I have retired!

[Phil Melore]

Originally Posted by Peter Nachtwey

...

I think a lot of people don't realize that plcs.net started at least as far back as 1999. The old version was red or pink and blue.
2002 is when Phil changed the forum software to what you see today.

Yes we started using vbulletin in 02. Around 99 we used bbmatic forum software and yes pink/blue. Good to see the memory is still there Peter hahaha

The site started in 96 and I believe our first forum was added in 97 on wwwboard and then 2 more programs before settling on vb.

Good luck and I expect we'll see you still popping in... once a tech guy always a tech guy
Enjoy,

[ganutenator]

Originally Posted by Peter Nachtwey

@ganitenator. I will still be around when I have internet.
I never did figure out what a ganutenator is.
Also, haven't you moved a few times over the years?
You have been around a while too.


I think a lot of people don't realize that plcs.net started at least as far back as 1999. The old version was red or pink and blue.
2002 is when Phil changed the forum software to what you see today.

I borrowed the word "ganutenator" from this old salty tech that used to say "Bring me the ganutenator". He used it as watcha-ma-call-it or thing-a-ma-jig.

[Manglemender]

Good luck on your retirement Peter.

I visited Alaska with a rented truck camper a few years back and really loved it but I guess AK isn't to everyone's taste and Northern California sounds good too.

I'm ten years behind you and just looking for my first truck camper.

All the best,

Nick

[Peter Nachtwey]

Originally Posted by Manglemender

Good luck on your retirement Peter.

I visited Alaska with a rented truck camper a few years back and really loved it but I guess AK isn't to everyone's taste and Northern California sounds good too.

I'm ten years behind you and just looking for my first truck camper.

All the best,

Nick

Are there any places in the UK to camp?
Here there are national forests. There are state camp grounds but they pack the camp sites too close together. I would rather be in the sticks. I don't need a developed camp ground.

If I lived in the UK I would consider a narrow boat. There are small canals that go all over the UK.

[parky]

There are places to camp but unfortunately they are camp sites either controlled by a resort and pretty well packed, however, some farmers will allow camping in their grass fields at a small cost but as they are working farms it can be difficult. GB has little land where you can roam freely except national parks owned by the national trust & camping is strictly controlled to camp sites.
The problem with camper vans is the size in general, many roads in the scenic areas are only wide enough for two cars or in some places one car with passing places.
Canals are great, I know of a number of people who have taken an old working Barge & made it into quite a luxury home, great for travelling around England, plenty of pubs to have a drink & meal many on the actual canal side.

[Toine]

Originally Posted by Peter Nachtwey

Are there any places in the UK to camp?
Here there are national forests. There are state camp grounds but they pack the camp sites too close together. I would rather be in the sticks. I don't need a developed camp ground.

If I lived in the UK I would consider a narrow boat. There are small canals that go all over the UK.

Same goes for France, if you like that way of transport. Boats can be quite expensive though, both rented and bought. And don't forget to take European fuel prices into account. A few years ago a friend almost bought a small boat in the south of France, with the intention of spending one summer holiday getting it back home (which was in the north of France at the time). He backed off once he had calculated what the cost of fuel would have been to get the boat across France.



Large parts of Europe are rather densely populated compared to rural north america. Due to the large number of people whatever wild grounds we have left needs protection in order to preserve some of it for future generations. Hence free camping is very much limited. Asking politely and being most respectful when permission is granted will likely get you a place to spend the night e.g. near a farmhouse, even though you may have to ask around a few times at different places before a land owner agrees with you.



For hiking parts of the UK have a long standing tradition of "the right of way", were hikers can legally pass over privately owned land. This tradition is most explicit in Scotland. It is however about passing over land on foot, not in motorized vehicles. And it is not about camping.



Parts of Scandinavia lend themselves well to spending the night somewhere in the wilderness if you'd like to spend some time in Europe that way. In many parts of Scandinavia they also have cabins in the countryside that are free to use for folks traveling the wilderness.

[Manglemender]

@Peter, The best places for getting away from things in the UK are in Scotland and it is quite well suited to truck campers to access the most out of the way places. My office is next to the Leeds to Liverpool canal and my wife’s office is about 10 miles East on the same canal; we joke that we should get kayaks and meet for lunch.

@Parky. A truck camper is not the same as a camper van. People in Europe more often use the term “Demountable”. The camper part sits in the bed of the pickup truck with a bed over the cab. Anywhere the pickup can go then so can the demountable. I recently bought a truck and I’m now looking for a suitable camper but there aren’t many for sale second hand in the UK.

[drbitboy]

Originally Posted by Toine

Parts of Scandinavia lend themselves well to spending the night somewhere in the wilderness if you'd like to spend some time in Europe that way. In many parts of Scandinavia they also have cabins in the countryside that are free to use for folks traveling the wilderness.

We bought a vacation to Sweden and Norway many decades ago that gave us two weeks of camping passes; I don't know if they were universal, but they were valid at every campground we tried. The best part was that every campground had a sauna, even the one where the "campsites" were in a section of a farmer's field with the hay knocked down.

[Bobobodopalus]

The brecons in wales are probably as good as you can get for some wild untouched land in the UK

[Peter Nachtwey]

Originally Posted by alive15

Congrats on retiring, all the best!

What's some lasting advice you can give me, I'm a bloke in mid-20s. Doesn't have to be academic related, just any life advice is good.

Thanks,

Be adaptable. Life can be strange. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would end up where I am today.


There will be opportunities that will come your way and you must be able to recognize them as such.


I got laid off from my job in 1985. I looked at jobs in the aerospace industry in CA. I had a friend that tried to get me to work down there. There was a bounty for finding good engineers. I remember interviewing at Northrup in downtown LA. I think they called this the Hawthorne plant. The person interviewing me was interested voice controls for jet fighters. I told her ( the manager ) it wasn't going to happen. It still hasn't as far as I know. I dodged that bullet. Voice recognition works in many applications today but still not for fighters. Do any of you guys play video games? Would voice controls work?


My second interview was at Northrup Technical Center. This was tempting. I would have access to Cray ( super computer s ). The interviewer was a PhD with long hair and kind of hippie like but he was smart, much smarter than the manager of the voice control project. He had a big office and he sat cross legged on a couch.



If you know you are smarter than the person interviewing you then walk away. You will not be happy. You will be working for the pointy hair boss. ( see Dilbert )



We talked about optimizing problems. One topic that came up was avoiding anti air missiles or how to make them better. This was a good exchange. We also talked about optimizing logs/wood since this is what I had been doing and the interviewer had know idea that is what was being done. In the saw mill industry. I was asked to come back for a second interview but I had already decided to work at Delta. I took about a 25% pay cut but I had faith in what I could do by myself.


Delta Computer Systems was essentially a hobby that paid money at first. It wasn't till about 1988 that we got serious. In 1992 we deposed, bought out, our old president and I took his place. I was different in that I realized that there is much more to building a better mouse trap. The world does not beat a path to your door without marketing. Always be marking. Be marketing yourself. Find ways to market yourself without bragging. For instance there are only two people on this forum that have a clue what I can do but I don't mention it. Write a magazine article about a little know subject. This usually requires a little research.


BTW, I never had a couch in my office and it wasn't as big as the long haired PhD but I do have a nice Lazy Boy recliner in my office.

[JesperMP]

Congratulations for your retirement, and good luck on your adventures.
Your camper looks awesome.
And thanks for all your valuable input in the forum
I hope we shall hear from you in the future.

[iant]

Im still alive and kicking (62 yo)