SCHRIERC

tmux repeating keys

2011-07-28T14:41:00.001-04:00

When upgrading from tmux 1.1 to 1.5 I found a few key bindings changed slightly. In particular, the arrow keys used to switch panes now repeat.

I often use the sequence C-b Down immediately followed by Up and then Enter to re-run a unit test. With 1.5 I was doing this too quickly (tmux's repeat-time is 500ms by default) so I was switched back to my previous pane. To fix this I simply added the arrow keys to my .tmux.conf without the -r option:

bind-key Up select-pane -U
bind-key Down select-pane -D
bind-key Left select-pane -L
bind-key Right select-pane -R

Invalid tmux term causes irssi issues

2011-07-26T17:29:00.002-04:00

Today I finally switched my long-running IRC screen session to tmux. I rarely disconnect so I was simply waiting for a "good" time.

After a few minutes I noticed that my irssi scrollback was misbehaving; only half of my window would redraw when I pressed PgUp of PgDn.

I had manually set "TERM=xterm" in my bashrc; however, tmux advises only using "screen" or "screen-256color" as the term. I have no idea why I had specified term within my bashrc; removing the line and restarting tmux corrected the issue.

http://tmux.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/tmux/tmux/FAQ

irssi autolog options

2011-06-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

My favorite IRC client is irssi. I keep a log of my conversations using autolog; however, I dislike logs from chanserv, nickserv, and other random bots which I'll never reference. I discovered that autolog has a setting to ignore them:

/set autolog_ignore_targets chanserv nickserv

While searching I also found log_create_mode; irssi's default file mode is 0644. I prefer to keep my conversations private unless I specifically broaden permissions:

/set log_create_mode 0600

Now new messages and channels are private until I chmod them.

Primary instances on a node

2011-06-21T09:29:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I need a space delimited list of instances on a Ganeti node. There isn't a direct command to get this but an easy bash one-liner:

gnt-node list --no-headers -opinst_list $node | tr ',' ' '

pinst_list fetches the primary instances on the node. You can replace this with sinst_list for the secondaries.

Chrome OS and Passwords

2011-06-08T18:13:00.001-04:00

I have been using the CR-48 / Chrome OS for the past few weeks. I really enjoy using the OS but I don't think it could replace my Macbook Air (yet). I agree that the CR-48 is incredibly underpowered and has a terrible trackpad but this is "beta" hardware. I am excited to see how the hardware from Samsung and Acer compare.

My biggest annoyance? ChromeOS breaks my security routine. I currently use Keepass (with Dropbox) to create and store passwords. I trust Google... but I am not comfortable storing my passwords using Chrome sync. Yes, I am storing my password file on another cloud service (which is known to be unencrypted) but I feel safer knowing that my password file is encrypted under my parameters.

I also care about the accessibility of my passwords. The Dropbox + Keepass solution provides access everywhere (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS). What happens when I cannot use Chrome? I often use other browsers for mobile, cross-browser testing, and accessing different Google accounts. What do you do when you cannot use Chrome that is logged in with your personal account? A web interface would improve accessibility but be an obvious target for attacks, just like LastPass.

Logan eye followup

2011-05-16T18:05:00.030-04:00

Today we had a pre-surgery exam for Logan's eye. His right eye consistently angles up and inward when he looking in certain directions. Our doctor was concerned that he is not using both eyes when this occurs. We decided to proceed with the scheduled surgery which will weaken the Inferior Oblique muscle. It should correct the issue but there is a slight chance that we will notice it in the left eye afterwards.

Hopefully Logan's eyes will only be red for a few weeks. Our doctor said that it will be safe for him to rub his eye so arm restraints (while sleeping) will not be required.

Informative sources:
http://www.chkd.org/HealthLibrary/Facts/Content.aspx?pageid=0183
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferior_oblique_muscle

Switching back to king size.

2011-04-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

A few months ago Jenna and I decided to switch from a king bed to a queen. We lasted a couple of months; however, today we decided to switch back. Sadly this means we purchased a new bed frame and mattresses. It's amazing how much the extra bit of space can really mean. We cannot wait for the new bed to be delivered (in 9 days).

HTC Thunderbolt: First day

2011-04-04T22:36:00.000-04:00

The first day with the Thunderbolt went well. Everything is configured and I'm enjoying the phone... with one major exception. The power button on my device certainly is not right. The best I describe it as is squishy. It's nearly flat with the top of the phone and does not make any physical click when depressed. Jenna's phone seems just fine so I'll try to swap mine tomorrow.

I tried to start working on a widget to toggle 4G; however, I'm stuck waiting on HTC Sync to download which is crawling at 8 KBps. Maybe tomorrow - I tweeted HTC a few questions too.

4G LTE Toggle?

2011-04-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

I really wish there was a simple 4G LTE toggle widget for the Thunderbolt. There are a couple of apps in the Market which open the testing menu; however, it should be easier.

So, why isn't there one? Looks like there is not a predefined network connection type in the API: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/ConnectivityManager.html.

Normally I'd expect to see a ConnectivityManager.TYPE_LTE but that type doesn't exist yet. The signature for setNetworkPreference is int, so I may be be able to call getNetworkPreference to determine the LTE integer value, store it in a constant, and then reference it later. If the signature is really the enum, I may be out of luck.

Maybe I'll try this when I get home - if I have time. Maybe someone else has already tried it...

HTC Thunderbolt: first impressions

2011-04-03T22:21:00.000-04:00

Purchased two HTC Thunderbolt phones today, one for me and one for Jenna. Initial impressions:

Larger screen is beautiful (compared to OG Droid)
Hardware feels solid, good weight
4G is extremely fast - reinstalled all apps in seconds
Sense 2.0 seems better than previous versions.

New skins look better (using slate)
Calendar agenda widget looks great and is extremely useful
UI feels more responsive

There is still a lot of bloatware (city id, blockbuster, etc)

Less of this runs by default, still more than I would like

The physical power button could be better

doesn't have a physical "click" when pressing
sometimes have to press down slightly harder

I have disabled 4G on both phones - just using 3G unless we need to stream something large. I read a lot of reviews saying the 4G drains the battery. So far the battery seems reasonable but I have not used it long enough to determine.

There's no special prize.

2011-02-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

I love when companies have a sense of humor. Redbox demonstrates theirs by reminding customers "There's no special prize for putting the dvd back in the case the right way. But you'll be a better person for it."

Sadly I have received a few damaged disks from redbox (and Netflix) - I often wonder what people do to them. Do their dogs maul them? Kids toss them around the house?

Desktop / Web notifications

2011-02-01T21:06:00.001-05:00

Inspired by GMail's recent release of Desktop Notifications, I decided to research the feasibility of using them to replace the notification area for an application I work on. Since I develop for a small internal group I can target newer browsers such as Chrome and Firefox.

The W3C specification for Web Notifications is still in draft but outlines the concept well. The website must request permission and then may publish notifications for the browser to display.

Google Chrome / Chromium
Chromium has published their API specification and it closely resembles the W3C specification. The onclick attribute is currently missing and onshow is called ondisplay.

Firefox
Sadly Firefox 4 will not have support for Web Notifications. Bug 594543 is currently tracking the implementation for a future version but does not have a milestone listed. It's slightly concerning that the bug author is already suggesting a deviation from the W3C specification - they would rather include a callback on the Notification constructor instead of implementing the onshow, onclick, onerror, and onclose attributes.

Examples:

The last example uses setTimeout to call cancel after 15 seconds. This seems like a good way to ensure the popup is closed; however, I'm slightly surprised they did not call setTimeout within the Notification's onshow method. Unless the notification is immediately displayed the setTimeout timer is needlessly wasting time. The rationale for this choice may be because there is no guarantee that the onshow method will be called immediately.

Hide the gutter by default in TextWranger

2011-01-31T11:05:00.000-05:00

I use TextWranger to maintain several simple text files on my mac. The past few updates included a gutter area which is visible by default. Since these are simple text files I did not wish to see it but could not locate a way to disable it within the UI.

I browsed the Google Groups and found a thread which exposes the setting using defaults. In short:

defaults write com.barebones.textwrangler Editor:Gutter -bool false

Now TextWranger opens with it hidden but I can quickly enable it if needed. I am using version 3.5.3 - hopefully it will be a visible option in future versions.

Personal struggle: backpack or messenger bag?

2010-11-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Today I posted a Buzz about the items I carry on a daily basis. I always find it interesting to see what my friends consider essential or how little they can carry.

Personally, I carry a lot of stuff. I feel as though I am stuck in an eternal quest to find the best way to transport it all. For the past several months I have been using a Timbuk2 messenger bag that was given to me as Google schwag. I am not sure what model but it appears to be an earlier (1.0?) version of the commute 2.0. The only noticeable difference is the lack of TSA compliance which would be very useful.

There are very few things that I dislike about the Timbuk2:

The side bottle holder fails to hold my water bottles (Nalgene or Camelbak, 650ml+)
There are very few (only 2) zipper compartments for organizing items.
There are zero external access pockets for storing quick access items (such as my camera)
My bag is customized to read "Google Atlanta" which is simply asking to be stolen.

Before the Timbuk2 I carried a Swissgear Synergy backpack. This is easily the best backpack I have owned. There is plenty of storage, great organization, and it's comfortable to carry. Mine is over 4 years old and just starting to fray.

Every few weeks I find myself switching between the Timbuk2 and Synergy backpack. Why?

I love the design, size, and feel of the Timbuk2. It feels more refined and stylish.
The Timbuk2 stays close to your body and is easier to carry in crowded, or cramped, environments.
It is more difficult for anyone to take an item from the Timbuk2 unnoticed.
The Timbuk2 is easier to travel with due to it's size and luggage support.
I am more comfortable putting my DSLR in the timbuk2.
The Synergy feels more organized.
The Synergy is capable of carrying more (at the compromise of size and weight).
The Synergy is more comfortable to carry for extended periods of time.
I can quickly grab items from the Synergy by slinging it over one arm and unzipping the appropriate compartment.
I feel awkward carrying a backpack in public places (slightly more comfortable with a messenger bag).

So which bag is right? Both feel like a compromise in at least one aspect. For now I plan to stick with the Timbuk2 but I'm constantly searching for the bag which fits me best.

Front yard clean up

2010-07-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Jenna and I decided to improve the appearance of our front yard. After three days of work, and a lot of help from my parents, our front yard is looking better than ever.

BEFORE: UGLY BUSHES

Our front yard has two large flower beds which span the front of the house. They were filled with overgrown bushes, shrubs, and small trees which completely obscured the house. Jenna and I wanted to start over and achieve a clean look.

Using my Dad's SUV we ripped each bush from the ground. Once removed we cleared the area of bark and tried to plant flowers. After a futile attempt at shoveling the compacted Georgia clay I rented a tiller. The little machine made quick work of the terrible soil and we were ready to plant flowers.

AFTER: SIMPLE WITH FLOWERS

We originally anticipated one to two days of work to complete the project; however, weather kept interrupting our work. The right side still needs flowers but we have decided to take a break for a few days.

Bike update

2010-02-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

Biking is still a painful exercise but the difficulty is decreasing each day. So far I have biked approximately 3.5 miles over three sessions. Hills are currently my enemy but they are becoming less challenging each time I ride. My goal is to be capable of traveling 6 miles without too much effort. I am finding it difficult to practice during the week because it is normally dark once I arrive home. I am tempted to ride before I leave for work; however, I really enjoy my sleep as well.

I am still unsure about riding on the major roads outside of my neighborhood. Many of the drivers, soccer moms driving over sized SUVs in particular, believe that they own the road and show a terrifying amount of hostility towards bikers. I hope this is due to living in the suburbs rather than the city.

Yesterday I discovered that my rear will is slightly warped. The brake is lightly touching in one spot and needs to be addressed soon. I have thought about purchasing a second bike when I travel to San Francisco this April but I'm not sure about shipping it back to Georgia. I will be staying a half mile from the office so I will probably just walk instead.

New bike: Giant Rincon

2010-02-15T17:56:00.000-05:00

Last night I was given a slightly used Giant Rincon bicycle by one of my previous neighbors. I had been researching commuter bikes, like the Trek PDX, anticipating to spend several hundred dollars so this was perfect timing. The Rincon is an entry level mountain bike that will be excellent for getting me back into cycling; however, I will probably purchase a road/hybrid bike in the future.

Today was the first day I biked in approximately two years. It was painful and really showed me how much work and practice I need. I only lasted about 15 minutes on the hills of my neighborhood before I returned home gasping for air. Hopefully tomorrow, and the following weeks, will be better.

Weekend photo

2010-02-08T14:18:00.001-05:00

IMG_1017, originally uploaded by schrierc.

This weekend Jenna, Logan, and myself went to Zac's house to celebrate his birthday and watch the super bowl. One of our friends arranged Logan in this position which I happened to capture. I think this is one of my favorite photos of Logan so far.

Spell checking in VIM

2009-11-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Today I learned that VIM has spell checking if you're using version 7 or newer. I added the following lines to my .vimrc

set spell
set spelllang=en

You can then use the following keys to manipulate spelling:

zG - Add the mispelled word to the global spelling file
zuG - Remove the just added word from the spelling file
z= - View spelling suggestions for the word

Droid and Verizon, oh my.

2009-11-15T10:34:00.001-05:00

My last entry was a scathing rant against AT&T and, to a lesser extent, Verizon in which I concluded that I would suffer through AT&T's shortcomings and purchase a microcell. Days later I visited a local AT&T store where I received deplorable service. It was then that I realized I should not be paying a company additional money for sub-par service - doing so gives them my permission to continue on this pathetic path.

Days later I began seeing advertisements for the Motorola Droid offered by Verizon. I was excited to see an Android device on Verizon's network and my interest was peaked yet again. I decided to give Verizon another try and purchased the Droid the morning it was released.

Physical Design
For me, the physical design of the Droid is a welcome change. The phone has straight edges and a wonderful weight. The display is absolutely brilliant, responsive to touch, and a pleasure to use. Overall the hardware feels far superior to its plastic brethren.

I was glad to see a physical keyboard yet I was worried that the design would be lacking. The slide mechanism feels solid although it has opened slightly in my pocket on a few occasions. The number keys were removed and several meta keys are re-arranged in comparison to my HTC Dream Dev 1. My typing started painfully slow but improved after a few short hours. I still find the key layout to be somewhat disappointing. The keys are vertically aligned, unlike a normal qwerty keyboards that are slightly angled, which may be attributing to my annoyance. I have found that I prefer to use the on screen keyboard since the display functions so well.

I have read several complaints about the battery door and I have to agree that this is a terrible design flaw. If you are removing the phone from a tight pocket or awkward position you will are likely to detach the door too. I have done this several times, mostly in the car where the battery door went flying under my seat.

Battery
The battery life has been fine so far; however, I already have a habit of keeping a charger in my backpack and charging every night. I have put the phone through some serious use and it seems to last throughout the day.

Camera
Many people were excited to see a 5MP camera on the phone - I am not one of these people. I will always prefer a real camera (especially my D-SLR). It is fun to see a phone that has a higher resolution camera but it's still a camera phone. The optics seem sub-par and the software compression adds a great deal of noise. This camera will work fine for scanning barcodes or uploading quick images to Twitter but that's about it.

Android 2.0
The latest release of the Android operating system, eclair, is a pleasure to use. This release continues to polish the user interface and provide a consistent feel throughout the phone. Many software packages were added, or updated, and pack a ton of usability.

My phone is tied to my personal account but I have a plethora of data associated to my work account as well. My favorite change to the operating system is the ability to sync multiple accounts. The multiple account sync allows you to sync contacts and mail from numerous accounts but you're still limited to a single calendar which must be the primary account for the device. This really bothers me because I want to use my personal account for everything but my calendar. Why not share it? Well, my work account has a restriction that I may not share my calendar to another domain. Why not use your work account as the primary? I would but there are too many features (such as latitude) that use the primary account and cannot be changed.

One of the biggest features added to eclair is Google Navigate. The few times I have used the application the experience far surpassed my Garmin GPS unit. Sadly I still have to keep my GPS unit since Google Navigate requires a working data connection which I have been without on numerous occasions.

The browser has also been improved greatly. By default you are now presented with a full view of the page and you may tap to zoom. The open windows interface was also cleaned and allows for easy access and closing. Bookmarks now allows you to see a thumbnail view of your sites but I am very disappointed that you still cannot re-arrange them (without downloading an app).

Overall I am extremely happy with the Droid and Verizon's service. I am impressed with the improvements made to Android but the community still amazes me. It's not surprising that many applications broke with the new hardware and operating system; however, every popular application had a note regarding the issues and were fixed within days of the release. Most of these applications are free and maintained in someone's free time. The passion and commitment of the developers it what makes this operating system truly special.

Midtown Arts Show

2009-11-14T18:52:00.001-05:00

Today Jenna and I went to the Midtown Arts Show to support our friend Joie. It's a small exhibition held at an Atlanta self-storage facility. It was great to see Joie and I purchased two paintings from Jhon A. Restrepo while there:

I really like the style of the paintings and can't wait to hang them up. I posted better photos of each painting here and here. The show continues tomorrow, November 15th, from 12pm - 5pm for anyone interested.

Can you hear me now? Sort of?

2009-10-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

I always seem to get poor cell reception when I am at home. This has been a problem in Acworth, Kennesaw, and Smyrna across numerous providers including AT&T, T-Mobile, and now Verizon.

After several unsuccessful attempts to call Jenna on my way home I decided to stop by my local Verizon store. I walked in, added myself to the electronic queue, and started to browse phones. I received service extremely quickly and I was pleased with the entire experience. I purchased the Samsung Smooth, a relatively cheap phone, with the expectation of upgrading to an Android device once available. The Smooth is a CMDA phone and has four possible bars of reception.

I placed a couple of calls after leaving the store - each of which were perfectly clear. I only had three bars; however, my hopes were getting higher. In contrast my AT&T phone did have perfect signal outside of the store.

Once I arrived home the new started to feel just like the old. My signal dipped to 2 bars and then started dropping to one or zero at random. I placed another call which lasted about 15 minutes and it sounded pretty clear. There were a few small issues, what I can only describe as sound artifacts, but nothing major. While the call quality was ok it's not enough of an improvement for me to sacrifice my Android device, pay $200 for a low-end phone, and still deal with poor signal.

Tomorrow I plan on going to my local AT&T store to purchase a MicroCell device which I only hope improves things. It will, of course, be returned if it fails. My Verizon account will be cancelled within the next couple of days as well.

No more online classes.

2009-10-13T00:27:00.000-04:00

Over the past 8 weeks I have been taking Calculus I as an online course from Kennesaw State University. Throughout the entire course I have complained about the structure, content, and complete lack of instructor interaction. Tonight I decided to withdraw from the class.

This course has been a burden and overwhelming source of stress. I expected the course to be challenging when I enrolled; however, I did not expect it to consume nearly all of my time outside of work. Every night I came home to eat and work on assignments. This really reduced the amount of time I could spend with Jenna or Logan. All of this and I still do not feel I have a true understanding of the content.

I have watched numerous videos that did not fully explain the content, read cryptic passages in my text, and completed homework tasks that would make sense but not form a complete picture. I feel cheated that I had to pay an additional $100 per credit hour to take an online course that resulted in a professor answering a few emails and grading 3 tests - one take home and 2 given by an assistant.

I am very disappointed that I was unable to complete the online course but I cannot dedicate the amount of time required for now. I am already preparing to register for next semester so I may take the course on campus.

Quickcam Fusion Linux CLI

2009-09-18T18:21:00.000-04:00

Today I wanted to setup a QuickCam Fusion webcam to capture snapshots from the command line (Ubuntu Hardy 8.10 specifically). I tried several programs such as luvcview and streamer but both gave me problems. Finally I came across uvccapture and it works perfectly:

uvccapture -x960 -y720 -oimg-`date +%Y%m%d%I%M%S`.jpg

Dragon*Con 2009: The Mad Scientist Ball

2009-09-07T23:07:00.003-04:00

This weekend I spent the majority of my time at Dragon*con thanks to an extra pass from Will. The dealer room and art show seemed very similar to years past; however, my main focus was the Mad Scientist Ball. The event consisted of three performances: One Eyed Doll, ArcAttack, and Rev. Ivan Stang.

I decided to actually dress up this year since I had an idea of what to expect from the ball. It was a lot of fun walking around with a lab coat, TI-86, glowing tubes, pens, and welding goggles.

My primary interest was ArcAttack because I had the chance to see them last year. The show was bigger and better than before. They managed to obtain a larger room which allowed for bigger Tesla coils and more electricity. Since I recently purchased a Flip Ultra HD camcorder I took several videos of the performance which are available on my YouTube channel.