OTHER INTERESTS

Python Programming

• I am a big fan of the Python programming language and the ecosystem of tools that are available for the language. For anyone interested in learning, I recommend downloading the Anaconda Python distribution (available at https://www.anaconda.com/download/) and diving in using some of the resources that follow:
  • Automate the Boring stuff with Python by Al Sweigart (https://automatetheboringstuff.com/)
  • Python Data Science Handbook by Jake VanderPlas (https://jakevdp.github.io/PythonDataScienceHandbook/)
  • sentdex’s YouTube user channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/sentdex)
  • A gallery of Jupyter notebooks covering various topics (https://github.com/jupyter/jupyter/wiki/A-gallery-of-interesting-Jupyter-Notebooks)
  • My GitHub Repository (https://github.com/nkfreeman)
  • Practical Business Python – A blog that demonstrates the use of Python for solving various business problem, The blog is available at (http://pbpython.com) and an associated GitHub repository with Jupyter notebooks for various topics is available at (https://github.com/chris1610/pbpython).
  • Real Python – A site with high-quality python tutorials on topics appropriate for all experience levels (https://realpython.com/). 
  • The Little Book of Python Anti-Patterns – A gallery of examples showing poor Python use (https://docs.quantifiedcode.com/python-anti-patterns/).
• ​Some of my research requirements utilize web scraping for data collection. If you are interested in getting started with web scraping, I recommend you check out the post on web scraping with Python written by the team at ScrapingBee ( https://www.scrapingbee.com/blog/web-scraping-101-with-python/). They also have a post on scraping using the Scrapy framework (https://www.scrapingbee.com/blog/crawling-python/ ). If you need someone to help you in your efforts, I highly recommend ScrapingBee. They have a great product and a great team that can help you achieve the goals of your use case.

Fitness
I am somewhat of a fitness fanatic. Years ago, I did long-distance cycling, logging over 10,000 miles a year for nearly a decade. I still enjoy road cycling, but do not log near the miles that I did in the past. I also do high-intensity interval training using a spin bike and resistance training regularly.

Music
I play guitar and bass guitar.