The islands draft.

_drafts/plants_as_pets.md

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+title: "Why Everytime I Think About Getting a Pet I get a Plant"
+author: "James Pace"
+date: "2024/02/27"
+---
+
+Every once in a while, particularly during the late winter when the seasonal depression
+really starts to hit, I start really wanting a pet.
+My thought process is fairly repeatable and can be easily summed up here as:
+
+1. I live in a small apartment and I wouldn't feel right trapping a dog
+   or cat in my apartment all day, so I can't get one of those.
+2. Even if I wasn't worried aboutt the size, I'm not at my apartment enough to take
+   care of one during the work week.
+3. Somehow people take care of kids????
+4. Ok, so a big animal won't work, but what about something small, like a fish or
+   something?
+5. I research fish, and realize none of the options are interesting or would work in a
+   small tank.
+6. Start looking at hermit crabs, realize I don't really have a good spot for a 10 gallon
+   tank, and then start looking elesewhere.
+7. Start looking at worms or ants.
+
+Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment and don't have the space to properly take
+care of a cat or dog so I don't buy one.
+

_drafts/rotating_k3s_certs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+title: "Draft"
+author: "James Pace"
+date: "2024/01/01"
+---
+
+Problem: k3s client certs, including the admin cert expire after 1 year.
+
+To see cert:
+```
+cat ~/.kube/config | grep client-certificate-data | cut -f2 -d : | tr -d ' ' | base64 -d | openssl x509 -text -out -
+```
+
+```
+ssh jimmy@192.168.1.103
+sudo systemctl stop k3s
+sudo k3s certificate rotate
+sudo systemctl start k3s
+
+
+```
+
+```
+sudo cp /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml ~/j7s-cluster.yaml
+sudo chown jimmy:jimmy ~/j7s-cluster.yaml
+exit
+
+```
+
+```
+rm  ~/.kube/j7s-cluster.yaml
+scp jimmy@192.168.1.103:~/j7s-cluster.yaml /home/jimmy/.kube/.
+# Use text editor to fix IP in file.
+
+```
+
+```
+export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/j7s-cluster.yaml
+kubectl get nodes
+```
+

_drafts/the-islands-part1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+---
+title: "The Islands: Part 1"
+author: "James Pace"
+date: "2024/10/08"
+---
+
+> "The Islands" is a fictional series that take place in an chain
+> of islands in an alternate universe.
+>
+> I'm writing this as an excuse to improve my writing skills,
+> but I hope you also can derive some joy from it.
+>
+
+The boats constant bobbing up and down in the rough seas made the island up
+ahead appear even more intimidating than it did on a normal day.
+We may have been pulling up to the southern beach of the island, but it was the
+mountain that set on the northern shore that dominated the scene.
+The mountain was grey and almost dreary looking, with asymmetric sections
+that jutted out every such way, almost like little bolts of lightning.
+The southern beach, where we were headed, was gorgeous, with the blue water
+reflecting the image of the palm trees growing out of the pearl white sand.
+
+It was hard to miss the contrast.
+
+"Mahalo!"
+
+I hear a deep friendly voice yell as the boat bounces into the dock.
+A cheery round man waves at us passengers from dock as the captain
+moors the small charter boat.
+
+"Welcome, welcome", the man says at no one in particular.
+
+"Make sure to grab all your belongings and form a line!", he says cheeringly,
+"I'll bring you through customs shortly."
+
+The boat is quickly emptied and we follow the man through a gate towards the custom
+building.
+The man starts chatting with the man at the front of the line and provides some tips
+for the best places to eat on the island.
+The man is extremely cheerful.
+I notice the irony that we're following short Santa Claus through a gate with guards
+holding guns, fingers on the trigger, on each side.
+
+The customs building is built from rock from the mountain and looks like a fortress.
+If it wasn't for the men in the black uniforms holding M16s, you could be forgiven
+for assuming you were in a medieval fortress.
+
+On the left side of the door into the customs office is a sign that reads "Welcome!".
+On the right is a shield for the Second Royal Regiment, which proudly displays the motto
+"As the moutain protects the north we protect the south." under a drawing of a body crushed
+under a boulder, only the legs sticking out.
+
+I found my self mulling on the contrast of a "Welcome" sign next to a sign showing death,
+when out guide smiled at me and said "Your next!" while pointing towards a desk where a
+custom's agent stood.
+
+I borught my brain back into reality a smiled at the guide before walking towards the agent.
+I already had all the paperwork I needed in hand.
+
+The customs agent looked through all my paperwork and then looked again, before looking at me
+in the eye and completely dead pan saying "You may proceed through the double doors.
+Enjoy your stay."
+
+I walked through the heavy wood doors, and was immediately attacked by the light.
+I took a deep breath in and then repacked my documents.
+
+It was time to make it to my next destination on the island.

index.qmd

@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ listing:
 
 Welcome to my blog, dedicated to things I've learned and am currently learning.
 
-A lot of the intital content has come from things I'm working on for my for-fun
-projects, and are thus are related to programming and Open Source software.
-Over time, I hope to chronicle different types of content as my interests
-change.
+I'm currently writing a series of fiction called "The Islands" as an excuse to
+draw.
+
+
 
 
 ## Latest Posts

posts/right-side-of-brain.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+---
+title: "\"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain\" Review"
+author: "James Pace"
+date: "2024/05/15"
+---
+
+A few weeks ago I visited the National Portrait Museum during a business trip to
+DC and was inspired by the paintings at the museum.
+While I've historically not been a huge fan of art museums, looking at the
+portraits and reading about the individuals in the portraits and what they
+accomplished or went through in life was inspiring, and after coming back
+home, I felt inspired to learn to make portraits myself.
+Particularly, I was interested in drawing with a pencil.
+The minimal amount of equipment required to generate something cool
+compared to other art forms interested me.
+
+I've never been an artist and wouldn't consider myself a good drawer
+even when I was a little kid, so learning to draw was going to be a tall
+order.
+I did some research online on good books on drawing, and decided to pick up
+two to get started.
+The first one of those two that I read was "Drawing on the Right Side of the
+Brain" by Betty Edwards.
+
+The book's main thesis is that most thinking in modern life is dominated
+by the left side of the brain, while good drawing is dominated by the right
+side.
+Thus, to become good at drawing, we need to learn to silence the left side
+of our brains and let the right side take over.
+Good drawing can further be split between five basic skills:
+
+1. the perception of edges,
+2. the perception of spaces,
+3. the perception of relationships,
+4. the perception of lights and shadows, and
+5. the perception fo the "gestalt"
+
+which, again, are all done best by the right side of the brain.
+The book contains a number of exercises all aimed at exercising that
+side and each aimed at improving one of the five basic skills.
+
+I found the book did a good job of teaching the first three skills.
+After the book, which I finished in approximately a week, I was much
+better and more comfortable at generating contour drawings than I was
+at the beginning.
+For example, the weekend I finished the book, I drew the outline of an
+empty Starbucks cup while sitting at Starbucks and generated something
+that looked good, in my opinion, which I would not have been able to
+do before I read the book.
+I was also able to look at and the copy a cartoon of Snoopy into my sketchbook,
+which would have been a struggle for me before I started the book.
+(I said I was bad at drawing.)
+The focus on "drawing what you see" I think is good, and something that I can
+imagine I will keep using and having to remind myself to practice long term.
+
+I don't believe the book did a good job teaching the perception of lights and
+shadows.
+After I read the book, I had no confidence in my ability to shade a drawing.
+The book's focus is also very heavy on drawing what you see, and did nothing
+to teach drawing from your imagination.
+While I can't say my skills got worse, I'm not sure how to apply most
+of the tools from the book when drawing from my imagination.
+
+I found the book occassionally got a little too pseudo-scientific for my liking.
+Particularly, there was a number of pages explaining how every kid goes through some
+set of drawing growth, which didn't match my experience as a kid that really never drew
+at all.
+Further, the book spends a lot of time talking about brain sideness and going into
+the "science" of brain sideness, while proof is building up that the reality of
+how the brain works is not nearly that simple.
+With that being said, the examples provided by the book were still seemingly beneficial.
+
+In conclusion, I think the book was a good purchase, both worth the time I put into it
+and the money I spent on it.
+While not perfect nor the end all be all, I do think this book is an excellent starting
+point in learning how to draw, and would recommend any one else starting down that
+journey to check the book out.