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After the last snow of the season

Just over a week ago I returned to San Francisco from a visit back east. I imagine trips back to Philadelphia will grow less noteworthy as we grow more accustom to having property there as well. Visits may cease having specific reasons and instead just be a part of our lives. This wasn’t one of […]

Rogue One and Carrie Fisher

Back in December I wasn’t home in San Francisco very much. Most of my month was spent back east at our townhouse in Philadelphia and I spent a few days in Salt Lake City for a conference, but the one week I was in town was the week that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story […]

The adventures of 2016

2016 was filled with professional successes and exciting adventures, but also various personal struggles. I exhausted myself finishing two books, navigated some complicated parts of my marriage, experienced my whole team getting laid off from a job we loved, handled an uptick in migraines and a continuing bout of bronchitis, and am still coming to […]

Hashtag FirstJob

Back in February Gareth Rushgrove started the fantastic Twitter hashtag, #FirstTechJob. The responses were inspiring for many people, from those starting out to people like me who “fell into” a tech career. I had a natural love for computers, various junior tech jobs and volunteered in open source for years. I had no formal education […]

Celebrating the 1915 World’s Fair in SF, the PPIE

I’ve been fascinated with the World’s Fair ever since learning about them as a kid. The extravagance, the collections of art and innovation, the thrill of being part of something that was so widely publicized worldwide and the various monuments left over when the fairs concluded. As I learned about past fairs I was always […]

The adventures of 2015

I wasn’t sure what to expect from 2015. Life circumstances meant that I wanted to travel a bit less, which meant being more selective about the conferences I would speak at. At the same time, some amazing opportunities for conferences came up that I couldn’t bring myself to turn down. Meeting new people, visiting countries […]

Preamble to Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2015

Prior to the OpenStack Summit last week, I attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Houston. But it’s important to recognize a few things before I write about my experience at the conference in subsequent post. I have experienced sexism and even serious threats throughout my work in open source software. This […]

Remembering Eric P. Scott (eps)

Last night I learned the worst kind of news, my friend and valuable member of the Linux community here in San Francisco, Eric P. Scott (eps) recently passed away. In an excerpt from a post by Chaz Boston Baden, he cites the news from Ron Hipschman: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, […]

The adventures of 2014

I had a great year in 2013, highlighted by getting married to MJ and starting a new job that I continue to be really happy with. 2014 ended up being characterized by how much travel I’ve done, and a side trip down having the first surgery of my life. Travel-wise I broke the 100k in-flight […]

My Smart Watch

I wear a watch. Like many people, I went through a period where I thought my phone was enough. However, when my travel schedule picked up and I often found myself in planes with my phone off in an effort to save my battery for whatever exotic land I found myself in next. I also […]