This book was a mixed bag. It was worth listening to, but it drove me bonkers at times, primarily with its unprofessionalism.

I read some reviews early on that said things like, \”Useless, only has common sense advice.\” Um, if that were true, that\’s hardly a major offense. But it\’s also ridiculous. There were plenty of non-traditional/unpopular ideas in the book.

The parts of this book that I found most helpful were on getting into software development or transitioning into it from a related position. I\’m a test engineer, and it seems that many in my position want to make this change. This book reinforced that all the more. My perception has long been that testers are second-class to software engineers. I think this makes sense, but it\’s not particularly cool when you\’re a tester. That said, it was nice that the book made it clear that this can be a good route into software development, and gave some helpful ideas for getting there that I will doubtless revisit.

The book recommendations seem solid.

The advice about a blog seems…tenuous. On the one hand, I already had this blog and have blogged off and on for years. I am probably the type to continue with that and try to make something of it. On the other, I don\’t think every programmer should be (and in many respects, I don\’t think Sonmez thought that either.

One big issue I had with the book was the motivational speaker aspects. I get the impression that John was transitioning to this life during the book, and it came out strongly more in some sections than in other. It kind of had an atheist irritating-parts-of-Dave Ramsey feel to it to me. I don\’t know much about Tony Robbins, but my guess is that he\’s much like this. It grates on my soul. I really don\’t like it. Much of it has the feel like it really doesn\’t matter what you do as long as you have this weird sort of self-confidence/reliance that many will take to mean you\’re a jerk. It seemed very out of place in a career guide for software engineers. Sure, many engineers I\’ve worked with could probably benefit from understanding negotiation, getting along with people, and having more confidence. But coming across as a bad used car salesman would be counterproductive. And yes, I think many will rightly think you\’re just being a jerk.

The biggest issue I had was related to the previous, but probably a little different. What\’s with throwing the f-word around like an adolescent schoolboy? Does it make you feel tough to talk like Mom\’s not around? Grow up. Be professional. It felt very out-of-place, unbecoming, distracting, and unnecessary.

Finally, I wasn\’t into the \”added value\” comments from John in the audio version were pretty useless. I listen to audio books rather than podcasts in part because I don\’t like bothering with unedited chitchat. Adding in a bunch of filler was largely unhelpful. Editors exist for a reason. Use them.

All of that said, I really would recommend this book for an aspiring software engineer/developer. It was worth listening to, even with its warts.

I\’ve got two drafts related to this already. One is called something like, \”I\”ve decided to be a programmer!1!!\” The other \”Linux programmer.\”

So yes, I\’ve basically decided to pursue programming/software engineering, but it\’s not that simple.

1. Linux hates me.
   1. On my main laptop, it overheats.
   2. On my Chromebook, performance in Linux (GalliumOS) is lame. And the touchpad stops working without cause.
   3. I\’m struggling to get a Python IDE to work with the Python version I want (3.7).
   4. Le sigh.
2. Intellectually, I know that going to Windows and making a working app there first makes sense. BUT I DON\”T WANT TO!
   1. No really, I don\’t want to.

Anyway, Gallium is working mostly, though the performance isn\’t stellar. It\’s good enough to start trying something. Maybe. There\’s definitely part of me that just wants to get Ubuntu/Xubuntu working on my Thinkpad or Chromebook so I can be settled with something my work uses. But that goal might be a bit foolhardy.

There. That\’s enough to publish for now. I\’m working on programming. So help me!

I\’m trying. Really, I am. But it\’s like it\’s fighting me. I tried a bunch of stuff to get my graphics card to quit toasting my leg (laptop) in Xubuntu 19.04, and somehow utterly broke apt. Blah.

After trying various things to fix it, I\’m punting. Trying 18.04 again.

Gotta love it when your IDE or language tells you how to do hello world. Seems kind of pathetic, but there it is:

I don\’t rightly know if this is the IDE (Spyder) or Python itself doing it, but it\’s still funny.

I have a love-hate relationship with Linux. Or maybe hate-love. Well, probably love-hate. Yeah. It\’s complicated.

On the one hand, I \”use\” Linux daily a lot. My cell phone runs Android–a variant of Linux. The primary product I work on for my company runs a version of Linux. Linux is everywhere.

But when I try to run it myself I hate life. I\’m on it at the moment, Xubuntu 18.04. But it\’s always painful. Always.

The mouse was the pain point today. And the display driver. But the mouse was the catastrophic problem. I installed a driver for it, rebooted, and my keyboard quit working in Xubuntu. That was a new one on me. Google rescued me, but still, it was a pain. And the mouse behavior is still very lame.

Not sure what to think. There\’s a part of me that feels like freedom is at hand. I\’ve learned to be content in my job, I\’ve learned to work hard at it (I think), and I can see how I\’m valuable at it in many ways. But reading about entrepreneurship again makes me wistful. There\’s definitely a part of me that would love to have my own business.

Can I make it happen? I don\’t know. I\’m going to think about it. There you go.

Ideas that come to mind: I\’m not disclosing.

It was, indeed, a good week.

Finished 6 lessons of math.
Was productive at work.
Got taxes filed.
Fixed leaking tub.
Submitted kids\’ financial application for school.
Avoided time-wasters for the most part.

First, why isn\’t \”strategizing\” a word? COME ON? I can guarantee it\’s on 60% of LinkedIn profiles. Then again… Anyway, moving on….

A habit I\’ve gotten into (and kept up, mostly), is sending my wife a list of goals for each month. It\’s more doable than saying \”I\’m gonna do this crazy thing for a year.\” This month, I decided to try something a little different. I\’ve struggled with wasting time on the Internet (shock!). Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, news sites, even good ol\’ Wikipedia. And most of the time wasting is done on my phone or my Chromebook. Rather than saying, \”None of this stuff at all,\” which is kind of like saying \”No alcohol ever,\” I decided to try this: Fun sites *only* on my home desktop computer. Not on my phone, not on my work computer, not on this here Chromebook. It\’s been surprisingly effective already. Yesterday, a Saturday, I finished my flashcards on my phone. Then I read some of a book I\’ve been wanting to read on my Kindle instead of wasting 1 hour on Facebook. But I\’ve not abandoned Facebook or Twitter entirely; I\’ve gone on each a few times Friday, yesterday, and today. But way less than normal.

Anyway, Mark Zuckerberg would probably not approve, but it\’s using his tool/toy in a space more appropriate to its actual usefulness. So far, I like it. I hope I will keep it up.

The baby is here, Christmas is over now, the new year is upon us, we seem to be getting over whatever sickness has ailed us, and I have a car that I will probably keep for a long time again. Time to get back at it.

Had my first run in a while today. Well, I guess I had one about 1.5 weeks ago, but somehow this one felt more real. And more necessary.

First lesson of math finished since December 20th today. Yesterday, I cracked the book for the first time in, well, since then, but I only did one question before getting distracted. Today, I made myself go downstairs to the lunchroom. Doing so allowed me to finish the 6 problems left in the lesson. Haha. Baby steps. Somehow going somewhere else helps. I felt inept and stupid trying to remember stuff from less than a month ago, but still, I made progress.

Tomorrow is my last day of \”freedom\” regarding alcohol. I haven\’t set any goals regarding it, so I\’ve basically been doing whatever I want (within reason). Friday is the start of a new \”week\” as far as how I track alcohol consumption. Needs to happen. Don\’t want to, but I don\’t want to drink more than I should every day for the rest of my life.

I also had a rather productive day at work. It felt good. It feels like things are slowly getting back to normal.

So, apparently you can mess up access to Gallium OS by simply hitting the space key at the bootup screen. Oops. I had no idea. I\’m guessing that I did or maybe one of my kids did.

Anyway, it makes it so that you can\’t get back into it. I did after a bit of mucking around and wanted to write down my steps as best as I can recall.

1. Get back into Developer Mode.
2. Open a terminal (control shift T, I believe).
3. Your root password won\’t work here. You\’ve got to get to another shell. Hit control alt forward arrow (what would be F2).
4. There, enter \”root\” and whatever password you set previously.
5. Then enable legacy boot again: sudo crossystem dev_boot_legacy=1

That should be it. You should be able to reboot and do the control L shortcut to get back into Gallium.