Chris-
I agree. We'll all make it. We only have till Monday, and if you look, the updates are still being made, albeit much slower than usual. I believe that Bryan is entitled to some time off, and you and I both know that. I've noticed that he works and works and works, and he doesn't make a dime!
You know he's expecting 30-someodd messages after this posting, and by the looks of it...
I hope he enjoys his vacation. We'll all be VERY glad when he returns.
XaVIëR

Just wondering, but when is he coming back?

Where is Bryan??????

ahh i hate this im going crazy I NEED UPDATES ahhh

ohh look the people from the funny farm came and the have a nice jacket to keep my warm
bye bye im gonna try on my jaacket now

Are you sure that there is no one that can take over for you? Are there going to be any updates at all while you are gone? Just wondering.
Pat

He wrote that news message right before he left this morning. He told me there would be no updates to ticalc.org till next Sunday or Monday.

The problem is not so much as we can't physically cover for him. The problem is that Bryan has a methodology, and if we jump in we will screw up his work. Sorry...

What about if it is a semi-emergency? The current version of Picross 82 v1.0b will randomly crash your calc. I rushed its released when I found out Bryan was going on vacation. I have since fixed the problem. Do you think you could upload a current zip?

Fixed version is now in the ticalc.org archives.

Why not have Bryan "train" another staff member? That way when something like this happens there will be a backup person to do the job the way Bryan wants it done.

Actually, that is something we plan to have done :-)
However, Bryan is currently working on a major overhaul of some of the internal parts (data-wise) of the file archives. Stepping in now would probably mean that he'd have to redo a lot of things - not something we'd like to inflict on him.

I will have to do that when I leave the ticalc.org team. But I don't have any vacations planned over a day long for the next year or two.

Hmm, this sux... What will the Ti-Files and other sites do for News and updates now!?! Oh My God!!! hehe, well this is where they usually get 'em... Anyways, this is gonna suck for a week. But then on next Sunday, there will be like 30 updates. Wont that be fun... =P

It's strange, the same week there are no updates on ticalc, there are no updates on the Ti-Files. Some guy on the ti-files is moving into his dorm this week (yeah, right) and there will be no updates on the ti-files.

Hey Don't di DJackal. I'm sure he really is moving back to his dorm. He is a colledge student and lots of people are going back to school around now. -InFuZeD

Come on guys... He deserves a vacation don't you think? They have had over 25,000,000 hits!! He don't even get paid. We just better hope that he doesn't stay out on his vacation too long =8-)

I don't understand why you guys don't put banners on your site I would click on it even if I wasn't interested in what they were advertising. If you guys would put a banner on, you should go to ValueClick they give some of the best rates to sites that get a lot of visits (your 25,000,000).

Actually, I think that most people (back me up here! ;) hate banners and I have several friends who actually avoid 'banner sites' because it's almost always taken to excess. A single banner at the top of the news page would be fine, but it wouldn't really affect the TIcalc.org financial situation any. Any more than that, and people will start avoiding the site, I think.

Just out of couriosity, what is the TIcalc Financial situation? how do you guys stay above the proverbial water?

The ticalc.org project is a non-profit organization. That is the very definition of the .org domain. The only real cost we have is the price of the domain name, which is minimal. The computer and connection have been donated for our use.

Not having banners or advertisements is what makes this site stand out from the rest of the calculator sites (among other things). I'm positive they would have much less traffic if they started advertising.

If ticalc.org was really having financial difficulties, I'm sure Texas Instruments would donate the necessary equipment to keep this site online.

Speaking of banners I just found this nifty little firewall program that can block them out (along with cookies and any other incoming or outgoing data packets that you do not authorize). It's called @Guard and can be downloaded at www.atguard.com. You can try it for 30 days before it expires.

The site looks great with no ads, and I think most people agree. We have considered putting banners up before, but thought it was unnecessary and would look bad. We may change our minds if we need the money or TI wants to advertise on our site. :)

its 25,000,000 FILES SERVED not 25,000,000 hits....

Thanks, I do need a vacation once in a while. But I always hate all the updates that pill up and never get done until I get back.