dave-smith.co.uk

So having recently rebuilt a couple of machines recently I was missing a few of the tweaks that I’d used in the past, so here for my future reference are the commands required to disable the Dashboard and also make the Dock appear to be flat.

Using Terminal (which can be found under utilities:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
killall Dock

And to re-enable

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO
killall Dock

So yesterday having finally converted my London commuting bike back into the mountain bike it once was I finally went out and got it (and me) properly muddy, mostly flat cycling along the Thames, plenty of mud, plenty of fun, and really without realising it 30km done.

A hose off of the bike and a brew and it was grins all round.

Now to get cycling (and swimming, and running) on a regular basis, after all the clock is ticking until June 10th and the Escape from Alcatraz

So in this my first year of being a gun for hire I’ve done quite well, I’ve managed to keep the family fed and watered (well provided the money to do so) and in the house, and all is good. However as of this week I have nothing lined up for 2012, time to get talking.

So if you read this post, (Hello) and need someone with all sorts of technical ability (Programming and IT Infrastructure) then let me know, you’ll make me very happy and directly impact Iona and Nell’s Christmas.

So if you can’t do it for me, then do it for the kids

Ok so joking apart if you know me, which is probably the only reason to read this blog, and have a need for me let me know, if you’ve stumbled across this blog through some horrific Google searching accident and in some happy coincidence have a need for a programmer or IT person then get in touch and we can talk.

So last Sunday saw my return to “competitive” running for the first time in two years, and it fact it was this race two years ago that was my last.

Expertly organised and run by the Marlow Striders this is a hard run through the beautiful Chilterns. With 4-5 weeks of training under my belt I was ready, hanging back at the start line firmly in the 120 minutes plus section I was wondering if I’d get round on “ability” or determination, this wasn’t about the PB this was about getting out there and running and just getting off my arse.

The start was signalled by a rocket and runners were reminded to go on the “bang” and not the “whoosh” There wasn’t much of a bang, but there was a cheer and clapping from the 1200 assembled runners and we started moving off, the first couple of k’s are all up hill and going off too fast here will ruin your day, I set off with no expectation and stuck to a steady and slow pace, the difference it makes when you are aiming to get around rather than get a PB. Heading out of Marlow the climb wasn’t as punishing as it seemed a couple of years ago and I was happy in myself with progress as the mile markers ticked by, dropping down the hill into the next valley was nice after all the up hill.

The course remains flat for a few miles before the inevitable turn for home around 7 miles and just before the 8 mile marker you face the climb back out of the valley with a steep hill that whilst lasting only 400 – 500 metres really takes the energy out of your legs, there is then a couple more miles of relatively flat road before another climb and then the nice steady drop back down the road you started up a few hours ago and into Marlow. The race is superbly organised and enthusiastic marshals line the route. The marshals are mainly runners themselves being members of the Marlow Striders who aren’t allowed to enter their own race.

The weather was overcast most of the time with the occasional sun break through and there was no wind, until turning the corner at about 6 miles into a headwind (you never notice a tail wind) however with most of the running done in sheltered lanes the wind wasn’t too much of an issue.

All in all a great race and one I’ll be doing next year all be it with more training miles in the legs and maybe a shot at a PB!

This year : 02:19:22
Course PB : 02:03:48

Maybe the dullest subject line ever but it took me a while to get Ruby 1.9.3 installed on my laptop and so here to help me in the future is the secret sauce.

This is all on a Lion based machine (clean build, not an upgraded machine)

Download and install XCode from the AppStore
Install RVM:

$ bash < <( curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm )

Update your .bash_profile

$ echo '[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ' >> ~/.bash_profile

Reload .bash_profile (or close and re-open terminal)

$ source .bash_profile

Install Ruby 1.9.3

$ rvm install 1.9.3 --with-gcc=clang

Set Ruby 1.9.3 to be your default

$ rvm --default 1.9.3

And check using

$ ruby -v

And then install Rails

$ rvm install rails

So I have a 4S and have to say was initially disappointed with Siri, however over the course of the weekend I’ve found I’m getting better at getting Siri to understand me.

Then it dawned on me, I’m recovering from a cold and I probably speak too fast with this mind, I’ve found the playing has become a lot more successful.

I’ve sent a text, posted to twitter, set a reminder and now Siri calls me ‘Master’

Technology as it should be

Got this odd feeling at the moment, not sure how to describe it, I believe some people might refer to it as “being happy”

I’ve had it for a few days now, and it took me until just now to work out why I’m experiencing this, turns out it’s pretty simple.

I’m exercising again, this week I’ve been to the gym, been out for a run, and this morning I went for a swim, now I just need to keep this going, especially as the Marlow half marathon is in 5 weeks time

So after a flurry of posts after a year of almost nothing I’ve gone a bit quiet, no real reason other than too busy to really be able to post anything vaguely useful or meaningful. I’m working on a couple of useful (for me anyway) reference posts on my preferred way of setting things up and I’ve been continuing to have an interesting time playing with some cool and (sadly) exciting technologies.

Of course in all this cool and busyness something has to give, this blog being one thing and the other being my training, although if I’m being honest with myself the only thing stopping me training is my current lack of mojo. However these is news on this front, although I still haven’t been out for a run, I’ve done a couple of sessions of martial arts and the resultant temporary disability caused by doing something have almost spurred me back into training.

Notice the almost, I’m almost there, almost going for a run, almost dusting off the bike or the gym membership card. Almost.

Just the final step to take, or is it the first step? Every journey starts with a first step, and so does this one, tomorrow evening is martial arts, and from there it starts

One step at a time……

and back to the place I was happiest.

So with Wirewool at the moment I’m essentially doing some programming and some server work, and you know what, it’s great. Dusting off the coding, making stuff and setting up servers. Playing with databases, SQL, NoSQL, PHP, CodeIgniter and some Java, along the way working with continuous integration techniques and talking SCRUM and Agile.

The great thing is of course that being happy doing what you are doing has a knock on effect, I’m doing more, being more effective, playing with GTD and most amazingly of all feel like I’m almost ready to get back to training.

Happiness above all else should be my mantra, maybe this time around I can learn from the past and maintain.

Fingers Crossed

So recently I needed to add SSL capability to an Amazon Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) which actually meant :

- Get the certificate, having created a new CSR and Private key on the machine of your choice
- Uploading the Private key, CSR and Certificate into Amazon using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Identity and Access Management service (IAM)

So the first challenge was getting the command line tools and creating the relevant identity files.

Download the AWS command line tools and put them somewhere you want to use them from, I put them in /use/local/IAMCLI which I then added to my .bash_profile using the settings below (this bit is optional, but makes your life easier):

# Added for AWS CLI
export AWS_IAM_HOME=/usr/local/IAMCli
export PATH=${AWS_IAM_HOME}/bin:$PATH
export AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE=${HOME}/path_to_credential_file/credential_file

The AWS_CREDENTIAL_FILE is as below and the information to put in the file you get from the “Security Credentials” tab under your account settings, add in the ID of the access key you want to use, and click on “show” to reveal the key to use, create the file and ensure you put it in the location you added into your .bash_profile. Observant people will notice this doesn’t work if you deal with multiple AWS accounts, you can always use the optional -aws-credential-file when using the command line tools to point to the credential file you want to use.

AWSAccessKeyId=STUPID_LONG_ID
AWSSecretKey=Stupid_long_key

To upload the certificate:

$ iam-servercertupload -b public-key.pem -c .cert-chain-file.pem -k private-key.pem -s domain.name

To check the certificate is in place:

$ iam-servercertgetattributes -s domain.name

And should you need to delete the certificate:

$ iam-servercertdel -s domain.name

Now when you create the ELB, select “Secure HTTP Server” from the common applications list and save, then when you continue to the next page you should be given the option to “Choose from your existing SSL Certificates”