I’ve recently started using Croppy, a simple Windows screenshot utility. It works perfectly for quickly sharing images with friends and colleagues - launch the app, resize the transparent crop window, and click “upload to web”. An image of whatever you were looking at is uploaded and a URL copied to your clipboard. Very similar in function to the Mac-based Skitch software - but much more lightweight.
Croppy, a simple Windows screenshot utility
January 6th, 2010Subversion with LDAP on Windows Vista
February 16th, 2009At 2Advanced we are using Subversion to manage project files, using LDAP for authentication on our Windows domain and Exchange server.
This system works very well, but when we switched to Windows Vista we started having intermittent issues on various workstations. TortoiseSVN, our svn client of choice, will occasionally fail with an “Unauthorized” error or other similar error message when doing a commit. We noticed that this normally happens during a longer commit, and TortoiseSVN will usually re-prompt for a username/password partway through the commit before failing. I’m not sure why, but sometimes Tortoise will use the Windows user’s credentials to access the repository, but sometimes it will prompt you to enter a username/password. In order to avoid getting the error message, you need to ensure that, if you are prompted to re-enter your username/password, you use the exact same string (matching case) that was used initially. If the strings dont’ match exactly, the commit will fail because it thinks two separate authors are sending the same commit.
I’m mostly posting this for my own reference because I keep forgetting exactly what’s causing this strange problem.
Another key when setting up SVN with LDAP on a Windows domain is to create a group for each user - including all possible permutations of that user’s username
username = DOMAIN\Username, DOMAIN\\Username, Username, DOMAIN\username, DOMAIN\\username, username
MyGroup = @username, @otherusername
[/MyClient/MyProject]
@MyGroup = rw
* =
FavTwits, a Twitter tool
February 12th, 2009FavTwits is a tool I just wrote that explores your relationships with other Twitter users through your and their use of @username tweets. Find out who you are tweeting with the most, and plot the results on a weekly activity chart.
Comments, suggestions? Let me know. Want to help me out w/ a decent design? Go for it!
That’s What She Said iPhone App
February 9th, 2009I recently released my first iPhone app: That’s What She Said iPhone App. Visit the site, download it through the App Store, and let me know what you think. Here is the Direct Link to the iTunes App Store.
It's never been easier to turn any discussion into a funny and usually obscene joke!
Enjoy!
Email masking with Javascript
January 19th, 2009Really simple code for hiding your email address:
<a href="mailto:mike-at-pixor.net" onclick="this.href=this.href.replace(/-at-/,'@')"> email me </a>
Probably lots of other, better ways around but this is easy enough to remember without needing to search every time.
Pretty sweet that I didn’t post all of 2008 and now I’ve posted two days in a row huh?
Developing iPhone Software
January 18th, 2009I’ve recently started writing iPhone Software and it is a frustrating yet satisfying process. Objective-C is an interesting language and was actually a lot of fun to learn. The Cocoa Touch SDK seems more frustrating because there is somewhat of a lack of example code and open source software due to the Apple’s iPhone NDA that was recently lifted. Thankfully Apple’s documentation is fairly complete and there are a few great resources such as Jeff LaMarche’s iPhone Development Blog.
I hope to start releasing some simple free apps and maybe even a more complex game or application in the near future. I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head but if you’ve got something in mind that you’d like to see on the iPhone, please drop me a line.
iPhone Programming Resources:
- “The Hillegass Book”: Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X. Not specific to Cocoa Touch, but this is a great introduction to the Objective C language and the Cocoa framework (which is very similar to Cocoa Touch)
- Apple’s iPhone Dev Center has lots of sample code and full documentation of Cocoa Touch and other Apple frameworks
- Jeff LaMarche’s iPhone Development Blog is a great resource and has some interesting OpenGL demos with sample code
Yearly update?
March 21st, 2008Is this thing on??
I got a new surfboard the other day. I’m looking forward to trying it out, but sadly there are no waves to speak of. It’s a 6′8 bat-tail quad, with an optional center fin so that it can be converted to a thruster. I’ve never surfed a quad but I’m pretty sure I’m going to dig it. The board was shaped by John Reinhard at Uhuru. After surfing a friend’s (very similar) board, I decided to get one for myself. John is a local shaper in the Newport/Costa Mesa area, and I’d highly recommend working with him.
Some pics:
In other news, I’ve been training for the Ironman 70.3 in California for the last six months or so. Triathlon is a pretty fun sport, but unfortunately being a “Clydesdale” (yes, that’s what they call big dudes in the sport) makes it tough. I’ve been working through injuries, first my Achilles and now my knee. I’m not very close to 100% and the race is in a week, so I’m probably not going to set any speed records on the run. After this race is done I’m going to be preparing for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco. If you’re really interested, you can track my races on Athlinks.
Back in action
July 26th, 2007Hit 56th St after work. It was high tide and windy, but I heard that the DP was great and unfortunately I had overslept. Had to make up for it somehow. It ended up being pretty fun.. I definitely kooked out on my first handful of waves but got into it after a while. Got a couple fast peaks, waist-chest high, made a couple turns. Good to be back in the water.
Do the Bu
July 22nd, 2007Met some friends and chilled at Malibu over the weekend. Really no swell in the water but there were some smallish waves to grab with the longboard. Had a good time and it was a nice day.
Meh
July 8th, 2007Patched up the 7′2 and paddled out at 52nd st. Still some good swell but the conditions were pretty crummy. The chop made the combo swell hard to predict, and more often than not I got torn apart when I chose to drop in. Definitely got my share of paddling, duck diving, and going head over heels over the falls in though. I guess sometimes you need to work on those less enjoyable aspects of surfing.
Surfing.. minus the crowd
July 6th, 2007Left work early to give a friend a ride, and drove up the coast.. tried a spot I had only watched before, somewhat secluded from the bustle of nearby cities. Brought my 7′2 down to the beach, put on trunks and a vest and then realized that I didn’t have my leash. I had swapped it to the new board after forgetting the brand new leash when I christened that one. I figured there was hardly anybody out (2 people when I paddled out), and even though I’m not nearly skilled enough to ride with no leash on my shortboard, I did it anyway. I started off by losing my board twice in a row, but then got a couple waves and made it back without incident. Then I was inside and a decent size wave was coming in, going to crash directly on me. I duck dove as deep as I could, and the wave drove me down to the rocky bottom and I cut my knee and tore a hole in the rail of my board. As soon as I realized it I belly-boarded the next wave in and went home. Was definitely fun though, being at a spot right around 4th of July, with only a couple other people out.
Trestles DP
July 3rd, 2007Woke up at 5 and met Charlie down at Trestles parking lot. Skated down to Cotton’s with the new board. Swell looked awesome — nice big lefts rolling in consistently. Paddled out and was surprised by the speed they approached, though they weren’t to fast once you got in. I went for a couple nice lefts and screwed up the takeoff on each, falling back into the wave. Then I kooked out again, missed a bottom turn, and the leash tore off my leg. Second time ever surfing this board and I already lost it. Well I swam in and found the board on the sand, luckily there weren’t exposed rocks where I was surfing. Fixed the leash, went back out, scored about 3-4 really nice lefts, and took off around 7am to get back to work. Could have probably stayed out another half hour, but I had no idea what time it was. Mental note: more DP’s at Cotton’s!
New board newport
July 2nd, 2007First decent swell of the summer was finally starting to show yesterday. Plus, being the 4th of July “Weekend” (even on a Monday), the beach was PACKED. Took about 15 min to find a parking spot. The lineup was just as crowded. I waxed up the new board (a beefy 7′6 Russell thruster) and paddled out. There were definitely sets rolling through about head high, but it was really hard to get into anything. I dropped into 3 waves in a row but didn’t make bottom turns (either I screwed up or the wave closed out) and ended up caught inside next to the jetty a few times. Pretty scary with my brand new board. Swell backed down with the tide, then I ended up sitting toward the inside and snagging a few waist-high waves to end the session. Turned in early for next morning’s DP at Trestles.
Back to NB
July 2nd, 2007Hit 52nd this morning, to find a refreshing bump in swell from the weekend. It was clean and waist-chest, but a bit inconsistent. I had a great left that I actually made an off-the-lip without crashing or losing the wave, but I couldn’t keep enough speed and the wave closed out on me. I also had a couple great wipeouts that have kept seawater draining from my nose throughout the day. Fun times though! Swell should be picking up more today and tomorrow morning — I think I’m going to wax up the new board (7′6 Russell thruster) and give her a try tonight at NB. Tomorrow morning I’ll DP @ Trestles, hoorah!
HB Sunday
July 2nd, 2007Surfed twice in HB. Morning (around 9:30am) was pretty good. Evening (5pm) was beat to shit and frustrating. I’m finding that I really hate the singlefin longboard, the more I surf my 7′2 thruster. It just takes me about 3 missed bottom turns to remember I have to turn it from the very back of the board. Here I am trying to carve down a 4-5′ face and when I lean into the turn the board just doesn’t follow. The only good thing about this board is that it is really easy to noseride and it hauls ass when you point it in a straight line and walk to the nose. Well, also easy to catch waves..but you HAVE to catch them early otherwise you’ll pearl. There’s 0 rocker on this thing.
Saturday in HB
July 2nd, 2007Went out around 10am, brought the log to 17th St HB. Actually found it a lot better than I expected. Tide was going up so there was the usual outside break and inside break, and you could connect the two if you rode the nose straight in, but that usually ends up with a flying projectile longboard and getting smashed by the 2′ deep shore pound. Definitely did that once or twice. Better waves were the outside set waves with a nice drop and bottom turn.
6/29
July 2nd, 2007More newport. Swell getting smaller. Still pretty crowded. Only scored a handful of waves on the 7′2. Surfed AM and PM, neither was great.
6/28 pm
June 29th, 2007More of the same, still fun out there. Wave of the day was an outside chest-shoulder peak that I had to myself (biggest wave of the session) but I almost skidded out on the bottom turn. Stupid feet not finding the right spot on the board. I didn’t wipe out but I didn’t have a chance to do anything besides ride it out to the left before it died.
6/28 am sess
June 29th, 2007Some fun waves out there, but I was having trouble with my footing. Slid off my board on a perfect outside set wave I had to myself.
Newport 6/27
June 28th, 2007Caught about 3 set waves (waist-chest) with decent power. Fun drops, but only made one good bottom turn. Dropped in too late on a couple waves and looked like an idiot riding on my stomach. Also had some problems finding the balance point on my board on the slower mushier waves — I need something that floats better for these type of days.
First Surf Session Entry
June 21st, 2007Just testing this shit out. I’m trying to start keeping a log of surf sessions for myself but I’m not sure if this is the best way to do it.
It’s been flat lately, but this is the last session I remember (last week sometime). Nothing great at all. I caught a handful of waves, made a few bottom turns, and that’s about it.
Tokyo with 2A
February 23rd, 2007Went to Tokyo last week/weekend for business, and had a good time.. the last night Kevan and I went out and got shitfaced, just walking around and going to random bars in Shibuya. It was a good time; wasn’t too happy the morning after though. We stayed out as long as the bars stayed open, which was about 4am.. then Kevan passed out in the bathroom. Only got a few photos from the night though.
Scotland NYE 2007
February 12th, 2007I know it’s a bit late but I thought I’d post some photos.. I went on a trip to Scotland over the holidays (Dec 25-Jan 1) with Marisa and a few friends from Omaha. I posted a bunch of pictures on my Flickr page: Edinburgh New Years.
It was a great trip, and the first time I’d been to Europe. Damn, people in Scotland talk really fast. It’s very hard to understand and usually we had to tell people to slow down. The weather was pretty crappy and the main event, the Hogmanay street party, was cancelled due to gale force winds, but we still had a great time. The thing I miss most: the delicious cask ales they serve everywhere.
Partey House Holiday Party!
December 12th, 2006Be THERE or be SQUARE!
Mail Handler: Simple form-mail with attachments
October 20th, 2006I put together this script for my friend huphtur and figured it was worth posting so other people could use it. It’s very customizable but requires you to configure all of the fields you’ll be using and create a template for the email message. Here’s the quick readme.txt I put together:
mail-handler
This is a simple formmail tool that is fairly customizable and works with attachments. Instructions:
Create a form and point it at mail-handler.php.
Edit mail-handler.php to call out field names and types (string, text, email, file), specify which fields are required, and configure the message. $formvars should call out all fields being sent from the form, and their types. $required should contain an array of fields required before the message will be sent. $email contains the actual email configuration, including template filename, To:, From:, Cc:, Bcc:, which files to attach, and where to direct the browser on success or failure.
Create a message template. mail-handler.php will automatically replace text such as %name% with a form variable called ‘name’ if it is specified in the configuration. It also includes %remote_ip% and %date% by default.
Cross your fingers and try it out.
Download: mail-handler-0.1.tar.gz
test.php (in the .tar.gz) is the sample form.
Flash Player 9 in Linux
October 20th, 2006Looks like Linux is finally getting some love from Adobe/Macromedia! After being stuck with a bug-ridden Flash Player 7 for years, they’ve stepped up and put out a beta version of Flash Player 9 for Linux. I have yet to try it, but it looks promising. More and more sites are moving up to Flash 8, and now (hopefully) we’ll be rid of the terrible audio-video synchronization issues that the Linux version of Flash 7 has always had.
Edinburgh for New Years
October 13th, 2006
My cousins Scott and Casey have been planning a trip to Scotland for New Years. When they first told me a few months ago, I didn’t think much of it because I don’t have much vacation time with my new job and don’t have much extra money thanks to buying lots of toys. Then, a few days ago, Casey told me a little more.. apparently this is the biggest and best New Year’s party in the world. It’s an annual tradition called Hogmanay. Basically what happens is they sell about 100,000 tickets to this event, then a few days before New Years they shut down the city and only let people in who have tickets.. and everyone parties for days. Perfect, sign me up, fly me to Europe and give me a few bottles of scotch. It’ll be even more fun because we have 10 people going and we’re going to rent a flat in the city for the week. Marisa and I bought our tickets yesterday.
Golden Poop Cellphone Charm
October 6th, 2006Only in Japan! Check out Strapya’s English site to buy these awesome little turd charms. Apparently “poop” and “good luck” are kind of similar in the Japanese language. Don’t ask me, I don’t speak Japanese. I did order a few of these though.
Via Gizmodo
8th Annual Wisconsin Summer
September 12th, 2006We did it again; for the 8th consecutive summer, my friends and I had a successful trip to the north woods of Wisconsin. This year we had Scott, Casey, Trev, and Corey, who all flew up in the Bowen’s Cessna; Buras surprised us by taking a last minute flight to Madison and driving north; and Marisa and I flew into Chicago, drove up for the weekend, then spent a few days in the city afterwards.
All in all, it was a great trip. Because we have a tradition of having at least one or two injuries each year, I decided to get that out of the way early by taking a hot shard of glass in the leg. We were drinking beer and sitting around a campfire the first night when we started playing with the fire, trying to melt beer bottles in it and stuff. Then someone had the brilliant idea of pouring some water into a beer bottle then screwing the cap back on, and putting that in the fire. Casey and I decided that was a bad idea and we went inside to get more beer, rather than waiting for the thing to explode or whatever.. unfortunately, when we came back out it hadn’t exploded yet and we had forgotten all about it. Moments later there was a huge CRACK and pieces of glass went flying everywhere. Luckily my leg got the worst of it (see photo below), but some shards came dangerously close to Marisa’s eyes.
I think we were spared from any major injuries after that point. The weather was perfect and we had a great time on the lake wakeboarding, tubing, and cruising in the pontoon boat. Scott took us up in the Cessna for an aerial tour of the north woods; it was really cool seeing our lake and house from the air, but sadly I didn’t bring my camera.
Feasting on Mom’s cooking:
Pontooning:
Fun on the lake:
Marisa and I drove back to Chicago on Labor Day, through heavy traffic and pouring rain (once we got into Illinois there was a huge storm). We had a great time seeing the city, going to a Cubs game, and eating delicious deep dish pizza, thanks to our great hosts, Mark and Renee.
More pictures are on my Flickr account.
Ryan’s 21st Birthday Lunch
August 31st, 2006We went to Round Table for Ryan’s 21st birthday at lunch today, and drank a lot of beer. It was fun. Just like the “good ol’ days” at 2Advanced.
Pounding beers with Sonny and Ryan
Use Vobbo for Video Blogs
Sonny pounds a pitcher
Use Vobbo for Video Blogs