I think about my next endeavors a lot. I make it a point to invest some time in them now while I still have the energy. I know some people who retired and felt a little lost because work was their raison d’etre or they were waiting for retirement to pick up a hobby.

If I hit FI, I plan on immersing myself in my hobbies (playing guitar, photography, gardening), building furniture for family and friends, and exercising more. And spending time in nature.

Also, since my dog is a recue, my altruistic pipe dream is to make enough money so I can buy some land and adopt a bunch of shelter dogs. Maybe even start a non-profit so I could pay the people who work at rescues a decent wage bc some of them are saints.

I’m a big proponent of buying local whenever possible. This plus something similar for physical products is really useful no matter where you live.

Vimium. Allows you to use your keyboard to navigate instead of needing to always reach for the mouse.

Switch to Firefox

Same, the physical camera button and 3.5mm headphone jack on the Xperia are awesome

That’s awesome. Almost looks like fan art, but IMO has more charm than CGI

That’s refreshing to see in a world of ever increasing enshittification. Wish more companies move in this direction.

Use libro.fm instead and part of your subscription goes to an independent bookstore of your choosing

Thanks for the reminder. Personally, I avoid anything with AI as much as possible, so I made it a point to fill out the survey.

This is what I try to tell people who just want the cheapest things possible. We’re voting with our dollars what kind of world we want.

Also, shipping things across the sea burns some of the worst fuel for the environment so I’d rather buy things made here and support the local economy whenever possible.

MSFT has a $3T market cap and $60B of free cash flow each year, so I doubt they’re hurting for money. This is how “growth at all costs” incentivizes myopic decision-making and doesn’t really help foster an environment where studios are willing to take creative risks. Even when they succeed (a la Hi-Fi Rush) they’re on the perpetual chopping block.

$6.4B for HashiCorp on the heels of $4.6B for Apptio and $34B for Red Hat back in 2018. I wonder how long until they expect each of these acquisitions to be accretive?

That’s cool, I hope you can make it happen. My pipe dream is to build a small timber frame cabin for myself and a canoe to go with it. I’d also like to contribute more (time-wise and monetarily) to some non-profits/environmental causes I feel strongly about. And about a dozen or so half-finished fullstack projects I’d like to pick back up on. Oh and read a lot, maybe try writing.

Lately I’ve been investing more in my hobbies rather than socking it all away for retirement. I want to develop the skills for them now (before fitness and dexterity become an issue) and make use of them as I get older, even if it means delaying FIRE a bit. Plus it gives me something to look forward to during the week.

Recently moved over to porkbun after dealing with a couple billing issues with namecheap and not getting the best customer service. Been pretty happy so far.

They’re known for launching spears and arrows at visitors, but their aversion towards outsiders might be what’s keeping them from going extinct. Other tribes have been decimated by disease after contact. Hopefully others continue to respect their independence.

Some other interesting tidbits https://www.atlasandboots.com/travel-blog/north-sentinel-island/

They also recently won a deal with Rakuten Mobile to supply RAN equipment in Japan

https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2024/02/27/nokia-wins-deal-with-rakuten-mobile-in-japan/

100%. Seems like phones continually get worse under the guise of “progress”. No more headphone jack or removable battery, more bloated software, anti-privacy assistants/AI. Switched to a Sony Xperia for the headphone jack alone and it’s been great, I hope they don’t follow this AI trend or else I’m out.

What’s everyone’s goals for 2024? Mine is to rebuild our emergency fund, try to max both our Roths, and see if I can generate a little side income from my hobby. Other than that, hopefully business as usual

Highly recommend Hardcore History podcast’s “Blue Print for Armageddon” that covers a lot of the events from WW1 and its various battles of attrition (Verdun, Somme, Brusilov offensive, Passchendaele). Hard to imagine loss on this scale, but Dan is an amazing story teller

Pretty cool, thanks for sharing