My website
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Storing dotfiles in GitHub Revisited
A while ago, I wrote about using a bare git repository to manage my dotfiles. That worked somewhat well, but it had some shortcomings. Since, I've started using a new utility. -
Python Context Managers
One of my current projects involves some improvements to code that I wrote last year – specifically enhancing the “Patient Identity Fixer”, which is my pet project of sorts. I plan on adding support for a new API that was recently released, but an improvement that I was looking forward to the most was one to boost performance by adding HTTP sessions and connection pooling. A patient with a single MRN in a single system involves at least 11 calls to the EMPI API. Each additional MRN adds 5 more calls, and some patients have a dozen MRNs from the various facilities in the Health System. Creating an HTTPS session for a single API call was taking between 600 and 1000 milliseconds – almost a full second for each API call! You can see how this adds up quickly!
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PowerShell for Data Transformation: StringData
To borrow from a favorite web comic: whenever I learn a new skill, I concoct elaborate fantasy scenarios where it lets me save the day. Actually, it feels like I don’t need to concoct elaborate scenarios, the scenarios seem to find me after I’ve coincidentally learned an applicable skill.
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PowerShell for Data Transformation: XML
This one bugged me for a few days. I don't think this script is the best solution to the problem at hand, but it was still fun to figure out. -
PowerShell for Data Transformation: JSON
My team at work has a custom FHIR resource that we work with often called an Operation Outcome. We generate one of these for nearly every record we process, and we also generate versions of these with statistics after a batch is processed. The version of the resource for a record operation includes both the raw incoming record and the transformed outbound record. If we're uploading a document, these outcomes can get large. Recently, one of my teammates was trying to get diagnostic information and reconstruct a document that failed to transmit. He was having trouble loading the file into his editor to pull out the pieces he needed because of the size of the file. -
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) Trivia of the Day
a.k.a. Why I Don't Use Nano -
Raspberry Pi Zero W "Busy Light"
COVID-19 has us many of us working from home. My husband and I are both fortunate enough to be in this group. However, as a teacher, his schedule is very predictable. Mine, however, is not. I don't like leaving the door to my office closed all the time, and it's not always easy to tell when I'm on a call because I'm not always the one talking.
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Raspberry Pi Setup Script
When I set up a Raspberry Pi, there are a few things that I have to do right out of the gate to make things easier on myself. They involve putting a few files on the sdcard to make the initial setup easier:
- ssh
- wpa_supplicant.conf
- set_up.sh
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Storing dotfiles in GitHub
While I don't use Linux as my primary operating system, I do use it a lot both at home and at work. It can be frustrating to try to sync up configurations between different hosts or even just figuring out how to make a new laptop work like an old one. I remembered that some coworkers at my old job had some way of storing all of their dotfiles in Github to make this easier. It took a bit to figure out the best way to make this work. -
Nitro Cold Brew at Home!
Anyone who knows my husband or me knows that we really like our cold brew, and they also know that we make our own at home. Nitro cold brew has become a bit of a trend. I had some for the first time in months last week, and I decided to see what is involved in making my own at home. It turns it, not a lot. You just need a mini-keg, some nitrogen canisters, and some regular cold brew to infuse with Nitrogen.
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OpenVPN On Raspberry Pi
So you want to run an OpenVPN Server on a Raspberry Pi? I did too, but it wasn't easy to figure out the first time. If you want to skip all of this and do it the easy way, head over to https://pivpn.io/ for the one-line script. If you want to dive in, understand what's going on, and configure it your own way, keep reading.