Three Rivers Region

[Haljackey]

Happy Birthday 3RR!

Guess what I found on your 3rd birthday? 



The original 3RR thread, which started three years ago today, has surpassed 70,000 views!  Congrats!   

Add that with the nearly 260k you have here and you have 330,000 views!  That's nearly the population of my hometown! 

[Pat]

WoW David 3 years of 3 Rivers Region!!! Man talk about astounding job here!!! Congrats and a Happy Birthday to 3RR!!!! 

[dedgren]

Yes, it is the 12th...



Three years ago a little after three in the afternoon Alaska time (GMT-9), folks at Simtropolis [linkie] suddenly found themselves looking at this...



...and were probably scratching their heads and wondering what the heck...

We had a really great year at ST, transferring 3RR over here to SC4D in December, 2006.  Up until the fall of last year, 3RR-ST continued to be updated with the goings-on here, and it continues to receive a respectable number of folks taking a look at it even now.  Believe it or not, here's the tally over there as of a couple of hours ago today.



When you add that number to the quarter-million+ page views here at SC4D, 3RR, for a toddler, has gained a pretty respectable degree of attention- folks have looked at it an average of just over 300 times a day for each day that it's been in existence.  I don't know, either, of a better group of friends to have spent that time in the company of.  One more heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you.

* * *

So, before we head into year four, lets take a quick look back at 3RR's third year.  I seem to recall that a thing or two went on here- let's see.

On March 12, 2008, we started here [linkie]- not exactly 3RR's high point.

[tabular type=4][row][data]Hello, this is David's wife: Heather.  I need to let everyone know that this morning David became very dizzy and short of breath.  It turned out his blood pressure is very high.  Our visit to see our children has been very stressful for us, and the doctor we saw today has sent him to bed and he will be seeing an internist tomorrow.  He asked me to let everyone know he is sorry for the brief delay in the things he is working on and for the second anniversary of Three Rivers Region.  Everyone here has been so kind to me when I have not been well, and I would ask that you keep him in your thoughts over the next few days until we can get control over his health.  Thank you for being his good friends at this time.[/data][/row][/tabular]

That still looks pretty scary 4,276 posts and 211 pages later.  It probably goes without saying that Heather had a really hard time doing that for me- but she knew it was very, very important.  She's my sweetie.



That was the start of what has turned out to be a year's delay in the start of collaboration.  At first, I thought it would just be a few days.  As it turns out, I finally had to acknowledge that I was pretty much as ill as Heather described, and I was really going to need to change the way I planned to do things.  At the time, I was getting up at four some mornings and staying up past midnight on other days to work on 3RR.  The docs told me, for starters, that all that "butt time" in front of the computer was not a good idea, health-wise.  The real problem, I responded, was my day job, which, most days, is all butt time.  Except, that is, the days when I'm in court on my feet for four or five hours.  Anyway, we all know who won that argument.

By the way, you never got to see this.



Until today, anyway.

A little more than a week later [linkie], I was sneaking computer time when nobody was looking and posting pics of collaboration quads in the hopes that everyone would keep looking.





I confidently predicted

No year-long wait this time.

Heh!

By the end of March [linkie], I was back to working on small projects, but still wasn't at 100%.



In early April, when I wasn't busy snarking about gas prices [linkie]



or PhotoShopping magazine covers [linkie]...



...I was cleaning up loose ends, making things like central pivot irrigation (CPI) lots available to those looking to drop a crop circle or two into a quad [linkie].



It's funny, though.  As positive as the reaction was to these- I've never spotted one in an MD or CJ.  Oh, well...

April also saw us making Matt's (threestooges) great windmills available [linkie].



Back then, though, when you'd see me posting about our winter birds here in Alaska [linkie],



that meant that I just hadn't been up to a session working on 3RR that day.  So, I spent a lot of time during the rest of April playing with fencelines [linkie]



and playing with them [linkie]



and playing with them [linkie]



and playing with them [linkie].



On April 29, 2008, though, we changed the routine a little and added the RHW into the mix [linkie].



That date is also noteworthy, though, for the first one of these.



Those little numbers have been with us ever since.  Why did I do that?  I explained to our great friend Fred, who'd first spotted them a few posts later [linkie]

[tabular type=4][row][data]
EDIT:  Heh, Fred- I thought it would take longer for folks to notice.  3RR has been have been running through jeronij's server hamsters at an alarming rate these days to keep up with traffic, so I thought as a bit of a test to see if that perception was correct I would start putting the then current page views at the bottom of each of my posts- sort of like a "between post counter."  Here's how it works.

There were 73257 page views at 11:25 AST (GMT-9) when I made my last post.  There's 73361 as this is written almost exactly five hours later.  73361 minus 73257 equals 104 divided by five hours is a bit less than 21 page views each hour.  That's pretty good- times 24, that's just over 500 page views a day.  We have averaged from day one here at SC4D just over 200, so there seems to be a lot of interest right now. -DE[/data][/row][/tabular]

Heh, again!  Twenty-one page views per hour are, as noted, a few more than 500 per day.  That's pretty good, until you realize that the current average daily pace is almost 800.

We'll continue this in my next post here [linkie] as 3RR heads into the summer of 2008.  I want to take a while, too, to read all the fantastic posts that are piling up on top of this one.


David

259662

[sithlrd98]

Happy Birthday 3RR! Now bring on the cake and presents!

Jayson

[Toichus Maximus]

365 pages--that's a page a day!

Happy Birthday 3rr!

[bob56]

David, i know i'm speaking for everyone here. I hope you get better and fully recover. Don't worry about the delay, we'd rather you wait until you are better. I will keep you in my thoughts.

Hope you get better,

Edit: Oh..well, in that case, Happy birthday 3RR!!!!

EDIT:  LOL, Bob- as that great quote goes, "Reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated."  Sorry for scaring you (and anyone else).  The story, though, does have a happy ending. -DE

[metasmurf]

From one cold place (north Sweden) to another cold place (Alaska), congratulations to 3 years of success and development  .

[sithlrd98]

Hello, this is David's wife: Heather.  I need to let everyone know that this morning David became very dizzy and short of breath.  It turned out his blood pressure is very high.  Our visit to see our children has been very stressful for us, and the doctor we saw today has sent him to bed and he will be seeing an internist tomorrow.  He asked me to let everyone know he is sorry for the brief delay in the things he is working on and for the second anniversary of Three Rivers Region.  Everyone here has been so kind to me when I have not been well, and I would ask that you keep him in your thoughts over the next few days until we can get control over his health.  Thank you for being his good friends at this time.

Hope you feel better soon health is much more important! Don't rush back cause 3RR isn't going anywhere![/s]


Should have waited a little longer!
Jayson

EDIT:  Thanks, my friend- I never thought I'd be creating 3RR's very own Orson Welles moment [linkie].  All's well that ends well. -DE

[mightygoose]

happy birthday for seven minutes ago lol, no great continued commitment to the most expansive simcity four project ever undertaken... praise be to you sir.

[Tarkus]

David, congrats on 3 years of this extraordinary project!  It goes without saying that 3RR has pretty much changed the way I look at the game, and has been a huge influence not only on my own city-building and MDing endeavors, but my custom content development as well.  I suspect it's the same with many others here.  This thread here is probably among the most influential and visible among the entire community, and you deserve a standing ovation for everything.

-Alex

(sithlrd98 and bob56, fortunately, David was just quoting a post [linkie] from last year on 3RR's second birthday. )

[Orange_o_]

happy birthday, this thread is a sourec of pleasure in every visit

[threestooges]

David! Congratulations on 3 years! Also, congratulations on being the driving force behind one of the great (if not the greatest) projects in the Sim City community. You have inspired many of the community's content creators, and you continue to help press the boundaries of the game. I'm am often impressed and amazed how you are able to do all of it, but it just adds to the brilliance that is 3RR. Happy 3rd, and here's to many, many more.
-Matt

[sithlrd98]

Oops!  Thought it was weird that it said second anniversary. I guess I should have waited a little longer! Well, belated get well soon!(just a little late )

Jayson

[Rayden]

Happy 3rd Birthday 3RR and David

[bthersh]

Well, this seems to be as good of a time as any to become a 3RR regular...  Happy Birthday from a long time lurker!  You have really changed the way I look at and play the game through this project.  Thank you!

- Brian

EDIT:  Welcome, Brian.  It's great to know that you're out there, and we'll be looking forward to your posts here. -DE

[buddybud]

 

Congrat's on three fine years Dave! Thanx for all the time and effort you've given us so far, we as a community appreciate it greatly.

Cheers.
Bud

[metarvo]

Congratulations, David.  I remember...



...Oh, it says "2008," that's a relief...

David, why would you scare us all like that?   jk  Really, I jumped out of my chair when I saw that.  After a few minutes of careful thought, I sat back down and came back in here, to see if I had misread the post, which it seems that I did.  My bad.  

Now, for what I was saying.  I remember seeing those early 3RR posts on ST.  I read it for a few pages, but gave up, feeling that it was already too long by the time I got to it.  Oh, why didn't I do what I should have done and catch up right then and there?  Eventually, I learned about SC4D, and came over here because a download I really wanted was on the LEX.  Out of curiosity, I browsed the forums, and saw 3RR.  The name instantly rang a bell in my head, and I thought, "Where have I seen this before?" and clicked the link.  The next thing I knew, I was a 3RR Regular (a result of making my first 3RR post), and I spent the next few weeks catching up.  Now, I am happy to be here to watch 3RR reach every new milestone.  What will we reach first: 500,000 views, or the 4th anniversary?

[Gaston]

Wow David,
    It is hard to believe that I have been here all this time.   Since before 3RR was at Devotion.   Heck before there was a Devotion I think.            When 3RR came here I was waiting here for it.          The accomplishments I have seen are amazing.      Congrats to everyone on this momentous occation.

   
  Happy 3rd Birthday  3RR  

   

---Gaston

[dragonshardz]

Happy Birthday 3RR! I can't wait to see what the rest of that post is.

[Darmok]

Almost 11pm on the east coast,
just coming back from my weekly music jam.
Had to boot the ol' PC, and come here to salute 3RR 3rd birthday!

Happy birthday 3RR, and David of course, may there be many many more!

-John