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An Unprompted, Uncompensated Product Endorsement

Can we all agree that getting old sucks? You reach a certain age and you discover that things just don’t…work…as well—or at least the same way—that they’ve done all your life.

Case in point, my left hip has started complaining whenever it was forced to move in a certain direction; that direction being primarily when I cross my legs to put on my shoes. I’ve taken to slipping my shoe on while standing and then leaning over my ample belly to pull it on the rest of the way (because it never slides completely in [“That’s what she said!”] and tie my shoelaces.

A couple months ago an ad popped up on my Instagram for shoes by a company called Kizik. I hadn’t heard of the company, but their product certainly seemed to address the difficulty I was having putting on my regular sneakers. (I don’t even own dress shoes at this point; the ones I did have were all deemed unsalvageable after the fire and I haven’t had any need to replace them since.) Being an Instagram ad, I was naturally skeptical based on previous experience, but it appeared they were shipped from the US by a startup company who had a decent return policy. They were a bit pricey—over twice as much as I usually paid for sneakers—but I figured they were worth a try.

The first pair I ordered were solid black in color, something I could easily wear to work (not that it really matters since we are very casual there). They arrived, I slipped them on, and I was in Heaven.

I don’t think I’ve ever worn more comfortable shoes. After thoroughly testing them out by wearing them to work every day I was in the office for the past month, I decided I also needed another pair for weekend/WFH days. Those could be more fun. I ordered the blue ones in the picture above.

They’re just as comfortable. For the past year or so when wearing my New Balance sneakers (a brand I’ve been wearing for at least the last decade) my feet would start begging around 2 pm to have the shoes removed. Not so with the Kiziks. Yeah, the Kiziks get shed the moment I get home like all my shoes do, but damn if it’s not a treat  just getting through a workday without having to slip my shoes off mid-afternoon!

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Unintended Consequences

Also blood donations, organ donations from living donors, biopsies, circumcision, breast reduction, removing moles or skin tags…

Once again, in their rush to “own the libs” these reich-wing idiots failed to think beyond the confines of their own hate.

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Memories of My Childhood

(The tarantula and the horned toad never cooked properly.)

(My parents undoubtedly hoped the  Johnny Seven gun would butch me up. It didn’t.)

https://youtu.be/zLPm1vx-UOg

To this day I remember exactly what that stuff smelled like.

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Gas Prices

I haven’t been inconvenienced by the latest gas price hikes. At least not yet. I’m not driving that much and I’m willing to pay whatever it takes at the pump if it helps to ensure that Putin is removed from power. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people don’t have that luxury, and I fear the price increases we’re seeing are more from corporate greed (Really? In America? Say it ain’t so!) than an actual shortage of crude oil on the world market.

(I don’t have any proof of that; I’m just talking out of my ass like everyone else on the Internet.)

I haven’t had to fill up in over a week so I haven’t felt the pain directly yet. The last time I filled the tank, Premium (which Rabbit drinks) was at $4.499 a gallon. As I was driving past my usual QT this morning, however, I noticed that the price had shot up to $5.099 a gallon, which seems to be the new norm in Phoenix according to GasBuddy. That was a bit of a shock, but not unreasonable, considering my level of consumption, but I can certainly understand how that would easily bankrupt people with lower incomes who have to drive every single day. Ben—who has a 90 mile round trip commute every day—is feeling the pain much more than me, but at least his car sips only regular grade petrol.

Right now, the worst case scenario for me (at current prices) is that if I run the tank dry (which I never do), it will cost around $64 to fill it every two weeks at this current price. Even at these higher prices, that’s $32 a week, which was about what I was paying pre-pandemic when I was driving to work every day. (How that math actually works out I don’t know; it gives me a stabbing pain when I try to wrap my head around it.)

What’s going to be interesting is the week after next. We have a little road trip planned through New Mexico: 1400 miles total (more or less). With the mostly highway/street MPG I get from Rabbit and worst case scenario of $6.00/gallon (or more) gas, it’s gonna be rather pricey, but both of us need this trip and we don’t want to cancel at the last minute. I’ll cover the cost of the gas since Ben got the hotel rooms. We’ll come out about even.

It will be an interesting trip, that’s for sure!

And Fuck Putin.

 

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Notable Quotes

For people who love to boast about Trump’s cognitive tests, these people are having trouble remembering how much they loved Putin just a week ago. – Dan Rather

People are just blindly buying houses for hundreds of thousands over asking and that’s fine everything is normal and fine. – Jesse McLaren

Say “war” in Russia and face 15 years in prison. Say “gay” in Florida and see what happens. Take your trans teen across state lines from Idaho and face arrest. See a pattern? – Barbara Malmet

What the hell kinda billionaire goes around begging people money to buy a private jet??? – Covie tweet

MAGA: “Hang Mike Pence!”
Mike Pence: “I’m sure they had their reasons.” – John Collins
For Lent, I’m giving up Fundamentalist Right-Wing Christians 
who talk all about Jesus while ignoring all Jesus talked about. – John Fugelsang
We don’t have enough psychiatrists to treat all these “patriots.” – John Collins
If Russia didn’t want us involved with Ukraine they shouldn’t have involved themselves in our elections. – Tim Hannan
The Obama and Clinton foundations are fundraising to help Ukraine.
Trump is fundraising to buy himself a new plane.
American compassion vs. American greed. -7Veritas4 tweet

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