Several years ago, I started a software development job at a MegaCorp. I was very fortunate in that the branch I worked at felt more like a small company, and our product was one small niche out of the much larger pie of software the company produced. This saved me from dealing with most of […]
Author: risky
Life Engineering: Entropy Management
Stuff breaks down. Stuff wears out. And fixing stuff costs money. What’s unfortunate is when people invest in complex things, only for those things to break, leaving the owner to deal with the hassle and expense of repair. Entropy is all around us. Your car will stop running. Your TV will break. You will die. […]
Philosophy of Car Ownership – Part 2
A car is one of the most expensive things you will ever own, but it is deceptively easy to take for granted. If you drive a car around for several years, this becomes a normal part of your life, and the loss of this can cause some pretty severe stress. Much of this can be […]
Philosophy of Car Ownership – Part 1
Some people think you should always buy new. Others think you should always buy used. Some would never pay to rebuild an engine on a car that is more than 10 years old. Others pay to rebuild engines on cars that are 25 or 30 years old. Our society’s Kantian ethics tends to fall apart […]
The Polished Product
I believe our culture has a strong bias against improvisation, and I have mixed feelings about this. With a few carpentry skills, the majority of furnishings in our lives could be created instead of purchased, but it takes advanced skills to stain, polish, or upholster furniture, and the average person does not possess these skills. […]
Best and Worst Purchases of 2020
Another year has passed, so it’s time to look back at whether I spent money on good things that improve my life, or useless crap! Having last year’s best and worst in mind I think helped me make better choices this year, as the “worst” section has been harder for me to figure out. But […]
Weights
Ah, weights. A key staple of most guys’ possessions. There’s so much to be said about these. In 9th grade, my gym class did a rotation through weights training, and I thought it was kind of fun, so I asked for a weight set for Christmas. I still have this set. I’ve used it off […]
Quality vs Expense
In theory, the price of a thing is a function of its labor cost and the capital required to produce it, with a markup for profit. Sellers usually seek to maximize this profit, but competition drives it down. If the expense of labor and capital cannot be covered, the company goes out of business or […]
Simple vs Robust Solutions to Money Questions
Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. I feel this applies quite succinctly to most of the money decisions a person can make in their life. The greatest challenge with the subject of money is just how subjective and pliable it can be. Every person is different, every history is different, every preference is […]
Collections and Hoarding
Despite being fascinated by history, I don’t have a particularly strong desire to own it. I can appreciate the process of finding old things for a collection, and I can appreciate seeing the things themselves, but the acquisition always makes me a little uncomfortable. How badly do I want a basement full of old stuff? […]