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Hills Still Suck - One year of running

2018-11-01T11:36:00.000-04:00

Hills Still Suck

One year of running

A couple of months before my 40th birthday I decided I needed to challenge myself to start exercising some. I have a wife that exercises six days a week and a (at the time) four year old that I need to keep up with. Add to all this that I work in IT so my job is mostly sitting at a desk typing on a keyboard. I had all the right things to motivate me, getting old and a family to keep up with, but starting exercising is never easy. I had done weight lifting years back and didn't really enjoy it. A number, a large number, of years ago I had some success with the couch to 5k program. I wouldn't say I am a natural runner but its something I am comfortable doing. So with that I set a goal for myself to run a 5k before my 40th birthday.

My work has a small gym with some weight machines, elliptical, and tread mills. I found the couch to 5k program now has an app now. I guess that is no surprise, everything has an app. Search for C25K in your app store of choice. If you don't want an app google for a pdf. I suckered a couple of people at work into my 5k challenge so we all downloaded the app and hit the thread mills. I have to say that having some people join you in the beginning is nice. I was not comfortable going to the gym and its hard to find your motivation some days. Having a group makes it more comfortable and guilts you into working out when you don't feel like it.

The C25K plan is 9 weeks and starts out slow. Week one is a 5 minute walking warm up then 8 reps of 60 seconds jogging and 90 seconds walking. Week two you are up to 90 seconds jogging and 2 minutes walking. Week after week you do more jogging and less walking up to week 9 where you jog for 30 minutes.

So the plan is simple enough. I can say that everyone in my group had smiler experience to start with. At the end of a workout you are huffing and puffing. Somewhere around week 3 or 4 your knees start to hurt or some other part of your lower leg hurts. At this point some of the group dropped out and some kept going. For us that kept going what worked best was to drop back a week in the plan and slow our jogging pace down.

Now 10 to 12 weeks later of jogging on the tread mill three times a week I was able to complete a tread mill 5k. That was huge for me. A couple of us in the group had signed up for a real timed 5k. The challenge here is we had not run off the tread mill even once. I can tell you that running on the tread mill does help you get ready for running on the street, but its not the same thing. We met up on 5k day and got through it. We all ran together. Our time wasn't great but we did it (36+ minutes). This was a great achievement for our little group. Unfortunately it was also the end of our group. People went off to do their own things. For me, I wanted to keep running.

At this point I put the Nike Run Club app on my phone to track all my outdoor running. Looking back at the log I did my first 5k in that app on 10/13/17 with a time of 32:23. Moving forward I set a goal for myself to run 3 miles 3 times a week. I can tell you I didn't always make that goal. Sometimes I could get a 3 mile run in, sometimes it was 1.5 miles. The point was to keep at it and try to get more consistent.

By summer of 2018 I was getting consistent being able to complete 3 3 mile runs in every week. Again some weeks I didn't make the goal, but most I did. I had gotten my 5k time down to 29 minutes and was feeling good. Now just a couple of month away from my 41st birthday I decided I should set a new goal. I decided to set two. A real goal of running 8k (~5 miles), and a stretch goal of running 10k (~6.2 miles). I really was having a hard time making it past 4 miles. I was feeling kind of defeated. Then on the day before my birthday I just decided I was going for it. I was able to complete 10k in 1:01:23!

After completing the 10k something clicked and I was able to start adding 4-5 mile runs in my weekly workouts. I also signed up for the same timed 5k that my run group did in 2017. This time I was able to knock it out in 27:05. Then two weeks later my work sponsored a 5k and I set a PR of 26:47.

Now after a year of running (more like a year and four month) I can say this.

Get some people to join you in the beginning to help keep you going. Getting started is the hardest part.
If anything starts to hurt slow down and take a couple of extra days to recover.
Goal #1 should be just keep moving. You won't always do great, but sometimes you will. If you just keep moving it will get easer.
Don't try and run too fast. If you find the right pace you can go further than you think. I might be able to average 8:26/mile for 5k, but I wouldn't be able to do that for 10k.
Set some stretch goals for yourself to keep you challenged. Make sure they aren't too much of a stretch because you need some wins to keep you going.
Hills still suck!

The Golang Mega Tutorial Part I: Hello World!

2018-07-26T10:31:00.001-04:00

Welcome! I will be honest, this is more for me than it is for you. I am new to Golang and figure I might as well document the process of getting up to speed. Like many I poke around with a number of languages but Python has been my tool of choice for many years now. A number of projects at work are now using Go and I have a new project I want to start and Go is a good fit for it.

Chapter 1: Hello World! (this post)

Installing Go

The offical documentation for installing Go is located here (https://golang.org/doc/install).

The basic installation of Go presented no challenges. Most operating systems provide packages or you can download an installer from the official Golang website.
On Debian based system do something like

sudo apt-get install golang

On Fedora do something like

sudo dnf install golang

On Mac do something like

brew update
brew install golang

Add Environment variables

Environment variables was a bit more interesting for me. These variables tell Go where it lives, where your projects live, and where your downloaded modules live.

You can add them to:
/etc/profile for system wide settings
$HOME/.profile or $HOME/.bashrc for user specific settings

This is what worked for me. Set your GOROOT to the correct path for your OS and GOPATH to the path where you want your Go projects to live

export GOPATH=$HOME/workdir
export GOROOT=/usr/lib/go
export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin:$GOPATH:$GOBIN

Many people like to have GOPATH=$HOME
This does have some advantages. This will put src, bin, and pkg directories in your home directory.

Code Organization

Code organization and file layout are important to Go.
Your code is kept in a workspace.
A workspace contains many source repositories (git, hg).

$GOPATH/
    src/
        github.com/user/repo/
            mypkg/
                mysrc1.go
                mysrc2.go
            cmd/mycmd/
                main.go
    bin/
        mycmd

Using file layout for builds means less configuration.
No Makefile, no build.xml.

Less time configuring means more time programming.

Everyone in the community uses the same layout.
This makes it easier to share code.

Package management

At this point we may as well install a package manager. There are a number of package manager for Golang. dep is on the roadmap to be the official one, so that is what I have installed.

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golang/dep/master/install.sh | sh

It will install into your $GOPATH/bin directory by default or any other directory you specify using the INSTALL_DIRECTORY environment variable.

Our program

Go is a battery included programming language and has an HTTP client and server already built in. The net/http package from the standard library contains all functionalities about the HTTP protocol.

package main

import (
        "fmt"
        "log"
        "net/http"
)

func main() {
        http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
                fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello World!\n")
        })

        fmt.Println("Running server!")
        log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":3000", nil))
}

Lets brake down what is going on.
Every Go program must start with a package declaration. The first line of our program is our package declaration "package main". Packages are Go's way of organizing and reusing code.

Next we import the packages we need. These can be included in the base Golang or third party tools that have been downloaded. We are using
fmt -> format package
log -> logging package
net/http -> We are using for http server

On line 9 is our function declaration. The main function is a special function in Golang. When the code is compiled and/or executed processing of the code starts with the main function.

Line 10 we have a lot going on.

We call the http.HandlFunc. http.HandlFunc defines the route to listen to and the function used to process the request. The pattern is http.HandleFunc(<path>, <function>). In this case we are looking at "/". Its worth noting that this pattern also matches "/foo" and "/bar" and "/foo/bar". I will talk about ways around this in future posts.
Next we define a function to to call. We could have just listed the function here and defined it elsewhere in the code, but this is a small amount of code so it makes for good short hand. As arguments, the function takes an http.ResponseWriter and a pointer to an http.Request.

Line 11 we use Fprintf to to format and print our output. Fprintf can be used to format and print to io.Writers other than os.Stdout.

Line 14 gives us a nice message on the console that we are starting the web server.

Line 15 starts the web server and logs any errors.

Now tell go to run the code. You should see something like this

$go run partI.go
Running server!

Point your browser to http://localhost:3000/

DIY - Bar Cabinet

2018-01-09T12:42:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the lumber I had in the garage and trying to think of a good project to use it on. I didn't have anything special, just some wood I decided not to use on the farmhouse table. A bar cabinet is what I decided on. I think this plan will be great for wine lovers as well as liquor bottle storage. There is room for 14 wine bottles on their side, wine glasses hanging from the top, tumblers under the wine glasses, and liquor bottles standing up on the right side.

* Full Disclosure: Links in tools needed, hardware and consumables are to our affiliates. If you like this plan and want to support us please use those links to buy products. *

Tools Needed

Wood Needed

Qty 3 - 2" x 2" x 8'
Qty 2 - 1" x 2" x 8'
Qty 1 - 1" x 2" x 4'
Qty 2 - 1" x 4" x 8'
Qty 2 - 1" x 4" x 4'
Qty 2 - 1" x 6" x 8'
Qty 2 - .75" x 36
Qty 3 - 1/4" x 6" x 2' (hardwood)
Qty 2 - 3/4" x 20" x 3'
Qty 1 - 1/4" x 4' x 4'
Qty 3 - 2" x 6" x 8'

Hardware

Qty 4 - Hinges
Qty 1 - Latch
Qty 2 - Decorative metal sheet

Other Consumables

Colors
Trousseau Blue - Valspar chalky pain (cabinet)
Ebony - Minwax stain (top)
Flat Black - Spray paint for metal inserts.

Cut List

Step 1 - Build Side & Lower Frame

Attach the front and rear bottom 2"x2"s using pocket hole screws and glue.

Rip 1"x6"s down to 5". Cut to 27.5" and attach to sides using glue and brad nails.

Step 2 - Build and attach bottom

I built the top and bottom out of 2"x6"s ripped down to 5" because I had some around. If I were going to buy new wood I would have built the bottom out of 1"x6" to get a better quality wood and save some weight.

For the top and bottom start by ripping your 2"x6"s down to 5". Take a shallow rip off one side to square up the edge, then rip the other side to 5".

Attach boards using glue and 2.5" pocket hole screws.
3 boards for the bottom
4 boards for the top
I then use a belt sander to flatten things out.

Attach the bottom to the frame using glue and 2.5" pocket hole screws.

Step 3 - Wine Rack

Time to cut 1"x4"s for the wine rack, you need 12 of them.
For the bottom row I used glue, clamps, and brad nails. Line up the front edge of the 1"x4" with the inside edge of the 2"x2" frame.
The outer slats are 4" from the side. The rest have 3.5" space between them.

** At this point I started painting the inside of the wine rack. I didn't think I would be able to paint it once the shelf was in place**

Cut two shelves 16"x30". One will go between the two rows of the wine rack and one will go on the top of the wine rack.
Use Glue and brad nails to attach the shelves to the bottle separators.

Repeat the process for the second row.

Step 4 - Top and Back

Now we need to made a back brace that will hold the sides together and give us something to help attach the top. I don't have this on the cut list. I used some scrap left over from the shelves for this. 30" long and 3.5" tall. You want the back of this board the same distance from the back of the frame as the wine rack and shelves are, should be about 1/2"

Use two 1 1/4" pocket hole screws per side.

While you are at it add 3 pocket holes for 1 1/4" screws to mount the top. Put them with the pocket facing back. This way they will be covered by the back panel.

You already have the jig out, make two pocket holes for 1 1/4" screws on each side to attach the top to the sides. Put them on the inside of the cabinet so they can be as hidden as possible. I put one in the from 2"x2" frame and one about half way back.

If you built the top at the same time you built the bottom, great. If not make the top now. I stained the top before I mounted it.

Before you attach the top you should make and attach the glass holder to the top. I also stained mine before putting it all together.

Attach the 3/4" strips using glue and brad nails

Attach the the glass holder to the 3/4" strips using glue and brad nails

Now you can attach the top to the cabinet using the holes you already made and glue.

Attach the back using glue and 5/8" brad nail. You want a few brads into the back brace and more in the wine rack at the bottom. You will probably want to mark the cabinet where the wine rack slats are so you will be able to find them with the brads.

Step 5 - Doors

This is where those 90 degree clamps come in handy.

Cut all the wood needed to length. 2 @ 26" and 2 @ 12" per door

Now cut a shallow groove down the middle of each board. This will make a slot for the metal insert. The best way to cut the groove is to set the blade height then set the guard rail to be in the center of the board. Make one pass then flip the board end to end and make a second pass. This will make sure the groove is in the middle. Please use a push board and be safe.

Now add a pocket hole at each end of the horizontal boards, insert metal, glue and screw.

For the metal I used expanded metal from Home Depot and painted it black (link above).

Attach hinges to door and door to cabinet... your done!

FlipBelt

2017-10-07T07:53:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to give a quick review of the FlipBelt. I am newly getting back into jogging. I have spent the past eight weeks running on a treadmill getting ready to run a 5k. The week before the 5k I realized I needed something to hold my cell phone when I was outside running. I tried the arm bands to I don't like how they feel. In comes FlipBelt.

Its such a simple design. Its like a stretchy belt. There is one big pocket with a zipper, then the rest of the belt is a tube with 3 or 4 stretchy openings. There is also a clip for your keeps.

I have an original Nexus 6. The code name for this phone is Shamu if that tells you anything. The phone is huge. I had to take it out of its case but once that was done it slipped easily in and out of the stretchy openings. When running everything stays in place and you forget its there, but if needed you can slide the phone out without having to think much about it.

Overall I am very happy with the FlipBelt.

Ryobi 18v drill DOA

2017-07-19T15:57:00.002-04:00

Last week I picked up a Ryobi 18 volt drill and brad nailer. I have to say I am disappointed. One of the the two batteries was DOA out of the box. The charger just showed it as defective.

So I took the battery back to Home Dept and tried to exchange it. They are not willing to exchange just a battery because I purchased it as part of a kit.

I returned the drill and the brad nailer.

I now have a Porter Cable 20v drill and brad nailer. I will give a review of them in a couple of weeks once I have given them a good workout.

POWERTEC 70175 vs Shop-Vac 8017800 hose

2017-07-12T10:28:00.001-04:00

This is not a pro/con comparison. I just want people to understand what they are getting with each hose.

First is the Powertec 70175

As the amazon description says this is a 1-1/4 in. x 10. It is packaged nicely and comes with a number of adapters and connections.

I found the connector that should fit my vacuum's 2 1/4" port was a bit too snug. I hit it with some fine sandpaper and that helped. I purchased this hose to connect my dust collector to smaller tools like belt sanders or palm sanders. It does that job well.

Next is the Shop-Vac 8017800

This hose is massive compared to the Powertec hose. The kit comes with 6' of 2.5" hose, 2 nice extensions, and a 8" nozzle. One end of the hose has a fitting already attached that fits the accessories included. The other end you have the option of two fittings. A twist type or friction fit. The friction fit is the one needed for my 2 1/4" vacuum port. Unlike the Powertec fitting this one fit perfectly. I purchased two of these hose kits. One to connect my vacuum to the dust collector and one to connect the dust collector to my table saw.

Picture showing the Shop-Vac hose and extensions on top of the Powertec hose.

Hope this helps.

Ripping 2x6s

2017-07-08T15:59:00.002-04:00

I had a pile of 2" x 6"s left over from another project. I have been trying to figure out what to do with them. Well I came up with some designs for a bar cabinet. I will make a full post and provide plans for the cabinet in a future post. The frame of the cabinet is going to be made from 2" x 2"s, so I took a few of the 2" x 6"s and ripped them down to size. I think that is a good use of material.

I will use more of the 2" x 6"s for the top and bottom of the cabinet (ripped down to 5" wide with square edges).

Here is a peek of what is coming

uWSGI on OpenBSD

2017-06-15T22:10:00.000-04:00

I am going to jump right in. I assume you know how to install OpenBSD, set your package path, and get packages installed. I also assume you know what uWSGI is and have a reason to run it. I am a fan of both OpenBSD and uWSGI.

There are a few ways to install uWSGI. I don't see it listed in http://openports.se so you can't pkg_add it. I like python and use it for most projects, so I am going to install uWSGI with pip.

1) Install python and pip. For this project I am using python 3.6.

pkg_add -v python-3.6.0p0 py3-pip-9.0.1p0
ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.6 /usr/local/bin/python
ln -s /usr/local/bin/pip3.6 /usr/local/bin/pip

2) Install uwsgi.

pip install uwsgi

3) Create /etc/rc.d/uwsgid

 #!/bin/sh  
 #  
 daemon="/usr/local/bin/uwsgi"  
 . /etc/rc.d/rc.subr  
 rc_stop() {  
      ${daemon} --stop /var/run/uwsgi.pid  
 }  
 rc_cmd $1

4) Set the permission on /etc/rc.d/uwsgid

chmod 555 /etc/rc.d/uwsgi

5) Set kern.seminfo. uWSGI will not start with the default OpenBSD system. Tune as needed

sysctl kern.seminfo.semmni=20
sysctl kern.seminfo.semmns=120
sysctl kern.seminfo.semmnu=60
sysctl kern.seminfo.semmsl=120
sysctl kern.seminfo.semopm=200

Then edit/create /etc/sysctl.conf to make sure those setting stick after a reboot. Tune as needed

 kern.seminfo.semmni=20  
 kern.seminfo.semmns=120  
 kern.seminfo.semmnu=60  
 kern.seminfo.semmsl=120  
 kern.seminfo.semopm=200

6) Edit/create /etc/rc.conf.local

 uwsgid_flags="--daemonize /var/log/uwsgi.log --ini <full path to your uwsgi.ini>"

7) Make sure you have an ini file you listed in the rc.conf.local file. Here are a few tips and what my ini file looks like.

chdir will change the working directory. This may be helpful to get your app to load.
Tune threads, processes, queue and anything else you need for performance

 [uwsgi]  
 module = app:app  
 master = true  
 processes = 4  
 threads = 1  
 pidfile = /var/run/uwsgi.pid  
 http = 0.0.0.0:5000  
 enable-threads = false  
 queue = 1000  
 vacuum = true  
 die-on-term = true  
 chdir = <path to my app dir>

Hope this helps someone get up and running faster.

Watch Kitty Hawk’s early test pilots learn to love the flying motorbike

2017-05-30T11:18:00.001-04:00

The Kitty Hawk Flyer is a sort of a flying car except it’s not a car at all – it’s much more like a flying ATV, which is probably more legitimately all-terrain than most. Linguistics aside, it’s a very cool piece of tech that’s backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, and it’s already in the ‘working prototype’ phase of development.

Read more at Tech Crunch

No Big Deal: Volvo S60 Polestar Secretly Set a Record at the ‘Ring

2017-05-26T09:12:00.000-04:00

Here’s a first: a manufacturer set a Nürburgring lap record and didn’t immediately brag about it. In fact, it kept the record a secret for about a year. That just-announced record, a 7:51.110 lap time for the fastest four-door roadgoing sedan, was set about a year ago, shortly after the 2016 WTCC Race of Germany.

Read more at Motor Trend

The Best Potato Salad Recipes, In Case You’re Sick Of Your Old One

2017-05-24T13:39:00.001-04:00

No backyard barbecue is complete without potato salad ― this classic dish has a permanent place on our summertime menu. When potato salad is made right, it’s something pretty special. Its place alongside grilled chicken or burgers balances out the charred flavors of the grill with potato salad’s creamy attributes.

Read more at Huffington Post

Move will give more resources to Lotus and its parent company

2017-05-24T11:42:00.002-04:00

Chinese conglomerate Geely will purchase 51 percent of Lotus in a deal that promises to accelerate the growth of the U.K. sports-car maker. Geely is also buying a 49.9 percent stake in Proton, Lotus’ struggling parent company.

Read more at Motortrend

Want to understand how Google runs its production systems? Read this free book

2017-05-24T09:04:00.002-04:00

The book Site Reliability Engineering helps readers understand how some Googlers think: It contains the ideas of more than 125 authors. The four editors, Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff, and Niall Richard Murphy, managed to weave all of the different perspectives into a unified work that conveys a coherent approach to managing distributed production systems.

Read more at Tech Crunch

Nexus 5x screen replacement

2017-05-04T09:52:00.002-04:00

The screen on the Nexus 5x started to get jittery when you touched the screen. It got to the point that it would get blurry and then the screen would go black. You would have to turn off/on the screen a few times to get it working again.

This fix came by ordering a new LCD/Screen/Glass/Frame from Amazon. The kit is pretty good. I would say plan to have a small set of screwdrivers as the screwdrivers that come with the kit are not that good.

This was the best video I found for taking apart the Nexus 5x
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhAFtP0F2Uk

Tips:
You have to move all the little parts from the old frame to the new frame. I missed the proximity sensor rubber the first time. Make sure you get it and the sticky foam on top of it.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2017-04-22T09:58:00.000-04:00

Its always a good time for biscuits. This is a good recipe for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are also quick and easy to make. This is a great recipe for the kids to help with too.

The ingredient list is simple. Cold butter, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and buttermilk.

Mix into a wet dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface

Cut out biscuits. If you don't have a cutter you can use a small glass.

Why buttermilk? Buttermilk has more acid than milk and helps the baking powder leaven whatever you are baking. If you don't have buttermilk around you can add 1 tbl vinegar to just under 1 cup of milk (milk + vinegar should equal 1 cup). Let stand for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
2 Cups AP Flour
1/4 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tbl Baking powder
7 Tbl unsalted Butter
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1 Cup buttermilk

Directions:
1) Preheat over to 450 degrees F.
2) Place butter in freezer for 10 minutes to make sure it is cold.
3) Grate butter using the large holes on a box grater. Return to freezer.
4) Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
5) Add butter and buttermilk to dry ingredients and mix until combined.
6) Pat/Press the dough into a 1/2 inch think round. Fold and press four or five times to help make layers. Finally press into a 1 inch think round.
7) Use cutter to cut out biscuits
8) Place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes

Propur Water Filter Pitcher

2017-04-10T10:33:00.000-04:00

I wanted to provide a quick review of the Propur water filter pitcher. We have been using this filter for over a year now. The punch line is I am happy with this filter but it does have issues.

First I will say that Amazon list both the filter pitcher and the Fruit Infused pitcher. I ordered the standard pitcher but got the Fruit Infused pitcher. I have never used the infuse part but I see no downside to having this feature.

The filter is very slow. It takes several hours to process the upper chamber. If you are expecting this filter to work like a standard carbon filter you will be disappointed. If you think about what this filter is doing its not surprising that it is slow. Just do a search and see how reverse osmosis works. All that said the water quality is very good and the taste is very good.

I did find the pitcher needed a small modification. The parts of the pitcher fit very snugly and it appeared the upper chamber was creating a vacuum and bringing the water flow to a stop. My solution was to drill a very small hole in the back of the lid near the handle. Water flow was better after that.

Tips:

We use a second gallon jug. We transfer water from the pitcher to the jug. This keeps the filter busy doing its job.
Clean the filter regularly. Use the green scrubber on the filter element. We clean ours every few days.

Replacement Filters:
http://amzn.to/2qQ2lnP

Belgian waffle

2017-03-05T09:52:00.001-05:00

Breakfast food is my favorite food and how can you go wrong with waffles. Everyone seems to have a waffle recipe so why not have one more.

This isn't an authentic Belgian waffle recipe, more of an American waffle. Authentic Belgian waffles are made with a yeast dough not a batter. Anyway here is my batter recipe. They have a very nice texture and mild flavor, just right for toppings.

Ingredients:
2 Cups AP Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups whole milk
splash lemon juice (optional)

Mix and cook according to your waffle makers instructions.

Cranberry orange muffins

2017-02-11T09:28:00.001-05:00

I was in the mood to bake something for breakfast this morning. I hadn't planned anything so I did a quick survey of the ingredients I had around the house. Big bag of dried cranberries I need to use, orange that is going to be tossed if I don't use it soon, and the usual baking supplies. Cranberry orange muffins it is.

I love dried cranberries. I think you can add them to lots of things and get a great savory sweet flavor. (Try them on your tacos) These muffins didn't disappoint. I would say these are the best muffins I have made yet. This recipe is modified from addapinch.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 375º F

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Zest Orange and set aside. As a side note, there really is no better tool for removing zest than a Microplane

Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color. I was able to do this with just a whisk.

Add the eggs, one at a time.

Mix in vanilla and orange zest.

Gently stir in flour mixture and milk. Alternating flour and milk. Stir until just combined.

Fold in cranberries. You will end up with a batter that looks like this.

Scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins. I like to use the paper wrappers. Then use two spoons to scoop. Makes 12 muffins.

Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes

Chocolate Muffins

2017-01-28T10:48:00.001-05:00

I was in the mood for chocolate muffins this morning. I did a quick web search and I decided I would try this recipe. I was happy with results. I would definitely make them again. I may work on an updated version to make them a bit more moist. I will update this page if I do.

Start by mixing the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.

Then add the eggs, milk, chips and melted butter. Mix with a big spoon or whisk. You should come up with a batter that looks like this. It's fairly thick.

Spoon into muffin tins. I like to use two spoons. One to scoop and one to push the batter into the tins.

Bake at 350°F for 18 - 20 min

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose Flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Cranberry And White Chocolate Scones

2017-01-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite scone recipe. These are fast to make, fast to cook, and sure to please. The white chocolate makes them sweet but not too sweet. Just right for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

I use this recipe as a base for a number of other scones. You can easily substitute the cranberries for some other dried fruit if you like. I would stick to dried fruit if you can as fresh will bring more moisture with them and change things a bit, but I wouldn't let that stop you from trying.

Start by adding the flour, sugar, backing powder, salt, and butter to a mixing bowl. Make sure the butter is cold and cut it into small pieces. You want the butter to be small enough that it is evenly distributed in the dough.

Next add the dried cranberries and white chocolate. Start mixing it in the bowl with a big spoon or fork. This will make a very dry mixture. Once most of the liquid has been incorporated its time to get messy. Trade in the spoon for your hands and start kneading in the bowl. It won't take but a minute for this to come together.

Once the dough has formed turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form a half inch thick circle.

Cut into eight wedges. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. You don't need the grease as the butter in the dough will take care of that for you :-) Bake for 14 min at 400°F. If you want the tops more golden you can egg wash them, but I don't think that is needed.

They are great fresh out of the oven.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
5 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
6 tablespoons Whole Milk
1 large Egg
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries
1/2 cup White Chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a bowl by hand or using an electric mixer, blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.
Add the milk, beaten egg, cranberries, and the white chocolate chips, and stir until the dough holds together.
Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 2 minutes.
Form into a 1/2-inch thick round, then cut the round into 8 wedges.
Transfer the wedges to the ungreased baking sheet. Bake the scones at 400 degrees F for 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Bluemix Flask uWSGI

2017-01-17T15:50:00.001-05:00

Using Python Flask served by uWSGI in Bluemix

I am going to make a few assumptions if you have made it to this page. You know python and Flask, understand what Bluemix is, and want a better way to run your python code in Bluemix.

I have seen a number of tutorials on running Flask in Bluemix but they all use the default Flask web server. Flask is clear that "Flask’s built-in server is not suitable for production". So what should you do?

I am a fan of uWSGI. uWSGI is fast, light, and easy to configure. If you want to get more complicated with the configuration there are hundreds of things you can tune. Take a look at the uWSGI FAQ for more reason to run it (http://uwsgi-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/FAQ.html).

You can get the code for this project from my github repository (https://github.com/dbuckman/bluemix-flask-uwsgi). Let start with the file/folder structure and what each file is.

In the root of the project you will find app.log, manifest.yml, Procfile, requirements.txt, runtime.txt and server.ini.

app.log is where we tell uWSGI to write its log to.

manifest.yml is how we define our project to Bluemix. Most of this is self explanatory. Tune the memory and instances to meet your needs. For this project you get 1 instance with 64M of memory. That is about as small as a project can get. If you are copying this code please change the name and host to something unique. This will be the route to your application. For this project the URL will be https://bluemix-flask-uwsgi.mybluemix.net/

applications:  
- path: .  
 memory: 64M  
 instances: 1  
 domain: mybluemix.net  
 name: bluemix-flask-uwsgi  
 host: bluemix-flask-uwsgi  
 disk_quota: 1024M  
 buildpack: python_buildpack

Procfile defines the command Bluemix is going to run to try and start your application. For this project Bluemix will run the command

web: uwsgi --ini server.ini

requirements.txt is used by pip to install all the python packages you need for your project. When you deploy your code in Bluemix pip install -r requirments.txt is called to do this.

runtime.txt defines the version of python you want to use. For this project at this time I am using 2.7.11

server.ini is the uWSGI configuration file. I won't explain all the lines.

module tells uWSGI we have a folder named app and our Flask app is named app.
http tells uWSGI to accept connections from any IP and bind to the port set by Bluemix. Bluemix sets an environment variable PORT to the port your app should bind. $(PORT) tells the ini file to pull the port number from that variable.

[uwsgi]  
module = app:app  
master = true  
processes = 4  
http = 0.0.0.0:$(PORT)  
enable-threads = true  
queue = 1  
vacuum = true  
die-on-term = true  
logto = app.log

The rest of this is standard Flask. I like to use Flask Blueprint so you will see app/__init__.ini defines the pageView blueprint to import.

 from pages.views import pageView as pageView  
 app.register_blueprint(pageView)

Feel free to take a look at the full code on github and let me know if you have any questions or comments.

SQLAlchemy Fallback database

2017-01-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

Being an app developer in the cloud gives you great flexibility. You can go into your cloud provider of choice and have them spin up your app and a database (DB) instance with just a few clicks. A challenge is that often the DB is a third party provider and the entry level plans don't provide an service level agreement (SLA) or any uptime guarantee. Even if they did provide an SLA it would be nice to have a fallback option.

There are a number of ways to handle a DB service going down in the cloud world, and all are challenging. With the app that I am currently working on read access is more important than write. This makes things easy for me. I only need to make read requests (GET) have a fallback option. If anyone tries to POST/PUT/DELETE they will get an error until the primary DB service is only again.

I will put in my disclaimer here. I work on the Bluemix cloud platform so this information is focused on Bluemix.

1) Setup a DB with two different service providers. In my case I am using Compose as the primary and ElephantSQL as the fallback. Both are PostgreSQL but that is not a requirement. As long as SQLAlchemy support the DB this should work.

2) In your code make two session objects

1:  from sqlalchemy import create_engine  
2:  from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker, scoped_session  
3:    
4:  e = create_engine(app.config['DB_URI'], pool_recycle=3600)  
5:  Session = scoped_session(sessionmaker(autocommit=False, autoflush=False,bind=e))  
6:  session = Session()  
7:    
8:  backup_e = create_engine(app.config['BACKUP_DB_URI'], pool_recycle=3600)  
9:  backup_Session = scoped_session(sessionmaker(autocommit=False, autoflush=False,bind=backup_e))  
10: backup_session = backup_Session()

3) When you go to make DB queries do them with a set of try except statements. In the example below I am using Flask Flask provides the request object so I can test that the user issued a GET request. I also check for a URL argument "name". I decode the URL argument using a function I wrote. This is where it gets interesting.

First try the query using the primary DB session. If you get NoResultFound that is okay, just let the user know this.
If you get any other exception try the fallback DB.
Then you can follow the same process with the fallback DB. If the fallback DB give NoResultFound let the user know.
The difference is this time if we get any other exception we return a 503 error.

1:  from sqlalchemy.exc import SQLAlchemyError  
2:  from sqlalchemy.orm.exc import NoResultFound  
3:    
4:  if request.method == 'GET':  
5:   if request.args.get("name"):  
6:    businessUnit = http_decode(request.args.get("name"))  
7:    try:  
8:     thisBU = session.query(BusinessUnits).filter_by(name = businessUnit).one()  
9:    except NoResultFound  
10:      return "no data", 204  
11:    except:  
12:     try:  
13:      thisBU = backup_session.query(BusinessUnits).filter_by(name = businessUnit).one()  
14:     except NoResultFound:  
15:      return "no data", 204  
16:     except:  
17:      abort(503)

4) You need to keep the fallback DB in sync with the primary DB. There are a number of ways to do this. In a future post I will show how I handle this. For this app it doesn't matter if the data in the fallback DB is not very fresh. So I sync from the primary to the fallback once per hour. You will need to tune your sync to meet your needs.

I don't need to worry about syncing the fallback to the primary if the primary ever goes down because I don't allow any write operations to the fallback. This saves a lot of work for me. Trying to keep two database that can both be written to in sync is no small job.

As a bonus syncing to the fallback provides a backup solution for the primary DB. You can write a restore process that would be the same as your sync just in the opposite direction.

I hope this help someone. If you see errors or want more information please let me know.

King Arthur Sandwich Bread

2017-01-08T14:45:00.000-05:00

This recipe comes from the back of the King Arthur Flour unbleached bread flour bag. Its simple but very good.

Ingredients:

1 cup Lukewarm Water

1⁄3 cup Lukewarm Milk

3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

3 tablespoons Sugar

1 1⁄2 teaspoons Salt

1 1⁄2 teaspoons Dry Active Yeast

Step 1) Combine water, milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, and yeast in mixing bowl.

Step 2) Add flour to mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook on low speed 2 - 3 min.

Step 3) Move dough to a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour.

Step 4) Shape into a loaf and place in a oiled/floured 9"x5" loaf pan. Let rise until bread crowns just above the rim of the pan. About 1 - 1.5 hours.

Step 5) Bake at 350 F 40 to 45 min.

Step 6) Remove bread from pan (run a knife around the outside first) and cool on cooling rack. Brush top with melted butter.