Apr 16 2019

Minor bike upgrades

Just picked up some minor “upgrades” for my bike.  Specifically new tires to make it easier to commute on it.  Got some Diamondback Hybrid/Comfort Tires.  Should be a lot easier to commute with it.  Also got some Schwalbe Bicycle Tire Levers to make it easier to swap between my street tires and offroad tires.

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Mar 8 2019

Home Server & Network Updates

Well, due to Meraki not supporting IPv6 on their MX appliances I have removed it from my network.  I am now back to running a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter, specifically the EdgeRouter X SFP.  With a 1Gbe Fiber link between it and my Meraki MS220-8P just because I can (everything purchased from http://fs.com and working great).  I have also replaced my Meraki MR33 AP with a Cambium e410 AP that I got for free.  While it is still a cloud managed AP (for now at least as I have yet to get the on-premise controller working in KVM) there is no license fee which is nice.  Although the cnMaestro software is a little harder to navigate than Meraki’s, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.

On the home server front, right now I have unRAID running on an Intel Core i7-4770 in a ASRock H97M Pro4 motherboard with 24GB of RAM.  This will soon be upgraded to dual AMD Opteron 4280s in an ASUS KCMA-D8 motherboard with 128GB of RAM.  I got gifted the motherboard, and the processors and RAM were very cheap.  Just waiting on the adapters to be able to mount Socket AM3 HSFs on the board, the HSFs themselves & a new PSU as my current 500w one will not be big enough to power everything.  The i7, its motherboard & RAM will go into our gaming desktop, giving it a nice upgrade from an i5-2500 & 8GB of RAM.

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Nov 8 2018

New Home Server

Well,

I have come to the conclusion that I am in need of a new home server.  My combination of a HP N40L for storage, a HP Laptop for Plex and a Raspberry Pi 3 as a Home Assistant machine just isn’t working well anymore.  Of course, I can’t afford to go out and buy brand new gear (for the most part).  I am considering “old” LGA 1356 Intel E5-2670 Xeons (around $80 each), a motherboard to support two of them, rackmount case (new Norco RPC-5224 and probably the most expensive part of the build), new PSU, an additional SAS/SATA controller so I can use the case properly, etc.  Just need to determine if I want to do Ubuntu with ZOL & root on ZFS or if I want to go with FreeBSD and a beta install of Docker.  I’ll run as much as I can outside of Docker containers, but some will need to be containers.  I’m also thinking of putting the server in the garage, although I have no clue how hot it gets in there in the summer which worries me.  I would love to be able to run two fiber runs out there to do a connection between my current  Meraki MS220-8P and my old Dell PowerConnect 2724 (LAG between them just because I can), would also give me the ability to upgrade to 10Gig at some point in the future.

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Oct 24 2018

Recursion Prime

Well,

I participated in my first Ingress Anomaly this last weekend.  Recursion Prime in Minneapolis.  I had a blast, although I am out of shape for doing a bunch of short sprints on my mountain bike.  For my next one, if I’m on a bike team again I really need a gravel bike or something like that instead of my mountain bike.  Sadly we lost to the “Enlightened” but oh well.

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Aug 22 2018

Fountain Pens

Well, I have become addicted to fountain pens.  They write much nicer than ball point pens.  So far I’ve been buying them from Massdrop.

I have the an OHTO Rook (they no longer have a Rook FP on the site, looks the same as what I linked) and an OHTO Tasche.  I had two OHTO Dudes on order right now, one blue and one silver.  Ended up reading some bad reviews on them and now I have two Fountain Pen Revolution Indus on order instead.

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Aug 6 2018

Old Accident Photos

I was going through some old pictures and found these.  They are of my 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo I totaled out on April 4th 2006 due to the Chevy Malibu Maxx in the last two pictures.  I am really lucky to be alive.

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Jun 11 2018

Sitemap

Well,

I have been working to update my site for better searching.  I think I now have an XML sitemap for Google ready to go.  However, I’m not 100% sure if it is working yet.

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May 30 2018

Meraki MX Appliances

Well, I am starting to get frustrated with Meraki and their MX appliances.  They have been promising to add IPv6 support to them for a while but they have yet to add it.  This is an issue since most cell providers only offer IPv6 address to their phones & hotspots.  This means that I am not able to connect to work via VPN when I am and about.  Also means that I’m unable to connect to home via VPN and also check my personal site’s IPv6 address (I have a MX64 at home that I got for free).  I most definitely will be switching back to Ubiquiti at home once my license has expired for my Meraki gear.

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May 15 2018

Great Cycle Challenge

Hi,

This June, I am taking part in the Great Cycle Challenge to fight kids’ cancer!

My goal is to pedal 100 miles miles throughout the month.

Why am I doing this? Because cancer is the largest killer of children from disease in the United States – 38 children die of cancer every week. It’s awful to think so many young lives are lost to this terrible disease.

Kids should be living life, NOT fighting for it.

To show my support, I am taking on this 30-day challenge to support cancer research and give these kids the brighter futures they deserve.

It will be tough, but it’s nothing compared to what these brave kids face every day as they battle this disease and fight for their lives.

So today, I’m asking for your support.

Please make a donation through my fundraising page to support my challenge and join me in the fight to save little lives.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/smccloud/b

All funds raised will support Children’s Cancer Research Fund to continue their work to develop innovative treatments and find a cure for childhood cancer.

Thank you so much.

Shaun

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May 10 2018

Bike Upgrades

The last major upgrade I have to do on my mountain bike is the fork.  I do need a new derailleur hanger as my current one is bent and causing some minor shifting issues.  I also want to shim the chainring over a bit to help with the driveline angle in the lower gears (1-5) even though it is just inboard of the “ideal” location.  Once I have the fork done, I will then start to save for the remote lockout kit for it and then it will be done until I decide I want a new seat or I wear the tires out.

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