Full Frontal Nerdity

Ubuntu Time Capsule Update

2009-02-22T13:37:00.003-05:00

I finally did a disaster recovery using my Ubuntu Time Capsule replacement. It took about 5 hours to recover a 160GB drive (95% full) over my home network. Started right up and worked like I had left off just a few hours before!

Here's the set up to use:

Start up from the MacOS X disk and open the Terminal from the Utilities menu. Type the following:

cd /Volumes
mkdir ./YOURDIRNAMEHERE
mount_afp -i afp://ip_address_of_ubuntu_box/VolumeName /Volumes/YOURDIRNAMEHERE
ls -al ./YOURDIRNAMEHERE

If you find the disk image volume in the listing, you're all set. Exit the terminal and using the Utilities menu you can select Restore from Backup Disk.

Sweet.

The Most Difficult Call...

2009-01-13T18:58:00.002-05:00

I just made what is possibly the most difficult call of my adult life: the call to schedule an appointment for Java to be euthanized. I'm sitting here with Java at my feet, crying while I type.

Java in the past year has has a number of medical issues: A huge mass in his abdomen, the baby-wipe swallowing incident(s), some type of gastrointestinal issues which caused a large case of the "vapors" emanating from either end and now, diabetes. The diabetes came on suddenly just before the end of the year. One day Java started looking thin, then we noticed he wasn't eating as much, then he wasn't eating at all. He was drinking excessively, and urinating excessively too. He was up at all hours of the night wanting to go outside, probably to drink and pee. We tried feeding him different food, more food, more different food, but he wouldn't eat enough to sustain himself.

One trip to the vet told us he had severe diabetes and was acid ketodotic. His glucose numbers were off the chart. Java has been on insulin since the 2nd, with his doses steadily increasing. We've tried twice now to get a glucose curve to check his response to the increasing insulin doses. These have been to no avail, his numbers are still off the chart. Java is now below 60 pounds, a shell of his former self, all skin and bones. He's now nicknamed "Kate Moss" for his lithe figure. Its easier to laugh about the situation than it is to cry over what we know is coming.

Java can no longer run around, walk up and down more than a handful of stairs and often has trouble getting up off the floor by himself. He spends most of each day in his bed, which has been moved downstairs since he can no longer go up to the bedroom. When he does get up to go outside, its a slow process as he carefully makes his way down the front steps and, sometimes, back up them. The past few nights I have carried him upstairs so he could sleep with us in the bedroom as he has always done. I have also been awaken by him each night to carry him downstairs and outside so he can "do his stuff."

When I picked him up at the vet yesterday we spoke about Java, this treatment and possible outcomes. He's never going to be the same dog again. We can continue to treat him and try to get his diabetes under control, but what else is wrong? What caused this sudden onset of diabetes? At 12 and 1/2 years old, he's a very senior dog. The average lifespan for a lab mix is 10 years.

Last night I knew what the next step should be. Steph and I discussed it ad nauseum, but it wasn't until this evening that we finally were able to make the decision.

The past twelve years have been great. Java has been my companion, my friend, my chick magnet (when he was a puppy!) and a part of my family. He's given me unconditional love, something we all need to learn a little more about. He's been with me as I was a struggling graduate student, trying to find my way in the world. As a grad school dropout, falling into computers and programming. He's been there through many (ex-) girlfriends, a wife, a new dog (Lucy) and the birth of Maya. He was Maya's protector when she was a newborn. I had hoped he'd be around as she grew older, since he is so well behaved with children...

I know I am doing what is best for Java, even though it feels like I am betraying him by failing to take care of him when he is most in need. He was always there for me when I needed him, I feel like I can't do the same right now... This would be so much easier if nature would take its own course, rather than forcing me to make this choice.

We've had a tradition for many years now. On every birthday Java gets an ice cream cone. First it was from McDonald's, later we found that Brewster's Ice Cream does a "dog bowl" which includes a small dog treat. Later this evening I'll be headed to Brewster's to buy Java one last cone. A big vanilla waffle cone, just for him. One last treat for my friend.

May peace be with you Java. You always be with me in my memories.

Ubuntu Geekery Part 2

2009-01-13T17:43:00.002-05:00

A few notes since I first got set up:

You can configure printers directly through the CUPS web interface.

Parallel printing was throwing off lots of errors and generally unreliable. I changed the printer to a USB connection with a USB -> Parallel cable and created a new printer through CUPS. Everything works like a charm!

ssh has been locked down to use keys instead of passwords and only allows specific users a remote login. Now this has been opened up to the world at large so I can ssh into the home server.

OpenVPN is set up and running, but I am still having some networking issues and no time to fix them...

Also up and running but not yet working is saned, a scanner daemon. I can't seem to get this working with my OfficeJet 5510, I may try a standalone scanner I have sitting around instead.

I still have yet to to a disaster recovery scenario to validate the backups... perhaps this weekend. The back up server has been rock solid, except for a minor hiccup with Steph's backups...

Geeking Out - Setting Up an Ubuntu Server

2008-12-21T09:52:00.009-05:00

I've been working on this project for a few weeks now and its finally coming to completion, so I thought I'd document it here so others can save some of the time and hassles I have had in getting to this point.

When I bought a new MacBook for myself, I convinced Steph to ditch her P.O.S. Windows XP machine and take my old MacBook. We now needed a few thing:

Home file server for sharing documents, photos, etc
Automated back up system (TimeMachine would be ideal, but I didn't want to purchase a TimeCapsule for the network based backups. I'm cheap!)
Shared printing (again, I'm cheap, I don't want to buy a new printer and my existing printers don't support networked printing)
Home-based VPN to allow me access to the home network when on the road

So the obvious solution was to repurpose Steph's old Dell box into a server to support our needs. Here's what I did:

First, I replaced the hard drve with an unused 160GB SATA drive I had sitting around. After burning a CD from an ISO of Ubuntu 8.10 Server (Intrepid Ibex), I installed the server and got it up and running on my home network with a static IP address. The server is called "papaya". The initial install included an ssh daemon for remote access so I could work away from the console. Eventually the box will be headless, but for now its connected to my home office KVM.

Next, I configured ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) to start locking down services. First, set the firewall into the "default deny" mode (a.k.a. whitelisting of approved inbound connections):

sudo ufw default deny

And then I added a rule to allow inbound ssh from the local network:

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 192.168.5.0/24 to 192.168.5.2 port 22

Next I installed netatalk to support AppleTalk, allowing me to connect my MacOS X systems to papaya's shared disks. I started with directions from here and here, but I found they didn't work exactly as presented, and I needed some tuning to make it work. (See the referenced links for more details on all of these steps, I just distilled this down to the most important info.)

First, install netatalk with encryption support (required by MacOS X):

sudo aptitude update
mkdir -p /tmp/src/netatalk
cd /tmp/src/netatalk
sudo aptitude install devscripts cracklib2-dev dpkg-dev libssl-dev
apt-get source netatalk
sudo apt-get build-dep netatalk
cd netatalk-2.0.3
sudo DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=ssl dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc
sudo debi
echo "netatalk hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Note the last line, it places a hold on any updates to netatalk when running updates on the Ubuntu server, this is necessary to prevent updates from breaking the installed version. Next I configured netatalk by editing a few files. First, /etc/default/netatalk was modified with the following configuration:

ATALKD_RUN=no
PAPD_RUN=no
CNID_METAD_RUN=yes
AFPD_RUN=yes
TIMELORD_RUN=no
A2BOOT_RUN=no

Next, edit /etc/netatalk/afpd.conf by adding the following line to the end of the file:

- -transall -uamlist uams_randnum.so,uams_dhx.so -nosavepassword -advertise_ssh

Now, configure your shared volumes in /etc/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default by adding the following lines to the end of the file (make sure its one line!):

/media/TimeMachine TimeMachine allow:username1,username2 cnidscheme:cdb options:usedots,upriv

This mounts a shared volume named TimeMachine located at /media/TimeMachine (your mount point may vary, this is an external 1TB USB drive at the moment). List the specific users who should be able to login to the share with their credentials. The remaining options have to do with dealing with invisible files/folders which are used by MacOS X. I actually created a handful of shares, each of them with different functions (TimeMachine, generic file share, etc.).

Now we restart netatalk:

sudo /etc/init.d/netatalk restart

Unfortunately, this share is not publicized to the local network, which I wanted for ease of use. So I set up Avahi, a daemon for Apple's Bonjour zero-configuration service:

sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon
sudo apt-get install libnss-mdns

Edit /etc/nsswitch.conf to add the mdns service to the end of the line beginning with hosts. In the end the line should look like:

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4 mdns

Next, configure Avahi to publish the service. Create a file with the name /etc/avahi/services/afpd.service containing the following XML:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone='no'?>
<!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
<service-group>
<name replace-wildcards="yes">%h</name>
<service>
<type>_afpovertcp._tcp</type>
<port>548</port>
</service>
<service>
<type>_device-info._tcp</type>
<port>0</port>
<txt-record>model=Xserve</txt-record>
</service>
</service-group>

Note that this sets up Avahi on port 548 and tells Avahi to publish the device as an XServe, which will make papaya appear as an XServe icon on any Macs connected to the network. Open port 548 to listen for inbound connections:

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 192.168.5.0/24 to 192.168.5.2 port 548

Restart Avahi to publish the servers:

sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart

Woohoo, now I have the server publishing its shares to the network which are seen by my Macs, as seen below.

Now we need to configure the Mac to be able to use papaya as a TimeCapsule without paying for Apple's hardware. Drop to a command line and run the following (on your Mac, not Ubuntu!):

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Mount any of the remote volumes from the Mac and use the TimeMachine preferences to select the remote system for backups. TimeMachine will actually create a disk image on the remote system and utilize that image for its backup volume. Or, in my case, maybe not! But we can easily fix that. Use MacOS X Disk Utility to create a new disk image as a "sparsebundle disk image". The naming is very specific and in the format machine_name_MAC_ADDRESS.sparsebundle. For instance, if your machine name is joeyjr and the MAC address of the primary interface (en0) is 00:13:24:1f:12:10 then the name of the disk image should be:

joeyjr_0013241f1210.sparsebundle

Note that the MAC address separators have been removed. How do you find the MAC address of the primary adapter? Drop to a command line and execute the command ifconfig, it should return something like:

lo0: flags=8049 mtu 16384
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
gif0: flags=8010 mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::223:32ff:febf:cd2%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.5.114 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.5.255
ether 00:23:32:bf:0c:d2
media: autoselect (100baseTX ) status: active
supported media: none autoselect 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 1000baseT 1000baseT 1000baseT
en1: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::223:6cff:fe7f:5cd%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
inet 192.168.5.3 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.5.255
ether 00:23:6c:7f:05:cd
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
vmnet8: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet 192.168.94.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.94.255
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08
vmnet1: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet 192.168.200.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.200.255
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01

The lines after en0 refer to the primary adapter, in this case the ethernet adapter, and the MAC address is found on the line in bold.

Create a sufficiently large image (i.e. 500GB) (note: this image will only take a few MB until it is filled, so this can be done on a pretty full disk) and move it to the root of the share you wish to use for TimeMachine.

Mount the TimeMachine share from above. Open the System Preferences, choose the share as your TimeMachine volume and let it go to work. If you did everything correctly, bacups should begin. My 160GB backup took at least 8 hours, if not longer.

Now backups are great, but they only work for me if you can restore from them in a crisis. How do I define a crisis? Not restoring a file that has been accidentially deleted by using the TimeMachine application, that should work as long as I have the volume mounted. How about Installing MacOS on a blank drive and having the MacOS installer pull all of the data from your networked backup?

In theory, everything should work as follows. I have not done a full disaster recovery yet (though I will before I depend on this as my only backup solution) so take all of this with a large grain of NaCl. Boot from the install CD and start the terminal from the Utilities menu. In the terminal, mount your afp file share:

mkdir /Volumes/timemachine
mount_afp afp://username:password@papaya/TimeMachine /Volumes/timemachine

If the disk is mounted you should be able to find your .sparsebundle in the directory /Volumes/timemachine. Exit the terminal and now open the Restore from Backup utility. The restore utility will find the remotely mounted TimeMachine volume and allow you to restore from that point.

OK, we now know we can back up and restore from the backup. That's all good news. Let's get some printers set up. I have 2 HP printers, a HP LaserJet 1100 which runs on a paralell port, and a HP OfficeJet 5510 All-In-One, running from the USB port. First, ensure hp-lip and cups are installed:

sudo apt-get install hplip
sudo apt-get install cups

Run the hp-setup command to set up your printers (follow the prompts):

sudo hp-setup

Configure cups to listen on port 631 for remote printing and configuration by editing /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

# Allow remote access
Port 631
Listen /var/run/cups/cups.sock

And configure cups to allow remote administration at http://papaya:631/:

<Location />
Allow all
Allow all
# Allow shared printing and remote administration...
Order allow,deny
Allow all
</Location>
<Location /admin>
AuthType Default
Require user @SYSTEM
Allow all
# Allow remote administration...
Order allow,deny
Allow all
</Location>
<Location /admin/conf>
AuthType Default
Require user @SYSTEM
Allow all
# Allow remote access to the configuration files...
Order allow,deny
Allow all
</Location>

See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=736489 for more information on configuring cups. I'm not perfectly happy with this yet, I believe it can be locked down further, but its good for now.

Now, open the firewall to allow access on port 631:

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 192.168.5.0/24 to 192.168.5.2 port 631

Restart cups:

sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

Now I browse to http://papaya:631/ to manage configured printers. With the printer URLs in hand I can add remote printers to my MacOS X machines through the Printers preference pane. Printing on the LaserJet is a bit wonky at times, but printing to the OfficeJet is perfect. I still need to set up remote scanning, but that's a project for another day.

The VPN is still a work in progress. I'll post details on setting up OpenVPN once I have had chance to configure and test it completely.

(All the info posted herein is for informational purposes only. Use this at your own risk as I will provide no support.)

Maya Gets the Last Laugh

2008-08-16T19:46:00.003-04:00

Tonight we were finishing dinner when Maya started whining. Steph picked up up and held her while we finished eating when Maya suddenly burst out laughing. This continued for a minute or so before I ran for the camera and sat down to see if I could catch it.

I did catch a bit of her laughter, but she definitely got the last laugh.

Seattle

2008-07-31T21:05:00.000-04:00

We're back from Seattle, where we spent a week on vacation and
attended my cousin's wedding. I love Seattle! We always have so much
fun out there. This time was a bit different, Maya takes some extra
planning due to naps and feeding.

Highlights include dinner at Mashiko (sushiwhore.com) where we each
ate a beautiful chirashi - sashimi on a bowl of rice - while Maya
slept. Walking around the Fremont Sunday market. Running in Myrtle
Edwards Park on Elliot Bay. Dinner at Vios Cafe. Walking along the
piers with Steph and Maya.

I'm happy to be home... But I can't wait to go back!

Maya is Growing Up!

2008-07-24T23:36:00.001-04:00

It seems like it was only a few months ago that we brought Maya home from the hospital. (Oh, wait... it was!) Today she flipped herself from her belly to her back four times in a row, twice to each side! Yay Maya, you're growing up! Video of the momentous occasion will be posted when I have a moment to download and edit the files...

Linksys Wireless Routers & DD-WRT

2008-07-20T19:30:00.003-04:00

For a while now I have been planning to flash my routers (Linksys WRT54G and WRT150N) with either Sveasoft or DD-WRT. Last week one of the routers appeared to have finally died on me, a reset wouldn't work to coax it back to life and get Steph's computer back online. So I had nothing to lose by flashing the WRT54G.

The process itself was surprisingly simple and yields a wealth of options that are not in the original firmware on the router. I was so impressed, that I flashed with WRT150N today, as well. Now I am going to change my home network a bit. The N router will now serve up wireless on one SSID with WPA2 encryption, this is for all of my computers and any other devices in my house, like the Wii, which communicate wirelessly. I have also set up a second SSID on the same device for a public wireless network that friends and family can use if they are in range. On this public network I am hoping to use QoS to limit the bandwidth that any stranger can suck down. I'm also using QoS to hopefully improve the quality of my Vonage VOIP traffic when I am using the network heavily. I've got some more reading to do to ensure everything is set up correctly, but in theory it should work. I'm also planning to implement ipchains rules to prevent anyone on the public network from gaining access to the web based management console, but no luck on that one yet.

As for the other router, it will be moved downstairs and plugged into the TiVo. It will serve as a client, or possibly a bridge, in order to handle data from my DirecTV DVR, so I can get some of the on demand content that I am currently missing out on.

I don't get a lot of time to be a geek anymore, so this was a pretty fun project for a few hours. Not a bad experience to learn some more about wireless networking, as well... All in all, I'd recommend the upgrade to DD-WRT for anyone who owns a compatible router. I hope I can still say that in a few months time... but nothing can be worse the the Linksys default firmware...

I'm a Negligent Blogger

2008-07-17T17:04:00.005-04:00

Oops... It sure has been a while since posting. Some updates:

I'm now an instructor at the 6 AM Operation Boot Camp in Bitsy Grant Park. I run around a lot and yell (not at people, of course). And instruct. And sweat. Good times, I tell you. And I am still losing weight and inches. Which is an even better time. Today was bring a friend day and we had Super Phat Mikey from Star 94 come for the workout. See the video here. Can you spot me? Look for the Incredible Hulk green shoes doing fire hydrants... I have to say, Mikey did a great job. He should come work out with us more often... but probably at the 6 PM camp since he's at work when I'm working out.

Peachtree Road Race: I ran it and didn't die. 1 hour 6 minutes. Just a bit longer than I would have liked to have run the race in — an hour was the goal — but I am still happy to have completed it. Next year I will avoid getting soaked on the course from the various water spraying contraptions. Wet shoes are heavy. Duh. The post-race drinking was good. The post-race drinking was, however, interrupted with some tastless, racist remarks from someone who shall remain nameless. I won't be hanging out with said person any more. And if he truly hopes to run for office... well I hope his remarks come back to bite him in the ass. (Had I not been inebriated, my comeback would have been much more swift than the half-assed "That was... off-color..." pun that flew out of my mouth.)

Next 10k is the US 10k Classic on Labor Day. Is there a half-marathon in my future? Perhaps...

Java is not dead yet. Thankfully. Dumbass has probably stopped eating baby wipes for a while.

I still don't have a damn iPhone. Because I have a business discount I can't buy it at the Apple Store. AT&T still has none in stock and their customer service still sucks. No surprises.

We bought a new car. The POS Passat is no longer, we replaced it with a 2009 Subaru Outback XT. This is the turbo model, nice and fast. Not that I can really open it up until the 1000 mile break-in period is done with. No more VWs for me, thanks. And Jim Ellis VW can bite my butt, they are the worst dealer in the Atlanta area for any kind of sales or service. I highly recommend Classic Cadillac and Subaru in Roswell.

I met up with the Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink at 6 Feet Under for dinner. And drinks. Good times were had by all. And it helped me reconnect with an old friend. I've known Tami since my IRC days back in the early 90's when I was in grad school. We've all grown up and moved on since then, but it was nice to reconnect. Maybe she'll come out to drink next time?

We're headed off on vacation to Seattle soon... more on that when we get there.

Maya is still cute as hell. No surprises there...

Java, Long Runs and Family Trees

2008-06-22T21:23:00.002-04:00

Lots of little updated combined into one here...

Java is fine. He is eating and gaining weight and back to himself. We finally had someone come and deal with mowing the yard after the lawnmower died (again), and found lots of wipes that Java had eaten. He was trying a little intestinal roto-rooter. Yuck. We have stopped putting any wipes in any unsealed garbage can.

I ran 7 miles yesterday from Big Peach Running Company in Buckhead, down to 10th and Peachtree in Midtown. (Map) This was my longest run yet in both mileage and time (1 hour 17 min). My pace was slower than I'd like for the Peachtree at around 11 minutes/mile, I'd love to get this just below 10 min/mile for the Peachtree. Two weeks more running to work on that.

Finally, I have started building a family tree for Maya. This was spawned from Steph buying a baby book to document her life in. There is a spot for a family tree, but Steph wasn't sure how to go about filling it in. So I used Ancestry.com to put one together. I now know more about my family tree than I ever could have imaged. Most of it is on my father's side, but I am working to fill in more on my mom's side too. I'm shocked that I can trace back 6 generations from Maya to her great-great-great-great grandmothers Pauline Edelstein (maiden name? married name?), Sarah Berkman (married name, maiden unknown) and great-great-great-great grandfather Harris Berkman, all born in the early/mid 19th century. Most of the trails backwards lead to Russia, Poland, etc., so I doubt I'll find much prior to their emigration to the US, but it's been fun anyway.

Java Health Update

2008-06-15T21:00:00.003-04:00

Two days have passed and Java seems to be eating regularly, looking healthier and generally feeling better. But he is still super skinny, so we're doing the ultrasound tomorrow to see what, if anything, is going on with him...

Happy Father's Day to Me!

2008-06-15T10:36:00.003-04:00

I started the day with a ~5 mile trail run at Sope Creek... a great beginning to my first father's day. And much more fun/interesting than running on the road. After visiting with some family, Steph, Maya, the dogs and I plan on spending the remainder of the day together. Other than a few hours work later today, it's my day to be lazy.

Yay for mostly lazy Sundays...

Java's Health

2008-06-13T22:44:00.002-04:00

Java is once again giving us a health scare. After returning from Asia Steph and I both discussed that Java was looking skinny and then he stopped eating for a few days. Before heading to Boston we went to our vet to get a check up. Java has been known to raid the trashcan, but it appears he has been stealing used wet wipes from the trash can (not diaper genie!) in Maya's room. Java lost 7 lbs since February, about 10% of his body weight! We put him on some meds and wet food and he appeared to be getting better and was eating regularly.

Yesterday Java stopped eating again. He is back on medication from the vet and did eat some today, but is now refusing food again late this evening.

He's skinny. Scary, heroin chic skinny. I brushed him tonight and he is bony, I can feel most of his spine on his lower back quite easily. His tail is down, he is seemingly weak and lethargic and not acting like himself at all.

I'm not sure what the next step is. We'll call the vet tomorrow, they may try an ultrasound to see if he has a blockage which they can remove. But for tonight all I can do is go to bed and hope that Java is as stubborn now as he has been the rest of his life. If he is, he'll pass whatever may be inside him, if anything, gain weight and get back to being the happy "old man" that he was just a few weeks ago...

Coming Home From Boston

2008-06-07T21:59:00.000-04:00

We're on the way home from a quick trip up to Boston, flying somewhere over the eastern US. The flight is pretty empty, so Steph, Maya and I have 3 seats together, allowing Maya to sit in her car seat for the flight. The girls are both passed out...

We came up on Thursday to visit my grandparents, Maya's great-grandparents, as well as my aunt Robin and uncle Ronnie. Due to their advancing age, my grandparents aren't able to travel any longer. This was an important trip for us to make, however, it was not about a vacation or doing something for our own enjoyment. The timing couldn't have been worse with my recent crazy travel schedule and lack of time alone with both Steph and Maya. Instead, this trip was about being selfless, giving of ourselves to provide some happiness to others. We made the trip solely for Grandma & Grandpa so they could meet Maya, spend time with her, hold her and get to "know" her at this very cute stage of her life. I know we brightened their days by introducing them to their fourth great-grandchild, making the difficulty of the trip worthwhile.

Maya, for the most part, was an angel. She has been extremely well behaved on the flights to and from Boston and in the airport at either end. She's been a pleasure to travel with, but it amazes me how much crap one little girl needs! Instead of traveling with a single suitcase and my backpack, we've got 2 suit cases, my backpack, a diaper bag, pack and play (portable crib), stroller and car seat. Holy crap, that's a LOT of stuff to travel with. Our days of traveling light are over for a while, I guess.

We're all looking forward to getting home, getting back on a normal schedule and... What's normal anymore? While Maya is going back to her schedule with Steph, I won't be on any kind of normal schedule as I am traveling to Newark tomorrow and then down to Baltimore Monday through Thursday for work. Perhaps in July I might get to spend some quality time at home with Steph and Maya...

Coming home...

2008-05-31T13:10:00.002-04:00

5/30 8 PM EDT

Its now 9 AM (5/31) local time in Korea. I got here this morning at 6 AM on the red-eye from Singapore. I hardly slept. I'm exhausted and just trying to stay awake at the moment. I'm sitting at Incheon Airport waiting to find out if I managed to get a standby seat on the 10 AM flight to Atlanta. If not, I'll be here — Korea, not the airport I hope — until 6 PM tonight. I'm hoping like crazy that I'm not here all day, it will make an already long trip that much longer. I should know in 20 minutes whether or not luck is working in my favor today. If not, I can't complain. I accepted the 12 hour layover here originally because it was the least expensive business class fare I could get ($6000 round trip), fitting within my budget for this engagement. Now I'm thinking about what a fool I was. Ooops. Lesson learned. I should have spent the night in Singapore instead.

(A cute, but strange, Japanese girl just sat next to me to practice her English. We exchange pleasantries and she asks me where I am from, so I tell her the US. Then she tells me she is some kind of student, something unintelligible, followed by "peace student". I flashed her a peace sign and asked her if that's what she means and she says yes. She then shows me something god oriented and starts explaining... I shooed her away. She didn't get the concept of atheism, but I didn't try that hard to explain. Perhaps now that I am alone again the deaf gentleman will come back and pester me for money for the third time...)

In the airport there is paid WiFi. But you have to have a Windows machine since the online purchasing requires an ActiveX control that won't run without Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to run with Internet Explorer all that well either! I did find an open AP and I have been using it off and on to check email and call Steph to let her know of my progress. Obviously, its how I managed to write this, as well. For a world class airport, one ranked best in the world along with Singapore's Changi, this is pretty pathetic. Come to think of it, I had the same issue last night at Changi, but I wasn't sitting there for innumerable hours, bored to tears. *sigh*

Off to check and see if I got on the flight...

5/30 9 PM EDT

W00t! I got on the flight. Its Korean Air, which has less comfy business class seats the the Delta flight I took to Shanghai, but it gets me home at 10 AM today (i.e. I leave here at 10 AM 5/31 local time, arrive in ATL at around 10 AM 5/31 local time) instead of 7 PM on Saturday. 14 hours of flying, no puking. At least one can hope. ;-)

5/31 6:21 AM

En route to Atlanta right now, we're just coming off of the Pacific ocean near the British Columbia/Washington border. Almost home.

Earlier in the flight I watched the season finale of Desperate Housewives, an episode of Everest: Beyond The Limit, ate a bowl of bibimbap and passed out (chemically enhanced by Ambien, but no alcohol and no puking). 5 hours of relaxing sleep later, we just had "breakfast", some kind of beef soup, noodles, rice and Korean pickles. They make pretty decent food on Korean Air, I'd fly them again. Now I am watching The Bucket List and staring at the monitor watching the plane creep ever so slowly across North America. I'll be seeing my Maya Papaya in a few hours! I think she's been a bit of a pain in the butt to Steph lately, their drive to and from Florida was apparently less than stellar. Maybe she just needs some daddy time. I certainly need some of that myself.

The past few weeks have been really hard. Everyone told me that I would stop traveling after Maya arrived. I didn't, and I don't wish I had. But when it rains, it pours, and the travel has been crazy lately. Since Maya's birth I have done trips to NJ, TX, central GA, and Singapore. In the next few weeks I will be in Boston, NYC, Baltimore and Chicago. And that's just before the end of June! So I clearly have not stopped traveling, but the trips are different now. I'm traveling too much, and feeling guilty that I am missing Maya as she "grows up". I know that she has a long way to grow, but she changes every time I see her. When I call or come home after I a trip I find out that she is making new noises, smiling more, etc. Will I miss her first time crawling? First word? On the other hand, I work from home when I am not on the road. So I get to spend more time with Maya during those weeks than most of the dads I know who don't travel, but spend their lives at work.

I don't want to miss these one time events in Maya's life, but this is my job. I love the job, and the opportunities it provides and my wife and daughter. Can one be put above the other? My job allows us the very nice and comfortable life that we live, both in material things like houses, and experiences like traveling around the world (vacation, not work), putting money away for Maya to attend the school of her choice someday and (hopefully) early retirement for Steph and I. We have no needs that go unfulfilled and want for nothing. (Well, I'd love a convertible, but I hardly drive any miles these days, so its a total waste of money.)

Are the tradeoffs worthwhile? Will I some day look back and wish I had made a different choice? I just don't know. I do know I am greatly looking forward to giving her a big kiss when I see her soon. I'm not quite looking forward to cleaning a poopy diaper, but I have to take the good with the bad and relieve Steph of her duties (doodies?) with Maya.

1:10 PM 5/31

I am finally in the house with Steph, Maya and the dogs. It is good to be home!

Bye, bye Singapore

2008-05-30T07:10:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting in th executive lounge of my hotel in Singapore, looking out over SunTec City and the city beyond while I wait for my flight. This has been an interesting trip, no doubt, but I'm happy to be headed home. Will I be back? Probably. Will I eat my way through the city again? Absolutely. Will I be a bit more touristy? Sure, why not! I might even check out the Night Safari if I get the chance. Unfortunately, too much work and too little time left little time for me to explore the city after last weekend.

Things to do next time I am back:

Check out more hawker centers for lunch and or dinner. Visit Lau Pa Sat on the weekend for satay again.
Eat more chili crab. And white pepper crab. And any other crab I can get my grubby hands on.
Go back to Muthu's Curry for dinner. I had lunch at the outlet in SunTec City Mall today and it was amazingly good. And super spicy, in a good way.
Find some chicken rice. I know its the local specialty and I was supposed to eat it during my stay. Somehow I screwed that up.
Eat more laksa.
Drink more Guinness Foreign Extra Stout while avoiding the local craptacular brewpubs. (Oh, Brewerkz was OK, but The Pump Room was total shit.)
Shop less. I don't want to visit another damn mall anytime soon.
Take more pictures. I failed on this count.
Drink a Singapore Sling. Yes, I managed to not have any whilst staying here.

Clearly, I have a lot to do next time around. Amazingly they all seem to focus on food. Hmmm, is eating the national pastime?

Last night in Singapore

2008-05-29T07:06:00.002-04:00

My time here is coming to an end. It has been fun, but I've been gone a long time (7 days) and won't make it home until Saturday night around 8 PM. I'm totally missing Maya and Steph right now.

I felt like my jet lag got better through the week, but tonight I'm just absolutely spent. Its 7 PM and the gin and tonic I had in the lounge has totally knocked me out. I was hoping to go out for one last nice Singaporean meal tonight, but I fear I am probably going to stick close to the hotel due to the incoming storms and my sleepiness. Teaching all week definitely takes its toll...

Last night I met a local for dinner. While I forget where we went for dinner, we ate an amazingly large amount and variety of Chinese food. Celeste would probably correct me and tell me it was Cantonese or Haianese or something else, but at the moment I forget what it is exactly. No matter, it was all good stuff that I would never find at home. Admittedly, I felt like a bit odd eating with Celeste since there are some significant cultural differences between how we eat. For instance, in Singapore people eat with a fork and spoon, using the fork to push food on to the spoon. No knife. I was totally klutzy trying this. I am sure I was even less graceful with my chopsticks, making a fool of myself. Do I pick the bowl of rice/soup up toward my mouth when eating or is that rude? I'm such a clueless American. But I'm learning!

However, it was a good time overall. I learned a bit of Singaporean culture and world view while sharing some American culture with her. I learned about SPGs (Sarong Party Girls), the fact that women (men?) can't rent an apartment until they are 35 or married, and the concept of a 3 room or 4 room (apartment with 3 or 4 rooms + kitchen) and the fact that Singapore is a "fine" country (in other words, you get fined for anything and everything possible). This is a bit of an odd country. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore...

Its time for dinner, then I need to pack my bags. I'm leaving after class tomorrow on a 10:50 PM flight to Seoul. I'll spend Saturday in Seoul before heading home to Atlanta to see my beautiful wife and daughter. And those crazy dogs, too...

I spoke to soon...

2008-05-25T00:58:00.004-04:00

Jet lag sucks.

I thought I was doing OK, but around 7 PM last night I was completely zonked. I grabbed some dinner, called Steph around 9 PM and then, magically, I was awake again. I finally went to bed around 11 PM. I woke up at 1 AM and tossed and turned with some really freaky dreams until 3 AM. And then I was up for the rest of the morning. Tonight I'm going back to the Ambien, I need my beauty rest.

After a full morning of running around Little India I'm spent. Its time for a nap.

Flickr Photos

2008-05-24T07:15:00.002-04:00

Of course my photos from Singapore will be making their way to Flickr...

I'm (Somewhat) Famous!

2008-05-24T06:29:00.002-04:00

I almost forgot to mention this!

As I was flying into Singapore, I flipped through a copy of Atlanta Sports & Fitness Magazine. I ran across this article and thought the pictures looked familiar.

Of course they look familiar, I took them! Too bad I didn't get credit, but these were all taken by me during the 2007 Hike For Discovery season. (The hard copy has a few more images, but John Donaghy, who is shown in the picture coming up the switchbacks on the approach to Half Dome, spent a lot of "quality" time with me that day. You know what I'm talking about, John.)

Saturday in Singapore

2008-05-23T23:51:00.004-04:00

So its my first full day here in Singapore. Some initial thoughts:

The city is clean. Really clean. The only foul smells anywhere are from some of the stalls selling raw fish or other dried fish products that have that have a funky, fish out in the open on a hot as balls day smell to them.

It is hot. Damn hot. I walked around from ~8 AM until 11:30 AM and I am just dripping with sweat. Hot and humid, two great tastes that go great together. Bugis and the Arab district (Arab St, Hajj Lane) were the destinations of the morning. Mostly aimless wandering and some photos now and again as I orient myself. I did some shopping on Arab St. and found a nice present for Steph and some potential batik fabrics which we could hang in our entry way. Gotta check with the boss first and see if she approves before buying them.

Eating here is quite fun. First I ran into a fruit stand with some cut open dragon fruit, something I had never tried. So I bought a piece, it reminded me of a firm, purple kiwi, but not as tart. The hawker also convinced me to try some jackfruit, it was nothing special. I walked around the hawker food stalls in Bugis and sat down with some seafood laksa (seafood coconut milk soup, yum! I'm sure this was much better than what was featured on Top Chef last week), a Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and then a cool glass of soya milk to soothe my burning tongue. That laksa was seriously spicy but so very good. And cheap! All in I spent about US $6.

No signs of jet lag yet. I slept about 6 hours last night (1 AM - 7 AM, thanks Ambien!). Since the middle of the day is the hottest, I'm going to chill at the hotel for a bit before exploring a bit more tonight, possibly in Little India. I'll be poking around Wikitravel further to see if there is anything else that I need to see on my 2 days off here before work begin

Howdy from Singapore

2008-05-23T11:15:00.004-04:00

Some random notes from today's 24 hours of travel...

5/22/08 2:21 PM EDT

Here I am on Delta from Atlanta to Shanghai in Seat 1A as I travel the first leg of my trip to Singapore. We’re just northwest of Wabamun, Alberta and headed on a northwesterly course toward the Canadian Rockies. I’m well fed — yes, the airline food was surprisingly good in Business Elite, though not the Chik-fil-A chicken biscuit I wanted — tired of working and ready to catch some sleep to stave off the inevitable jet lag. A glass of bourbon and Ambien were both consumed 90 minutes ago. The cabin lights are down, ear plugs shoved into my ears to block out the cabin noise and my eye shade pulled over my eyes.

I’m wide awake. My well intentioned plan to force myself to sleep on Singaporean time (exactly 12 hours ahead of Atlanta) to stave off some of the inevitable jet lag is not working. Sure, I’m yawning a bit and I think I did nap for 15 or 20 minutes but real sleep is escaping me right now. With 9+ hours to go until we land in Shanghai, this is going to be one long flight if this keeps up. Perhaps after a little more work and a movie or two things will change. However, with an estimated arrival in Shanghai at 1:50 PM Friday (1:50 AM EDT) and a two hour layover before my next leg to Singapore, things are not looking so hot right now.

5/22 4:58 PM EDT

I've been sneezing my head off for 90 minutes. So glad I dumped my normal cache of cold meds based on horror stories about heading into Singapore. Still no sleep, but I did finish the report that was hanging over my head. We're over Alaska now, due north of Anchorage. 8.5 hours of flying time to go. Yes, it seems like it should be less, but for some reason the landing time keeps changing.

Ambien, take 2: Double bourbon on the rocks and 10 mg of Ambien. With any luck this will knock me out for the remainder of this leg. Until that sets in, I'm going to watch some bad TV...

5/23 2:59 AM EDT

About an hour outside of Shanghai at the moment. For the past hour or so I have been feeling pretty crappy, swinging between hot and cold. I was brought food which I couldn't manage to eat. As my stomach began giving me a hint that something was not right I walked to the front lavatory. Full. Turned around to go to the back lavatory. Full.

Turned around again and I puked in the middle of the aisle in business class. All over the floor, my shirt, everything. The good news: The mess I made is significantly far back in business class where I don't have to smell it until we get off this plane. But I think the flight attendant who came upon me in my puking glory is not so happy. Glad I had a change of clothes in my carry-on luggage.

I can't wait to get off this flight for a bit so I can stretch out and put some simple food in my belly.

5/23 7 AM (EDT)

After a layover in Shanghai, where I ate some good noodles and dumplings in soup along with some green tea to soothe my stomach, I'm on the way to Singapore. While in Shanghai I learned that I forgot to enable international roaming on my cell phone. Oops. I tried to call AT&T via Skype, but it was too early in the morning for that to have worked. Of course Steph and Maya will be awake and awaiting my call when I arrive in Singapore, they will have to wait until I reach the hotel.

Sitting on the plane I have my Singaporean immigration card in front of me. In BIG RED LETTERS it reads "WARNING DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW". They take their laws seriously, too. Of course, I have had a stuffy nose for hours and would love to have some Dayquil about now, but I dumped it all on my desk at home lest I be considered trafficking in Dayquil.

This flight is nice, quiet and very clean. The flight attendants are all beautiful Chinese women who are unfailingly polite, even when their English is a bit shaky. I passed out when we took off, catching about 2 hours of much needed sleep. When I woke I was immediately asked if I wanted dinner. Sure, why not? So dinner is brought to me — mostly not worth eating, IMHO — and she asked if I'd like a beer.

Would I like a beer? Uh, lady, HELL YES! Before I get the chance to find out what kind of beer she might offer me she is gone. In a flash she's back and has poured something out of a silver can with a mix of Chinese and English. Its yellow. Its fizzy. Its BUD ICE! Was she being stereotypical and giving the nice, sleepy eyed American gentleman what he would drink at home? I took a sip. Yuck. <snark>I love beers with no flavor to speak of other than cooked corn. </snark> So I ask her if she has anything else. Tsingtao and Lan Cang River (LCR) Beer. Who am I to pass up on the chance to try yet another disappointingly bad beer? I was right, it was no better than the icy silver bullet that came before it. I'll stick to water for now.

I am completely over sitting my ass in a plane and staring at the map of where we have been and where we are going. At least this time its in both English and Chinese, ensuring that I learn the symbols set of our soon to be overlords. We're off the east coast of Vietnam at the moment (all I can think of is Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam as Adrian Kronauer singing "Follow the Ho Chi Minh Trail!" as if he were a munchkin from Oz. Or, seeing Da Nang on the map. In the movie he fakes the weather report from Da Nang. "How hot is it?" "It's so damn hot I saw one of those little men in the orange robes burst into flames! It's that hot, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout?"). In 2 more hours we should be landing in Singapore.

The next question is one of jet lag. I'm surprisingly awake. I have slept, perhaps 6 or 8 hours in the past 20 hours since I left Atlanta. But when I actually go to put my head on the pillow tonight, what's going to happen? Anyone's guess at this moment. Though I think I may avoid the Ambien and bourbon routine, that didn't seem to work out so well on the last flight and may have been the reason I blew chunks.

5/23 11:22 AM EDT

I'm in my hotel. I have no need for sleep. But I do need food. Jet lag is going to suck.

Catching Up

2008-05-10T20:37:00.006-04:00

Lot's of little things to catch up on here...

On 5/2 Maya turned a month old. On 5/3 we had a baby naming at our house, both celebrating her birth, her identity and our 5 year anniversary! Happy anniversary, Schmu!

On 5/5 we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Not. It was, however, Java's 12th birthday which we celebrated — a day late, mind you — with our twice annual "dogs eating ice cream at Bruster's" day. Ice cream was enjoyed by all, except Maya who got her's second hand.

We had Moms on Call come out this week to help us with some of the baby care basics that nobody ever teaches you. Most importantly, however, is that they teach you how to help your baby sleep longer in the night so we can get more sleep. They promise you'll be able to get your baby to sleep from 9:30 PM until 2:30 AM (or later), have a feeding and then sleep until 6:30 (or later) using their techniques. I thought it might be BS, but indeed, it works! Maya is being a total angel and letting mom get some much needed sleep.

Living in Atlanta, we not only have the book to refer to, we also had one of the authors come to teach us her methods along with 6 months follow up support via email. The hands on time was fabulous, we both learned a lot and felt our time and money was very, very well spent. However, I did have one minor issue:

When we were speaking about nighttime rituals, Jennifer asked us about our faith. I politely told her we don't subscribe to one. I figured that would be the end of it. However, she pressed on, wanting to know in what faith were we brought up. We responded that we were brought up Jewish. She then went on to tell us how we should talk to Maya as we get her ready for bed, telling her how someday she'll go to temple, recite prayers, etc. I can appreciate that her nighttime rituals include reading bible stories to her kids (Steph tells me this is mention in their book). However, I am an atheist, I don't believe in god, the bible or any other religious texts. Why can't we talk about the dogs, our family, things that are important to us?

As I am always reminded when consulting, there are three topics never to be broached with clients: religion, politics and money. Again, this is a minor quibble (less than 2 minutes out of 2.5 hours we spent together) and I'd hire her again in an instant, perhaps after explaining to her that my beliefs are as strong and important to me as hers are to her. Reading their website now, I see that they are both quite religious. Perhaps if I had known this before our meeting I would have been more direct with her regarding how we desire to raise Maya with respect to religion when the question was raised.

I ran 4.5 miles yesterday in about 45 minutes. My longest solid run yet, albeit pretty slow. I was using my heart rate monitor, trying to maintain a relatively steady heart rate in the 75 - 85% range. I'm going for a run again tomorrow, today was on off day, and I'll try to break 5 miles. Working toward the magical 6.2 for the Peachtree in less than 2 months time.

Finally, today Maya went on her first hike to Kennesaw Mountain. She didn't do much hiking, just a lot of sleeping as Steph, Lucy and I did all the hard work. I'm looking forward to her being older and able to sit up on her own. By that point I should have a baby backpack to put her in for longer adventures...

Jonquil Jog 5k

2008-04-27T09:16:00.002-04:00

I ran my second 5k yesterday in 28 minutes 16 seconds, taking almost 2 minutes off my previous 5k time. Considering I was sick the entire previous week, I'm pretty damn happy with that time.

Next time I have to find a 10k as I get ready for the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th...

Nalgene Bottles, Bisphenol A and REI

2008-04-21T22:38:00.004-04:00

It has become hard to avoid the news over Bisphenol A (BPA) lately (here, here, here and many, many more). As an avid water drinker — in addition to beer, of course! — I have sworn off plastic disposable water bottles for a while now and mainly used my trusty Nalgene water bottles. Made of lexan (polycarbonate) it is nearly indestructible and was always with me on hikes.

No more Nalgene bottles for me, however. With the recent news of Bisphenol A, I swore off my old-school Nalgene bottles (at last count, I think we had 6 of various forms in the house) and went to REI to buy a new bisphenol A free water bottle. Here's where things get interesting: REI has voluntarily removed all bottles containing BPA from their shelves! According to their staff they are only selling BPA free bottles, predominantly from CamelBack. Cool, nice job REI, I'm glad to see you out ahead of this issue.

But wait, there's more! If you bought any BPA containing bottles from REI under an REI membership, you can return them for a full refund! Sadly, many of my bottles predate my membership, but at least one bottle is being returned for a refund. Two more bottles, neither of which appear on my membership purchasing history, have REI labels printed on the bottle, so I hope to return these as well so I can replace them with new BPA free bottles.

REI, once again, you prove what a great company you are. Your customer friendly policies will have me coming back and paying (sometimes) high prices again and again.