Making Some Changes

So, it’s been a while… again.

Like everyone else, my life got strange ( and a bit smaller ) this year. I was pretty lucky; my job is programming, so the move to working from home was pretty smooth. It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while now, actually. Yes, I know it’s not “really” working from home because I’m actually stuck at home. I can’t go out an work from the library or a coffee shop or meet co-workers for lunch.

I think my company is one of those ones that managed the switch pretty well, looking back. Me and the rest of the leads put in the work to make sure the boss knew that things were still getting done – nobody was playing video games or watching movies instead of working. I’m definitely glad for this, because it’s a direction I wanted to move for a while now. Having this job transition to working from home means I didn’t have to worry about taking a gamble with asking to work from home or having to find a new job in a year or two.

Work isn’t the only thing that’s changed, though. I sold my condo apartment and I’m buying a townhouse with my girlfriend! It’s a huge step for us. It was definitely driven by the need to have an actual office I could use to work in. The apartment had a dark corner that was fine for playing games or working on Arduino projects, but was not conducive to actually getting shit done. The townhouse isn’t ready for a few more months so we’re in a two-bedroom rental, and actually having an office has been amazing. I can’t wait until we’re in the townhouse so I can build an awesome desk to work at.

Speaking of things that have to wait until I’m in the townhouse, I’ve got a whole list of projects I’ll finally be able to start on now that I’ll not only have an office, but also a whole freaking garage! There’s stuff like setting up a homelab and some sweet home automation stuff, but I’m also finally going to get to work on stuff I’ve never had the room for; stuff like buying and fixing up an old motorcycle, or building an arcade cabinet.

Made some other changes at the start of the year, too. The girlfriend and I have been meaning to get a bit more in shape, and quarantining at home definitely didn’t help. So we’ve signed up for a calorie counting app and are tracking what we eat. We’re not worrying too much about what we eat besides trying to cut down more on fast food ( not that we were eating a ton before ), we’re more focused on making sure we’ve got our portions under control. I’ve already lost like 10 pounds since the start of the year, so that’s awesome.

I also bought and have been using Ring Fit Adventure to try and get more in shape. It’s pretty fun and I’m definitely going to try and make a habit of using it.

And habit is kind of what I’ve been trying to get to. I realize that one of the big obstacles for me when it comes to trying to do something, whether it’s losing weight, working on a code project, or even just writing in this blog it feels like I build up a big goal in my mind. That goal ends up feeling un-obtainable so I never start ( or start and quickly move on to something else ).

So starting today, I’m going to be using habit tracking to try and do build some habits. Stuff like writing, working on a video game project I’ve got going, or even just taking my medication. Trying not to think about goals and focusing on habits is something I think will work well for me.

Oh, one last thing before I go: I don’t know if I’m just getting old or if it’s the laptop I’m writing this post on, but the theme for this site definitely needs tweaking. If I can figure out how the theme works, maybe I’ll update that in the next little while too.