All in a Day

One missed call

2012-03-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

I was remembering today and thinking back, many years ago now, while I was working overseas I spoke to my then girlfriend (now wife) every day. I do remember rather keenly though that there was one day on which we did not speak over my 2 years before she joined me, as wife.

Maybe it was the fact that we spoke every day that makes us remember the one day that we missed. The great thing about talking every day was that we really got to know each other very well, especially as most days we spoke twice per day.

Now you are asking yourself, how long have you known each other.....well since 1990.....university sweethearts.

key fob repair

2012-03-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Every so often you come across a website that belongs as a note in the little black book of useful sites.
This is one of them,
http://www.keyfobrepair.co.uk/

Our car remote key fob was looking rather tatty, with holes giving a clear view of the electronics below the casing, as well as only being able to remotely open the car. Locking the car was a manual task.

To get a new remote from a dealership is an expensive bit of kit, which makes manually opening or closing the car rather bearable.
I went hunting though for a solution to my partially working, tatty looking remote key fob and came across this site.

I visited their shop in Palmer Green and within the space of half hour I parted with £20 and had a fully working and new looking remote key fob.

A great addition to the little black book of useful numbers and sites.

A year in photos - Lost

2012-03-10T02:26:00.001-08:00

You know the proverb about making hasty while the sun shines? Well we all prove it true at some time.
My opportunity came last month.
Nearly a years worth of pictures stored on our home laptop (you're guessing what happened already...)
There is no reason these pictures should not be backed up; we have a NAS shown as a drive on the laptop.
Thought about just dragging and dropping the pictures so often. Did I do it? "No!"

So the day comes, son accidentally drops the laptop.

There in that moment, the hard drive becomes as useful as a paperweight and the curtain closes on photo memories of 2011, apart from what has been shared on the social networking sites.

A lesson to reaquaint myself with need to backup files, especially when I have made it so easy already.

Here today, gone tomorrow

2012-03-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

Every so often a day comes along to remind you personally of the fragility of life. Not the numerous newspaper reports of people "living by the sword, dying by the sword" but just someone taken away without warning.

A friend's dad died yesterday, Thursday. He was fine at the weekend. On Tuesday he was admitted to hospital not feeling well and by Wednesday the family had news that he had a form of leukaemia. He went into a coma on Thursday and passed away the same day.
Apparently his blood was "poisoned" and his organs then shut down.
This "all out of the blue"

That is the fragility of life. Enjoy every day you have.

Chicken Dad

2012-02-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

It is not often I get to take over in the kitchen. Usually I am told "It is not your domain. You will just end up burning something." Well that is apart from when I am baking.

Well yesterday I was not baking but cooking. I was cooking up some fried chicken, healthy fried chicken under the grill.

All was planned so nicely. My dear wife had marinated the chicken for me and left me to get on with things.

So we have chicken, egg and seasoned powder for the chicken. All so good so far.

I even put all the ingredients together correctly, what more could you ask for?! Look at that! Tasty and I have not even cooked it yet.

Well it seems I put on some oil to heat up under the grill and it heated up a bit too much, to the point that it started burning and made the kitchen rather smokey, errr.... VERY smokey.

I got it all sorted out but the words came floating from the lounge, "Hun, what are you burning! That is why I do not let you cook in the kitchen" :0

Now, though just look at the results. They were very tasty and kids want me to make them again. Result!

Eat up :)

Empty. Nothing.

2012-02-14T23:26:00.001-08:00

"Noooooooo!" That was my response on finding out our laptop was dead. I was there thinking, what have we not backed up?
No reason for me not to backup, as we have a home NAS and use dropbox.
Still though, lost a couple months of photos :(

Had to get a new hard drive, install it and reinstall operating system.
Let this be a reminder to you! Backup!

Oh the Embarrassment

2012-01-28T02:25:00.001-08:00

It is a bright Saturday morning. No Zumba for my wife, so we are both dropping kids off at Saturday morning activities. Daughter successfully taken to ballet and now dropping son of at football.

We register our attendance and walk onto the field. Imagine the scene, parents dropping son off at football. Nothing special about that at all.

As usual I kick around with him until the session starts, except today we have addition of mum.
Mum though, suddenly became invisible. He could not see her. His every move on the field proved he could not see mum.

After football we were met by the words. "Never do that again mum!"
"Do what?"
"Embarrass me like that!"
"Sorry?! What do you mean?"
"You came on the football field and tried to play. You even gestured to take one of my friends!"

My poor boy, his whole face had the look of 'Oh, the shame of it!'

I think he would have stayed calm if we hadn't started laughing :)

Me and my Jeans

2012-01-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

Bought a couple of new jeans from Debenhams this week. On sale and really nice. Fit well and look nice. Though will admit the wife helped me choose them :-)

Have a look.

Ears of a stranger

2012-01-21T02:25:00.001-08:00

So you know the back story. Me, a hospital bed, an ileostomy, wife pregnant with child.

Laying there in the hospital bed, on a drip and pain killers a button push away, your mind wanders. You feel elston for being alive, fear for the future, worry for your family and most of all regret for things you have not done. That more than any other is the kicker, 'Regret'.

I asked to see the chaplain, not because I was at death's door, or that I was very religious, but I wanted someone to talk to who was not family. Someone I could confide in without having to have a relationship with, if that makes sense; it does to me.

She listened and she listened, I had many a tearful conversation with her but most of all I have memories of that point which I can only describe as "Peace".
Not fond, because it was not a happy time. Not pleasant, because as much as it helped me to talk, it was not a pleasant time.

I do remember out though as a time that brought me peace by being able to talk, cry and hug at that point in time author having it follow me as it would have done if I had spoken with family.

So just for those 3 days which helped give me hope, get pain, anger and frustration off my chest and helped me cope with not being there for my son's 3rd birthday - I dedicate this to the chaplain of Whipps Cross hospital,thank you.

The beginning of Change

2012-01-20T02:45:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from my previous post......

So there I was minding my own business, a Friday, end of January, a day off work, child at nursery, myself and my pregnant wife down the shops.
Oooohhh, feel like I'm getting a stomach ache.....what did I eat last night....will have to get home soon....

Stomach ache continued a bit over the weekend but not bad enough for me to think anything major, just my body getting over it. By Monday stomach was paining a bit and not much was coming from the rear and what was was watery.

Got myself down to my Doc and saw a different doc than my own as it was an emergency appt.
Told to drink lots of water as probably constipation. Visited Doc on next two consecutive days, by 3rd visit, senior doc takes a look and ships me off to A&E with a letter.

A few tests later they decide to keep me in overnight for observation and next morning an egotistical consultant with a gaggle of junior docs comes to visit and in his loudest and most "I know exactly what is going on here" voice tells me after a quick check of my stomach, that I have appendicitis and that it is standard procedure nothing to worry about, be back out within a couple of days and flies off to see the next product on the production line a few beds down from me.

They duly took me down to surgery a little later than planned, a week since I was first at the shops with my twinge. I was lying on the trolley outside of the surgical room in a state of mild apprehension...never been in surgery before...never been put to sleep...wife, child and child on the way....all sorts of thoughts going round my mind. Nurse gives me something to help calm my nerves. It sure did!
Woke up in the hospital ward with that ileostomy bag and some wires coming out of me and hanging off me.

I am told that they opened me up went for the appendix, took it out, saw that it was healthy and then had to open me right up, take out the intestines to find out where the infection site was. Diverticulitis was the name and giving me an ileostomy was the option.

I do view that as the beginning of the days over which my outlook on life changed significantly. By the end of that year I had gone through a lot of change both physically and emotionally.

If these last posts have kept you interested from either a personal or other perspective, then feel free to come back for further follow up posts.

Life Changing

2012-01-18T00:27:00.000-08:00

Do you know what a Ileostomy is? No? Neither did I until 5 years ago, when I woke up with one after surgery.
I woke up to find in my drug induced stupor that I did not have to get up from the hospital bed as I did not need to go to the toliet to relieve myself, it was all being done for me.
Well the catheter I think most people will be aware of and is no biggie but I also had a hole in my side and a bag covering it, into which was flowing stuff that would have usually been formed and ejected from my body in a regular toilet visit.
It is amazing how casual you can be about these things when you drugged up to manage the pain.

Very close call was how the consultant put it to my Dad and wife, who was 8 months pregnant with our second. Followed it up with statement that a piece of the intestine had been sent off to test for Cancer. Was all down to something called Diverticular Disease

Amazing how such things change your outlook in life, especially a close call with death and knowing you would have left your family bereft and children with only pictures to remind them of their father.

A bigger experience than I can fit into my first post on it. Actually the first time I have mentioned it publically via a blog. It was quite the experience going through it....

Joy of Customer Support - Really

2012-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Some companies make good use of twitter and others don't, well let's be fair some are plain Rubbish.

Tesco are an beaming example of good.
We bought our son's glasses from Tesco's Opticians a few months back. Unfortunately second day at school after PE he accidentally sat on them. They were in his bag and he heard the crack - Uh Oh, busted glasses.
Fortunately he has a spare pair, or call it as everyone does the 'old pair'.

Sent Tesco a tweet rather than call, as I was busy with work, asking whether they kept prescriptions on file and they would be able to make up another pair without eye test. They responded within about 5 - 10 mins, checked a couple of details, got onto the store I bought glasses and gave me a call back to give me the info I was looking for.
Did you know that for under 16 yrs if their glasses break within 2 months of purchase Tesco will replace free? No? Neither did I. Son's is over 2 months but even so it is good to know.

I'm sure they have some sort of fair use policy around this, though maybe plastic and titanium for the glasses would be more suitable if you actually have to discover this practically.

If it were urgent I would of called of course but when on the go and needing assistance Twitter is a very useful tool.

Not wanting to be pawing all over one company but they are fresh in my mind, if you have had a postal issue or are with Orange you may well have availed yourself of their Twitter customer support and they are brilliant also.

Would not be right to talk about the good without mentioning the bad. I wont though as hopefully they will up their game. For me how a company react after a sale is so much more important than the pre-sales - get the money off the customer team.

Learning to love to read

2012-01-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

This past christmas I realised from the presents that my 7yr old son got that he is growing up. Most of the presents were books or book tokens, family must know his parents well :-) rather than toys as it used to be. It is not all read, read, read - he did get the football kit he wanted and the PSP game, before you judge me too harshly.

Every since he turned 4 we have been going to the library every 3 weeks to borrow books, initially that I read to him then as he started to read books, that he could read. Every night we have reading time before bed and I think I enjoy it as much as he does. Now he reads on his own and I have started the same routine with his sister, who is just learning to read. Every time we borrow a book I used to read to my son, it brings back a lot of memories and my daughter is now in the habit of asking, "Did Aden read this book?"

He loves to read and I am sure she will gain the same love of books. It has been a lot of work to ensure we got to this point, though enjoyable.

If you do not make time to read regularly with your child, I would encourage you to do so, it is very rewarding and impacts so postively on their ability to communicate effectively and exceed in school.

In case you are wondering, yes I did love to read. I remember been a teen not wanting to get up on a weekend morning until I had finished the book I started reading the night before. Any of you remember Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? :)
Later in life - Stephen King, Stephen Donaldson

More Ears Dears

2011-12-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last hospital appointment of the year for the family goes to my son, Aden, who had his check up for his hearing. You may remember me stating that I got a referral for his hearing as I concerned that the selective hearing was more than just childhood refusal to listen to parents. Doctor could not see any issue when looking in his ear and school had not mentioned it, so there was seemingly no issue, just me saying I am sure the TV is too loud and he cannot hear me properly. On referral they confirmed that he had glue ear and his hearing was not at the level expected.

Cue 6 months of Otovent (Nasal Balloon) treatment and a follow up appointment halfway through the treatment, with significant improvement in the hearing test (though still below the level expected), which I was sure would be the case; TV volume a lot lower and true selective hearing.

Well the last hospital appointment started with meeting the consultant, a look at his ears, a determination that he still had fluid behind the ear drums and a recommendation that he have a small operation to insert a grommet into each ear drum.

The off we went for his hearing test and then back to the consultant who reported with a surprise in his voice that Aden's hearing was now normal but that he did indeed still have fluid behind the ear. How much is not quantifiable just a view of, fluid behind the ear drum = yes/no

Much more difficult to sell the operation at that point, but as the consultant put it, "we cannot say what the long term effect of fluid behind the ear drum is, even though his hearing is now normal"

The next 4 months will be interesting to see what will happen. He will have another hearing test and check for fluid behind the ear before the operation but he is now on the waiting list and we are continuing the Otovent treatment.

Going digital

2011-11-13T23:30:00.001-08:00

I continued my quest over the weekend to remove all cd, dvd and console game discs and boxes.

This is to stop the never ending cycle of kids placing these across the floor in a random way. I say "thrown", they say "put"

DVDs and CDs have already been moved digital via popcorn hour, Wii games via an external hard disc. Now the PSP games have gone electronic.

Going slow but realising the vision. No media to throw around. Makes everything look much neater as well.

Don't be afraid to trust your parental instincts

2011-11-06T23:29:00.001-08:00

Around the start of this year I started feeling concerned about my sons (7yr) hearing. The usual "huh", "what", high volume of tv and ignoring us when we spoke.

I took him to the doctor and got him checked. No visible problem could be seen. and he responded to doctor without hesitation. The doctor also mentioned that it is more usual for hearing problems to be picked up by teachers at school.

After a few weeks I was still concerned, even though I was being told by friends/family it was probably just selective hearing.

I took him back to doctor and requested a referral.
The referral had a hearing test, which showed that he has a hearing loss from fluid behind the ear.

That is now being treated. The tv volume has been reduced, the selective hearing is still there but at leat I know he can hear me. Most important of all is the fact that when out he is more confident as he is hearing what is being said or questions asked of him.

Democracy, Democracy, my vote for Democracy

2011-10-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

Is it just me that thinks the so called government 'rebellion' was a good thing for democracy? Are the political hacks all too far up their own backsides, in saying how damaging it is that MPs should stand up and state their view and vote by it, rather than following what the party has dictated.

The whole european gravy train is just a larger example of the corruption of politics we have at home.. Imagine the financial corruption that goes on in europe where the light of "transparency" does not shine, must be like bonus day every day.

I think the real story is in the way politics has been twisted to ensure that the majority do not get a say just the few in politics and their chums.

Is this the brand of democracy we are supposedly exporting to the corrupt areas of the world?

Just a job?

2011-10-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

We went to the school parents' evening last week, keen interest in our son who is in year 4, just transferred to junior school.

We went in, shared smiles and handshakes with his class teacher. She told us how our son was doing, in terms of teacher assessment and placing him in the 1234/abc brackets. If your are a parent you will know what I mean. The generalised target for children in class is 2a/b (from memory) for this year. Last year he was 3c in english and above that in maths. (this truely is not a my son is good blog, bear with me)
We do not think that the weekly, English and Maths, work he brings home is hard enough for him, not pushing him enough. He finds it very easy. Knocks thorugh it in 20mins and gets top marks from teacher.

Ahh, yes back to the parents evening....
Us: "Do you give harder work to those more able in the class?"
She: "No, I give same work to all. I have 30 kids in the class, some who cannot even string a sentence together"
Us: "Fair enough, but our son can and the work being set is too easy and not challenging him. We have problems getting him to do homework as he is not interested. What is top grade he can be assessed to in this year?"
She: "Well it is level 4 but I would have to give level 4 work and I have 30 kids in the class."
Us: "Errr...why don't you differentiate the work? Do you differentiate the work?"
She: "No, do not differentiate the work"
Us: "Can you send him home with level 4 work so that we know the level and we can work with him"

Some more small talk around the work and we say our goodbyes.
Next day he brings home level 4 assessment work along with his normal homework.

Now this is not a piece about the teacher but rather about the system in which she works.

She has a class of 30 children, some who are above the target for the year already and some who are below target for the year. The focus is going on those children who are below target to bring them up to target and the ones who are currently above are not pushed as they are unlikely to fall below.

The job pays the bills and keeps a roof over her head. She will be judged on how many of the children meet the target not on how many who are exceeding the target exceed further.
My feeling is it is the systems fault because what is reported is how many meet the target irrespective of their background.

So we will keep on pushing him at home and pushing to change things at school. Don't consider myself a pushy parent just doing ensuring the best for my children. She is doing the job required within the system and at the end of the day it is just and job and it pays her bills.

Yes, I get annoyed but it is tempered by the fact that it is just a job
Are some jobs staffed by so called "Angels" or just people who want to do a good job? I err on the side of the latter, which do not mean that the former does not exist, just a lot fewer and they are often working against the system rather than with it.

Disappearing comparisons

2011-10-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

Here was my blog until I accidentally deleted it. Doh!

Be careful with price comparison sites, they give different information for gas and electric prices. The worst being go compare for my check. Saving from £55 - £237

Mailmerged

2011-10-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share my mailmerge challenges with you. Was trying to get pictures included in my mailmerge. Have figured it out. If you are having same problem here you go,

MAILMERGE INCLUDING PICTURE

1) You will require your contact list

2) You will require your pictures, named appropriately

3) Put you contact list and pictures in the same directory

4) Create your document template in the same directory as contact list

5) Create your template and document strucuture

6) Insert word fieldcode INCLUDEPICTURE and insert the mailmerge field for your picture location

7) Create mailmerge document

8) If you save the mailmerge template, on opening you will need to enter the picture mailmerge field again as Word will select the picture for whichever record you are on and use same for all mailmerge records

9) Once mailmerged you will have message that field is undefined, where your picture should be. Highlight whole document and press F9 to force update the fieldcodes

10) Your pictures will appear in document.

See the example below for further help.

A number of files are in the directory.

The photos to be used in JPG format, a draft template and the contact list.

Your template can be created from new.

In this example the files are in a folder, D:\temp\mailmerge

Firstly open your contact list and ensure that there is a column for the photos/pictures

In this example the photo location is shown in column D “ext file ref absolute”

Ensure that the file reference is shown as X:\\location\\file.jpg

Where X is your drive letter. Notice the double backslashes, these are important!

Save your contact list.

Open a Word document, link to your database and create your template using the word mailmerge fields.

For the picture you will need to use a Word field “INCLUDEPICTURE”. To get the {} brackets you have to either use CTRL+F9 or use the Insert – Field option from the menu bar. Do not just type the {} brackets, it will not work.

Insert your mergefield for the picture column in the INCLUDEPICTURE field.

Now Merge to a new document.

Your picture will not appear but an error message will, similar to “Error! Filename not specified.”

Select the whole document, ALT+A and press F9 to update the document.

Your pictures will appear.

Ensure it is done this way otherwise you may find the same picture appearing for every mailmerge letter.

£10 - Cost of Human Nature

2011-10-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

I found a £10 note today. Yes that one in the picture. Looks like any other £10 note. Thing about this one was that I found it sitting on its own in a cash machine. I was passing by and heard the machine beeping and saw the £10 waiting for its owner.
I took the money and went into the bank and gave it to the cashier behind the desk. Hopefully the owner will come back to claim it and it will strengthen their faith in human nature.
I know I would hope that if I left money in the cash machine that someone would hand it in.

What would you do?

Communication on the Move

2011-10-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

My wife got her new phone this week. A fruit phone, the berry sort rather than the apple sort.
She loves it she tells me.

The real change though is that she is now able to get email/FB on her phone and now means she is as in contact electronically as I am. Before you have email on your phone/FB/Twtr on your phone you do not realise how useful it would be to have it. Once you have it you cannot do without it.

Just Plain Wong

2011-07-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

Some days you see a spam email, have a read and think surely there is no one dense enough to get involved. It is even more surprising when you realise someone will probably respond.
Here is a spam email from this morning. The grammar is crap, the idea is crap. In fact nothing about the email is good....apart from the fact that it is from Mr Wong :-)

The name sums up the email as it is definitely Wrong ;-)

Please don't be a Prat, just delete or inform others not to be a prat
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Dear

I am Mr. Ping Wong, director of Audit & records of my bank and account manager of Mobil Petroleum Bhd Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. One of the largest oil companies here in Malaysia, nevertheless as a bank, I handle the company investment and insurance welfare scheme which make returns of over $2.2bn capital profits (EMRCP) annually for the company on capital fund. As an expert i have made over $11.5m from the company's EMRCP and am hereby looking for someone to trust who will stand as an investor to help me invest the money in a good profitable business in your country.

I am looking forward to your urgently reply because i don’t want my bank nor the company to have any ideal of this fund. Meanwhile i have worked out all strategies and technicalities so that the fund can be claimed easily by you from my bank.

You will get 40% of the total money at the end of the transaction while i take 60%, please kindly note we have to finish this as soon as possible so as to enable us plan ahead for the investment. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. In your reply mail, I want you to give me your full names, address, date of birth, Occupation, telephone and fax numbers. If you can handle this with me, reach me now for more details.

Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation.

Sincerely,
Mr Ping Wong

personal email : p_ingwong@yahoo.fr

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Family time

2011-07-03T23:33:00.001-07:00

Had cousins and uncle and aunts over yesterday. It was a lovely day together. Especially good for the children who who did not know each other, or had not met in many years. I loved the time together. Days like yesterday is what brings happiness to life.

You're been Greek'd

2011-06-20T23:40:00.001-07:00

So Greek is close to going pop? Will it be allowed to fail? Suspect too many vested interests (not the populace of Greece)
For capitalism to work, when something fails it should fall. If it can never fail, risks will increase without thought for outcome. If it can fail then care will be taken. To simple an idea......