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Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

gavinray97.github.io

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Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#221

Post by komali2 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #111
HNisCIS wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motorcycles aren't invulnerable 3 ton steel tanks but the stats and anecdotes are deceptive. They're really not that bad if you're not a moron, even if you're mostly worried about other road users. The stat are wildly bimodal. ~30% of deaths involve drunk riding ~30% of deaths involve not wearing any helmet (let alone full face ECE 22.06 rated ones or any other gear at all) ~30% of deaths involve someone with no moto…

I absolutely love statistics – be careful with inferrences, though. This rider (I described above) was ~sober ~helmetted (fully faced) ~licensed

Well since we're doing anecdotes, I'm a sober, fully helmeted, geared rider with 8 years and tens of thousands of miles under my tires. I've had two incidents:

1. I fell over at a stop sign on a canted hill while stopped because the rented Harley was so fucking big. I immediately returned it and will never ride a Harley again, those things suck.

2. I stupidly stopped just before the crest of a gravel road because I couldn't determine the best path (should have just trusted my tires and picked one), started sliding backwards. Rather than spin my tires and risk shooting off, or slide backwards into the unknown, I just tipped over and rolled off the bike.

No injuries either times. No at speed near misses. I have a simple rule: if I'm not 100% sure, I don't do it. A pass, a light, an intersection, when in doubt, I slow down, or stop, or hang out where I am in a lane.

Maybe one day I'll get taken out at a stop light or something random like that but the joy that riding has brought me I just can't give up. Exploring the world on a motorcycle is just amazing.

All activities come with risks. Motorcycling is up there but so is rock climbing, kayaking, rafting, hiking, bicycling, swimming - all activities I personally know someone who has been severely injured doing. You take precautions but you gotta live.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#222

Post by BobbyTables2 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #113
Esophagus4 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost a good friend, a cycling partner, when she was hit by a car. I think she was a Cat 3 or 4 racer. Talented rider. I haven’t ridden on the road since. Just no joy in riding anymore if it just takes one careless individual on a cell phone… Every so often I think about linking up with a group ride again or even going to a spin class, but I just don’t see the fun in it anymore.

>I haven’t ridden on the road since. It's laughable how proud some cyclists become when they think a painted stripe will somehow protect them from cellphoned sharks. Obviously US bicycling infrastructure is laughably dangerous , and nobody deserves full-blame for exercising their legal rights upon roadways -- but e.g: biking up Lookout Mountain's shoulderless 2-lane highway is. stupid.ly common. These are tourist roa…

Indeed.

Even as a pedestrian, I hate crossing a small road using crosswalks at a 4 way stop.

More than once, I’ve been nearly run over — even by vehicles that came to a complete stop.

Others were too distracted and plowed nonstop going 40+mph through the 4way stop.

I actually prefer to cross in the middle of the road on my own terms.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#223

Post by buttercraft »

zuzululu wrote: post #179
trumpdong wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why'd people downvote this? The minimum you need to be doing is pasting role descriptions and your résumé into ChatGPT and asking: should I hire this person? Because that's what every company's HR department is doing (automatically) and if the answer is no, then you may as well not bother sending the application. Or you could tweak it until it says yes.

I think earlier there were few HN users who didn't like my opinions on another thread, came here to flag and downvote my comments and leave rather mean replies all over my profile. I don't think much of it and I forgive people who do it. Or maybe there really are people who think its okay to use AI to hire/filter candidates but not when candidates use AI to optimize to get around that screen. Using AI, I've been able…

[flagged]

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#224

Post by smithoc »

zuzululu wrote: post #179
trumpdong wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why'd people downvote this? The minimum you need to be doing is pasting role descriptions and your résumé into ChatGPT and asking: should I hire this person? Because that's what every company's HR department is doing (automatically) and if the answer is no, then you may as well not bother sending the application. Or you could tweak it until it says yes.

I think earlier there were few HN users who didn't like my opinions on another thread, came here to flag and downvote my comments and leave rather mean replies all over my profile. I don't think much of it and I forgive people who do it. Or maybe there really are people who think its okay to use AI to hire/filter candidates but not when candidates use AI to optimize to get around that screen. Using AI, I've been able…

So you've used AI to do fraud and you're confused why people are opposed to this?

You're the reason companies are pushing return to office and putting candidates through gauntlets of interviews and homework - because otherwise they end up hiring someone who lied on their resume and is trying to collect 3 salaries until they get caught and fired.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#225

Post by theonething »

gerdesj wrote: post #190
firesteelrain wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied to 100+ places in 2005. Took a job an hour from home for a year and half. Eventually found something closer to home. You take what you can find at the time until you find where you want to be

I'm from the UK and another age 8) I applied for about 50+ jobs as a graduate engineer in 1991. Back then you wrote letters. Hmmm: You printed letters - mail merge was a thing. You signed each one by hand, with a quill pen and used a wax seal and cast a Spell of Engagement. OK, you signed your covering letter with a pen (might be a Biro but I did use a Parker and Quink, myself) You also had to put your covering lette…

Don't forget the specialty resume paper.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#226

Post by jcgrillo »

gavinray wrote: post #14
lanewinfield wrote: post #12

Thank you for sharing your story! I wish you continued success and I also hope that one day someone will share with you about how YOUR story helped them do something similar, just like the article did for you. Also, Preston Thorpe (who Gavin mentions as inspiration) has an interesting story as well: https://pthorpe92.dev/intro/my-story/

Also recommend folks check out Unlocked Labs, who run a prison program for this sort of thing. Jessica is an angel: https://unlockedlabs.org/

Thank you for the link, and for sharing your story.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#227

Post by sergiotapia »

coldtea wrote: post #57
sergiotapia wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but a motorcycle is basically 100% given that you will crash and have bad injuries.

It's hardly any given. You can just ride properly. In other countries they are a huge means of transport.

You can drive like a saint, you will still get plowed by someone who is dumb, or just on their phone. It's over!

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#228

Post by Guestmodinfo »

user_7832 wrote: post #201
user_7832 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... going by the story, I guess you never did go to the doctor to get diagnosed for adhd? (Yeah, armchair doctor and all that. But doesn't make it wrong or at least worth a look.)

And to whoever downvoted me, I've successfully "diagnosed" (read - identified) multiple friends already. NDs often have decent ND-radars.

Same here, I too feel the same. I don't look as if I am neuro divergent but I am slightly and have radar for others and have begun to tell people, "that person is not late or slow in the mind but that person is simply a neuro divergent and needs to be given chance or looked at differently" lot of neuro divergents have been discriminated against in the past. My one professor used to ask me, "Are you on drugs". No I never have. It's just lack of sleep in college days can otherwise make my lucid brain super foggy

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#230

Post by orthecreedence »

khazhoux wrote: post #212
trumpdong wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's the joke

Aw, poops. It got flagged :-( Even LLMs have better sense of humor than HN readers.

That's a really great point, and shows a deep understanding of how consistently humorless HN users are! If you want, I can show several more examples of people knee-jerk downvoting things that are actually pretty funny.
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