1/4/2009 - 2:15 PM EST

Hey Guys!

I made some sire fixes this week. If you still see anything wrong, let me know and I’ll roll them into next week’s fixes.

I’ve received several e-mails about sires shuttling between the US and Australia. I may do something to try and “shuttle” them back and forth in the game but, for now, they will be standing in whichever place they are now listed.

I was going to release the extended stakes schedule today, but will wait one more week to do so. The reason :

The dynamics of the stakes schedule will be changing pretty dramatically this season. I am still wrangling with how to accommodate the new added grade races without making a “flood” of grade races in aggregate (especially considering the number of grade races purchased). I am also considering reducing the number of weekly, open stakes races run due to other changes I have planned in the short term (yes… I DO have some new things in the works for the HR game.. amaazing what a little schedule flexibility will do ;). All in all, it just seems to make more sense to wait another week and “massage” the schedule a bit more before releasing it.

Thanks guys!

--Mike

12/28/2008 - 10:35 PM EST

I'll probably be finished updating closer to 11:30 PM EST. I've had some problems uploading, and have had to do some jiggering to get things up in a timely fashion. As always, if you see anything, let me know ASAP.

Sorry for the delay.

--Mike

12/28/2008 - 8:45 PM EST

Hey Guys!

Well.. we’re almost rolled over! Adding and rating the sires was especially challenging this year, with over 1400 new sires added and over 5000 current sires rerated for the upcoming year. I am sure I missed a few, and probably have a few still standing that are pensioned or deceased. I will happily fix any mistake I made that is brought to my attention, but please try to understand the enormity of this process and that mistakes are not due to a lack of caring or diligence on my behalf.

I am going to leave the updating light on for a while this evening after the upload is done. If you see any problems after 9:30 PM EST, let me know ASAP; the quicker I know, the easier it is for me to fix. If I don’t hear anything, I’ll probably flip the light off around 10:30 PM EST. If any major problems pop up, I’ll post an update.

Even though they are “pre-January” races, RODOTS on Tuesday will be run with the ages on file. In other words, all horses have aged as of this update.

Special races will likely be updated next weekend. A very dedicated play has gone through great lengths to improve the upcoming special race schedule. I appreciate the help, and am very happy with the results.

A few sire notes :

Below is a list (in alphabetical order) of some of the highest rated new sires:

BIG BROWN
CURLIN
DAIWA MAJOR (JPN)
DUKE OF MARMALADE (IRE)
HENRYTHENAVIGATOR
RAVEN'S PASS

Below are a list of some of the sires that have been upgraded :

ADJUDICATING
DANSILI
FALBRAV
HUSSONET
INVINCIBLE SPIRIT
MEDICIAN
OASIS DREAM
SPECIAL WEEK
STREET CRY
TIZNOW

Good luck in 2009!

--Mike

12/24/08 - 5:45 PM EST

Happy Holidays!

Tonight's update is expeted to be on time. That being said, I will be at a family Christmas Party and will be doing the upload remotely, so something could occur. If all works well, however, races will be up at the normal time.

Thanks!

--Mike

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The sires are on schedule and should be added this weekend. The Sunday, December 28 update, may take a while, however, as we are rolling over to a new year. Don't be alarmed if the update takes well into the evening, and maybe into Monday.

Once again : ALL ACTIVE TWELVE YEAR OLDS RETIRE AT THE END OF THIS WEEK. BREED THEM THIS WEEK IF YOU WANT TO USE THEM. Also, HORSES WILL ALL AGE NEXT WEEK. IF YOU BREED A 2 YEAR OLD THIS WEEK, IT WILL BE 3 AFTER THE UPDATE!

Finally (and I mention this as a follow up to a previous post), the company I was possibly going to contract for at the begining of the new year has been taken over by the state they are located in. That means that, in all likelihood, I will be unemployed starting January 1st. As anyone that tries to support a family of six will attest to, this turn of events does not bode well for my bottom line. But there is a bright side : at least it will free me up to work on those improvements / additions to the horse racing game some people have been clamoring for! ;)

--Mike

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hello!

I just wanted to touch base with everyone about upcoming improvements, etc.

First off, I will be moving part of the horse racing operations out of my home and to a server in Texas within the next few weeks. The bandwidth is much faster (about 30x), and this will hopefully speed up some things as well as correct the database problems we run into every few weeks. It will increase the cost of running the game, but not as much as obtaining my own T1 line ($450 / month was the cheapest I was quoted for that, which didn’t include initial installation or router costs).

Secondly, for those that haven’t been around at year-end before, December is a busy month from my end. Adding, removing, rating, and re-rating sires for the game is a painstaking task. I will begin this process today, and expect it to take the majority of my free time throughout the rest of the year.

Also, I wanted to keep you guys updated on my current "workload":

As many of you know, I began working a full-time contract job in June 2008. I initially signed on through August, but am now contracted through the end of the year. If all works out, I will be signing another contract with a different company in January. Although my preference would be to pour those hours into SimulatedSports.com instead, it’s just not financially reasonable to do at this point in my life.

That being said, the faster bandwidth we are obtaining will allow me to make a couple of quick additions and changes that people have been requesting without getting into the full blown rewrite I started on before my recent contract obligations.

So I better get started on rating sires. Thanks to everyone that is sending me information about sires (especially the South American, South African and Europrean sires). If there are any Australian players that want to send me additional information, I’ll definitely incorporate it.

Thanks!

--Mike

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 6:30 PM EST

Hi Players!

I am posting this across 3 games, so there's some information not everyone is interested in.

Everyone: I am taking a vacation next week and will not be in town. This will affect my ability to run all games to some degree. I will be checking in on the games several times a day but, since many databases run from home and I won't be there, it's possible that resetting a downed database may take longer than usual.

Horse Racing : Typical Sunday update that would have taken place on October 26th will take place Saturday October 25th, several hours after the regular Saturday update. It won't occur before 7:00 PM EST. Also, there will be No RODOTS next week. Races will be pulled in Wednesday as usual. The Saturday, November 1 update will occur late Saturday (probably around 6:00 PM EST).

Football : Games will run regularly through Saturday, October 25th. I will then run a set of games on Wednesday. If you are in a league that plays games from Sunday - Wedesday, you will play a game Wednesday night (only one game, however). I will then get home and run a game Saturday, November 1st. So any league that plays a game between Thursday - Saturday will play a game Saturday evening (again, only one game). On Sunday, schedules will be normalized. Any player that has pay options active on Sunday, November 2nd will get 2 weeks free.

Basketball : I will be running the Saturday, October 25th update earlier than usual; I expect to begin processing it between 9:00 AM EST and 10:00 AM EST. I will then run no games next week, and get back on schedule Monday, November 3rd.

Thank you for your understanding. When I return, I will be posting a message about upgrade schedules for all of the games. I have been working a full time contract job for a couple of months now, so I haven't had the time to perform upgrades as quickly as I had hoped. I haven't forgotten about you guys, though. ;)

Thanks!

--Mike

10/5/2008 - 5:00 PM EST

A couple of quicky notes :

Open mare breeding starts TONIGHT. I'll narrow it down for you : it starts between 10:25 PM and 10:35 PM gametime. Note that not ALL mares start at the opening time!

I will be in front of the PC if anything goes wrong. I believe last year went pretty smoothly but, since this only happens once a year in the code, it's hard to snuff out any bugs that might exist. If you do run into any problems, contact me ASAP and I will try and rectify it to the best of my ability.

Also, a vacation note :

I will NOT be running RODOTS the week of my vacation (October 26 - November 1st) Again, there may be a few schedule modifications that week; I'll know once we get closer.

Thanks for your patience again during the last few weeks! You may see a short outage here or there as I am jockeying computers to their new homes, but I will try to keep the outages as brief as possible.

--Mike

11:00 AM EST – 9/29/2008

Well.. we’re back!

I would like to apologize again for the trouble. My powerseeding neighbor ended up running over the buried phone line running from my home to the box at the front of my yard. The chord should have been buried better initially, but was just barely under the sod. So that caused this outage.

As a "sorry" bonus, all horses will be 50% off this week. That includes credit AND point breeding at ANY price level. It’s just a way of saying thanks for your continued support and patience during this most recent outage.

Schedule Changes for the week :

I am moving a few things forward due to the most recent outage –

Today will act a lot like Sunday; I will update the game to roll over the new week

Tuesday RODOT races will be moved to Wednesday

Saturday race pull ins (normally on Wednesday) will be moved to Thursday at 6:00 PM EST

After Thursday, I believe everything else will be on schedule.

Open mare breeding starts next week. I think we solved any problems last year we had with them, but I’ll be around when it goes off just incase.

Thank again.. and I am once again sorry. I realize owe the people that support the games as positive an experience as I can, and admit the last few weeks have been less than stellar. Once again, I will look into alternatives to try and reduce / eliminate potential problems like this going forward.

--Mike

9/15/2008 (Please be sure to read the previous note on open mare breeding if you missed it) Good news! We’re up! I was already up when the power was on around 6:30 AM EST, so I’m banging away over here. I’m running yesterday’s update as we speak, and hope to have everything hunky-dory by noon or so. THE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS. That includes RODOTS races. Yea.. I realize it’s going to be tight this week, but we’ll tough through it. Thanks for your understanding! --Mike

September 14, 2008

A note on the open Mare Breeding :

Open mare breeding begins on October 5th 2008. Much like last year, any retired mare belonging solely to a stable (or stables) that have NOT run a race between January 1, 2008 - September 13th 2008 will be eligible to be bred to between this date and the New Year. The status of the mares will be updated after the update today

IMPORTANT : If you own a stable with retired mares in it that has not run a race during this period of time (this INCLUDES running since that time but not during), PLEASE CONTACT ME SO I CAN SET YOUR MARES ACCORDINGLY. If you do not, people CAN breed to your retired mares.

Also, a note on an upcoming vacation :

The wife and I plan on taking a week off in late October to take Mia and Ben to Disneyworld. I have a friend that got his mitts on a free condo for a week and offered to share it with us, so it's something we just couldn't turn down. :) I will be posting updates as that time approaches nearer, but I just wanted to warn everyone that I ma7y have to scoot races around during that period. I will do everything I can to ensure the Breeder's Bowl races are run as scheduled.

Thanks!

--Mike

8/29/2008 - 9:00 AM

Hey guys!

I may have a day off from my “real job” and, if I do, I’ll spend at least several hours working on some changes to the website.

As mentioned, one of my initial goals (and one of the trickiest) is to get the game “database friendly.” That will require a lot of boring coding that won’t appear to be showing immediate results. As I make changes to the current pages, I’ll likely be “prettying” them up a little bit as well; the functionality won’t be changing much (if at all) during this phase. So at least you’ll know I’m working. ;)

If you see any problems, feel free to let me know ASAP using the contact button on the main Smartacre.com page.

Thanks!

--Mike

8/17/2008 - 12:30 AM EST

I will be starting this Sunday's update sometime between 10:30 AM and 11:00 AM EST. This is up to an hour and a hlaf earlier than usual. This is necessary, as I will be away during that time.

I will try to kick off the uploads remotely. If I can, that means things should be done at about the same time as usual. If not, things may be a little later than usual tomrrow as well.

On a positive note : you have probably see the new horse stats. Although it may seem like a "nice addition", it actually signals the begining of the database rewriting process. Once more files get transferred, the rewriting should move along much more smoothly. :) Sorry for the late notice. :/

--Mike

7/19/2008 - Noon EST

I am working remotely today, and have quite a few things to check and fix before ending the update. In other word : the update will be later than usual tonight. Sorry for the delay.

--Mike

7/13/2008 - 4:00 PM EST

If anyone bid on races last week, could you do a quick check and make sure they look ok? I think everything is fine but, with that odd-ball message showing up, I wanted to double cehck before flipping the switch. If it looks messed up, please let me know by clicking here

I also believe I have the "active credits" problem solved. If you see a problem there, let me know.

If all looks well, I'll be flipping on the active switch in a couple of hours. Thanks! --Mike

br> 7/12/2008 - 5:30 AM EST

If you are getting this error when bidding races :

PLEASE E_MAIL MIKE! TELL HIM THERE ARE TOO MANY ACTIVE RACES AND TELL HIM WHAT TRACK AND WEEK YOU WERE BIDDING FOR.

..don't worry about it. It looks to be related with the things I had to jerk around last week during the file corruption problem. If you receive it next week or any following week, however, please report it.

I'll also be fixing the "live credits" misreporting tomorrow during the update.

Thanks guys!

--Mike

7/11/2008 - 9:15 AM EST

Hey Guys / Gals!

The problems from the weekend have caused a couple of little issues with the "live credits" and possibly the future bid races. Nothing major, but I may have to turn the update light on for a few minutes later today. Anyway...

The football game has been officially released! If you haven't checked it out lately, you can give it a shot at :

http://deeproute.com

Yes, you can play for FREE! I’m sure I’ll have a few fires to put out here and there, but the major development is complete. That means I’m back to the horse racing rewrite!

Over the course of the last 6 months or so, the major concern that keeps coming up is about tools and whether or not they will interact with the rewrite. I have pondered on this for a long period of time now, and know it to be the biggest obstacle in the rewriting process (and one that will not be easily rectified).

One thing tool users need to understand : some parts of the game are simply changing, and some tools will simply not make sense anymore. Breeding, for instance, should occur in real time at some point in the future as well as have different options than currently exist. The betting process is being completely overhauled. Jockeys will likely move from track to track on their own, and the entire jockey process is likely going to be redone (primarily to eliminate most of the work that currently goes into it.. that’s welcome news I’m sure..). Updates will occur in real time.

I do have some well thought ideas of how to allow race signups to stay the same for weekend races (though maybe not the daily races I plan on adding) while making the changes necessary on my end. That should allow people the ability to use the “race manager” tools that are currently available.

So while I have received many great ideas about ideas, my first hurdle is to attack the file layout and game layout, and make the transition from the “old” game to the “new” game as smooth as possible. After I do, I will be able to work on the details.

Thanks!

--Mike

7/6/2008 – 9:45 PM EST

Hey Guys!

I think I have the races fixed. I had to bump a couple of races that hadn’t been entered yet off the card. This included a couple of marginal stakes races and one bid race that would have been bumped had the file not gotten corrupt (which I refunded) but, all in all, I was able to keep all current race entries, auction entries, weekly race purchases / bids, and breedings.

I have also updated the credit file so that all credits should now be accurate. If you see a minstake, please let me know ASAP and I will check it for you.

Thanks for your patience and understanding! Let me know via e-mail the contact link on the Smartacre.com main page if there are any problems.

--Mike

7/6/08 -- 6:45 PM EST

A couple of quick notes :

One of my files got corrupt on a download. I didn’t know about it until now.

This file did two things :

1 ) Credits listed may be incorrect. Most credits bought or spent last week are not being shown correctly at this moment.
2 ) Some of the races are missing and some are miscarded for the week.

I have backups of the file, so it shouldn’t be a big deal in terms of tracking down the changes. At the moment, I am doing what I can to resolve it ASAP. I am putting the “UPDATE” light on until I can. It may take several hours to resolve.

Sorry for the problems. :/

--Mike

6/1/08 - 9:15 PM EST

As a “thanks for understanding and helping" (see below if you are wondering about what), I will be running another breeding special this month.

All credit AND point scratch breds that would normally be less than 500 point/credits will be half off for the month of June.

Thanks again for understanding! We're not 100% resolved yet, but we're close. Please let anyone you know having troubles know about the alternate URL's to log in.

--Mike

(if you know anyone that can't get to the site, please let them know about this. Thanks --Mike)

These MAY work to some degree (not sure about the message boards) PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW IF THESE WORK FOR YOU! :

DerbyFever Alternate URL

DerbyFever Alternate URL #2

DriveTheLane Alternate URL

The most recent information - no ETA for fix yet

Update from ThePlanet.com on 6/1/08 (Our Webhost)

This evening at 4:55pm CDT in our H1 data center, electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and fire that knocked down three walls surrounding our electrical equipment room. Thankfully, no one was injured. In addition, no customer servers were damaged or lost.

We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator plan based on instructions from the fire department.

This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are working around the clock.

We are in the process of communicating with all affected customers. we are planning to post updates every hour via our forum and in our customer portal. Our interactive voice response system is updating customers as well.

There is no impact in any of our other five data centers.

I am sorry that this accident has occurred and I apologize for the impact.
-Kevin Hazard

5/31/08 - 11:00 PM EST

If we appeared down this evening, I'm sorry. Our webhsot (ThePlanet.com) had a fire on site. It appears to be affecting the DNS resolution to the sire for some folks. If you know anyone that is trying to get on but can't please let them know.

Sorry about that; I think (hope) things will be fine tomorrow.

--Mike

5/6/2008

First off, I’d like to thank everyone that came out for the gathering; as always, it was a lot of fun! Being able to put names with faces always makes the sim more personal, and reconnecting with old acquaintances is equally enjoyable. I have credited everyone for the money they spent that I had information on. If you spent money at the gathering and I haven’t credited you yet, drop me an e-mail with the amount you spent.

Also, the sim will epxerience downtime on May 10, 2008. From ThePlanet.com (my host) :

“As we continue to update our systems to provide you with the industry's best support tools, we are scheduling a maintenance window for the Orbit and ServerCommand customer portals. This upgrade lays the foundation for new Orbit functionality that we will announce in the coming months.

To complete this upgrade, there will be a scheduled Orbit and ServerCommand outage on May 10, 2008, beginning at 11 p.m. CDT. We'll do our best to minimize downtime; however, we anticipate the outage could last as long as seven hours.”

I’m obviously at their mercy, but the good news is that their previous outages have been pretty minimal.

Thanks guys!

--Mike

4/28/2008 - 3:00 PM EST

A player noticed that points used during breedings last week were not subtracted from their point total. This was due to me having to pull from the previous week's backup file. The points for those breedings will be removed within the next hour, resulting in the site showing the proper amount of points a player has.

--Mike

4/27/2008

As part of the rewrite, I tried to swap out PC's this week and introduced a small problem in regards to stables. It should be resolved with the update here in about an hour. Go ahead and enter races; it shouldn not affect this part of the game at all.

The good news : going forward, updates should process quite a bit faster. Actually, the biggest bottleneck now is the upload, which will be shortened soon as well. So we had a small growing pain today, but it should mean better things going forward. :)

Sorry about that.

--Mike

4/21/2008

Hola mi amigos!

The 2008 DerbyFever Kentucky Derby Gathering is near.. and it’s moving!

This year we will meet at El Nopal. It’s very close to the place we have met in the past, but the food is better, the beer is cheaper, and they have margaritas… a win-win-win situation.

Please send me a message through this link if you think you can make it. I’ve told them between 20-40 people, which is too many or too few depending on the gatherings in the past. The restaurant would like to know. :)

As always : You will receive 100 credits for the horse racing game for each $1.00 you spend at the restaurant on food and beverage!

The gathering will take place on the night before the Kentucky Derby (Oaks Night).. Friday, May 2nd. I will be at the restaurant about 6:00 PM.

The location is :

El Nopal
12613 Taylorsville Road
Louisville, KY 40299
502-240-6022

It is in a strip mall. There is a Kroger in the parking lot, as well as a gas station and another restaurant named BoomBozz (which usually starts having stupid cheap beer specials at 9:30 PM).

Just walk into El Nopal (BoomBozz is later...), tell them you’re with "horse racing party with Mike in the back." They have a semi-enclosed area straight ahead after you enter the restaurant. I’ll be the guy in the #55 White Saints FUJITA jersey.

PLEASE NOTE : There is another El Nopal only a couple of miles up/down the road. The one we will be at has a bar area. If you walk in and cannot find a bar area immediately to your right (you’ll simply see a seating area), you’re at the wrong place. Simply pull back out onto Taylorsville Road and make a left. The new one will be about 2 miles down on your left. If you use the directions below, you should have no problems unless you go way too far. If you end up going down a big hill and back up a big hill and see a helicopter on your right, you've gone too far...

I look forward to seeing some new and old faces alike!

--Mike

Directions :

From I-71 South (Cincinnati)

Take 71 South to Exit 9a - Gene Snyder / I-265 South

Drive about 11 Miles
Take Exit 23 toward Jeffersontown / Taylorsville
At the end of the ramp, turn right… this is Taylorsville Road
El Nopal will be about half a mile down the road on your right in the strip mall

From I-64 West (Lexington)

Take I-64 West to Exit 19a - Gene Snyder / I-265 South
Drive about 3 Miles
Take Exit 23 toward Jeffersontown / Taylorsville
At the end of the ramp, turn right… this is Taylorsville Road
El Nopal will be about half a mile down the road on your right in the strip mall

From I-64 East (St. Louis)

Take I-64 East to Exit 19a - Gene Snyder / I-265 South
Drive about 3 Miles
Take Exit 23 toward Jeffersontown / Taylorsville
At the end of the ramp, turn right… this is Taylorsville Road
El Nopal will be about half a mile down the road on your right in the strip mall

From I-65 North (Nashville)

Take I-65 North to Exit 125-A - Gene Snyder / KY-841 / I-265 East
Drive about 12 Miles
Take exit 23 towards Jeffersontown
At the end of the ramp, turn left… this is Taylorsville Road
El Nopal will be about half a mile down the road on your right in the strip mall

From I-65 South (Indianapolis)

I will give you 2 sets of directions. The quickest is if you make the transfer onto I-64 East immediately after crossing into Louisville. If you do so, simply use the I-64 east directions above at this point.

If you miss that, or prefer not to take that route for some reason :

Continue taking I-65 South
Drive about 10 Miles
Take the Gene Snyder / KY-841 / I-265 East (I think this will be exit 125)
Drive about 12 Miles
Take exit 23 towards Jeffersontown
At the end of the ramp, turn left… this is Taylorsville Road
El Nopal will be about half a mile down the road on your right in the strip mall

Thanks again!

4/12/08

Just a reminder that the update strats tomorrow at 10:00 EST AM (2 hours earlier than usual). Thanks!

--Mike

4/6/08

Next Sunday - April 13th

I will be pulling in breeding, race bids, etc at 10:00 AM EST. This is about 2 hours earlier than I usually do1 that.

Half price breeding for credit horses under 1000 credits is now active! I flipped the switch this morning and everything seems good to go. Sorry about not flipping it last night; i had it programmed in, but had company over until late (Mia's and Ben's Birthday). I put in the 13th instead of the 6th as the starting day in the code.. :/

4/4/08

Hey Guys!

For starters, I wanted to thank longtime player Winterhart for offering to help moderate the board. She’s 10x better than I am, and won’t take nothing off of nobody…so don’t push her! Seriously.. she’s a fair person, and will do an excellent job keeping conversations from getting out of hand. Thanks Winter!

Also, Larry is on vacation through April 12th. So if you have any problems, feel free to contact me directly through the Contact link on the Smartacre.com main page.

Finally, as a thanks for everyone’s understanding over the last couple of weeks of DSL trouble and my football game wrapup :

Starting on Sunday, anyone purchasing a credit horse of less than 1000 credits between then and the end of April will receive a 50% discount! So start breeding (well.. wait until then I s'pose.. ;)!

Thanks again guys!

--Mike

4/1/08 -- Midnight EST

We're keeping our eyes open for MySQL errors. We ran into a couple a few minutes ago. I'm trying to determine if it was a DSL line problem or a computer problem. I rebooted the PC and everything seems ok at the moment. Either way, we have the "task force" on board to call me if things do go down this evening. :)

If I get calls tonight because of MySQL errors, I may have to swap out this servers. If that were to happen, I would likely have to extend entries. I'm hoping it was just a DSL line congestion issue.

--Mike

3/29/08

A few updates on things :

I will be picking a few people to help monitor the site from midnight – 7:00 AM EST this weekend. Thanks to everyone that offered! If you offered and I don’t choose you : please don’t take it personally! I would use everyone, but I probably don’t need 20 people calling when the site goes down. :P Plus there’s a chance that typical, non-related things may keep some people from accessing the site from time to time, which means too many people would just increase the chances of phone calls that may be false alarms. So limiting my number to just a handful seems best (as I really do enjoy sleep… ;)

Football is 99% done. I have one more interface to write for it, and then I’m turning it loose from it’s “beta” status. I assume a few things will pop up, but I don’t expect a lot. So… onto the horse racing rewrite!

I have received quite a few e-mails about my original list of things to include, and have considered all of them. One concern is that I’ll be overreaching, and potentially try “fixing” things simply for the sake of change. After thinking about things, I have to agree on some levels. There are a few things that I believe need adding and modified but, generally speaking, people that play the game do so because they enjoy at least the majority of what it offers. There will be change, but I may back off of some things (at least for now).

The short term fixes :

1 ) Change the message board. The current board, at least the way it is implemented, stinks. I have a nice piece of new forum software (Web Wiz Forums.. written in ASP… my native computer language) that I like and use for the football game. Once I secure a multi-site license for it, I will be converting both the basketball game and horse racing game to it. The trickiest part is going to be to write a converter to move the old message board.

1A ) Create a database login system for both the HR and BB game

2 ) Restructure the PedigreeReport.com database to work better with the horse racing game

3 ) Restructure the current horse racing databases / flatfiles for the upcoming automation

Just wanted to let you guys know what I was up to!

--Mike

7:45 AM - 3/25/08

Hey Guys!

Sorry for the outage late last night. This was unrelated to the one this weekend, but totally related to one earlier in the month. For this reason, I am looking for 3 volunteers that log into the sim regularly between midnight and 7:00 AM EST.

The reason : the game has been getting more traffic than usual, and one of the computers I run a database off of is stressing about the additional traffic. As you’ve seen, the game has gone down twice in the last month due to this increase (and a third time due to an unrelated reason). I am generally around if it goes down at other times, but I’m usually asleep between midnight and 7:00 AM.

All these volunteers would need to do is call me at home or on my cellphone in the event that the game goes down. That way, I can get up and troubleshoot. Generally, all that requires is a quick reboot.

If you are interested, please send me a note through the contact link on the Smartacre.com main page. If I get more than 3 requests, I will try to diversify the locations of the helpers and choose players that have been around longer and log in most often during these times.

Thanks, and sorry for the recent drops of service. I will be shutting down one of my other sites very shortly that connects to the same computer, as well as try to diversify the arrangements of current DBs to circumvent this problem here in the next few weeks. Even then, however, it will be nice to have a backup plan in place.

--Mike

11:15 AM EST – 3/22/08

Ok..we’re up! Not a good experience, but not as bad as it could have been I suppose.

So here’s the new schedule :

Saturday, 4:00 PM EST – Races uploaded; claims will be allowed through 4:00 PM. 3-man, however, is still closing at noon!

Sunday, 5:00 PM EST – pull in race bids, breeding etc.

After that we should be back on out normal schedule! Thanks for your patience (which is easy to say, considering I haven’t been able to check my e-mail… :P).

--Mike

3/9/2008

The site was down last night for about 5 hours due to some connectivy issues. For this reason I am pushing back the time I regularly begin updates from Noon EST to 3:00 PM EST.

Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused. I was sleeping when it happend, and was not aware until I checked on things this morning.

Thanks for your patience!

--Mike

2/5/2008

First off, I’d like to thank everyone for his or her patience during my writing of the football game. The writing process is winding down, and I am hopeful game will be stabilized and online by April, 2008. I would like to extend a special thanks to those that actively participated in the beta; without your help, the game wouldn’t be nearly as far along. For those that participated for a while and quit for one reason or another, I hope you will give the game a second chance once it is complete. Beta testing isn’t for everyone, and a lot of what was going on was “extreme testing.” The final product will offer less complicated versions of the game for those that prefer it, but will offer the “overly detailed” version I was beta testing. Contrary to my initial statements, I will also be offering a pared-down free version upon completion.

Now, onto the important stuff : The DerbyFever.com Rewrite!

Although I haven’t actually worked on improving the current game a lot recently, it’s been nice to step back for a spell and reflect on what is good and what needs improving. Before I can start adding to the game, however, I realize that it is vital that I completely rework the backend of the current game. I have made some strides within the last several years to improve that backbone when possible, but there are still several areas that need complete overhauling during the rewrite.

How and why did this happen? What is available at little to no cost to programmers now is vastly different than what was available when I first started working on the game over 10 years ago. Moreover, although I had been programming for nearly 15 years when I began working on the horse racing game, I was a complete Internet novice, and had no comprehension of how large the game may grow. As the game grew, it became nearly impossible to “stop on a dime” and convert to new methodology without either pausing the game for several weeks or longer or being afforded the time to work on the game full time. Fortunately, the latter is now the case, and I am confident that the game will experience no serious downtime due to the upcoming rewrite and ultimate conversion.

As for improvements, etc, my larger scale goals include :

Further improvement and incorporation of the PedigreeReport.com database
Automatic race updating to allow hourly and daily events
Talks with third party vendors about an improved online and offline viewer
A new approach to breeding which will include the ability to “reserve” breedings for future use, and should also reduce the number of “too many too well bred” horses in the future
A renewed focus on regional / state restricted racing
Private tracks
Improved “betting”, and a possible restructuring of how betting is incorporated into the game
Dialogue with key residencies on how changes may affect residencies and alternatives or restructurings when possible
Dialogue with current “keepers of utilities” on how changes to current structure may affect utilities and alternatives or restructurings when possible
Consider creation of game supported offline utilities to improve overall player experience
Restructuring of sim layout to remove archaic framing structure
Improved “horse transaction” stats
Reworking of current game forum, including search and addition of additional moderators
Research into adding a game “wiki”
Addition of new “per race” stats, including a race recap
Improve incorporation of trainer / horse stats / rankings into game
Addition of Synthtrack racing
Consider addition of other types of races not currently available in the sim
Writing and inclusion of "trouble ticket" software to improve communication stream with me (which, due to the amount of spam I receive in my inbox, has become less reliable recently)
Once stabilized, research and improve current marketing of game

So that’s my partial horse racing rewrite schedule for the upcoming year. I’m sure I’ve missed some.. likely a lot.. of stuff. Primarily, I wanted everyone to know that the beginning of the rewrite is around the corner (planning should begin within the month, and recoding shortly thereafter) , and now’s the time to speak up if you have any “large scale ideas” you think need incorporating within the next 10 years.. ;)

Thanks to all who have supported the game in many ways over the years! Your commitment to the game is appreciated, and the game couldn’t have survived without you guys!

--Mike

1/30/2008

Thanks to everyone that helps support the game through the purchase of credits. Without you guys, our game wouldn't exist. :) Going forward, please make the following adjustments to your purchase methods:

If you have any trouble with purchasing credits using your credit card, please contact us using the contact link on our main Smartacre.com page. You can reach that link by clicking here as well.

If you prefer to purchase credits through regular mail, please send payments to the following NEW PO Box :

Swarmlogic, LLC c/o Mike Wallace
PO Box 991064
Louisville, KY 40269

Also, please make future paypal payments to the following e-mail address:

Thanks again!

1/16/2007

The site will experience some downtime between 1:00 and 5:00 PM EST on January, 24, 2008.

The reason : I am having another DSL line installed in my home. I am going to be proactive to potential traffic snares and start splitting the traffic streams of the horse racing game and the upcoming football game before the football game gets any larger. I also have intentions of moving the horse racing message board to my home servers once the horse racing rewrite begins, and the addition bandwidth will be necessary.

Thanks for your understanding!

--Mike

12/27/2007

Hello everyone!

To those that don’t know, the game rolls over to a new year starting on Sunday. For this reason, I wanted to make a note of several things :

> I will be pulling starting the Sunday update as early as 8:00 AM on Sunday morning. This is to ensure I get the new year rolled over correctly.

> All 12 year olds will be automatically retired on Sunday! Please be sure to breed any before the Sunday update if you want to!

> Horses bred this week will actually be bred one year older than they appear. So, if you breed a 2 year old, you will get a 3 year old. If you breed a 3 year old, you will get a 4 year old.

> I have over 1,000 new sires to add with the weekend update. I have done what I can to verify their accuracy, but there is always the chance for a mistake. Please inform me via e-mail if you see any.

That’s pretty much it for now! Thanks for another great year, and I look forward to another one in 2008!

--Mike

10/27/2007

The server is doing great, but my home DSL line is having trouble suddenly. I'm not sure if it's the overload of traffic the server is getting or if I am being throttled at the sourece, but things are moving slow at the moment. Everything is on the way up - it just may take an extra bit of time. Also, I run the backend of the game from my house, so you may get some database errors as well.

I had to strip out the HTML in the Raceout.zip to get it up right. Not sure what this will cause, but hopefully everything still wokrs OK.

--Mike

10/22/2007

I was unaware of the server dragging over the last couple of days until yesterday as I didn’t experience any problems from my end. Thanks to those that e-mailed; it really is important

The problem had to do with the mail server (again). The current software I had in place has quit working, so I had to contact customer support. Everything seems to be ok now as far as I can tell.

If any e-mail you tried sending to me bounced this morning, please resend it.

Please contact me if you have future problems. Thanks!

--Mike

9/22/2007 - 5:00 PM EST

Thanks to everyone that made the initial World Cup a success!

A special thanks to Revelation , Sabbath, Jockeymax, and Magoo for organizing the teams!

I look forward to the next one in a couple years. Until then, onto the Breeder’s Bowl and ney tears’ Equinics!

--Mike

Overall World Cup Results
Team	Wins	Places	Shows
North American Team	20	19	13
Australian / Far East Team	10	5	9
European Team	6	12	14

Race ID	Race	Finish	Horse ID	Horse	Owner	Team
3350.0310	World Cup Sprint	1	61653	SMOULDERING STREET	magoo2912	Australian / Far East Team
3350.0310	World Cup Sprint	2	73793	TALE OF AUROR	auror	European Team
3350.0310	World Cup Sprint	3	96791	JOURNEY TO JUPITER(IRE)	calle4	European Team
3350.0311	World Cup Long Sprint	1	123706	KETCH(KY)	bigskyfarm	North American Team
3350.0311	World Cup Long Sprint	2	92875	K'S STATE OF MIND	vertigo2	North American Team
3350.0311	World Cup Long Sprint	3	105128	DEATH ALLEY DRIVER	sdmf5	North American Team
3350.0312	World Cup Mile	1	8788	TEMPEST	oscar	North American Team
3350.0312	World Cup Mile	2	1586	WOODEN MINISTER(KY)	pogs1	European Team
3350.0312	World Cup Mile	3	97949	KING OF DANCE	coolk	European Team
3350.0313	World Cup Nine	1	115692	TRIPLE A PRAYER(KY)	pazbarn	North American Team
3350.0313	World Cup Nine	2	124931	BE AUROR SONG(KY)	auror	European Team
3350.0313	World Cup Nine	3	30830	LOUIS CIELO	pogs2	European Team
3350.0314	World Cup Classic	1	108142	ERMINGTON PEGUSUS	pigeon3	Australian / Far East Team
3350.0314	World Cup Classic	2	625	PASSING STONE(KY)	jimcougar	North American Team
3350.0314	World Cup Classic	3	117707	GRACEPOINTE PRAYER	pazfour	North American Team
3350.0315	World Cup Marathon	1	4656	PINE SPIRIT(KY)	topicount4	North American Team
3350.0315	World Cup Marathon	2	25106	SINANJU	frosty	European Team
3350.0315	World Cup Marathon	3	103015	BINGE BREEDING	roscoe1	Australian / Far East Team
3350.0316	World Cup Survivor	1	3662	MIRACLE TO ME	soulbleed	North American Team
3350.0316	World Cup Survivor	2	104599	OLD LIDO(CHI)	a2912	Australian / Far East Team
3350.0316	World Cup Survivor	3	11978	SAD JAVA MAN(IRE)	golfteam	North American Team
3350.1010	World Cup Turf Sprint	1	94627	JENNA'S DEPUTY(JPN)	dowelly2	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1010	World Cup Turf Sprint	2	29397	NIGHT'S DESIRE	troy5	North American Team
3350.1010	World Cup Turf Sprint	3	92587	DIGGING THE GRAVE	zewango2	North American Team
3350.1011	World Cup Long Turf Sprint	1	96743	LEGENDARY LEMON(KY)	hardnfast	North American Team
3350.1011	World Cup Long Turf Sprint	2	25361	FLUSHING WATERS(IRE)	pm	European Team
3350.1011	World Cup Long Turf Sprint	3	100101	MR DEVIOUS	londoner	European Team
3350.1012	World Cup Turf Mile	1	64406	WOODYNA	oneworld	North American Team
3350.1012	World Cup Turf Mile	2	79805	PAYCHECK(IRE)	deyoto	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1012	World Cup Turf Mile	3	51129	THEATROMANIA	racer	European Team
3350.1013	World Cup Turf Nine	1	131795	BLACK COIN	kool4katz	European Team
3350.1013	World Cup Turf Nine	2	88690	SEEKING SAL	keryn	North American Team
3350.1013	World Cup Turf Nine	3	96457	KEPLER BERZERK	bobo	European Team
3350.1014	World Cup Turf Classic	1	95740	PUPPET REGIME	wrecks2	North American Team
3350.1014	World Cup Turf Classic	2	100877	TOWN PRINCE(IRE)	quitter	North American Team
3350.1014	World Cup Turf Classic	3	127575	SYNCHRONIZATION(KY)	corzak	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1015	World Cup Turf Marathon	1	115629	RURAL LAW(IRE)	vettori	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1015	World Cup Turf Marathon	2	106372	DARKDOUN(IRE)	peepsclaim	North American Team
3350.1015	World Cup Turf Marathon	3	108260	LOVE BOAT CAPTAIN(IRE)	shamran3	European Team
3350.1016	World Cup Turf Survivor	1	26169	BAND OF BUDAS	chop	North American Team
3350.1016	World Cup Turf Survivor	2	23573	GOLD DOORS	crowbar	European Team
3350.1016	World Cup Turf Survivor	3	94979	MINE D'INVERNE	umea	European Team
3350.1110	World Cup Ladies Turf Sprint	1	8046	EYE OF THE WORLD(IRE)	shamran7	European Team
3350.1110	World Cup Ladies Turf Sprint	2	91016	PLOY	tcrowell	North American Team
3350.1110	World Cup Ladies Turf Sprint	3	106085	DANCE SEEKER	rockriver	North American Team
3350.1111	World Cup Ladies Long Turf Sprint	1	117769	MIRARI'S WAKE(IRE)	sender	North American Team
3350.1111	World Cup Ladies Long Turf Sprint	2	89109	GIVEN ME REASONS	mkracing2	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1111	World Cup Ladies Long Turf Sprint	3	100793	LOST MY AMERICA(IRE)	eddie72	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1112	World Cup Ladies Turf Mile	1	112106	TORCH THE FLAME(KY)	super7	North American Team
3350.1112	World Cup Ladies Turf Mile	2	18833	BLUE WHITE	safbred	European Team
3350.1112	World Cup Ladies Turf Mile	3	52525	RUNNING SCARED(IRE)	crazyjoe	North American Team
3350.1113	World Cup Ladies Turf Nine	1	118122	INDY ROCK SENOR(IRE)	eddielegg	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1113	World Cup Ladies Turf Nine	2	96298	NORTHERN PULP	theogbarn	North American Team
3350.1113	World Cup Ladies Turf Nine	3	120	CULINARY CUTIE(IRE)	buzz	North American Team
3350.1114	World Cup Ladies Turf Classic	1	115317	BUNNY RANCH CRYPT(KY)	tyr	European Team
3350.1114	World Cup Ladies Turf Classic	2	93888	PUBLIK ENEMY	pygmalion	North American Team
3350.1114	World Cup Ladies Turf Classic	3	108475	SIGN HERE	bustag	European Team
3350.1115	World Cup Ladies Turf Marathon	1	112724	DANZING THEATRE(IRE)	wabred1	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1115	World Cup Ladies Turf Marathon	2	111663	NERF HERDER	fatflab	North American Team
3350.1115	World Cup Ladies Turf Marathon	3	107419	CACHE(SAF)	misery	European Team
3350.1116	World Cup Ladies Turf Survivor	1	94198	MAGICAL MIA(IRE)	boots	North American Team
3350.1116	World Cup Ladies Turf Survivor	2	140015	MAADLY(TUR)	claimace	European Team
3350.1116	World Cup Ladies Turf Survivor	3	30951	REBEL YELL N	lordpye	North American Team
3350.1210	World Cup Ladies Sprint	1	9794	POSITIVE DISCISION	firstmate	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1210	World Cup Ladies Sprint	2	8767	WAKI SLAM(KY)	chloedawg	North American Team
3350.1210	World Cup Ladies Sprint	3	40647	RAY'S CAUSEWAY(IRE)	browns2	European Team
3350.1211	World Cup Ladies Long Sprint	1	122284	SONG OF THE HAWK(KY)	shiekabner	North American Team
3350.1211	World Cup Ladies Long Sprint	2	103218	WRAITH POINT	freddurst	European Team
3350.1211	World Cup Ladies Long Sprint	3	12161	SPEEDOMETER(KY)	simsters1	North American Team
3350.1212	World Cup Ladies Mile	1	110773	CAROL OF THE BELLS	deyoto3	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1212	World Cup Ladies Mile	2	97350	OTTO HISTORY	capsized	North American Team
3350.1212	World Cup Ladies Mile	3	21034	INNERDAZE	rharfo2004	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1213	World Cup Ladies Nine	1	115591	CAT O' NINE LIVES(KY)	austar	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1213	World Cup Ladies Nine	2	124379	ALL THE RICHES(KY)	flagdown	North American Team
3350.1213	World Cup Ladies Nine	3	115941	SISSON'S CHANT(KY)	levers	Australian / Far East Team
3350.1214	World Cup Ladies Classic	1	130063	TOUGH AS STEEL(KY)	pbcash	North American Team
3350.1214	World Cup Ladies Classic	2	92530	INTENTTODISTRIBUTE	lordpye2	North American Team
3350.1214	World Cup Ladies Classic	3	63812	BLACK TUESDAY(KY)	fairhaven2	North American Team
3350.1215	World Cup Ladies Marathon	1	108209	WAR IN HEAVEN	waremblem8	North American Team
3350.1215	World Cup Ladies Marathon	2	61697	FUSAICHI KRISSY	danmancan	North American Team
3350.1215	World Cup Ladies Marathon	3	92070	XTREMELY GOLD	grracers	North American Team
3350.1216	World Cup Ladies Survivor	1	89652	K'S ARAKU	kronus	North American Team
3350.1216	World Cup Ladies Survivor	2	102209	FROZEN FOUR	dixiedotco	North American Team
3350.1216	World Cup Ladies Survivor	3	120580	OROWELL(KY)	sam	Australian / Far East Team
3350.3713	World Cup Juvenile Colt Sprint	1	140672	SWIFTSURE(KY)	sanchez	Australian / Far East Team
3350.3713	World Cup Juvenile Colt Sprint	2	140660	PYRALIS(KY)	kbsweet	North American Team
3350.3713	World Cup Juvenile Colt Sprint	3	48204	FULL FORCE(KY)	zboro	European Team
3350.3714	World Cup Juvenile Colt Mile	1	11344	BROADWAY DANCER(KY)	super20	North American Team
3350.3714	World Cup Juvenile Colt Mile	2	138321	FLEET DAISY(KY)	opus	North American Team
3350.3714	World Cup Juvenile Colt Mile	3	135022	GET WELL LIDS(ENG)	zz2912	Australian / Far East Team
3350.3715	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Sprint	1	50068	KEPLER TOKYO(JPN)	marianus	European Team
3350.3715	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Sprint	2	89474	BOOM GATE(ENG)	thegeneral	Australian / Far East Team
3350.3715	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Sprint	3	142389	LARGENT(ENG)	wtas02	North American Team
3350.3716	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Mile	1	58689	MANATEE BAD BOY(IRE)	brstable	North American Team
3350.3716	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Mile	2	134486	REACH THE PEAK(ENG)	racinpogs2	European Team
3350.3716	World Cup Juvenile Colt Turf Mile	3	136639	BUCK'S PARTY(ENG)	deyoto4	Australian / Far East Team
3350.4713	World Cup Juvenile Filly Sprint	1	137603	CK GHOST PROSPECT(KY)	ckstables3	North American Team
3350.4713	World Cup Juvenile Filly Sprint	2	140079	TROPICAL TROPHY(KY)	deepblue	European Team
3350.4713	World Cup Juvenile Filly Sprint	3	132896	GILDED EDGE(KY)	hwhisper	European Team
3350.4714	World Cup Juvenile Filly Mile	1	92296	DEMONIC PRESENCE(KY)	taicheska	European Team
3350.4714	World Cup Juvenile Filly Mile	2	39137	LPGA SPIKE(KY)	19thhole	North American Team
3350.4714	World Cup Juvenile Filly Mile	3	136684	DEHERE THAT(KY)	snappa6	Australian / Far East Team
3350.4715	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Sprint	1	144616	LEARAWI(ENG)	zeppelinz	European Team
3350.4715	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Sprint	2	142921	SISSON'S AZAMOUR(IRE)	moonbeam	Australian / Far East Team
3350.4715	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Sprint	3	136147	PROCLAIM THE TRUTH(IRE)	irshaman	North American Team
3350.4716	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Mile	1	141535	FLOWERATS(KY)	darnath2	North American Team
3350.4716	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Mile	2	90104	FAST 'N' LOOSE(IRE)	bradyboy	European Team
3350.4716	World Cup Juvenile Filly Turf Mile	3	137784	FLYING KITTEN(KY)	sorrento	European Team

8/27/2007

As mentioned late last year, I am changing the rules for this year in regards to open mare breedings. This will mean a notable reduction in the horses available to be bred to come October. The ruling is :

Any retired horse that was previously owned by a stable that has participated in a race this year will NOT be eligible to be bred to by an outside stable.

This will obviously eliminate a number of horses, but should also leave the majority of well bred mares available during the open session (which will open week 3364).

Begining later this evening, each retired mare will include a note on their availability during the open session. If you have a mare listed as available but don’t think it should be (or one that is listed as not available that should be), please drop me a comment through the Smartacre.com mainpage, including the horse ID, the stable you own, and any other relevant information.

My decision to allow breedings to other people’s stables has long been a controversial one. It was never my goal to “force” people to rush their breeding (my intent was to free up mares of former players), but that tended to be the case and has caused some bad feelings over the years. This new ruling should alleviate some of those feelings, but also accomplish the my intentions for allowing “open mare” breeding in the first place.

Thanks!

--Mike

8/11/2007

Ok people : my home AC is kaput. Great timing, given the 100 degree temperatures Kentucky has been ringing up lately. Why am I posting this, you might ask?

Other than a comfort issue, this potentially becomes a game issue. I run the backend of the game from home, as well as 2 database servers for the online version of the game itself. I have extra fans on everything, but one of the PC’s did shut down due to overheating.

I have a guy coming over today to give me an estimate for repairing / replacing this thing. I don’t expect anything to take place until Monday or Tuesday, however. Until then, overheating may occur on one of the computers, delaying or dragging the game down at times.

If the game is down, go to :

http://chat.sharearea.com

..for status updates. That is the BB server, and should be unaffected by the outage.

Here’s hoping my AC guy is a miracle worker, or that the temperature breaks.

--Mike

8/5/2007

I am being forced to do some DNS rejiggering. This may cause a few people to run into problems staying logged into the site. If you are one of those people :

Try exiting your browser completely. Re-enter your browser and login

If that doesn’t work :

Try adding SimulatedSports.net to your trusted site list

It is a cookies issue. Once you can accept cookies from SimulatedSports.net, you should be ok.

Also, if you are trying to enter throught DerbyFever.com and getting a popup box about redirecting to simulatedsports.net, try entering the site through http://simulatedsports.net/hr/ instead

Let me know if you have any long-term issues.

Thanks!

--Mike

7/12/2007

Ok.. good news I believe…

I DON’T think it was the databases this time (even though the warning signs were similar). I was about to reprogram them but, after turning on the update light, noticed the site was still dragging. I purchased a nifty little piece of software (PTRUSH – IIS Tracer.. good stuff) and noticed that everything was dragging regardless of whether or not it was using the old databases, new databases, or NO databases.

So I looked at my Task Manager and noticed INETINFO.exe was peaking out. I did some research and found out (actually, helped myself remember) that it drives my SMTP Mail server. I paused SMTP and everything was hunky dory. So I figure it was a mail issue.

It appears we were being spammed to death to e-mail addresses that didn’t exists. This caused my mail queue to back up and, ultimately, drug down the site. I cleared the queue as well as made it to where not as many computers can be logged in to mail SMTP Server. And things seem to be resolved.

Long and short : I am going to try and go forth without the reprogramming yet, but will try and cover this before I do the full rewrite. If this proves NOT to help things out for the most part (though I think it will), I will extend entries next week and work next weekend on doing a “quick and dirty” rewrite of the Access DB’s.

Sorry about the delays,

--Mike

7/11/2007

It looks like we are experiencing some Access Database problems again. They disappeared when we moved to the new server but, due to recent growth of the horse racing game, we’re running into them again (though not as nast