Supermoon Shopping on a Sunday Night
I blame the impending supermoon for this assortment of purchases.
A surprise twin pack of overgrips in random colors.
A replacement grip.
A replacement watch band at 18mm.
Gee Why
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From Brave Sword to ArcSaber
I’ve given up trying to find the Victor Brave Sword 12 badminton racket in Hawaii. While discontinued, the BS12 can be found online but then again, there are replicas out there so buying online is fraught with fraud.
After more research and more importantly, not wanting to pay for a fake, I figured I go with a low cost racket. That’d be a better bet financially and skill-wise, and I really doubt there would be too much concern for fakes on a cheaper racker. The ArcSaber 002 seems like a good fit especially after reading a review from the Badminton Coach.
But then I spotted the Badminton Coach’s review of the ArcSaber 003 which he rated higher even though the racket itself is cheaper than the 002. While both models are no longer in production, you can still easily find the ArcSaber 002 on Amazon but not the 003.
Holiday Gift Guide 2016: SIFTE Sunglasses
Sunglass Initiative For Tomorrow’s Eyes. That’s SIFTE and purchasing a pair of SIFTE sunglasses is also donating to charities such as the American Foundation for the Blind, Helping Hands for the Blind, and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. And at $15, these make for afforadable gifts of giving (and sun protection).
SIFTEs are available in black or white (pre-order for now).
Holiday Gift Guide 2016: NES Classic
Of course the 2016 edition of the Pulpconnection Holiday Gift Guide kicks off with none other than the NES Classic game console. If you’re reading this then you know it’s already too late to get one of these childhood memories with initial inventory selling out in minutes. Online or at retail locations, these things didn’t last long.
But there is hope with Nintendo reassuring fans that inventory will be replenished over the weeks to come. But if you did manage to get one, it would, no doubt, be a memorable gift for old schoool gamers.
Target Lineup for NES Classic
I can only guess that this lineup outside of Target Kailua is for the NES Classic that releases today. Seemingly limited availability is driving up demand for this nostalgic gaming system. I doubt everyone in line will be happy. This picture was taken at 7:45am.
Update: The Kailua Target location had approximately 12 units available (it may have been 20 but eight mysteriously were not part of sellable inventory). Some in-line were there since midnight.
Update 2: GameStop Windward Mall had 17 units that were snapped up quickly.
Update 3: Best Buy in town seemed to have been the best bet with 40 Classics up for grabs. Opening at 10am, you had to wait in line but if you had a ticket, you were good.
Update 4: Amazon literally sold out in seconds.
Update 5: Don’t worry if you missed out. There will be more chances says Nintendo.
The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition system is a hot item, and we are working hard to keep up with consumer demand. 1/3
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) November 11, 2016
Looking for the Victor Brave Sword 12
Doing some research on badminton rackets, I saw the typical brands of Yonex and Li Ning. But creeping in many reviews was a name new to me, Victor, and its Brave Sword 12 model. Seemingly it’s good all around, especially for its price. But I’m not sure where to buy it.
Amazon has a few for sale but without Prime, and there’s always the potential threat of counterfeit models, especially since I have no idea what’s a legitimate Victor racket. Even then, I think the BS12 has been discontinued, showing up but not showing up on Victor’s web site.
View from Kapalama
A little old from last Friday but the view from the Kapalama campus of Kamehameha Schools.
Frappula 2016 Is Confused
Starbucks has brought back its Halloween-themed Frappula for 2016, but this year’s version is confused. The 2015 version featured a mocha base, various layers, and a “bloody” raspberry syrup. On first glance, the 2016 version has the same recipe according to the official Starbucks app.
But in-store, the Frappula has strawberry instead of raspberry.
While it works, I’m liking the mocha-raspberry combo over the mocha and strawberries of 2016. Or maybe it’s because the mocha is accidentally missing from my Frappula? I had thought my drink looked a little too whitewashed.
I asked about the strawberry substitution, and the answer given made perfect sense. Currently, the raspberry syrup used by Starbucks is clear, so it wouldn’t impart that bloody look like red strawberries.
Windows 10 VM Finally Under Control
I hope. That was an ordeal. Not exactly sure why, but my Windows 10 virtual machine in Parallels went crazy one day, slowing to a glacial crawl. I thought it was actually not functioning, but really, it was operating, really, really, really slowly.
I thought I did something to Windows so I tried migrating back to a month old backup. But then I fought with macOS Sierra’s optimzed storage. Luckily, this free/unfree space issue seemingly was resolved after updating to 10.12.1.
So with space available, I tried working with an older copy of my VM to no luck. Still slow. Then I found this forum post describing a common problem with the combination of Sierra, Win10, and Parallels Desktop 12. None of the recommended fixes helped.
I tried downgrading to Parallels Desktop 11 but still slow. I even moved products, trying out VirtualBox and copying the .hds file from my Parallel’s VM file. With Gary’s help and his supercharged MacBook Pro, he encountered the same slowdown so it wasn’t just me and my MacBook Air. He did notice that my VM was woefully out of space, so he created another disk image and cloned content to it.
Then I found the Windows reset feature. This nuclear option begins Windows 10 like it was brand new (but with data files retained). This had the biggest effect. The VM started behaving “like normal.” For me, having a functioning OS is a worth lost apps, but that’s fixable since I only have a handful of app to re-install.
I did move back to Parallels though due to Windows activation. Using VirtualBox deactivated my Windows with the underlying (virtualized) hardware changes. But back in Parallels, Windows was still activated. I even learned to link a Microsoft account to Windows 10 to store my Windows 10 digital activation information.
I’m hoping this ordeal with Windows is over…
Fighting with macOS Optimized Storage
I’ve been fighting with the new macOS Optimized Storage feature today. I accidentally enabled this feature while trying to free up space on my drive. Optimized Storage does make it easy to see what’s taking up all the space and then free up that space.
But then you end up with this Purgeable space that isn’t living up to its name. See that cross hatched section? That’s the purgeable space weighing in at 104 GB. The actual free space is that blank section at 32 GB.
I’m trying to restore a Time Machine backup of a virtual machine, and that single file is roughly 55 GB. But when I start the restore, my Mac complains that 23 GB of space is needed to complete the restoral. Doing the math, 32+23=55 GB makes sense, but there’s all that purgeable space that can easily cover the additionally needed space. So what’s up with that?
I’m trying to see if I can deactive Sierra’s Optimized Storage which I’m hoping deactivates the Purgeable space, immediately making it free space.