“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
― Albert Einstein
Life is a journey. And the journey sometimes could be painful. That’s because change is inevitable no matter what. But it comes all down to the fact that nothing could be as painful as staying where you don’t belong.
Hi, international friends! How have you been?
Despite the vaccination roll-out in the developed world, including my country – Japan, the pandemic situation is still prevalent in many countries. I understand that this is a challenging age for everyone, but don’t give up on your hope and always stay true to your faith.
Anyways, today’s main topic revolves around my daily driver, Surface Pro 7. Although I’ve posted the device’s review last year, I thought this is the perfect timing to re-review the device and how I had spent the past year with this remarkable machine.
But I want you to keep in your mind that this post is more about my life’s ethics than just a mare review of the device. I know this post is supposed to be a tech review of the device, but the device itself is like a metaphor that connects the dots of my dreams, aspirations, and reality.
So, let’s dive into it!
When I have first purchased Surface Pro 7 last year, I didn’t even know what to do with it. Ever since I became a Java programmer two years ago, I’ve been looking for a full-fledged Windows machine that caters to my multiple needs. And Surface Pro 7 matched lots of my criteria.
Due to the covid restrictions, I was almost forced to spend a lot of my time home with my Surface. And that situation was quite beneficial to build an ideal self-learning environment, especially in terms of my self-learning programming and algebra. But just by purchasing the device itself didn’t solve my lifetime’s worth of existential problems in a single day or a month. It wasn’t that dramatic. You know, that’s life.
Instead, it was slow and steady progress to build my programming journey, and I started to fall in love with this machine.
Essentially, we, programmers, are life-long learners. Due to the ever-advancing nature of technology, we always need to keep our skills up to date. What was considered innovative yesterday could be obsolete tomorrow. So, if you were willing to spend your time improving your coding skills even on weekends, being a programmer could be an option for you. For me personally, in spite of my struggles to keep up with my assignments, I survived my programming career up until now, especially thanks to my supportive teammates.
To improve my coding skill, I’ve programmed a countless number of experiential Java projects on this machine. While my main goal during the last year was to build a Java-powered web app, this year, however, I have been spending a certain amount of my time on developing Android apps as well.
Not only did I practice coding on the machine, but also I have done photo editing and most importantly self-learning exercise in algebra. Due to its 2-in-1 style, I can use this versatile machine as a tablet (I know that the Surface Pro series isn’t as capable as an iPad without its keyboard, though) as well.
So, why do I learn algebra? Well, algebra itself doesn’t directly contribute to my coding skill improvement right away. The universal truth behind its logic, however, has taken me on an incredible journey through endless discovery and curiosity. With my Surface stylus, I have solved hundreds of equations and factorizations provided by my algebra textbooks. Since mathematics and programming have a lot in common and both are considered artificial languages, it’s quite important for me to keep interacting with them occasionally.
Through the process of re-educating myself in algebra, it opened my eyes to the fun of solving equations one after another on the daily basis. And the process itself is like sorting pieces into a puzzle! And this notion is applicable to my ideas for coding in general.
Despite the fact that learning algebra itself hasn’t directly helped me achieve my life-long goal yet, I was able to breathe the universal logic behind numbers and symbols, as I mentioned above.
Here, let’s get back to the beginning. Life is a journey. It could be painful and change is inevitable. No matter what your current situation is, things will eventually change, for the better or for the worse. And here is good news; nothing is permanent. And bad news; nothing is permanent.
So, think about it. Every single thing we’ve gone through in our life has led us to the very place we’re standing right now. Those hours you spent writing novels no one would read. Those lonely nights you spent reading manga and watching anime. Those nights you spent socializing with your friends from college you never see any longer. Those lovely nights you spent with your girlfriend.
Every step was necessary to shape who we are right now. And in my own experience, the past year I’ve spent with my Surface Pro 7 was priceless. As I’ve written above, my daily rituals wouldn’t solve my existential life-long problems right away, but I do know the power of daily rituals. And the idea is relevant to us all. Daily rituals always make a difference in our life.
Lastly, this post’s title might be misleading. I know that. But it is true that my Surface Pro 7 paved a way for me to explore the ever-lasting computing world and breathe the universal logic of mathematics.
All the best.
