Wicked cool

24-hours of worlwide flights in 72 seconds.

Do the world a favor, and WATCH THIS

http://www.offalgood.com/site/uncategorized/jamies-olivers-fowl-dinners

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver presents his guests a gourmet chicken dinner, truly from beginning to end.

In an ingenious bit of television, you'll find out that it doesn't so much matter which came first, but more importantly where the egg and the chicken you're eating came from. This is an eye-opener that I believe everyone should see. To be honest, it didn't give me any information that I didn't already have about how my food is manufactured. Rather it forced me to confront that truth.

We've become absolutely complacent with the way the food industry works. When we buy that box of eggs or that boneless chicken breast (or pork chop, or ground beef), we only see that carefully crafted presentation that is a combination of economies of scale and decades of marketing prowess. We've voluntarily blinded ourselves to the fact that there is arguably no humane or environmentally sound way to produce consumable meat on the scale that we do in the industrialized world.

When, anyway, did the definition of a meal come to be implicitly inclusive of meat as an ingredient? In a not-so-distant past, meat of any sort was a luxury to be consumed modestly and on occasion. I'm no vegetarian, and would never presume to be. But maybe we, particularly as Americans, have taken our gluttonous compulsions too far. We're fat, and it ain't beans and rice making us that way. Hell, look at the French -- it ain't even butter and bread making us that way!

We're all on tight budgets these days, and it's just so easy to pick up that cheapest carton of eggs at the mega-mart. Ask yourself, though, is the "good stuff" just a culinary luxury, or is that extra sixty-cents or dollar also going towards something important to our health and environment? Of course, that's not to discount the wonderful jewel of food bliss that is a particularly fresh egg. Between the carbon footprint concerns and the humanity issues, I gotta say I'm becoming convinced to take my purchases more seriously.

I'm going to try something in good faith. I'm going to work on redefining what a meal means to me. I want to change my mindset and my cravings when it comes to food. I'm going to eat more vegetarian and from better sources. (I almost slipped and put an "s" at the end of "vegetarian") I know that parts of my grocery bill will go up, but given the sheer cost of meat, I wouldn't be surprised if expenses stay roughly even while at the same time the overall quality of my meals increases tremendously. Wish me luck!


And eating cheap is not exclusive of eating well...
My favorite sandwich of recent -- over-easy fried egg with mayo:

First, make your own mayo (I use 2 tsp lime juice, FYI).
If you have a stand mixer, double this mayo recipe for an easier go at it. Another tip is to pour the oil from a squeeze bottle.

Melt 1 tbs of REAL unsalted butter over medium heat in a small non-stick skillet.
When the butter is melted, briefly dip one side each of two pieces of good quality sandwich bread into the butter.
Move the bread to the toaster or toaster-oven for a light crisping.
Crack one fresh-as-you-can-get egg into the skillet, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
Try to control the spread of the white into roughly bread-shape.
Your bread should be done toasting. Spread your mayo liberally on the buttered sides.
Cook until the egg white is mostly opaque, and then flip (this is best done with the wrist, but a spatula will work as well).
Count slowly to ten, and then slide the egg onto one piece of toast, topping it with the other.
Get a napkin, 'cause it's gonna be messy, and eat it while it's hot!


Love your world. Bon appetit.

French Indulgence

When we lived in Fayetteville, we were big fans of Vince Pinalto's La Maison des Tartes restaurant and bakery. Sadly, shortly after we moved to Pennsylvania, Vince had to shut down this wonderful pâtisserie, boulangerie, and café. So far as I knew, there was nothing else so close to true France in all of Northwest Arkansas.

I was lucky enough to take a cooking class with Vince once. I was even luckier that the particular syllabus for this class covered my favorite fare at La Maison -- tarts! I learned in the class how to make a wonderful crispy tart dough, in both sweet and savory variations. And when the question was posed as to what tarts we wanted to make, I spoke up without pause to request the recipe for Vince's chocolate bourbon tart.

Now, for your utter enjoyment, and for my personal record, I am posting the recipe here. Thank you, Vince, for this wonderful bit of indulgence. I hope it is of no insult to post your work for the world, but I know this deserves attention, and I believe in the benefits of open recipes as I do open source software. Use it. Enjoy it. Make it better, if you dare.

Sweet pastry dough
2 3/4 cups flour (high-gluten bread flour is best, but all-purpose will work)

1/2 cup sugar

8 ounces unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large bowl, place the flour and sugar.  Blend in the butter with your hands.  Mix the yolks and cream.  Add to flour-butter mixture and knead until smooth.  Chill for at least 30 minutes efore lining tart molds.

Line tart molds and chill (for the chocolate bourbon tart, we're using a 3 to 3 1/2 inch diameter round molds, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches tall).  Dough should be about 1/4 inch thick lining the mold, and should stand above the mold edge a bit.  Weight the dough (dry beans or rice in parchment works well), and blind bake at 350 F until light brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  After cooling, remove the weights, and the filling of your desire can be added.

Savory pastry dough

Same as above with substitutions:

1 tablespoon salt

reduce sugar to 1 tablespoon

zest of one lemon

1/4 teaspoon pepper

The dough can be kept refridgerated for up to 20 days, but may discolor after about 4 days.  You can freeze the dough virtually forever.

Chocolate bourbon filling

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 whole eggs

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons butter - melted

1 1/2 cups light corn syrup

1/2 cup molassis - unsulfered

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup bourbon whiskey

bittersweet chocolate chips

lightly crushed pecans

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Drop a few chocolate chips into the bottom of the tart shell, and add some of the crushed pecans (these amounts can be up to your own personal taste).  Fill the tart shell with the bourbon mixture.  Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

This recipe makes quite a lot of dough and filling.  But rest assured that the finished product will keep very well for several days, probably up to a week

Take that, smokers!

"The best thing to do if you don't smoke is just to not breathe it. It's the same with throw up."

-D2

Gravedigger

LeRoi Moore, 1961 to 2008. Played the saxophone; became one of the greats. Out on his farm, livin' life to the most, took a dive off his ride, and gave up his ghost.

RIP LeRoi Moore

Holy Fart! I've been Kawasakied!

I'm still trying to figure out how this happened.

I read a few blogs regularly. One of particular interest to me in my professional life has been Guy Kawasaki's How to Change the World. Around the time that I moved from Arkansas to Philadelphia I read one of Guy's posts that lead me to Mama Drama, which I followed for a short time before I realized the only reason I thought the blog was funny was because of Jenny. When I realized that Jenny had her own unadulterated personal blog, I canceled my Mama Drama subscription and became a fan of The Bloggess.

I've just gotta say that Jenny rocks. Amanda and I find ourselves laughing our absolute asses off with every new post she makes. She writes like you think (don't deny that you think that way), which is somehow effing hilarious. When her cat almost died, and then was paralyzed, and then was murdered by the vet, I laughed until I cried, and then I felt like an ass for laughing at her sick cat. (RIP, Bubba. We miss you.)

(By the way, Jenny... none of your pictures look anything like the one with you blow-drying your curls on your blog page. What up wit dat?)

(Oh, and I seem to be writing this post with some vain pretense that you'll actually come back here. I'm a goober.)

So, why the big fuss? Jenny commented on my post about teaching my daughter manners. It wouldn't be so weird, because I'm subscribed to her blog, and she's an obsessive blog reader, and she could've easily followed me back here like a stalker. But that can't be! You see, this blog 'o mine is published under my redshade.net account, but I'm subscribed to The Bloggess with my gmail.com account. That would seem to take her stalking to a whole new level. She'd not only have to follow me home, but watch through my window as I changed into my alternate Internet persona (which is extra freaky because I have to wear different underwear for that gig).

So I've been Kawasakied. Maybe not by the original zen-fu master himself, but I've received second-degree honors from the inventor of the word. I feel so blessed.

In repayment to Jenny... the shirt you requested is now available for purchase:




http://www.cafepress.com/CanMyHave

Mind your manners

KDB: Can my have desert?
Daddy: You should say "Can I" not "Can my," and really it should be "May I." Can you say "May I?"
KDB: May my.
Daddy: No, "May I."
KDB: May mime.
Daddy: "May I"
KDB: May I'm.
Daddy: "May I"
KDB: May... aye.
Daddy: Good! Now ask properly.
KDB: Can my have may-eime?
(Mommy laughs aloud, which doesn't help the situation much)
Daddy: No, it's "May I have desert?"
KDB: Can my have desert?
(more laughing)
Daddy: "May I"
KDB: Can my
Daddy: "May I"
KDB: Can my
Daddy: No, now listen. "M-a-a-a-y... I..."
KDB: C-a-a-a-n... my...
Daddy: "May I have desert?"
KDB: Can my have... gummi bears?
(major outburst of laughter, including from daddy, who falls on the floor unable to control it at this point)

First Mothers' Club

A Happy First Mothers' Day cheer is in order for several friends of ours. Kathleen, your beautiful boy makes me grin with each new picture posted, reminding me of my own little ones from not-so-long ago (though they change so fast that is seems to have been forever since they weren't running around and jabbering my head off). Heidi, I'm sorry your day was spent sickly, and I hope you're well again soon. Your little one is such a joy, and his smile is infectious.

And to a number of new moms, who are less likely to frequent this place of mine. Amanda, Meredeth, Ambre -- A Happy Day to you as well. And I can't forget Kayla. You may not be there quite yet, but I think you're as official as a mom needs to be.

You mothers all do amazing things. I can't imagine my life without my own precious family, and my wonderful wife is the glue that keeps us tightly together (I was also considering other less cliché metaphors that had to do with Ritalin, Xanax, and Valium in place of the glue, but I thought they were less appropriate).

...

Oh. You may also be wondering what's up with my painfully poor performance in blog publication. I'm not sure if its writer's block, a lack of time, or a lack of motivation, but I suspect it's a bit of each. I'll try to catch-up soon.

Strange ASA logs

I was receiving a lot of syslog messages like this from our ASA 5520 (IPs have been changed to protect the innocent):

Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4930 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4927 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4929 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4928 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 2.2.2.4/59040 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 3.3.3.74/1266 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags RST on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4931 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags RST on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4930 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 1.1.1.20/4931 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags FIN ACK on interface outside1
Deny TCP (no connection) from 4.4.4.17/41592 to 10.10.10.10/80 flags ACK on interface outside1

These looked a little strange at first, as they show the ASA denying traffic from outside clients to the public web server. These denies are not related to the firewall access lists; they are packets being dropped because the ASA determines that the connection is invalid.

Some research has made me confident that this is normal behavior for the ASA. As a security device, the ASA is very aggressive in closing TCP connections. Almost immediately upon receiving the first part of a 3-way termination handshake, the ASA will close the TCP communication between client and server. When the other two parts of the handshake come in, it no longer sees them as part of an established communication channel, and thus denies them. This is evident with the FIN ACK, ACK, and RST flags in the log messages. Notice that no SYN, SYN ACK, or FIN flags are being denied.

Just thought I'd drop this here for my own reference and to help out anyone who may be Googling with the same question on a Cisco ASA or PIX. Best references: An understanding of TCP 3-way termination, and this mailing list archive.

LMAO

I just love Windows. The operating system of the masses never ceases to provide me with the humor that I need in my life.

Poor Richard was right

What a rough day.

I've been in Pennsylvania for about a month now; Amanda and the kids for a couple of weeks. Moving is generally a wretched experience, but doing it half-way across the country on a limited budget is downright dreadful. Things are in a roughly livable state at the apartment, but we have to climb over boxes to get anywhere. Boxes. Oh Boxes. Moving boxes. Opening boxes. Re-closing boxes. Moving boxes again. Stacking boxes. Smashing boxes. Taping boxes. Folding boxes. Flattening boxes. And generally living out of boxes.

Most of our stuff came to Penna in the containment of two PODS (otherwise known as really big boxes <puking sound>). The great people I work with gave me the opportunity to store a good portion of our stuff at one of our company sites, saving us the hassle and cost of a self-store facility. Knowing that most of our things would store rather than make it to the apartment, we had the PODS delivered directly to the company site. For two weeks we've been making trips back-and-forth to stock the things we need. I've been spending a chunk of my time at work actually working on the unload into the building. Particularly in the last couple of days. Apparently the site where the PODS are sitting doesn't exactly meet with the covenants or regulations of the property management. So we've been in a mad dash the last couple of days trying to finish the unloading process.

That leads me to today. I was granted a half-day off, so Amanda and I took advantage of some early-morning good behavior from the kids to lazy in bed for a while. I always know this is a bad idea, but it never seems to stop me. I really love my bed while I'm in it, but it inevitably seems that too much laziness in the morning will lead to a difficult and non-productive day. I really should trust Franklin's "early to bed, early to rise" axiom; I know I'm rewarded when I do. The "early to bed" part is a whole other problem to tackle.

This morning's sloth led to an unwillingness to be productive in my half-day of work, so things are now piled up and waiting for me on Monday. I couln't even convince myself to use the time wisely for the unloading of boxes... boxes... boxes... I finally kicked myself in gear on this around 5 p.m., and shortly after that Amanda showed up with the kids. We attempted moving the kids inside to my office to watch a movie, but my computer was uncooperative in playing the DVD. We finally got another one to play, but it didn't occupy their attention very long. So we stocked them up with some toys and told them not to leave the office. This was important not only for their safety, but also for my job security. Just outside my office are our production network systems, and one curious and ill-chosen pull of a cable could bring things down. Hard.

The kids only halfway-minded, a minor injury insued in the form of a finger caught in a door, and our limited patience as parents and movers of boxes... boxes... boxes... was quickly whittled away, and all that seemed to be left were exhaustion, short tempers, and boxes. (I'm beginning to think that boxes are related to rabbits.)

I'm ending my day feeling like a bad parent and a bad husband. I resent that all of the work tied into the moving process has led me to neglect the things I hold most dear.

I've missed "early to bed" again, but I'll admit I needed the wind-down time tonight. Tomorrow I rise early and intend to redeem this lost day.

En garde, fishy!

I tried my hand at grilling some fresh fish last night. Seeing that that stuff is readily available around here, how could I resist?

Amanda and I went to the local Farmer's Market (see previous post), and selected a mighty fine hunk of fresh swordfish. FRESH. No "fishy" smell. We took a couple of quick cooking tips from the fishmonger, and set off for our dinner experiment.

The method was pretty simple. I have a small gas grill that I pre-heated to rocket-hot. I patted down the fish steak with with a paper towel, and then applied a liberal coating of extra virgin olive oil. I sprinkled both sides with kosher salt, and then drizzled a little not-from-concentrate orange juice over it. I topped it off with a few orange slices, and moved to the grill.

I turned down the heat to about medium before putting the fish down. A good trick here is to "wiggle" the fish back-and-forth along the grate lines a bit just after you set it on the grill. This along with the rocket-hot surface and the olive oil on the fish will keep it from sticking. After about 5-6 minutes I checked the underside and saw some good grill marks, so I flipped it over, wiggling again, and lowered the heat just a touch. I also moved the orange slices onto the grill while flipping the fish, which seard them a bit and got the juices flowing more.

After another 6-8 minutes I had a good matching sear on the other side, and I could see the flesh beginning to pull apart. The nice thing about swordfish is how dense it is. You get the lightness of a good white fish, but you can actually pick up the done steak off of the grill with tongs without it falling apart.

The finished product was fantastic! Lightly seasoned and perfectly charred, with a delectible resistence in the bite that you just don't get from other white fish. I will DEFINITELY be working with swordfish again.

Cousin search

Between losing my grandpa this week and being alone so far from everyone I know, I recently became very nostalgic about my extended family. I have eleven blood-related first cousins that I knew as a kid. I have another another seven that I never really knew. I'm sure if I add in step relations and the random illegitimate unknown it would push the list over twenty. TWENTY! First-cousins, even. This is just my immediate generation in the tree. Of those, I've only seen three of them in the past year, and only about five in the last few years. In fact, I haven't seen (or otherwise interacted with) a majority of them in well over a decade.

As important as my own little family is to me, it's hard for me to comprehend that I've grown so far apart from my extended family over the years. Since I've been married it's always seemed like it's my wife who's had the big family, but in all actuality mine dwarfs hers. We've just never been around much of mine. Many of them are in East Arkansas, but others are spread all over the states, as far as I know.

My sentiments prompted me to do a little searching, and lo and behold I found a good number of those long lost relatives on MySpace. Really, it was a friend invite I received from a cousin of mine from my dad's side, Martin, that got me really searching. I came up with two connections each on my mom's and my dad's side. I'm excited to make contact with them again! It's nice that the Internet is available to reunite us over such long distances and time. I'm also stoked that I can get more people involved in our Geni family tree project.

Here's to family!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

There. I feel better.

There's a lot to say, and it's hard to know where to start. I guess I should blog more often. I've been more than two weeks by myself in Philadelphia now, and I've discovered what missing my family really means. They'll finally be here the end of this week, and I can't wait to tickle the crap out of the kids. I've certainly had a lot of down and lonely times since I've been here, but I can also say that I've had moments of sheer giddiness while driving around up here.

There's a lot to do and see up here, and much of it is very unexpected. I've found places that are out 'in the country,' but only minutes away. There's a pick-your-own-fruit orchard that I can't wait to visit with the family this summer. There are numerous little active downtown areas in the small burroughs around the area, which tend to each feel like a mini Eureka Springs. There is a place just a few miles from our apartment called the Newtown Farmers Market that has nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes with each visit...

OK, a little more on the farmers market, 'cause it warrants it. This place has quite frankly made me ashamed to have ever bought fresh food at Wal-Mart (which, by the way, we should have very little reason to visit up here... YAY!). There is an amazing fruit and veggie stand where I've caught them immediately replacing fruit that is taken from the stack and trimming the ugly grapes from the bunch before putting them out. There's a Mexican spot that cooks up some killer chimichangas. There is fresh seafood, fresh and cured pork and beef. There are a couple of bakeries (apple fritter the size of my fist - 75 cents). There is a middle-eastern spot with some groovy gyros and baklava. Sushi, fresh salads, hickory-smoked meats, pretzels & sausage, and a great dairy stand. To top it off, there is a little market spot with exceptional dry goods and sweets. I'm highly confident that this place will be a weekly ritual for us.

Quick notes:
I finally had a cheesesteak, and me likey.
The pets are adjusting well, but are obviously lonely.
I played paintball for the first time in a year-and-a-half.
I can barely stand up now due to the above.
I'm really enjoying my job!

Amanda's been working her rarse off with packing and cleaning and finalizing and goodbyes. She's held it together quite well, considering. I gotta tell ya, I've got one amazing wife. She's sold just about everything big we own through Craigslist. I think as of now she's almost completely packed up and ready to head this way. This is of course thanks to the great friends who volunteered to help with the actual packing of the moving container. You guys rock!

This week's certainly had its troubles. My grandpa passed away on Tuesday, and with everything going on I couldn't even make it down to the funeral. The good news is that he went quickly and quietly in bed, rather than hanging out sick in a nursing home for months or years. I'll miss him, but he's been deep in Alzheimer's for years, so really I've missed him for quite some time.

There was apparently a major dounpour in Fayetteville today, and our newly-finished laundry room was defaced with a roof leak. Selling this house is looking to get more difficult. We had a couple who claimed to be VERY serious about purchasing it, but in the last couple of days they seem to have fallen off the earth. Their excitement about the house led us to great hopes of a perfect-timing sale, but with their now unknown status, we've had to seek the advice of a Realtor. I really hoped to avoid the fees and have a successful FSBO again, but that's a lot harder to do from a thousand miles away. And unfortunately the Realtor isn't valuing our property where we had hoped. There's a chance now we'll end up only marginally breaking even on this one. Add to that that we're overstretched with my not having a paycheck for a month, and it's beginning to look like we'll be renting for some time to come. Sheesh.

But the bad stuff comes and goes. We're all alive and healthy, and very soon to be reunited. I may be ass broke for a while, but I'm family rich and that's worth all the headache of budgeting. Give us a few months or so and we'll be delighted to have you visit!

See Seven States

When I was a kid, Dad took me to a place called Rock City in Tennessee. Walking one of the mountain paths, we came to a sightseeing point called "See Seven States," where you could apparently stand and, well, I'm sure you get it.

This week, I did the sightseeing the hard way. It took me more than twenty hours total to travel from Arkansas, through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to end up Northeast of Philadelphia in my new home of Langhorne.

Below is a photo blog of my trip. It flips through kinda fast, but you can get a pause button and forward and back arrows if you hover your mouse over the pictures.

A Little Rap for Today

Throughout life people will make you mad
Disrespect you and treat you bad

Let God deal with the things they do
Cause hate in your heart will consume you too

Always tell the truth, say your prayers
Hold doors, pull out chairs, easy on the swears

You're living proof that dreams do come true
I love you and I'm here for you

Twenty-nine, and life's a-changin'

Valentine's Day this year finds me officially almost thirty. But so much is going on that I've barely given my birthday a thought.

Our move to Philadelphia is creeping up quick. We had a nice and productive visit to the area last week. We kicked it off with a visit to a restaurant I've been anticipating for a while, Morimoto (I'll try to blog more about that later). We gave ourselves two days to search for an apartment, but with a couple of recommendations, we were able to find a good spot within a few hours of looking. That left our first afternoon open for Ikea shopping, which was quite necessary given that all of our current furniture is on Craigslist. We spent the next morning with a realtor, getting a feel for areas we might like to buy in. I seem to have chosen a pretty good realtor at random. After our home tour and lunch at a local cafe, we decided to see just how far away the Jersey shore really was. We took I-195 due East of Newtown, PA, and ended up in the beautiful coastal community of Spring Lake (again, hopefully more blog to come on this one). In the short hour-long jaunt, we also passed a Six Flags. Woo hoo!

I start work in Newtown next Tuesday, February 19th. I plan to leave out Sunday for the 20 hours of driving (with pets in tow, mind you). My buddy Mark is starting his roughly equivalent drive to Virginia Beach on Friday. It's a bit curious to be able to empathise so closely with others - Mark and Steph are roughly our same ages, have two kids, some pets, and are Craigslisting everything to make a move Eastward and away from everything they know at nearly the same time we are. On our end, we're concentrating on packing before I have to leave town. We have one of those PODS in our yard right now, and we'll be trying to move as much crap into it as possible over the next couple of days.

While we were in the area last week, we stopped by my new workplace to get acquainted. The people there all seem to be great, and it looks like the work is going to be challenging and rewarding. I think I'm going to really enjoy myself. One of the first things they did was show me to the breakroom, which includes ping-pong and foosball tables. Oh yes, I batted some foos before I left. I'm out of practice, but I think I can be a good defensive man with time. My supervisor is counting on me to "bring glory back to the Systems Team." Yeah, I'm going to like it there.

Leaving friends and family and barely having time for goodbyes is tough. With our good friends Mark and Steph making their move, too, we threw ourselves a joing going-away party last night at Georges. A big THANKS to Brian for letting us take over his bar for a couple of hours. We had a good time, and we got to see most everybody. Now I'm trying to squeeze in those last few goodbyes before my departure on Sunday. There are a number of people I'd love to spend some more time with before leaving, but time's catching up with me. Luckily, it sounds like a lot of them are interested in coming to visit our New England pad.

Some other good friends of ours couldn't make the party because of a frightful scare they've just gone through. With a new baby in the house, a health scare for one of the parents is just awful. I'm sad that my situation didn't allow me to be there for them more, but I also know that they have a great network of friends and family. I wish them the very best, and I am praying for a positive outcome.

A young couple with an eighteen-month-old found our house for sale online, and they came by for a tour this week. These are exactly the kinds of people that we would most like to sell to; someone who will take good advantage of the playground we're so sad to leave behind. They seem to be very excited about it, so we've got our fingers crossed. I really hope to not have to leave the house with a realtor.

Lines are good

Indulgence rule of thumb: If you see a long line, and it's not outside a soup kitchen, get in it.

I am a firm believer that consumers create lines for a very good reason, and I strive to discover those reasons. This has led to some excellent education in indulgence. Most recently, my wife and I were strolling the streets of downtown Philly during our "get to know the town" trip prior to our upcoming move. While most of the shops on Walnut were closed at the time of night were were walking, we did come across a boutique chocolatier with full tables and a line nearly out of the door. This was not to be passed by.


The Naked Chocolate Cafe was certainly an experience not to be missed. The front case was full of delectable artisan chocolates and truffles. The menu was coffee-bar style, but its contents consisted mainly of cocoa-laided concotions to make the likes of Godiva blush.


We decided to try out a couple of varities of "Drinking Chocolates," where were named somewhat liberally, as the small spoon included proved to be the more appropriate way to consume this treat. It's hard to imagine that we could've made better selections.


The "Bittersweet" version was a rich and thick soup of warm chocolate delight. The "Aztec" variation added hints of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom for a wonderfully spiced cocoa.

This will definitely become one of those places we take everyone who comes to visit. Who's first?

I'm a writer!

Look at this awesome book I (not I) wrote! ;)

Philly it is!

A couple of weeks ago I had a long phone interview for a Senior Systems Administrator position with a small technology company in Philadelphia. The call lasted for around 90 minutes, and I really hit it off with the people I spoke to. I must've fit the bill just right for them, because I received an offer letter a few hours later.

Overall, the opportunity sounded exciting, and the idea of living in the East fit well with my long-standing desires for a life adventure. Still, Philly is a long way away, so I kept pursuing positions closer to home while I negotiated more time and considered their offer.

I was finding quickly that most of my other nearby opportunities were quickly disappearing or proving to be environments with which I was uncomfortable (see last post). My time was running out to accept the Philly job, and the proposed start date was now only a week away. My wife and I had a long discussion about it, and we decided we really could do this and enjoy it, but that the time I had been allotted for the move was just too little. There were also a couple of surprises in our cost of living research.

My decision on their offer was due last Friday, 1/25, and the proposed start date was Monday, 2/4. I held out until first thing Monday morning to propose a counter-offer. I asked for a touch more salary and two more weeks before my start date. On Wednesday, 1/30, I heard back that they accepted my offer.

So now we're set. I'm employed again, and we're off to make the big move we've always longed for. Of course I'm sad and scared to leave everything and everyone I know behind, but I'm also very excited about this. I am very ready to experience more of the world than the safe little South that I know.

On an interesting note, some good friends of ours and the Godparents of our children found out at about the same time that they will be moving to Virginia Beach, just about a 4-5 hour drive from Philly. Even cooler is that Washington D.C. is almost at the exact midpoint of our two new homes. It'll be great to know that we're not so far away from familiarity.

KC Experience

My job interview in Kansas City turned out to be one of the most grueling career experiences I've had. This was quite reminiscent of my JB Hunt interview from back around 2001. The process in KC was around 6-hours long, and basically non-stop. I went through a very detailed review of my career history with the hiring manager, then "had lunch" with the team they were looking for me to join. The quotation marks there represent the fact that the "lunch" consisted of a catered sandwich (which turned out to be not-so-good) and four guys berating me with technical questions. This was then followed-up with an extensive strengths/weaknesses review with the hiring manager, and then a bunch of somewhat-standard interview questions. Finally, they brought in one of the high-level technical managers to drill me again with tech questions, which I thoroughly bombed. A bit more discussion with the hiring manager finalized everything, and it was thankfully time for my flight out of there.

Quite surprisingly, I came away from that process with the idea that I was still a top contender for the position. I'm at a bit of a loss for how that can be. You see, I do terrible with technical interviews. I think that somehow I'm rather non-standard in the geek world, and maybe non-so-geeky after all. I don't live and breathe the stuff, so I'm awful with answering things off the top of my head. I work hard to sell myself as a person who learns and adapts quickly, which I think goes over well in the personality side of interviews. But technical questions are both specific and abstract in nature. I can't tell you off the top of my head how to configure Apaches servers for fault-tolerance in a critical production environment. For one, I've never had to do that. But regardless of my experience, I don't tend to retain those things with geek-level detail. However, put me in the situation and educate me of my environment, and I will become one of your best resources. But how do I sell that to the geeks?

Then there's the issue of my impression of their environment. The company I was interviewing with is a nouveau Internet boom company, developing a "new technology" for advertising. The environment is very entrepreneurial-aggressive, and they actually profile their job candidates to match that mold. That makes it surprising that I was ever even considered, as I have a more laid-back and analytical personality. But the hiring manager was relatively new to the company himself, and he felt that they could use more balance in their personality profiles. I'm sure the guy liked me overall, which is why I've stayed in the running after both the phone and in-person interviews.

After my phone interview and considering the location, I was very excited about the opportunity. But the on-site experience left me a lot less sure. I know they were interested in me for reasons of balance, but I think I would have been the first person hired against the grain, and about the only person supporting that would be the hiring manager. I felt like the aggressiveness of the upper management could be more so with me, as they tried to get me to fit in with them, rather than accepting my differences as indeed that balancing factor. I left there with an exhausted and gut-wrenched feeling, more unsure of my future than when I came.

The hiring manager told me that he wouldn't leave me hanging either way, so I would either hear a solid "no thanks" or a request for references the following day. It's nearly a week later now, and I've had no additional contact from them. Could've been a test for me to see if I'd follow-up, but I could also see it as a test for them, as I had a near-solid guarantee that I would receive communication the next day.

Discussion when I came home was tough. We got ourselves hyped about the location, and I think my wife was a bit disappointed in my uneasiness. I didn't want to completely rule-out KC, but the Philadelphia offer was looking a lot more intriguing.

Today's song

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

On the Ledger

I find myself angry at a dead man today. I've had great respect for Heath Ledger as an actor. When I like a celebrity like that, I tend to project a false aire of responsibility to the world onto them. I never like to believe that they're capable of being such huge baffoons.

I was disappointed like a brother when Owen Wilson pulled his stunt a while back, but happy in the end that he survived. I can't be anything but angry when one of these morons actually succeeds at ultimate moronism.

RIP Heath Ledger - 1979-2008

0 to 60 in 3.2 phonecalls

I feel like I've been on the phone all day today. I had one hour-long call with a company in Kansas City, then a hour-and-a-half call with another company in Pennsylvania. That was followed by another thirty-minute call with the first company. Not to mention the time I've spent trying to follow-up on other opportunities and communicating with my wife.

The hard work is starting to payoff, though. The two calls with the Kansas City company went so well that they've invited me in for an in-person interview. Specifically, they asked what days I was available to FLY in. I am probably most excited about this opportunity because of the company, it's location in the City, and the proximity to Fayetteville.

As far as the Pennsylvania job, I apparently impressed them a hell of a lot. Within a couple of hours after my phone interview, I received an offer letter by e-mail. It's a pretty damn good offer, too. Of course, I have to take into account the cost of living differences between Arkansas and the Philadelphia area. The way I figure it, the offer they made will give me about the same living standard that I'm used to now. The opportunity is AMAZING, as I'd love the chance to live in the east... but its just so far from home, and that pay level wouldn't allow room for many trips back to AR. I'm also not sure of all the benefits yet, or whether they'll pay relocation expenses. They only gave me two days to decide, but I think I'll have to have them extend that so I can see about this KC job and hash some things out with the fam.

Job Hunt Update

updated spreadsheet here

Friday was a bit nuts. I started the day with a lot on my list of things to do. I was working hard on marketing the house, and I had several things on my plate for my job hunt, which included an interview with a staffing firm in Bentonville in the afternoon.

Fridays are always busy for the kids. K has gymnastics in the morning, and D2 has violin lessons in the afternoon. These are in Springdalae and Rogers respectively, so Amanda usually spends the day away from the house. But this Friday, my poor wifey was dealing with feeling pretty rough in the morning, so I took up some Mr. Mom responsibilities, taking over the gymnastics trip. It was great to finally get a chance to be a part of the class with my little girl, and she did wonderfully. It added a lot of stress to the day to take the time, but it made me feel really good at the same time.

I got home after gymnastics and got busy with more job-hunting work, including addressing numerous e-mails. Time went quick, and I ended up hurrying to my interview without changing out of my jeans. Luckily I had already impressed the staffing company folks over the phone and e-mail, and I was at least in some of my nicer jeans. I made a point to apologize for my appearance right off the bat.

On top of my appearance, I got caught on the way there in a traffic jam behind a car wreck, making me late for the interview, and I didn't have the phone number to call them (1-800-GOOG-411 didn't either). The recruiter called me when I was a few minutes out, and I apologized quickly with good humor, and I think I successfully thwarted any issues there.

I had a good talk with them, and I was actually more interested in the position than I thought I would be, but not so interested as I am in a couple of other opportunities I'm looking at. They do, however, have a need to fill the opening very quickly, and they wanted to submit my resume on Monday 1/21 for possible 'direct placement' consideration. This would mean that I wouldn't even have to interview with the actual employer (EMC), and I could get started as quickly as the next Monday, 1/28.

I'm just not feeling this one as much as some opportunities I might have in Tulsa and Kansas City. The Tulsa job is through the same staffing firm, so they won't really submit me for both at the same time. I'm trying to work out the logistics of that. The KC job has become VERY intriguing as I have looked more into the company and where it is located. The business is near a place called the "Plaza" in KC, which is a nice shopping and eating area. The housing around there is very nice as well. We're familiar with that area, and I think we could be extremely comfortable with that decision, if the job offer is extended. I have a phone interview with them first thing tomorrow morning (Monday 1/21).

I also have two more phone interviews scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, but they are for positions located much further away - Pennsylvania and Minnesota. I expect as well to get some communication early in the week on some other positions I've applied for.

There's also the issue of my current job. Some things happened last week that pretty much confirmed that our project is over. It really sucks that I've had to figure this out through grapevine communication. I feel like the executives have really failed us. I haven't found or been extended any other opportunities of interest within the company of my current assignment. My immediate supervisor has already moved to another position, so I've got to go to our unit leader tomorrow and find out if I have anything to do for the 2-week remainder of my contract, and if anyone will sign my time sheet for it. Sais la vie.

I expect tomorrow to be very busy. I have to get up early and drive to Conway to be prepared for my morning phone interview and talking to the boss. It's midnight now, so I hope to get 4-5 hours of sleep. I should have a lot more to say in the next couple of days.

From my earbuds tonight

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?

You act like you never had love,
And you want me to go without.

...

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?

Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head?

Career Hunt and the Marvels of Technology

I've been keeping a spreadsheet of the work I've been doing in searching for a new job. I got to thinking about making it more available so that I could access it from anywhere with an Internet connection, so I decided to upload it to Google Docs.

I found on Google Docs that there is an option to publish a document so that it is world viewable and automatically updates as I make revisions to it. I thought that for anyone interested in my progress I would post a link to that document here. I'll try to post additional details as I have the energy to.

View my job hunt progress...

An Open Cover Letter to Steve Jobs

I decided today to apply for a position with Apple. I figured it was a good idea to get creative with my cover letter to get some attention at a company that probably gets bookoos of applicants for every job. It looked like it would make a good blog post when I finished, so here it is:


Salutations,

You seem to be in the market for a skilled System Administrator, and I, as a skilled System Administrator, happen to be in the market for that perfect position with a highly-respected company. It just seems that this was meant to be.

I happen to be a serious Apple enthusiast (albeit one with a sad lacking of an iPhone). As I was watching a live blog feed of the 'Stevenote' from Macworld today, I found myself wondering why I haven't yet made a bid for a job with the ol' A. So, I smacked myself on the head, and I got to searching.

I found this opening for a System Administrator on the Apple careers site, and I think it may just be a good fit for me. (An aside: U2 just started playing 'Vertigo' from my iPod as I was typing. That has to be a good sign.) My professional background is primarily in Linux, HP-UX, and Windows. I'm familiar with a lot of tools and applications that probably won't matter to this position, but the more important fact is how I became skilled with those things. I've regularly been tested by fire; I've been thrown into unknown situations with new technologies I've never touched before, and I've been told to make something of it. I've never failed at this. The most interesting and fulfilling things I have ever done have involved a starting point in which I felt totally lost and confused.

As an example, I came to a contract position four months ago, hired primarily for my Linux skills. When my employers didn't immediately have a task for me, I bugged them for one. A need arose within days for someone to handle some complicated network engineering tasks. I wasn't a Network Engineer by trade or background, but I understood TCP/IP routing and switching, and I could make my way around Cisco's IOS. So they gave me a 6509 and said 'Go!' In the words of my team leader, I was able to accomplish far more in a few weeks than my predecessor (a true Network Engineer) had in months. We had a deadline for our project looming only a couple of months away. I not only met the configuration deadline, but I provided thorough documentation to support those who would come after me. I'm confident that I have several good references from this short project. I hope my writing here will attest somewhat for my communication skills.

So why am I, a guy from Arkansas, so interested in making the big move to the West? Forget that worry. I'm not terribly motivated by location at the moment; I'm motivated by the career opportunity. If Apple were in Sibera, I'd be... well, maybe not there. I'm sure my desire is not so different from your own Joey Clayton's (Multi-Touch Product Design Engineer). Ask Joey for me how he's handling it there in CA without the 'Hair Club.'

I should point out a few skills from the job description that are not well represented on my resume. I do have experience in working with LDAP and Kerberos, specifically in integrating Linux machines into a Windows AD environment. I am also a capable shell and Perl scripter. I have administered Apache on multiple platforms, and I have used my abilities in PHP and MySQL to create several web-based applications. I have in several situations had to draw on my capabilities as a Project Manager and Leader.

So, I think this has been a sufficiently unconventional cover letter for an Apple position. I can only hope that I impress you with my rhetoric and humor as much as with my skills and background. I believe that I am outgoing, but not to the extent of being brazen. I believe that I can fit in well with Apple, and I believe that Apple can offer the kind of challenges to inspire my ultimate creativity.

I hope very much to have the opportunity to speak with someone soon about the System Administrator position.

Kind regards,
Dustin L. Black, RHCE

Um, Gross

Can I get that with anchovies and extra nicotine?

A Geek's Christmas Mistakes

My wife has really wanted a DVR for some time now. I've been stubborn about it, not willing to add yet another line-item charge to our already bloated DISH Network bill. These guys have already really peeved me with their fees for additional connections on dual-tuner receivers, and most frustratingly with the "you don't have a home phone line" charge.

I decided for Christmas this year that I would fulfill my wife's TV recording desires, but I would only do it my way. I mean, I'm a geek for Pete's sake, and what is a DVR but a hard drive and some software. I concluded that it would make a lot more sense to build a Linux box that would offer a lot more functionality, with ripping DVDs, storing photos and home movies, and offering an Internet connection in the leisure of our couch.

I really didn't want to completely geek-out on this thing, as I didn't really have the time to be spending hours working on custom configurations. I decided to piece together the hardware myself to save some cash and get exactly what I wanted, and settled on the LinuxMCE distribution, which I hoped would provide a seamless install and an advanced user interface.

Unfortunately, LinuxMCE proved to be overly-complicated both to install and to operate. I have to give them props for their advanced thinking in the design, but in the end it wasn't going to get wife approval if it wasn't easy to use, and I wasn't going to spend the time to make it so. The LinuxMCE install wasted a lot of my time with its gruelingly long installation processes, which I went through twice. Of course, there's always something to be gained in learning from mistakes.

My next attempt was with MythDora, which I chose because it was built off of Fedora, which I am far more familiar with than LinuxMCE's Ubuntu base. The installation was much simpler, and I could tell that simply using MythTV without LinuxMCE's extensive add-ons would provide a much more user-friendly interface. But I never could get the graphics working properly. On top of that, I wasn't impressed with the fact that yum-based updates to the OS were strongly discouraged by an apparent 'head honcho' over at the G-Ding.TV site. This guy's responses to many of the support forum posts just seemed ill-informed and belittling in tone.

While not really an Ubuntu fan, I decided that my next attempt should be with Mythbuntu, because Ubuntu has the reputation of just plain working without much effort involved. These guys definitely have things much more together than the MythDora folks, with installation and operation mechanisms that are well-refined and quite functional. The graphics worked 'right out of the box,' and system updates are well managed with apt-get and its frontend. Of course, there were still issues. When switching to TV mode, the graphics would get squished horizontally. I also couldn't get my USB-UIRT receiver to work with the system in my few quick attempts.

I spent WAY too much time on this project over the holiday, which was completely not my intention. So much for the seamless install. In the end, I had to postpone the project, and leave my wife with an incomplete Christmas gift. Now my debate is whether to continue working to resolve the problems I encountered with Mythbuntu, or just wait until I have more time and just get geeky with it.

Thoughts on this did, by the way, spawn an idea. I'd like to build my own custom MythTV environment, starting with a base Fedora install. I like the idea of calling it 'Fable' in reference to the 'myth' in MythTV and the 'F' in Fedora. I know if I'm careful I can get a sweet system working with all of the bells I want and none of the whistles I don't. The only problem is whether it could possibly be worth spending the time on.

Bubbily Lyrics

Well I was eatin' lunch at the D.L.G.
When this little girl came and she sat next to me.
I never seen nobody move the way she did.
Well she did, and she does, and she'll do it again.

When you move like a jellyfish, rhythm don't mean nothin',
You go with the flow you don't stop.
Move like a jellyfish, rhythm is nothin',
You go with the flow yo don't stop.

Lyrics Blog

I'm going to try to start a little routine with my blog. I will occasionally post a few lines of lyrics from a song that I find inspiring, insightful, intelligent, funny, or otherwise interesting ('One of these things is not like the others...').

This first one is partly inspired by a very good friend of mine who is going through some tough trials in his life. He introduced me, way back when, to a band that I have since grown to respect very much. I've often felt that one of this band's major lyricists had a knack for reflecting the soul of my friend, while another lyricist had an odd talent for producing the type of motivation that I sometimes need in my own life.

The following lines are from a song that I have been hitting repeat on a lot recently, trying to better memorize the words.

I've got the obligatory Hendrix perm,
And the inevitable pinhole burns,
All down the front
Of my favorite Saturday shirt.

I've got nicotine stains on my fingers.
I've got a silver spoon on a chain.
I've got a grand piano
To prop up my mortal remains.

I'll buy a beer (or soda) for the first one to give me the band, song, and the next couple of lines!

Ketchup 2.0

Life has had some significant changes for me in recent months. Back in October, I received a rather out-of-the-blue offer for a job in Conway. The job was to be a three-month contract, so I didn't take it seriously at first. As the details arose about the position, and I saw what I believed was a good opportunity for a permanent position beyond the three months, I decided to take the job offer. This was, admittedly, against some highly valued advice, but I nevertheless resolved to take a chance.

I've been working in my new position for about three months now -- yeah, that original contract is nearly over. I've become, strangely, a network engineer for a team that is developing a commercialized cluster processing system. The experience has been very insightful, and I feel good about the payoff of my gamble. I feel like I've done a good job of serving my team and the project, and I'm confident that I've been able to show my value. There is some indecision currently in the company, so I don't yet know about my long-term outlook, but I did just receive notice that my contract has been extended for another month, which I believe is a good sign.

I'm really enjoying what I'm doing at work, and I have some great people to work with. The fact that I'm back into networking is a bit interesting. It was my first real career interest in I.T., but I haven't been doing any real network stuff for several years, and I have more recently been pushing in the direction of becoming a Linux expert. I think I ended up where I am because of a combination of skills, likely the most influential of which have been personal, rather than technical. The technical knowledge can always be attained as I need it, but the personal and communication skills that I have developed over time have been priceless.

The downfall to this whole experience has obviously been being away from my family. I spend most of my weekdays down in central AR, and I come back home to Fayetteville on the weekends. I've left my wife quite stressed with taking care of the kids alone while also working to get the house in shape to be sold, not to mention all of the other amazing things she does in her normal daily life. I love my family and miss them very much.

The first couple of weeks away were obviously the toughest. The kids seem to handle it OK; they're amazingly resilient. It took a couple of cry sessions and long discussions for my wife to accept the situation, and since then she has handled it with the utmost grace. The ways that I love that woman are immeasurable.

For myself, I've just had to keep keep occupied and stay focused on the fact that this is all for my family. I've tried not to make any of my decisions related to this change selfish ones. I know that I am working to turn this into a golden opportunity so that I can better provide for my family. I'm really looking forward to calling this new job permanent and rejoining with my family down here in central AR. Regardless of that outcome, we've got some big changes ahead.

Day of the Ninja...

And I didn't even get to kill anyone.  :(