def get_file(filename):
    """
    read file, return list of lines, but skip comment and blank lines
    """
    out = []
    f = open(filename)
    lines = f.readlines()
    f.close()
    for line in lines:
        if line[0] == '#': continue
        line = line.strip()
        if len(line) == 0: continue
        out.append(line)
    return out