On the ground

Today was a quiet day compared to the first three days of the Manos Accelerator. We had two mentors visit today and meet with us.

Tony Lopez is the Director of Site Management, Worldwide Online Stores at Apple. He specializes in product management and strategy for the Apple Store’s online presence worldwide. Tony has more than 10 years’ experience in product management and user experience for digital industries, such as Macromedia and Looksmart.

Each team had an one-on-one conversation to ask him questions and understand how he can help us succeed.

There was no mistake this morning and afternoon at the Innovation Center what was about to happen. Teams conversed and pitched to each other in preparation of the unveiling event this evening. The morning had been set aside for the Manos team to listen and critique the teams’ introductions. Julia Sullivan, Edward Avila, David Lopez, Carla Lopez, and Sylvia Flores provided constructive comments and advice.

Today was the second day of the Manos Accelerator. Darlene Crane, Executive Director at the Alliance for Community Development talked to us about their program. Their mission is to increase access to capital for companies with diverse leadership.

Remember the first day of school, not knowing anyone’s name, and realizing you have lots to learn? That’s what today felt like. My team, the first place winners of the AT&T Mobile Education hackathon for the Read With Me mobile app, started our first day at the Manos Accelerator in San Jose. Reina and Francisco, two Oakland teachers and myself, a developer, have first-hand knowledge of problems faced by millions of teachers, students and parents in the classroom everyday. We can change the world.

Manos (meaning hands in Spanish) Accelerator is a three-month long program that will connect our team and six others, each with at least one Latino co-founder, to experts and the knowledge to help us succeed in growing our companies.

Day two of the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon started early as the final touches of my team’s GM Safeware app were completed.

Today I went up to San Francisco for the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon. Since it started after noon, I biked over to the America’s Cup Park. The crowd gathering at the gate for the 10am opening was sizable and energetic.

Today I was invited over to NASA Ames to attend the science night and watch the live stream of the LADEE spacecraft launch onboard the Minotaur V rocket. Representatives from different missions and projects at NASA Ames were available to share their knowledge of the science that Ames is part of everyday.

Who said you can’t find something interesting to do on a sunny afternoon. After a trip on Caltrain down to San Jose, I biked over to the library again. Today, I had a beautiful view of the clear blue skies.

Today was a relatively quiet day in San Jose. Taking the afternoon train (train number 928) down to San Jose, the train passed by the maintenance facility for Caltrain.