Merry Christmas, One and All

I believe in Santa Claus. He may not be the guy on Coca-Cola commercials swigging a glass of coke while delivering presents to everyone... but during these cold dark months when Winter begins its hold on this part of the world.. the Spirit of Christmas is what reminds us that there is a hope of longer days, new fields aplanting, and summer crops. I see Santa Claus everytime someone gets a gift for someone they don't know. I see Santa Claus when the war vet in the grocery line finds his grocery paid for by someone in front of them.. I see Santa Claus when the little kid with 3rd hand clothes finds a box left on his house doorstep with a new teddy bear in it. I see Santa Claus everywhere.. which is how I remember that come 90 dark days from now.. there will be new blossoms on the trees, fresh blackberries on the brambles, and life goes on.

And to little Tommy who in 3rd grade told me that there was no Santa Claus: BAH HUMBUG!

Congrats: Matt Domsch

I am very happy to say that I did not win the board position and a better person got it. Thankyou for all the people who approved or didn't approve of me... I will try to do better for the next board elections. I will also plan to spend a heck of a lot of time on EPEL side of things in the coming 6 months as I am not going to school in the Spring.

Instead I will be working on a checklist of items

1. Learn python
2. Write a major java application for the Google phone
3. Spend time with my family as they sacrificed a lot of time for me in the Fall. (Thankyou guys).
   

About the Fedora elections

I would like to say some things about the candidates for the Fedora Board seat.

1. Matt Domsch. If you found like me that the last couple of Fedora releases have had much better mirroring and downloads.. you can thank Matt Domsch. He is a great guy who has been supporting Linux inside of Dell for many many years.
   
2. Tom "Spot" Callaway. The Aurora Linux guy and hardcore Fedora advocate.
3. Mike McGrath. Mike has done tons of work on EPEL, Extras, Smolt, and a ton of other important things that are needed to get a Fedora release out the door.
4. Stephen Smoogen. Well I have no idea why this guy is running. He hasnt done much and seems to be resting on his laurels from writing down a 'history' of Red Hat releases a while back.
   

In any case, I think all of the candidates (except that last guy) would be a good pick for the one seat. Remember the elections use approval voting... which means that the person with the most approval gets the seat. So don't click on the last guys button. Really.. I (I mean someone) have a bet riding on how few votes he gets.

Running for Fedora Board

I have absolutely no qualifications but damn-it.. its my way of making sure that people who are intelligent (ie not me) are voted in.

Stephen Smoogen (smooge)

• Goal Statement: On this December 4th of 2007, a day that shall live in unfamy, I put my hat into the ring of Fedora Project Board. My goals are to help represent Enterprise customers into Fedora and make sure that their voices are heard. My statement is that I promise an OS in every pot.. and will make sure that PPC, Sparc, and ARM get their day in the sun as full-fledged members to the best of their non-Intel ability. I realize that I am a bit of a loonm, but I would like to help Fedora grow and mature, and will do so even if not elected.
• Past Work Summary: Employee # of Red Hat. I have been in and out of Fedora for the last several years, and would like to move back into helping Fedora meet the needs of colleges and universities. I am currently working with Fedora EPEL, but in a limited capacity.
• Future plans: My plans for the Spring of 2008 will be to work on EPEL and help its infrastructure grow to more packages and more builds.
• Anything else: I worked at Red Hat from 1997-2001 and then worked at various undisclosed places in New Mexico since then. I am currently a Systems Administrator at the University of New Mexico working towards an eventual Masters in Computer Science.