Author: Samuel

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Samuel Thoughts

Reflecting

Lately I’ve had the itch to take more and more time off. Time off work work, and even time off from life. I’ve written about this some here and here but after reflecting more on it I realized a few things.

– I finally had a conversation with my business partner about the possibility of me moving on to do other work. This conversation went extremely well, much better than I anticipate. We went for a big jog in forest park and discussed all sorts of things and I finally articulated some of the feelings I’ve had lately. This conversation really helped me out and I felt like some weight was lifted off of me afterwards.

– I’m burned out. This year has been hard. I need to cut myself some slack and take time away from work. I have not decided 100% on where I would like to go but I have decided shortly I’m going to take some time off. I’m not sure how much time, I think I’ll just pick a date and leave with no exact end date in mind for the trip. I’ve always wanted to take a trip like that.

– I really like the person I’m currently dating. I’ve never had such a great relationship and I need to make sure that I’m fully present, enjoying all the aspects of it and appreciating how lucky I am not just floating along complacently.

– I’m too hard on myself and I’m doing much better than I was last month dealing with everything.

– Catching my family member drinking again was such a punch in the gut. I’m not exactly sure what I will do about it but I’m finally at peace with the fact that it will never change. I’m going to move forward permanently with the knowledge that this situation will not get better and I must decide what type of relationship I want with this person, if any.

– My sisters triplets scared me more than I thought and I’m not sure why. The night they were born and I went to visit I felt so claustrophobic. I realized that when I want alone time I’m not sure how to politely ask or tell people that need and I need to work on that.

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Fixing Stuff Samuel

Setting up and using rsync on 2 external machines

This post is just some notes as I learn how to utilize rsync between 2 servers that are on separate networks. rsync is ideally suited for this task because it will only transfer files that have changed instead of blindly transferring all files and wasting bandwith (which seems trivial but if you are using this to power website backups for example, that will mean the difference of transferring your entire site vs transferring only files that have been changed)

1.) Create your rsync shell script, example script below:
rsync -avz /path/to/back/up/files/on/server/ username@host.com:/path/on/your/backup/machine/

2.) Upload the file to the machine that you will be pushing from (make sure to make it executable by running chmod +x on the file after uploading it)

3.) SSH into the machine and test the command by running ./filename

If all goes well your machine will connect and if its the first time it will ask you to verify the fingerprint of the external machine, type yes and hit enter. Your off to the races, to automate this script simply create a cron job to execute the shell script at whatever interval you like.

Troubleshooting:

If you are having trouble establishing the connection here are some things to try:

1.) make sure you are using the correct port (22 is the default ssh port, but its a good idea to not use this port for added security so if you need to add another port then update your command to:
rsync -avz -e 'ssh -p port#' /path/to/back/up/files/on/server/ user@host.com:/path/on/your/backup/machine/

2.) If your connection is timing out you can test it by running:
ssh user@host.com -p port#

or by running

telnet host.com port#

If both of these test connections are displaying time out errors to you, then there is a firewall issue on your host machine preventing the connection from routing correctly to your backup machine.

3.) If you can’t get the script to connect, just try to manually SSH into the external machine first. You will either run into the improper port being open, or the SSH auth is not allowed in freenas on the machine.

Troubleshoting the actual rsync:

1.) If the rsync command generates a weird folder on the external machine do ________
2.) If the rsync command won’t sync files from the external machine onto the local machine do _______

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Fixing Stuff Samuel Technology

quick note on setting up offsite sftp backups

So this is just a quick post, essentially notes from setting up offsite backups using SFTP (formally FTP, but upgrading for security).

1.) Open a port in your rourter to all SSH connections to pass through (Wan > virtual server/port forwarding)
2.) Pick a non standard SSH port to limit your networks exposure to unwanted connection requests
3.) Connection to your local machine, in my case a Freenas machine and turn on SSH and allow tcp port forwarding (this option allows for the FTP connection to piggy back on your SSH connection, allowing the SFTP connection)
4.) If FTP connections are not turned on yet on your Freenas machine, turn those on
5.) Test your SSH connection using putty on your local network (use your ip, and port # then connect with your username/password)
6.) Test your SFTP connection using flash fxp or filezilla (again enter in your IP/hostname and proper port then user/pass)

If everything goes as follows locally, the next step is to test the connections from an external network. Again if all goes according to plan then the last step is to connect manually from the host machine you will be downloading files from.

**This last step is important. You need to do this in order to “save the keys” from the external machine. If you notice when you first made the SFTP connection through flash fxp it asked if you wanted to “save the key” for the server as it was new.

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Samuel Thoughts

FLoating

So I’ve been doing exactly what you told me not too. The past few weeks I haven’t fully engaged in life, and maybe I haven’t ever since the day you passed away, if I’m honest. The best way I can describe it is I’m skimming along the surface, not 100% present in any activity that I’m doing. I’ve had the same issue of “not being able to engage” when i try to dream about you as well. That has never happened any time in my life before…. I wonder what you would say about that…… My gut tells me you would say that “I’m not processing and accepting the situation. Not processing your passing”. I think that’s pretty accurate because if I sit alone and think about it, or write any thoughts about you it doesn’t take long before I tear up…..My work ethic has also suffered quite a bit lately, I find myself thinking about your advice for work very often. Sometimes It feels like what I should do, like what I need to do to enjoy life more….. I’ll keep thinking about that. It would be such a big change….

Anyway we had a big party tonight, definitely missed you. I think Steve really liked Ellen’s parents, pretty sure you would really have liked them too…. Hopefully I’ll see you at our next monthly meeting.

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Samuel Thoughts

Dreaming

My first 2 attempts at dreaming about you have not worked. But tonight I can feel your presence. I’ve herd your voice in the back of my head lately, more almost as a manifestation of my own conscience. I’m not sure what to make of this.

Its undeniable though. I feel your joy about a decision my mom and I made tonight, about a direction we took. I could here your words “good boy Sammy, thanks for listening” you also offered to help guide us through the process which I gladly accepted and appreciated. When I asked you if you had any other advice you had the following. “Steven Don’t do it alone”. Alex “its about time”….Time for what? I didn’t catch that last part or I did I just forget…. “Linda enjoy the twins they are a blessing” (did you mean triplets or were you trying to warn us about something?)

—Update—

Maybe you were telling me to talk to Alex, that its about time I do that. After a conversation with Steve tonight this dot connected for me, I think you were saying “Alex its about time” as in its about time to reach out to him and talk with him.

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Twenty Somethings

Breaking Life into 1 day chunks

I wrote a little bit about breaking life up into smaller chunks in my ideal week post. But I just wanted to elaborate on this feeling a little bit more.  This is an ideal I actually got from a counselor who is working with a family friend of ours.  The councilor was helping the person feel that they had the power to “not do” an activity.  This is something that I think is common in “addict” counseling, however it was new to me.  The idea is simple: “you don’t have to not do this activity for the rest of your life, you only have to not do this activity TODAY“. This is obviously a very simple idea/concept but for whatever reason it really resonated with me, only I interpreted it as: “don’t think about progress towards your larger goal, instead think about what progress have I made for this goal today“.  (yea my wording needs some work on that one haha).

It is actually something that is hard for me to articulate, but this thought process just really resonates with me.  Tying it to my goal of exercising has been especially effective.  When you think about something that you want to do every day, it feels so daunting.  However when  you just break it up into 1 day chunks, aka “what have you done for me today” it feels very easy.  I couple that with “grading” myself on a weekly basis. 2 friends and I started a workout challenge calendar that really helps as well, I will be added a post detailing that workout calendar and a link to an example google doc.