my new 3-column layout

those of you who have been following this blog must have noticed that i have adapted a 3-column layout. last weekend i finally had the time to sit down and work on the codes with a little help from how-to and blogger-buster sites i stumbled upon and relying on my limited understanding of CSS and html codes...thanks to that short course on web design for beginners i took from the University of the Philippines-College of Engineering eons ago when the word 'blog' wasn't invented yet.

anyway, it was pretty simple but required a lot of patience. Playing with the Minima template i already have, i added the codes for the new left sidebar, increased the margins of the outer wrapper to give room to the additional column and made a few tweaks here and there until my site looked like this: i was happy. the main post column was at the center and i have 2 sidebars (left and right) to organize my nonsense. i was so proud of myself.

until....

yesterday i opened the desktop in our bedroom and eeeekkkkkk...!...horror of all horrors...! this was how my page appeared: as you can see, the left sidebar was centered and occupied the entire top portion of the screen and i had to scroll down to find the main post and the other sidebar. i thought it was just some temporary glitch so i refreshed the page but nothing changed. the problem? the first image with the correct layout was generated from Mozilla Firefox (my laptop's default browser) while the last two images with the misaligned columns were generated from Internet Explorer which is the desktop-in-our-bedroom's default browser. all these images by the way are cached versions of my site 'coz i was so freaked out with the misaligned columns in IE that i forgot to print the screen before i improved the layout to what it is now. Thank God Google took a snapshot of my old layout.

let me invite you again to the above images. notice how the first image (from Firefox) was properly centered on the screen after i zoomed it out? the last two images from IE, however, magnetized to the left of the screen when i zoomed them out. IE really sucks!

there was no question i had to correct the layout 'coz i know that majority of the surfing population, especially those accessing the internet from public facilities, still use IE. Hey, if you're one of them, make the move, download Firefox now! Anyway, I tried adjusting the margins and paddings but didn't succeed, each failed attempt making me hate IE even more. What's wrong with Internet Explorer? or shall i say what's wrong with these 2 browsers? can't they just agree on the script and make my life easier?

so going back to my problem. by some honest mistake and maybe out of frustration, i mindlessly floated the new 'left-sidebar-wrapper' to the right (think about it: why would you float a LEFT sidebar to the right?) and to my surprise the left sidebar migrated to the extreme right of the page pushing the main column to the left and the other sidebar to the center. hmmm...not bad. i was not sure if that was an acceptable move in the book of codes but who cares, i was happy with how it turned out and with just a few changes in the margins, i came up with a neat layout like this from Firefox:and then i checked IE and got this:nice...isn't it? now all the columns are there except that if you look closely or if you're as OC as me, you would notice that in IE, the columns are not neatly justified, the gaps between the columns are bigger, the search box is wider than the width of the texts below it and the right-most sidebar containing the Feeds widget is positioned a little bit higher than the other columns. oh well, good enough for me. i can live with that.

at least now i can breathe knowing that all my readers can view my site with the new 3-column layout correctly whether they're using Firefox or IE. i suggest that if you also have a blog and you plan to modify your template, it would be worth checking how your new template would appear in both Firefox and IE. but let me insist: download Firefox now. it's safer and works better. i should know. and they're not paying me for it. I was tempted to join their affiliates program to spread the word but all they are offering is a 'chance' to win an exclusive T-shirt and be featured in their website. ugh! thanks but no thanks, i'm spreading the word anyway! :-)

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trick or treat....?!

It was Racrac's first Halloween and we dressed him as Little Frankenstein. We got his costume from BabiesRUs at the last minute 'coz the Little Darth Vader we bought a month ago was too big for him. That's so sad, it totally spoiled our plan for him to match Fil's Darth Vader ensemble. Maybe next year...

As for me, i was dressed as myself which was scary enough hahaha. I wore a black trick-or-treat shirt i grabbed from Target and twisted my hair ala-Wednesday of Adams Family.

It rained most of the day but the temperature was surprisingly high (in the 70s) on our way to the Tolibas' residence in Santa Clara for the party. Sheezz, it wasn't a chilly Halloween night after all. Despite that, everybody gamely donned his/her costume and we went trick or treating around the neighborhood. It started drizzling around 9pm so we had to go back (thank Gahd 'coz my arms and back hurt from carrying racrac!) and spent the rest of the night eating, chatting, "swimming," and playing with the kids. Now i love Halloween! I used to think that it's corny but now i realized it is that one night of the year when you can step away from your usual self and be somebody else imaginable without having to explain.

I remember last year i was 5 months pregnant and Fil and i were at Great Mall in Milpitas watching the kids and couples and families in their halloween costumes. As cute costumed babies and their proud happy parents paraded before us, Fil told me "next halloween, kasama na natin si baby...." My, how time flies!

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Cannery Row, 17-mile drive

After spending our anniversary morning at Carmel-by-the-Sea last October 26, we headed to nearby Cannery Row in Monterey for lunch. Once an industrial street famous for canning sardines, Cannery Row is now considered Monterey's "hot spot" because of its shops and restaurants. We had lunch at Amarin Thai Cuisine located in the vicinity of the Bay Aquarium which we plan to visit next year when Racrac can already walk.

After lunch we bought some souvenir ref magnets at Mackerel Jack's and wandered around the Steinbeck plaza which offers a good view of the beach and houses several shops and restaurants and the famous John Steinbeck Spirit of Monterey's Wax Museum. Tired but happy, we proceeded to our next destination: the 17-mile drive.
17-mile drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove & Pebble Beach famous for its view of the Pacific coastline, golf courses and mansions. We entered through the Pacific Grove gate and paid $9.25. We were given a map which lists 21 points of interests and drove by most of them but could not resist stopping at some: The Restless Sea, The Lone Cypress, The Pescadero Point and The Lodge at Pebble Beach which is home to the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links and offers a variety of dining and shopping options. I was particularly awed by the sight of the Lone Cypress perched on a rock facing the sea. The overcast, the wind and the restless sea joined up to make its "loneliness" even more dramatic.

By 4:30pm we hit the road back to home. Racrac and i dozed off as Fil drove us back. How i love trips like these - we ate, explored, shopped, relaxed, enjoyed. And it's our anniversary! What a short and sweet way to keep the love alive.

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