chuck.I'm Chuck Guo, a 40-year-old man from China. I spent 15 years working in finance. For most of that time, a computer was where I dealt with documents, answered emails and joined meetings. I have no technical or programming background. Making my own software felt a long way from anything I knew how to do.
Then I started using AI, and eventually Codex to help me write programs. Some small ideas I'd usually put aside began to seem worth trying. Could I transcribe a recording without uploading it? Translate a document with less copying and pasting? Give my computer at home a task over the phone, instead of opening a remote desktop every time?
That's what I write about here. I still couldn't write these programs on my own, but I now have a few tools I helped make and actually use.
It started with a second-hand laptop
I bought a second-hand laptop without a grand plan for an AI workstation. I wanted to use it and see what I could get done. When I needed more computing power for local models, I added an external GPU enclosure and bought a V100.
Each addition brought questions. Was the card being detected? Which GPU was the software actually using? Was a silent model still loading, or had something gone wrong? I learned a lot of the names only after something stopped working.
These days I'm experimenting with Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 125B. Along the way, I've also ended up with a GPU monitor, a queue for model jobs, and transcription and translation software. As I find more things to do, I need to know what the computer is busy with and whether the last job has finished.
I keep an eye on the cost. If second-hand equipment will do the job, I'm happy to use it. Before buying the next piece, I try what I already have. I want to write down the purchases, connections, errors and fixes clearly enough to save someone else a little guesswork.
The 100-yuan phone on my desk
After years of using Cisco office phones, taking work calls on a mobile never felt quite comfortable. I bought a used Plantronics Calisto P240 on Xianyu, a Chinese second-hand marketplace, for 100 yuan. It's an old USB phone with a handset and proper answer and hang-up buttons.
At first I just wanted a more comfortable way to take calls. Later, while connecting to my home computer every day to use Codex, I saw a video of someone talking to AI through an old telephone. I began wondering whether my computer could answer a call, hear what I needed and get on with the work.
That assistant became Alex. I gave it the office-phone ringtone from 24 and made the office window look like the green-on-black terminals in The Matrix. At my age, those details still make me smile.
There have been less satisfying moments. Once the screen said Alex was preparing to call back, but the phone never rang. I couldn't read the code, but sitting at my desk, I knew the job wasn't done. I told Codex what had happened, and we kept looking for the cause. That's a large part of my contribution to the development.
For people with everyday things to get done
Coming to this in my forties, I often care about fairly small things. Having one less document to sort out. Keeping a recording on my own computer. Picking up yesterday's work without explaining it all again. A tool earns its place when I still want to open it the next day.
I'd like you to finish a story here knowing why I tried something, what I bought, which approaches I tested, what failed and how much of it now works. Ideally, you can try a small part on a computer you already own. Spend a little less, understand the steps, and end up with something useful to you.
When I mention a price, I'll tell you what I paid at the time. I'll leave the unfinished parts in the story and add the next chapter when I fix them. A small problem can take several rounds of changes; that time belongs in the account too.
This has made me curious about the work AI will create. People like me have always had things they wished their software could do. Now I can ask for a change, try it myself and ask again. Getting one thing working usually gives me an idea for the next.
I write in Chinese and English. I also plan to make English-language YouTube videos to show the steps that are awkward to explain in an article; I haven't published any yet. I hope readers around my age see these projects and feel they could have a go too.
Start with a project story below. And if you're trying to get your own computer to do something useful, come over to the community and tell me about it. I'd like to hear how far you've got, and where you're stuck.