Reached 100, now towards 200

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve managed to maintain a weight below 100 kg – the first big milestone

Next milestone is a weight below 200 lbs., after which I will probably reward myself with a new game

So far, a low carb, high fat diet (LCHF, Keto) has been very good to me, and my GP is quite happy with my blood stats. I also almost by accident slipped into 16:8 interval fasting, simply because I wasn’t hungry and never was a big breakfast eater anyway

My long term goal for the next two years is to reach a normal BMI value

IMG_20190903_190221_edited

(Scale)

Segway done right

This weekend I had the great opportunity to test-drive a prototype of a new scooter, the Steereon; I’ve been watching it closely ever since I saw the first prototype during a startup event at Stadtgarten a year ago.

The Steereon will come in two versions (for regulatory reasons) and sports a unique, all-wheel steering which makes driving an enormous amount of fun; the founders call it “Carving on the Street” and that’s pretty much exactly how it feels.

As a modern device for urban mobility on the last mile it’s basically what the Segway should have been – light weight, fun and extremely agile.

The scooter will become available during early 2020 (planned) – I can highly recommend it and plan to pre-order one

IMG_20190824_140331_edited

(Test-drive in Cologne, e-Scooter configuration)

High School Exchange Year

Today our youngest son left with EF for a high school exchange year in Ireland.

It’s pretty difficult to let your kids go, but I am totally happy and excited for him, for the experiences he will make, the friendships he’ll forge, the adventures that await him and the difficulties he’ll have to learn to master himself.

And I’m insanely proud of him!

DSC_1873_edited

(EI 0693, DUS-DUB)

Freelance Rancher

After a brief stint at a small consultancy in Cologne I decided to go back to working as a freelance IT architect and consultant, with my favorite open source cloud projects, Rancher and Kubernetes, and everything else cloud native. I have also submitted a couple of papers to regional conferences.

From August onwards I’ll then have two more years at University, and during that time I’ll need to figure out whether I should be starting my own business, continue going solo, or try to find full-time employment again. Main goal: Get my kids through college. And enjoy my work.

On that note: I’ve passed all exams so far and am happy with the results!

FaceApp_1564245854044

Android Pie Backup Now grayed out

This week I migrated my phone from a Nokia 8 to a Nokia 9 PureView, for the impressive built-in camera.

After completing the migration I found that I was unable to perform a backup – the Backup Now button was grayed out and all items were in “Waiting to backup” (except for Contacts and Photos, which operate independently).  Google to the rescue!

I found many good posts, some recommending to temporarily disable Screen Lock. That worked – I then had a valid backup in Google Drive.

After I re-enabled the screen lock, though, the button became grayed out again – back to Google.

Several people recommended setting up Smart Lock, so that the phone unlocks itself, for example when you’re at home.

Enabled Smart Lock, no change, button still grayed out. Bummer.

This time though I decided to give it a couple of days – a good idea, since there seems to be a timer involved, too.

Issue is now solved, the phone performs automatic backups, if

  • it’s at home and automatically unlocked, and
  • the last backup is more than a day old

Good enough for me. But I will regularly check in Drive from now on …

Screenshot_20190719-202754_edited

Server housekeeping

From time to time it does make sense to clean your computer systems, literally speaking.

Especially if you run them in a domestic or office setting, any system with a fan will collect dust. A lot of dust.

Nothing a can of pressurized air, a hoover and a set of baby wipes can’t fix though .

Did anyone say weekend?

IMG_20190713_144044

Spiderman: Far From Home

What a ride – first, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, probably the best animated movie this year with a lot of fresh ideas, then, Avengers: Endgame where Peter took the mantle from Tony Stark. And now, Spiderman: Far from Home

Far from Home is a great reboot of the Spiderman universe, portraying a cool super hero fit for the 21st century; at the same time it also showed a lot of continuity and references to past Marvel movies for fans, old and new alike

Highly recommended – go watch it, but stay until after the credits!

IMG_20190706_205024-EFFECTS

(Movie poster outside of Metropolis)

Paintball

There’s always a first time for things – for us it was the first time for playing paintball this Friday.

We went to Paintball Revolution in Ennepetal, as they offer markers for 14- to 18-year-olds.

The staff on site was great, plenty of playing fields and game ideas, we played for hours – highly recommended!

IMG_20190706_111145_887

(Paintball Revolution)

Red Hood Fan Series

Until recently I did not know that there were such things as fan series – boy, did I miss out!

I would like to highlight one in particular, the Red Hood Fan Series which is set in DC’s Batman Universe, following the adventures of the three Robins – Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne – in their quest to take back Gotham from the Court of Owls

With professional camera, high quality editing and great actors such as Cameron Judd (as Damian Wayne), Ian Lang (as Jason Todd),  Nadav Jackson (as Colin Todd), and Madden Zook (as 7B05), the series is a must to watch

Season 2 was financed by a Kickstarter, which I missed, but I’ll definitely be in for season 3!

 Screenshot_20190605-080720_edited

(Instagram @redhoodfanseries)