Liberating the Hardware: Rooting the Dreame X40 Ultra</h1> <article> <h1>Liberating the Hardware: Rooting the Dreame X40 Ultra</h1> <p>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:26:00 +0000</p> <p>I’ve deployed numerous iRobot and Neato units over the years. My previous iRobot fleet served faithfully for five years; they are easy to repair, but their performance has fallen behind, and the mandatory cloud tethering is a strategic disadvantage for any privacy-conscious home.</p> <p>The Dreame X40 Ultra is a superior piece of hardware, but to truly own it, I had to strip away the cloud requirement.</p> <h2 id="the-mission-local-control">The Mission: Local Control</h2> <p>To achieve full autonomy, I used <strong>Valetudo</strong>. It replaces the cloud interface with a local web server, keeping the data off external servers and locked within my IoT VLAN and Home Assistant instance.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Engineering is a Discipline, Not Just a Prompt</h1> <p>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:08:00 +0000</p> <h3 id="the-digital-archaeological-dig">The Digital Archaeological Dig</h3> <p>I recently assisted a friend with a codebase that felt like a digital archaeological dig—a chaotic mixture of Python versions and conflicting modules. The modern instinct was to upload the lot to an LLM to “fix” everything.</p> <p>The result was absolute carnage.</p> <ul> <li>No version control or history meant “editing on master” in real-time.</li> <li>More time spent reversing AI “improvements” than fixing the original bug.</li> <li>A stark reminder: tools are getting smarter, but engineering discipline is becoming a rare commodity.</li> </ul> <h3 id="the-return-of-the-artisanal-mess">The Return of the Artisanal Mess</h3> <p>This mirrors the “artisanal” FrontPage websites of the late 90s. A lower barrier to entry does not guarantee higher quality output.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Don't confuse work ethic with work volume</h1> <p>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:36:00 +0000</p> <ul> <li> <p>Don’t confuse “work ethic” with “work volume.”</p> </li> <li> <p>Bryan Cantrill’s latest post is a precision strike on the “37k lines of code a day” crowd.</p> </li> <li> <p>In engineering, “virtuous laziness” is about spending hours in a hammock to find the one abstraction that saves weeks of toil.</p> </li> <li> <p>It’s about minimising cognitive load because human time is finite.</p> </li> <li> <p>LLMs have no such constraints. They don’t feel the “cost” of complexity, so they’ll happily bake you a 37,000-line layer cake of garbage just because it’s “free” to generate.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Your daily commute: dirt cheap in an EV</h1> <p>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:34:00 +0000</p> <ul> <li>Your daily commute: dirt cheap in an EV.</li> <li>The average American drives ~64 km per day.</li> <li>Charging overnight at home costs roughly $0.80 per day, or about $24 a month.</li> <li>Compare that to your current expenditure at the pump.</li> <li>No early morning petrol station detours.</li> <li>No price spikes.</li> <li>Just plug in, sleep, and wake up with a “full tank” every single morning.</li> </ul> <p>The maths isn’t complicated. The savings are real. The convenience? Massive.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Reporting for Duty: From 90s Light Infantry to Modern Bitpacking</h1> <p>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:45:00 +0000</p> Standard serialisation protocols have gone AWOL. If you want to get the packet home with only 50 bytes of airtime, you need to enlist bitpacking. </article> <article> <h1>RF is More Magic Than Science: Exploring Meshtastic</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 07:12:00 -0500</p> <p>My dad was a ham radio operator, so I spent a good chunk of my childhood tearing down rigs and building antennas with him. By the time I was old enough to break things on my own, I was compiling Linux kernels with AX.25 support just to mess around with packet radio.</p> <p>Truth is, RF is more magic than science. You can do the math all day, but physics always gets a vote in the end.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Geek’s Guide to Bio-Telemetry: Validating the Gummy 🐻 Protocol</h1> <p>Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0500</p> Moving from 'app badges' to raw data wrangling for operational longevity. </article> <article> <h1>The High-Fidelity Future of Translation</h1> <p>Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Whether it’s the cadence of a score, the logic of a codebase, or the spoken word, language is the ultimate “human” terrain.</p> <p>I’ve been fortunate to work across the globe. Outside of local food and drink, language remains the primary metric for how a culture operates. It is their conceptual framework and their historical documentation.</p> <p>I initially feared AI would sanitise this beauty. I thought effortless translation would lead to a “lossy” compression of culture, flattening the landscape. Instead, I’m seeing the opposite.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Artisanal Code, AI, and the Right to Repair the Future 🛠️ 📟 💾</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 16:28:00 +0000</p> A reflection on the transition from traditional coding to AI-generated systems and the necessity of digital right to repair. </article> <article> <h1>The Dance Between Eros and Agape</h1> <p>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0500</p> <h1 id="the-dance-between-eros-and-agape">The Dance Between Eros and Agape</h1> <p>I’ve spent much of the past few years contemplating the meaning of love and life given my personal cirumstances. I’ve always appreciated how Pope John Paul II explored it in his seminal <em>Theology of the Body</em> lectures, particularly the distinction he draws between <em>eros</em> and <em>agape</em>. Those early reflections conveyed a kind of purity and balance I’ve rarely encountered elsewhere.</p> <p>There’s a dance between <em>eros</em> and <em>agape</em>, between the selfish and the selfless, the passionate and the pure. While I don’t ultimately agree with all of the conclusions John Paul II reached, I deeply respect how he articulated their intertwinement. His framing invites reflection on the tension between desire and devotion, and on how both can coexist in the human experience of love.</p> </article> <article> <h1>SailfishOS vs Ubuntu Touch – October 2025 Notes</h1> <p>Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>After revisiting SailfishOS earlier this autumn, I spent a week living with its open-source cousin, Ubuntu Touch. With Google tightening the Android ecosystem, it felt like the right moment to explore what a true Linux mobile OS offers today.</p> <p> My first attempt was with a OnePlus Nord N100 on MetroPCS. It fought me at every step. Flashing, fastboot flags, and ADB coaxing were all unsuccessful. In the end I ordered a Pixel 3a, one of Ubuntu Touch's officially supported devices. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Building Matrix Bridges on OpenBSD: A Work in Progress</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Not my proudest work, but I needed a quick shell script.</p> <p>I’ve been diving deeper into <strong>Matrix bridges</strong> lately — those connectors that let Matrix users communicate with other platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, and more. In doing so, I’ve learned a lot about how these bridges are built, deployed, and maintained. The twist? I’m running everything on <strong>OpenBSD</strong>.</p> <p>Running <strong>-current</strong> on OpenBSD is great, but it does mean I often need to compile packages faster than the official release cycle provides. That’s where this little helper script came in — a quick way to clone, patch, and compile the Go-based Matrix bridges so they run cleanly on my OpenBSD systems.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Say My Name: Heisenbridge, IRC and Breaking Free from Discord</h1> <p>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> Why I stopped using Discord for open source and how I bridged IRC into Matrix using Heisenbridge on OpenBSD. </article> <article> <h1>The Cheapest Electron Is the One Not Used</h1> <p>Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> Efficiency is the most overlooked opportunity in edge data center design. The cheapest electron is the one not used. </article> <article> <h1>Revisiting SailfishOS – September 2025 Thoughts</h1> <p>Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> My latest reflections on SailfishOS as of September 2025. UI brilliance, ecosystem struggles, and what Jolla needs to do next. </article> <article> <h1>Farming Packets with Relayd</h1> <p>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Living out in the boonies has its charms: quiet nights, open skies, and an estate that keeps me busy, but internet choices aren’t one of them. Options are slim, and Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT) makes life rough if you want to self-host.</p> <p>Static, routable IPs are what you really need, but out here that’s a luxury. I didn’t want to rely on Cloudflare tunnels, ngrok, or similar middlemen. For a while, I leaned on <a href="https://tailscale.com/">Tailscale</a> as a DIY SD-WAN (basically a secure mesh network overlay across your devices). It’s great, but not every service or device plays nicely over it.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Running Signal Desktop in a Debian VM on OpenBSD</h1> <p>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:49:49 +0000</p> <blockquote> <p>Thanks to <a href="https://anirudh.fi/signal-vmm">Anirudh</a> for getting me started on the right path!</p> </blockquote> <h1 id="running-signal-desktop-in-a-debian-vm-on-openbsd">Running Signal Desktop in a Debian VM on OpenBSD</h1> <p>I wanted to get <strong>Signal Desktop</strong> running in a way that integrates smoothly with my OpenBSD host. Since Signal doesn’t have a native OpenBSD port, I spun up a Debian VM using <code>vmm(4)</code> and <code>vmctl</code>. Below are my notes for setting this up, including a few gotchas.</p> <hr> <h2 id="step-1-download-debian-iso">Step 1: Download Debian ISO</h2> <p>Start with the Bookworm Debian <strong>netinst ISO</strong> (I had issues with Trixie):</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenBSD Adventures: VPS Hosting, Self-Hosting, and Desktop Experiments</h1> <p>Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h3 id="openbsd-and-me">OpenBSD and Me</h3> <p>OpenBSD holds a place near and dear to my heart. Back in the Air Force, I deployed some of the first Snort sensors in 2003/2004 to detect network traffic. I quickly became engrossed with the elegance and simplicity of OpenBSD’s build system and ongoing maintenance.</p> <p>I wish I could dig back through my early eBay purchases and find the little Compaq machine that powered my first home server install. In my dorm room, I built my first PF firewall and router to practice network configurations. After spending all day working on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Computing_Corporation">Sidewinder firewalls</a> and <a href="https://www.cisco.com/">Cisco</a> gear, I was blown away by what I could accomplish with a $200 computer and some persistence.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Unearthing Hi8 Time Capsules - The Geek Bridge Between Two Worlds</h1> <p>Fri, 25 Jul 2025 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>There’s something delightfully analog about growing up before smartphones. We don’t have TikTok timelines or Instagram reels of high school. Our memories live on dusty Hi8 and DV tapes, glitchy, lo-fi fragments from a time before social media ruled our lives.</p> <p>Back in Latimer, Mississippi, our English teacher Vadis Perkins, a true visionary, gave us the green light to launch a morning news show at St. Martin High. She handed us a makeshift newsroom: a few camcorders, some clear tape, and a ton of enthusiasm. We recorded, spliced, and narrated, one linear edit at a time.</p> </article> <article> <h1>SailfishOS, Jolla C2, and random ramblings in 2024</h1> <p>Tue, 19 Nov 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p></p> <p>I’ve been a loyal follower of Nokia’s mobile innovation journey for years, starting with the Nokia N800 and every subsequent device. Before Android fully established itself, Nokia’s Linux-based devices offered a genuinely geek-friendly alternative. I fondly recall a time in Tel Aviv when I used my N900 to SSH into a server and fix a config file while riding in a taxi—those were magical moments!</p> <p>Over the years, I’ve kept up with the evolution of Nokia and Jolla devices, purchasing each new iteration. While I’m still waiting on my Jolla Tablet, I was excited to grab the Jolla C2 after its launch under Russian ownership. Living in the US meant shipping it to my EU office first, but I was eager to give it a try.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Gaming on the Go - What the Sega Nomad Taught Me About EVs</h1> <p>Wed, 16 Oct 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <center> </center> <p></p> In my teens, close family friends gave me a [Sega Nomad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_Nomad) along with several Genesis/Mega Drive games. Up until then, I was only allowed a computer and a GameBoy, so the Nomad—with its colour screen and vast game library—became an instant favourite as I travelled around Europe. <p>It was a fantastic but little-known device; its biggest flaw was its battery life. Even with the brightness set to its lowest, you’d be lucky to get two hours of playtime. It basically turned into a mobile Genesis with a small TV, forcing me to hunt down cigarette lighters in cars or wall plugs to keep it going. You learned to time your gaming between the 6-AA life and finding a dependable source of electrons.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Replacing the Model 3 with a Model X</h1> <p>Fri, 27 Sep 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I’m the kind of guy who buys a car and keeps it forever. When we got our Model 3 over five years ago, I thought I’d be handing the virtual keys to our daughter in a decade. Well, it’s totalled.</p> <p>That started our search for another electric vehicle. We left the ICE world behind and didn’t consider hybrids—we’re firmly in the EV camp. After a week of driving ICE cars in Europe, we were reminded why we won’t go back.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Zweig’s Echoes in Wein</h1> <p>Fri, 13 Sep 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> Sitting in a coffee shop in Vienna feels like stepping into a timeless tradition. The air is filled with the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the subtle sweetness of pastries. The décor blends classic and modern—high ceilings, chandeliers, and plush seating paired with sleek, minimalist touches. It's the kind of space that invites lingering, whether reading, writing, or simply watching the world go by through the large windows. <p>Last week, as I sat in a Viennese coffee shop flipping through a newspaper, I was reminded of how difficult it is to be in this setting without thinking back to a time before Europe was shaken. Vienna once held a special place—at the heart of an empire, a nation-state, a fragile tape holding together two sprawling royal domains, and ultimately, a melting pot of ideas that would erupt into the 20th Century.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Streamlining Tech for Travel - My Shift to Minimalism</h1> <p>Sun, 08 Sep 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> After travelling most of my life, I have been on a crusade to reduce my tech baggage. There was a time when I would have multiple laptops, games, and a litany of cables. International converters further complicated this during times of 110/220, requiring separate blocks. <p>Like clothing, I overpacked what was actually used and needed. This trip, I decided to attempt just a tablet with a keyboard. I found that with Android and work MDM profiles, it was easy enough — additionally, turning off my work profile limited work notifications on PTO.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Travelling with less stuff</h1> <p>Sat, 07 Sep 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> </article> <article> <h1>Redefining My Reading - Embracing the Modern Age of Media Consumption</h1> <p>Sat, 24 Aug 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> At times, I've felt a twinge of disappointment that I don't read as much or as often as I'd like. The giants of philosophy, history, and technology had devoured volumes by this stage in their lives, a feat that seems beyond my reach. But then, I realised that my approach to media consumption is unique and satisfying in its own way. <p>For the past seven days, I have made it a point to note when I am listening to a podcast or audiobook, watching a YouTube documentary, or mindlessly scrolling through some technical post. The truth is that I consume information nonstop, but in different forms. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_von_Ranke">Leopold von Ranke</a> had no opportunity to have a group of intellectuals follow him around, piping various topics into his ears from around the globe in all his free time. His sphere of information was a fraction of what I could blare into my ears or burn my eyeballs with.</p> </article> <article> <h1>How to Hack Your Treadmill and Run Like a Geek (Or at Least Avoid a Boring Workout)</h1> <p>Wed, 31 Jul 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>After a decade of loyal service, my Sole Treadmill finally threw in the towel. Not one to contribute to e-waste, I tried replacing capacitors and control boards until I exhausted every part I could find online. Realising that my time was worth more than my patience, I decided it was time for a new one. My wishlist was pretty straightforward:</p> <ul> <li>Incline/Decline capabilities</li> <li>Speeds over 10 mph</li> <li>No required subscription</li> <li>Delivery and setup service (since moving the old one to the basement was a Herculean task)</li> </ul> <p>Enter Best Buy and NordicTrack.</p> </article> <article> <h1>2 Years on towing with the Lightning</h1> <p>Fri, 12 Jul 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>It has been <a href="https://geekyschmidt.com/2022/06/30/Camping/">two years</a> since we picked up the Lightning, and I wanted to discuss what has changed. Many of my first posts focused on the present rather than the future. Well, here we are in the future.</p> <p>I planned a trip from Standish to <a href="https://duckcreekrvresort.com/index.html">Duck Creek RV Park</a> in Muskegon. I followed the same process I outlined two years ago:</p> <ol> <li>Plug the destination into the FordPass App and chuckle at the recommendations.</li> <li>Go to <a href="https://abetterrouteplanner.com/">ABRP</a> and see what the recommendations were.</li> <li>Go to <a href="https://plugshare.com">PlugShare</a> and validate the reviews of chargers and the general path.</li> <li>Look at Google Earth and determine if a trailer can park next to the charger.</li> </ol> <p>I plan my stops with the idea that I can double back (with a trailer) to another alternative. This is probably a byproduct of my aviation background, but I always have a diversion “charger” in play. With that in mind, I planned three stops on our drive and was pleasantly surprised:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Happy Mother's Day - Here is a Tesla</h1> <p>Mon, 10 Jun 2024 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>My Dad and I drove to Ohio to pick up the Tesla Model 3, which I had traded for my beloved BMW Z4MC. At the time, buying a Tesla in Michigan was illegal due to the franchise rules. It was bittersweet as we took the road trip to, sight unseen, pick up the vehicle I had purchased online. Alicia and I knew with the impending arrival of our child, the 2 seater would only get a little use in our household. We had batted around getting another BMW, Audi, or Volvo. Still, in the end, I did the math and figured an electric car would be suitable. My transition from aerospace & defence to renewable energy sealed the deal. I already took the risk of changing career fields, so why not take another and switch to an EV in rural Michigan?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Bytes to Bylines - My Unwritten Journey from Tech to Text</h1> <p>Tue, 19 Dec 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>During interviews for podcasts or panels, I’m often asked what I’d do if I weren’t in tech. While I playfully consider taking up farming, the true answer is writing. This passion for writing has been a constant in my life, deeply rooted and contrasting with my professional journey in technology.</p> <p>My fascination with technology began as a child with a Commodore 64 and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEOS_(8-bit_operating_system)">GEOS</a>, gifted by my supportive parents. This early exposure to tech didn’t overshadow my growing interest in writing, partly fueled by my voracious reading habits. Discovering my old attempts at journalism and editing, tucked away in basement boxes, brought back vivid memories of those formative years.</p> </article> <article> <h1>From Chunky Palmtops to Pocket-Sized Powerhouses</h1> <p>Wed, 13 Dec 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>The 1990s was when small computers began their march towards becoming the sleek tech companions we know today. Picture this:</p> <ul> <li>A young military brat</li> <li>Eyes wide with wonder</li> <li>Flipping through the colossal pages of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Shopper_%28US_magazine%29">Computer Shopper</a> magazine</li> </ul> <p>Amidst the bulky desktops, the little palmtops sparkled like gems of possibility. Imagine taking your computer wherever you go!</p> <p>Enter my first tech flirtation: the Casio JD-5000. A business organiser in the hands of a kid who had, let’s be honest, absolutely no business to organise. It’s like a penguin at a salsa dance – charmingly out of its element, yet undeniably cool.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Measure Twice, Cut Once Trades Scholarship</h1> <p>Thu, 23 Nov 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Alicia Schmidt and I are proud to announce the “Measure Twice, Cut Once Trades Scholarship,” which is two $2,500 awards to those in Arenac County pursuing vocational or trade schools post-graduation. Please share within the community!</p> <p>Teachers like Fran Laakman and Ann Holland (among many others) saw something I often overlooked in myself. While acknowledging my academic challenges, they celebrated my strengths and interests in computers, sports, and exploration. It took missed opportunities and honest conversations about my potential and lack of drive to realise I was more than the ‘intellectual old soul’ stereotype. My true passion lay in technology, a field I have embraced since the days of the Commodore 64.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Beyond Will and Worry - Finding Schopenhauer in a Child's Smile</h1> <p>Tue, 31 Oct 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I was on the road longer than I had hoped this trip, flipping through old photos alone in a hotel. As one does when you are lonely and philosophical, you think about German philosophers, right?</p> <p>Schopenhauer eloquently outlined that “aesthetic pleasure in the beautiful consists, to a large extent, in the fact that, when we enter the state of pure contemplation, we are raised for the moment above all willing, above all desires and cares; we are, so to speak, rid of ourselves.”</p> </article> <article> <h1>Slingbox, Cordcutting, and where we are today</h1> <p>Fri, 29 Sep 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>For most of my adult life, I have been on the road travelling. Some years, it was mostly CONUS; other times, it was extensively OCONUS, but I found my old Slingbox while cleaning the basement. What is a Slingbox, you might be asking? Sit down, children and let me talk about a time you will soon see again…</p> <h2 id="slingbox-early-2000s">Slingbox (Early 2000s)</h2> <p>Slingbox, introduced in the early 2000s, was a pioneering device that allowed users to remotely view their home television programming from anywhere with an internet connection. The device connected to my cable box and streamed the content over the internet to a computer, tablet, or smartphone. This groundbreaking technology allowed me to access their live TV and recorded shows without being physically present at home. When I was travelling in countries without English TV, it was a godsend.</p> </article> <article> <h1>ChatGPT and the Electric Bill Whisperer - How to Upload Your Bills and Watch Tariff Magic Happen</h1> <p>Thu, 21 Sep 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I will do a little experiment and let ChatGPT also write this blog post. I have made minor edits to ensure it aligns with the screenshots, but this is not me!</p> <h3 id="a-few-essential-items-before-we-dive-in">A few essential items before we dive in:</h3> <ul> <li>I am using GPT4 with Data Analysis through a paid account</li> <li>I work in the energy space, so I knew basically what I was trying to do with the prompts</li> <li>The Consumers website could have done this analysis in precisely 3 clicks through their portal, so I saved little time</li> <li>Yes, we use a ton of electricity! We have a large geothermal system, 22kw solar array, and 26kw of batteries in the basement. We also have 2 Electric Vehicles and a manufacutring shop on the land.</li> </ul> <h3 id="chatgpt-shortcomings">ChatGPT Shortcomings:</h3> <ol> <li>There is no confidence rating here. You ask the model; it gives answers. Are those answers correct? Sometimes. There is a fallacy that you upload and ask away. In another exercise, I needed to go back and validate the PDF breakout, and the table read needed to be corrected. <em><strong>Verify everything.</strong></em></li> <li>For a site-by-site analysis, this works great, but scaling this would require API integration. Back to my first point here, you would trust that automation wholeheartedly.</li> <li>As technology advances, the ability to quickly ingest and distil complex tariff documents will be a net positive to the energy industry. We are close, but not there just yet.</li> </ol> <h3 id="steps-i-used-to-complete-this-exercise">Steps I used to complete this exercise:</h3> <ol> <li>I went to GreenButton Connect for Consumers and downloaded my interval and billing data. I tried using some lower-level interval data from my parallel metering, but it was too small of an interval to process correctly.</li> <li>Downloaded the latest tariff book for all Consumers Energy rates.</li> <li>Logged into ChatGPT, selected my GPT4 analysis mode and provided the prompt - <em>How does my utility bill compare to other people in Michigan?</em> before starting to have it evaluate the usage against the tariff specifically.</li> <li>Reviewed the Python code and processing</li> </ol> <p>You can see the entire chat minus the actual code here: <a href="https://chat.openai.com/share/fe77f5e1-b65f-4c52-a3f7-ef5fe2e7acb0">ChatGPT Chat Prompts</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Quest for Efficiency - Unveiling Hidden Energy Secrets with a Dash of IR</h1> <p>Wed, 20 Sep 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>In our household, energy is more than just a utility; it’s a way of life. We’ve gone to great lengths to optimize our home, employing a symphony of solar panels, batteries, geothermal systems, and even energy monitoring to keep things in check. But, as they say, the devil is in the details, and I’m on a mission to uncover the hidden secrets that conventional energy monitoring won’t reveal.</p> <p>I often remind my team that energy is a force that doesn’t just vanish into thin air. Whether we’re monitoring temperatures at our EV chargers to predict potential faults or pondering the idea of dissipating excess energy into a vault of oil to tame its fiery temperament, we understand that energy has to go somewhere.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Using AI to Speak Portuguese and French - A Lesson in Online Skepticism</h1> <p>Mon, 18 Sep 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Have you ever watched a video and thought, “Is this even real?” In today’s age of digital manipulation, discerning the real from the fake has become an intricate dance. I decided to see how the non-tech folks in my life would react to me using AI and Machine Learning to become multilingual maestro.</p> <h3 id="the-genesis-of-the-idea">The Genesis of the Idea</h3> <p>The adventure began when I stumbled upon a post on <a href="https://mastodon.social/@MK@troet.cafe/111067723809594737">Mastodon</a> about using AI to generate deepfake videos. “Deepfakes,” if you’re unfamiliar, are videos produced through machine learning that often superimpose someone’s face or manipulate their voice to make it look like they’re doing or saying something they haven’t. It’s fascinating, but the implications can be quite worrisome.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Comparing the US to EU on Grid Security</h1> <p>Mon, 07 Aug 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I am fortunate to have exposure to work on grid policy and implementation in both the US and European Union. The duality of those two worlds colliding helps look for the best approaches in both spheres. I wanted to talk about the most significant differences for those also looking to understand the differences.</p> <p>It is safe to say that both the US and Europe recognise the critical importance of grid security in maintaining a stable and reliable energy supply. As you compare the two governing bodies, the biggest takeaway is how basic KISS security can be, regardless of the policy framework. One area I do see more considerable differences is in market and program design. The US programs allow for more manual intervention and temporal windows, while the EU leans heavily into automation for quicker network response. You see more technical controls around that.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Grid Security...It is complicated</h1> <p>Tue, 01 Aug 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>The current landscape of security approaches within Utility and ISO Programs is reminiscent of the early DITSCAP, DIACAP, and Rainbow Series progression of the Department of Defense world from the 80s and 90s.</p> <p>Given the ongoing Russia-Ukrain war and current geopolitical events, the urgency to bolster grid security and protect critical infrastructure in the US cannot be understated. Ageing power distribution systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks that can potentially jeopardise national security and bring the nation to a halt.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Der Hauptmann von Köpenick</h1> <p>Thu, 27 Jul 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p> Köpenick holds a special place in my mind as a homecoming from my childhood. I spent formative years bouncing around Bitburg, but returning to Germany as an adult during this period provided a similar growth trajectory. Spec Ops Technology was well underway, and the little company we started was gaining steam. As my business partner would say, I was busy as a one-armed wallpaper hanger.</p> <p>I was in Berlin working on an airborne platform through the gruelling winter, focusing almost all my days on work. As spring came, I could start to venture out and make time for myself on the weekends exploring the country I had spent so much time in as a teenager. During this time, I connected the language, memories, food, and drink that had shaped me more than I understood before my return. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Electrifying Tractors</h1> <p>Tue, 25 Jul 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/morrisonjack/">Jack Morrison</a>, from <a href="https://www.scytherobotics.com/">Scythe Robotics</a>, made a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/morrisonjack_the-farm-and-fields-are-going-electric-activity-7079163658076909568-5yPR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop">post on LinkedIn</a> talking about the electrification of tractors and how autonomous systems can aid in the process. I have thought about this topic for years and decided to do an entire blog post on Tractor Electrification and Autonomous Farming. I love what his team is doing and think the vision of small fleets of autonomous tractors is the future, but I wanted to outline some of the challenges this segment of vehicle electrification will have. Enjoy!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Pixel 7a Review</h1> <p>Sat, 15 Jul 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><em>My thoughts on the Pixel 7a from a standard user…</em></p> <p>My Samsung Fold 4 has a beautiful bright pink line and two circles of dead pixels across the screen. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, I had to mail my phone to the Samsung Service Centre. Unfortunately, that meant being phone-less for at least a week, which, professionally, is a non-starter.</p> <p>I went to Best Buy and picked up a Pixel 7a to hold me over and serve as our backup phone. My last Pixel was the 5, and I loved that device. Small, clean, and it just worked. Given my travel schedule, it was SLOW and forced me to carry both a tablet and a phone.</p> </article> <article> <h1>AirGradient Sensor Review</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Jul 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>A few weeks ago, I woke up in NYC with my throat and chest burning and sore. I rolled over to grab my phone and start answering the morning litany of Slack and email messages from our European team well underway with their day. Google was kind enough to alert me that the air quality would be an issue.</p> <p>When I landed in Michigan, the issue cleared within 24 hours. Weird.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Reducing Operational Constraints and Emissions by Increasing Flexible Energy Capacity</h1> <p>Sat, 01 Jul 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><em>Crosspost from Power Mag</em></p> <hr> <p>Today, modern network technology can transform commercial and industrial facilities into power sources that generate, store, and trade clean energy, allowing owners to increase cash flow, achieve decarbonization goals, and improve energy reliability.</p> <p>Energy flexibility can be a competitive advantage, particularly when an industry is operating under increased constraints. Changeable power costs, the need to reduce carbon emissions, and questions about energy reliability are frequent concerns shared by commercial and industrial (C&I) companies. However, the industry has more options now to deal with these challenges, which include tapping into their building assets to increase cash flow, achieve decarbonization goals, and improve energy reliability—all at the same time.</p> </article> <article> <h1>CTO at Blueprint Power Talks Sustainable Solutions for Reducing Airport Emissions</h1> <p>Fri, 03 Feb 2023 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><em>Crosspost from Avionics International</em></p> <hr> <p><em>Nick Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer at Blueprint Power, recently offered some perspectives on their services and technology platform as well as the topic of decarbonization in the aviation industry.</em></p> <p><em>Check out our question-and-answer session with Nick Schmidt below.</em></p> <p><em><strong>Avionics: How does the Blueprint Power platform work?</strong></em></p> <blockquote> <p>Nick Schmidt: We think of airports as “mini cities,” given the number and variety of buildings and transportation operating at airports. Blueprint Power combines its “in-building data analytics” platform with energy advisory expertise to help airport and building operators harness the surplus energy in their buildings to generate new cash flows and help fund carbon reduction and energy resilience goals. We work with customers to identify existing flexible energy capacity, add new capacity, optimize its use, and connect it to energy markets that pay for flexible capacity. Many operators don’t realize that they have options to generate economic, decarbonization, and resiliency benefits at the same time. We can help them implement an approach that aligns with the airport’s preferred combination of goals and adapt it as business needs, energy and regulatory markets change.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Best of 2022 List</h1> <p>Sat, 24 Dec 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>You can’t grow up in tech and not feel obliged to share an end-of-year wrap-up. So without further ado - here is mine for 2022.</p> <h1 id="media">Media</h1> <h2 id="best-album---pacifica">Best Album - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@pacificabanda">Pacifica’s 2022</a></h2> <p>Less album, and just more every track they have put out this year has been gold. GOLD JERRY!</p> <h2 id="best-song---rick-astley---abcdefu-gayle-cover">Best Song - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIOPB36ALMM">Rick Astley - abcdefu (GAYLE Cover)</a></h2> <p>I don’t know if you know, but Rick Astley is more than Rick Rolling. He has an active youtube channel where he covers music he enjoys. His taste knows no bounds, and it has introduced me to songs I wouldn’t have otherwise listened to.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dunkelflaute</h1> <p>Wed, 14 Dec 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>When you learn new languages, you can often find connections in words and ideas. Sometimes it’s wholesale incorporation of a word into the zeitgeist.</p> <p>Dunkelflaute is one I see more and more used in the energy world. “A Dark Lull” is the exact translation, but it intends to describe what happens when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind is blowing.</p> <p>The German language is beautiful; I don’t care what others say, but it is also incredibly literal. It is less flowery in its descriptors and often combines disparate words to create anew.</p> </article> <article> <h1>My 2022 of Travel</h1> <p>Mon, 12 Dec 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="intro">Intro</h2> <p>If you closed your eyes tight enough and opened them without hesitation, it felt like pre-COVID a little this year. If you acclimated you’d realise it was not yet.</p> <p>I did over 100k miles/160k km this year (or nearly 300/482+ by Delta’s qualifying) and over 130 nights in a hotel. I am lucky enough that my family, more often than not, travels with me, but that is still a gruelling schedule. Who knows what next year brings, but it will likely be a lot of the same.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Trip to Frankfort with the Lightning</h1> <p>Sat, 18 Jun 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="tldr">TL;DR</h2> <p>Great test run with the Airstream cut short by a sick kiddo. Stats and thoughts are below!</p> <ul> <li>Solid headwinds and gradual climb = <strong>1mi/kWh</strong> on the way there</li> <li>Downhill with light winds and modified driving habits = <strong>1.4mi/kWh</strong></li> <li>Charging networks were more than sufficient to get us there and back.</li> <li>The chargers were positioned so that the truck and trailer could fit.</li> <li>The winds were so destructive in Cadillac that a buggy took off in the Meijers parking lot and rammed the back of the Airstream…grumble grumble</li> <li>Ford PR reached out to try and repair our failed navigation system, but alas, nothing. We had to rely solely on Google Maps through Android Auto.</li> <li>The Pro Trailer system randomly forgot the Airstream after calibrating a few weeks ago and then randomly remembered it when we got home. Fun.</li> <li>BlueCruise worked with the trailer connected, which seems odd. It was helpful but made me nervous, given the ping-pong between lanes that BlueCruise does. I found myself turning off cruise control to avoid it engaging.</li> </ul> <p align="center"> </p> </article> <article> <h1>F-150 Lightning towing stats</h1> <p>Mon, 30 May 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>TL;DR - Towing my 23fb Airstream with the lightning basically cuts range in half.</p> <p align="center"> </p> <p>I was able to tow the Airstream around 30 miles today and understand how the Lightning does with some weight behind it. The TL;DR is that with a 23-foot Airstream, I am seeing 0.8mi/kWh. Compared to the 1.5-1.8 I have seen on my road trips thus far without the trailer, its around 50% of the range when towing.</p> </article> <article> <h1>BlueCruise, Charging, and Trip Stats</h1> <p>Sat, 28 May 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Charging networks are just as strategic as battery suppliers. Everyone who isn’t Tesla needs to focus on build-out. What we have today is not acceptable to the vast majority of consumers.</p> <h2 id="charging-network">Charging Network</h2> <p>Our Tesla, when it sits for a few days, can drop significant battery capacity, so when we pulled up to Mackinaw City, I wanted to be sure we had more than the 70 miles we had. I put into the Ford’s GPS the closest high-speed charger and navigated.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Prep for our first road trip in the F-150 Lightning</h1> <p>Fri, 27 May 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>It made big news yesterday, but for the sake of posterity, we are the first F-150 Lightning Owner in the world at this point. The timing was great as we have a long-ish road trip today to visit the beautiful <a href="https://www.mackinacisland.org/">Mackinac Island</a>.</p> <p>This meant practically moving a car seat, all the junk in the current truck, and getting the suitcase and bikes loaded before the following day. Yippie!</p> <h2 id="first-charge">First Charge</h2> <p>At the dealership, I had to sign paperwork stating that I acknowledged that the fast charger would not come for some amount of time. How much time? No idea, but luckily we have the Tesla and Airstream, so we already have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#NEMA_14">NEMA 14-50</a> in the garage.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Steam Deck Review</h1> <p>Wed, 18 May 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I have struggled a little to collect my thoughts around the Steam Deck. The Linux geek in me is astonished that I sat on an aeroplane and played Halo on an <a href="https://archlinux.org/">Arch</a> powered gaming system. Given that people in my life are not necessarily that same type of geek, I am going to break this review into three sections:</p> <ol> <li>Is this a fun gaming device?</li> <li>Is it an excellent portable Linux system?</li> <li>I am not a tinkering gamer; should I buy one?</li> </ol> <p align="center"> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Prague Spring</h1> <p>Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Prague is a familiar location for our marriage; we have found ourselves here for my work. We were here often enough to have made friends, had favourite local places, and met US friends here as they went on holiday (Hi Brandon!).</p> <p>While I have been coming here for decades now, it was always with the eyes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Kundera">Milan Kundera</a>. From the moment I read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being"><em>“The Unbearable Lightness of Being”</em></a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring">Prague Spring</a> became the lens through which I viewed everything as I explored this stunning city.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Connecting the Generator to the Brain</h1> <p>Wed, 26 Jan 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>My generator was an island of mystery in my home data pool.</p> <h3 id="the-overview">The Overview</h3> <p>When we moved to Northern Michigan, loosing power was not an option. While I was not working from home as much back then, my wonderful Wife made it very clear that she would not be going cold in the great artic winters we have. “Duly noted,” I said, and when our home was built, I ensured that we buried the power lines up our winding driveway and installed a 22kw Generac generator. I dusted off my hands and called it a day. Success!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Optimise Later</h1> <p>Tue, 25 Jan 2022 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>One of our design philosophies at <a href="https://blueprintpower.com">Blueprint Power</a> is that you don’t spend too much time optimising code early on but instead focus on writing maintainable code with maintainable languages. More often than not, I have watched teams concentrate on picking the fastest language or improving the processing by some percentage instead of defining a solid data model and design pattern for the code.</p> <p>This hunch has served me well throughout the years. More often than not, by the time the performance bottleneck impacts you if your teams have been writing documented code in a readable language, it is easy enough to profile and optimise those areas that need it. For every performance landmine you find, there are at least a hundred you missed by focusing on this philosophy.</p> </article> <article> <h1>It is all energy</h1> <p>Fri, 03 Dec 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I have had the fantastic opportunity the past few years to learn the energy space inside and out at <a href="https://twitter.com/blueprintpower">Blueprint Power</a>. Everything from regulatory frameworks to how low-level ERT frames function on smart meters. I always started my elevator pitch with “My background is not in energy…” which isn’t <em>entirely</em> accurate in the more abstract sense.</p> <p>I wanted to share this because our industry is blossoming, with many brilliant people wishing to be part of the energy transition. A question that I often get is how to get a foot in the door of what is currently still a pretty small ecosystem.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Frogger and Young Nick</h1> <p>Wed, 18 Aug 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>My Father was stationed at <a href="https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-comiso-open-602.html">Comiso Air Station</a> when I was around two years old and was our home until kindergarten. The air station has since <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/04/10/inf-pact-leaves-costly-bases-with-no-mission/2ef3324a-926f-4642-9995-b23d99e02447/">closed</a>, but it holds a special place in my heart as I fell in love with computers and technology there.</p> <p>Our home was across the runway from the Base Exchange (BX), and we would ride our bikes across the base going to and from school, pick up my little brother, etc. For my younger self, though, that meant a visit to the BX where there was a computer section! I would dart to that section and instantly find one of the open systems. Without fail, my parents knew where to find me when they were ready to leave.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The disappearing digital divide?</h1> <p>Thu, 29 Jul 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I live in a beautiful town called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standish,_Michigan">Standish, Michigan</a>. Our total population is around 1400 people, and the majority of our population are farmers. That is to include the majority of my family who lives around our home here.</p> <p>Growing up, this was where I would come home for the Summers living abroad, as my father would joke, to learn more about the family business. My father married my mother, joined the Air Force, and then left to travel the world. He had entertained coming back home throughout my formative years, but there was not much work for a very geeky radio and electronics engineer, so he didn’t.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Haiku OS on a Lenovo T480</h1> <p>Mon, 26 Jul 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h1 id="beos-love--haiku-os-beta-3-hot-takes">BeOS Love & Haiku OS Beta 3 Hot Takes</h1> <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>To say I am a bit of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS">BeOS</a> zealot would be an understatement. I have loved the operating system from the first time I saw it boot and keep tabs on all the updates in the community to this day. I was one of those weird folks who held on after r5 into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnussoft_ZETA">ZETA</a> days hoping someone would pick it up and continue to advance it.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Open Source On the Go</h1> <p>Tue, 11 May 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Is there a more prominent sign of being a geek than wanting to have your special OSS tooling at hand 24x7? I started writing this post as a review of the PinePhone and ended up taking a trip down memory lane. I guess that is something that happens when you are getting to be an older geek. Below is less review <a href="https://geekyschmidt.com/personal/tech/linux/phones/2021/05/11/linuxphones.html#selling-the-dream">though that is at the end</a> and more thinking through how we got to this place in the history of Linux on mobile devices.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Not everything new is sucky</h1> <p>Wed, 21 Apr 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>Our team had a lively discussion yesterday around Kubernetes and the fallacy of innovation & ROI from tech. I am usually the curmudgeon old grey beard, but K8 is one of those stacks that make sense. Let me explain…</p> <p>The days before the containerised world, we sysadmins (remember when we were called that!?) had to deal with packaging and deployment in unique ways. Also, we had to monitor the systems to ensure uptime. This included networks, logging, firewall, monitoring, security, etc.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Fleet EV Charging in NYC</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Apr 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>I landed at LGA Airport yesterday and, for the first time, had a Tesla Uber Model 3 I was a bit surprised to see. We lived in Brooklyn and drove a Model 3, and I find the charging infrastructure to be incredibly difficult to deal with. Let alone on a fleet level.</p> <p>From <a href="https://plugshare.com">PlugShare</a>, we can see that the only “true” (120kW+) SuperChargers in the NYC metro are in NJ or JFK Airport. If we lower the limit to 70kW, we get a few more options, but if we think that at 120kW, the bare minimum takes 2+ hours to go from 0-100%, it’s daunting.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Thoughts on Rural Energy Transition</h1> <p>Thu, 15 Apr 2021 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>In between calls, I decided to split some wood. I find it incredibly relaxing, and it’s a great workout. I was thinking about a conversation I had with a buddy about rural communities energy needs. It is a genuine issue in Michigan.</p> <p>My “fun” activity of splitting wood is life & death for some communities here in Northern Michigan. I am incredibly fortunate that this a hobby and not required for my family’s wellbeing. In all the discussions about energy, I find these communities often overlooked.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Migrating a ZFS Pool with Snapshots</h1> <p>Tue, 15 Dec 2020 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h3 id="background">Background</h3> <p><a href="https://zfsonlinux.org/">ZFS</a> is one of those technologies that once you are introduced to it, it is challenging to think in the old ways again. One of the features I was always hesitant to embrace was snapshots as a mechanism for backup and recovery. I know that sounds a bit nutty given how powerful they can be, but my old tooling is muscle memory at this time. <a href="https://www.bacula.org/">Bacula</a>, <a href="https://rsync.samba.org/">rsync</a>, and <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/">tar</a> has been in my mind since I was a child.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Unifi Security Gateway Dual WAN Policy Routing</h1> <p>Wed, 15 Apr 2020 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h3 id="background">Background</h3> <p>I live in the boonies of Michigan, and my only option for unmetered and unlimited internet is SpeedConnect. The company is a smaller WISP that, for the most part, has been pretty solid. Over the past six years, though, they have performed a single network upgrade that doubled my speed to a blazing 6mbps down and 300kbps up.</p> <p>I began to look for other options to offset the lack of speed during these weird COVID-19 times, where my home internet became much more critical.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Kinderlevel Deutsch - Keeping Current</h1> <p>Sun, 10 Mar 2019 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="tldr">TL;DR</h2> <p>There is a reason, despite spending an abundant amount of hours in Tcl/Tk and Perl, I can only barely read the codebases of years past. I lost it. German wanes in that same space, but luckily I have kept up a routine that at least keeps me semi-useful. When I found out we were expecting a daughter, it reaffirmed my desire to ensure she was given the opportunity to have multiple languages in the home. With that I started a daily routine:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Where I Get My News</h1> <p>Tue, 12 Jun 2018 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>I value my time abroad at all stages of my life. While making me not only a better and more curious person, it has changed the way I consume and understand news. My Wife also has helped shape the routine. Our day is usually filled with:</p> <ol> <li>Wake-up and start to switch between the live news streams and clips. We usually flip as they wrap-up their news routine for the hour.</li> <li>Check our favourite apps.</li> <li>Share some Twitter links or news from our consumption.</li> <li>Get ready with BBC stream.</li> <li>Listen to podcasts on commute.</li> <li>Read RSS feeds.</li> <li>Discuss throughout the day.</li> <li>End the day catching-up on news from other parts of the globe.</li> </ol> <p>It sounds like a ton of work, and it is, but we are a connected world and the perspective is so important to our wellbeing and success. My Wife and I are often asked by friends for our perspective on things soley because we can speak with some authority having been there, knowing people in the region, and spending a ton of time with our daily routine.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Istanbul</h1> <p>Sun, 10 Jun 2018 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p>It was 2013, and there I sat in Istanbul International waiting for my third flight of the day. Beaten up from the multiple timezones and airline meals that encompassed my every day at that stage of my life. I lifted my head from a quick nap to see Anthony Bourdain was catching the same flight to Israel. He looked how I felt, and he was disappearing; it seemed into the solace of the empty terminal and cocoon of self. I debated at length in my head if I should introduce myself or let him know how much his writing and storytelling had impacted my adult life, but instead sat quietly. As a weary traveller also, I knew how much the lack of human contact, of playing a part or exerting that human interaction could do to ease the day.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Headless Steam Big Picture Streaming</h1> <p>Fri, 10 Nov 2017 04:15:57 +0000</p> <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>In both of our homes I have a Unix server for a variety of uses, but something that has been on interest for awhile was <a href="https://getsteam.com">Steam</a> in Home Streaming. In essence it takes the frame buffer of the video card and remotely displays it on any other machine running Steam.</p> <p>The benefit, for me at least, is two-fold. It is cheaper and easier to drop a GPU into the server than it is to upgrade the laptop and it allows for me to have a remote <a href="https://www.khronos.org/opencl/">OpenCL</a> machine that I use in my security research.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Migration from Wordpress to Jekyll</h1> <p>Tue, 07 Nov 2017 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><em>TL;DR - Migrated 11 year old Wordpress blog to Jekyll. Wouldn’t recommend at all to multi-user, beginner, or corporate entities. Was a fun and geeky experiment for a weekend project. Picked up some ruby programming along the way.</em></p> <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>It was time. I have been running this blog faithfully on Dreamhost since 2006. It started during a time when I was much younger, and much less wise. I remember battling the desire to go with static HTML pages or to go with one of these new CMS systems I was reading so much about on IRC. Here we are full-circle back on static HTML pages…As with all tech things, it is cyclical for sure.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Surface Book, Windows 10, and WSL: A year in review from a UNIX Geek</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Nov 2017 04:15:57 +0000</p> <p><em>TL;DR Unix geek tries Windows 10 for a year. For the most part it works, but lots of growing pains. Going back to the land of GNU.</em></p> <h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3> <p>A year ago, I started an attempt to give <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2016/10/30/microsoft-in-2016-a-review-from-a-unix-geek">Windows another try</a>. I jump around different platforms to stay current and cognisant of the industry shifts professionally. The need to get back to Windows happen to coincide with need for a new laptop.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Microsoft in 2016: A review from a UNIX Geek</h1> <p>Sun, 30 Oct 2016 07:30:35 +0000</p> <p>New laptop purchase seems like a good time to give Microsoft another chance.</p> <h2 id="what-happened">What happened?</h2> <p>I was using a wonderful 4th Generation X1 Carbon that ran Linux like a top. My only issue was that, in taking on a new role, I needed Windows or Mac support with a CUDA capable GPU. Moving to a 15” MacBook Pro wasn’t an option due to the size/weight and my general dismay of the direction of macOS.</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenWRT and PIA</h1> <p>Sun, 28 Aug 2016 17:41:31 +0000</p> <p>I use an OpenWRT travel router to deal with public WiFi access security and geolocation concerns. I have written <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2012/08/19/1965">extensively prior</a> and ran into an issue with the latest OpenWRT release.</p> <p>For those struggling with <a href="http://privateinternetaccess.com">PIA</a> using the luci-app-openvpn please see the below for a working config you can place in /etc/config/openvpn.</p> <ul> <li>Grab the new PIA Strong crypto files here: <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/openvpn/openvpn-strong.zip">https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/openvpn/openvpn-strong.zip</a></li> <li>vi /etc/config/openvpn</li> <li>Paste this block of text and change the hostname as needed</li> </ul> <pre>config openvpn 'piaEU' option dev 'tun' option nobind '1' option verb '3' option fast_io '1' option persist_tun '1' option persist_key '1' option client '1' option proto 'udp' option tls_client '1' option remote_cert_tls 'server' option cipher 'aes-256-cbc' option auth 'sha256' option ca '/etc/config/ca.rsa.4096.crt' option keepalive '10 120' list remote 'nl.privateinternetaccess.com' option comp_lzo 'adaptive' option auth_user_pass '/etc/openvpn/authuser' option resolv_retry 'infinite' option reneg_sec '0' option disable_occ '1' option enabled '1' option crl_verify '/etc/config/crl.rsa.4096.pem' option port '1197'</pre> <p>The port is a biggie. Make sure it is the correct one for the new secure settings!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ring Doorbell Security</h1> <p>Sun, 24 Jul 2016 09:54:55 +0000</p> <p>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.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Apache and HTTP Headers with Underscores</h1> <p>Wed, 23 Mar 2016 14:45:39 +0000</p> <p>Starting with Apache 2.4, headers were dropped that contained items to include underscores and expects dashes instead. Red Hat backported this change into the Apache 2.2 that ships with 6.7. You can read more here:<a class="urlextern" title="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/env.html" href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/env.html" rel="nofollow"><a href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/env.html">https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/env.html</a></a></p> <p>If you run into the issue where your REMOTE_USER or similar is not being passed to your WSGI application or similar, it is most likely due to the above. Good news, easy fix. I came across this issue with the wonderful Oracle Access Manager (OAM) 10g. <em>Side note: what a crappy piece of code and a disgrace to authentication mechanisms everywhere.</em></p> </article> <article> <h1>Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro Review</h1> <p>Sun, 21 Feb 2016 12:07:29 +0000</p> <p>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.</p> </article> <article> <h1>You are dev to me</h1> <p>Sun, 11 Oct 2015 04:26:50 +0000</p> <h1 id="introduction">Introduction</h1> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Liquorice Stick and Memories</h1> <p>Sat, 21 Mar 2015 07:42:37 +0000</p> <p>“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.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Withings Home Camera Review</h1> <p>Sun, 08 Feb 2015 12:26:50 +0000</p> <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/carroussel_home.jpg" rel="lightbox[2216]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Smitten with the Mitten – 6 Months in Michigan</h1> <p>Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:49:05 +0000</p> <div> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_%28album%29" target="_blank">Say Yes! to Michigan</a> </div> <div> </div> <div> Moving here was the culmination of a vacation turned scouting trip. Having spent the past 4 years living abroad in various countries it was time to visit the Vaterland and bring my Wife to meet the family. </div> <div> </div></p> <div> That was until I decided I wanted and we needed a change. </div> <div> </div></p> <div> Having now spent 6 full months here I wanted to share the things I have learned since moving here. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but they are the things that have struck me as a new Michigander. </div></p> </article> <article> <h1>Traffic Control on Linux with FireQOS</h1> <p>Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:28:44 +0000</p> <p>In order to make full use of my half-duplex WiMAX link, I started looking for anything and everything I could use to optimize it. Linux has some pretty decent utilities with iproute2 and netem to handle these type of configurations. They don’t compare to OpenBSD’s PF, but they work once you get the setup in place.</p> <p>Due in part to how ugly TC is out of the box, I really like <a href="https://github.com/ktsaou/firehol/wiki/FireQOS" target="_blank">FireQOS</a> for defining the basic configuration. The developer also makes a great iptables wrapper called FireHOL, but iptables rules are easy enough to write in my opinion.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The machine is self aware…</h1> <p>Sun, 19 Oct 2014 16:57:09 +0000</p> <p>I live in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standish,_Michigan" target="_blank">boonies</a> now, but thankfully we have some semblance of broadband with <a href="http://speedconnect.com" target="_blank">SpeedConnect</a>. It is a WiMax setup with a modem that needs to be reset once a day (sometimes more if I am downloading ISO’s) and only connects at 10Mb Half-Duplex. Better than nothing I suppose.</p> <p>Originally I just succom to needing to wake-up, hit the head, and then hit the server room to pull the power. The geek in me couldn’t take it. Enter an extra <a href="http://www.belkin.com/us/support-product?pid=01t80000003JS3FAAW" target="_blank">Wemo Insight</a> I had lying around. Initially I attempted to set up a rule that reset the switch (and thereby the modem) and coincide that with a cron script to bring down and back up the connection.</p> </article> <article> <h1>What do I want to do when I grow up?</h1> <p>Tue, 07 Oct 2014 21:16:56 +0000</p> <p>Circumstances were such that I could not make a more public notification when it actually occurred, but I am now able. I have sold my portion of Spec Ops Technology and will be moving on to new and exciting things for which I have yet to fully determine.</p> <p>It is such a bittersweet moment in life to look back on the progress and effects we have done as a company. We had such humble beginnings and desires that were quickly overshadowed by the reality of success. During my tenure as Co-Founder and Managing Partner, we have done amazing things and I have had a fascinating life. The memories formed and the relationships forged through the countless travels will be forever a shining moment.</p> </article> <article> <h1>ADS-B Receiver and Plotter with Arch Linux</h1> <p>Wed, 27 Aug 2014 10:47:13 +0000</p> <p>I love aviation and love software defined radios so building an ADS-B receiver and plotter was high on the lists of to-do. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standish,_Michigan" target="_blank">Standish Michigan</a> there are not a lot of fly overs so I wanted to be sure to capture those that happened. Haven seen now a few A-10’s on low pass it only fueled that desire :)</p> <p>I use <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/yaourt" target="_blank">yaourt</a> for my AUR package management, but whatever tool you use should be capable.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Spiffy Schmidts one year on…</h1> <p>Thu, 14 Aug 2014 06:00:30 +0000</p> <p>Today marks the 365th day we have been blissfully married. It is hard to believe as it feels like yesterday we were standing on top of the mountains in the Carolinas saying “I do.” We have had the most amazing first year I think any married couple could request.</p> <p>Two days before we exchanged nuptials I flew home from Dubai. We had planned to elope and best I could the schedule for work was squashed to fit that. After 16 hours in the air we switched the suitcases and drove South. The winery was beautiful and the little moment that we shared was just for us. We couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect for us as we are loners in this great big world. Right after we were married I jumped back on a plane for the United Arab Emirates.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Leaving Abu Dhabi</h1> <p>Sun, 06 Jul 2014 08:56:29 +0000</p> <div style="color: #000000;"> <a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/uae-flag-prosperity.jpg" rel="lightbox[2122]"></a> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> Let me pretense this with we are not actually leaving Abu Dhabi, but rather we are leaving a slice of time for which we were there. <a href="http://specopstechnology.com" target="_blank">Spec Ops Technology</a> still has offices in Dubai (expanding in the Emirates too…) and will require us to be back at least twice a year, but the period for which we lived…existed… is for now gone. My Father always told me as we bounced around the globe growing up, when you are somewhere it is like your hand in a bucket of water. The moment you remove your hand the water fills in around you. No matter how many times you go back after, it is a different (not bad) experience than what you remember. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> Our first year of marriage started with Abu Dhabi. Two days before our wedding I flew to the States and the day following our nuptials I flew back. The Middle East will forever be ingrained with the first year of married life. When I left Berlin in 2012, I did so somewhat teary eyed due to the joy of being back in Germany. I had been to the U.A.E. multiple times the past few years, but only for a few days or a week at a time. The thought of moving there made me disappointed in the road ahead. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> My girlfriend (and now Wife) were a short 8 hour flight away. Now though, with the move to Abu Dhabi, she was going to be 16 hours away. My once a month home trips were going to greatly elongate. The first month or two I treated it as any place I live in, find something you like. For the first time I was coming up short. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> It was after my Wife was laid off that it changed. She moved over and for a short time we lived in a very small hotel room. Think Holiday Inn Express, but of the French leanings. Slowly we migrated to an apartment and begin to explore the area together. What we found, much to the surprise of family and friends, was a culture and people so welcoming and accommodating we could not help but fall in love with the area. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> Any American familiar with the region via their local news cast automatically assumes we were minutes away from a car bomb or mortar attack. In fact we were in a place that people didn’t lock doors, the people were nice, and the safety surpassed most of the world. In many ways the freedoms we enjoy in the United States were amplified by the multi-cultural society in Abu Dhabi. Dinner talks were often intertwined with 3 or 4 different types of world citizens strewn around us. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> Our first reaction when coming to the U.A.E. was to travel and getaway. We certainly did that by exploring the Maldives, Oman, Cyprus, and countless other places. What we found though as the wheels of our Etihad flight touched down in Abu Dhabi was a sense of home. When we began to explore the country that had welcomed us so willingly. was a beauty unlike that we could find in Europe or the United States. The<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liwa_Oasis" target="_blank"> Liwa Desert</a> and<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Bani_Yas" target="_blank"> Sir Bani Yas Island</a> opened our eyes to the different ways landscape can warp your views. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> The food….OH THE FOOD! Since we have accepted that we will be home for a while we have scoured the internet diligently looking for Lebanese, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern food types we will soon be missing. There is something about the cooking that is radically different from the sensibilities of the Western Palate. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> So, while leaving Berlin was a sad affair just 18 months ago, leaving Abu Dhabi takes the cake of recent life. Inshallah, we will be back soon. If you are offered the opportunity to ever live in the region, we recommend it with all the jealousy that will stem from it. I wish all Americans would go spend time in the area to re-baseline their views of Islam and Middle Easterners. Most of all though, Shukran to the people there. Thank you for your welcome smiles and wonderful countries. You will forever be part of our first year of marriage and views of the world. </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1378683_148134022064385_749955870_n.jpg" rel="lightbox[2122]"></a> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <hr /> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> Some images of our travels and time around the region: </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> <div data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"http:\/\/geekyschmidt.com\/2014\/07\/06\/leaving-abu-dhabi"}' id='gallery-8' class='gallery galleryid-2122 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'> <figure class='gallery-item'> <pre><code><div class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='http://geekyschmidt.com/2014/07/06/leaving-abu-dhabi/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" srcset="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?resize=144%2C144 144w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?zoom=2&resize=150%2C150 300w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?zoom=3&resize=150%2C150 450w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="2156" data-orig-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?fit=540%2C720" data-orig-size="540,720" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?fit=225%2C300" data-large-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1522141_10152148668216639_1722249811_n.jpg?fit=540%2C720" /></a> </div></figure><figure class='gallery-item'> <div class='gallery-icon portrait'> <a href='http://geekyschmidt.com/2014/07/06/leaving-abu-dhabi/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" srcset="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?resize=144%2C144 144w, http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?zoom=2&resize=150%2C150 300w, http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?zoom=3&resize=150%2C150 450w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="2155" data-orig-file="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?fit=540%2C720" data-orig-size="540,720" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?fit=225%2C300" data-large-file="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1525740_10152148660926639_1034434806_n.jpg?fit=540%2C720" /></a> </div></figure><figure class='gallery-item'> <div class='gallery-icon landscape'> <a href='http://geekyschmidt.com/2014/07/06/leaving-abu-dhabi/dsc_0263-2'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?resize=150%2C150" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" srcset="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?resize=144%2C144 144w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="2136" data-orig-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?fit=292%2C164" data-orig-size="292,164" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="DSC_0263" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?fit=292%2C164" data-large-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DSC_02631.jpg?fit=292%2C164" /></a> </div></figure><figure class='gallery-item'> <div class='gallery-icon landscape'> <a href='http://geekyschmidt.com/2014/07/06/leaving-abu-dhabi/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n'><img width="150" height="150" src="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" srcset="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?resize=144%2C144 144w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?zoom=2&resize=150%2C150 300w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?zoom=3&resize=150%2C150 450w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="2154" data-orig-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n.jpg?fit=720%2C480" data-orig-size="720,480" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="1471993_162922933918827_959872916_n" 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640w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?resize=300%2C300 300w, http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?resize=144%2C144 144w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" data-attachment-id="2125" data-orig-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?fit=640%2C640" data-orig-size="640,640" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?fit=300%2C300" data-large-file="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/524720_167171290160658_1462823912_n.jpg?fit=640%2C640" /></a> </div></figure> </code></pre> </div> </div> <div style="color: #000000;"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Celebrate Geekiness Day</h1> <p>Wed, 02 Jul 2014 03:58:14 +0000</p> <p>I was asked by <a href="http://www.singlehop.com" target="_blank">SingleHop</a> to write a blog post about being a geek. I imagine they found my name through the URL which is hard to ignore when looking for geeks. Especially those of the Schmidt type. I cannot vouch for their products or services, but I appreciate the opportunity to write something I am passionate about. Without further ado</p> <ul> <li><em>What makes you a geek?</em></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p>There is the age-old question of geek vs. nerd. In my mind a geek is less of a thing and more of a lifestyle and way of thinking. I am a geek because I get excited about things most would not. I am a geek because my entire life I have felt like a sponge for knowledge. I am a geek because my wife has an album on Facebook of me on a phone/laptop/tablet reading RSS feeds or <a href="http://specopstechnology.com" target="_blank">working</a>. I also have a computer museum, wear ThinkGeek shirts, and do Superman poses around the globe. What other evidence does one need!?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Top 11 Pet Peeves of Hotels</h1> <p>Fri, 11 Apr 2014 13:01:50 +0000</p> <p>We live in hotels most of the year. Last year we “lived” in our house for less than 30 days if you don’t count our frequent reminiscing via home security cameras. I would consider myself a bit of a connoisseur in such matters of the rating and luxury of such establishments. With that said there are a few things that will QUICKLY force your hotel onto my shit list. For those starting new places I recommend you follow the list below.</p> </article> <article> <h1>iPad Mini – an agnostic mobile user review</h1> <p>Mon, 24 Mar 2014 08:59:27 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_20140324_162709.jpg" rel="lightbox[2088]"></a>If you glance around my computer museum (I mean office) you will see the following mobile devices:</p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">WebOS</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">Maemo</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">Android</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">PalmOS</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">Blackberry (no 10 devices yet)</span></li> <li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;">WinCE (don’t ask)</span></li> </ul> <p>And up until a few years ago many an iOS device scattered around. Part of my job is learning what the latest and greatest is capable of and implementing for my customers. It was after helping one of them recently that I realized my iOS knowledge was becoming a little dated and as such I found myself in the Schiphol Airport paying way too much for a Retina iPad Mini 32GiB.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Best things and stuff from 2013</h1> <p>Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:51:16 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <ul> <li> <a href="#News"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> News</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Music"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.2</span> Music</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Moving_Images"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.3</span> Moving Images</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Tech_News"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.4</span> Tech News</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Dumbest_Things_of_the_Year"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.5</span> Dumbest Things of the Year</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Extra_Sauce"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.6</span> Extra Sauce:</a> </li> </ul></li> <pre><code><li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> <p>I skipped 2012 for some reason. I think I was just super busy, but then again I am more busy now. No standout moments in 2012 so nothing lost.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.2em;">Events</span></span></p> <p><a style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em;" href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/GearOnlyLogo.png" rel="lightbox[2047]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Thinkpad x230 Thoughts</h1> <p>Tue, 31 Dec 2013 02:34:45 +0000</p> <p>My requirements for the next laptop were pretty simple:</p> <ol> <li>3rd Generation i7 or better</li> <li>16GiB of RAM</li> <li>Light and thin (jealous of the wife’s Macbook Air)</li> <li>Fingerprint Scanner</li> <li>Pointer thingie</li> <li>Run Linux</li> </ol> <p>Additionally I had hoped for a Nvidia GPU, but realized the Intel GPUs have gotten to the point they can play Civilization which suffices for me.</p> <p>Unfortunately the trend appears to be less is more for the ultra-portables out there. The toughest of the above requirements was the 16GiB of RAM. Most of the machines are maxing out now at 8GiB which is not enough for honest VM work. The HP zBook that was released was a good choice, but the ATI graphics and stupid pricing pushed me away.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Serial Port on the Pogoplug v2</h1> <p>Tue, 17 Dec 2013 00:32:09 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/0b9d8d96367211e3beb322000aaa0754_8.jpg" rel="lightbox[2022]"></a></p> <p>I have run the hotel/apartment room server off a <a href="http://beagleboard.org/hardware-xm" target="_blank">BeagleBoard-XM</a> for a few months now. I had no case for it, so I was a little worried to have an exposed computing platform hanging out there while the cleaning team and visitors were around. This put me on a search for a ARM-based platform that was small, silent, and could run Arch Linux. Up till this point I had used the Beagleboard with Ubuntu due to the ease of install. Yes it is capable of running Arch, but it isn’t a seamless process. Additionally, being ARM v7 it was not able to run Plex which is my media streaming platform of choice for the ouya</p> </article> <article> <h1>2013 Investment Recap</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Dec 2013 05:23:31 +0000</p> <p>I like to look back at the year and see how good (or bad) my investments were in stocks for the year. As the rest of the year is going to be crazy busy I wanted to type this while I couldn’t sleep last night. I doubt there will be any huge swings from now till 31 Dec.</p> <p>I buy and hold-on to stocks vs. quick trades so my goal is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> to make a quick buck on a flip. There were a few interesting surprises and fails this year. I am leaving my overall investment dollars out so you just get percentage gained. Overall my portfolio is up 21% which isn’t my best showing, but better than zero. If anything this reaffirms that I should stick to ETF and Mutual Funds for 2014 :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>BASH Profile Calculator and Extractor</h1> <p>Fri, 06 Dec 2013 07:16:10 +0000</p> <p>Most likely my favourite addition to my otherwise untouched BASH profile is the calc function. From the shell on my Linux box I can simply type “calc 2*10+10/1” and be presented with a result. Having been on a Mac with spotlight the past 3 years, this is something I truly missed. Additionally I missed a universal extractor that was easily accessible. File-roller works sufficiently in the GUI, but I wanted something quick from the CLI. Now I can type “extract archive.tar.bz2” and away it goes…</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Great Illusion</h1> <p>Fri, 06 Dec 2013 07:02:50 +0000</p> <p>I started my day with a run and was lost in the writings of Norman Angell. A month or so ago I read his book, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38535/38535-h/38535-h.htm" target="_blank">Great Illusion</a>, and was awe-struck on how much pre-WWI Europe mirrors our own world today. He makes the case that globalization in those times would prohibit the tinderbox from catching fire due to the inter-dependencies. I see those same arguments today (<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10412499/The-world-has-never-had-it-so-good-thanks-partly-to-capitalism.html" target="_blank">article from The Telegraph</a>) and feel a sense of misery from past mistakes being forgotten.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Simulating WAN Links with Linux and TC</h1> <p>Sun, 22 Sep 2013 04:10:11 +0000</p> <p>Simulating WAN links used to be a difficult process. I would load FreeBSD with a dummynet driver and play with the settings to tweak where I needed it for the activity. OpenBSD with ALTQ made this a step simpler with the ease of bridging adapters. On a recent project for <a href="http://specopstechnology.com" target="_blank">Spec Ops Technology</a>, I needed to simulate a WAN with latency, loss, and randomness.</p> <p>I decided I needed to dig more into the <a href="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/netem" target="_blank">netem</a> work included in most recent linux distributions. Netem has matured to the point of being a very potent utility for setting up quick testbeds. Additionally with most any modern Linux distro you are online in minutes. I will post a very quick script to get you online:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Travel Tips from a Frequent Traveler</h1> <p>Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:53:42 +0000</p> <p>“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” This year alone I have been in 12 countries and accumulated over 500k miles of travel and want to share my tips and tricks to make us better citizens of the globe. I want to provide some tips from my many days on the road. It is my hope this transforms you from clueless tourist to world citizen.</p> <ul> <li> <p>**Learn the basic language – **The quickest and easiest way to make connections with people is to approach them with their <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/" target="_blank">native tongue</a>. You will be surprised after being a few places how easy it is to pickup “Hello and Goodbye” and “Please and Thank You”</p> </article> <article> <h1>Microsoft Lync on Linux</h1> <p>Sat, 18 May 2013 04:02:43 +0000</p> <p>Microsoft Lync is prevalent through the corporate world. Honestly its a pretty decent product on a Windows machine. On Linux and Mac though it is really a half-baked product of varying working status. On Mac the official client burns through your battery due to requiring the Nvidia graphics card on my <a href="https://twitter.com/oneguynick/status/287115562293809152" target="_blank">Retina Pro??</a></p> <p>I am a big fan on Pidgin (or Adium on the Mac) and have been struggling to get Lync support working on Mac/Linux using this client. Today I was finally able to connect.</p> </article> <article> <p>Sun, 19 Aug 2012 17:31:17 +0000</p> <p>—- Cross Post from the Spec Ops Technology Blog —-</p> <p><a href="http://specopstechnology.com">Spec Ops Technology</a> prides itself on taking difficult problems and providing practical engineering solutions. Quite often this real world experience is born of a real world problem we personally faced. There is a passion we look for in our engineers that breeds a team that, by nature, develops creative fixes.</p> <p>As the United and Lufthansa ticket counters can attest, I spend a lot of time on the road. In today’s connected world I depend on a secure and platform agnostic internet connection. There a few major hurdles that make this difficult:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dual Time Machine Locations</h1> <p>Fri, 17 Aug 2012 07:17:02 +0000</p> <p>Apple must have been reading my blog when I wrote-up how to use <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2011/12/29/dual-time-machine-wielding-backups">two locations for Time Machine</a>. Now in Mountain Lion it is built in and is much more seamless than my band-aid hack. Backups were always such an elusive concept for people, but Apple has really done a great job here. If you own a Mac and do not use Time Machine…shame…</p> <p>The two locations here are a Whole Disk Encrypted external FW drive and a Debian file server with an encrypted volume.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Race to the median travel screen…</h1> <p>Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:08:12 +0000</p> <p><strong>TL;DR – Sometimes the smallest laptop isn’t the best option for a traveler. If you live on one machine then maybe sucking up the weight for power isn’t a bad idea. If you have a tablet then there is no question</strong></p> <p>My apologies to my blog readers for two things:</p> <ol> <li>That my blog has not been updated in N+1 more months than it should have</li> <li>That it has taken a very travel oriented slant as of late</li> </ol> <p>I blame both on starting an international engineering firm, but it has forced me to change my habits (what do you mean I don’t have time to blog on only 4 hours of sleep!?!) and learn to get smarter with my travel.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dreamhost was hacked</h1> <p>Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:02:29 +0000</p> <p>It is highly <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>infuriating</strong></span> to be a security person and have your own house knocked down. This was the case if you visited my site as of late and found broken links and spam spewed across it. This was not due to my own security mishaps. This website is:</p> <ol> <li>Scanned daily by WSD Security script</li> <li>Multifactor authenticated with a Yubikey for all logins and edits</li> <li>Weekly backup sent to offsite</li> <li>Strong passwords across the board</li> <li>Check for updates weekly and subscribe to security lists</li> </ol> <p>As we say in the security world if you lock the doors, but leave the windows open your security is not that strong. Hence was the case with my hosted site here. I locked the doors, but dreamhost left wide-open the windows. I have been a paying customer since 2007 and will now be looking for a new host. Here is the hack below:</p> </article> <article> <h1>iOS Apps for Business Owners and Travelers</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:15:04 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <li> <a href="#Home_Screen"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Home Screen:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Productivity"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Productivity:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Finance"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Finance:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Travel"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Travel:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Transportation"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Transportation:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Personal"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Personal:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Share this:</a> </li> </ul> </div> <p>I think I was one of the first to carry around a smartphone. I remember the marriage of a phone and PDA made me so excited and to see that technology in a single device…phew…love. The Treo 180 was severely limited, but it brought to the world an idea that phones were for more than phone calls. Fast forward a decade and now I can run the entire company from a smart phone. Out of all the travel gadgets I carry, my smart phone is the one most necessary. I wanted to run through my favorite apps that make it happen.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Best things and stuff from 2011</h1> <p>Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:57:41 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <ul> <li> <ul> <li> <a href="#Events"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.1</span> Events</a> </li> <li> <a href="#News"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.2</span> News</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Music"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.3</span> Music</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Moving_Images"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.4</span> Moving Images</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Tech_News"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.5</span> Tech News</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Dumbest_Things_of_the_Year"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">0.0.6</span> Dumbest Things of the Year</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul></li> <pre><code><li> <a href="#Here_is_to_2012"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Here is to 2012!</a><ul> <li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </ul> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> <p>It is coming up on the end of another year so I wanted to look back and give some “Best Of”</p> <h4 id="events"><span id="Events">Events</span></h4> <p><em>Professionally</em>: Started <a href="http://specopstechnology.com" target="_blank">Spec Ops Technology</a></p> <p><em>Location:</em> Moved into Washington DC and the great neighborhood of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookland_(Washington,_D.C.)" target="_blank">Brookland</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>International Phones and Plans</h1> <p>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:54:46 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <ul> <li> <a href="#GRA"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> GR&A</a> </li> <li> <a href="#General_Findings"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.2</span> General Findings</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Rankings_by_price_per_month"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.3</span> Rankings by price per month</a> </li> </ul></li> <pre><code><li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> <p><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/iDish.jpg" rel="lightbox[1921]"></a>Its hard to travel the globe and not be connected. When we started <a href="http://specopstechnology.com">Spec Ops Technology</a> we had plans to simply use unlocked phones and purchase SIM cards in the country we would primarily be working. That is fine and dandy till you miss a meeting because you were not within WIFI range to check your email or can’t remember which of the 7 SIM cards in your pocket are tied to the country you are now landing in. There are enough logistics nightmares to toss phone management into the fire. I wanted to share my findings for those traveling a lot and those running international firms.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dual Time Machine Wielding Backups!</h1> <p>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:08:49 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <ul> <li> <a href="#The_Ingredients"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> The Ingredients:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Secret_Magic_Scripts"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.2</span> Secret Magic Scripts:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Letting_the_Penguins_talk_to_the_Fruit"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.3</span> Letting the Penguins talk to the Fruit:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Convince_the_Mac_its_right_at_home"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.4</span> Convince the Mac its right at home:</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Location_Location_Location"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.5</span> Location, Location, Location:</a> </li> </ul></li> <pre><code><li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> <p>With the purchase of the Apple Thunderbolt Display my Air now has a jumbo-frame enabled ethernet port at its disposal. My current backup strategy is to utilize an encrypted external USB laptop drive while on the road and to just rsync the latest backup when I get home. This has been working great for a year straight (saved my greasy bacon when the airlines forgot my bag) but I figured it was time to reevaluate with my fancy monitor in the mix.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Apple Thunderbolt Display Review</h1> <p>Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:04:39 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <ul> <li> <a href="#Display"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.1</span> Display</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Cables"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.2</span> Cables</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Ports"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.3</span> Ports</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Speakers"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.4</span> Speakers</a> </li> <li> <a href="#iSight_HD"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.5</span> iSight HD</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Gaming"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.6</span> Gaming</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Going_Green"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.7</span> Going Green</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Before_and_After"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">0.8</span> Before and After</a> </li> </ul></li> <pre><code><li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> <p>With the increase in travel as of late I am finding myself tied more and more to the laptop. Despite an extensive home lab with KVM switches and dual monitors, there I would sit with my 11″ MacBook Air. Simplicity was the main reason I found. Transfer files, syncing something to a new machine, etc. just was much more hassle than I needed. I had what I will call the <em>semi-dock</em> with my Air in which I’d sit it on a stand and then run the myriad of wires to tie it into the home desk system. GONE!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Travel Gear for the Globe Trotting Geeks</h1> <p>Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:57:02 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <li> <a href="#Laptop"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Laptop</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Tablet"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Tablet</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Security"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Security</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Power_on_the_Go"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Power on the Go</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Creature_Comforts"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Creature Comforts</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Share this:</a> </li> </ul> </div> <p><span style="font-size: small;">65,000 km a month is my current travel routine with my international engineering firm, <a href="http://specopstechnology.com">Spec Ops Technology</a>. In my past there was formidable travel, but it always was within the continental US which removed some of the complexities in life. With the crossing of borders the type of equipment you need changes dramatically. Below are some of my favorite items to carry that have saved me numerous times. In a later post I will cover the software and mobile applications that I use on all this stuff.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Starting a Company – Tips and Tricks from our first month</h1> <p>Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:09:34 +0000</p> <p>Starting a company (as I understand it from my older peers) once required a great deal of coordination and assistance. The stories of polyester suit visits to the local bank have all but slipped into historical memory. Today the buzz word is “boot strapping” a business. The bar to reach now only requires a good idea and some planning to start a company for under a few thousand dollars. Here is how <a href="http://specopstechnology.com">Spec Ops Technology</a> got there…</p> </article> <article> <h1>TL; DR – I am starting a company.</h1> <p>Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:42:28 +0000</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <strong>TL; DR – I am starting a company.</strong> </p> <p style="text-align: left;"> In December I wrote that I would be leaving Boeing and moving on to new things with a smaller and more lean company. The time since has been filled with growth and change as I learned how small businesses operate. With the increase in free time, I also found myself assisting multiple start-ups in their ventures into the commercial market. I learned from them the numerous wickets to clear to start a company and have thanked them extensively for the opportunity. Little did I know at the time how important that knowledge would be in the coming months. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Man the sinking ship! Why I bought a n900 in 2011</h1> <p>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:43:24 +0000</p> <p>The problem with a Sprint phone is that CDMA is as American as Apple Pie. The lack of SIM slot and GSM frequency bands relegates it to CONUS use only. On top of that my choice of providers is exactly <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>one</strong></span>. If I need a cheap SIM card for pay-as-you-go there is no options for me on Sprint with this phone.</p> <p>With the issue above I went searching for an unlocked cell phone. My requirements were pretty simple:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Don’t Mess with Momma Bear</h1> <p>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:38:53 +0000</p> <p>Usually the text posted to this website is related to some technology or recent hack, but today it will be a little different. My tenacious personality and drive was not discovered, but rather grown by my Mother. While Dad was off fighting wars and traveling the world, Mom was at home caring for my Brother and I. The reason I am so focused and determined is having watched my Mother teach me those traits. Here is a little more about her…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tools of the Connected Geek Trade</h1> <p>Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:08:45 +0000</p> <p>As we move up the food chain of life, our free-time becomes more and more precious. There are only so many hours in the day and my generation utilizes them to the fullest. I have been blessed and fortunate to be placed early on in my career in leadership positions while often having to continue my technical work. This means keeping a foot in each role and staying current. The past few years I have honed my life work-flow to accomplish this. Here are my tools of choice:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Verified Accounts or “Don’t let your friends steal your name”</h1> <p>Sun, 22 May 2011 16:07:53 +0000</p> <p>I have a great friend (who may not agree with that “<em>great</em>” part after this) who refused to have a facebook page. I can’t disagree with the idea of being the part of the few left in America without one, but it has become somewhat of a joke with us.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"> <strong>Friend</strong>: Why didn’t you tell me?! </p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"> <strong>Me</strong>: I did tell everyone, via Twitter and Facebook </p> <p>A few nights ago while we were chatting via Jabber I decided to play a little joke and create him a Facebook page.<figure id="attachment_1763" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"></p> </article> <article> <h1>My Home Burglary and what it means for your enterprise</h1> <p>Sat, 14 May 2011 12:30:42 +0000</p> <p>My house in DC was broken into. More specifically my garage, which is behind my house, was broken into and a few things stolen. Other than the asshole move of keying my car, nothing of great value was lost. All the same the process got me thinking about my life as an InfoSec professional and the similarities of our homes to our enterprises. I will use my home as an allegory to how we handle our digital worlds and what I learned.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Need no more – Gifts and Holidays</h1> <p>Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:42:09 +0000</p> <p>There comes a time when we realize there is too much stuff in our lives. I have been blessed to not need for anything beyond a smile and love. As many of my loved ones know there is a strict “no gift” policy for me. If I need something in life I go purchase it. My holiday memories are not bound to the boxes or cards opened, but rather by the love and warmth felt there. The long and short of it is that I feel that we should be refocusing our gift-giving. The commercialization of holidays and the abundance of crap we fill our lives with must stop. We simply have no need for more. What I am trying to say is that I would ask that no one send me cards or gifts for holidays. I appreciate the thought, but you can send it to me via email and have the same effect. It means so much to me that people (who didn’t find my birthday listed on Facebook) still knew it was happening and sent me a reminder for things. It just doesn’t need to happen. If you feel so compelled to do SOMETHING then I would ask that you donate to the following charities instead of a card/gift. The charities take donations in any amount so before you plunk down 5 bucks for card+postage, why not just donate online?</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenBSD Laptop mini-HOWTO</h1> <p>Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:40:30 +0000</p> <p>Awhile back I wanted a fully supported laptop to use as my OpenBSD development machine. I ended up with a Lenovo u150 which has worked out great and the price was right. Along the way of setting it up, I have learned a few tricks to get OpenBSD purring on it. Wanted to share for those who come after me…</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/IMG_20110327_113314.jpg" rel="lightbox[1731]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Color App and the future of GPS Spoofing</h1> <p>Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:39:24 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Nick-in-Antartica.png" rel="lightbox[1724]"></a></p> <p><a href="https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=color+app&hl=en&prmd=ivnsu&source=univ&tbs=nws:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=KA6OTeCmFbCF0QGcp9WuCw&ved=0CCcQqAI" target="_blank">Google News</a> is full of articles on the pro’s and con’s of the new application, Color. Overall it is a pretty dumb application if you ask me, but it does show that the onslaught of “hyper local” social networks is coming soon. What started as a way to actually test the Color app showcased how much fun it would be to check-in to places. Steps to GPS spoof:</p> </article> <article> <h1>FrontPoint and Alarm.com – The Digital Security Eval</h1> <p>Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:43:11 +0000</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/simon-xt-side-v4_xlarge.jpg" rel="lightbox[1715]"></a> </p> <p>Most of the folks using the GE Simon XT for their home security systems are amazed that they can use their Android, iPhone, or Blackberry to remotely lock their homes. I was curious as to what was actually being passed. I loaded my OpenWRT router with tcpdump and did some basic dumps on a br0 interface to see what all was being passed. A few quick points:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Why is my /dev/sda missing?!?!</h1> <p>Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:09:41 +0000</p> <p>I am in the midst of testing some of the latest Linux kernels and realized that my old kernel config was wiped. In my desire to finish the build I forgot to select a VERY important option if you are using dm-crypt and LUKS. If you cannot access your /boot then there is no way to upgrade your kernel. Chicken and egg issue. Another issue maybe that you lost your /dev/sda1 or other nodes due to udev overtaking. Here is the fix in the situation:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Debian Server vs. Ubuntu Server</h1> <p>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:40:05 +0000</p> <p><em><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/debian_vs_ubuntu.jpg" rel="lightbox[1702]"></a></em></p> <p><em><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/debian_vs_ubuntu.jpg" rel="lightbox[1702]"></a>Lately I have had a few requests for my thoughts on using Ubuntu Server. For me the real question at that point is why use Ubuntu server over Debian?</em></p> <p>———-</p> <p>I have used Ubuntu server a good bit and while I appreciate the effort, I am not sure I agree with it. What I mean by this is that Ubuntu is based on Debian testing/unstable. Every LTS (Long-term Support) release is guaranteed to be supported for 3 years on the desktop/5 for the server. Knowing that is in essence just Debian under the hood, why go with Ubuntu?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tor != VPN – A Simple Explanation</h1> <p>Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:17:34 +0000</p> <figure id="attachment_1691" style="width: 336px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/antoine-dodson.jpg" rel="lightbox[1686]"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Shameless exploit of meme I know...</figcaption></figure> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/antoine-dodson.jpg" rel="lightbox[1686]"></a>I can’t take it anymore! I lurk on irc.freenode.net and /r/netsec and have seen a few too many mornings now that some person is safe, <em>they used Tor.</em> There is a big misunderstanding in what Tor actually does and protects. Here is my log in the fire to help explain the technology. Lets start with the basics…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Geolocation and Force Protection</h1> <p>Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:56:55 +0000</p> <figure id="attachment_1665" style="width: 119px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/foursquare-game-mobile-app.jpg" rel="lightbox[1664]"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">OMG THIS DUDE IS AT THINK COFFEE!</figcaption></figure> <p>Sometimes we get a little <em>too</em> focused in on what the root of a vulnerability is. I find myself thinking this a good bit with the advent of geolocation tagging and “check-ins” as the security world runs around with hair on fire.</p> <p>Rather than accept that our tools and users will be GPS connected and tracked, we take the extreme of labeling it all bad. By doing so we have removed what is a valuable tool to our folks. We can all agree that geolocation unfettered is a bad idea, but can’t we agree that geolocation in and of itself is not?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Virtualization Tool Support Matrix</h1> <p>Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:40:18 +0000</p> <p>I would argue it is pretty sad that the tools needed to abstract the OS from hardware are tied to specific platforms. Companies that pride themselves on delivering “cloud services” without the constraints of operating system force us admin types to have machines we wouldn’t otherwise. Take for example my ESXi cluster in the basement. I have a single XP Virtual Machine who’s sole purpose is to admin vSphere. A company with such a rich history of Linux and OSS support drives me crazy at times. (<em>see also PCoIP support from VMware with their Linux/Mac Client)</em></p> </article> <article> <h1>The news of OpenID’s Death is greatly exaggerated</h1> <p>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:36:53 +0000</p> <p><em><rant></em></p> <p>I am not one to get on the blog and add to the argument over some stupid post from another <a href="http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2011/01/30/LearningFromOurMistakesTheFailureOfOpenIDAtomPubAndXMLOnTheWeb.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">tech pundit</a>, but this one is too much to pass on. The reason I am tossing my hat in here is that I am now seeing <strong>SECURITY PROFESSIONALS</strong> adding to the <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-s-wrong-with-OpenID" target="_blank">crowd</a> with the death knell of <a href="http://openid.net/" target="_blank">OpenID</a>. Seriously?</p> <p>Let me start with this example from my morning routine. I logged into my Facebook account with <a href="http://www.clavid.com/" target="_blank">ClavID</a> instead of the standard Facebook authentication mechanism. A little known Facebook feature is the ability to use <a href="https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2250963308" target="_blank">OpenID providers</a> to login instead of the email+password. I do this because ClavID supports secure multifactor authentication so instead of a simple user+pass, I have user+pass+token. Many of the websites I frequent support OpenID and in all of those cases I remove their ability to store my authentication information.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Advice for new ISSO or ISSM</h1> <p>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:14:34 +0000</p> <p>Someone in /r/netsec posted a question about what advice us old sages would have for a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/f92p6/i_just_became_an_isso_and_have_a_question/" target="_blank">new ISSO</a>. The below was my response that I hope is useful to my readers in a two-fold way.</p> <ol> <li>ISSO that are coming into the field</li> <li>Managers that are trying to hire or understand your staff</li> </ol> <p>Without further ado…</p> <div> <div> <ul> <li> Whatever industry you are in there are policies that dictate compliance. Learn them. PCI, DIACAP, NIST, FIPS, ICD, DCID, JAFAN, NISCAP, etc. Learn the policies NOT in your industry as background knowledge. It will help make you a better decision maker. </li> <li> Document everything. If it isn’t written down it doesn’t count. Security practice without policy is fictional </li> <li> Embrace your geek system admins. Find the weird guy with the binary clock and buy him lunch. Without the support of your admin staff you will die on the vine </li> <li> Being an ISSO means that you are upward reporting, downward enforcement. Present well and be consistent with your message. You are no ones friend and therefore must form alliances to ensure your success. Also don’t dress like a hippie unless your company encourages that. Most days the ISSO is in a weird in between place where you aren’t a suit and you aren’t a sysadmin </li> <li> LEARN THE ARCHITECTURE. You will loose the respect of your teams as soon as you incorrectly state how SSH, PKI, IPSEC, or any other key security terminology works. If you are the ISSO of a group that does mostly web apps you better know web services inside and out. Security guys must know it soup to nuts </li> <li> Be humble, but be firm. You are the enforcer and dictator of all that is securing 1’s and 0’s for your teams. Accept that since you are new you will not know everything. Let people see that you are humble and willing to hear both sides before making a ruling </li> <li> Get active in your local security groups. Hackers, B-Sides, Con’s and whatever else can serve as an excellent networking tool for you to see how your peers are practicing security </li> <li> The fact you came to /r/netsec shows you are trying to learn. Keep learning. Subscribe to mailing lists and RSS feeds and block out portions of your day to read them. You are there to ensure someones ass or data doesn’t get stolen/chewed. As the ISSO you are expected to be ahead of the curve </li> <li> Compliancy sure feels good, but without it actually enforcing good security it will only make you feel good. Let your company or group get hacked and see how much leeway you are given for an ATO or compliance checkbox </li> <li> If you cant recite port #’s out of memory or explain basic PKI, MFA, Defense in Depth, packet theory, or how different protocols work then you need to move along. Study up quick or write your resignation and hand it over. Security has no time for people who lack basic knowledge. Eventually it will catch-up with you </li> <li> Good luck and welcome to the community! </li> </ul> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>An iron fist in an iron glove – Mac/Linux Keymapping</h1> <p>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:28:20 +0000</p> <p>This post will serve to upset both sides of the coin.</p> <ol> <li>Apple users wondering why I would load an inferior OS</li> <li>Linux users wondering why I spent all that extra money on Apple Hardware</li> </ol> <p>I am going to skip the religious battles over OS and platform and say that if you <em>happen</em> to have loaded Linux on a piece of Apple hardware this post is for you. One of the first problems you will find is that your Alt+Tab doesn’t work as expected. If you follow the instructions your Command and Alt keys will work as you had hoped with the Apple Keyboard:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Configuring OpenBSD svnd for Encrypted Volumes</h1> <p>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:04:58 +0000</p> <p>I have covered just about everything possible for drive encryption in OpenBSD. My last post is on using the least recommended option for encrypted volumes. It is slower, unsupported, and unfortunately the best option for seamless operations :) The best way to think about svnd is if you have used truecrypt, it is very similar in that you create an image rather than actually encrypting the entire partition. Using some fancy linking and auto mounts you can use it for hosting your /home /tmp and others. The instructions are below, but unlike the last howto it assumes your system is already installed. This is because svnd does not require you to modify the system prior to /install and can be a good security implementation to use if you are already up and running:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Your new CAC, Linux, Mac, and You</h1> <p>Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:04:05 +0000</p> <p>Earlier posts outlined howto utilize OpenSC to ensure your CAC worked in Linux or Mac. The problem is that there are new 144k CAC being passed out that do not work with the current coolkey or OpenSC toolsets. What is a happy Federal employee to do?! First you need to find a Windows computer that can access the <a href="https://software.forge.mil">https://software.forge.mil</a> In a strange turn of events you will be unable to download the software necessary for your true platform of choice to access the software. Its a chicken and egg problem…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Configuring OpenBSD softraid for encryption</h1> <p>Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:30:15 +0000</p> <p>My original idea was to post a dual how-to for both softraid and svnd, but due to the size of the posts with screenshots, I have decided against that. Since softraid is the path forward in the OpenBSD world I will start here. This post is not dial-up friendly, so be patient while it loads from my poor server. This post is part of my larger OpenBSD crypto series for which the other posts are below:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Closed Network != Security</h1> <p>Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:47:59 +0000</p> <p>To this day I am flabbergasted by the assertion that because your network is not connected to the big “I” Internet you can practice lax security. Countless places I have walked in the door to find unencrypted email traffic, no antivirus, and zero firewalls. Like the Masons of the middle ages they draw the boundary around the castle/network and assume they are safe. As architects and security professionals it is up to us to remind the Castle Builders that the threat of today is not warded off with simple walls of rock…</p> </article> <article> <h1>WAMU{.org/.com}</h1> <p>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:28:32 +0000</p> <p>WAMU, our local NPR station in DC, left me with a cliff hanger as I rushed back from the grocery store. In the days prior to the streaming web I would have just sat with the car idling in the driveway. Tonight though I was able to rush up the stairs and start the live stream. I made one strategic mistake though. I went to <a href="http://wamu.com">http://wamu.com</a> rather than <a href="http://wamu.org">http://wamu.org</a> I thought the outcome was share worthy:</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenBSD Drive Encryption Benchmarks</h1> <p>Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:21:04 +0000</p> <p>Let me start by saying I am not a benchmarker. At all…so these results are posted for friendly banter and I make no claim to their validity. Consider this the glxgears of filesystem testing. The testing was done with two identical OpenBSD 4.8 installs running in VMware Fusion 3.1 on a Mac Mini Server. The bonnie test was done to the same /home partitions mounted in crypto volumes. In green you will find the winner for each category.</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenBSD Disk Encryption Options – softraid and svnd</h1> <p>Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:38:53 +0000</p> <p>It is unfortunate, but the OpenBSD disk encryption tool-sets are no where near as mature as those found in FreeBSD or Linux. You would think with such a security focused operating system that disk encryption would be a no brainer. You would be wrong. On OpenBSD -misc mailing list you often get this impression with them:<figure id="attachment_1504" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignleft"></p> <p><a href="http://xkcd.com/538/"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">XKCD - Security</figcaption></figure></p> </article> <article> <h1>Herodotus and your Digital Tattoo – A comparison of the many anonymous email providers</h1> <p>Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:03:30 +0000</p> <figure id="attachment_1493" style="width: 201px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/3679495958_83af992768.jpg" rel="lightbox[1487]"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Letter Written in Cipher on Mourning Paper by Rose Greenhow</figcaption></figure> <p>If you have been following my posts as of late, you will have seen that I am on a anonymous bend. Some of my friends have wondered why I was seeking to disappear digitally and if that is the takeaway from my work it should not be. By the very act of posting this information I am by nature not anonymous. I think its important as our society becomes more open that we are able to close and keep private what we want. The option should always be yours. In that vein this post will cover email storage and usage.</p> </article> <article> <h1>What happens when you use TOR and Facebook</h1> <p>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:40:43 +0000</p> <p>Facebook for all the lack of privacy controls and bad press, does in fact keep an eye on users. A few times since I started connecting to their jabber chat service through Tor I have been greeted to the following screen. I enjoy seeing what all nodes exist for exiting the Tor network, but wonder about the correlation possible. All the same I thought it was interesting for geek fodder:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Y U NO ENCRYPT?!</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:11:58 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Android-WebOS-WP7-and-MeeGo-Y-U-NO-ENCRYPT-STORAGE.jpg" rel="lightbox[1476]"></a></p> <p>There is a skit on SNL <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_Update" target="_blank">Weekend Update</a> where Seth and Amy read the headline to a news story with one of them following the other with “Really?!” That is my reaction every time I begin to think about mobile phone security. The darlings of our open-source world, the ones us geeks carry around on our belts, well…they fall short. In light of the police now being able to search your <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/03/BA5N1H3G12.DTL&tsp=1" target="_blank">phone without a warrant</a>, I decided to do a blog post on how-to protect yourself. Now I find myself asking the giants of Tech, REALLY!? Lets run through the major mobile phone platforms and see which ones encrypt data:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Placebos and Security</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:03:19 +0000</p> <p>There was recently a study that found when people <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>knew</strong></span> that they were taking a placebo, it still helped. The common idea in the past was that you could utilize placebos for controlled studies only if the patient didn’t know. The mere act of going to the doctor, taking a pill, etc. meant that the mind was tricked! Being a security geek this struck a cord with me.</p> <p>Listening to vendors and ISSO/ISSM about their secure implementations it occurred to me that the medical world was playing catchup to infosec:</p> </article> <article> <h1>BitlBee and OTR … then add some TOR!</h1> <p>Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:00:12 +0000</p> <p>With the release of 3.0.1 of <a href="http://bitlbee.org/" target="_blank">BitlBee</a> you can now chat from your favorite IRC client with the peace of mind that your protected. Since the OTR portion is still very new I wanted to put together a quick howto. I am going to assume you are running Debian Lenny (sid has 3.0.1 in the packages already) and that you really are a security nut:</p> <ol> <li>Download source from <a href="http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-3.0.1.tar.gz" target="_blank"><a href="http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-3.0.1.tar.gz">http://get.bitlbee.org/src/bitlbee-3.0.1.tar.gz</a></a></li> <li>sudo apt-get install libotr2-dev libotr2-bin</li> <li>./configure –prefix=/usr –otr=1</li> <li>make</li> <li>make install</li> <li>make install-etc</li> </ol> <p>Done! Now once you start bitlbee (/etc/init.d/bitlbee start) for the first time it will generate your OTR keys. I am going to assume that you are going to use the Question and Answer verification for OTR keys. With our other secure buddy we do the following:</p> </article> <article> <h1>-fno -fno -fno stack protection</h1> <p>Sat, 01 Jan 2011 11:46:54 +0000</p> <p>2 days straight now on IRC (<em>##security on irc.freenode.net if you want to say hi</em>) I have had to help someone compiling a program deal with it failing mid-stream. This is especially prevalent on security packages like fuzzers and such. First, what is stack protection?</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow_protection#GCC_Stack-Smashing_Protector_.28ProPolice.29" target="_blank">Buffer Overflow Protection</a></p> <blockquote> <p>In software, a <strong>stack buffer overflow</strong> occurs when a program writes to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_memory" title="Computer memory">memory</a> address on the program’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_stack" title="Call stack">call stack</a> outside of the intended data structure; usually a fixed length buffer.<sup id="cite_ref-cert1_0-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_buffer_overflow#cite_note-cert1-0">[1]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-dowd_1-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_buffer_overflow#cite_note-dowd-1">[2]</a></sup> Stack buffer overflow bugs are caused when a program writes more data to a buffer located on the stack than there was actually allocated for that buffer. This almost always results in corruption of adjacent data on the stack, and in cases where the overflow was triggered by mistake, will often cause the program to crash or operate incorrectly. This type of overflow is part of the more general class of programming bugs known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow" title="Buffer overflow">buffer overflows</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-cert1_0-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_buffer_overflow#cite_note-cert1-0">[1]</a></sup><figure id="attachment_1463" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignnone"></p> </article> <article> <h1>Yubikey and my desire to beat the Feds to HSPD12 Compliance</h1> <p>Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:13:28 +0000</p> <p>During my Air Force days I was involved with the roll-out of the “CAC” for Air Mobility Command at MacDill. No one could understand why the military would put so much time and money into giving all personnel new ID Cards and equipping machines with readers that did nothing at that point. The main feature back then was that when you removed your CAC your machine would automatically lock. Well, that or you would just leave your CAC at work and need to call a coworker to come retrieve you from the gate. What I failed to understand back then was that Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) was something fundamentally needed for our nations and armed forces security. This should have been apparent and clear to me as I scattered around some of the bases most secure locations to find mission essential passwords affixed to stickies on the monitor.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Geeks, Charity, and the impact of Reddit</h1> <p>Sat, 25 Dec 2010 11:24:57 +0000</p> <p>When Digg migrated to Microsoft for advertising a few years ago, I took a personal stand and left. I was desperate to find a home on the internet again and came across reddit.com The site spoke to me! Clean, unobtrusive, geeky, and best of all…open source. In 2007 there wasn’t as many of us around and while the community was great it pales in comparison to 2010. The diggv4 snafu has increased the communities size and the old-timers made sure to welcome them. Posts were created outlying the type of culture fostered here rather that from which they were coming. To all who joined this year…thank you…the threads below epitomize your willingness to join us in being Good Geeks. We often get a bad wrap, but for the most part we are a cheerful crowd. Here is some proof from 2010, but this isn’t even close to being the full list. Feel free to leave me comments here or on the intertubes where you found this:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Google ChromeOS Cr-48 Review</h1> <p>Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:09:13 +0000</p> <p>It seems everyone is posting their review after a few days of working with the laptop. I decided to take a different perspective with the initial review. When I first started playing with ChromeOS betas a few months ago I came to the realization that this was not for me. Two things were apparent:</p> <ol> <li>This machine is to provide a cloud-based Thin Client. I live off servers around the world, not necessarily in the cloud.</li> <li>As a geek, the Walled Garden drives me crazy. “What do you mean I can’t install a SSH server?!?!?”</li> </ol> <p>My girlfriend on the other hand could care less about a SSH server. She finds the Mac Mini a little overwhelming at times and really just wants the internet. “Show me where the Safari icon is.” For that reason alone I found ChromeOS to be built for her. Instant On and just a web browser.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Using TOR on your Android Device</h1> <p>Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:11:02 +0000</p> <p>In my continuation of howto secure your phone habits while on the go, we have come to anonymizing your traffic. There are a few reasons to do this:</p> <ol> <li>On a public internet network and have no access to a VPN</li> <li>In a country that censors the internet (Hi China!)</li> <li>You like to keep your identity somewhat off the grid for whatever reason</li> </ol> <p><a href="http://torproject.org" target="_blank">TOR</a> was developed to allow for all of the above. Due to the open nature of Android and the user-base, it was quickly ported back in 2009. <a href="https://guardianproject.info/" target="_blank">The Guardian Project</a> leads the effort and has since provided 4 main components. Today I will be focusing on the Orbot (TOR+Proxy) and the Firefox extension to allow proxy usage. In addition you can use their Jabber client for anonymous and encrypted chatting. So lets get to setting things up! A few things you need to grab from market:</p> </article> <article> <h1>CR-48 ChromeOS Security Posture</h1> <p>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 12:05:26 +0000</p> <p>Since everyone is talking about the fit and finish (which is great other than the battery) I thought I’d talk about the security of the device. Google has already spoken about the <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/advertisement.aspx?ad=communications&id=92&redirect=/web/26882/%3Fp1%3DA1%26a%3Df">separation of user/system</a> with the web browser functions so I will skip that portion. The majority of my work was looking at how the OS responded to simple pentesting scans. I used version 5.21 of Nmap running on MacOS 10.6 Server. The ChromeOS box was patched as of 12/11/10.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Field Marshal Nick</h1> <p>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:37:21 +0000</p> <p>I always have thought personality tests were somewhat goofy and inaccurate. I took one this morning and it was scary right:</p> <blockquote> <h2 id="entj-8211-commandant">ENTJ – Commandant</h2> <p>The single word to describe your type is fieldmarshal or commandant. You also belong to the larger group called rationals. You love to organize others in matters of logic. Even as a child, you likely naturally assumed the role of leader in groups. You share your personality type with 2% of the population. When you lead, you are more concerned with policy and goals than rules and regulations. You have a tendency to become a workaholic. You are impatient with repetition of error. You are friendly and outgoing, though. You don’t mince words and willingly share your many strong opinions.</p> </article> <article> <h1>SABI, TSABI, and WASABI</h1> <p>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:13:38 +0000</p> <figure style="width: 193px" class="wp-caption alignleft">[](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi)<figcaption class="wp-caption-text">WASABI is ugly and spicy</figcaption></figure> <p>I am going to talk about something that most people are very reluctant to discuss, cross-domain solutions. It is the black magic of having a single display or ethernet jack hooked into multiple classified networks. There is press material from Boeing/eXMeritus that states: “Who would want to hook a Top Secret Network to the Internet? We aren’t allowed to say.” Education is the key to understanding what <em>is</em> cross-domain and why is it important. The community is small and the education material non-existent. I hope to share what I can for all those who will hear certain terms in meetings and rush back to Google. It is important that you don’t overplay your hand in what amounts to very important work and technology.</p> </article> <article> <h1>GPG on your Android Phone</h1> <p>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:00:37 +0000</p> <p>All the traffic coming off your phone, if unencrypted, is clear for the telco to see. With the advent of sniffing using RF or IP based solutions it is becoming increasingly easy to intercept email traffic. Toss in the mobile, on-the-go world and we are stuck with soft targets. For corporate folks there are certificates, but that isn’t a solution generally trusted for home users. Root CA are easy to compromise with the “everything goes” Microsoft and Linux root updates. Enter PGP/GPG which allows you to take out the middle man (although you can still use a key server if you choose) and validate the keys yourself. The “what if” can still be an issue, but overall for personal communications I find it the most secure method. With Android being a more open platform there exists solutions for sending secure emails on-the-go. First lets get some software installed on your phone. All of these are found in the Google Android Market or from the links provided:</p> </article> <article> <h1>The start of something magical</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:13:56 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1989_NickSicily_001.jpg" rel="lightbox[1388]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20061216_DanEriccaLuluNick_54.jpg" rel="lightbox[1388]"></a></p> <p>Reading through <a href="http://buzzfreezone.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/geek-nostalgia-what-my-geek-past-has-taught-me/" target="_blank">Sonny’s post</a> shot me back into a time of awesomeness. Be sure to read his post on what we can learn from our past. People always ask me why I collect old computers and he does a great job of outlining why. Just because the technology isn’t modern doesn’t mean the underlying principles are not applicable to todays world. Be sure to stroll on over to Sonny’s blog to read more:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Have you been using my CAC?</h1> <p>Sat, 04 Dec 2010 11:41:22 +0000</p> <figure id="attachment_1379" style="width: 115px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3.jpeg" rel="lightbox[1378]"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">For there record if you say "CAC Card" in my presence you will be "SOL Luck" talking again soon.</figcaption></figure> <p>If you are running Linux or Mac there is a good chance you haven’t been touching my CAC, otherwise known as Common Access Card. George Bush signed <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/laws/gc_1217616624097.shtm" target="_blank">HSPD-12</a> way back in 2004 to mandate the usage of CAC and multifactor authentication on federal networks. The DoD giggled as it was already deploying limited installs at choice commands and was way ahead of the curve. The rest of the government and corporate entities are starting to roll-out the installs and a common theme I see is lack of heterogenous OS support. In this day and age your CIO/CTO/CISO must think beyond what the Microsoft sales lead tells them and think of the user base. Here is a big hint to save you from looking silly – You can’t say iOS/Android development is important to your divisions and then mandate they use Windows computers to comply with your SmartCard policy. I only mention that having sat in the room when the mobile development PM had to make his leadership aware they were basically shutting his group down.</p> </article> <article> <h1>No Shave November – Aftermath Report</h1> <p>Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:50:37 +0000</p> <p>Men in my Family either grow kickass beards or what amounts to patchy peach fuze. Having been military and in the corporate world my whole life I was unable to determine my future. With the departure from Boeing and some personal days to take care of, it was decided to join in on <a href="http://www.no-shave-november.com/" target="_blank">No Shave </a><span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.no-shave-november.com/" target="_blank">November</a>.</span></span> Becca was on board as she always liked me a little scruffy. I did what any man did to prepare for a beard…nothing…I have to admit it is tough work growing a beard. Between the scratching and avoiding the “about to go hunting” or “I drive a white van with no windows” look, I found myself questioning the task at hand. In the end it grew thick and manly. Had I dared to wear flannel, there is a good chance I would have been drafted into Smokey Bears forest protection team.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Left Boeing</h1> <p>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:15:03 +0000</p> <p>This morning I gave my badge back to the Boeing FSO. Lots of smiles and hand shakes, but a sad day all the same. Leaving anything you have been with for 3 years is difficult. In the spirit of my fellow techs (see <a href="http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/" target="_blank">Ray Ozzie</a> or <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/why-i-quit-google-to-join-facebook-lars-rasmussen-20101101-1799q.html" target="_blank">Lars</a>) I wanted to write a letter to the world. I think as geeks we equate our passion as art and wether or not the world agrees, code is a thing of beauty. Putting this to paper will help me evaluate this decision in the coming months to see if it really was a good one :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>How NOT to Dispose of a LoveSac</h1> <p>Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:12:03 +0000</p> <figure id="attachment_1352" style="width: 225px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/IMG_0012.jpg" rel="lightbox[1339]"></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The LoveSac or Oscars Bed</figcaption></figure> <p>As a single bachelor living alone, I thought it prudent to purchase a 6′ <a href="http://www.lovesac.com/" target="_blank">LoveSac</a>. Craigslist revealed a seller in the local area and using my buddy’s Blazer I headed out to get the thing. I am not sure people understand just how BIG a lovesac is. It took Bruce and I the better part of 30 minutes to get the thing from the Blazer into the house. All the while he is cracking jokes about touching my lovesac and how big it is. He is the older one for the record.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Civ V for Mac = Borked with Black Screen</h1> <p>Sat, 27 Nov 2010 10:52:07 +0000</p> <p>I purchased Civ V for Mac the day it was released. LOVE…LOVE…LOVE Civilization. I had this issue after the 4GiB Download on 3 different machines and configurations that the music would play, but no graphics. Black nothingness taunted me for days. Aspyr was silent and worthless as usual and the forums sang with similar rage. Here is the fix for me on my Mac Mini and Air:</p> <blockquote> <p>Edit “Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier’s Civilization 5/UserSettings.ini”</p> </article> <article> <h1>Boeing Acquisitions 2008-2010</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:20:04 +0000</p> <p>My twitter feed once again signals a Boeing acquisition. Cutting lots of fat internally while buying more companies doesn’t compute, but oh well. I decided to go back a few years to see just how many companies had been purchased. Newest-to-Oldest sort</p> <p><strong>2010</strong></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1533">Summit</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1524">CDM Technologies</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1294">Narus</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1287">Argon ST</a></p> <p><strong>2009</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1705154/boeing_acquisition_of_exmeritus_inc_enhances_capabilities_in_cyber_and/">eXMeritus</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1007">Alenia</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=737">Vought Operations</a></p> <p><strong>2008</strong></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=407">DRT</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=338">Federated Software Group</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=327">Tapestry Solutions</a></p> <p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=291">Insitu</a></p> <p>**</p> <p>**</p> </article> <article> <h1>Updated Stable</h1> <p>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 11:29:32 +0000</p> <p>Since a lot of my fellow nerds have mentioned they are looking at the stables page, I updated the computers as well as providing some insight into why each machine is important to me. Still missing a ton of systems, but most are there.</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/the-stable">http://geekyschmidt.com/the-stable</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Multi-core Security</h1> <p>Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:04:47 +0000</p> <p>A question from a distinguished colleague of mine:</p> <p><em><strong>Q:</strong> Some security group is claiming that locking apps down to a single cpu is more secure that multi-threaded apps. Is there any basis in fact that I don’t know of or is this as ridiculous as I think it is? – Distinguished Dude</em></p> <p><em><strong>A:</strong></em> <span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">It is called Side Channel Attacks…thus far its only a theory that has no known in the wild exploit</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>5 Years Since Katrina</h1> <p>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:56:50 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <li> <a href="#Katrina"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Katrina</a><ul> <li> <a href="#The_Move"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.1</span> The Move</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Storm"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.2</span> The Storm</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Evacuation"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.3</span> The Evacuation</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Night_before_the_Storm"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.4</span> The Night before the Storm</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Morning_of_Truth"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.5</span> The Morning of Truth</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_AfternoonEvening_of_Boredom"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.6</span> The Afternoon/Evening of Boredom</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Trip_to_Shreveport"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.7</span> The Trip to Shreveport</a> </li> <li> <a href="#The_Aftermath"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_2">1.8</span> The Aftermath</a><ul> <li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_3">1.8.1</span> Share this:</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <h1 style="text-align: center;"> <span id="Katrina"><strong>Katrina</strong></span> </h1> <p>I haven’t written much about my time during Katrina, but I wanted to put some thoughts to paper as I don’t want to forget when I am older. I have waited 5 years to write this, I hope it was worth it.</p> </article> <article> <h1>“Netcraft confirms PGP Email Encryption is Dead!”</h1> <p>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:08:32 +0000</p> <p>Rakkhi posted a great Lessons Learned on implementing email encryption:</p> <p><a href="http://rakkhi.blogspot.com/2010/08/implementing-email-encryption-lessons.html">http://rakkhi.blogspot.com/2010/08/implementing-email-encryption-lessons.html</a></p> <p>The post got me thinking because I struggle dealing with subcontractors getting encryption. I refuse to send sensitive or even somewhat sensitive data over unencrypted links, but find that small (and even midsize companies) do not have the resources to implement. In a bind I have trained them on installing GnuPG and doing trusted exchanges, but the same pitfalls occur.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Log File Size</h1> <p>Sun, 22 Aug 2010 04:51:59 +0000</p> <p>I struggle with ROM for log file storage. It is one of those things that no one EVER looks at, but everyone covers their asses. As an example DHS requires 90 days online, 7 years offline. Anton Chuvakin from Security Warrior posted this today and I thought it was pretty good:</p> <p><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 19px;">100,000 log messages / second x 300 bytes / log message ~ 28.6 MB</span></p> <p><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 19px;">x 3600 seconds ~ 100.6 GB / hour</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Happy 17th Birthday Debian!</h1> <p>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:37:57 +0000</p> <p>I love Debian (looks over lovingly @ the fileserver) and look forward to many more years of stable releases. Debian was my first distro when I ran 1.3 at the ripe old age of 12. I built a VM a few years ago just to see how far we’ve come: <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2008/03/29/login-looking-back-on-debian-13">http://geekyschmidt.com/2008/03/29/login-looking-back-on-debian-13</a></p> <p>A link to some interesting history: <a href="http://digitizor.com/2010/08/16/happy-17th-birthday-debian-and-some-interesting-history/">http://digitizor.com/2010/08/16/happy-17th-birthday-debian-and-some-interesting-history/</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Going Agile</h1> <p>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:33:05 +0000</p> <p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">Agile Software Development using SCRUM is one of best force multipliers a team can utilize to speed-up cycles. It can take a disorganized team and allow them to execute with precision and does so with very small changes to the battle rhythm. I would go as far as to say it increases my ability to manage by applying the same process to documentation, negotiating, and management. With all of that said (and with very little disagreement I’d wager) Agile is going nowhere in defense contracting. The fact is that the 3-letter agencies contracts are written in a way that only allows for waterfall systems engineering approaches. We as an industry have not done well to engage and educate our customers in the benefits.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Fix for “sha1sum mismatch! Rename” winetricks on Mac</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:01:22 +0000</p> <p>Winetricks is a WONDERFUL tool for those of us relegated to a few windows programs on alternate platforms. I have never had issues on Linux, but on Mac the tool never seemed to work. For some reason installation with either macports or fink did not include the dependcy of <span style="font-family: 'bitstream vera sans', verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">md5sha1sum. Install that and you will no longer get the errors about mismatches!</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Private Browser Cleaner</h1> <p>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 07:09:18 +0000</p> <p>There is so <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/06/private_browsing_mode_failure/" target="_blank">much hoopla about Private Mode</a> browsing not actually keeping you private. Most of it is due to your addons for Flash and Java. Here are the extensions I use to keep the browser private ALWAYS:</p> <p>Chrome – <a href="https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ghgabhipcejejjmhhchfonmamedcbeod?hl=en" target="_blank">Click&Clean</a></p> <p>Firefox – <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3100/" target="_blank">Click&Clean</a></p> <p>Internet Explorer – <a href="http://www.hotcleaner.com/clickclean_desktop.html" target="_blank">CCleaner plugin</a> since IE is the suckage</p> </article> <article> <h1>Teaching takes patience</h1> <p>Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:33:28 +0000</p> <div class='posterous_autopost'> </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://oneguynick.posterous.com/teaching-takes-patience">It should be illegal to be this geeky</a> </p></p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Switching to Android</h1> <p>Mon, 31 May 2010 14:27:44 +0000</p> <p>A few months ago I started compiling the iPhone libraries for Linux to allow syncing without WIFI. I thought I was king of the world as I bypassed all of the Apple controls to sync with Rhythmbox. With each upgrade of the iPhone OS I would diligently “git clone” and start the process over again. The last few times though I have felt like less of a King and more like a Prisoner. Why do I have to hack my way around a device I own? Am I but leasing the thing from Apple/AT&T or did I actually purchase it?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Software Project Mgmt Reading and Blogs…</h1> <p>Wed, 26 May 2010 01:53:06 +0000</p> <div> As I learned in a sink vs. swim situation, I wanted to share some books and blogs that helped me. <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">UP FRONT LET ME STATE:</span></strong> <span>I am still learning and screw-up ALL the time. I by no means have this figured out and would love to hear what works for you guys. We are all students of the human mind and can learn together on how this works.</span> </div> <p><span><strong>Books you need to read</strong> from<strong> </strong><a href="http://Amazon.com"><strong>Amazon.com</strong></a> I compiled a list there so you can just purchase in whole or pick what is interesting. If you only pick one book be sure it is the Mythical Man Month. It brought home for me the resource vs. task view of the world. Being able to defend your position and schedules is just as important as being able to create them. Highly Recommend</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Ubuntu 10.04 on Sony Vaio P</h1> <p>Tue, 25 May 2010 06:24:32 +0000</p> <p>With the latest poulsbo hack for 10.04:</p> <p><a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsVideoCardsPoulsbo#lucid" target="_blank"><a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp…sPoulsbo#lucid">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp…sPoulsbo#lucid</a></a></p> <p>It is now possible to upgrade to 10.04 Lucid with no issues. In fact the previous gobi WWAN, sleep, and qcserial hacks are no longer needed. On first boot everything worked other than the videocard. Go Linux!</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Batman Belt</h1> <p>Tue, 18 May 2010 20:45:43 +0000</p> <p>Everywhere I look in the work place I see two phones on everyone’s belt or desk. There sits the company issued blackberry next to the iPhone or Android device. In an era of financial concerns I cannot help but wonder what the outside world thinks about us. Based on <a href="http://www.billshrink.com/blog/6847/nexus-one-vs-iphone-droid-palm-pre-total-cost-of-ownership/" target="_blank">BillShrink.com</a> we can guestimate the total to be around 4000 dollars which is 6 times more than the average Haitian makes in a year.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Left Facebook and “Why you should too”</h1> <p>Sun, 16 May 2010 05:40:30 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ban-facebook.jpg" rel="lightbox[1185]"></a></p> <p>The amount of banter on the topic is extensive, but there really are good reasons to leave Facebook. When I started dabbling in Social Networking back on the BBS days there was always a desire and reason for anonymity. It could have been for the illegal activities going on or for the fact people just didn’t want to over expose themselves. It was around the time AOL picked up some steam that sharing really became trendy. There were extensive pushes to kick AOL off the grid for the amount of <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2006/08/06/aol-proudly-releases-massive-amounts-of-user-search-data/" target="_blank">anonymous data leaked from their pipes</a>, but that was not enough to place controls on the system. As I joined sites like Friendster, Jaiku, etc. there were always controls in place for the amount of information I could share and what people could share about me. That layer of control allowed me to keep tabs on my personal identity and persona. I left MySpace and Hi5 since everyone told me “Facebook is way more secure,” but at the time I was unable to join due to no college affiliation. That changed and I joined…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Juniper Connect 64bit Debian</h1> <p>Tue, 11 May 2010 03:10:53 +0000</p> <div id="_mcePaste"> These are the steps needed to get Juniper Connect working on Ubuntu 10.04 64bit. Some of the steps will work in 32, other than the ia32 package install. Good luck! </div> <div> </div> <div> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">Enable partner repo</span> </li> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">Install the needed Java Packages:</span> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre ia32-sun-java6-bin</span> </li> </ul> </li> <pre><code><li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">Run Firefox 3.6 as root and allow juniper connect script to install and fail</span> </li> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">Drop to terminal</span> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo cp -Rv /root/.juniper_networks ~/</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">chown -R $user ~/.juniper_networks</span> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">The script fails on TUN module being built into the kernel</span> </li> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`</span> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">mkdir faketun</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">cd faketun</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">echo -e “#include <linux/module.h>\nstatic int start__module(void) {return 0;}\nstatic void end__module(void){return;}\nmodule_init(start__module);\nmodule_exit(end__module);”>tun.c</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">echo -e “obj-m += tun.o\nall:\n\tmake -C /lib/modules/\$(shell uname -r)/build/ M=\$(PWD) modules\nclean:\n\tmake -C /lib/modules/\$(shell uname -r)/build/ M=\$(PWD) clean\nclean-files := Module.symvers”>Makefile</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">make</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo install tun.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/tun.ko</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo depmod -a</span> </li> </ul> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size: 13.1944px;">sudo modprobe tun</span> </li> </ul> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Intel GMA500 Support Matrix</h1> <p>Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:39:43 +0000</p> <p><strong>First a few things:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Intel you suck…suck hard…your own Moblin distro can’t suspend because you feel that “embedded platforms shutdown and restart” Guess what sparky, they don’t always. Fix your damn IEGD driver</li> <li>Dell and Ubuntu screw you both for creating some custom driver to send out on Dell 12 laptops. The driver I install now was extracted from your blob. Hate Theo from OpenBSD as much as you want, but no blobs</li> <li>Windows drivers for this card suck pretty bad too. There is a video demo of the GMA500 Poulsbo playing Quake 3 off a MID. The driver in Windows XP-7 cannot play flash without massive frame drops. Totally unacceptable with the 10.1 Flash Beta to still have such trouble</li> </ul> <p>The distro I landed with was Ubuntu 9.10. It pains me because it will never recieve the GNOME 2.30 install, but with PPA I am good with most everything else. I will use this as my hold over until Intel gets off their butts and produces quality code. I used to tell people that the Intel series of cards were the best in UNIX world for out of the box drivers. Yes+but=NO Don’t sour your good name Intel</p> </article> <article> <h1>Sony Vaio P788K Ubuntu 9.10 Load</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:48:32 +0000</p> <p>Ubuntu 9.10 is the last usable version of Linux for use with the <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsVideoCardsPoulsbo/" target="_blank">GMA500 craptasic video card</a>. As it stands today I cannot recommend using Linux full-time on the laptop. As a hardcore linux geek that saddens me in my heart. Hopefully with the release of the <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzY2Mg" target="_blank">“new” drivers</a> we will be good to all switchback to a big boy OS. Thanks to <a href="http://westhoffswelt.de" target="_blank">Jakob Westhoff</a> for his notes on the Vaio X which helped a good bit here. Notes below:</p> <li dir="ltr"> Install Windows 7 to active Verizon Gobi Modem and Firmware </li> <li dir="ltr"> Install GMA 500 Graphics driver <ul> <li dir="ltr"> wget <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338581/Gma500/scripts/poulsbo.sh">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338581/Gma500/scripts/poulsbo.sh</a> && sh ./poulsbo.sh </li> <li dir="ltr"> add mem=2000 <a href="file:///etc/default/grub">/etc/default/grub</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> update-grub </li> <li dir="ltr"> After reboot dpkg-reconfigure psb-kernel-source </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Edit <a href="file:///etc/apt/sources.list">/etc/apt/sources.list</a> to include universe and multiverse </li> <li dir="ltr"> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade </li> <li dir="ltr"> reboot </li> <li dir="ltr"> Update system to include <a href="file:///home/nickers/Desktop/Ubuntu%209.10%20Install%20Vaio%20P.html#ssd%20optimizations">SSD optimizations</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Install sony-laptop-zseries module <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <a href="http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/">http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> sudo -i </li> <li dir="ltr"> mkdir -p <a href="file:///usr/share/sony-laptop">/usr/share/sony-laptop</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Extract np5 into directory </li> <li dir="ltr"> ln -sf ../share/sony-laptop/sony-laptop-zseries-0.9np5 <a href="file:///usr/src/sony-laptop-zseries-0.9np5">/usr/src/sony-laptop-zseries-0.9np5</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> dkms add -m sony-laptop-zseries -v 0.9np5 </li> <li dir="ltr"> <a href="file:///etc/init.d/dkms_autoinstaller">/etc/init.d/dkms_autoinstaller</a> start </li> <li dir="ltr"> vi <a href="file:///etc/modules">/etc/modules</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Turn on WWAN hardware <ul> <li dir="ltr"> mkdir <a href="file:///lib/firmware/gobi">/lib/firmware/gobi</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Copy files from: <ul> <li dir="ltr"> C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\AMSS.mbn </li> <li dir="ltr"> C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\Apps.mbn </li> <li dir="ltr"> C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\UQCN.mbn </li> <li dir="ltr"> to <a href="file:///lib/firmware/gobi">/lib/firmware/gobi</a> </li> </ul> </li> <pre><code><li dir="ltr"> Download qcserial and extract to <a href="file:///usr/src/">/usr/src/</a> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <a href="http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/qcserial_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz">http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/qcserial_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> cd <a href="file:///usr/src/qcserial">/usr/src/qcserial</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> make </li> <li dir="ltr"> make install </li> <li dir="ltr"> echo “qcserial” >>/etc/modules </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Download gobi loader for Linux and extract to <a href="file:///usr/src">/usr/src</a> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <a href="http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/gobi_loader_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz">http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/gobi_loader_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> make </li> <li dir="ltr"> make install </li> </ul> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Enable Suspend <ul> <li dir="ltr"> Install PSB fix in <a href="file:///etc/pm/sleep.d/99_psb_fix">/etc/pm/sleep.d/99_psb_fix</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Touch <a href="file:///etc/pm/sleep.d/98smart-kernel-video">/etc/pm/sleep.d/98smart-kernel-video</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Install USB Wakeup fix for QCSerial Gobi issue in <a href="file:///usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00usbsleep">/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00usbsleep</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Enable console framebuffer <ul> <li dir="ltr"> Edit <a href="file:///etc/default/grub">/etc/default/grub</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> set gfxmode=1024×768 <ul> <li dir="ltr"> You can do the full 1600×768, but on the console I prefer larger fonts </li> </ul> </li> <pre><code><li dir="ltr"> Edit <a href="file:///etc/grub.d/00_header">/etc/grub.d/00_header</a> <ul> <li> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> if loadfont `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${GRUB_FONT_PATH}` ; then </li> <li dir="ltr"> set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE} </li> <li dir="ltr"> set gfxpayload=keep </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> IT HAS TO GO UNDER “set gfxmode…” </li> </ul> </li> </code></pre> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Enable scroll trackpoint <ul> <li dir="ltr"> sudo vi <a href="file:///etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi">/etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Install RFkill Applet to disable radios <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <a href="http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/rfkill-applet-0.6.tar.gz">http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/rfkill-applet-0.6.tar.gz</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Execute with the following installer: <a href="file:///home/nickers/Desktop/Ubuntu%209.10%20Install%20Vaio%20P.html#rfkill%20install.sh">rfkill install.sh</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Reboot and add to panel </li> </ul> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Internal Mic Fix <ul> <li dir="ltr"> sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-2.6.31-20-generic </li> <li dir="ltr"> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/unstable </li> <li dir="ltr"> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade </li> <li dir="ltr"> Edit <a href="file:///etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf">/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf</a> </li> <li dir="ltr"> Add at the bottom of the file <ul> <li dir="ltr"> options snd-hda-intel model=toshiba-s06 power_save=10 power_save_controller=N </li> </ul> </li> <pre><code><li dir="ltr"> On Sound Preferences change Profile to Analog Stereo Duplex </li> <li dir="ltr"> Turn speaker volume up HIGH </li> </code></pre> </ul> </li> </article> <article> <h1>Sony Vaio P 788k Review</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:25:20 +0000</p> <p>I hate long reviews, but the good gist below:</p> <ul> <li>Intel Atom Z supports VT instructions. Really neat to boot KVM up on a little netbook</li> <li>NetBooks are usually cheesy, this machine feels solid and well built. Sony does some nice engineering, but there in front of your face is a SD card and HG Duo…</li> <li>Battery life is OK, I am considering the extended the battery, but really don’t feel the need based on the 3 hours I get now</li> <li>Verizon built in is awesome! Riding the metro into work today I was on IRC (irc.freenode.net) loving life. On the way home I fired up a skype session with no issue</li> </ul> <p>No good:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Fix for GNOME Keyring prompt on Autologin</h1> <p>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:39:40 +0000</p> <p>Autologin in Ubuntu 9.10 would not default unlock your keyring for security I assume. If I am using autologin, chances are security isn’t high on the list and speed is…</p> <p>sudo vi /etc/pam.d/gdm-autologin and add the italic lines below</p> <p>#%PAM-1.0</p> <p>auth requisite pam_nologin.so</p> <p>auth required pam_env.so readenv=1</p> <p>auth required pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale</p> <p>auth required pam_permit.so</p> <p><em>auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so</em></p> <p>@include common-account</p> <p>session [success=ok ignore=ignore module_unknown=ignore default=bad] pam_selinux.so close</p> <p>session required pam_limits.so</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenVPN Install Ubuntu 9.10</h1> <p>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:13:18 +0000</p> <p>A good buddy of mine, <a href="http://twitter.com/hieroglyphiks" target="_blank">Trevor</a>, had mentioned wanting to bridge his <a href="http://twitter.com/vbatts" target="_blank">Brother</a>‘s and his networks. Having done an OpenVPN install many moons ago it had resonated with the “I need to do that again” list in my head. When the N900 arrived it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have the n900 use a VPN tunnel to secure traffic while on open AP. Here is my config:</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/OpenVPN_Architecture.png" rel="lightbox[1154]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>N900 Banshee Fix</h1> <p>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:00:23 +0000</p> <p>You can compile the latest builds from Banshee if you’d like, but for those of you on older non-bleeding edge machines here is the .is_audio_player needed for HAL. Save on the root of your N900 device. This will place the files in the correct locations:</p> <blockquote> <p>playback_mime_types=video/mp4-generic, video/quicktime, video/mp4, video/mpeg4, video/3gp, video/3gpp2, application/sdp, audio/3gpp, audio/3ga, audio/3gpp2, audio/amr, audio/x-amr, audio/mpa, audio/mp3, audio/x-mp3, audio/x-mpg, audio/mpeg, audio/mpeg3, audio/mpg3, audio/mpg, audio/mp4, audio/m4a, audio/aac, audio/x-aac, audio/mp4a-latm, audio/wav</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tomboy SSH Fix on Ubuntu 10.1 Lucid</h1> <p>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:39:38 +0000</p> <p>I was getting the following error when trying to sync:</p> <p>The keyring daemon is not available</p> <p>**FIX:</p> <p>**</p> <p>Install sshfs <em>sudo apt-get install sshfs</em></p> <p>Modify your tomboy start to:</p> <p dir="ltr"> <em>eval `gnome-keyring-daemon` && export GNOME_KEYRING_SOCKET && export GNOME_KEYRING_PID && tomboy –search</em> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Test from n900</h1> <p>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:35:48 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://maemo-wordpy.garage.maemo.org/" target="_blank">MaStory</a> is a nice little blogging app. Testing xmlrpc with it</p> <p><a href="http://maemo-wordpy.garage.maemo.org/"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>DoD eases ban on thumb drive use for US military, our enemies rejoice</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:20:04 +0000</p> <p>Engadget</p> <p>via <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/dod-eases-ban-on-thumb-drive-use-for-us-military-our-enemies-re/">DoD eases ban on thumb drive use for US military, our enemies rejoice</a>.</p> <p>Media is the least of your concerns…If you are really concerned than goober up the USB ports with super glue. If you are running SNARE with USB monitoring it is very easy to add approved USB to a list and anyone NOT in that list that is plugged in can make monkeys dance on your face or lights flash. This is not complicated people!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Google Reader Share for Monday</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:12:25 +0000</p> <p>[recreading]</p> </article> <article> <h1>Running Comic</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:49:04 +0000</p> <p>I am up at the crack of dawn and off to run. Found this quote and made me giggle.</p> <p><a title="Dilbert.com" href="http://i0.wp.com/dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/000000/00000/2000/100/2106/2106.strip.gif" rel="lightbox[1129]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Tourist in my Life</h1> <p>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:20:44 +0000</p> <p>I love Parks and Recreation. What started as Office knockoff has really grown into its own. A clip on last week’s episode made me stop and go hmmmm….</p> <p>What struck me is I hear some of those same things from my beloved friends and family. Deep down I know the missed holidays and dinners must make it appear that I am just leisurely exploring their lives. I am hoping that with the change in jobs that I will have the opportunity to be a part of this world and not simply a tourist.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Nokia N900 Demo Unit</h1> <p>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:47:26 +0000</p> <p>I think in part to my tweets of N900 lust and desire, Nokia contacted me to see if I was interested in a demo unit. After validating the email was NOT from Nigeria I quickly responded with a “YES PLZ SEND MEZ FONE!”</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/nokia_n900_1.jpg" rel="lightbox[1113]"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: left;"> Why the gadget lust when I have a top-of-the-line iPhone? Easy, I am a geek. While I enjoy the hell out of having nice and easy to use devices, deep down I want to tinker. My original move to Mac was because I didn’t trust myself to have a Linux or BSD machine with me on the road. Every waking moment would be spent tweaking the kernel or compiler options for just a <em>little </em>bit more speed. Bleeding Edge, you betcha. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Top Romantic Songs</h1> <p>Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:41:31 +0000</p> <p>I was going through and creating a Valentines Playlist for dinner tonight. We have friends coming over and I struggled to make this list. It seemed every google search turned up someones very specific tastes. This mix includes a good mix of everything. Like love, it is a little funny, a little rocky, a little slow, and a little serious. Hope you like!</p> <table style="height: 1867px;" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" width="351"> <tr> <th align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Title</span> </th> <pre><code><th align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Artist</span> </th> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">All My Love</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">American Music Club</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The River</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Anathallo</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">I and Love and You</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Avett Brothers</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Camping Next To Water</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Badly Drawn Boy</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Boy With the Arab Strap</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Belle & Sebastian</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">It Had To Be You</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Bobby Darin</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Skinny Love</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Bon Iver</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">You Need A Man Around Here</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Brad Paisley</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Car</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Built to Spill</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Lovefool</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Cardigans</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Things Go Wrong</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Chris Isaak</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Fix You</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Coldplay</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Lover Lay Down</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Dave Matthews Band</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Friday I’m In Love</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Dean & Britta</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Memories Are Made Of This</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Dean Martin</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">I Will Follow You into the Dark</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Death Cab for Cutie</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Red Right Ankle</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Decemberists</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Valentine</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Love Me Like A Man</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Diana Krall</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Between The Bars</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Elliott Smith</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Everything Reminds Me Of Her</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Elliott Smith</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">It’s Now or Never</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Elvis Presley</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Malena</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Federico Aubele</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Business Time</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">If You’re Into It</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">A Kiss Is Not A Contract</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">We’re Both In Love With A Sexy Lady</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Carol Brown</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Flight of the Conchords</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Steppin’ Out With My Baby</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Fred Astaire</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">When Your Mind’s Made Up</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Time After Time</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Harry Connick, Jr.</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Such Great Heights</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Iron & Wine</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Multiply</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Jamie Lidell</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Sant Feliu De Guixols</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Jeremy Enigk</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">I Wanna Know</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Joe</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">In a Sentimental Mood</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">John Coltrane</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">My One And Only Love</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">John Coltrane / Johnny Hartman</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Stay With You</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">John Legend</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Slow Dance</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">John Legend</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Heartbeats</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Jose Gonzalez</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Panis Angelicus</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Luciano Pavarotti</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Ballad for my One True Love</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Mason Jennings</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Darkness Between The Fireflies</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Mason Jennings</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Home</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Michael Buble</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">So What</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Miles Davis</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Crazy</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Patsy Cline</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">So Beautiful</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Pete Murray</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Such Great Heights</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Postal Service</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Brand New Colony</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Postal Service</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Nude</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Radiohead</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">You’re The One For Me</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Ray Anthony & His Orchestra</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Rest Of My Life</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Rilo Kiley</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Portland Is Leaving</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Rocky Votolato</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Winter Song</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Sara Barielles And Ingrid Michaelson</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Hoppipolla</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Sigur Ros</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">I Turn My Camera On</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Spoon</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Night Starts Here</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Stars</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Take Me To The Riot</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Stars</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">In Our Bedroom After the War</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Stars</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Sufjan Stevens</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">I Saw Lightning</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Telekinesis!</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Stork & Owl</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">TV on the Radio</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">After Hours</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">We Are Scientists</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Our Way to Fall</span> </td> <pre><code><td align="left"> <span style="font-family: Geneva;">Yo La Tengo</span> </td> </code></pre> </tr> </table> </article> <article> <h1>Bearded Nick</h1> <p>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:13:46 +0000</p> <p>Being a military brat and dude I really never had the chance to grow facial hair. This past holiday break, while not serving to provide the full 2 weeks as promised by my company, allowed for me to grow hair out. Limited folks showing up for work gave me the opportunity to really perfect that hacker look with jeans, funny geek shirt, and scruffy beard. As with trail-mix, eventually you are left with just cashews and I had to shave for work. What a great opportunity to not only attempt the beard, but even the goatee and mustache! Results below in chronological order and yes I was in the shower.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Decade in Review</h1> <p>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:47:41 +0000</p> <p><em>2000-2009 A life in Nick</em></p> <p>As I listen to all the decade review podcasts and read the looking back websites, I wanted to do the same. My website obviously will only be interesting to those to know me and useful for looking back in 2019 when the internet is piped directly into my brain. My goal is to do this in sections and bulleted form. This makes it quicker and frankly my brain thinks that way:</p> </article> <article> <h1>The quest for a Media Center Machine</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:11:00 +0000</p> <p>With the synergy (ugh manager talk, sorry) of media and television I often find myself wanting to consume laying down or on the couch. Currently I slap a laptop on the HDMI or something similar and stream hulu for a few minutes. It works, but so does driving with your eyes closed. The geek in me wants to run Linux on my media center so I began looking for a low powered Nvidia Ion based platform. Bestbuy had one:</p> </article> <article> <h1>What Linux/UNIX do you use?</h1> <p>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:59:07 +0000</p> <p>At work I often get asked what UNIX/Linux I use. Truth of the matter is I am an OS harlot :) I run NeXTStep and Rhapsody for fun. When I buy systems I force myself to use them for at least 3 days online to learn them better. Anyways, below is the questionnaire on how I pick a distro/OS</p>  <ul> <li>Do you want to use learn Linux for work? <ul> <li>CentOS or RHEL</li> </ul> </li> <li>Do you want to actually learn the innards of Linux? <ul> <li>Gentoo or Arch</li> </ul> </li> <li>Do you want to use Linux for day-to-day usage? <ul> <li>Ubuntu, Debian, or OpenSuSE</li> <li>Do you want to use UNIX for day-to-day usage?</li> <li>Buy a Mac and install macports</li> </ul> </li> <li>Do you want to use linux for development of bleeding edge packages? <ul> <li>Fedora or Foresight</li> </ul> </li> <li>Do you want to learn UNIX, but hear a lot about Linux? <ul> <li>FreeBSD is a better SysV learning platform</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are you a paranoid security type? <ul> <li>OpenBSD</li> </ul> </li> <li>Did you buy a lot of old equipment on eBay or Craigslist and can’t stand the vendor OS? <ul> <li>NetBSD</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are the type of person that has flashing lights and fans on your computer? Do you want matching bling in software? <ul> <li>Linux Mint RC</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are you building a server for home? <ul> <li>Debian Stable</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are you building a file server to run NetApp out of town? <ul> <li>OpenSolaris ZFS builds</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are you building that same file server but Solaris packages make you want to poke your eyes out? <ul> <li>Nexenta</li> </ul> </li> <li>Are you doing embedded systems for a special project? <ul> <li>NetBSD</li> </ul> </li> <li>Building a wireless mesh network with captive portals? <ul> <li>OpenBSD</li> </ul> </li> <li>Or in the end you are as geeky as Nick and change OS like you change clothes <ul> <li>Build a Vmware/Xen server and run them all</li> </ul> </li> </ul>  </article> <article> <h1>Clearwire Review – Richmond Metro</h1> <p>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:55:32 +0000</p> <p>I was in a bit of a predicament for the past few months. I live in DC and the girlfriend lives in Richmond. Being a somewhat busy dude (60 hours a week the usual) I need my internet. Work provided me a <a href="http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/OptionGTUltraExpress/index.jsp?bref=null" target="_blank">AT&T ExpressCard GT Ultra</a> which is worthless. I even purchased a cradlepoint in hopes that the card just sucked in Linux and Mac. Nope, it sucks with everything.</p> <p>My requirements for broadband were simple, no install wait and quick enough to stream a webex session while checking email. iPhone tethering was working, but I needed something more standard and supportable. Comcast and DSL were worthless as they wanted contracts and long lead times for install. Clearwire and Sprint 4g were my options to weigh out:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Show Desktop</h1> <p>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:08:29 +0000</p> <p>One of my favorite features with GNOME/KDE is the show desktop button. Expose is great, but I am always clicking around on the dock. This morning the RSS feeds answered my greivance and provided this tip from MacOSX Hints:</p> <p><a title="MacOSX Hints for Show Desktop" href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20091109075034143 " target="_blank"><a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20091109075034143">http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20091109075034143</a></a></p> <p>I wrapped the script and put an icon to the file. Here is the file if you’d like to download it for 10.5:</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Show-Desktop.app_.zip">Show Desktop.app</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Mandriva Linux 2010 is a hot mess</h1> <p>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:28:01 +0000</p> <p>Real quick review of the desktop in pro’s and con’s</p> <ul> <li>Pro’s <ul> <li>Installer is pretty and well laid out</li> <li>Theme extends across all 3 supported desktops (lxde, KDE, and GNOME)</li> <li>Administration utilities use native toolkits for each platform unlike YaST from SuSE</li> </ul> </li> <li>Con’s <ul> <li>Why wouldn’t you use network-manager rather than your cheesy control center tool I first used in Mandrake 6.1 or 7?</li> <li>The default KDM theme reminds me of the old Solaris days, doesn’t match the feel of the desktop</li> <li>GTK theme seems like a cut-n-paste from QT side and it isn’t pretty</li> <li>Beagle search rather than Tracker? Not starting a mono war here, but beagle is NO where near feature filled</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>Seems to me that they took the bits and pieces from around the world and bundled it together. Problem is the bits they took were from the crappy bucket. Mandriva, I loved you back during the Red Hat vs. Mandrake days were you pushed the technology and ease of use for Linux. Now you just seem washed up.</p> </article> <article> <h1>I failed Algebra three times…</h1> <p>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:50:37 +0000</p> <p>Below is an excerpt from an email exchange between Mom and I. Love that lady</p> <p>———-</p> <p>I am alive and my fever is stabilizing. I figured out my thermometer was broke today so I set up a controlled experiment in which I figured out the ratio and then updated my spreadsheet. I can graph my getting better in Excel :) All from my iPhone I might add.</p> <p><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Take that technology :)</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>VMware Fusion 3.0 Quick Review</h1> <p>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:29:31 +0000</p>  <p><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I was up answering emails last night well into the night and before turning in I upgraded to Vmware Fusion 3. Thought I would pro’s and con’s it here for the group:</span></span></p> <p><strong>Spiffy</strong>:</p> <ul> <li><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Runs MUCH better on Snow Leopard and utilizes 64bit fully. Memory utilization on my macpro was much better than with 2 </span></span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Ran a few games (HL, Quake3, DoD) and they seem to have less graphic artifacts. I can’t think of a game I play that isn’t native or run in WINE, but a neat option. I see this as a big boom for those doing 3d modeling and the software not able to run any other way. Also supports Aero and Windows 7 flip. I usually turn these off by default, but someone must like them. </span></span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">VNC! I missed this feature most from Workstation on Linux. You can make a vncserver so that when you start your VM you can then hookup @ the BIOS level from another machine. Great for hosting a VM as a sudo-server </span></span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I haven’t had a chance to test, but the migration tool looks to be a killer option for those moving from Windows machines. It works over a network and requires a little program install on your windows machines. I am wondering if this is based on P2V they offer for Enterprise work. I wonder how many of these little converter apps will be finding their way to corporate images :) The end result being install a little program, start the mac, and convert your whole machine to a VM with your apps and settings.<br /> </span></span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /> <strong>Lame</strong>:<br /> </span></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Flickr</h1> <p>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:23:42 +0000</p> <p>This is a test post from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/r/testpost"></a>, a fancy photo sharing thing.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Stephen at work</h1> <p>Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:22:59 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonymckay/4019635251/" title="photo sharing"></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonymckay/4019635251/">Stephen at work</a><br /> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/anthonymckay/">anthonymckay</a><br /> </span></p> <br clear="all" /> <p>Guess I am not the only guy working with their dogs @ the office.</p> </article> <article> <h1>9.10 UNR mini-review</h1> <p>Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:40:12 +0000</p> <p>Just wanted to post some thoughts on UNR 9.10 –</p> <p>Most of the netbooks utilize the Intel i915 based video cards and have HORRID performance under the latest xorg drivers. 9.10 fixes this and allows for UXA acceleration and was my main reason for skipping over 9.04 UNR. The image installs quickly and provides for the basic web based programs. The EXT4 (I use it on all my desktop/laptop now) allows for quick boots and shutdowns on the MSI Wind I have. A few points on 9.10 UNR:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Defining Security</h1> <p>Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:55:47 +0000</p> <p>A great post from <a href="http://www.wmarkbrooks.com/2009/08/take-the-t-out-of-information-security.html" target="_blank">W. Mark Brooks</a> asks when did Information Security become IT Security? The point is very much in line with my triangle theory, that security is the pinnacle of IT and requires mastering the lower levels first. Though to counter the ITS vs IS argument I posted that IA is the more appropriate name. Post below:</p> <p>I prefer the military nomenclature of Information Assurance. I have carried it over to the commercial world and make sure all my security types carry that title now. I like the definition and what it means:</p> </article> <article> <h1>PGP for Mac Whole Disk Encryption Review</h1> <p>Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:51:48 +0000</p> <p>Wanted to share a quick “how does it work” about PGP WDE for Mac.</p> <p><a href="http://www.pgp.com/mac/">http://www.pgp.com/mac/</a></p> <p>This is the only solution that does pre-boot and true WDE for the Mac. The software is 189 for a yearly license or 239 for perpetual. The software itself is very “apple-ish” with great wizards and walk through for those not familiar with key based authentication and encryption. Some of the features are:</p> <ul> <li> <p>WDE for Intel based Mac running 10.4/10.5, no SL due to the 64bit kernel from the debug trace on my Mac Pro :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Systems Engineering and Redundancy</h1> <p>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:01:13 +0000</p> <p>I posted <a href="http://serverfault.com/questions/54104/how-far-should-we-take-the-nn-redundancy-craziness/54170#54170" target="_blank">this</a> to ServerFault.com today. Folks loose site of requirements and systems engineering and it drives me batty. Here was my response to the guys question about redundancy and RAID/COOP/etc.</p> <p>——–</p> <p>Every design and architecture should be requirements driven. Good systems engineering calls for defining the constraints of the design and implementing a solution that meets that. If you have a SLA with your customers that calls for a .99999, then your solution of N+N redundancy should account for all those LRU (line replaceable units) that could fail. RAID, PS, and COOP planning should all account for that. In addition your SLA with vendors should be the 4 hour response time type or account for a large number of spares onsite.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Open Source Security Professionals</h1> <p>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:21:52 +0000</p> <p>In economic times such as these it is imperative that architects and leads alike look beyond the glossy software catalog and instead to the web. In the past we often discounted open source as unsupported and hacker-like in the development efforts. One would hope that in this day of enterprise open source powering the majority of web applications that we could back away from the mantra of yesteryear.</p> <p>The argument often heard in corporate America is without a company backing it, how can you trust the source of the code? In the same bated breath they will speak to Microsoft and Oracle as pristine trophy holders of American Ideals. In this global economy and 24×7 development cycle there is very little code still developed stateside only. The pond and time zone allow for rapid development cycles and releases. It is ignorant to think that Microsoft’s code is not spattered with code developed in foreign countries. The bazaar development paradigm has extended well upon the weird GNU hackers in their basements, even Microsoft and other commercial entities have opened the doors to this development process.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Weekend Update</h1> <p>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:24:49 +0000</p> <p>What appears to be a world littered with twitter messages and facebook status message updates, I thought it appropriate to update those who care enough to read. I have neglected the communication I often share with everyone due to the constraints of time and sleep. Given the choice to ensure a rigid routine or talk to you all late into the night, I am selfish and choose sleep and eating. Sorry, just the caveman in us all.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Legacy in the IT/IA Community</h1> <p>Fri, 22 May 2009 19:59:24 +0000</p> <p>Information technology and assurance both are commonly seen as negative costs in a budget. Deploying a new or replacement server is seen as “sunk” cost for very little gain. In the same vein implementing costly security packages before an attack seems imprudent. “We haven’t had security issues thus far” is a slogan to be plastered on the side of Silicone Valley. Sticking with legacy platforms and code bases to dodge the upgrade bullet only serve to hit you with cost later down the road. As a good friend of mine Marc states “plan to do it right first or plan on doing it again later.”</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Family at Work</h1> <p>Sun, 17 May 2009 07:08:12 +0000</p> <p>As we move into a fully connected world there is a bigger expectation that we allow intrusions into our personal lives. While it may be a blackberry or a pager, in today’s world the expectation is that there is no more 9-5. This social contract is acceptable as long as the contract extends both directions.</p> <p>Studies show that employees that visit facebook or twitter are more productive than those that are expected 8 full hours of heads down work. The reason is simple, the brain is designed to process way more information than we can utilize. By pulling away from a problem the synapses can evaluate in a different vantage.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Lexmark Drivers for Ubuntu/Debian</h1> <p>Tue, 05 May 2009 02:18:17 +0000</p> <p>Lexmark provides subpar Linux drivers for any distro, but Ubuntu/Debian is horrible. At work we moved from HP Printers to Lexmark. The situation reminds me of ATI hardware in the late-90’s, great hardware and crappy drivers. I converted the Red Hat RPM for Debian based systems. Attached below:</p> <p>To install sudo dpkg -i <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/drivers-lexprtdrv_552-2_i386.deb">drivers-lexprtdrv_552-2_i386.deb</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Error in Service Module</h1> <p>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:34:59 +0000</p> <p>If you are on a OpenSuSE or SuSE SLES/SLED machine and have recently mounted /var to a new parition, you might get the following error:</p> <p><span class="MsgBodyText">“Error in service module”</span></p> <p>If it keeps you from logging in, boot single user and touch /var/log/lastlog as root</p> </article> <article> <h1>Here is a quarter</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:37:21 +0000</p> <p>I am a quarter way through my life. Assuming of course that I live to 100 years old, but that doesn’t seem unreasonable considering the rate of life expectancy change the past century. When you break your time on earth into a dollar and realize you have spent a fourth of it, the feeling is bittersweet. It seems that every trip around the sun carries with it some benchmark the world establishes. “Your life will never be as good as your teens” is just as common to be heard as “Your life will never be as good as your twenties.” So which is it society? Looking back on the 25 thus spent I feel pretty well invested in the trip. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams and I am happy. Two things I have always provided myself for measuring progress. Where I leave myself wanting is what now, what now that I am a few years ahead of the life plan. I do not believe in establishing linear milestones for growth, but I simply never expected to be at this moment in time already. What troubles me is what the next 25 will look like! When I cash in that half-dollar will the progression of life compare to the quarter spent?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Conky Setup</h1> <p>Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:18:33 +0000</p> <p>I love me some eye candy that is actually useful. Conky falls into this category for me. In the olden days it was either gkrellm or a WindowMaker plugin. I have spent some time getting the conky setup EXACTLY how I want it. The results are posted below:</p> <p><strong>Install:</strong></p> <p><code>sudo aptitude install conky lm-sensors hddtemp python-feedparser</code></p> <p><strong>Extract this file to <code>~/.bin</code> and make executable. Edit the files for weather.yahoo.com</strong></p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/conky_scriptstar.gz">Conky Scripts</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Long Time</h1> <p>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:07:55 +0000</p> <p>It has been awhile since I have posted here since work started blocking my website (BLOCKED FOR HACKING TUTORIALS – Seriously!) and I wanted to make sure I captured my current projects:</p> <ul> <li>VMware ESX Cluster</li> <li>Ubuntu 9.04 Bug Reports</li> <li>Cross architecture compiling</li> <li>Ducati! Thats it for now, expect some HOWTO on the stuff above here soon. Except for the Ducati part. The HOWTO is pretty simple, twist throttle and smile :)</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Jig</h1> <p>Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:54:12 +0000</p> <p>I was thinking back to one of my favorite comics this morning as I danced around the room. There are certain songs that make me just dance around like there is no one else in the world. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of my grooving and it made me write…</p> <p>Wind and branches</p> <p>Arms</p> <p>Grasshoppers and ants</p> <p>Feet</p> <p>Squint and squished</p> <p>Eyes</p> <p>Hula-hoop and grind</p> </article> <article> <h1>Fix for Songbird showing songs still on iPod</h1> <p>Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:24:28 +0000</p> <p>I formatted my iPod recently and noticed that Songbird still thought the Library had media on it. Loading up a factory restore didn’t help. To clear the iPod cache here is the location:</p> <p>In the profiles directory you will see a db folder. Remove all iPod* folders and restart Songbird. Now the Library will show the blankness that is your iPod.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Travel Days for 2008</h1> <p>Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:13:39 +0000</p> <p>Why stop a geeky tradition?! Here is 2008’s travel graphs. This year I did hit the 2 full trips around the Earth. I am not sure what 2009 holds, but I had a 30% increase in travel and I only have 17% to go before it is a full 100. Here is last years stats: <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2007/12/31/travel-days-for-2007" target="_blank">Travel Days for 2007</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Securing MySQL</h1> <p>Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:39:47 +0000</p> <p>Here is my quick secure guide for MySQL:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Rename root user account</p> <ul> <li>mysql -u root -p</li> <li>use mysql;</li> <li>update user set user=”mydbadmin” where user=”root”;</li> <li>flush privileges;</li> </ul> </li> <li> <p>Set the root password for database</p> <ul> <li>mysqladmin -u mydbadmin password ‘the-new-password’</li> </ul> </li> <li> <p>Drop default test database</p> <ul> <li>mysql -u mydbadmin -p</li> <li>drop database test;</li> <li>quit;</li> </ul> </li> <li> <p>Edit the MySQL server config</p> <ul> <li>vi /etc/my.cnf and under [mysqld]</li> <li>skip-networking <– Disables network access</li> <li>set-variable=local-infile=0 <– prevent against unauthorized reading from local files</li> <li>bind-address=127.0.0.1</li> <li>restart mysql /etc/init.d/mysqld restart</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Fix for Songbird and iPod</h1> <p>Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:40:43 +0000</p> <p>I LOVE SONGBIRD, but it wouldn’t recognize my iPod Shuffle. I use this one to workout and need hopping tunes to keep my miles time down. If you have an iPod that refuses to be recognized here is the fix:</p> <ol> <li>Connect iPod</li> <li>Open terminal</li> <li>cd /Volumes/$IPOD_NAME where IPOD_NAME is obviously the name of your iPod visible on the desktop</li> <li>rm -rf /Volumes/$IPOD_NAME/iPod_Control</li> <li>Restart Songbird</li> </ol> <p>Done!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Keeping on my Toes – Mac to Linux and back</h1> <p>Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:33:13 +0000</p> <p>I love my MacBook Pro more than I love my motorcycle. There I said it. When I don’t get a chance to ride my motorcycle I get cranky and irritable, but when I don’t know where my computer is…death to all. The only thing that exceeds my love of Mac is my love of Linux. The reason I began using Apple products was from the consulting days of my life. I needed a machine that when I opened the lid, turned on, and began doing what I told it to do. Linux does this just spiffy, but the problem is I am fiddgity. My work machine was in a constant state of subversion dumps and compiles. A new kernel patch set? Sure why not. GIT Release of GNOME looking spiffy, download away. The problem is that when you live on the edge it is sharp. Bleeding edge releases in Linux made my laptops constant compiling machines. I tinker and therefore I Mac.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Similarities between Santa and System Administrators</h1> <p>Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:26:19 +0000</p> <ul> <li>__Santa is bearded, corpulent, and dresses funny.</li> </ul> <p>__</p> <ul> <li>__When you ask Santa for something, the odds of receiving what you wanted are infinitesimal.</li> </ul> <p>__</p> <ul> <li>__Santa seldom answers your mail.</li> </ul> <p>__</p> <ul> <li>__When you ask Santa where he gets all the stuff he’s got, he says, “Elves make it for me.”</li> </ul> <p>__</p> <ul> <li>__Santa doesn’t care about your deadlines.</li> </ul> <p>__</p> <ul> <li>__Your parents ascribed supernatural powers to Santa, but did all the work themselves.</li> </ul> <p>__</p> </article> <article> <h1>FIPS 140-2 Open Source SSL/IPSEC – Thanks Red Hat!</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:14:39 +0000</p> <p><em>I always keep my eyes on what modules are undergoing FIPS validation. Here is an email sent to my teams…</em></p> <p>A shortcoming of open source has always been the lack of validated security modules. Red Hat has recognized this shortcoming and submitted their products and libraries for FIPS validation. As we move to more secure enterprise solutions it will be important to remain aware of these products as to lean on them in our products. Using validated products removes the need to take a hit during C&A or seek waivers. Just a friendly FYI from your IA Architect:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Move from Physical to Virtual with CloneZilla</h1> <p>Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:44:29 +0000</p> <p>Just a side note for when I forget how I fixed this…</p> <p>When using CloneZilla you can capture server images and redeploy them unless there are hardware differences. To fix issues with hardware changes between physical server hardware and VMware here are my fix actions:</p> <ul> <li>Windows 2003 Enterprise <ul> <li>Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows will blue screen when you boot after image deployment since it cannot find the drive to boot from. You will get the error: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103" target="_blank">0x0000007b</a></li> <li>After booting windows 2003 you can then install the BusLogic or LSI SCSI drivers</li> </ul> </li> <li>Red Hat Linux 5 <ul> <li>Boot with the first CD of the install set and instead of an install, use linux rescue.</li> <li>Once booted chroot /mnt/sysimage</li> <li>Blank out the /etc/modprobe.conf</li> <li>mv /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img.orig</li> <li>mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img 2.6.18-20.el5</li> <li>reboot</li> </ul> </li> <li>Windows XP <ul> <li>Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows XP in the default install does not include the two SCSI adapters VMware supports, BusLogic or LSI Logic.</li> <li>During the CloneZilla restore you are given a few options. The ones to select to ensure a successful MBR restore are: <ul> <li>-t1</li> <li>-j1</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>These settings will allow you to move your physical clonezilla images to vmware.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Machiavellian Leadership</h1> <p>Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:51:46 +0000</p> <div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets"> <p class="toc_title"> Contents </p> <ul class="toc_list"> <li> <a href="#Defense_and_Military"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Defense and Military</a> </li> <li> <a href="#Reputation_of_a_Prince"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">2</span> Reputation of a Prince </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Generosity_vs_Parsimony"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">3</span> Generosity vs. Parsimony </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Cruelty_vs_Mercy"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">4</span> Cruelty vs. Mercy </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Avoiding_contempt_and_hatred"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">5</span> Avoiding contempt and hatred </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Gaining_Honors"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">6</span> Gaining Honors </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Nobles_and_Staff"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">7</span> Nobles and Staff </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Avoiding_Flatterers"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">8</span> Avoiding Flatterers </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Fortune"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">9</span> Fortune </a> </li> <li> <a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">10</span> Share this:</a> </li> </ul> </div> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince"></a></p> <p>The past few weeks my read of choice before bed is The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli. While the book speaks volumes to the monarchy of yesteryear, the implications for a “Prince” like myself are astronomical. The book has had a direct impact on my leadership outlook and helped me to better understand roles. Forgot the <a id="t18g" title="cheese" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese" target="_blank">cheese</a> and focus on a classic.</p> <p>The book is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on leadership principles for Princes of the post-Roman empire. Machiavelli does a wonderful job showcasing both sides of a coin. For example Machiavelli correctly points out that a leader must strike a balance between cruelty and mercy. A leader cannot be totally loved and respected and likewise cannot be totally hated and respected. This same chapter discusses the implications of the people loving or hating you and assassination. A very inclusive chapter.</p> <p>As with all principles it is important to take them in small doses. A modern day leader can lean upon the ideals portrayed but not engulf them. My teams would certainly be opposed to my hanging them to deal with disgruntled employees. Or maybe I am just a weak modern leader, a good hanging never hurt anyone.</p> </article> <article> <h1>I use a microscope to read maps…</h1> <p>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:14:15 +0000</p> <p>Or in other words I am shortsighted. I watched outside the CRJ700 as Tucson appeared. Flying into Tucson I was surprised they had finally finished the renovations of the airport and how I felt. Being the blogging type I figured it a safe bet that I had posted something as I left…sure enough…</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Sometimes when we leave a place we know it isn’t forever. Yet you still look around with deep breath and soak it in. What is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">“it”</span> that we need to soak?I had that feeling today as I boarded in Tucson. I knew that I might be back but this time would be the last of this era. This was the last of a time in my life, a period of great testing. I felt this one other time in Shreveport so I know it well. The same yearn for one last look. One last breath. One last freeze frame of all the people in the room. Some people mistake this feeling by associating it with a place. They misunderstand that the place is little more than a collection of people and emotions. The scenery is picture worthy, but it is the person looking at it with you that will cement your love of it. There are many more places for me to go. I look forward to bottling that moment up and placing it on my shelf of life. Take that last deep breath and seal it tightly for this is all you will have of this moment, this place, this time. </span></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Passion</h1> <p>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:51:46 +0000</p> <p>What is your passion? The collegiate response is that passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. Passion is a word that posses a meaning that extends well above the simple context modern language employs. Love, passion, hate and pain. All these words share the deep meaning of emotional context greater than the letters and breath they are spoken with.</p> <p>Asking someone what they are passionate about, is to me, tearing beyond menial life. Ask someone what they do in life and you get the response that they are married, have a kid, drive a nice car, and work for such-and-such. I yearn to know someone deeper than the exhibit you display for the world. What is it that makes you wake up in the morning?</p> </article> <article> <h1>Funniest read today…</h1> <p>Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:29:13 +0000</p> <p>From the wonderful bash.org:</p> <blockquote> <p>DragonflyBlade21: A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you’re a great guy, but I don’t like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we’re not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we’re going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn’t work out, we’ll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.</p> </article> <article> <h1>South of Mason Dixon and North of Farmers Market</h1> <p>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:01:41 +0000</p> <p style="text-align: left;"> The cracks are too numerous to skip them as a child would. To attempt would be feeble and your poor mothers back would be broken in half a city block. Oscar and I mind less for the practice and walk along the city streets unhindered by superstition. Passing along the road, the world seems humored by the site of a fuzzy haired young man and his wiener dog going for an evening stroll. The hardest of faces are broken into a slighted smile as Oscar looks up to inspect them. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Parking</h1> <p>Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:39:39 +0000</p> <p>The morning was clear as Oscar and I made our way down the elevator for the new morning routine. We walked past the water fountain on path to the doggie walk. On cue soon as his feet touch grass he is finding a spot to squat. Looking around I caught glimpse of Ferrari Red. It is a very difficult color to not catch in your eye if you are a male over the age of two. There is something about it that screams at a male’s insides and draws you in. In departure from our usual right turn and entrance back into the building I decided to go in closer. The machine was beautiful in a way only fine Italian automobiles can be. From the stitch of the leather to the rims’ shinny brilliance the automobile was amazing. In what would be an ultra rare observation in the state of Alabama, it is common to come across these type of cars. I live across the street from a Porsche dealer so my senses are becoming numb with each passing day.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Kicking it old school</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:08:10 +0000</p> <p>I setup the Cube in the living room today. After hooking it up to the Xbox controller and big screen I am ready for some Mario Kart throw down. Now if you will excuse me I have some Mario Brothers to reminisce over…</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sany0070-2-13-06-44.jpg" rel="lightbox[728]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sany0071-2-13-06-44.jpg" rel="lightbox[728]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>I have one hand in my pocket</h1> <p>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:59:38 +0000</p> <p>I rarely carry cash around (as evident by the many lunches I owe coworkers) and often times find bones of it in pockets. Tonight as I threw on my jacket from last years cold spell I found a bill wrapped around the inner chest pocket. Like a time capsule my mind raced to when the green had found its way in there. The times are so rare that I carry money that it shouldn’t be hard to recall the exact moment.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Leaving for the city</h1> <p>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:29:53 +0000</p> <p>This morning with my lungs pressed up against the cool morning air I ran through the country. Past the cows in the pasture and up the hill where the horses drink from the pond. This backdrop is like a cheesy background you find draped against people’s computer screens to make them forget the cube they live in.</p> <p>Today’s world allows for me to pound my feet against Country Road 45 and tomorrow race to the Pentagon like an ant for the peanut butter sandwich dropped on a playground. Why on Earth would I trade the beauty of these stars for the twinkle of the skyscraper?</p> </article> <article> <h1>I hate Windows</h1> <p>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:10:43 +0000</p> <p>I run Windows XP in a virtual machine for those few programs that lack Linux and Mac clients. I booted my <strong>FULLY PATCHED</strong>, <strong>FIREWALLED</strong>, and <strong>Windows XP Service Pack 3</strong> to find gay sex fetish icons. Oh, gosh, I didn’t even realize I <em>loved</em> me some gay pr0n. When we move to virtualized solutions and slowly get rid of Windows enviroments we often forget that it is still a vulnerable machine. More and more users are booting Windows simply to interface with their corporate enviroments and not following under the security posture they believe to be in.</p> </article> <article> <h1>NetBackup with RHEL5 – CentOS IPTables</h1> <p>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:39:43 +0000</p> <p>First you need to open the iptables firewall settings:</p> <p>## NetBackup Client Firewall Ports</p> <p>iptables -D RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j REJECT –reject-with icmp-host-prohibited</p> <p>iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state –state NEW -p tcp –dport bpcd-j ACCEPT –src <ip of master server></p> <p>iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j REJECT –reject-with icmp-host-prohibited</p> <p>/etc/init.d/iptables restart</p> <div id=":2y" class="ArwC7c ckChnd"> <span style="color: #888888;"></p> <div style="margin-left: 30pt;"> </div> <p> </span></div> </article> <article> <h1>Dress Code</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:36:22 +0000</p> <p>I dress like a big geek sometimes. It isn’t uncommon to see me roll into work with jeans on and an untucked Polo shirt. On really bad days (the ones where I never made it home to sleep) you will see me in a Tshirt from time to time. Don’t get me wrong, if I am working with the customer or have meetings of importance I dress up with the best of them. I don’t mind the tie, I embrace it.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Time Machine for Solaris</h1> <p>Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:53:11 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.sun.com/erwann/entry/zfs_on_the_desktop_zfs"></a></p> <p>It is great to see the Sun guys utilizing the technology underlying to move beyond “me too!” I am afraid that this maybe too little too late for Sun. I would love to see Sun go the route of SGI/IBM and opensource (GPL not CDDL) their cool beans technologies. One UNIX geek can only hope.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Loki Games Fix</h1> <p>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:27:21 +0000</p> <p>export _POSIX2_VERSION=199209</p> <p>To install some old Loki Linux games you will need to set the POSIX version. Here you go Intertubes for all to search and find.</p> </article> <article> <h1>McAfee buys Secure Computing</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:45:44 +0000</p> <p>The most beautiful firewall I have ever come into contact with is Sidewinder. The first day I learned about Blurbs in the military was the day I began to jump with joy inside. Sidewinder has a very unique product that allows for an ultra-secure configuration. As with all things, McAfee will screw them up. I am sad inside now.</p> <p><a href="http://tinyurl.com/3s6r6b" target="_blank">McAfee buys Secure Computing</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>So true</h1> <p>Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:10:05 +0000</p> <p>Everyone makes fun of me because my phones have the classic ringer. You know, like Grandma’s old phone that could take down a robber. As always XKCD hits it spot on :) Even included a Frank Sinatra reference to top it off</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tones.png" target="_blank" rel="lightbox[676]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Multipath and Redhat Linux 5</h1> <p>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:30:51 +0000</p> <p>As many of you know, multipath was finally integrated into Redhat Linux with the 5 series. This is great when you have multipath enabled during an install as you will see /dev/mapper/mpath0, but what happens post install when you attach new LUN? Here is the howto for what happens behind the scenes during a RHEL install:</p> <ol> <li>After the filer has attached and presented the new LUN reboot the machine allowing for the HBA card to recognize them</li> <li>Post-reboot login and verify with the drivers are present with the correct capacity: <em>dmesg | grep sd</em></li> <li>Next we need the WWID for the new path. For this example assume that sdh is one of our newly presented multipath drives: <em>scsi_id -gus /block/sdh</em></li> <li>Copy this output down and have it ready to input into a config file. I recommend pipping or copying down the results withing GNOME/vim</li> <li>Edit the /etc/multipath.conf with your editor of choice and look for the blacklist exception list. You will see a WWID “923847089123908u2389” already listed. Copy that line and replace the “218934708912374” with the output of command #3</li> <li>Reboot the box</li> <li>After the reboot login and cd /dev/mapper and verify that there is a newly listed mpath1. If this is not the case stop what you are doing and wash-rinse-repeat steps 1-6</li> <li>If there is a mpath1 we need to create a new partition. Since Linux sees the device as a new block, use fdisk as you would with any other drive: <em>fdisk /dev/mapper/mpath1</em></li> <li>Since the drive is freshly paritioned you will need to reboot to allow the kernel to recognize the new parition table.</li> <li>Post reboot we can create a filesystem. I am going to assume you created one parition and are going to use ext3: <em>mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/mpath1p1</em></li> <li>Next edit your /etc/fstab and point the new drive to a path you want the new mapping mounted to: <em>/dev/mapper/mpath1p1 /storage ext3 defaults 1 1</em></li> <li>For the next portion I will operate under the assumption you are attaching more storage to your /opt directory for a new commercial install. As root drop to run level 2: <em>init 2</em> This is the lowest run level where the / filesystem is mounted r/w and multipathd is running</li> <li>We will move /opt as it is current substatianted to /opt2: <em>mv /opt /opt2</em></li> <li>Create the mount for the SAN LUN: <em>mkdir /opt</em></li> <li>Mount the LUN: <em>mount /opt</em> <–read from the /etc/fstab entry</li> <li>Now we sync the directories with rsync: <em>rsync -avh /opt2/* /opt</em> I recommend holding onto the /opt2 until everything is tested after a reboot</li> <li>Done!</li> </ol> </article> <article> <h1>bin2iso for Leopard 10.5</h1> <p>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:00:41 +0000</p> <p>I compiled bin2iso from source for all the mac users out there. For some reason bin2iso is not in macports. Link below:</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bin2iso.zip">bin2iso</a></p> <p><em>Unzip into a directory and chmod +x bin2iso</em></p> <p><em>Recommend moving to /usr/local/bin</em></p> <p>*\<em>* Update 11/22/10 **</em></p> <p>I get a ton of Google hits for this post. If you have macports or fink installed you can now use the <a href="http://he.fi/bchunk/">bchunk</a> program. The syntax to convert a bin to iso is as follows:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Schmidts Around the World!!!!</h1> <p>Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:03:37 +0000</p> <p>Interesting Stats:<a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/schmidts-around-the-world.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/roots-of-name.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/top-forenames.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/top-regions.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/top-countries.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/top-cities.png" rel="lightbox[657]"></a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Bittersweet Day</h1> <p>Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:23:34 +0000</p> <p>I looked up at the calendar resting in my SuSE box tray (oooh shinny!) and it occurred to me that today is a weird one. To the majority of America today represents 7 years since the WTC/Pentagon terrorist attacks. To me this day represents my Fathers birthday.</p> <p>I wonder if my Dad will be forever plauged or if it will turn into a generational thing. Will my children know that his birthday is shared with the largest attack on Continental American soil? If I say December 7th, how many of my readers know what happened that day?</p> </article> <article> <h1>PPC Loki Games</h1> <p>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:18:46 +0000</p> <p>Here is a blast from the past…way back past…</p> <p>I loaded OpenSuSE 11 on my G4 Cube and remembered I had a few of the old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki_Software">Loki Games</a>. Here are the games with ports to Alpha/PPC/SPARC:</p> <ul> <li>[Civilization: Call to Power</li> </ul> <p>](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Call_to_Power">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Call_to_Power</a>)</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_(computer_game)">Myth II: Soulblighter</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon">Railroad Tycoon II</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.lokigames.com/products/eus/">Eric’s Ultimate Solitaire</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_III">Heroes of Might and Magic III</a></li> </ul> <p>It is mind boggling that at this point in Linux history (2000-2002) that someone decided to port these! The great thing about GCC and SDL is cross compiling is pretty simple. With that said supporting these must have been a nightmare for Loki.</p> </article> <article> <h1>SheepShaver on Ubuntu</h1> <p>Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:34:56 +0000</p> <p>I wanted to run MacOS 9 in my Ubuntu Intrepid dev box so I went ahead and grabbed CVS. Problem was the autogen script never dumped a config.sub. Instead I took the easy route and downloaded an RPM version and used alien to convert. The one extra step to get it running is to as root ln -s /var/lib/libreadline.so.5 /var/lib/libreadline.so.4</p> <p>Have fun!</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sheepshaver_23-13_i386.deb">sheepshaver_23-13_i386.deb</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Airborne Warfare</h1> <p>Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:01:11 +0000</p> <p>The mark of a good system administrator is laziness. I mean this in the sense that laziness in the computing world fuels automation and thereby lower costs. In this quest for automation it is my belief that we have opened ourselves to a real danger in the air.</p> <p>Most computers by default have running applications. Wether they be in the taskbar or a Linux daemon, our machines are set to take care of their users. The biggest offenders are communication based services. Programs that login to our Lotus Smarttime, Windows Messenger, or Jabber corporate servers transmit userid and password information upon recognizing network connections. Email programs set to auto-check for mail ping into the ether in search of new messages to delight the warm body clicking away on its keyboard.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Coolest Hacker Logo</h1> <p>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:22:10 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/logo_hagnus.png" rel="lightbox[642]"></a></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> I am a GNU Hacker, hear me ROAR! Do Wildebeest roar? </p> </article> <article> <h1>Fallacy of Distance</h1> <p>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:19:14 +0000</p> <p>As we progress down the road of technological advance we must learn to remove from our minds the grasps of time and space. It is in the advancement of technology that both constraints are no longer at the mercy of our lives.</p> <p>I have had the pleasure of getting to know a young lady in Romania who I have since shown parts of Washington DC this trip via Skype and a webcam. Did I mention this was via a cellphone card while riding back with a coworker? At the most superficial level this seems like an ample use of technology. Yet, we must divulge this moment as did Mr. Bell as he sent the first spurts across the ocean to another part of the world. The mere possibility of knowledge share at this level changed our entire world.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Smart People</h1> <p>Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:48:57 +0000</p> <p>One of the greatest benefits to working with bright people is bright conversations. There are people in this world who I yearn to be near for no other reason that one of their amazing ideas may be there for me to feast upon when they are done. Every so often the pleasure is mine to meet and talk to these individuals. What I learn is added to my arsenal as both an engineer (little e Engineer) and a person.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Memoirs are Dead</h1> <p>Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:22:02 +0000</p> <p>In a world of twitter and 140 character posts, how will the world change in the realm of memoirs? My memoirs are here, each blog a cross section of my intellect and soul. In the past it was the desire after someone’s passing to know their deepest thoughts on a subject or introspective review of self. It is no longer a need to wait for that moment or read a book, the internet holds them all.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Government Planning Perfection</h1> <p>Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:36:40 +0000</p> <p>I was allowed to leave the Air Force with no strings attached in 2003. I found this slightly odd as I had a special security code attached to my AFSC making me a rarity and highly critical to every base and deployed location. Who am I to argue with the govt. if they want to let me go? I receive this email yesterday:</p> <blockquote> <p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Courier New;">Dear Veteran,</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Courier New;">My name is TSgt <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Bob Marley</span>. I am the Recruiting and Retention NCO for the 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron and the 165th Air Support Operations Squadron located in Brunswick, GA. The reason I am contacting you is because according to the Inactive Ready Reserve database, you once held one of these 5 critical AFSC’s:</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Centrally locate iTunes and iPhoto Libraries</h1> <p>Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:28:32 +0000</p> <p>You took the bite, you bought two Macs. It is a dirty feeling that you can’t wash off as you had the fact you now I contemplating purchasing a Steve Jobs black turtleneck sweater. One thing ol’ Steve hasn’t given us Mac Geeks yet is a central server. We are disposed to store things in one mac and hope for the best. You, the reader, are in luck as this geek isn’t the garden bred Mac type, but rather a UNIX type. With a little command line voodoo we will centrally locate those libraries.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Drobo for me</h1> <p>Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:40:22 +0000</p> <p>Oh darn Dad! Looks like I got your Drobo :)</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/p-640-480-3b6c70ee-5a4f-4f30-a22a-392e32ea2c03.jpeg" rel="lightbox[617]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Change your device alias in Open Firmware</h1> <p>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:33:41 +0000</p> <p>If you happen to have a G4 Cube or another system with a MCE upgraded superdrive, you have the issue of dealing with the Master/Slave mappings. You loose the capability to hold the “C” and boot cdrom. Why? Well Open Firmware detects cd as your hard drive. Here is how you can change that function:</p> <ol> <li>Hold Command+Option+O+F</li> <li>devalias</li> <li>See what is listed as hd and cd and write those down</li> <li>devalias cd device-path</li> <li>Replace device-path to what is listed after hd from the devalias command</li> <li>boot cd with a bootable CD to verify</li> </ol> <p>This is great! Look at it go! How do we make it permanent:</p> </article> <article> <h1>The iPhone saga continues</h1> <p>Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:47:00 +0000</p> <p>AT&T Customer for 5 years or more — Check</p> <p>AT&T Stock Holder — Check</p> <p>Original iPhone Owner — Check</p> <p>AT&T Business Enterprise Customer — Check</p> <p>What does all that buy you? A big fat cup of nothing. While in DC for business I did the unthinkable and waited outside of an Apple Store to buy an iPhone 3G. The line was wrapped around the front of the store and I doubted my chances of being afforded the “privilege” of purchasing a phone. It was my lucky day as many left the line after being informed that only the white edition was in stock. The Apple Employee wandered towards me armed with his Wireless Symbol Palm computer to verify if I was eligible. After a few missteps inputting information (there is no backspace on the device) we were off. Turns out I am not eligible to purchase a new iPhone from Apple. Why you might ask yourself? I am a business user…soak on that for a minute. I am a business user and therefore am relegated to the second class HELL HOLE that is AT&T Stores. After waiting in line I was left speechless. Here is the background as to why:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Most beautiful approach on the East Coast</h1> <p>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:41:18 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-48ea30a8-b59f-483b-9cf4-9fa5c7ba41b3.jpeg" rel="lightbox[590]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-008d71f9-ebe8-49e2-9036-ad89781223a4.jpeg" rel="lightbox[590]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-335b90f9-248d-4f91-b474-de39565ea3ac.jpeg" rel="lightbox[590]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-25cb9acf-c86a-4b81-b15b-97324b63577a.jpeg" rel="lightbox[590]"></a></p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-6fce9fde-c89e-4841-b642-7c62812fa832.jpeg" rel="lightbox[590]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>6am to DC</h1> <p>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:57:10 +0000</p> <p>I don’t care how often I take this flight, 330 rolls around quick. The world is eerily quiet this early.</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/l-640-480-3afe5053-3731-4dab-bfa8-4eeb2ecc03e2.jpeg" rel="lightbox[589]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Trying out WordPress on iPhone</h1> <p>Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:59:42 +0000</p> <p>Hello from the kitchen</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p-640-480-dcef9da2-4778-4f37-99d7-be4bda82a966.jpeg" rel="lightbox[587]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Inversion of Schedule and Process</h1> <p>Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:07:50 +0000</p> <p>Programs are held to rigid standards by the very nature of the word. “A planned series of future events and items” accurately portrays the course of action we wish to embark on as a team. When broken down further we can see that there is the insinuation of time by the definition containing future. By using the word future there is an understanding that before it lies a past and present. Tasks and events occurred prior to the future and completion of the program.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Storm Racing</h1> <p>Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:45:24 +0000</p> <p>“Looks like rain today” my Mother commented as we shared an after Mass lunch. “Yesterday was a mess with all that storming” I agreed. Rain it seemed was my wayward friend this weekend and totally would not ride third wheel to my motorcycle and I getting some quality time in.</p> <p>Driving home from a shared meal with Mom I began to scope the clouds. There are only a few types of people who can tell the weather better than a meteorologist; farmers, fishers, and riders. I was willing to bet my street cred on the cumulus clouds perched on the horizon and made bee line straight for the house and helmet. Oscar sat by expecting our “Welcome Home” routine, but instead was left with a bad Clark Kent impression as I switched from Catholic Boy to Racer Boy.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Just say “NO” to OS Level Virtualization</h1> <p>Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:45:12 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955020" target="_blank">Microsoft Patch 955020</a></p> <p>This patch will ensure that Friendster and Obama are added to your dictionary on Vista and 2008 Server. No big deal right? This brings up a few questions for me:</p> <ol> <li>Why does my server have a GUI?</li> <li>Why does this patch require a reboot?</li> <li>Who is typing the words Friendster or Obama on their 2008 Server?</li> </ol> <p>At the root of the issue is that I will never deploy Hyper-V for enviroments I admin. I understand patching for core issues and security but this is stupid. If this server was in fact running my virtual server farm I would now be rebooting for Friendster and Obama. Yikes!</p> </article> <article> <h1>History Books</h1> <p>Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:06:16 +0000</p> <p>Did you know that Saint Paul was actually a woman? I bet you didn’t realize that Columbus was really from Germany and not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Genoa" title="Republic of Genoa">Genovese</a>.</p> <p>There I wrote it down. Give the world about 15 years to pass by and for this post to turn up on a Google Search somewhere. That is the funny thing with time, it erases memories. Generation to generation small details fade away.</p> <p>I argue that mortality is absolutetly good or bad. There is no in between in the wake of an event or passing atoricty. My reasoning is that since we are all Children of God that there is no way for us to be anything other than Good and Bad. There is no way for me to only partially sin, no way for me to partially perform a charitable act. My only hope is to be absolutely chartiable or an utter ass in either case.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Reason and Imagination</h1> <p>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:50:11 +0000</p> <p>Bearing your soul in words is a dangerous proposition. Admitting to yourself in a permanent fashion is much more difficult than simply bypassing it with nonsensical mental talk. I will be the first to stipulate that I make a good argument in my head for why things are not as my heart says. That is why I do not trust my mind near as much as I trust my heart and soul. Often I have conveyed through my writing that it is through these words I escape. If I did not write you would no sooner find my name plastered across the screens of your local news station for crazy, maddening acts.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Bought a Kindle</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:33:21 +0000</p> <p>I love books. I actually love reading but hate the one aspect of being a traveling reader…carrying them all. A few reference computer manuals and a college book and I might as well pack a second bag. So I broke down and became an early adopter. Say hello to my Kindle!</p> <p>I started by getting some essential books on there right away, Catechism of the Catholic Church…check…New American Bible Translation…check…soak on that for a minute. I just put two books on a device that weighs hardly anything. Here are some comparison shots:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Beagle Travelers</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:21:03 +0000</p> <p>Oscar only whines when he is wanting to go play outside with another dog or he is upset. Luckily he is a pretty happy dog and does neither with any sort of regularity. Today as I typed away on the computer I heard a whining noise from the other room. I gave it sometime considering it would probably pass. A few minutes into the code I hear it still. Sheesh Oscar! <br id="rmv7" /><br id="rmv70" />Remind me to fix the screen in my door as it is now a secret path way for cute little puppies. I walk into the kitchen to find Oscar and a little beagle puppy playing around the floor. Heart+puppy=melt. I have such a soft spot for baby anything. I look out the door and see Mom trailing the back end of the Mini. They both look too healthy to be strays so I stand outside and listen for the screams of children looking for their pals. No sirens or anything else.<br id="o0cl" /><br id="o0cl0" />I drop some food in a make shift Cool Whip bowl (why did I have a Cool Whip bowl?) and some water in the Tupperware near it. They eat like there is no tomorrow and I gather they are lost. I sit down on the stairs contemplating what to do and Oscar comes up near me. He props up on my shoulder and licks my cheek.<br id="o0cl1" /><br id="o0cl2" />“Sorry boy, I can hardly give you the attention you deserve.” With that I top off the Cool Whip bowl and head inside. Oscar seems okay with my course of action and finds his spot on the couch. I wish I had the time and space for the both of them. As I prepared for the Sabbath I did the scan around the house, peeking from the corner of window sills searching for my travelers. Nothing.<br id="kvf7" /><br id="kvf70" />Good luck to the beagle family, hope they find a family here soon.<br id="rmv71" /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Joy of Flushing</h1> <p>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:10:17 +0000</p> <p id="s5.j"> I live in an old home. Over 70 years old at least. I don’t know the exact date, but I know that this whole area is named for the original owners. The house is built not on a block foundation, but old oak tree trunks slopped up in molasses. All in all it is a quirky little house for a quirky guy. </p> <p id="s5.j2"> Biggest problem I have had with the place is the toilet. If there was one thing you wouldn’t want to be wrong with the house it would be the toilet. I can deal with no A/C, roof, doors, holes in the floor, or monsters next door. All of those things are nothing compared to the sound of rising water. I have been through multiple hurricanes were the sound of blowing winds and rain did nothing to shake my foundation. </p> </article> <article> <h1>Muster</h1> <p>Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:05:34 +0000</p> <p>We all stood in line this morning which seemed the perfect crowning to the definition of military efficiency. The middle aged officer (she had the officer look) made the comment of something about “hurry up and wait.” For fear that a conversation would be sparked up, I nodded in response. She took the bait and dove into the triad of her military career. 21st of June and it was muster. I was surrounded by literally hundreds of stories of past foxholes and military blunders.<br id="j89r" /><br id="j89r0" />The MSgt. at the in processing counter made the mistake of never changing her repeating order of reporting to station 6 for ID cards first as that would take the longest. We all had that look of uncertainty as we trudged along the skinny hallways for station 6. The reminder was bittersweet as I leaned up against the aging painted walls with the LT behind me and the overweight SrA in front of me. We all listened to the stories of our past units and job codes as the line transitioned from moving to stand still. Military ingenuity paid off as I spoke up to the passing blue suitor, “LT, can I get my ID card at the Army Post near my house rather than wait for the one machine here?” The LT seemed somewhat impressed and checked my box and okayed the bypassing of line. I replayed the phrase, LT. It had been years since I referred to anyone as LT.<br id="j2oh" /><br id="j2oh0" />A few of the guys I work with turned out to be Air Force themselves and we appeared to gravitate towards any resemblance of our civilian identities. We all visited the recruiter terminal for the quick briefing on what the Air Force could still offer us. Turned out we were all not that interested, smiled and checked the <strong id="o555">NO</strong> box.<br id="a680" /><br id="a6800" />All I could think about this morning was my first visit to MEPS to join the military. We all had that look as we walked around in civi’s, but we all seemed scared. I kept expecting to see my Dad come around the corner armed with his camera to take that first shot of me enlisting. The moment never came and instead I waited for the day to end. Our last briefing was swift and we checked with finance to receive our 200 dollars for serving our country for a few hours.<br id="qos3" /><br id="qos30" />“Lunch is on me gentlemen” I told my coworkers and as it turned out, brothers. As we sat down to lunch at the local subway it occurred to me that the uniform never comes off. I have worked with one of these guys for 2 years and never knew of his military service. Our relationship took on a whole new dynamic as we sat through briefings together. There is no way to separate duty from the rest of your life. The camaraderie will always exist from the moment you iron your first set of uniforms. The reason it never dies is that you never know. It is the great mystery as we were informed we were on mobility status.<br id="f75q" /><br id="f75q0" />48 hours was all I had to respond to any request from Uncle Sam. 2 days after that I had to have my tail end in whatever shit hole in the world I was needed. That is why you can never leave the service. That is why you will forever be military. When you put up your right hand in MEPS you are not saying that your 4 or 6 years is all you are giving. No, you are saying that you are joining the fraternity of defenders.<br id="f75q1" /><br id="f75q2" />To be honest, I am somewhat excited at the thought of putting on my uniform again and checking out my M16. In my heart I will always be that 18 year old A1C Schmidt. I still look in the mirror and see the tired eyes of a kid in over his head. Hurry up and wait is the story of our lives. We are in such a hurry to move on to the next thing that we often miss where we are at. To that point the military has it perfect, they offer you plenty of time to look around as you wait.<br id="j89r1" /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Geek and Backup Pride</h1> <p>Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:50:24 +0000</p> <p>Geeks pride themselves on the ability to institute good backup routines. We laugh in the faces of those poor souls who scream and yank hair as they watch their data disappear into the ether. Tonight I realized that a fresh slate might not be such a poor thing to do once in awhile. <br id="sidk" /> <br id="sidk0" />My hard drive is full on the MacBook Pro and it is driving me crazy as I attempt to work on some virtual images. I did what any geek in my position would do and wrote a short script to hunt down where the space had disappeared to. I found it in a folder called Annulment. Annulment. I had come up close and personal with my backup routine and knew that I better inspect before simply deleting. <br id="toqu" /> <br id="toqu0" />It had been years since I looked in the folder which I had encrypted for some reason. That should have been an indicator in and of itself but I decide to unencrypted anyways. Deep down I guess I will forever be a pack rat and the rat had found his old hole now. Slowly the file names began to remind me of what was in this folder and it brought tears to my eyes. Let me state that it isn’t that I am not over the whole ordeal, I am. What is amazing if you line this up with yesterdays post is that we do well to block out the bad. When you find your 3 year old backup routine the bad comes front and center. <br id="syu-" /> <br id="syu-0" />Why do we keep mementos of a past we despise? Everyone has something in the closet, a shoebox filled with letters from a high school sweet heart, a picture of that time in the military. We keep things. I tried to think back to what was my reason for going as far as to encrypt and store this archive. What were the thoughts on my mind 3 years ago when I went through all this trouble. It seemed that reading through the documents and emails did little to remind me of why I was this stupid. <br id="di8t" /> <br id="di8t0" />Then I opened one inauspicious file that truly ripped into my heart. To respect her privacy I will only post the snippets that pertain to this 2:45AM writing: <br id="vjh9" /><br id="vjh90" /></p> </article> <article> <h1>PPC Linux</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:09:50 +0000</p> <p>Why Linux and which one? Let me take a second to review:</p> <p><a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/" target="_blank"><strong>Debian Stable 4.0</strong></a> – Too old! You can’t expect me to be spoiled on my x86 architecture with the latest GNOME and Firefox and then jump back to Debian stable</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/testing/" target="_blank">Debian Testing “Lenny”</a></strong> – Too new! The kernel is a step ahead of the Mac-On-Linux folks and therefore negates my ability to still run MacOS in Linux. Also had a heck of a time with my 6200 Nvidia Card in framebuffer.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The air I breathe</h1> <p>Sat, 31 May 2008 13:17:51 +0000</p> <p>I have my <span id="xyb90" class="misspell">chillout</span> <span id="xyb91" class="misspell">playlist</span> on as I sit comfortably in the Sky Harbor Airport. Today I packed up all my things and put the mini cooper on the back of a truck. It is official, I am heading home. Home is such a groggy term for me lately and this situation only serves to expound upon that. It seems like a few days ago I first moved out here. Very few realized why I took the slot here for a quick move and in search of true honesty I am going to type it up.<br id="aaqm0" /><br id="aaqm1" />I pushed for the move to AZ for a few months to get out of the small Alabama town where the memories hid. The house, despite me living alone there, was filled with memories of a past time I longed to forget. It wasn’t a painful memory that put me on the airplane that day, but rather the constant memory. In my life I have such a horrible habit of running away from situations that force me to admit weakness. Waking up in the morning directly following my Sign of the Cross is the mirror review. I do my best to puff my chest up high and put on the battle armor for the day. I relish the opportunity to display my manliness to the world abound. Admitting that there is a morning that I awaken and am scared to look in the mirror showcases the fact I fake the relishing.<br id="w0ps0" /><br id="w0ps1" />Today I awoke from a bed in AZ, tonight I will lay myself upon a pillow in AL. While the flight is nothing new, the mentality I now posses in my head is totally different. I have learned that memories are just like the air we breathe, no matter how much air you suck in, air will always be here. To expound on that slightly, memories will always surround you. There will be times as you walk down the road and take a breathe that reminds you of a past time. What I learned over the past few months is that holding your breathe only forces you to take a deeper breathe when you release. Memories are nothing to hide from. Instead of forcing myself to run from the time I had so desired to forget I am now going to breathe it in. I have so much air to breathe…so much to learn…<br id="aaqm2" /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Personality Test</h1> <p>Mon, 26 May 2008 07:42:38 +0000</p> <p>Alright my friends, is this right?</p> <p><strong>You are a DIRECTOR/explorer</strong></p> <p>You are courageous; and you seek challenges. You are a tough-minded, independent and daring thinker who likes to explore ideas or problems thoroughly. You focus easily. And you are persistent, systematic and competent in pursuing your interests and goals.</p> <p>You are also assertive; and you enjoy the opportunities your hard work wins.</p> <p>You have a lot of energy. You think quickly, make decisions more easily than most, dislike unnecessary rules, and take a rational approach to people, issues and ideas.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Scientist and the Eye Ball</h1> <p>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:29:48 +0000</p> <p>I am reading through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_the_Body" target="_blank">Theology of the Body</a> again after many of times. I now use it more as reference material than actual reading, but tonight I started <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Theology-Body-Explained-Commentary-Gospel/dp/0819874108" target="_blank">Chris West’s review</a>. This is a review rather than the 129 lectures <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II" target="_blank">John Paul the Great</a> gave.</p> <p>The tidbit that jumped out at me tonight was about Genesis. The discussion of if it was a scientific recount of creation or not is irrelevant:</p> <blockquote> <p>Consider the difference for a woman when her optometrist looks in her eyes and when her husband looks in her eyes. The scientist is looking at her cornea and records the scientific facts. The love is looking into her soul and proclaims something more poetic and inspired. Does the scientist disprove the lover? No. These are simply two perspectives on the same reality. The author of Genesis wasn’t a scientist, but a lover inspired by God to proclaim the spiritual mysteries at the origin of the world.</p> </article> <article> <h1>My newest Mac, The Macintosh IIci</h1> <p>Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:57:30 +0000</p> <p>Hello from my IIci. The machine is fresh from the original boxes with the original manuals. WHAT A STEAL!? My mom’s one comment when it arrived was that it</p> <ol> <li>Looked heavy with all those boxes</li> <li>Makes a funny noise when that floppy is writing</li> </ol> <div> The machine is currently sporting the original 7.0.1 with a future upgrade of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/UX" target="_blank">A/UX 3.1</a> soon as the external SCSI CD-Rom arrives. News to follow on my adventures with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/UX" target="_blank">A/UX</a>… </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;"></p> </article> <article> <h1>The History Channel of Today</h1> <p>Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:06:29 +0000</p> <p>There was a time in cable television when channel names insinuated content. Take for example the <a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Channel" href="http://geekyschmidt.com" target="_blank">Military </a><a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Channel" href="http://geekyschmidt.com" target="_blank">Channel</a>, it is a safe bet there is going to be planes, guns, or other things blowing up from the military viewpoint. </p> <p>I can safely turn there after a long day and see my stress melt away with the tonnage of bombs dropped from B-52s. The History Channel used to be an escape for my other secret hobby, history. It has come to my attention after being sick this week that no longer can I depend on the name of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_channel" target="_blank">History Channel</a> to mean that I will learn some history. Rather new programming that appeals to the masses of fringe culture (an oxymoron in itself) is plastered from day to day. <a href="http://rayandlaura.com/b/" target="_blank">Alan Jones</a> (or Airman Jones as I knew him long ago) put together a list that truly reflects the programming schedule:</p> </article> <article> <h1>NEXTSTEP 3.3 RISC SparcStation 5</h1> <p>Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:05:21 +0000</p> <p>I finally found a copy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nextstep" target="_blank">NEXTSTEP</a> 3.3 and got it installed on a SparcStation5. I am rocking retro 1993 style. Screenshot for street cred:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/nextstep-screenshot.png" rel="lightbox[520]"></a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>login: Looking Back on Debian 1.3</h1> <p>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:30:17 +0000</p> <p>Back at the tender age of 12 I picked up a magazine at the Base Exchange. This magazine contained a CD. This CD contained Debian 1.3. All was well in the world…</p> <p>I remember reading with such excitement about this amazing new Linux (yes I pronouced it wrong, I was a geek living in Germany) and how it was free. Free you say!? I had just spent the past year lusting for Windows NT for no other reason that it was enterprise ready. I had no clue what that meant but I knew it was something I couldn’t learn. Much in the same way as I would look with much glee on the SGI pictures in magazines with no hope of ever affording the 12,000 dollar machine. Such was life for a youngster.</p> <p>That is what made Linux so exciting for me. It looked kind of like those funny Sun boxes and it was what <strong>HACKERS</strong> used so it had to be cool. With no understanding of what installing Linux met I dropped that CD in and used rawrite for the first time to create the boot floppy.</p> <p>Then it died. My perfectly working Windows 95b edition machine died. Well I thought it had died when really all I did was blank the partition table attempting to do an install. All of this came back vividly today as I retraced that install on my MacBook Pro in vmware.</p> <p>—————————————-</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenSolaris Shortcomings</h1> <p>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:37:15 +0000</p> <p>I want to like OpenSolaris. I love compiling away on my Sun Machines at the house. The simple fact is though the “Open” is a misnomer of great proportions. What makes me excited about OpenSolaris is the lineage it stems from. For UNIX admins everywhere, it is truly one of the last of the old guard. HP-UX, Tru64, and the host of other dead UNIX OS showcase how much impact the BSD and Linux world has had on mainstream POSIX. </p> </article> <article> <h1>I want a pony and a nintendo…</h1> <p>Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:53:40 +0000</p> <p>I remember growing up I would pray with such fervor for things. This morning as I was driving to work I did the same thing! You would think after 23 years I would have figured out that things don’t matter. Whoops guess not. All the same God always has a chuckle with me. He is a funny God. The reading for the day:</p> <p>_Jesus said to his disciples:</p> <p>“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,</p> </article> <article> <h1>Reason I don’t eat out…</h1> <p>Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:37:07 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/20worst.html" target="_blank">Eat This, Not That! — Men’s Health</a></p> <p>I usually hate Men’s Health but the article made Reddit and I clicked not knowing. Ended up grossing me out and reaffirming my hate of fast food :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>GBA PSP Emulator SDTV</h1> <p>Sat, 09 Feb 2008 13:02:08 +0000</p> <ol> <li>Load up the emulator</li> <li>Plug in the Composite Cable</li> <li>Without getting a wretched headache, get into the Graphics and Sounds menu option</li> <li>Set Video to: Scaled 3:2</li> <li>Filter Yes</li> <li>Ratio: ratio 4:3</li> <li>interlaced</li> <li>Tadda! MarioKart on your hotel TV</li> </ol> </article> <article> <h1>Workout and Food Log</h1> <p>Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:42:34 +0000</p> <p>Let me start by saying I <u><strong>LOVE</strong></u> <a href="http://thedailyplate.com" target="_blank">thedailyplate.com</a> and use the thing (as the name suggests) daily. Recently they added an option to export all your data to spreadsheet. Being the geek I am, I quickly began sorting and plotting the data. I highly recommend you do the same. For me this wasn’t a weight loss plan as much as a weight level plan. I am right where I want to be on the circumference of my waist, 145 pounds @ 29″. Not too small, not too big. Some of the more interesting numbers to come out of all this:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Fix for Skype</h1> <p>Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:02:55 +0000</p> <p>For all those running the Skype 2.0 Beta on Ubuntu Gutsy.</p> <p>Seems that having Nessus installed will screw up your Qt libraries:</p> <p>505 cd /opt/nessus/lib/</p> <p>506 sudo mv libQtCore.so.4 libQtCore.so.old</p> <p>507 sudo mv libQtGui.so.4 libQtGui.so.old</p> <p>508 sudo mv libQtXml.so.4 libQtXml.so.old</p> </article> <article> <h1>Hey Ya</h1> <p>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:50:43 +0000</p> <p>I am not one for rap usually, but this rendition rocks my socks. Turns the pop-rap into this dramatic song about life :) </p> </article> <article> <h1>Brrrr</h1> <p>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:40:33 +0000</p> <p>I ran this morning in 20 degree weather…with snow! It was pretty chilly and I am hoping when I awake in the morning the run will be much more enjoyable.<br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Twitter Updates for 2008-01-21</h1> <p>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:59:59 +0000</p> <ul> <li>Moving to DC in a few weeks, wondering where to live! Lots to do <a href="http://twitter.com/oneguynick/statuses/622706982">#</a></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Moment in Time</h1> <p>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:31:04 +0000</p> <p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px" class="Apple-style-span">Sometimes when we leave a place we know it isn’t forever. Yet you still look around with deep breath and soak it in. What is <span style="font-style: italic" class="Apple-style-span">“it”</span> that we need to soak?I had that feeling today as I boarded in Tucson. I knew that I might be back but this time would be the last of this era. This was the last of a time in my life, a period of great testing. I felt this one other time in Shreveport so I know it well. The same yearn for one last look. One last breath. One last freeze frame of all the people in the room. Some people mistake this feeling by assosciating it with a place. They misunderstand that the place is little more than a collection of people and emotions. The scenery is picture worthy, but it is the person looking at it with you that will cement your love of it. There are many more places for me to go. I look forward to bottling that moment up and placing it on my shelf of life. Take that last deep breath and seal it tightly for this is all you will have of this moment, this place, this time. </span></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Twitter Updates for 2008-01-19</h1> <p>Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:59:59 +0000</p> <ul> <li>I did a fricken pushup! Less than a month after a motorcycle I am back to running 6 miles and pushups. Victory Dance! <a href="http://twitter.com/oneguynick/statuses/618230652">#</a></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Food Time!</h1> <p>Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:33:29 +0000</p> <p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal" class="Apple-style-span">On airplanes it is really funny to watch the stewardess get the drink cart ready. In complete unison trays on the back of seats drop for their yummy infant portioned snacks. It really completes the herding cattle mystique of flying. </span></p> </article> <article> <h1>I diet geeky style</h1> <p>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:51:14 +0000</p> <p>From the <a href="http://thedailyplate.com" target="_blank">DailyPlate</a> website I track my food for keeping my weight (steady, not trying to loose) and today after working out I was given this little note:</p> <p>_ You may eat about <strong>1,337</strong> additional calories today._</p> <p>That tells me right away that my diet is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet" target="_blank">h4x0r 1337</a>! I was going to do a quick run but decided against it just so I could stay at 1337!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Speechless</h1> <p>Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:24:04 +0000</p> <p>Other than the language and video games, it is so so true…</p> </article> <article> <h1>What Geek am I?</h1> <p>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:53:15 +0000</p> <p> This is a picture someone published online that shows all the different types of geeks. I figured I would quickly look at the image and find, THE NICK. My issue, there is NO NICK. Narrowing down the multitude of options was difficult but I decided on 3. Those are listed below. <br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span">Gadget Geek</span> — I have every gadget you can imagine. I use them as learning devices in order to become all the more a geek. My tool belt looks exactly like his as well as the backpack. When I looked at this picture I didn’t think what a dork, I started to figure out what gadgets the artist was showing. For the record the geek is wearing: Blackberry, iPod, Candy-bar Cellphone, UMPC, and a GPS <br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span"></span><span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span"></span> <span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span">Apple Geek</span> — This is a short one, looking around my office lets count the number of Apple products: iPod Shuffle, iPhone, 2×24″ iMac, Apple Extreme Router, Performa 6300, and an AppleTV in the living room. That is 7 devices. Yikes. <br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /><span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span">Linux Geek</span> — I have been using Linux 12 years (way before running Ubuntu was cool) and still use it to this day. I have a poster with Linux kernel code in my office. All devices that are capable of running Linux in my household, do. I get excited when a new kernel comes out and rush out to compile. I read over 150 RSS feeds about Linux and Open Source. I am such a dork as I re-read this. Wow…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Best Man Toast</h1> <p>Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:12:33 +0000</p> <p>I want to look back on this with my Brother. Here it is for the world to mirror!</p> <p>——————————————————————————</p> <p>You both are running around the city getting ready. Dan you are in my bathroom shaving off your peach fuzz and LuLu you are rolling your hair. What you both don’t realize is that it doesn’t matter. What you will remember this day is the feeling of being on the altar together. All the things that have stressed you both out, plates at a dinner, music in a hall, and is everyone taken care of will fade away. Dan what you will remember is the way your wife looked into your eyes as you exchange vows. Lindsey you will remember the warmth of Dan’s hand on yours as he squeezes to reassure you everything is okay.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dead Poetic – Vices Lyrics</h1> <p>Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:05:44 +0000</p> <p>I love this song, it is a little hard rock but the lyrics hit me so hard. It is refreshing to hear Christian music that talks about the true struggle. </p> <p>—————</p> <p>Feeling cold, feeling empty. Set the stage, where you want me.</p> <p>And this crowd right before me doesn’t care that I’m dying.</p> <p>And the audience stands with their eyes fixed on the preconceived version of me.</p> <p>I’m so betrayed by your hopes, but I will not hide myself for your peace of mind.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Absolution</h1> <p>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:43:54 +0000</p> <p><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap" class="Apple-style-span">God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. R/. Amen.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>WOOT! Arm in sweater</h1> <p>Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:49:33 +0000</p> <p>Since the accident I have been rocking a lot of short sleeve shirts. That is great if it was summer, but winter is killing me. The past few mornings I made the attempt and hurt like hell. Today it was like butter and there I was rocking a sweater. WOOT WOOT!</p> <p style="text-align: left"> </p> </article> <article> <h1>What I need Recap 2</h1> <p>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:22:09 +0000</p> <p><span style="color: #0000ee" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #000000">In a fight recently, I wrote down a list of needs. The boat had done sailed by time these were written down but I left them on my fridge (along with what Nick did bad mind you) to remind myself. Then again I said this <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/2006/02/20/what-i-need/" target="_blank">3 years ago too</a>. Who knows but I wanted to post them and have this to search back for also.</span></span> </p> <ul> <li>Together – We do things together, we hold the same line together, we exist together</li> <li>Communication – Can you hear me now?</li> <li>Less Cursing – Yarr Matey I don’t be wantin to date a sailor Yarrr</li> <li>On-Time – Cell Phones, Google Calendar, Watches, no reason to be late for stuff</li> <li>Clean Home – Sexist and old school? Nope! This is how I feel loved</li> <li>Push me to Christ – Last thing I need in my spiritual walk is a boat anchor, sometimes you can’t help but carry but other times I need a swift kick in the butt</li> <li>Stop Caring for the World – Who gives 2 craps and a cookie what so-and-so down the road thinks?</li> <li>Be here when I get home – Nothing worse than traveling for 2 weeks and someone not be home when you pull up</li> <li>Respect “Our” Decisions – There is a good chance I didn’t want to do something, but it is OUR Decision. “Hold the line!” as they say in battle</li> <li>Plan with me – If you want to be with me, be with me. That means telling your team what the plan is</li> <li>Share the good/bad – I don’t live in a fairy tale, neither should you. Life sucks sometimes but let me be there with you when it does</li> <li>Tell me about your feelings despite my load – Yep, I am a busy guy and have a lot on my plate. That doesn’t mean hiding it from me. My one escape is the “us” stuff and I live to be a superman</li> <li>Catholic Family – My family will attend mass and love the sacraments. All of us, all of the time</li> <li>Stay at Home Wife – Oh geez another being sexist! Nope! Our kids deserve the best the world can offer and the best is their Mom. The greatest job is a Mom.</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Living Room</h1> <p>Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:02:50 +0000</p> <p>If you are clicking here you know what this is… <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/sany0003.mov" title="Living Room">Living Room</a> For the whole house… <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/housetoursm.mov">Click Here</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Water</h1> <p>Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:10:16 +0000</p> <p>I ran my hand through the water on the banks of the pond that day. As I sat under the golden crisp light beaming down on me, I knew the time was not for decision making but rather reaction. Just as my hand ran through the water and out my fingers as it pulled from the wake, so too are you my Love. No matter how many hours I sit on the banks of the soggy pond, the water will forever slip. I find myself wondering if there is any hope for my fingers to hold on to what is so obviously wishing to flow away…will the water turn into the dirt I could once grip onto?</p> </article> <article> <h1>I fought the road and the road won</h1> <p>Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:11:22 +0000</p> <p>I have been out of the loop the past few days and I wanted to let everyone know I was okay.</p> <p>I decided on 15th Saturday I decided to take advantage of the unusually warm December weather. It was 65 and dry. The rain was suppose to be coming that night and I quickly jumped on the RC51. I took my usual ride down through Ruth Mountain road and had a great rhythm. The corners were carving well and the bike was running quick. I had my fun and decided to turn around and head home before the rain hit. As I hit the last corner before a little creek I saw a glimpse of gravel. I slowed down and got ready to take the turn. What I didn’t realize was that the gravel I saw was totally spewed across the whole width. It wasn’t just a patch. I began pumping the breaks slightly and sure enough, my back wheel locked and I started to loose control. I saw the farm field in front of me and thought of just riding into the field. Just as I got the bike straight the front wheel slipped on some gravel. That was the last straw and I decided to go airborne. I flipped off the bars and ate the concrete. The bike twirled on by missing me by a few inches. That was that. I blacked out and woke to a group of people standing above me. I tried a few times to walk and get up but kept falling over blacking out. Some amazing people stopped and helped me out, a young guy took me to the ER and the rest is history.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Short vs Long</h1> <p>Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:07:11 +0000</p> <p><span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline" class="Apple-style-span"></p></p> <p style="text-align: center"> </p> <p> </span> </p> <p style="text-align: center"> <span style="font-weight: bold" class="Apple-style-span">VS</span> </p> <p style="text-align: center"> </p> <p style="text-align: center"> I am back to short hair and love the feeling of not wearing a hat all day. Sheesh! </p> </article> <article> <p>Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:25:54 +0000</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px"> <font face="Arial" class="Apple-style-span">It is often in the course of life that we are put to the test of our faith. My little brother just txt’ed me saying “Shotgun is at mom’s house.” If only I could. If only it were that easy.There is a calling that we must listen and hold tight to as we engross ourselves into the life of Christ. God is Love. Love is God. Love is the Word. Hence why John 1:1 makes so much sense. Watch:</font> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:41:20 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://www.usccb.org/bishops/Spe_Salvi_ing.pdf" target="_blank">Pope’s Note!</a></p> <p>Hope for Heaven…</p> </article> <article> <h1>VMware Server Beta 2 Review</h1> <p>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:44:03 +0000</p> <p><strong>The Good:</strong></p> <p>Bringing it up to level of workstation/fusion virtual machine compatibility? Vix if you are into the innards of virtualization.</p> <p><strong>The Bad:</strong></p> <p>Wow I mean where do you start? Let me walk you through my install process. I upgraded from the original vmware server to beta on an Ubuntu Gutsy box. The install process was smooth as butter and worked like a champ. I expect the smoothness because VMware is the benchmark for easy installs on Linux (only behind Google for using the <a href="http://icculus.org/loki_setup/">Loki Installer</a>) and has always shown that. What I never expected was the actual usage of the software. Gone is your GUI console. Hold on to that for a minute. It is gone, totally non-existstent. The GUI was replaced by a Web interface using AJAX. It all feels very Web 2.0 which is great for when I log into <a href="http://digg.com">Digg</a> or <a href="http://facebook.com">Facebook</a> <em>(Ooohh Shinny!)</em> but this is enterprise software. What makes the web interface unbearable is the speed. Has anyone used <a href="http://mail.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail</a> beta AJAX interface? It has brought this quad-processor 4GiB RAM machine to its knees. That is how the VMware Web console feels. VMware! WAKE UP! Web interfaces are great and when you make it optional like you always have with WebUI packages. Optional, it only adds to the flexibility your company has given admins and architects everywhere. I understand the reasoning, web runs everywhere and gives you a lot of options for using thin clients and PDA’s.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Working from home because no o…</h1> <p>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:43:31 +0000</p> <p>Working from home because no one showed up at work to open the door. Oh well.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Working from home because no o…</h1> <p>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:43:29 +0000</p> <p>Working from home because no one showed up at work to open the door. Oh well.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Linux and Skype – NOW WITH VIDEO!</h1> <p>Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:55:23 +0000</p> <p>Skype (or ebay) have been killing me for years now. I am a huge Skype user and always loved the video chat option. I have gone back and installed webcams for most of my family in order to keep track of everyone on my crazy travel days. The one issue I had was the conflict of skype and my desire to convert my family to Linux. Skype on Linux was always a second-class citizen. I resorted to using <a href="http://amsn.sf.net">aMSN</a> which worked, albeit on a very poor performance level. Yesterday though I awoke to an excitment I hadn’t seen in months. My RSS feed showed one topic new in the Skype folder. I preemptively booted my Ubuntu laptop and sure enough I was right, video support. After a quick download and install I had video chat on my Linux box. This of course initiated a victory dance. The great thing was the victory dance was captured from 2 different angles thus solidifying my lack of dancing skills for all to see :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>New Exhaust RC51</h1> <p>Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:11:07 +0000</p> <p style="text-align: center"> For a heck of a steal on ebay, I picked up a new exhaust system for the bike. Ready for the price…wait for it…wait for it…125 dollars plus shipping :) Here is some pictures and sound files for your enjoyment of the Yoshimura RS3: </p> <p style="text-align: center"> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/oneguynick/RC51Motorcycle/photo#5130298979792000018"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center"> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/oneguynick/RC51Motorcycle/photo#5130298984086967330"></a> </p> <p style="text-align: left"> Sound Files: </p> <p style="text-align: left"> </p> <ul> <li><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/2007-11-07_18-23-04.mov" title="2007-11-07_18-23-04.mov">Stock Pipes</a></li> <li><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/2007-11-07_18-49-47.mov" title="2007-11-07_18-49-47.mov">Straight Headers, no exhaust period. This was ear drum bleeding type sounds. RC51’s were meant to be run this way if only the law agreed</a></li> <li><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/2007-11-07_19-05-07.mov" title="2007-11-07_19-05-07.mov">Yoshi Pipes</a></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>up late designing networks!</h1> <p>Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:43:08 +0000</p> <p>up late designing networks!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Apple Mail.app and TimeMachine</h1> <p>Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:15:59 +0000</p> <p>I love Leopard! Single best upgrade I have done this year for operating systems. Vista was obviously a waste of time and Gutsy was incremental over Feisty. One thing that I have been throwing my head against the wall with is Mail.app using IMAP Gmail. I screwed up my settings and have gone through deleting the Mail in my Library and Preferences, yet no matter how many times I deleted the settings were still there. I then ran Mail.app from console and sure enough, time machine was automatically restoring the settings. While in any other case this would be great and a huge boost to a home user. A power user it just bugged me. The process is to remove Mail.app backups from your timemachine disk. Just a heads up</p> </article> <article> <h1>Xgrid and Multiplatform Clients</h1> <p>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:34:04 +0000</p> <p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal" class="Apple-style-span">This allows you to setup a Xgrid controller without mac server edition. What is nifty is that the clients can run on other platforms such as Linux and Windows. So with the simplicity of mac you can run a cluster at the house. Here is the link for windows/linux clients:</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html"></a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html"></a></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html"><a href="http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html">http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html</a></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/xgridagent-java/"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/xgridagent-java/"></a></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>For all the apple haters: http…</h1> <p>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:16:02 +0000</p> <p>For all the apple haters: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2dbp2k">http://tinyurl.com/2dbp2k</a> [http://tinyurl.com/2dbp2k]</p> </article> <article> <h1>NNTP will forever rock my sock…</h1> <p>Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:02:27 +0000</p> <p>NNTP will forever rock my socks</p> </article> <article> <h1>tinc maybe my opensource repla…</h1> <p>Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:02:15 +0000</p> <p>tinc maybe my opensource replacement for hamachi, we will see</p> </article> <article> <h1>Project Indiana (Ian’s OpenSol…</h1> <p>Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:38:08 +0000</p> <p>Project Indiana (Ian’s OpenSolaris) and OpenBSD 4.2 released with Leopard in the same week?!?! How can I be expected to work!?</p> </article> <article> <h1>upgrade to 10.5 on mac…sweet…</h1> <p>Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:51:40 +0000</p> <p>upgrade to 10.5 on mac…sweet! time machine might actually make me backup stuff</p> </article> <article> <h1>Back from Stone Mountain, grea…</h1> <p>Sun, 28 Oct 2007 13:01:47 +0000</p> <p>Back from Stone Mountain, great trip, pics to follow</p> </article> <article> <h1>This is me…sitting in an air…</h1> <p>Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:22:12 +0000</p> <p>This is me…sitting in an airport…getting on a plane after 40 days in the desert</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenSuSE 10.3 < Ubuntu Gutsy</h1> <p>Sun, 23 Sep 2007 11:47:25 +0000</p> <p>I am done dealing with OpenSuSE 10.3. Before anyone starts I realize that it is a beta release candidate “blah blah blah.” I expect simple things to work without a hassle such as touchpads and wifi. Now laptops have always been the bane of Linux, but as of recently Ubuntu ran better than XP on this Sony TXN17p I have. In fact out of the box the hotkeys for sound Linus called Solaris a “buggy piece and backlight worked with no configuration. On OpenSuSE it shipped with none of that. While I expected this on 10.1 and MAYBE 10.2, to do this in 2007 is insane. Most people in this world now own laptops, not desktops. ACPI and Eject buttons should work out of the box. Not to mention this is a sony laptop and not jims computer shop or something. Sonypi and sony-laptop has been a staple of the Linux module kernels for at least 3 revs. SuSE I love(d) you! You were my first true Linux distro. I remember the 4.8 days of 12 CD’s and a manual that if thrown could break walls. Now you are a Novell puppet and not living up to the standards of your peers. Goodbye my love, I am off to the Cape of Good Hope!</p> </article> <article> <h1>OpenSuSE 10.3 is great so far….</h1> <p>Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:58:10 +0000</p> <p>OpenSuSE 10.3 is great so far…had I not screwed up my Ubuntu install I might not be here but oh well</p> </article> <article> <h1>House Inspection Link</h1> <p>Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:47:40 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/houseinspect.pdf">Click Here Dad</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>i am typing this from BeOS+BON…</h1> <p>Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:34:46 +0000</p> <p>i am typing this from BeOS+BONE im_kit, gosh I love Be :(</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ericca and I are off to tucson…</h1> <p>Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:53:15 +0000</p> <p>Ericca and I are off to tucson!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Securing your iPhone</h1> <p>Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:54:31 +0000</p> <p>NICKS STIG:</p> <p><strong>Settings –> Wi-Fi Networks –> Ask to Join Networks</strong></p> <p>This must be enabled so your phone doesn’t simply join a strong signal network. This would leave you open to Man-in-the-Middle attacks.</p> <p><strong>Settings –> Wallpaper –> Image with Warning</strong></p> <p>Include a wallpaper that informs users of contact information and return information.</p> <p><strong>Settings –> General –> Date & Time –> Set Automatically</strong></p> <p>This is two-fold for security. Good date and time ensures proper and true logging time stamps in the event of your phone needing forensic information gathered. Also the phone will periodically check-in for time syncs giving a better chance for tracking the phone in the event of a loss.</p> </article> <article> <h1>3 OS on a 1996-era machine…</h1> <p>Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:02:37 +0000</p> <p>I always wanted an SGI machine after watching Jurassic Park as a kid.<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/quotes">Its a UNIX system. I know this!</a></p> <p><a href='http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/images.jpg' title='images.jpg' rel="lightbox[346]"></a></p> <p>Now that I am a UNIX Admin I have an SGI machine! An O2 to be exact. What surprises me about the little blue fridge is how cute it is and how powerful. By today’s standards it isn’t something you would want to use everyday, but I can’t help but be in awe of a machine that is 11 years old. This screenshot should show you what I am talking about. I have MacOS, Windows 95, Irix 6.5.22, and Firefox 2.0.6 running. At the same time…without the machine crashing. Amazing little box!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dorky Nerd God</h1> <p>Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:26:12 +0000</p> <p>NerdTests.com has confirmed what we all knew…I am a Dorky Nerd God…stop the presses!</p> <p><a href='http://i2.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/102d86fe7cbc8c36.png' title='Nerd Test' rel="lightbox[345]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>6.5.22 Overlays on SGI suck. I…</h1> <p>Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:51:33 +0000</p> <p>6.5.22 Overlays on SGI suck. I hate SGI but love my cute O2, so torn!</p> </article> <article> <h1>iPhone + Mini Cooper = Super Hotness</h1> <p>Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:39:30 +0000</p> <p>I am happy to report that usingthe ICE Link for my Mini works great with the mini. I now have a mini computer in my mini car. It even fades when calls come in. If I can get the iPhone to integrate into the bluetooth for the car I will soon be victory dancing!</p> </article> <article> <h1>I sure do wish some ppl would …</h1> <p>Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:54:33 +0000</p> <p>I sure do wish some ppl would buy 2 seats on a plane rather than shove me like a sardine to the window</p> </article> <article> <h1>I want a Mac SE/30 BAD, playin…</h1> <p>Sun, 26 Aug 2007 08:35:54 +0000</p> <p>I want a Mac SE/30 BAD, playing with 7.5.5 in vMac = hotness</p> </article> <article> <h1>I want a SE/30…80 bucks I wa…</h1> <p>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:51:28 +0000</p> <p>I want a SE/30…80 bucks I was outbid on ebay! WTC!</p> </article> <article> <h1>I really like Sauce. Good plac…</h1> <p>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:40:55 +0000</p> <p>I really like Sauce. Good place if you are ever in Tucson</p> </article> <article> <h1>Oh how the times have changed…</h1> <p>Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:19:37 +0000</p> <p>Thanks to Joy of Tech for a great comic!</p> <p><a href="http://i0.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/jitcrunchaspx.jpeg" title="Give me your lunch…" rel="lightbox[335]"></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>In spite of divisions among Ch…</h1> <p>Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:05:16 +0000</p> <p>In spite of divisions among Christians, all those justified by faith through baptism are incorporated into Christ, brothers and sisters in J</p> </article> <article> <h1>Pope Quote…</h1> <p>Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:59:55 +0000</p> <p><em>In spite of divisions among Christians, all those justified by faith through baptism are incorporated into Christ…brothers and sisters in the Lord – Pope John Paul II</em></p> <p>Always remember when we talk about Christians and faiths…</p> </article> <article> <h1>My First Embedded Google Map</h1> <p>Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:07:48 +0000</p> <p>How Nick gets to work!</p> <p><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Boeing+Blvd+SW,+Huntsville,+AL+35824&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=1272+Lowery+Rd+NE,+Arab,+AL+35016&f=d&hl=en&sll=34.627558,-86.775942&sspn=0.031782,0.087204&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=34.54008,-86.623445&spn=0.3909,0.30491&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>after a few day delay, I am of…</h1> <p>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:09:31 +0000</p> <p>after a few day delay, I am off on travel again</p> </article> <article> <h1>Military Men — WHOORAH!</h1> <p>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:05:31 +0000</p> <p><em>While there was much talk about the Army raising the maximum age for new recruits from 35 to 42, the lesser-known development is that the Pentagon managed not only to meet, but to exceed its 2006 reenlistment goals for every branch of the military. Most significantly, the Army met its retention goal of 64,200 in August, with two months to spare before the end of the fiscal year. Another surprising sign of the times: by mid-October, the Marine Corps had received 3,870 re-enlistment applications and thus was on its way to meeting 63% of its annual retention goal less than two weeks into the new fiscal year.</em></p> </article> <article> <h1>Nokia N800 Review</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:28:47 +0000</p> </article> <article> <h1>Netgear SPH200D Review</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:30:50 +0000</p> </article> <article> <h1>Sony TXN-17P Linux Review</h1> <p>Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:18:34 +0000</p> </article> <article> <h1>Wine in MacOSX</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:45:50 +0000</p> <p>Macports now has the latest wine. What this means is that X11+Wine = steam hotness! I will post more info as I figure stuff out.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Dang you Apple! Why must you p…</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:23:51 +0000</p> <p>Dang you Apple! Why must you put iPhone commercials on when I watch TV, I am doing my best to NOT get one…sheesh!</p> </article> <article> <h1>I love days when you can do no…</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:44:13 +0000</p> <p>I love days when you can do nothing</p> </article> <article> <h1>Why I am a geek</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:11:18 +0000</p> <p>I love nmap, one the greatest network security tools ever created. My favorite part of nmap is the hidden geek easter eggs. For example while I was compiling nmap on macosx (as all true men compile) I came across this as the make completed:</p> <p><a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/dragon-nmap.png" title="nmap compile dragon" rel="lightbox[302]">nmap compile dragon" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Home sweet home</h1> <p>Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:09:24 +0000</p> <p>Home sweet home</p> </article> <article> <h1>2 hour delay, sometimes I wond…</h1> <p>Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:00:35 +0000</p> <p>2 hour delay, sometimes I wonder if it is worth shooting for 5am flights</p> </article> <article> <h1>The glass is neither half-full…</h1> <p>Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:01:30 +0000</p> <p>The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it’s twice as big as it needs to be.</p> </article> <article> <h1>sheesh the storms in Tucson ar…</h1> <p>Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:08:42 +0000</p> <p>sheesh the storms in Tucson are amazing, everything with a bowl becomes a river</p> </article> <article> <h1>There is hope for us all…</h1> <p>Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:19:41 +0000</p> <p>Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, while in college. This is what he did on top of designing a great Operating System. There is hope for us all. I find it funny that if he had a myspace account back then it would have the standard drinking picture :)</p> <p align="center"> <a href="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/linus2.gif" title="Linus Torvalds" rel="lightbox[297]">Linus Torvalds" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Seedless Grapes</h1> <p>Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:14:46 +0000</p> <p>Todays reading is <a href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew13.htm#v18" target="_blank">Matthew 13:18</a>. I read something like that and think of being a seed…what a feeling?! Can you help but go through today’s gospel and figure out what seed you are? For myself I see portions of myself in each line of this parable. Jesus wasn’t wanting us to pin down what we were but rather where we wanted to be. I know I am not on rich soil right now, but I can strive to find the promised land to plant.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Misguided revolts</h1> <p>Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:30:51 +0000</p> <p>I can’t image what he would think if he saw this shirt for sale at the Gap. I think it is funny how misguided and idealistic my generation is. Embrace the game or get played!</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/revolutionareies.jpg" title="Revolution!" rel="lightbox[294]"></p></p> <p style="text-align: center"> Revolution!" data-recalc-dims="1" /> </p> <p> </a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>VMWare Server + Gutsy Gibbon = Houston its a-go</h1> <p>Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:57:44 +0000</p> <p>Just make sure to download the latest vmware-any-any patches to deal with the new 2.6.22 and all should be well:</p> <p><a href="http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/">http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/ </a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Another day, off to the DMV to…</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:13:40 +0000</p> <p>Another day, off to the DMV to try to register my car AGAIN in Alabama. Welcome to the country</p> </article> <article> <h1>Patchstick AppleTV Hack</h1> <p>Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:19:33 +0000</p> <p>I was really excited to have SSH on the AppleTV…why? No Clue. I am a geek. I use my Logitech remote for my roomba. This is simply something I do. Here is the steps to get the Patchstick working with 1.1 Firmware.</p> <ol> <li> <p>Find the patchstick torrent of the original version or create your own. I will not tell you where to find the torrent.</p> </li> <li> <p>Download the AppleTV 1.1 DMG: <a href="http://mesu.apple.com/data/OS/061-2988.20070620.bHy75/2Z694-5248-45.dmg">Click Here!</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Jr. High Review</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:11:12 +0000</p> <p>Some people call Jr. High yearbooks humiliating. I call them perspective makers. I look back at the pictures and remember all the concerns I had in life and how important everything seemed. I couldn’t help but look into the eyes of these kids and wonder where they are now. Having been a military brat, I am fortunate enough to still know a few of them. But for the most part I have lost touch. What I wanted to do was share with everyone what people said about Nick and share with you what I take from it now. I want everyone to keep in mind that this was years ago, close to a decade. I want to explore what would have happened had I listened to my peers. A little background information, I had been working for a computer company for 2 years at this point. I was the new kid from a year ago and just making some friends. I played basketball and baseball and would imagine I was cocky to say the least. Humility is something I wasn’t capable of at this point in life because of my fear of being so alone in this new country. Okay off we go!</p> </article> <article> <h1>My Parents are coming up this …</h1> <p>Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:29:05 +0000</p> <p>My Parents are coming up this way in a few hours. Be great to see them, hope Dad finds a job this way</p> </article> <article> <h1>GOING HOME!! Flight is 40 minu…</h1> <p>Mon, 16 Jul 2007 03:58:28 +0000</p> <p>GOING HOME!! Flight is 40 minutes delayed due to the killer storm last night in Tucson, I care not…just get me home</p> </article> <article> <h1>T-Minus One day till take-off …</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:16:48 +0000</p> <p>T-Minus One day till take-off back home to Arab! My Mom and Dad are visiting this Friday</p> </article> <article> <h1>Why are cats with subtitles so…</h1> <p>Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:22:00 +0000</p> <p>Why are cats with subtitles so funny?</p> </article> <article> <h1>sitting in a meeting…getting…</h1> <p>Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:35:49 +0000</p> <p>sitting in a meeting…getting paid…tired…such is life</p> </article> <article> <h1>I am loving verizon card</h1> <p>Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:24:41 +0000</p> <p>I am loving verizon card</p> </article> <article> <h1>40 hours of work in 2 days. Ye…</h1> <p>Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:08:23 +0000</p> <p>40 hours of work in 2 days. Yep, I slept 8 hours in two days. Gosh I love meetings and troubleshooting :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>The story of my life…</h1> <p>Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:52:53 +0000</p> <p>I do a lot of online shipping. I love UPS and FEDEX tracking via Google (Thanks for being able to just to type into Search Google Friends) and watching the box trek across America. My most recent tracking adventure was a Sony TXN17p from OfficeDepot.com. I sat and waited patiently, working from home to ensure my 2000 dollar laptop didn’t sit on the door of an apartment complex. It drove me crazy. This comic from xkcd.com sums it up.</p> </article> <article> <h1>I am close to be done with the…</h1> <p>Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:04:41 +0000</p> <p>I am close to be done with the house, it has taken a lot. Feels great to rock out to music @ 2200 knowing the nearest neighbor is 2 acres</p> </article> <article> <h1>filter = [ “a/sda[1-9]$/” “a/e…</h1> <p>Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:59:47 +0000</p> <p>filter = [ “a/sda[1-9]$/” “a/emcpower.*/” “r/.*/” ] This fixes problems with EMC PowerPath and LVM</p> </article> <article> <h1>Wow I am sitting at my desk in…</h1> <p>Mon, 18 Jun 2007 03:31:54 +0000</p> <p>Wow I am sitting at my desk in Huntsville! What a shock to be working @ the place I live. Had a long day of moving yesterday. Almost done!</p> </article> <article> <h1>I am typing this from the new …</h1> <p>Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:36:55 +0000</p> <p>I am typing this from the new house! Very exciting! Will post pictures soon</p> </article> <article> <h1>I think everyone forgets somet…</h1> <p>Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:19:20 +0000</p> <p>I think everyone forgets something when we talk WWDC…developers…developers not users. I think we all get really excited for nothing</p> </article> <article> <h1>Wow iPhone SDK, didn’t see tha…</h1> <p>Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:17:47 +0000</p> <p>Wow iPhone SDK, didn’t see that coming. Wonder what the community will do with it all</p> </article> <article> <h1>Please oh please let there be …</h1> <p>Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:14:48 +0000</p> <p>Please oh please let there be a ultraportable macbook pro. I miss my 12″ powerbook. If it doesn’t drop today I am off to pickup a sony tx</p> </article> <article> <h1>I love WWDC, it is an exciting…</h1> <p>Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:13:24 +0000</p> <p>I love WWDC, it is an exciting look at technology as a whole. Steve still has it! Safari on XP/VISTA is a huge move’</p> </article> <article> <h1>What is the most days someone …</h1> <p>Sun, 03 Jun 2007 07:56:39 +0000</p> <p>What is the most days someone can work straight without collapsing? Good thing Ericca came to visit me out here</p> </article> <article> <h1>Pictures to follow</h1> <p>Sun, 27 May 2007 12:06:20 +0000</p> <p>Pictures to follow</p> </article> <article> <h1>Having fun @ the Mona Boat Doc…</h1> <p>Sun, 27 May 2007 12:06:11 +0000</p> <p>Having fun @ the Mona Boat DockM</p> </article> <article> <h1>Still stuck in Houston…shees…</h1> <p>Sat, 19 May 2007 11:19:26 +0000</p> <p>Still stuck in Houston…sheesh I hate airlines</p> </article> <article> <h1>Airports and Standby</h1> <p>Sat, 19 May 2007 09:11:18 +0000</p> <p>Let me quickly speak of airports and booking flights. Why in the world would a company book a flight 10 people over. I know 10 doesn’t sound like a lot but on a trip to Huntsville it is a good portion. So now I am sitting here waiting for the flight to come (delayed also BTW) and have started looking around at people…</p> <p>Standby is a funny state to be in. You begin to scope out people looking for the target. The target as this person will now be called is your scoped target. You sit in the chair gazing around the concourse for who is going to be the one to take your seat…who is the one to be in your way…You take your wallet out and examine just how much you could barter with someone. Can you use your corporate card as lateral? I am not sure but rest assure I will be looking it up as we get closer to flight boarding. All in all the headache is enormous! I cannot fathom why my company would knowingly place me on a flight like this but know this, I don’t get out on this flight I will be taking the first class option into Atlanta :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Last day in the desert, day 39…</h1> <p>Fri, 18 May 2007 10:03:01 +0000</p> <p>Last day in the desert, day 39 I guess you can call it</p> </article> <article> <h1>Testing Google Picasa Slideshow</h1> <p>Thu, 17 May 2007 16:04:46 +0000</p> <p>Just wanted to see how it works:</p> <p align="center"> <p> <center> <br /> <pre><code> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="288" height="192" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Foneguynick%2Falbumid%2F5026402268681293169%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed> <br /> </center> </code></pre> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Etsy.com is a great site! I lo…</h1> <p>Tue, 15 May 2007 18:54:00 +0000</p> <p>Etsy.com is a great site! I love what people do with their imagination</p> </article> <article> <h1>Cold in the desert today</h1> <p>Tue, 15 May 2007 06:57:27 +0000</p> <p>Cold in the desert today</p> </article> <article> <h1>i really hate Tucson, i cannot…</h1> <p>Sun, 13 May 2007 20:05:18 +0000</p> <p>i really hate Tucson, i cannot wait to get home to my beautiful girlfriend and dog</p> </article> <article> <h1>The desert is really hot. Go f…</h1> <p>Fri, 11 May 2007 20:43:15 +0000</p> <p>The desert is really hot. Go figure, new pictures uploaded soon</p> </article> <article> <h1>Heading out to Tucson, early f…</h1> <p>Thu, 10 May 2007 02:39:36 +0000</p> <p>Heading out to Tucson, early flight this morning. Road tested the mini to get here :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Verizon evdo card + linux = ss…</h1> <p>Wed, 09 May 2007 07:22:11 +0000</p> <p>Verizon evdo card + linux = ssh hotness</p> </article> <article> <h1>The stars in Arab are amazing!…</h1> <p>Wed, 09 May 2007 01:46:03 +0000</p> <p>The stars in Arab are amazing! Love not seeing city lights</p> </article> <article> <h1>Jabber Mix Client 1.3 Beta</h1> <p>Mon, 07 May 2007 05:11:00 +0000</p> <p>I am wanting to OTA because BlackBerry refuses to open up to Linux Machines. If you need to install JMC 1.3 to your blackberry/nokia OTA then use the links below:</p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/jmc/JabberMixClient.jad">Jad File</a></p> <p><a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/jmc/JabberMixClient.jar">Jar File</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Thanks Continental! My red eye…</h1> <p>Wed, 02 May 2007 02:27:29 +0000</p> <p>Thanks Continental! My red eye flight is delayed an hour but failed to update tracking times…they knew since last night</p> </article> <article> <h1>I visited Sassabe today, one o…</h1> <p>Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:38:22 +0000</p> <p>I visited Sassabe today, one old lady owns the whole town, not that it says much</p> </article> <article> <h1>My drivers license came in fin…</h1> <p>Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:54:20 +0000</p> <p>My drivers license came in finally! Now I can be legal again</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tucson is windy and stinky</h1> <p>Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:34:38 +0000</p> <p>Tucson is windy and stinky</p> </article> <article> <h1>Travel again! I will be in Tuc…</h1> <p>Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:33:45 +0000</p> <p>Travel again! I will be in Tucson again this week, sure will miss Ericca and Oscar</p> </article> <article> <h1>Woohoo I just landed in Huntsv…</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:22:55 +0000</p> <p>Woohoo I just landed in Huntsville. Feels great to see the Boeing Jetplex and to know Ericca is a skip away</p> </article> <article> <h1>Finally on the plane and ready…</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:24:44 +0000</p> <p>Finally on the plane and ready to go…5 more hours till I see my beautiful g/f and tough dog</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tucson airport is SO SLOW to g…</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:57:01 +0000</p> <p>Tucson airport is SO SLOW to get things moving, waiting to checkin now for 20 minutes</p> </article> <article> <h1>16 hour day of work yesterday….</h1> <p>Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:04:01 +0000</p> <p>16 hour day of work yesterday…hopefully 8 today</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Indian Reservation @ A’yo …</h1> <p>Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:41:48 +0000</p> <p>The Indian Reservation @ A’yo in AZ is an interesting place, a write-up will be on my site</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tucson Graveyard</h1> <p>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:50:21 +0000</p> <p>While on business travel in Tucson I came across the Air Forces’ graveyard for old airplanes. A very fascinating place! I will upload the pictures en masse later on after I get home, but for now here is the beautiful 707 Test plane and a DC-7. The 707 is a rare test edition…</p> <p>Nick</p> <p align="center"> <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/00016-copy.jpg" title="00016-copy.jpg" rel="lightbox[240]"></p> <p style="text-align: center"> 00016-copy.jpg" data-recalc-dims="1" /> </p> <p> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/00023-copy.jpg" title="00023-copy.jpg" rel="lightbox[240]"></p> <pre><code><p style="text-align: center"> <img src="http://i1.wp.com/geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/00023-copy.jpg?resize=358%2C272" alt="00023-copy.jpg" data-recalc-dims="1" /> </p> <p> </a> </p> </code></pre> </article> <article> <h1>I am in a Mexican market in Tu…</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:28:02 +0000</p> <p>I am in a Mexican market in Tucson, the place stood still when I (aka El Gringo) walked in…</p> </article> <article> <h1>Working on Sunday…fun fun in…</h1> <p>Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:08:09 +0000</p> <p>Working on Sunday…fun fun in the sun</p> </article> <article> <h1>Tucson is amazing @ 70 degrees…</h1> <p>Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:22:45 +0000</p> <p>Tucson is amazing @ 70 degrees. To bad it will be a 100 in a week</p> </article> <article> <h1>AppleTV and Extreme</h1> <p>Mon, 09 Apr 2007 07:47:05 +0000</p> <p>I geeked up this weekend and purchased an AppleTV and matching router. Stay tuned for review!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Posted from my n800</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:16:33 +0000</p> <p>A program came out called Maemo Blog…and I am using it. Hooked up to my bluetooth keyboard I am able to type a post that would have taken ages with the other input methods. To top it off I type this very quickly due to the touch typing feel of this keyboard. What the n800 has become for me is a mini laptop. I use it in airports while I travel and in hotel rooms when I need a quick email. The n800 is far from perfect though, with its lack of software (compared to the n770) and I am still waiting on my Skype client. But such is life of the Linux bleeding edge guy. My blood is your gain :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>New motorcycle – Honda RC51</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:39:35 +0000</p> <p>I debated and thought about it a lot before deciding on this bike. The money it cost to buy a used bike was enough to purchase a run-of-the-mill 600/1000cc I4. What flipped me to this bike was the VFR800 I ride now. I am in love with V2 motors. Just the feel of the torque ripping me out of a corner or the sensation of the front well jumping from the ground, I am sold. The RC51 is by far the most capable corning bike I have ever ridden. Here are some pictures. Stay tuned for information:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ian Murdock leaves Debian</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:35:11 +0000</p> <p>The Sun folks are sounding the alarm that this is the end of Linux! I think what they fail to reailize is the state of Debian and his original project leads. I see his move as signal of Sun’s new commitment to the GPL3 than to him closing his ideals off from the Linux community. If you read his early papers and reasons for starting Debian you will quickly realize he has almost Richard Stallman views on free software. If you want to see the Sun Blog I commented on:</p> </article> <article> <h1>I dislike Delta Airlines</h1> <p>Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:05:16 +0000</p> <p>Yep it is true. The story goes like this:</p> <p>I schedule my flight on Saturday from Huntsville to Fort Walton Beach for a business trip. I am unable to leave on Sunday due to no flights so they stick me on a Saturday flight. No worries. I wake from my nap @ 1400 in order to prepare. I check the flight status only to find the flight has been delayed by 2 hours. That would put me into Atlanta @ 2114 and my next flight takes off @ 2133. RIGHT! Anyone been to Atlanta. So I quickly start making calls only to run into 2 people who don’t speak English. I mean at all. These people could only do hooked-on-phonics from the screen. I recieved the same information over and over again. I hang up and try for time 3 and reach Oneil who puts me in touch with rescheduling. They say it is going to cost me 50 dollars to reschedule. I ask why as it isn’t my fault. The time now is 1540 and she finally gets me off hold to tell me there is a 1545 I could catch from Huntsville. Well I could have, if she and the others spoke English. So now I fly out hoping that I can make it through the gates @ Atlanta in time for my next flight. Wish me well. I hate flying</p> </article> <article> <h1>I am the computer man!</h1> <p>Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:23:12 +0000</p> <p>I sent this out to prove that I wasn’t as geeky as everyone made me out to be. Proof that I maybe a geek…but I will never be the <strong>“THE COMPUTER MAN!”</strong></p> <center> <br /> Link to download:<br /> <a href="http://geekyschmidt.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/computer_man.mov" title="Computer Man Video">Computer Man Video</a><br /> <br /> <flv width="320" height="240" autostart="true"></flv><br /> </center> </article> <article> <h1>Crazy Mac Mini People</h1> <p>Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:33:37 +0000</p> <p>For some reason in the twilight zone a G4 Mac Mini is still worth near it’s asking price. Why? I cannot for the life of me understand who is paying these prices for machines that are EOL. Esh! 300 is about the max I will pay for a 1.25 ORIGINAL MAC MINI. 2004 People. It has called to let you know the price was a steal then, but now is robbery.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Testing out Journler</h1> <p>Sun, 07 Jan 2007 22:28:26 +0000</p> <p>Test, beats the crap out of me if this is working :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Bluetooth GPS GPT-801 / Quick Review</h1> <p>Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:14:41 +0000</p> <p>I purchased the generic GPT-801 bluetooth GPS after being put-off by the high price of others. Basically the device works. It does everything a bluetooth GPS should do. The GPS charges via mini USB and uses standard Nokia cell phone batteries. Battery life is good at about 6 hours. This is a moot point because the device came with a car charger. So lets compare – 50 bucks got me the car charger, wall charger, pc charger, nokia battery, and the GPS. The other companies…up the creek!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Evolution tip</h1> <p>Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:12:39 +0000</p> <p>~/.evolution/mail/exchange/$mailbox/favorites</p> <p>Remove this folder if evolution only shows the Favorites exchange folders rather than your personal folders.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Linux Map</h1> <p>Tue, 07 Nov 2006 02:19:36 +0000</p> <p>One poster and one page to explain Linux. You decide :)</p> <p><a href="oreilly_linux_poster.pdf" title="oreilly_linux_poster.pdf">O’reilly Linux Poster</a>{#p235}</p> </article> <article> <h1>ARRR!! I am a software pirate</h1> <p>Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:32:50 +0000</p> <p>And it is easier…I do my best to use opensource software at all times but there are times when I need, specifically, Windows XP. I just purchased a 24″ iMac and have had no problems with any software <em>prohibiting</em> me from actually using the computer. I figured that most of the people I know would be purchasing macs to also run Windows with bootcamp so I better learn it. No problem I thought, I have a pro purchased copy sitting in the closet collecting dust. I need SP2 to do an install so I download all the necessary updates and copy the cd to the drive. Let me actually list the steps for full effect:</p> </article> <article> <h1>I am getting an iMac…</h1> <p>Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:46:12 +0000</p> <p>Just which one?! I mean really all that seperates them is the following things:</p> <ul> <li>1700 ATI on the 17″/20″ vs 7600GT on the 24″ <ul> <li>24″ <em>may</em> have the option of upgrading due to the MXM port <ul> <li>Firewire 800 on 24″ <ul> <li> <p>The screen size obviously I was having a really hard time with the final decision. Is the extra 4″ screen worth 500 dollars?!?!?! Am I just that geeky? Well I found some pictures of a 17,20,24 side-by-side. For the Win…24″ :) LOOK HOW FRICKEN GREAT IT IS! I could surf the internet all the while debugging code on the SAME screen. Even better I could run the 24″ screen with my 35″ LCD Flat Panel TV. I am not sure even if I have that much desk space.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Nokia E61 – Initial Thoughts</h1> <p>Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:06:10 +0000</p> <p>Having now spent the better part of a day with the device I wanted to post a few thoughts:</p> <ul> <li>The device is very solid. My past smart phones I babied because I knew one drop meant destruction. This is very much a Nokia phone, able to take some beatings. I really like the metal they used to line the case with. I do worry about the build of the joystick as it seems to be the weakest link. I thought the same thing with my Nokia 3250 and to this day it still works so I will hold strong.</li> <li>Symbian Series 60 v3 is a beautiful OS. I always wanted a Psion when I was growing up because everyone told me Epoch was a great environment to work in. Having been through the revisions of Series 40/60/80 phones I agree. The load (and reload) times I became so accustom to are gone. When I click on email, the email comes up. When I click on Web, Opera comes up. I have yet to lock up the system and have to do the hard reset. Coming from a Treo it is so refreshing to get rid of the “Remove battery, insert stylus, replace battery cover, turn phone on, wash, rinse, repeat.”</li> <li>I always wondered what the point of Wifi in a phone was. The few times I have played with these devices (here is looking at you Cingular 8125) the processor was so limiting that it made no difference in speed. With the E61 this has all changed. The best function of this Wifi feature is the SIP VOIP Client. I punched in my Sipphone (more to come on this) settings and was able to make calls using the wifi. Can’t wait to live in a city blanketed with Wifi to kick the Cingular bill all together.</li> <li>Browser on this device…<strong>AMAZING</strong>…The browser is mean and lean with all the features I have come to expect in desktop browsers. Heck up until yesterday even Internet Explorer couldn’t touch these functions such as integrated RSS Reader, Popup Blocker, Expose-ish Tab Things, Flash and Java integrated. I have become so used to on Treos and WM5 machines using the wap version of pages that I accepted that mobile internet sucked. No more! I just visit the full HTML version of sites and all is well. Nokia made a smart move by <a href="http://press.nokia.com/PR/200511/1019239_5.html">teaming up</a> with the <a href="http://khtml.info/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page">OSS KHTML</a> crowd as <a href="http://webkit.org/">Apple</a> did. The browser is unlike any other to grace a handheld device. Awesome job Nokia and the KHTML developers.</li> <li>Voice and Signal quality as with all Nokia devices – Top Notch</li> <li>The next pro will be something only a Catholic Theologian type could appreciate. With the inclusion of Realplayer and an OS that can actually run it full screen, I am now able to watch <a href="http://ewtn.com">EWTN</a> streaming live on my phone. I am sure it would stream other live feeds but this is the one I watch. Nokia also ships this device with Real bookmarks for most of the BBC streams and Reuters. I can see myself stuck in an airport using this a lot.</li> <li>Battery life?! What is this!? I haven’t had to charge it after heavy bluetooth and wifi use. My past smart phones needed to travel with their chargers. Not the E61.</li> </ul> <p>With all devices there are some bads:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Bye Bye Treo…</h1> <p>Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:10:05 +0000</p> <p>The Treo 650 is a great phone. I purchased it after a horrible experince with Windows Mobile and decided to go the Palm route for the excellent Linux support. Excellent was an over statement. The experince is only <em>excellent</em> if your palm is older than 3 years. USB and new Device IDs seem to be the bane of syncing. The final straw was my new work location doesn’t allow phones with cameras in the building. My Dad is more than welcome to carry such things so to him went the treo. I have battled with the next smart phone with a 3 way tie between the Nokia E61 (not E62), Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard), and the Blackberry 8700C. What finally pushed me over was the fond memories of my Nokia 3250 and the power of Symbian OS. With the Nokia E61 coming in with Wifi and a SIP VOIP Client that sealed the deal. I will be able to walk around my house in dual-mode making free calls when I am in range of the wifi. Keep checking back for tips-n-tricks with this great little device.</p> </article> <article> <h1>One command to rule them all!</h1> <p>Tue, 03 Oct 2006 06:43:56 +0000</p> <p>sudo apt-get install nmap tcpdump ngrep etherape ethereal ettercap kismet aircrack john airsnort dsniff hping3 fragroute arpwatch nessus nessusd openssh-server netcat whois perl python ruby airsnort ntop iptraf nbtscan tor privoxy nikto cheops-ng stunnel fping tcptraceroute firestarter socat vncviewer wordlist anon-proxy network-manager network-manager-gnome</p> <p>After that you should have a workstation capable of being used for <em>GOOD</em> in the hands of a security admin.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ich speak Deutsch und English</h1> <p>Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:23:04 +0000</p> <p>I was watching a documentary on the Vatican tonight and they were interviewing the Swiss Guars, who obviously, speak mostly German. Maybe because I have been using more German lately I didn’t catch it right away but in my head these guys were speaking English until I saw the subtitles roll past. It is really weird how the human mind fills in the various gaps and knowledge with things it knows.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Binary for Dad</h1> <p>Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:28:02 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://thatoneguynick.is-a-geek.org/binary.mp3">The Binary Song – Popple</a></p> <p>LOVE THIS SONG! Great for all nerds….be sure to visit Popple’s <a href="http://www.popple.us">website</a> and buy their awesome CD’s and Tshirts.</p> </article> <article> <h1>My UNIX Adventure Timeline</h1> <p>Thu, 21 Sep 2006 11:15:53 +0000</p> <p><strong>1984</strong> I was born grunting binary, ugh and ahh. Parents knew no better.</p> <p><strong>1989</strong> Parents finally realize it was binary and buy me a C64 to conquer Frogger. Fall in love with CLI</p> <center> <a class="imagelink" href="http://i2.wp.com/thatoneguynick.is-a-geek.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/c64.gif" title="C64" rel="lightbox[195]"></a> </center> <p><strong>1994</strong> Dad brings home a AST Advantage! Plus 486 DX/33. I fall in love with Prodigy and the internet becomes my playground.</p> <p><strong>1995</strong> Dad buys Windows 95 upgrade and installs on the beloved AST. I throw up in my mouth.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Rocks Cluster</h1> <p>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:52:35 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://rockscluster.org">Rocks Cluster</a> rocks my socks. After battling with their FTP to grab the latest ISO, I was finally able to do a VMWare Install of version 4.2. The key for doing a VMWare install in workstation 5.5 was the following points:</p> <ul> <li>Create a VMWare Team <ul> <li>Hard Drive sizes must be larger than 20 GiB <ul> <li>Memory must be more than 640 MiB <ul> <li>Remove the sound card and floppy <ul> <li>In the vmware team assign all the machines to VLAN1 <ul> <li>The Frontend must have 2 NIC, assign them both to VLAN1 till the install is done at which point you can then bridge the public interface or host-only <ul> <li>Boot PXE when the frontend is up for the clients and all will install </ul> Let me state, Rocks is simply the best cluster software I have had the pleasure of using. Super High Five to the developers!</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Electricity makes me giggle</h1> <p>Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:59:04 +0000</p> <p>And tingly for that matter. I was on the phone last night with Kade when I began to troubleshoot the broken TV. Let me walk you through this slowly so you can view the problems:</p> <p>1.) Had just finished drinking my water – Hands moist</p> <p>2.) TV has problems from electrical problems. The tube wasn’t initializing well. – Something isn’t passing power</p> <p>3.) I touched the plug – Now the power is passing</p> </article> <article> <h1>DoD Security? Is that like pretty ugly?</h1> <p>Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:11:10 +0000</p> <p><em>I can’t take you seriously…</em></p> <p>I have to say it because it bugs the crap out of me! How can I take the DoD seriously for security matters when I type this into Netscape 7.02? My other option of course was IE 6.0sp1. If I wanted to use a modern, standards based, and secure browser I would need to go home. Let me list below the number of vulnerabilities my approved browser has:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Bought a Mini Cooper</h1> <p>Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:13:50 +0000</p> <p>I will post some pictures soon promise!!</p> <p>So far I love the car…love is a strong word…and that would be the one to fit. Everywhere I go with it people stop and talk to me. Not that I am shooting for a popularity contest but rather I enjoy being able to talk to people. What I have noticed is that when I let the Holy Spirit inside listen instead of me, people feel the desire to talk. For that is very nifty to see smiles and waves. The bad is that there are a few little cosmetic things to fix, nothing big, and the steering column clicks at low speeds in parking lots. Purely cosmetic crap. but still…</p> </article> <article> <h1>DS Lite Loving</h1> <p>Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:56:06 +0000</p> <p>I broke down ladies and gentlemen. For months I have been working hard now on my GP2x from Korea. While the device runs linux and many emulators well it lacked the personality and playability as a DS. Yet I held of for 2 very key moments in the DS lifespan:</p> <ul> <li>DS Lite</li> <li>Mario</li> </ul> <p>Having now played both and compared them to the GP2x I have the following things to say!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Chuck Norris Facts – My Favorites</h1> <p>Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:51:12 +0000</p> <p>I am sure you have seen them all. Kris and I laugh at these all the time. Here is my top list:</p> <ul> <li>Guns don’t kill people. Chuck Norris kills People.</li> <li>There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.</li> <li>Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.</li> <li>When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.</li> <li>Bigfoot takes pictures of Chuck Norris.</li> <li>Chuck Norris’ smile once brought a puppy back to life.</li> <li>When Chuck Norris crosses the street, the cars have to look both ways.</li> <li>When Chuck Norris was born, the only person who cried was the doctor. Never slap Chuck Norris.</li> <li>There is no Control button on Chuck Norris’ computer. Chuck Norris is always in control.</li> <li>Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris</li> <li>When Chuck Norris sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Chuck Norris has not had to pay taxes ever.</li> <li>Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.</li> <li>If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.</li> <li>Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Cheap Geek</h1> <p>Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:32:00 +0000</p> <p>I woke up this morning when <a href="http://calendar.google.com">Google Calendar</a> sent a txt to my phone informing me that I had been paid today! <em>“What?! I just got paid 2 weeks ago!”</em> I looked into it and yes I was paid. What I realized this morning was I had spent hardly nothing. As any true geek does, I punched numbers!</p> <p>Total Cost to live = <strong>20,459</strong></p> <p>So then that got me thinking, what is the lowest wage I could work for hourly as a backup plan? Just in case this whole Computer-guy thingie doesn’t work out :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>Ruby vs Python</h1> <p>Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:45:53 +0000</p> <p>I am going to attempt once again to learn a programming language. I wanted to look at the pro’s and con’s of each language in my work enviroment, military/DOD usage:</p> <p>Python:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Currently used in the Sidewinder Firewalls throughout the commands</p> </li> <li> <p>CITS uses the language extensively in the newer software deployments</p> </li> <li> <p>Actually a default install on many CITS Network Servers Ruby:</p> </li> <li> <p>Lots of support for web applications; where the military is going</p> </article> <article> <h1>Futurama Renewed for 13 New Episodes</h1> <p>Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:29:59 +0000</p> <p>This may possibly be the happiest thing to happen to me all day, and I won the lottery. So yeah…love this show!</p> <p>“Comedy Central has ordered 13 new episodes of the animated series that Fox canceled two years ago. Billy West, Katey Segal and other stars signed deals this week to return the show to TV. In getting a second life, “Futurama” is following the path taken by “Family Guy,” which also found post-cancellation success on DVD and cable reruns.”</p> </article> <article> <h1>GUI Babies</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Jun 2006 10:19:57 +0000</p> <p>While discussing security and such with the awesome TSgt. Harkleroad, he used my now favorite phrase: GUI Babies. This made me giggle. The problem with technicians today is that the GUI has become the only way to operate a computer. The thought of bringing up a terminal and getting into the code that runs everything is scary. Here is a picture from his last class learning howto hack with windows:</p> </article> <article> <h1>Geek Code</h1> <p>Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:51:52 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html">Geek Code</a> is almost a necessary addition to any website dealing with techie crap. After many years of <strong>NOT</strong> putting one on I decided to cave in. I now will be indexed and spidered by Google and forever my name will be associated with this block. The power of google cache :)</p> <p>—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—–</p> <p>Version: 3.12</p> <p>GIT d– s+:- a– C++++ UL++++ P+ L++++ E— W+++ N+++ o++ K– w++++</p> </article> <article> <h1>Asus M5n ACPI Fan</h1> <p>Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:30:26 +0000</p> <p>I am posting this so I can later go search and find it. Stupid fan was driving me nuts!</p> <center> <a class="imagelink" title="Assorted Nuts" href="http://i0.wp.com/thatoneguynick.is-a-geek.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/mixednut.jpg" rel="lightbox[72]"></a> </center> <p>Thing came on at 40 degree celcius. This meant that it ran ALL THE TIME. I could have the darn thing closed and it doing nothing…fan is on…grrr…anyways here is the fix action:</p> <p>`<br /> sudo vi /etc/modules<br /> add in i2c-i810 and lm85</p></p> <p>sudo vi /etc/rc.local<br /> echo 50000 > /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/i2c-0/0-002e/temp1_auto_temp_off</p> </article> <article> <h1>Sansa e260 and Linux</h1> <p>Fri, 09 Jun 2006 11:14:36 +0000</p> <p>I broke down and purchased a new MP3 player after the trusty iPod Mini bit the dust. Thank you Apple for including a wonderful 6GiB CF Drive though :) Moving right along I wanted to share my thoughts from a Linux users perspective on the <a href="http://sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1166)-SanDisk_Sansa_e200_Series_MP3_Players.aspx">Sansa e240, e260, or e270</a>. Same hardware just more storage.</p> <p>Pros:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Once the device has been set to UMS mode you can drag and drop files onto the device</p> </article> <article> <h1>Check out HOWTO’s</h1> <p>Wed, 24 May 2006 06:29:03 +0000</p> <p>I have started to centralize all my tutorials and howto’s I have written over the years. Take a look and let me know what you think!</p> <p><a href="http://thatoneguynick.is-a-geek.org/?page_id=51">HOWTO’s!!!!!!</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Using Gmail as GNOME’s default mailer</h1> <p>Wed, 17 May 2006 18:38:40 +0000</p> <p>As a security expert I have to say that this is total hogwash with all the uproar over his script. I sure hope these same people practice AWESOME security everywhere else. And the world wonders why security professionals are referred to as “chicken littles”</p> <p>I started using Gmail as my primary mail application a little over a year ago. For the most part, it has been a pleasurable experience. However, to my knowledge thereis no simple way to make Gmail the default mailer in GNOME. Until now!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Super Mario Galaxy (HUGE) Boss Battle Video</h1> <p>Fri, 12 May 2006 14:06:28 +0000</p> <p>Video from the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii featuring a boss battle on the scale of Shadow of the Colossus boss battles.</p> <p>** Thoughts **</p> <p>People always laughed at me because I kept my Dreamcast around to play old Nintendo games from the classic systems. My airman buddies in the military laughed when I bought a gamecube and gameboy. No one ever really got it. Games…thats what I care about…graphics and all are nice but I like those simple easy games that make time go by. I hate sitting down to load times and gore. Thank you Nintendo! I am cheap, but I might splurge on the Wii!</p> </article> <article> <h1>Motorcycles</h1> <p>Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:59:01 +0000</p> <p>I hate motorcycles. I do. I can’t stand the fact that I am chronically cheap to the point that I won’t consider a new one. I told Kade about the Ducati I saw. I knew if I sat on it I would buy it. What did I do? RAN AWAY! I am so cheap it isn’t funny. Kade don’t start with me about frugal. I am cheap.</p> <p><strong>If Nick had all the money in the world…this would still be too much :)</strong></p> </article> <article> <h1>Live from my phone!</h1> <p>Thu, 16 Feb 2006 08:04:16 +0000</p> <p>Yep I am now able to post from my phone. officially a dork now :)</p> </article> <article> <h1>About</h1> <p>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h1 id="personal">Personal</h1> <p>I have been incredibly fortunate throughout my life to have explored the world, met fascinating people and had the pleasure of seeing things my eyes will never be able to translate into words. Through it all, I have always kept a sense of curiosity.</p> <p>A curious geek. Through and through.</p> <h1 id="work">Work</h1> <p>A proven entrepreneurial executive, with extensive expertise in leading lean, agile, high-performing teams that design, engineer, and deliver multi-faceted solutions. His knowledge includes managing complex integration projects, performing unique R&D projects, as well as creating quick reaction capabilities for clients.</p> </article> </main></body></html>