Nearly There...

This past week has been a hectic one. Been working on a project that I'm just putting the finishing touches on now.

Spent yesterday redoing the master and guest bathrooms, complete with the inevitable clean up required by yet another plumbing problem. It was not pleasant. It did, however, result in getting some beautiful new shower curtains up, which in turn inspired me to gussy up the bathrooms in general. The curved shower curtain rod, shown here with actual towels, just plain rocks. It feels like the shower is two times bigger now. From an aesthetics perspective, I'm much more excited about the guest bathroom, though those outdoor light fixtures really, really need to go. I still can't imagine what the previous owners were thinking.

I spent the first half of today thoroughly engaged in my never ending battle with the laundry. That's the trouble with laundry - it just never goes away. While I'll admit a certain perverse joy in washing clothes, putting them away I could simply do without. Except that you can't, so I finally break down and hang/fold/toss into drawers and life becomes much more zen for a few days. I was bustling about rearranging the linen closet, as that's an excellent way to avoid actually folding the linens, when the phone rang.

It was my Mom. My Dad had, apparently, suffered a mild stroke this morning and was at Stanford Hospital. I was in her car heading there about 40 minutes later. My Mom said he was okay and that his tests didn't show any damage, but I don't think anyone is ever really prepared to hear the words "your father" and "stroke" in the same sentence. Well, I sure wasn't.

The weather all day has been gray, wet and rainy. Good weather for staying inside and puttering around the house. It let up a bit by the time we arrived at Stanford, and we reached my Dad's room mostly dry. He was in great spirits and feeling wonderful. His sense of humor was as strong and quirky as always. He said all the numbness in his face and arm had subsided. He was a bit grumpy that he hadn't eaten all day and that they'd only feed him ice chips. We laughed a lot.

Dad told me to stop worrying almost immediately after I sat down next to him, but I didn't stop until he started cracking jokes about us sneaking him a plate of rustic vegetables and some tomato soup. Having snuck many a snack into hospitals, usually in gummy candy form, I would have complied. When someone sick asks for something that healthy, how are you supposed to refuse? Then Mom quite rightly pointed out that in this particular case it was a big no-no, citing several signs on display in the ER this morning regarding not feeding patients who'd suffered stroke, so no food smuggling occurred. Infinitely pragmatic, my Mom.

We left after being there for two hours or so. My Dad should go home tomorrow after an MRI to confirm that all is actually well. Phew. Crisis averted.

I saw this sign in the elevator bay at Stanford. I know I'm easily amused, but this one's just great. Especially when you're nervously skulking the halls of a hospital trying to figure out why you can't find the elevator. Or the stairs. Or a sign telling you where either of those things is hiding.




Where, might I ask, was my would-be-but-forbidden robotic traveling companion? Said rumored robot surfaced during neither of my trips on said elevator. Even though it had a sign. I hadn't thought to bring my own, either.

Headed home, had dinner. Updated some wiki pages and what not. Now I'm hanging out on IRC. I still have a great big pile o' laundry sitting on my bed. I think I'll cajole myself into doing it by watching The Living Daylights.

<random aside>
It's getting hot in here. That does not mean I'm advocating nudity as a lifestyle choice.
</random aside>

Musings on LCA & Back to Real Life

I said I'd post my thoughts on linux.conf.au 2008, so here they are. The program was excellent. I'll leave it to those better versed than I to comment on the technical aspects, but I particularly enjoyed the LinuxChix Mini-Conf and Elizabeth Garbee's Introduction to Open Source Animation, complete with audience accessible clay figurines. All the Keynotes were great; Stormy Peter's "Would You Do It Again for Free?" is real food for thought given some of the discussions going on around money in open source. Open Day rocked. Many thanks to the Olliver family for the open source dance mat and RepRap ring love. I didn't get to hear from Karl about his trip to Papua New Guinea, but I did get a chance to bond with Aaron over a power strip. Sharing free couch with James, James and Pascal was a definite highlight. Adam, Brad, Joel, Lee, Sam and Tim, it is always wonderful to see you. A couple of pleasant evenings were spent in the pursuit of dancing. I petted possums in the park next to my hotel with Cat and Lynne. Melbourne is a lovely city.

It was great to see the usual suspects, and to meet many more of you at the 'Student' Party. I hope you had as much fun getting early evening gelato as I did. Lemon gelato is just so awesome, particularly in a slightly humid atmosphere. If I asked you to ping me, please do; I'd love to hear from you. Ditto if you were promised t-shirts.

Finally, I was tremendously impressed by the work of the 2008 organizing committee. Their care and passion really showed through in the little details, from making the Penguin Dinner open to all attendees to providing refillable insulated water bottles. I saw many fewer plastic bottles in the waste bin than I'm used to seeing at conferences. I loved the juxtaposition between the cathedral for the Speaker's Dinner and the bazaar for the Penguin Dinner. I saw one of the greatest demos for women in tech ever - ask me about it next time you see me.

I won't be back to LCA next year, as I'll be in Auckland getting married, then honeymooning. No doubt paths will cross again sooner rather than later.

It's good to get back home, though. I spent Saturday and Sunday puttering around the house, enjoying my home brewed coffee and rearranging the bathrooms, putting away the last bits of what I'd packed for my past three week jaunt. And doing tons of laundry. As much as housework lacks excitement at the best of times, when I have been gone awhile I love how doing it grounds me and puts me back in sync with being home. Ben and I finally ripped out the nasty old shower doors in our bathroom on Saturday evening. Bliss. But now I must determine what type of shower curtain really defines me as a person. That's much more complex.

My best guy friend, David Wilkins, came over with his husband Gerardo last night. We had what our guests were gracious enough to christen Kung Pao Vegetable & Citrus Chicken Stir Fry. It tasted great, I just need to work out the amount of fruit juice in the sauce. Ben's General Tso's Chicken still beats any of my Asian inspired dishes any day.

Whilst not puttering about or entertaining, I watched The Living Daylights and Equilibrium. Live and Let Die is playing in the background now.

I spent much of today writing ~1K lines of HTML for what should be part of the first changelist I check in at work. Life is good.