Busy days here in the Maloney household, as school starts back in full swing for JoDee, and my grandmother moves from her home at the senior center to a nursing home. Even though JoDee and I aren't directly involved (that would be my sainted parents who are taking on this responsibility), we're trying to do our part to help out.
I think I've finally settled on irssi for my IRC needs rather than Pidgin. I know this was of grave concern to you.
On Thursday, I sat in on a very informative talk with the Ubuntu MI Loco about how to help Ubuntu triage and maintain the bug databases. Pretty cool stuff. Check out the Ubuntu Launchpad for more details.