jvanloov

:-)

Funny, the Dutch word for chemistry is "scheikunde", which would be more like "breakupken" ("scheiden" = to separate). Although I think "minglingken" sounds better...

That is true. I'm Belgian; I can't remember having heard about this e.g. in history classes; it's something I came across later on.

I pick a project that interests me at some point; currently "I'd like to have an internet music player that sits on my cupboard and doesn't require my tablet".

Then:

  * decide on platform (CC3200, because it has wifi, enough processing power, 
    and I happened to have one)
  * build something that decodes an MP3 stream (investigate, pick Helix as the decoder,
    make it run on the CC)
  * think about hardware (DAC, amplifier)
  * think about enclosure (wood, how to do front panel)

For tracking my progress, I've started to use Emacs org mode.

Subtracting time for household work, that leaves 1-2 hours each night for leisure. Weekends can give a bit more leisure time, but not always. Sometimes my girlfriend and I eat after kids-bedtime to have a chance to actually taste our food (or go out, with a babysitter staying with our kids), once a week I go to the local hackerspace, the rest is more or less for myself.

For me, I learned to ruthlessly prioritize in my list of things that I want to do, and I got good at structuring my projects in result-oriented blocks of work that can be done in one or a few time blocks.

I also don't watch TV; this went way down the priority list after the first kid was born.

Yes!

It's become a deliberate strategy of mine to set the subgoal complexity in my personal projects such that I get a small "yes! it works!"-rush about once per week or so. It's what keeps me going on larger projects, even if occasionally some part takes longer to do.

Switching between different editors on all platforms was a chore. Emacs provides me with the same basic functionality in all environments and for all languages I use. Additionally, it works very similarly both on the desktop and in a terminal, so I can use a powerful editor even in fairly restricted environments.

So yes, for me it's worth it.

I started with plain file-editing, with a focus on keyboard shortcuts for editing. When they felt somewhat comfortable, I started using basic modes (fill-mode for better editing, C and Python modes). As you go along, you'll find things you want to do (format paragraph, autocomplete,...) You'll look them up, and find that they are either built-in, or available as a mode. Rinse, repeat :-)

http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/21/troubled-waters-the-hidde...

Dutch also has one word for happiness and luck ("geluk"), although in Flanders you can use "chance" to express "luck" specifically (borrowed from French).

In some ways, English allows for more specificity compared to German, but the reverse is also true.

So it's horizontally mirrored compared to the way you do it :-)

So it's not exactly 1/10th the amount, but still a lot less.

Also, this was limited to a 1 year period more or less. There is a 2 year age difference between the children, and from age 3, the oldest started going to kindergarten instead of daycare, which is quite a bit less expensive.

Bread in supermarkets can be pre-cut and pre-packaged (industrial, cheaper, and of inferior taste), but often supermarkets also offer freshly baked, uncut bread and have a cutting machine for you to use when you pack up your bread.

There was never any question on using this system; everyone I know has this, unless they live in a really old house or an apartment block with common heating. It's a standard for heating systems called OpenTherm.

Is this really that uncommon, or is this a European thing?

However, chances are that the son looks up to his father, thinks his father's life is normal and how it should be, and will (unconsciously) copy it.

If that happens, will he really have the better life that his father worked for and wanted him to have?

Originally, we both worked full time, lived in a small house, and had income to spare to save some and do some small-scale travelling within Europe. With no kids, there was not really a lot of stress and "busyness" for us; the household chores had to be done in the evenings and weekends, but other than that we didn't feel overwhelmed. (Although it sometimes did feel that way anyway.)

After the first kid was born, my girlfriend started working 80% instead of 100%, to cope better with the additional tasks imposed by caring for the child. The second kid added to the child care burden, leading us to delegate some of the cleaning chores to a household helper (4hrs every 2 weeks), which is not for free. The situation stabilized, but we do feel overwhelmed by the tight planning of each day, and chores left to do in the evenings and weekends.

Weekends are not always relaxing any more: even family visits have a tendency to start feeling like a burden if they displace other things that you have to do, and if several of them queue up in the same weekend or if several consecutive weekends become fully booked this way. Also, we try to build in "down"time in the weekend to let the kids play or to do something with the 4 of us, but this becomes more difficult with all the other engagements competing for time.

I too have requested a contract change to work 90% instead of 100%, so that I can move some of the chores from the evening and weekend to a weekday. This will hopefully leave us with more relaxed evenings and weekends.

I realize that in some sense we're lucky that our finances permit us to trade some income for more time off work. I think (hope) we're approaching a OK balance between work, child care, "obligatory" off-work stuff, and "voluntary" off-work stuff.

(Note: 100% means 40hrs/wk here)

However, only the first three months you get paid (by social security, not your employer). It is the same amount as unemployment benefits I think, so not your full salary. In my case it was more like 1/3 to 1/2 of my regular salary. The 4th month you get nothing. So whether you can actually benefit from this, depends also on your savings and whether you want to spend them this way.

On the other hand, you can make use of your parental leave until your kids are 12 years old, so you can save it up for when your kid goes to school, or to take them on a trip around world when they are old enough to actually remember it :-)

They have both Windows and OS X versions.