Useful things to do/learn in the hotel on overnights - looking for ideas

[schmookeeg]

Oh, one specific question for some of you IT type guys out there - I often see people saying "I just wrote a little script to do ...". And they mention Python or another language. And the way they apply these skills to pull together information seems useful. How hard is this stuff to learn? What would be the most useful language to perform simple tasks with? I do have some programming/coding background, nothing real recent but this is something I might be interested in.

ChatGPT or Claude -- will write anything for you that usually one-shots in python or bash. Then you can ask them to explain what they did to you and close the learning loop for you

 

[Dana]

Oh, one specific question for some of you IT type guys out there - I often see people saying "I just wrote a little script to do ...". And they mention Python or another language. And the way they apply these skills to pull together information seems useful. How hard is this stuff to learn? What would be the most useful language to perform simple tasks with? I do have some programming/coding background, nothing real recent but this is something I might be interested in.

I'm not an "IT type guy", but I wrote a lot of "little scripts" using AutoIt, which is easy to learn and can do anything from simple scripts automating routing Windows tasks (like automating a login form entry) to full blown complex programs (like one I use analyze and display aircraft performance information from GPS track data). It is for Windows only, however.

 

[Pugs]

I am certainly not the first person looking to fill his time on an overnight. I am looking forward to any of your experiences and suggestions.

Friend of mine did mostly international with UAL and he took up urban geocaching. Took him all over cities and he saw things and visited restaurants he never would have found otherwise.

 

[CJones]

ChatGPT or Claude -- will write anything for you that usually one-shots in python or bash. Then you can ask them to explain what they did to you and close the learning loop for you

This. ^^

I took C/C++ in college. Did .NET at an internship. Did PHP for 'fun'. Did enterprise Java at work for a while. Do some platform-specific scripting lately.

I use Python for tinkering at home and I've used ChatGPT/Gemini (I need to check out Claude) to get the code 80%+ of the way there and then I tweak/tinker to get it the rest of the way. Python is quick to pick up and is really powerful for what it is.

 

[Bill]

My new son in law recently introduced me to disc golf, and I like it. Combines a nice walk/hike with a fun game, and the equipment is minimal. A starter pack of three discs is ~$20, and maybe buy a small backpack to carry them in. I've found disc golf courses within 10-20min drive from most hotels I've stayed at, so if you get in a little early and have some daylight, it's a fun way to get out.

 

[TCABM]

ChatGPT or Claude -- will write anything for you that usually one-shots in python or bash. Then you can ask them to explain what they did to you and close the learning loop for you

I hear they call this vibe coding. I was never so embarrassed for someone as I was when they were describing their professional development this way in a roundtable with a few hundred people non-IT people looking to get into software development in the audience.

 

[Bob Noel]

a different thought: remote tutoring/mentoring of local school kids. If your downtime schedule is predictable enough, it might be easy enough to set up times.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

- Years ago, I learned some Arduino programming and designed a few things. That was fun, and I might like to start doing that again, but I don't think it would really translate well to hotel room learning since I don't want to have to carry anything with me.

There are Arduino simulators, so you should be able to make something virtually without carrying anything with you, and then actually build it when you get home.

This also brings to mind CAD and 3D printing. Learn and use CAD on the road, design things, turn them into real things when you get home. Bonus is that if you have a really long print you can just start it before you leave and it'll be done when you get back - My longest print was a moon lamp that is both true to the moon's terrain on the outside as well as its shading, which is done by using higher thicknesses for darker spots. Started it and left for Disney World for a week, came back to a completed thing. Well, I had to add the bulb to the middle but other than that...

TinkerCAD is an easy way to start, and also has some electronics, physics, and code pieces to "play" with as you get started. Fusion is also owned by Autodesk and it's possible to transition your creations from TinkerCAD up to Fusion when you're ready.

When I was flying Stearmans, one of the guys had some kind of a “travel” guitar that fit in his big duffle bag.

Harmonicas are good, too…especially if you have them in your carry-on going through security.

Just what every traveler wants, the guy in the next room learning to play the harmonica.

Well, if you want play the harmonica in your hotel room, just take a pocket trumpet with you too. When they complain, switch to the harmonica and they'll be happy.

Have you never seen the movie The Right Stuff?

Yes, it's one of my favorites... But I don't remember anything about hotels.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Doomscrolling?

 

[Half Fast]

- Model building (planes, ships, cars, whatever)
- Play or learn to play a portable keyboard (can use headphones)
- Origami
- Drawing, sketching, watercolor painting
- Puzzles
- Online poker or chess
- Target shooting with air pistol (a loose hung blanket works as a backstop)
- Handloading
- Bible study (Gideon bible available in most hotel rooms)
- Learn lock picking
- Memorize the FAR/AIM and amaze everyone on POA
- Invent email scams targeting Nigerian princes
- Start a business importing mail-order brides for lonely nerds
- Start and maintain a list of hobbies for bored travelers stuck in hotel rooms

 

[MauleSkinner]

- Target shooting with air pistol (a loose hung blanket works as a backstop)

Works well for slingshots, too.

 

[schmookeeg]

I hear they call this vibe coding. I was never so embarrassed for someone as I was when they were describing their professional development this way in a roundtable with a few hundred people non-IT people looking to get into software development in the audience.

They do. My favorite quotation about it (as a 30 year coder) is:

90% of my skills are now worth $0
The remaining 10% are worth 1000x what they used to be.

Basically what divides vibe coders now is "taste" and knowing how to navigate rather complicated footguns. And honestly I think the 90%/10% will soon become 95/5 then 99/1 then I'll be asking you if you want whipped cream on that mocha.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Hey wait!
Don't you run like a really successful aviation podcast?

Seems like there would be a ton to do.

 

[texasclouds]

A lot of pilots pickup a second family. That would keep you plenty busy.

 

[mark.staggs]

They do. My favorite quotation about it (as a 30 year coder) is:

90% of my skills are now worth $0
The remaining 10% are worth 1000x what they used to be.

Basically what divides vibe coders now is "taste" and knowing how to navigate rather complicated footguns. And honestly I think the 90%/10% will soon become 95/5 then 99/1 then I'll be asking you if you want whipped cream on that mocha.

You're only a little older than me I think, and you're 100% accurate from where I am as well. It makes me kinda sad.

If anyone wants to learn, I concur with farming it out to Claude (my favorite for coding) to do then explain it back to you. You _can_ learn that way combined with some traditional approaches to get basics. It's still fun as a hobby, but I don't advise doing it as a profession now, though.

 

[asicer]

They do. My favorite quotation about it (as a 30 year coder) is:

90% of my skills are now worth $0
The remaining 10% are worth 1000x what they used to be.

Basically what divides vibe coders now is "taste" and knowing how to navigate rather complicated footguns. And honestly I think the 90%/10% will soon become 95/5 then 99/1 then I'll be asking you if you want whipped cream on that mocha.

So what are folks asking on technical interviews these days?

 

[Albany Tom]

So what are folks asking on technical interviews these days?

For network and security stuff, we bring them in and give them a marker and a whiteboard. In those spaces there are still lots of questions, and in particular questions about how they'd lay something out and what concerns they'd have with a particular design. We always used to want to bring them in to get a better judge on how they'd fit with the team, but these days it's not a bad idea to have them in person to make sure they really know what they're talking about. Traveling to an interview is way cheaper than hiring a bad employee.

 

[RussR]

Fun list. A few comments:

- Online ... chess

Man, I wish I liked Chess, because that would be perfect. But the truth is I just can't stand it. Given my background and personality and other interests, it seems like it's something I should like and be good at, but I just don't have the patience or motivation. I mean I know the moves and my dad and brother like it, but man, I just can't get into playing. So is it weird that I wish I liked something, but just don't have any interest in actually liking it?

- Learn lock picking

That actually does very much fascinate me, and is a possibility. Not sure if you were intending it as a joke, but watching the Lockpicking Lawyer videos on youtube I am very interested. But of course I'd probably then get in trouble for picking the locks to the hotel roof and such.

- Memorize the FAR/AIM and amaze everyone on POA

Already done. On both counts.

- Start and maintain a list of hobbies for bored travelers stuck in hotel rooms

Dang you're onto my plan.

Hey wait!
Don't you run like a really successful aviation podcast?

Seems like there would be a ton to do.

I've been on several, but "run"? No.

 

[RussR]

Doomscrolling?

I've heard the term described as slang for basically the neverending scrolling through articles/posts/videos on your phone. Where you get stuck in a loop because the next article/post/video is just interesting enough to keep your interest, and then an hour or two later you realize you've been staring at your phone for an hour or two and have done nothing useful with your life (hence the feeling of doom).

 

[Albany Tom]

That actually does very much fascinate me, and is a possibility. Not sure if you were intending it as a joke, but watching the Lockpicking Lawyer videos on youtube I am very interested. But of course I'd probably then get in trouble for picking the locks to the hotel roof and such.

I don't know if he was kidding, but I think it's a great idea, assuming you can get the picks through security. I bought a set years ago when I was in Florida, got a book and played around a bit. LPL is great, and I think he may have a storefront with practice locks and tools. Don't know what the issues may be of having the tools w/o the intent in every state. Logically it would seem fine as a hobby, but logic doesn't always carry into the real world. Spoiler alert, the $40 kwickset entry locks from the big box stores are really easy, or at least they used to be.

 

[Ventucky Red]

Can you speak a foreign language?

 

[Daleandee]

Ventriloquism ...

 

[schmookeeg]

So what are folks asking on technical interviews these days?

I actually ask what AI tools they use. There is an incredible variety and breadth of skills between "I load chatgpt.com and talk at it like i am texting a friend" vs "I use claude and MCP servers/skills that do x/y/z and I structure my workflow via a markdown file like so..." (or i setup my agent.md file this way, or I enforce these restrictions, or or or...)

The conversation can get really interesting if I make them do it and show me, then ask them about (whatever hallucination) was generated, or add a feature/complication and ask them to query the LLM and comment on the proposed solution.

It's sorta fun. It's also sorta sad that a basically open-ended "let's go exploring!" interview with no real wrong answers can still be failed. I have people who clearly were typing my questions into some chat on a different screen and posing the answers as their own -- watching their eyeballs go to the same corner after I ask a question is depressing. I have others who just give up early when I ask pretty straightforward "so how would you..." questions. "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer. So is "I've never thought about it, here's how I would research it"

 

[asicer]

It's sorta fun.

Certainly a lot more so than ye olde "reverse a string without allocating memory", I think.

 

[Ed Haywood]

I actually ask what AI tools they use. There is an incredible variety and breadth of skills between "I load chatgpt.com and talk at it like i am texting a friend" vs "I use claude and MCP servers/skills that do x/y/z and I structure my workflow via a markdown file like so..." (or i setup my agent.md file this way, or I enforce these restrictions, or or or...)

The conversation can get really interesting if I make them do it and show me, then ask them about (whatever hallucination) was generated, or add a feature/complication and ask them to query the LLM and comment on the proposed solution.

It's sorta fun. It's also sorta sad that a basically open-ended "let's go exploring!" interview with no real wrong answers can still be failed. I have people who clearly were typing my questions into some chat on a different screen and posing the answers as their own -- watching their eyeballs go to the same corner after I ask a question is depressing. I have others who just give up early when I ask pretty straightforward "so how would you..." questions. "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer. So is "I've never thought about it, here's how I would research it"

Are AI tools a part of IDEs yet?

 

[Initial Fix]

Back when I traveled a lot with work I found dinner every night with the same folks I just spent all day with a bit tiring. Typically after a few days, we would all do solo thing's. I liked to find local tourist things to do. Museums, parks and other historic sites were fun.

 

[schmookeeg]

Are AI tools a part of IDEs yet?

Have been for awhile. Mostly plugins for VSCode (Copilot being the one "pushed" on folks, but there are a buuuuuunch of others) but also the editor Zed is pretty much designed for it. Zed's pretty cool and worth a peek.

I'm still a dino who uses CLI in terminal, although I am trying the Claude Cowork thing they just released next week.

I haven't gotten myself weaned off of VSCode yet. But if MS gets pushier with copilot, I'll hop. So far my settings are keeping it away

 

[asicer]

People still do that? esmfold and foldseek, bro

Says the guy who owns and flies a piston single taildragger in the jet age.

 

[Half Fast]

Do you fly fish? A portable fly tying kit would be easy to carry along.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

I spend plenty of time in hotels but I'm of no use to you. I just work all evening while the office is closed and nobody can bother me. Half the time I'm not traveling with anyone so I'm not beholden to them for dinner or any schedule. Off to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

 

[Albany Tom]

I'm following along on this, too. Not so much for hotel stays, but those times when I'm stuck someplace with just a computer and am not on the work clock.

One thing since you mentioned, I think, maybe learning or improving a foreign language - just watching TV in that language. I seem to remember seeing people that said they learned English mostly by watching game shows.

 

[mark.staggs]

There are quite a few "fancy schmancy" university programs that put out videos free online. I haven't looked in a while, but I think MIT and some of the Ivy League schools had so much content online you could educate yourself in a LOT of topics.

 

[mark.staggs]

I actually ask what AI tools they use. There is an incredible variety and breadth of skills between "I load chatgpt.com and talk at it like i am texting a friend" vs "I use claude and MCP servers/skills that do x/y/z and I structure my workflow via a markdown file like so..." (or i setup my agent.md file this way, or I enforce these restrictions, or or or...)

The conversation can get really interesting if I make them do it and show me, then ask them about (whatever hallucination) was generated, or add a feature/complication and ask them to query the LLM and comment on the proposed solution.

It's sorta fun. It's also sorta sad that a basically open-ended "let's go exploring!" interview with no real wrong answers can still be failed. I have people who clearly were typing my questions into some chat on a different screen and posing the answers as their own -- watching their eyeballs go to the same corner after I ask a question is depressing. I have others who just give up early when I ask pretty straightforward "so how would you..." questions. "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer. So is "I've never thought about it, here's how I would research it"

Our team has been on the downward slope for the last year or so, so 2025 may be the first year in a long time that I haven't had to do multiple interviews. I had yet to consider how we'd need to change our interview process for AI tools, and I like your approach. We did a little of this style of free-form approach before but without AI tools

And, yeah, we've had more than a few of those eyeballs go to another screen while we're asking a question. We end interviews abruptly when that happens. In one such case we could see the chat window the candidate was using to communicate to his buddy. <sigh>

 

[Half Fast]

There are quite a few "fancy schmancy" university programs that put out videos free online. I haven't looked in a while, but I think MIT and some of the Ivy League schools had so much content online you could educate yourself in a LOT of topics.

When I was still working, the company paid for a subscription to The Great Courses for me. Tons of content.

 

[MauleSkinner]

One thing since you mentioned, I think, maybe learning or improving a foreign language - just watching TV in that language. I seem to remember seeing people that said they learned English mostly by watching game shows.

I think @RussR already has a pretty good command of English…it would probably get worse if he tried to learn from tv.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

I have no desire to do anything that could be considered a "job"

Sure. Shoot down my freelance CAD suggestion before I even make it.

Some people.

 

[wellknow]

Anybody subscribe to Master Class?

 

[Half Fast]

Looks like none of us have hit on the right suggestion yet.

So, @RussR , do you like gladiator movies?

 

[Racerx]

Hot yoga.

 

[Daleandee]

Learn to play the accordion ...