Life
Doing Some Testing
Playing around with Pulpconnection’s theme to test out some thing. Just temporary.
Why Danielle Tucker Is the Best Traffic Reporter
Yup, Danielle is definitely the best traffic reporter on Oahu. Not only are her traffic reports detailed, understandable, and extremely useful, but she interacts with her audience, helping them through their commute. Case in point was Tuesday’s traffic debacle. Leaving work almost immediately I ran into a backlog of cars, and time ticked by trying to make the short drive to Kamehameha Highway in Pearl City. I mean I didn’t mind hanging out with Big T for a few minutes but try 20 minutes…
Being at an essential standstill, I figured I’d ask Ms. Tucker what’s up with the local area traffic. The Twitterverse being the Twitterverse I never expected any kind of response but then came this online conversation.
Wow. Not only did she respond, she actually acted on my question, looking into the problematic intersection. And then, it was like she was actually watching the situation asking me if I made it through the last light (which coincidentally felt longer allowing more cars to proceed). Was Danielle working some Traffic Management Center magic like a traffic guardian angel? Who knows. All I know is that Danielle Tucker is the best traffic reporter on Oahu.
Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that she can take a joke being the target of Gregg Hammer’s Two Voice Tuesday impersonations.
El Capitan Coming September 30
Don’t forget that the launch of Mac OS X 10.11 aka “El Capitan” is coming up on Wednesday, September 30, 2015. Read about its features and if you absolutely can’t wait, you can run the Pre-release/Golden Master version.
I can say that the GM version runs adequately on a mid-2007 iMac with 6 GB of memory. I won’t be taking advantage of all the El Capitan features on this aged iMac, but performance is okay for an eight-year old machine.
A Sign I Need an Apple Watch
I don’t know about you, but I take this as a definite sign.
The watch band of my trusty, Kickstarted Pebble watch has a tear. The inevitability of getting an Apple Watch is nigh.
Too Hot, Need More Ice
One of the unexpected side effects of the recent and prolonged hot and humid weather is the need for more ice. The refrigerator’s built-in ice maker just can’t handle the demand. With a family of Sahara water bottles, there are days when the ice bin goes empty, so it’s time to go old school with some basic ice trays.
Who knew buying ice trays are now so complicated. Silicon versus plastic. Covered or non-covered. Residue, freezer burn, cracking. I’ll go simple with this Rubbermaid Easy Release Ice Cube Tray
BackBlaze versus Spotlight – Loser!
For too long, my Mac Mini was sluggish. It’s a 2012 model decked out with 16 GB of RAM and an Intel Core i7 processor. But when my 2007 iMac running the bleeding edge Mac OS X 10.11 was snappier than my Mini, I had to dig deeper to see what was going on.
I always felt BackBlaze was involved with the slowdown but hey, offsite backups are worth a speed penalty right? But it never really made sense. Even with online backups complete, things were still slow as BackBlaze sat idle. Looking at the activity monitor, all the RAM was consumed and sometimes, the bztransmit process would utilize 100% of the CPU.
Finally, a Google search lead me to the answer. BackBlaze and Mac OS X’s Spotlight were essentially nagging each other to no end, making my Mac Mini crawl along. As backups occurred, BackBlaze would log the changes, and that would then trigger a resource-intensive Spotlight index process. As more files were backed up (and logged), the Spotlight index would launch again and again and again, overwhelming the Mini’s resources.
So the answer (that wasn’t already configured in my BackBlaze setup)? Exclude BackBlaze from Spotlight. That’s it. Immediately after making the Spotlight exclusion, my Mini came to life, much faster than ever before. What a loser! I should have researched this previously instead of waiting all this time.
Here’s a few more Spotlight exclusions that may help out even more.
Island Snow Hat CDN Test
Needed an image to test out DreamHost’s DreamObjects CDN service so here’s the latest pics on my iPhone. These are cool-looking hats from the new Island Snow location in Kailua.
Installing El Capitan
I definitely didn’t see this one coming. I fired up my dormant iMac, the Mid-2007 model, and updated its software. Mac OS X 10.9 installed fine, so I kept going, recalling that the 10.11 “El Capitan” GM Candidate is available. A long time later, 10.11 is running on a 2007 iMac with 6 GB of RAM powered by Core 2 Duo processors.
Charcoal/Mint VH07V – I’m Ready
Local kine company VH07V could* be releasing this charcoal and mint colorway of their signature tee.
Charcoal/Mint action. She go? #AlohaRevolution
Posted by VH07V on Monday, September 7, 2015
All I can say is when this color combo is ready, I’m ready (Dr. J too).
Update* That was fast. This color combo is now available for ordering!
Adidas Response Boost Techfit Core Heather
I’m still on the hunt for a pair of Adidas featuring the highly touted Boost cushioning system. Seemingly every pair of Adidas is now Boost-powered but at a premium price. The Adidas Response Boost Techfit has been showing up a Ross for some time now, but this shoe is extremely narrow, especially in the toe box. I tried on a size 11 and even at 2 sizes larger, my feet still felt like they were being squeezed. But really, this is a good thing. Otherwise I would have walked out with this black, white, and core heather colorway (at half the cost).
The Response Boost Techfit features Boost in the forefoot and heel area.
I love that olive green sole with the splash of red for accent.
That core heather reminds me of Nike’s latest tech fleece collection.
Them olive soles!!!!