Things have certainly been crazy as of late. Being elected onto the SLUG Committee (at the March AGM) has given me a greater appreciation of local community issues and of what it takes to co-ordinate a group. At the same time, managing the Linux Australia stand at Open CeBIT has also been a tremendous learning experience. My official report is here.

I’ve had a few requests to elaborate upon the ‘brush with death‘ mentioned in that message. Driving home after the second day of CeBIT, I experienced a car accident. While travelling at at least 60km/h, I somehow lost consciousness, and woke up phoughed into the side of another car. Fortunately, the car was parked and unoccupied. Nobody was involved aside from myself. The car was a write-off, but the passenger cabin was fully intact and I experienced no injuries. The other car was part of a company fleet, and its custodian wasn’t bothered much at all. Insurance took care of the costs on both sides.

I was quite shaken after the crash, and I very nearly didn’t go to CeBIT the next day. After being cleared by a paramedic and two doctors (one on the night of the crash and another the following morning), I decided that I wasn’t going to let this get in my way. It was probably the best decision that I made, since it forced me to get back on my feet doing something that I love, rather than sitting at home in misery. I was unable to moderate the Linux Australia panel discussion that I had helped to organise, but I was there at the stand just like on the previous two days.

Otherwise, CeBIT was a resounding success. It proved to be a fantastic springboard for us to launch the inaugural SLUG Bootcamp. More on this later.

I can’t fully explain why I blacked out in the first place. When I was younger, I would occasionally black out under certain circumstances. Neurologists at the time couldn’t identify what it was, but told me not to worry about it. I was probably just exhausted, from the exhibiting all day, the planning in the lead-up to the event, my new job, TAFE, and various other things. The doctors that I spoke with agreed with me that it was probably just a microsleep.

I’m still recovering from the after-effects of the accident. I get stressed more easily when driving, but I can feel that slowly receding with time. Most of all, I feel exceptionally lucky that I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else.

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When I was little boy In Grammar school
Always went by the very best rule
But Evertime the bell would ring
You’d catch me playing with my ding-a-ling

Thus goes Chuck Berry’s classic, ‘My Ding-a-Ling‘.

At the ripe old age of twenty-five, I have been the lucky recipient of an inguinal hernia. As mentioned earlier, I carried it through linux.conf.au (whilst exercising a degree of diligence). My operation was one week later, conveniently scheduled for January 25. That left me mostly immobile for Australia Day. I passed the time with my laptop whilst the Fox Classics channel broadcasted a marathon of Kingswood Country. I have harboured fond memories of this classic piece of Australiana since my childhood, and I was glad to be able to see it again. Presumably, modern-day political correctness keeps it off the air for most of the time, which is a grand shame considering that the un-PC elements were intended as humorous plot devices and were not meant to be offensive to viewers.

Two days later, against my better judgement, I was walking around and playing Wii tennis. I had never played a Wii before and it looked like so much fun that I just had to do it! Apart from some dressings which lost adhesion (due to the abdominal twisting associated with tennis), I was no worse for wear. Now, nearly two months later, I feel completely fine. It sure feels good to have the procedure over and done with. Now I can resume my ironman training…

Unlike my last post, this one is serious. One of my favourite podacsts, The Linux Link Tech Show, interviewed RSI expert Deborah Quilter. The phenomenon of RSI has risen to prominence in recent years, largely in response to increasing computer use. That puts tech workers such as myself in considerable risk of developing injuries, and in fact I am certain that I have developed some already. Ignoring the problem only makes it worse. Anyone who works at a desk should listen to this interview and heed at least some of its warnings and advice.

The episode is available in Ogg Vorbis and MP3 formats.