to buy the same shoe, year after year after year).  I tried to explain it to her but I was unconvincing to her.  Despite a look of disdain from the wife (and now this year as a bonus, the daughter) I am happy that I bought this model again and have “graduated” my current pair.

Each year when I buy new tennis shoes, the old pair becomes my “mowing” shoes.  These are the shoes I wear when mowing the yard throughout the summer and fall months.  I also graduate last year’s mowing shoes to the trash bin.  I was able to get all three generations together for a photo though…

(From left to right, old mowing shoes, old shoes / new mowing shoes, new shoes)

I was also fortunate to find a pair of dress shoes that were 2/3 off and were very comfortable (I did look for the same model of dress shoes that I have now but they were no where to be found).  So I am mixing it up a little with my plain, brown dress shoes for work.  The wife will have to be satisfied with that.

Jon