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150 days of living and coding in a van

ruby-on-wheels.github.io

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Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#381

Post by rbritton »

clort wrote: post #355
rbritton wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do for internet? I don't have any intention to live full time in a vehicle, but I want to be able to take off for an arbitrary amount of time and work while away. I've done a few test outings but generally end up reinforcing my conclusion that cellular is not overly reliable when you're more than an hour or so outside a moderate-sized town. I currently have to carry equipment for two separate carriers (AT…

You have to let go - I got 4G mobile wifi earlier this year, its fast as heck and sometimes when I don't get a signal.. I don't connect to the internet! Can always read a book, or go for a walk. I'm kind of extreme though; I've been using cellular data almost exclusively since 2001 so its nothing new. I've spent plenty of time out of range. I think that if you are out of range and you need to connect; its time to mov…

Problem is, I can't let go. At least, not all of the time. I'm a remote employee rather than it being my own endeavor, so there's a certain expectation of communication in addition to needing to interface with our various services from ticketing to source control. My ultimate goal is to be able to work from a beautiful place, and once I'm done for the day, to go out and explore it.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#382

Post by FooHentai »

wellboy wrote: post #361
classisch wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed! The same goes for my solar panels: Yes, I use a renewable source of energy. But how many resources were required to built these panels and once they break, where do they go? I'm not quite sure the ecological footprint of my life style is smaller than of someone who lives in an apartment in Berlin. However since I live in the van, I pay way more attention to where I and others waste resources. Maybe a first st…

Solar panels make their ecological footprint after 3 years of use and last for 30 years. 80% of the material in solar panels is recycled from old solar panels. So no matter how you turn it, solar panels are a lot alot more environmentally friendly than convential energy sources.

>80% of the material in solar panels is recycled from old solar panels.

That doesn't pass the sniff test. Solar cell production is on a strong upwards curve, if 80% is recycled from other panels then supply would be bounded by old solar stock recovery, which is not the case.

I can't see how 80% of solar panel material, even if we're talking exclusively about the PV cells and not the surrounds, could be from old solar panels, especially not 30 year old solar panels.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#383

Post by icebraining »

kerkeslager wrote: post #232
mmahemoff wrote: post #94

I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? I've done a fair amount of coding on laptops while travelling and it's okay, but I feel like a big monitor is optimal for most work and wouldn't want a permanent situation with just laptop. I like to have logs, command line, and editor all visible, and ideally a browser too. The editor alone is much more useful in a big window where you can see a f…

I prefer to code on my laptop. You may be able to see more on a big screen, but you can't concentrate on more. I have GNU Screen set up with multiple command line tabs that I can switch between using hot keys, which is automatic enough that it happens at least as fast as I can mentally switch. I keep things in a consistent setup (bash on tab 0, editor on tab 1, etc.) so I never have to figure out what tab I need to g…

Yeah, for coding my 12" is fine. I only use my large screen for movies, games and the occasional image editing.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#384

Post by FooHentai »

maaaats wrote: post #223
coldtea wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keeping the gate of what? As I wrote "some of us" prefer smaller/single screens for focus. If it doesn't work for you, or if you can manage NOT to get distracted by 5 open windows in 2 x 24" monitors, then more power to you.

It was your tone. It reeked of "real programmers" don't use debuggers etc.

I know my post will also come off as smug here, but is the solution to perceived gatekeeping really tone policing?

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#385

Post by FooHentai »

tzs wrote: post #302
endymi0n wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be something for you two guys if you can afford it... http://mashable.com/2015/10/28/altwork-station-laying-down

I've thought of getting a dental exam chair and using it for something like that, mounting the monitor in place of the light. Dental exam chairs can be quite comfortable. The ones my dentist uses are comfortable enough I've almost fallen asleep during cleanings.

Tried something similar back when I was a student. The leaning back angle doesn't seem to work over longer than a few minutes, when you're trying to focus.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#386

Post by mod »

binarysolo wrote: post #379
mod wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was incredulous that someone could be so obtuse, so I went and eventually found the quote. You've done a really poor job of paraphrasing him. He reorders his clothes on what we can presume is a similar time scale to normal folks', and he washes them with "less water", "thanks to synthetic fibers." It's interesting that you've included your source and managed to totally misrepresent it.

I remember reading the article awhile ago and came across the same passage (and remember having a similar reaction): "I have not done laundry in years. I get my clothing custom-made in China for prices you would not believe and have new ones regularly shipped to me. Shipping is a problem. I wish container ships had nuclear engines but it’s still much more efficient and convenient than retail. Thanks to synthetic fabr…

I really think he's saying he doesn't use a washer/dryer.

He states very clearly that he washes and reuses them.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#389

Post by libria »

driverdan wrote: post #344
irrational wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has living in a shuttle bus at all affected your relationships or love life?

I haven't had a partner while owning the bus so it hasn't been positive or negative. I've encountered very few negative reactions to it, mostly positive. I've had a few people respond with shock, as if they didn't understand it at all. People who would be negative about it are not people I want in my life. I expect friends and family to support my decisions, even if it's not something they're interested in themselves…

> People who would be negative about it are not people I want in my life. I expect friends and family to support my decisions, even if it's not something they're interested in themselves.

On the other hand, it's unhealthy to surround yourself with yes-men. I personally think it's pretty cool, but I can't say I support the decision since I don't know if it's good for you in the long run.

I wager you take criticism better than that sentence indicates, though.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#390

Post by icebraining »

coldtea wrote: post #179
dx034 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving from Berlin? Most of southern Europe can be very cold (even Portugal and Spain) in winter. Maybe some parts of Turkey will stay warmer but not sure about that. Or maybe southern Greece. And the problem is that weather is not independent. If it's very cold in Portugal for a few weeks it's usually also cold in much of the rest of Southern Europe.

It's trivial to get with the van to Morocco, Turkey. And with a rather inexpensive ferry ride, you can go anywhere in Africa / Middle East. In places like Malaga, Crete, Cyprus, etc it's the average low temperature is like 10-13 degrees (52-55 f). Hardly very cold if you've ever experienced NY, Chicago, Canada, Norther Europe levels of cold. And of course it's very easy to heat a small van.

There's always the two Spanish cities in Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), which are still part of Schengen. Temperatures stay above 10ºC even in January.
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