diff --git a/config/bootstrap.php b/config/bootstrap.php
index a9ac650..71951bb 100644
--- a/config/bootstrap.php
+++ b/config/bootstrap.php
@@ -41,16 +41,19 @@ function handle_setup_exception(SetupException $e){
             // Show error message and exit
             http_response_code(500);
             echo "<h1>Configuration Error</h1>";
-            echo "<p>" . Util::escape_html($setupError['message']) . "</p>";
+            echo "<p>" . Util::escape_html($e->getSetupIssue) . '-' . Util::escape_html($e->getMessage()) . "</p>";
             exit;
         case 'table_contents':
             // Recoverable error.
             // Redirect to setup if we aren't already headed there.
-            $config = ConfigModel::load();
+            // NOTE: Just read directly from init.php instead of
+            //       trying to use the config object. This is the initial
+            //       setup. It shouldn't assume anything can be loaded.
+            $init = require APP_ROOT . '/config/init.php';
             $currentPath = trim(parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH), '/');
 
             if (strpos($currentPath, 'setup') === false) {
-                header('Location: ' . $config->basePath . 'setup');
+                header('Location: ' . $init['base_path'] . 'setup');
                 exit;
             }
     }
@@ -92,7 +95,7 @@ function validate_storage_subdirs(): void {
 
     foreach($storageSubdirs as $storageSubdir){
         if (!is_dir($storageSubdir)) {
-            if (!mkdir($dir, 0770, true)) {
+            if (!mkdir($storageSubdir, 0770, true)) {
                 throw new SetupException(
                     "Failed to create required directory: $dir",
                     'directory_creation'
diff --git a/examples/nginx/root/nginx.conf b/examples/nginx/root/nginx.conf
index c134f66..74c65ba 100644
--- a/examples/nginx/root/nginx.conf
+++ b/examples/nginx/root/nginx.conf
@@ -37,7 +37,16 @@ server {
         # I've excluded /css/custom so that requests for uploaded css can be handled by the PHP app.
         # That lets me store uploaded content outside of the document root,
         # so it isn't served directly.
-        location ~* ^/(?!css/custom/).+\.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
+
+        # CSS files - 1 hour cache
+        location ~* ^/(?!css/custom/).+\.css$ {
+            expires 1h;
+            add_header Cache-Control "public";
+            try_files $uri =404;
+        }
+
+        # Other static assets - 1 year cache
+        location ~* ^/.+\.(js|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
             expires 1y;
             add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
             try_files $uri =404;
diff --git a/examples/nginx/subfolder/nginx.conf b/examples/nginx/subfolder/nginx.conf
index 249eb4b..8352289 100644
--- a/examples/nginx/subfolder/nginx.conf
+++ b/examples/nginx/subfolder/nginx.conf
@@ -42,7 +42,16 @@ server {
         # I've excluded /css/custom so that requests for uploaded css can be handled by the PHP app.
         # That lets me store uploaded content outside of the document root,
         # so it isn't served directly.
-        location ~* ^/tkr/(?!css/custom/).+\.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
+
+        # CSS files - 1 hour cache
+        location ~* ^/tkr/(?!css/custom/).+\.css$ {
+            expires 1h;
+            add_header Cache-Control "public";
+            try_files $uri =404;
+        }
+
+        # Other static assets - 1 year cache
+        location ~* ^/tkr/.+\.(js|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|eot)$ {
             expires 1y;
             add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
             try_files $uri =404;
diff --git a/public/index.php b/public/index.php
index a179f03..8d94a57 100644
--- a/public/index.php
+++ b/public/index.php
@@ -15,10 +15,6 @@ if (preg_match('/\.php$/', $path)) {
 include_once(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)) . "/config/bootstrap.php");
 load_classes();
 
-// initialize the database
-global $db;
-$db = get_db();
-
 // Make sure the initial setup is complete
 // unless we're already heading to setup
 if (!(preg_match('/setup$/', $path))) {
@@ -30,6 +26,10 @@ if (!(preg_match('/setup$/', $path))) {
     }
 }
 
+// initialize the database
+global $db;
+$db = get_db();
+
 // Everything's loaded and setup is confirmed.
 // Let's start ticking.