Here are some of the ones I found useful.

map | http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&q=%s
gl | http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&btnI=I’m+Feeling+Lucky

That’s it so far.

Part of any VirtualHost config involves making the right directories and you can make your job easier by using curly braces. I suppose you could call it regular expressions. I don’t actually know the technical terms for it. I know it works in bash which is what I use on a daily basis.

Learn how to create directories without having to issue multiple mkdir commands. This is a pretty simple one.

mkdir -p /path/to/some/vhost/docs

This is fairly straight forward. Make the parent directories if they don’t exist. So if /path/to/some/vhost/docs is what you want, and /path or any of it’s children don’t exist, then it will get created. It’s a fairly safe command because it intelligently checks before creating directories.

This example is a bit more complicated but it’s awesomeness will blow you away. I used this when I was making virtualhosts for multiple domains or even sub domains of the same parent.

mkdir -p {sub1,sub2,sub3}.domain.com/{docs,logs,cgi-bin}

or

mkdir -p www.{domain1,domain2,domain3}.com/{docs,logs,cgi-bin}

that command will create all your directories in the appropriate hierarchy so that you don’t need to issue multiple mkdir commands. It will create the parent directories for you as well. Here is what it does.

$ find .
.
./www.domain1.com
./www.domain1.com/cgi-bin
./www.domain1.com/docs
./www.domain1.com/logs
./www.domain2.com
./www.domain2.com/cgi-bin
./www.domain2.com/docs
./www.domain2.com/logs
./www.domain3.com
./www.domain3.com/cgi-bin
./www.domain3.com/docs
./www.domain3.com/logs

You can also do that with ls.

$ ls -d www.domain{1,2}*
www.domain1.com    www.domain2.com

Or even with rm

$ rm -vr www.domain{1,3}*
www.domain1.com/cgi-bin
www.domain1.com/docs
www.domain1.com/logs
www.domain1.com
www.domain3.com/cgi-bin
www.domain3.com/docs
www.domain3.com/logs
www.domain3.com

Enjoy!

Tweeps4WP is a very simple WP widget that connects to twitter using your credentials and then gets the list of people that follow you or that you’re following I think they’re called tweeps. So spruce up your side bar with something a bit more unique.

It can display this list as “mini” profile images or as “normal” profile images. It also provides a link to the full list of whatever group you’ve chosen to display along with a link to your twitter home page. You can customize the title to fit your needs.

Unfortunately for those of you who are super security crazy, you’ll probably not like this little tid bit.

Tweeps4WP requires you to provide your twitter account password.

It stores in in the wordpress options table as clear text. It’s never displayed on the screen. Not even in the configuration panel in the dashboard so it can’t be copied out of the browser once it’s been saved. Hopefully that will ease your concerns a little bit.

I am considering changing the behavior by allowing an option that will let you provide the user whose tweeps should be displayed so you’re not storing your super secure twitter creds in a database.

You can see it in action (doing nothing) on the right side of this page. Twitters limitation is that it will only give you 100 tweeps at a time. That’s fine by me considering tweeps are listed reverse chronologically. People will see the most recent ones at the top.

I don’t know why i used that name. In retrospect, I should have called it something else.

Download

The download link is not active yet as it’s not officially released. I still have a few more kinks to work out if they can be worked out.

Changelog

Version 0.0.5
-bug in 0.0.4. Found immediately. normal images were no longer displaying correctly. Fixed it so mini resizes to 24×24 and normal to 48×48.

Version 0.0.4
-mini images from twitter aren’t always mini. They’re called mini but sometimes they’re normal. This update ensures that all images are resized to 24×24 just like twitter.com does.

Version 0.0.3
- got rid of the ugly error messages that appear when you provide a bad password. Just displays a message instead of broken code errors.

Version 0.0.2
– Fixed issue with justification of photos. Tested in Firefox, IE7, Safari, and Opera. Particular themes may decide to display this widget differently.
– Theme jQ does some goofy stuff with CSS which breaks the way that Tweeps are displayed. I will try to fix this in 0.1.0.

Version 0.0.1
– Initial release.

I think it’s Chinese (not even sure if it’s Mandarin or Cantonese) but I love the transcription from Google Voice.

Gimme some mo!

I didn’t know we were going to get a room that big actually. The last time I was there, we were cramped in a smaller space. I’m glad it worked out for us. It’s also a good thing I brought my mini-displayport to VGA adapter.

Michael Schaffner, who runs the group, said it was great and that he got lots of good comments from the presentation. I quote

I just wanted to drop you a brief note to thank you again for last
nights presentation. We have been planning this thing for a long time,
but it was without a doubt worth the wait. I found your presentation
outstanding and the amount of time you put into getting it together
was very apparent. We drew a great crowd and many first time
attendees. It was nice to have someone with such great presentation
skills deliver so much valuable  information. It reflects well on our
group and  guarantees that first timers will return for more. In fact
upon my return home last night I had already received e-mails about
the meeting and registration for next month.

I understand the amount of time and effort it takes to put together a
presentation and I want you to know how much I truly appreciate you
stepping up and volunteering to present. Our group has always been
dependent on the contribution of generous folks like yourself willing
to share.

Well, that is just awesome! I felt quite appreciated and I also felt good about myself. Made some new connections and some people who are really trying to get around the PHP “issue”. Learning new things is always tough especially when you’re the only one responsible for learning. No one is pushing you to do it and so it becomes very easy to cast it aside and focus on things you enjoy doing. We’re all guilty of it. I’ve been trying to learn Flex and iPhone programming for months now but I prefer the TV it seems more than anything when I get home. We all have uphill battles and some are more difficult to conquer than others. But if you try, I think you’ll make some progress and it’s enough to get the ball rolling. That’s what I learned on Monday night.

I’m looking forward to doing more presentations to help people and to help myself.

Picture from the back of the room from Peggy's Blackberry

That’s a picture of me (sort of)  basking in the warm glow that the macbook screen emits.

I volunteered (shoot me now) to present at the Chicago Adobe Users Group on how to get started with using PHP & MySQL. I know there is a misspelling in my name. Don’t worry about it. The talk is scheduled for Monday, 21st September, 2009. It’s a great group and the people there are very nice. The person who I spoke to about presenting, Mr. Michael Schaffner, is a very warm person who cares about the people in this group and helping them learn new things and to explore new things. I appreciate that in him a lot as there aren’t a whole lot of people who care like that these days.

Anyway, I’ve been working on my presentation and my whole goal is to try and sort of simplify things as much as possible so that the audience is more comfortable asking questions about things that are confusing. Of course, I have no idea if I’m successful or not. I’ll find out on Monday.

The example I’m using is an address book. Of course, no one actually wants to write an address book because those things serve no purpose at all. That’s what iPhones and addressbook (macosx) are for. But this example will be simple, direct, to the point and quick! That’s part of the goal too. I want to cover all my material and leave plenty of time for Q&A. Also, I’m teaching it as I learned it. Baby steps!

Here is my problem. Over the last few years, I’ve gotten better about my PHP and being around all the developers at work has made me realize the incorrectness of my ways. Now, I find it disturbing to write code that looks messy and is somewhat flawed. Maybe it’s an evolutionary process. Maybe someone who is just starting off and learning on their own is supposed to write code that has errors but works anyway. The more you write, the better you will become and the better you will become, the better your code will be. Is that possible? I hope it is. If not, this audience is doomed and I will be responsible for all of it.

It is my sincere hope that the group members will consider using a small amount of PHP on their next project and then slowly start using MySQL.

After the presentation, I’m going to make final tweaks based on the feedback and then post the zipped copy of the code and the presentation up here. Hopefully, my embarrassment will be short lived.

If it is successful, I’d love to present more talks like

• PHP && MySQL II
• Building a PHP && MySQL Development Environment
• Flex for beginners (I’m not great with flex, I’ve only just begun)
• Tomcat for beginners

Who knows. I’m excited and scared at the same time. But maybe that’s a good sign?

Update: The link if you want to register for it (sorry for the late notice) is at http://augchicagosept2009.eventbrite.com/ but you can find it from the AUGChicago home page too. cheers!

There is even this whole community of people who seek out such music and that makes me happy because I’m not a freak. AdTunes and @adtunes are the people who find the music and then share it with the rest of us. I’ve even contributed a few times. Once erroneously in a bad way too.

Here is a list of all my “adtunes”. Yes I made a genre called “adtunes” in iTunes so that I could have them when I felt the need. It’s not wrong. It’s just right! It also mentions the commercial in which I heard the song.

Vermillion    The Album Leaf    One day I’ll be on time    Adtunes (HUMMER H2)
Why Should I Cry?    Avia    Zen 3    Adtunes (Lee Jeans)
Montserrat    Bajo Fondo Tango Club    Cafe Mundo    Adtunes (don’t remember)
The Model    Balanescu Quartet    Possessed    Adtunes (Similar to the Mercedes commercial at the bottom of the list. I was wrong but it stayed on the list)
Pocket Calculator    Balanescu Quartet    Possessed    Adtunes (Same story as the previous one)
Green Onions    Booker T & The MG’s    Green Onions    Adtunes (very popular song but this was in another car commercial)
Hyped Up Plus Tax    Dabrye    One/Three    Adtunes (VW I think)
Happiness Runs    Donovan    Barabajagal    Adtunes (Some sort of cereal. Like froot loops maybe)
Ooh La La    Faces    Ooh La La    Adtunes (VW)
On Board    Friendly Fires        Adtunes (Wii Fit)
The Writz    Gift of Gab    Fourth Dimensional Rocketships    Adtunes (Mitsubishi. SUV of some kind)
Strict Machine    Goldfrapp    Black Cherry-ADVANCE    Adtunes (LG Chocolate)
Hey Mrs    I Monster    Hey Mrs    Adtunes (Absolut Vodka)
The Way I am    Ingrid Michaelson    Boys and Girls    Adtunes (Old Navy Sweaters)
One Million Miles Away    J Ralph    The Illusionary movements of Geraldine and Nazu    Adtunes (VW Van like automobile commercial)
Molly’s Chambers    Kings of Leon    Kings of Leon EP    Adtunes (VW Jetta)
Colors    Kira Willey    Dance for the Sun    Adtunes (duh Dell laptops)
The Honey Tree     The Mostar Diving Club        Adtunes (Honda Insight)
Otto’s Journey    Mylo    Destroy Rock & Roll    Adtunes (Kraft Dressing)
Horndog    Overseer    Wreckage    Adtunes (Mitsubishi again)
Struggle    Ringside    Ringside    Adtunes (Pontiac?)
Clubbed to Death    Rob Dougan    The Matrix Soundtrack    Adtunes (Matrix commercial and many others)
Remind Me    Royksopp    Melody A.M.    Adtunes (Geico caveman)
Battle without Honor or Humanity    Tomoyasu Hotei    Kill Bill Vol 1.    Adtunes (Blade Trinity i think)
New Soul    Yael Naim    Yael Naim    Adtunes (Macbook Air)
Bo Mambo    Yma Sumac        Adtunes (Kahlua?)
Kodo [Inside the Sun Remix]    Yoshida Brothers    Best of Yoshida Brothers – Tsugaru Shamisen    Adtunes (Nintendo Wii of course)
Mercedes_M_Class_Commercial            Adtunes (The original commercial from Mercedes Benz for the M Class)

That last one is only 30 seconds but I think I’ve played it probably like 3000 times. Sick isn’t it?

Don’t judge me! You don’t know me!

Embedded below is what she said and what was transcribed…

What an amazing service!

It not only transcribed but also translated for me what she really meant. We both had a good laugh. Needless to say, she’s convinced that we’re meant to be together per GV.

I hope to see more uses of this feature in the future.

I don’t understand why people put up with eggs that are over boiled. If you watch people, you’ll see that the smell (in the absence of eggs) results in a swift move to cover the nose and breath safe air.

How can people screw it up? I’ll accept absentmindedness as an excuse but come on man! You’ve got eggs boiling!

I only recently took this up as a challenge as Peggy, my lovely girlfriend, manages to over boil eggs all the time and frankly it’s annoying.

First egg!

Here is an example of a perfect egg. Note how the yellow has no GREEN or BLUE! It’s because I didn’t overcook it and when I was done cooking it, I shocked it in ice water to stop the cooking. It also helps a bit with peeling them.

You can also make this happen in your kitchen as I have documented all the instructions you will ever need. The altitude of your location will have some effect on this process but I’ll rely on your intelligence to guide you through it.

1. Select the number of eggs you wish to boil. I usually go with 3 or 4. I’ve seen people do them in batches of 12 or more. I don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket so to speak.
2. Select a pot in which you will be boiling the eggs you selected in Step 1. Select another pot where you can setup an ice bath (ice + water)
3. Place eggs in said pot.
4. Add water to said pot until eggs are fully submersed. Water temperature can be room or a bit cooler.
5. Place pot on source of immense heat and set a timer for 10-12 minutes. I set it for 10.
6. Here is the crucial part. In 10 minutes, when the timer goes off, go back to the pot and check on it.
7. If it’s about to begin boiling, then let it continue for about 1-2 minutes. I stick to 1 minute exactly.
8. Turn off the heat and let cool for 1-2 minutes. I stick to 1 minute again.
9. Pull out one egg, place it in the ice bath and let it stop cooking.
10. Peel it to see if it’s fully cooked. If so, repeat step 9 for every egg you have placed in the pot.

Once you’re done shocking all the boiled eggs, you can store them in the fridge for days to weeks. Mine don’t last that long.

It’s a fairly long process but it’s not difficult. All the hard work is based on timing. If you time it right, you will always get perfectly boiled eggs and believe me that a perfectly boiled egg is actually quite delicious.

My favorite way to eat them is to devil them the poor mans way.

Sprinke of salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper or chili powder (maybe some cumin)

Hope you get to enjoy them. Please let me know if you find something better, easier and reliable.

To be certain that we would be able to have someone go in and take a look at the box, I tried to call the bank directly. Believe it or not, there is NO way for me to call someone at that bank directly. I have to call some bullshit TCF bank call center that then takes a message and will have someone call me within 24 to 48 hours. So I have to wait two days for a call back? I can’t get transferred to a personal banker. I can’t even get transferred to someone who manages the safe deposit boxes. It’s fucking brilliant!

You’re a fucking bank! I’ve been there and from the looks of it, you’re not going to last very long TCF! There was no one there except me, two tellers, and a security guard because the bank managers are gone too!

The person who picks up the phone at the call center (no, it’s not in India) has absolutely no information about the kind of documents that I need.

Customer Service Rep: “You need to get a document from the state.”
Me: Fine, what is the document called?
Customer Service Rep: Oh I don’t know. It’s from the state.
Me: Where can I go to get this document? Do you maybe know a website or a number I can call?
Customer Service Rep: No you have to contact the state.

Well thanks a fucking bunch for the shit ton of information lady. If you don’t have the fucking information then how about you get off your ass and get a hold of someone who definitively has the answer. Believe me, you won’t look like a fool for asking a proper question.

What world do we live in where it’s becoming more and more common to simply drop the guy on the phone so you can fuck over the next caller?

We are a service based economy. We provide services mainly as opposed to manufacturing which went offshore to other nations that do it cheaper (and maybe better). If we’re giving up that last value then there is no hope for Change.

My point is simple. I’m not banking with anyone if I don’t have a direct line to the folks that took my money in the first place. If Chase can do it, any one can!