No project happens in a vacuum. It took a lot of people doing a lot
of work on short notice and being very generous with their time to
make this project happen. Among them are:
David Botterill -
who conceived the idea for decking out a crazy old truck in
NetBeans graphics and using a GPS. He wrote all of the mapping
and geocoding stuff that makes this site as cool as it is (it is
cool, right?).
Jon Locke -
whom I had my first "startup" with when we were
13 or so. His Wicket
web framework is what a web framework should be, and makes
writing web apps as simple as it should be.
Robert Lipe
-
who provided invaluable help getting what we needed out of
gpsbabel to make the whole
thing work.
Judith Lilienfeld
-
my manager extraordinare (if she can deal with me, she's got to
be extraordinary!), for not deciding we were all crazy (or deciding
we were but that was okay).
Rick Ross and his Merry Band
- at dzone.com who
have graciously sprung for pizza and beer for the folks I visit.
Laura Whitton
-
my brilliant Stanford linguistics-grad-student roommate.
Daniel Ezra Johnson - another brilliant Stanford linguistics grad student
(excuuuuse me, PhD...)
who provided rescue when the hot wire to the battery melted in
the parking lot of the Redwood City DMV.
Jack Catchpoole
-
NetBeans webmaster extraordinaire, who scrambled the
fighters and worked a weekend to get this thing running
on port 80 (it is on port 80, right?). And yes, the linked
page is a joke...this is
the real one.
Mo
-
at Auto Service in Vallejo, CA, who stayed at work after
hours twice to help get the NetBeans Mobile mobile.
Leo at A1 Auto in East Palo Alto, CA
-
the place may look like a dump, but it is populated by very smart
people who do very good work. Thanks to them, I have not only
front brakes, but rear brakes too.
Peter Zavadsky
- my former office-mate in Prague and brilliant
partner-in-crime along with Dafe Simonek and Marek Slama
when we rewrote the NetBeans window system for 3.6, who
generously volunteered his time to help put big vinyl
graphics on a big vehicle.
While we're at it, Peter deserves
support in his struggle with
U.S. immigration law. We sat back-to-back in an office when
he was doing all of the work (and it is not simple) to get his
green card. He asked lots of questions about life in the U.S.
and I answered as best I could. I never imagined he would have
this kind of stupid problem.
It's obscene that his wife can't join him in the
U.S. - he's been here longer than I have! Visit his web site,
sign the petition and give him your support - he's a good guy.
The folks at All American Muffler in Redwood City, CA
- who were willing to cut a hole in the floor and drill
the frame, so that I could have a driver's seat that is
actually attached to something.
Tony
- my neighbor across the street in East Palo Alto,
who lent tools and help
with wiring and painting, and his adorable 3-year-old
granddaughter who helped as well.
Mara and Neil Priestly
-
Who own the place I'm likely to end up living in, in
Northampton, Massachusetts, and whose generous
offer provided
the impetus for doing any of this.
Trung, Jarda, Hrebejk, Lenka and all of my colleagues in Prague
- who, even though I haven't lived there in almost
three years, are my second family.
Steve and Anka Adler
-
my bandmate from college, whom I've had so much fun recording
music with in my visits to the east coast that it made getting
out of California seem worth doing.
Kevin Noel Sharpe
-
my friend since fifth grade, whose gracious appearance (and
fabulous drumming) at
a recording session in January reminded me of how many
people I've been missing back home.
Zaheda Bhorat
-
my former colleague,
who also volunteered her time with the signage.
Charlie Hunt
-
who joined me for an unforgettable 21-days-in-Brazil-17-airplane-boarding-cards
teaching tour, and who is holding my real laptop in Chicago, back
from repair, until I get there.
Evan Adams
-
whose basement has housed my furniture for longer than I ever
intended.
Kurt Barbuscio
-
My college roommate, who would be my copilot if there were
more than one seat.