Welcome to yet another Friday edition of the DaedTech Digest. This thing where I write about the digital nomad life is gaining some traction, both in positive feedback and in post views. So let’s keep at it. I’m building a backlog of questions to answer, so fire away with those via email/social media/whatever.
Today’s question: how does this all work with your pets?
The short answer is “not ideally, but we manage.” Amanda and I have two cats, and we haul them around with us on our adventures. We travel pretty lightly, so about 2/3rds of the cargo space in the Jeep is dedicated to cats as we travel. Our luggage (including my computers) takes up the rest and then also occupies the roof rack cargo carrier.
From there, it’s really just a matter of filtering AirBNBs/VRBOs that allow cats and then confirming with the owner ahead of time. (Protip: write them to make sure they specifically allow cats or dogs. These sites, for whatever reason, just have a single “pets” filter. Some owners might allow cats but not dogs or vice-versa, and you wouldn’t know without asking. We’ve been burned by this here and there, including last week for a place in Napa where they canceled on us for having cats, rather than dogs.)
Is this a great arrangement for the cats?
I honestly don’t know, but they seem content. They’ve gotten pretty used to long haul travel. Both of them are fine in the car, as well as everywhere we stop.
It sometimes takes them a day or two to settle into a routine. But I think, on the flip side, that they appreciate the extreme variety in birds just outside of the window. This supplies them with plenty to get really worked up about. Here in San Diego, there are wild parrots everywhere, including often right outside of our bedroom window, and the cats get really excited about them, batting and making clicking noises at the screen.
This is a picture of one of our cats, Butters, calling a meeting to order just as we arrived in San Diego from Phoenix. We were tired from 5 hours on the road, but Butters, a consummate business cat, was ready to settle in that very night and start conducting one-on-ones.
Come on in and have a seat, please.
What about vagabonding with the cats when you fly?
Amanda and I have wandered pretty extensively around the US by car. But we haven’t yet done an overseas stint where we brought the cats. At the top of our list for next winter, though, are Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Thailand, so stay tuned. We may well have a follow-up post in 6 months where I describe sneaking a cat past TSA in the back pocket of my jeans.
Picks
- A couple of weeks ago, a contributor to a Taiwanese tech blog translated my post about getting a programming job without a degree into Chinese. You can check that out here.
- I’m also going to pick the Freelancers Show on DevChat.TV. I was the guest in the latest show and I have since started as a panelist (regular) on the podcast. So throw us a subscribe!
- If I’ve never mentioned them before, you should give Toggl a look for any and all time tracking needs that you have. It’s freemium and cheap when it’s not free.
The Digest
- Here’s one for the SessionStack blog, where I talked about the importance of modern techniques in customer support. It’s the first time I’ve ever been published on Medium and I got 169 “claps,” so that seems like it might be good…? It’s more than people usually clap for me in a given day, anyway.
- For the SubMain blog, I answered the pressing question, “is Visual Basic dead?” Spoiler alert: yep.
- On the Gurock blog, I examined some common myths about TDD.
- For the NDepend blog, I wrote a research-based post about the effect of functional-style C# on codebases
- And, finally, for Hit Subscribe, here’s a post about what you, as a techie, should know about SEO.
Have a good weekend!
