I’ve decided to take the time to port the site over from top-down PHP to using a framework (my choice is always CakePHP).

While this has proven a bit time consuming to move all of this funky logic over (along with rewriting everything for the new API), it has allowed me to reuse and repurpose a lot of the common code in a much more efficient method; making the site faster and being able to handle much larger spikes in traffic.

Blizzard already bumped me up to their top-tier “fan site” level, as I’m parsing about 100 characters a minute right now (that’s new content, not cached or not-modified – probably closer to 200 with those) and everything is running without problem aside from strange response headers every now and then from the Korean and Chinese services.

All of this is being done so we are ready to launch ToR Freak when SWTOR goes live this December!

Total count is four girls, one boy; that’s all on me but I’m fine with it – Kaden is all the boy I think I could handle anyway.

Welcome, Kelsie – you’re in for a wild ride in this family.

I was happy to find it’s just as easy on my Mac to flush DNS (if not a bit hidden).

A quick launch of my terminal and this command does the trick:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Now, thats a bit cryptic for me, so I open up my profile:

nano ~/.bash_profile

And create an alias that’s a bit more memorable:

alias flushdns='dscacheutil -flushcache'

I can now just use ‘flushdns’ from my terminal anytime I need to clear that pesky DNS on my Mac: quick and easy!

I’ve setup a series of daily commands to run as cron jobs on my iMac to do the boring things I spend time on every morning, thus saving me an hour of waiting around for downloads, decompressing tars and imports.

15 1 * * * scp user@hostname:/path/to/backup/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql.gz /localpath/to/backups
45 1 * * * gzip -d /localpath/to/backups/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql.gz
45 4 * * * mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname -e "show tables" | grep -v Tables_in | grep -v "+" | gawk '{print "drop table " $1 ";"}' | mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname
50 4 * * * mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname < /localpath/to/backups/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql

To break each step down..

15 1 * * * scp user@hostname:/path/to/backup/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql.gz /localpath/to/backups

I'm downloading a daily mysql dump file (dbname_yyyymmdd.sql.gz) via scp over a trusted connection I've setup between the server and my iMac.

45 1 * * * gzip -d /localpath/to/backups/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql.gz

Next, I'm decompressing the mysql dump file so I can use it for importing.

45 4 * * * mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname -e "show tables" | grep -v Tables_in | grep -v "+" | gawk '{print "drop table " $1 ";"}' | mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname

Now I'm preparing my existing database for the import; the reason I don't drop and recreate the database is that I have stored procedures and other objects I don't want to remove. This step is slightly insecure since I'm storing my mysql password in cron, but since this is just a development server on my local machine, I'm not worried about it.

50 4 * * * mysql -u dbuser -pPASSWORD dbname < /localpath/to/backups/dbname_`/bin/date +\%Y\%m\%d`.sql

Finally, I'm importing the daily mysql dump file into my freshly truncated database, and everything is synced and ready to go for the day.

A few years back I started following the “steampunk” craze that was everywhere. From computers to keyboards to televisions to entire homes, I was fascinated in seeing what others were able to create in the Jules Verne-esque style.

So of course, I started playing around with clockwork and my passion for music and sound.

I started buying any clock parts and old operator and war phonics pieces I could find on EBay and local flea markets.

I started ripping things apart, looking at the craftsmanship of years gone past. I came to realize how much more solid things were constructed back then; things were meant to last, designed to withstand abuse and use beyond what most items today could handle.

I then went mad scientist and started with my own Frankenstein creations. By combining parts of headphones from 50 years ago with modern electronics, I began crafting “functional costume” pieces that people in the Steampunk arena could enjoy – even Kaden gets involved now and then with tearing things apart and welding them back together. Nothing says fun like the sound of a dremel, the smell of a solder gun or the glow of a handheld torch welder.

I’ve recently started selling my finished products on Etsy, check it out if you’re interested in seeing my creations.

I’m a freak about maintaining a list of changed files on paper – I’m a paper nerd, I still love my black felt-tip papermate flair pens and moleskine notepads – but sometimes it’s nice knowing what is out of sync with a live checkout of a branch versus the repository.

Rather than blindly issuing update statements to files or directories, you can use the following command:

svn status -u

What you’ll get in return will be a status check of your current folder as it compares to your master repository. As an example:

[root@cancun application]# svn status -u
? controllers/ProfileController.php.bak
? views/scripts/sidebar2.phtml.bak
? views/emails/recommend/user.phtml.bak
* 1972 Bootstrap.php
Status against revision: 2391

I can tell from this report that I’ve got three files that the repository doesn’t know about (?) and one file that needs to be updated to version 1972 (Bootstrap.php)

No more blind wildcard updating!

When I got my new Grado 325is cans I decided I wanted to try a headphone amplifier to see what all the fuss was about.

I headed over to headfi.org (like any audiophile padawan should) and I saw a few recommendations: spend a lot of money on a desktop tube amplifier (wife said: no) or dip your toe in the pool with a portable CMoy amplifier.

I started researching CMoy to learn more about the history, the design and the investment. I was impressed with the idea and the DIY aspect of the project but I quickly remembered that I have no free time and moreso importantly, no skill at all with electrical engineering.

Headfi pointed me on the path to some pre-assembled CMoys that can be purchased from skilled crafters on Ebay for around $50, but I still had to narrow it down to a single seller as there were at least 10 people making CMoys.

Almost all of the sellers offered completed solutions listed as one-off sales, but I wanted a bit of control in the process so I could feel a bit more involved and this is when I ran across BSG and his customizable CMoy amplifiers!

I immediately was impressed: I could choose from a handful of configuration options and his amps offered two very important details:
1) His amp powers up on headphones being plugged in; no ugly power switch sticking out of the side.
2) His amp offered a DC jack so I wouldn’t have to keep buying 9V batteries while listening at my desk.

I was sold so I purchased a customized amplifier to my specifications for $50 – a steal in my opinion for the quality of product and features, but I wasn’t going to complain.

BSG had an amazing turnaround and I received my amplifier in about 3 business days. I was thoroughly impressed with the build quality and attention to detail; instructions being included detailing DC requirements, port and chip specifications and careful packaging.

So what does it sound like? Well, in a word, amazing.

I really wasn’t expecting a huge difference as I had never used a CMoy before, only large expensive desktop units, so I was expecting a mild improvement that would be nice to take along on the road. What I got was an enormous improvement to every aspect of my listening experience.

I mostly listen to mild rock, folk and acoustic with the occasional techno-ish beat music to get work done (thank you, deadmau5). What I immediately heard was an entirely new level of sound between the front and back sound stages on pieces of music I’d heard a hundred times before. My Grados really shined and shook and swelled, and I was really rocked by what I had been missing with my previously crappy equipment.

The BSG amplifier has been an eye-opening investment and unfortunately for my wife, I plan to continue to investigating the capabilities of tube amplifiers; I’ve heard tube rolling is a fun (albiet slightly expensive) experience.

Rock on!

I’ve found the hardest part of programming in your spare time is that there rarely is any time you can actually deem “spare”.

The fun part is that I’m working with people who I’ve known for a long time and there’s no pressure to complete things on a schedule, other than ones we define for ourselves. That of course is also a problem because I’m apparently my own worst scope creep.

Keep an eye on purchaso.com

Hard to imagine it’s been two years already and at the same time, it has felt like you’ve been one (and tiny) for years and years.

Blow out your candles, little firecracker!

This one was a complete surprise – I’m not even sure when or how it happened (Sena assures me it is mine though so that’s mildly comforting).

When we were expecting Alise over 11 years ago, it was all a blur – that feeling hasn’t changed.

This will be our last, as I think we both will get snipped, twisted, tied and soldered after this one.