Menu

Ramping Up the Holiday Shopping

, ,

Went to Ala Moana on the Black Friday weekend to start the holiday shopping craziness. Here’s some of what I saw.

Free coffee from Nordstrom’s eBar (if you had an email invitation). Really though I wanted to try their Italian Mocha.

alamoana-xmas-13-01
Free coffee

Although some of the stores were already open, the LEGO store was not. Had to wait a few minutes in the rain while drinking my coffee.

alamoana-xmas-13-02
Before opening

The wait was worthwhile since I found new LEGO City sets for Christmas gifts.

alamoana-xmas-13-03
New LEGO City sets

I then headed upstairs on the new-ish wooden stairwell. There’s now some netting to protect climbers from the rain.

alamoana-xmas-13-04
Protected from the rain

Footlocker had some fresh gear like this Gary Payton “Glove” inspired AF1s.

alamoana-xmas-13-06
AF1 “The Glove”

And these socks for ballers.

alamoana-xmas-13-05
Socks for ballin’

In the Apple Store, it seems lighting is a holiday fad.

alamoana-xmas-13-07
Smart lights for your life

How about a smart basketball that retains stats? I’d rather have the baller socks.

alamoana-xmas-13-08
Smart basketball

What say you, Princess Leia or Daenerys Targaryen?

alamoana-xmas-13-09
Battle of the bobbles

Of course, with all this shopping, we qualified for a commemorative Santa bobble head.

alamoana-xmas-13-10
Santa bobble

How’d you fare on Black Friday (weekend)?

Holiday Gift Guide: Starbucks Gold Metal Card

, , ,

starbucks-gold-metal-card
Starbucks Gold Metal
Is this an annual trend? Is gold the new black for the year 2013? Why else is Starbucks introducing a new gold-colored metal card?

There was the Starbucks steel card nearly one year ago, and shortly, a more limited golden hued metal card will be available for $450 (which includes $400 in Starbucks credit).

5000 steel? Imagine only 1000 gold cards for sale.

Let’s go down the golden checklist for 2013:

Cyber Monday Does Not Mean Starbucks Verismo

, , ,

Did you see Starbucks one-day Cyber Monday special of $25 off of a $60 purchase? This includes free shipping as well, but alas, the Verismo systems are exempt from this offer. The Verismo models have recently come down in price, available at $99 for the 580 model. Imagine if you got an additional $25 off of the reduced price – a no brainer buy.

Maybe instead, it’s time to load up on Verismo pods?

Starbucks

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: YOLO Means LOLO Shirt

, , , , , ,

This one is for the Hawaii locals. You know the catchphrase, “You only live once” abbreviated as YOLO and said before doing something usually disastrous? You can now voice your opinion of YOLO antics using Hawaiian pidgin (slang) on this Hawaiian Style tee.

YOLO LOLO Shirt
YOLO LOLO Shirt

Lolo can range in meaning from dumb to stupid to downright idiotic. So yeah, YOLO could also mean lolo. Currently available at Macy’s in Hawaii and on sale too.

Disney Aulani Tips 1

, , , , ,

So I already gave you one tip while staying at the Disney Aulani, the infinity pool is slightly warmer, and as a surprise bonus, you can occasionally hear dolphins and whales while submerged.

Here are a few more tips for your Aulani stay.

Bring a GoPro Hero

underwater-selfie1Since you’ll be spending a lot of time at the pools or at the neighboring ocean lagoon, you’ll need to get yourself a GoPro Hero action camera. While the activities at the Aulani are not actively intense, there are many picturesque views and opportunities to video or snap pictures below and above water. Maybe you can record the sounds of the whales and dolphins in the infinity pool. Oh, and work on that underwater selfie.

Don’t Fret the Weather

Our stay at the Aulani was marred by state-wide flash flood watches and warnings. The Windward side looked like this.

Thirty minutes later, the weather in Kapolei looked like this.

As the clouds poured on most of the island, an occasional sprinkle made you look up at the skies above Aulani for a moment before rejoining the fun.

Great (and Not So Great) Wifi

While in the main public areas or even by the pools, the free Wifi network is screaming fast. Signal strength is solid even on the outskirts, but the signal may not reach your room. There is no complimentary network access in your room.

Unique Gifts

For Disney fans, be sure to check out the KÄ€LEPA store for unique gifts. I mentioned the Crazy Shirts-made Mele Kalikimaka Aulani shirt, but there were many more collectibles to be found. Some were generic Disney items, but most featured the Aulani namesake.

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Group Games

, ,

Want to know the inner thoughts of others? Try playing a game like Apples to Apples. It’s an innocent way to see how others think with their responses and answers, and it is a fun game.

If you want to bump this up a notch then go for Cards Against Humanity. Same concept but more mature themed. Just a warning, you may need to reference the Urban Dictionary to understand some of the off-color terms.

Technically, Cards Against Humanity is an open sourced game and you can make your own set, but at $25 for a nicely printed, boxed set, it’s probably worth the cost.

Starbucks Espresso Tumbler Now Available

, ,

Maybe, sorta, it depends. Some Starbucks locations have been selling the new tumbler that gets you free espresso-based drinks in January 2014. Yes, although they’re supposed to be available on Black Friday (November 29, 2013) at a $10 discount, a few stores are now selling them at the regular $75 price tag. Expensive, right?

Starbucks January 2014 Tumbler
Starbucks January 2014 Tumbler

Let’s think about this. The tumbler is a grande size, and let’s conservatively assume a $4 price for an espresso/latte drink. After 19 drinks, you’ve paid for the tumbler. Supposedly it’s one free drink per day, but I’m not sure how that’s enforced, so you could get the 19 drinks in less than 19 days. Assume a higher priced grande drink, and you’ll recoup your investment faster. Yes, you won’t be earning Rewards stars while using the tumbler, but at a free drink after 12 stars, you’ll miss out on one, maybe two freebies.

Anyways, if you’re a caffeine addict and want something more than brewed coffee, you’ll rationalize the price of this tumbler. Good luck finding one!

Starbucks Tiered Dashes

, ,

Naughty, naughty Starbucks. The popular coffee brand knows how to create caffeine addicted customers. While Starbucks has had its Star Dashes since 2012, they’ve gotten to be experts at tailoring the dashes. For the past few dashes, the goals have differed, assumedly based on your visits and buying habits.

Don’t go very often? Starbucks knows and gives you the creampuff dashes like buying four drinks to receive $5 in credit. Easy right? But once the coffee from those four drinks infuses in your system, you’re on your way to caffeine addiction. All to get back $5, and you know that $5 is just going to feed your addiction. For us already addicted, Starbucks throws us a pittance with $5 after 10 transactions or $10 after 16 stars.

sbux-xmas-dash-expert

For this 2013 holiday season, what kind of dash offers have you received? I’ve heard of:

  • 4 for $5, 6 for $10
  • 5 for $5, 8 for $10
  • 7 for $5, 10 for $10
  • 10 for $5, 16 for $10

Because Pulpconnection

,

The power and influence of the Internet is grand. Learning is a Google away, entertainment anywhere is possible with a smartphone, and even the English language continues to evolve (despite Urban Dictionary). And now there’s “because.”

The word “because,” in standard English usage, is a subordinating conjunction, which means that it connects two parts of a sentence in which one (the subordinate) explains the other. In that capacity, “because” has two distinct forms. It can be followed either by a finite clause (I’m reading this because [I saw it on the web]) or by a prepositional phrase (I’m reading this because [of the web]). These two forms are, traditionally, the only ones to which “because” lends itself.

So next time, when you chuckle, learn something interesting, or find out happenings in Hawaii, you can think “because Pulpconnection.”

Load More