Nike Hyperfuse made for Rondo and the team he plays on

There's not much I can say about this shoe, which I have not covered off before when I discussed the 2010 NBA Finals Rondo Hyperfuse. This shoe is the same as that, except for the colour, and the fact it sports a huge #9 on the ankle cuff - which is Rajon Rondo's number. Rondo is quick, and the Boston Celtics are having a good season due to his speed, good passing, and overall excellent court awareness. At the time of writing, they are currently 18 wins and 4 losses. With luck, they can stay that way.

It's been interesting to track the performance of the Celtics this year. The team won their first game against the Miami Heat with their Big 3 AmEgos (LeBron, Bosh, and Dwyane Wade), but lost the next night to the Clevland Cavaliers where LeBron was before moving to Miami. Keep in mind that Miami was considered the team to beat, but since the start of the season, have lost twice to the Celtics. It also seems that the Celtics can take a few injuries, as they have some depth in their roster. Today's win over the 76ers has proved that with Erden taking over the starting center role, and positively contributing to the team's success.

The following images are pictures of the new Hyperfuse I recently purchased. In some of the images are a side by side comparison to the Hyperfuses I currently wear. Besides the slight difference in colour, the shoes are exactly the same.

My thanks goes to the team at crazyforsneaker.com. Their site is going through some work at the moment, but crazyforsneaker's ebay shop is up and running. As with many of the on-line merchants around, they try their absolute best to offer the lowest prices, and this can be achieved by ordering multiple items and saving on shipping. Return customers are important to them, and they will do their best to keep you coming back. In all my experience with them, they have been quick to find and ship, and all their stock is 100% genuine.

GO CELTICS!!!

Moving from Gentoo to Ubuntu for a while

With much teasing or coaxing from Ax, I've installed Ubuntu Linux on my Toshiba P20, replacing the installation of Gentoo Linux on it. Have I stopped being a Gentoo User? No. I'm just on hold for the moment. My reasons for a temporary switch are:

• Kitty Kat is now using the Toshiba P20, and would like a simpler Linux to use. I see her point in that I was used to using my Gentoo Linux with some applications being invoked from the command line. Up until then, she was using an old Toshiba Tecra A3X, which had Ubuntu installed on it. She was fine with using that.
  
• I spent a lot of time attempting to get Bluetooth working on the Toshiba P20, only to find after about 3 months of tinkering, I still did not manage to get it working. Since installing Ubuntu Linux on the Toshiba P20, it has manged to get Bluetooth working. Well done to the guys from Ubuntu in figuring it out.
• I spent some time getting Wi-Fi working on the Toshiba P20, and it came down to either installing GNOME's NetworkManager, or doing it manually. Since the machine is usually used from home, I only needed to put in one SSID, so I chose to code it in manually. With Ubuntu Linux now installed, I have the flexibility of just taking the Toshiba P20 with me to other locations, and it can find and configure other wireless points.
  

If you are interested in installing Gentoo Linux (or some other manually configured Linux) on the Toshiba P20, the instructions on my old personal web pages are still available.

With the installation of Ubuntu Linux, I have found that I was able to get most of the old applications I had on my Gentoo Linux installation installed. I much prefer the way Gentoo Linux handles the bash prompt, as well as how it has configured vim by default. I have also lost the ability to install Unreal Tournament 2004 with all the patches in one easy command. I have also noticed that playback of DVDs in Ubuntu's Movie Player (Totem) is choppy compared to playback in Gentoo's Totem. Using Xine in Ubuntu makes movies run smooth again. It was also a nice change to be able to just download programs and be up and running in a short amount of time. From memory, the installation process took around 40 minutes, whereas I believe the Gentoo installation process took around 4 hours - and that was just to get to a base system. Installation of OpenOffice.org from source code would take a few more hours, and even longer for X.org, Firefox, and other applications.

Saying all that, my plan for the future is to source another computer, and install Gentoo onto that, or more likely - Funtoo Linux. Funtoo Linux is the new "project" from Daniel Robbins, the original creator of Gentoo Linux. Since he created Gentoo Linux, he has moved onto other projects, and other employment opportunities, but has returned to creating a Linux distribution. With some of the current applications getting larger (I am thinking of OpenOffice.org and Firefox), it would be much appreciated to have a modern computer to be able to compile and handle these applications better.

I will update this blog when I have more news...

Paul Pierce's Nike Hyperfly PEs

Nike have finally released an adult version of a "Player Exclusive" (PE) shoe they make for Paul Pierce. Up until now they have released many different sneakers, but mainly for the youth market. I can't explain why they have changed their mind recently, but I appreciate that they have.

The Nike Air Max Hyperfly Supreme Paul Pierce is a shiny patent leather shoe, with a visible air cell at the heel. The ankle cuff is well padded, and so is the tongue. I have not worn these shoes, and cannot comment on how they behave on the street or the court, but I would expect them to behave like any other Air Max Hyperfly available, and looking at them visually, it may be in a similar way as the Nike Air Max Sensations, but with some more forefoot support. The shoe is heavier than a Hyperfuse, but not as heavy as some of the Air Jordan 6ix rings I own.

These were not widely released in Australia, so my thanks goes to Rob @ Colonskick on Ebay. He is a sneakerhead with a far better collection than me. If you've searched around, and you can't find the shoe you are after, contact Rob to see if he can get you what you want.

I will let the images speak for themselves...

Quick find and replace in bash across multiple files

I'm always trying to find easier ways of doing things, and here is a way (in BASH) that allows me to find and replace a line of text (ie. a string) across multiple files much quicker than opening up each file, and doing it manually:

for i in $(grep "String1" *|cut -d ":" -f 1); do
  sed "s/String1/String2/g" $i > $i.new;
  rm $i;
  mv $i.new $i;
done

Perl (ugh - again!)

I first used Perl in 2001, and after around 6 months of using it, I decided I would not like to use it again. In 2007, after using Perl, I decided I would not like to use it again. In the early part of 2010, after using Perl, I decided I would not like to use it again. And now... well, you get the picture.

So here are some useful links I have found and use for Perl:

• General Perl site
• Perl and regular expressions
• Perl and reading and writing to files
• ACME Perl Modules

• Arrays
  
• Hashes of Arrays
• Arrays of Hashes
  

The new Nike Free 5.0 v4

As mentioned on other posts, I have some Nike Free running shoes. This article is about the Nike Free 5.0 v4 - or more specifically running.

I do not run. I have never been able to run long distances. It is not like I dislike running, but I find running long distances to be boring and somewhat painful. Apparently, this is not due to lack of my sporting motivation, but possibly caused by my shoe selection. There is a growing belief on the internet and in some medical circles that running shoes cause problems.

Nike have contributed to this problem. They popularized running shoes in the 1970s. To now address the problem that the body's running muscles are affected by atrophy due to not being used properly, Nike brought out the Nike Free range.

The newer v4 edition is far more studier than the previous shoe in this range I have. It is very tight on top of the shoe, hence why I have relaced them in a different manner to when I first pulled them out of the box. This opens up to top of the shoe, and relieves some of the pressure that was building up below the tongue of the shoe. It is still very flexible, and protects my feet from different surfaces where I run.

Will it make me run better? Will it make me enjoy running? Will it make me run longer? I am yet to answer any of those questions positively. The whole Nike Free experience still takes some getting used to when it comes to wearing their shoes. I believe professional runners would benefit from this more than I do. The alternative is to find a good stretch of sand, or some soft grass in an oval - and run barefoot.

Besides the difference in colour schemes, the Nike Free 5.0 v4 has slightly different look, but still allows the foot to move freely. Here are the images: