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Work Clothes

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Today’s post comes from Curiosity’s Mars Rover.
(photo via JPL / NASA)

Yes, it’s my birthday.

That’s the modern Facebook age for you – everybody knows it’s your birthday even though nobody knows you personally. Not too many, anyway. Especially in my case, since I was built in a dust-free assembly building by people inside isolation suits – put in there to keep me from being contaminated by their hair or flaky skin cells or spittle.

I guess I should be grateful that I didn’t have to touch anything gross, but I feel the lack of human contact here and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. They’re sending another robotic mission in the year 2020, and there’s an outside chance I’ll still be functioning well enough to welcome it to the Red Planet, understanding that I’m a machine and they’re sending machines and nobody has feelings or particularly needs to be welcomed.

Anyway, I won’t hold my breath. You know why.

The birthday is meaningless, especially since I’m now tracking years on two planetary timetables. I just celebrated one year on Mars, yet here I am two Earth years old. What does that mean?

Nothing, really, unless there are presents.

What sort of present would I like? That’s easy. It’s something most automated landing devices don’t get, and yet it’s so closely tied to the outer space dreams of Earthlings I really feel cheated that I didn’t get one.

I want a spacesuit.

When you think about it, they sent me up here naked. Would you do that, even to your worst enemy? Banished to Mars, naked?

I’m here to work, so I at least deserve the dignity of a decent set of work clothes. Those guys who landed on the Moon had the coolest spacesuits ever, and there’s a book (soon to be a movie) about how those suits came to be made. They were crafted, not by nerdy teckno-geeks, but by warm-hearted seamstresses from Platex – the same people who made brassieres and girdles.

I just find that comforting. The thought of having some protective fabric nestled against my outer surface would help me feel embraced, so if it’s not too much to ask, how about a Kickstarter campaign to fashion me a wardrobe.

If work clothes are too complicated, how about a bathrobe or something cozy that the next mission can drop off as it goes into orbit?

I’m only 2 right now, but I have to look ahead. A care package with a bathrobe in it, or even just a throw, would ease the harsh prospect facing me – a power supply that runs down to nothing, followed by a virtually endless parade of twilight years.

And there’s a boatload of twilight up here, I can tell you that.

Over and Out,
Curiosity Rover

What’s in your “comfort” wardrobe?

56 thoughts on “Work Clothes”

  1. I opened this eBay store about 5 or. 6 years ago and it taught me about stuff. Stuff is so transitional that you really need to put it into perspective.
    Items for the house are nice to have but stupid to covet. Bathrobes slippers winter coats are all available as easily as finding fresh air in the woods and of you know where to look you can have the finest with the same ease as buying the trend of the week st target. Silk and linen. , mohair and cashmere Egyptian cotton and things that feel wonderful when the lights go dark.
    My daughter was 6 hours old when her mom gave her the most carefully chosen plush stuffed bunny in her hospital bed and did my daughter go for it ? You bet! Did she cuddle and love it ? Well not exactly … She grabbed the tag that said made in china and caressed the silky smoothness of the tag. The bunny was soft and beautiful but she found her happy place. Right there on the bottom seam of the little critter
    I go to goodwill on Tuesdays for the blue tag green tag yellow tag specials where everything is 1.99 that has a yellow tag that day and I buy wonderful thing for the eBay store and whole I’m at it I grab things I can enjoy before I sell them. Designer jackets and pants Hawaiian shirts of silk linen shorts and shoes someone bought and never wore before they were jetisened in the name of spring cleaning. I was smiling the other day. My outfit ensemble was the 1.99 special with a pair of pants a shirt and jacket that each cost 1.99, a pair of shoes that were bought on eBay for 12 dollars and a hat that is on its way out the door to some happy hat lover with a brief stopover on my head. I used to choose sports coats as the perfect material and pattern for a lifetime of enjoyment and now I realize that there are too many options to be tied to one days choice . My comfort comes in knowing there are fabrics and materials that are there for us ( have you touched the micro fiber and specialty cloth in the sports stores for running exercising and sweating in comfort?) I think today is te day when comfort can be achieved in a timeless pair of Levi’s and frye boots with a flannel shirt and an aire of casual elegance or with a Burberry topcoat and Armani jacket for 4 soars more. You just have to look around a little bit and find your fit in the world

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  2. I opened this eBay store about 5 or. 6 years ago and it taught me about stuff. Stuff is so transitional that you really need to put it into perspective.
    Items for the house are nice to have but stupid to covet. Bathrobes slippers winter coats are all available as easily as finding fresh air in the woods and of you know where to look you can have the finest with the same ease as buying the trend of the week st target. Silk and linen. , mohair and cashmere Egyptian cotton and things that feel wonderful when the lights go dark.
    My daughter was 6 hours old when her mom gave her the most carefully chosen plush stuffed bunny in her hospital bed and did my daughter go for it ? You bet! Did she cuddle and love it ? Well not exactly … She grabbed the tag that said made in china and caressed the silky smoothness of the tag. The bunny was soft and beautiful but she found her happy place. Right there on the bottom seam of the little critter
    I go to goodwill on Tuesdays for the blue tag green tag yellow tag specials where everything is 1.99 that has a yellow tag that day and I buy wonderful thing for the eBay store and whole I’m at it I grab things I can enjoy before I sell them. Designer jackets and pants Hawaiian shirts of silk linen shorts and shoes someone bought and never wore before they were jetisened in the name of spring cleaning. I was smiling the other day. My outfit ensemble was the 1.99 special with a pair of pants a shirt and jacket that each cost 1.99, a pair of shoes that were bought on eBay for 12 dollars and a hat that is on its way out the door to some happy hat lover with a brief stopover on my head. I used to choose sports coats as the perfect material and pattern for a lifetime of enjoyment and now I realize that there are too many options to be tied to one days choice . My comfort comes in knowing there are fabrics and materials that are there for us ( have you touched the micro fiber and specialty cloth in the sports stores for running exercising and sweating in comfort?) I think today is te day when comfort can be achieved in a timeless pair of Levi’s and frye boots with a flannel shirt and an aire of casual elegance or with a Burberry topcoat and Armani jacket for 4 soars more. You just have to look around a little bit and find your fit in the world

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    1. So you’re one of the people my roommate and I are competing against when we thrift Hawaiian shirts at Goodwill! Would you share the name of your eBay store? I’d love to have a look around.

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  4. Morning all. No exotic microfibers for me; my choice of comfort clothes is almost cliché. In the winter, give me sweatpants, sweatshirt and fat socks. In the summer, zorries (flip flops) galore!

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  5. Good morning. I wear blue jeans and a casual shirt with a collar the year around. I hardly ever wear anything else. Usually there is one shirt that I favor until it wears out. My favorite shirt is usually one that has a color and pattern that I particularly like. In the winter I often have a favorite jacket that I wear almost continuously until it wears out.

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  6. Rise and get comfy Baboons!

    I thought Baboons wore fur coats to work, and everywhere else? So what’s up with other clothing?

    Give me soft fabrics and flat heels. Those are now the discriminating factors. In the past there were really mini, mini-skirts, high heels, panty hose, tight jeans. Throw those out with the years.

    I hired a new therapist recently and she wanted to know what to wear AND SHOULD SHE COVER HER TATTOOS. I said no, please don’t cover them and don’t dress up too much. We are pretty casual at the office. Like I said, Soft fabrics. Flat heels.

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  7. I, too am a softie. I like turtle necks and Norwegian sweaters in the winter with jeans or corduroys, Nothing itchy-scratchy, nothing tight. Flat shoes, cushy socks, capri pants in the summer. I dislike short sleeved shirts because I don’t like my arms to feel breezed on or chilly. I believe I had some sensory issues as a child, and tags in clothes or socks that have seams that i can feel really annoy me.

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  9. I’ve probably inventoried my wardrobe here before, but no reason not to do it again, right? Black jeans, a fitted t-shirt with a design based on one of my fandoms (gotten off Day of the Shirt, great website for geeks), a men’s button-up shirt, a hoodie or occasionally a blazer over it all, and Chucks. When it’s hot, swap out the Chucks for zori and the black tee for a black tank (I refuse to call them “wifebeaters”), and that’s it. Uniform of the decade. They decided to enforce the dress code at work, which means I’m forced to wear dressier pants (black chinos, in my case) and plain shirts. Most days I sneak the Chucks in, though, and no one seems to care too much.

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    1. Am I the only one here who has no idea what Chucks are? Or zori for that matter? And I’ve never heard a black tank top called a “wifebeater.” Crow Girl you make me feel hopelessly OLD.

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      2. chuck taylors are the old converse all stars high top (they come in low top but thats cheating) tennins shoes . zorries are flip flops and wife beaters are the sleevless t shirts made famous by marlon brando in streetcar named desire. black is crow girls steamounk version.
        maybe you are hopelessly old

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    2. always loved chucks. used to have white and black and wear them til the started turning , then jsut a while longer and replace them. then shoes got stupid and chucks followed suit. at 45 a pair i now buy deals… i have some chucks but they are not on the top of the pile anymore. birkys are.

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      1. I have a pair of Converse high-tops. I used to wear them a lot but they make my feet and my back ache. The soles are too flat…

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  10. Jeans and a turtleneck. I go with polo shirts in the summer to keep the heatstroke away but I prefer turtlenecks.

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    1. turtle necks and and gloves are two things that give me claustrophobia. i used to think thek were cool but found i could not wear them. may as well put me in a hair shirt

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  12. In warm weather, my uniform is bare feet, shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt. In cool weather, I wear a sweatsuit and fuzzy slippers. As I have posted, in Portland I usually have to change from the cool to the warm clothes each day.

    In another sense, my fashion adviser is rheumatoid arthritis. Because it is so hard to get in an out of clothing, I buy clothes one or two sizes too large. Because it takes strength and finger dexterity to work buttons, I mostly avoid clothing with buttons. Because I take pills that send me racing to the toilet many times each morning, I avoid zippers, because it is dismaying to be standing right by the thundermug when your fingers can’t quiet get the zipper moving.

    The beauty of being old is that you don’t have to make clothing choices. Your various conditions force your choices, which certainly keeps things simple!

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      1. Yup. I was trying to be sensitive to certain issues of taste. The people I ran with for years used to refer to that porcelain fixture as the Polish Fountain. We don’t wanna talk like that any more.

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  14. Morning–

    The sleeveless shirt is my staple. And a baseball cap.
    But in the evenings just lounging around the house, then it’s shorts and a t-shirt– with the sleeves cut off. Maybe in winter I’ll wear sleeves.
    Or meetings. Then I’ll add sleeves. Weddings too lest I become just a bit too much ‘red neck’.

    Lovely wife Kelly and I wandered into a ‘Spencer Gifts’ at the mall the other night. Boy; did we feel old there. But I got a new earring at the ‘Piercing Pagoda’ so maybe I’m still hip!

    I may have said this story before. But tim’s take on enjoying clothing for a bit and moving it along is interesting and made me think of this.
    I bought a tractor in 1986 and the dealer threw in a jacket with his name across the back.
    It was the perfect jacket! Could wear it fall, winter and spring. Fit perfect, felt perfect.
    I wore that jacket until 2 years ago. When I traded off that tractor I burned the jacket. (A pyre of fire!) It was tattered and torn and the logo was worn off but gosh it still fit perfect and felt perfect and I’ve yet to find a suitable replacement. I’ve tried over the years; I’ve got several jackets but none will ever compare.
    The collar was wide and flat and the seatbelt didn’t crunch it up or rub against my neck. The cuffs were knit but not to tight to be uncomfortable nor too loose that it was sloppy. And the knitting around the bottom so it was snug there too.

    Le-sigh……

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  15. I go for comfort in a big way. No heels, and from the snow melts until it falls again, sandals are the ticket. Just invested in another pair of Mephistos. The exact same sandal I’ve worn the tread off the bottom on my old pair. Step right in and walk right out! Tops need to be loose, and during the summer, not tight around the neck, but in winter turtlenecks are mandatory. Capris and shorts in summer, jeans, or corduroy pants, and the occasional pair of wool slacks in winter. Oh, let me not forget, my Flax linen pants and top for my version of getting dolled up. One hard and fast rule, if it need ironing, I don’t wear it.

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  16. I work with many children who have sensory issues and who either need to have clothes really tight, or who need clothes really loose. Some resist wearing clothes at all. It can be a real triumph when a child will finally wear underwear and socks.

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  17. I have five pairs of Minnetonka moccasins, my favorite shoe. In winter, Cuddlduds (or generic equivalent) with jeans or corduroy pants and a fleece top. Around the house, a chenille bathrobe, very threadbare.

    My work clothes are usually khaki shorts and tank top or T-shirt, and flip flops. Everything gets dirty and needs washing often, so I’m not making a snappy impression with my work wardrobe.

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  18. I have an issue with shoes. And not in the ‘hoarder’ fashion.
    My right foot hasn’t worked right since the farm accident when I was 13 yrs old. So I can’t lift my foot. I can wear crocs (because they have the strap around the back) when I’m being casual.
    Now for the last year I’ve been wearing a brace to help support my pronating ankle. (the whole foot is sort of bending out) So now the left foot is 9.5 and right foot is 10.5. EEEE. Ankle feels great and I appreciate how the brace has helped but I’m not slipping into just any old shoe anymore. And cowboy boots are completely out.
    That’s about the only thing I miss…. cowboy boots.
    (Love the way they make you walk and the attitude that comes with that. Course I can make up for the attitude.)

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    2. I will be the odd one here and say I like the attitude I get from a good pair of high heels… just like cowboy boots.

      Cowboy boots are swagger, heels are stride.

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      1. Working, helping my Mom and helping my brother build a deck. I went on a camping adventure and biked 60 miles on the Root River Trail. I’ve been trying to get some bike riding in as much as possible. I even went swimming!

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  20. “Comfortable ” clothes make me feel fat. I hate feeling fat, it makes me tired.

    At the moment I am working full-time in a suit and heels, then coming home and working in whatever I first lay my hands on.

    If someone gave me a large sum of money to spend on vacation clothes, I have no idea what I would buy.

    And to think I went into theatre because I love beautiful clothes.

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    1. Been there, done that. I’m done with suits and heels. If I feel fat, it’s because I am, and comfortable clothes have nothing to do with it.

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  22. Dang. Both of those are Donovan doing I Love My Shirt – first one is with the Smothers Brothers.

    For me it’s all about shoes… and for some reason I fell in love with canvas espadrilles back in the day – you know, with the rope around the sole. Lately it’s been hard to find flat ones, but Target had some a coupla years ago and I bought several pairs. I also copy Linda on the mocassins.

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