Jabber and Pandion

Pandion is a pretty cool jabber client. I'm using my LJ account on it, and then I'm using foxybanana.com for the MSN/ICQ/Yahoo transports (the AIM one appears broken). Very cool. And if I change programs to another one, the transport stuff gets carried over, so it's very very cool for me.

Livejournal does XMPP/Jabber

Wow, livejournal now does xmpp/jabber. Which means that my gmail self can talk to my livejournal self. Very cool. I looked at doing some integration at work, using xmpp to notify me when events happened (like a referral was entered, an error happened, etc..) but couldn't find any good .net-based libraries. I may have to look again.

From http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=rice_recipe:

Chipotle's Basmati Rice Recipe 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter 2 tsp. fresh cilantro 2/3 cup white basmati rice 1 cup water 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 Lime In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork. [bahs-MAH-tee] Basmati is a long-grained rice, with a fine texture. It can be found in Middle Eastern and India markets, as well as some supermarkets. The source of this recipe is attributed to Chipolte's Executive Chef (and CEO), Steve Ellis.

אבות ובנים

Wow. Until the end I wasn't sure what the point of the video was, but it really hit home.

Well, interesting week at work. We scheduled our ISP switchover for next Tuesday, and finally looks like that's a go. Ugh. That means WORK. Today I had to figure out the DNS hosting, as our current DNS host limits the TTL to 24 hours, which is not an option for us. Luckily our new ISP will host our DNS and can set the TTL to 1 hour, so we've switched that and it should be fully propagated over the internet by Monday sometime. I was supposed to start testing the new version of the web app this week. Didn't happen at all. Finished up some of the development, in fact. And next week I have to make a few changes to production, then go over the version changes with my boss, and totally finish up all development. Drop dead day: Thursday. After that, you'd better be the CEO to get the change in. Too bad, so sad. Then, I get to start testing heavily. Good thing that I can do that from home, so I can do that some weekend time or evenings. I hope to make at least some of the .Net stuff automated, so I can click Run and go do something for a bit, but we'll see. We're rearranging the server room, putting in A/C, moving racks, fun fun fun. Just rearranged my office, everyone's saying that it's much better than the old arrangement (which is good, as I like it too). The CEO, the COO and the Director of Quality (aka. the managers) now all have Verizon's Palm 700W phone. I like it because it doesn't have to use Verizon's stupid Wireless Sync app. Stupid program requires a separate desktop for laptop users or for desktop users who aren't logged in 24/7 (which no desktop should be, ever, in a company). And when users change their password, they have to tell the network admin so that he can change the settings on this "sync desktop". With these phones, they sync the same way my Windows Mobile PDA does - through Exchange's built in protocols. So they enter the password on their own darned phone themselves, and I don't need to know the password. Happy me. In the personal realm, it's been raining the last few evenings, which is wonderful in my opinion. Isaac and I have been doing some father-son bonding stuff by going out for drives or window shopping while mommy gets to rest and not be constantly taking care of baby. Speaking of that, we've pretty much solified our baby schedule: Mommy takes care of Isaac when I'm at work, and I take care of him when I'm not (i.e. in the evenings, on the weekends, holidays, and days off). Of course she has to breastfeed him, but we're going to get a pump to get some milk out so that I can take him on extended trips, like all-day leave mommy alone days. :) Isaac's in the size 3 diaper range, even though he's only 3 months. He's holding his head up well, and just today I reconfigured his infant car seat to use the upper shoulder straps. In a few months we'll have to get a non-infant car seat... He's outgrowing some of his 3-6 month clothes - I think he's getting taller more. We'll probably pick up a few 6-9 clothes when we get the pump, I think. Sitting here in Whole Foods, I can people watch, which I haven't done in a while. Kinda nice. Of course, it's shabbes, and ideally I'd be home, eating dinner, relaxing. I haven't been able to go to shul (not blaming at all!), or do much jewishly. I even tried to donate a little change I had on my on the recent yahrzeit of the Rebbe, but every time there was someone to give it to it was a green light, and no parking lot nearby to stop in.. I'm really finding it hard to do much in this direction, I'm not really sure what I can/should do to work on it further. I'd go visit the rabbi, but a) I haven't read half the books he asked me to over a year ago, and b) getting time off of work is difficult since I have so much to do. I'd tell my boss if I don't get a day off I'll blow a gasket, but things would pile up, and it'd be MORE work when I did get back. So for now I'm reading up on hebrew, thinking I may try again to (re)start learning that. I've also been thinking of maybe trying the not mixing milk and meat thing. Maybe, maybe not.