This Fourth of July, pika launched the Couchboat Mark II and paddled it down the river to watch the epic fireworks show put on every year by Boston/Cambridge.

The boat was an all-day operation and incredibly slow in the water, but so worth it. We watched the fireworks less than a hundred meters from the launch barge.

Photo credit to Molly.

Last week, eight pounds of Perl books arrived at my doorstep, courtesy of deciding to work for Best Practical this upcoming summer. They're cool people, very free software friendly, and conveniently located in Davis Square. They are also the makers of RT among other things, which Debian uses for a variety of purposes. It should be a good time. (No, I probably won't actually be hacking on RT, but exactly what I'll be working on is as yet undetermined.)

Speaking of the summer, I have a vague plan to make a West-coast visit for a week or so at some point. I'll be hitting at least Seattle and San Francisco; if you're around either of these areas or possibly even somewhere in between and would like to hang out, drop me a line in comments or via email.