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Don’t know if it’s the gym or the regular work beat, but I seem to be waking up later and later everyday. I don’t know what to do about this. I feel a little anxious about not having enough hours in the day. Python Why use comprehensions? Because it reads better. Like I advice the young ones in DPGLUG on writing. Write short, choppy sentences. They read better. With my problem sets … I should stop trying to generalise in advance and solve the specific problem first. Read stuff carefully. Don’t do more than is necessary Solutions take time to understand too. Budget the time Linux Mint Nemo, the file browser in Linux Mint always opens the home directory, when I click on it and there’s no apparent way to change it to a preferred directory. I want it to always open Downloads A little bit of web spelunking led to an acceptable work-around. Right click the main menu button Click Menu => Open the menu editor => Accessories Then click Files in the items from the right and click Properties further right Change the command form nemo %U to nemo Downloads And that does it! Update 2023-02-09: Does not work. Will look for some other approach. Right now, with the workaround it opens a Downloads window alongside any other folder I click on 😂 Hugo Added a plain, hamburger menu to this blog, using Aditya’s helpful instructions over on the PaperMod Discord. With all the extra nav items, I’ve added to the header the menu would overflow on my iPhone (and probably on other folks’ phones too). So if this page scooches narrow enough, it will change the links on top to a plain menu. ...

Yesterday, took a lot out of me. Took it easy today. Python Got today’s assignment done well in time; and then went out looking for better ways to write it over again. Writing code is getting exciting now. Just like how I learnt to write in my teens. Write. And then go figure out, how I’d do it better. ...

A week in! Woohoo! Python Exercised with dictionaries today. Today was the first time, I could not solve my assignment, no matter what I tried. Lessons learnt: Stick to a schedule and do hard stops, since Python is only a small part of what I want to learn Learn to quit sooner. I’m like a dog with a bone, when it comes to problems. This approach may have helped me in the past, but it hinders me a lot, when writing code. Urdu Did the ‘re’ group of letters Exercised with the ‘re’ and ‘daal’ groups I’m learning the alphabet, using the wonderful Aamozish website, in case you folks have been confused about what I was doing with the language. Webdev Watched Webhooks for Beginners Sooner or later, I want to customise my dinky little Huginn instance to do a lot more. This’ll come in handy then. Physical Fitness Today was the first day, gym felt a wee bit normal. Hope this positive phase continues … Thoughts I seem to have got into a good work rhythm. Next step seems to prioritise my work and do more of what is needed, to get me a devops job. Feedback on this post? Mail me at feedback@janusworx.com P.S. Subscribe to my mailing list! Forward these posts and letters to your friends and get them to subscribe! P.P.S. Feed my insatiable reading habit. ...

Long day today1. I thought I got nothing much done, until I wrote this post. So, more incentive to keep writing these. Python Learning about how to make keyword arguments stick. And how to think about structuring programs Devops Deep dive into how to add prow job listings to the dashboard and viceversa; how to go about looking for the job from the dashboard Urdu / French Lots of practice with vowels and the ‘jiim’ group of letters. Since I know Hindi, Urdu progress is much, much, much faster than French. I think that is because, I am forcing my English grammar / vocabulary on another Romance language that has Germanic influences. This is leading to a lot of cognitive dissonance and slow progress. Much of my Urdu vocabulary comes from Hindi, which I learnt as a kid, and I definitely did not go looking for the “right” way to speak it. Better to just do French similarly as well. While I cannot do immersion, I can do what I want to do with French. Begin reading what I want to. Whether I understand it or not. I realise this will take me a lot longer than Urdu or Hindi, but that’s ok. Émilie du Châtelet, Montaigne and Dumas are not going anywhere, and neither am I :) My frame of learning now, after doing these two languages, as well as the rest of the stuff I am doing, is to just begin doing2. And figure out / learn the rules, the grammar, the conventions as you go. Physical Activity They call it chest and arm day. I presume, the exercises are meant to strengthen them. Right now, it’s just a stiff, painful mess. I cannot wait for this phase to be over. Books / Reading Finished reading, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. It’s a hauntingly, beautiful book. A spiritual successor to the Little Prince and a Lindy book for sure. Feedback on this post? Mail me at feedback@janusworx.com P.S. Subscribe to my mailing list! Forward these posts and letters to your friends and get them to subscribe! P.P.S. Feed my insatiable reading habit. ...

This post was first sent to my newsletter on January 19, 2023. You really ought to subscribe :) Art by Ricardo Siri Some books are toolkits you take up to fix things, from the most practical to the most mysterious, from your house to your heart, or to make things, from cakes to ships. Some books are wings. Some are horses that run away with you. Some are parties to which you are invited full of friends who are there even when you have no friends. In some books you meet one remarkable person; in others a whole group or even a culture. Some books are medicine, bitter but clarifying. Some books are puzzles, mazes, tangles, jungles. Some long books are journeys, and at the end you are not the same person you were at the beginning. Some are handheld lights you can shine on almost anything. ...

Been knocked down a little too much over the past few months. This is me, getting up from my knees. Doing some things daily to learn. To give myself grace To be kind to my self. Python Morsels Getting back into the swing of writing code. Today was basically just looking at a blank screen and wondering why nothing would come out. ...