Week-In-Review: June 19th, 2010

Summer seems to be here with temperatures constantly in the 80's and plenty of sunshine. The transition to summer was pretty damn gradual since some of April and most of May were also in the seventies and eighties. Still, I am not complaining: it has been a blast so far. Here is my week-in-review:

Work: I have been steady and consistent at work, which is enough for me. I am on a steady pace to get several projects done on time and I am learning a little more ASP.NET every day. Almost two years into my job I am still enjoying it greatly.

Games: 2010 has been a busy year for games and this month has been especially busy. Last week came across another new game, Puzzle Quest, and immediately became addicted. I downloaded it for free on my iPod touch to try it out and less than a week later I had purchased it on Steam and installed it on every computer I own. If you have not played it yet it comes highly-recommended.

Yola: I began Yola almost two months ago, and it has been evolving quite well since then. I spent a good portion of this week finalizing the feature-set of Yola, so I find it worthwhile to post an update on the project. My personal take on the social networking idea is almost ready for an alpha-phase of testing. Right now it has the following basic features:

• a profile page
  
• a status updater (similar to Twitter)
• browse members / add members (see all Yola members and add/remove friends)
  
• image uploader (max of 50 images at a time per profile)
• image gallery (for friends to view your images)
• profile manager (for editing your basic profile and privacy settings)

Yola is more Twitter than Facebook at the moment, and that is exactly where I want it to be. I am ultimately looking for a basic networking tool that allows me to post status updates and host a few select images online, all the while allowing me to control how each piece of information is shared with the world. I hope to have this online by the end of 2010 for my own private use and in early 2011 have it open for others to use as well.

Outside: Despite being so busy inside with games and programming, I have found plenty of time to be outside to enjoy the weather. I have a rock-solid routine of going for a daily jog or walk during the work week. On the weekends I spend a good portion of my free time on the road with friends or family while making sure to get Elli to the park both Saturday and Sunday. This constant activity has a major bonus side-effect: I am slowly but surely losing a little weight here and there, now down eight pounds from where I was in March. I am not actively trying to lose weight, I am just trying to be smart in striking a balance between what I eat and how active I am. This is not a diet, this is a lifestyle change. As much as I hate that little buzz-line, it pretty much rings true for me right now. This past week was notable because of the following...

Canoe Trip: I went back to this summer's hot-spot, Mongo, Indiana, for canoeing via Trading Post Canoe, Kayak and Campgrounds. The 13-mile trip that we (Colleen, Kristin and Laura) did yesterday was quite fun. This was my second time canoeing there this year, and this trip was far less hectic than the first - dodging debris and bends in the river can be quite a workout for the mind and body. Despite some awkward sunburns on my legs, I had a blast, and I believe everybody else did as well. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone who might be interested. Here's the website for more information.

And with that, I am off to walk Elli!

B3 out.