My friend Liz has introduced me to Geocaching. If you have kids and/or a sense of adventure, this is an excuse to get out in the open air. Start your journey at the Geocaching.com website.
Category: Family stuff
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Finally Getting into the Christmas Spirit
We finally have the decorations up and the tree is lit-up. I also managed this week to get the Vista Media Centre configured and unplugged the DVD player. The PC does a better job. I just never got around to persuading the household to convert. In the end, I just switched it over and it is pretty much doing a good job. Need to tweak the DVD player to spin slower/more quietly and a bit of acoustic baffling would be good too. The fan noise is not noticeable really but I feel I can do better. One interesting fact to share with my reader is that the Australian Media Centre forums are the most useful of the lot.
The other bit of news is that we invested in about 40 new tropical fish as the local fish shop is closing down. We have neons, guppies, tetras and a new catfish to replace our recently deceased one. The are all behaving nicely together and none of the three large fish have turned carnivorous either. We had one scary moment as the blue shimmery tailed guppies disappeared one by one. Turned out they loved swimming behind the fauz-rock backing. We have lowered the water level a little to solve that one….
For the picture album, I thought Kookichoo had better get festive too.
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Get a Road ID
Mulling over the fact that I once again did a reasonable length ride (60-odd miles) with no companion that knew me made me think again about the Road ID site. Road ID is quite simply a tag with contact details that you can carry with you. If you have an accident and lose conciousness, the emergency services can contact your family and let them know which hospital is looking after you – and get them to come collect the bike!
As I have a son with Asperger Syndrome, we have used a similar system to ensure that when he wanders off – and he does, we know he has our contact details on his wrist. Occasionally though, he resists the bright yellow “bangle” and we just have to play nervous parents whilst we are out with him. In some cases this mens literally keeping a hold of him even though he is eight years old and longs to run around.
Road ID solves this problem too. The Wrist ID that I went for is comfortable for him to wear and he thinks it is kind of funky. Now try and get him to take it off! If you have small children that tend to wander, get them a Road ID. They’ll love it. I got the wife one as well so she didn’t feel left out.
I’ve signed-up to be an affiliate for this great product so expect to see some links around the site. Otherwise, just click here.
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Busy few days
William had his first Holy Communion on Sunday. We have been preparing the house for the influx of visitors afterwards but more importantly, preparing William over many weeks for the important day. As William has Asperger’s Syndrome, any major event is a bit of a gamble. Luckily there was a rehearsal but unfortunately the flowers in the church irritated his eyes and he was not able to concentrate. The other parents have been very supportive and we knew that if all else failed, they would understand. All our fears were for naught though when William behaved wondefully and did everything he should have done without fuss or anxiety. He hid himself away for a little bit afterwards but eventually came out to enjoy his party.
The strong wind had made a good attempt at popping all the balloons but the company was good, there was beer, wine, conversation and music (á la softsqueeze). A well deserved celebration for a very good little boy.
The Monday saw me hit the grand old age of 36. So I am now officially old. Expect this blog to be full of “not as good as it used to be”, “kids today..” and “when I was a boy..” from now on. I am now the proud owner of a shiny new maintenance stand, the second part of the “Rome” serial, money, book tokens, some lovely hand-produced cards thanks to my boys and some plasters with pictures of Jesus on them. The giant Toblerone will be gone over the next month or so.
I will use the next “dress-down” day in Cambridge to show off my “na na na na na na batman” t-shirt to much acclaim.
As I took this week off for my birthday and to cover some events for Julie, I managed to get some riding time in today. I altered my usual route to get a decent 30miles in with a good mix of short climbs and descents to keep my legs working. I’ve mapped it out here.
Because of the detours, I got to see just how big the local reservoir is and that we have another local windmill, this time in the village of Stock.
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Christmas List
Christmas is very commercialised and I really wish Santas were not all a clone of the Coca-Cola marketing images but who would listen to me? I have to be honest and say that I do in fact like getting Christmas presents. My lovely wife has been hounding me to make a wish-list but I’m not very good at writing lists of demands. On the contrary, it doesn’t make life any easier for her trying to buy me stuff. So, I started writing one and realise the Christmas Lists (once you are beyond the age 0f about 12) start to really show the kind of person you are. Looking at mine is rather scary because apparently I’m a geek that cycles occasionally. Oh. I suppose I am.
I tend to buy the books I want to read so the Raymond E. Feist books are not on there, nor are the Neil Gaiman, Simon Scarrow or David Gemmel ones. My wife has decided to not buy me the latest Pratchett at Christmas either because it is a darn sight cheaper in January and I agree. I suppose if somebody wanted to buy me the kind of novel I would pick-up as the third in a “buy two, get one free” sale, that would be good. You know what I mean. You’ve chosen a good book and either a second of similar merit or one that you keep meaning to get, but the third one is proving tricky. As it is a free book though, you can be a bit of a risk-taker for a change. Go for one with a fancy cover or that has an intriguing title. My most reason example of this was “Dissolution” by CJ Sansom. I put off reading it for a while but did enjoy it when I finally did pick it up. I certainly recommend it for those who want a murder mystery set in Henry VIII’s England. Anyway, that is a good choice.
For those with a load of Lottery cash, there is the Scott 2007 CR-1 Pro 30speed carbon fibre bike in 54cm frame at a mere £1400. I will instead start saving my quarterly bonus and consider treating myself next Christmas if I do some proper training next year. So don’t buy me one of those.
Staying in the cycling theme, I did have my bike stolen this year so maybe a new mountain bike instead. But again, a second-hand one in March is just as good an idea. Maybe just some riding glasses with amber lenses for use when it isn’t sunny enough for full shades. They should be about £30 so won’t break the budget. Not very exciting though really.
I do like the look of the Linksys NAS200 which when bundled with a couple of 250GB SATA hard drives makes a very nice little solution to how I backup all my photos and music (as well as MySQL databases). But I’m being all geeky again.
If I’m going to be geeky though, the new microSD 6GB cards are a great way for me to load movies onto my Nokia N95. I’ll need some movies too. The Bourne collection, The Die Hard Quadrilogy, the film “300” are all good.
I should also include the Tardis USB hub that flashes when you plug a device in, one of those annoying PicoZ radio-controlled helicopters or a desk clock that tells the time in binary. Stop it.
As usual it seems, the best ideas for gifts for me will come from other people many of whom know what I will like even though I haven’t considered it. The books about some off-the-wall subject, the framed photo of a special day, the item of clothing I often complain about not having, the widget for making something I do more often than I realise a little bit easier…. I’m going to do a list but hope that it doesn’t stop people buying my something else instead.
Now, what on Earth am I going to buy my wife for Christmas now that Bon Jovi have refused to come and play a concert in our back garden?
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Another Cyclist in the family
Dan managed to ride for the first time without stabilisers. It took little persuasion and he did it really well. Still needs help launching and his cornering is a bit wobbly but it as just a case of getting more practice. See the movie
I doubt he’ll be doing the London-to-Brighton with me next year.
Our next Centerparcs holiday and trips to the park will be easier though.Well done Dan!
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Dad on the mend
I didn’t mention it in my blog before but my father has not been well. After countless tests and examinations, the surgeons decided that Monday of this week was a good time to remove a portion of one of his lungs to deal with a growth/lump/splodge that was causing him trouble. After many hours of surgery he is recovering in hospital and will be out after approximately 10 days. We should find out what the lab decides about the mass sometime next week.
So the ordeal is over and we await the next lot of news. Please keep him in your prayers this week. If you are not the praying sort, please rub your lucky rabbit’s foot or whatever it is you do.
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Tooth Fairy Season Ticket
Daniel has lost another tooth. So even though he is the younger brother, he seems determined to keep up with William. So we’ll have a nice selection of gappy smiled photos soon.
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Animals galore
So we’ve inherited a hamster called “Cuddles”. Her owner is off to live in Switzerland for a couple of years so we are looking after her until then. The smarter readers amongst you will most likely be one click away from typing “hamster lifespan” into Google but I’ll let you ponder that one.
She will live in the spare room and so anyone sleeping in there will have to be able to stand squeaking wheels. We are already in the habit of keeping the cats downstairs and the spare room door is kept closed so Cuddles will be safe and sound.
Just for the record, the hamster came to us already named.
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Pearly whites
Daniel complained about a wobbly tooth but we thought he was over-egging it. We felt really bad when a few minutes later his tooth actually came out. The first of many.
So William and Daniel both have their first gap.
