p c a n d a . c o m

So I just want to blog about shoes today. Probably because I’ve bought like 3 pairs just this week alone. Thanks to the employee hookups I get from a friend. I don’t really buy shoes anymore, but what the hell. So let’s see….I want to make it harder for myself so I will pick only 5 shoes. The Top 5 will include include color and model, so I will I have to be very specific..haha I am going to do one for casual and for actual basketball wear.

Casual Wear

Air Max 90 infrareds – Hands down has become my favorite shoes right now. Too bad they get dirty very easily and the mesh is a nightmare to keep clean, but I still love em.. Laser Blue came in a close second as my favorite color.

Air Jordan III black cement- This pair I regret selling..Lucky Chris for getting the best out of my old collection..The III’s became my favorite model for the Jordan series. It used to be the XI’s, but the III’s are a classic in everyway.

Nike Dunk SB Takashi II- Yes it is a recent SB release and Yes it is a gold box. Once everybody and their Momma’s started buying SB’s because it was the “in” thing I lost a little for the SB Dunk series. So many different types of Dunks, but this simple black with a silver swoosh beat out so many of my personal favorites..i.e Jpacks, Calis,Bisons etc…

Air Jordan XI Concords- Used to be my favorite Jordan’s ever and are still a favorite. Neck breakers, showstoppers whatever you want to call them. My Dad kept my from buying these shoes as a kid because he said they looked funny so I went with the Air Max Sensation CW (chris webber’s). The Sensations weren’t a bad shoe, but dammit Dad..hahah I sold my retro pair to Raymond when I got rid of my shoes and now only own the DMP version…not the same.

Air Max Penny I Orlando-Best Penny shoes IMO. Fell in love with these in Japan. Just stared at the eastbay catalog all day wishing I had them. They sold them off base, but they were too expensive back then. Eventually bought them in Cali when they were first retro and like a fool sold them when I “quit”. lols I have them again with the 2nd retro, but the air bubble isn’t the same..yuck!

Honorable Mentions: Air Jordan III True Blues
Air Jordan III White Cements
Air Max 95 Neons

Basketball

Air Jordan XIV White Black- Wore these until I had to keep super glueing the shoe. Were also the first Jordans I bought with my own money. The XIV’s had a permanent new shoe smell. If I took out my beat up pair right now and sniffed it, the smell would probably be their.

Nike Lebron Zoom II- Wow..great ankle support and great comfort. I loved the zoom on these and they look great on the court too IMO. I still wear them outdoors, but the zoom has worn out and the traction is non existent now, but I am still looking for another pair to play in.

Air Max Zoom Team- These ones lasted also. Didn’t buy these and never were but my Air Pippens popped and I sent these back to Nike and they gave me back these..not a fair trade because the Pippens retailed for like 150 and these were only like 110..Atleast I had a chance to play in them and becoming one of my favorites to ball in.

Nike Shox BB4- Boing! Boing!! Vince Carter! Zoom in the forefoot and Shox combined is classic. Dan knows what i’m talking about, he still wears that combination to this day. Didn’t want to pay for the 150 price tag originally so I waited for them to go sale. These take a very very long time to break in, but once they are broken in..damnn…I would buy these again if they rereleased them.

Nike Lebron III- Beat out Kobe Strengths. I hate the metal lace holes because it broke the laces. 1st time I broke a lace is when I had the blue pair. I returned those to get the black ones. The original laces broke on the black pair and now have replacment laces. I still ball in these and will probably buy another pair before they will be to hard to find like the Lebron II’s..

Honorable Mention: Kobe Strengths
Air Jordan XVIII

With all the social interaction, the sharing of your personal thoughts and having to put yourself out there in an attempt to promote your work, blogging can be a tricky business if you are reserved about it. All the top bloggers are willing to put aside their worries to make their blog a success. Are you willing to open up?

Below are the top five concerns people typically have that holds them back when blogging, complete with reasons why you shouldn’t worry about them.

Don’t be worried that you will run out of ideas
If you have any form of regular publishing schedule it’s quite possible that you will worry about running out of ideas for posts at some point. For the longest time this was one of the biggest reasons why I didn’t (or couldn’t) do guest posts; it was difficult enough trying to keep up the posting schedule for my own blog without worrying about doing content for other sites.

However, think about it; there is a huge amount of inspiration out there. Regardless of whether it is from reading books or websites or just from talking to people, there is always something out there that can spark a new idea when you need it. If you really want to make the most of it, jot down those ideas for use at a later date. You will quickly create a backlog of potential posts. It’s shocking how many ideas get lost simply because they don’t get written down.

Don’t be worried about posting less (or more)
A lot of sites claim that the more you post the more popular you will be. That is generally true if you want to take your blog to the very top (and even then it’s not a hard and fast rule), but for most of us, it really boils down to quality or quantity. I used to post more often than I do now. When I originally made the decision to post less, I was concerned it would effect the number of visitors, subscribers etc. However, I chose to use the extra time I’d created to provide more quality posts. You know what? I didn’t lose half my readers as I feared, quite the opposite in fact!

Don’t be worried about getting personal
The idea of putting up your personal thoughts and feelings on certain topics online for the world to see can be very daunting, especially if those thoughts are controversial or contrarian. It can be tempting to play it safe and write sterile posts, giving little away about the person behind them, like with the average corporate website. However, the personal touch is exactly why blogs are so popular. One idea that has been written about numerous times over the years can suddenly get a new lease of life by a blog covering it from a personal perspective.

Don’t be worried about promoting your work
Don’t worry about submitting every post of value you write to Digg, Stumbled Upon, Reddit, or other social bookmarking sites. That’s what they are there for (they just don’t know it yet ). As long as you take part in the community and submit quality content from other sites as well, you will have to do much worse to be labeled as a spammer. After all, those sorts of sites are for finding interesting links. You are writing interesting content, right?

Another common practice for promoting your blog is by commenting on other sites. If you think your content relates in some way to a post, don’t be shy about it, leave a comment and let people know. The basic rule is this: as long as you treat your commenting with the same attention as your posts, nobody will care if you slip in a little self-promotion as long as it’s relevant.

Don’t be worried about asking for help
Whenever I’ve had a surge of subscribers it’s usually because I wrote a killer post but what really helped to boost my stats was to actually ask people to subscribe. If I want people to submit content to social bookmarking sites I ask them to. Want comments, opinions and feedback? Ask for it. Want to exchange links? Ask! In over a year of blogging, the worst response I got when I asked for something was… well, actually I didn’t get a reply back. So why are you worried?

So what are your thoughts? For those of you that blog, what’s holding you back?

Written by James, a blogger at Organize IT.