Where does the time go?

Seriously, where does the time go?  I don’t spend my weeks wishing for the weekends.  I don’t obsess on making work go by quickly to get to vacation time.  I don’t wish my life away, but it seems like the clock is spinning faster and faster these days.  Admittedly part of the reason I haven’t blogged lately was access issues (that’ll teach me to let the eldest gift have my google account on his tablet device), but I’ve got it back now and it’s time to blog.

I had a truly unique and wonderful experience today.  As a working mother, while I’m not racked with guilt, I do miss out on a lot of what goes on in the classroom with the gifts.  I help them with assignments and prepare for presentations but only hear how they go afterwards from the boys.  I get “it was okay” or “I don’t remember” … so it’s something I always miss out on.

Not today, and it was such a treat.  The eldest gift is in a very technology centric class (grade three and he’s required to have a tablet device with a camera).  I thought this was a bit excessive, but today I realized how great it is … FOR ME … that he has this.  The teacher videoed his “About Me” presentation, marked it and posted it to his google drive.  I logged on today from work and watched the presentation and saw the marks.  It was INCREDIBLE.  Instead of the not-focused, quiet spoken, goofy kid he was confident and articulate.  He put in some great detail into his presentation and spoke clearly.  He did well and the teachers’ comments and marks reflected that.  I was amazing to see how confident, well spoken and creative he is.  I was bursting with pride and joy.  What a gift to a working mother who misses her boys, but to have a video of a presentation he did for class! 

I’m one happy beanie spinning mom today!

Seeing the light ... again

As many of my friends know, I’ve finally made the leap to the darkside. After years of being a dedicated Windows OS user, from Desktop to laptop to PDA and integrated devices (Palm Treo and eventually the loved/hated blackberry) I’ve returned to my roots with the iPhone. Ok, so I had a nano, but that hardly counts. It was really just a device to play music at my desk at work, I rarely listened to it other times, and easily handed it off to the husband when I ditched the crackberry for the iPhone.



When I say return to my roots, the very first personal computer that I purchased was circa 1994 and it was a Mac Desktop. With an astonishing 16MBs of memory on board, I felt I could conquer the world, or at least launch the space shuttle or something … right? Ahhhhhh what did I learn with this computer?

1. My first truly negative Customer Service experience with Future Shop when within 15 days of purchase the hard drive blew and it took 90 days to get an Apple rep in to replace it.

2. That an UNLIMITED internet package is a REQUIREMENT. I had pneumonia and discovered on line chatting to keep me entertained. I almost had a heart attack when I got a $150 internet bill the next month.

3. In a PC world, conversion programs to Mac DO NOT WORK.

My next computer was a PC. I gave up and joined forces with the rest of the world, particularly when they launched Windows 98 (which I believe was Mac 95). From Toshiba, to Gateway, Acer to Dell, HP to iNext, I had a number of different products carrying me through the next decade +. Memories of the conversion programs kept me firmly planted in a Windows world. But, as more integrated devices came along, I got tired of carrying my PDA, cell phone, small digital camera and MP3 player. I had a blackberry, okay, good for chat, like the integration to Facebook, easy PDA & Cell phone, but there was NO WAY I was giving up my Nano. It’s a simple case that NO ONE does MP3 as well as Apple. Ok, time to get a new device, get the HELL away from Ma Bell and head to the iPhone.

OH MY GAWD I’m IN LOVE!!!! Ok, I miss the blackberry IM (aka the Batfone) and typing isn’t quite as easy with my claws, but other than that this device is BEAUTIFUL. I seriously had to dumb it down, as I was frustrating myself trying to “out smart it” to get it to work like I’d always had to with my PC based devices. Once I handed myself over to the ease, beauty and simplicity of this product I found myself in Tech HEAVEN.

What’s next? A Macbook? I don’t know yet, I’m still digging my groovy little netbook. Hubby wants a Mac Desktop, and as soon as he hocks his clarinet he can afford it, but for now, I’m pretty stoked about my little iPhone which is NEVER more than about 3 feet from me.