So I spent a little time a while back trying to figure out the nuances of what was allowed on Dreamhost when using mod_rails for a Rack based application. First since Sinatra wasn’t a DH supplied gem I setup my own rubygems install store following this walk through: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/RubyGems
Then I installed the Sinatra gem. Finally I created a sinatra application and pointed a DH subdomain @ the public folder of the app. Unfortunately DH doesn’t support putting Rack or Rails apps in sub-directories.
Now, even though I was declaring the GEM_HOME & GEM_PATH variables in the config.ru file Passenger wasn’t picking up them up and so wasn’t finding my sinatra gem. To get around this I used the SetEnv apache declaration declaration in a .htaccess file in the public folder of the app ala:
SetEnv GEM_HOME /home/username/.gems
SetEnv GEM_PATH /home/username/.gems:/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
Also since Dreamhost spins down the application handler pretty quickly and my little test site doesn’t recieve much traffic, the initial startup is slow, but subsequent refreshes make this quick. To get over this initial launchtime I setup a cron job to tickle the app every 5 minutes:
*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/curl http://my.domain.com/ -s -o /dev/null
Now the app loads up quick every time!
This is just a quick note to say I’m not dead. I’m proud to say that my family will be growing by one by early next year!
This is the same pic with some markup to show the hands and feet.
While in the dr. office we got to see a closer image with the little one shaking and dancing around like crazy! It was awesome and I told my wife that the baby get’s it’s rhythm from me. :-P
Well, the past month has been busy:
Got a new job @ Digital Fountain
I’m really excited about the work environment and the opportunity to learn a great deal from my new boss. I’ll be working across the street from BART, in the same parking lot as my gym! It’s also only a couple blocks from where I used to work, so I’ll be able to meet up with friends and I already know where all the good places to eat are!
Got our business license for my wife and I’s consulting company(finally)
While I will be working for digital fountain, we will be growing our design & development consulting company. We just finalized on the logo, so first comes the stationary, then comes the website. This blog will probably move to a more appropriate personal domain (alla blog.markcarey.org or something).
Been working on bringing a client’s site live
I’ve inherited a lot of ugly code, but things are moving along smoothly. Even though the site is in php, I found a way to leverage ruby for administrative scripts and am exploring capistrano for automated deployment of site updates.
Working on my Senior Thesis (almost done)
Well… I walked a month ago in cap & gown, but this stupid thesis is driving me up the wall. I’m almost there. Hopefully I’ll have it done within the week.
Getting my studio back in tip top shape
Who knew that the Evolution UC-33e didn’t need a power supply to work if plugged in via USB. I’ve had that stupid thing sitting on the shelf doing nothing for the past 2 years, thinking I had lost the power supply. I went to look only to find a replacement unit only to find out it was optional!!
Also I upgraded from Finalscratch2 to Traktor Scratch. I was tempted to go with Serato Scratch, but the Traktor Software is just so much better. Hopefully now that the hardware is made by the same company as the software, the platform will stabilize. I’ve got Ableton Live and have been tempted to start using it for doing more creative mixes, but the setup takes a lot more work to get to place where you can have fun with it. With Traktor Scratch I just cue an mp3 track to a turntable and rock out. Besides, there is just something about having a vinyl record under your fingers that feels so right. I should have a new mix online very soon as well (after the paper is finished).
It’s been quiet around here lately and with good reason. I’ve been buckling down, trying to make some headway on my New Years resolutions. I started learning C#, got more into C++ & Ruby, began looking into how powershell could be used to make Windows administration easier, helped plan a regional Ruby conference (sdforum), graduated with a BA in Biblical Studies(finally!), and got a new job.
The new job was great. The people were great, the work environment was fantastic, and my boss was very interested in helping me to develop in my career goals. Unfortunately a few months after I joined them, they ran into a bit of a funding problem (VC’s decided to pull the plug). They’d had about a 4-5 year run and had a rough start. Last year they started to turn things around and were on track to do really well this year. But for those funding us, it wasn’t enough.
Oh well, such is the way with startups.
One thing I’m grateful for is the fact that I still do consulting work. We currently have one contract in the pipe, and could very easily grow it. I’m just concerned that it might make it more difficult to purchase a home, should we decide to go that route.
I’ve put my resume out there and have already got a handful of bites in the last 24 hours. Hopefully something interesting pops up.
Over the past few months I’ve noticed that I just can’t get enough information into my head fast enough. My mind is constantly racing with ideas that I’ve been picking up through reading books, blogs, listening to podcasts, and actually working on projects. The more I learn, the more I want to know. I’ve always enjoyed programming and felt the same affinity for it as IT, however lately I find myself being drawn to programming more and more. Technology excites me and the prospect of leveraging new technology through programs I have written excites me even more. It’s a simple passion, but I like it that way because it gives me the freedom to truly enjoy the learning process.
In an effort to increase my skillset I have embarked on the journey of trying to get an MCSD certification. I know a lot of Rubyists would be shocked to hear such a thing, most people go the other direction. However, I am not abandoning Ruby, rather just “sweetening the pot.”
The path that I will be pursuing will be the C# path, and I’ve already begun to take a look at it. It’s amazing how easy it is to pick this language up. I picked up a book on this yesterday and going through the exercises I am already half way through it. I will say that having spent the last 7 months learning/working with Ruby has definitely prepared me for the object oriented approach in C#. While C# is more verbose than Ruby, I can still see myself having fun with the language. Also if John Lam or the Ruby.NET team continue to make progress with their projects, using Ruby to work on the .NET platform will be a breeze (and since I’m not a big fan of IIS, I’ll be eager to see how these projects work with Mono & Apache).