I went like 6 or 7 years ago. Basically no knowledge of Japanese. I used Google translate quite a bit. And yeah it was hit or miss, but generally worked well enough. Is there a better translater?

Besides that, you’ll encounter English a fair bit. Store names, brand names, signage, menus. Not the norn, but not uncommon. And plenty of information out there in English of how to get around.

Relative to other countries where both the spoken language and writing are foreign to me, my subjective opinion I found it easier. Not easy, easier.

Edit: oh and similarly not uncommon to encounter people who speak at least a little English.

First one that’s choked me up too.

Maybe because of how notable his absence is? Seeing rather than reading/hearing.

Answering on the idea of port forwarding. Though like others have said, tailscale or similar is a better option.

Opening an ssh port would allow file transfer. You could also so remote desktop with port forwarding over ssh and vnc (or some other more modern protocol, haven’t futzed with anything like that in a long time).

Probably doesn’t need saying but make sure your system is up to date. Also using a nonstandard port and using key based authentication and disallowing password authentication and good security measures. If the device you’re connecting from isn’t something you’re bringing with you, you’d also need a copy of your private key.

I’ve got ethernet running through the house, without running it through the walls. I’ve used cord covers but it’s still a bit tacky looking, TBH.

It’s totally feisable to do runs through the walls via the attic (my house is a single story on a concrete slab) but I don’t want to do that particular job. Might pay someone to do it some day, but it’s pretty low on list of things to throw money at.

Some stuff I didn’t see in reading responses.

• Learn some “handy” skills. Create, build, repair. Stuff breaks all the time (and is probably only going to get worse), and as an adult you may be the one responsible to resolve that. It’s satisfying to do, saves money, makes you more independent, and might even open additional employment avenues.
• Do travel. Pick places with cultures you aren’t familiar with. While some high costs may be unavoidable (plane tickets, for example) travel can generally be done fairly cheaply. It’s an amazing experience and I think can give you some valuable perspectives on life.
• Be reliable. Having a reputation of someone who does what they say they will may open doors.

Something I did see but wanted to say as well anyway:

Don’t try so hard figuring your life out that you forget to live your life. Find balance.

Not that some of the “they’re simply*” options are entirely incorrect for me, But nerd and/or geek is definitely a more apt descriptor.

Had a similar comment in mind. The cost for a coach seat on a train to the nearest destination city that there’s actually a route to costs about 3x as much as a round trip flight (budget airline) and takes over 24 hours. I would prefer rail were it practical, but it’s not.

No secret that our rail systems suck though. I have taken trains in Europe and Japan, and those experiences were great!

Seconding cowfodder’s comment, if you can manage to tolerate the Rose family at the beginning of Schitt’s Creek, seeing the character growth is so very worth it, in my opinion. YMMV of course, but I’d encourage giving it another shot.

Ted Lasso also has some great character redemption arcs. Though in this case the main character (Ted) is immediately likeable, which I think makes for an easier start in comparison. And in case “immediately likeable” infers thoughts of him being a simple or shallow charter, he is not.

OpenBSD on an old office PC I picked up from University surplus.

You don’t need an NVR. The camera supports a microSD card to store footage. It also supports FTP upload.

HomeAssistant isn’t required. It is supported and I do have it configured.

I have next to no recollection of how UniFi works so I can’t speak to that. Mine is connected to a 2.4GHz WiFi network. IIRC that’s all it supports. Might be different with newer models.

It also supports HTTP(S)/RTMP/RTSP/ONVIF streaming. Though I tend to just use the app (and I’m particular about installing apps) as I find it quite usable.

I bought a Ubiquity router once because a friend was raving about it. It crapped out on me after maybe 6 months? Will never buy their hardware again.

I’m using a Reolink doorbell camera and am happy with it so far. Had it for about two years.

I’m accustomed to the imperial system. But agree that metric is better.

Some metric stuff I have no trouble with. I have a good spatial sense of the distance of a mm, m, and km. And can do a rough miles to km (and vice versa) conversion in my head. I have a good sense of how much a kg is and similarly can do a rough conversion to and from lbs in my head. But while I understand that a gram is 1/1000 of a kg, if handed a small object and asked to guess how many grams it is, I’d fail miserably.

Celsius I can’t ever remember the conversion, but I’ve had enough exposure to it that I understand if it means cold/cool/warm/hot weather.

Long time and still current hater of all things Apple here.

I have to use a locked down enterprise managed Windows 11 laptop for work. If given the choice of that or a locked down enterprise managed Mac, I’d switch in a heartbeat.

I have a PC that I use as a router. It’s power setup is inverter > lifepo4 battery > battery charger. Relevance here is that it’s a “dumb” setup insofar as the PC can’t manage the battery.

What I did to help with battery health is figured out how long the battery should run the PC and have a scheduled disconnect of the mains power for about half that time once a day. Not as good a solution as something that can maintain a ~80% charge, but better than leaving it at 100%

It’d work for an old laptop too, and can be accomplished with a cheap aquarium light timer.

Yeah, I realized how it was problematic pretty quickly after posting.

Mostly I agree. I have no kids and won’t (vasectomy), and I’m a bit on the antinatalist side. Not so far in that I think people should never have kids. But reproducing at the rate we do is unsustainable and thus unethical. So there’s a bias there.

I do think maternity and paternity leave should be given. And some grace should be allowed for small things. Like having to come in a little late or leave a little early for having to pick up/drop off kids, that kind of thing. To a point. If it’s causing more than a minor burden to coworkers, then that’s a problem.

But getting preference in scheduling, time off, etc? I don’t agree with that. I shouldn’t get the short end of the stick because they have a kid.

Edit: In reading some of the other comments, I saw a common sentiment which I’ll sum up as “don’t blame the parent, blame the system” which I can agree with.

I also had a “chose to breed” line in my last paragraph. I softened the language there, because it’s not always a choice.

I got a chuckle out of “swap boil”

I know some folks in the SCA. Which I had no idea stood for “Society of Creative Anachronism” until just now. It’s a bit too much for me, but I’m glad they exist.

There’s one in my neck of the woods too. And I’ve gone before. Been a while though, didn’t even occur to me as an option. Thanks for reminding me!

Are there any you’ve gone to in the Midwest that you thought were particularly exceptional?

Thanks for all the recommends!

California Extreme looks cool! I live not too far from a retro barcade and it scratches this itch a little. I bet I’d enjoy this. I’ll keep an eye on it.

I do like board games and tabletop RPG’s. Not sure if I do enough to travel out to one of those but it made me think there are probably some in my neck of the woods I could check out, and indeed there are. So, still helpful!

I think I would love DEF CON. But the price of admission is pretty steep. But that helped me remember a friend telling me about SAINTCON. Also a Cybersecurity convention, in Provo Utah. Not cheap, but about half the cost of DEF CON. Provo is most certainly not Vegas. But I don’t need it to be. I can go to Vegas pretty much anytime. Was just there this past weekend, in fact.