Dave and Jim talking about jeans . . .

JIM: I am told to try True Religion. I know nothing about them, but my guess is that they must be pricey.

DAVE: With me and jeans, it's gotta be Levis or Gap. It's just the way I grew up. And I paid $64.50 for these jeans, which is like double what I normally would pay for a pair of jeans. I've been wearing them for a couple of days now, and no one has said anything or looked at me weird, so I guess I'm okay. But I REALLY fucking hate the "decorations." I want jeans (and all pants, for that matter) to be one, solid, consistent color.

JIM: I like Levis. They've always seemed to fit me the best. Surprisingly though, Old Navy is not bad. You might want to give them a shot. Are they owned by Gap? I think maybe they are, so then maybe it's not a surprise.

My wife is definitely not into me paying the price for Levis though.

DAVE: I just checked the True Religion website. $200-$300 and I didn't see anything special. But thanks for the suggestion.

JIM: Wow. Is that for one pair of jeans? I might tell my wife I want a pair of True Religions. Just as a joke.

DAVE: If she thinks that Levis are too expensive, then yes, definitely tell her that you want a pair of True Religions. $319 for many of them.

JIM: That's funny.

DAVE: Also, and you may already know this, but I never pay full price for Levis because they are almost always on sale at Sears and JCPenney for $29.99, as opposed to a retail of $44.

DAVE: Some of the True Religion jeans have flaps on the back pockets and special decorative stitching on the back pockets. I ain't into that. And they have button flies. Where do you stand on that issue? I HAVE to have a zipper fly.

JIM: Do they still make button flies? I have to say that probably the last pair of jeans I ever bought for myself (since my wife does all my clothes shopping now) was a pair of Levis button fly 501s and I loved them. That was many years ago though. In fact, either last Christmas or the one before that, my parents bought me a pair of Levis. They were the wrong size and I had to go to Sears to exchange them. I have to admit, I was extremely intimidated by the zillions of styles of Levis jeans available now. I had no idea. I was completely lost and overwhelmed. All I wanted was a regular damn pair of Levis jeans.

DAVE: A lot of jeans still have the button fly, especially Levis, which still has the 501. You're right that there seem to be a lot more numbers and colors and patterns than there were when you and I were in college. But if Kathy is buying all of your clothes for you, then you've been insulated from all of the changes in the great big world of denim. And it's totally bonkers for women. You would never have even suggested True Religion if you had checked out their website first. Not for us, my sensible friend.

Speaking of which, Old Navy does not offer 28L. So, it's the Gap or nothing, now that Levis has eliminated anything shorter than a 30L, just like everybody else. Guys my height are forced to do all of their pants shopping online if they want them to fit properly and not have to be tailored. But even Levis doesn't offer 28L online. Which is bullshit. What do men in China and Japan do? They're generally shorter than Americans.

JIM: I'm 5'9'' (maybe 5'10") and my pants are all 32L. And they fit me fine.

DAVE: Yes, that makes sense. I do think that you are a little bit taller than I am, so probably 5'10". But the reason why I wear a shorter length than you, for instance, is because I have a very low waist, and I have no ass, so all of the pants material that would normally be around a person's ass is left to just hang on me, giving me what some of my friends have called the "poopy pants" look in the back as my pants droop from my body. That extra material adds extra length to my pants, so I need to buy a shorter length so that I don't walk on my jeans. I told you this was an issue for me. It's tough being a man without an ass.

JIM: I tried to avoid letting you draw me into this conversation as fodder for your blog. However, I think I have failed miserably.

DAVE: I guess you will just have to wait until tomorrow morning [today] to find out. Plus, I will also be featuring a conversation about jeans with a young lady friend of mine. Just so you know, I never have a conversation with the INTENT of making it blog material. Sometimes it just works out that way.