GRPUG at The Garage in Zeeland – Recap

The Grand Rapids Python Users Group had the opportunity to meet outside of our usual academic location at Calvin College when the winsome Aaron Schaap of ElevatorUp invited us to partake of their coworking facility in Zeeland known as ‘The Garage’. Due to our growing Holland/Zeeland constituency, we welcomed their invitation and used a Doodle poll to help us set a date to try out these fancy new digs. Since the new meeting place is about half an hour from downtown Grand Rapids, many of our usual members took it upon themselves to arrange a car pool.

We had a bit of trouble finding the appropriate entrance to the the Colonial Clock Building – the historic former factory which houses ‘The Garage’ – but once we were inside we were impressed by the spacious and well-furnished facility. The hallways were lined with vintage clocks of all styles and sizes which spawned a pleasing dissonance of chimes every quarter hour. Creaky wooden floors and exposed, unfinished beams complemented the otherwise modern decor, while enormous steel fire doors left over from the factory’s original purpose seemed ready to slide shut at a moment’s notice.

I was given a quick tour of the offices by Mr. Schaap himself, who left shortly afterwards for a romantic rendezvous with his spouse. Due to the facility’s flexibility of purpose, we easily re-configured the room’s furniture and fixtures to better suit our group as members arrived. Our meeting commenced with the usual amount of presentation mixed with helpful suggestions and off-topic banter we’ve come to enjoy.

I showed the early stages of an XML-RPC interface I plan to put atop some aged databases so that I can transition to a new infrastructure. The other members of the group generously provided me with advice and insights from their years of coding similar projects.

The prolific Dave Brondsema demonstrated the beginnings of a data diff project he is working on. Many of the meeting attendees were interested in the utility and thought they would find it useful in their own endeavours.

After the meeting, we all headed down to The New Holland Brewing Company for dinner and drinks. Despite the establishment’s favourable distinction, many of us had not been there before. New Holland easily accommodated our group and it was quiet enough to converse amongst ourselves without yelling. They had a variety of uniquely interesting beers and foods on their menu, and many of us experimented with them. Though the service was slow, I think everyone enjoyed their choices.

After experiencing the casually urbane meeting venue and the high quality food and drink nearby, I think we will be having more gatherings at The Garage. If they’ll have us, of course.