Now, how is this at all related to all the changes here on the site? Well, if you would just let me type then I will tell you! I was trying to add the Flickr integration to the old design and was running into problems because of the stupid slider that was at the top of the page showing different posts. The slider was cool at first but really wasn’t necessary for a place like this, and it wasn’t just some Flickr plugins that it caused problems with. The thing was becoming a huge pain in the ass and was causing more grief than I needed. Then add to the fact that I was constantly having to go in and manually code a lot of the CSS and PHP files to get them to look the way I wanted and suddenly my easy-to-maintain, plug-and-play site was no longer that. And voila, you are looking at the new layout that resulted! This one is much more plug-and-play for all the same apps that I had before, meaning less work for me to get everything working and setup. I just had to go in and fool around with a couple of core files to get it exactly how I wanted, but most of it really is just plugins now. I also like the cleaner look and feel of the site with less text on the main page – seems like my site keeps getting better and more sophisticated with each reiteration.

Now all that remains is to get all my photos transferred over to Flickr, which is not going to be an overnight process. In order to not have monthly upload limits or image sizes I am going to have to get a Pro account for $25/year, but it will be worth it. In the meantime I am going through my catalog and tidying up my photo collection and slowly getting some sent to Flickr.

So what are you waiting for? Go to the link below, select Chris Dunn and press the vote button!

Finalists for the “what would you do with 99%” contest

You never know, you may be the next one to enjoy the results of the winnings with a fabulous BBQ dinner hosted by yours truly.

This layout is requiring a lot more work on my behalf though; the last one was plug-and-play where I just selected the theme and moved some boxes around. With this layout I am having to do a lot of custom work to remove things I don’t want and to properly add some of the old features, requiring me to get into the actual PHP and CSS coding. Without training or much prior experience there is a steep learning curve and a lot “let’s change this piece of coding to see what it does. nope don’t like that, let’s change it back.” Also, some of the old features have conflicts with some of the new ones and so there have been a couple of functionality changes, but I am working on those. You may notice that there are some things not laid out properly yet, but I will get to them in due time. I think they are all small things now, but if you notice anything big not working properly please let me know ASAP.

Nevertheless, we celebrated the holiday over the 4-day weekend like everyone else – and we celebrated it real good! Cindy’s friend, Kat, and her boyfriend, Ollie, arrived in town from London on Thursday night to visit family (and us!) That night we headed into town for (quite) a few pints and managed to close down the bars. Granted, it was a Thursday and they closed down earlier than we are used to, but it was probably a blessing in disguise since I was still feeling the after effects the next day. I spent Friday resting up as I knew I had busy day coming on Saturday since everyone was coming for a BBQ (known as a “braai” in South Africa I learned). In addition to Kat and Ollie, Nicole and Dave (Ollie’s sister and her boyfriend) and Erica and Ray (friends) were on the guest list at Chez Chris’ Grill. This meant getting up somewhat early and heading to the grocery store to get some supplies. On the way back home, Cindy dropped me off at the butcher where I watched them cut eight beautiful sirloin steaks for me. Once home they marinated in the fridge for eight hours while I made some apple crisp and prepared the potato wedges.

Our guests arrived shortly after 4pm and the beer started flowing, pints of gin & tonic for the ladies. Well, to be honest, for some the beer was flowing earlier at the pub since Liverpool was playing the early game, but I won’t name names. Erica and Ray made a trip to the American PX for us and came baring gifts – ranch dressing, Doritos and maple syrup! The sun was shining and we enjoyed it while relaxing on the patio, although some people found the balmy weather cold still, but it wasn’t any of the Canadians! In between beverages we managed to get the steaks grilled and dinner on the table, and I will toot my own horn and say that everything turned out pretty damn good. I made two apple crisps thinking that we would have some leftovers, but that plan failed as it went quickly. No complaints at all though, as an evening of merriment with friends and foliage-paying-it-forward was enjoyed by all (see the photos for more details).

We didn’t have much turn around time before our next scheduled eating event. Ollie and Nicole’s family was kind enough to invite us to Easter lunch/dinner – I don’t know what to call it since we started eating early in the afternoon and finished in the evening. It was simply fantastic food – and by that I mean meat, meat and more meat. There was even meat wrapped in other meat, and the stuffing was meat! There was only one green dish on the table and I think that was just to contrast the color of meat. It was all so delicious and I made sure I helped myself to seconds, although there was enough food for everyone to have fourths, and that was before the desserts were even brought out after a much needed break. Cindy even got her Easter egg hunt, although it did get a little rough with the eight or nine of us running around the house like kids. We had a great time with our substitute British family while away from home for the holidays and couldn’t thank them enough for taking us in.

So, you see. The Easter Bunny really is a whore! Ya, I don’t think I argued my point very well either.

glowing sun on face
seat for resting your tukis
good patio cheer

What? That wasn’t clear? I am surprised as haiku is unambiguous and concise by nature. Has my sarcasm come through the keyboard successfully? “So why the haiku then?” you may ask. I read somewhere that if the entry was in the 5-7-5 poem format I may have a slight advantage, and I will take any advantage I can get.

For those not attuned with Japanese poetry, here is a translation of how I would use the winnings…

New arrivals to the UK, Cindy and I have a great home with a wonderful patio and beautiful garden out back. With the recent arrival of spring, we are tempted out our back door to the warm air and cooking on the new grill – an old-school Weber charcoal grill, of course. However, our patio is missing something – furniture! I want to share my newly found grilling abilities with friends, but I feel ashamed of our naked patio with nowhere to sit. I also feel that it would be rather rude to ask people to sit on the ground and so I need some help from bview.co.uk. How are we to make new friends in our new country without proper outdoor seating arrangements? Pretty difficult task in my eyes. I know bview.co.uk can help because I see Garden Furniture World is one of their merchants; seems like a match made in heaven. Come on, help a brotha out!

During my in-depth research for the competition, I also came across some other helpful hints for winning. So here are the poetic annexes to my official entry.

in a time of need
distressful situation
safety goat saves day

safety goats needed
land of less to produce them
with first world wages

Even if I don’t win, I expect my Capra aegagrus hircus of shelter in the mail some day. (look it up)