Google+ Your Name

Made up by the email I just got from Google:

Love it, I now have https://plus.google.com/+AnthonyStenhouse/

Handling Multiple SSH Keys

I recently blogged on Creating a Digital Ocean Droplet, today I want to cover how I solved my need for multiple SSH keys so I can keep my work public key separate from my Digital Ocean account.

Having only one SSH key I wanted another for my Digital Ocean account.

You'll need a console.

cd ~/.ssh folder
mkdir digital
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "you@<youremail>.com"

Generating public/private rsa key pair.Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/<you>/.ssh/id_rsa):  <Press Enter>Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):<Enter your passphrase>

The key will be create, move it to your required folder:

mv id_rsa* ./digital

Initialise it:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/digitalocean/id_rsa
Enter passphrase for /Users/<you>/.ssh/digital/id_rsa:
Identity added: /Users/<you>/.ssh/digital/id_rsa (/Users/<you>/.ssh/digitalo/id_rsa)

Verify your keys are visible:

ssh-add -l
2048 <hash> /Users/<you>/.ssh/digital/id_rsa (RSA)
2048 <hash> /Users/<you>/.ssh/anotherdomain/id_rsa (RSA)

Repeat as necessary. Then add your key to your server so your login is simple ssh <user>@<ip> no password required.

Creating a Digital Ocean Droplet

I've recently started tinkering with Digital Ocean, it's my first time working with a VPS from scratch and I wanted to document my progress and hopefully it'll help someone else along the way.

To learn more about Digital Ocean you can visit their feature page, its all there. Pricing is reasonable, perfect for starting out.

Lets begin.

Each Digital Ocean server instance is called a Droplet, prices double with each droplet size and server options increase gradually.

Droplet creation page

I'm happy with the $5 a month option and went ahead in creating one of these, simply add a hostname, select your server location (Amsterdam, San Fran or New York) and select an image:

Digital Ocean image options

The choice of image simply means the base operating system your server will use. I went for Ubuntu 12.04 x32 as I have a lot of experience with this OS.

The 'Applications' tab gives you the ability to use a default Ubuntu 12.04 image with a mixture of popular apps pre-installed, such as Ruby on Rails or Wordpress. I prefer to manually install my packages and opt for the default image.

Next up you can add an SSH key to allow password less login from your console. This will add your public SSH key to the server on load meaning all you have to do is type 'ssh root@<server-ip>' and your in.

At this point I had a problem, I only have one SSH key installed on my Mac and I use this for work, although using this would work fine, I just don't want to use it here. I need a multiple SSH key solution!

I will follow up on this post with how I solved this in a future post.

Either use an SSH key or don't, if you don't you will be emailed your root password to your contact email that DigitalOcean has on record, be sure to change this immediately* as noone but you should know this.

Finally ensure 'Enable VirtIO' is left enabled, it'll improve your performance and click create droplet.

* To change your root password connect to your server: ssh root@<server-ip> and enter the password you have been emailed. Once connected type 'passwd', enter your root password again and then type in your new password twice.

If you want a perfect password you can use: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

Which Google Profile? Too many Google Profiles!

Which Google Plus profile?

I admittedly never got onboard with the Google Plus system when is first came out, just another social network, another list of people to add, another thing to keep on top off.

Fast forward to now and I have three different profiles, all in various states doing nothing but confusing people who want to connect with me. At least twitter and facebook keep things simple.

So it's time to get on top of this. I have:

My GMail profile: https://plus.google.com/105907100628372383178
My Domain profile:: https://plus.google.com/112075740270814385736
My Work (FreeAgent) profile: https://plus.google.com/112196355610051965611

I want:

<One Profile> - That people who want me can reach me on.

Though it's never easy! Why? well I am using all three for very different things..

Gmail Profile: Android phone + all 'bonus' features this provides
Domain Profile: My blog
Work Profile: Hangouts + all things Google (We love Google at FreeAgent)

Well it turns out that Google helpfully adds your domain name to your domain based G+ page:

Though I do not expect anyone to really pay much attention to this, as when you are prompted to 'add to circles' only your name and picture is given.

Granted a different picture could be used, but I have none to hand and I am happy with what I am currently using.

My new plan is to kill my domain accounts G+ page, move my contacts over to my GMail profile and leave my works profile as is. This at least limits me to two profiles which can be more readily maintained.

I have went for this as my domain does not use my G+ profile in any way. Simple really.

Reading up on Googles support docs, killing a G+ profile is straight forward but it does say 'Your Google+ profile will be deleted along with other services and data that depend on your Google+ profile.', it does not allude to what this means!

Steps:

Deleting my entire Google+ profile
What to do:
Sign in to Google+.
Click on your full name or email address in the top-right corner of your screen.
In the Account Management section, click Delete profile and remove related Google+ features.
Select Delete your entire Google profile.

As it turns out, once you get to the delete page the option 'Delete your entire Google profile' expands to say what is removed:

Yet at the bottom it still adds 'Other Google products which require a profile will be impacted'. The link given gives no further information to help either.

*Clicks Accept*

Right, after biting the bullet the jobs done and I added in some feedback:

And that's it, my domain G+ profile is no more. Should I wish to create a new G+ profile I can do on plus.google.com at any time.

Next up I need to get on top of my remaining profiles, add / manage the contacts and add some content!

2 Quick Tips

Work with smart people. You will learn a lot.

You don't realise what you know until your up against it, then you can really excel.

Bonus: You allowed to be exhausted after a long day of hard work. Go home and relax.

Want to get more stuff done in a day?

Of course you do, we all do.

Start by writing down all the tasks you need to get done.

Next number them from one onwards based on your view of its priority.

Now, take the first 5. That's your TODO list for today.

I prefer to do this on the train home, making my plans for tomorrow.

When you get something done score it off. That's an accomplishment, you'll feel good, move on to the next one.

Completed your list? Have some down time, you deserve it.

Still got time in the day? (be honest) Move onto #6.

Didn't get it all done today? No problem, that's what tomorrow is for.

Write your list, number it, work on it.

You'll get more done than just 'trying hard'. You'll also feel better about yourself and have visible achievements.

Take it one step further, signup to something like http://idonethis.com/ or use http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist/

Now you can archive your achievements, now you have a place to reflect on your hard work. Use this to drive yourself.

Take it easy though. 5 is a good maximum.

Eat the crusts first

The strangest thought occurred to me last night whilst eating pizza, eat the crusts first, the bit a lot of people do not enjoy (Yes, some do but that's not the point), you get that out the way and your left with the delicious and easy middle bit.

This though reminded me of something that my late grandmother always said - do the hard work first leaving the easy jobs to last..

Its too easy (See there's that word again) to do the easy jobs first, they are the quickest to do but the pay off is only ever short lived. Do the hard jobs first and the sense of accomplishment is well worth it and longer lasting.

Start the day doing that thing you are not looking forward to and finish it with those jobs you would have preferred to do in the morning, a big win followed up by smaller wins should send you home for the evening happy. :-)

Well at least that's my thoughts. It was a good pizza..