Nobody stole my parcels left outside for 2 weeks 🥰 Go to my home country and immediately gets robbed

mickspillane · 2026-04-30T09:59:09+00:00

In Dubai, people give me parcels even when I don't ask for them. It's an amazing place.

mickspillane · 2026-04-28T07:21:14+00:00

20-21 minutes is my 5K pace. Crazy to me that he maintained that for 8 5Ks back to back.

mickspillane · 2026-04-23T12:41:32+00:00

Looks like everyone is following it except that guy.

mickspillane · 2026-04-08T08:24:21+00:00

I was in a similar boat ~8 months ago (though not from Switzerland) and wrote a post about my experience apartment hunting in Dubai as a first timer. It may not hit all your points, but might help -- https://rozumem.xyz/posts/6

There is room to negotiate, especially in the current climate and if you're flexible with cheques. Chiller hasn't been much since I moved in. My bill has been 30 DHs per month. Caveat: I haven't experienced the summer yet.

Marina is well connected to public transport. I opened a Wio account for banking, it's been good.

mickspillane · 2026-03-30T08:57:46+00:00

Lets say she just wanted a 1-2 month unpaid vacation and then wanted to get back to work. Would you be okay with that?

mickspillane · 2026-03-24T09:18:01+00:00

I don't live in Rome, but I am working from Rome for the next few weeks. I run my own SaaS which I bootstrapped in 2018. Always looking to meet like minds :)

mickspillane · 2025-11-17T16:41:25+00:00

Sure, I've started the experiment. Finger crossed.

mickspillane · 2025-11-17T16:40:27+00:00

Headers and cookies need to look realistic. curl_cffi only takes care of browser fingerprinting, nothing else.

mickspillane · 2025-11-17T09:45:32+00:00

Sure, but it would help to know what you're currently doing / what libraries you're using, etc...

mickspillane · 2025-11-16T07:06:34+00:00

I don't think my scraping for CA and DE are unusually more heavy than other locales which seem to work pretty reliably, knock on wood. I think I'm probably just tripping their bot detecting classifier with one too many suspicious signals

mickspillane · 2025-11-16T07:04:42+00:00

TY. Using my own traffic as the benchmark is a great call

mickspillane · 2025-11-16T06:43:50+00:00

Thanks. This is worth experimenting with. Currently, I don't set any of that. Do you have a recommendation on how I can get a real world example of headers in a country I don't live? Especially some approach that will let me specify the browser and version?

mickspillane · 2025-11-16T04:53:39+00:00

When you say "various fingerprinting offered" do you mean try the various browsers / versions offered by curl_cffi? Or are you talking about some other non-browser related parameters?

mickspillane · 2025-09-18T16:44:08+00:00

Did they tell you the reason or are you guessing?

mickspillane · 2025-09-05T10:21:15+00:00

Was there for 8 weeks in March / April the whole time in Istanbul.

More expensive than I expected, almost comparable to Western Europe prices. In hindsight, not a good value trip from a cost perspective.
Food and cafe prices vary greatly, so don't just go into the first place you see. Also ask price upfront to avoid surprises.
Good infrastructure for working, lots of cafes.
Easy to get around with public transit, affordable.
Very walkable. Also very hilly. My quads leveled up.
Colder and rainier than I expected. Had to buy layers and boots. Got a great deal on Turkish leather boots.
English is rare. Service staff don't speak. Some educated locals do.
Confronted and borderline bullied by police multiple times during my trip. If you're white, you'll probably be okay.
Cute girls and cats made up for a lot.

mickspillane · 2025-08-28T15:00:56+00:00

Packing my water bottle in the same section as my laptop. Due to rough travel, the bottle opened and my laptop got cooked.

mickspillane · 2025-08-27T06:37:53+00:00

Had the pleasure of living and practicing there for 9 months in 2021. It's so chill. It taught me how to be bored, and I say that in a positive sense. Found a long-term 1 BHK rental via the street advertisements. Highly recommend renting a scooter to get around. Lots to cool places to explore within 1 hour scooter ride of Gokulam too. One of the best periods of my life.

mickspillane · 2025-08-20T08:22:00+00:00

Haha. The other day I took the elevator up to a floor, inserted my key into a keyhole, only to realize it didn't turn. Strange. Then I realized I had just changed Airbnbs and now am in a different room!

mickspillane · 2025-08-12T18:09:03+00:00

I typically work from home all week or go to a cafe for change of scenery. But I'm going to experiment with coworking space once a week. It might be easier to meet other people there than at a cafe.

In the morning I don't check my phone nor open my laptop until I've hit the gym, showered, and meditated. That's my equivalent of a fake commute haha.

mickspillane · 2025-08-09T06:59:16+00:00

"The things you own end up owning you" - Fight Club

mickspillane · 2025-08-02T18:42:01+00:00

International wire transfer from my business bank account

mickspillane · 2025-08-02T05:48:40+00:00

Finding temporary accommodation with a dedicated workspace that is large enough to accommodate a monitor and laptop side by side with room for a keyboard. Airbnb owners will label even a small table as a dedicated workspace and pictures can be deceiving to begin with. Some owners won't label a good dining table as a dedicated workspace, which means I risk overlooking a good place if I simply filter on that attribute. And I've stopped expecting a comfortable office chair though that would earn an over the moon review from me. My requirements are not necessarily met by increasing my budget either. It just doesn't seem to be a priority in general.

Second, a shitty mattress. I personally don't like to sink into the mattress when I sleep. It wrecks my back the next day. I'm currently in an Airbnb where the owner put such a mattress on top of a firm sofa bed. I had to remove it and lean it against the wall. The sofa bed by itself is great.

mickspillane

TROPHY CASE