To continue this little foot-oriented journey through my upbringing: as I grew older my parents dilligently taught me simple etiquette. One of the first lessons they burned into my psyche was that when you enter somebody's home you should always take off your shoes. It helps keep your host's home neat and generally shows that you have respect for their property. This is a habit I learned when I was seven or eight years old, and I still practice it today.
Now, with that being said, let me add one more little tidbit: I absolutely, positively will not go barefoot in public places like hotels, restaurants or clubs and this is why. So the next time you're at a convention and you feel like slipping off your shoes before you go walking around the dealer's room you just might want to reconsider.
General plans for today include laundry so that I have something to wear to work next week, an attempt at taking the recycling down to the municipal drop-off and other miscellaneous chores. Once again we have a weekend houseguest, and I'm looking forward to the company! It seems that
and such was life in leningrad