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Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#201

Post by jaxn »

ganley wrote: post #162
pchristensen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats! Here's the advice of a father of two: 1) Less and more than you think. Bank on at least one to two hours out of every four (that's about their sleep-wake cycle for the first couple months). Very little of it is hard if they're not sick, but the cycle is relentless. 2) Babies are very portable for the first 6 months or so b/c they're so oblivious to the world. Wake-up, change them, feed them, interact for a…

Huh. My answer (as a father of 3) to how much time they'll consume would, only slightly facetiously, be "all of it." Your math about sleep cycles is way wrong, and the idea that you'll still have half the free time you used to is laughable. Assuming a more or less 'normal' work schedule, most of the time they're sleeping, this guy will either be at work or will be sleeping himself. My advice is to assume that for a f…

As a father of 4, the only downtime I have today is being taken up by writing this comment. Gotta run!

P.S. never let them outnumber you

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#202

Post by terryjsmith »

robryan wrote: post #35
terryjsmith wrote: post #32

I would like to get my black belt in Taekwondo by the age of 30 (turning 23 in August) and fight at a Canadian national or Ontario provincial competition. I am currently a yellow belt (started about a year ago) but have won a gold and a silver at two recent invitational competitions. I had an excellent teacher in Thunder Bay, but just moved to Toronto a month ago to be in a more tech savvy town (I'm a developer) and…

I've considered joining Taekwondo for some time but worry that the lower belts will be to caught up in teaching very basic moves and the traditional aspects of the sport. I understand the need to learn the basics just wondering if you found this time a drag at all or it was all interesting and I'd have nothing to worry about?

It's really important to have a great teacher and find a decent school. Find a school that divides it's classes into beginners and not and then go watch a beginner class. The basic moves are important and actually quite fun (front snap, sidekicks, etc.) and really hone your core, leg and hip muscles that you'll be using as you learn more advanced techniques and it should always be a challenge. Once you get to the yellow stripe/yellow belt level you learn your roundhouse/turning kick and back kick which are the biggest staples in competition and by far the most used techniques at all level of sparring.

I also recommend finding a school that does multiple form of martial arts. Not only can you attend a variety of classes, a lot of masters will incorporate aspects of the other martial arts into each other for a more rounded course. Right off the bat we learned basic technique, self defence moves, patterns and traditional movements such as one step sparring.

If you show an interest and find a good school, there's absolutely nothing to be worried about on the boredom front.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#203

Post by gcheong »

ananthrk wrote: post #33

Becoming a better programmer. Roadblocks: Lack of self-discipline and commitment (day job providing good money)

Can you get to some specifics about that? That might help you focus a bit as "better programmer" is rather general. What specific areas are you trying to improve?

Also, it might seem that your lack of discipline and commitment comes from complacency due to the day job, but in my case, after being laid-off, I found myself procrastinating just as much (I got all day now right?) so be careful about making any sudden moves in that area.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#204

Post by jackowayed »

I'm not sure that it's my most interesting, but I want to someday make robotic fireflies.

I'm about to leave the East Coast to go to Stanford, and I don't want to live in a firefly-free world. I thought about trying to import them and have them breed, but apparently most species like humidity and standing water, which the Bay Area isn't too long on. I'm also not sure if they could find stuff to eat out West.

So robots are the logical solution. I realize it's going to be really hard to make something that small that's light enough to fly that blinks a light, has enough power to go for more than a few minutes, and can have the logic I'd like it to have. (In a perfect world, I'd like it to randomly roam campus for a few hours and then come back to where I launched them from.)

Also, my friend who's into robotics tells me that the US government has put a lot of money into robotic insects (for spying?) and not really gotten anywhere.

Nonetheless, someday I hope to make this happen, even if it doesn't quite have all of the features that it has in my mind.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#205

Post by eirene »

Rod wrote: post #52
jeb wrote: post #4

I'm planning to identify a suitable candidate to get married to, and who is genetically appropriate enough to give me good quality kids, then convince this person to marry me and carry my child, within the next year. Difficult, but I assume interesting.

Why the rush? It's not like you're gonna be impotent at age 40 or something. The pressure to "do or die" in one year only is likely to jeopardize your effort... unless you date single, childless 40 year old women. But what self-respecting man would do such a thing when there are so many younger, hotter women?

Says alot about HN that this reply hasn't been downvoted more.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#206

Post by ddemchuk »

1) Overcome my periods of overwhelming lack of passion and focus, that could potentially be rooted in some medical things

2) Write a few philosophical fiction books

3) Run a Micro ISV while I'm writing those books :)

I guess none of these are unique to us all here, but they're my current life goals.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#207

Post by jaxn »

I am getting married next year. we are merging two divorced families (with both have kids and this will be a Brady Bunch size family).

My goal is to make it work. We are doing pre-marriage counseling, talking openly, pushing myself to grow, practicing patience and acceptance, and everything I can.

It is a huge challenge, but it is completely worth it.

My secondary goal is to stop working in tech and focus on my retail business (which is profitable and ready to grow).

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#208

Post by keefe »

plinkplonk wrote: post #183

Get admitted to a PhD in CS at Stanford next cycle. Bottleneck: At my age and with no formal education in CS and poor academic records, getting an admission is next to impossible by conventional wisdom. But the challenge is what makes it interesting :-). PS: If anyone has any data/anecdotes/advice on "impossible" PhD admissions, I'd be glad to hear it (either here or my email is in the profile).

as far as I understand it, it's pretty much not going to happen without a solid reference from a professor willing to work with you.

it would be easier if you had research experience in other fields and slaughtered the GRE general & subject...

but yeah stanford is not exactly hurting for applicants

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#209

Post by markeroon »

Some really inspiring stuff in here.

My short-term track/running/fitness goals: Break 4 minutes for 1500m, 2:00 for 800m. Currently at 4:06 and 2:00.1 (the latter is so heartbreaking!). Squat 250lbs (currently at 185, weighing 138).

Educational goals: 4 publications in the next two years, complete PhD (CS). Get a solid grasp on differential calculus. Truly understand relativity and quantum mechanics.

Any advice from people who've tackled any of the above is welcome. Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#210

Post by keefe »

Goosey wrote: post #168
nzmsv wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first thought was "Hackers" (the movie). I am appropriately ashamed :)

Mine too, along with the infamous (at least among my friends) quote: "NO ONE Hacks the Gibson!"

nothing is impossible when sleeping with angelina jolie is on the line
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