I’ve been toying with the idea for a little while now about giving the blog a facelift and incorporate a few new tricks I’ve picked up over the last couple of months toying with a bit of ASP, implementing some jQuery scripts and picking up a few advanced-ish CSS tricks at work…

And yes, I know that Wordpress uses PHP as its main scripting language, but some of the principles behind scripting within ASP (though to be honest, I actually cut my teeth on XSLT, and everything’s been a bit easier to understand since then!) can still be applied to PHP – a scripting language is a scripting language, you learn some of the principles and apply it to the situation, and sometimes your code works, sometimes (more often since I’m still learning!) it kinda breaks everything Or is that just me? I guess that’s the problem when you’re a bit of a self-taught backyarder when it comes to coding

Anywho, I’ll probably start toying with some ideas for design changes and some new functions/features soon-ish. If anyone knows of any really progressive and stylish blogs or blog designs (self-promotion is fine ), let me know in the comments. I don’t know when I’ll put time aside to start fleshing out some new ideas and compile some new toys for the blog, but I figured if I actually post about it, it might encourage me to actually do something about it instead of just thinking about it Plus I haven’t built a local testbed since re-installing my O/S a while back, so I’ll have to get off my behind and get onto that too!

Bloginated Wednesday, 19th August 2009 / Blogs/websites
Tag-isms: Blogs | CSS | jQuery | PHP | scripting/coding | web design | wordpress

I was just thinking that I’ve been pretty slack with catching up on my usual round of martial arts bloggers on my side panel, and wanted to quickly post up a “I still think you’re all awesome ” comment on my blog acknowledging that I blame it on a busy work schedule and my almost-obsessive fussing over my arcade cabinet. I might break down and post some nerd images in a few weeks as I’ve tracked down a couple of ace fighting games, which in my mind is still remotely connected to the martial arts side of this blog. I don’t think the vast majority of my readership will care (though you’re welcome to surprise me!), but I don’t mind shouting into the void every now and again

Bloginated Tuesday, 18th August 2009 / Blogs/websites
Tag-isms: Blogs | Video games

Was doing some random Googling and found this awesome blog – The Adventures of the i-LIMB. The blog’s author, Darin, has had his left arm amputated from just below the elbow from what I can see in the videos he’s posted, and he’s documented a daily journal of his experiences with his i-LIMB, an awesome piece of crazy cybertechnology (i.e. his prosthesis ). There are plenty of videos documenting what he’s been up to and stacks of content – regardless of your background, check out his site and read up on his experiences.

Oh, and check out the vids, the technology is awesome to see in action I’ll be adding a link to his blog in my side bar, so if you forget where his blog is, you’ll be able to easily get to it regardless of where you are on my site.

Bloginated Friday, 31st July 2009 / Blogs/websites, Prosthesis or amputee stuff
Tag-isms: Blogs | Darin Sargent | i-LIMB | prosthesis | prosthetic arm

So, I was out of the loop during June and a little bit of July as well (click the links for the monthly roundups – not looking as healthy as my usual efforts!!), and this also means I’m also out of whack with what’s been happening in the martial arts blogs I regularly read during the week.

So, it left me feeling a little sheepish that I hadn’t dropped by Black Belt Mama’s blog to read up that she was successful in not only getting her 1st Dan in Okinawan Kenpo Karate, but she double-graded and also earned her 1st Dan in Okinawan Kenpo Kobudo as well. Crazy stuff, and really awesome to hear. She’s had to fight through ACL hell to get there, and I think it’s brill to read that she’s achieved her 1st Dan in both of those styles. I’d encourage you to check out the full post on her blog (click here), and I reckon I’ll have to think about the beer idea she had. Might come in handy for whenever I manage to progress that far

Congrats BBM! Sorry it’s so belated!

Bloginated Thursday, 30th July 2009 / Blogs/websites
Tag-isms: grading

Just wanted to quickly post that I’m still around the place!

Sorry for the lack of new content over the past week, things have been a little crazy around here, especially with work (I have a project looming with a definite end date of June 30, so it’s required extra hours on top of my usual commitments in order to meet the deadline), to the point where I haven’t been able to make it to class for a few weeks, though I’ve still managed to squeeze in some training at home, working on my basic forms and kata as I’m still aiming to be able to attend the next grading.

Anywho, give me a week or so, and I’m sure I’ll be back to my usual blogging routine by then In the meantime, feel free to drop by any of the excellent blogs and resources I’ve listed on the right-hand side of this page, I know I’ll be looking forward to catching up on them myself once I’ve got things straightened out!

Bloginated Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 / Blogs/websites
No tag-isms applied to this post due to unruly laziness :P