I'm interested to hear what are the changes fellow HNers made in their life and never look back again. It could be anything.<p>For me:<p>* Inkjet Printer => LaserJet Printer<p>* PC => Mac<p>* Monthly Gym Membership => Home Gym<p>* Sitting all day => Standing Desk<p>* Shall-not-be-named-sucky-cloud-storage => DropBox
<p><pre><code> Windows > Linux
CD-R backups > Dropbox
Two monitors > One 30" Dell Monitor (Best purchase ever btw)
Pirating Music > Spotify (I even pay a subscription)
TV > Youtube, BBC iPlayer, other steaming services (and now no TV licence fee)
Crap diet > Learning to cook
Paperwork > iPad
IDE > gEdit
Landline > Mobile
</code></pre>
I'm sure there are others. One thing i'd love to do is live totally off the grid, reuse water, generate own electricity, grow own food, live in middle of no where. The only thing i cant figure out how to do is a decent net connection...
I hit my singularity when I realized that you can take as much time off as you want if you are prepared to take it unpaid.<p><pre><code> 1996: 3 weeks
1998: 10 weeks
1999: 4 weeks
2000/1: 20 weeks
2002: 6 weeks
2003: 36 weeks
2004: 32 weeks
2005-2010: ~36 weeks (9 months)/year
</code></pre>
The work equation changed to: (how much do I need to travel for another 9 months) / (hourly rate) = (hours I need to work on this next contract)
* Gym in the evening => Gym during the day (extended lunch break)<p>* One monitor => Two monitors as an extended desktop<p>* Never checking my finances => Using Zetabee cashflow to manage my finances<p>* Reading blogs only => Reading books (on anything) and audiobooks (in the car)<p>* Hot showers => Occasional Cold Water dips<p>* Cow's Milk => Goat's Milk<p>* Microsoft Outlook => Gmail<p>* Wasting time on the internet => Writing a journal or creating a list of things to do when im bored in advance<p>* Irregular work pattern => Aiming to achieve a minimum of 5hrs of focused productivity a day with 3min breaks every 60mins<p>* Friends that are negative or with no ambition => Limiting contact with them<p>* Trying to spend time with successful people or ambitious people => Setup my own Mastermind Group<p>* Green Tea => White Tea<p>* Manual version control => Mercurial using TortoiseHG as the GUI<p>* No programming skills => Started learning Javascript<p>* Relationship issues with colleagues and friends => "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie plus being more direct without being confrontational<p>* 20hrs of TV a week => Choosing 1 or 2 shows and following them only<p>* Poor quality of air in the house => Air purifier<p>* Back pains => Got a very simple chair, improved posture and regular back exercises<p>Cant think of anything else. Hope the list didnt bore any of you. Its fun to share.
Academia -> Real World<p>Drive to work -> Walk to work<p>Prepared food -> Cook from basic ingredients<p>Radio 1 -> Radio 4<p>Java -> Anything else<p>Expensive SUV -> Sensible economical car<p>Paper books only -> Kindle & Audible<p>Being a bigot about particular operating system and languages -> Not really caring anymore (apart from Java)<p>[Edit: The thing about Java is more today with my own, in retrospect, slightly embarrassing "advocacy" of the language in the period '95 to '00 - rather than the issues the language has as the new Cobol].
<p><pre><code> Husband => No husband
Affluenza => Spartanism
Car => No car
</code></pre>
Probably a whole lot of other things. Somewhere in there all that led to:<p>Chronically Ill => Not Chronically Ill. Definitely don't plan to go back.
Video Games, Junk Reading => After work home development<p>Video Games, Junk Reading => Selfhero: sailing, diving, etc<p>Wishing/Wanting => Doing. Immediate scheduling<p>Unmotivated Friends => Adventurous Friends<p>That's hard/difficult => That's worthwhile<p>I'm over thirty, but like many of my friends, I still enjoyed video games way too much. Claiming they were a way to "relax" or "blow off steam" after a hard day at work, I finally admitted to myself that they had lost their original value and were now solely a time sink and addiction.<p>This nagging thought kept troubling me until I gave it my full attention, and dealt with the reality of the answer: "If I spent this many hours a week practicing <insert game heroic skill> instead of playing a character with it, how heroic could I become?"<p>I suddenly lost all desire to play video games, watch most TV, and read books (entertainment, not literature). Instead I have spent the last couple of years cultivating interesting and useful skills, and participating in my own adventures. I went from playing CoD and TotalWar to scuba diving with sharks, motorcycling, traveling and practicing/training my sailing skills with the goal of circumnavigating.<p>Never looked back.
New Zealand => Australia<p>Windows => Mac<p>Spinning rust => SSD<p>Of course, there are tons of technology changes that have been great. The things that have made a huge impact in my life are:<p>Pure techie => Learning sales<p>Employee => Business owner<p>Sales is all psychology. It totally changes your view of the world. It's not about how things <i>should</i> be, but about how things are regardless. A business degree didn't teach anything that mattered about that.
Drinking whenever => No drinking => Drinking two days per month<p>Drinking too much sucked. Drinking not at all sucked. Drinking two days a month lets me enjoy my wine/beer/sake and whacks me with the occasional hangover to remind why I opted for this damn policy in the first place. It is drinking in perfect balance.
<i>Mouse => Wacom Tablet</i><p>Saved me from carpal tunnel syndrome (I already had the early signs).<p><i>Inkjet Printer => LaserJet Printer</i><p>Didnt't realize how much I was missing. The time savings alone makes it worth it.<p><i>Design Major => Psychology Major</i><p>Sometimes it's true what they say, everything in moderation. Once I left art school, I found my passion for design again.
Random off the top of my head:<p>No backup/storage => Dropbox 50gb (paid) <--- !!!!! Probably the best computing upgrade I've ever made.<p>Same password on every site => Keepass (Also an incredible thing)<p>No serious exercise => Starting to exercise (gym, started playing a new sport I love, etc.)<p>Old phone => Smartphone (iPhone 4)
Federal Government Contracting => Startup/Commercial Freelancing (US Government couldn't care less about spending tax dollars well...)<p>Living next door to the 'rents (for help with wife's health care) => Living 150 miles away<p>Java => Ruby (and almost any language, including JVM languages, other than Java)<p>PC => Mac (huge +1)<p>Friends who don't respect my life choices => Friends met through the Ruby community<p>HDD => SSD
vim => emacs
layered window manager => tiled window manager
mouse => no mouse
no wife => wife
music career => programming career
inactive => active<p>Best thing I did for my health was to get a bike and get into sports. The first thing I got into was martial arts. Now I rock climb, run, and cycle. Nothing gets the brain going like a good work out. I never look back.<p>Emacs was a big paradigm shift that took many months too.<p><i>Update: thought of a couple other things...</i>
PC -> Mac<p>Over-the-counter banking -> Internet banking<p>Feature phone -> Smartphone<p>Mouse with no wheel -> One with wheel (and currently Magic mouse)<p>Own hosted email/Yahoo -> Gmail (or Google Apps for Business)<p>Dock at the bottom (both Windows and Mac) -> Dock on the left<p>Unmanaged music collection -> iTunes<p>No specific editor -> MacVim
Multiple big projects on the go at once -> Dedicated effort to finish one before getting too distracted by the next<p>Valuing money more than time -> Valuing time more than money<p>Trusting only logical reasoning -> Trusting my gut instinct as well<p>Thinking it's wrong to turn down opportunities -> Happy to turn down opportunities if they don't appeal much or I've got too much on my plate already<p>Running all email through my own mail-server -> fastmail.fm<p>Keeping my email client open all day -> Opening it only every hour or two so I can focus on real work<p>Cleaning teeth straight after food -> Waiting 30 minutes or more first, to reduce enamel erosion<p>White rice -> Brown rice (~5 times the fibre)<p>Cooking rice in a saucepan -> Using a rice cooker
Two best decisions I've ever made<p>1) working for a bigco -> startup<p>2) single -> married with a kid<p>It took me a while to come to these 2 points but I've never looked back.
* Working in a big R&D company in japan => Working for a small company in Japan => Working as a freelancer => Starting my own company (It's very exiting and a bit stressful, but working in japan is a good preparation for how to deal with stress and long hours)<p>* Windows => Debian => Gentoo => Mac at home, Gentoo on servers (I tried ubuntu on servers but I always end up having to compile and install from source too much stuff)<p>* HDD => SDD (Amazing the different it makes)<p>* Paperbooks => ereader (used to use a pocketbook 360 which was really great but it was stolen :-( currently looking for a new one)<p>* Backup on dvds => Tarsnap
Sitting => Standing Desk: The effect this has had on my productivity is surprisingly large.<p>Typical "Healthy" Diet => No Processed Foods or Sugar: It's hard to disambiguate placebo effects, but I generally feel pretty awesome.<p>Laptop Screen => Cinema Display: This has definitely enhanced my productivity.<p>Shoes => No Shoes: Of course I need to wear shoes occasionally, but when I do, they are "minimalist" and have flexible soles. On everything else I default to barefoot, including when I go for a run. This has been great for my posture, and it's made me seemingly immune to most common running injuries.
The big ones:<p>* Moving away at 18 to a new province. Best thing I ever did.<p>* Lost my job at 20, started a company. Never worried about money or looked back. This actually seemed incredibly natural.<p>* Shut down said company after 10 years, just to move on to more interesting things. No regrets. I'm working on way cooler stuff now in a variety of areas and I love all of it.<p>* Changed my eating/lifestyle, lost 35lbs. Keeping it off with no effort due to lifestyle changes.<p>I don't really pay attention to small stuff. I wouldn't say CD->iPod->iPhone was a deliberate change, more of a natural progression...
Interesting. I saw the title and my first thought was my experience of discarding religion from my life. Rejecting the backwards, totalitarian dogma of christianity was the most liberating experience of my life and I have never once looked back with anything other than joy at leaving it behind.
Boiling vegetables ----------------> Steaming vegetables<p>Ready meals -----------------------> Eating mostly simple food (chicken, prawns, veg, brown pasta)<p>Red meat --------------------------> Mostly white meat<p>Smoked fish -----------------------> Unsmoked fish, also prawns and mussels<p>Out of shape ----------------------> In shape (running, weights at home and weekly personal training)<p>Wonky teeth -----------------------> Straight teeth<p>No vitamins/cod liver oil ---------> Multivitamins (hoping for longer telemeres) and cod liver oil<p>Work goals -----------------------> Also have personal goals (run half marathon, travel to a particular destination etc.)<p>Dumb phone ------------------------> Smart phone<p>Hotmail ---------------------------> GMail<p>Paper to-do list ------------------> Online to-do list
There are a bunch of things that really improved my life and they aren't all tech related.<p><pre><code> Java/.NET => PHP => Ruby
Laundromat => Owning my own * single most amazing change
Not caring about personal finances => Saving up
Sit all day => Geekdesk (I stand about 1h30 every day)
Pharmaceutical programming => Startup programming
Restaurants => Cooking classes
Playing WOW => Quitting cold turkey
Windows/Linux on home built boxes => Mac
Seeing my wife clean the house all the time => Paying for cleaning</code></pre>
normal american diet -> no meat, no dairy, no processed foods.<p>dumb phone -> dumber phone<p>4 hours TV nightly -> no tv<p>workaholic -> socialholic<p>self doubt -> awesomeness<p>technology lover and collector -> less is more<p>friendster -> nothing<p>Daily motto: "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and it's a beautiful day"
<p><pre><code> christian ----------------------------> atheist
meat eater ---------------------------> vegetarian
working for someone else -------------> working for me
sitting in the chair -----------------> sitting on the ground
reading eng. books translated --------> reading in english
engaging in Win/Lin/Mac discussions --> I dont care anymore
travelling with stuff ----------------> travelling light</code></pre>
Living far away from work => Living within biking distance (Best decision of 2010)<p>Desktop computer => Laptops<p>TV => No TV (Best decision of ~2003)<p>Studying human stuff => Studying IT stuff (Best decision of 2009)<p>In my studies: Focus on academia => Focus on real world problems<p>Taking myself seriously => Not taking myself seriously<p>Living in multiple countries => Living in Denmark (the country I grew up in)<p>gEdit => Vim<p>multiple folders, commented out code, etc => Git + github<p>Facebook => Github, Twitter, Hacker news, meetups, etc
When did you change to the standing desk? I heard people grow tired of it after a couple of months.<p>3G internet connection => Hardline<p>Living in suburbs => Living in the city center
<p><pre><code> Whining ---------------------------> Fixing
Asking for permission -------------> Asking for Forgiveness (Professionally)
Gaming as a hobby -----------------> Learning as a hobby
Working hard ----------------------> Working smart
Speculation -----------------------> Communication
Competition -----------------------> Cooperation</code></pre>
<p><pre><code> HDD --------> SDD
PHP --------> Ruby
Chair ------> Standing desk
All others -> MacVim
MTB --------> Singlespeed racing bicycle
No hobby ---> Kitesurfing. Nothing beats flying over the waves while the sun goes down.
Car --------> Westfalia James Cook motor home (for kitesurfing)</code></pre>
An eclectic selection:<p>* "Real" job => Starting a company<p>* 24/7 working life => Switching off and becoming a published fiction writer<p>* Self-doubt and low self esteem => Finding formal help<p>* Teflon pans => Cast iron pans (seriously, look up how bad teflon is for you - and cast iron pans are way more fun to cook with)<p>* Building things => Building companies
* automatic => manual trans
* Windows => Linux (1999)
* Sysadmin => Developer (background is CS)
* ignoring exercise since high school => treadmill, elliptical
* iPhone => Android
* bare metal => virtualization
* most others => Python
Working 40+ hour weeks > permanent switch to part time work<p>Local email client > Gmail<p>Paper calendar > Google Calendar<p>iTunes purchases > full CDs (sometimes as MP3s) on Amazon<p>Leased servers > Amazon EC2s<p>Mostly paper books > Kindle<p>Stopped trying to do the Linux desktop thing > Mac laptops, SSHing to Linux servers<p>Mostly Lisp and Java > more Ruby
Working at home --> working at cafes
Video games --> hobby projects
Following my natural social inclinations --> going out most days
Developer --> Developer who can do sales & biz
Finance organization => Software organization<p>The Bat => Thunderbird => GMail<p>Free => Married<p>Black tea with sugar => Green Tea without sugar<p>TV => Internet<p>Meat food => Vegetables<p>Fixed work schedule => Free work schedule<p>Hard working, unhappy => Love to work<p>PC forever!
Hello from Izhevsk.
Land Line => Mobile<p>TiVo => WMC7 (with Ceton 4 stream cablecard)<p>Briefs => Boxers (like 25 years ago but still)<p>Thinning hair => shaved head<p>Klonopin => nothing<p>Working for the man => Being the man
Working for a company -> Working for myself<p>doing my own taxes -> tax lady<p>designer -> entrepreneur<p>saying yes to everything -> saying no<p>trying to do everything -> focus
government contracting => engineer at university<p>running => biking => bike racing<p>pc => mac<p>php => python (django)<p>complaining about tools => writing my own or patching others<p>no source control => github<p>learning projects => practical development and products<p>reading tech books => memoirs only<p>bottled water => filtered pitcher => bottled water<p>desktop => laptop<p>local documents => google docs<p>virtualbox => vmware<p>individual => LLC
Landline -> Mobile Phone<p>Standard flip phone -> Symbian smartphone<p>Symbian -> Android<p>Windows -> Ubuntu<p>Stuck on the ground -> Pilot license
landline => mobile<p>blah clamshell cellphone => iPhone<p>PC/Windows => Mac/OSX<p>Java => Python<p>The Man's corporate cubicle => home office => my business office<p>9-to-5 salary grind => my own schedule, ROWE, contracting/consulting<p>used cars => new 2010 Hyundai<p>backpack 4 laptop => padded laptop bag => hard shell reinforced briefcase<p>SVN => git<p>laptop's boot filesystem on magnetic platter hard drive => SSD<p>TV for visual vegging => the Web<p>living on the 70th floor => living on ground floor<p>sharing walls & ceilings with neighbors/drummers/blind-elephants => not
The City I was staying with my family ==> The city with software industry (2007)<p>[Financially Secure But Unhappy Two Years]<p>The city with software industry ==> A Village With A Physics School (2009)<p>The village with physics school ==> The city with software industry (2010)<p>The City With Software Industry ==> San Francisco (Left everything in my country to just be here, attend Google IO) (2011)