Virtually Benevolent

Gravity Updated

Gravity Updated

Just under a year ago I started working on a side project, which I talked about here [https://vmstan.com/gravity-sync/], called Gravity Sync [https://github.com/vmstan/gravity-sync]. The basic premise was to create a script that would synchronize two Pi-hole 5.0 instances. What started out as a

Gravity Sync

My home network has two Piholes running has an HA pair, after my upgrade to Pihole 5.0, I wanted a way to keep the Gravity settings synchronized.

Interesting Enough

Greg Morris writes [https://gr36.com/i-dont-feel-interesting/]: > … I do suffer quite a lot with imposter syndrome. The great thing is, I have learnt not to check my blog stats, I’m not bothered about podcast downloads and I sure as hell don’t care how many people follow me on

Universal TAM

This video from Atlassian was shared internally at VMware a couple of weeks ago, and my initial comment was that minus the few references to their company specifically, this video was a great representation of the role of Technical Account Managers, generally. I was apparently not the only one who

Project Nautilus

Introducing VMware Project Nautilus [https://vmwarefusion.github.io]: > Project Nautilus brings OCI container support to Fusion, enabling users to build, run and test apps for nearly any OS or cloud right from the comfort of your own Mac. With Project Nautilus, Fusion now has the ability to run Containers as

Resume Deletions

There are some things that just aren’t worth putting on your resume. This was the reminder that came to mind during replies to Owen Williams on the tweet machine. > I once joined a company that announced on my first day that they had very little money left, and that

Veeam Team

The first time I used Veeam's backup software was in 2010. Up to that point I'd had experience with Symantec Backup Exec, Microsoft Data Protection Manager, and Commvault Simpana. The first time I used VBR to backup my vSphere infrastructure it was like the proverbial iced water to a man

Delicious Strategy

I don't know who Peter Drucker is, but Matt's [twitter.com/matthaedo] quote attributed to him, is sound: > "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" This cannot be overstated. pic.twitter.com/pWwjEw8Z4j [https://t.co/pWwjEw8Z4j] — Matt Haedo (@matthaedo) January 7, 2020 [https://twitter.com/matthaedo/status/1214605811034525696?ref_src=twsrc%

Skip Day

It turns out that finding something to write about every day is really hard. Shocking, I know. You may have noticed (or, maybe not) that January 1-4 there was a new post here every day. I skipped yesterday, but I blame my participation with this tweet from Jehad. > A decision

Outlook Overload

For the last couple weeks I’ve been confused why Microsoft Outlook on my Mac would start consuming over 100% CPU while sitting idle, spinning up my fans, and generating a bunch of disk write activity. At first I assumed it was because I am running the Fast Ring in

Nonsense Awareness

Jessica Joy Kerr [https://twitter.com/jessitron] in her blog post titled “Open your eyes to the nonsense [https://blog.jessitron.com/2020/01/01/open-your-eyes-to-the-nonsense/]” has a great anecdote from a friend, about the software development process at a utility company: > “We make power, not sense.” But she goes

Thirty Eight K

I've historically been pretty terrible at two things: negotiating salaries, and promoting to my own skills. As someone who freely admits the movie of his life story could very well be titled The Imposter Syndrome, when it came time to discuss with a recruiter or hiring manager what I was

Resolution Delusion

I'm not one for making new years resolutions. They always get broken, and then you're disappointed in yourself. However, Brent Simmons posted something on Inessential [https://inessential.com/2020/01/01/my_new_years_resolution_is_to_focus_my_a] which I think is a good goal for anyone this

Feeling Helpless

> For a while, what transpired in the aftermath of that night, left me feeling betrayed by some people that I thought I could trust, and feeling helpless. Like so many times in life before, I was told by those who had the power to stop what was going on, that

Gigacast Appearance

I was recently a guest on Gigacast, along with Cody de Cody De Arkland and Al Rasheed, to discuss mental health and my recent Kernel Panic post. > Being lifted onto the shoulders of giants, thanks @eric_shanks [https://twitter.com/eric_shanks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] @ericblee6 [https://twitter.com/

Mental Health Featured

Kernel Panic

I’ve been thinking for over two years about how to talk about this, how to talk about the day I couldn’t process anymore. The day where my bullshit buffers overflowed. The day of my internal kernel panic. When starved for resources, my brain finally threw up a PSOD,

Excess Battery

I recently picked up an iPhone XS Smart Battery Case, for my iPhone X. I’ve previously owned the 6S battery case for my iPhone 6, and the iPhone 7 case. Let me first say that even though Apple has designed the case for the XS, it worked on the

Revisting Essential

Back in July 2017, I wrote about my 10 essential iOS applications [https://vmstan.com/2017/my-essential-10-ios-apps/]. I thought now that we’re reaching the end of 2018, it might be a good time to revisit that list. As I mentioned at the time: > I find it helpful to mix

Certified Expert

I’m pleased to announce that yesterday I passed the VCAP6.5-DCD exam, thus earning the VMware Certified Implementation Engineer – Data Center Virtulization “milestone” after elevating the VCAP5-DCA exam that I earned back in 2014. The DCD exam has been on my list of things to do since not long

VMware TAM

I have accepted a job with VMware, as a Technical Account Manager (TAM). To say I’m excited about this would be a gross understatement. VMware has been the company I’ve spent the majority of my technical focus on up to this point, and since announcing this change on

Blueberry Lover

Occasionally I’ll wear my “blueberry” VMware certification shirt to work. Some people in the community love these shirts, some people don’t. I, do. Blue also happens to be my favorite color. Occasionally someone I work with in my current workplace will comment on it. Before the last year,

Doorbell Tweets

I received a lot of feedback from my tweet about ditching a new Ring for Nest Hello. > I think my Nest Hello preorder has shipped, or is shipping soon. Credit card has been billed. Ditching the Ring 2 that I picked up last month. Have not been thrilled with it.

Define Essential

Two weeks ago, after regretfully trying to use the iOS 11 developer betas on my primary devices, I was forced by general instability to roll back to iOS 10. Unfortunately, there’s no great way to do this without doing a restore and fresh install. I had a backup from

Reasonable Salary

The process of looking for a new job is stressful. If you already have one, you’re a bit like a secret agent, sneaking around town trying to complete the mission of getting someone new to agree to sign your paychecks, without the old boss finding out. If you don’

Beginnings End

This morning I gave two weeks notice to my current employer, a Kansas City based VAR, where I have been a senior data center engineer for the last six years. I’ve enjoyed many aspects of my current role; becoming certified in new technologies, learning new skills, and solving problems