FretMaster Beta

In 1998 I wrote the only piece of software I had intended other people to see. I wrote it in Visual Basic 4. It’s a guitar fret board mapping program. Pick a note and a scale and click a button. It’ll show you where those notes are on the fret board. It was fun and … Read more

SELinux is the devil

I spent two hours troubleshooting strange Apache behavior on a new VM before discovering SELinux was enforcing I always use CentOS in the cloud because it’s stable and awesome for server-grade applications (web server, webdav, samba…etc)  I use Ubuntu or a Debian derivative on the desktop because the packages are more up to date and … Read more

Read My Feed

Two weeks ago I stopped using TinyTinyRSS as my RSS feed reader. I love having self-hosted apps and the privacy and control they provide, but honestly I wasn’t real worried about someone snooping my RSS feeds or contaminating my OPML. I’ve been making a move back to some cloud-based apps recently to avoid the maintenance … Read more

Ohio Linuxfest 2017 – Sep 29-30 2017, Columbus, Ohio

Attended talks: Command Line Tools, Clif Flynt Keynote: The Battle Over Our Technology, Karen Sandler (robo-lawyer) Lumina Rising: Challenging Desktop Orthodoxy, Ken Moore The ‘Onwards’ & ‘Upwards’ of Careers in Open Source – A Panel Discussion, Warner Moore, Cassandra Faris, Jason Green, Chad White Secure Cloud: Linode With Full Disk Encryption, Roberto C. Sánchez So … Read more

2017 Cleveland Givecamp

I made it to Cleveland Givecamp this year after many years of wanting to go but never having the guts. I added this to my LinkedIn page: Technical Volunteer, Cleveland GiveCamp Jul 2017 I volunteered at Cleveland GiveCamp and assisted “The Valentine Project” in refreshing their web presence. I served as site admin by managing … Read more

Linux Doesn’t Ask “Are You Sure?”

Preface: This happened a couple of years back and has completely resolved since. It’s also one of those events that fellow sysadmins might relate to that make you go back and rethink (and rewrite) your backup scripts and policies involving production machines and how to not be stupid, in general. Today is the day after … Read more

Nerves of Jello

Ever have a really bad day? Or a bunch of bad days in a row? Me too. I’ve masked the names to protect the guilty. For a very long time I have been aware that stress can take a toll on your health. But in my experience, it’s never been immediate like it has lately. … Read more

Probably the worst day ever

After it was all over, I knew I was going to have to write about it. I don’t know why. Perhaps I like re-reading my miserable days? Maybe there’s something inside of me that feels it necessary to document these things? My therapist asked me once why I write about my problems and then keep … Read more