John Hiatt 'Stolen Moments'

I’ve been wearing these low cut New Balance running shoes for about a month now. The first pair of low cuts (outside of dress shoes) that I’ve owned since I was a kid. Back to a time when young boys fawned over pictures of Cheryl Ladd, or in my case, Jan Smithers.

The last time that I wore low cut athletic shoes (or called around here: “tinny shoes”), Reagan was President and like him… I cannot recall the reason I gave them up for good.

I remember being told by the soccer loving hooligans that high top shoes would weaken my ankles. Okaaaaayyyy. I just asked them why they weren’t rioting in a stadium somewhere?

I kept on wearing high top shoes. I wore high tops during summers where the heat killed people. I was hardcore. I rarely went barefoot and wouldn’t be caught dead in sandals or flip-flops. And yet, I never really had an odor problem with my shoes.

So the other day… I’m putting on my shoes. And I’m wearing my little ankle socks…

Yes, I’m aware that sounds dainty.

I tied my shoes and I felt scratchy things rubbing my ankles. I felt debris up around my toe areas. I took off my shoes and gave them a shake. But the problem wasn't solved when I put them back on. I couldn’t understand why on Lorne Greene’s dear Earth it kept happening?

Then I realized that low cut shoes were sucking in grass and other things found outdoors. I guess that I’m just a sloppy walker. I can’t walk across a yard without getting a nickel bag of mulch into my low cut shoes.

I dig feeling a little cooler in my low cut shoes during these hot days of Global Warming and the Jonas Brothers. I’m guessing that I can’t have a little pleasure without a little pain. It’s just something that comes with the running shoe territory.

I am truly loving the ankle socks. Now if only the rest of my legs would catch up with the base tan that’s already built in. Then it wouldn’t look as if I’m wearing off-white stockings pulled up past my ankles.

I’m also having issues with my new phone. Most importantly, the ring tones.

When I changed phones, I lost a lounge versions of Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom” and Judas Priest’s “Turbo Lover”. I lost Cheap Trick’s “Hello There”. I lost a Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons liner where they personally announced me by name.

Sure… The photos changed over to my new phone AFTER I took the time and expense to email them to myself so I could download them to my computer. But they couldn’t do that with the sounds I collected or paid for?

I guess that frakkin’ Lars Ulrich is to blame.

And I can’t believe that today’s fine, fine selection is out of print. John Hiatt is a greatly underappreciated songwriter.