Last August 23, the Ubuntu Philippines local community (Ubuntu-PH), through the initiation and efforts of Jerome Gotangco and Myra Jill Siason, held Ubuntu Love Day Manila 2008. It is a gathering of people and experiences, where enthusiasts and fans of Ubuntu and Free Software get together and share their knowledge, time, and experiences.
It was a great experience. Seeing old friends, meeting new people, getting to know the people involved in different free software endeavors throughout the city. It was also an exciting event for me personally because it was the first time I would be speaking in public about KDE and Kubuntu. I don’t know if it’s the start of a new career for me (wishful thinking?), but it was a still a great first attempt.
Here’s a bit of a rundown of what happened. The day started with a very entertaining 45-minute walk to the venue (I’ll spare you the details of our ignorance). We arrived, sweaty and panting, just in time for Jerome’s opening remarks. The talks immediately followed, which were informative as well as entertaining, specially the video presented by the UnPLUG group on Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives. In between some of the talks, Myra hosted icebreaker trivia games, with Ubuntu merchandise as prizes. Later, Aileen Apollo from Google also held a game with a woman’s Google shirt for the grand prize and pressed Ubuntu CD’s for consolation prizes. I really can’t say who got the better deal. 
Then came my talk, which was about experiences and challenges in contributing to big international free software projects like KDE and Kubuntu. Unfortunately, it happened around noon (lunchtime!), so I had to go over it quickly. I guess that affected my delivery a bit, not that my “rehearsed” presentation was actually that “entertaining” now that I think about it. I hope I do better next time, if there is a next time.
Here’s the PDF of my presentation, as well as the LaTeX source (Yes! I made the presentation using LaTeX Beamer! I feel so geeky!). Unfortunately, I don’t have videos with me, so I’m still waiting for them.
The good news is that, after my talk, there was a surprise for everyone. It wasn’t part of the original plan, but the people from Youth for I.T. and the University of the Philippines were generous enough to provide free lunch. So it was bon appetit! The Y4IT people also gave a short talk on their upcoming Philippine Youth Congress on Information Technology.
It was an “action-packed” morning and truly an event to remember. There are a lot of people to thank and acknowledge for making the event not only a possibility but also a success. So to everyone who prepared and organized this love(ly) day, kudos and gracias!!
Here are articles, slides, and pictures:
- Official event announcement
- Writeup from Jerome Gotangco
- Some of the slides
- Video clips taken from the streaming video
- Pictures:
P.S. Sorry for the low-quality pictures from me. I was still adjusting to the new digital camera.
P.P.S. Sorry for the super late posting. 
