Last night Omaha Code School hosted a mixer at Bliss Bakery and Aromas Coffeehouse downtown. Many of the students, instructors, and mentors were in attendance. It was a good opportunity for us to get to know the people we will be spending so much time with over the next three months.

Rahul is helping Sumeet run OCS. He lives in San Francisco and works full-time at Big Wheel Brigade, the company that puts on Omaha Code School. He is constantly looking for new sponsors and mentors for us. I hope that he will be able to make come back to attend our demo night at the end of the course.

A few of our mentors were there. Michael is a recruiter. He works for Agape Red, a local company that is trying to change the way the industry recruits new employees. OCS has asked him to help us with practicing our interview skills. We were all excited to hear about what he does and the exciting ways they are changing the way things get done.

There were also some local entrepreneurs. Meg runs a retail fashion website called Hello Holiday. I have read about some of her contributions on Silicon Prairie News. It was awesome to get to hear about what is going on in our community and what they need to take their business to the next level. Hopefully one of the students in our class will help them in the future.

Then I met Autumn. She is the owner of Bliss Bakery and Aromas Coffeehouse, where we were meeting. She and her husband have a passion for supporting our community. They help with the 402 Arts Collective, a local non-profit trying to build a network of artists committed to making a difference in Omaha. Something tells me that we will be using their coffee shop to work throughout the class. Good thing they make excellent coffee and pastries.

I also got to meet some of the students that couldn’t make it to the SPN meetup last week. We are all scrambling to complete the prework before class starts on Monday. I have enjoyed meeting everyone, and I think we are going to make a good group.

Overall, I am still incredibly excited to start. Everyone that I have talked to has been friendly and supportive of what we are trying to accomplish. Now, I need to rest up and prepare for Monday. Once we start, there’s no looking back.

Today is my last day at Mutual of Omaha. It is a bittersweet moment for me.

Over the last week, I have made it a point to express my thanks to the people I have worked with over the past five years. I walked throughout the building tracking everyone down. I have worked with almost every team in our company, so I had a lot of ground to cover. I was incredibly humbled by the responses I received. My goal of expressing my thanks was met with kind words expressing how much people have enjoyed working with me. That is an awesome feeling.

I am thankful for all that I have learned and experienced during my time at Mutual. I would not be who I am without those who have taken the time to make me a better person. So if any of those people are reading this post, thank you.

As I move on to my next adventure, I will always look back and appreciate everything Mutual of Omaha gave me. I can only hope future opportunities work out as well as this one has.

Thursday was an amazing night. Silicon Prairie News hosted a meetup in Benson. Our class was invited to meet some members of the community and our fellow classmates. It was a lot of fun, even for an introvert like me. I made myself go up and introduce myself to Jeff Slobotski, co-founder of SPN. He was extremely nice and introduced me to a couple of Ruby developers. It was cool to meet some people working on what I want to do. Next week, we are going to have a smaller event just with Omaha Code School students. I am really looking forward to it.

Yesterday I woke up at 4:30 AM. I wasn’t happy about it, but it gave me an opportunity to wrap up my prework. I learned about a version control method called GIT. It allows several people to work on the same project, and merge their updates together. It seems to work pretty well. I also finally finished my Ruby homework. The whole lesson we did seemed to be one step ahead of where I was at. I managed to get through it, but I definitely need more practice to really understand what I was doing.

Wednesday is my last day of work at Mutual of Omaha. I’ve been walking around the building trying to say thank you to the people who have worked with me over the years. It is kind of a bittersweet feeling. A lot of the people I have talked to have had a lot of good things to say about working with me. I really cherish their comments. Mutual is not the easiest place to make a difference, and it seems like I have.

Now I have a week to relax and get everything put together before class begins. I’m on the last downhill slide, and can see a cliff jetting upward in my future. Hopefully I can make the climb and come out on top. Only time will tell. Until then, I’ll enjoy a little relaxation.

Wow! I’m blown away. Last night I passed 1,000 views on this blog. I am constantly surprised by the number of people who are reading my posts on a regular basis. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the retweets, likes, shares, favorites, and pluses you have given my posts. It has really helped sustain my momentum. My goal going forward is to get the word out about what we are doing and learning in Omaha Code School. I hope that you get as much out of it as I do.

On another topic, tomorrow is the Silicon Prairie News meet-up. It’s an opportunity for me to meet some of the entrepreneurs that live in our community. I have admired this group of people from the outside for a long time, but now I get the opportunity to meet them and join their community. I might get to meet a few of my future classmates too.

I had a conversation with a friend today about where we want to go in our careers. It was amazing just how differently we view success. My friend is the age as I am, single, and has a similar background. He mentioned that he really wants to rise up the corporate ladder and become a manager, and some day a vice president at his job.

When I explained that I want to love what I do, he had a puzzled look on his face. It doesn’t matter to me what my title is in life. It doesn’t matter how many people work for me, or if I’m a millionaire by the time I hit 40. I just want to enjoy what I do.

Work is where I spend the majority of my time. I believe that warrants doing something you love. I don’t want to dread getting out of bed everyday, or watch the clock every afternoon. I want to love what I do for a living. That’s my dream.

I’ve heard this same thought echoed by other successful people. Specifically, Warren Buffet. He has said he loves waking up every day, driving into work, reading newspapers and financial statements, and making investments. I can understand why he has no plans to retire. Why would he stop doing what he loves?

As I prepare to start class in two weeks, I can’t help but think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I know there will be lots of work, stress, deadlines, challenges, and headaches, but those are unavoidable. At the end of the day, I want to look back and be able to say I had fun. If I can do that, then I know I’ve been successful.