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• January

  Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:50:19 GMT

  This year literally started with Emily and I kissing ^_^. There was a great view of all the fireworks going off along the horizon from the top of Temple Hill at midnight, with Crayford Ness to the North and Canary Wharf to the West.
  
  On New Years Day we went up to London to visit St James Park, and there happened to be a parade going on down The Mall and Whitehall. It was tipping down with rain but a quick stop at The Umbrella Shop (Boots) fixed that. St James Park was deserted as a result, and the squirrels were hungry. Emily managed to get one to climb up her leg for a hobnut. We went back again last weekend and I managed the same trick. Squirrels are awesome.
  
  While stuck on a train thanks to a Network Rail cockup, I finished the V for Vendetta graphic novel, which is really rather good. The film did a good job of modernising and restructuring it for a movie, I think, and the storylines diverged enough to keep the graphic novel interesting. I've now started on Arthur C Clarke's Songs of Distant Earth, which is making for good reading so far.
  
  On the 14th we went to Whitstable, a seaside town on the north Kent coast. We squeezed through Squeeze Gut Alley, went paddling in the sea (holycrapcold), then had a gorgeous lunch at a wonderfully cosy place on the high street called Samphire before walking down to the sea front again to watch the sun set and the stars come out. I have also been coveting a couple of houses I saw for sale (if only!).
  
  Yesterday I went over to my brother's place in Gravesend, along with my parents, as he and his girlfriend had invited us over for dinner. Rabbits were petted and lasagne and white chocolate cheesecake were eaten. Again with the coveting of a full size house :)
  
  I've also been discharged from the physiotherapist since I've been making (slow) progress and there's not really anything else they can teach me to do in one-on-one sessions like I've been having. So I have the advice to continue my daily exercises and motivations, gradually increase the amount I'm walking (and scale back if having trouble), and eventually ween myself off the knee straps I have to wear. I think overall it's been quite positive, and I did 6km yesterday with only some minor niggles. I was doing about twice that each weekend before the trouble started last autumn, and I did 20km in Kenilworth before Ayacon last year, which I suspect was probably the root cause of all this trouble, if not just ageing physiology.
  
  This entry was originally posted at http://flexo.dreamwidth.org/4794.html.

  
  

• Using repoze.profile in a Pylons project

  Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:04:10 GMT

  What with Google Code Search having been closed down, and the Pylons documentation largely broken since that project merged into Pyramid, it took a few leaps of faith on my part to figure out how to set up profiling on a project using the repoze.profile middleware.
  
  project/config/middleware.py:
  

  from repoze.profile.profiler import AccumulatingProfileMiddleware
  # ...
  def make_app(global_conf, full_stack=True, static_files=True, **app_conf):
      # Configure the Pylons environment
      load_environment(global_conf, app_conf)
      # The Pylons WSGI app
      app = PylonsApp()
      #Profile the app
      app = AccumulatingProfileMiddleware(
          app,
          log_filename='profiling.log',
          cachegrind_filename='cachegrind.out',
          discard_first_request=True,
          flush_at_shutdown=True,
          path='/__profile__'
      )
      # Routing/Session/Cache Middleware
      app = RoutesMiddleware(app, config['routes.map'])
      app = SessionMiddleware(app, config)
      app = CacheMiddleware(app, config)
      # CUSTOM MIDDLEWARE HERE (filtered by error handling middlewares)
      # ...
  

  
  
  Then go to http://localhost:5000/__profile__ for the stats. It looks like this might be rather helpful as of writing, but we shall see now I have it set up.
  
  Edit: You'll need python2.6+ for the pstats module, which caused me some trouble (yes, I know it's 2012), but seems to have paid off. I've already got some nice juicy stats that have exposed at least one function that's taking longer than ideal.
  
  This entry was originally posted at http://flexo.dreamwidth.org/4593.html.

  
  

• EOY

  Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:59:21 GMT

  End of year post! Precisely six things happened this month.
  
  Doctor Who
  
  On the third, Emily and I went to the Doctor Who Experience in Kensington (London), which is open until February and I would thoroughly recommend if you're looking to do something cool. It starts off as a (semi-)interactive tour, as the Doctor, trapped in the Pandorica, guides the tour group through various scenarios, including encounters with Daleks and Weeping Angels. Being a super nerd, I recognised some Dalek voice clips from some of the B&W classic stories, but either way, having Daleks creeping up behind you is super awesome.
  
  After the tour, you find yourself in a museum that has some recreations of TARDIS interiors, display costumes for each of the eleven Doctors and the New Series companions, and recreations of Cybermen, Dalek props, and other (some rather obscure) classic aliens. It was all super fun.
  
  Gingerbread
  
  I made gingerbread biscuits the weekend before Christmas, using this recipe, and they turned out rather well! Emily helped me ice them the next day using a nifty improvised ... icing... squirt... thing... made out of greaseproof paper, and they were SO AWESOME.
  
  Mushrooms
  
  I bought some mushroom kits at the end of November and they've started to pop up some tasty toadstools. The Oyster mushrooms came up first, and the button mushrooms are in charge at the moment - they shall be joining a pizza tonight, most likely. The chestnut mushrooms seem to be taking their time coming through, but I have a few nubs so I assume something's working. They're not going to be cost-effective compared to buying from the supermarket, but opening the blinds every morning and seeing how much they've grown is fun enough to make up for that deficit.
  
  Southbank Christmas market
  
  This has been going for a few years now and it was here once again this December. There was a merry-go-round (which Emily and I couldn't resist going on), food stalls selling mulled wine, ostrich burgers, bratwurst, and a whole plethora of other foods; wood carved giraffes for sale, jewellery, stripy socks, and much more. I'm not sure how I can make that last part sound less like an advertisement, but we'll run with it.
  
  Knee
  
  I visited the physiotherapist again and I have some 'motivations' and 'exercises' to try to improve my knees, along with another appointment for the middle of January. I had one day over Christmas where my knee was a little too painful to walk about much on, but other than that I just get a tweak in it every so often, and sometimes my left shin and ankle feel like they're about to get pins and needles. At any rate, I'm impressed that the NHS is able to fit me in so regularly; I know it's what they're there for, but you hear stories. Hopefully in 2012 I'll be able to get back out and about more regularly.
  
  Christmas & Birthday
  
  Over Christmas I stayed at my parents' place, and so did my brother and his girlfriend. We had goose for Christmas dinner, a break from our usual tradition of duck. It was the first time I've had goose; it was a much less strong flavour than duck, and behaved a bit more like turkey. Also it was huge.
  
  On the 28th I turned 27 and we went out for dinner in Greenwich, after seeing a short show at the Greenwich Observatory. I can now identify Orion's belt, and learned that all the planets are seen along one plane in the sky, which makes sense when you consider their orbits. It was a good show with a good presenter. Dinner, at a small place called Inside, was also good. I had Thai spring rolls followed by pheasant on a potato and spinach gratin, then pear sponge cake for desert.
  
  My haul of gifts this year included Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day and Veg Every Day from my parents for Christmas and Birthday respectively, in addition to Doctor Who new series 6 on Bluray for Christmas, and a small bay tree and rosemary plant for my birthday. James gave me House season 7 for Christmas and Bill Bailey's Part Troll for my birthday. Emily gave me the V for Vendetta graphic novel for Christmas (which is rather addictive reading), and for my birthday Songs of a Distant Earth (Arthur C Clarke) and the promise of dinner out at a rather awesome-sounding place that will make a following journal entry for sure.
  
  Happy new year, everybody!
  
  Spoiler: the world doesn't end. (The Mayan Calendar just loops back around to zero. It'd be like the Y2K or 2038 bug if the Mayans still existed and also had computers.)
  
  This entry was originally posted at http://flexo.dreamwidth.org/4288.html.