Carlos Urreta
I'm awesome at stuff.
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Posts
- May 15, 13
We had an issue with our SSL certificate not trusted on Firefox and Chrome (for Android). Simon Fortelny wrote up the solution, and I’m just adding some verification that it did indeed work, hoping more people get it quickly fixed.
The error was indeed an issue with the chain of authority in the incorrect order. We use dnsimple.com, who resells enom, who resells geotrust and followed the instructions on Heroku’s page for using dnsimple. When you get to the point where it says, “Your purchased certificate must be combined with a chain of other certificates for it to be trusted by browsers” … hop over to Simon’s code explanation for joining the certificates, paying close attention to the order.
The post Heroku “SSL Certificate Self Signed” Not Secure on Firefox and Android Chrome appeared first on Pit Zips.
- Apr 04, 13
If I gain weight it goes to my thighs. I seem to have trained my body to think that I’ll be cycling for the rest of my life.
Finding jeans has been a pain in the butt/thighs. I can get a looser fitting pair no problem, but finding one that fits properly took about 3 weeks to find. I wear a 29×32 (waist/seam) size, and finally found what needs to be done.
For anyone who happens to have this problem and stumbles on this post, the Levi’s 514 purchased a size up (30×32) and then having the waist tailored in is exactly what I was looking for. The 29×32 514′s are too tight around the thighs, so sizing up and tailoring is needed.
There are some higher end options like APC or Lucky Brand that work well, but in terms of availability, cost, and quality, I seem to have found the perfect fit.
The post Jeans for Men with a Skinny Waist and Huge Cyclist Thighs appeared first on Pit Zips.
- Feb 27, 13
The short version:
I started listening to audiobooks at 2x speed (would like to experiment with faster), along with visually reading at the same time. It’s my sweet spot for consuming books.The longer version:
My love/hate relationship with reading books has always been gloomy. Read online, sure – read novels, not so much. The books they had us read in middle and high school pushed me away even more. I wasn’t smart, cultured, or ‘whole’ enough to understand significance in what I was reading. By the time I hit college, reading was just a necessity to get good grades and memorize things to spill back on tests (isn’t that what learning is all about? right? right?). Novels did nothing for me, and at the same time the Internet became my source for knowledge, not to be confused with wisdom. That started coming when I applied the knowledge. Books felt antiquated and pointless. The more I fuck up, go through bouts of wtf-am-I-doing-in-life periods, and meet people more interesting than I, the more I realize where reading comes in.I had stopped reading to memorize, and started reading to become.
I’m re-healing the damage from the education system, and have in the past few years re-learned reading. Books on dating, lock picking, body language, and mentalism did that for me. Why did no one tell me there were books on how to speak to women. So many beautifully awkward times not realizing that others had messed up before me. Millions and millions of others had messed up, and some actually started writing down reasons why. Brilliant stuff.
I’m still rough around the edges (reading…not so much dating), because I don’t have the patience for “sitting down with a good book”. I was never raised with that. I struggle maintaining attention and not getting distracted in my own thoughts while I read. I can “sit down with a good computer problem” – banging some patch or fix out for hours, but curling up with a tea and book doesn’t seem relaxing.
Enter Audiobooks
Audiobooks have been the way I consume books for years. I could go for a walk, get lost in a thrift shop, all while taking in page after page. I enjoy being read to, and all of the noises that would distract me prior are gone. I’m not the quickest reader, but I’m a damn quick listener – and here is where I found the sweet spot for consuming books.
Enter New Audiobook Tactic
If I listen to the book at 2x speed (I would go faster, but the voices sound distorted and hard to understand) AND read the book on my kindle at the same time, I can digest and retain almost all of what I’m taking in. Within the past 48hrs I just downed 350 pages of Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman. Finishing a book in 2 days is new to me, and it feels great.
The post My Sweet Spot for Consuming Books appeared first on Pit Zips.
- Feb 20, 13
This is by no means a full tutorial of how to get one running from start to finish. Rather, think of it as a guideline to help you in the right direction. The community of people who code and organize XBMC, Plex, and Arch Linux deserve much of the credit to what you’re about to read. It’s also meant for a beginner to intermediate as I’m not writing about advanced procedures like setting up local mysql servers to sync the XBMC settings. That’ll all make sense in part 2.
The HTPC will consist of an Android set top box with XBMC or a Raspberry Pi with XBMC.
The current NAS setup consists of a a Pogoplug (ver. 2), a 4gb USB stick, Arch Linux, and an external hard drive.
What’s an HTPC?
A Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC) is a computer that is attached to a TV for the purpose of displaying your media onto the TV. A Roku box would be the closest thing to an HTPC that you may know of if this is all new to you. Many people build HTPCs out of old computer parts laying around or use that netbook they purchased but only seemed to use twice.
I wanted to build a cheaper and more customization one than what the Roku could provide. For example, the Roku can not stream media locally without the help of a Plex server.
What is a NAS?
A network attached storage (NAS) is a hard drive that any computer on your network can access. With the setup I’m working on, it is meant to be the main storage for video, music, and pictures I want displayed from the HTPC onto the TV.
Setting up a Cheap NAS
Step 1: Install Arch Linux onto a Pogoplug Device.
Pogoplug is a device / service that is used to create a Dropbox alternative that syncs locally, as opposed to the Dropbox servers. Whatever. We just care about the cheap and stylish hardware they provide. We won’t use their service or built in software, and will be installing Arch Linux (an extremely basic version of linux) to provide us all the capability needed.
The Pogoplug provides us with a few awesome things: The first being a very basic computer setup with a few USB ports attached. The second is something small that can be on 24/7 while not using much energy.
I have the Pogoplug v2 in bright pink. Remember, I said this was a stylish piece of hardware. Visit Archlinux’s list of machines that would also suffice for what we want to do. The device will run you anywhere between $20 to $40.
Installation is found on each device’s specific page. Here’s the page for Installing Arch Linux on a Pink Pogoplug.
Essentially, you’ll be telling the device to load an operating system from the flash drive instead of the OS on the Pogoplug itself. The flash drive acts as the operating system, and the Pogoplug is the hardware.
Step 2: Mount External Hard Drive
You’ll need to learn a small bit of Arch Linux to mount a hard drive.
Step 3: Install Samba Share on the Pogoplug
Here’s a good guide for getting this started. Note that the newest Arch Linux has systemd powering it, so some of the commands will be different.
The Pogoplug attaches to your router. Once attached, Samba share provides a way for devices to access media on the hard drive you attached and mounted. A Windows PC will discover it the same way Windows machines have been sharing files for years. Samba is simply a protocol for sharing files between machines.
I haven’t picked up an HTPC yet, so this guide is just Part 1. I’m waiting for XBMC (HTPC software similar to Windows Media Center) to become a bit more polished for Android before deciding on a device.
Cheap Android Based HTPC
Part 2 coming soon…
The post Building a Cheap HTPC and NAS Using Android, XBMC, Pogoplug, & Arch Linux (Part 1) appeared first on Pit Zips.
- Jan 26, 13
The mother of all pulling the plugs. The titan of disconnect. The champion of all things that make those close to you wonder if you’re doing OK. I’m doing fine. Actually I feel great. And while it may not be the ultimate way of disconnecting yourself … it sure felt like that when I was hitting the ‘delete account’ button.
Since day 1 of college, I spent time organizing and collecting friends on social networks . Looking back, I know I didn’t spend enough time being an actual friend to those around me. I had upwards of 1,700 “friends” at one point during my university days, which wasn’t a healthy way of being bombarded with the word friend. Friend here. Friend there. Defriend this person and friend this person.
I have some free time these days before moving to Colorado next week so I started cutting down on web services, building a Network Attached Storage (NAS), and organizing all things digital on either Google products or home made solutions. As I was trimming services, I felt tied to Facebook at a deeper level. Facebook somehow Trojan horsed into my brain and warped what my idea of what a “friend” was. At least, I’m putting some burden on them, fully acknowledging this was in my control too. This is the point where people on their high horse who haven’t battled a mild form of Internet addiction scoff at the idea that I could lose sight of what a friend is. You and your horses.
It was too easy to share or send a message for it to mean much. The “nothing ever worth it was easy” mantra was ringing through my head. If we weren’t Facebook friends, would they cease to exist in my memory and in my life? Would the one lunch we shared together mean anything? Of course it did, and I may or may not remember them in 10 years. With Facebook I’ve only seen people as either a friend … or de-friended (so harsh of a word). Why couldn’t they remain that person I had lunch with that one time? Isn’t that enough to feel a human connection?
Those are my thoughts…and now here are some steps on what I actually did.
Breaking free:
- Start de-friending people using certain blanket criteria. For me, I used things such as: I don’t trust them. I am 100% sure they will never be a part of my life again. I am only connected because I find them attractive and cleavage pictures are mildly interesting. I don’t like them as a person. Etc. You can choose which ever criteria fits you best.
- Backup your data. Facebook offers a backup tool for messages, photos you’ve uploaded, and a list of people you are connected with. You can also use services like Trovebox to download everything you have been tagged in.
- Do another trimming. This was the hardest of steps, as I really liked the people I had to manually tell Facebook to “defriend”. I don’t know what about it made it odd, but at times I felt rather queasy as though I had done something so horribly faux pas. Then and there I knew I was on the right path. The ball and chain Facebook had around my social life was not healthy.
- Copy and paste the rest of the friends’ names into a spreadsheet. Organize them into affiliation. I used different tabs for different people. My tabs included: Travel Friends, Austin, New York, Up With People, Tech Friends, Family, College.
- Write down next to each name whether or not you have their contact information. Later on when you want to make sure you have all their information, use Scrubly.com to clean up your contact book. I tried it and was thoroughly impressed.
- Bold the names of people you want to make sure know you are doing this. For me, there were a bunch of people I will always want in my life but didn’t want them to be offended that I de-friended them. I came to the conclusion that being offended and feeling unwanted is a valid and understandable concern. Making a list of people to inform is a good way to quell that. It’s harmless and a softer way of leaving Facebook.
- Check the Facebook apps/sites section to see a list of sites you sign in to with Facebook. I don’t remember exactly where in Facebook it was, but it exists. Kickstarter was wonderful and instantly removed the “sign in with Facebook” connection. They sent me a message that said, “You have successfully disconnected your Facebook account from Kickstarter. In order to log into Kickstarter again, you will need to set a password. Set your password here.” On the other hand, Flavors.me, a service I pay for, will not let me sign in and I have had to send a message to support to see what they can do. That’s the only issue I have had (so far).
- Pull the freaking plug. Delete that account. It deactivates the account for 14 days so make sure to delete saved Facebook passwords in your browser or LastPass. Otherwise, you may accidentally sign in again.
I haven’t regretted my decision for one moment.
The post I Deleted My Facebook Account Last Night appeared first on Pit Zips.
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Info
- Experience
- Sept 2011 - PresentCommunications Geek / FastCustomer
• Assist with daily database quality maintenance
• Act as first response to customer support issues and pro-user requests
• Develop and design Chrome and Firefox extensions
• Run Adwords campaigns - Mar 2010 - Sept 2011E-Commerce Project Coordinator / Calendars.com
• Lead all social media initiatives, including contests, email campaigns, and blogger outreach
• Increased facebook connections from 100 to over 10,500 likes
• Created company blog that served as a professional and natural voice of the company
• Authored a 17-page social media marketing plan that was included as part of the official company business plan
• Improved checkout flow, code standards, and customer touchpoint emails
• Photograhed products, employee portraits, and events
• Maintained weekly reports and analytics for social media objectives
• Acted as lead consultant for front end development (HTML / CSS / Javascript / jQuery)
• Recorded and edited 300+ product review videos
• Automated entire image flow process, resulting in a dramatic decrease in workload - Oct 2009 - Mar 2010Customer Service Specialist / Calendars.com
- Dec 2008 - Aug 2009Geek/Cyclist / Real Geeks Ride
• Founded, organized, and participated in a coast to coast ride for bike-to-work awareness campaign
• Raised 100% of sponsorship through donation and "cold call" emails
• Maintained campaign website and server while on the road
• Organized meet-ups and press events with followers and organizations in several major cities - Feb 2009 - May 2009Web Admin / Mechanic / Tsunami Cycles
• Mentally and physically prepared for Real Geeks Ride.
• Apprenticed under a Team USA certified mechanic learning intermediate level bicycle repair. - Sept 2008 - Dec 2008Web Intern / Firefly Interactive
Researched and compiled data for company pitches.
Wire-framed/outlined/coded a Facebook Application for an ongoing campaign. - Jul 2008 - Aug 2008Resident Advisor at CTY / Johns Hopkins University
See previous entry for description
- Jan 2007 - Aug 2008Photographer / TSS Photography
• Photographed high volume children's sports leagues and military functions in upwards of 700 people per photo-shoot
• Edited photos during post production - Jun 2007 - Aug 2007Resident Advisor for CTY Kaneohe / Johns Hopkins University
From CTY Website:
Resident assistants (RAs) help create a community that encourages and supports intellectual curiosity, rigorous thinking, and a joy for learning. RAs ensure the physical and emotional safety of students, and develop a fun, dynamic, and engaging activities program. The RA informs students of CTY rules and expectations and supervises students to ensure that these guidelines are followed. RA commitments also include attendance at daily meetings and work on committees to plan all-site weekend events. RAs’ working hours are primarily the hours students are not in class. RAs work weekends.
- Oct 2005 - May 2006Student Affairs Intern / Hawaii Pacific University
• Coached Vice President of Student Affairs on current social media trends, usage, and best practices
- Aug 2003 - Jan 2005Vacuum Salesman / Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Education-
2005 - 2008Hawaii Pacific UniversityBA in Public Relations
Activities: Toastmasters International President's Host Deans List -
2001 - 2005Mahopac High School
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:First Place - HPU's Stanford Innovation Challenge, 2008 Presidents Host Inductee
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Interests:Cycling, Photography, Accents, World History, Lockpicking, Tiny House Design
