drfloob.com

Written one year ago

After a restless night filled with excitement and anticipation, my wife and I went to our first big Linux Expo: Scale7x, the Southern California Linux Expo. In a few days, I will undoubtedly fill a handful of articles with the sheer awesomeness that is this expo. From absolutely incredible presenters, to all the free swag on the Expo floor, I've got too much to talk about and not enough brain power right now to do so. Next week, for sure.

Tonight, at the end of a very long day, having heard an amazingly accessible presentation on Patents and Open Source software given by Rob Tiller of Red Hat, I had a quick question and decided to hang out a bit to ask. I got my chance to ask outside the conference hall after most of the attendees had already left. Standing near Mr. Tiller was myself, my wife, and a well-spoken, heavily-bearded man asking a handful of interesting questions that went well beyond my understanding of current legal issues in Open Source, as fascinating as it was to listen.

All of a sudden, my wife belts out "I know your name. Why do I know your name? Weren't you the Editor in Chief for Linux Journal a few years ago?" Yes, in fact, it was Don Marti. Don was the Editor in Chief for Linux Journal when my wife and I independently decided to dive headfirst into Linux. Needless to say, the man had an impact on both our careers and our lives. It is only fitting, then, that at that exact moment, we immediately forgot how to be normal people.

* * *

Just before I had met her, my wife left behind a career (and a degree from a great school) to get into computer science. She has told me a few times that Linux Journal played a significant role in helping her make that decision to move. So given her history, I don't blame her at all for instantly morphing into MegaFangirl when she met Don. I did not think she was capable of that, and now I'm glad I can hold that over her for a few years (just kidding, hon =).

I, on the other hand, was in shock at meeting such a significant voice of my "upbringing", and I mostly just forgot how to speak. Words were spoken, sure, but I wasn't saying them. At least I hope not. At one point, someone asked Don what he was up to these days, and he replied he's doing some work for The Linux Weekly News. That rang a few bells, and I thought this seemed like a good moment to speak.

First, for a little background: When I'm exhausted, I instinctively revert to blurting truths. They're easy, I know them, no thinking is generally necessary. So, my response to Don came out as: "I think I bookmarked that once. Can't say I've ever read it."

 
#!/usr/bin/env python
 
f = file('mouth', 'w')
f.write('foot')
f.close()
 

Hours later, it sinks in that I had slapped that man in the face. He couldn't possibly have known how scarce my bookmark list is, nor what it means for a URL to be promoted to that list. He couldn't have known that I reserve my bookmarks for the most valuable sites I intend to revisit and refer to often, and how it weighs on my psyche to have a backup of unread articles. No, I'm pretty sure from his point of view, some relative nobody just took a dump on his work.

* * *

So, the night is almost over, thankfully. I had a mostly awesome day, and I'm going to sleep well tonight. Hopefully I'll have a chance to meet Don early tomorrow, before my brain shuts off, and say something non-jerkish. I think I'll go practice...