Despite my hope for a quick turnaround on the Parley release things just didn’t go that way... they rarely do.

I’ve got all kinds of excuses as to why it’s taken so long. Phil, Simone, and I each taking new jobs at Microsoft, Avande, and Quick, respectively, would be one. Carli and I buying a house and getting totally wrapped up in Buckeye Football would be a couple more.

But in the end, who care because no one like excuses. Isn’t there even some old cliché about how.

excuses are like... something... and they all stink...

Well something like that anyhow. (I cleaned it up for the kids) :)

We’re making progress

At any rate we’ve been making some good progress lately. Phil has been closing bugs and applying patches like it’s his job - which it’s not, getting the mvc.net bits ready is. And I just checked in the code for a new Customization piece that will allow a blog owner to set custom meta tags for their blog.

In building out the new Customization UX I made heavy use of jQuery and JSON web services, via JayRock, both of which were new to myself and the Subtext code base. The UX on the page is fairly complex and involved, but it serves as a proof of concept and example for myself and the other Subtext developers.

A rough release date

Phil has set a rough release date of December 8th, which is a little over a week away. To make sure we can hit that date, or at least something near it, we’re going to need your help.

Over the next week we’d really like to make a big push to get as many bugs closed as we can. If you’d like to lend a hand, please head over to the bug tracker, pick yourself a tasty bug, get it assigned to you, and go to town on it!

If you’re not much for bug-smashin', we also need help with testing. If you need help getting started, the Subtext Developer’s Mailing List or the Forums are both a great place to start.