Besieged as I have been, these last six weeks, with offers to deliver pizzas or work in a warehouse, I was not amused by Mike Rowe’s latest contention that men have largely given up and spend all day in front of a computer screen.

I wrote software for twenty five years. Bill Gates destroyed my programming language in 2014, in an attempt to move everyone to .NET. After twelve years of doing anything else, I recently installed my copy of Visual FoxPro on my Windows 10 PC with no problem.

I ordered a 3.5″ USB floppy drive and installed one of the last apps I wrote in 2010. I have spent the last week writing a Purchase Order app and it is looking mighty good. I’ll soon be hitting the streets, searching for manufacturers looking for a way to deal with long lead times and cash requirements toward getting the materials they need to make things.

So no, I will not be working in a warehouse or becoming a plumber. I am picking up where I left off in 2010..

I ordered an inexpensive Windows 11 laptop and successfully installed the database software on it, so that I will have some way to show people what I have written. It also runs the documentation, as I continue to create forms and reports.

I spent eight years watching Shopify grow to 20 million users on one piece of software.

Every one of my customers has always had and will always have their own piece of software, the source code that makes it run, and a copy of Microsoft Visual FoxPro, in case something happens to me.

This is how I made a living for twenty five years and, by God, it is how I will continue to make a living. Until then, the Wife, for whom I have labored twenty six years, must support me.

I remain a man of immense value and will not be denied.