Blog for CS Capstone project

Since this is my first blog… I want to do a self-intro and a self-reflection on this 3-year run…

This all started just before Covid hits…
I wasn’t in the best place of my life during that time. Was divorced; a single parent of a 9 year old.
I had my own house but couldn’t keep it due to the divorce, was overweighed, didn’t have a lot of savings and was in a toxic relationship where I was scammed and used.
At the same time my company Boeing whom I had been working for 10 years, was facing its own dilemma and announced it would cut at least 10k people.
My life seemed like a train wreck, I was in a dark place, depressed. Then I had a real talk with myself. What do you wanna do Junior? Give up or do something about it? A few days later, I read a phrase somewhere then things started clicking for me.
The phrase goes, “You can bring a horse to a river to drink the water, but the horse has to drink the water itself”.
At that moment, I had a realization that the only person that could help me to get out of this funk was myself.

So I made goals, pretty much like what you do in a Scrum. I had long term goals and short term ones with reasonable expectations.
I started planning, asking myself what I really wanna do in life? Life is short. So I stopped catering to people around me and just solely focusing on myself.

First thing that came to my mind was getting a different job. Boeing was great however when they layoff people, they don’t need to give a reason. Everyone is replaceable during tough times.
Then I proceeded to ask myself, is there something that I would regret down the road if I don’t do it now?
YES, it was getting a computer science degree. In college I was fascinated by coding but due to my lazy nature, I didn’t want to learn new computer languages after graduation so I chose to major in EE, something that was more one and done.
To this date I still regret that decision, because I do find myself being really passionate about coding, it feels like playing addictive online games for me. Coding gives me satisfaction and dopamine when I can make something working and bug-free.

Long story short, I signed up at OSU to pursue a second degree, and from that point forward, I tell myself I would only pursue things that I feel passionate in life. So not only I went back to school while having a full time job, I was in the gym for mad hours when I wasn’t doing homework. It’s been a way for me to cope with my stress.

I made several goals back then. Getting a house just for me and my son, lose 60 lbs and get beach body, get a white Porsche 911 997.2 C4 GTS… get a Bachelor’s degree in CS… get a new job in the software industry… then until now, I’ve accomplished most of them (degree and new job left) and I am only 1 final quarter away to cross one more item off my bucket list. It feels really good.

I told myself when I graduate, I am going to be on a beach, somewhere in Thailand or Mexico, sipping on that mango Margarita while staring at the sea and smile and laugh like no one is watching. Yes, that will come this year 🙂