Buddy: Easy, Fast CI/CD

Whenever you make a change to a website, you need to deploy your changes to a production server. This can be as simple as uploading some files and as complex as having a multi-step process involving version control, building code, running custom scripts, checking links, image optimization, and then rsync-ing files to multiple production servers. To manage the build and deployment process, developers often use continuous integration (CI) and either continuous delivery or continuous deployment (CD). CI/CD bridges the gaps between development and operation activities and teams by enforcing automation in building, testing and deployment of applications. 

I’ve used Travis CI and attempted to use CircleCI but both seemed more complicated than I would like them to be. I then came across Buddy which got a lot of good reviews and looked super simple to set up. For me personally, I just wanted a simple way to commit changes to this blog’s custom WordPress theme in GitHub and have the changes SFTP’d to the production server. Though you can do that using GitHub Actions, it looked like more work and didn’t come with useful reporting and notifications like what you get with Buddy. Below is how I set up Buddy to detect whenever I commit or push to GitHub and then SFTP the changes to a server.

1. Sign up for Buddy

Buddy requires that you sign up using a work email address or to log in using your GitHub account. I wasn’t using this for work so I just logged in using my existing GitHub account.

2. Create a project

Click the “Create a new project” button. Since I logged in using my GitHub account, Buddy instantly showed me my GitHub repos. Click on a repo for this project you are working on. In my case, I chose “my-blog”.

3. Add a new pipeline

Click to add a new pipeline. You will be asked for a number of things including:

  • Name – I just called the pipeline “Commit / Push to GitHub Then SFTP to abdullahyahya.com”
  • Trigger Mode – I chose “On push” because I want to trigger the pipeline whenever I commit or push to GitHub.
  • Branch or Tag That Triggers the Pipeline – I chose “Single branch” and “main” since, well, I only have one branch (main) and no tags.
  • Target Website URL – I entered my blog’s website URL
  • Trigger Condition – there are a few options here but I chose to have the pipeline be triggered only if there were changes in the repository since last execution which is probably what most people want.
  • Set currently deployed revision on the remotes – Since I already had commits in GitHub that were in sync what production, I chose the most recently commit revision to avoid unnecessarily deploying everything from scratch.
  • Other – there are other options but I just left them at their defaults

4. Add an action

On the next step, you need to choose an action that will take place in the pipeline (when there is a change committed / pushed to GitHub). Since I just want to SFTP the changes, I chose the SFTP action. Browse all Buddy actions.

5. Set up action

Now, you need to set up your chosen action. In this case, I need to set up my source and destination file paths and SFTP login credentials.

If you click the Action tab / button, you can name your action and temporarily disable the action, among other things.

Test your action by clicking the “Test action” link. In my case, Buddy connecting to the production server of SFTP, created a test directory, deleted the test directory, testing uploading a file, and deleted the test file.

If your test fails, e.g. you get the following error, then you may need to whitelist Buddy’s IP addresses.

6. List all pipelines

When you are done, you will see your new pipeline listed along with any other pipelines you have. You can manually run the pipeline also.

7. Do a real test

To do a real test of my pipeline, I added a comment to a file directly in GitHub and committed it. Seconds later, I saw the commit message show up in Buddy. I then verified that the comment was actually added to the file on the production server.

8. Add more actions to the pipeline

If you click the Actions button / tab, you’ll see all actions in the pipeline. You can add more actions that run in certain situations. In this example, I added an action to send myself an email if the pipeline fails. You can also add actions that rsync files to a server, optimize images, perform link checking, run a custom shell script, and much more.

9. Done

So that’s it. Super easy. Intuitive. Fast. I like it!

Keto Weight Loss Food Menu

Alright, lately I’ve been obsessed with finding recipes and food for weight loss that I personally enjoy eating, especially Keto-friendly ones. To keep track of all my discoveries, I decided to just make this menu.

Microwave-Cooked Eggs

  • Eggs (I usually eat 4)
  • Shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar) – optional
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Microwave on high for 2 minutes (depending on microwave)

Air-Fried Chicken Drumsticks

  • Chicken drumsticks (skin removed)
  • Spices
  • 1 Anaheim pepper

Healthy Keto Protein Smoothie

  • 1 tbsp Navitas Acai powder
  • 2 frozen strawberries
  • 1 :ratio keto yoghurt (if not available, get Two Good yogurt – on 3 g of carbs)
  • 1 scoop pure protein powder
  • 1 tablespoon of Matcha green tea powder
  • Almond milk
  • 1 tablespoon Chia seeds

Keto Chicken Rice Soup

  • 2 x 8 oz packs of Shirataki Konjac rice
  • Chicken broth
  • Chicken breast (pregrilled from Costco)
  • Salt to taste

Keto Rice with Tomato Sauce

  • 2 x 8 oz packs of Shirataki Konjac rice
  • 1 8oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp of Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp of oregano
  • 1/2 tsp of black pepper

Riced Cauliflower or Konjac Rice With Scrambled Eggs & Minced Beef

  • Riced cauliflower or Konjac rice
  • Eggs
  • Minced beef

Keto Spaghetti

  • 2 packs Healthy Noodle (from Costco) – 120 calories
  • 1 18oz can of tomato sauce (105 calories)
  • Minced beef (optional)
  • Parmesan cheese (optional)

Air Fried Tofu

  • 1 pack tofu sliced into 1 inch cubes
  • Canola oil spray
  • Sea salt

Grilled Asparagus

  • Asparagus
  • Canola oil spray
  • Salt and pepper

Celery & Hummus

  • Celery
  • Hummus

Iced Green Tea

  • Green tea with Matcha
  • Erythritol

Vegetable Stir Fry With Chicken

  • Vegetable medley (Costco)
  • Lee Kum Kee Supreme soy sauce (0 carbs)
  • Pre-grilled chicken breast (Costco)

Broccoli, Chicken & Egg Scramble

Spicy Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower

  • Spicy Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower (Trader Joes)
  • Pre-grilled chicken breast – optional (Costco)

Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry With Chicken Breast

  • Riced Cauliflower stir fry (Trader Joes)
  • Pre-grilled chicken breast (Costco)

Peanuts

Available at Costco and Smart n Final

Whisps Crisps

Available at Costco

Keto yoghurt

No Sugar Keto Cups

Available at Costco

Beef Jerky

Available at Costco
Available at Smart n Final

Coffee

  • Nespresso coffee
  • Frothed milk
  • 1/4 tsp Erythritol (or Stevia or Monk fruit)
  • Cinnamon

Pickles

Pickles are very low calorie and low carb.

Available at Smart n Final

Cheese Sticks

Cheese sticks are very low carb, but high in protein and calories.

Garlic Spinach With Ground Beef

  • Frozen spinach (steamable in bag)
  • Minced garlic
  • Lemon juice
  • Ground beef
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Cucumbers Slices Dipped in Salt & Distilled White Vinegar Solution

Red’s Egg’wich

$12 at Costco

Egg Whites

  • $9 at Costco
  • High protein, low fat, low carb
Egg WhiteWhole Egg
Calories1871
Protein4 grams6 grams
Fat0 grams5 grams

Extra Lean 96/4 Ground Beef

  • $10 at Smart n Final
  • 96% lean / 4% fat
  • Top it with a slice of mozzarella cheese and eat without as is (no bun or condiments)
  • 1 patty contains
    • 112 grams
    • 150 calories
    • 25 g protein

Angle Grinder Uses

An angle grinder is actually a very useful home improvement too. Below are some things you can do with an angle grinder.

Cleaning

  • Use a wire cup brush to remove rust and caked-on cement and dirt from tools.
  • Use a wire wheel to remove paint

Cut bars, rods and bolts

  • Use a metal cutoff wheel to cut bars, rods and bolts
  • Use a metal cutoff wheel to cut off frozen bolts or screws

Cut tile, stone and concrete

  • Use a diamond wheel to cut through tile

Restore cutting edges

  • Use a grinding wheel to sharpen dull blades

Cutting out old mortar

  • Use a diamond tuckpointing wheel to grind out old, loose mortar

Lowest Calorie, Lowest Carb, Filling Food

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to find the lowest calorie, lowest carb food that could be considered a dish/meal. The goal is to be able to lose weight while feeling full after eating something that is relatively tasty with a flavor that everyone is familiar with. When it comes to filling foods, most people would think of rice or bread. Apparently, there’s something very similar to rice called Konjac.

It has a neutral taste and its shape is very similar to rice. But, it does have a slightly different texture than rice. Nevertheless, one pack (150g) contains only 5 calories and 0 net carbs.

Of course, eating plain rice alone, especially Konjac rice, doesn’t taste good. After considering various ingredients to add to Konjac rice, I decided that chicken broth is one of the best flavorings to add. Everyone knows what chicken tastes like and since it doesn’t contain meat, even vegetarians can eat (drink) it. It’s also not a forbidden food by any of the major religions.

This particular brand of chicken broth is organic, doesn’t contain salt, provides a mere 5 calories for 1 cup, and has 0 carbs.

If we cook one pack of Konjac rice with 1 cup of this chicken broth, we’d only be consuming 10 calories and 0 net carbs! Since 1 pack seems too little to make me feel sufficiently full, I’ll go with 2 packs and 1 cup of chicken broth (15 calories total). That’s nothing! (calorie-wise)

2 packs of Konjac rice + 1 cup of chicken broth.

The broth says “no salt added”. That may be good for people with high blood pressure but for me, the rice just didn’t taste good without salt so I added some. Here’s the finished dish.

I know it looks super boring and tasteless but since I added chicken broth, it actually tasted like chicken soup. On a scale of 1 (yuck) to 10 (yum), I’d give it a 7 (not bad). Of course, the only reason for eating this is to lose weight until you reach your target weight after which time you can adjust your diet so as to just maintain your weight.

Now, don’t go eating this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

  • The Konjac rice has 0 fat, 0 net carbs, and 0 protein = 0 essential nutrients
  • The chicken broth has 0 fat, 0 carbs, and 1g of protein = hardly any nutrients from protein

So, if you eat this and nothing else, your body won’t be getting any of the essential nutrients it needs from fat and protein.

This ridiculously simple dish is good in combination with other food so that your total daily caloric intake is less than your calorie expenditure so that you can actually burn fat and lose weight, especially for people who don’t want to exercise in conjunction with dieting.

According to one calculator, my basal metabolic rate (BMR) or, calories I would burn each day by being sedentary / not active, is 1788. You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of body weight. So, if I was sedentary and could consume a max of 1288 calories per day (which is not easy to do considering how so many foods contain so many calories), then I could have a deficit of 500 calories per day and lose 1 pound of body weight per week or 10 pounds in 2.5 months.

Konjac rice with eggs

If you’d like to eat Konjac rice with something else that is full of nutrients and is healthy, then you may want to try mixing the rice with scrambled eggs. One scrambled egg has 100 calories, 8g of fat, 7g protein, and 1g of net carbs.

Konjac rice with chicken

Since we’re adding chicken broth to the Konjac rice, it would make sense to add real chicken as well. Pictured below I added pregrilled chicken breast from Costco. It tasted good and was super easy to make since everything was precooked.

A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of chicken breast provides 0 carbs, 165 calories, 31 grams of protein and 3.6 grams of fat.

Konjac rice is relatively expensive. For a cheaper alternative that still has much fewer carbs than rice, you can use riced cauliflower.

Easily Draw Curves in Photoshop

Here’s an easy way to draw a custom curve in Photoshop.

1. Click the Curvature Pen Tool

2. Click where you want inflection points

3. Drag an inflection point if you need to adjust the shape of the curve

4. Right-click on the curve click “Stroke Path”

5. Choose a tool, e.g. Brush

6. Click OK and see your curve drawn using the existing brush settings

Ninja Foodi: Easy, Indoor Grilled Asparagus

If you like grilled asparagus, here’s an easy way to make it without firing up the outside grill.

Ingredients

  • Asparagus, Refrigerated (I get mine at Costco)
  • Sea salt
  • Pepper
  • Canola oil spray

Instructions

  1. With the grill plate inserted, turn on your Ninja Foodi, hit the Grill button until its set to MAX, set the time to 7 minutes, and hit the START button
  2. Snap off the ends (white part) of the asparagus
  3. When the grill is preheated, spray the grill with Canola oil, lay the asparagus flat on the grill, spray Canola oil on the asparagus, and sprinkle on some salt and pepper
  4. Half way through grilling flip the asparagus
  5. When it’s done, just remove it (I use tongs) and eat!

Air Fried Tofu

So, I’m currently trying this Keto diet which calls for low carbs. Since french fries are not low carb, I needed a substitute. Tofu seems to fit the bill thought it’s a lot more expensive that potatoes. Anyway, the one I’m eating is from Costco. It’s rated “Firm” with a rating of 4 out of 6 on the firmness scale. One pack contains 5 servings and each serving contains 70 calories and only 1g of net carbs (fiber doesn’t count). So, one pack contains 350 calories.

Here’s a recipe to make air fried tofu cubes.

Ingredients

  • tofu
  • salt

Instructions

  1. Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and sprinkle on some salt
  2. In Ninja Foodi, hit air fryer button and set time to 20 minutes
  3. After preheating, spray canola oil on air fryer basket and put tofu in
  4. Halfway through cooking, flip or stir tofu, spray canola oil on tofu and sprinkle on more salt
  5. When done, remove and eat

Should Real Estate Investors Leave Equity in Their Properties?

If you are a real estate investor and have one or more rentals you’ve accumulated over time, there’s a good chance you have a good amount of equity in at least one of your properties – maybe even your primary residence. You might feel happy that you have a lot of equity but from an investment point of view, you could be making more money — potentially A LOT more — if you pull out some of that equity to re-invest it rather than leave it in the form of equity for an existing property. Compare the following two scenarios.

Scenario 1

Let’s say you have 3 properties. One is your primary residence which you live in and are not renting out. The other two are rentals.

Current ValueEquityRental Income
(monthly)
Primary Residence$1,000,000$600,000$0
Rental 1 (townhouse)$750,000$650,000$2,500
Rental 2 (triplex)$590,000$100,000$4,820

Appreciation

Now, let’s estimate the value + appreciation on each property per year over 10 years. The average annual appreciation rate in California is 6.77%. We can easily calculate the appreciation using the calculator at

https://www.ddginc-usa.com/cgi-bin/apprec.php

In the last row, we see the total appreciation over 10 years.

YearPrimary ResidenceRental 1Rental 2
1$1,067,700$800,775$629,943
2$1,139,983$854,987$672,590
3$1,217,160$912,870$718,124
4$1,299,562$974,671$766,742
5$1,387,542$1,040,657$818,650
6$1,481,479$1,111,109$874,073
7$1,581,775$1,186,331$933,247
8$1,688,861$1,266,646$996,428
9$1,803,197$1,352,398$1,063,886
10$1,925,273$1,443,955$1,135,911
Diff$925,273$693,955$545,911

Rental Income

Now, let’s estimate the annual gross rental income and per year over 10 years. For simplicity, and to be conservative, we’ll keep the monthly rent fixed (we’ll never increase the rent), although in reality, in California you can legally increase the rent by at least 5% per year. In the last row, we see the total gross rental income over 10 years. Of course, you’ll have expenses like debt service (paying your mortgage), taxes, operational costs, etc which will reduce this total rental income.

YearPrimary ResidenceRental 1Rental 2
100$0
20$30,000$57,840
30$30,000$57,840
40$30,000$57,840
50$30,000$57,840
60$30,000$57,840
70$30,000$57,840
80$30,000$57,840
90$30,000$57,840
100$30,000$57,840
Total0$270,000 $520,560

Total Return on Investment

Now, if we add the appreciation and rental income minus expenses over 10 years, we’d get our total return on investment (ROI). But, since expenses vary from one property to another, to be conservative and keep things simple, we’ll just look at the total appreciation.

Over 10 years, our investments will have appreciated by $2,165,140.

Now, let’s compare this to another scenario where we do cash-out refinance and reinvest the money in more rental properties.

Scenario 2

In this scenario, we decide whether to do cash-out refinance for each existing property.

Primary residence

For the primary residence, we won’t refinance it and take cash out because doing so would increase the mortgage and since it’s not a rental, you’d have to pay for that increase yourself. Of course, if you can afford it, you could also do a cash-out refinance on that property as well, but it’s not a good idea to spread yourself too thin.

Rental #1

For rental #1, we do a cash-out refinance to pull out 75% of the equity. In doing so, our monthly mortgage pay for that property will go up but if you plan it correctly, your income will cover your new expenses, especially if your previous loan would be paid off in, say, 10 years, and you refinance to 30 years which would lower your monthly payments despite having borrowed more money.

Rental #2

For rental #2, there isn’t enough equity in the property so we can’t refinance it.

Current ValueCurrent EquityCash-out refi
75% of value		New Equity
Primary Residence$1,000,000$600,000No refi$600,000
Rental 1$750,000$650,000$562,500$100,000
Rental 2$590,000$100,000No refi$100,000
Total$562,500

According to the table above, we’re able to pull out $562,500 from Rental #1 which we’ll use as a down payment to purchase more rental properties. Let’s say we buy 4 duplexes at $500,000 each and we put down 25% (standard for investment properties) which is $125,000 for each. That leaves us with $62,500 for closing costs and some home improvement. We’ll estimate the rental income for each duplex is $3500 per month.

Current ValueEquityRental Income
(monthly)
Rental 3 (duplex)$500,000$125,000$3,500
Rental 4 (duplex)$500,000$125,000$3,500
Rental 5 (duplex)$500,000$125,000$3,500
Rental 6 (duplex)$500,000$125,000$3,500

Appreciation

Now, like in scenario 1, let’s estimate the appreciation over 10 years.

YearRental 3Rental 4Rental 5Rental 6
1$533,850$533,850$533,850$533,850
2$569,992$569,992$569,992$569,992
3$608,580$608,580$608,580$608,580
4$649,781$649,781$649,781$649,781
5$693,771$693,771$693,771$693,771
6$740,739$740,739$740,739$740,739
7$790,887$790,887$790,887$790,887
8$844,431$844,431$844,431$844,431
9$901,599$901,599$901,599$901,599
10$962,637$962,637$962,637$962,637
Diff$428,787$428,787$428,787$428,787

Rental Income

Now, like in scenario 1, let’s estimate the annual gross rental income and per year over 10 years.

YearRental 3Rental 4Rental 5Rental 6
1$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
2$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
3$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
4$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
5$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
6$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
7$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
8$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
9$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
10$42,000$42,000$42,000$42,000
Total $420,000 $420,000 $420,000 $420,000

Total Return on Investment

Now, let’s calculate the total ROI. Again, to be conservative and for simplicity, we’ll just consider total appreciation even though we know the total ROI will be much more than that since every month for 10 years we’ll be paying down the mortgage using the rental income which increases our equity in each property.

The total appreciation over 10 years in scenarios 1 and 2 are

  • Scenario 1: $2,165,140.
  • Scenario 2: $2,165,140. + $1,715,147 = $3,880,287.

Therefore, using a very conservative estimate, we could make an additional $1,715,147 over 10 years if we refinanced and reinvested the equity in our existing properties.

What to do after 10 years

Let’s say you hold on to the properties for 10 years. You’ll most likely have a mortgage on all or some of properties. At that point, you could choose to sell some of the properties to pay off all of your mortgages and live mortgage free! You’ll still be getting rental income from the remaining rental properties which may even amount to as much or more as your work income from a day job in which case you could choose to just retire and travel the world.

The Best Sweetener for Weight Loss

Everyone by now should now that regular white cane sugar is bad for you and contributes to weight gain, diabetes and other health problems. Following are some alternatives and an explanation as to why they are good or bad.

Honey

Many people think that there’s something special about honey that even though it’s high in calories like sugar, it’s better. While it’s true that there are some health benefits to consuming honey, from a weight loss point of view, it’s only slightly better. In order to understand why, we need to realize the fact that digestible non-fiber carbs simply get converted to sugar in the body so the following formula holds true.

CARBS = SUGAR*

* except for carbs from fiber and Erythritol (a sugar alcohol)

If we compare sugar to honey with the same portion size (100 g), we find that honey still has a ton of carbs (82 g) compared to sugar (100 g). Therefore, honey is not a good sweetener for weight loss.

Note: the sweetness of honey is higher than that of white sugar so you don’t need to use as much of it.

Erythritol

Pure Erythritol is a sugar alcohol. It is 70% as sweet as regular sugar. Unlike other sugar alcohols where half gets digested in the body, Erythritol does not get digested. Instead, it gets excreted through urine and feces like carbs from dietary fiber. For that reason, grams of Erythritol can be subtracted from total carbs. This makes Erythritol one of the best sweeteners. The texture is like fine sugar. I personally found the taste to be not bad but of course not as good as real sugar but that’s probably because I’m used to the taste of sugar.

Monk Fruit Extract

Pure Monk fruit extract contains zero sugars, carbs and calories. This makes Monk fruit extract one of the best sweeteners. However, it’s 150-250 times sweeter than table sugar so you have to be careful when adding it to avoid over-sweetening. Monk fruit extract is often mixed with other sweeteners so read the nutrition label to make sure that if it’s mixed, it’s mixed with an acceptable sweetener like Erythritol. The texture is like a very fine powder so it dissolves easily. I personally found the taste to be a bit fruity and not bad. I still prefer the taste of real sugar but that’s probably because I’m used to the taste of sugar.

Stevia

Pure Stevia, like Monk fruit extract, is a zero sugar, carb and calorie sweetener which makes it a good sugar substitute. It is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar so you need to be extra careful when adding it to food and drinks. And, like Monk fruit extract, it often is found mixed with other sweeteners so make sure to check the ingredient list.

White Rice Alternatives

White rice is eaten by everyone all over the world. It’s probably the cheapest, most filling, readily-available type of food. Many people even have large plates of rice for breakfast. Though white rice may seem like an innocent, healthy food to eat, unlike sweets, it’s actually not healthy because it’s full of carbs which just gets converted into sugar in the body which leads to weight gain and health issues such as diabetes. So, just because white rice doesn’t taste sweet or look sweet, it’s just as bad as sugar. You might as well imagine you’re seeing sugar when you see white rice (or any carb like bread for that matter).

The nutrition profile for white rice shows that 1 cup of it contains 45 grams of carbs. If we subtract the insignificant carbs from dietary fiber (they just pass through the body), then you’re consuming 44.4 grams of carbs in 1 cup of white rice. 1 cup of white rice also gives you a whopping 205 calories.

White Rice vs Coca Cola

Now this should surprise you. One cup of white rice has more carbs (45 g) than that in a can of Coca Cola (39 g). So, when you eat rice, it’s not much different from drinking a can of soda.

Riced Cauliflower

One healthy, low calorie alternative for white rice is riced cauliflower. Weighing in at just 5 – 2 = 4 digestable carbs per cup, it’s got a fraction of the carbs of white rice. And at only 25 calories per cup, it’s super low calorie compared to the whopping 205 calories per cup of white rice.

Spicy Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower

If you a simple-to-cook, flavorful riced cauliflower meal, try Trader Joe’s Spicy Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower. For $3, it’s cheap and personally, I found it to be very tasty. Optionally add some chicken breast for protein. It’s a bit spicy so if you can’t handle the spice, try the next option below.

Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry

Trader Joe’s Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry also costs just $3. It’s not spicy but personally, I didn’t find it as flavorful as the Trader Joe’s Spicy Mexican-Style Riced Cauliflower.

Shirataki Konjac Rice

I haven’t actually tried this yet but Shirataki Konjac Rice is extremely low in calories. At only 5 calories per 140 grams and 3 – 3 = 0 digestable carbs, it’s completely carb (sugar) free!

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