gistfile1.txt

I logged onto my investment portfolio on a Tuesday evening to see losses of almost 500 dollars. Apparently Tesla stock had dipped a significant amount due to some news about a Model S spontaneously setting on fire. I was angry at myself for not watching the news - how could I avoid this again in the future? 

Thats when I started playing with the idea of building a service to notify me anytime news would affect my stock portfolio. I wanted instant alerts only when a measurable price change was going to occur. So a friend and I spent the next three nights after class coding PennyWhale, a passive service that notifies you anytime your stock portfolio is about to see a gain or loss. 

Not only did we come out with a clean, polished, and functional application, I was able to learn more about Ruby on Rails and architecting a "service oriented architecture” in that span of time than I ever had. The challenges we faced from implementing machine learning algorithms to designing a clean user experience were difficult, but worth it. And I especially valued that when 10 of my friends signed up to use it.