SHROP

I despise having to test websites and web applications in IE, but it is a necessity at times. I found a great way to do this in Linux and OS X using the IEVMS project. This project leverages the fact that Microsoft provides VirtualPC virtual machines for web testing. The install process downloads the Microsoft virtual machines and then converts them to VirtualBox compatible virtual machines. There are some very basic requirements for the install process, including VirtualBox, curl, unbar (Linux only) and patience.

I recently found this little nugget and had to share. This setup allows you to see your current git branch in your terminal prompt.

My new job entails a lot of virtual office time. As a result, I have a number of chat related clients always running on my Mac. The main clients are Messages (beta), Colloquy and Skype. I really want to let my co-workers know when I am away or available, but it is a real pain to set each client manually every time.

Working with Drupal means that may timestamps are formatted as Unix timestamps. I created a simple Alfred extension to make it simple to convert Unix timestamps to a human readable date/time format. This Alfred extension uses Growl to display the results.

Download the extension and double click to install.

If you are interested in Alfred, check it out at http://alfredapp.com. I highly recommend it!

The best projects scratch an itch or fulfill a want or need. I have been wanting to work with the Drupal Feeds module and Drupal 7, but that wasn't enough to get me started.

In the never ending goal to make sure I can restore and keep up with my systems' apps and configurations, I started a github repo this year to list them. The hardest thing about this is to make sure I update the repo as soon as I make a change. As long as I do this, I am set.

If you follow my tweets, you know I have a love affair with Alfred. Alfred is a great app launcher/search tooll for the Mac, but with the PowerPack, it is much more sophisticated.

I am a huge fan of Alfred app (http://alfredapp.com). It is easy to create custom searches with Alfred App. I created two searches for searching the UNC Charlotte faculty/staff/student directory. For additional functionality, there is also a faculty/staff reverse phone lookup. Check them out below. Clicking on the links should allow you to install them. Just type "unccdir" in the alfred search box to begin searching the campus directories!

For the third year in a row, I had the pleasure of attending DrupalCamp Atlanta. I look forward to this event every year because it is well planned, organized and a true value. The other reason, I look forward to attending is hanging out with my wife, @mrsshrop before and after the event on Saturday.

Ed Ross (http://blog.edross.co.uk/) contacted me a while back to interview me on his "Blatant Follower Promotion" podcast. I knew Ed was working on this podcast where he is interviewing all of his Twitter folllowers one by one. My ego couldn't turn him down (just kidding). Seriously, I have to say that this is a brilliant idea. In the sea of podcasts, this hit me as an original podcast which will provide an opportunity to meet some people who I may want to follow on Twitter.