Next week, I'm heading off to Salt Lake City for Ruby Conf 2008. Send the bill to Rackspace. I'm going to meet up with Jan Lernhardt, one of the developers of CouchDB. There are also going to be some folks from Engine Yard there, so perhaps I'll get a few questions in to them as well.
I'm also getting nervous about my date on Saturday - further details as they become available.
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Five years ago today, a worthless military debacle began, and today we're still actively paying the price. In a figurative sense, tens of thousands of wounded veterans are reminded daily of their injuries and tens of thousands of family members, spouses, children, and friends remember the nearly 4,000 who have died. Miraculously, there is only one individual officially listed as 'captured', Sgt. Keith Maupin. In all likelihood, he is among the dead as well. In a literal sense, we've seen commodity prices sky-rocket and the dollar drop sharply. We're in the midst of a recession, and apparently Bush is the only one who's unaware.
While I know several people who's names appear in the ever-growing list of those killed, the one I knew best was Travis Bradachnall. We were stationed together in California many years ago, but he's someone I'll never forget. He was killed July 2, 2003 outside of Karbala.
Travis, know that you are not forgotten - there are those of us who are doing all we can to end this conflict and bring the rest of troops home.
I've never met the mother of a service member who's said that her mantle would look a lot better with a folded flag adorning it.
