Category: Uncategorized

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.

The elections for LA were excellent! I was still stuck in hospital but had live ward updates from Rusty through Alli. Thanks guys! We have a great new team and I’m really looking forward to working with everyone this year. We have a lot to do, and now with the fiddly things out of the way, we have the ability to get in and rock! I will probably call rank and barr Michael D from any duties for a month (otherwise he may not last the year 😉

Having not had the opportunity to speak to nearly as many people as I wanted to, I’d like to invite all people to bring to the linux-aus mailing list (linux-aus@linux.org.au) ideas and suggestions for this year. We’ll be getting a few things out of the way for the first 6 weeks (web site, clean up of actions etc) and then will be re-evaluating direction and tactics for the year.

I was very sad about not being able to go the much of the conference, but I had some wonderful visitors who made my day, and a card with more than 400 signatures on it from everyone at the Penguin dinner, thanks everyone! It was the best ‘get well’ present I could ask for 🙂

And now back home, still recovering from Influenza A (no, it isn’t SARS) and it looks like Jeff is coming down with it too. Another week off work to recover and then back into it. You find all these things that are really important and they make the work worries seem so small. Hopefully I can keep them in perspective…

So, I get to LCA, that I’ve been looking forward to for a year now, and I get Influenza A. The problem is that when you turn up at a hospital with flu symptoms having come from China the day before, you tend to get thrown in a ambulance and sent to quarintine. So I missed most of LCA being in hospital 🙁 I did get a rocking card with signatures from all the Penguin dinner attendees! Thanks everyone! It rocked way hard!!!

Also, Jeff has finally tasted his own vicious medicine. Check out Jeffs’ new look. Throw me a bucket.

Rock on! Many nominations already up. Only a few days to go and already such a great range of people. Lots of talent, lots of enthusiasm, next year is going to rock for LA!

Personally, I think the approach of transparency and openness works much better, and the response from the community reflects that. I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved, and am looking forward to seeing what LA can do with the community fully behind. The issues are sorted (almost) and now it can storm ahead! Rock on Linux Australia!

The group. From left (yes your left! not theirs!):

Matteo (Beijing LUG, from Italy, now lives in Beijing), Daniel (New Day Creations), John (New Day Pastor), Richard (Rabid Beijing LUG dude, great guy), Me, Natalie, Jenny (Richards Girlfriend, beautiful girl), Eilene (Daniels Wife), Amy (Beijing LUG, also works for the UN).

We didn’t know when we went there that it was a religious setup, which was interesting, but they are doing great things for the community around them. We are helping them set up an IT community centre which will also be used for training. We don’t have much to work with 🙂 but we’ll get there. The kids were gorgeous and wonderful. Matteo was a favourite but Richard just made them cry. Natalie didn’t have much more success.

Found a place that did blood pudding as we walked through the nearby village. Found a dude practicing gung fu, with the sword who (with a little Pia promting) gave us a little demo. A beautiful sunset and it was all over.

Went with the Beijing LUG to meet an orphanage with IT issues. We toured the place, played with the kids (who were absolutely cute), and then set to work checking out their resources and trying to convince them of the business case for Open Source. We left feeling pretty confident, however need to help organise donors. Will be posting pictures tomorrow, but it is certainly a good opportunity for open source to get some attention in China.

China is still behind in IT. I am very keen on returning at some point to help create a standard for security, education, and ways it can help the people. Need to further define my goals but I think I/we can do a lot of good here 🙂

New years day was wonderful. Up early (who needs sleep anyway) and off to the forbidden City for the day. Gris and I were holding Mao up before Li Li and I did the obligatory wanky photo shots with our shiney new flags. Hot Pot for lunch. Then inside. Wonderful place. I’ve been once before but not all the way through. Check out http://pipka.org/photos/china/20040102/ for all the forbidden city photos. We ran out of time, but left the place feeling quite in awe. I had a similar experience in Pompei with Jeff. Just imagining and feeling the history. It kind of hangs in the air, like humidity, calling out to you, and whispering stories of ancient (or at least old) civilisations).

Have decided to scan and put up all photos from when I was last in China.

Saw the lowering of the flag ceremony. Wasn’t there in time to beat the throngs of people. Next time we’ll bring our own milk crates.