SSWI — When in doubt, buff it out.

As the good doctor has noted, registration is now open for ApacheCon New Orleans. I will be giving my world famous, better than ice cream, guaranteed to re-grow your hair, Meritocracy talk. You should come and listen. I talk good.

Tonight is my last night in Amsterdam, and I plan on passing it in quiet and reflection.

Mostly due to the fact that I am at the end of the money I budgeted for this trip. This has been one of the more difficult, and most enjoyable trips I have taken. It was difficult because I had to leave my wife and son behind. I have felt their absence very acutely these last few days.

It’s Day 2 of Apachecon, and things are going fairly well I think.

I spent some of yesterday, and all of the morning working on a project with a couple of the big brains here at the conference, and I must say it was fun and gratifying feeling I finally had something of real value to contribute.

Today was a good day.

I slept on a decent schedule, and was up at 8:00 am for a delicious, but over priced breakfast. Next was a bit of a nap, and then I moved on to doing some hacking on a side project I am working on with a certain someone, finishing up said work in time for the members/commiters reception (I was a guest of course).

So my first day in Amsterdam in drawing to a close (it is only 8:00pm here, but since I didn’t get much sleep today I am planning on retiring early) and I have to say, I am very impressed with this city.

The architecture is a rich mix of classic and modern sensibilities that would be at odds with each other one would think, but in actuality complement each other quite nicely. I am looking forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow.

In just a little under 3 hours I will be winging my way towards Amsterdam, Holland for ApacheCon EU.

I am very excited to hang out in Amsterdam for a while. I have passed through the airport there a couple of times, but I have never had the chance to stick around. Should be fun.

In all the excitement I forgot to mention that I will be speaking at the first annual HabariCon">Habaricon

I will be speaking at the Ohio Linux Fest, in Columbus Ohio this Septmeber. General admissions to the Fest is free, so if you are within driving distance, you should definately come.

This years Fest is special, and not because I am speaking. It was at OLF 2006 that Scott, Owen, Rich and I gathered around a table at Bucca de Beppo and birthed the project that would become Habari, next generation blogging">the Habari Platform