Start of Week - Update 009

By A.A. Lopez

    Let's see, it's been... 2 weeks since the last update. Not bad for me; usually, the break is 3. But let's see where we're at, what we're trying to do, and if there's anything upcoming for this week.

    Honestly, I've put a lot of my projects off to the side for the past week or so due to the RTO order that came in a few weeks ago, along with layoffs looming overhead. So I've just been letting myself have the time to breathe and have room. Though I am keeping up with streaming every Friday at 7 PM, with different ideas for each stream. Last week's was focused on creating vector art with a real-life photo; it came out incredibly creepy, so I deleted it after the stream.

    But I am feeling the need to get back to at least trying to focus on my creative projects again. I can't let these things just go to the wayside. I want to do them all, I just really need to find a way to organize myself better. At my job, it's easier cause I have the limitations of the hours, resources, and a broad guideline that I need to stick to, but on my personal side, it's all open road. Perhaps I need to adjust how I approach each project.

    The only issue there is that I've practiced that in the past, and it's always come out with mixed effects. From setting a timer to giving myself deadlines... if there's no outside pressure, the likelihood that I'll do something drops significantly. Maybe, well, this is an idea, what if I pay myself? Like, give myself a certain amount for the projects and their monetary worth to me? The only thing is that I know I could adjust it to give myself too much leeway, and then I won't do anything. But I think I'll give that a go this week.

    So for this week's experiment, I'm going to put a certain dollar amount to each type of work I do this week. I think the following menu works:

• Devlog = $2.00
• Figma UI = $5.00
• Code Script = $7.00
• Story Outline = $10.00
• Artwork = $15.00
• Specific Project with a mix of any of the previous = $20.00

    Yes, this way I will not only do the work I laid out in my weekly plan, but if I do any extra, I can put more in my funds. And I think if I do it this way, I can put whatever I make into my savings or something, or for a night out. At the very least, it's something to try out.

    But enough gabbing about how I'm bad at keeping up with my projects, and let's discuss what my projects are this week. Since there's a heavy need to do my main work at work, since we'll be getting more influx than the last few months, I have to go back to standard work and only focus on the cool stuff if I get a moment to breathe. So the projects will be light this week:

• Monday
• Create a Devlog for Project://Ch. 7
• Create a Figma UI for Project:// Ch. 7
• Finish flowchart for Project://Juno
• Design a Neocities page for the Devlogs to link to
• Create an .exe file for the MCT
• Tuesday
• Review the drops for Thrift Tycoon
• Create prototype designs for the drops in Thrift Tycoon
• Review the roles in Studio Journal #2
• Wednesday
• Look into the bug for LinX-AXcS that has the table disappear when you upload an Excel file
• Ensure that the most recent updates of the UNL and ReSizeIt tools are available
• Get a developer's license to upload UNL, ACP, ReSizeIt, and LinX-AXcS so updates occur automatically to other users
• Thursday
• Check which items have been done this past week, and work on the ones that haven't been
• Relearn Scrum Poker
• Friday
• Stream @7 - Designs for either Thrift Tycoon or for Project://Ch. 7
• Saturday
• Print anything out that's needed and file it
• Clean
• Relax

    All right, I think that's a clear week. And another thing I just realized I could do, actually put these as calendar events, so I do have a timer and use the Pomodoro method. Let's see if this works.

    I know there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in the world right now, and an absence of certainty that we're all feeling. This is my best way to cope with everything. Some people drown themselves in friends, in alcohol, in vices up and down the coast. I drown myself in trying to be the Renaissance man I pretend I am. 

    Whatever this week holds in front of me, I'm just hoping with hope that it's a decent week. Not even a good one, just decent enough that when I do relax on that Saturday, the exhaustion is only from the cleaning. Wish me luck!

End of Week Update - 008

By A.A.Lopez

    You know, I tend to start each of these EoW updates with "Oh, I'm so tired," or "That was a long week." Just things to those effects, but seriously, I feel like this past week was much too much. Not going to get too much into it cause a lot of it deals with NDA stuff, but gods, I need a way off the rollercoaster.

    But let's not focus too much on the week and focus on the accomplishments that happened!

    Biggest thing, had my first stream this past Friday, as well as a second one on Saturday. You can see that it resulted in two art pieces, "pieces", they were sketches, and the stream got away from me a bit. Yet, I think I learned a lot from my time doing it. From how to use OBS to trying to be a good host. Was I excellent? No. Did I have a lot of viewers? No. Was it fun and worth leaning into and learning? Yes. So I think I will continue on this path for just a bit longer.

    Of course, I should also mention that I did create the Instagram and Bluesky profiles for Anytime & Always Studios:

IG: @anytime_and_always_studios
BSky: @anytimeandalways.bsky.social

    So that's another big win for me.

    Then, going to the work stuff, I am still working on the MCT updates for conversion to UTF-8 VTT files. Currently, the script is running into a bug where it thinks it's reading the file and exporting a processed version, but nothing comes out. I'm trying to resolve it, and it's most likely in one of the underlying scripts. I believe that it most likely stems from the misc.js, where a lot of the hardcoded logic resides. Cause it fixes the normal VTT files, but ignores the SCC, SRT, and UTF-8.BOM files. Will work with coworker to find out.

    For LinX and AXcS (I messed up the capitalization last time), I was able to have a running version created of LinX and presented it to the DD team. In addition to that, I was also commissioned/tasked to create basically the same tool for another process that we have, so I'm going to see how well I can combine them. It's going to result in a lot of conversations with a lot of people; thankfully, it's been pretty fun. Plus, the UI design aspect is really fun. Once I have gotten the files downloaded off XD, I'll add them here or create a Page for a portfolio, still trying to figure out the best methodology for that.

    Finally, on the work front, a coworker and friend has also designed their own extension, one to resize JPG files. It was something I was also working on implementing in the UNL, but he beat me to it. So I asked if we could collaborate and see if we could include that item in the UNL. It's nearly done, but his version has a few hiccups I'm certain will go beyond once we have what we're looking for.

    Then I just have to admit I have not worked on my personal projects of Thrift Tycoon, Project://JUNO, or even a Scratch platformer. This past week had a lot of things come up that really didn't afford me time to work on things I wanted to. And this upcoming week, I doubt that I'll have time as well. It also doesn't help that now I'm also thinking of creating an application that you can plug media into and cast it to your TV, and experience 90s-esque TV, with dedicated timeslots and promos in between. Rather than relying on the rights of the streaming services, get your own physical media and upload it to your personal media center. We'll see if I actually have time to work on it.

    Well, before I wrap up, I should mention that I have the updated Anytime and Always Studios logo! I think it looks pretty good, using a double "a" and reframing it as a timepiece. So I'll put it after the lesson of the week. Thanks for checking out, and hope to see you next week!

LESSON OF THE WEEK: Surprises happen, and you need to steel yourself before you take any action.

Second output from Streaming

 

First output from the stream

 

First Twitch Live

 Going live on twitch.tv/vicarbatman at 7pm PST today

 Start of Week Update - 008

By A.A. Lopez

    That was an enjoyable... I was going to say vacation, but I was working, at home with family, and constantly trying to meet deadlines beyond that of my scope, so it was time away, I guess. Nonetheless, it is Labor Day, and tomorrow going back in-office thrice a week... hooray.

    Not much to report during my time away from development. The biggest thing is that I got myself a Raspberry Pi 400, which has been pretty fun to work on for the past couple days, and I can't wait to see what else I can do. I'm mostly messing around with Scratch at the moment, mostly to see what it can do. I might try making Thrift Tycoon in there just to see if I can. Oh, that also leads me to the other thing.

    I'm going to start streaming my dev nights on my Twitch Channel: vicarbatman. I'll be doing a 2-hour stream on Friday nights from 7pm to 9pm Pacific, and on Saturdays, I'll be doing a 4-5-hour stream from 1pm to 5pm or 6pm, with maybe a stream on Sundays. These streams will focus on a lot of the projects listed here. This Friday (9/5/25), I'll be randomly selecting which of my projects I'll work on for the stream; it could even be a randomizer script to decide what I'm going to work on.

    Though not all the time it will be so focused on work, if I'm feeling stressed, depleted, or otherwise beat, I'll most likely just play a video game for the time of the stream. I'll post when I'm going live here, on my Bluesky, and on my IG... which I realize I should make each one of those for my studio email... I am behind on that stuff. Anyways, let's jump into what this week's focus will be on:

• Monday
• Labor Day
• Writing my SoW Update
• Tuesday
• Work on the AxCS and LinX systems 
• Update the MCT to convert .scc and .srt files into .vtt files
• Update the MCT to convert non-UTF-8 files into UTF-8
• Look into the feasibility of gamifying the MCT
• Wednesday
• Repeat Tu
• Thursday
• Repeat Tu/Wed
• Create an IG and Bsky for A&A
• Friday
• Rest
• Stream
• Announce Stream on Blog/IG/Bsky
• Current Ideas for stream:
• Unveil new Logo
• Prototype Project://JUNO
• Create a simple platformer in Scratch
• Design some items in Illustrator for Thrift Tycoon
• Saturday
• Stream - Choose one of the items listed which weren't done
• Sunday
• Rest
• Write EoW Update
• Write SoW Update

    Okay, it's not a lot on paper, but it does feel heavy thinking about it. Let's hope I'll have enough time to do everything on the list. Oh! And like it mentions, I have made an updated version of my logo for Anytime & Always Studios, so I'll show it off there and update here on the blog once I show it off. I'm pretty proud of how it came out.

    It's honestly thanks to a friend pointing out how the current one just really focuses on the A and T of anytime and not really playing around with the double a's. So I took her, is it a critique? Her comment? Her appraisal? Yeah, let's go with that. I took her appraisal and updated the logo. If you want to see the reveal, make sure to check out the stream on Friday.

    Well, that's it for tonight, see you in the rest of September!

 End of Week Update - 007

By A.A. Lopez

    I don't know if this week was a lot or if the adrenaline from last week is finally crashing. Oh, right forgot to mention: my car got broken into and almost stolen, that was fun. Thankfully, all that was taken was a bag full of camping supplies, and the only damage was to the car door handle and the ignition switch (insurance covered it all). But after that this past week has been a total blur.

    Though I can say for certainty that I did accomplish a lot of the things I set out to do this week. So maybe the tiredness is from trying to do everything all at once. Well, let's actually get into it.

Accomplishments:

• Completed and Delivered the GUI toolset
• Completed the presentation with glowing marks and ready to present next week
• Updated the name of my chrome extensions to UNL and ACP (Updated Notes Log and Airtable CSV Parser)
• CC Tool... This one had some alterations so it's now a Pathway maker, but I did get the folder ready along with two different UI mockups
• Also, also learned how to create functional buttons in Lucid, so now the UI mockup acts like the actual extension would

    And looking back at the SoW for this week, I did everything I set out to do. Yeesh, no wonder I'm tired, and on top of that had to handle 3 different specialty projects, give a full rundown of some rulesets to the higherups, and even advocate to keep a legacy program around longer because we ran into a huge problem that almost caused a delay for something due in 4 days. Gods, I'm tired.

    Well, I'm heading back to my parent's this weekend and spending time up there for the rest of the week there. So a lot of the projects I'm working on for this blog will be on hold until I get back. Though I will tease that I'm going to try something experimental when I get back in September. I'll most likely post a SoW and EoW for next week, but maybe they'll just be "I'm alive" posts.

    With that said, I'm out, peace.

LESSON OF THE WEEK: Adrenaline and caffeine are the devil's plaything and eyes' worst nightmare.

 Start of Week Update - 007

By A.A. Lopez

    Man, I really have a bad habit of leaving weekly blogs alone for too long. Probably should try harder to stick to a schedule; maybe put an alarm on my phone or something. Anyways, let's break down what's been happening and what the plan is for this week.

    Finally, release the Notes extension to my team in general. The downside is that my boss, his boss, and side-boss all don't like the name I gave it. They want a more marketable name for the extension, so I have to think of something before Thursday after next, when I do a presentation for the global team. So that'll be a part of my workload this week.

    Oh, and the GUI for the other toolset is finally complete. The only problem is that packaging it has become a hassle due to its needing output folders. However, I got the okay from the dev who made the code that I can junk that feature and update it to go straight to the /Downloads folder. Once I do that, I should be able to package on a Mac, but I will have to do some finagling to make it an .exe file for Windows.

    Then I have another toolset being asked by another team for an extension that reads .xls/.xlsx files, grabs certain columns, then compares/contrasts them against a directory to see if the names and filetypes match, and spits out a .csv report. I already finished the pseudo-code and flowchart for that one. I just need to create the base output for the .csv report, and then I can get started on making the thing.

    So my week is heavy with projects, along with my standard workload. Not that I mind, but I would like it if I could get some recognition beyond the accolades of some folks. At the very least, I can put the schematics and flowcharts here (redacted of any sensitive materials related to my work). Hopefully, someone might see it and be impressed with the things I've been working on... Though being this scatterbrained probably isn't the best.

    Anyways, let's break down this week:

• Monday
• Finish the Toolset GUI repackaging
• Create a skeleton of the presentation
• Name dev for the notes extension
• Begin the groundwork for the new Extension Compare/Contrast toolset
• Tuesday
• Have a meeting about the presentation
• Deliver the GUI toolset to the team
• Name dev
• Wednesday
• Presentation prep
• Name dev
• Thursday
• Have a folder ready for the CC Toolset
• Send the presentation for review
• Friday
• Relax

    Looking at this is having my heart racing, but I'm confident I can get this all done during my alloted time. Let's just hope nothing bad happens in the meantime.

End of Week Update - 006

By A.A. Lopez

    This is the actual EoW update for this week. Gods, I did a lot this week, and yet I did basically nothing at the same time. Or at least that's how it always feels when it comes to Sundays, especially if it's 3 in the afternoon and the only thing you've seen outside your apartment is the local 7-11 for an apple and some Monster.

    But in all honesty, I did do quite a bit. Heck, looking at just my posts today, I worked on nearly all of my would-be nice list. And while I don't have it listed, I also have the GUI done for the coworker's tool. Actually, let's break down what happened this week.

Tool GUI

    For the coworker's toolset, I went ahead and created a PyQt5 GUI that uses his JavaScript, allowing for a modular design and updates. Even did some UI design work, focusing on the color schemes and design. Ended up using Adobe XD as a playground for designing instead of using Lucid this time.

    Honestly, for full design, XD is nice, but I think I'll keep to Lucid for mockups since it helps to get the color palette section with the UI designs as well. I ended up having 20+ PNG files of the same UI with slightly different colors.

Silver Forest

    If you haven't seen the recent update for the Logging extension, it's nearly done. I've had quite a few updates thanks to the users giving me feedback. And testing it out on my own, it seems to be running pretty well so far. I'm hopeful that I'll have this out to the rest of the team by August.

OST Detection

    I have an Alpha user testing this script out. She's found quite a few bugs that seem to be popping up due to the skip ability, as well as a static bug function I placed in there. My main concern is timing and processing power over the use of the skip. I think I'll provide her with 3 versions: 1 with no-frame skip, 1 with 5 5-frame skip, and 1 with a 10-frame skip.

    But she seems adamant that this is a helpful tool even as it is right now. And suggested bulk uploads for the application. If I did do that, I'd probably go with a staggered upload, similar to how things like Steam will update in order rather than concurrently.

Project://JUNO

    I've made a few leaps and bounds here. Mostly with getting the flowchart logic for the sign-up and login complete. As well as laying out the idea of JUNO in a clear, concise way in a devlog, which should have been the first step, but better late than never.

WT: Thrift Tycoon

    This game got a devlog and some actual practical code created. It did take up most of my time on Friday and Saturday. But I think I addressed this in my devlog. I do think this is something fun to work towards, and can't wait to see it unfurl.

    As for everything else (Caps Cleaner R and Full), they are sidelined for a bit. Not because I don't want to do them, but because I need to put something on the shelf while I stretch myself to the point Mr. Fantastic is jealous. 

    But to end on a more level-headed note, I really have put a lot of work into these things, even if I couldn't see it while I was doing so. Oftentimes, I think I'm being lazy or not doing that much, that I'm just blowing smoke. Yet, when I look back, I do way too much for one person. No wonder people tell me that I have way too much on my plate; when it's as full as this, you can't even see the plate anymore.

    So I think this upcoming week I'll focus on Silver Forest and OST Detection. Until the next one!

Lesson of the Week: Recognize when you do a lot

End of Week Update - 005

 No update, just making this to keep the numbering convention consistent between EoW and SoW updates.