Just wanted to take a moment to point to another blog I’ve added to my list – A Teaspoon of Treacle. Why the plug? Because it’s Wifey’s new blog 🙂 We’ve been talking for a while now about her starting up her own foodie blog as she’s extremely talented in the kitchen and has been thinking of doing something about it on the web. So, while I’m not sure how much crossover there’ll be, I’d like to encourage everyone visiting here to drop by her site and take a look!

Thanks!! 😀

Bloginated Monday, 21st September 2009 / Blogs/websites
Tag-isms: food is yum | I'm an awesome husband

In an attempt to stave off the temptation to post about old video games on this blog, I’ve finally put the finishing touches on a companion blog where I can keep the off-topic stuff siphoned away to an appropriate place 🙂

I’ve given the new blog an appropriately nerdy name – RetroOtaku – and you can check it out in all its awesomeness at http://nerdisms.gisoku-budo.com/ if you’re so inclined. At this stage I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating it, but it’s there for when I want to wax lyrical about video games and junk 😉

The good news is that now I’m finished putting it together I can get back to blogging here more regularly, which I’ve been pretty lax with of late. Apologies to the regulars checking out this site, I’ll get back into the swing of things over the next week!

Oh, and if you forget about the URL, you’ll find the site linked under ‘Companion blogs’ in the side bar!

Bloginated Tuesday, 8th September 2009 / Blogs/websites
Tag-isms: RetroOtaku

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 :D” 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