SSL Resources I Find Helpful

I haven’t posted in awhile so I thought I would share some great SSL resources I have been using lately on a few of my projects.

The first is SSL labs.  This service performs a deep analysis of the configuration of any SSL web server on the public Internet.  I have used it to verify my SSL settings are correctly configured.  You can see my A+ rating.

» www.ssllabs.com

The second site is a tutorial on raymii.org.  This gives some background and best practices to properly secure nginx.  I have used this quite a few times in the past few weeks and its proved to be quite helpful.

» Raymii.org Tutorial

Just a few of the resources I have been using lately.  Hope you find them as useful as I have.

Overnight Kayak on the Delaware River – Trip Report

Kayaking the Delaware River is not nearly as hard as I first imagined, nevertheless, it is an extremely fun and amazing trip that I would highly recommend anyone doing.

It turns out that this is practically one of the easiest rivers to run as an individual or group.  During the summer there is a free canoe/kayak shuttle – Pocono Pony – that runs between Milford Beach and Smithfield Beach.  This takes out a lot of the effort into arranging transport up and down the river.  It does only run on weekends and has a fairly limited schedule, so make sure you take the shuttle schedule into consideration when planning your trip.

The river is technically easy so any novice paddler should be able to make the kayak trip in 2 days.  There are some class 1 and 2 rapids but not much beyond that.  These rapids do add a bit of excitement every once-in-awhile, but not to the extent of being dangerous. (more…)

Hamilton Mountain Steps

I have always felt like I lead a pretty active lifestyle but since being diagnosed with diabetes in January I have tried to increase my activity level. I’m lucky that Hamilton has many sets of stairs traversing the escarpment that I try and run as frequently as I can.

I’ve gathered this information and verified most of it myself about the 5 locations in the City of Hamilton and quantity of stairs in each location.

Chedoke: 289 Steps
These steps connect the West Mountain to the lower west city, coming close to the front door of the Chedoke Civic Golf Course clubhouse.

Dundurn: 326 Steps

James: 227 Steps
The stairs originate at Southam Park on the mountain at the top of the Claremont Access.

Wentworth: 498 Steps

Kenilworth: 228 + 158: Total: 386 Steps
The upper Kenilworth steps connect the East Mountain (Margate Ave & Mountain Brow Blvd) to the Escarpment Rail Trail/Bruce Trail. There are 158 steps in this section. The remaining 228 steps then continue down to the Rosedale area (At Kimberly Dr. just south of the Kenilworth Access roundabout) of Hamilton. Between the lower and upper section there is approximately 350m of trail.

There is also a privately built set of steps named Uli’s Steps connecting the upper and lower city. These steps were built as a retirement project by a Hamiltonian named Uli who spent two years on the project. They have 305 steps.

I’ve marked all the locations of the stairs on the map below: