W Sisters and OMG

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Both of my kids have started saying “OMG” lately, and I’m not sure where they picked it up from. But when I figure out who’s been saying it around them enough for it to stick, I’ll be sure to express my gratitude in a fitting way.

Saint Michaels Mount

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The only way on this island is by boat or walk across at low tide. I warned the girls that when it was time to go we either left to walk out before the tide came. The alternative was they could stay with mommy and take a boat back. We all made it back to the mainland without any boat trips!

A Friends Friend

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I didn’t know Joey and Chandlers dog had a friend? And they ran off together to the hotel the Beatles stayed at in Cornwall!

Star Trek PADD’s are not as good as an iPad Mini 6

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Years ago, when I was working in New York, I got my hands on one of the first-generation iPads. It was fantastic. Right from the start, I knew this device was going fit a tech gap I didn’t even realise I had until I saw it.

One memorable day, my boss called me into his office. As usual, I grabbed my iPad—I often used it to jot down notes or show something relevant during discussions. Walking into his office, I felt a bit like a character from Star Trek, carrying something essential. I couldn’t resist sharing this thought with him: “I totally feel like Commander Riker walking into Picard’s office to discuss something important.” It earned a good laugh and lightened the mood.

Recently, this memory came back to me while I was thinking about how indispensable my iPad mini has become. It’s with me almost everywhere, serving as a book, a large phone, or a general input device. Comparing the sleek design of the current iPad mini with the clunky Star Trek PADDs from science fiction 30 years ago, I couldn’t help but appreciate how far technology has come. Back then, they only thought about each PADD doing seemingly one thing since people walked around with many of them. 23 century suckers, my iPad mini can multi-task.

Reflecting on these advancements, it’s clear that our modern ‘PADDs’ have far surpassed the sci-fi visions of the past.

W Sisters and a Child a who Is Bored of McDonalds

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As a child, I was an extremely picky eater. Let’s face it, even as an adult, I’m still picky, albeit to a lesser degree. However, today I want to discuss something different—my children are picky eaters too, and I’ve had to come to terms with that.

What’s peculiar is how they’re picky. My pickiness revolved around eating very plain things repeatedly. My kids, however, will eat something regularly, then suddenly get bored with it and refuse to eat it, only to possibly want it again later. This issue is more pronounced with one child than the other, but both share this tendency. There was a time when my children didn’t want to go to McDonald’s because, as they put it, “we’re bored with it.”

I cannot relate to being bored with fast food as a kid. I vividly recall in university, my friend Sean would drop by and ask, “I’m going to the mall, do you want to go to McDonald’s?” Even if I had just eaten or was eating at that moment, my answer was always, “Yes, let me get my coat.” Based on that, I can’t quite understand children who say, “I don’t want McDonald’s.”

It’s not just McDonald’s. There was KFC, Burger King, and even Nando’s had its phase. I’d prefer if they just wanted to eat chicken nuggets all the time, but they get bored of those too—except at certain restaurants. Which ones? It seems to change day by day. Keeping up with their ever-changing preferences is challenging. I’m sure my mom is delighted I’m getting a taste of my own medicine, but still, I’d like to know if other parents have this problem of children getting bored with fast food instead of constantly craving it.

Another example is pizza. Our kids stopped liking the really good pizza from our local place and insisted on going back to Pizza Hut. Ironically, we started going to the local place, Fire Away, because they grew tired of Domino’s. These are just a few examples.

If we offer pizza more than once a week, our kids will complain. It’s rare that we do, but it sometimes happens, especially on holiday. This is baffling to me and M because both of us would be perfectly happy eating pizza two or three times a day. While I haven’t done that in ages, it’s certainly possible, and I wouldn’t get bored with it. So, when my kids refuse to have it twice in one week, I find myself scratching my head.

Look, I don’t think we’re bad parents. We don’t offer fast food every day, it’s more of a once-a-week treat. Some weeks, we don’t offer it at all because it’s so difficult to get them to agree on the same thing.

Another thing I never had living in America… Milk Deliveries

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A while ago, I wrote several articles about the some observed differences between living in England and the US. Recently, one such difference came to mind: milk. Yes, you can get milk in both countries, but the experience can be quite different.

M had wanted milk deliveries for a while. I was reluctant at first but finally agreed about 3 years ago. This idea initially struck me as something straight out of a 1950s sitcom. However, after some research, we discovered at least two companies that offered home milk delivery in our neighborhood.

Though it’s about twice the price of regular milk, we decided to go for it. Now, we have milk delivered in glass bottles left at our door 3 times per week. It’s pretty cool and something I’m not sure is still common in the States, at least not in big cities. While there is an option to save a bit of money by getting milk in plastic containers, we prefer the glass bottles. We simply wash them and leave them out for the delivery person to collect with the next delivery.

This service is quite clever and as close to getting fresh milk as you’re likely to get nowadays, which makes it pretty awesome.

Should We Have Named Grogu B.A. Baracus?

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As a kid growing up, I loved the TV show, The A-Team. Yeah, I know, it’s not that realistic. Even then I kind of realized that they spent a lot of time shooting things and never hurting anybody, but I digress.

One of the gag’s that they always pulled was how they always found a way to get B.A. Baracus (Mr T) on a plane. He hated flying but they always tricked him into drinking milk or something. Whenever it’s time to give our cat his flea treatment every month, I feel like he’s B.A.

We get him and cuddle and snuggle up with him and wrap him in a blanket pretty snugly, and then one of us will put the medicine on his head, and then he finally realizes it as we’re finishing and slithers out of the blanket and runs away. The damage is already done, though, and he’s got his flea treatment.

Yet when I take him to the Vet he now knows not to eagerly get out of the carrier and will hiss at the vet straight away. He never hisses. He’s a smart cat, but he falls for our blanket trick every time.

Everyone Gets an IP Address

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I just got a new internet provider (might blog in more detail about them another time. One of the reasons I like them is they are not restrictive. I get a static IP address on my router. Nothing is filtered. I even get a /64 IPv6 range. Now I am trying to figure out how to use that many addresses. To non tech folks it’s never. That is how much it is.