The second in the Women Coding for Change video series

I wrote about the first video, "The Problem," a bit ago.  PT has now released the second video, which presents some information about the code-a-thon we co-hosted in Seattle back in March.



Check it out, think about this important problem, and consider getting involved to help.

Please watch this short but important video

It's the first in PT's Women Coding for Change series.  I wrote about it last week when I also showed the trailer for the series.  This video will give you a sense of just how big the gender disparity issue in STEM is, and what this problem is costing us all.



We really are hurting all of us by letting this problem persist.  PT's site offers a little more data and a few ways you can help, but you can easily find a great deal more information with only a little web searching.

I'm proud of the team that created this series.  I hope it will help encourage people to get involved and work to address this issue.

The XPRT Women Code-a-thon finished today

and was a great success.  I'm very happy and proud to have been able to be involved.  Women gathered, came up with strong ideas, did a ton of good work in a very short time, formed friend and mentor relationships, and helped provide ideas and sample code for possible workloads for the BenchmarkXPRT performance-measurement tools.

For dinner our hardy band of travelers, minus one off visiting friends, enjoyed sushi at Momiji.  I'd definitely go back there if I were in the area again.

We walked a few blocks to Molly Moon's for delicious ice cream dessert.  I'd like to believe that bit of walking burned off our cups of ice cream, but, alas, I know better.

Tomorrow, I fly again to a different city--but not home.

I hate losing an hour of sleep

to "springing forward," but tonight is the night I (and everyone else in the U.S.) must endure that cruelty, so I'm crashing early.

The XPRT Women Code-a-thon began today, and it was exciting to be there.  Folks are doing a lot of interesting work, and I'm psyched to see the results.

Dinner took us to Chavez for some truly excellent Mexican dishes, including possibly the best queso fundido I've ever tasted.  I definitely recommend this restaurant.

Tomorrow requires another early start, alas, so the lost hour of sleep is doubly annoying.

To sleep I go.

Seattle sunshine

graced us for a few hours today, but then the weather turned rainy and chilly.  We enjoyed the clear skies while they lasted.

For a snack we enjoyed some tasty ice cream from the Kurt Farm Shop.

Click an image to see a larger version.

It's definitely worth a visit if you live here.

Dinner took us to Wild Ginger, which serves a variety of Asian-inspired dishes.  All the ones we tasted were good.

Walking there and back, we had this side-on view of a ferris wheel.

Lovely.

For dessert, we stopped at Gelatiamo for some very good gelato.

Tomorrow, the XPRT Women Code-a-thon starts early!

Exactly why they canceled my first flight

is not clear--the most consistent mumbling involved "equipment" (read: airplane) issues--but I got up this morning to learn that my day was not going to be what I expected.

When you travel as much as I do, this sort of annoying change happens from time to time, but it's still no fun.

I stayed up and worked from home while Gina worked her magic and booked our whole team on a new set of flights.

From that point on, the day has gone pretty much as it should.  I even enjoyed a Red Mango parfait in the Charlotte airport.

I'm writing this post from a plane, though, because by the time we land, collect our bags, acquire our rental van, drive to the hotel, check in, and finally make it to our rooms, it's going to be very late, and I'm going to crash.

Tomorrow, we begin the set-up work for our event, and we also will shoot some b-roll for the video we will eventually create about the event.

I'm heading to Seattle

because this weekend PT is one of the sponsors of this exciting event:

You can read more about it and register for it on the code-a-thon's EventBrite page.

I'm quite excited to see what the participants come up with and to hear what Kristin Toth Smith, the keynote speaker, has to say.

If you're in Seattle and like to code, come on down and join the fun!