kentcowgill.org/blog

It hasn't been too many posts since I've had to apologize for not posting in a while. And as it's been over three months since my last post, I suppose an apology is not only in order, but long overdue.

So having said that, I'm sorry :)

Recently, I've had to take some time off my routine for illness, and then I had to extend that time off for injury - i.e. my gradually worsening back pain. Well, mostly sort of kind of partly recently. I've been easing my way back into a workout routine the last month or so.

Of course I can't forget that Matthew, my son, turned one just a few short weeks ago, so there was the whole getting ready for the party, and the party, and the clean up/organization involved with that.

And then there's my sudden excess of spare time due to my recent bout of unemployment. Which is a good thing - I get to spend a little more time with Matthew, as well as take care of some thing around the house that I haven't found time to take care of in the last year.

So I'll add an update here once I get a little more time ;-)

Heh. I complain about falling off of posting to my blog, and then I'm silent for nearly 6 days. So what's the story? Have I really stopped everything? Have I just gotten lazy in posting again?

Well, a little of both.

I mentioned I was getting discouraged with my inability to hit the targets for the push ups and chin ups. So I'm taking a break. I don't plan to stop altogether. I've been kicking around the idea of doing the pyramid push ups/chin ups/sit ups thing again. For a little while. Just to change things up for a bit.

I've been going to my physical therapy, and I bought a few things (ankle weights, lighter dumbbells) to help me do my physical therapy exercises at home. I also dusted off my stability ball and used that a bit, too.

I've also gotten out on my bike - with all the miles and miles of unridden road around me, I can't stay off my bike on the weekends.

Sunday I rode from my house, to Elmwood Park, River Forest, Oak Park, then up to nearly Evanston, Lincolnwood, Skokie, and then back home. It was about 41 miles, and looks pretty impressive on a map:

View Larger Map

I've already got a route mapped out for next weekend that should take me through Park Ridge, Des Plains, Mount Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Itasca, Wood Dale, Elmhurst, Melrose Park, and then back home. This one will look really impressive, and will span about 48 miles.

Ok, so most of my historical (2006-2007) posts have reasonable dates and times assigned to them, but they're completely fabricated at this point.

Is that a big deal?

I don't think so. It's just a blog.

Would I approach Real Data^™ with such a blasé attitude? Not on your life.

I don't really have anything to say, but it's easier to post a test post than to read the docs for the database regarding inserting dates :)

Walking down memory lane, I found a few older posts from a different site of mine.

I figured I'd copy those old entries in this blog, just to have everything in one place. And also to help flesh out my "archives" section a little more.

Turns out I actually used a different data type to store dates.

Ugh.

So I figure, "I'll just change the column type, surely my database is smart enough to figure these things out".

It wasn't.

Needless to say, I'll be adjusting the dates of the existing posts to try to make them somewhat match what they used to look like.

Ever wonder what my earlier posts were?

Ever wish you could read more than just the last 10 entries?

Wonder and wish no more, there are now links at the bottom of each page for reading older articles.

Though I should really fix it so it doesn't use the old school ?start=blah style of navigation. But I didn't feel like reading the Catalyst documentation just right now.