Recent Updates

Progress with jbClan:

I've made some great progress making jbRoster and jbApp fully e107v7 compliant (when I was last supporting them, e107 was still transitioning from v6 to v7).

While I'm at it, I've been adding a few new features. Please see the forums for planned feature additions. I won't be adding all of the listed features in the next release, but a good amount of them. Please login and add your suggestions, that is the only way we can all make jbClan the best it can be.

I've also been cleaning up the code and preparing to make my plugins fully XHTML/CSS 2.0 compliant. That might take a little bit, but it's the direction I'm heading in.

As I go through this code, I'm amazed at how much I've learned in the past 2 years. Most of the previous markup worked fine, and from a user standpoint there won't be much of a difference, but from a coders standpoint the new markup will be much cleaner and efficient. I just can't believe how liberally I used line breaks, rather than paragraphs, just to name one difference.

Goodbye jbShop, Hello EasyShop:

In case you're not familiar with the history of EasyShop (http://plugins.e107.org/e107_plugins/psilo/psilo.php?artifact.461, it started out as my jbShop plugin. Once I decided to stop supporting my plugins, nlstart asked if I minded him taking over the development of jbShop.

He then changed the name to EasyShop and added many wonderful features that the community had asked for.

After chatting with nlstart on the e107 forums and a few emails, I've decided to contribute code to EasyShop rather than go in a separate direction with jbShop.

We're still in the early stages of discussing what contributions I'll be making, but I'm sure the community will be very happy with the results of us putting our minds together for the good of all.

Goodbye Grandfather, Hello Little Kayla:

On more of a personal note, these past 2 weeks have been a bit stressful, and I've been glad of the slight distraction that my coding has given while I've had the time.

My grandfather had a minor heart attack 2 weeks ago, had an operation to place two stints in an artery, and then caught pneumonia while recovering. He was placed in hospice care 4 days ago, and passed away last night. He was very comfortable and peaceful throughout the entire process, and his final moments only lasted about 3 minutes, of which I'm grateful that he did not suffer.

At the same time, my wife and I have been dealing with the final moments of my wife's pregnancy. She has been dilated for 3 weeks now, and we were told that our little Kayla could arrive any moment to any day since a week from this past Monday.

My wife suffers from hypertension (high blood pressure), and has been prescribed many different medications this past few months because nothing seems to be helping, which has added to the stress lately. She just had an appointment with her doctor, and they are going to induce my wife Monday if Kayla hasn't made an appearance by then, due to the health risks to both mother and child.

This is both happy and welcoming news to all of the family, not just us, as it gives everyone a reason to celebrate. It is also very nice to welcome someone to the family as we all say goodbye to another.

Goodbye grandfather, we love you and will always keep you close to our hearts.