Category: Random

What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?
View all responses
  • Minimalism – my wife is a minimalist and I enjoy the simplicity of that concept, particularly about clothes, electronics, and furniture. I also apply it to books and only keep the ones I love.
  • Sleep – if something is not important enough to be done first thing in the morning, it’s not worth doing last thing in the evening. This helps me go to bed sooner.
  • Reading – I try to read for about 2 hours per day. ~~10pm to ~~midnight is reading time. Helps me sleep better.
  • Walking – my goal is 10k per day and I do that for cardio fitness and meditation. 2 hours of walking per day requires sacrifices but then I found hacks – if a 30-minute drive can be replaced by a 1h walk, that’s half of my daily walking at the expense of 30 minutes. So I walk to places that people would normally drive to. Also, playing football with my kids counts as walking and family time.
  • Calendar – if a task is important enough, I put it on the calendar, personal or professional. This forces me to complete important tasks better than a to-do list. Less important and not-time-sensitive tasks still don’t go to the calendar.
  • Blogging – I try to blog daily and participate in the community.
  • I drink sugar-free sodas and eat chocolate. I can probably do better here but it increases the present-day comfort at the expense of my future self.

What’s your definition of romantic?

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s your definition of romantic?

Do more chores than necessary and appreciate every kind gesture. Remember birthdays and family holidays. Pay attention and listen. Cheesecake.

Nice writing prompt! Thanks for asking, Mr. Cronjob 🙂

Describe your most memorable vacation

~ Veselin ~ 13 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Describe your most memorable vacation.

It has to be my trip to Alaska, which took place in 2004 or 2005, when Bulgaria was not yet a member of the EU, and our passport strength was quite limited. At that time, I had never visited another country, and out of all the places in the world, I traveled to the USA, and from all the places in the USA – to Anchorage and Fairbanks. The trip was memorable enough that a photo from it remained a header of my previous blog for about a decade.

It had to be Alaska because my girlfriend went there for a work-and-travel trip and I missed her, so we had a vacation at the end of her work duties.

Things that made it memorable:

  • First visa, with the interview process and all the uncertainties around it
  • First airplane ride. I was dressed like for climbing the Himalayas because someone told me it would be cold on the airplane. It wasn’t. I probably smelled like a skunk
  • Excessive security checks. I was checked far too many times for a trip perhaps because of my Himalayan look. Have you ever seen anyone be checked at the gate past security? I was.
  • One of the legs got delayed for 12+ hours
  • Someone with the same last name told Delta they were me, got my ticket on the way back, and managed to change it to another location. This resulted in me flying first class (and sleeping all the time)
  • Saw glaciers, big mountains, big lakes, big cars, big plates with lots of food, and all you can eat buffet
  • Saw many drunks and experienced a culture of alcohol and weed

All of that doesn’t sound too exciting now that I’m older but it was a great adventure for my younger self. Basic things like airplanes, car rentals, motels, and diners felt like magic.

Advice from LeadDev

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

For a word to be spoken, there has to be silence. Before and after. (Ursula Le Guin)

I’ll prepare a conference talk one day that’s made entirely out of fantasy and sci-fi quotes. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun for myself 😀