Danny's Blog

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  • The Soaper

    It’s an unusual hobby.

    A friend

    An early Homo sapien lounges by a campfire satisfied after devouring the boar that he and his tribe successfully hunted that day. They’ve done well recently, so there wasn’t a need to devour every bit of the animal. Excess pieces of fat lie near the fire, where the heat causes it liquefy. A younger tribe member reports fresh fruit nearby, so they douse the fire and set out. Water from the doused fire soaks the wood ash and seeps into the animal fat. Days later, the tribe returns to find a bubbly, slippery substance where the fat used to be. A bold tribe member rubs his hands in the substance. The sensation is new and somewhat alarming, so he rushes to the nearby river to wash it off. Amazingly, the water combined with the unknown substance causes the grime previously caked on his hands to wash off easily!

    And so humanity discovered soap. Or at least that’s how I imagine it. However it happened, I find the history of soap fascinating.

    Today, anyone can make homemade soap with ingredients obtained at grocery and hardware stores. I find this just as fascinating as the history of soap. All you need is lye, which early humans likely obtained by mixing water with wood ash, and some kind of fat.

    While animal fat like lard or tallow is still used, the holy trinity of modern soap-making oils are olive oil (for soothing), coconut oil (for cleansing), and palm oil (for body).

    Alongside this trinity are a plethora of other fats, oils, and additives. Milk, particularly goat’s milk, is quite common. Personally, I fully replace water with frozen goat’s milk in my process to make a 100% olive oil soap.

    It is tedious and time-consuming to create the lye mixture, especially operating at a steep water/milk discount. But I find the eventual product to be worth it!

    Hand blenders are another modern luxury that would have blown the minds of early humans. 100% olive oil soap is notoriously hard to bring to a trace manually, but the blender can do it in minutes.

    Similar to my other somewhat feminine hobby (plants), soaping requires patience. Even with a 40% lye concentration (this is high), cold-process 100% olive oil soaps needs months to cure.

    Given the effort, I’m loathe to bestow these bars as gifts. But if I’m feeling generous…

  • The OG Shih Mustang

    And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.
    History became legend. Legend became myth.

    LOTR movies

    For years, this is how I felt about my father’s first car. It was an entertaining story that had been told and retold so many times that it became legend. It was sure to come up at every family gathering, because everyone finds it hilarious that he never felt the need to mention it until after I bought my own mustang some 50 years later. Like father, like son. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that my dad had no photos of car, courtesy of hurricane Katrina.

    Here’s the way my dad tells it. He purchased a 1967 mustang with the entirety of his earnings, all of $3000, one summer back in the 60s. A car purchase was prioritized, because relatives back in Taiwan said the Shih family “will have made it” once one of them owned a car. Fresh off obtaining his PhD in chemistry, he worked that summer for a pharmaceutical company, where his sole job was to rubber stamp batches of chemicals. The blue collar workers at the factory didn’t trust him to actually do any work – “rightfully so, since they knew everything, and I knew nothing. I was only good for my degree.” By the time he was regaling us for the first time in ~2019 after first seeing my mustang, he couldn’t remember the color or anything else about the configuration of the car. So historical accuracy is in question, but he tells the story well.

    Fast forward to 2023. My Uncle Richard and Aunt Joanna, whom I hadn’t seen in about a decade, were visiting us in Washington. Like clockwork, the story of the OG Shih Mustang comes up over dinner, and Richard says: “I have photos of it.” Mind. Blown.

    Even with the pics, it’s hard to tell the color. Black? Dark green? Whether it was a 1967 is also in question, but the engine was most likely the 170 straight six since my dad is sure he could barely afford the cheapest model.

    According to Richard whose memory is still sharp as anything, these photos were taken in 1970 in Wichita, Kansas. Richard, the youngest brother, had just arrived in America, and he was staying with Philip, the middle brother, who was working as a librarian in Wichita. My father Fred, the oldest, was teaching at a women’s college in St. Louis and came to visit. Coincidentally, Philip had also just managed to acquire a car, and the brothers had a good laugh imagining the reaction of the folks at home when the saw a photo with two cars. Fred took Richard along back to St. Louis for a visit, and then dropped him back in Wichita. They rode the mustang the entire way.

    Immortalized on the wall of fame

  • A Modest Homelab

    I’ve been an avid computer builder since my college days, and that transitioned naturally into homelabbing and self-hosting. Like any self-respecting homelabber, my setup has undergone countless iterations, and it will never be finished. But I’m pretty happy with my most recent work.

    The whole homelab fits on one shelf:

    Fractal Node 804

    The heart is a machine that serves as a KVM virtualization host and ZFS storage server. Using virtualization and containerization (Docker), it also functions as a router/firewall (pfSense), cloud storage (Nextcloud), password manager (Bitwarden), media server (Jellyfin), blog (WordPress), logs/metrics/alerting system (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), workstation (Windows), and more!

    AsRock Rack ROMED4ID-2, AMD EPYC 7302P 16-core

    The massive CPU comes with gobs of ECC RAM, I/O for days, and a pair of 10GbE NICs. The result is pretty overkill, but I didn’t let that stop me.

    VM storage is a mirror of enterprise-grade SSDs. By the way, after years of scrapped fingers and hands from working on SFF builds, I have decided to always over-provision space – just look at how roomy this case is!

    General data storage is a RAID 10 of spinners. Tons of room to expand. As an aside, I went all in on ZFS with this round of upgrades after over a decade of using MD raid, and I couldn’t be happier. Volume and snapshot management is a dream, and raw encrypted send is really cool!

    Rounding out things hardware-wise are a managed switch, a UPS, and a pair of UniFi WiFi access points. That’s it. There’s not even a physical router device!

    This last change was particularly fascinating to me. Virtualizing and containerizing apps to avoid maintaining extra hardware is a no-brainer these days, but virtualizing even the router/firewall is rare even in a homelab. It was a move I went back and forth on quite a bit, since any work on the monolith machine means my Internet is down. But the advantage of deprecating yet another piece of equipment and running on much nicer hardware (10GbE NICs, redundant disks, ECC RAM, overpowered CPU) than a typical router was too tempting.

    Router on a stick

    I had been running a router on a stick, aka one-armed router, using a NUC mini-PC and managed switch for years. In this setup, there’s only one physical NIC, so everything has to be a VLAN including the WAN/Internet. This made the move to full-on virtualization easy, since I already had pfSense configured to share NICs with everything else in the monolith machine. It works great, but we’ll see if I stick with it.

    With my homelab, I’m typically satisfied if I can make 5 years without major maintenance or upgrades. Fingers crossed!

  • Tears of the Kingdom

    In the wake of breaking my shoulder from skiing, I have been doing quite a lot of one thing that doesn’t require moving my arm at all: console gaming. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a godsend for releasing the very same week as my injury.

    I have a history with Zelda. It ranks up there with Final Fantasy, Tales, and Chrono as one of my most personally beloved gaming franchises. As a grade schooler, Link to the Past was hands down my favorite game. As a middle and high schooler: Ocarina of Time.

    After those two legends, I dabbled in Zelda here and there, but never really got hooked again. Until…

    Breath of the Wild needs no introduction, but interestingly, I didn’t take to it immediately. It was just too open, and it took me a few attempts to be ready for it. I did come around though and now have easily 150 hours in the game.

    Can Tears of the Kingdom be better?

    My 200+ hours in ToTK says “yes or at least equal”. It has everything that was great about BoTW:

    1. Just gorgeous – how does a Switch game make PC/PS5/Xbox games look bad?
    2. So memable – it’s just hilarious what people get up to
    3. Very replayable – it’s very satisfying to play through once you know all the tricks for how to efficiently explore and power up

    Add a crafting system, and you have a game that feels very different. It takes over the game, and that’s either a good or bad thing depending on your preference. Myself, I haven’t decided whether I prefer the purity of BoTW or the limitless potential of crafting in ToTK.

    The Sandbox

    ToTK is a sandbox game with a remarkably well thought out crafting system. Proof of this is r/HyruleEngineering, a subreddit of equal parts laughs and wonder. I quickly learned to adopt a craft-first mentality for both exploration and fighting in this game.

    An efficient flying machine

    Who needs a horse when you can just fly? Credit to several folks on r/HyruleEngineering for inventing this minimalist thing of beauty. I certainly was unable to come up with anything nearly as simple and elegant.

    An extravagant machine for battle

    Link fighting without a sword, shield, and bow is weird, almost un-Zelda-like. But it’s undeniably crazy fun fighting with crafted devices. Introducing The Battle Buggy!!!

    A practical battle drone

    While the Battle Buggy is entertaining, it is insanely expensive and is therefore best suited for critical moments (the Demon King’s Army) and memes.

    I eventually found the value in engineering a far more practical device, one that could be summoned at will for run-of-the-mill enemy encampments. This drone only costs 9 Zonaite and rocks a 100+ damage weapon, leveraging the fact that auto-built weapons retain their damage and durability!

    An aerial attacker

    For clearing enemy camps in The Depths to mine zonaite, the previous contraptions have some downsides. The Battle Buggy will be defeated by tough terrain, which is common in The Depths. The cheaper battle drone is workable, but the cost of summoning it for each camp eats into profits. I find that once I have a fair bit of battery, it’s time to take to the air!

    My house

    Last but not least, you can build your own house in this game using the same crafting ability!

    The Master Sword

    To conclude a long, rambling, geeky post, I’ll leave you with a side-by-side of obtaining the Master Sword for BoTW and ToTK. One thing I don’t hear discussed enough is how good the piano work is in the music for both games

  • A broken shoulder

    At the conclusion of my second season (first full season) of skiing, I executed a magnificent yard sale on Hugh’s Heaven at Blackcomb mountain. I tumbled over my skis, falling down the slope onto my right shoulder and head. The hit to the head dazed me (get a MIPS helmet folks!), and I knew something was wrong with my shoulder as I gathered myself.

    I don’t know what happened, but there’s a theory that it had something to do with my hard-charging style…

    I have my doubts about the accuracy of GPS-based speed in these apps. But I am known to go pretty fast, especially when a cloudy day opens up on a nice smooth groomer. It may also not help that I recently switched to long-for-my-height (173 cm) carver skis that grip pretty hard.

    The damage report from the MRI:

    1. Redemonstrated fracture involving the anterior greater tuberosity.
    2. Low-grade interstitial tear of the distal supraspinatus tendon at the foot plate insertion.
    3. Mild subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis.
    4. Edema within the axillary recess with indistinctness of the joint capsule which is nonspecific and may reflect a capsular tear in the setting of recent trauma versus sequelae of adhesive capsulitis.

    Well, you broke your shoulder but in the best way possible.

    Orthopedics surgeon

    Further instructions from orthopedics:

    1. Lift nothing heavier than a coffee mug for 6 weeks
    2. We need to watch it week by week to see if it displaces. It should not, but if it does, we’ll need to operate to align it.
    3. If it’s good after 4 weeks, can begin physical therapy.
    4. No contact sports or skiing for 6 months
    5. Probably will not feel fully healed until 1 year

    Alas! There’s no question the injury has been impactful. As of writing this post, it’s three weeks after the fall. I can’t even dream of playing the violin and have missed two concerts. I have trouble with daily tasks like eating, driving, using a computer, showering, etc. And I still do not know if I’ll need surgery, since the bone did displace by 3 mm as of the last appointment.

    What lifts my spirit though is knowing I wouldn’t change anything. Skiing has been such a joy in my life, and I look forward to hitting the slopes right at the 6 month mark in November!

  • Skiing

    Blackcomb April 2022

    I got into skiing late in the 2021-22 season at the age of 36. It’s become an obsession actually, and I never saw it coming. In February 2022, I would have said that tropical people like myself don’t belong on snowy mountains. We’d just get cold.

    It started with a 4-day weekend trip to Whistler, Canada. My close friends, Roy, Vishal and Pooja, were set on going. Vishal and Pooja got into skiing last season. They struggled with it, but it became their primary winter pastime. Roy skied ages ago but hadn’t gone recently. All wanted to take a 3-day lesson, so I figured it was an excellent chance to dip my toes into it.

    I picked it up quickly thanks to the excellent instruction and bunny hill at Whistler along with a healthy dose of aptitude. By the third day, I was skiing with my friends at around the same level.

    Another trip a few weeks later to Mount Baker solidified my love for the sport. It’s breathtakingly beautiful up high on these mountains, the daredevil in me loves to YOLO down at high speeds, it’s a rewarding feeling to carve a perfect parallel turn, and one always goes down the mountain – never up!

    Blizzard Black Pearl 88 165cm

    Before I knew it I had all the gear: skis, boots (heat molded), poles, jacket, pants, goggles, helmet, layers. And all with end-of-season sales to boot!

    Thanks to a La Nina year, the PNW stayed cold and got lots of snow late into spring. Thanks to that, we even got to ski at Mission Ridge near Cheryl and Won’s place!

    I don’t see myself or the squad slowing down next season. And I couldn’t be more thrilled!

  • Plants

    My mother loves plants. She’s famous for routinely harvesting a record crop of string beans, squash, etc. She also loves indoor plants, accumulating decades of knowledge.

    My sister followed suit recently. She takes a distinctly-Cheryl approach to gardening – spend $$$$$$$ and hope for the best 😉

    And here I am. Cheryl gave me a donkey’s tail. I spent my next “dev wellbeing day” at a nursery. And now here I stand. I can’t stop staring, researching, and generally obsessing over my new plant babies.

  • Water – from chronically dehydrated to hydration fiend

    As a kid, I hated drinking water. I loved soft drinks – the sweeter the better! And I could do with a hot tea or coffee at times. But I would only drink water if I was absolutely parched.

    Unbeknownst to me, I suffered many ailments due to this chronic dehydration. Horrible skin – aggravated eczema. Lack of energy. Alcohol really killed me. Probably organ damage that I’ll pay for at some point.

    When I reached my mid-twenties, I finally started listening to my doctors and my mother. I made quite a few lifestyle changes:
    – eat more vegetables
    – eat whole grains
    – exercise regularly

    None of these resulted in a noticeable change in my health. Until…

    My sister, thank the gods for her inspiration, bought me a $50 BKR bottle for my birthday.

    That’s mine, the 1L baby blue bottle in the middle there. For whatever reason, I fell in love with this bottle. And I instantly started drinking at least two of these (2 liters = 64 oz) a day. I brought it everywhere to avoid using plastic bottles. And I upgraded my Brita/Pur filtration systems to Berkey. All in the name of sustainability.

    The effect on my health was equally instantaneous. My skin was healthier. I started sleeping better. Alcohol didn’t nearly affect me as much. It was amazing.

    It’s actually amazing me to how much being a hydration fiend has changed my life. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gains are compound too. Seeing as I was lucky enough to begin this habit while I’m still young, I bet it will pay dividends for decades in the future.

    Alas, BKR bottles are glamour bottles. They’re meant to be used in offices and at home, where their beauty may be admired. I took mine everywhere – on road trips, to the gym, on bar hops. Eventually it developed a horrible mold/mildew under the silicon sleeve that could not be washed out. At this point, I decided it was time to switch to a more practical bottle.

    I’m convinced stainless steel is the way to go. Klean Kanteen makes an excellent 27 oz bottle that is made of only three materials: stainless steel, bamboo (for the cap), and silicon for the seal. As a bonus, I even mainly use their mirror-polished stainless steel which is extra resilient against rust and dirt build-up.

    Only wish I made this change earlier.

  • My first computer build

    Not much remains of the machine that launched my illustrious computer building career. I only kept the processors and one case fan when I scrapped the rest circa 2014. Having no income at the time, the thing was achieved on my parents’ dime, justified with “for educational purposes.”

    There were two remarkable things about this computer. The first was that it was multi-processor. Yes, two single-core processors not multi-core. In 2006 this was quite something, as even consumer-grade dual-core processors were still a year or two away. And in 2021, it is unusual indeed to find a consumer machine with more than one CPU socket, since processors today have a gazillion cores. But I’ve always been fascinated by parallel computing, so I chose this area to splurge.

    Financially, it was a bit unfortunate. Dual-socket meant server-grade processors (AMD Opteron), which meant special motherboard, which meant special RAM (ECC, registered). But it was worth it just for the stories.

    The second thing was the fan. THE FAN. I chose the loudest, most obnoxious fan you can imagine. I have no reason for it, except that maybe it was a precursor to my “no replacement for displacement” mantra that I apply to cars today.

    This thing was crazy, as any of my then housemates could attest.

  • Brompton

    As a rule, I hate exercise. But I’ve been known to motivate myself towards fitness given the right incentive. Here’s one: the amazing, beautiful piece of engineering and art that is the Brompton folding bicycle!

    I’ve never owned a real bike by Seattle standards. As a kid, I learned to ride on a cheapo Walmart bike that didn’t even have gears. When I interned at Microsoft, I used an incentive to buy a $500 mountain bike that had a few gears. But it wasn’t nearly what a $2k road bike should feel like.

    I own a Mustang, not a vehicle on which to put a bike rack. And I didn’t want the hassle of disassembling a real bike. But, I have many family and friends that love riding, and I’d like to join them from time to time…

    With some encouragement from Cheryl and Won, I made the plunge. Beautiful baby blue M6L. Upgraded brown Brooke’s B17 brown leather saddle, Ergon GP-1 BioKork handles, and a dorky Ortlieb Mini-O front saddle bag.

    Well, I love the damn thing, so that’s that.