I just wanted to say thank you for this post. I think it says a lot about a person when they can admit they were in the wrong and it's not as common as it maybe should be.
It is unfortunate your initial interactions with OpenWRT were not positive and I appreciate that may put you off using it entirely. But, if you ever do want to give it another try you will find plenty of people here who are happy to assist or point you in the right direction.