From Gizmodo.  Hello Kitty contacts are here.  And they’re not so much cute…just very very scary.

Ever since I’ve been little I’ve heard every year that there will be a shortage of Ahi for the New Years Eve parties around the island.  This year the spin is a little different.  Supposedly because of the Sugar Bowl also on New Years there is going to be a shortage of ahi.  Take my advice, don’t worry about it you’ll get your fish.

Testosterone + Hello Kitty = Hello Kitty Firearms.  Perfect for the Hawaii P.I. 

From Riflegear.

Friday I was bored at work and stumbled across this article from the Associated Press. 

I thought to myself, cynically, “Oh, god.  Now at least the ricers can get the ‘masculine’ Hello Kitty decals on their suped-up Civics.  So many local boys are going to love that they can now ’unashamedly’ bask in their Harro Kitty sexuality.”  I then emailed the article to myself so that I could find some way to use it to mock Japadamus.

These plans were cut short, however, as I was watching the evening news in Hawaii where this announcement from Sanrio followed up the live coverage from New Orleans as a “top story.”  The confirmation of my stereotyping has made me too depressed to make fun of Japa.  All I can think of now is how the University of Hawaii Law School grads bringing the Hello Kitty pen case in to court with them won’t just be the girls.  God, I miss testosterone.

Its all in the game man…  I got this picture from the Sohh wire season 5 thread.  In case you want to get more info.

As the season 5 of The Wire approaches I’m hoping that we see another appearance of Brother Mouzone.  I know, it appeared when he left last time that he wouldn’t be back, but I sure want to see that guy.  He truely was a unique character, my favorite scene was when his bodyguard was delivering his books and Brother says “Where is my Harpers?”

The New England Patriots capped off the first 16-0 season in NFL history today, with a come-from-behind 38-35 victory over the New York Giants.  They are the first team to finish the regular season undefeated since the 1972 Dolphins.

At first, it seemed like the Patriots didn’t really bring their game, falling behind by 12 points in the third quarter.  But the Patroits scored 22 unanswered points to take a 38-28 lead.  A late comeback attempt by the Giants fell short after a failed onside kick, and the Patriots ran out the clock for the victory.

It was a pretty exciting game.  I actually really like the Patriots.  I mean, remember earlier this season when they were suspected of cheating?  No one’s talking about that any more.  They have dominated so many teams this year, it’s insane.  After the first few games you could tell that they had the talent to go 16-0.

Plus, the Giants came of like pissant little naggers this whole week with their assinine sound bites about how they’re not really impressed with the Pats.  Guess what?  They should be.

I really like Tom Brady - he seems like a great guy that’s humble, even though he’s probably one of the best quarterbacks in the past several decades.  I’m happy for him, and this record breaking season.  He’s such a refreshing athlete to listen to after hearing arrogant popolo after arrogant popolo.

Speaking of which, Randy Moss also broke the single season TD record previously held by Jerry Rice.  That’s an amazing season for a guy who caught just 11 TDs in his previous 2 seasons in Oakland.

Anyway, great game by the Pats.  Good luck in the playoffs.  I, frankly, think the superbowl is a sure thing for New England this year.

Gizmodo is confirming that the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware upgrade is, in fact real…including upgrades like pseudo GPS.

Like other updates, this one breaks iPhone hacks that allow the phone to operate on non-AT&T networks.  It also breaks third party applications, and blocks the method used to jailbreak previous versions.

No telling when 1.1.3 will be released - it seems to be kept pretty well under wraps so far, no torrent downloads yet.  But looks like 1.1.3 is on its way.

One thing that people from the mainland never realize is that people in Hawaii celebrate New Years with fireworks.  I’m not talking about lightening a few sparklers or the occasional morning glory I’m talking full on fireworks.  People shoot aerials, set off block busters and all types of crazy stuff.  Most of the normal firecracker/jumping jack type of stuff you can buy from the local drug store without a problem but for the launched into the air type of stuff you have to get them through a “connection.”   Somehow even with all these port inspections people are able to still get lots of these illegal fireworks into the state. 

So the normal tradition is the people gather their fireworks (usually a mix of legal and illegal) and set them off on New Years Eve, with the final act being a string of maybe 10K firecrackers lit to coincide with the time change over.  Ghetto families are the exception to the rule but not in the way you think.  Those families order 3x as many fireworks as every other family on the block then they proceed to start setting off their fireworks for days before and after the actual New Years Eve regardless of the time of day.  Even as I’m writing this some joker down the street just lit something that sounded like an M80, it shock the walls and rattled the windows, oh and by the way its about 11pm at night.

This whole tradition is has always been strange for me.  When I was younger I used to get really excited when New Years Eve rolled around since it allowed my inner pyro to thrive.  As I’ve gotten older and owned a dog, I’ve begun to get anti-fireworks.  For one the dogs go nuts on New Years Eve.  Most owners like myself have to sedate the dog with tranquilizers from the vet since having gun sounds going off every second will cause them to freak out.  Secondly the streets and air look like a war zone, there is gun power everywhere and smoke lingers on the block for hours.   Third is just so fucking annoying when people start shooting whistling bottle rocks at midnight 3 days before New Years just because they can.

Every tech blog is reporting this now, but apparently GearLive has gotten their hands on the upcoming 1.1.3 iPhone firmware update, and there are some pretty awesome new features.

First of all, the interface is more flexible.  You can edit your home screen and drag icons around.  You can also send an SMS message to multiple contacts.

But the most interesting feature in my opinion is pseudo-GPS.  According to rumors, 1.1.3 will allow you to find your general position in Google Maps via cell tower triangulation.

If true, this would be pretty valuable, allowing users not only to look up stuff, but actually find their current location.  Sure, triangulation isn’t as accurate as true GPS, but it would go a long way to developing directions and generally making the app more useful.

But I’m a bit skeptical about these rumors…it sounds more like a 1.2 update, rather than a 1.1.3 update.  I mean, these are big time features, unlike the prior 0.0.1 updates that have already been released.  These screen shots could be created with a jailbroken iphone.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see…but if these rumors are true they’ll be pretty sweet.

Footaction is having a pretty good 50% off after christmas sale.  I picked up some running shoes for a great price.  Fleece is also on sale.

And Eddie Bauer is having a decent sale as well, with up to 50% off men’s and women’s clothing/outerwear, bedding and bags.

You might as well stop by L.L. Bean’s winter sale as well.  I can’t really tell the difference between L.L. Bean and Eddie Bauer, actually.

J&R is having a 3 day electronics sale this weekend, with free shipping on lots of items as well.  The link goes to the sale page…not bad

Ever heard of Piperlime?  It’s an online shoe store run by Gap Inc., but it has all sorts of brands.  Their holiday sale is on…I haven’t ordered from these guys yet, but they’re worth a look.

And finally, you can get 40% off a single item at Barnes and Noble online when you use your mastercard.  Use coupon code:  "X8X9X3K".

Apparently it’s not very earth friendly to wash your car with water.  Why?  Who the hell knows.  But I hope the person who does know shits in a bucket and showers with alcohol swabs.

In any case, Green Earth Waterless Carwash is a spray bottle that promises to end the wasteful practice of washing cars with water.  You just spray it on your car, then wipe your car off - brining out "the brilliant colors in your paint" and protecting it from the elements.

I’m a bit skeptical…I mean, if your car is really dirty won’t you just be rubbing dirt, i.e. little rocks, all over your paint.  That means scratches, right?  Also, what about bird shit?  Can’t we use water for bird shit?

A 32 oz bottle cost $23 and is good for 7 to 10 washes, according to the Green Earth website.  Can someone try this out and post a review?  This really seems like a way to wring wanna-be hippies out of more cash.

As for me, I think I’m alright.  See, although I wash my car with water, I dry it by having a bunch of africans lick it dry.  It’s a win/win, because they’re thirsty, and I don’t like those little water spots.  Also, tongues are much smoother than crummy old towels.  I also allow them to place their clothes in the street drain - that saves on laundry water.

From Slickdeals.  Apparently Macy’s has a 10 day adjustment period on all items.  So, if you’ve bought anything from Macy’s over the past week and a half, it wouldn’t hurt to take your receipt back in to see if there are any sales on the items you bought.

Since after xmas Macy’s puts a whole bunch of things on sale, or increases sale rates, there’s a good chance that you’ll get some cash back.  The great part of this is that you only have to bring back your receipt - not all the stuff you bought.

In case you haven’t already heard the news story, but a Tiger escaped from the San Francisco zoo, mauled two people and killed a third.  I wonder who will the media find to blame?  An errant zookeeper?  An underfunded city budget?  A emotionally unstable tiger? 

I was 140 lbs yesterday morning and 152 before I went to bed.  That’s what happens when everyone in the family brings a dish, and you end up getting 3 types of poke and 4 types of pie.

I haven’t ventured near the malls today.  Hawaii traffic is actually worse than mainland traffic, I think.  Plus, you have a way higher percentage of old japanese ladies in camrys that think a hand wave justifies a hit and run.  On the other hand you have ice head soles who spent their money on rims, rather than head room, and refuse to let you in and honk when you take ‘their’ space even though you’re way closer and they just barely turned into that aisle.

I got my mom one of those digital photo frames last year, and this year these things are everywhere.  They even have small ones that fit on your keychain or in your wallet.

And I know when I go to work after the holidays there will be a bunch of girls with these little digital frames all over the place, and I’ll be forced to look at tons of xmas pictures.  It doesn’t help that flash memory prices are at an all-time low, allowing 500 pictures to be crammed into these things.

Like, why do I care what other people’s families look like?  Everyone does the same shit for xmas, so it’s like looking at the same thing over and over with different people.

I love how you can go to kozo or one of the million kozo knockoffs everywhere, and get decent sushi in like 5 minutes.  In the mainland, eating sushi is like a cultural event that you have to plan for…over here it’s like asian mcdonalds.

I love my zune…unlike an iPod I can sync it with a bunch of different computers.  The 30 GB hard drive is decent enough for 3 seasons of TV shows, plus a bunch of movies…and I can output video to a TV.  It makes regular TV obsolete.

I’m against eating leftovers during holiday vacation.  In my short time here, I should eat new stuff every single meal.  I don’t mean to be greedy or selfish - but I only get to taste this stuff once a year.