We got Google Fiber installed a couple weeks ago, shortly after it became available in the neighborhood. It has been great. There’s still some construction going on at the mouth of my neighborhood and it has caused one overnight outage… But that’s understandable.
What’s not understandable is why my sprinkler system stopped working at about the same time they installed the fiber…
Ok - so I can guess what happened. The fiber trench was run, then a few days later the sprinkler system was scheduled to run, but it did not. The trench for the fiber runs up to the house right next to where the sprinkler system control lines run into the ground. The trench crosses an area where the lines must run from the front into the backyard.
Just yesterday I smoked some lamb, and today I’m starting a pork butt for a get-together tomorrow night. 14.2 lbs at $2.29/lb from Costco. I’ll use 1.5 cups dust and 2.5 Tbsp salt, similar to last time.
2015: started the smoker with hickory chips at 225℉
2050: meat is on the smoker! And it’s actually set to 225℉ this time. Marked probe is on top.
We got 4.2 lbs of lamb chops from Costco because they were out of lamb legs. I plan to just try the regular recipe with a little less salt than last time.
Rub is:
8 cloves of garlic
3 Tbsp sea salt
2 Tbsp pepper
1.5 tsp oregano
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary (from the garden!)
4 Tbsp olive oil
Put it all in the food processor then paint it on the lamb, then put it on the smoker at 275℉ (was supposed to be 250℉ but I screwed up) until it hits 160℉.
AWS Lambdas are some of the original “serverless computing” implementations. These little bits of code run when you hit an API endpoint, taking whatever inputs you provide and returning the output. They can be written in many programming languages, including my favorite: Python 3.
So I wondered - could I use this to build a simple little proxy at a URL? Why not, right? They can run any Python code… If I wanted to, I could use the result to evade perimeter firewalls that might be blocking many arbitrary destination hosts, but not AWS assets. It’s not uncommon for enterprises to block sites based on host or URL, but most still need users to be able to get work done. AWS is infrastructure that powers many other sites - so I suspect that most organizations have to let it get through.
This is the day for smoking corned beef! My parents are in town and it’s almost St Patty’s Day, so corned beef is the perfect thing to make. It’s easy and we all like it. Normally I boil it or bake it, baking it being my favorite way to make it so far… This time we’ll try smoking it, to which I’ve heard makes it fantastic.
This brisket was 16.6 lbs, $3.49 per pound, from Costco.
0730: started trimming. I’ve separated the point and flat again, so I expect this to be done around dinner time, although I’ll probably have to pump up the temperature around 1300.
0815: 4 tbsp salt, 4 pepper, 2 garlic powder
0830: on the smoker at 225℉.
1230: 173℉ and 177℉, which I would guess is past the stall
1400: 174℉ and 178℉, so still going slow. I upped the temperature to 275℉.
I’ll use almost the same setup as last time but .5 Tbsp less salt (only 3.5 Tbsp), I only have 6 cloves of garlic, and I don’t have fresh rosemary so I’m using the dry stuff. Plus, I’m using apple wood.
1120: started smoking!
1420: meat is at 157℉ according to the probe, and Thermapen says that’s my lowest temperature in the meat… Time to come off! Only 3 hours. Now I’m planning to do salmon so I set the temperature to 120℉ and try to cool the smoker off.
Time for a very COVID-19 Thanksgiving, and that means a break with family, a break with friends, a break with tradition. That means - Thanksgiving brisket!
I’m not sure why but almost everyone I ask is doing brisket instead of turkey. Ok, I am sure why… If nobody is coming over that expects turkey, then why make it? I don’t love turkey. I love chicken. I love ostrich (no joke, ostrich steaks are great).
I’ve been a Roku user for years. They were one of the original streaming boxes you could plug into your TV. Before I became one I debated over Mac Mini vs dedicated device… As a programmer - I love the ability to have complete (-ish) control over a device that’s outputting to a device so central to the home as a TV. As a person who pays an energy bill - I love something that sips less electricity in-general, like a more-dedicated device. Plus, the interface of the dedicated device is simpler than that for a Mac Mini.
