Hack-4-Reno

It’s now day two here at Hack4Reno. Teams are looking bruised and battered as the early morning sun beats upon their tired faces. It’s been a long 21 hours. For some, an even longer 25 hours. Nonetheless spirits are high and the air is rich with excitement and enthusiasm.

“Who’s got a working demo?” asks Hack4Reno organizer Colin Loretz.

About three teams consisting of four members each raise their hands with big smiles and laughs. The look of pride and accomplishments oozing out of their eyes which are nearly crusted shut. These brave men and women are Reno’s tech warriors. Although for some the 24 hour stint was too much to take.

At 9:00 AM, I awoke from my car after a couple hours of rest. Upon my arrival back to the battle field I discovered that my team members had been defeated by the hackathon. They had given in to the temptation of quitting and deserted me.

“I couldn’t have stayed till the end and been able to work on Monday. I was cold and delirious and could only think about my bed,” said deserted #1 in an apologetic text.

These fools will forever live in tech shame. Unworthy of hackathon honor.

As for the rest of us,  with only 3 hours left till it’s demo time, you can guarantee these soldiers will be battling till the very end and will reap the emotional and material rewards.

**Correction 4:56pm One of my teammates redeemed himself by returning to Hack4Reno during demo presentations! In an amazing turn of events, we ended up demoing our project The WHAT at the very last minute. The judges loved us and our idea so much they awarded us runner-up for Best Application of Social-Media. All is great in the land of Hack4Reno!