Writing about building companies, sport, places, and the life around the work.https://thechrisfischer.com/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-08-01-the-long-way-here/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-08-01-the-long-way-here/I build technology companies, work with startups, run and ride bikes, fix old houses, and start more side projects than I need.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-07-13-a-domain-for-the-help-center/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-07-13-a-domain-for-the-help-center/On July 13, Goodword configured a dedicated help domain for its Intercom-hosted support articles.Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-29-the-new-onboarding-went-live/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-29-the-new-onboarding-went-live/On June 29, Goodword released a revised application and the onboarding flow that followed its paywall.Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-21-suggesting-contacts-from-email/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-21-suggesting-contacts-from-email/On June 21, an experiment used two-way email conversations to identify people missing from an address book.Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-06-neutral-ground-in-katonah/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-06-06-neutral-ground-in-katonah/On June 6, Neutral Ground returned to Katonah with road and gravel routes followed by a cycling expo.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-29-trying-irl-mode/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-29-trying-irl-mode/On May 29, a follow-up email shared a recording and invited people to try Goodword's IRL Mode.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-21-goodword-on-google-play/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-21-goodword-on-google-play/On May 21, the Goodword Android application became available through the Google Play store.Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-06-submitting-the-mcp-directory-entry/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-05-06-submitting-the-mcp-directory-entry/On May 6, Goodword submitted its Claude connection for inclusion in an MCP directory.Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-04-30-your-network-is-your-moat/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-04-30-your-network-is-your-moat/An April 30 Betaworks event listing put Goodword into a public discussion about networks and startup distribution.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-04-07-reviewing-the-systems-and-tools/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-04-07-reviewing-the-systems-and-tools/On April 7, Goodword organized an onboarding review of the services used across product, marketing, and operations.Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-24-an-unofficial-claude-meetup/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-24-an-unofficial-claude-meetup/On March 24, I was listed as a host for an informal meetup built around live Claude demos.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-22-testing-goodword-through-claude/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-22-testing-goodword-through-claude/On March 22, a Goodword MCP connection found a professional contact from inside a Claude conversation.Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-08-a-portal-for-connected-ai-tools/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-03-08-a-portal-for-connected-ai-tools/On March 8, I had a web portal connecting an AI assistant to several work services through one setup.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-23-notetaker-integration-and-debrief/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-23-notetaker-integration-and-debrief/On February 23, the product roadmap paired an AI meeting-notetaker connection with a debrief flow.Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-09-putting-login-on-the-homepage/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-09-putting-login-on-the-homepage/On February 9, the team worked out how to make the Goodword login visible from the public homepage.Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-02-planning-a-product-hunt-launch/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-02-02-planning-a-product-hunt-launch/On February 2, Goodword began coordinating a Product Hunt launch as another public entry point for the product.Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-01-13-connecting-research-contacts/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2026-01-13-connecting-research-contacts/On January 13, a repaired connector began moving selected contact records into the team's research system.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-29-the-kickr-without-power-data/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-29-the-kickr-without-power-data/At the end of December, an indoor trainer connected normally but stopped broadcasting power data.Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-17-three-addresses-one-inbox/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-17-three-addresses-one-inbox/On December 17, Goodword routed support, feedback, and general information addresses into one managed inbox.Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-01-writing-the-smoke-test-list/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-12-01-writing-the-smoke-test-list/On December 1, the Goodword team walked through the app and documented the paths to verify before future releases.Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-11-15-a-raspberry-pi-order/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-11-15-a-raspberry-pi-order/On November 15, I ordered a Raspberry Pi 5 and the parts needed for another small computer project.Sat, 15 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-11-05-routing-the-email-list/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-11-05-routing-the-email-list/On November 5, a spreadsheet automation began cleaning and routing opted-in email records into the working CRM.Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-30-goodword-is-live/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-30-goodword-is-live/On October 30, Goodword launched publicly after a year of building and several months of controlled beta work.Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-20-suggested-actions/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-20-suggested-actions/On October 20, the Goodword team identified suggested actions as a central part of the product's usefulness.Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-09-writing-the-beta-invitation/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-10-09-writing-the-beta-invitation/On October 9, the team previewed the email inviting connectors to test the newly launched Goodword beta.Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-09-22-preparing-the-web-alpha/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-09-22-preparing-the-web-alpha/On September 22, the Goodword team began writing a test plan for an early web version of the product.Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-09-08-releasing-before-the-email/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-09-08-releasing-before-the-email/On September 8, the Goodword team separated a product release from the email announcing it.Mon, 08 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-08-25-the-airtable-sort-warning/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-08-25-the-airtable-sort-warning/On August 25, a list-cleaning session produced a warning about editing imported records while a table was sorted.Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-08-11-trying-zapier-from-the-command-line/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-08-11-trying-zapier-from-the-command-line/On August 11, a small set of signup automations became an experiment in managing Zapier workflows as code.Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-07-28-planning-the-beta-gate/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-07-28-planning-the-beta-gate/On July 28, the Goodword team defined how access would work when the mobile beta reached the app store.Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-07-14-reviewing-google-calendar-access/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-07-14-reviewing-google-calendar-access/On July 14, the team prepared a short product video for Google's review of the calendar connection.Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-30-list-export/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-30-list-export/On June 30, a working list was exported as both a CSV file and a Google Sheet.Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-19-baseline-product-first/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-19-baseline-product-first/On June 19, the team narrowed the immediate work to a baseline product and its professional-network connection flow.Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-15-email-deliverability/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-15-email-deliverability/On June 15, Goodword's email setup needed another pass through authentication and delivery checks.Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-02-beta-coming-soon/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-06-02-beta-coming-soon/On June 2, the team prepared the announcement and welcome flow for the upcoming Goodword beta.Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-05-22-moving-to-goodword-email/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-05-22-moving-to-goodword-email/On May 22, the team began changing work accounts and shared tools to the Goodword email domain.Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-05-09-the-first-email/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-05-09-the-first-email/A May test message marked the beginning of a new company email setup before the Goodword beta announcement.Fri, 09 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-04-25-apply-in-dumbo/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-04-25-apply-in-dumbo/In late April, the Apply team was together in DUMBO while several people were visiting New York.Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-04-10-no-more-recommendations/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-04-10-no-more-recommendations/An April product discussion defined what the app should show after a person had gone through every available recommendation.Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-03-27-linkedin-connections-flow/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-03-27-linkedin-connections-flow/A March product session worked through the language for connecting LinkedIn and improving relationship recommendations.Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-03-17-testing-the-support-inbox/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-03-17-testing-the-support-inbox/A March email checked whether the first support ticket and reply path worked from end to end.Mon, 17 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-27-design-before-development/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-27-design-before-development/A late-February product discussion focused on the user journey and getting important screens clear before more development began.Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-24-two-bikes-back-in-the-shop/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-24-two-bikes-back-in-the-shop/A February maintenance note covered a new bike build, an older road bike, shifting, the drivetrain, and a saddle swap.Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-13-booking-a-product-demo/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-02-13-booking-a-product-demo/A February note recorded a basic part of startup work: finding another product, booking a demo, and seeing how it handled a problem.Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-30-company-email-accounts/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-30-company-email-accounts/At the end of January 2025, a small startup team started moving from personal accounts to company email.Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-17-demo-through-the-phone/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-17-demo-through-the-phone/An iPhone mirroring feature became a practical way to show an early mobile product without passing a device around the room.Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-02-calendar-integration/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2025-01-02-calendar-integration/The first product check of 2025 was a calendar integration that had started working but still needed a real walkthrough.Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2024-09-08-south-nyack-ten-miler/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2024-09-08-south-nyack-ten-miler/I ran 60:53 at the 2024 South Nyack 10-Miler, finished ninth overall, and won the men's 40–44 age group.Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2024-06-15-mccarren-park-5k/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2024-06-15-mccarren-park-5k/I ran 18:44.86 at the 2024 Dime McCarren 5K and finished second in the men's 40–49 age group.Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-31-the-bike-boom-ended/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-31-the-bike-boom-ended/Wahoo closed RGT on October 31, 2023 after a difficult period for connected fitness and the indoor cycling market.Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-12-the-last-state/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-12-the-last-state/The final six days crossed Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York to finish the 3,000-mile ride.Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-05-the-first-rain/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-05-the-first-rain/Days 20 through 23 crossed the Mississippi, followed an Illinois rail trail, and brought the trip's first real rain.Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-02-arkansas-gets-one-post/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-10-02-arkansas-gets-one-post/Days 18 and 19 were combined into one post about Arkansas roads, dogs, an armadillo joke, and the ride into Missouri.Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-29-the-sag-award/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-29-the-sag-award/After Texas and two days in Oklahoma, the trip account thanked Big Ted for driving support and keeping the group fed.Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-25-dead-biker-pass/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-25-dead-biker-pass/Four days in New Mexico included Meow Wolf, recovery in Santa Fe, Taos, mountain roads, and a sign at 7,043 feet.Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-21-americas-greatest-bike-trail/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-21-americas-greatest-bike-trail/Days 6 through 8 crossed Arizona by red rocks, Route 66, Interstate 40, Winslow, and the Continental Divide.Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-18-we-dont-talk-about-day-5/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-18-we-dont-talk-about-day-5/Four desert days included heat, help from strangers, Route 66, a night ride, and mechanical trouble in Peach Springs.Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-14-2913-miles-to-go/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2023-09-14-2913-miles-to-go/Day 1 started at the Pacific in Santa Monica with about 2,913 miles left to ride.Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2022-06-08-one-year-apart-at-trx/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2022-06-08-one-year-apart-at-trx/TRX Training Club launched on June 8, 2021. One year later, the company announced Chapter 11. Both dates belong in the story.Wed, 08 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2021-10-10-the-chicago-marathon-with-joelle/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2021-10-10-the-chicago-marathon-with-joelle/At the 2021 Chicago Marathon, I changed my goal and stayed with a teammate who was having a hard day.Sun, 10 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2021-05-23-duathlon-national-champion/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2021-05-23-duathlon-national-champion/On May 23, 2021, I won the men's 35–39 draft-legal sprint duathlon national title in Tuscaloosa.Sun, 23 May 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-04-14-aaptiv-at-home/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-04-14-aaptiv-at-home/In April 2020, Aaptiv reported a sharp rise in at-home fitness use and opened a new enterprise and API channel.Tue, 14 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-03-08-the-training-sheet-stops/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-03-08-the-training-sheet-stops/A 2020 race plan recorded illness, a sore Achilles, and several target races before the schedule stopped during COVID.Sun, 08 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-01-01-the-side-company/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2020-01-01-the-side-company/Apply Stickers started as a small side business while I was still working full time at Aaptiv.Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2019-06-03-no-tricks-or-shortcuts/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2019-06-03-no-tricks-or-shortcuts/We built a twelve-week Aaptiv running plan with base miles, hills, tempo work, long runs, recovery, and a taper before race day.Mon, 03 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2017-10-19-better-than-the-subway/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2017-10-19-better-than-the-subway/At Aaptiv, I could run or bike to the office, train with coworkers, and work on a fitness product I used myself.Thu, 19 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2016-12-27-what-do-i-do-today/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2016-12-27-what-do-i-do-today/While I was considering a role at Aaptiv, I tried the workouts and wrote Ethan about navigation, training plans, class data, and recommendations.Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2016-12-27-i-hired-no-managers/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2016-12-27-i-hired-no-managers/At Reonomy, I hired individual contributors with room to grow and promoted managers from the product and engineering team.Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-12-14-the-hole-before-the-road/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-12-14-the-hole-before-the-road/Nine months after I joined Reonomy, a long onboarding email showed why new engineers needed the product history as much as the preferred architecture.Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-03-01-training-fell-apart/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-03-01-training-fell-apart/In early 2015, getting sick, closing on a condo, and interviewing for a new job pushed training out of my schedule.Sun, 01 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-02-14-the-deck-before-the-job/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2015-02-14-the-deck-before-the-job/Before I joined Reonomy, I made a deck covering cross-functional product teams, engineering leadership, hiring, and onboarding.Sat, 14 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-12-28-get-communications-on-the-phone/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-12-28-get-communications-on-the-phone/During a possible Shutterstock account-security incident, I tried to get the technical investigation and customer communication moving at the same time.Sun, 28 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-30-bringing-more-people-into-storage-strategy/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-30-bringing-more-people-into-storage-strategy/The storage problem was too important to keep inside one operations circle, so I started identifying product owners and engineers to involve early.Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-27-the-very-good-news-graph/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-27-the-very-good-news-graph/Completing the private MPLS ring moved data-center traffic behind the firewalls and changed the long-term capital curve.Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-09-all-the-queues-were-processed/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-06-09-all-the-queues-were-processed/A storage push reached 4.8 gigabits on the trackers, cleared the queues, and gave us room to retire devices more aggressively.Mon, 09 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-29-our-large-vm-cost-thirty-six-dollars-a-month/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-29-our-large-vm-cost-thirty-six-dollars-a-month/A first pass at Shutterstock's private-cloud economics put a large virtual machine at $36 per month against $260 in AWS.Thu, 29 May 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-10-a-cloud-networks-panel-in-santa-clara/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-10-a-cloud-networks-panel-in-santa-clara/A quick West Coast trip for an industry panel became another chance to connect the systems work at Shutterstock with the broader startup network.Sat, 10 May 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-01-everyone-was-getting-hit-by-ddos/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-05-01-everyone-was-getting-hit-by-ddos/A roomful of infrastructure leaders confirmed that large denial-of-service attacks had become an industry problem, not a Shutterstock anomaly.Thu, 01 May 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-04-10-writing-the-heartbleed-update/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-04-10-writing-the-heartbleed-update/We patched Shutterstock quickly, rotated security keys, and worked to tell customers what happened without implying a breach we had not found.Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-04-02-hearing-about-the-london-move-too-late/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-04-02-hearing-about-the-london-move-too-late/An office move in London reached the technology team after planning was already underway, which made a small email into a process correction.Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-03-21-managers-need-training-too/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-03-21-managers-need-training-too/As the organization added more leaders, a shared management workshop offered a way to build continuity instead of leaving everyone to improvise.Fri, 21 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-03-04-building-a-network-fortress/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-03-04-building-a-network-fortress/A sustained DDoS attack forced us to abandon the original tunnel design and build private paths into our mitigation provider.Tue, 04 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-02-16-a-power-outage-at-the-empire-state-building/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-02-16-a-power-outage-at-the-empire-state-building/A Sunday power issue sent us back into the new office to verify network rooms, battery systems, and supplemental cooling.Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-02-04-planning-an-outage-on-purpose/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-02-04-planning-an-outage-on-purpose/A failed firewall had left the production pair out of sync, so the safer choice was a controlled maintenance window instead of waiting for another failure.Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-01-24-finishing-the-online-part-of-open-water/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2014-01-24-finishing-the-online-part-of-open-water/I completed the six online sections of the PADI Open Water course, with the real pool and open-water work still ahead.Fri, 24 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-31-two-million-in-hardware-today/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-31-two-million-in-hardware-today/The last day of 2013 ended with major infrastructure orders, spare transceivers, and the practical consequences of a year-end deadline.Tue, 31 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-27-working-the-juniper-number-down/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-27-working-the-juniper-number-down/A year-end network purchase moved from a $4.6 million list price to $2.4 million after discounts and negotiation.Fri, 27 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-13-moving-before-the-network-was-finished/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-12-13-moving-before-the-network-was-finished/The Empire State Building office could open, but bandwidth would arrive in stages and the final design was still months away.Fri, 13 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-29-an-infrastructure-dinner-in-new-york/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-29-an-infrastructure-dinner-in-new-york/A post-Thanksgiving invitation from General Catalyst was a reminder that the infrastructure community was becoming part of my work too.Fri, 29 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-05-everyone-ships-code/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-05-everyone-ships-code/At the 2013 OpenStack Summit, I explained how Shutterstock provisioned virtual machines and physical servers through one automated system.Tue, 05 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-01-why-storage-ping-time-dropped/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-11-01-why-storage-ping-time-dropped/A sharp improvement in storage latency came from spreading writes across nodes and throttling network traffic in the kernel.Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-10-18-under-replicated-blocks-zero/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-10-18-under-replicated-blocks-zero/Four new Hadoop data nodes pushed an important storage health metric all the way down to zero.Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-10-03-eight-hundred-thousand-data-points-a-second/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-10-03-eight-hundred-thousand-data-points-a-second/Datadog was interesting, but Shutterstock's monitoring volume meant the useful experiment was smaller and more specific than sending everything offsite.Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-09-20-two-changes-before-friday-ended/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-09-20-two-changes-before-friday-ended/A work-from-home Friday still had two storage jobs on the list: enable a read slave and verify the correct load balancer.Fri, 20 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-09-06-double-the-replication-workers/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-09-06-double-the-replication-workers/A one-line Friday instruction captures the long, unglamorous work of moving a very large storage system.Fri, 06 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-08-23-open-sourcing-the-architecture-work/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-08-23-open-sourcing-the-architecture-work/A request to publish Shutterstock architecture diagrams became a small lesson in supporting engineers who wanted to teach in public.Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-08-08-what-consistent-means/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-08-08-what-consistent-means/Dev, QA, and production did not need identical scale, but they did need the same tools, deployment path, operating system, and testing discipline.Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-07-26-hack-to-the-future/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-07-26-hack-to-the-future/Our Shutterstock hackathon project did not win, but the demo landed and the idea was good enough to keep building.Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-29-an-ipv4-request-at-arin/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-29-an-ipv4-request-at-arin/A late-June ARIN update records the administrative work behind obtaining public internet address space for Shutterstock.Sat, 29 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-17-hiring-for-the-next-phase/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-17-hiring-for-the-next-phase/A June recruiting email described Shutterstock's WebOps team as it looked for operations engineers for the company's next phase of growth.Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-03-a-public-status-page/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-06-03-a-public-status-page/In June 2013, I started a simple public Shutterstock status page and brought product and social teams into the work.Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-05-20-keeping-search-covered/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-05-20-keeping-search-covered/A departing specialist created a knowledge gap around Shutterstock's search infrastructure and started a discussion about coverage and hiring.Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-05-06-thirteen-minutes-down/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-05-06-thirteen-minutes-down/A missing configuration in a new deployment system took a Shutterstock service offline for thirteen minutes.Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-04-22-the-first-tech-syndicate-assessments/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-04-22-the-first-tech-syndicate-assessments/The first opportunity assessments for Shutterstock's technology syndicate were ready for a ten-minute leadership review.Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-04-08-rebalancing-the-storage-system/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-04-08-rebalancing-the-storage-system/A storage rebalance was about ten percent complete after twelve days, with an estimated 110 days still to run.Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-03-25-writing-down-technical-ownership/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-03-25-writing-down-technical-ownership/A March thread asked whether Shutterstock had formal technical owners and started a written process for defining the role.Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-03-09-all-moved-in/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-03-09-all-moved-in/A four-line email from March 2013 records a fast move into a new place and the end of a longer apartment search.Sat, 09 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-02-25-planning-the-tech-offsite/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-02-25-planning-the-tech-offsite/The agenda for a March technology leadership offsite started with service uptime, programming languages, syndicates, and more consistent environments.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-02-11-dev-and-qa-were-still-in-aws/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-02-11-dev-and-qa-were-still-in-aws/An internal question in February 2013 asked when Shutterstock's development and QA environments would move from AWS back to the office.Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-28-putting-system-health-on-the-wall/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-28-putting-system-health-on-the-wall/Shutterstock restored office monitors showing overall system health, automated tests, and search speed where the teams could see them.Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-25-upgrading-ram-for-search-and-databases/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-25-upgrading-ram-for-search-and-databases/A January hardware plan counted the memory modules needed for Shutterstock's search and database servers.Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-14-a-circuit-went-down-while-i-was-away/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2013-01-14-a-circuit-went-down-while-i-was-away/A short Monday email asked me to help the Shutterstock team work through a weekend network circuit outage.Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2012-12-30-human-works-alert-fails/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2012-12-30-human-works-alert-fails/The Shutterstock mobile site worked when we tested it by hand, but one automated check still failed and needed an owner.Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2012-12-07-apparently-i-wanted-to-do-everything/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2012-12-07-apparently-i-wanted-to-do-everything/A few weeks after Shutterstock went public, I planned a marathon, two half Ironmans, Leadville, a long swim, and several time goals for 2013.Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2011-12-19-before-monday-traffic/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2011-12-19-before-monday-traffic/We put real load through a new Shutterstock network layout over the weekend and found a bottleneck before Monday traffic arrived.Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2011-10-17-one-petabyte-three-sites/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2011-10-17-one-petabyte-three-sites/By October 2011, Shutterstock had deployed more than one petabyte of storage across three sites for a growing collection of photos and video.Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-23-call-me-when-it-goes-down/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-23-call-me-when-it-goes-down/Two months into Shutterstock, I asked the systems team to call me for every critical alert while I learned the environment.Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-18-seven-month-startups/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-18-seven-month-startups/In 2010 I left Peek, spent seven months running a hosting company, and joined Shutterstock in New York.Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-17-one-terabyte-of-thumbnails/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-12-17-one-terabyte-of-thumbnails/I changed the copy path for a one-terabyte thumbnail data set to reduce load on the production servers.Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-11-28-i-love-bind-files/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-11-28-i-love-bind-files/I set up PowerDNS with a MySQL backend because database records were easier to automate than hand-edited BIND files.Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-02-18-the-row-counts-did-not-match/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-02-18-the-row-counts-did-not-match/A database import kept producing the wrong row count during a week that also included illness and a London data-center trip.Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-02-12-the-data-center-needed-a-car/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2010-02-12-the-data-center-needed-a-car/A consulting job in Somerset required a rental car because I could not find a practical transit route from Manhattan.Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-12-18-how-many-tracks/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-12-18-how-many-tracks/After Beatport I helped think through storage, catalog size, interfaces, and customers for a new high-quality music store idea.Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-08-20-nobody-answered-at-three/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-08-20-nobody-answered-at-three/A Peek email outage lasted four hours because the POP nodes failed overnight and nobody answered the monitoring call.Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-04-07-third-application/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-04-07-third-application/The Unix administrator job kept appearing on Craigslist, so I sent a third application and explained why I still wanted hands-on work.Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-01-05-the-750-square-foot-cage/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2009-01-05-the-750-square-foot-cage/By early 2009 Beatport's data center had more than 300 devices in a 750-square-foot cage.Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-12-18-the-night-shift/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-12-18-the-night-shift/I was Beatport's IT director and applying for night and weekend data-center work because my family needed more money.Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-12-16-the-server-racks-won/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-12-16-the-server-racks-won/I studied molecular biology but spent most of my time learning Linux, Unix, storage, and distributed systems on hardware in my basement.Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-09-18-this-makes-me-happy/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2008-09-18-this-makes-me-happy/In 2008 I was running Beatport's systems in Denver and trying to turn a New York Unix job into part-time remote work.Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-29-the-resume-kept-working/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-29-the-resume-kept-working/After I described Beatport's growing infrastructure in June applications, recruiters continued finding the resume online.Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-11-nine-web-servers/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-11-nine-web-servers/A 2007 job application listed the web servers, databases, storage, traffic, and uptime I was responsible for at Beatport.Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-01-renewed-without-a-launch/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-06-01-renewed-without-a-launch/An automatic domain renewal preserved another piece of internet infrastructure without proving that the project behind it ever shipped.Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-05-17-the-domain-renewal-pile/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-05-17-the-domain-renewal-pile/A May renewal notice captured the recurring cost of keeping old internet ideas alive.Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-05-10-playing-catch-up-in-photos/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-05-10-playing-catch-up-in-photos/A cluster of Facebook photo tags is one of the few surviving visual markers from the spring of 2007.Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-04-18-sending-mp3-links-to-myself/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-04-18-sending-mp3-links-to-myself/A series of mobile download links tested how music could move from a service into an ordinary inbox.Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-04-09-print-tickets-four-and-five/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-04-09-print-tickets-four-and-five/A Monday night Nuggets game interrupted the work archive with a simple instruction to print two tickets.Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-03-28-testing-a-release-recommendation/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-03-28-testing-a-release-recommendation/A Beatport product email for a recommended track showed how storefront features depended on the mail system underneath.Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-03-16-joining-the-gym/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-03-16-joining-the-gym/A 24 Hour Fitness membership marked a modest attempt to put regular training back into a rapidly expanding work life.Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-27-the-title-changed-the-tests-did-not/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-27-the-title-changed-the-tests-did-not/My Beatport signature now said Director of Information Technology, but I was still sending messages through the system by hand.Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-16-the-dog-was-staying/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-16-the-dog-was-staying/After weeks of considering a new home for my Weimaraner, I decided to keep working through the difficulty.Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-12-the-old-client-mail-archive/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-02-12-the-old-client-mail-archive/Even after Praxis ended, a former client still needed help finding and preserving old webmail files.Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-29-director-of-information-technology/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-29-director-of-information-technology/Four months after joining Beatport, I was promoted from systems administration to leading the technology function.Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-19-the-post-i-did-not-want-to-publish/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-19-the-post-i-did-not-want-to-publish/In January 2007 I prepared a classified post about rehoming my young Weimaraner, then struggled with the decision.Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-01-what-praxis-was/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2007-01-01-what-praxis-was/Praxis was the consulting company I ran from 2003 through 2007 while working at CU Boulder, SimAuthor, and Beatport.Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-12-18-the-test-that-kept-returning/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-12-18-the-test-that-kept-returning/Beatport's mail tests continued into December, alongside lingering consulting work and a company that never really closed.Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-30-i-am-really-in-the-office/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-30-i-am-really-in-the-office/The funniest line in a month of mail tests was an out-of-office reply explaining that I was actually sitting at work.Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-23-the-network-administrator-signature/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-23-the-network-administrator-signature/A Thanksgiving email preserved my first Beatport title and the ordinary mail system surrounding a global store.Thu, 23 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-09-testing-the-vacation-reply/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-11-09-testing-the-vacation-reply/A small out-of-office feature exposed the practical work required to make Beatport's mail system dependable.Thu, 09 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-10-24-checking-the-mail-logs/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-10-24-checking-the-mail-logs/Beatport's early email setup required a week of tests across queues, lists, outside addresses, and vacation replies.Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-10-10-the-org-chart-attachment/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-10-10-the-org-chart-attachment/Two weeks into Beatport, an emailed Visio org chart placed my new address inside a young and fast-changing company.Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-09-25-the-beatport-offer/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-09-25-the-beatport-offer/A September interview at a small Denver music store became the offer that changed my career.Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-09-12-real-estate-urls-and-a-systems-interview/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-09-12-real-estate-urls-and-a-systems-interview/One September day mixed an OptiTrex real-estate side project with interviews for my next systems job.Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-08-31-linux-on-the-phone/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-08-31-linux-on-the-phone/A friend sent me a project that had ported Linux to a pocket PC, exactly the kind of impractical technical idea I loved.Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-08-15-a-cabin-that-allowed-dogs/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-08-15-a-cabin-that-allowed-dogs/A new puppy changed the requirements for an August weekend in Estes Park.Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-07-29-testing-the-new-work-address/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-07-29-testing-the-new-work-address/My first weekend in a new systems job included the familiar ritual of sending mail back and forth until every route worked.Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-07-21-two-job-offers-in-one-summer/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-07-21-two-job-offers-in-one-summer/In July 2006 a Denver technology company offered me a systems role after a summer of applications and interviews.Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-30-riding-to-work-and-planning-leadville/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-30-riding-to-work-and-planning-leadville/By June 2006 I was biking to work, training for a difficult marathon, and considering the Leadville Trail 100 run.Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-16-sending-the-resume-twice/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-16-sending-the-resume-twice/I applied through Dice, then sent the network-administrator resume directly because I did not trust the automated system to deliver it.Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-02-locking-chrisfischer-info/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-06-02-locking-chrisfischer-info/A June 2006 registrar notice confirms that I had registered chrisfischer.info and changed the domain to locked status.Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-05-23-the-pedal-bmx-domain-expired/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-05-23-the-pedal-bmx-domain-expired/A BMX forum disappeared behind an advertising page when its domain expired, then returned after the operator renewed it.Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-05-08-a-forced-phpbb-security-upgrade/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-05-08-a-forced-phpbb-security-upgrade/My hosting provider planned to upgrade every managed phpBB forum to version 2.0.20 after new security vulnerabilities were found.Mon, 08 May 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-04-25-watching-the-denver-it-job-market/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-04-25-watching-the-denver-it-job-market/A Dice employment report arrived while I was applying for network, Linux, Unix, and systems roles around Denver.Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-04-12-a-chicago-trip-on-the-calendar/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-04-12-a-chicago-trip-on-the-calendar/An April 2006 itinerary put a Chicago trip on my calendar for May, during a period of job applications and change at SimAuthor.Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-27-simauthor-was-acquired/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-27-simauthor-was-acquired/Westar Aerospace acquired SimAuthor for $8 million while I was responsible for its network, systems, security, and in-house data center.Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-27-bringing-the-data-center-home/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-27-bringing-the-data-center-home/In 2006 I rebuilt SimAuthor's network and moved its data center in-house for a sixty-person aviation software company.Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-06-applying-for-network-and-linux-jobs/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-03-06-applying-for-network-and-linux-jobs/On one Monday in March 2006 I sent several resumes for Linux support, network administration, and consulting roles.Mon, 06 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-02-24-helping-with-the-optitrex-website/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-02-24-helping-with-the-optitrex-website/A friend asked me to review a dispute over an unfinished website, a forum, contact forms, a logo, and a missed deadline.Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-02-14-testing-mail-between-gmail-and-simauthor/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-02-14-testing-mail-between-gmail-and-simauthor/Repeated test messages between my personal Gmail and SimAuthor account show a month of checking the mail path in both directions.Tue, 14 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-24-eight-questions-about-an-audi-s4/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-24-eight-questions-about-an-audi-s4/Before buying a used 2001 Audi S4, I sent the owner a detailed list about modifications, maintenance, mileage, and how it had been driven.Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-16-sending-my-resume-back-to-cu/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-16-sending-my-resume-back-to-cu/While working at SimAuthor, I sent my resume to former CU colleagues and asked them to keep me in mind for administrator roles.Mon, 16 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-05-watching-a-pair-of-xeon-processors/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2006-01-05-watching-a-pair-of-xeon-processors/At the start of 2006 I was watching a used pair of 3.06 GHz Intel Xeon processors while building and learning on my own hardware.Thu, 05 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-12-23-looking-at-free-vpn-tools/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-12-23-looking-at-free-vpn-tools/A former CU colleague sent me OpenVPN, security, and network-tool links while I was working across SimAuthor and Praxis.Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-28-network-access-in-italy/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-28-network-access-in-italy/A network in Italy allowed web traffic but blocked the VPN, SSH, remote desktop, and dial-out access I needed for work.Mon, 28 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-16-gmail-was-still-invitation-only/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-16-gmail-was-still-invitation-only/In November 2005 I used one of my remaining Gmail invitations for a friend and Praxis collaborator.Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-03-testing-email-at-simauthor/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-11-03-testing-email-at-simauthor/A short run of test messages in November 2005 shows me checking delivery between Gmail and SimAuthor accounts.Thu, 03 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-10-26-returning-two-raptor-drives/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-10-26-returning-two-raptor-drives/Two Western Digital Raptor drives from an eBay purchase had failed, so I asked the seller to take them back and issue a refund.Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMThttps://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-10-11-setting-up-gmail-and-a-denver-flight/https://thechrisfischer.com/journal/2005-10-11-setting-up-gmail-and-a-denver-flight/In October 2005 I used a new Gmail account to buy a friend's flight to Denver and kept testing it against my SimAuthor address.Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT