Best or worst idea? Getting a Velotaxi/Rikshaw for private use

[delinquent]

Been down the shit mental health road. It's not fun.

Honestly, at one point I used to shit all over the idea of depressive symptoms being a thing. Partly an overreaction to earlier experiences, partly a refusal to accept that I was, in fact, a bit fucky myself. Although, who wouldn't be after a childhood full of abuse of all three natures? heh.

I actually vaguely remember chatting to Sine at some point deep into my own era of psychotic shit. Didn't help I was down the end of a bottle most nights. I remember something about you talking about courage to admit it or something of the like. I'd check, but I can't go down that road again at the moment. I think that was probably the first point at which I started accepting that I wasn't quite so well put together. The lack of funding for mental health care is abysmal, which also doesn't help - in an ideal world I would have probably been briefly sectioned myself. As it stands, I had to do most of the legwork myself and it took almost a decade to do it. Somehow, in the middle of all of that, I learned how to write web applications and manage linux platforms (and got a job doing both at HP!?), which helped a great deal.

Not sure where I was going with this, tbh. Although I do see a lot of mental health issues within the IT industry in general, something of a disturbing pattern. I will say, though, being a relatively high earner at HP was... not the best of solutions for me at the time. It ended up being an enablement - but to be frank, I don't regret it. HP was otherwise a fantastic place to work. In some ways I plan to model my own business on their approach to employment.

Z-Man: I wonder if it might not be a good idea to revisit building an e-bike based on pedal assist for Z-Girl. That entire industry has matured quite well, and there are very straightforward kits that you can pick up these days. Perhaps a project you can do together? Something like https://pendix.de/ or https://de.esoulbike.com/

[Monkey]

@deli

Hope you're doing better these days than you were. For what it's worth I think you've turned out really well considering what you were dealt with in life (not that I know all what you had to deal with but I think I've got the general picture).

You're right about the IT industry being full of people with mental health issues. A few years ago I was told by some people in it that it has the highest suicide rates, etc of any profession. My personal experiences in the industry were that many IT jobs are boring as ****. I also think the IT world is a complex mess. This is why I don't want to work in it any more. I'm hoping to go self-employed in the food industry at some point in the not too distant future. Time will tell.

[Z-Man]

We ordered our Hopper thing last week! Sadly, both yellow and blue were vetoed by the ladies. Yellow looked too much like postal service things, blue was too dark. So light green it is. It'll be from the first proper production run, a bit cheaper than the first run, but still crazy expensive for a bike... oh well. It'll be some months before we get it, I'll report back then. The biggest risk there probably is the company folding and certain repairs becoming difficult or impossible.

After a year with the Bup-Up, I can say that it is useful and works well; what is surprising is that it even gives good protection for your hands, even though they look very exposed, and it certainly turns heads. I can't really recommend it, though. There are the predictable issues, sure, like wind being a problem, and insufficient protection for your legs if this is all you're using. The main thing is that you don't want to lug it around if it is NOT raining. Certainly not in the unfolded state, but even folded up and packed, it's kind of bulky. As a result, I only used it maybe five times so far, early enthusiastic test runs not included. It's really only for days with constant light to medium rain, without much wind.

(Putting the links in again because it has been a while and some pages...)

[sinewav]

I wish I lived where buying a Hopper is a good investment, looks so cool.