Personal

The Ring Doorbell has been invaluable as we travel the world. The reactions of people are often times pretty funny as the doorbell they just pressed begins talking to them and asking them to do some action in our absence. Even over our very low-bandwidth WiMax link it is usable. The most annoying part of the device, until now, is that our dog Bentley goes crazy when the device rings the multitude of devices. Even when we are abroad if he hears the phone notification he goes ballistic instinctively knowing someone is in his yardfrom a few hundred/thousand miles away. ...

After the unfortunate loss of my 2014 Nexus 7 tablet I was on the prowl for a replacement. I prefer to keep an Android tablet due to the flexibility to use it as a mini Linux workstation if the need arises. The USB OTG support means the tablet is capable of taking on most of the tasks I use my Linux laptop with in the event I am stuck somewhere. Additionally I wanted a tablet that really excelled at media consumption as that is the primary use for a tablet in my workflow. ...

Introduction The idea of keeping a production and development network always wears on me. Unless the change management is in place to offer some assurances that both threads are kept exactly in sync, they inevitably turn into a game of not good enough to buy down risk. That was the rationale behind creating a system that allowed rapid captures of running machines, transitioning to a closed network, and with no changes to the network/systems have them be as they were just minutes earlier. Thanks to technology from EMC, Cisco, VMware, and VyOS this is all very possible. ...

“Mom, I don’t want to play clarinet! It is for girls!” I remember yelling at my Mother as I prepped for band my middle school years. We were poor growing up and the only option I had to afford an instrument and be in band was to use the hand-me down clarinet. My Grandmother had spent a decent amount of money when my Mother was the same age as I was then on a Buffet Crampon. For whatever reason I had associated some sexuality to all wind instruments and as such considered this suggestion from Mom an attack on my very blossoming manhood. ...

I am always in search of products that help me automate and secure my home. I have run a mix of Foscam, D-Link, and Panasonics cameras dumping to a Linux server for the longest time, but it was clunky and not without its horrendous maintenance. Additionally the cameras, as aptly pointed out by Wife, were less than aesthetically pleasing. ...