Well, I'm in a week of being scheduled. That's why I'm writing this - this is my "writing" hour. Since I don't want to write anything else, I will write a journal entry. I'm enjoying it so far. I already got my schedule disrupted, about an hour into it in the first place - had to take the dogs to the vet yesterday (by myself, two dogs that go insane whenever they see another dog... that's an adventure I didn't need). So that erased a chunk of yesterday, but then the rest of the day was on track and quite fun. I even made some concept art for a new game I am often thinking about, and made really nice progress on Loonyland: Titan Tunnels. It's still nowhere near functional, but I made a lot of code.
I've finally gotten somewhere on getting my merchant account, and so the website is moving much more quickly now. Now, I don't actually HAVE the merchant account, but at least I'm talking to them and filling out forms at this point. It took so long to get my business license renewed (somehow the first application I mailed got lost for well over a month, then I ended up getting TWO business licenses when I sent in another app) that the person I had been talking to at the merchant account place no longer works there. So that was something I had to work out, finding a new person there. And now it's all moving.
Some tidbits on the new site - the age-old classic Hamumu discount is making a comeback. Order more than one game at once, and you get 20% off the total! That is a huge deal. Then there's of course the power to spend Yerfbucks in place of money (each Yerfbuck is worth a whopping $0.01, but considering how easy they are to earn, you're doing nicely there). The Yerfbucks are great for rewarding loyal fans. They're easy to earn, IF you are someone who hangs out here all the time. If you just drop in and buy something, you could get $0.50 worth for signing up, but that's about it.
And lastly, I've been thinking about how I'll do shipping again, and I think I've decided to go back to handling it by hand. That means the classic $5 per game CD cost also returns (that's the combined cost for the materials and shipping anywhere in the world). That's usually cheaper than what you pay now, since currently the CD versions have higher prices to begin with, but not always for some people (it's a great deal if you don't live in the US!). What I like about it is that it's simple.
I'm also abolishing taxes. Yes, read my lips! There's only one circumstance where I would normally collect tax - a CD order to someone in California. That's such an insignificant percentage of the orders I get, I don't mind. I'll pay the tax for you. Besides, it saves me from implementing the code to handle it. No VAT either, for you types who deal with that.
Well, now I'm done with the journal, but I still have 17 minutes in my writing hour. And three of the cats are huddled around me, staring at me and occasionally squawking. It's almost their dinner time. I have to carefully avoid looking at them, or they squeak at me in desperation. Hmm, now 16 minutes.
