On leaving Red Hat

Recently in my e-mail INBOX I got a note congratulating me for ten years of service and telling me I was to receive one of those nice hockey-puck awards at the next company meeting. It's something I'm proud of, yet it's kind of ironic.

That's because Friday, July 28 is quite possibly my last day at Red Hat. There are more details in the FAQ, but I've basically decided to take a Leave of Absence and do other things, at least for a while. It's not like I'm just taking a longer-than usual vacation, though. In fact, this makes for an incredibly odd situation - I have the urge to say farewall, but there is a possibility of coming back. In any case, it seems better to say bye and be wrong later, than to not to thank all the great people I've worked with over the years. So, this is a goodbye with the option of begging for forgiveness, if you will.

My positions at Red Hat have been my first "real job" - a job that helped me through college twice. I am really grateful for the chance to have made a living while doing some very neat stuff. There is so much left to be done to make open source work for people, and I'm glad that the growth of open source has made it less dependant than ever on me for success!

There are a thousand things I could reminisce about, but in the end, it's the people that matter most. So to all the current and ex-Red Hatters, I want to say: I really liked working with you, and I wish only the best for you individually and corporately. You are what I will miss the most. Free snacks and cool technologies are nice, but they really don't compare to having co-workers who share the same professional goals and have a good time accomplishing them. I hope you keep doing great things for open source and for the world.

I'm not going to disappear from open source entirely. I've wound up getting myself signed up to give at least one, perhaps two Fedora talks to Linux User Groups. I hope we'll meet again, so instead of goodbye, I'd rather say...

See you later!

-- Elliot

First task: See the world

I'm hoping to be headed for Péru in one week. This type of trip is one I've dreamed of doing for a while, but this is the first time I've actually gotten around to it. For me, it will be the first time outside North America, and the first time in a non-English-speaking country. I'm hoping to have some fun and learn a lot.

There are two main sections of this three-week trip. During the first ten days, I'm going to be doing a circuit of southern Péru to see a bunch of interesting sights, and hopefully to gain an understanding. During the second half of the trip, I'll be spending time volunteering with a group of young adults.

For the curious, my itinerary starts by arriving in Lima at 04:17 on Monday July 31. I catch a bus to Cusco later that day, and arrive in Cusco on Tuesday morning in time for breakfast. The rest of the day goes to catching my bearings and acclimatizing - Cusco is at an elevation of over 3000 meters.

Visiting Machu Picchu is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, with an overnight stay in the town near the base of the mountain, and after spending Thursday night back in Cusco, I hope to travel to Puno via bus in time to get settled before the Sabbath.

It'd be nice to visit the floating Uros Islands on Sunday morning, but whether or not that happens, my bus to Arequipa leaves on Sunday afternoon. I plan to spend Monday and Tuesday doing not much of anything in Arequipa. I would really like to visit the Colca Canyon (the world's deepest canyon), but it would be yet another destination to cram into the schedule. Instead, I'll hopefully be relaxed in time for Tuesday night's overnight bus ride back to Lima.

On Wednesday, August 10, I will wander around Lima for the day before beginning the second half of the trip, when I plan on participating in a short-term mission project arranged by Maranatha Volunteers International. The goal is to construct a new church building in Pacasmayo, a small town on the Pacific coast about ten hours north of Lima. The main tasks will revolve around concrete block work, but there will also be tasks relating to the medical clinic and Vacation Bible School that will be put on.

I hope to fly out of Lima late on Sunday, August 20, and arrive back to meet Katie (my girlfriend), who will be visiting Raleigh for a week then.