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> My MIL never got her refund

Sorry man, but that one's on you.

Oh no, not me buddy. See my other comments. I would give away every penny to avoid jail. No wrenches, either, thank you very much.

This seems like a prediction. It also seems reliant on an idea that he can't hire new people.

> Elon Musk's epic flaming death spiral at the helm of Twitter

I keep hearing this, but...is it true? Doesn't this viewpoint rely on a prediction that it's going to actually crash and be unrecoverable?

Sure, but you've made that choice ahead of time. And it doesn't move the coins.

This is a tangent, but...does she deserve every bit of 11 years?

I agree that relative to other sentences she does, but what does 11 years mean to you? It's everything to me. I cannot imagine giving up 11 years.

I think we throw around years like slaps on the wrist.

I built an integration for a charity that processed many millions per year. The money went to support needy folks in an impoverished nation. Children could get sponsors for schooling, food, and orphanages.

The high-impact part comes from the organization and their mission moreso than my contribution to it, but it was also the most technically challenging work I did (shoehorning previous functionality into places it didn't belong and all the fun that comes with that).

It's been about 9 years and I can see that largely, my backend is still running. The site had a facelift since then, though.

This was a fully custom project, with a pretty standard Rails backend. The complexity was mostly dealing with Convio, the CRM / payment processing system from Salesforce for nonprofits.

Just have a pile of tarps. Peel them off like post-it notes. Replace in fair weather.

As a pale person, I can fill everyone in: it's because I can wear clothing, and since it's a social norm, it's not debilitating in the slightest bit whatsoever.

We started spelling tests in first grade in the 1980s. We also read (aloud as a class) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that year.

Location of the insured vehicle has been a factor since I started having insurance about 24 years ago (speaking for 20 years of Geico, and more recently Progressive).

Is there an option to download to the local device, too?

I drive through areas with no service for a few hours per week.

Which models do you like for this?

(I've never had an iPod)

Edit: I realized after I posted that you didn't say you program, but rather that you work for FAANG. So sorry if some of this comment is slightly mis-guided.

> I had some free time this weekend, when I realized I could do anything, but there was nothing I wanted to do.

I bet you were on the internet. At least, my experience lately is that the internet is very boring. I previously would have never expected to say that.

Dive into a project that isn't a project IMO. It's a hobby. For instance, FPV drones. They overlap well with your skillset (programming), but require some new learning (soldering, electronics). You can program autonomous flights later if that's interesting to you.

Programming is magic right now, and I would be looking for intersections where you can apply it in a way that's fun. I posted in another thread just now about projects I've built, and I mentioned a few programming projects. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33583779

Other than finding a non-boring hobby, I would just get out in the world. Meet some people. Do things you're afraid of. Cosplay as a different personality sometimes. Just pretend you're really outgoing and walk into a new bar. Experiment with life in non-permanent ways and see what suits you.

I know it can be hard to see the world through other peoples' lenses, but you don't have much time. Don't waste it on boring shit that you find meaningless.

This year: I built a site to republish mug shots for my county. The county site was really bad.

I built a CLI script to check the weather in some ways that I care about. I would use Alexa, but she can't answer questions like "when is the next rain forecasted?" I want rain/freeze alerts eventually. Basically just to help me plan to have things winterized and put up.

I'm building an app that I will use personally, but that I can also make a SaaS. It's sort of like a time-tracker, but for professionals in a specific industry. It helps them track time but also other metrics. I'm sorry to be vague, but I think I have an advantage with the stealth at this point.

In the past:

I built a program to help buy things from Amazon's return section.

I built a program to monitor the "free" section of craigslist.

I built a program to determine the bad poker players and sit at their tables.

I built a program that enables all the above programs to send alerts to my phone.

(I built dozens, maybe hundreds, of other programs, some smaller, some larger, over the last 20 years. I have a wasteland of old git repos and shell scripts.)

Non-computer: I have 40 acres with a small homestead on it, and so there's a bajillion projects. Most recently I built a ladder to access loft areas in a building, with wood.

I installed and just had to maintain an underground dog fence. If I don't, the dogs run off sometimes, and I want to keep them safe at home. The peace of mind I get from this is probably worth 4-5 hours a week, but it's only cost me about 10 hours in 7 years. It wouldn't have cost me really any time, except the road grader keeps breaking my wire.

I restored a Singer model 128 treadle sewing machine that I intend to build a tipi with. I don't need a tipi, but I want to experience one.

I built a deer fly trap. It didn't go well, so I need to build v2. But I am driven by an intense hatred for deer flies, so I will persevere.

I built a tool that wraps wire tightly around things as a way to secure them. I use it mostly to secure tool handles from splitting, but I keep finding new spots to use it.

In my experience, if you decide "I will build what I need when it makes sense," you start evaluating all of your ecosystem. I usually focus on what sucks, and make it way better. That's an easy way.

It's much harder to imagine what you would like to have, or like to be doing. If you do that, start small and see how it goes.

Do it. And bring a kerosene lantern.

I'm also "effectively retired" so that makes being out here for long stretches pretty easy. I own a bar, but I have 4-hour-work-weeked myself out of any steady obligations there. Of course, I'm working way harder out here improving the land than I ever would at the bar.

I'm a bit of a loner so it's easy for me to be out here. I visit my dad about every week, and that's plenty. My mom lives 1200 miles away, so I guess I have to choose. I don't actually have kids yet, so less of a concern at this point. I'd really like to find someone compatible with this lifestyle, but I would be willing to give it up under the right circumstances. My favorite thing out here is the freedom, and I can approximate that in many other places.

[Outcasts] I think the fears of racial tensions are mostly over-hyped. I'm not saying you'd never run into some overt racist out here, but the population density here is 8.8/sq mi. Compared to the 18,635/sq mi in San Francisico and I don't know...the odds seem greatly reduced, even if the racists are 10 times more likely (which they aren't IMO). I've only met good people so far, in my 7 years here. You get to choose where you interact, and so I've chosen places like Scouts, the school, and a volunteer group that protects our national river here. Great people in all 3 places. That said, it's very homogeneous in my particular county. I'm sure there's differences across the country, though.

[Friendships] I've considered moving over friendships. One, actually. I just don't want to move "back home" (Florida). I visit that friend for almost a month per year, though.

[Work] Yeah. I also worked remotely from here for a few years, and that went well. But there's no way I could have an office job & commute here. No way.

Your last paragraph is on the nose, and I'm definitely struggling with that. It winds up making me feel tied to several places and pulled in many directions. I also have diverse interests/hobbies/talents that do the same.

Anyway not trying to change your mind. I like the 8.8. And honestly I agree with all your points. Maybe my life will be wildly different if I meet someone. I better hurry up, I'm about to age-out!

I hear you, and not to argue with your points, but I have some comments.

- There is a very close school here, as I happen to live in the tiny area that has the school for a pretty big region. They have very few students (graduating classes of 10-20). I'm not sure how good the school is, but I knew a second grader who tested 99.9 percentile on the Iowa standardized test. So it's at least passable? I think schooling is a big rural concern, for sure, but worth the tradeoff of getting to grow up in a place like this. There's much to learn that isn't in a textbook.

- [Comfortable weather] There's other regions, of course. I don't love the summer here, but I like the 3 other seasons. And in summer I just travel and work inside more. It's not even the heat, it's the bugs in this region. Ticks, mostly.

- [Asian] You would stand out here, but wouldn't be receiving any hatred or anything. The man I bought my property from married a Filipino woman, and she had a daughter who went to the little school here. They didn't speak much English when they arrived. Anyway she loved the school, and married locally and had children. They all still live very close; they moved away when I bought this place, and moved back after a couple of years. No groceries in this county for you, though, sorry. No stoplights, either, so you can imagine why niche businesses don't spring up. That goes for all niches. We have farm stores, dollar stores, grocery stores, gas stations, and that's about it. Dry county, too.

- [Costco] That's kinda nice, but then you're 10 minutes from Costco, and for me, that eliminates a lot of why I like to be out here. You can wander all around my property and all you're going to see is trees, wildlife, mountain views...and my stuff. There's no towers, homes, roads, billboards, vehicles, radios, any of it, unless you choose to bring it here. That said, I own a business in town, and I commute usually once per week, so I can do my shopping while I'm there.

- [Room per] My county has no building code, so you can build whatever you like out here. That's cool. I do stuff like this. I have an area for leatherwork, an area with my sewing machine, my woodshop. Fly tying in a spare bedroom. A home gym. Etc. That's one of my favorite things. If I ever have a family out here, maybe I'll stick the kids' bedrooms in a separate building once they're 10 or so.

I visited SF in 2020, right before COVID. I had a great time. Very interesting city. I do love cities, too, but they don't feed me like this place. In another life, I'll be an almost-anonymous resident of a massive city, one unimportant detail. In contrast to out here, where I'm the only one who can affect any change.

What are you sewing? I'm about to make a tipi cover on a Singer model 128 (a treadle machine).

Truthfully, I haven't had fig trees before. My neighbor (and uncle) has some that I love the fruit of, so I got some myself.

That said, I don't think he does anything. They need watered the first growing season, if there's not enough rain, and that's it. They grow well here with no insect pressure, climate issues, etc.

Our winters are mild, and we rarely get below-zero temps. Usually a couple overnights each year.

That's fair. Not a problem for me, and I am definitely remote.

You can have a very similar setup close to civilization, it just costs a lot more.

For instance, in my region, acreage might go as little as about $2000/acre still. But when you get close to town, you might pay 10k/acre or more, even "out here." Town meaning a county seat or something, not a metropolis.

Anyway, I chose it because it was remote. I can still get USPS and UPS deliveries, though, so Amazon is on the table. I relied on it heavily in the beginning; I find I don't have to buy many things now.

I hope you can figure it out.

For me, the place I bought reduced my expenses. My rent was more than my mortgage ($625/month). That rate was high because I only took a six-year loan, and paid it off quickly.

I had previously been paying $850 in rent.

Don't even need a telescope. You wouldn't believe how many stars are out there, no telescope required.

You can always visit the wilderness. No need to live here.

But I sympathize. I have many other lives I'd like to live, as well.

I hung it on the wall in my "gym" for now.

I have a lot of antler already for projects, so I intend to leave it how it is. It's pretty cool looking.

No specific plans, I guess.

I think I'm, in a way, OP-who-took-this-advice. I could have written his post, and I'm mid-journey on your advice.

I sort-of naturally fell into it. I'm just not as interested in HN or Reddit anymore. The whole internet feels like it's arguing, not discussing, and that rubs me wrong. So I feel very bored by the internet right now, which is something I never thought I'd say.

It's allowed me to really focus up on some other things like my fitness and some real-world projects, but I wouldn't say the struggle is over. The dopamine cycle is legit.

Have you considered the Gingery series? That could be fun if you have the physical capacity. Seems like you have all the required interest.

Cheers.

What's stopping you?

I live in a small house somewhere in the woods. I have 40 acres, a house, a woodshop, a nice "man shed", and several more small buildings for animals and equipment---and I bought all that for $60,000 in the Ozarks.

The slow life doesn't need much to sustain it after you buy your place; maybe it's time to jump off the cliff.

Things I've been doing lately: enjoying our first snow last night. Doing things by a kerosene lantern (because I like lanterns). Wandering the woods...I found a "deadhead" a couple of days ago in great shape. Baking bread. Planting fig trees in my garden. Watching the sunrise. Drinking warm cups of hot cocoa. Making some holiday gifts in my woodshop, with wood harvested from my land.

I'm missing someone to share it with. Add someone to the above: that's the kind of life I dream about.

Good luck to you!

Spotify used to have a version of a song that I had for years on MP3. It had an audio defect in it that wasn't part of the actual song.

I'm not saying they got it on Napster/Limewire, but uhh--that's where I got my identical copy many years before Spotify existed.

Unfortunately I have forgotten what song it was.

Cleaned up the globe and lit it up today!

It's basically brand new, so it didn't take much.

It smelled strange so I've had it burning outside for a while with no issues. Thanks for poking me with your series, I always forget how much I love lanterns.

Like those wiz-kids on the arcade basketball machines?

No, I'm quite more likely to believe that a customer at T-Mobile is a googler than to believe that the salesman is.