the 13th letter is all in!

[the 13th letter]

(i.e. “if you still don’t feel like doin’ it, raise the stakesâ€)

The stuff I don’t feel like doing

1. Working out: Going to martial arts class is second nature, but working out at home in my room? Eh. Workout goals: Convict Conditioning "Veterano" program, minus the rest day and handstand pushups, with at least one set at my current exercise level.
   
2. Eat well: I'm already scrawny, and I tend to skip breakfast. Eating goals: Eat at least three meals per day. Also, gather recipes while watching my parents cook.
   
3. Sleep: All those prejudices about gamers and TV watchers and sleep… they’re all true. And once I then oversleep and wake up at 1pm, I miss breakfast, adding to that sore point as well. Sleeping goals: Rise by 7:30am, sleep by 10:30pm; if I’m out at 10:30pm, sleep as soon as I’m back.
   

The stakes

1. My “student lifeâ€: I’ve been unemployed since Jan 2014, living at home with my parents. My parents agreed to support my search for a Ph.D. position through 2014, and afterwards, I had agreed to look into the (non-academic) job market. During Dec 2014, they agreed to extend this support until the then-recent application in Austria came through. (Which it did, earlier today: “no.â€) Once my parents remember that my student “lease†has expired, my student life as I know it is probably over.
   
2. My “savingsâ€: I have upcoming expenses to pay by April, which I can only barely cover. And without an income, I’m pretty much stuck being broke.
   
3. My “innocenceâ€: I’ve never baked a cake before. And I’d rather not try. Which makes it a perfect punishment. So, I pledge that if I don’t follow through with my goals, I’m going to bake two cakes, without asking for help: one for my family, and one for the Courier.
   

The thing that’s different this time so that I don’t repeat the same mistakes

1. This search for Ph.D. positions and my applications to those? I’m making it a proper job. Complete with scheduled work/break hours, dedicated time tracking, and reports to my CEO (i.e. my parents).
   
2. I have sequencing rules for my activities, both to help turn some of them into a ritual and to otherwise make sure everything is considered. Those rules are:
   1. 
      
   2. No shower before working out.
      
   3. No breakfast before shower.
      
   4. No “screens†before breakfast.
      
   5. No email before the first Ph.D. position search.
      
   6. No lunch before the first email check.
      
   7. No “soft†work before lunch. (“Hard†work is either searching for or writing an application for a Ph.D. position. “Soft†work is any other work that will indirectly help me get such a position, e.g. preparing a portfolio of projects, or rearranging my C.V.)
      
   8. No “clock out†without posting on the NF forums. (That’s still a major flaw of mine.)
      
   9. As a programmer, I can write tools to help me with my compliance. One such tool would be an automatic shutdown at 10:15pm. It’s currently in development. And I have ideas for how to technologically enforce rules #4–6.
      
      

[BlackTezca]

 

The Daniel Craig bond image brought me in.

 

 

The technological, programming skill makes me stay.

 

I also did a sleep quest and I'm still having to track it on my battle log.  What martial arts classes do you take ?

[Courier6]

As you are now also an expert if it comes to shooting blue and orange ellipses into white walls (i.e. Portal game-franchise) I have to say this: The cake is a lie

 

Well, as it would be a bad sign, I hope I don't get a cake from you (but you could bake your granny a cake whether you've been a bad boy or not  )

 

And count me in for the sleeping goal and building a proper daily rhythm. You have my full support. (So part of the mail I sent you this evening is kinda ignorable.) And until you have the software, I will be glad to be of help and to send you to bed.

 

Now, let's go and kick some butts.

 

Or, as in one of my favourite movies: "Come back with your shield. Or on it."

 

And I'm so sorry to hear about the rejected application. Exploded in my face, too, since it really seemed going well. So, now your job search will also cover industry jobs?

[Kishi]

Keep those stakes in mind. They will hold you to your goals.

 

Also, fun to see that you're using technology to help you achieve things! Can't wait to see how that goes.

[the 13th letter]

The Daniel Craig bond image brought me in.The technological, programming skill makes me stay.I also did a sleep quest and I'm still having to track it on my battle log. What martial arts classes do you take ?

A branch of Tae Kwon Do that associates neither with the ITF nor the WTF. It’s the result of one Korean grandmaster “importing†the art into Europe, and Germany in particular, so this branch is practically only known here and nowhere else. See this entry (footnote 1) for an explanation of our heritage. For those to whom that doesn’t make sense, we do Tae Kwon Do—which is a striking art with an emphasis on kicks and precise strikes, but without grapples—in a non-contact style to emphasize health, correct posture and body control.

As you are now also an expert if it comes to shooting blue and orange ellipses into white walls (i.e. Portal game-franchise) I have to say this: The cake is a lie ;)Well, as it would be a bad sign, I hope I don't get a cake from you (but you could bake your granny a cake whether you've been a bad boy or not )

Yeah, well, eh, I’d prefer to not be responsible for mass food poisoning of family members. But on the other hand, I reckon that engineering students are fair game. /troll-face

And count me in for the sleeping goal and building a proper daily rhythm. You have my full support. (So part of the mail I sent you this evening is kinda ignorable.) And until you have the software, I will be glad to be of help and to send you to bed.Now, let's go and kick some butts.Or, as in one of my favourite movies: "Come back with your shield. Or on it."

I was actually somewhat hesitant on setting such a lofty goal of 10:30pm; I had imagined it would be much harder to get you on board as well. Well, that’s one problem down.

And I'm so sorry to hear about the rejected application. Exploded in my face, too, since it really seemed going well. So, now your job search will also cover industry jobs?

Insofar as I can get away with it: Nononononononono! Over my dead body!

Keep those stakes in mind. They will hold you to your goals.Also, fun to see that you're using technology to help you achieve things! Can't wait to see how that goes.

Here’s a sneak peak: the aforementioned tool for automatic shutdown at 10:15pm.

#!/bin/shrp_running (){    pgrep -u "$USER" -c ratpoison >/dev/null}countdown (){    rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 notify-send -t 10 -u high shutdown "$1"}countdown 'in 15 minutes'sleep 10mcountdown 'in 5 minutes'sleep 3mcountdown 'in 2 minutes'sleep 90countdown 'imminent'sleep 30rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 ratpoison -c quit

Since most of you probably don’t speak shell script, here’s an English version:

1. Display a notification "15 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
2. Wait 10 minutes.
3. Display a notification "5 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
4. Wait 3 minutes.
5. Display "2 minutes …" if …
6. Wait 1½ minutes.
7. Display "imminent shutdown" if …
8. Wait ½ minute.
9. Terminate desktop session if my desktop session is running.

Now, this script is scheduled to run on weekdays at 10pm. For good reasons, I could stop this automatic shutdown by killing this script while it hasn’t terminated my session yet. So I’ll schedule this script to run hourly between 11pm and 5am as well, so that killing the script buys me only an extra hour instead of a full night.As far as rules #4–6 go: the idea is to replace the “desktop icon†for email with a script that asks for confirmation (rule #4) and records the time of successful email-after-job-search, a background job that regularly checks if email has already been checked today (via the rule #4 enforcer) so that I can have lunch (rule #5), and another script that periodically shuts down common candidates for soft work until I have confirmed I have already had lunch (rule #6). I think the tricky part is to avoid making a habit of bypassing the confirmation dialog, like how the "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" dialog doesn’t stop me from deleting the wrong files because I’m so used to bypassing it. For that, I’m thinking of a longish confirmation sentence instead of a button, such as "Yes, I hereby confirm that I have already conducted a search for Ph.D. positions today.", requiring exactly that phrase, punctuation and spelling and all. I estimate only a couple hours until I have these ideas codified as software.

[stillskies]

Here’s a sneak peak: the aforementioned tool for automatic shutdown at 10:15pm.

#!/bin/shrp_running (){    pgrep -u "$USER" -c ratpoison >/dev/null}countdown (){    rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 notify-send -t 10 -u high shutdown "$1"}countdown 'in 15 minutes'sleep 10mcountdown 'in 5 minutes'sleep 3mcountdown 'in 2 minutes'sleep 90countdown 'imminent'sleep 30rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 ratpoison -c quit

Since most of you probably don’t speak shell script, here’s an English version:

• Display a notification "15 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
• Wait 10 minutes.
• Display a notification "5 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
• Wait 3 minutes.
• Display "2 minutes …" if …
• Wait 1½ minutes.
• Display "imminent shutdown" if …
• Wait ½ minute.
• Terminate desktop session if my desktop session is running.

Now, this script is scheduled to run on weekdays at 10pm. For good reasons, I could stop this automatic shutdown by killing this script while it hasn’t terminated my session yet. So I’ll schedule this script to run hourly between 11pm and 5am as well, so that killing the script buys me only an extra hour instead of a full night.

As far as rules #4–6 go: the idea is to replace the “desktop icon†for email with a script that asks for confirmation (rule #4) and records the time of successful email-after-job-search, a background job that regularly checks if email has already been checked today (via the rule #4 enforcer) so that I can have lunch (rule #5), and another script that periodically shuts down common candidates for soft work until I have confirmed I have already had lunch (rule #6). I think the tricky part is to avoid making a habit of bypassing the confirmation dialog, like how the "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" dialog doesn’t stop me from deleting the wrong files because I’m so used to bypassing it. For that, I’m thinking of a longish confirmation sentence instead of a button, such as "Yes, I hereby confirm that I have already conducted a search for Ph.D. positions today.", requiring exactly that phrase, punctuation and spelling and all. I estimate only a couple hours until I have these ideas codified as software.

 

 

That's actually a really awesome script. And the failsafe to keep your computer on, but only buying you an extra hour, is a great contingency plan. Will you have something in there that limits how many times you can opt out of the auto-shutdown? 

 

And awesome goals. Eating is something I need to get better at, too. I mostly just... forget to eat unless I have a specific reminder, so. 

 

Good luck!

[BlackTezca]

A branch of Tae Kwon Do that associates neither with the ITF nor the WTF. It’s the result of one Korean grandmaster “importing†the art into Europe, and Germany in particular, so this branch is practically only known here and nowhere else. See this entry (footnote 1) for an explanation of our heritage. For those to whom that doesn’t make sense, we do Tae Kwon Do—which is a striking art with an emphasis on kicks and precise strikes, but without grapples—in a non-contact style to emphasize health, correct posture and body control.

Here’s a sneak peak: the aforementioned tool for automatic shutdown at 10:15pm.

#!/bin/shrp_running (){    pgrep -u "$USER" -c ratpoison >/dev/null}countdown (){    rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 notify-send -t 10 -u high shutdown "$1"}countdown 'in 15 minutes'sleep 10mcountdown 'in 5 minutes'sleep 3mcountdown 'in 2 minutes'sleep 90countdown 'imminent'sleep 30rp_running && DISPLAY=:0.0 ratpoison -c quit

Since most of you probably don’t speak shell script, here’s an English version:

• Display a notification "15 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
• Wait 10 minutes.
• Display a notification "5 minutes until shutdown" if my desktop session is running.
• Wait 3 minutes.
• Display "2 minutes …" if …
• Wait 1½ minutes.
• Display "imminent shutdown" if …
• Wait ½ minute.
• Terminate desktop session if my desktop session is running.

Now, this script is scheduled to run on weekdays at 10pm. For good reasons, I could stop this automatic shutdown by killing this script while it hasn’t terminated my session yet. So I’ll schedule this script to run hourly between 11pm and 5am as well, so that killing the script buys me only an extra hour instead of a full night.

As far as rules #4–6 go: the idea is to replace the “desktop icon†for email with a script that asks for confirmation (rule #4) and records the time of successful email-after-job-search, a background job that regularly checks if email has already been checked today (via the rule #4 enforcer) so that I can have lunch (rule #5), and another script that periodically shuts down common candidates for soft work until I have confirmed I have already had lunch (rule #6). I think the tricky part is to avoid making a habit of bypassing the confirmation dialog, like how the "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" dialog doesn’t stop me from deleting the wrong files because I’m so used to bypassing it. For that, I’m thinking of a longish confirmation sentence instead of a button, such as "Yes, I hereby confirm that I have already conducted a search for Ph.D. positions today.", requiring exactly that phrase, punctuation and spelling and all. I estimate only a couple hours until I have these ideas codified as software.

 

 

 

That style of TKD is very interesting and somewhat similar to the style of Kenpo I was taught as a kid (no grappling, mostly noncontact, throw in some training with weapons).  Always love learning something new.

 

I speak shellscript (though not fluently like my Java and C++ language skills); instead of killing the script, could you echo a question "Like keep session up for an hour" to take in input and depending on the answer it sleeps for another hour or does the shutdown process?  *reads again* Ah you'll have it run hourly after the 10 pm run.  Doesn't matter then

 

That's actually a really awesome script. And the failsafe to keep your computer on, but only buying you an extra hour, is a great contingency plan. Will you have something in there that limits how many times you can opt out of the auto-shutdown? 

 

I second this question. 

 

I love reading about different software application designs, even if it's script like this .  For your PHD, I'm assuming you're continuing along the CS route; what discipline of CS are you studying?

[the 13th letter]

That's actually a really awesome script. And the failsafe to keep your computer on, but only buying you an extra hour, is a great contingency plan. Will you have something in there that limits how many times you can opt out of the auto-shutdown?

I second this question.

Well, no.On the one hand, this enforcer program starts out with reminders well ahead of the time of shutdown, because what I’m really trying to combat is the “oh crap look at the time I was supposed to be in bed 3 hours ago†factor. I already have a good reason to be in bed at that time (I have to “go to work†the next morning), I just want to make sure I don’t miss my time.On the other hand, in the one anticipated scenario where I do overdraw my evening—namely, I have an application due by tonight—it makes little sense to limit the amount of extra time I take; the need for time is dictated by the application itself, not my own desire.…however, this does lead me to believe that I should schedule the enforcer for every half hour, or every twenty minutes, instead of every hour, during the “manual override†period. Which I now will.

I speak shellscript (though not fluently like my Java and C++ language skills); instead of killing the script, could you echo a question "Like keep session up for an hour" to take in input and depending on the answer it sleeps for another hour or does the shutdown process? *reads again* Ah you'll have it run hourly after the 10 pm run. Doesn't matter then

Honestly speaking, there are a few (somewhat banal) reasons why my program is sectioned this way:

1. The default is to enforce the shutdown. Asking for whether to extend the session makes the (de facto) default “yes, please extendâ€. As such, it suggests (and thus over time conditions) the not-intended response.
2. Because of (1), I want all of the countdown plus shutdown to run as a unit. And if I do interrupt that unit, then I want execution to resume after that whole unit. In shell script, the only quick way I can think of to interrupt something and have execution continue after that something is to encapsulate that something as a separate process.
3. In a monolithic program, if I’m interrupted in the middle of sleeping, I need to calculate when and how to schedule the next countdown, the exact details of which depend on how long I’ve already slept. That would evolve into me actually having to do some serious thinking for this project. But doing it this way, as a Cron-scheduled single-minded timer plus session terminator, the time calculations become much simpler, cleanup after an interruption becomes a no-op, and I can just tell Cron to launch the program and let Cron take care of the scheduling, That’s way less inertia.
4. In a monolithic program, I can forcibly terminate the whole program. In this Cron-scheduled version, I’d have to terminate Cron. Cron also schedules other system maintenance tasks, so I won’t do that.
5. I wrote the program in shell script, because of the “granularity†of the four things it needs to do: for each of them (suspend for X seconds, check if I’m logged in, show a notification box, and log me out) there is a program that, called with the right options, does precisely that, and nothing more. That’s exactly the sort of realm that shell scripting is intended for. A corresponding version in Java or C++ would take a lot longer to write and to debug. So again, low inertia.

And awesome goals. Eating is something I need to get better at, too. I mostly just... forget to eat unless I have a specific reminder, so.Good luck!

Thanks a bunch! ^^

That style of TKD is very interesting and somewhat similar to the style of Kenpo I was taught as a kid (no grappling, mostly noncontact, throw in some training with weapons). Always love learning something new.

See, the sad thing about being part of such a geographically focused branch is that I would love to say “go take a look at XYZ school, they’re colleaguesâ€. But unless you happen to live in Hawaii, I don’t know of any schools in the U.S.

I love reading about different software application designs, even if it's script like this . For your PHD, I'm assuming you're continuing along the CS route; what discipline of CS are you studying?

…and here’s the part where I surprise you by telling you that I’m not a CS major, I’m actually a maths major, and that I’m looking for a Ph.D. position in statistics or optimization. Still, thanks to an “inside man†at university and quite a bit of practical experience of my own, I’m as close to a CS student as one can get without formally being one. The disciplines within CS I want to dig deeper into are microprocessors/embedded systems as well as compiler systems/virtual machines. I also have maths-related experience with (graph) algorithms and data structures (recall: optimization), and applied cryptography, as well as hands-on experience working with and programming on POSIX-ish systems (primarily Linux, but some *BSD too).(And that sounded more like a “job wanted†ad than I wanted it to. Sorry.)

[BlackTezca]

Considering how much math I had to take in undergad, not that surprised.  Now if you said psychology or anthropology, I would be like:

 

Awesome experiences you have too!  I've software engineers who started off as an electrical engineering degree, aerospace engineering, and also math.  And when it comes to Big (O)/optimization, cryptography, and using matrices for graphics rendering, math has a lot to do with CS.  Awesome interests you have

[the 13th letter]

Day 1 (Monday, 2015-02-23) — ¾ report

I’ve only ever worked one job in the industry before, as a university-mandated internship at a pharma company (stats department). I remember spending the first half of the day trying to orient myself: the computer had two monitors (“how the hell do you use this thing…?â€) and Microsoft Office 2007 (“ugh… kill me now plsâ€), both of which I really wish it hadn’t.^[1] And the other half of the day I spent on reading a developer’s manual from front to back to front to back to left to right to… you get the picture.

And that’s kinda how I spent my first day at “work†here too, getting much less actual work accomplished than I intended.^[2] Let’s hope tomorrow is better. And thank goodness this work thing is only a support structure, not one of my actual goals…

Side note: The original morning routine (rules #1–3) is quite at odds with my family’s collective morning timetable; I’ll probably have to adapt them somehow. Still in the midst of trying things out.

1. Working out: yes. Lvl 3 Angular Bridges, 8/0/0 (beginner standard). (This is CC “Veterano†day #2, since I still need to figure out how/where to do pullups.)
   
2. Eat well: on track. Two of three meals taken, third to come later on.
   
3. Sleep: yes. (This is from Sunday night.)
   

---

¹Ironically I’ve been using a dual-monitor setup for the past 4 months or so, and while I don’t really use it much, I’ve grown quite fond of it.

²To be fair, not all of my non-work was frivolous. Much of it involved the auto-shutdown script I’ve repeatedly mentioned, which worked just fine when launched manually, but not when launched automatically. Eventually with the help of a morning star I managed to beat it into submission. Not that it boiled down to something as banal as a typo in the wrong place or anything…

[sarakingdom]

I've also been using a lot of cron and plugins to get my schedule more in shape.  And, no kidding, sleep patterns are hard for math/engineering types.  It's very much a nocturnal, work till you fall over, kind of environment.

 

This is excellent, I will gladly read your math/CS adventures.

[Teirin]

Being competent with multiple disciplines is only ever a good thing.  All the tools you're setting up are very neat!  Though I admittedly kind of want to see how the cakes would turn out.

[Kishi]

Good! Adapt! Nothing has to be done perfectly when it comes to leveling up your life. It just has to be done.

[the 13th letter]

Day 2 (Tuesday, 2015-02-24)

Day 2 was slightly better than day 1, in terms of work accomplished, but it’s still nowhere near where it should be if I wanted to earn a real salary from this. I’m still too easily distracted by more exciting stuff… not exactly

, but something like that.

But at least this time I have tangible results. Will work on those tomorrow.

Concerning adapting my morning routine: tomorrow will be the first real trial run with all family members accounted for, but even from the schematics of my routine, I see where it’ll probably clash: my parents need the bathroom at roughly the same time as I need it in the morning (and they have, like, real jobs), and lil’ bro sleeps in our workroom, so I can’t use my (stationary) computer in there, and neither can I really work out in there beforehand either. The solution seems to be to eat first (giving my parents time), then shower, then work outside my room on one of our family’s laptops, then take a mid-morning break (including the workout), and then continue until lil’ bro wakes up and releases the room. But again, this is still missing an actual trial run.

1. Working out: yes. Lvl 1 Wall Headstands, 30 seconds (beginner standard). I figured I could do them, given that I can do (one-armed) cartwheels just fine, but… damn, there’s really a lot of pressure on the head when doing a headstand for 30 seconds. I’ll need to practice this more. But I’m glad I tried.
   
2. Eat well: yes.
   
3. Sleep: yes.
   

[Kishi]

I find for myself that headstand work tends to make the neck hurt more than the head. But the benefits of inversion work outweigh the harms, and it'll get better.

[Swampling]

Also you could do a yoga headstand at first, so some of the weight will rest on your forearms, and less on your neck and head?

When that's gotten easier, switch back back to a tripod?

 

[the 13th letter]

Day 3 (Wednesday, 2015-02-25)

Hangover day. Woke up on time, but was forced out of my room, so no workout nor work in the morning. Which led to me first hanging in front of the TV, then later on my comp, and… by the time I was done with that, I wasn’t really in any working condition anyway.

Like I said, hangover day. Only without the fun(?) of being drunk the night before.

1. Working out: nay. Oh, the inertia.
   
2. Eat well: yes. Comparatively easy, seeing how my Mom is a good cook.
   
3. Sleep: yes. Though this is for Tuesday night.
   

Day 4 (Thursday, 2015-02-26)

Hangover day, round two. Mostly a repeat of the day before, but not quite.

I slept late the night before, but got up at my prescribed time, so I was practically a zombie during the whole morning.^[1] Still couldn’t get to my room, same reason as yesterday: lil’ bro is at home, we share a room, he sleeps at different times than I do,^[2] so I can’t stay in there during the morning hours. And I really need my computer,^[3] because I cannot stand working on our other Windows-based laptops.^[4] So I took the path of least resistance: have breakfast in front of the TV, watch a show or two, and wait for lil’ bro to wake up so that I can move into my room again. Like the day before, by the time I could move back in, I was tired and unfocused, in no good position to complete a workout, and for all those hours I still hadn’t done anything noteworthy. After lunch I tried getting back into the “zoneâ€, but the best I could manage was busywork.^[5]

Then, finally, later at night, after a rush of “Eh, what the heck… Let’s do it!â€, I unrolled my yoga mat and did a 85% effort workout. At least that’s something.

1. Working out: yes. Lvl 4 Flat Frog (Leg) Raises, 14/0/0; lvl 3 Knee Pushups, 10/0/0.
   
2. Eat well: yes. Waking up on time makes all the difference.
   
3. Sleep: nay. Leftovers from yesterday’s hangover.
   

I don’t have a solution for my morning timetable messup yet.^[6] How would any of you deal with being cut off from your work area for the morning hours? Just about the only thing I can think of is acknowledging that my “work†plan just isn’t realistic, and using that time for reading instead… like old books, or printouts prepared the night before…^[7]

---

¹Astute readers will comment that coffee would help me with this particular problem… that is, if I were someone who actually drinks coffee.

²Curiously enough, it’s the same timetable I’m trying to get away from: have a midnight snack at 11pm, sleep at 1am or 2am or so, wake up at 11am or 12pm, and miss breakfast.

³Guess who has the only stationary computer in the house…? Guess where it’s stationed…? Guess which computer is the only one running Linux…?

⁴Everything I need to prepare an application (a proper typesetting system, a proper email client, and some background music) is already set up on my computer. And conversely, setting each of these up on the other Windows-based laptops would be a major headache.

⁵The “check off emails†and “I’ve always wanted to ask Wikipedia about …†type of busywork.

⁶That is, beyond making sure to steer clear of the TV. Otherwise things just go downhill really fast.

⁷It’s times like these when I become aware again how much of my life revolves around computers…

[RisenPhoenix]

Man, I thought I had commented in this already.  Anyway.  

 

How would any of you deal with being cut off from your work area for the morning hours? Just about the only thing I can think of is acknowledging that my “work” plan just isn’t realistic, and using that time for reading instead… like old books, or printouts prepared the night before…^[7]

 

If there's a way to use a laptop, I'd say coffee shop.  Or find non-computer parts of the work to do and do it then.  But establishing a solid space for working is definitely a huge thing.  If you can't get the hours in the morning, use the morning for your errands and work "second shift."  It may suck, but it's beeter than trying to wave off "Eh, I Can't do work in the morning so why bother?" attitudes that can develop. (Said as someone who had that happen the first time he was unemployed.  Second time I knew better.)

[Swampling]

Just a thought:

If there's room on the HD, set up a VM of your linux box on one of the Win machines?

 

Regarding your scheduling conflicts: Is your brother only there for a short visit of for a longer period of time? In case of the latter you might need to overhaul your battle plan.

[Teirin]

^^ This.  Or is it possible to set up a remote connection between one of the other computers and your computer?

[Swampling]

TeamViewer might work, if there's a version for Linux? 

[sarakingdom]

I can solve your Windows laptop problem.  Make yourself an Ubuntu USB installer and max out the persistence file to 4GB.   It's basically a portable desktop, and it's surprisingly good.  Boot your Windows laptop from that, and you have a Linux laptop.  You can install anything you need on the USB stick, and you can probably even just copy over your settings from your desktop, if you have weird config files.  (I hear you can also uninstall the actual installer - I think it's a package called ubiquity - so you just have a plain old live desktop.)  The only thing to look out for is that any data on it is basically unprotected if you lose the USB stick, so I'd use Firefox private browsing as much as possible, and have another USB stick (encrypted if possible, and large enough for your media) as a working directory for your personal data.

[DWD]

Just caught up on your thread. Best of luck!

[Kishi]

Oh you nerds.

[BlackTezca]

I can solve your Windows laptop problem.  Make yourself an Ubuntu USB installer and max out the persistence file to 4GB.   It's basically a portable desktop, and it's surprisingly good.  Boot your Windows laptop from that, and you have a Linux laptop.  You can install anything you need on the USB stick, and you can probably even just copy over your settings from your desktop, if you have weird config files.  (I hear you can also uninstall the actual installer - I think it's a package called ubiquity - so you just have a plain old live desktop.)  The only thing to look out for is that any data on it is basically unprotected if you lose the USB stick, so I'd use Firefox private browsing as much as possible, and have another USB stick (encrypted if possible, and large enough for your media) as a working directory for your personal data.

 

I did something similar but I actually ran Ubuntu through VirtualBox (completely free) and essentially ran the Ubuntu OS as an application on my windows computer.  For me, I did it because I wanted to use my Windows applications (I don't care for wine) at the same time as Ubuntu  and was only using Ubuntu for software development and assignments for my Masters degree.  This is quite the resource hog so SaraKingdom's (nice username) solution is better so you can just boot the Ubuntu OS instead of the Windows one.

 

Oh you nerds.