That was fast. Ninja Sushi in Kailua closed down on February 1st and already the place has been cleaned out.
And after shopping at Don Quijote, the refrigerators were gone too. Supposedly the owners will reopen Ninja Sushi in the neighboring complex by Safeway since Target is slated to occupy the Don Quijote location.
The other day on a commute home, a little white Mazda Miata went zipping by on the H3. The driver was obviously in a rush, changing lanes to get around slow moving traffic. He was well going over 70 mph since he easily zoomed by me (naturally driving the legal speed limit).
A few minutes later I see this white “sheet” flying in the air. The object tumbled airborne before heading down to the road. It was the hood of the white Miata! Fortunately, it landed in between the two lanes of on-coming traffic. After veering around the hood, I see the Miata pulled to the side of the road, driver with his head in his hands.
But the story doesn’t end there. After getting off the H3, I see this in my side mirror.
Traffic on the H3 headed townbound is at a total standstill. I haven’t moved in about 10 minutes.
Car engine is off and all the cars are just sitting here. Here’s a view I have of a gutter.
So Apple finally unleashed its tablet with the iPad. Despite it’s funky name, the device is very cool and is set to revolutionize this developing mobile space. At an aggressive price point starting at $499, who’s not getting an iPad?
That would be me. Although an Apple fan boy at heart, I’m not totally convinced I need an iPad just yet. Yes, I was slow on the iPhone bandwagon, waiting for the 3G to hit the street before succumbing. And now, I can’t imagine life without my iPhone. Perhaps the iPad will have a similar arc where using it will validate its need.
But I’ll wait. Looking at my wants from a Netbook, the iPad comes very close but misses a key mark in what I’m looking for, and that’s the ability to offload digital pictures. While this might be a small gripe for what the iPad can actually do, it’s something I think is important. Looking at the iPad accessories, there is a Camera Connection Kit which adds a SD memory card reader or USB port to the iPad so you can connect a digital camera to import pictures and videos. But with the low end iPad model with 16 GB of storage, how many times can you offload pictures from your 8-GB SD card? Eight gigs of photos and videos is actually a lot but for an extended vacation trip, it’s a possibility.
Why not just get a larger capacity iPad with 64 GB of storage? And that’s why I’m waiting. You know the cost for capacity will be better in the next version. And maybe the cloud computing power of MobileMe will mature where pictures imported to the iPad are then safely synced in my MobileMe Gallery or iDisk. Or someone will cleverly figure out yet another way of fixing this need.
So I’ll pass on the iPad, for now, anyways.
In a few minutes, Apple’s special event is going to start with Steve Jobs announcing the McGraw-Hill announced tablet. Biggest question for me is do I “watch” the event unfold online or simply wait. Many, many sites offer live updates and tweets covering the event, but it’s maddening refreshing a bunch of web sites or catching 140-character tweets of news. And really, as the event happens in real time, how much updates can you expect every minute?
It’s almost a time saver to wait to the end or at least near the end of the event then catch up on sites like Gizmodo or Engadget. You probably can read all the live posted information in 10 minutes versus staying tuned for 60 minutes.
Adding to the time sink is actually watching the QuickTime video of the event. This is a must, more so with the introduction of a new Apple product. You heard about augmented reality with regards to iPhone apps? Watching Steve Jobs preside over an event is the definition of augmented reality!
So do I watch or wait?
I thought a Dell Mini 10v running OS X was blasphemy, but no. This is the definition of blasphemy!
The cost of my favorite Royal Mills/Ito En canned ice coffee drinks have gone up yet again. Regular price at Don Quijote is now $1 a can, a single can! On sale, one can goes for $0.77. Back in two thousand and late aka 2007, these same drinks went for $0.55 a can. In 2008, they were $0.65 a can.
Checking out a new local kine blog called The View from Space (… the one between my ears). Give it a read; yeah only three posts so far but it’s a good start.
Update: Fear not if the URL didn’t work for you since it’s been changed to http://www.theviewfromspace.net/
While at Cinnamon’s in Kailua, I gave their famous guava chiffon pancakes a shot. These cakes are potent!
They taste amazing at first. That guava flavor hits you and draws you in for more. Then all that sweetness (and a little bit of tartness) starts overwhelming your taste buds. I shoulda gone for a short stack and ordered something salty to offset all that intense guava goodness. Next time…
Until you try them for yourself, savor on this.
I’m throwing back Mountain Dew’s new old Throwback made with real sugar. This is probably the same recipe for the original Mountain Dew Throwback, but this Throwback has a throwback can design.
The flavor of this Throwback is the same as the previous Throwback, smooth and flat, but when opening the can, it actually fizzled with dew spewing out.
And just for fun, some additional pictures of the new Mountain Dew Throwback.
My string of encounters with Farmers Insurance Hawaii advertisements continues. This time it was at the movies before showtime.
This was at the Pearlridge theaters for a limited engagement of Thomas & Friends: Thomas & the Runaway Kite.
Spotted a Farmers Insurance Hawaii banner yet again. This time at the Stan Sheriff Center at UH’s oh-so-close loss to New Mexico State.
