Christmas 2008

Here's a photo of Hannah with Santa Clause. I've posted a few more over at Flickr.

My First Shell Script

Here's little script I wrote to setup a Subversion repository and a Trac project. This is my first shell script, and it doesn't include any error handling -- so don't hate.


#!/bin/bash

#***************************
# Initialize a new SVN repository and TRAC project
# Scott Wolff (scott.wolff@tuscan.ca)
# last edit: December 22, 2008
#***************************

# edit these paths for your own environment
SVN_PATH='/path/to/your/svn/folder/' #dont forget the trailing slash
TRAC_PATH='/path/to/your/trac/folder/' #again, with the trailing slash

# you should not need to edit below this comment

echo Enter Your Project Name
read PROJECT_NAME

REPOS_PATH=$SVN_PATH/$PROJECT_NAME
TRAC_PROJECT_PATH=$TRAC_PATH/$PROJECT_NAME

# create the SVN repository and change the permissions
sudo svnadmin create $REPOS_PATH
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data $REPOS_PATH

# create the TRAC project
sudo trac-admin $TRAC_PATH$PROJECT_NAME initenv $PROJECT_NAME 'sqlite:db/trac.db' 'svn' $REPOS_PATH '/usr/share/trac/templates'
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data $TRAC_PROJECT_PATH


Apple Store Market Mall

Matt and I had some fun at the new Market Mall Apple Store.

Playing in the Leaves

Erin's Latest Cake

Here's a photo of Erin's latest cake.

Wide Mouth Mason - One of my favorite bands.

I really like Wide Mouth Mason. One of my life's dreams is to sing on stage with these guys. I found this song widget on their website. Have a listen.  I recommend starting with song #2 - "Lay Me Down", definitely in my top 10 favorite songs of all time.

Hannah at the Calgary Public Library

Rails Active Record Assocications

From Agile Development with Ruby on Rails:

"There’s an easy way to remember where to put belongs_to declarations: if a table has foreign keys, the corresponding model should have a belongs_to for each."

Never look this up again!

Wolff Family Video

I quickly whipped up a video of photos of the kids taken over the past several year. The video is nothing much, but still fun to watch.

Early Morning Run

I got up at 5:00 AM this morning and ran most of the Cochrane half marathon track. My Nike Plus tracker logged me at just over 19 KMs:



The trail is actually quite nice, right along the river, then up past Rick's development and out West of town.

Now off to work.

No Words...

May 20, 2008

Kevin and I went out tonight to see the latest Narnia Movie "Prince Caspian". It was nice to be out together, we don't get out very frequently like that. The movie was enjoyable; it gave me cause to reminisce about reading the Narnia series to Grace a couple of years ago.

One of the parts of this particular installment of the Narnia series I remember from reading the books was when Trumpkin (the dwarf) killed the bear. I was telling Kev about it after the movie but couldn't remember the wording very well, so I came home and looked it up.

I'm posting it here, mostly for Kevin -- C.S. Lewis says it so much more eloquently than me.

After the bear is killed Lucy says to Susan,

"Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day, in our own world, at home, men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men, so that you'd never know which were which?"

Victoria Day Hike 2008: Heart Creek

Grace, Matt and I spent Victoria Day hiking (along with many others from the ward) on the Heart Creek trail just outside of Canmore, Alberta. Thanks to Derek Kearl for organizing this event annually for the 6^th time.

I took some photos, albeit not very many and not very good ones ... I've published the Heart Creek photoset on Flickr.



The trail was perfect for Matt and Grace -- they really enjoyed themselves. They especially loved the four or five foot-bridges that criss-crossed the river all the way to the trail's end.



The hike couldn't have been more than an hour to the end of a very well groomed/maintained trail, where there was an clearing next to a bend in the creek and a waterfall crevasse.



I was quite proud of Gracie for venturing up with the kids onto a rock ledge about 25 feet above the trail's end. She went up without being coaxed, totally unassisted, and consciously overcoming any fear she normally has of this sort of thing. It was a good confidence builder for her.




Matt on the other hand was half way up the ledge before he was aware of any danger. Thank you Jeff Mysyk for helping him reach the top before I could get there to help.



After some lunch, some of the hikers went on a bit further up a less traveled trail, but a group of us turned around and went back. After the hike, everyone returned to the Tuscany Club for a bit of a BBQ. The whether turned a bit cold, so the picnic broke up just after 5:00 PM.

Walk in the Ravine

The kids and I went for a walk in the ravine this afternoon. I'm glad they're feeling well enough to go. I think the kids have basically recovered from the past week of sickness -- unfortunately I can't say the same about Erin. She's trying to get up and around, but she's still very dizzy and nauseated.

Twitter

I've been experimenting with Twitter lately. Twitter is a free micro-blogging application for posting very short updates -- it has a posting limit of 140 characters. Basically you post one sentence updates (called "tweets" in Twitter lingo)... dumb name, I know.

Check out my Twitter page to get a better idea.

The Twitter page on it's own doesn't do it justice. The fun of Twitter is that you can "tweet" from your mobile phone, instant messenger client (like MSN or gTalk), or one of several third party Twitter software applications (I use Twhirl). Furthermore you can subscribe or "follow" other Twitter users and receive their "tweets" automatically. It's a fun way to stay connected in real time.

Try out Twitter by signing up at the Twitter signup page, then add me to your Twitter list (my username is rswolff). If you get the hang of it, you can download and install Twhirl to get automatic updates from those you're following.

Erin's Latest Cake and the Calgary Zoo

Some photos of our trip to the Calgary Zoo.



And Erin's latest cake:

Flickr Does Video

I was pleased to read that Flickr accepts video now. Cool!

Erin's Final Cake

Erin has completed a cake decorating class that she's been attending for the past 12 weeks. Check out the photos of her final cake. Nicely done honey!

Sailing on the Fury IV

On April 22-26 2008, I was fortunate to spend some time at sea (along with David Salmon, Tony Stephen, Ian Wardrop and Steve Kunn) on Stephen Miller's boat the "Fury IV".




For the impatient I've posted the photo set of the sailing trip on Flickr. I've also posted the GPS log of the trip to Google Maps.

Our group left Calgary shortly after 7:30 PM on Tuesday April 22 and drove through the night arriving in time to board the first ferry (6:30 AM) on Wednesday morning over to Vancouver Island. After picking up the zodiac and purchasing some supplies in Duncan, we were on our way to Genoa Bay where the Fury IV is docked. By roughly 2:00 PM local time we were motoring toward our first stop: Montaghue Harbor. Steve Kunn was the first to man the helm, and Dave was navigator.

Most of the first day was spent settling in, getting aquatinted with the boat and preparing for the next day where the real sailing would begin. We chose our bunks and had some lessons on the basics of the boat such as operating the hatches safely, how the galley works and proper use of the head -- that's the bathroom for all you landlubbers.

We ate lasagna for dinner on the first night (prepared and frozen in advance by Lynn Miller), and played a couple of hands of Skip-Bo before retiring.

The next morning (Wednesday) we took the Zodiac over to the Montague Harbor provincial park for a little land exploration. The park had about at 1.7 KM trail circling part of the island (see map). It was on the solid ground of Montague Harbor that we were able to get our one and only group photo.



Some of the group (including Steve Miller) walked around the loop, and subsequently challenged Tony and I to run the loop. Tony and I ran the loop in 10 minutes, and when we made it back around to the begining and met up with the others, Tony thought we could run it faster and so he convinced me to run it with him again -- this time with a goal to run in seven minutes rather than ten. Truthfully, I didn't want to run it, but I wasn't going to let Tony show me up in front of the guys -- so off we went.

Sure enough we ran the loop in seven minutes -- Tony finished about 10 seconds before I did, but honestly I was just glad to finnish -- we pushed really hard. Had I been alone I would have walked the last third of the trail but I couldn't bear to finish too far behind Tony. I've got to hand it to him, he's in great shape.

After exploring the park, we returned to the boat for some sailing. We were all excited as we boarded the boat and could feel the wind gathering in the bay. For the most part it was grey, but not too cloudy, the sun even broke through from time-to-time. I felt most comfortable wearing my windbreaker jacket and toque, but some felt comfortable in shorts.



It was quite a thrill to shut off the motor and raise the sails for the first time. For a guy (me) who has never lived next to a large body of water, it was kind of like being in a sailing movie when we started to raise the sails. I have to confess that pulling up those sails made me feel like a legitimate sailor. Ian manned the helm for most of the second day, and Dave continued to navigate.

Tony (an experienced fisherman) had been looking forward to some fishing, and was anxious to catch some seafood for dinner, so after getting firmly under sail he and Steve Kunn motored out on the zodiac, but unfortunately after several hours of fishing, came back empty handed -- this proved to be a recurring theme for the very confident fisherman.

While Tony and Steve Kunn were fishing, Steve Miller gave Dave, Ian and I a bit of a sailing lesson. We learned about "tacking" and "gybing", about wind direction, stopping the boat intentionally and stopping the boat unintentionally ("being in irons"). We learned what it mean to "fall off" and how to read a tell-tail. I especially enjoyed setting and operating the sails.



After the sailing lesson, Steve Miller moved down to the galley to prepare lunch, and left Dave, Ian and me to operate the boat on our own. This was particularly fun. We were able to catch the wind sufficiently to tilt the boat to roughly 26 degrees. The sensation you get when the boat heels this way is hard to describe. You feel as though the boat is going to tip right out of the water, and though I was certain it wouldn't, I still felt safer holding on. It's really quite thrilling.

At one point during one of these tacks, the boat had tilted sufficiently to cause the lunch that Steve Miller was preparing to fall all over the floor and to break two of the four gallon water jugs. This was right about the time that Steve yelled up from the galley, "Ian, turn into the wind". Ian was clever enough to figure out that doing so would stop the boat. Nice work Ian.

This photo was taken by Tony and Steve Kunn from the zodiac as they were fishing. If you look close, you can see the boat tipping.



When Tony and Steve Kunn returned from fishing (empty handed I might add), some of us gathered around the cabin table for a some knot tying. I set out on the trip hoping to learn about how to operate the ships rigging, and how to tie six different knots. I did in-fact learn some about the sails and rigging and learned far more than six knots. I learned to tie a bowline, cow hitch, clove hitch, reef knot, roling clove hitch, double-overhand knot, figure-eitgh, sheep-shank and a fisherman's knot among others.

After some practice sailing, we set our course for Clam Bay, where we would spend the second night.

Anchoring at Clam Bay turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole trip. While setting the anchor we inadvertently got the line that was towing the zodiac caught in the sailboat prop. It was about this time that everyone became quiet, and hoped that the trip wasn't going to come to an unexpected end. Steve Miller lowered himself down into the zodiac and tried to dislodge the line from the prop -- it became obvious to us all that someone was going to have to jump in the 42 degree water and swim under the boat to manually remove the tangled line.

My respect for Steve Kunn doubled when he, without a moment's hesitation, volunteered to go in. He ended up spending almost ten minutes in the water and a half dozen attempts to get all of the line removed, and manually spun the prop to ensure it was free. After about five minutes I put my swimsuit on and was ready to relive him. I kept asking Steve Miller if he could confirm that Steve Kunn's legs were still moving under the boat. At those temperatures, you don't have very long before hypothermia sets in. Afterward it took Steve Kunn about 2 hours to warm up completely, and we all agreed that he was the hero of the day.

That night we had bar-b-q'ed tenderloin steak & mushrooms, baked potatoes and Ceasar salad. The food was incredible. Yes, believe it or not there is a BBQ on the boat.



After cleaning up dinner we all sat together and told the story of how we each met and married our spouse. I was impressed to learn that Steve Kunn waited for Becky to serve a mission to Thailand, that Steve Miller met and was engaged to Lynn in only a few weeks and that Tony followed Sassa to Ricks college for one semester to get her to marry him.

The next day I was awoke to the image of Tony showing off the crab he caught in the crab trap he had set the night before.



That morning, all but Steve Miller and I went exploring in the zodiac. Steve and I sat on deck and figured out how to put the fourth sail up. When the others were back on board we took the Genoa sail down, and replaced it with two foresails. We did this more for the fun of experimentation than for any other legitimate sailing reason. If nothing else, the four sail configuration did look cool.



Before leaving Clam Bay we each took a turn donning the harness and climbing to the top of the main mast (a height of about 55 feet). Steve Miller belayed. At the top of the mast, even the slightest rock of the boat is amplified. It's a neat sensation being up that high and feeling so loose. I'm not really good with heights, and I had to keep telling myself just to put one foot into the next stirrup until I reached the top. Each of us touched the topmost piece of the mast before coming back down.





This is a photo Dave Salmon took from the top of the main mast.



Just before noon we were sailing from Clam Bay back to the marina at Genoa Bay. We ate a hearty stew for lunch. Just for fun, I suggested that we take the two foresails down and put the Genoa back up. It didn't take Steve Miller much convincing... after all, that's the fun of sailing.

The sail back home was fairly straighforward. By that time we were all getting more comfortable with the operation of the boat, and got into a groove as we tacked back and forth. As we rounded Saltspring Island close to the town of Ladysmith, we came upon about a half dozen dolphins who swam beside us and leaped out of the water to entertain us. They stayed with us for more than five minutes.



We arrived at the dock in Genoa after 5:00 PM and spent the next hour and a half unloading and shutting down the boat. I have to admit that I was quite impressed how Steve Miller docked this enormous boat without a flaw. It was functionally equivalent to landing a plane without a bump. Most impressive!

We boarded the 10:45 PM ferry in Duke Point and were on the Trans-Canada back to Calgary just before 1:00 AM on Saturday April 26. We took turns driving through the night and arrived back in Calgary at about 1:30 PM on Saturday afternoon.



I've now been to sea. I'm a sailor.

April Snows Bring May Showers

If you can believe it, it snowed more than six inches yesterday -- April 10. I had fun with the kids in the back yard when I got home from work rolling a giant snowball. We rolled almost all of the snow off the yard into one enormous ball.



Erin is enjoying round three of her cake decorating class. Here's a photo of her most recent work:

Importing MS/Win Excel Data Into MySQL on Mac OS X

I've got to write this down somewhere. It seems like every-time I have to do this I waste an hour trying to make this work.

Here are the steps for exporting MS Win/Excel data into a MySQL database hosted on Mac OS 10.5

1. Save the Excel data as a tab delimited file, and move the file to the Mac OS (for some reason I've found more consitant success starting from a tab delimited file than with a .csv.
   
   
2. Open the Excel tab delimited file in Numbers spreadsheet program and export as CSV. Doing this seems to work out any WIN/Mac file formatting errors.
   
   
3. Run the following command at the terminal in the Mac OS
   

   
   load data local infile
   -> '~/filename.csv' into table tablename
   -> fields terminated by ','
   -> lines terminated by '\n'
   -> (field_1, field_2, field_n);
   

4. The statement above assumes your data is separated by comas, and lines are terminated by the newline character; field_1, field_2, field_n are positional -- that is, whatever column comes first in filename.csv will be mapped to the field_1, whatever comes second in filename.csv will be mapped to field_2 etc...
   
   

Never look this up again.

Erin's Cakes

Erin has been taking a cake decorating class on Wednesday evenings for the past several weeks. Check out her work...

Switched To Shaw

I've been a Telus Internet customer for several years now ... (easily 10 years), and today we switched to Shaw.

Check out the speed test I ran on our new connection.




Sweet!

February 13, 2008

I've started reading the Chronicals of Narnia to the kids again. Matt listens in this time, (last time only Grace listened). That said, Matt is normally asleep by the end of the first paragraph, Grace can make it almost to the end of a chapter.

I love the Narnia books. C.S. Lewis is easily one of my favorite authors. His writing is so clear and simple, he makes complex subjects very plain.

We're about half way through the first book, "The Magician's Nephew". Tonight I read the chapter on the creation of Narnia by Aslan the lion. Lewis is so insightful and articulate.

The kids like me to read to them, but the truth is, I'm reading mostly for me -- I enjoy the books far more than the kids do.

Calgary Alberta West Stake Boundaries

Here are the Calgary Alberta West Stake Boundaries as at Jan 2008


View Larger Map

Chunky Bacon

Ok, watch, laugh, repeat...

Sledding

I took Matt and Grace sledding yesterday. Here are a few photos.

Skating at the Tuscany Club

Here are some photos of Matt skating at the Tuscany Club today.