Why Donate?

By SkiJunkie

Monday, July 23, 2007

I've gotten some emails about this so let me clear up some confusion.

A lot of people do not realize that SkiJunkie (me) and the JavaBbowl Software are not affiliated or tied to the FUMBBL.COM website or Christer, the owner of FUMBBL. I have added features into the software to allow the FUMBBL system to work with jbb (as well as other sites such as FRANCEBLOODBOWL.COM) but we are not connected. Anything donated to FUMBBL.COM does not get to SkiJunkie, and likewise anything donated here does not get to FUMBBL.

Christer requests donations to help keep the FUMBBL site running and league software updated.

Skijunkie requests donations to help JavaBbowl, Java Dungeon Bowl, and hopefully other freeware products get updated. Without updates to JavaBbowl sites such as FUMBBL.COM and FRANCEBLOODBOWL.COM get no new in game features.

"SkiJunkie has always turned down donation offers before.  Why's he accepting them now?"

There are a few reasons. None of them involve me trying to get rich. :-) All the projects I have done, and hopefully will continue to do, will remain freeware. Donations are welcome but completely voluntary.  If you don't donate, please continue to enjoy my work guilt free. 

There is still a lot more I'd like to get done. I really want to get a working networked Dungeon Bowl client out there, as I have always liked Dungeon Bowl games more than plain Blood Bowl games.  That doesn't mean I'll stop working on the jbb client.  I also have a secret project I have been working on for a while, but I not ready to reveal it. I made the mistake of revealing the Dungeon Bowl client way to early. Heck it was revealed way before jbb was even stable.

So why will donations help and what will they be used for? My machines are old. My video card went out recently on my main machine and I had to buy a new one. It took me a while to find an AGP video card. Do you realize they charge more for old AGP cards then they do for the newer versions using PCIexpress? My main machine runs Windows XP. I have two really old machines, one running Windows 98 and one running Redhat Linux. The Linux machine hosts my CVS repository so I don't lose work. All my hard drives are salvage drives. Plain old EIDE drives with the largest being 30GB and the rest ranging from 6-10GB. Soon Windows Vista will become prevalent. I'll have no way of making sure/fixing jbb against it without being able to run it at home. My first priority would be getting Windows Vista up and running for development on it.

What's been keeping SkiJunkie so busy lately?

The last two years were very busy for me. Some good, some bad. About a year and a half ago my 5 year old 90 pound Labrador retriever suffered what the doctors call a spinal stroke. Apparently this is an extremely rare condition when a piece of cartilage separates from the spine and blocks the flow of blood. He was paralyzed from the mid back down. I spent thousands getting x-rays and cat scans, but the cartilage would not show up on the results, so they could not operate. My only resort was to give him massive doses of steroids and hope the clot dissolved before the condition became permanent. I had to carry the 90 pound dog anywhere he needed to do. The doctors were convinced I should put him to sleep. Miraculously, he did make a stunning recovery. He gets around well now with only a slight limp on his back right leg.  He can't play fetch like he used to, but I am ecstatic he is still around. That was the bad. The good was, two years ago I met my future wife on a ski trip.  A little less than a year ago we were married. Extremely busy, but good, times planning the marriage and combining our lives.  Things have settled down now, so I'm hoping to get back into my programming hobby.  So now that a wife is involved in the finances, it is hard to justify spending money on computer stuff because I want to give away my hard work.  :-)  Anyone out there that is married will know what I mean.

So, I hope everyone has enjoyed the products I've worked so far. I hope you will enjoy new features and products in the future. Donation are appreciated and will help me continue my work, but again they are completely voluntary. Whether you donate or not, continue to enjoy my work.

Take care,

SkiJunkie

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