Jet Lag

Jet lag definitely seems to be worse when you fly from West to East. The kids are sleeping from about 7 pm (very unusual!) to the middle of the night and then getting up. The previous nights, R* got up at 2 am and stayed up. K* got up last night at 2:30 am but luckily he went back to sleep until 5 am. R* was already up by then. I've been falling asleep in the late afternoon for a few hours and then staying up late. All our schedules are fuddled up.

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

We listened to this BBC Cover to Cover audio book over the holidays and it was brilliant. We're not alone thinking this as it won a golden Smarties award in 2000. William Nicholson is also known for writing the screenplay of Gladiators but this is his first attempt at a children's story.

It's essentially a fantasy adventure of three children on a quest. If successful, they will completely change the nature of the dreadful society in which their family despondently lives. Deeper than that, it's primarily an attack on conformism among children and the dangers of following a group (see interview by Jo-Anna Wildman). There is also a theme reinforcing the merit of a strong family.

Deeper still, it can be viewed as a satire of the absurdities created by a meritocracy and an examination of the idea of social inclusion. It's a book you can read at multiple levels.

Entertaining. Well paced. Superbly read by Samuel West. The audio book is six CD's long (7 hrs 45 minutes) and has no boring bits. Highly recommended. Or read the book yourself of course!

This is the first book in a trilogy and the other two books are available as well. Nevertheless, the climax brings the story to a satisfying close so you don't have to read all three.

We're Back!

So this morning I was reaping the benefits of jet lag by building a Lego speedboat with my four year old son at five o'clock in the morning! It's gonna be a long day. Nevertheless, it's always nice to get home, empty the suitcase, sleep in one's own bed and be surrounded with all your own stuff. Ahhhhh!

We had a great trip to Victoria and Vancouver catching up with lots of family and friends we have there. It made for quite a hectic schedule and three weeks wasn't quite long enough. We managed to get a couple of days skiing at Whistler so I'll try and put a short travelogue together describing that. I also splurged buying 22 new CD's from A&B Sound (one of my most favourite places) so I'll review some of those over the next couple of months.

Christmas In Canada

This is my last blog entry for the year. I'm flying to Canada today and won't be back until January 11th. Don't expect a travelogue as we're just visiting friends and family in Victoria and Vancouver and maybe doing a bit of skiing. It shouldn't be too much of an adventure.

 

I often get a bit melancholy as the year passes away and a new one starts. You only live once and I hear the life-o-meter clicking over. Certainly, 2003 was a watershed year for us. Since I left Microsoft and took a sabbatical, Jenny and I have had plenty of discussions about what we really want to do with our lives. We still haven't reached many conclusions but we know there's lots of experiences waiting for us to try and changes to come. I expect 2004 will be pretty packed year for us. Stay tuned.

 

I would like to wish you all Season's Greetings and an exciting and eventful path in the New Year! May you live your dreams.

My Head Gets Cold!

I remember hearing many years ago that those of us who experience hair loss go through the same phases of grief as people suffering other major losses.  Well, I think I've finally got to the Acceptance phase. A few weeks ago I got my (remaining) hair cut short. Very short.  I mean really really short. We're talking clippers set at #3. It's been taking me a while to get used to it.

All the solutions for hair loss I've heard are just different forms of denial. Despite the spam, there's no cure for hair loss. Well, there may be one but it involves cutting off your testicles at the age of eighteen. I missed my chance with that one. Of course, if I had only KNEW about that one, things would have turned out MUCH different.

Coming into this Acceptance phase, I now find lots of advantages to really really short hair:

• It feels weird and beautiful women want to touch it (well, one does)
  
• I have almost no need to comb my hair
  
• I don't look like cr*p when I get up in the morning
  
• A bottle of shampoo will now last years and years
  
• My hair drys within minutes of getting out of the shower or pool
  
• No more helmet head or toque head problems
  
• It makes putting a diving mask on a breeze
  
• I can pretend to be a football yob and look menacing if need be

However, I realize now that hats need to become an important accessory.  Not just for the suave look either. First, it's critical to stop reflections from blinding people and causing accidents. They're also necessary to prevent sunburn so I don't get mistaken for a stop sign (why is that queue of cars behind me?).  And my head gets cold!

Saddam Gets Fair Trial While Others Rot In Camp X-ray?

Isn't it a little ironic that Saddam Hussein, accused of tremendous crimes, is to be given a fair trial while over 600 people rot in Camp X-ray with no trial, no legal representation and no formal charges?

Frontyard Is Finished

Yea! The front is finally finished five years after we moved in to this house. Well, there's a caveat there in that it needs to be filled with plants yet so I guess it's not finished finished but the builders have finished their bit. It looks so much better than before. We still need an electrician in come in and install some lighting that Jenny purchased. I think Jenny will have quite a lot of fun with the planting design but that's a project for next Spring.

The Big Read Results

So the Big Read has just announced the final results of the popular vote for best loved fiction in the UK:

1. The Lord Of The Rings
   
2. Pride And Prejudice
   
3. His Dark Materials
   
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
   
5. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

I think the most interesting question is how heavily is this list biased by recent film and TV exposure? If the Lord Of The Rings movies hadn't come out and been so successful, would it have really done so well? Pride And Prejudice was recently aired as a TV series last summer. Likewise, Hitchhiker and Harry Potter have had big television/cinema coverage. I think the big winner here is His Dark Materials since it's something you can only read (or get the audio book). I definitely need to pick up a copy. I've read 1, 4 & 5 already.

Of course, the great result of this is whole exercise is it gets people interested in reading more. Sales of books that have appeared on the list of nominee's has jumped.

Feral Children

Interesting list of children raised by animals and the stories behind them.

Media Literacy Begins at Home

Nice article from MIT Enterprise Technology Review.

"Parents have more control than ever before over how popular culture influences their kids. The trick is to treat media as an ally rather an enemy."

I've often thought that media literacy should be right up there in the core curriculum taught throughout the school years; not just an option in Senior School. Instead the onus falls to parents to teach their children to be discerning about what they see and read. But how many are ready to do that? Can you teach them to deconstruct the messages they are being bombarded with? In an information age, isn't this a core skill? This article contains some good advice and a reading list.

NASA's Visible Earth

"a searchable directory of images, visualizations, and animations of the Earth"  Cool.

Big Numbers With Megapenny

I was talking to R* about big numbers and we found this nice website illustrating the names of large numbers using pennies. It went down very well and is great for visualising what the numbers mean. Ever heard of a novemtrigintillion?

Sleeping Beauty

Went to the townhall last night to see a pantomime of Sleeping Beauty by a local theatre company. I didn't even know what a Christmas pantomime was until I moved to the UK and had children. They're one of the best things about Christmas now. It's a great community event where everyone gets to scream their head off ("He's BEHIND YOU", "Oh NO HE DIDN'T", etc). One of the great things about the UK is how strong the theatre culture is. Every small town or large village seems to have a theatre company. Anyone can join them. The production quality can also be really very good. Some years back, I saw a play performed by students at a local senior school and was quite surprised at how high the quality was - acting, singing, dancing, set design, lighting - everything. Nothing like my old high school in Canada. Close to our house we even have a theatre school. Kate Winslet being their most famous student. Some of the students have been in the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get R* to consider going to the school. Can't get her interested in acting or dancing. Yet.

news.brainnoodles.com

I've created a new subdomain that takes you directly to this page. It's news.brainnoodles.com. If you've got this page bookmarked, please update it to be this URL. I'm planning to reimplement this website next year using a different software package and this subdomain URL won't break. It's also easier to type in.