The default theme I had on v5 was nice…and generic, so I figured it’s about time I revealed my own JPEG-heavy, pixel-aligned theme after a few weeks spent putting it together. It’s obviously far from being finished; beyond the main blog interface, other areas need tweaking (lack of comments) to complete revamping (pictures).
In light of my decision to use Wordpress, I forget why designing a site was supposed to be more fun than coding the backend. The graphical nature of designing a website is certainly appealing, but all the pain of tweaking margins and paddings to make pixels align perfectly and looking up hacks to get around issues specific to a browser (hi Internet Explorer) came flooding back with a vengeance.
Alright, this post is going to be a bit of a rant. Ye who hateth technical details on website construction, pass not this mark.
Zeon and I went down to the local Korean supermarket for some food tonight. By chance I saw this peculiarly-named bread on the shelves, and the captions really write themselves. Juvenile humor at its best:
The abundance of carny games and people at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk was slightly disappointing, so our entourage headed along scenic Highway I, meandering our way along the Californian coast, enjoying great views of the ocean and for for those of us sensitive to winding roads, motion sickness.
Following a coworker’s recommendation, we stopped at an unmarked area off the highway, where a slanting trail lead downwards to a cozy patch of sand and rocks isolated from the rest of the world. Panther Beach, as it is known, was a picturesque location; rocky cliffs shelter its beauty from tourist eyes, lapping waves erase yesterday’s footprints, and September winds add an encouraging chill:
It was a big deal this summer at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk; the radio blared about its 100th year anniversary along with the enticing possibility of $1 rides when purchasing cans of Sprite on the weekdays. Since I’ve never been to Santa Cruz, Jeff, in the course of 20+ e-mails, kindly arranged a trip down to the land of excessive sunshine.
One of the first things I noticed upon arrival was the lack of a beach. Well, there may have been a beach, but the view on the road alongside the boardwalk was simply vacation houses and concrete walls, although they may have been trying to build anticipation of the tourist trap. Getting out of the car and shrugging on a backpack holding beach-appropriate gear, I came upon this at the entrance:
Yea, back amongst the folds of the Apple faithful, just being carried along for the ride.
I didn’t really want an iPhone to begin with, being more interested in the new iPods - the Classic and the touch - after I sold my old MP3 player. While 20GB’s of storage and 40 hours of playback was impressive two years ago, the tiny tiny screen and barebones interface discouraged power usage, so I’d stop trying to get more music and video onto the player out of frustration. Not to mention for the same amount of money I can now get 80GB’s worth of MP3 player.
Apple products have this sheen, a bubble of hype whenever Mr. Steve Jobs takes the stage and announces the next great product, causing perfectly rational techies to lay their wallets out in submission. It’s hard to describe or sympathize without experiencing it yourself, but sadly, the instability of my thoughts when I saw the claims of the iPod Touch available 3 weeks before its official date convinced me to drive 20 minutes into the city and claim one of my own.
