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150 days of living and coding in a van

ruby-on-wheels.github.io

441–445 of 445 posts

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#441
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the first big strike against vanlife for me. In the US there's no cheap and reliable way to park and sleep without being harassed by police. The second is illness: I ate some bad chicken earlier this year and was violently ill, projectile liquid from both ends ill, for three whole days. It was miserable but bearable because I had an apartment with a bed and a bathroom. I can't imagine what it would have been l…

Should that happen to me I'd just check in at a cheap airbnb for a week until feeling better, possibly with a friend taking care of me while i complain about being sick

I went from feeling fine to could-not-walk-three-steps-without-vomiting in the course of an hour. Could probably not have seen it coming and booked an airbnb in time.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#442
post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean that I am a real developer still (and have been one of the world's relatively best paid), and 13" works fine for me to get stuff done. Here I am 200 miles from home in a hotel right now with all my tools. No monitor lugging required. Yes, laptop ergonomics aren't ideal, but neither is life. There are always trade-offs. And I have some colourful language memories from earlier sysadmin jobs getting horrific shoc…

The screen-space-as-a-distraction argument sounds to me more like an excuse for not being able to keep one's attention on the task at hand. If a person can not resist filling the screen space up with useless clutter, it's that person's problem, not the problem of having the screen space. Someone else is able to use that extra screen space productively. All in all it seems a "I can't have it, so I convinced myself tha…

No.

Having (a) tried it various ways, and (b) having complete freedom as to how to organise my work life, I believe that keeping it small and simple and focussed works well on balance, at least for me. And it may work for others.

You do know that humans (other than yourself, maybe!) are not perfectly rational creatures? B^> Oscar Wilde's quote "I can resist anything except for temptation" is an astute observation.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#443
post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The screen-space-as-a-distraction argument sounds to me more like an excuse for not being able to keep one's attention on the task at hand. If a person can not resist filling the screen space up with useless clutter, it's that person's problem, not the problem of having the screen space. Someone else is able to use that extra screen space productively. All in all it seems a "I can't have it, so I convinced myself tha…

No. Having (a) tried it various ways, and (b) having complete freedom as to how to organise my work life, I believe that keeping it small and simple and focussed works well on balance, at least for me. And it may work for others. You do know that humans (other than yourself, maybe!) are not perfectly rational creatures? B^> Oscar Wilde's quote "I can resist anything except for temptation" is an astute observation.

It's not about being rational or not, it's about discipline (or perhaps about ADHD for some people). I can fall for many temptations, but when I want something done (either as a hobby, or at work), I have no problems concentrating on what I need to be doing. And having extra screen space often helps.

Depending on the task, of course - there are times when all I need is one 80x25 terminal, and then there are times when having several as large as possible windows open side by side helps a lot, e.g. when analyzing logs from several cluster nodes.

I love the Wilde quote, by the way, I don't think I've seen this one before. :)

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#444
post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should that happen to me I'd just check in at a cheap airbnb for a week until feeling better, possibly with a friend taking care of me while i complain about being sick

I went from feeling fine to could-not-walk-three-steps-without-vomiting in the course of an hour. Could probably not have seen it coming and booked an airbnb in time.

Here is a serious pro-tip, take two shots of apple cider vinegar and 30-40 minutes later you'll be right as rain.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> for Christmas I will fly back to my hometown Where do you plan on leaving your van while you are away? Are you worried about security?

A friend of mine has a friend who has a friend who lives in southern Portugal. I might be able to park the van there. If that doesn't work: there are guarded parking areas near airports where you can leave your van for several days. I think it's something like 5 Euros a day. But even if I leave the van somewhere unattended: I take my laptop and wallet with me. Other than that I don't have much valuable things in my v…

Makes sense, enjoy your travels :)
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