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Holiday Gift Guide 2019 The Wizenard Series

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It’s mid-October, so what better time to kick start Pulpconnection’s Holiday Gift Guide for 2019. As usual, these gift recommendations are simply that – recommendations from me to you but all from my point of view.

So my first recommendation is a book. Yes, a book, but one inspired by the mind of former NBA-er Kobe Bryant. The book is the first installment of The Wizenard Series, called Training Camp. It’s surprisingly good albeit a little repetitive towards the end. But still, I’m waiting to read more about the West Bottom Badgers and Coach Rolabi. What’s next for Rain, Twig, Cash, Lab, and Peno? That’ll have to wait for book two, but first, gift Training Camp and the Wizenard world to a basketball fan.

The Footlocker App Updates on Hawaiian Time

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It had to have been obvious that the Footlocker mobile app updates its Hawaii store data on Hawaiian time. I mean in the beginning of the week, the Footlocker app showed reservations for the upcoming Air Jordan 1 Retro First Class for Hawaii locations. Oddly, the reservations for adult sizes were at Footlocker Ka Makana Alii, Kapolei. While the GS sizes were reserved at the Waikiki House of Hoops and nowhere else.

Odd right? Nonetheless, I signed for the reservations to see what could happen. The following day, I checked the Footlocker app on another device and sure enough, those reservations were changed to first come, first served (FCFS) for Ala Moana and sweepstakes/raffle for Waikiki. The app must have updated on that relaxed Hawaiian time..

Saturday Started Off Cloudless

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Waking up in the dark at 1am on a Saturday morning, you can’t tell if it’s cloudy outside. But I can tell you that it definitely was cloudless inside. The footsites released the Yeezy 350 White Clouds at 7am EST therefore 1am HST, and I was shut out. Totally. Every site I went to, I got the message to hang tight and I would be let in when it was my turn. Obviously, my turn was never going to come around as the time passed with me still hanging tight.

Humbled by the footsite shutout, I dejectedly waited for more rejection from Yeezysupply. I hadn’t been able to buy from YS like ever (okay, there was that one checkout during Yeezy Day). But if I didn’t try then the shutout would be complete. So at 4am, I refreshed, saw the Cloud Yeezys, and started the checkout process.

Then there was that checkbox. What was that? It was definitely new, and it was my key to success. Because of this wrinkle of one additional check, bots were confused and couldn’t handle this anomaly. This opened the way for a very smooth checkout. It was glorious even.

After that the sky was full of clouds.

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No Reflective Citrins Either

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My Yeezy Reflective streak continues as I failed to get a reflective Citrin 350. And this was probably my best shot.

The regular, non-reflective Citrins dropped on Monday morning with mixed fanfare. Some like them, most don’t. But in usual Yeezy fashion, small and huge sizes sold out first. First there was the footsites of Footlocker, Eastbay, Champs, and Footaction (along with Finishline) at 1am HST. I couldn’t get past queue for most of the sites until much later. I did get into Champs right away and managed a checkout there, but like Footaction orders, I wasn’t sure if Champs would ship to Hawaii. Luckily they do.

Then hours later came Yeezy Supply and the Adidas app raffle. YS rolled out the same checkout process as the Clouds with that extra check at the beginning of checkout. Most bots factored this change in, but manual checkout was still smooth. Then the RF aka reflective changeup happened. About one hour after the non-reflective drop, YS puts up their infamous password page indicating that something is about to happen. Then surprisingly, Adidas starts up its waiting room for the Citrin RF.

I jumped in all queues, but YS was smart. Because queues were already triggered by the NRF Citrin drop, the RF checkouts would automatically face these queues. So you see where this is headed right? With all these stops in place, it was inevitable to see this.

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No Reflective Clouds for Me

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I was realistic with my chances of getting the reflective version of the Yeezy 350 v2 Cloud White, and my expectations went as expected. I didn’t get anywhere wity YeezySupply stuck in queue for way too long. Surprisingly, Adidas made a return to releasing Yeezys (with reflectives no less) with their Waiting Room splash page. At least you feel like you have a shot with this random entry system. Unfortunatley, I was in the Waiting Room the entire time only to see this.

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No reflective clouds for me.

Footlocker Hawaii Yeezy Clouds Are Now Sweepstakes

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Of course it was too good to be true. Since the re-release of the Yeezy 350 Beluga, I don’t recall any Hawaii Footlockers doing in-app reservations for any hyped shoe release. That’s why it was both surprising and refreshing when the upcoming Yeezy 350 Cloud White showed up as a reservation for the Ala Moana and Waikiki House of Hoops locations.

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With the Footlocker reservation system, good customers get a head start on buying shoes, and I was hoping for  luck on these Yeezy Clouds. But… after making a change to my reservation size selection, the signup system changed from reservation to sweepstakes. Yup, the regular ole lucky number ticketing system. Go to the store, sign up, and get a ticket and then hopefully a call back saying your ticket is a winner. I’ve won once so I can’t complain (too much), but I would have preferred my chances with a reservation.

While I hope a reservation shows up in-app for upcoming sneakers, the delay in shipping to Hawaii has got to be a factor why this system won’t work for the 808. The digital reservation might reset by the time the shoes arrive.

By the way, the Yeezy Citrins that drop the following week are sweepstakes for Ala Moana and Waikiki Footlockers.

Six Years of Hammertime on Krater

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Well, I don’t know how to approach this other to say it’s been an awesome six-year run of Hammertime on Krater when Davey, Gregg, and Shawnee debuted their morning show on Tuesday, October 22, 2013. As all us fans have noticed, Davey D, the facilitator of the morning mayhem, has been absent from the air since the beginning of the month. All-hours deejay, Wayne Maria, has been filling in as the non-Hammer in the Hammertime Ohana. And this change will continue as Davey won’t be returning.

I don’t know the details, and really it’s “noneya.” Suffice it to say, it’s been a great, great run of Hammertime that’s evolved since day 1 and saw the OG trio bond and develop the show’s format. The early day’s staccato is now a harmonious flow. Even with the replayed content, the dialog, transitions, music, and yes, even those teasers, seem effortless and help us morning commuters keep our sanity with the hilarity. Everyday’s broadcast is similar but different, giving us listeners a calming regularity but with an anticipation of that laughable Hammertime moment. Yes, Hammertime will go on just with a new (and very capable) member.

The OG Hammertime Trio

If you want to remember how it all started for Davey, Gregg, and Shawnee, take a look back to October 2013 and listen to Hammertime’s five minute early launch.

Today’s Mood

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Today’s mood after fighting through the release of the Air Jordan 1 OG Black Toe aka “the Satins.” These highly coveted sneaks launched at multiple sites with the Footsites, aka Foot Locker, Foot Action, Champs, and Eastbay, being the most plentiful. But because of the demand, each site lagged as users made their purchases.

I’m still not certain if I managed to get a pair from Foot Action. Surprisingly, right at release time, I got in quickly, made my size selection, and checked out without a glitch. But… I haven’t received any kind of confirmation for this purchase.

So I can’t tell if I cooked with fire or am a chipmunk trying to get an acorn.

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The Nike Joyride Gives Me No Joy

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Sadly, Nike’s newest runner featuring its bouncy beaded Joyride does not bring me joy. I ordered a pair of the Joyride Run Flyknit with my member access, and I even went a half size up based on early reviews by Foamer and Jami. They do look awesome.

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But when I tried on my Joyride, the expectant joy vanished. They were snug. Like very snug even at a half size bigger. I wasn’t a fan of the FlyKnit toe box in which I could see my toes moving around.

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Then that heel tab or the pull… I couldn’t exactly tell but it was eating into my heel after a few seconds of wear.

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Then I took a few steps, and I knew these rides weren’t for me. My flat footed arches totally collapsed the in-step.

The Comforming Cushioning System is just too mushy for me. You can use your fingers to really push in that light blue foam.

Because of these issues with the upper and mid-sole, I can’t even evaluate the Joyride beads. At $180, I can’t justify keeping them on the hopes that they’ll feel and perform better after a break-in period.

So I shipped my Joyrides back to Nike. Hopefully, they’ll bring joy to someone else.

 

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Today Was Yeezy Day

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IMG_3379Yes, I guess “Yeezy Day” is an actual thing where past and present Yeezy kicks are made available once again. Sounds like a kicks lover’s dream, but in reality, it really wasn’t. It was prolonged torture going after drop after drop that started at 3am Hawaii time. And being Yeezy Day, the releases came throughout the day finally ending around 4:45pm Hawaii time. Yep, that’s over 12 hours of shoe releases and over 12 hours tethered to a computer or phone hoping to hit.

Since 25 different Yeezy models released alternating between Adidas and Yeezy Supply, you definitely had many opportunities to get yourself a pair (or two or more). But that time investment stuck to a computer or phone was just too much, and I think the return on investment just wasn’t worth it. Sure, coveted models like the Glow in the Darks and the Black 350 surfaced again, they went quickly. Slow sellers like the Mauve 700 stayed slow sellers.

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Although I applaud Adidas and Kanye for this overall concept and mixing things up with countdown timers, hidden drops, and alternating sites, they need to rethink the overall experience. Initial excitment turned into fatigue after the first few hours of releases. When everyone realized that the shoes would surface in waves, reality set in and life called. I had several appointments today so had to rely on mobile copping. Of course, this was an understood losing proposition, but I couldn’t help it. I even skipped today’s Kith pop-up opening (also because of the massive lines). I didn’t want to wait in both physical and virtual queues all day.

But back to Yeezy Day. Yeah, fun idea that became unfun, unpleasant, and bordering a nightmare. The prolonged ups and downs of copping, the conditions that changed from release to release, all the successes and all the failures – just too much to be enjoyed.

I really don’t know what I ended up with – not much really and definitely nothing hyped. I wanted the Black 350 and another shot at a bigger sized Beluga, but these went out of stock super quick. Maybe if some shoes were discounted, I would have considered a less popular Yeezy 700, but at full price, it was an easy pass. As the hours labored on, I’ll admit the merciful relief I had when I saw this final countdown timer.

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The merciful end of Yeezy Day

 

 

 

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A SNS Raffle Win Isn’t

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I’ve been lucky enough to have won two sneaker raffles from Sneakersnstuff (SNS) over the past year. My first raffle win was for the Yeezy 700 Inertia colorway, and my most recent raffle success landed me the Air Jordan 1 Retro Gym Red colorway. But as I’ve come to disappointintly learn, a SNS raffle win is not a win afterall.

Both my raffle wins have been cancelled for a variety of reasons. For the Inertias, I was given this reason after contacting customer service:

We, unfortunately, had more raffle win orders than our system could handle which resulted in a few more raffle win orders than we had pairs. The size you ordered was sold out by the time your raffle order was created.

Okay… the reasoning is somewhat plausible but on the other hand, not really. For the Gym Reds, I got this response:

There was, unfortunately, a stock malfunction regarding this raffle and therefore we have not been able to fulfil your order.

So a system error and a stock malfunction negated my raffle wins? Seems kinda shaky, especially since this is coming from a vendor that deals with volumes of shoes on a daily basis. I mean how can the company stay in business with these kinds of inventory issues?

For both times, the winning notification emails say to wait a few days for an update. After several days, I contact the SNS support and usually receive non-commital responses like we’re still going through the volume of orders, etc. The end of the line comes when you receive a response from Tatiana. She seems to be the bearer of “unfortunate” news and her emails are followed by a refund from SNS. Unbelievably disappointing.

Now, SNS opened their raffle for the Yeezy 350 Lundmark colorway. Should I even bother?

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