My new workstation finally arrived today, so I got to finally ditch the laptop and move to something with a little less play in the keyboard and a slightly larger screen. Most of the other devs opted to use their budget on pretty Macs, but I dumped mine into a whitebox with a lot of storage and RAM. The primary reason was that I need to run a bunch of VMs, and my plan was to try and get OpenStack (grizzly) running on so I could replicate (or maybe just approximate) our production environment. I went over to the RedHat's RDO project site since they've done a pretty decent job of making deployment easy and bundling everything together.
The weak point in my plan was an insane idea to use Fedora 19rc1 as the host OS. If you're thinking about doing something similiar, stick with the latest stable release of your distro. There were a bunch of small gotchas due to bugs/changes in 19 that the openstack stuff just didn't handle (stuff like the fact that packages called "mysql" are gone in Fedora now and are replaced by either "mariadb" or "community-mysql"... which the puppet classes don't know about yet, missing sysconfig files for qemu-kvm, etc). Getting the install required a bunch of tweaking of config files and re-running the installer, but in the end I got it working.
Worse yet, some kind souls had documented their similar adventures, but some of the problems had been fixed since they wrote it. Some helpful hints I ran across:
http://funwithlinux.net/2013/08/install-openstack-grizzly-on-fedora-19-using-packstack-with-quantum-networking/
https://gist.github.com/tuxdna/6047147
I'd also suggest finding an RPM for openstack-packstack-2013.1.1-0.7 or later and rebuilding that from the SRPM rather than using the one provided by the yum repo (think it was 2013.1.-0.3). There's a small problem in the switch_keyring code that's fixed in newer versions. I ended up using 0.24.dev660.
Also, skip the nagios install with --install-nagios=n. I used mariadb for my database, and ended up having to tell packstack to use localhost for my mysql_host.
Finally, a word about packstack itself. This is really just a python program (class) that can run on most of the major distros. I'd suggest looking into it if you're thinking about installing on a Debian/Ubuntu system as it really does ease and automate a lot of the installation process.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
my new job and why I think it's cool
I've been pretty quiet since mid-May, and the reason for that has been that I've started a new job. I'm working for a start up called True Ability, and the 2 second pitch is "We provide a flight simulator for hiring technical talent."
The "Oh, I got your attention" pitch is that we do technical skills assessment by providing candidates with a series of tasks to complete in a virtual server. It's basically a break-fix test on a VPS that allows non-technical people to gauge the ability of a potential hire. Our ultimate goal is to get rid of the process of weeding through resumes and help recruiters narrow their search down to qualified, interested candidates as well as allow qualified and interested candidates to escape from getting weeded out for non-technical reasons. Right now we're pretty much focusing on Linux administration, but should be moving into other areas in the not too distant future... I'm pretty excited to start expanding our offering.
The company itself is unbelievable. It's one of those rare times you find awesome people with a truly complimentary mix of skills and expertise with a worthy goal and a clear roadmap to achieve it. My job title is ostensibly "Linux Engineer", but in reality I'm working on the automation code for breaking the servers and evaluating the candidates' solution. It's a funky hybrid role doing software development, but requiring a pretty good system administration base... kind of devops but without the drag of on-call duty. \o/
If you'd like to know more, hit us up. The site's mainly geared for the recruiter types now, but we're planning on doing some cool stuff for the technical folks in the future.
And if you're wondering why I think this is a big deal, read on.
The "Oh, I got your attention" pitch is that we do technical skills assessment by providing candidates with a series of tasks to complete in a virtual server. It's basically a break-fix test on a VPS that allows non-technical people to gauge the ability of a potential hire. Our ultimate goal is to get rid of the process of weeding through resumes and help recruiters narrow their search down to qualified, interested candidates as well as allow qualified and interested candidates to escape from getting weeded out for non-technical reasons. Right now we're pretty much focusing on Linux administration, but should be moving into other areas in the not too distant future... I'm pretty excited to start expanding our offering.
The company itself is unbelievable. It's one of those rare times you find awesome people with a truly complimentary mix of skills and expertise with a worthy goal and a clear roadmap to achieve it. My job title is ostensibly "Linux Engineer", but in reality I'm working on the automation code for breaking the servers and evaluating the candidates' solution. It's a funky hybrid role doing software development, but requiring a pretty good system administration base... kind of devops but without the drag of on-call duty. \o/
If you'd like to know more, hit us up. The site's mainly geared for the recruiter types now, but we're planning on doing some cool stuff for the technical folks in the future.
And if you're wondering why I think this is a big deal, read on.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
openstack
I figure it's time to finally get back to writing posts about nerd stuff, and so I'll start with adventures in openstack.
Friday, February 22, 2013
aerobic training
H'ok. We all remember the PE class schpiel about max heart rate (MHR) and target heart rate (THR). Turns out that sports science has advanced enough that there's a more detailed theory about what range we should be trying reach to achieve certain results.
And if you're a fatboy like me and have been punishing yourself on a treadmill wondering why you're not seeing any gains AT ALL, then you're probably doing what I'm doing: training like you were an 18 year old athlete instead of a 40ish computer nerd. Or to put it another way, pushing way too hard.
Here's what I've learned and how I'm planning on changing up my workouts to see if it makes a difference... more words after the jump.
And if you're a fatboy like me and have been punishing yourself on a treadmill wondering why you're not seeing any gains AT ALL, then you're probably doing what I'm doing: training like you were an 18 year old athlete instead of a 40ish computer nerd. Or to put it another way, pushing way too hard.
Here's what I've learned and how I'm planning on changing up my workouts to see if it makes a difference... more words after the jump.
that's more like it
So this past week, the workout has changed a little bit more.. but the big news is that I am now losing weight after the workouts (the trick is not backsliding over the weekend or by "justifying" Bad Food). I think I've finally finished putting on whatever new muscle was coming.
I ended up pushing to 2K in swimming last Thursday, and it pretty much wiped me out. The pool was closed Friday and Monday, and since I was still feeling burned out on Monday I skipped the heavy bag, too.
Starting Tuesday, the workout was basically just 2K swimming. 75% freestyle (no backstroke), the rest breast stroke. I did take short 2 breath breaks in between laps (25m), but only one 30s break at 1.5km and a couple of breaks just long enough to stretch out my shoulders at 700m and 1600m. Finish it up by treading water for 2 minutes to cool down. I'm swimming about 1.8K in 1 hour, so 2K is about 1:10.
At night, I'd do 2 sessions of Bas Rutten's 2 minute boxing CD (around 30 minutes) just to keep working on the shoulder and leg strength.
Repeated that for Wednesday and Thursday, pool closed today. So I did some bag work for about 45 mins, then swung by the gym for 3x8 powerlifts at roughly the same weight I'd left off at back in December (bench was down 20 and leg press was down 100lbs due being tired and having been out of the gym so long). I gave myself around 30s between lifts, and rotated through BP->LP->Military Press-> back to BP.
Considering taking an hour long Basic Bag class tommorrow, and maybe sticking around for a KM class.
End result is that despite eating quite a bit more than normal, I'm down 6lbs and at my low point when just dieting. Unlike weight loss with dieting, though, this weight will come back quickly... and it's easy to "justify" a trip to Shipleys with "I'm about to do an hour of swimming". Even drinking Gatorade/Powerade will wreck the weight loss for the day... been sticking to strictly water in the workouts.
Post swimming lunch has been a couple of double cheeseburgers from McD's and a bacon ranch salad (no chicken), and dinner has been a couple of double Whataburger Jr.'s (toss the bun). Not exactly healthy, but it seems to be working.
Depressingly, my performance hasn't been improving noticeably during these past few weeks of high intensity exercise, and like I said weight loss just ain't happening (although I chalk that up to muscle gains). Even flat-out full speed, my time for 100m in the pool is at best 2:15s (which is absolutely poor) and started off at 2:20s. I've been doing some research on aerobic training that is counterintuitive to what I was expecting and I'll go over that in the next post.
But I'm still happy with the progress made thus far.
I ended up pushing to 2K in swimming last Thursday, and it pretty much wiped me out. The pool was closed Friday and Monday, and since I was still feeling burned out on Monday I skipped the heavy bag, too.
Starting Tuesday, the workout was basically just 2K swimming. 75% freestyle (no backstroke), the rest breast stroke. I did take short 2 breath breaks in between laps (25m), but only one 30s break at 1.5km and a couple of breaks just long enough to stretch out my shoulders at 700m and 1600m. Finish it up by treading water for 2 minutes to cool down. I'm swimming about 1.8K in 1 hour, so 2K is about 1:10.
At night, I'd do 2 sessions of Bas Rutten's 2 minute boxing CD (around 30 minutes) just to keep working on the shoulder and leg strength.
Repeated that for Wednesday and Thursday, pool closed today. So I did some bag work for about 45 mins, then swung by the gym for 3x8 powerlifts at roughly the same weight I'd left off at back in December (bench was down 20 and leg press was down 100lbs due being tired and having been out of the gym so long). I gave myself around 30s between lifts, and rotated through BP->LP->Military Press-> back to BP.
Considering taking an hour long Basic Bag class tommorrow, and maybe sticking around for a KM class.
End result is that despite eating quite a bit more than normal, I'm down 6lbs and at my low point when just dieting. Unlike weight loss with dieting, though, this weight will come back quickly... and it's easy to "justify" a trip to Shipleys with "I'm about to do an hour of swimming". Even drinking Gatorade/Powerade will wreck the weight loss for the day... been sticking to strictly water in the workouts.
Post swimming lunch has been a couple of double cheeseburgers from McD's and a bacon ranch salad (no chicken), and dinner has been a couple of double Whataburger Jr.'s (toss the bun). Not exactly healthy, but it seems to be working.
Depressingly, my performance hasn't been improving noticeably during these past few weeks of high intensity exercise, and like I said weight loss just ain't happening (although I chalk that up to muscle gains). Even flat-out full speed, my time for 100m in the pool is at best 2:15s (which is absolutely poor) and started off at 2:20s. I've been doing some research on aerobic training that is counterintuitive to what I was expecting and I'll go over that in the next post.
But I'm still happy with the progress made thus far.
Monday, February 4, 2013
slowly getting there
Feel pretty good about today's workout:
1 hour swimming (1.6K)
* for the first 1K:
- tried to keep it at least 75% freestyle/front crawl (sub backstroke if I'm sucking down too much water)
- breast stroke the other 25% if shoulders are tuckering out
- it's ok to stop every 150m, but no longer than 10s (3 deep breaths)
* last bit
- 50% front crawl, 50% breast stroke
- no set distance.. just shoot for whatever you can get until the hour is up
20 minutes footwork
* warmup laps
* 3x10 pushups and situps
* shadow box for 3 mins
* "tour the gym" once in fight stance... start at front left corner: walk back, to your right, forward, then left along edge of gym
* 2x "tour the gym" with 10lb dumbbells in each hand at guard position.. 1 min breaks (keep moving)
* 3x10 straight punches w/weights (work on keeping guard hand up and in the right spot!).. 1 min breaks between
* 1x10 punches w/o weights, make sure you use good form, then stretch out
1 hour heavy bag
* five sets of 5x10 straight punch
- each arm does 5 subsets of 10 punches
- focus on speed and form, not so much on power
- keep hands in guard position, even during breaks
- should take around a minute
- 1 minute break in between... walk/jog
* 5x15 of two-fers
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right = 1 rep
- chop feet, try for power and KO on 2nd punch
- should take around 15s... 30s breaks
* 5x15 four-fers
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right+left+right = 1 rep
- chop feet, try for both speed and power
- should take around 30s... 1m breaks
* 5x15 3bows
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right+left+right elbow
- try to put a crease in the bag with the elbow
- both speed and power
- should be around 30s... 1m breaks
* 3x10 front kicks
- 10 with each leg = 1 set
- defensive kick... use whole foot to hit bag
- focus on form (knee up to cock it, then snap it forward)... keep balance and work on foot position
- work on getting power from popping the hips
- 30s break between each set
* 5 sets of 20 second flurries
- front punch as fast and hard as you can for 20s
- break 20s, then back into it
- it's ok for the punches to get really weak... just keep going like your life depended on it
My big goal for the next week is to start shortening the break times some more (ie, no break is longer than the punching time) and then maybe work on increasing reps.
1 hour swimming (1.6K)
* for the first 1K:
- tried to keep it at least 75% freestyle/front crawl (sub backstroke if I'm sucking down too much water)
- breast stroke the other 25% if shoulders are tuckering out
- it's ok to stop every 150m, but no longer than 10s (3 deep breaths)
* last bit
- 50% front crawl, 50% breast stroke
- no set distance.. just shoot for whatever you can get until the hour is up
20 minutes footwork
* warmup laps
* 3x10 pushups and situps
* shadow box for 3 mins
* "tour the gym" once in fight stance... start at front left corner: walk back, to your right, forward, then left along edge of gym
* 2x "tour the gym" with 10lb dumbbells in each hand at guard position.. 1 min breaks (keep moving)
* 3x10 straight punches w/weights (work on keeping guard hand up and in the right spot!).. 1 min breaks between
* 1x10 punches w/o weights, make sure you use good form, then stretch out
1 hour heavy bag
* five sets of 5x10 straight punch
- each arm does 5 subsets of 10 punches
- focus on speed and form, not so much on power
- keep hands in guard position, even during breaks
- should take around a minute
- 1 minute break in between... walk/jog
* 5x15 of two-fers
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right = 1 rep
- chop feet, try for power and KO on 2nd punch
- should take around 15s... 30s breaks
* 5x15 four-fers
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right+left+right = 1 rep
- chop feet, try for both speed and power
- should take around 30s... 1m breaks
* 5x15 3bows
- switch lead hand on each set
- left+right+left+right elbow
- try to put a crease in the bag with the elbow
- both speed and power
- should be around 30s... 1m breaks
* 3x10 front kicks
- 10 with each leg = 1 set
- defensive kick... use whole foot to hit bag
- focus on form (knee up to cock it, then snap it forward)... keep balance and work on foot position
- work on getting power from popping the hips
- 30s break between each set
* 5 sets of 20 second flurries
- front punch as fast and hard as you can for 20s
- break 20s, then back into it
- it's ok for the punches to get really weak... just keep going like your life depended on it
My big goal for the next week is to start shortening the break times some more (ie, no break is longer than the punching time) and then maybe work on increasing reps.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
hacking my feet
So one of my weak points that has been exposed in Krav Maga has been my foot position. The basic problem is that my feet feel more natural when they're both 45 degrees off center:
What I've been doing to try and fix it has been to try and walk around by pigeon toeing my right foot inward. To me, it feels excessively turned inward, but that seems to be just a mind trick. The end result is that my gait is a little noisier and my weight seems to be pushed more forward. Also seem to be less agile with the feet parallel... as in changing direction or sidestepping stuff isn't as easy to do.
Just for kicks and grins, I tried keeping the feet parallel for the kick during the breaststroke, too: didn't notice much of a change in power, it's just "different".
It still feels weird, but it's becoming less so. On the plus side, my calves are no longer killing me on the day after a heavy bag workout so I think this is having an effect.
A few more degrees, and I think I could call it my "Fred Flintstone" stance. Not sure if this is because it's genetic, structural, or just out of habit. Great for dead lifting, not so hot for driving forward.
In order to get max power for punches and keeping your weight centered so you can move around more easily, the feet need to look like this:
Seems like a minor detail, but it's an important one. As I get tired, my right toe starts to drift back out which means I end up using the right leg to push off of more for punches. The extra stress really became apparent one night when we start throwing knees and my right calf muscle was cramping pretty much the next day.
Just for kicks and grins, I tried keeping the feet parallel for the kick during the breaststroke, too: didn't notice much of a change in power, it's just "different".
It still feels weird, but it's becoming less so. On the plus side, my calves are no longer killing me on the day after a heavy bag workout so I think this is having an effect.
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