Soulive

I heard a song from Soulive on the radio about two weeks ago, and completely forgot that I was going to pick up the CD.  I've only heard the one song, but they sound really cool.

Getting Started with JSR 168

I'm doing some research on the JSR 168 portlet standard, and I found a pretty good walkthrough on how to get the environment up and running.

The post links to a lot of good resources, but takes you through some unnecessary steps: you don't have to install Maven in step 3 or go through steps 5-9 unless you want to try out a sample portlet before you start building your own.

One other quick tip:  when installing the Java Application Platform SDK Update 2 with Tools, you need to run in Windows 2000 compatibility mode if you're running Vista.  Otherwise you get a mysterious error about not being able to run in graphical mode.  I had a lot of trouble getting it installed until I tracked down this thread.

Getting Settled

We busted some serious ass this weekend, and actually have most of the boxes unpacked and furniture moved.   This is a shot of the living room from the stairs to the loft.

Http Errors... Illustrated

Ashley linked me to these illustrations for common HTTP errors. Unfortunately, they only seem to be for client-side errors. Hopefully there will be a follow up with the 5xx errors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/sets/72157594388426362/

Ashley's favorite is 400 Bad Request, but I'm undecided between 413 Request Entity Too Large and 408 Request Timeout

Update: Looks like I'm not the only one clamoring for the 500 series.

Bike Routes

I've created a Google Maps overlay of my bike routes.

Got creeped out, took down the map.

A Resolution

The second of my three best friends got married on Saturday (I'll post picture when I get a chance), and putting on my tux really made me realize how out of shape I am, so I have resolved to start riding my bike more and eating better.  I made some progress in this area earlier this year, but then I got busy, and pretty soon the Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches made their way back into my diet.

I  got in 3.33 miles last night, though in a bit of a downpour, and another 3.33 this morning.  The ride this morning was absolutely gorgeous.  I rode through McDowell Grove Forest Preserve near my house, and all of the meadows were covered in fog from the heavy rain last night.  I spotted two deer feeding in a meadow and another three near the flood control dam on the DuPage River near the end of my route.  I'm not sure I can do it justice, but I'll take my camera tomorrow and try to get some photos of the forest preserve.