• Geekettes speak. Exclusively for women, all forms of geekiness accepted. What can we do to encourage extraordinary learning and success in girls? Also, brainstorming for Charo's summer camp. Let's make that happen.
• Education. People with a passion for teaching: let's talk. What do we need? How can we make a difference?
• Open source development. Who's working on what? What do we need to do in order to get more people to contribute to open source? How can people get started? What problems do people encounter? What can we do to make open source development more visible?
• Open source and education. What does it take to get Linux and open source into our classrooms? Who's doing that? What's it been like? What help do people need from the community?
• Cybercafes. Who's doing open source in cybercafes? How are they doing? What else do they need? How can we support them? What's the next important thing we can do to get open source into cybercafes?

I will be home from Dec 19 to Jan 19. I don't have much time. January 7 and 14 are the only Saturdays I can reasonably spare for large non-barkada get-togethers. There are three things I really, really, really want to brainstorm with a bunch of people who want to change the world (or at least a small part of it).

- EDUCATION. Jan 7, afternoon. Who else is passionate about teaching

and education? What do we need? How can we make things better? Audience: teachers and other people who have good ideas or can volunteer to help. So far: Butch

- GEEKETTES SPEAK. Jan 7, evening. Let's talk about what it's like to

be female in technology and other fields. (And swap tips on what to do with pesky people who hit on you! ;) ) We can also brainstorm Charo's summer camp. =) Audience: Women. Newbie women particularly welcome--good opportunity to get to know other people and feel more comfortable in PLUG, for example. It really helps. Guys will stay in another area and play games or chat. (Should ask someone to bring gaming console.)

- MAKING A DIFFERENCE. Jan 14. Help me figure out how I can make a

difference in the Philippines all the way from Canada. Tell me how you want to make a difference in 2006. (Who knows? Maybe I can help.) Audience: Anyone who wants to talk to me before I go off to Canada. So far: Zak

I want to get together with other people who are passionate about these topics. It's not going to be a big party where you might get to relax, eat food, and talk to three or four people, but rather something where we'll all tackle a problem and come up with ways we can help solve it.

---

Nice-to-have:

- OPEN SOURCE DEVELOPMENT. Jan 14, afternoon. Who's working on what?

What do we need to do in order to get more people to contribute to open source? How can people get started? What can we do to make open source development more visible? Audience: Open source developers and people who want to contribute to open source in 2006.

http://ibalita.msuiit.edu.ph/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=114

Totally awesome. =)

From Zen Archery, by way of another blog I read that Bloglines can't turn up (grr...): <blockquote>Meanwhile, most of the people with any genuine opportunity or ability to effect global change are too busy patting each other on the back at conventions and blue-skying goofy social networking tools that are essentially useless to 95% of the world’s population, who live within fifteen feet of everyone they’ve ever known and have no need to track their fuck buddies with GPS systems. (This, by the way, includes most Americans, quite honestly.)</blockquote>

I'm getting deeper into social bookmarking and tagging because that seems to be what I can do for research, but I'm not sure if that's how I personally can make the most difference. How can I solve real problems?

I would like to run a series of roundtable discussions about things I and a lot of other people are figuring out for the first time. =)

QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS: Best practices for twenty-somethings

- Time management - Money management - Career management - 2005 review, 2006 planning

Here's the idea: if you're a twenty-something (or near it) figuring out life for the first time, come. If you've figured out one or two of these issues and you want to share your insights, come no matter how young/old you are. We twenty-somethings will ask questions, talk about our fears, and share our current practices in the hope of walking away with one or two things we can use to improve our lives. Non-twenty-somethings can comment on our practices, share their experiences, and give suggestions. I think we'll have great personal growth all around. =)

This will be in Manila when I go home. Probably at my house, too. My availability: Dec 19 - Jan 19.

Possibilities:

Sprint	Jan 2, 3, 4, 5
Twice-weekly	Dec 20, 22, 27, 29
Once-weekly	Dec 20, 27, Jan 3, 10

E-mail me or leave a comment if you're interested. We need to figure out whether once- or twice-a-week meetings will be better for us, or whether we should go for an intensive sprint of dinners.

Come to think of it, there's no particular reason why the QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS sessions can't be virtual. We'll hold that on the Internet instead, making it easier for other people to participate. I'll try to schedule in face-to-face time with my parents and godparents, too. Oh, and I need one more area: spirit management. ^_^