Life Runs On Code

Today, I decided to emphasize the meaning behind the phrase, "Life Runs On Code". I first came upon this quote when I happened to win a t-shirt prize from Microsoft at one of the user group events that I attend often. Since the year 2001, I've started to notice more how life often depends on code. September 11th is a primary example of that. Many often refer to that as the "911" incident. Well as we all know that 911 was most often used as a call for emergency situations.



There are many books out there that have been written in mystery or what one would refer to as codes, such as "The Da Vinci Code as an example. Microsoft primarily uses the expression, "Life Runs On Code" to emphasize their Development Software Platforms. Sometimes codes have often been used throughout the course of history to send messages to individuals in the future of what to look for.



Last weekend from July 16 through 18th, I spent the weekend attending an event called "Cleveland GiveCamp" which was a very interesting hands on opportunity. The event was very significant in that it brought together 21 non profit organizations and many volunteers within the Information Technology Industry to help support a great cause. 21 of these non profit organizations ranging from a Fire Department to a Suicide Prevention Alliance Education group were there anxiously awaiting for web developers, database administrators, and project managers to form into a team in the hopes of creating a new website or making improvements to existing ones.



What turned out to be special about this particular event is that all of these non profit organizations were given a team of experts to volunteer their time for 54 hours to bring ideas to the table. Each team had a diverse group ranging from college students to experienced IT Professionals each coming together to show great team spirit. I truly enjoyed myself as I stepped up to a new challenge of working with things that I've never worked with in the past. Word Press suddenly became the next cool thing to look into. Several of the men and women were either attending or recent graduates from Case Western University, while others were graduates from Akron and Kent. Each individual within the group brought their own enthusiasm and strengths to this team which is something that has not been seen in awhile.



I had met Pat Lyden, the Executive Director for SPEA and she seemed to be thrilled to have improvements made to their website. Most of the content that was originally on it was not targeted towards the specific audience that she wanted this to be focused on. After enhancements were made to this website, the content was more focused on teens. Our entire team worked diligently and carefully to make every possible improvement that was necessary to make this website stand out and be more easily found.

Here is the compliment that she made specifically about our team:

" RE: A Million Thanks!!!‏

Dear Mary, Doreen, Mike, Tom, David, Ben and Scott,
What a weekend! WOW!
I hope that you are rested after our Give Camp marathon. I can’t thank you enough for devoting your weekend to building a new website for SPEA!!!
I feel enormously blessed to have been selected by Give Camp, and to have had each of you on my Team. Each of you made a huge contribution and you worked tirelessly on SPEA’s behalf. Our website is BEAUTIFUL and it is quite sophisticated. I absolutely love it, and I know that it will transform the way that SPEA does business. Our fundraising will be transformed, thanks to the visual appeal of the site, its ability to interact with Facebook, its Newsletter sign-up function and its five ways to donate online: Into the Light Walk, Links for Life registration/donation, Honor a Loved One, Fund Our Greatest Need and Create a Personal Fundraising Page.

Scott, the design is beautiful! Mary, I’m so happy that our Facebook is cool looking now and thanks to Tom is connected to our site in a cool way.
Doreen, Mike, Tom, Ben and David, you did an amazing job of programming. I am in awe!

A Million Thanks!
Most gratefully,
Pat


Ms Pat Lyden
Executive Director
Suicide Prevention Education Alliance (SPEA)



Sunday was the last day of the event when it was time to wrap up these projects and each team was ready to present the tools they used to make very creative websites or make the existing website that a non profit organization had to make it stand out and more unique. After our presenter gave his presentation, Pat immediately went up to the microphone and said, "This is the best team that I ever worked with" and the feeling behind what she said was great.



As all of the photographers went around the room over the entire weekend snapping all of their pictures to showcase each person's talent, they managed to put together a fabulous and fun youtube video to capture the entire 3 day event and all of the hard work that went into it.



Our entire team got a gracious thank you from Pat Lyden on both facebook and via email when she wanted to make sure that everyone had the final steps working in motion. I'm glad that I had the chance to take on this new challenge and learn some unique features of Word Press and the detail steps of modifying a website.

I will always remember Pat Lyden's quote: "You Get What You Give."



Next week, I will blog about the existing project that I am working on with a colleague which is setting up a software accounting package. More details to come.......



One last thing, I forgot to mention that last month, my cousin Kelli Stack who is a former Silver Medalist Olympian had been visiting the Cleveland Indians Stadium, made a pitch, and was excited to be signing autographs for her fans. She had posted some very interesting blogs while she made her trip up to Vancouver this past year for the 2010 Olympics as an Ice Hockey Player. I've been very proud of her accomplishments as well.