Living Museum of Learning
Breakfast Can Wait
For years, every App Store download of Golden Army brought mixed feelings. People were still discovering the app, but we knew its nearby-play feature had been broken by platform changes. It wasn't abandoned—we simply hadn't found the right time to rebuild it.
After Apple's notice, weeks of engineering and another two weeks of waiting for App Review followed. At last, the status changed to In Review.
I finally turned away from my computer to make breakfast.
Before I even started eating, another email arrived.
Review of your submission has been completed. It is now eligible for distribution.
Time: 07:36.
I looked at the screen and just smiled.
The review that had taken weeks to begin was finished in about an hour.
What disappeared wasn't just a review queue.
It was the quiet discomfort of knowing that one of our oldest apps was still serving users in a state we were no longer proud of.
That feeling had been with me every day.
Then, in one ordinary morning, it was gone.
Some engineering victories aren't measured by new features or download numbers.
They're measured by relief.
Sometimes the happiest release isn't releasing an app.
It's releasing the weight you've been carrying.
"I would hold on my breakfast, just as I had held on my sleep so many times, to write another exhibit, or another piece of code."