I have a diminished desire to code today. I have just completed my seventeenth month of advanced yoga teacher training and become somewhat of an adept at yoga. The time that it will take to become a great coder will simply take me away from my other passions.

Next month I will complete Professional Yoga Therapy training. Seemingly, there will be a void and naturally, one would think that programming should come to mind in filling it, right off, but not so and I am completely ok it.

What I see now is that I am evolving, becoming. And with becoming, there is not a set path necessarily and one does not have to become only one thing. I will learn to code for sure because that path too is so wondrous that I cannot stay away from it either. As fate has it, I will begin taking steps (even if small) towards voice acting.

Spent most of the day preparing to complete the second half of the Code for America application. When I finally opened it, what a breeze! Although not a full fledged coder yet, I am still eligible to participate in the program. My dominant skills for the fellowship are those of a project/product manager. I feel very happy about going in as a PM, knowing that I will be surrounded by seasoned designers, developers, coders, and community organizer throughout the entire time and will have the opportunity to sharpen my coding skills as I help improve the effectiveness of government.

Finally, I have made my way to opening “Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby”. It has been on my list (for a while now) of books to engage as I learn. I initially thought, ohhh what a silly little book, you know with the cartoon characters and drawings – like OMG really! And too, I was so committed to “Learn Ruby the Hard Way”. Take my word on it, it’s really hard – and unnecessarily so.

After completing half of (LRTHW) I figured, there has to be a better way. For me, it was.

Thank goodness for the author Why! I love his approach to teaching and although I have gotten the general concepts of programming in Ruby and using Rails, his style of writing has made my journey a lot more fun and totally memorable.

I am now on chapter five and can not wait to have the book completed!

In closing, I say know your style of learning and find an author that caters to your need.

The Poignant Guide offer...

Checking email, LinkedIn, Twitter
Responding to contacts meet at the Meetup
Composing team blog
Followed up with ATT Developer Program Mgr re: monthly blogging for newsletter
Meeting with coach Dion
Checking voice mail
Reading Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby - An absolutely fabulous book, it is speaking to my mind - keeping me engaged and entertained at the same time. I am looking for more on the author, but there is very little that to be found on online. I will delve deeper later.

I attended the monthly Meetup with Women Who Code. The event was held at the new offices of Thought Works in downtown Atlanta. Shotout completely to ThoughtWorks! I feel like they are my second home….. the place that has taken use newbies in…provided a place for to come, eat, drink, learn, hangout and code. Total Awsome!
My second to initial thought was not to attend. Ideas shrilling about…I need to read more Bundler documentation and write comments, I should work on my RailsGirls app, work the Michael Hartl tutorial. On and on went the whirling of my mind. However, at the last minute, I figured that I would go and do it for the vine. It turned out to be a good one. Tons of useful information and a good number of new faces.

Another wonderful discussion, covering ways to plan a successful job search.

AGENDA
• Eat and greet
• Job Search Tools for Developers

• Debi Creasman on...

Starting to download all of the applications that I will need in order to code - Ruby, Rail, Sublime Text Editor, Apache Open Office and updating the various browsers that I use. Surely, some tidbit did not make the list, but for now, playing it safe as to the software that I download.

Currently, I am on computer number three for this year. The operating system seems to have crashed on the other two and they have been returned to the computer junk store from which they came. I have become attached to each of the computers in a strange way and it is heartbreaking to not have a functioning system for any length of time. So, with his one…I am handling him gently. No downloading of unnecessary applications like the World Cup Sidebar that Mozilla is advertising that let’s you keep up to minute action with what’s happening in the world of soccer.

All apps downloaded and in place…..I am...

It’s me Kai and this is my first blog entry. The purpose of the blog is to record the process of my becoming a web developer. Along the way, I’m sure that I will include a bunch of stuff in between.

As I walk this path to become a coder and I plan to have fun. I dabble in many things (religion, philosophy, yoga, art, technology and science to name a few) and try to do only things that stimulate me cerebrally. For now, I have the coding bug. Or maybe it’s a pseudo bug. At anyrate, I’m off to getting my next fix.

I am self taught, learning through a booked title “Learn Ruby the Hard Way” and using a tutorial by Michael Hartl. The tutorial is very comprehensive and covers most of the processes and tools needed for learning to become a full stack developer.

I am learning to code in a language called Ruby. It’s really popular right now and I chose it over my first choice...