Introducing "gadgets" and "demo generator"
Published 11/15/2008 – Programming – 0 commentsI started learning DOM scripting and how to work with JSON about a year ago. More recently I’ve been learning object-oriented JavaScript, and have enjoyed learning the Prototype framework for its similarities to Ruby. For these reasons, I started creating runnable mini apps that demonstrate what I’m learning, and serve as code samples for others to read. I started managing directori...
JavaScript Zoom Effect for Small Photos
Published 10/28/2008 – Tips Programming – 1 commentMany personal websites will display photos on the front page of the website, usually in a thumbnail size. Small photos provide context because they show several photos from a given photostream, however they can't provide much detail due to their small size. To get more detail, a thumbnail may link to an information page where the photo lives, or link to a larger version of the same photo. Ho...
Rails application server and deployment details
Published 10/01/2008 – Programming Software – 0 commentsThis September I deployed two Rails applications, each using different server software, and wanted to share some details from each of the deployments. Much of what is below was new to me while I was working on these projects. Personal project Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10) Hosted on slicehost Apache 2.2 MySQL 5 Phusion Passenger (a.k.a. modrails) Hoptoad exception and error reporting A 256M...
WindyCityRails 2008 conference notes
Published 09/23/2008 – Events Programming – 1 commentWhat follows are my notes from the WindyCityRails 1-day conference held Saturday September September 20th, 2008 in Chicago. DHH Q&A David (DHH) had a 30-minute morning Q&A session. Recently 37Signals publicly discussed performance-improvement work to Basecamp, so it did not surprise me that performance was a theme of David's discussion. David said "optimize for HTTP" to improve th...
Upcoming conference: WindyCityRails 2008
Published 09/07/2008 – Events Programming – 2 commentsI'll be attending WindyCityRails 2008 held in Chicago. This will be my first Rails and/or Ruby related event outside of the Twin Cities. I'll be traveling with Luke Francl, Sam Schroeder, Tom Brice, Barry Hess, and Chris Schumann. I met most of these people through Ruby Users of Minnesota. For the conference itself, I'm looking forward to the Q&A with Rails' creator David Heinemeier Hanss...
Chicago weekend trip 2008
Published 06/23/2008 – Travel – 0 commentsSara and I tool a weekend vacation to Chicago this June to visit family and friends. We also decided to give the Megabus a try, which is a low-cost bus service between various cities in the Midwest. The bus departed Minneapolis early in the morning, but that meant we arrived outside Chicago during rush hour Friday-afternoo...
Hotel Cafe Tour and birthday
Published 04/13/2008 – Events Music – 0 commentsSara surprised me on Valentine's day with tickets to the Minneapolis stop of the Hotel Cafe Tour (to happen later, Monday March 31st). The concert was downtown at the Fine Line Music Cafe. Since it was general admission, we arrived when doors opened and secured a spot about 10 feet in front of the stage. We were most excited for Ingrid Michaelson (recent album: Boys and Girls) and Da...
Ruby Users of Minnesota January 2008
Published 02/18/2008 – Events Programming – 0 commentsThe following topics were presented at the January 2008 Ruby Users of Minnesota meeting: Justin Grammens from Localtone Radio presented on integrating Voice Over IP (VoIP) with Ruby on Rails. He demonstrated the Telegraph Rails plugin with a local installation of the open-source PBX software Asterisk. He also demonstrated Adhearsion. Justin set up demo Rails applications that took text data in...
Car payments: maintain or buy?
Published 11/26/2007 – Cars Tips – 0 commentsAssuming one can afford to buy a newer vehicle, why pay to maintain an old one? For the maintenance records I kept over the last 2 years of my ownership (2005-2007), when maintenance costs were highest on my 15-year-old 1993 Chevrolet Lumina, I spent over $2800 (including regular oil changes, a new air filter and one windshield replacement) to keep it running. That includes trying to get the best...
September 2007 recap
Published 10/01/2007 – Events Minnesota Software – 0 commentsAmazon web services presentation - Mike Culver, representing Amazon Web Services, presented EC2 and other components in the AWS family, in an event held at the University of Minnesota , hosted by the Twin Cities Linux Users Group Canvas screening - Joe Greco was on campus at the University of Minnesota, to present the movie he wrote and directed on mental illness, titled "Canvas." Read my full...