twittering on 2008-08-31

  • Gustav is going to be a cat 4 storm. Nagin is telling his staff to flee. CNN is talking about Twitter #
  • @jasonglaspey your wedding?! #
  • catching up on news feeds out here in scappoose. buzzfeed’s coverage of sarah palin cracking me up. (remember: rhymes with van halen) #

twittering on 2008-08-29

  • http://twitpic.com/9e18 – “Thank you… Thank you…” 😀 #
  • @grigs me too. seems odd for a guy who’s running on his experience. and she’s prepared to take over? #
  • @gchaix thanks for the suggestion! I’ll check it out. #
  • @petdance you are brave! be strong! #
  • @grigs unfortunate that she was chosen now. glad mccain did it, but sad it seems based on a bid for PUMAs, instead of her qualifications #

twittering on 2008-08-28

  • hopping on bike for wherecamp meetup. considering whether to bring rain gear. #
  • Decided to just drive 🙁 I’m here and on the back deck fellow wherecamp planners #
  • still giggling about twitter-assisted mail delivery ideas from wherecamp planning #
  • sweet! coworker is presenting at UTOSC on our development environment: http://2008.utosc.com/presentation/81/ #
  • @thesethings aww shucks. 🙂 #

Leaving US PostgreSQL Assoc. – what’s next for me?

A smiling pug
image credit to bugbunnybambam

A few weeks ago, I decided to resign from the United States PostgreSQL Association board. Shortly after, I left for a long vacation where I thought about what I wanted to do next – both professionally and in a volunteer capacity.

Looking back, I started volunteering for PostgreSQL two years ago. I’ve led PDXPUG, staffed many conference booths, given nearly a dozen talks and run conferences. Of the work I’ve done, I’ve been most surprised by the creation of the PUGS website and all the user groups that followed.

This may sound silly – but I was so incredibly proud to see user groups in Oklahoma, Toronto, Los Angeles and the D.C.-area (BWPUG) hold meetings, share their experiences and publish fantastic presentation slideshows. All while I was out of the country!

That’s a true sign of success to me: groups of people leading themselves and sharing their knowledge with each other. It’s open community, with minimal bureaucracy, and (I hope) maximum fun.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to make this next year’s volunteer work focused on a simple idea:

Enable people to connect and learn directly from each other.

So what you can expect from me over the next year is more of the same, but now with that end goal in mind: more PostgreSQL user groups (for as long as the postgresql.org folks would like me to stay), more ways to connect people directly to each other, more authentic community building through un-conferences, and more contributions – through code, testing and presenting of that work.

To give you an idea — here’s what I’m up to over the next couple of months:

  • Linux Plumber’s Conference, September 17-19 – with Gabrielle Roth, we’ll be presenting information about databases (PostgreSQL specifically) and filesystem performance using data gathered from the recently installed PostgreSQL performance lab.
  • PostgreSQL Conference West, October 10-12 – I’m not organizing this year, but I’m organizing a session on hacking PostgreSQL, led by some PostgreSQL hackers!
  • WhereCampPDX, October 17-19 – I’m helping organize this un-conference for geography-specific tech – practicioners, professionals, enthusiasts, artists! We’ve got some great ideas and hope to publish details in the next week about the awesome folks involved, the venue and the parties!

Hope to see you at these events!

I haven’t talked about my work much in this blog, and probably will continue not to do that much here – but I also wanted to share that I’ve taken a position with End Point Corporation, a fantastic company that works on open source software, and provides support for PostgreSQL. I’ll be focusing on PostgreSQL, and doing a little Perl development here and there.

twittering on 2008-08-27

  • fedex delivered my laptop to the wrong address 🙁 and they don’t know what that address is 🙁 🙁 #
  • third fedex csr finally said that they could call the shipping location for me when it opens; 1st/2nd csrs said no way #
  • @rarehero thanks 🙂 i’m gonna stop with the updates or else i’m going to end up on whitewhine. #
  • @markwkm LOLCATS translation? genius! #
  • cautiously optimistic: fedex says they have the package and are redelivering today. still not sure where it got delivered the first time. #
  • @markwkm can haz cat databukkit? #
  • ahhh! the sun! #pdxst #
  • omg. i think my laptop got delivered to @mattking’s office. #
  • @jfoebe thank goodness @mattking is so honest! 😀 #
  • *happy dance* thanks, instrum3nt and @mattking for keeping my laptop safe overnight. #

twittering on 2008-08-26

  • Hurricane party on Friday at my place. RSVP and I’ll tell u what to bring. #
  • @SarahDavies we will drink hurricanes! #
  • clarification: party on friday. my place. drink provided: hurricanes (see: http://is.gd/1UKS). RSVP pls. kthxbye #
  • @thesethings TOTALLY. reminds me of channel 7 in mexico. don’t make me tell you about the puppets. #
  • @dberkholz i like that i need to “Brace for the Smooth Taste”. still gonna make them from rum and pineapple juice. #
  • this week’s mercury is cracking me up. breakfast, then back to work! #
  • eek, @sharding and @ravenme have convinced me not to upgrade my iphone quite yet. #
  • @markwkm awesome! second day has been made more awesome by training module entitled “Git is awesome and Subversion isn’t” #
  • “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” Susan B. Anthony, rmbr the 19th amendment: http://is.gd/1W8x #
  • just got a bunch of shizzow invites. any pdx’ers still need an invite? #

twittering on 2008-08-25

  • back home, beer in hand. a little more cleaning of the basement before settling in for a movie. #
  • @stewartsmith congrats on house. good luck with the pringles can! #
  • @clonezone me too! (first day at new job) #
  • contemplating vogon poetry. #
  • @PeteForsyth I didn’t say recital! #
  • @Joseph_di_P not yet 🙂 more of an asimov/philip k. dick/orson scott card scifi reader. always looking for suggestions! #
  • @EvaCatHerder it’s all for the new job. 😀 #
  • @ctronco thanks! have a book order to put in, so adding _seeker_ unless you have a better suggestion… #

twittering on 2008-08-24

  • ok, vodka sauce is a complete winner. fresh tomatoes FTW #
  • @sumwan LOL definitely! #
  • http://twitpic.com/8tre – Instant food coma! #
  • volunteer opportunities to help people/ease/eradicate poverty: http://www.charityguide.org/volunteer/poverty.htm #
  • @bobuva get a group of geeks together to volunteer to deliver food to farmworkers, or mentor kids in poor schools. #
  • @bobuva maybe, but “No man can be wise on an empty stomach.” – george elliot; need to feed the belly before the mind – both parents and kids #
  • today was a good food day on twitter 🙂 #
  • coffee. paint. brushes. ready. #

twittering on 2008-08-23

  • OH: this tequila tastes like bacon! #
  • @storming i’m interested in that book – would love a tweeted review! #
  • @mherrick66 break a leg! #
  • coffee’s ready. time for more basement cleanup. #
  • @lacajag and painting! 😀 picking out colors now… #
  • @mcauliflower belly’s good food then? the last restaurant in that location (terroir?) was horrible. #
  • @branpitoyo i am so there for the salsa festival! #
  • @storming # of hrs for preso prep is same recommendation from damian conway – he said he sometimes takes 90 hrs to prep #
  • home with paint – aquifer and bunch of cloves were the winners #
  • making tarragon ricotta ravioli for dinner. #