Occasionally my job affords me the opportunity to do some really cool stuff. For a myriad of reasons I am building myself a Linux KVM host using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I hurried through the install prompts and didn’t pay enough attention to the partitioning. Therefore I ended up with 96GB of swap space and a 40GB root partition.

My goal was to have no swap, a small root, and a large partition for the KVM guests. I disabled swap and destroyed the swap LVM partition.  I then rebooted into the always handy Rescue Is Possible (RIP) using PXE and resized the root partition and root logical volume, crossed my fingers and rebooted. Voila! It all came back up perfectly configured for my uses.

Now onto creating KVM guests…

I am running for a position on the Board of Directors for the League of Professional System Administrators. I just posted my Candidate Statement on the LOPSA site @ https://lopsa.org/content/2012-candidate-statement-martin-gehrke . Here it is in its entirety:

My name is Martin Gehrke, and I am running for the LOPSA board.

Why am I qualified to be on the Board?
While I am relatively new to LOPSA, I feel I have a lot to add. When learning that Pittsburgh did not have a LOPSA chapter, I founded one. We have grown from nothing to meetings of 10+ members. I have also been a leader in the other parts of my life: Captain of my college crew team, Eagle Scout, and the father of 2. Most importantly, I have the desire to be involved. I want to see LOPSA grow into the organization we need for our profession.

Why am I running for the Board?
Local chapters are the face and lifeblood of LOPSA. My experience has given me unique insight into how we can leverage current chapters to expand membership and presence, how we can grow by planting new chapters, and the questions uninformed sysadmins ask about LOSPA. While starting up my local chapter, I found little help or resources. I emailed the board with a number of ideas on how to help LOPSA encourage the growth and planting of local chapters. The Local Chapter Committee has started working on a number of the ideas. As a board member, I would prioritize this initiative. I would like to see the Local Chapter program be as successful as the mentorship program. The board has detailed all the areas of priority (https://lopsa.org/content/lopsa-board-project-priorities-2011-2012). I will work tirelessly to meet our goals and more.

I want to help LOPSA become what you and I want and need the organization to be. I promise to listen and encourage feedback from all members. I’d appreciate your vote.

I am lecturing on System Administration to a class at Grove City College. I am pretty excited. Once I have a presentation or outline or whatnot I will post it here.

see http://community.nspe.org/blogs/mentoring/archive/2011/05/11/gems-of-career-guidance.aspx

Gems of Career Guidance

Here are some helpful suggestions edited from Career Success in Engineering by NSPE Past President Bernard Berson, P.E., F.NSPE, and Douglas Benner P.E., F.NSPE.

• Develop a formal career plan
• Know your strengths and weaknesses
• Show enthusiasm for your work
• Meet your deadlines
• Deliver on your promises
• Develop and use a mentor
• Find a champion
• Always act and speak like a professional
• Always dress like a professional
• Seek diversity in your assignments
• Never stop learning
• Never stop networking
• Have backup plans: not all projects can be highly successful
• Try to select a supervisor you can learn from
• Learn to deal with stress
• Always maintain the highest degree of integrity
• Time Management: Use the 80/20 Principle, that is, try to spend 80% of your time on the most vital 20% of your tasks.

I like to sort my pictures based on the date they were taken. It can get pretty laborious to do so by “hand.”

Here is a little script I whipped together in about 30 minutes to make my life just a bit easier. Ain’t it grand being able to simplify your life through programming!

Caveat Emptor:  This is by no means a finished product, but merely a rough draft.

# exif_sort[January 2012] / martin gehrke [martin AT teamgehrke.com]
# sorts jpg/jpegs into date folders based on exif data
 
from PIL import Image
from PIL.ExifTags import TAGS
import sys, os, glob
 
def format_dateTime(UNFORMATTED):
    DATE, TIME = UNFORMATTED.split()
    return DATE.replace(':','')
 
def get_exif(fn):
#see <a href="http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2010/03/28/getting-photo-metadata-exif-using-python/">http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2010/03/28/getting-photo-metadata-exif-using-python/</a>
    ret = {}
    i = Image.open(fn)
    info = i._getexif()
    for tag, value in info.items():
    decoded = TAGS.get(tag, tag)
    ret[decoded] = value
    return ret
 
def sortPhotos(path):
    PHOTOS = []
    EXTENSIONS =['.jpg','.jpeg']
    for EXTENSION in EXTENSIONS:
        PHOTO = glob.glob('*%s' % EXTENSION)
        PHOTOS.extend(PHOTO)
 
    for PHOTO in PHOTOS:
        DATE = format_dateTime(get_exif(PHOTO)['DateTime'])
        if not os.path.exists(DATE):
            os.mkdir(DATE)
        os.rename(PHOTO, "%s\%s" % (DATE,PHOTO))
 
if __name__=="__main__":
    PATH = sys.argv[0]
    if PATH == '': PATH = os.getcwd()
    sortPhotos(PATH)

I am a product of the 80s and early 90s. This includes movies of that great period. It has been a long time since I have seen some of them but I remember them all with at least a little bit of fondness. I recently stumbled across Good Bad Flicks, the sitename speaks for itself. Here are a list and links to a few of movies the site helped me rediscover. Note bene: not all of these are from my childhood, but I haven’t seen them in a long time.

WARNING: Each review, while also filled with trivia and info, includes a full plot recap filled with spoilers.

Re-Animator
While I didn’t discover this film until early college, it has become a early Halloween staple and led me to all things Lovecraft, something for which I am indebted.

Suburban Commando
I loved all thing Hulk Hogan growing up. I remember watching this movie, too bad it didn’t stand the test of time. The Rock is a much better cross-over than Hulk ever was.

Super Mario Bros
I remember thinking this movie was both awesome and incredibly cheesy, turns out this one has a storied production.

Hackers
I took my 12th brithday party to see Hackers and I loved it. I’ve rewatched it at least 10 times, and while the hacking and computer bits don’t stand up, I still love the gestalt.

Screamers
I remember picking this one off the shelf at our local Blockbuster, before there was netflix and recommendation engines. It was before I discovered Philip K Dick. Another movie that introduced me to a great author.

Critters
Another birthday party staple, I have seen all 4 of these multiple times. We used to stay up all night and watch movies and then pass out the second the sun broke the horizon. Fun times which included gory furball filled horror.

Chopping Mall
I didn’t discover this film until just last year, but it is a also a product of the 80s.

Other More Recent Movies:

Deep Blue Sea

The Happening

Robot Jox : “The Iliad with Communists and Robots”

There are some great sysadmin resources spread across the internet, but it can be difficult to find them in the morass.

Here are some I have recently stumbled across.

Useless Use of * – a presentation originally given at SCALE 2007 by Jan Schaumann

Teaching System Administration in the Cloud, ;login, The USENIX Magazine, October 2010 also by Jan Schaumann

Other good miscellaneous resources by Jan Schaumann

More for new users but always a good refresher: Getting Started with SSH by Kimmo Suominen

Proxy through SSH by Kimmo Suominen

Tom Limoncelli’s youtube videos about Time Management for Sysadmins

I have recently been doing an increasing number of phone interviews. I want to make sure we bring in the best candidates while saving my colleagues time by screening out candidates who can’t make the grade.

Click through to see a review I did of a webcast from O’Reilly.com. This review was originally posted at SNAPGH | System and Network Administrators of Pittsburgh. Here it is posted in its entirety.

O’Reilly offers a large number webcasts across a wide swatch of topics including systems administration. A recent webcast that caught my eye was Conducting a Technical Interview by Elecia White. I attempted to participate live, but ended up having to watch the recorded screencast. I will talk a bit about the webcast itself, about O’Reilly’s webcasting, and then tack on my thoughts about technical interviews from an interviewer’s perspective.

The Webcast
Link: Conducting a Technical Interview by Elecia White
A webcast like this is very useful. No one teaches a sysadmin how to interview. For my first phone screening, my boss sat in the same room and gave me a few pointers. After that, I was on my own. I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks, here and there from colleagues. I hoped to pick up a few more from this webcast.

Elecia covered every topic I expected, including:

• interviewing at a big company
• phone screening
• diversity
• in-person interviews
• discrimination

In the section on big company interviews, she mentioned they asked candidates to present on a topic of their choosing. This gave the candidate the opportunity to talk about a topic in which they were particularly knowledgeable. A colleague of mine had recommended something similar in the past. You might even learn something new from the candidate.

Another other big tip was touched on a couple times. The goals of an in-person interview are 1) can they do the job and 2) can you work with the person. Elecia reiterated this later on when talking about the differences between 1) technical ability and 2) interpersonal skills. I would argue that if they have the skills, certain allowances can be made for poor interpersonal skills. However, some companies pride themselves on their atmosphere and culture, and a single employee who does not fit in could have a large negative impact.

I find my questions fall into 2 categories: technical questions (How does TCP differ from UDP?), and work management questions (Tell me about the project you listed on your resume). Technical questions help you with the first goal and answer the question, Can the candidate do the job? The later, work management questions, help you with both goals by also answering, “Can I work with this person?” All this presupposes you are conducting interviews for a technical position. I have very little experience hiring for a management role, but I am sure there are a whole number of questions about resource management.

O’Reilly Webcasts
I had hoped to be able to catch the webcast live, but circumstances arose and I had to watch the recording. O’Reilly does a great job of using technology to enable the audience to interact with the presenter, and Elecia did a great job incorporating the audience into the presentation at every possible chance, taking questions after every couple of slides instead of at the end.

I was dissatisfied with the playback controls. The slider allowed you to rewind, but it was small and not very granular, and I repeatedly found myself rewinding minutes when I only wanted to catch the last couple sentences. I also would have preferred if the slides had been available separately. Rewatching the screen cast required I progress at a set speed, making it hard to skip around.

My Thoughts
I have been doing an increasing number of phone screenings. I want to make sure that I weed out the unqualified candidates, while bringing in candidates with the potential of getting hired. Sometimes this is easy, usually it is not. Obviously, everyone I recommend for in-person interviews is not going to be hired. What then is an acceptable rate? I do not know and I do not want to waste my colleagues’ time. I also want to make sure we eventually hire someone.

I interview people with a large variance in experience and ability. Sometimes I am screening for a junior role that requires less critical thinking and management ability, but still requires the candidate show potential. Other times I am screening for a senior position where critical thinking and project management are requirements. This precludes me from having a script with set questions. Perhaps I could have a script for each position we are hiring for, but often candidates come with very different resumes. Not everyone we screen needs to know the particulars of IOS or Linux security. Some were in school not long ago, while others have been out decades. Being able to adapt your questions to each individual helps you get a better idea of them as a candidate.

Conclusion
I recommend this webcast to anyone relatively new to technical interviews, on either side of the table. A seasoned interviewer might not find it as helpful. Elecia did a nice job presenting the material and interjecting her personal experiences. Remember the candidate is in a vulnerable position and being nice and calming is helpful. Elecia says, “Don’t be a jerk.” You might someday find yourself with the roles reversed.

Due to some alignment of heavenly bodies, I have found myself enjoying the culinary delights of a few various purveyors of the hamburger. A singular invention, it is served at five star restaurants, practically every diner in the US, and at backyard barbecues. I wanted to collect my thoughts on the three restaurants that I found myself eating at in the not so distant past. I do this so in the future when I can’t remember whose burger was better, I have a record.

Burgh’ers in Harmony PA
7/10

Burgh’ers has won various awards for its fare. Just after it was recommended by a friend, Groupon had a coupon for it. $12 for a shared salad appetizer, and 2 burghers from their regular menu. I ordered the Pitt’s Burger with an extra side of cole slaw. Burgh’ers patties are thin and therefore hard to cook to order. I like my burgers medium rare, and due to the svelt nature of their patties, I did not receive a correctly cooked burger. The shared salad was small but tasty. The cole slaw was overly minced, but the sauce was acceptable. It was also expensive, $3 for a side. The whole place was pricey for a hole in the wall restaurant.

If I were to go again, I would not order one of the standard burgers, but build my own with at least 2 patties, and extra pickles. Always extra pickles. No cole slaw.

Burger: 4/5
Cole slaw: 3/5
Price: 3/5
Service: 4/5

BRGR in Cranberry, PA
9/10

Just last night my wife and I were at their restaurant in Cranberry.  The ambiance is cool with a fancy ranch type theme. They have the sports bar angle covered too with large TVs that were playing the NE/Miami NFL game. I started out with the fried pickles for an appetizer. They were delicious. For the main course I ordered the Average Joe, which is a standard cheeseburger, with extra pickles, and cole slaw on the side. The meat was cooking perfectly medium rare. They state on their menu that the meat is “A SPECIALTY BLEND OF ANGUS CHUCK, SIRLION, NEW YORK STRIP AND RIBEYE.” It was tasty, but I couldn’t tell the difference from a regular pattie of ground chuck. Unfortunately the great burger was not accompanied by a good slaw. The cole slaw was way too fancy. It didn’t even resemble cole slaw, but more of a salad with cole slaw dressing. It had golden raisins in it. Too fancy by far. We rounded out the dinner with a dark chocolate milkshake. BRGR bills itself as a gourmet burger and shake restaurant, and they definitely don’t disappoint on either.

Next time I would order the exact same thing sans cole slaw.

Fried Pickles: 5/5
Burger: 5/5
Cole Slaw: 0/5
Milkshake: 5/5
Service: 4/5

Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor, MI
7/10

I found myself up in Ann Arbor with my brother-in-law and a buddy this past weekend for the first night game in the Big House. Michigan was playing its second game of the season against bitter rival Notre Dame. Unfortunately due to rain the golf course where we planned on tailgating was flooded. My friend, who attended U of M for undergrad, recommended Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. It is just off the beaten path which didn’t hurt business as the line was out the door. The place is one of the ones you hear about with a “unique” service attitude. They have no issue with demand, so they don’t mind treating their customers a bit more gruffly than usual. There is no dithering when you approach the counter to order.

The patties are small, so I ordered a quint or five patties, with extra pickles of course. We didn’t have time for any sides and had to eat the burgers on the walk to the stadium. Each pattie is small and thing, therefore hard to cook to order. The meat also ends up crumbly and the burger frays at the edges.

Next time I would like to site down and enjoy the burger. Unfortunately they don’t sell cole slaw.

Burger: 4/5
Fries: 4/5
Service: 3/5

Tilted Kilt in Pittsburgh, PA
8/10

This restaurant does not pride itself on its food or its service. They have customers because of the wait staff. Otherwise know as a breastaurant, the waitresses wear skimpy clothing with their chests prominently displayed. Despite this they managed to have a pretty good burger and the best cole slaw I have found in the ‘burgh. Unfortunately their service is abysmal. It does vary slightly depending on when you go, but overall the service is not good, sometimes horrible.

The burgers are big, cooked decently, and tasty. Their cole slaw is delicious and I always order an extra side to put a little on the burger and scarf down the rest.

Burger: 4/5
Cole Slaw: 5/5
Service: 1/5

North Country Brewery in Slippery Rock, PA
6/10

The local brewery has unique decor and some decent beers. They advertise various meat choices for your pattie: beef, local beef, elk, and buffalo. Unfortunately they no longer have elk, and have yet to remove it from the menu, confusing adventurous diners. The burger is better than a standard diner burger, but not anything special. The cole slaw is better than most. The burger is worth getting once, but I would not go here as a “burger destination.” If you do happen to find yourself here make sure to get a pint of the Amber Waves of Grain. It is one of the best microbrews I have ever had. A nice malty dark ale, the hop bitterness is subtle but present.

Burger: 3/5
Cole Slaw: 4/5
Amber Waves of Grain Ale: 6/5

What is a BTU?

BTU which stands for British Thermal Unit is just another example of the British trying to confuse everyone. While the metric system has gained a stronghold in science and engineering, it seems like heating and cooling are stalwarts against the tide of the metric system.

The British thermal unit (symbol BTU or Btu) is a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1,055 joules. It is approximately the amount of energy needed to heat 1 pound (0.454 kg) of water (i.e. exactly one tenth of a UK gallon, or around 0.1198 US gallons) from 39 to 40 ° F (3.8 to 4.4° C).[wikipedia]

Latent vs Sensible & Dry vs Wet Bulb Temperature

The Engineering Toolbox has the specifics including formulas, but the basics are:

Latent load = Wet bulb

Sensible load = Dry bulb

Links for more info from The Engineering Toolbox:

Cooling Loads – Latent and Sensible Heat

Dry Bulb, Wet Bulb and Dew Point Temperature

Cooling and Heating Equations