Life, Kids, Technology & that move to another continent
scott 
I took note of this banter with A way back in June. I have been slow getting stuff written up. I thought this was funny enough (to me):
I was getting the girls ready for bed and while I was ticking in A I asked her “are you tired?”.
A replied “how do you know i am tired?”.
I replied “are you tired?”.
She replied “yes”.
I said “you look tired”.
She responds “oh”…
She just makes me smile and is pretty funny and silly!
When travelling we allow the girls their favourite stuffed animal and one other. A now has two Paddington Bears so when it came time to pack for our last holiday she had a fit when I told her she could only take one of them and something else. This photo of both in her bunk bed in Copenhagen shows who won that argument.
It used to be all I had to do to set up a new phone was say restore from backup. I have many services tied to two factor authentication. I use several apps on my phone for that.
Nowadays that means before I can switch phones I have to remember to install the 2FA applications and configure them prior to wiping out the old phone. The challenge is that most of these apps do not restore when you restore from backup. That’s actually a good thing for security reasons however it is a gotcha I need to remember to pay attention to.
I was reminded of this when I got my iPhone XS Max for a few days last year before I decided to return it and keep my iPhone X.
Now I hope that I remember this critical step when I do eventually replace my iPhone.
After a few false starts I am living my fatherhood dream. The girls and I have a Saturday morning routine to go out for breakfast. The girls now have a drama class salary mornings. When it is my morning to wake up with them I take them to a local breakfast place that M found. It has been pretty good.
The girls are gone into the routine themselves. They know exactly what they want each time we go. It also caution me that I need to remember the order the right kind of. In their speak that means I need to tell the man that they want scrambled eggs instead of sunny side up.
The girls have settled into having scrambled eggs, sausages, and pancakes. They can be so similar at times and so different at the same time. They both love the same meal. Yet A eats her pancakes first then the eggs and sausage. She wants yummy pancakes straight away.
T on the other hand eats all of her eggs and sausage first. She does not touch the pancakes until she’s done with everything else. I have asked on at least two occasions why she is doing it. Her responses “it is my desert.”
The second time I queried her I kinda knew the answer. I asked anyway because her response just makes me smile.
The other night i was giving A a hug and this transpired:
Me “I love you so much”
A “More than a robot?”
Me pausing for a second confused “Yes more than a robot”
Note, I do not have a photo of a robot and I try not to post pictures of the kids so Paddington with goggles will have to do.
M promised the girls to make A a cake. It wasn’t just any cake. It was pretty involved with two tiers, fondant and a fondant ranbow unicorn. It took M days to prepaid it. As she was putting the finishing touches on it I was working from home and overheard the girls talking. They were debating how long the cake would take to get ready.
A goes to T “Playing makes the waiting easier”.
Those two crack me up.
The girls randomly asked why the tardis is bigger on the inside. So I had to explain it. I showed a video of the 4th doctor explaining it to Leeyla. Yes totally loving that my girls are asking geeky sci-fi questions
My sister in law came to visit in March. When trying to come up with something that we would be interesting to do with her I thought going to the Doctor Who shop. She is Doctor Who fan like I am. I wasn’t sure if she had ever visited the store in her trips to London. She had not so we planned to go. M was going to take the girls to a park nearby while we browsed the shop. When it came time for us to get ready to leave the girls were a bit crazy. Since M had spent time with our sister and law while the girls were in school she suggested that I take her on my own since I was more of a fan.
It was well worth the trip. We geeked out in the shop for a really long time. I bought the girls the latest Sonic screwdriver (13th Doctor) to go with their collection. I also got a Tardis tea set for one.
We also paid the pound to each to go into the museum they have in the back. That may be its own post since it was super awesome. One of the owner showed us around and he was supercool about explaining everything.
It was a fantastic experience even though I spent more money than I had anticipated. On the plus side now I have a tea set to help me get into the tea drinking habit. Since I got the tea set I have been making a mini pot of tea when working from home. I am even having it on the weekend. I treat myself to one or two tea biscuits. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the new ritual.
The girls are even getting into the ritual sometimes on the weekend. They saw me doing it one day. I couldn’t say no to them after they saw the tea biscuits. They also love tea. Since team to them is really a tiny amount of tea and the rest of the drink being milk in the cup. Adding a biscuit to the ritual sold them too.
M is in the States. It is the girls and I for the holiday weekend. On our way from breakfast this morning A says to me: “mummy is going to her wedding today.”
My response was “what??? NO?”
A responds “oh she is going to her friends wedding today”
Me “yes that’s better”. Secretly I went phew! I thought she had inside information.
If you have read any of this blog at all or know me you will know I am a fan of technology. I think it can be used for great stuff. Recently on holiday in Copenhagen and Stockholm I had to wonder is there a too far in use of consumer electronics? The Square terminal with an iPad just seemed to fit when I first saw it. This I wasn’t sure.
In two different hotels in two different countries we saw a beverage dispenser that used an iPad as the interface for it. On the surface it seems pretty ridiculous right? That was my first thought. Then I remembered something I read a while back about the power of these devices. Basically the argument is that lots of devices that once had to be custom designed using embedded chips or custom software could now be done using a commodity device like the iPad and some sensors or add on accessories. In this case the iPad was plugged into a beverage dispensing system. I don’t know how much that rig cost versus an old style machine with a few hard coded buttons. It makes sense that it may actually be cheaper. The iPad is a pretty powerful computer.
Seeing this setup to me seemed ridiculous. I had to try it out. After thinking about it I now have a new perspective and think it may actually be an odd looking but good evolution of the technologies uses.