This Little Clan Mac

Earlier today Paul and Sally invited us to join them for a swim at their local David Lloyd Leisure Health Club. Both Ewen and Iain were both quite vocal in their excitement about going swimming, particularly since Clare is no longer able to take them swimming on her own (regulations at the pool). The challenge is keeping them in the change room while we change ourselves. Once the door is opened, there is no holding them back. At least that was until they realised it wasn't to the tiny indoor pool they previously played in, but the larger outdoor pool.

The steps led into an area that progressively became deeper as the boys moved further away from the stairs. Both were quite brave given how far into the pool they attempted to move. Iain was even deep enough that he couldn't touch the floor, and swallowed the odd mouthful of chlorinated water. The afternoon began with them climbing in and out near the shallow end. Each of us adults took turns trying to convince Ewen to use his feet to kick to "swim" properly. He was set on keeping his feet firmly on the floor despite wearing bright yellow armbands that quite capably kept him afloat.

As time passed and other little children arrived to play in the water, we noticed one little boy was doing the doggie paddle. We pointed him out to Ewen, but he didn't seem to take the hint of copying him. A little later, we noticed splashing behind Ewen. As you can see, the splashing was caused very effectively by his feet. And resulted in good forward motion. We were all very proud and impressed with how Ewen had the confidence to realise that the armbands would help him remain afloat while he kicked his feet. It's so impressive.

Another treat for the boys took the form of taking the opportunity to play in the very good soft play area nearby the restaurant / bar area. Sally, Clare and myself settled for a coffee, and a Millionaire's Shortbread each to tide us over until dinner. Ewen and Iain came out to take their obligatory share of Clare's and Sally's shortbread biscuits. They also had the wafer biscuits that came with the coffees. Ewen then returned to the play area while Iain hovered around the table to quench his thirst with a Fruit Shoot. I, meanwhile, had started nibbling on my shortbread eventually leaving a small tidbit for eating after a gulp of hot chocolate.

My first thoughts after taking the gulp were, "I'm certain I still had a piece left! What happened to it?" It was then I became aware of Iain standing next to me, and with an expression of delight while he chewed. Obviously, he had taken the opportunity to place the remainder of my shortbread in the only obvious place it should go, his mouth. I tried vainly to chastise him for taking it without asking, but like Clare and Sally, struggled to surpress amusement of the event, particularly with Iain's expression of total innocence.

Posted by Keith at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've done it! Finally I've committed myself (ourselves) to a path of new technology that I've recently been advising others to seriously consider. I call it new technology because I've always been using stuff, which, to all those readers that stay up to date with current technology, is considered a little out of date. Particularly when one considers I'm in the information technology industry. Scary, isn't it!

So what is it?

A couple of weeks back I took the opportunity to take out a 6 month interest free period to purchase an Apple iMac 20" Core Duo. No, I'm not deserting my historically favourite operating system of Linux in favour of Mac OS X. After all, it's Unix at the core (no pun intended, ;-) ). Our machines are Windows 2000, both of which are pretty old by all accounts, but have served us well indeed.

This new baby is NEW! And the Intel based iMac Core Duo begs to have multiple operating systems running on it. Apple recently introduced Boot Camp beta application which allows these new Intel systems to run in dual OS mode. That is, users can repartition the drive and install Windows XP. But, why desecrate a Mac with Windows? There is a valid argument, to some extent.

Although most of my working stuff will be capably handled by Mac OS X, I do have the odd Windows based application that I rely on, namely, Microsoft Money, and some of my Palm T|X Desktop applications.

The other route avoiding the potentially painful task of partitioning the hard drive is making use of Parallels. Parallels uses virtualisation technology to create Virtual Machines of alternative operating systems. Time will tell which route we go.

Posted by Keith at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the greatest advantages of working at the college is the opportunity to share in the excitement experienced by the boys. Clare has just collected Ewen from school, and let Ewen come outside my office. It is unusual for the boys to call for my attention before lunch, so it had to be something a little exeptional.

As soon as Ewen saw that I had responded to his calls, he declared quite loudly, "I was on the stage today!!"

"Why was that?" I queried. We missed the last nursery performance during assembly, which is when all the nursery kids go on stage, so my first thought was, "Not again!"

Instead he explained, "I was child of the week!"

Somewhat surprised, I queried with Clare, and yes, he was "Child of the week". This was achieved by excelling at some work at nursery, as I understand it. He was awarded a certificate for developing sounds very well. Makes a Dad feel so proud!! And reminds us that he is growing and he's not a miniature adult. I think as parents we sometimes lose sight of the fact that kids Ewen's, and Iain's, age are learning about so much; and we forget what little precious darlings they are.

And it makes us think that our parents probably thought the same at one time. Now we're in their shoes! Thanks for all you guys have done for us Dad and Mom!!

Posted by Keith at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)