chuck goolsbee – chuck.goolsbee.org

TL;DR: It’s always DNS.

Had a really weird problem pop up two days ago. The Roku we use to watch streaming TV stopped working. Netflix, Amazon, HBO, whatever, just ceased functioning properly. What was really weird is that on my laptop I could stream without issue. At first I thought the Roku itself was “broken” (and by broken, I mean some sort of configuration or software issue. I will spare you the details of my troubleshooting steps, but suffice to say, I tried everything I could think of. I started a support ticket with Roku and as per usual it had to jump through many many hoops at lower level support staff to convince them that I really needed to talk to one of their upper level support staff. This wasn’t a simple problem and I’m not your typical home user. I spent a career building and managing significant components of the Internet. (I used to joke that I don’t work on network devices unless they cost more than my house. Which, for a few decades was true. I wrote and tuned BGP configs for AS11739 on a pair of routers that retailed for close to a $mil in 2002 dollars.)

I finally was escalated to a woman in top level support at Roku and after speaking with her for ninety plus minutes she gave up completely and tried to blame it on my ISP. Why? Because my “speed test” results were in the 8mb/6mb range. She claimed that that is “too slow” for streaming to work(!) Yes, I live just west of the middle of nowhere with a point-to-point 802.11 connection to an antenna atop one of the Cline Buttes which is a fair distance away, but…

We have never had an issue like this before, and we frequently watch two TVs simultaneously, and one of them is showing a live hockey game! Besides, how is my laptop showing Netflix with no issues and the Roku can’t even connect to Netflix? Also, our phone conversation is going over the same network!! But this woman refused to go any further because my “network is too slow”.

I refuse to believe that this was the problem, and basically told her to pound sand. I would figure it out on my own. But, just to be sure I opened a ticket with my ISP specifically asking if they could get on a call with me and troubleshoot it with visibility from both sides of the connection. THANKFULLY I am such an old phart stick in the mud network guy that I refuse to use a legacy telco or cableco for my Internet connection. I use a small, locally owned ISP that has people working there that give a fsck about their customers and don’t treat me like an idiot. I spoke to a front line tech and explained what was going on and he handed me off to their Network Manager and we had a very successful troubleshooting session.

I started the session by literally turning off every single device on our home network, except my laptop, and phone. I had a notion that one device locally perhaps was causing some “network weather” (broadcast storm, been compromised and is part of a DDoS, whatever) so best to eliminate as many variables as possible to begin sorting out the problem.

What caused us to trip over the solution was me, realizing that my laptop connection goes through a VPN by default (something I forgot because it just happens without me having to do anything unless I want to switch the VPN endpoints. Usually I am connected to Seattle, but when I travel sometimes I change that to better manage my connection bandwidth.) Sure enough when I dropped off the VPN my laptop had the same issue as the Roku had been showing. Lightbulb goes off in the ISP guy’s head and we check my router’s DNS configuration. Sure enough SOMEHOW both of the resolvers IP addresses had been deprecated. I’ve been running this configuration for over a decade and probably one of the IPs was not working for a while, but the other finally shut down acting as a resolver the day before. So I re-entered new server IP’s into the config (one from my ISP and another from a public domain name service) and presto! Everything works again.

Now my only problem is rebuilding the Roku’s configuration after one of the troubleshooting steps was a full factory reset.

Anyway, it’s always DNS.

Website Downtime.

The local electrical Co-Op is doing scheduled maintenance on the substation that serves our little town just west of the middle of nowhere. Our power will go off at midnight and be back on by 4 am on October 16. Of course, I am two states away for a work trip, and I bet my little UPS won’t handle this well. Who knows how long it will be down because I am away for two weeks!

If it is back up again that’s because I successfully talked my “remote hands” (aka Dr Goolsbee, the amazing Veterinarian, but definitely not techie person) through the process. If not, then you can’t read this.

Knee Update: Culmination

I finished Physical Therapy and had a final* post-op appointment with my surgeon. My range of motion has returned to a tiny bit better than what it was pre-op, which is around 4°—110°. I would like to keep working on improving it but it has stopped being the limits of post-op swelling and more the limits of pre-op soft tissue extension. That is going to take time. I need to keep walking and biking in the short term. My leg strength is finally coming back due to some gym time.

Linda and I went to Palm Springs last weekend to visit her brother-in-law and I spent quite a bit of time swimming. I feel really good in the water and swear my RoM was better submerged than on land. Who knows?

The real test will arrive in late November when ski season begins. Stay tuned.

*I still have to visit my surgeon at the one year mark so not completely done with him.

Knee Progress.

https://vimeo.com/1104162416

“Look at me, I’m clipped in!”

It’s taken almost two and a half months to get here, but I finally have the range of motion to clip into my recumbent bike’s right pedal, and stay that way throughout a ride. I’ve been able to clip for short stretches of road, usually uphills and by shifting up/back in the seat of the bike. But now I can clip after a short warmup and just stay in for the duration of the ride.

My Physical Therapist says this will accelerate my progress quite a bit, so I try to ride at least 30 minutes a day. Sometimes with Ripley, sometimes alone. I meet with my doctor on August 6th and am really trying to avoid another procedure on the knee and just keep working it through exercise, and PT. Wish me luck!

https://vimeo.com/1104162416

Knee Update

So, with the threat of an “MUA” from my surgeon I’ve doubled down on my PT to improve my range of motion. Progress has been made! I can finally pedal a bike so I have gone on morning rides every day that I can. Some days I bring Ripley the Aussie Shepherd along because she has energy to burn. Dottie the Corgi is not ready for bike work (yet). The bike riding (and soaking/bending in the hot tub) have done wonders for my range of motion. I went from being “stuck” around an 80° bend to 110° at my most recent PT appointment. I think the doc won’t be happy until I am at 120° so I’m keeping at it.

I can’t clip in with my bike cleats on my right foot yet (not enough bend at the apex of the stroke) but I’m getting closer every day.

I’m also back at the gym. It is amazing what two months of being sedentary does to muscles at my age. It’s like starting over again.

The plan is to be back on the slopes in November.

Nick & Izzy

No update on my knee from last week, sorry, but I have a good excuse: we were in Portland for Nick & Izzy’s wedding. It was a delightful, intimate, and beautiful day. The ceremony was held on the summit of Mt. Tabor, and the reception at the amazing restaurant Coquine at the bottom of the hill. When I met Linda (10 years ago!) she lived on the east side of Mt. Tabor just a few blocks from Coquine. We had a date there very early in our relationship. Turns out so did Nick & Izzy, who met in 2017 when Nick was living in Linda’s house there. They really wanted to share that dining experience with their guests for their wedding.

Linda & I rented an AirBnB very close by on Belmont Ave and it was our base of operations for the long weekend. We had a lovely dinner at Dolly Olive downtown, with the happy couple and Izzy’s parents. I did my best Charlie Goolsbee and brought an old Italian wine (2001 from Ghemme) and served alongside a bottle of Barolo from the restaurant’s list. It was fun and worked great with the family style Italian dinner. We have known Izzy’s family having spent many Thanksgivings with them on the coast. But here we are becoming officially family!

Speaking of family it was wonderful to have both my boys together in the same place (Nick lives in PDX, Chris is in Chicago, and I’m in Redmond). I picked Chris up at the airport and we had a couple of meals together just he & I over the wedding weekend.

If you recall I practiced climbing up to the top of the long stairs on Mt. Tabor a few weeks ago, but found out a few days later that they planned to rent a big van and I was to be the shuttle bus driver for the event.

Yours truly taking the empty bus down the hill to pick up the next group.

Yes, I learned how to tie a bow tie, finally, at the age of 61. The weather was perfect and I successfully brought three van loads of wedding guests to the event.

There were two professional photographers so for the entirety of the show I kept my phone in my jacket pocket and just enjoyed it. Izzy’s sister Beth was the officiant and did a stellar job. Afterwards I resumed shuttle service down to Coquine, but did have to participate in family photos.

Me, plus my brother in law Jay with my little sister Mary Pat.

The dinner reception at Coquine was absolutely amazing and incredibly delicious. Katy and her staff in the kitchen presented a multi-course menu of delicious food. Ksandek paired these with an amazing selection of wines.

Ksandek pouring Champagne for the newlyweds.

We shared a table with my sister and her husband Jay, and Beth’s in-laws that we know well from Thanksgivings together in Manzanita, and Izzy’s parents Janice & Kim. There were four speakers spread between the dinner courses, Allison (a friend of Nick’s from Oregon State University), Nick’s mom Sue, Myself, and Izzy’s Dad Kim. I stood in for my parents, telling the story of my mother Carol and her giving her engagement ring to Nick to give to Izzy. I won’t repeat the tale here, but I wanted to share it with those closest to the couple as some Goolsbee family lore.

It was wonderful and I am very happy for Nick, as Izzy is such a great person for him to spend his life together with. She is a welcome addition to our family.

The day after I spent the morning with Chris, who delivered a gift that he brought to me from his last trip to Japan. He is going again in a few weeks. I hope I can get to Chicago to see him and ideally a hockey game before the year ends. Nick & Izzy are heading off to Europe in a few weeks for their honeymoon. London, Paris, & Amsterdam if I recall correctly. We will probably see them again soon. The drive home back over the mountains was fine, with all the holiday weekend traffic going the opposite direction.

Eight Weeks Post-Op

Saw my Orthopedic surgeon yesterday for a post op visit. He lifted all restrictions on my activities. So I can finally travel, swim, hot tub, and get back to the gym. So I immediately hit the gym and started leg work again. I have lost so much strength from being inactive for the past two months – to the point that I’m worried.

He also re-upped my PT regimen because he feels my range of motion isn’t where it should be by this point. Of course my pre-op range of motion was terrible, but I haven’t even returned to that point yet. I’m going to see him again in six weeks and if it hasn’t improved by then he will do something called “manipulation under anesthesia” which just by the sound of it, I want to avoid.

I’m hoping some hot tub time will assist with getting some flexibility into my right leg. My PT folks have really helped and I know they can get me to next 20° RoM.

Wish me luck.