Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do? - aliencat
======
keeringplastik
I was expecting a lot of ambitious projects would be mentioned, but it seems
as if a lot of HN wants the same as me.

I would Unplug.

Take the kids camping, explore a national park for a couple weeks and let
nature do it's thing. Take the guitar, leave the tablet. Try to catch some
fish, which I have never done.

Read a couple books that have been put off for too long. Maybe some Heinlein
or Asimovs foundation series (which I seem to have never gotten around to
reading). Definitely some Alan watts.

I would also try some of that legal cannabis I keep reading about.

Also: Take a nap every day.

~~~
mod
Hey, if you want to do the fishing thing, it doesn't take a month or a
national park. Just thought I'd chime in with a simple recipe that will catch
you fish about 99 days out of 100:

Buy a "cane pole" (they sell non-bamboo versions these days). Tie on a hook,
bobber, etc. Get some live bait--you can usually buy worms where you buy your
fishing pole.

Ask the guy who sells you your pole a good place to fish, if you don't know of
a pond or lake nearby.

Go to the lake, and the way you use a cane pole is you swing it out. No
casting or fussing with lines and reels etc. When the bobber gets tugged on,
you lift up. It's almost like cheating, you just pull fish out of the water!

I started fishing this way when I was 3. I would start any kid the same way.

If you go the other route--artificial lures, casting reels, etc--you'll get
skunked a lot. Getting skunked fishing beats a day of work, but it's not great
for youngsters' morale.

~~~
t3h2mas
I put off going fishing for months after I bought my pole because my 'recipe'
wasn't simple enough. Now I try to MVP my hobbies. I keep a pole in the trunk,
hit the gas station that sells worms, and drive up to a small reservoir. It's
not the perfect serene fishing scene we picture in our heads, but it is a
lifesaver.

~~~
mod
Sometimes I think it is perfect. Hard to beat a sunny day on the side of the
lake, with a snack and maybe a kid, if you like 'em.

There's many other perfect situations, too, like the cover of a river runs
through it.

------
traviswingo
Nothing. The value of doing nothing can far outweigh the value of doing
something. Consider taking the time to just live before you go back to
whatever grind you’re always on in a month. :)

~~~
the-dude
There are people who are afraid of this.

~~~
JonnyNova
The people most afraid of this are the most in need of it.

Always do what scares you the most.

------
lucb1e
TL;DR: mostly technical debt of things I manage in my private life (server,
laptop, family's laptop, my phone).

I would do things that need doing for a long time:

\- I have an old server on its last legs running Windows 7 (yes, not even
Windows Server or anything) with services which I'd like to migrate to my
newer Linux server;

\- I'd check and reconfigure some backups, and setup automatic backups for
devices that don't have it yet (my own laptop and my grandma's new laptop);

\- I'd reinstall my phone which is running Cyanogenmod based on Android 4.4,
but it's a lot of work to reconfigure everything (considering how many custom
settings I have to firewall apps, disallow most autostarts and wakelocks, deny
most broadcast events to apps such as those from the Google framework, etc.);

\- and finally a hobby project: I'd finish calendar software that I'm writing
(I can't find open source, collaborative, self-hostable calendar software) and
finally have friends and family be able to just look in my calendar instead of
going back and forth, and my girlfriend be able to edit in it and I in hers,
etc.

~~~
toomuchtodo
As someone in their mid 30s, with a wife, kids, and friends (if you have the
funds):

* Replace your server with Dropbox and/or a VM outside the home (I use Dropbox @ $100/year and a Digital Ocean VM)

* Switch to Backblaze or another backup service of your choice instead of self-managed backups (I use Time Machine with my 2013 MBA)

* Put your calendar software away for now, use Google Cal or Fastmail (depending on funds and level of Goog wariness, I still use Google Cal because laziness, but have a paid Fastmail account to support them)

I'm not saying anything you outlined doesn't have value (I think it all
does!), I enjoy learning more Python by contributing to open source digital
archivalist projects. But automate those mundane tasks and go spend time with
your girlfriend, your grandmother, and the rest of your family.

"Technical debt" will expand to fill the free time you allow it to, and time
is the ultimate non-renewable resource. Spend that time making memories with
those you love instead. One day they'll all be gone; no one lays on their
death bed wishing they had tweaked that one last backup script, or tried that
additional custom rom on their mobile device. They wish they had spent more
time with loved ones [1].

[1] [http://www.bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-
dying](http://www.bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-dying)

~~~
lucb1e
> Replace your server with [...] a VM outside the home

There are advantages to having it in your own home like latency/bandwidth,
offline availability and self-reliance (that one evening a year where internet
is down, it's definitely nice to have things local), privacy, and of course
the price. Downsides are physically upgrading yourself (that will be easier
once I get beefy enough hardware to run everything in a VM) and less
flexibility, but so far that has been worth it.

> Switch to Backblaze or another backup service of your choice

Exactly what I was going to do: another backup service of my choice. Restic is
what I'll probably use, but I have yet to find time to do a test setup.

> automate those mundane tasks and go spend time with your girlfriend, your
> grandmother, and the rest of your family.

I've been prioritizing that, which is why I have the technical debt ;). But
nevertheless, not bad advice.

------
sagebird
I would search for nice enumerations of graphs, hash functions, types and
functions. I doubt I would make any progress in a month or perhaps ever.

1\. Find a nice numbering system for graphs. (Rooted trees already have a nice
numbering system called Matula numbers. I rediscovered this independently but
haven’t made any progress on graphs.)

2\. I want to label every possible hash function with an integer.

3\. I want to label every possible type(that can be expressed in a programming
language) with an integer.

4\. I want to label every possible function that can be expressed in a
programming language with an integer. This might be somewhat related to #2 and
#3.

I don’t care about arbitrary mappings to integers. The mapping has to be
“nice”, preserving some of the properties of the underlying system it is
mapping. It needs to be one to one, and cover every possible element. I don’t
know how to decribe it in general, but I get a good feeling when I see it. For
example, I would be surprised if a nicer mapping between integers and trees
than Matula numbers was found.

~~~
leksak
> 3\. I want to label every possible type(that can be expressed in a
> programming language) with an integer. Let me know if you manage to do this,
> the serialization application for this is boss.

------
Ocerge
Probably nothing. I make money writing code mostly just so that I can do
pretty much nothing once I'm done with it every day.

------
msie
Fix up stuff around my parents house. Seek better treatment for my mom's
Parkinson's.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I am happy to help with either task if you require gratis. Happy to provide
references upon request.

~~~
msie
Thanks! What are theses references that you speak of?

~~~
toomuchtodo
Human references :) my contact info is in my profile.

------
zwischenzug
I have a day off a week, entirely to myself. I negotiated it with my work (a
very large $CORP) in exchange for 20% of remuneration.

I end up tinkering with the things I'm interested in, and roaming London,
going to places I've never been to in 40 years.

It can be incredibly productive. I even published a book as a result:
[https://leanpub.com/learnbashthehardway](https://leanpub.com/learnbashthehardway)

What I have found 'hard' is doing nothing. I find walking helps with managing
stress, as it's activity but not cerebral.

~~~
borplk
Just curious is it a very large $TECH_CORP?

------
compactness
Study as if all our knowledge is about run away from us.

------
xor_null
I would read and try to learn an instrument. Also i would cook more.

------
jlgaddis
If it were a month of free time to work on anything I wanted, I'd spend the
time working on learning various new technologies that I really haven't had
the time to get started on.

If it were a month where I truly didn't have to worry any damn thing, I'd pack
my luggage, jump on the Harley, turn off the GPS, pick a direction, and just
go. No particular destination, other than back here in 30 days..

I'd ride until I felt like stopping, find some random, relatively small town,
and spend a few days there. Check out the little hole-in-the-wall dive bars,
hang out with the locals, and, after a few days, jump back on the bike and
pick another direction.

I've done this on a smaller scale, but never for a whole month. It's
incredibly relaxing and stress free and a great way to spend time. You can
meet some really cool people from all walks of life, too.

------
foxhop
Completely free? Like no social responsibilities (like caring for my family of
5?)

I would likely spend it trying to teach my kids as much as I can through play,
experimentation, discussion, and research.

The problem is, we would likely have to find a mutually interesting topic for
a 6 year old, a 10 year old, and myself to keep engagement up.

~~~
euvitudo
In my experience, the only mutually interesting topic is for them to spend
time with their parent. If whatever you're doing is interesting to them and
you spend time with them doing it, they'll remember it for the rest of their
lives.

I helped one of my sons learn some basic electronics and he showed a lot of
skill with it, but he soon lost interest when I tried to turn it over to him
to explore. He didn't seem interested in pursuing the topic as much as spend
time with me. Nowadays it's mostly talking about the software projects he's
implementing and how best to architect or design his code. He gets annoyed
when I become too pedantic, so mostly it's asking questions and validating
(and guiding) his choices.

I've had a challenge doing activities with my oldest, as our interests hardly
match up, and I wasn't able to keep the interest (I'm stubborn and self-
centered). Mostly I have to listen--I'm not sure whether he enjoys me
listening, but he keeps doing it when the opportunity presents itself.

My youngest--I'm at a loss. He's high-functioning autistic and plays games
most of the time. He's smart and witty, so he enjoys the nuances of
conversation and actually doing things with the family. He often doesn't care
what we're doing, just that we're doing it together.

We do some activities (plays, musical performances, etc.) as a family (most of
the time minus the eldest, as he works, etc.), and they remember and
appreciate and are fond of those times when they think on them. It may not be
that they were necessarily interested in them, but the fact we enjoyed the
time together is what counts.

Which is to say that trying to find a mutually interesting topic is futile--
they all have their distinct interests and you can't change that. But what you
can do is spend time with them, pursuing their interests. It takes a ton of
energy and effort, but they will appreciate it and hopefully take the same
habits into their own families.

~~~
foxhop
Agreed. I do this too, once in a while I actually do find a topic both want to
explore.

------
matchmike1313
I would travel for a month.

------
TYPE_FASTER
Travel. Probably to ski.

Organize photos. Scan all physical photos.

Read.

Ride my bike.

Organize.

Write code.

Edit: I guess it somewhat depends on the definition of "free time." Summer
with kids? Road trip! School year with kids staying local? Other items. School
year with kids on the road somehow? Japan to ski and learn. Sail the Caribbean
and homeschool.

------
leoharsha2
Probably learn some non-technical skills such as piano etc and read some
books.

Apart from that, NOTHING.

------
scottshapiro
I’d go on an expedition. Himalayas in April or November. Alaska in the Arctic
summer. Or South America in their summer. In 2016, I had a month long
sabbatical and spent it in Nepal, which was worth every minute.

~~~
leongr
Do you want to tell more about your time in Nepal? What did you do there,
where did you stay and did you go there by yourself?

~~~
tlrobinson
I’m not the parent commenter but I recently spent almost a month in Nepal.
Most of it was trekking in the Annapurna region. There are “teahouses” along
all the trekking routes (some areas have more than others), which are mostly
very basic but very cheap. I wasn’t alone but I met many people who were. It’s
easy to befriend other people on the same route and stick together for awhile.

Aside from trekking I spent a few days in Pokhara and Kathmandu (Thamel), but
much preferred the mountains to the cities.

------
aliencat
I think I would want to read those books that I haven't time to read.

------
gravypod
I'd try to....

    
    
      - Find a server for cheap that I can virtualize GPU access
          Ideally >5TB HDDs, 512GB SSD cache, >64GB of RAM, cores on cores 
      - Virtualize the system that I use to Steam Stream my games 
      - Setup an at-home virtualized data analysis lab
          Python + Pandas + SciPy + Matplotlib + Mongo/SQL
      - Obtain some cool data sets and look at them
      - Setup a website and post informed conclusions from the data sets

------
efferifick
one free month and money? => travel!

one free month and no money? => read!

------
vidanay
Without a doubt....travel. Domestically, internationally, secluded nature,
popular tourist places, all of it.

OK, I might need a year instead of a month.

------
JDiculous
Travel to foreign countries I've never been, stay in cheap hostels, and
document the experience. Leaving on Thursday :D

------
moneytide1
Get to work full-time on an off-grid self sustaining home, and after that
start preparing the area to form a community. I am not interested in "sub-
dividing lots" to maximize "profit". I want the very foundation of this future
neighborhood to be the people and their shared possessions.

------
atsushin
There are a ton of subjects I'd love to read up on that are more interesting
than the classes I am taking now, so I would likely pour a significant amount
of time into studying.

Other than that, I would unwind. I want to visit a few museums and
restaurants, maybe meet new people.

------
tlrobinson
Travel to somewhere relaxing. And depending on my current state of mind,
either work on side projects / learn something technical, or try to unplug and
maybe learn meditation/yoga or just read.

But definitely travel. Don’t stay at home if you can possibly afford to go
somewhere else.

------
jupiter90000
I'd do a 10-day meditation retreat, and spend the other 20 hanging out with
people I care about.

------
spodek
What I'm doing now: my podcast, Leadership and the Environment
[http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast](http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast), because I
consider it one of the most important things I can do with my time.

------
molteanu
SICP

------
house9-2
Go on a trip OR if staying around the house

Exercise: Hike, Bike, Yoga, Stretch/Mobility exercises; Learn to cook some new
vegetable recipes; Meditate daily; Read books and give myself some time away
from the computer; Probably binge watch some series on Netflix or HBO :)

------
maxencecornet
I'll have a free month in 3 months, and I plan to learn smart contracts
programming

------
zapperdapper
Funnily enough I will be taking a month's holiday shortly. I will be swimming
in an open air pool, diving some wrecks, eating some great food, reading,
climbing some volcanoes, relaxing and luuurvin'...

------
imrehg
Read a bunch that has piled up (amazing books from writers I admire).

Meet up with friends that I mean to meet for a long time, and somehow don't
manage to.

Maybe do some day trips to places nearby but still off my beaten track...

------
sixhobbits
Probably Camino de Santiago or another multi-week walk.

------
dotdi
\- Get a bunch of books and ready them

\- Practice playing an instrument (guitar, in my case)

\- Meet friends and family I didn't see in a while, especially if it involves
traveling

------
gabetrumbo
Read, travel, create something for the joy of creating it and not because it
will make me money.

------
iddan
I would have contributed my time for open source projects. Maybe tried to
contribute to React.

------
minikomi
Make music and ride my bike around Tokyo.. same as any weekend, just more of
it.

------
shivammishra
Work on a budding open source project...

------
bchjam
Perhaps a more interesting question would be how your interests & goals change
after a month of downtime?

------
pgcosta
thailand

------
warent
Not really sure what you mean by free time. Everyone inherently has 24 hours
of "free time", we just chose to fill it with what we do day to day.

So I would continue doing what I already do day to day

~~~
gamechangr
I'm calling Bullshit.

"Not really sure what you mean by free time".

Give me a break, you understand the question just fine.

The worst part is that you didn't contribute to the question at all. Why did
you comment?

~~~
neospice
I think a lot of people have setup their lives such that they don’t feel they
need a break, or free time or an escape. They don’t put off those things that
the rest of us do. Maybe the commenter you replied to falls into that
category.

~~~
tluyben2
A lot of people is a stretch I think. I would be surprised if it was was 1% of
humanity. And that is probably even a snapshot: when you get older, attitude
might change.

