Just a quick post to say that A) I’m still alive and this website is still online (you’re reading this!), and B) just completed another migration of the website. As cool/fun as it was to be hosting it on Auzre PaaS these last few years it was totally overkill / oversized for the need, and also more expensive. So I moved it to a hosting provider with an annual fee of what I was paying every 1- or 2-months. If I was running a business with more visitors, then I’m sure it would pencil out, but not for my personal site. And it was a great way to learn about Azure!
If you’re new here, hope you enjoy browsing the posts, some of which go back over 12 years! And maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky it won’t be another 6 years before my next blog post 😉
I had a day off today (Friday). And what did I do? Spent some of it reconfiguring my website — guess I don’t have to turn in my geek card just yet! For some context, see my earlier post about switching the site over to Azure IaaS.
Today I switched from Azure IaaS (think VM) to Platform as a Service or PaaS. And it worked! What that means for me is no more server to worry about, and in fact once the cutover was complete I turned the VM off. Basically what I have now are two services that serve up my website, a web service and a database service (MySQL). No more patching, no more administering a server. Earlier in the day, I spent some time upgrading the version of MySQL Server on my VM (this was before I decided to make the switch.) That’s exactly the kind of thing I *don’t* have to worry about going forward. Woo hoo!
PS I very nearly went solo paddling today on my day off, but the forecast (wind/waves) wasn’t so nice — a bit out of my risk tolerance. And there’s the snow and cold temps, too. Although I got a fleece drysuit liner (think adult onesie) that will definitely help the cold-weather paddling. And truth be told, it’s so comfy I wear around the house sometimes! It’s marvelous.
Prisma is my new favorite app for photos! Pretty interesting technology behind it as well. Read more about it at http://prisma-ai.com/ and check out some amazing examples at https://www.instagram.com/prisma/. Here are some different effects of a recent picture (click each to see larger version).
Hello all, long time since I’ve posted on here it would appear. Lots and lots has transpired since then, which I’m sure I’ll cover at some point, but today’s post is about pizza — or at least a pizza analogy. This is the first post since I switched my server over to an Azure vm (i.e. Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS) from another IaaS provider. Think of it this way, as brilliantly expressed as Pizza as a Service, the different ways to get pizza:
My next step is to switch my WordPress site to Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS), which will be platform-based versus server-based. In that scenario, I’ll just have a web/app platform that hosts my site with a MySQL database platform. The benefits are that it’s less for me to manage and it should also end up costing less each month. This is how I’ve set up my other placeholder website for http://www.kayakbrain.com/, which is a domain I purchased a while back and a venture I hope to develop later. That’s it for today, peace and TTfN!
I really don’t like talking about this stuff. 😉 For a long time I didn’t even want to say the words out loud: Crohn’s Disease. My FB posts will attest to this fact: I think I’ve probably only mentioned my Crohn’s once on my timeline, when I was first diagnosed almost four years ago in September 2010. And I think to some degree, people don’t like talking about this stuff, either. Unless you’re in the medical field, you probably don’t talk regularly about poop and butts and bodily fluids and your colon. I get that.
But it’s important to talk about this stuff, and that’s why I decided to share this post. It’s important to remember that we’re all involved in each other’s journey. It’s important to remember that we’re all dealing with stuff – which is sometimes plainly visible to others, and sometimes not. Knowing those two things fosters so many good things: empathy, compassion, understanding, even patience!
Crohn’s is fascinating to me, like other autoimmune diseases, in that the body’s normal wiring/programming gets out of whack and the immune system starts attacking healthy tissue. Maybe my brain just needs a software upgrade/patch! In the case of Crohn’s, it can happen almost anywhere in the digestive track – from the air intake to the tailpipe, so to speak. In my case, it showed up in the colon, which is fairly typical.
I count myself very fortunate, in that through medication and some diet adjustments, I’ve been able to lead a fairly normal life. I’m not sure others with Crohn’s are so lucky. For me, the initial 6-9 months were a bit rough, but things improved and the last three years have been manageable.
But now, a new phase. For whatever reason, about two months ago I started experiencing new symptoms, popping up in new places. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say it was definitely not fun. So that prompts a new approach. This diagram (below) sums it up pretty well. For the last 3-4 years I’ve been able to hang out in the orange zone with a corticosteroid (fairly low-dosage). Now I’m moving into the yellow zone. I recently was approved to start taking a long-term medication regime which, if it’s successful, can halt the progress of the disease – aka introduce remission. That sounds pretty good. And I’m really hoping it does work, because the next step is surgery (down there) – and that definitely doesn’t sound fun. So we just take it as it comes. My faith and my family are a great comfort and support.
I am grateful to have been able to still pursue my passions (paddling and music) these last four years; and hope & plan to continue doing so – big plans for this summer and fall! I had a little setback earlier this summer, unfortunately, that primarily affected paddling: it’s kinda hard to be in a boat for long periods of time, and especially tricky when you’re expected to lead / guide / coach. But I’m pleased to say that things are already improving since June, and should allow me to get back on the water more and prepare for some big things in October!
So that’s my journey so far, at least this part of it. There’s plenty of exciting, great things happening too. But I do welcome your thoughts & prayers (sandwiches also accepted) for both Brandi and me; and I offer you mine for you and your journey, whatever the nature. Peace!
Last weekend I had the privilege of assisting on a Body Boat Blade fundamentals class on Orcas Island! For this course, FUN is fundamental: because learning is fun and we learn better when we’re having fun. And things you do which don’t seem remotely related to kayaking (like jumping off bridges) actually have all sorts of related benefits.
Now, we spent plenty of time in our boats, on top of our boats, and in the water next to our boats. This was a two-day class which assumed no previous experience and focused on the foundational (think the foundation of a house) skills which sets people up for success on their future paddling journey.
The company name Body, Boat, Blade is more than just a catchy phrase — it’s the way they approach skill development and paddling in general. The place you start is ‘what is your body doing?’ That approach lines up well with the first of The Four Fundamentals in the British Canoe Union (BCU) scheme. If you don’t already know, can you guess? It’s posture! So we work a lot in the fundamentals class about starting to understand and feel the connection between the body and boat — and using your whole body, at that, to transfer power to the blade (there, I got all four).
And the other thing we do a lot are games! This is one of my favorite things, i.e. ‘games with aims’ (purpose). I’ve compiled a list of every game (on and off the water) that I can remember doing over the last two years. And I’ve read books to borrow more great ideas. Games are a great way to have fun, build confidence, and practice/apply a skill that was just introduced.
My role in this course was to both coach and learn. As a BCU-certified Coach Level 1, I’m working with more senior coaches to learn how to be a better coach. Seth Albanese was the lead coach on this course. I’ve known Seth now for a couple years. We went through some BCU training and certifications together, and you’ll probably see pictures on my Facebook of us canoeing and rafting them together to use canoes as sails etc. Anyway, Seth is a great coach and I learned a lot from watching how he runs a class. During this class I got to run a couple different sessions, led several games (including making one up on the spot!), and do one-on-one observation and coaching during practice sessions. Felt good!
Don, John, Leslie, me and Seth after an assessment in 2013
All in all, a good time was had by all! It’s such a pleasure to see students succeed and have a great time doing it. It’s amazing the transformation that can take place in just a couple days. And I even knew one of the students through my connection with Discovery Sea Kayaks in Friday Harbor!
One last thing: I camped at Moran State Park while there. Had great weather. While I love the spots along the water by the boat launch, those are super popular and you have to reserve them well in advance. This time I camped at a spot on the Northend Sites, and from there is a great hike up towards Mount Constitution called the Cold Springs Trail (#3 on map). It’s about 4 miles and ~2000 ft. elevation gain. So the first night I set up camp, grilled myself a steak, and squeezed in the hike before dark! Good times.
While on Orcas Island recently, I paddled in West Sound with the goal of crossing off one (or more) islands from my Around the San Juans list. My main target was Skull Island in Massacre Bay (crazy names, eh? Read the history if you’re interested). And depending on time (so I didn’t miss the ferry home) I would try to get as many as possible.
There are plenty of rocks in the San Juan Islands which are not considered islands, and not on my “Around the San Juans” list. But this day I was paddling around practically anything — the detail on my chart wasn’t great and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. And none of them are designated National Wildlife Areas so I wasn’t worried about getting close to them. I did still keep an eye out for seal haul-outs, etc. As it turns out, only the one island (Skull) counted, so the tally for the day was 1 island and 5 rocks.
The water near one of the rocks formed a tiny bay which was full of a school of small fish, feeding on algae (I think) which made the water a bright green color. And at another place, the water separating the rock from the mainland was only a few inches deep (at that time/tide) — so close! — so I had to jump out of my boat and walk / float it to get all the way around.
The water was starting to drain out of the bay on the way back, and I was getting a helpful push. I set up a ferry angle to make sure I didn’t get too much help! Half-way across the bay I saw one of those speed limit buoys (the kind that look like half of a huge, floating cigarette). And I saw something else that, at first, looked like it was man-made, a squarish object which I thought might be some kind of buoy. But I got closer I realized it was a big chunk of granite sticking two feet out of the water. That would certainly ruin your day (or night). On the chart it’s labeled as Harbor Rk. or “DANGER ROCK”.
Also on the paddle back I encountered a cool little tidal race off Haida Point, three or four 1-ft standing waves. Had I not been paddling solo (I normally don’t), it would have been fun to try and surf them! Anyway, I got back and finished off the paddle with a celebratory roll — which BTW is getting much more consistent.
After I got off the water I ran into a local guy who I knew. We took the same 5-day class from Body Boat Blade back in 2012, and we were often paired to do rescue and skills practice. It was great to see him again and catch up.
Great paddle. And I’m slowly but surely crossing more islands off my list!
I had a question today from a friend in Ephrata about keyboards, and it’s a great one so I thought I would post it along with my response. Keyboardists: what are your recommendations? Post in blog comments. Thx!
Q: We need new/better sounds for our keys player on the church band. What would you advise? New keyboard? MIDI effects processor? MIDI effects software (Ableton Live, MainStage, etc.)? We would be typically using the keys for pads.
A: I’m a fan of Apple MainStage, been using it almost exclusively (with my Roland RD700 stage piano as a controller) for the last year for both my bands. The software was bundled with Logic, and fairly expensive, but now you can buy MainStage by itself for $30. It does require a Mac. And you’ll need to interface it to the keyboard via USB or MIDI-USB adapter. If you already have those two things, you should definitely try out MainStage.
For the PC, I have a couple friends that use and love Ableton Live. I’m not that familiar with it, but it looks like they have an Intro version for $99 and Standard version for $399. For what you want (more patches/sounds) it looks like those packs come in Standard/Suite but not Intro. But like I said, I’m not that familiar with Ableton so you might want to research that.
After software, my next suggestion would be to look at a MIDI module that can connect to the keyboard. All the major keyboard manufacturers make a MIDI module version of their popular keyboards, and it’s going to be cheaper than buying the whole keyboard (that part which you already have). You could pay $1000 or more for a good one of these, for example the Yamaha Motif-Rack XS goes for ~$1300. Good luck!!
