Living (full time) in a Yurt. Have you done it? Should we?

stuboo — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:17:00 -0800

How can I convince my wife that living in a Yurt would be fun while I'm in medical school? We're on the verge of selling a house and would clear enough to purchase a yurt. We'd still have to finance a piece of land to put it on, but that's entirely possible.

Other than spending a couple of nights in a yurt, what points are important to emphasize when trying to convince my wife that living in a yurt for a few years would be both adventuresome and cost effective?

She's a fantastic woman and, above all else, I want her to be happy with where we end up - but I know her well enough to know that not making a mortgage or rent payment every month would make her very, very happy.

We have no kids, 2 dogs, and will be moving to the Blacksburg, VA area.

Choosing the best path

AvailableName — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:14:15 -0800

Please help me decide between staying at my current comfortable job, changing jobs and continuing my education, or going an alternative route to live a simple life. Abstract
I work at a medium-sized manufacturer in Canada as the sole IT person. I am competent at what I do, appreciated by coworkers and am paid pretty well. I commute 45 minutes from a small town to the city everyday. I have become comfortable with the income that I make and my family is supported solely by it.

However, I increasingly find my work uninteresting and it is becoming more demanding. I do not wish to continue learning skills for and performing work that does not interest me and that I do not love. I have realized I went to school for the wrong thing (I went to college (i.e. not University) for business application programming). I find myself interested in Computer Science and have found a distance-ed University that explicitly gives credit for the program I took at college. Also, I applied for a Business Systems Analyst job recently and they are interesting in hiring me.

Problem
Before I take the plunge into more school debt, or accept a job I'm not sure of, I need to know for sure that this is the path I want to take. A lot of the dissatisfaction with my current job is from all the business bullshit that I experience. I find the consumerist, throw-away, quick-fix society that I live in repulsive and am ashamed that I participate in it.

I am not, however, willing to walk away Henry David Thoreau-style. I have a wife and child that depend on the income I bring in (she is on maternity leave and most of her income goes to her school debt). My wife is very supportive of me in my quest to find fulfilling work, but I won't drag her and our little girl up north or something along those lines.

I'm afraid that if I go through for a degree in CompSci, that I'll just end up in the same situation - working to help some business make more profit. All I want to do is make a decent living in my small town working on something I admire and that helps people.

I am an introverted (Myers-Brigg INTP), thinking, humourous jack-of-all trades. I play guitar, am learning the violin, can come up with hundreds of one-liners in day, hate when things get too serious, and love coming up with novel ideas. What do you suggest someone like me do? Has anyone experienced a situation like this that can offer some advice? I'm throwing my problem out there to you, beautiful reader, as part of my quest. Thank you.

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Living (full time) in a Yurt. Have you done it? Should we?

Choosing the best path