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adamgdooley · 6 years

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Gamification, Augmented Reality, IoT of ERP is shipping business models

ERP evolution to Shipping business Models using Gamification ,Augumented Reality ,IoT and cloud evolution is Shapping Future of ERP and Technology challenges behind

Business is Changing So is ERP. Digital Transformation then rapid change which using digital dwarfs other Business Models quickly.

Few years back When Harward Organisation behaviour professor Henry Mintzberg wrote a Book Managers Not MBA needed and founded institute of practising managers. As he found increasing disconnect between what is taught and practised.

Today most Research based Learning and curriculum made really specialized to next league is there is not research input into Management thinking hence ERP thinking ERP hence Business Model thinking the business becomes irrelevant.

ERP are moving to next class rather shipping modules or submodules it about shipping your business model with agile technology. Agile I mean is business Agility to adopt to new business models and technology landscape.

Today’s business is all about changing business Model fast So ERP driving This using better pervasiveness into machine to ERP intelligence using IoT and visualisation using Augumented Relality and Data science shows future of your strategy vs my strategy into A Game. A game like two golf player in parallel visualizing using augumented reality and similulation whose business Strategy is better over Golf game.

Increasing as business getting more complex the in every segment new business model will emerge fast. The longitivity of business model is also shrinking. Earlier if you had a business model you could run whole business on that model for let say 50 yrs now it’s may be 4 yrs… So Bussiness models need to change fast to survive. How is ERP Helping us in this Exercise we have seen in last paragraph.

Also I have Explained in Last parts using Technology Shift , business Model shift enabled in ERP.

At the layer ERP is internally yet another BPM+ functionality where business flow is captured. BPM now Eats IoT messages and queues them for ingestion in cloud where then data science runs over them To create models for decision making it change which is deriving strategic insights using Mathematical models.

Not only that But business models are also changing which are reflective of sometime Mathematical models. We know Algorithmic trading transformed Finance. This That trading getting pervasive into other industry now.

Are Algorithmic business Models using this mathematical conotations is new buzzword. We have algorithm driven CRM systems having recommendations systems rather than shop floor assistant.

New Age Enterprise Software in cloud.

Interesting to see how salesforce.com is growing from CRM into other verticals. Already cornering many CRM vendors like Siebel, SAP CRM, and Oracle Peoplesoft CRM.Same way Workday is growing fast in HR solutions.Are there ERP based on cloud threat to traditional vendors.Now industry is segmented into two types of ERP : Tradition ERP Vs Cloud based ERP.

Let’s look why Traditional ERP are facing the brunt:

Let see evolution : ERP evolved from desktop based systems to client server system in 90’s to web based systems then So SAP R3 like three tier product (database server-application server- webserver –client).We had lots of security challenges then also. Next went to n-tier where we had choice of n number of application server layers. Then today we are faced with 2 question Cloud enablement and mobility.(of course these are not the only challenge there are others too).

Biggest impact ERP made to life of Executives is Time to market. Now see today if Any cloud ERP provider has to do mobile enablement it just few steps while for traditional ERP giving form to future cloud based browser is big problem.SAP had to acquire company like Sybase still integration is not complete.

The big vendors are vulnerable because they require big expensive upgrades. Workday doesn’t go into startups — it’s selling to big companies that have HR and financial software in place. But companies have to update this software periodically, and the traditional vendors like Oracle and SAP make it hard and expensive to upgrade. That’s when startups like Workday jump in.

Oracle will survive the cloud transition, but will have to acquire some companies. He thinks NetSuite, which is already majority-owned by Larry Ellison, is a logical candidate.

SAP is toast. “I think SAP doesn’t really have a play.”.ABAP language on which ERP is based is old based on COBOL syntaxes has evolved into Object Orientation with lot of effort.Sonetweaver came in to enable java to work for ABAP.But Oracle the biggest competitor acquired Sun hence Java. So, now SAP wanted to remove all dependency from Java.See simple thing like JSP /ASP like technology which is very old came into java just 2 yrs back with BSP in ABAP.Otherwise in SAP Netweaver used to the work through JSP(Netweaver is J2EE server only).Now how many years it will take to remove dependency.SAP acquired Sybase to provide mobility solution but still SAP mobility has long way to tread.Then where is cloud. I agree Enterprise software lifecycle being longer company does not suddenly decide to replace in Peoplesoft HRMS with another package.Atleast 1 year in implementation and second year in stabilisation.

Don’t underestimate Microsoft but competition is hotting up like iWork from apple. He thinks the company really gets the cloud, and that Windows 8 will easily become the second-biggest category of tablets — simply because they will run Office, while the iPad never will. “If I could get Office on a tablet, I’d throw my laptop away.” He also thinks that Microsoft’s army of .NET developers will move to Azure, the company’s cloud platform.iPad is also warming up with iWork office suite on mobile. Micorsoft is moving fast on Axcepta coming up with CRM, Financial, SCM modules. collaboration with sharepoint,oulook,messenger integration,integrated SQL server based MSBI and reporting.Available everything on cloud Azure.WCF, WWF fighting with workflow software.

Google will make a bigger enterprise play eventually. Google more focused on consumer and advertising play facing facebook. Enterpriseis Google’s “secret weapon” and noted that he sees a lot of companies considering a switch to Gmail at the same time as they switch to Workday.

Workday: Former Peoplesoft CEO made Cloud HR AneelBhusri,Dave reading up challenge for major vendors

com

Future of Flex &Flash : Gamification of ERP enterprise software, Augmented Reality on mobile apps, ipTV

Adobe modern introduction , history of innovations, trends of future:

Adobe outdoing competition for many years now has system in place for bringing future technologies like IPTV(http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/tag/iptv), mobile/tablet OS interfaces, photo editors like Photoshop, Word editors like Acrobat reader with compressed storage .Adobe has company which have been working ahead of time many years in many technology are like Acrobat reader, Photoshop with image processing algorithm implementations for naive users ,for online picture editor for image enhancements using image processing algorithms(http://pixlr.com/editor/), Flex for AJAX/RIA. Flash presented good threat to Microsoft as instead of writing to OS people can write to Flash same reason why Steve Jobs took stand against Flash. Adobe hence started to silent revolution of RIA.

Photoshop, Illustrator, and the other design products in its Creative Suite make up more than 50% of Adobe’s revenue and have created a lot of loyalists. Adobe presence in unified communication with its connect platform for online meetings which competes with Microsoft live meeting and communication server (renamed Lync). People most often create documents using Word processing software but once those documents need to be stored in a fixed format for printing and official forms, they’re almost always converted to Adobe’s PDF format.Micorsoft XPS never stood competition against PDF format.

Adobe Flex is a popular framework for building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). The Flex framework is used to create SWF files that run inside the Adobe Flash Player

Today when we will see higher adoption of IP TV in future Adobe is well positioned to take on. Earlier Adobe flex write once and run on any browser (need not worry browser dependency) to today write once run on any device (Android, IPhone, or any tablet OS).

Technology Landscape:

Technology is continuously evolving. Never people thought before AJAX came in that all system will web based. As in earlier system Client server system web client wait for completion for each request till then browser hangs. With coming of AJAX Asynchronous request does not need to wait for reply from Server for completion of request. Today what we See from Website to ERP like SAP PeopleSoft ,oracle apps ,to Business intelligence systems virtually every UI is Web Based. AJAX increased adoption of Web across different platform devices and interfaces. Across all this technologies the best choice of UI ends at flex.

Demand and salary to AJAX programmer crossed Java programmers. Main component of AJAX was java script. But problem came later no support for JavaScript. In meanwhile Adobe was company very much into multimedia software like Flash, Photoshop. Needed to adopt to new Web paradigm. So necessity is mother of invention. Abode had flash player which was heavy when used with websites. So it came with AJAX product first time Flex which is blend of Flash’s graphics + AJAX( Evolution 1997 Flash player–>2000 Action Script 1.0–> see diagram) . issues with JavaScript like not clean coding, no support form vendor ,intuitive controls for new fast AJAX web systems were solved.Rich Internet Application evolved RIA evolved with Adobe Flex.

Flex came with editor where user can code using Actionscript created with mix of JavaScript concept into Flash scripts. Action scripts we can code complex AJAX interface to be played on Flash player get support from Adobe while for javascript no support available. ActionScript program that has been optimized to death by an AOT compiler can, almost trivially, beat a JavaScript program that is optimized on the fly by the JIT compiler. The only way out would be to let the JIT compiler work till death, but that is not an option.

JavaScript programs are untyped, (relatively) small programs that are shipped/loaded as source code, and then compiled and run on the fly. In contrast, ActionScript programs are typed, (relatively) large programs that are compiled to byte code, shipped/loaded as byte code, and then run on the fly.

Flex came with more intuitive UI which never existed before like slider control, control for embedding video tag which later on HTML 5 could bring in 5 yrs later. So adobe was working 5 yrs ahead of time.

Still today concepts like onscroll pagination and caching did not exit. some 5 yrs back for every website server side code .NET or Java or PHP or SAP or PeopleSoft but web client code was on Flex. Beautiful intuitive UI controls from sliders, Maps, dynamic grids, for OLAP olap grids, dynamic grouping and sorting it could handle huge data seamlessly the JavaScript latency issues also minimized. These features are now stand replicated with Microsoft sliverlight,ExtJs and other Java script libraries.

Competition to Flex :

Technology wise competition to Flex include Curl, OpenLaszlo, Ajax, Mozilla way back in 2002 introduced XUL ,from Sun Microsystem JavaFX, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Silverlight and HTML5. Examine the trend graph over period of time. HTML5 popularity has dwarfed competition as it is open source and work across platform.

Figure 2: source: trends.google.com showing search trends Flex competitors or related technology.

– Flex had moved to new battled field Devices. Is new java of devices write once and run on any device android, iPhone blackberry or any tablet OS.

– Enterprise class programming Model: Use of constructs like strong typing, inheritance, and interfaces to program more efficiently. Extensive mobile and traditional components help speed development. Flex applications can access device capabilities such as GPS, accelerometer, camera, and local database.

– End to End tooling for development: Build Flex applications more easily using Adobe® Flash® Builder® software, an enterprise-class Eclipse™ based IDE. Productivity features include on-device debugging and mobile simulators for testing across screen sizes and resolutions.

– Server Integration: Integrate with all major back ends including Java™, Spring, Hibernate, PHP, Ruby, .NET, Adobe ColdFusion®, and SAP using industry standards such as REST, SOAP, JSON, JMS, and AMF, PeopleSoft.

– AJAX design patterns: On Object oriented programming on Action scripts design pattern are readily available.

Even software claims today integration with flex for choice of UI whether its ERP like PeopleSoft or SAP, Oracle Apps, or Business intelligence system like SAP Business objects Excelsious, IBM Cognos flex interfaces. Each day new Members join group each day product realize it needs to provide interface to flex joins flex group.I remember on Cognos 8.0 did not had features like geographic reporting interfaces, intuitive grids with dynamic sorting and grouping ,maps etc which only after integration with flex were possible for BI . had no choice but to integrate Flex. I recommend everyone at least one download tour de flex and see the dynamic UI.I am sure you will start loving it. From YouTube to Google finance or yahoo finance everywhere you can see innovation of Flex controls.

Figure 2: source Finance.google.com (showing comparison of Adobe,Microsoft and Dow Jones index.

On contrary HTML5 is not threat but opportunity for Adobe Flex :

But Adobe has the most to gain if they become the major player in the HTML5 field by providing tools, framework and making the web standards evolve. And they are in a good position to get there.Adobe has already two great tools for HTML5, Muse and Edge.

HTML5 fight with Flex is on : Adobe online games are beating HTML5 with over 1000 games written compared with few hundred on HTML5. HTML5is already almost universally supported in mobile browsers and Adobe realized that Flash would never get that ubiquity across browsers. HTML is supported by 40% of web Browsers while Flash 99%.Feature supported are browser dependent with no 3D support while flash has plugin. Security: Flash is miles ahead: In order to hack HTML5 Right click view source while in flash you need to get swf file which is loaded through wrapper parent then hacker needs to go through 2 layers of encryption and obfuscation.Majority flash book games are flash. With Flex 4.5 SDK build and deploy applications for Google Android, Apple iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS platforms leverage one tool, one framework and one codebase to deliver apps across leading mobile platforms, not to mention web and desktop as well

But then reality is still HTML5 has more issues with Andriod and iOS while Flex has few.

Flex is HTML 5 + more:à Flex is no.1 choice for enterprise complex, high-fidelity enterprise applications such as business dashboards, line of business tools, real-time trading applications and desktop replacement applications, and see leading companies in healthcare, financial services, communications and other industries standardizing on it.HTML5 has not matured yet. Flex is a choice for following reason:

SDK and Compiler open sourced MPL license, HTML 5 open standard WHATWG license , Adobe + on Flex new 3d – graphics,(transformation scene, camera, lighting, change pixel data ,effects)

Real-time connection(HTML5 has websocket vs Flex has flash.net.socket) ,Drag and Drop (drag and drop across application, cross document, clipboard) with API’s flash.desktop.clipboard,Events.NativeDragevents,Flash.desktop.TransferableData Vs HTML5 DataTransfer and DragEvent.

Adobe provide better file system (in HTML5 input type upload storage api vs Flex has File, FileStream, Filemode) (read/write capabilities), Offline Access Adobe air provides Resource(Windows application Vs Application cache) State(air.Event.NETWORK_CHANGE_URLMonitor vs navigator online,)

Data (flash.data.SQLConnection vs HTML5 has Database,SQLTransaction,SQLResultSet,LocalStorage.

New HTML 5 products which also use Action scripts as base new HTML5 products, Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview.

Cloud: Adobe’s creative tablet applications+, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work – seamlessly synchronizing and storing files in the cloud for sharing and access on any device

Adobe Typekit launched in Oct 2011 , the Web-based font library that pioneered the use of real fonts on websites, delivering more than 700 typefaces from leading foundries.

Adobe Edge, a ground-breaking HTML5 development tool; and Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition, the technology behind the delivery of digital magazines on iPad.

Adobe new Open source strategy: As Flex moves into a community-driven open source project, Adobe will make initial technical contributions and will also continue to provide a team of full-time Flex SDK engineers to contribute to the Apache project.

Adobe is currently in the process of contributing the core Flex SDK (including advanced data visualization components), automation libraries, AIR SDK binaries, documentation, and specifications to the Apache Flex Project.Also contribute yet-to-be-released Spark components including ViewStack, Accordion, DateField, DataChooser, and an enhanced DataGrid.Other future contribution to project include Falcon JS new compiler for action script,Mustella a functional testing framework, BlazeDS code is already available at adobe.com/go/blazeds_source under the GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 3.

BlazeDS provides Java based server-side remoting and web messaging technology allowing Flex clients to exchange typed binary data with the server and receive notification from other clients and servers. The messaging service also allows Flex applications to exchange messages with other non Flex, JMS-enabled applications.

Flex Sparks components and the recent addition of the new mobile components provide a great and mature framework basis for a real open source effort

Next generation Experiments on Flex.

Gamification of Enterprise Software like ERP,BI,BPM etc : Enterprise gamification to date has really been about marketing and customer engagement. By gamification it introduces unrealized concepts of social collaboration and create the ad hoc collaboration,engagement metaphor help companies realize these lofty social/collaborative goals. people are more engaged, more able to understand and support the outcomes that matter to the enterprise, and they are being recognized and rewarded for these actions. Adobe with Flash based online games and enterprise grade Flex development platform is greatly positioned for that.

Augumented Reality:

Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer science that involves combining the physical world and an interactive, three-dimensional virtual world. For a complete project with Flash on AR visit http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/augmented_reality.html

Video game industry is major employer of AR.Its not the end of game we have business intelligence system employing Augmented Reality (http://youtu.be/mTflf_PqUYs)

. AR for ipad,android,ERP like SAP, Business Process management is getting lot of traction for all this Flex and Flash is greatly positioned. On SAP TV watch augmented reality(http://youtu.be/C4b2Npnbhz0).

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from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/gamification-augmented-reality-iot-of-erp-is-shipping-business-models/ from Statii News https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/167514284857

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photomaniacs · 7 years

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Review: Is the New Microsoft Surface Pro for Photographers? http://ift.tt/2st4hSu

The soul of an image is not always visible in what the viewer sees, but lives in what the photographer experienced. Uneducated eyes are often all too quick to criticize a black and white image by Henri Cartier-Bresson, without taking into account what he had to create with, and the cutting edge that his work represented in the early 1900’s.

In a way, the arts have led technology and often the two support one another in modernization. For me, the realization of this has grown stronger when I began using the new Surface Pro from Microsoft.

About a year ago I wrote a post talking about my transition to Windows from Apple. It’s not that I disliked Apple (not by a long shot), but I was excited to see Microsoft eyeing the arts so distinctly.

At first I grabbed the Dell XPS 13 to use as a travel laptop, and while I liked it, there were drawbacks that made it feel as though I was constantly working around a problem that was a simple fix on an Apple product. I had honestly looked at a return to Apple as I was positive that this was the year that we would finally get the Macbook Air we had all been asking for…

Then, in what seemed to be either convenient timing or fate, not only did Microsoft release the Surface Laptop, but also called me out of the blue. I was genuinely taken back. On the line a Microsoft representative said, “We want to talk to you about a new product, and how we can help make photographer’s lives better.” I paused and then responded, “By actively reaching out to creatives like this, you are already improving our experience.”

Over the next few weeks we traded calls, texts, and emails about a new “mystery” product that was releasing in the near future. This product would become the Surface Pro. It was the latest in the Surface tablet line, but this one was different as it seemed to have the creative community in its sights, as Microsoft did with the Surface Studio.

One day a package arrived at my house, in it was the new Surface Pro, a blue Alcantara keyboard and the new Surface Pen. A text from Microsoft quickly ensued that said, “please enjoy it and we hope that it helps you approach photography in a way that makes your life easier.”

That evening I set it up (read: installed Photoshop CC and Phocus) and the following morning flew out with my wife to Orange County to escape the heat of Arizona. This trip felt a bit different though, for I was also going to do a photo shoot while I was there, but I didn’t have a single Apple product with me for the first time since 2005.

In my bag I had the Hasselblad X1D, the Surface Pro, and my BlackBerry. Already, photography felt different, as the entire travel kit for a photoshoot, from negotiating to shooting to retouching all fit in a small handbag.

This brings me back to the beginning of this article… Photography has always been a result of many factors that lead into the images we create. Among those factors is convenience. What the Surface Pro allows is the ability to view, select and retouch images in the field possibility now more than ever.

I decided to test this out by heading to the beach with my wife and some of my close friends. We would take pictures (all of us are photographers), enjoy some wine and laughs, and also edit the images… all while kicking back in the sand taking in the sunset. To be honest, it sounded too good to be true.

When the day came, we all met at a coffee shop and proceeded to take in the sights and play around with the cameras that we all had brought. For me, bringing the Hasselblad X1D had dual purpose, one because I wanted a small camera that wouldn’t stick out, and two, I wanted to see if the Surface Pro could handle the 50 megapixel RAW files that came from the medium format sensor.

After lunch we met with my good friend, and incredible designer, Jessie Shroyer. She had a new outfit to show and we had a model (Savannah McLain) to wear it, so we found a private beach near Laguna to create some images. To me, this represented what a real world production with the combo of the Surface Pro and X1D would be. Inside I hoped it would not go as smoothly as it did, as both the Surface Pro and Hasselblad were on loan and any success would mean that I would be buying them.

As the sun set on the beach that day, we created images without the pomp and circumstance that surrounds so much of what we do professionally. In a way, it felt like I had gone back to my college days when I would go on photo walks with friends, just to chat and take pics. There was no money involved, nor any deadlines, and it was pure photography…and pure fun.

It was at this point it hit me. We are on the precipice of a new step in photography, one where photographers can go out into the field without crazy amounts of gear to create art, then quickly pack up and head back to an airport. With the advances that Microsoft made with the Surface Pen and the power of the processor in the Surface Pro, I was able to dodge and burn images, retouch skin and genuinely build final pieces while sitting on the beach listening to the ocean. The only setback I experienced was that a bright sunny day makes for a lot of glare on the screen, so it might be best to find the closest shade.

Up to this point, the only feasible alternative for me has been an iPad Pro, but it is more involved to load images onto it, and even when loaded, there is no way to use a full version of Photoshop as the iPad is more or less a mobile platform. While I did have the Alcantara keyboard cover with the Surface Pro, I found that I only used it to write this article, and most of the time I was just using the Surface like one would hold a sketch pad. To be honest, when I saw the announcement stating that the new hinge lays nearly flat on a table to make sketching easier, I thought I would never use it. Come to find out, I probably use the tablet in that position more than any other.

While it took some learning to utilize the pen effectively, the fact that I could rest my hand on the screen while dodging and burning made it easier for me to adjust to the angles that affected the pen’s form. One fun side note, Jessie took immediately to the Surface Pro when she saw it at the hotel. In a matter of 30 minutes she had sketched the outfit she had physically brought, leaving the photographers in the room extremely jealous of her design talents.

Over the weekend I acclimated more to the new Surface platform, and feel like I was able to grasp a good understanding of what it means to photographers. It is pure mobility. And while powerful, it is not a platform where you’ll want to create huge files with tons of layers. It is for those who want a return to pure photography. Although I was able to open a 6.8 GB file and do some minor tweaks, this was more of a test to see what exactly was possible, rather than a practical approach of how I would intend to use the device.

For me, and I imagine many other photographers, the Surface Pro is what I dreamed the iPad Pro would be. It is a portable way to view and hold your image while gaining the ability to tweak it in a way that is not crippled by a mobile OS platform. It is the first device that I have used in a long time that could take the place of two others: my iPad Pro and XPS 13.

While large productions are the standard for the type of photography I do (advertising), portable equipment like the Surface Pro and the X1D are the key to reminding me why I fell in love with photography in the first place. I want to thank Microsoft for reaching out to me and their continued support of the creative community.

I genuinely believe that the Surface line of products contains great potential for photographers and look forward to what the future holds.

About the author: Blair Bunting is an advertising photographer based out of Los Angeles, California. You can see more of his work on his website, blog, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

Go to Source Author: Blair Bunting If you’d like us to remove any content please send us a message here CHECK OUT THE TOP SELLING CAMERAS!

The post Review: Is the New Microsoft Surface Pro for Photographers? appeared first on CameraFreaks.

June 15, 2017 at 07:01PM

#photo photography art camera cameras

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opepin · 7 years

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january: week two

09: i woke up when kevin got out of bed at around 10:30 am and then i stayed in bed until 12 pm. i made myself an egg mcmuffin (i’ve missed you) and then ate a kiwi. i organized all my receipts and my budget sheet, sent ashley a belated christmas present (so excited, zomg), paid off my chase credit card because the balance was annoying me, and then started applying to job again. oh, i called laura in the morning and she said there probably won’t be work until maybe march. so gg me. well, i’m okay for now and still motivated to look for another job. kevin got home a bit early, took a nap, and then i finished applying to a few jobs after my ms word updated. i looked for new recipes and looked at groupons while kevin made us sausage fried rice. i was worried about my part-time remote job as a mobile reviewer because i haven’t been notified of any tasks recently. i learned that i was supposed to check from now and yeah, luckily i had some and i did that after eating dinner.

we finally got to watch more supernatural. we watched three episodes! then kevin washed the dishes while i exercised. he showered and then started setting up this thing that turns your tv into a touch screen that he backe on indiegogo. it doesn’t really work so gg. we ended the night by playing ‘the witness’ together after i showered. we knocked out at 1 am.

10: lol i’m so behind on updating my tumblr. x__x; sigh. for some reason i couldn’t get up at a normal time today. i guess the lack of sleep and traveling from yesterday got to me. i eventually got up at 2 pm to make myself breakfast and then to figure out what i was going to do today. i mean there’s a lot of stuff, but i don’t feel 100% myself yet. i updated my tumblr, planned meals for the week, and wrote them out. then i did some cleaning and some tasks and munched on pork jerky. mmm. i took all of our luggage to the storage room and got ready to go grocery shopping. i missed bb and her smoothness while driving <3 kevin did too (he drove). we made all the stops: kam man, roche bros, and bj’s. we tried recycling all of our glass bottles at roche bros but they didn’t accept some so we had to throw them down the recycling chute at deco when we got back. we also spent too much time at bj’s (i thought we didn’t need a cart so kevin was holding 12 chicken thighs in his arms for way too long) because we couldn’t find the damn chia seeds LOL.

we bought microwavable chicken masala and ate it with rice for dinner because it was kinda late when we got back. we watched supernatural and then i spent the rest of the night looking at recipes (michelle sent me a bomb af website; thanks, gurl) and talking to winston and ashley about job searching. winston might be able to refer me for a position so i’m excited. kevin and i went to sleep pretty late at around 2:30 am or 3 am because he stayed up gaming and i just stayed up because i could haha.

11: i woke up at 12 pm again! woot. LOL. actually, i woke up at like 8 am and i felt good but it was too early so i went back to sleep. my stomach was also in some sort of pain so i tried sleeping it off. hmm. well, i ate some cereal and then went straight into applying for more jobs and did mobile review tasks. i actually got an email back from a company and i have a scheduled phone conversation for friday! i’m excited. (: i played some pokemon during the day and then went straight into my intense workout. it took me 30 extra minutes to do it because of rest time. my body is so out of shape right now :( it’s okay though because we just work through it again. your body won’t stay the same forever! haha. right after exercising, i started washing the dishes and cooking dinner. i made spicy coconut kale fried rice with sausage and red bell pepper all by myself today. it took forever to cut the veggies, but i have gotten better at cutting correctly! hehe. kevin got back when i finished prepping the veggies and then he went to shower while i finished cooking. it was a success! kevin did help put in soy sauce and chili sauce though :P

we watched two episodes of supernatural together and then he washed the dishes and went to play dota while i showered and then got a chance to do the book exchange thing on facebook, upload old af photos, and play some more pokemon before going to sleep. we munched on triscuits at like 1 am. x__x omg i need to stop snacking and maybe go to sleep earlier to prevent me from getting hungry! then we went to sleep at around 2:30 am again. haha we both need to start sleeping earlier, especially kevin because he has actual work. LOL. oh, vivian is planning to sleep over on the 28th and i also will skype with carolyn on friday! so exciting~

12: i was dead tired in the morning. i got up at 12 pm again. :P i ate cereal for breakfast, updated my tumblr, did mobile review tasks, and answered my messages on facebook for the book exchange. i was pretty productive. i applied to a few more jobs and filled the humidifier and then talked with some people on facebook and played pokemon for the rest of the day. it was nice. kevin got back early so we watched an episode of supernatural! then i did some cardio before heading out to deco’s trivia night in our lounge. we thought there was going to be real food but it was just snacks so i didn’t eat much. i also got this flavored sparkling water that tasted like alka-seltzer...never again. x_x kevin and i teamed up with two ladies who live in the apartment as well. our group name was floor 2245 and we won second place with 81 points to another group that had 84 points! one of our team mates had some kind of genius-level memory for shows and entertainment and actors and movies. it was crazy! hehe it was nice being kind of social today, but we still felt a bit awkward after the game ended.

we headed back and ate actual dinner while watching another episode of supernatural. then i did more cardio to finish off my workout and spent like 40 minutes to an hout stretching and foam rolling. MY LEGS ARE SO FLIPPING TIGHT :( my right quad hurt so much after and i think i made it worse because it started hurting when i bent my knee. i massaged it out more so it’s a bit better, but yeah, after stretching, i feel sore and in pain. i can’t wait for our massage on saturday. x__x i showered and then played some pokemon with kevin before heading to sleep at 2:30 am again LOL.

13: i actually woke up when kevin did and i was awake! i rolled around in bed until 10:30 am though. i got a message from apple saying someone was using my old email to sign into icloud...uhhh...so i decided to contact apple to close that account. it turned into a 2 hour conversation and i shared my screen and everything. he couldn’t verify me as the owner of the account through apple protocols so he said he would call me back tomorrow and see if adding my phone number does anything... i was going to call yahoo to deactivate my old email but then decided against another long af phone call and just turned off forwarding to my gmail account. then i did my daily tasks of applying to jobs, mobile task reviews, and updating my tumblr. i had a phone call with a potential employer at 1 pm and it went pretty well! the person i talked to was super nice and i could tell we connected over design and i felt excited about his work because he was really good at explaining his work and was pumped about it too. the next step is meeting team members next week (: i’m excited.

then i played some pokemon and watched some youtube videos until it was time to video chat with carolyn! i haven’t talked to her in forever! it was so nice just talking to her and updating her x__x there was so much to update her about my life haha. we bonded over apartment life, cooking, and just being confused about life right now. carolyn gets it when i talk about a simple outlook on life like living in a cottage in a small forest near a small cute town LOL. i hope i get to video chat with her more often now~ then i got a job referral from winston for ibm. thanks, bro <333 i hope things just work out in my career life haha. kevin got back pretty early and then i think we just ko’d for a few hours on the bed. we just both fell asleep?! our sleep schedules are so messed up... he really needed a nap. we woke up at like 8 pm and then cooked dinner. kevin made beef & tofu stir fry and we ate that while watching some supernatural. after sitting and playing pokemon for a bit, i decided to exercise. i just did arms and not too intense cardio because my stomach was really full. we took out the garbage after and i showered, played pokemon, watched ‘cooks vs. cons’ and we ended up sleeping at around 4 am. well, i ko’d before kevin because he had to wash dishes and shower. lol that nap really messed with us. xP

14: because we slept so late, we got up just in time to eat breakfast and get ready to leave for our massage! the apple advisor called me back and said it didn’t work and i just told him that it was alright...i guess haha. as we drove to the location, i noticed that the neighborhood got a bit shadier and shadier. the day spa was literally an apartment building and it was locked when we got there? but there was a candle lit and everything. x__x so we checked the alternative location, which was less than a block down but it said they relocated to the first location we went to. so we called and then i went into the next door store to ask, which was also pretty shady. it was like a family antique/thrift store... the owner eventually told me that she was there and she should still be there. after waiting 10-15 minutes, the masseuse opened the door for us and then told us we were supposed to be there at 2 pm? but then i told her that we had a 1 pm appointment for two people (one after another) and then she explained to us how she tried to contact us and rebook because her secretary double booked her...wut. -__-” it took me forever to book an appointment because i was basically playing phone tag with her for a month or so.

she felt bad and said she would come in tomorrow (they aren’t open tomorrow) and would upgrade us to hot stones. we agreed and then drove back and ate leftovers for lunch while watching two episodes of supernatural. then kevin went climbing and i decided to work out while watching ‘a series of unfortunate events’ on netflix. it was similar to the movie, but better in a sense. i feel like i need to get deeper into the series because the movie covered all of the beginning. i played pokemon after and then kevin came back, showered, and played on his computer for a while. then kevin started making the ratatouille spaghetti for dinner and i helped him after my shower. it turned out pretty good -- would taste better with mushrooms and more sauce though. we watched two more episodes of supernatural and then he went to play dota. i watched ‘cooks vs. cons’ while playing more pokemon. i got a call from the day spa earlier in the evening telling us that she can’t meet with us tomorrow due to insurance issues so we could rebook for february 18th -____-” uhhh.... she’ll call me back on tuesday to see if we want to do that, but i contacted groupon right away. they said that they can’t refund me, but i sent another email back demanding credit or a refund because they refunded another person on yelp! me and kevin are thirsty af for a massage so we’ll try booking somewhere nearby tomorrow and see. anyway, we eventually went to sleep at 2 or 3 am...

15: i set an alarm to wake up and call the thai massage wellness place we wanted to check out today. i did just that and we managed to get a couple’s massage at 5 pm (: woot! this place is also close by unlike the other one... we cuddled in bed a little longer and then we got hungry haha. i just ate cereal while kevin microwaved some leftover ratatouille pasta for brunch. we watched supernatural for a while and then kevin went to play some skyrim. kevin tried playing it on the steam controller with the tv, but it didn’t feel 100% right and he didn’t want to practice doing it so he left and played on the computer. i was playing pokemon and then i decided to work out before our massage. i did abs while watching ‘a series of unfortunate events’ and then i did cardio. i showered right after and ate a late lunch. kevin was in the middle of a dota game when it was 4:30 pm and i freaked because i didn’t want to be late and he said it would take 15 minutes to drive there...which it didn’t. LOL. he rechecked and told me it was 5 minutes, but he also still needed to change and eat as well. so he did that and then we were off!

this massage was in and out, but probably one of the best massages i’ve ever gotten. they were really quick and the ambiance was half-nice. it wasn’t cheap feeling like the one we got before with the groupon (when my massage table was cold af). kevin was breathing real hard and it wasn’t until the end that i found out that his masseuse was walking on his back o__o” he said his calves were weak after that. my masseuse did trigger point therapy (i believe) on my back. she took a long af time on my back because i guess it’s real messed up LOL. she like “popped” all these trigger points on my shoulder and they hurt but felt so good. we’re definitely gonna come back. (: i’m glad we finally found a couple’s massage spot that we both enjoy. after the massage, we went to roche bros to buy fruit, english muffins, and some snacks. then we went to kam man to get other fruit and kevin also bought snacks and some choya beverage. we got back, ate leftovers for dinner while watching supernatural, did laundry, kevin packed for san francisco tomorrow, and then i played pokemon while kevin played dota. we stayed up again but slept at 2 am. we were also super munchy. i think it’s because we stay up too long x__x; so we snacked a bit and then kevin watched an episode of ‘cooks vs. cons’ with me in the bed. oh! i also finally beat the elite four today. yay! i can finally get on with filling up the rest of my pokedex. i’m at 84% or less or something like that. hehe.

i think i’m a bit homesick? i miss going to places with my friends. even though going back to chicago was exhausting, i wish i had a bit of that here. the girls want to go to bombobar and at first i was like meh it’s whatever but i think it got to me because i think i’m really craving sugar and their company and just going out to places so i told kevin and he said that we can find a dessert place and go together too and snap them LOLOLOL. my boyfriend knows how to make me feel better...i guess? ahahha. <3

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