Morale has improved

This post is an email I just sent to my boss.

Hi Arvin,

The SMS Client ID Changer Utility is working. I intend to release it on Monday. Having finished that project, and due to a bunch of other things, my morale is much improved. I would like to take a crack at upgrading SMS to Delphi 6, assuming you haven't already assigned that task to the Chinese programmers.

I have a new tool to avoid getting depressed on Saturdays: after breakfast, I read the first section of the newspaper, have a coffee, and work on Pygridz. I don't read the rest of the paper until Monday or Tuesday. It worked today, as I did not get depressed.

The other things that presently contribute to my improved morale are: I like my volunteer job at Fred Victor, helping people learn how to use the computers; I'm content with being single, sans girlfriend; I enjoy programming Pygridz using Python; I recently thought of a way to make money from Pygridz; I'm glad I don't have the expense and responsibility of owning a vehicle; I keep track of my expenses, so I know I'm capable (in theory) of living within my means; I have a nice place to live, with a nice view and it's close to the subway and the supermarket; I'm used to our new location on Tomken Road; I'm comfortable financially.

Here is how I can make money from Pygridz. There are 3 types of users: gold, silver, and bronze. Bronze users play for free, the others pay 10 to 18 dollars per year. Gold users have an unlimited no. of game-user configuration records on the game server. Those records have a Game ID, User ID, and an XML structure containing configuration and historical data such as high scores. Silver users are limited to 3 of those records, and bronze users have only one. Bronze users can share only their user name, and no other data in their user profiles, with other users. I can also make money from selling advertising.

Since Pygridz is open source, I can recruit people with spare time, such as students, to assist in its development. If Pygridz doesn't make money, I will recruit someone to be the co-project leader, and I will continue working 2 or 3 days per week at APROM. If Pygridz does make money, then I will be the sole project leader and, with your permission, my only APROM duties from then on will be doing software releases, writing/maintaining setup scripts, and writing manuals. That's a long ways off, of course, as it will probably take me 2 years or more to develop Pygridz.

I'm going to have a 3rd cup of coffee and relax on the couch. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

MH