Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ada Lovelace Day

Today's blog is something different, I'm writing it to honour the pledge I made on http://findingada.com/ to blog about an inspirational women in technology to help celebrate Ada Lovelace day. There are so many to choose from - this is a marvellous thing, there are so few most people will have heard of - this is a less marvellous thing. Tempted as I am to blog about all the unfamous women in technology you will never have heard of (I'm talking about people I've worked with, people who have inspired me personally, technicians and support staff who've been there when I needed, the list goes on) I decided to give my blog space to someone I think has made a positive contribution by setting up a community to support and encourage female Linux users and OSS/FOSS fans. So Deb Richardson take a bow, the LinuxChix is a great example of the positive power of supporting newbies and lending a helping hand to those who want to know more, but don't want to step out of the shadows and ask for fear of being shot down in flames. The best way to encourage more women to be part of the OSS community is by providing forums like this where 'not knowing' something is not a barrier to taking part. We were all newbies once, I wish I'd had somewhere like LinuxChix to go when I took my first steps into the world of Linux, long may they prosper. You can find LinuxChix at http://www.linuxchix.org/ go take a look, even if you think it will be full of stuff you'll never need to know. I leave you with proof that Ada Lovelace is truly an icon, a picture of her immortalised in lego. Happy Ada Lovelace Day.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Lovely Lovely Run

Why so lovely, I hear you ask, well having not done a road run for about a week (Kakepuku didn't happen for me at the weekend due to not being able to get out of bed early enough, and also a great circuit workout on Friday had left me barely able to walk, let alone run as I got a bit carried away with my lunges!) and having missed mc last Tuesday I really had to force myself out to mc this week. I had to go home first as BIP is away so I needed to feed the dogs etc., and of course once home it's always harder to drag myself out again, also my stomach had been playing up a fair bit this week (self-inflicted, I have a great mental list of foods I must not eat - but still, I eat them - go figure!) and I wasn't convinced I had the wherewithal to get out there and run. But I persuaded myself to go, and once we set off I felt fine. We were out for an hour 20 (although some of that was dicking around while JB2 went to the money machine) with only a couple of walking breaks so I felt really positive about it (tho' a bit sore in places this morning). With only a couple of weeks to go before I start training for Huntly it was just what I needed to rev up my motivation. So hurray for group running, and hooray for me.