I wish to thank my wife Karen and children Kellen, Kristopher, and Katie, for providing me with the necessary space and time to write this book, and for all the wonderful moments they bring to my life. Also, to my parents Ren and Anna, sister Diane, and my late brother Philip for providing me with positive examples for how to live my life.
I would also like to thank a few people who have helped me get to this point in my life. To Doug Mueller, a true friend who always provides a great example for how to combine success with humility. Also, to Pat Dessert, for being a longtime friend who helped nudge me toward a more successful path in life, and to Dan Poliksa, a faithful friend for more than 25 years. Lastly, I wish to give thanks to dear friends Yvette Collins and John Hay for 20 years of friendship, conversation, and good times.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the open source community, who have collectively expanded my horizons and provided me with great optimism for the future. The tireless work of many people in the open source space has enriched my life immeasurably.
Thank you as well to the dedicated crew at Packt Publishing, especially Amey Sawant and Meeta Rajani, for helping keep this project on track, and to all those who dedicated their time to improve the content and flow of this book.