I had forgotten at least one thing from last week, so before I get to the present happenings, let me step back a bit.

After Tech Launch, we were convinced that we must have been jinxed somehow. I mean, you know it wasn’t operator error. Did you SEE that presentation? Of course you did. Maybe someone drugged or bribed the judges? Nah. (Hit ‘em with a flashlight, maybe). So if it wasn’t us, and it wasn’t the judges, then it was a hex. And Uncle Wyatt and I figured it out: we both wore unlucky shirts.

Yeah, I wore the one I got married in (the second time). That marriage, like our financials, was ridiculous. But I digress. Wyatt also wore a shirt that was given to him by his ex’s family. So with all that bad karma casting a pall about the 307, there was but one thing to do:

So we burned those shirts in a little ceremony in the backyard, and our luck has been the better for it.

And we were careful. As careful as you can be lighting fires in your yard. We put the whole thing out with the garden hose:

Besides, Chili watched us the whole time:

That catches us up on past events. Well almost.

You heard we were on our way to Portland for the Ubuntu Live! conference, as well as the OSCON (Open Source conference). Before that though, I had to go to Carol’s family’s annual camping trip. This year we all packed up and went to beautiful Olive Lake, Oregon, in the Umatilla National Forest. The site is about 30-40 miles directly south of La Grande, OR, deep in the mountains. There were about 30 or so of the Stevens’ there; the family took up numerous camping spots. I was unlucky enough to get Sunday breakfast duty - yes I had to cook for the whole bunch. But while I was up, I took a number of shots in the early morning light, including the one below:

What else?? I hear that Wyatt has returned from a non-fishing trip in Brookings, OR. Apparently the seas were too high to take the boat out so they were stranded ashore with only microbrews for the weekend. Dave was the Guest Chef at the Carmella Winery (note: I just realized there is no web site for Carmella?? What?) this weekend - I did not hear what the chef’s dish was, but I know that Shane was in tow to at least some of that event.

SO - consider yourself up to date on LGM’s goings-on. Tomorrow, more meetings at the Ubuntu Live! Conference, as well as an organizational meeting for Unhampered with none other than designer David James.