Little Things Make It All Happen

There is a lot that goes into making any active organization work.

Reglue is no different.  From picking up and diagnosing donated computers to taking care of vehicles, coordinating volunteers and making sure computers get into the hands that need them, sometimes the little things can slip below the horizon.

Little things like getting some signage for the building.

While HeliOS still operates as the Free Software educational branch of our effort, Reglue now carries the main load.  But you wouldn't know it by looking at our building.


Nowhere can you see anything that lets you know that you are at Reglue.

As of last week anyway.

Jeff Walsh is a Senior Technology Security Specialist with AT&T and a Dad to two young boys, Jake - 10 and Ryan - 8.  Jeff grew up with a father that taught him the importance of working with his hands.  He would spend hours with his dad, learning about the mechanics of electrical work, fixing and painting things, figuring out how things work, and more importantly, why they don't.....

Things that can create a lifetime of security,

Jeff is passing along the same knowledge and work ethic to his boys, knowing that in an uncertain economy, having mechanical and maintenance skills can make you a survivor.

Now in contrast, you have guys like me.  I thought a Carpenter was one member of a singing duo.  To me, electrical work and AC theory is voodoo, black magic that dwells behind plugin wall sockets.

Tesla wasn't a genius, he was a wizard.

I'm the guy that cuts a board three times just to find out it's still too short.  I'm the guy that Googles "Please-come-help-me-fix-the-thing-I-was-trying-to-fix-and-screwed-it-up-so-bad-I'll-pay-you-money-to-fix-it."

Yeah, I'm that guy.

So a while back, Jeff Walsh emailed me and asked if he could be of assistance.  Knowing we would need some kind of signage for Reglue, Jeff offered to make the vinyl application for our front door.

One of those little things we tend to put off until the big things are finished.

The big things seemingly are never finished, so the little things just get pushed farther down the list until you forget about them completely.

Jeff asked me to send him graphics and the wording for the door sign and he would send me the finished product when it was done.

And no...Jeff doesn't do this for a living...it's just one of those things he learned to do as a son sitting on the knee of his Dad.  To Jeff, making vinyl appliques is just a hobby, to Reglue, it was a couple hundred bucks that we didn't have for a door sign.

Once they arrived, we had the task of getting the vinyl applied.  Easy enough, right? 

No....remember, I'm that guy.  I couldn't apply vinyl lettering and graphics ever...I'm lucky to get the box open without cutting myself.

After waiting three weeks for a guy to come out from Austin and put the sign on the door, I got tired of calls not being returned and approached a local guy.  Jayson Ballard has been a volunteer for our program for a couple of years.  He told me that his mom had experience doing this sort of work so they came by the next day and between the two of them, they got the job done perfectly.

So yeah...the big things?  It feels good to accomplish them, but the little things...the things that snap you wide awake at 2 AM...the little things that fester in your mind like a sore.

It's those little things that are important.  But more important are the people that come together to make them happen.

All-Righty Then...