Welcome to my blog

I’ve recently updated the theme used by this wordpress-based blog. In doing so I learned a lot about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), layout and the implications on a website that uses a mix of base “product” (i.e. WordPress) and a multitude of plugins from a variety of authors that often follow their own standards on style and formatting. This article summarises the key things I’ve learned. They are not in any particular order.
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It’s taken a while but I’ve finally got the new theme up and running. This explains the lack of posts over the last month.

I hadn’t realised how complex a task it could be and I’ve learned a ton about php, css and debugging along the way. I’ve made a few notes and will write some posts on my experiences.

There may be a few things I’ve missed between my testing blog and here. I’ll be looking for them over the next few days. But for now, please enjoy the updated look and feel of the blog.

It’s been two days and my body is still aching… The other night I joined the local Goju Karate school, the Outer Eastern IGK Martial Arts Club, at the back of the Croydon High School gym for a bit of a try-out. This is a small club under Hanshi Tino Cebrano’s International Goju Karate association, and I’d seen a number of the black belts train with Hanshi Tino when he was in Melbourne at the Ultimate dojo in Heathmont.
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Well, that’s it. The ’09 Black Belt Grading is over and all seven students passed.

Congrats to Marnie and Miranda (not shown), Gretta, Jeff, Simon, Andrew, and Jane. They ended the day sporting brand new stiff black belts, a huge grin and I’m sure a sense of relief that it’s all over.
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The guys have passed their second hurdle; the technical grading. It ran for 4 1/2 hours last night finishing at about 12:30 this morning. It was also nice to see a grading where there was a good mix of gruelling, almost dying, intensity and focus on the technical.

There were times when the guys were about to pass out from exhaustion and times when all could enjoy a joke. I don’t think anyone missed the jumping-spinning kicks. Perhaps they, and the complexes, will appear on Sunday at the graduation.
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