How can I get a div (or any other block level element) to be center of page and then have elements within it absolute positioned relative to the containing block element?
well if you take a div and set its top and left to 50% that should keep it centered on the page even if the window is resized, then simply position all the other elements within the div with values in pixels so they will maintain their positions within the div when the div moves to keep centered on the page.