scott

Is This Really An Empty Train or Another Universe?

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This morning I headed off to the office. The central line has had its fair share of issues for over a year – late, slow, and packed trains are the norm, even on weekends. So, when I arrived at the platform and a train with virtually empty cars pulled up, I hesitated. I couldn’t help but wonder which universe I had stumbled into. I know it’s not the best universe, given that the train was still dirty, but I managed to easily get a seat.

As a side note, I should disclose that there were about three people in the car I boarded, but I used Apple’s photo magic to remove them from the picture, so I’m not posting random strangers’ photos.

WiFi on a Washer And Dryer, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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When we did some work on the house, we bought new appliances, including a washing machine and dryer. I was surprised to find that both came with Wi-Fi. I mentioned this to one of the workers who was building the closet to house them, and he asked, “Why does it matter?” He didn’t see a problem—after all, who cares if someone knows you’re running the washing machine?

I told him that wasn’t the risk. Without diving too deep into a formal risk analysis, I rattled off a couple of scenarios to make my point. For example, someone could send remote commands to flood the house. Or, they could overspin the washer or dryer, potentially causing a fire. Those were just two risks that came to mind on the spot. I don’t think I convinced him, but I ended the conversation with, “We won’t be using that.”

And that’s the issue—most people don’t understand the risks that come with having Wi-Fi in home appliances. What’s worse, manufacturers aren’t taking security seriously. Just look at the headlines, and it’s clear: many of these systems are either not updatable or don’t get updates because it’s too costly for the manufacturer to maintain them. Combine that with in my opinion the lack of any real benefit to Wi-Fi in appliances, and the risks far outweigh the rewards.

I’ll admit, I set up the Wi-Fi on the washer and dryer for about two weeks just to see what it could do. The plan was always to disconnect it afterward, but I was curious. During that time, all I got were notifications when a wash or dry cycle finished. I could also view the settings on my phone, but I never actually used that feature. The notifications weren’t even helpful—the machines already make a loud, distinctive tone I can hear from anywhere in the house. Maybe if you live in a giant house, the notifications might be useful, but for us, they were unnecessary.

After my little experiment, I disabled the Wi-Fi and haven’t used it since.

When we were shopping for appliances, the salesperson tried to sell us a fancy Samsung refrigerator with a touchscreen and Wi-Fi. M and I both immediately said, “No. Just no.” I’d read somewhere that they want these “smart” refrigerators to get to a point where they can read RFID tags in food items and automatically reorder anything you’re low on. The younger version of me would’ve thought that was the coolest thing ever. Present-day me, though, thinks about all the privacy violations that would come with companies knowing everything about your eating habits. Plus, it reminds me of that scene with the “smart” fridge on Silicon Valley. I’m just glad M doesn’t like stuff like that either.

Backup Network Version Number I Forget

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I’ve been writing a lot about my tech setup lately because I’ve done quite a bit of work on it. I’ve been meaning to share my current private cloud backup setup for a while now.

The backbone of my private cloud network is still Resilio Sync. While I rely on it a bit less these days, it remains a core part of my strategy.

Right now, I’m using Resilio to replicate a full set of data from my Synology DiskStation to a Raspberry Pi 4. I also replicate a subset of this data—everything except the media center—to an SSD on my laptop. Soon, I plan to set up another Pi 4 as a backup for the same subset of data I have on my laptop.

At this point, I no longer keep any replica data at friends’ houses. I probably should, but when my last setup failed, my friend had to bring the device back to me when he visited from the States. Ultimately, it wasn’t worth buying new gear just to ship it back to him. Instead, I signed up for Amazon Glacier Deep Archive (or whatever they’re calling it now). It’s a cheap, long-term storage option where data is locked in for six months without modification or deletion options. My Synology DiskStation has a built-in client that made it easy to set up a backup of my personal data to Glacier. I still need to test a restore, but for now, I see Glacier as my remote storage solution. At about $1 per terabyte per month, nothing else comes close to that price. Setting up another Pi with a friend would cost around $150–$200, which makes Glacier far more cost-effective over a three-year period.

Because I’m still a bit unsure about restoring from Glacier, I’ve also started using Proton Drive for critical data, including my entire family photo and video library. Once I’ve uploaded the photos, that dataset stays pretty static, so Proton Drive makes sense. With our 3TB plan, I can gradually copy large, mostly unchanging files that I want securely backed up. Since there’s no automated way to sync this, it’s not my primary backup, but it adds another layer of protection.

Recently, with T in high school (or middle school if we were in the States), she’s been using the computer more often. It made sense to subscribe to the family plan of Office 365, which gives each of us 1TB of storage on OneDrive. I’m experimenting with Cryptomator encryption to securely store a subset of our backups on OneDrive. I still need to fully implement this, but it’s something I plan to sort out soon.

In addition to these replica copies, I take monthly RSYNC snapshots to a separate directory on my DiskStation. I have two scripts—one for odd months and one for even months—so I always have two recent copies. I also keep an annual copy of everything. It’s a bit less automated, but it works.

I’m also considering setting up another Pi as a remote Resilio node. Another option is to get a storage VPS again. The previous deal I had expired, so I canceled it last year. That’s partly why I’ve been relying less on remote Resilio replicas. When I got rid of my last remote Pi, I switched to a VPS running Resilio. Now, I’m debating whether it’s worth setting up another VPS instead of piecing together backups the way I have been. At around $80 per year for 2TB, it’s an option I’m keeping open.

Overall, the system works. When I had a catastrophic failure on my DiskStation before upgrading to my current one, I was able to verify that all my data was backed up somewhere. In the end, I didn’t need to restore because I managed to salvage the array on the DiskStation, but it was a valuable exercise to go through.

UPDATE: I wrote this before Christmas. Since then I have built a new Pi with a 2TB SSD and need to deploy it somewhere other than our house as a backup. I have also found a new cheap(ish) VPS storage provider. I have a 2TB VPS in Germany were I am now replicating my main Reslio shares to. I have stopped using Glacial since i haven’t been able to properly test it.  It is still by far the cheapest backup option out there however without being able to verify it works to easily fully recover i was a bit concerned.  The new VPS i have is a few pounds more per month but not outrageously expensive.

A North London Derby

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Yesterday the girls and I headed back to the Eremites Stadium to watch Arsenal Women’s take on Tottenham in our first Derby. I never have been to a Subway series in New York so i can only imagine this is the similar vibe.

The stadium was packed with over 55,000 people. It was an exciting first half even if it was cold. The 2nd half was less interesting since Arsenal was already well ahead and it didn’t look like Tottenham was going to be a challenge.

It was a fun day out with the ladies.

Bye Bye Facebook Sort of

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Hi there, Facebook friends! I hope you’re all doing well. At the beginning of this year, I stopped posting to my “wall” (or whatever they’re calling it these days). But I’m still blogging—I have been for almost 22 years, and I don’t plan on stopping. All new blog entries will go to my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/scott.weinstein.me/

Why, you ask? Well, Facebook and I (and all social media, for that matter) have a complex relationship. I only post on Facebook so family and friends who care to know what’s going on can see my blog updates. Otherwise, I’ve found social media to be far less enjoyable than I once thought it could be. Plus, Facebook prevents automatic posting of external links to personal accounts. That’s why, years ago, I set up my Personal Page.

If you’re already following my page, thanks! If not—and if you still want to keep up with what’s going on with me and the fam or you moderately enjoy my writing—you should follow the page.

I won’t be posting here anymore, with the exception of occasional reminders over the next few months to follow the page.

Earl Grey Hot

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I started drinking tea on and off for the past 11 years. I wrote about previously how we went to fancy tea for the first time on my birthday a decade ago when we were in NY. It was a fun experience that we have since done many times both in NY and now that we live in England. We also will do our own tea at home. M does a fantastic tea with homemade scones and everything. More recently we will simply just have tea and biscuits or a sweet with the kids or when people come over. I’ve also done tea and a biscuit at while at the office or even just at a break from work at home.

When we first went for tea I had the inevitable question to answer, what tea do I want. Being someone that barely was drinking coffee for a few years at the time, I had no idea what tea I wanted. That first time 11 years ago I simply went with what I knew. I knew that Captain Picard drank and asked for Earl Grey. I figured if it was good enough for Captain Picard I might as well try it. Funny enough I rather enjoyed it. Since then it’s pretty much the only tea I drink.

Since drinking it more regularly I have researched more about the history of Earl Grey. I did not know at the time I started drinking it, it’s not an everyday tea for most people. We have the Yorkshire Gold in the house that is more of the “regular” tea many drink if there is such a thing.  I just do not drink it. I’m perfectly happy with Picards choice.

So yes Early Grey Tea is yet another reason why Picard is my favourite Captain.

What I don’t understand is why an English guy playing a French guy is drinking English tea and not having any biscuits. That something to ponder for another day. I will think much more negatively if in the 23rd century they do not have Milk Chocolate Digestives.

The Story of My Dad’s Haircut My Mom Didn’t Even Recognize Him

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There is a photo of my parents from the mid to late 70s I would assume where at one point within the past 20 years my mom went to my sister while looking at the picture who is that strange guy I’m standing next to and my sister had to go mom that’s dad the reason she didn’t recognize him was his hair was radically different than he has now let’s just say it was a hairstyle very much embracing the 1970s His hair in the photo on this entry is close but not 70’s enough to represent what it looked like.

I miss you dad…

2,557 Days Later

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Seven years ago today we flew from New York to London starting our big move. Some things haven’t changed and many have in that 2,557 days.

We still live in the same house we moved into back in 2017. Now we own it vs renting it. I wrote about finding the house way back in 2017.

I am still at the same company but it has been spun off once and then acquired by another company.

The girls went from being in Nursery school and Reception to one being in the High School and one in her last year of Juniors school.

In July the girls and I got our citizenship! So being a duel citizen for me is a bit new.

Being far from our family in the states was defiantly a struggle this year.

People still ask when or if we are ever moving back to the states. My dad always said never say never however we are enjoying living life in London.