steel-toe problems

I've been traveling...blogging may continue to be minimal for the next week or so. Back to your usual programming:

I needed a new pair of boots ASAP. My old boots were past the minimum time required for reimbursement, and then I went and ruined them by standing in a sticky, ankle-deep mess of bentonite and contaminated slop. Don't ask - it was one of those days.

I was new to the area, working with people who all were either male or could wear mens' size boots. My feet are way too small for that, as I described a while ago. I had the hardest time finding new boots, and nobody else seemed to know where to find them. So I got a pair of cheap boots that didn't fit terribly well. I figured I could live with them.

I would have been better off ordering good boots from the internet and having them overnighted to me. Because I was stuck with uncomfortable, minimally-padded boots that lost their waterproofing in record time ("totally waterproof!" chirped the salesguy) and that I wore 12 hours a day for a year.