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 […]
Archive for the ‘reflection’ Category
Hashtag FirstJob
June 6th, 2016 by pleia2
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
January 3rd, 2016 by pleia2
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
January 1st, 2016 by pleia2
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
November 7th, 2015 by pleia2
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)
January 24th, 2015 by pleia2
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
December 31st, 2014 by pleia2
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
November 28th, 2014 by pleia2
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 […]
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The adventures of 2013
December 31st, 2013 by pleia2
I had a great year in 2012, but 2013 was really exceptional. Biggest news, on Sunday April 28th MJ and I were married in a ceremony just outside of Philadelphia! We also hosted a California reception in August. Second biggest news, in January I started my job with HP where I now get to work […]
Day of Rest, 5 months later
September 2nd, 2013 by pleia2
Back in April I wrote the blog post “Day of Rest” about my intention to take a day off from “things that feel like work” once a week. Since I’m studying Judaism and have joined a synagogue with MJ the logical selection for the day was Saturday. The following are some take-aways I’ve had since […]