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Passion

I Have a Weak Mind

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I admit that I have a weak mind and can easily be influenced by television advertisements. After watching guest judge Rocco DiSpirito peddle Bertolli frozen dinners in Top Chef Episode 6: Freezer Burn, I succumbed and bought the Italian Sausage and Rigatoni (on sale at Don Quijote this week).

The promise of these Bertolli meals is a pasta dish for two after 10 minutes of cooking. You empty the bag into a skillet, and let the magic begin.

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And 10 minutes later, voila!

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My own top chef added some mushrooms, and the meal delivered as promised. Enough for two, 10 minutes of cooking, and it tasted pretty good. Salty but tasty. This would make a good meal for those single, young (minded), partying, strip club owning guys out there!

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Well, Kiss Tre’s Grits!

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Don’t just call him Ladies Love Cool Tre yet, but the judges of Top Chef loved Tre’s work on Episode 7: Guilty Pleasures. Tre’s contribution to Team Black was the bacon wrapped shrimp with grilled corn and white cheddar cheese grits. That and showing off his guns while cooking in the kitchen.

On the chopping block on Team Orange was Sara N, the 25-year old chef that got slammed by Howie. I thought Howie’s time was up since he’s causing so much turmoil for the entire crew, but he survived for another week. Head Judge Tom Colicchio explained it best when he made a comment about being the best match for this competition. And since being the Top Chef not only means being able to cook, but being able to manage and handle the entire kitchen, Howie’s demeanor unfortunately is a better match than Sara’s.

Yeah, I think Sara’s youth and having less experience due to her young age was a disadvantage. The older, seasoned chefs didn’t let things bother them so much and got their heads back in the game faster.

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iTunes Went Widgets

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iTunes finally succumb and joined the widget revolution. Introducing the My iTunes service that simply shows your iTunes favorites, purchases, or reviews on your web site or blog.

It’s pretty simple. You first need to enable My iTunes within the iTunes software by agreeing to Apple’s privacy statement. Once activated, you customize your widget, get the HTML code, and insert it into your site like so.

I’ll add a smaller version to my sidebar and clutter it up for a little while anyway.

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Work as a Google Business Referral Representative

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May have to give this some thought since I do this to some degree already, but Google will pay you to visit local stores, get vital info and pics, and submit them to Google for inclusion in Google Maps.

There’s more to it than that and you have to sign up and be approved to participate in the program, but you can get $10 per submitted store. Read the entire Business Referral Representative FAQ for the details.

I was there at the opening of Satura Cakes at Ward and helped them adjust their sign for their hours of operation. Got coverage of La Palme Dor Patisserie at Ala Moana, was there at the opening of Ben & Jerry’s at Ward. Of course, I could submit entries for Kin Wah Chop Suey, Elements Hawaii, and Club 939.

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Dang I Need an iPhone!

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Or how I missed getting a picture of Jorge Garcia who plays Hurley on LOST. an atypical grocery shopping trip, lo and behold there’s none other than Hurley at our nearby non-lifestyled Safeway. He was shopping around the deli section and looked just like he does on the show.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me. 🙁 I always joke with my wife that I carry my camera around just in case I run into actors from LOST, but this time, I wasn’t prepared. 🙁 If I had an iPhone, I would had pics!

And by the way, Angry Asian Girl would be proud of his vehicle selection. Very darkly tinted windows though.

So my LOST sightings include Sawyer, Desmond, and now Hurley.

This Is What Pulpconnection Amounts To?

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Doing a periodic look at Pulpconnection stats via Google Analytics brings to light some interesting facts. According to top keywords, I have learned that this site amounts to:


So Pulpconnection is all about Hawaii female news reporters, a naked Harry Potter, and Club 939. Wonder what that says about me?

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Note to Self: Questions to Ask at Apple Store

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  • Want to see a new 20-in iMac next to a 20-in Apple Cinema display. How to they look? One glossy screen, one matte screen. At least both are matching 1680×1050 screen resolution.
  • Can users replace the internal iMac hard drive?
  • Can an older PowerMac hook up to an 17-in Studio Display CRT, the last CRT made by Apple? The Studio Display has that funky all-in-one ADC connector.

Thinking about a setup of an 20-in iMac dual screened with a 20-in Cinema display and another setup of a PowerMac connected to a Studio Display. Then the old PowerMac G4 with failing power supply can be retired.

Oh, that education promotion sale is still going… free iPod Nano… $99 off of a printer. Get the new iLife ’08 with the new iMac. Sweet deal (if I proceed).

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Boxes of Kicks Anthology 2

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Continuing my kicks anthology of boxes, here’s the next set.

Up top, we got the Air Max Penny 2, retro edition in the New York Knicks colors. Limited numbers were available at Champs, and they’re still in my rotation.

In the middle is the Shox Limitless. This was the first mainstream Shox basketball shoe and became a popular team shoe available in a wide range of colors. Derrick Low had these in his ILH days. The Limitless had high arches, and I needed inserts when wearing them.

On the bottom is the heart and soul of the Air Jordan lineup, the Air Jordan XI. This is the illin’ black and red pair. The XIs felt great and were easy to play in. Possibly the best shoes of all time.

Ah the memories…

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Remembering Why I Like Top Chef

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After last night’s new episode of Top Chef, I remember why I like watching this show. There’s excitement, creativity, teamwork, passion, and conflict all jammed into one hour. What more can you ask for?

The Quick Fire challenge of identifying ingredients and cooking instruments was pretty funny. Reminded me of Season 1 when the chefs had an unofficial challenge of who could blindly identify the most junk food and snacks. I think Miguel won that one? Some things were much easier to identify than others so it was a matter of luck of what you got.

Tre and CJ were the winners of the frozen Italian dinner challenge executing their meals the best, individually freezing their meal components. The chef packing his knives this week was stubborn Joey. Joey was paired with everyone’s favorite Asian ego, Hung. Hung knew the game plan of individually freezing everything but for whatever reason, Joey kept combining everything. You can watch Joey’s emotional farewell here.


I was thinking Howie was going to go after his tirade against partner Sara. What he said about Sara not contributing and showing her skills could very well be true, and he made sure everyone heard him.

More excitement in the kitchen next week Wednesday!

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Kicks Anthology of Boxes

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While moving stuff around the house, I realized how many shoe boxes I still have. In general, I don’t think I throw away any of my shoe boxes! I store stuff in the boxes which are easily stackable.

Looking at the various boxes made me remember all the kicks I’ve had over the years. What memories!

So I bring to you my first set of kicks anthology of boxes.

On top is my most recent purchase, a pair of Air Max 95 from Kicks HI. These are the Houston Astro colorways. Very comfy.

In the middle is the lightest pair of shoes I’ve ever owned. The Air Hyper Flights were super light and sacrificed foot support to drop the weight. Court feel were great with these basketball shoes, but my legs and knees felt it after playing. These shoes looked futuristic and came in some pretty shocking colors. I had the straight up white ones.

On the bottom is the heaviest (and one of the most expensive) shoes I’ve owned. No doubt about it, the Air Pippens were dope. These were the Bulls black and red ones. Oh so nice. I think they’re still at my parents’ house! Playing in them though I always felt a step slower because of their heavy weight. They were good to practice in since during game day, I’d wear different sneaks and felt so much quicker. Probably all in my head though.

More to come…

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A Few of My Favorite Things – Canon Digital Cameras

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Are you in the market for a digital camera? My favorite brand for digital cameras is Canon. I had a PowerShot S30 then upgraded to a SD700IS and am happy with both of them.

The SD700IS is small and easily fits in my pocket so I carry it around quite a bit. Because of its small size, you can operate it with one hand which usually makes for shaky and blurry pictures. Not to worry though since the “IS” stands for Image Stabilization and compensates nicely.

The SD700IS is fast. It powers on quickly, focuses quickly so you don’t miss that shot, and it’s ready to take the next picture in no time.

I like the image quality of Canon cameras. To me, the colors of Canon pictures look the best, especially the flesh tones. People’s skin may have a reddish tint with Canon images, but I like that better than washed out images I’ve seen from other cameras like Sonys. Yeah, you can adjust picture colors with image editing software, but I’m lazy and the Canon images are good enough for me.

The body of the camera is pretty tough, and there’s some weight to the camera making it easy to handle. The screen is huge, but the optical viewfinder is still available. When you’re trying to conserve your battery or bright sunlight is too much for the screen, you’ll be glad to have the optical viewfinder that most compact cameras no longer have.

And speaking of battery, the battery life of the SD700IS is unreal. After taking lots of pictures (and using the flash), I rarely get a low battery warning. I usually change the battery on my own instead of waiting for the battery to run down.

So if you’re looking for a digital camera, take a look at Canons. Although the SD700IS is still available, as Howard Jones said Things Can Only Get Better, and they have with the introduction of the PowerShot SD800IS and most recently, the PowerShot SD850IS.

Get yours now! Buy the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS 8.0 MP Digital Elph Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom.

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