When Hearts Attack!

Well, this has been an interesting week, and not in a good way.
My mother who is a young 59 year old who watches what she eats, exercises every day, and has a rather low cholesterol level, had a heart attack Saturday.

It completely blew my mind. It completely blew every one's mind! Nobody would have ever suspected that this woman, who takes such good care of herself, would be struck down by a heart attack.

Turns out that it was only one artery with a blockage. She was catheterized and they inserted two stents. The Doctor was rather surprised by how clear all her other arteries are.

So.... Ultimately, she will be fine. The damage to her heart was negligible, and the shape that she is in will make the cardiac therapy extremely easy (Dr.'s words). But what an experience...

Biking and Golf, OH MY!

After a punishing headache the night before, I dragged my butt out of bed this morning to take my son to ride bikes with my cousin and my parents. First off, let's clarify that while I am 39, my cousin, is 8. My son is almost 11 so the two of them are close enough in age to enjoy each other's company quite a bit.

My cousin has not mastered the art of bike riding yet, so this was a joint multigenerational effort to help him get the two wheeler down pat. It was an hour and a half of very physical labor for everyone involved (especially Riley, who fell once to demonstrate to my cousin that a fall, while a bit painful, will not kill him).

After a quick ice cream stop at the local Dairy Queen, we went to Beaver Bend Golf Course, a par three course in Hummelstown. It's a great place to teach the kids about the basics of golf, without wearing them out completely.

Although the bike riding had taken it's toll, so their energy waned on the back nine significantly.

It is very nice to be able to spend time with family.

Now to bed so that I can rest up for more biking tomorrow.

-30-

September 15th is coming... Do you know where your free software is?

Coming soon to a town or city near you (hopefully), is Software Freedom Day. This year it will be Saturday September 15th, and there will be events all over the world to celebrate FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), and to promote the use and adoption of open source software.

What a great concept this is, a gigantic community moving forward to make great software, and to continuing to improve that same software. I am proud to be a part of this movement, and I look forward to seeing how many events are held this year. I am working with the Ubuntu Local Community Team for Pennsylvania and CPLUG (Central Pennsylvania Linux Users Group) in the Harrisburg and York areas right now. One of our teammates is looking into setting up at the York Fair, which would be rather amazing considering the thousands of people who go through that fair.

Around Harrisburg, I am more interested in getting together a group of people to host a screening of Revolution OS, or set up cook outs at various busy parks or colleges.

Also I am starting to assemble my media kit, and my "hit list" for the local media to be invited or for press releases.

Stay tuned for more exciting information!

The Pennsylvania LoCo Team has been appproved!

We've done it! Below find the transcript from the event where the Pennsylvania Local Community was approved by the Ubuntu Community Council.

Everyone on the team deserves a huge round of applause! I am honored and proud to be working with such great people.

03:51	jsgotangco	ok let's move to pennsylvania
03:52	jsgotangco	yay
03:52	Ubuntuser	:D
03:52	jsgotangco	Zic: i doubt he'll come today
03:52	cypherbios	Sounds really great! Thanks all!
03:52	rpereira	:-)
03:52	freelancer317	That's us! I'm the team contact!
03:52	dholbach	congratulations :)
03:52	freelancer317	Our application page is http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam/ApprovalApplication
03:52	Zic	jsgotangco: ok ... thx
03:52	jsgotangco	Bret?
03:52	freelancer317	Congrats to Brazil!
03:52	jsgotangco	ahh
03:52	pleia2	I'm here for pennsylvania too :)
03:52	AndreNoel	thanks!!
03:52	freelancer317	That's me
03:52	OgMaciel	:)
03:52	jedijf	pa here
03:52	rpereira	Thanks everybody. :)
03:52	Joe_CoT	I'm not from Pennsylvania, but i live very close!
03:52	jedijf	congrats serbia and brazil!!
03:52	lamalex	PA here
=== etank is cheering for pennsylvania \o/
03:52	Ubuntuser	this is begin... ;)
03:52	teddy-dbear	Pa here
03:52	freelancer317	Thank you for the opportunity to review our application to become and approved Local Community Team! First off we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the great people who have joined this team, and although I started it, without them, there would be no application in front of you now, nor would there be for a very long time.
=== andrew is here for PA
03:53	freelancer317	The US-Pennsylvania LoCo Team was established in March by freelancer317 (Bret Fledderjohn) with the assistance of Vorian (Ohio Team Contact). Since that time, we have grown to 51 direct members on Launchpad. We have also established strong bonds with active LUGs, had four successful events, and are building several ongoing projects and events which will not only spread the word about Ubuntu, but also (in many
03:53	freelancer317	cases) will help make our local communities better places.
03:54	freelancer317	http://www.meetlinux.com is our website.
03:54	dholbach	what has the team been concentrating on in the last time? how did you find new members?
03:54	freelancer317	We've initially been working with LUGs and several Nonprofits
03:55	lamalex	We've been working with a lot of non-profits to help under priveleged people benefit from technology and free software
03:55	freelancer317	the forum and Launchpad have also been attracting alot of attention
03:55	jedijf	and with local lugs to cross-promote events
03:55	freelancer317	We had a joint installfest with the Central PA LUG and we had our own installfest in Philly
03:55	jsgotangco	i see lots of activites with non-profits on the website
=== jwendell [n=wendell@ubuntu/member/wendell] has left #ubuntu-meeting ["Bye"]
03:56	jedijf	that is an ongoing thing - now that we've started relationships, the projects flow from one to the next
=== myriam_rs cheers for US-Pennsilvania LoCo Team too!
03:57	dholbach	that sounds good - launchpad says you have 55 members - do you have a chance to meet often as a team?
03:57	pleia2	thanks myriam_rs :)
03:57	freelancer317	We are also putting together a statewide media contact list, and will have a subteam working on distributing press releases and interacting with the media
03:57	lamalex	not in person as a whole team
03:57	lamalex	pennsylvania is a large state
03:57	freelancer317	dholbach outside of irc meetings, no
03:57	jedijf	weekly irc chats
03:57	lamalex	wednesday nights, 8:30pm est
03:57	jedijf	and active daily irc contact
03:57	jsgotangco	yeah i saw the calendar
03:57	freelancer317	we have subteams that cover the different regions
03:58	Vorian	Pennsylvania has been doing wonderful things in the name of Ubuntu. I strongly recommend them for a +1
03:58	freelancer317	Thanks Vorian
03:58	jsgotangco	how is the team preparing for SFD?
=== etank agrees with Vorian
03:58	jedijf	we are promoting a major event with PACS - phila area computer society -
03:58	lamalex	philly team is working with the philly area computer society for a large bbq/speech/party
03:59	freelancer317	Well, there is an event being planned up in the northeastern part of the state. Philly is planning a big thing with PACS, and Harrisburg is working with CPULG
03:59	jedijf	providing a speaker and demonstrations from 8 am to 3 pm
03:59	freelancer317	oops cplug
03:59	lamalex	:P
03:59	freelancer317	we hope to have an event in most major cities and towns in PA
03:59	freelancer317	Pittsburgh is in the infancy of developing the event
04:00	dholbach	nice - the team looks well organized to me
04:00	lamalex	they are beginning to form in pittsburg
04:00	lamalex	there is interest, but it hasn't fully come together. Progress is being made and other regions are encouraging them
04:00	freelancer317	dholbach thanks! We've got a real good core group of people working to get this going
04:00	jsgotangco	a lot of stuff looks solid to me as well, but i advice taking advantage of SFD to have a big get-together, should be fun, the bbq party is a nice touch, i give my +1
04:01	dholbach	I'm happy to give a +1 for Pennsylvania as well
04:01	MikeB-	+1 for me
04:01	freelancer317	thanks dholbach and jsgotangco and MikeB!
=== georgia [n=georgia@pdpc/supporter/basic/Georgia] has joined #ubuntu-meeting
04:01	dholbach	elmo?
04:02	elmo	+1
04:02	dholbach	congratulations! :)
=== lamalex throws his cap
04:02	dholbach	ok, let's move on to member applications
04:02	myriam_rs	Congratulations from the SwissTeam to Pennsylvania LoCO Team!
04:02	pleia2	thanks everyone!
04:02	dholbach	bashelier: it's your stage
04:02	Vorian	Yay Pennsylvania!!!!!!
04:02	freelancer317	thanks myriam_rs!
04:02	Vorian	Congrats!1

Here it comes... Ubuntu Community approval!

Months of work by our group has culminated in our chance with the Ubuntu Community Council for approved status as an Official Ubuntu Local Community Team (LoCo). Tuesday June 26th at 9am EDT, at the Ubuntu Community Council meeting, we will be up for approval.

I have been very fortunate to have such a dedicated, motivated, and fun team to work with. Without them, this never would have happened, let alone this fast.

This is a very quick post, but I hope to go more in depth soon, as well as catch up with things that have been happening.

I have been busy as all get out at work, and we also have been working hard on getting a party together to celebrate my parents 40th anniversary (the party is Saturday June 23rd), so I have been extremely limited in my time.

Dellbuntu Experience from another blog

I thought that this was interesting.

Captain Tux's Blog

Central Pennsylvania Linux Users Group Installfest/New User Meeting

Coming up this Saturday (5/19) at ITT Tech in Mechanicsburg from 10a-6p!

I'll be doing a short presentation on the different flavors of Ubuntu - Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu at noon.

Everyone is welcome... Bring food. :-)

More information is here.

Game Night!

Rummikub, Sequence and Yahtzee

Family game night! I love this. Riley, my eldest son, is here this weekend, which is always fun. We are playing board games, and at ten he is getting really fun with the games.

His tennis coach didn't show up for practice and game today. I filled in with another Dad. I have played competitively before and he had not even played so, I was the defacto coach. She hasn't been really teaching them much, more like getting them used to balls coming at them.

I don't think they have worked on grip or watching the ball everywhere it goes (although they are kids so that is a challenge) or even worked on stroke. So I didn't know what to try to do with them. Some of the kids have some real talent.

Regardless, it was a good time and I hurt right now... My hamstring is killing me.

Declan, our two year old, was red as an apple out there. I think it was the heat that did it more than the sun since he had sun block on. He fell asleep really early this evening, so I think the air and the sun (as well as the constant running around outside the courts) wore him out.

Approval may be aways off for the PA LoCo Team

Well, Jono has indicated that it may be difficult to get approval without a listserv in place. Worse news is that our request could be delayed for an unlimited amount of time.

We have some choices here. We can continue on and hope that everything that we have scheduled and done will qualify us, and per Jono that seems unlikely.

Or we can set up our own mailing list somewhere else.

Or we can sit and wait.

It's a bit of a setback, but it shouldn't stop the Pennsylvania LoCo team from moving forward with our plans and continue expanding our programs!

Here it goes.... This week we go for Approved Status

The Pennsylvania LoCo Team is going for approved status. I will contact Jono Bacon, the Community Manager at Canonical who will give us guidance as far as where we stand, and when we can expect to go in front of the Ubuntu Community Council to try for approval.

I think that we are looking good for approval. We have 39 direct members since our creation in March, many of which are active. We have a Feisty Release Party scheduled in Montrose for May 17th, will be working together with the Central Pennsylvania LUG for their InstallFest/New User Meeting on May 19th near Harrisburg, and there is an PA LoCo team Installfest slated for June 2nd in Philadelphia.

The PA LoCo website is up at www.meetlinux.com

Our IRC channel is on freenode #ubuntu-pennsylvania

Our wiki is at wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam

Finally, here's our team site on Launchpad

I feel good about this, and think that we are definitely on track to helping the Ubuntu Community gain market share.

Dell, Microsoft, and Novell, Oh My!

Here's an interesting article. The Ubuntu deal may have been announced first, but Dell seems to be investing deeper into Linux. On Sunday, Dell signed a deal with Microsoft and Novell to offer Enterprise Suse Linux on servers.

The full story by Elizabeth M. Gillespie of the Associated Press is here: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070507/dell_microsoft_novell.html?.v=8

While Ubuntu seems to be Dell's choice for the desktop market, Suse will take the server side.
I am curious to see how this shakes out. Comments are welcome here for this story!

Podcast for Ubuntu Weekly News (UWN)

See the following link for the UWN. I am hoping to put together a podcast for this. I will start playing with it this week.

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn

Technorati

Technorati Profile

Ubuntu and Dell... Dellbuntu?

Good news for the world of Linux and specifically Ubuntu. Dell will start selling computers with Ubuntu preinstalled.

Check out this article from ZDnet.

Now Linux may have more leverage with the hardware manufacturers for drivers... And going mainstream can only help Linux!

Ubuntu and the Pennsylvania LoCo Team

I've started the Pennsylvania LoCo Team to help promote the spread of Ubuntu!

As of March we've added 37 members and have already coordinated an Installfest in Philly, are supporting a speech to the Pennsylvania Computer Society in Philly, and participating in the Central PA Linux User Groups.

This is pretty exciting stuff and it will only gain momentum. Check us out at the website, the forum, the IRC freenode channel #ubuntu-pennsylvania, or the wiki.

LugRadio

I have been having a blast listening to these guys! Jono Bacon, Matthew Revell, Stuart Langridge, and Ade Bradshaw are the presenters of the podcast and all I can say is, wow!

First off a quick warning to the faint of heart. If off color language and content puts you off, then this is not the program for you!

Discussions range from open source projects through licensing and bodily functions through sexual practices and all points in between. Even though this has two Canonical employees on air, I think that it is pretty successful in not being an exclusive Ubuntu advocacy forum.

Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is brought up regularly, however when there is something that any of the presenters find not up to snuff or inappropriate they do not hesitate to give Jono (one of the Canonical employees) a "good kicking."

Regardless of who is on the receiving end of a kicking, it seems that they give as good as they take! I haven't heard these guys do a podcast I didn't like yet.

On the negative they do focus a bit much on the technicalities of open source licensing for my taste. Perhaps its because I am relatively new to Linux?

Check these guys out at http://www.lugradio.org

Their podcast is listed in ITunes or you get get the RSS Podcast link off of their site.

That was a quickie. More coming soon!
-30-

Once again I've lapsed....

Well, It's happened again!

I haven't posted in forever. Kids Job and home repairs strike again! We just had to replace our boiler (steam heat and hot water heater) just before Christmas. That was a great way to celebrate the holidays, let me tell ya!

Anyway, I've been messing about with Ubuntu and some other Linux distros. Look for more about that. I am thinking of doing a series of posts of the plusses and minuses of my experiences with Linux and Open Source, as well as a very interesting podcast to which I've become addicted.

There's a cliff hanger for you... What podcast could I possibly be on about? I'll leave a quick hint and fill in later... Jono Bacon.

That's it.... More tomorrow.