Category Archives: Hack

How to get rid of acne, pimples, or blemishes without going to the dermatologist

If you have skin problems on your face such as pimples, acne, abcesses, and blemishes. Try these methods before going to a doctor. You may find that you can get rid of acne without going to the dermatologist!

So it started out innocently enough, a few pimples on my chest but nothing to complain about. Within the next few months a few pimples here and there would show up on my face but definitely not more than 2 pimples at a time per week. Fast forward 8 months later, and I am sitting at the dermatologists getting an abscess drained, and her giving me expert advice on what kinds of things I can do to stop the acne on my face and isolated area on my chest. Im relieved when she just prescribes me a months dose of doxycycline and sends me home.

After the month of anti-biotics, my face and chest had never looked better, my pores were open and my pimples were gone. I was finally back to my old self — pimple free. Ive never really had any issues with acne, even as a teen…well not acne that would be considered out of the norm, so when all this started to hit me after I turned 29 I was surprised and to say the least, a bit unnerved. After the month supply ran out, I went back to the dermatologist for the doctor check-up to look at my healing abscess and to see how the rest of my skin was doing. She then prescribed me all sorts of meds to handle the acne should it reoccur. This is what she gave me:

-Duac Topical Gel
-Retin A Micro
-Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash
-NeoBenz Micro Wash

So I went home assured that I was ready to keep the pimples at bay should they ever show their “face” again ha ha. Well, two weeks later, my face was breaking out, my pores were all clogged, red, and rashy, and it felt like I was going to get another friggin abcess. So rather than let all that happen, I started applying everything the doctor gave me but the Retin A micro. It just freaked out my skin and made it all go bonkers. My skin started to look like it was being run through a chemical bath. Back to the dermatologist I went, and again she gave me more doxycycline but in less potent dosage. I was beginning to understand that fighting acne was more art than science, and seemed like dermatologists like to shoot from the hip by first prescribing a cure-all such as doxycycline, and then other junk to see if it can control the acne.

I was getting somewhat desperate, because none of the stuff was helping my face and each visit to the dermatologist cost me money…Then it hit me. Why didnt i try and figure out why I had acne and what was causing it in the first place? Why didnt I use the same type of thinking that I normally do with everything and be cheap and just do it myself. So this blog post is about how I cured myself of acne and should have done it before I went to the doctors in order to save me money. Hopefully this helps you as well.

So, I sat down and started to research and just read as much as I could. Acne could be caused by genes, stress, diet, environment, etc…basically everything. Well, I knew I never had problems with it in the past, so I started to think about what may have been causing it to happen in the first place. I realized that ever since I turned 27-28, Ive been getting more and more dandruff…not bad dandruff, but flaking nontheless. So along with this dandruff, I remembered using anti-dandruff shampoos. Namely head and shoulders, pert plus, and was currently using selson blue (none of them helping but I was still hopeful). I began to research and learned that anti-dandruff shampoos like to mess with your internal hormones and like most other soaps, facewashes, shampoos, and things that lather, contain something called sodium lauryl sulfate…basically a commercial lathering agent.

I decided if I was going to troubleshoot my situation I would need to start a baseline and slowly introduce factors which may lead to the problem. I was going to cut out all types of chemical weird stuff and go “granola.” My wifes coworker also told her about using vinegar as shampoo by mixing 20% vinegar with 80% water. I researched this and found that lots of people actually do this but prefer to use apple cider vinegar instead. Along with using this new apple cider shampoo, I needed a face wash (I was using cetaphil at the time, but it seemed to do nothing at all to help my condition), and learned that this shampoo would be great as a facewash as well! Its cheap, I can make it myself, and best of all, it doesnt contain much if any chemicals.

So heres what I did…I started with a clean slate by taking the new prescription of doxycycline and getting my face as cleared up as it could be (the doxycycline kills bacterial infections on the skin which cause pimples). At the same time, I started my granola regimen with the ACV and used only that to wash my face and shampoo my hair. After 2 months of using the vinegar mixture as a facewash and as a shampoo, my pores stayed open and my acne started to go away. The only place I had pimples was around my mouth area from udner my nose and above my chin. This was a marked improvement, as before, pimples would be everywhere on my face so I knew something was working.

I couldnt understand why pimples were only appearing in that certain area till I started realizing that my pimples would flare up a few days after I shaved. I was using an electric shaver which vibrated as it cut the hairs on my face. Maybe this was causing it somehow? I swapped it out for my wifes disposable leg shaving razors and after two weeks, I had no more new pimples. Was it really my dandruff shampoo causing my face to break out? Was my shaver causing my face to break out as well? The answer after months of battling this acne was YES.

*Update: 8/09/2012 – It turns out I was wrong. It so happens that after about 2 weeks of use, the blades would get dull and I would begin getting pimples in the area where I would shave. I figured out that with dull blades, the pulling motion of the razor would actually pull the hairs out a bit and then cut them, then allowing the remaining part of the whisker to pull back into the original hole where the hair was growing from…Only it would also pull back bacteria into the hole with it and thus cause a pimple. I decided to test my hypothesis by using an alcohol wipe on the area where I shaved, and to clean the razor with the alcohol wipe right before I shaved. What I found was that I had no more pimples whether using a straight razor or an electric one (or whether it was dull or sharp). So if you get pimples while using a razor, clean your face and razor with some alcohol/water solution before shaving…no more pimples!

I think what happened was as I aged, my body became increasingly sensitive to the chemicals contained in the products that I had been using without a problem for so long. It wasnt like i was really doing anything different, but my body was slowly getting more sensitive and irritated by what I was using. My friend who also had an issue with this instead just took accutane and it cleared up her acne as well, but I decided to try a more natural way vs taking something as potent as that.

Anyways, washing hair with vinegar sucks, it doesnt lather, it smells like butt, and its just plain gross (although the smell is gone once its washed off). I needed to get a shampoo that I could use, and figured I should get something natural and didnt contain SLS, so I found one at walgreens for 8 bucks. I wanted to make sure it was actually the chemicals causing my acne from the shampoo, so I just got a cheap one without SLS and without the chemicals contained in the anti-dandruff shampoos. After using it for over 9 months now, I can honestly say that using shampoos without SLS has been so much better for me.

When I was using shampoos WITH SLS I didnt realize it was causing my eyes to itch and made me sneeze everytime I got out of the shower. I never realized it till I used shampoo without SLS. So after using it for a while, I knew it was my anti-dandruff shampoo that was causing my face to go bonkers because my acne never returned. Im not sure if it screwed my hormones like I learned anti-dandruff shampoos could do, or if it was just an irritant, but I dont care to find out. Im also very happy that im not suffering from any type of irritation caused by Sodium Lauryl Sulfate/Sodium Laureth Sulfate. My dandruff is still there, but I would much rather have the little unseen flakes compared to another friggin huge abscess.

So to summarize what to do if you have acne and you are trying to figure out how to get rid of it, Follow these steps below (YMMV):

1. Stop using shampoos with Sodium Laryl Sulfate or Sodium Lareth Sulfate.
2. Stop using anti-dandruff shampoos immediately (they only cause problems)
3. Stop using an electric shaver on your face (the vibration really irritates the skin and caused me pimples)
4. Stop using any prescribed acne medication or facewash (unless your dermatologist says you need it for a medical reason) no matter how gentle it says it is (I used cetaphil, and it gave me trouble – it also had SLS in it)
5. Buy Apple Cider Vinegar at a grocery store, and get an empty water bottle. Mix 20% ACV to 80% water. Use this as a shampoo and facewash for 2 months.
6. Once youve found that you dont have new acne, you may try introducing a new shampoo without SLS into the mix so you dont have to use ACV as a shampoo anymore. But keep using the ACV as a facewash (im still currently using it with better results than any other facewash ive used)
7. Test SLS-Free shampoo for a week. if you see no ill results, continue using it (I have been using this shampoo for about a year now, and it works great!).

This should work for people who were in the same situation as I was, where doxycycline cured the acne, but the acne reoccured after a week or two. One might need an initial consultation with a dermatologist to get a prescription of doxycycline in order to kill the bacterial infection which is causing the acne in the first place before they can start the granola treatment above. I believe I had to stop the bacterial infection on my skin causing the acne first, in order to reset my skin back to normal before I truly found out what it was that was causing my acne.

So to summarize, create a baseline and get rid of any artificial products that could create clogged pores/alter hormones which in turn facilitates the growth of bacteria which causes acne. Once you have that baseline, slowly introduce products till you see which one is causing it. But if anything eliminate SLS from your skin products as much as possible. Im pretty sure you will see a difference like I did.

Disclaimer – As always, this information is what worked for me and may or not work for you. I make no legal claims or anything of the sort that this will cure you of your acne, and I can not be held liable for any health issues that arise out of the suggestions above.

Configuring the OBiHai OBi110 to replace a linksys spa-3102 as a google voice and pstn gateway using asterisk 1.4

If you were looking for how to configure the SPA-3102 with Asterisk 1.4 click here.

All the rage in the VOIP world is the Obihai obi110 voice gateway device, and while due largely to its native integration of google voice, I believe it’s because it does quite a bit for a very reasonable cost (Under $50 from here!). And while just good news for asterisk 1.8 users, this is great news for asterisk 1.4 and 1.6 users! The Obi110 is essentially a user friendly linksys spa-3102 with a slightly watered down interface, with the addition of native google voice support (and setup wizards!). It is somewhat less capable in functionality (no router feature, or independent trunking capabilities with asterisk, etc.) but for my purposes, I decided to give it a try to see if I could replace my spa-3102 and found out that it could quite easily.

The obi110

I have a simple asterisk 1.4 based setup with several extensions located around the world. The main goal is for my family to connect to my system using their iphones, computers, voip devices and make calls to the US and also to receive calls with local DID numbers to their extensions. My previous setup with the linksys spa-3102 allowed them to use my ooma device to call out as an outgoing trunk, however I wanted to see if I could add two trunks to my setup and give my users the flexibility of outgoing call redundancy if they so desired (choose to call out through GV or my Ooma).

Below is my guide for setting this up.

Pre-requisites:
-Network connectivity to the obi110 and ability to administer its local web admin page and setup through obitalk.com.
-Physically connected pstn service (ooma, telco) to the obi110 local Line port (Note: if line port is disconnected, the obi110 will report the lines as busy even if just calling out through GV when the SP2 local dialplan shown below is specified).
-Newest version of firmware on the obi110 (as of 03/21/11 version 1.1.0 (Build: 1892))

Configuration:
I found that it is much simpler to initially set up the obi110 through the obitalk.com portal and then to disable auto-provisioning and make customized changes to the web admin afterwards.

Google Voice Trunk setup – obitalk.com portal
1. Goto obi110 device portal after you have successfully registered your hardware to your user account on obitalk.com
2. Configure Voice services for Service Provider 1 and select Google voice
3. Enter in your google voice email and password.
4. Make sure to put a checkmark to make this provider the default Line to call out.
5. Click submit and wait for your ob110 to reboot

Asterisk Trunk setup – obitalk.com portal
1. While still logged into the Obitalk portal, configure the Voice service for Service Provider 2 as a generic service provider (this will essentially act as an extension to asterisk)
2. Enter in your asterisk server information
3. Click submit and wait for the obi110 to reboot.

Asterisk Service provider 2 Trunk

Configure Dialplan on Obi110 device and disable Auto Provisioning
Thats all there is to setting up obi110 trunks! Couldnt be easier right? Now for the small dialplan customizations to make the incoming and outgoing calls route properly.

1. Log into your obi110 device through its web admin (enter in the devices IP address in a web browser. default user/pass is admin/admin)
2. Disable Auto-Provisioning by expanding the System Management Tree on the left pane, then clicking on the Auto Provisioning link and set the Auto Provisioning Method to Disabled. Click submit and reboot (if not disabled, your changes will get overwritten).
3. Expand the Voice Services Tree to the left and click on the SP1 Service link
4. Under X_InboundCallRoute enter in SP2 and click on submit (this routes all calls coming in from GV to your asterisk extension).

Service Provider 1 Local Dialplan

5. Under the Voice Services Tree to the left, click on the SP2 Service link
6. Under X_InboundCallRoute enter in {>(xxx xxx xxxx):sp1},{>(1xxx xxx xxxx):li1}  and click on submit

Service Provider 2 Local Dialplan

The above line in Step 6 routes any 10 digit calls out through GV (configured as SP1), and any 11 digit calls starting with 1 out through the local line port…In my case, through my ooma device). The reason you will need to do this is because unlike the spa-3102, there is no seperate interfacing for asterisk to trunk to the different Service providers which the obi110 can be configured. Instead, asterisk needs to send the dialed number in a way where the obi110 can then determine to which interface it will send its calls. In this case, I will have asterisk format the numbers to be only 10 digits if a user wants to call out through GV, and append a 1 to the 10 digit number if the user wants to call out through my ooma. Once asterisk does this and sends the number to the obi110, the obi110 will then direct the call accordingly depending on if there is a 1 in front of the number – a little hurdle, but easy enough to work around.

Double checking your Asterisk configuration settings
1. Under the Service Providers Tree to the left, click on the ITSP Profile B link
2. Make sure the settings are correct for the SIP and RTP sections. Most likely you will have to modify your RTP LocalPortMin and LocalPortMax settings to match your current asterisk RTP port range.

Thats all there is to configuring your local OBi110 device. The next steps are just to configure asterisk with the user you specified in the obitalk.com service provider 2 settings, and to create a dialplan which handles the numbers so that obi110 can route the calls appropriately.

Below is my user configuration for asterisk 1.4 so that the Obi110 can register to it. ‘gvtrunk’ is my username and ‘password’ is the password which I specified in my Service Provider 2 setup on the obitalk.com portal. Place this in your sip.conf or users.conf file.

[gvtrunk]
username = gvtrunk
fromuser = gvtrunk
secret = password
type = friend
disallow = all
allow = ulaw
allow = alaw
allow = gsm
context = gv-in
host = dynamic

Next we have to edit our extensions.conf file and to tell asterisk what to do with our calls. Below, any call the user makes whether be it 1XXX-XXX-XXXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX will be routed out to the obi110 and then through google voice. This is because I have asterisk removing the 1 digit the user has dialed so that the obi110 dialplan will route the 10 digit number to GV.

In this dialplan I also have any number with a 9 dialed before it sent out to the obi110 as a 1XXX-XXX-XXXX number. If the user has dialed a 9XXX-XXX-XXXX number without the 1, asterisk will append the 1 in front of the number to make it an 11 digit number so that the obi110 can route the call through the local line port (and out through my ooma).

_XXXX is needed because my internal extension numbers are 4 digits long. I need this so that any numbers longer than 4 digits go out appropriately and are not seen as internal extensions.

[ob110-out]
;make outgoing calls to gvtrunk with 10 digit dialing
exten => _XXXX.,1,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN}@gvtrunk,20)
exten => _XXXX.,n,Hangup()
exten => _XXXX.,n,Congestion
;make outgoing calls to gvtrunk with 11 digit dialing
exten => _1XXXX.,1,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN:1}@gvtrunk,20)
exten => _1XXXX.,n,Hangup()
exten => _1XXXX.,n,Congestion
;make outgoing calls to gvtrunk through ooma with 10 digit dialing
exten => _9XXXX.,1,Set(CHEXTEN=${EXTEN:1})
exten => _9XXXX.,n,Dial(SIP/1${CHEXTEN}@gvtrunk,20)
exten => _9XXXX.,n,Hangup()
exten => _9XXXX.,n,Congestion
;make outgoing calls to gvtrunk through ooma with 11 digit dialing
exten => _91XXXX.,1,Dial(SIP/${EXTEN:1}@gvtrunk,20)
exten => _91XXXX.,n,Hangup()
exten => _91XXXX.,n,Congestion

How to handle inbound calls from GV with Asterisk
The last thing we need to do is tell asterisk how to handle inbound calls from Google Voice. In my user setup above, I specified gv-in as the user context. This just tells asterisk where to go and how to handle the incoming calls from the obi110 device. Place this in your extensions.conf file and modify it accordingly.

[gv-in]
exten = s,1,answer
exten = s,n,wait(1)
exten = s,n,Dial(SIP/4000,20)
exten = s,n,wait(1)
exten = s,n,Voicemail(4000,u)
exten = s,n,Hangup

Above, I have all calls from GV calling my extension 4000. Just change it to your desired extension.

Thats all there is to it. It may look complicated, but the dirty work is done for you…Enjoy!