From Journeyman to Master

Just want to remind everybody that you are not recommended to subscribe to my old Atom and RSS2.0 feeds any more. Please use the FeedBurner feed instead. Currently I have the two old feeds redirected to the new one. But eventually I’ll remove them. The location of the new feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/simonlin.

I like trying out new stuff. That’s why I chose Typo as my blog engine. It’s Ruby on Rails, has fancy themes and is all Ajaxed up. Well, I learned my lesson again. I’ve been using Typo for almost half a year and ended up spending several hours every month fixing it. At first I thought it’s a good opportunity to get familiar with Rails. But it keeps getting worse. Every upgrade broke the theme I was using. Sometime I got Rails application error accessing the home page. Just when I thought the situation will be better as more people start using it, I found out everybody is moving to Mephisto which is yet another Rails based blog engine. Finally my Typo installation was FUBARed a couple of days ago. This time I didn’t even do anything. No upgrade or whatsoever. It’s just DEAD! After a chat with Jeff, I decided that I have better things to do than babysitting my blog. So here it is. Simonlin.ca is powered by WordPress now. It took me about an hour to move the whole thing over while sitting on the couch watching TV thank to the script from Stuart.

To whoever subscribes to my feeds if you are lucky enough to see this post:

Please update your subscription to use the new FeedBurner feeds. I promise I won’t change the feeds again as long as FeedBurner doesn’t go out of business.

This is by far the best variable names I’ve ever seen.

public class ValidationMessage
{
  //internal members
  string messageId;
  string messageText;
  string helpLink;
  /* ... */
  double cheeseburger;
  char broiled;
  long time;

  //helper functions
  /* ... */
}

Last week, I bought a Linksys WRT54GL wireless router to replace my crappy SMC7004AWBR. The first thing I did after I got it was replacing the firmware with DD-WRT.v23.SP1. It installed without a clinch. But the connection, especially the wireless connection, would break down after about 15 minutes and I had to reset the router. I tried micro, mini and standard versions of DD-WRT. They all had the same problem. After two days of trying, I decided to switch to HyperWRT since it’s based on the Linksys factory firmware. It turned out to be a lot more stable than DD-WRT. I haven’t reset it for a week. My BitTorrent download used to kill my DSL connection everyday. I always thought it’s the modem’s problem. But it has happened only once in a week with this WRT54GL.

This is currently what I have enabled on this 70$ Linux machine: * transmit power set to 70mW * port triggering for BitTorrent * static DHCP for one of my computers * QoS

I strongly recommend this router to everybody. Especially with the open source firmware. The only additional feature that SMC router offers is the built-in parallel print server. But I’m converting my 6 years old Asus laptop to do that with Ubuntu and Samba.

Last words, never buy any SMC product.

We went to Elbow Falls on Monday. The amount of people there reminded me of China. So we took a short hike along the river. It was really short but quite scenic comparing to the crowded picnic area. I was also able to take a picture of Elbow Falls in distance.

Just a very cute picture of our cat. No I didn’t overfeed him.

If you are wondering what’s going on with the look of the site, it’s because I just upgraded Typo to 4.0.3 and for some reason the theme I’m using doesn’t work any more. I’ll look into it in the next a few days.

Every time I google something using Ruby as the keyword, the first couple of matches always include something about Sam Ruby. It has become quite annoying for me now.

Steve pointed out this post from Joel on Software. It’s a long one. If you don’t have the patience to read the whole thing, I’ve quoted the part I find interesting below.

>Let me, for a moment, talk about the famous Aeron chair, made by Herman Miller. They cost about $900. This is about $800 more than a cheap office chair from OfficeDepot or Staples. They are much more comfortable than cheap chairs. If you get the right size and adjust it properly, most people can sit in them all day long without feeling uncomfortable. The back and seat are made out of a kind of mesh that lets air flow so you don’t get sweaty. The ergonomics, especially of the newer models with lumbar support, are excellent. They last longer than cheap chairs. We’ve been in business for six years and every Aeron is literally in mint condition: I challenge anyone to see the difference between the chairs we bought in 2000 and the chairs we bought three months ago. They easily last for ten years. The cheap chairs literally start falling apart after a matter of months. You’ll need at least four $100 chairs to last as long as an Aeron.

>So the bottom line is that an Aeron only really costs $500 more over ten years, or $50 a year. One dollar per week per programmer.

>A nice roll of toilet paper runs about a buck. Your programmers are probably using about one roll a week, each.

So what do you think? I would bring my own toilet paper in exchange of an Aeron chair. Would you?

I spared some time yesterday to set up the network in my new home. I bought a Linksys BEFSR41 and put it in the basement. It works as the main router and connects to four other rooms. Upstairs I have the Linksys WRT54GL working in access point only mode. It provides wireless connection for the whole house. A 6 years old Asus laptop acts a wireless printing server using CUPS. Everything works very well so far. The only complaint I have is the noise from the Asus laptop. The thing is louder that my Dell desktop. But I guess a little white noise makes the room feel more like an office.