I posted a short article on my main site that contains a complete example for basic use of Riak’s secondary indexes.

This presentation done by Alex Russell during 2011 Google I/O should be required for all JavaScript programmers:

$ python
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/encodings/__init__.py", line 31, in 
    import codecs
ValueError: bad marshal data

The fix was simple. Do the following as root:

# rm /usr/llib/python2.6/codecs.pyc
# python

Running python as root after removing the compiled codecs file will cause the codecs.py file to be recompiled and a new codecs.pyc will be created. I did not get any more errors after that.

Interesting video (Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work):

Bottom line – Creative people need long stretches of uninterrupted time to get productive work done. How often do you get 8 hours of uninterrupted time at work? How about 4 hours? How about 1? It’s a rare treat at our office when we get 15 minutes of uninterrupted time!

Jason Fried states that the real problems in the modern office are the “M &M’s” (Managers and Meetings).

Check out this video and let me know what you think!

I have started using Google Chrome as my browser-of-choice lately. It has the good performance and standards-support like Safari, but runs both on Mac and Linux, so I have have the same browser experience on both platforms.

It also has some nifty extensions that I like. Here is my current list.

• TextAid
• Vimium
• Xmarks Bookmark and Password Sync

TextAid

This one is really cool. It gives you the ability to edit the contents of a textarea on a web page using the editor of your choice. In my case, that would be Vim, the one true editor.

Because of a limitation in Chrome, you have to have a small external server running somewhere that interacts with the editor, but a link to one is provided on the documentation page for this extension and it is trivial to configure.

Vimium

This one gives you a handfull of Vim-like keyboard bindings in your browser. Very handy and it lets you navigate through your various sites without having to move your hands away from the keyboard. This is a great productivity booster. You can configure it to be disabled on certain pages if there is any conflict with Javascript-enabled custom key-bindings. For example, I have it set to be disabled when I am viewing http://www.google.com/reader/view.

Xmarks

I have been using this great extension for some time now. It is availble not only for Chrome, but also for Safari and Firefox. Keeps your booksmarks nicely synced across all of those browsers.

Swimming – Master’s Class Details Duration: 01:30 Distance: 3000 m

This was a really interesting meeting. After filling out some paperwork, Michael interviewed me to find out what my goals were, took some measurements, give me a rundown on some not-so-obvious things to look for in food labeling, and set me up with a nutrition plan to follow for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to put in about 5 lbs of muscle and lose a little more than that amount in fat to optimize power and performance for my various endurance events.

Should be interesting and I’m very excited about getting to work with Michael.

BRick Description Bike 1 hour endurance Run 2 miles at tempo after legs have switched over Details Cycling Duration: 01:07 Distance: 18.16 mi Transition Duration: 01:31 Running Duration: 00:20 Distance: 2.04 mi

Run – 30 km + 2 miles Our Kingwood Fit running group had a 30 km (18.6 mi) run scheduled for this morning at 07:00. Coach Kt had assigned me a 20 mi run today. So I decided to do the Kingwood Fit run and just add on a couple miles at the end. The weather was great and we had visitors from the Woodlands Fit club running with us. All went well except that I somehow manage to stop the timer on my Garmin Forerunner 305 for a significant part of the event so my recorded times and distances are whacked. For example, you can see from the recorded track that, apparently, I can run on water!

Glowarama Illuminated Art Car Parade

Mikie surprised me with V.I.P. tickets that gave us access to a party upstairs at the George R. Brown convention center. There was food and drinks and we could watch all of the festivities from a large balcony. There was a light show set to music that was projected on the side of the convention center above us and on both sides.

Here is a Flickr photo set:

And here are 3 short videos that I posted to give you an idea of what the light show was like: