I Read When I Was Five Years Old

Many of today's four year old children and five year old children can't read. I read sentences when I was five years old. I read words when I was in preschool. I remember reading my teacher's name on her desk. I remember reading my name on my snack bag my mom prepared me. I read books when I was in kindergarten. I remember reading the word "playhouse" in the indoor blue colored classroom playhouse with stairs, doors, beds, and a kitchen. I also read the instructions in the math book. My spelling was average. Perhaps, I was in the minority good reading skills didn't correlate with good spelling skills. Sesame Street taught me well.

What happened to schools today compared to decades ago? I don't know why today's young children can't read. On the other hand, I know junior high school students learning Algebra. My nephew learned Algebra when he was in junior high school. Perhaps, at the end of the day, today's public education system has neither progressed nor digressed.

There Is Work To Be Done

There are responsibilities to be completed. Get it done. In particular, the single and unemployed people. Not all work involves being compensated with money. There is physical work staying in physical shape and maintaining good health. There is work preparing healthy meals. There is work maintaining a clean and organized living environment. Work to get smarter by reading books and learning skills. Training in job skills is work. There is nothing wrong with watching television and playing videos games. They're leisure activities. Watching television and playing video games to avoid work is a problem. Watching television and playing video games don't pay the rent or mortgage.

Self Job Training Graduation Analytics Research Technology

The college diploma is fake. The degree is fake. The award is earned. The training is real. I passed the classes for data analysis or data science. YouTube videos, online education, books, articles, and online posts are my learning sources. The part time self-training took nine years and two months. The self-training could have been completed in five years if I trained full time. The reasons for the part time included household responsibilities, family obligations, other personal commitments, and mistakes from Aug 2014 to Dec 2019. Nov 2014-Mar 2015 were excluded because of a contract job.

I summarize my self job training completion from start to finish.

Aug-Oct 2014: The Preview, The Foreshadow, The Seed

I failed an interview for a contract Data Analyst position because I failed the Excel tests in Jun 2014; in particular, I failed the VLOOKUP test. I never used VLOOKUPs in past jobs. I couldn't explain how I used Excel successfully without VLOOKUP. Bible truth.

I reviewed and learned Excel which included reviewing pivot tables and learning VLOOKUPs watching YouTube videos in Jul 2014. My contract job with a retail startup wasn't renewed in Sep 2014. My friend Appu introduced me to Python for the first time and Ubuntu for the second time. He introduced me to Ubuntu for the first time in 2008. My first Python learning came from a book written for kids. The self job training ended in Nov 2014 when I found another contract job in a networking company.

May 2015-Dec 2019: I Didn't Know What I Was Doing

I actually started in Apr 2015 during my last month at my contract job. The first topic was relearning Oracle SQL. I continued Excel which included dashboards, statistics, and data analysis in May 2015 when I became unemployed. I taught myself Salesforce watching YouTube videos and reading a tutorial book. I created a free Tableau account to learn Tableau from a .pdf book. I quit both Salesforce and Tableau because there was no progress.

VBA was added on Feb 2016. I continued Oracle SQL and Excel. Python began in Apr 2016 learning online from CodeUpStart promotion on Kickstarter. The lessons were terrible. The CodeUpStart convinced me to be skeptical when paying for online training courses. Linux and the text editor Sublime Text began in May 2016. I reviewed HTML, learned CSS, and learned JavaScript. I uploaded my redesigned webpage Innovate Infinitely on Jun 29, 2016.

A major change happened on Apr 2017. I was diagnosed with Acute Gallstone Pancreatitis. I was admitted as an in-patient in a local hospital requiring an Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio Pancreatography which removed gallstones and a Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy which removed my gallbladder. There was no job training for the entire month. The self job training became a consistent five-day responsibility thereafter. Git was added in May 2017. Appu introduced me to Project Euler to practice Python in May 2017. Drill training began in Jun 2017. Excel was the first drill training topic; for example, formulas, tables, and pivot tables. VBA drill training began in Sep 2017.

The self job training became six days a week in Feb 2018. My friend Spiritsnare told me about free Salesforce official online courses which I learned on Sundays. I stopped the Salesforce in Mar 2018. The six days a week stopped in May 2018 because I got sick in Apr 2018. Power Pivot and Power Query were added in Jun 2018. Power Business Intelligence (Power BI) was added in Oct 2018.

The year 2019 became inconsistent for the topics I learned for the week. Some weeks its Power Pivot and Power Query one day, Python another day, and Power BI another day. Other weeks its Python and SQL one day, Excel another day, and VBA another day. Each week and each day were random topic or topics. I continued six days a week job training between Jul 2019-Nov 2019. No new topics were added.

Jan 2020-Mar 2024: The Light Bulb Turned On Bright

I built my second desktop PC in Jan 2020. Upgraded hardware. Windows 10 operating system. Office 365 subscription. Upgraded Ubuntu from 18.04 to 20.04. I also re-evaluated the topics. Power BI, Power Pivot, Power Query, Python, and SQL were the five topics each week. JSON were added on Apr 2020. A two group and two-week rotation started in Jun 2020 which continued to Mar 2024. The initial first group was Excel, Git, Linux, Power Pivot, Python, and SQL for six days. The initial second group was JSON, Power BI, Power Query, Python, and Sublime Text for six days. The COVID-19 global pandemic made the six day weekly rotation easier. Data analysis was combined with Power Pivot and dashboards was combined with Power BI starting on Aug 2020. I completed JSON in Sep 2020.

The year 2021 started with a winter break from Dec 20, 2020 to Jan 16, 2021. I changed my two group and two-week rotation. Excel and data analysis, finance, Power Query, Python, and SQL were the first group for six days a week. Git, Linux, Sublime Text; Power BI and dashboards; Power Pivot; and Python were the second group for five days a week. PowerPoint replaced finance in Jun 2021. R and R-Studio were added in Jul 2021 for Saturdays. Also, Access was added in Jul 2021 for which I finished in Nov 2021. Data analysis ended in Aug 2021. I took a Summer Sabbatical October 2021 from Oct 13, 2021-Thur Nov 4, 2021 because I was tired.

The groups changed in 2022. Excel, Power BI, Power Pivot, PowerPoint and dashboards, Python, and R and R-Studio were the first group for six days a week. Sun was the day off. Linux, Sublime Text, and Git; Power Query; Python; R and R-Studio; and SQL were the second group for five days a week. Thur and Sun were the days off. I combined Excel with PowerPoint and dashboards in the first group in Jul 2022. Thur and Sun were the days off for the first group and the second group in Jul 2022. R and R-Studio was replaced with another Python in the first group in Sep 2022.

I added Windows 10 drill training on Jan 2, 2023. Windows 10 became part of the first group. The Thur and Sun days off changed to Sat and Sun days off in Mar 2023. Jun 27, 2023 was the turning point. It was my senior year. It was time to wrap up the topics. It was time to final review everything. Here came graduation. The endgame began. Power BI, Power Pivot, Python, R and R-Studio, and SQL were the endgame topics. Git and PowerPoint and dashboards were excluded in the endgame topics. Excel, Linux, Power Query, and Sublime Text topics continued as drill training. Excel, Linux, Power Query, Python, SQL, and Sublime Text were the endgame first group. Power BI, Power Pivot, Power Query, Python, and R and R-Studio were the endgame second group. Oracle SQL was the first endgame final completed on Jul 10, 2023. Windows 10 stopped in Aug 2023.

The rest of the endgame topics were completed in 2024. I finished Power BI on Jan 16, 2024. I finished Power Pivot on Jan 17, 2024. I finished SQL on Feb 14, 2024. I finished R and R-Studio on Mar 7, 2024. Topics completed were replaced with incomplete topics; for instance, one week two days of R and R-Studio and two days of Python because Power BI and Power Pivot were finished. I finished Python on Mar 25, 2024. I congratulated myself graduating. I never paid for any online training courses.

Apr 2024-?: Never Stop Learning

I began researching new skills to self-train on Mar 26, 2024. The new skills are the graduate self job training. The topics are either Excel and Power Pivot or Excel and Power Query, HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Python, and WordPress. Power Pivot and Power Query rotates every two weeks with Excel. One group. Sat and Sun are days off. Never stop innovating. Innovate infinitely.

There are multiple family priorities since Apr 1, 2024. There is no graduate self job training as of today.

Suggested Learning Sources

Here are suggested YouTube video channels, online education, and books in alphabetical order.

YouTube
Corey Schafer. Multiple topics for beginners to experts.
EJ Media. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery.
Excel Campus - Jon. Excel career training.
ExcelIsFun. Excel, Power BI, Power Pivot, and Power Query. Best for Excel newbies.
Kevin Stratvert. All purpose educational content creator.
Manish Sharma. Oracle SQL expert.
MarinStatsLectures-R Programming & Statistics. R-Studio.
MyOnlineTrainingHub. Excel and Power BI career training.
ProgrammingKnowledge. Linux, Ubuntu, and VirtualBox.
sentdex. Professional programmer.
Socratica. Educational courses.
thenewboston. Bucky is a genius in multiple programs and multiple technologies.
WiseOwlTutorials. Excel and Excel VBA.

Online Education
Codecademy. Free and paid courses in technology. Examples are AI, programming languages, web design, data analysis, and game development.
Codewars. Learn programming by solving problems. Free to join.
Kaggle. Download data sets to practice data analysis.
Project Euler. Solve mathematical problems by writing code. Create an account to track progress and access solutions which must be solved by the user first.
Socratica. Free and paid courses in math and science.
SQLZoo. Learn SQL following their tutorials.
w3resource. Free online tutorial to learn and to practice.

Books
M Is For (Data) Monkey by Ken Puls And Miguel Escobar. Beginner Power Query.
Master Your Data With Excel And Power BI by Ken Puls And Miguel Escobar. Intermediate to advanced Power Query.
Python For Kids by by Jason Briggs. If you can't understand Python written for children, then change your career choice.
Supercharge Excel by Matt Allington. Power Pivot or DAX.
Supercharge Power BI by Matt Allington. Power BI and Power Pivot or DAX.
The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information Second Edition by Edward Tufte. Create professional charts. No chart junk.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog March 2024

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. Measles and whooping cough were health headlines. The last two weeks of the month went by fast. Mar was the fastest month of the 2024 year. I began living a normal life slowly.

Fri Mar 1. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) dropped the minimum five day quarantine for people who tested positive for COVID-19. The new infections caused less severe illnesses, fewer hospitalizations, and fewer deaths. CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said there is immunity within the US population against COVID-19. The country is no longer experiencing large waves of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. There are predictable summer surges and winter surges on a smaller scale. The CDC wanted to align COVID-19 guidelines with other common viruses such as influenza and RSV. However, the five day quarantine remains for health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes.

Infected people should stay home to recover. People could leave their residence fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours and symptoms improve for 24 hours. However, the CDC recommended these people take additional precautions for five days including wearing a mask and limiting close contact with other people.

The current weekly average hospitalizations was 20,000. The current weekly average deaths was 2,000. 1.2 million Americans died. 95% of the recent hospitalized patients didn't receive the latest vaccine booster.

COVID-19 dropped from the third leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021, to fourth in 2022, and to tenth in 2023.

Mon Mar 4. The White House lifted regulations people working in close contact with the President and Vice President no longer require a negative COVID-19 test.

Tue Mar 5. A 62 year old man is vaccinated 217 times. The unnamed man from Germany received the COVID-19 vaccine over 29 months. No side effects. Researchers found his immune system produced a large amount of antibodies. No weaken immune response. He never tested positive for COVID-19.

Tue Mar 5. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic subpoenaed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The reason was the handling of nursing homes during the pandemic. Cuomo instructed nursing homes to admit recovering COVID-19 positive patients from hospitals. Cuomo reversed the admittance weeks later.

Tue Mar 5. I voted. I shopped at Costco. I overheard another customer the last time she shopped at Costco was four years ago.

Tue Mar 5. The US Government free at-home COVID-19 test program is suspended on Fri Mar 8. All orders placed on or before Fri Mar 8 are fulfilled. Each household order receives four rapid antigen tests. 1.8 billion free COVID-19 tests delivered. The free tests continue to be distributed to long-term care facilities, food banks, health centers, and schools. The free program is suspended for the sixth time. The nation's respiratory virus season ended. The last suspension was May 2023. It was reopened on Sep 25, 2023.

Wed Mar 6. Shopped at Costco Business Center.

Fri Mar 8. An emergency request from a family friend for a home repair. Got gas at Chevron. Shopped at Lucky.

Mon Mar 11. Shopped at Costco and Lucky.

Wed Mar 13. Paul Alexander who lived in an iron lung after contracting polio as a child died at the age of 78 from COVID-19. Alexander was known as The Man In The Iron Lung. He was paralyzed from the neck down in 1952 at the age of 6. The iron lung is a respirator which works like a person's diaphragm.

Fri Mar 15. Shopped at Costco. Light crowds. More people wore masks. Perhaps, the reason is hay fever or spring allergies. No bananas.

Sat Mar 16. Helped a family friend reorganize their residence. Ate at Chiptole. Shopped at Harbor Freight and Kohl's.

Sun Mar 17. Four year anniversary State Of California shutdown due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Sun Mar 17. Worked out at the gym for the first time since the State Of California shutdown due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The last time I worked out at the gym was Mon Mar 16, 2020.

Tue Mar 19. Former President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil was accused of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination records. The accusation extended to 16 other people in his circles including his family members. Bolsonaro was one of the few world leaders against the vaccine.

Thur Mar 21. Watched NCAA March Madness Oakland vs Kentucky and NC State vs Texas Tech at the five minute mark during the second period.

Thur Mar 21. Life expectancy in the US increased in 2022 after declining in 2020 and 2021. The CDC reported life expectancy was 77.5 in 2022. Life expectancy was 76.4 in 2021. Heart disease is the number one cause of deaths. Cancer is number two. Unintentional injuries is number three. COVID-19 is number four.

Fri Mar 22. Watched NCAA March Madness Vermont vs Duke and James Madison University vs Wisconsin.

Sat Mar 23. Watched NCAA March Madness Michigan St. vs University of North Carolina at the ten minute mark during the first period.

Thur Mar 28. Shopped at Costco, The Home Depot, and Safeway.

Fri Mar 29. Helped a family friend reorganize their residence. Ate at Hong Kong City restaurant. I ate inside a restaurant for the first time since the State Of California shutdown due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Shopped at Costco Business Center.

Sun Mar 31. Watched NCAA March Madness Elite 8 NC State vs Duke part of the game.

No Job Breaks During My Job Search

I share my no breaks job search being long term unemployed in descending order. I forget all phone interviews. Phone interviews are phone interviews. Most of the phone interviews are recruiters instead of hiring managers for contract positions. Long-term unemployed can get job interviews.

*Dec 2019. I was interviewed for a data analyst position in a hardware networking company. A second interview was scheduled in Mar 2020. The reader should know the outcome given the date Mar 2020--the COVID-19 global pandemic. The company announced a hiring freeze.

*Feb 2019. A US based temp agency arranged a phone interview for a six-month data analyst contract. The company produced hardware chips for Internet-Of-Things. I requested a person-to-person interview because I needed to fulfill my due diligence. I experienced bad job opportunities because I failed my research. I was given an offer. I completed the paperwork. The 11th hour the agency said the contract was cancelled. I suspected a director in the division cancelled the contract.

*Aug 2018. The same US based temp agency arranged a business analyst contract for another hardware networking company. I passed the interviews. I passed the Excel test. The hardware networking company choose to hire a contractor internally.

*Nov 2017. A hospital interviewed me for a Customer Product Analyst. The hospital rejected all the candidates. I saw the same job ID with a different job title weeks later.

*Oct 2017. Google interviewed me for a Reporting Analyst II. I found out I was the sixth candidate to be interviewed. The five candidates previously interviewed were rejected because they failed the interview skills test. They must have failed intentionally. I realized why after the interview.

Side note: I took an Excel test during an interview for a low paying contract analyst position decades ago before my current long-term unemployment. The recruiter told me the contractor position was open for weeks. The recruiter must be desperate to fill the position. I arrived at the job site. I realized why the previous job interviewees intentionally failed the Excel test 30 seconds inside the building. High cubicle walls. No sound. Dull air. I forgot the idea of taking any position to strengthen my resume. The contract analyst position likely weakened my resume.

*Nov 2016. I interviewed for a four-month contract position at a software company for hospital information systems. I was interviewed for the incorrect position. Also, the job agency submitted my resume modified to the hiring manager.

*Jul 2016. A Canadian based aerospace company interviewed me for a database coordinator position. The panel interview consisted of all the department employees. The questions didn't match the job description. The technology used was outdated. It was a dead-end job.

*Aug 2013. Interview for a sales support position for a Taiwanese technology and manufacturing company at their Fremont, CA location. The interview was short. The questions asked were irrelevant to my experience. I suspected the hiring manager interviewed the weakest candidates to hire a specific worker. My interview was dead on arrival.

*Aug 2013.. Interview for an analyst position in the accounting department for a Japanese technology and manufacturing company. The interview was at their South San Jose campus. The hiring manager was fired for doing something illegal.

*Oct 2012. The position was a Contract Support Specialist for a biotech company in North San Jose. A friend helped me forward my resume to human resources because she knew someone responsible for hirings. I was approved for a first interview. Unfortunately, there was no interview because the San Jose location was incorrect. The correct location was in the East Coast.

*Sep 2012. I interviewed for an analyst position at my alma mater San Jose State University. I passed the Excel 2003 and Access 2003 exams administered to all job candidates. The actual interview half of the job requirements were not mentioned in the job description. I was unqualified. My interview was dead on arrival.

2023 Year In Review

The six nominations and its explanations for the moment of the year.

1. Job training. Excel, Python, R and R-Studio, Linux, Power BI, SQL, and more. The basics were learned. I began the endgame which was the final review, final practice, and combined documentation from my favorite books and favorite videos. Five days of training per week plus one day for life skills training.

2. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I spent less time job training and more time finishing Moby-Dick for seven job training days. The last three chapters were the best final chapters I have ever read. I understand the jokes and references from other medias.

3. My 2005 Toyota Camry. The roof, trunk, left quarter panel, and right quarter panel were repainted. The headliner or the fabric inside the car's ceiling was replaced. I hand wash and hand wax four times a year to protect my classic car.

4. Physical fitness. My longest daily jog was 6.1 miles. I created a fifth workout plan for my mini home gym. I jogged with a knee brace on the right knee temporarily.

5. Wallstreet Bets. I learned more about Wall Street and financial investments in 2023 than in the past decades and the classes when I was a student at San Jose State University and De Anza College.

6. Video Games. I completed Left 4 Dead 2.

Explanation: The consistent and productive job training approached the final year like a senior year in college; moreover, I continued the Moby-Dick days spending less time job training like a graduating senior in high school suffering from senioritis. An all-time classic Moby-Dick deserved a nomination. Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson won in 2016. A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking was nominated in 2022. Forget my car and video games. Too trivial.

I incorrectly mentioned my left rear knee injury in Nov-Dec 2022 from the 2022 Year In Review. It was my right rear knee. I learned a correct way to jog for which I don't need a knee brace. Wallstreet Bets continues my attention since Jan 2021. Financial education is part of my life skills training.

What Won: Physical fitness.

What Should Have Won: Physical fitness.

My Thoughts On The Winning Moment: I'm 0.1 miles away from running a 10k marathon. I continue learning better jogging techniques. I jogged from 3.0 miles in 2022 to 6.1 miles in 2023. I purchased a pair of ASICS jogging shoes not Nike for the first time. No major injuries.

Job training shouldn't win because I'm not completed with the training. It can win in 2023 when I complete the endgame.

2023 Letter Grade: B+. 2023 year ended fantastic. There were plenty of little wisdoms. There were plenty of wisdom reminders. Add those wisdoms for something big. Be grateful. Appreciate the present life. Don't take for granted the minimums food, shelter, and clothes; in addition, don't take for granted the Information Age minimums cell phones and computers with internet access. The minimums shouldn't be boring. There are some teenagers with wisdom beyond their years. There is a good way and there is a bad way to be patient. Life moves forward regardless of good moments and bad moments. The COVID-19 global pandemic survival mentality continues.

Past Moments Of The Years And Its Letter Grades

2022: Wallstreet Bets. Grade B.
2021: Wallstreet Bets. Grade B.
2020: First responders, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. Grade B.
2019: Consistent gym workouts. Grade C+.
2018: Consistent gym workouts. Grade C-.
2017: O'Connor Hospital. Grade D.
2016: Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson. Grade F.
2015: Zion National Park. Grade A.

A Laboratory In The Men's Bathroom

I dreamed last night I got a job being too curious. My dream started in North San Jose. My brother, cousin, dad, and uncle traveled to a partially frozen lake to fish in North San Jose. The lake doesn't exist in real life. The five of us used silver fishing lures for our fishing poles. There was a R&D building on the other side of the lake. The dream changed from the lake to inside the R&D building.

I walked inside the R&D building. I went to the men's bathroom. There was one urinal. The rest of the bathroom was a laboratory for chemical experiments. The manager was my first manager at my first job. One moment the original four Strike Team detectives from the TV series The Shield did something suspicious.

I walked to the reception area. The CEO of the company occupied the reception desk. The CEO believed all guests and clients must be greeted by the top person. The corner of the reception was a 20 gallon commercial cylinder plastic garbage can with wheels below. A stainless steel pot was inside the can. A portable flame camping stove was underneath the can. There were indications of failed attempts to cook brown rice using the three objects.

I cooked the brown rice doing something silly and illogical. I removed the stainless steel pot. I poured brown rice inside the plastic garbage can. I added water. I turned on the portable flame camping stove. The CEO was oblivious. I walked to the men's bathroom. The laboratory was empty. New people entered the laboratory moments later. It was like another research staff shift. I stayed inside waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

I walked to the reception area. The brown rice cooked successfully. The CEO inspected the brown rice. He was satisfied. He offered me a job as an entry database analyst. I said I don't have recent experience. The CEO replied experience is irrelevant. Anybody could do the job. The HR department embellished the job description.

Curiosity killed the cat. Satisfaction brought it back.