AWS Documentation is Awful

This past week I had a coworker ask me to help with some Amazon Web Services (AWS) administration. I needed to go in and check the last time a handful of users had logged into the system. I had been shown how to do this in the past but didn't do a good job of taking notes. I didn't worry about it as I figured I could just use an Internet search engine to help me get the information I needed. That didn't work at all.

AWS is such a large system that there are half a dozen ways to get the information I needed. Furthermore the documentation kept saying to use a tool and write code to query log files. From my training at the beginning of the year, I knew there is an easy way to point-and-click my way to success. The thought of writing code felt like building a car before going to the grocery store to buy some eggs.

Fortunately I remembered some of what I had been taught and got roughly to the right place. Using information sent to me by my coworker I was able to stumble around for bit and get the information I needed. She sent me a screenshot and it provided the missing clues I needed.

I have a notebook that I keep for work. I write down notes from meetings and helpful hints. Naturally I wrote down all the steps to repeat how to get the information I needed. Logic follows that if I have had to get the information once, there is a good chance I will need it again. Next time I don't want to waste half an afternoon trying to figure it out.

Technology Improves Our Lives

This morning I woke up at 6am and ran through my usual morning routine of breakfast. Then I got ready to go skiing. It is early November which means lifts are not really running at Alta and so if you want to ski, you get to hike up the hill and earn your turns. My daughter joined me today.

Yesterday we did the same thing and had the luxury of clear skies. Today we started driving in a rainstorm that turned into snow the higher in elevation we drove. We arrived at the Wildcat lot in a full-blown blizzard. My daughter and I don't care as we live by the philosophy that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. We got our skis ready and started climbing the hill while it snowed heavily around us. 

I felt incredibly comfortable as I hiked up the hill. We both made sure not to overdress as that would cause us to sweat too much which would freeze and make us cold. Instead the breathability of our Gortex-like shells kept the water out and allowed our perspiration to escape. I thought to myself that even though I was outside, I felt comfortable enough as if inside.

Technology constantly makes our lives better. I would not want to trade places with the wealthiest people of 200 years ago because of our many modern conveniences. Clothing is just one example. The many uses of electricity also come to mind. We can use it to keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, not to mention run our computers, light our homes, and power our entertainment devices. Yes, I am happy living right now.

An 8-Year Old with 8 Computers

Yesterday I talked with one of the kids in my neighborhood who is about 8 years old. He talked about how he had 8 different computers. Naturally I asked how he came to be the proud owner of so many computers. His dad answered that the local thrift store, Savers, sells used computers for around $5 and an amazing number of them actually work. That made sense and for a kid totally interested in computers, he probably loves playing with them as a hobby.

My next question amounted to what he does with all of them. He responded that he installs different operating systems. This got my mind wondering. While I imagined he played with Microsoft Windows, I wondered if he knew about the many other operating systems available for standard computers. I followed up with which is is favorite. He surprised me by answering MacOS.

While you can install MacOS on some Intel-based computers, it requires very specific hardware and I asked about that. His father responded that he has played with Hackintosh but it didn't sound very successful. That implies that you can find Mac hardware at Savers which is what is required when installing MacOS. I may have to go see if I can find a decent computer for $5.

Next I asked about Linux as that is an obvious choice for older Intel-based computers. The young man mentioned that his favorite flavor is Ubuntu and it impressed me. There are quite a few variants but Ubuntu is my current favorite flavor of Linux.

I remember being young like that and having a huge interest in computers. My dad did too and we actually had a large computer in our house. Back then it looked like 3 refrigerators and 2 dishwashers next to each other. It had a total of 256 kilobytes of memory and 20 megabytes of hard disk space. Calculators have more memory and storage than that now.

It is always interesting to see young people interested in computers and my neighbor surprised me. I enjoyed talking with the little guy and wish him the best of luck as he learns about this magnificent technology. My hope is that he continues with the hobby as it will serve him well later in life.

Daytime Television Blows

Last night I got a nasty case of the stomach flu. I woke up every 90 minutes to empty my stomach contents. Fortunately towards the end of the night, my stomach would cramp up, waking me, but I didn't need to go pray to the porcelain god. I think my body recognized I didn't have anything else to expel. I ended up staying in bed until 8am, which is late considering I usually get up at 6am. When I finally did wake up, I didn't feel like doing anything and so I turned on the television to see what I could find on broadcast TV. From the title of this post you can tell I came away disappointed.

When all of the streaming services became ubiquitous, I cancelled my cable subscription and increased my Internet speed. Now I really only use broadcast television to watch the nightly news every evening. Being too lazy to look for something to watch online, I cycled through the normal TV channels. Some of them had local news shows and others had national morning news shows. None of them interested me. I looked at a few of the public broadcasting networks and again came away disappointed. Ultimately after 30 minutes I turned off the TV and headed to my office to read e-mail.

I did the bare minimum e-mail for work and attended an hour-long meeting that got shortened to 15 minutes when I explained I spent the night with the stomach flu. Then I headed to my TV room to watch what I wanted in the comfort of my soft-padded-leather couches. While I could watch shows coming over the airwaves, I also had all of my streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and even YouTube. I entertained myself while eating a very soft and bland breakfast without the hassle of channel surfing. After about an hour and seeing that all the food I ate stayed down, I ate some grapes and yogurt as my energy is low and my stomach empty.

I have not really watched daytime-broadcast TV in about a decade and I have to say I haven't missed much. It is filled with the same programming I used to hate when I stayed home from school because of illness. Fortunately we have many more entertainment options and are not stuck watching VHS video tapes with their lousy 320x240-pixel resolution. Technology really does make being sick easier to deal with.

Coming Together After Such A Publicized Election

My wife spent Tuesday in bed with a nasty case of the stomach flu. Rather than keep her awake in our bedroom by watching the election results, I migrated to the guest bedroom with another TV and viewed the news. While the country focused on the presidential race, I hoped to find out how some of our local elections fared. Unfortunately the majority of the news focused on who would become the nation's next president.

My wife is surprised at how much time I spent focused on this year's election. She is the Political Science major and so I usually just ask her who to vote for. This year I felt the need to do my own research and decide for myself the best candidates. In the past two presidential elections I felt I couldn't vote for any of the candidates and wrote in "Tom Hanks." He's a likeable guy and would probably win if he ever decided to run. I know that I threw my vote away and so this year I wanted to vote for someone that represented what I want to see in the government.

One thing I noticed while doing research is that you cannot trust the mainstream media for fair and unbiased reporting. We all have our favorite candidates and adjust the narrative to reinforce our position. It is a natural human trait and I can't fault the journalists for doing so. Unfortunately the CBS news show "60 Minutes" crossed the line with their interview of a presidential candidate. A question was asked and the candidate responded. 60 Minutes then went back and edited the answer. The answer they put in came from a completely different question. It is only because of the Internet that we have both answers and know the gravity of what took place. It is important to note that I do not fault the candidate for the actions of 60 Minutes. Decades of journalistic integrity disappeared after this stunt and I have stopped watching any news show from CBS.

After doing my own research, I discovered it takes a lot of work to find out what the truth really is. Truths have been reported as lies and in other situations, lies have been spread unchecked. The unfortunate result of all these lies is that the public has become polarized to the point of hating the other side. Once the emotion of hate enters our minds, it is difficult for logic to temper our actions. 

Now that the election is over, I have seen both sides trying to do the right thing. The winner seems gracious and the name calling has stopped. The loser seems gracious and is encouraging her supporters to continue to push for the changes she hoped to enact if she had won. Unfortunately there are a number of people on the Internet sharing videos of themselves reacting emotionally to the outcome. I started watching a YouTube video created by someone whose candidate won and it showed all of the emotional breakdowns of those who supported the other candidate. I didn't watch long as I found it to be in poor taste. Instead of gloating over a win and delighting in the suffering of the other side, we should all be reaching out and trying to understand the issues others felt so strongly about and why.

I did not watch the second presidential debate in this election cycle but I did watch the only VP debate. I came away having more respect for both candidates. While I had vilified one candidate thanks to the news, I realized both candidates agreed significantly and that put us all on more common ground than I originally thought.

My hope is that we can all come together and accomplish great things. Feelings may be hurt because a friend or family member voted for the other side. Now that the election is over, I hope we can forgive and rekindle those important relationships.

Is it too Early for Christmas Songs?

Halloween is over and our next major holiday in the United States is Thanksgiving. My daughters grew up saying that we need to respect the turkey and not get too excited about Christmas until after the giant eat-a-thon. Now they are changing their tunes and think it is fine to play Christmas music a little earlier.

The day after Halloween, the Disney resorts pulled down all their pumpkin decorations and re-themed their resorts for Christmas. On November first I started getting ads for Black-Friday specials and encouraged to start Christmas shopping. It seems that everyone is eager for the largest holiday of the year.

So is it too early for Christmas songs? My personal thought is I have to restrict how many times I hear certain songs that become popular at the end of the year. The most popular Christmas song is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you." It turns out that it is also the most hated holiday song. I fall into the later category and want to limit how many times I hear it.

One advantage I see with starting the holiday song list early is it gives me time to learn more Christmas songs on my guitar. I generally take a few weeks to memorize one and if I wait until the month of December, I never really learn them. That being said, I have to like the songs I learn because I play them so many times.

So what do you think? Is it time to play those old familiar favorites or should we wait another month? Let me know your thoughts.

Vacation Planning

This morning my wife and I went for a walk and she expressed a desire to hike rim-to-rim in the Grand Canyon. This is kind of like her idea of climbing Mt. Rainier. While it sounds like fun, it is not something you think about and then do the next day. there is a lot of training involved and requires about a year of preparation. Even then, there is no guarantee you will be successful.

As we walked, we talked about the logistics required for such an adventure. Do we start at the North Rim and hike to the South Rim? Do we stay at the lodges on each rim? How long is the hike and what is the expected elevation gain? We talked through some of the details, most importantly that we would do south to north. While it is a 22-mile hike, the drive requires 4 hours and needs to be factored into the planning.

Most vacations require some planning and the Internet has become very useful for such adventures. In the past, you might have to go through travel magazines or books to find information. Now you just use your favorite search engine and all the data you need is at your fingertips. Everything from lodging to tips for training. You can even find videos of someone else doing the same thing.

We came home from our walk and I immediately looked at lodging options. Sometimes staying in one of our National Parks requires reservations be made over a year in advance, other times you can't make reservations until after January. Fortunately we can reserve our lodging now, provided we avoid a few important dates.

My wife wants to do the adventure with some of her coworkers and so she needed to go to the office to confirm dates. She knows which ones to avoid and we should be able to make plans soon. Now all we need to do is to develop a training plan. And stick to it, of course.