Well, Mother’s Day is almost here and its time for us to start doing the annual scramble for gifts.  I myself this year planned ahead a put togather a gift basket of sorts containing a few items purchased from my usual haunts (costco, trader joes.)  I always dread having to remember these fake holidays that mean so much to family members.  I dont know why it isn’t acceptable to just agree to a non-gift policy that way when the special day comes around we can rest easy in knowing that “I planned ahead.”

Here’s a funny collection of bad mother’s day gifts as told on 10 Zen Monkeys

At the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems announced plans to roll out a high end cellphone built on the Java platform.  The phone is expected to compete with other all-in-one devices like the iphone and Blackberry.  The phone will feature a full desktop operating system.

This “innovation” by Sun seems to me like a sad attempt at boosting its stock price.  Sun as a company has been in the doldrums for years.  Java never really took off like they expected it would, and with the introduction of all these Web 2.0 applications, it looks as those Just-in-time computing via a java applet is going to be a distant memory.  If it wasn’t for its huge debt load, lack of new product growth, diminishing margins in the server business, Sun probably would have merged already with a larger, sexier company.  I’ll be following the jphone closely, but my guess is that its not going anywhere.

NY Times ran an article confirming a Google Phone project in the works.  With iphone on the horizon for a launch in June, this new mobile phone entrant is going to have to be really good to get any love….Unless they make it free! 

I’ve always pondered the question: What is the best Spam Musubi construction?  On its face this question might not seem complicated but take a second and think of all the permutations you’ve seen spam musubi prepared. 

Where do you put the spam?  On Top?  In between two layers of rice like a sandwich?

What about Sauce? Do you put a sauce on the musubi or not? 

What about Nori, thick or thin wrapper?

What about extras like egg or furikake?

What about storage, saran wrap only? 

Here’s a basic recipe from the Honolulu Star Bulletin:

Pan Spam Musubi

2 cans Spam, cubed
4 cups rice, cooked
4 sheets nori
Furikake
» Sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mirin

Combine sauce ingredients and stir to dissolve sugar.

Fry Spam until browned. Add sauce to pan and simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Place two nori squares in bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. Top with half the rice and press down to make an even layer. Sprinkle furikake over rice, then top with the Spam. Spread remaining rice over Spam and press down. Sprinkle with furikake and top with 2 more nori sheets. Cut into rectangles.

Gizmodo is reporting that they have an inside source that is saying that iphone will be delayed. Although I’m personally negative in regards to the iphone launch being completed on time, I have to admit that this recent publicity seems fishy. Anyone that follows Apple stock may have noticed that the stock sold off sharply this past Monday, does this mean something? I personally don’t know but it appears that many reporters, Gizmodo, Dvorak have been reporting potential future delays based on comments from unnamed sources. Is this evidence of a bear raid by short sellers? Very likely. But that isn’t necessarily a negative in itself, remember that short sellers provide a very important function in the marketplace they provide liquidity.  Hopefully Apple management will step up and put a lot of these rumors to rest.

While doing my usual Internet time kill, I ran across this nice Camouflage Bikini featured on a hunting site.  Should I assume that you wear this then kill animals or hide in the forest preparing an ambush.  Maybe the wearer of this should get in touch with Mr. Grabit

P.S. Just found this one too.  Nice classy tattoo toe ring

  …Must fight natural inclination to make bush joke…

Here’s an interesting side note.  The new Nine Inch Nails CD is heat reactive so when you play the CD the color of the album changes because of the heat of the player.  Very cool.

So I stumbled upon this T-Shirt website that is selling Eurasian themed clothing, with its cute little sayings and even cuter designs. I think I’m going to be ill..

What?  You’ve never heard of Tito’s vodka?  Well I stumbled upon this brand while shopping at my local Trader Joe’s.  The label says the vodka is distilled six times using stills similar to those used to make cognac.  I personally think Tito’s stands up to any fancy bottled Grey Goose or Belvedere on taste alone.  Part of the reason while Tito’s doesn’t get widespread acclaim is because the bottle looks, well, ghetto.  From the plastic bottle cap, to the glued on label, its easy for people to assume the contents are ghetto as well.  You couldn’t be more wrong.   Give it a try if you truly enjoy drinking ultra premium liquors (or dirty martinis in my case.)

Here’s a picture from a liquor store in Brooklyn that surprisingly had a large selection of different sized Tito’s.

  Earlier this week I just purchased some of Trader Joe’s Strawberry Kefir drink.  The taste is similar to yogurt and the consistency is like a melted milkshake.  The health benefits of drinking Kefir is widely known and often quoted.  I like drinking it because it tastes good and I like the idea of getting some extra protein without having to cook something.  On a side note, Kefir is supposedly easier to digest than milk for people that have lactose intolerance issues.  I personally can’t consume milk of any kind and I don’t have any problems with Trader Joe’s Kefir.  If you like yogurt I’d give it a try, I’m definitely going to buy this one again.  I have a pretty good suspicion that Japa will like this one too.

You can also make your own Kefir buy purchasing the starter culture and leaving your milk out on the counter.  I’d rather buy mine than worry about leaving the milk out too long.

Kefir making bloggers:

The fermented milk wonder drink

Also this blogger that makes Kefir for her um, dogs…pretty normal…

Kefir Rocks!

No not Tupac, but Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.  In honor of 4/01,  Mountain Apple Company is acquiring the rights to use the website IZ reloaded on blogspot.com. 

No Matta what cala you, yellow, black, pink, purple, orange maroon. One race brah, da human  -Isreal “Bruddah Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole

While browsing my local liquor store today, I took the opportunity to get Hyphy.  Since the news of Mac Dre’s protege getting shot, I’ve been thinking a lot about(not really) the Hyphy movement and what it means to me(nothing.) 

I smuggled the can of Grapple(that’s a combination of Grape and Apple for you neophytes) flavored beverage home and began to admire the neon green glow of the intoxicating beverage.  I took a long sip from my specially designed wine tasting glass. Hmm, the taste is like a cold, carbonated Dimetapp.  Yum

What about the effects?  Well, I don’t feel the rush of energy like most drinks such as RedBull or Rockstarr.  I do feel extra fidgety and slightly nervous but that might attributed to my usual temperament.

From time to time, we here at Japadamus.com like to share amazing deals with our readers.  I came across this deal today while browsing SD memory cards.  I personally use these for my digital camera.  With my 5 mega pixel camera I can get about 500 pictures on a two GB card. 

Amazon has this amazing deal right now where you can get a 2 gig SD Memory card made by Sandisk (which is one of the best brands out there) for only $14.89!!  Wow, I bought one of these 3 months ago for $40!  Anyway, take a look and see if you might need one.

Japadamus.com reported this a while ago, but CNBC today reported that Google is rumored to be working on a smart phone in partnership with Samsung.  They mentioned that Google is looking to integrate Voip and existing cell phone networks in order to deliver connectivity.

Too bad David Faber isn’t a regular reader of Japadamus.com, to our readers this is considered “old news.”

Got this today off of Barganist.com .

Seems like a pretty sweet deal. REFURB Cuisinart Griddler for $49.99. I saw this thing in Macy’s for around $200. Looks good, feels solid - not like that plasticy george foreman.

You get different cooking plates for grilling and griddling, and after you cook, they come off so you can put them in the dishwasher, not like the foreman where you are scraping off pieces of burnt hamburger with that little plastic comb thing.

It’s remanufactured, and if you look on Amazon there is someone that has a beef with manufactured products from Cuisinart. In my experience, I love remanufactured stuff because it’s so cheap, and usually the quality is fine. Plus, if you have a problem it’s covered by a warranty like a new product. I get all my computers remanufactured, and haven’t had any problems with them.

In any case, I picked one up today. I’ll post a review when it arrives. FYI, links lead to our amazon account, so if you buy one it’ll help make us some $$!