DanRochman.com

As we drove over the hills of San Francisco, Eddy mentioned Bullitt, and the so-very-famous chase scene therein. I hadn’t actually seen the film since I was a kid, and it occurred to me that now that I actually lived in San Francisco, it’d be cool to watch it again, since I might recognize some of the locations.

Thanks to the wonders of the internets, most of my work has already been done for me. It turns out that someone named Mike Haeg used Google’s My Maps feature to create an annotated map of the entire chase sequence in Bullitt. There’s also a conveniently embedded YouTube viewer, so you can watch the scene and play with the map (if you open it in another window) at the same time. The best part, at least for me, is that it turns out that the chase starts right around the corner from where we live, in Bernal Heights! While the chase eventually jumps to different locations all over the city and beyond (artistic license), it begins with the cars heading west along Army (now Cesar Chavez) Street, u-turning at Precita, and then driving up York to Peralta. By some bizarre coincidence, I travelled almost the exact same route *on my bicycle* two days ago, just a day before I re-discovered this scene. And for the record, I’d definitely rather drive a Mustang up York than a bicycle - I had to stop twice to catch my breath, and it’s a *tiny* block. But that’s the point, since I’m trying to build up my cycling muscles for the playa.

Yesterday, while I was out getting some (NomNomNomSoGood) ice cream at Mitchell’s, I took a picture of the Mitchell’s sign, and then posted that picture (via flickr) to this blog. When I checked my blog to see if the post had come through, there was already a new post up - and it wasn’t written by me! That’s not unusual for any of the (many) multi-author blogs out there, but mine is a tiny blog, with (maybe?) four readers and (definitely) just one writer. The inescapable conclusion was that a total stranger (at *least* one - maybe more?) had somehow obtained Administrative rights on my server. Uh-oh.

It turns out that I had done an incredibly boneheaded thing. While the “front door” of the blog (and the web server in general) was pretty well secured, I had essentially left a side door WIDE, WIDE open, giving unrestricted access to the MySQL database which powers this blog (plus my photo gallery, plus other things) to anyone who could be bothered to grab it. I thought I’d locked that door as well, but, well… no. No, I really hadn’t. I’d actually left it off the hinges, with a red carpet rolled out, and a huge neon sign on a post nearby saying “Please Come In and Take Whatever You Like”.

Fortunately, it appears that the first hacker (is that the right term?) to come along and say “What’s with the wide open door? Maybe I should go inside and have a look!” happened to be a really nice guy, with some mad skillz, a sense of humor, and no discernible malice. Instead of deleting my content, or filling the site with spam, or changing the page templates to carry nasty computer virus payloads to all my (four?) readers - all things he could have trivially done - he just left a funny post on the blog, which effectively was a heads-up to me that I had left a door wide open somewhere.

Better yet, when I e-mailed the “intruder” (Is it intrusion if the door is wide open? And yes, he left me his real e-mail address.), he replied to let me know how he got in, which enabled me to quickly find the open door, figure out what had gone wrong, and get it closed up. I’m leaving his post up, though, if for no other reason then as a reminder to myself to always take the extra few minutes to TEST TEST TEST the server security. For the record, your .htaccess and .htpasswd files can be just as perfect as can be, but if you (a) have “AllowOverride None” specified for the virtual host, and (b) forget to TEST the site, so that you *realize* that you’ve accidentally left AllowOverride set to “None”, then you, too, can end up with one of the world’s most hackable servers. All because of a single word on a single line of a single Apache configuration file - such are the joys of System Administration. Hubris, anyone?

Props and many thanks go to Tetsu, for being a White Hat Hacker, a jokester, a good netizen, and a good sport. And most of all for being gentle with my server when he could just as easily have trashed it, and by extension saving me from the scumbag who would inevitably have come along and actually trashed it. (Yes, I have backups, but doing an unscheduled wipe-and-restore, not to mention a forensic audit, really isn’t my idea of a good time.) Anyhow, thanks to Tetsu, I learned a valuable lesson in a much easier way than I otherwise would have.

Thanks, Tetsu. If you’re ever in San Francisco, I owe you a drink - your choice. And a round of DDR, if you’re up for that.

Mitchell’s Ice Cream

Originally uploaded by Dan Rochman

About to do a Halo Halo run with Em, and Rona, and…??? I really haven’t had much to eat today.

An actual burning man attendee? Well How-dee! I’m a pretty huge DDR fan as well. I can’t believe I’m posting on THE Dan Rochman’s blog! I feel so big. Alright, all of you blog-rollers, live long lives and take more pictures.

You might wanna try some different colors around here. Default doesn’t fit you. Gotta go!

Wowza - that was a whirlwind tour! A lot of eating, a lot of sightseeing, a little shopping, a little Dance Dance Revolution… I think it was a fairly packed few days for all involved. Our guests had pretty good stamina, considering they came in really late on Thursday night, and were three hours off their native time zone.

The Thornhill Thug-Life-Forever Posse left San Francisco this afternoon, heading down to the stunning scenic beauty of Santa Cruz, and then on to Carmel, Monterey, and Big Sur. After that, they keep heading down the coast to Los Angeles and San Diego. Too bad *some* of us have to go back to work.

Oh, and before I forget, here’s a fun link to YouTube clips of people riding Big Wheels down that famous stretch of Lombard Street

Reanna & Shane - Live From Slanted Door

Originally uploaded by Dan Rochman

The Thornhill Rochmans have arrived! And (Holy Coincidence, Batman!!) we just ran into Sebastian & Janna, who are here on a date!!

Time for yummy food & drink now - more later. No photoblogging from the dinner table??

First Blog Post via Flickr

Originally uploaded by Dan Rochman

I’m standing on Bernal Hill, enjoying a beautiful day, and a beautiful view. The Thornhill Rochmans are (at long last!) on their way here, and they’ll soon be enjoying this beautiful view as well - plus many more, besides. Can the Richmond Hill Rochmans be far behind?? Yes, that’s a dare…

I had managed, without much effort - alright, without any effort - to avoid facebook until just yesterday. I’m not actually much for socializing, even less for networking, and so am almost *against* social networking. Besides, I assumed that the online high school crowd had as much interest in my doings as I’ve got in theirs, which is roughly none at all. But then Arnon signed up, and all that changed. Someone over 20, on facebook?? Really?? Who knew?? Apparently, everyone but me, since I was so studiously ignoring it. The world record holder may be my brother Rammy, who just turned **50** (Happy Birthday, Ram!!), and who has a facebook profile. Anyhow, since it turns out that any number of my friends, enemies, relatives, acquaintances, past and present co-workers, and other folks I’ve somehow met are all on there, I’ve given in and signed up for an account. I’m a little queasy at the thought of having yet *another* online presence that I can update close-to-never, but hey, it’s free, so why not? If you use facebook, feel free to add me as a friend, or write on my wall, or whatever it is people do on facebook when they’re supposed to be working/studying/sleeping.

While I was on an extremely atypical (for me) social networking binge, I figured I’d also jump on the Twitter bandwagon, and got an account there (from the browser on my PDA/phone, no less) this morning. For those who don’t already know, Twitter is basically a stripped-down, hosted micro-blog, which generally consist of short (140 characters or less, to stay within text messaging limits) updates on your current status, or else short messages to friends. Since I don’t do much (any?) text messaging, I’m not sure I’ll get much out of it, but it’s definitely an interesting concept - the heavy-into-texting crowd (those high school kids, again) must *love* it. So, assuming I ever actually update my Twitter status (never mind updating my facebook status - oof) you can see what I’m up to by glancing at http://twitter.com/danrochman.

It’s closing in on 9:00 PM (PDT), and I’m stuck at a client site in Novato, CA, waiting for some database routines to finish running so that I can validate the results. Sucks to be me. At least I got to break for dinner - and it’s billable time. Well, time spent blogging (while I wait on the database server) is “off the clock”, but the rest of it is definitely billable.

On the home front, all’s fairly quiet. Warmer weather has (mostly) arrived, which is a welcome change, and if nothing else the days are longer. We’re starting to think about our next vacations - when to take them, and where and how to spend them. Nothing firm yet, but it’s nice to read travel guides and reflect upon the possibilities…

Speaking of possibilities, I’m actually considering entering San Francisco’s first-ever Great Gorilla Run. I’m a sucker for anything involving gorilla suits (I was raised on M*A*S*H, you see), and it’s a good cause besides. Just to test the waters, would anyone out there consider sponsoring me (any amount!) if I were to run? And promised to get videos posted after the event??

Ah, the database just chimed. Time to wrap up, and (finally!) get home - Em’s going to have to fill me in on the final American Idol showdown. She’s rooting for Blake, so, um, Go Blake. That is all.

I’m composing this post in seat 9D, on a flight from San Diego, CA (was down there for a conference) to Portland, OR (heading up there for a 3-day  training class.  The conference was pretty good, as conferences go.  As an added bonus, I got to spend Monday night at SeaWorld San Diego, playing with Atlantic and Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, and watching the new Shamu show called “Believe”.  A colleague was nice enough to take my picture, so now I’ve got a (somewhat overexposed) photo of me touching a dolphin’s melon.

(With apologies to TVOTR, of course.)

Em and I don’t have a cable or satellite TV feed.  We get a few fuzzy channels using an old-school set of rabbit ears, and we get films and TV shows on DVD via Netflix.  Since we don’t spend much time in front of the tube, that combination has always provided more than enough video content.  But lately, we’ve been watching more and more video over the internet - whether downloaded or streamed in real time.  Google says it can’t scale, and Mark Cuban agrees, and it’s pretty obvious that the current infrastructure couldn’t handle hi-def streaming video to large numbers of users.  But for now, coming from the extremely low-def world of someone who watches very little broadcast TV on our ancient and puny (by today’s 42-inches-and-up, plasma/LCD/DLP, thin/flat, hi-def, surround-sound standards), I’m pretty impressed by how much great video content is already out there for the watching.

First of all, there’s Joost.  It really is the closest thing I’ve experienced watching TV over the internet.  You obviously don’t have the access to most of the *channels* that a cable or satellite subscriber would have access to, but the overall user experience is much closer to traditional TV than you might expect.  I’ve been a beta user since they were The Venice Project, and in its latest incarnation it’s really quite impressive.  You have to apply to be in the beta program, and wait for a chance to get in, but I think it’s worth the wait.  If you really want in (and are running Windows or an Intel-powered Mac), and can’t get into the beta program (or just can’t wait), then hit me up via e-mail.  I’ve got a couple of invites I can pass along - first come, first served.

Then, for the non-streaming set, there’s Democracy.  It can be used as a player for almost any video files you’ve got on your system, but its real strength lies in its ability to subscribe to video feeds, download them in the background, and let you watch them later.  It’s got a huge channel guide built right in, but can be used to subscribe to just about any feed out there.  It’s available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, so that means pretty much everyone.  And while there are a number of programs out there that do some (all?) of what Democracy does, Democracy is developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization with noble goals.  Add to that the fact that it’s free, open-source, and based on open standards, and it really stands out from the pack as the video feed-catcher/player to beat right now.

Well, another year has ended, and so has another MacWorld Expo in SF. The expo’s not a big deal to me, except that it means we got our annual visit from our dear friend Carlos! Carlos works for Matias Corporation, and they’ve got a booth at MacWorld, so that makes Carlos a MacWorld regular.

I didn’t take any photos while Carlos was here, even though we went to a lot of photo-worthy spots (including Big Sur, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium) - partly because I was too lazy, and partly because Carlos has almost the exact same camera as I do, and is a better photographer anyhow, so I figure I’ll just get him to upload some of his (excellent!) pictures to his album in my online gallery. That’s a hint, Carlos.

I’m two weeks into my New Year’s Resolution to blog more often, and I’ve already blown it quite thoroughly. Now that the pressure is off, I might even blog more often.

At the moment, I’m stealing these precious blogging minutes from my workday, so I really have to run. In the meantime, and in a tribute to the MacWorld expo just ended, and in case you missed the link when it was first circulated a few months back, please enjoy this Google Maps satellite image that suggests a Native American listening to music on his new iPhone.

I’m a long way from Kauai - in more ways than one. The National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory for the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. So Em and I are very, very cold. Back in Canada, we just might be toasty warm in an R-2000 home. Sadly, here in San Francisco, in a home built around 1905, insulation is just a fantasy - the indoor temp at our place is generally within a couple of degrees of the outside temperature. We have a gas heater mounted in the wall in our living room, but we never use it. It uses tons of gas, and (because of the way this place was built) only really heats the area within about a foot of the heater itself. We’ve also got a small (electric-powered) oil-filled portable radiator, but at roughly 700 Watts, it pains me to run it. I remain, however, a loyal fan of the (relatively) energy-efficient electric blanket on our bed. Since it’s sandwiched between the mattress and the comforter, it’s only heating a relatively tiny and well-insulated space. Unfortunately, I can’t stay in bed all day - I know, I’ve tried. One day, we’ll live in a place that isn’t built like a doll’s house, and it will be toasty in that place. Oh, yes - it will be toasty.

In other news, ALL FOUR of the Richmond Hill Rochmans (well, Spunky can’t type - can he?) have commented on the blog now (hi, guys!), so the family has officially arrived. No sign of the Thornhill Rochmans yet, but they can’t be far behind. Oh, and while I’m pretty sure that Mom hasn’t been by yet, I know that she’s already heard that I’ve got a web site. I also know that Mom’s condo in Florida has just been wired up with broadband internet access (hi, Moni!), so now it’s just a matter of time before someone (hi, Moni!) shows her the site.

I’ve always been pretty careful about self-censoring my blog. I haven’t had to worry about being expelled from Sudan, but these days you can’t be too careful. And from here on out I have to remember that MY FAMILY could be reading this. My brother Rammy (hi, Ram!) stumbled across this blog a couple of weeks back, and then my mom mentioned it on a call (hi, Mom!), and then my nephew Ariel (hi, Air!) told me in an e-mail that he’s seen it, too. So my plans for a serialized, autobiographical, familial tell-all will have to be put on hold.

In today’s local news, it’s relatively cold (52F/11C) here, and it’s been raining pretty much all day - the upside of which is that Em and I are, at this moment, cozied up on the couch, each of us gazing lovingly into our respective notebook. Such is modern life. Em’s doing work-related stuff on her notebook, and I’m taking a break from doing the same to get a blog post in. I still haven’t gotten around to uploading any pictures from our honeymoon in Kauai, but until I get around to it please enjoy this little video clip that I shot on the water slide at our hotel. Note the cameo by Em at the very end of the clip. Oh, and we’d both just had a Hawaiian Pedicure at the hotel’s Anara Spa, which is why my toenails look so good - blue is definitely my color.

Halloween is easily the greatest of the big North American holidays - EASILY. Granted, I’m not a big fan of the other holidays, so it wasn’t a very close race. Tonight’s going to be jam-packed, since Em and I have a lot of places to go and people to see, and most of it in costume. We already did a couple of costume parties on Saturday, and here’s a pic someone took of us at the first one. There’s Dracula (me), and his bride (my bride), and the other four people all used to be co-workers of mine. Kelly, in the blue dress, used to be my boss - right up until the company she owned was bought up by the company I work for now.

This reminds me that I’m *way* behind in my Gallery photo-uploading, but I might actually get a chance to catch up on some of that this weekend. Might. First, I’ve got to get done here at work (break’s over!), get home, and put on my Solar Bear costume. No rest for the wicked, the undead, or the solar bears tonight.

There were a few earthquakes this morning on/near the Big Island - one with a magnitude of 6.6. The good news is that we’re on Kauai, and we slept right through it. We didn’t even know there’d been a quake until this afternoon, when a shopkeeper asked us if we’d felt it. Power’s been out on a couple of the islands, but here on Kauai everything seems fine. CNN seems to be hyping this thing very heavily, but we haven’t heard of any serious injuries (much less fatalities) resulting from the quakes. More updates later, but right now we want to go swimming before it gets dark.

It’s 22:15 Hawaii time, and we’re back in our hotel room on Kauai. Today (Saturday, October 14th) is Em’s birthday! Early this afternoon we took a helicopter ride out to an otherwise-inaccessible waterfall pool for a little dip. Huge fun, even though it was pouring by the time we made the return flight. I’ve got a lot more to write about, and more pictures to upload, but that’ll have to wait. We’re on vacation, and it’s almost time for bed.

Yes, we’re back.  Another great year of Burning Man: lots of great people, lots of great art, lots of great times.  No real disasters, except that Em caught a cold this year, and the playa is a lousy place to have a cold.  She’s just getting over it now…  As for me, I’m somewhere near Chicago for a company event that started this evening with a Cubs game at Wrigley Field (neat, that - I’ve wanted to go ever since I watched Ferris Bueller cut class to do it), and which will run into Saturday (yes, SATURDAY) afternoon.  Tomorrow’s agenda runs from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM (nope, still not kidding), so I should have been asleep two hours ago, but my head is still on Pacific time and I just can’t sleep.  So I figured I’d post something/anything, and then try again.  Wish me luck.

Thanks to meep (thanks, meep!), there’s now a meep album of wedding photos in the gallery (just click on the thumbnail above “Album: meep”). That’s 106 tasty new photos, plus three (AVI) video clips that are a tad dark, but *sound* really great. We got these on CD a while back, but Michelle had to remind me to get them uploaded because I am a slacker. The slacker thing is also why only 3 of the 106 photos have captions - but at least they’re online.  There probably won’t be any/many more pics going up until after our return from Burning Man. Hopefully we’ll actually have some of our own pics from that event to upload this year (I even bought a housing for my camera to protect it from deadly “playa dust”), and then at some point we’ll get the “official” wedding pics from our photographer.

I’ve also got a (somewhat rough, but not too shabby) audio recording of the wedding ceremony that I’ll eventually post, but right now I have a ton of work to get back to, so that’ll have to wait.  Plus, the recording features our beloved Reid Jamieson singing a couple of songs, so I probably have to get permission from Reid and/or SOCAN before I post it.

As usual, I haven’t written much lately.  Work’s been busy, the man burns in just over 16 days, yadda yadda yadda.  Truth is, I still could have written more, but didn’t.  My bad.  Today I will write that I just saw a dog (way up on the hill) that was out for his very first walk.  It seems that nowadays puppies aren’t supposed to go out in the world until they’ve had (at least?) their first round of “puppy shots“.  So he was several (six?) weeks old, and bouncing and scrappy and happy.  Just flipping out at the breadth and diversity of the world, and the scenery, and the other dogs, and the other humans…  Fun to see a great spot through fresh eyes, even fresh pooch eyes.  Especially fresh pooch eyes?  The dog’s humans were also loving the walk.  They said that he was their first dog (as a couple, anyhow?), and so in a way it was their first walk, too.  I look forward to a first-dog-walk day someday.