Finally got through a large chunk of the OCLUG TODO list. I drafted a mailing list policy for a new, moderated mailing list, due to launch ASAP. I also drafted an amendment to the bylaws that would reduce the board size, which is under discussion right now. Voting reform (which require another bylaw amendment) has been proposed, which I would like to see passed before the end of this board's term in April.

Started working at Galazar Networks on September 27th, and have watched all of my free time wash away. The bus ride takes an hour in each direction, and then I'm working a little extra, which means that I'm away from home at least 12 hours each weekday. This was a bit of a shock for the first week, when I had been used to being home all day. Fun job, though, and just what I want to be doing.

All this activity has resulted in further neglect on my part for OCLUG matters, which must stop this weekend (which happens to be Canadian Thanksgiving!). I still need to draft some rules for the mailing lists and submit them to the oclug-board list for comment. This way I can get feedback and they can be approved at the next board meeting in about two weeks.

Spent August around Europe and started looking for a job at the start of this month. Last summer/fall I spent quite a bit of time job searching before getting something that wasn't all that interesting. Within the first month of this search, I have had two interviews for very interesting jobs, and the second interview has now landed me a job offer. The great news is that it's not another web application development project. I don't want to say anything more until I actually respond to (read: accept) the job offer. The end product is not related to Linux or Free Software, but some Free tools are used in the development process, and they are looking to move away from their current Sun/Solaris work environment to perhaps something Linux-based.

This relatively intense job search has caused me to neglect OCLUG a little too much. We still need to set up a speaker for the upcoming October meeting, and I need to get moving on a draft set of rules for the mailing lists, particularly a new, Linux-only (ie: on-topic) list.

No updates since March, so I guess I'm a little overdue.

In April I was re-elected to the OCLUG board of directors, and am now acting as President. It feels as if OCLUG is stagnating a little, and perhaps we are losing some people because of the wide knowledge gap in our audience (we are almost evenly divided between complete newbies and very advanced developers). Some have been suggesting splitting the meetings in two in order to cater to both groups. The problem is that we already tried this in the past with mixed results (granted, that was many years ago). However, I would like to examine this possibility once more to see if:

1. it will be financially feasible (my guess is "yes");
2. it will generate a higher turnout and (hopefully) increase the membership;
3. we can find two sets of speakers each month (even finding one set of speakers each month can be a challenge at times).

Despite my fears of the group stagnating, there have been some notable meetings in the previous months. OCLUG held it's annual Linux in the Wild BBQ in July, which was a success. Many kernel hackers, in town to attend the Linux Symposium, were welcomed by our local group. In June, Nathan Sidwell gave an excellent talk about GCC 3.4 and future directions for GCC.

Meanwhile, I was away in various parts of Europe during the month of August, so I'm still catching up on everything that I missed here at home. Today, my body finally moved away from Continental Europe Time (CET) and moved directly to Mountain Time (a bit of an overcorrection as I reside in the Eastern time zone). The trip was great and I managed to not touch a computer for the entire month. Of course, this had an effect not unlike compressing a coil, which has resulted in almost constant computer use since my return (barring sleep, the rare meal eaten at the dinner table and some reading time - about computer architecture, of course).

Before my trip, I had attended the Linux Symposium, and managed to win an AMD64-FX processor. It looks like I'll actually build a system with it as soon as I find a source of income to fund the purchase of a motherboard, memory and other necessities not included. People at the conference were joking that it's a wonderful -500$ prize. It will also mean that I will have fourth architecture in my home (x86, x86-64, PowerPC and ARM, when I get my messed up NetWinder to work).

OCLUG Meeting Coordination: Well, the first one (February) didn't go so well. The projector didn't take the right input, but the speakers did really well keeping the audience entertained nonetheless.

For the next meeting, Robert Love (Ximian/SuSE/Novell) was flown in from Florida. That went much more smooth than the previous meeting, and we now have a more stable projector source (with multiple backup plans, if needed). We had a good number of people show up for this which was great. There is also a good number of people lined up to speak in the coming months, and meetings are booked up until July (which is the month OCLUG usually holds Linux in the Wild, to get outdoors and get some fresh air).

OCLUG Board Elections: A bit of a fiasco right now on the oclug-board mailing list, but at least most of the people complaining are putting their candidacy where their mouth is running for the new board. It should be a fun election. I'm a little nervous - public speaking always freaks me out until the second after I begin talking. It's only a 2 minute speech, though, so it shouldn't be too bad.