I have two:
Increase my revenue
Push my PHP 8 skills up
1. Travel for reasons other than visiting our families (whom we love and love to see, but sometimes it's nice to go somewhere just for the sake of going, which we rarely do these days).
2. Find more goals
The second one sounds like a joke, but it really isn't. For most of my life, I've had a project or two with a 2-4 year end point or major milestone. They have usually overlapped so that I was along in the next one before the last one was done. It's a frequent topic of conversation between a friend and I who have cycled out of the big projects that kept us going for years (publishing books, me history and him climbing guidebooks). A common conversation starter between us is, "Any progress on finding the next big thing?" So far, not really.
Oh...
3. Write more.
Jeez, not thought. I should.
Thanks for the nudge:
1. Stay Alive.
2. Get back in control....
The last few years (Covid) I really have not been in control of my destiny. Maybe I was just kidding myself that I was before, but I felt like I was. I would like that feeling back!
"Interesting times" are certainly that, and that's where we are.
so I will try one I would have picked in say 2019...
3. complete a triathlon.
There.. .said it. Not done one for so long it seems like a huge thing again.
LM, I think your 1 is a part of my control. I just don't know where retail is going, and I depend on it.
LM - the rationale for #1 is obvious. For #2, do you have a particular project in mind? And are you trying to make the transition from PHP7 to PHP8 or from Python (in the past I thought you were mostly trying to bump up the Python skills).
My programming skills have become atrocious - not just outdated, but also forgot so much. But short of a big project that really motivates me, it's hard to just study. I do enjoy big projects with flexible deadlines (hard deadlines makes learning new things and stretching skills way too stressful).
Rupert - sorry to hear that. You've been around long enough that I know you have a good perspective, so I don't know if this will be helpful in any way, but here goes...
When I've felt that overwhleming loss of control, I have found setting very small goals and celebrating tiny victories to be helpful.
Though not currently, for very long periods (years at a time when feeling really out of control), I have set weekly goals and I always made some of them stupidly easy. Do the dishes. Kiss my wife. Go for one run, any distance, write one page, make one phone call related to X, etc. I found that being able to plan and rack up victories *helps*.
It doesn't *solve* a root problem. If you can't pay the bills or you were way too optimistic on deadlines, there's no cheap hack that makes that less stressful. Sometimes you have to just all out sprint. But all out sprints are not a long term strategy of course.
For those times when I feel like I'm treading water or running around trying to keep all the plates spinning and it's sort of working, but also making me crazy and feeling like I'm never going to come out the other end, the weekly goals do two things for me.
1. Give me some wins. Easy or not, I believe very much in taking the win. It's worth it to take a moment, too, to celebrate small victories. This might sound corny, but my wife and I actually have a little dance thing we do for often really trivial things. I find it helpful.
2. It limits me from thinking of everything that I have to do and focuses me on the things I will do this week. And when I finish everything on the list, the week is done. I have no other obligations. I can start working on something that is on the backburner, or I can just read a book or watch TV or go for a walk or run or whatever. My lists are comprehensive - work, health, friendships, etc. There have been weeks where I have had a run on the list and have found myself running at 11pm on Sunday night, but generally it builds space and slack into the week.
And BTW, only create weekly goals that you control. In other words...
Bad Goal: meet with Jim
Good Goal: call Jim to set up a meeting.
I have tried various incentive schemes too. Things like X dollars in a fun fund if I finish my list, minus 5X dollars if I don't. Or for more continuing goals, like your triathlon, I set up a "points" system where each point was worth a certain amount of money and I picked some thing I could not purchase until I had enough points (my current laptop and ski boots were "paid" for this way). So in your case, presumably you want to run, swim and bike. For me, I would do something like 1 point for running, 3 for biking and 6 for swimming, because if they were all 1 point or 6 points, I would just go running all the time and never swim.
Ultimately, I dropped my incentivized goals. Partly that was because I set the points to dollars conversion too high I was spending a shit ton of money! Theresa still uses that system though. She just cut the points to money ratio in half to get spending back in check.
Anyway, I understand that none of those things change the basics of money in and money out and the wild roller coaster of retail, but for me they help me focus on things I can control and help me make incremental progress even when my mind is screaming that I need to make giant leaps forward (which is just negative thought because giant leaps forward are just incremental advances stacked over the long term).
For me at least, if I think of the big picture too often, it just overwhelms me and seems impossible. The weekly goals let me think of the big picture once a week to pick my goals, then just focus on getting things done.
BTW... there's an analogy in climbing. I see a lot of climbers who are always thinking of whether or not to place more gear. I try to place gear I like, then look to where my next piece will go (obvious rest, obvious placement) and climb there without thinking. Then stop and reassess. The constant attention to gear, even after you've just placed some, slows climbers down and slowing down leads to more fatigue and often failure. This is the first time I've ever thought of that as a metaphor for life.
>PHP 8, Why?
Kinda an insurance policy. I want skills that can land me some contract work if I need it. Everybody and their grandmother is doing Python, meanwhile PHP is looked down upon yet powers half of the internet. I feel the need to dive deep into something technical. Also, I have things I want to make.
>> celebrate small victories
Yes.
"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." -- Vincent van Gogh
QuoteIt limits me from thinking of everything that I have to do and focuses me on the things I will do this week. And when I finish everything on the list, the week is done. I have no other obligations. I can start working on something that is on the backburner, or I can just read a book or watch TV or go for a walk or run or whatever. My lists are comprehensive - work, health, friendships, etc. There have been weeks where I have had a run on the list and have found myself running at 11pm on Sunday night, but generally it builds space and slack into the week.
That I like.... I am printing it off, and putting it above my desk for a while. :)
It came across worse than it is. We are fine financially, for now at least, although the next 12 months will be interesting we will survive! The date we might "retire" is getting pushed into the future, and I don't like that, as the next 10 years are a key plan in my life. I need to get a few things off my bucket list, and I need time and a bit of cash to do some of those. (Some are cash cheap to do, but time expensive and vice versa.)
I think it has mostly to do with the world is changing rapidly, and I have no new plan. I seem to have to re invent something every 5 to 7 years, and I know now is the time to do it again, but there is no plan for it. My plan is to continue as I am, and thats no plan.
LM, thats the sort of thing I mean. You are looking ahead, seeing an opportunity that might well come off. That is Fantastic. I am not in that space yet. And as each year goes by, the desire to be in that space is reduced.
On holiday, we always have "Magic moments", we share what are the best bits for everyone. With children, it always brings in a surprise for me and helps cement the good in the day. We try to do that at home too.
I've piloted a new service to clients that has gone well. Make a new brand and company and start building it.
Hoping for a commercial property fire sale.
Start a new service-based business. Pest control?
I want to see my abs.
Rupert:
>"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." -- Vincent van Gogh
"Life is hard by the yard but a cinch by the inch" -- wouldn't work as well in Metric but you get the idea.
I don't think NFFC would mind me referencing a conversation we once had about his business. He told me that when he was growing it he didn't concentrate too much on the big picture, but instead thought about what were the next two steps. He kept focusing on that. It is a great way of getting things done without getting overwhelmed.
Drastic:
Good for you man! You just don't stop!
You all make me feel like I should get off my butt.
Drastic... you are tireless. Damn!
>>insurance
Good on you. PHP is the COBOL of our age. People will still have work fixing PHP apps in 2050. I always iked PHP. I just got too damn lazy (or lacking a project that excites me?). Are you playing with any of the frameworks like Laravel or Symfony?
>>It came across worse than it is.
That's good to hear. I suspected that, but I didn't want to be spouting self-help claptrap to someone who is falling behind on mortgage/rent and not recognize that some problems actually are just solved with money.
Quotebucket list, and I need time and a bit of cash to do some of those
I feel this acutely. I barely noticed when I passed 30 or 40 or 50. But turning 60 next year, I have a sense of time growing short. By 70, my mther was quite limited from Alzheimer's. My sister is 67 and looking like she won't make 68 (metastasized pancreatic cancer). When mountaineers fail in an objective, people often say, "Don't worry, the mountain will always be there." In the last couple years, I have realized in a way that just didn't seem obvious even at 55, "Yeah, the *mountain* will always be there, but *I* won't."
So I actually have a number of goals associated with my 60th year, all related to climbing and running. In the meantime, I have purposely put "work" on the back burner to enjoy this period where I feel healthy and can still do things that will shortly become impossible. I feel so lucky to have this slack in my life that I can relax a bit now on the work front.
>> Laravel or Symfony
Laravel first. Also I am interested in making Wordpress plugins.
QuoteI want to see my abs.
I think that should be in the "Quotes that hit home thread" :)
Damn NFFC, you listening? He is always so organised and planned :)
LM, I do plenty of inches, both suits and old folk. So it works well. thanks. I only use Metres these days when building or doing a bit of home engineering it seems!
>I want to see my abs.
I have dropped that idea many years ago. However, this is the season where I want to get in better shape. Just started training again last week.. and now I can hardly walk or stretch my arms.
I'm trying to focus on finishing assorted construction-maintenance-remodeling around the homestead, particularly those that help with aging in place. The recently completed downstairs bath conversion was part of that --much more than cosmetic.
#1 on my list is to finish woodwork, drywall/ceiling spackling, & painting the 2nd floor (only 2 bedrooms left) to make ready for contractors ripping out the carpet and installing solid vinyl flooring planks. That project got waylaid by the pandemic.
#2 We're in our mid-70s and doing pretty well mobility-wise by comparison to many of our peers. I've known others who have 2-story homes with the master suite upstairs that have ignored the mobility issues with stairs. When I designed the house I planned a place for an elevator. I contacted the manufacturer yesterday.
#3 The master bath is OK as-is but happens to be the only room in the house that isn't fully wheelchair accessible. We *really* like the walk-in shower and fixtures I just installed in the downstairs guest bath so I'll order the same styles for the master bath and put it on 'The List' --probably 2024.
>PHP 8
Someone had asked me recently about which PHP version I used for some custom new few hundred line script and I couldn't think why it would've mattered as long as it was a version within the past 10 years or so. Was some curl, JSON and some logic. I guess when you intermix with 3rd party stuff then PHP8 becomes a bigger thing.
Barely touched PHP for 5 years other than vanilla hand-written stuff.
>2023
Making sure my daughter does OK in her 1st into 2nd year in high school. If not, maybe I can move - but probably not necessary. There's a better school nearby but I dunno, sometimes it's better to mix the rough and smooth as it goes.
Trim some costs out my life. I run a few dedicated servers for the past few years that have a ton of keyword and domain data, bit of a side project but Moore's type laws say I can store that data at 1/3rd of the price. BTW, anyone into domain or keyword data? Have 670M registered or previously registered domain names. About the same number of records of keywords with data for autosuggests, keyword volumes, cpc etc. Maybe we could do a th3core thing.
At home continuing to upgrade the house.
Making sure to keep regularly in touch with my widowed mum who lost her husband at the start of the year. 2 brothers nearby but I'm the one in walking distance. Maybe take more holidays to Spain with her and the family since she loves the sun (vs Scotland's effort at weather) and I definitely don't mind the hot weather and all-inclusive beer. Most hotels have wi-fi nowadays for working away.
No firm plans. Upgrading my home has been a thing, new windows last year, new doors this year + floor and roof insulation in the post. Still a bit chilly downstairs until floor is done. Long term thing.
Grateful atm because of all the cost of living nonsense that I'm doing OK. Trying to donate here and there where I think it's worthwhile. Local youth rugby club, food bank, local flora community efforts that kind of thing. Things seem pretty grim in the UK ATM, but at least the value of GBP thinks the future is better :)
>> 3rd party stuff then PHP8 becomes a bigger thing.
If you're using Laravel or Symfony, it's definitely a big thing. And using Composer is a must. One of the things I hate about Wordpress is that it is still not Composer-friendly, which seems nuts for a modern PHP app.
>>plugins
Have you built any WP plugins before? In Drupal, I found one of the best ways to dip my toes into more complex module design was to find a module I needed and then look at the issue queue and try to build a patch. Every patch has to be reviewed by the community and approved as meeting the coding standards and such. In general people were friendly and helpful and it really helped me level up. I also got a lot of pleasure out of closing an issue that had lingered for over a year and had seen several rejected patches.
I'm not sure how that relates to Wordpress. The WP system is more freewheeling/individualized with plugins, so I'm not sure they have the same review/mentor system for plugins.
Quote from: BoL on December 06, 2022, 05:22:37 PM
BTW, anyone into domain or keyword data? Have 670M registered or previously registered domain names. About the same number of records of keywords with data for autosuggests, keyword volumes, cpc etc. Maybe we could do a th3core thing.
That would be really interesting as far as I'm concerned. I manage a few fairly decent sized Google Ads accounts so the keyword data would be really useful and we dabble in dropcatching .uk domains using our Nominet tag so the domain data would be ace as well.
>If you're using Laravel or Symfony
I haven't. That's probably what I'm missing out on.
>Have you built any WP plugins before?
Never. Most I've done with WP is scale out installations on threadbare resources for PBNs. Looked at a few but never written any.
I guess my prior experience is mostly my own code and not much of anyone else's.
>really interesting domain/kw data
Send me a PM in the New Year?
Have had it sitting around a while, I make some beer money off it but know some data is a pain to get at nowadays.
Quote from: BoL on December 09, 2022, 01:51:34 PM
>really interesting domain/kw data
Send me a PM in the New Year?
Have had it sitting around a while, I make some beer money off it but know some data is a pain to get at nowadays.
Perfect, will do. Thanks BoL, much appreciated!
Quote from: littleman on December 05, 2022, 07:34:11 PM
Kinda an insurance policy.
I've been thinking about this ever since. In addition to the insurance policy, I also think there's a lot to be said for just staying creative and if you don't practice a skill, you don't generate ideas in my experience. This is true even for things like climbing - if I'm climbing, I have a lot of climbs I want to do. If I'm not, I don'.t. If I'm building stuff, I have ideas for modules and plugins and patches at the least, and occasionally for full products. And finally, looking to the more distant future, I'd rather be an old geezer writing code than doing Sudoku puzzles. I gotta think writing code is infinitely better for the mind than random puzzles.
Quote from: littleman on December 05, 2022, 07:34:11 PM
Also, I have things I want to make.
And that's the rub. I was thinking about how in the past I had more projects than I could possibly build and some I wish I had built as I've seen similar ideas become not just viable businesses, but ones that even seem like businesses I would be proud to be part of. But now I think of it, and I don't have any projects like that, meaning in the sweet intersection between doable and interesting. And I think probably for the reason listed above - once you get far enough out of something, the mind just stops seeing problems and opportunities and generating ideas.
So it got me wondering what you're doing as you try to extend your skills. Are you working on real projects that interest you? Playing with "made up" projects to challenge you in new ways? A combo?
>And finally, looking to the more distant future, I'd rather be an old geezer writing code than doing Sudoku puzzles. I gotta think writing code is infinitely better for the mind than random puzzles.
Right, this is another type of insurance. I have a relative who is in his mid-80s who uses the stock market in this way. He studies companies, buys and sells after doing a lot of research and analysis. He holds stocks for months at a time, never day trades, never holds long term. He's always done very well and it keeps him sharp.
Last time we talked about it he was expressing interest in offloading his trading to someone else, he said he is starting to worry about his age and if he would start to make bad decisions. I discouraged that line of thinking. One reason is that no one is going to keep as keen an interest in his portfolio as him, but the main reason is that it is greasing his gears and keeping him sharp,
>So it got me wondering what you're doing as you try to extend your skills. Are you working on real projects that interest you? Playing with "made up" projects to challenge you in new ways? A combo?
In the last month I haven't been doing nearly as much as I want to. I had to scale back because I was having more to do than hours in the day to get them done. Coincidentally, just yesterday I started practicing code again. One of the first things I want to do is build a little cost/earnings analysis script that could replace some of the spreadsheet work I've been doing laity.
Another thing I want to do is dig more into some type of arbitrage model, I am not sure what yet, but I feel like there are opportunities there that aren't being exploited.
I am also very interested in *selling* options and feel like coding can be used there too.
Right now the biggest hurdle is time, between the family, taking care of my health and work I have very little extra time to do big projects. So, for now I am going to do small things that will help with productivity.
>When I designed the house I planned a place for an elevator.
Elevator being installed this week. This is Day 3 of installation, will probably take 5 total.
>planned a place
Saved me $20k.
It isn't the same level, but I've been doing a lot of my own maintenance and repairs lately to save money. Skilled labor has gotten outrageously expensive in my area. I just finished a job with about $500 of parts and equipment that a contractor quoted as $12.5 thousand.
$500 vs $12.5 K sounds pretty good.
>labor
It's nuts even here in the hinterland. HVAC workers really jacked up prices. Heat pumps are driving demand, I'm told.
Here's a marketing beauty shot of the elevator model. (kinda weird choice of photo, IMO.) The mfr only got this full wheelchair size version approved 2 years ago.
https://stayinghome.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Elevator-with-SHC-Enclosure-scaled.jpg
Looks nice imo. I like the windows. My wife's aunt has an elevator built into her place and it feels like a ride in a telephone booth.
Re: labor
I think all the national disasters has made demand completely outstrip supply and people are charging outrageous amounts because of one person won't pay it tue next person will. It is a very good time to be a contractor.
>phone booth
Like so:
https://www.savaria.com/products/telecab-elevator?lang=en
The Telecab model (now owned by Savaria) was one of the first in this 'booth' style. Originally UK based, IIRC. They've added acrylic panels to brighten the interior while making them weigh less. This booth style is very popular now, but wheelchair-capable units are harder to find.
IMO, these single, upright occupant styles are better than nothing ...but if space & money are available you should get a wheelchair-capable elevator with 500-600 pound capacity, as it is pretty common to have a helper riding along, too.
>windows
Yeah, I'm having it installed in the glass corner foyer, so the open/airy look is good. The 2nd floor landing is right outside the master suite and also a guest bedroom. It is a little 'industrial" in appearance, though. I might have a cabinet maker come up with some fluted corner-boards for the foyer.
>>$500 vs $12.5 K sounds pretty good.
Nice return on your labor!
Any idea how much time it took? I've found in similar circumstances, the return on my labor can be $500 an hour. I don't quite understand that, because the contractor doesn't make that much, and yet...
>the return on my labor
You're slower, but you're also spending time & effort to make it the best you know how rather than the quickest way to get the job done. Also, gathering materials & tools generally takes you more time & trips to the stores than a pro.
Generally, I find that my return is usually 8-10X $$$, probably more on smaller projects like plumbing repair because the pros are going to charge a high-$ minimum just for the house call.
On projects that require special tools but otherwise any mouth-breathing yokel can get the job done, I buy the tools if they are a significant part, say 30-50%, of the project cost. A Collated Screwdriver For Decking & Sub-Floor Installations is a good example.
https://www.amazon.com/Metabo-HPT-W6VB3SD2-SuperDrive-Fastening/dp/B07SR5MD8J
The other issues that weigh heavily in favor of DIY are convenience & **security** --mostly security. Convenience swings both ways, the time it requires is an inconvenience but having to schedule meetings and work dates with contractors is a giant PITA.
SECURITY: Every person you let on your property is a security risk. Period. My next door neighbor had 3 separate burglaries over a 15yr span. One of those happened while they were home and asleep. All 3 were perpetrated by people who had been at the house earlier to do maintenance or landscaping work.
+
Never, ever have a safe or lockbox visible in your house. If hidden, keep it that way! And don't go inside and retrieve some cash to pay someone. I have some horror stories I'll tell at the next corecon.
>>best you know how
But the good pros know how to make it better than you can. We had our deck refinished last fall. It is over living space, so the waterproofing has to be perfect. They guy we hired had been doing it for over 40 years (inherited his dad's business). He had noticed that flimsy flashing was often a culprit, so he has heavy guage flashing custom made for his jobs. Our neighbor did it as a DIY (no living space beneath so lower consequence) and he said the pro used 2-3 times as much of the crucial (and expensive) resin as our friend did.
Like everything, the pros run the gamut and the good ones are worth every penny they charge. When we saw this guy work, my wife just looked at me and said, "I'm so glad we hired Randy instead of doing this ourselves."
I like saving the money... but also being aware of the limits of my skills (which are not very good TBH)
>doing it for over 40 years
DIY is my last resort for roofing, flashings, or waterproofing large living space surfaces --particularly flashings. Doing a flashing properly is more of an art than a technical skill, combining physics (gravity, fluid dynamics) with construction know-how. Over the years, I've seen more lousy flashings than good ones --usually thinly galvanized sheet metal, sometimes aluminum, and -rarely- copper. Almost always, they are smeared with caulk and/or roofing cement.
>>smeared with caulk
Which bought us one extra, nervous, and thankfully mild winter. We're so glad we had a pro handle it before this winter.
Very late here, but mine were;
- Gardening
- Home renovations
- Diversify income stream
All on course so far;
- A lot of gardening done so far - pulled out a few small trees and redesigned portions inline with our plan
- Saving mode - some big things for spring
- Income stream has been diversified - attended my first fashion show as a photographer and booked three new jobs off the back of that
>Any idea how much time it took?
This was a slab leak. The contractor wanted to remove the hot water heater, break down the walls (for access) and jack hammer the floor to figure out which pipe was leaking. He said all that was necessary to just find the leak. He suspected the leaky pipe was one going under the slab to the closest bathroom (he was wrong), then there was the bypass through the walls and ceiling on top of that.
After I said "hell no" and made up my mind to do it myself I started making strategic cuts in the sheet rock. There are six going into the ground in a wall behind the hot water heater, three hot, three cold. I knew the leak was on the hot side because the leak stops when I shut off the water supply to the hot water heater. The pipes are in a real terrible spot, in a wall between the hot water heater and the gas heater. Doing a lot of detective work by feeling the pipes and listening to them with a stethoscope I was able to figure out that the leaking pipe was actually a 3/4 in pipe that eventually runs up to supply hot water to the showers up stairs. After figuring out the problem I set up a temporary piping system to deliver the hot water to the showers that was outside the walls, for that I used these press-on "sharkbite" fittings and PEX piping. That part was kinda easy and it bought me some time to figure out a more permanent solution. I took a few days and made a few more cuts in the walls and ceiling of the laundry closet to figure out the plan. The townhouse is sort of a stupid design, but one good thing about it is that the utility stuff is all kinda close together. There is a bit of a space above the laundry area where the ht water heater sits that has a low ceiling and houses ducts for the heating and such. I used that space to run the pipe after capping off the old path. This was my first time soldering pipes. I did copper to PEX and back to copper. If it were the drinking water I probably would have done copper all the way, but using PEX mad the job a lot faster and easier.
It is hard to say what my total time in is, but I'd say maybe 20 hours total including the time to educate myself on how to do it and the detective work. Labor was maybe eight hours. I still have to patch up the walls and paint though.
One thing I've really started to notice is that a lot of "pros" do sh## work, this might be more true around here than other places.
So even counting the whole 20 hours, you're still over the $400 to $500 I mentioned. The return on your time can be exceptional.
Yeah, I think so. I've been doing a lot of car and appliance repairs too. I think for now on my default will be to see if I could do it myself first.
Because of how hard it is to get people to come all the way out where we are, I've done a lot of stuff I would never have even tried 20 years ago, all thanks to YouTube.
My all-time greatest hit video is this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUf4fLLl7FI
Two friends and I used the exact same banjo. At my best, I could get about 15 feet of tape laid in 3 minutes. At my worst, the tape end dropped, I reached for it, my foot broke through the lid of the bucket I was standing in and ended up ankle deep in joint compound, which I mostly ruined because of all the dirt on my feet. The guy in the video tapes an entire room in under 3 minutes. He is my hero. I cannot tell you how difficult we found every aspect of what he does effortlessly.
>>appliance repairs
Just fixed our washing machine. Would have been at least 2-3 weeks to get a repair guy out and no idea what they would have charged. It was a $15 part and took about 5 minutes to fix. There were at least a dozen Youtube videos showing the exact problem we were having so it was pretty easy to diagnose and repair.
My last washing machine repair attempt didn't go quite as well. Had to try to replace the bearing on the drum but for the life of me I couldn't get the old bearing out. I tried hammers, bigger hammers, and even fashioned a puller of sorts from some scrap wood, bolts, and washers and the thing wouldn't budge. The repair guys wanted to replace the whole drum ($1000 for that) and since it was an old one (and we hate front loaders) we just picked up a used $50 top loader.
amazon is pretty good for dryer parts.
>>amazon is pretty good for dryer parts
Yeah, they had them there but I didn't want to wait so I just got what I needed from the local appliance parts store. Luckily they had what I needed as it is a very common part that breaks.