[{"content":" While living in Tacoma Hills, we have had the power go out a handful of times, and each time we talk about how we should get a generator. With so many choices and different costs of generators, it has eventually always fizzled out and become a \u0026ldquo;We will get one before it happens next time…\u0026rdquo;\nWell, this last time was the same as the next time, and due to timing, I was already at Home Depot when the power went out, when Nicole had called me. With that being said, I parked the truck again and went back in to find a generator.\nThey had a few options, more or less a \u0026ldquo;this should be enough power\u0026rdquo;; and a \u0026ldquo;this one will power your whole house and then some.\u0026rdquo;. Seeing that they do not have a return policy on generators as they don\u0026rsquo;t want people using it for a day then returning it, I opted to get the biggest one as I would rather have more power than not enough.\nI ended up with a Ryobi 6500-Watt generator (Model: RY906500S), and while I have a lot of Ryobi tools, it would not have been my first choice for a generator brand. It was the only brand they had in stock.\nThey loaded in my truck, I got it home and unloaded, and set it up, and it started with the first pull. It\u0026rsquo;s a bit louder than I expected, but once inside the house, you can\u0026rsquo;t really hear it anyway, so I guess whatever, especially since when we are using ours, so are most of the other residents in Tacoma Hills, so the noise all bleeds together. I ran a few extension cords inside, one to the fridge, one to some fans, the Apple TV, and a TV, while another line to the Internet and server. I went and topped off the 6-gallon tank before, and it was still running at 3 am when the power came back on.\nAll in all, it does its job, seems well built (Outside of what some reviews say), and I am looking to have an electrician come and wire up the house so next time we can plug in without all of the extension cords.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/i-own-a-generator/","summary":"After multiple times of losing power, I finally bought a generator\u0026hellip;","title":"🔋 I own a generator"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://denike.io/relateable/","summary":"Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is Exactly The Same","title":"🎵 Relateable"},{"content":"This last weekend, we decided to take a little getaway to Mackinac Island and stayed for two nights. While we were there, we biked around the island, had more ice cream than I would like to admit, and had some fudge, of course.\nWe stayed at the Murray Hotel, which is located right downtown on Main St. It may not have been the fanciest of hotels, but the location was pretty fantastic.\nLooking forward to another trip up there, I would love to bring our bikes next time.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/mackinac-island-trip/","summary":"Weekend trip to Mackinac Island","title":"🏝️ Mackinac Island Trip"},{"content":"I built a computer for a friend almost 20 years ago, and I never thought I would see it again. Well, surprise, surprise, I worked with that friend 20 years later, and he was finally ready to retire.\nHe brought it into the office so I could back up the decades of information he had accumulated on it.\nThe computer itself had seen better days, but it still powered up and allowed me to get all the files off the computer. It\u0026rsquo;s not sitting there waiting to be recycled, though part of me wants to keep it alive as perhaps a file server …\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-computer-i-built-years-ago/","summary":"A computer I built for a friend decades ago ended up back in my hands to work on…","title":"🖥️ A computer I built years ago"},{"content":"I finally got around to importing all of my posts into Hugo. It took a bit of bash to parse the posts and get the formatting in place—well, most of it.\nI also set up a B2 bucket to store all the site images, so only the posts get pushed to a private Github repo and then rendered within the Cloudflare page.\nWhen it comes to posting, I have set up Obsidian to write everything in here, and it gets saved to the proper site folder. I am hoping this will make the whole daily updating that much easier, something I might actually do going forward.\nThe one issue I need to figure out, though, is that I am only able to push the repo to Github from my Macbook Air, and I would like to figure out a way to do it from my phone or windows laptop when needed. I guess that project will be for another day.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/Imported-all-my-posts-to-Hugo/","summary":"I have completed the import of all of my posts into Hugo.","title":"✍️ Imported all my posts to Hugo"},{"content":"If you are seeing this, then I have successfully switch over to Hugo from Ghost. Now to get everything in place and imported over here.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/hi-hugo/","summary":"I finally switchd to Hugo.","title":"Hi Hugo!"},{"content":"Bluesky is my new go-to social media site; sadly, I went a little overboard with their \u0026ldquo;Starter Packs.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Starter Packs are more or less lists of users created by users grouped by a specific subject. For example, do you want to get into Crypto and follow all of the whos who for that? Then you can find a Starter Pack someone has created that has a curated list of Crypto folks to follow, and you can either follow one by one or take the easy route of Follow All.\nI got a little excited about this and ended up following too many Starter Packs, which made my Bluesky experience less than ideal as my Following Feeds were too much.\nI could have gone through them individually and removed people, but sadly, I don\u0026rsquo;t have the patience. With the following javascript snippet, you can open up the Developer Tools and then Java Console and easily remove people.\nTo use this, you need to go to the Starter Pack that you originally hit the Follow All on; once on this screen, open up the Developer Tools Console, paste this code, and hit enter. It will go through and simulate clicking the Unfollow button on each account that is followed on that screen. You can even execute this on its browser tab and then use your browser on another, and it will work in the background.\nasync function unfollowAll() { const buttons = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\u0026#39;button\u0026#39;)) .filter(button =\u0026gt; button.textContent === \u0026#39;Following\u0026#39;); let count = 0; for (const button of buttons) { try { button.click(); count++; // Wait for the unfollow action to complete await new Promise(resolve =\u0026gt; setTimeout(resolve, 1000)); console.log(`Unfollowed ${count} users`); } catch (error) { console.error(\u0026#39;Error unfollowing:\u0026#39;, error); } } console.log(`Completed! Unfollowed ${count} users`); } unfollowAll(); I offer no warranty on this code, but it worked to get my followers back under control so that Bluesky was a bit more manageable for me… now I\u0026rsquo;m going back and following the individual accounts again, and a word of advice: don\u0026rsquo;t get so click happy on following various Starter Packs. 😂\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/unfollowing-accounts/","summary":"Looking for an easy way to unfollow accounts on Bluesky?","title":"🦋 Unfollowing accounts"},{"content":"I decided to cave and pre-order the iPhone 16 Pro Max, mainly due to the trade-in value I was given for my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I was able to cross paths with the UPS truck before they got to my house and get the delivery sooner than expected, which was a plus, I guess it pays to track your shipments when driving home from work.\nThe overall upgrade from my current iPhone 14 Pro Max on Visible to this one was more or less flawless. I performed a backup, and went through the restore to the new phone, which asked to upgrade to the beta. After that, it was as simple as firing up the Visible app and activating this phone with the eSim. That process took about 5 minutes to complete and maybe around 10 minutes for SMS to fully start working to the new phone.\nSo far, I have not had a chance to play with many of the new features. Still, the USB-C is very welcome, the Camera seems better, the action and camera buttons are excellent additions, and the beta iOS 18.1 has some cool features that seem to improve each beta.\niPhone 16 Pro Max - Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max - Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max - Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max - Black Titanium\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/iphone-16-pro-max-upgrade/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI decided to cave and pre-order the iPhone 16 Pro Max, mainly due to the trade-in value I was given for my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I was able to cross paths with the UPS truck before they got to my house and get the delivery sooner than expected, which was a plus, I guess it pays to track your shipments when driving home from work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe overall upgrade from my current iPhone 14 Pro Max on \u003ca href=\"/go/visible\"\u003eVisible\u003c/a\u003e to this one was more or less flawless. I performed a backup, and went through the restore to the new phone, which asked to upgrade to the beta. After that, it was as simple as firing up the \u003ca href=\"/go/visible\"\u003eVisible\u003c/a\u003e app and activating this phone with the eSim. That process took about \u003cstrong\u003e5\u003c/strong\u003e minutes to complete and maybe around \u003cstrong\u003e10\u003c/strong\u003e minutes for SMS to fully start working to the new phone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"📱 iPhone 16 Pro Max Upgrade"},{"content":" Over the weekend Cole and I went to an evening showing of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the second moving in the Beetlejuice franchise.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/09/Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice-Poster-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Beetlejuice Poster\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the weekend Cole and I went to an evening showing of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the second moving in the Beetlejuice franchise.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🕷️ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"},{"content":"I was running into an issue on my Ubuntu 22.04 server where the kernel was stuck on 5.15; I never really thought much about it as a long while back ( Many upgrades ago), I remember freezing kernel updates due to some video card issues that I was having with docker.\nsudo apt remove initramfs-tools sudo apt install initramfs-tools After running those commands, I completed the update to the server with the shiny new 6.5 kernel.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/update-initramfs-is-stuck/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was running into an issue on my \u003cstrong\u003eUbuntu 22.04 server\u003c/strong\u003e where the kernel was stuck on \u003cstrong\u003e5.15\u003c/strong\u003e; I never really thought much about it as a long while back ( \u003cem\u003eMany upgrades ago\u003c/em\u003e), I remember freezing kernel updates due to some video card issues that I was having with \u003ca href=\"https://www.docker.com\"\u003edocker\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo apt remove initramfs-tools\nsudo apt install initramfs-tools\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter running those commands, I completed the update to the server with the shiny new \u003cstrong\u003e6.5\u003c/strong\u003e kernel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🐧 update-initramfs is stuck"},{"content":"I have been slacking with updates here; I guess it comes with being busy and trying to enjoy the summer that is already starting to come to an end. Perhaps instead of long posts that end up as drafts for far too long, I will start using this for some short posts here and there.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/crickets/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been slacking with updates here; I guess it comes with being busy and trying to enjoy the summer that is already starting to come to an end. Perhaps instead of long posts that end up as drafts for far too long, I will start using this for some short posts here and there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🦗 Crickets …"},{"content":"Lately, I have really been trying to challenge myself mentally and physically, sometimes both at once, like my recent idea to start using the cold plunge daily.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/taking-on-the-cold-plunge/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLately, I have really been trying to challenge myself mentally and physically, sometimes both at once, like my recent idea to start using the cold plunge daily.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taking on the cold plunge"},{"content":"We got yet another shipment of jigsaw puzzles from Blue Kazoo the other day. We have been impressed with the quality of the puzzles and even the time put into the packaging. I hate to make the comparison, but it\u0026rsquo;s what you would expect if Apple were the company behind the packaging and the product.\nThe new shipment of jigsaw puzzles includes some artistic ones that look like they will be a challenge but will look fantastic once completed, as well as some new Atari puzzles they were licensed to create. We ( I should say Nicole as I get too frustrated with trying to do puzzles) are looking forward to every one of these puzzles!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/more-blue-kazoo-jigsaw-puzzles/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe got yet another shipment of jigsaw puzzles from \u003ca href=\"/go/bluekazoo\"\u003eBlue Kazoo\u003c/a\u003e the other day. We have been impressed with the quality of the puzzles and even the time put into the packaging. I hate to make the comparison, but it\u0026rsquo;s what you would expect if Apple were the company behind the packaging and the product.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe new shipment of jigsaw puzzles includes some artistic ones that look like they will be a challenge but will look fantastic once completed, as well as some new Atari puzzles they were licensed to create. We ( \u003cem\u003eI should say Nicole\u003c/em\u003e as I get too frustrated with trying to do puzzles) are looking forward to every one of these puzzles!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🧩 More Blue Kazoo jigsaw puzzles"},{"content":"I recently upgraded to the QNAP TS-1273AU-RP from my trusty Synolog DS1817+ that has served me well for years. I started to make the move to a rack when we moved into the house, and figured this was the next swap that needed to take place to complete that setup.\nI have 12x12tb drives in this build which has given me a nice boost in diskspace from the Synology with 8x12tb drives, I am hoping I wont need to upgrade this again for some time to come.\nI have included product images since my previous post with Synology DS1817+ images seemed to get a lot of traffic, I wanted to see how this post did.\nQNAP TS-1273AU-RP Pictures [envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;12788\u0026rsquo;]\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/qnap-ts-1273au-rp-upgrade/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recently upgraded to the \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/48SYaHy\"\u003eQNAP TS-1273AU-RP\u003c/a\u003e from my trusty \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/48OMeXn\"\u003eSynolog DS1817+\u003c/a\u003e that has served me well for years. I started to make the move to a rack when we moved into the house, and figured this was the next swap that needed to take place to complete that \u003ca href=\"/about/my-setup/\"\u003esetup\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have \u003cstrong\u003e12x12tb\u003c/strong\u003e drives in this build which has given me a nice boost in diskspace from the \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/48OMeXn\"\u003eSynology\u003c/a\u003e with \u003cstrong\u003e8x12tb\u003c/strong\u003e drives, I am hoping I wont need to upgrade this again for some time to come.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💾 QNAP TS-1273AU-RP Upgrade"},{"content":"It seems like only yesterday that I bought this truck with only 500 miles on it ( From transportation, test drives, etc). And, of course, I had to stop and get a picture before it rolled over.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/my-chevy-silverado-just-hit-88888-miles./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt seems like only yesterday that I bought this truck with only \u003cstrong\u003e500\u003c/strong\u003e miles on it ( \u003cem\u003eFrom transportation, test drives, etc\u003c/em\u003e). And, of course, I had to stop and get a picture before it rolled over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2023/12/Chevy-Silverado-88888-miles-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🛻 My Chevy Silverado just hit 88,888 miles."},{"content":"Over the holidays we took a trip to Chicago to visit family and Cole and I took a trip to the Museum of Science of Industry. While I have been to Chicago a handful of times at this point, I had never made it to the museum so I was excited to go.\n[envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;12918\u0026rsquo;]\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-trip-to-museum-of-science-of-industry/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the holidays we took a trip to Chicago to visit family and Cole and I took a trip to the Museum of Science of Industry. While I have been to Chicago a handful of times at this point, I had never made it to the museum so I was excited to go.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;12918\u0026rsquo;]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A trip to Museum of Science of Industry"},{"content":"If you ever need to format a USB thumb drive on macOS from the command line, this will get you going. The first command will show you the drives so you can figure out which one is the USB. You will want to swap out DRIVENAME for what you want to name the USB drive.\ndiskutil list diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2 diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 DRIVENAME /dev/disk2 ","permalink":"https://denike.io/format-usb-drive-from-macos-command-line/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you ever need to format a USB thumb drive on macOS from the command line, this will get you going. The first command will show you the drives so you can figure out which one is the USB. You will want to swap out \u003cstrong\u003eDRIVENAME\u003c/strong\u003e for what you want to name the USB drive.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003ediskutil list\ndiskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2\ndiskutil eraseDisk FAT32 DRIVENAME /dev/disk2\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e","title":"🧹 Format USB drive from macOS command line"},{"content":"The weather finally started to make a change for the best, so I could get out and paint the trim around the new door. Sadly I didn\u0026rsquo;t get a picture with out the tape… ohh well you can get the idea.\nYou can check out the before and after with the slider below.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/finally-painted-the-trim/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe weather finally started to make a change for the best, so I could get out and paint the trim around the \u003ca href=\"/finally-a-new-door/\"\u003enew door\u003c/a\u003e. Sadly I didn\u0026rsquo;t get a picture with out the tape… ohh well you can get the idea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou can check out the before and after with the slider below.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/03/Door-Before.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🚪Finally painted the trim"},{"content":" I up and stopped drinking caffeine cold turkey on January 15th. It was not out of health concerns but more to see if I could do it. As mentioned, I have been upping my caffeine consumption into astronomical proportions and needed to reel it back in.\nIt has now been over a month, and while I miss the taste of a good cup of coffee and various energy drinks, I no longer depend on any of them.\nMy sleep seems to have stabilized back to \u0026quot; normal\u0026quot; or as normal as I know it to be. I have noticed that I have a lot more energy at the start of the day than before; it was a mental thing; I always thought that I needed coffee, etc., to start the day, which is no longer the case.\nI am not sure how long I will continue this path, but it was good to know that I was able to just up and stop without feeling like a junkie needing my next fix.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/still-no-caffeine-a-follow-up./","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/02/mike-kenneally-tnaloizhqvm-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"white ceramic mug and saucer with coffee beans on brown textile\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI up and \u003ca href=\"/taking-a-break-from-caffeine/\"\u003estopped drinking caffeine\u003c/a\u003e cold turkey on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 15th\u003c/strong\u003e. It was not out of health concerns but more to see if I could do it. As mentioned, I have been upping my caffeine consumption into astronomical proportions and needed to reel it back in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has now been over a month, and while I miss the taste of a good cup of coffee and various energy drinks, I no longer depend on any of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"☕ Still no caffeine, a follow-up."},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m mainly noting this here for myself, but perhaps someone else will find this information handy.\nInstall package cifs-utils\nsudo apt-get install cifs-utils Create a folder to mount the share into\nsudo mkdir /media/Share Create a file with user credentials in your home directory.\ntouch ~/.smbcredentials Edit the smbcredentials file\nusername=smb_username password=smb_password Edit /etc/fstab\nsudo nano /etc/fstab Add the following line ( edit where necessary)\n//NASIP/shares/ /mnt/nas cifs iocharset=utf8,credentials=/home/USER/.smbcredentials,vers=3.0,iocharset=utf8,rw,sec=ntlmssp,file_mode=0644,dir_mode=0755,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0 You can now mount the samba share with the command below\nsudo mount /mnt/nas/ ","permalink":"https://denike.io/mounting-samba-share-on-ubuntu/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m mainly noting this here for myself, but perhaps someone else will find this information handy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstall package \u003cstrong\u003ecifs-utils\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo apt-get install cifs-utils\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eCreate a folder to mount the share into\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo mkdir /media/Share\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eCreate a file with user credentials in your home directory.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003etouch ~/.smbcredentials\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdit the \u003cstrong\u003esmbcredentials\u003c/strong\u003e file\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003eusername=smb_username\npassword=smb_password\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdit \u003cstrong\u003e/etc/fstab\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo nano /etc/fstab\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdd the following line ( \u003cem\u003eedit where necessary\u003c/em\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e//NASIP/shares/ /mnt/nas cifs iocharset=utf8,credentials=/home/USER/.smbcredentials,vers=3.0,iocharset=utf8,rw,sec=ntlmssp,file_mode=0644,dir_mode=0755,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou can now mount the samba share with the command below\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💻 Mounting Samba share on Ubuntu"},{"content":"I tend to download many files, most of which are all placed into their own folder within my downloads directory. Instead of going into each folder to uncompress the contents, I wanted to run a single command to achieve this in a timely manner.\nUsing the simple find command below, you can uncompress multiple folders sequentially, one after another.\nfind downloads/ -name \u0026#39;*.rar\u0026#39; -execdir unrar e {} \\; Of course, you will need to change the directory, and if you want to use this on zip, tar, etc, you will need to adjust the unrar e aspect to fit the proper command for the file type.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-uncompressing-multiple-nested-folders/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI tend to download many files, most of which are all placed into their own folder within my downloads directory. Instead of going into each folder to uncompress the contents, I wanted to run a single command to achieve this in a timely manner.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing the simple find command below, you can uncompress multiple folders sequentially, one after another.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003efind downloads/ -name \u0026#39;*.rar\u0026#39; -execdir unrar e {} \\;\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf course, you will need to change the directory, and if you want to use this on zip, tar, etc, you will need to adjust the \u003cstrong\u003eunrar e\u003c/strong\u003e aspect to fit the proper command for the file type.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🗄️ Uncompressing multiple nested folders"},{"content":"When I was running updates on my system, I kept getting this error about Mullvad\ncompinit:527: no such file or directory: /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_mullvad It looked as though when Mullvad was removed, it never fully removed itself from my system. Thankfully, the fix was as easy as grabbing the Mullvad macOS uninstall script from GitHub and running it, which properly removed all of the symlinks and leftover files.\nYou can grab the script and run it from the CLI by doing the following.\nwget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mullvad/mullvadvpn-app/main/dist-assets/uninstall_macos.sh\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;chmod +x uninstall_macos.sh\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;./uninstall_macos.sh I answered Y to each question, and it seemed to have worked, and I can now run updates without issues.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/mullvad-error-on-ohmyzsh-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I was running updates on my system, I kept getting this error about \u003ca href=\"https://mullvad.net/en\"\u003eMullvad\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003ecompinit:527: no such file or directory: /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_mullvad\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt looked as though when \u003ca href=\"https://mullvad.net/en\"\u003eMullvad\u003c/a\u003e was removed, it never fully removed itself from my system. Thankfully, the fix was as easy as grabbing the \u003ca href=\"https://mullvad.net/en\"\u003eMullvad\u003c/a\u003e macOS uninstall script from \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/sdenike\"\u003eGitHub\u003c/a\u003e and running it, which properly removed all of the symlinks and leftover files.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can grab the script and run it from the CLI by doing the following.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💻 Mullvad error on ohmyzsh update"},{"content":"While the main issue was not the battery, it still needed to be replaced. Over the weekend, I went to the Mac in the morning, and when trying to leave, my truck did the same thing where it would not turn over.\nI ended up calling Nicole and having her pick me up and take me home, where I could call around and get it towed to Docs Automotive in Okemos, as they had done work for me in the past.\nInitially, I thought it was the starter since it didn\u0026rsquo;t sound like it was engaging or cranking things over, but after the tow truck driver showed up, he spent a bit of time trying to diagnose the issue and thought it might be the fuel pump causing the problem.\nI waited until Monday morning for Docs Automotive to open, and they called me about an hour after, letting me know it was indeed the fuel pump that had died. I had them replace it as I needed to get the truck back on the road before office work this week. They had it completed by about 2 pm Monday, and I was able to pick it up and be back on the road.\nWhile I am not excited about the recent repairs, it is nice to know I have a new battery and fuel pump, which should last me until I am ready to get into something new.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/it-wasnt-the-battery/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile the main issue was not the battery, it still needed to be replaced. Over the weekend, I went to the Mac in the morning, and when trying to leave, my truck did the same thing where it would not turn over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI ended up calling Nicole and having her pick me up and take me home, where I could call around and get it towed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.docsautomotiverepair.com\"\u003eDocs Automotive\u003c/a\u003e in Okemos, as they had done work for me in the past.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"⛽ It wasn't the battery…"},{"content":"Well, it finally happened; I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t say finally, as this is the second time that I have had to change the battery in a 2013 Chevy Silverado since I purchased it, but the timing sucked more this time around.\nI got home from work Wednesday, pulled into the driveway like usual, put it in the park, turned off my Bluetooth aux receiver, and turned the ignition off. I know it\u0026rsquo;s quite the production\u0026hellip;\nAfter doing all that, I went inside and grabbed Cole to take him to practice, and when trying to start the truck, it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t turn over. It tried but didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough oomph to do so. This then led to a lot of running around since we all had different places to be, so I played the chauffeur for a bit so that I was able to make some calls about a new battery.\nOnce I picked everyone up and dropped them back off, I was able to go and get the battery, which some places will install for you, but when I inquired about this ( My initial plan was to jump my truck and drive it someplace to get the new battery and have them install it so I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to deal with the drizzle and cold.) they all said no as it would take at least an hour to replace it with my truck. So I brought the battery home and started looking things over as best as possible in the dark, cold, rain… that didn\u0026rsquo;t get far.\nI did come across this video on how to replace it for my truck, and honestly, when I watched it, I thought this had to be a joke based on how adamant the auto stores were about not doing the installation due to how long it would take.\nI ended up working from home since I was well without a working vehicle and decided what better time to spend my lunch than installing a new battery in my truck. I got out the 10mm and 13mm sockets, as mentioned in the video, and next thing you know, 14 minutes later, I had replaced the battery. Yes, an entire 14 minutes, not an hour, not more than an hour …. Everything seems to be fine now; I guess we will see tomorrow morning or on my way home from work if I make it back.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/dead-battery/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, it finally happened; I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t say finally, as this is the second time that I have had to change the battery in a \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"/tag/truck/\"\u003e2013 Chevy Silverado\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e since I purchased it, but the timing sucked more this time around.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI got home from work Wednesday, pulled into the driveway like usual, put it in the park, turned off my \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3vLENCp\"\u003eBluetooth aux receiver\u003c/a\u003e, and turned the ignition off. I know it\u0026rsquo;s quite the production\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🪫 Dead Battery"},{"content":" I have been noticing that my caffeine intake has been through the roof; on most days, I am hovering at close to 4x the recommended FDA daily caffeine intake.\nWith that being said, I was planning to slow my roll and then take a break from caffeine starting on February 1st, but on the morning of January 15th, I decided to take the plunge and stopped cold turkey.\nThe first day I went without, I had a massive headache and had to go down at around 7:30 pm, where I stayed until I fell asleep that evening. In the following days, I got a headache around the afternoon, and with some water and Tylenol, it eventually went away. Around the 4th day, I had only a faint headache in the morning, and then it faded, and I have been fine since.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong, that first Friday, when I was sitting alone in the office, I was craving some coffee, but I pushed through. I ended up trying some decaffeinated coffee we had for the Keurig at home that weekend and was not impressed.\nI gave decaffeinated coffee another try when I passed through Starbucks after the gym in the morning, and it hit the spot in regards to wanting a warm drink that satisfied my tastebuds.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t plan on never drinking coffee or energy drinks again; it\u0026rsquo;s nice to let my body reset and know that I can get through the day without the need for copious amounts of caffeine surging through my system.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/taking-a-break-from-caffeine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/01/fahmi-fakhrudin-nzyzausbv0m-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"person making latte art\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have been noticing that my caffeine intake has been through the roof; on most days, I am hovering at close to \u003cstrong\u003e4x\u003c/strong\u003e the recommended \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much#:~:text=For%20healthy%20adults%2C%20the%20FDA,it%20(break%20it%20down).\"\u003eFDA daily caffeine intake\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith that being said, I was planning to slow my roll and then take a break from caffeine starting on \u003cstrong\u003eFebruary 1st\u003c/strong\u003e, but on the morning of \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 15th\u003c/strong\u003e, I decided to take the plunge and stopped cold turkey.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"☕ Taking a break from caffeine"},{"content":"I finally found the solution here: https://serverok.in/systemd-resolved ( Archive.org cache)\nIn case the link dies in the future, Create a file:\nsudo mkdir /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/ sudo nano /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/dns_servers.conf Add my DNS in this file:\n[Resolve] DNS=8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1 Then restart systemd-resolved\nsudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved It works even after reboot :-)\nPS : No idea why my DNS configuration was lost during the upgrade from 20.04 to 22.04.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/how-to-set-up-dns-on-ubuntu-22.04-without-a-netplan-config./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI finally found the solution here: \u003ca href=\"https://serverok.in/systemd-resolved\"\u003ehttps://serverok.in/systemd-resolved\u003c/a\u003e ( \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20230329160801/https://serverok.in/systemd-resolved\"\u003eArchive.org cache\u003c/a\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn case the link dies in the future, Create a file:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo mkdir /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/\nsudo nano /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/dns_servers.conf\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdd my DNS in this file:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e[Resolve]\nDNS=8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen restart systemd-resolved\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003esudo systemctl restart systemd-resolved\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt works even after reboot :-)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePS : No idea why my DNS configuration was lost during the upgrade from 20.04 to 22.04.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How to set up DNS on Ubuntu 22.04 without a netplan config."},{"content":" While I know it\u0026rsquo;s not a huge accomplishment, I am still pretty proud that I have been keeping up my yearly tradition of posting about how much I have walked over the past year ( And it seems like each year, I am adding more stats as available.)\nAnd just like how I did this before, once I had the CSV and imported it into Numbers, I created a totals row and used the SUM function to generate the totals for each dataset. Alas, without further ado, here are the results.\nTotal Steps 3,739,904\nTotal Flights 7,271\nTotal Miles 1,797.35\nStanding 6,605 hrs 28m\nCycling 98.87 miles\nHandwashing 97 hrs\nAvg Weight 205 lb\nLogged Sleep 1182 hrs 43 m\nLogged Exercise 105 hrs 13 m\nIn 2023, I was really bad about tracking my water intake, so I left that out, but I am hoping I can be more on top of that in 2024…. I guess we will see when it comes down to the post in 2025.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/how-far-did-i-walk-in-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/01/harsh-gupta-nvdb1igq64s-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"man in black jacket and black pants walking on road during daytime\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile I know it\u0026rsquo;s not a huge accomplishment, I am still pretty proud that I have been keeping up my yearly tradition of posting about how much I have walked over the past year ( \u003cem\u003eAnd it seems like each year, I am adding more stats as available.\u003c/em\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd just like how I did this before, once I had the CSV and imported it into \u003ca href=\"https://www.apple.com/numbers/\"\u003eNumbers\u003c/a\u003e, I created a totals row and used the \u003ca href=\"https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093669?hl=en\"\u003eSUM function\u003c/a\u003e to generate the totals for each dataset. Alas, without further ado, here are the results.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🚶How far did I walk in 2023…"},{"content":"I came across this picture taken at WordCamp Las Vegas 2011; this was the first WordCamp I have ever personally organized. It\u0026rsquo;s interesting to see some of the faces in the picture, many of which are still involved in WordPress.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/revisiting-wordcamp-las-vegas-2011/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI came across this picture taken at \u003cstrong\u003eWordCamp Las Vegas 2011\u003c/strong\u003e; this was the first \u003ca href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org\"\u003eWordCamp\u003c/a\u003e I have ever personally organized. It\u0026rsquo;s interesting to see some of the faces in the picture, many of which are still involved in \u003ca href=\"https://wordpress.org\"\u003eWordPress\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2023/12/Wordcamp-Las-Vegas-2011.jpeg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🎰 Revisiting: WordCamp Las Vegas 2011"},{"content":"I switched over to Bear.app some time ago after a lengthy search for a note-taking app. At the time, Bear.app made sense since I was only using macOS and iOS daily, and it worked well for that.\nAfter moving to a new job that required me to sit behind a Windows computer, I needed to find a replacement, and after trying out different applications and services, I ended up on Notion.\nNotion was ok and suited my needs though their applications outside of the web apps were simply wrappers for the web app and didn\u0026rsquo;t run all that amazingly well at times. I stuck it out but between that and the additional features that I didn\u0026rsquo;t need or use on Notion I went about my search for a replacement again.\nI was hoping that Bear.app would finally have a web app available, but their development moves at a snail\u0026rsquo;s pace, so who knows when it will be released? I will keep them on my radar as I think they have a fantastic product, but since I don\u0026rsquo;t know when it will be available, I can\u0026rsquo;t continue waiting and hoping.\nNow, I need to open this search up again to find a cross-platform note-taking app or one that has a web app. I liked the interface of Bear, and finding a suitable and still minimal replacement seemed to be a challenge.\nThat was until I tried out Joplin again. In the short time between when I tried it before and again now, they tightened things up a bit more. On top of that, they now have their syncing service and self-hosted server ( The self-hosted server is currently in beta at the time of this post).\nI decided to try Joplin again and imported all of my notes which were exported from Notion as markdown. The import was not perfect, but I blame much of that on the naming of files that were exported from Notion. It took me a few hours to get everything sorted and renamed in Joplin, and I still have a folder with old notes that need to find their permanent home, but it works for now.\nAfter I had a majority of the notes situated within Joplin I decided to give the sync feature a try. Joplin gives you multiple services that you can use for your syncing including their paid service. Since I am cheap and was looking for a way to avoid any subscriptions I tried out syncing all the notes over to Dropbox (While I have not used Dropbox in years, I was an early adopter and have a pretty decent amount of free space from referrals over the years). The sync fired up and started encrypting and copying over all the notes, this took quite sometime and I had to make sure that my computer didn\u0026rsquo;t go into sleep mode as it paused when that happened.\nThe sync to Dropbox finally completed, so I then setup my iPhone 14 Pro Max with Joplin and added in the sync credentials and off that went. This took and ungodly amount of time to sync over and was even worse when the phone went to sleep so I disabled that on my phone and let it sync almost my entire shift.\nJoplin on iOS showed that the sync had been completed, but when comparing the notes, many of them were not showing yet on my phone. This defeated the purpose of syncing when it never actually finished. I continued to hit the synchronize button throughout the evening, and it eventually fully reflected all of the notes on both my laptop and my phone. This was not at all ideal, but it was entirely free and \u0026ldquo;working\u0026rdquo;. I kind of simmered on this for a couple of days and added Joplin to my other devices.\nAfter a few days of being annoyed by the sync issues with Dropbox, I decided to look into their beta version of the self-hosted server. It was able to run in Docker, and since I already had Docker running many other services on my server at home, I decided to fire it up.\nI may note that I am behind the curve on using Docker compose files so I pieced together a docker create command as follows to get things up and running… I will eventually move everything over to the other format when I have time.\ndocker create --name joplin -e PUID=1000 -e PGID=1000 -e TZ=America/Detroit -p 22300:22300 -v /mnt/iscsi/docker/joplin/config:/config -e APP_PORT=22300 -e APP_BASE_URL=https://DOMAIN.COM -e DB_CLIENT=pg -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=XXXXXX -e POSTGRES_DATABASE=postgres -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres -e POSTGRES_PORT=5432 -e POSTGRES_HOST=POSTGRES_HOST -e MAILER_ENABLED=1 -e MAILER_HOST=SMTP_SERVICE -e MAILER_PORT=587 -e MAILER_SECURITY=starttls -e MAILER_AUTH_USER=MAIL_USER\u0026#39; -e MAILER_AUTH_PASSWORD=\u0026#39;MAIL_PASSWORD\u0026#39; -e MAILER_NOREPLY_NAME=Joplin -e MAILER_NOREPLY_EMAIL=FROM@EMAIL.COM --restart=always joplin/server:latest Joplin Server also uses Postgres so I had to fire that up as well using the following\ndocker create --name postgres -e PUID=1000 -e PGID=1000 -e TZ=America/Detroit -p 5432:5432 -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres -e POSTGRES_DB=postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=XXXXXX -e PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata -v /mnt/iscsi/docker/postgres/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data -v /mnt/iscsi/docker/postgres/config:/config --restart always postgres Once all said and down I was able to access the Joplin Server web interface and add my user to it. The web interface is pretty minimal which I kind of expected as there was really no reason for it to be a bunch of bells and whistles.\nIn Joplin, just to be safe, I exported all my notes as a JEX file for safekeeping and then changed the sync server over to the Beta Joplin Server and added my credentials. I started the sync, and off it took. Worlds faster than the Dropbox sync initially took, and I could monitor the status on my server via the logs, as well as the Joplin Server WebUI.\nOnce the initial sync had finished, I went to my other devices and disabled the Dropbox sync, removed all the notes and then set up the Joplin Server sync and brought all other devices in line with my laptop. Upon editing a note I was able to hit sync which was pretty instant, then change devices and hit sync and the changes appeared.\nThere is an option to set the sync intervals within Joplin which I adjusted to different intervals based on how often the machine was used, for my phone and laptop and work desktop I have it syncing much more often then my iPad for instance.\nI have been using Joplin with the self-hosted server for a couple of weeks now and I think I will continue to use it for sometime, perhaps even after Bear has a web app … if that ever happens.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/switching-to-joplin-for-notes/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI switched over to \u003ca href=\"https://bear.app\"\u003eBear.app\u003c/a\u003e some time ago after a lengthy search for a note-taking app. At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://bear.app\"\u003eBear.app\u003c/a\u003e made sense since I was only using macOS and iOS daily, and it worked well for that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2023/12/Joplin.png\" alt=\"Joplin\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter moving to a new job that required me to sit behind a Windows computer, I needed to find a replacement, and after trying out different applications and services, I ended up on Notion.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"📓 Switching to Joplin for notes"},{"content":"So, I am not sure how far this will go, if far at all, but I have had the itch to start blogging more again… I am going to \u0026ldquo;attempt\u0026rdquo; to take a page from Chris Wiegman and try to write something every day ( Likely starting this coming year).\nIt will be like the 100-day blogging challenges I have done in the past, just longer ( I hope). I hope that during this attempt, it becomes a daily thing that I do without having to remind myself or, better yet, force myself to complete it.\nI imagine that most posts will be short, almost a replacement for what I used to ramble about on Twitter; err, sorry, X, back when it was enjoyable.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/can-i-has-more-blog/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo, I am not sure how far this will go, if far at all, but I have had the itch to start blogging more again… I am going to \u0026ldquo;attempt\u0026rdquo; to take a page from \u003ca href=\"https://chriswiegman.com\"\u003eChris Wiegman\u003c/a\u003e and try to write something every day ( \u003cem\u003eLikely starting this coming year\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt will be like the \u003ca href=\"/100-days-of-blogging-challenge/\"\u003e100-day blogging challenges\u003c/a\u003e I have done in the past, just longer ( \u003cem\u003eI hope\u003c/em\u003e). I hope that during this attempt, it becomes a daily thing that I do without having to remind myself or, better yet, force myself to complete it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"✍🏻 Can I has more blog?"},{"content":"On Saturday, December 9th, 2023, I saw Bear vs Shark with Jake, John, and Chase at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. This was the only show they were playing to celebrate 20 years since the release of Right now, you\u0026rsquo;re in the best of hands album.\nThis was the first time I was able to see Bear vs Shark as while they are from Michigan and played in Lansing many times before, I never took the chance to go and see them before they broke up.\nIt was a fantastic show, and I am glad that I was finally able to see them… even though I certainly felt much older, sadly, though was surrounded by people my age in the audience.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/denike.io/%F0%9F%90%BB-%F0%9F%A5%8A-%F0%9F%A6%88/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn Saturday, December 9th, 2023, I saw \u003ca href=\"http://bearvssharkmusic.com\"\u003eBear vs Shark\u003c/a\u003e with Jake, John, and Chase at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.majestic.org\"\u003eMajestic Theatre\u003c/a\u003e in Detroit, Michigan. This was the only show they were playing to celebrate \u003cstrong\u003e20\u003c/strong\u003e years since the release of \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Now,_You%27re_in_the_Best_of_Hands._And_If_Something_Isn%27t_Quite_Right,_Your_Doctor_Will_Know_in_a_Hurry\"\u003eRight now, you\u0026rsquo;re in the best of hands\u003c/a\u003e album.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2023/12/Bear-vs-Shark-Majestic-Theatre-Dec-2023-_-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was the first time I was able to see \u003ca href=\"http://bearvssharkmusic.com\"\u003eBear vs Shark\u003c/a\u003e as while they are from Michigan and played in Lansing many times before, I never took the chance to go and see them before they broke up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🐻 🥊 🦈"},{"content":"While I usually get silly items like pens, notepads, or low-quality t-shirts, I was happy to get a much nicer holiday gift from one of our vendors 123.net.\nWhile we had been customers with 123.net for a while, I had been dealing with them directly for a few months, working out pricing for our location and, if all went well, possibly getting other locations on board.\nAnyway, they ended up sending me this nice blanket and mug, which have both been used multiple times since they first arrived.\nThanks, 123.net!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/holiday-gift-from-123.net/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile I usually get silly items like pens, notepads, or low-quality t-shirts, I was happy to get a much nicer holiday gift from one of our vendors \u003ca href=\"https://123.net\"\u003e123.net\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile we had been customers with \u003ca href=\"https://123.net\"\u003e123.net\u003c/a\u003e for a while, I had been dealing with them directly for a few months, working out pricing for our location and, if all went well, possibly getting other locations on board.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyway, they ended up sending me this nice blanket and mug, which have both been used multiple times since they first arrived.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🎄 Holiday gift from 123.net"},{"content":"While tinkering with the Automating my aquarium 2.0 I figured it would be nice to order a new Pi camera as for the life of me I was not able to find the old camera.\nI also ordered an extension cable for the camera to get a little more length also avoiding the connection being too snug based on where the Pi is located.\nPreviously I used webcamserver which I can no longer find, and I am sure it has been discontinued. However I came across a gist that made mention of motion which from the first look seems like this will be a good option to setup a webcam server.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/automating-my-aquarium.-part-2-adding-a-camera/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile tinkering with the Automating my aquarium 2.0 I figured it would be nice to order a new Pi camera as for the life of me I was not able to find the old camera.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI also ordered an extension cable for the camera to get a little more length also avoiding the connection being too snug based on where the Pi is located.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePreviously I used webcamserver which I can no longer find, and I am sure it has been discontinued. However I came across a \u003ca href=\"https://gist.github.com/endolith/2052778\"\u003egist\u003c/a\u003e that made mention of motion which from the first look seems like this will be a good option to setup a webcam server.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🐠 Automating my aquarium. Part 2 - Adding a Camera"},{"content":"# Disable power save mode on network adapters # Shelby DeNike 10/11/2023 # Get the list of network device adapters $NetworkAdapters = Get-NetAdapter -Physical | Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement # Loop through the array, and disable power save mode foreach ($NetworkDevice in $NetworkAdapters) { $NetworkDevice.AllowComputerToTurnOffDevice = \u0026#39;Disabled\u0026#39; $NetworkDevice | Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement Write-Host \u0026#34;Power save mode disabled on: $NetworkDevice\u0026#34; } ","permalink":"https://denike.io/disable-power-save-mode-on-physical-network-adapters/","summary":"\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003e# Disable power save mode on network adapters\n# Shelby DeNike 10/11/2023\n\n# Get the list of network device adapters\n$NetworkAdapters = Get-NetAdapter -Physical | Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement\n\n# Loop through the array, and disable power save mode\nforeach ($NetworkDevice in $NetworkAdapters) {\n\t$NetworkDevice.AllowComputerToTurnOffDevice = \u0026#39;Disabled\u0026#39;\n\t$NetworkDevice | Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement\n\tWrite-Host \u0026#34;Power save mode disabled on: $NetworkDevice\u0026#34;\n}\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e","title":"🔋 Disable power Save Mode on Physical Network Adapters"},{"content":"A while back I saw an email come through at work about how I could sign up and then become certified in performing CPR. I had never done something like this, so I should sign up.\nThe class consisted of studying online and taking a few quizzes, followed by in-person instruction about performing CPR ( Performed on a dummy) and a discussion about choking and applying bandages to major wounds.\nI forgot about the online part until a few days before, so I had to spend the evenings after work completing that before I could do the in-person. The in-person was a neat experience because I saw how hard you must push on someone\u0026rsquo;s chest, breathe, etc.\nIn the end, I passed, and now have a certificate valid for two years showing that I know how to perform some life-saving techniques, hopefully, I will never have to use them, but glad to know how if I do.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-certified-for-cpr/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA while back I saw an email come through at work about how I could sign up and then become certified in performing CPR. I had never done something like this, so I should sign up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe class consisted of studying online and taking a few quizzes, followed by in-person instruction about performing CPR ( \u003cem\u003ePerformed on a dummy\u003c/em\u003e) and a discussion about choking and applying bandages to major wounds.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"❤️‍🩹 Certified for CPR"},{"content":"Cole has been part of a school running team with some friends of his run by a couple of parents, and during this time, we have attended a few races, most recently Ele\u0026rsquo;s Race 2023, where I signed up to run the one-mile as well.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/eles-race-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCole has been part of a school running team with some friends of his run by a couple of parents, and during this time, we have attended a few races, most recently Ele\u0026rsquo;s Race 2023, where I signed up to run the one-mile as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ele's Race 2023"},{"content":"So, while I was pretty excited about the upgraded stereo, it didn\u0026rsquo;t go as planned. I know it had been a decade, or sadly two, since I installed an aftermarket stereo, but I figured, \u0026ldquo;How hard could it be?\u0026rdquo;.\nSo began my weekend adventure of installing the car stereo, only to be met with nothing. Absolutely nothing. I went as far as going to four different stores looking for a new wiring harness as I figured the cheap one I got off Amazon was labeled incorrectly. I even searched for the pinouts from the stereo and rewired everything manually according to that, and still nothing.\nFinally, as a last-ditch effort, I bypassed the ignition wire and got the power directly running the stereo (Which, while it worked, meant that the stereo was on 24/7 even when the truck was off).\nTrying to find out why this was the only way it would work, I scoured the internet and finally posted in a few subs on Reddit. Someone on Reddit was kind enough to let me know that the issue was that vehicles after 2003 needed a special harness as it was not simply a power signal but a data signal that turned on the stereo.\nI looked into the additional harness to get this all going, and it was going to be another $100 for my model, which sadly broke the budget I allocated for this project. I still think it is odd that aftermarket stereos do not just have this module built in like the factory stereo does.\nI packaged everything up and returned it; sadly, I was back to square one with a faulty aux input on my stereo, which I would not be able to live with. I found a couple of videos on YouTube that explained how the aux connection often breaks looks, and the soldered connections go bad. With a few examples, I was able to take apart the front of the factory stereo and resolder the aux connection back into place, and even added some extra glue around the plastic inside to make sure it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be happening again.\nAfter putting it all back together and reinstalling it in my truck, I once again had a working aux connection. While it sucks that I was not able to get a nice touchscreen upgrade with Carplay, I was able to save a couple hundred and still be able to carry out listening to podcasts and audiobooks on my drives, so it\u0026rsquo;s not a total loss after all.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/alpine-ilx-w650...-shortlived./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo, while I was pretty excited about the upgraded stereo, it didn\u0026rsquo;t go as planned. I know it had been a decade, or sadly two, since I installed an aftermarket stereo, but I figured, \u0026ldquo;How hard could it be?\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo began my weekend adventure of installing the car stereo, only to be met with nothing. Absolutely nothing. I went as far as going to four different stores looking for a new wiring harness as I figured the cheap one I got off Amazon was labeled incorrectly. I even searched for the pinouts from the stereo and rewired everything manually according to that, and still nothing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🔊 ALPINE ILX-W650... Shortlived."},{"content":"With the new job with UTAC, I now find myself commuting a few days a week, spending a couple of hours each day in my truck, give or take. Depending on the traffic, it is 10 hours of driving. While I am not complaining ( Right now) about the time spent, I am, however, finding myself listening to a LOT more music, podcasts, and audiobooks than I have in the past decade while working from home.\nFor anyone that has ever been in my truck, it is more or less a base model missing a lot of bells and whistles, which was intentional on my part; I wanted 4x4 and Bluetooth to connect my phone outside of that, I didn\u0026rsquo;t want more features that would end up breaking and require costly repairs. Sadly, Bluetooth is ONLY for calls, and I can not play music over it, so I used the Twelve South AirFly Pro to stream music over my truck stereo. This has worked great in the year I have had it and since I started commuting.\nSadly, the aux cable plug on the stereo was not made well, and the connection inside seems to be on its last leg; I find myself adjusting the connection of the AirFly Pro numerous times during my travels and even the smallest bump in the road disrupts the playback.\nA few weeks ago, before the connector had gotten to the point, it is now ( Almost unusable except on the smoothest of roads; mind you, I live in Michigan, and this does not exist), I started looking into a new head unit for my truck. This time around, I only needed one thing: CarPlay.\nI settled on the Alpine iLX-W650 head unit. This unit comes in at a reasonable price, has wireless CarPlay, and must fit in my truck perfectly. This is set to arrive this Saturday, so I should have time to install it before my commute on Monday morning. I hope it will go smoothly, as it\u0026rsquo;s been 20+ years since I last installed an aftermarket stereo; it has to have gotten easier, right?\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/alpine-ilx-w650/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith the new job with \u003ca href=\"/%f0%9f%8e%89-a-new-job-with-utac/\"\u003eUTAC\u003c/a\u003e, I now find myself commuting a few days a week, spending a couple of hours each day in my \u003ca href=\"/tag/truck/\"\u003etruck\u003c/a\u003e, give or take. Depending on the traffic, it is \u003cstrong\u003e10\u003c/strong\u003e hours of driving. While I am not complaining ( \u003cem\u003eRight now\u003c/em\u003e) about the time spent, I am, however, finding myself listening to a LOT more music, podcasts, and audiobooks than I have in the past decade while working from home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🔊 ALPINE ILX-W650"},{"content":" With recent changes that Mullvad had made to service, mainly removing their port forwarding, it was time to look for a replacement. I landed on the VPN service from Proton, which I had used their Free tier on multiple occasions in the past.\nI had been a fan of Proton for a long time ( Though I never could commit fully to using them, I still liked what they were doing.) so when it came to start looking they were on the top of my list.\nThe app on both iOS and macOS is really well done, in both ease of use as well as the overall UI that they provide. I have used a handful of other VPN services over the years on different platforms and pretty much all of them look to have been made by a developer that either didn\u0026rsquo;t care or know any better when it came to design.\nThe Proton VPN interface is straightforward and lacks the additional clutter, but that does not mean it is not fully featured they simply placed the settings and options where they should be in an easy-to-access place but not right in your face confusing the end user on how to just get connected.\nOutside of the look and feel, it just seems to work. I am still testing things out across the board but the speeds over the Wireguard connection seem to be pretty on point with a vanilla Wireguard install that you might setup from scratch.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/Switching-to-Proton-VPN/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2023/06/Proton-VPN-Logo.png\" alt=\"Proton VPN - Logo\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith recent changes that Mullvad had made to service, mainly removing their port forwarding, it was time to look for a replacement. I landed on the VPN service from Proton, which I had used their \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFree\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e tier on multiple occasions in the past.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had been a fan of Proton for a long time ( \u003cem\u003eThough I never could commit fully to using them, I still liked what they were doing.\u003c/em\u003e) so when it came to start looking they were on the top of my list.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🔒 Switching to Proton VPN"},{"content":"About a month ago, I got strep throat from one of the kids and went to the doctor to get something for it. During my discussion with the doctor about being allergic to penicillin, I was likely not allergic to it at all/now.\nWhen I was diagnosed with it back in the early 1980s, they used a different delivery method for the antibiotic which was what I was more than likely allergic to, and not so much the penicillin.\nI was scheduled to have an allergy test to rule out penicillin\u0026rsquo;s effects, and today was the day. This morning I arrived at the Okemos Allergy Center and went through the testing process of first scraping my arm to see if there was or was not a reaction, then moved on to a small injection under the skin… came back 100% negative for being allergic to penicillin!\nSo after 40+ years of telling doctors that I had an allergy to penicillin, I can finally stop telling them and write it on the countless medical forms.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/give-me-all-the-penicillin/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAbout a month ago, I got \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcal_pharyngitis\"\u003estrep throat\u003c/a\u003e from one of the kids and went to the doctor to get something for it. During my discussion with the doctor about being allergic to \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin\"\u003epenicillin\u003c/a\u003e, I was likely not allergic to it at all/now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I was diagnosed with it back in the early \u003cstrong\u003e1980s\u003c/strong\u003e, they used a different delivery method for the antibiotic which was what I was more than likely allergic to, and not so much the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin\"\u003epenicillin\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💉 Give me all the penicillin"},{"content":"Over the weekend, Nicole and I decided to clean out the garage, and in doing so, I fell through the attic stairs.\nThankfully, I was fine for the most part; I scratched my leg on a nail, landed weirdly on my foot, and hit my back against one of the steps, but all in all, it could have been worse.\nNow to add replacing the attic stairs to my ever-growing project list… it\u0026rsquo;s always something.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/falling-through-the-attic-stairs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the weekend, \u003ca href=\"/tag/Nicole/\"\u003eNicole\u003c/a\u003e and I decided to clean out the garage, and in doing so, I fell through the attic stairs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThankfully, I was fine for the most part; I scratched my leg on a nail, landed weirdly on my foot, and hit my back against one of the steps, but all in all, it could have been worse.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow to add replacing the attic stairs to my ever-growing project list… it\u0026rsquo;s always something.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🪜Falling through the attic stairs"},{"content":"The \u0026quot; vacation\u0026quot; is over! I accepted a role with UTAC as an IT System Administrator at their Northville, Michigan office. This will be a fun and exciting change from the world of Linux and Web Hosting,, which I have been immersed in for what seems like an eternity.\nNot only will the responsibilities change, but I will also now report to an office outside my home for part of the week. I am looking forward to the commute as I figure it will allow me to get caught up on some reading ( audiobooks), and this also gives me a reason to dust off my Spotify account and perhaps upgrade to the premium account again to avoid some commercials. The interactions with people face to face are also going to be a change from the previously random Zoom/Google Meet meetings that I was accustomed to as well!\nWhat is UTAC? I was going to write about the company but figured there was no reason to reinvent the wheel when they already wrote up a pretty darn good description.\nUTAC is a market-leading international group in digital \u0026amp; sustainable mobility, customisable testing solutions, customisable testing systems, vehicle engineering, type approval, regulatory advice \u0026amp; expertise, certification, training, corporate events and classic \u0026amp; sportscars festivals\nUTAC LinkedIn Profile\nWith the new career change, the posts here will likely start to steer away from hosting and WordPress-related posts… then again, it might spur my creativity as I won\u0026rsquo;t be doing that full-time anymore and might rediscover the fun in blogging again.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-new-job-with-utac./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u0026quot; \u003cem\u003evacation\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot; is over! I accepted a role with \u003ca href=\"https://utac.com\"\u003eUTAC\u003c/a\u003e as an IT System Administrator at their \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northville,_Michigan\"\u003eNorthville, Michigan\u003c/a\u003e office. This will be a fun and exciting change from the world of \u003ca href=\"/technology/hosting/\"\u003eLinux and Web Hosting,\u003c/a\u003e, which I have been immersed in for what seems like an eternity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot only will the responsibilities change, but I will also now report to an office outside my home for part of the week. I am looking forward to the commute as I figure it will allow me to get caught up on some reading ( \u003cem\u003eaudiobooks\u003c/em\u003e), and this also gives me a reason to dust off my Spotify account and perhaps upgrade to the premium account again to avoid some commercials. The interactions with people face to face are also going to be a change from the previously random Zoom/Google Meet meetings that I was accustomed to as well!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🎉 A New Job with UTAC."},{"content":"Over the years, my desk has gone through multiple changes, from being nothing but a place for my laptop to having multiple monitors and all the other gadgets you could think of being connected.\nOver the last few months, I have been using my computer from the couch, kitchen table, bleachers, etc., and I have noticed I don\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ldquo;need\u0026rdquo; all this other clutter at my desk.\nI will try to wipe it clean and start with a clean slate, to some extent, mainly removing everything except the basics, such as the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I figure that while at my desk, I should have at least those items so that it makes using my desk kind of a reward to have a larger workspace.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-getting-my-desk-back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the years, my desk has gone through multiple changes, from being nothing but a place for my laptop to having multiple monitors and all the other gadgets you could think of being connected.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the last few months, I have been using my computer from the couch, kitchen table, bleachers, etc., and I have noticed I don\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ldquo;need\u0026rdquo; all this other clutter at my desk.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI will try to wipe it clean and start with a clean slate, to some extent, mainly removing everything except the basics, such as the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I figure that while at my desk, I should have at least those items so that it makes using my desk kind of a reward to have a larger workspace.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🖥️ Getting my desk back"},{"content":"So I should start off by saying this is in no way a direct bash towards Townsquare Interactive and the WordPress hosting that they offer, as I am sure in many ways it is a great option for many small businesses that are needing to get online and have an all in one package with SEO include, Google Ads, etc but sadly it\u0026rsquo;s not for everyone and its NOT easy to move off their platform.\nDue to the reasons stated I thought it would be best to offer a migration service from Townsquare Interactive as it is something that I have personally had to do for a few clients over the last couple of years and those clients were likely not alone in needing this service.\nSince Townsquare Interactive has a proprietary platform based on WordPress; the service includes migrating all of the data from the site hosted with them ( They acknowledge you as the site owner DO own all of the content) that is outside of the theme, and plugins so that will need to be recreated and all of the content ( Text, images, etc) will need to be added back. I will also work on optimizing and securing the newly set up site for you, and once this has been completed I will help you point the domain to the new hosting and you should be ready to go!\nIf this is a service you are looking for please reach out to me by clicking on the button below and we can discuss the details and get started!\nMore details about this service\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-migrating-from-townsquare-interactive/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo I should start off by saying this is in no way a direct bash towards Townsquare Interactive and the WordPress hosting that they offer, as I am sure in many ways it is a great option for many small businesses that are needing to get online and have an all in one package with SEO include, Google Ads, etc but sadly it\u0026rsquo;s not for everyone and its \u003cstrong\u003eNOT\u003c/strong\u003e easy to move off their platform.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🛠️ Migrating from Townsquare Interactive"},{"content":"So while these pictures are anything but epic, I figured I would snap a few as well as a video showing the flooding taking place in Tacoma Hills ( Well outside my front door and the neighbor\u0026rsquo;s yard).\nThe lagoon is also the highest I have ever seen, and based on how full the river is, I think it will be a few days at least after the rain stops before it returns to normal levels.\n[envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;11929\u0026rsquo;]\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/flooding-in-march-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo while these pictures are anything but epic, I figured I would snap a few as well as a video showing the flooding taking place in \u003ca href=\"https://tacomahills.org\"\u003eTacoma Hills\u003c/a\u003e ( \u003cem\u003eWell outside my front door and the neighbor\u0026rsquo;s yard\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lagoon is also the highest I have ever seen, and based on how full the river is, I think it will be a few days at least after the rain stops before it returns to normal levels.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🌊 Flooding in March 2023"},{"content":"The other weekend the kids were out of the house, and Nicole and I did some housekeeping; along the way, a project came up to build something to hold sports medals and trophies.\nUsing some scrap wood that Nicole had from another project and purchasing some hooks, I could put together a shelf that would hold the trophies and allow for the hanging of the medal.\nWhile working on this and altering the scrap wood shelf, it reminded me of the times I used to tinker in my grandpa\u0026rsquo;s garage when I was younger and how doing so really allowed me to build things. At the time, I would never have thought that taking things apart to see how they worked would give me a better understanding in the future of not only making something out of nothing but repairing things such as the time the pull start on the mower broke.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/building-physical-things/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe other weekend the kids were out of the house, and Nicole and I did some housekeeping; along the way, a project came up to build something to hold sports medals and trophies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing some scrap wood that Nicole had from another project and purchasing some hooks, I could put together a shelf that would hold the trophies and allow for the hanging of the medal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile working on this and altering the scrap wood shelf, it reminded me of the times I used to tinker in my grandpa\u0026rsquo;s garage when I was younger and how doing so really allowed me to build things. At the time, I would never have thought that taking things apart to see how they worked would give me a better understanding in the future of not only making something out of nothing but repairing things such as the time the pull start on the mower broke.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Building physical things"},{"content":"I have been waiting for a couple of years for MetroNet to finally complete the construction of their all-fiber network here in Okemos, and a couple of days ago, they came out to complete the installation at my house.\nWhile I have been a Comcast/Xfinity customer since moving back to Michigan, I can\u0026rsquo;t say I was ever happy. Whether it was issues with their upstream/downstream speeds, outages, pointing fingers at me for network issues, or simply the ridiculous cost of their service, I am glad to wipe my hands off them.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/good-by-comcast/xfinity-hello-metronet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been waiting for a couple of years for MetroNet to finally complete the construction of their all-fiber network here in Okemos, and a couple of days ago, they came out to complete the installation at my house.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile I have been a Comcast/Xfinity customer since moving back to Michigan, I can\u0026rsquo;t say I was ever happy. Whether it was issues with their upstream/downstream speeds, outages, pointing fingers at me for network issues, or simply the ridiculous cost of their service, I am glad to wipe my hands off them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Good by Comcast/Xfinity, Hello MetroNet"},{"content":"While I would like to say I have been a \u0026quot; longtime\u0026quot; Apple Watch user, it has only been a few years… well, since the Series 3, which was my first dive into the world of Apple Watches.\nI was never much for watches, and the last thing I wanted was another accessory I had to put on in the morning, charge, care for, etc. Still, I figured back then why not, as the analytics alone were interesting to me, enough so that eating the cost of the watch seemed worth it to me.\nFast forward to the present day, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine not having my Apple Watch. I drank the Kool-Aid and told others they should check out an Apple Watch, even if they are not big watch wearers. I went from a Series 3, which served me well, to a Series 6 as they upgraded the processor and increased the battery life and some other aspects, such as better water resistance.\nThe Series 6 served me well until one day; I somehow scratched the screen dead center in the middle. While the watch\u0026rsquo;s functionality remained, it was always an annoying reminder of me smacking my wrist against the corner of something sharp; again, no functionality was hindered by this; it was simply cosmetic.\nI debated for a while on upgrading to a newer model, but there was never much reason outside of the scratch on the screen until I spoke with Brian about it the other night. And while he certainly was not the deciding factor on upgrading, he mentioned some good points, mainly the battery life and one of the new bands that come with the Apple Watch Ultra. While I could have probably gotten away with a Series 8 or an SE, I was drawn to the Ultra because of the battery, the better screen, and the slight design change.\nSo far, the watch has been great; the battery life is impressive as I can go an entire day wearing it, then wear it to bed, and when I wake up, I still have 90%+ left on the battery. I still want to charge it anytime I am sitting when it\u0026rsquo;s not in use; this is mainly out of habit, and I do not ever want to be caught with a dead device though I think I would be fine skipping a charge here or there.\nThe brighter and larger screen is much more welcoming than the smaller Series 6 that I had previously, and alerts and applications certainly look more vibrant and clear.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/apple-watch-ultra/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile I would like to say I have been a \u0026quot; \u003cem\u003elongtime\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3iQWVov\"\u003eApple Watch\u003c/a\u003e user, it has only been a few years… well, since the \u003cstrong\u003eSeries 3\u003c/strong\u003e, which was my first dive into the world of \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3iQWVov\"\u003eApple Watches\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was never much for watches, and the last thing I wanted was another accessory I had to put on in the morning, charge, care for, etc. Still, I figured back then why not, as the analytics alone were interesting to me, enough so that eating the cost of the watch seemed worth it to me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"⌚ Apple Watch Ultra"},{"content":"Another thing I got done over this productive weekend was installing Fender Flares onto my 2013 Chevy Silverado. While I am not the biggest fan of Fender Flares, it was the most affordable option to coverup some bodywork that I had to perform on the rear wheel wells; it was either that or replaced the entire bed of the truck, which would be quite the investment on a nine-year-old truck.\nThe rear mounts didn\u0026rsquo;t fit 100% as advertised, so I had to get some self-tapping metal screws to secure the rear flares to the truck\u0026rsquo;s body. Guess I won\u0026rsquo;t be removing them anytime soon.\n2013 Chevy Silverado with Fender Flares installed\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/2013-chevy-silverado-fender-flares/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnother thing I got done over this productive weekend was installing \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3zyNvUh\"\u003eFender Flares\u003c/a\u003e onto my \u003cstrong\u003e2013 Chevy Silverado\u003c/strong\u003e. While I am not the biggest fan of \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3zyNvUh\"\u003eFender Flares\u003c/a\u003e, it was the most affordable option to coverup some bodywork that I had to perform on the rear wheel wells; it was either that or replaced the entire bed of the truck, which would be quite the investment on a nine-year-old truck.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rear mounts didn\u0026rsquo;t fit \u003cstrong\u003e100%\u003c/strong\u003e as advertised, so I had to get some self-tapping metal screws to secure the rear flares to the truck\u0026rsquo;s body. Guess I won\u0026rsquo;t be removing them anytime soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🛻 2013 Chevy Silverado Fender Flares"},{"content":"So today concludes the 100 days of blogging part two! While it was a struggle at times, I was able to conclude this exercise with a total of 95 posts as of today!\n95 I am kind of in awe that I got that many, even with times when I thought I was way behind … until next time! Now back to your regular scheduled program.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/100-days-of-blogging-part-two-thats-a-wrap/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo today concludes the \u003ca href=\"/100-days-of-blogging-challenge-lets-give-this-a-try-again/\"\u003e100 days of blogging part two\u003c/a\u003e! While it was a struggle at times, I was able to conclude this exercise with a total of \u003cstrong\u003e95\u003c/strong\u003e posts as of today!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"95\"\u003e95\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am kind of in awe that I got that many, even with times when I thought I was way behind … until next time! Now back to your regular scheduled program.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"100 days of blogging part two, that's a wrap"},{"content":"I have been meaning to make a post about this since February 11th which was my 3-year anniversary at Kinsta, but alas time has gotten away from me.\nWhen I started at Kinsta I came into a sales role, I was the sole salesperson for some time before others joined in and things started to take shape. I am now the Sales Engineer for Kinsta, and my days are filled with working with our Sales Representatives, answering their questions, and helping to close sales using my technical background.\nInitially, I was not sure about jumping into a sales role as I have a tech background ranging from support, development, and system administration over the years. So the role seemed very scary but also sounded like it could be a fun adventure, which it did turn out to be.\nWorking at Kinsta and watching all of the moving parts take shape, and departments, as well as the company\u0026rsquo;s growth, has been awesome to be a part of and to witness.\nI look forward to many more years with Kinsta and am excited to see where the next months and years take us!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/3yrs-at-kinsta/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been meaning to make a post about this since February \u003cstrong\u003e11th\u003c/strong\u003e which was my \u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e-year anniversary at Kinsta, but alas time has gotten away from me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I started at \u003ca href=\"/go/kinsta\"\u003eKinsta\u003c/a\u003e I came into a sales role, I was the sole salesperson for some time before others joined in and things started to take shape. I am now the Sales Engineer for \u003ca href=\"/go/kinsta\"\u003eKinsta\u003c/a\u003e, and my days are filled with working with our Sales Representatives, answering their questions, and helping to close sales using my technical background.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💼 3yrs at Kinsta"},{"content":"Well, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t call it a traditional vacation, more so just a break from blogging, which went against everything in the 100 days of blogging challenge, but I had an excuse… I was just being lazy!\nWhile I am enjoying this challenge, I also don\u0026rsquo;t want to feel like I am forced to blog something, which, in most cases, has been some random nothingness just to fill a day. I plan on continuing this challenge to the end, but I might end up being a little laxer and forgiving to myself in terms of making a post every day.\nIn a more or less post-covid world, things are opening up and getting back to a somewhat normal structure so that does allow for some real-world experiences to be blogged about instead of just looking out the window and thinking of a topic. Though even with things getting more on track there is still a lot of downtime preventing exciting posts.\nI am hoping that in the following months, as the weather starts to shift away from Winter and things progress I will have some posts that are a bit more interesting, maybe including some actual pictures of things other than food that I have made or eaten.\nTime will tell, either way, I am going to try to hang on as there are around 25 or so days left until I can put a close to this challenge.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/nice-vacation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t call it a traditional vacation, more so just a break from blogging, which went against everything in the \u003ca href=\"/100-days-of-blogging-challenge-lets-give-this-a-try-again/\"\u003e100 days of blogging challenge\u003c/a\u003e, but I had an excuse… I was just being \u003cem\u003elazy!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile I am enjoying this challenge, I also don\u0026rsquo;t want to feel like I am forced to blog something, which, in most cases, has been some random nothingness just to fill a day. I plan on continuing this challenge to the end, but I might end up being a little laxer and forgiving to myself in terms of making a post every day.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nice vacation…"},{"content":"Ok well, maybe not for life but I do have enough hand and dish soap to last me for quite some time. Turns out there was a price error at Meijers on some hand and dish soap that was on clearance. One was .38 cents off while the other was .30 cents off, sadly someone must have entered it into the system wrong as one ran up as .30 cents while the other was .38 cents.\nSince there was no limit I bought 3 cases of each, and am not the proud owner of 60 bottles of dish soap, and 36 bottles of hand soap. The cashier did look a little surprised when she saw the total of only $33.58, with a total savings of $74.76!\nI unpacked a few of the boxes and then figured I would stop as what I had unpacked should last me a good couple of years so why overload the storage area with more bottles ha!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/soap-for-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOk well, maybe not for life but I do have enough hand and dish soap to last me for quite some time. Turns out there was a price error at \u003ca href=\"https://www.meijers.com\"\u003eMeijers\u003c/a\u003e on some hand and dish soap that was on clearance. One was .38 cents off while the other was \u003cstrong\u003e.30\u003c/strong\u003e cents off, sadly someone must have entered it into the system wrong as one ran up as \u003cstrong\u003e.30\u003c/strong\u003e cents while the other was \u003cstrong\u003e.38\u003c/strong\u003e cents.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🧼 Soap for life!"},{"content":"I wish. These recent weekends have been anything but Sunday Fundays, as we have been in high gear working on the house. Since moving in, it seems like it has been nothing but project after project, but the end is near!\nI\u0026rsquo;m hoping in the following week, likely two, everything SHOULD be wrapping up. We spent this weekend wiping down the new drywall, priming, and starting to paint. Next week the new floors will be put in the bathroom, closet, and master bathroom. After that, all that will be left is finishing up the bathroom tile, toilet, and vanity. I can\u0026rsquo;t tell you how happy I will be once everything is wrapped up so we can finally kick back with our feet up and enjoy a weekend without any major projects that need to be completed.\nI plan on posting a slew of before and after pictures once everything is done; it will be nice to sit back and reflect on what we did, how it turned out, and what we could have done differently ( Which I hope is nothing as again I am done with projects for a while, so is my bank account lol)\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/sunday-funday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wish. These recent weekends have been anything but Sunday Fundays, as we have been in high gear working on the house. Since moving in, it seems like it has been nothing but project after project, but the end is near!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m hoping in the following week, likely two, everything SHOULD be wrapping up. We spent this weekend wiping down the new drywall, priming, and starting to paint. Next week the new floors will be put in the bathroom, closet, and master bathroom. After that, all that will be left is finishing up the bathroom tile, toilet, and vanity. I can\u0026rsquo;t tell you how happy I will be once everything is wrapped up so we can finally kick back with our feet up and enjoy a weekend without any major projects that need to be completed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sunday Funday?"},{"content":"Anyone who knows me knows that I love Tacos 🌮, and while I can\u0026rsquo;t always get a nice authentic street taco, I will settle for a ground beef taco at home. And while in the past, I have not personally had any issues with how I grind/mash up the ground beef; I figured that there had to be a better way to get a finer consistency of the meat.\nI searched Google and Amazon and came across the OXO Good Grips Ground Meat Chopper. While I had my doubts, I figured for the price, I would give it a try.\nWow. This is a game-changer with the way it can make the consistency pretty damn perfect. I think this is going to be my new go-to tool when it comes to making taco meat at home. I highly recommend it if you are the type that likes finer ground meat for your beef/turkey tacos.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/meat-chopper/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnyone who knows me knows that I love Tacos 🌮, and while I can\u0026rsquo;t always get a nice authentic street taco, I will settle for a ground beef taco at home. And while in the past, I have not personally had any issues with how I grind/mash up the ground beef; I figured that there had to be a better way to get a finer consistency of the meat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI searched Google and Amazon and came across the \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/32HOmnT\"\u003eOXO Good Grips Ground Meat Chopper\u003c/a\u003e. While I had my doubts, I figured for the price, I would give it a try.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🍖 Meat Chopper"},{"content":"With the recent upgrade to Fortnite, I saw that the bandwidth at the house was being saturated with these 17GB updates going to 3 different Playstations. With that being said I started to think there had to be a way to set up a local report, or a cache to serve all the updates/installs to save not only bandwidth but also time.\nA quick search landed me on Lancache which totes itself with the motto of “LAN Party game caching made easy“. Sounded like an instant win, especially when I saw that it consisted of only two Docker containers to get it up and running.\nThe one issue is that it does run its own DNS server, which I have a Pi-hole on the LAN so I needed to figure out if it was possible to still run traffic through the Pi-hole or not. The next issue was, where was I going to run this as it also used ports 80 and 443 which I have other services running on those ports via my reverse proxy.\nI had a spare i5 Mac mini from 2012 that was sitting around doing nothing more than caching macOS and iOS updates on the network so figured why not get Docker up and running there with Lancache.\nAgain the install was simple enough using the following commands once Docker had been installed\nexport HOST_IP=$(hostname -I | cut -d\u0026#39; \u0026#39; -f1) docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache-dns \\ --detach -p 53:53/udp \\ -e USE_GENERIC_CACHE=true \\ -e LANCACHE_IP=$HOST_IP \\ lancachenet/lancache-dns:latest docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache \\ --detach \\ -v /cache/data:/data/cache \\ -v /cache/logs:/data/logs \\ -p 80:80 \\ -p 443:443 \\ lancachenet/monolithic:latest echo \u0026ldquo;Please configure your router/DHCP server to serve DNS as $HOST_IP\u0026rdquo; Of course, the commands they had published on their site did not work entirely on macOS as the “hostname” command for instance did not provide the results, again it was easy enough to know the IP of the Mac mini and use that in the Docker commands. Also, the /cache/ directory I relocated to my /Users/name/ instead since I was the logged-in user on the Mac mini.\nOnce I ran the commands I was up and running, I was able to point one of the Playstations to use the IP of the container as the primary DNS server. Upon doing that I removed Fortnite and then downloaded it again. I kept an eye on the cache directory and saw that it was increasing so this was working.\nHowever after this reinstall was complete, I removed the game from the Playstation and downloaded it again. I confirmed it was downloading from the Mac mini instead of from the internet, but the speeds were not nearly what I was expecting. Bandwidth usage aside I was better off just downloading it in real-time as the speeds were just so/so.\nI decided that this had to be an issue with the I/O on the dated Mac mini set up so I set up a Ryzen 5 3600 machine I had sitting unused at the time and reinstalled Ubuntu Server 20.04, Docker, and the Lancache containers.\nI again tested the method again, and saw that the cache directory was increasing in size so things were working! After the initial install, I again deleted the game from the Playstation and gave it a go again. Now, this is what I was expecting when the PlayStation queued up Fortnite the total install time was sitting at 4 minutes, vs the Mac mini which was about 20 minutes (Still a huge improvement from no-cache which was around 45-60 minutes).\nI also made some adjustments this time around to the containers as I had a lot more resources to play around with on the new machine, I adjusted them as follows.\nLancache DNS docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache-dns \\ --detach -p 53:53/udp \\ -e USE_GENERIC_CACHE=true \\ -e UPSTREAM_DNS=10.0.1.23 \\ -e LANCACHE_IP=$HOST_IP \\ lancachenet/lancache-dns:latest Lancache docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache \\ --detach \\ -v /home/shelby/cache/data:/data/cache \\ -v /home/shelby/logs:/data/logs \\ -e CACHE_MEM_SIZE=2048m \\ -e CACHE_DISK_SIZE=500000m \\ -e CACHE_MAX_AGE=3560d \\ -e UPSTREAM_DNS=10.0.1.23 \\ -p 80:80 \\ -p 443:443 \\ lancachenet/monolithic:latest As you may notice I adjusted the cache memory limit and disk limits, I tried this on the Mac mini (Not as high of settings) but even then it made little to no difference on the Mac mini. I also was able to adjust the upstream DNS to point to my Pi-hole so it was able to be utilized in the end.\nI almost forgot to mention on the new Ubuntu 20.04 setup I was running into issues getting the lancache-dns container to initialize as it kept complaining about port 53 already being in use, to resolve this I had to run the following and then the container was created without issue\nsudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved Overall I am happy with the setup, while minor it may help to stop some complaining about installs, and upgrades on the network if someone else has already requested them previously.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/setting-up-lancache-on-ubuntu-20.04/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith the recent upgrade to \u003ca href=\"https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/home?sessionInvalidated=true\"\u003eFortnite\u003c/a\u003e, I saw that the bandwidth at the house was being saturated with these \u003cstrong\u003e17GB\u003c/strong\u003e updates going to \u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e different \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3EEOrpp\"\u003ePlaystations\u003c/a\u003e. With that being said I started to think there had to be a way to set up a local report, or a cache to serve all the updates/installs to save not only bandwidth but also time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA quick search landed me on \u003ca href=\"https://lancache.net/\"\u003eLancache\u003c/a\u003e which totes itself with the motto of “\u003cem\u003eLAN Party game caching made easy\u003c/em\u003e“. Sounded like an instant win, especially when I saw that it consisted of only two \u003ca href=\"https://www.docker.com/\"\u003eDocker\u003c/a\u003e containers to get it up and running.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Setting up Lancache on Ubuntu 20.04"},{"content":"While I am a huge fan of the Phillips hue lighting system, it is expensive there is no doubt about that. Whenever I visit Home Depot or any other big box store I try to look around the clearance sections as you would be surprised at how often Phillips Hue lights are sitting there selling for a fraction of the cost.\nAfter moving to our house I started to set up my office space and knew that I wanted to add in some wall accent lighting using a Phillips Hue LED strip, sadly at about $180 for the 5m (16ft section) it was going to add up in order to add lighting to the selected wall as it was just about 16ft in length, and that was not including the main piece with the part that actually connects to the hub.\nI had read before about people either ordering knock-off brands that had a 50/50 chance of working with the Hue system as well as reading about people cobbling together their own cost-effective setup that worked well.\nI read a handful of articles and then began my search for parts so I could get started on this lighting project. Below you will find the parts list that I came up with, all shipped the next day via Amazon Prime.\nParts list LEDMO Power Supply, Transformers, LED Adapter, 12V, 5A Max, 60 Watt Max, for LED Strip - $12.99 LEDENET 22AWG 6pin 33FT 10m Extension Cable Line for 6 Color RGBCCT LED Strip Lights Wire 3528 5050 - $13.99 GLEDOPTO ZigBee LED Light Strip Controller RGBCCT 2ID Work as 2 Lights Dimmable Compatible with Hue Bridge App Control for RGB Warm White Cold White LED Strip Light Colors Changing Tape - $29.98 GIDERWEL RGBWW LED Strip Lights 16.4ft, Dimmable RGB+Cold White+Warm White Changing Color 450 LEDs(2700K-6000K),6 Wire 12V RGBCCT Full Color Ambiance LED Lightstrip Plus, Only Strip Light - $29.99 Total: $86.95\nAs you can see the overall cost was substantially lower than it would have been if I would have bought the initial Phillips Hue LED strip and the extensions. I likely could have gone without the extra extension cable wire and just used some spare wire I had laying around but for the price, I was still coming out ahead and it just looked cleaner.\nOnce I had it all connected I had to use the third-party Hue Lights app to get it detected and set up with the Hue hub. And that was that the project took longer to get the parts the next day than setting the entire thing up.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-cheaper-phillips-hue-led-strip/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile I am a huge fan of the Phillips hue lighting system, it is expensive there is no doubt about that. Whenever I visit Home Depot or any other big box store I try to look around the clearance sections as you would be surprised at how often Phillips Hue lights are sitting there selling for a fraction of the cost.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter moving to our house I started to set up my office space and knew that I wanted to add in some wall accent lighting using a Phillips Hue LED strip, sadly at about \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3DKriC8\"\u003e$180 for the 5m (16ft section)\u003c/a\u003e it was going to add up in order to add lighting to the selected wall as it was just about \u003cstrong\u003e16ft\u003c/strong\u003e in length, and that was not including the main piece with the part that actually connects to the hub.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"💡 A cheaper Phillips Hue LED strip"},{"content":"While looking over Jons site during this 100 days of blogging challenge, I noticed that he had a page discussing the use of affiliate links on his site. I figured that since almost every single link on my site to a product is an affiliate link of some sort, I should shamelessly steal a page from his book and add an Affiliate Disclaimer page to my site as well.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/affiliate-links/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile looking over \u003ca href=\"https://jonpenland.com\"\u003eJons\u003c/a\u003e site during this \u003ca href=\"/100-days-of-blogging-challenge-lets-give-this-a-try-again/\"\u003e100 days of blogging challenge\u003c/a\u003e, I noticed that he had a page discussing the use of affiliate links on his site. I figured that since almost every single link on my site to a product is an affiliate link of some sort, I should shamelessly steal a page from his book and add an \u003ca href=\"/affiliate-disclaimer/\"\u003eAffiliate Disclaimer\u003c/a\u003e page to my site as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Affiliate links"},{"content":" The recent start of the 100 days of blogging challenge that I am participating in with a few other coworkers at Kinsta got me thinking about how I will ever manage all of these scheduled posts. The way I am attacking this challenge is simply by creating a bunch of draft posts on various subjects and then scheduling them to be auto-posted once I have completed them. While doing this for a handful of drafts might not be that big of an issue but when you start to think about managing at least 100 posts if not more ( Depending on how crazy I decide to get) this can be quite an issue given the lack of a good heads up display in the WordPress dashboard.\nI started my search for a calendar plugin to manage all of the posts really the only other requirement that I was looking for was the ability to drag and drop posts on this calendar so I could visualize some of the multiple posts that I had been dreaming up.\nI came across a few options, some were free but either hadn\u0026rsquo;t been updated in ages or were lacking some of the basic features in them. I also came across a few paid ones, and while I have no issue paying for plugins I also knew that after this challenge was over I would likely not use the plugin again … well that is unless I really got in the habit of continuing to blog which sure I suppose that could happen.\nI finally stumbled upon PublishPress, while it is a paid plugin the free version works exactly as I needed. I originally installed Edit Flow, but again it had not been updated in some time and looked dated. Upon installing PublishPress I started to notice how much alike they were, except PublishPress had a much nicer UI. Come to find out that Publish Press is actually a 100% exact fork of Edit Flow with a cleaned-up UI, more features, and updated on a regular basis.\nSo far I have only hit the tip of the iceberg with PublishPress but for anyone looking for a way to manage multiple posts on your site with a calendar this might be the option you are looking for, and if you have multiple authors working on the posts they do offer add-ons that will help keep your team on the same page with the posts!\nI am sure over the course of this challenge I will have another post discussing how things are going with using PublishPress and if I still end up suggesting it at the end.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/handling-the-scheduling-of-draft-posts-in-wordpress/","summary":"\u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\n\t\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2007/05/wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb-1.png\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe recent start of the \u003cstrong\u003e100 days of blogging challenge\u003c/strong\u003e that I am participating in with a few other coworkers at Kinsta got me thinking about how I will ever manage all of these scheduled posts. The way I am attacking this challenge is simply by creating a bunch of draft posts on various subjects and then scheduling them to be auto-posted once I have completed them. While doing this for a handful of drafts might not be that big of an issue but when you start to think about managing at least \u003cstrong\u003e100\u003c/strong\u003e posts if not more ( \u003cem\u003eDepending on how crazy I decide to get\u003c/em\u003e) this can be quite an issue given the lack of a good heads up display in the WordPress dashboard.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"📆 Handling the scheduling of Draft Posts in WordPress"},{"content":"I picked up some Apple AirTags a while back and put one in my laptop bag, on mine and Nicole\u0026rsquo;s keychains, in my wallet, and even one in my truck (_Figured it could help with finding my truck in a parking garage or something lol).\nHowever, I now have 3 more sitting here gathering dust and I haven\u0026rsquo;t the slightest idea on what to do with them. I have thought about hiding them in the kid\u0026rsquo;s backpacks just in case they misplace them, also attaching them to our bikes as well but I feel they would end up getting lost somehow, and then there would be a hunt trying to find the lost AirTags.\nI even went as far as spending a short period of time Googling for creative uses for Apple AirTags and sadly, there are not many creative uses outside of what I had already mentioned. Guess I will just have to keep brainstorming and keeping an eye out for new creative uses that are actually useful, until then they will keep sitting on my desk.\n*Thanks to Roger for pointing this link out. I might have to try out automation soon!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/airtags-and-what-to-do-with-them/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI picked up some \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3Dcc2x2\"\u003eApple AirTags\u003c/a\u003e a while back and put one in my laptop bag, on mine and Nicole\u0026rsquo;s keychains, in my wallet, and even one in my truck (_\u003cem\u003eFigured it could help with finding my truck in a parking garage or something lol\u003c/em\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, I now have \u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e more sitting here gathering dust and I haven\u0026rsquo;t the slightest idea on what to do with them. I have thought about hiding them in the kid\u0026rsquo;s backpacks just in case they misplace them, also attaching them to our bikes as well but I feel they would end up getting lost somehow, and then there would be a hunt trying to find the lost \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/3Dcc2x2\"\u003eAirTags\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"AirTags, and what to do with them?"},{"content":" So the 100 days of blogging challenge is starting again, today on December 1st, 2021. Last year I did alright but this year I hope to do even better. I have already started drafting up posts that I intend to schedule in order to give myself a decent lead time when it comes to thinking up what to write about. I am also posting not only here but on my other site that deals mainly with all things WordPress.\nI also expect this year to be a bit easier to do since COVID is no longer in 100% full swing like it was last year which left most of us stuck at home replaying each day like Groundhogs Day. With that being said life might be a bit more exciting this time around allowing for more posts.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-100-days-of-blogging-challenge-lets-give-this-a-try-again/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2021/11/howard-bouchevereau-rscirj70ndm-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Laptop on Desk\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\nSo the \u003cstrong\u003e100 days of blogging challenge\u003c/strong\u003e is starting again, today on \u003cstrong\u003eDecember 1st, 2021\u003c/strong\u003e. Last year I did alright but this year I hope to do even better. I have already started drafting up posts that I intend to schedule in order to give myself a decent lead time when it comes to thinking up what to write about. I am also posting not only here but on my \u003ca href=\"https://denike.io\"\u003eother site\u003c/a\u003e that deals mainly with all things \u003ca href=\"/wordpress/\"\u003eWordPress\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"✏️ 100 days of blogging challenge, let's give this a try again…"},{"content":" While I hate to admit it, I saw a picture of this dish while randomly browsing Instagram one evening. That sent me down a rabbit hole, looking at various recipes until I found one that I thought had some potential based on the others I read. I went about doctoring this up to the point at which I was ready to give it a go with some changes in place. I need to revisit this and add a little more heat, but overall, I think this turned out pretty close to perfect; again, it\u0026rsquo;s a little mild for my liking.\nIngredients For the chips\n1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying 12 corn tortillas, each cut into eight wedges Salt For Salsa Roja\n4 Roma tomatoes, chopped 2 large tomatoes, chopped 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped 1 Jalapeño, sliced 3 cloves of garlic 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth 2 teaspoons vegetable oil Salt For serving Diced Avocado Crema Queso fresco Fried egg(s) Process Fry the cut tortillas. Heat 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Fill the skillet with the tortillas filling as much as possible, leaving a bit of space in between each one. Continue to cook, flipping once, until lightly brown and crisp. Using tongs, remove the tortilla chips. Shake each tong full to remove excess oil, then place the freshly fried tortilla chips on a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle sparingly with salt. Repeat this process until all tortillas are fried, adding more oil if needed. Make the salsa roja. Place the tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, and garlic in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pour in 1 cup of the chicken broth. Blend until smooth and there are no more visible chunks of of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and jalapeño\nCook the salsa. Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in the large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Pour in the blended salsa and cook; make sure to stir occasionally until slightly thickened. This will take around 5 to 10 minutes ( The consistency of the salsa will vary depending on the size and juiciness of the tomatoes). Add additional broth to thin out the salsa, if needed. Taste and season with salt as needed. Place all of the chips into the skillet. Continue to stir the chips, carefully coating them all. Cook until the tortillas are heated through, about 3 minutes. Taste and add additional salt if needed.\nDish up. Place a sizable portion of the warm costed chips onto a plate while still warm, garnished with diced avocado, crema, sprinkle crumbled queso fresco, and top with a fried egg.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/chilaquiles-recipe/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2021/10/Chilaquiles.jpg\" alt=\"Chilaquiles\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\nWhile I hate to admit it, I saw a picture of this dish while randomly browsing \u003ca href=\"https://instagram.com/sdenike\"\u003eInstagram\u003c/a\u003e one evening. That sent me down a rabbit hole, looking at various recipes until I found one that I thought had some potential based on the others I read. I went about doctoring this up to the point at which I was ready to give it a go with some changes in place. I need to revisit this and add a little more heat, but overall, I think this turned out pretty close to perfect; again, it\u0026rsquo;s a little mild for my liking.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🍳 Chilaquiles Recipe"},{"content":"I was looking for a way to force all DNS queries on my network to be pushed to my Pi-Hole no matter what hardcoded DNS servers were set up on the device. After a little research, I came across a couple of blog posts that pointed me in the right direction.\nThe main reason for this is not only that the kids are getting smarter to be able to adjust settings on their devices to bypass the Pi-Hole, but also I wanted to make sure all devices that jumped on my network were going through the same DNS servers for caching reasons. I also didn’t want to have to make sure I configured each device when added to my network.\nIn order to achieve this, I had to edit the config.gateway.json on my Controller. By adding the following bit of JSON code to the file located in /usr/lib/unifi/data/sites/default/ on the controller I was able to force all DNS traffic to be routed to my Pi-Hole even if someone were to do a direct dig command to another DNS server.\n\u0026#34;service\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;nat\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;rule\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;1\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;description\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;Redirect DNS queries to pihole\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;destination\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;port\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;53\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;address\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;!10.0.1.23\u0026#34; }, \u0026#34;inside-address\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;address\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;10.0.1.23\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;port\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;53\u0026#34; }, \u0026#34;source\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;address\u0026#34;: [ \u0026#34;!10.0.1.23\u0026#34; ] }, \u0026#34;inbound-interface\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;eth0\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;protocol\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;tcp_udp\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;type\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;destination\u0026#34; }, \u0026#34;5002\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;description\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;Translate reply back to pihole\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;destination\u0026#34;: { \u0026#34;address\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;10.0.1.23\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;port\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;53\u0026#34; }, \u0026#34;outbound-interface\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;eth0\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;protocol\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;tcp_udp\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;type\u0026#34;: \u0026#34;masquerade\u0026#34; } } } } } The IP address of my Pi-Hole is 10.0.1.23, you would need to change this accordingly. Also take note that I am using eth0 since I have the USG Pro, if you are using the Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway then it would be eth1 instead.\nAfter adding that code to the config.gateway.json file I was able to reprovision my USG Pro and it picked up the new settings.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/force-all-dns-traffic-to-pi-hole-on-a-usg-pro/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was looking for a way to force all DNS queries on my network to be pushed to my \u003ca href=\"https://pi-hole.net\"\u003ePi-Hole\u003c/a\u003e no matter what hardcoded \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_server\"\u003eDNS servers\u003c/a\u003e were set up on the device. After a little research, I came across a couple of blog posts that pointed me in the right direction.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main reason for this is not only that the kids are getting smarter to be able to adjust settings on their devices to bypass the \u003ca href=\"https://pi-hole.net\"\u003ePi-Hole\u003c/a\u003e, but also I wanted to make sure all devices that jumped on my network were going through the same \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_server\"\u003eDNS servers\u003c/a\u003e for caching reasons.  I also didn’t want to have to make sure I configured each device when added to my network.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🌐 Force all DNS traffic to Pi-hole on a USG Pro"},{"content":"I can\u0026rsquo;t say enough about how difficult this challenge has become. I have really been trying to make some meaningful posts on a daily basis, but if you have been following along, you might have noticed some small, more or less pointless posts, even a few skipped days, such as yesterday.\nIt is much more challenging to write something up during the weekend as I have been trying more and more to stay away from the computer during my days when I don\u0026rsquo;t actually have to work in front of it. The weather has been getting nicer; the state has started to open up things, so I am even more compelled to not sit in the office typing.\nI have, however, been looking into a mobile way to post, and unfortunately, since you need JetPack installed to utilize the WordPress iOS app, that is kind of out of the question. I have started to use Bear.app to draft up posts, which then later I can paste into the post once I am back at the computer. I would love to see a \u0026quot; Post to WordPress\u0026quot; feature in Bear.app, but I am confident that will never happen.\nEither way, I am still chugging along even with some missed days I am going to try to complete this challenge, check back next week for another update on how burnt out I am on this and if I will be waving a white flag.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/100-days-of-blogging-update/","summary":"I can\u0026rsquo;t say enough about how difficult this \u003ca href=\"http://denike.io/100-days-of-blogging-challenge/\"\u003echallenge\u003c/a\u003e has become. I have really been trying to make some meaningful posts on a daily basis, but if you have been following along, you might have noticed some small, more or less pointless posts, even a few skipped days, such as yesterday.","title":"100 Days of Blogging update"},{"content":" When I purchased my Synology NAS I filled it with eight 4TB drives, and did dual redundancy leaving me with 22TB of space that I never thought I would fill…\nWell, a couple of weeks back I started getting alerts about low disk space, I only had 3.5TB free. Yes I know many of you are thinking that 3.5TB of free space is plenty, sadly I did not. I got a great deal on some WD external 12TB drives that I had to schuck each and every one of them, but now I have 72TB of space which I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine I will fill up anytime soon…\nUpdate: I have finally completed the expanding of the storage volume and rather than the 72TB that was calculated from the Synology Raid calculator it actually came out to 65.20TB of usable space, really with the 12TB drives were 12TB rather than 10.91TB.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/adding-more-storage-to-my-nas/","summary":"\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2020/05/WD-Disk-drives.jpg\" alt=\"Eighter Western Digital easy store hard drives.\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\nWhen I purchased my \u003ca href=\"https://amzn.to/2TGppl8\"\u003eSynology NAS\u003c/a\u003e I filled it with eight \u003cstrong\u003e4TB\u003c/strong\u003e drives, and did dual redundancy leaving me with \u003cstrong\u003e22TB\u003c/strong\u003e of space that I never thought I would fill…","title":"💾 Adding more storage to my NAS"},{"content":" As I mentioned in a previous post, my Apple iPhone 8 Plus had a painful death. So just as any other loyal Apple fanboy would do, I went out and bought an upgrade, and went all-in with the iPhone 11 Pro Max ( 256GB model) in space gray.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t had a ton of time to really mess with all of the new features such as the upgraded camera, but the Face ID is pretty slick … except when I have a face mask and need to unlock it.\nThis is a short and sweet post about the upgrade but I am sure over the remaining days of these 100 days of blogging challenge I will be posting some further reviews and photos that I take with it.\nOn a final note, I wanted to mention how thankful I am to be off of that Pixel 3; while the phone itself was nice, I feel like Android is a total garbage OS that should have never seen the light of day.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/apple-iphone-11-pro-max/","summary":"\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2020/05/iPhone-11-Pro-Max-1024x390.png\" alt=\"Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\nAs I mentioned in a \u003ca href=\"http://denike.io/switching-to-android/\"\u003eprevious post\u003c/a\u003e my Apple iPhone 8 Plus had a painful death. So just as any other loyal Apple fanboy would do, I went out and bought an upgrade, and went all-in with the iPhone 11 Pro Max ( \u003cem\u003e256GB model\u003c/em\u003e) in space gray.","title":"Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max"},{"content":" A while back I picked up a Google Pixel 3 to test out, that test lasted all but a day then I put it back in my desk drawer and pitched it to all my friends and family to see if they wanted to buy it off me… clearly that never happened as it was up until this weekend sitting in my desk drawer.\nWhat happened this last weekend? Good question, my trusty iPhone 8 Plus reenacted the story of Humpty Dumpty and sadly is not able to be put back together again.\nBut didn\u0026rsquo;t the case protect it? I gave up using a case probably around a year ago as my phone is usually in my pocket or sitting on my desk 99% of the time and I just didn\u0026rsquo;t feel the need to have a case. I also liked the minimal feel of it, I am starting to rethink that decision.\nGet back to switching to Android. I am a Google Fi subscriber, which unlike Verizon, T-Mobile, etc you can\u0026rsquo;t just go into the store and get a replacement phone; so I had to order a new unlocked phone directly from Apple. In the meantime, I popped the sim into this Pixel 3 so I have some form of communication to the outside world.\nAfter using it for a bit, I don\u0026rsquo;t get how people use Android. I have been using the iPhone since its initial release so everything seems so foreign to me. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait for the new iPhone to arrive.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/switching-to-android/","summary":"\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2020/05/mark-s-89U2ScRVPSY-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\nA while back I picked up a \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_3\"\u003eGoogle Pixel 3\u003c/a\u003e to test out, that test lasted all but a day then I put it back in my desk drawer and pitched it to all my friends and family to see if they wanted to buy it off me… clearly that never happened as it was up until this weekend sitting in my desk drawer.","title":"Switching to Android…"},{"content":" Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash\nThis should be an interesting challenge seeing that every year I say that I am going to write more often and then it shortly fizzles out. This challenge is taking place starting on May 1st, 2020, and ending on August 9, 2020 … which just happens to be a few days after my birthday.\nThe idea of this was brought up by Roger in our Kinsta slack channel and by the looks of how often he blogs currently this will not be much of a challenge for him as it will for me and perhaps the others that are choosing to participate.\nI was having a debate on what to blog about to keep things consistent, but looking back over my blog it\u0026rsquo;s kind of all over the place from Linux, WordPress, music, movies, and most recent recipes that I have been whipping up, with that being said it\u0026rsquo;s likely to remain a giant mess of randomness 😂\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/100-days-of-blogging-challenge/","summary":"This should be an interesting challenge seeing that every year I say that I am going to write more often and then it shortly fizzles out. This challenge is taking place starting on May 1st, 2020, and ending on August 9, 2020 … which just happens to be a few days after my birthday.","title":"✏️ 100 days of blogging challenge"},{"content":"Setup\nNo need for homebrew or anything like that. Works with https://www.git-tower.com and the command line.\nInstall https://gpgtools.org \u0026ndash; I\u0026rsquo;d suggest to do a customized install and deselect GPGMail. Create or import a key \u0026ndash; see below for https://keybase.io Run gpg \u0026ndash;list-secret-keys and look for sec, use the key ID for the next step Configure git to use GPG \u0026ndash; replace the key with the one from gpg \u0026ndash;list-secret-keys git config \u0026ndash;global gpg.program /usr/local/MacGPG2/bin/gpg2 git config \u0026ndash;global user.signingkey A6B167E1 git config \u0026ndash;global commit.gpgsign true Optionally configure annotated tags to be GPG signed git config \u0026ndash;global tag.forceSignAnnotated true Add this line to ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf pinentry-program /usr/local/MacGPG2/libexec/pinentry-mac.app/Contents/MacOS/pinentry-mac Add this line to ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf no-tty\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/git-with-verified-gpg-commits-on-macos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSetup\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo need for homebrew or anything like that. Works with \u003ca href=\"https://www.git-tower.com\"\u003ehttps://www.git-tower.com\u003c/a\u003e and the command line.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstall \u003ca href=\"https://gpgtools.org\"\u003ehttps://gpgtools.org\u003c/a\u003e \u0026ndash; I\u0026rsquo;d suggest to do a customized install and deselect GPGMail.\nCreate or import a key \u0026ndash; see below for \u003ca href=\"https://keybase.io\"\u003ehttps://keybase.io\u003c/a\u003e\nRun gpg \u0026ndash;list-secret-keys and look for sec, use the key ID for the next step\nConfigure git to use GPG \u0026ndash; replace the key with the one from gpg \u0026ndash;list-secret-keys\ngit config \u0026ndash;global gpg.program /usr/local/MacGPG2/bin/gpg2\ngit config \u0026ndash;global user.signingkey A6B167E1\ngit config \u0026ndash;global commit.gpgsign true\nOptionally configure annotated tags to be GPG signed\ngit config \u0026ndash;global tag.forceSignAnnotated true\nAdd this line to ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf\npinentry-program /usr/local/MacGPG2/libexec/pinentry-mac.app/Contents/MacOS/pinentry-mac\nAdd this line to ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf\nno-tty\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Git with Verified GPG commits on macOS"},{"content":" For a while now I have been thinking about upgrading my network, and since moving I have been having more and more issues with my 2TB Apple Time Capsule where I am forced to reboot it often. Besides rebooting it I have also been experiencing a poor or often times slow signal now that I live in a much larger than when I lived in Denver.\nI finally decided it was time that I make the jump to a business class setup not only for signal, and reliability but also in hopes to boost the overall coverage no matter what room or chair I am sitting in at the time.\nInitially, I was looking into something like the Eero, but while it seemed very user-friendly and robust it was lacking in the ability to configure it on a level that I was looking for, making it a bit more entry-level than I was wanting. I also thought of Google Wifi, but even though I rely on them for just about all my online needs, welcoming them into my home to provide the wifi just seemed a little more welcoming than using them for my calendar and email, since they are a search engine and who knows what other data outside of that they would be harvesting and also again the lack of being as configurable as I was wanting.\nAfter recently seeing a few tweets, and reading a handful of blog posts that made mention of Ubiquiti and their hardware I did a bit of research into them, and while their configuration is definitely not for the faint of heart like over-the-counter Linksys, Netgear etc that you would find at Best Buy they seemed to offer exactly what I was wanting. I shopped around and picked out a pretty well-rounded setup which in the end \u0026quot; should\u0026quot; work well, and allow for a decent amount of time before I will need to overhaul the network layer again.\nI ended up landing on the following equipment for my build.\nUbiquiti Unifi Cloud Key - Remote Control Device (UC-CK) Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway (USG) Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 8 60W (US-8-60W) Ubiquiti Networks Unifi 802.11ac Dual-Radio PRO Access Point (UAP-AC-PRO-US) I was hoping this setup would provide ample ports for all my wired gear and more than enough coverage for all my wifi devices in and around my place… so much for planning accordingly on my part. Thankfully the folks over at Ubiquiti sent me another AP-Pro for my setup which doubles my coverage. Due to my poor planning, I ended up picking up another 8 port switch ( Even though I should have just returned the original and gotten a 24 port switch instead).\nThe overall setup was pretty easy, I configured it all before swapping out my router in order to limit the actual downtime of the wifi. There are many other reviews/articles out there that talk about how to configure and setup everything so I won\u0026rsquo;t be getting into any of that during this post, but I can confirm while not \u0026ldquo;plug-n-play\u0026rdquo; it was pretty straightforward to get everything running in a basic type of setup.\nAfter about a week of having the current setup, I ended up adding yet another AC-Pro on the other side of the house to get a bit better coverage and to remove some load I was seeing on the two other access points.\nUbiquiti is not known to be the fastest most performance-based setup you can get out there, but they are known for their stability and so far I can vouch for that 100%. I have not had to reboot anything for over 25 days and things are just humming along great.\nThey do offer a level of tweaking and customization that you won\u0026rsquo;t find with other home routers/networking so when you really want to get your hands dirty on a weekend you can configure all kinds of things. I was noticing for instance that some devices were hanging on to certain APs so I made adjustments to limit that so devices now will only attach if their signal is X which keeps the load down and distributes the devices much better across the network.\nConfiguring a VPN was really easy, more so than I have found on some home routers even. And might I add very stable as well.\nI plan on creating specific VLANs for certain devices to keep everything uncluttered but I am still looking at the best way to implement this while allowing everything to work properly across the board.\nOutside of that, I am really interested in checking out their cameras and DVR setup as I think that would really add to my network setup.\nSo far I have been pushing just about everyone I know to get set up with Ubiquiti so far it works great, and in the end, is not that expensive based on the hardware and configuration that you are getting. And when needing to add a new AP for whatever reason it\u0026rsquo;s cheap to do.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/ubiquiti-home-network-upgrade/","summary":"\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.iohttp://wp.denike.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Ubiquiti_install.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\n{{ double-space-with-newline }}For a while now I have been thinking about upgrading my network, and since moving I have been having more and more issues with my \u003ca href=\"https://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/\"\u003e2TB Apple Time Capsule\u003c/a\u003e where I am forced to reboot it often. Besides rebooting it I have also been experiencing a poor or often times slow signal now that I live in a much larger than when I lived in \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver\"\u003eDenver\u003c/a\u003e.","title":"📶 Ubiquiti Home Network Upgrade"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a while since I had an IP camera setup, but recently came across the Wyze IP Camera which is only $20 …. The price was kind of a deterrent at first until I looked at all of the features packed into this small/affordable IP camera.\nWyze had just released version 2 of their camera so I picked up a pre-order, it took a few weeks longer to arrive than expected due to some issues with the production due to dust on the new CMOS sensor, but the wait was ok by me as it was more of an impulse buy rather than something I really \u0026ldquo;needed\u0026rdquo; to get by on a daily basis.\nMy first thought, once it arrived, was that it had an Apple feel to the packaging. It was very minimal, clean, and simple.\nThe setup was also very easy and done with all via my iPhone 8 plus. You simply power it on, wait a few seconds then hold the setup button which gives you an audible prompt to continue the setup which is\nall done via the iOS app. I am not sure how the normal iOS app setup is since I am running the beta version but I can only imagine it is exactly the same if not similar.\nI really had no place to put the camera since it wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a planned purchase, so I aimed it out the window for a bit to mess with the settings, and since then it has more or less just been pointed at the wall until I find a use for it.\nThe camera itself does allow for recording to their cloud service on AWS as well as with the use of a MicroSD card you can record directly to it locally. I used a 32 GB MicroSD that I had sitting in an unused Raspberry Pi. Initially, I installed the card while the unit was powered on, and it did not detect it. A simple power cycle of the camera recognized the card and allowed me to format it using the app.\nInside the app, you can configure alerts for motion, as well as audio alerts, and even has the ability to speak through the camera using the microphone in your app. I hope that I eventually have a reason to use this for something than monitoring the blank wall as it seems a pretty featured pack for only $20 and would love to set up more of them around my place in the near future.\nThe one feature that I feel is really missing is any sort of built-in option to access the video stream via a specific port in the browser or to take a picture at a specific increment and have it auto-uploaded to a site via FTP. I think doing this would be great then you would not have to always use the app to view the video footage and could set up a nice HUD web page if you had multiple cameras set up.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/wyze-ip-camera/","summary":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a while since I had an IP camera setup, but recently came across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wyzecam.com\"\u003eWyze IP Camera\u003c/a\u003e which is only \u003cstrong\u003e$20\u003c/strong\u003e …. The price was kind of a deterrent at first until I looked at all of the features packed into this small/affordable IP camera.\n\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.iohttp://wp.denike.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wyze_camera-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Wyze Camera\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.wyzecam.com\"\u003eWyze\u003c/a\u003e had just released version 2 of their camera so I picked up a pre-order, it took a few weeks longer to arrive than expected due to some issues with the production due to dust on the new CMOS sensor, but the wait was ok by me as it was more of an impulse buy rather than something I really \u0026ldquo;needed\u0026rdquo; to get by on a daily basis.\nMy first thought, once it arrived, was that it had an Apple feel to the packaging.  It was very minimal, clean, and simple.\nThe setup was also very easy and done with all via my \u003ca href=\"https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-8\"\u003eiPhone 8 plus\u003c/a\u003e.  You simply power it on, wait a few seconds then hold the setup button which gives you an audible prompt to continue the setup which is","title":"📷 Wyze IP Camera"},{"content":" I have always had a really hard time drinking water throughout the day, in most cases, I just \u0026quot; forget\u0026quot;. Anyways I decided to see what kind of reminder apps were out there to hopefully aid in reminding me not to sit here for hours without even thinking twice about taking a drink.\nThere had to be something out there that would track my daily intake as well as remind me every X hours to take a drink. The main thing I was looking for was an app that was not only minimal in design but tied in with my glorified notification center aka the iWatch.\nAfter reading a handful of reviews and looking at various screenshots of water reminder apps I came across WaterMinder. This app is not only pleasing to the eye but simply tracks your water, beer, coffee, or in general any liquid intake and notifies you every so often to drink.\nThe app itself can be downloaded from the App store and is currently $2.99 for the app which is cheaper than a coffee that I would likely have forgotten to drink without this app anyways.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/waterminder/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2018/03/waterminder_app.png\" alt=\"WaterMinder\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have always had a really hard time drinking water throughout the day, in most cases, I just \u0026quot; \u003cem\u003eforget\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot;.   Anyways I decided to see what kind of reminder apps were out there to hopefully aid in reminding me not to sit here for hours without even thinking twice about taking a drink.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere had to be something out there that would track my daily intake as well as remind me every X hours to take a drink.  The main thing I was looking for was an app that was not only minimal in design but tied in with my glorified notification center aka the iWatch.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Waterminder"},{"content":" A few months ago I started to get work done on my sleeve, mainly filling in some of the bare sections and some touch-ups.\nLastly, I have been working towards a coverup of the Koi I had on my upper arm, my artist, and I decided to cover it up with a dragon.\nThis is only the 2nd session I have had with him on the Dragon, but so far, it\u0026rsquo;s turning out great. I am really looking forward to it being completed, There will only be a couple more sessions until then.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/new-ink-cover-up/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2017/11/dragon_color.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few months ago I started to get work done on my sleeve, mainly filling in some of the bare sections and some touch-ups.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLastly, I have been working towards a coverup of the Koi I had on my upper arm, my \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adriananfinsontattoos/\"\u003eartist\u003c/a\u003e, and I decided to cover it up with a dragon.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is only the 2nd session I have had with him on the Dragon, but so far, it\u0026rsquo;s turning out great.  I am really looking forward to it being completed, There will only be a couple more sessions until then.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Ink Cover-up"},{"content":" [envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;6841\u0026rsquo;]\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/visiting-envato-in-melbourne-australia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2017/11/Melbourne_Australia_2017_44.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\n[envira-gallery id=\u0026lsquo;6841\u0026rsquo;]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🦘 Visiting Envato in Melbourne, Australia"},{"content":"I should probably start making use of it again.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/ohh-wait-i-have-a-blog/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI should probably start making use of it again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ohh wait I have a blog"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://denike.io/backyard-rollercoaster-made-of-pvc-with-a-12-ft-drop-youtube/","summary":"\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5dMkwYCURw?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e","title":"Backyard Rollercoaster made of PVC! With a 12 ft drop - YouTube"},{"content":"Yesterday, I finally had my \u0026ldquo;court\u0026rdquo; date for the traffic violations back in March. I got pulled over on the way back to work from lunch and got a ticket for Expired Registration and an incorrect address on my License.\nIt was an honest mistake and the following morning I went to the DMV and got it all taken care of. Even doing that I was still worried since the fine could be around $1000 and the ticket required me to show up in court.\nI woke up nice and early as the courthouse is not that close, and I had to be there by 8 am. I arrived at the courthouse and had a hell of a time getting there since there was road construction, and finding the parking garage was not the easiest to locate. Went through the metal detectors, which was a first for me in a courthouse.\nAnyway, I was pretty tired and dressed up to see a judge since those are usually the people that you visit in \u0026ldquo;court.\u0026rdquo; That\u0026rsquo;s not the case. Being in \u0026ldquo;court\u0026rdquo; was more or less being at the DMV. I arrived, got my number, and was called to a glass window to show proof of my registration and new ID. That was that case dismissed.\nWhile it sucks that I had to wake up early and get dressed up for a court appearance, that never really happened. At least I am not out of $1000+, or any money at that.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-day-in-court.../","summary":"Yesterday, I finally had my \u0026ldquo;court\u0026rdquo; date for the traffic violations back in March.  I got pulled over on the way back to work from lunch and got a ticket for Expired Registration and an incorrect address on my License.","title":"A day in \"court\"..."},{"content":"One of my clients needed APC installed for their application, so I initially tried to install it via WHM module installer \u0026hellip;. this failed. Here are the steps that I took to get it working via CLI\nFirst download the newest stable release of APC and then run the following commands.\nwget http://pecl.php.net/get/APC-3.1.6.tgz\ntar -xzf APC-3.1.6.tgz\ncd APC-3.1.6\nwhich php\nphpize\nIf you do not have pcre installed the make install will fail. So make sure to run the following yum command to install it with the development packages for safe measure.\nyum install pcre.i386 pcre-devel.i386\nThis is the configure line that I used, your php-config location MIGHT be different so make sure to double check that\n./configure \u0026ndash;enable-apc \u0026ndash;enable-apc-mmap \u0026ndash;with-apxs \u0026ndash;with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config\nmake\nmake install\nLastly find the correct php.ini that your system is using and then edit that ini and add the following config settings near the end of your php.ini.\nphp -i | grep php.ini\nvi /usr/local/lib/php.ini\nConfig to add before the \u0026ldquo;zend\u0026rdquo; section.\nextension=\u0026ldquo;apc.so\u0026rdquo;\napc.enabled=\u0026ldquo;1\u0026rdquo;\napc.shm_segments=\u0026ldquo;5\u0026rdquo;\napc.shm_size=\u0026ldquo;16\u0026rdquo;\napc.ttl=\u0026ldquo;7200\u0026rdquo;\napc.rfc1867=\u0026ldquo;on\u0026rdquo;\napc.mmap_file_mask=\u0026quot;/tmp/apc.XXXXXX\u0026quot;\napc.user_ttl=\u0026ldquo;7200\u0026rdquo;\napc.num_files_hint=\u0026ldquo;2048\u0026rdquo;\napc.enable_cli=\u0026ldquo;1\u0026rdquo;\napc.max_file_size=\u0026ldquo;10M\u0026rdquo;\nI also ran into an issue that when the apc.so was compiled it was not placed in the proper extension_dir, I had to manually copy it to the correct folder. Once you have done all that stop and then start Apache and walla you should be all set. check your php.ini to make sure APC shows up.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/apc-on-a-whm/cpanel-server/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of my clients needed APC installed for their application, so I initially tried to install it via WHM module installer \u0026hellip;. this failed.   Here are the steps that I took to get it working via CLI{{ double-space-with-newline }}First download the newest stable release of APC and then run the following commands.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewget \u003ca href=\"http://pecl.php.net/get/APC-3.1.6.tgz%7B%7B\"\u003ehttp://pecl.php.net/get/APC-3.1.6.tgz{{\u003c/a\u003e double-space-with-newline }}tar -xzf APC-3.1.6.tgz{{ double-space-with-newline }}cd APC-3.1.6{{ double-space-with-newline }}which php{{ double-space-with-newline }}phpize\nIf you do not have pcre installed the make install will fail.  So make sure to run the following yum command to install it with the development packages for safe measure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n","title":"APC on a WHM/CPanel Server"},{"content":"I recently encountered an issue requiring me to import about 500 employees into a database and add each one to multiple departments.\nUsing an array, I wrote some pretty simple code to import a CSV file that simply contained \u0026ldquo;username, real name\u0026rdquo; into the database.\nI wanted to post it in case anyone ever needed to do something along these lines.\n\u0026lt;?php include(\u0026#39;../config.php\u0026#39;); $departments = array(\u0026#34;department1\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;department2\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;department3\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;department4\u0026#34;); mysql_connect(\u0026#34;$dbhost\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;$dbuser\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;$dbpass\u0026#34;) or die(mysql_error()); mysql_select_db(\u0026#34;$dbase\u0026#34;) or die(mysql_error()); $handle = fopen(\u0026#34;employees.csv\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;r\u0026#34;); while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 5000, \u0026#34;,\u0026#34;)) !== FALSE) { foreach ($departments as \u0026amp;$value) { $query = \u0026#34;INSERT INTO employees (`id`, `name`, `realname`, `tickets`, `dept`) VALUES (NULL, \u0026#39;$data[0]\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;$data[1]\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;0\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;$value\u0026#39;)\u0026#34;; $result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error()); echo $data[1] . \u0026#39; successfully added to \u0026#39; . $value . \u0026#39; department\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026#39;; } } unset($value); ?\u0026gt; ","permalink":"https://denike.io/adding-users-from-a-csv-file-to-a-mysql-database/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recently encountered an issue requiring me to import about \u003cstrong\u003e500\u003c/strong\u003e employees into a database and add each one to multiple departments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing an array, I wrote some pretty simple code to import a CSV file that simply contained \u0026ldquo;username, real name\u0026rdquo; into the database.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wanted to post it in case anyone ever needed to do something along these lines.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"highlight\"\u003e\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\" class=\"chroma\"\u003e\u003ccode class=\"language-php\" data-lang=\"php\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e\u0026lt;?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003ephp\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003einclude\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u0026#39;../config.php\u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e);\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$departments\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e=\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003earray\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;department1\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;department2\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;department3\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;department4\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e);\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_connect\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$dbhost\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$dbuser\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$dbpass\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e)\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eor\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003edie\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_error\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e());\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_select_db\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$dbase\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e)\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eor\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003edie\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_error\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e());\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$handle\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e=\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003efopen\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;employees.csv\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;r\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e);\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003ewhile\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e((\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$data\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e=\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003efgetcsv\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$handle\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"mi\"\u003e5000\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e,\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;,\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e))\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e!==\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eFALSE\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e)\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e{\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e    \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eforeach\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$departments\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eas\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e\u0026amp;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$value\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e)\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e{\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e        \u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$query\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e=\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#34;INSERT INTO employees (`id`, `name`, `realname`, `tickets`, `dept`) VALUES (NULL, \u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$data[0]\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$data[1]\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;0\u0026#39;, \u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"si\"\u003e$value\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s2\"\u003e\u0026#39;)\u0026#34;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e        \u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$result\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e=\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_query\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$query\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e)\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eor\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003edie\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003emysql_error\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e());\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e        \u003cspan class=\"k\"\u003eecho\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$data\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e[\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mi\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u0026#39; successfully added to \u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$value\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"o\"\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u0026#39; department\u0026lt;br\u0026gt;\u0026#39;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e;\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e    \u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e}\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e}\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nx\"\u003eunset\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e(\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"nv\"\u003e$value\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"p\"\u003e);\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"line\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cl\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cp\"\u003e?\u0026gt;\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"err\"\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003c/div\u003e","title":"📈 Adding users from a CSV file to a MySQL database"},{"content":"I am in search of a raid solution. I have been pretty interested in the Drobo but due to the cost of what you get I am not sure its the best method, though the idea is cool. I am thinking instead of maybe getting a few 1tb+ drives and a cheap RAID card and tossing it all into my Linux box as it would provide a lot more than just a storage device, not to mention the cost would be much less.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/raid-solution/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am in search of a raid solution. I have been pretty interested in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.drobo.com/\"\u003eDrobo\u003c/a\u003e but due to the cost of what you get I am not sure its the best method, though the idea is cool. I am thinking instead of maybe getting a few 1tb+ drives and a cheap RAID card and tossing it all into my Linux box as it would provide a lot more than just a storage device, not to mention the cost would be much less.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Raid Solution"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://denike.io/yup/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2010/01/work1.jpg\" alt=\"Work is Death\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yup"},{"content":"The date had almost slipped me by. I have now been living in Vegas for 1yr, 6 months longer than I really would have cared for. I moved to Vegas to get out of computers for a bit and attempt to work at one of the many clubs or casinos\u0026hellip; And if you know where I stand now, and you know that didn\u0026rsquo;t happen. Instead, I ended up working for a company that provides support for all of the casinos and bars.\nTime like that makes me wish I didn\u0026rsquo;t give up my hosting career, but I am trying to work my way back into that as it was something that I can say I actually enjoyed.\nAnyway, Vegas is hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter, and it lacks a real beach.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/1yr-in-vegas/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe date had almost slipped me by.  I have now been living in Vegas for 1yr, 6 months longer than I really would have cared for.   I moved to Vegas to get out of computers for a bit and attempt to work at one of the many clubs or casinos\u0026hellip; And if you know where\nI stand now, and you know that didn\u0026rsquo;t happen. Instead, I ended up working for a company that provides support for all of the casinos and bars.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"1yr in Vegas"},{"content":"with the recent price hike of cigarettes, I have decided my time to quit is now. I have 5 more left in my pack, which I can only assume I will finish before I go to bed tonight. That being the case, I am no longer going to purchase packs; I mean, who can afford to buy them at $6 something a pack? Not to mention the money I will save over the course of a year. Depending on the day, I smoke about half a pack, which leads me to buy a pack a day so that I always have some. With the math, it\u0026rsquo;s something like $2000 a year spent on smoking \u0026hellip; didn\u0026rsquo;t know it cost so much to kill yourself. Anyway, I am sure I will keep everyone posted on how it pans out for me\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/5-smokes-and-counting-...so/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ewith the recent price hike of cigarettes, I have decided my time to quit is now.  I have 5 more left in my pack, which I can only assume I will finish before I go to bed tonight.  That being the case, I am no longer going to purchase packs; I mean, who can afford to buy them at $6 something a pack?  Not to mention the money I will save over the course of a year.  Depending on the day, I smoke about half a pack, which leads me to buy a pack a day so that I always have some. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"🚬 5 Smokes and counting ...So"},{"content":" So, over the last two weeks, I have been searching for a new pair of shoes as my Adidas have reached the end of their lifespan. I have hit up DSW multiple times and have not had any luck. I then decided to hit up the outlet malls since they have a few shoe stores\u0026hellip; and still turned up with nothing. Then I checked out Journeys and found some Onitsuka Tigers Ultimate 81\u0026rsquo;s. I didn\u0026rsquo;t really know much about these shoes, found out they are made by Asics or at least owned by them. I tried them on, and I must say they are some of the most comfortable shoes I have worn. I am interested to see how long they hold up.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/new-onitsuka-tigers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2009/03/onitsuka-tigers.jpg\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, over the last two weeks, I have been searching for a new pair of shoes as my Adidas have reached the end of their lifespan.  I have hit up DSW multiple times and have not had any luck.  I then decided to hit up the outlet malls since they have a few shoe stores\u0026hellip; and still turned up with nothing.  Then I checked out Journeys and found some Onitsuka Tigers Ultimate 81\u0026rsquo;s.  I didn\u0026rsquo;t really know much about these shoes, found out they are made by Asics or at least owned by them.  I tried them on, and I must say they are some of the most comfortable shoes I have worn.  I am interested to see how long they hold up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"👟 New Onitsuka Tigers"},{"content":"So today is my birthday, and I don\u0026rsquo;t feel any different, but I know I am old.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/and-now-i-am-really-old/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo today is my birthday, and I don\u0026rsquo;t feel any different, but I know I am old.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"👴 And now I am really old"},{"content":"You will be missed brother. You were a good friend, and a great roommate. I will miss you always my friend. ","permalink":"https://denike.io/jon-henderson-r.i.p-2.28.2008/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou will be missed brother. You were a good friend, and a great roommate. I will miss you always my friend. \u003ca href=\"/images/2008/02/jon1.jpg\" title=\"Jon Henderson\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2008/02/jon1.jpg\" alt=\"Jon Henderson\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Jon Henderson - R.I.P - 2.28.2008"},{"content":"I got bored today and decided that I wanted to monitor weather in different locations with my Cacti setup. I obtained a copy of the AccuWeather perl script and also the XML file for Cacti, loaded it up and what do you know\u0026hellip; It wasn\u0026rsquo;t graphing the Temp or the RealFeel®.\nWith a little help from my friend Wezzul I was able to get it graphing correctly. I present to you the fixed perl script. #!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; use LWP::Simple; my $httpaddr = \u0026#34;http://wwwa.accuweather.com/forecast-current-conditions.asp?partner=forecastfox\u0026amp;myadc=0\u0026amp;traveler=1\u0026amp;zipcode=\u0026#34; . $ARGV[0] . \u0026#34;\u0026amp;metric=0\u0026#34;; my %data; my $content = LWP::Simple::get($httpaddr) or die \u0026#34;Couldn\u0026#39;t get it!\u0026#34;; $content =~ s/\\ |\\n//g; # regex in html source order if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{Temp} = $1; } if ($content =~ /RealFeel®\u0026lt; \\/a\u0026gt;:\u0026lt; \\/div\u0026gt;\\s+ (-?\\d+)°F\u0026lt; \\/div\u0026gt;/g) { $data{RealFeel} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+)%/g) { $data{Humidity} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+)%/g) { $data{CloudCover} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) mi/g) { $data{Visibility} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{MaxTemp} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{Dewpoint} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{MinTemp} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) ft/g) { $data{Ceiling} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{Departure} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{ApparentTemp} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{HighPast6hrs} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{WindChill} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+)°/g) { $data{LowPast6hrs} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) mph/g) { $data{WindSpeed} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) in/g) { $data{PrecipPast3hrs} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) in/g) { $data{PrecipPast6hrs} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) mph/g) { $data{WindGusts} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) in/g) { $data{PrecipPast24hrs} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(-?\\d+\\.\\d+)\u0026#34;/g) { $data{Pressure} = $1; } if ($content =~ /(\\d+) in/g) { $data{SnowOnGround} = $1; } for (keys %data) { printf \u0026#34;%s:%s \u0026#34;, $_, $data{$_}; } print \u0026#34;\\n\u0026#34; ","permalink":"https://denike.io/accuweather.pl-cacti-fix/","summary":"I got bored today and decided that I wanted to monitor weather in different locations with my Cacti setup. I obtained a copy of the AccuWeather perl script and also the XML file for Cacti, loaded it up and what do you know\u0026hellip; It wasn\u0026rsquo;t graphing the Temp or the RealFeel®. With a little help from my friend \u003ca href=\"http://wezzul.com\"\u003eWezzul\u003c/a\u003e I was able to get it graphing correctly. I present to you the fixed perl script.","title":"AccuWeather.pl Cacti Fix"},{"content":"So last night was fueling up the blue beast at the gas station. When I parked by the pump I knew the bum sitting on the curb had his eye on me. I started pumping gas and then out of no where hes like \u0026ldquo;Hey Larry!\u0026rdquo;, at first I didn\u0026rsquo;t respond\u0026hellip; then he called again. I turned around and he said that I looked like a Larry, and that I had some resemblance to Larry bird, from there he started asking me about baseball and basketball etc\u0026hellip; Then as I figured he hit me up for change.\nBeing a Larry, I said sorry, man, and got in my car and drove away.\n.fin\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/a-bum-called-me-larry/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo last night was fueling up the blue beast at the gas station. When I parked by the pump I knew the bum sitting on the curb had his eye on me. I started pumping gas and then out of no where hes like \u0026ldquo;Hey Larry!\u0026rdquo;, at first I didn\u0026rsquo;t respond\u0026hellip; then he called again. I turned around and he said that I looked like a Larry, and that I had some resemblance to Larry bird, from there he started asking me about baseball and basketball etc\u0026hellip; Then as I figured he hit me up for change.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A bum called me Larry"},{"content":"And I am really tired. I almost want to make some coffee\u0026hellip; but then I will be up forever unless I start drinking when I get home \u0026hellip;. hmm ideas. Anyway, this is a temporary theme until I get around to creating a new one myself.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/1hr-to-go/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnd I am really tired.  I almost want to make some coffee\u0026hellip; but then I will be up forever unless I start drinking when I get home \u0026hellip;. hmm ideas.  Anyway, this is a temporary theme until I get around to creating a new one myself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"1hr to go"},{"content":"I am getting sick of this number. I get random calls from these folks every month, a couple of times, etc. I swear it needs to stop. For those of you who have not gotten these calls, when you get this call, it\u0026rsquo;s just a Spanish recording \u0026hellip; well, I don\u0026rsquo;t speak Spanish, so I have no idea what they are saying.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/859-212-1501/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am getting sick of this number. I get random calls from these folks every month, a couple of times, etc. I swear it needs to stop. For those of you who have not gotten these calls, when you get this call, it\u0026rsquo;s just a Spanish recording \u0026hellip; well, I don\u0026rsquo;t speak Spanish, so I have no idea what they are saying.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"859-212-1501"},{"content":"Well looks like the upgrade worked \u0026hellip; well there does seem to be an issue with the rich text editor\u0026hellip; I guess I will fix that at some point. I also plan on doing daily updates again, we will see how that goes.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/upgrade-worked/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell looks like the upgrade worked \u0026hellip; well there does seem to be an issue with the rich text editor\u0026hellip; I guess I will fix that at some point.  I also plan on doing daily updates again, we will see how that goes.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Upgrade worked"},{"content":"I need to find out how much it costs to fix them. They seem to be getting worse and worse, even when I eat well or get lots of sleep, etc.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/bags-under-my-eyes/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI need to find out how much it costs to fix them. They seem to be getting worse and worse, even when I eat well or get lots of sleep, etc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bags under my Eyes"},{"content":"With my new found love of raw fish and seaweed I thought I would change the theme of the site to reflect that. Who knows how long it will stay but for now its better than the default theme thats for damn sure.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/sushi-for-everyone./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith my new found love of raw fish and seaweed I thought I would change the theme of the site to reflect that. Who knows how long it will stay but for now its better than the default theme thats for damn sure.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sushi for Everyone."},{"content":"Digg v3 has launched and seems to be pretty slick. I missed the opening music that they had up.\nread more | digg story\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/new-digg-v3-launched/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDigg v3 has launched and seems to be pretty slick. I missed the opening music that they had up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://ramibotros.byethost11.com/\"\u003eread more\u003c/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"http://digg.com/tech_news/New_Digg_v3_Launched\"\u003edigg story\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Digg v3 Launched"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Linux is only a browser to let you view the internet\u0026rdquo;, and with their security center that runs on Windows it will keep me safe when using Linux\u0026hellip; First class support right there, I tell ya.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/according-to-aol/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Linux is only a browser to let you view the internet\u0026rdquo;, and with their security center that runs on Windows it will keep me safe when using Linux\u0026hellip; First class support right there, I tell ya.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"According to AOL"},{"content":"Well, after a long rest, the Adsense is back in full effect on the site. I am making use of a WordPress plugin to make better use of the Adsense blocks. Lets see how it all ends up working out.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/adsense/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, after a long rest, the Adsense is back in full effect on the site. I am making use of a WordPress plugin to make better use of the Adsense blocks. Lets see how it all ends up working out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Adsense"},{"content":"Since I work in a factory, we have this hand soap in the bathrooms called Gojo Pumice hand soap. Besides its orange smell, it has the texture of gravel. I think that it is created locally from dirt and the local orange fields. I just had to share this.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/bad-gojo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSince I work in a factory, we have this hand soap in the bathrooms called Gojo Pumice hand soap. Besides its orange smell, it has the texture of gravel. I think that it is created locally from dirt and the local orange fields. I just had to share this.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bad Gojo"},{"content":"So I am in Colorado now\u0026hellip; I am heading to Vegas for a few days in the morning\u0026hellip;. Once I get there I will prob post a larger update of the shitty drive.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/1300-miles-and-still-going.../","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo I am in Colorado now\u0026hellip; I am heading to Vegas for a few days in the morning\u0026hellip;. Once I get there I will prob post a larger update of the shitty drive.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"1300 Miles and still going..."},{"content":" AirPort 4.2 fixes connection problems and resolves security issues with WPA2 wireless networks.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/airport-update-4.2/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAirPort 4.2 fixes connection problems and resolves security issues with WPA2 wireless networks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e","title":"Airport Update 4.2"},{"content":"I think I might have to do this to my car\u0026hellip;. once I get it all up and running.\nMany of us still use an old-school tape deck and cassette adaptor to hook our iPods to our cars. However, with some modding, a few bucks, and a car, you can make a permanent auxiliary jack for your car.\nread more\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/add-an-auxiliary-jack-to-your-car/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI think I might have to do this to my car\u0026hellip;. once I get it all up and running.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany of us still use an old-school tape deck and cassette adaptor to hook our iPods to our cars. However, with some modding, a few bucks, and a car, you can make a permanent auxiliary jack for your car.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20050831133229/http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000220046664/\"\u003eread more\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e","title":"🚗 Add an auxiliary jack to your car"},{"content":"I thought after all these random Life posts, I would post some tech junk. I just got dual displays working on my box @ work\u0026hellip; Granted, the second display is next to worthless as its runs on a shitty 8meg S3 Trio card; it lets me do 1024x768 15bit. Anything higher than that will either\nNot display anything Locks up the computer to the point where I have to unplug the box. All in all, it sucks and is slow as shit, but hell, it\u0026rsquo;s nice having my IM\u0026rsquo;s all on one monitor. Now, to get my FM/TV Tuner working, I might be able to make use of the second display.\nI will post the XFConfig -4 file when I get back to work, just in case someone needs it for reference.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/%EF%B8%8F-a-couple-of-things./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI thought after all these random Life posts, I would post some tech junk. I just got dual displays working on my box @ work\u0026hellip; Granted, the second display is next to worthless as its runs on a shitty \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Trio\"\u003e8meg S3 Trio\u003c/a\u003e card; it lets me do \u003cstrong\u003e1024x768 15bit\u003c/strong\u003e. Anything higher than that will either\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot display anything\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLocks up the computer to the point where I have to unplug the box.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll in all, it sucks and is slow as shit, but hell, it\u0026rsquo;s nice having my IM\u0026rsquo;s all on one monitor. Now, to get my \u003ca href=\"http://www.hauppauge.com/Pages/products/data_gofm.html\"\u003eFM/TV Tuner\u003c/a\u003e working, I might be able to make use of the second display.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"🖥️ A couple of things."},{"content":"A friend of mine is looking to get a new machine. He was going to get an all-in-one Sony Vaio, but for $1600, I could build him a way better machine\u0026hellip;\nHere is what I came up with so far, none of which I have checked for the best prices online yet.\nATI All-In-Wonder® 9800 Pro 128MB AGP Video Card (link) - $250-400 Not sure of which case I like the Antec, he likes the Lanboy. Antec PlusView 1080AMG PC Tower Case (link) - $159 Super Lanboy Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case ( link) - $89 Athlon XP 3200 (400mhz FSB) - $111 Asus A7V600 Motherboard ( link) - $55 1GB PC3200 DDR - ( link) - $113 or maybe 2 gig for about $348 Western Digital 160GB Caviar® 7200 Hard Drive - (link) - $99 ","permalink":"https://denike.io/building-a-system-for-a-friend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA friend of mine is looking to get a new machine. He was going to get an all-in-one Sony Vaio, but for \u003cstrong\u003e$1600\u003c/strong\u003e, I could build him a way better machine\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is what I came up with so far, none of which I have checked for the best prices online yet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eATI All-In-Wonder® 9800 Pro 128MB AGP Video Card (link) - $250-400\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot sure of which case I like the Antec, he likes the Lanboy.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAntec PlusView 1080AMG PC Tower Case (link) - $159\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSuper Lanboy Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case ( \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20041011041059/http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=312199\u0026amp;pfp=BROWSE\"\u003elink\u003c/a\u003e) - $89\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAthlon XP 3200 (400mhz FSB) - $111\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAsus A7V600 Motherboard ( \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20041011041059/http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7v600/overview.htm#\"\u003elink\u003c/a\u003e) - $55\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1GB PC3200 DDR - ( \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20041011041059/http://www.pricewatch.com/h/prc.aspx?i=33\u0026amp;a=5025\u0026amp;f=1\"\u003elink\u003c/a\u003e) - $113 or maybe 2 gig for about $348\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWestern Digital 160GB Caviar® 7200 Hard Drive - (link) - $99\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e","title":"🖥️ Building a system for a friend."},{"content":"and I awoke to this I got the loan.. and ordered the laptop, should be here by Dec 15th Latest.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/i-drank-and-drank-and-drank-and-i-finally-fell-asleep./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eand I awoke to this I got the loan.. and ordered the laptop, should be here by Dec 15th Latest.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I drank and drank and drank, and I finally fell asleep."},{"content":"Well, the new, slightly better site design is up\u0026hellip; at least on the main page; I\u0026rsquo;m working on the gallery and then the how-to section. I will leave an update as soon as that\u0026rsquo;s complete\u0026hellip;\nAlso, work sucks, just like it always does. Also, if you are using Netscape or Mozilla, then you might notice that the weblog doesn\u0026rsquo;t display quite right.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/i-like-to-burn-things/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, the new, slightly better site design is up\u0026hellip; at least on the main page; I\u0026rsquo;m working on the gallery and then the how-to section. I will leave an update as soon as that\u0026rsquo;s complete\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso, work sucks, just like it always does. Also, if you are using Netscape or Mozilla, then you might notice that the weblog doesn\u0026rsquo;t display quite right.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I like to burn things"},{"content":"This weekend\u0026hellip; wow words cant explain. My days bled together like no other, here is a little recap. Friday I woke up @ 10am to get ready to be at work by 1pm\u0026hellip; worked until 9pm then drove home got my costume and a change of clothes for sat. Went over to Ryan\u0026rsquo;s house for a predrinking party. Drank a beer then walked with everyone to another house party\u0026hellip; I only stayed there for a few mins then drove to The Temple to watch Adrenachrome play, stayed there until like 1:30am then drove to get some more drinkage\u0026hellip; Ended up back at Ryan\u0026rsquo;s house and continued to drink. It was now like 3am or so, so we decided to head to Denny\u0026rsquo;s and there was hella people there, so we drove to the gas station that my sister works at and got some bagels. We then trucked back to Ryans and then Sean came over and Amanda, Nicole, Sean, and I headed to the courts to Tail gate\u0026hellip; Fast forward a few hours and we were really wasted and hanging out @ Ryan\u0026rsquo;s then we went to eat, yadda yadda\u0026hellip; Sat night still hadn\u0026rsquo;t slep maybe only for like 20mins. We then ended up at Gunson drinking till I think around 4am\u0026hellip; Sleep was good. All in all though I was up for around 42hrs and out of those 42hrs I was drinking about 31hrs\u0026hellip; christ I will never do that again. Also the pictures can be viewed here and here.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/i-am-always-drunk-at-work-so-much-so-that-when-i-show-up-sober-people-ask-me-if-im-o-kay./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis weekend\u0026hellip; wow words cant explain. My days bled together like no other, here is a little recap. Friday I woke up @ 10am to get ready to be at work by 1pm\u0026hellip; worked until 9pm then drove home got my costume and a change of clothes for sat. Went over to Ryan\u0026rsquo;s house for a predrinking party. Drank a beer then walked with everyone to another house party\u0026hellip; I only stayed there for a few mins then drove to \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20040515094556/http://www.templeclub.com/\"\u003eThe Temple\u003c/a\u003e to watch \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20040515094556/http://www.adrenachrome.org/\"\u003eAdrenachrome\u003c/a\u003e play, stayed there until like 1:30am then drove to get some more drinkage\u0026hellip; Ended up back at Ryan\u0026rsquo;s house and continued to drink. It was now like 3am or so, so we decided to head to Denny\u0026rsquo;s and there was hella people there, so we drove to the gas station that my sister works at and got some bagels. We then trucked back to Ryans and then Sean came over and Amanda, Nicole, Sean, and I headed to the courts to Tail gate\u0026hellip; Fast forward a few hours and we were really wasted and hanging out @ Ryan\u0026rsquo;s then we went to eat, yadda yadda\u0026hellip; Sat night still hadn\u0026rsquo;t slep maybe only for like 20mins. We then ended up at Gunson drinking till I think around 4am\u0026hellip; Sleep was good. All in all though I was up for around 42hrs and out of those 42hrs I was drinking about 31hrs\u0026hellip; christ I will never do that again. Also the pictures can be viewed \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20040515094556/http://www.shelbydenike.com/gallery/october31st2003\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20040515094556/http://www.shelbydenike.com/gallery/november1st2003\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I am always drunk at work so much so that when I show up sober people ask me if I'm o-kay."},{"content":"Sorry about the lack of updates\u0026hellip; been busy. I did post some pictures from the weekend in the gallery, but nothing too exciting. I am working on a new site design to make it look well\u0026hellip; I am a little more custom instead of this damn MovableType default setup. In other news, I gained access to Digitalpimpz.com anyways defaced it a little bit, and now the webmaster Steve is pretty pissed and hates me and the world\u0026hellip; God I wish I could go back to the days when I cared that much about something\u0026hellip; such as my site ;)\nAlso, in geek news, I am planning a case mod project where I am going to be taking an old Gateway desktop P-120 and gut it out, then tossing a 400 mhz chip and motherboard into it. I am planning on painting it and also adding a wireless keyboard/mouse to it. also, I have a converter box that will convert a monitor cable -\u0026gt; RCA, and I am planning on building that into it\u0026hellip; It should make a decent Media PC\u0026hellip; we will see, pictures coming soon. later.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/i-smoke-too-many-cigarettes-and-i-dont-think-ive-been-sober-for-3-years./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSorry about the lack of updates\u0026hellip; been busy. I did post some pictures from the weekend in the gallery, but nothing too exciting. I am working on a new site design to make it look well\u0026hellip; I am a little more custom instead of this damn MovableType default setup. In other news, I gained access to \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20040213143953/http://digitalpimpz.com/\"\u003eDigitalpimpz.com\u003c/a\u003e anyways defaced it a little bit, and now the webmaster Steve is pretty pissed and hates me and the world\u0026hellip; God I wish I could go back to the days when I cared that much about something\u0026hellip; such as my site ;)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I smoke too many cigarettes, and I don't think I've been sober for 3 years."},{"content":"I got my hands on a Work-print copy of Kill Bill. Now I need to go see it at the movies. It\u0026rsquo;s a sweet movie, like old-school Anime with lots of blood. I really want to see Kill Bill Volume 2 when that comes out.\nThat will be a good sequel. After I was done watching that movie, I ended up losing about an hour or so of my life that I will never ever see again watching The Cube. imdb.com states that this \u0026quot; Low-Budget Canadian sci-fi film worth viewing\u0026quot;. All of that statement is true except the \u0026ldquo;worth viewing\u0026rdquo;. Don\u0026rsquo;t watch it run away.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/kill-bill-and-the-cube/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI got my hands on a Work-print copy of \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20031017113550/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/\"\u003eKill Bill\u003c/a\u003e. Now I need to go see it at the movies. It\u0026rsquo;s a sweet movie, like old-school Anime with lots of blood. I really want to see \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20031017113550/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378194/\"\u003eKill Bill Volume 2\u003c/a\u003e when that comes out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat will be a good sequel. After I was done watching that movie, I ended up losing about an hour or so of my life that I will never ever see again watching \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20031017113550/http://imdb.com/title/tt0123755/\"\u003eThe Cube\u003c/a\u003e. \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20031017113550/http://www.imdb.com/\"\u003eimdb.com\u003c/a\u003e states that this \u0026quot; Low-Budget Canadian sci-fi film worth viewing\u0026quot;. All of that statement is true except the \u0026ldquo;worth viewing\u0026rdquo;. Don\u0026rsquo;t watch it run away.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kill Bill, and The Cube"},{"content":"This weekend was pretty cool\u0026hellip; not like the normal but still, a great time, Ended up @ Harpers Downtown for some 80\u0026rsquo;s band, got drunk, and woke up on a fold-out couch hating life itself.\nWalk out to my car and it\u0026rsquo;s parked in the yard with a parking ticket on the windshield\u0026hellip; Fuck East Lansing. Then I headed home and met up with Nicole, we went to Franks Pressbox and watched the game and got a little more blitzed then we planned.\nI then got home and drove to KZOO for the night, went to a few bars didn\u0026rsquo;t get drunk, and went to bed\u0026hellip; Not a very eventful weekend seeing I didn\u0026rsquo;t even take any pictures what so ever. Last night I got the chance to watch Catch Me If You Can\u0026hellip; which is a pretty damn good movie, that movie along with Blow makes me want to become a felon.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/weekend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis weekend was pretty cool\u0026hellip; not like the normal but still, a great time, Ended up @ \u003ca href=\"https://www.harpersbrewpub.com\"\u003eHarpers Downtown\u003c/a\u003e for some 80\u0026rsquo;s band, got drunk, and woke up on a fold-out couch hating life itself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWalk out to my car and it\u0026rsquo;s parked in the yard with a parking ticket on the windshield\u0026hellip; Fuck East Lansing. Then I headed home and met up with Nicole, we went to Franks Pressbox and watched the game and got a little more blitzed then we planned.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Weekend"},{"content":"Well, I ended up going to Flint, well, near Flint, with Shane on Saturday. Anyway, I got wasted with T-bags, Shane, and some other people that I don\u0026rsquo;t really know all that well. Anyway, when I woke up in the morning, T-bags was gone. We called him, and he didn\u0026rsquo;t answer, and I guess his mom can\u0026rsquo;t find him either. Hmm.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/t-bags-where-are-you/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, I ended up going to Flint, well, near Flint, with Shane on Saturday. Anyway, I got wasted with T-bags, Shane, and some other people that I don\u0026rsquo;t really know all that well. Anyway, when I woke up in the morning, T-bags was gone. We called him, and he didn\u0026rsquo;t answer, and I guess his mom can\u0026rsquo;t find him either. Hmm.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"T-Bags where are you!?"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t know if I can handle 7 pounds outings anymore. Last Tuesday, I went out to get wings with Louie and Chase. The next thing I knew, it was 1:30 a.m., and I had to be at work at 10 a.m. Other than that, the outing was alright.\nLast night, I went to Mac\u0026rsquo;s Bar in Lansing to see a few bands play; my ears were still ringing. I did, however, like the Punk band The Fallopian Dudes; I still need to find some of their MP3s\u0026hellip; If they have any. Afterward, I went over to Marta\u0026rsquo;s house and bleached the tips of my hair; why, I don\u0026rsquo;t know. Work has been a blast today. Got here @ 3 and then had training for CS Atlantic for 4 hours\u0026hellip; Man, it sucked\u0026hellip; Anyways back to slaving on the phone.\nAlso, the site will be getting a makeover soon; I have been working on a new template.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/shizzle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know if I can handle \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20030623235454/http://7pounds.net/\"\u003e7 pounds\u003c/a\u003e outings anymore. Last Tuesday, I went out to get wings with Louie and Chase. The next thing I knew, it was 1:30 a.m., and I had to be at work at 10 a.m. Other than that, the outing was alright.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast night, I went to Mac\u0026rsquo;s Bar in Lansing to see a few bands play; my ears were still ringing. I did, however, like the Punk band The Fallopian Dudes; I still need to find some of their MP3s\u0026hellip; If they have any. Afterward, I went over to Marta\u0026rsquo;s house and bleached the tips of my hair; why, I don\u0026rsquo;t know. Work has been a blast today. Got here @ 3 and then had training for CS Atlantic for 4 hours\u0026hellip; Man, it sucked\u0026hellip; Anyways back to slaving on the phone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shizzle"},{"content":"Well, not much new in life, same boring shit day after day. I haven\u0026rsquo;t had much time to work on the site\u0026hellip; not that anyone comes here anyways. I did get the Petosky Images uploaded to the gallery.\nWork was pretty fun yesterday and a little bit fun today, we found that a co-worker here has made a site where we can add text to the LED marquee\u0026hellip; the joy of a job in a cubicle\u0026hellip; 😛 ok, well, I don\u0026rsquo;t feel like typing, so here is a picture.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/brief-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, not much new in life, same boring shit day after day. I haven\u0026rsquo;t had much time to work on the site\u0026hellip; not that anyone comes here anyways. I did get the Petosky Images uploaded to the gallery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWork was pretty fun yesterday and a little bit fun today, we found that a co-worker here has made a site where we can add text to the LED marquee\u0026hellip; the joy of a job in a cubicle\u0026hellip; 😛  ok, well, I don\u0026rsquo;t feel like typing, so here is a picture.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brief Update"},{"content":"Well, last night, I went to Harpers. Needless to say, I got drunk, and for very, very cheap. You can\u0026rsquo;t beat half off everything, but a word of advice: never buy their hummus.\nThe hummus there is like mashed fucking potatoes with loads of garlic in it. Anyways yeah went up there expecting to only have A drink, but the next thing I knew, I was drunk as fuck and puking\u0026hellip; Ohh, well, what to do.\nI\u0026rsquo;m still working on a new layout for this. It\u0026rsquo;s the first time I have ever used Movable Type, and it was somewhat of a pain to install the damn thing.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/harpers-half-off/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, last night, I went to Harpers. Needless to say, I got drunk, and for very, very cheap. You can\u0026rsquo;t beat half off everything, but a word of advice: never buy their hummus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hummus there is like mashed fucking potatoes with loads of garlic in it. Anyways yeah went up there expecting to only have A drink, but the next thing I knew, I was drunk as fuck and puking\u0026hellip; Ohh, well, what to do.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harpers Half off!"},{"content":"Welcome to shelbydenike.com, You may have come here from other sites such as 7pounds.net, DeviantProductions.net or some of the other random sites.\nAnyways yeah, this site will pretty much be a place where you will hear me bitch about everyday life and the cubicle job that I live for.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/welcome-to-the-site./","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome to \u003ca href=\"https://shelbydenike.com\"\u003eshelbydenike.com\u003c/a\u003e, You may have come here from other sites such as \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20030627225819/http://7pounds.net/\"\u003e7pounds.net\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20030627225819/http://deviantproductions.net/\"\u003eDeviantProductions.net\u003c/a\u003e or some of the other random sites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnyways yeah, this site will pretty much be a place where you will hear me bitch about everyday life and the cubicle job that I live for.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Welcome to the Site."},{"content":"Well, I put up a new article today, and well, it is kind of a funny one once you get past the whole beginning of it. I will keep you updated on it. Also still no real word on Whiteplanet at this time, but keep checking back\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/site-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, I put up a new article today, and well, it is kind of a funny one once you get past the whole beginning of it. I will keep you updated on it. Also still no real word on \u003ca href=\"http://web.archive.org/web/20010420175608/http://www.whiteplanet.f2s.com/\"\u003eWhiteplanet\u003c/a\u003e at this time, but keep checking back\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Site News"},{"content":"… A brief rundown of my life\nLet’s see, I was born Thursday, August 7th, 1980, at 2:17 pm in good old Lansing, Michigan. Over the years, I grew up doing this and did that; somewhere along the way, I took a liking to computers and excelled at it, from the BBS days on a 1200 baud modem to working in multiple data centers with multiple provider connections coming in.\nAfter spending 24 winters in that cold, gloomy state, I decided it was time for a change to experience what lies outside of Michigan, so in July of 2005; I decided to move to sunny California to see what it could bring me in life. I worked for an outdoor lighting company as their Director of Media Technology (Pretty much a fancy title for saying I edited photos, managed a blog, and helped the owner send emails). I moved from that to working at another Web Hosting company.\nAfter spending a few years in Los Angeles, I moved to Las Vegas for a year, and after a very hot summer in Las Vegas, I decided to move back to Los Angeles again. That time around, it was short-lived, and I found myself back in Las Vegas dealing with the extreme heat. After a couple of years of being back in Las Vegas in 2013, I decided it was time to make another move, this time to the mountains of Colorado. I chose Boulder, Colorado, which was an amazing change from Vegas. After being in Boulder I did a short stint living in downtown Denver right off Colfax which was a great location and a lot more walkable than I expected. After a visit back to Michigan for a friend’s funeral and meeting up with a girl I had a crush on throughout most of school, I decided that, after being away for 12yrs, to move back to my hometown of Okemos, Michigan. On January 20th, 2017, I hit the road and made that same drive I made in 2005 when I started my journey out West.\nBefore moving to Colorado, I started working with Laughing Squid Hosting as a system administrator, which allowed for the move, and I started my own business (sd3labs, LLC, now defunct). After 5yrs with Laughing Squid Hosting, I decided to move on and work with Pressed.net, a White-Label Fully Managed WordPress Hosting company, which Envato eventually acquired, where I was added to their Hosting Support team. I spent most of my days handling escalations, reviewing and onboarding themes for the now-defunct hosted platform, and creating internal scripts to help the team.\nOnce Envato decided to close our department, I took some time to work on some personal side projects and random contract work; that was until I was approached by Kinsta and eventually moved up the ranks to be their sole Sales Engineer, a role that I never thought I would like but so far has been one of the most fulfilling ones ever. It was a great 4yr run until Kinsta switched gears and I was let go, strangely just happened to be the same time that just about every other internet company went through mass lay-offs too.\nAs of July 2023, I have found myself getting back to my roots of being a systems administrator; I was offered a job with UTAC located in Northville, Michigan. It is nice being back in the office after all these years working entirely remote, granted it is a Hybrid role so I do find myself in my home office a few days a week.\nAbout the Site In my many years on the net, I have had many sites, Filthcentral.net, Systm.io, ShelbyDenike.com, SystmWeb.com, 7pounds.net, RubberOlives.com, Minify.us, Pict.mobi, Createmy.pw, VidThumb.com, TechFaqs.net, 878Studios.com, etc. I decided that I wanted a place to express myself and also play with web technologies, so I purchased Fauxzen.com. I have been running the site with this domain since Feb 2004 and will likely continue to renew it every year, though I did end up switching to using DeNike.io instead. Fauxzen uses WordPress, and a slew of plug-ins to make it function how I see fit, and of course, it is currently running on my Droplet over at Digital Ocean. I am now running DeNike.io on the Ghost platform which is hosted within Docker on a mini-pc here in my home office.\nFacts: Updated 05.22.2023 I can cook well… on a grill; ask me to bake a cake, and I will fail. I have recently branched out into making some excellent homemade pizza, egg rolls, and various other dishes with my fancy cooking gear that I acquire much too often. I even started creating pickles to sell at the local farmers’ market.\nI was pretty sheltered when it came to food, being raised on the all-American meal of Burgers, Pizza, and Meat Loaf, but over the years, I have branched out and will usually give just about anything a try. On a trip to Australia, I even had some Kangaroo!\nI mainly use Twitter, but recently, I have been using Mastodon Bluesky. I scroll through Instagram more often than I should. But I don’t use Facebook much these days; I feel it is slowly going the way of MySpace.\nI have given up on Gentoo; now, I use Ubuntu on all of my Linux Machines… and by all my Linux machines, I mainly mean my home server and web server.\nI tried the vegetarian route for a month once and may try it again sometime in the future… but not anytime soon as it was so boring.\nIf I start a movie, I will watch it no matter how bad. Unless it is Journey to the Center of the Earth, that movie is absolute garbage; I did start and finish it in December of 2022, and I still am not impressed, though better than I initially thought.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/about/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e… A brief rundown of my life\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet’s see, I was born \u003cstrong\u003eThursday, August 7th, 1980, at 2:17 pm\u003c/strong\u003e in good old \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,_Michigan?ref=denike.io\"\u003eLansing, Michigan\u003c/a\u003e. Over the years, I grew up doing this and did that; somewhere along the way, I took a liking to computers and excelled at it, from the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(BBS)?ref=denike.io\"\u003eBBS\u003c/a\u003e days on a \u003cstrong\u003e1200\u003c/strong\u003e baud modem to working in \u003ca href=\"http://liquidweb.com/?ref=denike.io\"\u003emultiple\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"http://inmotionhosting.com/?ref=denike.io\"\u003edata\u003c/a\u003e centers with multiple provider connections coming in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter spending \u003cstrong\u003e24\u003c/strong\u003e winters in that cold, gloomy state, I decided it was time for a change to experience what lies outside of Michigan, so in \u003cstrong\u003eJuly of 2005\u003c/strong\u003e; I decided to move to sunny California to see what it could bring me in life.  I worked for an \u003ca href=\"http://nightscaping.com/?ref=denike.io\"\u003eoutdoor lighting company\u003c/a\u003e as their Director of Media Technology (\u003cem\u003ePretty much a fancy title for saying I edited photos, managed a blog, and helped the owner send emails\u003c/em\u003e).  I moved from that to working at another \u003ca href=\"http://inmotionhosting.com/?ref=denike.io\"\u003eWeb Hosting company\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"About Shelby DeNike"},{"content":"An ever updated list of the hardware and software that I make use of in my homelab and daily use.\nInspired by Paul Stamatiou‘s post about the stuff he uses daily, I thought I would do the same. Not only to let people get an idea of what I use daily but also so I can keep track of the hardware/software that I have installed.\nDesktop My Setup as of July 22nd, 2025 (Picture needs updated still.)\nMacBook Air M3 (2024 Model) – This is an amazing machine and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine using anything other than this as a daily driver, well maybe the M4 upgrade but thats for another day.\nTwelve South BookArc – An expensive piece of metal to hold my MacBook.\nLG 45GR75DC-B Ultragear Curved Gaming Monitor 45-Inch – I tried to go back to a dual display and it was just not working out for me, upgraded to this beast and life has been great.\nApple Wireless Keyboard with TouchID and Number Pad – I wish it didn’t have the number pad, but it was the only way to get the space gray model.\nApple Magic Mouse 2 – I have had the original Magic Mouse for years, but once again wanted the space gray, so I HAD to upgrade.\nYikad Dual-Sided Mouse Pad Desk Mat\nAnker USB C to Ethernet Adapter – For the times that I need to connect via Ethernet. (Driver Download)\nUpLift v2 standing desk – I opted to make my desktop as theirs seemed overpriced.\nUpLift Locking Under Desk Drawer with Shelf\nTaoTronics LED Desk Lamp with Qi-Enabled Wireless Fast Charger – I ditched the previous lamp and charger and got an all-in-one to free up some space on the desk and one less cable now.\nApple AirPods Pro 2 – I had the previous model and with some of the hardware updates I thought I would upgrade since I use these everyday.\nServer Server Rack – July 22nd, 2025\nIntel Core i7-8700K – I wanted to make sure I had enough power no matter what I threw at the server. Everything is running in its own Docker container, and I have plenty of resources left.\nCrucial Pro 64GB DDR4 – 32GB worked well for me, but 64GB seemed like it would be better yet. Especially since I have been running more docker containers on the server.\n2x WD_BLACK 1TB SN770 NVMe – I had 2 of these laying around (It sounds weird saying that), anyways I used one for / and while I was going to do a RAID array I ended up mounting the other simply for holding the docker containers I run.\nLsi Logic 179356 Controller Card 05-25703-00 9305-16i 16-port – I needed something to handle all of the drives, this fit the bill very well.\n7x 28TB Seagate Exos – Moved all of my data to a RAID2Z ZFS array within the server running on 7x Seagate Exos with 2 failovers. This still provides me with 120TB of redundant storage.\n5x Samsung SSD 870 500GB – I have had good experience with these SSD\u0026rsquo;s at work so I ended up picking up the same kind to use for the ZFS Cache, SLOG, and Special VDEV. For the price, performance and reliability I figured it was a good option.\n2x Western Digital 1TB NvME SN770 – Upgaded from the smaller Samsung to using two of these\n10Gtek 10Gb Dual RJ45 Port Network Card - I needed a better network card to work with the Unifi Aggregation Switch that I put into place.\nASUS Prime Z370-A II – I don\u0026rsquo;t recally exactly why I landed on this motherboard years ago when I first built the server, but either way it has ended up working out really well.\nNVIDIA Quadro P2000 – This was added after the initial build as I wanted to offload some of the heavy lifting to a CPU. I can now transcode up to 23 streams without hitting the CPU.\n3x CyberPower OR2200 2100VA/1650W – Went from the two Tripp Lites to three of these. I was able to distribute the devices across the three devices to provide optimal uptime.\nNetwork NavePoint 18U rack – The most recent upgrade, so much nicer than having everything on a baker’s rack.\nUltimate Dream Machine Pro (UDM-Pro) – To keep my network as fast as possible and with the newest hardware, I upgraded to the UDM-Pro and am glad I did. It has helped me to max out my download and upload speeds.\nUnifi Aggregation Switch (USW-Aggregation) – With the upgraded internet speeds I had a need for a faster network internally. This allowed for me to upgrade some of the devices to 10GB\nUniFi Switch – 24 Ports Managed (US-24-250W) – This was also an upgrade, as I didn’t account for future devices. I started with an eight-port switch, then 2, and then three before finally selling them off and replacing them with this beast.\nUniFi Switch – 16 Ports Managed (US-16-150W) – I picked this up from a friend of mine and am using it in the utility room with a fiber connection back to the Unifi Aggregation Switch.\nUSW-Lite-8-PoE (USW-Lite-8-PoE) – This provides extended internet connectivity in the garage for now.\n5x UniFi 5 port switch (USW-Flex-Mini) – I wanted to bring some hardwired locations to various areas of the house, and this helped in doing so with their small footprints. 7x Unifi6 Pro (U6-Pro-US) – With more and more of the devices on my network having Wi-Fi6, it was only a matter of time until it made sense to upgrade all of the access points to utilize Wi-Fi6.\nMetroNet 2GB/1GB Fiber Internet – After waiting two years, MetroNet finally finished their build-out in my area. It was well worth the wait as it is a fraction of the cost of Xfinity and the stable speeds that they provide are simply fantastic. I recently upgraded from the 1GB/1GB to their 2GB/1GB speeds since it was less than $20 to upgrade tax included.\nAudio / Video recording I don\u0026rsquo;t really have a need for high-end video calls, or video recordings so a lot of this has been packed and is in storage.\nBlue Yeti Blackout Mic – When it comes to recording audio, this came highly recommended.\nBlue Compass Premium Tube-Style Broadcast Boom Arm – Originally, I had the mic on my desk but was missing out on the desk space, so I got this to get me a little more room.\nAUPHONIX Pop Filter\nAUPHONIX PRO Blue Yeti Shock Mount\nLume Cube Panel GO – I do a lot of video conferencing these days via Zoom and wanted to up my lighting.\nInkeltech Desk Mounting Stand – To position the lighting properly, I picked this up to attach to my desk.\nUTEBIT Mini Ball Head – Used to position the Lume Cube Panel GO\nLogitech C920S HD Pro Webcam – This also came highly recommended and not only was plug-n-play but takes great video for calls.\nSoftware Safari – Since the newest release, I have switched to Safari full-time, only using Chrome for random site testing.\nBrave – While I use Safari for everything, I also use Brave daily, mainly for personal use, e.g., non-work-related stuff.\n1Password – I couldn’t imagine daily operations without 1Password.\nObsidian – I use this app constantly for keep notes, clipping sites, you name it. The paid sync service is amazing and works flawlessly for me; so far.\nAlfred – This app boosted my productivity by allowing me to keep my hands on the keyboard instead of using the mouse to navigate/launch apps.\nTransmit – Simply the best FTP client for OSX\nTextMate2 – I gave Sublime a couple of tries, but Texmate2 works how I need it to.\nSequel Ace – When you need to access MySQL/MariaDB databases all day, this is a must.\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/my-setup/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAn ever updated list of the hardware and software that I make use of in my homelab and daily use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by \u003ca href=\"http://paulstamatiou.com/?ref=denike.io\"\u003ePaul Stamatiou\u003c/a\u003e‘s \u003ca href=\"http://paulstamatiou.com/stuff-i-use?ref=denike.io\"\u003epost\u003c/a\u003e about the stuff he uses daily, I thought I would do the same. Not only to let people get an idea of what I use daily but also so I can keep track of the hardware/software that I have installed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"desktop\"\u003eDesktop\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://assets.denike.io/images/2024/11/image.png\" alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy Setup as of July 22nd, 2025 (Picture needs updated still.)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Setup"},{"content":"More or less my user manual.\n👋🏻 Hey, I am Shelby! This might be the first time seeing someone create a readme about themselves, but you are likely not alone! When I was introduced to it for the first time, I was curious and puzzled about the idea. I thought I was not a piece of software on GitHub that needed a manual, but I can attest that it is helpful and something I will continue to update and improve.\nWhat is this? It’s a quick way for you to get to know me. I hope to answer some questions that you may have that led you to this page. Set expectations about what you can expect from me and what I expect from you. What is the best way to communicate with me? So, who am I anyway? My name is Shelby DeNike, and as you might think initially, my name is not pronounced like Nike, the shoe company, but more so like SHEL-bee de-NYK. I currently reside in Okemos, Michigan, the same city where I was born and raised. I did move around for 11 years and had the opportunity to live in Los Angeles, California 🌊, Las Vegas, Nevada 🏜️, and Boulder/Denver, Colorado 🏔️, before returning home.\nI live with my wife Nicole, who I have known since 6th grade (And was the reason I moved back to my hometown from Denver, Colorado 🏔️), and our two sons, Ryan (13 yrs), Cole (10yrs), and our mini Bernedoodle Winnie.\nWhen not working as an IT Systems Administrator, I enjoy trying new recipes; I sometimes tend to go too far. Ask me about my quest for a great deli pickle and how I started producing pickles for myself, eventually for resale on a larger scale (Though I never ended up getting past providing countless jars directly to friends and family).\nWant to know more? How did I become an IT Systems Administrator? My background with technology has been all over the place, from support, administration, sales, and customer service, and I did not jump into the Systems Administration role right away. After graduating High School I started working for Casio Computers in their handheld division. I advanced to being one of only two Level Two Support Agents in North America. After I had experienced all that there was with Casio and honed in on my support skills; I moved to an ISP (Dial-up; For those that don\u0026rsquo;t know, that\u0026rsquo;s the ones that kind where you connect over a slow phone line.) where I continued to hone my skills and develop many more, including using WordPress.\nI then had the opportunity to move to an up-and-coming hosting company, Liquid Web, which had only a handful of employees at the time. I was one of the dozen or so early staff members to be hired, and Liquid Web has since grown to over 500 employees to date. I moved to California and started working at InMotion Hosting as their only System Administrator, where I helped build out the internal processes for the Jr. System Administrators while maintaining and growing our data center footprint. I started at Laughing Squid as a System Administrator in 2010, my first taste of an entirely distributed workforce.\nAfter that, I took a role with Pressed (Created by the previous owner of Site5). Pressed was later acquired by Envato. During my time at Pressed, I met Tom Sepper. Tom eventually reached out to me with the idea of joining Kinsta and starting up a new sales team, it was a new and challenging adventure and it was one of the best things I could have done at the time.\nWait, what about WordPress? Wait, Wait, Wait.\nI have extensive knowledge about WordPress since using it in 2004 after switching from Moveable Type (I think I should eventually write a blog post about this life-changing event). I have fallen in love with the WordPress ecosystem. However, in recent years, I have taken a step back and explored various other Content Management Systems, including Ghost, which the site is now currently hosted on. While using WordPress I had created a handful of plugins and a couple of themes, and even ended up selling one of my plugins!\nWhile a lot of my time was certainly spent in the hosting world, it was very much startup-oriented where things needed to get done, so you learned to do them as there was no other department to handle the request, so I am very much a hands-on geek that likes to get things working with the bare minimum resources; as well as minimal costs involved.\nExpectations for both you and I Regarding expectations, I think we are all adults, and we know what we need to do and how we do it daily. I try my hardest to remove any unneeded stress or burden from your workday, and I expect the same. I am here to listen and hope that when needed, you can also be a second pair of eyes and ears on an issue I might encounter. I always try to have my door open as well!\nIf you are not sure, ask! Humans are constantly learning, and neither you nor I am excluded from this. No one knows all the answers. Communication is vital when being distributed, whether you are a first timer or a veteran. We are not in an office with a break room where we can chat, let one another know about any issues, when we may be gone, etc., so we have to utilize Slack to its fullest by making use of away mode, status messages, and with as much communication as possible.\nAlso, do not be afraid to be yourself! I am the first to talk and likely keep talking while adding images from Giphy or emojis to most conversations. I want you to wake up wanting to get to work to say hi and hear my random jokes, rants, or findings and I like the same of you!\nCommunication Methods I try to be as available on Teams during the day, even at home when I am near my work phone. Otherwise, I am almost always available via iMessage or Discord, no matter the day or time.\nWhile on Teams, I always try to keep my status updated so you know if I am present or busy, running to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee or even searching for local Mexican food for lunch.\nOutside of Teams, I am always available for a call and will do my best to answer when I am not in the middle of something that requires my attention. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to lie; I am not a phone person, and find talking on the phone a distraction from work most times as, sadly, I can\u0026rsquo;t multitask with someone in my ear. But if a call is needed, please message me first to ensure I am available, and we can hop on a quick call 🙂.\nFinal thoughts … I hope this gives you some insight into who I am, how I got to where I am today, and how I work. I look forward to the days, months, and years of working together! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any technical questions you may have because if I don’t know it, I would love to dig in and figure it out together!\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/readme/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMore or less my user manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"-hey-i-am-shelby\"\u003e👋🏻 Hey, I am Shelby!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis might be the first time seeing someone create a \u003ca href=\"https://hackernoon.com/12-manager-readmes-from-silicon-valleys-top-tech-companies-26588a660afe?ref=denike.io\"\u003ereadme\u003c/a\u003e about themselves, but you are likely not alone! When I was introduced to it for the first time, I was curious and puzzled about the idea. I thought I was not a piece of software on \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/sdenike?ref=ghost.denike.io\"\u003eGitHub\u003c/a\u003e that needed a manual, but I can attest that it is helpful and something I will continue to update and improve.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Readme"},{"content":"Profile I am a seasoned WordPress support expert coming from a hosting background with system administration experience. I have worked for multiple hosting companies and have been part of the IT industry for 18+ years. I have helped with the building out of data centers as well as migrating from metal hardware to cloud-based platforms. I believe in automation being implemented where it can with the use of bash scripts and advanced PHP scripts to get the job done in an efficient manner.\nSpecialties: LAMP and various control panel software (Plesk, cPanel, etc). WordPress, Ubuntu, bash, PHP, NGINX, Apache, Docker, Google Cloud, and MySQL. Experience UTAC IT Systems Administrator\nJun 2023 – Present\nLocation Northville, Michigan\nMaintain computer networks, including servers, VPNs, routers, and other physical hardware. Installing, configuring, and administrating network equipment. Creating firewalls and updating virus protection software. Troubleshooting, resolving, and communicating network issues to other employees and management. Implementing disaster recovery procedures. Maintaining current knowledge of security and networking best practices. Design and assist with the implementation of customer-specific project LANs. Work with the IT team, sharing responsibilities for maintaining internal devices and employee access. Provide 2nd and 3rd-level support to employees seeking assistance. Track needs and requests to ensure tickets are closed. Analyzing and auditing network solutions and architecture. Participate in software testing and reviews and project update meetings. Analyze and improve internal processes for efficiency and security. Kinsta® Sales Engineer\nSep 2019 – Feb 2023 (3 yrs, 4 mos)\nLocation Lansing, Michigan Area (Remote)\nTraining of new sales and marketing employees Worked on, and created internal sales and billing procedures Brought in on high-level calls with leads and account executives Researched WordPress, including but not limited to core, plugins, and themes Researched Hosting providers and stayed on top of their offerings Researched application and database-specific hosts Created training videos for new and existing employees Worked with the legal department to create a security questionnaire to provide to leads Created walkthroughs and FAQs to assist account executives with leads Inbound Sales Engineer\nFeb 2019 – Sep 2019 (8 mos)\nLocation Lansing, Michigan Area (Remote)\nHandle all sales leads Created internal sales procedures Handled custom billing plans Distributed and updated internal sales tools Tacoma Hills HOA President\nDec 2022 – Present\nLocation Okemos, Michigan (Remote)\nBoard Member\nDec 2020 – Dec 2022\nLocation Okemos, Michigan\nConverted the website from Squarespace to a custom WordPress theme Setup newsletter via Mailchimp for the neighborhood Maintained website updates and hosting Setup newsletter with the approval of board members Created annual events such as “Meat and Eat“ Monitored multiple social media accounts. Systm Web, LLC Owner\nSep 2018 – Present\nLocation Okemos, Michigan (Remote)\nWordPress Hosting, Support, and Optimization Services Internet consulting for small and medium-sized businesses Custom PHP programming Envato WordPress Installer for Envato Studio customers Nov 2016 – Aug 2020 (3 yrs, 9 mos) Location Okemos, Michigan (Remote)\nWordPress theme installs WordPress plugin installs WordPress Migrations WordPress site optimizations Hosting Experience Specialist\nJul 2017 – Jul 2018 (1 yr 1 mo)\nLocation Okemos, Michigan (Remote)\nHandled escalated advanced WordPress issues Directly assisted Partners with WordPress support tickets and requests QA for Platform infrastructure Answered customer support tickets Built out the documentation for the support department Assisted customers in optimizing their WordPress sites Troubleshoot and clean hacked WordPress sites Directly worked with the theme authors and acted as the point of contact Performed QA on new themes, including detailed reviews and on-boarding themes Researched and creation of new support tools Optimized support team workflow I had the pleasure of meeting and working side by side with Shelby at Pressed.net and then again at Envato.com Whether he’s planning, implementing, or problem solving, Shelby puts his best foot forward and stands behind his work. He’s an awesome team mate and his rapport with customers is exceptional. Resourceful, reliable, and really a genuinely good person. I would absolutely work with Shelby again in the future.\nMichael Musgrave – Director of Customer Support / Operations \u0026amp; Customer Experience Specialist\nShelby is a very well rounded engineer with a deep background in WordPress and customer support. This experience gives him a great ability to see all sides of a problem and he can be counted on to provide lasting solutions. He is great at automation and QA, and working with him on such projects was always a treat. Shelby is friendly and eager to share his knowledge with team members and customers. His large skillset and support experience would be a valuable asset to any team.\nJoshua Priddle – Senior Developer Modern Tribe Inc. WordPress Support (Contract)\nSep 2018 – Aug 2019 (1 yr)\nLocation Okemos, Michigan (Remote)\nPremium support for Modern Tribe plugins Pressed.net Senior WordPress Support Engineer\nFeb 2016 – Jul 2017 (1 yr 6 mos)\nLocation Denver, Colorado (Remote)\nAcquired by Envato, July 2017\nHandling all escalated advanced WordPress issues Directly assist Pressed Partners with WordPress support tickets and requests QA for the Pressed Platform infrastructure Answering customer support tickets Building out the documentation for the support department Assisting customers to optimize their WordPress sites I worked with Shelby for nearly two years. He’s got a flexible skillset from handling customer support issues and debugging WordPress to writing automation scripts and other software tools. He has a great personality and is enthusiastic about his work, and that carries over to his team. I have enjoyed working with Shelby and I think you will too.\nMike Boone – Senior Software Developer and Project Manager\nsd3labs, LLC Founder\nApr 2012 – Feb 2016 (3 yrs 11 mos)\nLocation Boulder, Colorado (Remote)\nShutdown in Feb 2016\nProviding Design, Development, and Hosting centered around WordPress. Internet consulting for small and medium-sized businesses Custom PHP programming Print and logo design Laughing Squid Web Hosting Senior System Administrator\nMay 2011 – Feb 2016 (4 yrs 10 mos)\nLocation Boulder, Colorado (Remote)\nMaintaining the overall system health of servers Answering customer calls and tickets Assisted in billing issues Created an internal control panel (SquidPanel) to manage customers and billing information Migrated all clients from legacy bare-metal servers to our cloud platform Managing cloud and legacy customer accounts Helping customers get set up with WordPress and offering suggestions to what they need to do next to get their site going in a manner that suits them best Agilysys Senior Support Technician\nJan 2008 – May 2011 (3 yrs 5 mos)\nLocation Las Vegas, Nevada Area\nTroubleshoot and research issues for customers via phone and email support Maintain Revelation software installations on Agilysys and Self Hosted Windows 2000/2003 servers Installation of Windows XPe terminals that interfaced with the Windows Server Troubleshoot customer network installations Programmed a custom internal ticketing system to track employee stats In-depth journaling of customer calls for future reference in our tracking software Shelby is one of the most thorough and intelligent individuals that I have had the privilege of working with. His attention to detail and drive for customer satisfaction are extremely impressive and I was fortunate enough to witness, on many occasions, his ability to remain calm and focused during high-pressure situations. His abilities are a rare and valuable combination in the Technology field which can benefit any organization.\nJeff Birchmeier – Technical Trainer/Sr. Application Support\nI worked with Shelby for three years and was impressed by his initiative when spotting opportunities to improve office operations. When a need developed for our department to be able to quickly see the current workload of our co-workers Shelby created and maintained a web based solution to allow us to do just that. He did this while continuing to cover his normal workload and in doing so exemplified his dedication to a job well done.\nShane Kidd – Senior Project Manager\nWordCamp Las Vegas Lead Organizer\nDec 2011\nLocation Las Vegas, Nevada Area\nHead organizer for WordCamp Las Vegas 2011\nBooked venue and after-party Locations Arranged hotel deals for attendees Placed orders for shirts, stickers, etc Gave an introduction to the first track of the morning Combed over speaker submissions Organized speaker dinner Planned/Executed speaker dinner; transportation Planned/Executed after-party for the event WordCamp Las Vegas exceeded my expectations and the low key, informal atmosphere made the event comfortable and very enjoyable.\nBrian Bourn – Bourn Creative\nInMotion Hosting System Administrator\nAug 2006 – Apr 2008 (1 yr 9 mos)\nLocation Greater Los Angeles Area\nDeploy in-house Asterisk-based VOIP phone system between multiple VPN connections. Manage and maintain over one-hundred shared and dedicated Linux servers Research and implement optimal Virtuozzo server configurations Handle tier-two escalation tickets and customer calls. Install operating systems and secure all servers placed in the Los Angeles datacenter Responsible for overlooking daily machine and network operations I have worked with Shelby a couple time over the last few years and have always been impressed with his adaptability, technical knowledge, and good attitude. He is easy to work with and someone you can count on to get up in the middle of the night and head to the data center! He will also always bring energy and fun to a team.\nTodd Robinson – President at BoldGrid, InMotion, HUB\nNightscaping Director of Technological Communications\nAug 2005 – Aug 2006 (1 yr 1 mo)\nLocation Redlands, California\nResearch and implementation of custom video and audio communication solutions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms Maintain multiple internal and external websites running on various versions of Linux Increased security level on companies Slackware Linux mail and web server Brainstormed and implemented Internet/print marketing techniques Liquid Web System Administrator\nApr 2005 – Aug 2005 (5 mos)\nLocation Lansing, Michigan Area\nManaged and maintained over one thousand shared and dedicated Linux and Windows servers Performed customer support and billing calls Setup of Virtual servers on the Virtuozzo platform CoreComm Technical Support Representative\n2001 – 2005 (4yrs)\nLocation East Lansing, Michigan\nAssisted Residential and Business customers with their Dialup/Cable Internet Troubleshoot email issues for all customers Sold and dispatched CoreComm Telephone service In my tenure at CoreComm, perhaps no employee possessed more of a unique skill set than Shelby DeNike. I had the pleasure of working with Shelby on the Technical Support team, as well as managing him for several months. Shelby always managed to find creative ways to solve the customer’s problems in an efficient manner, and was able to integrate sales into his technical support skill set as well. As you can see by his career progression, Shelby would make a valuable addition to any team he joins.\nShane Brion, MBA, MSF – Support Manager\nShelby was a very fast learner at CoreComm. He taught many co-workers quite a bit about technology and it wasn’t long before he became the ‘goto guy’ for advanced situations. A valuable asset on the team in Technical Support. Most memorable was Shelby’s demeanor and having fun on the job. He lightened the mood on many situations and it was contagious to those around him. Someone who helped this cranky guy crack a smile once in a while. Thanks Shelby. My 2nd most memorable moment of working with Shelby at CoreComm was the day he came in the office with an lcd screen from a laptop in a picture frame. This was multiple years prior to the e-frames we see today. I remember thinking, “This kid’s got talent”. He didn’t disappoint. I’d recommend Shelby for any position that requires a high degree of technical knowledge and also for any team that needs a true team player that will bring a positive atmosphere to his surroundings. Joseph Zanti – Director of Operations\n","permalink":"https://denike.io/resume/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"profile\"\u003eProfile\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am a seasoned \u003ca href=\"https://denike.io/tags/wordpress\"\u003eWordPress\u003c/a\u003e support expert coming from a hosting background with system administration experience. I have worked for multiple hosting companies and have been part of the IT industry for \u003cstrong\u003e18+\u003c/strong\u003e years. I have helped with the building out of data centers as well as migrating from metal hardware to cloud-based platforms. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believe in automation being implemented where it can with the use of \u003ca href=\"https://denike.io/tags/bash/\"\u003ebash scripts\u003c/a\u003e and advanced \u003ca href=\"https://denike.io/tags/php/\"\u003ePHP\u003c/a\u003e scripts to get the job done in an efficient manner.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Resume"}]