Leaving... On A Prop Plane

I'm all packed except the errant MP3 player, which has evaded my vision all day. It's annoying, because I can tell you every scratch on the blue case, every curiosity about it... but I can't find it, and it's necessary. My life has a soundtrack, albeit an eclectic one.

But where am I going, you wonder? I am going where I went for CARDICIS, only with a different mission this time. St. Lucia. And the mission?

Open for Business: An Open Source Business Seminar. Of course, since it's Open Source, I'll be blogging it live at Linux Gazette. I'll also be one of the speakers - talking about the Free Software and Open Source movements, as well as Open/Free content and data formats. The more discerning reader will note that the conference is on the 4th and 5th of November, and I am leaving on the 1st of November.

I'm going to go exploring and see the real St. Lucia while I'm there, I hope. I gained some friends in St. Lucia last time I was there, and hopefully we get a chance to get together - we will, I'm sure - and I'll get to understand a bit better what St. Lucia is really like. That's important for many reasons. First, and most selfishly, it enriches me. Next, it allows me to understand better the problems of St. Lucians - instead of what we perceive as problems from outside, and even from within.

And of course, I'll be looking it from a few different perspectives. Culture. Language. Software. Technology.

This time, I promised myself I will make it to the beach. And I will drink some Piton (local beer), and eat some of the local seafood. And... I'll also be in a bit of a 'retreat' as well. For better or worse, I don't have my laptop yet - it is what it is. So I'll be using local Cybercafes for that, which is cool because it ties into the World Summit on Information Society Telecentre caucus, which I am a part of. So it's probably for the better... if I have the laptop, I wouldn't use the systems there.

And I have some books to read as well, which I shall... and I have my notebook and pens. I guess that, still, nothing is more fun for me than sitting at a table and writing with pen and paper. Pretty mundane for such a 'high tech person', but there it is. My name is Taran Rampersad, and I like writing with my pen.

It's 1 hour and 45 minutes before I call my young cousin to drop me to the airport - waking him up. I'm buying him breakfast at the airport - doubles - a local delicacy. At Piarco, they have pretty good doubles, so he and I will break the night fast and he'll be off to work, and I will be drinking coffee and reading until I can check in my backpack. Only a weeks stay. And even if it were 2 weeks, it would still be one backpack. It's amazing what the military does for your packing ability. When you have to hike 26 kilometers with stuff on your back, you learn what to carry and what not to carry.

I may or may not drop a few notes in here before the 7th of November, but I wouldn't expect much if I were you. Well, maybe. We'll see.

Now I have 1 hour and 43 minutes to find that *@%#$^%@^ MP3 player.