Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Is there a simple and practical guide to what permaculture is? Like the principles and the zones and maybe some steps to get started? What Jacob said, but also Gaia's garden (A guide to home-scale permaculture), by Toby Hemenway (Level 9 on Wheaton's Eco scale ) might be a good starting point if yo...

Dreaming about starting a homestead? Take a couple months to volunteer on a couple farms and/or homesteads to see how you like it. Thinking about hiking the PCT? Try to go out for a couple weeks and see what you think. Bikepacking to Patagonia? Maybe ride across your state first. Want to write a no...

Another semester has ended. Students have rated me an overall of 2.7 on the -3 to 3 scale, and a number of people say I am their favorite prof. This is the intro to econ course. Quite chuffed. That's awesome, ertyu! Congrats! Do you think you could potentially leverage this experience and good rati...

Hi mooretrees, How are things going with you? How's the skoolie life? How are your efforts with local food going? Have you kept up with "lift with Cee"? Do you still like it? I'm looking into it and am thinking about getting some (second hand) dumb bells. Have you been able to start trail ...

Congrats on the new job gp! Your progression from your old career has been inspiring to read about. Glad you like the new position and can spend more time on interesting stuff. Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, ...

Not this, but having had a quick look, it reminds me of Service Civil International . Thanks for sharing guitarplayer! This is a gold mine for post work life traveling! So many cool projects in places I'd love to visit. I saw one for restoration work in an old village in Italy where the cooking is ...

Thanks for your journal update. Condoleances for your friend's mom. That sounds like a lengthy interview process you're going through. I wonder if it's worth the hassle and time investment. My "technical assessments" felt like cruel jokes when I did them, although I reclassified them as e...

You never know. They might be screening for effort and willingness to learn. Maybe. It's a manager position, so not sure how much actual coding is expected vs understanding/evaluating workflows and algos... None of my managers have ever been able to evaluate my coding, but they knew enough to ask g...

2024 update 21/52 This week was very tough emotionally. A good friend of mine’s mom had a heart attack and became brain dead. It’s been a long week of horror and sadness for him and his family. As far as I know they let her go on Friday. This was a tough, wickedly funny and very talented woman. It’...

comandante wrote: ↑

Thu May 16, 2024 3:20 pm

As the great Shatner once said:
I'm waiting for that feeling of contentment
That ease at night when you put your head down
It Hasn't Happened Yet

I like this a lot, it describes how I feel very well. Thanks for sharing.
And kudos on the theater class, awesome initiative and feedback!

2024 update 20/52 I spent Monday-Thursday in Town 2, hoping to explore more, but it was pouring rain. I did manage a short hike in some woods a 20 min bike ride away. It was quite wet but nice. Definitely some viable woody scenery a short distance from town. Not a whole lot of bike lanes around her...

IlliniDave wrote: ↑

Tue May 14, 2024 6:59 am

I feel and look pretty good and the numbers tell me I am empowered to make a meaningful difference in my own longer-term health and well being

Congratulations Dave, your efforts to turn around your health have been inspiring! Enjoy your season at the hideout!

I’m not in a settling phase anymore, although a part of me would like that. I’m in a scouting phase. It’s great that FI is within reach. At best it allows me not to think about what I’ll have to do to earn money in the next months. At worst, it makes me feel a bit detached, a bit loony. Perhaps sti...

Thanks delay. Priorities change for sure. But changes can be planned for thoughtfully instead of making changes unilaterally, way past deadlines and with no regard or backup plan for the projects and people you are supposedly responsible for. That's just poor leadership. And personally, I am annoyed...

2024 update 19/52 I’m back from the hiking trip. My cyst was a bit sore the first couple of days but didn’t re-swell and kept getting better over time. It’s still there, not fully healed, I’m going to give it at least another week before going back to swimming and running, but I’m over the hump. Bu...

2024 update 18/52 I’ve been nursing my cyst, it’s a lot less angry, but still a bit swollen and sore. And purpleish. But much better. I can actually bend my leg again. I’ve been trying to walk as little as possible to let it deflate as much as possible before my hiking trip. Leaving tomorrow, we’ll...

2024 update 17/52 Kind of a crappy week. I’ve had a Baker’s cyst behind my knee for several years. 95% of the time, it’s just a tiny bump that doesn’t bother me, sometimes it swells up a bit and gets tender but not a big deal. But for the second time in 5 years, it’s swelled up to about the size of...

2024 update 16/52 I spent the week on my brother’s farm, a lot of prep work before planting (setting up strings for the tomatoes in the green house, prepping beds in the field, adding fertilizer, incorporating the fertilizer in the beds, setting up new irrigation lines, covering the beds with plast...

I've returned new shoes before that didn't work out. Check the return policy of the stores you go to. Some are more generous than others. For example, the store REI lets you return new shoes for up to a year if they don't work out. Good to know, thanks! I fear return policies aren't as liberal here...

delay wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:55 am

Knee pain is a curious subject.

It really is. One week of no running, but the knees are still grouchy...
It's good that your knee pain goes away after the first km, that sounds right, whereas mine tends to get worse during the runs...