LCA was a total blast! The speakers were wonderful, and I really felt integrated into the conference and social events by the techie women of LCA. Thank you to Sara, Jo, Jacinta, Liz, and all the other Haecksen of LCA2010!

The only downside is the weather. It's really quite rainy here, although it's 10-15 degrees warmer than Portland. I think Jamey and I are going to skip the Tongariro Crossing and go straight to the glow worm caves at Te Kuiti/Waitmo. At least we'll be in a cave while it's raining!

Choose your excuse:

I haven't posted in about six months, because

a. I bought a house,

b. I acquired two cute kittens (Derek and Elisa),

c. The acquired house needed a ton of work, including taking down a 30 foot "hedge" in the backyard,

d. I've been experimenting with all kinds of cooking,

e. I'm lazy.

What's next for me?

I'm presenting about Linux USB 3.0 support at Linux Conf AU 2010. If you're going to LCA next week, you can check out my talk at Friday at 10:30am in the Ilott Theatre. I'll have a USB 3.0 demo for the brave souls that make it to morning talks. ^_^ If you miss it due to being hung over or not being able to attend LCA, I believe they'll be video taping it.

LCA is being held in Wellington, New Zealand, this year. Jamey and I are going bike camping for two weeks afterwards. As Martin Short put it, "I planned a spontaneous adventure." Let's hope Captain Ron doesn't screw it up. ;)

Any suggestions of cool things to see on the North Island? We're probably going to National Park, Te Kuite, Auckland, and the Coromandel Peninsula. Anything else in that general area?

For instance, if you only want to see entries tagged with "open source", you can append that tag to the end of my blog URL like so:

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You can also get an RSS feed for all my entries:

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Linux

I've been running Linux for about five years, and I've been developing on Linux for the past two years. I currently work in Intel's Open Source Technology Center. I currently work on the Linux USB subsystem. The comments and content on this blog are mine, and do not reflect my employer's opinions.

Amateur Rocketry

My most "explosive" hobby is amateur rockets. I'm involved with the Portland State Aerospace Society, who designs, builds, and launches open source rockets. I got involved in USB because the sensor nodes (GPS, IMU, temperature, pressure, etc.) are going to be USB devices that talk to our Linux flight computer. If you want to know more, you should checkout the five-minute intro talk I gave at Ignite Portland 2:

Of course, my life isn't all about technology!

Personal

I'm happily married to Jamey Sharp, who is also a fellow geek.

Gardening

I had a garden in a local community garden for two years, and this year I decided to make a garden at the house I'm renting. Being the geek that I am, I decided to do the whole thing myself, so that I could learn about landscaping. It's been a slow, but interesting process. Pictures will be posted as the work progresses.

Bicycling

When I started working at Intel, I faced a 20 mile commute. I could have picked the easy route and bought myself a car. However, I'm environmentalist at heart, so I decided to use mass transit. It was a 10-minute walk to get to the MAX station, a 30-minute ride to Hillsboro, and a 5-minute shuttle ride to work. After a month, I got tried of being tied to the Intel shuttle schedule, and I started biking on both ends of my commute.

Since that time, I've become a big bicycle geek. My family often worries about my safety, but the only accident I've gotten into was my own fault. Portland is very bike friendly, and I love to bike to local cafes and spend the day hacking. Portland has a very active bike community, and I'm slowly going on more group rides. Some day I'd like to do a bicycle tour of the Columbia River Gorge and the Oregon Coast.

Travel

I love to travel. I love to see new sights and talk to the locals about their culture. My mom instilled the travel bug in me; I went to Europe seven times before I graduated high school. Most American kids don't get that kind of perspective, and I'm very grateful for my experiences.

My mom was into whirlwind tours that included all the sights; my dad was into going to Pubs and talking with the locals. I like my dad's approach better. I believe that you can't really get the flavor of a town until you spend at least three or four days in it, and that you can't judge a country (or state) by one town. Whirlwind tours are not for me.

I love to go off the beaten path, away from the tourist attractions. I will always prefer nature to a mall.

Places I've been:

• Canada: Victoria, BC; the Canadian Gulf Islands; Quebec City
• The Caribbean
• England: London, Brighton, Bath, Stone Henge.
• France: Paris, Nice, Cannes, Amboise, Bois, and the French Alps.
• Switzerland
• United States:
  • California: LA, San Francisco
  • Hawaii: Kauai and Hawaii
  • Illinois: Joliet and Kankakee
  • Idaho: somewhere with a giant lake?
  • Nevada: the Blackrock Desert
  • Oregon: the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon coast, Eastern Oregon around Bend. My childhood stomping grounds included Rainier, Goble, and Prescott.
  • South Dakota
  • Washington: Seattle, the San Juan Islands
• Japan: Tokyo, Nikko, Sendai, Matsushima, Tono

Places I want to travel to:

• Japan
• Austria
• Scotland
• New Zealand
• Belgium
• the Netherlands
• various places in the United States
  • Alaska
  • Maine or New Hampshire to see the fall colors
  • Yosemite National Park

Miscellaneous

I'm a tea snob. I have been ever since I visited London, England.

In spring 2007, I took a scuba class with my fiancé, and we got our NAUI certification. In June 2007, we went on our honeymoon to Hawaii. My husband and I snorkled the beaches and went on two scuba diving tours. I got to see turtles, manna rays, and all sorts of colorful fishes. I haven't been diving since, mostly because I hate the cold water in the Northwest. I would like to give it another try some day soon.

I'm a big bookworm, although my other hobbies have been taking more of my time lately. My current bent is towards fantasy and science fiction books. Favorite authors include:

• Laurie R. King
• Diane Duane
• Terry Pratchett
• Diana Wynn Jones

I may occasionally post a book review if I get ambitious.

I'm terrible at spelling. In Kindergarten, I was taught to spell things the way they sound. That was an utter disaster. Vim automatic spell checking is my crutch, and I often defer to Google when that fails me. Please excuse any spelling errors in my entries.