what are we doing today, brain?

We had our committee meeting, and it rocked! We clarified our direction, covered a lot of little things that need to be done, then got on to the big stuff. The Press group will be going ahead definitely (watch the linux-aus space), along with training for those who need it. I’m not going to cover all the kewl stuff as it will be in the summary email to linux-aus in the next few days, however it was really good to tie the teams vision together and get everyone on track. Everyone is full of energy and ideas, and its is wonderful to work with them all. Go team

Got to see some of my favourite Melbourne people, and we all went out both Friday and Saturday evening. Saw a few pubs, had some nice meals, and played some pool. It was good to see Alison if only briefly, and I was upset to learn that in Adelaide she caught my disease from visiting me in the hospital SORRY!!

Also got to try Haigs chocolate for the first time. Thanks for the new addiction Michael I curse thee!

Pictures to be posted as soon as I get them I’m also proud to say that I sneakily managed to weasel my way out of the silly idea proposed by some of the LUV gang to drink 7 pints of James Squire beers (the entire range?). Yay me

Man, what a week! Some rather interesting organisations have taken a huge and rather recent interest in Open Source. I’ve managed to get involved in a small group of people doing Open Source policy work, and have helped structure it so that there is reference to Open Source community and industry groups for information. This means that the community will have real input to the legislation of Open Source in this country for the first time. All of this to be explained further very soon in the circles I’m in but needless to say I’ve been flatstrap trying to sort out how it can work, calling people from different groups, testing the viability and need for this idea, and then starting to get the buy-in necessary for its success. Hopefully will be able to get some sort of consolidation from the many different Open Source stakeholders in Australia, in order to make a direct and strategic impact where we need to. To long has the direction of OSS in Australia been dictated by those who don’t understand its value. If the least we can do is have a single supported statement on what OSS is, and what it means to the average person, workplace or government, we are well on the way to a fair playground. More on that as it comes

Want to get together this wonderful Linux Australia Press group, and we finally have the go ahead from the committee. I will remain as Press Officer (making sure I get some training to aid in this role), Michael Davies will also act as a liason officer to the group, then we get some fiery skilled media people from the community who are interested in strategic media moves, rather than just shot in the dark reactive moves. Hopefully this year we can be more out there, and active publicly.

Also the issues surrounding the recent and controversial FTA with the US have come up. Now that some of the details on this ‘mutually beneficial agreement’ are known, it has become apparent that there is scope for serious damage to innovation in ICT, let alone Open Source development in this country. Something needs to be done to at least let people know the dangers in such a deal, notably patents and anti-circumvention legislation.

On a more personal note, Kung Fu is rocking. I study Shaolin Gung Fu with an amazing group of people. My teachers’ teacher (Da Shi) is still the most impressive human being I’ve encountered. Intellectually, physically, spiritually and emotionally he is centred, giving and the best teacher one could ask for. I can only hope that one day I can see with even one percent of his clarity.

Getting things happening with the Australia Chinese Friendship Society (http://acfs.com.au/). Organising some hardware for them, trying to sort out their policies and practices (many of which are outdated). It is quite interesting to deal with one organisation which is 100% online, and another that is 100% offline. Certainly a learning experience. Last November I was actually supposed to meet the President of China, Hu Jintao, through this group, however that was when I got sick, and also had to cancel the Brazil trip to their International Free Software Forum. I will be there this year in June with bells on

Well no, I won’t torture you with an ode but I do dedicate this to my dog, who is due to be put down tomorrow. He is about 18 years old, so he did pretty well. Funny cos’ I just get my head screwed on, and my dog has to be put down. Ah well, get all the bad karma out of the way and then hopefully back to rocking. Pound, love!

So, now I am President of Linux Australia, on the Australia Chinese Friendship Society, doing kung fu regularly, re-creating the LA website with drupal, soon to be studying Chinese Mandarin and politics at uni, _and_ trying to not fail in my ‘paid’ work. I need better time management, I need a job that I can be passionate about to help give me the energy for my out of hours stuff, I need to live in a cooler climate. I need to stop finding excuses

I NEED A HUG!

I didn’t get to blog much over the last few weeks, so here’s a catch up

Just discovered the joy of Orkut, an “online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends” and latest fad for the online community So far I only have 14 friends but unbelievably am connected to 27561 people through these links. It has kewl profiling of people, community groups, photos, forums, and heaps of functionality. Check it out!

I never got to put up pictures of my class in china. Also some pictures from my presentation to the Beijing Linux Users Group. They are a great group and I hope to be able to help them develop.

We went and saw some Chinese theatre and acrobatics, which was awesome! A big hello to my drinking buddies Li li and Jenny. And then as a special treat on my last day, much to Natalie and my delight it snowed! We presented Simon his wonderful present and I flew home. I always get ‘homesick’ when I leave China. Oh well I’ll just have to return soon

We had my Dad’s birthday when I got home, where I finally got to wear my chinese dress with very red lipstick It was a fun night with Dad being pampered as usual. Jeff was a little worried about dessert, but it was all good I even saw my old Maths teacher.

The little I got to see of linux.conf.au was good. It was wonderful to see Bdale, Michael Davies, the old and then new LA committees, Thom, Mike Beattie, the CLUG/LUV/PLUG/LinuxSA/HUMBUG/SLUG/AUUG dudes, and all the rest, as well as meeting new people like Keith Packard (the naughty pixie) and Havoc (the cranberry juice extraordinaire). I did pretty well for the 1.5 days I got to attend

Had our first Linux Australia meeting which went well. We have a big face to face meeting in only a few weeks, then things will start rocking. More to come.