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Passion

A Waste of Paper?

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Why do I have the feeling that these raffle tickets for the upcoming Yeezy Boost 350 “Blue Tint” are a waste of paper?

Do I trust that Foot Locker and Foot Action will hold legitimate raffles for these shoes or will “associates” of employees coincidentally be rocking them Blue Tints?

Update: Yup, waste of time. Got no call back and sadly, the Foot Action reservation system via its mobile app was invalidated, changing to a first come, first served system. I kinda liked the mobile app reservation system since it felt less prone to human tampering.

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My Greatest Pickup Ever!

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Truthfully, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. On Instagram, I was seeing a lot of images of resdesigned, classic Nike silhouettes with that telltale red zip tie. These images were tagged #offwhite and #theten. Then I learned “The Ten” was a collaboration with designer Virgil Abloh. But as soon as Nike announced the launch of The Ten on the SNKRS app, the hype went into overdrive. Every few hours Nike would release a few models of the Off White collaboration starting with the Presto and ending with the Jordan 1.

off-white-presto-confirmationHad to try, right? But also had to expect disappointment when taking the loss. But then I didn’t. Instead of “taking the L,” I got a confirmation from Nike for my Presto order. Despite online ordering delays caused by invalid payment types (yes, my credit card is not a debit card, Nike), my order went through quickly. Too easy so must be a wide spread release I guessed. Then I checked the demand at Stockx and was amazed.

After getting the Prestos, I knew why. It’s the details and the amazing number of details in this collaboration remix.

PB244313 The laces, the stitching, the folds, every aspect of the shoe appears to be tailored to be different yet the same as the classic Presto. I can understand why there’s banter that this model could be one of the top releases of 2017 and easily my greatest pickup. Alas, I didn’t luck out with any other members of The Ten. But these Prestos… PB244324

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Scored Yeezys with the Foot Locker App

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The second lucky pickup of the week was thanks to the Foot Locker mobile app. For the launch of the Yeezy Boost 350 Beluga v2.0, Foot Locker was promoting their Launch Locator and reservation system in the mobile app. Being a super duper old school member of the Foot Locker VIP club, I signed up for the Yeezy launch and was given a 6-minute headstart.

Then I forgot all about this. On the afternoon of Black Friday, I got this notification.

footlocker-yeezy-notification

Checking the FL app, I stopped as I saw this.

footlocker-app-yeezy

But wait, pickup was set for Friday by 3pm?!? It was already 1pm, and I still had time but in my mind, I thought I was misinterrepting this message. Only one way to find out!

Surprisingly getting to Waikiki in the middle of the day on Black Friday was super easy. No traffic or slowdowns whatsoever. At Foot Locker, there was a line for the Yeezy reservation, but guess what? It seemingly meant nothing since you couldn’t actually pickup the Yeezys that were officially launching on Saturday, November 25. The FL employee had a (long) list of reservation winners, and he simply made sure your name was on the list. He didn’t cross off or mark your name indicating you showed up by 3pm as the app instructed. Why I had to go down there I still don’t know and neither did a lot of other irate Yeezy fans who wanted their shoes then and there.

Anyways, being on the list meant my pair was reserved, right? I didn’t want to take a chance of pairs running out, so I came back early-ish on the 25th. Others had the same idea with a queue about 10 deep.

footlocker-yeezy-line

The line moved along as pedestrians asked what the line was for. After about half an hour, I had my first pair of Yeezys.

footlocker-yeezy

Thanks Foot Locker!

The Adidas Outlet at Waikele Is an Outlet

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Okay, let’s keep expectations in check. The Adidas store at Waikele Premium Outlets has recently been renovated with its grand re-opening today through November 12, 2017.

adidas-outlet-reopening

But just remember that this is not an Adidas store but rather an Adidias outlet, located in Waikele Premium Outlets. You get where I’m going with this? Don’t expect the high demand merchandise. Don’t expect to see Ultra Boosts (discounted or even at regular price). Don’t go looking for NMDs. A PureBoost may make an appearance, but for now, the AlphaBounce line reigns at this renovated outlet. There are rows of different AlphaBounce colorways. They’re cool, but at $80+, I’m happy with my $45 pair of “worn and refinished” AlphaBounce from Nordstrom Rack.

Other than that, I didn’t see anything worthwhile. In fact, the shoppers wore better shoes than what’s avaiable in-store. There were Harden Vol. 1 in red and white and some EQT. Otherwise, there were CloudForm variations of higher end lines. Probably the most catchy shoe I saw was the Tango indoor soccer shoe in a sky blue to black fade colorway.

Compared to the old layout, the men’s section is flip flopped, now on the right side of the store with the womens and kids on the left. Gone is the section with oddball finds, but I’m hoping this potential trove finds its way back.

Go ahead and check out the grand re-opening deals but just keep your expectations grounded.

Apple TV and Netflix – No Audio

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Not exactly sure what happened, but the Netflix app on the 4th generation Apple TV (non 4K) stopped playing audio. I have a feeling there was an update to the Netflix app and the update is implementing digital copy protection. Maybe this could be related to the future inclusion of Dolby Atmos in the 4K version of the Apple TV???

I do have an external receiver connected to a sound bar and speakers. The Apple TV is connected to the TV via HDMI, and I use the optical out of the TV to feed the receiver. All this time, this setup has worked out. As an interim solution, I changed the sound settings of the Apple TV to stereo. It’s good enough for now, but I have a feeling more changes are coming when and if my AV setup is complete. My current (non-HDMI) Dolby surround receiver won’t be able to handle the protected signals so will eventually need replacing.

But I have read up on HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) to see if this will fix things.

Under Armour Curry 2.5 and Ankle Braces?!?!

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Just how does Steph Curry wear his signature Under Armour Curry 2.5 shoes while protected by his preferred Zamst A2-DX ankle braces?

PORTLAND, OR – MAY 9: The shoes of Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors are seen during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs on May 9, 2016 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Even with the adjustable, wrap around fit of the “burrito lacing system,” I just don’t see how SC30 achieves a good fit as seen in the image above. It seems nearly impossible to close the tongue around the added thickness of the brace. Is that why he writes “I can do all things” on his shoes?

Customizing the Dame 4

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Although I’m not willing to pay a premium for customize designed kicks, this doesn’t stop me from playing around with the design process. Here are some miAdidas Dame 4 customizations.

Black, white, and pink
Onix and tech gold

Think I’ll just wait for Adidas to release yet another one of their many expected color ways for Damian Lillard’s signature sneaker.

Adidas AlphaBounce “Worn and Refinished”

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In the bottom row of men’s shoes at Nordstrom Rack was this nondescript box.

What’s in here?

Peaking over the edge of the box, I noticed something out of place, the Adidas AlphaBounce running shoes.

Adidas AlphaBounce HPC

 

Amazingly this relatively new runner found its way to the discounted shelves. Must be flawed I thought while pulling them from the box. Then I spied its price and label of “Worn and Refinished.” But at $45 (down from $110), I had to take a closer look.

59% savings?!?!

I couldn’t see any major issues or any flaws. There was this dirt spot, but it easily cleaned up with water.

A dirt spot that cleaned up easily

Talking to a Nordstrom Rack employee, the “worn and refinished” label is often given to shoes that are bought and returned to the upscale Nordstrom. But when returned, the shoe is out of season so instead of trying to sell the shoe there, it’s transferred to a discounted Rack location. It doesn’t necessarily mean the shoe was actually worn and refinished. So now, I’m an owner of a slightly large Adidas AlphaBounce HPC (reflective model) in black/utility black/white.

This definitely works for the price!

A few more pics.

Unplanned Wifi Bridge Comparison

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Well, I surely hadn’t planned this and really, didn’t want this. But I spent a few days doing an unplanned comparison of wifi bridges. Now, these devices are reaching legacy status since many devices now have wireless networking built-in. But for those devices that only have wired Ethernet, they need a bridge to change from wired to wireless networking.

wifi-bridge-shootout

NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS

Initially, I had been using the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS without issue. Okay, there was that one time I needed to reflash one unit, but after that, it’s been dependable. Setup is easy if not too basic. But once set, these worked (and continue to work). I can’t complain about wifi speed and range. Would like to have the power adapter use some kind of USB connection (to the device) rather than that tiny connector. But, but, but NetGear no longer makes these, and old stock online is super duper expensive.

So I went looking for a replacement…

IOGear GWU627

First up was IOGear’s GWU627. Easy to setup but too unreliable. Sometimes I can’t ping the device, sometimes, I can’t connect to its web interface. Speaking of its web management interface, it’s horrible. It’s overly simplified, geared for a single purpose bridge configuration without any options unless you find its secret menu at:

192.168.1.252/menu.asp

From this link with a minimal UI, you can change some settings including the hardcoded IP address of 192.168.1.252. I’ll give the GWU627 credit though, once configured it booted up quickly and got to work. But then it didn’t work so good. Ping tests were all over the place – less than 10 ms, greater than 100 ms, timeouts. Wow. When actually used in its use case, this bridge just couldn’t handle the network demands and stalled out, never allowing the bridged wired device to finish its updates. Not good.

TP-Link TL-WR802N

tp-link-tl-wr802Next up, a coworker had a TP-Link Nanorouter, the TL-WR802N. This inexpensive, tiny white box is very flexible can can function in many networking scenarios like a traditional wireless router, a hotspot router, a range extender, and as a client (client mode is essentially a wifi bridge). The web interface of the WR802N is very thorough with all the options exposed. It took me an extra try to set up Client mode with a static IP, not the default DHCP setting. But then the WR802N didn’t bridge. I could ping the static IP given to the bridge but could not ping or connect to the bridged device. I tried and tried. I even saw posts online describing similar issues but with a fix in the form of beta firmware. After contacting technical support, I was sent an updated beta firmware the next day. Sadly, this didn’t fix my problem. I’m pretty sure I’m configuring the WR802N correctly also testing DHCP settings and connecting to different wifi networks, but no matter what, I couldn’t connect through the device’s wired Ethernet.

Apple AirPort Express

Lastly, I brought in my second generation Apple AirPort Express. To cut this short, it worked. The wired device connected wirelessly. The wifi connection was reliable and performance was consistent and stable. Unfortunately, the AirPort Express is the most expensive device out of the three.

So where does that leave me? I probably need a few of these wireless bridges and while the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS fits my needs perfectly with respect to cost, performance, and setup, this device is simply too hard to get at a good price. So barring any other discoveries, the Apple AirPort Express is it.

 

 

Configure an Old Apple AirPort Express

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Still got a working Apple AirPort Express and want to configure it using a newer macOS such as 10.12 aka Sierra? Follow these helpful instructions.

The biggest gotcha is joining the correct wifi network name. For me, my reset AirPort Express was advertising a network of “Apple Network”. But if you follow steps 6 and 7, you have to change the name to “Apple Network” and append the last 6 characters of the AirPortID to “Apple Network” so it looks something like “Apple Network 1a2b3c”. Once that’s done, your Mac should be talking with the AirPort Express.

Now fire up the AirPort Utility 5.6.1 Launcher (skip the update notification) and you should see your AirPort Express available for configuration. Made a mistake? Reset the AirPort Express and start over.

On a related note, the original 802.11g version of the AirPort Express does not support bridge (aka client) mode according to Apple.

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