Matt & Jen Simerson

After 50 hours of walking at my desk, a few shortcomings compelled me to action. Most of the treadmill surface was under the desk and not available for walking, forcing a shortened stride. It was also unsuitable for jogging or running. We left the treadmill on sliders, so it could be slid out for running. [...]

Last year I bought a standing desk. Along with biking to work a couple days each week, it was part of my plan to shed 20 excess pounds. I like my standing desk. I like it a lot. But what I discovered is that I can’t stand all day long without my knees aching. I [...]

Background
In July of 2008, I was tasked with building a system to back up thousands of Linux based servers. Previous systems using Amanda and Bacula had failed, principally because they required a full time backup administrator to maintain. My job was to build a backup system that required very little maintenance, scaled well, and made [...]

SSH scans and bruteforce attacks that have have been common since my first SSH enabled server was attacked in 1996. Back then, attacks were so rare that monitoring logins and manually adding attackers IPs to /etc/hosts.allow (TCP Wrapper) was sufficient to keep systems secure.
In the mid 2000’s, the rise of botnets resulted in distributed bruteforce [...]

While I’m ranting about business practices stuck in the 20th century, there is a simple reason I frequently decline online delivery of statements. What assurance do I have that after I terminate my account, I will still have access to my account records?
If you want me to sign up for e-delivery, give me some assurance [...]

As I reported last month, I have been bicycling to work. Since I was out of shape and the ride is 9 miles each way, I started slowly and rode only two days a week. Since Jun 11, I have bicycle commuted 16 days and rode 288 miles. During that time I have cut my [...]