English literature ----------> mathematics
  cook ------------------------> programmer
  newspaper -------------------> internet
  mall ------------------------> internet
  land line -------------------> cell phone
  phone -----------------------> email
  desktop ---------------------> laptop
  14" CRT ---------------------> 19" flat screen
  CDs -----> thumb drives -----> cloud
  radio -----> CD player ------> Ipod
  ie --------> Firefox --------> Chrome
  Yahoo mail ------------------> Gmail
  low level code --------------> applications
  building for myself ---------> building for my customers
  kissing customers' asses ----> properly serving customers
  suit & tie ------------------> jeans & shirt
  calling Mom -----------------> visiting Mom
  Pittsburgh Pirates ----------> Pittsburgh Steelers
  Simpsons --------------------> Family Guy
  USAir -----------------------> Southwest
  weight lifting --------------> bodyweight exercises
  eggs for breakfast ----------> fruit for breakfast
  McDonald's ------------------> Five Guys
  Reddit ----------------------> Hacker News
  lurking ---------------------> posting

Isn't there more benefits of eating a protein rich breakfast ?

In a pragmatic sense, it's not far fetched to assume that a question that you can see interests many people (but only few can answer) will have more chance of being answered than a question that appears to interest only Joe User.

Now, if I want to show interest in the question, edw519 can't see my upvote(1) and thus it's useless in the "showing public support" sense. The only thing I can now do to show public interest is a "me too!" or a "yes, do tell!" post, which I guess all of us would like to avoid.

(1) maybe with enough karma you CAN see everybody's score, idk, but the point still stands

scrambled eggs --> poached eggs --> raw eggs

jogging --> sprinting

sun cream --> no cream

metal pots --> ceramic pots

pasteurized dairy --> raw dairy

Australia --> Israel

I am inclined to think we're built to go for a walk to a hunting ground, sprint and throw an arrow, and walk home with a carcass on our backs, sleep while the women cooks and disects its organs, then eat it. Jogging serves no purpose other than to save time. If we're jogging a lot, we haven't positioned our tribe properly. What animal would you pursue jogging? Would you take your army out jogging? Would you rather jog or ride a horse into war?

Any animal that sprints for short distances :)

Nearly all animals built for sprinting don't have the endurance for sustained evasion. If you've ever chased wildlife, you'll notice they quickly zip away, but stop some couple hundred meters away to turn around and look back at you. This is really to recharge their batteries and keep an eye on the threat (you).

I mentioned it in another comment, but persistence hunting was a well-known tactic across the world. It's particular effective on flat desolate land, but was also practiced in hilly woodlands, in combination with tracking skills.

Eventually the animal would keel over from exhaustion.

Don't fall too easily into this Paleo trend and the hunches people posit as "the way things were". They often have a narrow view of how things were.

Remember to keep your skepticism healthy. When someone tells you to use a standing desk, because cavemen used standing desks, remain skeptical. When someone says you should just do short sprints, because that's what cavemen did, be skeptical. I'm not saying standing desks and sprinting are bad, I do both, but question & verify what you're told, especially before spreading that (mis?)information.

Applicable Wikipedia links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting

The adaption to bipedalism actually reduced our sprinting capabilities and increased our endurance. It's likely that we used our superior endurance to chase down our prey over long distances far before we had arrows. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o

Cheetahs

weight lifting --------------> bodyweight exercises

Is there a specific reason or is it just tied to your switch to a home gym?

I also had plantar faciitis, caused by years of improper running.

In 2005, I was recommended this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Yourself-Power-Ultimate-Transf...

which totally changed my thinking and led me to many other resources.

Now my exercises are:

  - Hindu squats
  - Hindu pushups
  - pushups & chinups
  - Heavyhands on stairs
  - moderate running barefoot or with minimal shoes
  - 5 rites
  - occasional superslow on machines in the gym

Even though some of my responses were a little tongue in cheek, this one probably best supported OP's theme of "never looking back".

  Windows > Linux
  CD-R backups > Dropbox
  Two monitors > One 30" Dell Monitor (Best purchase ever btw)
  Pirating Music > Spotify (I even pay a subscription)
  TV > Youtube, BBC iPlayer, other steaming services (and now no TV licence fee)
  Crap diet > Learning to cook
  Paperwork > iPad
  IDE > gEdit
  Landline > Mobile

    > => =>

I dont use any external plugins or anything, everything i use comes out the box with gEdit, the file browser side pane, highlighting, indenting and thats about it. I imagine its a lot easier from a web dev's perspective than from actual programmers.

Nope, if you're watching TV programs on your computers or smartphones (iPlayer) you still have to pay UK TV licence.

  1996: 3 weeks
  1998: 10 weeks
  1999: 4 weeks
  2000/1: 20 weeks
  2002: 6 weeks
  2003: 36 weeks
  2004: 32 weeks 
  2005-2010: ~36 weeks (9 months)/year

Contracting pays so well, and traveling in the 3rd world is so cheap that there's just no way you can burn through your savings before boredom sets in and you need to work again for the mental challenge.

Catastrophic coverage health care is $100/month if you're young and healthy. Travel Medical is on the order of $500/year to get you airlifted home when you get shot in the Congo. Those in combination will keep you alive for the duration.

* One monitor => Two monitors as an extended desktop

* Never checking my finances => Using Zetabee cashflow to manage my finances

* Reading blogs only => Reading books (on anything) and audiobooks (in the car)

* Hot showers => Occasional Cold Water dips

* Cow's Milk => Goat's Milk

* Microsoft Outlook => Gmail

* Wasting time on the internet => Writing a journal or creating a list of things to do when im bored in advance

* Irregular work pattern => Aiming to achieve a minimum of 5hrs of focused productivity a day with 3min breaks every 60mins

* Friends that are negative or with no ambition => Limiting contact with them

* Trying to spend time with successful people or ambitious people => Setup my own Mastermind Group

* Green Tea => White Tea

* Manual version control => Mercurial using TortoiseHG as the GUI

* No programming skills => Started learning Javascript

* Relationship issues with colleagues and friends => "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie plus being more direct without being confrontational

* 20hrs of TV a week => Choosing 1 or 2 shows and following them only

* Poor quality of air in the house => Air purifier

* Back pains => Got a very simple chair, improved posture and regular back exercises

Cant think of anything else. Hope the list didnt bore any of you. Its fun to share.

I temporarily switched to Almond Milk because it doesn't have lactose (which doesn't promote estrogen production), has the same amount of protein, more vitamins, and at the time it was way cheaper than organic whole cow's milk. The biggest drawback was that it tasted kinda gross, which I remedied with a bit of cinnamon, but now that it's fairly expensive I switched back to cow milk.

I read a book by Larry Cook in which he explained that cow's milk in the way it is distributed and processed now isnt as good for humans as it once used to be, and that goat's milk is more harmonious for the immune system. It doesnt taste as good as cow's milk but its not that bad either. I find cow's milk very watery now.

It only costs a little bit more than cow's milk and since taking it, my immune system has been better.

As for the other alternatives, the only one that i could find was Soy milk, but personally i feel it tastes worse than goat's milk and i dont know whether this is true or not, but someone told me Soy messes with your hormones, and so i've been rather paranoid since then about it.

Personally I like soya milk, though only the unsweetened kind. For some reason most soya milks are sweetened and consequently taste like some kind of watery pudding.

(I gave up dairy a few years back when I discovered that I had a mild allergy to it.)

Drive to work -> Walk to work

Prepared food -> Cook from basic ingredients

Radio 1 -> Radio 4

Java -> Anything else

Expensive SUV -> Sensible economical car

Paper books only -> Kindle & Audible

Being a bigot about particular operating system and languages -> Not really caring anymore (apart from Java)

[Edit: The thing about Java is more today with my own, in retrospect, slightly embarrassing "advocacy" of the language in the period '95 to '00 - rather than the issues the language has as the new Cobol].

  Husband => No husband
  Affluenza => Spartanism
  Car => No car

Chronically Ill => Not Chronically Ill. Definitely don't plan to go back.

Glad to see you've made positive changes in your life, especially from feeling sick all the time. All that must have been a massive undertaking.

  Chronically Ill => Not Chronically Ill

Some info on what I did is here: http://healthgazelle.com/

Not much info, mind you. I'm too busy getting my life back to spend much time on the site.

Peace.

And you can always email me sometime.

Thanks.

Im in the process of moving house and getting married, but at some point i'll email you for some advice, and would really appreciate any assistance. Thanks again, and nice meeting you ;-)

Congrats on the marriage and good luck with the move.

Take care.

Video Games, Junk Reading => Selfhero: sailing, diving, etc

Wishing/Wanting => Doing. Immediate scheduling

Unmotivated Friends => Adventurous Friends

That's hard/difficult => That's worthwhile

I'm over thirty, but like many of my friends, I still enjoyed video games way too much. Claiming they were a way to "relax" or "blow off steam" after a hard day at work, I finally admitted to myself that they had lost their original value and were now solely a time sink and addiction.

This nagging thought kept troubling me until I gave it my full attention, and dealt with the reality of the answer: "If I spent this many hours a week practicing <insert game heroic skill> instead of playing a character with it, how heroic could I become?"

I suddenly lost all desire to play video games, watch most TV, and read books (entertainment, not literature). Instead I have spent the last couple of years cultivating interesting and useful skills, and participating in my own adventures. I went from playing CoD and TotalWar to scuba diving with sharks, motorcycling, traveling and practicing/training my sailing skills with the goal of circumnavigating.

Never looked back.

Windows => Mac

Spinning rust => SSD

Of course, there are tons of technology changes that have been great. The things that have made a huge impact in my life are:

Pure techie => Learning sales

Employee => Business owner

Sales is all psychology. It totally changes your view of the world. It's not about how things should be, but about how things are regardless. A business degree didn't teach anything that mattered about that.

Although, if i was programming more often the mac would probably have been more useful.

From where in NZ did you leave and where in Oz did you end up? What were the improvements you found? Do you think you would've found them moving to some country other than Australia?

Curious. :)

New Zealand has a major case of tall poppy syndrome. Australia doesn't have this so much. Most people generally want you to succeed, and help you out.

Drinking too much sucked. Drinking not at all sucked. Drinking two days a month lets me enjoy my wine/beer/sake and whacks me with the occasional hangover to remind why I opted for this damn policy in the first place. It is drinking in perfect balance.

Saved me from carpal tunnel syndrome (I already had the early signs).

Inkjet Printer => LaserJet Printer

Didnt't realize how much I was missing. The time savings alone makes it worth it.

Design Major => Psychology Major

Sometimes it's true what they say, everything in moderation. Once I left art school, I found my passion for design again.

Unfortunately though, after years of getting used to the mouse, I do find it hard doing detailed work in Photoshop (i.e. tracing something/colouring something). It probably has to do with me not being used to the tablet but in times like those, I (using the tablet) still don't have the dexterity to manipulate things as well as when using a mouse.

No backup/storage => Dropbox 50gb (paid) <--- !!!!! Probably the best computing upgrade I've ever made.

Same password on every site => Keepass (Also an incredible thing)

No serious exercise => Starting to exercise (gym, started playing a new sport I love, etc.)

Old phone => Smartphone (iPhone 4)

What was the sport?

But I haven't played Hockey since I was 15, mostly because I didn't know where (Hockey is not very popular in Israel). But I finally found a group that plays, and joined them and had a very draining, but amazingly fun time playing. I've missed it.

* Cancer => No Cancer

* Corporate Jungle => Self Employed

(in that order)

Living next door to the 'rents (for help with wife's health care) => Living 150 miles away

Java => Ruby (and almost any language, including JVM languages, other than Java)

PC => Mac (huge +1)

Friends who don't respect my life choices => Friends met through the Ruby community

HDD => SSD

Best thing I did for my health was to get a bike and get into sports. The first thing I got into was martial arts. Now I rock climb, run, and cycle. Nothing gets the brain going like a good work out. I never look back.

Emacs was a big paradigm shift that took many months too.

Update: thought of a couple other things...

Over-the-counter banking -> Internet banking

Feature phone -> Smartphone

Mouse with no wheel -> One with wheel (and currently Magic mouse)

Own hosted email/Yahoo -> Gmail (or Google Apps for Business)

Dock at the bottom (both Windows and Mac) -> Dock on the left

Unmanaged music collection -> iTunes

No specific editor -> MacVim

Yeah, I did that quite a while ago and have found it great on my laptop but I've just started using a 1900x1200 monitor and am starting to think about switching back.

I guess laptop-only -> laptop + external mon counts too.

Valuing money more than time -> Valuing time more than money

Trusting only logical reasoning -> Trusting my gut instinct as well

Thinking it's wrong to turn down opportunities -> Happy to turn down opportunities if they don't appeal much or I've got too much on my plate already

Running all email through my own mail-server -> fastmail.fm

Keeping my email client open all day -> Opening it only every hour or two so I can focus on real work

Cleaning teeth straight after food -> Waiting 30 minutes or more first, to reduce enamel erosion

White rice -> Brown rice (~5 times the fibre)

Cooking rice in a saucepan -> Using a rice cooker

9-to-5 => Gig with flexible scheduling

Strongly typed languages => Weakly typed languages

(K&R C is weakly typed for example.)

1) working for a bigco -> startup

2) single -> married with a kid

It took me a while to come to these 2 points but I've never looked back.

* Windows => Debian => Gentoo => Mac at home, Gentoo on servers (I tried ubuntu on servers but I always end up having to compile and install from source too much stuff)

* HDD => SDD (Amazing the different it makes)

* Paperbooks => ereader (used to use a pocketbook 360 which was really great but it was stolen :-( currently looking for a new one)

* Backup on dvds => Tarsnap

Typical "Healthy" Diet => No Processed Foods or Sugar: It's hard to disambiguate placebo effects, but I generally feel pretty awesome.

Laptop Screen => Cinema Display: This has definitely enhanced my productivity.

Shoes => No Shoes: Of course I need to wear shoes occasionally, but when I do, they are "minimalist" and have flexible soles. On everything else I default to barefoot, including when I go for a run. This has been great for my posture, and it's made me seemingly immune to most common running injuries.

* Moving away at 18 to a new province. Best thing I ever did.

* Lost my job at 20, started a company. Never worried about money or looked back. This actually seemed incredibly natural.

* Shut down said company after 10 years, just to move on to more interesting things. No regrets. I'm working on way cooler stuff now in a variety of areas and I love all of it.

* Changed my eating/lifestyle, lost 35lbs. Keeping it off with no effort due to lifestyle changes.

I don't really pay attention to small stuff. I wouldn't say CD->iPod->iPhone was a deliberate change, more of a natural progression...

I started doing a variety of martial arts at that point, but didn't change my eating and couldn't lose a thing. After a while, I started looking at different things: buying fresh food as much as possible, portion control, walking, and less alcohol. The combo meant changing a lot of things over time, but if I didn't change a lot then one thing would negate the others.

Now it's been almost 2 years that I've been back to 145. I weigh myself daily to keep track and adjust accordingly. I buy almost entirely fresh food (helps that I love to cook :), use smaller plates to trick myself into recognizing portions more easily, and I generally walk if it takes less than an hour. Gives me some much-needed time to think :) And I still drink... I love dark beers and wine, but I keep the quantity and frequency down now, and probably have even more fun now that I feel good about myself too.

It suits me better.

Smartphone => iPhone

PC => Mac

Using public wifi => private Internet connection

The biggest one: bike => car.

Ready meals -----------------------> Eating mostly simple food (chicken, prawns, veg, brown pasta)

Red meat --------------------------> Mostly white meat

Smoked fish -----------------------> Unsmoked fish, also prawns and mussels

Out of shape ----------------------> In shape (running, weights at home and weekly personal training)

Wonky teeth -----------------------> Straight teeth

No vitamins/cod liver oil ---------> Multivitamins (hoping for longer telemeres) and cod liver oil

Work goals -----------------------> Also have personal goals (run half marathon, travel to a particular destination etc.)

Dumb phone ------------------------> Smart phone

Hotmail ---------------------------> GMail

Paper to-do list ------------------> Online to-do list

.NET => php/python

1 monitor => 2 monitors

Car => No Car

    Java/.NET => PHP => Ruby
    Laundromat => Owning my own * single most amazing change
    Not caring about personal finances => Saving up
    Sit all day => Geekdesk (I stand about 1h30 every day)
    Pharmaceutical programming => Startup programming
    Restaurants => Cooking classes
    Playing WOW => Quitting cold turkey
    Windows/Linux on home built boxes => Mac
    Seeing my wife clean the house all the time => Paying for cleaning

dumb phone -> dumber phone

4 hours TV nightly -> no tv

workaholic -> socialholic

self doubt -> awesomeness

technology lover and collector -> less is more

friendster -> nothing

Daily motto: "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, and it's a beautiful day"

Parkour => taekwondo

Monitor(s) => Very large Samsung TV

Notepad++ => Sublime Text

Walking => running

TV => competitive gaming

No 3 item todo list => 3 item todo list

Single project focus => multiple open-ended projects

Books => Kindle

1: http://www.primal-fitness.com

2: http://www.tempestfreerunning.com/the-academy

1. Physical fitness 2. Mental control

With regards to the former, I'd suggest looking at things like callisthenics and gymnastics, in order to get stronger, combined with running (couch to 5k is a good way to get started) to work on stamina and running.

As to the latter, it's more about accepting that you're going to get hurt now and then, and being willing to start small. Don't go jump off a 20ft roof and break roll tomorrow, jump off a secure bench, and go from there.

Other than that, I'd say practice movements over and over, until you do them without thinking, and find someone (or better still, a group - there's a fair number around the world so you should be able to find one) locally who can help you learn, and teach you how to move.

  christian ----------------------------> atheist
  meat eater ---------------------------> vegetarian
  working for someone else -------------> working for me
  sitting in the chair -----------------> sitting on the ground
  reading eng. books translated --------> reading in english
  engaging in Win/Lin/Mac discussions --> I dont care anymore
  travelling with stuff ----------------> travelling light

Desktop computer => Laptops

TV => No TV (Best decision of ~2003)

Studying human stuff => Studying IT stuff (Best decision of 2009)

In my studies: Focus on academia => Focus on real world problems

Taking myself seriously => Not taking myself seriously

Living in multiple countries => Living in Denmark (the country I grew up in)

gEdit => Vim

multiple folders, commented out code, etc => Git + github

Facebook => Github, Twitter, Hacker news, meetups, etc

3G internet connection => Hardline

Living in suburbs => Living in the city center

  Whining ---------------------------> Fixing
  Asking for permission -------------> Asking for Forgiveness (Professionally)
  Gaming as a hobby -----------------> Learning as a hobby
  Working hard ----------------------> Working smart
  Speculation -----------------------> Communication
  Competition -----------------------> Cooperation

I've got myself (one at a time): a few dumb bells, a long bar, yoga mat, kettle bell, gym mat, fit ball. Plenty enough to do a lot of exercise right at my home (I'm working from home) -- instead of commuting to nearby gym. I could workout multiple times a day whenever I wanted.

  HDD --------> SDD
  PHP --------> Ruby
  Chair ------> Standing desk
  All others -> MacVim
  MTB --------> Singlespeed racing bicycle
  No hobby ---> Kitesurfing. Nothing beats flying over the waves while the sun goes down.
  Car --------> Westfalia James Cook motor home (for kitesurfing)

* "Real" job => Starting a company

* 24/7 working life => Switching off and becoming a published fiction writer

* Self-doubt and low self esteem => Finding formal help

* Teflon pans => Cast iron pans (seriously, look up how bad teflon is for you - and cast iron pans are way more fun to cook with)

* Building things => Building companies

Local email client > Gmail

Paper calendar > Google Calendar

iTunes purchases > full CDs (sometimes as MP3s) on Amazon

Leased servers > Amazon EC2s

Mostly paper books > Kindle

Stopped trying to do the Linux desktop thing > Mac laptops, SSHing to Linux servers

Mostly Lisp and Java > more Ruby

The Bat => Thunderbird => GMail

Free => Married

Black tea with sugar => Green Tea without sugar

TV => Internet

Meat food => Vegetables

Fixed work schedule => Free work schedule

Hard working, unhappy => Love to work

PC forever! Hello from Izhevsk.

PC => Mac

Paris => Small village

No kid => kid

TiVo => WMC7 (with Ceton 4 stream cablecard)

Briefs => Boxers (like 25 years ago but still)

Thinning hair => shaved head

Klonopin => nothing

Working for the man => Being the man

doing my own taxes -> tax lady

designer -> entrepreneur

saying yes to everything -> saying no

trying to do everything -> focus

running => biking => bike racing

pc => mac

php => python (django)

complaining about tools => writing my own or patching others

no source control => github

learning projects => practical development and products

reading tech books => memoirs only

bottled water => filtered pitcher => bottled water

desktop => laptop

local documents => google docs

virtualbox => vmware

individual => LLC

2. Moving to Silicon Valley

3. Building a startup (TBD)

Never felt more liberated in my life. I can't describe in words how good it felt.

I feel like less of a foreigner in Japan than I did in Quebec. Does that blow your mind like it does mine?

The politics & lack of hope in Quebec is stifling. A lot of economic boom cycles were missed because of the squabbling and identity politics that plague the province. I can honestly say that I don't recall a single time where I felt like everything was going "OK" in MTL as a worker.

The positive things I have to say about Montreal is about the quality of cheap food, the quality of education I received, and the quality of the people I knew. Not insubstantial, but not enough to ever tempt me to come back.

Perception problem? Maybe. I'm not going to struggle against that when there are much better things to do with my time.

As per Tokyo; you can do whatever you want if you exist outside the salaryman system. I play the role of the "brilliant system engineer" (whether I am or not is another story). I work normal hours (10 hours a day on rare occasions) and get paid quite well. I have no major complaints. It does seem to be going down the same road of ruin, but I don't plan on being here forever either.

Standard flip phone -> Symbian smartphone

Symbian -> Android

Windows -> Ubuntu

Stuck on the ground -> Pilot license

Work at office => Work from home

CDs/DVDs => Downloading/Streaming

Perl/PHP => Python

Harddisk => SSD

SVN/CVS => GIT/Mercurial

Academia => Business

Prototype > Jquery

SVN/CVS > Mercurial

Eclipse > Netbeans

pessimistic => optimistic

There is no special trick. I just realized that it makes no sense to worry about stuff I can not influence. And that if I have bad mood without obvious reason.. I could have good mood without obvious reason as well.

I have no step by step instruction. It is just a decision you have to make for yourself.

Focus on the good things instead on the bad. No matter how big you fuck up, chances are very high that you are still better off than most people on this planet.

blah clamshell cellphone => iPhone

PC/Windows => Mac/OSX

Java => Python

The Man's corporate cubicle => home office => my business office

9-to-5 salary grind => my own schedule, ROWE, contracting/consulting

used cars => new 2010 Hyundai

backpack 4 laptop => padded laptop bag => hard shell reinforced briefcase

SVN => git

laptop's boot filesystem on magnetic platter hard drive => SSD

TV for visual vegging => the Web

living on the 70th floor => living on ground floor

sharing walls & ceilings with neighbors/drummers/blind-elephants => not

Do you have a link to what you have? What were the benefits to the change (particularly from laptop backpack)?

why?

fire breaks out on 60th floor

both happened to me. not fun. never again. interesting experience to have at least once though. :)

[Financially Secure But Unhappy Two Years]

The city with software industry ==> A Village With A Physics School (2009)

The village with physics school ==> The city with software industry (2010)

The City With Software Industry ==> San Francisco (Left everything in my country to just be here, attend Google IO) (2011)

Windows -> Linux

blub -> learning Lisp and Haskell

not knowing C -> knowing C

dial-up internet -> broadband

random editors -> emacs

19" and smaller monitors -> 24" monitor

* Management Consultant => Startup