For the past 8 months I have been living a fairly minimalistic lifestyle. I have never felt happier. It’s not the fact that I sleep in a small tent instead of a nice, comfortable bed, or the fact that I use a toaster oven (when I’m lucky to have AC electricity), instead of having a full sized kitchen. It’s what these choices teach me. Living small teaches you to appreciate the things you have. No need to quit your job […]
How do you describe something beautiful? In nature, art, design, music, engineering, mathematics, philosophy, something beautiful simply flows. Whether it’s a concept, an artistic expression, a practical implementation or an elegant solution. A beautiful flow is achieved by means of finding a path of least resistance. This is going to be very abstract for some readers, but try to follow my thoughts: Flow is in nature A river finds its way from the mountains to the sea by going around things in its […]
I first read about the concept of the happy animal in a cage while reading Live on the Margin. It goes something like: How can you tell if you are really happy? Even if you’re in a place you don’t like and you’re stuck doing something you don’t enjoy, you tend to make the best out of the worst. You eventually convince yourself that where you are and what you do is not so bad overall. You’re happy. You’re in a cage, because you’re unable or unwilling to change […]
Traveling, being your own boss, deciding what to do day by day without planning, all of these things do not come for free. Freedom has a price. I always remind people that this type of nomadic lifestyle is not all paradise. It involves compromises. Here’s a few examples: Connections with friends and family We have made efforts to go visit old friends that moved away in several places around the country. It’s been great to see them. At the same time we wish […]
Here’s my definition: The act of engaging in software writing activity outside, so not inside a building. I think sometimes in the future more and more work and school activity will take place outside. There’s something incredibly beautiful about nature.
I’ve been asked multiple times if I was nervous about leaving everything behind, quitting my salary job and starting my own business, selling most of my possessions and venturing on such a long trip. “What about your stable income, Piero? How are you going to support yourself (and your wife)? What if you get stranded somewhere? Are you bringing pepper spray everywhere you go with you?” We are interesting beings, us humans. We pride ourselves of the gift of rationality […]
If you are a T-Mobile customer and tether your internet connection from your phone, you might have encountered this annoying screen: Now this is a ridiculous effort by T-Mobile to charge you twice for using the data plan that you already paid for. I call it a ridiculous effort because they have no sure way of detecting whether an internet request comes from your phone or from a device connected to it, and this is clearly a way to milk […]
We go to school for 12 years, then we go to college for another 4 to 8 years. We are already in our mid-20s by the time we can become a productive member of society. On average we die at age 80. We spend almost 1/3 of our life just getting ready, doing nothing but homework. How are we going to spend the rest? We can do what society wants, get a nice paying job, get our 2 weeks of paid vacation a year, buy some expensive toys (we’re making […]
True story.
Many of you have been wondering how the heck I manage to code outdoors for many hours without losing my eyes. Beware of the glare! Truth is, you will never get the same result as being in an indoor office with all the windows shut. Then again, I’d much rather be outdoor and cope with less-than-perfect LCD experience than to be entrenched in a cubicle! So it’s a trade-off. There are however a few things you can do to improve the outdoor […]