For those just getting up to speed on Amazon’s Web Services stack, in it’s most laymen’s terms, Amazon has created individual computing elements – CPU, memory, drive space, storage, queueing, and a database (not to mention the many other business-oriented solutions such as Fulfillment and sales solutions).  For our rendering system, EC2 powers our “servers”, SQS offers a fault-tolerant queue for messaging and job control, and S3 persistent (and cheap) storage.

So why Episode IV?  Building the rendering farm is really Episodes I-III, maybe someday I’ll go back and write about that journey.  Over the past three months, we have operated the render farm at RYZ Wear – www.ryzwear.com with minimal mishaps which included an 8 hour outage of the entire Amazon infrastructure (granted we have seen only two of these during the entire year).  Our average costs have been around $800 ($500 for EC2 instances, $200 for SQS, and $100 for S3 and bandwidth) – not bad considering we are using a C1.XL (high CPU intensive) EC2 instance.

In August, Amazon released EBS – a persistent storage solution.  Using EBS and Rightscale is simple – just create a volume, assign it to an instance and define the mount path.  When the instance is created, EBS is mounted and voilla, your system is attached to persistent storage.  This new development has paved the road for me to look at consolidating my infrastructure (our website runs on dedicated servers in a colocation facility) to 100% AWS.

While the infrastructure design is still iterating, here is where my head is at tonight:

1. Elastic IP attached to a front end load balancing instance – this will handle all inbound web traffic, distributing load to each Web Server
2. Multiple Web Servers running the ryzwear.com site
3. Single MySQL instance attached to EBS
4. Rearchitecting the render farm to have a single controller (reduce SQS charges)

Rough estimates puts my savings at close to $1800/mo (about 50% of my current infrastructure costs).  Based on basic volume calculations we will also maintain our current level of computing power and have the ability to scale as load requires.

More to come as we embark on this adventure.  Good luck to all of us using AWS!

Best,

Scott

let’s see how long $50 lasts

i’ve added a few pictures to the photo site – just got back from my third trip to las vegas and have a few photos of mom’s big birthday/retirement bash at the bellagio, and a family picture from my first trip this year to the kobayashi family reunion (finally Jen, I know…)

summer is nearing an end and i’m working on completing my first major landscaping project at anna’s house. in july, we took out three big laurel trees and created the “clear cut” in the backyard. after a few weeks of inspiration and a big case of being bored with my professional life, i started to build a water feature. known around the house as phase one, it has consumed two tons of rock and given me back a sense of life…nothing like spending hours on end with inanimate, imperfect objects that when placed together creates a vibrant, beautiful scene.

check out the progress on the photo site…i hope to continue writing when inspired or tired…

love…

please enjoy and let me know if you want to upload to an album – would like to collect images from friends and family to share!

two weeks have passed since i left the green carpet of pdx for lush rainforest and blue seas…am sitting in a florescent lit internet area of the la mariposa hotel in manuel antonio, costa rica – it´s warm, i have a few mosquito bites on my feet, and all is good.

today we went on a rafting adventure down the saveige (sp?) river. anna´s first rafting trip – given the current dry season, it was very calm and relaxing – a few exciting drops, and one highside right that i thought we were going into the drink, but in the end a great time.

have been spending my days watching the warm ocean here 9 degrees north of the equator. the water is so salty and warm, i´ve found that my fingers shrivel up like a kid in a bath tub. at last count, i´ve surfed more than 20 sessions in the past two weeks – from beach breaks to the perfect lefts of pavones – my mind has settled back to the surfing-high and calm that only comes from sitting in line ups, bashing lips, and feeling the moments of timelessness that only waves can provide to me.

have reconnected with old friends, met new ones, and as always found many sights and sounds for my digital camera. my old surfing buddy and school mate dean is doing well in pavones with his partner ingrid. they have built a beautiful life together in a town that seems like what old hawaii could have been. people waving to each other on the street, everyone knowing your name…i could settle into a life like that – but i know myself too well, that i always am drawn to pull away from my life in portland to anywhere that i´m traveling…maybe that´s what makes a traveller – a draw to continue to absorb and drink from all that the world has to offer – to make it my own experience and part of my soul.

new friends from north carolina and other remote surf spots around the states were made in the panamanian surf. was invited to be a guide at the surf camp in panama – maybe a future adventure of mine to be evaluated upon my return to civilization.

just four more days left in paradise…manuel antonio is a fairly small town, a little commercialized, but nice…catamaran cruise tomorrow – maybe a surf trip with rob, a photographer from ohio and aspiring surfer staying at our hotel.

as always, photos when i return – pura vida…

had a great week on the Morro Negrito island in Panama – great times, warm water, the surf wasn’t that big, but still had a wonderful time…short entry for now, running a slow connection through the only internet in the area…

all is well – enjoying my time here…magical place…

took off last night from chilly portland, a quick stop through houston and on to Panama City.  Very uneventful flights which is what i prefer…

landing in a foreign country is so inspiring, as the pilot announced final approach, i clicked on some kirtan – nothing like chanting the names of gods as we glide into a unknown land…i was so full of enchanted gratitude, a childish grin on my face as our plane flew over a grid lock of ships waiting to pass through the canal (more to come on the canal)

surfboards arrived safely (whew) and our driver picked us up and off we went through the roadways of Panama City.  for the first time in my travels, my sense of smell recognized the familiar scents of cooking food, not so processed waste, and exhausting petrol…hmmm, back in the third world…

we found out that our bus up north to the surf camp was not tomorrow, but actually tonight at 10pm – a surprise to us, one that we made Oliver (our resident translator) confirm more than a few times – “noche¿ noche¿ noche¿”

after a great meal in the hotel bar and two cervescas, Luke and I decided to head out for a little adventure.  It was around 3pm and neither of us wanted to nap.  Panama City has a great skyline – nearly 30 skyscrapers, modern towers of glass, clustered near the coastline south of the entrance to the canal stood before us.  we looked at a map and it seemed like the canal was close, so we put on our running shoes and started to head north. 

from our original vantage point, the area north (at the mouth of the entrance) was an old, classic port town with 16th century church towers.  a quick jog through the fishing port brought us closer to the core culture of panama – i was feeling grounded after traveling for the last 12 hours.  we headed to the church towers to find a quaint, preserved section of panama city – beautifully restored 19th century spanish style flats, center courtyards with statues of various non-panamanians who once occupied this region.  the pinnacle of the area, a lookout at a point where we could see ships entering the canal just a mile away.

the sun was still an hour from going down, so we decided to head east around the point to catch a view of one of the great wonders of the modern world. 

as we left the harbor point district, the area became much more urban…large project style buildings, many locals hanging out on the streets.  at one point, we started to turn left down a side street, but a bunch of locals yelled out to us and cautioned us to not go there…i started to get a little concerned…but the sun was out and there were police (with bulletproof vests) out on the street…it was great seeing the culture of the people, again the smells of the street, the sounds of a foreign language…

we reached to top of a hill where we planned to turn north to meet the canal when a taxi pulled up to us – “where are you guys from?  you´re in the red zone, you better get out of here – it´s dangerous!”

luke and i looked at each other…time to turn around!  we quickly switched directions – i dropped into a zone of vigilance – like mile 23 of a marathon – running with an intense core purpose…although this purpose was to get back to the hotel!  we ran back through the streets that seemed to jubilant and free just 15 minutes earlier, now the voices seemed like warnings, heeding an impending doom…the sun was setting and the shadows getting heavier…a family with a little girl whom we had passed earlier approached us – the little girl told us to run straight and don´t go down any side streets – her father nodding his head approvingly…looking at us with concern…

with more purpose, we kicked up the pace…the street seemed much longer this time…the shanties more omnious…luke thought he heard a crowd of people cheering for us as if we accomplished some feat that most foreigners never do…

finally we ran back to the port district – other tourists returning to their taxies to be swiftly evacuated from the creeping darkness…only 10 more minutes to the hotel…we took a breather…

i turned to luke – “that was probably the craziest thing i´ve ever done in a foriegn country…”  i mumbled between heavy breaths…

we jogged back to the hotel – satisfied and amazed at what just happened…we observed how the common – maybe even lower-class panamanians lived…there was a sweetness beyond the grime and strung out vagrants…kids playing soccer in the fields, people conversing, listening to music…compared to the vanilla, desolate communities that we are building in suburban america – where families hunker down in 3500 sqft homes, it seems like a meltingpot of humanity…one that we were not welcome in, but lucky enough to catch a passing glance at…

lesson learned…no more unplanned runs for me…but eternally grateful to be here experiencing planet earth…

 

so i’m planning a trip to costa rica and panama…it all started with a surf trip to panama, then i thought, “being in a foreign country w/o anna just isn’t right!” so i’m flying her down to costa rica to meet me for a little more than a week…

my trip will start in panama city with oliver, luke, and jesse…we’ll be surfing in morro negrito on the pacific side of northern panama. after a week of surfing this private camp, i’ll part ways with the boys and trek up to costa rica to visit dean, an old high school buddy, who owns a surf camp (www.venussurfadventures.com). anna will be meeting me either in pavones (where dean’s camp is) or up north…

here’s the adventure – from morro negrito (panama) to pavones (costa rica) i’ll be traveling by boat and bus. the great challenge here is information on how to do this is all over the internet – it’s like putting together a puzzle! here i’m armed with google earth, google, and the many folks who maintain meaningful websites – not like me and my sleep deprived bantering

well, more to come i guess…i know i still have to post photos…

oh yes…happy new year! a toast to you all!

Reports were showing 11ft 11sec, only 1 ft of wind waves…Oliver and I were discussing important matters, what spot would be good on a north wind, a south west swell, a rising tide…

There was snow on the sides of the road, another wintry day in Oregon…cold, big surf was on our minds…a turn in the road, all of a sudden i felt the back of the truck slide…

a calm, cool oliver instructed me… “Stay cool man…” the car slid into the oncoming lane…my immediate frozen reaction turned into “what do I do? what does stay cool mean?” I turned the wheel left, then right…still sliding…my foot was on the break…i slowly tapped it…like a sharp cutback, i felt our momentum change from left to right…we were now drifting sideways towards the edge of the highway…a slow motion movie…”here we go…”

crunch…

i look to my passenger on the right… everything seems wrong, my coffee cup is near my head…a tight pull on my shoulder turns out to be my seatbelt…

“you okay man?”

“yeah, you okay man?”

“yeah…”

then it dawned on me…we were upside down in a ditch…our ballerina glide across highway 26, ending with a dramatic crescendo in the trees and snow…

our foggy realization of the events of the last 3 seconds turned quickly into “how do we get out?”

“we’re going to drop…” mentioned oliver as he prepared to undo his seat belt. I did the same, crumpling my body onto the roof of my once cherished forerunner. looking to our sides, we realized that both passenger and driver side doors and windows were deep in dirt…looking behind oliver, i saw that the back window had blown out…

“hey, you guys okay?” shouted two guys who had pulled over to help…their arms reaching into the gaping hole where the back window once was…

“yeah, we just need to get this seat back…” i mumbled as i reached up to the passenger seat lever…pulling the seat back, crawling on the upholstered roof of the car i emerged from the wreak…stumbling through some prickly bushes, i turned back to watch my surf partner emerge from the flipped truck…

A cast of characters proceeded to converge on this scene throughout the morning…from the 18 year old kid who’s truck did the same spin crash about 10 yards down the road from us, to Todd, the tow-master who hauled us back to portland with humor and warm laughs…

Halfway between the wreck and portland, my flip-runner now strapped to the back of an F-450, Todd’s dolly tire went flat and our caravan paused on the side of the road once again…as Todd worked on the tire, our conversation went to yet another wreck that Todd had witnessed…this one two guys in an SUV…hit a big pine tree which came crashing down on the roof of the car. The force of the impact forced the driver’s seat back, pushing the driver out of the way of the falling timber – his passenger wasn’t so lucky…he didn’t make it…

“sometimes it’s just not your day to die…” todd commented prophetically…
“yeah,” i thought full of gratitude… “and today wasn’t ours…”