Helene

Later this week I got a very nice call from Ingrid. She is going to get wed to Lars, and she wondered if I wanted to be her bridesmaid, and I said something like “Yes, Yes!”.

So yesterday I went to visit her, and she took me to a dress shop. Thank God for that for without her I probably would have gone with a very bad dress (like I did on Merete’s wedding – Sorry, Merete!). And I looove the dress!

Now, the dress is actually one size less than I am, so I just have to loose 6 kilos by autumn.

Gretchen Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project where she writes about happiness. She regularly interviews people about happiness, and asks some very good questions. So – since I don’t think Gretchen will knock on my door asking these questions, I decided to do them on my own.

What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Whenever I get the sense that something in my life is off track I do a progress meeting with myself and asks these questions:
1. What isn’t working?
2. Why isn’t it working?
3. What can I do to change it?
(4. Implement the changes)

It’s amazing how effective those questions are, and I find I even enjoy asking them and coming up with answers. It gives me the feeling of growing personally and makes me feel I have a rich inner life where a lot is happening.

What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
That being happy is something that I have to work for, in the sense that I have to take care of and be sensitive to my own needs. I used to believe that having a boyfriend, having a career etc. was going to give my life purpose, but now my happiness is all about my inner state of being.

Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
I work as a developer, and that entails creating functionality and fixing bugs on the way. During programming there’s a lot of problems that comes up that I have to solve and I connect my ability to work through problems to my worth. So if I spend a lot of time figuring out a small problem and getting nowhere, the frustration and stress levels rise exponentially. The underlying thought is that somebody more experienced would have solved it more quickly (which aren’t always correct).

If you’re feeling blue, how do you give yourself a happiness boost? Or, like a “comfort food,” do you have a comfort activity?
I used to eat chocolate, candy and chips for my happiness boost, but now I don’t any more because I have weight issues and it affects my health. I still haven’t found a way to give myself a happiness boost that replaces chocolate and cakes etc. I would love some advice here though (and don’t say exercise) . Going out to a cafe with a book and a cafe mocca is great though (but then I’m still on something connected to food and drinks).

Is there a happiness mantra or motto that you’ve find very helpful? Or a happiness quotation that has struck you as particularly insightful?
My mantra is: I’m the correct person, at the correct time, in the correct place – always!

So whenever difficulties arise or I’m having a bad time, I remind myself that I’m in the correct place. There is something to learn from that situation, or it is intended to make situations better in the long run. I just have to trust that God’s love is behind the situation.

Is there anything that you see people around you doing or saying that adds a lot to their happiness, or detracts a lot from their happiness?
Giving and/or receiving advice can sour a relationship instead of helping it. It’s a mistake I have seen in myself and others, because when we give advice we expect them to follow it, and when they don’t we can become irritated and annoyed. So the next time something similar happens to the other person we say and act: “Well, I gave you my advice, you didn’t take it, so you deserve what you got”. The truth of the matter is that we give advice according to our personality and life, but the person on the receiving end of the advice has a different personality and life, so our advice in many cases will not match. Or even more importantly, they are not ready! When people are ready, they will change their actions. Advice may help, but it will not be a breaking point in most cases. I have learned to be very careful about giving advice, and I try to do it only when I’m being asked. A more careful approach I usually take is to tell the other person about what helps for me and situations where it has helped, but nor phrase it as an advice, but as me sharing my life with the other person.

Have you always felt about the same level of happiness, or have you been through a period when you felt exceptionally happy or unhappy – if so, why?
I have fluctuated a lot. I love to travel, being a free spirit without a thought in my head and only my own needs to take care of. I lived in australia for about a year, and I fell in love with the country. Warm, sunny – I loved going outside the door and seeing palm trees. There were many options for going out and doing different activities. It’s a beautiful country, and perfect for vacation travelling.

On the other side of the specter is stress, having obligations, having people depend on my work and that I finish in time etc.

Do you work on being happier? If so, how?
Yes, I work on it several days a week. I need a lot of rest and peace and quiet around me, so I try to meditate, focus on my spiritual needs by reading etc. If a couple of days go by without doing spiritual activities, I start feeling like I’m wasting my life, that something is missing in my life.

I read books about happiness (that in itself makes me feel happier). I go to a cafe and have a cafe mocca.

I have progress meetings with myself where I sit down and spend time evaluating how my life is going.

I keep a daily journal where I write everything down – including the progress meetings. I can really recommend a journal called “The Sacred Journey“. It’s a fantastic tool for looking at how life is going, working through issues, having monthly goals and just keeping track. I don’t use it for keeping track of events etc, it’s for my personal/inner life only.

During my spare time, when I actually have time to reflect on my life, I find that I sometimes feel disconnected (especially when I’m bored). It’s like I’m disconnected from a life that gives me purpose and meaning (let’s face the facts – a nine to five job isn’t always encouraging for the creative process and personal growth), from feeling joyful for my life and I don’t feel connected to God and a higher purpose (and let me be clear: this is only occasional feelings).

I remember when I was about 13 – 14, standing on the porch, looking at the stars and already then I had a strong sense that God had a special purpose and plans for me. Now I’m 31 and I feel disconnected from time to time. So, as I always do when things are going in the wrong direction I have a progress meeting with myself and asks:
1. What isn’t working?
2. Why isn’t it working?
3. What can I do to change it?
(4. Implement the changes)

1. What isn’t working?
My religion and spirituality is very important issues in my life, so I started taking stocks. I often feel “being tired of life”, like things aren’t tasting as sweet anymore. I used to love programming, and even though I still like the challenges, I also have moments where I feel tired. Having a career doesn’t really matter as much as before.

I’m not married with kids, so no juice there (I only add that since I have the feeling so many people seem to think that having a family is the “meaning of life”).

In reality things are working well for me, so it’s not about external circumstances, it’s an inner state of being that was missing.

2. Why isn’t it working?
I’m happy, but I had been ignoring my religious interest for a while. No wonder I was feeling disconnected at times. The reason I came to this conclusion was because I was satisfied with my life, and that area was the one thing I had neglected for a while. Not to mention that my faith is the juice (well, one of them) that gives my life meaning.

3. What can I do to change it?
For the last week I have been getting connected again by reading more, meditating more and taking the necessary steps and it feels great. I read one story from Srimad Bhagavatam that really struck a cord in me regarding my dilemma:

Once, the chief of the elephants, along with female elephants, went to enjoy bathing in a lake, and they disturbed the inhabitants of the water. Because of this, the chief crocodile in that water, who was very powerful, immediately attacked the elephant’s leg. Thus there ensued a great fight between the elephant and the crocodile. This fight continued for one thousand years. Neither the elephant nor the crocodile died, but since they were in the water, the elephant gradually became weak whereas the power of the crocodile increased more and more. Thus, the crocodile became more and more encouraged. Then the elephant, being helpless and seeing that there was no other way for his protection, sought shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Srimad Bhagavatam, 8.2 Summary)

(Note: The crocodile is a symbol of lust, anger, greed, illusion, and envy.)

I could really relate to this story because life seem to make me feel helpless and certainly makes me tired at times. Life and living isn’t an easy task for most people. There are so many challenges to face, problems to solve and experiences (good and bad) to digest. The best way of dealing with life seem to be to roll with the punches, which in itself is a challenge to do without getting some scars on the way.

So, I sought God’s shelter by reading, meditating and praying which is in the same spirit of the elephant in the end. And yet again – I’m connected and feeling even better and happier. And I do think I’m on the path God have for me, just as I felt when I was 13/14.

And I was able to deduce this whole blog post from a little story about an elephant and a crocodile

is coming to Oslo, and I just bought tickets

Joy, joy! I can’t wait!

When installing Alfresco on an Ubuntu machine, CIFS doesn’t work out of the box.
First question: is Samba installed?
sudo apt-get install samba smbfs

The configuration files for file-server setups:
$ALFRESCO_HOME/tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers.xml
$ALFRESCO_HOME/tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/file-servers.properties

Uncomment these lines in file-servers.xml (though to make sure this is permanent – create file-servers-custom.xml):
<tcpipSMB port="1445" ipv6="${cifs.ipv6}" platforms="linux,solaris,macosx"/>
<netBIOSSMB sessionPort="1139" namePort="1137" datagramPort="1138" platforms="linux,solaris,macosx"/>

Set iptable rules:
sudo su
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
modprobe iptable_nat
iptables -F
iptables -t nat -F
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 445 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1445
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 139 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1139
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp --dport 137 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1137
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp --dport 138 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 1138

Check iptable rules:
sudo iptables -t nat -L

Troubleshooting options:
To check what ports are listened to:
netstat -a
Look for:
tcp6 0 0 [::]:1445 [::]:* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 [::]:1139 [::]:* LISTEN

To see who listens at what port:
$ sudo lsof -i :1139 -n
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
java 11881 alfresco 296u IPv6 60400 TCP *:1139 (LISTEN)

Another way to check if the port is listened to:
$ telnet localhost 1139
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

Resources:
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/File_Server_Configuration
CIFS Linux
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Troubleshooting
CIFS Troubleshooting

In this post I will set up the basic settings to create an Alfresco Module Package (AMP). Ant needs to be installed to make this work. This creates a skeleton AMP module that does nothing except being a module. So the first step is to create a new project in your favorite IDE.

In the Alfresco SDK there are some great examples, and one of them is named SDK Basic AMP. AMP’s have a specific directory structure that it’s wise to use. When deploying AMP’s the Module Management Tool (mmt) maps the files to specific locations in the alfresco tree. This can be a bit confusing when dealing with configuration files and if the SDK samples have solved a problem in a specific way, it’s wise to just follow that road.

1. Create a module.properties file containing these lines:
# Skeleton AMP Module
module.id=skeleton
module.title=Skeleton
module.description=Add a skeleton amp to Alfresco
module.version=1.0

This file contain module information and is to be located in the root of the amp. Usually the file is located in the IDE at config/alfresco/module/modulename/module.properties. (IDE) config/alfresco maps to alfresco_dir/tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/.

2. Create a config/alfresco/module/skeleton/module.context file:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE beans PUBLIC '-//SPRING//DTD BEAN//EN' 'http://www.springframework.org/dtd/spring-beans.dtd'>

<beans>
</beans>


This is where one puts bean initializations, bootstrap resource bundles, adds webclient configuration files etc. when needed.

3. Place class files (if you have any) in source/java/my/namespace/*.java

4. Sample build.xml for ant:
<?xml version="1.0"?>

</project>

An AMP file is a zipped archive, so if you would like to know the content of the amp then:
unzip skeleton.amp

To view the content of a jar file:
jar -tvf skeleton.jar

SDK Basic AMP example – This is the basic AMP taken from the SDK.

Resources:
Alfresco Module Packages
Alfresco SDK
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Module_Management_Tool

Requiem is an application that works on all platforms and it removes the DRM on (purchased) videos and music in ITunes. The application can be downloaded from this torrent. This is of course something Apple is not happy about, so therefore each version of ITunes works on a specific Requiem version. Thankfully the developer of Requiem updates the application to match changes made by Apple.

Now, the torrent link will soon be outdated as new versions of ITunes and Requiem is released, so therefore I also supply the search that will find the latest release of Requiem. Enjoy!