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Can I Choose My Side Projects?

I would like to begin this blog post with an apology. I certainly do believe that I owe one to David Hansmann and the users of his file transfer client software named JFtp. A while ago, I volunteered to make some contributions to this software. And I did so by adding features to it (and other general improvements to its code) and by answering questions that end users and developers had about it. However, gradually over time, the support that I gave for it decreased. Features that I considered adding to it were not added, and less attention was paid to the places on the web where questions and comments on it were posted. I still do plan on supporting this project in some ways, and I do not believe I ever said how much support I would provide for this project. However, I do apologize to those who might have expected more contributions to the project from me. The time came for me to move on and find something else to focus on.

After graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in computer science, I was relieved to finally have the time to work on what I wanted to work on. Unfortunately, I could not figure out exactly what it was that I wanted to work on. I spent some time learning new and different things on my own, and in doing so, tried to decide on what it was I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the idea of specializing in anything, as it seemed as if I was limiting myself the more I specialized. However, I knew that I needed to focus on something, and needed to find out what was right for me. And after spending some time working on that Java-based file transfer client named JFtp, it seemed that I needed to look elsewhere to find out who exactly I was. And judging from the content here on this blog, one may have found find that writing software for the web and Mozilla Firefox is what I am now choosing to do. Will I continue writing this kind of software in the future? Well, I know that I certainly will in the near future. I might have more to learn, but something I seemed to have learned is that I do not seem to choose my side projects. They seem to choose me. And with the way I am now finding time to write about what I code, I just might have found out who I am.