Monkinetic Weblog

We're in late-night mode again at work. With deadlines upon us, we're scrambling to get stuff done, and wiring bits of applications to other bits as fast as we can. This is the part of software development that sucks, when deadline-driven production takes you off of replacing the tools that desperately need to be replaced.

Sigh.

So far, Jodi and I have experienced mostly great responses to our decision to adopt a toddler from Ukraine. This past week we ran into someone with an antagonistic attitude toward adopting from Ukraine. We were told that the health issues were bad, and that the age we were looking for was a difficult one, and there was just this antagonism that was really frustrating. Jodi and I were kind of taken aback - I mean, adopting is this great thing, and we're getting all this great feedback, and then this hits us. It was frustrating, and it hurt.

We talked it over, and decided that 1) we know we are doing the right thing, 2) we're not going to Ukraine to get the perfect child, we're going to get our child. We know God has a child there waiting for us - our L.T. - and we're trusting in him.

This is kind of cool. MarsEdit will upload images to WordPress, if you install this patched version of the xmlrpc.php file.

BTW - this is Cathedral Rock, from our hike over Labor Day this year.

Pervasive Ambience: Networked Tile System - designboom:

>Each tile is embedded with electrical wiring and connectors. When placed together, the tiles form an electrical network that can span throughout entire rooms. This eliminates the mess of cables and cords that would otherwise be present. Designed to work with these networked tiles are "node" tiles, which include: lighting tiles, heated tiles, flat speaker tile."

This is a test of the new MarsEdit blogging app, from Brent Simmons, of NetNewsWire fame.

NetNewsWire and MarsEdit public betas: "Heres whats new in 2.0 and here's the download page.

So, Adam Curry's Daily Source Code has replaced NPR on my morning commute, and imagine my surprise to hear him mention me and my recent comments about link resouces for audio posts in today's show.

Jodi and I got to spend Saturday at an adoption-prep seminar/training put on by the agency we're working with - Adoption Journeys of Arizona. Lonore and Tina, the social workers, were really good, they led various activities, and spoke about the many challenges that adoptees face, physical, emotional, and social developmental delays. Not only did they help us understand to a greater extent the problems we may face, but they spoke encouragingly about ways to approach those issues. Also, getting to meet other families that are adopting or have adopted was awesome. The stories shared over lunch about past experiences and future hopes were enough to make it worth it.

Ok, I'm going to geek out for a minute here... I've been listening to Adam Curry's feed of audio posts today, and noted that he often mentions links to other's sites on the "show" (he is a blogger, after all).

|WordPress| got a mention on Adam Curry's Daily Source Code on Sept. 15. Find the MP3 here (mention occurs around minute 23), in the context of enclosure support and the users that are working on adding it to WordPress.

Frugal Baby: Fun Nursury Ideas.

So... Jodi and I had our first home visit today by a social worker from the agency doing our home study. I was really nervous, though Jodi did not seem too bothered by it all. Tina (our social worker) arrived around 1 o'clock, and just left at around 4.

ongoing: Report From the Intel Community >...if I were going back to do it again, I'd seriously consider trying to get into the intelligence business. I could seriously spend a few decades working on technology for pulling important little facts out of oceans of raw data and never, never get bored...

NEW R.E.M.!

around-the-sun tags: "" tp_commentcount: "1" tp_favoritecount: "0" tp_urlid: 6a010534988cd3970b0120a55ce34e970b

NEW R.E.M.!

The iTunes Music Store has a 3 minute montage of track snippets from R.E.M's upcoming album, Around The Sun. I can't wait.

>Get a free taste of R.E.M's new album, Around The Sun, with an iTunes-exclusive album sampler. This world premiere, "Around The Sun Redux," packs snippets of "Leaving New York," "Around The Sun," "Wanderlust," "Electron Blue," and "I wanted to Be Wrong" into one 3-minute melodic treat. Get it while it's hot, only on iTunes.

The album is due for release Oct. 4-5.

Jodi and I went to Sedona with her parents (who were in town for the weekend) and went hiking up to Cathedral Rock. Now, the nice lady at the visitor's center told us about the 1.5 mile hike to Cathedral Rock, along the treeline next to Oak Creek... she neglected to mention the hot barren .75 mile stretch before you get to the creek, and the barren .5 mile stretch after the creek. Or the .6 mile 600' technical ascent to Cathedral Rock at the end. I think she was trying to kill us.

I've started my first photo gallery site: Photomonk. It uses Pictorialis II, a gallery app built on |WordPress|.

Via bbum: Cooking For Engineers.

To re-read and consider: |Mezzoblue| -- Fitts' Law > On the web that means the bigger your link area, the better.

|Jodi|'s parents are in town for the holiday weekend, and last night we watched Miracle, the story of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team and their quest to beat the indomitable Soviets in the Lake Placid games. All in all, a good story, a classic underdog story.