WeatherFist for Android (and iPhone) hits the scene!

by heavyd on 12.24.09

I have been working on my first Android application, WeatherFist, for a few weeks now and it is finally ready for public consumption. It's just a simple application that fetches your local forecast from Weather Underground, but I had fun writing it and getting to know the Android framework. My colleague, Danny, also wrote a version for jailbroken iPhones. You can grab a copy of your preferred platform by hitting the WeatherFist project on Googlecode or you can grab it directly from one of the links below. Cheers!!


Linux on the Wire ~ DD-WRT

by derek on 10.12.09

I finally got around to making good on my promise to switch to open-source routing firmware and, so far, I'm very happy with the decision. After finding a used Linksys WRT54G, v8.0 for a mere $25 I went ahead and took the plunge and flashed the firmware to dd-wrt. I'm doing this because I want to have fully-featured QoS and traffic prioritization. I also need the more robust logging afforded by dd-wrt, as I am going to do some deep traffic analysis so that I can go to battle over bandwidth capping with my ISP. Oh, and since I was in a "stick-it-to-the-ISP" kinda mood, I decided to switch my DNS traffic over to OpenDNS, which enables one to profile (or not track, depending on your account settings) their Internet usage, filter phishing and pr0n and dynamically re-sync to your new IP leases.

Linux Nuggets: Android

by derek on 8.26.09

For those running the 1.5 (Cupcake) rev of the Android-based G1: Mage2 has a nice breakdown of the process that bypasses the auto-lock screen security. His scenario requires a phone with root access, the Android SDK and USB Debugging. But if you find yourself beset by the screen lock auth bug that prevents you from overriding the lockout, then Mage2's writeup will keep you from having to do a factory reset.

El Pollo Regio rocks your monkey ass

by heavyd on 8.25.09

Moar fuel for your inner fatty! I dropped a review for my absolute favoritest chicken joint ever, El Pollo Regio. Can something that tastes this wonderful be good for you? I dunno, that's not really my area. But I do know that if you have the courage to come to the east side, order your dinner in broken Spanish and eat chicken cooked in a dimly lit shack then you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

Get your grub on!

By derek on 6.26.09

Ok, the EATS page is up...I know, it's weaksauce (™ Tod Beardsley) but I have more coming soon. For example, I just ate a Naga Jolokia pepper, albeit extremely underripe, on Tuesday. In about 6 weeks or so, I should be chowing down on a completely ripe Naga -- and I expect to regret that decision in a very personal way.
Also, I added Google Analytics to the site...look, obviously Derek Brown is not a unique name, especially in the 'States. I'd like to see my information at the top of the search engine results for "Derek Brown" and I'd like to see that happen within a couple of years. Is that like saying I'd like to be the most relevant Derek Brown in the history of mankind? Well, frankly, yes. So what?

Site updates...and some gripes!

By heavyd on 6.9.09

I am really gonna try and keep this project a bit more consisent - so I plan on making some more regular updates. That includes making some changes to the existing content. Here's what I have coming soon:
Private Wedding Photos: I'm gonna move the wedding photos to a private, authentication-only area of the site. If you want access you'll need to email me personally in order to get a login. Authenticated access is about a month away.
EATS feature page: In complement to the drinks page, I thought I'd add some reviews of local restaurants since I generally try to hit the whole spectrum whenever I make it out of the kitchen. Eats feature page should be up tonight or tomorrow.
Shameless Plug: Follow me on twitter!!!!!!!!11! Seriously though, I do love this medium and, while my updates are prolly less than insightful, I find myself searching the twitter-verse for chatter all the time.

Angry Rant

Ack! My ISP, Time Warner Austin is thinking about instituting bandwidth (read: usage) caps. This shit is ridiculous and directly targets tech-savvy, progressive Internet users, such as my family. We recently dropped our satellite television service and we haven't used cable television in over 3 years; this means that we now receive all of our "over-the-air" visual programming via the Internet. We spend a lot of time on YouTube Shows and, of course, Hulu. We listen to a shit-ton of music on Pandora and we belong to a private BitTorrent tracker. What I'm trying to say is that we spend a ton of time floating through the tubes....if this cap were to go into effect, I'd be looking at paying FIVE TIMES what I pay today FOR EXACTLY THE SAME AGREEMENT!!! I've been following the movement over at StopTheCap.com for news and updates.

Drink recipes...you lush!

By heavyd on 5.23.08

I added another page to the site (question: was it really a website prior to this? i mean, wasn't it just a page?) and I went with a topic that is near and dear to my heart...DRANK, son, what!? In this category I plan to feature the drink recipes that make me feel happy. I mean, here I am busting out mad fresh libations on the regular and there you are, all like, "damn. how can a completely uninteresting and sadly mundane person such as myself get a hold of some cocktail recipes that will put my name on all the playa's mouths?" Well, look no further young pup. I got that dozier that you need.

Site Redesign

By Derek on 2.21.08

And by site redesign I mean: I yanked this template off the web to replace my own original work because (1) it was outdated, (2) many of the links were broken and (3) Eduardo Garcia was giving me a hard time. So now the site has a new look and feel and there is essentially nothing content-wise. This site sucks, why are you still here?

Pictures and witty commentary

By Derek on 1.30.07

Yeah, so pretty soon I'll put up some of the pictures from the old site and some newer (read:fatter) pictures of myself. Around the same time I will add some text content, but you can be assured that it will be both trite and condescending. Here's an example: doesn't the website banner background remind you of baby puke? WTF color is that, anyway? Cheers!