I Built An App

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For as long as I can remember, I have always dabbled with computer programming. Mostly interpreted stuff, like HTML and Cold Fusion, and I know enough about PHP and Javascript to copy/paste code. I’ve been really wanting to learn Python, and have even made a few attempts. Problem with those attempts, they were all built using the CS Degree way, which means they lead with math. I’m not a data guy, and, if we are being honest, I struggle to remember which is greater than and which is less than. Why is that a requirement to learn how to do anything besides math is beyond me.

But then, someone thought it was a good idea to give me a license to the full, corporate version of CoPilot. Sure, I made an agent that searched a directory and worked pretty good. Sure, I’ve used it to create a brag sheet and generate meeting notes. Turns out, all of that is pretty boring.

Keeping in mind that I am also a recovering IT manager, part of my daily work flow is renaming files. I opened the CMD, and do a few REN commands and I’m done. But, that is annoying and not very efficient. So, I went to Copilot to help me write a batch file. I drop this into my audio directory and double click. It does the rest.

Magical.

As an Instructional Designer, I spend a lot of time in PowerPoint. I turned Copilot loose on some of my workflows and it was able to generate scripts that could be run as Macros. Seemed simple and silly, but having to set each audio file to play with previous and make sure it’s at the top of the animation stack, for a 100 slide desk, is super time consuming. Macros handle that task in seconds!

Until you are in the office, where IT recently upgraded the network, now with more security. Security that keeps me from running macros in the office. Well, that won’t do, a fella has to be able to run his scripts!

Back to Copilot. And it suggested that I build the features in Python. So I had it build a very simple python script for me that did one of things that was blocked in the office. My mind was blown!

My super power kicked in, and by the end of Tuesday, I had a functioning Python script that opened with a UI and I was using it as part of my workflow. Holy crap! It was amazing! By the end of the week, I had added a huge feature and cleaned up some of the back end processing. And bundled it into an .exe that can be run anywhere you find Microsoft Windows, a Mac or universal version is coming next.

It’s called Narration Generator. It generates audio from Elevenlabs to be used as Narration for the deck, which I turn into video.  It takes the notes from each slide, sends it to Elevenlabs, where the audio is generated using a voice I specified in the UI. That audio requires an extra processing step to work with Powerpoint and it happens behind the scenes. Once the audio has been processed, it is then attached to the correct slide in the deck, and all of the animations are set correctly.

This used to be a huge copy, paste, generate, download, move, organize, attach operation that would take a day, sometimes 2 on larger projects. My app does all of that work in minutes! And, it can be used for editing individual slides where needed, since the app will also update a single or multiple slides and can also reprocess without re-attaching to the deck, which is perfect for this.

So, yea. I wrote an app. Bitchin’!

Feed Updated?

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Not really sure what happened, but I’m getting reports that the feed updated automatically and was flooding feeds with orders posts from donburnside.com. I have checked and don’t see anything wrong. My guess is that it was a plugin update gone wrong.

Anyway, apologies for the mishaps!

The Office

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A very old Apple A1234 wired keyboard.

I’m not really sure what fly landed in my ointment, but I have been obsessed with re-organizing my work space at home. Looking at the photo, you see some color and an old keyboard that I might have just killed by cleaning it. Stay tuned for that.

Anyway, office. My first mod was emptying the room, sorting through everything, tossing and recycling where possible. This stage also included the removal of the 20th century hold-over; the 4 drawer file cabinet. That move really helped! This stage also included repainting of my desks, adding some color to my black-out curtains, and organizating what happens at each desk.

While work and audio still occupy the largest focus of my workspace, I now have a dedicated part of my office for me, which is nice. I have a stand for my MacBook Air to keep it out of the way, its own dedicated display, keyboard and mouse. The Mac mini has been demoted to project status and is now occupying the right side of the table, along with my previous Dell laptop and an old Asus laptop that I keep some flavor of Linux on.

The nice thing about this setup is that I can take the Mac and plug it into my work setup, letting me use my personal computer in the studio much more easily than I have been able to in the past.

I am still working my way through phase 1, which is including lighting upgrades and mounting improvements.

This has been a ton of fun and has me excited to maybe spend sometime in here being creative. I’ve got some ideas burning and hoping I get the chance to release them!

How did I miss this?

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Yes. let’s go back to a website. Even though, the authors are slacking, much like myself. I remember 20 years this seeming to be easier and more fun. It was probably the web rings!

I can’t sleep

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I need to get back into WordPress development. I, again, can’t find the theme that I am looking for, which usually means I’m going to have to create it myself. Ugh.

Also, I need to start playing with Juno Host. I have an old Asus laptop here running MInt I think. I can swap that for Debian and use that as a test lab and see what’s what.

Riding on the ebike, I was reminded how nice it is to ride bikes, and to ride a bike that fits. I love the Specialized Crosstrail. Like, you have no idea how much I love that bike. The way it rides, the way it handles, the way it feels. All really, really good. If it only this bike was a size large instead of medium. Large is my jam for Speciailized bikes, and this ain’t that.

So, project next is converting the single speed to gears, and adding some suspension. I posted up about this, briefly, on my Mastodon. I’ve got the new brakes. I’ll be ordering the front fork soon. Before I do, I really need to decide if I’m going to keep this bike on 700 wheels, or drop it down to 26″.

So, the pot is finally starting to kick in and take over from the 2 tequilla drinks I had tonight. G’nite.

Almost August

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Normally, I could go off and find a silly youtube video of newscasters claiming they can’t believe it’s already [insert month here]. But no! Currently, donburnside.com is closed to visitors, because reasons. I am very much wondering, however, if I post and the site is closed, will the post still go live in Federation?

Testing? 1-2, 1-2. Mic check, check, CHECK!

Anyway.

Podcaster Hot Seat: Don Burnside

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PHXPodcast.club has introduced a new feature call the Podcaster Hot Seat. The object is to have 1 Phoenix-based podcaster explain their show, processes, gear and anything else they like. Oh, and everyone in attendance can ask questions.

I volunteered to go first! Fun links after the jump!

Read more

Reblog of Don Burnside: Testing something before I write it up.

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Ok, seriously, this is turning into something very cool! And now, I’m kind of excited to turn my WordPress install into a full blown federated instance!

Reblog via Don Burnside

Good morning and holy shit!

Did y'all know that with a single WordPress installation, and a few plugins, you can run your own federated instance?

I'm going to have to write this up! Watch for testing between my site and the podcast site!

Hello February!

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an image showing phxpodcast.club

Almost halfway through the month. And, wouldn’t you know it, I got sidetracked doing the number one thing I tell all podcasters not to let themselves get caught up doing, because it keeps them from being a podcaster.

I’ve been caught up doing website stuff.

I just finished a brand new site for the PHXPodcast.club. This is a local Podcast group that I’m a part of and we have been doing some neat things that I’m trying to make sure get noticed. Not only is the site up and live, but I even built it using the same template for a podcast that I mentioned during my talk last month.

But with this, and a particularly crazy Instuctional Design project happening at work, my focus has been pulled from podcasting. While I can wear multiple hats, the number of hats that I can wear per day is starting to dwindle, especially if I’m switching between technical and creative tasks.

In fact, I’d love to tell you more about that ID project. It is for a Security Awareness course at work (most ISO certified orgs have to have this for their audits), and you’ve probably taken it. I’ve help make it suck less.

My manager came up with the idea of letting employees have the opportunity of testing out of the main learning. Pass the test, you are good to go. Don’t pass the test, continue on to the remaining hour of training. Oh, and it’s in 3 languages, and I perfectly executed it. It is some of my best work and I’m really proud of how it came out.

It’s these things that keep us from our shows. Keep us from being podcasters.

Writing

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Hello.

Now that all of the podcasting stuff is out of the way, because it does seem and feel like this has been turning into a blog about podcasting, which it is not. At one point, it might have seemed like this was a blog about WordPress. Or about Type 2 Diabetes. Or a recipe blog. Or a very personal journal.

Except that it is a blog about all of those things. That is the nice thing about having my own space to write about what I want. I already have focused content sites (WRR and BRR ) and I feel that here, at donburnside.com, that would be boring. I like to talk about what is interesting to me currently. And, I do have a tendacy to go through phases. I also have the tendency to sit down and just start writing, without anything clear direction, just the overwhelming feeling that I want to write.

That was this morning. I woke up, fed the dogs, saw that pre-dawn sky was really great, then the dawn sky exploded in color and light! I went out to enjoy it and came back needing to put words to pixels.