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Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

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Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#51

Post by tlrobinson »

leongr wrote: post #23
scottshapiro wrote: post #21

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.

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?

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.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#52

Post by msie »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #43
msie wrote: post #19

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

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

Thanks! What are theses references that you speak of?

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#53

Post by lucb1e »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #24
lucb1e wrote: post #16

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…

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 fun…

> 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.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#54

Post by lucb1e »

gravypod wrote: post #25
lucb1e wrote: post #16

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…

Are you planning on open sourcing your calendar software?

Of course, but as with most of my projects, I doubt it'll gain traction. I don't have any sort of name or following, I don't market them, and most things are either specific to my setup or only implement the specific things I need. Still, the code will be out there under some free license. If you want to keep posted, I could send you an email once there's a beta.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#55

Post by 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.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#56

Post by foxhop »

euvitudo wrote: post #49
foxhop wrote: post #22

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.

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 inter…

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

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#57

Post by gravypod »

lucb1e wrote: post #54
gravypod wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you planning on open sourcing your calendar software?

Of course, but as with most of my projects, I doubt it'll gain traction. I don't have any sort of name or following, I don't market them, and most things are either specific to my setup or only implement the specific things I need. Still, the code will be out there under some free license. If you want to keep posted, I could send you an email once there's a beta.

Definitely shoot me an email. I don't think many people on HN are afraid of implementing features they want in open source projects. I'm interested in a syncing calendar with alerts that can be viewed from any of my devices (Android & via Chrome).

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#58

Post by lucb1e »

gravypod wrote: post #57
lucb1e wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, but as with most of my projects, I doubt it'll gain traction. I don't have any sort of name or following, I don't market them, and most things are either specific to my setup or only implement the specific things I need. Still, the code will be out there under some free license. If you want to keep posted, I could send you an email once there's a beta.

Definitely shoot me an email. I don't think many people on HN are afraid of implementing features they want in open source projects. I'm interested in a syncing calendar with alerts that can be viewed from any of my devices (Android & via Chrome).

Will do! It might not be soon, though, depending on when/whether I find time for it.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#59

Post by mod »

keeringplastik wrote: post #27

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 (…

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.

Re: Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?

#60

Post by 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.
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