From 414a5c83bf538c3f9fcbcbb17575a4349e13d057 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: James Walker Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 00:31:54 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] fix line endings from import --- _posts/2002-09-07-happy-1st-week.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-01-08-oh-my-god.md | 8 +-- _posts/2003-03-29-what-huh-new-site.md | 32 ++++----- _posts/2003-04-09-tax-er-playoff-season.md | 10 +-- _posts/2003-04-17-i-love-this-game.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2003-05-29-chicken-pox.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-06-10-chicken-pox-redux.md | 4 +- .../2003-06-20-the-ever-changing-address.md | 8 +-- _posts/2003-07-06-some-site-fiddling.md | 6 +- _posts/2003-07-11-happy-birthday-to-me.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-08-25-long-time-no-see.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-09-11-my-oh-my.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-09-12-trying-out-gnome-blog.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-09-15-gnome-blog-cvs-hacking.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-10-03-my-powerbook.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-10-17-picture-backlog.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-11-14-back-to-drupal.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-11-17-blogapi-module.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-12-02-sudden-thoughts.md | 6 +- _posts/2003-12-04-all-i-want-for-christmas.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-12-04-safari-color-problems.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-12-07-hats-off.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-12-09-my-first-drupal-bug.md | 4 +- .../2003-12-11-i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot.md | 8 +-- _posts/2003-12-16-drupal_not_found.md | 4 +- _posts/2003-12-16-you-rock.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-12-17-centralized-rss.md | 2 +- _posts/2003-12-27-happy-belated-boxing-day.md | 2 +- _posts/2004-01-05-happy-belated-new-year.md | 2 +- _posts/2004-01-07-big-mac-day.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2004-01-13-in-support-of-maildir.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-01-20-ski-day.md | 2 +- _posts/2004-01-23-translate_node-module.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-01-29-back-to-fluid.md | 2 +- _posts/2004-02-04-what-did-i-do.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-02-05-itunes-tricks.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2004-02-18-commuting-tragedy.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-03-26-irssi-proxy.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2004-04-02-drupal-4-4-is-out.md | 10 +-- _posts/2004-04-15-ecto-redux.md | 4 +- .../2004-05-06-drupal-world-domination-com.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-05-11-thunderbird.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2004-05-14-new-phone.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-05-28-flash-7-for-linux.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-06-04-shiny-newmediaobject.md | 4 +- ...004-06-14-teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2004-06-17-meet-audrey.md | 12 ++-- ...ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won.md | 8 +-- ...7-08-drupal-made-pretty-terminus1525-ca.md | 28 ++++---- _posts/2004-07-12-gentoo.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2004-07-15-ok-flickr-rocks.md | 8 +-- _posts/2004-08-12-state-of-the-drupal.md | 22 +++--- _posts/2004-08-18-ecto2-beta.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2004-08-25-rush.md | 4 +- _posts/2004-08-26-geektool-world-clock.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2004-08-30-more-gmail-invites.md | 8 +-- _posts/2004-09-09-my-first-skype-call.md | 28 ++++---- ...14-new-firefox-and-thunderbird-releases.md | 52 +++++++------- ...tting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts.md | 10 +-- _posts/2004-10-08-google-local-now-via-sms.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2004-10-14-goin-to-vancouver.md | 8 +-- _posts/2004-10-18-drupal-4-5-is-out.md | 14 ++-- ...e-from-vancouver-land-of-the-beer-tower.md | 24 +++---- ...-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas.md | 14 ++-- _posts/2004-11-09-happy-firefox-day.md | 14 ++-- _posts/2004-11-24-ecto2-with-amazon.md | 14 ++-- _posts/2004-12-30-holiday-loot.md | 24 +++---- _posts/2005-03-02-back-from-belgium.md | 22 +++--- .../2005-04-01-php-quebec-conference-recap.md | 20 +++--- ...ery-2-beta-2-holy-hand-grenade-released.md | 16 ++--- .../2005-04-14-im-a-mike-doughty-fan-boy.md | 30 ++++---- _posts/2005-04-20-praying-to-druplicon.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-04-21-netjuke-jinzora.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-04-25-new-ecto.md | 8 +-- _posts/2005-04-27-upcoming-org-rocks.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-05-09-adding-a-family-member.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-05-10-itms-does-video.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-05-11-doughty-at-the-rivoli.md | 28 ++++---- _posts/2005-05-13-lucky-friday-13.md | 24 +++---- ...22-apple-store-yorkdale-first-in-canada.md | 14 ++-- ...05-26-growl-0-7-why-i-love-notification.md | 24 +++---- _posts/2005-05-27-strongbad-parenting.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2005-06-01-ah-slashdot.md | 12 ++-- ...5-06-11-pretzels-beer-and-mouth-pockets.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-06-11-wirelesstoronto.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-06-28-itunes-phone.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-08-16-spontaneity.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-08-24-talk-google-com.md | 24 +++---- _posts/2005-08-29-camryn-is-three.md | 14 ++-- ...re-drupal-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-09-02-a-tale-of-two-macs.md | 30 ++++---- _posts/2005-09-07-rokr-this.md | 8 +-- ...upal-plus-gallery2-world-domination-com.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-09-12-hey-drupal-planet.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2005-09-14-ajax-based-im-meebo.md | 14 ++-- _posts/2005-09-17-forty-three.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2005-09-19-talk-like-a-pirate.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-10-13-goodbye-sweet-powerbook.md | 66 ++++++++--------- _posts/2005-10-17-apple-front-row.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-10-26-trying-to-flock.md | 28 ++++---- _posts/2005-11-04-now-were-flocking.md | 2 +- _posts/2005-11-06-emacs-on-os-x.md | 8 +-- _posts/2005-11-09-loving-thunderbird.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-11-09-new-powerbook.md | 2 +- .../2005-11-10-tsn-is-podcasting-are-you.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2005-11-18-more-apple-front-row.md | 12 ++-- .../2005-11-21-toronto-drupal-users-group.md | 8 +-- _posts/2005-12-01-front-row-download.md | 8 +-- _posts/2005-12-01-skype-video-conferencing.md | 8 +-- ...12-09-terminus1525-v3-10000-and-growing.md | 20 +++--- .../2005-12-15-tim-berners-lee-is-blogging.md | 4 +- _posts/2006-02-04-woke-up-in-vancouver.md | 14 ++-- ...06-02-23-toronto-drupal-user-meetup-3-0.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2006-03-01-nokia-6620.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2006-03-17-endo-from-ado.md | 46 ++++++------ _posts/2006-06-18-flock-of-cardinals.md | 24 +++---- _posts/2006-06-22-nokia-n70.md | 10 +-- _posts/2006-07-06-democamp7.md | 10 +-- _posts/2006-07-07-powerbook-reborn.md | 2 +- _posts/2006-08-11-what-is-the-clearing.md | 8 +-- _posts/2006-08-16-mason-jennings.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2006-10-16-partitioning.md | 2 +- ...22-tell-me-what-concerts-to-see-already.md | 10 +-- .../2006-10-26-congrats-to-torontos-finest.md | 6 +- _posts/2006-11-01-bring-on-drupal-5-0.md | 4 +- _posts/2006-11-03-fsoss-slides.md | 2 +- _posts/2006-11-03-php-5-2-is-out.md | 2 +- ...06-11-06-flickr-patents-interestingness.md | 4 +- _posts/2006-11-06-im-voiping-with-vonage.md | 2 +- ...2006-11-07-drupal-training-in-vancouver.md | 2 +- _posts/2006-11-21-democamp-11.md | 8 +-- _posts/2006-11-27-indoor-playground.md | 8 +-- _posts/2006-12-01-nokia-n91.md | 38 +++++----- _posts/2006-12-22-5-things-about-me.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2006-12-28-google-reader-ing.md | 14 ++-- .../2006-12-30-n91-browser-out-of-memory.md | 2 +- _posts/2007-01-02-drupal-for-2007.md | 16 ++--- ...1-03-where-are-the-cool-cordless-phones.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2007-01-15-drupal-is-5-no-6.md | 4 +- _posts/2007-01-15-vancouver-openid-mashpit.md | 2 +- _posts/2007-01-18-bryght-does-5-0.md | 4 +- ...07-01-18-openid-mashpit-vancouver-recap.md | 4 +- .../2007-01-25-twitter-module-for-drupal.md | 4 +- ...007-01-31-vancouver-php-conference-2007.md | 2 +- _posts/2007-02-06-democamp12.md | 2 +- ...7-02-14-vancouver-php-conference-wrapup.md | 4 +- ...7-02-16-open-source-cms-summit-at-yahoo.md | 6 +- ...2007-02-26-drupal-association-goes-live.md | 8 +-- _posts/2007-03-05-komodo-4-0-im-trying.md | 30 ++++---- _posts/2007-03-14-keeping-myself-in-sync.md | 8 +-- .../2007-03-14-toronto-drupal-users-rock.md | 4 +- _posts/2007-03-27-oscms-2007-over-so-soon.md | 4 +- ...8-oscms-2007-openid-presentation-slides.md | 2 +- ...3-30-nokia-n91-os-x-address-book-anyone.md | 4 +- ...007-04-02-networked-growl-notifications.md | 10 +-- _posts/2007-04-09-wireless-rates-in-canada.md | 6 +- _posts/2007-04-13-drupal-camp-toronto-ii.md | 2 +- _posts/2007-04-17-myopenid-relaunch.md | 10 +-- .../2007-04-23-openid-at-democamptoronto13.md | 26 +++---- _posts/2007-04-25-im-an-evangelist.md | 6 +- _posts/2007-05-07-oh-noes-walkah-got-pwned.md | 24 +++---- _posts/2007-05-07-thunderbird-goes-2-0.md | 16 ++--- ...05-17-late-drupal-camp-toronto-ii-recap.md | 4 +- ...apps-and-the-importance-of-identity-2-0.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2007-05-30-camping-in-toronto.md | 6 +- _posts/2007-06-22-drupal-6-and-openid.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2007-07-10-thirty.md | 28 ++++---- _posts/2007-07-14-macports-vs-fink.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2007-07-14-meet-macbook-mingus.md | 8 +-- ...7-18-plaxo-3-in-sync-and-openid-enabled.md | 6 +- ...2007-07-26-drupal-awarded-openid-bounty.md | 4 +- _posts/2007-07-29-not-so-bryght-anymore.md | 10 +-- _posts/2007-08-02-komodo-ide-take-two.md | 10 +-- ...07-08-02-mac-os-x-from-the-command-line.md | 22 +++--- .../2007-08-29-happy-5th-birthday-camryn.md | 2 +- _posts/2007-09-15-off-to-barcelona.md | 18 ++--- .../2007-09-24-drupalcon-barcelona-wrap-up.md | 46 ++++++------ .../2007-10-01-james-at-lullabot-dot-com.md | 8 +-- _posts/2007-10-04-addition-kills-children.md | 8 +-- _posts/2007-10-09-jaiku-and-google.md | 4 +- ...nux-fest-dug-to-and-lullabot-in-toronto.md | 6 +- ...software-and-open-source-symposium-2007.md | 8 +-- _posts/2007-11-17-buh-bye-burbs.md | 6 +- _posts/2007-12-04-democamptoronto16.md | 18 ++--- ...007-12-04-dries-and-acquia-my-two-cents.md | 28 ++++---- ...6-openid-2-0-and-attribute-exchange-1-0.md | 2 +- _posts/2008-01-02-bring-it-on-2008.md | 6 +- _posts/2008-01-03-iscrobbler-2-0.md | 6 +- ...01-16-drupal-association-2008-elections.md | 6 +- ...008-01-23-toronto-drupal-users-rock-out.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2008-01-28-happy-50th-birthday-lego.md | 6 +- ...008-02-14-dear-drupal-6-be-my-valentine.md | 14 ++-- ...vard-joomla-site-hacked-things-to-learn.md | 30 ++++---- _posts/2008-02-24-jabber-org-goes-drupal.md | 4 +- ...8-02-25-openid-at-drupalcon-boston-2008.md | 6 +- _posts/2008-02-27-fluid-desktop-web-apps.md | 10 +-- ...03-drupalcon-boston-2008-lets-rock-this.md | 24 +++---- ...03-12-drupalcon-openid-slides-and-recap.md | 4 +- _posts/2008-03-12-sxsw-2008-over-already.md | 8 +-- _posts/2008-03-29-net-neutrality-oh-canada.md | 20 +++--- ...-launches-mollom-for-content-monitoring.md | 16 ++--- .../2008-04-01-phug-free-drupal-workshop.md | 8 +-- _posts/2008-04-16-down-under-and-back.md | 2 +- ...oc-drupal-openid-and-attribute-exchange.md | 4 +- ...8-05-11-front-row-itunes-tip-for-movies.md | 4 +- _posts/2008-05-12-drupal-camp-toronto-2008.md | 8 +-- ...2008-05-19-skype-with-quicksilver-trick.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2008-05-20-ready-to-mesh.md | 2 +- ...28-fluidapp-menu-extra-and-iphone-sites.md | 6 +- _posts/2008-05-29-diso-for-drupal.md | 28 ++++---- _posts/2008-06-04-xrds-simple-for-drupal.md | 8 +-- ...3-download-day-6-5-million-and-counting.md | 4 +- ...008-06-19-g-drive-mini-great-for-travel.md | 8 +-- _posts/2008-08-06-off-vacation.md | 8 +-- ...-08-11-now-running-drupal-6-and-views-2.md | 12 ++-- .../2008-08-14-drupalcon-szeged-is-coming.md | 8 +-- _posts/2008-08-15-drupal-at-sxsw.md | 6 +- ...26-google-gears-for-safari-offline-ssbs.md | 8 +-- .../2008-10-02-drupal-meetup-in-waterloo.md | 16 ++--- _posts/2008-10-17-fsoss-is-back-for-2008.md | 16 ++--- ...phug-workshop-drupal-theming-in-an-hour.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2008-10-31-vectorlover-drupal-theme.md | 12 ++-- ...-11-11-drupal-theme-workshop-in-toronto.md | 12 ++-- ...-12-15-done-it-with-drupal-back-to-life.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2009-01-05-hello-2009.md | 20 +++--- ...09-using-drupal-or-look-ma-im-on-amazon.md | 16 ++--- .../2009-01-15-happy-8th-birthday-drupal.md | 12 ++-- .../2009-01-30-image-module-end-of-an-era.md | 8 +-- ...drupalcon-is-coming-with-lots-of-openid.md | 12 ++-- _posts/2009-03-02-the-tools-i-use.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2009-03-09-why-i-hate-drupal.md | 24 +++---- .../2009-03-13-sxsw-09-meet-me-in-austin.md | 20 +++--- _posts/2009-03-24-on-passion.md | 32 ++++----- ...-22-open-social-for-the-rest-of-the-web.md | 56 +++++++-------- ...9-08-07-the-rebirth-of-customer-service.md | 36 +++++----- _posts/2009-09-22-living-in-the-browser.md | 70 +++++++++---------- _posts/2009-10-19-change-medium-toronto.md | 18 ++--- _posts/2009-12-28-now-on-android.md | 54 +++++++------- _posts/2010-01-01-in-2010.md | 26 +++---- _posts/2010-01-06-ch-ch-ch-changes.md | 50 ++++++------- _posts/2010-01-15-joining-statusnet.md | 14 ++-- _posts/2010-05-27-one-wedding-and-a-camera.md | 14 ++-- ...-20-local-development-for-external-apis.md | 64 ++++++++--------- _posts/2011-04-08-wheres-walkah-been.md | 42 +++++------ ...every-drupal-site-is-an-install-profile.md | 62 ++++++++-------- _posts/2011-07-05-why-vagrant.md | 54 +++++++------- 246 files changed, 1645 insertions(+), 1645 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/2002-09-07-happy-1st-week.md b/_posts/2002-09-07-happy-1st-week.md index de07a3c..a0fecf8 100644 --- a/_posts/2002-09-07-happy-1st-week.md +++ b/_posts/2002-09-07-happy-1st-week.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/happy-1st-week tags: - camryn --- -so camryn is just over a week old... that means there are more pictures. she's a great baby, hardly ever cries. andrew loves her too. - +so camryn is just over a week old... that means there are more pictures. she's a great baby, hardly ever cries. andrew loves her too. + speaking of andrew... i finally uploaded pictures of our camping trip as well. they're cute. we had a blast. diff --git a/_posts/2003-01-08-oh-my-god.md b/_posts/2003-01-08-oh-my-god.md index aae8cbe..e858c39 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-01-08-oh-my-god.md +++ b/_posts/2003-01-08-oh-my-god.md @@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ tags: --- -so... it looks like it's been a while. *ahem* +so... it looks like it's been a while. *ahem* - -i just went through our digital pics from the past couple months and picked out some good ones to put up. and, like a good parent of two children. i picked 16 for andrew's section and 16 for camryn's. i'm pretty sure camryn wouldn't protest if it had been uneven. but i feel better inside this way. - +i just went through our digital pics from the past couple months and picked out some good ones to put up. and, like a good parent of two children. i picked 16 for andrew's section and 16 for camryn's. i'm pretty sure camryn wouldn't protest if it had been uneven. but i feel better inside this way. + + otherwise, i've been busy, but we've made it one year deeper into this new millenium. rejoice. diff --git a/_posts/2003-03-29-what-huh-new-site.md b/_posts/2003-03-29-what-huh-new-site.md index 9ef1946..a08c774 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-03-29-what-huh-new-site.md +++ b/_posts/2003-03-29-what-huh-new-site.md @@ -6,20 +6,20 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/what-huh-new-site tags: - site --- - - -

ok... i've been really quiet again. but now i'm back and things have changed. i've redone my site as a drupal site. This means, amongst other things, that i have a decent way to maintain the site above and beyond my normal method. *hopefully* this will result in more frequent posts. but, more importantly, it means that i can take advantage of neat features that other people have written without re-writing them myself. as cool as it is to do that... i've got other things to do.

- -

2 things that I haven't yet incorporated into drupal are:

- -
    - -
  1. my pictures... drupal has an "image" module... but converting things is more of a hassle that i'm into right now... but all the pictures are still available in the same old place (linked above)
    2. - -
  2. my file downloads... since most of these are just symlinks to my actual config files, that's much easier for me to maintain outside of drupal. - -
- - - + + +

ok... i've been really quiet again. but now i'm back and things have changed. i've redone my site as a drupal site. This means, amongst other things, that i have a decent way to maintain the site above and beyond my normal method. *hopefully* this will result in more frequent posts. but, more importantly, it means that i can take advantage of neat features that other people have written without re-writing them myself. as cool as it is to do that... i've got other things to do.

+ +

2 things that I haven't yet incorporated into drupal are:

+ +
    + +
  1. my pictures... drupal has an "image" module... but converting things is more of a hassle that i'm into right now... but all the pictures are still available in the same old place (linked above)
    2. + +
  2. my file downloads... since most of these are just symlinks to my actual config files, that's much easier for me to maintain outside of drupal. + +
+ + +

Long story short... come on in... heck sign up for an account... make comments... get involved. yay.

diff --git a/_posts/2003-04-09-tax-er-playoff-season.md b/_posts/2003-04-09-tax-er-playoff-season.md index c5a2b63..dd91a1d 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-04-09-tax-er-playoff-season.md +++ b/_posts/2003-04-09-tax-er-playoff-season.md @@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ tags: [] --- -so... it might be tax time, but tonight opened the nhl playoffs... and while my team lost to new jersey in their first game... my adopted team won. +so... it might be tax time, but tonight opened the nhl playoffs... and while my team lost to new jersey in their first game... my adopted team won. - -and there was much rejoicing. - +and there was much rejoicing. -TOR 1 - PHI 0 + + +TOR 1 - PHI 0 BOS 0 - NJ 1 diff --git a/_posts/2003-04-17-i-love-this-game.md b/_posts/2003-04-17-i-love-this-game.md index 3da2fb1..9225aaf 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-04-17-i-love-this-game.md +++ b/_posts/2003-04-17-i-love-this-game.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/i-love-this-game tags: - family --- -so, i had an awesome night last night. a new friend of ours was able to score gold tickets -- row 11!!! -- to last night's leafs / flyers game. we lost 3-2 in triple-OT ... which stunk. but what fun! and, since we were there for 2 games worth of hockey, i don't feel quite as bad about paying way too much :) - -unfortunately, the bruins just finished their season's tailspin... getting eliminated by the devils :( - -TOR 2 - PHI - 2 - +so, i had an awesome night last night. a new friend of ours was able to score gold tickets -- row 11!!! -- to last night's leafs / flyers game. we lost 3-2 in triple-OT ... which stunk. but what fun! and, since we were there for 2 games worth of hockey, i don't feel quite as bad about paying way too much :) + +unfortunately, the bruins just finished their season's tailspin... getting eliminated by the devils :( + +TOR 2 - PHI - 2 + BOS 1 - NJ 4 :( diff --git a/_posts/2003-05-29-chicken-pox.md b/_posts/2003-05-29-chicken-pox.md index 627acce..03ca186 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-05-29-chicken-pox.md +++ b/_posts/2003-05-29-chicken-pox.md @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ tags: --- -so, it's been a long time, and lots has happened but the big news this week is that andrew has the chicken pox. poor kid. the worst part is that he's got a bunch of stuff going on these days. he's missing a field trip today, he'll probably miss soccer next week, and then his uncle chad is coming to visit and his graduation is next thursday. +so, it's been a long time, and lots has happened but the big news this week is that andrew has the chicken pox. poor kid. the worst part is that he's got a bunch of stuff going on these days. he's missing a field trip today, he'll probably miss soccer next week, and then his uncle chad is coming to visit and his graduation is next thursday. + - poor guy. diff --git a/_posts/2003-06-10-chicken-pox-redux.md b/_posts/2003-06-10-chicken-pox-redux.md index 3455504..4f5d36e 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-06-10-chicken-pox-redux.md +++ b/_posts/2003-06-10-chicken-pox-redux.md @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ tags: --- -so, now that andrew is done with chicken pox and back in school... guess who's covered in spots? yup. camryn's got the pox. but at least she's young enough that they don't seem to bother her... and she can't quite scratch them yet. +so, now that andrew is done with chicken pox and back in school... guess who's covered in spots? yup. camryn's got the pox. but at least she's young enough that they don't seem to bother her... and she can't quite scratch them yet. + - in other news... chad was up from atlanta on the weekend (with his new girlfriend raven). we had tons of fun. we even went to canada's wonderland for the first time in years. naturally, i totally forgot my camera, so the memories are entirely in our heads. neener neener. :p diff --git a/_posts/2003-06-20-the-ever-changing-address.md b/_posts/2003-06-20-the-ever-changing-address.md index 696e866..721b933 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-06-20-the-ever-changing-address.md +++ b/_posts/2003-06-20-the-ever-changing-address.md @@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ tags: --- -so, i think i told everyone the saga i had with the town office about our house's address. long story short... sometime back last november the town of aurora decided that our house should have a different address. so they changed it. we're a corner lot, and they re-addressed based on the other street. +so, i think i told everyone the saga i had with the town office about our house's address. long story short... sometime back last november the town of aurora decided that our house should have a different address. so they changed it. we're a corner lot, and they re-addressed based on the other street. - -anyway, the big news is that after some nasty phone calls, a letter, and a lot of waiting our original address has been officially restored. yeah. - +anyway, the big news is that after some nasty phone calls, a letter, and a lot of waiting our original address has been officially restored. yeah. + + (p.s. the kids are all healthy again). diff --git a/_posts/2003-07-06-some-site-fiddling.md b/_posts/2003-07-06-some-site-fiddling.md index 469328f..e54fde6 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-07-06-some-site-fiddling.md +++ b/_posts/2003-07-06-some-site-fiddling.md @@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ tags: --- -so, i've been playing around with the site a little bit... playing some more with drupal, and re-arranging some other stuff. most notably, i've seperated my "files" and "gallery" stuff. they're available via links in the right-hand column... but also you can go directly to: http://cvs.walkah.net/ or http://gallery.walkah.net/. +so, i've been playing around with the site a little bit... playing some more with drupal, and re-arranging some other stuff. most notably, i've seperated my "files" and "gallery" stuff. they're available via links in the right-hand column... but also you can go directly to: http://cvs.walkah.net/ or http://gallery.walkah.net/. - -(p.s. i also uploaded 2 - that's right 2! - new pictures from canada day) + +(p.s. i also uploaded 2 - that's right 2! - new pictures from canada day) (p.p.s. there's a list of my geek toys here) diff --git a/_posts/2003-07-11-happy-birthday-to-me.md b/_posts/2003-07-11-happy-birthday-to-me.md index 39393d1..a1519d8 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-07-11-happy-birthday-to-me.md +++ b/_posts/2003-07-11-happy-birthday-to-me.md @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ tags: --- -so, yesterday i turned 26... on what seemed to be a gloomy, rainy work day. they say patience is a virtue, well i just needed to wait yesterday. 'cause after work, sandi and i had a wonderful dinner - "grown-up time" - and she gave me new shoes! (i've had footwear issues for some time, so yes that is a big deal for me). +so, yesterday i turned 26... on what seemed to be a gloomy, rainy work day. they say patience is a virtue, well i just needed to wait yesterday. 'cause after work, sandi and i had a wonderful dinner - "grown-up time" - and she gave me new shoes! (i've had footwear issues for some time, so yes that is a big deal for me). + - the other big news is that when we got home, i discovered that we actually *finally* had grass in our backyard! (it only took 14 months!) so now perhaps, i should take a set of completed house pictures. diff --git a/_posts/2003-08-25-long-time-no-see.md b/_posts/2003-08-25-long-time-no-see.md index c2ea789..9d10ce6 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-08-25-long-time-no-see.md +++ b/_posts/2003-08-25-long-time-no-see.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/long-time-no-see tags: - geek --- -so, it's been well over a month. so much has happened... we've been to rockport and back. had a great trip despite the rain. there are pictures that will appear in the gallery at some point. - +so, it's been well over a month. so much has happened... we've been to rockport and back. had a great trip despite the rain. there are pictures that will appear in the gallery at some point. + the big news, however, is that camryn has started to take steps on her own! she can do about 3 or 4 steps before collapsing in a fit of giggles in your arms. it's great fun. diff --git a/_posts/2003-09-11-my-oh-my.md b/_posts/2003-09-11-my-oh-my.md index f094a61..81296ab 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-09-11-my-oh-my.md +++ b/_posts/2003-09-11-my-oh-my.md @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ tags: --- -where does the time go. jeez. since i last put anything here camryn has turned 1 and andrew is rapidly approaching his 6th (!!!!) birthday. not to mention the fact that i have a bunch of pictures that are still just sitting on the camera. problem with my big 256mb flash card is that i don't take enough pictures to need the room on the camera very often :P +where does the time go. jeez. since i last put anything here camryn has turned 1 and andrew is rapidly approaching his 6th (!!!!) birthday. not to mention the fact that i have a bunch of pictures that are still just sitting on the camera. problem with my big 256mb flash card is that i don't take enough pictures to need the room on the camera very often :P + - oh well. i'll catch on to this whole blogging thing one day. not yet though apparently. diff --git a/_posts/2003-09-12-trying-out-gnome-blog.md b/_posts/2003-09-12-trying-out-gnome-blog.md index 9c07911..a231af8 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-09-12-trying-out-gnome-blog.md +++ b/_posts/2003-09-12-trying-out-gnome-blog.md @@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ tags: --- -

so, in an effort to increase my blogging production, i thought i'd try using a blogging utility. thinking at first that i'd probably write one myself (as a chance to play with pygtk), i thought i'd google for an existing one just in case. well, of course, one already exists. so this is my first post with gnome-blog.

+

so, in an effort to increase my blogging production, i thought i'd try using a blogging utility. thinking at first that i'd probably write one myself (as a chance to play with pygtk), i thought i'd google for an existing one just in case. well, of course, one already exists. so this is my first post with gnome-blog.

seems nice so far anyway...

diff --git a/_posts/2003-09-15-gnome-blog-cvs-hacking.md b/_posts/2003-09-15-gnome-blog-cvs-hacking.md index 7d07956..388dafb 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-09-15-gnome-blog-cvs-hacking.md +++ b/_posts/2003-09-15-gnome-blog-cvs-hacking.md @@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ tags: [] --- -

so i finally got gnome-blog working from CVS. i had some troubles at first because my box (running debian) was trying to use an older version of automake. however, i fixed this and now have things working properly.

+

so i finally got gnome-blog working from CVS. i had some troubles at first because my box (running debian) was trying to use an older version of automake. however, i fixed this and now have things working properly.

-my next task is to tweak gnome-blog so that it works-for-me. one feature i'd like to see is editing of previous posts. but my first hack is to add title tags to the bloggerAPI module (since drupal groks those).

+my next task is to tweak gnome-blog so that it works-for-me. one feature i'd like to see is editing of previous posts. but my first hack is to add title tags to the bloggerAPI module (since drupal groks those).

consider this post a test.

diff --git a/_posts/2003-10-03-my-powerbook.md b/_posts/2003-10-03-my-powerbook.md index 885a96f..4762252 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-10-03-my-powerbook.md +++ b/_posts/2003-10-03-my-powerbook.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/my-powerbook tags: - mac os x --- -it's here. i can't believe it, but it's actually here. those of you that have listened for the past couple years as i droned on and on about how much i'd love to have a powerbook, well you won't have to endure it any longer! my laptop has arrived! -world... meet pollock. +it's here. i can't believe it, but it's actually here. those of you that have listened for the past couple years as i droned on and on about how much i'd love to have a powerbook, well you won't have to endure it any longer! my laptop has arrived! +world... meet pollock. hey, that reminds me, i need to re-instate my toy list... but i've got some real work to do first... diff --git a/_posts/2003-10-17-picture-backlog.md b/_posts/2003-10-17-picture-backlog.md index 0d3258a..fdb98d2 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-10-17-picture-backlog.md +++ b/_posts/2003-10-17-picture-backlog.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/picture-backlog tags: - family --- -so, i had a rather large backlog of pictures on the camera, but (sadly) not a lot of them turned out that well. :( i think i need to go back through the manual for my camera, because a lot of pics are coming out overexposed and/or blurry. +so, i had a rather large backlog of pictures on the camera, but (sadly) not a lot of them turned out that well. :( i think i need to go back through the manual for my camera, because a lot of pics are coming out overexposed and/or blurry. anyway the ones that were ok (and public) are up in the gallery. diff --git a/_posts/2003-11-14-back-to-drupal.md b/_posts/2003-11-14-back-to-drupal.md index fcf8783..92568a7 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-11-14-back-to-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2003-11-14-back-to-drupal.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/back-to-drupal tags: - site --- -so, i've gone back to drupal for hosting my site. i'll probably keep it like this for a long time. it's too much work to convert back and forth :P -i've also been doing some drupal hacking lately, but more on that later... +so, i've gone back to drupal for hosting my site. i'll probably keep it like this for a long time. it's too much work to convert back and forth :P +i've also been doing some drupal hacking lately, but more on that later... diff --git a/_posts/2003-11-17-blogapi-module.md b/_posts/2003-11-17-blogapi-module.md index bd59876..385630d 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-11-17-blogapi-module.md +++ b/_posts/2003-11-17-blogapi-module.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/blogapi-module tags: - drupal --- -so, i mentioned i'd done some drupal hacking... well, following my 2nd commit of my first contributed module, dries added the module to the drupal core (check it out: here). the module replaced bloggerapi.module, and adds support for MetaWeblog API and some Movable Type API extensions (for things like categories, etc). +so, i mentioned i'd done some drupal hacking... well, following my 2nd commit of my first contributed module, dries added the module to the drupal core (check it out: here). the module replaced bloggerapi.module, and adds support for MetaWeblog API and some Movable Type API extensions (for things like categories, etc). i feel all warm and fuzzy :) diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-02-sudden-thoughts.md b/_posts/2003-12-02-sudden-thoughts.md index 0720f2a..df92b1b 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-02-sudden-thoughts.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-02-sudden-thoughts.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/sudden-thoughts tags: [] --- -so, lately in my "spare" time (i.e. the wee hours of the morning), i've been helping my brother, chad, launch a little website he calls sudden thoughts. -for those of you who don't know, chad is a brilliant writer and a total music nerd. sudden thoughts is a showcase of both of these attributes. the site currently features cd reviews (focus on lesser-known jazz & hip-hop), in depth coverage of up and coming labels and a neat feature in which artists are contributing their own 'view from the trenches' - the first of which was contributed by steve coleman. -i encourage everyone to check it out! +so, lately in my "spare" time (i.e. the wee hours of the morning), i've been helping my brother, chad, launch a little website he calls sudden thoughts. +for those of you who don't know, chad is a brilliant writer and a total music nerd. sudden thoughts is a showcase of both of these attributes. the site currently features cd reviews (focus on lesser-known jazz & hip-hop), in depth coverage of up and coming labels and a neat feature in which artists are contributing their own 'view from the trenches' - the first of which was contributed by steve coleman. +i encourage everyone to check it out! <plug> i did all the design and coding behind the site using (of course) drupal</plug> ;) diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-04-all-i-want-for-christmas.md b/_posts/2003-12-04-all-i-want-for-christmas.md index ed41694..731029d 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-04-all-i-want-for-christmas.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-04-all-i-want-for-christmas.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/all-i-want-for-christmas tags: - geek --- -... is one of these! anyone who has been over for a dinner party or otherwise at our house knows that I use a little old laptop to try and acheive the same thing with minimal success. since my entire music collection is digitized, i have long been looking for a way to take advantage of that fact in the rest of the house. well here it is... and it even supports wifi! +... is one of these! anyone who has been over for a dinner party or otherwise at our house knows that I use a little old laptop to try and acheive the same thing with minimal success. since my entire music collection is digitized, i have long been looking for a way to take advantage of that fact in the rest of the house. well here it is... and it even supports wifi! *drool* diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-04-safari-color-problems.md b/_posts/2003-12-04-safari-color-problems.md index 53171d6..8d6882a 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-04-safari-color-problems.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-04-safari-color-problems.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/safari-color-problems tags: - mac os x --- -i came across something very odd recently while trying to futz my way around photohop. i was trying to create an image for a site, and thus was using the hex code from the site background for the image background. However, when the resulting image was viewed on a PC (with IE 6 or Mozilla) the colors did not match. after trying the same image with the gimp, the colors matched successfully on windows browsers (and even moz et. al on linux). *however*, they didn't match under safari (and still don't). -it appears that photoshop and safari (at least) seem to share some image rendering code that is applying some broken color "correction". the (not very) good news is that it appears i'm not the only one experiencing this... here is at least one other documented case. +i came across something very odd recently while trying to futz my way around photohop. i was trying to create an image for a site, and thus was using the hex code from the site background for the image background. However, when the resulting image was viewed on a PC (with IE 6 or Mozilla) the colors did not match. after trying the same image with the gimp, the colors matched successfully on windows browsers (and even moz et. al on linux). *however*, they didn't match under safari (and still don't). +it appears that photoshop and safari (at least) seem to share some image rendering code that is applying some broken color "correction". the (not very) good news is that it appears i'm not the only one experiencing this... here is at least one other documented case. if anyone knows of a fix/workaround/etc i'm all ears! (i've already tried other colorsync profiles in system prefs, and yes my display is set to millions of colors). diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-07-hats-off.md b/_posts/2003-12-07-hats-off.md index c6c1c62..6ea1c7e 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-07-hats-off.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-07-hats-off.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/hats-off tags: - andrew --- -hat trick + 1 for andrew this morning! 4 goals! who knew? -it's been really, really fun to watch him fall in love with hockey, work his buns off trying to get better, and then seeing the results. i'm very, very proud. +hat trick + 1 for andrew this morning! 4 goals! who knew? +it's been really, really fun to watch him fall in love with hockey, work his buns off trying to get better, and then seeing the results. i'm very, very proud. :) diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-09-my-first-drupal-bug.md b/_posts/2003-12-09-my-first-drupal-bug.md index ed8e954..bb9a377 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-09-my-first-drupal-bug.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-09-my-first-drupal-bug.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/my-first-drupal-bug tags: - drupal --- -so, my first drupal bug (one assigned to me anyway) has come and gone. this bug is now fixed. in doing so, kjartan and i came up with a couple other bugs or things otherwise needing fixing in the module. -the net result of all this is that i know have a (perhaps brief) renewed interest in xmlrpc based blogging. since my free trial of netnewswire (non-lite) has expired, and i wasn't crazy about it's blog posting inteface, i'm still on the hunt for a free (preferably as in speech, not beer) blogging tool for osx. +so, my first drupal bug (one assigned to me anyway) has come and gone. this bug is now fixed. in doing so, kjartan and i came up with a couple other bugs or things otherwise needing fixing in the module. +the net result of all this is that i know have a (perhaps brief) renewed interest in xmlrpc based blogging. since my free trial of netnewswire (non-lite) has expired, and i wasn't crazy about it's blog posting inteface, i'm still on the hunt for a free (preferably as in speech, not beer) blogging tool for osx. this post is brought to you by kung log :) diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-11-i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot.md b/_posts/2003-12-11-i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot.md index 16e1e44..5a69d1f 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-11-i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-11-i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot.md @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/i-hate-ie-i-hate-it-a-lot tags: - site --- -... on all platforms, all versions. over the past 24 hours, i have wasted waaaay too much time trying to fix and/or work around stupid stupid things that internet explorer does. -first off, there is the often-discussed, frequently-worked-around lack of support for transparent PNG images in IE on windows. silly me, in playing designer on sudden thoughts, i made some transparent pngs. they, of course, looked like crap in IE and have since been converted to .gifs :( -then, there is the idiotic CSS wonkiness that was breaking the otherwise elegant dropdown menus at sudden thoughts. (yes those menus are straight ul's - inspired by this article) -finally, adrian pointed out that my own site was broken in IE... since i'm not sure when. anyway, i redid the css to use all absolute positioning and IE seems to be happy for the moment. +... on all platforms, all versions. over the past 24 hours, i have wasted waaaay too much time trying to fix and/or work around stupid stupid things that internet explorer does. +first off, there is the often-discussed, frequently-worked-around lack of support for transparent PNG images in IE on windows. silly me, in playing designer on sudden thoughts, i made some transparent pngs. they, of course, looked like crap in IE and have since been converted to .gifs :( +then, there is the idiotic CSS wonkiness that was breaking the otherwise elegant dropdown menus at sudden thoughts. (yes those menus are straight ul's - inspired by this article) +finally, adrian pointed out that my own site was broken in IE... since i'm not sure when. anyway, i redid the css to use all absolute positioning and IE seems to be happy for the moment. god i wish everyone would just use real browsers. diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-16-drupal_not_found.md b/_posts/2003-12-16-drupal_not_found.md index f93b6fe..0ec7c91 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-16-drupal_not_found.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-16-drupal_not_found.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/drupal-not-found tags: - drupal --- -so, a little side effect of my changing my site around as much as i have is that there are some links out there in the wild that reference content that no longer exists. this is not the end of the world, but i typically like to keep track of them. (i.e. which pages aren't found). well, since sometime around drupal 4.2 there has been support for a feature known as 'clean urls' , which involves apache mod_rewrite, but essentially makes every requested path a valid one as far as apache is concerned. this means drupal should handle when requests are not found. and i wasn't the only one who thought so. -anyway, after much back and forth between myself and the other developers, i managed to get a patch into drupal core that rectifies this. what's even better is that in addition to sending a proper 404 header and logging the not found request in watchdog... you can also specify a custom 404 page. +so, a little side effect of my changing my site around as much as i have is that there are some links out there in the wild that reference content that no longer exists. this is not the end of the world, but i typically like to keep track of them. (i.e. which pages aren't found). well, since sometime around drupal 4.2 there has been support for a feature known as 'clean urls' , which involves apache mod_rewrite, but essentially makes every requested path a valid one as far as apache is concerned. this means drupal should handle when requests are not found. and i wasn't the only one who thought so. +anyway, after much back and forth between myself and the other developers, i managed to get a patch into drupal core that rectifies this. what's even better is that in addition to sending a proper 404 header and logging the not found request in watchdog... you can also specify a custom 404 page. thanks to Dries and Kjartan for accepting the patch and making sure it was sane. :) diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-16-you-rock.md b/_posts/2003-12-16-you-rock.md index 7c9988c..b73b484 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-16-you-rock.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-16-you-rock.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/you-rock tags: [] --- -this made me laugh out loud :) +this made me laugh out loud :) you rock diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-17-centralized-rss.md b/_posts/2003-12-17-centralized-rss.md index a541ab7..52e0a40 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-17-centralized-rss.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-17-centralized-rss.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/centralized-rss tags: - geek --- -alex king has a really good idea on his blog about having an API for centralized rss feed subscriptions, etc. including tracking which articles have been read. i, for one, think this is a great idea. since i tend to move back and forth between computers (and operating systems), i've taken to doing most of my RSS reading with NetNewsWire on my powerbook. +alex king has a really good idea on his blog about having an API for centralized rss feed subscriptions, etc. including tracking which articles have been read. i, for one, think this is a great idea. since i tend to move back and forth between computers (and operating systems), i've taken to doing most of my RSS reading with NetNewsWire on my powerbook. this solution, however, would allow me to use straw more. which means i might be inclined to hack on it. hopefully this idea doesn't go the way of the dodo, and alex and feedster can work out a solution. diff --git a/_posts/2003-12-27-happy-belated-boxing-day.md b/_posts/2003-12-27-happy-belated-boxing-day.md index 1636430..dc8d489 100644 --- a/_posts/2003-12-27-happy-belated-boxing-day.md +++ b/_posts/2003-12-27-happy-belated-boxing-day.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/happy-belated-boxing-day tags: [] --- -i wasn't online much over the holidays... but now that we're beyond all that, i'm back at my desk momentarily (still in my pj's at 3pm). the whole christmas marathon has come and gone and was by all accounts a roaring success. as for me personally, i received probably the top 2 things on my personal wishlist: new hiking boots (from sandi) and an iPod from pat. +i wasn't online much over the holidays... but now that we're beyond all that, i'm back at my desk momentarily (still in my pj's at 3pm). the whole christmas marathon has come and gone and was by all accounts a roaring success. as for me personally, i received probably the top 2 things on my personal wishlist: new hiking boots (from sandi) and an iPod from pat. i must say, i'm a pretty happy camper... now back to dumping tunes onto the iPod :) diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-05-happy-belated-new-year.md b/_posts/2004-01-05-happy-belated-new-year.md index 5d9bd38..ce91278 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-05-happy-belated-new-year.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-05-happy-belated-new-year.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/happy-belated-new-year tags: [] --- -i'm just not quite on the ball with this whole blogging thing quite yet. reading around the web... there are actually people who posted new years wishes on new years day! well. it's the 5th and here's mine. i never really make new years resolutions... but i'm planning on 2004 being a big year for me personally. i'll probably post more specifically as i go.. but i intend to increase my involvement in various free software projects (particularly drupal and gallery to start), but i'd also like to really do some gnome hacking and write some software for my mac. i'm looking forward to having a great year with my family... it looks like we may even take our first *real* family vacation. +i'm just not quite on the ball with this whole blogging thing quite yet. reading around the web... there are actually people who posted new years wishes on new years day! well. it's the 5th and here's mine. i never really make new years resolutions... but i'm planning on 2004 being a big year for me personally. i'll probably post more specifically as i go.. but i intend to increase my involvement in various free software projects (particularly drupal and gallery to start), but i'd also like to really do some gnome hacking and write some software for my mac. i'm looking forward to having a great year with my family... it looks like we may even take our first *real* family vacation. the dreams are big for 2004 :) diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-07-big-mac-day.md b/_posts/2004-01-07-big-mac-day.md index a2789cb..20a1e87 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-07-big-mac-day.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-07-big-mac-day.md @@ -6,14 +6,14 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/big-mac-day tags: - mac os x --- -

so yesterday was apple's big macworld keynote by steve jobs... and for the first year, i actually watched it. i haven't sat through too many keynote-type industry things.. though i did see linus torvalds give one in person (which was cool), but i have to say... apple knows how to put on a show.

- -

anyway, it's inspired me to add a quick little note to my apple category.

- -

i finally broke down and ordered more ram from crucial a week ago or so. It arrived monday... and my powerbook is *much* happier.

- -

i also want to post some thoughts on my iPod here, but overall i really love it. Too bad the new iPod mini isn't that impressive (or at least a bit cheaper).

- -

what was cool about yesterday's keynote was the look at vatech's cluster.

- +

so yesterday was apple's big macworld keynote by steve jobs... and for the first year, i actually watched it. i haven't sat through too many keynote-type industry things.. though i did see linus torvalds give one in person (which was cool), but i have to say... apple knows how to put on a show.

+ +

anyway, it's inspired me to add a quick little note to my apple category.

+ +

i finally broke down and ordered more ram from crucial a week ago or so. It arrived monday... and my powerbook is *much* happier.

+ +

i also want to post some thoughts on my iPod here, but overall i really love it. Too bad the new iPod mini isn't that impressive (or at least a bit cheaper).

+ +

what was cool about yesterday's keynote was the look at vatech's cluster.

+

i also thought the iLife updates looked promising.. but no more free iPhoto downloads sucks, though Garageband might actually make me fork over the $49usd anyway. :P

diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-13-in-support-of-maildir.md b/_posts/2004-01-13-in-support-of-maildir.md index 678096f..87fbb0b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-13-in-support-of-maildir.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-13-in-support-of-maildir.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/in-support-of-maildir tags: - geek --- -shaver - i would definitely support the move to maildir (from mbox). i made the switch over a year ago (or was it two?) and have been very happy. the thing that killed mbox for me was locking... any imapd will lock the whole mbox file which means when i'd leave client running at home, i'd have to ssh in and kill it from work (read pain in the arse). i also find webmail a bit snappier with maildir (others even formally benchmark crap like that). -my current mailhosting setup (and i've rolled it out in a couple locations) consists of postfix, procmail (using maildir), courier-imap and spamassassin. works for me(tm). +shaver - i would definitely support the move to maildir (from mbox). i made the switch over a year ago (or was it two?) and have been very happy. the thing that killed mbox for me was locking... any imapd will lock the whole mbox file which means when i'd leave client running at home, i'd have to ssh in and kill it from work (read pain in the arse). i also find webmail a bit snappier with maildir (others even formally benchmark crap like that). +my current mailhosting setup (and i've rolled it out in a couple locations) consists of postfix, procmail (using maildir), courier-imap and spamassassin. works for me(tm). however, as far as doing the conversion... i looked at a couple scripts but just ended up doing it by hand with mutt. i get nervous easily when messing with people's mail :P diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-20-ski-day.md b/_posts/2004-01-20-ski-day.md index dc69383..f3763f2 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-20-ski-day.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-20-ski-day.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/ski-day tags: - family --- -so, on very short, last-minute type notice, i ended up attending andrew's first ever ski trip today with his school. while i didn't end up skiing myself (rather spent the day manning the 'lift' and the line on the beginner hill) but andrew had an absolute blast. looks like we're gonna be hittin' the slopes on a semi-regular basis, if he has his way. +so, on very short, last-minute type notice, i ended up attending andrew's first ever ski trip today with his school. while i didn't end up skiing myself (rather spent the day manning the 'lift' and the line on the beginner hill) but andrew had an absolute blast. looks like we're gonna be hittin' the slopes on a semi-regular basis, if he has his way. now, i just need to find a nice quiet hill with nobody on it to see if i can still remember how to ski :P i'm sure it's "just like riding a bike". diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-23-translate_node-module.md b/_posts/2004-01-23-translate_node-module.md index c11db29..60ce850 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-23-translate_node-module.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-23-translate_node-module.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/translate-node-module tags: - drupal --- -so one of the main challenges in building 'canadian' websites is the whole 2 official national language thing. to add to the complexity, it is customary for government sites to have a language 'toggle' that takes you from any page to an identical page in the other language. so, i've written a small module to try and cope with this issue (so that node/view/$nid shows you the appropriate translation based on your currently selected $locale value). -translate_node.module (although still a bit rough around the edges) in conjunction with core's locale.module can allow drupal-based sites to fulfill this requirement. +so one of the main challenges in building 'canadian' websites is the whole 2 official national language thing. to add to the complexity, it is customary for government sites to have a language 'toggle' that takes you from any page to an identical page in the other language. so, i've written a small module to try and cope with this issue (so that node/view/$nid shows you the appropriate translation based on your currently selected $locale value). +translate_node.module (although still a bit rough around the edges) in conjunction with core's locale.module can allow drupal-based sites to fulfill this requirement. i also have a 'language toggle' patch that I'll be posting as well when i get the chance. diff --git a/_posts/2004-01-29-back-to-fluid.md b/_posts/2004-01-29-back-to-fluid.md index 51e8db3..62e80cf 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-01-29-back-to-fluid.md +++ b/_posts/2004-01-29-back-to-fluid.md @@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/back-to-fluid tags: - site --- -so, after briefly flirting with a fixed width design, i've got back a "fluid" layout for this site. thanks mainly to peter at openflows for some good articles on the merits of liquid layouts. i've personally come to the conclusion that both approaches have their own merits, and as usual it's a matter of fitting the design to the application. that said, this blog (imo) looks better liquid - too damned much white space otherwise. besides, not enough people read it to really make a difference ;) +so, after briefly flirting with a fixed width design, i've got back a "fluid" layout for this site. thanks mainly to peter at openflows for some good articles on the merits of liquid layouts. i've personally come to the conclusion that both approaches have their own merits, and as usual it's a matter of fitting the design to the application. that said, this blog (imo) looks better liquid - too damned much white space otherwise. besides, not enough people read it to really make a difference ;) as an interesting aside... i also dug up this article discussing "elastic" design (a sort of compromise). looks like an interesting 3rd party. diff --git a/_posts/2004-02-04-what-did-i-do.md b/_posts/2004-02-04-what-did-i-do.md index 55cccc8..78b06f4 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-02-04-what-did-i-do.md +++ b/_posts/2004-02-04-what-did-i-do.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/what-did-i-do tags: - mac os x --- -

for the first time in quite sometime (perhaps ever) i actually bought a piece of "shareware" (or otherwise low-cost software). i think having my powerbook is really starting to do odd things to my brain. anyway, the story is that my beta release of ecto expired (since the final version was released). *however* i didn't buy ecto. instead, i decided to buy netnewswire instead. why? well, because i've become completely addicted to reading a bunch of RSS feeds in the morning (it's replaced my previous habit of slashdot reading) and the full version of netnewswire also has a built-in blog poster (plus more options for news reading). so, i decided if i'm gonna buy something, might as well buy one that does both.

-

i do like some features of ecto and would recommend it for those interested. however, now that i'm a paying customer, i'll see if i can get netnewswire to bolster it's blog poster.

+

for the first time in quite sometime (perhaps ever) i actually bought a piece of "shareware" (or otherwise low-cost software). i think having my powerbook is really starting to do odd things to my brain. anyway, the story is that my beta release of ecto expired (since the final version was released). *however* i didn't buy ecto. instead, i decided to buy netnewswire instead. why? well, because i've become completely addicted to reading a bunch of RSS feeds in the morning (it's replaced my previous habit of slashdot reading) and the full version of netnewswire also has a built-in blog poster (plus more options for news reading). so, i decided if i'm gonna buy something, might as well buy one that does both.

+

i do like some features of ecto and would recommend it for those interested. however, now that i'm a paying customer, i'll see if i can get netnewswire to bolster it's blog poster.

to the author of netnewswire: congrats on some mighty fine work!

diff --git a/_posts/2004-02-05-itunes-tricks.md b/_posts/2004-02-05-itunes-tricks.md index bc947c7..52ba27b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-02-05-itunes-tricks.md +++ b/_posts/2004-02-05-itunes-tricks.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/itunes-tricks tags: - mac os x --- -

decided to checkout 2 things today to make my iTunes experience more pleasurable: -

-now, i can enjoy my music that much better while working at home. now to actually get some work done ;) +

decided to checkout 2 things today to make my iTunes experience more pleasurable: +

+now, i can enjoy my music that much better while working at home. now to actually get some work done ;)

diff --git a/_posts/2004-02-18-commuting-tragedy.md b/_posts/2004-02-18-commuting-tragedy.md index 32defe3..2e7cb4b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-02-18-commuting-tragedy.md +++ b/_posts/2004-02-18-commuting-tragedy.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/commuting-tragedy tags: [] --- -

had a very unfortunate end to my workday yesterday. i was downtown, and as usual rode the go train home. as we were approaching the aurora station, our train suddenly came to a halt. there was little information given to us passengers on the train other than there had been a "railroad crossing accident".

- +

had a very unfortunate end to my workday yesterday. i was downtown, and as usual rode the go train home. as we were approaching the aurora station, our train suddenly came to a halt. there was little information given to us passengers on the train other than there had been a "railroad crossing accident".

+

looking through the headlines this morning, it appears "accident" was a typical official euphemism. in reality, two people were killed. i feel awful :(

diff --git a/_posts/2004-03-26-irssi-proxy.md b/_posts/2004-03-26-irssi-proxy.md index 237c815..9f8ef1e 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-03-26-irssi-proxy.md +++ b/_posts/2004-03-26-irssi-proxy.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/irssi-proxy tags: - geek --- -for a while now, i've been on a kick to move toward more graphical computing environments. i no longer use mutt to read my email on a regular basis and i even occasionally use osx finder or *gasp* nautilus under gnome. one thing i hadn't addressed yet was irc. i use irc a lot for co-ordinating with others on projects, etc. therefore, i like my irc to be 'always on'. this has meant using irssi inside gnu screen. for a while, i've been contemplating running an irc proxy so i can experiment with other gui irc clients. until i found this: - -irssi proxy. this allows my currently running irssi + screen to simply act as a proxy for other clients. very cool!! so now, i've got the best of both worlds. check out xchat via irssi proxy: - - - +for a while now, i've been on a kick to move toward more graphical computing environments. i no longer use mutt to read my email on a regular basis and i even occasionally use osx finder or *gasp* nautilus under gnome. one thing i hadn't addressed yet was irc. i use irc a lot for co-ordinating with others on projects, etc. therefore, i like my irc to be 'always on'. this has meant using irssi inside gnu screen. for a while, i've been contemplating running an irc proxy so i can experiment with other gui irc clients. until i found this: + +irssi proxy. this allows my currently running irssi + screen to simply act as a proxy for other clients. very cool!! so now, i've got the best of both worlds. check out xchat via irssi proxy: + + + you also may notice (from the screenshot) that i'm now running fedora core 1 on my main workstation instead of debian. more on that later... diff --git a/_posts/2004-04-02-drupal-4-4-is-out.md b/_posts/2004-04-02-drupal-4-4-is-out.md index 108e521..ef55115 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-04-02-drupal-4-4-is-out.md +++ b/_posts/2004-04-02-drupal-4-4-is-out.md @@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/drupal-4-4-is-out tags: - drupal --- -

i didn't say anything about it yesterday, but dries managed to get drupal 4.4 out the door. while chances are if you care, you didn't hear it here first, but it's pretty cool because 2 of "major changes" are my fault. specifically: -

+

i didn't say anything about it yesterday, but dries managed to get drupal 4.4 out the door. while chances are if you care, you didn't hear it here first, but it's pretty cool because 2 of "major changes" are my fault. specifically: +

with any luck, by the time 4.5 (or maybe version 5?) gets out the door, I'll have contributed a lot more. but, hey... it's a start.

diff --git a/_posts/2004-04-15-ecto-redux.md b/_posts/2004-04-15-ecto-redux.md index 3e1bfec..e55022e 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-04-15-ecto-redux.md +++ b/_posts/2004-04-15-ecto-redux.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/ecto-redux tags: - drupal --- -so, i was contacted the other night by adriaan tijsseling , the author of the aforementioned ecto - a stellar blogging app for os x. he reported a small bug in drupal's blogapi.module (which i've since fixed). - +so, i was contacted the other night by adriaan tijsseling , the author of the aforementioned ecto - a stellar blogging app for os x. he reported a small bug in drupal's blogapi.module (which i've since fixed). + however, it's also led me to revisit using ecto for blogging... and as you can see by today's flurry of posts - i'm liking it a lot. :) congrats to adriaan on a great bit of software - i highly recommend it! diff --git a/_posts/2004-05-06-drupal-world-domination-com.md b/_posts/2004-05-06-drupal-world-domination-com.md index d4ebc1e..745f4f9 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-05-06-drupal-world-domination-com.md +++ b/_posts/2004-05-06-drupal-world-domination-com.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/drupal-world-domination-com tags: - drupal --- -man, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. there are some really interesting projects (and a couple others that i can't yet link to) out there that are committing to drupal . the really exciting part is that, for whatever reason, some people have decided that i'm a drupal god. well, i'm completely flattered (though, the real deity in the drupal world is certainly still dries). the end result has been getting to meet lots of interesting people and it looks like i'll be working on lots of very exciting projects moving forward. - +man, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. there are some really interesting projects (and a couple others that i can't yet link to) out there that are committing to drupal . the really exciting part is that, for whatever reason, some people have decided that i'm a drupal god. well, i'm completely flattered (though, the real deity in the drupal world is certainly still dries). the end result has been getting to meet lots of interesting people and it looks like i'll be working on lots of very exciting projects moving forward. + i'm pretty excited. i've really enjoyed getting involved in the drupal community, there are some outstanding folks involved, and the future is very bright. yay! diff --git a/_posts/2004-05-11-thunderbird.md b/_posts/2004-05-11-thunderbird.md index 0a71ea2..0d3245a 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-05-11-thunderbird.md +++ b/_posts/2004-05-11-thunderbird.md @@ -6,12 +6,12 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/thunderbird tags: - geek --- -after reading mark pilgrim's post about software choices (as well as some recommendations from others), i decided to give thunderbird 0.6 a go on my powerbook. i already use IMAP for all of my mail, so i regularly switch between clients when moving between platforms. however, my ideal would be to have a cross-platform set of tools that i can use. i already use gnu emacs on osx and linux and recently started using firefox exclusively. so far i feel pretty good about the switch. the things i really like so far are: - - +after reading mark pilgrim's post about software choices (as well as some recommendations from others), i decided to give thunderbird 0.6 a go on my powerbook. i already use IMAP for all of my mail, so i regularly switch between clients when moving between platforms. however, my ideal would be to have a cross-platform set of tools that i can use. i already use gnu emacs on osx and linux and recently started using firefox exclusively. so far i feel pretty good about the switch. the things i really like so far are: + + i can also honestly say, i don't have any real complaints yet. it's not quite as snappy as mail.app on osx, and there have been a couple odd crashes, but otherwise pretty impressive for a 0.6 version. if you move between operating systems, i'd recommend it. diff --git a/_posts/2004-05-14-new-phone.md b/_posts/2004-05-14-new-phone.md index 51835de..b9e4c09 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-05-14-new-phone.md +++ b/_posts/2004-05-14-new-phone.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/new-phone tags: - geek --- -well, i took the plunge. thanks for the feedback guys. i got a t616. all i can say is : "cool". i'm by no means a veteran in the whole cell phone scene. i haven't had all the cool phones. but, i like this one a lot (granted, my old phone sucked which has lowered my expectations). i love that my connections seem to be clearer, it's _not_ a flip phone, and most of all.... bluetooth! my first iSync over bluetooth was a wonderful experience - worth the price of admission. - +well, i took the plunge. thanks for the feedback guys. i got a t616. all i can say is : "cool". i'm by no means a veteran in the whole cell phone scene. i haven't had all the cool phones. but, i like this one a lot (granted, my old phone sucked which has lowered my expectations). i love that my connections seem to be clearer, it's _not_ a flip phone, and most of all.... bluetooth! my first iSync over bluetooth was a wonderful experience - worth the price of admission. + perhaps tomorrow i'll play with the built-in camera a bit :) diff --git a/_posts/2004-05-28-flash-7-for-linux.md b/_posts/2004-05-28-flash-7-for-linux.md index 10e5f41..64ea7b6 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-05-28-flash-7-for-linux.md +++ b/_posts/2004-05-28-flash-7-for-linux.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/flash-7-for-linux tags: - linux --- -so, if you use linux on your desktop (as i do) and frequent sites that use a lot of flash (as i do), then you'd probably be happy to know (as i was) that macromedia released flash player 7 for linux yesterday. so, since i am currently running fedora core 2 on my desktop i ran over and grabbed the new rpms. - +so, if you use linux on your desktop (as i do) and frequent sites that use a lot of flash (as i do), then you'd probably be happy to know (as i was) that macromedia released flash player 7 for linux yesterday. so, since i am currently running fedora core 2 on my desktop i ran over and grabbed the new rpms. + all i can say is performance is much better! diff --git a/_posts/2004-06-04-shiny-newmediaobject.md b/_posts/2004-06-04-shiny-newmediaobject.md index b40e46a..7fd519d 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-06-04-shiny-newmediaobject.md +++ b/_posts/2004-06-04-shiny-newmediaobject.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/shiny-newmediaobject tags: - drupal --- -me from my t616after a fair bit of delay, i've finally implemented metaWeblog.newMediaObject() in drupal's blogapi.module, and Kjartan was nice enough to commit the patch for me. now i won't have to look at this nagging little issue anymore, and can move on to add some other functionality. it also means that, when using great tools like ecto, you can upload pictures and stuff directly (ecto even has iPhoto support!). - +me from my t616after a fair bit of delay, i've finally implemented metaWeblog.newMediaObject() in drupal's blogapi.module, and Kjartan was nice enough to commit the patch for me. now i won't have to look at this nagging little issue anymore, and can move on to add some other functionality. it also means that, when using great tools like ecto, you can upload pictures and stuff directly (ecto even has iPhoto support!). + in the interest of killing two birds with one stone, i've also uploaded a sample picture from my new phone. so, that's me.. in my basement office. right on. diff --git a/_posts/2004-06-14-teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits.md b/_posts/2004-06-14-teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits.md index c7dafd9..b404dd0 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-06-14-teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits.md +++ b/_posts/2004-06-14-teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/teeth-shrek-and-other-tidbits tags: - family --- -haven't done a good family update for a while (trying to scare people off with all the geek talk), but here goes: - -sometime last week (and i'm not even going to try to remember which day) andrew lost his 8th tooth (8th!!). he's now sporting a nice gap all around his 4 adult teeth (2 top and 2 bottom). and, since andrew lost a tooth, camryn had to get a new one... she's now (finally!) got all of her teeth. - -since we had our first grey day of the spring, sandi and i left camryn with gramma for her nap and took andrew to see shrek 2. it was fantastic - i actually laughed out loud (which i also did nemo). it's nice to see that dreamworks is doing their part to keep pixar on their toes :) - +haven't done a good family update for a while (trying to scare people off with all the geek talk), but here goes: + +sometime last week (and i'm not even going to try to remember which day) andrew lost his 8th tooth (8th!!). he's now sporting a nice gap all around his 4 adult teeth (2 top and 2 bottom). and, since andrew lost a tooth, camryn had to get a new one... she's now (finally!) got all of her teeth. + +since we had our first grey day of the spring, sandi and i left camryn with gramma for her nap and took andrew to see shrek 2. it was fantastic - i actually laughed out loud (which i also did nemo). it's nice to see that dreamworks is doing their part to keep pixar on their toes :) + otherwise, andrew's got a week left at school, soccer season has started, and everyone is doing just fine. diff --git a/_posts/2004-06-17-meet-audrey.md b/_posts/2004-06-17-meet-audrey.md index 5708e22..513f474 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-06-17-meet-audrey.md +++ b/_posts/2004-06-17-meet-audrey.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/meet-audrey tags: - audrey --- -DCP_1390quite some time ago, i came into the possession of a 3com audrey. for those of you that have never heard of an audrey: audrey is a failed "internet appliance" discontinued by 3com a couple years ago. full specs on audrey can be seen here. the cool part about these gadget, is that they run a stripped down version of qnx - and, as it turns out, they are very hackable. - -so, i've finally set mine up and gone through these instructions to get a root shell. let the hacking begin! - -my first task, is that i wanted to use audrey as a digital photo frame - i.e. have it rotate through a bunch of my digital images (stored on my fileserver). after some digging (and disappointment that many projects seem to have disappeared), i came across this site. after some struggling with it (thanks for your help alex!) i managed to get it working the way i wanted. you can almost see the results in the attached photo. - +DCP_1390quite some time ago, i came into the possession of a 3com audrey. for those of you that have never heard of an audrey: audrey is a failed "internet appliance" discontinued by 3com a couple years ago. full specs on audrey can be seen here. the cool part about these gadget, is that they run a stripped down version of qnx - and, as it turns out, they are very hackable. + +so, i've finally set mine up and gone through these instructions to get a root shell. let the hacking begin! + +my first task, is that i wanted to use audrey as a digital photo frame - i.e. have it rotate through a bunch of my digital images (stored on my fileserver). after some digging (and disappointment that many projects seem to have disappeared), i came across this site. after some struggling with it (thanks for your help alex!) i managed to get it working the way i wanted. you can almost see the results in the attached photo. + i'll continue to log any further hacks here. diff --git a/_posts/2004-07-02-if-you-are-using-ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won.md b/_posts/2004-07-02-if-you-are-using-ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won.md index 818084e..4079be2 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-07-02-if-you-are-using-ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won.md +++ b/_posts/2004-07-02-if-you-are-using-ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won.md @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/if-you-are-using-ie-then-the-terrorists-have-already-won tags: - geek --- -for the geekier portion of my audience you will have already seen the news here, but to the rest of you: U.S. Steers Consumers Away From IE. that's right, the department of homeland security is advising folks to stop using microsoft's internet explorer. while it's been years since i used IE with any regularity (not actually running windows anywhere in my home), i know most of you do. stop it. stop it now. - -allow me to just take this opportunity to recommend firefox: - +for the geekier portion of my audience you will have already seen the news here, but to the rest of you: U.S. Steers Consumers Away From IE. that's right, the department of homeland security is advising folks to stop using microsoft's internet explorer. while it's been years since i used IE with any regularity (not actually running windows anywhere in my home), i know most of you do. stop it. stop it now. + +allow me to just take this opportunity to recommend firefox: + Get Firefox diff --git a/_posts/2004-07-08-drupal-made-pretty-terminus1525-ca.md b/_posts/2004-07-08-drupal-made-pretty-terminus1525-ca.md index 28a7665..4ac6937 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-07-08-drupal-made-pretty-terminus1525-ca.md +++ b/_posts/2004-07-08-drupal-made-pretty-terminus1525-ca.md @@ -7,17 +7,17 @@ tags: - drupal - terminus1525 --- -

i was digging through some old unread feeds when i came across this post over at urlgreyhot.com. it's rather flattering:

- -terminus1525.ca -
"terminus1525 is a Canadian collaborative work space for young emerging artists. It is perhaps the most visually stunning Drupal design I've seen so far."
- -

besides making me blush, michael's post made me realize a couple things:

- -

first, i've never actually said anything here about my involvement with terminus. i'm the one that hacked and slashed drupal to pieces to make it look like that (i'm even uid #1 ;) ). it is one of the more fun and challenging projects i've worked on, and i'm proud to say that i'm involved.

- -

the other thing, though, is i must admit that i didn't actually have anything to do with the actual design of terminus. the real credit goes to the fine folks at zincroe (specifically jason and luke). they're pretty darned creative guys and fun to work with too :)

- -

so, what are you waiting for? head over to terminus, sign up and post your art!

- - +

i was digging through some old unread feeds when i came across this post over at urlgreyhot.com. it's rather flattering:

+ +terminus1525.ca +
"terminus1525 is a Canadian collaborative work space for young emerging artists. It is perhaps the most visually stunning Drupal design I've seen so far."
+ +

besides making me blush, michael's post made me realize a couple things:

+ +

first, i've never actually said anything here about my involvement with terminus. i'm the one that hacked and slashed drupal to pieces to make it look like that (i'm even uid #1 ;) ). it is one of the more fun and challenging projects i've worked on, and i'm proud to say that i'm involved.

+ +

the other thing, though, is i must admit that i didn't actually have anything to do with the actual design of terminus. the real credit goes to the fine folks at zincroe (specifically jason and luke). they're pretty darned creative guys and fun to work with too :)

+ +

so, what are you waiting for? head over to terminus, sign up and post your art!

+ + diff --git a/_posts/2004-07-12-gentoo.md b/_posts/2004-07-12-gentoo.md index 6a27a3f..1de02a3 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-07-12-gentoo.md +++ b/_posts/2004-07-12-gentoo.md @@ -6,14 +6,14 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/gentoo tags: - linux --- -my new gentoo desktopso, for quite some time i've been on a bit of a quest to find my ideal linux distribution for my desktop (which, yes, i realize may or may not be the ideal linux desktop solution -- i tend to fall into the "power user" category). i'm a long time debian user and fan and don't envision using much else on servers (when i have the choice) for a long time to come. however, i've been fairly frustrated by some things with debian on the desktop for a while. specifically, even in unstable, packages tend to take a long time to get adopted (even if the software is deemed stable by the "vendor") and, while socially conscious, the licensing restrictions tend to leave out a fair bit of really useful applications. - -so, after brief stops with various revisions of redhat/fedora, i finally decided to give gentoo linux a try. i must say, this is not aunt millie's distribution :) - -one of my big reservations about trying gentoo had always been my fear of a 3 day lapse to get the system to a usable state. well, thanks to a stage3 live cd and the outstanding install instructions in the gentoo handbook, i was up and running in a single afternoon (and still worked on my powerbook for most of the afternoon). - -it's been a couple weeks now, and i'm quite fond of gentoo on the desktop. apps are always current, so far emerge has "just worked" and there isn't an application that i use regularly that isn't available. - -one thing that i really dig, is that there are "ebuilds" for a couple of the other distributions' artwork packages (notably redhat and ximian). one of the main reasons i kept trying fedora was because i really like the bluecurve theme. well, on gentoo it's a simple "emerge redhat-artwork " away. - +my new gentoo desktopso, for quite some time i've been on a bit of a quest to find my ideal linux distribution for my desktop (which, yes, i realize may or may not be the ideal linux desktop solution -- i tend to fall into the "power user" category). i'm a long time debian user and fan and don't envision using much else on servers (when i have the choice) for a long time to come. however, i've been fairly frustrated by some things with debian on the desktop for a while. specifically, even in unstable, packages tend to take a long time to get adopted (even if the software is deemed stable by the "vendor") and, while socially conscious, the licensing restrictions tend to leave out a fair bit of really useful applications. + +so, after brief stops with various revisions of redhat/fedora, i finally decided to give gentoo linux a try. i must say, this is not aunt millie's distribution :) + +one of my big reservations about trying gentoo had always been my fear of a 3 day lapse to get the system to a usable state. well, thanks to a stage3 live cd and the outstanding install instructions in the gentoo handbook, i was up and running in a single afternoon (and still worked on my powerbook for most of the afternoon). + +it's been a couple weeks now, and i'm quite fond of gentoo on the desktop. apps are always current, so far emerge has "just worked" and there isn't an application that i use regularly that isn't available. + +one thing that i really dig, is that there are "ebuilds" for a couple of the other distributions' artwork packages (notably redhat and ximian). one of the main reasons i kept trying fedora was because i really like the bluecurve theme. well, on gentoo it's a simple "emerge redhat-artwork " away. + i also get a wide array of j2sdk options, and there's even a package for transgaming's winex. diff --git a/_posts/2004-07-15-ok-flickr-rocks.md b/_posts/2004-07-15-ok-flickr-rocks.md index 1d4b472..cbcea80 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-07-15-ok-flickr-rocks.md +++ b/_posts/2004-07-15-ok-flickr-rocks.md @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/ok-flickr-rocks tags: - geek --- -so, much like some friends of mine, i've been playing a bit with flickr lately. it's a really cool service, with lots of neat flash-based gizmos - but for those of you that don't know, essentially flickr is a place to store photos and share them with your friends and family. - -what's really cool is it seems like they add new features almost faster than i can keep up with. you can include a feed of your latest flickr photos on your own site (as I've done over there -->). but another really cool trick is annotating pictures. to play around with it, i uploaded a random shot of my desk (with all my little geek toys on display - amongst the mess). well, almost as quickly as i'd gotten this picture online, boris had marked up all the interesting bits on my desk. - +so, much like some friends of mine, i've been playing a bit with flickr lately. it's a really cool service, with lots of neat flash-based gizmos - but for those of you that don't know, essentially flickr is a place to store photos and share them with your friends and family. + +what's really cool is it seems like they add new features almost faster than i can keep up with. you can include a feed of your latest flickr photos on your own site (as I've done over there -->). but another really cool trick is annotating pictures. to play around with it, i uploaded a random shot of my desk (with all my little geek toys on display - amongst the mess). well, almost as quickly as i'd gotten this picture online, boris had marked up all the interesting bits on my desk. + pretty sweet. diff --git a/_posts/2004-08-12-state-of-the-drupal.md b/_posts/2004-08-12-state-of-the-drupal.md index 0c0bc78..8a8f97b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-08-12-state-of-the-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2004-08-12-state-of-the-drupal.md @@ -6,15 +6,15 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/state-of-the-drupal tags: - drupal --- -so, while i was away a *lot* happened with everyone's favourite content management system. it looks like version 4.5 is going to really be awesome! some of the really cool stuff that happened while i was away: - - -read more about what's coming in 4.5 here. - -plus, drupal.org just got it's 10,000th node!! - +so, while i was away a *lot* happened with everyone's favourite content management system. it looks like version 4.5 is going to really be awesome! some of the really cool stuff that happened while i was away: + + +read more about what's coming in 4.5 here. + +plus, drupal.org just got it's 10,000th node!! + i've got some things i'd like to sneak into 4.5 as well, so i'll get back to working on those now :) diff --git a/_posts/2004-08-18-ecto2-beta.md b/_posts/2004-08-18-ecto2-beta.md index d00b08c..7dcc513 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-08-18-ecto2-beta.md +++ b/_posts/2004-08-18-ecto2-beta.md @@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ tags: - drupal - mac os x --- -so, i woke up this morning to find an email from the amazing Adriaan with instructions on how to download and install the beta version of ecto2. i've been looking forward to this since i first read the announcement that it was coming. so, naturally, i've spent the last couple minutes downloading and playing around with the beta. my first impression: i love it! - -i don't really maintain a lot of blogs (hell, i don't even really update this one regularly), but ecto2 might encourage me to maintain more. the "paradigm shift" towards multiple post editing is really nice. rather than launching directly into a new post window, you're faced with a list of recent posts from your various blogs (of course, other than this one, my list consists of test accounts for various drupal installs :P). you can then easily begin a new post for any of your blogs (and work on a couple at the same time). - -overall, i really dig it! oh and it works perfectly with drupal (which is what i'm supposed to be testing ;) ) - +so, i woke up this morning to find an email from the amazing Adriaan with instructions on how to download and install the beta version of ecto2. i've been looking forward to this since i first read the announcement that it was coming. so, naturally, i've spent the last couple minutes downloading and playing around with the beta. my first impression: i love it! + +i don't really maintain a lot of blogs (hell, i don't even really update this one regularly), but ecto2 might encourage me to maintain more. the "paradigm shift" towards multiple post editing is really nice. rather than launching directly into a new post window, you're faced with a list of recent posts from your various blogs (of course, other than this one, my list consists of test accounts for various drupal installs :P). you can then easily begin a new post for any of your blogs (and work on a couple at the same time). + +overall, i really dig it! oh and it works perfectly with drupal (which is what i'm supposed to be testing ;) ) + [this post brought to you by ecto 2.0b4] diff --git a/_posts/2004-08-25-rush.md b/_posts/2004-08-25-rush.md index f8770db..151dd2a 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-08-25-rush.md +++ b/_posts/2004-08-25-rush.md @@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/rush tags: - music --- -so, i realize it's a couple days late... but on sunday chad and i took in the rush's 30th anniversary tour show at the molson amphitheatre. two words: it rocked. watching neil peart live always makes me regret that my drums are in storage. anyway, we had so damned much fun, we bought t-shirts. it's been over 10 years since i bought a concert t-shirt, it was that good. not bad for a bunch of old dudes. - +so, i realize it's a couple days late... but on sunday chad and i took in the rush's 30th anniversary tour show at the molson amphitheatre. two words: it rocked. watching neil peart live always makes me regret that my drums are in storage. anyway, we had so damned much fun, we bought t-shirts. it's been over 10 years since i bought a concert t-shirt, it was that good. not bad for a bunch of old dudes. + if you like rush, and their coming to your town - check it out. diff --git a/_posts/2004-08-26-geektool-world-clock.md b/_posts/2004-08-26-geektool-world-clock.md index 4d41740..ecab738 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-08-26-geektool-world-clock.md +++ b/_posts/2004-08-26-geektool-world-clock.md @@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/geektool-world-clock tags: - mac os x --- -while this isn't directly bryght related, one of the things that we've been trying to adjust to is the fact that we span 3 time-zones - which makes coordinating our efforts tricky. i know that adrian bought a couple extra clocks to help himself keep track. i, however, am far too cheap for that, so i half-heartedly checked around for a platform-independent "world clock" tool. after some searching, i discovered a tool in debian called "tzwatch" - which turns out to just be a simple shell script that simply uses date(1). of course! if you set $TZ before calling date, that is the timezone used. after getting over feeling dumb, i threw the following into a little shell script: - -TZ=Canada/Pacific date +"Vancouver: %I:%M %p %D" -TZ=Africa/Johanessburg date +"Africa: %I:%M %p %D" - - -so, i can now easily see the local time of my coworkers. however, i was reading jonas' post about geektool and thought "perfect". so i downloaded and installed geektool on my powerbook, and set it up to use my little "script". the result looks like this: - -geektool-clock.jpg - +while this isn't directly bryght related, one of the things that we've been trying to adjust to is the fact that we span 3 time-zones - which makes coordinating our efforts tricky. i know that adrian bought a couple extra clocks to help himself keep track. i, however, am far too cheap for that, so i half-heartedly checked around for a platform-independent "world clock" tool. after some searching, i discovered a tool in debian called "tzwatch" - which turns out to just be a simple shell script that simply uses date(1). of course! if you set $TZ before calling date, that is the timezone used. after getting over feeling dumb, i threw the following into a little shell script: + +TZ=Canada/Pacific date +"Vancouver: %I:%M %p %D" +TZ=Africa/Johanessburg date +"Africa: %I:%M %p %D" + + +so, i can now easily see the local time of my coworkers. however, i was reading jonas' post about geektool and thought "perfect". so i downloaded and installed geektool on my powerbook, and set it up to use my little "script". the result looks like this: + +geektool-clock.jpg + diff --git a/_posts/2004-08-30-more-gmail-invites.md b/_posts/2004-08-30-more-gmail-invites.md index d7a93be..e04de2a 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-08-30-more-gmail-invites.md +++ b/_posts/2004-08-30-more-gmail-invites.md @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/more-gmail-invites tags: - geek --- -

-i've got 'em... who wants one? email your plea to walkah@gmail.com. -

-UPDATE: I'm giving them to spread firefox. +

+i've got 'em... who wants one? email your plea to walkah@gmail.com. +

+UPDATE: I'm giving them to spread firefox.

diff --git a/_posts/2004-09-09-my-first-skype-call.md b/_posts/2004-09-09-my-first-skype-call.md index a021acc..f934d0b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-09-09-my-first-skype-call.md +++ b/_posts/2004-09-09-my-first-skype-call.md @@ -7,18 +7,18 @@ tags: - geek - mac os x --- -

-so, i'm certainly not the first to post about skype, nor the first to post about either their linux beta or their recently released beta for mac os x, however, i thought i'd jot down some first impressions since i finally had my first call. for those of you who have never heard of skype: -

-We’ve got a simple bit of software we want to give you. It’ll let you make free phone calls to your friends all over the world. And we don’t want any money for it. It’s free. -
-
You could think of us as the big, free Internet telephony company. We prefer to think of ourselves as a big group hug, even a present. Yes… that’s it… we’re a present… but without the ribbon. -

-so, since Toronto - Vancouver phone calls aren't cheap roland and i figured we'd give skype a shot for a discussion this afternoon (plus we were having firewall issues at some end with iChat AV). -

-how was it you ask? i must say, i was impressed. i'm not a VoIP/Internet telephony expert by *any* means (unlike some people), but i found the quality to be quite good. it wasn't perfect, but given the fact that my cell reception in the basement approaches 0, it was no worse than that. plus, i have an old headset (and i don't even remember why i have it), which i just plugged into my powerbook and it made for a nice handsfree experience (also unlike my cell). -

-the interface on the osx client is good too ... it doesn't feel like a windows app turned cocoa. i may well be using skype more in the future (though, i will say - i agree with boris that there should be an open source alternative). -

-oh, and if you care... my skype id is 'walkah' (surprise surprise)... so call me :) +

+so, i'm certainly not the first to post about skype, nor the first to post about either their linux beta or their recently released beta for mac os x, however, i thought i'd jot down some first impressions since i finally had my first call. for those of you who have never heard of skype: +

+We’ve got a simple bit of software we want to give you. It’ll let you make free phone calls to your friends all over the world. And we don’t want any money for it. It’s free. +
+
You could think of us as the big, free Internet telephony company. We prefer to think of ourselves as a big group hug, even a present. Yes… that’s it… we’re a present… but without the ribbon. +

+so, since Toronto - Vancouver phone calls aren't cheap roland and i figured we'd give skype a shot for a discussion this afternoon (plus we were having firewall issues at some end with iChat AV). +

+how was it you ask? i must say, i was impressed. i'm not a VoIP/Internet telephony expert by *any* means (unlike some people), but i found the quality to be quite good. it wasn't perfect, but given the fact that my cell reception in the basement approaches 0, it was no worse than that. plus, i have an old headset (and i don't even remember why i have it), which i just plugged into my powerbook and it made for a nice handsfree experience (also unlike my cell). +

+the interface on the osx client is good too ... it doesn't feel like a windows app turned cocoa. i may well be using skype more in the future (though, i will say - i agree with boris that there should be an open source alternative). +

+oh, and if you care... my skype id is 'walkah' (surprise surprise)... so call me :)

diff --git a/_posts/2004-09-14-new-firefox-and-thunderbird-releases.md b/_posts/2004-09-14-new-firefox-and-thunderbird-releases.md index fba5417..14822fe 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-09-14-new-firefox-and-thunderbird-releases.md +++ b/_posts/2004-09-14-new-firefox-and-thunderbird-releases.md @@ -8,30 +8,30 @@ tags: - mac os x - linux --- -

-i'm not the first to point out that everybody's favorite web browser and mail clients both released updates today. i've got to totally disagree with jonas here, i have to say that both the new versions rock. -

-however, there's even a cool drupal tie-in! check out spread firefox, a new site devoted to firefox advocacy - and oh ya, it's powered by civicspace / drupal. right on. -

-firefox -

-maybe it's wishful thinking, but firefox 1.0RC seems to be a bit snappier on os x than 0.9 was. my only real complaint is that the incredible tabbrowser extensions don't seem to be updated yet. (i'll live). however, that extension allows you to put close buttons on each tab, re-order tabs by drag and drop (and a whole lot more). -

-the latest version also includes a funky RSS - bookmark thing. i'm not sure i really would ever use it, but when you're browsing a site that has an atom/rss feed there's a little "RSS" button that you can click to 'bookmark' the feed... which then creates a folder in your bookmarks that contain a list of headlines. nice i guess, though it ain't netnewswire ;) -

-the #1 reason i still love firefox though: the webdeveloper extension. it kicks serious butt. if you're unfortunate to spend most of your life building websites or web applications you should try it. -

-

Get Firefox!

-

-thunderbird -

-thunderbird 0.8 brings one big new improvement (as far as i'm concerned) and that's the ability to quick search by different fields in a manner similar to mail.app. the other feature (on os x) is that the dock icon now shows a count of new messages (instead of the green checkmark) - though i wish it was persistent a la mail.app. -

-i still have some nit-picky complaints with thunderbird, namely i wish that you could quickly limit the message view to all 'flagged' messages (on IMAP accounts) or if the thunderbird markings were stored on the IMAP server (rather than the local cache) so that they persisted across machines. the only other thing is that, i agree with jonas here, not doing addressbook.framework integration is stupid on os x, though it looks like there is a patch. -

-i was a long time mutt user... and still use it on occasion. but mutt's imap support sucks (no local cache makes imap unfun for lots of mailboxes & messages). and, it's _really_ hard to compose multiple messages at once on a text mode mail application. -

-i'll still stick with the mozilla* family. the apps are good - but the #1 motivation for me is that they provide me (in combination with gnu emacs) a truly cross-platform solution for my "mission critical" applications. -

-... now if only there were a linux equivalent of ecto. ;) +

+i'm not the first to point out that everybody's favorite web browser and mail clients both released updates today. i've got to totally disagree with jonas here, i have to say that both the new versions rock. +

+however, there's even a cool drupal tie-in! check out spread firefox, a new site devoted to firefox advocacy - and oh ya, it's powered by civicspace / drupal. right on. +

+firefox +

+maybe it's wishful thinking, but firefox 1.0RC seems to be a bit snappier on os x than 0.9 was. my only real complaint is that the incredible tabbrowser extensions don't seem to be updated yet. (i'll live). however, that extension allows you to put close buttons on each tab, re-order tabs by drag and drop (and a whole lot more). +

+the latest version also includes a funky RSS - bookmark thing. i'm not sure i really would ever use it, but when you're browsing a site that has an atom/rss feed there's a little "RSS" button that you can click to 'bookmark' the feed... which then creates a folder in your bookmarks that contain a list of headlines. nice i guess, though it ain't netnewswire ;) +

+the #1 reason i still love firefox though: the webdeveloper extension. it kicks serious butt. if you're unfortunate to spend most of your life building websites or web applications you should try it. +

+

Get Firefox!

+

+thunderbird +

+thunderbird 0.8 brings one big new improvement (as far as i'm concerned) and that's the ability to quick search by different fields in a manner similar to mail.app. the other feature (on os x) is that the dock icon now shows a count of new messages (instead of the green checkmark) - though i wish it was persistent a la mail.app. +

+i still have some nit-picky complaints with thunderbird, namely i wish that you could quickly limit the message view to all 'flagged' messages (on IMAP accounts) or if the thunderbird markings were stored on the IMAP server (rather than the local cache) so that they persisted across machines. the only other thing is that, i agree with jonas here, not doing addressbook.framework integration is stupid on os x, though it looks like there is a patch. +

+i was a long time mutt user... and still use it on occasion. but mutt's imap support sucks (no local cache makes imap unfun for lots of mailboxes & messages). and, it's _really_ hard to compose multiple messages at once on a text mode mail application. +

+i'll still stick with the mozilla* family. the apps are good - but the #1 motivation for me is that they provide me (in combination with gnu emacs) a truly cross-platform solution for my "mission critical" applications. +

+... now if only there were a linux equivalent of ecto. ;)

diff --git a/_posts/2004-09-24-getting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts.md b/_posts/2004-09-24-getting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts.md index d00fd31..714a1ef 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-09-24-getting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts.md +++ b/_posts/2004-09-24-getting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts.md @@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/getting-rid-of-those-pesky-gmail-accounts tags: - geek --- -

-it seems that everyone i know that knows what the hell gmail is, either already has an account or doesn't want one. (it's nice, since i provide mail service for most of my family, that they're happy enough to stay put). so, for the longest time i've had unused invitations . it seems that every time i actually manage to get rid of one, they top me up with more. -

-but now, i have a solution! the super folks over at spread firefox are doing some promotion with gmail invites, and have a nice new system for donating gmail invitations. so, i just donated the 5 i had kicking around. i feel much better now. oh and, if you haven't yet... -Get Firefox! +

+it seems that everyone i know that knows what the hell gmail is, either already has an account or doesn't want one. (it's nice, since i provide mail service for most of my family, that they're happy enough to stay put). so, for the longest time i've had unused invitations . it seems that every time i actually manage to get rid of one, they top me up with more. +

+but now, i have a solution! the super folks over at spread firefox are doing some promotion with gmail invites, and have a nice new system for donating gmail invitations. so, i just donated the 5 i had kicking around. i feel much better now. oh and, if you haven't yet... +Get Firefox!

diff --git a/_posts/2004-10-08-google-local-now-via-sms.md b/_posts/2004-10-08-google-local-now-via-sms.md index eac2ef7..acb9e70 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-10-08-google-local-now-via-sms.md +++ b/_posts/2004-10-08-google-local-now-via-sms.md @@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/google-local-now-via-sms tags: - geek --- -

so, google continues to add features... and sometimes they're really useful! you may or may not have heard about google local - which is a neat tool (even though the canadian equivalent suffers from some pretty spotty data). but, they've now made it just a bit more useful... you can now query google local via SMS (like, from your phone). I think zacker summed it up the best: -

-
-13:55 < Zacker> holy crap 
-13:55 < Zacker> http://www.google.com/sms/howtouse.html#business 
-13:56 < walkah> ya. that's the rock. 
-13:56 < Zacker> that is going to change my life 
-
-

UPDATE: argh. i just tried from my phone (which is on rogers) and it failed to send, because the 46645 (GOOGL) shortcode is for US only apparently. :(

+

so, google continues to add features... and sometimes they're really useful! you may or may not have heard about google local - which is a neat tool (even though the canadian equivalent suffers from some pretty spotty data). but, they've now made it just a bit more useful... you can now query google local via SMS (like, from your phone). I think zacker summed it up the best: +

+
+13:55 < Zacker> holy crap 
+13:55 < Zacker> http://www.google.com/sms/howtouse.html#business 
+13:56 < walkah> ya. that's the rock. 
+13:56 < Zacker> that is going to change my life 
+
+

UPDATE: argh. i just tried from my phone (which is on rogers) and it failed to send, because the 46645 (GOOGL) shortcode is for US only apparently. :(

diff --git a/_posts/2004-10-14-goin-to-vancouver.md b/_posts/2004-10-14-goin-to-vancouver.md index 481db83..663784f 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-10-14-goin-to-vancouver.md +++ b/_posts/2004-10-14-goin-to-vancouver.md @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/goin-to-vancouver tags: - drupal --- -

-just a quick note to say... i'm officially booked for my first business trip as a bryght guy. i'll be headed to vancouver at the end of this month (Oct 25th - 30th). it's been a couple months of working together, and finally we can sit down and match faces to voices and email signatures. i'm excited to meet up with boris, roland and richard - too bad we couldn't get adrian here for this one :( -

-also, roland has publicly announced that we're gonna have a big meet-up with dries on the 29th. if you're in the vancouver area on the 29th and have any interest in drupal, come on out! the civicspace guys are gonna be there too... should be a blast! i know i owe dries at least a beer or two. :) +

+just a quick note to say... i'm officially booked for my first business trip as a bryght guy. i'll be headed to vancouver at the end of this month (Oct 25th - 30th). it's been a couple months of working together, and finally we can sit down and match faces to voices and email signatures. i'm excited to meet up with boris, roland and richard - too bad we couldn't get adrian here for this one :( +

+also, roland has publicly announced that we're gonna have a big meet-up with dries on the 29th. if you're in the vancouver area on the 29th and have any interest in drupal, come on out! the civicspace guys are gonna be there too... should be a blast! i know i owe dries at least a beer or two. :)

diff --git a/_posts/2004-10-18-drupal-4-5-is-out.md b/_posts/2004-10-18-drupal-4-5-is-out.md index 3836800..389d75c 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-10-18-drupal-4-5-is-out.md +++ b/_posts/2004-10-18-drupal-4-5-is-out.md @@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/drupal-4-5-is-out tags: - drupal --- -

-it's finally been officially released into the wild. i must say, it's by far the best drupal release yet. and things are looking great moving forward. here's to a job well done (Dries - you'll get your beer(s) in about 10 days :) ) -

-i've intended for a while to write up some of my personal goals for the next release, but just haven't gotten that far yet. soon. -

-UPDATE: of course, as soon as i hit "post" UnConeD took the wraps off his new theme "bluebeach". i'd have to argue that now drupal.org is one of the best looking drupal sites :) -

+

+it's finally been officially released into the wild. i must say, it's by far the best drupal release yet. and things are looking great moving forward. here's to a job well done (Dries - you'll get your beer(s) in about 10 days :) ) +

+i've intended for a while to write up some of my personal goals for the next release, but just haven't gotten that far yet. soon. +

+UPDATE: of course, as soon as i hit "post" UnConeD took the wraps off his new theme "bluebeach". i'd have to argue that now drupal.org is one of the best looking drupal sites :) +

diff --git a/_posts/2004-10-28-live-from-vancouver-land-of-the-beer-tower.md b/_posts/2004-10-28-live-from-vancouver-land-of-the-beer-tower.md index cfefcc4..e15e23f 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-10-28-live-from-vancouver-land-of-the-beer-tower.md +++ b/_posts/2004-10-28-live-from-vancouver-land-of-the-beer-tower.md @@ -7,16 +7,16 @@ tags: - geek - drupal --- -

-so, here i am in vancouver meeting with the bryght guys - super bloggers that they are, and i haven't made a single entry (been here since monday). read on for a brief recap. -

- -

-monday: i arrived hassle free in the early afternoon. roland met me at the airport, it was cold and raining, as it should be in vancouver. i got checked into the hotel, where i later established my mobile office . then we headed to brioche for some yummy food. that was followed with a tour of the prestigious bryght offices, and then off for an early evening. -

-the beer towertuesday: our first "big day". boris and i had meetings all morning, followed by lunch at a small little place with good hummus (the name escapes me). then back to the office to get not quite enough done to consider it working before dries dropped us a line to let us know he had a free minute, so we went for a long walk - a tourist excursion for us foreigners. when our legs were finally tired, we went to grab some refreshments - and my love of the beer tower is born (more over at my flickr account). -

-wednesday: we more or less worked all day today. though we did have lunch (and dinner) with the very entertaining andy "termie" smith. -

-the rest of the week looks to be at least as busy, since tomorrow the civicspace gang gets to town and our big dinner happens friday. i'll try to post a bit more consistently. +

+so, here i am in vancouver meeting with the bryght guys - super bloggers that they are, and i haven't made a single entry (been here since monday). read on for a brief recap. +

+ +

+monday: i arrived hassle free in the early afternoon. roland met me at the airport, it was cold and raining, as it should be in vancouver. i got checked into the hotel, where i later established my mobile office . then we headed to brioche for some yummy food. that was followed with a tour of the prestigious bryght offices, and then off for an early evening. +

+the beer towertuesday: our first "big day". boris and i had meetings all morning, followed by lunch at a small little place with good hummus (the name escapes me). then back to the office to get not quite enough done to consider it working before dries dropped us a line to let us know he had a free minute, so we went for a long walk - a tourist excursion for us foreigners. when our legs were finally tired, we went to grab some refreshments - and my love of the beer tower is born (more over at my flickr account). +

+wednesday: we more or less worked all day today. though we did have lunch (and dinner) with the very entertaining andy "termie" smith. +

+the rest of the week looks to be at least as busy, since tomorrow the civicspace gang gets to town and our big dinner happens friday. i'll try to post a bit more consistently.

diff --git a/_posts/2004-11-04-mike-doughty-has-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas.md b/_posts/2004-11-04-mike-doughty-has-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas.md index c3119d3..6a1321e 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-11-04-mike-doughty-has-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas.md +++ b/_posts/2004-11-04-mike-doughty-has-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas.md @@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/mike-doughty-has-a-label-and-a-cd-in-time-for-christmas tags: - music --- -

-consider me officially putting this on my christmas wishlist: -

-i just noticed over at mike doughty's blog, that mike has officially signed with ATO records. in the short term, it means that he's re-releasing skittish as part of a two disc set that will include rockity roll and some songs of evenhand and other goodies. that's awesome news, 'cause i had to download skittish, 'cause i waited too long (until after he'd sold all his copies) to buy myself a copy. though, i bought rockity roll from the man himself (money that went straight to his gas tank, i presume). -

-btw, anyone else here think that mike should run a drupal-based community? mike: have your people call my people. -

+

+consider me officially putting this on my christmas wishlist: +

+i just noticed over at mike doughty's blog, that mike has officially signed with ATO records. in the short term, it means that he's re-releasing skittish as part of a two disc set that will include rockity roll and some songs of evenhand and other goodies. that's awesome news, 'cause i had to download skittish, 'cause i waited too long (until after he'd sold all his copies) to buy myself a copy. though, i bought rockity roll from the man himself (money that went straight to his gas tank, i presume). +

+btw, anyone else here think that mike should run a drupal-based community? mike: have your people call my people. +

diff --git a/_posts/2004-11-09-happy-firefox-day.md b/_posts/2004-11-09-happy-firefox-day.md index 605bf35..15f734e 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-11-09-happy-firefox-day.md +++ b/_posts/2004-11-09-happy-firefox-day.md @@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ tags: - mac os x - linux --- -

-so, it's november 9th, which means firefox 1.0 is out. if you're not using firefox, you should. i love it so much, i bought the t-shirt: -

-My Firefox t-shirt -

-go now. getfirefox.com . take back the web. -

+

+so, it's november 9th, which means firefox 1.0 is out. if you're not using firefox, you should. i love it so much, i bought the t-shirt: +

+My Firefox t-shirt +

+go now. getfirefox.com . take back the web. +

UPDATE: apparently one of the big secrets was that the new firefox start page is really a firefox-branded google page. welcome to the future, google. :)

diff --git a/_posts/2004-11-24-ecto2-with-amazon.md b/_posts/2004-11-24-ecto2-with-amazon.md index e95aebc..dfa9102 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-11-24-ecto2-with-amazon.md +++ b/_posts/2004-11-24-ecto2-with-amazon.md @@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/ecto2-with-amazon tags: - mac os x --- -

-just a few days ago, i had some ideas about some neat ways to incorporate some amazon stuff on my blog - partly as an excuse to play around with their webservices api (i know, day late - dollar short) - so i signed up for an associates account. well, as if he was reading my mind, the amazing ado blogged about his latest feature for ecto2 : amazon link building. so, to test it out, let's try building a link to... say... the new mike doughty album: -

- -
"Skittish / Rockity Roll" (Mike Doughty) -

-shazam! now, that's good stuff. +

+just a few days ago, i had some ideas about some neat ways to incorporate some amazon stuff on my blog - partly as an excuse to play around with their webservices api (i know, day late - dollar short) - so i signed up for an associates account. well, as if he was reading my mind, the amazing ado blogged about his latest feature for ecto2 : amazon link building. so, to test it out, let's try building a link to... say... the new mike doughty album: +

+ +
"Skittish / Rockity Roll" (Mike Doughty) +

+shazam! now, that's good stuff.

diff --git a/_posts/2004-12-30-holiday-loot.md b/_posts/2004-12-30-holiday-loot.md index 12974b7..625328b 100644 --- a/_posts/2004-12-30-holiday-loot.md +++ b/_posts/2004-12-30-holiday-loot.md @@ -7,16 +7,16 @@ tags: - family - geek --- -

-it's been a good holiday. in addition to getting some much needed downtime and adding a few pounds around my midsection, i also got quite a few geek toys for christmas. prior to christmas, i made a point of updating my amazon wishlist for those of my non-technical family members (i.e. all of them) who find me difficult to buy for. it turned out to work quite well - although the funny part was none of my family members actually bought things from amazon - they checked out list and wandered off to local bricks and mortar type establishments. -

-nevertheless, it resulted in an overwhelming amount of toys... here's a quick recap: -

- +

nokia n91As a nice little side benefit from my trip to Vancouver a few weeks ago, I got another fancy phone as a hand-me-down from Roland (who has moved on to the n93): a Nokia n91. I've spent 2 weeks with this phone now and overall I *love* it!

+

I ran into a couple "gotchas" while getting it all set up - I think mostly from being so hip and bleeding edge it hurts. Namely, this phone is not natively supported by apple's isync (which I can't really live without these days), however, these instructions worked beautifully (complete with little n91 image :). The other tricky bit was I initially installed ShoZu on the hard drive - which the music syncing tool does not like at all - however, installing on the phone's memory cured that.

+

That brings me to what I love most about this phone: it has a 4gb hard drive! Why is that so cool? Well, combine that fact with the built-in music player (and matching iTunes syncing app) and my phone is effectively a little iPod. Oh, this phone also has wifi... ok, so that's *two* things I love most. Here's a quick bullet point review:

+

The Good:

+ +

Complaints ('cause it wouldn't be blogging if I didn't complain):

+ +

Overall, I love this phone. The size and weight are good - considering the feature set.... and it's pretty close to my ideal "all in one" device. Thanks Roland (and nokia)!

+ diff --git a/_posts/2006-12-22-5-things-about-me.md b/_posts/2006-12-22-5-things-about-me.md index 8076e24..7530852 100644 --- a/_posts/2006-12-22-5-things-about-me.md +++ b/_posts/2006-12-22-5-things-about-me.md @@ -7,12 +7,12 @@ tags: - meme - 5things --- -

Yay! I got tagged for what I believe is the first time in a real live official cool kid blogging meme! So, Sarah wants the world to know 5 new things about me. Let's see if I can come up with something nobody knows...

-
    -
  1. My last name is "Walker" not "walkah". I know. But, people get it wrong a lot.
    2. -
  2. I am not Canadian. Sure, lots of people know that one. My family mostly has it figured out, and of course there's everyone who's seen my passport on flickr. But I do live in Canada (have for 12 years now) and I say "eh" a lot, so people get confused.
    3. -
  3. I play hockey. OK, lots of people knew that, but at one point I was quite serious about my hockey career. Lesser known fact here is that I played for a semester at Union College (NCAA Division I). Oh, and I'm a goalie.
    4. -
  4. I want to quit the internet and be a rockstar. Heard that one before? Well, despite what the pictures on flickr suggest, I don't consider myself a guitar player (or much of a singer) - although I love it. Truth is, my real passion is my drums.
    5. -
  5. I still have my teddy bear from when I was a baby. He's small and worn and his name is "bear". *Very* few of you probably knew that one. ;)
    6. -
+

Yay! I got tagged for what I believe is the first time in a real live official cool kid blogging meme! So, Sarah wants the world to know 5 new things about me. Let's see if I can come up with something nobody knows...

+
    +
  1. My last name is "Walker" not "walkah". I know. But, people get it wrong a lot.
    2. +
  2. I am not Canadian. Sure, lots of people know that one. My family mostly has it figured out, and of course there's everyone who's seen my passport on flickr. But I do live in Canada (have for 12 years now) and I say "eh" a lot, so people get confused.
    3. +
  3. I play hockey. OK, lots of people knew that, but at one point I was quite serious about my hockey career. Lesser known fact here is that I played for a semester at Union College (NCAA Division I). Oh, and I'm a goalie.
    4. +
  4. I want to quit the internet and be a rockstar. Heard that one before? Well, despite what the pictures on flickr suggest, I don't consider myself a guitar player (or much of a singer) - although I love it. Truth is, my real passion is my drums.
    5. +
  5. I still have my teddy bear from when I was a baby. He's small and worn and his name is "bear". *Very* few of you probably knew that one. ;)
    6. +

There you have it. Now I'm supposed to tag a new group.... hmmm. Well, I think Chad could probably come up with some interesting stuff. I'm sure the internet would love to read more about Dries and the enigma that is termie. Not sure I have enough real "blogger" friends to really keep the chain going strong. Perhaps that's a good thing...

diff --git a/_posts/2006-12-28-google-reader-ing.md b/_posts/2006-12-28-google-reader-ing.md index eb4561c..1a0e745 100644 --- a/_posts/2006-12-28-google-reader-ing.md +++ b/_posts/2006-12-28-google-reader-ing.md @@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ tags: - google - feeds --- -

OK Google Reader, you got me. I'll admit, I *almost* switched when Boris did. I tried it at the time... sorta liked it... but had my concerns. But this week, I've re-thought my position, given it another try, and I think it might stick. What changed? Well:

- -

It took a little fiddling with the workflow, a bit of adjustment, and some time memorizing the keyboard shortcuts, but I'm finally pretty happy with things. And, I no longer have to worry about syncing issues.

+

OK Google Reader, you got me. I'll admit, I *almost* switched when Boris did. I tried it at the time... sorta liked it... but had my concerns. But this week, I've re-thought my position, given it another try, and I think it might stick. What changed? Well:

+ +

It took a little fiddling with the workflow, a bit of adjustment, and some time memorizing the keyboard shortcuts, but I'm finally pretty happy with things. And, I no longer have to worry about syncing issues.

I've been a long time user of both NetNewsWire and endo - and I love both for different reasons. But, man, google is actually making web apps I don't hate. *gasp*

diff --git a/_posts/2006-12-30-n91-browser-out-of-memory.md b/_posts/2006-12-30-n91-browser-out-of-memory.md index ec39ca1..18aecc0 100644 --- a/_posts/2006-12-30-n91-browser-out-of-memory.md +++ b/_posts/2006-12-30-n91-browser-out-of-memory.md @@ -11,5 +11,5 @@ tags: - opera - operamini --- -

One of my main reasons for switching to google reader was because of the excellent mobile interface. However, on my n91 I kept getting "Out of memory" errors after browsing a few pages. Restarting the phone would make the error go away, but again only for a few pages. Well, that's not cool. But, apparently it's a problem just in the default browser (based on webkit). While I applaud nokia for using a free, standards-compliant engine for their browser base, I kinda needs something that works.

+

One of my main reasons for switching to google reader was because of the excellent mobile interface. However, on my n91 I kept getting "Out of memory" errors after browsing a few pages. Restarting the phone would make the error go away, but again only for a few pages. Well, that's not cool. But, apparently it's a problem just in the default browser (based on webkit). While I applaud nokia for using a free, standards-compliant engine for their browser base, I kinda needs something that works.

Enter Opera mini. Mini is opera's free mobile browser, and while not open source, it at least works and seems to work quite well. I've never been a huge fan of opera's browser on the desktop, but they're my current mobile browser of choice.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-02-drupal-for-2007.md b/_posts/2007-01-02-drupal-for-2007.md index 60480ca..f26f861 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-02-drupal-for-2007.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-02-drupal-for-2007.md @@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ tags: - openid - "2007" --- -

Every year about this time the Drupal community posts predictions for the year ahead. I started a list of things I think will happen, but quickly realized it was really just a personal battle plan. Here's what I plan to blow up (apologies in advance):

- +

Every year about this time the Drupal community posts predictions for the year ahead. I started a list of things I think will happen, but quickly realized it was really just a personal battle plan. Here's what I plan to blow up (apologies in advance):

+

There's of course a million other issues, bug fixes, smaller features, speaking engagements, training sessions, etc i've got planned for 2007, but that's a pretty good list for now. All in a day's work for drupal-world-domination.com. Go team :)

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-03-where-are-the-cool-cordless-phones.md b/_posts/2007-01-03-where-are-the-cool-cordless-phones.md index 7377cf6..d814f46 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-03-where-are-the-cool-cordless-phones.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-03-where-are-the-cool-cordless-phones.md @@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ tags: - cordless - bluetooth --- -

I just read an interesting post by Allan Leinwand over on GigaOm about the lack of cool (and "internet") features on cordless phones. He says:

-
Here’s the irony – mobility and Internet features and functions have lured consumers away from using home cordless phones. Could the Internet on your cordless home phone lure you away from your mobile phones?
-

While I think "the internet" on cordless phones would be a nice feature, most people have easily available internet access in their home from a computer where the interface is much more pleasant (mobile browsing, while really handy when you don't have other options, just isn't ideal). However, there are a *lot* of features standard on most all mobile phones that I would really like to see in cordless phones.

-

I am no longer a "mobile only" phone user. Two reasons (yes, I'm glaring at you, Rogers): first, my reception at home stinks. Second, the rate plans are ridiculously out of whack here in Canada - and just can't compete with Vonage, et al. But there are lots of things I'd love to have on my home phone:

- +

I just read an interesting post by Allan Leinwand over on GigaOm about the lack of cool (and "internet") features on cordless phones. He says:

+
Here’s the irony – mobility and Internet features and functions have lured consumers away from using home cordless phones. Could the Internet on your cordless home phone lure you away from your mobile phones?
+

While I think "the internet" on cordless phones would be a nice feature, most people have easily available internet access in their home from a computer where the interface is much more pleasant (mobile browsing, while really handy when you don't have other options, just isn't ideal). However, there are a *lot* of features standard on most all mobile phones that I would really like to see in cordless phones.

+

I am no longer a "mobile only" phone user. Two reasons (yes, I'm glaring at you, Rogers): first, my reception at home stinks. Second, the rate plans are ridiculously out of whack here in Canada - and just can't compete with Vonage, et al. But there are lots of things I'd love to have on my home phone:

+

Essentially, I want my cordless phone to work more like my mobile. I mean ideally, it'd even be the same handset. Perhaps if my mobile had a SIP client that worked with vonage? Although, in the short term, I'd be very willing to shell out for a bluetooth-enabled cordless phone. Why isn't there such a thing?

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-15-drupal-is-5-no-6.md b/_posts/2007-01-15-drupal-is-5-no-6.md index bd00870..84743e6 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-15-drupal-is-5-no-6.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-15-drupal-is-5-no-6.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - birthday - drupal5 --- -

Chances are you didn't hear it here first, but today on Drupal's 6th birthday Dries released Drupal 5.0! I have to say this is far and away the highest quality release in my time with the Drupal project. The new default theme (that I'm using here) is lovely, the admin interface has been revamped.. things in general are moving towards a much more polished product. Personally, I think the module dependency, installation, uninstall situation is my favourite new feature... but that's just me. Also exciting is this is the first time during my involvement that we've gone up a major version number. So long Drupal 4, long live Drupal 5.

-

If you haven't yet, download this release. It's a good one.

+

Chances are you didn't hear it here first, but today on Drupal's 6th birthday Dries released Drupal 5.0! I have to say this is far and away the highest quality release in my time with the Drupal project. The new default theme (that I'm using here) is lovely, the admin interface has been revamped.. things in general are moving towards a much more polished product. Personally, I think the module dependency, installation, uninstall situation is my favourite new feature... but that's just me. Also exciting is this is the first time during my involvement that we've gone up a major version number. So long Drupal 4, long live Drupal 5.

+

If you haven't yet, download this release. It's a good one.

Happy Birthday, Drupal. Rock on, Drupal community indeed.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-15-vancouver-openid-mashpit.md b/_posts/2007-01-15-vancouver-openid-mashpit.md index 5af2781..44749f2 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-15-vancouver-openid-mashpit.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-15-vancouver-openid-mashpit.md @@ -11,5 +11,5 @@ tags: - sxip - identity --- -

As mentioned by Boris, I'm headed to Vancouver this week to take part in the OpenID Mashpit hosted by SXIP. Yes, it's true I'll be showing off some Drupal OpenID code that I've been working on (along with Rowan Kerr who deserves a ton of credit). I'm pretty excited about it... I feel like I've been working on identity-related code for lots of years now (like 2!) so it'll be nice to get to hang out with others "in the field".

+

As mentioned by Boris, I'm headed to Vancouver this week to take part in the OpenID Mashpit hosted by SXIP. Yes, it's true I'll be showing off some Drupal OpenID code that I've been working on (along with Rowan Kerr who deserves a ton of credit). I'm pretty excited about it... I feel like I've been working on identity-related code for lots of years now (like 2!) so it'll be nice to get to hang out with others "in the field".

If you're not already on the list (and in the Vancouver area), come on out! diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-18-bryght-does-5-0.md b/_posts/2007-01-18-bryght-does-5-0.md index 5e6cb54..85d1c14 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-18-bryght-does-5-0.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-18-bryght-does-5-0.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - bryght - hosting --- -

Hot on the heels of the Drupal 5.0 release, we're pleased to announce that we're offering our Drupal 5 preview release over at Bryght. Not only that, but we've also cut the price in half (now $20/month) - plus you still get a 30 day free trial. How's that for a sales pitch? ;)

-

"Off the record" (since this is my personal blog), I'm feeling re-energized about our shared hosting offering. We've completely revamped our infrastructure which, along with our partnership with Firebright, takes a lot off my plate in terms of the server management and will make scaling much easier moving forward. We've also got some good plans for keeping things "fresh" moving forward. But, the biggest benefit is that Drupal 5 is just a much nicer product than Drupal 4.5 was (which is when we started) - plus we've got CCK and Views - what more could you ask for? :)

+

Hot on the heels of the Drupal 5.0 release, we're pleased to announce that we're offering our Drupal 5 preview release over at Bryght. Not only that, but we've also cut the price in half (now $20/month) - plus you still get a 30 day free trial. How's that for a sales pitch? ;)

+

"Off the record" (since this is my personal blog), I'm feeling re-energized about our shared hosting offering. We've completely revamped our infrastructure which, along with our partnership with Firebright, takes a lot off my plate in terms of the server management and will make scaling much easier moving forward. We've also got some good plans for keeping things "fresh" moving forward. But, the biggest benefit is that Drupal 5 is just a much nicer product than Drupal 4.5 was (which is when we started) - plus we've got CCK and Views - what more could you ask for? :)

So... go on, sign up. You know you want it.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-18-openid-mashpit-vancouver-recap.md b/_posts/2007-01-18-openid-mashpit-vancouver-recap.md index 0a32f19..4f503c3 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-18-openid-mashpit-vancouver-recap.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-18-openid-mashpit-vancouver-recap.md @@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ tags: - sxip - identity20 --- -

OpenID Drupal Demo - photo by Richard ErikssonLast night's OpenID Mashpit went well. Despite demoing some code still under very active development, and having our internet connection drop in the middle of it - it was nice to show off some of the stuff I've been working on lately in a crowd that "gets it". More interesting, however, was getting a chance to talk about and get some clarification on certain aspects. In particular, I feel like I have a much better idea of the vision behind Attribute Exchange and how it should ideally work. If nothing else, getting to just chat about "Identity 2.0" with Dick was a treat.

-

Other bits of interest: we stood up a work-in-progress OpenID Provider (OP) for Bryght at home.bryght.com (using all native drupal code). It's *very* much still a work in progress, but also one of the earliest OP's "in the wild" to support the 2.0 draft spec (or most of it anyway). Similarly, SXIP has a demo Relying Party (RP) that supports attribute exchange - that will come in handy for testing against.

+

OpenID Drupal Demo - photo by Richard ErikssonLast night's OpenID Mashpit went well. Despite demoing some code still under very active development, and having our internet connection drop in the middle of it - it was nice to show off some of the stuff I've been working on lately in a crowd that "gets it". More interesting, however, was getting a chance to talk about and get some clarification on certain aspects. In particular, I feel like I have a much better idea of the vision behind Attribute Exchange and how it should ideally work. If nothing else, getting to just chat about "Identity 2.0" with Dick was a treat.

+

Other bits of interest: we stood up a work-in-progress OpenID Provider (OP) for Bryght at home.bryght.com (using all native drupal code). It's *very* much still a work in progress, but also one of the earliest OP's "in the wild" to support the 2.0 draft spec (or most of it anyway). Similarly, SXIP has a demo Relying Party (RP) that supports attribute exchange - that will come in handy for testing against.

Thanks again to the folks at SXIP for hosting a great event, and thanks to everyone who showed up!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-25-twitter-module-for-drupal.md b/_posts/2007-01-25-twitter-module-for-drupal.md index 52ae031..dc89d6a 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-25-twitter-module-for-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-25-twitter-module-for-drupal.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - twitter - module --- -

I finally broke down and started playing around with Twitter the other night. As chance would have it, I happened to see a reference to the Twitter Updater plugin for Wordpress and thought "hey, that would be an easy drupal module". That's a game I used to play (or at least do something about) much more regularly, however, the stars were aligned (or maybe it's the new glasses). So I threw together a Twitter module for Drupal.

-

So far, it functions a lot like the wordpress plugin. Each user can use their own twitter account and have their own "format" for the text that gets posted to twitter when they create a new post. When you create content, twitter gets notified.

+

I finally broke down and started playing around with Twitter the other night. As chance would have it, I happened to see a reference to the Twitter Updater plugin for Wordpress and thought "hey, that would be an easy drupal module". That's a game I used to play (or at least do something about) much more regularly, however, the stars were aligned (or maybe it's the new glasses). So I threw together a Twitter module for Drupal.

+

So far, it functions a lot like the wordpress plugin. Each user can use their own twitter account and have their own "format" for the text that gets posted to twitter when they create a new post. When you create content, twitter gets notified.

So if you are a drupal user and a twitter user, check out the module and check out me on twitter. Enjoy.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-01-31-vancouver-php-conference-2007.md b/_posts/2007-01-31-vancouver-php-conference-2007.md index a85134d..598eeb6 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-01-31-vancouver-php-conference-2007.md +++ b/_posts/2007-01-31-vancouver-php-conference-2007.md @@ -12,5 +12,5 @@ tags: - openid - pants --- -

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but in a couple weeks I'm headed back to Vancouver to present at the Vancouver PHP Conference, February 12th and 13th. I'll actually be giving two talks (back to back even): the first will be a joint presentation with SXIP on OpenID going through background and explanation and also looking at PHP code for openid (maybe even some drupal code ;). The second presentation - just me, sorry - will be an introduction to drupal development. Not to give anything away, but there may just be pants involved.

+

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but in a couple weeks I'm headed back to Vancouver to present at the Vancouver PHP Conference, February 12th and 13th. I'll actually be giving two talks (back to back even): the first will be a joint presentation with SXIP on OpenID going through background and explanation and also looking at PHP code for openid (maybe even some drupal code ;). The second presentation - just me, sorry - will be an introduction to drupal development. Not to give anything away, but there may just be pants involved.

I should also note that fellow bryght guy and drupal ninja, Steven Wittens, will be presenting. But, if that's not enough, there will also be some other PHP developers you may have heard of giving talks like Rasmus, Derick Rethans and more - check the schedule for the complete list. Now, go register.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-02-06-democamp12.md b/_posts/2007-02-06-democamp12.md index 39700bc..915aa2c 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-02-06-democamp12.md +++ b/_posts/2007-02-06-democamp12.md @@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ tags: - democamptoronto - torcamp --- -

Despite some rather nasty weather, I managed to make it out (along with over 100 of my good friends) to last night's DemoCampToronto12. Personally, I thought this was one of the better events. It helps to start off with some quality demos. I really enjoyed David Humphrey's overview the work his students have been doing with the Mozilla project. I had the privilege of meeting David at FSOSS, and love the exposure to free software development and community he's providing for his CS students - take note, UofT. It was also great to have Will Pate's overview of Flock, not 'cause I learned anything new about flock, but because it means Will's here (and thanks for dinner Will, it's on me next time!). Kudos also for a good demo from Alec Saunders of Iotum for their presence app for blackberries - I'd love to give it a shot when you've got series60 suppoort! Oh, and they said the magic word of upcoming XMPP integration :)

+

Despite some rather nasty weather, I managed to make it out (along with over 100 of my good friends) to last night's DemoCampToronto12. Personally, I thought this was one of the better events. It helps to start off with some quality demos. I really enjoyed David Humphrey's overview the work his students have been doing with the Mozilla project. I had the privilege of meeting David at FSOSS, and love the exposure to free software development and community he's providing for his CS students - take note, UofT. It was also great to have Will Pate's overview of Flock, not 'cause I learned anything new about flock, but because it means Will's here (and thanks for dinner Will, it's on me next time!). Kudos also for a good demo from Alec Saunders of Iotum for their presence app for blackberries - I'd love to give it a shot when you've got series60 suppoort! Oh, and they said the magic word of upcoming XMPP integration :)

To me, however, the best part of last night's event was the general feeling or realization that there is actually a strong community here. Personally, as someone who can't make it out to all the events, I have found the "Always on Unconference" that we've started lately in the torcamp skype room as a great way to keep in touch, follow up, etc. However, as a relentless advocate for free software and open protocols and standards, I urge the community go pop in to either the #torcamp irc channel or the xmpp group chat - you can find me in both :) Looking forward to the next event!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-02-14-vancouver-php-conference-wrapup.md b/_posts/2007-02-14-vancouver-php-conference-wrapup.md index 0656c4f..438033d 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-02-14-vancouver-php-conference-wrapup.md +++ b/_posts/2007-02-14-vancouver-php-conference-wrapup.md @@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ tags: - conference - openid --- -

Yesterday marked the end of the Vancouver PHP conference, which was a lot of fun and went quite well (I thought). I led two sessions : one on OpenID (with Johnny Bufu from SXIP). For those who don't know, I've been working a lot lately on getting OpenID support into Drupal - and it was nice to demo some of that work. I also covered how to use JanRain's PHP Library to OpenID-enable your PHP app (check out the slides here).

-

I also led a session on beginning Drupal module development. Those of you who attended the DrupalCon in Brussels may remember this as the infamous pants talk - always a crowd pleaser ;)

+

Yesterday marked the end of the Vancouver PHP conference, which was a lot of fun and went quite well (I thought). I led two sessions : one on OpenID (with Johnny Bufu from SXIP). For those who don't know, I've been working a lot lately on getting OpenID support into Drupal - and it was nice to demo some of that work. I also covered how to use JanRain's PHP Library to OpenID-enable your PHP app (check out the slides here).

+

I also led a session on beginning Drupal module development. Those of you who attended the DrupalCon in Brussels may remember this as the infamous pants talk - always a crowd pleaser ;)

Thanks a lot to the organizers and sponsors from Vancouver PHP, I had a great time. Oh, and a special thank to Shane from ActiveState - part of the speaker shwag package was a license to Komodo IDE. I've heard good things about the latest Komodo, can't wait to check it out.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-02-16-open-source-cms-summit-at-yahoo.md b/_posts/2007-02-16-open-source-cms-summit-at-yahoo.md index 88a95eb..90ec0ea 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-02-16-open-source-cms-summit-at-yahoo.md +++ b/_posts/2007-02-16-open-source-cms-summit-at-yahoo.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ tags: - openid - lullabot --- -

OSCMS Summit 2007In my usual you-heard-it-here-first-fashion, I'd like to be the last to announce the upcoming OSCMS Summit 2007 happening March 22-23rd in Sunnyvale, CA. This is actually the 2nd (annual?) event. While the conference last year was a success, it was *very* heavily Drupal-based. I'm actually hoping to see a bit more involvement from the other communities this year, and it's looking like that may well happen.

-

I'd also like to point out a couple of events that you should attend. The first is a session I have proposed on OpenID called: OpenID : In Drupal core and your CMS too. While I'll mostly be covering the implementation for Drupal, I think it has significant relevance for all content management systems. Now that Microsoft and AOL are behind OpenID, the project is definitely gaining momentum, but the more content management systems that support OpenID the better for the long term success of the protocol as a dominant force in the Identity 2.0 space. So, vote for the session, and come on out :)

-

The other event is actually not part of the conference itself, but Dries and I are teaming up with the Lullabots and Civicspace to present what should be a very informative session on Drupal Performance and Scalability. It's not a free event, but highly worth it for anyone running a large Drupal installation, and all the proceeds will go back to the Drupal project.

+

OSCMS Summit 2007In my usual you-heard-it-here-first-fashion, I'd like to be the last to announce the upcoming OSCMS Summit 2007 happening March 22-23rd in Sunnyvale, CA. This is actually the 2nd (annual?) event. While the conference last year was a success, it was *very* heavily Drupal-based. I'm actually hoping to see a bit more involvement from the other communities this year, and it's looking like that may well happen.

+

I'd also like to point out a couple of events that you should attend. The first is a session I have proposed on OpenID called: OpenID : In Drupal core and your CMS too. While I'll mostly be covering the implementation for Drupal, I think it has significant relevance for all content management systems. Now that Microsoft and AOL are behind OpenID, the project is definitely gaining momentum, but the more content management systems that support OpenID the better for the long term success of the protocol as a dominant force in the Identity 2.0 space. So, vote for the session, and come on out :)

+

The other event is actually not part of the conference itself, but Dries and I are teaming up with the Lullabots and Civicspace to present what should be a very informative session on Drupal Performance and Scalability. It's not a free event, but highly worth it for anyone running a large Drupal installation, and all the proceeds will go back to the Drupal project.

Get yourself signed up and see you there!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-02-26-drupal-association-goes-live.md b/_posts/2007-02-26-drupal-association-goes-live.md index f04ee10..31795fe 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-02-26-drupal-association-goes-live.md +++ b/_posts/2007-02-26-drupal-association-goes-live.md @@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ tags: - drupal - association --- -

After what feels like years in the making, the Drupal Association is officially up and running and ready for public unveiling. I'm pretty honoured to have been selected to be amongst the great group of people involved.

-

For those of you who haven't heard, the association has been established to help with funding, infrastructure, promotion, event management, etc. Essentially, we're here to help support the community in it's growth and long term sustainability. It is important to note however that:

-
The Drupal Association has no say in either the planning or development of the Drupal open source project itself.
-

For those with questions, please feel free to read more about us and check out the FAQ and the the statues and regulations.

+

After what feels like years in the making, the Drupal Association is officially up and running and ready for public unveiling. I'm pretty honoured to have been selected to be amongst the great group of people involved.

+

For those of you who haven't heard, the association has been established to help with funding, infrastructure, promotion, event management, etc. Essentially, we're here to help support the community in it's growth and long term sustainability. It is important to note however that:

+
The Drupal Association has no say in either the planning or development of the Drupal open source project itself.
+

For those with questions, please feel free to read more about us and check out the FAQ and the the statues and regulations.

These are exciting times in the Drupal world, but there's still lots to do. Please donate and help us continue to grow!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-05-komodo-4-0-im-trying.md b/_posts/2007-03-05-komodo-4-0-im-trying.md index 57c8986..dba5cd6 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-05-komodo-4-0-im-trying.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-05-komodo-4-0-im-trying.md @@ -11,19 +11,19 @@ tags: - xul - development --- -

One of the nice side effects of speaking last month at the Vancouver PHP conference, was that one of the sponsors, ActiveState, gave out licenses for the latest version of Komodo - their IDE. Now, traditionally, I've had a really hard time using anything other than emacs for software development. I started using emacs in university 10 or so years ago, and it's just comfortable now. But, some drupal developers I know love it, so I'm giving it the ol' college try with Komodo. Here's how it's going:

-

The Good

- -

The less good

- -

All that said, I don't know that I've fully made up my mind yet. Because it's built on mozilla, Komodo is fully extensible - perhaps I could write extensions to make it just how I want it. Right now, however, I feel slow and clumsy in Komodo.

+

One of the nice side effects of speaking last month at the Vancouver PHP conference, was that one of the sponsors, ActiveState, gave out licenses for the latest version of Komodo - their IDE. Now, traditionally, I've had a really hard time using anything other than emacs for software development. I started using emacs in university 10 or so years ago, and it's just comfortable now. But, some drupal developers I know love it, so I'm giving it the ol' college try with Komodo. Here's how it's going:

+

The Good

+ +

The less good

+ +

All that said, I don't know that I've fully made up my mind yet. Because it's built on mozilla, Komodo is fully extensible - perhaps I could write extensions to make it just how I want it. Right now, however, I feel slow and clumsy in Komodo.

I'm going to keep trying - there is part of me that really wants to like it - but I'm not sold yet.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-14-keeping-myself-in-sync.md b/_posts/2007-03-14-keeping-myself-in-sync.md index a9968aa..d88bc51 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-14-keeping-myself-in-sync.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-14-keeping-myself-in-sync.md @@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ tags: - ldap - calendar --- -

Here's what I want: ubiquitous access to my important personal data (schedule, contacts, etc). Now, currently this typically means using web applications for storing and editing your data. This has been working fairly well for me in the case of Google Calendar. The big issue with the web is sometimes I need this data when I'm offline - which, yes, sometimes happens. To circumvent this, I've been using gcal's iCal feed to see things in Apple's iCal (always loved that naming ambiguity). This has the added advantage of allowing me to sync this data to my phone. But, here's my complaint (you knew there'd be one): updates only happen one way. That means I can't add a new meeting from my phone, or even from iCal - I have to do it all from google calendar - which means I have to be online to do it. The situation is worse for contacts because I have yet to find a nice address book tool that will write to LDAP (my centralized store of choice). That said, here are some interesting things I'm playing with now:

-

Spanning Sync is currently my favourite and what motivated me to blog this - and timely as today they released v1.0. I've been playing with it for the last few beta releases. It's worked really well and is *exactly* what I want. The downfall is a $25/year subscription fee (or $65 one time). However, I like it enough that I might just bite the bullet for this one.

-

Address book X LDAP automatically sync's your OS X address book to an LDAP server - built to work with OpenLDAP (yay!). I haven't tried this one yet - it's also not free- but I've used AddressBook4LDAP (from the same author) in the past, so I have high hopes for this.

-

Both of these are OS X only tools (both using the iSync framework), but until I take action on my moving back to regular linux desktop usage - perhaps I should stop making such a big deal out of that fact.

+

Here's what I want: ubiquitous access to my important personal data (schedule, contacts, etc). Now, currently this typically means using web applications for storing and editing your data. This has been working fairly well for me in the case of Google Calendar. The big issue with the web is sometimes I need this data when I'm offline - which, yes, sometimes happens. To circumvent this, I've been using gcal's iCal feed to see things in Apple's iCal (always loved that naming ambiguity). This has the added advantage of allowing me to sync this data to my phone. But, here's my complaint (you knew there'd be one): updates only happen one way. That means I can't add a new meeting from my phone, or even from iCal - I have to do it all from google calendar - which means I have to be online to do it. The situation is worse for contacts because I have yet to find a nice address book tool that will write to LDAP (my centralized store of choice). That said, here are some interesting things I'm playing with now:

+

Spanning Sync is currently my favourite and what motivated me to blog this - and timely as today they released v1.0. I've been playing with it for the last few beta releases. It's worked really well and is *exactly* what I want. The downfall is a $25/year subscription fee (or $65 one time). However, I like it enough that I might just bite the bullet for this one.

+

Address book X LDAP automatically sync's your OS X address book to an LDAP server - built to work with OpenLDAP (yay!). I haven't tried this one yet - it's also not free- but I've used AddressBook4LDAP (from the same author) in the past, so I have high hopes for this.

+

Both of these are OS X only tools (both using the iSync framework), but until I take action on my moving back to regular linux desktop usage - perhaps I should stop making such a big deal out of that fact.

Now, really, it would be nice if iCal and AddressBook (or maybe some elegant replacements from the mozilla community or elsewhere) worked like this out of the box. Sort of like how Mail.app and IMAP work together. I want a server that stores my data (ideally that has a web-based interface for the off time I don't have my own computer handy) with an offline mode. We have LDAP and CalDAV for server technologies... Dear Apple, I say pretty please. Am I the only one? What are other folks using?

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-14-toronto-drupal-users-rock.md b/_posts/2007-03-14-toronto-drupal-users-rock.md index 3c85a32..c2ec673 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-14-toronto-drupal-users-rock.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-14-toronto-drupal-users-rock.md @@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ tags: - drupal - toronto --- -

Last night marked (I'm pretty sure), the largest ever attendance at our monthly Drupal User Group meetings. I'd just like to send out another huge public thanks to everyone that showed up. If we keep growing it looks like we'll soon exceed capacity at our beloved Linuxcaffe... a problem I'm hoping we have soon :) Thanks also to Khalid of 2bits who braved the 401 in from Waterloo to give a nice presentation building drupal sites with cck, views and panels.

-

For those who may be interested, we're in the process of ramping up planning for the next DrupalCampToronto. We're looking for space (ideally for 100-150 people) over two days - May 11 & 12, 2007. Anyone interested in helping to plan, organize and/or present please get on the organizers mailing list.

+

Last night marked (I'm pretty sure), the largest ever attendance at our monthly Drupal User Group meetings. I'd just like to send out another huge public thanks to everyone that showed up. If we keep growing it looks like we'll soon exceed capacity at our beloved Linuxcaffe... a problem I'm hoping we have soon :) Thanks also to Khalid of 2bits who braved the 401 in from Waterloo to give a nice presentation building drupal sites with cck, views and panels.

+

For those who may be interested, we're in the process of ramping up planning for the next DrupalCampToronto. We're looking for space (ideally for 100-150 people) over two days - May 11 & 12, 2007. Anyone interested in helping to plan, organize and/or present please get on the organizers mailing list.

Thanks again everyone - see you all next month!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-27-oscms-2007-over-so-soon.md b/_posts/2007-03-27-oscms-2007-over-so-soon.md index e429030..de3c29e 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-27-oscms-2007-over-so-soon.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-27-oscms-2007-over-so-soon.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - oscms - oscms2007 --- -

I'm currently sitting at SFO - feeling what I've come to recognize as my "typical" post Drupal (related) conference feeling of utter exhaustion and renewed excitement and energy in the project. I can't even believe how much happened and that we did 2 days of conference, an all-day seminar and an all-day hackfest already. What a whirlwind.

-

For those unable to attend, we missed you! You can check out the flickr photos as well as drupal.org's events section for slides, notes and recaps (where I'll be posting my things likely tomorrow when I'm home again). Hopefully we'll see you at a future event!

+

I'm currently sitting at SFO - feeling what I've come to recognize as my "typical" post Drupal (related) conference feeling of utter exhaustion and renewed excitement and energy in the project. I can't even believe how much happened and that we did 2 days of conference, an all-day seminar and an all-day hackfest already. What a whirlwind.

+

For those unable to attend, we missed you! You can check out the flickr photos as well as drupal.org's events section for slides, notes and recaps (where I'll be posting my things likely tomorrow when I'm home again). Hopefully we'll see you at a future event!

To those of you there - thanks a whole lot for making it such a great event and a rockin' community. It was great seeing everyone I hadn't seen in a while and nice putting some new faces to names. See you all soon!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-28-oscms-2007-openid-presentation-slides.md b/_posts/2007-03-28-oscms-2007-openid-presentation-slides.md index 528723d..b974a49 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-28-oscms-2007-openid-presentation-slides.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-28-oscms-2007-openid-presentation-slides.md @@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ tags: - oscms - oscms2007 --- -

Almost a week ago now (really?), I had a chance to present OpenID to the attendees of the OSCMS Summit 2007. I think it went fairly well based on the feedback I received (at least what folks were willing to say to my face). Those of you who have seen Dick Hardt present will recognize the presentation style - and the inspiration - for which I am grateful. Hopefully, it offered a good introduction to digital identity for the folks who have huge potential to influence adoption of OpenID - namely the authors of open source content management systems.

+

Almost a week ago now (really?), I had a chance to present OpenID to the attendees of the OSCMS Summit 2007. I think it went fairly well based on the feedback I received (at least what folks were willing to say to my face). Those of you who have seen Dick Hardt present will recognize the presentation style - and the inspiration - for which I am grateful. Hopefully, it offered a good introduction to digital identity for the folks who have huge potential to influence adoption of OpenID - namely the authors of open source content management systems.

Slides are attached. Thanks to everyone who attended!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-03-30-nokia-n91-os-x-address-book-anyone.md b/_posts/2007-03-30-nokia-n91-os-x-address-book-anyone.md index 6bae8e8..cbde16e 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-03-30-nokia-n91-os-x-address-book-anyone.md +++ b/_posts/2007-03-30-nokia-n91-os-x-address-book-anyone.md @@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ tags: - n91 - address book --- -

OK. This might seem silly, but I *really* want my n91 to pair with the Mac OS X address book. Why? Because this would allow me to send and receive SMS messages without picking up my phone, as well as making calls. Trust me, it's a nice feature - especially since the n91 has a nice charging cradle where I could just set it and leave it. Sadly, it appears it just doesn't work.

-

It looks like these Address Book Phone Plugins from Nova Media claim to fix the problem. However, they want my hard earned money before I can even try to see if it works with my phone. Can anyone confirm that they work with the n91? Or should I just wing it? Are there other options?

+

OK. This might seem silly, but I *really* want my n91 to pair with the Mac OS X address book. Why? Because this would allow me to send and receive SMS messages without picking up my phone, as well as making calls. Trust me, it's a nice feature - especially since the n91 has a nice charging cradle where I could just set it and leave it. Sadly, it appears it just doesn't work.

+

It looks like these Address Book Phone Plugins from Nova Media claim to fix the problem. However, they want my hard earned money before I can even try to see if it works with my phone. Can anyone confirm that they work with the n91? Or should I just wing it? Are there other options?

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-02-networked-growl-notifications.md b/_posts/2007-04-02-networked-growl-notifications.md index 1211aad..c30cf8f 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-02-networked-growl-notifications.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-02-networked-growl-notifications.md @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ tags: - growl - itunes --- -

I finally experimented with a neat feature in one of my favourite apps for mac os x, growl. There is a very promising looking "Networking" tab in the preference pane for growl. I've often thought that this could be a cool feature, but it was non-obvious how to make it work. Essentially, I have found that it's easiest to play my music off of my mac mini - it has my 100gb collection mounted locally and is directly connected to my speakers - but I'd still like the song-change notification from growl when working on my powerbook (silly, perhaps, but I like it). So, with a little help on IRC from The_Tick, here's how:

- +

I finally experimented with a neat feature in one of my favourite apps for mac os x, growl. There is a very promising looking "Networking" tab in the preference pane for growl. I've often thought that this could be a cool feature, but it was non-obvious how to make it work. Essentially, I have found that it's easiest to play my music off of my mac mini - it has my 100gb collection mounted locally and is directly connected to my speakers - but I'd still like the song-change notification from growl when working on my powerbook (silly, perhaps, but I like it). So, with a little help on IRC from The_Tick, here's how:

+

That's it. It is that easy. The part that had me stuck was I was expecting the "Add computer" button to do something on my mini. Not true. It's all automatically discovered via bonjour. I was warned that it can be buggy and you can create infinite loops if you try to do two-way notification, but otherwise it's pretty cool if you ask me.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-09-wireless-rates-in-canada.md b/_posts/2007-04-09-wireless-rates-in-canada.md index 2c9ec00..9c5d259 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-09-wireless-rates-in-canada.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-09-wireless-rates-in-canada.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags: - rogers - canada --- -

Alternatively titled "up yours, Rogers". I've had a post like this brewing for a long while about how completely out of whack wireless rates are in Canada compared to the rest of the world (including, shamefull, the US). I grumble every time I get notice of my most recent Rogers. I'm not a telecom-industry expert, what I know is that my friends in Europe and the US (and even when my brother was in Rwanda!) pay a whole lot less for their mobile phones than I do - a lot less. Well, sure enough, TorCamper Thomas Purves posted an interesting graph on his Flickr stream clearly illustrating just how.... messed up the situation is:

-

messed up canadian wireless data rates

-

A picture is worth a thousand words...

+

Alternatively titled "up yours, Rogers". I've had a post like this brewing for a long while about how completely out of whack wireless rates are in Canada compared to the rest of the world (including, shamefull, the US). I grumble every time I get notice of my most recent Rogers. I'm not a telecom-industry expert, what I know is that my friends in Europe and the US (and even when my brother was in Rwanda!) pay a whole lot less for their mobile phones than I do - a lot less. Well, sure enough, TorCamper Thomas Purves posted an interesting graph on his Flickr stream clearly illustrating just how.... messed up the situation is:

+

messed up canadian wireless data rates

+

A picture is worth a thousand words...

UPDATE: Tom has posted more on his site. Depressing, really.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-13-drupal-camp-toronto-ii.md b/_posts/2007-04-13-drupal-camp-toronto-ii.md index 8525b97..888c86a 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-13-drupal-camp-toronto-ii.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-13-drupal-camp-toronto-ii.md @@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ tags: - toronto - drupalcamp --- -

The second annual DrupalCampToronto is all set to go next month! I'm looking forward to this event - as it should be a good chance to see lots of great Drupal folks without having to hop on a plane. I've also been trying to help grow the local community in Toronto and this should be an awesome event for that. We're booked for 2 days - May 11th and 12th (Friday and Saturday) in 4 rooms at the Bahen Centre at the University of Toronto.

+

The second annual DrupalCampToronto is all set to go next month! I'm looking forward to this event - as it should be a good chance to see lots of great Drupal folks without having to hop on a plane. I've also been trying to help grow the local community in Toronto and this should be an awesome event for that. We're booked for 2 days - May 11th and 12th (Friday and Saturday) in 4 rooms at the Bahen Centre at the University of Toronto.

Full details, registration and session proposals are all being handled at http://drupalcamptoronto.org/ . Hope to see ya there!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-17-myopenid-relaunch.md b/_posts/2007-04-17-myopenid-relaunch.md index 91dcd45..bc0a15b 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-17-myopenid-relaunch.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-17-myopenid-relaunch.md @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ tags: - security - janrain --- -

I noticed via Scott Kveton's blog this morning that myOpenID got a bit of a refresh this morning. Along with a (very pleasant) new visual re-design, they've officially launched a feature which, imo, is worth noting. Specifically, myOpenID now supports certificate-based authentication:

-
-Phishing is always on the minds of members of the OpenID community and we’re excited to announce the release of our client-side certificate functionality. Client-side certificates leverage the tried-and-true technology known as transport layer security (also known as TLS). This essentially the same technology you probably know of as SSL that is used to secure millions of transactions on the web every single day. With the click of a mouse you can configure your own unique certificate right in your web browser (yep, Firefox, IE, Safari and even Opera). This then gives you the ability to authenticate quickly and very securely from your machine without the use of a password. -
-

As I mentioned in my presentation last month, this is an important aspect of OpenID - namely the choice, and option for stronger, more secure methods of authentication and making that choice user-centric.

+

I noticed via Scott Kveton's blog this morning that myOpenID got a bit of a refresh this morning. Along with a (very pleasant) new visual re-design, they've officially launched a feature which, imo, is worth noting. Specifically, myOpenID now supports certificate-based authentication:

+
+Phishing is always on the minds of members of the OpenID community and we’re excited to announce the release of our client-side certificate functionality. Client-side certificates leverage the tried-and-true technology known as transport layer security (also known as TLS). This essentially the same technology you probably know of as SSL that is used to secure millions of transactions on the web every single day. With the click of a mouse you can configure your own unique certificate right in your web browser (yep, Firefox, IE, Safari and even Opera). This then gives you the ability to authenticate quickly and very securely from your machine without the use of a password. +
+

As I mentioned in my presentation last month, this is an important aspect of OpenID - namely the choice, and option for stronger, more secure methods of authentication and making that choice user-centric.

Kudos to JanRain - keep up the great work!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-23-openid-at-democamptoronto13.md b/_posts/2007-04-23-openid-at-democamptoronto13.md index bbcbaf8..585a818 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-23-openid-at-democamptoronto13.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-23-openid-at-democamptoronto13.md @@ -9,17 +9,17 @@ tags: - democamptoronto - openid --- -

DemoCampTorontoTomorrow night I've volunteered to subject myself to the scorn and ridicule of the local TorCamp community by sticking out my neck and doing a demo at DemoCampToronto13. Actually, it was this post by David Crow that inspired me, specifically:

-
-And if I have to sit through a demonstration of a tag cloud or web login form, so help me. -
-

So, naturally, I'll be doing a presentation exclusively about login forms... and I'll probably throw in a tag cloud for laughs. As for the 6 questions, here's what to expect:

-
    -
  1. Have you attended a previous DemoCamp? Yes. I've blogged about my attendance in at least 7, 11 and 12... I'm pretty sure I was at others as well...
    2. -
  2. Who are you? Previous experience, what makes you qualified for us to listen to, etc. I'm James. My qualifications: I'm currently the guy working on bringing OpenID support to Drupal core. I've also been involved with "Identity2.0" implementations dating back to SXIP's 1.0 protocol back in 2004 or so. Most recently, I presented OpenID to the attendees of the OSCMS summit in Sunnyvale.
    3. -
  3. What does your product do? Er, well my "product" is the better way to login (tm).
    4. -
  4. What hard problem, interesting insight, or cool feature will you be demonstrating? Well, we're gonna look at eliminating the registration form from the internet and solving Identity2.0.
    5. -
  5. What are you hoping to get out of presenting? Well, aside from the guaranteed love, respect and admiration of my peers - I'd like to raise OpenID awareness amongst local developers and inspire them to OpenID-enable their applications. I'd also like to gauge interest in doing something like an OpenID Mashpit locally.
    6. -
  6. What does the community gain by hearing you present? Hopefully a better idea (or initial awareness) of what OpenID is all about - what problems it solves (and what it doesn't) - and the inspiration to start using it for themselves and in their applications. That's right, all in 5 minutes.
    7. -
+

DemoCampTorontoTomorrow night I've volunteered to subject myself to the scorn and ridicule of the local TorCamp community by sticking out my neck and doing a demo at DemoCampToronto13. Actually, it was this post by David Crow that inspired me, specifically:

+
+And if I have to sit through a demonstration of a tag cloud or web login form, so help me. +
+

So, naturally, I'll be doing a presentation exclusively about login forms... and I'll probably throw in a tag cloud for laughs. As for the 6 questions, here's what to expect:

+
    +
  1. Have you attended a previous DemoCamp? Yes. I've blogged about my attendance in at least 7, 11 and 12... I'm pretty sure I was at others as well...
    2. +
  2. Who are you? Previous experience, what makes you qualified for us to listen to, etc. I'm James. My qualifications: I'm currently the guy working on bringing OpenID support to Drupal core. I've also been involved with "Identity2.0" implementations dating back to SXIP's 1.0 protocol back in 2004 or so. Most recently, I presented OpenID to the attendees of the OSCMS summit in Sunnyvale.
    3. +
  3. What does your product do? Er, well my "product" is the better way to login (tm).
    4. +
  4. What hard problem, interesting insight, or cool feature will you be demonstrating? Well, we're gonna look at eliminating the registration form from the internet and solving Identity2.0.
    5. +
  5. What are you hoping to get out of presenting? Well, aside from the guaranteed love, respect and admiration of my peers - I'd like to raise OpenID awareness amongst local developers and inspire them to OpenID-enable their applications. I'd also like to gauge interest in doing something like an OpenID Mashpit locally.
    6. +
  6. What does the community gain by hearing you present? Hopefully a better idea (or initial awareness) of what OpenID is all about - what problems it solves (and what it doesn't) - and the inspiration to start using it for themselves and in their applications. That's right, all in 5 minutes.
    7. +

There you have it. If you haven't yet, sign up and I'll see you there.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-04-25-im-an-evangelist.md b/_posts/2007-04-25-im-an-evangelist.md index 7bb5aa7..11000b4 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-04-25-im-an-evangelist.md +++ b/_posts/2007-04-25-im-an-evangelist.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags: - openid - evangelism --- -

I had a great time with my OpenID demo last night at DemoCampToronto13. Thanks to all who attended and for the good feedback I've received so far!

-

As I was recalling some of the conversations I found myself in last night, though, I realized - at some point I became a tech evangelist. The one conversation that stuck out in my mind where I was asked "So, is this sort of evangelism what you do for a living?" To which I responded, "Ha! No!" I mean, I'm a developer, right? I write code.. or, at least, isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing?

-

It certainly hasn't been conscious (although, perhaps I should pretend that it has), but if I look at some of the Drupal presentations I've given, things like DrupalCampToronto and the Toronto user group, plus some of the OpenID talks I've done lately... it might just be true. Heck, I even like doing it!

+

I had a great time with my OpenID demo last night at DemoCampToronto13. Thanks to all who attended and for the good feedback I've received so far!

+

As I was recalling some of the conversations I found myself in last night, though, I realized - at some point I became a tech evangelist. The one conversation that stuck out in my mind where I was asked "So, is this sort of evangelism what you do for a living?" To which I responded, "Ha! No!" I mean, I'm a developer, right? I write code.. or, at least, isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing?

+

It certainly hasn't been conscious (although, perhaps I should pretend that it has), but if I look at some of the Drupal presentations I've given, things like DrupalCampToronto and the Toronto user group, plus some of the OpenID talks I've done lately... it might just be true. Heck, I even like doing it!

walkah, tech evangelist : coming to a conference/camp/etc near you.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-05-07-oh-noes-walkah-got-pwned.md b/_posts/2007-05-07-oh-noes-walkah-got-pwned.md index 3c99069..740fc9d 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-05-07-oh-noes-walkah-got-pwned.md +++ b/_posts/2007-05-07-oh-noes-walkah-got-pwned.md @@ -9,16 +9,16 @@ tags: - security - downtime --- -

So, faithful readers, as you may have noticed if you tried to visit this site - I got "hacked". All of the sites hosted here had their index.php files replaced with a defacement message reminding us, amongst other things, that "Hack is not a crime". Since lots of folks have asked - specifically if it was drupal related - and since the information might be generally useful for the internets, I've decided to post a brief recap here.

-

First off: in a move I'd never seen before, the guys removed *all* log files from the system which makes figuring out exactly what happened pretty darned tricky. In fact, they had removed anything with 'log' in the name - things like logwatch and logrotate binaries were also removed. So, what I say here is largely speculation based on the few remaining traces I found left behind. As such, here is my theory (perhaps the cracking team will be nice enough to post comments with clarifications ;):

-

The only real clue how they got in was the following in /tmp: - -drwxr-xr-x 3 www-data www-data 4.0K Apr 28 16:24 .sc/ - -That might not mean a whole lot - except that the datestamp is right and the directory is owned by www-data : the uid of my apache process. This strongly suggests a web-based exploit. Since pretty much all that runs on my server is Drupal it looks like we've got a problem...

-

I had an old Drupal 4.4 site still running on this server (sudden-thoughts.com - down until further notice). Drupal 4.4 is susceptible to the (fairly) infamous XML-RPC hole. I had manually removed xmlrpc.php from this site, however, it was back - it looks like in a brain cramp moment by yours truly I had cvs up'ed the directory which brought the file back (as part of my routine drupal site maintenance on my server).

-

Now, that part is speculation, but a likely guess. Without my apache logs I can't even accurately guess which site was targetted... but 'statistics' module is enabled on most sites and showed nothing suspicious in accesslog or watchdog... thus suggesting xmlrpc as a likely candidate. All other sites run Drupal 4.7 or 5 - with all security updates applied. So, if it wasn't that site, then there is a new remote-execution vulnerability in drupal that we've not yet heard about on the Drupal security team. Possible, but unlikely given that the other glaring hole was available.

-

Remote code execution is a serious problem, but usually containable from a web application if you run apache as a non-privileged user (as i do). So, how then were they able to overwrite all the index.php files?

-

My server runs Debian Etch (the latest release) with all security updates applied. So, again, unless they were using 2 un-resolved exploits - it leaves one likely option : the kernel. I was running an old, custom compiled 2.4 kernel - I mean *really* old, from 2003. Said kernel is vulnerable to things like a ptrace exploit for privilege escalation. My theory is that something like this was used to gain root access. From there, they were able to overwrite all index.php files. They also installed the "shv5" rootkit - which modifies a bunch of system binaries (ls, ifconfig, nestat, etc) - detected by both rkhunter and chkrootkit. More information on that available via google.

-

So, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. So, is Drupal insecure? No. Not if you're good about running recent, maintained versions and keeping an eye on security announcements. The problem here was more accurately due to lackadaisical administration on my part - both with the drupal version and the stale kernel. I know better ... chalk it up as a "shoemaker's son" scenario.

+

So, faithful readers, as you may have noticed if you tried to visit this site - I got "hacked". All of the sites hosted here had their index.php files replaced with a defacement message reminding us, amongst other things, that "Hack is not a crime". Since lots of folks have asked - specifically if it was drupal related - and since the information might be generally useful for the internets, I've decided to post a brief recap here.

+

First off: in a move I'd never seen before, the guys removed *all* log files from the system which makes figuring out exactly what happened pretty darned tricky. In fact, they had removed anything with 'log' in the name - things like logwatch and logrotate binaries were also removed. So, what I say here is largely speculation based on the few remaining traces I found left behind. As such, here is my theory (perhaps the cracking team will be nice enough to post comments with clarifications ;):

+

The only real clue how they got in was the following in /tmp: + +drwxr-xr-x 3 www-data www-data 4.0K Apr 28 16:24 .sc/ + +That might not mean a whole lot - except that the datestamp is right and the directory is owned by www-data : the uid of my apache process. This strongly suggests a web-based exploit. Since pretty much all that runs on my server is Drupal it looks like we've got a problem...

+

I had an old Drupal 4.4 site still running on this server (sudden-thoughts.com - down until further notice). Drupal 4.4 is susceptible to the (fairly) infamous XML-RPC hole. I had manually removed xmlrpc.php from this site, however, it was back - it looks like in a brain cramp moment by yours truly I had cvs up'ed the directory which brought the file back (as part of my routine drupal site maintenance on my server).

+

Now, that part is speculation, but a likely guess. Without my apache logs I can't even accurately guess which site was targetted... but 'statistics' module is enabled on most sites and showed nothing suspicious in accesslog or watchdog... thus suggesting xmlrpc as a likely candidate. All other sites run Drupal 4.7 or 5 - with all security updates applied. So, if it wasn't that site, then there is a new remote-execution vulnerability in drupal that we've not yet heard about on the Drupal security team. Possible, but unlikely given that the other glaring hole was available.

+

Remote code execution is a serious problem, but usually containable from a web application if you run apache as a non-privileged user (as i do). So, how then were they able to overwrite all the index.php files?

+

My server runs Debian Etch (the latest release) with all security updates applied. So, again, unless they were using 2 un-resolved exploits - it leaves one likely option : the kernel. I was running an old, custom compiled 2.4 kernel - I mean *really* old, from 2003. Said kernel is vulnerable to things like a ptrace exploit for privilege escalation. My theory is that something like this was used to gain root access. From there, they were able to overwrite all index.php files. They also installed the "shv5" rootkit - which modifies a bunch of system binaries (ls, ifconfig, nestat, etc) - detected by both rkhunter and chkrootkit. More information on that available via google.

+

So, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. So, is Drupal insecure? No. Not if you're good about running recent, maintained versions and keeping an eye on security announcements. The problem here was more accurately due to lackadaisical administration on my part - both with the drupal version and the stale kernel. I know better ... chalk it up as a "shoemaker's son" scenario.

Thanks to Steven who was the first to notify me (via SMS) that something was up. Of course, other speculations are welcome in the comments :)

diff --git a/_posts/2007-05-07-thunderbird-goes-2-0.md b/_posts/2007-05-07-thunderbird-goes-2-0.md index 6714e19..000c769 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-05-07-thunderbird-goes-2-0.md +++ b/_posts/2007-05-07-thunderbird-goes-2-0.md @@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ tags: - thunderbird - growl --- -

Get Thunderbird!I know I'm a couple weeks late posting this, but the fine folks at Mozilla finally released Thunderbird 2.0. Now, I've wasted a lot of your time here in the past waffling between mail clients... but I've been using thunderbird consistently since the 2.0 betas and I think it might finally stick. Here's why (for me): -

- -

Also, while not a core feature, I'm very pleased with the new Growl add-on for new message notification (I had been using YAMB before which wasn't optimal.

+

Get Thunderbird!I know I'm a couple weeks late posting this, but the fine folks at Mozilla finally released Thunderbird 2.0. Now, I've wasted a lot of your time here in the past waffling between mail clients... but I've been using thunderbird consistently since the 2.0 betas and I think it might finally stick. Here's why (for me): +

+ +

Also, while not a core feature, I'm very pleased with the new Growl add-on for new message notification (I had been using YAMB before which wasn't optimal.

Still on my wishlist: sender pictures (preferably from LDAP userpicture or mac address book integration) and better offline detection for OS X. Otherwise, I love it.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-05-17-late-drupal-camp-toronto-ii-recap.md b/_posts/2007-05-17-late-drupal-camp-toronto-ii-recap.md index 293455f..3d6543b 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-05-17-late-drupal-camp-toronto-ii-recap.md +++ b/_posts/2007-05-17-late-drupal-camp-toronto-ii-recap.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - toronto - drupalcamp --- -

As usual, I'm several days late blogging things - but Drupal Camp Toronto II came and went last weekend. I'd say it went off without a hitch - but I'd be lying. I definitely have a new-found (or rediscovered?) admiration for event organizers... it ain't easy. On that note, I'd like to send out a *huge* thank you to those that made it happen, specifically: Phillip Smith, Colan Schwartz, Dan Kurtz and Alan Dixon. Also, big thanks to Substance Communications for coming through with great tshirts in record time - I'll be recommending them to everyone doing tshirts in Toronto!

-

I also wanted to mention that I've uploaded slides for 3 of my 4 presentations: Welcome and Drupal Overview, OpenID and Intro to Module Development. I also did a semi-impromptu session, Building an event site in an hour which outlined the building of drupalcamptoronto.org (which was based on the work from the oscms summit site). I've had several inquiries about notes - list of modules, cck and views exports, etc. I'm actually working on a full, longer write-up on that... so stay tuned! :)

+

As usual, I'm several days late blogging things - but Drupal Camp Toronto II came and went last weekend. I'd say it went off without a hitch - but I'd be lying. I definitely have a new-found (or rediscovered?) admiration for event organizers... it ain't easy. On that note, I'd like to send out a *huge* thank you to those that made it happen, specifically: Phillip Smith, Colan Schwartz, Dan Kurtz and Alan Dixon. Also, big thanks to Substance Communications for coming through with great tshirts in record time - I'll be recommending them to everyone doing tshirts in Toronto!

+

I also wanted to mention that I've uploaded slides for 3 of my 4 presentations: Welcome and Drupal Overview, OpenID and Intro to Module Development. I also did a semi-impromptu session, Building an event site in an hour which outlined the building of drupalcamptoronto.org (which was based on the work from the oscms summit site). I've had several inquiries about notes - list of modules, cck and views exports, etc. I'm actually working on a full, longer write-up on that... so stay tuned! :)

Thanks again, everyone! See you all next year (or at a user group meeting soon!). diff --git a/_posts/2007-05-25-facebook-apps-and-the-importance-of-identity-2-0.md b/_posts/2007-05-25-facebook-apps-and-the-importance-of-identity-2-0.md index 42bdad2..77075df 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-05-25-facebook-apps-and-the-importance-of-identity-2-0.md +++ b/_posts/2007-05-25-facebook-apps-and-the-importance-of-identity-2-0.md @@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ tags: - web20 - f8 --- -

Those who have seen me speak about OpenID lately have noticed that I have become very fond of using "inspiration" from Dick Hardt's *awesome* Identity 2.0 presentation. One of the key points Dick makes in his talk is to point to Web 2.0 to drive Identity 2.0 forward. With the blogosphere a buzz (all a-twitter?) this week over the launch of the facebook platform (or "f8"), I think this reality is about to blow up in the spotlight.

-

This may date Dick's presentation (OSCON 2005), but in it he points to the issue of then social networking golden child Friendster and their feature for adding your amazon wishlist to your profile. The key point being: you gave Friendster your username and password to amazon - thus implicitly releasing full access to your amazon account to Friendster. So, in keeping things current, I have been using Facebook as my example social network - specifically their feature to import contacts from Gmail/Hotmail/etc:

-

facebook email

-

We can all see the problem here, right?

-

So, enter the Facebook platform and a whole slew of developers and service providers anxious to take advantage of that amazing Facebook user base. So now we get things like this:

-

facebook twitter

-

To enable twitter support (as Facebook tells me 12 of my friends have already done), I have to give facebook my twitter account details?!

-

Now, the point of this post isn't to harp on Facebook. It's a great service and I use it and enjoy it. And really, they don't have a choice (do they?)- they want to offer great features and there needs to be some way to link user accounts across these multiple services. This is exactly (one of) the problems that Identity 2.0 aims to solve.

-

The problem here is that we, the users, don't own our identity on the internet. There are walled gardens and data silos of information about us. Twitter and Facebook both have directory entries - a username and a password - that they use to identify me but there is no correlation that the directory entries match. I can't verify that they do without giving one system full access to the other to verify that the username on each system actually correspond to the same person. This is where we need user-centric identity. This is "why OpenID".

+

Those who have seen me speak about OpenID lately have noticed that I have become very fond of using "inspiration" from Dick Hardt's *awesome* Identity 2.0 presentation. One of the key points Dick makes in his talk is to point to Web 2.0 to drive Identity 2.0 forward. With the blogosphere a buzz (all a-twitter?) this week over the launch of the facebook platform (or "f8"), I think this reality is about to blow up in the spotlight.

+

This may date Dick's presentation (OSCON 2005), but in it he points to the issue of then social networking golden child Friendster and their feature for adding your amazon wishlist to your profile. The key point being: you gave Friendster your username and password to amazon - thus implicitly releasing full access to your amazon account to Friendster. So, in keeping things current, I have been using Facebook as my example social network - specifically their feature to import contacts from Gmail/Hotmail/etc:

+

facebook email

+

We can all see the problem here, right?

+

So, enter the Facebook platform and a whole slew of developers and service providers anxious to take advantage of that amazing Facebook user base. So now we get things like this:

+

facebook twitter

+

To enable twitter support (as Facebook tells me 12 of my friends have already done), I have to give facebook my twitter account details?!

+

Now, the point of this post isn't to harp on Facebook. It's a great service and I use it and enjoy it. And really, they don't have a choice (do they?)- they want to offer great features and there needs to be some way to link user accounts across these multiple services. This is exactly (one of) the problems that Identity 2.0 aims to solve.

+

The problem here is that we, the users, don't own our identity on the internet. There are walled gardens and data silos of information about us. Twitter and Facebook both have directory entries - a username and a password - that they use to identify me but there is no correlation that the directory entries match. I can't verify that they do without giving one system full access to the other to verify that the username on each system actually correspond to the same person. This is where we need user-centric identity. This is "why OpenID".

diff --git a/_posts/2007-05-30-camping-in-toronto.md b/_posts/2007-05-30-camping-in-toronto.md index 23544e9..acd5beb 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-05-30-camping-in-toronto.md +++ b/_posts/2007-05-30-camping-in-toronto.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags: - enterprisecampttw - barcampttw --- -

I suppose it's no surprise given that it's Toronto Tech Week this week, but my week so far has been filled with more TorCamp events than my typical week. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend my first official BarCampToronto. Seems kind of odd, given that I go to lots of events with the local "barcamp" crowd, and I've been to other official barcamps, but this was my first one in Toronto (technically BarCampToronto #4).

-

As I've related to some folks who've asked already, I thought BarCamp went really well. My entire morning was packed with very interesting conversation : talk of a Canadian mobile users advocacy group (to help instigate change in our wireless data rates, followed by an excellent discussion about Mozilla with Mike Beltzner, and then a pretty killer debate/discussion about the new Facebook developer platform. Perhaps it was just me, but I was pretty well spent by lunch so the afternoon seemed a little less jam packed. I did lead a session on OpenID which spurred some interesting questions and discussion, but after that I kinda just hung out.

-

Yesterday, I spent the day at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference down at the Metro Convention Centre. While sometimes referred to as "enterprise camp", this was nobody's unconference. Despite some scheduling snafus (we ended up having to hold both tracks in one room and things ended up over an hour off schedule), I think it went well. Of course, I was there doing my .

+

I suppose it's no surprise given that it's Toronto Tech Week this week, but my week so far has been filled with more TorCamp events than my typical week. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend my first official BarCampToronto. Seems kind of odd, given that I go to lots of events with the local "barcamp" crowd, and I've been to other official barcamps, but this was my first one in Toronto (technically BarCampToronto #4).

+

As I've related to some folks who've asked already, I thought BarCamp went really well. My entire morning was packed with very interesting conversation : talk of a Canadian mobile users advocacy group (to help instigate change in our wireless data rates, followed by an excellent discussion about Mozilla with Mike Beltzner, and then a pretty killer debate/discussion about the new Facebook developer platform. Perhaps it was just me, but I was pretty well spent by lunch so the afternoon seemed a little less jam packed. I did lead a session on OpenID which spurred some interesting questions and discussion, but after that I kinda just hung out.

+

Yesterday, I spent the day at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference down at the Metro Convention Centre. While sometimes referred to as "enterprise camp", this was nobody's unconference. Despite some scheduling snafus (we ended up having to hold both tracks in one room and things ended up over an hour off schedule), I think it went well. Of course, I was there doing my .

Sadly, however, I think that about wraps my participation in tech week. No, for those who keep asking, I will not be attending Mesh today and tomorrow. Maybe next year...

diff --git a/_posts/2007-06-22-drupal-6-and-openid.md b/_posts/2007-06-22-drupal-6-and-openid.md index 5af5d51..67fc48b 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-06-22-drupal-6-and-openid.md +++ b/_posts/2007-06-22-drupal-6-and-openid.md @@ -7,12 +7,12 @@ tags: - drupal - openid --- -

Well, it's been a couple days and the news has been on the front page of drupal.org, but I am very excited by the fact that the Drupal 6 will officially support OpenID. It's taken a lot of work, so it feels really really nice to have it done. I wanted to post to (hopefully) answer some common questions that I've received and seen about the module:

-

From an OpenID perspective: the module implements OpenID Auth 2.0 Implementer's Draft 11 (i.e. latest spec at the time of this writing) - which means it should work against *any* OpenID provider currently "in the wild" - including those that only implement version 1.x of the spec. Only relying party support (for now) is in Drupal core.

-

The implementation is all Drupal native code - no third party libraries were used. This point has been discussed several times and I'm not about to rehash that here. However, the final code footprint for openid.module (including css/js/etc) is ~1100 lines of code - compared to the JanRain PHP library which is over 10 times that size.

-

There is work towards OpenID provider code for Drupal as well ... I will be posting more here as that code shapes up for Drupal 5. There are also some code on it's way to implement some of the OpenID extensions (i.e. Simple Registration and Attribute Exchange).

-

I'd like to say thanks to Dries, all my colleagues at Bryght and everyone in the community for their support, encouragement and code reviews. I really believe OpenID - and digital identity - is an important part of moving the web forward and it's great to have the support of so much of the Drupal community in that. To quote Dries:

-
-Let this be the day where we help revolutionize the online society, and the way websites and web services interoperate. Or something. -
+

Well, it's been a couple days and the news has been on the front page of drupal.org, but I am very excited by the fact that the Drupal 6 will officially support OpenID. It's taken a lot of work, so it feels really really nice to have it done. I wanted to post to (hopefully) answer some common questions that I've received and seen about the module:

+

From an OpenID perspective: the module implements OpenID Auth 2.0 Implementer's Draft 11 (i.e. latest spec at the time of this writing) - which means it should work against *any* OpenID provider currently "in the wild" - including those that only implement version 1.x of the spec. Only relying party support (for now) is in Drupal core.

+

The implementation is all Drupal native code - no third party libraries were used. This point has been discussed several times and I'm not about to rehash that here. However, the final code footprint for openid.module (including css/js/etc) is ~1100 lines of code - compared to the JanRain PHP library which is over 10 times that size.

+

There is work towards OpenID provider code for Drupal as well ... I will be posting more here as that code shapes up for Drupal 5. There are also some code on it's way to implement some of the OpenID extensions (i.e. Simple Registration and Attribute Exchange).

+

I'd like to say thanks to Dries, all my colleagues at Bryght and everyone in the community for their support, encouragement and code reviews. I really believe OpenID - and digital identity - is an important part of moving the web forward and it's great to have the support of so much of the Drupal community in that. To quote Dries:

+
+Let this be the day where we help revolutionize the online society, and the way websites and web services interoperate. Or something. +

Rock.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-10-thirty.md b/_posts/2007-07-10-thirty.md index 4edbc49..8ae70b4 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-10-thirty.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-10-thirty.md @@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ tags: - personal - "30" --- -

I've never made a big thing about birthdays - especially my own - but, for several reasons, this birthday means a lot to me. It's a very real marker for the close of an unbelievable decade in my life and the opening of an exciting new chapter.

- -

When I look back at my 20s, I usually have a hard time believing it was all one decade... so much happened and so much changed. In hindsight, perhaps, it was clear going in that things would be intense: two months after my 20th birthday my son, Andrew, was born.

- -

The fast-forward version of the ten years that followed goes something like this: I got married, finished my Computer Science degree at UofT, became a Canadian permanent resident, started my career, bought a house, had a second child - my beautiful daughter, Camryn, co-founded a company, bought an SUV,bought a new, bigger house... then I hit what all my astrologically-inclined friends tell me was my Saturn return... I got separated, moved out, sold the house, tried to learn to cook, lost my father (and all the unanswered questions he took with him), started wearing glasses, rethought my career and tried to figure out 'dating'.

- -

There are certainly days where I feel like an entire adult life was crammed into my first decade as an adult...

- -

So, here I sit at 30... everything feels new, terrifying and exhilarating. Things feel entirely up in the air, in constant flux and on a clear, intentional path. I'm an old man with my whole life ahead of me.

- -

One thing is clear, the change is on. I've marked that here with a bit of a 'relaunch' of this site, such as it is, but the real action is offline. So...

- +

I've never made a big thing about birthdays - especially my own - but, for several reasons, this birthday means a lot to me. It's a very real marker for the close of an unbelievable decade in my life and the opening of an exciting new chapter.

+ +

When I look back at my 20s, I usually have a hard time believing it was all one decade... so much happened and so much changed. In hindsight, perhaps, it was clear going in that things would be intense: two months after my 20th birthday my son, Andrew, was born.

+ +

The fast-forward version of the ten years that followed goes something like this: I got married, finished my Computer Science degree at UofT, became a Canadian permanent resident, started my career, bought a house, had a second child - my beautiful daughter, Camryn, co-founded a company, bought an SUV,bought a new, bigger house... then I hit what all my astrologically-inclined friends tell me was my Saturn return... I got separated, moved out, sold the house, tried to learn to cook, lost my father (and all the unanswered questions he took with him), started wearing glasses, rethought my career and tried to figure out 'dating'.

+ +

There are certainly days where I feel like an entire adult life was crammed into my first decade as an adult...

+ +

So, here I sit at 30... everything feels new, terrifying and exhilarating. Things feel entirely up in the air, in constant flux and on a clear, intentional path. I'm an old man with my whole life ahead of me.

+ +

One thing is clear, the change is on. I've marked that here with a bit of a 'relaunch' of this site, such as it is, but the real action is offline. So...

+

Happy Birthday, me. Here's to the next 10.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-14-macports-vs-fink.md b/_posts/2007-07-14-macports-vs-fink.md index 510b0ae..68c9574 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-14-macports-vs-fink.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-14-macports-vs-fink.md @@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ tags: - macports - fink --- -

In setting up a new mac os x machine for development, I seem to fiddle with the various choices out there. In one respect, I really like linux for having 'one way' (per distribution of course) for installing all of your system packages. On the mac, however, there are a couple choices:

- -

Traditionally, I've used Fink - as I generally use Debian on servers, so I'm very familiar with apt-get, dpkg, etc. However, fink, perhaps like debian proper, seems to lag with packages in stable, and you typically have to use the ports-like fink command anyway.

-

This time around, too, I noticed that MacPorts is now hosted by Mac OS Forge: making it a (semi-)official Apple project. This probably bodes well for it's future and longevity. There's a port for php5, apache2 and mysql5... so I've decided to give it a whirl.

-What are others using? +

In setting up a new mac os x machine for development, I seem to fiddle with the various choices out there. In one respect, I really like linux for having 'one way' (per distribution of course) for installing all of your system packages. On the mac, however, there are a couple choices:

+ +

Traditionally, I've used Fink - as I generally use Debian on servers, so I'm very familiar with apt-get, dpkg, etc. However, fink, perhaps like debian proper, seems to lag with packages in stable, and you typically have to use the ports-like fink command anyway.

+

This time around, too, I noticed that MacPorts is now hosted by Mac OS Forge: making it a (semi-)official Apple project. This probably bodes well for it's future and longevity. There's a port for php5, apache2 and mysql5... so I've decided to give it a whirl.

+What are others using? diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-14-meet-macbook-mingus.md b/_posts/2007-07-14-meet-macbook-mingus.md index b576250..3b5f3aa 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-14-meet-macbook-mingus.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-14-meet-macbook-mingus.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ tags: - apple - macbookpro --- -

Well, I must say... 30 is off to a great start. I have spent this birthday week feeling overwhelmed by love and support. Thanks to everyone involved :) To cap what is has been an utterly fantastic week, I'm now the proud new owner of a shiny macbook pro. Check a huge one off the ol' wishlist. I'm excited - *very* excited - to be in the land of intel. Parallels here I come!

- -

First impressions? Um, this thing is fast. So much faster than anything I've owned so far. Wow.

- +

Well, I must say... 30 is off to a great start. I have spent this birthday week feeling overwhelmed by love and support. Thanks to everyone involved :) To cap what is has been an utterly fantastic week, I'm now the proud new owner of a shiny macbook pro. Check a huge one off the ol' wishlist. I'm excited - *very* excited - to be in the land of intel. Parallels here I come!

+ +

First impressions? Um, this thing is fast. So much faster than anything I've owned so far. Wow.

+

So, like any self-respecting geek.. I belaboured the machine naming process and finally settled on "mingus" (yes after the Jazz great). Let the games begin!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-18-plaxo-3-in-sync-and-openid-enabled.md b/_posts/2007-07-18-plaxo-3-in-sync-and-openid-enabled.md index b2bc3f4..55abd96 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-18-plaxo-3-in-sync-and-openid-enabled.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-18-plaxo-3-in-sync-and-openid-enabled.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags: - sync - plaxo --- -

As I've lamented here before, I have had a hard time finding a successful, efficient way to keep all of my personal data (largely calendar and contact data) in sync across my systems and devices. Well, I had registered for a service known as Plaxo a while back to check it out. I can't exactly remember why it didn't stick at the time, but when I first saw Scoble talking about a "Big 3.0 release", I thought I'd give it another shot. Here's the good news...

-

Plaxo is currently successfully keeping my Mac OS X address book (for subsequent syncing to my phone), iCal, Thunderbird and Google Calendar in sync! I have to say, the Thunderbird support is pretty huge... Thunderbird LDAP support has never been what I would like, so this is a great intermediary.

-

However, the news that pushed me to blog about my Plaxo usage is this: (as of it looks like yesterday) Plaxo is OpenID enabled!! Awesome! Nice addition to Basecamp and Blinksale in services that I actually use heavily that are OpenID enabled.

+

As I've lamented here before, I have had a hard time finding a successful, efficient way to keep all of my personal data (largely calendar and contact data) in sync across my systems and devices. Well, I had registered for a service known as Plaxo a while back to check it out. I can't exactly remember why it didn't stick at the time, but when I first saw Scoble talking about a "Big 3.0 release", I thought I'd give it another shot. Here's the good news...

+

Plaxo is currently successfully keeping my Mac OS X address book (for subsequent syncing to my phone), iCal, Thunderbird and Google Calendar in sync! I have to say, the Thunderbird support is pretty huge... Thunderbird LDAP support has never been what I would like, so this is a great intermediary.

+

However, the news that pushed me to blog about my Plaxo usage is this: (as of it looks like yesterday) Plaxo is OpenID enabled!! Awesome! Nice addition to Basecamp and Blinksale in services that I actually use heavily that are OpenID enabled.

Thumbs up for Plaxo. Now... if I could just figure out how to get it to sync my address book pictures...

diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-26-drupal-awarded-openid-bounty.md b/_posts/2007-07-26-drupal-awarded-openid-bounty.md index 32ad832..92ec365 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-26-drupal-awarded-openid-bounty.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-26-drupal-awarded-openid-bounty.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - openid - oidf --- -

OK, so I knew it was coming, but I'm super excited to announce that Drupal was amongst the first 3 projects to be awarded the $5000 USD bounty. The award comes for the work I was involved in bringing OpenID support to Drupal 6. Interestingly, Drupal was the only PHP-based application awarded in this initial round, the other two being Plone (written in Python) and DotNetNuke (written in VB.NET).

-

Before you start asking me for a beer, the money is being sent directly to the Drupal Association. :)

+

OK, so I knew it was coming, but I'm super excited to announce that Drupal was amongst the first 3 projects to be awarded the $5000 USD bounty. The award comes for the work I was involved in bringing OpenID support to Drupal 6. Interestingly, Drupal was the only PHP-based application awarded in this initial round, the other two being Plone (written in Python) and DotNetNuke (written in VB.NET).

+

Before you start asking me for a beer, the money is being sent directly to the Drupal Association. :)

Thank you to the OpenID Foundation, specifically Scott Kveton, for putting together the bounty. And thanks to everyone in the Drupal community for continuing to be on the front-end of new technologies.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-07-29-not-so-bryght-anymore.md b/_posts/2007-07-29-not-so-bryght-anymore.md index 26cbdb0..d212556 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-07-29-not-so-bryght-anymore.md +++ b/_posts/2007-07-29-not-so-bryght-anymore.md @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ tags: - work - change --- -

File this one under things-i-should-have-blogged-weeks-ago, but it's been brought to my attention that perhaps I should say something "official":

-

I have left Bryght.

-

Yes, it's true... after three years with the company I co-founded - the first drupal company - I am moving on.

-

There is little gossip involved, I'm sorry to report. Bryght has a great team full of some of the smartest people in the drupal community... good friends and people I love and respect. They're also up to some very cool stuff. Sometimes, though, we all just need a change of scenery.

-

So to answer the common questions: yes, I'll still be (hopefully even more) actively involved in the Drupal community; yes, you did read/see/hear me involved in that; yes, I agree that's an interesting sounding project; no, I probably don't have time to help you with it right now.

+

File this one under things-i-should-have-blogged-weeks-ago, but it's been brought to my attention that perhaps I should say something "official":

+

I have left Bryght.

+

Yes, it's true... after three years with the company I co-founded - the first drupal company - I am moving on.

+

There is little gossip involved, I'm sorry to report. Bryght has a great team full of some of the smartest people in the drupal community... good friends and people I love and respect. They're also up to some very cool stuff. Sometimes, though, we all just need a change of scenery.

+

So to answer the common questions: yes, I'll still be (hopefully even more) actively involved in the Drupal community; yes, you did read/see/hear me involved in that; yes, I agree that's an interesting sounding project; no, I probably don't have time to help you with it right now.

Here's to what lies ahead.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-08-02-komodo-ide-take-two.md b/_posts/2007-08-02-komodo-ide-take-two.md index 31db8c7..b01f336 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-08-02-komodo-ide-take-two.md +++ b/_posts/2007-08-02-komodo-ide-take-two.md @@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ tags: - komodo - development --- -

I blogged a while back about trying out komodo 4.0, the development IDE from ActiveState. In the end, to be honest, I just couldn't really get into it. One of my biggest reasons for not sticking with it was performance: it's tough to learn a new app if it's routinely slow and unresponsive. However, JeffG pointed out in a comment that Komodo worked much better on Intel Macs than PPC. So, I thought I'd give it a whirl on the new macbook pro.

-

The difference in performance is amazing. I can actually use this tool now as it was meant to be used! With apologies to Sacha and all the emacs people, I've been using Komodo IDE for all of my Drupal development for the past 2 weeks and I like it. I know it's some sort of lost geek cred, but function name completion (not just for PHP functions, but Drupal internal functions as well!), integrated debugging and all that stuff really can make your life easier when it's working well.

-

But, naturally, wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't have a gripe or two - although these ones are minimal. So dear lazyweb:

-

I love the 'open/find toolbar' - but I can't for the life of me find a keyboard shortcut to focus the open file box there. (i.e. ctrl-i works for the find part, but what's the equivalent for the "open" box?). The one adjustment in moving from emacs is actually having to use a mouse. :(

-

The other one I actually asked in the support forum (which runs drupal, of course), but the issue is for all of my client work I have drupal checkouts from CVS managed in subversion repositories. I actually, in these cases, would like Komodo to ignore the CVS meta-files and treat the project as using SVN. Any hints?

+

I blogged a while back about trying out komodo 4.0, the development IDE from ActiveState. In the end, to be honest, I just couldn't really get into it. One of my biggest reasons for not sticking with it was performance: it's tough to learn a new app if it's routinely slow and unresponsive. However, JeffG pointed out in a comment that Komodo worked much better on Intel Macs than PPC. So, I thought I'd give it a whirl on the new macbook pro.

+

The difference in performance is amazing. I can actually use this tool now as it was meant to be used! With apologies to Sacha and all the emacs people, I've been using Komodo IDE for all of my Drupal development for the past 2 weeks and I like it. I know it's some sort of lost geek cred, but function name completion (not just for PHP functions, but Drupal internal functions as well!), integrated debugging and all that stuff really can make your life easier when it's working well.

+

But, naturally, wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't have a gripe or two - although these ones are minimal. So dear lazyweb:

+

I love the 'open/find toolbar' - but I can't for the life of me find a keyboard shortcut to focus the open file box there. (i.e. ctrl-i works for the find part, but what's the equivalent for the "open" box?). The one adjustment in moving from emacs is actually having to use a mouse. :(

+

The other one I actually asked in the support forum (which runs drupal, of course), but the issue is for all of my client work I have drupal checkouts from CVS managed in subversion repositories. I actually, in these cases, would like Komodo to ignore the CVS meta-files and treat the project as using SVN. Any hints?

Anyway, Shane, Jeff and the whole Komodo crew: I just might be a convert. Congrats on your great work :)

diff --git a/_posts/2007-08-02-mac-os-x-from-the-command-line.md b/_posts/2007-08-02-mac-os-x-from-the-command-line.md index b9c753e..a25a7ec 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-08-02-mac-os-x-from-the-command-line.md +++ b/_posts/2007-08-02-mac-os-x-from-the-command-line.md @@ -8,15 +8,15 @@ tags: - cli - adduser --- -

Dear Apple, I love you, but sometimes you drive me up the wall.

-

I've been playing around with a little project to set up sandbox drupal sites on a mac mini (more details on that later) ... that's easy stuff, but the annoying part is: I'd like to share directories via Samba which needs system accounts. The trick is, I want to add all of this via a simple little shell script. No problem right? Simple one line call to useradd... right?! Noooooooooo. Not in OS X. No, in OS X this is how you add user accounts from the commandline (which, of course, is under "Porting unix/linux applications"):

-
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix UserShell /bin/bash
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix RealName "Porting Unix 
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix UniqueID 503
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix PrimaryGroupID 1000
-# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix NFSHomeDirectory /Local/Users/portingunix
-# passwd portingunix
-
+

Dear Apple, I love you, but sometimes you drive me up the wall.

+

I've been playing around with a little project to set up sandbox drupal sites on a mac mini (more details on that later) ... that's easy stuff, but the annoying part is: I'd like to share directories via Samba which needs system accounts. The trick is, I want to add all of this via a simple little shell script. No problem right? Simple one line call to useradd... right?! Noooooooooo. Not in OS X. No, in OS X this is how you add user accounts from the commandline (which, of course, is under "Porting unix/linux applications"):

+
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix UserShell /bin/bash
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix RealName "Porting Unix 
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix UniqueID 503
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix PrimaryGroupID 1000
+# dscl / -create /Users/portingunix NFSHomeDirectory /Local/Users/portingunix
+# passwd portingunix
+

I dunno... I think that's just annoying. Perhaps NetInfo has some beauty that I'm just don't understand, but, couldn't Apple at least ship with some standard useradd wrappers or something?

diff --git a/_posts/2007-08-29-happy-5th-birthday-camryn.md b/_posts/2007-08-29-happy-5th-birthday-camryn.md index 683b8bb..ed09f92 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-08-29-happy-5th-birthday-camryn.md +++ b/_posts/2007-08-29-happy-5th-birthday-camryn.md @@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ tags: - happy birthday - "5" --- -

camryn ear's piercedI've always had a thing about significant numbers - 07/07/07, my 30th birthday, etc - today's significant number is 5. My "baby" girl, Camryn, turned 5 today. Her ears are pierced, she rides a two-wheeler, and starts kindergarten in less than a week. My baby isn't so much a baby anymore...

+

camryn ear's piercedI've always had a thing about significant numbers - 07/07/07, my 30th birthday, etc - today's significant number is 5. My "baby" girl, Camryn, turned 5 today. Her ears are pierced, she rides a two-wheeler, and starts kindergarten in less than a week. My baby isn't so much a baby anymore...

Camryn, you are the sweetest girl in the whole wide world, and I love you with my whole heart. Happy Birthday! Now, if you could only read and your dad would let you use his computer...

diff --git a/_posts/2007-09-15-off-to-barcelona.md b/_posts/2007-09-15-off-to-barcelona.md index f161559..ac82757 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-09-15-off-to-barcelona.md +++ b/_posts/2007-09-15-off-to-barcelona.md @@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ tags: - openid - barcelona --- -

DrupalCon 2007 BarcelonaI haven't quite made it to "my bags are packed and I'm ready to go", but I'm only a load of laundry away. Tonight I'm flying off to Spain (for the first time ever!) to take part in the biggest Drupal Conference yet! Boy we've sure come a long way since a handful of us met in a basement in Antwerp just 2.5 years ago...

-

As usual, I'll be pretty busy. The following sessions should be interesting ;) :

- -

I'll also be sitting on the Drupal Association panel and hope to rock out on the Live podcast (those are always fun). It should be a busy week! :)

-

I'm super excited to see all the awesome people in the community - especially some of the new fathers. But, I'm *really* excited to be bringing my son Andrew with me. I love getting to travel as part of the Drupal community and am so excited to get to share a new adventure with my favourite guy on the planet.

+

DrupalCon 2007 BarcelonaI haven't quite made it to "my bags are packed and I'm ready to go", but I'm only a load of laundry away. Tonight I'm flying off to Spain (for the first time ever!) to take part in the biggest Drupal Conference yet! Boy we've sure come a long way since a handful of us met in a basement in Antwerp just 2.5 years ago...

+

As usual, I'll be pretty busy. The following sessions should be interesting ;) :

+ +

I'll also be sitting on the Drupal Association panel and hope to rock out on the Live podcast (those are always fun). It should be a busy week! :)

+

I'm super excited to see all the awesome people in the community - especially some of the new fathers. But, I'm *really* excited to be bringing my son Andrew with me. I love getting to travel as part of the Drupal community and am so excited to get to share a new adventure with my favourite guy on the planet.

Back to packing...

diff --git a/_posts/2007-09-24-drupalcon-barcelona-wrap-up.md b/_posts/2007-09-24-drupalcon-barcelona-wrap-up.md index eaf43ec..b301aa1 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-09-24-drupalcon-barcelona-wrap-up.md +++ b/_posts/2007-09-24-drupalcon-barcelona-wrap-up.md @@ -11,27 +11,27 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupal association --- -walkah socks -

-430+ attendees. 5 sessions. 4 days. One hell of a time. -

-

-I have to say, I might be addicted. The post-drupal conference mixture of utter exhaustion (plus jetlag) and renewed energy and excitement is a feeling that I've really grown to look forward to twice a year. This is one great community full of great people. i love you all!

-

My personal highlights:

- -

As promised, I gave 3 presentations... all of which went well (I thought):

- -

In addition to those three, I also took part in a couple of panels: the live podcast was a lot of fun - go check it out!

-

I was also on the Drupal Association panel. This was interesting - it was clear that as a young organization - we still have a lot to learn and a lot to do. I was sympathetic to the concerns raised, but there has been a lot of discussion amongst association members since the panel and hopefully we'll see some positive changes forthcoming.

+walkah socks +

+430+ attendees. 5 sessions. 4 days. One hell of a time. +

+

+I have to say, I might be addicted. The post-drupal conference mixture of utter exhaustion (plus jetlag) and renewed energy and excitement is a feeling that I've really grown to look forward to twice a year. This is one great community full of great people. i love you all!

+

My personal highlights:

+ +

As promised, I gave 3 presentations... all of which went well (I thought):

+ +

In addition to those three, I also took part in a couple of panels: the live podcast was a lot of fun - go check it out!

+

I was also on the Drupal Association panel. This was interesting - it was clear that as a young organization - we still have a lot to learn and a lot to do. I was sympathetic to the concerns raised, but there has been a lot of discussion amongst association members since the panel and hopefully we'll see some positive changes forthcoming.

*phew* ok, that's enough for now... although I've left out a bunch. Jetlag calls... g'night planet drupal!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-10-01-james-at-lullabot-dot-com.md b/_posts/2007-10-01-james-at-lullabot-dot-com.md index 431cf00..52050d8 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-10-01-james-at-lullabot-dot-com.md +++ b/_posts/2007-10-01-james-at-lullabot-dot-com.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ tags: - lullabot - work --- -lullabot -

It may be old news to some of you, but it's at last officially official. I'm a full-time lullabot!

-

When I left Bryght at the beginning of the summer, I wasn't sure what the future would hold. But when Matt approached me about potentially collaborating more on workshops and seminars (as we'd done in Sunnyvale), I had a great feeling about it. After spending the summer working with the 'bots and loving the summer workshop series, I was pretty sure I'd found a new home.

-

My primary role at Lullabot will be to continue to grow and expand the workshop/training end of the business. We've been throwing around a bunch of really exciting ideas that you'll be hearing all about soon. Until then, join us in Providence for our last workshops of 2007!

+lullabot +

It may be old news to some of you, but it's at last officially official. I'm a full-time lullabot!

+

When I left Bryght at the beginning of the summer, I wasn't sure what the future would hold. But when Matt approached me about potentially collaborating more on workshops and seminars (as we'd done in Sunnyvale), I had a great feeling about it. After spending the summer working with the 'bots and loving the summer workshop series, I was pretty sure I'd found a new home.

+

My primary role at Lullabot will be to continue to grow and expand the workshop/training end of the business. We've been throwing around a bunch of really exciting ideas that you'll be hearing all about soon. Until then, join us in Providence for our last workshops of 2007!

Team Lullabot is amazing and I'm proud to be a part of it.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-10-04-addition-kills-children.md b/_posts/2007-10-04-addition-kills-children.md index c9c5a18..ccb0247 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-10-04-addition-kills-children.md +++ b/_posts/2007-10-04-addition-kills-children.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/addition-kills-children tags: [] --- -

In the name of posterity, I thought I'd try to capture one of those funny moments with kids... you know, the kind of thing a real blogger would do. Here goes:

-

Last weekend, the kids and I had some errands to run so we headed out in the car. As if I needed another reminder that I just don't enjoy living in the suburbs... there was an anti-abortion / pro-life rally happening at the major intersection outside of my subdivision. The predominant sign amongst the crowd (which had manned all four corners) read "Abortion kills children". I grumbled as I waited for the light to turn - expecting to have to explain the signs. As the light turned green and we drove away, Andrew said to me:

-

"Dad, those people were crazy! They had signs that said 'Addition kills children'!"

-

I love you, Andrew.

+

In the name of posterity, I thought I'd try to capture one of those funny moments with kids... you know, the kind of thing a real blogger would do. Here goes:

+

Last weekend, the kids and I had some errands to run so we headed out in the car. As if I needed another reminder that I just don't enjoy living in the suburbs... there was an anti-abortion / pro-life rally happening at the major intersection outside of my subdivision. The predominant sign amongst the crowd (which had manned all four corners) read "Abortion kills children". I grumbled as I waited for the light to turn - expecting to have to explain the signs. As the light turned green and we drove away, Andrew said to me:

+

"Dad, those people were crazy! They had signs that said 'Addition kills children'!"

+

I love you, Andrew.

diff --git a/_posts/2007-10-09-jaiku-and-google.md b/_posts/2007-10-09-jaiku-and-google.md index 9b41aac..9d84248 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-10-09-jaiku-and-google.md +++ b/_posts/2007-10-09-jaiku-and-google.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - jaiku - xmpp --- -Google + Jaiku -

Congrats, guys! This is exciting... Jaiku, for those of you who don't know, is like twitter (and if you don't know twitter... well SHEESH!) as a system for providing "updates" - or "microblogging" - only cooler. It also happens to be where two of my smartest friends termie and ralphm work. Jaiku, amongst other cool things, has bit better concept of 'presense' than twitter and are doing some cool work with XMPP on the backend.

+Google + Jaiku +

Congrats, guys! This is exciting... Jaiku, for those of you who don't know, is like twitter (and if you don't know twitter... well SHEESH!) as a system for providing "updates" - or "microblogging" - only cooler. It also happens to be where two of my smartest friends termie and ralphm work. Jaiku, amongst other cool things, has bit better concept of 'presense' than twitter and are doing some cool work with XMPP on the backend.

Early speculation as to what GOOG has in mind for Jaiku is just that... early speculation. I'll be anxiously waiting to see what comes from the acquisition. In the meantime, as a happy side-effect, Andy is moving back to SF... can't wait for our next adventures in California :)

diff --git a/_posts/2007-10-09-ontario-linux-fest-dug-to-and-lullabot-in-toronto.md b/_posts/2007-10-09-ontario-linux-fest-dug-to-and-lullabot-in-toronto.md index 75563d9..413d505 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-10-09-ontario-linux-fest-dug-to-and-lullabot-in-toronto.md +++ b/_posts/2007-10-09-ontario-linux-fest-dug-to-and-lullabot-in-toronto.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tags: - ontariolinux - olf --- -

This is gonna be a fun week! Starting on Wednesday afternoon, most of team lullabot will be coming to town for some work and hopefully a bit of fun.

-

If you missed the announcement, we're going to start things off on Thursday with the Toronto Drupal User Group meetup - for regulars, please remember we're at 215 Spadina (4th floor) this month and on Thursday (not Tuesday).

-

Friday night through Saturday night we'll be taking part in the Ontario Linux Fest. We've sponsored a welcome party on Friday night (and, yes, the location is so secret I don't even know where!). Angie is speaking Saturday morning and we'll be hanging out, probably in the Drupal BoF room (check the schedule). There's still space, so register now!

+

This is gonna be a fun week! Starting on Wednesday afternoon, most of team lullabot will be coming to town for some work and hopefully a bit of fun.

+

If you missed the announcement, we're going to start things off on Thursday with the Toronto Drupal User Group meetup - for regulars, please remember we're at 215 Spadina (4th floor) this month and on Thursday (not Tuesday).

+

Friday night through Saturday night we'll be taking part in the Ontario Linux Fest. We've sponsored a welcome party on Friday night (and, yes, the location is so secret I don't even know where!). Angie is speaking Saturday morning and we'll be hanging out, probably in the Drupal BoF room (check the schedule). There's still space, so register now!

Come on out and say "hi"!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-10-19-free-software-and-open-source-symposium-2007.md b/_posts/2007-10-19-free-software-and-open-source-symposium-2007.md index 7a1dfab..bce1274 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-10-19-free-software-and-open-source-symposium-2007.md +++ b/_posts/2007-10-19-free-software-and-open-source-symposium-2007.md @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags: - fsoss - "2007" --- -

It's mid-October which means it's nearly time for one of Toronto's best run tech conferences again: Seneca's Free Software and Open Source Symposium happens next week, October 25-26. I had the pleasure of being asked to speak last year, and even managed to get asked back this year. Naturally, I'll be talking about Drupal... twice:

-

Drupal Hands-on will be a workshop-style crash course in building sites with Drupal. I really dig doing these things, it's amazing how much you can do with Drupal in a few hours.

-

Drupal under the hood is my "formal" presentation. Essentially, I'm going to give a brief hour-long overview of Drupal's internal architecture and hopefully inspire some hackers in the audience to dive in.

-

Some might say that alone is reason enough to attend, but if you're not convinced check out the rest of the awesome speakers. I can't say it enough, I think this is a really well done event and there's still room so register now!.

+

It's mid-October which means it's nearly time for one of Toronto's best run tech conferences again: Seneca's Free Software and Open Source Symposium happens next week, October 25-26. I had the pleasure of being asked to speak last year, and even managed to get asked back this year. Naturally, I'll be talking about Drupal... twice:

+

Drupal Hands-on will be a workshop-style crash course in building sites with Drupal. I really dig doing these things, it's amazing how much you can do with Drupal in a few hours.

+

Drupal under the hood is my "formal" presentation. Essentially, I'm going to give a brief hour-long overview of Drupal's internal architecture and hopefully inspire some hackers in the audience to dive in.

+

Some might say that alone is reason enough to attend, but if you're not convinced check out the rest of the awesome speakers. I can't say it enough, I think this is a really well done event and there's still room so register now!.

FSOSS 2007 diff --git a/_posts/2007-11-17-buh-bye-burbs.md b/_posts/2007-11-17-buh-bye-burbs.md index cae9840..7e66113 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-11-17-buh-bye-burbs.md +++ b/_posts/2007-11-17-buh-bye-burbs.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags: - toronto - life --- - -

For those of you who hadn't heard: two weeks ago (on November 1st), I moved. I have finally said "so long" to the suburbs. If you're familiar with Toronto, I'm now living on Gladstone Ave, just north of Bloor (near Dovercourt Park). I have to admit, I'm pretty darn happy about it.

-

Despite having been on the road for 11 of my first 15 days in my new place, I feel like I'm already starting to settle in a bit. I've already met 4 neighbors, am walking distance from pretty much everything I need (including Rosie's convenience on the corner which just so happens to stock organic dairy and organic coffee!) and it turns out a handful of friends already live in the 'hood.

+ +

For those of you who hadn't heard: two weeks ago (on November 1st), I moved. I have finally said "so long" to the suburbs. If you're familiar with Toronto, I'm now living on Gladstone Ave, just north of Bloor (near Dovercourt Park). I have to admit, I'm pretty darn happy about it.

+

Despite having been on the road for 11 of my first 15 days in my new place, I feel like I'm already starting to settle in a bit. I've already met 4 neighbors, am walking distance from pretty much everything I need (including Rosie's convenience on the corner which just so happens to stock organic dairy and organic coffee!) and it turns out a handful of friends already live in the 'hood.

More soon I'm sure, but expect to see me around the city (and at the office) a whole lot more now!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-12-04-democamptoronto16.md b/_posts/2007-12-04-democamptoronto16.md index d7f4bcd..e735914 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-12-04-democamptoronto16.md +++ b/_posts/2007-12-04-democamptoronto16.md @@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ tags: - torcamp - democamptoronto16 --- -

I finally made it out to another DemoCampToronto last night (my first since presenting back at DemoCampToronto13) and my first at the Toronto Board of Trade. I have to say, I'm continually amazed at how these events have continued to grow. Major congrats to the "stewards" (c'mon, guys, you're the organizers ... really) : David, Jay, Joey, Leila and Greg.

-

That said, the character of the event sure has changed... grown up? Sold out? Not sure. They're certainly *big*. There's lots of time spent on the sponsors (who's generosity I don't mean to belittle). There's little time for questions to the demo'ers. Few of the new people stuck around for drinks after the event and there were people in suits!?! Maybe I'm crazy, but perhaps the disruptive, un-conference events need to get disrupted?

-

There were some interesting demos/talks last night. My highlights were:

- -

I will say, it was great to see everyone and it was really nice to not have to drive home afterwards ;) See y'all again in January (I hope).

+

I finally made it out to another DemoCampToronto last night (my first since presenting back at DemoCampToronto13) and my first at the Toronto Board of Trade. I have to say, I'm continually amazed at how these events have continued to grow. Major congrats to the "stewards" (c'mon, guys, you're the organizers ... really) : David, Jay, Joey, Leila and Greg.

+

That said, the character of the event sure has changed... grown up? Sold out? Not sure. They're certainly *big*. There's lots of time spent on the sponsors (who's generosity I don't mean to belittle). There's little time for questions to the demo'ers. Few of the new people stuck around for drinks after the event and there were people in suits!?! Maybe I'm crazy, but perhaps the disruptive, un-conference events need to get disrupted?

+

There were some interesting demos/talks last night. My highlights were:

+ +

I will say, it was great to see everyone and it was really nice to not have to drive home afterwards ;) See y'all again in January (I hope).

diff --git a/_posts/2007-12-04-dries-and-acquia-my-two-cents.md b/_posts/2007-12-04-dries-and-acquia-my-two-cents.md index 115e0ed..010c49f 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-12-04-dries-and-acquia-my-two-cents.md +++ b/_posts/2007-12-04-dries-and-acquia-my-two-cents.md @@ -9,18 +9,18 @@ tags: - acquia - buytaert --- -

As most Drupal people are aware, Dries announced his new company, Acquia. While I'm certainly not breaking the story, I have had several discussions with members of the community since the announcement that make me feel compelled to post here (imagine that!).

- -

First off, I'd like to publicly say: Congrats, Dries! I wish you nothing but the best, dude, and look forward to chance to finally work together in the "real world" ;)

- -

As someone who has been involved in Drupal companies as long as there has been such a thing, I've been asked quite a few times for my thoughts on the big news - specifically, the potential impact it will have on other Drupal companies. So here it is: this is a good thing for all of us running Drupal companies.

- -

I think Dries has done a good job explaining the impact that Acquia won't have on the community: there will be no forks, no proprietary Drupal, and Acquia doesn't own Drupal (the trademark or the domains). Dries is the same guy who has volunteered his spare time to running this community and who established the Drupal Association with the specific mandate that the technical direction of the code remains with the community... Acquia doesn't change this.

- -

For those of us running services companies (which is most of us), Acquia's presence only brings added awareness and additional products to our market. There will be plenty of chances to work together as well has several indirect benefits. For those who haven't read it: Acquia is a product company. For Drupal product companies (and I can only think of two), there is no scarcity here. By attracting investors and others to the market, Acquia will raise the visibility for everyone and ultimately grow the market. The RedHat analogy Dries provides is a good one: RedHat has grown (if not created) the space for linux companies with their presence and success.

- -

The most exciting part? Dries is going to be working full-time on Drupal!

- -

Which brings me to my only concern: that Dries doesn't get to work on Drupal full-time (or worst case - at all). Starting up a company can be hard and it is Dries' first. This is where Jay, his advisers and his future staff will be extremely important. Surrounding yourself with great people is crucial. I believe Dries will continue do so.

- +

As most Drupal people are aware, Dries announced his new company, Acquia. While I'm certainly not breaking the story, I have had several discussions with members of the community since the announcement that make me feel compelled to post here (imagine that!).

+ +

First off, I'd like to publicly say: Congrats, Dries! I wish you nothing but the best, dude, and look forward to chance to finally work together in the "real world" ;)

+ +

As someone who has been involved in Drupal companies as long as there has been such a thing, I've been asked quite a few times for my thoughts on the big news - specifically, the potential impact it will have on other Drupal companies. So here it is: this is a good thing for all of us running Drupal companies.

+ +

I think Dries has done a good job explaining the impact that Acquia won't have on the community: there will be no forks, no proprietary Drupal, and Acquia doesn't own Drupal (the trademark or the domains). Dries is the same guy who has volunteered his spare time to running this community and who established the Drupal Association with the specific mandate that the technical direction of the code remains with the community... Acquia doesn't change this.

+ +

For those of us running services companies (which is most of us), Acquia's presence only brings added awareness and additional products to our market. There will be plenty of chances to work together as well has several indirect benefits. For those who haven't read it: Acquia is a product company. For Drupal product companies (and I can only think of two), there is no scarcity here. By attracting investors and others to the market, Acquia will raise the visibility for everyone and ultimately grow the market. The RedHat analogy Dries provides is a good one: RedHat has grown (if not created) the space for linux companies with their presence and success.

+ +

The most exciting part? Dries is going to be working full-time on Drupal!

+ +

Which brings me to my only concern: that Dries doesn't get to work on Drupal full-time (or worst case - at all). Starting up a company can be hard and it is Dries' first. This is where Jay, his advisers and his future staff will be extremely important. Surrounding yourself with great people is crucial. I believe Dries will continue do so.

+

I'm excited for Dries as a supporter, a colleague and a friend. The adventure continues!

diff --git a/_posts/2007-12-06-openid-2-0-and-attribute-exchange-1-0.md b/_posts/2007-12-06-openid-2-0-and-attribute-exchange-1-0.md index 73ed8e1..9dcfd8b 100644 --- a/_posts/2007-12-06-openid-2-0-and-attribute-exchange-1-0.md +++ b/_posts/2007-12-06-openid-2-0-and-attribute-exchange-1-0.md @@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ tags: - identity20 - ax --- -

At last! Good news last night from the Internet Identity Workshop in California: OpenID 2.0 is finally final! I agree with Simon that the most interesting new thing in 2.0 is likely directed identity. And, yes, Drupal 6 already supports it.

+

At last! Good news last night from the Internet Identity Workshop in California: OpenID 2.0 is finally final! I agree with Simon that the most interesting new thing in 2.0 is likely directed identity. And, yes, Drupal 6 already supports it.

However, one of the more interesting things (I think) is the final release of Attribute Exchange 1.0. I think attribute exchange (think profile data sharing and updating - and digitally signed assertions) represents the killer next step in online identity. Kudos to everyone involved! Time to get crackin' on some code :)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-01-02-bring-it-on-2008.md b/_posts/2008-01-02-bring-it-on-2008.md index 85c1f68..97ac32b 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-01-02-bring-it-on-2008.md +++ b/_posts/2008-01-02-bring-it-on-2008.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags: - new year - resolutions --- -

Happy New Year, everyone! I'd thought I'd do one of those popular 2007 recap / 2008 resolution posts... largely for my own future interest.

-

2007 was a big year for me (again). I left Bryght (the company I co-founded in 2004) and a few months later happily joined Lullabot (my absolute favourite job to date). My divorce finalized and I moved. I sold a car and a house. I spent a lot of time working on OpenID (particularly getting it into core for Drupal 6). I traveled to Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Providence and Boston. Camryn turned 5, Andrew turned 10, and I turned 30. *Phew*

-

I'm really looking forward to 2008. I have very high hopes. Work is busy, exciting and looks like it should be a very successful year. I'm happy, healthy and loving life. I want to drink more water, sleep more, see more of the world and meet more people. With day #1 of the year just finished, I'm off to a good start and ready for more.

+

Happy New Year, everyone! I'd thought I'd do one of those popular 2007 recap / 2008 resolution posts... largely for my own future interest.

+

2007 was a big year for me (again). I left Bryght (the company I co-founded in 2004) and a few months later happily joined Lullabot (my absolute favourite job to date). My divorce finalized and I moved. I sold a car and a house. I spent a lot of time working on OpenID (particularly getting it into core for Drupal 6). I traveled to Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Providence and Boston. Camryn turned 5, Andrew turned 10, and I turned 30. *Phew*

+

I'm really looking forward to 2008. I have very high hopes. Work is busy, exciting and looks like it should be a very successful year. I'm happy, healthy and loving life. I want to drink more water, sleep more, see more of the world and meet more people. With day #1 of the year just finished, I'm off to a good start and ready for more.

Bring it on, 2008. I'm ready :)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-01-03-iscrobbler-2-0.md b/_posts/2008-01-03-iscrobbler-2-0.md index 8789af0..ee6c9b1 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-01-03-iscrobbler-2-0.md +++ b/_posts/2008-01-03-iscrobbler-2-0.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags: - music - last.fm --- -

I happen to think last.fm is one of the best social sites on the 'net. I love the way it stays out of the way - requires very little interaction from me and it gives me recommendations in return: artists, albums and even concerts.

-

Recently, my favourite "tool" for last.fm, iScrobbler,released version 2.0. There are lots of new features, but the coolest I have to say is:

-
Full Radio support (played through iTunes).
+

I happen to think last.fm is one of the best social sites on the 'net. I love the way it stays out of the way - requires very little interaction from me and it gives me recommendations in return: artists, albums and even concerts.

+

Recently, my favourite "tool" for last.fm, iScrobbler,released version 2.0. There are lots of new features, but the coolest I have to say is:

+
Full Radio support (played through iTunes).

What that means is you can use last.fm radio from iTunes (so, usual iTunes behaviour still applies). As someone who is frequently away from his entire music collection... I love that.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-01-16-drupal-association-2008-elections.md b/_posts/2008-01-16-drupal-association-2008-elections.md index ceb31f8..08c20ee 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-01-16-drupal-association-2008-elections.md +++ b/_posts/2008-01-16-drupal-association-2008-elections.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags: - drupal - drupal association --- -Drupal Association -

The Drupal Association had it's first annual General Assembly yesterday. Over the course of the 3 hour IRC marathon, we managed to add 11 new permanent members - four of whom were elected to Board positions - from a pool of 60 applicants (full details).

-

I'd like to publicly congratulate fellow Lullabots Jeff Eaton and Addison Berry, long time Drupal User Group member Khalid Baheyeldin and all the new members: Larry Garfield, Greg Knaddison, Michael E. Meyers, Naryan Newton, David Norman, Jacob Redding, Nedjo Rogers and Laura Scott. It's a great group of new faces and I'm excited to see what we're able to do in our 2nd year.

+Drupal Association +

The Drupal Association had it's first annual General Assembly yesterday. Over the course of the 3 hour IRC marathon, we managed to add 11 new permanent members - four of whom were elected to Board positions - from a pool of 60 applicants (full details).

+

I'd like to publicly congratulate fellow Lullabots Jeff Eaton and Addison Berry, long time Drupal User Group member Khalid Baheyeldin and all the new members: Larry Garfield, Greg Knaddison, Michael E. Meyers, Naryan Newton, David Norman, Jacob Redding, Nedjo Rogers and Laura Scott. It's a great group of new faces and I'm excited to see what we're able to do in our 2nd year.

Personally, I decided to not run for a board position this year (although I went back and forth roughly 8,000 times), but I am looking forward to an active year with the new team. There is plenty to be done, so it's nice to have some extra hands on deck!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-01-23-toronto-drupal-users-rock-out.md b/_posts/2008-01-23-toronto-drupal-users-rock-out.md index 66f5515..b6f2b3e 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-01-23-toronto-drupal-users-rock-out.md +++ b/_posts/2008-01-23-toronto-drupal-users-rock-out.md @@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ tags: - drupal - toronto --- -

I need to do a quick shout out to some of the cool stuff happening in our local Toronto Drupal User Group:

- -

Way to go, guys! It's so awesome to see the local gang rockin' out in the global community!

- +

I need to do a quick shout out to some of the cool stuff happening in our local Toronto Drupal User Group:

+ +

Way to go, guys! It's so awesome to see the local gang rockin' out in the global community!

+ diff --git a/_posts/2008-01-28-happy-50th-birthday-lego.md b/_posts/2008-01-28-happy-50th-birthday-lego.md index 4c8968e..71c028d 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-01-28-happy-50th-birthday-lego.md +++ b/_posts/2008-01-28-happy-50th-birthday-lego.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags: - happy birthday - lego --- -James and Andrew -

A typical weekend at my house tends to involve a fair bit of lego building. For some reason (largely because neither Camryn nor Andrew was feeling well), we decided to spend most of Sunday working on our largest lego project yet: a star wars at-st.

-

So, last night, I posted a bunch of pictures to flickr completely unaware that today Lego turns 50. How timely! My friends over at NowPublic.com even picked one of my pictures for a story about it. :)

+James and Andrew +

A typical weekend at my house tends to involve a fair bit of lego building. For some reason (largely because neither Camryn nor Andrew was feeling well), we decided to spend most of Sunday working on our largest lego project yet: a star wars at-st.

+

So, last night, I posted a bunch of pictures to flickr completely unaware that today Lego turns 50. How timely! My friends over at NowPublic.com even picked one of my pictures for a story about it. :)

Happy Birthday, Lego. Thanks for keeping two generations busy in this house.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-02-14-dear-drupal-6-be-my-valentine.md b/_posts/2008-02-14-dear-drupal-6-be-my-valentine.md index 8ba21ee..a8d2710 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-02-14-dear-drupal-6-be-my-valentine.md +++ b/_posts/2008-02-14-dear-drupal-6-be-my-valentine.md @@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupal6 --- -Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I case you hadn't heard, Drupal 6.0 has finally been released! It's been just over a year since our last major release and, while it feels sort of like an eternity, there is a *ton* of great stuff in this new release. - -I'm really proud to have helped contribute OpenID support (relying party) to this release - the first step in a larger plan to put (keep?) Drupal at the front of the digital identity curve. Those interested in hearing more, check out my OpenID session at DrupalCon. - -There's a ton of other great new stuff in 6: Update module (if you haven't used update status in Drupal 5 - you should), revamped i18n support, and Drag 'n' Drop everywhere (Nate, you're a rockstar)! - -Drupal, be mine. :-* +Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I case you hadn't heard, Drupal 6.0 has finally been released! It's been just over a year since our last major release and, while it feels sort of like an eternity, there is a *ton* of great stuff in this new release. + +I'm really proud to have helped contribute OpenID support (relying party) to this release - the first step in a larger plan to put (keep?) Drupal at the front of the digital identity curve. Those interested in hearing more, check out my OpenID session at DrupalCon. + +There's a ton of other great new stuff in 6: Update module (if you haven't used update status in Drupal 5 - you should), revamped i18n support, and Drag 'n' Drop everywhere (Nate, you're a rockstar)! + +Drupal, be mine. :-* diff --git a/_posts/2008-02-19-harvard-joomla-site-hacked-things-to-learn.md b/_posts/2008-02-19-harvard-joomla-site-hacked-things-to-learn.md index 25034ea..4d338a5 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-02-19-harvard-joomla-site-hacked-things-to-learn.md +++ b/_posts/2008-02-19-harvard-joomla-site-hacked-things-to-learn.md @@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ tags: - openid - security --- -

There have been reports that Harvard recently had a Joomla! based website compromised, and the database contents have been made available via BitTorrent. Of interest - the compromise was apparently via the usage of an insecure password. From the Torrent Freak article:

-
-A file included with the release labeled password.txt carries a message: - - Thomas gatton….stupid people, you don’t use a secure password - -
-

While it's not entirely clear whether it was an insecure system password or an insecure Joomla! password used - it does highlight an important aspect of security.

-

Ensuring that you write secure code is only (a small) part of the security problem. With our recent Drupal 6.0 release, we have tried to incorporate several changes to help our users be more secure:

- -

The point being: writing secure code is one thing, but there is a much trickier, critical task in educating users and administrators. It's something we're working towards within the Drupal Security Team and within the community in general. We're not done yet, and welcome your feedback and suggestions!

+

There have been reports that Harvard recently had a Joomla! based website compromised, and the database contents have been made available via BitTorrent. Of interest - the compromise was apparently via the usage of an insecure password. From the Torrent Freak article:

+
+A file included with the release labeled password.txt carries a message: + + Thomas gatton….stupid people, you don’t use a secure password + +
+

While it's not entirely clear whether it was an insecure system password or an insecure Joomla! password used - it does highlight an important aspect of security.

+

Ensuring that you write secure code is only (a small) part of the security problem. With our recent Drupal 6.0 release, we have tried to incorporate several changes to help our users be more secure:

+ +

The point being: writing secure code is one thing, but there is a much trickier, critical task in educating users and administrators. It's something we're working towards within the Drupal Security Team and within the community in general. We're not done yet, and welcome your feedback and suggestions!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-02-24-jabber-org-goes-drupal.md b/_posts/2008-02-24-jabber-org-goes-drupal.md index f20fcdf..0d8f356 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-02-24-jabber-org-goes-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2008-02-24-jabber-org-goes-drupal.md @@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ tags: - jabber - xmpp --- -

jabber.orgPicking through my email and RSS on a Sunday afternoon, I noticed that jabber.org has finally relaunched using Drupal! I think this is exciting, as it brings together two of my favourite technologies.

-

I've been peripherally involved in the XSF/jabber.org Drupal initiatives for a few years now. While I wasn't as closely involved in this site launch as I'd hoped to be (due to time constraints), they've definitely got my support and I hope to help this initiative continue to grow!

+

jabber.orgPicking through my email and RSS on a Sunday afternoon, I noticed that jabber.org has finally relaunched using Drupal! I think this is exciting, as it brings together two of my favourite technologies.

+

I've been peripherally involved in the XSF/jabber.org Drupal initiatives for a few years now. While I wasn't as closely involved in this site launch as I'd hoped to be (due to time constraints), they've definitely got my support and I hope to help this initiative continue to grow!

Congrats Peter and team!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-02-25-openid-at-drupalcon-boston-2008.md b/_posts/2008-02-25-openid-at-drupalcon-boston-2008.md index 34cb4a8..1fee8dd 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-02-25-openid-at-drupalcon-boston-2008.md +++ b/_posts/2008-02-25-openid-at-drupalcon-boston-2008.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupalconboston2008 --- -

DrupalCon Boston 2008Here we go again! One week from today, DrupalCon Boston 2008 will get underway. For the 3rd straight conference, I'll be doing a session on OpenID in Drupal:

-

OpenID and Identity in Drupal: the future of user.module

-

Those of you who have attended my OpenID talks at previous DrupalCons should definitely come out to this one, as I would like to dive a bit deeper into roadmapping future changes, additions and directions for the code as well as touching on rolling out OpenID support across the Drupal.org infrastructure itself. I'd also like to discuss additions and changes to user.module that will better accommodate alternate authentication mechanisms.

+

DrupalCon Boston 2008Here we go again! One week from today, DrupalCon Boston 2008 will get underway. For the 3rd straight conference, I'll be doing a session on OpenID in Drupal:

+

OpenID and Identity in Drupal: the future of user.module

+

Those of you who have attended my OpenID talks at previous DrupalCons should definitely come out to this one, as I would like to dive a bit deeper into roadmapping future changes, additions and directions for the code as well as touching on rolling out OpenID support across the Drupal.org infrastructure itself. I'd also like to discuss additions and changes to user.module that will better accommodate alternate authentication mechanisms.

Can't wait to see you there! Oh, and yes, I'll bring my socks ;-)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-02-27-fluid-desktop-web-apps.md b/_posts/2008-02-27-fluid-desktop-web-apps.md index a629951..06e836f 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-02-27-fluid-desktop-web-apps.md +++ b/_posts/2008-02-27-fluid-desktop-web-apps.md @@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ tags: - fluidapp - rememberthemilk --- -

Matt turned me on to a new app for OS X (Leopard only) called Fluid. Essentially, fluid lets you create website-specific applications - really just little webkit browsers as their own applications with their own icons. It's really simple to use and (so far) has worked phenomenally well.

-

I have two web apps that have become an absolute core staple of my daily routine: Remember the Milk (for TODO management) and Google Reader (for RSS feeds). Both of these are pretty "heavy" web apps (containing lots of JS/AJAX/etc) and I had been running Firefox extensions for both which ultimately weighed down my main browser (which is where I do primary development, etc). Having them as separate applications lets me keep Firefox running (a little) leaner, and I also get pretty icons and the ability to "cmd-tab" between them.

-

The coolest part, however, is that Fluid has implemented icon updating on a few sites (google reader being one of them) to show the number of unread items. Check it:

-

Fluid App Dock Icons

-

Now, if I can just get Google Gears for Webkit working (for offline support for google reader & RTM) I'll be one happy camper.

+

Matt turned me on to a new app for OS X (Leopard only) called Fluid. Essentially, fluid lets you create website-specific applications - really just little webkit browsers as their own applications with their own icons. It's really simple to use and (so far) has worked phenomenally well.

+

I have two web apps that have become an absolute core staple of my daily routine: Remember the Milk (for TODO management) and Google Reader (for RSS feeds). Both of these are pretty "heavy" web apps (containing lots of JS/AJAX/etc) and I had been running Firefox extensions for both which ultimately weighed down my main browser (which is where I do primary development, etc). Having them as separate applications lets me keep Firefox running (a little) leaner, and I also get pretty icons and the ability to "cmd-tab" between them.

+

The coolest part, however, is that Fluid has implemented icon updating on a few sites (google reader being one of them) to show the number of unread items. Check it:

+

Fluid App Dock Icons

+

Now, if I can just get Google Gears for Webkit working (for offline support for google reader & RTM) I'll be one happy camper.

The desktop / web app convergence continues...

diff --git a/_posts/2008-03-03-drupalcon-boston-2008-lets-rock-this.md b/_posts/2008-03-03-drupalcon-boston-2008-lets-rock-this.md index 48387f4..f1a95a3 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-03-03-drupalcon-boston-2008-lets-rock-this.md +++ b/_posts/2008-03-03-drupalcon-boston-2008-lets-rock-this.md @@ -8,16 +8,16 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupalconboston2008 --- -

Good Morning, Boston! We're just an hour away from getting this thing rolling - it's gonna be a crazy week. Here's the sessions where you'll be able to find me:

- - - +

Good Morning, Boston! We're just an hour away from getting this thing rolling - it's gonna be a crazy week. Here's the sessions where you'll be able to find me:

+ + +

I'll be doing updates here and from twitter. Don't forget to follow walkah :)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-03-12-drupalcon-openid-slides-and-recap.md b/_posts/2008-03-12-drupalcon-openid-slides-and-recap.md index 275053b..69ea4e2 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-03-12-drupalcon-openid-slides-and-recap.md +++ b/_posts/2008-03-12-drupalcon-openid-slides-and-recap.md @@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupalconboston2008 --- -

With almost a week gone by since I left Boston, it's high time to do a quick recap of DrupalCon Boston 2008. Despite spending most of the week battling a nasty stomach flu, making two trips to the Apple Store in Cambridge, and being without my laptop (which suffered a failed keyboard and trackpad), I had a great time and want to offer my congrats to the organizing team for a solid event!

-

Although I took part in 6 sessions, I only presented one of them on my own: OpenID and Identity in Drupal. I was pleased with how the session went - packed room with lots of great feedback and discussion. For those interested, check out the slides on slideshare.

+

With almost a week gone by since I left Boston, it's high time to do a quick recap of DrupalCon Boston 2008. Despite spending most of the week battling a nasty stomach flu, making two trips to the Apple Store in Cambridge, and being without my laptop (which suffered a failed keyboard and trackpad), I had a great time and want to offer my congrats to the organizing team for a solid event!

+

Although I took part in 6 sessions, I only presented one of them on my own: OpenID and Identity in Drupal. I was pleased with how the session went - packed room with lots of great feedback and discussion. For those interested, check out the slides on slideshare.

Otherwise, it was really great to see all the old faces and meet some new ones. For anyone who missed it, the Acquia party was a blast (Orbit rocks!). Looking forward to the next!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-03-12-sxsw-2008-over-already.md b/_posts/2008-03-12-sxsw-2008-over-already.md index 5c0ad68..1c3a809 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-03-12-sxsw-2008-over-already.md +++ b/_posts/2008-03-12-sxsw-2008-over-already.md @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags: - sxsw - sxsw2008 --- -

SXSW InteractiveA few of us Lullabots flew directly from DrupalCon Boston to Austin for SXSW Interactive. It was actually my first trip down to Austin (sadly), and despite some general road weariness, I had a rockin' good time. Personal highlights included:

-

Worst. Website. Ever.: Aside from being a who's who of the internet famous, it was an awesome format, completely hilarious and really well presented. I'm inspired to bring it to a future DrupalCon :-)

-

A Critical Look At OpenID: It was nice to watch other OpenID experts field the same questions I tend to - and give similar answers. Mostly, I hit this panel because I hadn't yet met David or Simon. We had lunch together after... I should really get myself out to more identity events. IIW 2008?

-

CMS Roundup: Obviously, I went to support fellow 'bot, Jeff Eaton, but was blown away by the packed audience (for a 10am session) and the overwhelming Drupal love!

+

SXSW InteractiveA few of us Lullabots flew directly from DrupalCon Boston to Austin for SXSW Interactive. It was actually my first trip down to Austin (sadly), and despite some general road weariness, I had a rockin' good time. Personal highlights included:

+

Worst. Website. Ever.: Aside from being a who's who of the internet famous, it was an awesome format, completely hilarious and really well presented. I'm inspired to bring it to a future DrupalCon :-)

+

A Critical Look At OpenID: It was nice to watch other OpenID experts field the same questions I tend to - and give similar answers. Mostly, I hit this panel because I hadn't yet met David or Simon. We had lunch together after... I should really get myself out to more identity events. IIW 2008?

+

CMS Roundup: Obviously, I went to support fellow 'bot, Jeff Eaton, but was blown away by the packed audience (for a 10am session) and the overwhelming Drupal love!

Otherwise, it was great to hang out with friends like Colin and Andy, seeing TorCamp friends everywhere, and meeting a whackload of new people. Looking forward to next year already!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-03-29-net-neutrality-oh-canada.md b/_posts/2008-03-29-net-neutrality-oh-canada.md index 7d5486e..1524d64 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-03-29-net-neutrality-oh-canada.md +++ b/_posts/2008-03-29-net-neutrality-oh-canada.md @@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ tags: - netneutrality - bellthrottling --- -

Dear Canada, you're doing it all wrong!

- -

OK, so I love my adopted nation. I do. But, what's a guy (or gal) got to do to get affordable, unmolested bandwidth in this country?!?

- -

I've written before about the abysmal mobile data situation in this country. Canada has one GSM network - and we pay the price for it.

- -

But, until recently, my internets were safe at home. See, I'm a very happy subscriber of TekSavvy residential DSL: clean, clear, reliable, affordable bandwidth. Well, that's until Canada's copper monopoly decided to start throttling my bandwidth.

- -

People have been talking and blogging about the events. You can follow the events at Free Our Bandwidth and, if you haven't before, read more about net neutrality. It's time for some real change. CRTC, where are you???

- +

Dear Canada, you're doing it all wrong!

+ +

OK, so I love my adopted nation. I do. But, what's a guy (or gal) got to do to get affordable, unmolested bandwidth in this country?!?

+ +

I've written before about the abysmal mobile data situation in this country. Canada has one GSM network - and we pay the price for it.

+ +

But, until recently, my internets were safe at home. See, I'm a very happy subscriber of TekSavvy residential DSL: clean, clear, reliable, affordable bandwidth. Well, that's until Canada's copper monopoly decided to start throttling my bandwidth.

+ +

People have been talking and blogging about the events. You can follow the events at Free Our Bandwidth and, if you haven't before, read more about net neutrality. It's time for some real change. CRTC, where are you???

+

Canada, I'm fed up. Oh, and ketchup chips suck too.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-03-31-dries-launches-mollom-for-content-monitoring.md b/_posts/2008-03-31-dries-launches-mollom-for-content-monitoring.md index de551d5..ad14212 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-03-31-dries-launches-mollom-for-content-monitoring.md +++ b/_posts/2008-03-31-dries-launches-mollom-for-content-monitoring.md @@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ tags: - dries - mollom --- -

MollomDries finally took the wraps off his other new Drupal related venture: Mollom.

-
- -
-

I've been amongst the beta testers on mollom (I'm uid #8!) for a long time now, here on this blog and with some other projects. I have to say, it's impressive. It's sort of like Akismet but has some interesting goals that are slightly different. The key is in calling it "content monitoring" rather than just "spam blocking" (which it already does effectively). Think: high powered moderation tools - with network intelligence.

- +

MollomDries finally took the wraps off his other new Drupal related venture: Mollom.

+
+ +
+

I've been amongst the beta testers on mollom (I'm uid #8!) for a long time now, here on this blog and with some other projects. I have to say, it's impressive. It's sort of like Akismet but has some interesting goals that are slightly different. The key is in calling it "content monitoring" rather than just "spam blocking" (which it already does effectively). Think: high powered moderation tools - with network intelligence.

+

Congrats, Dries, on another one! (When do you sleep?!)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-04-01-phug-free-drupal-workshop.md b/_posts/2008-04-01-phug-free-drupal-workshop.md index f56c607..9a2c701 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-04-01-phug-free-drupal-workshop.md +++ b/_posts/2008-04-01-phug-free-drupal-workshop.md @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags: - toronto - phug --- -

PHUG + RMI Drupal WorkshopI know it's late notice, but I'll be hosting a free workshop tomorrow night, April 2nd at 7pm as part of the PHUG + RMI free workshops.

-

For those of you here in Toronto that are unaware, PHUG is the new local PHP User Group. They have a lot of momentum and are an exciting group - I look forward to more collaboration in the future betweeh PHUG and DUG-TO.

-

The workshop will be Drupal Basics - a crash course in everyone's favourite CMS. We'll look at the core Drupal concepts, how building sites in Drupal works, and some basic theming tricks.

-

It's a free event, but space is limited so please register. Looking forward to meeting some new faces!

+

PHUG + RMI Drupal WorkshopI know it's late notice, but I'll be hosting a free workshop tomorrow night, April 2nd at 7pm as part of the PHUG + RMI free workshops.

+

For those of you here in Toronto that are unaware, PHUG is the new local PHP User Group. They have a lot of momentum and are an exciting group - I look forward to more collaboration in the future betweeh PHUG and DUG-TO.

+

The workshop will be Drupal Basics - a crash course in everyone's favourite CMS. We'll look at the core Drupal concepts, how building sites in Drupal works, and some basic theming tricks.

+

It's a free event, but space is limited so please register. Looking forward to meeting some new faces!

UPDATE: P.S. this isn't an April Fool's joke ;)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-04-16-down-under-and-back.md b/_posts/2008-04-16-down-under-and-back.md index 72fef1d..cb5c02b 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-04-16-down-under-and-back.md +++ b/_posts/2008-04-16-down-under-and-back.md @@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ tags: - australia - travel --- -

Lullabots in MelbourneLast week I added a new continent under my travel belt when a bunch of us Lullabots headed to Australia to run some Drupal Workshops. I will say, the trip across the Pacific is a much longer journey than the relative short hop across the Atlantic. My body still isn't quite sure what time it is. Jet-lag aside, I had an absolutely wonderful time. The people of Melbourne were wonderfully kind and helpful. On our one non-work day, we had a fantastic brunch (on a recommendation) where the locals at the table next to us kindly recommended activities for the afternoon and even took our picture.

+

Lullabots in MelbourneLast week I added a new continent under my travel belt when a bunch of us Lullabots headed to Australia to run some Drupal Workshops. I will say, the trip across the Pacific is a much longer journey than the relative short hop across the Atlantic. My body still isn't quite sure what time it is. Jet-lag aside, I had an absolutely wonderful time. The people of Melbourne were wonderfully kind and helpful. On our one non-work day, we had a fantastic brunch (on a recommendation) where the locals at the table next to us kindly recommended activities for the afternoon and even took our picture.

Since it was a work trip, I didn't get to see nearly as much of Australia as I would have liked. No kangaroos. No dingos. No koala bears. But the people of Australia were awesome enough that I am just going to have to go back someday. Thank you all!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-04-24-google-soc-drupal-openid-and-attribute-exchange.md b/_posts/2008-04-24-google-soc-drupal-openid-and-attribute-exchange.md index e2411e3..d45e43c 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-04-24-google-soc-drupal-openid-and-attribute-exchange.md +++ b/_posts/2008-04-24-google-soc-drupal-openid-and-attribute-exchange.md @@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ tags: - openid - soc --- -

Summer is coming - which means it's time for Google's Summer of Code. This is the fourth year of the project (and the fourth year that Drupal has been involved). We continue to be one of Google's favourite open source projects this year grabbing 21 spots - which means a $105,000 investment in Drupal development this summer!

- +

Summer is coming - which means it's time for Google's Summer of Code. This is the fourth year of the project (and the fourth year that Drupal has been involved). We continue to be one of Google's favourite open source projects this year grabbing 21 spots - which means a $105,000 investment in Drupal development this summer!

+

I'm excited as this will be my third year as a mentor and my project this year will be OpenID Attribute Exchange support for Drupal. Attribute Exchange is one of the next important pieces in digital identity and one that I'm pretty excited about. My student, Anshu Prateek, has shown a lot of enthusiasm. I think it's gonna be a good summer!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-11-front-row-itunes-tip-for-movies.md b/_posts/2008-05-11-front-row-itunes-tip-for-movies.md index 1c21354..15dfbbf 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-11-front-row-itunes-tip-for-movies.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-11-front-row-itunes-tip-for-movies.md @@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ tags: - video - itunes --- -

I was just in the midst of a Sunday morning podcast & RSS catchup stint, when I caught Episode #131 of commandN where Jeff was outlining some Front Row tips and tricks. It reminded me that I came across a great one recently that I thought I'd share.

-

As Jeff mentioned, Perian is a great (indispensible) tool to allow QuickTime to play non-QT file formats (particularly AVI/DivX). And, while it's true that Front Row will then play any AVI files in your Movies folder, I've long wanted to go one step further - specifically for TV Shows. See, iTunes will keep TV Shows separately and mark ones that are "unwatched", etc.

+

I was just in the midst of a Sunday morning podcast & RSS catchup stint, when I caught Episode #131 of commandN where Jeff was outlining some Front Row tips and tricks. It reminded me that I came across a great one recently that I thought I'd share.

+

As Jeff mentioned, Perian is a great (indispensible) tool to allow QuickTime to play non-QT file formats (particularly AVI/DivX). And, while it's true that Front Row will then play any AVI files in your Movies folder, I've long wanted to go one step further - specifically for TV Shows. See, iTunes will keep TV Shows separately and mark ones that are "unwatched", etc.

Enter Movie2iTunes. This droplet allows you to simply drop Movie & TV Shows on it and it will add them to iTunes. In fact, if your TV Show files use the given file naming convention, the TV Show metadata (show name, season, episode) will be completed correctly as well. The script works by creating a QuickTime media link to the original video - which has the nice benefit of having all your movies and TV shows in iTunes (hence front row) but they can still reside on, say, an external HD. I love it!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-12-drupal-camp-toronto-2008.md b/_posts/2008-05-12-drupal-camp-toronto-2008.md index 0d65001..40418cb 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-12-drupal-camp-toronto-2008.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-12-drupal-camp-toronto-2008.md @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags: - drupalcamp - dct08 --- -

Drupal Camp Toronto 2008The third annual Drupal Camp Toronto event is coming soon. On Friday May 23rd and Saturday May 24th join the Toronto Drupal Users Group in celebrating two days of Drupal at the University of Toronto! -

-

We're putting together an exciting event this year. We have John Resig coming to talk about jQuery and ActiveState will be giving away prize packages. Plus we'll have two full days of information - tips, tricks, case studies and howtos. Make sure to register soon! We already have over 100 people signed up!

-

Also, we are actively seeking both speakers and sponsors. Propose a session or contact us if you're interested in sponsoring or have other questions.

+

Drupal Camp Toronto 2008The third annual Drupal Camp Toronto event is coming soon. On Friday May 23rd and Saturday May 24th join the Toronto Drupal Users Group in celebrating two days of Drupal at the University of Toronto! +

+

We're putting together an exciting event this year. We have John Resig coming to talk about jQuery and ActiveState will be giving away prize packages. Plus we'll have two full days of information - tips, tricks, case studies and howtos. Make sure to register soon! We already have over 100 people signed up!

+

Also, we are actively seeking both speakers and sponsors. Propose a session or contact us if you're interested in sponsoring or have other questions.

Hope to see you there!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-19-skype-with-quicksilver-trick.md b/_posts/2008-05-19-skype-with-quicksilver-trick.md index 576003a..c7b5d58 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-19-skype-with-quicksilver-trick.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-19-skype-with-quicksilver-trick.md @@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ tags: - quicksilver - tricks --- -

I spend a fair bit of time talking on Skype (whether I like it or not). I am also a big fan and heavy user of quicksilver (the ultimate launcher and more for mac os x). Now, I generally keep skype contact list hidden to keep my desktop clean - and was thinking "Gee, it'd be great if skype was integrated with Quicksilver". But.. it's not... directly

-

However, I found this tip and can now initiate skype-to-skype calls directly from quicksilver:

-

skype + quicksilver

-

Here's what I did:

-
    -
  1. In quicksilver's preferences - I enabled the "Services Menu Module" plug-in
    2. -
  2. In Address Book, I added a 'custom' phone field with the label 'skype' where I can keep skype contact names (It would be really awesome if Skype did this for me...
    3. -
  3. Now, I can do the following: invoke quicksilver, type a contact's name, hit '/', find their skype name (down arrow), hit tab, type 'sk' (to get the 'Skype/Call' action) and hit Enter. Skype will then make the call to that user.
    4. -
-

Ok... so typing quicksilver commands doesn't *look* pretty... but it's one less thing I need to switch my right hand to the mouse for, and I like that. :-)

+

I spend a fair bit of time talking on Skype (whether I like it or not). I am also a big fan and heavy user of quicksilver (the ultimate launcher and more for mac os x). Now, I generally keep skype contact list hidden to keep my desktop clean - and was thinking "Gee, it'd be great if skype was integrated with Quicksilver". But.. it's not... directly

+

However, I found this tip and can now initiate skype-to-skype calls directly from quicksilver:

+

skype + quicksilver

+

Here's what I did:

+
    +
  1. In quicksilver's preferences - I enabled the "Services Menu Module" plug-in
    2. +
  2. In Address Book, I added a 'custom' phone field with the label 'skype' where I can keep skype contact names (It would be really awesome if Skype did this for me...
    3. +
  3. Now, I can do the following: invoke quicksilver, type a contact's name, hit '/', find their skype name (down arrow), hit tab, type 'sk' (to get the 'Skype/Call' action) and hit Enter. Skype will then make the call to that user.
    4. +
+

Ok... so typing quicksilver commands doesn't *look* pretty... but it's one less thing I need to switch my right hand to the mouse for, and I like that. :-)

(I should probably post more tricks like this)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-20-ready-to-mesh.md b/_posts/2008-05-20-ready-to-mesh.md index 85a3f93..8457930 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-20-ready-to-mesh.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-20-ready-to-mesh.md @@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ tags: - mesh08 - meshconference --- -

Mesh Conference 2008I'm looking forward to hanging out at Mesh 2008 the next couple days. I've had to miss it for various reasons the first two years, so I can't wait to see what all the buzz is about! Watching the talk on twitter today about MeshU has gone well and things are off to a great start.

+

Mesh Conference 2008I'm looking forward to hanging out at Mesh 2008 the next couple days. I've had to miss it for various reasons the first two years, so I can't wait to see what all the buzz is about! Watching the talk on twitter today about MeshU has gone well and things are off to a great start.

As usual, I'll be the one decked out in Lullabot gear talking about Drupal. Hope to see you there :)

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-28-fluidapp-menu-extra-and-iphone-sites.md b/_posts/2008-05-28-fluidapp-menu-extra-and-iphone-sites.md index d52d233..4edc928 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-28-fluidapp-menu-extra-and-iphone-sites.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-28-fluidapp-menu-extra-and-iphone-sites.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags: - fluidapp - iphone --- -

RTM MenuExtra SSBMy love affair with Fluid.app continues. The latest release (0.9.1.4) includes support for running your SSB as a Menu Extra (i.e. something in the OS X (check out the video).

-

As shown in the video, I think the best use for this new feature is in conjunction with iPhone sites. In the video, Tod shows creating an app for http://i.brightkite.com/. I've been using this to check-in on BrightKite. It's nice, unobtrusive and easy in lieu of BrightKite's own, native desktop apps.

-

My other favorite (pictured) is http://i.rememberthemilk.com/. Remember the Milk's iPhone app has a nice feature that the "Today" tasks list also shows overdue tasks (which I haven't figured out how to do in the standard web app).

+

RTM MenuExtra SSBMy love affair with Fluid.app continues. The latest release (0.9.1.4) includes support for running your SSB as a Menu Extra (i.e. something in the OS X (check out the video).

+

As shown in the video, I think the best use for this new feature is in conjunction with iPhone sites. In the video, Tod shows creating an app for http://i.brightkite.com/. I've been using this to check-in on BrightKite. It's nice, unobtrusive and easy in lieu of BrightKite's own, native desktop apps.

+

My other favorite (pictured) is http://i.rememberthemilk.com/. Remember the Milk's iPhone app has a nice feature that the "Today" tasks list also shows overdue tasks (which I haven't figured out how to do in the standard web app).

More and more of my webapp usage is moving to fluid these days. I can't say enough good things about this app. And google gears support is coming!!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-05-29-diso-for-drupal.md b/_posts/2008-05-29-diso-for-drupal.md index c80612e..33572b7 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-05-29-diso-for-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2008-05-29-diso-for-drupal.md @@ -10,18 +10,18 @@ tags: - oauth - microformats --- -

I had an interesting e-mail exchange yesterday with Chris Messina and a handful of folks from the DiSo project about "DiSo for Drupal". For those of you who haven't heard of it DiSo is:

-
DiSo (dee • zoh) is an umbrella project for a group of open source implementations of these distributed social networking concepts. or as Chris puts it: “to build a social network with its skin inside out”.
-

See, Chris recently started a new job working on DiSo full-time at Vidoop. With the announcements of Facebook connect and Google's Friend Connect, there is a battle raging for control of your identity and your relationships. DiSo, in many respects, is the free open answer for the rest of the internet. It combines several free, open standards that already exist in the wild like OpenID, OAuth, and Microformats for exchanging identity and "friend" information.

-

So, Chris reached out a handful of us Drupal folks about getting on board. The good news is: we, the Drupal community, are already well on our way:

- -

The big holes at the moment (from a DiSo perspective) are XRDS-Simple support and better support for microformats - specifically XFN.

+

I had an interesting e-mail exchange yesterday with Chris Messina and a handful of folks from the DiSo project about "DiSo for Drupal". For those of you who haven't heard of it DiSo is:

+
DiSo (dee • zoh) is an umbrella project for a group of open source implementations of these distributed social networking concepts. or as Chris puts it: “to build a social network with its skin inside out”.
+

See, Chris recently started a new job working on DiSo full-time at Vidoop. With the announcements of Facebook connect and Google's Friend Connect, there is a battle raging for control of your identity and your relationships. DiSo, in many respects, is the free open answer for the rest of the internet. It combines several free, open standards that already exist in the wild like OpenID, OAuth, and Microformats for exchanging identity and "friend" information.

+

So, Chris reached out a handful of us Drupal folks about getting on board. The good news is: we, the Drupal community, are already well on our way:

+ +

The big holes at the moment (from a DiSo perspective) are XRDS-Simple support and better support for microformats - specifically XFN.

From the list of Drupal modules above, you may notice that this is an area of interest of mine :-P I look forward to working with the rest of the DiSo project and the Drupal community on this stuff!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-06-04-xrds-simple-for-drupal.md b/_posts/2008-06-04-xrds-simple-for-drupal.md index de1bb88..97d3a5c 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-06-04-xrds-simple-for-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2008-06-04-xrds-simple-for-drupal.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ tags: - diso - xrds --- -

Last night I put together a simple module for Drupal to implement the XRDS-Simple spec. It is based loosely on the xrds-simple wordpress plugin.

- -

XRDS-Simple is an important piece of the DiSo project. From the XRDS-Simple spec::

-
XRDS-Simple provides a format and workflow for the discovery of resources metadata, and other linked resources. As web services continue to grow, applications utilize a wider range of web services and resources across multiple providers. XRDS-Simple allows providers to document their resources in a machine-readable way, which can be automatically discovered by consumer applications.
+

Last night I put together a simple module for Drupal to implement the XRDS-Simple spec. It is based loosely on the xrds-simple wordpress plugin.

+ +

XRDS-Simple is an important piece of the DiSo project. From the XRDS-Simple spec::

+
XRDS-Simple provides a format and workflow for the discovery of resources metadata, and other linked resources. As web services continue to grow, applications utilize a wider range of web services and resources across multiple providers. XRDS-Simple allows providers to document their resources in a machine-readable way, which can be automatically discovered by consumer applications.

So, check it out: http://drupal.org/project/xrds_simple .

diff --git a/_posts/2008-06-18-firefox-3-download-day-6-5-million-and-counting.md b/_posts/2008-06-18-firefox-3-download-day-6-5-million-and-counting.md index 35a2a0e..5e67e81 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-06-18-firefox-3-download-day-6-5-million-and-counting.md +++ b/_posts/2008-06-18-firefox-3-download-day-6-5-million-and-counting.md @@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ tags: - firefox - toronto --- -

Download DayMy favorite web browser slash social movement, Firefox, released version 3.0 yesterday. To generate some buzz around the new release, the folks at Mozilla are trying to set a Guinness World Record for software downloads in 24 hours. They're initial target was 5 million downloads. As of this writing, they're at 6.5 million downloads and counting - with 6 hours to go!

-

I also spent a few hours last night at the Mozilla Toronto launch party. Mozilla is full of great people doing great work... it was nice to help celebrate their latest milestone.

+

Download DayMy favorite web browser slash social movement, Firefox, released version 3.0 yesterday. To generate some buzz around the new release, the folks at Mozilla are trying to set a Guinness World Record for software downloads in 24 hours. They're initial target was 5 million downloads. As of this writing, they're at 6.5 million downloads and counting - with 6 hours to go!

+

I also spent a few hours last night at the Mozilla Toronto launch party. Mozilla is full of great people doing great work... it was nice to help celebrate their latest milestone.

If you haven't yet, go now. Get Firefox 3.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-06-19-g-drive-mini-great-for-travel.md b/_posts/2008-06-19-g-drive-mini-great-for-travel.md index 3250c92..99aab3f 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-06-19-g-drive-mini-great-for-travel.md +++ b/_posts/2008-06-19-g-drive-mini-great-for-travel.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ tags: - travel - hardware --- -

G-Drive miniAs someone who spends a fair bit of time on the road, I've become increasingly paranoid about my backup strategy as well as my general "travel kit". To address both, I made a purchase recently that I'm so in love with I just had to blog it: -

-

The G-Drive Mini from G-Tech is an awesome little portable hard-drive. I got the 250GB, dual interface model and so far it has been wonderful. At 250gb, it has plenty of room to store my Time Machine backups as well as any extra files I (might) need on the road.

-

It's a really nice looking little unit: aluminum case (that matches my macbook pro), with it's own heat sink. It's quiet enough that I hardly notice it. AND it comes with it's very own leather carrying case.

+

G-Drive miniAs someone who spends a fair bit of time on the road, I've become increasingly paranoid about my backup strategy as well as my general "travel kit". To address both, I made a purchase recently that I'm so in love with I just had to blog it: +

+

The G-Drive Mini from G-Tech is an awesome little portable hard-drive. I got the 250GB, dual interface model and so far it has been wonderful. At 250gb, it has plenty of room to store my Time Machine backups as well as any extra files I (might) need on the road.

+

It's a really nice looking little unit: aluminum case (that matches my macbook pro), with it's own heat sink. It's quiet enough that I hardly notice it. AND it comes with it's very own leather carrying case.

I'm happy with the new addition to my travel bag, and I'd recommend it for yours as well.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-08-06-off-vacation.md b/_posts/2008-08-06-off-vacation.md index d1569c3..bb6c297 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-08-06-off-vacation.md +++ b/_posts/2008-08-06-off-vacation.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/vacation tags: - personal --- -If you're amongst the handful of people wondering where I've been and why it's been so quiet here... I've been on the road. Most recently, I was offline on vacation. Resting and recharging for the busy fall to come. - -If I owe you an email - it's coming, I promise. If you like pictures - here they are. - +If you're amongst the handful of people wondering where I've been and why it's been so quiet here... I've been on the road. Most recently, I was offline on vacation. Resting and recharging for the busy fall to come. + +If I owe you an email - it's coming, I promise. If you like pictures - here they are. + diff --git a/_posts/2008-08-11-now-running-drupal-6-and-views-2.md b/_posts/2008-08-11-now-running-drupal-6-and-views-2.md index 646c0d3..75d964a 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-08-11-now-running-drupal-6-and-views-2.md +++ b/_posts/2008-08-11-now-running-drupal-6-and-views-2.md @@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ tags: - drupal - drupal6 --- -I finally "re-launched" my blog last night, after tinkering for a few months. I'm now running (at the time of writing) Drupal 6.3. More interesting, however, is that my site is almost entirely powered now by Views 2. - -The biggest visible change is the home page. Inspired in part by Dave Shea's lovely blog, I wanted to make my front page shorter. So now, I'm displaying the latest full post, with 9 previous titles only. This is all done with views (using the awesome new "attachment" display type). - -The other interesting bit is that I'm using the latest version of twitter module so that the "twitter" block on the right is actually views2 powered as well (and gets cached). - +I finally "re-launched" my blog last night, after tinkering for a few months. I'm now running (at the time of writing) Drupal 6.3. More interesting, however, is that my site is almost entirely powered now by Views 2. + +The biggest visible change is the home page. Inspired in part by Dave Shea's lovely blog, I wanted to make my front page shorter. So now, I'm displaying the latest full post, with 9 previous titles only. This is all done with views (using the awesome new "attachment" display type). + +The other interesting bit is that I'm using the latest version of twitter module so that the "twitter" block on the right is actually views2 powered as well (and gets cached). + I'm sure I'll keep tweaking, but I dig it. How about you? diff --git a/_posts/2008-08-14-drupalcon-szeged-is-coming.md b/_posts/2008-08-14-drupalcon-szeged-is-coming.md index 8b00296..37a885e 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-08-14-drupalcon-szeged-is-coming.md +++ b/_posts/2008-08-14-drupalcon-szeged-is-coming.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupalconszeged2008 --- -

DrupalCon Szeged 2008Sadly, I won't be there... but you should be!

-

I have to sit this one out due to scheduling conflicts, but the posted schedule looks really good. Of course, the Lullabot team members going are all over the schedule. Everyone should attend webchick's intro to testing and be sure to attend the testing party - she has promised chocolate!

-

Scanning through the schedule, it's nice to see that fellow Toronto Drupal Users Group member, Emma Jane, will be giving a presentation on Drupal for small business networks.

-

So, while my socks and I will only be there in spirit, you should be there in person. Register now!

+

DrupalCon Szeged 2008Sadly, I won't be there... but you should be!

+

I have to sit this one out due to scheduling conflicts, but the posted schedule looks really good. Of course, the Lullabot team members going are all over the schedule. Everyone should attend webchick's intro to testing and be sure to attend the testing party - she has promised chocolate!

+

Scanning through the schedule, it's nice to see that fellow Toronto Drupal Users Group member, Emma Jane, will be giving a presentation on Drupal for small business networks.

+

So, while my socks and I will only be there in spirit, you should be there in person. Register now!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-08-15-drupal-at-sxsw.md b/_posts/2008-08-15-drupal-at-sxsw.md index 1b6a9ae..73c6bcf 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-08-15-drupal-at-sxsw.md +++ b/_posts/2008-08-15-drupal-at-sxsw.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags: - drupal - sxsw --- -

SXSW InteractiveI'm certainly not the first to post about this, but it looks like Drupal will have a strong showing at SXSW Interactive 2009. There's even a front page post on drupal.org to bring awareness. A group of us from Lullabot went last year and we had an absolute blast. If you haven't been, sign up now!

-

The panel picker is live and I suggest you *all* vote for Drupal with Its Pants Off (you know you wanna). What's really exciting, though, is the long list of other Drupal panels on the list.

-

Looks like there'll be lots of Drupal in Austin next March... even http://sxsw.com/ is Drupal powered!

+

SXSW InteractiveI'm certainly not the first to post about this, but it looks like Drupal will have a strong showing at SXSW Interactive 2009. There's even a front page post on drupal.org to bring awareness. A group of us from Lullabot went last year and we had an absolute blast. If you haven't been, sign up now!

+

The panel picker is live and I suggest you *all* vote for Drupal with Its Pants Off (you know you wanna). What's really exciting, though, is the long list of other Drupal panels on the list.

+

Looks like there'll be lots of Drupal in Austin next March... even http://sxsw.com/ is Drupal powered!

My hotel is booked. See you there!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-08-26-google-gears-for-safari-offline-ssbs.md b/_posts/2008-08-26-google-gears-for-safari-offline-ssbs.md index 4cf55bc..5715d7f 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-08-26-google-gears-for-safari-offline-ssbs.md +++ b/_posts/2008-08-26-google-gears-for-safari-offline-ssbs.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ tags: - fluidapp - gears --- -I'm really excited about today's (beta) release of google gears for safari. Why? because, as I've just tested, but enabling the plugin for safari it makes it available for all of my fluid app Site Specific Browsers (SSB's). - -If you pay close attention here, you'll know that I'm a big fan of fluid and the idea of SSB's in general. I use apps for Remember the Milk (my current task management / GTD tool) and Google Reader extensively. Both of these sites support gears already for use offline (read: on airplanes). However, by using Fluid (based on Safari's webkit), I had to forgo gears/offline access. Thus, when traveling, I'd taken to opening a tab in firefox for each of those sites (if I remembered, and as long as I didn't need to otherwise restart firefox, etc). - +I'm really excited about today's (beta) release of google gears for safari. Why? because, as I've just tested, but enabling the plugin for safari it makes it available for all of my fluid app Site Specific Browsers (SSB's). + +If you pay close attention here, you'll know that I'm a big fan of fluid and the idea of SSB's in general. I use apps for Remember the Milk (my current task management / GTD tool) and Google Reader extensively. Both of these sites support gears already for use offline (read: on airplanes). However, by using Fluid (based on Safari's webkit), I had to forgo gears/offline access. Thus, when traveling, I'd taken to opening a tab in firefox for each of those sites (if I remembered, and as long as I didn't need to otherwise restart firefox, etc). + Well, I just had a wonderful experience. I downloaded gears for safari, installed it... and instantly all of my fluid instances were gears enabled. Love it! diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-02-drupal-meetup-in-waterloo.md b/_posts/2008-10-02-drupal-meetup-in-waterloo.md index a10c146..be16a01 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-10-02-drupal-meetup-in-waterloo.md +++ b/_posts/2008-10-02-drupal-meetup-in-waterloo.md @@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ tags: - drupal - waterloo --- -As Khalid announced, I'll be heading out to Waterloo, ON tomorrow evening to give an introduction to module development with Drupal. Khalid has asked me to brush one of my old favourites: Pants module. It's a nice, fun way to get your feet wet with module development. - -It will be my first visit out to the (relatively) new Waterloo Drupal Group. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and hopefully meeting some new faces! - -For full details on the event, see this post and sign up! - -For those of you here in Toronto who can't make the trip, I hope to see you at next week's Toronto meeting. - +As Khalid announced, I'll be heading out to Waterloo, ON tomorrow evening to give an introduction to module development with Drupal. Khalid has asked me to brush one of my old favourites: Pants module. It's a nice, fun way to get your feet wet with module development. + +It will be my first visit out to the (relatively) new Waterloo Drupal Group. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and hopefully meeting some new faces! + +For full details on the event, see this post and sign up! + +For those of you here in Toronto who can't make the trip, I hope to see you at next week's Toronto meeting. + diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-17-fsoss-is-back-for-2008.md b/_posts/2008-10-17-fsoss-is-back-for-2008.md index 5e0998d..ed7f7ff 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-10-17-fsoss-is-back-for-2008.md +++ b/_posts/2008-10-17-fsoss-is-back-for-2008.md @@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ tags: - fsoss - conference --- -

FSOSS 2008One of my favorite annual free software conferences is back again! The 7th annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium is happening next week, October 23rd & 24th. I've spoken at this event 3 years in a row - it's a great event and local in Toronto!

- -

I'll be running 2 sessions again this year:

- - +

FSOSS 2008One of my favorite annual free software conferences is back again! The 7th annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium is happening next week, October 23rd & 24th. I've spoken at this event 3 years in a row - it's a great event and local in Toronto!

+ +

I'll be running 2 sessions again this year:

+ +

Check out the full schedule and register now!. Hope to see you there!

diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-22-phug-workshop-drupal-theming-in-an-hour.md b/_posts/2008-10-22-phug-workshop-drupal-theming-in-an-hour.md index 82ae4be..840bbf7 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-10-22-phug-workshop-drupal-theming-in-an-hour.md +++ b/_posts/2008-10-22-phug-workshop-drupal-theming-in-an-hour.md @@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ tags: - toronto - phug --- -

October is a busy speaking month - but I'm excited to say I've been asked back to present another (free) PHUG Workshop on Drupal.

- -

PHUG Workshops

- -

Back in April, I did an Intro Workshop. This time, I'll be showing off theming in Drupal 6:

- -
In this workshop, we will show the process of taking an HTML & CSS design and converting it into a fully working Drupal theme. Along the way, we’ll look at the 3 main aspects of Drupal theming, some best practices and a few tricks. Drupal 6 makes the whole process easier than ever, so get started making your Drupal site look not like a Drupal site!
- -

The workshop is Tuesday Oct 28 2008 @ 630pm at Seneca @ York Campus in room 2112. See the workshop announcement for full details.

+

October is a busy speaking month - but I'm excited to say I've been asked back to present another (free) PHUG Workshop on Drupal.

+ +

PHUG Workshops

+ +

Back in April, I did an Intro Workshop. This time, I'll be showing off theming in Drupal 6:

+ +
In this workshop, we will show the process of taking an HTML & CSS design and converting it into a fully working Drupal theme. Along the way, we’ll look at the 3 main aspects of Drupal theming, some best practices and a few tricks. Drupal 6 makes the whole process easier than ever, so get started making your Drupal site look not like a Drupal site!
+ +

The workshop is Tuesday Oct 28 2008 @ 630pm at Seneca @ York Campus in room 2112. See the workshop announcement for full details.

diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-31-vectorlover-drupal-theme.md b/_posts/2008-10-31-vectorlover-drupal-theme.md index e6f8c40..ab40683 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-10-31-vectorlover-drupal-theme.md +++ b/_posts/2008-10-31-vectorlover-drupal-theme.md @@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ tags: - theme - workshop --- -![vectorlover](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/vectorlover-thumb.png)Earlier this week I gave a free workshop for [PHUG](http://workshops.phug.ca/) here in Toronto. We had a lot of fun and our scheduled one hour turned into 3 or 4 (oops!). I had a lot of fun with the group and the night received [good reviews](http://phug.ca/workshops/index.php/drupal/drupal-workshop-rocked). - -During the evening, we took a pure HTML and CSS design and converted it into a Drupal theme. The design is called [VectorLover](http://www.styleshout.com/templates/preview/VectorLover1-0/index.html) - freely available from [styleshout.com](http://www.styleshout.com/). - -I took some time this week to clean up our work, and am making "VectorLover" available for download [here](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/vectorlover.zip). Please [contact me](http://walkah.net/contact) if you have any questions or comments. Enjoy! - +![vectorlover](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/vectorlover-thumb.png)Earlier this week I gave a free workshop for [PHUG](http://workshops.phug.ca/) here in Toronto. We had a lot of fun and our scheduled one hour turned into 3 or 4 (oops!). I had a lot of fun with the group and the night received [good reviews](http://phug.ca/workshops/index.php/drupal/drupal-workshop-rocked). + +During the evening, we took a pure HTML and CSS design and converted it into a Drupal theme. The design is called [VectorLover](http://www.styleshout.com/templates/preview/VectorLover1-0/index.html) - freely available from [styleshout.com](http://www.styleshout.com/). + +I took some time this week to clean up our work, and am making "VectorLover" available for download [here](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/vectorlover.zip). Please [contact me](http://walkah.net/contact) if you have any questions or comments. Enjoy! + (Note: Due to the [license](http://www.styleshout.com/about.php#license), this theme will not appear in the Drupal repository. Sorry!) diff --git a/_posts/2008-11-11-drupal-theme-workshop-in-toronto.md b/_posts/2008-11-11-drupal-theme-workshop-in-toronto.md index c3fb42e..836c414 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-11-11-drupal-theme-workshop-in-toronto.md +++ b/_posts/2008-11-11-drupal-theme-workshop-in-toronto.md @@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ tags: - toronto - workshop --- -I'm excited to announce that members of the [Toronto Drupal User Group](http://groups.drupal.org/) have put together an exciting one day, free workshop on [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) theming. - -I will be there to present in the afternoon. Please come out and say "hi". Also, [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) will be sponsoring lunch (thanks guys!). - -It seems like Toronto has gone Drupal crazy lately. I am *loving* all the local events! - +I'm excited to announce that members of the [Toronto Drupal User Group](http://groups.drupal.org/) have put together an exciting one day, free workshop on [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) theming. + +I will be there to present in the afternoon. Please come out and say "hi". Also, [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) will be sponsoring lunch (thanks guys!). + +It seems like Toronto has gone Drupal crazy lately. I am *loving* all the local events! + The event takes place starting at 10am on **November 22nd, 2008** at the [Centre for Social Innovation](http://socialinnovation.ca). Be sure to check [the website](http://themeworkshop.avatarinteractive.ca/) for full details. See you there! diff --git a/_posts/2008-12-15-done-it-with-drupal-back-to-life.md b/_posts/2008-12-15-done-it-with-drupal-back-to-life.md index 8c41e62..8f1565c 100644 --- a/_posts/2008-12-15-done-it-with-drupal-back-to-life.md +++ b/_posts/2008-12-15-done-it-with-drupal-back-to-life.md @@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ tags: - diwd - hohoto --- -My last several weeks (months?) have been pretty darn hectic preparing for Do It With Drupal. Well, we've done it with Drupal - and it was awesome! It was really fun bringing the whole Lullabot team to make it happen. The speakers were awesome, the venue was great and the people rocked. - -For those of you who missed it, the event was pretty well documented via the twitter backchannel and flickr photos. Thanks everyone! - -I'm back home now... oh - and I moved! I'm now living in a beautiful house at St. Clair and Dufferin. - +My last several weeks (months?) have been pretty darn hectic preparing for Do It With Drupal. Well, we've done it with Drupal - and it was awesome! It was really fun bringing the whole Lullabot team to make it happen. The speakers were awesome, the venue was great and the people rocked. + +For those of you who missed it, the event was pretty well documented via the twitter backchannel and flickr photos. Thanks everyone! + +I'm back home now... oh - and I moved! I'm now living in a beautiful house at St. Clair and Dufferin. + So it's time to settle in for the holiday season, finish getting unpacked and settled and enjoy a little breathing room. To kick it off, I'm heading to #hohoto tonight. Looking forward to partying with my local Toronto people! diff --git a/_posts/2009-01-05-hello-2009.md b/_posts/2009-01-05-hello-2009.md index 3d79b10..d23c4f3 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-01-05-hello-2009.md +++ b/_posts/2009-01-05-hello-2009.md @@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ tags: - new year - resolutions --- -Well, this post - much like the first five days of 2009 - has not gone as I'd planned. - -Looking back on 2008, it was another year of intense growth and change - as they all seem to be lately. I moved again, did a lot of travelling and had a pretty big year as a Lullabot (1 major event, 1 book, 1 DVD, 7 workshops, and countless hours of getting people over their Drupal hurdles). - -2009 holds lots of opportunity, potential and continued opportunities for growth and change. As far as resolutions, however, I have just one: - -**get healthy** - -That's right, the usual sleep more, eat better, exercise (period), go to the doctor, see a dentist, take time off, look out for me kind of just get healthy. - +Well, this post - much like the first five days of 2009 - has not gone as I'd planned. + +Looking back on 2008, it was another year of intense growth and change - as they all seem to be lately. I moved again, did a lot of travelling and had a pretty big year as a Lullabot (1 major event, 1 book, 1 DVD, 7 workshops, and countless hours of getting people over their Drupal hurdles). + +2009 holds lots of opportunity, potential and continued opportunities for growth and change. As far as resolutions, however, I have just one: + +**get healthy** + +That's right, the usual sleep more, eat better, exercise (period), go to the doctor, see a dentist, take time off, look out for me kind of just get healthy. + Ready? begin. diff --git a/_posts/2009-01-09-using-drupal-or-look-ma-im-on-amazon.md b/_posts/2009-01-09-using-drupal-or-look-ma-im-on-amazon.md index 0cba1e1..ec9b2b6 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-01-09-using-drupal-or-look-ma-im-on-amazon.md +++ b/_posts/2009-01-09-using-drupal-or-look-ma-im-on-amazon.md @@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ tags: - amazon - book --- -[![Using Drupal](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/using_drupal.png)](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fo%2FASIN%2F0596515804&tag=drupal0a-20&link)In my usual heard-it-hear-last style... I was out to dinner this week with my friend, [Phillip](http://www.communitybandwidth.ca/), who was apparently unaware that [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) had written a book(?!?) and I was one of the authors. - -Well, for most of last year (plus) most of us over at lullabot spent sleepless nights putting together [Using Drupal](http://www.usingdrupal.com/). It went to press in early December, and is indeed [on amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fo%2FASIN%2F0596515804&tag=drupal0a-20&link) and even [on shelves](http://flickr.com/photos/add1sun/3168949626/). - -I'm personally pretty proud of the book. It's the first Drupal book by [O'Reilly](http://www.oreilly.com/) and the first to take a comprehensive look at building a "real" Drupal site with heavy emphasis on CCK, Views and the rest of drupal contrib. - -I have to say, too, that O'Reilly was a lot of fun to work with. There's a reason they have a reputation for having the top tech books. If you missed it, @eaton and I did a [live webcast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ04xTyx6yo) with O'Reilly which was their biggest ever. Kool-aid for everyone! - +[![Using Drupal](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/using_drupal.png)](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fo%2FASIN%2F0596515804&tag=drupal0a-20&link)In my usual heard-it-hear-last style... I was out to dinner this week with my friend, [Phillip](http://www.communitybandwidth.ca/), who was apparently unaware that [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) had written a book(?!?) and I was one of the authors. + +Well, for most of last year (plus) most of us over at lullabot spent sleepless nights putting together [Using Drupal](http://www.usingdrupal.com/). It went to press in early December, and is indeed [on amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fo%2FASIN%2F0596515804&tag=drupal0a-20&link) and even [on shelves](http://flickr.com/photos/add1sun/3168949626/). + +I'm personally pretty proud of the book. It's the first Drupal book by [O'Reilly](http://www.oreilly.com/) and the first to take a comprehensive look at building a "real" Drupal site with heavy emphasis on CCK, Views and the rest of drupal contrib. + +I have to say, too, that O'Reilly was a lot of fun to work with. There's a reason they have a reputation for having the top tech books. If you missed it, @eaton and I did a [live webcast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ04xTyx6yo) with O'Reilly which was their biggest ever. Kool-aid for everyone! + If you don't have a copy yet, what's wrong with you? ;-) diff --git a/_posts/2009-01-15-happy-8th-birthday-drupal.md b/_posts/2009-01-15-happy-8th-birthday-drupal.md index a9f5100..c414f73 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-01-15-happy-8th-birthday-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2009-01-15-happy-8th-birthday-drupal.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ permalink: blog/walkah/happy-8th-birthday-drupal tags: - drupal --- -Man, we're getting old! - -Today (January 15th) is the 8th anniversary of the day Drupal 1.0 was released. Although [Dries](http://buytaert.net/) had no idea at the time - it was a move that would not only change his life, but mine too... - -January 2009 also marks the 5th anniversary of my starting to work on Drupal full time (after a few years of "hobby" involvement). My first project (at the time, actually a re-launch) still stands as one of my favourites: http://www.terminus1525.ca/ . Since then, Drupal has defined my career: from co-founding [Bryght](http://www.bryght.com/) to my current life as a [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/). The community is home to some of [my best friends](http://www.lullabot.com/about/team) and people [I love](http://www.lizakindred.com/). - +Man, we're getting old! + +Today (January 15th) is the 8th anniversary of the day Drupal 1.0 was released. Although [Dries](http://buytaert.net/) had no idea at the time - it was a move that would not only change his life, but mine too... + +January 2009 also marks the 5th anniversary of my starting to work on Drupal full time (after a few years of "hobby" involvement). My first project (at the time, actually a re-launch) still stands as one of my favourites: http://www.terminus1525.ca/ . Since then, Drupal has defined my career: from co-founding [Bryght](http://www.bryght.com/) to my current life as a [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/). The community is home to some of [my best friends](http://www.lullabot.com/about/team) and people [I love](http://www.lizakindred.com/). + Five years - full-time. No wonder [I feel old](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/why-i-hate-drupal). diff --git a/_posts/2009-01-30-image-module-end-of-an-era.md b/_posts/2009-01-30-image-module-end-of-an-era.md index 6b067b9..eca4b05 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-01-30-image-module-end-of-an-era.md +++ b/_posts/2009-01-30-image-module-end-of-an-era.md @@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ tags: - drupal - image --- -A few weeks ago, I very quietly made a (personally) significant move in my Drupal life. I "officially" transferred the project ownership of the [drupal image module](http://drupal.org/project/image) to [Daniel "sun" Kudwien](http://drupal.org/user/54136). Truth be told, I haven't been the primary maintainer of the module for over a year. That job has been admirably handled by [drewish](http://drupal.org/user/34869). However, both drewish and I have a lot else on our plates and one of Drupal's [most used](http://drupal.org/project/usage) modules has not gotten the focused attention it deserves. - -Now, as Angie will [tell you](http://webchick.net/contributor-spotlight/daniel-kudwien), Daniel is a fantastic Drupal contributor - worthy of the praise he receives. But, I'd like to give a personal shout out: he has helped to take the [image issue queue](http://drupal.org/project/issues/image) from over 12 pages long down to 3. - +A few weeks ago, I very quietly made a (personally) significant move in my Drupal life. I "officially" transferred the project ownership of the [drupal image module](http://drupal.org/project/image) to [Daniel "sun" Kudwien](http://drupal.org/user/54136). Truth be told, I haven't been the primary maintainer of the module for over a year. That job has been admirably handled by [drewish](http://drupal.org/user/34869). However, both drewish and I have a lot else on our plates and one of Drupal's [most used](http://drupal.org/project/usage) modules has not gotten the focused attention it deserves. + +Now, as Angie will [tell you](http://webchick.net/contributor-spotlight/daniel-kudwien), Daniel is a fantastic Drupal contributor - worthy of the praise he receives. But, I'd like to give a personal shout out: he has helped to take the [image issue queue](http://drupal.org/project/issues/image) from over 12 pages long down to 3. + Nice work, sun. The community thanks you :-) diff --git a/_posts/2009-02-27-drupalcon-is-coming-with-lots-of-openid.md b/_posts/2009-02-27-drupalcon-is-coming-with-lots-of-openid.md index 952ed98..8c748e2 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-02-27-drupalcon-is-coming-with-lots-of-openid.md +++ b/_posts/2009-02-27-drupalcon-is-coming-with-lots-of-openid.md @@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ tags: - drupalcon - diso --- -In just a few days, most of the [drupal community](http://drupal.org/) will be headed to Washington, DC for [DrupalCon](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/). As the conference draws closer, I always get excited to see friends I don't get to see and share exciting ideas, but this time there is a lot of growing interest and activity around [OpenID](http://openid.net/). - -As has become a bit of a tradition, I'll be giving my 4th [OpenID talk](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/openid-drupal-and-open-web). This year, I'm hoping to focus a bit on the exciting new developments from the OpenID community and looking at some of the things being built on top of OpenID (like the [OpenID/OAuth hybrid model](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/comcast_property_sees_92_success_rate_openid.php) and the [DiSo project](http://diso-project.org/)). - -Also, [Chris Messina](http://factoryjoe.com/) will be one of the keynote presenters - also talking about [online identity](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/node/4222). We had Chris on the [lullabot podcast](http://www.lullabot.com/audiocast/podcast-71-chris-messina-and-open-identity) this week - be sure to check it out! - +In just a few days, most of the [drupal community](http://drupal.org/) will be headed to Washington, DC for [DrupalCon](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/). As the conference draws closer, I always get excited to see friends I don't get to see and share exciting ideas, but this time there is a lot of growing interest and activity around [OpenID](http://openid.net/). + +As has become a bit of a tradition, I'll be giving my 4th [OpenID talk](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/openid-drupal-and-open-web). This year, I'm hoping to focus a bit on the exciting new developments from the OpenID community and looking at some of the things being built on top of OpenID (like the [OpenID/OAuth hybrid model](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/comcast_property_sees_92_success_rate_openid.php) and the [DiSo project](http://diso-project.org/)). + +Also, [Chris Messina](http://factoryjoe.com/) will be one of the keynote presenters - also talking about [online identity](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/node/4222). We had Chris on the [lullabot podcast](http://www.lullabot.com/audiocast/podcast-71-chris-messina-and-open-identity) this week - be sure to check it out! + Finally, for those of you coming to DC - I'm going to round up interested parties on Saturday for an [OpenID code sprint](http://groups.drupal.org/node/19529). Hope to see you there! diff --git a/_posts/2009-03-02-the-tools-i-use.md b/_posts/2009-03-02-the-tools-i-use.md index f5886f7..25ab2fd 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-03-02-the-tools-i-use.md +++ b/_posts/2009-03-02-the-tools-i-use.md @@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ tags: - gtd - tools --- -I spend a lot of time routinely tweaking various tools and configurations on my desktop environment. Frankly, I think those of us who spend our days in front of a computer owe it to ourselves to make it a pleasant experience. I tend to write about various tricks here, but feeling inspired by [merlin's desktop tour](http://www.vimeo.com/2831715), I may try to do so more regularly. Here's a quick rundown of the apps I've added lately: - - * [1Password](http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password) has had the most impact in terms of daily use. Fix your password habits. Seriously. - * To stay focused, I've been using using a combination of [SpritedAway](http://drikin.com/spiritedaway/) and [Isolator](http://willmore.eu/software/isolator/) - the former hides apps I'm not currently using, while the latter let's me focus on a single app (usually writing a document). - * I've been keeping an eye on noisy fans and run-away processes with [iStat menus](http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/) (hat tip: @jjeff). - * Mail is probably my biggest area of tinkering... I'll try to write up my current setup in more detail, but [MailActOn 2](http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html) and [DockStar](http://www.ecamm.com/mac/dockstar/) are working well for me. - -Probably my biggest change recently, is to switch back to much heavier use of emacs... more on *that* later ;-) - +I spend a lot of time routinely tweaking various tools and configurations on my desktop environment. Frankly, I think those of us who spend our days in front of a computer owe it to ourselves to make it a pleasant experience. I tend to write about various tricks here, but feeling inspired by [merlin's desktop tour](http://www.vimeo.com/2831715), I may try to do so more regularly. Here's a quick rundown of the apps I've added lately: + + * [1Password](http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password) has had the most impact in terms of daily use. Fix your password habits. Seriously. + * To stay focused, I've been using using a combination of [SpritedAway](http://drikin.com/spiritedaway/) and [Isolator](http://willmore.eu/software/isolator/) - the former hides apps I'm not currently using, while the latter let's me focus on a single app (usually writing a document). + * I've been keeping an eye on noisy fans and run-away processes with [iStat menus](http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/) (hat tip: @jjeff). + * Mail is probably my biggest area of tinkering... I'll try to write up my current setup in more detail, but [MailActOn 2](http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html) and [DockStar](http://www.ecamm.com/mac/dockstar/) are working well for me. + +Probably my biggest change recently, is to switch back to much heavier use of emacs... more on *that* later ;-) + How about you? What are you using to make your (computer) life a little bit better? diff --git a/_posts/2009-03-09-why-i-hate-drupal.md b/_posts/2009-03-09-why-i-hate-drupal.md index eec0801..30c2424 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-03-09-why-i-hate-drupal.md +++ b/_posts/2009-03-09-why-i-hate-drupal.md @@ -8,16 +8,16 @@ tags: - drupalcon - drupalcondc2009 --- -I'm back home from a truly spectacular [DrupalCon DC](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/) and have been reflecting this morning on some of the feedback from my talk: [Why I Hate Drupal](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/why-i-hate-drupal). - -See [the slides](http://www.slideshare.net/walkah/why-i-hate-drupal) and [watch the video](http://www.archive.org/details/DrupalconDc2009-WhyIHateDrupal) - -I first got the idea for this talk several months ago watching the DjangoCon 2008 keynote [Why I Hate Django](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Fr65PFqfk) by [Cal Henderson](http://www.iamcal.com/). I had several ideas for things to address, but aside from the session description I intentionally said very little about my talk publicly. This, of course, lead to some interesting [speculation](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/news/100-hot-sessions-tentative-schedule#comment-1644) and [negative feedback](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/why-i-hate-drupal#comment-752). All part of the plan. - -As it turned out, I was not lynched and nothing rotten was thrown. - -What I was *not* expecting (and what the video doesn't capture), though, was all of the interesting discussion that followed. I was overwhelmed by the positive response and the number of people who agreed with several of the points I tried to make: - -Drupal is not a product. To grow into a "movement", we should focus on becoming a better platform, adopt some better practices around development, be a better framework, and create more space for the creation of "products" (install profiles, etc) on top. - +I'm back home from a truly spectacular [DrupalCon DC](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/) and have been reflecting this morning on some of the feedback from my talk: [Why I Hate Drupal](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/why-i-hate-drupal). + +See [the slides](http://www.slideshare.net/walkah/why-i-hate-drupal) and [watch the video](http://www.archive.org/details/DrupalconDc2009-WhyIHateDrupal) + +I first got the idea for this talk several months ago watching the DjangoCon 2008 keynote [Why I Hate Django](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Fr65PFqfk) by [Cal Henderson](http://www.iamcal.com/). I had several ideas for things to address, but aside from the session description I intentionally said very little about my talk publicly. This, of course, lead to some interesting [speculation](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/news/100-hot-sessions-tentative-schedule#comment-1644) and [negative feedback](http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/why-i-hate-drupal#comment-752). All part of the plan. + +As it turned out, I was not lynched and nothing rotten was thrown. + +What I was *not* expecting (and what the video doesn't capture), though, was all of the interesting discussion that followed. I was overwhelmed by the positive response and the number of people who agreed with several of the points I tried to make: + +Drupal is not a product. To grow into a "movement", we should focus on becoming a better platform, adopt some better practices around development, be a better framework, and create more space for the creation of "products" (install profiles, etc) on top. + What do you think? How to we "fix" this project? diff --git a/_posts/2009-03-13-sxsw-09-meet-me-in-austin.md b/_posts/2009-03-13-sxsw-09-meet-me-in-austin.md index ce1fe75..8b95fce 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-03-13-sxsw-09-meet-me-in-austin.md +++ b/_posts/2009-03-13-sxsw-09-meet-me-in-austin.md @@ -7,14 +7,14 @@ tags: - sxsw - sxsw2009 --- -In a few short hours, I'll be on a plane to Austin, TX for another edition of [SXSW Interactive](http://sxsw.com/interactive). I'm looking forward to connecting with a bunch of folks that I don't otherwise get to see often. Here's a list of things I'm hoping to catch (in addition to the on-schedule panels): - - * [Activity Streams meetup](http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2126462/) - looking forward to diving into more DiSo :-) - * [XMPP/Jabber Meetup](http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2122123/) - I *still* believe that XMPP is one of the most important protocols moving forward on the 'net. Looking forward to syncing back up with this community. - * [OMB Meetup](http://controlyourself.ca/2009/03/11/control-yourself-at-sxsw/) - I'm excited to help bring [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/) to Drupal via the [Knight Initiative](http://groups.drupal.org/node/14953). - -I'll also definitely be at the party that [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) is co-sponsoring : [32bit](http://twitter.com/32bit). - -If you're in Austin for the next few days - ping me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/walkah) or [identi.ca](http://identi.ca/walkah). - +In a few short hours, I'll be on a plane to Austin, TX for another edition of [SXSW Interactive](http://sxsw.com/interactive). I'm looking forward to connecting with a bunch of folks that I don't otherwise get to see often. Here's a list of things I'm hoping to catch (in addition to the on-schedule panels): + + * [Activity Streams meetup](http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2126462/) - looking forward to diving into more DiSo :-) + * [XMPP/Jabber Meetup](http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2122123/) - I *still* believe that XMPP is one of the most important protocols moving forward on the 'net. Looking forward to syncing back up with this community. + * [OMB Meetup](http://controlyourself.ca/2009/03/11/control-yourself-at-sxsw/) - I'm excited to help bring [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/) to Drupal via the [Knight Initiative](http://groups.drupal.org/node/14953). + +I'll also definitely be at the party that [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/) is co-sponsoring : [32bit](http://twitter.com/32bit). + +If you're in Austin for the next few days - ping me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/walkah) or [identi.ca](http://identi.ca/walkah). + Off to finish packing :-) diff --git a/_posts/2009-03-24-on-passion.md b/_posts/2009-03-24-on-passion.md index 2243d87..feada93 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-03-24-on-passion.md +++ b/_posts/2009-03-24-on-passion.md @@ -8,20 +8,20 @@ tags: - refreshevents - bigideas --- -Things tend to happen for a reason, right? That is certainly how last night went. I spent the afternoon at [CSI](http://socialinnovation.ca/) and noticed several local friends all [a-twitter](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23refreshevents) as they showed up for the [stay fresh event](http://www.refresh-events.ca/events/stayfresh06-peter-flaschner/) happening downstairs from me. - -The main presentation of the night was [Peter Flaschner](http://peterflaschner.com/) (aka @flashlight) talking about *Passion*. So, I decided to crash the party. - -Passion is something very much on my mind lately: specifically finding, cultivating and making space in my life for it. I am the kind of person who is cursed (or blessed) by having a *really* hard time doing things without passion. Lately, I've seen a dip in my personal productivity (and happiness) - not unrelated. - -In his presentation ([check it out](http://www.slideshare.net/flashlight/passion-ftw)), Peter talked about research from [Robert J. Vallerand](http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r26710/LRCS/default_en.htm) on the topic. Specifically, the nature of **harmonious** passion, and why it's so important. When we do things autonomously (i.e. not for social acceptance, etc) purely for the challenge or pleasure of it, we can achieve happiness. Happiness for not only ourselves, but those around us. Harmonious passion needs no further motivation, and the rewards are plentiful. - -[Tim O'Reilly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O%27Reilly) has been spreading a new mantra (as he does so well): [work on stuff that matters](http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-fir.html). Less catchy, but the very important first principle that Tim outlines is: work on stuff that matters **to you**. - -Fear, self doubt, other external pressures and responsibilities, however, can make the pursuit of harmonious passion so tricky. - -Both Tim and Peter bring the relevance of passion and "stuff that matters" directly to the present: the environment, society and (of course) "these economic times". We can not only make our own lives better, but affect those around us and even the world. Seems like a no-brainer, no? To borrow a tag line from [Chris Messina](http://factoryjoe.com/blog/): - -> This can all be made better. Ready? Begin. - +Things tend to happen for a reason, right? That is certainly how last night went. I spent the afternoon at [CSI](http://socialinnovation.ca/) and noticed several local friends all [a-twitter](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23refreshevents) as they showed up for the [stay fresh event](http://www.refresh-events.ca/events/stayfresh06-peter-flaschner/) happening downstairs from me. + +The main presentation of the night was [Peter Flaschner](http://peterflaschner.com/) (aka @flashlight) talking about *Passion*. So, I decided to crash the party. + +Passion is something very much on my mind lately: specifically finding, cultivating and making space in my life for it. I am the kind of person who is cursed (or blessed) by having a *really* hard time doing things without passion. Lately, I've seen a dip in my personal productivity (and happiness) - not unrelated. + +In his presentation ([check it out](http://www.slideshare.net/flashlight/passion-ftw)), Peter talked about research from [Robert J. Vallerand](http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r26710/LRCS/default_en.htm) on the topic. Specifically, the nature of **harmonious** passion, and why it's so important. When we do things autonomously (i.e. not for social acceptance, etc) purely for the challenge or pleasure of it, we can achieve happiness. Happiness for not only ourselves, but those around us. Harmonious passion needs no further motivation, and the rewards are plentiful. + +[Tim O'Reilly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O%27Reilly) has been spreading a new mantra (as he does so well): [work on stuff that matters](http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-fir.html). Less catchy, but the very important first principle that Tim outlines is: work on stuff that matters **to you**. + +Fear, self doubt, other external pressures and responsibilities, however, can make the pursuit of harmonious passion so tricky. + +Both Tim and Peter bring the relevance of passion and "stuff that matters" directly to the present: the environment, society and (of course) "these economic times". We can not only make our own lives better, but affect those around us and even the world. Seems like a no-brainer, no? To borrow a tag line from [Chris Messina](http://factoryjoe.com/blog/): + +> This can all be made better. Ready? Begin. + I am hereby actively renewing dedication to my harmonious passions. Are you? diff --git a/_posts/2009-04-22-open-social-for-the-rest-of-the-web.md b/_posts/2009-04-22-open-social-for-the-rest-of-the-web.md index 68aafc9..60ca368 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-04-22-open-social-for-the-rest-of-the-web.md +++ b/_posts/2009-04-22-open-social-for-the-rest-of-the-web.md @@ -11,32 +11,32 @@ tags: - swfoo - openweb --- -This past weekend, I had the privilege of being one of the chosen attendees for [Social Web FooCamp](http://swfoo09.pbwiki.com/). Needless to say, I was flattered and had an amazing time (thanks again, @daveman692 and @davemorin ) . One thing, however, became very apparent: the conversation, currently, is being dominated by the 'big players' (Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Myspace predominantly). In several discussions I found myself increasingly dropping the phrase: - -> ... on the rest of the web - -### the big guys ### - -First off, this is not a critique of the Google's and Facebook's of the internet. They are incredibly valuable to the growth of the openweb. The fact that Google, Yahoo and Myspace all three have various OpenID and OAuth initiatives in the wild and are actively pursuing additional ways to open their data is awesome (and Facebook wants to get there). It helps raise awareness and bring (slash confirm) "legitimacy". - -The big guys also have resources. They can attend the conferences (and camps!) and have dedicated resources to write the standards, participate in the discussions and help shape the future. - -However, they are only part of the discussion. - -### perspective ### - -The issues the major providers face are different from the rest. They have a few sites with large numbers of users (hundreds of millions). Out here on the rest of the web, we have millions of websites, each with a "small" number of users (hundreds or thousands). We all understand the necessity for open data, identity, standards and protocols, but our reasoning tends to be slightly different. - -The big guys recognize the benefit of exposing their data and most are providing OpenID and various levels of OAuth. How many are consuming it? - -Sure, the big players want to be the primary authority for your identity and your information. In some cases, it *is* their business. But, rather than ranting against 'the man', I ask: have we - the rest of the web - given them a compelling reason to yet? - -### open source platforms for the open web ### - -It's one thing for a major site (with hundreds of millions of users) to act like a silo, but on the rest of the web it amounts to isolation. - -Those of us working on open source web platforms have an enormous potential for influence here. Implementing the various open standards "from scratch", while possible, is not realistic or even necessary. Increasingly, individuals have [Wordpress](http://wordpress.org/) blogs or perhaps their company, organization or club has a [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) site. Web developers are increasingly turning to these platforms, or development frameworks such as [Rails](http://rubyonrails.org/) and [Django](http://www.djangoproject.com/). These platforms all have a real opportunity to bake in implementations of these open standards. The [DiSo project](http://diso-project.org/) offers a central place for co-ordination around these efforts. - -We have data - gobs of it. We also, collectively, have the users and, in most cases, have more authoritative information about them (we know ourselves, our employees and our members). - +This past weekend, I had the privilege of being one of the chosen attendees for [Social Web FooCamp](http://swfoo09.pbwiki.com/). Needless to say, I was flattered and had an amazing time (thanks again, @daveman692 and @davemorin ) . One thing, however, became very apparent: the conversation, currently, is being dominated by the 'big players' (Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Myspace predominantly). In several discussions I found myself increasingly dropping the phrase: + +> ... on the rest of the web + +### the big guys ### + +First off, this is not a critique of the Google's and Facebook's of the internet. They are incredibly valuable to the growth of the openweb. The fact that Google, Yahoo and Myspace all three have various OpenID and OAuth initiatives in the wild and are actively pursuing additional ways to open their data is awesome (and Facebook wants to get there). It helps raise awareness and bring (slash confirm) "legitimacy". + +The big guys also have resources. They can attend the conferences (and camps!) and have dedicated resources to write the standards, participate in the discussions and help shape the future. + +However, they are only part of the discussion. + +### perspective ### + +The issues the major providers face are different from the rest. They have a few sites with large numbers of users (hundreds of millions). Out here on the rest of the web, we have millions of websites, each with a "small" number of users (hundreds or thousands). We all understand the necessity for open data, identity, standards and protocols, but our reasoning tends to be slightly different. + +The big guys recognize the benefit of exposing their data and most are providing OpenID and various levels of OAuth. How many are consuming it? + +Sure, the big players want to be the primary authority for your identity and your information. In some cases, it *is* their business. But, rather than ranting against 'the man', I ask: have we - the rest of the web - given them a compelling reason to yet? + +### open source platforms for the open web ### + +It's one thing for a major site (with hundreds of millions of users) to act like a silo, but on the rest of the web it amounts to isolation. + +Those of us working on open source web platforms have an enormous potential for influence here. Implementing the various open standards "from scratch", while possible, is not realistic or even necessary. Increasingly, individuals have [Wordpress](http://wordpress.org/) blogs or perhaps their company, organization or club has a [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) site. Web developers are increasingly turning to these platforms, or development frameworks such as [Rails](http://rubyonrails.org/) and [Django](http://www.djangoproject.com/). These platforms all have a real opportunity to bake in implementations of these open standards. The [DiSo project](http://diso-project.org/) offers a central place for co-ordination around these efforts. + +We have data - gobs of it. We also, collectively, have the users and, in most cases, have more authoritative information about them (we know ourselves, our employees and our members). + We - the rest of the web - need to join the conversation: attend the events, participate in the mailing lists, and *build* the code to power the open, social web. diff --git a/_posts/2009-08-07-the-rebirth-of-customer-service.md b/_posts/2009-08-07-the-rebirth-of-customer-service.md index df04d35..daaf6eb 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-08-07-the-rebirth-of-customer-service.md +++ b/_posts/2009-08-07-the-rebirth-of-customer-service.md @@ -8,21 +8,21 @@ tags: - service - flyporter --- - -I am a fairly [frequent traveller](http://dopplr.com/traveller/walkah). As such, I have seen the worst of airline industry - an industry that has all but lost the notion of customer service. (Those of you currently hating on United - flown American lately?). For months, I have considered blogging a lengthy rant about just how atrocious the employees of the major North American airlines are to their customers. However, I'd like to try something different: A glowingly positive, upbeat blog post: - -I recently (at last!) took my first flight on Toronto-based [Porter Airlines](http://www.flyporter.com/). Porter operates on Toronto's Island Airport - which is already a big win (saving me a trip out to the western suburbs). Their motto, which has intrigued me since their launch, is "flying refined" : they deliver. - -My trip started with frustration: due to a hectic morning (setting kids up with gramma for the week, attending a meeting, packing, etc), I was running late and decided to call a car. Said taxi service (who get *no* points for customer service) showed up 25 minutes late. I began dreading the potential hassle I faced by arriving last minute at the airport. - -Enter Porter. - -I made it to the check-in counter 35 minutes to flight time (a full 10 minutes after the 45 minute check-in cut-off for US flights). Expecting the usual condescending lecture about leaving more time before my flight, I approached the counter. I was greeted with a pleasant smile and, after showing my passport, I was *asked* if I preferred a window or an aisle seat. No lecture. No condescending "sorry, there's nothing I can do". No re-booking charges. In less than 5 minutes, I was all checked in for my flight to Newark. - -After breezing through security, I entered Porter's piece de resistance: their Toronto waiting area. This place is everything I'd heard it to be: ample seating for everyone, comfortable leather chairs for reading, desks for those who need to get some work done, chairs with tables for eating, and power outlets everywhere (hear that, LAX?!). - -I looked around in awe for a moment, before heading to the cafe which offers *complementary* espresso drinks, juice, water and snacks. With capucino in hand, I grabbed a seat at one of the desks and plugged my laptop in to send a few quick emails on the *free* wifi. - -Next came the on-time boarding (you reading, ORD?), via another smiling Porter employee. In-flight, I enjoyed a *complimentary* Stella and meal (when was the last time you got free food on a North American flight?) and swooned. - -I believe in small companies with great service. Making customers happy simply makes people happy. Porter, you made me happy. Thank you. + +I am a fairly [frequent traveller](http://dopplr.com/traveller/walkah). As such, I have seen the worst of airline industry - an industry that has all but lost the notion of customer service. (Those of you currently hating on United - flown American lately?). For months, I have considered blogging a lengthy rant about just how atrocious the employees of the major North American airlines are to their customers. However, I'd like to try something different: A glowingly positive, upbeat blog post: + +I recently (at last!) took my first flight on Toronto-based [Porter Airlines](http://www.flyporter.com/). Porter operates on Toronto's Island Airport - which is already a big win (saving me a trip out to the western suburbs). Their motto, which has intrigued me since their launch, is "flying refined" : they deliver. + +My trip started with frustration: due to a hectic morning (setting kids up with gramma for the week, attending a meeting, packing, etc), I was running late and decided to call a car. Said taxi service (who get *no* points for customer service) showed up 25 minutes late. I began dreading the potential hassle I faced by arriving last minute at the airport. + +Enter Porter. + +I made it to the check-in counter 35 minutes to flight time (a full 10 minutes after the 45 minute check-in cut-off for US flights). Expecting the usual condescending lecture about leaving more time before my flight, I approached the counter. I was greeted with a pleasant smile and, after showing my passport, I was *asked* if I preferred a window or an aisle seat. No lecture. No condescending "sorry, there's nothing I can do". No re-booking charges. In less than 5 minutes, I was all checked in for my flight to Newark. + +After breezing through security, I entered Porter's piece de resistance: their Toronto waiting area. This place is everything I'd heard it to be: ample seating for everyone, comfortable leather chairs for reading, desks for those who need to get some work done, chairs with tables for eating, and power outlets everywhere (hear that, LAX?!). + +I looked around in awe for a moment, before heading to the cafe which offers *complementary* espresso drinks, juice, water and snacks. With capucino in hand, I grabbed a seat at one of the desks and plugged my laptop in to send a few quick emails on the *free* wifi. + +Next came the on-time boarding (you reading, ORD?), via another smiling Porter employee. In-flight, I enjoyed a *complimentary* Stella and meal (when was the last time you got free food on a North American flight?) and swooned. + +I believe in small companies with great service. Making customers happy simply makes people happy. Porter, you made me happy. Thank you. diff --git a/_posts/2009-09-22-living-in-the-browser.md b/_posts/2009-09-22-living-in-the-browser.md index 708f7cb..ae856db 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-09-22-living-in-the-browser.md +++ b/_posts/2009-09-22-living-in-the-browser.md @@ -9,38 +9,38 @@ tags: - lifehacks - gmail --- -For a long time I've maintained that I hate web applications. It's good for a laugh (in certain circles), but has been mostly true. Web interfaces have (traditionally) been clunky, lack integration with the desktop, don't work offline, and are generally just unpleasant to use. - -Lately, I've been re-testing that theory and have surprised myself with the results: - -I'm living in the browser. - -OK, not *entirely*. But my currently running applications include: [Firefox](http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html), [Emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/), Terminal, [Adium](http://adium.im/) and iTunes (sorry, songbird). - -The frequent, attentive readers among you know that I've been tinkering with "Single Site Browsers" lately as part of this experiment - because, if I'm using Firefox for development - I don't want "other stuff" cluttering that. Well, a recent [article on lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/5344395/icon+only-permatabs-collection-streamlines-your-minimal-gmail-google-reader-tabs) made me rethink my approach. - -The article outlines a way to have "permanent" tabs(i.e. tabs that automatically reload when you restart yoru browser) that only appear as a favicon (thus saving screen real estate). My current lineup looks like this : - -![permatabs](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/perma-favicon-tabs.png) - -That's gmail (personal and [work](http://www.lullabot.com/)), [remember the milk](http://www.rememberthemilk.com/), google voice and google reader. - -For the last few weeks, I've been trying out this system and have found little reason to want to switch away from it. There are some properties that appeal to me: my application list is entirely cross-platform (substitute pidgin for adium) and free software. Application management, setup and configuration is minimal and I have to do very little application switching throughout the day. In fact, with my external monitor, I can fit everything on one screen where I can see it. - -Ditching a desktop mail reader was obviously the biggest shift. But in the case of gmail, rtm and google reader there are a few things in common that make these "work" for me as desktop replacements: offline mode (thanks to [google gears](http://gears.google.com/)), extensive keyboard shortcuts (better than their desktop equivalents), regular updates / improvments and APIs / methods for extensions. - -Here's my current list of Firefox extensions, let me know if I'm missing any great ones: - - * [1Password](http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password) - * [Better Gmail 2](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6076) - * [Better GReader](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6424) - * [Evernote Web Clipper](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8381) - still determined to use evernote effectively - * [FaviconizeTab](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3780) - * [Firebug](http://getfirebug.com/) (always) - * [Gmail S/MIME](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/592) - * [Google Gears](http://gears.google.com/) - offline goodness - * [Greasemonkey](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748) - * [PermaTabs Mod](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7816) - * [Remember The Milk for Gmail](http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/) - to help solve the problem of my todo list not getting enough 'focus' - -How much of your life do you spend living in your browser? +For a long time I've maintained that I hate web applications. It's good for a laugh (in certain circles), but has been mostly true. Web interfaces have (traditionally) been clunky, lack integration with the desktop, don't work offline, and are generally just unpleasant to use. + +Lately, I've been re-testing that theory and have surprised myself with the results: + +I'm living in the browser. + +OK, not *entirely*. But my currently running applications include: [Firefox](http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html), [Emacs](http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/), Terminal, [Adium](http://adium.im/) and iTunes (sorry, songbird). + +The frequent, attentive readers among you know that I've been tinkering with "Single Site Browsers" lately as part of this experiment - because, if I'm using Firefox for development - I don't want "other stuff" cluttering that. Well, a recent [article on lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/5344395/icon+only-permatabs-collection-streamlines-your-minimal-gmail-google-reader-tabs) made me rethink my approach. + +The article outlines a way to have "permanent" tabs(i.e. tabs that automatically reload when you restart yoru browser) that only appear as a favicon (thus saving screen real estate). My current lineup looks like this : + +![permatabs](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/perma-favicon-tabs.png) + +That's gmail (personal and [work](http://www.lullabot.com/)), [remember the milk](http://www.rememberthemilk.com/), google voice and google reader. + +For the last few weeks, I've been trying out this system and have found little reason to want to switch away from it. There are some properties that appeal to me: my application list is entirely cross-platform (substitute pidgin for adium) and free software. Application management, setup and configuration is minimal and I have to do very little application switching throughout the day. In fact, with my external monitor, I can fit everything on one screen where I can see it. + +Ditching a desktop mail reader was obviously the biggest shift. But in the case of gmail, rtm and google reader there are a few things in common that make these "work" for me as desktop replacements: offline mode (thanks to [google gears](http://gears.google.com/)), extensive keyboard shortcuts (better than their desktop equivalents), regular updates / improvments and APIs / methods for extensions. + +Here's my current list of Firefox extensions, let me know if I'm missing any great ones: + + * [1Password](http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password) + * [Better Gmail 2](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6076) + * [Better GReader](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6424) + * [Evernote Web Clipper](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8381) - still determined to use evernote effectively + * [FaviconizeTab](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3780) + * [Firebug](http://getfirebug.com/) (always) + * [Gmail S/MIME](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/592) + * [Google Gears](http://gears.google.com/) - offline goodness + * [Greasemonkey](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748) + * [PermaTabs Mod](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7816) + * [Remember The Milk for Gmail](http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/) - to help solve the problem of my todo list not getting enough 'focus' + +How much of your life do you spend living in your browser? diff --git a/_posts/2009-10-19-change-medium-toronto.md b/_posts/2009-10-19-change-medium-toronto.md index 47bdc12..7f8fefa 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-10-19-change-medium-toronto.md +++ b/_posts/2009-10-19-change-medium-toronto.md @@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ tags: - omb - social web --- -Calling all social web "hackers"! I've been asked to help put together an awesome event: - -[Change Medium Toronto](http://changemedium.org/) - -If you love hacking on emerging technologies and recognize the effect they're having on society. I'm talking about things like [Activity Streams](http://activitystrea.ms/), [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/), and [PubSubHubbub](http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/). We'll be looking at the latest microblogging and real-time web technologies - with the very simple goal of building something new. - -The truly awesome [Evan Prodromou](http://identi.ca/evan) will be there representing [StatusNet](http://status.net/). You should join us too. - -Toronto, let's get our geek on and make stuff! [Sign up here](http://bit.ly/cmTorontoInvite) - and I will see you there! +Calling all social web "hackers"! I've been asked to help put together an awesome event: + +[Change Medium Toronto](http://changemedium.org/) + +If you love hacking on emerging technologies and recognize the effect they're having on society. I'm talking about things like [Activity Streams](http://activitystrea.ms/), [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/), and [PubSubHubbub](http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/). We'll be looking at the latest microblogging and real-time web technologies - with the very simple goal of building something new. + +The truly awesome [Evan Prodromou](http://identi.ca/evan) will be there representing [StatusNet](http://status.net/). You should join us too. + +Toronto, let's get our geek on and make stuff! [Sign up here](http://bit.ly/cmTorontoInvite) - and I will see you there! diff --git a/_posts/2009-12-28-now-on-android.md b/_posts/2009-12-28-now-on-android.md index 0aba0fc..9e3a280 100644 --- a/_posts/2009-12-28-now-on-android.md +++ b/_posts/2009-12-28-now-on-android.md @@ -8,30 +8,30 @@ tags: - android - htc --- -[![HTC Hero](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3298/3657081908_3fab29bfb8_m.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27048731@N03/3657081908/)Almost exactly one month ago, I made the switch from my old, 2g, jailbroken iPhone to a brand new fully legit [android](http://www.android.com/) phone: the [HTC Hero](http://www.htc.com/hero). - -My reasons for the switch were varied - it's a platform I'd like to support, hack on and one I generally find interesting. I've also grown increasingly frustrated with my suite of Apple products and, in general, am looking to "live open" (more on that later). - -### Treats - -There are some things that I absolutely love about the Hero: way more than the iPhone: - - * It is an aesthetically pleasing device. This is one thing that has kept me on Apple gear for a long time. I appreciate quality design - particularly in the products I use constantly every day. The Hero is a good looking device and feels good in my hand. - * Multi-tasking. Yeah, this is the big "killer feature" over the iPhone, but it's really handy. I consider my phone primarily a communications device and I can see instantly and easily who is emailing, texting, IM'ing or mentioning me [on twitter](http://twitter.com/walkah) all without quitting the app I'm currently running. - * Contacts a central. On a contact's record, I can see all phone calls, emails and texts with that person - and even their Facebook status (or birthday - nice touch). - * Really great sync. Now, let me start by saying - I'm a google apps user. That said, all I did was add my gmail account information and instantly I had all mail, contacts and calendar entries seemlessly sync'ed to my phone. Oh, and (unlike "mobile me") there was no additional cost. - -### Frustrations - -This isn't quite the ultimate phone yet. Here are my top gripes: - - * No paid apps in the Android Market in Canada. I'm confused as to who is really to blame here - whether it's the big US companies or the Canadian government or a combination of the two, but living in Canada can be a real drag sometimes. - * Lag. It's not a blazingly fast phone and when you add running multiple simultaneous apps, the interface can get laggy after a while. A good "task killer" app on Android seems to be a best friend. (I'm currently using TasKiller, FYI). - * Lots of the apps just aren't as good. Twitter apps are a significant comparison - there just is not a [tweetie 2](http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/) comparable app. That said, there *is* a google voice app ;-) - * Version lag. This seems to be particularly bad on my HTC Hero (which currently uses Android 1.5), but in general handset manufacturors seem to be slow to roll out the latest version of android for their handsets. Doing so yourself, requires rooting (how is that an advancement from iPhone?). - -### Conclusion - -Overall, though, I'm happy about the switch. I think the Android future is bright and hopefully I'll have some spare time here and there to hack on some things in support of the platform. - - +[![HTC Hero](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3298/3657081908_3fab29bfb8_m.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27048731@N03/3657081908/)Almost exactly one month ago, I made the switch from my old, 2g, jailbroken iPhone to a brand new fully legit [android](http://www.android.com/) phone: the [HTC Hero](http://www.htc.com/hero). + +My reasons for the switch were varied - it's a platform I'd like to support, hack on and one I generally find interesting. I've also grown increasingly frustrated with my suite of Apple products and, in general, am looking to "live open" (more on that later). + +### Treats + +There are some things that I absolutely love about the Hero: way more than the iPhone: + + * It is an aesthetically pleasing device. This is one thing that has kept me on Apple gear for a long time. I appreciate quality design - particularly in the products I use constantly every day. The Hero is a good looking device and feels good in my hand. + * Multi-tasking. Yeah, this is the big "killer feature" over the iPhone, but it's really handy. I consider my phone primarily a communications device and I can see instantly and easily who is emailing, texting, IM'ing or mentioning me [on twitter](http://twitter.com/walkah) all without quitting the app I'm currently running. + * Contacts a central. On a contact's record, I can see all phone calls, emails and texts with that person - and even their Facebook status (or birthday - nice touch). + * Really great sync. Now, let me start by saying - I'm a google apps user. That said, all I did was add my gmail account information and instantly I had all mail, contacts and calendar entries seemlessly sync'ed to my phone. Oh, and (unlike "mobile me") there was no additional cost. + +### Frustrations + +This isn't quite the ultimate phone yet. Here are my top gripes: + + * No paid apps in the Android Market in Canada. I'm confused as to who is really to blame here - whether it's the big US companies or the Canadian government or a combination of the two, but living in Canada can be a real drag sometimes. + * Lag. It's not a blazingly fast phone and when you add running multiple simultaneous apps, the interface can get laggy after a while. A good "task killer" app on Android seems to be a best friend. (I'm currently using TasKiller, FYI). + * Lots of the apps just aren't as good. Twitter apps are a significant comparison - there just is not a [tweetie 2](http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/) comparable app. That said, there *is* a google voice app ;-) + * Version lag. This seems to be particularly bad on my HTC Hero (which currently uses Android 1.5), but in general handset manufacturors seem to be slow to roll out the latest version of android for their handsets. Doing so yourself, requires rooting (how is that an advancement from iPhone?). + +### Conclusion + +Overall, though, I'm happy about the switch. I think the Android future is bright and hopefully I'll have some spare time here and there to hack on some things in support of the platform. + + diff --git a/_posts/2010-01-01-in-2010.md b/_posts/2010-01-01-in-2010.md index 63e88e5..35b30d1 100644 --- a/_posts/2010-01-01-in-2010.md +++ b/_posts/2010-01-01-in-2010.md @@ -8,16 +8,16 @@ tags: - new year - resolutions --- -It's that time of year - for reflecting and resolving - and, naturally... blogging about it. - -2009 was not awesome. Not a terribly awful year, nor my worst ever. It was, however, a year full of challenges - all of which have been opportunities for growth. 2009, though, [got off to a rough start](http://twitter.com/walkah/status/1098018094) and didn't end much better. As much as I've grown, I'm definitely looking forward to moving forward. - -I don't know if I have resolutions this year, per se. I do have two words that have been on my mind a *lot* lately: - -**CREATE** I am eager and excited to do more, to *make* more. I would like to write more, build more tech and (dare I say it?) write some music. I want to look back next year when doing this blog post and be able to see all the things I've created - good and bad. I'd like to have fewer ideas left swimming in my head otherwise untouched. - -**OPEN** I've long been an advocate, user and developer of open source software. In part, it's a renewed passion for free and open technologies. Beyond that, however, continuing to move towards openness in my life, my heart and in my relationships. - -2010 promises to be another year of great change for me. Lots of which is already underway (more on that soon). - -Here's hoping you and that you stick to your resolutions and reach your goals and have an awesome year! +It's that time of year - for reflecting and resolving - and, naturally... blogging about it. + +2009 was not awesome. Not a terribly awful year, nor my worst ever. It was, however, a year full of challenges - all of which have been opportunities for growth. 2009, though, [got off to a rough start](http://twitter.com/walkah/status/1098018094) and didn't end much better. As much as I've grown, I'm definitely looking forward to moving forward. + +I don't know if I have resolutions this year, per se. I do have two words that have been on my mind a *lot* lately: + +**CREATE** I am eager and excited to do more, to *make* more. I would like to write more, build more tech and (dare I say it?) write some music. I want to look back next year when doing this blog post and be able to see all the things I've created - good and bad. I'd like to have fewer ideas left swimming in my head otherwise untouched. + +**OPEN** I've long been an advocate, user and developer of open source software. In part, it's a renewed passion for free and open technologies. Beyond that, however, continuing to move towards openness in my life, my heart and in my relationships. + +2010 promises to be another year of great change for me. Lots of which is already underway (more on that soon). + +Here's hoping you and that you stick to your resolutions and reach your goals and have an awesome year! diff --git a/_posts/2010-01-06-ch-ch-ch-changes.md b/_posts/2010-01-06-ch-ch-ch-changes.md index e0f16f1..1fdf9ae 100644 --- a/_posts/2010-01-06-ch-ch-ch-changes.md +++ b/_posts/2010-01-06-ch-ch-ch-changes.md @@ -8,28 +8,28 @@ tags: - life - openweb --- -This year promises to be an exciting one - and one that proves to be full of changes galore. As I mentioned in my [last post](http://walkah.net/blog/walkah/2010), much of my 2010 change began late in 2009. - -Cue the Bowie... - -### Leaving Lullabot - -Although it's been largely quiet (and really not a huge deal), before the rumours spread too far: I've left my position as the Director of Education for [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/). I'm leaving behind a totally awesome team and a wonderful job (in the midst of a recession). Why on earth?! - -Let me be *very* clear: Lullabot isn't in danger, stopping [Drupal training](http://www.lullabot.com/training), nor is there any backroom drama. The 'bots are wonderful people and chances are very good that we'll continue to collaborate in the future (at the very least, there's still hugs). - -This was a very personal decision - and one that was a long time coming. For the morbidly curious, it boils down to three things (and those of you who know me well, know it *always* comes down to three things): - -**Travel**: Anyone who is friends with a 'bot on [Dopplr](http://www.dopplr.com/traveller/walkah) or [Tripit](http://www.tripit.com/people/walkah) knows that the job entails a lot of time on the road. With over 230 days on the road in the past 2 years, I needed and my kids deserved a break. While we (Lullabot and I) largely worked around this - it's still just part of the gig. - -**Drupal**: I stood up in front of a rather large group of Drupal folks almost a year ago and explained [why I hate Drupal](http://whyihatedrupal.com/) - so it's obvious, right? While I feel the points I tried to make still face the community at large (such as [smallcore](http://smallcore.org/)/[drupal is not a product](http://www.disambiguity.com/designing-for-the-wrong-target-audience/), or even [rethinking the maintainer structure](http://drupal4hu.com/node/229)), I don't actually hate Drupal (as those of you who grok sarcasm might have noted). - -However, Drupal has been my full-time job for 6 years. In that time, the community (and the software) has grown and changed considerably. It has been an amazing ride. As [Dries](http://buytaert.net/) mentioned to me on the phone a few weeks ago, "once a Drupal guy, always a Drupal guy". This is probably true - I have no intention of leaving the community, but I am ready for some new challenges. - -**Open Web**: One thing people may have noticed is that when I have had the chance to hack on Drupal lately - it tends to involve "open web" or "open standards" implementations (notably, OpenID etc). Many folks have also noticed that my contributions have trailed off lately. When your "after hours" time starts including more things like "sleep" - your after hours projects take a hit. - -I'd like to get back to building cool, new stuff. While I certainly get a lot out of teaching people how to make the most of the tools available, I'm passionate about building the next tools (which doesn't exclude Drupal). These are interesting times on the internets, I wanna have my nose in the middle of it. - -### Now what? - -Officially, I will be freelancing (technically have been for a few weeks). I've already got some interesting things lined up that I'm excited to start talking about soon. +This year promises to be an exciting one - and one that proves to be full of changes galore. As I mentioned in my [last post](http://walkah.net/blog/walkah/2010), much of my 2010 change began late in 2009. + +Cue the Bowie... + +### Leaving Lullabot + +Although it's been largely quiet (and really not a huge deal), before the rumours spread too far: I've left my position as the Director of Education for [Lullabot](http://www.lullabot.com/). I'm leaving behind a totally awesome team and a wonderful job (in the midst of a recession). Why on earth?! + +Let me be *very* clear: Lullabot isn't in danger, stopping [Drupal training](http://www.lullabot.com/training), nor is there any backroom drama. The 'bots are wonderful people and chances are very good that we'll continue to collaborate in the future (at the very least, there's still hugs). + +This was a very personal decision - and one that was a long time coming. For the morbidly curious, it boils down to three things (and those of you who know me well, know it *always* comes down to three things): + +**Travel**: Anyone who is friends with a 'bot on [Dopplr](http://www.dopplr.com/traveller/walkah) or [Tripit](http://www.tripit.com/people/walkah) knows that the job entails a lot of time on the road. With over 230 days on the road in the past 2 years, I needed and my kids deserved a break. While we (Lullabot and I) largely worked around this - it's still just part of the gig. + +**Drupal**: I stood up in front of a rather large group of Drupal folks almost a year ago and explained [why I hate Drupal](http://whyihatedrupal.com/) - so it's obvious, right? While I feel the points I tried to make still face the community at large (such as [smallcore](http://smallcore.org/)/[drupal is not a product](http://www.disambiguity.com/designing-for-the-wrong-target-audience/), or even [rethinking the maintainer structure](http://drupal4hu.com/node/229)), I don't actually hate Drupal (as those of you who grok sarcasm might have noted). + +However, Drupal has been my full-time job for 6 years. In that time, the community (and the software) has grown and changed considerably. It has been an amazing ride. As [Dries](http://buytaert.net/) mentioned to me on the phone a few weeks ago, "once a Drupal guy, always a Drupal guy". This is probably true - I have no intention of leaving the community, but I am ready for some new challenges. + +**Open Web**: One thing people may have noticed is that when I have had the chance to hack on Drupal lately - it tends to involve "open web" or "open standards" implementations (notably, OpenID etc). Many folks have also noticed that my contributions have trailed off lately. When your "after hours" time starts including more things like "sleep" - your after hours projects take a hit. + +I'd like to get back to building cool, new stuff. While I certainly get a lot out of teaching people how to make the most of the tools available, I'm passionate about building the next tools (which doesn't exclude Drupal). These are interesting times on the internets, I wanna have my nose in the middle of it. + +### Now what? + +Officially, I will be freelancing (technically have been for a few weeks). I've already got some interesting things lined up that I'm excited to start talking about soon. diff --git a/_posts/2010-01-15-joining-statusnet.md b/_posts/2010-01-15-joining-statusnet.md index 8a1ad97..3b4c65b 100644 --- a/_posts/2010-01-15-joining-statusnet.md +++ b/_posts/2010-01-15-joining-statusnet.md @@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ tags: - statusnet - ostatus --- -![statusnet logo](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/statusnet-logo.png)In case you missed [the announcement](http://status.net/2010/01/14/walkah-joins-statusnet) yesterday, I have taken a position with the Montreal-based startup [StatusNet](http://status.net/). For the unfamiliar, StatusNet Inc is the company behind the StatusNet open source micro messaging platform. - -I think StatusNet is a very interesting project and one I've been following for a long time. It's a true Open Source project that seems to be a perfect storm of technologies that interest me and a commitment to openness that I admire. - -What really excites me about StatusNet, though, is challenge of federation. StatusNet installs currently ship with an implementation of a protocol known as [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/). This means that you (or your company / organization or book club) can have your own real-time, micro messaging site (read: your own twitter) and if there's someone not on your site you'd like to follow, you can do so without having to register (and monitor) multiple sites. - -We're currently planning a major update to the protocol to take advantage of some of the exciting new stuff like [PubSubHubbub](http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/) and [ActivityStreams](http://activitystrea.ms/). I'm excited to get to work on the protocol and implementation *and* tell you all about it :-) +![statusnet logo](http://walkah.net/sites/walkah.net/files/statusnet-logo.png)In case you missed [the announcement](http://status.net/2010/01/14/walkah-joins-statusnet) yesterday, I have taken a position with the Montreal-based startup [StatusNet](http://status.net/). For the unfamiliar, StatusNet Inc is the company behind the StatusNet open source micro messaging platform. + +I think StatusNet is a very interesting project and one I've been following for a long time. It's a true Open Source project that seems to be a perfect storm of technologies that interest me and a commitment to openness that I admire. + +What really excites me about StatusNet, though, is challenge of federation. StatusNet installs currently ship with an implementation of a protocol known as [OpenMicroBlogging](http://openmicroblogging.org/). This means that you (or your company / organization or book club) can have your own real-time, micro messaging site (read: your own twitter) and if there's someone not on your site you'd like to follow, you can do so without having to register (and monitor) multiple sites. + +We're currently planning a major update to the protocol to take advantage of some of the exciting new stuff like [PubSubHubbub](http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/) and [ActivityStreams](http://activitystrea.ms/). I'm excited to get to work on the protocol and implementation *and* tell you all about it :-) diff --git a/_posts/2010-05-27-one-wedding-and-a-camera.md b/_posts/2010-05-27-one-wedding-and-a-camera.md index ada8fad..7237400 100644 --- a/_posts/2010-05-27-one-wedding-and-a-camera.md +++ b/_posts/2010-05-27-one-wedding-and-a-camera.md @@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ tags: - photography - wedding --- -My little brother, [Chad](http://twitter.com/chuckyd4), and the awesome [Elisa](http://twitter.com/lisawithane) got married this past weekend. It was an amazing weekend by the sea in Rockport - the weather was great, the food was incredible and I had a wonderful time. - -Since my whole clan was in the wedding (Camryn was flower girl, Andrew a groomsman, and I was best man), I decided to rent a "real camera"(tm) for the weekend to capture the experience. It was my first time really experimenting with a nice camera. I'm glad I did! I had a lot of fun. Check out the results on flickr: - -[![chad and elisa's wedding](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4643218401_2895fee1f4.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkah/sets/72157624144750842/) - - +My little brother, [Chad](http://twitter.com/chuckyd4), and the awesome [Elisa](http://twitter.com/lisawithane) got married this past weekend. It was an amazing weekend by the sea in Rockport - the weather was great, the food was incredible and I had a wonderful time. + +Since my whole clan was in the wedding (Camryn was flower girl, Andrew a groomsman, and I was best man), I decided to rent a "real camera"(tm) for the weekend to capture the experience. It was my first time really experimenting with a nice camera. I'm glad I did! I had a lot of fun. Check out the results on flickr: + +[![chad and elisa's wedding](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4643218401_2895fee1f4.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkah/sets/72157624144750842/) + + Feedback welcome - especially from you real photographers out there. Now to start filling my piggy bank for a real camera... diff --git a/_posts/2010-08-20-local-development-for-external-apis.md b/_posts/2010-08-20-local-development-for-external-apis.md index 89c2168..d2bdff2 100644 --- a/_posts/2010-08-20-local-development-for-external-apis.md +++ b/_posts/2010-08-20-local-development-for-external-apis.md @@ -9,35 +9,35 @@ tags: - howto - api --- -Lately I have found myself doing a *lot* of development against external APIs, several of which require those services to be able to access my dev site directly. Traditionally, I've set up my dev sites on a public server (usually my personal VPS), mirrored the site locally, and used [rsync](http://www.samba.org/rsync/) to push incremental changes from my local machine to the server. - -This is a pain for two reasons: - -1. It means I have an extra step (to rsync) after each change. Yes, it's the same command over and over, but it gets repetitive. Also, if I forget, I spend a few minutes trying to figure out why the change I just made doesn't appear. -1. I'm also left with old dev sites (that I generally forget about) out on the public web - generally not getting proper attention for security updates, etc. This leaves my VPS open to attack. - -I also spend a *lot* of time tweaking my local environment to be just-how-I-like-it(tm). - -Recently, I had an idea that, in hindsight, seems obvious. However, in talking with a few people, it seemed just novel enough to warrant the high bar of intellect that is a blog post. So here is the magic: - -### What you need: - -* A wildcard DNS entry (i.e. `*.home.example.com`). I'm lucky that my [home ISP](http://teksavvy.com/) allows me to have a static IP address, but a [DynDNS](http://www.dyndns.com/) or similar account would also work. -* A linux/mac computer attached to your home/office network that is *not* currently running a web server (i.e. port 80 is unused) - preferably connected via ethernet. I happen to have an old mac mini that serves as my "media server" at home that I'm using. -* Ports 22 and 80 forwarded from your router to the aforementioned computer. (This is left as an exercise to the reader). - -### The "magic": - -Given the above, the rest is really quite simple (and perhaps obvious to some). A simple ssh port forward does the trick. Here's the command I use: - - ssh root@home.example.com -R 80:localhost:80 - -For the unfamiliar, that says ssh into home.example.com as root and send all the traffic coming to port 80 at home to port 80 on my localhost. - -Voila! Now all requests to home.example.com will come to my local server and I can setup vhosts, etc accordingly. Also, if I just end my ssh connection, I no longer have to worry about the big, scary Internet accessing my dev sites. - -### TODO - -I'm not 100% happy about allowing root ssh into my home network, so I may spend a rainy Sunday afternoon and setup an HTTP proxy at home that forwards to something like 8080 on localhost (and perhaps gives a nice "we're not home" message if I'm not ssh'ed in). That way, I wouldn't need to ssh in as root (which is necessary to bind the "low number" port). - -If you do much tinkering with remote services (particularly OAuth-based services or webhooks, etc.), I hope this makes life just a little bit easier for you. +Lately I have found myself doing a *lot* of development against external APIs, several of which require those services to be able to access my dev site directly. Traditionally, I've set up my dev sites on a public server (usually my personal VPS), mirrored the site locally, and used [rsync](http://www.samba.org/rsync/) to push incremental changes from my local machine to the server. + +This is a pain for two reasons: + +1. It means I have an extra step (to rsync) after each change. Yes, it's the same command over and over, but it gets repetitive. Also, if I forget, I spend a few minutes trying to figure out why the change I just made doesn't appear. +1. I'm also left with old dev sites (that I generally forget about) out on the public web - generally not getting proper attention for security updates, etc. This leaves my VPS open to attack. + +I also spend a *lot* of time tweaking my local environment to be just-how-I-like-it(tm). + +Recently, I had an idea that, in hindsight, seems obvious. However, in talking with a few people, it seemed just novel enough to warrant the high bar of intellect that is a blog post. So here is the magic: + +### What you need: + +* A wildcard DNS entry (i.e. `*.home.example.com`). I'm lucky that my [home ISP](http://teksavvy.com/) allows me to have a static IP address, but a [DynDNS](http://www.dyndns.com/) or similar account would also work. +* A linux/mac computer attached to your home/office network that is *not* currently running a web server (i.e. port 80 is unused) - preferably connected via ethernet. I happen to have an old mac mini that serves as my "media server" at home that I'm using. +* Ports 22 and 80 forwarded from your router to the aforementioned computer. (This is left as an exercise to the reader). + +### The "magic": + +Given the above, the rest is really quite simple (and perhaps obvious to some). A simple ssh port forward does the trick. Here's the command I use: + + ssh root@home.example.com -R 80:localhost:80 + +For the unfamiliar, that says ssh into home.example.com as root and send all the traffic coming to port 80 at home to port 80 on my localhost. + +Voila! Now all requests to home.example.com will come to my local server and I can setup vhosts, etc accordingly. Also, if I just end my ssh connection, I no longer have to worry about the big, scary Internet accessing my dev sites. + +### TODO + +I'm not 100% happy about allowing root ssh into my home network, so I may spend a rainy Sunday afternoon and setup an HTTP proxy at home that forwards to something like 8080 on localhost (and perhaps gives a nice "we're not home" message if I'm not ssh'ed in). That way, I wouldn't need to ssh in as root (which is necessary to bind the "low number" port). + +If you do much tinkering with remote services (particularly OAuth-based services or webhooks, etc.), I hope this makes life just a little bit easier for you. diff --git a/_posts/2011-04-08-wheres-walkah-been.md b/_posts/2011-04-08-wheres-walkah-been.md index 4031e42..ecccda5 100644 --- a/_posts/2011-04-08-wheres-walkah-been.md +++ b/_posts/2011-04-08-wheres-walkah-been.md @@ -7,24 +7,24 @@ tags: - personal - work --- -It was [brought to my attention](https://twitter.com/#!/Dries/status/47382029028950016) some time ago that this space has been rather shamefully quiet. I have also spent a lot of time facing the "so, what are you up to?" question lately. In a "two birds, one stone" manner, I'm gonna try to get into writing a bit more as well as provide a bit of an update. - -### So, what do you do? - -This has long been one of my most dreaded "light social" questions. Ironically, I found myself tossing it out at a recent event, perhaps in some passive aggressive sort of revenge. It's always been difficult to explain what I do, particularly in in non-technical company. For many years "I work on Drupal" was an answer that got the most amusing blank stares. Of course, these days that tends to be less baffling to people, so naturally I've stepped out and been doing lots of non-Drupal things. - -For those playing along at home, [StatusNet Inc.](http://status.net/) and I parted ways last November. I actually consciously did *not* post about it publicly because this blog was starting to feel a little more than a broadcast space for my shuffling between companies. While I don't have an official involvement these days, it looks like I will be doing some [Summer of Code](http://code.google.com/soc/) mentoring and am still very interested in the [Federated Social Web](http://federatedsocialweb.net/) and the protocol, [OStatus](http://ostatus.org/) that we developed. - -No longer having a full-time job means that, yes, I am doing freelance work ([hire me](http://walkah.net/contact)!). It has also meant that I'm getting back involved in the [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) community again a bit more. Some folks noticed that I've been to the past two DrupalCon's (after taking a few off) and have been working with a few Drupal-based clients. - -The thing that I'm probably enjoying most these days is the freedom from focusing or specializing. For the past few months, I've been working with the Mozilla Foundation on the platform that runs the [Drumbeat](http://drumbeat.org/) website (implemented using [Django](http://www.djangoproject.com/)). I've followed and tinkered with Django for a long time and it feels great to have a "real" excuse to spend more time with it! - -While a lack of real "focus" (at least amongst open source projects or even programming languages) has really appealed to my inner tinkerer, it's made answering "what are you up to" a far more involved conversation; some days it's consulting, some it's teaching/training, and some days I just hack on code. I also fully expect the answer to change and evolve over the course of this year and moving forward. - -### More writing! - -Doing more (and different) things also means I'm learning a lot these days, and I feel compelled to share, because that's the way I am. However, writing has always been challenging for me. I work really well verbally (preferrably face to face, though I've done alright talking to a camera). I have always *wanted* to be a prolific writer, though. For the past few months, I've been trying to practice more. I started with a paper journal, but after losing one and finding that my handwriting no longer keeps up with my brain well, I decided to try writing on my computer. Ultimately, though, I found it hard to establish a good routine and stick with it. - -A few months ago, though, I gave [750words.com](http://750words.com/) a try and I love it. After a few false starts, I now have a daily 750 word routine that I'm finding helps get me writing (and thinking) for the day. I highly recommend the service (and the practice of writing regularly). The practice has already translated into an article for the [Linux Journal](http://www.linuxjournal.com/) and will hopefully result in more! - -At the very least, I'm hoping to make better use of this space. Welcome back, me. +It was [brought to my attention](https://twitter.com/#!/Dries/status/47382029028950016) some time ago that this space has been rather shamefully quiet. I have also spent a lot of time facing the "so, what are you up to?" question lately. In a "two birds, one stone" manner, I'm gonna try to get into writing a bit more as well as provide a bit of an update. + +### So, what do you do? + +This has long been one of my most dreaded "light social" questions. Ironically, I found myself tossing it out at a recent event, perhaps in some passive aggressive sort of revenge. It's always been difficult to explain what I do, particularly in in non-technical company. For many years "I work on Drupal" was an answer that got the most amusing blank stares. Of course, these days that tends to be less baffling to people, so naturally I've stepped out and been doing lots of non-Drupal things. + +For those playing along at home, [StatusNet Inc.](http://status.net/) and I parted ways last November. I actually consciously did *not* post about it publicly because this blog was starting to feel a little more than a broadcast space for my shuffling between companies. While I don't have an official involvement these days, it looks like I will be doing some [Summer of Code](http://code.google.com/soc/) mentoring and am still very interested in the [Federated Social Web](http://federatedsocialweb.net/) and the protocol, [OStatus](http://ostatus.org/) that we developed. + +No longer having a full-time job means that, yes, I am doing freelance work ([hire me](http://walkah.net/contact)!). It has also meant that I'm getting back involved in the [Drupal](http://drupal.org/) community again a bit more. Some folks noticed that I've been to the past two DrupalCon's (after taking a few off) and have been working with a few Drupal-based clients. + +The thing that I'm probably enjoying most these days is the freedom from focusing or specializing. For the past few months, I've been working with the Mozilla Foundation on the platform that runs the [Drumbeat](http://drumbeat.org/) website (implemented using [Django](http://www.djangoproject.com/)). I've followed and tinkered with Django for a long time and it feels great to have a "real" excuse to spend more time with it! + +While a lack of real "focus" (at least amongst open source projects or even programming languages) has really appealed to my inner tinkerer, it's made answering "what are you up to" a far more involved conversation; some days it's consulting, some it's teaching/training, and some days I just hack on code. I also fully expect the answer to change and evolve over the course of this year and moving forward. + +### More writing! + +Doing more (and different) things also means I'm learning a lot these days, and I feel compelled to share, because that's the way I am. However, writing has always been challenging for me. I work really well verbally (preferrably face to face, though I've done alright talking to a camera). I have always *wanted* to be a prolific writer, though. For the past few months, I've been trying to practice more. I started with a paper journal, but after losing one and finding that my handwriting no longer keeps up with my brain well, I decided to try writing on my computer. Ultimately, though, I found it hard to establish a good routine and stick with it. + +A few months ago, though, I gave [750words.com](http://750words.com/) a try and I love it. After a few false starts, I now have a daily 750 word routine that I'm finding helps get me writing (and thinking) for the day. I highly recommend the service (and the practice of writing regularly). The practice has already translated into an article for the [Linux Journal](http://www.linuxjournal.com/) and will hopefully result in more! + +At the very least, I'm hoping to make better use of this space. Welcome back, me. diff --git a/_posts/2011-05-20-every-drupal-site-is-an-install-profile.md b/_posts/2011-05-20-every-drupal-site-is-an-install-profile.md index ba0fd1b..dc7b457 100644 --- a/_posts/2011-05-20-every-drupal-site-is-an-install-profile.md +++ b/_posts/2011-05-20-every-drupal-site-is-an-install-profile.md @@ -6,34 +6,34 @@ permalink: blog/every-drupal-site-install-profile tags: - drupal --- -I've been working with this hypothesis while working on [Drupal 7](http://drupal.org/) sites. I don't think it's necessarily revolutionary, but I would like some feedback. Currently, I'm approaching every Drupal site build as its own install profile. - -Back when we were running [Bryght](http://bryght.com/), we recognized the need for "Installation Profiles" as a way to focus the highly configurable, but largely baffling initial experience with Drupal into making sense. We had lofty dreams of catering to various verticals with streamlined, elegant experiences that took the immense power of Drupal and made it *make sense* for new users. That was Drupal 4.5... we were maybe ahead of our time. Needless to say, a lot has happened with Drupal since then. - -With the release of Drupal 7, one of the things people aren't talking about as much are the vast improvements to install profiles. For the first time ever, Drupal core ships with more than one install profile, which has also meant that for the first time people are consciously aware that such things actually exist. In D7, install profiles behave much more like other Drupal packages (i.e. modules and themes). They have .info file and .install files. They are far easier to create than ever before. - -Clearly, I'm not the only one who sees the importance. [Development Seed](http://developmentseed.org/) and now [Phase2 Technology](http://www.phase2technology.com/) have invested a lot in install profiles such as [OpenAtrium](http://openatrium.com/). For creating Drupal products such as Atrium, install profiles are important and central. What I am talking about, however, is to create an install profile for every Drupal site you build. In updating this very blog to D7, I created an install profile for my site to test (and tinker with) my theory. - -### The theory - -What is a Drupal Site? Well, once you've determined a version, core remains unchanged across most sites (you know, [don't hack core](http://www.flickr.com/photos/schmidtgergely/3212038247/) and all). So what makes a Drupal site your Drupal site is: 1) a theme 2) your selection of contrib modules and 3) any custom code / modules you may have written. If we dig a bit deeper, the things unique about a Drupal site are typically: 1) a theme 2) any custom code and 3) the *list* of contrib modules / libraries in use. It just so happens that an install profile can nicely encapsulate this information for us. So why bother? - -1. A Drupal site rarely only gets installed in one place. Best practice suggests that we use development, staging and production for our websites. If we work on a team, "development" will actually be a separate install for each developer on the team. Being able to reliably install and replicate your site will actually make things much easier - whether it's just you or your whole team. - -2. [Drush Make](http://drupal.org/project/drush_make) works well like this. Your profile can have its own makefile (as [openatrium](http://drupal.org/project/openatrium) does). Drush make will recursively make install profiles, and will add all contrib modules and libraries into your profile's directory. Maintaining nice separation. - -3. Make the most of multi-site. Since your core version remains constant (at least for major versions) across all the sites you work on, why do you keep installing core? In my development environment (which I will write more about soon), I have 2 virtual hosts d6.dev and d7.dev. All of the sites I'm working on fall under one of the two. Thanks to drush make, I can have a single makefile for each major version that recursively grabs each profile (i.e. site or group of sites) that I'm working on for that version. The same can be used in production *or not* - the install profiles can move independently to production. - -The end result is, I have very small custom repositories - containing usually a drush make file, a custom module or two and a custom theme. Checkouts are a breeze and I have a clear manifest of any other other code I'm using. - -### Objections - -Now, historically this isn't how people have approached Drupal sites. Historically it's not even how I've approached it. Generally, we have single repositories with all of core, our modules etc. Generally, a single repository containing all of the core, contrib and custom code - for years in subversion and now folks are transitioning to git. An argument for continuing this way (I received from [webchick](http://webchick.net/) herself), is that a single repository makes it easy to see things like if someone has made changes directly on production (?!?!) or that just by having a single checkout all developers / installations have the exact same code. - -While I think "hot fixes" in production are a bad idea (no matter how small the site), the latter objection (exact same code) is worthy of a little more discussion. Keeping things in sync with Drush Make is a bit more work (always pin your versions!), I think it's a worthwhile habit to establish. Yes, git is fast enough that those long, painful svn checkouts are largely a thing of the past so having all of your code in a repository isn't as punishing. For me, the hosting considerations above are significant, but another thing came up for me recently: - -If you build a lot of Drupal sites, chances are good that there is some overlap. Say there is a patch that you need for a favourite contrib module, drush make means that you can explicitly apply the patch (and maintain it outside of your repository - or pull directly from the issue queue). Similarly, using independent [feature module](http://drupal.org/project/features) features allows for similar mixing and matching. Each module (or theme) should have a single, canonical source and a Drupal site is simply the combination or collection of them. - -It seems to me there are real gains in being explicit with makefiles, being smart about hosting and re-using core, and being modular in our repositories (using drush make to pull it all together). - -Am I crazy? +I've been working with this hypothesis while working on [Drupal 7](http://drupal.org/) sites. I don't think it's necessarily revolutionary, but I would like some feedback. Currently, I'm approaching every Drupal site build as its own install profile. + +Back when we were running [Bryght](http://bryght.com/), we recognized the need for "Installation Profiles" as a way to focus the highly configurable, but largely baffling initial experience with Drupal into making sense. We had lofty dreams of catering to various verticals with streamlined, elegant experiences that took the immense power of Drupal and made it *make sense* for new users. That was Drupal 4.5... we were maybe ahead of our time. Needless to say, a lot has happened with Drupal since then. + +With the release of Drupal 7, one of the things people aren't talking about as much are the vast improvements to install profiles. For the first time ever, Drupal core ships with more than one install profile, which has also meant that for the first time people are consciously aware that such things actually exist. In D7, install profiles behave much more like other Drupal packages (i.e. modules and themes). They have .info file and .install files. They are far easier to create than ever before. + +Clearly, I'm not the only one who sees the importance. [Development Seed](http://developmentseed.org/) and now [Phase2 Technology](http://www.phase2technology.com/) have invested a lot in install profiles such as [OpenAtrium](http://openatrium.com/). For creating Drupal products such as Atrium, install profiles are important and central. What I am talking about, however, is to create an install profile for every Drupal site you build. In updating this very blog to D7, I created an install profile for my site to test (and tinker with) my theory. + +### The theory + +What is a Drupal Site? Well, once you've determined a version, core remains unchanged across most sites (you know, [don't hack core](http://www.flickr.com/photos/schmidtgergely/3212038247/) and all). So what makes a Drupal site your Drupal site is: 1) a theme 2) your selection of contrib modules and 3) any custom code / modules you may have written. If we dig a bit deeper, the things unique about a Drupal site are typically: 1) a theme 2) any custom code and 3) the *list* of contrib modules / libraries in use. It just so happens that an install profile can nicely encapsulate this information for us. So why bother? + +1. A Drupal site rarely only gets installed in one place. Best practice suggests that we use development, staging and production for our websites. If we work on a team, "development" will actually be a separate install for each developer on the team. Being able to reliably install and replicate your site will actually make things much easier - whether it's just you or your whole team. + +2. [Drush Make](http://drupal.org/project/drush_make) works well like this. Your profile can have its own makefile (as [openatrium](http://drupal.org/project/openatrium) does). Drush make will recursively make install profiles, and will add all contrib modules and libraries into your profile's directory. Maintaining nice separation. + +3. Make the most of multi-site. Since your core version remains constant (at least for major versions) across all the sites you work on, why do you keep installing core? In my development environment (which I will write more about soon), I have 2 virtual hosts d6.dev and d7.dev. All of the sites I'm working on fall under one of the two. Thanks to drush make, I can have a single makefile for each major version that recursively grabs each profile (i.e. site or group of sites) that I'm working on for that version. The same can be used in production *or not* - the install profiles can move independently to production. + +The end result is, I have very small custom repositories - containing usually a drush make file, a custom module or two and a custom theme. Checkouts are a breeze and I have a clear manifest of any other other code I'm using. + +### Objections + +Now, historically this isn't how people have approached Drupal sites. Historically it's not even how I've approached it. Generally, we have single repositories with all of core, our modules etc. Generally, a single repository containing all of the core, contrib and custom code - for years in subversion and now folks are transitioning to git. An argument for continuing this way (I received from [webchick](http://webchick.net/) herself), is that a single repository makes it easy to see things like if someone has made changes directly on production (?!?!) or that just by having a single checkout all developers / installations have the exact same code. + +While I think "hot fixes" in production are a bad idea (no matter how small the site), the latter objection (exact same code) is worthy of a little more discussion. Keeping things in sync with Drush Make is a bit more work (always pin your versions!), I think it's a worthwhile habit to establish. Yes, git is fast enough that those long, painful svn checkouts are largely a thing of the past so having all of your code in a repository isn't as punishing. For me, the hosting considerations above are significant, but another thing came up for me recently: + +If you build a lot of Drupal sites, chances are good that there is some overlap. Say there is a patch that you need for a favourite contrib module, drush make means that you can explicitly apply the patch (and maintain it outside of your repository - or pull directly from the issue queue). Similarly, using independent [feature module](http://drupal.org/project/features) features allows for similar mixing and matching. Each module (or theme) should have a single, canonical source and a Drupal site is simply the combination or collection of them. + +It seems to me there are real gains in being explicit with makefiles, being smart about hosting and re-using core, and being modular in our repositories (using drush make to pull it all together). + +Am I crazy? diff --git a/_posts/2011-07-05-why-vagrant.md b/_posts/2011-07-05-why-vagrant.md index b32dde0..1c3b2e4 100644 --- a/_posts/2011-07-05-why-vagrant.md +++ b/_posts/2011-07-05-why-vagrant.md @@ -11,31 +11,31 @@ tags: - vagrant - veewee --- -Few things are as frustrating in the life of a (web) developer as those unfortunate times when, despite passing QA and testing, your latest feature, bugfix or completed task stops working when it gets to production. Nobody likes to have the sweet feeling of "go live" victory wasted. While any number of things can cause the embarrassment and wasted time, one way to significantly reduce the number of potential errors is to keep your development, staging and production environments as close to each other as possible. - -Lately I've been dealing with my own special, self-inflicted challenge: I have two machines (a thinkpad x201 and an older, pre-unibody macbook pro) that run two different operating systems (Ubuntu 11.04 and Mac OS 10.6, respectively). Now, why I do this is probably a longer discussion, but I do - and I like it. Just to add a little more (minor) variation, my personal projects, experiments (and in fact this blog) all run on [linode](http://www.linode.com/?r=3c5ce8caa09f2a260f8f696985dac260fcc01d5f) instances (running Ubuntu 10.04). The end result is, my development and "production" happens across 3 different OS versions. Standard package installations of development tools (regardless of which technology I'm exploring at the moment) are rarely ever the same release version. Throw in some subtle and potentially maddening differences between linux and os x (case insensitive filesystem, what?) and I've lost too much time debugging my own fixes. - -As it turns out, I do an okay job of emulating my own little development team (except in productivity, of course). - -In a more real world scenario: I have been doing some work lately with [Myplanet Digital](http://myplanetdigital.com/) (a fun team located in Toronto - and they're hiring). One of their portfolio client projects is a fairly large, complex Drupal implementation. The production version is hosted on [Acquia cloud](http://acquia.com/products-services/managed-cloud) hosting, they host their own QA / CI / testing infrastructure, and their (ever-growing) development team uses a mess of mac os x and windows versions. They are continually looking for ways to streamline their development process - and avoid any needless debugging time. - -### Vagrant Chefs to the rescue! - -I've developed a growing interest in two tools to help solve this dilemma: [Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef/) (for environment management and provisioning) and [Vagrant](http://vagrantup.com/) (for local, VirtualBox based virtual machine management). Vagrant is super easy to get running, like it says on the home page: - - $ gem install vagrant - $ vagrant box add base http://files.vagrantup.com/lucid32.box - $ vagrant init - $ vagrant up - -Assuming you have a reasonably functional ruby environment and have a recent version of VirutalBox installed, that's all there is to it! Chef (for provisioning), however, has taken me a bit more time to get my head fully around. You can see my experiments happening live(ish) on [my github](https://github.com/walkah) account. - -### But I don't use lucid32! - -One interesting thing about the Acquia managed hosting platform, is it's all built using Ubuntu Hardy (8.04). In Internet years, it's rather old but has some significant differences from Lucid (and most current packaged versions of the LAMP stack) - PHP 5.2 (vs. 5.3) and MySQL 5.0.x (vs. 5.1.x). To do this right - to actually replicate the production environment for development - it's important to have these versions in sync. There are subtle differences between these versions that can trip you up. Enter [veewee](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee). A few weeks ago, I provided a [pull request](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee/pull/53) for veewee that added a "hardy32" template - for building a vagrant box with the same version of Ubuntu found on Acquia hosting. For the lazy, I've posted the [base box](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6091/hardy32.box) to my dropbox account. - -Overall, I've found it requires a bit of tinkering (I'll try to share more as I go), but the result is that I can deploy code with a bit more certainty and that is worth it. I'm here tinkering, so you don't have to. - -I should also mention, that all Drupal developers should checkout the [vagrant project](http://drupal.org/project/vagrant) on drupal.org for a nice general solution for Drupal apps. - +Few things are as frustrating in the life of a (web) developer as those unfortunate times when, despite passing QA and testing, your latest feature, bugfix or completed task stops working when it gets to production. Nobody likes to have the sweet feeling of "go live" victory wasted. While any number of things can cause the embarrassment and wasted time, one way to significantly reduce the number of potential errors is to keep your development, staging and production environments as close to each other as possible. + +Lately I've been dealing with my own special, self-inflicted challenge: I have two machines (a thinkpad x201 and an older, pre-unibody macbook pro) that run two different operating systems (Ubuntu 11.04 and Mac OS 10.6, respectively). Now, why I do this is probably a longer discussion, but I do - and I like it. Just to add a little more (minor) variation, my personal projects, experiments (and in fact this blog) all run on [linode](http://www.linode.com/?r=3c5ce8caa09f2a260f8f696985dac260fcc01d5f) instances (running Ubuntu 10.04). The end result is, my development and "production" happens across 3 different OS versions. Standard package installations of development tools (regardless of which technology I'm exploring at the moment) are rarely ever the same release version. Throw in some subtle and potentially maddening differences between linux and os x (case insensitive filesystem, what?) and I've lost too much time debugging my own fixes. + +As it turns out, I do an okay job of emulating my own little development team (except in productivity, of course). + +In a more real world scenario: I have been doing some work lately with [Myplanet Digital](http://myplanetdigital.com/) (a fun team located in Toronto - and they're hiring). One of their portfolio client projects is a fairly large, complex Drupal implementation. The production version is hosted on [Acquia cloud](http://acquia.com/products-services/managed-cloud) hosting, they host their own QA / CI / testing infrastructure, and their (ever-growing) development team uses a mess of mac os x and windows versions. They are continually looking for ways to streamline their development process - and avoid any needless debugging time. + +### Vagrant Chefs to the rescue! + +I've developed a growing interest in two tools to help solve this dilemma: [Chef](http://www.opscode.com/chef/) (for environment management and provisioning) and [Vagrant](http://vagrantup.com/) (for local, VirtualBox based virtual machine management). Vagrant is super easy to get running, like it says on the home page: + + $ gem install vagrant + $ vagrant box add base http://files.vagrantup.com/lucid32.box + $ vagrant init + $ vagrant up + +Assuming you have a reasonably functional ruby environment and have a recent version of VirutalBox installed, that's all there is to it! Chef (for provisioning), however, has taken me a bit more time to get my head fully around. You can see my experiments happening live(ish) on [my github](https://github.com/walkah) account. + +### But I don't use lucid32! + +One interesting thing about the Acquia managed hosting platform, is it's all built using Ubuntu Hardy (8.04). In Internet years, it's rather old but has some significant differences from Lucid (and most current packaged versions of the LAMP stack) - PHP 5.2 (vs. 5.3) and MySQL 5.0.x (vs. 5.1.x). To do this right - to actually replicate the production environment for development - it's important to have these versions in sync. There are subtle differences between these versions that can trip you up. Enter [veewee](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee). A few weeks ago, I provided a [pull request](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee/pull/53) for veewee that added a "hardy32" template - for building a vagrant box with the same version of Ubuntu found on Acquia hosting. For the lazy, I've posted the [base box](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6091/hardy32.box) to my dropbox account. + +Overall, I've found it requires a bit of tinkering (I'll try to share more as I go), but the result is that I can deploy code with a bit more certainty and that is worth it. I'm here tinkering, so you don't have to. + +I should also mention, that all Drupal developers should checkout the [vagrant project](http://drupal.org/project/vagrant) on drupal.org for a nice general solution for Drupal apps. + Dev Ops!