Small discoveries
While I have been busy these past weeks, I was able to two things that really made me happy.
miau
I’ve always been sort of jealous of irssi + screen users, specially with their ability to stay connected to IRC and attach to/detach from that session anywhere. This is one of the only two reasons for me to prefer using irssi over Konversation (the other is having an IRC client even without a GUI). Not that I don’t like CLI apps, but I usually prefer to use GUI, particularly KDE, solutions whenever possible. Then I heard about Quassel, a Qt IRC application that uses a client/server setup, where in you can run the Quassel daemon in a central location, and connect to that from various clients. Since it’s a Qt app, it’s the next best thing to a KDE app. But since there were no public releases (even development versions) yet, I had to wait. Fortunately for me, Sho had an alternative: IRC bouncers/proxies. I’m currently using miau (pronounced as “meow”, which I initially chose because of its affinity to cats 
) and so far I’m loving it. It allows me to stay connected on IRC even when no client is running (usually because Konvi or X crashed, or I logged out), allows me to connect multiple clients to a single daemon which shows me as a single entity, replays messages I missed when no clients are connected, etc. And best of all, I can use any IRC client that’s available, whether Konversation, irssi, or Opera’s IRC client (on Windows). All I need is to connect to my desktop, and voila!
Ordering books
I’ve always had a problem with the lack of quality computer/programming books here in the Philippines. Most of the books here are either “for Dummies” types, 21 Days/24 hours types, very Microsoft-specific, or just plain old (but are still sold as if they were brand new). Ordering through Amazon or directly from the publisher is sort of out of the question, as I don’t have my own credit card/bank account, and my mom totally doesn’t trust online transactions. After months of trying to figure out the easiest way to acquire books, I came across a Special Order Service from the biggest bookstore chain in the country. Of course the price is a bit higher than the original retail price (around US$ 15 higher), but that’s the price I’m willing to pay in exchange for convenience. Of course, it’s not 100% sure that the books I want will be available for the service and I have to check with them everytime I want to make an order. Luckily for me, two of the books that I want are available. These are “Inside the Machine: An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors and Computer Architecture” and danimo’s “The Book of Qt 4: The Art of Building Qt Applications”. The latter is not a priority yet since I already have the Trolltech Qt 4 book, although, looking at the detailed table of contents, it seems that danimo’s coverage is a bit more in-depth compared to what I’ve read in my Qt book so far.
At the same time, though, I’m a bit hesitant to immediately order a book, since I’m quite low on funds and I’m stilling planning to buy a Nokia N810 ASAP. Now if only I had good news about that…
