Done last month (20141123 Su - 30 Su)

[mdlbear]

On the health front, I may finally be learning to relax the muscles in my lower back that make it hurt when I walk. Maybe. It also seems to have a lot to do with how heavy my shoulder bag is, so that's going to be an ongoing problem. A backpack would be better, except that it's hard to get off when I take a seat in the bus, and unlike a shoulder bag I can't swing it around when I want to get at something like my wallet.

I've finally started doing some serious system administration/scripting work to get my website working directories the rest of the way under git control. That's done -- I can now say "make deploy" in a web directory and have it committed, pushed to the remote repo, and pulled into the website with no further attention.

In the process, I had to write a script for converting a directory from CVS to git. There are a couple of challenges in that process because the old CVS repositories were in pretty bad shape, with stuff not having been checked in consistently. Not like a well-maintained software project, in other words. Bad bear. No cookie. My websites don't use cookies anyway.

The associated asset archive is going to be harder, because some directories have large media files in them. Like, um... the audio. The goal is to eliminate the use of rsync snapshots for backups (for reasons I will probably go into in more detail in a later post).

Detail in the notes, as usual.

1123 Su
  * up 7:30; W=213.6; laundry, shower
  @ How To Learn Hacking: Version 1.1
  : sg didn't boot after the upgrade -- some kind of problem with grub not installing
    properly on the thumb drive.  No loss -- I don't keep live data anywhere but the file
    server and (a little bit of config on) my laptop.  Both of which I've rebuilt
    recently. 
  * shopping:  Home Despot, Walgreen's, TJ's. 
  * Attempted to work on the control for Colleen's old chair, but need a work holder and
    the good soldering iron.
  & found the 3 cpap gel pads I'd bought previously.  :P  As long as I remember that
    they're in the "refills" bin, I won't have to buy any for a long time.
  * 15min:  lots of puttering.
  @ 8 Adults, 3 Children, 1 House — And A Big Zoning Dispute In Hartford 

1122 Mo
  * up 6:40; W=212.4
  % I may, finally, be learning (re-learning?) how to relax the muscles that make my hips
    hurt when I walk.  Maybe.  The walk to the bus stop Friday was pretty pain-free
    compared to previous days.
  * 15min:  switched to labeled partitions on nova to make it easier to move drives around
  * paid architects
  @ The house Smith Cookbook (pdf) f(Susan Fox)
  ~ Tried swapping drives around on Nova.  No luck.  There _may_ be a combination that
    allows it to boot from the main drive with others present, but I didn't find it.
  * Experimented with bup.  By default it puts the repo in ~/.bup, and doesn't have 
    documented config files.  Browsing the documentation directory on github is called for.

1123 Tu
  * Up 6:15; W=213.4
  : bup has a couple of importers, one of which should be hackable to support my backup
    format.  That would be a win.  It may be most useful for ~ and record; pretty much
    everything else can go under git.
  % walking without (much) hip pain continues.  Not complaining.
  ! Somewhere between ok and wanting to curl up in a corner.
  @ Scorned Japanese Wives get Revenge on husbands and kids with Brilliant “Shikaeshi
    Bento” Art | Tokyo Desu Best served cold.
  ! 10pm seriously distressed.  Taking care of the pumpkin pie has been dumped on me.  I
    am not coping well.  Damned if I know how I manage at work.

1124 We
  & had a benadryl at bedtime; slept through two alarms.
  * up 7:30; W=214.8
  @ Asexuality, Explained in One Simple Comic — Everyday Feminism (firecat)
  @ The first zero-g real coffee machine arrives at the Space Station (thanks to the
    Italians, of course) | ExtremeTech 
  @ Resources for Raising Chickens in the City of Seattle 
  @ Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow - Powell's Books they only had
    one used copy in stock.  Ordered. f(Sandy Cannady)

1125 Th Thanksgiving
  * up 7:00; ; shower
  * Thankful Thursday
  * Bun-bun over early to help with cooking.
  * cd; bup index .; bup save -n steve.home .  # taking about an hour
    (steve 521) du -sh .bup   ->    6.9G    .bup
    (steve 522) du -sh .      ->    21G     .
    ... so about 2:1 compression.  More than half is the mail/news spool.
  * Surprisingly, my Thinkpad keyboard with trackpad supports two-finger scrolling.  Win.
    It doesn't on my work laptop (Win7), nor on my work desktop (Ubuntu 12.04, vs 14.04)
  * Had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat -- mostly by BunBun and N's kids.
  * cleanup under /vv - remove etc, which is from 2013 and missing a lot.  Weird.  local
    has a lot of ancient stuff in it, too.
  @ Been reading Stand Still. Stay Silent - webcomic

1126 Fr Black Friday
  * Up 6:45; W=214.4; shower
  * Taking the day off work, but maintaining an online presence.  Pretty quiet day so far
    for our team, fortunately.  I'm new enough that I wouldn't be able to help much.
  * 15min:  hallway shelf up.  Could stand to be a bit wider -- it's a 1x8.  Probaly ok.
  * 15min:  home directory cleanup on nova.  Some ancient dotfiles and other junk, some as
    early as 1997.
  * convert remaining websites in share/Web to git control
    Import (everything .cvsignore'd) and . not converted.
    (bad conversions due to broken script :()
  * write script to create remote repos.  Turns out to be a problem for thestarport.org,
    which had some *very* large mm files mostly from Kat's wedding.  UGH.

1129 Sa
  * up 6:35; W=215.4; Shower
  : SNOW
  : Google Calendar defaults to showing FB birthdays, and make it hard to turn off.
  * fixups in savitzky.net -- assets moved to record.
  * 15min:  cleared hallway bookcase so it can be moved downstairs
  * 15min:  garage:  found laptop stand; consolidated some recyclage
  * moved server reorg/cleanup notes to users/starport/Admin/server-reorg.done
  * mm/{embedded,movix,players,src} are ancient: removed
  * cleanup home directory on dreamhost 
  . make put - handle subdirectories with git repos - massive rsync of vv no longer
    appropriate.  Move git-deployed sites out of the tree?  Better, put all rsync-based
    deployments into users/record
  @ How To Use Git Hooks To Automate Development and Deployment Tasks
  @ A web-focused Git workflow | Joe Maller has hook scripts
  * Deployment hook and hook-setter written; deployed in Web

1130 Su
  * up :15; W=214.6;
  @ Unpacking privacy
  * 15min:  puttering in web space
  * 15min:  lowered bottom shelf in RR so Colleen's chair won't keep catching under it.
  @ ​Huxleyed Into the Full Orwell | Cory Doctorow | Motherboard 
  * I now have a pretty complete git-based deployment system.  Now to add rsync for the
    subtrees that have large files in them.
  * Drive with Colleen.  Stopped at Petco.

1201 Mo
  * up 6:45; W=215.4;
  * Our new mattresses arrived.  Left them on the floor in the Great Room to recover from
    having been shipped deflated and rolled up.

Comments

[amaebi]

You sound like busy (fruitful) bear.

Would a rolling bag work for you? (I'm sure you've thought of it. But.)

[mdlbear]

It might; I've used them before. I even have a couple of rolling backpacks, except that they're not very good as either. And one combination backpack/shoulder bag that I really like, but it's a little too small for my work laptop.

One problem with a rolling bag is that it's bigger than a shoulder bag, so it tends to get in the way on the bus. But I may be able to deal with that. Experimentation is called for, I think.

[amaebi]

Yes, I've never used them. I do have friends who swear by rather than at them, though.

[kyrielle]

I have problems with shoulder and other issues due to my heavy purse - two things help. The first is removing unnecessary weight, especially coins (they add up ridiculously).

And the second is shifting which shoulder I hold it on, except then I have to be more careful not to drop it, which is less than fun.

[mdlbear]

Yeah; I'm almost certainly running into some problems with the asymmetry, but I seem to have a strong preference as to which shoulder I use. Which is another good argument for a backpack or rolling bag.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

For future reference, The World's Easiest Pumpkin Pie

1 unbaked 8" or 9" pie crust, homemade or store-bought (see Note)
1 single-pie size can of plain pureed pumpkin (not "Pumpkin Pie Mix")
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 "large" eggs
Spices as listed in the recipe on the can of pumpkin, or to your taste
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Place pie pan with crust in it on a cookie sheet to catch spills (cover cookie sheet with foil for easier cleanup). Combine the rest of the ingredients, stirring or whisking until very thoroughly mixed. Pour into prepared crust.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425°, then reduce heat to 350° and bake approximately 30 minutes longer, until filling doesn't jiggle but still looks soft in the middle. If the outer rim of the crust is browning too fast, cover it loosely with a strip of foil shaped to fit. When pie is done, slide it carefully onto a wire rack and cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Allow to come back to room temperature before serving, or just serve it cold. Accompany each slice of pie with whipped cream, ice cream, or sharp cheddar cheese. Refrigerate any remaining pie.

NOTE: If you don't have anyone in your household who can make a decent pie crust, try to buy either Oronoque Farms (all-natural, made in Vermont, comes frozen and already in a pie pan) or Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (make sure it's the one that has lard among its ingredients, and you'll need a pie pan - a foil one will do - and you'll have to figure out how to crimp the edge of the crust).