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Holiday Dinner at Mac 24/7

Had our annual holiday gathering at Mac 24/7 in Waikiki. The restaurant feels kind of sterile with the layout, lighting, and uniforms. Food was okay, more novelty dishes but fun to see like my huge stack of Kona coffee moca pancakes.

Oogling the Club 939 calendar for 2008 was popular with everyone, girls and guys alike. Thanks to Mr. 939 (accompanied by Deejay Betty) for the New Year’s gifts.

There were some winner gifts in grab bag and some absolute stinkers in the white elephant. We need a timeframe before previous white elephant gifts can be reintroduced. Those flowers and tassel purse were exotic if not quixotic!


Pimpstrong, people! Oh yeah… the pics are here.

Banished Words for 2008

The powerhouse of academia, Lake Superior State University, has published its List of Banished Words for 2008. What made the list? How about:

  • Perfect storm
  • Webinar
  • Waterboarding
  • Organic
  • Wordsmith
  • Author
  • Post/911
  • Surge
  • Give back
  • Blank is the new blank
  • Black Friday
  • Back in the day
  • Random
  • Sweet
  • Decimate
  • Emotional
  • Pop
  • It is what it is
  • Under the bus

An okay list I say. Kind of dabbling in sardoodledom, no? Fortunately, “pimpstrong” is still going strong! w00t!

Review: Vudu Movie Service (Part 2)

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Part 1 of my Vudu review focused on the Vudu service and my movie watching habits. Part 2 looks at setting up and getting the Vudu box online.

The Setup
Getting the Vudu box connected was straightforward. Connect the included yellow, red, and white cables, connect the Ethernet cable, screw in the small RF antenna, and plug in the power.

Make the Net Work
Since Vudu relies on the Internet to get its movies, you need a decently fast Internet connection. Vudu has their speed test application to test your connection. My Road Runner connection fluctuated in test results anywhere from 2300 kbps to 4000 kbps for downloads and 750 kbps for uploads, getting a green light for Vudu use.

But here’s the tricky part. My cable modem and home router are no where near my television set. How do I get the Vudu in my living room connected to my cable modem in another room? You gotta go wireless! The Vudu has a wired Ethernet jack and does support Wi-Fi via a wireless adapter according to the Vudu FAQ. The FAQ also has a list of tested routers but does not show my router of choice, Apple’s AirPort Extreme. But I can safely say the Vudu works with the Airport Extreme base station.

And here’s another wrinkle with this wireless setup. The 802.11n AirPort Extreme is just the base station providing wired and wireless connections. How do I connect the Vudu that is rooms away? Fortunately, I also have the “companion” product, Apple’s AirPort Express. While I mainly use this pair for streaming music to my home stereo system via Air Tunes, together both devices allows for a wireless distribution system (WDS). Luckily, I already had a WDS set up so plugging the Vudu box into the AirPort Express is all that was needed to get online.

Initialization
Once connected and powered up, the Vudu box plays an audio and video test to help confirm the setup. Then the Vudu box automatically goes through a four step initialization process:

  1. Pairing the remote with the Vudu box
  2. Viewing a Vudu tutorial
  3. Checking for online software updates
  4. Informing users to leave the Vudu box powered on

The overall initialization process took about 15 minutes as software version 1.1.2 was downloaded and installed.

Once complete, you’ll see the Vudu navigation screen and can start looking for movies.


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Hello Kitty Is Macho

The next time I play Apples to Apples and the topic card is “macho,” I’m playing my Hello Kitty card. And there will be no dispute now that Sanrio is targeting this feline for masculines. The Hello Kitty for 2008 features:

a more rugged, cool look to appeal to men in their teens and early 20s.

If affordable, I should grab a mantastic Hello Kitty tee for a future Pulpconnection giveaway.

Apple Innovation

Can Apple’s stock actually hit $600 per share? Selling iPods, iPhones, and Macs can only go so far. But then you hear about this crazy patent Apple applied for. Consider this the equivalent to Disneyland’s FastPass service where participating customers can jump to the front of the line.

Say you’re nearing a Starbucks and instead of waiting in line to place your order and waiting in line to get your iced grande, non-fat peppermint mocha, you place your order wirelessly (with an iPhone I assume). Then you’re notified wirelessly when your order is ready, and you can saunter in, pick up the drink for “Snoop,” and be on your merry way. Of course, payment would all be electronic behind the scenes stuff.

Maybe $600 a share is reachable…

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Your Own Nike+ Ad?

Pretty cool. Nike is going after “real people” to provide their stories using the Nike+ running gear. Lucky Paul Stamatiou got his own commercial and talked about the entire process.

It’d be cool to be in a Nike commercial for any of their products. Yeah, I’m a Nike+ user who’s been slowly logging some miles. And at times, I do look like a running Nike billboard, decked out in Nike gear, and now Amp+ -ed out.

On the other hand, if I had a commercial, it’d be boring watching me run to my turn around point and back. Not much scenery unless you count a few geese and ducks hanging out by the lake.

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Small, Medium, and Huge A$$

I didn’t know local store Don Quijote had multiple sizes of plastic carrying bags. I knew about the small clear bag and the now regular green bag. But did you see the huge a$$ bag they now have?


I think it’s specially ordered for the fireworks sale.

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Played Apples to Apples

My nieces got the game called Apples to Apples. Never heard of it, and it sounds like a kids’ game, but it’s actually fun. It’s like a word association game where players try and make the best match to the “green apple” topic card. The player who is the judge for that round picks what he thinks is the best match.

It’s a simple game to learn and anyone can play. But I think it’s best to have players within the same age group. Younger players go with the literal meaning of the topics so humor and innuendo are lost with them. For example, in our game, the topic card was “lazy.” From my hand, I played the card “Britney Spears.” Unfortunately, that didn’t win the round being beat out by “rust.” Yes, rust.

Even playing only a single game, it’s obvious that you have to play the judge, meaning you have to pick an answer you think the judge would go for. If it’s a younger judge, go with literal matches. If the judge is humorous, go for a fun match.

Anyone up for a game?

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Just Looking…

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Didn’t get any kicks for Christmas this year. I’m just looking…

Nike Trainer Dunk Low – Black – Camo – Bo Jackson would be proud.

Air Jordan Enhancer – eh, okay, but the oversized jumpman logo really stands out. Good advertising for teams playing on television.

Air Force 1 x Air Jordan III Fusion – love them Air Jordan cross overs.

Air Jordan XX3 – possibly the last in the Jordan line.

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