Net Debt - Sept 2013

Student loans: -$79,130.39 ($565.43)
Car loan: $0
Revolving Credit card debt: $0.
Mortgage: -$132,941.83 ($507.18)
Total Debt: -$212,072.22 ($1,072.61)
Debt Jan 1, 2013:  -$216,875.08 ($4,802.86)

A nice website I just recently discovered is the Chase Home Value Estimator, I know I don't typically post values of assets, but it is nice to some degree because while your value of the home may be an overestimate (like mine was apparently but only $3,635), you can see what a bank might value your home for. I know this
doesn't affect our "net debt" but it does affect our net worth and if you are interested in refinancing your home and the sort.

Also, I realized that we HAVEN'T been paying one of my student loans, so now we are catching up on the student loan payments.  This isn't a critical piece of news as my loans are in deferment, but it is important to us to try to get them as low as possible before they go into repayment.  So, you'll likely see some better trends in our debt going down soon, like this month!

Cyber Monday - Setting up an VPN with Synology on your computer Part 2 of 3

To begin setting up the VPN on your windows computer, you'll want to first go to OpenVPN's website and download the latest version: here.  As of this writing it's version 2.3.2 released on June 6, 2013 (2013.06.03). Once installed it'll create a nice icon on the start menu like so:

Now the easy part: Log into your synology server and go to the VPN section as described in Part 1 of this series (find the link below).  From there you should open the downloaded zip configuration files.  Unzip these files and navigate to C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config.  Place the ca.crt and openvpn.ovpn files inside of the folder. 

Lastly, open openvpn.ovpn with your text editor, I like notepad personally, and on the third line it will say: remote YOUR_SERVER_IP 1194

This is where IP can be typed in; it can be found easily by going to whatsmyip.org or going to your router and see what IP address it has been issued.

To use the VPN, open up the program and you should be prompted for a username and password.

In this prompt you'll type in the synology username and password that has access and hopefully you'll connect right away. If you can't connect try closing your web browser and other things that access the internet and connect again.

Note: For mac users, you can use Tunnelblick to vpn as well.

Check out Part 1 of 3
Check out Part 2 of 3
Check out Part 3 of 3
Check out the bonus stuff!

Cyber Monday - Setting up an VPN with Synology Part 1 of 3

So recently, I was traveling abroad and wanted access to my files at home and wanted to make sure to have (more) secure access to the internet for the future. In doing so, I found out several things:

1.  PPTP is NOT secure due to its MS-CHAP v2,  PPTP's authentication protocol. Currently there are ways to penetrate them easily. (Side note: even its creator, Microsoft, has abandoned it!)
2.  OpenVPN is secure (at least for now), fast, reliable, and diverse (described below).
3.  There are a ton of ways to setup a VPN server and OpenVPN is available for apple products, android, and windows.

The two most interesting ways I found to setup OpenVPN was using Untangle. I really like Untangle for the reason that they can filter all of your internet traffic BEFORE it goes to your system, it can filter viruses out, install a secure firewall, intrusion detection system, spyware filter, phish filter, etc. It is absolutely amazing, free (or pay for premium), and easy on resources. I did install it on a spare laptop to see how exactly it runs and really enjoyed its ease of use and simplicity. However, you do need a dedicated system for it and it will slow your traffic down slightly.

At my home, I don't have the resources (i.e. a spare PC or laptop with 2+ nic cards) to run Untangle, so instead, I used my Synology server (DSM 4.2-3211) and opened a port on my router to the outside world for my VPN setup. So, lets get started!

Setting up the Server:

1. Log into your synology device and open up the Package Center and install the VPN Server

2. Once installed, it will create an icon on the dropdown menu.

3. Once open, select OpenVPN in the Settings Folder and enable it.  I chose to have a maximum of 3 simultaneous connections as I don't have many users in my home and feel safer limiting the number of instances possible. Likewise, I wanted the speed to be as fast as possible, so I enabled compression on the VPN link.  Next, you should go to the Privileges and choose who has access to the VPN. Under General Settings, you can also allow newly created users to automatically have access if you choose. Once set, export the configuration files and you're good to go.  

 

4. To be extra safe, you'll probably want to enable the AutoBlock under the General Settings as well. This will help prevent those nice people from China & Niagara from permanently gaining access to your server once they find it (Like they tried to do to a friend's synology server).  

5. Now you'll likely want to punch a hole into your router to allow for the server to have access to the outside world. If you're setting up a VPN you'll hopefully know how to do this, however, there are two ways, one would be to place your whole Synology server outside of the firewall using DMZ, sort of defeating the purpose of the work you just did, the other, which I HIGHLY recommend, is just port forwarding. Depending on your setup you'll type in the IP address of your synology server, and the port to forward (port 1194 & UDP only).

Congrats the OpenVPN server is now set up!  Next you'll need to setup the client side of it.  Check out how to setup the client for windows in Part 2, and for an android & apple iphone device in part 3.  Also a short bonus page of advanced things you can do to your synology with OpenVPN like IP forwarding.

Notes: Some great sources of information can be found here.


Check out Part 1 of 3
Check out Part 2 of 3
Check out Part 3 of 3
Check out the bonus stuff!

Net Debt - June 2013

Student loans: -$79,695.82 ($259.96)
Car loan: $0
Revolving Credit card debt: $0.
Mortgage: -$133,449.01 ($252.097)
Total Debt: -$213,144.83
Debt Jan 1, 2013:  -$216,875.08 ($3,730.25)

This past month was my birthday, and as such, I didn't receive much, but the biggest and probably best gift was honestly a gift from my wife, $500 to knock down student loans.  It's a little depressing to know that we applied so much to the student loans (over $600 monthly, and this past month over $1k) and still only made such a marginal difference, however, I suppose a chip at a time helps it go down.

So far of the 2 federal loans I have, one of them is down to the principle and the other is close. Hopefully, if they can adjust how I apply my payments, it'll be down to the principle as well within the next 3 or 4 months (making my goal of paying the actual principle down by 2014).  However, my private loans, while we were hoping to have the interest all paid off before the year is over, currently it looks like it might go over by 3 months (Feb or March of 2014...Miscalculation?  I honestly don't know) unless I can compensate for it somehow (maybe my end-of-year bonus will go towards it, who knows).  I would really like for 2014 to be a year to knock down the principle payments, hopefully that dream of mine will still come true, but we've had and will continue to have some medical expenditures that we didn't quite anticipate.

Other than that, life is good here. We are doing some small upgrades to the house.  We just ordered a new fan for the guest room which I'll install this month sometime. In August we have a big dental expense, and in September, we'll probably FINALLY buy that flooring and hopefully install it as well. Perhaps in October we'll finally get a new couch as well as the one we have currently is a bit small, but that's sort of in the air and not an absolute necessity.

Also, I'm being good to myself by biking about 5 miles a day on most days with my exercise bike. It helps that while I'm doing this, I'm also reading on my kindle. I don't know about you, but this is the best kind of relaxing for me! Relaxes the mind, burns off the stress of the day, and helps keep the tonnage off.  I'm also feeling a little confident about my C++ programming, but I'm still in the beginning stages and learning a lot. Until next month!

Garage Door Opener - Amazon Gold Box Deals

I consider myself a relatively handy guy, relatively confident of installing most things, be it woodworking, flooring, or technology based things. In mid October of 2012, I installed a garage door opener for our 2 car garage, the Chamberlain WD962KEV Whisper Drive with a battery backup; it was a relatively easy installation and only took a couple of hours by myself (although I did need someone for a couple of minutes while I was holding the opener and juggling a few things). Keep in mind, I had never used a garage door opener, nor installed one previously. I had to do a lot of research into garage door openers looking at what features were available like battery back-up, how noisy it is, what safety features and anti-theft features are available, the warranty (lifetime motor warranty), and the basic stuff like what's included like car remotes and outside remotes, the HP to lift the door.

There were a couple of models I was considering based on different price ranges, and while this model is more of on the top end, it had everything I wanted and I wasn't going to settle for something I didn't like, especially if I had to deal with it every day!

This model was absolutely great, it has a battery back up which you don't realize how nice it is, until you need it. --Recently a transformer blew in our neighborhood and left 300+ people without power, I left the house without a single trouble because it had a battery backup, and it was wonderful... and I felt like a million bucks because I didn't have to worry a single bit or lift a finger--

Our garage is also next to our spare bedroom and I would hate to have our guests wake up rudely because I'm leaving for work, and because this drive is so quiet, I'm not afraid one bit. With the garage door well lubricated, honestly, I hardly hear it, unlike ALL of my neighbors garage door openers.

My wife and I are also worried about someone "hacking" into our garage because the codes don't change on some of the cheaper models, but not the case here. With this opener you have "Security+ 2.0 anti-burglary technology, which assures that a new code is sent every time the remote control is used, and PosiLock theft protection, which keeps the door locked once it's closed. A manual release handle allows you to open the garage door in case of a battery failure"  The manual release we also put a zip tie around so no one with a coat hanger can unlock it from the outside (a proven safety tip).  Also, it auto-closes within a few minutes in case we forget to close it for some reason, but don't worry, it has sensors to make sure no one is directly underneath it. It also comes with an outside remote which is wireless and two car openers.

It was a wonderful purchase and currently, amazon is having a gold box deal so, you can snatch one up for only $190, here and with the money saved, you can go and buy their surge protector for $10 to protect it from everything up to a lighting bolt strike.

DISCLAIMER: I have not been paid to do the review of this product.  It just kicks butt... which is why I love it.