nicinabox

Shortcutting Heroku Deployments

2011-09-12T10:53:00-05:00

If you familiar with Heroku you may know that deploying is as easy as pushing to their remote repository:

$ git push heroku

But this can get really monotonous, especially if you’re frequently pushing to a staging app (then you have to specify the branch name as well). To make things a little easier I whipped up this little shell function to make deployments a snap.

We always name our heroku remotes staging and production. To deploy to staging, for instance, just pass the branch name you want to deploy:

$ deploy dev

Here’s the function. Just drop it in your .bashrc (or whatever shell config you use).

# $ deploy dev // Deploys to staging # $ deploy // Deploys to production function deploy() { if [[ $@ != "" ]]; then git push staging $@:master else git push production fi }

Building a Kegerator

2011-08-16T11:51:00-05:00

A couple months ago I decided I’d had enough of drinking stale, bottled beer and that the solution to this problem would be to build a kegerator and get the brewery to fill my keg with fresh brew. Of course, later on I found out that none of the breweries will actually fill personal kegs, at least here in Chicago. C’est la vie. I’ll be brewing my own batch soon to fill it instead.

Here is a little walkthrough of disassembling the the fridge and modifications that I made. I’m using a Frigidaire FFPH44M4LB fridge. It’s 4.4 cu. ft. and will fit 2 Cornelius kegs and a 5lb C02 tank in the back.

Gather your parts

I sourced my parts from a couple different places. I bought a conversion kit from Beverage Factory and a 5 gallon pin lock keg (used) from Midwest Supplies. All total it was about $240.

Disassemble the fridge

My fridge had a freezer/icebox in the top of it. It popped right out by removing a couple screws on the door and sliding out the shelf. I knew that since it had a freezer in the top, it probably had a gas line above it. If you drill and you cut the line you will ruin the fridge. Better safe than sorry.

Remove the lid

This is probably the hardest part. It’s glued down tight to the foam insulation and the sides of the fridge. Use a pry tool to slowly work your way around and remove it (You’ll want to glue it back on after you’re finished).

Find the line

I found this thread on Home Brew Talk to be extremely helpful. I found where the safe places to mount the tap probably were (in the front), but I wanted mine in the back. It was necessary to cut the insulation out to find the line (carefully, of course) so I could drill around it. I used a spatula, Leatherman, and a bicycle tire iron to remove the insulation.

Drill your holes for the tap

You’ll want to line up everything so you can drill through to mount the tower. Run your lines through and put some excess insulation back in. I mounted a small piece of wood under the lid to help stabilize the tower. Remember, measure, and then measure again. And then do it again just for good measure.

Cleanup, and fill it

Once you fill the keg you’ll want to let it sit for close to 24 hours while it settles or else you’ll lose a lot of beer in foam, and no one likes that. You’ll probably need to tweak a bit a first to get it flowing nice. I keep a little thermometer in a cup of water to measure the temp.

Keg pressure: 10-12 psi
Temperature: 38 degrees

Enjoy!

Geektool Scripts

2009-04-19T22:29:00-05:00

UPDATE 8/15/2011: Most of these scripts have been repackaged in a gem available on rubygems.org

These are an ever growing compilation of scripts and code snippets that I have written or collected in a format that’s easy to understand and use. If you need help feel free to email me at nic@nicinabox.com, but please read the documentation first.

I encourage you to checkout some of the Desktop screenshots on Flickr (some are very nice!) for ideas.If you have a script or something clever you’d like to add to this collection, please contact me.

These commands require that you actually install the scripts. Some are built into the system, but most are custom. For more information, check readme.html included in the download.

This package includes the following:

Network info
Unread Gmail
Uptime
Calendar (with current day denoted)
Weather
System Stats
Recent Music plays

Installing the scripts

Note: this step can be skipped if you’re using the gem.

Copy files to a directory in your PATH. I recommend /usr/local/bin. This will make the commands accessible by just typing the name of it, eg.

$ airport

That’s it!

Using the scripts

After you’ve got them installed you’ll want to pop open Geektool and enter the command in the Command field. You should immediately see output on your desktop. For time sensitive scripts like weather you’ll probably want to set a refresh time of 30-60 seconds.

If you’re using the gem and RVM you need to include and extra line in the command. Geektool runs in a subshell and does not use custom PATHs specified in your .bash_profile or .profile. Simply tell Geektool to use your profile as the source of the subshell (the period means “source”).

command.sh

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. /Users/nic/.bash_profile # be sure to include this part if using the gemcommand.sh 
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. /Users/nic/.bash_profile # be sure to include this part if using the gemcommand.sh 


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2

<div class=’line’>. /Users/nic/.bash_profile <span class="c"># be sure to include this part if using the gem</span>
weather -z 60614

Obviously substitute my username for your own shortname.
Uptime
Displays your system’s uptime.
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uptime | awk ‘{print "Uptime : " $3 " " $4 " " $5 }’ | sed -e ‘s/.$//g’


uptime output 
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Uptime : 25 days, 8:28

Network Info
Displays your Wifi or Ethernet IP. Also see IP script
Internal IP
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ifconfig en1 | grep "inet " | awk ‘{print $2}’


network output 
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192.168.1.2

External IP
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curl -s www.whatismyip.com/automation/n09230945.asp | awk {‘print "External : " $1’}


network output 
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External: 72.45.123.12

Calendar
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cal | sed "s/^/ /;s/$/ /;s/ $(date +%e) / $(date +%e | sed ‘s/./#/g’) /"


calendar output 
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7
calendar output 
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2
3
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7
calendar output 


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2

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5

6

7

<div class=’line’>July 2009
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
          1  2  3  4
 5  6  7  8  9 ## 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31

Memory Usage
Prints out total Memory Usage
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2
1
2
1

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<div class=’line’>top -l 1 | awk ‘/PhysMem/ {print "Used: " $8}’
top -l 1 | awk ‘/PhysMem/ {print "Inactive:  " $6+$10"M"}’


memory output 
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2
memory output 
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2
memory output 


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<div class=’line’>Used:  1769M
Inactive:  688M

CPU Usage
Horizontal
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top -l 1| awk ‘/CPU usage/ {print $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11, $12, $13}’


CPU output 
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CPU usage: 22.22% user, 71.11% sys, 6.67% idle

Vertical
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2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1

2

3

4

<div class=’line’>echo CPU usage
top -l 1| awk ‘/CPU usage/ {print $8, $9}’
top -l 1| awk ‘/CPU usage/ {print $10, $11}’
top -l 1| awk ‘/CPU usage/ {print $12, $13}’


CPU output 
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2
3
4
CPU output 
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2
3
4
CPU output 


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<div class=’line’>CPU usage
22.22% user,
71.11% sys,
6.67% idle

Unread Gmail
This script requires a username and password. You must edit it before use. Replace USERNAME & PASSWORD with your username and password. Credits to Greg Newman.
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gmail


Unread Gmail output 
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3 Unread

IP Address
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ipaddress


IP Address output 
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IP Address output 
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IP Address output 


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<div class=’line’>Ethernet : INACTIVE
Airport : 161.45.27.132



Color Palette
2009-03-12T19:36:00-05:00
This is a color palette that I’ve compiled. I recommend using a tool like 0to255 to find shades of these colors to your liking. Enjoy!





  #5B5B9530Boxes Purple 
  #C7981043 Things Gold 
  #C69D1843Things Mustard 
  #6BBA70BaseCamp Green 
  #F7F7FFBlinkList Ghost White 
  #FF6600BlinkList Orange 
  #1393C0BlogLines Blue 
  #4CADD4BlogLines Turquoise 
  #FF0000Boing Boing Red 
  #277FBABox.net Blue
  #57A9FDCalendarHub Blue 
  #B71313Chaamp Fire Brick 
  #9AC65CClipMarks Dark Khaki 
  #0e63fdCoComment Blue 
  #99cc33Confluence Green 
  #D6EBADCounterSpot Pale Goldenrod 
  #ADE3EFCounterSpot Powder Blue 
  #3775e2CraigsList Blue 
  #8dbb01CrazyEgg Green 
  #FFB640DayLife Orange 
  #EFEFEFDel.icio.us Grey
  #1B5891Digg Blue 
  #356AA0Digg Blue 2 
  #FFF298Digg Light Yellow 
  #E24602DodgeBall Red 
  #4CAAE4Drop Books Blue 
  #FFCC00Ebay Yellow 
  #CF5700Etsy Brown 
  #D15600Etsy Vermillion 
  #5D82FFEventful Purple 
  #00BADAEyeSpot Blue 
  #3B5999FaceBook Blue 
  #0170CAFeedBurner Blue 
  #EB003AFeedburner Red 
  #98CC00Feedster Green 
  #BD1D01Firefox Maroon 
  #0061DEFlickr Light Blue 
  #FF0084Flickr Pink 
  #0F0F0FFlock Black 
  #4096EEFlock Blue 
  #A71A10Frappr Red 
  #025AA2Furl Blue 
  #E84C1FFurl Red 
  #FD65C2Gimme20 Hot Pink 
  #EFEFFFGmail Alice Blue 
  #C3D9FFGmail Blue 
  #D50000Gnoos Red 
  #FFFFFFGoogle White 
  #EF9A19Hi5 Orange 
  #FFFF88Interactive Action Yellow 
  #96C63FJaiku Green 
  #69DBFFJudys Book Blue 
  #FFC300Karmadu Gold 
  #9CB6DEKiko Light Steel Blue 
  #D61C39Last.fm Crimson
  #D10039Last.fm Red
  #FE198ELifelog Pink 
  #BEDB8ALijit Green 
  #1A7FB3LinkedIn Blue 
  #FF7B38Listable Coral 
  #FF7638Listable Orange 
  #3D5381Live Journal Blue 
  #F3F3CCMa.gnolia Creme
  #FEBF0FMa.gnolia Yellow
  #F9F7EDMagnolia Mag.nolia
  #F28FBFMashable Pink 
  #FF910DMeebo Orange 
  #E51837MeetUp Red 
  #87C1E7Microsoft Blue 
  #009F59Minti Green 
  #00457BMinutesInAMinute Teal 
  #2971ADMinutesInAMinute Blue 
  #FA9B65Moodmill Pastel 
  #3F4C6BMozilla Blue 
  #FF1A00Mozilla Red 
  #003399MySpace Blue 
  #478898Netscape Aqua 
  #62B857NetVibes Green 
  #006E2ENewsVine Green 
  #00722DNewsVine Green 2 
  #339900Ning Green 
  #EC449BOdeo Pink 
  #5A471COnMyList Brown 
  #030303Oodle Black 
  #FF6200OpenID Orange 
  #D9DDE9Pageflakes Grey 
  #EFEBCEPandora Antique White 
  #295E92Pandora Blue 
  #28CF21PingOMatic Lime Green 
  #383121Pownce Black 
  #CDEB8BQoop Mint 
  #FF4600Reddit Red 
  #6DC646Riya Green 
  #CC0000Rollyo Red 
  #FF7400RSS Orange 
  #B02B2CRuby on Rails Red 
  #E51905Ryze Red 
  #C00000Say so Red 
  #F78325Scouta Orange 
  #924357SEOmoz Maroon 
  #36393DShadows Grey 
  #EEEEEEShiny Silver 
  #87BE2FShopify Green 
  #6CD0F6Skype Blue 
  #03646ASlashdot Green 
  #00A8AASlide Share Aqua 
  #89C122Smug Mug Green 
  #9AC80DSpoke Green 
  #6B9CC9SpotPlex Blue 
  #6699CCSpurl Blue 
  #505050Spurl Grey 
  #21628CSquidoo Blue 
  #E5791ESquidoo Mustard 
  #057DB9StumbleUpon Blue 
  #2ACC54StumbleUpon Green 
  #000000Swicki Black 
  #5EBE8FTagworld Green 
  #780000TailRank Red 
  #008C00TechCrunch Green 
  #4ABA00Technorati Lime Green 
  #7F7F7FThe Broth Grey 
  #EA0101ThemBid Red 
  #003368Threadless Blue 
  #AFEAEETwitter Blue 
  #FCBD00Upcoming Yellow 
  #E7E7DEVimeo Grey 
  #FFFFBDVoo2Do.com Lemon Chiffon
  #D71920Vox Red 
  #128F34Wayfaring Green 
  #0F0E13WikiPedia Black 
  #DEEBFFWikipedia Lavender 
  #174C89WordPress Blue 
  #64BB69WriteBoard Green 
  #73880AWritely Olive 
  #F3AE48Writely Sandy Brown 
  #4DB848Xanga Green 
  #FC0234Yahoo Red 
  #FF6666YouTube Tomato 
  #03A0FAZiki Blue