CGI::Session Question

I am using eruby/mod_ruby on a website I am developing. Everything is going fine and dandy with the site development (as it pertains to ruby), but I can't get my hand on session management.

I have never had to do session management before, so this is all new to me.

I tried doing the example from the Pragmatic Programmers online ruby book, but it doesn't seem to work. Here is the code:

test.rhtml<<

equire "cgi"
require "cgi/session"

cgi = CGI.new("html3")
sess = CGI::Session.new( cgi, "session_key" => "rubyweb",
                          "session_id" => "9650",
                          "new_session" => true,
                          "prefix" => "web-session.")
sess["CustID"] = 123
sess["Part"] = "ABC"

cgi.out{
  cgi.html{
    "\nHTML content here"
  }
}

test2.rhtml<<

require "cgi"
require "cgi/session"

cgi = CGI.new("html3")
sess = CGI::Session.new( cgi, "session_key" => "rubyweb",
                               "prefix" => "web-session.")
cgi.out{
  cgi.html{
    "\nCustomer #{sess['CustID']} orders an #{sess['Part']}"
  }
}

I visit test.rhtml, I see "HTML Content Here" as exected.
I visit test2.rhtml then, I get "Customer orders an", note I do NOT get the CustID or Part printed
I revisit test.rhtml, and it stalls (ie "I get Opening page...." and it keeps waiting, nothing happens.)

First of all, why, when I first visited test2.rhtml, did I not see the stored info?
And secondly, why can I no longer visit either test.rhtml or test2.rhtml once visited once ... it just never finishes loading (both IE and Firebird, even after clearing my cookies and cache). Thanks.

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