For those of you who haven't talked to me this week, which to be honest is just about everyone: the kickoff for Tales From The Furlough is coming up very, very soon. Furlough #1 will take me to:

I learned this morning that indeed, The Workplace will allow me to attend Drupalcon Paris without burning vacation time if I'm paying for the conference. I really and truly expected the decision to be taken out of my hands. It now becomes a fiscal decision: cost of travel and accommodation versus benefit of attendance and networking.

Much to think about while I do data cleanup. If you're wondering what in the world this is about, see http://domesticat.net/2009/04/dragon-or-drop

I've had an interesting possibility crop up, and I'd be curious to hear some honest feedback from friends of mine on both sides of the DragonCon / DrupalCon divide.

Most of you know that my job has a strong Drupal slant these days. Fewer of you would have reason to know that Drupal has a strong European background, and as a result there are two conventions per year: one in the US and one in Europe.

Back in 2003 I wrote about the experience of seeing a then unknown-to-me Damien Rice at WorkPlay, my favorite little music venue down in Birmingham, AL:

It's time to make this clear, since there was a hefty dose of unintentional timing: this 'Belief' series is neither fictional nor an April Fool's joke, despite part of it being posted on April 1. Ricky Ellis is a real person, a high school classmate of mine I have not seen in fifteen years, and those words are truly his. His profile on facebook, if you have access to it, contains more of the same, and specifically references me, once by name:

At this point, I'm just logging for posterity. Everyone gets to stand by their words, and I'd rather them be archived publicly rather than privately. Remember, this all came about because I replied to a piece of hateful anti-Muslim email, pointing out the email was factually incorrect as well as insulting.

In response to the following automatically-syndicated one-liner indicating a new post: