From Umatter2Charter:

Hello Brandon,

I think you are absolutely right, that is fair. We are very sorry that you had such a terrible experience with your Transfer order, and would like to make it right. Please e-mail me the name, address, and phone number on the account to Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com, and I will make sure the Transfer fee is reversed. In the e-mail, please include a link to this blog.

Thank you for continuing your service with us.

Eric Ketzer
Charter
Social Media Communications Manager

http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

Wow, apparently they found my post. I didn’t know if it was real at first (it actually was in my spam queue), but I decided to give it a shot just to see what happened.

I contacted the provided email address with all the required information, and in less than 15 minutes I received a phone call. It was Eric from Charter.

He told me that the transfer fee had been waived, and that he was going to lower my cable and internet package rates (all said and done, it was a $15/mo savings, plus the discounted $20 transfer fee) to help compensate for my rough experience. Talk about above and beyond!

If more companies had a social media team that was constantly on the look-out for situations like this, I’d bet customer satisfaction would be higher. Charter, thank you for taking the time to listen to my complaint, and thank you for actually trying to help compensate me properly.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Charter’s Social Media Team @ brandon martinez

Apparently I’m not one for writing in chronological order, as I’ve already written two articles about the move (here and here), but thought that it needed an official announcement on here. We purchase our first home at the beginning of August, and as of yesterday, are fully moved in (whereby “moved in”, I mean all of our stuff is here, not necessarily put in place).

I’m sure I’ll be writing more about the new world of homeownership, so stay tuned!

P.S. Yes, this had something to do with us pursuing owning our own home.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: We Bought a House! @ brandon martinez

I had called to schedule the transfer last Saturday. I spoke with a very nice service representative who got me setup in going in 15 minutes. He even pointed out that my current package was about to expire, and recommended I update to the HD package for a $10 difference (which I did). He got the transfer all setup for the last day in our apartment, Tuesday, so that we would only be out of an internet connection for a couple of hours (I work remotely, so an internet connection is vital).

Around noon on Monday, to my surprise, my internet connection dropped. I thought there might have been an issue with the modem or the router, so I went through all of the standard troubleshooting steps (reset, unplug, etc). No dice.

After 10 minutes of playing around with the equipment on my side, I decided to give Charter a call. I got connected to a rep in about 15 minutes to someone whose first language was definitely not English. This began one of the most infuriating customer service phone calls I’ve ever been a part of.

I explained to the rep that my connection had dropped, and that I wasn’t scheduled to have my service shut off until the next day. I explained the situation, said that a transfer was supposed to occur, and wondered if I could have my service reconnected for the day. He did some stuff on his end, then had me step through all the troubleshooting steps again hoping to resolve my issue. Once again, no dice.

After he looked through his available information, he told me that I was actually scheduled to have the internet shut off on Monday and re-activated on Tuesday. I, once again, explained that it was not supposed to happen Monday, and should have been Tuesday (the purpose of the call). At this, he again explained that the connection was to be shut off Monday, was completed successfully, and wasn’t supposed to be turned on until Tuesday.

This went on for three or four times. For some reason, he didn’t understand what I was asking. I tried explaining in multiple ways, and eventually gave up saying “thank you, that’s all.” I already wasted my lunch hour trying to get the internet turned back on, and I was in need of getting a connection fast (thankfully, I just went over to my mom’s and used her WiFi).

The problems didn’t end there.

Tuesday rolls around, I’m back at my mom’s using her internet connection, and I left Joy at the new house to wait for the cable guy. I had everything setup, ready to be plugged in and activated: I had the modem by the coax cable with the router next to it, the TV next to the cable box and its corresponding coax cable (the box was going to be switched for an HD receiver, so I didn’t hook any of it up), and I told Joy to call me after he leaves so I could go home and work (instead of sitting at a weird table at my mom’s).

Joy called: apparently, the service guy wasn’t going to give us our HD box. He said that he didn’t see it on the work order, and we were supposed to keep our old box. She insisted that we were supposed to be getting the HD receiver, and he finally went and checked the work order. Guess who was right?

We finally got the HD box, the internet and cable is all setup, and the problems are finally over. Regardless, they still caused quite an inconvenience, and I may have to see if they’ll waive the $20 transfer fee for all the hassle they caused us (which I think is more than fair).

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: A Charter Communication Mishap @ brandon martinez

The flooring in the living room and office (adjacent rooms) was carpeted when we bought the place. The carpet looked fairly old, and either needed to be cleaned or replaced.To avoid that all together, we decided that the first thing we wanted to do was to rip remove the carpet and replace it with hard-flooring.

After pulling back the carpet, I discovered that underneath was fairly decent looking wood floor. It seemed plausible to fix it up and have a fairly nice looking floor. With the help and advice of my uncle (thanks for all the help, David!), we went to work on sanding it down to a nicer-looking wood. Below you can see some of the difference that sanding made (pre-sanded on the edges):

Granted, that picture was taken half-way through the sanding process, so the final result looked better.

After the sanding was finished, we went to work with the staining process. We followed the manufacturer’s directions to apply the stain:

Apply in a uniform, thin coat using a high quality, clean polyester or natural bristle brush. Brush in even strokes in the direction of the wood grain.

The process:

After letting the stain sit for a few days, it was still wet and tacky to the touch. What was wrong?

After asking around, we apparently applied the stain wrong. Wrong? But we followed the directions on the can! Yeah, don’t do that.

We decided to wipe the floor to see how much stain actually dried decently. Here are the results:

Apparently, when you apply stain you don’t brush it on. Instead, you “rub it in”. To fix our huge mistake, we had to redo all of the sanding. 6 hours of hard-work later, we were back to the original, sanded wood.

Following the advice of others, we decided to do the “rub it in” method. Here are the results:

Looks awesome. All we have left to do is apply the coats of finish to preserve the wood.

First lesson in home ownership: don’t follow the directions on a stain can, ask around for some wisdom first. Trust me, I’ll be doing that before I apply the finish.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Home Improvement: In Vain of Stain @ brandon martinez

Until recently, Tumblr didn’t support comments (natively). They’ve implemented them as what they call “replies”. I think there has to be a question in your post for you to enable replies (at least, that’s what makes the “Allow Replies” checkbox appear). Even then, replies are limited to 250 characters.

Now, I believe that if you’re going to enable comments, go full-force. If you’re allowed to write a full post, and you ask for my reply, why can’t I give a full reply? Either stand on your soapbox and leave it as that, or let me stand next to you for a moment so I can state my opinion when you’re done.

What can I do with 250 characters? Should I write my own tumble and link to it? Should I just repost your article and comment on that? There’s not a lot you can fit in that kind of limit and give a well thought-out response.

Tumblr: let me say a little more, please. I promise, it will be well thought out.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Microblogging Should’t Mean Microcommenting @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Popcorn Safety @ brandon martinez

An ancient sewing machine:

An original Nintendo controller (I wish they would have had the original Nintendo!):

A snuggie–bag (it must be so you can walk around and pass out when needed):

A blackface figurine:

A bunch of clown figurines (kind of creepy):

A few creepy dolls:

I may have to make this a recurring post-style. I’m sure the Goodwill in Ludington has some interesting items…

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Goodwill Hunting: The Soo @ brandon martinez

If you have seen the Tumblr recent theme page lately, you may have seen this entry:

My theme was accepted! Even better, it’s being installed at quite a fast pace:

Here’s a preview of the theme:

If you have a Tumblr account, feel free to install the theme to your Tumblr account. For more information, you can also follow the theme’s Tumblr account.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Tumblr Theme: Modern Rectangles @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Gmail: Interface Tweaks and Updates @ brandon martinez

Initially, she was just going to use a default template, but couldn’t find anything she liked. So, I decided to dive into the world of tumblr-templating to try and fulfill her needs.

I spent an entire Sunday afternoon coming up with theme ideas. After some collaboration with Joy, here’s what we managed to come up with:

We decided to go the personal route, showing a photo of her right up front. If you happened to see the impromptu photo-shoot from the other day, you may recognize the photography from this theme.

This theme has proven itself to be very versatile, actually. I’ve decided to release it as “modern rectangles.” I’ll be writing a post describing some of the finer points of the theme, as well as how to set it up to look this cool; the post will be up as soon as the theme is approved. Until then, check out modern rectangles on tumblr.

You can visit Joy’s new site here: Joy’s Thoughts on Tumblr.

Icons from this theme, Pictos, are by Drew Wilson.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Website: Joy Martinez @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Impromptu Shoot With Joy @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Depth of Tripod @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Last Friday Night Live of 2010 @ brandon martinez

Here’s the end result (Large Preview):

It was quite an involved process to create this panorama. Here’s an overview of all the steps it took to make this:

1. Using my tripod and my Panamatic mount, I took 12 sets of 3 pictures. Each set was 30° apart, taken with three different exposures (-2, 0, and 2 EV).
2. Processed each of the 12 sets as an HDR using Photomatix (the output of each set is shown below).
3. Stitched the 12 completed photos into the panorama using DoubleTake; this resulted in a 61 megapixel photo.
4. Opened the output in Photoshop to check for any weirdness from the stitching (i.e. blurred people, duplicated landscape, etc).
5. Imported that output into Lightroom, made a few color corrections, and then exported the final photo.

The 12 HDR photos:

In total, this project took between 4 and 6 hours of work (not including taking the actual pictures). I’m looking to get it printed on canvas through Canvas Press, which is looking to cost around $100-$200 for an 80″ x 8″ @ 300 DPI print. If you’re interested in getting a print as well, feel free to contact me.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Panorama at the Breakwall @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: A Visit to the Summit @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Wasting Time at the Beach @ brandon martinez

Looking to spice-up her web presence, she asked me to put together a quick web-banner for her website. I decided I’d help her out a bit further, so I put together a quick branding project for her.

Logo

Firstly, I started with the logo. I wanted to make something that was bold, but still showed elegance, a lot like her music. I think this combination captures that:

Web Banner

Next, I applied that idea to the originally requested web-banner. After looking through a few pics she had given me, I decided to go through some of my own to compliment it. I landed on these two images, and pulled the logo in for the final touch:

Twitter Page

Debra recently joined twitter, so why stop at the website? A quick re-arrangment of the web-banner created a sharp twitter theme:

CD Banner

To help promote her CD, I’ve also created a CD Banner for her (you can find the link to purchase her CD below):

Good Luck, Debra

I wish Debra the best of luck in the rest of her pursuit to become America’s Got Talent’s next big star. If you’d like, tune in tonight and vote for her.

Debra’s Links:

• Debra’s Website
• Debra’s Twitter
• Debra’s Facebook Fan Page
• Debra’s MySpace
• Debra @ ReverbNation
• Buy Her CD

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Branding: Debra Romer @ brandon martinez

All you have to do is delete the “.maintenance” file from the root of your site. Refresh and all should be working again.

Via: fusionswift.com

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: WordPress: Remove Stuck Maintenance Message @ brandon martinez

Tell me what’s wrong with this picture:

Yahoo! Search:

bing Search:

Google Search:

The other major search engines all think I’m good enough to be number one; Google, however, doesn’t seem to think so.

What do you want from me, Google? We used to be best buds, and now you’re leaving me in second place. Can’t we be BFFs again? I promise I’ll write more, I’ll post more, I’ll flood forums with links to my site more often; anything you want, just put me back!

</rant>

Sorry, that’s been bothering me for months.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Still Not Good Enough for Google @ brandon martinez

Activate Voice Control

First, you need to know how to active the feature. It’s pretty simple: press and hold the home button for approximately 2 to 3 seconds. This will bring up the following screen (this is even accessible from the lock screen):

Once you see the prompt, you can say many commands. Some examples include:

• Call a Contact: Call {Contact Name} {home/work/etc — optional}
• Dial a Number: Dial {### ### ####, say the number normally}
• Play an Artist: Play {Artist Name}
• Play an Album: Play {Album Name}

For more examples, you can visit the iPhone/iPod Touch Voice Commands guide at AtMac.org.

Adding Nicknames to Contacts

I’ve never been one to have an entry like “Mom” in my phone. She has a name, and I like using the contact fields properly (first/last name). Thankfully, I can still voice dial her by saying “mom” without breaking away from my contact-organization habits.

To set this up, it’s actually very simple. Open up the phone or contacts app, then navigate to the contact you’d like to add a nickname to (in this case, it is my mom). The tap on the edit button.

Scroll down until you see the add field button; tap it.

Choose Nickname.

Type whatever nickname you’d like to use; in this case, I chose to go with “Mom”. When you’ve entered the name, tap done and you’re all set.

To give it a try, activate Voice Control and say Call {Nickname}. Voice Control should say Calling {Full Name}, to let you know that you are indeed calling the correct contact. As an additional note, you can still use the original Call {Full Name}; adding a nickname does not replace that ability.

Adjust Voice Control’s Pronunciation

This actually serves no purpose other than to make Voice Control sound more accurate when reading back your contacts’ names.

My mom’s last name can be rather difficult to pronounce if you’ve never heard it before, so you can only imagine what the iPhone does to it. To make it sound more natural, you can add a phonetic spelling to the contact’s first or last names.

To do this, follow the steps above to edit your contact, except this time we’re going to add the Phonetic First/Last Name field.

This is where it can get a little tricky. You’ll need to write out the first or last name as sound-extended as possible. I try to choose hard-to-mess-up sounds (e.g. “ruh” is more likely to be pronounced one way opposed to “re”). You’ll have to play with this a little bit to make it dead on (just use Voice Control while you’re editing your contact), but with a little bit of work, your phone will pronounce any name properly.

I hope you find these useful. If you have any other Voice Control tips, leave them in the comments.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: iPhone: Make Voice Control More Useful @ brandon martinez

1. Force Quitting the Camera App: Open the camera app, then hold the “lock/hold” button on the iPhone until you see “slide to power off.” Release the hold button, then hold the home button until the app quits. Try opening the camera app again to see if the shutter opens.
2. Quitting All Running Apps: Some people have said that this could be related to a memory issue. Double-tap the home button to bring up the multi-tasking bar. Tap and hold one of the running apps; this should bring up red-minus symbols on all of the running apps. Tap the minus symbols for all of the running applications. Once this is done, try running the camera app again.
3. Hard-Reset: Similar to fixing the slow-down issues on the iPhone 3G, you can try a hard (or double-hard) reset. Press and hold the hold and home buttons until the phone powers off. Turn the phone back on and see if this rids of the issue.
4. Restore: Another likely possibility is that preferences may have gotten corrupted on the phone. Plug your iPhone into your computer, and do a restore from iTunes. When prompted, do not restore from a backup, but instead set the device up as a new phone. Once the process is complete, try running the camera app yet again.

If this works for you, then it is definitely a software problem, and will probably be fixed in 4.1.

If none of these solve your problem, you are most likely out of luck (which is what happened to me). Time to call Apple (1–800-MY-APPLE).

A few tips, though:

• Be sure to tell them that you have tried all of the above steps; most of these are what they would recommend anyway.
• They will probably give you two or three options to choose from:
• Setup an appointment at your nearest Apple Store, then go in for an exchange.
• Send in your iPhone, then have Apple send you a new one in a few days.
• Have Apple send you a new iPhone first, then you send your iPhone back in the same box. There is a catch to this one, however. If you do not have Apple Care, there is a $29.99 shipping and handling fee. If you do have Apple Care, there is no fee. In both cases, you will have a $599 hold on your credit card until they get the old device back.
• If you are in a situation similar to me, where you don’t have an Apple Store close by, can’t be without the phone for a few days (e.g. you need it for work), and don’t have the money to purchase Apple Care or pay to have the unit shipped, there is a possible solution: ask for the call to be elevated to a higher-level Apple Support Representative. They can often waive any fees (you’ll still need the hold on your card, though), and your phone will probably be to you within a few days.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Sources:

• Users Report iPhone 4 Camera Problems [Virtual Shutter Won’t Open On iPhone 4? You’re Not The Only One As Users Report Camera Issues]
• iPhone 4 Problems: Camera Shutter Will Not Open
• iPhone 4 problem issues:camera shutter will not open

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: iPhone 4: Camera Shutter Won’t Open @ brandon martinez

I’ve had it pre-ordered since the day after pre-ordering began (I had tried day-of, but I couldn’t get my order through); it finally showed up at my door yesterday afternoon (the FedEx guy even said “Congratulations” when he delivered it).

I’m not going to give a full-fledged review; there are enough of those out there. But let me say a few main points:

• It’s super-fast.
• The photos and videos look great! Scott and I jammed last night, and I set it up to record us a couple of times. The sound was pretty decent, and the video is very clear. If I upload the videos, I’ll post them here.
• FaceTime is fun; Joy and I called Amber last night and talked for an hour or so (it’s amazing the quality of the audio and video)
• Multi-tasking works really well (for the apps that support it); I can’t wait until most of the apps are updated for iOS4.
• GPS seems to work much better than my previous phone. I have the TomTom app, and it seemed very accurate.
• The screen is freaking amazing! The moment I turned the phone on I could tell the difference from my iPhone 3G.

The phone truly is amazing; this was definitely the right time to upgrade my iPhone 3G (Joy has been temporarily promoted to that from her BlackBerry until September, which is when she will be getting her new white iPhone 4).

My un-boxing pics:

A couple of other important notes:

• I cannot replicate the “Grip of Death”; my signal seems to stay consistent.
• I’ve had no yellow-band-problems.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: iPhone 4 @ brandon martinez

Thanks, Deals Plus!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: I Won an iPod Shuffle @ brandon martinez

If you noticed, that post has brought in almost 5,000 views on its own, which is way more than any other post on my blog; not too mention, the search terms that have brought some of the traffic are cool, too. I’m not sure if that’s a sign I need to start writing about more trending topics, or if I should be promoting my posts across various sites to get the traffic boost (i.e. link my photo stream on other photo-blogs).

Any suggestions?

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Graphic: 5,000 Views Later @ brandon martinez

This is by far one of the coolest sites I’ve put together. Firstly, all of the photography was shot by me at my apartment (we borrowed some studio lighting from the FSU Printing Department). There are several pictures of Kelsey to add a “get-to-know-better” feel to the site. Throughout you can see examples of this, such as the bottom of the About Me page:

On the contact page, you can see Kelsey awaiting your message as you start to contact him:

To make the site more interactive, I’ve put together a neat Javascript menu. As you hover over all of the main navigation icons on the top, they grow and display where they’ll take you. As you move out from the icon, they shrink back down. Head over to the site to try it out.

The main content of the site is also styled really well, fitting nicely into the top navigation; this also helps maintain readability, as columns of text are not too long and don’t strain the eyes.

And last, but definitely not least, is the footer of the site. It states the usual copyright message, but it also helps keep visitors on the site by showing recent content and comments, and also allows visitors to share the site with friends.

Overall, I think this is an excellent site, not only in design, but in content as well. Be sure to check out http://www.kelseyschnell.com/.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Site Launch: Kelsey Schnell @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Window-Frog @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Plug-in and Listen @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: A Face You Can Trust @ brandon martinez

I ended up making a rub out of some seasonings, let it sit overnight and marinate, then grilled it the next day. Honestly, it is probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Cornish Hen a’ Grillin’ @ brandon martinez

Something we almost always have to put down is a security deposit. However, a lot of us don’t know everything the security deposit can be used for, or more importantly, what it can’t be used for.

Please note, these are all for the state of Michigan; laws can vary by state.

In Michigan, there are only two legal uses for a security deposit:

1. Reimbursement to the landlord for any damages that have occurred to the apartment during your residence; this, however, excludes normal wear and tear (e.g. walls may get dirty, use of appliances, etc).
2. Reimbursement to the landlord for any past dues; this includes any missed rent or leftover utility bills.

One of the major sources of confusion is what the security deposit cannot be used for. Mainly, a security deposit cannot be used for cleaning fees. However, it is possible to have a separate, non-refundable cleaning fee in addition to your security deposit.

Be sure to read your contract carefully to make sure you’re being treated fairly. If they say they’ll hold your security deposit for cleaning fees, make sure you get that setup as either a separate fee (with a lower security deposit), or find somewhere else to rent.

If you would like additional information on security deposits, feel free to check out my sources:

• Tenant.net: Security Deposits in Michigan
• A Guide To Security Deposits — Michigan Legal Aid
• Michigan Legislature — Act 348 of 1972

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Renting Tip: Use of a Security Deposit @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Ludington Fireworks 2010 @ brandon martinez

Regardless, here are some of the better pics from tonight.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Pentwater Fireworks 2010 @ brandon martinez

Joy and I moved in to our apartment at the end of April/beginning of May. It was one of the newer apartments available on the top floor (we liked the idea of cathedral-style ceilings). After a few weeks of moving and getting everything settled, we felt like we made our home. Then the complaints started.

One night, we had just finished playing Mario Kart on Wii, when we heard a pounding on the floor. “What the heck was that?” Joy and I asked each other. We had done nothing out of the ordinary: I was putting away a couple of folding mushroom chairs and Joy had sat on the couch; we weren’t stomping, jumping, rolling, or otherwise. So, we just brushed it off.

Throughout the next couple of weeks, we’d get a few knocks here and there while we were doing dishes, putting groceries away, walking around the house, etc. We had no idea why this was happening. We were being somewhat courteous of our neighbors (not running through the apartment screaming), and just trying to live a normal life.

Then, we did make a mistake. We had a few friends over and had gone out for a night on the town. When we got back, they were a little rowdy, but I quieted them down quickly. The next day is when this would all be tied together.

One of our friends left for home pretty early in the day. The rest of us headed out to the state park for enjoy the nice day. When we got back, we found a folded note taped to our door; “Joy and Hubby,” was written on it. What the heck? Who leaves notes anymore?

When we got inside, Joy read it (the note has since been lost, sadly, otherwise I’d transcribe it in full here). Basically, our downstairs neighbor made these points:

• Quiet down, as she could hear us stomping and dropping things
• We slammed the toilet seat lid too loudly, especially at night
• Our grill was making a mess on her porch
• That she worked an early schedule, as such, she had to wake up early and go to sleep early, and we should be considerate of that
• We needed to learn how to walk with neighbors below us

Quite a list to write-up, especially for only being there a few weeks.

We took the note with a grain of salt, tried to fulfill some of her requests (I put a mat under the grill just to avoid any possible problem, and even moved the grill to the same corner as hers), and decided to continue living with that all in mind. Needless to say, the pounding from the floor never stopped.

It became a couple-of-times-a-week type of thing (which got rather annoying, and always more puzzling). We tried to be quiet, but there’s only so much you can do without having to stop living all together.

Well, we finally nailed the coffin shut; we had some of Joy’s family over for dinner a couple of days ago. We were all talking, fixing our plates, and got rudely interrupted by pounding from below. We were all in shock. It was five o’ clock in the afternoon. We were not being that loud; at least loud enough for a serious complaint. Regardless, she called the office and then we received the call that started this post.

Warning: rant to follow.

#10 below, you suck. Firstly, you could have the common courtesy to actually come and talk to us, instead of doing your random poundings, leaving notes, and calling the front office to complain. Secondly, you’re not the only one living here. We have the right to lead a semi-normal life, just like you. Why should we have to tailor to your whims, needs, and desires? What if I worked the late shift and showered, got ready, and came home all while you were still asleep; would there be no excuse for that? What if we had two toddlers living with us? I’m sure things would be much louder than they are now. Are you going to complain about that?

All I can say is that you took a decent place to live, and made it a place we’re hoping to get out of. We’ve seriously considered breaking our lease, and speeding up the home-buying process. I don’t know what kind of neighbors you want, but I hope you find them.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Tread Lightly @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: A Door County Adventure @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photo: Lion Fish @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Lighting at a Furniture Store @ brandon martinez

Pics are from their wedding and reception taken by both Joy and me.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Erik and Jenny Hartley’s Wedding @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: A Day at the State Park @ brandon martinez

Overall, I thought it was a really interesting convention. Apparently, we missed the busier day, which would have been far better for photos (I believe that’s the day they do the runway to show off costumes).

P.S. If you were wondering, the first few pics are of my sister and her outfit.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Jafax 15 @ brandon martinez

I plan on setting up different “streams” that you can subscribe to. For instance, if you are only interested in my photography, you can just follow that. If you want to see everything tech-related, you can follow that. Or, if you’re hardcore, which you should be, you can follow the entire site (please, pick that option).

The first step of this process will start today: I’ll be posting a photo-blog entry of my recent visit to Jafax 15. Over the next few weeks, as I have time and finish other projects, you will start to see more of the changes. If you have any other suggestions, sound-off in the comments!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Site Revisions Coming Soon @ brandon martinez

It wasn’t a huge deal for me, I visit the nearest Apple Store on a semi-regular basis and would just bring it in when I had the chance. Well, this past weekend I was in Grand Rapids for Jafax (photos soon) with my mom and sister, and had to stop at the Apple Store to pickup my sister’s Mac Mini (it was taken in for a fan replacement). I brought along my defective Mighty Mouse, hoping they would have a replacement in stock. After picking up the computer, I showed the Apple representative my mouse and explained the situation. He said he would go to the back and see if there were any Mighty Mice in stock.

A few minutes later, the rep came back and said that none were in; however, if I’d like to upgrade to the Magic Mouse, I could do that at no extra cost. Well, of course I said yes! So, five minutes later I’m out of the Apple Store with a brand new Magic Mouse.

This is not the first time that Apple has hooked me up with a minor upgrade, but it is still definitely appreciated.

Side note: if you happen to have a Magic Mouse, you need to check out Magic Prefs. It adds a ton of additional features to Apple’s stock driver (e.g. three and four button clicking, additional swipe commands, etc).

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Apple, You’re Too Good to Me @ brandon martinez

After looking through the many posts detailing that there was in fact a speed issue across many of the phones, I started looking into why mine would fall into that category. No one seemed to have a specific source of the problem, but then it hit me: I remembered that I had jailbroken my phone last summer (which still had a visible remnant, the percentage indicator next to the battery). I had removed the jailbreak via a “restore from backup,” since my phone had been extremely slow with it applied (however, even after restoring to an official firmware my phone seemed really slow).

I decided to lookup “iPhone 3G completely remove jailbreak,” to see if I had performed a proper uninstalltion of the jailbreak. I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, and it appeared that I had followed all of the correct procedures. Taking a leap, I decided to do a complete restore again, but this time without restoring from my backup (I still made one just in case); when I was prompted, I chose to setup a new phone. Guess what, it worked.

My phone runs great. Sure, there’s the occasional lag with some apps, but that was there since day one (it is older hardware). Until my new iPhone 4 shows up in the mail, this will get me by just fine.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Get a Faster iPhone 3G With iOS 4 @ brandon martinez

Thankfully, it’s a very easy fix. View all of your history in Safari (History -> Show All History, or CMD + OPTION + 2), and do a search for “Failed to Open Page” (or whatever your ISP provides for the title of hijacked pages). Scan over the found items (in the event that something else slipped through), select all, then delete. Now start typing that address again, and the correct autocomplete should appear. Done!

This really isn’t the fault of Safari, but more of the fault of my ISP (Charter). DNS Hijacking is just bad practice, as the browser can’t determine if a page actually exists or not (since the ISP returns an actual site). My recommendation is to use a better DNS service, such as OpenDNS or Google’s DNS servers. Your mileage may vary, however.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Safari Tip: Remove Failed Pages for Accurate Autocomplete @ brandon martinez

Even though my iMac has served me well over the last two-to-three years, it’s time for an upgrade; it’s been lagging when running my normal day-to-day tasks, and choking when trying to do anything beyond that. So, I’ve done a bit of research and a lot of thinking, and I’ve come up with two possible solutions to my problem; however, I may need some help from you to decide on which route I should go.

My first idea was to go straight for Apple’s top-of-the-line Mac: the Mac Pro. It’s a fast machine, and has a lot of room for upgrades (4 PCI-Express slots, 4 HDD bays, two optical bays, etc). Since it would be relatively easy to keep up-to-date, the lifetime of the computer should be rather long (I’m hoping for at least 5 years). However, there is one main drawback with this option: price.

Being Apple’s high-end machine, even the base model starts at around $2,000 (the quad-core machine). On top of that, monitors are still needed; my preference is to go with a multi-monitor setup instead of a single, large monitor (I like being able to separate my work across multiple displays). Reasonably, I’d have to add another $150 per monitor that I’d want attached; being that I’m used to a dual-display already, that’s at least another $300 on top of that.

My second idea was to upgrade my current setup: get a newer generation iMac. The main benefits of going this route is the price and the fact that it already comes with a monitor (since it’s an all-in-one computer). Also, some of the extras it comes with are a bit nicer, such as the magic mouse and wireless keyboard (although, I wish it were a full-sized wireless keyboard). However, I lose all of the other benefits that the Mac Pro offers; upgrading is mainly limited to just RAM, and if I ever want more than two monitors, I’m totally out of luck (an issue I ran into with my current iMac).

This is where I’d like some input. You’ve heard my arguments for both computers; each I could easily integrate into my workflow and replace my current iMac with. I’ve outlined some of the specs of each computer, along with their price. At the bottom of the post you’ll find a poll where you can leave your opinion, and feel free to leave commentary in, well, the comments.

	27-Inch iMac	8-Core Mac Pro
Processor	2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7	Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
RAM	8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 4x2GB
HDD	1TB Serial ATA Drive	640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
Graphics	ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB	NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
Display	Built-in 27-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen TFT active-matrix liquid crystal display with IPS technology; 2560px x 1440px.	Not Provided; however, the graphics card allows for up to two displays to be attached.
Optical Drive	8x double-layer SuperDrive
HIDs	Apple Magic Mouse	Apple Mouse
	Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) and User’s Guide	Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User’s Guide
Add’l Specs	Apple.com: iMac Tech Specs	Apple.com: Mac Pro Tech Specs
Sub-Total	$2,259.00	$3,089.00

Before you cast your vote, there are a few other things you should know:

• No, I will not buy a PC. Sure, you can make a hackintosh for cheaper and this and that, but I want a real Mac. There are several reasons why, but that’s not the point of this post.
• There is a high possibility that the Mac Pro will be getting updated to a 12-core system sometime in the near future (hopefully at the same price point). I don’t plan on getting the new computer for a few months, so it’s entirely possible for me to go this route.
• I may still want to get a new monitor if I go with the iMac, since my current secondary monitor is only running at 1440x900.

With that, feel free to cast your vote:

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Poll: Mac Pro or iMac? @ brandon martinez

These past two weeks I have been in De Pere (Green Bay), Wisconsin, on-site at Independent Printing Co., Inc. As I said, my first day was June 7th, which was mostly filled with paperwork and catching up with everyone. From then on, my visit has been filled with meetings, project planning, and the occasional break to do some actual work or grab some lunch. Overall, it has been a very productive two weeks.

I enjoy working for Independent. The people are great to work with, and the overall company vibe is pleasant. It’s awesome that I get to work in an area of the company that will really help push us forward into the digital age, keeping the print industry relevant and forward-thinking (a.k.a. automation).

For those of you that didn’t know, I have actually worked for IPC since last June, where I spent my internship during the summer and continued working for them remotely part-time through the winter/school-year. As a matter-of-fact, I will continue to work for them remotely, with the occasional visits on-site throughout the year.

I have enjoyed my stay in Wisconsin, and had a great experience on-site at IPC, but I look forward to getting home today to see my family (especially my wife, two weeks is a long time!). Wisconsin, thank you for your hospitality, and I’ll see you again in a few months.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Full-Time! @ brandon martinez

There are three main steps when putting this together: the meat, the salsa, and the extras (done in that order). My version is meant to serve two people, so adjust as needed. Something else to keep in mind: I hardly ever cook anything using any type of measuring (unless it’s absolutely needed); most of the time I just throw things together and hope for the best; that is definitely the case in this recipe, so take that into consideration with the measurements I provide.

The Meaty Center

This is definitely one of the best Mexican food creations I have ever made; the best part: it’s super-simple.

Ingredients

• Approx. 4–6 oz. of ground chuck
• 1 raw ear of corn (or equal amount of fresh kernels)
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
• 1– 2 cups of water
• Your favorite taco seasoning
• Cooking spray

Steps

1. Spray your wok with cooking spray, then turn on to high. Let the wok get hot before continuing to the next step.
2. In your electric wok (or a large frying pan if you don’t have one), fry the meat until it’s brown. This shouldn’t take very long if your wok is hot enough.
3. Next, add enough water to cover the meat (don’t drown it), and put your wok to a medium heat.
4. While the meat is simmering, cut your ear of corn down to kernels and chop your onion.
5. Add your freshly-cut vegetables to the simmering meat; increase the heat to medium-high.
6. Add enough water that the meat portion is still covered, then add your taco seasoning. Joy happened to buy a large container of seasoning, so I was able to spice it up to my liking; add to taste.
7. Once a good portion of the water is gone, put the wok on a low-medium heat and let simmer
8. Proceed to the salsa while you wait (but be sure to keep an eye on it!). By the time you finish your salsa, this should be done and ready.

Sour Cream Salsa

Sour cream is absolutely delicious! It goes great on tacos, burritos, and more. So, why not make a salsa out of it?

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. Low Fat Sour Cream
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• Dill Weed (to taste)
• Chives and Parsley for some greenery

Steps

1. If you haven’t already, chop and dice your onion and tomato.
2. Put the onion and tomato into a bowl suitable for mixing. Next, add some chives and parsley to give a green, fun look (I honestly don’t think it’ll change the taste, so this is optional).
3. Add your sour cream and mix.
4. Add your dill weed and mix again. Done!

Easy, right?

Extras and Serving

You can add any number of side dishes as you want (I kept mine minimal): black beans, refried beans, additional salsas, shredded lettuce, peppers, hot sauce, you name it. Want to make it a party dish? Double, triple, or even quadruple the recipe, and serve the meat and salsa half-and-half in a large bowl, then grab a big chips and have at it!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Recipe: Mexican Fiesta Platter @ brandon martinez

Update: The camera has been sold!

I’m selling a Canon EOS Rebel 2000 (film) with a camera bag for $40 (shipping not included). It also comes with the Canon camera strap, as well as the product manual. If you’re interested, look for my listing on Amazon.com (look for my name). More details on the camera after the jump.

Photos from Amazon

Info from Amazon

Amazon.com Product Description: The Canon EOS Rebel 2000 is an elegant camera body with 35-zone automatic exposure. It has a retractable flash and 11 versatile shooting modes. It’s small, light, and supports advanced flash-metering system features including E-TTL, FE lock, and high-speed synch modes with EX-series Speedlites. It has a full range of features, including remote control socket, depth-of-field preview, and scale-metered manual exposure. Creative controls include a seven– point autofocus system, 35-zone AE metering, programmable portrait, landscape, close-up, sports, and night scene modes.

Advanced features include a choice of evaluative or partial metering patterns, AE lock, auto exposure bracketing, multiple exposure, and more. The EOS Rebel 2000 is fully compatible with all EF lenses and EOS Speedlites, including Canon’s latest EX series with E-TTL, FE lock, and high-speed synch modes, for incredible flexibility in creative flash photography.

Product Description: Canon’s tradition for improving its product line with advanced imaging technology has never been more evident than with its newest generation of the world’s best selling 35mm SLR camera, the EOS Rebel. The EOS Rebel 2000 is Canon’s newest entry-level 35mm SLR camera, featuring a variety of enhancements at an attractive price. Sporting an elegant new exterior design, the sleek EOS Rebel 2000 gives photographers unprecedented creative control, including 7-point autofocus, 35-zone AE metering and a variety of other improvements. With its convenient, built-in retractable flash and 11 versatile shooting modes, the EOS Rebel 2000 lets you get great photos of vacations, sporting events, landscapes, portraits and more.

Once again, if you’re interested in purchasing, look for my listing on Amazon.com (look for my name).

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: For Sale: Canon EOS Rebel 2000 With Camera Bag @ brandon martinez

• 1 year of preschool
• 3 years of lower elementary (K-2)
• 4 years of upper elementary (3–6)
• 2 years of Jr. High School (7–8)
• 4 years of High School (9–12)
• 2 years at a community college (received my associates degree)
• 2 years at a university (received my bachelors degree)

This past Saturday, I finally finished all of that: I graduated from Ferris State University.

It’s been quite the journey. Honestly, I wish there were a sheet of statistics that you get with your each of your diplomas/degrees. How many term papers have I written? How many hours of research have I spent on various topics? How many multiple choice or true/false questions have I answered on quizzes and exams? Numbers, dammit! I want to see quantitative results! Probably a habit I picked up somewhere in that 18 years.

Seriously though, I look forward to what the future holds. Joy and I moved back to our hometown, Ludington, and I start my full-time job in June. Past that, anything is possible. We have a lot of options, a lot of opportunities, and enough ambition to pursue them. Forward, march!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: 1+3+4+2+4+2+2 @ brandon martinez

This picture was taken off the stairwell of our apartment (it’s nothing special, obviously); however, the potential for this technique could be great. If I could find someway to get an up-top photo of Ludington’s downtown, that could look pretty cool. I’ll probably start a new portfolio album once I get a few more of these put together. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: First Attempt at Tilt-Shift Photography @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: New Desk: Z-Line Legacy L-Desk @ brandon martinez

Making this is really simple. Create a new Google Doc, and modify the CSS (in the menu, select Edit, then Edit CSS). Copy this into the dialog:

*, p, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, li, blockquote {
  font-family: arial,sans-serif;
  font-size: 8px;
  text-align: justify;
  line-height: 10px;
}
@page {
  size: 5in 3in !important;
  margin: .125in !important;
}

Next, copy/paste your information into the Google Doc:

If you don’t see something similar, you may have to clean the document up a bit. Go to Edit in the menu, then select Edit HTML. Make sure your paragraphs and such are surrounded by the proper <p> tags. Feel free to remove any odd styling tags, such as <font> or <span>. This is my finished result:

<p><b>Chapter 16 Digestion: </b>Know Functs of the dig system. Teeth; adult (32), deciduous (primary “baby”)(20), know the Functs of the different kinds of teeth (which are for cutting, tearing, &amp; grinding). Functs of the lvr. Different ways fats are broken down. Where do we absorb most of the nutrients of ingested food (sm. intestine)? Stomach; what is the semi-fluid mixture of food stuff &amp; stomach secretions, movement of food through stomach, regulation of stomach secretion (phases), pH level in stomach. Small intestines (know the parts, &amp; translations) Cholesterol; LDL’s vs HDL’s (good vs. bad). Vermiform appendix (worm-like appendage) – the ‘appendix’ – new research indicates that it does have a job replenishing the natural bacteria (flora) w/in the large intestine after illness or use of antibiotics<b>&nbsp;Chapter 17 Nutrition, Metabolism, &amp; Body Temperature Regulation&nbsp;</b>What is the most efficient way for the body 2 store energy long-term? What is the net gain of ATP through glycolysis? 2 Know incomplete vs. complete proteins: rice, beans; meat. Know about aerobic respiration; aerobic means it utilizes oxygen, kicks out 36 ATP, occurs in mitochondria (powerhouse). Body temp; know hypothalamus’ role in regulating body temp – anterior portion detects raise in body temp. (increase sweating, dilate skin blüd vessels, take off jacket etc.), posterior portion detects drop in body temp. (causes shivering, constrict skin blüd vessels, tells you 2 put a coat on etc.) Know Glycogen; what molecules are bonded together 2 form it: short term energy, fat for long-term. Calories in a pound of fat: 3,500.&nbsp;<b>Review Ch.18 urnry System:&nbsp;</b>Urine produced in kdnys. Stored in bladder. Micturition reflex: stretch on bladder 2 urinate. Know the parts of the urnry system (kid, ureter, bladder, urethra) Know the structures of the kdny (including the structures of nephrons, millions per kdny) What is the Functal unit of the kdny (nephron). Make sure you can describe what effects different Hrmns would have on blüd pressure (ADH: anti-direuretic, ANH: atrial-naturetic horm., Renin). Where do solutes &amp; H20 that are reabsorbed from the nephron’s tubules/loop of Henle go (peritubular capillaries)? Know the relationship between blüd volume &amp; blüd pressure (up goes up; down goes down). What kind of cells make up the wall of Bowman’s capsule (simple squam), Proximal &amp; Distal tubules (simple cuboid), loop of Henle (simple squam), collecting ducts (simple cuboid), ureters (trans), bladder (trans).&nbsp;<b>Review Ch. 19 Reproductive:</b>&nbsp;Spermatogenesis: creation of sperm. Where does it take place? Seminiferous Tubule. Where are sperm stored (for ~6 weeks)? Epididimous. Know organs: which nourish (seminal ves), which activate (prostate), which lubricate ? What structure encloses, &amp; protects the testes, &amp; keeps them cooler than body temperature (scrotum)? What is a gamete (egg)? How many chromosomes does a gamete have (23)? Know the difference between meiosis (four daughter cells, 23 chrom) &amp; mitosis (two daughter cells, 46 chrom). Where does fertilization occur (fallop tube)? Where does a developing fetus stay 2 be protected &amp; sustained (uterus)? Once an oocyte is ‘chosen’, know the steps leading 2 ovulation. Know phases of menstruation, including first episode (menarchy). Hrmns; know which ones come from which structures &amp; target tissues (examples; estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, GnRH, LH, FSH, Inhibin)</p>

Once you’ve done all of this, you should be able to go to File in the menu, then Print Preview to see what your notecard will look like. Once you’ve finished typing your notes, just print the card and you’re ready for your exam.

A few more tips

• Tweak the CSS to fit your needs. If you are only allowed one single-sided notecard, try adjusting the line-height or letter-spacing properties to cram as much info as you need
• If you still need more space, try this. Do a Find & Replace for common words that can be abbreviated. For example, to can change to 2, with to w/, and to &, and so on. If you look at my example, you’ll notice I take some of the larger words and remove vowels (but still keep them understandable).
• If things still aren’t working right, check the HTML! Just scanning it over can sometimes reveal common problems.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Exam Tip: Create a Notecard in GDocs @ brandon martinez

Last week, I received one of my credit card bills; it was for a student card that only incurs interest if the balance is over $250 (very handy, I might add). I was going through my statement, and saw that there was a charge to HP for $150 or so. After doing some deep research, checking my e-mail for any transactions around that date, I panicked. I had no clue why that charge was there.

Immediately, I called the credit card company. After explaining my problem with the customer service rep, they transferred me to their fraud department. Five minutes later I had the issue taken care of: the card was cancelled, documentation was being sent out to me via post, and most importantly, the charge was lifted from my account. Thanks to my fast reaction, along with looking through my statements, I was able to avoid an ongoing issue (that may have been more difficult to fix).

In closing, remember to check through your statements, and if you have online access, through your online statement history as well. It can save you some serious cash in the long run.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Financial Tip: Check Your Statements @ brandon martinez

For my bachelor’s degree, FSU requires two “cultural enrichment” classes. For mine, I chose Spanish 101 and 102. There were a few reasons why I chose Spanish: I’ve taken Spanish classes in High School, two years actually, but I never retained as much information as I would have liked, I’d like to understand a new culture and how they communicate, and I’d like to retain some of my family’s culture.

Since I’ve started my classes, my Spanish has improved drastically. I don’t know if it’s because of the incredible teachers that I’ve had, or if it’s because I’ve had the high school level background and things are coming back to me now (or possibly a combination of the two). Regardless, it has greatly increased my desire to continue learning.

Sadly, however, I will not be taking any more Spanish classes at FSU (at least in the near future) since I will be graduating in a couple of weeks. To continue my learning of the language, I have been trying to find resources on the web. So far, this is what I’ve found:

• Study Spanish: this site is awesome. It breaks everything down into units, and covers a lot of the language. Best of all, it is totally free; they do, however, offer a premium version of the site, but I haven’t found the need for that yet.
• Live Mocha: “social language learning.” I haven’t had an opportunity to really take advantage of this site, but I think that this summer I’ll really jump into it. Live Mocha matches you up with someone that wants to learn your native language that knows the language you want to learn (so it will be a win-win learning experience).
• Conjugation.org – Spanish Verb Conjugation: an awesome Spanish verb conjugator. It will conjugate in the present indicative, imperfect, preterite, future, conditional, imperative, present subjunctive, imperfect subjunctive, gerund, and past participle tenses. It will even identify most irregular verbs, and even attempt to conjugate verbs it doesn’t know by following the normal Spanish conjugation rules.
• Spanish Word-a-Day: a simple RSS feed that presents you with a new word everyday, giving its meaning, an example Spanish sentence, and translated English sentence.
• Coffee Break Spanish: this is one of the first resources I have found. It’s a podcast that goes over common Spanish phrases, such as travel, family, food, etc., and is great listening material.

Does anyone else have any recommendations? Reading material, podcasts, videos?

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Quiero Aprender El Idioma: Spanish Learning Resources @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Concerts @ brandon martinez

A photo of Kyle beating on Jimmy Clouds:

This one was actually a lot of fun. Two separate photos from a Facebook Profile Picture Party from a week or so ago, and a few Google Images for the background, Fight Club logo, and beer bottle. Some masking and burning later, we have a fairly awesome photo.

Also, a photo Kyle painting away Bob Ross style:

We even made a video of this one.

Note: some of these photos were found on Google images; I take no copyright in the background or additional images.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: It’s Been One of Those Days… @ brandon martinez

For those of you that don’t know: The Game on Wikipedia.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: The Game @ brandon martinez

After a quick Google search, I found this interesting excerpt at Dictionary.com:

When should I use whom instead of who?

Use who when a nominative pronoun is appropriate, and whom when an objective pronoun is appropriate. Who is a nominative pronoun (meaning it acts as a subject) and is used: 1) as the subject of a verb, as in “It was Paul who rescued the dog.”; 2) as the complement of a linking verb, as in “They know who you are.” Whom is an objective pronoun (meaning it serves as an object) and is used: 1) as the object of a verb, as in “Whom did you see?” and 2) as the object of a preposition, as in “That is the group to whom the credit belongs.” Who and whom seem to cause more difficulty than other pronouns. Thus, when in doubt, substitute him and see if that sounds right. If him is OK, then whom is OK. For example: “You talked to whom? You talked to him.” It would be incorrect to say “You talked to he,” and few native English speakers would make that mistake.

Seems simple enough: just replace whom with him, and if it sounds okay, you’re golden. However, I did think of an odd case: “to whom it may concern” = “to him it may concern”; it makes sense, just sounds a little odd.

Now, it’s just a matter of remembering this rule and applying it in my writing (and maybe even calling other people out, hehe).

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Grammar Tip: Who vs. Whom @ brandon martinez

To prevent missing gems, I will normally run rake rails:freeze:gems and rake gem:unpack:dependencies (and in this case, rake spree:freeze:gems as well). This will copy the gems from my local installation into the vendor/rails and vendor/gems directories (respectively). However, when I ran this command on an app that uses RJB, I was getting an RJBCore missing error. After some investigation, the fix was easy.

Apparently, when you install the RJB gem, it natively compiles a bundle file (this is why you have to specify Java’s location in my previous tutorial). When you unpack the gem, this new bundle doesn’t come along because it was not an original part of the gem (and it is environment specific for the most part). To avoid this problem, there is one solution: copy your local gem directory into your Rails app:

$ cp /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rjb-1.2.0/ ~/Sites/your_rails_app/vendor/gems/

This should copy over the rjb.bundle file that is necessary to properly use RJB.

Notice

There is something to keep in mind with this method, as it will not always work. From what I can tell, this is going to be environment specific. For example, I develop on Mac OS X; the server I am deploying to is a Mac OS X server. Since RJB is compiled to the location of my Java libraries, it should carry over to the server. If I were going to deploy to a Ubuntu server, the Java locations are going to be different.

There may be ways around this problem. One idea is to find out where your deployment server’s Java libraries are installed, then recreate that structure on your computer using symlinks. For example, if you are deploying to a server where Java is stored in /bin/java, but you have Java installed at /Library/Java, then just do this:

$ ln -s /Library/Java /bin/java

After that, recompile/reinstall the RJB gem, using that new symlinked path. Then unpack the gem as before. This, of course, is just an idea and may not work. If you have any experience doing this, please leave a comment with your success/fail story.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Gem Tip: Unpack RJB Into a Rails App @ brandon martinez

Now, we just wait. After a few months, the hair will (hopefully) matte. Then it’s just maintenance and enjoying the dreaded lifestyle. I’ll post updates as they continue to grow and dread.

Questions or comments are appreciated, as always!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Twist, Tangle and Dread: The Path to Dreadlocks (Pt 3) @ brandon martinez

Some of the twists just wouldn’t stay together. They kept fraying and falling apart, especially those on the sides of my head. After messing around in front of a mirror for a while, Joy and I found a method that appears to be working (so far at least).

We decided to backcomb the twists. Since the hair was staying parted and sectioned (it was just becoming loose), we thought backcombing would keep it in place. After a few more hours of work, she was able to backcomb the entire back of my head.

It also helped to combine some of the smaller twists. Having a little more mass helped the backcombed hair stay together a lot better. As an added bonus, it also made the hair look more “dread-like” (added a texture to the hair).

I really think that this method will be work, the “twisting backcomb”. They survived through the night and seem to be all intact. I guess we’ll only know that in time.

As she finishes the rest of my hair, I will update this post (should be sometime tonight or tomorrow), so be sure to check back!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Twist, Tangle and Dread: The Path to Dreadlocks (Pt 2) @ brandon martinez

A couple of weeks ago, Joy and I attempted to backcomb my hair (with some advice from Ami). We sectioned off all of the hair, and she attempted to backcomb the bottom-back of my hair. Well, that didn’t work out too well. Joy had a hard time with the actual combing, and it wasn’t looking right. A ton of conditioner later, I had reversed what was done.

We sought some additional help. Luckily, our neighbors Eddy and Florida have had some experience in getting dreads together. Opposed to using the backcomb route, which didn’t work out so well, they went the “twisting” route. Basically, you section the hair off, apply a little bit of a locking-gel and bees wax mix, and twist the sections tightly. Every two weeks or so, apply some more locking-gel to the roots and keep on twisting. Eventually, the hair will matte and eventually dread.

A week ago we started the process. Eddy came over and helped Joy start twisting. They sectioned off most of my hair and he showed her how to twist. 4 days later (with 12 hours of work, thank you Joy!), we finished all the twisting. Here is a small gallery of the process:

Next step: maintenance and waiting. I’ll keep updating the blog with the progress (I’m really hoping this works). If you’d like to follow the progress, you can check out this link: “dreadlocks” tag. That link will show only the progress of the ‘locks (then you don’t have to sift through all of my other posts).

Let me know what you think! Suggestions, comments, questions. Feel free.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Twist, Tangle and Dread: The Path to Dreadlocks (Pt 1) @ brandon martinez

I recently published my first Ruby Gem, capistrano-wordpress (source). This gem adds a new “recipe” that is available to any Capistrano deploy script. So now, our deploy script from the last tutorial becomes this:

set :user,            'yourusername'
set :domain,          'yourdomain.com'
set :application,     domain # in the off chance that this doesn't match your domain, just specify it
set :theme_name,      'yourthemename' # your theme name here

role :web,            domain
role :app,            domain
role :db,             domain

require 'capistrano_wordpress'

This Gem takes a few assumptions into consideration. Firstly, these are your deploy paths:

set :appdir,               	"/home/#{user}/deployments/#{application}"
set :deploy_to,            	"/home/#{user}/#{domain}/wp-content/themes/"
set :releases_path,        	"/home/#{user}/cap/#{domain}/releases/"
set :shared_path,          	"/home/#{user}/cap/#{domain}/shared/"

And these are your repository paths:

set :local_repository,      "ssh://#{user}@#{domain}/~/git/#{application}.git"
set :repository,            "/home/#{user}/git/#{application}.git"

I do plan on upgraded the gem to allow you to properly override these variables (using _cset), but I was having a lot of issues while doing so (it may take some time). I will announce when I make the update, and I will also revise this post.

Another thing to keep in mind: make sure that you include the require ‘capistrano_wordpress’ line and that it is at the bottom of your deploy script.

This gem works wonders when you are consistently deploying to similar server setups (in my case, Dreamhost shared-hosting).

To-Do

There are a lot of other things that I would like to see from this gem, and I will try to add them when I can. If you would like to help, you can visit the gem’s source code and create a branch. Features I would like to see:

• Automate generation of SSH keys if none are present.
• Automate setup of Git repository.
• Allow overriding of all variables in the deploy script
• Add the ability to do a deploy:commit_and_deploy –m “Commit message” all from the capistrano script (simplifies the one-click deploy scripts in the last tutorial, and it also makes it easier to commit and deploy from the terminal).

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Git, Capistrano, SSH, and WordPress: Revisited @ brandon martinez

As I was working on my last post, I was running into a problem with the word wrap:

The problem was stemming from this line:

<em>/vender/extensions/{extension}/config/spree_permissions.yml</em>

To fix this, it was a matter of inserting the <wbr> tag into a few spots:

<em>/vender/extensions<wbr />/{extension}/<wbr />config/spree_permissions.yml</em>

After that, the word wrap was fixed:

What does the <wbr> tag actually do? Basically, it lets the browser know that a line break can be inserted there if needed. In my example, I put the <wbr> tag in two spots, but the browser only used one of them. This is very useful for long lines of code, where punctuation is part of the word and no spaces are used to break up the text. It is also very useful for file paths, as in my example.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: <WBR>: A Useful, but Little-Known, HTML Tag @ brandon martinez

First, a little bit of background. One thing I’ve liked about Spree, especially compared to other offerings I was looking at, is how easy it is to modify or append to the existing e-commerce framework. For example, to extend the LineItemsController, all I have to include is this bit of code in my extension’s startup file (variable_data_products_extension.rb in this case):

LineItemsController.class_eval do
      def render_proof
        li = LineItem.find(params[:id])
        fields = {}

        […and so on…]
      end
    end

This will extend Spree’s LineItemsController to contain my new method (and will fit seamlessly once I add the proper routes).The only problem with this method is that it required a user to be logged in, and to be an administrator. Since this is used to render a proof of a print variable data line item, I don’t want the user to be forced to create an account and login (since they aren’t required to login while browsing and adding items to their cart).

To fix the problem, create a file in your extension dir, /vender/extensions/{extension}/config/spree_permissions.yml, and put in something similar to this:

'LineItemsController':
  permission1:
    # Users can only see their own orders
    roles : [user]
    options :
      except : [new, create, render_proof]
      unless : can_access?  #orders_controller may grant access based on presence of token, etc.

Restart your web server, make sure you’re logged out of your site, and try visiting your method again. You should be able to access it without being logged in, or if you are logged in, without being an administrator.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Spree Tip: Adjust Permissions for Extended Controllers @ brandon martinez

iText is a Java library that allows you to generate PDFs on the fly. From the iText website:

iText is an ideal library for developers looking to enhance web– and other applications with dynamic PDF document generation and/or manipulation. iText is not an end-user tool. Typically you won’t use it on your Desktop as you would use Acrobat or any other PDF application. Rather, you’ll build iText into your own applications so that you can automate the PDF creation and manipulation process. For instance in one or more of the following situations:

• Due to time or size, the PDF documents can’t be produced manually.
• The content of the document must be calculated or based on user input.
• The content needs to be customized or personalized.
• The PDF content needs to be served in a web environment.
• Documents are to be created in “batch process” mode.

That was exactly what I needed.

There was a major hurdle to overcome: iText is a Java library, it is meant to be used in Java–based applications. I needed it to work with Ruby. Luckily, there is decent support in combining the powers of Ruby and Java, mainly through JRuby, or the Ruby Java Bridge. After some research and experimentation, I got a working solution put together.

Before Setup

A few assumptions:

• You’re running Mac OS X 10.5 or later
• You have Ruby (>1.8.6, preferably 1.8.7) installed
• You have Ruby Gems setup properly
• You have some variety of Java setup

If you don’t meet those requirements, get those going first and then come back. Remember, Google is your friend.

Setup RJB

I decided to go with RJB. It seemed to be the easiest to setup since it was just a Ruby Gem, which is great since I’ll have a development, staging, and production server to work with; rake freeze:gems is, well, a gem. To get installation going, run this from a terminal (you will at least need sudo rights):

$ sudo gem install rjb

If you’re like me, which you probably are in this scenario, you’re going to run into this error:

$ sudo gem install rjb
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing rjb:
	ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby extconf.rb
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers.  Check the mkmf.log file for more
details.  You may need configuration options.

Provided configuration options:
	--with-opt-dir
	--without-opt-dir
	--with-opt-include
	--without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
	--with-opt-lib
	--without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
	--with-make-prog
	--without-make-prog
	--srcdir=.
	--curdir
	--ruby=/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby
extconf.rb:48: JAVA_HOME is not set. (RuntimeError)

Gem files will remain installed in /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rjb-1.2.0 for inspection.
Results logged to /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/rjb-1.2.0/ext/gem_make.out

This is actually an easy fix. You need to adjust your bash environment to export the JAVA_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH variables:

$ nano ~/.bash_login # you can use the editor of your choice, vi, vim, joe, etc
#append the following to your current file
export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/Library/Java/Extensions

Now, run the following command to install rjb:

$ sudo env JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME gem install rjb

If all goes well, you should see the following output:

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
Successfully installed rjb-1.2.0
1 gem installed
Installing ri documentation for rjb-1.2.0...
Installing RDoc documentation for rjb-1.2.0...

RJB is now properly installed!

This setup is very specific to Mac OS X, so there are some things to keep in mind if you’re in a different environment:

• /Library/Java/Home is an Apple nicety. They’ve setup up this convenient directory path so that you have a consistent, and safe, Java path to access; this goes for /Library/Java/Extensions as well.
• The reason for having to re-export the JAVA_HOME variable in the final gem install command is because sudo creates a different environment than running it from your usual user account. Re-exporting the variables makes sure that your environment variables are properly passed along

Setup and Use iText

Setting up iText is very easy once RJB is installed. First, download the latest JAR file from the iText SourceForge. As of this writing, version 5.0.1 is the most recent. Then, place that file in whatever folder you’ll be using it in. I find that in Ruby on Rails projects, the lib folder works the best. Next, open a terminal and navigate to the root of your project. Then, we’ll open an instance of IRB (Ruby’s console).

$ irb
>> require 'rjb'
=> true
>> Rjb::load('lib/iText.jar') # Replace this file name with whatever you're using
>> PdfReader = Rjb::import('com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfReader')
=> #<Rjb::Com_itextpdf_text_pdf_PdfReader:0x101fa83e8>

That’s it! To reference any class in iText, just load them with Rjb::import(‘com.itextpdf.text.pdf.class’). You can add this to a Ruby script, or use it from the IRB console. In my case, I’m going to build a Rails controller to generate PDF proofs.

References

A lot of this was based on the work of others. I used a combination of the following tutorials to get this setup and running properly on Mac OS X:

• Josh’s Blog: Using iText to generate PDFs in Rails; JRuby vs Ruby Java Bridge
• PDF Templates via Rails &lchev; Just a Techie Blog
• Nuby on British Rails: more on iText

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Tutorial: Setting Up iText and RJB in Mac OS X @ brandon martinez

To set up forwarding, login to your Blackboard (or Ferris Connect, as we call it), and go to My Settings.

Then, select My Tool Options.

Scroll down and make sure mail forwarding is enabled.

And that’s it! Keep in mind that this only applies to “messages”. Announcements and other postings will not be forwarded. Also, you may want to double-check that you have your email address setup properly in your profile. Just jump back to the My Profile tab to make sure.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Blackboard Tip: Have Messages Delivered via Email @ brandon martinez

For example, running this command:

iMac:DropBoxPreferenceSync brandon$ ln -s ~/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.* .

And then calling a file listing, will result in this:

iMac:DropBoxPreferenceSync brandon$ ls -l
total 288
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  62 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  70 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro_x86_8.0.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro_x86_8.0.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  70 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro_x86_9.0.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.Acrobat.Pro_x86_9.0.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  66 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.AdobeOnlineHelp.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.AdobeOnlineHelp.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  66 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.CSXSPreferences.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.CSXSPreferences.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  63 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.DNGConverter.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.DNGConverter.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 brandon  wheel  59 Mar  2 09:21 com.adobe.InDesign.plist -> /Users/brandon/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.InDesign.plist

etc…

One note, if you are linking the files to your current folder, remember to add the final period (com.adobe.* .), otherwise it will generate a weird linking situation where the OS will report “too many symbolic links”. I hope this comes in handy for you!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Terminal Tip: Symbolically Linking Wildcard Filenames @ brandon martinez

Update: Alright, it looks like Facebook removed this feature… why, Facebook?

For all of you that despise the new Facebook layout, there is an alternative: Facebook Lite.

From what I can tell, here’s everything that’s been changed:

• Sidebar Navigation: has been removed.
• Search and Top Navigation: has been changed to reflect older Facebook revisions; if my memory serves me correctly, this is very close to how Facebook originally
• News Feed: very twitter-like, only shows status updates and a few applications (photos, events, and notes from what I can tell).

Check it out here: Facebook Lite. If you’d like, you can even make it your default Facebook experience.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Facebook… Lite? @ brandon martinez

• Move your cursor between words: alt + Left or Right Arrow Key. This lets you jump between words in a sentence. This is helpful when you find that you mistyped a word earlier in a sentence, and you don’t want to use your mouse to move your cursor to the right spot.
• Move your cursor between paragraphs: alt + Up or Down Arrow Key. This lets you jump to the beginnings and ends of paragraphs, and is very useful when navigating large amounts of text.
• Delete the previous word: alt+delete. If you want to delete the last word you typed, this combination is handy.
• Delete the next word: alt+forward delete (fn+delete on laptops). Similar to the previous tip, this deletes the word in front of your cursor.

Do you have any other text navigation tips?

Update: Added the paragraph navigation tip.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Mac Tip: Navigate Text by Word @ brandon martinez

Users can request you to add an app to your Facebook profile. Now, this would normally not be a problem, but people seem to love requesting everyone they are friends with to install their favorite apps. Personally, I hate getting these notifications. I just want the basic functionality out of Facebook: communicate with friends, share some photos, links, and other pieces from around the web, and that’s about it.

Facebook has finally added the ability to block an app (as well as ignore a user’s requests completely):

Thank you, Facebook!

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: The New (New, New) Facebook: My Favorite Update @ brandon martinez

I honestly hate getting emails every time something occurs. Someone tagged me in a post or a photo, someone wants me to join Farmville or Mafia Wars, they think I’m a family member, etc, etc, and etc! I have over 5000 Facebook notifications in my Gmail (yeah, I don’t delete anything). It gets a little overwhelming.

Facebook, how about an option to subscribe to daily, weekly, or even monthly updates, instead of alerting me 500 times a day? Please?

Does anyone out there agree?

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Facebook Feature Request: Daily Updates @ brandon martinez

“You’ve Got Waves”: How to Get Google Wave Notifications — Google Wave — Lifehacker.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: “You’ve Got Waves” @ brandon martinez

How to Embrace New Media in Three Simple Ways.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: CN: How to Embrace New Media in Three Simple Ways @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Structures @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Nature @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Landscape/Scenery @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Sports @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Things @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: People @ brandon martinez

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Photos: Food @ brandon martinez

I decided to take the Nyko Wiimote back and replace it with an Official Nintendo model. After I made the return, I went to grab a Wiimote. Completely. Sold. Out. Across all of Big Rapids. Even more so, across this entire part of the state (I check on Walmart.com for a 100mi radius)! Now what?

Obviously, I could order one online and wait a few weeks for it to be delivered. By then, however, the stores would probably have them in stock.

After searching for other alternatives, I found the Walmart in Ludington had the black Wiimote with MotionPlus. After talking it over with Joy, I made the decision to buy one. I went to Walmart to pick it up, and guess what? Sold out! This was getting far beyond ridiculous.

Since I was left without an additional Wiimote for who-knows-how-long, I switched from my main quest to a filler: I looked at the available games to see if I could catch a sale. As I was browsing through the game section, my eye caught something on the very bottom shelf. Two copies of Wii Play.

If you notice from the above image, Wii Play comes with a bonus Wiimote. Jackpot! For and additional $20, I could have the Wiimote and 9 additional Mii-based mini-games. Taking into consideration I would have to wait for an unknown amount of time to get an additional Wiimote, this was a steal. I quickly bought a copy and called it a day.

Moral of the Story: Make sure you check all of your avenues when looking for gaming peripherals. If you need a Wiimote, Wii Play is an awesome deal and the answer to your search.

An additional note: When I was purchasing Wii Play, the associate at Walmart actually told me people were buying this game only for the fact that it had the Wiimote included. I guess I’m not the first to discover this neat tip.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Wii Finally Found a Wiimote! @ brandon martinez

From the Ludington Daily News:

New Year’s Eve is Thursday and Ludington is ringing in 2010 with its first ever ball drop in James Street Plaza.
“The ball is ready,” said Community Development Director Heather Venzke. “It flashes in two different sequences and has more than four colors.”

Mayor John Henderson said that it just went through the second redesign of the ball, because lights were added. It now has 6,000 lights.

The steel ball built by GLC Metal Fabricators is about six feet in diameter and covered in LED lights. Harsco also helped with the ball. Lighting was done by Tye’s Signs where the ball has been stored since the lights were completed.

Read More…

For those that will not be able to make it, I will attempt to update this post with pictures throughout the night from my iPhone; we’ll see how it goes. For the rest of you, I hope to see you there!

Update: Due to certain circumstances, I was not able to edit this post on the go. I will upload photos (and possibly some video) on a subsequent post later this week. Sorry guys.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Happy New Year, 2010! @ brandon martinez

I have created a set of Mac OS X services that allow you to quickly copy or move files to your Dropbox public folder. You can find them here: DropboxServices.zip. Installation instructions are available in the README file contained in the ZIP archive.

Once you have the services properly installed, they’re really simple to use. You right/ctrl-click a file(s), and select Services from the context menu, then either Copy to Dropbox Public Folder or Move to Dropbox Public Folder. When the service finishes running, it will automatically open the public folder.

From there, if you would like to share that file’s public Dropbox URL you can right-click the file and select Dropbox -> Copy Public Link; this puts the link to the file on your clipboard. Paste it in a web browser to preview the file, or pass it along to a friend to share.

Here is a demonstration of using the services (if you’d like to see a large version, you can view it here):

If you don’t have a Dropbox account yet, feel free to sign up using my referral code: Signup for Dropbox.

Special Thanks

Part of the inspiration for this project came from a chat with Jim Cloudman. Thanks for the idea, Jim!

Links

• DropboxServices.zip
• Demonstration of Dropbox Services (YouTube)
• Signup for Dropbox

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Easily Copy or Move Files to Dropbox @ brandon martinez

Cinch, by Irradiated Software, provides an implementation of AeroSnap just for Mac. Similar to its Windows counterpart, Cinch allows you to drag any standard Mac OS X window to the top, left, or right edge of any screen and allows you to maximize or fill half of that screen. Cinch also has multiple-display support, unlike Windows 7 that does not honor the midpoints between screen layouts (at least in my testing).

I have greatly enjoyed using Cinch: the convenience of easy window resizing is easy to grow accustom to, especially when it is executed so well. This feature comes in handy quite often, especially when you need to manage or compare files between two folders, or if you want to open two webpages to compare information.

I hope that in the near future Apple decides to include this feature natively into Mac OS X (one of my feature requests for 10.7). For once Apple, please copy Microsoft; this is a feature that every Mac OS X user should have.

Until Apple decides to implement a feature similar to AeroSnap, Cinch totally fits the bill and is worth every dollar.

For more information about Cinch, you can visit the Cinch homepage. Cinch is $7, but a trial is available.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: That’ll Be a Cinch! @ brandon martinez

Version 2.9 « WordPress Codex.

Be sure to read the entire article at my site: Version 2.9 « WordPress Codex @ brandon martinez