When a devastating EF-5 tornado struck Joplin, Mo. on May 22, 2011, I had the honor to volunteer with the AmeriCorps. I picked up a lot of debris and pulled a lot of broken branches, and I was amazed at the outpouring of support from Americans all over the country. People were offering services and supplies, and this information was posted on the Joplin Disaster Relief Facebook page. But the information was disorderly and scattered and the donations were not managed effectively. So, I took the initiative to create an online database where volunteers could more easily track all donations and match them specifically with survivors depending on their specific needs.

Although I had no experience creating a content management system (CMS), I quickly learned on the go and became a huge proponent of Drupal, WordPress, and other open-source platforms. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Too bad it took a natural disaster for me to learn it.

Drupal shines as a technological marvel with speed and scalability. That’s why I chose Drupal to be the CMS for RUNINOut and traveled all the way to Vancouver to find a developer with a personable demeanor, who I could work with. 

And when I returned to the DMV, I dove head first into the D.C. Drupal community and became a frequent attendee of their monthly meetups at the Stetson’s Bar on U Street. 

What a peculiar place to have a tech discussion. It’s a cowboy bar without much paraphernalia or pretension. There’s pool, darts, and a lasso when you walk in, but no mechanical bull. And the crowd is far from country. It’s mostly filled with yuppies and techies and a splattering of politicos. Rumor is that the Bush twins (Jenna and Barbara) would frequent with their security detail and imbibe on alcohol before they were of age. Also during the Clinton years, Monica Lewinsky would patronize while she was interning at the White House.

The monthly discourses were a great way to sharpen my skills, collaborate, and network. There were always people hiring Drupal developers and if I had a question or issue, Drupalers were always willing to help. It was amazing how in-depth some of the topics were covered and how engrossed we were for a noisy dive bar known for cheap drinks.

Drupal4Gov hosts the annual GovCon held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD each July. This was always a good opportunity to get the latest state of Drupal, learn new features, tricks of the trade, and of course network. There was always something new and exciting on the horizon, but undeniably the most useful sessions were Birds of a Feather — informal gatherings to discuss a certain topic with no pre-planned agenda. And the topics were not limited to Drupal — coding, design, accessibility, DevOps, etc were all broached.

And after a long day of discussions, developers and technologists were eager to get together and socialize at the annual happy hour down the road at Bricksides on Cordelle Ave.

Drupalers strived to arrive during the open bar from 5-7 where any beer on tap was included: from Blue Moon with a juicy orange slice to a malty Guinness in a 20-ounce tulip pint. Thankfully our donor Mobomo had deep pockets and was extremely gracious. There was also plenty of finger foods such as phyllo-wrapped shrimp and chicken drumsticks.

The decor is modern and clean with an expansive exposed brick wall. There is a long wooden bar with plenty of seating and just a fun atmosphere. Brian Vasile, who also owns Grand Central in Adams Morgan designed the bar to hearken back to the Prohibition era. Distillery pipes make up the shelves behind the bar. and Baltimore’s street corner’s famous “Vote against Prohibition” written in faint white on the dining room wall.

“Hey did you hear that Stetson’s is closing?” I asked my friend Nick Grace.

“Oh no, she will be sorely missed..”

After serving as a fixture on U Street for 35 years, Stetson’s would finally be serving it’s last call on Halloween night. Real estate prices downtown were going through the roof and the property was sold to Douglas Development for a couple of million.

“But Bricksides is relatively new and the appetizers are quite a mouth watering,” I replied.

“Yeah, but nobody goes to Stetson’s for the food. It was bland and dry there, but the atmosphere was legendary. The place is full of memories. A lot of great discussions was had there, and a lot of code was debugged over Bud Lite and Blue Moon.”

“That’s right beer and programming go hand-in-hand.”

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Every October, Baltimore would host a camp and in that same year, it was held at the Baltimore University near the Penn Station. The events were organized by Daniel Schiavone of Snake Hill (not the tavern but the web agency).

Just like in D.C., after a full day of sessions, we would mosey over to a nearby pub which happened to be the world-famous Owl Bar in the grandiose Belvedere Hotel.

The Owl Bar was built in 1903 and became an instant hit with locals. But when prohibition started, the owners improvised. They installed plastic owls on top of the cash registers. If the owls eyes were blinking, the taps were free to flow. This meant that the shipment had been received, and the police were nowhere to be found. If the eyes were fixed, then the taps were secured and you shouldn’t mention alcohol. 

The Owl Bar is floor to ceiling brick with mule deer head trophies and stained glass panels with wise lyrics

A wise old owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw the less he spoke.

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?. 

I ordered a Sidecar (brandy, lemon juice, and Cointreau with a sugar rim) and duck tacos. The food was quite bland and the cocktail was nothing to wrong home about, but I came for the nostalgia, not for the nourishment.

The pub is teeming with history. Some folks spoke lots, and some just heard. It’s a great place for friends to get together and strangers to become friends. And once again, there were a lot of side topics discussed, and coding debugged over a pint of Natty Boh.

“So how did you learn Drupal,” Daniel asked.

“I have no programming experience. Everything I know, I learned from Google and YouTube,” I responded.

“Yes, the value of degrees and experience erodes when you can watch a YouTube video and ‘voila’, you’re now an expert.”

“I’m still very much a newbie. That’s why we need experts like you Daniel to make our sites smart, sleek, and professional.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

* * *