Working As A Programmer

I really enjoy working as a programmer, I really do. It is what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school, little did I know that it would take over twenty years to finally start working as one.

When I was in high school I found computers and computer programming endlessly fascinating. We did have a programming class available in school. I really don’t remember what kinds of programs we created in the class but there are a few things that I do remember. We stored everything we did on a singe 5 1/4″ floppy disk which had a storage capacity of a whopping 1.2 MB. Also that we worked on Apple IIe computers with green monochrome monitors. Other than that I don’t remember what we did.

At home I had a Commodore Vic-20. Actually I still have it, it is upstairs but has a bad power switch so it won’t turn on. It hooked up to the TV through an A/V switch on the back of the set. I would write little programs in BASIC. I would spend hours working on a program. I would run it over and over until I was satisfied with it. The unfortunate thing is that I didn’t have a storage device, so I would get it to do what I wanted, run it several times, and then turn it off and it would be gone forever. I have no idea how many hours of my work disappeared into nothing.

In late 2010 I discovered that was eligible to attend college using the unused portion of the GI Bill from my early enlistment in the military. Once it was confirmed that I would be able to attend college I had to decide what I wanted to do. I thought about maybe something medical because there would always be job opportunities but in the end I went with programming. So I went back to school at the age of 40 and received an Associates Degree in Computer Information Technology. The same week I presented my final project I accepted a job offer to be a web developer. It was truly a case of right place at the right time.

I now get to go to work everyday and do something that I thoroughly enjoy. Currently I am working for the Nebraska State Legislature and get to work in the State Capitol, pretty cool.

Pius X High School 2014 Schools of Excellence

The high school my kids go to, Pius X, is included on the Cardinal Newman Society’s  2014 Schools of Excellence. “Honor Roll schools receiving this designation are marked by the integration of Catholic identity throughout all aspects of their programs and excellence in academics.”

The article from the Cardinal Newman Society web site.

The article from the Pius X web site.

Three College Kids

Oldest Child
A senior in college this year.

This fall I will have three kids in college. My first thought is “I’m not old enough to have three kids in college.” Most people think my second thought would be “How can I afford to have three kids in college?” but they are wrong my second thought is “Really? I’m not old enough to have three kids in college.”

I am indeed old enough to have three kids in college. After all, I’m half way trough my 40’s and it has been more than 25 years since I graduated from high school. My oldest child recently celebrated her 21st birthday. I am fully aware of all of this, the thing I don’t understand is when did all of this happen? I have to the tendency to say “A while back” when I talk about things. When I stop and think for a moment, “a while back” sometimes turns out to be 5, 10, 20 years ago. When did all this time go by?

As for the how do we afford three kids in college, a topic for a different post.

Embrace The What?

So, I was quoted  in a blog by a friend who works here in the Turbine Flats building. OK, it isn’t a direct quote, but it’s pretty close and it generally displays my amazing grasp of the English language and proper grammar. The depths of my philosophical thought is pretty breath taking too,

 

For your reading pleasure:

 

Alex Speaks!

 

Amazing huh? Maybe sometime I will write a post about what I think that statement means to me.