As a teacher, I've been standing on a tile floor for 24 years. In the last two years I've begun having rather serious foot problems, and I've been experimenting with a variety of footwear and insoles. The single most important thing for me is that I must have a shoe with a strong arch support. Seriously, my arch support makes more difference to me than all the therapy exercises from my podiatrist. As long as I have that, I come home at the end of the day FINE -- I don't even remember that I have foot problems. Let me wear the same pair of shoes without my $15 insoles, and the pain begins by the end of first period -- and by the end of the school day I want nothing but to sit on the sofa for the rest of the day. No, no, make that I can do nothing but sit on the sofa for the rest of the day, and it seems that once I reach a certain point of no return, I'm "done for the day"; I'm just not going to get better that day. So, yes, that little 3/4 -1" of arch support makes all the difference in my day. It's not about cushioning, and it doesn't even cover the entirety of my foot bed. But I'm talking about work days when I'm standing on tile all day. When I'm home during the summer or on a weekend, I am usually barefoot (or occasionally in socks). On those days, my foot pain ranges from 0 - 1. Practically nothing. On days when I'm home but on my feet all day -- say, a day when I have a couple bushels of apples, and I'm making /canning applesauce -- my pain might reach a 2. After a long day of shopping and walking on tile/concrete floors, I am usually a 1-2 on the pain scale by the end of the day, which I deem acceptable. On the other hand, I can hike outside all day without any pain. Key point: Except for my bathrooms, I have no tile floors in my house. Though I would prefer tile floors in my kitchen, I currently have linoleum ... and in my future house I will have either linoleum or LVT. So, yes, I really do believe that that thin bit of vinyl makes a difference. As for flip-flops, details matter. The single BEST pair of shoes I have -- best in terms of my going through the day pain-free -- are a pair of Sketchers flip-flops. Obviously, this will vary depending from person to person, but that pair of sandals works well for me because the footbed "cradles" my foot, they have wide substantial straps, and they have a great arch support. (I only wish they weren't so very ugly.) You can find several brands of shoes specifically made for people with foot problems (I love my new red leather Jambu slip-ons), and you can find plenty of flip-flops or sandals -- though they're $90-120 a pair, and they're not as cute as the ones at the mall.

She was too hard, too cynical for my taste, and always "on", if this is what she really believed, she was not a happy woman - Maybe there was a real person hidden somewhere that she kept under cover.

OK, I found out today that those marked sidewalks are for joggers. Anyone can walk on them of course, but they are to encourage joggers to not run on the road, and regular pedestrians usually prefer leaving the marked sidewalks for the joggers. But the random appearance of which stretches of sidewalks have them, is still odd.

To get pants that fit me the way I want, I make them myself, although I haven't bothered to do that lately, as I am less concerned with fit these days. Around 1992 I made some jeans-like pants out of some black and white cow print fabric that fit me very well. I did not put rear pockets on them because I never put anything in those pockets, but of course I did put front pockets on them. I still have them, but they don't fit anymore 😞. The only "pants" I'm making these days are swim trunks. I will say that I may have gotten too much attention when I wore my cow print pants. Judy Tenuta pulled me on stage with her to ridicule me when I went to see her at an AIDS benefit at the PDC in West Hollywood. I was also wearing a Cuban/Brazilian style white shirt with ruffled sleeves, a clear plastic vest, and red Doc Marten shoes, which I still have. She told the audience that I looked like I was ready to spawn, but I think that is one of her stock lines. Later, people in the PDC thought that I had been in the Cabana Boy skit (before Judy came on) and told me that they liked my act. Kevin likes pants that have a certain percentage of Lycra, but I've not worn pants like that. I've never liked skinny leg jeans - they look especially bad on people who have large hips or butts, as they make that part of the body look even bigger and more out of proportion IMO. And if someone is very small, they make them look even smaller and twiggy. Martha Teichner is a good example of why yoga pants or tights should not be worn as street clothes, and most certainly not on a news show. Of course she makes them look worse than anyone else I've seen.