The Aerie
Yet another non-phenomenally-productive day. But I got two nice pairs
of shoes out of it!
After suffering from profound exhaustion yesterday I just slept in
today, waking at 9:00 feeling like I could have slept a couple hours
more. I think giving blood at 7:00 a.m. and then going nonstop until
midnight was probably something I could have done 15 years ago, but
maybe not anymore.
Anyway, my wife had reserved some Friday time in order that we get new
shoes, so I already knew that was on the menu. Then when she suggested
going to [1]Al's Breakfast first, well, what could I do but
capitulate? Grina was behind the grill and I had a New Orleans omelete
for the first time, and it was terrific.
After that we headed off to Duggan's Shoes in St. Paul. For years I
purchased a new pair of shoes every year at Target for about $15.
Sometimes I got a good pair, most of the time I got a crummy pair, and
it was all luck. I have a lot to do, and becoming a shoe expert wasn't
going to be one of those things.
Then my spouse prevailed upon me to visit Duggan's. Proprietor Ultan
Duggan is one of those crazed specialists who knows more than almost
anyone about shoes. The difference was phenomenal: I bought a pair of
sneakers that fit instantly, and that lasted for about five years. In
fact, I'm still wearing them, they just look a bit ragged these days.
Well, my sneakers are ragged and my dress shoes, well, I can't
complain. They're a pair that I bought five years ago at Payless for
$10. They fit and they work and for $10 I can't complain. But in
addition to desperately needing a polishing (at $10 a pair I'd rather
buy a new set than polish the one's I've got), the soles have been
worn to paper thinness over time. So it was time for new dress shoes.
His shop is reminiscent of Ollivander's in the first Harry Potter
film: shabby but comfortable, scattered with shoes and shoeboxes, and
tended by a white-haired proprietor who remembers every item he ever
sold. I tried on the new sneakers first: he keeps your records on
file, so he immediately brought the right pair of replacement
sneakers. Then he brought out some dress shoes. The first pair felt
too big and clunky with no arch support. Then he brought out the
second pair. When he slipped them on my feet it was like the scene
where Harry picks up the proper wand. They felt like they'd been
specially made just for me. I didn't want to take them off.
So we walked out of there a couple hundred dollars lighter, but
extremely well shod.
This morning was an example of the advantages of living in one place
for a long time. After a couple of decades, you know where all the
best things are. In this case the best breakfast in town, and later
the best shoes in town.
Back home once again I tended to a little business, and then undertook
the arduous task of cleaning up my office. Part of that is to get my
desktop PC rebuilt. Oh joy, what fun that is. My current machine has a
full 5G hard drive, and a full 10G hard drive. I bought a 30G
replacement drive. My idea was to put the OS on the old 10G drive, and
use the 30G as a data store. But I couldn't get the 10G drive to
consent to be a boot drive. So instead I've switched it around, and
the OS is going on the 30G drive, and the data store on the 10G.
Much too much detail, I know, but it serves to explain where my time
gets wasted: booting, rebooting, switching jumpers on hard drives,
plugging in cables, screwing brackets onto drives, etc. Next thing
there goes the afternoon.
And that will likely be the activity of the weekend. First cleaning
the office, then advancing an application security assessment that's
coming due, and then when I have a moment work on rewriting my
role-playing book.
Haven't gotten to the gym today yet, plan on going tonight. So that's
it for this five of five week. This five-entries-in-five-days
experiment has been useful in helping me track the progress of the
week. Hopefully practice will make perfect and maybe I can make this a
habit...
[2]Last
Posted by Albatross at January 31, 2003 12:00 AM