What a way to start Thursday morning! I had just pulled out of my driveway for my morning commute with the radio tuned to KRTR 96.3. Aunty Mildred Kaneakala was kicking off the morning’s Story Time when I heard my name on air. Wait, what was that? Did I hear Gregg Hammer as Aunty just give a shout out to his/her favorite blogger?!? Why yes I did (see the Instagram comments)!

Wait what? Did I hear @the.real.gregg.hammer mention my name this morning on Story Time?

A photo posted by @geewhy on Feb 26, 2015 at 11:14am PST

Sadly, I wasn’t ready to record the audio or fast enough to get the delayed playback on the Tunein app. So no recording, just memories of this special good morning! Thanks Gregg and keep everyone laughing in the mornings.

1. Buyer Beware the TVPad
2. I Want to Draw the Linsanity!
3. Belkin Grip Candy Sheer Black and Green
4. Making Sense of Your iPhone 5 Order Status
5. Vote for Vawer!
6. iOS 6 Install Frozen?
7. iPhone 5 Screen Flicker Problem
8. Thunder and Lightning Olympic Jordans
9. Dwyane Wade, Why Are You Leaving Team Jordan?
10. Itâ€s Winter Online!

Yeah, pretty tame stuff so I can see how these posts didn’t rate highly against my older material. I mean how can iPhone 5 problems, a complaint with the TVPad, and news from the house of Jordan compete against Hawaiian slang, a ghetto latte, Abercrombie & Fitch, LEGOs, Club 939, Taylor Lautner, and a moose knuckle?

Now, I don’t know if there is a correlation between posts and revenue earned from ads on Pulpconnection. But here’s a comparison for this past year. The number of posts is indicated by the green bars while advertising performance is the red line.

I don’t spot a trend, but I like what happened in October. For the month with the least amount of posts, it looks like my second highest earning month. I need to look into this, early Christmas shopping perhaps?

Luckily, our family was guests on the float sponsored by Waimanalo Feed Supply. This float may have been the pinnacle of the parade featuring a decked out flatbed truck with a Christmas tree, enthusiastic riders, and three sheep enjoying the festivities.

The parade had an early 9am start time kicked off by Grand Marshall Eric Bunyan. Then came a caravan of some most interesting vehicles. There were bikers from the Yokozuna Riders.

Windward politicians, Ikaika Anderson, Chris Lee, and Laura Thielen walked the route and passed out candy.

Then came muscle cars, vintage cars, and even a homemade barstool “car.”

Yes, Miss Hawaii Filipina was there.

These golf carts are outrageous!

But not to be outdone, there was a speed boat.

In the heat and humidity, the seniors had it right, riding a covered trolley.

Nothing says Christmas like a dune buggy and an off-roading truck.

Here’s the full length view of the Waimanalo Feed Supply float with sheep in tow.

The Royal Hawaiian Movers were out in full force, each truck blaring its horns.

Did I mention the candy? Remember back in the day when paraders would let fly the candy? Now, it’s all handing it gently to the bystanders… except in `Nalo. This community harkens back and still lets the candy sail through the air. And lots of it. Lots. Each vehicle unleashed an arsenal of sweets. Just check out the stash in this truck’s cabin.

Security from Bellows was there, not for safety or security, but yes, you guessed it, to fling candy at the audience.

I have no idea about this.

Then the closing highlight of the parade was Santa’s arrival… by boat.

While Santa and his Elves unloaded candy, treats from the North Pole also took the form of frozen Otter Pops.

Here are even more pictures from this eclectic community Christmas parade.

And don’t worry about the sheep. They were fine, eating the whole ride. They did want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Waimanalo Beach on Dwellable

Well, if you can get one anyways.

• Wow! 4.5 stars on Yelp after 80+ reviews!
• Wow! After all this time on Oahu, how come I’ve never heard of this place?
• Wow! A Snow Puffy?!
• Wow! Where is this place?
• Wow! The parking there is tight.
• Wow! They’re on Twitter and Facebook.

After you overcome the wow factor, settle in and get ready to feast on all kinds of baked goodies. Their signature item is the Snow Puffy.

My best description of a Snow Puffy would be “extremely balanced.” First, there’s the flakiness of the pastry. As it crumbles and melts in your mouth, you get to the cream-filled center. It’s sweet, light, and chilled. The next bite comes across the chocolate swirl. The dense chocolate contrasted with the airy cream and their different forms of sweetness is so complementary. Finally you feel the powdered sugar on your lips, licking off this sweet surprise.

Along with the Snow Puffies, Paalaa Kai offers up many other baked goods.

Of course, you need coffee with your goodies and Paalaa Kai has their mini corner coffee bar.

If you’re visiting the North Shore or taking a “Be Like Barack” mini-vacation, keep an eye out for this sign.

It’s kinda in the middle of nowhere, and you can easily pass it. Look for a tiny but packed parking lot or a bunch of people with telltale powdered sugar on their faces.

This is something Chad Ochocinco definitely needs. If you remember, Ochocinco made the news when his Starbucks Gold Card was stolen along with his wallet.

Me? I’ll wait for Starbucks to release an iPhone Steel Card app.

Eight inches tall, a zip up upper, responsive, light, and expensive at $250 a pair.

From a design perspective, there are elements from other Nike shoes. The sheathed upper definitely brings back memories of Gary Payton’s The Glove.

There’s also a feel of the Jordan XVIII back in 2003 when MJ played his last days in the NBA.

The midsole reminds me of a variation of the Air Jordan XVII.

When the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook unveils the XX8 on the hardcourt on Tuesday night maybe initial opinions will change. All I can say for now is #DareToFly.

For more info on the Air Jordan XX8, check out the Nike Blog.

After a day of continuous eating and giving thanks followed by a night of Black Friday (online) shopping and story watching, there is only one way to stir your morning coffee – with a Twinkie.

It’s been a long journey for the Kickstarter-powered Juicies project. Started in 2011, Juicies goal was to bring colorful cables made out of recycled materials to the iPhone market. The colors were delicious, the price was right, and hey, Laurens from Hawaii was behind it all so why not back this project?

Then there was a string of manufacturing delays that Laurens explained in detail. Then Apple moved from the de facto 30-pin dock connector to Lightning. Juicies persevered with production and allowed backers to change cable types to a USB extension or a micro USB cable.

After a long wait, here are the results.

Love this display.

The box design deserves some attention and credit as well. No fuss, no muss but good looking.

What’s in the box is minimal and looks made out of recycled materials as well.

At long last, my Juicies cable in lime green. It was either green or orange, but I thought the green was more vibrant. Actually, the pink and purple colors had a good sheen on them as well.

Thanks Laurens! Oh yeah, he may have extra cables to purchase for the holidays.

I have a new advent calendar this year, thanks to the prospective demise of Hostess.

Enjoy one golden sponge cake each and every day of December leading up to Christmas. Who needs Christmas with a Twinkie a day? Wonder if these Twinkies advent calendars would sell on eBay?

Starbucks is back at it in 2012, commemorating the Twelve Days of Christmas their way. Here’s what I think is Starbucks 12 Days of Gifting for December 2012.

• Day 1. Buy any tumbler or mug and get a free grande beverage.
• Day 2. Buy any VIA Ready Brew 12-pack and get one free. Buy any Tazo Tea Tin and get one free.
• Day 3. Buy the featured Free Brewed Coffee Tumbler in December for $30 and get free brewed coffee the entire month of January.
• Day 4. Get a stainless steel tumbler for $9.95. Get any 1 lb. Christmas Blend platform packaged coffee and a Red stainless steel tumbler for $19.95.
• Day 5. Get a red, blue, or gold acrylic tumbler for $5.95.
• Day 6. Buy a Merry Moments Cocoa gift set for $12.95. Buy a VIA Peppermint Mocha 5-pack for $4.95.
• Day 7. Buy 1 lb. of Christmas Blend platform packaged coffee for $9.95. Buy one Christmas Blend K-Cup pack for $8.95. Buy a VIA Christmas Blend 12-pack for $7.95. Buy one Christmas Blend Verismo Pod Pack for $8.95.
• Day 8. Buy a String of Lights Boxed Mug for $8.95.
• Day 9. Buy a 12 oz. Red Cup Collection mug for $3.95. Buy a 16 oz. Red Cup Collection mug for $4.95.
• Day 10. Save 30% on gift packs: Christmas Blend and Mug, Starbucks VIA REady Brew and Mug, Tazo Joy Tea and Mug, Gingerbread Biscuit and Mug.
• Day 11. Save 40% on Cold Cups and cold cup straws.
• Day 12. Save 40% on a Cranberry Bliss Bar tray.

Note: Reference the image above in case I had any typos.

Of course, the most interesting item is the free coffee tumbler. I luckily got one in 2011 and took advantage of the deal. My only complaint is the tumbler itself. Flow of the fluid is really slow since air doesn’t vent in easily. The lid cover touches my nose when I’m drinking so I have to wipe away any coffee drops. Although a 16 oz. tumbler, its shape is tall and skinny so when in a shallow cup holder, the tumbler moves around quite a bit. I hope Starbucks fix these annoyances for this year’s tumbler.