It has come to my attention that in Internet Explorer the navigation elements (left sidebar & breadcrumbs) are printing when they should not. This is caused by Internet Explorers usual lack of attention to detail. Those navigation elements are represented by the proper HTML5 element <nav>. In screen mode, the IE team did not add these HTML5 elements to the browser engine, but a workaround was made called html5shiv, which is built in to Accolade. But, it only worked in screen mode. The <nav> elements in print mode were still being ignored by Internet Explorer as an element and therefore all CSS ignored as well that hides those elements.

Please add this code to the bottom of your WordPress Dashboard -> Appearances -> Accolade -> Custom CSS to fix the problem.

/* fixes for left nav showing/breadcrumbs showing – aubrey – 2/10/12 */

@media print{

  #navigation-contents,

  #breadcrumb-trail-contents,

  nav,

  #college-photo,

  .permalink

     {display:none !important;}

}

This should solve the problem until IE gets their act together (which they are famously known for never accomplishing).

Thanks to Renee Brown for finding this. Note, I have already added the code to the COB website.

-Aubrey

Hro is expected to be a design that has more emphasis on simplicity and minimalism. I still haven’t decided to open the source or not… I plan on keeping the Marmelad font family for headers, and hopefully a light font family for body text (possibly Open Sans?). The color pallet will of course still remain minimalistic: black, white, grey. I do plan in introducing an actual color as an accent, but still haven’t decided on one.

With Hro will also come some new content re-arrangements. The home page will no longer host the posts, instead it will host a little bit about me and my projects, clients, skills, etc. I want enethrie to reflect more of my freelance nature.

Follow #enethrie-hro

What it might look like:

function newHrefIt(item){
	var j=null;
	j=$(item); $.ajax({
			type: 'POST',
			url: 'wordpress-url-that-will-always-functions.php',
			cache: false,
			dataType: 'text',
			data: {
				convertURLtoId: $(j).attr('href')
			},
			success: function(data){
				j.attr('href','#'+data);
				j.click(function(){
					serveIt(j.attr('href').replace("#",''));
				});
			}
		});
}

function get_all_post_ids(){
	global $wpdb, $post;
	$postids = $wpdb->get_col($wpdb->prepare("
	    SELECT id
	    FROM $wpdb->posts
	    where post_type = 'post'
	    AND post_status = 'publish'
	"));
	return $postids;
}

Just some things I was able to do in a couple hours (currently installing Adobe Photoshop CS3 in a Virtual XP environment). I was going to work on some website stuff, when I ran across a problem, so I decided to start my Ubuntu week early. If I can successfully work on Ubuntu for a week or so, I may consider switching. As of now, I have to use Photoshop CS3 in a virtual machine (not a good sign so far).

• .htaccess Redirect @ WordPress.org
• WP Separate CSS @ WordPress.org

.htaccess Redirect is probably the biggest and complex one and have been updating it. I have it up on enethrie.com and using it to do some redirects to help me find issues, etc. Please report bugs @ Bitbucket. WP Separate CSS was also changed a little too, but nothing too major (won’t overwrite your .css files).

Make sure and check out my WordPress.org profile!

• WP Put The Meta @ WordPress.org
• WP Mini Sitemap @ WordPress.org

Yay for Christmas!

Video I was watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ_NuuvpN6E

Try going to http://wordpress.org/support/profile/enethrie/edit (logged in), that’s where I found my real public profile and click Edit.

Custom CSS plugins weren’t quite what I was looking for, since I wanted to be able to use my favorite editor instead of an in-site editor.

WP Separate CSS @ Bitbucket

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of accounts online, especially Google accounts. I hate having to log in and out of accounts to access ans use them each. Google Chrome has released a user profile feature which has made my life super simple.

By adding new profiles you can log into certain accounts (GMail, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, etc) in one profile, and others in another instance. And, you can switch between them super-easily.

Enjoy (I am) :)

WP Put the Meta @ enethrie/Bitbucket

I noticed this neat feature in Notepad++ today while being frustrated with having to cd my way into my working directory in cygwin. This worked out quite nicely, and thought I’d share.

I voice some concerns about Accolade’s future with NMSU and encouraged NMSU to take Accolade and do as much as they can with it.

Accolade 3 & The Future of NMSU

In the following screencast I show you how I pinned Cygwin to my Taskbar on Windows 7.

[Follow enethrie on YouTube]

• WP Mini Sitemap @ enethrie/BitBucket
• WP Mini Sitemap Wiki

So, before 2006 or so, I had started a few projects of my own but never finished them. Recently, I found the code on an old hard-drive and opted to put them online. One of them was HAKKYui, a web-based OS interface I started coding with a couple friends of mine.

• Check out the demo
• Download and play with the code at BitBucket

Explorer Icon usually displays recent locations/allows me to pin them

So, a few months ago my Windows Explorer Icon, on my Taskbar in Windows 7, stopped remembering locations. It used to be real handy, and all I had to do was right click on it to get to recent and my favorite locations. Well, it stopped bringing up those recent locations and I thought since it wouldn’t bring up anymore recent locations, I could no longer pin locations to the icon. The video above shows how wrong I was :). I figured out how to pin whatever I wanted, regardless if it was going to bring up recent locations or not.

[Windows 7: Windows Explorer Icon (right-click) Pin Folders won't work [Fix] @ Youtube]

Fix Recent Locations

So, I also found a way to fix Explorer’s inability to remember recent locations too. First, I cleared out (deleted all files in) C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations, then I made sure all my recent items in the Start Menu properties were enabled.

[gtasker.com: your google tasks dashboard]

So the other day I typed some crazy key combination by accident and who knows what happened to the file, but anyways, I lost a lot of work. I was working in Vim (gVim), which has been going well for a few months. But, time-to-time I’ll hit the less than key or a comma on accident and things go a little haywire. Usually a CTRL-Z will fix the situation, sometimes it doesn’t- but, I had enough the other day, I guess. I brought up Notepad++ and worked the rest of the day in it, and I haven’t gone back. I may be committing to using Notepad++, or a non-Vim editor, for HTML/CSS/PHP/JS, etc for good.

Sure, Vim was “cool” to use, but I really didn’t get much else out of it. I never really used a lot of the advanced features it has. Typically, when I code, I just type. I was thinking about it the other day and realized I don’t do too many advanced zen-coding like things. It’s ironic to say I just like to keep it simple, just type, and get job done. Syntax highlighting, auto brackets, bracket highlighting, and good a good auto-tabbing feature is all I really need. Plus, search and replace was always a disaster for me using Vim.

Well, anyways, I have Vim a fair chance, and in the end I feel like I only really used it because it was cool and something new. The features really didn’t reach out to me, I just coded in it…not much else.

So, this makes me wonder what will happen to my aubreys-gvim project. I will, of course, leave it up. But, if I am using Notepadd++, or another editor, I am sure it will get out of date fairly quickly. So, if you are reading this by chance, liked what I started, I am looking for a new parent.

javascript:var d=document,w=window, e=w.getSelection, k=d.getSelection,x=d.selection,s=(e?e():(k)?k():(x?x.createRange().text:0)),f='http://wealthhack.com/wp-admin/press-this.php',l=d.location, e=encodeURIComponent, g=f+'?u='+e(l.href.replace(/\//g,'\\/'))+'&t='+e(d.title)+'&s='+e(s)+'&v=2'; function a(){if(!w.open(g,'t','toolbar=0, resizable=0, scrollbars=1, status=1, width=720, height=570')){l.href=g;}} a(); void(0);

In some meetings a few concerns have come up. Mainly having to do with:

• Rotis font features & consistency
• Body font changes, and again, consistency
• And, the previous menu

So, in Accolade 3, I have decided to:

• Turn off Rotis font features being on by default; It is not recommended that you turn it on, since other sites do not use Rotis fonts. This will hurt the overall consistency between sites. Though, I feel, there is plenty of inconsistency to begin with, I think it is a good move to disable Rotis by default. Once NMSU decides to go forward with any Rotis font embedding, Accolade will be ready for the switch.
• Change the body font to Lucida Sans; Again, for consistency.
• Leave the Previous Menu off by default (can be used at your discretion); The previous menu has mixed reactions. Thought breadcrumbs serve as a reverse navigational feature, it is often ignored. So, by default the Previous Menu will be off by default. Though, because it has been found to be useful, it can be used if you choose by enabling it.

These concerns are the only concerns that have to be changed. The rest of Accolade’s features and design will remain untouched, such as fixed width, to-the-top button, and better breadcrumbs. Also, a few new features will be added to Accolade (details coming soon!).

So look forward to Accolade 3 in the near future!

[From: Accolade 3/Moving Forward | Accolade Blog]

Do you want to use the racqnhack.tk “Fuzzy Comet” theme? Look no further than Google Code, where Fuzzy Comet is hosted.

Fuzzy Comet is a modified version of Comet at FrostPress. I have customized many things about the theme, so it will take some coding knowledge to change logos, etc. I also customize the theme to work for my needs (like removing categories), so the theme will have some features commented out. I try and leave the code for those features intact so they can still be used.

[Fuzzy Comet at Google Code]

There is a bug in WordPress 3.2.1 that when “WordPress should correct invalidly nested XHTML automatically” is enabled causes the HTML of bullet lists to become jumbled. To fix this, disable “WordPress should correct invalidly nested XHTML automatically” in Settings>Writing of your WordPress dashboard.

This option should be left on, but for now you will have to disable it to use bullet lists in your posts and pages. I will post an update when this has been fixed.

The bug has been filed at: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/18312

[From: Broken Bullet Lists? Here’s why, and how to fix it. | Accolade Blog]

Alright, so I finally got an invite to check out Google+, and I have some invites of my own. If you want one, click around, check out the place and leave comments, lots of them. I will email as many invites I can to random commenters between now and Friday. For every 100 hits I get, I will give away an invite to a random commenter.

This is a dark theme that you can use to make your ChatZilla IRC client look spiffy. All you need to do is just checkout the code (from Google Code) into your c:Program FilesChatZilla directory using hg (or, alternatively you can download and extract the code). Then in ChatZilla, edit your Global Settings -> Appearance -> Dark Motif and browse for your checked out code. Then View -> Color Scheme -> Dark to apply.

You can follow these same instructions (minus the downloading) to try it out first by putting (not browsing) http://jelly-bean-dark-theme-for-chatzilla.googlecode.com/hg/chatzilla.css in the dark motif section in your Global Settings.

[Jelly Bean Dark Theme for ChatZilla...] @Google Code

To select from your current cursor position to the end of the line, use:

(From Normal Mode/Command Mode): v (little v; will make cursor thin) $ (shift-4)

To select to the beginning of the line:

(From Normal Mode/Command Mode): v (little v; will make cursor thin) ^ (shift-6)

…and walla! Quick vim tip!

Okay, now this is just my opinion- just my prediction, I could totally be wrong about this one. I haven’t even got an invite yet to try it out, I just keep reading about it and people keep bringing it up. Now, there is some reasoning to why I think Google+ won’t pan out and replace Facebook:

• People are lazy
• Facebook can do it
• People have short attention spans
• People don’t like too many things
• People just want to make money
• People don’t want to desert their friends

Now, first, people are lazy. That’s right. Sure, I might “migrate” all my Facebook stuff over to Google+ because I’m an impulsive nerd who would do that kind of thing, but most people are lazy. They have already established their identity on Facebook and it’s just a matter of time before Facebook will do it too. This is how I see it happening. People will use Google+ for that one really cool feature they actually liked (we all know that is Hangouts). They’ll use it for special situations too, like certain groups or get-together’s, but mostly five people will hangout in a Hangout once, just to play with it. Then, Facebook will come up with something similar, and they’ll stop using it and forget about their Google+ page; people have really short attention spans.

Yeah, sure, some people are going to use it. It really has to be a cool thing if people are really talking about it. But, for the most part, it’s just another Facebook page to everyone else…and I’ve already got one. I’m not putting Google+ down, it might be awesome, but I’m already doing that somewhere else- only impulsive nerds are going to hyper-manage their profiles, for the rest of the world, people don’t like too many things, meaning too many profiles. You see, I use Twitter because it is not a profile service, it’s just status updates, so it works. For my chatting, personal messaging, and photos, I use Facebook. Google+ is trying to be Facebook. Not the company, but another Facebook page, and I don’t need one.

Now, Google+ is going to have a honeymoon period, because of the geeks and the fact that people just want to make money. It’s another avenue to market, so of course people are adding +1′s and Google+ accounts, but it’s just marketing!

I’m not trying to put down Google+. I haven’t even tried it and I already know that I am going to think it is awesome, but among these facts is one simple thing that Google+ is going to have a hard time with: people don’t want to desert their friends. Yeah, how the hell am I going to get all my friends over to Google+? I just convinced my friend Crystal to get one! I set up my mom’s Facebook page! This problem is going to plague Google+ as long as Facebook doesn’t start sucking (remember MySpace?). As long as Facebook keeps being awesome, my friends are not going to want to switch. Google should be praying that Facebook screws up…big time. But, Facebook, knowing Google+ is around, may just watch their steps from now on and be good boys and girls.

This is just my opinion. I’m really thinking about the people that use this stuff and I just don’t see it going very far. But, maybe they don’t care… I just have been telling this to my friends when they bring it up, and on most things they agree with me, so I thought I’d share. What do you think?

Start Menu -> Environment Variables -> User variables for <Username> -> PATH

…and edit it to say…

%PATH%;C:Program FilesMercurial

Just thought I’d share… (had to restart Cygwin btw)

In this screencast I explain what it means for Aubrey’s gVim users that Select Mode has been entirely disabled. Because it is disabled I have found that you have to be aware that you are in Visual Mode/Command Mode/Normal Mode when you select text, which means you cannot just start typing your replacement text, you must issue a command.

You know, I think I rather like working with the new WordPress 3.2 UI. I find it to be less cluttered, and the lack of color actually helps me focus on editing.

This version of WordPress is very WordPress 1-ish.

So far a few things that I have noticed about WordPress 3.2, that I like, is more space given to editing, the high-contrast and mono-spaced fonts (finally) in HTML view.

I just signed up for ShortMail.com, a service that enforces (as you will see) 500 character or less email messages. I had to have a twitter account to sign up. Right away I send myself a really long message!

I was hoping, actually, that the message would get delivered. But, rather, it emailed my GMail account back and told me that the message was too long and that I had to edit it! Now, right away, I can’t imagine using this at work. This extra step would frustrate me, my mom, and probably many others. I think it would be easier to just allow the long email through and limit my messages to 500 words or less.

This message doesn’t seem too rude, but “Keep it under 500 characters this time, ok,” sounds a bit brat-ish to me.

I didn’t even edit the message to finish delivering it.

It looks as though WordPress has chosen to use Arial as their base font for most of the text. I’m not sure why, but for some reason this triggers 1990′s mode in my head when I see it. Arial is much easier to read, but it really feels out-dated. As for posting, I didn’t find it any different, still the same old kick ass WordPress!

There are some new graphics, a more steel kind of look given to the editing bar.

I’m not to fond for the rounded bevels and shadows on the left menu, and I found the previous versions “collapse menu” graphic to be much easier to use (compared to the new one).

The new look I’m not so mad-crazy for, but speed editing and clutter are among the top things I am going to keep a look-out for. That’s why I love that they finally made the site-title smaller!

That’s right, Mark is no longer pissed; or, what I assumed looked like pissed over Google+. At least that’s what his new profile picture on Google+ says to me. But, I still can’t keep wondering what Mark is thinking. To me, Mark is still a rebel college student hacker, and that’s cool- so I’m not convinced by his new found Google+ image.

I haven’t even been able to check out Google+ and already I’m worried about how it is going to affect my online-social life. I live in a place where people are mostly going to stick with Facebook, but I think Google is only opening up another door for Mark to walk through. Yeah, Google may have some cool stuff, but people love Facebook! It’s only a matter of time before Facebook punches back, and I won’t be surprised to see Facebook as the winner. But, it’s different to see someone actually competing with Facebook, we all should have seen this coming- and only a giant like Google could do it!

But, Mark looks a little happier…and I think I know why…

I found YouTube’s new Cosmi Panda Design! I just enabled it and am playing with it. I was suprised that it wasn’t going along with Google’s recent design changes.

Just thought I would put this out there for anyone to play with.

So, as I have mentioned before, GQueues is one of my favorite online tools for remembering things, tasks, and lists. Though it is task manager, it is it’s power with lists (queues) and remembering things that makes it really powerful for me. Though I do use Gqueues to complete many tasks a day, and organize them, I also use it to curb information guilt.

Information guilt is that feeling you have when you’re at work, you have about twenty tasks to get done, and you just found out Facebook is announcing video chat. So, we choose not to watch it, and continue to not to consume all the cool and informative things we find throughout the day. Information guilt personally affects my focus and, given enough of it, makes the day a lot longer. But, since I started using Gqueues as a way to remembering these things, I’ve been more productive and I haven’t been forgetting those cool or important things I find on the web throughout my day or week.

As you can see, I have an Information Guilt queue (list). I use Google Chrome, so I installed an extension that allows me to add items to my Information Guilt queue. I select “From Web Page” and click “Create Tasks” and Facebook’s Video Chat announcement is safely saved away so I can watch it later. Now I can focus on my work knowing I can read/watch it later!

Mobile

It even works on my Android Phone! They have a mobile version of their website which, even when offline, allows you to add items to your queues/lists. This works great on the run!

Tip

If you’re like me, and schedule everything, make sure and schedule time to get your information guilt fix. Typically I allot some time in the evening to consume my daily collected guilt. If you don’t plan time, and your information guilt queue gets too full, it could turn around and be as troublesome and turn into information guilt itself. This doesn’t work unless you actually plan time to check out what you’ve saved. If items in your queue are a week or two old, delete them! You won’t watch them…I never did.

:browse save

or

:bro sav

Hit <Ctrl>+<y><,> — Control-Y (Release) Comma

Since releasing my gVim 0.1, I’ve made many improvements. Aubrey’s gVim is my own gVim with my own configurations to make Vim/gVim a good HTML, CSS, PHP & JavaScript editor for Windows. When you download my gVim, you are actually downloading what I use.

These features were kept from 0.1

• Common editor functionality that allows Vim to behave like other code editors
• Code Indentation Modifications that forces Vim to simply follow your current indentation
• Tabs are always proffered over spaces
• Tab width of 4
• Zen Coding
• Surround blocks of code with tags using Surround
• Autoclose HTML Tags
• Autocomplete "'{[(, etc
• Pathogen for Plugins
• Consolas font
• Visual Tabs and line endings
• Code folding disabled by default
• Edit PHP files with embedded HTML, CSS and JavaScript code with highlighting
• Jellybean Color Theme
• Insert mode at start, use <ESC> to enter command mode.
• Arrow keys work as hjkl
• No swap or backup files when editing
• Shifting blocks of code using <Tab> and <Shift>+<Tab>
• Designed to fill a 1366 X 768 screen on startup
• Start NERDTree using <Alt>+<N>
• Snippets using snipMate

These features are new in 0.2

• .txt file treatment modifications
• Enable wrapping using <Alt>+] and disable wrapping using <Alt>+[
• Green cursor when in insert mode, red for command mode
• Switches to current directory of opened file
• Use right scroll bars only, left scroll bars disabled
• Horizontal scroll bar enabled (because wrap is now off by default)
• Visual mode preferred over select mode in all cases
• Menubar invisible by default, use <Alt>+M to show and <Alt>+m to hide
• Better CSS syntax highlighting
• ColorV color picker/Preview for CSS w/ key configurations
• Better syntax for HTML5 elements
• !<Tab> snippet inserts !important for CSS
• 80 character wrap for note taking

For details on how all these work, see the _vimrc file.

Download

My gVim is based on an installation of Vim, from vim.org with modifications.

Installation File (Windows Only)

I have bundled up my C:Program FilesVim into an install-able application that will copy my Vim installation to your machine in C:Program Filesaubreysgvim. The only nag will be a initial message stating that Vim is not registered, just click "Yes" and it's on it's way!

This project is now hosted on: Google Code

Source

I have included the contents of my installation for those who do not wish to install it, but would like to view the customization. Linux and Mac users can use this file to pull vimfiles/.vim and _vimrc/.vimrc configuration.

This project's source is also hosted on: Google Code

Mark Zuckerberg Pissed off Google+ Photo

I haven’t been invited to try Google+, and really, I would rather wait and watch. But, today I noticed that Mark Zuckerberg is the #1 followed user on Google+ at the moment. And, he looks pissed!

I just keep thinking to myself what is going through Mark Zuckerberg’s mind right now. Of course, I am only assuming his profile photo is sending a clear message that he’s pretty upset about it. Maybe he was having a bad day at work…I just wonder why.

I am an avid Facebook user, I was on Facebook when it was in it’s hay-day and it was awesome! I also love Google for their products, but I am not sure who I would be loyal to. Who would you be loyal to?

I’m just saying…I’d be pissed too.

Mark’s Profile & Other Facebook Employees

Browsing around Mark’s profile showed that many of Facebook’s employees are also on Google+. Although Mark’s profile lacks any posts, I’m not surprised, many of Facebook’s employees are already actively using it. I also noticed that many of Facebook’s employees are ex-Google people. Facebook is supposed to “launch something awesome” this week, and Facebook has also been blocking Google+’s friend importer.

Not sure if this is from Google, if it is, it’s really incomplete…

In this screencast I explore using Subversion (svn) to checkout Google Code using Ubuntu Server in a virtual machine (using VirtualBox). The purpose of this screencast was two-fold.

• First, I wanted to setup a Linux environment to use on Windows 7 for actual Linux stuff. As part of this I had to setup shared folders to the host operating system from the guest.
• Second, I wanted to use Subversion (svn) to checkout some code (for the first time, for me).

So, in this screencast we will be:

• Setting up a Virtual Machine and installing Ubuntu Server (10.10)
• Setting up the required dependencies to install VirtualBox Guest Additions
• Setting up VirtualBox Guest Additions and setting up and using shared folders on the host system
• Installing and using Subversion (svn) to checkout some Google Code
• Taking a snapshot in VirtualBox of our successful setup

This has been put in Code & Development because I will soon be using the virtual environment to run a local LAMP server (for a later screencast).

I am going to keep working on it and turning it into something non-App Engine powered (good ‘ol HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) so we can all play with it and do new things. I am going to, at some point (I mentioned I just started with svn) host this on Google Code, especially when I get it matured. But, since I’m not a selfish horder…

Here ya go!

You can demo the latest code here.

[Enjifi - June 29th 2011 - 20thingsilearned - Offline Version] (zip)

Keep up to date on this by following 20thingsilearned.

Did you notice the black bar on top of Google Services? What do you think!?

• Google Faces Backlash for Testing New Black Navigation Bar
• How to remove the hideous huge black bar at the top of the google …‎
• Google Black Top Bar Navigation Test

Today I was working on adding a Google AdSense Ad into a post on the site, and I couldn’t (easily) find a WordPress Plugin that would let me do that easily; so, as always, I wrote one.

To use add the shortcode to your post. (Not here, because it would actually try and insert something, please see video on these steps.)

Put your adsense code (that you copy from Google Adsense) in a Custom Field and call it whatever you want (called adsense-ad-1 here). The shortcode will pull in the AdSense code from that Custom Field in the location you put the shortcode in your post.

Enjoy.

Simple Google AdSense Code Insertion Plugin [zip]

/*
Plugin Name: Simple Google Adsense Code Injector Shortcode
Plugin URI: http://enjifi.com/
Description: This easy shortcode will allow you to insert your adsense code easily into your posts. Just put your adsense code betweent <code>adsense /adsense</code>.
Version: 0.1
Author: Aubrey Island
Author Email: enethrie@gmail.com
Author URI: http://enethrie.com
*/

function adsense_hand_enji( $atts, $content = null ) {
	global $post;
	extract( shortcode_atts( array(
		'metakey' => '',
		//'attr_2' => 'attribute 2 default',
	), $atts ) );

	$code= get_post_meta($post->ID, $metakey, true);

	return $code;

}

add_shortcode( 'adsense', 'adsense_hand_enji' );

I just thought this was humorous this morning… :)

http://enjifi.com/category/sub-category

Now, that usually works. But, with Enjifi, I may want to move sub-category under category-2, like:

http://enjifo.com/category-2/sub-category

Now, all my links to /category/sub-category are not /category-2/sub-category, the undesired feature.

So, I found this, and I wrote a plugin for it (because it worked).

sub-cat-to-main-cat.zip

<?php

/*
Plugin Name: Change Sub Category to Main Category URL Structure (WordPress Remove Sub Category Hierarchy URL)
Plugin URI: http://enjifi.com/
Description: This plugin will tell your website to remap /category/category/subcategory to /category/subcategory
Version: 0.1
Author: Aubrey Island
Author Email: enethrie@gmail.com
Author URI: http://enethrie.com
*/

/* From: http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/7807/changing-the-category-permalink-structure/7817#7817 */

add_filter( 'category_link', 'wpse7807_category_link', 10, 2 );
function wpse7807_category_link( $catlink, $category_id )
{
    global $wp_rewrite;
    $catlink = $wp_rewrite->get_category_permastruct();

    if ( empty( $catlink ) ) {
        $catlink = home_url('?cat=' . $category_id);
    } else {
        $category = &get_category( $category_id );
        $category_nicename = $category->slug;

        $catlink = str_replace( '%category%', $category_nicename, $catlink );
        $catlink = home_url( user_trailingslashit( $catlink, 'category' ) );
    }
    return $catlink;
}

?>

For example (please no comments on quotes, this is HTML5!),

<a href=http://www.vim.org/ target=_blank>Vim</a> is an editor that I came across when looking for alternatives to, what I was currently using, <a href=http://notepad-plus-plus.org></a>Notepad++. I eventually started customizing it and trying to get it to work for me. At one point I even gave up, but came back to give it a try again.

It eventually lead to <a href=http://enjifi.com/category/vim/aubreys-gvim></a>Aubrey's gVim, as well as <a href=/tag/vimtips>vimTips</a> and <a href=/tag/aubreygvimtips>Aubrey's gVim Tips</a>.

In this piece of code, inside a category description, though links were allowed, the class=it was not!

This plugin really came in handy!

[Allow HTML in Category Descriptions]

My File/Folder Strategy

So, I guess my storing strategy needs to be explained a little first. First, it starts off with the Desktop. The Desktop  is the “now” folder, and it’s what I’m working on now, or recently. Over a week I could end up with thirty folders on my Desktop that I work with throughout the week. Filenames aren’t as important as folder names. Every file, even if there is only one, gets a folder (starting on the Desktop). The folder is named based on who, what, where and when with “tags” for relationships. So, for instance, when I save this webpage as a backup, I will call the folder I create (on my desktop) Enethrie - Why Google Desktop (Search) Didn't Work for Me, folder structure, google desktop, June 22nd 2011. I name them this way because, when I am ready to find something, I don’t want to click around; I want to do a search. So, later on, I may have forgotten what it was all about, but I remembered “Enethrie” and “folder structure” or “Enethrie” and it was in “June.” This way I can find things without having to click around. I also don’t create category folders, I simply have a folder called “My Stuff” that, once my Desktop starts getting full, I move them all to the “My Stuff” folder.

Conclusion

And so, Google Desktop lacked in one thing for me: folders. When I hit Ctrl+Ctrl, I would type Enethrie and not much would show up, because it was directing me to files, and not folders. Now Windows 7 search does come up with folders when I do a search, but it’s still slow and clunky. In fact, it’s still loading a search I just did.

This project arises out of my desire to make gVim/Vim work for me as an HTML, PHP, CSS & Javascript developer. As I continue to make it better and better, for me, I am going to release editions of my gVim/Vim as an install-able application for Windows called Aubrey’s gVim. I’m being the change I’d like to see in the world, and I was looking for a Vim that acted more like my Vim.

My goal is to make gVim/Vim act as comfortably as possible as an HTML, PHP, CSS and Javascript editor. Previous editors I have used were Notepad++, Komodo Edit, Textmate, and Sublime Text. I have customized Vim to be a replacement for them and I have also customized Vim to function like them, in terms of common editor usage. This means my gVim/Vim is not your typical Vim configuration. It has been configured to work more like the previous editors I had used before while obtaining the strengths of Vim.

Features and Configurations

• Code Indentation using preserveindent, copyindent & filetype indent off
  • Vim tabbing awful for HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP
• Tabs over Spaces
• Tab width of 4
• Zen Coding
• Surround blocks of code with text
• Autoclose HTML Tags
• Autocomplete "'{[(, etc
• Pathogen for Plugins
• Select Mode <Shift>+<Up|Down|Left|Right> selects in Visual Mode
• Consolas font
• Visual Tabs
• Folds Disabled
• Edit PHP files with embedded HTML, CSS and JavaScript code and highlighting
• Jellybean Color Theme
  • jellybeans.vim : Colorful, dark color scheme
• Insert mode at start, use <ESC> to enter command mode.
• Arrow keys preferred over hjkl
• No swap or backup files created
• Shifting blocks of code using <Tab> and <Shift>+<Tab>
• Designed to fill a 1366 X 768 screen on startup
• Start NERDTree using <Alt>-<N>
• Snippets using snipMate (activated using <Tab>)

Download

Currently Aubrey's (my) gVim/Vim works only on Windows (the platform I am currently using Vim on).

aubreysgvim-0.01.exe [Installation File]

Installation

I have no clue how the installation will act on your system, though I have tested the install on virtual machines on different platforms, and it has worked well. The only hitch is that you will get a warning when you first launch Aubrey's gVim asking you to register it with your systems registry. You can see how the installation works in this video.

Once I finally found some time, I thought I would create an official logo. There is a sneaky blue version here.

[From: Accolade — New Logo! — New Mexico State University]

Anyways, I was able to fix this problem by disabling selectmode all-together using:

set selectmode=

In the documentation it only gives key, cmd, and mouse and it took me awhile to figure out if you set it to nothing (NONE did not work) it will not enter select mode on either of these events.

This (and many other new things) will be present in 0.0.2 version of Aubrey’s gVim.

"C:Program FilesVimvim73gvim.exe" --servername FTP --remote-tab-silent

The video is a result of the following tip/fix:

I usually edit a .html or .php file and do HTML, PHP, CSS and JavaScript coding inside that filetype. Vim, as far as I can tell, just doesn’t get it when it comes to tabbing/indentation (especially with PHP). Vim ships with indenting files built in $VIMRUNTIME/indent. Even when I downloaded scripts that help support the indention built it, it still didn’t work. All I really wanted was for Vim to keep the indention of the previous line. Once I figured it out it solved all my tabbing/indention woes.

First I used…

set noexpandtab
set autoindent "keeps previous lines indent
set copyindent
set preserveindent
set softtabstop=0
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4

… to get my tabs and indention working in Vim. Notice that autoindent and copyindent are the key settings that cause Vim to keep the previous line’s indentation.

Then, I disabled the shipped indentation rules that come with Vim…

filetype indent off

This keeps Vim from loading any indenting rules, and now Vim will just follow the previous indention.

I’ve include my _vimrc file for you to examine. I may be releasing my Vim/_vimrc/Plugins, etc as an “ultimate Vim for HTML, PHP, CSS & Javascript” that everyone can use soon.

_vimrc-aubrey-island-javascript-php-html-css (txt)

Now at: http://enjifi.com/2011/06/09/kindle-3-just-for-reading/

So I’ve been messing around with my Kindle 3 a little more. I’ve been throwing all kinds of files at it: pdf, png, html, etc both via the Whispernet and USB. I had hoped that the Kindle would be a repository for all my notes, books, and reading. But, the Kindle just isn’t as powerful as I had imagined, it’s just for reading books and occasional online content, when you have a connection. Keep in mind the browser is buggy; things I would think Amazon people would be smart enough to deal with, like for instance, clicking on _blank (new window) links. Right now it displays a message saying it can’t follow the link because it opens a new window. So, program the browser to open it in the same window?

After I threw a few PDF’s and PNG images of scanned notes I took on paper, I quickly found it to become un-usable for such an idea. I found PNG’s and JPEG’s don’t have a zoom feature, so if the scan was letter sized, I couldn’t zoom in on a part of a note. Flat images (scanned larger than the Kindle’s screen) are pretty unreadable too. I even was excited to download the Notepad Active application to take notes. But, I also found it wasn’t the greatest at that either; you can’t get your notes off of it unless you plug it in and dig through directories to find randomly named files with your notes in them, copy and paste…I just wasn’t that interested in doing that much work.

I guess I was a bit too excited about what the Kindle could do for me. I had hoped that I could keep all my reading on there, but with the latest trouble I have been having, it seems that it is really only capable of reading documents intended for it. That means books, for the most part.

Will it work as a library?

I hate holding my books when I read them. I would much rather be holding something like a Kindle. So, it still has a good enough use for me to keep using it for books. I hate that my library of books are at home right now too. I’m not the kind of person that reads a whole book through, I usually jump from one to the other and I certainty use my library as a reference. I can’t take all my books with me, and that has always been a problem.

So, as of now I am hoping that the Kindle will at least be useful as a library. I hope the idea of having all your books on your Kindle isn’t too-far-fetched (meaning, I hope that I’m not disappointing here too). I am currently hunting down the books I already have in ebook format, and I hope I find most of them. It could mean that I would have all the books in my library on my Kindle, available whenever I wanted in a readable book-like format.

At least, that is what I’m hoping.

(Image from Amazon Kindle gets official)

Looking ahead, I have a lot of “ideas” of what might happen when I graduate; and I hope, no pray, things don’t turn horrible on me once I get to “my future”. So far, the future has been looking a little scary. I’ve never really looked far ahead, and even now I wonder if I am looking to far into it. But, here are some of the things I have been thinking about lately.

Working for NMSU as a Web Designer

I’ve been working at NMSU as a Web Designer/Coder for a while and I’ve even come up with this rad project called Accolade. It’s sort of an end result to all the different work I’ve done at different departments across NMSU. Approaching my last semester, today specifically, I was thinking about what is to become of Accolade when I leave…if I leave. If things go well, and I can figure out how to do this, I wouldn’t mind just continuing the project and becoming a web designer for NMSU. I love the college life and atmosphere (my friends would joke around and say “obviously,” because of how long I’ve been here). But, I really do love the place. I love Las Cruces, and I totally wouldn’t mind starting off with a Web Designer job at NMSU. The trick is finding the job and hoping I turned a few heads.

All in all I will make sure Accolade will live on after I leave. In fact, I spent a good amount of time today making sure the site will maintain itself for a few more years. So, even if they don’t hire me, it’s not like I am going to just take it away from them. Throughout my time at NMSU I have met people who benefited well from the work I’ve done (work we really did together). They don’t give a hoot about HTML, PHP, Javascript, etc either. They just need something that makes editing websites easy for them. I want to make sure that whoever else is out there has something reasonable to work with, so I don’t have any plans on killing Accolade if I leave.

Working for a Start-up

This has been on my mind since I took a class in venture capitol for technology companies. I fell in love with the atmosphere of a start-up. I have no experience with a start-up, but from what I hear it seems like the kind of work I love to do. I was attracted to the risk, focus, determination, and turnaround times for the kind of work that start-ups do. Deep down I’m a quick and dirty designer who like to get projects out the next day, or stay up all night coding a slick new feature, and from what I can tell- that’s a start-up! I’ve been spending some time looking up the kinds of startup companies that might be cool to work for, and everytime I find a new one I get more excited about it.

But, it will take work I’m sure. I am not even sure how to approach this idea yet, but it is something I’m actively looking into!

Work for Facebook (or Google, or WordPress- or Mozilla) [in no particular order]

I know, I know. But, they are really awesome companies to work for, and there’s no way I am not going to try. The innovation and work-style these companies have are very (very) attractive to me. I love the web, and when it comes to the web these companies are all about it and that’s the kind of environment I would thrive on. I’m more than just a web designer, I’m also kind of a geek that cares about things like web standards and cool new web things. I can totally build your business’s website, no sweat. But, if I could work for a company that cares about how people actually use the web, that goes beyond just building a websites and involves you in something bigger.

I’m definitely going to include these far-fetched “dreams” in my peripheral view. I don’t expect anything, but I am totally going to try!

Start My Own Web Company/Consult

This is the most frightening and exciting idea of all. I’m sure it’s not going to be a one-time shot, given I do it, but I have always wanted to create a company. I have a nack for knowing what people need and using technology to facilitate that need. I also love just doing neat helpful things for people (like what Matt did with WordPress). That’s what a company, that I would want to run, would be all about. It’s always been in the back of my head, just sitting there needing an idea to go off of. Once in a while I have a friend or someone I’m working for mention it and it always sparks a bit of excitement.

This one, though, is sort of an “if it happens” or “if the opportunity finds itself” idea.

Reality

…and then, there’s reality (dun dun dun!!!).

I probably will be just applying for any job I can find and trying to find one that pays the bills. Since I will have no income once I graduate (given my previous ideas are likely not to just pounce out of thin air), I sense “reality” being a part of my overall strategy. This could take me anywhere. It could happen right away or it could take a while to find something. If I am headed this route, I hope I look back at today and praise it instead of curse it.

The other day I was blessed with a Kindle 3, the $114 one with ads (I don’t mind the ads). I was really excited to have it, as I do read a lot (on the web, and books) and I don’t particularly like using my laptop or phone. The e-Ink display is amazing and super easy to read.

Dive into HTML5 on Kindle3 over Wifi

But, the last few days have been especially frustrating; even to the point where I am considering returning it or re-selling it. Reading books (ebooks) is especially pleasant, better than I expected. Yet, the most exciting things about it is that it features a web browser (weirdly put in an “Experimental” section). The browser, though experimental, is awesome. I can check my Facebook, read email and websites on it with no problem. So, this lead me to believe that I could load local HTML files via file://. Nope. Then, of course, I started looking for ways to save websites (yes, whole websites) as .mobi files. Nope; not successfully anyways. There just wasn’t a way for me to mirror a website and store it on my Kindle 3 in anyway. This was pretty frustrating to me. It doesn’t have 3G and I don’t always want to be around a wifi network to read websites (which, it does very well). In this case I would just use my phone! I really wanted to keep offline copies of things on my kindle to read. I often archive websites (for personal use) to read later on my laptop when I don’t have access to wifi.

I still am playing with it; but that is the frustrating thing: I don’t want to play with it so much that I get tired of it. If I want to convert something, I don’t mind doing the work, but not too much work. And, so far, it is borderline becoming too much work. I am not sure if it is totally worth it just to read books on this device. I do read a good amount of books, but I just wanted it to do a little more once I found out it had a web browser. Now I feel as if my phone is more powerful as an offline reading device…

It just seems really silly that I can’t browse offline webpages on it using the browser. I know Amazon wants us to buy books, but don’t they want us to buy the device too? If this simply feature were enabled, coupled with the ebook awesomeness, Kindle would be the choice of many!

Just my thoughts so far.

Now at: http://enjifi.com/2011/06/22/the-winner-for-the-editor-war-may-be-vimgvim/

So, after duke-ing it out in the text-editor civil war, I think I have decided on a winner: Vim. Why?

• It’s open source
• Vim will not die
• It’s on most Unix systems, and I use Vi all the time anyways
• It’s highly customize-able

I’ve got most of Vim working for my to edit HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP. I am still having some problems with automatic tabbing, but I think I will be able to resolve that. Because Vim is so customize-able, it ousted using Sublime Text, Komodo Edit had it going for itself until I loaded a 2000+ line file and it wouldn’t even do sytax highlighting without slowing down; plus it loaded like a turtle running up sand! Editra was promising, but it still needs developing. I also gave e text editor a shot, but because it is closed source, it just can’t be trusted (even though they claim it is being opened up). I just don’t get the idea of having a code editor that is closed source. An editor like that just can’t make it, I believe, as a robust editor.

Notepad++ was always in the running as my previous favorite editor. But, it’s messy; just as messy as Vim, but it isn’t cross platform and is slightly more difficult than Vim (once you get to know Vim a little more). As for now, I am going to stick with Vim and see how it goes. I spent a lot of time today getting it to act quasi-Vim/quasi-normal-editor. I’ve been able to get it to:

• Be in insert mode by default, hitting <ESC> enters command mode
• Tab blocks of code using <TAB> and Shift<TAB>
• Auto-Indent most things (though it gets confused when in HTML mode and I start doing PHP)
• ZenCoding
• Surround code with HTML tags
• Edit HTML and PHP together

If I keep at it, I may get Vim to behave just the way I want it. I hope that, later, I can release all the customization I’ve made so that others can have it too.

(I’ll update this with a video of my playing with Vim tomorrow.)

While using KomodoEdit I was running into a problem browsing SFTP/SCP locations in the Places sidebar. But, it wasn’t KomodoEdit’s fault; it was mine. Well…both actually. Apparently if you put /anything (a slash and anything) in the Name location (seen here as /~frontera), it will append the default path to it. So, as seen in the screenshot, the tree browser was looking for /~frontera/www2/users/frontera/file.ext. Once I removed the /~frontera from the Name field, it worked. It then looked for /www2/users/frontera/file.ext, which is the proper way.

1. That selecting text with the mouse did not use visual mode.
2. That the arrow keys, in visual mode, did not act like hjkl.

Here is what I did to fix #1:

set selectmode=key

Here’s what I did to fix #2:

:map <down> j
:map <up> k
:map <left> h
:map <right> l

Note: ExpanDrive did not support regular FTP and was really slow saving/etc.

Now that I am using Vim, I noticed that I was having problems editing files over FTP/SFTP. I couldn’t use NERDTree and my other client, WinSCP, would open a new window (or tab) of gVim when I used an external editor. I wanted to browse an FTP/SFTP natively so that I could use NERDTree and edit as if I was editing locally.

The solution I found was using ExpanDrive, a program that mounts FTP/SFTP locally as a Windows drive. Once I mounted a drive, and chose a file to edit, I could use NERDTree to browse for more or use :vsp and drag a file on that split.

In the video I show it off a little.

I have released my gVim configuration as an installable application for windows, check it out: Aubrey’s gVim

It all started with an annoyance with Notepad++, the CTRL+Y (Redo) key was not working and a NetTuts screencast. About two months ago I complained about VIM, yet I still have an itch to use it.  I spent all day yesterday trying to get Vim going, and today I find myself frustrated again. Vim is very customizable, something I really like. But, that customization should ‘just work,’ hell I can’t even get a plugin installed correctly!

I installed a few different forks of Vim (called Cream) and a few vimrc/plugin combinations. But, I have currently reverted to base install gVim/Vim for Windows and started fresh. I will share my finding below.

• This video helped me figure out plugins and how Vim uses folders and files. I used this video as a guide to install (and understand) pathogen and install ZenCoding.
  • I installed vim and selected for it to create plugin folders for me.
  • I had to create a vimfiles folder in c:Program FilesVim
  • I had to create a autoload folder in c:Program FilesVimvimfiles
  • I put pathogen into the autoload folder and edited _vimrc in c:Program FilesVim_vimrc
    Note, I edited it with Vim and had to do a command (:w!) to force it to write.
  • I had to create a folder called bundle in the vimfiles folder.
• I copied the content (extracted on my desktop) of Zencoding.zip to the bundle folder. This should automatically load your plugin since I installed pathogen.
• Loaded gVim and typed div…
• ZenCoding gave me hell, real hell, because I couldn’t figure out how to expand the abbreviations. But, after a little digging around, I found out <c-y> means type: CTRL+Y then a comma (,). I have a feeling Vim explanations like this are going to cause me not to use Vim. It worked though.
• I opted to install more plugins, starting with snipMate.
  • I extracted snipmate.zip contents to my Desktop and copied them to the bundle folder I created. It worked well.
  • I created a test.c file and typed i for instert, typed for and hit <TAB> in insert mode.
  • After all, I deleted the original snipMate and replaced it with a fork by spf13. I just downloaded the file (instead of using Git) and put it in my bundle folder (remember to delete snipmate folder if you did the above steps.
• I started installing most of the plugins mentioned in this post, or in this post under the ‘Most of the bundles are git submodules facilitating easy updating and configuration’ section. Note, I did not opt to use the Ultimate Vim config, just the plugin suggestions he was giving.
  • The first was the colors. Once I installed it into the bundle folder, I could use (in gVim) the command “:color bluegreen”. For a list of the color schemes, I found this.
    • I had to edit my c:Program FilesVim_vimrc file and added “color bluegreen”.
    • Note: there is a menu, but it does not save the theme you are using as permanent.
  • Then I got to tcomment, and discovered (once I followed the install directions, not putting it in my bundle folder) that it seems to have installed in C:Program FilesVimvimfilesbundleColorSamplerPackautoload, which is kind of weird.
  • I installed HTML AutoCloseTag, but not with the bundle way, that did not work. I followed the install directions (putting it in C:Program FilesVimvimfilesftplugin) and it worked. I typed <body> and it would </body> and put my cursor in the middle.
    • I added au FileType xhtml,xml,php so c:/Program Files/Vim/vimfiles/ftplugin/html_autoclosetag.vim to my _vimrc file to make it work in PHP files also, because often I an doing PHP/HTML coding in a single PHP file.
  • At this point I was starting to feel comfortable with Vim plugins (finally!)
  • I installed delimitMate, which gives you auto completion of ",',[,{,( etc. I used the bundle method for that and downloaded the zip file; I did not use Git.
  • At this point, I was happy with the plugins I had.
• Now I wanted to start customizing my _vimrc file. I found this post, which gave me a good look at the things I could customize.
  • At this point I was actually editing my _vimrc file using gVim.
  • I noticed CTRL+V worked for paste! Although I did want to use Vim, I did not want to ignore my normal keys. CTRL+C,V,X, etc and the arrows.
  • Here is what I pasted into my _vimrc file:

    set autoindent
    set smartindent
    set tabstop=4
    set shiftwidth=4
    set showmatch
    set guioptions-=T
    set vb t_vb=
    set ruler
    set incsearch
    set virtualedit=all

  • Again, I had to do a :w! to write the file in Vim since it was in C:Program FilesVim.
  • I found this _vimrc file which had a lot of custom things I wanted. I added these to my _vimrc file. I did not overwrite my _vimrc file, just took what I wanted out of it.

    set number
    set guifont=Consolas:h10.5
    "set guioptions+=b "show horizontal scroll bar
    set ttyfast
    set ignorecase
    set list
    set listchars=tab:>-,trail:-
    set showmode

  • Then I noticed all the ~backup files that were getting created, annoying! I added set backupdir=c:temp to my _vimrc file and they were all stored in c:temp. I like the idea of having a backup, just not in the folder I am working in.

And now to see how it goes. I am going to create a separate post for this, but I am going to ZIP up my Vim folder and offer it as a start-off solution. I am probably going to use Vim/gVim for a couple days to edit HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP and see if it works well first.

So, today I wanted to go ahead and backup the content from my Google Reader. What I do is subscribe to my own websites, and my Facebook feeds, my Twitter Feeds, etc. Why? Because, say you want to save all your Twitter posts in a convenient file or archive (every single one). What you would have to do is click ‘more posts’ on the bottom of the page over and over until you get all your tweets. The same for your blogs, and Facebook updates, etc. But, because most of these sites use RSS, and Google archives each and every entry (Twitter, for instance, will only let you go so far back), you can load them all up on one page and save them.

This is how I do it (watch video to see what this actually does):

1. Make sure you install Mozilla Archive.
   It is going to let you save the entire page (with nothing missing) as a file you can load up on your browser, with all the content, faithfully; even offline.
2. Load up Google Reader and select the feed (or folder, which is what I do all the time) you want to backup.
3. Start to scroll down to the very last entry.
   Google Reader, by default, loads up more posts as you scroll down until you’ve loaded them all. To cheat, just middle click your mouse and get the scroll lock feature and let it scroll down automatically. Go grab some coffee, talk to a friend, watch a few YouTube movies to pass the time.
4. Then File > Save Page as Archive.

It’s the best way I have found to backup your online life. I also save entire blogs this way too, so when offline, I can reference the information later (given they don’t use exerpts).

Note that the backup is going to only go as far back to the date you subscribed to the feed. Because of this, anytime I start a site, or start a new service that supports RSS, I subscribe to it and add it to a ‘backup’ folder in Google Reader.

Frontera Norte Sur, a project of Latin American Studies, that provides on-line news coverage of the US-Mexico border, has joined the Accolade family.

Frontera serves primarily as a blog. Early on, this possibility, of using Accolade strictly as a blog, was integrated into Accolade 2. Modern editing and mobility were key features which led Latin American Studies to consider WordPress and Accolade. In a single day I was able to install WordPress, move a database, install Accolade and give them a feature rich site that will help their on-location authors publish more engaging material easily!

I just wanted to welcome them to Accolade, and hope they benefit from it.

There is still much further Accolade will go, but Accolade 2 is now a feature-rich alternative for NMSU departments and individuals seeking to create easy to use (and edit) websites with the NMSU brand and WordPress. Hopefully, you’ve checked out the home page where you can find out about how Accolade got started, its features, and what it’s all about.

Special Thanks To:

• Renee Brown, College of Business
• Evan Bailey, College of Extended Learning
• Valerie Torres, Honors College
• James Dryden, ICT
• Adam Covatta, Human Resources

Without the help of these people and the many unnamed departments at NMSU that helped throughout Accolade’s development, Accolade 2 would not be what it is. So, thank you, everyone, very much!

Please subscribe to the blog, where you will get the latest updates on Accolade. You can also like us on Facebook!

[From: Accolade Blog]

I know a few tools that make Photoshop awesome are missing, but I did download the free version (maybe the full version has those tools), and those tools aren’t absolutely imperative to have; many of the things those tools (blending options, drop shadows, etc) can still be done (I show how you can do a drop shadow in the screencast). I was just amazed at hope familiar it felt and how well it worked. I am going to play around with this one a little bit, and hopefully post a follow-up.

(Image from windows.microsoft.com)

I am not sure why I ended up seeing this, but let me tell you my story (it may actually have to do with actually using a Microsoft product).

On occasion I get a friend’s computer; they have a virus, I know how to fix that. Well, one of the main problems was that they were using Internet Explorer 7 with a kazillion toolbars and who knows what else. So, I opted to update their browser…to what you say? Internet Explorer! I thought to myself, “They’ve really done a good job with Internet Explorer 9. Now is finally the time I am okay with installing Internet Explorer as a default browser on a Windows machine.”

But, I guess Microsoft and the Internet Explorer folks still are up to their, “We’ll do it our way, thanks” ways. I downloaded Firefox.

As a special thanks to certain people and NMSU, I made a graphic showing all the browsers I tested Accolade in at once.

I wanted to spend more time on my Digital Thought Codification post from yesterday. I want to re-phrase the words ‘Thought Codification’ to ‘Information Codification & Collecting,’ (ICC, InformationCC, ic² – this one is funny because it sounds like “I see squared,” which is how this makes me feel sometimes). I’ve been really thinking about the whole process of codifying and collecting information; it’s more than just collecting my thoughts. It’s also taking notes at meetings and journaling. Really, it’s just a matter of whether it is created and/or ends up on the computer or on paper. It’s really important for me to keep my information collected in a place and format that is useful for me. I’ve spent years wishing I had those notebooks from my childhood I kept. Once in a while I will run across a file that had some insight to how I was thinking in the past, and I wished I had kept (codified) more of my thoughts and thinking processes so I can learn more from them. And so, I’ve brought up the issue up because I think a lot of ‘geeks’ struggle with the idea of collecting information only to find their email to be the only useful source for looking back in the past.

What I’m going to do about it.

I’ve decided it’s probably best if I create information on the computer as much as I can. I am going to try keeping a notebook around as a backup, where I can scan (by taking a picture with my phone) the information to be stored on my computer for later. I also thought about formats, in which I’ve decided most of my note-taking is going to be done in Freemind and/or XMind. It’s so easy to brainstorm (which is most of what I do) and take notes using mind-mapping tools. I tend to often think of things in relationships, and so mind-mapping software ended up being the perfect tool for it. P.S. I discovered that the .xmind format is a ZIP file with an XML file inside of it, so that’s good news on the compatibility front.

Printing & Information Collections

I also thought about physical collections. I don’t just want all my information on the computer, I also want it to be in a physical, tangible and analog backup collection. Since I decided to keep a notebook around as a backup, I won’t have to print any collecting that goes into the notebooks, so I was trying to find ways to bind the notebooks and printed content together (think folders, but think prettier). I haven’t really come up with a perfect solution yet. I want something not complicated but also works well and is presentable (to be continued…)

I will continue to post updates on my new organization of my information using the tag #Digital Thought Codification.

I’ve been doing some thinking about the different ways I collect and share information. I do a lot of writing (kind of note-taking, but really raw thought collecting). I currently do them in notebooks because I haven’t felt like I can really trust working on a computer/text files for my thought collecting. I dream of doing everything that I can on the computer in a digital workspace. I spend a great deal of time codifying my thoughts, both for myself, and, hopefully, one day when I’m long gone; I’d like people to look back and know how I thought and felt about my life. I know I may really be over-doing this one, but that’s my nature.

I haven’t really ever taken the leap to use my computer for most note-taking and thought-codification. I wonder what would happen to the large collections of text I would build if the format (Microsoft Word/Open Office/Libre Office/Plain Text, etc) became outdated. Notebooks and writing never become outdated. Plus there is always the convenience of a notebook. I have always had problems with running out of battery life too, and sometimes I am not near a computer…

…but, I don’t think that should stop me. I feel like I need to spend more time moving my ‘though-codification’ into the digital world. I plan on blogging my whole process and how I decide to do things and what formats, etc I plan to use using the tag #Digital Thought Codification.

Checkout Enethrie on YouTube!

Another quick fix,

The problem I had was when I browsed to http://myblog.com/page/2 I got the error, “The page isn’t redirecting properly,” from Firefox.  I looked through my files and noticed that there was an old page.php file, I renamed it to page_.php and it fixed the problem.

-Enjoy.

I am still planning on releasing something towards the end of Spring Break. Nothing official, but I would check back around then. Accolade has also been making some splashes across campus, which I think is a great thing. I have noticed several departments have taken Accolade and integrated into their sites already all on their own, which means it isn’t all that hard to do.

I have noticed some departments modifying the code of the template, which I may write about at a later time. But I would like to stress that people learn to create plugins to modify the theme (which I may do a tutorial about later), or use custom CSS through the Accolade settings (See: Appearance -> Accolade, or Settings -> Accolade on older versions) or through Per Page/Post Custom CSS.

Modifying the code of the theme directly (after downloading) will not allow you to upgrade to the new Accolade easily, which is the major concern I have for those who have modified the theme for your projects. I don’t want anyone to miss out on any new features.

But, hold tight, the new Accolade is coming soon!

[From:  Accolade Blog]

So I haven’t really been doing any coding the last few months. The majority of my work has been working on computer systems and such. But, recently, I’ve been doing more coding. Also, during my time of absence, I decided to use Google Chrome and Vim sometime along the way. I wanted to check out Chrome and give it a fair try and learn more Vim/Vi. But, today I was coding a website using Google Chrome/Web Tools and Vim and ended up frustrated and not getting any work done until I decided to go back to my old ways…

Vim

Vim is very frustrating. All I had to do was hit a few wrong keys and I could really get frustrated with Vim. Although I found a few features useful (not really features that couldn’t be found in other editors), it was just to cumbersome to use for development. On a server environment it totally makes sense, but in a desktop environment it is clunky. I know it is powerful, I was able to customize tons of stuff- but unless you know where or how to customize it, it really is hard to customize.

Chrome

Chrome is fast! No doubt about it. But, once I really started trying to edit a page, Chrome just kept getting glitchier and glitchier. Chrome is a great browser for regular Internet browsing use. I just inserted an image into my WordPress post and realized I haven’t re-sized an image in the editor in months!

Going Back

But the moment came when, in my frustration, I brought up my typical Notepad++/Firefox/Firebug setup. I spent all day getting tons of coding work done than I have the last two weeks using Chrome and Vim. I had almost forgot how comfortable I was using this as my primary setup.

Bandwagon

I really feel like I just totally got on the bandwagon when it came to Chrome and Vim. I know Vim is useful, I know Chrome is powerful. But, when it comes down to getting real work done, being on the bandwagon was actually a bumpy ride.

But, I had to fool around with it a little. I was a little frustrated with having to customize it with no clear help on the issue. After Googling for about an hour, I finally have Vim (gVim) configured to use the proper colorschemes, handle tabs, and features I like properly. I thought I would post my _vimrc and _gvimrc files so you can tweak them and customize them.

_vimrc

set gfn=Consolas "this is the font I like (on Windows)
set guifont=consolas:h10.5:cDEFAULT "This modifies the font size
syntax on "auto Syntax Highlighting
"vsplit

set autoindent
set smartindent "If it can be smarter, what the hey
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4
set cindent

cd %:h "changes the working directory to the directory of the file (use to open other files in splits/etc)

set number "Line numbers
set nowrap "No like wrapping
set ignorecase "ignore case on search, etc (I think)
set vb " turns off visual bell
set bs=2 "Make sure that the backspace key deletes like (normal)
set incsearch
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set spell "spell checker
set spelllang=en
set spellsuggest=9 " show only 9 suggestions for misspelled words
set guioptions-=T "Hide the toolbar
set guioptions+=b "Show the horz. scroll bar
set lines=30 columns=140 " default size of window when it opens.

_gvimrc

colorscheme desert "My fav color scheme on Vim

Basically, on a PC, it gives you the ability to do a two-finger-scroll just like on a Mac. I was skeptical, but after using almost two weeks it has worked pretty flawlessly. I had to tweak some of the settings just a bit, but after I got it right, scrolling with two fingers is just so comfortable.

Two Finger Scroll at Google Code

I just wanted to say (even thought I saw it almost two weeks ago) that Tron was awesome! And, people have been saying that it lacked in story. But for me, I think the story was good too! It wasn’t in too deep, but it had real meaning to it, I guess, if you pay attention.

I even downloaded the soundtrack (worth it).

Sometimes I wonder why I still use paper to take notes. I have played with the idea of using my computer (laptop) strictly, but I always end up with the paper again. Sometimes, it’s just that feel of writing over typing, sometimes the actual texture makes me feel better. I know one big reason I don’t use my computer strictly is simply mobility. Yeah, I have a netbook with 5+ hours, but I do run out of battery. Plus, have you ever tried to take notes outside in the sun, wait for your computer boot up when you need to take a quick note, or have to fiddle-faddle to get it out of your bag?

Yet, I do most of my writing and blogging on the computer. I wonder, would I write them instead if I could? Maybe! It would certainty be cool if I was penning this one out on a piece of paper and it somehow magically appeared on my screen!

But, really, it’s a battle between the pros of digitization vs. the comfort of analog note taking. Think about all the information on your computer, given you have collected as much as me over time. It’s stock full of useful information; and it’s all right there in that little computer of yours. Then, when you want that information, it’s right there! But, thinking about it, I rarely go back to that old information. I guess I just have this idea in my head that I am, but really I don’t (or, haven’t really). Usually all the things I write and create are used once, then they’re gone, I don’t need them anymore.

But, it’s always nice to have the backup -the memory- of something you did, wrote, or created on that little hard drive. Where at any second you can just move or copy that information around all you want…if you need to.

Do what feels right.

I love to use the computer, and in my OCD brain I would like to just use it for everything. And, relatively, I do. Even the notes I take on a white board or in a notebook end up scanned and on some digital hardware. But, I used to stress about where to take notes. And so, for those other OCD people out there, I have a principle: do what feels right first. So, take a note on a notebook, on a post-it, in pen, pencil, written in elvish; whatever! If you don’t do what feels right, you are going to spend too much time deciding what to do. Use whatever is comfortable and appropriate, go with the feeling. Then, because the digital world is so awesome, scan it and store it on your computer (like I do).

Sure, you won’t be able to search through it or program shell-scripts to do regular expression matches. Yeah, you’ll have flat images without any text to copy and paste from. Yeah, you won’t have digital versions of everything at your programmer-brained disposal…but I never ended up having to do that anyways, no matter how much I see myself doing it in the future.

Just in case is not an excuse to stress over the medium you use to take notes, plan or just doodle ideas. Just do it…quit being unproductive! Then, once you’ve done it, worry about where it ends up.

Windows 7 Copy Doomsday Message!

Okay, my backup plan is going sour because of Windows 7 today. But, Teracopy (portable), a sweet little app, is making copying a large archive of files (via a Windows 7 library, too!) pretty easy. I just did a ‘Select All’ in my ‘Archive’ library, drag to Teracopy, click Copy to and watch them copy (no Preparing to Copy/Discovering Items). Then, I’ll delete the old files in the Archive library.

Thanks Teracopy!

What took 20 minutes to “prepare” using Windows 7 copy routine, I’ve already copied 1/2 of my 14gb of files. (Smile)

From: http://superuser.com/questions/315…

1. In Windows 7: Run cmd.exe in Administator Mode.
2. cd into the Directory with the filenames.
3. run: chkdsk /V /f [My bad files were on another drive other than the OS drive, so it was able to dismount it. If it is the OS drive, it may have to do this stage at startup.]
4. Wait (May have to reboot).

Results/Cmd Log: (See at superuser)

As you will see the result was that chkdsk actually deleted the files for me. So, if you want to keep the files, I don’t know what to do, but this will get rid of the files for sure.

Vote it up if it worked for you!

Yesterday, finally, I got the new Facebook messaging. It includes my own @facebook.com email address and I was pretty excited about this for a few reasons:

• GMail is slow and clunky to use,
• the conversation view,
• more personal (not just an email address),
• and I can do everything ‘communication’ on Facebook.

I’ve only been using the new system for a couple days and have already found one very interesting thing. I emailed someone an attachment and it automatically found her on Facebook, got her real name, and a gave me a link to her profile if I want to add her as a friend. This is way more social than typical email. I really liked this, so much that I decided to forward my personal emails to my new @facebook.com email just to try it out.

Messaging on the new Facebook messaging is pretty simple, just text and attachments (something I really like). I hate getting formatted emails, etc. I just want plain text or an attached video or audio. The simpler and more standard, the better! I also like the conversation view. GMail tries to do this via the subject, but typically I am talking to people about the subject, not the other way around.

But, that being said, support for the messaging system is absent on my phone (where I do most of my communicating). The Facebook app simply does not pull in anything via email (see screenshot). Facebook touch does, but I tried to send a message this morning and I couldn’t; not to mention I couldn’t attach a file. I hope Facebook will update their mobile platforms to support the new messaging system.

All in all I will keep playing around with the idea of using my @facebook.com email for communicating. I think email is going to change. It is becoming more personal and less service oriented. I keep thinking about all those ‘notification’ type emails I get, and how I can’t wait to get rid of them!

I also have Firefox 4 beta on my machine, which I have loaded from time to time, yet I have not used it due to lack of compatibility with some of my favorite addons. Addons were what won me over to Firefox before, especially Firebug. It still remains on my taskbar as a ‘development’ browser in my mind, currently. Firebug is just something Chrome users are burning for, I assume that because I am. I know, I know, there are developer tools in Chrome; but, they’re clunky and slow. I’ve been doing some comparing this morning, loading up the new Facebook infinite scrolling photos to see which browser would have the hardest time. IE9 won, Chrome and Firefox really had no difference, although I did notice Chrome had a hard time opening up a tab after all that, while Firefox did not.

It’s interesting the guilt I have for having Chrome on right now. I am an avid open source supporter, and even though Chrome is open, Firefox has been around for so long. I would hate to see Firefox die because of Chrome (think Netscape Navigator). But Firefox 4, it just seems too much. Firefox 3.6 is nice, and really competes with Chrome. But, Firefox 4 is just too clunky, even more clunky than IE9. I like the idea of organizing tabs, but sometimes too many options are just no options. I think Firefox should leave the advanced eye candy stuff to the addon people, where it belongs. Chrome, is simple, that’s really why I like it.

I think, if Chrome integrated Firebug as a developer tool, I would probably uninstall Firefox…

Screenshot of using On Screen Keyboard to press Ctrl Alt Del

So, I had this problem this morning. I am finding that Remote Desktop isn’t always the best solution for remotly controlling a computer or server. Sometimes, I have to logon and run a few programs overnight or during the day. If you use Remote Desktop to connect, that user gets logged off and the tasks are killed. So, I have been using TightVNC to connect to computers that are already running tasks.

But, once I locked the screen on the remote machine, I couldn’t use Ctrl Alt Del to log back in using TightVNC. I did some Googling, but couldn’t find anything that really worked that I really had the time for. But, I clicked the Ease of Access button at the logon screen and vwalla, it worked!

Quick fix, but it works!

Now, you’re going to do lots of Googl’ing, and I tried everything Google told me to do (like always). I have Visual Studio and SQL Server Express, but neither seemed to be the problem. Somehow, I ran into this post. The guy compiled Wampserver 2.0j (an unofficial predecessor to 2.0i). But, it worked! When I installed Wampserver 2.0i, it never even asked Windows Firewall to unblock apache, and it just stayed red and sat there…useless. But, the unofficial 2.0j asked Windows Firewall to unblock it properly, and it has lots of updates…and worked!

Install it, then thank me later… You can find the Unofficial Wampserver 2.0j at http://pampserver.com/

Initially, I went to Chrome to try it out.  Just to really give it a shot, check it out. Being a web-developer of sorts, I think it’s important to really know your browsers. But, I have to admit, I had a bit of a bandwagon moment too. Seems everyone is using Chrome (including Dave Shea, which really got me thinking about the quality of the browser), and I thought it at least deserved a fair chance on my computer. Its speed was what really put me over to give it a try and I’ve been using it for about four months or so. Oh, and the syncing features were also handy- but I will be trying Mozilla Sync until Firefox 4 comes out (just installed).

I just (just now) re-sized the image in this post, something Chrome would not let me do. I think Chrome has a lot of big things going for it, but a lot of small things it doesn’t (such as resizing that image). Firefox just seems to have the history required to have all those fine-details polished over. Using developer tools in Google Chrome is both a powerful thing and a nightmare. It takes forever to load, the user interface is clunky and slow. One of the main reasons I even installed Firefox this morning was because, constantly, Google Chrome’s developer tools (webkit) crash and I’m left with a blank area where it used to be. I have to shut down the whole window and start all over. Firebug is just way more comfortable, fast, and high-end if you ask me.

So, I will be using Firefox again- and, of course, I will share my experience (and, maybe, what I miss about Chrome). I think giving all these browsers (not sure if I will ever give IE or Opera their deserved time, but who knows) really helps give you a real impression of what you want.

I’m not trying to glorify Windows or Microsoft, anyone regular around here knows I love Linux and OSx. But,  I honestly have to give Microsoft some credit with Windows 7. It’s faster, I can use Aero, and common tasks that really bugged me in Windows XP/Vista aren’t that problamatic.

For instance, connecting to wireless networks. It was a little clunky in XP and Vista, but it’s just a click away in Seven – something Linux desktops have been doing for years though. But, it’s been the clunkiness of actions like these that have really put a bad taste in my mouth about Windows, say versus Linux or OSx.

Other activities like using the taskbar, like pinning websites from Chrome, the security warnings, and libraries all made me smile. Even the control panel is easier to use. But the overall thing I’ve noticed is it’s speed. It’s a lot faster, even with resource heavy apps running with Aero enabled. It’s pretty easy to disable Aero, and it’s even snappier. I even noticed using the search in the taskbar was quicker too. Some of my favorite Windows apps are even better too, like Media Player and Paint; the Snipping tool isn’t that bad either. Media Player also recognizes more of my formats than it ever has and has a photo gallery integrated.

So far, using Windows has had me saying, “this is the way it should have been all this time.” And, the only one problem I have been having is not seeing all three power plans when I click the little icon in the taskbar. That seems kind of typical Microsoft oops-ish to me.

But, I am wondering if it’s really something I should do…I mean, I don’t really have a reason other than just having the newest OS on my netbook. Plus, I heard it has some neat features and I like Aero. But, I really don’t have any really good reason.

But, none the less I will be clicking ‘upgrade’ at some point today or this week. I will post an update as to how well the upgrade went and some of the reasons I will discover when I boot up Windows 7.

Hopefully I will be happy with my impulsive upgrade decision.

Use a task list, I mean really use one!

Using Gqueues

A task list has helped me more than ever when it comes to GTD (getting things done). It’s not just about “having” a task list either. Really, it’s about using one well!

Planning tasks ahead of time.

This is the most important rule for using task lists. Do not, and I repeat, do not add an item to your “to-do” list without giving it a prospective date. These items are as good and never done, ever; forever. This allows me to see overdue “things” I expected to get done at such a time. Then, I constantly reschedule them, which reminds me, bugs me and eventually leads to getting it done.

Do it Later

Yeah, most of us do not get things done because we remember a thing we need to do later, and do it immediately. This causes countless hours of work that should have been done on time to get pushed back. Pushing back work leads to stress, stress leads to a lack of interest, a lack of interest leads to another school major change. Save yourself the trouble, just click the quick add and worry about it later.

Don’t check things off!

Using a task list seems simple, right? Find a task, read it, do it, check it off. Uh, nope! That’s not quite the zen way to do it. I have a better, more efficient idea: don’t check off your tasks until the end of the day. Go ahead, load up that task list and just start “doing” and don’t check off a thing. At the end of the day, go through it and start removing items. I promise, it’s rewarding and it keeps you from thinking you’ve “done a lot” just because you’ve checked off two items.

Checking things off one-at-a-time leads to rewarding yourself with countless YouTube hours because you “feel” you’ve done a lot. But really, you haven’t done much at all. Finish the day off by clearing off a ton of items from your to-do, it’s the thing to do.

If you want to get things done using a task list, the sure-fire way to go is Gqueues. Not a plug, I seriously use this to my ultimate benefit.

Start working as fast as possible!

Don’t check your e-mail, don’t check Facebook, don’t even go visit your colleague to “discuss” something. You have your coffee, start working! Every time I fail to do this, it ends up being a distracting day full of not getting things done-ness. I know if feels messy, but that’s just your brain trying to trick you into doing nothing.

I have found that if I start doing that “boring coding” right away, I can spend an hour getting some work done. That way I get into a rhythm, I get a sense of what I need to do, and get excited about finishing something. That’s the way to start a day.

Then, check your e-mail.

Take short breaks, lots of them!

We all know the reason we love to <code> is because, before we know it, five hours have passed. If it’s what you love to do, time will fly. Then, you end up taking that long hour break that you feel you deserve. You grab a coke, watch some YouTube, check e-mail, and Facebook it up. But, the thing is, you’ll get stuck! You’ll end up arriving in the same situation you did when you got there that morning. You forgot what you needed to get done and you lost the desire to finish anything.

Lunch, away from the computer.

Take lots of short 2 minute breaks. Take a walk outside or use the time to do a video blog! Heck, even check your Facebook- but keep them short and often! Find things to do during your breaks, because you need to take them, lots of them.

Take a lunch away from the computer.

Yep, go a head take that lunch break- you have to eat don’t you? It’s the only 30 minute plus break you should get all day! I used to bring a lunch with me and YouTube it up for my hour long break distracting myself with Internet nonsense. We know why this is a bad idea already, so what I’ve done is used my lunch as an opportunity to get unacquainted with my computer and have lunch with a friend instead. When I get back to work, I miss my computer, and I feel refreshed and ready for the other half of my day.

Failure to take this break in front of your computer will result in unwanted slavery to sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia. Guaranteed!

Track yourself.

Toggl Pie

Another tactic I’ve been using to GMTD (get more things done) is I’ve been tracking my time. Every second, even that break, and even that lunch. I use Toggl to track every second I make a change of direction. I had originally decided to track myself to help estimate how long it takes me to do a certain task or complete a project. A side-effect that I have noticed, is when I bring up that fancy report of the time I’ve been using, I feel a little guilty that the piece of pie dedicated to 60% of my time is dedicated to wasting it.

When you have bills to pay, or the cash flow is low, now you can look the guilt right in the face! I’ve even become competitive of sorts, trying to get one pie to eat the other that eats dollars.

1. The main reason, it’s slow and sluggish, pretty much all the time.
2. It took up too much space on my netbook (visually).
3. Chrome kept crashing.
4. Flash kept crashing, and was slow and sluggish.
5. It took almost 30 seconds to resume from sleep.
6. It won’t uninstall!

As you can see, this includes many of the same reasons I have quit using Ubuntu before. Mainly, it’s about speed and good graphic design. I just can’t stand how slow it can become, even with 2gb of ram. It’s also not giving me the option to remove it, gparted does not like resizing my partitions back. So, I may have to look forward to re-installing Windows again, which might keep me away forever! j/k

Now, what I am writing this post about is the immense difference between performance from 256mb of RAM the computer came with, and the upgrade to 512mb I gave them; incredible! I am really impressed with how Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is running on this old Dell. It just might convince me to try Ubuntu yet again! Plus, I am getting a sneak peak at all the new things in the OS, fonts for one I am impressed with for once and the theme is brilliant!

“unserialize() expects parameter 1 to be string”

…when using WordPress’ get_option function to get serialized data right after the file just saved serialized data using update_option? So was I using, basically, this same type of script:

<?php

$array[]="foo";
$array[]="bar";

update_option('foo',serialize($array));

//here is where I would get the error.
$data = unserialize(get_option('foo'));

?>

So, I had a problem. So, I tried encoding the string to try and speed up the saving time. Using PHP’ base64_(encode/decode) to encode/decode the serialized sting, it has been saving with no problems.

<?php
$array[]="foo";
$array[]="bar";

update_option('foo',base64_encode(serialize($array)));

//No more error?
$data = unserialize(base64_decode(get_option('foo')));
?>

Ubuntu 10.04-LTS Screenshot

Today I got bored, and like always, like going back to a drug, I installed Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a virtual machine. Big mistake! Well, given Ubuntu’s history with me, it may be a mistake. I always have to deal with these itches to install Ubuntu; I love love love the idea of free software and Linux in general. But, if history has proven itself, then I probably shouldn’t install it on my Acer Aspire One. I have tried 8.04, 9.04, and 9.10 on all flavors of laptops, most recently 9.10 on my Acer Aspire One, in which I ended up installing XP so I could get my work done.

Ubuntu just always has “the problems,” maybe I will go through my old posts (not on this site yet) and count all those problems. I just remember it being slow and giving me enough problems that I went back to something that worked: Windows. And, it’s always about doing my work and not having to deal with fixing, hacking or customizing Linux-based OS’s all the time. But, the itch (as I have termed it over the years) is there, and I really really want to try it out. But, this time I am going to be patient and maybe Virtual Box it or something on my Acer and see how it works, maybe spend a couple days trying to use it and see if it slows down at all or just gives me hell.

Oh, Ubuntu, it’s like a bad romance…

But, among other news, I was informed at our mixed doubles match that there is a middle school coaching opportunity available for August – October. I know it’s nothing super-special, but I’ve always wanted to play a part in the tennis community, especially with coaching. In the past I have had the opportunity, but since I didn’t have a car (I do now), and there was traveling, it really didn’t fit into my schedule. This coaching opportunity though is just two days a week, with no travel out of town. I love coaching tennis, I love tennis being a part of my life and I may have an opportunity to recreate that for others. I was told I would be immediately accepted to do the job, so I just really have to think about it and make sure it will work with school. If it does, I probably will take it.

About three weeks ago I decided to share and publish personal and off-web-topic information as enethrie on the web. This site is a continuation of that decision.

enethrie will be a site where I can be more personal and have a corner on the web that doesn’t have to always be professional. enethrie is more about having fun and sharing with people who are interested in me personally, not just professionally. I was inspired by mezzoblue and Dave Shea to separate my name from my personal life, and just keep everything else strictly professional.

The site features a minimalistic monochromatic theme that seeks to be gentle and radical all at the same time! Thanks for visiting, I will post more. I have a couple of other sites at ne3.info and aubreysblog.info, and I will be moving my favorite posts over to enethrie, so check back and subscribe.

My English 315 class, which is secretly a web class, was a shot in the dark. There really wasn’t must to learn from the class, well not for me anyhow. We discussed a lot of things I already knew, but aside from that it was real fun to work with everyone, help people and just spend the class talking about the web in general. But, one success of the class was my new “professional website,” aubreyisland.info. I haven’t had a professional website set up in a few years, and I had some time to use this as a project in my English 315 class. It’s not quite what I expected, I was still quite jammed for time during the semester, but it will suffice perfectly until the next time I actually have time to work on a site.

So, I’m here frantically studying for my two finals today. I’m going over my Managing e-Commerce study guide again, to make sure I don’t forget anything. My Managing e-Commerce class was probably the most boring, but also the most practical application of everything I have learned over the years. It’s all about making money! In this class, money was at the center of every e-Business or website. Every week we would write a three page paper about the company and observe an in-depth presentation about the company, which included Google, WebVan, Swoopo, Lending Club, etc. It was a wakeup call that building websites isn’t just about fun, it’s also about making a living.

So, wish me luck! I am cramming at this point. My semester hasn’t ended yet. To have a successful semester, I really need to pass all of my classes! I have my Law class and my Management class finals today. Tomorrow, my History of Mass Media. Thursday, my Communication class final. Then, I’m done!

My semester has been so crazy, so busy and I have been trying so hard just to keep on top of this semester. It started off well, was excited, but since then it’s been a little…well this laughingly sums up how my semester is going. More details to come.

I Google’d the problem and arrived at bug #433055:

The internal mic works fine with 9.04. There is no sound now with 9.10 and any level of amplification. – 9.10 Internal Microphone Does not Work on Aspire One

Pulseaudio Device Chooser Tray Icon, Volume Control GUI & Un-lock Graphic Icon

Upon reading the details, I tried a number of the solutions which didn’t work. Also, note that sound recorder was working for me prior to using Skype since I used the multimedia selector to select OSS sound driver. But, I changed it all back to Pulseaudio before trying the solutions.

Finally, I reached a solution that worked:

I have found that installing pavucontrol and then using that to unlock and set the input levels from the internal microphone so that one channel is maxed and the other zeroed allows the internal mic to work with Skype! Nothing ever plugged in to the mic socket. I read this suggestion somewhere else, but I’ve lost my record of where. It’s an AOA-150 (ZG5). – Ibid., Steve Jackson, 2009-11-27

The responses to this looked like:

that’s it! Unlocking the two mic channels in pulseaudio’s volume control input devices and setting one of the two mic channels to 0% works around this bug in pulseaudio! I can now see the mic level bar in the volume control follow closely the volume meter (recording) level bar, and arecord and skype are now receiving the expected signal from the internal mic. Re-locking the two mic channels together makes pulseaudio lose the mic signal again, so the problem is likely in how pulseaudio is handling these two mic channels together. – Ibid., Marcus Granado, 2009-11-27

The sliding of both bars implied.

So I installed padevchooser:
sudo apt-get install padevchooser

After installing padevchooser I was able to use the GUI to unlock “the two mic channels in pulseaudio’s volume control.” To start the application it was under: Applications -> Sounds & Video -> Pulseaudio Device Chooser. Then, in the GUI, I went to the tray icon and went to Volume Control, then the tab Input Devices. I had to hit the lock graphic icon to let me slide one bar to the left (to 0%) and the other to the right (100%).

Screenshot of Google Chrome and Google Gears

Right now I am in Google Chrome (for Linux, on Ubuntu 9.10) and it runs so much faster. It is incredible the kind of heavy “aura” Firefox creates vs. practically any browser that runs Webkit (even Epiphany). I like fast, light, simple browsers that are concerned with making the web “just work.” Chrome does this in a variety of ways, and for those who use it, they know what I am talking about.

Lately, I have been griping about offline access to information and offline apps and pages. I’ve been looking more into HTML5, and it looks like that is where they are headed (those people are so dang smart). But, as of now, on Linux, in a Webkit browser (Chrome), I can’t use [say] Google Calendar offline. I can use when online, and it runs like a dream. But, I can’t really run it offline. Firefox is so slow and clunky, not to mention a resource hog, that just watching a movie or loading up Gmail or Google Calendar takes a while. (Don’t worry, I’m still happy the 56k days are behind us.)

But, for now I have made Chrome my default browser and will use Firefox to load up Google Calendar and the like (using Gears) when I am offline. But, I thought I would just talk a little bit about how immensely comforting it is to be in a Webkit browser! I’m not sure if there is really anything wrong with this – I mean, thanks Firefox for still being there for me when it comes to features and plugins.

Sometimes I wish Firefox would just move to Webkit. (Although, I do realize what a pain that would be.)

I thought this was a good example of not only solving service problems, but just learning how to help everyday: one person at a time. It matters, and sometimes it’s the only way we can help. I have been tempted to use the excuse of “how can I help them all.” But, it matters even if we can help just one person at a time, right?

Power settings that let my display sleep.

So, the other day I was getting really frustrated that my display wasn’t sleeping after my one minute setting (when on battery power). So, by chance, I changed my power settings to not dim my display automatically (which was also working weird) and my display started sleeping. Just thought someone would benefit from minimizing further frustration.

This is one of a few little quirks that Ubuntu has on my Acer Aspire One, and as I fix or come across a solution I’ll post more.

Acer Aspire One (Silver)

So, I had to get a new computer. All-in-all I really loved my Dell Mini 9. The screen was a little small, it had a very small hard-drive (8gb), but otherwise it was a nice little computer to me. So, I opted for another Netbook. Sure beats forking up $999 for some other computer. I had heard about the Acer Aspire One and even Googled it before I went out and bought one. Seemed to work just as well with Ubuntu. (It came with Windows 7, but I gave it away.)

So, I’ve been putting it to the test so far. I installed Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic with ease, no problems there. In fact, everything worked out of the box: sound, wireless (I remember the days when this was impossible), even video effects, YouTube, Hulu, full screen graphics, etc. There has been a couple of annoyances though: the webcam is out of sync with audio when using Cheese and the touchpad is really picky. Yeah, picky. I like using the tap and the button is very course (I got a blister on my thumb). The tap picks up taps badly. (But, it works!).

The bigger screen is a total plus, 10 inches versus 8 inches with the Dell Mini 9. Same resolution, but just bigger. Also, that means a full-sized keyboard too. The backspace key took a little getting-used-to, but I think I got it down. And, as I mentioned above the video-card seems to be a bit more hefty as it plays YouTube and Hulu just fine. The 160gb hard-drive has probably been the best upgrade. If everything else is mediocre-ly the same, then it was worth it just for the added space. Anyone who has had an 8gb hard-drive will tell you how annoying it is. Oh!, and I almost forgot to mention: the multi-card reader doesn’t work. That was a little lame actually.

So there is my day two review. I think I will get some things settled, like the card-reader, (not too sure about the webcam until I use Skype). I’ve been trying not to get too caught up fixing things right now. I’m on Spring Break and who wants to waste it with headaches caused by Linux (yeah, you know what I mean)? I will just fix and work things out in time.

Sorry, I would have included pictures, but I don’t have a camera with me at the moment; next time! But, I got the silver one!

Dunlog Aerogel 100, my racquets.

So the other day I decided to try a new string setup in my Dunlop Aerogel 100′s. Before the new setup I was using Gosen Polylon Natural 16g in the mains and Forten Nylon 16g in the crosses (we will call this setup Gosen/Forten for the rest of the post). The Gosen/Forten string setup has always been a favorite of mine, a favorite for two years now. Before that decision I had tried the Ice version of the Polylon (Gosen Polylon Ice), and I remembered liking it. Thinking the Natural version would be no different, I bought it instead. My friend, Zach Anderson, bought a reel of the Ice version recently, so I decided to give it a try and see if there was any difference.

Gosen Polylon Ice (via Tennis Warehouse)

The new Setup would be a hybrid of Gosen OG Micro 17 in the crosses and Gosen Polylon Ice 17 in the mains (Gosen/Gosen). I know, I know, what about the Nylon? I buy Nylon because it’s cheap, I’ll admit. For a cross string that is cheap, I would always recommend a Nylon. But, Nylon is very slippery, there’s lots of string movement. So, I opted for a more textured string, Gosen OG Micro. And, as I expected, the Gosen OG Micro worked like a charm and minimizing string movement.

Gosen OG Micro (via Tennis Warehouse)

The Gosen/Gosen setup had immediately started biting at the ball. With the Gosen/Forten setup about only the first 2 hours would get bite, then because of string movement I suspect, the ball would would get less and less bite. This would make it very frustrating with my backhand, as it is slightly flatter than my forehand. This frustration was experienced right before I tried the Gosen/Gosen setup. For hours the Gosen/Gosen setup has kept the spin on my backhand. Gosen Polylon Ice 17 has a bit of a softer feel to it than most poly based strings, even the Natural version. It feels as if it stretched more. It even has a bit more texture to it, I think.

This setup/hybrid may be the two reels I buy next…

Ubuntu /usr/sbin/pm-suspend 9.10 SD Card umount

I always keep an SD memory card in my Dell Mini so that I can put whatever on it to save space on my solid-state. So, this morning, I have been installing Ubuntu 9.10 on my Dell Mini 9 and everything went better than ever, installation-wise. But, as soon as I closed the lid, the machine froze. Of course, like all Linux users, I pulled up Google for a fix, and found one:

Ubuntu 9.10 Get SD card path

I edited the /usr/sbin/pm-suspend script and before the script did anything, so right before the “# The rule here? Simplicity. I added,

umount /media/<SD Card Mount-point>

To find out the mount point (or path), just insert your SD card, find the pencil by the location bar in the file browser and copy the path it gives you.

But that’s not really what I’m excited about, although I have enjoyed working there so far :). The fun part of this job is going to be taking what I did for the College of Business and getting to re-vamp (I love that word) everything! When I began working for the College of Business I had plans to create a WordPress theme that would work great with WordPress, represent NMSU and it’s branding well, and serve to the college’s needs. Well, as time went on many of my plans to create such a theme were overthrown by the college’s desire to please administrative concerns (i.e. giving up common sense to eradicate administration’s fear of change) instead of concrete modern-day solutions. Multiply that with heavy time constraint and stressful deadlines and you have a site that isn’t quite how I pictured it. Though, it is pretty good :).

So, as I start to re-vamp the old College of Business WordPress theme into what I am code-naming (just to be as nerdy as possible) “Accolade,” I hope to better reflect my original vision. I also hope this will become a theme anyone within the entire university can use. WordPress is such a powerful content management system. Especially compared to some of the from-scratch stuff I’ve seen come out of the university.

But, right away, Ubuntu was running fine, of course with some of the usual drop in experience from XP: slow video, slow Firefox, etc. Even thought I still feel bad for grandma and still have no hope of her enjoying the Linux experience, I found a few tweaks to help:

• Smooth Flash Playback By Hacking Firefox
• Customizing Firefox for Netbooks

But, other than that, Ubuntu is still not quite running well enough to give it even a B+, you get a C+. As we speak last.fm in Rhythmbox is skipping once in a while! But, that’s not what this post is about.

This is about when you close your lid on your Dell Mini 9, nothing comes up when you open it up except a cursor. After thinking for just a few hours, I figured it out, if you have an SD card in the slot, and sleep it, you are going to keep getting that. So, now, you have to remove the SD card before suspending the computer! Annoying, still wondering why I let the Linux itch get to me (as Last.fm keeps skipping and typing is freaking out, writing this post).

Bah!

Fixed: I had recently tried installing Ubuntu UNR on the SD card and had not formatted it since. After formatting the card (FAT16), it sleeps! Check out http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=208980 on how to format your card.

Classes I’m taking:

• Astronomy 105
• Life in the Universe
• Object Oriented Programming (C Programming)
• Journalism 105 (Media in Society)
• Psychology in Sports

I know, not much CS in there, but when I signed up for classes I wasn’t sure if CS was going to be a good move, and I wanted to ease in. Next semester (and all remaining semesters) will be loaded with CS and Math!

Why journalism? Being a web designer I wanted to take classes that would help compliment web-design. They have web-design classes here, but they are geared more towards design, not programming, not web-applications, etc. So, the Journalism class will help compliment the  media/writing aspect.

Why astronomy classes? Well, basically, because I can’t manage to pass biology! I mean it, I have tried super-duper hard to pass that class and it just wasn’t happening for me and astronomy is the next class in line for my science requirements. Plus, I am very interested in astronomy! The worst part of the classes is sitting around and noticing how chill all the Astronomy teachers are, maybe I should be an astronomer?

But, so far, I have no complaints, it’s been fun and familiar…

I was shocked to notice I was feeling a lot like all those freshman that moved in yesterday, and I’m 25! And then, there’s the people who just seem to have it all together, they know what they want, everyone supports them, they have the means, dreams, no one’s in their way… I kind-of have lost that feeling, and here I am blatting it out to the public!

But, I start class on Thursday, not sure how I am going to enjoy Computer Science, but I guess I will never know until I find out. I… just… used to be so excited for the semesters to start, and it’s just not there anymore, I’m all burnt out on aspiration.

One of my more creative work; an assignment on using photography (3 photos here) with illustration (2006).