The other day I learned how to wrap text in a paragraph next to an image. Normally I hate dealing with CSS as I’ve found it to be very twiddly and time-consuming to get the right effects and I stay away from it but this site explains the wrapping fairly well (I like the analogy of the text on the page flowing around images like water in a stream) AND it links off to the official CSS 2.1 documentation with examples.

Another page that talks about this in the context of a larger example is Fancy Form Design Using CSS which I’ve found to be awesome!

Since I only wanted text floating around selected images in the posts of this Wordpress blog all that was required was creating a new style class to apply to any images where I want the text to float:

.floatimg{
  float: left;
  padding:5px 10px 5px 5px;
}

All that is now required is to add the new class “floatimg” as an attribute to the img tag where I want the text to wrap around:

<img class="floatimg" src='http://alweb.homeip.net/dw0rm/dblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/river.jpg' alt='River' />

Easy!

We’ve booked a holiday to Cuba for the second half of May - a week-long all-inclusive adventure to escape from Vancouver’s crispy (it’s getting nice but still cold) spring weather. We’re really excited about the diving, the all-you-can-drink rum cocktails and the genuine Cuban cigars rolled on sweaty thighs of Cuban virgins. Aggie is less excited about the last one.

Canadian citizens don’t require a Visa. If you’re booking the trip through a travel agency (we booked ours through Flight Center) the airline arranges for a “Travel Card” which is all you need. They use this to stamp you on arrival and departure to Cuba so you don’t “taint” your passport with stamps from a country hostile to the US…

We’re not Canadian citizens - we will be traveling to Cuba from Vancouver on our New Zealand passports and so we’ve been asking ourselves:
Do New Zealand citizens require a Visa to Cuba or is the Travel Card enough?

After an email exchange with the Cuban embassy here in Toronto we found out that NO VISA IS REQUIRED if you are a New Zealander. There are only 3 requirements for Kiwi visitors:

1. valid New Zealand passport (3 months validity past the date of return)
2. Tourist card (available from Travel Agencies or from the Airline on board the plane)
3. Canadian Permanent Resident Card or Landed Immigrant Card, Work Permit or Canadian Visa etc. (This is only required if you will be coming back to Canada - if returning to NZ you don’t need this. But if you intend to come back to Canada and you do not have any of these two, check that with Canadian authorities and make sure you can re-enter Canada)

The following email addresses are helpful if you are wanting to find out more information in Canada about the various travel requirements to Cuba:

Cuba Consulate General in Toronto:
5353 Dundas St. West. Suite 401. Etobicoke. ON. M9B 6H8
TL: (416) 234 8181
E-mail: cubacon@on.aibn.com

or Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Ottawa
388 Main Street, Ottawa, ON, K1S 1E3
Tel.: 613-563-0141
E-mail: cuba@embacubacanada.netcuba@embacubacanada.net

No visa required and the travel card can be arranged on the plane! Couldn’t be easier than that - we’re all good to go and soo looking forward to the beaches and the sun!

Found a nice article talking about a number of points the guys at Blizzard’s World of Warcraft believe helped them to become the most successful online game business ever.

Most of the lessons can apply to any online venture and overlap quite a bit with my favourite - Bob Parson’s 16 Truths - I like to read them every Monday morning as a chance to refocus for the start of the week - those hot biker chicks at the top of the page have nothing to do with it, I swear. (Note to self: include female form in website logo design)

In line with WoW’s “#8 Statistics bolster experience” and Bob Parson’s “#9 Measure everything of significance” - I have added a statscounter to my blog - see the “currently” low number at the bottom of the page. The guys at statscounter made life easy by providing a plug-in for Wordpress. Am curious to see whether anybody else reads any of this stuff .. ever..

What’s the deal with people getting into property they cannot afford? Surely if you are making such a big financial commitment you calculate and double-check and triple-check the numbers to make sure you can afford it but are also able to take care of your family in your first instance - even with fluctuations of the interest rates.

This leads me to my pet peeve - first home owners - especially Kiwis - ignoring the apartment market for the sake of the “quarter acre dream”. What’s wrong with the first home being a flat or a unit? Considering how cheap they are in Auckland at the moment buying an apartment or a unit is an affordable first step to full home ownership. Here in Vancouver the majority of first and even second-home buyers do start in the apartment market as a stepping stone.

There is a nice thread on this topic at PropertyTalk.com. I had to add my 2c worth