Yesterday's workout was aborted due to crazy soreness in my thighs.
Spent the day trying to determine if I hurt myself or if I was just suffering heavy DOMS due to complete and total sloth.
Well, didn't feel the sharp, deep pain that comes from injury. So, DOMS.
What I did this morning seemed to work well.
In a given minute, for twenty minutes I did the following:
A body weight squat, followed by a ten second rest four times, followed by 2 girl push ups. No rest between push ups, but I did rest for the rest of the minute.
Doing things this way allowed for 40 girl push ups and 80 body weight squats over 20 minutes.
The squats didn't have me breathing as hard with this pause and the push ups were ridiculously easy this way.
I'll add another push up per minute tomorrow, but I'm not going to mess with the squats until #1 the DOMS are manageable and #2 I'm not breathing as hard.
Update:
As of Friday my DOMS were down to just a mild soreness
I'm not going to mess with my squats for the time being, but I've upped my my push ups to 4 a minute. I will start jumping that higher next week.
Custom Search
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Hunger
Got a bit squirrelly and decided to start doing the body weight squats.
Worked nicely for a five minute block with a five second rest between.
Got my wind up but was doable.
More to the point: FAR more satisfying than jumping jacks.
Need to figure out something to help my pushups along... not really sure.
Might try for a pathetic old man version of a squat thrust.
Considering that my lower body is ramping up faster, I might try the following for tomorrow morning:
Four body weight squats followed by two girl pushups for twenty minutes. Five second pause between each of them.
Might need to bump the rest time... not sure. I was breathing pretty dang hard this morning.
Worked nicely for a five minute block with a five second rest between.
Got my wind up but was doable.
More to the point: FAR more satisfying than jumping jacks.
Need to figure out something to help my pushups along... not really sure.
Might try for a pathetic old man version of a squat thrust.
Considering that my lower body is ramping up faster, I might try the following for tomorrow morning:
Four body weight squats followed by two girl pushups for twenty minutes. Five second pause between each of them.
Might need to bump the rest time... not sure. I was breathing pretty dang hard this morning.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Rebuilding
Held off on posting just because of how embarrassed I am over how much I've let myself go.
Something I found that hampered me when lifting weights regularity was that once I started squatting 360 and deadlifting 400 that my coordination started to go when all the little stabilizer muscles tired. I tried methods that I read that the Olympic lifters used - many many doubles or triples with 70% max weight with a short rest (0.5 - 1.5 minutes) between sets. That did wonders on how fast I recovered from any given set... but did little for the little stabilizer muscles.
At around the end of 2005 I had thought of adding some calisthenics into the mix because I've read that body weight exercise can be taken to complete muscle failure over and over with little strain on the nervous system. That was important to me because the high set routine I was doing five days a week took my CNS to the edge. I was finding that if I pushed just a little too hard, I'd be suffering from cold-like symptoms the next day.
All this came to a crashing stop when my allergies and sleep apnea caught up with me at the beginning of 2006. I found that once I started to breathe hard, it was like small balloons were inflating in my ears. After a few minutes the pressure would lead to dizziness and I had to stop.
So, to rebuild I'm going with calisthenics at first.
This was and is incredibly humbling. I found that I had to start with marching in place, bringing my knees high for twenty minutes.
Over the past few weeks I've been able to replace the marching with paused jumping-jacks (hands/legs out = one jump, hands/legs in = one jump). I started with three seconds between jumps and as of today am down to two seconds between jumps for two blocks of five minutes.
The worse blow to my pride are the push ups. At present I'm able to do two blocks of three minutes of girl push ups (i.e. knees kept down) with a five second rest between each full stroke.
Short to midterm goals -
1) Get the jumping jacks down to no pauses between jumps for the two 5 minute blocks
2) Work up to five minutes of five second pause girl push ups and then begin to shorten the pause.
Mid to longterm goals -
1) After eliminating the pause on the jumping jacks and becoming comfortable with that work load, change the blocks to full-range bodyweight squats with a five second pause at first. With the rest pause shortening when I'm able
2) Once I can do two five minute blocks of girl push ups with 0-1 second rest pauses, I'll begin to elevate my knees (put something under them) to work towards proper push ups.
As I'm not fit enough to burn a decent amount of calories I'm trying out a few supplements..
500mg Hoodia x1 a day
500mg (50mg active guggulesterones) Guggul x3 day
2g (1.4g CLA) CLA suppliment x3 day
Hoodia - I'm using "Hoodia 500" from hoodiahealth.com. It does suppress my appetite a little, but not enough to justify the cost. Also, during the day I eat only what I've packed for myself. I go somewhat nuts after hours. This I can halt by drinking more water and will do so.
Guggul - I'm using "Extra Strength Guggulsterone" from Higher Power Nutrition. The main thing that I'm looking for is 34-84mg of guggulesterones three times a day (this is what I've read to be an effective range). So, I needed to shop around to find a brand that had a decent % of guggulesterones per dose and that a monthly supply was under $20. They are out there... just not so easy to find. When I first used this product I felt warm and a little anxious. After a while I found that if I drank enough water I didn't get overheated or anxious. So, I make sure I have a lot of water around all day. As this acts by stimulating the thyroid I'm not keen on pushing my dose to the 84mg x3/day mark. Especially as it has been suggested that a person should ween themselves off of guggul instead of stopping all together. Summary: I know it is doing "something", especially if I don't drink enough water, but is it helping me drop fat quicker? I don't know yet.
CLA - I'm using "CLA-1000" from Wellments.From what I've read, 3.4 grams a day of CLA are needed to see fat loss affects. As most supplement makers aim for around 70%, look for the bigger pills (or drink a half gallon of full fat milk a day). I don't feel anything from taking these, but I don't expect to based on what I've read. This makes it kind of hard to determine if the cost is worth it. But, in my research, it looks like CLA is a pretty good thing to be taking anyhow.
Something I found that hampered me when lifting weights regularity was that once I started squatting 360 and deadlifting 400 that my coordination started to go when all the little stabilizer muscles tired. I tried methods that I read that the Olympic lifters used - many many doubles or triples with 70% max weight with a short rest (0.5 - 1.5 minutes) between sets. That did wonders on how fast I recovered from any given set... but did little for the little stabilizer muscles.
At around the end of 2005 I had thought of adding some calisthenics into the mix because I've read that body weight exercise can be taken to complete muscle failure over and over with little strain on the nervous system. That was important to me because the high set routine I was doing five days a week took my CNS to the edge. I was finding that if I pushed just a little too hard, I'd be suffering from cold-like symptoms the next day.
All this came to a crashing stop when my allergies and sleep apnea caught up with me at the beginning of 2006. I found that once I started to breathe hard, it was like small balloons were inflating in my ears. After a few minutes the pressure would lead to dizziness and I had to stop.
So, to rebuild I'm going with calisthenics at first.
This was and is incredibly humbling. I found that I had to start with marching in place, bringing my knees high for twenty minutes.
Over the past few weeks I've been able to replace the marching with paused jumping-jacks (hands/legs out = one jump, hands/legs in = one jump). I started with three seconds between jumps and as of today am down to two seconds between jumps for two blocks of five minutes.
The worse blow to my pride are the push ups. At present I'm able to do two blocks of three minutes of girl push ups (i.e. knees kept down) with a five second rest between each full stroke.
Short to midterm goals -
1) Get the jumping jacks down to no pauses between jumps for the two 5 minute blocks
2) Work up to five minutes of five second pause girl push ups and then begin to shorten the pause.
Mid to longterm goals -
1) After eliminating the pause on the jumping jacks and becoming comfortable with that work load, change the blocks to full-range bodyweight squats with a five second pause at first. With the rest pause shortening when I'm able
2) Once I can do two five minute blocks of girl push ups with 0-1 second rest pauses, I'll begin to elevate my knees (put something under them) to work towards proper push ups.
As I'm not fit enough to burn a decent amount of calories I'm trying out a few supplements..
500mg Hoodia x1 a day
500mg (50mg active guggulesterones) Guggul x3 day
2g (1.4g CLA) CLA suppliment x3 day
Hoodia - I'm using "Hoodia 500" from hoodiahealth.com. It does suppress my appetite a little, but not enough to justify the cost. Also, during the day I eat only what I've packed for myself. I go somewhat nuts after hours. This I can halt by drinking more water and will do so.
Guggul - I'm using "Extra Strength Guggulsterone" from Higher Power Nutrition. The main thing that I'm looking for is 34-84mg of guggulesterones three times a day (this is what I've read to be an effective range). So, I needed to shop around to find a brand that had a decent % of guggulesterones per dose and that a monthly supply was under $20. They are out there... just not so easy to find. When I first used this product I felt warm and a little anxious. After a while I found that if I drank enough water I didn't get overheated or anxious. So, I make sure I have a lot of water around all day. As this acts by stimulating the thyroid I'm not keen on pushing my dose to the 84mg x3/day mark. Especially as it has been suggested that a person should ween themselves off of guggul instead of stopping all together. Summary: I know it is doing "something", especially if I don't drink enough water, but is it helping me drop fat quicker? I don't know yet.
CLA - I'm using "CLA-1000" from Wellments.From what I've read, 3.4 grams a day of CLA are needed to see fat loss affects. As most supplement makers aim for around 70%, look for the bigger pills (or drink a half gallon of full fat milk a day). I don't feel anything from taking these, but I don't expect to based on what I've read. This makes it kind of hard to determine if the cost is worth it. But, in my research, it looks like CLA is a pretty good thing to be taking anyhow.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tax Stuff
Getting about that time again.
Wanted to bring up Enrolled Agents. From the NAEA's website:
Around 2002, my wife and I began to worry about IRS audits.
We had began to try to educate ourselves on tax issues and in the process found a few worrisome issues. In putting together that year's taxes I found a few discrepancies in an old filing and requested a W-2 from an agency I worked with in the late nineties. They weren't able to produce this (they had been playing games with the books). Also, around that time my wife was doing freelance editing work with an individual who wasn't all that .... umm ... meticulous with his paperwork.
This was missed and/or not brought up by the various tax preparation agencies we used in the past.
So, we tried a CPA.... after not communicating for several months nor giving updates as to work done, we dropped him.
As our stress increased, we came across info on Enrolled Agents. From the NAEA's site we went to their "find an agent" link and found our "Tax Lady".
She went through six years of returns and amended them. Only one year did we pay out ... and that was state taxes.
She was able to work up significant returns over her rate for the five years of returns she amended.
So, in summary:
1) Yes, you will pay more up front for an EA. But, in my experience, your return will be greater.
2) For an EA to keep their license, they have to re-qualify every three years. Of note: the NAEA has additional professional education requirements for its members.
3) They are "authorized to appear in the place of the taxpayer at the IRS".
Wanted to bring up Enrolled Agents. From the NAEA's website:
An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals.
Around 2002, my wife and I began to worry about IRS audits.
We had began to try to educate ourselves on tax issues and in the process found a few worrisome issues. In putting together that year's taxes I found a few discrepancies in an old filing and requested a W-2 from an agency I worked with in the late nineties. They weren't able to produce this (they had been playing games with the books). Also, around that time my wife was doing freelance editing work with an individual who wasn't all that .... umm ... meticulous with his paperwork.
This was missed and/or not brought up by the various tax preparation agencies we used in the past.
So, we tried a CPA.... after not communicating for several months nor giving updates as to work done, we dropped him.
As our stress increased, we came across info on Enrolled Agents. From the NAEA's site we went to their "find an agent" link and found our "Tax Lady".
She went through six years of returns and amended them. Only one year did we pay out ... and that was state taxes.
She was able to work up significant returns over her rate for the five years of returns she amended.
So, in summary:
1) Yes, you will pay more up front for an EA. But, in my experience, your return will be greater.
2) For an EA to keep their license, they have to re-qualify every three years. Of note: the NAEA has additional professional education requirements for its members.
3) They are "authorized to appear in the place of the taxpayer at the IRS".
I live yet
Getting old sucks.
Throughout 2006 I found my health spiraling downward.
Found out I'm severely allergic to a number of things (dust, trees, grass, weeds, etc) and only recently that my allergies developed over the five years I lived up in the Virginia mountains.
In the process of trying to figure out where my fatigue, dizziness, and pressure headaches where coming from it was determined that I should submit to a sleep study.
Well, turns out I have sleep apnea as well. The study found that I had an average of seventy (70) events (read - stopped breathing) an hour. I stopped breathing, on average, more than once a minute.
Quoth the sleep study tech: "yeah, that'd cause headaches and fatigue"
heh
Well, they had me get a cpap and I can not describe the quality of sleep I get now. I have never, ever, slept this well.
So, I'm starting to feel human again. My wife tells me I'm not such a lump anymore (heh).
Now, to deal with the consequences of no physical activity for a year.
It has taken its toll... a 42"+ waist from 35 inches... near 300lbs from 256lbs.
sigh
Anyhow, I think I'll put together some useful posts tonight and over the next few days.
Throughout 2006 I found my health spiraling downward.
Found out I'm severely allergic to a number of things (dust, trees, grass, weeds, etc) and only recently that my allergies developed over the five years I lived up in the Virginia mountains.
In the process of trying to figure out where my fatigue, dizziness, and pressure headaches where coming from it was determined that I should submit to a sleep study.
Well, turns out I have sleep apnea as well. The study found that I had an average of seventy (70) events (read - stopped breathing) an hour. I stopped breathing, on average, more than once a minute.
Quoth the sleep study tech: "yeah, that'd cause headaches and fatigue"
heh
Well, they had me get a cpap and I can not describe the quality of sleep I get now. I have never, ever, slept this well.
So, I'm starting to feel human again. My wife tells me I'm not such a lump anymore (heh).
Now, to deal with the consequences of no physical activity for a year.
It has taken its toll... a 42"+ waist from 35 inches... near 300lbs from 256lbs.
sigh
Anyhow, I think I'll put together some useful posts tonight and over the next few days.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Assessment
I'm using sharebuilder for my IRA and my test of a ETF version of one of the coffeehouse invester set ups.
I heard of sharebuilder from my wife about the time I needed to roll my old 401K into something. Poking around a bit and I decided to give it a try. I used its PortfolioBuilder.
It suggested the following for me:
WD RUSSELL 1000 VALUE 45%
IWF RUSSELL 1000 GROWTH 30%
EFA EURO-ASIA INDX 15%
AGG LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND 5%
TIP LEH US TREAS INF FD 5%
My return for the past year is a wee bit over 10%
The ETF version of the coffeehouse invester set up didn't do so well in my taxable account.
AGG LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND 40%
VNQ VANGUARD REIT ETF 10%
VTV VANGUARD VALUE ETF 10%
EFA EURO-ASIA INDX 10%
RSP S&P EQUAL WEIGHT INDEX 10%
VBR VANGUARD SMALL-CAP VALUE ETF 10%
VB VANGUARD SMALL-CAP ETF 10%
Return on that was a little over 6%.
Looking at things a bit more I thought to repoint my taxable account and get rid of the overlap with the IRA and focus on sectors. Specifically, equal ratio of the following: financial services, natural resources, utilities, real estate, and telecom.
ICF COHEN & STEERS REALTY
IDU UTILITIES INDX
IXG S&P GLBL FINL SECTOR
IXP ISHARES S&P GLBL TELECOMM SE
IYE ENERGY INDX
VAW VANGUARD MATERIALS ETF
Past data indicates this will return over 10%. If so, I will pursue it aggressively.
Future project --- some form of trading (stocks, commodities, forex, something) where fees and taxes don't eat up the majority of a given 3, 6, 9, or 12 months profit.
ETFs don't appear to lend themselves to short term trading and only forex (at this time) looks to allow investors to live test on the cheap.
I heard of sharebuilder from my wife about the time I needed to roll my old 401K into something. Poking around a bit and I decided to give it a try. I used its PortfolioBuilder.
It suggested the following for me:
WD RUSSELL 1000 VALUE 45%
IWF RUSSELL 1000 GROWTH 30%
EFA EURO-ASIA INDX 15%
AGG LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND 5%
TIP LEH US TREAS INF FD 5%
My return for the past year is a wee bit over 10%
The ETF version of the coffeehouse invester set up didn't do so well in my taxable account.
AGG LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND 40%
VNQ VANGUARD REIT ETF 10%
VTV VANGUARD VALUE ETF 10%
EFA EURO-ASIA INDX 10%
RSP S&P EQUAL WEIGHT INDEX 10%
VBR VANGUARD SMALL-CAP VALUE ETF 10%
VB VANGUARD SMALL-CAP ETF 10%
Return on that was a little over 6%.
Looking at things a bit more I thought to repoint my taxable account and get rid of the overlap with the IRA and focus on sectors. Specifically, equal ratio of the following: financial services, natural resources, utilities, real estate, and telecom.
ICF COHEN & STEERS REALTY
IDU UTILITIES INDX
IXG S&P GLBL FINL SECTOR
IXP ISHARES S&P GLBL TELECOMM SE
IYE ENERGY INDX
VAW VANGUARD MATERIALS ETF
Past data indicates this will return over 10%. If so, I will pursue it aggressively.
Future project --- some form of trading (stocks, commodities, forex, something) where fees and taxes don't eat up the majority of a given 3, 6, 9, or 12 months profit.
ETFs don't appear to lend themselves to short term trading and only forex (at this time) looks to allow investors to live test on the cheap.
Veterans Day
Been slacking as usual.
In observation of Veterans Day 2006:
Happy Veterans Day
Veteran's Day: "In the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month"
Yea Me Day!
Veteran's Day, 2006
Warfare Class
I'm Sitting Here on Veteran's Day
Veterans Day - Generations of Valor
Proud
Hangin’ Out With the Boys
Project Valour-IT
How To Support The Troops
In observation of Veterans Day 2006:
Happy Veterans Day
Veteran's Day: "In the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month"
Yea Me Day!
Veteran's Day, 2006
Warfare Class
I'm Sitting Here on Veteran's Day
Veterans Day - Generations of Valor
Proud
Hangin’ Out With the Boys
Project Valour-IT
How To Support The Troops
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Memorial Day
On Memorial Day, remember the families of our fallen heroes
Gates of Fire
"I am going to die well"
Major Mathew Schram's Memorial Day
TSgt John A. Chapman
Video Tributes
We all lost a Brother Today
Letter From Canada
Chai Tea, Mud Huts, Villages With No Names and Heroes
Rafael Peralta - Home of the Brave
BAGHDAD ER
The Notification
Godspeed Kyle Jackson and Mitch Carver
Final Salute
I often think to myself, how is it that I can enjoy a life here in the US where I don't have to bribe officials to get ahead? Where any US citizen can get ahead in life if they are determined and apply themselves. Where any US citizen is free to move to a different town or state in order to find a favorable spot to put down roots. And how is it that the US doesn't turn into another Zimbabwe?
How To Support The Troops
Some Ways To Support Servicemembers
Gates of Fire
"I am going to die well"
Major Mathew Schram's Memorial Day
TSgt John A. Chapman
Video Tributes
We all lost a Brother Today
Letter From Canada
Chai Tea, Mud Huts, Villages With No Names and Heroes
Rafael Peralta - Home of the Brave
BAGHDAD ER
The Notification
Godspeed Kyle Jackson and Mitch Carver
Final Salute
I often think to myself, how is it that I can enjoy a life here in the US where I don't have to bribe officials to get ahead? Where any US citizen can get ahead in life if they are determined and apply themselves. Where any US citizen is free to move to a different town or state in order to find a favorable spot to put down roots. And how is it that the US doesn't turn into another Zimbabwe?
How To Support The Troops
Some Ways To Support Servicemembers
Monday, January 16, 2006
The internet is such a wonderful thing
Running through my links and found these two at the instapundit:
Carnival of Personal Finance
Carnival of the Capitalists
Which led to finding this list of "carnivals": Carnivals for week of 1/9/06
Carnival of Personal Finance
Carnival of the Capitalists
Which led to finding this list of "carnivals": Carnivals for week of 1/9/06
Sunday, January 08, 2006
A retirement link
Found this on a quick google search:
retireearlyhomepage.com
Gonna poke around in it over the next few days to assess worth.
UPDATE: Strange cold is leaving me real tired all the time, so I haven't gone over the link in detail.
From what I see, there is an emphasis on saving. I see this in many books and links I've skimmed over. I've been discounting them as common sense items. But then I remembered that people don't save and routinly live outside of their means. So, I guess it is good.
Noticing an alignment with the ideas at the coffeehouse investor. Buy and hold methods. Starting to get interested in that method. Like the idea of not spending forever studying companies.
Observation: why is it that most investment methods today sound like cults? "A coffeehouse invester does this... A coffeehouse invester thinks that".
bah
retireearlyhomepage.com
Gonna poke around in it over the next few days to assess worth.
UPDATE: Strange cold is leaving me real tired all the time, so I haven't gone over the link in detail.
From what I see, there is an emphasis on saving. I see this in many books and links I've skimmed over. I've been discounting them as common sense items. But then I remembered that people don't save and routinly live outside of their means. So, I guess it is good.
Noticing an alignment with the ideas at the coffeehouse investor. Buy and hold methods. Starting to get interested in that method. Like the idea of not spending forever studying companies.
Observation: why is it that most investment methods today sound like cults? "A coffeehouse invester does this... A coffeehouse invester thinks that".
bah
A potential theme
or, "a new shiny thing has been found"
Something I've been working on for past few years has been how to retire early.
This idea started for me around 1995 or so when I decided that I just had no tolerance for debt. It just bugged me. I was unable to take my mind off of it.
So, I promptly bought a video game that I became enthralled in for a month or so. When the nagging worry came back I would buy another one. After a while the games didn't work anymore and I had to deal with the issue.
At the time I was renting an apartment with my wife and had some credit card debt and minor loans. Looking through the personal finance offerings at the bookstore indicated that CC debt had to go followed by loans. Many books and such indicated that I shouldn't worry about low interest loans and such, but I could not tolerate any debt.
It was also about this time when I began to lose any and all patience with the keeping up with the jones' people. You know the ones... The folks that go out to lunch at the $20+ spots everyday and $10 a beer bars every night. The folks that have the newest gadgets and a new car every 3 years.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't care how they spend *their* money. I just couldn't deal with them telling me how I should spend *my* money. And, should I take the time to explaine that I'm paying off my debt and building my equity, they would look at me like I'm some kind of leper. Or come right out and say I'm acting like a Jew.
I never understood that association. Nevermind that I have nothing against Jews, but, tending to the financial health of one's household means that I'm acting like a Jew? Really? I've known a few Asians and they seem to hold to the same idea as me. But they aren't said to be acting like Jews. I just don't get people.
Anyways...
It was at this time that I learned another lesson. Your employer is not your friend. And if you could make more money by job hopping, then do it. Shortly after I learned this I found out that if your ego allowed you to take a job that was junior to what you had been doing but paid more, you should take it. Granted, this opened the door to having to deal with both management and peers that always took a condescending tone with me. But, I had already grown used to this because I never pursued my degree. I did this anywhere from every 2 months to a year.
So, as my income grew, I paid off all my debts. I learned that vehicles bought a few years old were several thousand dollars cheaper and if I tended to the 3K mile maintenance they would last and last (my last vehicle was a 1995 Ford Explorer with 240K miles on it and the only reason I got rid of it was that I couldn't justify the 13mpg).
In 1999, I bought my first house. I purposely bought a house out in the sticks off of a dirt road on top of a mountain. My objective was not to make money, but to have something cheap that I could pay off fast and use as a down payment for someplace that I would live in for a few decades. 1999 was the start of insane pay rates in northern VA. Unlike my peers who bought $500+K houses and fancy cars, I paid off my mortgage.
When the dot com bust came, a few of my peers had to file for bankruptcy after being unable to find work for over a year. And just because of those fancy trophy houses, cars, and toys.
Again, I don't really care how people spend their money, but I will comment on what I consider stupidity.
Now this brings us to 2005...
The housing market had grown so expensive in the DC metro area that increasing amounts of people started to move out my way. This meant that my previously 1.25 hour one-way commute grew to 2.5-3.5 one-way commutes.
I was unable to deal with that.
Then an idea that had been brewing for a while came a little closer to the top. What if I move to a low cost of living state (like NC)? With the insane VA housing market, I could buy a NC house outright with the proceeds of selling my VA house.
And so I did...
Now I'm at another crossroads: I find that the more independant I am, the less tolerant I'm of the sociopathic folks that populate the tech sector. Yes, Dilbert does reflect reality... only through rose tinted glasses. It is much worse.
So, do I try to retire now and live under the poverty line? (which in the US really isn't as bad as it sounds) Or, to try to suck it up for a few more years in order to sock more away into my investments?
I'm starting to do some research into a safe early retirement and I'll be posting a few links that I find along the way.
Let's see where this takes me....
Something I've been working on for past few years has been how to retire early.
This idea started for me around 1995 or so when I decided that I just had no tolerance for debt. It just bugged me. I was unable to take my mind off of it.
So, I promptly bought a video game that I became enthralled in for a month or so. When the nagging worry came back I would buy another one. After a while the games didn't work anymore and I had to deal with the issue.
At the time I was renting an apartment with my wife and had some credit card debt and minor loans. Looking through the personal finance offerings at the bookstore indicated that CC debt had to go followed by loans. Many books and such indicated that I shouldn't worry about low interest loans and such, but I could not tolerate any debt.
It was also about this time when I began to lose any and all patience with the keeping up with the jones' people. You know the ones... The folks that go out to lunch at the $20+ spots everyday and $10 a beer bars every night. The folks that have the newest gadgets and a new car every 3 years.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't care how they spend *their* money. I just couldn't deal with them telling me how I should spend *my* money. And, should I take the time to explaine that I'm paying off my debt and building my equity, they would look at me like I'm some kind of leper. Or come right out and say I'm acting like a Jew.
I never understood that association. Nevermind that I have nothing against Jews, but, tending to the financial health of one's household means that I'm acting like a Jew? Really? I've known a few Asians and they seem to hold to the same idea as me. But they aren't said to be acting like Jews. I just don't get people.
Anyways...
It was at this time that I learned another lesson. Your employer is not your friend. And if you could make more money by job hopping, then do it. Shortly after I learned this I found out that if your ego allowed you to take a job that was junior to what you had been doing but paid more, you should take it. Granted, this opened the door to having to deal with both management and peers that always took a condescending tone with me. But, I had already grown used to this because I never pursued my degree. I did this anywhere from every 2 months to a year.
So, as my income grew, I paid off all my debts. I learned that vehicles bought a few years old were several thousand dollars cheaper and if I tended to the 3K mile maintenance they would last and last (my last vehicle was a 1995 Ford Explorer with 240K miles on it and the only reason I got rid of it was that I couldn't justify the 13mpg).
In 1999, I bought my first house. I purposely bought a house out in the sticks off of a dirt road on top of a mountain. My objective was not to make money, but to have something cheap that I could pay off fast and use as a down payment for someplace that I would live in for a few decades. 1999 was the start of insane pay rates in northern VA. Unlike my peers who bought $500+K houses and fancy cars, I paid off my mortgage.
When the dot com bust came, a few of my peers had to file for bankruptcy after being unable to find work for over a year. And just because of those fancy trophy houses, cars, and toys.
Again, I don't really care how people spend their money, but I will comment on what I consider stupidity.
Now this brings us to 2005...
The housing market had grown so expensive in the DC metro area that increasing amounts of people started to move out my way. This meant that my previously 1.25 hour one-way commute grew to 2.5-3.5 one-way commutes.
I was unable to deal with that.
Then an idea that had been brewing for a while came a little closer to the top. What if I move to a low cost of living state (like NC)? With the insane VA housing market, I could buy a NC house outright with the proceeds of selling my VA house.
And so I did...
Now I'm at another crossroads: I find that the more independant I am, the less tolerant I'm of the sociopathic folks that populate the tech sector. Yes, Dilbert does reflect reality... only through rose tinted glasses. It is much worse.
So, do I try to retire now and live under the poverty line? (which in the US really isn't as bad as it sounds) Or, to try to suck it up for a few more years in order to sock more away into my investments?
I'm starting to do some research into a safe early retirement and I'll be posting a few links that I find along the way.
Let's see where this takes me....
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Still Around
Work and now world of warcraft have taken most of my spare time.
Please check the links to the right.
Please check the links to the right.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
An irony
I put together this page to help me by having all of my reference material in one place.
Then I go to work with an employer that blocks pretty much any and all internet sites (including Sun's big admin).
hmmmmm
Maybe it shall morph to include other things...
It'll be a bit as I'm still getting used to the new shop, new area, and moving house.
Later.
Then I go to work with an employer that blocks pretty much any and all internet sites (including Sun's big admin).
hmmmmm
Maybe it shall morph to include other things...
It'll be a bit as I'm still getting used to the new shop, new area, and moving house.
Later.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Point-In-Time Copies: Enterprise
This uses FlashSnap, which requires a separate license to use.
Veritas Storage Foundation with FlashSnap provides three types of PITC solutions:
* Volume-Level PITC Solutions:
- Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshots
- Space-Optimized Instant Volume Snapshots
* Filesystem-Level Solution:
- Storage Checkpoints
Preparing to Create a Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshot: CLI
Enable FastResync:
vxsnap –g diskgroup [-b] prepare origvol
Allocate the storage using ONE of these methods:
1) Add a mirror to use as a full-sized instant snapshot:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup addmir volume
2) Use an existing ACTIVE plex in the volume
3) Create an empty volume for use as the snapshot volume:
# LEN=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%len volume`
# DCONAME=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%sco_name volume`
# RSZ=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%regionsz $DCONAME`
# vxassist –g diskgroup make snap-origvol $LEN
# vxsnap –g diskgroup prepare snap-origvol regionsize=$RSZ
Creating and Managing Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshots: CLI
Create the snapshot volume using ONE of these methods:
1) Break off an existing plex to create the new snapshot
# vxsnap –g diskgroup make source=origvol newvol=snap-origvol plex=name
2) Specify an empty volume to be used as the snapshot:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup source=origvol snapvol=snap-origvol
Update:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup refresh snap-origvol source=origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup reattach snap-origvol source=origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup restore origvol source=snap-origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup dis snap-origvol
Remove:
# vxedit –g diskgroup –r rm snapvol
Note: These are a few more items that I have not transcribed. The reason being that they require additional licensing and are useful only in specific setups.
Veritas Storage Foundation with FlashSnap provides three types of PITC solutions:
* Volume-Level PITC Solutions:
- Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshots
- Space-Optimized Instant Volume Snapshots
* Filesystem-Level Solution:
- Storage Checkpoints
Preparing to Create a Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshot: CLI
Enable FastResync:
vxsnap –g diskgroup [-b] prepare origvol
Allocate the storage using ONE of these methods:
1) Add a mirror to use as a full-sized instant snapshot:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup addmir volume
2) Use an existing ACTIVE plex in the volume
3) Create an empty volume for use as the snapshot volume:
# LEN=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%len volume`
# DCONAME=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%sco_name volume`
# RSZ=`vxprint –g diskgroup –F%regionsz $DCONAME`
# vxassist –g diskgroup make snap-origvol $LEN
# vxsnap –g diskgroup prepare snap-origvol regionsize=$RSZ
Creating and Managing Full-Sized Instant Volume Snapshots: CLI
Create the snapshot volume using ONE of these methods:
1) Break off an existing plex to create the new snapshot
# vxsnap –g diskgroup make source=origvol newvol=snap-origvol plex=name
2) Specify an empty volume to be used as the snapshot:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup source=origvol snapvol=snap-origvol
Update:
# vxsnap –g diskgroup refresh snap-origvol source=origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup reattach snap-origvol source=origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup restore origvol source=snap-origvol
# vxsnap –g diskgroup dis snap-origvol
Remove:
# vxedit –g diskgroup –r rm snapvol
Note: These are a few more items that I have not transcribed. The reason being that they require additional licensing and are useful only in specific setups.
Performance Monitoring
Performance Analysis Process
1) You must understand your application workload and your performance objectives for each application workload
2) You must identify all components of the data transfer model of your storage architecture, that is, the complete I/O path of your data from application to disk
3) For each of the hardware components in your architecture, determine the theoretical performance characteristics of each component
4) Use performance monitoring and workload generation tools to measure performance for each of the components in your configuration.
Tools:
* vxstat
* vxtrace
Note: I was lazy on this one. There is too much system specific info to put in. Besides the VxVM tools, everything else is more system performance related
1) You must understand your application workload and your performance objectives for each application workload
2) You must identify all components of the data transfer model of your storage architecture, that is, the complete I/O path of your data from application to disk
3) For each of the hardware components in your architecture, determine the theoretical performance characteristics of each component
4) Use performance monitoring and workload generation tools to measure performance for each of the components in your configuration.
Tools:
* vxstat
* vxtrace
Note: I was lazy on this one. There is too much system specific info to put in. Besides the VxVM tools, everything else is more system performance related
Volume Maintenance
Topics:
Changing the Volume Layout
Managing Volume Tasks
Analyzing Configurations with Storage Expert
Changing the Volume Layout
Online relayout: Change the colume layout or layout characteristics while the volume is online.
By using online relayout, you can change the layout of an entire volume or a specific plex. Use online relayout to change the column or plex layout to or from:
* Concatenated
* Striped
* RAID-5
* Striped mirrored
* Concatenated mirrored
Online Relayout Notes
* You can reverse online relayout at any time
* Some layout transformations can cause a slight increase or decrease in the volume length due to subdisk alignment policies. If volume length increases during relayout, VxVM resizes the file system using vxresize.
* Relayout does not change log plexes
* You cannot:
- Create a snapshot during relayout
- Change the number of mirrors during relayout
- Perform multiple relayouts at the same time
- Perform relayout on a volume with a sparse plex
Changing the Layout: VEA
Highlight a volume and select Actions -> Change Layout
Changing the Layout: CLI
# vxassist relayout
- Used for nonlayered relayout operations
- Used for changing layout characteristics, such as stripe width and number of columns
# vxassist convert
- Changes nonlayered volumes to layered volumes, and vice versa
Note: vxassist relayout cannot create a nonlayered mirrored volume in a single step. The command always creates a layered mirrored volume even if you specify a nonlayered mirrored layout. Use vxassist convert to convert the resulting layered volume into a nonlayered volume.
vxassist –g diskgroup relayout volume|plex layout=layout ncol=+|- ncol stripeunit=size
To change to a striped layout:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol layout=stripe ncol=2
To add a column to striped volume datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=+1
To remove a column from datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=-1
To change stripe unit size and number of columns:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol stripeunit=32k ncol=5
To change mirrored layouts to RAID-5, specify the plex to be converted (instead of the volume):
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol01-01 layout=raid5 stripeunit=32k ncol=3
To convert the striped mirrored volume datavol to a layered stripe-mirror layout:
# vxassist –g datadg convert datavol layout=stripe-mirror
Managing Volume Tasks: CLI
Use the vxtask command to:
- Display task information
- Pause, continue, and about tasks
- Modify the progress rate of a task
The vxrelayout command can be used to display the status of, reverse, or start a relayout operation:
# vxrelayout –g diskgroup status|reverse|start volume
What is Storage Expert?
Veritas Storage Expert (VxSE) is a CLI utility that provides volume configuration analysis.
Storage Expert:
* Analyzes configurations based on a set of “rules” or VxVM “best practices”
* Produces a report of results in ASCII format
* Provides recommendations, but does not launch any administrative operations
Running Storage Expert Rules
* VxVM and VEA must be installed
* Rules are located in /opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm
* Syntax:
rule_name options info|list|check|run
* In the syntax:
- info
Displays rule description
- list
Displays attributes of rule
- check
Displays default values
- run
Runs the rule
Changing the Volume Layout
Managing Volume Tasks
Analyzing Configurations with Storage Expert
Changing the Volume Layout
Online relayout: Change the colume layout or layout characteristics while the volume is online.
By using online relayout, you can change the layout of an entire volume or a specific plex. Use online relayout to change the column or plex layout to or from:
* Concatenated
* Striped
* RAID-5
* Striped mirrored
* Concatenated mirrored
Online Relayout Notes
* You can reverse online relayout at any time
* Some layout transformations can cause a slight increase or decrease in the volume length due to subdisk alignment policies. If volume length increases during relayout, VxVM resizes the file system using vxresize.
* Relayout does not change log plexes
* You cannot:
- Create a snapshot during relayout
- Change the number of mirrors during relayout
- Perform multiple relayouts at the same time
- Perform relayout on a volume with a sparse plex
Changing the Layout: VEA
Highlight a volume and select Actions -> Change Layout
Changing the Layout: CLI
# vxassist relayout
- Used for nonlayered relayout operations
- Used for changing layout characteristics, such as stripe width and number of columns
# vxassist convert
- Changes nonlayered volumes to layered volumes, and vice versa
Note: vxassist relayout cannot create a nonlayered mirrored volume in a single step. The command always creates a layered mirrored volume even if you specify a nonlayered mirrored layout. Use vxassist convert to convert the resulting layered volume into a nonlayered volume.
vxassist –g diskgroup relayout volume|plex layout=layout ncol=+|- ncol stripeunit=size
To change to a striped layout:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol layout=stripe ncol=2
To add a column to striped volume datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=+1
To remove a column from datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=-1
To change stripe unit size and number of columns:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol stripeunit=32k ncol=5
To change mirrored layouts to RAID-5, specify the plex to be converted (instead of the volume):
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol01-01 layout=raid5 stripeunit=32k ncol=3
To convert the striped mirrored volume datavol to a layered stripe-mirror layout:
# vxassist –g datadg convert datavol layout=stripe-mirror
Managing Volume Tasks: CLI
Use the vxtask command to:
- Display task information
- Pause, continue, and about tasks
- Modify the progress rate of a task
The vxrelayout command can be used to display the status of, reverse, or start a relayout operation:
# vxrelayout –g diskgroup status|reverse|start volume
What is Storage Expert?
Veritas Storage Expert (VxSE) is a CLI utility that provides volume configuration analysis.
Storage Expert:
* Analyzes configurations based on a set of “rules” or VxVM “best practices”
* Produces a report of results in ASCII format
* Provides recommendations, but does not launch any administrative operations
Running Storage Expert Rules
* VxVM and VEA must be installed
* Rules are located in /opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm
* Syntax:
rule_name options info|list|check|run
* In the syntax:
- info
Displays rule description
- list
Displays attributes of rule
- check
Displays default values
- run
Runs the rule
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)