aaron c beals

a while back, my buddy Gordon Bedford sent me a link to a story about Sam Adams sharing hops with smaller brewers in an effort to help them through the 2008 hop shortage.

it’s been about a year now since i brewed a batch of beer, which is just a shame. i wish i could blame it on the hop shortage, but there are many alternative hops available as well as low-hop beers (scotch ale, for example) that can be brewed. sadly, it’s been a matter of priorities. homebrewing got lost in the busyness of working on the house (we renovated the kitchen and family room ourselves), starting a new job and getting two product releases out the door, and following the Celtics epic run to banner #17. Matt and i have been talking about getting back to basics and doing an extract-based brew this fall. more info to come as that plan progresses.

surviving the email onslaught
my inbox is far less crowded (with actionable items, specifically) than it was when i was doing full-time product management, but i still struggle to manage my inbox properly. there have been countless sites dedicated to management techniques (a great example), but i haven’t yet found one that works well for me. perhaps it’s a matter of discipline. i can tell you one thing, though — i don’t miss my blackberry. i thought i did at first, but after a few weeks of sweet freedom, i realized that the value added by constant access to email and the web was far outweighed by the crushing burden of having to deal with constant interruption.

ideally, i’d like to switch to a email management model where i say “i read/answer emails from 9am to 9:30am and 5pm to 6pm daily; if it’s more urgent, call or IM me.”

my favorite new take on email, courtesy of one of my favorite authors: bad correspondence. (thanks to Melissa Leffler for the link)

(k)ubuntu / easy linux for the desktop… finally.
my buddy Brant recently installed kubuntu and has been getting started with it. it’s his first foray into linux and i was psyched to see him take the plunge — with a full install! talking with him about the experience got me thinking about how far linux has come as a desktop OS…

i run kubuntu on my work laptop and it’s been my sole development environment at GHD. with the exception of a few small quirks, i’ve been incredibly happy with it, mainly because it’s allowed me to get my work done without spending hours/days noodling with config. any configuring i do is solely because i want to make my life even easier.

i’ve been using UNIX since 93 and linux since ~95, when i first played around with Slackware. most of my college years were spent running a RedHat server, though i did have a Debian box and even an OpenBSD (not linux, i know) box for a bit. one thing that was common in all these experiences was how much of a struggle linux was with hardware, most notably in a desktop environment. generic, dumbed-down modems, network cards, video cards, and monitors were about the only things that worked flawlessly. have a cutting-edge card? write your own driver (honestly, never my strong point). have a sound card? better get used to the dulcet tones of the pc speaker, because that card’s useless. the time from installation to issue-free daily use was measured in weeks, not hours. linux on a headless server? outstanding. linux on your desktop? too much overhead.

at some point during college, the project known then as Ximian came out, and gave me a ray of hope. the idea was that you’d install programs through Ximian’s graphical installer, and when they needed to be updated, they’d pop up a notification and you could choose whether or not to upgrade/patch/etc… automatically! package management was available through RPM, but this was a whole new level, and definitely went a long way toward lowering the maintenance overhead on a desktop machine.

post-college, i took a break from linux for a while (at least as a desktop OS), until i took the big plunge and installed…er, compiled Gentoo. i thought i missed hacking around and tweaking, Gentoo is the ultimate linux distribution for that. big mistake. the overhead i mentioned above is multiplied when you’re compiling all your own stuff. and i mean EVERYTHING. who cares if software packages run 10% faster when most of your CPU cycles are dedicated to re-compiling? so Gentoo got the boot and i returned to *shudder* Windows.

now i’m running kubuntu, and i haven’t been happier. it detected almost all of the hardware on my Lenovo T61 automatically, and the crowning moment had to be when i booted up for the first time and was greeted with: 1680×1050 resolution, a network connection (wireless!), and sound! the only real challenge was to get my dual-monitors working properly (which required some hacking of xorg.conf). from there, it’s only gotten better — the ubuntu package management (employing Debian’s apt-get) is amazing, thanks to a well-maintained repository and simple management tools.

granted, this is my work machine, so i’m not hooking up my iPod or managing my digital photo collection, but word on the street is that these are easy, too. as a small point of proof, hot-swap device management has definitely improved — plugging in a USB key didn’t require using mount, so that’s a first.

the last big hurdle that kept me Windows-bound was documents — no open source software could interact well with MS Office. sure, there were open-source packages, but when everyone else at work uses Office, you’ve got to play nice. recently, two changes have rendered this obstacle obsolete — the prevalence of web-based documents (Google Docs) and the improvements to OpenOffice. now when i send out or read a document, i’m 99% sure that others are seeing what i am.

overall, i can’t say enough about (k)ubuntu. whether you decide to go the GNOME or KDE route, you’re not going to be disappointed. i think it’s about time to declare linux desktop-ready.

photo management
i’m always looking for good photo management software and methodologies. Picasa is close to what i’m looking for, but has a few key features i’d like to add/change, especially around tagging. also tied into this is how to import, store, and back up photos. a lot of programs do all three (Picasa, for example), but so far, i’ve been doing all 3 manually and just having Picasa watch the directory. am just i being a stubborn DIYer (same reason i drive a stick shift) or is it that the current offerings don’t quite give me what i want (same reason i brew my own beer)?

off-site data backup
for a serious computer nerd, i’m unbelievably bad at backing up my data. i help Laura manage the digital photos for her business, and we have a killer backup strategy there, but i can’t seem to apply that same level of rigor in backing up my own files. i’ve toyed with the idea of using a service like Mozy or Carbonite, which are reasonably priced (~$5/month for unlimited storage), but they don’t allow you to back up network drives, so they’re not really an option. there are other programs (like Jungle Disk) based on Amazon’s S3, but Amazon charges you $0.15/GB/month for storage. if you’re storing more than 35GB of data, S3 loses out to Mozy/Carbonite.

as an alternative form of off-site storage, i could also burn DVD’s (annoying, manual) or set up mirrored hard drives (coming way down in price) and ship them off to a friend or family member’s house. i’m seriously considering this path, though it’s still manual, and doesn’t really work well with incremental backups.

so what do i have to back up, anyhow? there are four main types of information:

1. documents — few GB (if that), high value (cannot replace), steady additions
2. music — many GB, low value (can replace, as I have the original CD’s. if those are destroyed, i can always re-purchase.), batch additions
3. digital photos — many GB, extremely high value (cannot replace), batch additions
4. emails — several GB, high value (cannot replace), steady additions

as you can see, there’s a struggle of requirements — storage size, value of data, and incremental additions differ from information type to information type. generally speaking, i care most about documents and photos; the emails would be nice, but most of my email is in GMail and i use my local disk only as a backup (just POP the mail off).

so in light of the different requirements, perhaps the best strategy is a mixed-mode off-site backup: Mozy Free (2GB free) or JungleDisk for documents and emails (since they’re continually added), do a hard drive swap for music (mainly for convenience since the CDs are a physical backup and can be replaced with insurance money), and use Smugmug for photo storage.

we have had the site up since late June, but with Jim Kim’s announcement, it’s official — GHDonline is here. as usual, there is much more on the horizon — new features, etc — but it’s a big accomplishment to get the site up in time for the IAS conference in Mexico City.

read Jim’s announcement about GHDonline
the GHDonline site

even though the Celtics couldn’t keep Posey, it looks like we were able to hang on to TonyA and House (Money). certainly, i would rather have a single player (Posey) that embodied tight defensive play and clutch outside shooting, but i’m happy to settle for two players that fit those roles (TA and House, respectively).

dang it.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2008/07/posey_to_hornet.html

Posey, we’ll miss you, buddy.

free agents
i’ve read reports from “none of the free agents are coming back” to “they’re all coming back”. i just hope they get Posey. and it seems like he’s their top priority, which is nice. best case = we re-sign Posey and House. next-best = Posey. devastating = lose Posey and House, keep Pollard and Cassell.

draft
i think it was a solid draft, but the character questions on Giddens have me concerned. the C’s are a team built around character. maybe they’re hoping to pull a Pats / Randy Moss and turn a trouble guy around with strong leadership and winning ways. Erden is “Semih”-interesting, but until he proves otherwise, he’s a soft European player. i’m at the point where i have to assume that about every player from that side of the Atlantic. seriously, who can prove me wrong? i was hoping Dirk would be the one, but he turned out to be the poster child. the only truly hard-nosed foreign players in the NBA have come from South America. Bill Walker is the guy that has me most excited, because if healthy, he fits the mold of the player that won the Celtics the championship this year. the knee injury is a concern, though — don’t need another Wally/Raef/etc. i liked this quote from Walker:

“I’m aware of Leon (Powe),” Walker said. “I want to continue what he’s still doing and make Mr. Ainge look really smart.”

side note: the C’s got Walker from the Wizards on draft night in a trade “for cash considerations”. what does that really mean? the Celtics bought a draft pick? i’ve always thought “cash considerations” and “players to be named later” were shady draft terms.

i realize that i haven’t yet posted about the Celtics’ championship run, which is surprising, given how closely i’ve followed the team through the horrible/soul-sucking post-Bird era. questionable drafts (2001), bad trades (to many to count), bad contracts (blount), bad knees (wally, googs, raef)… and yet i always held out hope. as i said to John my brother Matt during the Finals — “i can’t believe i once talked myself into Jiri Welsch. JIRI WELSCH!”

in what can only be described as karma coming full circle, our half-season tickets happened to land us in the Garden on June 17th for Game 6. it was… well, i still haven’t fully recovered from the shock of the win yet, but Laura said it best: “i think this is the happiest day of your life so far, after our wedding day.” and you know what? she was right.

2004 was incredible. so was 2001, the year that kicked off the whole “Title Town” era. however, those of you who know me well know that above all the rest, the Celtics are my team. basketball is my favorite sport to watch, the NBA is my favorite league (sorry, college hoops — my school just wasn’t D1), and the Celtics… well, let’s just say that my first sports memories are from 1986.

i have more thoughts on the team, the season, and some post-season moves, but those will have to wait for another time.

one last note… as i was driving in to work the day after the win, WEEI had Wyc Grousbeck on (possibly my favorite team owner of all time, because he’s a townie and an unabashed Celtics fan). the hosts asked him for his top 3 moments of the season, and he responded (not direct quotes — i’m working from memory):

1. being handed the trophy and stepping up onto the podium (that wasn’t, by the way, really meant to hold a person)

2. unveiling Red’s autograph on the parquet during opening day

3. earlier in the season, seeing his life flash before his eyes as Glen “Big Baby” Davis flew headlong out of bounds and into Wyc’s seats