2015 AddThis Hackathon

/ AddThis, Me

Usually, I have some idea of what I want to do for hackathon… but this time, I was so busy, I didn’t have a chance to pull anything together ahead of time. I literally pitched the idea to the gang at the last possible minute. And somehow, a team of 1 miraculously became a team of 6.

That’s a pic of Mike cranking away below—he’s a rock star. He just started working for AddThis a couple days ago, and he was one of the core devs that built our hackathon demo. I’m just so impressed by our team.

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The process was refreshing, and surprisingly simple. We had a basic idea of what we wanted to do, I prototyped it, we tested the concepts with users, and then we built everything in a day.

Everything about this hackathon was positive and went smoothly. Here are some photos of other teams and their projects.

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There’s Behnaz’s team putting together a living wall installation. It appears to be a box with plants, in the shape of the AddThis logo. Typically, hackathons are regarded as an engineering event, but our company has embraced all good ideas and extended the event to all people and disciplines.

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Here’s a pic of Jim and Mike taking on a huge cross team hackathon project. In fact, they had the largest hackathon team in the history of AddThis—13 people.

That’s an entire tribe! Hah! Kudos to them—they won both the “most popular” award and CEO award.

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That’s Ben performing singing/rapping a song (over Biggie’s “Hypnotize”) about AddThis. By far, it was one of the most creative and ballsy things I’ve seen anyone do here in a while. I definitely voted for his performance.

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Hackathons are one of my favorite times here. I still remember my first project here—”Ask Foo”. It almost feels like yesterday. While it’s nice to solve hard problems, it’s sometimes nice to play around, cut through any process, and get back to the heart of building stuff in an outlaw-hackerish way.

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I’d love to talk about the project in more detail, but it sounds like we may package it into something bigger. Sorry for the cliff hanger. Stay tuned for more.

I can tell you this, my team wants to release it to the public right now. They’ve gone as far as registering a domain and packaging it up as native mobile apps. Thanks to the team for appointing us with the UX Hackathon Award. We worked hard to keep things as simple as possible.

Big hat tip to Dave, Mike, Foo, Kirk, Will and Sammi on pulling it all together. Let’s go out and celebrate boys.

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I have Atrial Fibrillation

/ Uncategorized

A totally unexpected discovery

For the last couple of months, I struggled with an on-going battle with my sinuses—stuffy nose, cough, post nasal drip, etc. It felt like an chronic cold, I suspected I had some sort of bacterial sinus infection. I went into the Dr’s office about 2-3 weeks ago for something simple, and came out with some unfortunate news.

As I talked to the doctor, he covered all grounds and asked me everything, including my previous conditions. I briefly mentioned that I had hyperthyroidism, and one time my girlfriend noticed that I had an unusual pulse. The doctor started asking more questions relating to my thyroids and heart, and then 15 minutes later I was on the bed hooked up to an EKG.

I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, but I just went with the flow. They printed out the results and said that I had a heart condition, most likely attributed to my hyperthyroidism. In fact, he emphasized that I needed to see a cardiologist immediately to investigate my condition further. He was fairly certain that I had Atrial Fibrillation (an “unusual heart beat”). I made several inquiries like, “am I in immediate danger?”, “is this reversible?”, “what kind of treatments are there?”… but most of his answers seemed deliberately unclear.

In a nutshell, he expressed that the severity of my condition could range anywhere from minor to very serious. He also stated that I was at risk of suffering a stroke if left untreated. At this point, he had my full, undivided attention.

As a precaution, the Dr. requested that avoided the following things:

  • No Caffeine
  • No Exercise
  • No Sudafed
  • No Alcohol

And then he said, “come back in 2 weeks and we’ll follow up on your sinuses. In the mean time, make sure to stay on your hyperthyroidism medicine”. Since then, health has been my number 1 priority. I am taking all my pills religiously.

The bad news

When I went to the cardiologist, he did some more tests including an echocardiogram. The Dr confirmed that I had Atrial Fibrillation, however, it was unlikely for me to experience a stroke since I’m still relatively young. Treatment can range anywhere from medication all the way to electroshock (that’s where they would sedate me and shock my heart back into a normal rhythm).

Before the Dr begins treatment, he wanted to see all the data from my heart monitor. He said he would examine all points of data to ensure his recommended treatment would lead me to a safe path towards recovery.

The good news

According to the Dr, I’m in no immediate danger. As long as I avoid the stuff I bulleted above, I should be fine. The other part of the good news is that it should be reversible in time. They mentioned that a part of my heart has been enlarged because of overuse, but it shouldn’t affect me in the long run. Right now, my priority is to get my thyroids under control, followed by reversing the affects of my heart condition.

Next steps

While I usually have a cool demeanor, I’ll have to admit that I’m moderately stressed. As I mentioned, health is my #1 priority right. I just have to take one day at a time.

Anyway, I figured I’d let you guys know what’s going on. It’s challenging to keep up with everyone these days—so if you’re reading this, thank you for all the support. Don’t be too worried… I am doing everything within my power to get this under control. I’ll keep you guys posted every step of the way.

To learn more about Atrial Fibrillation, read this.

Travelling Light

/ Cali, Me, Photo

I went to California recently and I tried taking as little as possible. In retrospect, it was the right decision, and truth be told, I could have subtracted more. In the photo above, you’ll notice a ton of things that are not included compared to the photo below. One of my priorities was to take my laptop and some camera equipment. As a last minute decision, I left behind the extra camera lens.

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In hindsight, I probably could have left behind the tripod, lens hood and car charger. By packing lighter, you can do so much more. It also forces you to be a little more creative with the equipment you bring. Packing light translates into being more mobile, which is a good thing for travel.

Endangered Species

/ Uncategorized

In pieces is an interactive exhibition turned study into 30 of the world’s most interesting but unfortunately endangered species.

I love the transitions. What a cool exhibition of front end dev skills. It’s beautiful as it is thought provoking. I’m really digging the colors and illustrations. Hat tip: Appy

Bowling a 227

/ Uncategorized

So, I admit it, they put together some teams at AddThis and I totally sand bagged on my average. I haven’t really bowled in a while, and I’ve never been that good. On average, I used to get around a 120 on a good day. But for whatever reason, I’ve figured out how to throw a house ball with a natural hook. Recently, this has resulted me in bowling at a higher average.

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The last time I went bowling with AddThis, I threw a 208. This time, for whatever reason, I threw a 227 in my first set. Honestly, it was kind of lucky. The good news is that my throw appears to look more consistent.

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Anyway, it seems that no-one in my office seems to trust me anymore when I say, “I’m not really good at that”, or “It’s my first time playing”. I’ve lost all element of surprise and now everyone expects me to be good at everything.

I’m actually terrible at several things. Just to name a few:

  • Singing
  • Swimming
  • Snowboarding
  • Skiing
  • Basketball
  • Long distance running
  • Lifting heavy things

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    Check out this thread from slack. Just to be clear, horwitz has beaten me before… but his victories are far and few between. We all know who’s the king (of slop). Hah! Anyway, I had a great time tonight. Hopefully, we’ll go bowling again soon.

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