Of course I don't need all three pairs. I don't even need two of them. My my thread was intended to be a bit facetious.

But for the record, I'm hardly the poster child for consumerism. I live in a TINY house in a not so great neighborhood, drive a not-so-luxury car that's eight years old, don't own anything "electronic" other than my TV, DVD player and radio (meaning, I do not have iPod, a PDA, a computer, digital camera or the like), wear the same clothes and shoes to work almost every week, have no debt other than my mortgage and have a nice little nest egg saved up. My one and only vacation this year will be a biking/camping trip to TN. Oh, and I give thousands of dollars to charity every year. My biggest and only real indulgence is cycling, but I imagine that's the case for most of us. So, while I don't intend to get another two pairs of those shoes, I wouldn't feel all that guilty if I did.