Fitbit Still Works After Jumping in a Pool!

Alright, so I know having a fitbit in some shorts when you jump into a pool is hard to explain, but it happened....a month ago now. Fortunately, some of my other friends had already ruined their fitbits by getting them wet. What did I do differently? When I took the fitbit out of the water, I didn't press the button on the device and then i dropped it in a bag of rice for 3 days before I did push the button. It was dirty, but it worked. Everybody else said that their battery wouldn't hold a charge after getting wet, but mine is doing great.

Hope that helps somebody someday.

Adios.

Android Phonegap Native Timepicker

So I've been working on a simple android app and I finally got audacious and started to move beyond the basics. I was able to get an app in the store with just my HTML/JS/CSS skills pretty easily which makes phonegap a big success.

Anyhow, now my latest fiasco was to try and use the native android timepicker and while I've still got a ways to go, I wanted to reference a discussion I had with myself on the google group.

As I get better at this stuff, I might end up understanding how to do it within the plugin architecture but for now that's it.

Cheers.

mongodb command line basics

The best command line references i can find are:
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/DBA+Operations+from+the+Shell
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Querying

A command line session for me normally starts something like this:
>show dbs
admin
local
test
>use test
>show collections
users
things
>db.things.find()

HTC Hero Mount USB to Mac Os X (macbook pro)

I wanted to get the media off of my htc hero and onto my macbookpro, but plugging the USB cable in does not result in a notification on android which allows me to mount sd card through the USB cable.

I found lots of promising articles, most of which pointed me to either Twisted, which didn't work for me, or to the Android developer SDK. I'm fully capable of using the SDK but this seems like overkill for such a simple issue.

My Solution: Close the lid on the macbook. Plug in the phone and then I get the notification allowing me to mount a USB. Once mounted, its the same as working with any other USB card.

Django Forms: Widgets That Could Use Examples( RadioSelect, SelectDateWidget, CheckboxSelectMultiple)

In trying to use django built-in forms, I stumbled through a few of the built-ins wishing that there had been better documentation.

Here's my attempt to help others looking into using RadioSelect, CheckboxSelectMultiple, or the SelectDateWidget.

These are all excellent features and the more I use Django, the more I like it. Chalk up Forms as another part of django that blows away any other web framework I've worked with.


from django.forms.fields import ChoiceField
from django.forms.fields import MultipleChoiceField
from django.forms.widgets import RadioSelect
from django.forms.widgets import CheckboxSelectMultiple
from django.forms.extras.widgets import SelectDateWidget

YEAR_CHOICES = ('2010','2009')
RADIO_CHOICES = [['1','Radio 1'],['2','Radio 2']]
CHECKBOX_CHOICES = (('1','The first choice'),('2','The Second Choice'))
class SimpleForm(forms.Form):
radio = forms.ChoiceField( widget=RadioSelect(), choices=RADIO_CHOICES)
date = forms.DateField(widget=SelectDateWidget(None,YEAR_CHOICES) )
checkboxes = forms.MultipleChoiceField( required=False,
widget=CheckboxSelectMultiple(), choices=CHECKBOX_CHOICES)


Mechanize vs. Scrape:

In the process of automating functional tests, I have ran across another python library, mechanize, that looks to be very promising. Perhaps, even more so than scrape.py?

http://wwwsearch.sourceforge.net/mechanize/
http://stockrt.github.com/p/emulating-a-browser-in-python-with-mechanize/

So far it seems that the mechanize platform is more powerful, as it is able to handle complex tasks like managing a gmail inbox( see http://libgmail.sourceforge.net/ ).

My take so far is that scrape.py offers some nice features for validating that a given page has the tags and elements I am looking for. I'm still new to both of these libraries so if anyone out there has experience with both and could help nudge me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

Google Apps Mail Accounts: ICanHaz Themes?

I have mail accounts through google apps on a few different domains and it drives me crazy that I cannot customize the theme as I can with gmail. So a simple workaround: use a free gmail account in tandem with any google apps account that you use enough to desire a theme.

Within a free gmail account, it is easy to send all mail through a different account; in this case, send mail from the google apps account. Then on the flip side, forward all mail into the google apps domain into the mailbox of the gmail account. Voila! Use the gmail account with all the power you're used to, and nobody will know....unless they see that logo has changed ;)

Installing the PIL: Mac OS X 10.6 and Python 2.6.4

In short, learn from others:

Install python manually: http://twitter.com/delagoya/status/9883676332

Setup PIL w/jpeg support in a virtualenv: http://breadandpepper.com/blog/2009/oct/2/django-development-snow-leopard/

And now you've got a top notch django dev env running py 2.6.4.

Al Gore ops in on climate change

An interesting post in the nytimes today from Al Gore continues to paint the doom and gloom scenario for the US if we don't act now to stop man made global warming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28gore.html

I struggle every time I read any thing that states Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant. If I remember correctly, CO2 is a byproduct of human life.

Personally, I'm tired of the whole global warming debate and I think most people agree with the need to keep the environment clean and work towards energy independence.

Can we stop the doomsday predictions already and take a positive approach to improving our position on these issues?

scrape.py for functional website testing

This solution is perfect for testing your website's functional capabilities. Scrape.py supports sessions and cookies so hitting your authenticated resources is cake.

Here's a quick sample i wrote to test things out:

from scrape import *
s.go("http://www.google.com")
s.follow("Sign in")
x = s.doc.first('form')
params = x.get_params()
params['Email']='keithentzeroth'
params['Passwd']='xxxxxx'
s.submit(x,params)
s.go("http://www.google.com")
print s.doc

Try it out with your google account. To verify you're logged in look for the Sign Out link or alternatively look for a GAUSR cookie in s.cookiejar.

Thanks to Ka-Ping himself for clearing up some of my confusion.

My plan is to use this to test the site as if there were no script/styles enabled. Then to layer on browser behavior ( AJAX etc...), I'll look to Selenium or something of the kind.

Robbie Hummel Out for Season: Are my Boilers Done?

Purdue vs. Minnesota Highlight

While I love to think that E'Twaun, Jajaun and Keaton are enough to keep the Boilers as one of the most feared teams in the country, the loss of Hummel takes away one of our most consistent players and our best pure shooter.

I hope the team can step up without him, but right now I'm worried that history may be repeating itself. See 2008-2009 season and Robbie's back injury...

Mac Newbie Tips: Screen Captures

It hasn't been too long since I exclusively started using mac at home and work so I'm still catching on to some of the great little things Apple has thrown in here.

This morning's enlightenment was around capturing screen shots, both full and partial, on my mac. I was reading a blogpost about apps to replace the Snapper add-on I used to use and the author dropped a subtle hint about shift+command+control+4.

With a little search engine power, I found a useful page from apple, http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/secretcapture.html.

The basics:
Command+Shift+3 = Screenshot Saved To Desktop
Command+Shift+4 = CrossHairs For Snapping To Desktop
Shift+Command+Shift+3 ( or 4) = .... To Clipboard For Pasting to Photoshop/eMails etc...

Anecdotes on India's Healthcare

Both of my children got sick while we were in India this trip so I got a chance to see the healthcare system in India at work. I made the trip to the doctor twice with my daughter.

Encounter 1.
My daughter got a fever on the night train and had stopped eating. The previous day she had a couple instances of diarrhea. I told the doc that i had been alternating doses of motrin and tylenol every 4 hours and that it was keeping the fever under control.

After a brief exam with a stethoscope, I was told to only give the tylenol and to start her on an anti-biotic for her stomach. Total: 80 Rs. Medicine included.

We were extremely concerned that an anti-biotic without any tests might not be the best option, but we took the advice on tylenol only.

Encounter 2.
Next day, daughter is still not eating and still showing some symptoms of fever. This time I had done a throat exam myself and knew there were swollen tonsils with some white cold sores in the back of her mouth. The doc was able to identify the throat problem easily but I wonder if it would have been identified if not for my own inspections.

Medicines were prescribed to help start eating again and help fight the infection. Total: 150 Rs. Medicine not included.

Takeaways.

• Cost of care is very cheap.
• Quality of care is suspect(anti-biotic prescription w/out any exams).
• Waiting times were normal.
• Payment was at time of care in cash.
• Equipment was lacking

For me, the care i receive in the USA is hands down superior to what we received while in India. However, the cost to receive care in the Indian system is dramatically lower to the USA system.

Back From India

I've spent the past 2+ weeks in India for a family wedding. My wife's birthplace is in Kerala, India and her sister chose to be married there so we packed the whole family up and travelled halfway across the globe.

While most of our trip was dedicated to visiting the family, we did find a little time to escape to munnar, walk the beach in nager coil, and a do a little shopping at Seemarti.

So here's some of the things i've learned after 2 trips to india:

1. Get a Driver
   For 1350 Rs./Night, we got a driver and an SUV with 80km included. 10Rs. per additional kilometer and our total expense under $40/day. This is an absolute steal and the additional comfort of a dedicated driver is worth every penny. I'd plan for one of these to pick
   
2. Use the AC Night Train
   The roads are terrible. It takes 2-4 times as long to go anywhere by road in India as it does in the USA. If you are planning to go from state to state or any trip over 200km, i advise the night train or a plane. To get tickets on the AC night train, you have to book at least a week in advance, so set your itinerary and book your ride.
   
3. Take Packaged Drinks
   If you don't want to get sick, don't drink their drinks. The packaged waters there(Aquafina, Himalaya, and Kingfisher) all checked out with me. The other waters, tap water, milk, juices, sodas, and anything with ice have all given my stomach trouble at one time or another.
   Horizon Organic Milk, Apple Juice, Orange Juice, and Gatorade will all be in my bags next trip. Each piece of checked-in luggage gets 50 lbs, weigh your bags and fill in the additional weight with fluids.

Some other things i've learned about travelling to kerala with an infant and a toddler:

1. Pack N Plays fit inside a suitcase. We took one for each kid and without them we'd had to have had both kids in our beds or on the floors. Given the general cleanliness being much lower than i'm accustomed to, the floor is not an option.
2. February is too Hot. Go in november, december, or january.
3. Combat the barrage of spicy foods with a steady dose of snacks from home. My favorites are trail mix, beef and cheese, granola bars, and cheese crackers.
4. Try the Fried Fish, http://bit.ly/clBGyU, it can be spicy but it's worth it.

I may write some more on some of my favorite spots, where i might go next, and any of my other thousands of opinions after travelling in india again.

How To Stop Unwanted Solicitation of your Browsing History

I've known for awhile that the css :visited property on elements can allow me or others to detect whether or not a certain link has been visited by the user on the other end of a browser.

What I didn't realize is that the browsers have already done things to help us out. If you can forego the need for links you've already visited to change color or background, then the safest option is to turn off visited links. What The Internet Knows About You describes both the underlying issue and some of the possible preventative measures. My favorite...

Firefox 3.5 users will be happy to learn that their browser has a configuration option which disables visited links. To enable it, type in about:config in the address bar and set the layout.css.visited_links_enabled option to False.

I'd much rather remember which links i visit, than have to discard my browsing history and lose the awesome bar.