Rubberband Wound

Alright, I put this out a few weeks ago, but I never bothered to write up a blog post for it, and I have no excuse for that.

Include_Google_JS is a plugin for Ruby on Rails that will use Google's hosted copies of the major Javascript libraries.

All you have to do is add :include_google_js => true to javascript_include_tag in your layout and you're in business.

Upcoming features will include:

• The ability use more than the default JS libraries (Prototype and Scriptaculous) when using :all or when files are declared.
• Version checking to include the right version of the library as what is contained in /public/javascripts.

I'm also hoping to submit this is as a patch to core soon.

My parents recently purchased an AppleTV after seeing mine on their last visit to Minneapolis. They got it last week and my dad got it all set up without any issue, until the very end, and it's the end of the linking process that I think Apple could revise a bit to cut down on some confusion.

After you enter the code in iTunes that links the AppleTV to the computer, the first option you can select in the AppleTV menu is your iTunes library. While this isn't a huge issue, what happened for my dad was that he clicked in to that library, thinking that'd finish setting up the connection. What actually happened was that he was now browsing his library remotely.

Because he was browsing his computer's iTunes library, the AppleTV never began synching. It showed up in iTunes, but most of the options, like Auto and Custom sync, were not there. He could play all the music, see all the videos, but everything was extremely limited. There was no obvious indication of what was happening.

We ended up unlinking the AppleTV, restarting it, and recreating the connection. Since I'd set up several others before, I was familiar with the process and backed out after the link was made instead of moving in to the remote library. Everything started synching and we were good to go.

Tonight we would have been at the concert. Our show, the band that had been significant in our relationship. Our first movie out together. The impetus for our trip, the first one I ever took in a relationship. Instead, I walked to the venue, met a couple people, and gave them the tickets. Our tickets, that we'd walked to the very same place to get months earlier. They were thrilled to have them, and they should be, they were great seats. I was glad they could use them, but it was bittersweet to hand them over as I thought about what could have been.

I'm over what happened, this isn't an I Miss You sort of thing. This is the final good bye for me, I suppose. You said yours a long time ago, I'm sure, but things stuck around for me. I had to hold on to those tickets, walk past the places we went, see you in the things around me. My world was a mess for a while, and I'm still picking up some of the smaller things that were knocked lose. The big things are back in their place, but there's still dust. In some way, for some things, that'll always be there, I'm sure. I can't clean up every nook.

It's hard to say good bye sometimes. This has been one of those times. I've had a lot of moments in the past two months where I've said little good byes. I think tonight might have been the final one I needed to say.

• Whatever scares you or excites you, go do it | Derek Sivers
  (tags: Advice tips toRead)
• Circle of influence - Circle of concern | Derek Sivers
  (tags: Advice Tips toRead)

I threw a few links up on the side, did a little house cleaning as well. I've linked to my blog on cutting back on unnecessary things, ExpectLess. I just put up an article on the Tabata Interval exercise method I've been trying lately, though I usually focus more on cutting back on clutter and the getting rid of the desire to hoard everything we have.

I've also put up a link to my Tumblr blog, which I have neglected for quite some time. I always wanted to use it to share the random videos, photos, and wacky things that I came across, but it slipped from my mind with great consistency. I'd like to develop a 'web presence', as the kids say, and this is part of my efforts to do that.

Beyond that, there's not a lot to report from me. Going through things one day at a time, getting ready for spring and summer and making the most of my great new place.

• Tweet - Update Twitter via Quicksilver
  Fast and easy. And trouble.
  (tags: Apple OSX Quicksilver Twitter)

And it's been beautiful outside. Well, not so much today, but yesterday was exactly what I've been looking forward to in spring weather. I did a lot of walking around Minneapolis, checking out my neighborhood. I found a little grocery a couple blocks away and a few other shops. I also saw a bum fight on the sidewalk as I was heading to LynLake to meet up with Nick and Drew.

I definitely need to purchase a bike soon - the weather is so great outside, and I want to make the most of it. Walking around yesterday confirmed for me that I definitely want to make the most of my chances to be outside.

Oh, and further taking advantage of spring, I walked home from work on Friday. It wasn't too bad, only took an hour to get out the door to work to walking in to my apartment. It was a nice chance to reflect and get a further appreciation for where I'm living.

My phone died on Friday. I was making a call around lunch time, and it just shut off. I plugged it in to a charger, and there was nothing. I could get it to come on for about 30 to 40 seconds, and then it just shut back down.

I headed to the Mall of America after work, with my laptop and Ziphone loaded on it. I got in to the Apple Store, and 5 minutes later I had a phone working with T-Mobile and I was online.

A few days in to using it I'm pretty pleased. Edge is definitely slow, but I have no point of reference for what 3G would be like. I have to sell my iPod Touch now, but I don't expect that to be too difficult.

If you're doing a form post to a nested resource, like creating a comment under /posts/1/comments/ with a route like map.resources :posts do |post| post.resources :comments end you have to account for that when you're creating a form, you can't just send it to the comment and hope everything will work out.

It took me a little time to find this, so I'm posting it in hopes of making someone else's day easier. What I had to do was form_for([@post,@comment]) and now everything is happy again.

Well, I finally got my iPod touch upgraded. I'd had it JailBroken can installed a lot of apps using that, but with the SDK coming and the apps released through Apple, I decided to do a restore, update to 1.1.3, and get the $20 upgrade. I updated to iTunes 7.6, excited about the idea of movie rentals once my AppleTV updates, and started downloading the iPod updates. I immediately regretted this decision, as trying to install the upgrade gave me the error "An unknown error occurred (-2)." Helpful, right? I tried restoring the iPod again and again. No luck. I restarted the computer. I deleted the preference files in Library that related to iTunes and the iPod. I spent an hour at the Genius Bar with my MacBook Pro and my iPod. They even swapped my iPod touch out for a new one! Once the Genius Bar guys had given up and sent me on my way, I called Apple Care, and we found a solution! I deleted iTunes and Quicktime, restarted the computer, and downloaded the programs from Apple. Great success! My iPod updated right away, the applications all installed, and everything is functioning properly now. I'm back in business, after a few days with no iPod enjoyment. As an added bonus, the iPod touch feels like it's running faster now with 1.1.3. This could all be in my head, of course. Anyway, I'm now quite happy that I upgraded - it's handy to put the web clip shortcuts on the springboard and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can make with the SDK in a few weeks.