Early Voting

Vote early early. It took me around 90 minutes to vote today. It might be best to get to the polls before noon at least if you want to shave time.

The NBA on TNT

It's nice to have the NBA back on television. But it's equally nice to have Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley back in the TNT studio. Those guys are so fun to listen to.

Chuck

Light-hearted Spy Dramedy Losing Its Newness

Chuck is fine this season, if you haven't seen last season. Already, this show is losing its cachet. The new episodes look just like the old episodes. (That's not good.) I think I might skip the rest of Chuck Bartowski's sophomore year.

Heroes

I am done with NBC's Heroes. Characters gain powers. Characters lose powers. Nobody is happy. Everyone has an agenda. The Apocalypse looms perpetually like a black hole that won't suck light fast enough. There is no endgame in sight. This show is like a never-ending soap opera where the writers use every tired trick they know to string the viewer along while adding nothing new or original to the product. Alas, Heroes is getting as bad as Star Trek: The Next Generation was and always will be. I remember trying to watch and appreciate that show back in the 1990s, but I always lost interest. I kept asking myself, "What?"

That Wacky Dow

The Dow Jones made a mad dash to 9065.12 in the last 90 minutes of the session. Rising 11 percent, the Dow made up 889 points, posting its second-best one-day gain ever after a precedent-setting 936-point rally two weeks back.

There's nothing to complain about here. Stocks are fine, squirrely but fine.

The NBA is Under Way

I'm so glad to see NBA games on the tube again.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Why does she talk so loud? Why does she care so much about the things she talks about?

What Shoe Is Good Out of the Box?

My Air Zoom Vomero + 2s performed fine on first wear. My arches were the problem. I tweaked an arch during the first run in my Vomero's. My previous shoe was an Air Max 360. (I used the 360s for like 13 months, an amazing time span.) Actually, I think the 360s made my back ache. I believe they had a little too much support. Plus they were rather stiff. Nevertheless, the AM 360 is an engineering marvel. Every serious runner should try a pair. The 360s are great for heavy milage, and the cushioning is unquestionable.

Natually, my feet were acclimated to the AM 360s when I made the switch to the Nike Plus compatible Vomero + 2s. The AM 360 is not compatible with Nike Plus. This fact prompted my conversion to the Vomero.

The Zoom Vomero + 2 is the best running shoe I have ever used, and I have ran in Nike Zoom Milers and the 360s. Some runners have posted complaints on the Internet, saying the Vomero is too mushy. These are probably the same folks who require a stability shoe to stabilize their gait. I have a neutral gait, so the Vomero suits me. Stability shoes wreck my lower back because they do what they are designed to do, limit pronation. My feet and ankles must pronate. If they don't, my back feels it. I can feel the pressure on my back after fifteen minutes in a stability shoe whether I'm on my feet or off.

The Vomero + 2 has the right support in all of the right areas. The shoe is flexible, responsive, ventilated and well-cushioned. Save for the first few wears when my arches were too weak to handle the Vomero's awesome Free-inspired flexibilty, I haven't had any problems out them. They've been a dream to run in. Unfortunately, my Vomeros are into their fifth month of use. The time is nigh for a new running shoe. Perhaps I should just stick to my Hyperdunks throughout the rest of 2008. They have the ability to get the job done. Plus they have Lunarfoam in the forefoot!

Another Upside for Hyperdunks

My Hyperdunks are loosening up around the ankle, becoming more flexible. The ankle rubbing problem is fading. These shoes should improve with further wear. They're just not an "out-of-the-box" kind of shoe. Wearers must break them in. Fortunately, they adapt to feet rather quick. After five workouts, I sense improvement.

Another upside for Hyperdunks, and basketball shoes in general, is that they provide great support when weightlifting. I forgot how valuable a good pair of hightops are when pushing free weights. They offer far better support than running shoes.

The Sad, Pathetic Demise of Madonna

The woman is no longer known for her music or her videos or even her fashion. Right now, her most relevant contribution to pop culture is imploding her marriage to perhaps the most stable man she will ever hook up with so she can cavort around with a ridiculous Major League Baseball personality.

Guy Richie was a godsend for Madonna. Her relationship with him made her look good. With Ritchie she appeared so bankable as a mother, as a spouse. What does she do with all of this newfound credibility? She compromises it with one visit to the home of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

What sort of nut does such a thing?

Before the divorce with Ritchie, Madonna and Rodriguez denied rumors of an affair. Given Madonna's sex-crazed track record, all of the denials sounded flimsy. After all, she visited a married man at his home. Photographers saw it and reported it, creating a media firestorm.

The rationale was that Madonna was trying to promote her Sticky and Sweet tour. What a way to promote yourself, creating sex-laced innuendo with a married man. Nice.

Stable people do not behave this way.

She trades in Guy Ritchie for Alex Rodriguez? Alex Rodriguez?

This guy is all flash and no substance.

George Steinbrenner pays him way to much for what he does, making him a laughing stock, yet he doesn't seem to have enough self-awareness to realize it.

He allows a sleazy agent, Scott Boras, to represent him, poorly, particularly in public. Again, he doesn't have enough self-awareness to realize it. Boras does nothing to help Rodriguez's public profile. The guy needs a good publicist, like stat. A good publicist for Rodriguez would sooth my stomach.

And another major problem with Alex Rodriguez: He's an attention addict of the first order. I guess he and Madonna do have something in common. Remember that tasteless announcement by Boras during last year's World Series regarding Rodriguez's negotiations with the Yankees? Boras issued a press release smack in the middle of a World Series game. It was a crass move, beyond gaudy. No doubt about it, that was a tasteless thing to do. Never ever would I let someone like Boras embarrass me like that. If I played in the Big Leagues, Boras would not represent me. Period. Forget about negotiation prowess. Boras is awful. He and people like him are part of the problem with professional sports. So are people like Rodriguez.

Any self-respecting woman would see this, identify it and stay away. Not Madonna. How well or poor a man carries himself in public does not matter to her. But she doesn't carry herself very well either, so why should she consider that?

I love despising Alex Rodriguez. I don't get him. I really don't. I'm glad I don't. He's a weird, egotistical flake baseball player that gets paid way more than he's worth. He's not even a winner either. The Yankees should cut him off and kick him out.

Madonna should ditch Rodriguez too, apologize to Ritchie and her children, reconcile and get back to the business of raising a family. Those poor kids from three different fathers will wind up a little off when all is said and done. Mark this post.

Now we all get to read and hear stories in the media about Madonna's stalking tendencies. Apparently she likes to keep tabs on Ritchie as he navigates his high-profile divorce.

Now we get to see video of Rocco Ritchie dressed up in Yankees garb, courtesy of his vindictive mother. Wow. How classy of Madonna to pull such a warm, inspiring media stunt with her only real son.

Oh and the daughter, Lourdes, is in People dressed just like her mother, wearing identical articles of clothing in multiple photographs on multiple occasions. That's really not a good sign for her.

The bottom line is this: Madonna may still be bankable as an entertainer even if her influence is waning, her creativity has petered out and her new concert performance looks exactly like her old ones. But she has zero credibility as a romantic partner. It's unfortunate, but it's true.

This Rodriguez phase will not help her. She's back on the same aimless path she was on in the '80s and '90s. This time though, she's on that path with three helpless children, and she's in her fifties.

An Andy Warhol Exhibit

There is an Andy Warhol exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center. The exhibit runs through February.

I have to see this. I have never seen an actual Warhol work.

Interesting Nikes

The Blogadier General Lists Five Compelling Nikes for the Month of October.

All of these are men's sneakers.

1. Lunar Trainer (The publisher prefers the white version.)
2. Hyperdunk
3. Air Zoom Vomero + 3
4. Jordan Ol' Skool II, black/varsity red/white in particular
5. Air Pegasus + 25

The Soloman Key

When will Dan Brown finish this highly-anticipated novel? I want to read it.

On Crown Molding

Let me make it known my thoughts on crown molding.

Crown molding is the most overused, cliched element of current home design. That fact that crown molding is so hip and current just turns me off to the whole notion. Crown molding has jumped the shark imo. Nowadays, every 800 square foot loser shack has some ridiculous, pretentious crown molding inside. It's just silly. It's overdone. It's dumb. Skip the crown molding. Use embossed tin ceilings to impress yours guests instead. Nobody's doing embossed tin ceilings.

Perhaps you could mold tin into crown molding. You'd have nice metallic crown molding made of tin.

Even Warren Buffett Would Agree With Me

Only recently, October 10 to be exact, I stated on this blog that is was time to buy stocks. They're cheap, and they have lots of upside.

Well, well, well. The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, just weighed in on stocks in a New York Times op-ed piece. Like myself, Buffett is bullish on stocks. He converted his personal portfolio to mostly U.S. stocks, switching from Treasury bonds.

He also believes the U.S. economy will continue faltering for a bit before turning around. I felt that myself. Things like our economy don't just turn on a dime. We have to wait for momentum to shift. While measures are in place to get things on track, they won't work overnight. The benefits will manifest later.

The Dow could fall below 8,000 again and I would still maintain my position that stocks are great investments right now. I'm glad Warren Buffett thinks stocks are great investments, too.

The Louvre Versus Graceland

A friend of mine, who is a huge Elvis Presley fan, toured Europe this week. He photographed the Eiffel Tower. He ate a Big Mac outside the Colosseum. He visited the Louvre where he viewed the Mona Lisa. So, knowing this friend of mine has been to Graceland a million times, I asked the obvious. Which is better, the Louvre or Graceland?

He said Graceland!

Amazing! That is so amusing.

More Commentary on Hyperdunks

Well, I finally got my Nike Plus sensor calibrated. Hopefully it's in tune with my iPod Nano and my Nike Hyperdunks. The job took three tries, but I finally made it work. It's amazing how much success one can have when directions are followed correctly.

As far as the Hyperdunks go, I think I need to break them in before I can give a complete assessment. I might need a workout or two to loosen them up. The fact that they need this treatment makes the shoe seem suspect. But I think my expectations are a little lofty for this particular model.

One of Michael Jordan's lasting contributions to basketball shoes and athletic shoes in general was his desire to use a basketball shoe right "out of the box," meaning you pull the shoes out of the box, lace them up and go without having to break them in. He lobbied Nike to manufacture their shoes with better materials. The belief was that better materials would perform better sooner. Jordan was right.

In the 1970s and 80s, shoes would take forever to break in, say two months or so. Because of Michael Jordan's demanding expectations, that period is down to a few workouts if any. I am so spoiled by this that I expect every athletic shoe to respond at a high level right out of the box. This is not the case with the Hyperdunk. It performs well at first wear, but it worked better on my second workout and even better on my third. The ankle rubbing problem doesn't show up when I'm moving forward, and honestly that's how the shoe should work. You're moving forward constantly during a basketball game. The Hyperdunk does what it is designed to do.

Like all basketball shoes, the Hyperdunk is a little clunky compared to a running shoe, but that's to be expected. The upside is, the Hyperdunk isn't as clunky or awkward as other basketball shoes. The shoe is certainly light, likely the lightest basketball high top on the market. I can't imagine a lighter shoe right now.

Since I haven't worn a basketball shoe in a few years, it's hard for me to compare and contrast the Hyperdunk to the rest of the offerings on the market now. I do think it stands up well against a lot of Air Jordans. Most likely, the Hyperdunk is better than a lot of them. I would certainly opt for a Hyperdunk over the Air Jordan XX3. The XX3's Considered design is a step forward, but I wasn't impressed with the overall feel of the shoe. It wasn't as comfortable as the XX2. And the hyperdunk has a more flexible upper and sole.

I still think the Air Jordan XIX might be the best basketball shoe I have ever worn. The XIX is much heavier and much stiffer than the Hyperdunk, but the XIX had the very best ankle support I have ever experienced in a basketball shoe, and the cushioning was tip-top quality. From an engineering standpoint, the XIX is still quite relevant when in a discussion about the best basketball shoes. I would wear another one of those for sure.

My Nike Hyperdunks

Nike's Noteworthy Basketball Shoe Has Upsides and Downsides

Got some Hyperdunks recently. They're white with black and silver accents. I'm having a mixed time with them. Since Nike's basketball line isn't Nike Plus compatible, I resorted to a third party pouch that carries the sensor on the shoe laces. As we all know, the Nike Plus compatible shoes have a slot underneath the insole to accommodate the sensor. Running shoes from Asics and New Balance for instance do not have the slot. It's an intellectual property thing. The pouch circumvents this deficiency, allowing runners to use the Nike Plus sensor with running shoes made by rival athletic shoe companies ... and Nikes that aren't Nike Plus compatible. This means Air Jordans, most of the Nike Free trainers and Nike-branded basketball shoes.

I say most of the Nike Free trainers. As of this year, Nike now offers the Nike Free Everyday. The Everyday has an ultra-flexible Free sole and a sensor slot. And they're available on Nike iD. I love it. The Lunar Trainer and Lunaracer also have elements of Nike Free design, and they are Nike Plus compatible. I still want to try the Lunar Trainers. I still might by the end of the year.

Anyway, I need to sync my sensor with my Hyperdunks. I usually do my running on a treadmill. To sync the sensor correctly however, I need solid ground. So I'm running in circles on the track at my gym. It stinks. I do not like running on the track. You're turning a corner like every few steps. It's hard to develop a good cadence that way.

Sure, I could run outside to sync, but Hyperdunks are an indoor shoe. They're intended for the hardwood, not the asphalt. I don't want to compromise my well-crafted masterpiece of modern footwear engineering on rock-strewn sidewalks and oily parking lots.

No. The Hyperdunks stay inside.

You wonder why kids don't play basketball outside anymore? They don't want their shoes messed up. Modern basketball shoes simply aren't designed for outdoors anymore. They just aren't. The Hyperdunk certainly isn't. Case in point, the Hyperdunk's rubber outsole does not extend to the arch area. Less rubber translates to less weight. We've seen similar design on the Air Jordan XXI with the arch reinforced with plastic and a full carbon fiber shank plate. The Hyperdunk's arch is similar. It's all carbon fiber encased in foam, which is vulnerable to punctures and pockmarks from sticks and pebbles. Who wants that? Nobody. I know I don't.

Anyway, I've spent two workouts trying to sync my sensor with my Hyperdunks. I ran for ten minutes on the first attempt and quit because the readings weren't making sense. For the second attempt I didn't quit, and I logged a 23-minute mile. That's if you believe the sensor's figures. How could that be? I could swear I was beating a ten-minute pace! I was sweating. I tried going faster, but I couldn't finish my mile in a reasonable time.

After further inspection, it turns out that I had the sensor installed incorrectly. Basically, I was running with it upside down. I read the instructions. I just misinterpreted them. Hopefully, I have this sensor thing down for my next attempt at calibration. I'd love it if I could log millage on Nike's website and do so in a pair of Hyperdunks. Nike really ought to make their basketball shoes compatible with the sensor. (Perhaps I should lobby them to do it.)

Now, if I can get the ankle discrepancy worked out, that would be great. The major thing I do not like about the Hyperdunk is that my right ankle is pressing up against something hard, likely the foam panel wrapping around the back end. My ankle feels uncomfortable when my foot is in certain positions. So far as I can tell, there are no manufacturing problems with the shoe. It seems just like the left one. Nevertheless, I developed a blister after two miles of treadmill running. I laced them loser around the ankle, and that alleviated the problem. Even after that my ankle is still coming into contact with something hard. I don't know what to do about it.

All in all though, I think the Hyperdunk is a solid basketball shoe. At under 14 ounces, mine are rather light, allowing one to get up and down a basketball court without hassle. Yes. I have shot baskets in them, and they do their job quite efficiently, providing excellent support for lateral and diagonal movement. Like all basketball shoes, Hyperdunks perform better on the basketball court as opposed to the treadmill. That's understandable. Regardless, I don't even notice the Flywire upper encasing my foot. This is so totally a good thing. Flywire rocks.

Take it upon yourself to experiment with some Hyperdunks.

Dow Surges Like a Tsunami

What did I say Friday? I said lace up and get ready. The Dow Jones Industrials gained over 900 points today in the highest one-day point gain ever. The Dow also topped 9,000 after dipping below 8,000 the session before.

To be honest, the best time to jump into this debacle was last Friday afternoon because sizable gains were already locked up by today's opening bell. There is so much I don't know or understand about the stock market, but I understand some. I wasn't 100 percent sure if the markets would hold their early intra-day gains, but I had a hunch they would. The rally out of the bell didn't surprise me. I felt the markets had found a bottom. Besides, prices were just too cheap for investors to pass up. There were a ton of no-brainer buy situations. Friday was the perfect day to have liquid assets. I wish I'd of had about ten mil lying around. I'd of made a lot of money today.

The Problem With Popcorn Ceilings

There is no problem with popcorn ceilings, which is the point of this post. I've known of them my whole life, and I've never recalled looking at them and thinking, "Wow. That's ugly." Have never done that, and I don't understand this new aversion to them that has taken place over the last few years.

The first time I was aware that popcorn ceilings were perceived as a problem was when a friend bought a new house. This took place about two to three years ago. My friend griped about the popcorn ceilings he received after specifying specifically that he didn't want them. This was all new to me, and it was perplexing. So my nut friend gets a ladder and a spackle, and he scrapes the popcorn off, making the ceiling's texture smooth and flat throughout his house. Unbelievable. I've never seen anyone work so hard to change something so benign. As I recall now, I found this banality rather amusing at the time. It still amuses me.

Periodically, I see people on these home makeover shows on HGTV and such complaining about popcorn ceilings. I'm like, "What's the problem?" I don't get it. I absolutely don't get it. In fact, I take pride in not understanding this new and unusual point of view. There's nothing wrong with popcorn ceilings. What difference does it make if a house has popcorn ceilings?

I know. I know. I'm normal. I can't help it. Not everyone gets the privilege to be weird enough to dislike popcorn ceilings.

Another funny thing about this is that every average-thinking person seems to have bought into this silly anti-popcorn dogma, and it's dumb. Just because everyone else thinks something doesn't mean you have to follow along, so don't. There's nothing wrong with popcorn ceilings.

The Dow's Worst Week Ever

In a week knowing no precedent, The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped below 8,000 today before rallying from a 697-point intra-day sell-off, finishing at 8,462.18.

The Dow has not seen levels this low since March 17, 2003. Massive selling pressured markets around the globe, forcing the Dow down 2,271 points across the last seven sessions. That equates to a 20 percent drop. The Japanese Nikkei fell 9.6 percent and the London FTSE tumbled to 8.9 percent.

This pressure cannot sustain its downward momentum. I believe a sustained rally is in our future, perhaps as early as next Monday. Lace up your track shoes, and bring some cash. Stocks are bargain investments right now. Buying simply makes sense in the wake of this week's financial carnage.

Chad Johnson

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson is going through some oddball identity crisis apparently fueled by rampant narcissism. Regardless, Chad Johnson's name is Chad Johnson. He can change his name to Chad Ocho Cinco all he wants, and society can legalize it all it wants, but he's still just Chad Johnson on this blog.

There will be no name changing here. Once a Chad Johnson, always a Chad Johnson. For a name change to get recognition on this blog, the change needs to have merit. Changing one's name for the sake of having the new name on the back of one's football jersey doesn't cut it. Sometimes a marriage provides enough legitimacy to such a matter, not necessarily though.

Furthermore, Prince was never really a symbol, and Roseanne Bahr was never just Roseanne.

Madonna's still Madonna and Cher's Cher. But Ms. Bahr was always a two-name celebrity, regardless of her one-name propaganda.

But back to Johnson. This blog will recognize Ocho Cinco as a nickname. But when Johnson drops a catch, should we call him Chad Ocho Droppo? How 'bout Chad Ocho Stinko? He really needs to stay with Johnson.

Brokaw for Moderator

John McCain and Barrack Obama are debating now. Tom Brokaw is moderating.

I love Tom Brokaw. He's eloquent minus a lot of stuffiness. He's a living institution all unto himself. He should be the night's moderator.

John Grisham's "The Chamber"

I am reading The Chamber, one of John Grisham's many legal dramas. So far, The Chamber is not the page turner that The Summons was, which I read last year along with The King of Torts. I truly enjoyed The Summons. It was a nice easy read, paced well, and I could relate to parts of the story.

By contrast, The Chamber is much heavier, graver in tone and theme. Grisham's pacing here drags a little much for my taste, too much detail and not enough action. I like stories that explain what a protagonist wants to do and what he or she thinks, assuming that what he or she thinks is interesting. Interesting observations about life provide great entertainment to readers

The Chamber places emphasis on facts instead of thoughts, and the facts are rather unpleasant. When I came across this novel for the first time, I thought the chamber referred to a judge's chamber. Not so. The chamber is actually a gas chamber used for capital punishment. We are dealing with a death penalty story.

The rather unpleasant facts of the story pertain to a Ku Klux Klan bombing way back in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. The Chamber tells the tale of one Sam Cayhall, a Mississippi Klansman who had a role in the bombing. The target was a Jewish lawyer's office. The lawyer lost his legs in the attack, and his two sons were killed. Ultimately, Sam Cayhall gets convicted for the bombing. A jury sentences him to death. Over time, Sam's grandson, Adam Hall, formerly a Cayhall himself, becomes a lawyer and maneuvers to represent his grandfather for one last appeal before the scheduled execution.

Much of Grisham's story focuses on the bombing. As the story plays out, Adam learns new facts about Sam's highly-interesting case. Other aspects dwell on Sam's stay on death row, gas chambers and capital punishment in general. The whole thing is well-conceived on Grisham's part. He paints a stark picture of the legal process involved in death penalty cases, the political wrangling, the plight and perspective of a condemned man and how all of this affects the condemned man's extended family. It is truly a good story. I just wish it was paced faster.

I cannot wait to finish The Chamber so I can take on something else from John Grisham.

Hogs Abysmal in SEC Play

Can the Arkansas Razorbacks beat another SEC team? The question remains viable since the Hogs are 0-2 against Alabama and Florida.

Frankly, this season's squad does not have SEC-level ability, or should we say SEC-level concentration. Dropped balls, shanked field goals and other mental mistakes have wrecked this team. Coach Bobby Petrino needs more than one off-season to fix the problems. Who wants to wait that long?

O.J. Simpson Convicted

A jury rendered O.J. Simpson guilty yesterday on all 12 counts relating to a 2007 incident in a Las Vegas hotel room.

I am surprised. I am used to seeing Simpson skate on things of this nature. This seems a little surreal right now. If Simpson had been sent to prison 13 years ago, this Las Vegas thing would have never happened. We have those jurors from the murder trial to thank for that.

Will Fred Goldman be pleased with this result? Hmm ... is lightning electric? I cannot wait to see his reaction. He hates Simpson, and with good reason.

Simpson is 61 years old. He faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison. Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, was also convicted on all counts for his role in the matter. He too faces incarceration for the rest of his life.

What a sad story this is.