AppSite · Blog
The AppSite blog
Stories, updates and how-tos from AppSite — 43 posts.
Is Your Device's Screen Dirty? The Series
A three-part series on lessons Paul Hopkins learned from Lou Tice decades ago, and how they shape the way he is building AppSite.
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42 posts.
Is Your Device's Screen Dirty? Part 3: Pick Carefully
AI will believe whatever you give it to believe. So will you. Part three: why AI tries so hard to please you, and how a truthful scorecard keeps it honest.
Is Your Device's Screen Dirty? Part 2: Locus of Control
Noticing the stain is one thing. Deciding what to do about it is another. Part two: locus of control, and keeping control of your work where it belongs.
Is Your Device's Screen Dirty? Part 1: The Reticular Activating System
We stare at our screens for so long that we stop seeing the smudges. The same thing happens to our goals. A short story about attention, habits, and the beliefs that shape what we see.
Introducing Ethical AI by AppSite
Appsations turns nine, and Ethical AI by AppSite is born: lifting people up, not replacing them. One AI, one front door, the same beliefs for everyone.
Introducing AppSite Extensions: AppSite AI and the Vault, inside VS Code
AppSite's first two extensions are public on the Visual Studio Marketplace. AppSite AI brings your tenant's AI and the appsite CLI into VS Code; AppSite Vault shows and syncs the offline copies of the platform and every tenant. Both are free, made by Appsations, Inc., and listed in the AI module.
API vs CLI: two ways to put AI to work — and why ours runs on your plan
An API is a model answering a program over the internet, billed per token. A CLI is a program on your own computer that does the work around the model — and can answer on the Claude plan you already pay for. Here is how each works, where each fits, and what it saved us.
The Countdown Is On: AppSite Launches August 9th — With Its First Enterprise Customer Already Onboard
Three weeks from launch, AppSite already has its first enterprise customer onboarded and running — on dedicated infrastructure, with their AI architecture built in-house, and a security posture that answers the questionnaire before it's asked. Official launch: August 9th.
AppSite Beta — Public Launch.
AppSite opens to the public. Operators get early access to the full platform: bookings, CRM, invoicing, scheduling — all in one place, built for real businesses, not developers. The platform that started as an idea in 2018 is now in the hands of the people it was built for.
🎉 Live: ThatParentingCoach.Ca
The first HappyApps-delivered web app is live. A real client. A real URL. A real launch.
Lost Island Opens. Mysttech Delivers.
Beyond Belief Entertainment's Lost Island escape room officially opens in Vernon, BC — May 1st, 2026. Mysttech Creations deployed multiple smart puzzles inside: custom hardware, embedded logic, and the kind of physical interactivity that makes a room feel alive. Not a prototype.
AppSite — 20 Modules. One Platform.
AppSite reaches full-platform beta. Twenty modules engineered from scratch on the Appsations SDK: CRM, Bookings, Scheduling, Invoicing, Payments, Purchasing, Expenses, Parts & Inventory, Service Delivery, Events, Offerings, Analytics, Storage, Portal, Admin Governance, Roles & Permissions…
Memorial Service — St. Albert, Alberta.
January 9, 2026, 2:00 PM. Family, colleagues, and friends gathered at Connelly-McKinley Funeral Home in St. Albert, Alberta to say goodbye to Dale Russell Hopkins.
Where It Began.
Long before the companies, the code, or the plan — there was a father building things in Morinville, Alberta. Not simple things.
HappyApps.Dev — First Formal Client. The Platform Goes Pro.
First client signed December 2025. What began as project-by-project learning — TrustLease, ThatParentingCoach, FlossMatch, and others — becomes a formal practice.
Dale Hopkins. Younger Brother. Gone.
November 26th, 2025. Dale Russell Hopkins — younger brother, past Chairman of the RVDA of Canada, COO of RV City, CPA, husband of 27 years to Shelley, father of Matt, grandfather to Avery and Greyson — passed away unexpectedly in a highway collision east of Morinville, Alberta. He was 54.
Appsations Inc. Returns. Center Stage.
The hardware work reignited the instinct. AI made every idea achievable. The years of healing, consulting, building in pieces — all of it converging into one platform.
Code Red — The President's Big Mistake. Missile Silos. Full Build.
Mysttech Creations' second full escape room opens at Beyond Belief Entertainment in Vernon — Fall 2024. A classified Cold War command centre: missile silo stations, radar control, missile command, self-destruct sequences. Every panel wired, every prop built, every puzzle logic embedded by hand.
Game Time Opens. Mysttech's First Full Room Build.
Game Time Escape Room opens at Beyond Belief Entertainment in Vernon — January 2024. A full build: lockers, trophy cases, custom props, Arduino controllers, optics, sound triggers, touch integrations. First C++.
HappyApps.Dev — A Legacy App Platform Built from Real Projects.
Not an experiment — a platform. HappyApps.Dev was built one real client at a time: TrustLease CA, ThatParentingCoach, FlossMatch, HealingHorizons, ElementalSpaces, VoiceVibeAI, RVTechConnectAI, and more. Each one a production deployment.
Elected Chairman — RVDA of Canada.
November 13, 2023. Dale Hopkins is elected Chairman of the Board of the RVDA of Canada — the highest volunteer leadership position in the Canadian RV dealer industry. His goal: broaden national industry impact and advance the industry's future.
A Collective of Lightworkers. A Calling Found.
Moved to Salmon Arm, BC. Joined a collective of lightworkers. ConsciousVisionaries emerged from within that community — not as a business concept, but as a genuine calling. A desire to help others find their way, the same way guidance had been found here.
ConsciousVisionaries — Helping Others Find Their Way
Consulting and podcast production — born from community, not strategy. A 30-Day Self-Motivation Program. Guest interviews with coaches, healers, and practitioners. The work: help people find their own clarity, the way it had been found here.
Day Jobs. Internal Work. Getting Well.
Letter carrier with Canada Post in North Vancouver. Service Writer and Parts Manager at Meridian RV in Port Coquitlam. The bills were paid. The health work happened on its own schedule. Appsations was set aside — not abandoned. There is a difference.
Full Stop. Not a Pivot.
End of 2019 — Appsations Inc. formally halted operations. Health compounded everything. Not a restructure, not a rebrand — a full stop. The apps stayed live. The vision stayed intact. The company went quiet.
AppSite — First Proof of Concept
An iOS app built for RV City — not a platform yet, just the idea made real. A mirror of their website that functioned like a native app: their business, in someone's pocket, without the cost of a full build. The concept worked. The market question was clear. AppSite as a product was born.
Dale Hopkins Joins the RVDA of Canada National Board.
2018: Dale joins the RVDA of Canada's national board — the governing body for the Canadian RV dealer industry. He serves four years on the Convention/Expo committee and sits on the RVIA's Canadian Coalition Committee, bridging the U.S. and Canadian RV industries.
Three Products Ship. App Store Live.
TapNTrak iOS — fleet telemetry for real operators, live on the App Store. RV City AppSite iOS — the proof-of-concept becomes a shipped product. Grapevine Food Sharing Hub — iOS app and full web platform, a community-first idea built from the ground up. Three products. One founder.
Vancouver. A Relationship Ends. Life Resets.
Moved to the Vancouver area in the fall of 2018. A personal relationship ended. The business was still standing, the apps were live — but the ground had shifted. Time alone to figure out what came next.
WorkBC. Incorporated. A 163-Page Plan Written.
After Fraserway, qualified for the WorkBC Skills Training for Employment Program — the bridge that funded the leap into building. Filed for incorporation October 6th, 2017. Eight days later — emergency surgery. Five days in hospital. The paperwork came through from that bed.
Fraserway RV — One Last Chapter in the Industry
Service Operations Manager at Fraserway RV, Abbotsford. The skills still translated. But the pull toward building something entirely new had already taken root. Last role before the leap.
Where the Business Mind Was Built
Fifteen years at RV City. Twelve years as Director of Parts and Service at Arrkann. Large teams, real budgets, operational systems at scale. The greatest wins were never the efficiency numbers — they were the people. A management philosophy built on integrity, prosperity, and teamwork.
Good To Great
Fifteen years at RV City. Twelve years as Director of Parts and Service at Arrkann. Large teams, real budgets, operational systems at scale. The greatest wins were never the efficiency numbers — they were the people. A management philosophy built on integrity, prosperity, and teamwork.
Left Alberta. Moved to Agassiz, BC.
The career was real. The success was real. And something still wasn't right. Quit work in Alberta in the fall of 2015 and moved to Agassiz, BC — no clear plan, just a conviction that wouldn't stay quiet. The next chapter had already started.
Alberta RVDA Dealer of the Year — Again. Jayco Founders Award.
2012: RV City earns Alberta RVDA Dealer of the Year for the second time. The same year, they receive the Jayco Founders Award — one of the most significant recognitions in the Jayco dealer network. Dale is COO by this point.
Dale Carnegie Graduate — How to Win Friends and Influence People
Enrolled in Dale Carnegie Training while Director of Parts and Service at Arrkann. The course wasn't about persuasion — it was about genuinely understanding people: what moves them, what they need, and how to communicate in a way that honours that.
RV City — Alberta RVDA Dealer of the Year.
2008: RV City is awarded Alberta RVDA Dealer of the Year. The same year Paul Hopkins completes Dale Carnegie training at Arrkann — two brothers, two careers, both being recognized in the same industry at the same moment.
Tim Lucyk Joins Arrkann RV.
2007: Tim Lucyk begins his career at Arrkann RV — the same dealership where Paul Hopkins would later serve as Director of Parts and Service. Their paths through the RV industry will cross again years later, this time on a shared mission: building the platforms the industry needs.
NuWayDirect — Servers, Networks, the Early Web
Running parallel to the RV career: NuWayDirect.com — a real IT operation, not a startup concept. Custom onsite server deployments. Windows NT. Active Directory. Web development before frameworks existed, built from scratch because there was no other way. Networked systems laid one rack at a time.
Dale Hopkins — CPA Designation.
October 1999. Dale earns his Chartered Professional Accountant designation. He works briefly as a public accountant — three years — before returning to RV City with a sharper set of tools and a clearer sense of where he belonged. The ledger was never the point. The industry was.
Dale Hopkins Joins RV City. Age 17.
Dale Russell Hopkins — born March 2, 1971 in Edson, Alberta — begins working at RV City in the parts department at age 17, alongside his older brother Paul. Two brothers, same department, same dealership.
Alberta Raised. Electronics First.
Grand Prairie, Alberta, 1968. Morinville, 1974. Grew up in an electronics shop — circuits, solder, and how things work were the native language long before there was a computer in the house. NAIT, 1987: Electronic Service Technician. The RV industry arrived before graduation.
Junior Citizen of the Year — Morinville, Alberta
Nominated by the Morinville Economic Development Board for the Junior Citizen of the Year award — a provincial Alberta recognition. Didn't win. Was honoured just the same. At 17, being seen by your community for the contributions you were making meant something. It still does.