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GUADEC 2019

This is a bit late, as per usual, but I'm finally getting around to blogging my experience at this year's GUADEC 2019 in Thessaloniki, Greece. This was the second GUADEC that I've had the chance to attend, and the first time being able to attend with Caroline. Likewise, for this GUADEC Caroline and I had spent a metric ton of time helping organize the event, with much of my effort going to getting the registration/room booking website up and running and getting the GUADEC Companion apps off the ground. Needless to say it was a stressful lead-up. Before GUADEC and the two days of Board activities that I was obligated to attend just prior, Caroline and I took some time to drive around the northeastern coast of Greece, staying in a beautiful little town on the coast called Ouranoupolis. While the coast was phenomenal, alas it came time to get the event off the ground and partake in my Board responsibilities. We drove into Thessaloniki early in the morning, arriving t
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West Coast Hackfest 2019

Again, I'm late with this post, but with work, travel, and GUADEC my life has been a bit of a whirlwind of late. But here it is, my thoughts on West Coast Hackfest and the work that myself and the Engagement Team did during that time. Firstly, I'd like to thank the GNOME Foundation and the Travel Committee for approving my travel to this event. This was my first official hackfest as part of the GNOME Foundation, so it was a pretty big deal for me to attend. The event was hosted at a local communal work space, and we were able to get both halves of their conference room for the full 3 days of the event. This venue was extremely nice and pleasant to work in, and many of the people who work in the building stopped in to let us know that they were fans of what we were doing and knew all about GNOME and the Foundation. Productivity wise, I think the atmosphere and professionalism of the venue lent itself to us all getting work done efficiently. During the first day, t
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2018 Libre Application Summit

This is a bit late to be written, by I'd like to take a minute to talk about this year's Libre Application Summit, that took place this past September in Denver, CO. I was part of the planning and organizing team for LAS, though to be fully transparent my work leading up to the actual event was fairly minimal due to my Ph.D. qualifying exams happening right around the same time. For that I feel a bit neglectful, but the rest of the team did an awesome job putting everything together. This event was Caroline's first real experience with the GNOME/FOSS community, and she did a tremendous amount of work for this event. She handled all the promotional materials, website graphics, and she even stayed up late the night before leaving to Denver cutting out custom printed name-tags for each person attending. To be quite honest, I was worried about the experience she would have at LAS. While I've been in and around FOSS for a long time, long enough to understand the quirks o
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GUADEC 2018 - A Totally New Experience (Part 1)

GUADEC 2018 has come and gone, and with this being my first FOSS event I have a number of thoughts about what I was expecting and what I'm coming away feeling. This is part 1 of a multiple episode recount of my GUADEC 2018 experience. Before GUADEC How exactly did I get here? The lead up to GUADEC was fast-paced enough to give someone whiplash. Up until a few short weeks prior to GUADEC's commencement I was just a simple GNOME user. A month or so before GUADEC, the timing being totally coincidental, I tweeted Nuritzi, a person whose name I had just learned after seeing the GitLab + GNOME announcement video, asking her if she would be willing to speak on her perspectives in tech at my University. Being the President of the GNOME Foundation board of directors, I wasn't really expecting an answer to be honest. However, not only did she answer my tweet, she and I had a short phone call later the next day, and the next thing I knew I was on the GNOME Engagement Telegram t
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