Brand New – Seventy Times 7

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I recently bought a bunch of Brand New records. This stuff is all sorts of old, but I love it anyway. They’re pretty angry most of the time. I was listening along and liked this line so much I had to post it.

So is that what you call a getaway?
Well tell me what you got away with
Cause I’ve seen more spine on jellyfish
I’ve seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids
Have another drink and drive yourself home
I hope there’s ice on all the roads
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
then again when your head goes through the windshield

Brand New – Seventy Times 7

Of course I’m not that angry anymore, but I still love the line.

Amazon AWS – LARGE Instance

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I recently got it into my head to migrate to AWS and Gallery3. As part of the migration to Gallery3 I stupidly converted all of my image resize versions to 640×480. This is pathetically small but only took overnight on the web server under my desk.

With everything now on the AWS server I thought it would just be a snap to crank them all back to the 800×800 resize versions. Boy was I wrong! Using a T1 Micro image gave me GREAT performance for the first 10 seconds, then I was throttled back on performance so that it would take DAYS to convert these 8000 image resize versions.

My top output showed 98%st, or 98% hypervisor stolen time from my virtual machine. No CPU for you!

Here’s a pretty good blog that describes how AWS Micro instances allow you to burst up to 2 processors for a short time.

I watched my steal time go through the roof after just a few images were processed!

Never fear though – this is a problem that can be solved with MONEY and time. I had a bit of both this Saturday morning (and some coffee!).

I took an AMI snapshot of my web server, created a new instance based on the LARGE template (7.5GB of RAM and 4CPUs!!!!) and said.. “Hey run my disk image on this large platform”. Now I can convert images to my heart’s content. However, this costs me about 34 cents an hour.. so once I’m done I’ll take another snapshot and say “OK, run these disks on the micro instance again. I’m done with all that extra horsepower.”

4 cores is WAY more CPU than I need… but I only get charged while I’m using it, and maybe it will speed things up. It’s easy to switch back and forth too!

With Elastic IPs I don’t even have to muck with DNS.

I just say “Hey Amazon, make my public IP point to the large instance, or small instance.” Then it’s updated on the fly. Very cool stuff!

New Years Snowboarding in Vail, CO

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I spent my Mandatory PTO / New Years in Vail, Colorado. I really wish the snow could have been better – but the front side of the mountain was open and it was an awesome time! The place is huge.

I went with Pete, Kenneth, Paul Harvin, Pete’s friend Brandon, and Kenneth’s brother Jeff and Jeff’s wife Mariana. It was crowded but fun. We apparently all like to drink because I had to recycle two giant trash bags of empty beer bottles!

Check out some pictures of the trip here:

Moved to Amazon AWS and Gallery3

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If the site appears to load a little faster and pictures download a bit snappier that’s because I recently migrated from the web server under my desk to an Amazon AWS Micro Instance.

I’m still running Ubuntu, but it’s in “The Cloud”. It’s really awesome to have the loud webserver under my desk shut off. What’s even better is the static IP I’m getting for free.

The transition to AWS was mostly painless. I just had to remember all of my Apache Virtual Host config that I haven’t looked at in a few years, upload a bunch of data onto the new server into an EBS drive for my data partition, then update some entries in DNS.

Overall I’m happy with the AWS performance and so far it’s been free. Based on my calculations it’ll be a really low monthly fee for the amount of drive space I’m taking up with my pictures.

(EDIT: When I resize images I really notice the limited processor and RAM of the micro instance. Seems like my physical server (despite being 10 years old) resized images faster.)

I’m less happy with Gallery3. I converted from Gallery2 to Gallery3 and overall it shows some promise, but I’m just not impressed. Shockwave plugin freaks out when I try to upload through the web interface.

(EDIT: After switching to a wider and darker theme I’m feeling a bit better about Gallery3)

Maybe hosting your own images is anachronistic. I just haven’t found another way to do it that’s been immediately appealing. Anyone have thoughts on hosting images? (Don’t say Facebook).

New Job and Thanksgiving

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Things have been busy with work.

I spent some time in Atlanta and some time in Maryland. After that I’ve just been reviewing documents, making recommendations, and being involved in conference calls. Soon this will translate into actual software configuration and upgrade work after the conference calls are over.

I took a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. I don’t mind an 8.5 hour drive (because apparently there is something wrong with me.. and I love pie). Here are some pics:

It’s always great to hang out with family. I went bowling with my Mom, Sister (and her BF), Brother (and his GF) and it was a bunch of fun.

The highlight of the past few months has been that I’ve seen Kevin Devine, Manchester Orchestra, Bayside, I Am The Avalanche, and Max Bemis of Say Anything. All of these were just amazing shows!

Sadly I’ve been going to these by myself, but I guess that’s really more my friends’ loss than anything else. They don’t know whats up.

Life is always full of new and interesting lessons that teach me more about myself. Mostly that I’m my own favorite company, and that if I’m going to hang out with more than 3 people at a time they need to be chosen carefully. I guess I can only handle so much “people time” all at once before I start to bug out.

Coffee and blog posts

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I’ve taken to making myself breakfast and coffee on the weekends. Turning into an adult is actually pretty awesome (even if it took me a LONG time to start the process).

When I was a kid everyone was like “you’ll have to work so much” and “you’ll have bills to pay!”

Now that I’m actually grown up, it’s just as awesome as I thought it would be. All those naysayers of my youth must have been getting it wrong. I get to do what I want mostly whenever I want. Sure I go to work 5 days a week, and yes I have plenty of bills to pay. The upside of all that work on top of being unmarried with no kids is almost unlimited travel and hobby time.

That’s really the primary focus of this blog. I only post when I buy a new toy, or go a new place with that toy, or have awesome visits with friends.

Now that we’ve got the random thoughts preface portion out of the way, let’s continue on with updates.

  1. May and June were a blur of concerts and hang outs. I went to see random bands play in random places in downtown Raleigh.
  2. July was up in the air. Literally – I flew a plane with friends one weekend, then jumped out of a plane the next. I stole Pete’s GF Beth for a day and her friend took us up for some air time. It was a very fun time! I miss flying.

    Jumping out of a plane was a pretty awesome feeling too, but honestly my favorite part of skydiving is piloting the chute down after the jump. I just like to steer things. I did a tandem jump so I didn’t get much free fall flight control – maybe if I jumped solo I’d be more into the free fall portion of it. In tandem it just feels like wind going by fast – like on a motorcycle, but way more expensive per trip.

  3. July also saw me hanging out with this wicked cool girl Lisa who I’ve blogged about before tangentially(Last August See 3rd of July section). My regular followers will be impressed that I started hanging out with and then dating Lisa when she was actually single. Personal moral progress on my mission to not be such a terrible wreck of a person.She mentioned that she didn’t like me at first (Re: I’m a terrible person), but that she’s glad she found out there was a better person under the Quagmire-esque veneer.I’m not sure how I’ve managed to fool her for so long, but it’s going well ;)
  4. At the end of July my Step Sister Amanda decided she would fly down to Raleigh to visit. This was incredible as I hadn’t really seen the girl much since her high school graduation. When I met her she was in diapers. Now she’s 21. It’s fun to show a little sister around.We spent a night in Raleigh, then drove down to Florida to visit my other Sister Jen, my Brother Cody, and Mom and Cal (Step-Dad).Amanda had never been to the beach, so we sorted that out. We also went to the springs. Check out the cool pictures:
  5. At the end of August I spent a weekend with my motorcycle buddies and we rode from North Carolina to Indianapolis, IN to check out the MotoGP race.Check out these great pictures of girls, motorcycles, and racing:

    As part of this trip I added three new states to the map of states my motorcycle wheels have touched:

    I also learned that a 700 lb Kawasaki Concours with 180lb rider can easily drive up onto a curb if that’s where the hotel valet wants you to park. Who knew it would be so simple? After much trepidation I just drove up on that damn curb, no hassle.

  6. After getting back from MotoGP in Indianapolis I took another long weekend for a camping and Jeeping trip up at Rausch Creek in PA. This place was gigantic, exciting, and had gorgeous trails.
    Andy, Shapess and I have many good memories and stories about the place. There is nothing quite like a long weekend of camping and Jeeping with buddies. Although I’ll admit I’ve had my fill of dude hang outs lately. Bring back the female social interactions please. Or put more simply: Boobs.

    Here are some awesome Jeeping and camping pictures:

  7. Not only has life involved all sorts of social interactions and vacation happenings, it’s also been busy at work.
    I’ve been applying and interviewing for a position in Advanced Services for a while now. It was a tough decision to make. There are so many things I love about my current job and my current team. Part of me wants to stay in this spot forever because of the things I like about it. I’m really going to miss the team and being able to help everyone solve complicated problems every day. I’ll miss being the technical expert who can come in and kick a problem square in the nuts and at the same time do some training of new guys coming in.

    However, I think after 6 years my stress levels of constantly being on the hook or on the phone with customers on their worst days, has taken its toll. You try to steel yourself against the customer who says they’ve spent millions of dollars and now everything is down and they need you to fix it ASAP and make sure it never happens again, but they do take their toll, one piece of sanity at a time.

    Some customers are great, patient, understanding, appreciative of your time, and know that some problems just can’t be instantly fixed.

    Some customers are ungrateful, impatient, uncooperative, willfully ignorant of basic facts and reality (even when clearly presented to them), and set expectations so unrealistic that their lives are guaranteed to be a constant disappointment for them. Some people have problems that I can’t solve. Some people just want to watch the world burn ;)

    That’s tough for me. I like being able to solve the problem, and then being recognized as the bad ass without whom it would not have been possible.

    Have you ever seen House? When House makes his diagnosis he walks away. He’s solved the puzzle – figured it out. The patient themselves are not the prize, it’s solving the puzzle. That’s my motivation – interesting puzzles.

    This new job is going to be designing and deploying voice solutions for customers who contract with us. I believe it will go like this:

    Customer wants solution / Customer is sold solution
    I come in and help gather requirements for design and implementation
    I present design and deployment plan
    I deploy and verify success
    Next project

    I’m excited to get started on it at the end of October. The two main differences are going to be:

    Project lifecycle has clear start and end points (as opposed to non stop incoming cases)
    Customer is paying you for the work you perform (as opposed to customers having paid a flat service contract fee ahead of time, entitling them to have their problem fixed no matter how long it takes)

    Also – travel and more work from home. I’m going to get to see some places and spend more time enjoying the downtown digs.

All in all – life is pretty damn good right now. I’m excited to see what this next chapter of personal and professional development brings.

Now my coffee pot is empty and it’s time to take on the rest of the day. Hope you enjoyed the updates.

Raleigh Apartment and Esther’s House Warming

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It’s been a month since my last update. That sounds about right to me.

The first big change is that I moved to downtown Raleigh. I’m in an apartment building called “Hue,” which is pretty nice. The view is awesome.

My Jeep and the FZ6 are living at Pete’s house, along with power tools and some other things. I’ve got the 1BR and a single parking spot that has the Z and the Concours parked in it right now. Locked parking garage. Pool. Sweet View. Close to all of my favorite bars. Not a bad setup.

I’m in desperate need of furniture, but that will come in time I’m hoping.

So Brendan has been excited that I’ve moved downtown. In his excitement he’s been trying to get me to leave Raleigh as often as possible. An opportunity popped up to drive to DC with Brendan for Esther’s housewarming party. At the same time I’d also get to visit Heather.

Two beautiful girls, one stone. I had a fun time. Esther took Brendan and I rock climbing which is pretty awesome.

Here are some pics of the house warming party.

Heather was looking especially hot.

Esther was in party preparation mode.

One very fun thing about the House Warming party was trying to mount a clock to the living room wall with 6 drunk people and power tools. I’m glad I have video of this:

I’m definitely bummed that I didn’t get to hang out with Heather for very long, but we still had a great time.

When I have furniture I’ll have a house warming party myself and invite everyone.

Snow Boarding and Mardi Gras Motorcycling

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I’ve been extremely busy being eXtreme lately.

Here are some pictures of a snow board trip I took to Tahoe with Brendan, Kurt, Lauren, and Marcy.

I also rode 1000 miles from Raleigh, NC to New Orleans, LA and back. I tried to get my Iron Butt certification (1000 documented miles in < 24 hours) but just missed it due to some terrible weather. It rained on me for something like 20 hours of the 36 hours I sat on my motorcycle. I rode through several tornado warning zones. I don't really know how I can endure distances like that. It clears my head though. I enjoy the solitude and scenery. I'd do it again just to get away from things. I can just head out any direction I please for hundreds (or thousands) of miles.

In NOLA I met Jason and Ashley, Dan and Tammy, and Chuck and Gina for a week of Mardi Gras celebration.

Here are pictures of motorcycles, drinking, and boobs. You can't really go wrong here. I loved New Orleans and ordering drinks to go. The music and costumes were the best part.

Oh, and I wandered into a spontaneous Mardi Gras parade:

On St. Patrick’s Day I fell in love with a beautiful brunette. She was really friendly and we got along quite well. Her boyfriend did not appreciate this. I realized that I definitely have a type, and my friends know it now too. They saw her and said “Burns, you would like this girl”. They were definitely right. I saw her and said, “This won’t end well for anyone.”

I wish I remembered more of the night, but when I realized I’d met yet another great girl with a boyfriend, I started drinking at a brain and liver punishing level. I sincerely have been trying to avoid that – but having a DD and a reason makes it tough ;) Tomorrows will bring better days though.

I can’t say that I should only ever pursue single girls (even though some of my friends INSIST I MUST). It’s rare that I meet a girl who gets me to talk, let alone try hitting on her. But, I think I’ll make something of an effort to leave the “It’s Complicated” girls alone.

Winning.

Camera Updates: October – January

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I got back from my Jeeping and Biltmore escapades with Heather and emptied out my camera. Here’s the result.

Back in October I went to Matt and Candra’s wedding. I wore a kippah (yarmulka) and did a reading. I bumbled a bit of the reading, but didn’t do so bad for never having seen the passage before stepping up in front of a hundred people.

I also went to the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC in October with Munns, Ward, Will, and even visited Heather. This trip rocked! I had a blast with the guys tooling around DC. Munns and I explored after the rally. We got to hit the air and space museum and see our friend Julie who had a friend running the Marine Corps Marathon that same day. It was a whirlwind tour that included 4loko, crashing on Heather’s couch, losing my fleece, and revving the shit out of the Z going through a tunnel in downtown DC just to hear the sound of awesome.

Also – it was Halloween. A lot of shit went down this weekend – most of it tolerably awesome.

Here’s my motorcycle trip I took to Florida for Thanksgiving. See my bike in majestic, solitary splendor. I really enjoyed going on this trip by myself. There isn’t anything quite like the freedom you get on a Motorcycle. This thumbnail is me stopping at Tybee island near Savannah, GA. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the family Thanksgiving dinner. At least I have pics of the bike ;)

After the motorcycle / Thanksgiving trip there was a short break for December where I didn’t take any pictures. I went house hunting, snow boarding, and worked my ass off.

Heather FINALLY finished school then came to visit me! We decided to celebrate by driving over shit in the mountains, and then pretending we were classy people. I even got my fleece back that I left when I crashed on her couch for the Rally in October.

It’s not often that I get to drive through the mountains with a beautiful girl, so I savored the opportunity while it lasted. It was also great to see Heather again. She’s been an online friend for so long I sort of forgot what it was like to hang out IRL. Hopefully the weekend provided a nice distraction for her.

Eventually she’ll find relationship bliss, but not with me, so quit asking. You know who you are, assholes (friends I mean).

Driving over shit in TN in the snow:

Visiting The Biltmore Estate (which involved wine tasting, lunch, and a private tour of the place).

Soon there will be a trip to Tahoe which should involve some more pictures. Maybe I’ll buy a place – that would lead to a flurry of downtown pictures. Who knows. I’m liable to do damn near anything at this point.

Here are the two potential downtown options:

West with a nice view of the city, a bit further North than I want to be, and a “for serious” locked parking garage. This place looks like it has great lighting, and sweet views, with the parking security an OCD car guy like me needs.

Palladium Plaza that has great location right on Moore’s SQ (could be a bit further North), a mediocre view of Lincoln Theater, and a back bedroom with a built in desk / office (but no windows). Also the parking here is only really half a parking garage – not that secure from the elements or punk ass kids. This place has location and is a great size.

Winter Jeeping

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As usual it’s been forever since I’ve updated my site.

I went to see all of those shows in the previous post and they were awesome. Especially Menomena and The Thermals. Say Anything was pretty sweet too.

I finished a simple Android app that can be used at work. I don’t use it. I’m trying to find time to get some more training.

Lately there has been some serious downtown condo / house hunting. There are a few places down by Moore’s Sq I’m seriously considering, but this requires further concentrated thought. It’s apparently a lot of money to spend all in one place for something you CAN’T EVEN DRIVE!

I have a camera full of pictures of things I’ve done that I haven’t posted. Like my motorcycle trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. 1200 miles of motorcycling awesomeness.

Last weekend I went snowboarding in Snowshoe, WV. My skills are developing there. It’s always amazing to first suck at something, and then get better with practice. I’m not used to being good at anything besides computers. At the end of Jan we’re heading out to Tahoe to get some more boarding in at Squaw. Should be an excellent time. I hope I don’t get injured too badly.

This weekend I’m taking DC Heather (I don’t know what I’ll call her if she ever moves) out to the Mountains. We’re going to drive through some snowy trails in the Jeep and try not to die, or get stuck. I’ll finally have an excuse to go visit the Biltmore Mansion too, since Heather will be coming along ;)

Anyway – more updates once the weekend is finished and I empty my camera’s contents. For now – time to drive out through the crappy weather to Mountain City, TN.