Updates
Latest experiment updates.
Trying out Miniflux for RSS feeds.
I'm starting to have a bunch of "self hosted" apps. But I don't really have any disciplined way of running them. They are just random docker containers on my laptop. I don't think I really want or need a separate machine running my setup. But I would like to have a bit better setup so I don't delete some data by mistake or something like that.
Expense Tracking
I have tested two self-hosted apps for expense tracking/budgeting:
Both have their pros and cons and I don't think you can say one is better than the other. I think I'm going with Actual Budget for now but this is just a personal choice. If you want more options you can also check out the Budgeting tag on selfh.st.
I have decided the cancel this experiment for now.
Finding 'a home to share' made sense when my plan was to go on long trips abroad over the next couple of years. But I have changed my plans so this is no longer as relevant.
This is still something I would like to experiment with at some point. But for now it is on hold.
Original deadline: 2026-01-01
Went on a 2 day hike: 'Le Tour des Fiz'.
The weather was cloudy and rainy but I enjoyed it still. At higher elevation the rain turned to snow and covered the mountains in white. Quite technical trail at times and lots of elevation.
A good way to end my trip.
Overall it's been a good mix of time in nature and time inside reading and thinking.
I have started using metube to download and watch YouTube videos. I have tried using YouTube downloaders before but this one just makes it super simple to run everything in a docker container with a web UI.
Why do this?
A couple of reasons:
- Watch videos with no distractions. Helps me stay focused.
- No buffering issues. Watch at the highest quality even on a poor internet connection.
- Offline mode. Yesterday I watched a video while riding a bus on my way home from the Alps.
- No ads
So far the experience has been nice. Especially when traveling where I may not always have the best internet connection.
While the downloader mostly works, it has not been without hiccups. YouTube is changing constantly and so it is hard for the underlying downloader (yt-dlp) to keep up. I experienced this when the downloader suddenly stopped working and I had to wait for a fix. But hats off to yt-dlp for delivering updates quickly and doing their best to keep up with the changes.
I found metube via selfh.st. You can see other YouTube "alternatives" here.
The rain has continued. But not all is lost. I climbed a via ferrata yesterday in cloudy conditions. No great views but still a fun climb.
I've walked a bit around this cozy ski town and love it here. But today it's time to move on. I have two good days left and I want to spend them hiking and camping in the mountains.
Is the goal net worth or savings?
I have a savings goal and that is what I'm tracking. Net worth fluctuates and I have less control over that number in the short term.
Of course this means that outside factors could influence whether I have enough money or not at the end of this experiment. But I'll see at that point. For now my goal is just to save as much as I can.
Does this mean quitting work in 3,5 years?
Not necessarily. It means having a job to pay for living expenses becomes optional.
675 workdays in 3 years?
Yes. In Denmark we generally have about 250 workdays a year. With a mandatory 25 paid vacation days for all employees. Some companies have an additional 3-5 extra vacation days.
Even without the extra vacation days that would be 250 - 25 = 225 workdays a year. With full extra days it would only be 220 working days a year (which is my current situation. But I have just assumed 225 for a bit of extra buffer).
Really, the experiment is just about trying to hit my goal in 3,5 years. But 1277.5 days (3,5 * 365) just seems like a much bigger number to me. So I decided to formulate the goal in terms of days worked instead.
The 675 workdays also reflect the fact that I intend to take additional time off without pay. My goal is to work the equivalent of 3 years in 3,5 years. So I have 6 months of buffer to spread out over the 3 years.
Two days ago I climbed another via ferrata. I did it in the morning just after sunrise. Was a magical experience to be on the wall while the sun rose. I had views of the Mont Blanc mountain range while I climbed.
Other than that it has started raining quite a bit here in the Alps. Which means it is now the perfect time to slow down a bit.
I have done some smaller walks but mostly spent time in Airbnb apartments. I have moved a bit away from Mont Blanc but I'm still in the mountains. Currently in a small cozy ski town with mountain views from my apartment window.
Working on finding a new "read later" app. This is an area I have actually been burned by vendors before (Pocket I'm looking at you).
Right now I'm trying out:
So far so good.
I've spent two nights in a tent at a great campground with views of the Mont Blanc mountain range.
During this camping stint I have been busy putting my body to work: First day I did a big hike + via ferrata combo. Next day I went for a morning trail run/hike up to a glacier near the campground (didn't make it all the way to the glacier but only views of it) followed by another via ferrata climb in the afternoon heat.
Now I'm resting and recovering in a small Airbnb apartment.
Although it has only been one day I'm enjoying the Obsidian Android app way more than I ever did the Notion one.
Notion just never seemed to work well on my phone.
The fact that the Obsidian vault is stored offline on my phone with a sync to the cloud seems really nice. There is no loading time or waiting for connection when loading the app. Of course this also means I may end up having conflicts if I switch from phone to another device.
I know Notion also stored some state on the device. But loading still seemed much slower and sometimes quite janky.
Notes using Obsidian
I've started using Obsidian for my notes.
I want to try this to avoid vendor lock in and other dependencies. Obsidian is not open source but the underlying file format is markdown so I should just be able to take my notes elsewhere if I stop liking Obsidian.
So far I enjoy the desktop app. I sync my vault to OneDrive for now.
Setting up my Android phone was a bit more tricky as it does not sync OneDrive to a local drive by default. I had to get another app for that.
I'm testing out the setup and we'll see how it goes.
What I would like to do:
- Spend time camping
- Hike in the mountains
- Read
- Relax
- Disconnect
- Maybe some big days. Maybe not
I have had a blast this summer doing some big hiking days. Now fall is starting and I think this trip will be a good transition into that.
I don't feel as motivated to go on a big adventure but instead I'm looking for time to slow down. So that is what I will try to do.
Progress so far:
Kindle Jailbreak
Jailbroke my Kindle following this video and https://kindlemodding.org/. Had a few small issues where my Kindle didn't behave exactly like described in the guide. But overall it was a pretty simple process.
I like using my kindle in the normal setup. And I will probably continue to do so for many books. But apparently Amazon is starting to get more and more aggressive with their monopoly over ebooks. They can pretty much do whatever they like with "my" books.
Jailbreaking my Kindle was both an interesting exercise and a way for me to feel a bit more at ease about the many books I have on there. It also opens up a new ecosystem for me to experiment with. Plus KOReader has way more options as to how I can read on the Kindle.
I've long wanted a better way of reading PDFs on my Kindle and KOReader may just be the tool for that. It is still early days but at least I now have more options than before.
MacBook Pro as my daily driver
I have started using my MacBook Pro as my daily driver. I have an old Windows desktop that used to have this job. But it has annoyed me for a while.
I bought a cheap docking hub to connect my keyboard, mouse, headset, and screen to my MacBook. I really love how I can just plug it in and I'm in desktop mode.
I did try running Linux Omakub for a bit on my desktop using dual boot. I enjoyed that experience as well but I'm not ready for the full switch just yet.
Right now I don't see any need for my old desktop. One computer is more than enough. So I'll continue this experiment and in time I may get rid of my old desktop entirely. For now it is still next to my desk, unplugged.
What a wonderful summer.
My goal was to hike, camp, and spend time in the mountains.
And I did.
I was in Norway three times. I camped a bunch of times in Denmark. I tried new things like bikepacking, and I went on the longest hike I have every done.
I had big trips and small ones.
And I loved each and every one of them.
But now I'm also ready for fall.
The last couple of years it has not been like that from what I recall. I've been sad that I didn't do more in the summer. That it was already over and I spent too little time enjoying summer activities.
I take it this is a sign I did enough this year.
I can feel summer coming to a close. It's still here but the end is nearing.
I love fall as well but I'm not ready to end the summer just yet. I want to do more camping and adventuring before I settle in for the colder, darker months.