Wheew!

Today was rough.

Like sliding on a Slip 'n Slide with rocks underneath.
Ouch! Yep I've done that before, and I can remember it like it was yesterday.


I knew this was coming, but I didn't know when. This, meaning the last minute changes and problems that had a 99.99% chance of occurring. Well I kind of assumed it would be yesterday and today, considering the deadline and a show tomorrow.

I'm not complaining. These things will always happen. It's part of work and life. C'est la vie!


I called a client around 9:25 this morning, after I had spent about 45 minutes to an hour trying to solve a problem we were having with their site. We talked and decided they would call me back once they had looked at a few things and made decisions.

About an hour or two later...

They called, we talked again, and even spoke with someone in support who worked at the payment gateway site my client is using.

Dun, dun, duuuuun!
Bad news all around.


They do not offer services such as a shopping cart, and you can not add tax anywhere on their site. The only thing you can do is add shipping, and the price of your item(s). That's it. Finito. Done.

Even more bad news? This payment gateway site is rather misleading, and seem to show that they do offer services like a shopping cart.

False advertising anyone? The payment site has quite a poor layout, confusing navigation, hard to search "glossary", and their "help page" is difficult to locate, and not much help at all. Not to mention talking to someone on the phone had a wait time of over 16 minutes. Yeah, I didn't go there. Online help "chat" to save the day!

Finally after a hand full of calls back and forth, my client and I found a third party that could provide what we needed.

This was good, yet we were sitting on a deadline, and it was already 3:30 pm. On top of that I still needed to access the third party's information so I could edit it, add code to my client's site, and test everything. All the while I knew there would be technical issues, and things to fix.

I hardly moved from about 4:00 to 7:00. Actually I hardly moved all day. Back to those three hours. I was working on the last minute things for the web site, and will still need to do more once my client configures shipping and sales tax.

Thankfully I remembered to stop, take a deep breath, and say a prayer. I asked that God would help clear my mind, help me understand what I was reading and trying to figure out. Finally after a number of attempts, I think it actually in working order. It still needs shipping and tax, but I don't think that will be too difficult. As of 10:00, that's done too!

I don't recall signing up for this.
[grin]

Actually in the beginning, way back, when I worked on my client's package design, before the brochure and pre-conception of their web site... it seems like 500 BC, I stated that I was not a programmer or a "code monkey" (said lovingly). Sure I'm learning more, yet I'm a graphic designer and that's what I enjoy most. Web design is fine, and I'll create web graphics until I'm blue in the face. I just don't currently have the in depth knowledge that is required for certain types of code. I'm referring to PHP, ASP, databasing, etc. I can however handle some degrees of HTML, XHTML, and even CSS.

Enough of all that, because I know it. is. sooooo. totally. boring.
Zzzzzzz.

I hesitate placing the web site address on here, because it still needs those last few tweaks.

Here is a little peek though.
I know it looks plain, but that's just the "welcome" home page.


J is on his way back home from a supervisor's dinner meeting, so I'm definitely happy about that. He'll be gone again tomorrow to have a day of fun and probably a few meetings.

That's okay. I will have the car, so I can piddle around if I feel like it. I have an appointment to get my hair cut at 9:00, and then I need to stop by the bank. From there, who knows what I'll do. Maybe go to a couple shops I haven't frequented in a while.

Have a great weekend everyone!