Triple-check that our mortage is paid off in the event of my death, so that my wife and children will have a place to live after I (sole breadwinner) am gone.

I think the root cause is the complexity.

Split the problem into manageable chunks, then attack the chunks. Apply recursion as needed.

This is part of a more senior skillset, as some times a senior will be breaking up the problem and assigning the smaller pieces to other devs.

They’ll start with the union leaders, and work their way down until the organization is broken enough that everybody goes back to work.

Some CSAs will deliver weekly, which may help.

Small farmer here - we keep exactly one less production bird than the maximum legal requirement, as most farmers of our scale do.

My therapist, provided I reach the breaking point at a convenient time when we have a session scheduled.

They tend to shut up when you ask them to actually help in any meaningful, concrete way. They’ll sure protest though.

I’ve started doing it all the time now as well, as it’s valid ASL and we have two hard of hearing children, one of which communicates primarily with sign.

Laser cutter control software is windows only, just haven’t had the time/energy to rip out the entire control system and rework it to be open source.

aka “Don’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm.”

It just feels wrong to me to take the paycheck and not put my heart into the work.

I felt the same way, until after the second corporate buyout. The company I started with my career with is gone, the company that bought them is gone, and the company that bought them is gone as well. The product I worked on for six years is gone and the company website only exists in the internet archive and a few archived press releases.

I put my heart into it and it’s just… gone entirely.

It’s one of the last times I put my heart into my work, because all that happened in the long run is the board of directors got more wealthy.

The subsequent buyouts (and layoffs) I’ve been through have gone much better for me, personally, because I wasn’t as emotionally involved in the company/product.

I’m at the point now where I’m in a more senior role, doing consulting, and I dgaf about the client’s business or project beyond getting my work done on time and to the required quality. I start at 9, log off at 5pm, get my work done by noon, and enjoy spending more time with my kids in the summer.

Bluetooth speakers for music in the kitchen, attached sound system for steaming TV, over-ear noise cancelling bluetooth headphones for desk work, over-ear bluetooth ear protection headphones for shop/yard work, earbuds for shopping/etc (fuck store muzak).

all the little joys that you try to inject into your miserable existence

Related: opioid epidemics.

We did the same - bought a foreclosure at auction about a decade ago at the max we could afford, about $325k.

Now it’s a $1.2 million property. We could subdivide and pay off our mortgage entirely, if we needed to.

unless you already have the money you need to launch

I’ve noticed this as well, from being involved in the tech startup scene on the west coast for a while. There’s lots of funding and programs to expand your business, but none to help get it off the ground.

people don’t want to spend their money on starting businesses

I’d love to. Unfortunately if I quit my day job we’ll lose the house in six months.

We live in a more geographically isolated part of Canada (ie: not a big city) and at this point, our monthly grocery bill is approaching our mortgage payment amount. I still have to drive to three different stores to buy basics, because they’re all frequently out of stock for common items (like milk, sometimes). It’s not uncommon to pick up 3-4 bags of groceries (no meat) and pay $150-$200.

We garden, and have birds, and even started raising dairy sheep to reduce costs, but it’s still too much.

Yet, there are seven cannabis stores in town, and they’re all well stocked, somehow.

A government willing to go into debt with public spending? Cut off corporate subsidies and allocate the increased revenue to new technology businesses to reduce the risk involved in trying something different?

Learned the default account password and figured out which teachers had not changed their password from the default. Learned that all teachers had access to a share drive with all student records. Read through a lot of information.

Did not look at porn on school computers, because wtf?

At grad event, in front of elderly relatives, was called out for looking at porn on the school computers, other student was credited for breaking into all systems. More pissed about the latter.