Mandaris Moore

Today, the whole family went running.

I went for a run today by myself.

I haven't had any exercise in a while and it was great to get out of my head and hit the dusty trail... which actually isn't dusty because it's paved. Although I do enjoy the benefits of running, I don't really enjoy it. I don't get a thrill of having the wind in my hair or seeing the scenery change as I speed along the paths and trails.

Maybe I'm not going that fast.

Tomorrow, I plan on going to my first yoga class at a local studio and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a new way of caring for myself and I have to make that a priority.

Speaking of making myself a priority

I've typed up a new list of affirmations for myself, but I'm honestly afraid to put them in a place that I can see them every day. I've played with the idea of making a script to pop them up when I first log into my computer in the morning, but that time usually changes depending on what I'm doing that day. I've also thought about putting them up in the bathroom, but I'm embarrassed about how I would explain that to my children and afraid that my wife might say something about that.

I looked at that last sentence and thought, 'Hey, I can't live that way. If I'm going to make myself a better person, I need to do this for me.'

So, I guess I'll be printing them up now.

Tonight, I wrote a review for MONOPOLY Hotels, because I was wanted to rant against what I see as a societal evil. Here it is below.

It's hard for me to understand why some many other people like this game so much. Haven't we all learned the lessons of freemium?

The game starts off free, but in the end it become a very long grind where the only way to make some kind of progress is to pay money for "gold". There is no way that you hard work can balance against that kind of thing and if you spent that much time doing it, just think about what you could have been doing with that time and energy…

Here's a hint: Maybe make your own

Oooo! Harsh, I know. You can actually see society changing as you read every character, but I think the ending is the most important. I would like to see a game that was fun and rewarded players for the hard work that they do but still let those who want to "win" do so. I think I'll spend the next couple of days working on some prototypes to see how much work it would take to make something like this come to life.

Fitness

Today was my first time in the gym all year... and maybe all of last year too and I have to say that it was great. I went to innovative fitness and conditioning and it almost seemed like I was having my own personal trainer... that I shared... with 6 people. BUT I don't think I could have done all the exercises on my own.

Definitely, not at this point in my life. I've grown sedentary but going to the gym has really made me want to pursue a more healthier me.

But that could be the exhaustion talking.

Still, my wife says that I seem really happy after doing it.

Today, I got a phone call for a job interview on Thursday.

Yay!

It's certainly better to have something going for me in that regard, I've been having trouble focusing on what my next step in life is going to be and was in danger of just freezing up. I feel that even if I don't get a job the fact that I'm going to have an interview makes me feel confident to go out and put my résumé in all kinds of places that I didn't think to put them before.

Going back to the point about a finding a new job, the position actually sounds like my old position at Unify and I'm hoping to do it again in a company that isn't going to treat me and the customers like resources that should be exploited until they are squeezed to death. I think the one thing that I look forward to this that I would be helping people with their problems which something that I truly enjoy. One thing that I want to look at is learning more of the back end when it comes to these kinds of systems. The last time, I relied on development to work out the details on connecting the front end to the different databases, which was the wrong decision.

Working out

One thing that I've been thinking about for the last couple of days is how I'd start working out. Currently, most of my time is spent working or driving my daughters to various activities. But life is better when I work out, I wonder if I should just wake up earlier.