I developed a bit of an obsession with Chipotle’s guacamole, it was good but expensive, so I decided to make my own. I’m still tweaking the recipe but this is where I started and gives great results. You can find avocados with the other fresh produce at your grocery store. (extra points if you find them at a market!) ...

I work for a small web shop and enjoy a very casual atmosphere. This is great most of the time, but recently it caught up with me. We were all sitting around the conference table eating pizza on the company’s dime and watching the classic Batman film over lunch. I was sitting there scarfing down pizza next to my coworkers and my boss when our sales guy poked his head in and asked me how much we’d charge for hosting a simple e-commerce site. We’re not exactly what I’d call a premium services sort of company, so I quoted him a price of $25/month. But I quickly added that at that...

Whenever you’re building a site that has a directory of businesses or people or anything with a physical location, it commonly lends itself to offering a search form which allows the user to search by distance from a given location. For example, a national or state-wide company with many branches may want to allow their website visitors to find a location near them. Or perhaps you may be building a directory of specialist doctors, or a site with real estate listings, and want to offer users the ability to search within X miles from a given location. It sounds like a difficult feature to implement...

H1N1 What a fantastic read on H1N1 and the basics of DNA And RNA as they function in the body using the analogy of a computer program. The author then goes on to suggest ways in which the virus could be improved, from a reverse engineering standpoint. Read the original article...

Quick Wordpress tip for you, especially useful when you’re initially setting up your blog. If you’re switching from theme to theme and then find yourself unable to add certain widgets, it’s probably because they were left enabled on a different theme. Try switching back to the theme you were previously using, remove all of the widgets and then try adding them again after switching to the new...

I’ve recently been charged with finding a couple new hires for entry level positions at our company. We posted an ad on Craigslist and within a day had dozens of applicants. If you find yourself new to the area of web design and are applying for your first job, here are some things to keep in mind, in no particular order:...

“Hello, my name is Dave.” “Hello Dave, nice to meet you… so what do you do, anyway?” “I work as a Web Developer over at Sparkfire.” “Oh, cool.” This is inevitably followed by a blank stare. It’s at this point which I’m always torn, do I go off on some suitable explanation of “web developer”, or do I just move on. ...

I’ve been away from running Linux on my desktop full time for a bit and I’m already getting a bit rusty at some of the command line details. I’ve stepped up to the task of deploying an inhouse server for a local web development company who needs a platform to do internal testing and to act as a general file structure. I’ve always been hesitant in the past to buy physical books because so much information is at hand with a quick google search. That being said, I found the format of Linux Phrasebook (and Apache Phrasebook) to be just right, offering comprehensive coverage of core...

With so many other positive changes that I’m trying to make, and after acknowledging the reality of meat consumption and its impact on our environment, I’ve decided to do my part and consume less meat. A lot of people immediately run to meat substitutes, boca burgers and soy bacon and tofu, but for quite a while I didn’t bother, I just started eating more fresh vegetables and taking care to just reduce my red meat intake. Steak and burgers were first to go, nor do I eat pork often, and now I just have chicken and fish occasionally. A friend of mine tried a blackened tofu wrap at a...

After a brief honeymoon with Ubuntu I have decided to move back to Windows. I loved Ubuntu for its power and for being indepedent and free, and I stil do. I’m managing a small in house webserver now and will be building a media center soon, but Xorg and it’s ilk is just not for me. I went back to XP for a few weeks but it just wasn’t the same. Fortunately Windows 7 is in RC and I’ve heard good things so I took the dive last night and tried it. ...