• portague jokes
• howie haiwaiian mainlander

While I don’t define portague jokes, the post, 21 Slang Words You Should Know Before Visiting Hawaii, discusses haole aka howie haiwaiian mainlander.

Really, it’s HyperFr3sh with the number 3 replacing the letter “e” but you know what Nike means.

Kinda interesting looking, but I passed. Not a fan of that fat heel look though I like that tropical motif. Available in Hong Kong right now and supposedly coming to the States in July.

A simple suggestion for this dilemma is to increase your view and look to alternate stores. Everyone knows about nike.com, Footloocker, and the neighborhood boutique kicks carriers. But you might be pleasantly surprised at what’s available elsewhere. Like where? There’s the hit-or-miss searching at Ross and other discount stores. You just never know what you’ll find. Zappos sells mainly mainstream shoes, but it doesn’t hurt to search their site for a specific model.

One of my recent favorites is Nordstrom. Yup, that Nordstrom. Not only do they carry a variety of athletic shoes, they feature their Sneaker Project collection. This upscale retailer doesn’t only offer conservative kicks; they have an eclectic collection including Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Saucony, Asics, and more. Online inventory is expectedly much better than what’s in brick-and-mortar stores, but I still nod at what I see in-store.

An alternate shoe source in Hawaii is the luxurious Leather Soul. Leather Soul is a purveyor of the finest, so carrying lifestyle sneakers may seem far-fetched unless you’re a New Balance fan. Just don’t expect just any NB model at Leather Soul. Think upscale like the NB Connoisseur lineup.

I saw @ryankanno wearing these NB M1300BK from the Connoisseur Painter’s collection and with the pop of color, these kicks polished off his look.

The world of kicks is a big place. Take a look around, see what’s out there, and you’ll find kicks that you can indeed cop.

Here’s what Dictionary.com says about this trio:

Basically, insure, ensure, and assure mean to make a person or thing more sure. Insure should be restricted to providing or obtaining insurance to indemnify or guarantee someone or something against a loss. Ensure can be used in all other senses, especially ‘to make certain’. Ensure can also imply a guarantee. Then there is a third word, assure, which means to make a promise or convince. Assure also implies the removal of doubt and suspense within someone’s mind.

So in my post, either “ensure” or “assure” would have worked. Irregardless, for all intensive purposes, I assure you that the pain of making color copies was too much. Anyways, it’s all a mute point.

I’m surprised at how good return policies are. There are a few businesses that make returns difficult or costly, but for the most part, many offer liberal return policies. No cause for returns, no restocking fee, no shipping charges – look for these clauses with the business you’re dealing with. Most do have a return timeframe, usually 30 days, but that’s sufficient time to figure out if you’re keeping your kicks. Even after the 30-day window, some vendors may accept the return but issue store credit instead of a refund.

Nike has free shipping for orders more than $75 for members (membership is free). This is okay for regular kicks purchases, but you may run into issues with clearance kicks that are less than $75. But you can always buy more to get over the minimum cost then return the unwanted items. Who knows? You may keep everything.

If you wait and sleep on your purchase, the shoes will be gone. The kicks game moves so fast now, especially with limited runs, special releases, and a very competitive connected marketplace out there. This rule just doesn’t apply to online purchases but in real life as well. You may be able to sit on your purchase at a retail location like Foot Locker, but at a discount store like Ross, most definitely buy now. You never know about Ross’ inventory so you may never see that pair of kicks again, even at other locations.

Don’t sleep on’em was a lesson driven home today. This morning I came across the Saucony G9 Shadow 6 Mint Chocolate Chip, the first from its Scoops Pack. When I looked at the online sizing, there was every size, and since I didn’t know much about Saucony, I wanted to read up. Time passed and when I re-engaged two hours later, guess what? Yup, sold out. No mint chocolate chip for me, and I’m guessing ever again since I doubt there’ll be a restock.

If you see’em, get’em, and don’t sleep on’em!

Couple the Powerwall with PV solar and the situation becomes more compelling. Assuming you don’t have enough solar panels to “zeroize” your electricity bill then the Powerwall could store excess electricity produced by the sun and when your home’s power consumption increases, the Powerwall provides the free power rather than getting it from (and paying) HECO.

But is this worth the $3000-3500 price tag of a single Powerwall (not including installation and other ancillary equipment)? I don’t know if there are tax considerations. More than one Powerwall can be interconnected by the way if you’re trying to live off the power grid.

Supposedly, Hawaii has the highest electrical rates in the country, and the U.S. Energy Information Admininstration says the average American home consumes about 11,000 kWh per year or about 30 kWh per day. This equates to getting three 10 kWh Powerwalls for $10,500 to store enough power daily (generated from solar) and remove your home from the commercial power grid.

Looking at my power usage (and assuming I’m doing the math right), it looks like my household averages usage of 4.3 kWh per day for months that we get power from HECO. That’s far short from the estimated 30 kWh for an average home. Anyways, with that 4.3 kWh daily usage, the 7 kWh Powerwall unit for $3000 should suffice and with room to spare.

But looking at my HECO bill, my solar panels don’t generate enough to juice up the Powerwall. So I’m not sure how it works. Do you initially charge the Powerwall using HECO and solar. Then when charged, your house draws from the Powerwall first then when depleted falls back to HECO? If that’s the case, I should be good shape with my daily average of 4.3 kWh. I would have to see the solar production numbers to verify that it can keep up that 4.3 kWh depletion. Then in theory, I would be paying the minimum monthly bill to HECO (after that Powerwall charge up).

Looking over one year’s worth of electricity bills and factoring out the roughly $18 minimum bill, I’d be saving around $360 in one year. So roughly, that equates to a 10 year return on investment?? The Powerwall does include a 10-year warranty with optional 10-year extension. Having power when the grid goes down (which seems to happen at least once a year for us) is a benefit although the 7 kWh Powerwall wasn’t designed for this (that’s the intent of the 10 kWh model but assuming only capacities differ, I’m guessing the smaller unit can serve as a power backup for a home).

Again, I’m not sure if my rough calculations are on track. But looking at my power usage, there seems to be enough benefits for Tesla’s Powerwall – paid off in about ten years (under warranty), not relying on HECO (as much), and having power during blackout and brownouts.

While I’ve learned that SharePoint can do stuff, making it do stuff is entirely different. I’m looking at our average workforce who uses SharePoint, and I know they don’t have the want to figure out how to make SharePoint do stuff. Lots of seemingly simply stuff is not so simple to do and as you figure it out, you’ll get a SharePoint beat down.

Only recently, I think I’ve tamed Content Types and actually used them correctly. But now that I’m thinking about it, I think I scoped some columns incorrectly, meaning SharePoint has just won again.

But scouring around,I did manage to find two Lilly Pulitzer products proving the release did indeed happen.

But by now, I’m sure there’s no trace of the Lilly + Target line.

I so wanted to love these shoes, but in the end, I had to pass on them. The Adidas Tubulars have been out for a few months and while they caught my eye, I just didn’t act…until I saw someone wearing them. The silhouette of the Tubulars was distinctive, but the texture and colorway muted the uniqueness into sneaker-ish sophistication. Then I saw the new batch of colorways announced by Adidas, and I had to go looking for the Tubulars. Hawaiian camo!?!?

Sadly, when I tried on a Tubular size 10, they were considerably too big. A half size down to 9.5, and they were still too roomy. Dropping to a 9 was just too snug. This unusual sizing might be due to the single layer bootie-like makeup of the upper. Instead of your typical shoe with a tongue, the Tubulars upper is like a sock made out of Neoprene. Because of the construction and material choice, the upper is also very pliable like the Nike Roshe Run and Adidas ZX Flux. With stretchy Neoprene, you just won’t get that lockdown feel or rigid structural support no matter how tightly laced they are. Me and my flat arches need more TLC.

Surprisingly, the exaggerated EVA outsole felt pretty good. Even with its hollowed out middle, the ring of EVA was firm with tacky traction. Overall, the shoe is very light in weight. But that size. I just couldn’t find a size that fit just right. Too big or too small. It’s like I needed a size 9.25.

Even more sad, Champs Sports had a few (original) colors discounted $30, going for $80 instead of $110.

I wish I coulda loved me some Tubulars…

marshmallow-infused whipped cream and milk chocolate sauce, a creamy blend of graham, coffee, milk and ice, then finished off with more mashmallowy whipped cream and a graham cracker crumble.

Not really a summer memory I can recall in Hawaii. Maybe if Starbucks made a rainbow shave ice inspired drink then I could relate more. But no matter, I’ll try one of these S’mores Frappuccino, especially since the Hammer signal was beaconing this morning. Although it was a bit too early for my radio listening, other Pulpy fans told me about reviewing this drink for one Gregg Hammer.

No, I didn’t pre-order an Apple Watch, wanting to see it in person first. So I scheduled a fifteen minute appointment to try on Apple’s newest wearable at the Ala Moana Apple Store, but those fifteen minutes are woefully short. Other than making an appointment, there’s no way of actually putting an Apple Watch on your wrist. The demo units are either behind a case or mounted in a display.

The appointment runs through an educational demo of the Apple Watch. It’s kinda cool, but kinda lame since you’re standing there bed to your Apple concierge essentially watching a tutorial about the Apple Watch. The fun begins when you try on the different sizes and bands.

42mm or 38mm?

Guys definitely need the 42mm model. The 38mm looks too small and the band itself will barely fit. I could not slip my wrist through the 38mm Milanese Loop band.

A quick physical comparison to my Kickstarted Pebble watch, the 42mm Apple Watch is actually smaller. However, the craftsmanship and feel cannot be compared with the Apple Watch.

About the Sport Band

I’m not totally digging the Sport’s fluoroelastomer band. Yeah, it feels good, but I had a hard time putting it on single-handedly. It doesn’t align easily since you have to insert the pin first then tuck the excess band on the inside of the band. When taking off the Sport band, it comes off too readily, making for accidental drops.

The watch bands are easy to interchange, but personally, I don’t think all the bands match with the aluminum finish of the Sport model in case you’re thinking of “upgrading” your Apple Watch.

A Tiny Screen

The display of the Apple Watch is clear and crisp if not tiny. Looking at watch faces and well-designed activity monitors is fine. But trying to use Maps is too difficult for aged eyes. I guess the point is to use audio or haptic feedback to guide your directions.

Which Watch?

The general consensus is to buy the most inexpensive Apple Watch Sport model to minimize your investment in a first generation device. That’s very sound advice. Heed that advice and don’t try on the stainless steel Apple Watch. Otherwise, you very well may disregard that logical advice. I’m not sure what it was, but when I tried on the steel Apple Watch, it simply resonated with me. It felt heavier, making me more conscious about wearing it, but it wasn’t a burden. The leather strap definitely projected sophistication, and the magnetic closures felt more sure than the pin-and-tuck Sport band. Maybe I was imagining things, but I thought the steel itself felt cooler. Touching the sapphire crystal face, it felt smoother than the Ion-X glass of the Sport. And the stainless steel finish simply has an elegance missing from the anodized aluminum Sport. Trying on the Apple steel will only make your buying decision harder.

Initially, I was leaning to the Sport model in silver with a white band. But space gray with the black band is now my preferred Sport model. Seeing the gray/black combo stands out next to its colorful family members. But yes, the steel outshines all the Sports.

And there went my allotted 15 minutes. In fact, my appointment went overtime, nearly at 25 minutes, and it still wasn’t enough to adequately comprehend and assess the Apple Watch. I still haven’t figured out which watch to get.

Bonus Content

While at the Apple Store at Ala Moana, I ran across Ryan Ozawa and Burt Lum there for their try-on appointments. Here is Ryan’s Apple Watch post, and watch Burt’s video entering the store.

Through the Apple gauntlet for the #applewatch

A video posted by @bytemarks on Apr 10, 2015 at 4:49pm PDT

Yes, I’ve gotten rid of music files, transitioning to the cloud via iTunes Music Match. I’ve pruned through my Downloads folder. Every quarter I offload my photo library to an external drive and start anew. But still available drive space got smaller and smaller. Even with 5 gigs of space at the start of a day, I would inevitably get a low space warning by the end of the day. What and why I’m not sure, but there has to be a better way.

Replacing my stock SSD with a bigger one is one option, but hardware surgery on an Air is not something I want to attempt. Instead, check out CleanMyMac 3. This Mac OS X app does exactly that – it cleans your Mac painlessly and thoughtfully. Start with the default Smart Cleanup and let the app scan your drive. The first run may take awhile, but trust me, you’ll be pleasantly pleased with the findings.

CleanMyMac categorizes its cleanup into six sections:

1. System Junk
2. iPhoto Junk
3. Mail Attachments
4. iTunes Junk
5. Trash Bins
6. Large & Old Files

After the scan is complete, you can simply click on the Clean button to recover much needed space. Or you can investigate the individual sections to get more comfortable with what’s getting cleaned.

I started with cleaning the System Junk that includes caches, log files, language files, and other miscellaneous app data. Then I cleaned out iTunes Junk that included things I didn’t realize. A partial iTunes movie download was taking up 2 GB of space and those old iPhone and iPad backups, wow. I had several of these that were over a year old – 8 GB right there! Poking through the Large & Old Files, I discovered I had an old Mac OS X update installer sitting on my drive taking up 1.2 GB.

While I haven’t cleaned through everything yet, I’ve already recovered 20 GB of space, and I’m simply amazed. And even better, while the app is not free, it’s currently 50% off at $19.97 for use on a single machine. Definitely well worth it, and CleanMyMac 3 also includes additional utilities like an uninstaller and routines to run through maintenance, privacy, and extensions. Yes, there are other apps that do similar tasks, but by far, CleanMyMac 3 is the most comprehensive and the most elegant.

You’re still not convinced? Download the free trial version and decide for yourself. The trial version allows full scanning of your Mac but will only delete 500 MB of cruft. If you want to be free of the gigs of junk, you’ll need the full version. Just say yes, simply yes to CleanMyMac 3.

Because his advice was so good, I had to republish it here for others to benefit from. Here’s a slightly shortened version of what Ryan had to say (links are mine):

Between the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center (my favorite official ‘attraction’) and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, that’s easily a full day already. Apart from that, there’s fun little things. Lyman is interesting to us but maybe not as much for kids. There is (was?) also a NOAA visitors’ center in downtown Hilo a while back that had kid-friendly exhibits all about the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. You can check out Rainbow Falls right above downtown, too. Big Island Candies is basically a big store but a visitor attraction in its own way (often they let you watch them make cookies/chocolates).

If you’re able to venture further, you can drive north a little bit out of Hilo for Onomea Bay Drive (4 mile scenic drive and short hike down if you want), further still for Kolekole Beach Park (under a striking bridge) or further to Akaka Falls (which is now much easier to get to than it used to be!). Hell you could get as far as Honokaa and Waipio Valley look out (kind of the Big Island’s Pali lookout). But that’s a few more hours of exploring and a lot of driving.

Thinking south of Hilo (between Hilo and the volcano park), you could always visit old Pahoa Town (kind of like a little Haleiwa), though there’s not much actual lava to see. There’s the Lava Tree park, which is neat…

Oh, and food? It’s cliche, but I love love love Ken’s House of Pancakes. Open 24 hours, breakfast available 24 hours, kind of reminds me of the old King’s Bakery. Other frequent stops are K’s Drive In, Blane’s Drive In, Leung’s for Chinese, Suisan for poke bowls (a classic!), Cafe Pesto for fancier sit-down dining. We just went to Hawaiian Style Cafe for the first time (near Big Island Candies), and it was pretty good but busy. Next door is Miyo’s, Japanese, which is where we usually go in that shopping complex…

A weird one: Kozmic Cones (317 Waianuenue Ave), just above downtown. Simple ice milk cones (like old school McDonald’s kine), dipped in nuts. So messy. But an easy treat. And there’s a drive through, so it’s often our last rush stop before the airport. Oh, and you have to see if you can get into (and get your hands on) Two Ladies’ Kitchen for mochi.

Our trip is now done, and although we didn’t get the opportunity to visit every one of Ryan’s recommendations, we surprisingly hit a lot of them. Stay tuned for more posts…

Not too long ago, the Starbucks location in the heart of Kailua town closed for renovation. That was then, this is now.

Regular patrons, what do you notice right away? Yes, you have to retrain your brain and walk to the far end to place your order. It’s no longer the drink pickup area that’s now near the entrance.

You now go counterclockwise and pass by the counter of goodies.

Not sure what’s so special about this special edition Starbucks card. The “renovation complete” commemorative edition?

The small interior tables have been replaced with a higher seating capacity counter.

And look at the newest edition, the first Clover brew in Kailua!

I like the main lighting in the store…

Along with the accent lights over the Clover.

The reclaimed wood look prevalent in other Starbucks is here.

 But something else is different. What is it?

Oh yeah, I know… There’s no longer a second doorway! The street facing entrance is now a picture window framing the condiment bar.

So go ahead and retrain your brain on your next visit.

Sounds like a nifty albeit prank of a product from Amazon. These buttons make sense for a certain audience, so I can’t tell if this is a legit product or something announced on the eve of April 1st. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can sign up for an invitation and see what happens.

1. Kentucky (Nike)
2. Purdue (Nike)
3. Notre Dame (Under Armour)
4. Wichita St. (Nike)
5. Wisconsin (Adidas)
6. North Carolina (Nike)
7. Xavier (Nike)
8. Arizona (Nike)
9. Duke (Nike)
10. Utah (Under Armour)
11. UCLA (Adidas)
12. Gonzaga (Nike)
13. N.C. State (Adidas)
14. Louisville (Adidas)
15. Oklahoma (Nike)
16. Michigan St. (Nike)

Nike commands 62.5% (10 out of 16) of the field, Adidas has 25% (4 out of 16), and Under Armour is still holding on with two teams in the Sweet 16 (12.5%).

How does this compare with the start of the tournament? Nike lost ground going from a 75% showing down to 62.5% so that means movement for Adidas and UA. Adidas upped their numbers going from 17% to 25% and Under Armour getting a slight bump from 8% to 12.5%.

The Big West was bound to be represented by Adidas with either  UC Irvine or UH. But with UCI’s Big West tournament win, they got the bid with stripped big man, Mamadou Ndiaye.

Checking Waze and Twitter for traffic updates, it still didn’t look good, so I killed more time at Ross. Looks like they had just restocked the men’s shoe department with shelves filled. What did I find? Nike Air Trainer SC II in black/volt-grey and a real surprise, the Air Jordan 4+ “Columbia.” And what these are going to be redone this year as well? Or are these the rereleases? I have to take a closer look later.

My steal of a deal #kicks #aj4

A photo posted by @geewhy on Mar 19, 2015 at 4:19pm PDT

So there it is, my 1-2-3-4+ morning.

Related to the Nike+iPod Sports Kit, I was an early adopter of the Nike Amp+ watch. This short lived product acted as a remote control for the iPod which made it more convenient to control your tunes while running, and hey, the Amp+ even told time (albeit poorly).

In April 2012, I had my next interaction with wearables, pledging to the Pebble watch Kickstarter project. Not completely convinced this watch could be become a reality, I became a believer.

Later in 2012, I took another step in my journey supporting the Misfit Shine project. I intended this activity tracker to capture more of my life, thinking I would more conveniently wear this tiny monitor. But after close calls almost losing the Shine and it being washed, I became more conservative with it, not taking it everywhere.

Over the years, most of my wearable tech has gone by the wayside. My Nike+iPod Sports Kit sits idle with the malfunction of my iPod Nano. Even then, my GPS-enabled iPhone 6 has improved and integrated geo-tracking, making the Sports Kit obsolete. My Misfit Shine is still with me, battery-less eating up CR batteries much too quickly. My Amp+ was a poor timepiece, ate batteries, and was eventually stolen. Only my Pebble watch remains viable, even gaining functionality with updates and apps.

Now, here comes the Apple Watch. At the low end price point of $349/$399, the Apple Watch is cost comparable to the first iPod, going for $399 for a 5GB model. With its functionality and growth potential, how can I not get the Apple Watch?