I had been using Quicken for bookkeeping since 2000. As I moved away from Windows and retired those devices, it became more difficult and inconvenient to continue using Quicken. I searched for cloud-based alternatives and finally found CountAbout last year. The basic plan costs only $9.99 US per year and it does everything I need. I highly recommend this service.

Over the past year of using CountAbout I had occasionally thought about developing an equivalent application myself, not to save money but as a fun project. Two weeks ago, with nothing else to do, I finally started prototyping and today my replacement application does everything that I had imagined. I learned OO PHP and Javascript, and used extreme programming techniques to create the prototype. My application is not pretty but the UI is efficient and I improved on some of the CountAbout workflow.

During the project I reverted to the obsessive software engineer that I used to be. I resented interruptions and was constantly thinking of the various technical problems that I was facing. While that’s how I got things done, it didn’t make me a better person. I like myself better as a gardener.

We arrived in Garden Bay on March 21. Today, March 22, was sunny and I spent the afternoon outside cleaning fallen branches and inspecting my messy garden. Next priority will be rose bush pruning.