Awesome Shirts
Loved these awesome shirts at Macy’s Ala Moana.
Was there anyone better than Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell?
I broke down and bought one of these shirts.
Pulp
Professor Pandemonium. Nail. Face
You saw what Professor Pandemonium can do with a mouse trap and his tongue. Now, watch what he can do with a hammer, a nail, and his face, specifically his nose. Listen to the reaction from the crowd.
The Zaniness of Professor Pandemonium
I think that’s what this character called himself, Professor Pandemonium. He was at the Art Spree entertaining the crowd with his science-based “magic” tricks. You were either appalled or enthralled by the Professor’s antics. Here are some pics of the Prof, his tongue, and an old-fashioned mouse trap. You guess what happens next…
A Successful Alaskan Scavenger Hunt
Bravo to @abaggy for successfully completing his scavenger hunt while cruising Alaska! I posed nine challenges and two bonuses, and here are his results.
- Dessert. @abaggy excelled in this category! Love this one.
- A scenic view. This was a gimme on a cruise through Alaska. This pic is cool.
- Shipboard entertainment. Only diehards sit poolside to watch a movie in the cold.
- A towel sculpture. Sad this sculpture, but it’ll do.
- Two different ethnicities of food. Japanese sushi prepared by Filipino chefs and American cuisine. Check.
- A workout room. FAIL! But I can’t really blame him although I would have accepted the many flights of stairs as a workout room. 😉
- “Wildlife†(could be interpreted many ways). Sleeping seals are wildlife.
- Cold. Yep, he has a few pictures of glaciers and icebergs. Brrrr.
- Gluttony. I would have preferred a more interpretive rendition of gluttony like stacks of cleared plates after a meal, but his picture of an overflowing plate of food is gluttonous enough.
Bonus
- Crepuscular rays. No to this bonus as @abaggy was too mesmerized by the scenery, ships’ activities, or eating.
- Mankini. This was the most difficult item on his list. Techically, he didn’t find a mankini, but his substitutes are bonus worthy. Fur lined skivvies!
Tallying up his score, he gets 8 out of 9 for his hunt with one bonus point, so that’s a perfect 9 out of 9! Well done, you sir, are an accomplished traveller! Thanks for playing. 🙂
The Anteaters Are Coming…
On February 9, 2013, the Anteaters men’s basketball team from UC Irvine plays the UH Warriors. Do I wear my Anteater shirt?
Zot! Zot!
How Abercrombie & Fitch Defines “Sensitivity”
How does Abercrombie & Fitch portray sensitivity? Like this… Would the brand do it any other way?
Buyer Beware the TVPad
What looks like an AppleTV, runs the Android OS, and irritates me to no end? It’s the TVPad!
First off, I admit that the language barrier didn’t help the situation, but if you’re thinking of getting one of these boxes, just know what you’re getting into. The TVPad is a custom box that runs specific apps to stream video from the Internet to your television. You can actually get your own computer hardware and install the same apps, but the TVPad is packaged into one small unit to make things very convenient. I won’t comment on the legality of the product or the video streams.
Now here’s where it gets dumb, and again, my language misunderstanding could have gotten in the way. Since the TVPad is meant to connect to your television to stream Internet-based video, you assume two things:
- The TVPad connects to your TV
- The TVPad connects to the Internet
Not unreasonable, right? Connecting to your TV is really easy if you have HDMI. One cable and you’re done. So how about that connecting to the Internet part? Take a look at the box and the “instruction manual.”
What would be your guess to connect the TVPad to the Internet? WiFi? I can read that on the box, and the manual shows the configuration steps. But no, you and I would be wrong. You see, the TVPad M121 does not support WiFi!! I have no idea why, and I still question this engineering decision. The only hint that WiFi isn’t on the M121 model is this statement in the configuration settings:
As a wireless network environment is uncertain, please choose the cable network for your comfort.
Translated this means suck it up and hardwire me to the Internet. Seriously?!
You have to use the cabled Ethernet connection to get the TVPad online. You have an Ethernet cable installed in your living room by your television, right? It’s common in every household, right? Oh wait, the TVPad has a USB port. That’s the answer. You can use one of those going-out-of-style USB WiFi adapters. Those are relatively cheap now. So I got one, a name brand one that should do the trick. But no, it didn’t. There was no indication that WiFi was now enabled via this adapter. More online research that keeps point me back to the wired Ethernet port. Really? Really.
Now, I wasn’t about to string a 50-ft CAT5e cable from the router through the living and dining room to the TV. And no, we weren’t going to relocate the Road Runner drop. What next? Set up a WiFi/Ethernet bridge like a wireless basestation working in reverse. Have you tried to get an older, unsupported 802.11g router working with a WiFi bridge from another vendor? You have? Good for you! I wasn’t about to go down that possibly tortuous road. Instead, I went for the (more expensive) sure thing – the dual band, 802.11n Apple AirPort Express.
I swapped out the older 802.11g router with one AirPort Express to act as the primary router and added a second AirPort Express to bridge the wireless back to a wired connection for the TVPad. This setup was much faster than figuring out the TVPad doesn’t or won’t natively support WiFi.
Then success, bittersweet success. The TVPad with $200 more in extra equipment was finally up and running. It actually streams video well and is responsive. Just remember that you have to choose the cable network for your comfort.
Here are some pics for the heck of it.
The Totality of My Knowledge
Seemingly, the totality of my work knowledge can be contained on a single disc, an 700-MB CDR.
I was backing up my documents on my work computer and pared down my files I wanted to keep to fit on a single CD – not sure how to view that fact. And oh yeah, the CD is only half full.
Aww, wait… I didn’t bother to verify if the disc is actually readable and usable. Perhaps that’s a better testament to my totality of work knowledge?
Lana Del Rey vs Katy Perry
This is an interesting spin on pop music success. Katy Perry started her musical career as Katy Hudson, a gospel singer. She then underwent a pivot, changing her persona and her fortune.
Basically, Lana Del Rey followed a similar path to Katy’s but with differing results (for now anyways). The trailer park-living Lana is actually Lizzy Grant who has significant backing for her talents. Her past and musical start didn’t begin with YouTube but as a member of Interscope Records. After this was revealed, there was backlash against Lana though her Born to Die album is melancholically good.
I’m not sure why Katy’s change didn’t derail her popularity. Maybe it’s Katy’s can’t-be-taken-seriously image she portrays that is the big difference, personified with songs like California Gurls and Last Friday Night. For the seriousness and weight of Lana’s genre, a transgression in her storied past cuts deeper since it questions her pain and angst captured in her music.
Listen to Lana’s music, and you decide for yourself.
Poll: What Would the Tabasco Man Say?
After seeing the Heinz Hot & Spicy ketchup at the store, I wondered what the Tabasco Man would say about this new condiment.
What do you think he’d say?
Whole Foods Kailua Mixup
If you’re planning on taking your kids to the Whole Foods Market Kailua ice cream making activity, there’s been a mistake. This event was published in the Advertiser’s Saturday paper, but when we called to RSVP, they said the event was an exotic fruit tasting. The WFM Kailua web page describes the event correctly.
This month’s Keiki in the Kitchen explores the wonderful flavors of exotic fruit, courtesy of Frankies Nursery! For keiki ages 3-10. Free; RSVP required. Email sp.kao.marketing to reserve your spot.
The Advertiser’s (premium) web site says:
July 7, 11:30 a.m.: Whole Foods Market Kailua teaches keiki how to make their favorite ice creams.
Hmmm… not sure what happened, but I don’t think I could convince my kids that a rambutan is ice cream. Hopefully, this gets cleared up before the event.