2017 on Camping Coder

Review of Duragloss 501 RV Polish

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 00:00:00 -0500

Ratings
Link to product
Would we buy it again?	Yes
Value	Awesome
Ease of use	Easy

I’ve been using Duragloss 501 RV Polish since 2015 to protect our Evergreen travel trailer’s fiberglass. Since we’re in South Florida, we really needed a way to keep most of the outside of the camper in good condition, since the sun and weather beat on everything down here. We’ll explore how we got to this point, how to apply Duragloss 501 RV Polish, and what to expect from it.

Initializing git

Thu, 28 Dec 2017 00:00:00 -0500

git logo

Thus far in our Learning git series, we talked about an awful lot of theory and configuration, but haven’t actually used git for what git does. In this post we are going to discuss what we need to do in order to start tracking files with git. Additionally, we will review the scope of git on your files as well.

Like everything in the git-verse there’s more than one way to start using it. We will first look at a few graphical user interfaces, and then move onto the command line. For most folks the user interface is the route to go while learning git, but the command line really is easy too - it just take a little more when you’re learning.

Blue Springs State Park

Tue, 26 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

Ratings how do these work?

Name	Blue Springs State Park
Address	2100 W. French Avenue, Orange City, FL 32763
Overall	3.6
Bug
Amenities
Staff
Cleanliness
Surroundings

Regional location

Setting up git

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

git logo

In the last two post in our Learning git series, we talked about why to use git and the basic pattern you’ll find yourself using most often. In this post we are going to walk through the steps needed to get git setup and functioning on both Windows and Chrome OS. It’s becoming easier and easier to do this, and hopefully this guide will get you on the right path.

St Simons Island

Tue, 19 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

For our last major excursion before heading home from our Savannah trip, we ventured out from Jekyll Island and island hopped to St. Simons Island. From the Northernmost point of Jekyll Island, you can just make out the lighthouse with the naked eye, but driving there takes about a half hour. We stopped at two different places. Fort Frederica National Monument and St. Simons Island Lighthouse Museum. If you’re looking to check either of those out make a mental note that there are a lot of restaurants near the lighthouse, and not too many near the fort.

Thinkpad Chromebook a year later

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

Ratings
Link to product
Would we buy it again?	Yes
Value	High
Ease of use	Super Easy

I’ve been using my ThinkPad Chromebook 13 for a little over a year for multiple development activities. It all started with a an itch to try out Chrome OS and to get a half decent development machine. This is my second personal ThinkPad - the last one I actually ended up physically destroying the hard drive for because it had just become too old, but would not die. There have been ups and downs on this little experiment of mine and I hope to put out a little information for those whom might be looking at doing the same.

Jekyll Island State Park

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

Ratings how do these work?

Name	Jekyll Island Campground
Address	1197 Riverview Dr., Jekyll Island, GA 31527
Overall	3.2
Bug
Amenities
Staff
Cleanliness
Surroundings

Regional location

The git cycle

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

git logo

I like rocket ships - one of the best things about living where we do in Florida is that we get to watch the launches from our front porch. So I got to thinking, is git like a rocket ship? I busted out the doodling pad and realized yes it is - even more like one of the new reusable rockets, but that’s aside the point.

Introducing ShraderLand Designs

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 05:00:00 -0500

Along with camping and coding, I (Jessie) also craft. My decal online craft store is www.ShraderlandDesigns.com and there are a variety of vinyl decals and gift tags available!

Adventure Trackers

The coolest things in my shop are the Adventure Trackers. You know those awesome decals that people have where you add a new decal for every state you visit? Well, we don’t leave the state and I was jealous! So I designed a county map with individual decals for every county. When we visit and camp in a new county, we add a new decal! It’s definitely encouraging us to visit new areas of Florida. There are 67 counties and so much to explore! I’ve also created Adventure Trackers for Illinois and North Carolina, with more states coming soon. Different sizes are available depending on your application. We have ours right by our door on our camper, I’ve also seen them on slide outs, interior walls, and the smaller ones are neat for scrapbooks.

Intro to git - Part 1

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 05:00:00 -0500

git logo

I’ve been using git for quite a few years now for version control on my software projects. It’s pretty popular and easy to use but I continue to meet programmers who have tried it but just can’t seem to grasp it. While it’s sad to see a colleague struggling with something, it’s worst when you have them ’learning’ on a live project - no one has fun there. I’ve been lucky enough to have presented sessions on git in the past at Orlando .Net Code Camp, and figured that having a series of posts breaking down those sessions could have some value.

Forsyth Park and Downtown Savannah

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 18:00:00 -0500

On our third and final day in Savannah we started at Forsyth Park and wished we had visited it earlier. While going to the ‘park’ seems like something that you can do anywhere, it’s a bit different in Savannah. Aside from the open areas and beautiful scenery, Forsythpark has not one, but two playgrounds. Additionally, there is a indoor eatery with bathrooms nearby - important for those with kids. This naturally became the highlight of that day for the boys, and at the three year old’s request, we returned at the end of the day to the park for a little more playground time. Between the fountain, trees, and playground, this is worth a stop.

2017 Tech Nerd Reading list

Thu, 23 Nov 2017 07:00:00 -0500

I had a boss once that told me “what gets measured gets improved.” - I’m sure it originated from someone else like Peter Drucker, but it stuck with me. From about that point on, I started keeping a simple list of the books that I read every year. As the year starts to come to a close, I figured that I’d post my reading list and simple thoughts on the books. While this is by no means an extensive review, it might help in choosing your next read.

Georgia Railroad museum in Savannah

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 07:00:00 -0500

While the Georgia Railroad museum is cool for almost anyone, it’s amazing for little boys. In the weeks preceding our trip we must have watched the YouTube video more times than I’d like to admit at the three year old’s request. It was even comical that when we pulled into Red Gate campground our three year old asked “Where’s the train?”

Steam Engine

Here’s one of the steam engines - when we visited, the steam engines run on Friday and the weekends. This might change, so if steam is your thing - call to check. Otherwise, it’s diesel for you - they are cooler (temperature-wise) if you plan on riding in the cab.

303 Aerospace Protectant Spray

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 07:30:00 +0000

Ratings
Link to product
Would we buy it again?	Yes
Value	High
Ease of use	Easy

Ah I love my lists and really despise them at the same time - this is one of those moments. It’s been raining everyday for over a week and I’ve yet to complete my last maintenance and then this one popped up on the calendar. This is another review triggered by our family camper maintenance schedule, this time for 303 Aerospace Protectant. This is the stuff that we have used on hard plastics and rubbers on the camper since we bought it.

Forts and Lighthouses of Savannah

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 18:50:09 -0500

Ah, forts and things with stairs are both things that our kids love. We love that we can check box that we took our kids to historic sites on vacation, and let’s be realistic Dan loves anything with cannons. For our first day of adventures we decided to go to the Tybee Island island area to see the lighthouse and forts.

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Fort Pulaski National Monument Moat

Running Hugo on Chromebook

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 14:00:00 -0500

Update: I’ve made a few adjustments to the process in my Resetting My Chromebook Back to Stock post. Mainly script cleanup and a way to do this without being in developer mode. This post still has the basics and a lot of good info not covered in the new post.

Termux and hugo

If you read any of my post on Android apps on on Thinkpad Chromebook then you know that my primary machine is a Thinkpad 13 Chromebook. This was an artificially imposed restriction on my end, to make me do more with less. While the experience has be very pleasant there have been a few places where a ’little’ more power or options would be welcomed - that’s where Termux comes into play.

Android Apps arrive on ThinkPad Chromebook 13

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 12:00:00 -0500

Finally…

Proof!

After about a year of waiting for Android Apps on my ThinkPad Chromebook 13 they finally arrived in last night’s update. I was overly excited because just earlier that day I had been on the ‘chat’ with Lenovo asking when this would happen. The answer that I had been given at noon was that the sales team did not know when they would be enabling the feature, but then that evening poof Android apps.

Red Gate Campground

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 07:00:00 -0500

Ratings how do these work?

Name	Red Gate Campground
Address	136 Red Gate Farms Trail, Savannah, GA 31405
Overall	4.8
Bug
Amenities
Staff
Cleanliness
Surroundings

Regional location

Review of Oscar Scherer

Sun, 05 Nov 2017 12:00:00 -0500

Ratings how do these work?

Name	Oscar Scherer State Park
Address	1843 South Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 34229
Overall	3
Bug
Amenities
Staff
Cleanliness
Surroundings

Regional location

Shocking experience at Oscar Scherer

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 12:00:00 -0500

Back in July of 2017, we packed up the camper and headed to Oscar Scherer State park for a long weekend. We had the intent to visit friends on the west coast - to Floridians west coast means the Tampa side - and to lounge at the Gulf beaches. Little did we know that we’d find ourselves having a shockingly different experience.

As a side note, you can find our full review of Oscar Scherer State Park here if you’d like.

PASS Summit 2017

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 15:03:27 -0500

PASS Conference Entrance

I’ve been a member of Professional Association of SQL Server or PASS for quite a few years now and am excited to be attending the 2017 PASS Summit starting on Halloween. This year’s sessions seem to be pretty exciting.

If you cannot attend this year they have a live stream of some of the sessions and the key notes.

As one could imagine Microsoft has a huge presence here - its an association of their software after all, but the other sponsors also have had quite a presence in the past. Sometimes I feel like one of the main reasons to go is just to chat with sponsor booths because they typically have products that you don’t see in your day to day. Even the other big players in cloud services like Google and Amazon Web Services are sponsors this year for the 2017 PASS Summit.

Duragloss 531 Vinyl Protectant

Sun, 29 Oct 2017 20:30:00 +0000

Ratings
Link to product
Would we buy it again?	Yes
Value	Good
Ease of use	Medium

This is the stuff I’ve been using since 2015 to protect our Evergreen travel trailer awning. Since the camper has a vinyl awning and we’re in South Florida we really needed a way to keep it in good condition, as the weather beats on everything down here. After having to replace the last camper’s awning for about $1200 and a day of work, I really didn’t want to have a repeat on this camper.

Georgia Mile 1

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:30:00 +0000

Ratings how do these work?

Name	Jacksonville North / St. Marys KOA
Address	2970 Scrubby Bluff Rd, Kingsland, GA 31548
Overall	4.4
Bug
Amenities
Staff
Cleanliness
Surroundings

Regional location

10 PM on a Friday night on the first day of our Savannah trip we were treated to a pleasant surprise.

Savannah bound

Sun, 22 Oct 2017 18:50:09 -0500

This is a multipart series on the Savannah road trip.

Introducing CampingCoder.com

Sun, 22 Oct 2017 12:50:09 -0500

Introducing CampingCoder this is a new blog proving that programmers do get out into the wild!