The Best Halloween “Costume”
While it’s not yet October 31, 2016, I’m calling this the best “costume” of this Halloween season.
Yup, that’s a humongous roach on the side of the house. But, no worry! There’s a big can of Raid waiting…
Gee Why
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Costco Hawaii Kai Get Mad Kicks
Well, the workers there anyways. But yes, if you’re ever at the Costco location in Hawaii Kai, check out the kicks of the workers, especially those working at checkout. For the most part, the workers, both men and women, are wearing nice shoes.
On a recent outing, I saw these Adidas Ultra Boosts and NMDs. Oh so pretty!
Amazon Music, I Don’t Get It
Obviously I have research to do about Amazon’s new music service, but I don’t get it. The service is a competitor to Spotify and Apple Music. But it’s different than the music available from the Amazon Prime subscription. And although I already pay for Amazon Prime, this doesn’t give me access to my this separate service.
So not only do I pay an annual fee for Prime, I have to pay a (discounted) fee for this new music service. And there’s another payment tier for Echo use only.
But like I said, I have more research to do. In another vein, what is somewhat telling is the non-mention of the Google Play music service. In articles, The Amazon music service is compared against Spotify and Apple, not Google. Nothing major but just a hint of what’s in the mindset of the general population.
I Suffer from Tsundoku
I kinda suspected there was a term for my condition, and I now know its name. I suffer from tsundoku which is defined thusly:
The acquiring of reading materials followed by letting them pile up and subsequently never reading them.
Yes, I have a collection of books that maybe, just maybe, I cracked the spine on. Otherwise, they are in pristine condition (just a little dusty). I intended to read and learn from these books, but history has taught me otherwise, and now I acknowledge that I won’t read them.
I have gotten better over the years with the stagnant books acting as a reminder of this wasteful habit. Okay, okay, I did have a relapse buying (and not reading) that Sports Illustrated issue on Kobe Bryant’s career.
So while I suffer from tsundoku, I acknowledge it and vow to stay away from Amazon Prime Reading.
Went with the Caseology Vault for My iPhone 7
While there was a surprising number of cases available for the iPhone 7 at its launch, I was drawn to Caseology’s Vault case with its carbon fiber styling. At roughly $10, the case doesn’t actually have carbon fiber in it, just a facade that mimics the look of carbon fiber. Hey, it works for me!
The case offers sufficient protection, but it’s not heavily padded against serious bumps and bruises. The styling plays into the feel of the case with the carbon fiber accents offset by matte black paneling. None of the case materials is slick or slippery. The back of the Vault is smooth yet grippy.
Although I like the case overall, I do have two concerns with its design. In general, the case doesn’t seem snug enough. When the iPhone 7 gets hot, it feels like the case expands, getting a little looser. Second, the cutout area for the mute switch is frightfully thin. It definitely seems like the weak point that’ll break first.
But for now, I’m happy with the look, feel, protection, and value of the Caseology Vault.
Asked to Leave… Again
It’s been a few years since I was asked to leave a store, but it finally happened again. Well, to be clear, I wasn’t directly asked to leave the store, but I could not have my drink in the store, so I took it as an indirect request to leave the store. And I did, but this time, this incident was at the Halloween seasonal store at Windward Mall.
The store moved into the old Children’s Place location near the former Sports Authority and relocated play area, now dubbed the Zen Pen.
Walking through the store, the worker told me no food or drinks were allowed and offered to hold my Starbucks. I wasn’t about to give up my $5+ SBUX crack, so I walked out the door where I only then saw their fair warning sign.
I’ll give them that much. They did warn their customers though I’m not quite sure of the reasoning. I should have stuck around to see what happened to the family with young kids (everyone holding some kind of drink) that entered as I left the store.
Ala Moana Parking Stall Counter
Recently, I noticed that Ala Moana now indicates how many open parking stalls are in the various parking areas. As you go up the Keeaumoku entrance ramp, you’ll see the big board counting all the open spaces (sorry, I don’t have a pic). I had seen this on the mainland but never in Hawaii.
I wondered how it got its data then I finally (and painfully) looked at the new-ish LED lights in the structure. Nestled between the left and right LED lights is what I’m guessing to be the sensor.
Old Airport Express, New Problem
Maybe it was fun while it lasted, but my revitalized AirPort Express, the 802.11g version, isn’t showing up as an AirPlay device anymore. It was there the other day, but today I can’t see it to stream music through. This geeky experiment could be over.
Oh wait… powering down then restarting the Airport Express seems to have brought it back to action. Let the music play!
Wait, part 2… the music just cut out and the Express isn’t showing up again. Too sporadic and problematic for me. 🙁
iPhone 7 Migration: Notifications
Another oddity about moving to a new iPhone. Some notifications make the move while other don’t, and I don’t know why. Came home to see that an Amazon shipment scheduled for Wednesday had already arrived today, but I wasn’t notified on my iPhone. Well, I was…on my iPhone 6. It had all the Amazon notifications about the impending delivery.
This was easily fixed by configuring notifications from the Amazon app. Not sure what other notifications I’m missing though.
iPhone 7 Migration: Bluetooth
Okay, this was expected since my iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 are two separate devices, but I did have to pair my iPhone 7 with all my gear and hardware. Yup, the car, the headphones, the external speaker, the other car, the keyboard, and the Pebble (okay, not really since the Apple Watch). Also, it’s amazing to see what else I had paired my phone with in the past like that rental car, another rental car, and someone’s Bluetooth speaker.
Even after making a brand new pairing with my car, the audio is still messed up. Streaming music from my iPhone 7 will play on the iPhone’s stereo speakers for a few seconds before rerouting to the car’s audio system. This had previously worked perfectly with my iPhone 6, so I’m hoping Apple fixes this annoyance soon enough.
Apple Airport Express 802.11g Rides Again
I’ve had the older 802.11g Apple Airport Express sitting in a box unused for a few years. Ever since Apple updated its Airport Utility management software to ignore this older model, it essentially became unusable. Until now…
Well, I guess this solution has been out there for some time, but I only stumbled upon it yesterday. You can still run the older Airport Utility v5.6.1 that can configure the older Express, but you need to use this special launcher. This “app” makes the needed changes so that v5.6.1 can launch on newer Mac OS versions including Ep Capitan 10.11.6.
Word of warning though. If your Express is previously configured, DO NOT factory reset it. This makes things much more difficult. If you do so, the Express goes into a configuration mode with a brand new, generic Wifi network. You need to connect to this temporary Wifi network in order to configure the Express, but when you attempt to do so, the newer version of Airport Utility launches, and of course, this version is incompatible. If you try to launch v5.6.1 simultaneously, it won’t connect with the Express. So if the Express was previously configured, you could connect and make any necessary changes. But if reset, you need to connect via wired Ethernet. Not hard but a hassle, especially if you don’t have all the pieces and parts handy (like a Lightning to Ethernet adapter for a MacBook Air).
I configured my old Express to simply serve as an AirPlay relay with connected speakers. Good enough use for this aged hardware. And yes, it works! I can stream music from an iPhone 7 running iOS 10 via this older Express.
iPhone 7 Migration: Home Automation
Unrelated to two-factor authentication issues and Apple Trusted Devices, my home automation system also updated their software that required a login.
I wonder what other accounts and services do I need to fix?