Before our baby came along, we were warned many times "as soon as you think that you've got it figured out, they change it!". Since so many people said this, I just have operated under the assumption that anything that I figure out probably won't work tomorrow.
We've been extremely lucky because Alice started to sleep through the night quite early on. She would occasionally wake up, babble for a bit or cry once or twice, then fall back asleep. Lately she's decided that it's good to wake up, and stay up, at 3 am. And then sometimes 5 am. I am not amused. I don't even get the worst of it - I change her and try to settle her down, but she just wants a meal so that falls on Laura. I hope that this is just a growth spurt which is what just about any change in routine seems to be blamed on. I'm just really glad (again) that we're both off and can deal with this together, without having to get up early for work.
An alternate title for this post could have been "Embrace. Change. Feed. At 3 am"
Monday, 21 May 2012
Sunday, 20 May 2012
A Long Weekend
On this long weekend a lot of people are going away and doing it special. For me, the last several months have felt like a really long weekend. It's been great. However with a weekend, you feel that since it's just so short you must do something or it will be lost. Being on "family leave" has seemed to removed that deadline.
I usually do much better when I have a deadline.
I feel that somehow we're wasting this beautiful weekend. It doesn't make sense because next Wednesday (for instance) would be about the same as today. Maybe it's just been ingrained into me to "do something" on long weekend.
I usually do much better when I have a deadline.
I feel that somehow we're wasting this beautiful weekend. It doesn't make sense because next Wednesday (for instance) would be about the same as today. Maybe it's just been ingrained into me to "do something" on long weekend.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Dying a slow death: a tale of our "tough" camera
Late in 2009 we bought a new camera: a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. I have to say that I'm fairly disappointed right now with it.
Right from the beginning the flash was a bit too aggressive and harsh, but that's something that we could live with. Then we figured that it was difficult to take the video's off it because it stored it in a proprietary that needed special software to convert them into something useful. The only thing that we had that would do that was the iMovie '09 that was on my wife's computer. A major PITA. But still, we worked around it.
Now the "select" button in the middle of d-pad doesn't work. Super annoying, but it's still possible to deal with that (partially). Except I turned it on and the screen seems to be failing. [insert expletives here]. Laura pointed out that it's ironic that the dslr that we've had longer and put through the same crap (minus the swimming) has held out better. And has a better warranty. In fact, my 18-55 mm lens just started to act up, so Nikon replaced it. Cost to me: zero.
It pisses me off that something that's marketed as "durable" has not been. Not compared to something that I'd put more into the "fragile" camp. Would I buy another "tough" camera? Probably, if only for taking to the beach / swimming on vacations. But not from Panasonic.
Right from the beginning the flash was a bit too aggressive and harsh, but that's something that we could live with. Then we figured that it was difficult to take the video's off it because it stored it in a proprietary that needed special software to convert them into something useful. The only thing that we had that would do that was the iMovie '09 that was on my wife's computer. A major PITA. But still, we worked around it.
Now the "select" button in the middle of d-pad doesn't work. Super annoying, but it's still possible to deal with that (partially). Except I turned it on and the screen seems to be failing. [insert expletives here]. Laura pointed out that it's ironic that the dslr that we've had longer and put through the same crap (minus the swimming) has held out better. And has a better warranty. In fact, my 18-55 mm lens just started to act up, so Nikon replaced it. Cost to me: zero.
It pisses me off that something that's marketed as "durable" has not been. Not compared to something that I'd put more into the "fragile" camp. Would I buy another "tough" camera? Probably, if only for taking to the beach / swimming on vacations. But not from Panasonic.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
What the future holds
It's funny trying to figure out where we will live in 5 years. What our needs will be. How much support our parents will need. Looking that far ahead feels like being in the midst of a very thick fog: can't see anything and I'm not quite sure how I got here.
Where will we live? What jobs will we have? What will our child (children??) be like? Will we have all survived the robotic uprising of the mid-teens? People act like they have it all figured out and are following some 10 or 20 year plan perfectly, but I'm sure that they are all just making it up as they go along. Just like us.
Where will we live? What jobs will we have? What will our child (children??) be like? Will we have all survived the robotic uprising of the mid-teens? People act like they have it all figured out and are following some 10 or 20 year plan perfectly, but I'm sure that they are all just making it up as they go along. Just like us.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Jim's Addiction
One of the things that I've figured out is that I've got a problem. A drinking problem. Specially hot beverages. Coffee and Earl Grey being my key weaknesses. But really, it doesn't matter exactly what I'm drinking. When at work I try to keep water in front of me and constantly be surprised when my thermos ran empty.
It's even worse at times like now when I'm sick. It's nothing serious, just Man Cold Level 1, or as I'll refer to it: MCL1. It's funny, but I can't find any formal literature about Man Cold Levels. I would have thought that it would have been documented and discussed like the Fujita scale or DEFCON. Ah well. Time for another cup of tea.
It's even worse at times like now when I'm sick. It's nothing serious, just Man Cold Level 1, or as I'll refer to it: MCL1. It's funny, but I can't find any formal literature about Man Cold Levels. I would have thought that it would have been documented and discussed like the Fujita scale or DEFCON. Ah well. Time for another cup of tea.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
QotD - Stupid people
Think how stupid the average person is. Then remember that half the population are more stupid than that.
- George Carlin
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Whilst
One of the funny (to my mind) things when we traveled to Australia was that it was quite common for people to use the word "whilst". At first I thought that it was people trying to be funny, or as my sister would say "adding funk". But it kept on popping up, both in writing and in speech. Yes, people actually used "whilst" in conversations or when making announcements. Now Laura is actually one of those people too. Funny.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)