<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*sLbFtMbvU0kJIdKCf4gNnQ.png" /><figcaption>The future is here</figcaption></figure>This is the simplest example that will let you upload multiple images to the GPT-4 Vision API. Just copy/paste and make sure your .env has OPENAI_API_KEY.Without further ado:<pre>npm install fs openai dotenv</pre><pre>import fs from &#39;fs&#39;; import OpenAI from &#39;openai&#39;; import dotenv from &#39;dotenv&#39;; dotenv.config(); async function askAboutImages(imageFilePaths, prompt) { const openai = new OpenAI({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY }); const imagesContent = imageFilePaths.map((image) =&gt; { const imageAsBase64 = fs.readFileSync(image, &#39;base64&#39;); return { type: &#39;image_url&#39;, image_url: `data:image/png;base64,${imageAsBase64}`, }; }); const response = await openai.chat.completions.create({ model: &#39;gpt-4-vision-preview&#39;, messages: [ { role: &#39;system&#39;, content: prompt }, { role: &#39;user&#39;, content: [ ...imagesContent, ], }, ], max_tokens: 1000, }); console.log(&#39;RESPONSE HERE&#39;, response.choices[0].message.content); } (async () =&gt; { await askAboutImages([&#39;test.png&#39;, &#39;test-2.png&#39;], &#39;What is in this image?&#39;); })();</pre>This example will work in JavaScript or TypeScript<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=5161d9d3d754" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/how-to-upload-images-to-openais-gpt-4-vision-in-node-js-5161d9d3d754">How to Upload Images to OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision in Node.js</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Upload Images to OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision in Node.js

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*BLVIa1O_89i1Ppp2" /><figcaption>Neither is drinking or smoking weed</figcaption></figure><h3>TL;DR</h3><blockquote>1. Reduce time on screens. Screens are shiny objects that are visually sucking your focus.</blockquote><blockquote>2. Spend some time COMPLETELY alone. No music. No phone. No people. No books. Just sit and get bored.</blockquote><blockquote>3. Spend time with friends and family. Without screens. Just shoot the shit and laugh.</blockquote><blockquote>4. Get enough sleep. But not too much. Studies have shown that the sweet spot of sleep is between 7 and 9 hours. Not for LeBron though, lol.</blockquote><blockquote>5. Exercise. After you exercise it’s impossible not to feel relaxed.</blockquote><h3>I Was Working a Lot</h3>I spent the other day working from 6AM to 1AM.I didn’t feel like I made any progress in my work either.By the time I went to bed I felt so exhausted I felt like I was drunk. I’m sure you’ve experienced this yourself a few times.When I woke up (late) I felt like I couldn’t do anything and needed to relax.But I wasn’t sure how to relax. I spent most of the day just looking at my phone or computer, but not “working”.But I didn’t feel all that relaxed. My wife and I decided to go to bed early. The next day I woke up feeling great.It took more than a whole day to recuperate. Surely it shouldn’t take so long.<h3>In Order to be Successful, You Need to be Relaxed</h3>Andrew Huberman once explained that you cannot always be “on”, and that you need at least 2 hours of unfocused time for every 1 hour of focused time.LeBron James sleeps 12 hours a day.A boss once told me that you need downtime to have uptime.Everyone can agree that in order to be successful, you need to be relaxed.It’s common sense.<h3>How to Relax?</h3>What is the proper way to recuperate? What is the proper way to have downtime and uptime?But how? I have some ideas:<ol><li>Reduce time on screens. Screens are shiny objects that are visually sucking your focus.</li><li>Spend some time COMPLETELY alone. No music. No phone. No people. No books. Just sit and get bored.</li><li>Spend time with friends and family. Without screens. Just shoot the shit and laugh.</li><li>Get enough sleep. But not too much. Studies have shown that the sweet spot of sleep is between 7 and 9 hours. Not for LeBron though, lol.</li><li>Exercise. After you exercise it’s impossible not to feel relaxed.</li></ol><h3>But Will You Actually Do it?</h3>I have done a lot of thinking about reducing my screen usage.But I haven’t done a lot of doing.My average screen time is 8 hours per day.It’s too much and I feel it my bones.Our society is feeling it too.I need to figure out a strategy to succeed.<h3>Set Rules for Yourself</h3>I look with awe at the Jewish tradition of disconnecting from electricity on Friday and Saturday.I need to copy that tradition in some way.I do have some rules already that really kick ass.<ul><li>Work out at least 4 times a week</li></ul>Hm, I guess that’s the best one. lol.Another great idea is just go outside and sit alone for some time.Another is go for a stroll with my wife and son every day.I like the last one the most.Let’s see if I do it.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=8465b5d9997f" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://byrslf.co/staring-at-a-screen-is-not-relaxation-8465b5d9997f">Staring at a Screen is not Relaxation</a> was originally published in <a href="https://byrslf.co">Be Yourself</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Staring at a Screen is not Relaxation

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/750/1*WI30JRDUNGuDDKWXrIvu7A.jpeg" /></figure>TL;DR:<ol><li>Frontend asks provider for code. It usually lasts for 10 mins.</li><li>Frontend forwards code to backend.</li><li>Using code, backend asks provider for access_token. It can last a long time.</li><li>Backend forwards access_token to frontend.</li><li>Frontend uses access_token to make requests to provider,</li></ol>With Github as an example:1. You set up an OAuth App with your provider. This will give you a Client ID and a Client Secret. You will need to provide a callback url, which must be the same as the redirect_uri in the following steps. It is the page you want to redirect your user to once they enter their username and password.2. In your frontend, user clicks “Login with Github”.3. Your frontend goes to a url that goes to:<pre>https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize?client_id=CLIENT_ID&amp;scope=PERMISSIONS&amp;redirect_uri=SOMEURL&amp;state=SOMERANDOMSTRING</pre><ul><li>This is the step where the user will enter their username and password.</li><li>The client_id you retrieved from step 1.</li><li>The scope is a space delimited string that indicates what permissions your app wants.</li><li>The redirect_uri is what is explained in step 1. It is generally your app’s homepage once the user is signed in.</li><li>The state is a random string that your app generates. It gets returned back to you for you to verify.</li></ul>4. Upon approval by the user, your app will open again because that’s what you provided in your redirect_uri . The url will also have a code parameter and a state parameter. Your frontend should verify the state parameter is the same one you sent, and then send a request to your backend with the code parameter.5. Your backend sends the code, client_id and client_secret to Github in a POST request like so:<pre>https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token?code=CODE&amp;client_id=CLIENT_ID&amp;client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET</pre>And receives an access_token in return. We do this in the backend because we don’t want to provide our client_secret to the frontend.6. Your backend sends the access_token as a response to the request made to it by the frontend in step 4.7. Your frontend uses the access_token in the Github api.Done!There is a lot missing here. I’m only specifying the most popular OAuth flow, Authorization Code, but there are several others. Also, OAuth providers can vary in their flow and parameters.If you found this article useful, don’t forget to hit the clap button below.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=5d3a8e15c5c1" width="1" height="1" alt="">

A Simple, Quick Explanation of OAuth

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/480/1*77rE3Ey9A_u-ADjXmLchdQ.jpeg" /></figure>This article assumes knowledge of the <a href="https://awstip.com/what-is-aws-cdk-and-how-to-get-started-4729cd025719?source=rss-c90d1a1a4351------2">basics of AWS CDK</a>.This is the fastest and most maintainable way of deploying a cloud container:<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/7dac5c2849b8e92ccb48236d56e82416/href">https://medium.com/media/7dac5c2849b8e92ccb48236d56e82416/href</a></iframe>Things to note:<ul><li>We’re restricting incoming traffic to only your IP. This is because the intent of this example EC2 is for a cloud dev environment. If you have other intentions, you can modify the security group rules.</li><li>We’re using a custom CDK resource provided by <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/cdk-ec2-key-pair">cdk-ec2-key-pair</a>. This custom resource generates an SSH private key in AWS Secrets Manager which you can receive with:</li></ul><pre>aws secretsmanager get-secret-value \</pre><pre>--secret-id ec2-ssh-key/EC2SSHKeyPair/private \</pre><pre>--query SecretString \</pre><pre>--output text &gt; MyEC2KeyFile</pre>Just make sure your user has access to the secret with keyPair.grantReadOnPrivateKey(user) I omitted this part from the snippet because there are myriad ways you can retrieve that user.<ul><li>We’re using the default VPC.</li><li>We’re creating the instance with the latest version of Ubuntu.</li><li>We haven’t specified which user has access to the EC2 instance. If you want to let the end user modify the ingress rules, start stop the container, or see the IP address of the instance without needing admin support, you would need to grant a policy document to the user with those permissions.</li></ul>To SSH into the EC2, just cdk deploy , let the instance start up, copy the IPv4 address and SSH using the private key you generated.For those of you that use VSCode for Mac, this would be:<ul><li>In ~/.ssh/config paste:</li></ul><pre>Host MyEC2Instance</pre><pre> HostName EC2.IP.YOU.COPIED.EARLIER</pre><pre> User ubuntu</pre><pre> IdentityFile ~/.ssh/MyEC2KeyFile</pre><ul><li>Then click on the green button in the bottom left hand corner of VSCode and follow the prompts.</li><li>Select folder and you’re in!</li></ul>If you found this article useful, please click the clap button below.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=7d07b3f66099" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/creating-a-cloud-development-environment-with-aws-cdk-7d07b3f66099">Creating a Cloud Development Environment with AWS CDK</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Creating a Cloud Development Environment with AWS CDK

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/561/1*ustPSn1ksNhJ4OOx8YHIlg.png" /></figure><ol><li>Go to the AWS Simple Email Service (SES) console <a href="https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/ses/home?region=us-east-1#/homepage">here</a> and select Create Identity. The email or domain associated with this identity will be able to send and receive emails.</li></ol><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/157/1*rGA0Y5WmsghAME693DSp1g.png" /></figure>2. Follow the steps to tie the identity to a custom domain or just your email. If you go the email route, you should then receive an email with a verification link. After clicking the verification link, that email will be authorized to send emails, but only to other verified emails. To be able to send emails to anybody, you need to request production access3. To request production access go to your Account Dashboard in SES and you will see:<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/850/1*jinpS72oXCaAEKqXfN7lOA.png" /></figure>Click Request production access and fill out the prompt. This is what I did:<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/837/1*5ZNcdc5qMRMZz-wVd5JJUA.png" /></figure>4. Setup your subscription trigger. This can be anything that can call the SES API. I’m going to use a Lambda API endpoint that gets hit when a user submits their email. The best way to set up a Lambda is with AWS’s Cloud Development Kit (CDK). You can read more about CDK <a href="https://awstip.com/what-is-aws-cdk-and-how-to-get-started-4729cd025719">here</a>. The key bit of setting up the Lambda is this:<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/21639e69f3cc05dd302d83731fafb77d/href">https://medium.com/media/21639e69f3cc05dd302d83731fafb77d/href</a></iframe>Line 34–38 is what allows the Lambda to send an email. You will also notice that we have defined an SES Contact List. This will let SES automatically handle un-subscriptions.5. Then we want to actually send the email from the Lambda endpoint:<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/8ad5f78546db328da64e2c471e76261c/href">https://medium.com/media/8ad5f78546db328da64e2c471e76261c/href</a></iframe>The most interesting thing to note here is that we have an unsubscribe link in our email. This is something that AWS SES handles automatically.6. Now, when our API Endpoint PUT /signUp is hit with a body that has a toEmail , a welcome email automatically gets sent to the toEmail.If you found this article useful, don’t forget to hit the clap button below.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=390f6a3f9825" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/how-to-send-automatic-welcome-emails-using-aws-390f6a3f9825">How to Send Automatic Welcome Emails using AWS</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Send Automatic Welcome Emails using AWS

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/956/1*0Mq_Ow2k9O7dWJ71XbIZaQ.png" /><figcaption>From <a href="https://www.dasithsblog.com/blog/easily_deploying_cloud_infrastructure_via_CDK/">Dasith’s Blog</a></figcaption></figure><h3>What is AWS CDK?</h3>AWS CDK is the easiest way to deploy to AWS in a pain-free, consistent way. Known as Infrastructure as Code (IaC), it lets you create, manage and delete your AWS resources without having to monkey around in the AWS Console.Here’s a quick example of deploying a Lambda behind API Gateway with a domain name:<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/34f6efc0f7d8f485dc3113b74b356ea0/href">https://medium.com/media/34f6efc0f7d8f485dc3113b74b356ea0/href</a></iframe>CDK is so great, it’s able to explain itself. If you make changes to this code, AWS will automatically change the respective resource. If you delete that Lambda code, for example, the Lambda will be deleted.Bottom line: CDK is the best and easiest way to use AWS.Under the hood, this code will generate a CloudFormation YML template that gets read by AWS. CloudFormation has been around for awhile, but is notoriously unreadable and unable to elegantly handle conditionals, variables, and all of the other nice things a general programming language has.<h3>How to Get Started with AWS CDK</h3><ol><li>Follow <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-prereqs.html">these instructions</a> to get an AWS account and setup with AWS CLI.</li></ol>2. Open ~/.aws/credentials and ensure your Access Key ID and Secret Key are configured correctly:<pre>[default] aws_access_key_id=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE aws_secret_access_key=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY</pre>3. Run cdk init app --language javascript in the root of the repo that you want to deploy to AWS. Languages supported by CDK are: csharp fsharp go java javascript python and typescript . This command will generate a template directory structure and technically isn’t necessary if you know what you’re doing, but is best to use while starting out.4. cdk deploy to deploy your stack code within the generated lib directory.That’s technically everything you need to get started, but I’ll help you out with some tips, tricks and info.<h3>Tips, Tricks and Info</h3>5. In our Lambda example, you’ll want to make sure the src directory has its own package.json, package-lock.json , and node_modules/ for dependencies referenced in the Lambda.6. If you’re working on multiple stacks for different AWS accounts (e.g. one for work, one for personal) you DO NOT want to accidentally deploy to the wrong account, so I like creating a script in my package.json at the repo root:<pre>&quot;deploy&quot;: &quot;cdk deploy --profile personal --require-approval never&quot;</pre>This means by running npm run deploy you are able to deploy your app with ease. Just make sure you rename default to personal in your ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config .7. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s not necessary to run cdk init and sometimes not even ideal, like if you have an existing project and you don’t want to mess with the structure too. I actually prefer not to run cdk init and instead do this:<ul><li>npm install aws-cdk --save-dev</li><li>At aws/stack.js define both my stack and CDK app in 1 file</li><li>Add properly configured bin object in package.json that points to above file</li><li>Create properly configured cdk.json at repo root that points to the same file.</li><li>Add the following to .gitignore:</li></ul><pre>.cdk.staging</pre><pre>cdk.out</pre><pre>cdk.context.json</pre>You can use what cdk init generates to get an idea of what “properly configured” means.8. See <a href="https://github.com/aws-samples/aws-cdk-examples">the official examples repo</a> for ideas on how to deploy.9. Read <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/v2/docs/aws-construct-library.html">the official docs</a> on how to use CDK.10. Some of the most common services defined on CDK are:<ul><li>Lambda</li><li>Cloudfront</li><li>API Gateway</li><li>Route53</li><li>S3</li><li>DynamoDB</li><li>IAM</li><li>SQS</li><li>RDS</li></ul>And many more…Stop monkeying around in the console and get back to coding!Harold is a lover of practical software with real business applications. You can learn more and turn your business into a rocketship by going to <a href="http://www.haroldbracy.com">www.haroldbracy.com</a> .If you found this article useful, don’t forget to give it a clap and share. Thanks!<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=4729cd025719" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/what-is-aws-cdk-and-how-to-get-started-4729cd025719">What is AWS CDK and How to Get Started</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is AWS CDK and How to Get Started

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/717/1*En6ufoAY1msuXYz5RQrBgw.png" /><figcaption><a href="https://www.serverless.com/blog/serverless-nextjs/">From Serverless</a></figcaption></figure>Serverless provides <a href="https://serverless-nextjs.com/docs/cdkconstruct/">an open source CDK construct</a> to deploy your Next.js app to AWS. I found this option after finding out that my home rolled solution wouldn’t work for hosting an exported Next app.First you’ll want to create a build command in your package.json:<pre>&quot;scripts&quot;: { &quot;build&quot;: &quot;next build &amp;&amp; next export&quot;, },</pre>I’m exporting my app because of the specific needs of my project, but it’s not necessary.Then, in your stacks.js file (or wherever you put your stacks):<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/86f7d28a2f5c37a7285ffab1ba84cef7/href">https://medium.com/media/86f7d28a2f5c37a7285ffab1ba84cef7/href</a></iframe>Make sure you install the dependencies, and change the imports and stack env according to your project.The boolean true passed to the build function is to enable debug mode.The above code will build and export your app automatically putting it in a place where your stack will then be able to see the build and deploy.The stack:<iframe src="" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"><a href="https://medium.com/media/660e20c61d179ec34f1099f91de2495c/href">https://medium.com/media/660e20c61d179ec34f1099f91de2495c/href</a></iframe>This code will deploy your app to AWS at a specified domain name. The construct will generate the Cloudfront distribution, S3 bucket and CNames on its own. One thing to note is that as of April 5th 2022, <a href="https://serverless-nextjs.com/docs/cdkconstruct/">the Serverless documentation on this construct</a> seems to be out of date since we should be specifying domainNames on line 30 and not domainName, like the docs currently say.That’s it! Deploy your app with cdk deploy.If you found this article useful, don’t forget to hit the clap button below.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=53e28abc52d7" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/how-to-deploy-a-next-js-app-to-aws-using-cdk-53e28abc52d7">How to Deploy a Next.js App to AWS using CDK</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Deploy a Next.js App to AWS using CDK

Oftentimes, we want our code to scream when it has been deployed in a faulty state, but there is a better way than staring at the deploy logs for 7 minutes.This tutorial will show you how to tell your <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/aws-construct-library.html">Cloud Development Kit</a> (CDK) <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_core.Stack.html">Stack</a> to send you an email when your <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-codebuild.PipelineProject.html">CodeBuild PipelineProject</a> fails. Prior experience with CDK, CodePipeline, and CodeBuild is assumed.In the same stack that deploys CodeBuild, here are the imports you’ll need:<pre>const { Subscription, Topic} = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-sns&#39;); const { SnsTopic } = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-events-targets&#39;); const { RuleTargetInput, EventField } = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-events&#39;);</pre>First, we need to use sns to declare a new <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-sns.Topic.html">Topic</a>. The displayName is what will actually display in your inbox as the “From” of the email.<pre>const failureTopic = new Topic(this, &#39;BuildFailure&#39;, { displayName: &#39;BuildFailure&#39;, });</pre>Then, to tell AWS where to send our Topic, we want to add a <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-sns.Subscription.html">Subscription</a> to the Topic. Topics actually have an addSubscription method, but I couldn’t get it to work, so I switched to just creating one directly. You can also use the <a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-sns-subscriptions.EmailSubscription.html">EmailSubscription</a> class instead of Subscription, which I’m just using because it’s more general. You can subscribe to a variety of things by specifying the protocol. The endpoint of your subscription depends on the type of your protocol. Here, our endpoint is just our email address.<pre>new Subscription(this, &#39;BuildFailureSubscription&#39;, { endpoint: &#39;example@example.com&#39;, protocol: &#39;EMAIL&#39;, topic: failureTopic, });</pre>Our CodeBuild PipelineProject instance is going to call onBuildFailed and that function will need a Target to trigger. Here, we specify the message we want to pass to our Topic. We’re specifying a few JSON paths of the input given to us by onBuildFailed to write a message.<pre>const failureTarget = new SnsTopic(failureTopic, { message: RuleTargetInput.fromText(`The Build ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.build-id&#39;)} has ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.build-status&#39;)} see your build log at ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.additional-information.logs.deep- link&#39;)}`, ), });</pre>And now, to start the whole thing, we trigger our target when our build has failed.<pre>build.onBuildFailed(&#39;BuildFailed&#39;, { target: failureTarget, });</pre>Deploy your stack and the next time your CodeBuild fails, a message will appear at your specified email.Here it is all together:<pre>const { Subscription, Topic} = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-sns&#39;);const const { SnsTopic } = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-events-targets&#39;); const { RuleTargetInput, EventField } = require(&#39;@aws-cdk/aws-events&#39;);</pre><pre>...</pre><pre>const failureTopic = new Topic(this, &#39;BuildFailure&#39;, { displayName: &#39;BuildFailure&#39;, });</pre><pre>new Subscription(this, &#39;BuildFailureSubscription&#39;, { endpoint: &#39;example@example.com&#39;, protocol: &#39;EMAIL&#39;, topic: failureTopic, });</pre><pre>const failureTarget = new SnsTopic(failureTopic, { message: RuleTargetInput.fromText(`The Build ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.build-id&#39;)} has ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.build-status&#39;)} see your build log at ${EventField.fromPath(&#39;$.detail.additional-information.logs.deep- link&#39;)}`, ), });</pre><pre>build.onBuildFailed(&#39;BuildFailed&#39;, { target: failureTarget, });</pre>If you found this article useful, don’t forget to hit the clap button below.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=2726b48f548" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://awstip.com/how-to-send-deployment-updates-in-aws-sns-using-cdk-2726b48f548">How to Send Deployment Updates in AWS SNS Using CDK</a> was originally published in <a href="https://awstip.com">AWS Tip</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How to Send Deployment Updates in AWS SNS Using CDK

<h4>Get laughed at, be prepared for change, and ask for help.</h4><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*QZfaSMRRZjX-kkUAC5uJDg.jpeg" /><figcaption>The ideal sleeping place.</figcaption></figure>I was lying on the street reading a book. It was about 6AM in the morning. I was under a kiosk where people could charge their phones and get WiFi.I arrived in Jinan the night before. China has a strange law banning foreigners from certain hotels and hostels, so I couldn’t find a place to sleep. After getting kicked out from a park bench, I managed to find this kiosk where I set up camp. It was a great place to sleep, it had a slight roof, a clean floor, I could even charge my phone. But it was very public.When I woke up the next morning, the city sidewalk was bustling with people. I read my book in peace until a woman in a luxurious red dress saw me.She crouched down next to me, her jewelry jangling on her wrist. “Why are you sleeping on the street?” she asked in Chinese.“I couldn’t find a place to sleep,” I responded.She stared at me, dumbstruck, then let out a great laugh. “In China, we all think you white people have money! But you don’t!” Then she walked away, laughing.Lesson 1: Get laughed at. Get embarrassed. It’ll do you good.I was standing on the highway as cars whizzed by. My thumb was up. I knew I had to get out of this situation quickly. The sun was hot and the speed limit high, but an hour had passed with no ride. I was in a bad spot for hitchhiking since the road curved ahead. I figured walking up past the curve would improve my chances.As I started walking, a car passed me and screeched to a stop at the most dangerous part of the curve. I sprinted to the car. The driver got out, ran around his car, and opened the rear door to usher me in. I gave my thanks and started to step into the car.Except I was about to sit on top of a sleeping five year old girl! I looked at the driver in panic. He propped his girl up and ushered me in, and then plopped her back down onto my lap. His older daughter looked on laughing from the front seat.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*nas6TxIO14SQH8AbmlfzXw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Said ancestral hometown.</figcaption></figure>The father was on his way to his ancestral hometown. The older daughter was learning English so I switched to English when I spoke to her. The younger daughter finally awoke in my lap. She looked at me, not surprised, and told daddy she was hungry.We stopped at a rest stop with a McDonald’s. The four of us got out of the car and the father brought his daughter onto his shoulders.“Are you ready for McDonald’s?” he doted, “You can have anything you want.”When we returned to the car, his older daughter and I switched seats. The younger daughter turned out to be far wiser and charismatic than her age allowed.“You speak funny. You should go back to school,” she advised me.The father invited me to stay with them at his hometown. There, he said, we would drink gong fu tea and meet his sister, his brother, his father and all his friends. I agreed to go. As we approached his hometown, he looked off to the hills by the sea. We were right next to the Taiwan Strait. He pointed to the hills.“You see those hills there?” he asked. I nodded. “Just beyond those hills, the government is building a military base.” I nodded again. “I think they will invade in five years. I don’t want war. I love my family.”Lesson 2: The world is in a precarious place. Be prepared for change.“Do you want to come with us?” she asked.What the hell, I thought. Why not? It was early in the day anyways. I had been picked up by a young crowd on their way to a party. Their rich friend owned a large farm in the mountains of Sichuan. We would eat, drink, and then pick mangoes. They would drive me back onto the highway and I would be in Panzhihua by sundown. I agreed.We ate Beijing hotpot, drank baijiu and picked fruit in the mountains. I packed my bag full of fruit. We left around mid-afternoon. I was already drunk. By the time we arrived back at the highway the sun began to set. I bid my friends farewell and tried to hitch a ride.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*YalCPUzcevfdnqZxD0--ag.jpeg" /><figcaption>On our way to pick fruit.</figcaption></figure>A man and his reluctant father picked me up in a rickety pickup truck. I could sense the father’s uneasiness, so I tried to find a way to earn his trust. He asked me about America, so I figured he would be interested in seeing American currency. I pulled out a coin gleaming with Washington’s head and gave it to him. He appreciated the gift and made sure his son brought me to the city center.By the time I arrived in Panzhihua, I was exhausted. I didn’t feel like searching for a hostel that would take me. I went to the nearest restaurant and ordered some food as I collected my thoughts. It was raining off and on. I was tired and still drunk. The owner of the restaurant came out to eat with me, as often happens to a Chinese speaking white dude.Between bites of his food and puffs of his cigarette, he would check his phone. Then he laughed and showed me his phone. There was a picture of me back at the party on his social media. He was friends with the hosts of the party. We laughed at the coincidence.He asked where I was sleeping that night. I lied, telling him that I was staying at a nearby hotel. I didn’t want to be offered a place to stay. I don’t know why. In fact, after I left, I didn’t even look for a hostel. I wandered the streets in the rain until I could find a place to sleep.I finally settled on the landing of a concrete staircase. There was no roof, but it was covered by some trees. The rain had stopped anyways. I sat on the staircase and tried to fall asleep. I had a hard time falling asleep. A couple descended the stairs. They talked loudly until they saw me. They hushed their voices and scooted by.It started to rain again and it was too hard to fall asleep. I decided to put on my poncho and munch on some fruit I picked earlier. The poncho helped me relax and I managed to doze with the fruit next to me.Yet, I still couldn’t fall asleep. My arm was a bit itchy. I itched my arm. Then itched again. Then it was on fire. I looked under my poncho to see what was going on.Ants scurrying in every direction infested the whole arm. I freaked out. I tore off my poncho. I pulled off my shirt and pants and swiped at the ants. They were on my balls. I took off my underwear too. It began to rain harder.So there I was. Standing naked in the heavy rain, thousands of miles from home. I didn’t know what to do. There was no shelter. My clothes were wet. The ants kept attacking me.I began by tossing the fruit. It was ant-infested anyways. I put on the driest clothes I could find, then the tattered poncho. I stood on the steps angry and tired. Fed up. I had to ask for help.A guard sat in the guardhouse of an apartment complex next to me. I walked over to the little guardhouse. The guard was playing games on his phone. I knocked on the glass door. Startled, the guard looked in every direction except the direction of the knock. I knocked again. He finally looked in my direction. Confused, he opened the door.“What are you doing here?” he asked.“I just wanted to let you know I am here,” I responded stubbornly, only hoping he would invite me in.He responded with silent confusion. We stood in awkward silence in the rain for a few minutes. Then he asked if I wanted to come into the guardhouse. I walked in and told him the story about the ants. We laughed.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/955/1*JVobaFJ-bW2p__Itk3g_DA.jpeg" /><figcaption>The guard who saved my ass.</figcaption></figure>I managed to get some sleep that night on the fold up chair in the corner. It was a blessed sleep, despite the occasional ant. I woke up fresh and happy. Once his shift had ended, my new friend and I walked to the city square and ate breakfast.Lesson 3: Get over your pride and ask for help.Harold Bracy recently graduated from Brown University with a degree in Computer Science. Check out his most recent attempt at freedom at <a href="https://www.thequicktalk.com">www.thequicktalk.com</a> or contact him at hbracy1@gmail.com.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d4c0358c3097" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/the-ascent/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-china-d4c0358c3097">The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Life</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/the-ascent">Ascent Publication</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.