[pplante]

I started playing with a pirated copy of VB3 on my computer and asked my parents for a programming book for my upcoming 12th birthday. My Dad got me a copy of Learn VB4 in 21 days on Oct 26th 1997. I was extremely excited until I saw the 600 page tome and felt overwhelmed. He died in a car accident around 1030pm on Oct 28th, right before my birthday on the 29th.

I spent the next few weeks absorbing that book as a way for me to honor his persistent career/life advice that I use my mind rather than my hands. I'm 38 now and haven't stopped coding.