Me and The Boss (formerly known as Ta2′oush)
The Boss, our cat, aka ta2′oush / minet / inta ya / etc… likes to cuddle in my lap as soon as I start working!
Here’s a pic Paypouy took earlier 
Network Monitor for Avant Window Navigator
I’ve been using AWN for a while, but was frustrated that some basic applets are not there. So I wrote one, last night, and will try to get my head around pygtk to write others if I find the time
the applet I needed is the Network Monitor applet. Here’s a snapshot of my desktop
You can get the 0.0.2 tarball from here
Looks like someone at http://awn.planetblur.org picked up on this post. And I’ll need to get my act together and bundle the applet in a more decent manner! Will do that as soon as I finish the project I’m working on atm (night job!)
added some features, check the code header for more info
A Happy Man
There’s a saying that the “shortest route to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. I can affirm that saying is true.
I’ve been married for a week and a day now, and I am a very happy man. Now, it’s true that food isn’t everything in life, and that love and understanding are very important for a couple to be happy, not to mention the need for spiritual routine and a good reliance on God’s help to keep the family happy… I’m ok with all that. But, I AM ESPECIALLY HAPPY because my beautiful wife has just discovered she could cook!
And when I say she could cook, I mean she really could cook.
So far, we’ve had some great dishes made by the soon to be world famous chef Paypouy Deeb. She started out with a great “Spaghetti and Frankfurters”, her own recipe! Wow, was the keyword on that one. “Potatoes and Chicken” in the oven was next, and it was great. She made one beautifully smelling Spaghetti (with an original tomato and basil sauce). And yesterday, I was surprised with an un-traditional Kebbeh Nayyieh - a veggy kebbeh nayyeh with potatoes instead of the meat. If it wasn’t yellow I could swear I was eating the traditional one, all was needed was some Arak and a chilled onion to make it complete…
Now, if you were a man, wouldn’t you be happy? I sure am
Paypouy just added a couple of pics of her cake creations during the last week. Did I mention she made some peach jam too?!!
Skyped
(03:16:49 PM) Pia: Skype (IPA pronunciation: /skaɪp/, rhymes with type
(03:16:53 PM) Pia:
(03:17:01 PM) .: thank you
(03:17:06 PM) Pia:
(03:17:06 PM) .: so I was right ?
(03:17:11 PM) .: yislamli ana
(03:17:12 PM) Pia: ya hala
(03:17:20 PM) Pia:
(03:17:38 PM) Pia: messi
(03:17:43 PM) Pia: put it on your blog
(03:17:49 PM) Pia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype
Done!
Whassup
Plenty, No time to blog about it though!
I started this entry at my place yesterday night, right after I was able to connect to the internet using the local isp’s crappy PPPoE installation.
For some reason, they are using the Service Name directive as an added means of user management! I have one word to say about this: pfff! To get this to work, I first tried installing via apt-get on the laptop (running ubuntu feisty). But that didn’t work, or at least I couldn’t connect. Next, I tried getting some other software but there was nothing else. So I grabbed the source tarball, and there you are, two minutes later I was connected [(sudo) tkpppoe being the keyword.]
I am sleeping at my apartment these couple of days before the wedding. I like to get the feeling of the place before moving in: how much it takes to get to work (18mins leaving at 07:42!), how much sunlight I get in the morning in each room, where to get breakfast, the shower, etc…
What else, I started working remotely with some very nice people at RimuHosting. Not only are they really nice, they are truly very professional and very knowledgeable. I’m refining my Linux and hosting knowledge there. Moodeef is being re-worked as well, and I’m creating Flake file-service as a java/tomcat app. Hopefully it would be finished soon.
I’m not watching any movies or TV lately, I found the director’s cut (or studio cut) of David Lynch’s Dune (Frank Herbert’s) and I have it on my laptop, but I haven’t gotten to watching it yet!
I’d better get back to work now 
Monday in Lebanon
Should I make a new category for this blog? If so, what would it be: politics or bombings?
I was again at the house in Zouk today. People are still fighting the army in the north. Work as usual… And close to midnight, there you go, another bomb in the midst of Beirut city.
This time it was Verdun, another up-scale street in Beirut.
Both bombings targeted empty spaces. The only casualties are by “accident”, it seems like the bombers were trying not to target civilians. But they got a few anyhow.
I won’t go into more details, but I’ll simply note that this is night 2 of the bombings, hopefully the last.
Sunday in Lebanon
It’s quite an ordinary day: a few terrorists battling the army in the north, the army blocking highways reaching Beirut from the north, and a mesterious bombing after midnight. All in one Lebanese day.
Now someone tell me we’re not having fun!
I spent most of the day in Zouk, at my place. We even had visitors! I wish we took some pics though…
Anyway, I was checking the place where the bomb struck last night and found the most wonderous pic on Google earth. Check it out.
Can you guess what the alien ship is? Yeap, that’s the ABC mall… cool eih?!
Tired
It’s been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. Things have been a bit hektik lately with all the stuff we’ve been buying for the house. Decisions about many many things I didn’t even know existed are taking a lot of time.
Meanwhile, Ogero Lebanon is offering DSL for the first time. We should get a connection at home (parent’s home) soon. It’ll be a 128/32Kbps (2G monthly limit) for 23USD/month. Hopefully, the prices will drop for the private ISPs, but I’m not really counting on it.
Paypouy bought me a bicycle as a present but we haven’t gone biking yet 
My allergies are acting up. I’m very tired.
From Hell
It’s a joke Sam told me yesterday, it’s a lot funnier when he tells it though…
There was the English, the American and the Lebanese and they all went to hell.
After a while, they got home sick and wanted to call someone at home.
The English called the UK, talked to his mother for 2 mins and hung up.
The daemon in charge billed him 1 Million Pounds!
The American was next and he had to call home as well, so he tried not to talk as much, and he was only billed 1 Million US Dollars for 1.5 minutes.
Now, when the Lebanese guy asked for the phone it was a different story.
When he called, everyone wanted to talk to him … the family and friends and neighbors and people from all over the place asking about their loved ones … and so on. So he ended up talking for more than 3 hours!
He dreaded the bill, but when he came to pay up, he was amazed that it was only 2,000 LBP. And the daemon didn’t have any change so he let him go for free!
When he asked why, the daemon shrugged and said it was a Local Call.
How much time?
Time has been on my mind for a while now. Not the distant notion of time/space continuum one struggles to understand (not that hard, just over-hyped!), but the simple fact that we’re at the end of what the Bible calls “the day of Our Lord”.
The fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ yearly scripture is taken from the verse in Zepheniah 1:14 must tell you something!
“The great day of Jehovah is near.”—Zeph. 1:14.
Please note the difference between the two “days”:
*** re chap. 5 p. 22 par. 2 John Beholds the Glorified Jesus ***
what is the Lord’s day? The apostle Paul refers to it as a time of judgment and of fulfillment of divine promises. (1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1:6, 10; 2:16) …
That “day” begins with the crowning of Jesus as heavenly King. Even after Jesus executes judgment on Satan’s world, the Lord’s day continues, with the restoration of Paradise and the perfecting of mankind, until Jesus finally “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father.”—1 Corinthians 15:24-26; Revelation 6:1, 2.*** w06 12/15 p. 15 par. 3 “The Great Day of Jehovah Is Near” ***
What is “the great day of Jehovah”? Throughout the Scriptures, the expression “the day of Jehovah” refers to special times when Jehovah executed judgment on his enemies and glorified his great name…
However, the greatest “day of Jehovah” still lies ahead. It is the “day” when Jehovah’s judgment will be executed on those who have defamed his name. It will start with the destruction of “Babylon the Great,” the world empire of false religion, and culminate in the annihilation of the rest of the wicked system of things at the war of Armageddon.—Revelation 16:14, 16; 17:5, 15-17; 19:11-21.
Simply reading the 12 Prophets‘ renderings about the “day of Jehovah” is enough to put a sense of urgency in one’s heart. They talk about it with fear as if they could see it upon them. Zephaniah said that “it is near, and there is a hurrying [of it] very much …” compare that with the word of Peter, who said that “it will come as a thief …” (2 Peter 3:10).
Joel graphically described “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.” (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 2, 30-32) Amos told the Israelites to get ready to meet their God, for the day of Jehovah would be one of darkness. (Amos 4:12; 5:18) … And near the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, Obadiah warned: “The day of Jehovah against all the nations is near.”—Obadiah 15.
All that, and the recurring words of Jesus, Peter, Paul and others saying it will come “as a thief in the night” (Thessalonians 5:2) is making me wonder how exactly it will come! Recent history has showed us more than once that major earth shattering events do not come with an introduction. Those who remember the fall of the Soviet and the wall of Berlin (and the Iron Wall) understand what I mean, it simply happened when no one expected it! What about the more recent 9/11? Out of no where, a virtually unknown terrorist organization hits the great American Empire in the midst of its home land. Now, some would argue that it’s not entirely true: many knew what was happening in both occasions I mention, they told the world about it and warned people about what’s happening around them. And there were signs that foretold the events that shook the earth and its inhabitants: Gorbachev was obviously working on something when the mighty USSR fell, and I’m sure many in the homeland security forces in the United States knew or speculated about the attacks of 9/11/2001.
That’s entirely true. And it fits the profile of the upcoming great events, many know what will happen and are waiting for it, they are telling people about it, and they know (from the accounts of the 12 profits, among others) how the end will come! Yet, it will come as a thief, and even those expecting it will stand in awe as Jehovah’s Great Day arrives…