Step It Up - An Open Letter to Bob's (Sketchers)

Dear Bob's Slippers,

When I was a kid, one of the "big ticket" items we'd get in our stockings at Christmas was Totes Socks. I loved getting them. I loved the non-stick bumpy bits at the bottom, preferring a speedbump or zigzag pattern over a Botts Dots one. As much as I loved receiving them, I only loved wearing them once or twice. After that, the original comfy cushion and fuzz is dulled, and all the socks do is make my feet hot. Sure I'd bring them out and wear them on cold nights, but when I woke up in the morning, I was no longer wearing them. I would take them off in my sleep and forget about them, only to rediscover them when I changed my sheets and saw a week's worth of mismatched socks and totes under the sheets.  It still holds true to today; I go to bed with socks on, take them off in my sleep, then wake up barefoot, none the wiser until I change my sheets and find half a dozen mismatched socks.

Not unlike this Earth over the last billion years (give or take), I am not above evolving. This pandemic has changed me. No, I haven't spent all my money on Totes, but I have been spending time with its cousin, the slipper. My thinking and my experiences changed when I embraced the slipper. Because of the slipper, I no longer have errant socks milling about at the foot of my bed under the covers. 

It started a few Christmases ago. Captain Awesome wanted a pair of slippers. I got him some but they sent the wrong size. In my laziness to return them, I decided I would like to keep them and wear them. And wear them I did, into the ground. I wore them so much they turned into but a shell of what a slipper should be. They lasted almost 2 years. 

When they wore out, I bought a pair at Walgreens. They were awesome the first time I wore them, but after about a week of wear, they were no longer comfortable. The squishy had gone away and the fuzzy became scratchy. 

I gave up slipper wearing and went back to my former sock-wearing behavior. 

Then the SIP order came. 

I dug out my failed Christmas gift slippers, quickly realized I should have just thrown them away (so I did). I got out my Walgreens slippers, wore them for a day and realized they weren't going to cut it. I went to Amazon and found some Bob's Slippers by Sketchers. I thought hey, I have Bob's shoes that I bought at Costco on a whim, and they turned out to be really comfy shoes, why don't I give their slippers a try?

Try I did. They were awesome. They stayed awesome from March until this week. This week they officially turned to the uncomfy and on the crunchy side. I have to admit, I did throw them through the wash once a few months ago. Captain Awesome and I were house-sitting for some friends. Knowing I would want to wear slippers at their house, I threw my trusty Bob slippers in the washer and dryer so I could wear "fresh" slippers at their place and not track in any germs from my house or outside. They came out a little shrunken, but stretched out easy enough after a few hours of wear. 

With this pandemic and everyone needing to stay home more, my guess is that slipper wearing is on the rise. And with all that slipper wearing, there is the accelerated slipper wearing-out-ing. Our need for slippers is exceeding the life of the slipper. 

Oh Bob's, comfy slipper maker extraordinaire, slippers aren't just for after work anymore, they are for work. America's slipper needs are changing. We need a more durable slipper. Please help. 

Thank you,

Andrea

P.S. I am not a crackpot

Call Me When You Have No Class

Been watching my share of TV lately. The TV is on more than it is off these days. I've been on a "movie I've seen a bajillion times" kick. I watched Moonstruck, Silence of the Lambs, That Darn Cat, Demolition Man, About a Boy, to name a few, some more embarrassing than the others. 

Anywhoozle, today I watched Back To School. I made my 12yo son watch it with me. It was fun to point out Johnny from Cobra Kai, Dax from DS9, and the best one, Iron Man. "That's not Tony Stark," he insisted. 

When we got to the part were Thornton throws a party and Oingo Boingo is playing, I remembered the following three things:

#1 - When I was 18, the keyboard player (Mike Bacich) used to play in the house-band at The Reef, a restaurant I worked at in Long Beach. They played songs like "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," "You Send Me," "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll."

# 2 - In the 11th grade I spent a few months in Junior Achievement and the product we made was 45rpm records turned into a clock. I had to make clocks using the 45s of the Dead Man's Party single.

#3 - When I was in 10th grade, I (along with all the other students at my high school, and all the surrounding high schools) spent a good month filling out and sending postcards to local radio station KIIS FM so Oingo Boingo would play a live show at our school. Whichever school sent in the most postcards got a free show. We spent entire class periods filling addressing post cards.  We lost. A school in Fountain Valley won. They sent 1/2 a million post cards to the radio station and they won.  And if I'm doing my math half right, they kicked ass. 4 million cards were sent in, and Fountain Valley High School sent in 500,000 cards. That's 12%. 12% of the cards sent in were from one school. When I was 20 and doing school stuff in Cambridge England, I met a girl who told me it was her high school who won. "Oh, you're from Southern California?" she said.  "Me too. My high school won the Oingo Boingo contest." Through today's lens, I think what a weird thing it was for her to say in the first minute of us meeting, but it must not have been because I distinctly remember being a little bit jealous of her. Still am. 

On Food Security

 

When Pua was about 3 years old I was fresh from filing for divorce and in its initial aftermath of all that horrible-ness, I lost my job and subsequently, spent FOR FREAKING EVER trying to find a new job over the next two years. Every Friday we would go to the playground. There was a pop-up food bank. While Pua insisted on climbing the structures way higher than she was able to get down from on her own, I would watch the food distribution line that was happening across the quad. There was a pop up tent, a few bags on tables, and a lady with a clip board. The people in line were mostly seniors. I never took advantage of this food bank. I thought that although the free fruits and vegetables wouldn't go uneaten or unappreciated in my home, there were certainly people who needed it more than I did.  I felt a bit weird about it. Shortly thereafter, I did find it hard to provide for my family and I did find it hard to feed them. I realized that although there were people worse off than me, I needed help with securing food. I started going to food banks and I got myself a SNAP card. Let me tell you, that was the very best decision to make for my kids and me. With all the worries I was facing, having food for my kids was a worry I no longer hand to endure. Food Stamps and Food Pantries saved me.

Of course I found myself back on my feet, full time job and all, and I stopped going to the food pantry and when it came time to reapply for SNAP, I let my enrollment lapse. I no longer needed food stamps to feed my kids.

Fast forward a few years later to today, I find myself again without a job, this time during a pandemic. I find myself once again on unemployment and using EBT.  (and to top it off, I'm also on MediCal) I visit the SF/Marin Food Bank pick up site near me once a week and I pick up school lunches for the week from SFUSD. More than a few times I got a food bag from a friend of mine. (Another post for another time about how this friend showed my kids and me immeasurable kindness. She truly was/is an angel.) I have to say that as much as I'd rather be working and paying my own way, I'm not at all ashamed for using these valuable resources. It's not wrong to accept help when offered. It's not wrong to ask for help when needed. Unemployment in no way covers anyone's average living expenses. In providing a resource for food, EBT, the food bank, a friend's kindness all fill a needed gap and keep at least one worry at bay. 

The point I'm trying to make is that regular hard working people fall on irregular hard times. It's OK and there is no shame in accepting help, be it from the government or your friends. 

There is help out there. 

Take it.