Today it looks like the 3 weeks of summer we've had in the Pacific Northwest could be coming to an end.  Of course it is difficult to know for certain what is going on with the weather these days, but my bet is on climate change, caused by humans, and not good for us nor the rest of the inhabitants of this planet.  I think so because an occasional swing outside recorded norms and patterns would be expected somewhere on earth from time to time, but we seem to be experiencing multiple anomalies in diverse places within very short periods and the familiar patterns are less recognizable because they are so broken up with the unfamiliar.  The reason I say "caused by humans" is because we have finally reached a level of scientific understanding that we could identify natural phenomena that would create such anomalous patterns and I haven't heard of any natural phenomena that would explain the extent of our deviation.  However, the deviation does follow patterns known to be related to our pollution of the planet and destruction of natural habitat. 

There have been other bad summers in the Pacific Northwest, I remember 1989 as one of them, but it was preceded and followed by more normal summers.... 

As for my life, personally, so much has happened since my last entry it is hard to know where to begin.  I was literally too busy to write (or maybe I was too busy to write literally).  In June, Tom and I went on a trip back east.  We visited my friends Richard, Shelley, Michaela in Carmel NY.  Shelley is losing a third battle with cancer.  The visit was amazingly wonderful for me, as I spent time with people very close to my heart.  Michaela and Jen and Tom and I walked across the Hudson river walking bridge and back.  Richard and I walked to the pond near his house and had a good long chat.  Shelley and I shared as much of what we could think of that seemed important. 

In that same trip, Tom and I attended Kymberlie's batmitzvah, at West End Temple under the tutelage of Rabbi Marjorie Slome.  I did not expect to be impressed, but I was very happily surprised.  Even if the Jewish religion is still not palatable to me, Rabbi Salome is making the best possible interpretations of it.  At the end of the service I wished I had had more time to get to know her better.  It was great to spend time with Dolly, Howard, Susie, and Symka again.  Kymberlie was definitely in her element, enjoying all the attention and handling it with grace.  Howard shared some of the mysteries of Wave Boarding with me and I've ordered one for myself.  It should arrive any day now. 

Tom and I walked over the Highline as they had just opened up a new extension.  The Highline is a most magnificent promenade in NYC and is a treasure on a par with Central Park.  Various sections in the walkway are devoted to different look/feel and use.  For example, there is one area of lawn that lends itself especially well to sunbathing, picnicking, kids running around; another section has bird feeders; different sections have different lighting and benches.  In some places the walkway is narrow and in others it is broad.  The promenade contains New York native plants of the best varieties, especially those that are fragrant, edible, and attractive to birds.  I guess the theme for our NY trip was high walkways. 

I barely had time to catch my breath, when I was off to Portland for the Mensa Annual Gathering in Portland.  I am so glad I attended this year!  The Portland flavor of the event made this another peak experience for me.  What do I mean by "Portland Flavor"?  In addition to the wonderful presenters, presentations, and activities you would expect to find at a large Mensa gathering anywhere:  Arthur Benjamin, Richard Lederer, a room full of the newest most challenging board and card games that vendors want us to sample, strategy game playing inclusive of young and old (I played Werewolves of Portland with 35 other people of all ages), a fun talent show with some remarkable and unusual talent...  there were presentations that were more well attended, and more plentiful because we were in Portland:  presentations relating to high tech, Burning Man, polyamory, cultural awareness for exotic travels, plus a rave with a wonderful DJ and great techno music that was preceded by a packed presentation of what rave culture is about and how to properly participate in a rave.  When a Mensan develops an interest and enthusiasm around a topic, ter approach will be to make a very complete study of it.  It is unusual for me to experience camaraderie in such a large group (thousands), but it happened! 

After returning from Portland, I started an intense 3 week contract work position through Redmond Technology, LLC.  I definitely recommend them as an employment and consulting agency!  I created a PCI-compliant OSSEC server for a small retail company.  It was their first Linux Server.  I did a wonderful job and I'm very proud of it.... 

After being terminated from my last employer, I was depressed about my prospects in the job market and I knew I had to do something drastic to knock myself out of the negative thinking when this perfect opportunity presented itself.  I was afraid that I was going to remember my last job as the most high tech and most well-paid job I had ever taken in my life and that years into the future I would still regret not being able to keep my mouth shut when I saw business practices that I knew would not be good for the company's future.  The contract job was just the right remedy - it paid better, it was high tech on an almost comparable level with my last job, and (even better) I was in the responsible role for every aspect of the entire project.  It was a great confidence builder.  I always thought I should be paid well, but I never quite emotionally felt like I was worth it before.  Now I do.  I have proven to myself that I can go into a new situation, and given clear specifications, a deadline and just enough tools (a couple of desktops and network access) take charge, and meet (exceed) expectations in my line of work. 

Another train trip to Portland for the Community Leadership Summit Un-Conference where (to my surprise) I presented a talk on Myers-Briggs and High Tech and it got a surprisingly good reception and the notes seem to be getting good attention on the wiki.  I also attempted to attend OSCON for the second time.  My Netbook was booted off the wireless at every turn.  OSCON folks were nice about refunding my money because they couldn't get the wireless to work for me, either - an acknowledged problem due to underpowered wireless for too many attendees.  Next time I'll go prepared to compete for bandwidth. 

I did attend 2 OSCON events on Monday that were open to the public:  the Lightning Talks and the LinuxChix BOF.  The Lightning talks were entertaining and would have been more wonderful if I had felt like I belonged there but I didn't really feel that I was part of the crowd so much - obvious reasons (1 women to every 25 men).  The LinuxChix BOF did huge stuff to correct that.  I met almost all the women I've ever wanted to meet in tech, plus many others I had never heard of before (but will now remember) - I had a great time and I wished that the BOF meeting had gone on all night.  There were men at the meeting, too.  It was part consciousness raising, part solidarity, and part celebration because this is the first year that OSCON adopted a non-harassment policy (due to pressure from both women and men).  In the past when women had complained of being harassed (and in at least one case molested) at OSCON, they were told to contact the police, but the festival leaders would do nothing about it:  not confront the accused, not solicit witnesses, not ban anyone....  Now it looks like they intend to change that.  No wonder so few women have attended in the past.  The non-harassment policy was adopted within the first few hours of day 1.  Had it been in place in advance, more women would have been in attendance - because some had decided to boycott.  I predict a significant jump in female attendance at OSCON in coming years. 

Not done yet!  Then a trip with Tom to Idaho to visit his family.  It was great to see everyone who showed up again.  We took a hike that included Mom.  We missed Chris and Steve who couldn't make it this year.  We enjoyed the Lake and the Pontoon boat ride.  It was great to be on the road again, too.  On the way back, we stopped at the Weinhard Hotel in Dayton. 

This last weekend Tom and I took the Coot (now with name painted on stern) to our favorite spot between UW and the Arboretum and we swam!  Yes, I swam in Lake Washington.  It was glorious!  The next day we walked to Hempfest and walked until we were both sunburned and sore.  It was great! 

I've been too busy.  Really.  Don't believe me?  Read above.  But I have updated the NARGS application so that it now has pages that show member payments.

In the last 3 months I've installed Dokuwiki, Jira, SVN, Nagios, Puppet, OSSEC, on my network.  I'm still configuring Nagios and Puppet.  I'm replacing my Web server this week, let's see if I can do it without anyone noticing.  It has been a long time since I did anything so major on a "production machine" in my own environment.

I'm looking for new work.  Although full time employment is my ultimate goal, I'm not pursuing that as hard as I used to.  I'm now thinking that if the fit is not a perfect one, I'm better off as a well-paid contractor.  It keeps me removed from some of the politics and makes walking away from bad situations easier with less impact.

The Douglas squirrels haven't returned since last January.  I miss them.  The plums are ripening, as are the local blackberries.  Tom and I saw a bunch of pied-billed grebes in the floating islands at the Arboretum.  The backyard is lush as it always is this time of year.  The sunchokes are about ten feet tall.

Yet another year that the crows ate all the cherries.  I think I need to replace that cherry tree with another apple.  I planted blueberries and didn't get very many.  I replanted good tasting strawberries and haven't harvested many of those this year either.  I'm hopeful about strawberries and blueberries for next year.