DOTTI'S FOOD SCORE
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A Letter of Apology
January 26, 2012
Dear Zonies,As of today, the restaurant data is up to date with the new PointsPlus values, for all the restaurants. It has taken us much longer to accomplish this than we would have liked, or than it should have taken. Dotti and I feel we owe you an explanation of why, and an apology for the extended delay. Let's start with what you owe you most; Dotti and I would very much like to extend our apologies to any of you who purchased Dotti's Food Score this past year, and who felt that the information in the app was less than you had expected. What you expected, is what you have today, all restaurants showing the current values for menu items. But you had to wait for it, and we are very sorry for making you wait. This past year was a very trying one for us, and we frankly were cut off from a lot of what we would normally have done, because of Dotti's infirmities. (See links below for details, in case you were unaware of these challenges.) When we were approached by our soon to be partner in Dotti's Food Score, Dotti and I believed that, other than providing the standard updates that naturally were part of maintaining DWLZ, our work for the app was essentially done, because the information on the web page would be retrieved automatically by them, using their software expertise, and then put into a database, for the app. There were two problems with this belief:
Although you might find our personal plight inadequate justification for the delay, I feel we at least owe you an explanation of why it happened. We started the year of 2011, with 600 separate DWLZ HTML restaurant documents, each that had to be updated separately with the new system. Dotti had one of the worse cases of Restless Legs Syndrome that our doctor had ever seen, and so she was not able to sleep much either, sometimes going 3 days without sleeping. Dotti was not only in agony from her hips, but she was also, naturally on pain meds, which only kept the pain down to a bearable level. She was very often hardly able to get up in the morning, let alone being ready to tackling a big job like that. Up until this point in the life of DWLZ, Dotti had been entirely in charge of the restaurants on DWLZ. And of course as the year progressed, my focus was on Dotti and her two major surgeries, and the associated long recoveries, along with all the doctor's visits, and my mother's Alzheimer's condition. Frankly, I was not up to the job either. We were literally floundering in our daily lives, even without working on the web page. One happy thing about this, is that we did have a few wonderful volunteers who typed in data for nearly 300 restaurants this past year. We still had to get that data into the app database, and while it was a daunting task, it was far, far easier because of these very wonderful Zonies! I am at a loss as to how to properly thank them, but they did us a tremendous favor, and today, for all of you who use DWLZ and Dotti's Food Score, each of you is also a beneficiary of those generous efforts. After Dotti's second surgery in September, and the birth of our granddaughter in October, I reached a point where I was finally in a position to tackle the 600 restaurants. In late October I started by writing a program that would collect the data from our HTML restaurant documents, and convert it to a file format that could be uploaded to a database. I created a database on our web page for all the restaurants, and I uploaded the new files that our volunteers typed in, and I used the data my program created to upload for the remaining restaurants. I wrote a PHP page to display the restaurant data, and then I set out to catching the app up to speed. I uploaded all the files to the app database, so Dotti's Food Score now matches the web page for all restaurants. (I finished that part just today: January 26, 2012.) It has been a long haul for us to get to this point, and it feels good to finally get it done. But that good feeling is much tempered by our feeling of having stumbled through this whole process to date. I honestly had no idea how bad that app database was until I started uploading files and I found that a huge number of the restaurants did not have the protein value that they should (and could) have had, making those restaurants useless for anyone using the new system. I also found a number of completely empty restaurants, where the restaurant was listed but there was no data for it! I am appalled and mortified to find that our customers have had to deal with something that was so terribly messed up for this past year. At this point an apology is all that we can offer about the past, and you have it. But for the future, you also have our assurance, that we will not let such a thing happen again. The restaurants are now fixed and you will find both Points Plus (in bold Black) and Points (in bold dark Red), on both the web site and in the Dotti's Food Score app. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that it went on so long before we could gather enough personal resources together in order to fix it. Unfortunately, I was already in the process of fixing it, when I finally understood the magnitude of the problem. On the upside, our web page is now converted over to a database system for the restaurants, as is the phone app, and should any new changes to the formula come along like this last one, we should be able to adjust to it quickly and easily. Also, over time I will be creating some new features on the site utilizing the flexibility of the database. Another area that was not brought over to the app properly when it was created, is the Food Lists section. Right now there are only a limited number of items that are there in the app. It is the next major area that I will personally be tackling. There are a few steps that have to be done in order to get what is on the web page over to the app Food Lists. I do not know yet how much time it will take, but it is what I will start working on as soon as this FAQ page is in place. So, be warned, right now, the Food Lists are horribly incomplete and we would not recommend that you buy Dotti's Food Score specifically for those lists. On the other hand, the restaurants section of the app is up to date with both sets of Points values. If that is what you are looking for, you will get it, right now. And, the Food Lists will be improving shortly. However, the primary purpose of Dotti's Food Score is to give you the Restaurant information that you have come to rely on at Dotti's Weight Loss Zone. We will do our best to keep the data current from now on for you. As time goes by, we will have more new restaurants to add and updated information for the ones already there. It is a never ending project. Thank you for your patience, and for your understanding. Dotti and I hope that you will feel that it was worth the wait, now Dotti's Food Score is where it should be for the Restaurants. We have met hundreds of Zonies over the years, and they are the most wonderful people on earth, and that is what has kept me up nights as I plowed through this huge project: the idea that some of the Zonies would feel that we had not done our best with this phone app, and that we didn't care that it had made their Journey's harder, when the data was not there for them. That is not something I would ever be comfortable with. We were flat on our backs this year emotionally, and for Dotti, quite a bit of it was literally as well, but we are coming back, and you will get our best effort in the future to make Dotti's Food Score, a purchase that you will be very happy you made. If that is not good enough for you, I want you to know that I understand, and there are no hard feelings on this end. Zonies Rock, and they always will! I just want you to know that Dotti and I take it very personally when anything with our name associated with it, doesn't come up to speed. It is our aim to make sure that from now on, Dotti's Food Score, will be up to speed for you! Thank you for listening, and for visiting DWLZ, whether or not you purchased Dotti's Food Score. Our aim was, is, and ever will be, to help you with your Journey to a healthier you!
Wishing you the very best,
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To get your Dotti's Food Score app: For the iPhone—click on the graphic above to go to the iTunes Store For the Android—go to the Android Store and do a search |
Your Frequently Asked Questions |
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1. Q: Why are there Black and Red numbers for menu items in Dotti's Food Score?
2. Q: Is Dotti's Food Score available for the Android?
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If you would also take the time to give our app a good review at the iTunes store…it would really help! Thanks! 
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