So here we are.

So its been a long while between drinks.

Last week when I archived the old blog that was residing here, I had not posted an update since 2009. The blog represented a slice in time of who I was, spanning 2006 to 2009, and then it ended, like most things, not with a bang, but a resounding silence. Things do not just disappear, they get neglected, left alone, and forgotten.

While I knew the domain was still kicking around, I only decided to check what state I had left it in, recently, while doing some tidying up of my various bits of webs pace and domains. It really was an example of what happens to unpatched publicly accessible sites everywhere. My old WordPress installation had been taken over by comment spam, with 6000+ spam-bots having taken residence. Given that this was being kept on some fairly cheap hosting, even loading WP was a slow chore. Trying to do a mass database purge using plugin tools was a futile exercise in timeout frustration. After a bit of experimentation, the magic number that seemed to work was 50 users being purged at a time. So after many hours, I had purged the users, purged the spam comments, and was left with a lot of posts that I did not feel quite comfortable adding to. Five years represents a lot of change in my life. I have changed jobs thrice, gotten married, adopted some dogs, completed a second masters degree (MBA), taken up aquaponics as a hobby, started drinking alcohol again, and generally consider myself a different person.

Which all leads us to this. After updating my installation, taken preventative action to avoid a return of the spam-bots and taking in the status-quo, I decided that it was time for a fresh start. I took a complete backup of all my old posts, in case I decide I ever want them again, and then pressed the reset button.

So what can you expect here? Well, I am not entirely too sure. It will be things I am interested in, or am contemplating. Discussions on food, lifestyle, politics, pets, prose and people. Initially I will aim for at least one post a week, though it may be more frequent, or less. I am open to topical requests, so if you want my thoughts on a topic, feel free to ask.

I will of course be fiddling about with the back end for the first few weeks, so if strange things seem to be happening, or things do not display correctly, please take a moment to let me know. I may also change themes depending on how I like it.

In general, when comments are up and running correctly, I will tend not to do any censoring, unless a comment is directly hateful. My opinions are my own, and sometimes that is a good thing. I do not expect or require agreement from others, I do however appreciate decorum and civility.

So here we are. Welcome to my old – new blog.

Raph