i write to you all in a personal capacity after having spent nearly 12 hours at the lab today. the first hour really brutal, I’m not going to lie.*
what I saw immediately after however, absolutely blew me away.
people went ham organizing and cleaning. the electronics and soldering stations are much improved thanks to the work of many hands, Linwood, Sofia, among others. the LEGO station has been tidied thanks to Rick. the new 3D printer shelves are getting much closer to installation. & nate cleaned the laser vents nice and good for us. Not to mention all the other chores.
we had 20 students at Eric’s soldering class throughout the afternoon. all afternoon I saw people working together, helping each other solve problems and make things. i saw Linwood working with Jay on one of the electronics benches. i saw Sofia and Lang working together to dry and repair a sadly unrepairable coffee maker.
meanwhile, Bryan, Austin and Etienne were collaborating on the new member’s site, planning to be at the space well into the night, I heard they were going to close out at around midnight. heck, I even saw Moheeb’s new incredible CRT in the display window. rounding out the night, our sublimation class with our new printer was quite packed, too, and there was so much excitement. and I couldn’t help but notice how many people were working in pairs or small groups on different things.
I just saw so much happiness, hackery, happiness and joy. In short, I saw what makes HSL so special when we’re at our best. for that, for the tremendous work from everyone, for every floor washed, garage bag dumped, for every unexpected collab and lesson learned - for that, I am grateful.
let’s keep it up.
Brett
* i’ll cobble together notes later this week - please stay tuned - but I would appreciate some time for centering first