Pesky's home

Welcome! This website serves as the home base to all the content I publish, which includes posts I write, videos I upload and more. The content generally surrounds trips I go on with family, trains and technology.

Here are some other places you can find me:

Blog Mastodon YouTube Email

Recent blog posts

NS Sprinters: Flirt Flex On 19 November 2025, the Dutch Railway, NS, announced the purchase of 36 new sprinter trains called the NS Flirt Flex. This will be the 5th generation of sprinter trains used by NS. The tender for these trains began in July 2022 with a request for information (RFI) from European manufacturers. Given sprinter services stop at all stations, the train needed to have quick acceleration and decelerati Read more.
Accessing AWS credentials from the console When working on an AWS account it's sometimes useful to have CLI access to run commands that automate repetitive tasks or to get to pesky resources that don't show up on the console. If you federate into an AWS account through Identity Center you could simply get the credentials through the portal when selecting an account. If you get console access through other means those credentials are not al Read more.
Deciding on an instant access S3 class Amazon S3 provides multiple storage classes depending on your object's access patterns and requirements for retrieval speeds. S3 Standard, Infrequent Access and Glacier Instance Retrieval all provide millisecond first-byte latency for object retrievals but charge different rates per GB of data stored and retrieved. Generally speaking, the colder a storage tier is, the cheaper it is to store data, Read more.
Saying goodbye to bicycle gutters? I was not expecting a large amount of press coverage on bicycle gutters at train stations, but it makes sense given that this is the Netherlands. ProRail, in a weird move, based on their internal investigation and reports, has a new policy where no bicycle gutters will be installed at staircases in new or renovated stations. These gutters are channels at the side of staircases designed to fit bicy Read more.

Recent toots

On the way back from Barcelona, we decided to take the regional trains, which included the TER by SCNF from Perpignan to Portbou and then the Rodalies de Catalunya by Renfe from Portbou to Barcelona. I was able to book the tickets for the first leg easily enough through SNCF, but for the second part, it would require purchasing them at the station in Portbou. Going to Portbou was uneventful, but Read more.
Going from Barcelona to Perpignan by high-speed train. It's my first time experiencing Spanish security theatre. It's off the charts. Read more.
AWS just launched four "flat-rate pricing plans" for website hosting which includes CDN, WAF, S3 storage and other services. This is a monthly fee in case your "website or application goes viral or faces a DDoS attack." In reality it should read in case you get swamped by AI crawlers... https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/introducing-flat- rate-pricing-plans-with-no-over Read more.
@rubenerd A colleague of mine uses his podcasting RØDE mic for work calls and it's always just so much easier in the ears after hearing bad laptop mic audio. Read more.

Recent beer check-ins

Pesky P. is drinking an Uiltje Blond by Uiltje Brewing Company View check-in.
Pesky P. is drinking an IPA by Honest Greens at Honest Greens View check-in.
Pesky P. is drinking a NIJPA by Brouwerij 't IJ View check-in.
Pesky P. is drinking a Levensgenieter by KOMPAAN Dutch Craft Beer Company View check-in.

Recent Anilist activity

Pesky watched episode 5 of Ranma 1/2 (2024) 2nd Season. View activity.
Pesky watched episode 1 - 4 of Ranma 1/2 (2024) 2nd Season. View activity.
Pesky watched episode 6 - 7 of Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi 2. View activity.
Pesky watched episode 1 - 5 of Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi 2. View activity.