my husband's new basketball shoes
My husband finally found some leather-free basketball shoes that he loves: here's the full saga!
Basketball Shoe Diaries
By Christopher Jarecki
I love basketball and play at least once a week. Shoes are very important, because rolling an ankle is one of the worst things ever. So, I need good basketball shoes. Now, besides the temperature of our house (my hippie wife doesn't believe in air conditioning or heating), this is a topic we argue about once a year, when I go to get shoes.
My argument is that they have not come up with the technology to make good basketball shoes that properly support your feet without using leather. My wife's argument is that I am a pussy and don't care about the planet or the suffering of animals.
In general, I'm conscientious - I don't buy new leather, wool or cashmere. For example, I wanted some cashmere sweaters once, and told my wife I couldn't find any good used ones; I was hinting that I might have to buy new ones. Well, she dragged my ass to the flea market on a football Sunday and spent two hours looking for the used cashmere sweater dude. But, by god, we found him, and I have the greatest cashmere sweaters ever. All used.
Anyway, I dug my heels in year after year about the leather basketball shoes, and took my verbal whippings like a man. But guess what, they've finally made some amazing shoes with no leather. They're awesome and super light. I never realized how heavy those leather shoes were. These leather-free shoes are made from some crazy new material that is for astronauts or something (I don't know this for sure, but that is what everything new and cool seems to be taken from).
They're made by Adidas and they're called the Adizero Ghost Shoes, and they're endorsed by Derrick Rose from the Bulls (that dude is so good).
*The ghost shoe is no longer available but the rose shoe is the same deal. You can find it here.
My Hippie Rebuttal...aka: How Cute Is My Husband?
This is Alicia! Thank god for these shoes! The leather ones really bummed me out.
Okay, the heater and air conditioner - while I'm not a fan of either, I'm not 1000% against a little climate control. I just like to be as close to natural as possible, for health and energy conservation. When it's cold out, I ask that we all wear sweaters and layers instead of cranking up the heat. Right now it's cold, so the game I like to play is, "how low can I have the heater and still be comfortable?" I add more blankets and layers to use as little heat as possible. That's my game. And then I do the opposite for the summertime. Whereas my husband, what he'd prefer to do is sit around when it's cold in a t-shirt and crank the heat up. When he wants to tease me, he'll send me a text when I'm not home saying something like, "Bear and I are at home in our underwear with the heat cranked up" or in the summertime he will say, "Baby I love you. I'm at home with the air conditioning blasting, wearing a sweater." Just to mess with me! So that's one of the fun crazy games we play in our house and it is probably the one things we've fought about over the years in a friendly, cute way.
In my cute husband's defense, there have been times when he's said "Baby, it's cold!" and I'd tell him to put more layers on. He'd come over and show me his 5 or 6 layers--a pair of long johns, a pair of sweat pants, 4 shirts and a sweater. Or two sweaters on top of each other! It makes no sense to me that he's cold but I'm not. I guess I have a lot more squish on me than he does. Ha! But anyway, he tries!
I feel good about keeping the thermostat around 62 degrees, maybe 63 or 64 if I want to be spoiled. And for hot days, I ask that we strip down to cute undies or whatever is comfy before cranking the AC. That said, I can understand setting the thermostat to around 76-79 degrees. When my husband is not around, I go to 80.
Anywho, thank you to my husband Christopher for guest blogging! Have you made any awesome veg-friendly discoveries lately? Share them in the comments below!
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32 comments
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Also, I don't have an AC, or can I afford it. Living in Chicago my apartment can get really uncomfortable really quickly, especially in 90+ degree weather. I've learned to deal with it by modifying my clothing choices or furniture so it won't absorb as much heat. -
To Chris: I hope no one called you a pussy! Genderized insults are incredibly offensive. Calling someone, especially a man, a word (albeit a gross one) that is a synonym for vagina or any female body part is like saying "you're as weak as a woman." It's just as bad as the word "bitch." To be honest, I don't know any weak women or anyone in general that deserves to be teased for their gender.
I would be just as offended if someone were to call me, a woman, a dick. Calling me a dick would be like saying that I am like the culturally stereotype of what it is to be a man: mean and cold. I've known some men to occasionally be either or both of those things, but that doesn't mean that all men are or that a person should ever be reduced to gender.
I have to ask, what is a man? What is a woman? Does the sex you're born with really mean that much or is it the culturally defined gender that people get so worked up trying to defend? If you are comfortable with your sex, what is the need in defending your gender? Gender is culturally defined and it changes from culture to culture. Though my sex is female I can choose my gender to whatever I feel comfortable with.
In our modern culture we constantly tear women apart in media and with language. We can do better. No one has to have their manhood in question because of a choice that they feel comfortable making. If hanging out in your undies with the AC on in the summertime makes you comfortable, so be it. You and your spouse will have to work out a compromise amongst yourselves. Don't make it an issue about "taking it like a man/woman." Language like that is regressive and it reinforces terrible stereotypes about people who don't deserve to be stereotyped for their appearance.
Thank you for opening your home up to your readers. My comments are meant to be discussion based and not insulting. I sincerely apologize if the latter is the case. -
I'm superlate to this discussion, but I keep the thermostat low (during winter) and high (during summer) more for financial reasons.
In the winter we are at 60 and summer at 80-82. I will wear layers or walk around half naked if need be. Funny I never thought of it as a "conservation" issue. -
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Hi Alicia! Thought you'd appreciate what these 2 girls did, they made their prom dresses entirely out of recycled material! http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/News/Canada/Calgary/ID=2241671029
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this place has the cutest shoes...all vegan. I ordered 4 pairs and they are fab!
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Galo Shoes, a ladies footwear company in New York City, offers several styles of comfortable, fashionable, non-leather shoes! Click here to see the collection:
http://www.galoshoes.com/vegan
In addition, there are several hats and visors from Helen Kaminski and Eric Javits that do not contain animal products.
Happy Shopping!
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you guys are beyond hilarious and cute. i wish i could be friends with you. alicia, i so admire your diligence in standing up for what you believe in. it inspires me :)
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I love ya, Alicia, but I couldn't live with someone who wouldn't let me run the A/C unless I was in my underwear already! I live in Texas, and I hang out in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops, but keeping the A/C on 76 at the coldest would make me want to kill myself in the summer. I can go pretty far on the hippie thing, but my A/C is sacred!
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This is AWESOME! I can't wait to share this with the readers of Chic Vegan (I am the Editor there).
Gretchen
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I live in Tucson, and this last weekend we reached 100 degrees. In April! The worst part is, I don't have air conditioning in my car. And you know what, I'm used to it. I mean yeah, I sweat like crazy if I drive anywhere during the day (and often even on my way to/from work), but it's tolerable. And everywhere I go has air conditioning anyway, so the short trip to/from isn't usually horrible. My boyfriend and I do use the air conditioner, but we rarely need the heater for the winters out here. We've fought over the AC temp SO many times it's ridiculous. He wants it at 70, I want it no lower than 78. Lately, though, I've noticed him keeping it at 76 or so, and just wearing less (I used to have to put a blanket over myself IN THE SUMMERTIME b/c the AC was so low!). It really makes a difference not only in the heating bills, but also in the consumption of overall energy - ever wonder why a blackout inevitably seems to happen during the hottest part of a summer day?
This back & forth was very amusing and hit home, to be sure. A little reminder of how, despite the differences in our comfort zones and our tolerance levels, we can work together to find a happy medium. :)
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All in all interesting. my husband and I have some light friction when he buys candy...See, he's vegetarian not vegan, which is his choice and I don't harp on him at all. However, I just don't see why he'd want to put red 40, artificial flavors, etc. in his body or support the3 production of those chemicals.
As for the heat, you can probobly get away with not running the heat and instead wearing layers in California, but here in the northeast, forget it. We keep the heat on 74 AND wear three layers.
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thanks for your blog, Christopher...I think it's great that you have found good nonleather basketball shoes...I am so glad that I found a nonleather purse that I'm happy with...I am glad to give up leather purses but I am still wearing leather walking shoes...does anyone know of a good pair of nonleather walking shoes that are comfortable and give good support?
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I guess a little friction in a relationship can keep it going and I would hope there is no issues more serious the one's mentioned above. I have the shoe site bookmarked and appreciate the info. In the winter time there's always cuttling and in the summer time "hot and heavy" can release some stress and bring a happy couple closer together anyway so.... love to you and yours happy trio. Thank you for helping me change my life for the better. -Blakey
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I am surprised by the negative comments on this post. I think it's a wonderful idea to use less energy. Not only is it good for the planet, but it's good on your wallet as well.
I loved this story. I am always looking for eco-friendly, cruelty free options for everything. It's wise to do as little damage to our planet as possible.
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I'm with ya on the artificial heating part. I can deal with the cold-I love wearing warm clothes/blankets and snuggling but I can not do without the cool air so when its hot I have to have the temperature low.
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I have to say that, considering this website is called The Kind Life, the comments section seems to be becoming more unkind with every post. I don't see what's so unusual about putting on extra layers instead of turning up the heating, or opening the windows instead of using air-con! With regard to Alicia's use of the word 'hippie', I think it's safe to say that, along with many words in the English language, its use has evolved considerably over time, and I'd argue that it's quite appropriate to use the word in reference to anyone attempting to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle. I really enjoyed this article, Alicia- it's always interesting to read about how other vegans tackle issues such as wearing leather and wool. I personally choose to abstain altogether, but I agree that there's a valid case for wearing second-hand non-vegan items.
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Ha, I can relate to this. I am the same way with energy conservation (and keeping the bills down!) and my husband would rather crank the heat up full blast while he's in a Tshirt. I got him a bathrobe now, so he will usually bum around in that. Neither of us are big fans of the AC luckily, we just hate being cold! I don't know why we even live in the Northeast!
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and in response to your veg-friendly discovries question, I found these vegan crispy fingers by Gardein, but I wasn't too crazy about them. I was wondering what you think of them, or anyone else on this thread for that matter? I wrote a little blog post about it here too: Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers review
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Oh boy, I hope you don't need the heat on in LA. We live in Wisconsin (where it's been in the 40s lately) and we haven't had the heat on in at least a month. The sun seems to heat our home just fine during this time of year.
We keep the blinds open during the day to absorb the heat and close them at sunset to hold it in.
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This entry made me laugh. Then I made the mistake of reading comments written by folks who obviously didn't read the entire entry.
Anyways, I'm not extreme with the heat/ac, but I keep my house around the temperatures you mentioned. In the summer it stays 78 inside, in the winter, admittedly, my husband is very thin and won't allow me to let the temp inside drop below 68.
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Alicia is totally a hippie. Steve Jobs was totally a hippie. Both have/had (Steve unfortunately has passed) clean clothes, drive cars in perfect mechanical order, work their butts off pretty much everyday, and would NEVER share their life partners with anyone. Both devoted their lives to the planet, and that's the true common thread connecting today's 'modern hippie'. The Volkswagon van/dirty clothes/free love thing is an 60's sterotype.
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I live in Idaho, so it gets real cold in the winter and real hot in the Summer (it was 91 yesterday.) I still refuse to turn on the AC in the summer. My house is pretty shaded, so it stays sort of cool, and I also layer in the winter. My sister loves to complain, but she knows I'm right! I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only stubborn one!
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I am in the Santa Cruz mountains, so we don't need a/c. I too keep the thermostat at 62, when guests come over, I treat them by turning it up to 64. haha
Layers, warm socks and beanies are not uncommon in this house during the winter. You rock, thanks for posting this and making me feel a little less "radical" as my friends like to say.
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Ha, this is so cute! At my home, I do the layering thing too. My parents are never cold and it is strange because I am cold even at 70 in the winter.
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This is such a cute post. Really so much fun to read! Will have to check out these shoes for our son.Thanks!
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