Jamie Thingelstad

In my continuing exploration and learning about Ethereum I decided to setup what would be my usual entry on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). The same way the Domain Name Service (DNS) converts names like thingelstad.com into something computers can use, ENS can convert thingelstad.eth into the wallet address I prefer for Ethereum, and other crypto as well.

ENS is a companion to DNS. Mostly it holds addresses for crypto destinations. It also can hold additional metadata like pointers to your Twitter and Github profiles, as well as your website, email address, and profile image. ENS is completely decentralized like all things on Ethereum. It is operated and governed via a series of smart contracts.

The process is super easy, as one might expect. You simply connect to your wallet. I use Rainbow for all my Ethereum dapps connections. To buy the domain name you execute a series of two transactions on the blockchain. In fact, all changes to your ENS entries are changes on the blockchain. Some of them have fees, and all of them cost Ethereum gas. After registering the domain, you have to set your resolver. The resolver is saying which contract should requesters ask for information from. Think of this as your DNS host records. You can then add any number of crypto addresses to your entry. I setup Ethereum (of course), Bitcoin, Litecoin, Cardano, and Filecoin. It is unclear to me that there is any benefit in setting up all of them, but that was the list I thought may get used.

The last step is to create a reverse entry for your wallet. That is just like your Reverse DNS entry. Doing that allows dapps to show your friendly thingelstad.eth entry instead of the address. This is another transaction.

You can see the records for thingelstad.eth, it is all setup. I also have the reverse record set. To test, Etherscan Name Lookup for thingelstad.eth works as does the reverse lookup. Nice! 🙌

It was fun to do this and another opportunity to get familiar with dapps and Ethereum. Unfortunately this type of experimentation is extremely expensive right now due to gas prices being so high. The actual costs of doing all of the above are very low, but the gas prices to execute the transactions were more than 10x the cost of the thing itself. Right now this is like buying a $10 item on eBay and spending $100 to have it shipped to you.

Lastly, the ENS service operates as a token. My address, thingelstad.eth, is a token that only I own. It is kind of neat that it now shows up in my wallet as well!

We were excited to watch Brandi Carlile stream her first live show tonight from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Brandi and the Twins have done a number of streamed shows from their home during the pandemic. But this was the first show with the band, on a professional stage, and a limited number of vaccinated folks in the audience. It was amazing! 🤩

Carlile started with her powerful cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, just her and a guitar. She was then joined by the Twins, and then the band on the third song. She hit every song you would want to hear. The whole band was filled with so much energy, so excited to be playing together on a stage for the first time in over a year, that it came all the way through the Internet and out the TV in our family room. ⚡️

We’ve been seeing Brandi Carlile sing for years now and we only get more impressed with her. She is an amazing performer, songwriter, and musician. Our whole family enjoys her music!

She finished the evening with an incredible performance of Amazing Grace. It was so beautiful I was wiping the tears from my eyes. If you haven’t seen Carlile, you really should. Her talent is amazing.

Tonight we streamed The Cactus Blossoms as they played live to a limited 50-table audience at First Avenue. It was great to see them play live, and the production from First Avenue was really good with multiple cameras sweeping through the room. I hope that they continue to offer streaming options for shows. I like the idea of having an option to see bands live in the main room, but also being able to see them streaming opens up a lot of additional options to see live music that otherwise aren’t available.

We watched Enola Holmes tonight and enjoyed it a lot. Witty story and characters. Millie Bobby Brown was great in the lead.

I’ve been fighting a Pileated Woodpecker, and losing. This woodpecker has been visiting our house every morning. It usually shows up between 7-9am. It is the biggest woodpecker I’ve ever seen, and it’s done a number.

We have someone coming tomorrow to put a metal plate up, and then we are going put in Hardie Board. The rest of the house has Hardie Board already, but its regular lumber in the gable.

I’ve been pounding on the wall, but it has gotten less scared of that. Now I’ve started running outside and yelling at it which sends it away. If the image of Bill Murray going after the Gopher in Caddyshack is coming to mind, that is about right.

After way too much deliberation I decided to head to Podany’s today and come home with a new chair and a sit-stand desk. I should have done this months ago. This is a great upgrade from my previous setup.

Having the Ever Given, a massive container ship, stuck in the Suez Canal and halting all normal activity through the canal is a familiar problem to any technologist that has dealt with queue problems. Look at the real-time vessel map and all the ships stuck waiting. 🚢

They normally pass 50 ships a day through the canal. With so many backed up, it will be a few days before things get back to normal. 😬

These pictures tell the story well.

Tyler and I read The Boy Who Would Be King together tonight. It is a good book, and the story and points are made well. The illustrations are also well done.