Particularly new shoes. Does anyone else find them a pain to break in?

I have trouble finding shoes to begin with. Okay, maybe I'm a little picky but if you had feet that were a size 11-12 in men's (roughly 12-14 in women's) wouldn't you be? My issue isn't so much that size but width. My feet are WIDE. I have had roughly the same size since 5th grade and I'm 22 right now. I don't see a point in paying $50+ for a pair of shoes and I don't like having more than 3-4 pairs around the house.
1) dress shoes I can wear for work or special.
2) tennis/walking shoes just regular shoes for things
3) boots if I need to go into the woods or need the extra support
4) slippers I can wear in the house when my feet get cold.

Finding boots is easy. Slippers too. But finding dress shoes or even regular shoes is really hard for me. I know I'm kind of whining here but eh.

I found a pair of nice dress shoes at a store near my boyfriend's place and I love them. They're just not the best for work. I did get them. Didn't have a problem. Bought a pair of regular shoes and had to go size 12 for the width. Now, my feet feel huge an walking can get awkward. Bought them Monday and trying to break them in. The tongues are small and feel like they're stabbing me at times and the backs, I'm worried, might rub my ankles raw. Let's hope not. I would like this pair to be great.

Best shoes I've found have been the converse I wore for a few years. Wore them to death just about. They couldn't keep water out and I rather like feeling my feet.

What's your shoe problem?

As I've gotten older there are a few things I realize on what seems to be a regular basis.

There are many things that one can fear in life and everyone fears something. Maybe not everyone has a phobia, but everyone does fear at least one thing.

A cousin of mine was in a car wreck recently. He will be fine but he has a long road to recovery ahead of him. While driving out to my boyfriend's place today I saw the usual crosses at the side of the road. In a half hour of driving I can point of where two spots are that have crosses. One spot along a country road and another along a highway. In one of those spots I think there are three crosses. It hit me today how easily my cousin could have been nothing more than something like a cross on the ground and how easily I could get in a wreck.

Why does this hit me? I am 22 years old and have been driving since 2007. The cousin who was in the wreck? 6 months older than me.

Do not let experience tell you you won't get hurt or in a wreck. Always be careful. Please. We all have something worth living for.

~Heather/Razor

A few weeks ago I was at work doing some research to help a patron and well... The subject was netbooks and while reading articles I found one about how "bad" netbooks are. When reading the article I got a little frustrated because it sounded like the writer only spent MAYBE 15 minutes to 30 minutes playing with the keyboard or had just heard things from word of mouth. The following was the comment I left on the article. I've had three semesters of college, and I carry my netbook to other places when I'm working on things. This was my techie rant moment. Mind you, I've had to type on desktops, laptops, netbooks, iPads/iPods, nooks, kindles, other tablets, and several phones both touch screen and not. I've put more than a few hours into it.

~Heather/Razor

 

I've had my netbook since 2009 and I love it. I don't game, but I use a 3D chat called IMVU (yes, it does suck on its own but that's another story). I've never had an issue with my netbook aside from one virus through my own blunder.



As far as the typing goes it's complete bull that you can't type effectively on the netbook keyboard. All it takes is a little time. On average I can type between 70 and 80 words per minute and I've tested both on my desktop AND my netbook. I used my netbook for college and many people were eager to learn about it. I may have gotten the larger screen. I went out with my cousin who knows more about computers than I do and we found out that the 10 inch screen is much nicer than the 7 inch for me. I do a lot of writing and chatting as well as surfing the web not just for personal, but research as well. I've got tendinitis (for those who don't know it's similar to carpal tunnel). Combine that with college textbook weight and you need something light.



I've typed on iPads, desktops (wired and unwired keyboards), nooks, kindles (physical keyboard on device, navigation button for finding the right letters, AND touch screens both eink and kindle fire backlit), other eReader devices (including iPod touch), AND netbooks both 10 inch and 7 inch. I also use a touch screen phone. Yes, it may take a little while longer to learn how to type with the netbook keyboard, but typing on ANY device varies from one to another. I work with different computers at work and not all of them are the same, yet I manage to switch from one to another to another without hassle and without losing typing speed. I'm still slow on my nook tablet, but I haven't used it as much as far as my typing goes.



To the writer of the article, please, before you write more articles like this really use the devices (not just a few) and for more than what I feel safe in assuming wasn't even half an hour per device. Not trying to raise hairs, but it's always safe to reference the use of other devices as well.



A lot of people enjoy netbooks over laptops because they're so light. Example: College student taking full time classes (full time student is 12 credit hours usually averaging four classes, so let's assume four). At minimum thisis four textbooks (let's assume five since some courses have two or even up to four textbooks one needs four class). On average, a college textbook weighs somewhere around two or three pounds (assume three). Four textbooks, three ponds per book there's twelve pounds already. Add in the folders, notebooks, binder if a student uses one of those, lunch (because let's face it college is expensive as hell already and why waste more money buying lunch on campus), extra snacks, and drinks (many students carry something like three or four bottles of water). So total already let's assume this backpack weighs twenty pounds even. That alone is a lot of weight for carrying around all day. Most netbooks average out somewhere about five pounds (let's assume) and laptops somewhere around (again, assuming) eight. Yes, during a day of lifting your bag over and over that three extra pounds makes a difference.



Battery life was mentioned. Let us stick with our example of the college student. Not every classroom has outlets where you can easily plug in a computer (and some of the ones with very few outlets end up having students crowding the outlet). Sometimes it's hard to find an open outlet in a commons area even (either they don't exist or they are well hidden). Most netbook batteries will last 6-8 hours on a full charge (varying if you have wireless turned on or off). Laptops get more like 3-5 hours on a single charge (again, carying if you have wireless turned on or off). Some laptops get 6 hours on a full charge. Mind you, ANY TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE can lose this power over time and eventually batteries may need replaced though that's often years down the road.



As far as I'm concerned, yes, there are times I wish I'd have gotten a laptop computer, but I love my little netbook. It was much easier to have my netbook computer, notebook or textbook (sometimes both) on a table or counter (or my desk) than it would have been to have a laptop computer. Space is key. Only problem is you worry a little more about getting a netbook buried under a pile of textbooks and term papers.