tinyproxy, proxy autoconfigs, stomach pain, LSU, and guns
So I have a dilemma at work. I read my personal email with Squirrelmail (web based mail running on my own server at home). I refresh the folder list every 30 seconds to see new messages coming in. Well, as you might imagine, a 7-10 hour work day with an every 30 second refresh time means that 840-1200 times a day the work proxy server requests the same URL on my home web server. This isn't exactly what I want to draw attention to at work. Even if I only actually read it for 20mins out of my work day tops, it looks like much more. Add to that any bloglines reading, and a random web page here or there, and I probably look like I don't get any work done with all the web traffic from my desktop machine. The work proxy also feels the need to block certain URLs (many of which are harmless), and I don't enjoy their censorship.
So, to avoid unwanted attention and filtering I set up tinyproxy (SSL tunneled and firewalled of course) on my home server. I then use the proxy auto configuration option of popular web browsers (firefox in my case - naturally.. none of that Internet Explorer crap) to redirect non-work web pages through this proxy server.
The file looks like;
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (shExpMatch(host,"*.work.net")) {
return "DIRECT";
}
if (shExpMatch(host,"*.otherwork.net")) {
return "PROXY proxy.otherwork.net:8080";
}
return "PROXY proxy.home.org:8080";
}
Put that in a file on a web server, and then point your autoconfig url at it. The first entry says anything ending in work.net does not use a proxy server. The second entry says anything ending in otherwork.net uses the proxy server proxy.otherwork.net on port 8080. The final entry says anything not matching other entries default to the proxy server proxy.home.org on port 8080. I won't get into the details of setting up the proxy itself or the SSL tunneling.. but maybe this will help others stop annoying and prying IT staff from ruining their web browsing at work.
I've had some odd stomach pain since last night that seems to be fading in and out. I can't figure out what the heck is wrong at the moment. I have some odd stomach problems from time to time, but this isn't like them. I'm hoping this will pass tomorrow, it's starting to annoy me.
So ASU's football game against LSU this weekend that I mentioned previously has been moved to Tempe. In exchange the 2008 game ASU has scheduled against LSU will be played in Baton Rouge instead of Tempe. Well, since Lori is an LSU fan, and I'm an ASU fan, we will be attending (assuming I can get tickets, I have a feeling this one will sell out since all proceeds are going to the hurricane relief fund). The AP and Coaches' polls both have ASU at #15 today, and keep LSU at #5. LSU is definitely going to be the favorite, but I at least hope for a good game. I just hope the crowd doesn't favor LSU due to the hurricane (think Yankees 2001 World Series, even though we're talking different cities here), let's see the gold shirts out in full effect. Go ASU!
After a long Monday (even if it is Tuesday) at work I went out shooting with Brian and Chris. We went to the indoor range in between Stapley and Mesa Dr off US 60 in Mesa. I got to shoot the full range of Brian's handguns (and Chris' Glock). The most interesting is always the .44 Magnum (think Dirty Harry), and the most pleasant being the .40 Sig Sauer. Various sized guns and calibers were shot in between, but none leaving the impact those two do. I managed to hit the target from 75 feet this time, and make a few body hits from 50 feet. My aim definitely leaves something to be desired, but nothing a little practice couldn't help.
labor day weekend
Well, the weekend is over.
Before I write a book about the weekend and how it went, I just have to say;
U S A!!!
The USA Men's Soccer team beat Mexico 2-0 to get a guaranteed berth into the 2006 World Cup. Woohoo!
It was a good weekend so it is sad to see it come to an end. The weekend started out with sleeping in on Saturday morning, and then a bike ride around Tempe. The bike ride ended with a anything-but-graceful crash in the garage, which resulted in a disgustingly black and large bruise on the underside of my right arm. I also was fortunate enough to receive a mild sunburn on my arms. After that, Lori and I headed to the mall in Chandler for some shopping. We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, where I must warn you to never get the full sized salad. We were both starving, and neither of us came close to finishing the lunch sized portion. The full size is double that. I bought some new sun glasses (broke the old ones), a new watch (been wanting another one for a while now), a couple pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, some more cologne, and a spare charger for my iPod for work. All in all a good bi-yearly mall trip.
After that we headed out to the Pink Pepper for some thai food in Mesa. The chicken curry was pretty bland (we ordered it as a 3 out of 10 on their "hot scale"), but the pork with pineapple salsa was VERY good (got that one as a 5 out of 10). I have leftovers of both currently stinking up my fridge. We also had some fruity drinks that were .. well .. fruity. I'll skip that part next time.
Sunday was an especially good day since it wasn't the last day of the weekend. It's funny how that works. Sunday consisted of a lunch at California Pizza Kitchen where I had a sicilian thin crust pizza (also stinking up my fridge), and Lori had a BBQ Chicken pizza. Both were really good, even hers with the onions. That night I went out to P.F. Chang's with my family for a dual mother's birthday / brother going away dinner. Hrm, I think I'm eating out too much as I write this, what do you think? We then had creme brulee (home made of course) at my parent's house for dessert. They re-did the lighting in the kitchen which was really odd to see. It had looked the same for more than 20 years, so the change was a bit of a shock.
After my parent's a group of us headed out to CK's for some drinks. Dan, Marcella, Eddie, Denise, and Chris were there when Lori and I arrived, late, of course. We had to be fashionable, right? Lori had a migraine, and was not feeling well at all but decided she wanted to go anyways. We only lasted a couple hours because of it, but had a ton of fun seeing everyone anyways. It was extra entertaining listening to the bad cover band then getting soaked by the misters while trying to hide from the band outside. I really did think Marcella was going to kill the singer =).
The most entertaining thing about the whole night is how many people admitted to reading this blog. It's not that entertaining guys, really.
Then yesterday was a pretty lazy day of sitting around and relaxing. Lori napped part of the day to sleep off the migraine, but we hung out in the evening. I finished up watching Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, and watched Taking Lives. I hadn't seen Taking Lives, but the twist was kind of predictible. Star Trek was oddly unexciting to me, I guess it just doesn't have the same appeal as 4-5 years ago. Maybe it's because I can finally see how horrendous Shatner's acting is.
I could NOT sleep this morning, and now I can't seem to get myself in the shower. I've been up since 5:05am, and here is it 7:35 and I'm still messing around on the computer. I guess it's time for work.