So I’ve cancelled my WoW subscription. I knew it was going to happen. Hell, I’ve cancelled it twice before now and this is number three. In the cancellation form, there is a space for additional comments, so I decided to start writing. Apparently the form won’t accept anything over a certain character limit because every time I tried to submit the form, I got some odd behavior. (Oh believe me, I tried different browsers, toggled javascript on and off – no dice).

I figured the third-best thing is to post what I was going to send to Blizzard and Activision to Pie-Hole (with the second-best somehow getting this to their customer service department). Without further ado, the letter follows after the fold. (more…)

In short, I like it.

I think I like it simply because I can breathe easier when making changes. I’m such a pack-rat and Mercurial allows me to go back to a previous revision if I need something. This is a feature of all source control software though. I have yet to use some of the more advanced features of the system though, so I don’t think I can give it a fair assessment. It touts being able to merge like a dream, but the need hasn’t arisen.

The projects I work on aren’t sprawling, but they are a bit more than my brain can keep track of. With a development team of one, the main feature of keeping track of changes and having (even simply a local) repository is enough for me at this point.

In the past, when I would talk about something mercurial, I would usually be referring to “Martha,” my Fighter/Barbarian’s prized sword. It, being so awesome, would take up more than the allotted space for ‘Weapon Name’ on a Dungeons & Dragons character sheet and I would have to write “Keen Masterwork Mercurial Greatsword +2 of Flaming Burst” in the margins.

But no, that’s not what I’m referring to today. Version/Source Control is a problem that’s tough for me to get working in an easy setting. Whenever I get the urge to program at home or even as part of special projects at work, I operate without a formal version control system; I have to use a hill-billy backup system. It works, but that’s like saying hammering a nail with the heel of your shoe works.

JoelOnSoftware pointed to over to Mercurial, a new kind of version control system that is different than other systems. It looks like it is built for teams of more than one, but it also looks like it’s super easy to setup and use – perfect for me! I’ll be giving it a go to see how well it works. Hopefully I’ll like it, and I’ll endeavor to report back on it.

It has certainly been awhile hasn’t it?

I am now so unladen with work at my job that I am bored. I now have long stretches of time in which I have nothing to do other than wait for something to come into my inbox. Sure I could certainly dive into some code, but the stretches of time aren’t nearly long enough for my concentration to coalesce into anything useful before getting snapped back to the reality of talking to someone on the phone.

Things have changed for Steve quite dramatically than what they were before, and I should be able to get into that as long as these stretches of time continue to be lengthy.

I’ve been bothered by my latest project. Without going into detail, it’s a web-based programming project that leverages MySQL and PHP. I know how to design and code, but I’ve hit a wall of… I don’t want to say creativity, more like, philosophy. There’s a problem, and it may not be a problem at all, that I simply don’t have a solution to. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of time.

I wish I could discuss the project here more, but I’m well aware it breaks a lot of license agreements. The goal is to make something cool to show off to people and impress them with my ability to make a finished product. It is not intended for a wide release, but I won’t rule it out entirely. I also want to use and rely on it myself, and making it web-accessible is a major plus.

Usually, when a programmer makes an app, it works great, but looks like shit. Don’t ask an artist to make an app. Just don’t. I must not be an artist, but I know I’m not a programmer. Ame tells me I’m a designer at heart, but nobody wants just an “idea man.” Sometimes I advertise myself as a “jack of all trades,” and keep to myself the rest of the phrase: “master of none.”  I fully expect the more intelligent people to whom I give that line to breathe in what I say and internally mumble my own omission in unison.

Perhaps I need a new slogan that still says, “hey this guy can do an awful lot of things pretty damn well. He can put out fires, and even build water towers.” A horrible analogy, but hey, I’m flying by the seat of my pants here.

So that’s me talking about the app, and around the app, but like I said, I wish I could go into more detail about what the app actually is. More on the snag though: it’s like I don’t know how to think about the problem at hand. The least bad solution I can come up with is to put the problem aside and keep working on the things I do know how to solve. That thought keeps me less discouraged, and that may just be the pick-me-up I need to continue. Something else encouraging is I have a couple friends that know how to think like I need to think, and they’re quite approachable, even if they have to dumb things down to my level.

When I fret about the fact I can’t solve a problem, especially an important one (not just struggling with a particularly difficult Sudoku), I question my whole ability as a human to function in society. In some ways I need to chill out and relax, but I take so few things seriously, that I fear my entire motivation to do anything would collapse. I get so caught up in the problem though, that I get cranky and depressed, worst of all distracted and inattentive – and that’s never a good thing, especially when it negatively effects into other areas of life.

By the time this post goes live, hopefully I’ll be back in the swing of things, and banging away on the project.