Month: January 2025

How to quit Amazon

Posted on by rchapin

I have considered quitting Amazon over the past few years, however Jeff Bezos recently kowtowing to Trump was the last straw.

Will it end up costing me more money to purchase some items and will it take longer for me to get them? For sure, but I am willing to live with that.

The first thing that I wanted to do was to get my purchase history. Often time, I will search through it to remember something that I bought in the past. It seems that Amazon offers a way to download a CSV of that data.

How to download all of your purchase history

  1. Login to Amazon
  2. Rollover Accounts & Lists and towards the top of the list select Account
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the Manage your data or similarly titled section. The YouTube video that clued me into this was only a year old and the verbiage on the page was different in the video
  4. Click on Request your data
  5. Click on Your Orders
  6. Click Submit request
  7. You will then be sent a confirmation email in which will contain a link that you will need to click on to start the process

The web page to which the confirmation email took me read

We will provide your information to you as soon as we can. Usually, this should not take more than a month. In exceptional cases, for example if a request is more complex or if we are processing a high volume of requests, it might take longer, but if so we will notify you that there will be a delay.

So, it could take up to 30 days to receive an email from them with the link to download your data.

Alternatives

Part of the problem of Amazon is that it is so good at aggregating products and has become the defacto product search engine. The fact is that most of the products on Amazon can be found through other online retailers.

Just search for what you want online and scroll past the Amazon links :).

There are also other “product aggregation marketplace” retailers

  • ebay: ebay used to be primarily for used and hard to find items that people would bid on, but there are now many retailers that are selling new products there.

I will expand this list as I find and use them.

My jq cheat sheet

Posted on by rchapin

jq is pure awesomeness. If every you want to “grep” through JSON data on the command line, this is the tool for you. Unfortunately, I don’t use it everyday, so when I do go to use it I forget the details for doing some basic operations.

Sample Data

[
    {
        "name": "Homer Simpson",
        "occupation": "Nuclear Safety Inspector"
    },
    {
        "name": "Marge Simpson",
        "occupation": "Mayor"
    },
    {
        "name": "Milhouse Van Houten",
        "occupation": "Student"
    },
    {
        "name": "Homeboy Van Somebody",
        "occupation": "Lawyer"
    }
]

Filtering

Often you will have json and you’ll want to filter out all objects that do not meet some criteria.

Selecting objects with a specific value

❯ jq '.[] | select (.name == "Homer Simpson")' sample.json 
{
  "name": "Homer Simpson",
  "occupation": "Nuclear Safety Inspector"
}

Outputting a new JSON object based on the input data

❯ jq '.[] | select (.name == "Homer Simpson") | {character_name: .name, job: .occupation}' sample.json 
{
  "character_name": "Homer Simpson",
  "job": "Nuclear Safety Inspector"
}

Using a regex

❯ jq '.[] | select (.name | test("Home"))' sample.json 
{
  "name": "Homer Simpson",
  "occupation": "Nuclear Safety Inspector"
}
{
  "name": "Homeboy Van Somebody",
  "occupation": "Lawyer"
}

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on by rchapin

This is a recipe by Samantha Seneviratne.

Ingredients

Topping

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered (about 3 large)
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup packed grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or vegetarian Parmesan (optional)
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Filling

  • 3/4 cup French lentils
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 8 ounces sliced mixed mushrooms, such as button, cremlnl and shiitake
  • 1 large leek, white part only, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

  1. In a large pot, bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes to boiling water and boil for about 15 to 20 minutes, until soft; a knife should go in with almost no resistance.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a 10-inch oven-safe skillet with high sides or an enameled cast-iron braiser over medium-high heat, bring the lentils, thyme and 2 cups of the broth to a simmer with 1 teaspoon salt. Reduce the heat and continue to cook the lentils, partly covered, until they are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Transfer the lentils to a bowl.
  3. Finish the topping: In a small saucepan or a microwave oven, heat 6 tablespoons of the butter and milk together until butter melts. Drain potatoes well and return to pot. Using a masher or a ricer, mash hot potatoes until smooth. Mix in the hot butter mixture and sour cream just until blended. Stir in 1/2 of the Parmigiano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and set aside.
  4. Finish the filling: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in the 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until they are deep golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add leeks, carrots and garlic, and continue to cook until tender, another 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the tomato paste and stir, cooking until it is well combined, another 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle flour over the mixture, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups broth, cooked lentils and peas, and cook until thickened. Remove thyme stems and stir in lemon juice to taste.
  5. Top the mixture with dollops of the mashed potatoes, then spread them out over the top. (Or transfer the lentil mixture to a 3-quart casserole dish and spread into an even layer, and top with potatoes.) Sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano. Transfer to the oven and, if the mixture is at the top edges of your pan, set a foil-lined baking sheet underneath the pan to catch any drips. Bake the pie until the potatoes have begun to brown and the edges are bubbling, about 30 minutes. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

© 2005 Ryan Chapin