Tag: t_fineTun`

ctbz + minor tweaks in everyday situations

flightN2H: wellness tips #sleep

Posted on by tiger40490
  • floss to be separate from tokens
  • VitC 1000mg each day
  • frequent stretching in flight, or airport. Bring band!
  • take flu shot 2W before travel

— Sleeping pills etc

  • Start off with a full sleep by booking an airport hotel the night before departure. More effective than a bulkhead seat and often cheaper.
  • Diazepam …. used by grandpa. He said very safe unless overdose.
  • Estazolam …. also used by grandpa extensively. He said this is faster but lingers till next day.
  • See http://www.rxlist.com/benzodiazepines-page2/drugs-condition.htm
  • alcohol can keep one awake for the first few hours. Alcohol has never really helped me sleep.
  • eye masks or long cap that can cover your face.

— nap between flights to US

  • if there’s stopover more than 6 hours, I think it makes sense to check in to a transit hotel, and sleep for 2H. See http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/transit-hotels-around-world-712461/
  • [1] If not possible, then bring a small pillow and extra layers to lie down on a bench. See post on sleeping in airports.

— travel light:

  • send heavy stuff by post
  • check in luggage in advance or drop off at airport so as to sleep more before boarding

ctbz(寸土必争)[def]: micro-saving add up over5Y or involution #H2O

Posted on by tiger40490

k_ctbz  k_X_power_descriptor  k_soul_search

In popular usage, 寸土必争 has a wider meaning, but in my case, ctbz := Once I set a realistic and measurable target for my endeavor, I push myself to execute my plan with ruthless, clinical precision, often semi-consciously beating myself up whenever I deviate visibly.

寸土必争 is often a daily struggle, tough for everyone. Therefore it’s actually my competitive strength! Most adults or young people don’t monitor their burn rate, calorie-quota or regular exercise. The cumulative effect would eventually show up.

Among these scarce resources, usable time is the most scarce, available up to age 60 (only 55 for some).

This is a killer talent and a visible personal advantage. Among the specific talents, the most significant (used to be $$) is calorie-quota budgeting. It has long-term health benefits.

Among these endeavors, my success is most visible and decisive in $$, and least in time-saving.

This is one reason for my carefree life at this age when my peers endure stress. This (and other) freedom comes with responsibility.

— warning .. ctbz can be hazardous. With cherry, other eaters would discard half the flesh. However, due to ctbz, i try to eat all the meat off the core. This is actually dangerous. When I do this without full concentration, the stone can get stuck at the throat or go down.

— domain: water.. in mid 2022, I found joy in saving water. The small actions make me feel /righteous/?/ and earn me self-respect. It sharpens my perception on numerous water wasting scenarios that are often overlooked. The small savings add up to a modest amount, but the sharpened perception will help me score big wins.

— domain: diet
Polyclinic dietitian said .. without precision, calorie reduction will be futile.

calorie-quota is a similar concept to carbon-quota. Each country each year is given a quota. If you over use bit by bit, then someday you need to borrow from the future quota.
— domain: workout
flexibility (+ muscle) declines with aging and requires periodic stretching, perhaps a few seconds each day — ctbz
— domain: burn rate .. my burn_rate_control (ffree) is the front page success story.
Some people save for months then spend all the savings at year end.  Other people waste numerous small amounts of money on a monthly basis. Over decades they “throw down the drain” a painful portion (like 10-20%) of their income. elaborate planning of NY/SG trips is a case study.

See also ctbz on small spends

— domain: time micro-saving
My Focus on time utilization is a great example of my ctbz habit. Many people spend time (and $) in “fun” places that actually don’t create a lot of pleasure.

Large number of small time-wastage is similar to large number of small $-waste. Some of us feel the pain only years later when our peers make progress in their spare time (or their office hours).

— domain: divorce dispute (if it ever happens) .. Grandpa said that in the unlikely event, we need to fight to resist and never give in
— my ctbz attitude/habit is effective (in some but) not in all domains:
With early rise, I feel my 寸土必争 attitude may be unnecessary, possibly counterproductive.

Weekly coding drill don’t need 寸土必争. Momentum is more important.

 

light bulbs: electricity ctbz: self-esteem

Posted on by tiger40490

k_ctbz

— priorities

  1. priority: enough brightness at each location, so we need no additional
  2. priority: the forgetable lights need to be low wattage, perhaps due to inconvenient location of switch. Eg: peripheral lights when fan lights on!
  3. priority: the most used lamps should be most efficient, not necessarily lowest wattage
  4. LGLp: avoid wasting bulbs? See note below.

— Now the locations, half-ranked by hours of usage each week, based on subjective estimates

  1. above dining table [8w LED]
  2. two fan-lights 5w each
  3. sofa peripheral [8-14]w… used during day time ! easily forgotten. Currently too dim.
    • The piano side: Need similar brightness as the other side, or remove completely.
  4. —-
  5. above kitchen sink [9w LED]. Only during cooking
  6. [m] room2 wall [4-15]. Changed to 5.5w on 30 Sep
  7. [m] cockpit1 [4-8-20]. Go lower with usage !
  8. master room wall light [4->11-20]
  9. [m] fridge-side should be [9-20]w … currently too dim
  10. laundry ceiling
  11. [m] 3rd fan light — less used
  12. [m=mostly used by me, not family family]

— at night, which one light I can keep on?
cockpit1?
— too many bulbs at home? I do have too many bulbs at home. If needed, leave the inefficient bulbs as spares, or give them away if new

Perhaps shelve the energy-inefficient, legacy tubes. They don’t seem to have a place in our current home (or next home)
— Ikea LED bulbs have best prices: about $4/2,
Also the highest efficiency, more than 100 lm/w

##lease extended: old hardware

Posted on by tiger40490

 

These are examples of “smart ctbz” and /minimalist/ lifestyle

  • eg: knife-holder magnet … inherited in 2013 from previous owner of #1173, but decommissioned soon.
  • eg: Dell250 had some defects but still usable today. Aspire … was showing its age many, many times..
  • eg: Brother printer had repeated defects, but still usable
  • eg: stand`desk was too bulky for #1169 [living room, bedrooms] and almost discarded, but now found new use in cockpit4
  • eg: ikea room divider almost discarded, under pressure from wife….
  • eg: ikea round coffee table was replaced by the rectangular coffee table, but I found use of it under my stand`desk in #1173
  • eg: too many spare ikea planks in #1173, bound to be discarded, but now deployed in #1169

flightN2H: light reading^techXX #cod`drill

Posted on by tiger40490

Towards the last days, spend some 1-2 hours picking blog printouts to read en-route.

  • Priority #1: productivity — avoid wasting the learning impetus/energy/power-surge. Since we can’t get exactly the right amount of books, I’d prefer having some books unread rather than having too few tech books to satisfy my learning appetite.
  • Priority #2: light weight, esp. when I need to carry the small luggages long distance
  • .. If I have a laptop with git repo, I could cut down the number of books.
  • Favor two thin books over one thick book for the same weight
  • Favor new, unread books
  • Favor print-outs and magazines — can discard
  • avoid tombstones – (counts as 2 books) only if you read it for 2 hour or more
  • Magazines in Chinese like 读者? higher “value”. I did carry but didn’t read
  • Magazines in English like Reader’s Digest and Fortune? I did carry but didn’t read

Total weight — of books should commensurate with end-to-end trip duration. Note some unpredictable portion of the entire journey would be sleeping hours, so no exact proportionality. For example, my current goal/guideline is

  • for a 20-hour long flight (assuming extra hours in hotel), carry 4-5 books of average size excluding magazines and print-outs.
  • xp: 25 and 31 Mar 2018 trips I only needed 2 such books and no movie
  • xp: late Jan 2019 flight I carried about 3 tech books but I don’t remember reading any of them

Y ctbz plann4 NY↔SG trips #w1r1

Posted on by tiger40490

My 15 to 20 roundtrips constitute a rich reservoir of real experiences, involving many decision and lessons.

k_ctbz

By default, the same flight would inflict

  • either huge $cost in terms of biz class seat
  • or heavy stress on my “system”

My ctbz provided big savings on $cost and wellness. Looking back, I think my planning was (extremely) elaborate:

  • I learned from experience and optimized on transport cost, to the extreme. eg: I remember pulling 3-piece luggage on the street of White Plains..I had no choice but pull 2 pieces at a time.
  • Unable to sleep while sitting up, I learned from experience and optimized rest before and after the long leg of the connected flight.
  • I learned from experience and optimized/maximize the amount of family time, usually 9 days +/-. Also minimized forgone billing.
  • .. Many would point out that contractors are unlucky as we can’t afford to take these unpaid leaves, but looking back I have no regrets.
  • I learned from experience and optimized for tech learning, workout/stretch (dangerous?), blogging on the trip. I hand-picked reading materials for carry-on. See Q2.
  • I had to prepare for temperature change throughout
  • ^^^ Overall, I score myself 98 marks on ctbz/optimization and planning

Q3 (paradox): why did I /endure/ so much suffering [lost sleep, stress, headache..] , when I (supposedly) had a basic ffree and carefree ezlife?
A: I wanted to keep my U.S. job while keeping my GC alive. Without the GC, without the U.S. as alternative to SG, I would lose one major defense/cushion for family livelihood.
A: SG job market was/is tough and very limited. It has major impact on family well-being (beyond livelihood). In my previous SG jobs, I had work hazards in the form of traumatic experiences, deep scars, low self-esteem, job insecurity.

So the elaborate planning was part of the grand total cost of setting up my 2nd base i.e. the U.S. (SG being home base). This grand total cost covers IB4US and c++US periods. “Headache” is a common phrase to describe the elaborate planning but actually tongue-in-cheek.

Paradox –> My carefree ezlife was not so adequate, so comfortable after all. I still needed to sacrifice quite a bit for my family’s future.

Q2: what’s the total non-financial cost of each trip? Lost sleep, physical fatigue for sure.
A: I had lots of fun on each trip, starting from the night before. My elaborate planning was kinda active learning by experiment.
A: I had heightened/elevated motivation for tech learning on the trip.
A: I had some workout on the trip, too.
A: I needed to take precautions to avoid many common missteps, but the stress profile was kinda mixed positive/negative

flight++: sweater,shoes..

Posted on by tiger40490

— extra warm clothing in hand luggage is a high-cost insurance

carry loose, cheap, light layers on a warm->cold flight.

As a traveller and office worker, I know myself as really sensitive to cold. Parts of airport and flight were sometimes cold to everyone. Even though they said 66 F in cabin, and I didn’t sleep, I actually needed more than the leather jacket. I remember the knit sweater was proven effective. May need a turtleneck which is hard to find, so I often make do with small garments to cover the neck

I guess it’s even colder if I were to sleep for a while on flight. May need light but warm pants.

black jacket (but no pockets) or the MLP jacket is lightest.

— winter trips .. entail many big/small concerns. I will carry more than the minimum garments, and prioritize:

  1. intangible cost of buying garments under pressure — Unwanted due diligence, self-hate, zsms,,,
  2. weight of luggage .. there is non-zero chance that you have to carry multiple heavy bags(no trolley).
  3. $cost .. avoid buying expensive clothing
  4. $cost .. avoid losing expensive clothing
  • — Now the clothing items:
  • office pants + shirts. Prefer warm, light yet presentable garments
  • thermals .. heavier but more effective than office shirts. Cheap to buy in winter locations.
  • winter coat .. more expensive but “can be” inexpensive
  • torso and neck is more sensitive (to cold) than limbs
  • jogging pants ..
  • turtleneck ..
  • socks, underwear, glove

— shoes ..
For winter trips with huge volume of clothing, let’s avoid changing shoes and wear running shoes and not carry slippers.

I usually change to slippers ASAP and carry my warmer shoes in hand luggage (but sometimes I check them in.). Main cost is sys2-cost .. cumbersome shoe bag as part of hand luggage. Hard to manage enroute.

I need slippers on both directions, so avoid the throwaway type! Shorter trips .. less needed
slippery — avoid! Get good quality ones
slippers should not be fabric as it can get dirty in the bathroom and hard to wash.
Need a breathable bag for the shoes + slippers. I think a clear plastic bag is enough. Ideally
* something that can be attach to hand luggage without dangling
* air flow to help dry wet shoes
The lower compartment of my big red backpack is good choice.

too many(Tag^Category)s #keyword-search

Posted on by tiger40490

 

Too many categories — is a worse problem than “too-many-tags”. In many case (like assigning a category) I need to scroll a long list of categories.

Q: how many tags would be too many in a big blog?

A: 300. Too many would slow down auto-suggestion when I am in a hurry

A: biggest problem is when two tags have overlapping meanings, so 8 out of 10 under Tag1 also has Tag2. For tags, overlap is a bigger problem than proliferation, so lots of fuxi* or upto* tags are not so bad.

##flightN2H: conscious food decisions

Posted on by tiger40490

k_ctbz

This is a intriguing context — very limited choices and I am forced to make tough choices

  •  butter spread — I’m able to resist
  •  chocolate/ice-cream — I never decide to resist
  •  croissant — I find it hard to resist if hungry. It might be better to eat some healthy food before boarding.
  •  creamy (fatty) food — i find it hard to resist

Pattern — calorie density is dangerous in fat, but luckily overall quantity is small

Pattern — starch and fat are the trouble-makers.

flightN2H:productivity stationeries #pencil

Posted on by tiger40490
  • spare glasses
  • usb drive (never needed) or sd card
  • fake finger for touch screens
  • smemo for reminders
  • stickers for books

— 4-7 pencils with a clip + eraser please (As of 2023, I want to deploy more ikea pencils):

  1. hangable is much needed in (crammed) flight seat. Better keep a spare (in spinner)
  2. proven: put one wood pencil in seat pocket in front
  3. proven: one in pouch
  4. —
  5. optionally one in breast pocket
  6. optionally one spare in backpack side pocket
  7. optionally one spare in backpack top pocket, but this complicates passport storage
  8. optionally one spare in wife’s big luggage

What’s the problem of carrying 30 pencils?

  • too many unused… but look, I do carry 100 times more than 1cm of string. So this is not the real problem
  • financial cost of loss/discard .. but they are free from office
  • total weight .. is the real problem