At the start of the quarter, the team made a goal to launch an alpha version of the site before winter break. Little did we know that our goal would be complicated by the creation of a new atom, a team of high schoolers addicted to World of Warcraft, and a hernia. The road to alpha can best be described through pictures.

9PM, Friday, December 7: Blackout at Stanford, most likely from a late night experiment at the Linear Accelerator. Stan decides to take a nap and a visitor navigates the halls of Old Union with LEDs strapped to a beanie.

Without the ability to program, I decide to visit some team members and finish up some paperwork. David reads through his contract, while Laura offers up a flashlight and provides sound legal advice.

3AM, December 9, 2007: Code starts to get hazy and concentration starts to diminish. Wifi goes down and a new P2P network is created by a group of neighboring teenagers playing WOW: “DOTAONTHISONELOLZ” (DOTA stands for defense of the ancients, for those of you WOW newbs). Stan starts to get loopy. Chris inserts a small comment into his code, “I hate you Stan.”

3PM, December 9, 2007: Alpha is demoed to a group of awesome friends from Cal who have graciously volunteered to give us feedback and input.

People cheer (maybe because of the food).

December 10, 2007: Matt returns with a lengthy beard after recovery from a hernia. The team is now back at full strength.

Alpha invites are now on the way and we look forward to everyone’s feedback!

I’ll leave the more detailed announcement to Steven’s elusive blog post, but I just wanted to let the world know that Alpha is officially out!