johnph77's Blog

Certain issues related to quality assurance have reared their ugly head and have put a major snag in Phase I completion, which was originally scheduled for the end of this month. It appears all written and web output in half the phase will have to be redone. These issues will definitely affect the order of processing of future phases. I am not a happy camper right now. But Phase II will not be affected and will incorporate the new order of processing. The statistical base itself is not affected - only the print and web display sides. Will take time - there are quite a few files needing attention.

But better I find this now instead of the client discovering errors later.

Diverted some time to working on some math issues concerning lotteries. Nothing to post, but future additions to my lottery page are planned.

Home from Omaha. Finished 3rd, in the money.

Got more project Phase III work done while away than anticipated. Now it's back to completion of Phase II, although I might complete the Phase III section I worked on while away - I'm anxious to see whether the anomalies of which I had previously posted will continue to disappear. One thing I did discover was a Phase III spreadsheet error that had somehow slipped passed all the error traps - corected. All in all, a reasonably good weekend. 

Off to Omaha NE tomorrow PM for last tournament I'll be attending this year - I think.

Little progress made on project last two weeks. As hinted in last post Phase III did introduce anomalies with data and presentation. While I was concerned about the results and analysis with minimal output at first, later results were more in line with what was expected. Phase III probably a little less than 10% complete, Phase II almost 40% complete. Wound up doing an administrative overhaul - widened some fields, changed format in hard copy, redid some graphics, modified spreadsheets, adjusted control files - very few existing files left untouched and all templates updated. But final results are better than ever - client feedback is positive and highly encouraging. Will take Phase III work on the road again, continue and complete Phase II on return.

Modded some Keno data, more of that needed as time permits. Haven't had the time to work on lottery files yet.

Desktop computer back up and running - power supply went bad (thanks, Lantern). Took it to the shop yesterday - 60 bucks and 15 minues later, all is well. All project data intact. The only thing that was lost was the data from the DC project I had running when the computer went down, and that's not a major loss, except for the time involved in having to restart that particular work unit. I'm going to continue working with the laptop on Phase III though - as mentioned before there may be some anomalies that need attention.

There'll be a quick fix on one of the Keno entries on my site sometime next week as a result of a game change - nothing major, no further work planned until I get this project to the point where I can take a break - and that won't happen for a while.

Home from Atlanta. Only positive thing I'll say about the entire weekend is that my partner and I (NOT my regular partner - a teamie and I swapped for this event only) finished second - and in the money - in the consolation tournament. The rest of the weekend was a disaster, including the accomodations.

Came home to find desktop computer off due to power outage - would not restart. May be time to invest in new computers. Conveniently, while I was away, I found out Dell has a 17" widescreen laptop, equipped with a numeric keypad and a vertical resolution of 1200px - just what I want and need. Also, just before I left I had backed up all current project data files onto an external hard drive, and had done the same with a previous project that ran about 500Mb in size. If the desktop is completely shot and I can't recover data off its hard drive I haven't lost a whole lot - most of the info is on the external hard drive and the laptop. Most of what's not there is on my websites and can be downloaded - time-consuming, but not a total loss.

Not a lot of time for work while away - got far more into tournament organizational mode than I ever wanted to.

More on this as progress is made.

Off to Atlanta GA in the AM - tournament time.

Phase II goes well. I'll be taking Phase III work with me. There seems to be a radical shift in some of the results, but I want to get more base work done before a decision has to be made as far as changes in processes will go, if any.

The first payment has been released, but I'm not releasing results due to some quality control issues I have to deal with. When Phase II is complete it'll be ready to go, and I'll release the first part when the phase is halfway done. In a way, that's a good thing, although I may have to renegotiate the contract due to those delays.

I still need to do some lottery work, but that has more or less taken a back seat for the time being. 

Tournament was a bust - not enough people to hold, so cancelled.

As far as the project goes, Phase III is set up. I was having trouble getting the text file the way I wanted it before I left, but sat down in the hotel lobby (my room wasn't ready yet when I got there) and had it finished in less than two hours. I took the Phase III printouts with me, started working on that and it's looking good. Some of the results there are surprising to me, but I'll have to wait to make any judgement until it's much further along, and that won't be until after the first of next year. I'm still pleased.

Off to Centralia WA tomorrow AM to host, possibly play, in a tournament. Be back in a week.

Phase II goes extremely well, ahead of schedule. As stated previously, it provides an error check on Phase I entries. Found a glitch, corrected same. Went into some of the admin files last night, updated and corrected same. All similar files should be in the same format now. Looking ahead to Phase III, will do some prep work while away.

Taking lottery paperwork with me. 10-OH, Quebec Triplex, LA Easy 5 should be ready to upload upon return. Thanks for your patience.

gl

j

Proof files were a pain in the butt - 4 days to establish something so simple, it would seem.

But, on the other hand, Phase II, which I expected would give me a lot of trouble, is going far more quickly than expected. I'm now guardedly optimistic that this will be finished around the last of November. We'll see.

I'm due to head to WA next week to host - will use spare time, if any, to post new games on my website. Louisiana has a new game called Easy 5, a 5/37 game, which is calculated - thanks, prisoner06.

Phase I of project complete, ahead of schedule. Next is proof files, then Phase II. Hopefully that'll go faster.

Quebec just introduced a new game - I'm not sure of all the details but it's a multi-line game. They advertise a payout percentage of 62.3% - if so, it's the best percentage in the province - everything else is below 50%.

Preliminary publication of findings and results will not occur. This means that nothing will be aired concerning the project until basic proof is in place. Should now be scheduled for around the first of next year.

This really doesn't affect my end - I'm doing grunt work - and shouldn't delay funding. I've pre-pubbed web pages on my site so I can see how the pages will appear, complete with graphics. No links - this may bacome proprietary in the future.

Speaking of that, grunt work continues. I should finish up on the first phase before next weekend. Well within schedule - pleasant surprise.

Home from KC MO. Finished 4th, just out of the money. Game turned sour the last two rounds, but I'm satisfied with the results and placing.

Got a lot of text work done with the project. Graphics still need attention, but that's well underway.

Stack47 was kind enough to post payouts of Ten-OH game, payout percentage posted as a response in the Ten-OH thread. Will be posted on my web site as a Keno game.

Leave for KC MO tomorrow PM, not next week, as previously posted - I had the dates wrong. Scrambling to meet new schedule.

Project goes well. Should be where I'd like to be before departure. Slightly ahead of schedule. Some issues with master templates resolved.

Couldn't find any information on 10-OH game. I'll keep looking, though.

Back in a week - gl.

Back home from Harrisburg PA. Have no idea where we finished, except somewhere in the top half, out of the money. We didn't stay to hear the results, and they haven't been posted yet.

On a personal note, I had promised myself a beer as soon as I walked in the door yesterday but that didn't happen. Between perusing Email and reading files and doing some work the first beer wasn't opened until more than eight hours after getting home. So much for self-promises.

As far as the project goes, I didn't accomplish too much while away but what I did get done is significant with regard to what lies ahead. I also discovered some interesting theories pertinent to the area in which I'm working and will do more research on that later. Except for file management I haven't made any further progress since I returned - yet.

Found out on the postings here at LP that Ohio is introducing a new game called "10 OH". The concept sounds interesting enough for me to interrupt my routine and post the data on my site - possibly.

Next trip will be to Kansas City MO in a couple of weeks. Back to work for now.

Underway for a tournament in Harrisburg PA tomorrow AM. Will return in 10 days.

Project progressiing well, ahead of original schedule. No major snags. Task priorities may change, but that's of no consequence at the moment.

I'll take some time this autumn to review the state lottery websites and bring that page up to date. One thing that happened is that, switching between computers, the link to the lottery odds page was lost. That has since been fixed. Ther are two large charts on that page - the first for straight lotteries, the second for single-field bonus ball lotteries. One must scroll down to view the second chart.

I was asked if I had intentions of including those lotteries with a separate field for bonus ball draws in the above chart - the answer is "no". There are just too many possibilities there. In any event, separate field bonus ball lotteries are already covered in their charts on the payouts/percentage page, complete with formulas.