Return of Chuck

For the first time in a long time, I bought a new pair of shoes. It’s one I’ve been missing in the rotation for a while: a basic pair of Converse Chuck Taylor low top, black and white. This used to be my go-to shoe until I converted to lightweight running shoe just like everybody else. Athleisure is ruling out world! Do people even wear actual pants anymore? We all have a pair of Allbirds, don’t we?

The problem with my pair of Allbrids is the wool construction exacerbates my sweaty feet. Taking them off at the end of a work day is kind of a yucky situation. I would spray Lysol into my pair after each use like a shoe rental at a bowling alley. I’m sure the synthetic version of Allbirds is better, but as we know, Allbirds are not cheap. It was time to go back to something old and classic.

Enter the Chuck Taylor. Surprisingly, Amazon does not ship and sell these Converse shoes from its own warehouse. Plenty of third-party merchants, however. Seeing this, I decided to go directly to the source: converse.com. The official website ended up being the least expensive as well. Win.

When did Chuck Taylor gain cushioned insoles? This was a pleasant surprise the first time I slipped the new pair on. My old pair definitely have the typically hard and flat insole - you didn’t buy Chuck Taylor for orthopedic benefits. This is great because I plan to wear these shoes often, and the orthopedic benefit is a nice bonus for my old-man feet.

Does anyone know how to recycle old shoes? Seems a bit odd to just throw them into regular garbage.

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The tongue can never stay straight.

Eating indoors

The verdict is in: you should definitely go one size up on the Allbirds Wool Runners shoe. After buying a pair in my typical size 9 and finding them surprisingly restrictive, a size 10 pair got delivered today. I am happy to say they fit perfectly, and finally I have a pair of Allbirds that is as comfortable as everyone raves about.

I am looking forward to breaking them in at work tomorrow.

It seems I am going to be doing lots more walking on the weekends as well. Last week, San Francisco entered the least restrictive yellow tier of California’s COVID-19 lockdown measures. This means, amongst other things, bars are allowed to open, and indoor dining increase in additional capacity. We can finally frequent our favorite bars and restaurants once more without too much hassle.

I am going to be doing a lot of that.

Obviously, one still have to be masked when indoors, which is quite interesting when it comes to eating at a restaurant. What I do is: I remain masked while sitting at the table until first of the food and or beverages arrive. Then it is mask off for the duration until the check is signed off and I am ready to leave. It makes no sense to keep putting the mask off and on in between bites or sips. Also, not very sanitary.

To be honest, being fully vaccinated with the best vaccine available - Pfizer - I really don’t care to wear a mask at all. The worst I’ll experience from COVID now is just a mild flu. It’s because of the rules in place that I even wear one, such as heading indoors in public spaces, or visiting a place of commerce. I would be perfectly fine with going maskless and live life as I did before the pandemic. Isn’t that the point of vaccination?

I think we’ll all get there soon enough. San Francisco is doing great: half of all eligible people are fully vaccinated. We are back, baby!

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Brick building.

Size up on Allbirds

I finally bought a pair of Allbirds Wool Runners that everyone else have been raving about for years. They are not inexpensive at about $115, but my pair of Nike Roche 2 have finally worn down, so the time was right to finally try the Allbirds. If they last as long as the Roche did (about five years of wear), then the over hundred dollar entry fee isn’t so onerous.

As standard, I purchased a pair in size 9. Shipping is of course free, and I received the shoes in about three days. On first impression, the Wool Runners wear a bit tight: my big toe is jammed right on the cap, and my heel is right up again the back. I figured the Allbirds may need some breaking in, and what better way to do so than a 10 hour trip to and from Fresno, California. In 90 degree heat.

Turns out the answer is no: the Allbirds do not break-in with wear. The pair remain as tight as it were out of the box yesterday when I wore it to work. I definitely need to exchange them for a larger size. Thankfully, Allbirds provide a 30-day return policy, no questions asked. Even if you’ve taken your pair of Allbirds on a hike to the ends of the earth, the company will still give you a full refund. No wonder the price for a pair is so relatively high: we’re all paying for the generous return policy!

Well, I very much like to keep a pair of Allbirds that fit, so back goes the size 9 and incoming is a size 10. I would have chosen a size 9.5, but like Converse with its Chuck Taylor shoes, Allbirds doesn’t do half sizes. I sure hope the size 10 Wool Runners won’t be too large, the opposite problem from the size 9.

Obviously, all of this may be idiosyncratic to my situation. I anecdotally know people with Allbirds that fit them fine in their usual shoe size. Nevertheless, the shoes are made of thick wool, so perhaps sizing up to begin with wouldn’t be a bad strategy. Either way, exchanges are free - they pay shipping - for 30 days.

I’ll let you know how the size 10 fits once it arrives.

Middle California.