So yesterday I had some issues accessing my site here, and my photo site. I was getting internal server errors, or finally after four-five minutes of trying, the page would load. These were the only sites of the number of sites I host that seemed to be having a problem…. which led me to believe it wasn’t really a sever issue per se.

After trading a couple emails with the folks at Dreamhost, they helped me track down what may have been the problem, my photos site was getting hit with an unusually high number of connections. Three IP addresses were responsible for nearly 3000 connections to my photo gallery yesterday. 74.6.8.100 had 389 connections, 65.55.212.161 had 720, and 64.1.215.162 had a whopping 1724!

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It is.. well, was - Saturday AM. Dad and I were trying to decide what to do with our day off here in VA. Sight-seeing, yes, but where. I do a bit of a google search and find some information on the Cascades Recreation Area, which is part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

The Recreation area has a picnic area, but the showcase is a trail that leadsup Little Stoney Creek to the Cascades waterfall. According the website:

The trail itself is a thing of beauty also.  Much of it has been carved directly into existing rock and there are numerous stone steps, walls and walkways.  Four bridges allow hikers to get even closer to the creek and be surrounded by the sounds and sprays of falling water. Since the trail is so close to the creek, rocks may be slippery or icy, so be careful.

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I am a bit of a geek. Yea, big shock there. I bought my first digital camera over seven years ago, a camera from before they even measured the quality in mega-pixels. I have a few shots of when my niece and nephew were first born using that camera.There were better ones out there, and it was not long before I upgraded to an 2 mega-pixel HP camera. A camera the same niece and nephew now use as a toy.

I am on my fourth digital camera, an 8 mega-pixel Kodak. Over the last 7-8 years I have taken thousands of photos. Many of which I still have, despite loosing way too many to a hard-drive crash a few years back.

For at least a few years now, I have been looking for an online gallery to use to show off my photos, and in the process Of course being the geek that I am, I want to host my own gallery, not rely on a third party like Flickr. I have looked at dozens and actually tried out about a dozen. I finally have found the one I am sticking with.

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