With the impending arrival of Category 42 hurricane Felicia just days away I needed a couple more cans of CRE (chili, ready to eat) for the survival kit so I headed to Safeway during lunch. I also happened to have a $1 coupon off a Safeway “Signature” Sandwich of the Day so I figured I’d be all sustainable and do two errands at once. (Yes! Karma points!)

When I got to the register the clerk defiantly pointed out that my turkey panini plus cans of emergency chili didn’t make the minimum $20 purchase required by the fine print on the coupon. Actually, she was pretty nice about it but I felt guilty for not fully studying and reviewing the terms and conditions of the coupon. I didn’t think I could eat 8 more cans of chili, even during a hurricane, so I pocketed the coupon.

When I got back to the office to eat my un-couponed sandwich, I noticed that the deli artisan had also mismarked the deli sticker, charging me the full $5.99 instead of the Sandwich of the Day price of $5.49. Curses! Foiled again!

Good thing I took all the add-ons for the panini, including the pepperoncinis, so that it tastes like a $6 sandwich instead of a $4.50 sandwich. At least that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.

On the return leg of Saturday’s bike ride we happened upon an bike vs. car “almost-accident”. The cyclist was heading ewa in the bike lane on Kalanianaole Hwy and was crossing W. Hind Drive. She had the green light but a car rolled out from the side street to make a right turn without stopping at the red. Even though the cyclist saw the car and moved as far to the side of the bike lane without going into the traffic lane, the driver ran into the bike anyway.

The cyclist said she actually felt the wheels slide sideways but amazingly managed to avoid crashing and was able to pull over safely. (It turns out she also rides a motorcycle so her mad handling skills probably saved her). She could have easily been pushed into moving traffic.

While we were making sure the cyclist was okay, I saw another near miss at the exact same spot, exact same circumstances. During the morning ride I had not just one, but TWO similar close calls. In each case drivers turning right onto the highway from a side street have the red light but blow past the stop line, through the crosswalk and into the bike lane before looking to see if things were clear.

I’ve got other whole entire rants about both motorists and cyclists alike (because there are a lot of idiot cyclist out there too), but I’ll save those for future posts. Today I’ll keep it simple – when you’re turning at an intersection, please:

Stop at the line – pretty sure it’s the law and not just a recommendation.
Look around – look for things other than cars (cyclists, pedestrians). I’ve also almost been run over while running.
THEN roll forward to see if it’s clear to make your turn.

The 2 seconds it takes to stop and look is infinitesimal compared to the hours a traffic investigation will last if you hit a cyclist or a pedestrian because you were lazy.

Thanks for reading.

(Admin note: I’ve added a couple plug-ins that should allow easier reading on a mobile phone as well as Twitter avatar support in the comment section.)

I had to see this thing is action so a co-worker and I both installed Bump to test it out. Once you install the app, you enter your contact info and you’re ready to find someone to Bump. When you’re in a Bumping mood, you choose what info to share (phone, email, photo, address, or all of the above) and then Bump away.

I didn’t think the iPhone had anything that would detect another phone so I couldn’t see how physically bumping hands actually mattered. Instead, we tried doing a simultaneous jan-ken-po shake to get the party started. Woo! It worked!

Said “yes” to transfer info and voila, it was done in a couple of seconds. We both already had each other’s contact info and Bump was smart enough to update/append the transferred info to the existing records. Still seems like magic.

The app description says that Bump requires location info, or for both devices to be connected to the same wi-fi access point. It’s probably using a combination of proximity and timing to associate the two parties of the transfer. I’d love to see what happens if you had a room of people all shake at the same time. iPhone mixer anyone?

One last comment: Information is exchanged via wi-fi or 3G connection so I’m guessing data is traveling to Bump Technologies’ servers. They could be building a massive database of names and contact information. Make sure you read their privacy statement. Caveat bumper!

Before I go any further, let me say that I love Twitter. I live on Twitter. I think Twitter is amazing. I wasn’t sure about writing this post initially, something about “biting the hand that feeds you”… But the story has such a “Hanh?!” factor that I had to share, if for no other reason than to share some baffled amazement.

Two days ago I contacted Twitter for assistance deleting an account I had tried to delete but somehow managed to get suspended instead.

Yesterday I got an email back from Twitter:

Friendly reminder: your request ‘I was getting ready to dele…’ is pending and awaits your feedback. The latest comment to your ticket was:
(The text of my original ticket)

Huh? I figured it was an automated acknowledgement since it didn’t say anything other than my request. No follow up questions, no instructions.

Today I got another email from Twitter:

This is an e-mail to inform you that your request ‘I was getting ready to dele…’ is now closed because we did not receive feedback about your issue. The latest comment to your ticket was:
(You guessed it: My original ticket!)

Wha?! My ticket was closed because I only submitted a ticket? What else do they expect?

I’ve sent them a follow up, and I’ll let you know what happens next.

Hog Island BBQ

First off, Hog Island BBQ is pretty hard to find. If you remember A Taste of New York deli, HIBBQ is on the parking lot side of the building it used to be in. The pay parking lot is pretty retarded for that complex so we parked on the street and almost missed it. Fortunately we had just seen a BBQ marathon on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so we were motivated. iPhone, Google and Google Maps to the rescue! (“The blue dot and the pin are overlapping! It’s gotta be around here somewhere!”)

Service was friendly and quick. The menu is straight forward featuring 4 sandwiches, 4 entrée plates, and 4 sides (nice symmetry!). There’s no menu board – offerings are printed take-out flyers (see here for the online version)

We ordered the Beef Brisket and the Pulled Pork plates, both with Chef’s Scalloped Potatoes and Pitmaster’s Baked Beans. The brisket is pictured below… I think… they looked pretty similar.

Beef Brisket plate

Keeping in mind I’m no barbeque expert, I’d say overall the food was fairly good but not exactly ZOMG! FTW! to-die-for good. The pulled pork was tender and had good flavor, but I’m such a sucker when it comes to pork that was almost a gimme.

The beef brisket was a little less satisfying. It more like well-done chunks of steak (which isn’t necessary a bad thing) without any particular seasoning that I could detect. I don’t think the brisket could’ve stood on it’s own without the barbeque sauce served on the side. That being said, the homemade sauce was good, bumping up the flavor and making the dish much better.

I suppose I was expecting more, especially after reading the Advertiser review. However, it’s very likely that my palate has become accustomed to the heavily seasoned local style plate lunch fare, and the meat may actually have been barbeque perfection. What do I know about authentic BBQ?

The portions were generous and both eGeekette and I have leftovers for lunch this week. We probably could have taken the option for two meats on a single combo plate for an extra $1 and been just fine.

All in all, while some things could be better I think Hog Island BBQ is a nice addition to the culinary scene. It’s good to have options. Give Hog Island BBQ a try for yourself and let me know what you think.

Way at the other end of the spectrum from me, I know some folks that can run a half-marathon at a blazing 6 minute pace. I came close to that speed once, but it was while doing 100 meter sprint intervals (think only the straight part of a track). It felt like when I used to jump off of the swings when it was apexing – I was just trying to move my legs fast enough to avoid falling on my face. It felt horrible and probably looked even worse.

My pace hasn’t changed much in the past 5 years so my plan for this season is to improve my base strength and fitness through a combination of running, weights and pilates. After that, part two is to add speedwork so that by the time Honolulu Marathon comes along I’ll be able to run a consistent 10 minute mile.

Without looking like I just jumped off of a swing.

Watch this space for updates on my quest for “speed”. (Hey, it’ll be fast for me!)

While I’ve got a couple longer posts rolling around in my brain, here’s a quickie post for some cool Twitter tricks.

Trending
Check out TweetStats (web) or TwitterTrend (free iPhone app) to see what topics are hot on Twitter.

MrTweet
Follow mrtweet (“Your personal networking assistant”) and get an analysis of the folks following you but you haven’t followed yet, suggestions of tweeps you may be interested in following, and statistics about your own Twitter activities.

TweetWheel
Punch in your username on TweetWheel for a graphical map of the relationships between your Twitter friends.

Got other favorite Twitter toys? Let me know!

On this particular evening eGeekette and I were checking out the after Christmas sales down in Waikiki when we thought we saw the flickers of lightning in the sky. Since we didn’t hear thunder we figured the storm (if any) was far away and kept on window shopping. Little did we know…

Waikiki is one of those places I imagine is always brightly lit – kinda like Las Vegas – so you can imagine my surprise when everything all of a sudden went dark. No streetlights, all the stores blacked out. After a brief ohshit moment I had to take a couple pictures. You can’t really see what’s going on but that’s pretty much the point.

Lights in the darkness

The next thing I tried to do was post the photo to Twitter and discovered that AT&T was offline (uh oh!). Good thing text services were still running as I began to get SMS updates from a conscientious buddy. Island-wide outage baby!

We made our way back to the car by the light of the iPhone (still useful even without service!) and began the perilous trek out of Waikiki. Not sure if everyone forgot or just didn’t know about the four-way stop rule when signals are out, but crossing every intersection felt like a game of chicken. Making matters worse were the ninja pedestrians jumping out of nowhere and darting across the street at random intervals.

Once we made it home AT&T was back up and I was able to track the unfolding news of the outage via Twitter in real time. Updates from the Twitterverse were often more current and relevant than what was on the radio. Things got even better when @Hawaii set up the #hipower hashtag that allowed everyone to follow all outage related tweets on Twitter Search.

Another lifesaver was my recently acquired Lenmar PowerPort universal battery. With the included adapters, we had juice for both my iPhone and eGeekette’s Palm Centro throughout the entire outage. Originally purchased as backup power for videos and music during air travel, it came in handy sooner than expected. Lenmar PowerPort FTW!

So where were you when the power went out?

So today is the Saturday before Honolulu Marathon Sunday. Since I’m NOT running the marathon, I figured today would be a better day to get on the road since it will probably be a little too crowded to run tomorrow. Just a little…

I think during my whole run I saw a grand total of two other runners on the road, not counting eGeekette. Guess they weren’t planning on doing the marathon either.

It’s just as well, because it turned out to be a less than great run. Although it wasn’t actively raining, the recent storm soak and Kona winds made what should have been an easy run in relative cool a slog through humidity instead.

To make matters worse, I developed a maddening case of hiccups just past the midway point. Hic! Hic! Eight steps – hic! Twelve steps – hic! Three steps – hic! GAAAAAH! In case you were wondering, there is NO way to get rid of hiccups while you’re running. I made dogs bark and pedestrians jump all the way home.

Like all things, both good and bad, the run finally ended and the hiccups finally went away on their own. No matter how bad it was, I’m sure I’m feeling better than any of those folks running tomorrow.

Here’s my top three:

1. Garmin 305 Forerunner (aka “the Anchor”) – GPS, pace and heart rate monitor. It’s like having a coach on your wrist.
2. iPhone –Twitter, Facebook, email, mobile internet, all in my pocket. I’ll never be bored again.
3. Jiffy J-2000 steamer – Because ironing sucks.

Your turn!