Pickleball Vandalism
Had heard stories about a neighbor complaining about the pickleball noise coming from the Manoa Valley District Park, but this is extreme… and sad.
Still Have a Weak Mind in 2026
I’m no pickleball brand ambassador (unless LEVA counts), and I don’t review paddles. But I still have a weak mind in 2026.
Gherkin Draco and goodies
BTS Banking Before the Concert
BTS already brought in heavy revenues with its $22 Army membership in order to participate in early pre-orders for Arirang. Now, they’re about to bank more cash by retiring the old “Army Bomb” aka their branded light stick and introducing version 4.
Pre-sales for the new light stick start on Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 4pm HST but no price is yet given. Unless you want to buy additional merch at a concert, it might be a huge time saver to pre-order now and skip the long lines at the actual concert.
Retiring Light Stick
Oahu Power Outage Map
Mainly posting as a reference for the next time (or even later today), but here’s the Hawaiian Electric power outage map for Oahu.
All this wind is causing major disruptions. An outage that was supposed to be two hours long went on for at least five hours.
PowerWall Holding Strong
Thank goodness for the home battery backup provided by the Tesla PowerWall.
Trying the Backhand Flick
Been trying to incorporate the backhand flick into my kitchen play and learned that paddles really matter. Recently, I was using the CRBN 1X, and trying a backhand flick with this paddle was tough. Due to its weight, flicking the paddle was even kinda sore on my wrist and the motion just felt sluggish.
Will keep practicing the backhand flick and see how other paddles feel.
The Confidence Behind a Paddle
So I’m still learning all the terms that describe the characteristics of a pickleball paddle – power, pop, dwell, twist weight, swing weight, and more. But one missing characteristic is confidence, more specifically the player’s increase (or decrease) in playing confidence when using the paddle.
This is by no means a measurable attribute but something you see and experience. My niece is also a pickleball beginner but started playing a few weeks after the rest of the group. It’s natural for every beginner to experience moments struggle and success, and of course, increased playtime will improve your game.
But something noticeable happened when she switched from a beginner’s Selkirk from Costco to my Bread and Butter Loco, a 2025 paddle of the year contender. Her game became more aggressive. While her growing skill level isn’t outpacing the performance of the Loco, you could see that her hits were more sure as the paddle responded to what she attempted. The form may be off and the shot selection not ideal, but she was trying to shape her shots, and the Loco was giving her better outcomes. Because the paddle responded to her, her confidence in her shots went up which in turn translated to a more confident and aggressive game.
In the most recent session, she was at the kitchen line putting away every pop up and defensively, returning drives and dinks. So while getting a higher performing paddle to match your improving skill level is important, hopefully you experience that intangible confidence boost from the paddle.
Is That Dwell Time?
So I think I finally understand what a pickleball paddle’s dwell time feels like after watching this Westside Pickleball YT short comparing the new Honolulu Pickleball J6CR and J6CR-H. In the review, there’s mention of the stiff face of the J6CR-H causing little dwell time and a lack of control.
While playing this past weekend, I experienced that sensation while at the kitchen hitting with a Boomstik. Quite a few times, my dinks fell short. I was trying to move the ball but each time, my shot was weak since the ball had already left the paddle face. The contact, or dwell time, was shorter than I was used to while playing with the CRBN 1X in a previous session.
Not sure how to adjust to this, but at least I’m understanding the feel and the resulting effect
Resurfaced Pickleball Courts in Mililani
Not exactly sure which Mililani recreation center this is, but it’s been resurfaced to include 8 pickleball courts! The four in the middle are permanent, and it appears that there are lines marked for two PB courts in the nearest tennis court (and guessing two more on the far tennis court).
Joola Essentials Pickleball Paddle at Ross
On one end, you have the upcoming $10,000 Gherkin Draco pickleball paddle and on the budget end, there’s the Joola Essentials. This 12mm polymer core paddle is solid for beginners just picking up the sport and costs $60.
But wait… if you hunt at your local Ross, you may find these Joola Essentials for less than $10 (I think).
Gherkin Draco, the $10,000 Pickleball Paddle
Yet to be released, the Gherkin Draco pickleball paddle is listed for $10,000 on the Gherkin site. I guess that new privately sourced NCP (Nanocellular Polymer) Foam is a scientific marvel next to Vibranium.
Who knows what the real price will be at launch, but this paddle is getting some attention already. Pre-orders are scheduled for January 26, 2026.
Mac OS 26.2 Tahoe Update Zonked My Mac
Saw the notification that Mac OS Tahoe 26.2 was available for update. So I did. But the update didn’t fully complete with the startup progress bar stuck at around 33%.
So I powered down and restarted. My MacBook Pro M3 was then looping at startup seeing the Apple logo then a black screen then the Apple logo again and repeat. Holding down the power button, my Mac showed an exclamation point with the URL support.apple.com/mac/restore. This was getting serious.
This is the first time I had to enter DFU mode and couldn’t get the key combo correct. Instead, follow these directions by Mr. Macintosh to enter DFU mode by holding Control, Option, right-sdie shift, and power for 10 seconds then let go of Control, Option, and right-side shift. Keep holding the power key, and this pattern got me to DFU mode.
With a second Mac, I tried reviving my busted Mac and that failed. I changed USB-C cables and ports and still no luck. I think this MBP DFU port is nearest the MagSafe plug on the left side of the keyboard. I deleted big files from my functioning Mac to create space to save the recovery startup files. I also installed the Apple Configurator app from the App Store. This is a more refined interface to restore/recover Apple devices.
Reviving didn’t work so I went for a restore which does a factory reset of the Mac first. My Time Machine backup was about 2 weeks old but better than nothing. After several hours, my MacBook Pro was back (albeit with two weeks old data).
Who knows what caused all of this but before you install the 26.2 update, I would trigger a Time Machine backup and also restart your Mac before updating.