Ryan Resella

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May 24

A year later

Yesterday I tweeted this about leaving Code for America

And I got this reply…

Which I thought about for about a second and replied

And finished with

Yep..

Posted 3 weeks ago

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Apr 26

Moving to a standing desk

The last few weeks I’ve been researching a standing desk. I looked at a bunch of different ones and then some other contraptions that you could add to an existing desk. All were slightly expensive and out of my price range. When I used to work at the City I had all the ergonomic gear and even the height/weight egro chair. Over the past few years though I’ve been enjoying coding on laptops at a bar stool, couch, chairs, etc.

When I was on the campaign my coworker built a standing desk from Ikea parts.

Many people on the campaign had different types of standing desks from cool arm contraptions to mainly just cardboard boxes. I was a big fan of the cardboard boxes myself. However I didn’t really want to put my Apple display on a cardboard box at home.

I’ve never used or tried a standing desk before but I’ve been reading about all the benefits about them online. Ever since I started playing hockey again my back has been starting to hurt more and more. I mainly sit on a yoga ball at my desk while I’m working.

So I decided I wanted to build a standing desk the same way out of Ikea parts. This article pretty much explains everything you need - I went down to Ikea and spent $22 for the Lack side table, shelf and holders.

This is what my desk setup looked like before:

I assembled the desk and put my Apple monitor on it and realized the table was too tall for me. Since the table was $7.99 I decided to cut 5 inches off of the legs and it is now a perfect height.

This is the setup after I was done:

I’ve used it for about 1 1/2 days now and so far I like it a lot. We will see how a week goes of continuous use. I ordered an anti fatigue matt to stand on which I hear helps a lot.

Posted 1 month ago

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Feb 28

Inside Upworthy: We're hiring, like, a lot of people.

upworthyinsider:

We’re expanding our editorial team in a number of directions at once, and we’re looking for multi-talented, politically-attuned, self-driven social media natives to help us figure out some new things here.

That’s where you come in. Do any of these positions sound like they’re for you or a…

Reblogged 3 months ago from upworthyinsider

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674 notes

Jan 25

Check .. Next..

☑ Register over 1 million voters online through GottaRegister.com
☑ Be part of the Technology Team that changes modern politics
☑ Meet the most amazing people on the campaign and create life long friendships
☑ Help Re-elect the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama
☑ Hang out with your friends on the campaign at the victory party on Nov 6th
☑ Get a hug from the President you just re-elected
☑ Attend the 57th Presidential Inauguration
☑ Attend a Presidential Inaugural Ball
☑ Attend the Staff Ball with campaign friends you’ll never forget


Next

☐ Spend your whole life making the world a better place with your talents

Posted 4 months ago

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5 notes

OFA,

Jan 6
lauraolin: So—you guys. You know, I try to picture myself when I was your age. And I first moved to Chicago at the age of 25, and I had this vague inkling about making a difference. I didn’t really know how to do it. I didn’t have a structure. And there wasn’t a presidential campaign at the time that I could attach myself to—Ronald Reagan had just been re-elected and was incredibly popular. And so I came to Chicago knowing that somehow I wanted to make sure that my life attached itself to helping kids get a great education. Or helping people living in poverty to get decent jobs and be able to work and have dignity. To make sure that people didn’t have to go to the emergency room to get health care.  And I ended up being a community organizer out on the south side of Chicago—a group of churches were willing to hire me. And I didn’t know at all what I was doing.  And the work that I did in those communities changed me much more than I changed the communities, because it taught me the hopes and aspirations and the grit and resilience of ordinary people. And it taught me the fact that under the surface differences we all have common hopes and we all have common dreams. And it taught me something about how I handle disappointment and what it meant to work hard on a common endeavor. And I grew up—I became a man during that process.  And so when I come here and I look at all of you, what comes to mind is it’s not that you guys actually remind me of myself. It’s the fact that you are so much better than I was, in so many ways. You’re smarter, you’re better organized, and you’re more effective. And so I’m absolutely confident that all of you are going to do just amazing things in your lives.  And you know, what Bobby Kennedy called the ripples of hope that come out when you throw a stone in a lake—that’s going to be you. I’m just looking around the room and I’m thinking wherever you guys end up, in whatever states, in whatever capacities—whether you’re in the private sector or the non for profit or some of you decide to go into public service—you’re just going to do great things.  And that’s why even before last night’s results, I felt that the work that I had done in running for office had come full circle. Because what you guys have done means that the work that I’m doing is important. I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of all of you.   And what you guys accomplished will go down in the annals of history, and people will read about it and they’ll marvel about it, but the most important thing you need to know is that your journey is just beginning.  You’re just starting. And whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. And that’s been my source of hope.  That’s why over the last four years when people ask me about how you put up with this or that, the frustrations of Washington—I just think about you. I think about what you guys are gonna do—and that’s the source of my hope. That’s the source of my strength and my inspiration.  And I know that you guys won’t disappoint me, because I’ve already seen who you guys are. And you all are just remarkable people, and you’ve lifted me up each and every step of the way.  All right? Thank you, guys. 

lauraolin:

So—you guys.

You know, I try to picture myself when I was your age. And I first moved to Chicago at the age of 25, and I had this vague inkling about making a difference. I didn’t really know how to do it. I didn’t have a structure. And there wasn’t a presidential campaign at the time that I could attach myself to—Ronald Reagan had just been re-elected and was incredibly popular.

And so I came to Chicago knowing that somehow I wanted to make sure that my life attached itself to helping kids get a great education. Or helping people living in poverty to get decent jobs and be able to work and have dignity. To make sure that people didn’t have to go to the emergency room to get health care. 

And I ended up being a community organizer out on the south side of Chicago—a group of churches were willing to hire me. And I didn’t know at all what I was doing. 

And the work that I did in those communities changed me much more than I changed the communities, because it taught me the hopes and aspirations and the grit and resilience of ordinary people. And it taught me the fact that under the surface differences we all have common hopes and we all have common dreams. And it taught me something about how I handle disappointment and what it meant to work hard on a common endeavor. And I grew up—I became a man during that process. 

And so when I come here and I look at all of you, what comes to mind is it’s not that you guys actually remind me of myself. It’s the fact that you are so much better than I was, in so many ways. You’re smarter, you’re better organized, and you’re more effective. And so I’m absolutely confident that all of you are going to do just amazing things in your lives. 

And you know, what Bobby Kennedy called the ripples of hope that come out when you throw a stone in a lake—that’s going to be you.

I’m just looking around the room and I’m thinking wherever you guys end up, in whatever states, in whatever capacities—whether you’re in the private sector or the non for profit or some of you decide to go into public service—you’re just going to do great things. 

And that’s why even before last night’s results, I felt that the work that I had done in running for office had come full circle. Because what you guys have done means that the work that I’m doing is important. I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of all of you.  

And what you guys accomplished will go down in the annals of history, and people will read about it and they’ll marvel about it, but the most important thing you need to know is that your journey is just beginning. 

You’re just starting. And whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. And that’s been my source of hope. 

That’s why over the last four years when people ask me about how you put up with this or that, the frustrations of Washington—I just think about you. I think about what you guys are gonna do—and that’s the source of my hope. That’s the source of my strength and my inspiration. 

And I know that you guys won’t disappoint me, because I’ve already seen who you guys are.

And you all are just remarkable people, and you’ve lifted me up each and every step of the way. 

All right? Thank you, guys. 

Reblogged 5 months ago from lauraolin

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32 notes

Dec 31

2012 = YOLO

A few years ago I started blogging about what happened during each year both successes and failures. With each of these posts instead of creating resolutions (which ultimately seem to get broken) I created goals. The goals would be something tangible that I could do during the year and check it off at the end of the year. Sort of like my annual bucket list of things that I wanted to accomplish that year.

After the year I had in 2011 I thought hey 2012 it’s going to be tough to top 2011. Well 2012, you were absolutely amazing and a year I’ll never ever forget for so many reasons.

My 2012 can easily be split into two halves as I switched jobs right in the middle of the year. The first half of the year was all Code for America and the second half of the year was all Obama for America.

Here are the goals that I set for myself for 2012 with the successes and failures.

Successes

Go to an LA Kings game in an arena I haven’t been to - In June I went to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals with New Jersey vs LA Kings

Go to an NHL game in an arena I haven’t been to - Well I’d never been to the arena in New Jersey so I guess technically this count.

Go to Mardi Gras - check

Travel more - This year I went to Austin, Chicago, Las, Vegas, New Orleans, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Miami, Newark, Long Island, Palm Springs, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Places that I had never been to before: Austin, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, and Newark. I flew at least every month this year except in July during some parts of the year I even flew twice that month.

Move into the City - When I wrote that I meant into San Francisco. I call this a success because I did end up living in downtown Chicago.

Things I didn’t accomplish…

We can easily lump these all together: Go to an NBA game at Oracle Arena, vacation more (hah), explore San Francisco More, date more, sucessful year at Code for America, win another apps contest (of course one could argue that we won the most ultimate apps contest).

2012 Review

2012 started on New Years Eve of 2011 going to the LA Kings game and seeing them defeat the Vancouver Canucks and spending the countdown at the Association in LA. At Code for America January brought a new year with new fellows and it was completely different being on the staff side. In February I travelled to visit the Fellows in their cities and to speak at a conference. For half of February I went city hopping it was a great experience. I visited Chicago for the first time. Then I flew from Chicago to New Orleans. Visited the city of New Orelans for the first time and got to experience Mardi Gras and all the activities that go on with it. From New Orleans I flew to Washington DC to speak at a conference. Took the train from Washington DC to Philadelphia and that was my first time in Philadelphia. I was in Philadelphia for the Code Across event and then flew back to San Francisco.

In March I went to Austin for the first time and also attended South by SouthWest for the first time. We launched the Code for America Brigade platform during the keynote as SxSW. Went to Las Vegas of course. Attended the opening of the Obama for America San Francisco Tech Field office and met Kimberly for the first time. Who knew at that time how much life would change by attending that event. Also went to Palm Springs that month for the Esri Developer Summit.

April I received an email for a once in a lifetime opportunity that would change my life and alter the rest of 2012. I got an offer to join the Obama campaign for the final 6 months as an Engineer on the Tech team. I had a lot to think about at this point: moving to Chicago, leaving my job, joining the campaign and leaving the girl that I had just started seeing. I also saw the LA Kings for the first time ever go up 3 games to 0 zero in a playoff series, round 1 against the Vancouver Canucks at Staples Center. A historic day for LA Kings fans also got the opportunity to break my shoulder at LA Live while leaving that game.

For May I got to see the LA Kings at Staples Center sweep the St. Louis Blues in game 4 of the Western Conference Semi Finals. The only playoff series I didn’t attend was the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Coyotes. I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles three weekends in a row and moved the stuff I had in San Francisco into my storage unit. I left my job at Code for America and left San Francisco. I said goodbye to this wonderful girl that I really liked and will always wish that it didn’t end the way it did. The second half of my year began when I took 2 suitcases and flew from LAX and landed in Chicago on May 27th. On May 29th was my first day at the Obama HQ.

In June the LA Kings were in the Stanley Cup Final something that had not happened since 1993. When I left to go to Chicago I said that the LA Kings will win the Stanley Cup this year because I won’t be around to attend any of it. Luckily for me I took a chance and headed to game 5 in that chance that the LA Kings would lift the cup in New Jersey.

June 11, 2012 the day that many Kings fans had waited for, myself included. I have been a long time LA Kings fans that dates back to the Gretzky era. I watched the LA Kings raise the Stanley Cup at a bar in Chicago. Being a long time Kings fan this was my happiest moment as a fan part of me wishes I was in Los Angeles and at the game and at the parade, but it’s one of those sacrifices. This was also one of the best things that happened in 2012, well until November that is.

July to October

July to October was pretty much one big blur in my life. I spent hours and hours at the campaign headquarters working. Days were long, didn’t get out much and did not sleep much. Some of those days were spent not sleeping on a weekend and rebuilding GottaRegister. Travelled to Los Angeles twice during this time, Long Island and once to San Francisco for the Code for America summit. At HQ we got visited by the President, Vice President and First Lady. Went to Lollapolooza for the first time. Lots of Wednesday night fun at the Aqua building.

November 6, 2012 is a day that I’ll never forget in my life. All the hard work and sacrifice that all of us on the campaign had put into it cumulated with us winning and re electing the President of the United States. The days leading up to Election Day and the days after were the best in my life because I’ve worked hard at everything in my life but on the campaign it was the hardest I have ever worked in my life for something. Then the day after the election, the President came in and teared up as he thanked us and told us “I’m really proud of all of you”.

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December went to Washington, DC and Roots Camp which was awesome. Got to spend a lot of time relaxing and trying to figure out what I’m going to do with my life next.

As I look back on 2012 the thing that I will easily remember the most is being part of Technology Technology team at Obama for America and second the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup. Most importantly though I’ll remember the experiences that 2012 brought me and how many of them changed my life forever. There are so many great people that I met this year, some that I’ll have life long friendships with and others that I have lost touch with. There’s also a few people on the campaign that I wish I got to know earlier and then the campaign was over and those chances didn’t pan out. I learned so much on what it’s like to fail at something then come back and succeed at something else.

It’s hard to try and make a list of goals this year after the crazy year that I had in 2012. There is one goal that I have though and it’s this - find a job that I absolutely love. I believe that everything else that I want will fall together once I figure out what that job that I absolutely love is.

This time last year when I wrote this, I thought there was no way that 2012 could beat the year that I had in 2011. I was definitely mistaken. I said 2011 was the best year of my life because I learned to take risks, love what I do and learned to appreciate life. Now I say that 2012 is the best year of my life because I took what I learned in 2011 and made it happen in 2012. 2012 definitely had its great moments and its crappy moments and still some regrets and mistakes, but all the great moments are what matter the most.

While 2013 will have a lot to compete with I guess you never know. Sometimes things happen when you least expect it and change your life forever.

Posted 5 months ago

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2012, end of the year review,

Dec 18

RyanResella.com

I’ve finally had some time in my life and a reason to build out RyanResella.com I’ve owned the domain name for a long time but always just pointed it at my photo blog.

At this point in my life its time to have an actual web site pointed at my domain name. So I launched it recently. The site is built using Jekyll and hosted on Github using Github Pages. Jekyll makes it really simple to build a site out and reminds me a lot of using Sinatra. Github pages also makes it super simple to host pages.

So there you have it.. check out

Posted 6 months ago

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Dec 18

Officially Lucky ❡ a blog by Clint Ecker: My OFA Family

clint:

There are so many people who touch your life and your work in such an expansive endeavour like Obama for America. I wanted to take a quick moment and try to thank the following people for all they did to help us achieve what we did. I also know that I’m most likely leaving someone out who…

Reblogged 6 months ago from clint

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3 notes

Dec 6

Election Night

It’s hard to describe what Election Night was like for me. It’s something that I had never experienced or had been a part of. I remember the night before election day when Jim Messina told us to just take a moment and stop and look around and take it all in. He said that many people work their whole lives on presidential campaigns and few actually get to be part of a winning one. Remember what its like to be a on a winning team.

Those words stuck with me as the polls were closing and numbers began to get reported. I stopped and looked around and saw the excitement that was in the boiler room and in the main room on the 6th floor. It was amazing. All the hard work was coming to an end and the goal was going to be accomplished.

View of the Boiler Room

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View of the main floor

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I was lucky enough to be on the voter team for tech. All the tools we built would be used on election day and the days leading up to it. Our team was in the Boiler Room the last few days were we monitored everything we built.

One of my favorite posters Untitled

On Election Night the Call Tool went over 1 million calls which was so great to see:

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With that at 9:30pm Central Time we were told the board the busses and head over to McCormick Place where the election night festivities were going to occur. I remember sitting on the bus and reading through my tweets. The media had called Ohio for Obama. The race was over and we had won. Then someone yelled we won Ohio and everyone on the bus started celebrating. Immediately I began getting a bunch of congratulatory text, Tweets and Facebook posts.

My favorite email from the night

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From there everything sped up and was nothing but celebrating all our hard work

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Election night was one of the happiest moments of my entire life. I gave my entire life to join the campaign. It was something that I wanted to do for so long and never made the choice to do it but then finally did. I’m so glad that I was a part of all of it.

The next day it ended all with this:

Posted 6 months ago

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1 note

OFA, election night,

Nov 26
lauraolin: Design department, Obama HQ, Chicago.

lauraolin:

Design department, Obama HQ, Chicago.

Reblogged 6 months ago from lauraolin

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16 notes