Archive

Archive for January, 2006

Asterisk, here we go…

January 13th, 2006 2 comments

I got approval to go ahead and work on connecting our existing PBX at work with an asterisk server. So…I ordered up another T1/E1 card for the PBX and a T1/E1 PCI card for my asterisk server. The two systems will be cross-connected by an E1 [1] crossover cable, essentially giving me the ability to have 29 simultaneous conversations routing between the two systems. It should be quite a fun project, and in the end should save the company a healthy chunk of money. Our hope is to use the additional VoIP extentions for our employees out in the Vancouver office, as well as travelling users.

[1] E1 is a protocol similar to T1, only it has 30 channels versus T1′s 24. In my case, it’s going to be an E1 PRI, which allows 29 channels plus 1 channel for signalling, CID information, etc.

Categories: general Tags: , ,

I *knew* something was off…

January 12th, 2006 4 comments

In my opinion, Steve Jobs’ keynote Tuesday at Macworld left a little to be desired.  Yes, he did introduce a few cool products, but overall, the whole thing dragged.  Anyway – here is a bit of inside information from a supposedly reliable source inside Apple.  Sounds like Jobs’ original keynote had to be largely scrapped due to supply issues with the new CoreDuo processors.

Categories: general Tags: ,

The Blue Nile

January 12th, 2006 4 comments

Last night, my mom (graciously) volunteered to come out and watch Bjorn for an evening so Meghan and I could go out for an evening. We took her up on the offer. When presented with a free evening to go out on a date, we usually have a difficult time deciding what restaurant to try. There are so many incredible non-american restaurants in the area! The Blue Nile restaurant in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis had been recommended to us several times, but we had never had a chance to check it out until last night. One word: Amazing.

Read more…

Categories: general Tags: ,

Bad boy, Mr. Robertson

January 12th, 2006 No comments

Last week, Pat Robertson infuriated a large segment of the Christian community with his remarks about Ariel Sharon’s current health condition.

Liz has an excellent commentary on the subject.

Categories: general Tags:

Blue Flannel Grand Cru

January 10th, 2006 2 comments

Well – I’ve decided that my next homebrew adventure will be a belgian-style witbeer. I will be using a recipe published by silverfront on the Norther Brewer forums. Here’s the recipe:

Fermentables

  • 6 lbs. (minus 1.25 cups for bottling) Muntons Wheat DME

Boil Additions

  • 1.5 oz. Styrian Golding (60 mins)
  • .5 oz. Styrian Golding (15 mins)
  • 1 oz. Czech Saaz (1 min)
  • .75 oz crushed coriander (15 mins)
  • .25 oz crushed coriander (5 mins)
  • .5 oz Bitter orange peel (5 mins)

Yeast

  • Wyeast 3944 – Belgian Witbeer

Notes

  • 2006/01/30 – Brewed. No starter. OG 1046.
  • 2006/03/24 – Racked to secondary. Current gravity = 1.012.
  • 2006/06/02 – Bottled. F.G. = 1.010. ABV = 4.7%
Categories: general Tags: ,