Well, some teething trouble with the new blog engine that some may or may not have noticed last night. Basically, I had to make a change in the configuration to Apache (the web server) in order to make this all link up properly. If you typed in http://www.nodecaf.net/blog (without a trailing /) then you’d get redirected to the internal name of the server (in my home network), which of course is an inaccessible and unresolvable name from outside! Finally fixed that by changing the Server Hostname in Apache to the external name and all was good.

Kind of a pain, but the new blog engine is nice. Pretty speedy as well, I think I’m going to like this PHP engine.

I really don’t have much to write about today. I guess Happy Birthday MP3, and Happy Bastille Day to any French readers.

Let’s see, can I ramble for a bit here? Well, I’m sure readers here KNOW that I can, but let’s see what I can ramble about.

Had a cool email from a really old friend over the last couple of days. Duncan Threadgould was a friend of mine from Buckingham Middle School, so I guess since I was about 8 years old he’s known me. Kinda cool to hear from him; I had been on-and-off in contact with him for several years, mostly because of time constraints and demands on my time, but generally kept losing touch. I have a horrible habit of doing that. Anyway, I used Friends Reunited to contact him recently and update him on my plans. After about a month, he has responded. Can’t wait to hang out with him

I’ve started going back to the gymnasium about twice a week. I used to work out two or three times a week when I lived in London, but pretty much since I moved to the USA I’ve only really made half-hearted efforts to keep in shape. This is again due to that ultimate constraint; time. Basically I took a look at myself and despite the fact I’ve lost a lot of weight in the last couple of years, I need to start moving weight around instead of just losing it. Basically I still have some weight, just not where I want it. Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I made the decision to start heading up to the gym and getting back in shape. Let me tell you, first day I went I felt great when I got done with my workout… the following day I could barely move I was so sore!!! Still, that was a good thing; I was hurting in precisely the areas I wanted to work.

3 weeks later, I’m still going to the gym and feeling better all the time. Every time I go up there I work out a little harder than I did last time, and while I still feel stiff in areas the following days it’s nowhere near as bad as it was that first day. It’s also helped me notice areas of weakness on my body that I can work on. So far I’m getting there and working those areas, and I feel a lot better for it. However, I have to say that after an hour or so of working out, going outside and straddling my bike can sometimes be a bit of a chore

Speaking of the bike, got some saddlebags and a tail bag so I can start carrying stuff around with me for a little touring. Stuff like bottles of water, my rain suit (came in handy this week with the remains of Hurricane Dennis dumping their load on St. Louis and my car being on the fritz!) and of course my gym-stuff (shoes, shorts, shirts… you know). Keeping the Chase Harper Stealth bags cinched down to my bike when travelling at highway speeds has been a challenge, but I think I’ve got it with some creative strap routing. The Chase Harper Super Deluxe Hideaway bag is awesome though. Has permanently attached bungees and is surprisingly large when folded out completely. Holds an awesome amount of stuff and will probably be extremely useful on my trip. More details as to WHY later…

Both sets of bags are extremely good and waterproof… this week’s weather has at least proven that

Well, I’ve rambled enough. I guess I need to get back to work.