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LUG, LUG, LUG, LUG! Conference! LUG!

Thursday, Mar 25th, 2010 by pleia2 | 2 Comments

The first couple weeks I was living out here I took the time to get settled in and get a feel for the new place. Then it was off to checking out the local open source tech scene!

I knew coming out here that there were a lot of tech groups in this area, especially once Grant Bowman gave me a link to the The BALE (Bay Area Linux Events) and Mark Terranova started making suggestions for my calendar. Really?? There is something every NIGHT? Now, the ones I can get to easily on public transportation is less than every night, more like every 2-3 days. Still!

My first stop was Silicon Valley LUG on Mar. 3rd “Linux, Android, and Open Source in the Mobile Environment” presented by Alison Chaiken. I took CalTrain down and MJ picked me up at the station. From there we headed over to the meeting hosted over at Symantec. The format did not lend itself to being very social like I’m used to a LUG meetings, but the presentation itself was great.

The next meeting I went to was the weekly Linux meetup, hosted by SF-LUG, down at the hackerspace Noisebridge on March 10th. Pretty casual Linux discussion in one of Noisebridge’s classrooms. It was there where I met Jim Stockford who was organizing a local Open Source Groups table at the Open Source Business Conference and seeking volunteers to help. So I volunteered!

Next meeting? March 14th at Berkeley LUG. MJ and I hopped on BART for a trip under the bay and up to Berkeley. This LUG was pretty social and met at Bobby G’s Pizzeria just a short walk from the downtown BART station. It’s a bit of a trek to make it out to this LUG, but their next meeting will be the upcoming Ubuntu Global Jam Event which I’m helping with.

The evening of March 15th was spent at an SF-LUG meeting at Cafe Enchante on Geary. I took a bus all by myself to get to this one! Luckily it was just the 38L, which goes in a straight line and was easy for me to figure out ;) This was another pretty social meeting, with coffee, a neat crowd, and even a new user who kept the conversation flowing nicely by asking both technical and philosophical questions about Linux and Open Source.

Next up was the Open Source Business Conference on March 17th and 18th. This deserves an entry of its own, so I’ll just focus on the LUG in this entry. While volunteering at the local groups table I was able to meet a number of new people in the area who do volunteer work in groups related to Linux and open source and get a crash course in all the local Linux groups. Lucky for me, Jim put together a couple filers covering Linux and other Open Source groups in the area so I could properly help at the table and answer questions people had – mostly “What are you interested in? There are lots of groups in the area, I’m exploring them too, here are a couple lists!”

I have to admit, by this time I was actually pretty tired. Maybe I should limit my LUG attendance to only a couple per week.

Last night I met up with a woman I’ve known for a few years via women in tech connections and we rode down to Peninsula LUG, what a fun way to meet! The talk was by Akkana Peck on Featherweight Linux. This meeting had a really nice half hour opening which was pretty casual and friendly. The presentation itself was fantastic (must try out some of Akkana’s tips soon!) and it was a pleasure to finally meet Akkana, who I’ve also known for several years online but never had the opportunity to meet until now. After the meeting MJ picked me up and we headed down to a datacenter where his server is hosted to do some work.

This morning I was up early to meet up with a local radio show producer for a segment about Unix-based operating systems, getting stories from people about their involvement. The actual show will be airing on Sunday evening and I’ll have a link to the mp3 soon :)

So, first impressions of the open source scene in SF? Overwhelming and great! But don’t worry Philly friends, nothing could ever replace PLUG. I miss you all!

Filed under: berkeley, events, LUG, san francisco, tech

Ada Lovelace Day: Ms. Nilsen

Wednesday, Mar 24th, 2010 by pleia2 | 2 Comments

Today I work with dozens of amazing women in open source communities, but for Ada Lovelace Day this year I decided to reach back to the beginning of my experience with computers to talk about a woman I knew back in high school.

In my high school there was a “Mac Lab” and a “PC Lab” where our limited computer classes took place. The PC lab was run by Ms. Nilsen.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t know the extent or nature of Ms. Nilsen’s core interests in computing (did she live and breathe computing? was it just a day job? I don’t know!). She is, however, a long-time faculty member at one of the highest achieving public schools in the state of Maine and while I was there she was charge of the PC lab and all the classes therein. I also know is that in every class I took there she was patient, encouraging and there was never a time in her class where I felt even remotely out of place for being female.

During this introduction to computing, before I had ever logged online, my world had a woman in the role of head of the PC lab.

In the years following high school I frequently felt out of place as a woman interested in computer science. Role models were few, I eventually realized that having a female computer lab teacher in the 90s was a bit of an anomaly. But anomaly or not that first impression stuck with me. Her example showed me that regular women could and did succeed in computing. Aside from occasional self-doubt, I never felt the full brunt of they “maybe I, as a women, shouldn’t be in this field after all” feeling that others have expressed.

Since then I’ve found a number of female role models, at first primarily through LinuxChix but later through prominent women the greater open source community. These days I’m constantly working with other women in all areas of the open source world.

Female peers and role models made all the difference for me. This is part of why I work hard to brush off the shyness and volunteer to speak at conferences and events. This is part of why I spent so much of my time on LinuxChix and now on Ubuntu Women. Just by existing and letting others know we exist and are successful we can be the role models for others, blowing away stereotypes about computing and giving other young women inspiration to succeed as well.

Thank you Ms. Nilsen for a wonderful first impression that helped carry me through some of the tough times as I struggled to find my way in computer science and for inspiring me to continue to be a role model for others.

Filed under: ubuntu planet

On my first trip to BevMo! I broke it

Monday, Mar 22nd, 2010 by pleia2 | 4 Comments

OK, so I didn’t break it, it was a software bug, but “Software bug at BevMo!” is not as funny a title (or is it?).

After living in Pennsylvania, land of the notorious PLCB, for eight years, being able to walk in to a BevMo! (a sizeable wine, spirits and beer store chain on the west coast) at 9:30PM is quite a delight. Even in this city store, which I’m told is smaller than those outside the city, there was a great selection of wine and spirits. The beer selection was less impressive, but 1) I’m in wine country and 2) it turns out there are other places I can go in the city for my beer fix.

So our basket is filled and we head to the register, get all ringed up, the cashier pops in the phone number associated with our BevMo card and this pops up:

$11.6 million? Hah! I didn’t think we spent that much… Well, it wouldn’t come off the screen, we had to move to another register as I took the opportunity to snap that picture. Even better? They gave us 5% off our purchase for the “trouble” of encountering that bug and having to move to another register. Nice!

Filed under: beer

Ubuntu Manual Project: Final Review Time!

Sunday, Mar 21st, 2010 by pleia2 | 1 Comments

Over the past couple years I’ve found myself involved in a lot of documentation, training, beginners and learning projects within the Ubuntu project. Aside from this being an infinitely rewarding sector of the project, I’ve learned the value of collaboration between teams and how far creative collaboration can take them all.

Ubuntu Manual Project

So speaking as a member of the Learning project, I’m pleased to point everyone in the direction of the phenomenal Ubuntu Manual project, which I can claim absolutely no credit for. Benjamin Humphrey and his amazing team have put together a full manual in just a few short months, developing an infrastructure for development that was easy on contributors (you have no idea how challenging this is!) and come out the other side with a full manual scheduled for release just in time for the release of Ubuntu Lucid.

But right now they need your help! Their writing freeze is on March 31st and prior to that they need more sets of eyes reading and giving feedback on the manual.

Just like so many things in this project, they’ve made it easy to volunteer, starting with a simple download of the manual:

Download Ubuntu Manual

Then read through the manual (or pick a chapter, maybe you can learn a thing or two!) and look for:

  • Spelling and grammar mistakes
  • Factual errors
  • Missing references
  • Formatting
  • Sentences that don’t make sense
  • Inconsistencies in wording
  • Somewhere where you think a screenshot is needed and there isn’t a placeholder already

Then head over to http://ubuntu-manual.org/?bugs and fill out the form with your comments. Easy!

I’m very much looking forward to the finished project, so all these final edits are greatly appreciated :)

Filed under: tech, ubuntu planet

Pink, jeweled, cat5e? I’ll take 2!

Sunday, Mar 21st, 2010 by pleia2 | 11 Comments

MJ and I headed down to Fry’s last weekend. I didn’t actually need anything, it was more of a sight seeing tour – having lived on the east coast all these years I had to check out this great electronics store my west coast friends had talked so much about.

While wandering through the aisles MJ spotted this gem:

I bought two. There will now be no question as to which cables on our network go to my desktop!

Filed under: computers, pink, ubuntu planet

Sea lions? Check! Ferry Building? Check! Coit Tower? Check!

Sunday, Mar 21st, 2010 by pleia2 | 0 Comments

I love doing touristy things, and San Francisco has no shortage!

A couple weeks ago MJ and I headed down to Pier 39 to explore the tourist scene and satisfy my craving for battered and fried fish.

…oh! And to see the sea lions! Actually, the entire trip down was to see the sea lions. I had been down near Pier 39 on a previous visit, but somehow managed to be completely oblivious to their existence. Seeing them was a must!

The weren’t as “loud as smelly” as people have reported, but there actually weren’t too many the day we visited. Still, it was great to finally see them! The rest of the pier was deliciously text-book tourist area (did I mention I enjoy tourist traps too?). We were able to easily find a place to satisfy my fried fish craving with some salmon fish and chips and round out the meal with some fried donuts.

Last weekend it was a trip down to Ferry Building. OK, calling it a “trip” is a bit of a lie, we live within walking distance from there! We had gone here for lunch last summer when I was visiting but I didn’t get to see the Farmer’s Market during that trip.

This time I got to see the whole market, browsing stands of vegetables for inspiration to possibly cook some fresh meals using some of them as ingredients in the near future. Ended up picking up some fresh bread and cheese for consumption later and stopped at the Namu stand for some fascinating “asian-inspired street food” which was quite a treat.

We decided to catch a street car home, I hadn’t been on one since my first visit out here back in May of 2008. It was packed, but well worth it for the novelty. That evening we spent hanging in with a nice bottle of wine and enjoying our bread and cheese goodies from the market.

Yesterday I did a bit more tourism, this time by meeting up with soryu2 who was in town visiting from Germany with plans to visit Coit Tower at sunset. So we met for dinner at Olea and then took a bus over to Columbus and made the trek up to the tower – taking some of those famous San Francisco streets so steep that they have stairs.

And we caught the sunset over the Golden Gate!

It’s been a fun few weeks so far and I’ve barely scratched the surface of things to do here. Last weekend we went through a detour north of the city and ended up driving through The Presidio of San Francisco park at dusk. We were able to stop and spend some time looking out on to the Pacific. I missed living near the ocean so much! I’m so glad I do again now. I’ve also been pretty busy with local F/OSS stuff (including a conference! and lots of LUGs!) but that’s for another post.

Filed under: life, san francisco

BerkeleyLUG Ubuntu Global Jam!

Saturday, Mar 20th, 2010 by pleia2 | 0 Comments

Two days after I left Pennsylvania the Ubuntu Pennsylvania Team helped Bryan Behrenshausen of Millersville University host a successful Open Options: Remix Computing with Open Source Software event at the University, details and photos are over on the team blog: Millersville University Open Options Event – Success! It was a delight working with Bryan during planning and I was sorry to be unable to attend due to my moving schedule.

I was fortunate enough to move from the state of one approved LoCo to another, now living in the golden state of California I’ve joined the Ubuntu California Team! I’ve also joined a few local LUGs, including BerkeleyLUG, which is a quick train ride across (under!) the bay from where I live. So when Jack Deslippe announced the planning of an Ubuntu Global Jam at Berkeley LUG I hopped on board.

BerkeleyLUG Global Jam

Date: Sunday, March 28
Time: 12:00-3:00
Location: Bobby G’s Pizzeria, 2072 University Ave, Berkeley, California

Agenda:

  • Grant Bowman will be demoing the Launchpad Ubuntu bug reporting, following and triaging process. This is a great way for new Ubuntu (and Linux) users to help improve the Ubuntu OS. Bring some bugs you have to report or follow up on.
  • Elizabeth Krumbach will be giving an introduction on “Ubuntu Documentation – Finding it, Using it & Contributing to it”
  • We will be working on the “I’ve just install Ubuntu, what do I do now?” tri-fold (download current version here)
  • The folks at ZaReason will be stopping by to show off Ubuntu running on some of their great machines.
  • There will be plenty of people around to share cool projects with, help with any Linux related problems you are having and to do installs.

For more, and to RSVP by email, check out the details on the BerkelyLUG site: http://www.berkeleylug.com/?page_id=67
If you have a launchpad ID, you can register for the event in the shiny new LoCo Directory here: http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/team/41/detail/

Filed under: berkeley, events, LUG, tech, ubuntu planet

Starting to settle in

Saturday, Mar 6th, 2010 by pleia2 | 2 Comments

The cats settled in faster than I am. This move to San Francisco brought a lot of change with it. I’m living in a city for the first time, I’m living with someone again, and although I didn’t change jobs, east coast company from the west coast has brought all kinds of challenges to my previously defined daily workflow.

But I love it here! It will take some time to adjust but I’m confident that within a few months I’ll feel very at home here. Part of feeling “at home” will be the ability to return to my previous state of high productivity. I think part of the challenge project-wise was that I really took a huge step back from all projects when I started planning my move. It gave me a lot of perspective as I start coming back to all my project work, sorting out where my talents can be best spent, but it’s also made it difficult to know when and where to jump back on to the moving train. I’m very fortunate to be working on projects with wildly supportive and productive communities, where taking a break is perfectly acceptable (and supported).

As for “moving in” here. there are still boxes everywhere, and probably will be until we get our storage situation sorted out. It will be so nice when the office is finally put together and I stop wondering “which box is that thing in…” when I am looking for things.

And getting adjusted to the city? I’m certainly enjoying the food in San Francisco! I am so used to living on the outskirts of Philly where the food choices tended to be pizzerias and Chinese takeouts – which I love, but do get a bit tiring, especially since I’m a bit of a foodie. Having so many cuisines within delivery (or walking!) distance is quite novel, it’s amazing that I haven’t gained weight since moving – indeed, all the walking I’m doing is starting to have the the opposite effect. People here are great too, I already know so many people in the area through open source and other things there’s no chance that I’ll end up bored or feeling isolated, in addition to meeting up for food/drinks with a couple people already, a couple members of the Ubuntu California team have suggested meetups and offered rides to local events. And I’ve never really used public transportation so I was apprehensive about not having my own car here, but it turns out that public transportation in SF so far is not scary or very difficult to maneuver, so it’s been very convenient.

Now, time for some lunch and a movie.

Filed under: life, san francisco

Flowery new desktop

Saturday, Feb 20th, 2010 by pleia2 | 15 Comments

A year and a half ago I put together a system built with some pieces I purchased from the Trenton Computer Festival. It was a server though, pretty loud, very heavy, and the hardware was a couple years old when I bought it so became out of date pretty quickly, and the Xeons were too old to have virtualization. When I decided to move I also decided to replace it and have the parts delivered here in SF.

Yesterday I put together the new machine.

Specs:

  • Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
  • GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
  • 2 x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1333LV4GK (so, 8G total)
  • 500G EIDE harddrive (from old desktop)
  • 1T SATA harddrive (from old desktop)
  • ATI Radeon X1550 (from old desktop)

Pretty sweet, right? I’m excited about the new specs, but I’m also excited about the case:

In Win Allure

It’s the In Win Allure case, with light purple flowers and Swarovski crystals! I felt a bit silly spending over $100 on a case that doesn’t come with a PSU, but I really couldn’t resist after seeing how gorgeous it was.

I put it together on Thursday and tossed in a couple harddrives from my old machine. Unfortunately I was running 32-bit Ubuntu on that old machine so it looks like I’ll be reinstalling with 64-bit probably next weekend so I can actually use that 8G of RAM and I’ll be swapping out my 500G EIDE with a 500G SATA I have.

Filed under: computers, pink, ubuntu planet

The Move

Friday, Feb 19th, 2010 by pleia2 | 3 Comments

First: We all (MJ, the cats and myself) arrived safely in San Francisco Tuesday evening.

Friday I signed over the title for Blinker to my friend Nita. MJ arrived in Philly Saturday and we spent the day running errands that couldn’t be done Sunday or President’s day. One of the tasks we needed to do was get eight boxes of Media Mail shipments out. Unfortunately we missed the cutoff for the Pottstown post office and ended up heading down to Philadelphia to make the shipments at the city post office – which was quite the adventure! First of all they failed to make a pathway through the snow from the street parking to the entrance, so we got to take turns hauling heavy boxes of books over a snowbank. Then I stood in line for 45 minutes as the poorly staffed office slowly processed the line. Everything ended up ok though, and we headed up to Chestnut Hill for dinner with Nita.

Sunday was spent prepping for the move, dropped off a number of things I didn’t need any longer to some friends and then headed out for an absolutely amazing surprise Valentine’s Day dinner at The Melting Pot in King of Prussia. Yum!

Monday was the major day for move stuff. MJ picked up the truck and we met Heidi and Mike Greb at the apartment in the morning to help with the move (thanks again guys!). Once the truck was loaded up we met up with MJ’s friend Mike (there are too many Mikes) at storage to rearrange storage and put some of my furniture and boxes in, a process which when much more quickly than we had anticipated thanks to Mike’s help. From there we went directly to FedEx to ship out another dozen boxes. Then we dropped off the truck and headed out to dinner, just in time for some flurries to start. On the way back to the apartment we checked into the hotel (since my apartment was empty, no bed!) and checked in.. and resisted the temptation to take a nap. Back at the apartment we spent a couple hours finishing packing up the suitcases and cleaning the apartment.

Tuesday morning we awoke to more flurries, and a bit of worry as to whether there would be any flight problems. We swung by the apartment to pick up the cats, do a final quick once-over of the apartment and to turn in the apartment keys. Then it was off to the airport!

phl feb 16 2010

Lucky for us there were no flight delays, the flurries stopped around noon and everything went as MJ had so perfectly planned. We arrived in San Francisco in the early evening and after dropping off the luggage at the condo had plenty of time to swing by the pet store for some cat necessities before heading to Delta’s Cargo office to pick up the cats. I was so relieved when we picked them up and they were doing well.

Wednesday we ran a number of errands here in SF and my first FedEx box came in – my firewall! Which allowed me to start setting up my network on Thursday. We wrapped up the day by swinging by Jake’s Steaks for a real Philly cheesesteak made by Philly natives with imported Amoroso rolls.

I start work again on Monday and most of my stuff gets shipped in early next week. I’m still pretty exhausted from this move and still have a lot to do, hopefully I’ll be settled in and be able to get back into project work over the next few weeks. But right now, I’m so excited to be here!

Filed under: life, philadelphia, san francisco
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