Today I spent some time hanging with my friends Tom and Adam over in Decatur. Lunch at The Brick Store Pub followed by a long talk in the park and coffee at Java Monkey. It’s great to unwind, but I am so behind in my Debian work. I needed to be around some of my non-software-development friends for a while after my much-enjoyed immersion in last week’s conference.

I say immersion, but it was actually the most balanced conference experience I have ever had. Skiing in between sessions really cleared my head and made me feel fresh for the afternoon sessions; something I can’t say for any conference in which I have participated. I miss those guys.

So we didn’t check messages until Tuesday, and lo and behold, there was a message from one of the attendants on our American Airlines flight where I lost my phone. They found it! It’s shipping back to me. I am glad they found it, but I don’t know what shape it’ll be in when I get it. Fingers crossed…

Today a new milestone has been reached in our lives; air travel with an infant. Caslin did really well on the plane; Laura calls it the “giant womb simulator effect”.

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.

I turned 35 last Saturday. On that morning, I awoke and had the longest run I have had in over 10 years. It felt great. Mind you, it wasn’t necessarily a long run; it’s just that I have had knee trouble for the better part of 14 years that has totally kept me from being able to run, which was once a favorite activity of mine. I also still have a 32″ waist, which has been a maintenance goal of mine since college. I am not big on birthdays, as my wife will tell you, but something about those decade and half-decade intervals cause me to reflect more than usual. Apparently my reflection only went as far as checking my waist size and still being able to exercise; how introspective of me.

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.

In the course of the workday I realized something that not everyone may be aware of when it comes to office restrooms in the typical corporate American setup. In an effort to be of assistance to my international friends who may have yet to experience this phenomena, I hereby post the following public service advisory.

If you find yourself in a corporate restroom, and someone knocks at the door of said restroom, respond with a simple verbal emission that alerts the knocking individual to your presence. The reason for this is that the person knocking is most likely a member of the janitorial/custodial staff, and they have arrived to service the restroom. The majority of the time, they are of the opposite gender. This knocking serves to offer you the opportunity to prevent them entering the restroom while you are still conducting your restroom transaction(s), thereby saving yourself some degree of embarrassment and/or awkwardness.

A simple “yeah” with sufficient volume is usually adequate to alert the custodial staff member. This would be the same “yeah” you have observed coworkers issue when someone calls out their name from a short distance, such as across several cubicle walls. While cross-cubicle yelling is generally annoying, the use of the same “yeah” in the restroom context is entirely appropriate. Do not attempt to use clearing of the throat as a more polite substitute; this tactic regularly fails for individuals throughout North America.

Finally, be aware that some custodial staff view the embarrassment of individuals when they enter the restroom to be some of the only entertainment they have in their job outside of smoke breaks. At times even the adequate verbal response will be ignored, because they simply get a kick out these awkward encounters.

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Yep, That’s Me.