public function verify($username, $password)
 {
     $credentials = ['username' => $username, 'password' => $password];
     $person = new Person();
     $resp = $person->getUsername($credentials['username']);
     if (!empty($resp)) {
         if (\Hash::check($credentials['password'], $resp['password'])) {
             $auth = true;
         } else {
             //check for old hashing
             if (md5($credentials['password']) == $resp['password']) {
                 //convert old pass to new hashing
                 $resp['password'] = bcrypt($credentials['password']);
                 $id = my_encode($resp['id']);
                 $person->update($id, $resp);
                 $auth = true;
             } else {
                 $auth = false;
             }
         }
     } else {
         //invalid user
         $auth = false;
     }
     if ($auth) {
         $result = $person->respondWithItem($resp, new UserTransformer());
         session()->put('user', $result);
         return my_decode($resp['id']);
     }
     return false;
 }