After learning from my blog that I had left the doggie daycare . . .

JIM: But what will you do with your wool socks?

DAVE: Funny you should ask. Historically, I have not been a big fan of socks. This you may remember from college. But I have really taken to my wool socks. They are not as itchy as wool socks used to be. And they are pretty easy to pull on and off, which is a small but significant thing because my age, my belly, and my bad left shoulder sometimes make putting on socks a little challenging. They are warm, which is an obvious plus in the winter, and most importantly, because they are thicker than my normal socks, my shoes seem to fit better. I will still need them, I can assure you. I will be walking dogs outside for [my new employer].

JIM: Well, that is all good news. I was afraid those socks were going to languish in your sock drawer and go to waste.

DAVE: You know, they make my shoes fit so much better than the flimsy little socks I wear when I wear socks that I'm thinking of continuing to wear them, even in the summer. Although, I think that would officially make me a communist.

JIM: Maybe you just need different size shoes.

For the dress socks that I need to wear to work every day, I've started wearing socks made of bamboo. They make my feet sweat much less and are much more comfortable.

DAVE: My problem, I'm afraid, is that I have rather thin feet. They're not small. They're . . . average. But they're thin, and in order to get thin shoes for men, you have to special order them. And that ain't gonna happen. But wool socks that are thicker than average socks seem to fill in the gaps rather nicely.

My feet don't sweat a lot. I'm lucky that way. It's interesting, though, how they're starting to make things like socks out of all sorts of things.

JIM: Go with the bamboo. It's trendy.

DAVE: That's what I hear.