I do exactly the same with Apple laptops. Just replaced a 2015 MBP (that I bought used in 2019) with a 2021 MBA. Before that I had a 2011 MBA. New one is 16GB/2TB and was $700. It’s the fastest computer i have ever used by a wide margin - editing tens of thousands of raw files in Lightroom, editing 4K footage (which previous machines could not even do).
I sold the old MBP for $200, so I’m spending around $500 every 4-5 years and getting thousands of hours of use.
The last telco I worked at had a project manager like this.
She would take on a dozen small-ish projects (~6 months / $1M), and just jam them through by buying some off the shelf managed solution and using an external contractor who would write spaghetti to run tentacles to everything. She would routinely deliver projects early and under budget, which made her a stand out STAR. No other projects in the entire company were remotely close - normal was double time and budget. Green ticks next to her name, promotions, bonuses, etc.
Once I was invited to a conference call with a dozen people I didn't really know.
Her: We've tapped you as the main support person for this new system we've just deployed into production as part of this new project. I has customers live now.
Me: OK, great. Where's the documentation (there is none). What server does it run on? (Huh?). What credentials do I use to login (what?). Who is managing this SSL certificate? (What?). And so on.
I was told later that was a Career Limiting Move (CLM) on my part, because I wasn't being a team player, and I was adding friction to The Greatest Project Manager(TM).
She did this for at least 50 projects, always getting accolades while creating an absolute shit-storm for support to deal with. As the years rolled on I learned this is perfectly normal for a telco.
You mean like the police in America? Or elementary and high school? Or fire brigades, interstate highways, border security or the thousands of other things you rely on every single day that are 100% socialism.
How did they light fire, and what vessels did they use to boil water?
I ask this after years of adventure is the Yukon wilderness, where we play the game “if the canoe flipped and we lost everything, could we survive?”. Often the answer is “not unless we luckily rescue our rifles or lighters or gps beacon. Maybe we could walk out in a month. Maybe.
The last place I worked on a system that billed $5-$10 million a month, all pure profit. I was the only one with any knowledge.
When the server was built the guy who did so never documented the root password, and nobody knows it. I was in the sudoers file, and I have no idea what they do since I left. I tried to explain it to multiple levels of management, but I lost them all the second I opened a terminal and ssh’d in.
I’ve self published three books now, with another in the works. Amazon print on demand makes it incredibly easy.
They’re about my adventures around the world, with some lessons I learned and observations about whatever part of the world I’m in sprinkled throughout.
The process was immensely satisfying, and I’ll never forget the feeling the first time I held the printed book in my hands. “Holy shit, I wrote a book!” My name was on the spine and everything.
I write them in LaTeX to have ultimate control over the layout and formatting, then run it through Pandoc to get a compliant epub file. Details here [1].
I have them for sale on Amazon printed and book, and kobo and apple as ebooks. I’ll never get rich, but ~$500 a month forever is really nice when I’m on the road in a foreign country where costs are not high.
If you have the desire, I highly recommend it. The learning and immense satisfaction are great. It doesn’t cost a cent, and you will have it forever.
FWIW I’ve published a few of my own books. I write them in latex to get perfect print ready pdfs, then pan doc gives me flawless epub files, all from the same source.
That may be, but rem ember of the three things you should be doing - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Recycling is the worst and should be avoided anytime the other two are doable.
> All of the quotes and interactions I had with the local solar installers were reminiscent of the used car lot if not outright fraud.
I had exactly the same experience. They absolutely would not tell me the actual system cost, only how much I would save on my current bill per month. It felt exactly like a car salesman only talking about monthly payments, and it was horrible.
As a young driver I was given the advice that if you see a lot of oncoming cars using their sunshade or squinting into the sun as they come towards you, it's time to pull over and wait it out.
Driving with the sun at your back is never a good time to be on the road.