For Sheri's birthday me and her Mom went in on a really nice pair of K2 inline skates and a set of knee, elbow, and wrist pads. The sporting goods store I went to was having a big sale on everything, and all skates were marked down. I think it was like 30% or 40%, but I forget exactly. It was really good though.

After I picked out her skates I thought I would look at men's skates just for the heck of it. I have never been able to do anything like skating, water skiing, etc. No way would I spend the kind of money that a good pair of skates cost for me because the chances are big that I would never be able to use them.

Anyway, I was looking at the men's skates and they had a brand I never heard that was normally about $50 or $60, and they had a clearance sticker that said something like $20. Cool! If I bought these and it turned out that I just don't have the balance for skating I wouldn't feel bad about the $20. I went to look for my size, 13, but the largest they had in stock was 12, so I thought for $20 I should at least try them on. They were snug, but not unbearable.

So I decided for $20 I could try to teach myself to skate, and if I eventually did then I wouldn't feel bad about buying a real pair of skates to go skating with Sheri.

When I went to check out they rang up for only $9!

I have been keeping them in the family room, and every now and then I will strap them on and go practice on the tile floor in the kitchen. I started out just standing in place. Then after getting comfortable with that I would shuffle my feet back and forth just to get the feel for how my center of gravity responded. Sheri did some research on-line and found another tip to get people used to skates, and that is just to jump in place. The idea is that you can't jump if you are stiff, which is what the natural reaction to being on skates for the first time, so jumping forces you to loosen up. I did that for a few times and I think it helped.

Next I started to shuffle back and forth in the kitchen. After doing that for a few nights in a row I started feeling a little more steady, but I still wasn't "skating".

The last time I was on the skates I started feeling comfortable enough to transfer my weight forward onto one skate and roll a few feet, and then kind of push off from that foot to the other one. Then I get unsteady, stop, and try it again.

At first the grout lines in the kitchen I think actually helped me because it slowed me down a bit. After my last time in the kitchen I think the grout lines are in my way now because it adds too much resistance when I am trying to roll more than a foot or two.

I am a long way from strapping on some skates and skating through the park with Sheri, but I am going to keep at it and maybe one day we will be able to spend an afternoon skating together.

I think the next time I am ready for a practice session I will go down to the basement where it is smooth and I can roll the length of the house.