Add projects

7 files changed, 261 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-13-unified-show-control.markdown b/_posts/2013-01-13-unified-show-control.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: Unified Show Control
+description: A paper on unifying all aspects of theatrical show control.
+date: 2013-01-13 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+For my freshman writing seminar at Muhlenberg, I wrote a paper on a system I devised for controlling many different theatrical cueing consoles from one master console using MIDI Show Control (MSC).  I called my system [Unified Show Control (pdf)](/assets/pdf/Unified_Show_Control.pdf).
+
+Shortly after finishing this project, I discovered that [QLab][] from Figure 53 already has MSC built into it. Though it was slightly disappointing, I was thrilled that my idea already exists, albeit in a slightly different form.
+
+[QLab]: http://figure53.com/qlab/
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-13-helvetica.markdown b/_posts/2013-12-13-helvetica.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: Helvetica for Safari and Chrome
+description: Those who believe the web should be made more beautiful will appreciate this extension for Safari and Google Chrome that makes all text display in Helvetica Neue (with regular old Helvetica as a backup).
+date: 2013-12-13 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+Those who believe the web should be made more beautiful will appreciate this extension for Safari and Google Chrome that makes all text display in Helvetica Neue (with regular old Helvetica as a backup).
+
+Installing Helvetica in Safari
+------------------------------
+
+* [Download Helvetica](http://updates.benburwell.com/safari/helvetica/latest.safariextz) to your computer.
+* Click on the Downloads icon in the toolbar.
+* Double-click on `helvetica.safariextz` to install.
+
+Installing Helvetica in Google Chrome
+-------------------------------------
+
+* [Download Helvetica](http://updates.benburwell.com/chrome/helvetica/latest.crx) to your computer.
+* Click the ![triple bar](/assets/images/icons/settings-icon.png) icon on the Chrome toolbar
+* Select Tools > Extensions.
+* Locate the extension file on your computer and drag the file onto the Extensions page.
+* Review the list of permissions in the dialog that appears. If you would like to proceed, click Install.
+
+It’s not perfect; there will be some text that is not Helvetica since this is simply the application of a stylesheet. If a site is using significant amounts of JavaScript, some text may not be transformed. This will be corrected in later versions.
+
+For the most part, fonts will be replaced on sites that don’t have very specific typography. In general, you’ll find that sites that have put care into their typeface choices will have those choices preserved.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-13-mdengine.markdown b/_posts/2013-12-13-mdengine.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: MDEngine
+description: A drag-and-drop PHP script enabling simple serving of rendered Markdown files.
+date: 2013-12-13 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+MDEngine was born of my need to serve static Markdown files simply and beautifully. I accomplished this by creating MDEngine, the PHP Markdown Engine.
+
+It’s extremely lightweight and takes the form of a small collection of files you can drop into any web directory served with Apache which will then serve all `.md` files as beautiful HTML. MDEngine is [available on GitHub](https://github.com/bburwell/mdengine).
diff --git a/_posts/2014-04-23-quick-application-launcher-for-os-x.markdown b/_posts/2014-04-23-quick-application-launcher-for-os-x.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: Quick App Launcher for OS X
+description: How to remap your keyboard to quickly launch applications.
+date: 2014-04-23 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+I’ve been using [Alfred][] for some time now as an application launcher. If you’re not familiar with application launchers such as Alfred, it’s essentially Spotlight supercharged. It can find and launch applications, open files, perform custom web searches, even shut down your computer for you — all from commands you type in.
+
+Like many other aspects of Alfred, it has highly customizable settings for the key combination used to activate it. For a long time, I used a double-tap of the Option key, but I felt as though there must be a better solution. Inspired by the Google’s decision to replace the traditional Caps Lock key with a “Search” key on the Chromebook, I started poking around on the web.
+
+Enter [PCKeyboardHack][].
+
+This small application allows you to remap your keyboard as desired. I installed it with no hassle and easily found a checkbox for “Change Caps Lock Key.” I used a keycode of `101`, which corresponds to the F9 key, one that I very rarely use. To complete the setup was a matter of opening Alfred’s preferences and setting the Alfred hotkey to F9 by hitting caps lock. Now I can activate Alfred to launch applications with a quick press of the caps lock key.
+
+The choice of F9 was mostly arbitrary; I wanted a key that I never or almost never used, as well as one that Alfred could use as a hotkey with a single press. If you use your function keys regularly, it might be wise to seek another unused key.
+
+[Alfred]: http://www.alfredapp.com
+[PCKeyboardHack]: https://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/pckeyboardhack.html
diff --git a/_posts/2014-04-28-forest-printer-management.markdown b/_posts/2014-04-28-forest-printer-management.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: Forest™ Printer Management System
+description: For my Software Engineering class, we built a printer management infrastructure.
+date: 2014-04-28 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+In the Fall 2013 semester, I took a Software Engineering class. After a few weeks studying about development lifecycles, scheduling techniques, and such, we split the class into groups to propose and develop large software projects. I joined the team that was building a system that would track printer usage, display status, and collect statistics. Having previously created [a printer status project](http://mathcs.muhlenberg.edu/~bb246500/printers/), I found the idea intriguing.
+
+Several of the team members had experience using GitHub, so we decided to [create an organization](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210) to store documents and provide version control. We had the school Math/CS department web server running Apache available for web hosting. Additionally, I had experience with [Node.js](http://nodejs.org) running on [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/), so we had that technology in our arsenal as well.
+
+One of the first challenges we encountered that would have an impact on our architecture was the fact that most printers do not have public IP addresses and thus would need to be queried from inside the local network, while we wanted the public-facing site to be accessible regardless of physical location. This led us to developing the concept of an API which would enable a master database to be queried and updated by various components. In developing an API-central infrastructure, we were also looking down th line towards supporting client-developed applications and native applications for various platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, OS X).
+
+<p style="text-align:center">[![Forest Interaction Diagram](/assets/images/forest_interaction_diagram.png)](/images/forest_interaction_diagram.png)</p>
+
+Our first task was to develop a data format and database schema. As we intended to use [actionhero](http://actionherojs.com) for the API server, we created a [schema for MongoDB](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210/api-server/blob/master/initializers/_project.js) and a base [set of API commands](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210/api-server/tree/master/actions) we would need to implement in order to get a framework of the service up and running. We [deployed this on Heroku](https://forest-api.herokuapp.com).
+
+Simultaneously, we began work on a [web frontend](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210/frontend) [hosted on the Math/CS server](http://mathcs.muhlenberg.edu/~mb247142/forest/frontend/home.php) that would communicate with the API to display graphs using [chart.js](http://www.chartjs.org). You can make an account here and add printers, though the interface is probably still a bit buggy.
+
+Additionally, we created a [Ruby program](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210/query-agent) that would be running on the local network and would pull printer addresses from the API and query their status and properties via SNMP and push this information back to the API at a specified interval. We began working on bundling the gem as a standalone application using [Omnibus](https://github.com/opscode/omnibus-ruby), but due to lack of time at the end of the semester, this was never completed.
+
+At the end of the semester, we had built three interacting components, each using a different technology (Node.js/Mongoose, PHP/Apache, Ruby). You can [read our final Venture Proposal (pdf)](/assets/pdf/forest_venture_proposal.pdf). While all of our components communicated over HTTP using JSON, it’s worth noting that actionhero supports socket connections over TCP/TLS, which would have been a better choice for some of our infrastructure in production. We decided to use HTTP since it was easier to deploy on Heroku’s free tier and easier to interact with without writing additional components in Ruby and PHP.
+
+We’ve talked about continuing to develop the project beyond the class, but no progress has really been made. It’s probably possible to get a working monitoring system up and running based off our code (which is [all on GitHub](https://github.com/printerSystemCSI210)), but it would require quite a bit of legwork as it currently stands.
diff --git a/_posts/2014-04-30-shows.markdown b/_posts/2014-04-30-shows.markdown
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+---
+layout: post
+title: Theatrical Credits
+description: Mostly for my own reference, here’s a list of shows I’ve worked on.
+date: 2014-04-30 00:00:00
+type: project
+---
+
+### _Every Good Boy Deserves Favor_ (Spring 2014)
+
+Lighting Designer — dir. Benjamin Wald
+
+
+
+### _The Problem_ (Spring 2013)
+
+Lighting Designer — dir. Meghan Sullivan
+
+
+
+### _The Bourgeois Pig_ (Fall 2012)
+
+Sound Programmer — dir. Beth Schachter
+
+
+
+### _Dutchman_ (Fall 2012)
+
+Lighting Designer — dir. Rachel Lang
+
+
+
+### _The Drowsy Chaperone_ (Summer 2012)
+
+Follow Spot Operator
+
+
+
+### _Merrily We Roll Along_ (Fall 2011)
+
+Sound Board Operator
+
+
+
+### _Zenobia_ (Summer 2011)
+
+Light Board Operator
+
+
+
+### _13_ (Summer 2011)
+
+Lighting Designer
+
+
+
+### _12 Incompetent Men (And Women!)_ (Spring 2011)
+
+Lighting Designer — dir. Stan Cahill
+
+
+
+### _Cristos (Since 1976)_ (Spring 2011)
+
+Technical Advisor — dir. Abigail Nover
+
+
+
+### _The Wedding Singer_ (Spring 2011)
+
+Master Electrician — L.D. Josh Benghiat
+
+
+
+### _Almost, Maine_ (Fall 2010)
+
+Master Electrician — L.D. Josh Benghiat
+
+
+
+### _Oh Deer!_ (Summer 2010)
+
+Light Board Operator
+
+
+
+### _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (Summer 2010)
+
+Supertech (Ran lights & sound, designed lights, installed scenic elements, Master Electrician, etc.)
+
+
+
+### _A Chorus Line_ (Spring 2010)
+
+Light Board Operator & Master Electrician
+
+
+
+### _Julius Caesar_ (Fall 2009)
+
+Light Board Operator & Master Electrician
+
+
+
+### _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_ (Summer 2009)
+
+Sound Board Operator
+
+
+
+### _The Fantasticks_ (Spring 2009)
+
+Lighting Design & Master Electrician
+
+
+
+### _Sweet Charity_ (Spring 2009)
+
+Sound Board Operator
+
+
+
+### _The Crucible_ (Fall 2008)
+
+Properties Master
+
+
+
+### _Oliver!_ (Summer 2008)
+
+Deck Crew
+
+
+
+### _Working_ (Spring 2008)
+
+Deck Crew
+
+
+
+### _The Diviners_ (Fall 2007)
+
+Deck Crew
+
+
+
+### _The Sound of Music_ (Summer 2007)
+
+Deck Crew & Rigging
+
+
+
+### _The Velveteen Rabbit_ (Spring 2007)
+
+Deck Crew
+
+
+
+### _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ (Spring 2006)
+
+Deck Crew
diff --git a/_posts/2014-04-30-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown b/_posts/2014-04-30-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown
index ffdb207..d77afce 100644
--- a/_posts/2014-04-30-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown
+++ b/_posts/2014-04-30-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 ---
 layout: post
+description: Jekyll intro
 title:  "Welcome to Jekyll!"
 date:   2014-04-30 18:58:26
-categories: jekyll update
+type: writing
 ---
 
 You'll find this post in your `_posts` directory - edit this post and re-build (or run with the `-w` switch) to see your changes!