Dumping this here in case anyone has a similar problem.
I was trying to use Vagrant to spin up dev boxes on aws. Every time I got to the rysnc part of my day, I got the error “Warning: Unprotected Private Key File, this private key will be ignored.”
I googled a bunch and got a lot of really unhelpful answers, mostly dealing with UNIX-like environments. I also tried messing with the Windows file permissions. Fail all around. Here’s how I finally solved it:
Step 1: Install Cygwin Terminal. Find private key and look at it
$ ls -la
drwxrwx---+ 1 kellb_000 None 0 Jun 25 12:51 .
drwxrwx---+ 1 Administrators SYSTEM 0 Jun 25 13:11 ..
-rw-rw----+ 1 kellb_000 None 1696 Jun 25 12:50 Vagrant.pem
Step 2: Chmod file to something more restrictive.
$ chmod 400 Vagrant.pem
$ ls -la
drwxrwx---+ 1 kellb_000 None 0 Jun 25 12:51 .
drwxrwx---+ 1 Administrators SYSTEM 0 Jun 25 13:11 ..
-r--r-----+ 1 kellb_000 None 1696 Jun 25 12:50 Vagrant.pem
Gee that’s odd, that gave it 440, not the 400 I asked for. Oh, hm, it doesn’t have a group. That’s odd. Let’s give it one and try again.
$ chgrp SYSTEM Vagrant.pem
$ chmod 400 Vagrant.pem
drwxrwx---+ 1 kellb_000 None 0 Jun 25 12:51 .
drwxrwx---+ 1 Administrators SYSTEM 0 Jun 25 13:11 ..
-r--------+ 1 kellb_000 SYSTEM 1696 Jun 25 12:50 Vagrant.pem
Much better. I then tried bringing up the vagrant box, and success! At least, until it failed for entirely unrelated reasons. Hooray.
I made kale chips for the first time this week. It seemed simple enough: tear leaves into bite-sized bits, coat in olive oil and salt, bake on a cookie sheet. And for the most part it went as planned.
I made two mistakes though: first, I allowed some of the leaves to overlap. This resulted in them just coming out oily and gross anywhere there was overlap. But more importantly: I did not measure my salt. I “eyeballed” it. And I ended up with something that is better suited as slug killer than a food.
I tried eating them but they were just too salty. After a few days I gave up and threw them out, not having any slugs in need of killing.
The rest of this week’s CSA usage was pretty uninspired: more steamed veggies with ginger sauce and saag. Both are easy ways to use veggies that require very little planning. I’ve vowed to try a new recipe with our next share.
Training for my upcoming 10k is going really well. I had two new running workouts this week: a day of 8×2 speed work and a steady 6 mile run. Both seemed very intimidating going into them but I did them both. The speed work was hard, I ran fast for two minutes then slow for 2 minutes, 8 times, with a mile warm up and cool down.
Where I run, as seen from the highway
My 6 mile run was on a treadmill because it’s been so humid and I needed a break. It was also a good time to focus on my form since I didn’t have to worry about pace. I did it in an hour and 12 minutes, so I’m well on my way to building the endurance I need for the race. My target time is 1:05, but my training plan has me working up to hour and a half long runs in preparation.
I’m also getting my first running blister, on the very tip of one of my toes. Some cursory googling indicates this might be due to “pushing off” with my toes when I run, so that’s one more think to focus on when I think about my form.
I’m really excited to have snagged a bib for the Philly 10k in September! I’ve joined the Fairmount Park Conservancy charity team, and we’re raising money towards the trail restoration project at Belmont Plateau. I’m asking friends and family to support me by donating to the Fairmount Park Conservancy.
For those not familiar with the Fairmount Park system, it’s made up of many parks throughout the city both large and small. I most often run in two of the larger parks: the 1400 acre Wissahickon Valley Park, a beautiful forested area surrounding the Wissahickon Creek, and in the 4100 acre Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River. By comparison New York’s central park is a mere 843 acres. The Fairmount Park Conservancy works with the city Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain and improve all 63 parks in the Fairmount Park System.
Aside from being a great place to run and bike, our local vegetable CSA is grown on land owned by Fairmount Park. I feel incredibly lucky to live in a city with such a wonderful park system so near by.
From my run in Wissahickon Valley
This run will be my first 10k. Previously my longest run at any speed was just over 3 miles, and a 10k is 6.2 miles long. I’ll be spending my summer increasing both my distance and my speed by following a 4 day a week running plan. By the end of the plan I hope to be able to run the 10k in under 65 minutes!
Help Support Fairmount Parks!
Fairmount Park is such an integral part of my fitness and wellness and I am very proud to be part of their fundraising team for the Philly 10k. Please consider supporting both me and the parks by donating on my fundraising page. Our team goal is $5000, but every dollar is extremely appreciated.
As of early June I’m a few weeks into my running training. I’ll be posting on Facebook and Twitter about my running, but I’ll also be updating my blog with my progress. You can see all my Philly 10k training posts at this page, or just click the “exercise” link in the navigation.
Thank You
Thank you so much to my friends and family who have supported me thus far as I slowly become “a runner.” When I started running three years ago I couldn’t make it down the block without wheezing. It took a number of false starts to complete my first 5k. Now I’m up to 5 mile runs, and looking forward to running my first 10k. It’s only through your incredible support that I’ve made it this far, thank you so much.
When I was in Boston recently my vegetarian friend dragged me to Life Alive, a place so crunchy I thought my husband would run out screaming. I ordered what was basically a giant plate of steamed veggies over quinoa, served with THE MOST AMAZING SAUCE EVER. Oh my god. So delicious. I will eat every vegetable if you just GIVE ME MORE OF THE SAUCE.
Ahem. So since I live nowhere near Boston (also I think Life Alive is maybe in Cambridge?) I was incredibly glad to find this recipe for a tastealike sauce. Armed with a big batch of the sauce (I made 4x the recipe and stored it for later), a steamer basket, and a rice cooker I now have a super healthy lunch option.
The best thing about this recipe is that it makes a really good take-to-work option. Just make the quinoa & sauce beforehand and keep them in the fridge. Then grab a steam-in-bag of your favorite mixed veggies from the freezer case. Put some of the sauce in one of those tiny 1oz tupperwares and you’ve got yourself a microwave meal fit for a king.
I used this to put a dent in my CSA veggies, and it was both delicious and filling. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand in place of what I used. I like to throw in a handful of raw mixed greens at the end for crunch.
Steamed Veggies with Quinoa and Ginger Sauce
For the ginger sauce:
1 thumb sized peice of peeled ginger, cut into chunks
2 cloves minced garlic. Confession: I use the jarred stuff.
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon’s worth)
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
For the rest of it:
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 carrot, cut into 1/4″ slices
5 green onions, cut into 1″ pieces
4 turnips, cut into quarters
2-3 leaves mustard greens, chopped
a handful of salad greens
Ginger Sauce
As written this makes 3-4 servings. I recommend making a big batch of this ahead of time and storing it in the fridge. It should be fine for at least a week. You may need to add a little water and shake it up when it’s time to use it.
Blend ginger and garlic in a small food processor. Add soy sauce, lemon juice, tahihi, olive oil, and water. Store in an airtight container or bottle.
Quinoa and Veggies
I also recommend making the quiona ahead of time. I like to make a cup (uncooked) at a time which is enough for four lunches and store it in the fridge. I nuke the quinoa while the veggies are steaming.
Cook the quinoa according to the package directions, or in a rice cooker at a 1:1 quinoa to water ratio.
In a pot with a steamer basket, boil water. Add carrots and radishes to steamer basket. Let steam for 5 minutes, then add onions and mustard greens. Steam 4 more minutes or until carrots are nice and soft.
Mix together steamed veggies, quinoa, and fresh salad greens in a bowl. Add 2-3 spoonfuls of ginger sauce (a little goes a long way!) and mix thoroughly.
It’s time for round 2 of CSA WTF! Here’s the first recipe. This week’s CSA brought us:
collared greens
mustard greens
bok choy
radishes
salad mix
a head of lettuce
fresh oregano
salvia flowers
I’m not really sure what to call this dish. It’s based off the filling from a stuffed peppers recipe I like, but only very loosely. Basically you make some rice, brown some meat, cook some veggies in oil / seasoning, then mix it all together with a soft cheese. It’s a good balance of healthy and tasty. You can add in any other vegetables you’d like to use up, and it still comes out delicious.
I made it up as I went along, so measurements are approximate. Items in italics came from my CSA this week.
3/4 cup brown rice
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
4 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/4 C green onions
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 lime (optional)
1 bunch collared greens, chopped with stems removed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 oz goat or feta cheese
Cook rice according to package directions, or in a rice cooker.
In a small pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and brown the turkey (about 8 minutes).
While turkey is cooking, in a second pan heat remaining 2 tbsp oil. Add green onions, basil, and Italian seasoning. Cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add collard greens and any other vegetables you fancy. Squeeze lime juice over greens (or don’t). Add salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes or until greens are soft. Add turkey to veggies and mix together.
Remove the turkey mixture from heat and mix in cheese. Add rice and serve immediately.
This made enough for two people, plus a little leftover for lunch. We are very hungry people, so it could probably serve 4 normal people.
As a bonus I made a little arrangement of flowers with the salvia and a zinnia from my garden. Also pictured is a tiny succulent we got as a wedding favor.
This post is the first in what may or may not become a series about what I do with my CSA veggies each week.
CSA season is upon us! With it comes a variety of vegetables (mostly kale) that I must figure out what to do with before they go bad. On our inaugural pickup the following vegetables were bestowed upon me:
1 head lettuce
1 bunch kale
1 bunch mustard greens
1 bunch green onions (aka scallions)
1 head bok choy
~3 oz misc salad greens
Oh hey it’s salad week! Too bad I never remember to make salad ever. Instead I decided to head the vegetables off at the pass and make something resembling saag. The general recipe I use for saag is thusly:
half pound of bitter greens (kale, mustard greens, etc)
half pound of mild greens (spinach, bok choy, lettucs)
half a stick of butter (1/4 cup)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 green chili pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
In a big skillet or wok, melt butter. Add cumin, chili pepper, garlic, and tumeric. Cook for 2 minutes. Add greens a handful at a time, stirring and allowing the greens to wilt a bit between each handful. Add coriander and salt. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
The first time I made this I mixed in some hard boiled egg at the end for protein. The second time I browned some chicken and threw that in there. Both were delicious.
Having made this recipe twice I’m now down to just the green onions left from this week’s CSA share. Tomorrow they will join the green peppers languishing in the crisper to become stuffed peppers.
I’ve done a little bit of sewing lately, nothing too crazy but a few new projects.
We got a wagon seat from my parents, it was my mom’s in college, and are using it for a toy box. It’s so nice to have all the toddler toys away. The cushion for it was a little sad so I made a new one using foam and fabric from Joann’s. The foam is pretty pricey normally but I was able to use a 40% off coupon. I even sewed a zipper in the back! There are still a few items that don’t fit in it, but it’s a great improvement over the pile of toys we had before.
Next I made a baby onesie out of one of my old T-shirts. The pattern claims it’s a 6 month size, but I think I printed it wrong because it looks like it would fit my two year old. The design is on the back and I used some scrap black knit fabric for the binding. I’m borrowing a friend’s serger and still getting the hang of using it.
I ordered a bunch of spandex to make running/circus tights, but now that it’s getting hot my desire to sew long pants is waning. Also my desire to serge compound curves in stretch material is approximately zero regardless of the weather.
The onesie pattern came from here and for the cushion I used the zipper tutorial here.
Costumes for aerial silks have some very specific requirements. Outfits must be skin tight as any loose fabric can get easily caught. They need to be made of fairly strong fabric to withstand the silks (which are really nylon) rubbing against them. And of course I need a full range of movement, nothing stiff or restricting.
Test pants, with stripes!
My first attempt was to hand-sew conductive thread into a pair of store bought running tights. This failed for three reasons:
The conductive thread, sewing with a running stitch, kept shorting out when I sweat
Having an electrical short across your leg means you’re being mildly electrocuted
Because the thread doesn’t stretch at all three of my lines snapped the first time I tried to climb and invert
The next idea was to machine stitch the conductive thread in a zig-zag. Since I only have a standard free-arm sewing machine this meant I would have to make my own pants from scratch.
After 2 different patterns and 5 different pairs of test tights I had something I liked the fabric and fit of. I went with Fehr Trade’s PB Jam Leggings and JoAnn Fabrics’ Sew Classic Spandex. The PB Jam pattern runs a little small compared to what I’m used to, I’m a US size 6 and I found the XS size was the best fit for me.
The best way I found to deal with the conductive thread was to couch it to the pants fabric using a zigzag stitch. I sewed the side seams of each pant leg and then drew on all the traces. One by one I very tediously sewed the conductive thread onto the pants, leaving a long tail at each end for hand sewing the electrical components in place.
The circuit itself is very basic. There is a PWM twinkle sequence which starts off a new twinkle every half-second. For the sake of simplicity I only wired up one axis of the accelerometer, and tried to trigger a twinkle every time it detected movement. Unfortunately I never really got it working right, it was always too sensitive or not sensitive enough. I ended up pulling it out of the design. One less thing to deal with.
There were a few spots where it was impossible not to cross wires. Since conductive thread isn’t insulated I had to use a small scrap of fabric to make a little bridge for the wire to safely cross over.
Once I had the leads roughed in I stitched the front, back, and leg inseams. I confess I didn’t hem the bottoms, but I should have. From there I began the joyously tedious task of sewing in the LEDs and Lilypad. Each connection was secured with a lot of Fray-Check.
The LilyPad Arduino is sewn to the inside of the waistline, front and center, along with the power board. This was a poor choice of placement, because I can’t actually reach it with a leotard on over it. Turning on my pants was not a graceful endeavor. The whole thing is powered by a tiny 300 mAh battery which I just tucked into my underwear.
The first time I tried on the pants it was obvious they were extremely prone to shorting out. I took fabric paint to the most obvious offenders, scotch taped down a few more spots, but ultimately had to accept that without completely insulating the wires it was just going to be part of the game. Future versions of these tights will use flexible insulated wire rather than conductive thread. Either that or casing the conductive thread inside some bias tape piping.
Because of the hard life these pants would lead I needed to wear a pair of footless tights on top of them. This protected them (sort of) against abrasion from the silks.
Here’s a video of the pants with some maroon tights worn over them.
Despite the tendency to short out, they held up pretty well in performance. Not perfect, but enough that people could get the idea.
Below is a video of my act, the music is a mashup by PomDeter.
Overall I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, but looking forward to improving upon the design in the next version.
It’s been more than two months since I hard reset my eating habits and started teaching myself to cook. Some friends have started asking me about my diet, and while I am not a nutritionist and this is not meant to be a plan for you to follow. I’m happy to share what’s working for me.
I started writing down everything I ate
Some people can’t stand this part, and I don’t blame them, but for me it was the only way to figure out what I needed to change. In the process of simply recording what I was eating I found I was less likely to eat junk food, because I didn’t want to have to log it. I focus mostly on staying withing my my macronutrient balance (carbs vs fat vs protein vs sugar) than counting calories.
I logged pretty religiously for about a month. Yes, it was tedious. I entered in recipes to calculate the nutritional information, pulled it up from restaurant websites when I ate out, and estimated when I had to. Now that I’ve developed better habits I don’t log as much, but I still track my eating 3-4 days per week.
What I’m not eating (and drinking)
In a lot of ways, this is more important than the stuff I am eating.
I cut way down on sugar, both added sugar and the stuff that occurs in fruits and veggies. After the first phase of “cut out junk food” I started tracking my sugar intake and even then I was still getting more than 100 grams of sugar each day. I don’t really want to think about how much I was getting before. Now I try to stay under 50g.
I eat out a lot less. Before I started this process, I was eating out or getting takeout 5+ times per week. Now I cook fresh meals for dinner and eat leftovers for lunch. I try to limit my meals out to one dinner and one lunch per week.
I don’t drink my calories. One can of coke has 33g of sugar (out of my daily 50). Not worth it. This goes double for most of the drinks at Starbucks. I’m trying to wean myself off of Diet Coke, because I don’t think the artificial sweeteners are doing me any favors either, but that one is going to be a longer battle.
I curbed my drinking. Aside from the large amounts of calories and sugar in many alcoholic drinks, there is some evidence that alcohol inhibits muscle growth. I now limit myself to 1-2 drinks per week, and drink mostly hard liquor on the rocks (which doesn’t come swimming in sugar and I tend to drink it more slowly than beer).
For breakfast, which I eat after my workout, I try to get in a good amount of protein and fiber. I keep a bowl full of hard boiled eggs in the fridge, and might pair that with half a cup of high fiber cereal for a quick breakfast. I also cook quinoa and keep it in the fridge, it can be mixed with fruit if I want something sweet, and is also delicious with a soft boiled egg. If we have egg whites handy I might make a big batch of egg white muffins and grab a few of those.
Lunch is almost exclusively leftovers from another night’s dinner, although occasionally I’ll make myself a salad if I happen to have spinach on hand. Every few weeks I’ll make a big batch of kale minestrone or sad vegetable soup and freeze it in individual portions for a lunch I can grab on the way out the door.
For dinner, I cook from scratch 3 days a week, eat leftovers two more days, and then on weekends we usually eat out on Saturday and have pizza at grandmom’s on Sunday. I plan my meals on the weekend and try to have a good balance of lean meats and vegetarian dishes. I look at the recipe nutrition information and look for meals that are well balanced rather than overloaded with any one macronutrient (e.g. fat, sugar, carbs). Some of my standby recipes include:
I try to keep at least 2 meals worth of ready-to-bake food in the freezer at all times. I follow the guidelines in the book Don’t Panic, Dinner’s In the Freezer, although I usually modify the recipes as they tend to be very heavy as written. These meals are prepared and then frozen (uncooked or partially cooked) and just need to be popped in the oven for a brain dead meal. This has rescued me from a night of “I’m tired, let’s just order in” on many occasions.
The turkey chili recipe is great because aside from the ground turkey, which can be frozen, all the ingredients are canned / nonperishable. I keep one recipe’s worth on hand for weeks when I don’t get to the grocery store. In general, my diet strategy involves a lot of planning ahead when I have time so that I don’t make unhealthy choices when I don’t.
Snacktime
I avoid snacking between meals unless I’m absolutely starving. Most of the time when I want a snack I’m really just bored, and I’ll make myself some tea if I just need an excuse to get up and move around. I know I’m really hungry when I feel my energy levels plummet, or when even a handful of raw cabbage sounds delicious. Favorite snacks include the low sugar flavors of KIND bars, greek yogurt (none of the high sugar fruit flavors though), raw veggies, or a hard boiled egg. Mostly though I try to eat enough at meals that I don’t feel the need to snack.
Junk Food and Dining Out
There is, and always will be, a special place in my heart for sugary carbs like cupcakes, brownies, ice cream, and candy bars. I have by no means completely eliminated these from my diet, but I do pay a lot more attention to how much I’m eating and when. On days when I know I’ll be indulging in some cake (say, every Sunday at grandmom’s because it is always someone’s birthday) I am careful to avoid junk food and sugar at other meals.
At restaurants I steer towards lighter fare, but don’t go too nuts with restrictions. Limiting the frequency of meals out goes a long way here. If I’m being good I’ll skip the appetizer, order a salad, and try to eat a reasonable amount of food regardless of the restaurant portion size. But sometimes it is just worth it to eat a burrito the size of my head, and that’s why I eat carefully the rest of the week.
Eating healthy is great but this burrito makes life worth living.
When I plan in advance I don’t find it hard to stick within my daily allotment of calories, fat, and sugar while enjoying a slice of cake or a burrito the size of my head.
Room for Improvement
I’m still working to develop good habits, and probably always will be. I need to work to incorporate more fresh veggies, and learn to navigate appetizers and cocktail parties a little better. I will destroy a cheese plate if given half the chance. While I’m good about not drinking at home or when we go out, I am practically incapable of turning down a craft beer or nice glass of wine when offered. By eating healthy at home I can enjoy this stuff without completely blowing my plan, but I would like to feel a little more in control of these situations going forward.
