Archive for the ‘uncategorized’ Category

h1

http_authentication plugin with Rails 2.1

July 17, 2008

If you’re using the popular http_authentication plugin from DHH and getting a NoMethod error “protected method `render’ called for <SomeController>”, the problem is that in Rails 2.x controller.render is now protected.  This was a pain to figure out, but it can be easily solved using an updated plugin from Matthew Rudy at http://github.com/matthewrudy/http_authentication/tree/master.  Google wasn’t much help, so I’m hoping this post will save someone with this issue some time.  Just run

script/plugin install git://github.com/matthewrudy/http_authentication.git –force

and you should be fine after that.  The README in the plugin’s folder has further examples on use.

h1

Beautiful quote

June 10, 2008

I was just having a conversation with my wife this morning about how anxious I was - anxious to be productive, feeling like I should be building stuff - instead of just enjoying my time off for a few weeks. Then I saw this amazing quote that Om Malik referenced this morning - he attributes it to Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron:

“After Sysiphus’ boulder fell down the mountain, during his descent to get it again, his time was free for the beautiful things instead.”

Wow - let’s see if I can keep that in mind the next few weeks.

h1

Leaving eNeighborhoods

May 13, 2008

The news is out - Greg and I are leaving eNeighborhoods at the end of May. Stu and Dave left at the end of last week. There’s a great group of people here who I will definitely miss working with. My team of 55 employees on the technical side of the building has never been stronger - that makes it hard to leave because things are going so well, but it also makes it easier knowing that things are in good hands and those good people now have an opportunity to step up a level.

sunset

My desire is to create and innovate, and it’s tough to do that in a big company with so many huge projects going on. I like to say that my skill is to build products, teams, and equity. I like building Inc. 500 companies - Iris was #192 in 2000 and eNeighborhoods was #84 in 2005 - but I lose my desire once it grows too large. Now that eNeighborhoods is a mature company with enterprise level clients, it’s time to pass it off to operational managers who can nurture it to it’s next level. Big companies are like playing baseball - lot’s of statistics and standing around waiting. I want to play hockey - to hit, score, hustle back on D, forecheck in the corners, and sweat a lot.

All day today, people in the industry have reached out with calls and e-mails. Your support and kind words are very appreciated. I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you, and even working together again in the future. I have a lot of anxiety about the near future, but with your support and the support of my family, I’m looking forward to creating and innovating again with Greg. It’s time for me to go build another Inc. 500 company.

Photo by konaboy

h1

Genius

May 6, 2008

I wish I could build software as great as Radiohead makes music. Only thing I’ve ever made as beautiful is my two daughters. It’s a high bar, but it’s great inspiration. Radiohead kicked off their US tour last night at Cruzan Amphitheatre and I was lucky to see it. Here’s some photos from Flickr.

by laurat

by monsieur paradis

by laurat

Decent video here.

Update:  Set list is published here.