
Ask HN: What are the changes you made in your life and never look back? - bearwithclaws
I'm interested to hear what are the changes fellow HNers made in their life and never look back again. It could be anything.<p>For me:<p>* Inkjet Printer =&#62; LaserJet Printer<p>* PC =&#62; Mac<p>* Monthly Gym Membership =&#62; Home Gym<p>* Sitting all day =&#62; Standing Desk<p>* Shall-not-be-named-sucky-cloud-storage =&#62; DropBox
======
edw519

      English literature ----------> mathematics
      cook ------------------------> programmer
      newspaper -------------------> internet
      mall ------------------------> internet
      land line -------------------> cell phone
      phone -----------------------> email
      desktop ---------------------> laptop
      14" CRT ---------------------> 19" flat screen
      CDs -----> thumb drives -----> cloud
      radio -----> CD player ------> Ipod
      ie --------> Firefox --------> Chrome
      Yahoo mail ------------------> Gmail
      low level code --------------> applications
      building for myself ---------> building for my customers
      kissing customers' asses ----> properly serving customers
      suit & tie ------------------> jeans & shirt
      calling Mom -----------------> visiting Mom
      Pittsburgh Pirates ----------> Pittsburgh Steelers
      Simpsons --------------------> Family Guy
      USAir -----------------------> Southwest
      weight lifting --------------> bodyweight exercises
      eggs for breakfast ----------> fruit for breakfast
      McDonald's ------------------> Five Guys
      Reddit ----------------------> Hacker News
      lurking ---------------------> posting

~~~
smhelp
Why "eggs ---------> fruits"

Isn't there more benefits of eating a protein rich breakfast ?

~~~
adrianwaj
Here's mine:

scrambled eggs --> poached eggs --> raw eggs

jogging --> sprinting

sun cream --> no cream

metal pots --> ceramic pots

pasteurized dairy --> raw dairy

Australia --> Israel

~~~
bigohms
does the ceramic make a difference in the taste? If so, I'm curious what foods
specifically?

~~~
adrianwaj
The food stays hot for longer in the pot and can be placed in the fridge,
microwave, dishwasher. I think it cooks better due to infrared rays
apparently, and there's no risk of metal contamination: that's my concern from
hot acidic foods like tomato sauce, especially when kept for days in fridge,
or scratched out with metal spoon. I think it tastes better and cooks better -
the overall experience feels awesome. 3 brands I've come across are Neoflam
(Korea), Piral (Italy) and Xtrema (USA.) Xtrema best but most expensive but
all v good. Sudden heat changes and dropping are the enemy.

~~~
bigohms
Excellent, I'm always looking out for new techniques & tools. I've always
wondered if cooking in non-conductive would make a difference, your response
validates. Thanks adrian

------
TamDenholm

      Windows > Linux
      CD-R backups > Dropbox
      Two monitors > One 30" Dell Monitor (Best purchase ever btw)
      Pirating Music > Spotify (I even pay a subscription)
      TV > Youtube, BBC iPlayer, other steaming services (and now no TV licence fee)
      Crap diet > Learning to cook
      Paperwork > iPad
      IDE > gEdit
      Landline > Mobile
    

I'm sure there are others. One thing i'd love to do is live totally off the
grid, reuse water, generate own electricity, grow own food, live in middle of
no where. The only thing i cant figure out how to do is a decent net
connection...

~~~
HelloBeautiful
>> and now no TV licence fee

Nope, if you're watching TV programs on your computers or smartphones
(iPlayer) you still have to pay UK TV licence.

~~~
Khaki
Nope, only if you're watching live (as it's being broadcast) TV.

~~~
HelloBeautiful
My bad, didn't knew that.

------
jasonkester
I hit my singularity when I realized that you can take as much time off as you
want if you are prepared to take it unpaid.

    
    
      1996: 3 weeks
      1998: 10 weeks
      1999: 4 weeks
      2000/1: 20 weeks
      2002: 6 weeks
      2003: 36 weeks
      2004: 32 weeks 
      2005-2010: ~36 weeks (9 months)/year
    

The work equation changed to: (how much do I need to travel for another 9
months) / (hourly rate) = (hours I need to work on this next contract)

~~~
maayank
Do you succeed doing that with sensible savings, health care, etc.?

~~~
jasonkester
Yes. During my heaviest years of contract/travel/contract/travel, I found I
came out between $10k and $20k ahead in savings at the end of each year.

Contracting pays so well, and traveling in the 3rd world is so cheap that
there's just no way you can burn through your savings before boredom sets in
and you need to work again for the mental challenge.

Catastrophic coverage health care is $100/month if you're young and healthy.
Travel Medical is on the order of $500/year to get you airlifted home when you
get shot in the Congo. Those in combination will keep you alive for the
duration.

------
krmmalik
* Gym in the evening => Gym during the day (extended lunch break)

* One monitor => Two monitors as an extended desktop

* Never checking my finances => Using Zetabee cashflow to manage my finances

* Reading blogs only => Reading books (on anything) and audiobooks (in the car)

* Hot showers => Occasional Cold Water dips

* Cow's Milk => Goat's Milk

* Microsoft Outlook => Gmail

* Wasting time on the internet => Writing a journal or creating a list of things to do when im bored in advance

* Irregular work pattern => Aiming to achieve a minimum of 5hrs of focused productivity a day with 3min breaks every 60mins

* Friends that are negative or with no ambition => Limiting contact with them

* Trying to spend time with successful people or ambitious people => Setup my own Mastermind Group

* Green Tea => White Tea

* Manual version control => Mercurial using TortoiseHG as the GUI

* No programming skills => Started learning Javascript

* Relationship issues with colleagues and friends => "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie plus being more direct without being confrontational

* 20hrs of TV a week => Choosing 1 or 2 shows and following them only

* Poor quality of air in the house => Air purifier

* Back pains => Got a very simple chair, improved posture and regular back exercises

Cant think of anything else. Hope the list didnt bore any of you. Its fun to
share.

~~~
slindstr
Out of curiosity, why'd you change from Cow's Milk to Goat's Milk?

I temporarily switched to Almond Milk because it doesn't have lactose (which
doesn't promote estrogen production), has the same amount of protein, more
vitamins, and at the time it was way cheaper than organic whole cow's milk.
The biggest drawback was that it tasted kinda gross, which I remedied with a
bit of cinnamon, but now that it's fairly expensive I switched back to cow
milk.

~~~
krmmalik
I'm based in the UK and based on my own personal experience, Almond milk isnt
easy to get hold of and would probably be very expensive.

I read a book by Larry Cook in which he explained that cow's milk in the way
it is distributed and processed now isnt as good for humans as it once used to
be, and that goat's milk is more harmonious for the immune system. It doesnt
taste as good as cow's milk but its not that bad either. I find cow's milk
very watery now.

It only costs a little bit more than cow's milk and since taking it, my immune
system has been better.

As for the other alternatives, the only one that i could find was Soy milk,
but personally i feel it tastes worse than goat's milk and i dont know whether
this is true or not, but someone told me Soy messes with your hormones, and so
i've been rather paranoid since then about it.

------
arethuza
Academia -> Real World

Drive to work -> Walk to work

Prepared food -> Cook from basic ingredients

Radio 1 -> Radio 4

Java -> Anything else

Expensive SUV -> Sensible economical car

Paper books only -> Kindle & Audible

Being a bigot about particular operating system and languages -> Not really
caring anymore (apart from Java)

[Edit: The thing about Java is more today with my own, in retrospect, slightly
embarrassing "advocacy" of the language in the period '95 to '00 - rather than
the issues the language has as the new Cobol].

------
Mz

      Husband => No husband
      Affluenza => Spartanism
      Car => No car
    

Probably a whole lot of other things. Somewhere in there all that led to:

Chronically Ill => Not Chronically Ill. Definitely don't plan to go back.

~~~
ez77

      Chronically Ill => Not Chronically Ill
    

How did you achieve that?

~~~
Mz
Got rid of the husband, everything I ever owned, and my car. And also took a
boatload of supplements, did a lot of reading about my medical condition,
changed my diet, and a whole lot of other stuff.

Some info on what I did is here: <http://healthgazelle.com/>

Not much info, mind you. I'm too busy getting my life back to spend much time
on the site.

Peace.

~~~
krmmalik
Amazing website. I'm at the "plateau" bit that you mention, and i'd love to
learn more.

~~~
Mz
You know, much of the site was written as much as 5 years ago and I have
become a combination of bitter about the reception I get in the CF community
and busy getting my life back together, so I hardly look at the main site
anymore (I do sometimes post to the new-ish blog). So please refresh my
memory, maybe with a quote and/or link to the piece you are referencing. That
might help me sound like less of a fool.

And you can always email me sometime.

Thanks.

~~~
krmmalik
I really liked the CF sections explaining why lung infections are the "leaves"
of the problem.

Im in the process of moving house and getting married, but at some point i'll
email you for some advice, and would really appreciate any assistance. Thanks
again, and nice meeting you ;-)

~~~
Mz
Since you are moving anyway, use this as an opportunity to pitch out as much
stuff as you can.

Congrats on the marriage and good luck with the move.

Take care.

~~~
krmmalik
Thank you so much. I'll be in touch!

------
grist
Video Games, Junk Reading => After work home development

Video Games, Junk Reading => Selfhero: sailing, diving, etc

Wishing/Wanting => Doing. Immediate scheduling

Unmotivated Friends => Adventurous Friends

That's hard/difficult => That's worthwhile

I'm over thirty, but like many of my friends, I still enjoyed video games way
too much. Claiming they were a way to "relax" or "blow off steam" after a hard
day at work, I finally admitted to myself that they had lost their original
value and were now solely a time sink and addiction.

This nagging thought kept troubling me until I gave it my full attention, and
dealt with the reality of the answer: "If I spent this many hours a week
practicing <insert game heroic skill> instead of playing a character with it,
how heroic could I become?"

I suddenly lost all desire to play video games, watch most TV, and read books
(entertainment, not literature). Instead I have spent the last couple of years
cultivating interesting and useful skills, and participating in my own
adventures. I went from playing CoD and TotalWar to scuba diving with sharks,
motorcycling, traveling and practicing/training my sailing skills with the
goal of circumnavigating.

Never looked back.

------
jkahn
New Zealand => Australia

Windows => Mac

Spinning rust => SSD

Of course, there are tons of technology changes that have been great. The
things that have made a huge impact in my life are:

Pure techie => Learning sales

Employee => Business owner

Sales is all psychology. It totally changes your view of the world. It's not
about how things _should_ be, but about how things are regardless. A business
degree didn't teach anything that mattered about that.

~~~
follower
> New Zealand => Australia

From where in NZ did you leave and where in Oz did you end up? What were the
improvements you found? Do you think you would've found them moving to some
country other than Australia?

Curious. :)

~~~
jkahn
I moved from Auckland to Brisbane. The weather and lifestyle are better,
people are generally more upbeat and opportunities are better.

New Zealand has a major case of tall poppy syndrome. Australia doesn't have
this so much. Most people generally want you to succeed, and help you out.

------
kaiwen1
Drinking whenever => No drinking => Drinking two days per month

Drinking too much sucked. Drinking not at all sucked. Drinking two days a
month lets me enjoy my wine/beer/sake and whacks me with the occasional
hangover to remind why I opted for this damn policy in the first place. It is
drinking in perfect balance.

------
missn
_Mouse = > Wacom Tablet_

Saved me from carpal tunnel syndrome (I already had the early signs).

 _Inkjet Printer = > LaserJet Printer_

Didnt't realize how much I was missing. The time savings alone makes it worth
it.

 _Design Major = > Psychology Major_

Sometimes it's true what they say, everything in moderation. Once I left art
school, I found my passion for design again.

~~~
smhelp
what wacom tablet did you get, and are there any drawbacks of using it as a
mouse ?

~~~
missn
I got the basic one (Bamboo) with the smallest possible size (I think it's the
4x6 one). If you're doing design and other complex tasks, it's probably better
to have those large ones. For me though, since I only use it for general
computing and the occasional design work, having a small one makes it portable
(and it fits on my desk!).

Unfortunately though, after years of getting used to the mouse, I do find it
hard doing detailed work in Photoshop (i.e. tracing something/colouring
something). It probably has to do with me not being used to the tablet but in
times like those, I (using the tablet) still don't have the dexterity to
manipulate things as well as when using a mouse.

------
edanm
Random off the top of my head:

No backup/storage => Dropbox 50gb (paid) <\--- !!!!! Probably the best
computing upgrade I've ever made.

Same password on every site => Keepass (Also an incredible thing)

No serious exercise => Starting to exercise (gym, started playing a new sport
I love, etc.)

Old phone => Smartphone (iPhone 4)

~~~
follower
> started playing a new sport I love

What was the sport?

~~~
edanm
Hockey. I've been playing basketball every week for years, but it's not a very
high-intensity game (with my group, at least!).

But I haven't played Hockey since I was 15, mostly because I didn't know where
(Hockey is not very popular in Israel). But I finally found a group that
plays, and joined them and had a very draining, but amazingly fun time
playing. I've missed it.

------
Akuma99
easy! ...

* Cancer => No Cancer

* Corporate Jungle => Self Employed

(in that order)

------
sleight42
Federal Government Contracting => Startup/Commercial Freelancing (US
Government couldn't care less about spending tax dollars well...)

Living next door to the 'rents (for help with wife's health care) => Living
150 miles away

Java => Ruby (and almost any language, including JVM languages, other than
Java)

PC => Mac (huge +1)

Friends who don't respect my life choices => Friends met through the Ruby
community

HDD => SSD

------
agentultra
vim => emacs layered window manager => tiled window manager mouse => no mouse
no wife => wife music career => programming career inactive => active

Best thing I did for my health was to get a bike and get into sports. The
first thing I got into was martial arts. Now I rock climb, run, and cycle.
Nothing gets the brain going like a good work out. I never look back.

Emacs was a big paradigm shift that took many months too.

 _Update: thought of a couple other things..._

------
hboon
PC -> Mac

Over-the-counter banking -> Internet banking

Feature phone -> Smartphone

Mouse with no wheel -> One with wheel (and currently Magic mouse)

Own hosted email/Yahoo -> Gmail (or Google Apps for Business)

Dock at the bottom (both Windows and Mac) -> Dock on the left

Unmanaged music collection -> iTunes

No specific editor -> MacVim

~~~
follower
> Dock at the bottom (both Windows and Mac) -> Dock on the left

Yeah, I did that quite a while ago and have found it great on my laptop but
I've just started using a 1900x1200 monitor and am starting to think about
switching back.

~~~
hboon
I hardly use the Dock since there are utilities like
Spotlight/AlfredApp/LaunchBar/Quicksilver, so I auto-hide it. I'm using an
external 1440x900 side-by-side with my built-in 1440x900, but if I even get a
tall enough built-in LCD, I'd still leave the Dock on the left. There's never
enough vertical space for code for most programming languages.

I guess laptop-only -> laptop + external mon counts too.

------
bromley
Multiple big projects on the go at once -> Dedicated effort to finish one
before getting too distracted by the next

Valuing money more than time -> Valuing time more than money

Trusting only logical reasoning -> Trusting my gut instinct as well

Thinking it's wrong to turn down opportunities -> Happy to turn down
opportunities if they don't appeal much or I've got too much on my plate
already

Running all email through my own mail-server -> fastmail.fm

Keeping my email client open all day -> Opening it only every hour or two so I
can focus on real work

Cleaning teeth straight after food -> Waiting 30 minutes or more first, to
reduce enamel erosion

White rice -> Brown rice (~5 times the fibre)

Cooking rice in a saucepan -> Using a rice cooker

------
lukifer
Platter drive => SSD

9-to-5 => Gig with flexible scheduling

Strongly typed languages => Weakly typed languages

~~~
eru
Do you mean dynamically typed, or really weakly typed?

(K&R C is weakly typed for example.)

------
k7d
Two best decisions I've ever made

1) working for a bigco -> startup

2) single -> married with a kid

It took me a while to come to these 2 points but I've never looked back.

------
gommm
* Working in a big R&D company in japan => Working for a small company in Japan => Working as a freelancer => Starting my own company (It's very exiting and a bit stressful, but working in japan is a good preparation for how to deal with stress and long hours)

* Windows => Debian => Gentoo => Mac at home, Gentoo on servers (I tried ubuntu on servers but I always end up having to compile and install from source too much stuff)

* HDD => SDD (Amazing the different it makes)

* Paperbooks => ereader (used to use a pocketbook 360 which was really great but it was stolen :-( currently looking for a new one)

* Backup on dvds => Tarsnap

------
unignorant
Sitting => Standing Desk: The effect this has had on my productivity is
surprisingly large.

Typical "Healthy" Diet => No Processed Foods or Sugar: It's hard to
disambiguate placebo effects, but I generally feel pretty awesome.

Laptop Screen => Cinema Display: This has definitely enhanced my productivity.

Shoes => No Shoes: Of course I need to wear shoes occasionally, but when I do,
they are "minimalist" and have flexible soles. On everything else I default to
barefoot, including when I go for a run. This has been great for my posture,
and it's made me seemingly immune to most common running injuries.

~~~
generalk
Which minimalist shoes are you using? I've been looking for good
recommendations.

~~~
eru
Not the original poster; but I am using Vibram Five-Fingers and they suits me
quite well. (I do prefer barefoot running when possible.)

------
lux
The big ones:

* Moving away at 18 to a new province. Best thing I ever did.

* Lost my job at 20, started a company. Never worried about money or looked back. This actually seemed incredibly natural.

* Shut down said company after 10 years, just to move on to more interesting things. No regrets. I'm working on way cooler stuff now in a variety of areas and I love all of it.

* Changed my eating/lifestyle, lost 35lbs. Keeping it off with no effort due to lifestyle changes.

I don't really pay attention to small stuff. I wouldn't say CD->iPod->iPhone
was a deliberate change, more of a natural progression...

~~~
jpr
Care to elaborate on the eating/lifestyle issue?

~~~
lux
Sure! When I started working long hours behind a desk and not eating properly
(teenage or stereotypical coder eating habits + sedentary lifestyle), the
combo crept up on me but really hit me hard. I ballooned up before I realized
it from 145 to 185 at the worst point.

I started doing a variety of martial arts at that point, but didn't change my
eating and couldn't lose a thing. After a while, I started looking at
different things: buying fresh food as much as possible, portion control,
walking, and less alcohol. The combo meant changing a lot of things over time,
but if I didn't change a lot then one thing would negate the others.

Now it's been almost 2 years that I've been back to 145. I weigh myself daily
to keep track and adjust accordingly. I buy almost entirely fresh food (helps
that I love to cook :), use smaller plates to trick myself into recognizing
portions more easily, and I generally walk if it takes less than an hour.
Gives me some much-needed time to think :) And I still drink... I _love_ dark
beers and wine, but I keep the quantity and frequency down now, and probably
have even more fun now that I feel good about myself too.

------
bfung
make this into a site, akin to threewords.me?

~~~
phpnode
done, <http://3changes.me/>

------
barrydahlberg
Stable salaried jobs -> Contracting, business, chaos.

It suits me better.

~~~
Maro
I really like the "chaos" part. I think it's a very down to earth description
to how it is in practice =)

~~~
mkramlich
related: when I worked for Cheaptickets (started as a smallco, turned into
BigDumbCompany eventually) I was in a group called "Car, Hotel, Air and Other
Stuff." You can see why I liked the acronym. I specialized in the Other Stuff
(jvm, monitoring, troubleshooting, performance, thread issues, etc.)

------
daimyoyo
Flip phone => smartphone

Smartphone => iPhone

PC => Mac

Using public wifi => private Internet connection

The biggest one: bike => car.

------
latortuga
Interesting. I saw the title and my first thought was my experience of
discarding religion from my life. Rejecting the backwards, totalitarian dogma
of christianity was the most liberating experience of my life and I have never
once looked back with anything other than joy at leaving it behind.

------
highlander
Boiling vegetables ----------------> Steaming vegetables

Ready meals -----------------------> Eating mostly simple food (chicken,
prawns, veg, brown pasta)

Red meat --------------------------> Mostly white meat

Smoked fish -----------------------> Unsmoked fish, also prawns and mussels

Out of shape ----------------------> In shape (running, weights at home and
weekly personal training)

Wonky teeth -----------------------> Straight teeth

No vitamins/cod liver oil ---------> Multivitamins (hoping for longer
telemeres) and cod liver oil

Work goals -----------------------> Also have personal goals (run half
marathon, travel to a particular destination etc.)

Dumb phone ------------------------> Smart phone

Hotmail ---------------------------> GMail

Paper to-do list ------------------> Online to-do list

------
dclaysmith
US => Ireland

.NET => php/python

1 monitor => 2 monitors

Car => No Car

~~~
simonswords82
As somebody who is in the UK, looking to spend some time in the US
working/living and then grow old in Ireland your "upgrade" from US to Ireland
interests me. What made you move?

------
xutopia
There are a bunch of things that really improved my life and they aren't all
tech related.

    
    
        Java/.NET => PHP => Ruby
        Laundromat => Owning my own * single most amazing change
        Not caring about personal finances => Saving up
        Sit all day => Geekdesk (I stand about 1h30 every day)
        Pharmaceutical programming => Startup programming
        Restaurants => Cooking classes
        Playing WOW => Quitting cold turkey
        Windows/Linux on home built boxes => Mac
        Seeing my wife clean the house all the time => Paying for cleaning

------
cmos
normal american diet -> no meat, no dairy, no processed foods.

dumb phone -> dumber phone

4 hours TV nightly -> no tv

workaholic -> socialholic

self doubt -> awesomeness

technology lover and collector -> less is more

friendster -> nothing

Daily motto: "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and it's a beautiful day"

~~~
smhelp
how does one go from self-doubt to awesomeness or little or no self doubt ?
thanks.

~~~
olegious
don't know what worked for cmos but for me it was recognizing that most of my
self doubts stemmed from irrational fears such as being uncomfortable/scared
around meeting new people. I'm a bit of a workout junkie so I decided to apply
principles from working out to my psychology- I would take an irrational fear
or something that made me uncomfortable and do incremental "mini-workouts"
until I became comfortable and the fear disappeared. For example meeting new
people- I started using every chance I had to start conversations with people
I didn't know. Say you're standing in line at Starbucks and see someone
wearing shoes that you like say "Hey, cool shoes, where did you get them?"

------
astrofinch
I plan out every day the evening before.

------
petewailes
CDs/DVDs/BluRay/Consoles etc... => Spotify/HTPC + serious GFX

Parkour => taekwondo

Monitor(s) => Very large Samsung TV

Notepad++ => Sublime Text

Walking => running

TV => competitive gaming

No 3 item todo list => 3 item todo list

Single project focus => multiple open-ended projects

Books => Kindle

~~~
sharadgopal
What is the best way for someone to get into parkour ?

~~~
liuhenry
If you can find a parkour gym like Primal Fitness [1] or Tempest Freerunning
[2], that's the best option. They're not in a ton of areas, but if you can
find a gymnastics gym to take a class, many moves and techniques will overlap.
Otherwise, most of the moves aren't incredibly technical; they just need
strength, balance, and coordination. You can find a lot of tutorials on
Youtube, and just get out there and practice, but a gym will make it easier to
build up the physical skills and also get over the mental fear.

1: <http://www.primal-fitness.com>

2: <http://www.tempestfreerunning.com/the-academy>

~~~
petewailes
Agree with most of this. As Liuhenry correctly says, it's heavily dependent on
two things:

1\. Physical fitness 2\. Mental control

With regards to the former, I'd suggest looking at things like callisthenics
and gymnastics, in order to get stronger, combined with running (couch to 5k
is a good way to get started) to work on stamina and running.

As to the latter, it's more about accepting that you're going to get hurt now
and then, and being willing to start small. Don't go jump off a 20ft roof and
break roll tomorrow, jump off a secure bench, and go from there.

Other than that, I'd say practice movements over and over, until you do them
without thinking, and find someone (or better still, a group - there's a fair
number around the world so you should be able to find one) locally who can
help you learn, and teach you how to move.

------
z303
Male => Female

~~~
trurl123
my condolences

~~~
z303
Well transitioning was something I wish I hadn't needed to do and has made my
life more complicated but I'm happy now and the whole process has made me a
more understanding 'better' person, so really you have nothing to be sorry
about

------
urza

      christian ----------------------------> atheist
      meat eater ---------------------------> vegetarian
      working for someone else -------------> working for me
      sitting in the chair -----------------> sitting on the ground
      reading eng. books translated --------> reading in english
      engaging in Win/Lin/Mac discussions --> I dont care anymore
      travelling with stuff ----------------> travelling light

------
Gorm-Casper
Living far away from work => Living within biking distance (Best decision of
2010)

Desktop computer => Laptops

TV => No TV (Best decision of ~2003)

Studying human stuff => Studying IT stuff (Best decision of 2009)

In my studies: Focus on academia => Focus on real world problems

Taking myself seriously => Not taking myself seriously

Living in multiple countries => Living in Denmark (the country I grew up in)

gEdit => Vim

multiple folders, commented out code, etc => Git + github

Facebook => Github, Twitter, Hacker news, meetups, etc

------
kolinko
When did you change to the standing desk? I heard people grow tired of it
after a couple of months.

3G internet connection => Hardline

Living in suburbs => Living in the city center

~~~
bearwithclaws
I've changed to standing desk for more than 9 months. Couldn't live without it
now.

~~~
missn
I'm curious, how do you handle long periods of standing? Just resting? I can't
imagine standing for hours doing computer work.

~~~
bearwithclaws
I work in short burst -- maximum 2 hours at a time. After 2 hours, even if my
legs weren't tired, I would starting to lose focus. I would then take 15 - 30
mins break to have a tea/walk my dog/yoga/weight lift/talk to spouse/jump
rope/shoot hoops, and then continue back again.

------
heathlilley

      Whining ---------------------------> Fixing
      Asking for permission -------------> Asking for Forgiveness (Professionally)
      Gaming as a hobby -----------------> Learning as a hobby
      Working hard ----------------------> Working smart
      Speculation -----------------------> Communication
      Competition -----------------------> Cooperation

------
edanm
Could you talk about your conversion to a Home Gym? I'm perhaps interested in
following your path, but I'm not sure where to start.

~~~
bearwithclaws
Inspiration: <http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/cfjissue1_Sep02.pdf>
(PDF)

I've got myself (one at a time): a few dumb bells, a long bar, yoga mat,
kettle bell, gym mat, fit ball. Plenty enough to do a lot of exercise right at
my home (I'm working from home) -- instead of commuting to nearby gym. I could
workout multiple times a day whenever I wanted.

------
lacerus

      HDD --------> SDD
      PHP --------> Ruby
      Chair ------> Standing desk
      All others -> MacVim
      MTB --------> Singlespeed racing bicycle
      No hobby ---> Kitesurfing. Nothing beats flying over the waves while the sun goes down.
      Car --------> Westfalia James Cook motor home (for kitesurfing)

------
benwerd
An eclectic selection:

* "Real" job => Starting a company

* 24/7 working life => Switching off and becoming a published fiction writer

* Self-doubt and low self esteem => Finding formal help

* Teflon pans => Cast iron pans (seriously, look up how bad teflon is for you - and cast iron pans are way more fun to cook with)

* Building things => Building companies

------
bconway
* automatic => manual trans * Windows => Linux (1999) * Sysadmin => Developer (background is CS) * ignoring exercise since high school => treadmill, elliptical * iPhone => Android * bare metal => virtualization * most others => Python

------
mark_l_watson
Working 40+ hour weeks > permanent switch to part time work

Local email client > Gmail

Paper calendar > Google Calendar

iTunes purchases > full CDs (sometimes as MP3s) on Amazon

Leased servers > Amazon EC2s

Mostly paper books > Kindle

Stopped trying to do the Linux desktop thing > Mac laptops, SSHing to Linux
servers

Mostly Lisp and Java > more Ruby

------
olegious
-PC ----------------------------> Mac -Regular workouts --------------> CrossFit -Regular diet ------------------> Paleo -finance > law school > dropout-> techie + entrepreneur -being afraid ------------------> learning to fight

------
robfitz
Working at home --> working at cafes Video games --> hobby projects Following
my natural social inclinations --> going out most days Developer --> Developer
who can do sales & biz

------
trurl123
Finance organization => Software organization

The Bat => Thunderbird => GMail

Free => Married

Black tea with sugar => Green Tea without sugar

TV => Internet

Meat food => Vegetables

Fixed work schedule => Free work schedule

Hard working, unhappy => Love to work

PC forever! Hello from Izhevsk.

------
thibaut_barrere
Navy officer => Startup => Freelancing/Bootstrapping

PC => Mac

Paris => Small village

No kid => kid

~~~
niels_olson
Were you in the French Navy? My neighbors were the French exchange officers
and their wives (two couples, serially), while I was on staff at Annapolis. If
so, I'll dig up their last names (I can only remember first names right now).

------
pasbesoin
Assign authority to expert opinions --> Suspect expert opinions until
demonstrated to my satisfaction. Almost never accept anything as "proven".

------
abhishekdesai
Windows XP on Dell -> Mac OSX on Macbook Pro Nokia -> iPhone Noise
(Techcrunch, GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb) -> Signals (37svn, AVC, Seth Godin)

------
k00k
Land Line => Mobile

TiVo => WMC7 (with Ceton 4 stream cablecard)

Briefs => Boxers (like 25 years ago but still)

Thinning hair => shaved head

Klonopin => nothing

Working for the man => Being the man

------
zarprey
Working for a company -> Working for myself

doing my own taxes -> tax lady

designer -> entrepreneur

saying yes to everything -> saying no

trying to do everything -> focus

------
kaka189
Windows - > Linux , Large Company -> startup , somemail -> gmail , orkut ->
facebook :)

------
x0ner
government contracting => engineer at university

running => biking => bike racing

pc => mac

php => python (django)

complaining about tools => writing my own or patching others

no source control => github

learning projects => practical development and products

reading tech books => memoirs only

bottled water => filtered pitcher => bottled water

desktop => laptop

local documents => google docs

virtualbox => vmware

individual => LLC

------
jc123
1\. Moving to USA

2\. Moving to Silicon Valley

3\. Building a startup (TBD)

------
centdev
Comfy + working a typical 9-to-5 => More Stresses + Running own company + more
personal time

------
jbm
Montreal, Qc => Tokyo, Jp.

Never felt more liberated in my life. I can't describe in words how good it
felt.

~~~
cubix
Can you elaborate as to why? I would have expected the exact opposite.

~~~
jbm
Wish you had an email :/ jbm @ ordisante.com if you want to continue this.

I feel like less of a foreigner in Japan than I did in Quebec. Does that blow
your mind like it does mine?

The politics & lack of hope in Quebec is stifling. A lot of economic boom
cycles were missed because of the squabbling and identity politics that plague
the province. I can honestly say that I don't recall a single time where I
felt like everything was going "OK" in MTL as a worker.

The positive things I have to say about Montreal is about the quality of cheap
food, the quality of education I received, and the quality of the people I
knew. Not insubstantial, but not enough to ever tempt me to come back.

Perception problem? Maybe. I'm not going to struggle against that when there
are much better things to do with my time.

As per Tokyo; you can do whatever you want if you exist outside the salaryman
system. I play the role of the "brilliant system engineer" (whether I am or
not is another story). I work normal hours (10 hours a day on rare occasions)
and get paid quite well. I have no major complaints. It does seem to be going
down the same road of ruin, but I don't plan on being here forever either.

------
dalenkruse
Landline -> Mobile Phone

Standard flip phone -> Symbian smartphone

Symbian -> Android

Windows -> Ubuntu

Stuck on the ground -> Pilot license

------
cubix
Car => motorcycle + AutoShare (shared car service)

Work at office => Work from home

------
wladimir
DOS/Windows => Linux

CDs/DVDs => Downloading/Streaming

Perl/PHP => Python

Harddisk => SSD

SVN/CVS => GIT/Mercurial

Academia => Business

------
paraschopra
Working for someone else => doing a startup

------
dustinupdyke
Listening to others => Believing in me

------
dualogy
Not programming => Programming

------
base
PHP > Ruby

Prototype > Jquery

SVN/CVS > Mercurial

Eclipse > Netbeans

------
vitolds
listening podcasts and audiobooks on normal speed => listening at 2x speed

------
blackcadillac
Drinking sugar => Water

------
johnnytee
cold fusion -> .NET -> php -> python -> ruby/rails

------
Dilpil
salesman => college student => software engineer

------
pedrokost
QWERY => Colemak

------
seven
default bad mood => default good mood

pessimistic => optimistic

~~~
gallamine
How did you manage that? I think graduate school has given me a permanent
scowl.

~~~
seven
I am struggling to give a good answer to this since some minutes...

There is no special trick. I just realized that it makes no sense to worry
about stuff I can not influence. And that if I have bad mood without obvious
reason.. I could have good mood without obvious reason as well.

I have no step by step instruction. It is just a decision you have to make for
yourself.

Focus on the good things instead on the bad. No matter how big you fuck up,
chances are very high that you are still better off than most people on this
planet.

------
cmullaparthi
C++ > Erlang

------
atermon
marijuana joints => vaporizer

------
mkramlich
landline => mobile

blah clamshell cellphone => iPhone

PC/Windows => Mac/OSX

Java => Python

The Man's corporate cubicle => home office => my business office

9-to-5 salary grind => my own schedule, ROWE, contracting/consulting

used cars => new 2010 Hyundai

backpack 4 laptop => padded laptop bag => hard shell reinforced briefcase

SVN => git

laptop's boot filesystem on magnetic platter hard drive => SSD

TV for visual vegging => the Web

living on the 70th floor => living on ground floor

sharing walls & ceilings with neighbors/drummers/blind-elephants => not

~~~
maayank
_living on the 70th floor = > living on ground floor_

why?

~~~
lacerus
The next item on the list suggests he/she bought a house.

~~~
mkramlich
yeah that was part of it

------
diamondhead
The City I was staying with my family ==> The city with software industry
(2007)

[Financially Secure But Unhappy Two Years]

The city with software industry ==> A Village With A Physics School (2009)

The village with physics school ==> The city with software industry (2010)

The City With Software Industry ==> San Francisco (Left everything in my
country to just be here, attend Google IO) (2011)

------
ujjvala
Windows to Linux Book to Kindle gEdit to gVim Word to LaTeX

------
jpr
studying my native language -> studying CS

Windows -> Linux

blub -> learning Lisp and Haskell

not knowing C -> knowing C

dial-up internet -> broadband

random editors -> emacs

19" and smaller monitors -> 24" monitor

------
pitdesi
* Car => Bicycle

* Management Consultant => Startup

------
neuroelectronic
Virtualization -> Hardware

