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Comment by uptown | Hacker News Reader

Get a:

a) Girlfriend b) Dog c) A hobby that doesn't involve electricity

Allow your job to become just one part of your life ... not what defines your life.

Getting a dog has completely turned my life around. I wasn't uber depressed before, but I had some days where basically looking at the news made me so disgusted to be a human, I could hardly work. I was working at home, living at home, hanging out at home, etc... Get a dog, get outside 3 or 4 times a day. Having a little creature be so happy to see you every time you walk through the door he can barely contain himself ALWAYS puts a smile on your face. Obviously, you know yourself better than I do, but a dog would be my suggestion. It makes everything better, life and work.

Having a little creature be so happy to see you every time you walk through the door he can barely contain himself ALWAYS puts a smile on your face

This literally made me laugh out loud with all the fond memories of the dogs I've had in my life.

Seconded.

When my dog wants to go out for a walk, he annoys me until I get off my ass and take him out. You can argue it out (and win!) with your wife/parents/friends when they tell you to go out, but you can't argue with a bouncing, yapping dog. My dog is the reason I take 2-3 walks a day.

Also, having him around just makes me happy :)

(See http://twitter.com/ankur_sethi/status/1942297810 and http://twitter.com/ankur_sethi/status/1938415759)

Well put!

I adopted a black labrador puppy last thursday. She's 3 months old and she's pulling me outside 6 times a day! We spent 2 hours at the park today because she kept laying down on the grass during the walk home. Quite a difference from those "err i havent been outside in 3 days" scenarios.

pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauls

Upvoted your comment just because your puppy is so damn cute!

Cute pup ... Good luck with her. Here's mine: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/2759237541_1d360e7795_b....

Couldn't agree more!

'Get a Girlfriend' isn't as easy as it sounds for everyone. I'd say get a dog to start with. I got a dog last September and I can't imagine getting rid of him now.

It just makes life more worth living. You wake up in the morning a bit happier because your dog is smiling and wagging his tail for you to go make him food. And it gets you outside more because he has to be walked 3+ times a day which helps give you a break from work.

Edit: My dog was laying in the sun and got too warm so he walked right in front of me and just flopped over. [pic] http://ul.mikeyur.com/public/sk/photo-20090527-184014.png

I took care of my landlord's dog for a month while she was out of town, and on top of everything you've said, I found that it made me a much more effective person.

When you gotta walk the dog, you have to walk the dog - no ifs and buts around it, and it got me a lot more focused on what I should be doing instead of dicking around the internet all day, too lazy to do something productive.

Often getting a dog leads to getting a girlfriend, since you'll be outside more and have an instant conversation starter.

I thought about starting a puppy rental business for college campuses. I imagine you could charge over $100 per hour b/c of all the girls who would flock to pet the puppy and then happen to think "wow what a nice guy".

It's a good idea, I wouldn't try and do it on college campuses, though. You can lose some serious coin trying to sell good but expensive things to broke kids.

Many girls also love dogs and, by extension, guys who have dogs. I saw this a lot in college, where guy with dog = instacrush by half the females in the vicinity.

Alas, I'm allergic. To dogs, not girls, though given my luck with the latter, maybe it's both.

This. I still love programming and web development and so forth, but I've realized this year that no matter how much I enjoy something, doing it (and it only) constantly is bad.

I don't care how much somebody likes pizza; if they eat it for every meal of every day, they're going to hate it eventually.

How do you know he doesn't have all 3?

Because if he did, he wouldn't have these problems ... duh! :)

a) & b) only if you are ready to treat them well while youl are iving your geeky life. I sometimes have problems with less attention to them. Both a) & b) need love & care which I personally have problems providing, while I'm in hack mode. (Just an advice)

i would recommend a dog over a girlfriend. dogs seem a lot less demanding. although girl/boyfriends can at least let themselves out into the yard to pee.

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