Under Construction!

I'm editing a few things today - you may see some pretty crazy layouts for a bit. Here's a picture of Soot as Santa as compensation. He is so cute!! ...

November GUSH! List

Hey friends! Its been almost a month!  Eep!  This is going to be more of a GUSH! list of amazingness, so here goes: If you still haven't checked out Codewars I don't know what you are doing in life.  Web Dev training is going awesome!!  I'm about 50% done with Treehouse's...

Making vs Taking the Time to Code

Hello friends! I have to admit my fervor for coding has been sparked anew!  It may be the cold weather snap in Minnesota has pushed me indoors or perhaps the mental check on the difference between "making" and "taking" time. Lately, I've been trying to "make" the time to code.  However,...

There was never a good war...except CodeWars!

Hello friends! Its been a crazy fall so far.  For those of you who don't know, I have been working with the indie game Imagine Me from KinifiGames and its launch for the Nintendo Wii U.  Paired with this launch, there will be a Mac, PC, and Linux version of the game.  I was originally...

Projects Galore!

I've been super busy getting a little project started and haven't had too much time dedicated to learning Ruby or JavaScript.  That little project is entitled Imagine Me.  I'm working with a small team as they develop the adventure platfomer puzzler for the Nintendo Wii U. :)  My job...

Live Coding

Well, I just finished my very first live code challenge. It was... not what I expected.  I'm sort of disappointed.   I've worked through a lot of problems online recently and one of them happened to be almost identical to the one I did for my code challenge.  I really wanted to see how I've been progressing with learning Ruby, so I kind of have mixed emotions.  I'm excited I knew...

el·o·quent

The past week has been a lot more reading than grinding through lessons.  I've been working through the book Eloquent Ruby.  I absolutely love it!  Eloquent Ruby, by Russ Olsen, is by no means a textbook.  It is written with a "casual conversation" tone, but also very applicable...

Raising, Exception, Rescue

Although I took a week off, don't think I'm done with Ruby!  I'm continuing on the RubyMonk: Ascent book.  As of late I've been learning about exceptions, how to raise them, and begin - rescue - end.  These are easy to learn but difficult for me to put into a concept.  Thankfully,...

Projects in Ruby

Hello!  Thought I had forgotten about ya?  Not even!  I'm really excited to say I've finished my Prep Work for AppAcademy!  While I took a short break from the RubyMonk: Ascent book, I've started that back up today and will now be working through the additional Ruby projects on the...

Like Pig Latin and Street Lights

Well everyone I finally finished some Test Driven Development exercises tonight.  I did 14 in total.  They were not in any particular "challenge level" order but that may be depended on what areas I (vs you) consider challenging.  The challenges I was using are publicly available on GitHub...

Get it Set right

I must admit I am so much more a fan of the RubyMonk: Ascent book.  Its like they new exactly what I was struggling with before and added a little extra explanation for me.  I'm working on the last of my App Academy PrepWork problems today and it has been a huge help! Another helpful...

Will you walk with me, Grasshopper?

While I'm working on finishing up my Prep Work for the App Academy, I've started on the RubyMonk Primer: Ascent (the first Intermediate level).  I've found it very helpful as it re-iterates the last lesson in RubyMonk (I had previously commented it went too fast).  Its nice to go a bit deeper...

Birthday Codes

Hello!  While I'm finishing up Ruby in 100 Minutes, I thought I'd take a second to say 'Thank you!' to the devs at Google who have rigged my google page to wish me a Happy Birthday!  Thank you so much for little moments like these that make my day!  Cheers, to some of the finest devs...

Up and Running!!

As of today, I am up and running with all the tools available to me for using Ruby!!  I have my IRB working, SublimeText 3, GitHub, and GitHub for Windows all working together and running smoothly.  It did take a bit, as I had to revert to Ruby 1.9.3 due to a bug with Windows and Ruby. Its...

End of Monk

Happy Saturday!! Well... sorta, I have to work most of today, but I'm getting a little coding in this morning.  This week I finished the RubyMonk lessons and problems.  A few reflections: i) RubyMonk is an excellent resource and was a great follow up to Codecademy.  ii) From my experience,...

It's a good day!

Today is a good day!  I've been working on the problem set for the RubyMonk Primer.  Now this might not seem like such a big deal to you, but I have been working on refactoring my solution before I hit 'Run.'  After I get a working solution, I've found it helpful to see the author's...

RubyMonk: More lessons in Ruby

Hello!  Good news!! I passed my code challenge!!  This was their response: After reviewing your application, we think you might be a good fit.  One thing we did notice from your coding test is that you may not have a lot of prior experience programming; many of the students we have...

NEW! Theme

I'm working on upgrading this theme :)  I'm making changes to an existing template so please bare with me as I figure this out.  It looks like all the previous photos will be skewed till I go back and edit them.  Until then, enjoy this nice {placekitten} image!  Mew! ...

Submitted.

Well, I've done it. I completed the Ruby track on Codecademy.  I've completed over 500 lessons and successfully submitted my code challenge to AppAcademy.  Today I'm starting a track titled, "How to use APIs with Ruby."  From there I'll swing over to the HTML track and then back to JavaScript.  My schedule has been ridiculously crazy working two jobs.  Its been hard to put...

Out of Frustration...

This post is more about my normal life than coding.  Long story short, I have strep, suppose to work at 10, pharmacy doesn't open till 9, no number to reach work before "open", contagious for 24 hours.  I sent an electronic time off request to let them know.... not sure what else to ...

Cruising along!

Its been a few days since I've posted, but don't worry! I've been on track with my Ruby lessons!  I did miss one day (Friday) but otherwise I've been doing at least one exercise every day since the wedding!  I've really been plugging away at hashes and the methods associated with them.  Today...

Hash.ing it out

Hashing it out... get it? Hash?  Bad pun I know, but I *am* learning how to manipulate Hashes in Ruby! Oddly enough, or maybe not so much, the application of manipulating Hashes is creating a Histogram.  :D  Talk about trailing my old profession into my new!  It was a pleasant surprise and made it fun to learn!  I really like the course for Ruby more than the course for JavaScript....

Back to Coding!

Had a bit of a break from the blog and coding as we wrapped up the wedding planning.  My lovely fiance and I were married on Saturday at a beautiful park right on the river.  The weather was perfect, the food great, and the friends and family amazing!  We are so lucky!! Now, back to Ruby!!...

The color Red

Saturday night I received my code challenge from App Academy!  It's not a JavaScript challenge and so I'll be setting aside JS for a couple days and learning a new language.  I'm not sure if I'm allow to say which language specifically ,  but let me just say the ts really weird to me!  On a different note,  I'm still plugging away on my Codecademy lessons and really loving...

Coding, Wedding, Coding, App Academy!!

My day has been a bit crazy!  I did some coding this morning, worked on some wedding stuff, did a bit more coding... tried to read my book but got distracted by some adorable kittens (they are sleeping now), and then went back to some more coding! :D Today I'm practicing more on inheritance.  Things are looking better :D I can do use the proper syntax without peeking at a previous lesson....

An Instanceof learning ...see what I did there??

Hello!  Well today was mostly filled with wedding planning stuff, but I *did* manage to squeeze in some time to read my book (thanks again WonderS!!) and do a bit more on Codecademy.  Today I learned the JavaScript operator 'Instanceof '  The syntax goes: object instanceof constructor Basically it is used as a test to see if the object you have created is truly an instance of a prior...

Teachers and Tools

Over the weekend I was still really struggling with the Blackjack game.  I was soooo frustrated because 1) it was working and 2) I didn't know why.  What I *did* know was my lil variable "pleasework" was a necessity..  and that without it my life was in ruins. Enter a genius programmer,...

Honest Methods

So, I have to be a bit honest, yesterday I showed you a snipet of code from the Coderbyte challenge I had been working on.  In truth it was because my Blackjack project on Codecademy was failing hardcore.  Unfortunately, even though it wasn't working the Codecademy website thought I had done it correctly and was giving me the green go ahead! I've boiled it down to I need to review methods...

Coding continued!

Its been a couple of days but I haven't given up! :D  I have a six day streak on Codecademy and have passed 7 JavaScript code challenges on the Coderbyte.  I'm also the newest CSA at BestBuy and am still picking up shifts at Buca.  Overall things are going great!  Here's a snipet...

One down, fun to come! (Missed Post from 06/20/13)

Day One is over :) The first part was a bit rough as the weight of everything that had happened set in, but as the night went on, things started to get lighter, smoother, and yes, even fun!  Turns out I really am getting a fresh start!  Things are looking up and the little projects I've started are really getting going! We are going to be okay! On a different note: Our son Soot (feline)...

Starting fresh...

Well! There certainly have been quite a few changes in our household has of late!  In response, I'm starting fresh. No expectations. No pre-defined boundries. Just my love of life, Christopher, and our two beautiful kittens.  With so many new things bubbling in the pot, I've decided to start a real blog!  My kittenlif.tumblr.com will still continue as the constant photo stream of the...