webchick.net

very helpful lioness

Hello World, and the Incredible Drupal Community

Thu, 10/25/2007 - 17:35 -- webchick

Drupal rules So webchick.net is finally a Drupal site. It was a bunch of never-updated static HTML files for a very long time, mostly because I didn't really have a reason to start up one of these "blog" things. Well, I found a reason: the incredible Drupal community.

As people may or may not know, my trusty MacBook Pro was stolen from my car in a "smash and grab" on Saturday night while I was having dinner. While I was out drowning my sorrows with Marci at a coffee shop the next day, Jeff Eaton started a fundraiser to help replace the laptop. And within 72 hours, $1,500 USD had been raised!! Enough to replace the window, pay the insurance deductible, cover the difference in coverage, and so on. This outpouring of support is overwhelming; you all are so completely amazing.

So I'd like to use node/1 to personally thank each of the people who contributed.


Jeff Eaton Jeff Eaton (Eaton): Man. Where to even begin? I've long considered you my best friend, and now you go and do something like this. You are so kind, thoughtful, and altruistic and have a unique gift for saying and doing the right thing right when people need you most. Oh. And I officially owe you at least 10 ponies. :)
Addi Berry Addi Berry (add1sun): It has been an absolute joy to watch your progress within the community. A year ago, you were dabbling around with your first foray into patch-land, and now you're coordinating documentation and screencasting efforts, one of the people running the Drupal Dojo, and you're one of the 'bots. You keep going at this rate, and you're going to be out-coding chx soon! :D Thank you so much.
Jerad Bitner Jerad Bitner (sirkitree): It was so awesome working with you over the summer; you completely blew me away with how quickly you came up to speed on the gnarlier bits of Drupal internals, and moreover you are just an awesome, nice, and funny guy. "More than meets the eye," some might say. ;) Thank you.
Dries Buytaert (Dries): My progress within the Drupal community, both personally and as a contributor, has been in very large part due to your mentoring and guidance. You listen to my ideas, you throw new challenges my way, and you have always treated me as an "equal." I never feel like you think I can't do something, even when I might think that myself, and it constantly encourages me to strive harder. You're a huge inspiration to me, and I want to thank you so much for... just... everything.
Balazs Dianiska Balazs Dianiska (snufkin): It was great to meet you in Barcelona and get to know you a bit better, and also great to see a former Summer of Code student kicking so much ass in the community. :) I look forward with interest about your future contributions. Thanks so much.
Benjamin Doherty (bangpound): I'm pretty sure we met briefly in Barcelona, but even if not, I took a look at http://www.preventionaction.org/ and want to say thank you for your work on such an important initiative.
Robert Douglass Robert Douglass (robertDouglass): What can I say? You're the reason I'm even here in the Drupal community: you were my Summer of Code mentor, who gave me guidance while still allowing me to find my own way, and then the guy who kept throwing me a couple hundred bucks every other week when I was going to go get one of those "real" jobs. ;) Thank you so much for reeling me in, and thank you so much for your help.
David Dunkerley (Keyz): I don't think we've ever met, but I love the enthusiasm and sense of humour you show in your posts. Plus, you're on the docs team, which means you rock. :D Thanks!!
Cary Gordon Cary Gordon (highermath): Another of our recent docs team victi... er... contributors! Yes, that's it! ;) You've been doing a great job in helping to organize Drupal activities around the LA area, and the work you're doing in combining Drupal with library sciences is really interesting. Thank you so much.
Ryan Grace Ryan Grace (Veggieryan): I've seen you around the site, though I don't think we've ever met. I love that you're putting efforts into sustainable living and organic products. Plus, fractals? Just fricking cool. :) Thank you so much for your helping hand.
Nate Haug Nathan Haug (quicksketch): You are someone I look up to a great deal; you are extremely gifted at pretty much everything you try your hand at, and yet you are also always willing to take the time and patience to help others understand. Thanks not only for the good times in NYC and Toronto, but also a very sincere thank you for your *tremendous* generosity. I'm completely blown away...
Greg Knaddison Greg Knaddison (greggles): All hail greggles, the revered "PathAuto Maintainer." ;) I really enjoy hanging out with you in #drupal with your witty sense of humour, and your tenacity in making sure that the Drupal Association stays on track is a tremendous asset to us all. You rock, and I really hope you enjoy the remainder of your crazy travel adventure. :)
Lullabot Lullabot: Never in my wildest dreams could I have hoped to work with such completely fantastic, awesome, and caring people. Every day I'm so thankful to know each and every one of you. We're like family, except that we actually *want* to see each other over the holidays! ;)
Kevin Millecam Kevin Millecam (kmillecam): Your articles are consistently informative, well-written, and fun to read. I especially like the unique ways that you're using Userpoints to help build communities and retain interest. Great stuff! Thank you for your generosity.
Chris Miller (criznach): I don't know you that well yet, but in #drupal you were helping with Project module issues, which elevates you to 'totally awesome' status. And since you joined the docs team too, I think that makes you 'freakishy awesome.' :) Thanks so much.
Károly Négyesi Károly Négyesi (chx): Another one of those "Where do I begin?" folks. Back when I was very young (and very scared ;)) in the community, you took me by the hand and helped coax me along, and were *the* pivotal person who got me more deeply involved with Drupal. You're an amazing friend, and the person I most look forward to seeing at Drupalcons. :) Your enthusiasm, intelligence, and tenacity help drive this project and its community forward, and I want to thank you for that, in addition to your generosity.
Shawn Preisz Shawn Preisz (ShawnP): I had a lot of fun meeting and talking with you in Chicago; you're an awesome guy. You've also dug into contributing to documentation, which is fantastic. Hopefully you'll make it to a Drupalcon one of these days so we can hang out again. And you're totally right -- if this ever happens again, I'll go the "free beer for life" route. ;)
Erik Simmler (tgecho): I don't believe we've met yet, and your personal site's about page is very mysterious. ;) However, your photography is absolutely amazing. Thank you for your kindness.
Keith Smith (keith.smith): My string freeze partner in crime. :D It's been so great watching you dig in and pick off critical issues one by one. In addition to my thanks, I think I also owe you some patch reviews. ;)
Lloyd Sommerer: Wow, what a nice show of thanks for the podcasts! I hope they can help get you over some of those "Drupal newbie" hurdles (trust me, it's pretty cool when you hit that "ah-ha!" moment ;)). Thank you so much for your help. :)
Erik Stielstra Erik Stielstra (Sutharsan): Champion of Dutch translations and Simplenews maintainer extraordinare! Thank you for your work in the Drupal community, and thank you for your assistance.
Gaele Strootman Gaele Strootman (gaele): Another Dutch translator champion! :) I'm really excited about some of the usability improvements you're championing. Thank you for your help.
John VanDyk John VanDyk (jvandyk): Your constant stream of hilarity in #drupal has me routinely streaming liquids of varying types out of my nose, and your intelligence and kindness has me routinely in awe. Thank you.
James Walker James Walker (walkah): When I first met you, I thought you were a sarcastic punk. Now, having worked with you for a few months, I've learned that you ARE a sarcastic punk ;), but that this is just one of your endearing qualities, along with a great heart, an ingenious mind, and a hilarious sense of humour. You're an awesome friend, and I consider myself very lucky to know you.
Moshe Weitzman Moshe Weitzman (moshe weitzman): I'll never forget how cool it was in Vancouver when we were all sitting around that table working on fixing all the bugs in the queue for 4.7. :) Your kindness and patience with me while I was a budding contributor are a large part of how obsessed I ended up becoming with Drupal, and your leadership within the community has been a constant asset to the project. You rock.

Note: If there's no picture here for you, it means I couldn't find one on groups.drupal.org. If you add one, let me know and I'll be sure and put it here! Same with missing/incorrect URLs, drupal.org usernames, etc.

And finally, thanks to the numerous people who sent well-wishes, hugs, and commiseration.

Incidentally, when I told my insurance broker what happened, he told me that some crooks have lithium ion detectors, which can spot a laptop in a car no matter where it is or how well it is hidden. So don't ever leave your laptop in a car, or at least not in downtown Montréal. :P

Tags: 
drupal
things that rule
mac
stealing

Comments

Submitted by quicksketch (not verified) on

I knew those crooks *must've* been from Montreal! Maybe it's time to find a more friendly city to match your demeanor. Also, so glad to see a Drupal site on webchick.net!

Submitted by Addi (not verified) on

Angie, you have done so much for so many people and I speak to that personally. You taught me how to patch, you encouraged me into the community that I now consider home and helped in *countless* ways through this summer both with code and life. You'll never know how great it felt to be able to help you in time of need.

You're probably the last one in the Drupal community to get a Drupal site, and its well deserved. Now all you're missing is the webchick theme!.... I'm really happy that there are awesome people like you leading the Drupal project. It was great meeting you at the Toronto meetup, and I'm looking forward to the next talk you give so that I can actually go. Great work, Angie. I'm really happy for you.

Sorry to hear about the smash-n-grab. Delighted to hear that the community responded so quickly and so generously. Looking forward to reading your wise words and insights on your blog.

Cheers

Dub

You rock, Angie. It's been such an awesome experience doing something to give back to you some of the good stuff that you've been giving to everyone for years.

And, of course, I can use some of those ponies to repay my own pony debt, so everyone wins. ;)

I have to say that I am completely and totally amazed by what you accomplish, including the thanks you gave on this page. You're awesome, simply awesome!

I'm sorry I missed the chipin, too. I knew about it, but thought it would be around a little longer. I'm glad the community stepped up to show their generosity, it's truly an amazing thing to see how much the Drupal community does for one another. Glad you finally got your Drupal site. :)

Wow, I ignore my feeds for several days and all this happens.

Sucks to have your laptop stolen ...

Did you know that 5 cars at the Ontario Linux Fest were broken into? That is the one on Oct 13, where all of the Lullabots attended, and you presented too?

One guy from Novell had a MacBook and an iPod stolen, while John Van Ostrand (conference organizer) also had his car broken into an a suitcase take. I took pictures of both cars, but have not posted them yet. And here I was upset that the schwag bags for my girls were stolen! Sheesh.

Anyway, glad to see it was replaced quickly. You can start a second chipin so I can contribute ...

But congratulations on having friends and a community that helped you replace it.

I lost a laptop once, same way "smash and grab". Lost a lot of data. Since then I back up regularly.

The lithium Ion Detector is scary, I'll have to do some research on that one. Great one more thing to do before I change my static html over to something more user friendly.

I't's pretty scary that the crooks have high tech devices to help them steal things. I won't ever be leaving my laptop in my car again. Wow.

This incident happened to me as well in Chicago except I only had my laptop case in the car when the crook smashed my car window. Your lucky to have such great friends that helped you out. Too bad there's not enough people like that around!