Tag: T_commute

Jack.Z@parent` #commute

Posted on by tiger40490

Jack.Z has strong experience in parenting.

高压 discipline is how he describes my stance.

“Observe what the kid wants and fulfill his needs” but I feel this is tough.

Accept differences in individual personalities.

Curiosity is a good thing in a kid.

Both Jack and grandpa foresee that my derogatory remarks could easily damage boy’s confidence. I use such harsh words to get his attention, but apparently the net effect is counterproductive. Jack suggested — paste reminder on your computer, in your cockpit, on the mirror … to stop the put-down remarks.

— JackZ on my family immigration
U.S. migration might be more risky for your kids then for you

Keep the communication open as they go through adolescence. Teenagers may take a few years to open up to parents…

“So Make sure you still have enough time for your kids when you are working here.” — I want to have time for them when they open up. Less stressful job. Short commute (like 95G) would be huge. Parent’s time is a key factor in Raymond’s story.

JackZ: “If you feel your son is likely to become a manager type, then perhaps the wordy problem skills (abstract logical skills) are not really relevant in the long run.” Self-confidence is arguably more important for those careers at least among the Americans he has seen. I think Jack meant resilience, positive attitude.

[18]3common stressors4 U.S.middle class like me #bad commute

Posted on by tiger40490

to be absorbed into another bpost?

  1. cashflow for livelihood
    • not enough savings for children’s education
    • lack of home-ownership -> net rental outlay? Not an unbearable stress.
  2. work stress
    • see separate blog post
  3. 2H+ commute eating up time for exercise, family, rest.. In NY most of these guys simply accept the long commute. Not me! I feel the higher salary is a poor bargain.

–outside the top 3:

  • weight, diet and health conditions that have to be actively managed
  • kids school problem — not so serious

life=short;Spend more@joys, less@commute++

Posted on by tiger40490

k_rmSelf_vs_xpSelf  k_X_focusing_illusion

See also

  • chore^pleasure[def] hours of a day .. more short-term
  • https://tanbinvest.dreamhosters.com/9489/longer-commute-iwt-smaller-home/ .. pointed out that small home size is generally easier to cope with than long commute.

[[Thinking, fast and slow]] also says “The central fact of our existence is that time is the ultimate finite resource.” So for the well-being of our xpSelf, we had better arrange our lives to spend more time with things/people that give us pleasure, and less time with negative things such as commute or doing chores alone.

Profound.

— quality time .. a vague term frequently given to me when I say I spend most weekends in office alone. Actually working in office on weekends (similar to working early mornings or evenings) is Quiet, Productive and sometimes enjoyable. By rescheduling non-trivial workload to those quiet hours, I was able to transform non-quality time to quality time !

(Family quality time? out of scope.) “Personal Quality Time” is a personal assessment. Here is a list of personal assessments at the present moment. For simplicity, I use “binary” assessment.

  • yes: loafing, day-dreaming … definitely non-productive, but can be quality time.
  • yes: good sleep, even at a “wrong” time and wrong place
  • no: time with family at home .. often unproductive and less-then-enjoyable
  • no: study just for a f*** exam… but look at Aunt Genn’s exam experiences in her 40s
  • no: chore alone .. I consider it unproductive, but some people can enjoy it, like gardening

Now, some “items” that are ambiguous, hard to classify, “depends”,,

  • yes: learning piano .. not always enjoyable. Consider grandpa in his late 80s
  • yes: commute .. can be productive and enjoyable, but only if seated. However, Sachin said while standing he could close his eyes and meditate .. unbelievable.

— “weekend renzi trips”… Now I have a less negative (still negative) view. Grandpa said many times that my time was not wasted, but he didn’t explain why. In hindsight, I didn’t like the ROTI, and I sacrificed too much — opportunity cost.

Now I think

  • if I didn’t have important things (opportunity cost) to spend my weekend hours, and
  • if both of us (boy and dad) enjoyed the time together, and
  • if we didn’t spend huge amount of time “having fun”, and
  • if the retrospective evaluation is not extremely negative and regretful.

, then the tcost doesn’t have to matter.

printer + tiny laptop: capture commute time #blackberry

Posted on by tiger40490

— converters of train-commute minutes (otherwise lost) : 2 peak-efficiency converters, and some minor converters

  1. laptop
    1. coding drill
    2. git blogg
  2. hardcopy
    1. printed blog, webpage or work content
    2. printed publications
  3. reading company emails on blackberry … (responding is harder) Can be efficient when clearing a long unread list.

— printer: Worthwhile if used once a month.

Sugg: buy and hold. Don’t set up until needed.

emc? Yes I will make room for it.

— laptop:

#1) 80% of the benefit and 90% of the pain relief  is — commute time wasted. On some days I have so much to do and so little time. With a tiny laptop, 1-2 days each month I hope to do some coding practice sitting on train. Ideally catch early trains.

Budget — $400 to reduce the pain. However, if I don’t use it much it would feel bad to spend so much.

Requirements — light; Battery is LG2

Secondary benefits:

  1. flight
  2. bring to workout — Stadium / exercise park / gym … I could also bring my regular laptop, but watch out for theft and handle-with-care.
  3. bring to laundromat

## t-penalty@commute #zsms

Posted on by tiger40490

 

Q: which solutions are proven effective?
A: Short answer — very few, if any, but still we will keep trying.

  • solution: read letters or other compulsory reads
  • solution: read parenting magazines or books
  • solution: print out my blog and read? Fewer than 20% of the time I felt it was effective.
  • solution: fuxi tech books? About 20-30% of the time I found it effective.
  • solution: print out email draft and edit it in pencil? good
  • solution: laptop for coding practice? seldom tried. I am concerned about the warm-up
  • tip: call family?
  • solution: jog part of the journey
  • solution: wfh
  • U.S.tip: wtc route (with a $2.75 cost) — has minimum standing time (only 3 min from ExchPlace to WTC). Can read and blog on subway and also at WTC benches!
  • U.S.tip: Hoboken route — eliminates standing time
  • — now the numerous (subtle) obstacles that make the “toll” really hard to avoid
  • obstacle: no seat. Standing time is completely unusable:(
  • obstacle: dependency on pencil
  • obstacle: train frequency — This issue can effectively adds 20 minutes to the “toll”. You dare not miss the train so you end up coming in early and wait longer.
  • obstacle: concentration — Unless I go all the way to the final stop, my reading concentration is always interrupted.
  • obstacle: transfers — A transfer easily destroys 10 minutes of “concentration”
  • obstacle: brief train journey — due to concentration and other factors, I never made effective use of 5-minute train trips, where the total time taken (including transfer) is 10 minutes.
  • obstacle: train delays as Nirav described

[1] much longer than the station-to-station time.

— The problem of zsms and loss of control
For recreational reading/blogg, try to do that outside commute. Doing so on commute reduces my sense of self-mastery.

magazines/newspaper? higher chance of effective “itch-scratch” for the “toll” problem, than tech books.

— The (original ) problem of the “toll” and “penalty” — the door-to-door [1] time on commute shortens the “free” time I get for email, blogging, learning, exercise, chores etc.

WFH trend(U.S./SG)but I adapted2train commute #CNA

Posted on by tiger40490

k_quietime

— [2021] Hi XR,

Thanks for sharing your personal preferences. I can understand that telecommuting has huge benefits in your circumstances, so huge that you are willing to change job for it. I think when I move to the U.S. I will also prefer partial telecommuting (commute too long) Therefore, I feel optimistic about the industry trend.

Believe it or not, many Singapore employers are forced to follow the same trend, as tech workers expect flexible work arrangements. Some workers even demand it, saying “If this employer is as rigid/outdated as before the pandemic, then I will prefer those adaptive employers.” Businesses need /adaptation/, as in natural selection theory (Darwinism). I believe the leading tech employers will adapt in order to compete for tech talents.

Right now in Singapore, I feel extremely lucky that I don’t suffer any of the commute headaches you described:

  • no cooking duty. My wife cooks.
  • no need to fetch kids. My wife does that whenever I’m in the office.
  • commute is 25min and very little walk. No transfer. I am able to study or blog about 80% of the time. I could be quite productive during my commute, so the commute hours are not “lost and wasted”, eroding the 24 hours we have.
  • train is punctual and reliable, with reasonable cost (S$2.60/day)

There are many small benefits to my daily commute:

  • on my commute I often pass by shops where I complete my shopping routine without making a separate shopping /errand/ from home.
  • I often do a bit of light exercise like climbing stairs, squat, stretch, and push-up at train stations or inside trains. Without my daily commute, I found it harder to motivate myself.
  • ^^ Therefore, I feel healthier, more efficient, more eco-friendly than those car commuters.

Adaption again — I have adapted my lifestyle to my daily commute. Therefore, without the daily commute, I am less efficient, less healthy.

When I can’t enter the office, I often go out to far-away places (libraries, cinemas, yoga, meet-ups) just to get out of home and enjoy the train rides.

==== 2023 CNA article on commute vs onsite work (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/transport-daily-commute-work-home-office-traffic-me-time-psychological-benefits-3365581)

“many patients I have seen in the past year have been relieved that they can return to the office despite having to endure the commute… (Office) social interactions helped provide support, validation, and inspiration to their work.”

— quietime .. COMMUTING – A CHORE OR MUCH-NEEDED “ME TIME”?

“For employees with family, work can sometimes be the only legitimate reason they can give themselves (or their spouse) to leave home and get some alone time.”

“commutes allowed them a time to be truly free from both work and family, and they were able to detach their mind from the everyday worries of work and ordinary life.”

I don’t enjoy screen-entertainment during commute. Instead, my favorite combination is

  • reading print or electronic media, usually with a pen.
  • seated on a train. (Bus is bad for reading)
  • frequent trains, without long waiting

G9 Precious little gems: lost2the drain #criticalMass

Posted on by tiger40490
Street road drainage with metal grill drain cover covered with autumn maple leaves Stock Photo - Alamy
What little gems could disappear in the drain?

k_detach

See also steadfast focus

This blogpost is about the precious little gems that we could lose to the drain unexpectedly. Not restricted to carefree ezlife

[d=detach actively]

— G3 in gz

  • my c++ critical mass
  • [d] flexible hours, short commute, excellent medbx
  • [d] the nice office near the waterfront, with workout facilities

— G1 PFF domain is well-analyzed, well-protected, so i will only name unfamiliar little gems

  • Rbh .. out-of-country access

— G4 in wellness

  • absorbency [knee capacity] and joy of jogging
  • absorbency for chin-up, yoga
  • [d] strong bones .. my shin bones survived a hard hit during bike fall

— Beyond the top 9, here are some of the high-level-n-vague, the big (not “little gems”) the familiar..

  • [d] coreJava (and c, SQL, perl/shell scripting to a lesser extent) .. robust demand
  • [d] libido
  • [d] small belly
  • carefree ezlife based on plenty of buffer in spare time/money
  • inflation in SGD .. too high-level
  • loving family .. too vague
  • .. improving bonding with boy
  • .. nice bonding with meimei

chore^pleasure[def] hours of a day

Posted on by tiger40490

k_soul_search

See also ## retirement disposable time usage #reading@@

My 24-hour day can be regarded as spent on either C or P. “Chores” are (self-)imposed tasks that I had better get done to stay out of trouble, or tasks to earn me Pleasure. Let me drive it home with a question:

Q: why the heck do we work so hard on the chores? To get the pleasures

  • pure Chore hours include paid jobs [2] || clean-up || shower (pleasure?) || …
  • pure Pleasure hours include family grocery shopping || wechat (not me) || …

As listed above, Some hours are purely chore hours; Some hours are purely pleasure hours but most of my hours are a mix of the two

  • reflective writing[1] including ffree, rental prop == 1%c+ 99%pleasure
    • can take up dozens of hours a week
    • [1] emails, blogging
  • wellness and investment research such as FSM (about 5 percent of the tanbinvest blog) == 40% c
  • [2] day jobs — can be (if lousy) pure c and no pleasure. Fundamentally, Even a enjoyable job is mostly “chore” because we are bound by a professional commitment where we are paid a lot of money to do a job for them.
    • As a student, study is also something like an (imposed) job duty
  • yoga alone == 111% c ! Rahul urged me to make it more enjoyable/pleasurable … leading to higher “productivity” and better results.
  • yoga alone in my old age == 90% c since I would have more time and few other chores
  • yoga classes == 90% c + 10% p
  • other classes == 70% c
  • jogging == 70% c
  • driving == 80% c for me
  • commute — can be pleasurable if I have a good read with a SEAT. Blogging on train is one of the most pleasurable.
  • flight for reunion == 30% c + 70% pleasure, so I often look forward to it
    • return flight == 60% c + 40% p .. less pleasurable
  • — The 3 items below can occasionally provide great examples of burning pleasure
  • body-building coding drill == 50% c + 50% pleasure. Absorbency!
  • body-building QQ study == currently 45% c + 55% pleasure. I think for XR and others it’s less pleasurable
  • localSys learning == 95% c

Introspection — X% c doesn’t always measure absorbency (effort) required. For example, jogging is 70% c vs 100% c for laundry. Laundry takes less effort but has 0% pleasure.