How to import products to Magento using Magento’ Advanced Data Profile Product Import
So, I'm writing this and such because, for the life of me, I could not find proper instructions to import a bunch of items into Magento via their native importer--maybe another day I'll write up a guide on how to do this with a 3rd party interface...
Either way, here's what I did to get about 2600+ items imported with images!
Now, this "guide" will be assuming a few things:
- You have a working Magento store
- You know how to generate a CSV file
- You're familiar enough with Magento to navigate it's administration section
- You understand your server's file system and can upload files to said server
- You have this Import Product and Category plugin installed.
Apps to live by
I'm always searching for cool apps to make my life easier/better/cooler. Lately, I've come across quite a few and have had a little cash to actually buy some that are worthwhile. I thought I'd compile a list here to share, to get suggestions, and just so I had them all written down.
Also: If you have any suggestions/alternatives/other categories you want to see, please let me know!
Web Development
Mac
Gradient - $4.99 - Create CSS3 gradients without hassle
Pencil - Free - Wireframe a website with ease
Coda 2 - $75 - By far the best code editor for web development I have ever used. Just read through the site. You'll understand.
Transmit - $34 - The fanciest FTP client you can use and it's well worth the price. One thing: Finder mounted SSH connections. The end.
iPhone
Prompt - $7.99 - Need a terminal to connect to a server? Yeah you do.
Music
Mac
iTunes - Free - Obviously...
Vox - Free - Super non-intrusive music app that just works. Import the music you want to listen to and just listen.
iPhone
CarTunes - $4.99 - By far the best app for listening to music while you're driving; everything is gesture based so you really don't have to finagle with your iPhone/iPod while driving.
8tracks - Free - Playlists you can stream on the go. What's not to like?
PowerTimer - Free - Power Hour. 'Nuff said.
gMusic - $1.99 - Play music from your Google Play account aka probably your whole iTunes library.
DropTunes - $0.99 - Stream music from your Dropbox account, if you're into that sort of stuff.
Note-Taking
Mac
Evernote - Free - Take notes/pictures/video/audio all in one. Tagging/categorizing/etc. So awesome.
nvAlt - Free - A fork from Notational Velocity that syncs with Dropbox and SimpleNote for simple note taking. Markup support = awesome in my book.
iPhone
Evernote - Free - Take notes/pictures/video/audio but from your phone!
Utility
Mac
NameMangler - $9.99 - For when you need to batch-rename files. I do this so often manually (aka renaming 100+ files one-by-one) that this was a must have. Pricey, but worth every penny.
BetterSnapTool - $1.99 - Snap windows all around your Mac's screen. Similar to the functionality in Windows 7, but a bit more powerful.
CheatSheet - Free - See what key combinations you're using on your computer. Kind of handy when you accidentally press something and your computer wigs out.
DockDrop - Free - Drop files on this dock icon and have it immediately upload any sized file to a personal server/WebDav/SCP/Flickr(pictures only). Super simple. Super awesome.
ScreenGrab - Free but no longer available (I have the .prefPane if you're interested) - Automatically upload screenshots to a personal server when you press Cmd+Shift+3 or Cmd+Shift+4 and place the URL on your clipboard.
Alfred - Free - Quick Launch just about anything, do math, and much more all from a simple key command.
AppTrap - Free - Asks to delete associated files when uninstalling an application (dragging the app to the trash)
Notifications
Mac
Growl - Notifications for hundreds of applications.
NowPlaying - Free/$1.99 - Currently playing song in iTunes pops up as a Notification Center alert when a song starts. Get it free here?
iPhone
Prowl - $2.99 - Basically, you can use this to get alerts for just about anything on your phone. It's pretty damn handy. I use it with wordpress to send updates when someone submits a post to DestroyTheCyb.org!
Pushover - $3.99 - Similar to Prowl but with a much more complex system. IFTTT has this as an option to use, so I use it for various weather notifications.
Slice - Free - Get notifications on any kind of delivery that provides updates (Amazon, UPS, etc.). You can even set it up to auto read from your inbox and pull UPS/FedEx/etc. from your incoming e-mails.
Misc.
iPhone
Gas Cubby - $2.99 - Track your MPG/usage/etc. for your car. Tune-ups too!
Dayta - Free - Stats for anything you want. Requires you to input almost everything about what you want to track, but exporting and setup is pretty seamless.
WolframAlpha - $1.99 - Your favorite "solve everything" website is now on your phone. What more is there to say?
Tomorrow, I go to Chicago
Through hard work and maybe a bit of magic, I managed to create an internship out of my freelance job that I've had for the past two months. It's a totally legitimate internship doing what I love: developing/designing the web.
The company? ColorJar. They're made up of a bunch of awesome guys and gals who work in and around Chicago, and are, apparently, very happy to have me working for them.
Last Friday, we figured out the details and GVSU's CIS internship coordinator approved it, and now I just need to get the proper documents signed and dated, then turn them all in. I cannot express how excited I am about this. Not only am I working for a fantastic company, but this is opening doors in my head for my future.
So, I'm heading to Chicago tomorrow night to stay with some friends, then working Wednesday with the guys at ColorJar.
This... this is quite amazing.
Eating a smaller lunch kind of rocked
Typically, I find myself eating a pretty decent sized lunch during the week. With classes, work, an internship, and everything else bogging down, things get pretty dark and bitter in my mind if I don't eat something--small or large--but usually it's a pretty hefty lunch. I kind of made a habit out of it, and, despite noticing this effect, I usually get really... "food coma-y" afterwards which is never a good thing when you have two hours of classes ahead of you.
So today I decided to have a smaller lunch. Just a small six-inch sub from Subway in Kirkhof, and as I was finishing the sub, I realized I didn't feel like crap. I wasn't thinking "just eat the last two bites and you'll be good." No, I was thinking, "Oh, I'm done and I feel pretty full."
For some reason, I felt compelled to write about it. So now you know.
...
It was a pretty good sub...
A new year, a new semester
It's 2012 and I didn't even do a "year-round-up" post. How sad.
I had a weird thought about international phones over break, though. Specifically regarding what I would do if I ever travelled internationally. I know that O2 is a big proponent overseas and if I ever went to London or Bristol or something--dreams of mine--would I have to switch to someone like them to keep my iPhone working? The thought occurred to me as I travelled to Phoenix to visit my friend Russ and the constant on/off of my phone when on the plane has me going on and on in my head about why you have to turn you phone off... but that's neither here nor there.
And now the school year has started and my life is back on track to being "insanely all over the place," which I don't mind too much. It keeps me busy, keeps me driven, and keeps me on a schedule. Of course, the added stress of 12 credits (three 300-level courses and a grad course), 18-20 hours of work for the OSL, GVTV, and Comic Book Club is there, but it all means that I'm doing something. All of the time.
One cool thing, I can say, is that this semester I don't hate any of my classes. Truly. I have a real interest in each class, which means I probably should kick some serious habits of putting off my homework all of the time because I actually do want to learn something.
Now onto something more... life altering: I graduate in December of this year. As in: I'll be done with my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, which means I'll be getting a real job (or something that will pay for my life outside of student loans). Talk about something that is, obviously, scary and utterly exciting. Hell, in the last month, I've had two job offers on the phone, a friend of mine asking me about an internship/future job, and have gotten business cards from a handful of people who are generally interested in talking about jobs once I graduate. It's ridiculously overwhelming.
The reason for my anxiety being that despite knowing everything I already know, I have no choice but to expect that college is where my learning will end and that I will definitely need to learn more before I graduate. It's incredibly intimidating. Despite that, I am taking two courses this semester that will most definitely broaden my horizons on C, Ruby, and Lisp--something I consider a step in the right direction.
sigh It's only the first week of the semester, and there's already "a lot" on my plate. So, I've decided (just now) that I will, in the words of 1939 Britain (and Rupert Grint, I guess), "Keep Calm And Carry On."
I know it's not WWII, but it works.
Meanwhile, there are a thousand things going on
Christmas crackers. I have been busy. Not much more to say than that.
I've gotten into the habit of creating what I call "Forever lists" via Wunderlist and it's helped me more than I can say. I typically start my week with 10-12 items, build up to 18-25 (depending on the week) and narrow the list down to 5-8 by the end of the week. It's pretty damn nice, to say the least. The beauty of it is that I can use Wunderlist across every device I have.
And now I'm, for some crazy reason, running for GVTV president at the end of the semester (aka a week and a day from today). So that's on my plate. Basically, I just want to clean the organization up and make things work... better. We'll see.
On the side, I'm writing a screenplay for a full length movie. It's a weird concept and I keep getting lines of dialog or small conversations and I keep jotting them down in Evernote in hopes that one day--maybe over break--I'll be able to piece together the vague plot I have and stick the dialog I have in there and make it all work. I'm aiming for like 100-120 page. le sigh
All in all, though, things are pretty much fantastic so I really can't complain.
Plus I'm going to Arizona at the end of December. So there's that awesomeness.
Until next time.
Who I am, How I Do Things | September 2011
My name is Mike Rapin. I'm twenty-two years old, living in Allendale, Michigan. I attend Grand Valley State University and am in the (final) process of gaining a degree in Computer Science with a minor in Information Technology.
I currently work part-time for GVSU's Office of Student Life as their Student Technology Manager and am a freelance web developer. I am also the Web Design intern for West Michigan's PBS/NPR affiliate, WGVU. For free/cheap, I assist my friends and/or anyone who comes to me with computer issues.
I am the president of the Comic Book Club of Grand Valley and the New Media Director of GVSU's student-run television station, GVTV. Both are elected positions I have held for over two school semesters.
I run and co-own a website, DestroyTheCyb.org!, that posts reviews of comic books, movies, and music. As co-owner, I have been in charge of editing, advertisement, designing, and maintaining the site and it's content as well as hiring and keeping in contact with writers. As a site, we have been featured as small press at the San Diego Comic Convention.
I have written two television shows for GVTV, Jeff & Mike Write A Comic Book and mat42dr, as well as a handful of sketches for the GVTV sketch-show Randomish!. I have directed a sketch on Randomish! ("Joe is sad"), starred in four episodes of Jeff & Mike, and have directed seven episode of mat42dr--with plans to direct nine of the eleven (possibly twelve) episodes that remain.
As a writer, I have participated in NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, 52-52, and have written my own zine. I am currently working on a new issue of my zine that should be released sometime this month.
I read comics like a fiend. Marvel and Image, for the most part--any X-Men, Invincible, Walking Dead.
I am an strong user of social media websites, particularly Twitter (@mikerapin), Tumblr (tumblr.mikerapin), foursquare, instagram, reddit, and facebook (mikerapin). I am most easily reached on Twitter.
I am a Mac user, and I currently run 10.7.1 Lion on my black Macbook (circa 2008). As a web developer, I use Coda and the OS X Terminal for any and all programming. Image editing is normally done by me in Adobe Photoshop CS5.5. I manage the music I have through iTunes, with Bowtie as an assistant. I use Dropbox on a daily basis, and the official Twitter application as well. I check my e-mail through Sparrow and launch application with Alfred. For writing (zine/non-scripts), I use the Mac OS X application TextEdit (in plain-text mode), and Celtx for scripts.
I own an iPhone 4 running the iOS 5 beta 7. I update the twittersphere using Tweetbot, check into foursquare with the official foursquare app (occasionally EightBit or Forecast), post to Tumblr with the official Tumblr app, IM others with the imo.im app, chat Facebook friends with the official Messenger app, and post what I'm listening to using TweetMusic and/or soundtracking. I use CarTunes to listen to music when driving, manage files with Dropbox, edit scripts with Celtx, read books with iBooks, check my bills with Pageonce, stream music through 8tracks/DropTunes/Audiogalaxy, picture myself using Everyday, receive periodic notifications with Prowl and Boxcar, edit and take pictures with Camera+ and Instagram, take notes with PlainText, control my computer with HippoRemote LITE and MochaVNC, and manage my calendar with Week Cal. Occassionally, I play DropZap 2 and Words With Friends.
I can be contacted through e-mail at rapin.michael@gmail.com.
Anonymity and Reputation
There was an interesting discussion in one of my CIS classes this morning regarding anonymity on the web and it brought up some heated debate. I've gauged that half or more of my class is familiar/have been on 4chan and/or are users of Reddit. To a point, this is good to hear as they're avid internet users who probably hold some of the same values as I do regarding the web, coding, everything that 4chan/Reddit can instill on a person.
Strangely, though, there was a debate on anonymity. More specific, this debate was on anonymity being the same as cowardice.
Zine Fest — Really quick
Just a few words about the Chicago Zine Fest I kind of went to but didn't:
- Chicago is awesome. I can't get over it. I spent two and a half days there and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
- Zinesters are the most interesting bunch of people you could ever meet.
- I managed to give out 12/30 of my zines to people I doubt I will ever see again, and I'm almost jumping with joy because of that. And I managed to do that without making it to the actual zine fest on Saturday, but instead to the awesome after party.
- There were five more people than I expected (expectation: 0) who walked dogs for a living and had a serious passion for it.
- Kuma's Corner is totally worth an hour and a half wait.
- Getting lost in Chicago strengthen's your knowledge of the public transportation system.
- Google Maps lies to you and smiles about it.
- Sometimes, bars play Adult Swim TV shows (read: Robot Chicken) on their big screens which means they get a better tip.
- Amanda Stevenson and I have no sense of direction... ever.
Zine Fest and some procrastination
C2E2 was last weekend. It was pretty fantastic. I'm just being lethargic about writing a post on DestroyTheCyb.org! about it. I may get around to it this afternoon when I have some free time.
My good friend Amanda Stevenson performed some magic and got my zine printed at a super discounted price for this upcoming weekend--The Chicago Zine Fest. I have yet to staple the 30ish copies, but they're sitting in a pile in my bedroom staring at me. I'm starting to realize that all of the emotion and angst I put into that little booklet is now in print and maybe, just maybe, someone is going to read it. It's a bit intimidating.
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
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| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
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@MikeRapin
- RT @rk: Instead of #ff, I'm going to say you should sign up for @friday5– automatically donate $5 to a different charity every friday. 17 hours ago
- Woohoo! Going to Chicago twice in June! #fb 18 hours ago
- RT @Matthew_Bremner: If you say "women are statistically less interested in comics than men" when talking about women in comics, you're doi… 18 hours ago
- RT @a_j_r: current status: build the project every time the bass drops in the current song I'm listening to. 18 hours ago
- mmmmm eggs and pepperoni chips for breakfast. 19 hours ago
