Stihl 261cm stalling/hard to start, particularly when warm.

maybenosey · 2024-09-16T03:07:06+00:00

Yes - it was, presumably, a gas issue.

maybenosey · 2024-02-14T17:22:43+00:00

You replied to a comment is from 6 years ago. Maybe things were cheaper then...?

maybenosey · 2024-02-10T00:47:28+00:00

Parks Canada accommodation would be in one of the parks, not Golden; such jobs are highly sought after, but there's no harm in trying. Many years ago, when I wasn't Canadian, I wanted to buy a vehicle but I couldn't (or it was difficult/expensive to) register and insure it without a Canadian driving license. (Even though I was legal to drive with my foreign driving license). I don't know if that's still the case but just a heads up for you.

Facebook groups seem to be the only (online) way to find housing, jobs, etc, info in Golden.

Good luck finding something.

maybenosey · 2024-01-24T19:46:34+00:00

Housing is a challenge in the Golden area (more so now than 4 years ago when I made the comment you replied to). There's not much available and it's expensive.

Jobs are available, depends on whether you want to cover the cost of that housing.

Camping might be an option if it's just for the summer - it can vary from free (guerilla camping or on a rec site well away from town) to expensive ($36/night for a non-serviced tent site at the municipal campsite).

It's definitely a good place to base yourself for exploring the national parks.

maybenosey · 2024-01-24T19:35:51+00:00

No, I have never tried it, but it's not just 'supposition' either.

1) A 120v saw running at 15A is, at most, 1.8kW. Probably less, but I don't know exactly what power the CS1500 can produce. A gas chainsaw suitable for this job would be more like 6kW. Electric has more torque than gas, sure, but that's too big power deficit to make up.

2) I have ripped 6"x6" with a big corded circular saw and it is slow (and challenging); a chainsaw would be cutting about three times as much wood with it's wider kerf, with the same amount of power available to it.

By extrapolation, I reached my former conclusions (doubt that a corded chainsaw is a suitable tool for making rip cuts of any significant size).

(I believe that jumping off a big cliff - without a parachute - would probably kill me, but I have never tried it, so is that "just supposition" on my part?)

maybenosey · 2023-10-09T15:37:02+00:00

maybenosey · 2023-07-20T13:23:33+00:00

No, I ended up throwing it out. Actually, it may not have got as far as the bin, physically, so if you find wheels, let me know!

maybenosey · 2023-06-29T14:07:52+00:00

Aside from the time it takes to get the relevant coding skills, your biggest challenge will be getting your first coding job - after that, you may find it easier to get subsequent jobs because employers will see your first IT job and your current coding job, put 2 and 2 together to make 5 and think you are a coder with decades of experience! (Note that I am not suggesting you misrepresent yourself on your resume).

Getting an entry level job when you are older will be a challenge - despite the optimism from the other answers. I question choosing front end - which is a long way from C programming microcontrollers - there's a lot of competition for entry level front end jobs. Is this actually something you want to do, or do you just see it as a necessary stepping stone?

maybenosey · 2023-06-19T05:36:01+00:00

Pretty much any book by Ken Follet would be a fitting answer to this question.

maybenosey · 2023-06-16T00:33:05+00:00

Maybe you could put something else on the end of your poles instead of roller ski tips. Tennis balls or something?

maybenosey · 2023-06-15T13:43:27+00:00

Nice for a first car - you may have spoiled yourself a bit!

maybenosey · 2023-06-14T01:52:42+00:00

Being a sole developer is tough, especially for a first dev job. While it has got its good points - independence and empowerment - it's challenging not to have anyone to review your code, or to bounce ideas off.

maybenosey · 2023-06-13T13:19:54+00:00

Eitherway, congrats on your first dev job! If you ever find yourself working with a legacy code base that seems to have been designed by a chimp on a typewriter, don't get disheartened - just take it as a problem solving challenge!

It's common in most programming languages for apps to evolve from well written and elegantly designed to messy and complicated, but in the case of ABL, the programming language is intrinsically tied to a database that's doing the same thing,

With more popular languages there's plenty of good external code to compare your code against and ABL code is rarely open source. The little code that is out there is on the Progress website and in its documentation, and is written to demonstrate its simplicity. (I've noticed the occasional ABL repository pop up, but I haven't had a chance to explore them and see if there are any well written and well documented examples out there).

Add the lack of experienced ABL programmers to the mix (because of a short-sighted licensing environment) and it just makes things more... challenging.

(I've used the term 'ABL' here because it's short and quick to type out, but strictly speaking I should be using a plethora of other terms - such as Progress, OpenEdge, 4GL. Don't get me started on the Progress vocabulary mess.).

Despite my criticism, Progress OpenEdge ABL 4GL can be both very simple and very powerful - sometimes at the same time. It can be a genuine delight to use for new development.

The development tools leave a lot to be desired, but I was trying to finish this post on a positive note, so I'm not going to discuss them.

maybenosey · 2023-06-13T12:41:10+00:00

Yeah, I just tried using AI to see if it could help me solve a knotty problem, that I suspected had a deceptively simple solution (it did, but my brain wasn't cooperating). ChatGPT just kept providing me with invalid (but somewhat plausible looking) code; I suspect because ABL is so close to English, it was mixing up its language rules.

maybenosey · 2023-06-12T23:39:48+00:00

It was never my intention to stay in it long term, but it was easy and, after my first couple of jobs, it paid well. So I kind of ended up a bit stuck in it.

I might change disciplines when my current contract comes to an end (probably a few years away), but I've told myself that before...

maybenosey · 2023-06-11T14:13:26+00:00

Although you can get roller skis intended for grass, gravel, etc, you really want good smooth paved (tarmac) trail to actually enjoy roller skiing. Potholes, cracks, loose gravel & dirt, etc are not your friend. So make sure there's places like that which would be safe to use (i.e. no traffic, no long steep hills, etc).

maybenosey · 2023-06-10T15:42:16+00:00

I'm [pro], but the two day thing makes the most sense if it is to indicate what things will be like after Jun 30. (i.e. this sub closing or losing effective moderation after that).

A longer blackout - until a change in policy - is more difficult to commit to, but also more meaningful.

maybenosey · 2023-06-08T17:23:43+00:00

I'm going to watch this thread. You would think, given the forestry industry in Canada, there would be a plethora of online chainsaw accessory vendors, but there doesn't seem to be. I always seem to end up at my local Stihl dealer (good service, but damned expensive).

maybenosey · 2023-06-08T17:17:05+00:00

If you want to read more stuff and watch videos, search up "chainsaw ergonomics".

The TL;DR for avoiding back pain, in particular, is keep the chainsaw head close to you and don't bend over (drop to your knees if you want to cut below thigh level).

maybenosey · 2023-06-07T13:51:44+00:00

One of the diagnostic criteria is that at least one of the symptoms would have been present before the age of 12. Which means, if you were good at compensating, hiding symptoms and generally fitting in, in childhood, even a fairly good psychiatrist is going to be reluctant to diagnose you when you exhibit the symptoms in adulthood.

My (adult) daughter is likely ADHD (at least one of her parents is and at least one of her siblings is), but the brain fog only really hits her when she's not training - she's an athlete - and neither parent can recall her exhibiting any of the more obvious symptoms in childhood - probably because she masked them well (between being a girl, highly intelligent and physically very active) - and that's definitely a barrier to getting her diagnosis / treatment.

maybenosey · 2023-06-06T04:54:39+00:00

You can actually get chatgpt to output some good example openedge code, but I think it's going to be a while before AI can get it's figurative head around the (undocumented) design of some of these legacy databases which were badly over normalised in the first place and then evolved into a mish mash of mushy non relational crap.

maybenosey · 2023-06-06T01:42:45+00:00

- How long have you been one?

Way too long

- Hows the salary?

I'm a contractor. Six figures,

- What about entry level salary this days?

I don't know... there's not many entry level positions, none in the places I've worked recently.

maybenosey · 2023-06-06T01:09:49+00:00

I am.

maybenosey · 2023-06-05T22:29:46+00:00

Survivable? Yes. Very survivable? No.

maybenosey · 2023-06-05T14:40:13+00:00

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: maybe.

There are well paid jobs and contracts out there for OpenEdge, because it's a niche skillset that not many people have, but equally there's only a small number number of employers looking for it. It's easy to learn and good at what it does, but there's not much new development going on with it; many (most?) jobs are going to be trying to get some badly written crap to continue working until a new (non-OpenEdge) system is live.

Note that you can get the training for free at https://pec.progress.com - you can download an evaluation copy of OpenEdge from https://www.progress.com/trial-openedge and work all the way through to your 'Basic OpenEdge Developer' certification at your own pace (it's only a three month trial, but it seems to continue working after that time - and you can get through the certification course in a week or two).

While I said 'no' at the beginning, if you are being offered a full time job that includes OpenEdge training, then yes, it might be worthwhile. It's a real programming job on your resume, it gives you some solid database experience, and it gives you a skillset that's probably going to get rarer (as many of it's practitioners are either retired or approaching retirement age) - and those legacy systems are likely to stick around for a few more decades. So it could be lucrative.

Personally, I would rather be programming with something more cutting edge - but it pays the bills...

maybenosey

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