lennys April 20, 2024

Beyond the Basic Stuff...

So I just finished working through my newest book, "Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python". Good stuff. It covers a lot of more advanced Python stuff, along with best practices and object-oriented Python stuff. I'm going to go through it again just to make things sink in, after that I'll either log into my DataCamp.com account and work on Python stuff there, or get another book. I have a couple of them picked out but I haven't made up my mind which one to get. One of them is over a thousand pages long (yikes!). This is all still a means-to-an-end, since I want to start working with Ansible eventually. I've also been going over my old CCNA book trying to refresh my memory on working with Cisco routers and switches. It's a little frustrating going through that material and realizing how rusty I am, and how much I have to do still to be proficient. On top of that I want to work through another book I have that's about Mikrotik and RouterOS. Since I have a Mikrotik router that's the backbone of my entire setup it would behoove me to learn how to use it better, so I don't have to bug my coworkers with basic stuff when I run into an issue. I have a long way to go. On a side note, I got some work done on my bicycle last weekend and I'm planning on taking it for a ride tomorrow. It'll be the first time I've ridden it in a few months, and since I want to start getting more exercise I (hopefully) will be riding it more often. The weather in the Bay Area is perfect right now so it should be an enjoyable experience. Today is a gym day so I won't be riding today, instead I'll be pumping some iron. Earlier this week I tweaked a muscle in my left arm so I'll have to take it easy a little bit. It's not hurting right now and I want to keep it that way. If I can stop eating like a pig I might actually lose a few pounds this year, but boy it's difficult to hold back when I eat. I've always had a big appetite, which doesn't work in my favor most of the time. Plus I don't regularly eat my vegetables like I should, so losing the padding I have around my waist is a slow process. I have some vacation time scheduled for the middle of May which I'm looking forward to. I'll be driving to Oregon, and this will be the first "big" road trip in my truck. I don't anticipate any issues, so it should be a fun drive. I'm going to take my bike with me, and if the weather is warm enough we might go kayaking on the river there in Eugene. Should be a fun, relaxing trip out of town, and it'll be good to see Mom and Doug again. I'm still looking for a good business idea. I've read some business books over the years about "how to sell", but the part I'm stuck on is "what" to sell. I've got a fair amount of computer networking experience under my belt, but I haven't yet figured out how to leverage that into a profitable business. The best thing I've come up with so far would be to sell my services racking servers, setting them up, doing the networking stuff etc. but that would conflict with my daytime job so I can't really pull the trigger on that yet. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

lennys April 05, 2024

Learning Log

So I just completed the Python Crash Course book. The last few chapters covered building a site called "Learning Log", which lets you setup an account, log into it, add a topic you're learning about, and type in a brief summary of what you have learned. It uses Bootstrap to make it look pretty. It was a good refresher on working with Django. I didn't do the deployment, because Heroku no longer has a free tier in their server packages. But that's okay, because I'm looking into hosting it on my own server. I'd like to incorporate it into this blog, but I don't yet know how to host multiple Django projects under one domain name. It's going to take some experimenting to figure that out. For the moment, I'm moving on to another Python book, named "Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python". I haven't even cracked this book open yet, so I can't say much about it yet, but based on the reviews I read on Amazon it sounds like a good next step for me to take.

lennys March 25, 2024

Python Crash Course, and taxes...

I finished up the "Automate" book, and am now working my way through "Python Crash Course" again. I read through this book and worked on the code a couple of years ago, but I've found that I need a refresher on working with Python. So the practice helps. I'll probably be working my way through this book for another week, then I'll have to move on to something else. I have an active datacamp.com subscription, and they have plenty of Python lessons for me to work through so I might go that route and not get another book for a while. But we will see how it goes. I'm doing this so that when I eventually install Ansible on my Cisco gear, I'll have a better idea of how it all works. But that's a ways down the road. In other news, well there isn't much news. I've just been going through the regular work-week routine. I'll be going to the gym again today after work, but other than that I don't have anything planned for the next few days except for an appointment with H&R Block to get my taxes done. I'd rather do it myself, but since I sold some investments this year and I'm not savvy with how that affects my tax burden, I'm deferring to the experts and will begrudgingly accept their exorbitant prices. They'll take their cut out of my tax return, so I'm not out-of-pocket on this, but I'd still rather keep my money. Paying taxes is like paying for insurance, you don't want to do it but it's necessary if you want to live in this society without any issues. I'm still looking for business ideas. Last month I read a book about starting up a business, and while it had some good tips in there I'm still stuck when it comes to what I'll actually sell. It'd be easier if I just wanted to open a bait shop or some other kind of brick-and-mortar store, but I've learned that I'm more of a "passive income" kind of person. I'm not good with marketing in general, so the idea of hustling to get my name out there is daunting. If I ever get something off the ground I'll have to pay someone else to do the marketing and bookkeeping. I have a bad habit of wanting to do EVERYTHING myself, because I generally don't trust other people. I'll have to find a way to get over that if I want this to go anywhere someday.

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