I came across discounted Grassology seeds 3 weeks ago on Ebay. It would cost me less than half the price of regular grass seeds, so even if they didn't do all the things "As Seen on TV" promises, it'd still be cheap for just grass seeds. With 3 out of 5 stars overall on its Amazon reviews, I assumed that I would at least be able to get grass out of them.

Well, it's been about a week (I know, grass won't grow that fast, Grassology or not), but I've not seen any signs of life. I've also been reading reviews about these seeds. It seems like it would benefit from some soil cover. So I took some from an old tree pot that someone left at my house when I bought this place and threw it over my seeds. I've been watering at least daily with my Rachio. I've had good success with Scotts EZ-Seeds over the summer, but that stuff is $$$. I'm hoping my Grassology + some soil will work just as well.

Lessons Learned today:

• Nitrogen rich organics + Carbon rich organics mixed in together, add water, provide aeration and heat == Compost. 
  

I am ready. The white bucket already has some orange peels, dried leaves, twigs, coffee grinds... I flip it over once a day. Let's see if I get some signs of composting happening.

Presentation Day

I gave a company wide Technical Presentation today. It was the first one of the year after a two week break. Did not go the way it was planned, but it was delivered and the folks that help setup the presentation did a fantastic job of pulling threw, even if one of them did have to hold the mic for me while I typed. :)

Lessons Learned today:

• Think carefully before deciding to be the first person to present after a company wide 2 week break. We were kind of rusty in equipment setup (i.e. couldn't locate the mic stand).
• If planning to use a Lapel microphone, wear a collared shirt.
• The back of the MetroLink train is the closest to the parking lot.
• Standing on the Subway is absolutely the best way to go.
• You are supposed to face the door of the subway when standing if that door is the one that opens at the next few stations (I think).
• Terraform does support Elasticache Redis 3.2 clustered mode, it's just not created using the Elasticache_Cluster resource, but rather, the Elasticache_Replication_Group resource. I would have never guess, and apparently neither have the people asking for this on their GitHub page.

Welcome 2017! And I promptly lost my wallet...

I am a "worry'er". I worry about everything. I told myself at the end of 2016 that the new year will bring changes and I would not worry as much. Well, I began taking the train / subway to work everyday in 2017. So now I have time to blog. The Ninja TLDs just opened up, and I promptly bought my domain erix.ninja, which I was unsuccessful at doing for all other major TLDs. And to test my ability to not worry or obsess for the new year, I just lost my wallet on the subway this morning. The moment I stepped out, I was checking my pockets, the doors closed, the train took off, I and was still not able to locate the wallet. I know it's on the train. I know what was in it. I know how to replace most of it. Hello 2017.

Lessons Learned today:
* Metro Rail has a lost and found website.
* Chase Freedom Card has a lost item protection benefit for "involuntary parting". (i.e. When the train left with my wallet and I didn't go with it).

  - update: My monthly train pass might not be considered eligible.

* There is only 2g data signal for T-Mobile at Union Stations waiting area.
* You can get a refund of a monthly Metrolink pass if it was stolen and a police report was filed.
* You can lock/disable Citibank Visa cards from the website but not report lost cards.
* The form to replace a lost drivers license on CA is DL44.
* Never get distracted on a train.