1.1--- a/hello-world.org	Sun Nov 19 22:12:35 2023 -0500
     1.2+++ b/hello-world.org	Mon Nov 20 19:02:47 2023 -0500
     1.3@@ -1,27 +1,31 @@
     1.4 #+TITLE: hello world
     1.5 #+AUTHOR: Richard Westhaver <ellis@rwest.io>
     1.6-#+OPTIONS: ^:nil toc:nil num:nil html-postamble:nil
     1.7-#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.xz.style/serve/inter.css">
     1.8+#+OPTIONS: ^:nil toc:nil num:nil
     1.9+#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.xz.style/serve/inter.css"/>
    1.10 #+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://packy.rwest.io/style/css/new.min.css"/>
    1.11 #+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://packy.rwest.io/style/css/terminal.css"/>
    1.12-
    1.13-If we've spoken recently I may have mentioned this new venture, but I
    1.14-certainly didn't communicate my intentions well. Now is the time to
    1.15-elaborate.
    1.16+If we've spoken recently I may have mentioned this new venture I've
    1.17+been working on. Now is the time to elaborate on what I've been up to,
    1.18+and why.
    1.19 
    1.20 * The Compiler Company
    1.21-
    1.22 The name is a play on the phrase /Compiler Collection/, as in [[https://gcc.gnu.org/][GNU
    1.23 Compiler Collection (GCC)]] and emphasizes my approach to
    1.24 problem-solving involving compiler technologies.
    1.25 
    1.26 I recently registered as an LLC, but the purpose of the company is
    1.27-that of a company incubator, or /compiler/ if you will. In other
    1.28-words, I intend for /The Compiler Company, LLC/ to be a hub for
    1.29+that of a company incubator, or /company compiler/ if you will. In
    1.30+other words, I intend for /The Compiler Company, LLC/ to be a hub for
    1.31 developing various interconnected products and services which can be
    1.32 operated and managed independently of each other.
    1.33 
    1.34-/The Compiler Company/ technically provides two things:
    1.35+I (Richard Westhaver) am the sole owner and operator and will probably
    1.36+keep it that way for quite some time. My intention is to operate at
    1.37+minimal cost while I perform industry research and develop prototypes.
    1.38+
    1.39+
    1.40+
    1.41+/The Compiler Company/ provides two things on paper:
    1.42 1. free and open-source software
    1.43 2. professional consulting services
    1.44 
    1.45@@ -39,70 +43,6 @@
    1.46 control over every possible piece of code we encounter in the systems
    1.47 we operate.
    1.48 
    1.49-* About Me
    1.50-
    1.51-Before introducing my company I think it's important to properly
    1.52-introduce myself --
    1.53-
    1.54-+ Richard Westhaver (ellis@rwest.io)
    1.55-+ 29-years-old (he/him)
    1.56-+ living in CT
    1.57-+ UConn graduate 2016 (economics+philosophy)
    1.58-
    1.59-For most of my life, music has been my muse. I played piano and drums
    1.60-in the school bands, gigs in the local scene and in college started
    1.61-gravitating towards digital recording, sound design, and the process
    1.62-of making music. I started to recognize all the little things about
    1.63-music that made it so attractive to me: Composition, Rhythm, Design,
    1.64-Creativity... All these fundamental concepts, which weave between
    1.65-eachother to produce a piece of music. It's something I started to
    1.66-think about deeply and apply to other mediums -- most importantly,
    1.67-computers.
    1.68-
    1.69-Programming, in many ways is music to computers. Programmers /are/
    1.70-musicians. This has been my approach ever since I started learning the
    1.71-basics of Python. After college I began tinkering with Arduino boards,
    1.72-learning about basic NLP models, and building digital synthesizers
    1.73-with Max/MSP. I eventually got a job at a SaaS company in an Agile
    1.74-product support role which was the perfect opportunity for me. I
    1.75-learned all about web applications, software lifecycles, APIs, and the
    1.76-usual cloud infrastructure. In a matter of months I knew what I wanted
    1.77-to do for the rest of my life.
    1.78-
    1.79-For the next few years I worked all day and programmed all night. I
    1.80-became fluent in all things software and was in this sort of crazy
    1.81-cycle, but loved it. Around early 2019 I started working closely with
    1.82-a small group of exceptionally talented developers. We were delivering
    1.83-massive projects for our clients while developing our own R&D
    1.84-department.
    1.85-
    1.86-One day, I was unexpectedly laid off. I would be lying if I didn't
    1.87-admit it was absolutely /soul-crushing/. It was at the beginning of
    1.88-COVID and there was a huge corporate shake-up (brand new C-suite), but
    1.89-for someone like me it's impossible not to internalize that and wonder
    1.90-why. This was a difficult time in my life and it took me quite some
    1.91-time to get back on my feet.
    1.92-
    1.93-On the bright side, I did get to spend some time thinking about /how/
    1.94-I want to program. When you're working 60h+ weeks at a software
    1.95-company, this is something you can rarely afford if at all. I also
    1.96-made an important decision on where I want my career to go - on how I
    1.97-want to make money and participate in the industry. I want to work for
    1.98-myself.
    1.99-
   1.100-* Philosophy
   1.101-I wasn't a Computer Science major at UConn. The only programming I did
   1.102-in a classroom setting was in a statistics class in a program called
   1.103-Stata. As is the case with other self-taught hackers my idea of
   1.104-computer systems and how they should operate is probably worth
   1.105-explaining to avoid confusion.
   1.106-
   1.107-I call this section /Philosophy/, because I want you to question
   1.108-it. Philosophy is the way things are from the leisure of a single
   1.109-man's armchair, so I encourage you to pick it apart for yourself.
   1.110-** Computers
   1.111-** Compilers
   1.112-** Companies
   1.113 * Next Steps
   1.114 We have a long way to go. The important thing is to keep up the
   1.115 momentum. Before the start of 2024 you can expect another update on