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I Zapped my Nano

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You know you’re not supposed to disconnect an iPod or iPhone without ejecting it first right? You can get away with it many times, but sometimes, doing this misdeed can bite you like it did me. My trusty fat Nano was charging up, and I thought I had ejected it so I disconnected the dock cable.

Then I saw the Mac OS X warning message about improperly removing a disk. Whoops. No problem I though, I’ll just reconnect, and things will be fine. Not so much this time. The Nano still works but wasn’t recognized by iTunes. iTunes wanted me to restore the Nano to factory defaults. So I did.

I had to repick my music playlists, movies, etc., but now, the Nano keeps restarting itself when trying to apply the settings. 🙁

Aloha to the F-15 Eagles

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To witness a moment in history is why I found myself staring at the sky near the end of a runway at Hickam Air Force Base. A group of social media, traditional media, and crew members from PACAF and the Hawaii Air National Guard were all gathered to say one final aloha and mahalo to the last trio of F-15 Eagles departing Hawaii.

In service for more than 30 years and protecting our Hawaiian islands since the 1980’s, the F-15 Eagles have migrated to another perch as part of the Pacific’s transition to F-22 Raptors. So the gathered ohana watched as Buddha, Chucker, and Odie roared across the Honolulu skyline before making the trek over the Pacific Ocean.

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Once again thank you to Pacific Command, the Hawaii Air National Guard, and PACAF for this opportunity to witness history.

On Labor Day, 300K!

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On Labor Day, the visit count to Pulpconnection hit 300,000 lifetime according to SiteMeter. That’s almost one year to the day when this site reached 200,000 visits (just one day off)!

The lucky visitor was looking up Princess Leia kicks and is a Mac user running an older version of Mac OS X.

Again, thanks to all Pulpconnection visitors, readers, followers, fans (and even haters!) who have passed through this site. Can you believe it’s been five years for this labor of pulp, passions, and addictions?

I’m Blue!

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My Nike+ system just let me know that I’m blue, the blue running level that is. I’ve surpassed 620 miles of running, going from level green to level blue. Next up is level purple at 1553(!) miles then level black at over 3107 miles.

Here’s the movie clip that greeted me when signing into Nike+ online.

This calls for a reward! Maybe some Civil Beat-inspired kicks?

The Human Side of Fighter Pilots

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Fighter jet pilots? I only know of them from the movies. Maverick, Ice Man, Goose, Jester, Merlin, Viper – the all stars from Top Gun is my sole exposure to the world of fighter jet pilots, but thanks to Pacific Air Forces and the Hawaii Air National Guard, I got to meet real-life fighter pilots as they flew the last training mission for F-15 Eagles in Hawaii. More importantly, this was the last sortie for two longtime pilots, Lt. Col Mark Ladtkow and Lt. Col. James Sage, call signs “Odie” and “Saw.”

After our mission indoctrination, our group of traditional and social media followed Saw and Odie for their “fini” flights.
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Under the covered canopies, each pilot performs his own inspection before takeoff.
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Odie takes one last look at his Eagle.
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After a few minutes taxiing to the runway, one F-22 Raptor and two F-15 Eagles took flight.
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Here’s video of the F-15s taking off (I missed the launch of the opposing F-22 Raptor).

Along with the media coverage, family and close friends of Odie and Saw were present to celebrate their accomplishments and congratulate them on their near 40 years of service defending our nation’s skies. After all, these fighter pilots are people too.

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Sure, the movie stereotype of fighter pilots may be one of ego-driven jocks, but through this experience, I now know better. Odie and Saw remained humble and honored to fly the F-15s, but I have a suspicion these pilots could best Maverick, Ice Man, Goose, Jester, Merlin, and Viper when needed.

An hour later, the training mission was compete, and the jets touched down.
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I was moved by this silent moment as Odie thanked his mechanized eagle.
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And about the Air Force tradition of a “fini” flight – Pilots are hosed down by awaiting fire trucks and crew members.
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Then it was time for camaraderie and sharing the aloha spirit.
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Followed by interviews.
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I didn’t know what to expect upon invitation to this event, but I have to commend PACAF and other local DoD organization’s adoption of social media. Through these interludes, I’ve learned so much, got to dispel misconceptions of our Armed Forces, and just for a moment, witnessed the human side of fighter pilots.

Thanks to Pacific Air Forces and Pacific Command for this experience! And congratulations to Odie and Saw for serving our nation.

More pictures from the F-15 Final Training Mission.

Was that Danno from the New Hawaii Five-O?

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Is this the back of Scott Caan's Head?Though the new Hawaii Five-O reboot has a smaller cast than LOST, I’m still not familiar with the characters or actors. But still, when this guy walked into the Counter in Kahala Saturday evening, I immediately though of Scott Caan who plays Danno. I don’t know why, and I don’t think this was him since supposedly he was on the mainland getting medical treatment for a knee injury.

But then again, Wayne Harada’s recent entertainment column said Scott was in Hawaii and back on the Five-O set, and the guy did walk kinda gimpily so maybe I bumped into “Book’em.” Either way, Happy Birthday Mr. Caan!  (Is that the back of your head?)

And since I was at the Counter, I have to include a pic of my yummy burger.

My Counter Burger

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