It is hard to believe the noughties are over - happy new year! It has been a decade of extremes for me on a personal level. It started with me going back to university, which was very challenging and rewarding. I attained a first class degree in Physics, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to stay and study for a research doctorate in nanomaterials. I was very look to work with Tim Richardson and Neil Cowlam who really allowed me to explore the field and go off on some really interesting tangents.
During my Ph.D. research I found the time to get involved in open source development, first with GentooKDE. I was lucky enough to be selected for a Google Summer of Code project in 2007 right at the end of my Ph.D. research. I spent most of my time working on Avogadro, Kalzium and Open Babel.
After that I was really hooked on open source development, and was offered a position as a postdoc by Geoff Hutchison in his new research group at the University of Pittsburgh in the chemistry department. This was a really big move from Sheffield, UK to Pittsburgh, PA in the USA. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about visas and working as an immigrant in another country.
These were certainly some of the high points of the decade, but it wasn't all good. In the middle of the final semester of my undergraduate degree we lost my little brother. This was a very difficult time for us all, and influenced my decision to stay in Sheffield over the next few years with my family. Then on the day I found out that I had been accepted into the Google Summer of Code program, as I was writing up my thesis for my Ph.D., we lost my sister unexpectedly too. I found out just how trusting and understanding relative strangers in the KDE community could be, and will always be thankful to them. Of course my friends and family were all there for us too.
During all this I met Louise (at the end of the nineties), and in 2005 we got married. Weeks before our wedding I attended a conference in Japan, and London was bombed the day before I returned from Japan. Roughly a week before our wedding Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt was bombed (our honeymoon destination). Even days before we weren't sure if we would be able to go on honeymoon. In the end we had a great wedding and an amazing honeymoon.
So much more happened, I think I have some great material for memoirs. I do worry whether people will really believe it all happened - the noughties were a real roller coaster ride. In 2009 my son was born, the birth did not go as planned, then at nine weeks he got a UTI that turned into E. Coli in his blood. I found out that I am an overprotective father, and that the doctors and nurses at the Childrens hospital in Pittsburgh are very good.
I also attended Camp KDE, met loads of amazing people including my future boss. Even that was far from simple, from an amazing start, to a suboptimal interview (I will tell you over beers), to the decision to hire me, then the visa gauntlet I ran to our eventual move more than six months later.
I have to say that we are extremely happy now we are in Clifton Park, NY. I love my new job at Kitware, the area is great and we have been made to feel very welcome by everyone at Kitware - especially Bill and Naomi. I think the next decade is going to be a good one, and have my fingers crossed for no really bad things.
I wish everyone a very happy new year. I feel very lucky to have such a great job working on open source code, with a generous hardware budget to buy new toys. If I could just talk them into getting an espresso machine everything would be perfect! We are on the look out for more Qties (pronounced “cuties”), and I am hoping to become lead Qtie 
I am really looking forward to Camp KDE in a few weeks, and all the work I will be doing at Kitware in the new year.