February 2012
12 posts
Green Days: Basic Training
When your muscles begin to fail midway through some critical physical activity, it creates a very distinct sort of panic. Even more so when that activity involves clinging to a rope, suspended dangerously high above the ground. It’s more than just panic. More like panic mixed with a raw, atavistic terror felt in the bottom of your stomach. In contrast, running out of energy while doing push ups is...
Green Days, Ctd
I landed in the Atlanta airport, and made small-talk with the other would-be soldiers. Unsurprisingly, most discussion revolved around what to expect over the next few hours. Nobody had a solid understanding about what was going to happen. We were waiting for a bus to take us to Fort Benning, Georgia, we knew that much at least. Beyond that? Hard to say.
I assumed it would be just like the first...
Green Days
I’ve decided I should write down as many of my Army experiences as I can before I forget them. It’s been over ten years since I left, and the memories are getting a little fuzzy around the edges.
“Sorry, I’m extremely homosexual.” That was my typical response when military recruiters would call the house. Nothing worked faster to get a Utah-based military recruiter...
Pork and Cabbage
I think this recipe came from my great grandmother. My mom taught me. Here’s her method with a couple of my own minor tweaks.
Ingredients:
Pork steaks (w/bones)
Cabbage
Garlic
Cilantro
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Mushrooms
Sugar snap peas
Bean sprouts
Macadamia nut oil
Tamari sauce
(Use your best judgment for quantities. I have no clue.)
Cut the meat from the pork steaks into...
Power
Everything depends on power. I don’t mean money power or political power, I mean flowing electrons.
Think for a moment about the broad impact that energy has had on human history. You may not believe that wars are waged primarily because of oil reserves, but there is no denying the overwhelming impact fossil fuels have had in shaping the Middle East. In Africa, a billion people live in...
How to Move to New York
In late 2009, I needed a change of scenery, so I switched departments at work to one that wanted me in New York. Moving to NYC is unlike any other moving experience I’ve had. Here are tips that worked for me in my move from Atlanta to Manhattan. Your mileage will certainly vary, but hopefully the general spirit of these tips will give you some useful insight.
Erase your preconceptions about...
Tracker School
When I was a little kid, I found a book at the library called Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival. I saved up to get my own copy, and I read that thing into tatters.
My obsession with wilderness survival was probably rooted in a fantasy fiction series called Lone Wolf, which I had been reading during the same time period. These books were like those Choose Your Own Adventure books, but...
Anonymous asked: I was thinking about the image I have often seen in which you appear to have been assimilated by the Borg, and so I want to ask you how you feel about animals merging with machines in the coming years/decades. How long do you think humans have left as the dominant form of intelligence on this planet? Will the machines assimilate us or just put us in zoos?
Social networking considered harmful.
I used to create content. Now I am just a filter. Creating content used to be the thing to do on the Internet. Write a blog. Write a nice little how-to. Curate a wiki. Those activities are still possible today, of course, but social networking has created an immense gravitational field, drawing in would-be content creators. The default activity on the Internet today has become consuming and...
Being a good engineering team manager.
For the last few years, I’ve been a reasonably successful SRE team manager for Google. From this experience, and others in the past, I’ve developed a relatively basic philosophy:
Lead by example.
Keep your engineers happy.
That’s all. The language is succinct, but the practice can be tricky.
Leading by example is critical. It’s a way to inspire confidence from your team, and it’s vital for...