scraping untappd because they ignored my email

I spent the entire day working on a new project that might actually make some money in the future, but I had to start by hitting a wall. The core of the idea is analyzing Untappd data to show breweries how people perceive their beer, how their products compare to each other, and who their recurring customers are. The problem is that Untappd does not allow open access to their API. I followed their instructions and sent a polite message to the email address they listed, but they completely ignored me. Since they decided to be silent, I decided to find another way. They have public RSS feeds that contain exactly what I need, so I spent hours writing code to collect and parse that feed data. It is a slow process, and it is definitely going to take more than a single day to finish, but I am determined to make it work.

While the coding felt productive, the rest of my day was a complete mess. I did not exercise, I did not talk to anyone, and my diet was lazy. I boiled some rice and potatoes and had two identical meals using premade Kurzeme stroganoff, once with the rice and once with the potatoes. Eating heavy, processed food like that does not make you feel good, and it left me feeling sluggish and tired. I noticed that when I get hooked on a technical problem, I immediately throw my physical health out the window. I procrastinated on my habits because parsing XML and thinking about databases felt much more exciting than cooking a proper meal or moving my body. I need to recognize this pattern because sacrificing my health for a few hours of extra code is a bad trade.

Tomorrow, I will cook a real meal with fresh ingredients and get out of the house for some exercise. I am going to continue working on the Untappd collector, but I will do it without letting my physical habits slide.