Recent blog entries for jennv

Still updating my primary diary, though normally only one entry a month.

Since the last post here, I've taken over LinuxChix, started writing for O'Reilly, and worked for a while as a developer at a paying job.

I have my health back - at least mostly - and am generally happier. And I got a nifty-keen monitor for my birthday. :)

Well, my first ever advogato article is up. Guess I was feeling brave tonight.

Cat, you may want to try a child's paintbrush. It doesn't keep the catfur out of the keyboard, but you can use it to brush the fur out once it's there. You may have noticed the paintbrushes in my cup-for-keeping-pens-in, on my desk .. now you know.

Works well in the interior of mice, too, and anywhere else you need something small and harmless-to-electrical-components that can clean things.

(Note: primary diary on my homepage. Not a lot of techstuff there right now, but hey. Not doing much techstuff right now - other than reading the Knuth set that Dancer got as a going-away present from Schoolsnet.)

Satan

I'm terribly disappointed. Surely the Lord of Darkness, Supreme Ruler of Hell, Prince of Evil, Master of Deception, M'lord Satan can come up with much more inventive ways of getting back at a person than to certify them down!

Deb

I'm glad you're there and safe.

Health

Le sigh. Oh well. Not really worth saying much.

Life

Dancer is happy. This is good. Seph (our cat) is also happy. This is also good. SimSafari is actually challenging my intellect right now. This is /not/ so good.

Sleep

Sleep is useful. Sleeping tablets, much as I hate them, can also be useful. When I take the tablets, I get /deep/ sleep - much more useful than shallow sleep.

GPL and UCITA

There's been a problem with the GPL potentially not being an actual 'contract'. Does UCITA actually validate the GPL? Fix the problem with it not being 'signed'?

I'd like a US legalhead to look into that! The Big Commercial Companies can't have it both ways.

Health/Work

The two actually are intimately connected. The healthier I am, the more work I get done. I've not been able to do solid blocks of work, but by doing it in short (five minutes at a time) bits I'm managing to get Programming Fundamentals written. (It's one of the Netizen training manuals.)

I enjoy my work. I enjoy achievement. I enjoy appreciation. It distresses me when I can't do it.

Certification

I've avoided saying anything about the certification. But I will say this:

I'm flattered and pleased that the people who know what I do, consider me a Journeyer. Those people also know how much (or rather how little) I actually accomplish, and certify me as Journeyer despite that. It is extremely good for me to be rated that - it somehow gets it into my head that I can limit my activity to what I can safely accomplish, and still do something worthwhile for someone.

So there. Certification can be good for your health.

jdub said

...and suddenly, everything works perfectly, and so, so wonderously better. First things to install: Python, Zope and Xen (outrageously cool software developed HERE in AUSTRALIA!)

Thanks, jdub. :)

Work

I'm gradually feeling up to writing again. Currently working on Programming Fundamentals, with the Trainer's Guides (for the Netizen training courses) and Xen documentation as things-to-do-when-I-stall.

And I'm stalling far too often.

Health

Still not well. ARGH!

And after such a long run of Really Being Able To Work. Oh well. Guess I'll just work from home, in ten-minute lots if that's what it takes. I just have to make sure to take breaks as soon as I get tired.

Home

Dancer is being very caring and loving. It's nice. But it's also a sign that I'm unwell - in his opinion. Which is probably accurate.

If he's being slow on Exult or Squid, it's probably my fault. :/

Health

Looks like I'm finally recovering from this latest 'down'. I just caught myself looking forward to writing. My brain's working again!

(This doesn't mean I'm healthy by any objective standard. Just healthier subjectively.)

Of course, I also slept fifteen hours today.

Health

A friend of mine gave me a useful heuristic for the question 'should I try to work'.

Imagine you were going to do your favourite task - the kind of job that's the reason you went into the field. If you're too sick to do that, you're too sick to work.

I've also realised that I value my health less than I value achievement. I need to adjust that. If I value my health more, I will improve achievement. And happiness. And be able to spend more time with those I love, and doing things I love.

It was essential, when I started to get sick, that I learn not to fret about not having health. But the value system I created then is now hindering my recovery.

Trove

Potentially useful, but it's still almost impossible to adequately categorise the LinuxChix FAQs.

And can someone with influence at Sourceforge please ask them to include some Open Content/Open Publication/Free Documentation licence(s) in their licence list?

LinuxChix FAQs

No progress this week, beyond installing a patch. Every time I try to use my brain, it protests.

Work

See previous sentence. My brain is protesting any use more intense than reading Terry Pratchett and playing FreeCell. I can't even play X-Beyond the Frontier. I can barely play The Sims.

I keep picking up some of the folders of workstuff I have here, and poking at them, and then trying to poke at the writing. And realising some time later that I'm just /staring/.

Ah well. Netizen has clue about CFS. Understanding employers rule!