private String ask(String cmd) {
    BufferedWriter out = null;
    BufferedReader in = null;
    Socket sock = null;
    String ret = "";
    try {
      System.out.println(server);
      sock = new Socket(server, ServerListener.PORT);
      out = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(sock.getOutputStream()));
      out.write(cmd, 0, cmd.length());
      out.flush();
      in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(sock.getInputStream()));
      int inr = in.read();
      while (inr != ';') {
        ret += Character.toString((char) inr);
        inr = in.read();
      }
    } catch (IOException io) {
      io.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
      try {
        out.close();
        in.close();
        sock.close();
      } catch (IOException io) {
        io.printStackTrace();
      }
    }

    return ret;
  }
  // network-y stuff
  private void command(String cmd) {
    BufferedWriter out = null;
    try {
      Socket sock = new Socket(server, ServerListener.PORT);
      out = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(sock.getOutputStream()));

      char[] oar = cmd.toCharArray();
      for (char c : oar) {
        out.write(c);
      }
      out.flush();
    } catch (IOException io) {
      io.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
      try {
        out.close();
      } catch (IOException io) {
        io.printStackTrace();
      }
    }
  }