I am almost sorry to see winter break drawing near. For the past two weeks, I've had the privilege of introducing an amazing group of kids to open source software. Inspired by GHOP, Google's pilot Highly Open Participation contest, I've put together an extracurricular computer club for interested students at nearby Sandridge Elementary. We meet twice per week after school for an hour and a half.  I came into this with the slim hope that the school's new administration would let me shepard a couple of students through GHOP. Mr. Hollingsworth's (Sandridge's principal) and Dr.

Almost everything I do is under version control of some kind. I prefer to use git, but Drupal uses CVS, and a couple of other things I am involved with use Subversion. Sometimes it is useful to remove the files these systems leave behind -- for example, when I upload a web site I've developed to the production server. Doing it by hand is annoying, so here's a quick bash script I threw together, just in case anyone is interested.

Wow. Just, wow. If only I had the money to blow right now. I am am drooling over the new Linux-powered phone/PDA from Motorola. What more is there to say?

Today, Rob Levin, aka lilo, CEO of PDPC and head of the Freenode IRC network, died of wounds sustained in a car-vs-bicycle accident a few days ago. He leaves behind his wife, Deborah, his son, Benjamin, and a legacy of cooperation, leadership, and tolerance. Rob will be missed by friends, family, and the FOSS community as a whole. You are not, and will not be, forgotten.

I finally broke down and bought a digital camera. I've been putting off spending the money, but now that I have, I'm glad I did.

The camera I purchased is a Nikon Coolpix L1. I was apprehensive at first, as I'd intended to save up for a different, more expensive camera from the same maker. Having tried the L1 out for a day or so, I am impressed.

At today's Edubuntu Community Council meeting, pygi (Mario Danic) and I were officially made Edubuntu members, each by a unanimous vote.

At the meeting, JaneW and others encouraged me to become more involved in the development side of the Edubuntu project. I am eager to do so, as that has been my aim from the beginning. I joined the Edubuntu Cookbook team as a way to test the waters before jumping into development. My past experiences with debian-edu had left me skeptical, and I didn't want to again risk becoming invested in a project that was foundering under the weight of surrounding social politics.

Edubuntu Dapper Drake (6.06) was officially released today. My geeky celebration involved a few friends and our collective kids enjoying the local pool, complete with an Edubuntu cake made by yours truly. Much fun was had by all, despite intermittent rain, lack of proper utensils, and other tiny inconveniences. I'm proud of how Dapper has turned out, and I plan to keep contributing to Edubuntu.