This is my daughter, Caslin. We finally managed to get a picture of her in her Debian onesie before it has spit-up on it. This’ll be a great photo to hold on to in case she grows up and works for Microsoft or something equally ironic.

Saturday I am scheduled to leave for DebConf, to be gone for 10 days. This will be the first time I have travelled away from home since she was born. At only 4.5 months, lots can happen in 10 days. That just hit me in the last couple of days. This reminds me once more why I took measures to change my work situation to all but eliminate travel.

I look forward to meeting so many of those whom I only know via email, IRC, and DebConf5 videos.

In other news, my two-day-old Nokia N90 was stolen from the back seat pocket where I left it on an Amercian Airlines flight from Atlanta to Dallas. That was an unlocked GSM phone that I had for 2 days; really bummed about that, as it’s my main toy I hoped to learn about on this trip and also had pictures and video of Caslin on it. If you haven’t seen a Nokia Nseries phone before, check them out. They’re light years ahead of Treos and Blackberry handhelds.

Writing about something as banal as turning 35 was the only way I felt I could break the inertia of not having blogged in so long. My sincerest apologies to those who patiently kept asking about when I’d start writing again; forming my corporation, starting with an interesting and challenging client, and the birth of my first child two weeks later have absorbed most all of my spare energy and time of late. It is flattering that people read this at all, much less care enough to ask me for updates. I have three drafts in the queue, and all were technical topics that I have not made time to complete to my satisfaction.

My family is doing quite well; Caslin is healthy and Laura has risen to the challenge of motherhood in most impressive ways. I thought I was crazy about kids before, but having Caslin has exponentially intensified that. Watching Born Into Brothels tonight had me with tearful eyes before it even got to the really sad parts, just because I knew something would probably happen to those precious kids. Speaking of my baby, here’s an obligatory snapshot, though not all that recent:

For the astute observers, yes, I did cut my hair off. And yes, I do regret it to some degree. I blame it primarily on a couple of days of playing Splinter Cell via my GameTap subscription and some really bad pictures from the first few days after Caslin’s birth. I may grow it back. I wish I had a ponytail for Debconf6, but that’s life.

Work lately has been more about managing development than getting to actually develop software, which has been tough for me. Even though I have historically ended up as the Technical Lead on any project in which I have been involved, there has always been a fair amount of hands-on activity that granted me a certain level of gratification. Managing a shared services development group with three very active businesses for customers has left little to no time for active development involvement.

Bruce Eckel’s Programming The New Web conference is being hosted within a few miles of by brother’s and father’s houses in Colorado, so I have signed up for the conference. I have never been to an Open Spaces conference, so I’m really looking forward to it. It will be one of those step-back-and-think sort of gatherings, and no doubt the group will be a motivated set of individuals. Plus, it’ll be great to finally get to see where my brother lives now. I hear Crested Butte is a really wonderful town.

My Debian work has definitely suffered, which really bugs me. I was just getting some momentum with my New Maintainer process when this all happened. Fortunately, my Application Manager is very familiar with how life’s responsibilities can put these pursuits on hold.

• Name: Caslin Joy Hawkins
• Born: December 19, 2005
• Birth Weight: 6 lbs. 11 oz.
• Birth Length: 20 inches

Kodak EasyShare Gallery of Caslin

Holiday Greetings to all. Caslin Joy Hawkins was born Monday, December 19th, 2005, at 3:40 PM. She and Laura are recuperating in the hospital. All looks good, and I can vouch for the fact that all bodily functions are up and running. She is quite the handful; the pediatrician’s initial evaluation says she is all healthy. Her current skillset includes the escape of her hands from even the best swaddling jobs. She currently has blue eyes and wavy light brown hair. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and thoughts during this time.