I wrote yesterday about Vibrams and why I’m not going to apply for my portion of the class-action suit against them (and why you shouldn’t either, for that matter). But I got so angry and sidetracked thinking about how dumb the whole situation is that I didn’t have the time left over to talk about why the VFFs are awesome. Nope, not just awesome, why the VFFs are my favorite shoe that isn’t a shoe.
Category: Ramble
Just writing stuff about things, and things about stuff.
The ToeBags (or, Why Vibram FiveFingers Aren’t Evil) (or, There Is No Miracle Pill)
If you’re anything of a running nerd like me, you’re probably aware that Vibram has received some dubious press of late, vis-a-vis a class-action lawsuit that went against them a few weeks back. They are one purveyor — probably the biggest — of those barefoot-style shoes, the ones that look like fancy socks. (My wife and I call them the Toe-Bags.) They’re cashing in, hard, on the minimalist trend that’s coursing through the running community like an electric shock through Frankenstein’s monster.
Apparently Vibram made some claims about things their non-shoes can do without proper science to back it up. And that’s not cool. Sorry, if you’re selling a thing, it’s not okay to tell me that your thing can turn me into the ubermensch, make me able to leap tall buildings and sharknado like that, when it does none of those things. If you’re doing that, as a company, shame on you.
However.
Vibram’s guilt in this goes only so far. Read More »
Half-Measure
The Half-Measure is that thing that you do when you know you need to do a thing, but part of you still wants to not have to do the thing, so you do what you have to but you leave the door open for still not doing the thing. It’s a nonsensical in-between space between making a commitment and wimping out.
The problem with half measures, of course, is that they intrinsically mean you didn’t do the thing that you said you were going to do. You left a kill switch on it. You didn’t really pull the trigger. You didn’t commit. You said you did, maybe you acted like you did, but you didn’t.
I’m guilty of a lot of half-measures in my life, but there comes a point when you are no longer a child and you have to leave childish things behind.
I’m not going to go into detail here about specifics. This one’s a little bit personal. Why, then, post about it at all? Because I want it on the record, I want some accountability, I need to purge it. And yeah, I know, it’s a little bit narcissistic and infuriating for a reader of the blog to stumble on this and not be treated to the juicy details. And yeah, I’ve been known to scorn that sort of thing in the past, and I probably will in the future. But I’m not taking this to Twitter or facebook, I’m not seeking comments and ego-stroking, I’m not looking for vindication or sympathy. Lately, at the very least, Writing makes it real, and I need this to be crystal clear to myself. This blarg is where I purge the thoughts that are clogging the old melon, and this particular clog is one that needs to go.
No more half-measures.
Apologies for the detour. Regularly scheduled programming will resume.
Why Does It Have To Be Said? (Look After Your Kid, for God’s Sakes)
You don’t go to an auto mechanic and then ask them to repair your back porch. You don’t hire an interior decorator and then ask them to write your dissertation. You don’t hire an exterminator and ask him to bake you a pie. So why do people think that every place they go is in the childcare business?
The Minivan Effect
There was a great episode of House, MD wherein Greg House was opining that people’s treatment of an individual lies flatly on a sliding scale related to the empathy they feel for that person. More specifically, that because he walks with a cane, he can get away with being an enormous asgard-hole and never catch crap for it. He then goes on to (deliberately) crush a woman’s toe with his cane and beams a smile at his friend, Wilson, as she apologizes to him for being in his way. Great moment, great show, at least in the early seasons (ah, television shows, why do you ever make your late seasons? Stop early before it turns to sharknado). In fact, I could go on and on about the reasons that show was tops on my list while it was on the air, and that’s even without pointing out that the entire show is inspired by Sherlock Holmes, one of the greatest fictional characters in existence.
But anyway. As usual, House was right. And not just about Lupus. (It’s never Lupus.) If people feel sorry for you, they’re much less likely to dump on you. Now, me being a heteronormative white male living on privileged white male island, what could I know about people feeling sorry for me?
I drive a minivan.Read More »
Accidentally Inspired 