galumptuous

It would be nice to how wrong I was, as in, off by 1 order of magnitude or 5 orders of magnitude. Because I was super close on some of them.

Skills are only as modern as the situation calls for. There are plenty of jobs in companies that are stuck in 1990s era technologies. When I started my job, the process including a step where we printed our emails in order to staple them to other printouts, all to be filed in a cabinet. Literally when a drawer filled up, the files were moved into an unlabeled box to packed haphazardly in an attic. And despite this archaic and disorganized methodology, the company makes a profit and has no debt. So even a depressed below average programmer can seem like a time traveler from the future. On hacker news, yeah maybe you are below average, but take a trip out into modernity’s hinterland and you might be seen as some sort of wizard with unimaginable powers. Programming is a way of seeing the world, not just a skill. Also, yes, exercise, meditation, etc. are all good solutions usually but depression can be crippling. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, stand, if you can’t even stand , you might need some of the old fashioned antidepressants from the heroic age of psychiatry. Confronting depression is a little bit like how some alcoholics stop drinking: it is sometimes helpful to take it one day at a time, one hour at a time, even one second at a time because ruminating, planning and thinking about doing things stops the doing. Today you make sure to get out of bed, then work on showering every day, then breathe some fresh air and absorb sunlight, then take a walk, then go for a jog or hike, etc. it could take time but no matter. If it is bad enough, even small steps can be highly rewarding.

My MRI showed a herniated disc and an epidural of steroids briefly helped but I also had an undiagnosed case of Ulcerative Colitis that was actually the real problem (I think). Anyway, the pain is real and profoundly debilitating but, despite occam’s razor, it is possible that a herniated disc is a red herring and the underlying problem is something else. In my case, managing the colitis solved 90% of the pain, etc. If pt and gabapentin and steroids aren’t helping, spur your doctor to consider investigating non-spinal culprits before submitting to the knife.

In rural Vermont, which is clearly not where most people live, we lose power for hours or days (or even weeks) every year. I imagine there are many communities throughout the world with similar types of power interruptions. Anything that is "mission critical" for survival (heat, water, and the ability to enter our home) must be as reliable and robust as possible. The idea of replacing the perfectly functional metal-key technology, for example, with some door-lock device that depended on a temperamental electrical grid would be a strategically unwise decision. Big risks, little rewards. What is the fail-safe plan for these sorts of smart home devices when there's an earthquake or hurricane or something?