These past few weeks could only really be characterized as normal, no big events or anything lately. I have been struggling with an ear ache this month and working with a doctor to treat it. The issue is fluid buildup in my sinuses and the treatment is allergy medication until it stops. As of now it’s only really hurting when the allergy medication wears off so at least it seems like we’re on the right track.
While at BerkeleyLUG on February 26th I spoke with Michael Paoli who was trying to find a presenter for Bay Area Linux Users Group (BALUG) in April and suggested an Ubuntu presentation. I agreed, along with Grant Bowman to fill in some of the desktop stuff that, as an Xubuntu user, I may not be as familiar with changes-wise between 11.10 and 12.04. We’re now on the schedule for April 17th and in preparation I installed 11.10 on my new laptop and then upgraded to the 12.04 daily build. I’ll probably write a whole separate post about how impressed I am with Unity in 12.04, they’ve really done an exceptional job polishing it and I’m excited about this presentation.
On March 3rd I met up with Evan Broder for an impromptu Ubuntu Global Jam at Coffee Bar. We certainly worked a lot through the afternoon but both of us seems stuck on solutionless problems. C’est la vie.
That same beautiful weekend I was walking to the gym when I saw lots of people crowded around a blooming tree, which to my delight was full of the Telegraph Hill parrots! They’re always hanging around that park, but it’s rare to see them so close.
I spent the following weekend on various things, including getting my feet wet with Ubuntu ISO Testing. I was inspired following some last-minute testing when the Xubuntu beta1 came out and I felt bad not being able to help. The beta2 would be different! My learning how to use the tracker and test is part of what inspired the laptop purchase, VirtualBox tests are great, but real hardware tests are even better!
Last week MJ was gone for a couple of days, during which I gave Simcoe her SubQ fluids by myself for the first time. For a process I was so apprehensive about early on (sticking a needle under the skin of your cat and filling it with water!), I am impressed with how quickly I’ve grown used to it and doing it alone wasn’t a massive undertaking. However, it is a consideration when taking a trip and we had to figure out how to handle this upcoming trip to Philadelphia. Our options were pretty much either board Simcoe with the vet for 8 days or find a pet sitter who could do pills and SubQ fluids. Like most cats, Simcoe does not like going to the vet, we really wanted to avoid that so I started looking for pet sitters in the city. I was fortunate to find one I’m thoroughly impressed with after meeting. She regularly takes care of kitties who need injections, is happy to give pills and in general I’m going to sleep well at night knowing she’s coming every day to check on them. I’ll give a full report of the experience after our trip.
This past weekend we spent most of our time preparing for our Philadelphia trip, but I did take about 90 minutes out of that to meet up with the rest of the Partimus board (and Beth Lynn via phone) at the Creative Arts Charter School for a board meeting, photo:
The Creating Arts Charter School had a fire late last year that has caused significant changes in their needs computing-wise which we’re working to help them with. Beyond that Partimus is seeking to expand more generally so we have the resources to help more schools, not a trivial task. In all it was a great meeting, and it was very nice for all of us to get together, it had been quite some time.
Finally, the Philadelphia trip! The main goal of this trip is to select a wedding venue, which we have to do by visiting the contenders. We have appointments to visit 7 venues while we’re there, which when combined with visiting friends and relatives means we’re shaping up for several busy days. We’re flying out tonight (in fact, I’m wrapping up this post while on the train toward San Jose Airport) on a redeye to Philadelphia via Phoenix. The plan following our flight is to have a leisurely breakfast, head over to the Franklin Institute for their Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs exhibit, and then finally drive up to our hotel to check in (and possibly take a nap!). We’ll see how it all goes, it’s going to be a long day. We fly home mid-week next week.
An now my train ride is coming to an end, time to wrap this up and hop a taxi to the airport!