Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons • Hacker News Board

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#91

Post by kerbar » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 10:56 PM UTC

hluska wrote: post #89

This is off topic, but in March 2016, I'll become a dad for the first time and I was wondering if some more experienced parents could answer a question for me. That article has a black board with a tally of diapers changed today. The count was up to thirty. Is that somewhat accurate/possible??? If so, holy shit, I'm investing in cloth....

Parent here. That is a common thought amongst new parents - the cost of disposable nappies. However, when you factor in the cost and time of keeping the cloth nappies clean then there may not be much difference at all. I recall reading somewhere (don't have a reference sorry) that cloth nappies are more environmentally damaging than disposables, perhaps due to the additional energy used for washing, or the impact due to detergents.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#92

Post by hluska » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:07 PM UTC

raycmorgan wrote: post #90

hluska wrote: post #89

This is off topic, but in March 2016, I'll become a dad for the first time and I was wondering if some more experienced parents could answer a question for me. That article has a black board with a tally of diapers changed today. The count was up to thirty. Is that somewhat accurate/possible??? If so, holy shit, I'm investing in cloth....

My 3 month old goes through about 5-8 and my 2 year old 1-4 a day depending if he uses the potty or not.

Thanks for your answer and congratulations on your family!! :)

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#93

Post by hluska » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:08 PM UTC

kerbar wrote: post #91

hluska wrote: post #89

This is off topic, but in March 2016, I'll become a dad for the first time and I was wondering if some more experienced parents could answer a question for me. That article has a black board with a tally of diapers changed today. The count was up to thirty. Is that somewhat accurate/possible??? If so, holy shit, I'm investing in cloth....

Parent here. That is a common thought amongst new parents - the cost of disposable nappies. However, when you factor in the cost and time of keeping the cloth nappies clean then there may not be much difference at all. I recall reading somewhere (don't have a reference sorry) that cloth nappies are more environmentally damaging than disposables, perhaps due to the additional energy used for washing, or the impact due…

That's very interesting - thanks so much for sharing your experience with me!! I'll rethink the idea of cloth!! :)

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#94

Post by IkmoIkmo » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:09 PM UTC

philh wrote: post #88

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just compare the US to other developed countries (e.g. the vast majority of Europe), high-density living (like SF) is pretty much the standard, that's really his point. [0] On population density maps the US as a whole is more akin to Australia. [1] Beyond that, I always wonder about population density figures, afaik there is no standardised process for these calculations. You may think 'well it doesn't get much simpl…

I take your point that floor space per person is probably a better metric than population density. That said, > high-density living (like SF) is pretty much the standard I don't believe this. Yes, there are denser cities than San Fran, and yes, San Fran probably has more floor space per square mile than most European cities. Still, my default guess is that people living in San Fran have less floor space per person th…

> If you have statistics that show otherwise

No I don't, floor space per person seems to be one of those things that's barely registered or studied, it seems, on an international level. Some municipalities/cities do their own studies, and some organisations (EU, OECD) etc do run some country-level averages, but even here definitions are non-standard (e.g. they'll look at floor area per dwelling per capita, but definitions of dwellings range from houses to caravans to vacation homes and may include or exclude vacant dwellings etc, some count all area including outer walls, others count not the balcony, some count the balcony for half), but comprehensive solid international data that's standardised and available down to a local (city) level I'm not aware of. It's a shame because it's definitely interesting data! Who knows there may be a market for this kind of information :)

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#95

Post by douche » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:09 PM UTC

goodJobWalrus wrote: post #79

Turing_Machine wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I bet you'd be surprised to hear that in some countries people actually prefer to live in apartments to houses." One sniff test for the credibility of this is to look at what rich people do. No matter where you go, the wealthy tend to have large country estates. Sure, they may have a luxury apartment in town as well, but where do they spend their leisure time? Bingo.

I wasn't referring to rich people. They have a whole different set of requirements. Also, they typically don't have to clean their own mansion, of take care of the pesky chores around the house.

I think it is illuminating that you refer to "pesky chores around the house." I'll acknowledge that I'm a weirdo, in that I consider my current living situation inferior due to its lack of opportunity for meaningful manual labor.

If I won Powerball tomorrow, I'd tell my boss I could either work 99% remote, or he could try to find someone else to take over. Then I would go home, and be a somewhat more comfortable version of the subsistence farmers my great-grandparents were. Sawing and splitting firewood would be an excellent break from debugging ASP.NET applications, and hilling potatoes would be a great distraction from fighting with upgraded Windows installer tooling. I would never have to bag up another dog turd. I'd have free, non-chlorinated, decent-tasting water. I could plink at tin cans in my back yard without violating any town ordinances, scaring the neighbors, or having the police called on me. I could see the stars at night without the baleful day-glo glare of halogen streetlights polluting the sky.

I am hopeful that this utopia might be achievable within a foreseeable timescale, sans massive lottery-related cash infusion. Much more hopeful than I am about the possibility of an urban environment that could possibly meet my requirements for livability.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#96

Post by 7Figures2Commas » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:11 PM UTC

charlesdm wrote: post #87

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But my question: where is the evidence that tech companies are not able to be profitable with their high payroll costs? You could look at the growing number of layoffs at post-seed stage companies[1]. Or you could look at startups that voluntarily publish financial information. Take, for example, this one[2], which, as of June, was spending $525,000/month on payroll (equating to an all-in cost of $146,000/year per…

He said tech companies, not startups. For tech companies, it doesn't really matter. They have unlimited money (relative to the cost of an employee). For startups, it does.

1. Since when did "tech company" come to mean "non-startup"? Lots of startups are by definition technology companies.

2. Many people in the Bay Area are employed by angel and venture-backed startups, so how does it make sense to ignore them? If and when there's a significant downturn that results in the unsustainable startup herd being culled, not all startup employees are going to find six-figure replacement jobs at companies like Google and Facebook. People who lived through the first .com bust know how fast the job market can dry up for a large subset of employees.

3. It is absolutely not true that the Bay Area's unprofitable publicly-traded tech companies have "unlimited money" relative to anything. Review their SEC filings and you can determine how much money they have down to the dollar. You should not be surprised when those that struggle to reach profitability sooner or later take cost-cutting action, which may include layoffs and adjustments to employee compensation. Twitter just did this. Even profitable tech companies, like IBM and HP, have laid off significant numbers of employees. Bottom line: when push comes to shove and the shit hits the fan, companies tend to use large knives, not scalpels.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#97

Post by ashark » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:12 PM UTC

hluska wrote: post #89

This is off topic, but in March 2016, I'll become a dad for the first time and I was wondering if some more experienced parents could answer a question for me. That article has a black board with a tally of diapers changed today. The count was up to thirty. Is that somewhat accurate/possible??? If so, holy shit, I'm investing in cloth....

Nah, that's way high.

Diaper pro tip: very young babies (first few months) require a "5-minute rule" on changing poo diapers. You see them doing it, or smell it, wait 5 minutes to change it. It's very likely it'll be a 2-stage operation, and if you change it too early you'll waste a diaper when wave 2 hits right after you're done (after if you're lucky). They can live with it for a few minutes.

Congrats, and good luck. The first ~6-9 months are fairly bad (mostly because it's a lot of work and kids just aren't that much fun at that age) but when they start doing stuff it's awesome.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#98

Post by funkyy » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:14 PM UTC

sologoub wrote: post #32

eps wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Striking, but hardly common. You should clarify that in Russia they operate in "living space" sq.meters, meaning that 400 sqft will not include kitchen, corridors, bathroom, etc. Just the bedrooms and the living room. Secondly, you are over-generalizing. While a part of population did in fact live in cramped conditions (or even in shared condos, whereby 2+ families shared a single apartment), more than enough people…

Good point - size-wise, that's subpar for the number of people. My grandparents received a 95 sq.m. apartment for them and my aunt (teenager at the time) across from a beautiful park in Moscow, now that was considered super lucky.

Two "lucky" strikes in the same family in Russia? It seems there might be more than just luck to that.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#99

Post by lukeasrodgers » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:15 PM UTC

hluska wrote: post #89

This is off topic, but in March 2016, I'll become a dad for the first time and I was wondering if some more experienced parents could answer a question for me. That article has a black board with a tally of diapers changed today. The count was up to thirty. Is that somewhat accurate/possible??? If so, holy shit, I'm investing in cloth....

Up to 30 per day sounds crazy. My 2-month-old goes through 5-8 per day.

Re: Life in a Studio Apartment with My Wife and Two Sons

#100

Post by gozo » Sat, Nov 07, 2015, 11:20 PM UTC

kzhahou wrote: post #41

balls187 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The question is why do we have the most talented people in a certain industry having to live in confined spaces while paying through the roof for it. Because it's their choice. Right now the housing market in San Fran is redic. However, there are other major tech areas that don't nearly have the same problems.

It's obviously their choice. OP didn't mean anyone is forced against their will. The question is: why does the vast majority of new tech continue to A) establish themselves in such an uncomfortable location B) not embrace distributed teams It's a terrible cycle at this point.

While I see why you think "Because it's their choice." isn't very helpful, I would say there some truth to it.

People in technology seem far more willing to accept to accept "worse" conditions and just generally less aware of technology as an competitive industry compared to other people in their respective industries.