Uncategorized – Suited Up Geek

Striving to make better use of time

April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 suitedup Leave a comment

Time. We’ve only got so much of it right? I found myself wondering about that recently when sat in an airport with my two kids. I’d just spent a week in Spain with them and had a pretty wonderful time all around and at the end of it I was definitely yearning for more. As we munched through a burger waiting for our gate to come up they were both stuck in their iPads. Fairly standard behaviour in this generation of young people and let’s face it, with me as an inspiration it’s hardly surprising.
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Open Relay Hunter

July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 suitedup Leave a comment

Sounds dramatic doesn’t it?

Inevitably as part of working for any Internet Service Provider, you’re going to run up against people who are using servers but maybe aren’t quite paying attention. It’s a bit like driving up the M6. The vast majority of people are in their lanes, they indicate, they maneuver sensibly. Then … every few miles … yeah, you know the type. They wobble, they admire themselves in a mirror, and before you know it you’re sitting in a queue of traffic whilst the rest of the world tries to figure out how it happened.

It happens to the best of us and anyone who says their servers are completely secure are kidding themselves on. Each and every day new vulnerabilities and insecurities are coming to light and it’s as important as ever that you’re patching your servers and sniffing them for open ports. Unsecured (or worse, deliberately mis-configured) services running on servers are responsible for some of the most significant Internet slowdowns in recent history. They’re innocuous too. SMTP. Everyone sends email how can that be worrying? DNS. The Internet doesn’t really work without it, that can’t be dangerous? SSL. It’s specifically to keep us safe isn’t it!?

You’d think so huh? Wrong. Have a read at some of the more interesting stories:

Insanity … The End. Or is it?

February 5, 2013June 15, 2016 suitedup Leave a comment

I’ve mulled over this post for a few days in my head. No cheesy pictures or straplines. I”ve not been quite sure how to write it up or indeed draw a line under one of the most dramatic periods in my life. As corny as that may sound it’s undeniable at this stage. I never expected to be where I am now.

The final few weeks

At time of writing my last post, I had around two and a bit weeks to go. Those were without a doubt two of the most physically draining and demanding weeks I’ve ever experienced. I dropped a further two kilograms between writing Day 47 and completing the workout schedule. I finished on 87.9 kilograms. Total weight loss? 11.9 kilograms. A little under two stone. By this stage people who didn’t know I was doing this were asking me if I was feeling OK or if I had been dieting. I can’t lie, I struggled to contain my delight on more than one occasion.

I’ve gone from a pot bellied weakling to … well … a still ever so slightly pot bellied weakling who can hold his own weight for around 5 seconds and can do 12-15 pushups without stopping. I couldn’t do 3 without falling in a heap before.

I’ve had to buy new jeans, t-shirts, work shirts … the whole lot. Around 4 inches off my waist, half an inch off my neck, 3 inches off my thighs. To paraphrase the multi-billion dollar fruit shaped monster …

This Changed Everything.

Insanity Day 38: Hearts on Fire (FREE bonus Rocky IV Montage!)

January 7, 2013June 15, 2016 suitedup Leave a comment

I shit you not. This is how I’ve felt for the past 3 days. Training to fight Ivan God Damn Drago.

Three days into Month Two and my calves, quads, shoulder and upper arm muscles are stiff as … well a stiff thing. I’ll leave the rest of that up to your imagination! I had spent the “Recovery Week” trying really hard not to think about month two, I had read lots and indeed plenty of people had told me that the difficulty ramped up significantly. I was desperately hoping they were wrong … they were right. The best way I can describe it, is to go back to Day 1 and multiply that feeling of “oh holy fuck what am I doing” by about 10.

That said, at the end of today when I did the “Max Cardio Conditioning” I could start to feel my body reacting. The aches went away as the muscles warmed up and I found myself really pushing into it. So much so that a large bump on the floor had me thinking the front door had gone. A groan from the good lady told me otherwise and I went back to slaughtering myself!