I got my Orange Belt, or seventh kyu, certificate in Shotokan Karate tonight. My 15 or 20 minute test that resulted in four days of stiff, sore muscles and blistered feet feels like a pretty good effort now. Apparently the testing instructor felt like I put on a good show. My sensei said it was a test to be proud of.
Now on to Green Belt!
The picture doesn’t do it justice; 20 minute backyard fireworks show that I’m sure cost a grand. I have awesome neighbors.
I’ve seen this picture twice now on Twitter. The story is that a farmer was denied a permit to build a horse shelter so he builds a giant table and chairs which don’t need a permit. Brilliant, right?
It’s a cool story but according to Snopes it’s not true.
Although the photographs are real, the claim about the giant furnishings’ having originated as a way of skirting the law is a bit of fiction: the structures were built to serve the dual purpose of providing some shelter for the equines and serving as a visual advertisement for their owner’s business.
I haven’t had a chance to do this in a while but here’s some advice for when this story starts to show up in your inbox with lots of FWs in the subject line. Hit reply all and link back to the story on Snopes. It’s kind of a jerky thing to do — it’s just a story about horses! — but every time you do it one less email gets sent out about autism being linked to vaccines, Barack Obama being born outside of the states, or whatever nonsense is being spread around right now. I don’t really know. I don’t get these emails anymore.
That said, I wish the story was true. The real story kind of sucks.
This year I finally got to meet Kubrick designer Michael Heilemann. Kubrick is the theme that became the default theme for WordPress forever to be known as Default. Dork that I am I got my picture taken with him. My first WordPress celebrity fanboy moment. I’m a theme designer, it happens.
While in San Francisco for An Event Apart I decided to get my picture taken with friend and colleague Matías Ventura. He and I designed the Duster theme that wound up becoming Twenty Eleven, the WordPress theme for 2011. This is us.
Photo by Sheri Bigelow
At that moment I realized I need to have my photo taken with all the WordPress default theme designers. Like a collection. I get to travel the world for work. I love WordPress. And themes. I’m a dork. It fits.
Time to make a list!
He did the “Default WordPress” that was “just a basic layout, with only the bare minimum defined” for WordPress 0.71.And then next year, Twenty Thirteen. And so on for as long as I can keep it up. Should be fun. Dorky WordPress theme nerd fun.
