Goodbye SPAM?

I have noticed a massive decrease in the amount of junk and SPAM comments and trackbacks on the site since moving to WordPress. I don’t know if that because it’s harder to generate or that the automated spammers don’t yet know the links to comment yet… which I suppose is more likely the case. Either way, it’s been a good respite and I’m pleased with the overall performance and reliability. Guess I should have done this before.

A Day [Or Two] In The Big Apple

We have spent the last couple of days walking, riding, and driving around New York City and I have to say: I’m tired. No wonder the people here are skinny. Yesterday, it was so hot and humid that I think I lost 10 pounds by the end of the day. Not to worry, though. After a morning at a very small, very enthusiastic church service in the Bronx, we were invited and went to lunch at a restaurant reputed to have authentic Texas barbeque. I was not disappointed, but it wasn’t the “best” I’d had. I certainly ate enough. Possibly even enough to make up for the amount I sweated and walked out yesterday.

Tomorrow, we might do the same – only I hope for not as long. I’m going to need a vacation after this vacation.

We Have Arrived

We are now sitting in the lobby of the Waldorf=Astoria hotel. I have to say it is quite snooty. Our room is kind of small, however, but nice. Now that we have taken a very long time to get here, we are tired and hungry. I think we might even have some NY-style pizza… I hear there’s a good place around here.

Tomorrow, New York City

In the wee early hours of the morning [well, “wee early” to us at least], Laura and I will head to New York City where we will get to stay for free at the Waldorf=Astoria hotel [which I’ve mentioned before, I believe].

We’re hoping that it doesn’t rain too much due to that tropical storm off the coast, but we’ll drive through anyway. It will really only affect where we stop and visit along the way. Which reminds me: I will get to add a new state to my list of states visited: Delaware. Can’t think of any other reason I’d want to go there except as a stop along the way to somewhere else… Some people like it, I suppose…

Deutschland

It looks as if I will be going to Germany in September – the week before Oktoberfest. Looks like I’ll miss it by a couple of days. Not to worry, though – I’m sure it will be fun anyway.

I’ll be getting some training, well, maybe not training as such, but it’s an expert community meeting for one of my technology specialties, so I will certainly be learning a little. And it will be on the company’s dime – which means Frequent Flyer Miles! [It’s been a while since I got any of those…]

So, I’ll be staying in Hamburg – anyone been there? What’s it like? Anything cool I should be sure to check out?

[UPDATE: Make that Bad Homburg, a suburb of Frankfurt…]

A Break In The Heat Wave

Today, we are down from our “scorching” heat and into a much more pleasant temperature. This morning’s ride took me up into the mountains where the fog was still hanging and the temperature was in the low 70s. After riding up here in the high 90s a couple of days ago, I have to say that the cool weather was a much welcome relief.

As for the bike, it seems to be working okay – no more stalls or failure to start. In fact, it seems to run better than it ever has. I’ll have to keep an eye on it, though.

News Syndication Changes

I wanted to let you know that the RSS/Atom feeds have changed with the new site architecture. They are:

  1. Atom: http://www.jeffphillips.org/wp-atom.php and http://www.jeffphillips.net/wp-atom.php
  2. RSS2: http://www.jeffphillips.org/wp-feed.php and http://www.jeffphillips.net/wp-feed.php
  3. Comments: http://www.jeffphillips.org/wp-commentsrss2.php (none for the other site)

Oops – I Forgot…

I forgot to tell you all that my bike is back – and running fine. As soon as it arrived back at the shop, it started up fine and hasn’t had a problem since. I’m a little concerned that it might happen again since they didn’t fix it. It is most likely electrical, but for now, I’m riding to work on it.

I forgot to say anything because my site has been unavailable for posting for many days… It’s good to be back!

I’m Back!

Some of you may have noticed a six-day lag in the posts to my web site. Well, that’s because the weblog software no longer functions like it should so I have been in the process of migrating all of my posts to WordPress. This has taken longer than it should because the regular “import” feature is not working like it should. It could be the fact that I’m on Windows and IIS, but… I have no clue.

Anyway: I have been hand-copying all the entries and comments over from the old site to the new site and here it is. You’ll notice it looks very different. It will continue to be different, but I will not keep it like this. I have to find a good template and then make it mine by changing it…

You’ll see…