joel's thoughts

So I feel like the last two weeks have been an interesting intermix (collision?) between my knowledge and experience in Linux and Windows, or more generally Microsoft-based tech. I work on various projects at work based in Microsoft tech, but my strong preference for base operating system and general work environment is Linux. As such, I use Linux every day and there aren’t usually very large gaps between the times I’m working on MS-based tech projects.

Well, several months ago I had a project for work that involved storing quite a bit of somewhat sensitive data on my laptop, or at least on an external drive I kept with me. Not wanting to see myself or my company as another lost-personal-data headline, I dug a bit into how to pull off hard drive encryption in Linux. Once I got it figured out, I offered to do a presentation at my local LUG (Linux User Group), which was accepted. Meetings are only monthly and schedules didn’t work out for me to do it until the October presentation. So I knew I had some time.
Then, in the course of the project I was working on and its follow-up, which was based around some Microsoft back-office tech, I figured out a technique to make a few different pieces play well together. I was going to write up a blog post about it, but then decided to see if anyone would be interested in publishing a proper article on the topic. I asked this one site that publishes content focused on most of the related pieces if they’d be interested, and they were. Cool! So then I…uh…had to write it. I had about three weeks to get it written, so naturally I got started right away so I’d have plenty of time to develop my ideas, revise, etc.

Riiiiiiiiight. So two days before it was due found me secluded on the second floor of our townhouse typing madly (two whole days! that would have been quite progressive in college…), and even then I didn’t manage to get it in on time. But I got it in, and am now waiting to hear back from the editor. I’ll let you know when/if it’s online.

But I wasn’t out of the woods, because the LUG presentation was the very next weekend. Naturally I had started getting ideas down and organized for the presentation as soon as it was scheduled so I wouldn’t forget anything in the passing months, and wouldn’t have to re-wrap my head around the information.

…You probably see where this is going. Took a night or two off to actually get some sleep, then it was back to the grindstone. The presentation was this past Saturday morning, though, and overall I think it went pretty well. In hindsight I wish I had actually stepped through setting up loop-AES on a small external drive rather than just talking about it (I even had an available one in my bag!), but as it was I took over an hour between my material and questions.

And now? Now Andi’s glad to have her husband back. 🙂