my workouts

This is more of a note to myself to remember some good workouts I put together this week:

Monday (core/abs):

20 minutes on the step mill (the escalator machine)

22 minutes on tread mill doing sprints (2 minute sprint 1 minute rest, repeat)

stair runs x 4

inclined situps with 3kg weight x 2

squats around all the benches and free weights x 2

ab workout: tie band around pole and hold in two hands extended and turn side to side x 2

ab workout: don’t have a name for it but sit on floor extend legs and upper boddy at the same time to remain balanced on your bum, retract ams and legs and remain balanced.  x 2

T pushups x 2

leg lifts x 2

Wednesday (legs):

30 minutes on step mill (speed intervals)

stair runs

single leg squats (face away from bench put on leg on bench behind you and dip down–20 each side) x 2

squats around benches and free weights x 2

bench step ups x 2

ball roll out x 2

jump squat-push ups x 2 (mountain climbers)

somethingelsethatIcan’trememberdamnit

nounset: noun-set or no-unset

Naa…it can’t be that, although it probably will be. How can the shell setting “nounset” be the cause of this weird behavior.

Two hours later, yeah, it was.

I finally decided to get tough and bring my .bashrc to the major leagues. I found a template on da ‘net that seemed promising and added some code to load settings for the intel compiler icc. What was baffling me was that when I ran my new found glorious config file it complained that certain values were not set:

</pre>
-bash: LD_LIBRARY_PATH: unbound variable
-bash: DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: unbound variable
-bash: NLSPATH: unbound variable
-bash: MANPATH: unbound variable
-bash: INTEL_LICENSE_FILE: unbound variable
-bash: LD_LIBRARY_PATH: unbound variable
-bash: DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH: unbound variable
-bash: NLSPATH: unbound variable
-bash: MANPATH: unbound variable
-bash: INTEL_LICENSE_FILE: unbound variable
<pre>

Here are a few lines from the file I was sourcing:

</pre>
if [ -z "${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}" ]
then
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/intel/fce/10.1.015/lib"; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/intel/fce/10.1.015/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
fi

# DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH is used on MAC OS*
if [ -z "${DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH}" ]
then
 DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/intel/fce/10.1.015/lib"; export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
 DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/intel/fce/10.1.015/lib:${DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH}"; export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
fi

...
<pre>

So there was nothing wrong with this script, the options controlling execution of any script generated an error when encountering an unbound error. Note the error message, “-bash: NLSPATH: unbound variable”.  That should have been a indication what was going on.

Grrr!

no, we’re not talking

My cubical neighbor, Maureen, and I have a deal.

We don’t talk.

In the mornings if we’re there early, we don’t talk.

She put it best, “if we’re here early clearly we’re trying to get work done.”

We can have our tea (me) / coffee (her) run later and chat.  But right now we’re working.

Communication a is good thing.

I Serve No More

Right then it hit me. The basic server loop might be dead. I remember it from college quite well:

- bind()

- listen()

- accept()

- fork()

- back to accept()

A coworker was explaining how part of our system worked and it suddenly became clear that my traditional way of thinking about servers was dead. No longer was it necessary for a server to wait around, most of the time idle, for connections from users. No, instead we are now shifting, or perhaps have shifted, to on demand servers started by the client. Even better, secure on demand servers.  What’s changed you ask? Now clients can connect to the server via ssh and start up a server process that merely reads and writes stdin and stdout (& stderr).  This completely changes the game.  The server program is greatly simplified, it no longer needs to know about sockets. A minor benefit is now you don’t have to add your server entry to inetd on your UNIX system so the system will manage incoming connections. Also, the server is running under the permissions of the account the client has access to (most likely the same account as the client program).  An administrator on the server can just configure the settings of that account if they need to manage that user. No complicated authorization scheme as part of the server’s protocol–that’s taken care of for you by using ssh as your authenticating transport protocol.

Fascinating.

While the need to know sockets, TCP, IP, and UDP will always persist, there is a new powerful and simple option for writing and managing servers.

random tennis stuff

• I may have to become a Rafael Nadal fan. I don’t want to. I want Federer to win every time I see him because of his grace on court and poise off it. Not that Rafa doesn’t display the same qualities, but, well, I just like Federer’s game. Well now that Rafa seems to have Federer’s number and is completely in his head, I may have to become a Rafa fan. He is amazing. His fitness. His tenacity. His shot making ability. His cunning (excellent plan attacking Federer’s backhand with high balls and his service selection was genius). Mobility. Work ethic.
• I do feel bad for Federer. It’s not like he’s not trying. But to see him break down when accepting the runner’s up trophy was very touching and sad.
• Also sad was the way that Federer lost the 5th set. He just shouldn’t lose it that way. He made too many unforced errors and basically gave away the set. I completely agree with Patrick McEnroe that it was sad to see him lose the 5th set that way. Very sad indeed.
• DICK ENBERG SUCKS AS AN ANNOUNCER.  He kindles the same hatred…no too strong a word. Disgust? Hmm..maybe. Dislike? Too weak. I’ll go with disgust for now and may edit this later. He kindles the same disgust that Tom Ashbrook on the NPR show “On Point” does (Tom Ashbrook leads the people on the show when asking them a question–simply ask them a question and let them explain rather than you trying to sound like you know as much or more than someone who has been studying the material for 20+ years–idiot).  Dick Enberg talks too much and states the obvious. He has these pointless monologues that attempt to install drama into the event when all it really does is make him look stupid. He restates the obvious–”What fantastic court coverage by Nadal to hit the winner.” duh. This is not radio. His insipid color commentary is made stupider by comparing it to the intelligence of his colleagues Brad Gilbert, Partick McEnroe and his brother John McEnroe. Shut up Mr. Enberg and let people who know about the game talk. I can’t stand listening to you. Sometimes silence is the best way to respect the drama on the court.
• What an incredible tennis match, BTW. Great tennis. This is what the tennis world needs. I hope this inspires Federer to greater heights because right now Federer is inspiring Nadal and, despite what people thing, I don’t necessarily view this as a rivialry. Why? A rivialry requires, to me, some parity and right now Rafa is kicking his ass.
• Go Federer!

working at home

For the first time in my life my computer setup at home is actually BETTER than my computer setup at work. I’m not talking about GHz. I’m talking about computer monitor, comfort, quality operating system…

So, this then brings up the interesting question…where should I work. Home? Office?  Fortunately I live just 5 minutes from work so it’s not a problem going to work.

apple store and network speed

Holy crap Batman!  I performed a speed test while on the apple store’s wireless network and while I’m not surprised the connection is zippy, I waasn’t expecting:

37.5M download

14.4M upload

wowza!

threaded IM client

When chatting with someone via IM you often have multiple conversations going on at the same time with that same person. It would be nice to have some mechanism for threading these conversations. You’d have to specify which conversation you are talking about–perhaps it indents or keeps multiple panes.  Perhaps this isn’t necessary at all as our brains can handle it I don’t know. But it is definitely not something we do in face-to-face conversations, so perhaps a good GUI would make this easier to follow.

Just a thought.

Celtics vs. Toronto (1-12-09)

Here are my observations from the Celtics against Toronto:

- Something’s up with KG’s jumpshot. Even though he finished the game 7-15 shooting he made only one jumpshot from the outside (go see http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=290112002). The rest of his shots were off alley oops and in the paint. He missed a lot of jumpers between 15 and 17 feet which he normally makes.

- Rondo goes for the steal as his man gets by him and into the lane. This attempt at the steal when he should be moving his feet to get into position, puts an unfair pressure on his bigs who now have to guard their man plus the player who now is free in the lane. Rondo should not go for the steal instead he should move his feet and stay in position.

- Rondo needs to be more aggressive. Yes, he made a nify play at the end of the game faking a pass and making a nice floater in the lane but during the course of the game it works that he attacks the rim possibly be 1 out 3 opportunities.  He had many excellent opportunities to drive the lane and score

- The Celtics rely on the 3 pointer too much.  Rondo driving to the hoop will give up a contested 5-8ft shoot for a shooter behind the arc.  This might be well and good when you are behind and need to catch up, but in the first and second quarters TAKE IT TO THE HOOP or take an easier shot. The trifecta always seemed like an out for a team that doesn’t want to bang it out in the post.

- Scal is a good player. He played excellent defense on Bosch (even though he made some tough jumpers) and knows his role on the court. Well done Veal!

Financial Planner Geek

Yeah, I admit it. I find it terribly satisfying to make my $5,000 contribution to my IRA for 2009 in January of 2009.

I’m also excited that the government has upped the yearly contributions to my 401k to $16,500.

Yes, am I a fiscal planning nerd. I think I was an accountant in a previous life. That said, I know very little about the stock market!