My Stuff

Teaching computers in Honduras

2013-05-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a few months now of teaching at AFE in Honduras and I am finding that I really enjoy teaching. Currently I am only working with the high school, so many of the "computer basics" such as how to use a keyboard and mouse have gone over fairly quickly. My own personal goal now is to get everyone familiar with using the tools and applications they would find in an office - i.e. Microsoft Office.

My first pass was simple - Microsoft Office basics. It turns out there is quite a bit of information available on the internet in English and Spanish that covered MS Office basics. I added in a few projects such as a budgeting spreadsheet, a document about the students favorite things, and even a PowerPoint presentation. This first pass seemed to go well, but practice is needed to ensure things stick.

Second attempt - have the students write up reports about jobs that use computers. This starts them looking to the internet at ways computers can be used in business, starts using MS Word to document information and create a report, and then PowerPoint to create a presentation. Once all the presentations were ready, we covered a few public speaking pointers and they then presented their findings to the class.
I was quite surprised by the end results - many of the students created projects beyond what I expected, and a few of them appear to be natural public speakers. There is still room for improvement (that's the reason for school), but it was very encouraging.

One of the other teachers mentioned wanting to have his students build a web page for the books they are reading (Chronicles of Narnia). He suggested it might be a good way for me to introduce the students to the Internet, and more specifically to the validity of things on the internet. I decided this would be a great time to cover the history of the internet - what it is, where it came from, how it became what it is, how to use it and be safe, and possible futures.
This gives rise to my third pass at using MS Office tools - instead of teaching the students about the internet, I can let them teach themselves. Our current project is about the history of the internet, they are currently creating an 8 page report (1 cover, 1 bibliography, 6 information) in Word about the history of the internet. This is a fairly broad subject and therefore there is quite a bit of leeway in the project, but if all goes well, at the end of this week they will have completed a college level report.
Next step is to convert this document into another presentation. My plan is to start with more information about public speaking, and how to create a viable presentation in PowerPoint - i.e. write down talking points, don't read the slides, eye contact, etc... When finished converting the reports to presentations, they will then take turns sharing in front of the class.
Once the reports are finished, I am debating talking about plagerism. Apparently it is quite common in this country, and even in the colleges here there isn't much of an emphasis on it. I personally believe it needs to be discussed, but at this point I am concerned about hurting their feelings and discouraging them from working hard in the future.

I am still debating on what the next project should be. I think a break from researching, documenting, and presenting may be needed, so I am debating about using a game such as Light-Bot to explain some of the basics of computer programming. After a week or so of playing games, I figure they can't hate me too much, and maybe it will stir some excitement about programming.

Finding our way in Honduras

2013-05-06T07:42:00.001-07:00

A few months ago Jana and I bought a car here in Honduras. We have been having fun exploring Tegucigalpa and finding new places and stores. However, 1 main question was still lingering - How do you find your way around in a foreign country?
In many US cities, there is a plethora of street signs guiding you to popular destinations, plus the street names and addresses are normally designed in a way that makes finding things quick and easy. But in Honduras there are few street signs, if the streets are named there is rarely an order to their naming, and there are no addresses.

Enter the magic of GPS. A few years ago we received a Garmin GPS for Christmas and enjoyed using it to find locations both locally and for road trips. On a whim, I decided to bring it with us to Honduras in hopes that it would work here as well. A little googling and I found the Open Street Map project, a web site that builds maps for the entire world that can be downloaded and installed to various GPS devices.

Using the Garmin here is a little different since addresses aren't commonly used, and those that do exist I haven't gotten the GPS to recognize. However, I can still search for locations by name by or by type such as shopping, gas, etc...

Links to the resources I used for Honduras
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
http://www.cenrut.org/adw/over.htm

Windows Server 2012 Automation with PowerShell

2013-03-08T07:46:00.003-08:00

It's official, I will soon be a published author. When Jana and I began planning to move to Honduras, I was contacted by the folks at PACKT Publishing to write a book about Windows Server 2012 and PowerShell 3.0. Over the last 6 months I have been burning the candle at both ends, trying to write a book while moving to a new country and volunteering in the AFE school (http://www.afehonduras.org), all the while attempting to learn Spanish. Writing in English while attempting to learn to speak Spanish is not a simple task....

We are currently in the final reviews of the book and it should be available by the end of the month. The official title is "Windows Server 2012 Automation with PowerShell" and if anyone is interested in viewing and possibly ordering it check out http://www.packtpub.com/windows-server-2012-automation-with-powershell/book

AFE boys making survival bracelets

2013-02-23T06:42:00.001-08:00

On Thursday, Jana and I taught some of the High School boys at AFE how to make survival bracelets. I had previously made several as gifts using parachute cord (sometimes known as 550 cord). I had brought some supplies down with me and Jana thought it would be a great way for the young men to try and earn some money at the school.
In one afternoon we taught the kids and they made a total of 14 bracelets. Jana and I were talking with some of the members of the team that was visiting from Missouri and Kansas and they all wanted to see them. When the bracelets came out, they all sold almost immediately.
The guys have now invested in purchasing more supplies and are looking forward to the next team coming in March to show off their work.

First week of classes

2013-02-07T07:47:00.003-08:00

This was our first week of classes in Honduras. The last 4 months have been a whirlwind of learning Spanish, and feeling totally inadequate. Surprisingly however, both Jana and I are doing great with it, and the kids have been forgiving so far.

I am teaching math and computers an Jana is teaching English. Right now we are only teaching the high schoolers, but that will change next quarter and we will gt to send some time with the younger kids.

For my part, I still consider everything we are able to do here a miracle. This school is just across the street from the city dump, where you often get headaches from all of the burning garbage, and yet thrives. I don't imagine the students could be any more loving as they literally throw themselves at you to get a hug.

One of the other teachers had mentioned the other day that these kids are heroes. I thought about it for a bit and realized he is right. If the average person in the dump is making between 1 and 2 dollars a day, then that means these kids probably didn't eat breakfast, and may not have had dinner the night before, yet they still come to school. And instead of working in the dump searching for recyclables to sell, they are investing in a future to help themselves and their entire family.

An interesting Saturday

2013-02-03T11:45:00.003-08:00

We knew Saturday was going to be a busy day, we were scheduled to get our Honduran drivers licenses, then go to the bank to setup an account so we can exchange money in order to buy a car, then have the first meeting of the college group at our house.

We knew we had to get up early, so we (Jana actually) jumped up before the alarm even went off. She wanted to wash the remaining dishes from the night before, so she turned on the water and realized the water wasn't working. She then went outside to the shed to grab the laundry and found the shed wide open - with our water pump missing. Sometime over the night someone broke into the shed and stole the pump, hmmm.... At least they were nice enough to turn off the water to the cistern before removing it (so we still have water available), but now we need to buy a new pump.

We ran around the house getting ready for our 8am appointment at the Direccion Nacional de Transito (Honduras version of the DMV). We talked with Pastor Jeony about the break-in and he mentioned that his car was broken into over the night as well. He gave us some advice on where to get a new pump and then we left for the DNT.

At the DNT we had one of the most unusual experiences. First, we had a vision and blood test. For some reason they need to know your blood type (I am A+ and Jana is O+). Then, we went to a large room full of people for the driving class. We kept wondering why there were so many adults in the class, and why the class was being sponsored by an association of taxi drivers. Before long we asked if we were in the right location - turns out we weren't We went down the hall to a smaller room with about 10 people and caught the second half of the class. At the end of the class was a written test that we had to pass to get our license - thankfully I brought a Spanish/English dictionary and they didn't complain about us using it. We passed the tests and after some waiting, got our drivers licenses.

Next, we grabbed some food and headed to the hardware store. We found the new pump, and it looked exactly like the old one. Bought a new lock for the door and some bolts to secure the pump to the concrete. A quick trip through the register and we were ready to go home. We thanked Henry over and over for his help driving us and helping us find the parts we needed.

Back home, Jana starts prepping food, and I went looking for Pedro. Pedro is the local handyman / foreman for the construction teams, and he came right over to the house to install the new pump. He went out of his way to help us with the install and getting the additional piping parts necessary. Before long, his expertise got the pump secured and running, and water flowing.

While Pedro was working, we let Lucas explore outside. We wanted him to be an indoor/outdoor cat, and it was a nice and fairly calm day to let him try. Within a few minutes, he caught a mouse and ran inside the house with it - alive! Jana picked him up (with the mouse in his mouth) and put them outside. Lucas downed his catch fairly quickly and then caught another, and another, and another. We think he totaled 5 or 6 that afternoon, and he ate most of them. We now know that we have a might hunter in our midst, oddly enough, he still downed his crunchies after.

About enough time to sweep the floor and the college students began to arrive. It was our first meeting and we had no idea what to expect. We made lots of food (potato soup, wraps, cupcakes, chip/dip, etc...), thinking we could have up to 20 people, when only 10 arrived we thought we had too much. Apparently I forgot how much college students can eat, as they went through most of it. A great evening with the group, and everyone left happy and excited for more.

New member of our family

2013-01-31T06:46:00.001-08:00

We received a new member of the family a few days ago. A friend and fellow teacher heard us saying that we would eventually like to get a cat, and her daughter went out and found us one.

The first night, like all first nights with a new pet, was interesting. No, don't climb the curtains. No, don't claw the furniture. No, don't eat our food. and so on. The next day was our first day of working at the school (prepping for classes), so we locked the cat in the bathroom with some tuna since we didn't have anything else to feed him.

When we came home, we were shocked to see the cat was gone, and there was a hole in the screen of the bathroom window. Apparently, he didn't like the house and decided to try it on his own. We looked all over the community for him, and asked the neighbors if they saw him, but he was gone.

The next morning we left some food outside the door to possibly encourage him to come back. When we got back from the school, the food was gone, but still no cat. We kept hearing whining and meowing outside of the house all afternoon, but still couldn't find anything. We assumed that he had either gone back to his mom, gotten lost, or became lunch.

Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, we suddenly heard a very distinct meowing that was him. Jana immediately ran out the door to find him running away from the house. She eventually caught up with him and brought him back home. He is now a little more timid, a little skinnier, and a lot happier to have a comfortable home.

Since he has become our own little prodigal son, we named him Lucas, because the story of the prodigal son is in the book of Luke (Luke 15:11-32)

Building a house in the Linda Miller community

2013-01-12T12:14:00.002-08:00

While waiting for our official teaching jobs to begin, Jana and I were asked if we wanted to help build a house. It sounded like fun and a great way to get to know some of the people here, so we were excited. When we first arrived, a wall had been laid around the house (for where the walls would go), but nothing else - great, practically the beginning.

We started with simple jobs, moving dirt, carrying cinder blocks, and moving wood. Nothing too exciting, but we (Jana and I) didn't really know what we were doing. On the second or third day, Jana had a migraine and had to leave early, after which one of the guys cracked a joke about it being "man's work". I told him to never say that to a woman from the US, because many would take that as a challenge. When I told Jana about it, she decided that instead she could bake treats and bring them during breaks instead. This gave her the opportunity to share cookies and other goodies with many of the other houses in the community.

It was very interesting watching how the house went together. The first few days involved moving lots of blocks and dirt and wood, but then they started mixing concrete. For me, this was an amazing process because in the US I have only seen pre-mixed concrete in bags, or delivered from a truck. Instead they have a great process - 2 wheelbarrows of gravel, 2 wheelbarrows of sand, and 2 bags of cement. Using shovels they turn the pile over into a big mound that kind of looks like snow topped mountain. Then they hollow out the mountain into a ring (it then looks like Mt. St. Helens today) and they pour two buckets of water in the middle. Working from the outside, they slowly shovel the mix on top of itself until it is completely mixed. And voila, concrete.

Once the concrete was mixed, the foundation was poured in two days. Its kind of funny that it took two days to complete the foundation, but they only had enough wood to make forms for half of the house at a time. The foundation sat for a few days before the next step - cinder blocks.

It turns our that putting the cinder blocks in place seems to be the easiest part of the process, but getting ready for the blocks is the hard part. First, we setup 2x4's in each corner of the house and took extra care to ensure they were 100% vertical. Then, they were measured and marks were made every 10 inches or so, and then a fishing line was run from one pole to the other based on the marks. This seemed to take for ever, and I have to admit was fairly boring because I didn't know what was happening, and therefore couldn't help. However, once the fishing line was done, down went a layer of mortar and the first row or blocks.

Once all the corners were squared, the walls started going up quickly. I learned how to screen sand so the mortar can be made, and I moved a lot of cinder blocks. At first the blocks were a little far from the house, and needed to be closer, so I moved them to the front of the house. Then it turns out that the people putting up the walls are working from the inside, so I begin moving the blocks inside the house. Then, it turns our that the blocks need to be cleaned (rough edges from the extraction process needing scraped off), so I moved the blocks again, cleaning each one as it happened. My arms were getting sore, but I was glad that it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

The most recent task however, is prepping the floor. Right now its dirt, and with a shovel and rake we made it somewhat flat (not really, but there aren't mountains of rock anywhere). Then I see one of the guys carrying what looks like the drive-train from a car, with a flat piece of metal welded to the end - a home-made tamper. I have seen people use tampers before and figured it couldn't be that difficult, but the guys here are finally seeing the limits of my strength. The tamper probably weighs close to 50 pounds, and after 10 or 20 times using it, I was seriously wondering what it would take to rent a gas-powered unit.
I decided I was going to work as hard as I could, and do everything I can to avoid using the tamper (there is only one, so as long as I am busy, I can let someone else do it). I started moving the blocks again (this time out of the house, since all the walls are done), shoveling dirt like crazy, and helping level the floor with the rake while someone else is tamping.

So far its a lot of work, but I am really looking forward to seeing it finished. If we keep up the pace, both the floor and roof should be done by the end of the month. The interior walls will be built with drywall, which means electricity, water, doors and windows are the only outstanding items.

Our new home!

2012-12-29T13:45:00.003-08:00

We moved into our new home in Tegucigalpa and its more than we had expected. For those interested, you can find us on Google at http://m.google.com/u/m/AmmPsf

For the lat 3 months we have been living in a very nice 2 bedroom house in La Ceiba. There were four of us in the house - me, Jana, Eugenia, and her son Rigo. It wasn't very large, but there was suffient space for all of us.
When we arrived to our new home, we were surprised about how big and nice it is. There are 2 bedrooms, an office, kitchen, a nook for eating, and a large living room. Rey and Elise left behind quite a few things so there was only a couple items we needed to buy.
The yard is fairly large and we are looking around to see if there is somewhere we can put a garden. I have no idea what kind of vegetables we can grow here, but e are looking forward to trying.

We had an interesting adventure last night. The water system here is new to me and getting to know it is more than a little exciting. Apparently a water truck comes to the community twice a week and fills the pipes with water. Each house has a cistern that fills, and the house uses that water. Ours is a little different than others. Instead of the cistern begin on top of the house, which would use gravity to flow into the house, we have a water pump that pressurizes the house.
We were initially concerned abount how long the water had been in the cistern. So, when we arrived, we began using it quickly to empty the cistern, so that it could be filled with fresh water. When the cistern emptied, I noticed the pump was still running, even though there was no water. Not wanting to damage the pump by running it nonstop, I unplugged it.
The water truck arrived last night and started pressurizing the lines. We checked and confirmed our cistern was filling. However, when I plugged in the pump, nothing was going into the house. We checked all the knobs and confirmed everything was open, by still no water. We were more then a little concerned because I was nighttime and didn't know who we could talk to for help.
We weren't sure if the cistern is large enough for everything we need, so we decided that while water is coming to the house, we would try and fill the pila (a concrete tank that holds water for washing clothes by hand). We grabbed the largest kitchen pot and a large thermos and began carrying water from the cistern to the pila.
Last night we learned a few things - Jana and I can move water faster than a one inch pipe can fill, and for some reason the water pumped into the community is warm.
When we finally finished filling the pila, I took another look at the pump. I figured that because we ran the cistern empty, there just wasn't water in the pump to run properly. I looked all over the house for a water spigot that was downhill (in hopes of bleeding the system of air), but couldn't find anything. I finally went back to the pump to see if there were reset directions and found on the very bottom a small screw-in valve. I opened it up and a lot of air came out, followed by a lot of water. I turned on the pump and put the valve back in and I could immediately tell it was working based on the new sound.
After 30 minutes of playing water brigade, we finally got the water running into the house.

So far e have been working all morning cleaning the house. Washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, washing clothes and much much more.

Christmas in Honduras

2012-12-29T13:45:00.001-08:00

Last night was Christmas Eve. Jana and I were expecting a quiet evening with our host family, maybe a candlelight service at a local church, an opening of presents at midnight. I don't think we could have been more wrong.

The tradition here seems to be entirely different than the 'Silent Night' we grew up with in the US. Here Christmas eve is referred to as 'Noche Buena', and is a time for celebration.

We had already been warned about people lighting fireworks, so it didn't surprise us that people were lighting them off all week. However, that didn't prepare us for last night. At midnight it seemed that the entire town came outside and lit off fireworks. There was everything from simple sparklers and fountains, to large bombs the size of your forearm. I don't remember ever seeing that many fireworks at any fourth of July party.

As the fireworks were going off, everyone came out to say Merry Christmas to their neighbors. We really enjoyed being able to wish everyone in the neighborhood a merry Christmas, and to do it while wearing shorts was even better!

Starting December

2012-12-03T05:56:00.001-08:00

Its been a bit since I had the opportunity to write on the blog, so I will try and get things caught up here. The weather here in La Ceiba has been quite dynamic. For example, in Seattle, it can be sunny for 5 minutes, then rain for 5 minutes, then sunny again. Its similar here in La Ceiba, except it goes from the mid 80's and sunny to torrential downpour.
Because of the climate, everyone in the city has been sick. The flu hit both of us, but Jana more heavily than me.

We have been enjoying our Spanish classes. We are both feeling more confident in our conversations with others (I am sure I'm getting half the conjugations wrong) and speaking is starting to feel more natural. In fact, we have gotten to the point yesterday that we weren't sure if we were talking in English or Spanish.

I had the opportunity to go to Cayos Cuchinos a few weeks ago. Jana had already been and wasn't up to going again. The group went snorkeling along a reef and I got lots of great pictures, I even got a close-up of a barracuda. After snorkeling, we walked through the forest and saw a Pink Boa. I got brave and got close enough to touch it, but then it started curling up to strike and I backed off.
Probably the most interesting part of the trip was the boat ride back. A cold front was coming in, so the swells were quite large and a lot of spray was coming in. The guides passed out the snorkels so we could actually see what was going on.

All in all, we are enjoying life here. We are looking forward to Christmas with our host family in La Ceiba and then off to Tegucigalpa in January.

Christmas at Wendy's

2012-12-01T13:41:00.001-08:00

We went to Wendy's to use the internet and was quite surprised by some of the balloon art. When was the last time you saw the nativity in the form of balloons?

What do you drink when the weather is cold?

2012-11-04T09:50:00.001-08:00

It's been a little cold here in La Ceiba (I thought about wearing pants the other day), and our host mom decided to give us a treat - hot chocolate. The first time she made it I turned it down thinking that it wasnt really that cold, but as Jana raved about how good it was, I remembered that hot chocolate was invented in Central America by the Mayans. Since everyone here is probably descendants of the Mayans, the coco was probably a lot better than Swiss Miss.

For dinner tonight, Dona Maria made more coco, and my taste buds weren't prepared for the flavor. It had chocolate, cinnamon, orange peel, and something spicy to give it a kick. It was sweet, creamy, flavorful, and spicy. Add some caffeine and you could put Starbucks out of business.

To my choco-holic mother - this coco alone is worth the trip to Honduras

Having fun with kids in La Ceiba

2012-10-28T12:26:00.001-07:00

Jana and I decided was that in order to learn Spanish faster, is to be involved in a local activity. We started by volunteering at the local church on Sundays. We get to help with the 7-10 year olds during the 4pm service, then attend the 6pm Service ourselves.
Additionally, we volunteered at an orphanage in the afternoon. We aren't quite sure how the orphanage works, but it looks like it is a school/daycare for single moms and foster parents. The kids are younger than we expected (2-5 years old) but we are having fun playing with them. Unfortunately, they all seem to want piggy back rides, and they all want them at the same time.

We keep laughing everytime we go into stores because they are all preparing for Christmas already. Its not even Halloween, and they were erecting a giant tree in the mall on Friday.

Otherwise we are enjoying ourselves. Staying safe and healthy.

Learned my first Spanish tounge twister today

2012-10-24T10:55:00.001-07:00

In order to help speed up and improve my annunciation, my teacher gave me my first tounge twister to memorize and practice.

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos
En tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo en un trigal tres tristes tigres

To make things fair, I taught her one in English.

She sells seashells by the seashore.

I told her that I would say mine as quickly as she can say hers.

Our first outing

2012-10-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first outing here in La Ceiba, we went to Pico Bonito national park. It started out as a great adventure. We walked through one of the Dole pineapple plantations to get to the mountain, I ave never seen so much pineapple before.
We stared hiking up the mountain and saw a couple of waterfalls. At the second one, Jana was brave enough to jump in and go swimming. She says it was cold, but at least she is braver than me.
We relaxed by the water and ate some food and then it started raining. After it had been raining to a while, it started really raining. Before long it stopped, then started up again. We figured it wasn't going to stop so we started walking back. We made it to the bottom completely soaked and covered in mud. I took my shirt off and had to wring out all the rain.

So, my lifelong (week-long) dream of seeing monkeys in the wild has gone without fulfillment. But it was still a fun trip and we saw lots of stuff while there

Week 3 and still going strong

2012-10-13T11:19:00.001-07:00

Jana and I are still enjoying everything here in Honduras. 3 weeks of Spanish classes and we are learning a lot. We may not be fully fluent by February, but we will be ready for the classrooms. I just hope our future students don't try to 'teach' us new words...

This past week has been on and off rain. Its interesting how quickly the clouds roll in and then downpour. Then, it stops raining just as quickly.

So far we have been enjoying the city of La Ceiba. We have made a few trips into the street market (quite interesting) and actually haggled with the vendors. We have also made a few trips to the beach, it was bright and sunny and no one around.
When we are near the beach we found a great restaurant named Pupuseria Universitaria. They make really great pupusas that have quickly become our favorites

Jana is making friends with every little girl around. First was Genesis (pronounced like Henesy), the grand daughter of Maria. Then there was a girl at the beach, and everywhere she goes.

First week down

2012-09-30T10:23:00.001-07:00

Well, our first week in Honduras is finished, and what a week it's been.

The city of la Ceiba has been having rolling blackouts, with different barrios being effected at different times. On Monday, power went out half way through classes at school, which meant it got very warm very quickly. Luckily some clouds came in and cooled us off.
Then the power went out at Maria's home at 6, halfway through making dinner. Thankfully there was enough to eat. The really interesting part about the outage was that it became fairly dark, and I started seeing little blue streaks floating in the air. Genesis, Maria's granddaughter said they were called luciernaga, or in English, firefly. When we were kids, my brother and I caught fireflies on a trip to west Virginia, but I hadn't seen them since.

Otherwise, jana and I are enjoying our classes and getting to know everyone and where to go in the city. We found a place at the mall that has internet access, so I finally get a chance to post on what is going on. Coming from the realm of Microsoft, its quite surprising when you first see that there is no WiFi anywhere.

I have already made a new best friend, her name is Micha. She belongs to Maria's grandkids who live behind her. We keep joking that her name should be Besos (kisses) because she is always licking our hands.

i have been waiting 5 months for this

2012-09-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Jana and I just made it to San Pedro Sula. Our first stop, after booking the bus, was Espresso Americano.
I think the ice cold granita is one of the best ways to celebrate being back in Honduras

How interesting it is to rely on God

2012-09-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

On our trip to La Ceiba, we ended up taking a lengthy bus ride from San Pedro Silva airport. During the quiet and comfortable ride I got a chance to reflect a bit.
Here I am, no job, no real idea of what is going to happen to me tomorrow, and surprisingly without any cares. I felt quite surprisingly at ease with the whole situation.
This made me reminisce of when I was a kid and would ride with my parents. I didn't really know where we were going, or what we would be doing, but I knew I didn't need to worry about it. My parents always took care of me and always loomed out for me. And even though bad things occasionally happened, they were always there to make sure things went OK.

I find this quite a comforting parallel to Jana and my new adventures. I know today I went to school to try and learn Spanish, but I am not really sure what tomorrow will hold. And the great thing is, I am OK with that

We are moving to Honduras!

2012-09-18T13:08:00.002-07:00

This is something Jana and I have been discussing for several years, and we are finally making a step toward it. We are going to volunteer at the AFE school (www.afehonduras.org) just outside of the Tegucigalpa city dump.

So the obvious question - Are you crazy?

My thought process
This is a summarized version of my thought process while deciding on going. There was much more thought poured into each and every aspect of the decision, but this summary should hopefully be succinct and to the point. Its hard to shorten months of thought into a few paragraphs, but I will try here.
Faith of a mustard seed

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:20

There are several references in the new testament to the "faith of a mustard seed". If you have ever seen a mustard seed, you know that it is incomprehensibly small; so small that its hard to imagine someone harvesting them.
I have always viewed the reference to a mustard seed in two ways. The first is that you don't have to posses a great deal of faith, you just have to hold on to that littlest bit. This point of view has helped me whenever I feel spiritually lost, alone, abandoned, and empty of faith. Even in the worst of times when I hate God and everyone around me, I have asked myself if I have even a mustard seed of faith left. While that small amount of faith doesnt necessarily change anything at that time, it is helpful to know that when everything else changes, my faith has stayed.
The second way I have viewed the mustard seed analogy is that it is really small and can grow into something really big. The seed doesnt do anything special, just what God has given it to do. By pushing and growing year by year, even when animals eat all of its foliage and the wind breaks off limbs, it gets bigger and bigger. When it comes to faith, I am definitly not a giant, but I am growing. I can often feel myself being pruned or trimmed back, and the dissapointment that comes from not being a "great" or "amazing"; but all I have to do is decide to continue to grow.

Promises of God

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? - Matthew 6:26

"Truly I tell you," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life." - Luke 18:29-30

God gives us several promises through the bible, Luke 18 seems to be most apt at this time. Throughout the promises of God he never says that nothing bad will happen, or that your life will be full of happiness and only good things. On the contrary, winter comes just as frequently as the summer does, peaceful weather is often followed by horrible storms, and happiness is often followed by sadness.
God is promising us that our lives will be better by following his commands. Even when bad things happen, they wont be as bad as they were before, and the good things will be even better.

God's Calling

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" - Isaiah 6:8

When God called Isaiah he didnt search through a pile of resumes like an employer would do. God simply asks "Who is willing?" And when Isaiah heard the calling he didnt list off his credentials, or lineage, or schooling, he simply raised his hand. I cant imaging Isaiah had any idea what he was volunteering for, and I am sure he wasnt yet equipped to do the job God was calling for him to complete.
God asked for help, and Isaiah offered himself. Could there be anything greater than to know you are living for God? That your life is a mission from God? Forget about training, or knowledge, or abilities, or anything else you could bring to the table - God can provide all of that.

Do I trust God?

After going through all of these questions and thoughts, it ultimatly came down to 1 question for me: Do I trust God? Do I trust that leaving my comfy home and comfy job will be blessed?

If we sell our house today, we will end up losing money
If we leave our jobs for several years, we will lose out on a lot of income
If we volunteer, we will have to use our savings to live
If we go to a third-world country, we may get sick or hurt
If we stop making money today, our retirement will be messed up
If I leave my job for a few years, I may have to start over in my skills
....

Do I trust God? Do I trust that God will continue to feed me? Do I trust that God will keep me just as safe in another country as I am in the US? Do I trust that God will take care of my retirement which is 30 years away?

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' - Matthew 25:34-40

Running PowerShell code from a web page

2012-08-17T15:44:00.002-07:00

As PowerShell gets used more and more in the IT industry, its not unusual to begin growing libraries of scripts and commands, and even automate some of the scripts to run automatically. After a while, I have developed a method of organizing my library so I can find my scripts as needed, and even include some rudimentary version control.
The growing library becomes an issue when multiple people in your organization are using PowerShell as well. Each person begins growing a library, each person handles versioning independently, and each person may schedule the scripts to run automatically. Suddenly there is a lot of tribal knowledge (i.e. I don't know how to do that, go talk to X).
I had always felt that having some centralized web portal that allowed me to see my organizations scripting library would be ideal. Additionally, it would be awesome if I could simply click a button on a form and make a PowerShell script execute.

Need a VM? Fill out this online form and click create.
Reboot a host? Select the system to reboot and click go.
Restart services? Select the system and service and click Restart.

The first major hurdle to this is getting PowerShell to run through a web page, it turns out this has been around for some time at http://devinfra-us.blogspot.com/2011/02/using-powershell-20-from-aspnet-part-1.html. The example simply imports System.Management.Automation from PowerShell and creates a PowerShell object. Once created, use PowerShell.Commands.AddScript() to import the PS code, and PowerShell.Invoke() to execute.

What next? Add security, tie it into a database to act as the library, maybe add some scheduling...

Another Vyatta config guide

2012-08-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

I find myself using the Vyatta virtual router (http://www.vyatta.org) for most everytime I need a router. It hasn't yet replaced my core enterprise routers, but it fits in nicely for smaller environments. This example is going to be a basic home configuration - The internet facing interface receives its address via DHCP, the internal interface is static at 10.0.0.1/24 and provides DHCP, DNS, and Proxy services. Additionally, an internal web server is published via HTTPS.
NOTE: I am using Vyatta version 6.4 which changed some of the configuration commands. Confirm the version you are running to ensure the commands are appropriate

1. Deploy the router

Deploying the router is probably the easiest step to perform, especially if you are running VMware. If your running VMware, simply go to http://www.vyatta.com/downloads/vmware_ovf.php to get the link for the latest OVF available. Import this into VMware and your good to go.

If your running some other virtualization stack (Hyper-V, Xen, etc...), you will need to install from ISO. The latest stable version can be found at http://packages.vyatta.com/vyatta/iso/stable/, just download the LiveCD, create a VM with 512MB RAM, 4GB disk, 2 NICs, and boot from the ISO. NOTE: Be careful the type of NIC chosen as not all adapters are supported by Vyatta. For Hyper-V, you have to use the Legacy Network Adapter. The default adapter type will not work
Once booted, log into the console with username/password of vyatta/vyatta. At the prompt type install system, accept the default options, allow the install to overwrite the disk, and set the password. When installed, type poweroff and remove the ISO. Power back up and your up and running.

NOTE: I find it a good step to write down the MAC addresses of the interfaces so I can easily determine which is internal and which is external.

2. Configure the interfaces

Log into the console as the vyatta user and enter configuration mode by typing configure.

Identify the interfaces
The first step needed is to determine which interface is which. We know that we will have 1 interface on the open internet, and the other interface on the trusted network - we obviously dont want to get these backwards.
While in configuration mode, type show interfaces and you will see something similar to below.

vyatta@vyatta# show interfaces
ethernet eth0 {
hw-id 00:15:5d:14:ed:2e
}
ethernet eth1 {
hw-id 00:15:5d:14:ed:2f
}
loopback lo {
}

The router sees the interfaces as eth0 and eth1 and provides the associated MAC addresses. Using the MAC addresses of the interfaces, I can determine which interface is which, and even move them based on need. In my case, eth0 is the external interface

Configure DHCP

Since our external interface will be receiving its IP address from our ISP, we configure it to use DHCP. To configure eth0 for DHCP, simply type set interfaces ethernet eth0 address dhcp

Configure Static Address
Our internal network is owned/managed by us, so we can choose to use a private addressing scheme for our systems. To configure eth1 for a static address, simply type set interfaces ethernet eth1 address 10.0.0.1/24

Commit the Changes
Whenever you make a change the the Vyatta configuration, it doesn't take effect until you commit them. Additionally, the changes aren't resilient (don't remain after reboot) until you save them.
To commit the changes, type commit
To save the changes, type save

3. Configure the services

System Names
We want to give our router a descriptive name as well as create an internal domain name. In this case I am naming it intRtr for internet router, and giving it a domain of goad.local. This gives me a unique name and domain to identify the router and other systems.
set system host-name intRtr
set system domain-name goad.local

DHCP
Next we configure the DHCP server on the router. This involves creating a pool of addresses for DHCP to use, configuring the default gateway, DNS server and domain name.

set service dhcp-server shared-network-name ETH1_POOL subnet 10.0.0.0/24 start 10.0.0.65 stop 10.0.0.199
set service dhcp-server shared-network-name ETH1_POOL subnet 10.0.0.0/24 default-router 10.0.0.1
set service dhcp-server shared-network-name ETH1_POOL subnet 10.0.0.0/24 dns-server 10.0.0.1
set service dhcp-server shared-network-name ETH1_POOL subnet 10.0.0.0/24 domain-name goad.localset service dhcp-server shared-network-name ETH1_POOL authoritative enable

DNS
Now that clients have DHCP addresses, it is time to configure the DNS server. In this case we are creating a caching DNS server that receives requests, forwards them to the external DNS server, and caches them for future reference. This speeds up recurring requests, as well as contains the configuration for easy management.

set service dns forwarding dhcp eth0
set service dns forwarding listen-on eth1

PROXY
Now we set the outbound proxy
set service webproxy listen-address 10.0.0.1
set service webproxy listen-address 10.0.0.1 disable-transparent
NOTE: This means that clients will have to configure their browsers as http://10.0.0.1:3128 to utilize the proxy

4. Configure outbound NAT for all traffic

For anything other that web traffic (or web traffic we don't want to proxy), we enable Network Address Translation.

set nat source rule 10 source address 10.0.0.0/24
set nat source rule 10 outbound-interface eth0
set nat source rule 10 translation address masquerade

5. Configure web publishing

Finally, we want to publish the web server so that when someone browses to port 443 on the external interface, it is forwarded internally.

set nat destination rule 200 destination port https
set nat destination rule 200 inbound-interface eth0
set nat destination rule 200 translation address 10.0.0.2
set nat destination rule 200 translation port https
set nat destination rule 200 protocol tcp
set interfaces ethernet eth0 firewall in name FROM-EXTERNAL
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL description "Block Unwanted Internet Traffic"
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 10 description "Accept Established-Related Connections"
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 10 action accept
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 10 state established enable
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 10 state related enable
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 20 description "Allow https"
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 20 action accept
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 20 destination address 10.0.0.2
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 20 destination port https
set firewall name FROM-EXTERNAL rule 20 protocol tcp

Thats it, commit and save and your golden

Powershell cmdlets for Hyper-V in Windows Server 8

2012-08-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to do a little lab time today and I was looking forward to working with Windows Server 8. My test lab is essentially a single Hyper-V server, and a client to access the environment. As such, I wanted to see what I could do in order to speed up my testing.

Long ago I learned that Hyper-V can create differencing disks - i.e. you create a "gold master" image of an OS, and then create one or more differencing disks based on the master image. This prevents you from having to re-install the OS everytime you rebuild your lab, but still required a good deal of clicking to build the VM and VHD appropriately.

Enter PowerShell - the way to automate everything windows. In Server 8, the built-in cmdlets are significantly better, and there is a list of available cmds at http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh848559.aspx.

I created a base install of Server 8 and sysprep'd it (c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe). Once the system shutdown, I went into the filesystem of the Hyper-V server and created a "Templates" folder and moved the new vhdx into it. Rename the file to Server8_Template.vhdx and we are all set.

To create a new Server 8 VM I need to perform two steps: 1) Create the differencing hard disk, 2) Create the VM using the harddisk. In my case the VHD's are on the E:\ drive of my Hyper-V server HyperTest
Create the differencing disk:

New-vhd "e:\vm\Virtual Hard Disks\DC1.vhdx" -ParentPath e:\vm\template\Server8_template.vhdx -computername HyperTest

Create the VM:

new-vm -Name DC1 -ComputerName HyperTest -memorystartupbytes 1073741824 -VHDPath "e:\vm\Virtual Hard Disks\DC1.vhdx" -switchname Corpnet

My testing is based off the Server 8 Test Labs (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7807.windows-server-2012-beta-test-lab-guides-en-us.aspx) and are going to use multiple Server 8 VMs. To automate multiple builds, I created a function that automates all of the necessary steps.

Function MakeServer8VM($vmName){
New-vhd "e:\vm\Virtual Hard Disks\$vmName.vhdx" -ParentPath e:\vm\template\Server8_template.vhdx -computername HyperTest
new-vm -Name $vmName -ComputerName HyperTest -memorystartupbytes 1073741824 -VHDPath "e:\vm\Virtual Hard Disks\$vmName.vhdx" -switchname Corpnet
start-vm $vmName -computername HyperTest
}

The process is exactly the same for Windows 8, just create another template and update the function to use the new template name.

The only item I havnt yet configured is enabling of Dynamic Memory in the VMs. This allows the VM to only claim the memory it needs, and grow/shrink as needed. The new-vm cmdlet doesn't seem to allow this option, so I am sure it would require an additional step in the function.

Deleting PTR records with Upper Case text

2012-07-30T12:43:00.001-07:00

I ran into an issue today where I had a DNS PTR record that I needed to delete, but couldn't. I would delete the record in the GUI without issue, but then I would refresh and the record would reappear.
A little searching and I found http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842127 that talks about a known issue in Server 2003 DNS and upper case text. I am running Server 2008, so I assumed the issue may still exist and hasn't been patched.
However, following the instructions in the KB article and using dnscmd failed to delete the record. I didn't want to try deleting the entire zone (option 2), so I was at a standstill.

A little more searching and I came across http://www.techtalkz.com/windows-help/66165-unable-delete-static-ptr-record.html, a posting discussing using ADSIEdit.msc to delete the misbehaving record. I deleted the record from AD, but it never cleared from DNS; and after waiting a few minutes, reappeared in AD.
I suddenly had an idea - if the upper case text is causing the problem, maybe ADSIEdit will allow me to edit the text. I copied the dnsRecord attribute from a known good record and overwrote my problem record. A few moments later DNS was updated and reflected the name change. Right-click and delete - the record is gone.

This wasn't an intuitive solution and I hope I don't have to perform it again, but at least I now have the necessary steps to repeat if necessary.