Posts on Chad's Sandbox

Kidney Cancer

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:15:00 -0500

After coming back from a vacation, I had what I thought was a persistant UTI. Went to the walk-in clinic and was given a prescription for it and was told that if it doesn’t go away to make an appointment with my primary care physician. Low and behold it didn’t…

Vagrant Begone!

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 23:06:00 -0500

It’s been a long time coming but still is a hard transition to be giving up using Vagrant as my go to tool as a sandbox for system design ideas. I’ve got years of familiarity with it and more importantly, the mythos around it’s creation called to me. Here is…

Proxmox VE Server

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 04:43:00 -0500

Using these references for getting Proxmox setup. Then setting up Bitwarden as my first container. Then configuring backups to my NAS. https://www.wundertech.net/how-to-backup-proxmox-to-a-synology-nas/ https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/138090/cant-resize-a-partition-using-resize2fs https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/can-not-backup-lxc-unprivileged.71878/#post-321844

Setting up Let's Encrypt on Unifi

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 04:42:00 -0500

This just caused me to go down a lengthy rabbit hole about how Unify has SSL certs configured on their devices and the interplay they have with their own WiFiMan app. Not the worst tradeoff but it is something to be aware of. https://github.com/kchristensen/udm-le/issues/30 Just spent waaaayyyy too much time…

Creating a Github Hosted Blog

Sat, 11 May 2024 22:07:00 -0500

Currently taking a cybersecurity bootcamp through work as a side hustle. Part of what I’m doing in the class is documenting some things for myself and for others in the cohort that they might want to also do for the inevitable job hunt. Today’s effort is spinning up a professional…

Pi-Hole Happiness

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 17:36:00 -0500

Definitely noticed that internet surfing has improved. I mean I knew it would but not to the degree it has.

Step 2 - Get A Dog

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 06:36:00 -0500

Bit of a non-technical sidestep…. I got a dog named Lafayette. A Great Pyrenees mix to be exact. Jesus, I forgot what its like to own a dog. To be able to talk to the creature and know that it understands nothing of what you are saying and yet if…

Step 1 - Pi Hole

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 12:13:00 -0500

Going to clean up my home setup. First step was to cut down on the crap ads and other stuff when browsing the web. I’ve set one up before so I figured it would be straight forward…. It would be if I didn’t have ATT and their supplied router. It’s…

Actions Not Words

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 07:54:00 -0500

I’m going to start this off with the main point. I love this realization for my mom. In a very real sense of the world it reassures me. I’m too damn old though to not realize that the tone of what I say leaves this too nuainced to properly convey…

WGU

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 02:47:00 -0500

Just now starting looking at the first class I’m taking at WGU. It’s 1:44 AM on Saturday… Why I’m not asleep, I just don’t know. What I do know is that I’m doubting my decision to do this degree. The work will be a slog. Not complex enough to make…

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 10:28:00 -0600

My laptop has started getting flaky. I would be go along using it and then a random crash would occur. Or a reboot would fail. Etc, etc, etc… Confirmed my suspicions by running a memory diagnostic and found that the RAM is failing. $100 or so later and when the…

Apathy Wins

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 19:15:00 -0600

Started trawling through the PPP dataset and decided to focus on Bentonville based loans. That was a mistake. So many businesses that I know thrived during the pandemic or otherwise took advantage of the PPP loan program. Business where the owner has been publicly hateful to minorities. Or dismissive of…

Can't stop the signal, Mal.

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 04:26:00 -0600

I’ve gotten antsy about not doing some sort of large project. A side hustle to either push my understanding or create a new bullet point on my resume. I have plenty of work and other interests but a weak siren’s call keeps rattling around in my brain. So I’ll start…

Disclose The Agent - Write up

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 16:36:00 -0600

Decided to start back up with some basic training after someone mentioned LetsDefend.io. The site impressed me. Here is a writeup on one of their public facing challenges that kind of shows what to expect. Disclose the Agent Premise is that you’ve got a PCAP file and you need to…

Impossible List

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 22:32:00 -0600

Travel Go to Iceland and see the aurora or even the geography depending on the time of year. National Parks are America’s best idea and I want to see them all. Bryce Canyon Zion National Park Hot Springs Yellowstone Everglades Gateway Arch Grand Teton Great Smokey Mountains White Sands Grand…

Repeating Pattern

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 06:14:00 -0600

find . -type f -exec grep -li TXT_STRING {} ; strings /dir/to/executable | grep TXT_STRING lsof -i -P -n … … The number of times that I have to run these same commands. Find the string of text that is in the log file and where did it come from.

Testing out Next.JS

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 05:27:00 -0600

Well actually I’m testing out Publii more than anything.

Big Feelings With Big Songs

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 16:05:00 -0600

I have had to explain why I like musicals on a few occasions. Usually a soft pause happens in a conversation where that is revealed but occasionally a direct question is asked. It is always a weird one because I have to guess what level of info do I reveal.

Derailed

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 15:56:00 -0600

I married a goddamn musician. Ain’t no way to make that shit right. - Ladonna, Treme S1E1 “Do You Know What It Means” There is no way to pussyfoot around this. Last couple years went south for me as it did for many. COVID sure as hell contributed but in…

Comptia Security

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 16:06:00 -0600

Starting the second part of my pivot triangle. Degree, certs, and proof of work. The certs part is going to be some of the roughest parts of the path. College is cheap and success is pretty broadly defined. (Make straight C’s and still have a degree…) For the certs I’ve…

Bellevue

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:19:00 -0600

My employer, Walmart, has started offering a tuition benefit to all employees. It’s mostly geared for associates trying to get their first degree but it is open to everyone. It works out to a dollar a day, they cover all other tuition and books. That was too enticing to pass…

Endobariatric

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 15:52:00 -0500

I’m writing this as I sit in the Endobariatric Hospital in Piedras Negras, Mexico awaiting surgery tomororw. I’m on the cusp of turning 40 and my midlife crisis is yielding a vertical sleeve gastonomy to help me overcome my weight. Harnessing this nervousness led me down the path of putting…

Weight Loss Surgery

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 21:42:00 -0500

I’m a big old boy. No doubting it. Six foot six inches and a weight that fluctuates from 360lbs to 410lbs. I’ll never be a small man but I’m looking at 40 and realizing that I miss out on shit. Airplane travel, riding carnival rides with the kids, swimming with…

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 16:15:00 -0500

That’s Empire, Louisiana and that’s my home town. A small town that is an hour’s drive outside of New Orleans. It’s where I actually grew up but let’s be honest, which are people going to know? Most people’s visual memory of New Orleans in the media probably stems from the…

Miles and Miles of Corn With a Beer Finish

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:43:00 -0600

The route My physical stretch goal this year is to ride my bike across Iowa. I’m stoked to do this after watching all the various recap videos but my biggest fear isn’t the ride itself. It’s the 8,500 strangers and the sleeping outside in a tent. Not gonna lie, those…

Observability Summit

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 21:46:00 -0600

Attended this as a pre-KubeCon 2018 event. My current task at work revolves around the Online Grocery product at Walmart. https://grocery.walmart.com/ It’s a organicly grown product that evolved from previous efforts internally. We’ve got a hodge podge of technologies running a code base that stretches back from years ago. Definitely…

Riding In The Rain

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 07:44:00 -0500

Due to a series of (un)fortunate events this evening I had one of the best nights in a while. One of those nights that recharge you. Powers your spirits enough to lift those around you as well. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying out this whole bike…