Need to stop picking up that book

I got a free electronic copy (from the author's site) of Little Brother. I like to have something on my hand held computer to read, while I'm away from my desk and don't need to pay attention (lunch, long ass server installs, long updates on computers, and the like).

The problem is, I have a hard time putting it back down. I got it out today, and now that I don't have the time to sit and read it, I keep grabbing it, and reading it. Starting to get exciting, but the whole book has been that way. It'll build up, then piss you off, then build you up again, and then piss you off again.

I want to read it. I don't have much to do today at work, but I have other things (work related) that I could and should be reading.

Today will suck.

I'm behind in ETK again. I hate Tuesdays. And they hate me. Thursdays are almost as bad. My biggest problem is, I got to bed after mid-night, and don't get up when the alarm goes off. Only reason I got up at 6am today is due to the fact I have to take something to work and get it there early.

Round 1 (this morning)
ETK day 2.
3 warm up drils
4/4 turkish get-ups.

I'm having problems with my right arm being locked in and stable this morning. I'd pull the shoulders together and then start, but by the time, I was on my left hand, the arm wouldn't be locked in. First time I've had this problem. In fact I dropped the bell... On Captain's travel cage... Thankfully he was on his regular cage. Doesn't look like it's damaged. But I'll have to take it out of the backpack and check later.

Tonight when I get home, before martial arts I'll do round 2, which will be day 3 of the etk.
Then go to martial arts. For today round 3.

100 push-ups...

I tried restarting week 3. Still can't do it. I can do 30 to 32 when I test, but when I try to follow the program, I can't get though the first day of week 3. Where they said to start if you can do 25+.

tonight was better than last week.
14, 18, 14, 14, 12.

That last number should have been 20+ but my shoulders were tight and burning.

I think I'm going to do some windmills now. Just to stretch my shoulders some.

Edit:
Added more to my workout
5-4-3-2-1 Right / Left Windmills at 16kg
5-4-3-2-1 Right / Left Bent Rows at 32kg

Micro Center USB Flash drives

I like flash drives I really do. I'm thinking of getting some new ones. Because I've "lost" a couple. So I went to the Micro Center website, and pulled up their current ones. Search was USB Flash Drives. The store branded ones work great, and are fairly cheap.... I paid $30.00 for 8 gigabits either earlier this year, or late last year. I don't remember which.

The 16gb ones are now $30.00. I think I'm going to go and buy a bunch. Maybe I'll buy some more 8 gig ones too, for $15.00 each.

For Christmas this year, I'm thinking of giving everyone on my team at work the same thing. 2 USB drives. One with a linux install, I'm thinking damn small linux, and the other one with True Crypt and Portable Apps.

Feels good

"Dinner" sat like a rock last night. It was a peperoni and cheese roll. I know bad, very bad. Didn't even taste that great. Too much grease, which is why I'm not a fan of pepperoni to begin with. Then sleep took forever to claim me, only got about 5 hours. That'll catch up later I'm sure.

Sides are sore from yesterday, and my body was slightly stiff when I got up. Took a little bit before I could have both eyes open at one time (too much light). With both eyes open, I couldn't read anything, it looked like trying to read through water. Its been this way most of my life, so I'm used to it. Only really a problem when I wake up in the dark, and hit the lights or turn on the computer monitor. If I get up and it's already light outside, I don't have a problem with it.

Redoing ETK week 1.
Warm-up: Already seeing a huge improvement. I started, realized I wanted my shoes after 4 squats, put them on and restarted.

Still only 3 sets, but I actually had time to start a 4th one, and may have made it too, but it would have been hard with the pumps, would have really had to push it. Since I like three sets, I took a 2 minute water break.

Wall squats x10 (first few hard, because my legs were stiff)
halo x10 (Captain would squawk each time the bell went behind my head).
pumps x10 (I actually got 5 in a row in sets 2 and 3, that's an increase from last week).

Main Workout: Way less resting. push-ups to a squat thrust still a problem.
2 handed Swing x20
jumping jacks 1 min
right hand swings x20
mountain climbers 1 min
left hand swings x20
push-up to a squat thrust 1 minute (only got 5, and the 5th one launched the bird (spooked him and he took off for another part of the house)).
2 hand swings x20
jog 1 minute (in place, I liked Day 3 last week better, up and down the driveway, but would rather workout in the house for now)
2 hand swings x20 (would have went to 1 hand but didn't know who far I would make it).
Jumping Jacks 1 min
2 hand swings x20 (should have been 2 sets of 1 hand swings)
mountain climbers 1 min. I modified this set, more of a kick back than a mountain climber.
2 hand swing x20 (American active swings, I raced the clock. got to 15, but finished the set off anyway).

Should have taken a picture

Today's workout was on a white board. I should have taken a picture of it. I used 16kg bells. My shoulders are tight, and sore. Partly from ETK, partly because I tend to do strict presses instead of push or dip presses.

10 of each
Double swings
double cleans
double presses
double squats
double clean and press long cycle
double swings

100 sit-ups
1 minute plank
3 sets of:
{15 side crunches
30 second side plank
repeat other side}
Band walking, band in an X.

100 Jump rope
20 push-ups
100 jump rope
20 dips (think crab walk, but dip)
100 Jump rope

Oww

My left shoulder is not happy. Actually neither one likes it too much. Both ones burn on the pumps. I hate pumps. The first get up on the left my shoulder would not lock in. The others were fine.

Today's ETK. Day 4
Warm up, again only 3 rounds in 10 minutes, I need to stop taking breaks, but that's beyond my skill at this point.
Wall Squats x10
Halos x10
pumps x10

Work out:
3 Right / Left Turkish Get Ups.

Armored Up

Got ETK in under the wire. Man, the phrase is FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! and NO MAS! NO MAS!! My lower back hurts, I know the last two sets of swings. I would have got one more of the set in, if I hadn't had to psych myself back up at a few points, which killed time.

I put my under armor on, my shorts, and a shirt, along with my five fingers (I want the cold weather ones now). Grabbed my 24kg bell, and went to the garage.

Tonight, 1 day late, day 4.

3 sets in 10 minutes:
wall squats x10
Halos X10
pumps x10 (still hate these, no better at them yet, still have to stop way too much).

12 minutes of glory? I made it further kiddies.
2 handed swings x20

58 jumping jacks in 1 minute

Right handed Swing x20

1 minute mountain climbers. I moved them up a notch, half were just switch feet in a push up, the other half were knee to opposite elbow... well moved that way anyway About a foot away from touching.

Left hand swings x20

Subbed 1 minute pushup to a squat thrust with 1 minute jumping pullups. I tired assisted but the body would just not cooperate.

Hand 2 Hand swings x20

Shuttle Jog (think shuttle run,but done at a jog) up and down the driveway for one minute I was working out in the garage, lost time opening and closing the garage door...

2 handed swings x20

59 jumping jacks in 1 minute, I problaby would have hit 62 if I hadn't stopped with 20 seconds to go to see how much time was left.

2 handed Swings x20 again.

Colapsed for the last 30 seconds, on my hands and keens trying to get back into the mountain climber position.

By the way it was cold out side. After I was done, I came in, swapped my shorts for pants, and walked around the block. That's when I really started to feel the pain in my lower back, which I knew was from the last 2 sets of swings. I was barely able to swing when I was doing them.

Things I read

So I'm reading a book right now. It's called Little Brother. I'm only a couple of chapters in, and I like it. It's a bout a high school kid whose life gets turned up side down. He fights back using technology. I'm reading the book and even though it's set in the near future, I recognize the tech.

Anyway, I got the free ebook from the author. He said if you like to adopt a class room. So I did. 4 of them. All in Michigan. Plus one extra book for a friend at Martial Arts, who teaches in Detroit's Public schools. Oh and a dead tree version for myself.

The order came to just shy of 100.00 by the time shipping was included. But that's ok. It allows me to sleep at night knowing that somewhere, more people will get a chance to learn to avoid the censors. The same kind of person I've been for the last 2 days.

Seriously, I don't have a problem with people doing it, but my job is to protect the company, and they see porn as a threat. For historical reasons. I agree I don't think people should be doing that at work... But I feel bad (to a point) for busting people for what I do at home. After all. Work computers don't belong to you, you're only allowed to use them.

No workouts today, I was just physically tired. Stayed home played with my bird some. Went out to eat, and going to bed soon.

pain

It's time for work's monthly policy audit. Those are so much fun. People going to sites that they shouldn't during work hours. You'd think if they were going to do that, that they would at least try to hide it, by bouncing it off an off site server over SSH.

Plus I had to get a server ready for presentation tomorrow. It's a tools server, and I have to walk people through how to use it at 4pm. So I didn't even get home tonight from work until 9:30. Left about 8:45.

Tonight's ETK:
warm-up: 10 minutes, 3 rounds of each (my shoulders popped on the first round up pumps and the left one is sore).
Wall Squat x10
Halos x10 (24kb kettlebell)
Pumps x10

Workout:
5 minutes to do as many Turkish Get Ups, switching sides every one.
3 left, 3 right @ 24kg (53lbs).

It was hard. I wish I had 44s to practice with, but since I don't, and the point is to master the 53...

This is definitely a PITFA

My mouse died. No really. So I'm stuck doing everything without a mouse. Until I get another set of batteries charged. It really is a pain to have to do Tabs to get through everything. Especially with the way the "2.0" styled sites are.

Its like they didn't expect anyone to be without a mouse.

At least I'm not stuck in the and of Lynx, but I think more web-dweebs (developers) need to spend time without a mouse.

A co-worker was joking with me, only partly, when I said I was applying to teach at a local community college. To teach Intro to Computers. He said he could see it. First day, I'd have them pick up a mouse, say "This is a mouse. It's used for Guis. Now un-plug it. We're doing everything from the command line."

I said yep, they have to earn the right of a mouse, damn kids.

Update: Batteries are so nice.

"looks like your gut is getting bigger"

Comment someone made tonight. Sad fact it is. I'm between 3 to 5 pounds heavier than last week this time.

Tonight's workout:
PART 1 = ETK:
10 minute warmup:
3 sets of the following (completed in 10 minutes, with breaks)
wall squats x10
halo x10 (using a 53lbs kettlebell)
pumps x10 (I fucking hate these, I can't do more than 5 at a time).

12 minutes of real work:
Swing x20
jumping jacks 1 min
swings x20
mountain climbers 1 min (believe it or not, I nailed these bad boys dead on for the firs time ever)
swings x20
pushup to a squat thrust 1 min (I did 3. well really just 1, the other 2 were Burpees, the rest of the time, longer than a minute, I spent walking around the house)
swings x20
jog 1 min (I jogged in place. knees were not high).
swing x20
jumping jacks 1 min.

15 minutes later, I tried day 1 of week 3, of the hundred push-up challenge. I can do 30 straight, but breaking it up I failed:
14 push-ups
1 min rest
18 push-ups
1 min rest
14 push-ups
1 min rest
7 push-ups and had to stop. The sheet said to do 14.
rested about 30 seconds
tried round 4 again, got 6.
Never made it to round 5.

"looks like your gut is getting bigger"

Lost a little ground

When I didn't like the program the last time, and didn't see major improvements while doing it, I'm going to restart the 100 push-up challenge.

I did the initial test tonight I think my last test was about 33 or so. I know back on my birthday, I was able to do 32 (31 for my age, 1 for good luck). Tonight, my shoulders were burning so bad at 30, I just called it.

So the up coming plan. ETK, and 100 push-ups together. For the pain, for the pleasure, and hopefully nothing but gain.

Martial Arts tonight...

It was interesting.Andrea (my favorite black belt) was there. She hasn't been working out much lately (because she's being lazy after starting her new job) and has put on like 10lbs. I kept hearing her complain that her uniform was tight, and that she had gained weight. We did some kicks and hand work with focus mitts, she kept having to stop well before I did.

She was soaked like I was last night with the kettlebell. I barely broke a sweat.

Then we did a couple of forms. My higher forms are all jumbled together in my head, while I can remember my lower forms no problem.

Then it was time for the kids class to do forms, and we lost our practice space. After the kids class, the adult class started.

However tonight was movie night. Looks like Thursday will be too. One of the masters (and he is damn good), recently had a bunch of his home videos converted to DVD and was showing us the martial arts club the way it used to be. It was sad, kind of, seeing Master O (my first master, and founder of our club). He passed away in 94. It was educational too... but we'll probably do it again Thursday. Which means my plans for the week are all in wack.

However that might not be a bad thing. My glutes hurt from last night, and it means I can practice kettlebells again tomorrow, instead of using it as a rest day, like I had planned.

Original Plan: Sun, Mon Kettlebell work. Tue MA. Wed rest. Thur MA. Fri maybe KB maybe rest. Sat MA, rinse and repeat.

New plan: Sun, Mon, Kettlebell. Tue, ma movie. Wed Kettlebells. Thur MA movies(?). Firday Kettlebell, Sat MA, start next week all over again.

Soaked

Who would have thought, that would be enough to soak me.

Tonight's fun:
8 x 10 2 handed swings with 32kg kettlebell
1 x 20 2 handed swings with 32kg kettlebell

The rules were simple. 60 seconds total to swing and rest. Each time the minute changed on the clock it was time to swing again.

The first 8, I could tell they were getting harder, and I seriously doubted making it to 100... SO the last change, I went to 20, which I had to fight the whole way. But I got all 100.

I then had to walk around the house for a bit.

Once again I feel this way.

I feel like an embarrassment to myself and my status on the AOS Forums (as a Senior Member). Breakfast today was 2 slices of wheat bread, and a shit load of water.

One of the other guys from the forum told me about a place he does group kettlebell workouts at. I showed up. There was a lot of people there, I thought I'd be in the back of the class where i set up, but it turned out I was in the front. Just more easier for me to embarrass myself.

I couldn't keep up. I know I'm a slacker on true proper training when I'm at home. But I thought I was better than what I was. I didn't think I'd go in and own the workout, but I at least thought I'd be able to keep up. About the only part of the workout I could do was the Turkish getups, and even those were sad.

Slight stretch warmup. Joint mobility and the like (I guess).
5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups. I used a 20kg bell. 15 Right, 12 Left

Then I think we did Swing, Halo, Deck Squats. I did manage to do 12 of those, we were supposed to do 10, but I kept counting 3, no idea why, and I know I did that 3 times before I realized it.

Then we did 2 hand swing, 2 hand high pull, flip and press, 2 hand high pull flip and squat, 2 hand high pull, 2 hand swing, 2 hand high pull, flip and press, 2 hand high pull flip and squat, 2 hand high pull, 2 hand swing. 6 Reps of Each for 3 sets... I could do half a set, when I was lucky. After it was over at the end of the third set I was choking down my own vomit (mostly water, with a little bread).

Then they did 5-4-3-2-1 R/L Highpull, snatch, clean and squat. I got through sets 5 and 4, I couldn't go further.

Then they did of 1 min swing, 1 min snatches 30 seconds rest. I did more than choke down my own vomit at that point. I only did the first 2 sets, and the last set of snatches.

I feel like I should go hide under a rock, seriously.

The new tag stands for: Sunday RKC Led Kettlebell Class (SRLKC)

No I don't call this a work out.

Tonight's fun.
Weight: 32kg kettlebell
10 sumo-deadlifts
10 right hand swings
10 left hand swings

The 32 is still out of my range... but I'm going to beat it, even if it is slowly.

The strange things I think of.

So I'm in the shower this morning thinking... 'It's A Wonderful Life' is really quite interesting.

See what George really was, was a Liberal. He fought Potter, the robber baron of the town, and greedy conservitive. Look at what happened to the town after George was never born.

The town had strip clubs and porn theaters, you could tell Bert was crooked by looking at him, people lived in fear.

Go watch it and think about that while watching that. Then mourn with me for the country

meh to the world

So tonight's martial arts class, I just couldn't get into it. I didn't want to move. I've been having some digestive problems, feels like my intestines are full, even after going to the bathroom.

So I just wasn't there tonight mentally. As in I couldn't get the body and mind to do what they should do.

I went through the motions, but it was like autopilot on a robot.

Then I got used as the demonstration dummy for the 6th dan, Master V. Got an elbow in my face for it too... my nose hurts.

One last trip to the park

So because of financial reasons (one of the co-workers got a part time job on Saturdays)... Tonight was our last Saturday at the park. We're going to do the workouts at work on Monday nights.

Tonight was light, but out side of the comfort zone.

I had everyone move up in weight tonight.
20 swings @ 32kg (me)
20 swings @ 24kg (nick)
10 swings @ 16kg (deb)

Then we moved down to our normal weight, and did 20 swings
me at 24kg
nick at 16kg
deb at 12kg

Then Double swings.... we only went to 10

Then 5 per side clean and press at our normal weights.

Then we were done, and had the joy of pushing 320 lbs up the hill to my car. Nick grabbled the handle, I pushed. We actually ran most of the way up. We got the tennis courts, and had to stop. Then I pulled the last 50 feet up the hill solo.

more sore

something I noticed today, after pressing and snatching (but mostly pressing) the 70lbs bell today. Yes by the way, I did snatch it. Was that my lats and sides hurt. For my 35lbs and 53lbs bells, I don't have to load the lat to do the press. For the 70, I do. Wow I noticed the difference.

The problems I see with SaaS.

SaaS (the camel case abbreviation for Software as a Service), is providing the concept of Leasing Software. Kind of.

Different kinds of Software as a Service I can think of, off the top of my head: Gmail, Blogger (where we are now), Salesforce.com (CRM), Google Apps. In each of these cases, you can take similar software, and build a server. With virtualization you can put several of them on the same server at one time. I could go out and buy hardware; get sendmail and wordpress; and set up DNS. Then I could have full control over my mail and my blog.

However, I use services that run the software for me, and allow me to access what I want across the internet. That's great. It saves me hardware price, electricity, and space. I don't have to worry about upgrading or bug fixes, I don't have to worry about a lot of things.

Or do I? Here's the problems list, and why I came up with it. I started looking and thinking about this because of 3 things recently.
1: Yesterday I saw a job posting for a really good job. It was Linux administration, Xen Virtualization, MySQL administration, and playing with something called SalesForce.com (which turns out to be a Saas based Customer Relationship Management (customer database)).
2: I was contacted by a recruiter I've worked with in the past about the same position.
3: A comment on this blog post / article. And yes, that is me responding to the post with some of the same information below.

Problem 1:
What happens when you have no network connection? It could be because you're traveling, natural disaster, accident (someone hit the telephone pole with their car and broke it, your ISP caught fire and burnt to the ground, someone got too happy with a backhoe and took out the local fiber --I've seen all three-- ), mistake (telco disconnects the wrong circuit --something else I've seen a lot-- or the DNS expires and the company can't get it back), or maintenance (isp has to upgrade a switch and its year end for your company). You've lost access to your email, docs or customer database. And the problem could be at the far end, where the SaaS provider is, not just where you are, or anywhere along the line between you and them.

At least if the data is on your hardware and equipment, you don't have to send your staff home, or have them waiting around doing nothing until they can get access back. You can also sit down and make modifications on data off line, and upload to central servers later. You can review old emails (something I can do when the mail server crashes, because I have a local copy on my desktop) and get ready for meetings you're about to go into. The list goes on and on.

Problem 2:
Where are the items stored? Are they on your computer, under your control or on someone else's hardware? If they decide to upgrade, do you have a say? When Microsoft comes out with patches or an update, I choose when to upgrade. When someone releases a new version of the Software, I plan it around when it will cause the least amount of chaos. That isn't the case when it's on someone else's hardware. They do things when they want to, because they think it's best for them, with no buy-in from the customer.

Another note in the same vain. I've had 2 friends (well people I know online and consider friends), who had their blogs and things stored on a community site. They lost access to most of their data when the site didn't renew it's DNS. One of these friends I was able to help and get her some of her data back. I couldn't help the other one though, because it was set up differently for him.

Problem 3:
Backing up and restoring data. When it's on your hardware, you do the back ups, and if you mess up, it's you that goofed. However, when it's on their hardware, you lose that right. They make the back ups. Companies do a good job of backing up, but they don't keep the backups forever. If they fold will they give you access to your backed up data so you can move it elsewhere?

Problem 4:
Who besides you have access to your data? In the case of SalesForce.com, Wikipedia (another SaaS) talks about how SalesForce.com was compromised in 2007. The attackers used a phishing scam, and then moved out from there.

Yes, there will always be crackers, but at least if it's my hardware, I would hope my monitoring software would catch them before they were able to attack to far. With SaaS, they just have to attack one vector because they know that's whats there. With your hardware, they have to figure out what you have first.

Going back to Wikipedia, their site shows something else just as good, although in a different fashion. Anyone can update it, which means if people don't like what is being said they can change what is said.

Problem 5:
Network overhead. Where I'm currently working, I have a decent network. Lots of switches, Gigabit links and all the fun that comes with it. However while my network can do 100mbit+ speeds from the desktop to the servers, I have a much smaller pipe going out of the network to my ISP. If my company were to use the SaaS tools, they would have to buy the next size pipe. Considering they ask me regularly if they have to have the one the size we do... I don't think telling them they would need larger would go over to well. Especially if it's because they have no choice but to get a bigger pipe, or wait longer to access the information they need.

Problem 6:
Cost and return on investment. It might cost less to do SaaS, since you're saving on hardware, software, cooling, space costs, and staffing. But it's a re-occurring bill every month to a year. What if you miss the payment? When I had Sprint / Nextel, they'd leave service on until you were 2 bills behind, then they'd cancel your service. That worked great for me when I was a contractor, and would go a month without income. AT&T, who I have now, if your 7 days late with your payment the only places you can call are customer service, and 911. What happens if you miss a payment to your SaaS because of an unforeseen problem? Also when you own the equipment you can write it off over deprecation. Can you do that with a Service?


Problem 7:
Staffing. Lets face it the economy sucks. We currently have a high unemployment rate too. If you don't have the hardware on the floor, you don't need as many people to run it. So there are less jobs and people get let go. I know I'm tired of working more than 12 hours at a time and 5 to 7 days a week (even if they're not all 12 hour shifts). If people don't have a job, they don't have money, if they don't have money, how do they buy your product? If they can't buy your product, where does your revenue come from? If you don't have revenue how do you pay your bills, including your SaaS bill? See problem 6.

I could probably go on if I wanted to, but I'll stop here. For now. While I think the concept is cool, and have no problem using some of it, knowing that things can get lost at any given time; I don't think it is what Businesses should be doing. I think the businesses that are using it, are being ran by people that are too busy counting beans and not paying enough attention to the larger picture. If they looked at the larger picture, they'd see that in the long run they could have a better Return On their Investment if they maintained everything in house.