ashandericWow, so where do we start?  We’re Eric and Ashley.  We are into a lot of different things, including software development, visual art, music composition, writing, electronic synthesis, reading, and hacking electronics to do interesting things.

Registree is a project Eric started several years ago at the behest of his family–who, being very into gift giving but also being very practical, were tired of the endless requests for Christmas lists each holiday season.  Furthermore, the discussion of who’s buying what for whom became tiresome.

Back in 2001, Eric installed a small open-source gift tracking web application for his family.  It was nice, but extremely basic.  We needed something more!  So many, many late nights later, Registree was born.  Of course, being the nightowls that we are, we spent those nights listening to the most excellent Xmas in Frisko radio station.  We’re huge fans of SomaFM anyhow, so the Xmas in Frisko station has become the unofficial soundtrack to Registree. :)

During the Autumn of 2008, Eric and Ashley put all the requests Registree had received from early users, set up a SCRUM board (like this one) to track it all, and got to work.  Ashley worked to make the aesthetic clean and simple, while Eric wrote the code. We launched version 2.0 soon after.

A few shout-outs to those who have helped us in this endeavor:

  • As mentioned, SomaFM kept us company through a lot of those late nights.  We can’t decide on our favorite song, but the Shirley Q. Liquor 12 Days of Kwanzaa is definitely in the running.
  • Jody Hunt at Design Factor who designed our version 1.0 HTML template.  He’s also the one behind our great logo.  We highly recommend him for identity packages and graphic design services.
  • Cafe Zona Rosa, a great little coffeehouse in Pasadena, CA kept us going while working remotely.  And their Latin bands were fantastic added ambiance.  Zona Rosa also happens to be where Ashley and Eric had their first date, so it’s super special to us anyway!
  • Eric’s family was extremely helpful in being beta testers, usability advice givers, and general cheerleading and encouragement.  They are a constant stream of great ideas and suggestions, and we’re so glad they’ve helped us as much as they have.

So that’s a bit about us.  We welcome you and hope to see you around!

All the Best-

Eric and Ashley