Jacob Kaplan-Moss on DevOps

Jacob gave a talk at the Boston Django Meetup this month on the topic of DevOps -- The role of the developer and the role of sysadmin are merging, and it is a good thing. This idea certainly resonate with me. I started my career as a DevOps by necessity -- I worked with a new and proprietary mini-computer, the Stratus. The OS was designed to be a developer's OS. All the operation support tools are designed for used by developers. It was a great OS to work with. When I moved to the *nix world, I met Ben, still one of the best sysadmin I know, who actually introduced me to Python. The world has come full cycle now. With utility computing and browser based clients, small team with small budgets launch large scale, fast growing web applications, developers need to be their own sysadmin as well. This is the video of Jacob's talk. I was a little bit late and missed a few minutes at the beginning.

Jacob Kaplan-Moss on DevOps at Boston Django Meetup 2010 from PK Shiu on Vimeo.

Review of the Seiko SKX781 "Orange Monster" Automatic Dive Watch

Old is new again. Part of the geek cred is to appreciate watches. Form and function -- What's not to like? I went from super thin swatch purchased in Tokyo, to my first "expensive" watch, the Bell & Ross Fusion, purchased at London Heathrow's duty free shop, to a series of G-Shocks, perhaps reflecting on practicality of the last few years.

I was all ready to continue my G-Shock / tool watch collection with the PAW 2000, the "gentlemen's ABC Watch (That is Altimeer, Barometer and Compass) -- the ultimate in the sports tech watch. 20+ functions. More raw computing power than my first computer. Then I stumbled upon the Seiko automatic dive watches. Automatic meaning the watch is automatically wound as you move the watch about with the natural movement of your arm. Yes -- this means the watch is a pure mechanical device. No quartz, no battery, no solar power, no radio sync. It's all stainless steel enclosing gears and springs.

A pure mechanical watch. The Seiko SKX781  "Orange Monster" Automatic Dive Watch. 7S26 movement.

The Appeal

I never like flashy watches. Oversized watch falls into that category. That's why I never liked them. These dive watches are large and thick but not overpoweringly large. The only thing that this particular model is the orange face, which will catch your eye if you look closely. But it is not a "look at me" type of loud.

Without the flashiness, the remaining stainless steel look is more utilitarian, more industrial, more modern. That of course is ironic since this is a design from the 70's. Very much like the minimalist / industrial design that is hot now. Old is new again, for the better.

First Impression

The watch arrived in a proper watch box, with a pillow holding the watch. What presentation! Even the more expensive G-Shocks comes on a plastic holder inside a cool tin box. This Seiko is old school all the way.

The Weight -- this thing is heavy! It is several times heavier than the G-shocks. It bothered me for about five minutes, and then I don't feel it anymore. In fact I like the weight now. Because of the weight I wear it a little tighter than I wear the G-shocks, and it actually feel good. It feels like part of my arm now.

The manual operations

I must amid, wearing the watch across the end of November period and realized I have to manually change the date from Nov 31st to Dec 1st was a slight annoyance. But like most manual tool, it is a way to bond with the tool. There is a relationship between the user and the tool. It requires care and feeding. It is not "use and forget".

Adjusting the Band

I will detail the process in a separate post. Basically I purchased a few cheap tools from the internet and adjusted the size of the watch band myself. It was much easier than I thought. Now the watch fits like a charm, even on my small 7.5 inch wrist.

Now I am saving up for the next classic Diver, the Seiko SKX007. Not to mention the joy of finding alternate watch bands.Reference:

For more information than you need on this and other Seiko dive watches, read this article.

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iPhone plus AirPlay and AppleTV

I do not have an iPad. That's right. I am waiting for the iPad2. But I ordered the AppleTV on announcement date. And now with AirPlay fully supported (after a system update on both the iPhone 3GS and the AppleTV) it is media heaven. What works?

• on the iPhone 3GS, I can play a movie on the "ipod" app directly onto my AppleTV
• the rdio app can stream all my rdio music directly onto my AppleTV -- this is a big win. Now I can stream everything that rdio has in the cloud to my main home theatre system. My $10/month subscription is getting full mileage
• the YouTube app on the iPhone can also send video to the AppleTV. This is slightly redundent, as there is direct YouTube support on the AppleTV. But I can use the keyboard on my iPhone to find video faster.
• update: the pictures on the camera roll can go to the apple TV by using the airplay icon (Thanks to lance's comment below)

What does not work?

• I cannot figure out how to send a picture in my "camera roll" to the AppleTV
• Hulu+ app does not support AirPlay -- This is a big lost for me. I don't know if it is Hulu that needs to update their app, or is Apple not allowing it to do so.
• NPR News app does not support AirPlay either. It would be cool if it did.

So, after 30 minutes of playing, I'd keep to my original point -- this is truly revolutionary, even if most of you don't know it yet!

South End Boston Sports Club dumber than a dumbell

What happened at the South End BSC (Boston Sports Club) blew my mind. Let me tell you the story first, then give you my analysis. The Story

I teach private tai chi classes. One of my student is a member of this BSC. When the weather is not nice, we do our weekly class there. I belong to a different club already, so I do not have a great reason to join this one, as my student is either paying the guest fee, or we take advantage of sometimes a "free guest" day to do our class at the gym.

However I do live and work blocks away from this gym. So I decided to save my student some money, and also get a secondary gym that I can use, and join this club today.

After our class I sat down with the manager at the gym and about to sign up for a membership with an annual commitment worth $828 to them. Instead the manager very successfully annoyed my student/friend and me. I am not joining, and I think my friend, who has two memberships (husband and wife) at the gym is thinking about leaving.

Why? As my friend was listening to the membership cost, she realized that she has an older plan which is more expensive and has less feature. She of course ask the manager if she could switch to the new plan. The manager said "sure, but there is a $59 upgrade fee. "Surely you must be joking" we said, plus this member just gotten you a new member. The manager was less than helpful at the situation. She told my friend to take it or leave it.

That is not all. I knew there was a "one time joining fee" for the membership, of $58, which is pretty common for healthclub to get some additional revenues. I asked the manager if she would waive it. I would expect there is a 50/50 chance of her doing something, or offering something to "sweaten the deal". Instead she said "no" pretty straight out. When I explained that it is cheaper actually for us to pay the occassional guest fee so she is going to loose a membership sale because of this, she told me"well it is your choice".

So we both walked out. It is not the money that is the issue. It is the way the manager responded to both situation. Even if the manager was a little bit more apologetic about my friend's situation, or offer a token gestures to my new members, maybe a coupon for a class (which I probably will never use), I would have joined. Instead she gave us a pretty definite "I don't care" message.

For me, a healthclub a service oriented business. Sending a "we do not care" message is just plain dumb.

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