gentryb

Zaphod would be quite happy.

I'm slowly recovering from 4 moves in the last 4 months (and a tiny bit of homelessness). My lease expired and rent was raised too much for me to justify staying where I was. Thought I was moving into a mutually beneficial situation that didn't work out that way. This is an interesting recovery process.

I'm also trying to get back into Software after an injury that left me in a wheelchair for 7 months and walking again just as COVID hit. I got into volunteer work and eventually ended up doing COVID vaccination and testing for the few jobs I've held since. The work gap is hard to explain for me personally.

It's likely I'll end up in a low skilled position for a while as I continue the full interview processes needed now that I have a stable place to live again.

I like the question - and wish I had a more positive response to it.

Nobody will know homelessness until they experience it. My life has ended up in 2 storage units, my car, and the room I'm now renting. Don't think it's impossible that it could happen to (some of) you. Many people are much closer than they ever realize.

At this point I am still looking in software dev / database roles. I am a published author, and have been working with SQL since the 90's. I started at a dial-up ISP in 1994 when RADIUS still meant what it stands for :)

No real reason for writing this other than prompted by a question. I am likely a bit of an outlier in this situation.

Betting someone will kill themselves or go to prison is far from constructive, and is triggering to many. Go to prison is one thing. Suicide is another. It's not a joke.

EDIT: Suicide is something that's hit personally lately - my response was likely something based on that. To the person who responded - I didn't think you considered suicide a joke - and plenty do consider it. It's never a solution though. You even got an upvote.

Funny enough, not a nurse, but took over a 2 year "sabbatical" to do COVID testing and Vaccination. As someone who is used to making design decisions on an EHR in previous consulting engagements, it was beyond enlightening to see how things are where the rubber meets the road. Was only a Clinical Health Tech and a Medical Assistant, but frankly burned out enough to move back to software work.

Saddest thing is that I really felt I was helping, but have to admit I've become burnt out in the healthcare field - Just have $500 or so in scrubs invested...

Taking the time has hurt my career in many ways, I do believe. I have a ton of respect for many nurses, but many travelers are worse than you might imagine. Over-extended, far over-paid for their work. And really don't care about the facility they are working with (or throwing others under the bus to cover up their own mistakes)...

It was a valuable thing to experience, and I do believe I helped many people, but it's a very different thing to be at the bottom rung than the one designing and implementing various systems. God forbid someone can see a workflow issue, propose multiple solutions, and have travelers ignore it because the workflow issue makes them more money.

Not a rant against nurses at all - As someone with over 20 years in various roles of engineering, it was quite an eye opener to me.

Can confirm - did once for my 100th jump, and once on a birthday. Nothing quite like naked skydiving.

I'm curious as to why you think the planes should be fixed, but "that's kind of not the point"? It seems to me that it's pretty far out of the frequency boundaries.

Perhaps a bad photo or low quality? The one I tested was highly compressed and far from original resolution and scored quite high. Very interested in the dataset though.

Not sure how reliable it is - although I put up one of my more favorite pictures I've shot and it earned a 7.98 and was better than 97% of photos uploaded... Interesting stuff. Could you link to the AVA dataset?

There are various types of PCR tests - I suspect you are referring to a Nasopharyngeal swab - which goes from tip of the nose to base of the ear (and it much smaller than a long Q-Tip) vs a nasal swab that usually gets both nostrils and doesn't go in nearly so far.

I've personally done Nasopharyngeal swabbing in a drive-thru. I will be supervising self-swabbing at a University starting tomorrow. They are very different things. One is a Q-Tip that only gets inserted into the nasal cavity. The tickle-your-brain swab is a different thing entirely. It requires training to do properly (enters approximately 90 degrees to your face) and while I learned how it feels from both sides, I can't imagine someone being asked to self-administer a Nasopharyngeal swab.

Going back to COVID testing for a bit before I jump back into my technical side. There is some serious need, and I have a good amount of experience last year. It's now been a 2 year swap toward volunteering and medical work. Never expected to see things spike this fast.

Looking forward to working myself out of a job and getting back to my technical roots.

I so want to respond with Orbital lyrics... but this is a very good point.

I am not. I reported something and was fired the next day. I was also wearing a PAPR (N100 Powered Air Purifying Resperator) for the time I was doing testing. Though I was in close contact with many infected patients, I was also in pretty hardcore PPE. I'm doing much more photography for now and some music work as I find the right place in tech again.

I put myself out there as a frontline healthcare worker and was vaccinated prior to Christmas. My second dose fell before the 1/20 time frame by over a week.

It was a one-off thing for me - trying to help - did COVID testing and vaccination until late April... As one of the first groups of people to be vaccinated, I am concerned that my immune response is starting to lessen.

It's sad and ironic that if I were the type to lie at all about this, I'd even have my state paying me to get a first vaccination - no ID required...

It's a hard decision - and I suppose my actions may depend on how booster shots are or are not approved.

Just a note - the link to the position is broken, and I'm not able to find the position on your careers page.

Some are - at least most doing COVID Vaccination administration are people that I can personally say are using "lots" of hand sanitizer each day. (yes, my hands still hurt)

This was a reason I inadvertently got some previous co-workers over-excited about a feature (only to find it was only in the betas I happened to be running). Still remember having to break it to the first person who really wanted to enable the feature that it must be in beta - and I spoke too early.

As an aside - earlier betas didn't seem to like various colored masks in my experience (turquoise being the main one) - which seemed to be fixed in later versions.

For context: worked at a COVID-19 Testing/Vaccination site - mask on more hours than not each 24... I _LOVE_ this feature still.

Will be actively doing testing, and will likely be among the first wave of "guinea pigs". Still going to take it, unless science says otherwise at that moment. There's a lot to be said for taking this more seriously than the current WFH group on HN (which seems to be quite a large one).

If anyone has suggestions that work in the current COVID world - it would help. Attending regular gatherings just isn't a thing anymore that I'm seeing. Meeting new people when many generally try to stay away from others outside of their "group" has made this incredibly difficult for me lately.

While I certainly don't have all the answers, I have met with the founder, and am happy to connect anyone to someone who does. I will answer any questions that I personally can, however.

One of the most hard-hitting movies for me lately: Wheels (2014)[1] - Especially after spending a decent amount of the last year in a wheelchair.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170667/

Cmd + Shift + ? = Easy way to access menus via keyboard

Volunteering at our homeless shelter doing health assessments and triage was certainly much better than sitting at home watching TV and worrying more.

Many of my prospects disappeared as COVID hit - and it made me feel some self worth trying to help others. I learned a ton too.

When the volunteer work is truly doing something for the community, I find it more valuable than paid work (even barely scraping by) - just knowing that I did SOMETHING to attempt to help others.

Just my 2 cents.

My comment said it's not an option. And yes I would sacrifice said things right now. but again - not an option.

Not an option, and boy do I wish it was.

While I may question their reasoning, I respect them for putting it out there. Ultimately totally turned off to this based on the elitism crap. I did enjoy the article quite a bit though.

Sometimes writing this helps for me as well. I'm truly glad it cleared your mind a bit.

Please don't ever consider suicide seriously. It's not a way out - but a way to hurt many more than you will ever realize. I've already posted plenty in this thread, and don't want to repeat my own situation.

Please look into the suicide hotline, or feel free to reach out (you can likely find me in my profile) if only to talk.

This is difficult for us all, and I empathize with your situation.

My lease will end without the option for renewing because the apartment was rented out from under me sight-unseen. I'm fully paid up on rent. I was never given notice or the ability to renew said lease. This isn't just "It's the landlord's fault" in my opinion. I've seen plenty about evictions - but leases expiring are something I see under represented.

Any suggestions for doing so would be helpful to me (and hopefully the OP). If you have any specific ideas, please reply. When you don't have a small group of people to begin with, this is really difficult advice to follow

Please hang in there. You aren't the only one in a similar situation. Reach out (you can find me) - even if someone to talk to.

I still try hard to remain confident we'll all get through this.

Please hang in there. I'm facing some difficult things as well, and can relate with being highly experienced and older.

Suicide is NEVER an option in my mind. Despite what I face, I could never think of doing such to the family I have left, and the people that I know it would have a major effect on, let alone the ones who I may not realize.

I'm trying to stay positive that good opportunities aren't gone, they may have shifted, and I need to shift with them. Looking at things from a perspective of scarcity makes this so much harder. I know that feeling. You are not a peasant.

Please stay positive. I'm struggling, but working hard to do so. I care. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you ever want to talk privately - email is in profile somewhat.

And if you're seriously considering suicide, please reach out to the Suicide Hotline, or other resources.... This really hurts to read, and it feels very similar... although I know we will somehow get through this...

Edits: Spelling