5 Weeks Alone: Genes, Cats, and Code

Genes, Cats, and Code Featured Image

I hate to keep a tally going, but it sure does feel good being the last one standing after five weeks. I won’t rub it in though. I never expected the old site to live on its own. At any rate, let’s talk genes, cats, and code.

This past week has featured all sorts of fun stuff behind the scenes. I was even able to sneak a post in there on my genealogy journey. How bout that?!

Table of Contents

Java Review Material

If you’ve had a chance to make it all the way to my latest tutorial then you’ll know it’s still a work in progress. At this point, I have a tutorial hosted here and review material on GitHubOpens in a new tab.. The material is a bit different than the rest of the tutorials. It offers up a a project which I’m piloting as a potential option for the upcoming shop, so let me know if you like it!

Likewise, I added some material to the readability tutorial. It’s basically just a poorly formatted file that needs to be cleaned up. I’m actually pretty excited about this one. It’s a lesson that I wish was taught more explicitly while I was in college. Algorithms are fun, but proper coding style is probably 10 times more important. After all, you spend way more time reading code than writing it.

Genealogy

Also, if you’ve been keeping up with the site then you’ve probably seen my genealogy post (see below). It’s not exactly coding related, but I figured I’d write about it anyway. It was just going to make its way into an update, but then someone sparked a debate with me over it. I decided to address the issue in a post then tie it back to something coding related: the internet. If that sounds interesting, take a look!

Also, you get to see my genes! I was pretty excited about that. I finally got a bit of a breakdown of where my ancestors might of come from based on my DNA. The breakdown isn’t that exciting. Turns out I’m just generic white male (surprise, surprise!), but I figured the genes research along the way was interesting nonetheless.

New Kitten

Again, not exactly coding related, but I got a new cat. Rather, Morgan got herself a cat, so now we have two. It’s only been a handful of days, and they’re already interacting well. For those who care, my cat is named Reina. She’s solid gray and timid, but she loves to go outside on our balcony. You might recall seeing her in my PC build article. I have a picture of her as my mouse pad.

A Mouse Pad with a Picture of Reina on it

The new kitten is an orange tabby. Morgan has decided to call her Mandy after Charmander. Mandy is full of energy, and she’s already starting to come out as a bit of a lap cat. My only gripe is that she loves to eat human food…

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Coming Soon!

In this upcoming week, I’m planning to finish off the Java Basics series. The main piece that needs to be completed is a quiz for the Java Review tutorial. Then I can officially bury that series for good. 🙂

I plan to polish off a few things before I officially commit the series to master. For instance, I want to version each of the topics in Maven. When that’s all finished, I’ll be happy to release version 1.0.0 of the JavaTutorials material.

I’ll be heading out to a hamfest next weekend. Who would like to see an article about radios? It would probably focus on software in signal processing and communication. Maybe I can throw some tidbits in there about studying for the technician class test. It’s been over 10 years, but I figure it shouldn’t be too bad. I mean 6th grade me could handle it. 🙂

The Legacy Newsletter (56 Articles)—Series Navigation

For a long time, I used to try to write a custom newsletter every week which eventually became every month. If you’re interested in browsing those old posts just to see how this site came to be, I’ve created a small series for you. Check it out!

Today, the regular newsletter is issued via email which you can access by becoming a member of The Renegade Coder. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the newsletterOpens in a new tab. directly through MailChimp.

Jeremy Grifski

Jeremy grew up in a small town where he enjoyed playing soccer and video games, practicing taekwondo, and trading Pokémon cards. Once out of the nest, he pursued a Bachelors in Computer Engineering with a minor in Game Design. After college, he spent about two years writing software for a major engineering company. Then, he earned a master's in Computer Science and Engineering. Today, he pursues a PhD in Engineering Education in order to ultimately land a teaching gig. In his spare time, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his wife, playing Overwatch and Phantasy Star Online 2, practicing trombone, watching Penguins hockey, and traveling the world.

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