Shirts and Sweaters

We’re currently having such a wonderful autumn that I’m glad I don’t have to suffer with the cold. I usually bundle up with a half dozen sweaters when it’s freezing outside. The advantage of this weather is that I can wear and show off my t-shirt. Today I am wearing the World Series Champions Cardinals t-shirt. I bought it for retail $25, and got the Pujols version. I don’t normally buy retail but I was caught up in the Finals excitement. It was worth it though because everywhere I go, I get a thumbs up.

Shirts and Sweaters

A few months ago a friend of mine from youtube posted a video of his t-shirt collection. That video made me realize that I also have a large collection of t-shirts as well. Initially I also wanted to do a video of my collection, but I never got the time to do a proper one because it would require cleaning up and organizing everything; something that I don’t like doing. As a solution I have now decided to create a new post category entitled ‘shirts and sweaters’. Hopefully now I can get around to showing off my t-shirts and sweaters. I’m all about comfort, which is the reason why I have so many of them. What makes me proud of my collection is that they’re mostly bought from Old Navy or on Sale. Comfort and on Sale, a winning combination.

Nike Air Force 1 Papercraft

The Nike Air Force 1 papercraft is a very special papercraft for me because it’s the one that triggered my interest into papercraft as a hobby.  I love it because it mixes my love for sneakers with the joy of constructing something from paper.  The template was created by Shin, who is also a sneaker head and has done various other papercrafts.  The best part of this build is that it only requires one sheet of paper, so it’s really easy to do.  First off what you want to do is cut each piece individually neatly.  Trust me the cleaner your cut, the better the final product will look.

You might want to cut out two copies of this template because it can get a little confusing.  That is unless you follow my video and see which pieces are glued on to one another first.  After I cut each piece I also like to fold the creases so that once they’re glued you won’t have to do it.  Once the major pieces are constructed the final piece is the laces.  I like to take my time here by cutting and gluing each string individually.  When it’s complete it gives it a nice 3D look to them.

If someone were to ask me what is the best papercraft to start with, I would say this is an absolute must.  It’s not easy, but the final product is so rewarding.  While, Shin has done many other shoes since then, this is still his best work.  I’m still hoping though, that one day he might want to do a Nike SB model as well.  If not, I will attempt to create one myself.... err... but don’t hold your breath, lol. Till then I will keep doing this same model, but in different colors.

Nike Air Force 1 template:

http://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FUU/RPWY/FM2KBS4W/FUURPWYFM2KBS4W.pdf

Shin’s Website:

http://shin.co.nr/

YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LaOcCfV9oA

Nike LunarGlide

During the Spring of 2008 Nike had a huge presentation (Innovation Summit) about the new products and technologies it intended to showcase for the Beijing Summer Olympics.  After reading the book “Sneaker Wars’, I came to realize how important the Summer Olympics are for the sports industry.  Basically it is a time when the whole world is watching, and if an athlete wins gold the products that they wore will also be winners in retail (people will buy them).  What better way to show people the quality of your product, then by making sure the gold medalist is wearing them.  Of course that was a bigger deal a couple decades ago when Adidas and Puma were fighting one another for global dominance of the sportswear market.  Today Nike is king by covering almost every sport imaginable.

Being at the top means, Nike must be cutting edge and inventive in the products they release.  I’ve always loved this about Nike, they just seem to be so far ahead of the competition with their designs and quality.  While retro’s are nice, new sneaker technology is what gets me most excited.  For that presentation what had me most jaw-dropping excited was a material called Lunar Foam.  It was first used by NASA on the space shuttle seats, and would now be used as insoles for running shoes.  They would give the sneaker less weight, and be able to absorb more shocks from running.  Another new innovation was Flywire.  It consisted of using very complex sewing machines to stitch on a long piece of thread that was aesthetically very simple.  The thread was called vectran, and was very strong and flexible.

I wanted to get a pair of Nike’s that featured Flywire and Lunar Foam as soon as they hit retail stores, but unfortunately they never released in Canada until later.  When they finally came to Canada, I waited until they went on sale to purchase them.  My first pair are these LunarGlide’s.  I have since been able to use them for a couple of weeks now, and I really love them.  The Lunar Foam did give me a little pain on my left foot initially because I wanted an arch support, but eventually my foot got used to it, and they now feel comfortable.  This really impressed me about the Dynamic Support system on the shoe, which adjusts to the foot as it moves.  The Flywire was also a concern initially because I always assumed the thicker material (such as leather, or nylon) would be stronger.  Yet the Flywire has not only held up better, but has also given my foot more breathability.  The LunarGlide also carries the Nike+ symbol, signifying that you can install an ipod sensor in the sockliner to track your calories.  This shoe features the best of Nike and I highly recommend it.

Nike:

http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/products/lunarglide?blogSource=en_US

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvP0g_O4Z8

Wheeljack Generations

This has been a toy I have been waiting months and months for. The first time I heard about it was in the beginning of the year and ever since then I had to watch other videos and pictures of people who already had it. I assumed it would eventually release in my town, but time passed by and it never did. I had hoped that when it finally did release I would be able to buy it on sale, and buy a couple more for my friends as well. But all this waiting as of this date kept me anxious till the point I couldn’t wait any longer and I had to buy Wheeljack online.

It wasn’t so bad because the quality on this toy just blew my mind and expectations. Okay... I might not be a hard-core Transformers collector, but I do consider this high quality from Hasbro. Besides I try not to be ‘hard-core’ in collecting in general because it tends to leave you jaded and never satisfied. From this position I am able to judge an item on my most basic judgments of whether I like it or not. And this toy I really love.

To start off with, what attracted me initially was the color scheme used; white, red and green. For some reason it reminds me of a pizza box at a pizzeria. Anything that relates to pizza is a winner in my book. I then also liked the sports car vehicle mode the toy can transform into, and the way he looks when you transform him into a robot. The transformation process is also easy, and you are able to transform him into 3 different types of modes; sports car, flight mode, and robot.

I have absolutely no complaints about this toy, and would consider this my favourite Transformers toy of the year. Once you learn to build him he is very fun to play with. I also like that he doesn’t have any issues with limbs popping off like I did with my Roadbuster figure. I highly recommend this figure, and as soon as I see him in a store I plan to buy some more toys of him.

Transformers:

http://www.transformers.com

YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAR9q1GCUEM