“Data” was so much smaller then. I had a minuscule hard drive if any, no internet, 8 bit graphics but nothing photo realistic, glimpses of windows and os2, and barely a mouse. In retrospect, it was like embedded programming.
How you would help a retired math professor that has a collection of books gathered over a lifetime? They are all math/physics related and many were passed along from other colleagues. Their hope is to pass them along in the same way. They cover three walls of a small office.He mentioned that pre-covid, he would have left them in boxes outside the office for a few semesters and pass along...
"I am not sure what book to suggest. But if your friend wants to get away from the algebra of coordinate geometry maybe a book on geometric constructions.—How to do things with a ruler and compass."
Everyone complains about the lack of convenience but it saves me mind capacity more than anything and I never have to go to the store. We also like variety in food. Recipes show up, I cook for 30 minutes and we have family meals.
$20/meal to feed three adults and a toddler is a bargain to me as well.
I prefer Blue Apron to others and cringe to think they might make it easier. Note, I could barely cook before and took twice as long. I just use a giant cutting board and a favorite spatula and knife and occasionally use more than one pan. I also overlap things like preheating the pans and chopping while things cook.
We recreate some of the meals but have a hard time getting the quantities to match up. It usually means I have to make a double batch for guests or have leftovers and need to stock the pantry with various sauces and vinegars.
I didn't imagine it would have much use and was already annoyed by the guys that used FTP to download porn images. They would use terminals in the computer labs to amas collections that you could look at one by one with xv. The browser seemed to speed up the effort of downloading index files, manually typing in filenames, switching to binary mode, then back, etc.
Not having to entertain in a grocery cart or plan meals around ingredients that can't be bought in small quantities is even better. I suppose it depends a bit on the types of things you like to eat.
Occasionally there is one that I'll have a snack afterwards, but I tend to have a pretty big appetite and find the quantity fine.
I also didn't notice the drop in salary because I had time to repair things and didn't "buy" progress in hobbies. I also had time to design things for work while sitting in a convertible by a lake rather than a drab office. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Sometimes I wish I could do the same thing working for myself but the situation is different.
The only tough part was not having time to socialize with coworkers. They would take breaks and talk about things but I felt my time was so precious that I wanted to get my work done.
- Before the ACA we had Blue Cross and I inquired about maternity coverage. My wife was looking at a shoulder surgery so we were locked in. Blue Cross offered us a $1000/month rider that had to be in place for 21 months before birth and then they would cover anything over our high deductible. It worked out to about $25,000 on top of our regular premiums before they would pick up the bill. We jokingly priced getting an apartment in another city instead.
- Then the ACA came out. Maternity was included free and the premiums are about the same. We had a baby and had to cover twice the deductible. The marketplace gave us some trouble due to stupid bureaucracy so we priced out getting a plan directly (non-ACA) but the price was so much higher and it covered less. So, even with the marketplace, the coverage and affordability made it an easy decision.
Anyway, I could live without the subsidies (we haven't qualified for them every year) and I wish the marketplace was a little easier to work with. Though I feel like our coverage is so much better now. Why take it all away?
1) Be ruthless about what you need to accomplish. This means choosing what to "do poorly" at. Sure everything is "important" but it's time to secretly throw a few things overboard.
2) Do whatever you can to optimize your wellbeing. Go to bed early and sleep enough. (1/3 dose of melatonin if you have trouble falling asleep.) Plan simple healthy meals that don't require much thinking or prep. A media fast is really good. Try to throw in a tiny bit of exercise (20 minutes) and 10 minutes of meditation here and there. (ex: when you arrive at the office)
3) Do the work in cycles so you get time to think between bursts. As we get older, the work wears us down so I treat screen time as "toxic exposure" and set a daily maximum. That doesn't mean you have to stop working...Just step away from the desk and visualize what you're going to do. Then get in there and work quickly and efficiently and get out and plan the next burst.
Bonus: In a real pinch, you need to work every day of the week. Though extra cycles and wellbeing make this pretty easy. If you're working too hard, the weekends are necessary to recover.
- Networking used Python with Mininet
- Software Development used Java with Eclipse (Android, Swing, JUnit, Google App Engine, GWT, etc.)
I finished my undergrad in 1995 and used C and assembly (RS6000, Spark, x86). C++ started to be an option when I left.
AWS had the fastest network and but colocation allowed for cheaper CPU and RAM upgrades. As it turns out, my RAM/CPU needs plateaued at 4x my previous server so I have twice as much as I need. AWS got steadily cheaper over that same time and the servers got faster.
Upgrading to a new server is pretty disruptive. It would probably be easier to do slowly over time rather than big jumps.
It's probably a busy week for tax preparers so my first step might be to file an extension to give a little breathing room.
Understand the danger of early stage investment. It can shelter you from market realities. It can also enable something big that you own very little of.
My 6 month project turned into 12 years... It will take longer than you expect. The sooner you release something the better. Once you have people paying for something, it gets real and exciting.