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).
An incredible night with the lads — including a few special guests — at the Kirkland Performance Center on May 14th, 2016! A very memorable evening for me personally, for a few reasons, since that’s how we started as a band back in the Mother Superior and the Warm Guns era. Great this time to have both Mike & Jakael with us filling in on guitar duties, and special guest Geoffrey Castle was like pouring lighter fluid on the bbq!
We put a bunch of pictures up on the band FaceBook page here, and here are a couple of my faves:
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!
Had a great paddle with Chad on a gorgeous, sunny January day! Launched from Jackson Beach and paddled around a bit, including crossing another couple islands off my list Around the San Juans!
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.
