Ben's Geeky Pursuits

I'm a self-taught geek. It's the kind of thing you pick up because you love it. Since I was little I have seen computers as a source of fun, creativity, income, communication, challenge, and organization. The technology has changed a lot, but the enjoyment never has.

Mac Lover

My dad had an IBM PC/AT when I was really young, and I can remember playing games on it and marvelling at the things it could do. Ever since then, there's been a computer around for me to use. We had an Apple Quadra 605 I used to hack with ResEdit and experiment with. I actually used that computer for my first year at college and installed a network card so it could use the internet! Since then, I've been an avid Apple fanatic.

Unix/OS X

I got my first version of OS X (Apple's BSD-based OS) in 2001 while at college when OS X 10.1 was just emerging from the beta. It was a great to see the new look and speed of my iMac (and multi-tasking), but I also soon discovered that an ancient and powerful system lay beneath the great-looking exterior. I started poking around and learning from books. I discovered that the system came with lots of geeky stuff built-in. Unix has been around since 1970, but for me it was exciting and new. I've used the shell since then for many scripts, task automation and scheduling, word processing, custom backup scripts, and other useful utilities.

Hints

I've been published five times on macosxhints.com for general dinking around with OSX. These hints have received a combined total of about 24,000 hits as of October 2008.

Tidy
Perl DBI/DBD Modules on OS X
Bindkey + iTunes
Powermate shell control script
A script to generate random text via jot

DrBuck

This program was conceived in 2004 as a way to manage finances easily. "Why couldn't you just use Quicken or something," you say? I wanted something that was easy to use, so we would be more likely to enter every transaction we made. Also, I created a challenge for myself because, well, I like coding.

The first version was written completely in shell script, mostly because I didn't know any better and had no idea how big it was going to get. Jill and I started using it in 2005, and I created the next edition in June 2006. In this edition I added new reports, menus, and graph functionality provided by an open source utility called Ploticus.

In October 2006, I again put tons of time into DrBuck. This time, my objective was to make it web-based for multiple users, prettier than the terminal-based version, and much faster. The Unix-based version was over 2,000 lines of code and ran slowly, especially on reports. Thus began the conversion from shell into Perl. This took me quite a few hours, and I didn't even know Perl that well, but I was determined to make it work well. The hardest thing about this version was probably the support for sessions/cookies using Perl.

Jill and I have been using DrBuck for years now, and it helps us keep track of what we spend. If you're interested in using it, just set up an account here. It's free, just tell me what you think.

Website Design and Hosting

While no expert in web design, I like to code things from the ground up. I use PHP, HTML, CSS for uniformity and positioning, and the odd Javascript for things like rollovers. My designs are usually very simple.

For years I hosted websites at my house because I discovered that Apache was built in to every version of OS X. I was also too cheap to pay for server space, and development is easier when changes are reflected instantly as you code. Plus it was geeky. This experience was good for learning about configuring Apache (especially with virtual hosts for multiple domains), FTP server configuration so my clients could edit their sites, MySQL installation and configuration, CGI/Perl, permissions, etc.

--> Take Ten Relaxation Studios

In 2010, my karate instructor gave my name to a new massage studio in the area that needed a website. The business was specific about the kind of look they wanted, and I delivered! They were very happy with my design and the functionality of the site. Features include a virtual tour with a nice slideshow, and a nice drop-shadowed window design. Visit the site.

--> Sugar Road

In 2008 some members of our small house church discovered we were good at music. One person had an amazing voice; another played percussion; another bass; and another guitar. So we started playing music together and opportunities presented themselves to gig a bit. This site used to use Mambo, but after getting one of my CMS sites hacked, I switched to a customized iWeb template. Visit the site here.

--> Holt Guitar

I made this site in 2008 to provide information about my guitar lesson business. Previously I just had some basic content thrown up on this page, but due to some friendly advice I revamped it. Now I'm proud to give out my business cards with this site on it! Visit the site.

--> HospitalitySold.com

HospitalitySold.com was commissioned by a company in Texas that my friend Tim (the owner of Christian Fiction Review, see below) works for. He recommended me, and I was hired to create a site that could list hotels, motels, and restaurants for sale. This took many hours, but I was well-paid. The hardest thing was the search page. Properties had to be searchable by zip code proximity, state, price, and country - as well as any combination of those together. The database part also took a lot of work - lots of fields for each property type. Finally, on the back-end administrator page each field had to be set up so that people in Tim's company could input AND edit data. This site is no longer running, but reflects my design style - functional and simple.

--> The Freedom Farm

Early in 2008 the Freedom Farm, a decades-old ministry in our area, had just re-opened. I offered to create a simple site detailing the purpose, events, info, some pictures, and other content. I used a CMS (Joomla) to set up the initial site. My first forray into content management systems, it took a while to set up. I almost gave up and designed it from the ground up like I normally do. Once I got it set up, it worked great. I was able to integrate Google calendar into it for events and set up other people with access to post their own articles. This site was hacked a couple times due to a vunerability in Joomla (I think) and replaced with a page full of middle-eastern hate propaganda. I decided to use iWeb instead. Visit the Freedom Farm site

--> Christian Fiction Review

For a few years, my friend Tim in Texas has been running a site called Christian Fiction Review. His site was completely HTML-based. Each time he wrote a review, he would have to edit everything by hand. I decided to take a stab at redoing CFR myself.

Once I started, I couldn't stop. I created a mySQL backend for reviews, authors, and publishers. I re-designed the layout and created admin pages for Tim to enter new reviews and edit old ones. Finally, I had to migrate the site over to Tim's server, which took a bit more bug fixing.

The new version updates pages automatically based on criteria such as ratings, awards, authors, etc. It's made Tim's life much easier so he has more time to read books! You can see the site here.

--> MOTH - Man of the House

MOTH stands for "Man of the House" and I did this website for a client in Texas (a friend of Tim Frankovich, owner of Christian Fiction Review). He's a great guy who wanted to make a difference in the life of young boys. So he commissioned this site in 2007, and I designed it from the ground up. It features lots of dynamic content (rollovers, polls, rotating banners, images that enlarge) that can be modified easily by the owner. There's also a system for adding or removing articles. This site is live (but not being used) and can be found at mothboys.org.

--> ScottMatthewPittman.com

My friend Scott, a skilled drummer and teacher, commissioned this around 2002. Scott is artsy and knew what he wanted - a website that reflected who he was. It took a lot of time to tailor the site to his needs, but we were both happy with the results. This site is still live - visit scottmatthewpittman.com.

Random Holt Quote:

"The familiar observation that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time obscures a more startling fact: the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year." -The New Yorker