=== Mobile Game Review - Motor World: Bike Factory - Management - 3/10 ===

     Motor World: Bike Factory is a very fun game. Or at least... the idea is very fun. I've played this game before, back when it first came out actually. This game is a sibling to the game it's based off of by the same company called Motor World: Car Factory.

The gameplay is nice and easy: pick a vehicle to build, click the vehicle to start building, click the vehicle again and again each time the next part is ready to be built until the vehicle is done, then wait for an amount of time until the vehicle gets sold for a profit. As you progress through the game, you can use dollars to buy better workers who work faster and/or are more efficient. You also unlock new vehicles which require more work points to finish and get sold for a higher profit. This gameplay is so simple, yet so much fun!

The energy resource in this game which lets you do work is donuts. Each worker has a certain supply of work points which must be refilled using a donut every time they run out. Donuts can be acquired by waiting for them to refill over time, or sometimes you'll find them while working on vehicles. You can also sometimes find mystery cards which can give you random bonuses such as refilling your donuts or allowing you to construct a vehicle for free rather than paying for it.

Now, for the observant people out there, you'll notice that I'm talking good about this game, but im only giving it 3/10. The reason for this is because I genuinely do love the gameplay of the original game (and this one because it's the same), but there are a few downsides to this game in particular.

First, the gameplay is the same; there's no difference between this game and the original Motor World: Car Factory other than this one is building bikes instead of cars. Also, this may have changed since last I played, but the total vehicle options are fewer than in the other game. The second reason I'm giving this game such a low score, is because I really wanted to get back into it, but upon downloading it and playing it once again... it seems to now be swamped with advertisements! I could happily waste tons of time playing this game continuously before, but now I have to watch a 30 second advertisement every time I finish constructing a bike! Maybe I could live with this with bikes that take longer to build, but when you're making really cheap and fast to build bikes... you end up watching more advertisements than gameplay.

*****
     I've now given the game a proper chance and played through the beginning tutorial phase until I've gotten past that and a little further beyond. Unfortunately the game hasn't gotten any better. I did have a ton of fun while I was without internet and playing the game... because it wasn't able to give me tons of advertisements every time I close a menu. Realistically though... who's going to turn off their internet every time they want to play a game? Not to mention the fact that the game crashed after half of the advertisements as well! So unfortunately, as much as I wanted to give this game a higher score, it's just too buggy and in your face to enjoy.
*****
So in summary, Motor World: Bike Factory is not a bad game. It is however already done almost exactly the same, and the amount of advertisements really kills the fun of playing the game, almost to the point where the game is unplayable. ~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== 30 days on $30 ===

     February 3rd, 2018 marks the beginning of Carley's 30 days on $30 challenge. In this challenge, her goal is to spend only $30 for the month of February on food and drinks. She had asked if I was interested in doing this with her. Unfortunately my answer had to be no due to being completely aware that I would be miserable the entire time. Carley on the other hand, is mentally prepared to go through this to gain a better understanding of how to keep a food budget on the cheaper side rather than unnecessary spending. She is also using this as an opportunity to learn to be more creative with the foods she has available. Finally, she's doing this because she wants to be able to say she has completed this and can do it whether or not she really has to.

     At first, while I was accompanying Carley on her shopping trip, I had thought to myself that it couldn't be possible to buy enough food with only $30 unless most of it is spent on something really cheap like rice. As it turns out, most of the food she got is NOT rice. There are quite a few noodles and soups and things and even some juices. Amazingly, what she managed to find and buy is much more than I would have expected and definitely more options than I would have thought possible. Here's a picture of everything she got for herself throughout the day.

     I know every time I go shopping I always think I'm not getting all that much... until I get to the checkout. At that point, things start to add up and then I realize just how expensive it is to eat anything other than noodles and rice. Just in case some of you don't believe this is actually $30 worth of food, here's the receipts as proof.

     Now, for all of you who can do math, yes, these receipts do go over the $30 value. There's a bit of a story to that as an explanation: See, we were looking at frozen vegetables thinking she'll need some sort of veggies to eat for the month. At first we were thinking of a couple different kinds of vegetables, but then we saw a price tag for a larger bag of peas for only about $2. Who could pass that up, right? It's not every day that you find a price tag that is probably printed wrong! Unfortunately the cashier we went to was her first day on the job and the manager on duty started yelling at her when he came over. It was in a different language, so we couldn't tell what he was saying, but it was clear that the girl was being yelled at. We felt so bad because she started crying that we just decided to pay what the price came up as and leave. Here's the tag we found for the peas.

     So, yes, the price tags aren't completely accurate as a result of the error, but keeping this price tag in mind, Carley did in fact stay under her price limit. She's keeping her food separate from the rest of the household so she can keep track of it all. My job? I'll be here to tell you all about her experience with this challenge and keep track of whether or not she's sticking to the rules. If anybody has any questions, please feel free to comment and I'll be sure to get the answers for your as soon as I can. Just for attempting something like this, I'm very proud of my Carley whether or not she succeeds.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Mind Over Matter ===

I've come to realize that everything I do is a matter off the mind. For some time now I've been searching for ways to improve my productivity. As it turns out, that answer has been under my nose this whole time. Or should I say... behind it.

There are all sorts of things online claiming they can improve your mental focus and clarity. Do any of them work? Maybe... but are they really worth the money? I don't think so. See, there's an alternative which I think many people forget about; including myself. That option is quite simply.... doing it.

I sort of had this epiphany a couple nights ago when I forced myself to go to my computer late at night rather than laying down on the couch and falling asleep. I ended up staying up all night streaming on twitch and felt great after that I had done something fun and productive. In fact, I felt so great about it that I then enthusiastically cleaned up the kitchen and prepared for the day. This was accomplished because I made a decision to do something.

It can be quite difficult to tell your body to do these things when it is do exhausted, but it can be done if you put your mind to it... As long as your brain isn't out of juice as well. Yes, things like caffeine can help; I prefer to avoid needing any though if I can help it. Although... there is a real spectacular boost when you're able to effectively combine both caffeine and brain power.

I've seen people shut down no matter how much they want to keep going... including myself. The biggest hurdle really is resisting what the body is asking for and instead doing what YOU want to do.

So what do you say? Will you join me in putting your mind over matter?

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Late Night Streaming ===

     Alright, yes, I know it's quite late to be doing this right now, but sometimes I just want to spend some time doing some late night streaming. Tonight I'll be playing some Stardew Valley if you want to join me at my stream at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1. I don't have a plan for how long I'll be streaming tonight; however, I may also switch to some StarCraft II later on if I'm feeling up for it. I played some recently with my friend and now I'm totally feeling it once again. It's wonderful shaking the rust out of my system. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Bumps And Bruises ===

     I don't often post about my baby, but lately there have been a lot of bumps and bruises around the house. Isabelle has started pulling herself up on things to a stand. For the most part, this is very cute as she stands there and reaches for things and then gets to a point where she's not really sure what she wants to do. Then she has to think about it and figure out how to get down without hurting herself. This is great that she's learning to do things! Unfortunately this also means she has to go through the process of figuring out how to get down properly which has resulted in a few tears from collisions.

     Silly me, I had thought for a moment that we were past the hitting of heads on inanimate objects, but apparently I was TOTALLY wrong about that; it has only gotten worse than before. Thankfully she takes these things quite well most times. She seems like a pretty tough kid, though I suppose we won't know for sure until she gets a bit older and can communicate better. If there's one thing that will always make her laugh even when she's absolutely bawling... it's tossing her in the air; she LOVES being tossed in the air. I'm confident she's going to be a thrill-rider when she gets older.

     In other family news, Carley has managed to find a way to get back to the gym again during my working days even with the cold weather killing the use of her car. She's so excited about going to the gym that's she'll be going again today even though she's woken up sore this morning. I think it's great for her to get out of the house and spend time doing other things. It's kind of nice having some time around the house alone. Well.... obviously the child will be here as well, but seriously, Carley needs to get more fresh air outside the house. I worry about her when she's cooped up for so long. Everybody needs to get outside every once in a while... even this nerd here.

     As for myself... not much interesting going on other than a renewed vigor for making blog posts and doing productive things. I almost wiped out and had some bruises of my own, but thankfully I started wearing my ice cleats after the freezing rain this us this past week. As uncomfortable as they are to wear with them not staying sitting right on my shoe.... they really help with grip on ice so much more than you realize. The only think I don't like about them is taking them off and putting them on again all the time. If you don't take them off, then you basically have no grip when it comes to tile and things like that. I suppose safety is more important than convenience though.

Anyways, that's all for today! Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== I've been Slacking ===

     First thing's first, I have to apologize to everybody for slacking in the past month. I haven't really posted anything for nearly a month now. Ever since the holiday preparation started, I haven't been doing much of anything useful at all. With work being so busy since there's only four of us rather than five in the office, Isabelle starting to stand up on everything, and everything else going on these days... I just haven't taken the time to post anything recently.

     So, my first New Year's resolution this year is to start talking to more people and try to actually get to know some people whom I can spend some time with either playing games or going out for coffee with. As another sort of resolution thinger... I'm wanting to put more effort into the things I want to succeed at. There are many things I want to succeed at including my blog which is why I'm making this post. You can expect to see many more posts about random life, game reviews, and current events. I'm also hoping I might be able to start doing food or movie reviews or something else.

     Here's hoping for a great new year with much to talk about. I'm looking forward to having much success at many things this year. I'm hoping you'll all join me as well on this fantastic journey and share this with all your friends.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Net Neutrality ===

     I don't have a clever title to start off this talk about net neutrality. Rather here we are jumping right into the thick of things. For those of us who don't know anything about net neutrality, it was a set of rules which were put into place in 2015 which stopped internet providers from promoting their own things over others by offering faster speeds to their own services and slower speeds or even entirely blocking other services they don't want their consumers to see. This can even go as far as promoting one brand over another in a way which would mean anything new to the market could fail completely because it's not promoted by any of the service providers.

     Basically these rules were put into place to make the internet a more even playing field for everybody, thus making it more fair no matter the size of your company or your popularity. Essentially what this means is that something small like myself and this blog COULD fade into existence because it's not promoted by anybody but myself. That means when searching for something similar to this here, instead of finding a fair assortment of search results which may hold this blog in a reasonable place, there may be so many unfairly promoted results in front that you never get down far enough to find me.

     I don't really enjoy or understand a lot of politics; most things I just don't really care for all that much. But this is actually quite crazy to me to learn about this. From all the news that I've read, apparently the people in charge of making this decision only cared about legal arguments and largely disregarded the record 22 million feedback comments.

     It's difficult to say what exactly is going to happen due to this ruling; whether they go back on their decision or put something new in place... or if everything stays like this. I guess at this point we can only wait to see what comes about in the future. We likely won't see many huge changes right away as there would be much ruling and other things the various companies would have to put into place. I'm all for equality, so I can only hope things still work out well in the end.

~ Kyle Welykholowa