Ewan's Corner

Archive for the ‘me’ Category

I choose to live by choice, not by chance;

to make changes, not excuses;

to be motivated, not manipulated;

to be useful, not used;

to excel, not to compete.

I choose self-esteem, not self-pity.

I choose to listen to my inner voice,

not the random opinion of others.

Happy third birthday my little angel, I love you.

I wish I could pause your growth sometimes, or at least slow things down for awhile – time flies by so fast these days with you and your brothers keeping us so busy, and I know I’m not appreciating you fully.

You are such a wonderful little soul – so very different from your brothers. You have a wonderful nurturing aspect to your nature, and you are always trying to help – from helping with the washing, hurrying your brothers up at bath time and helping everyone get ready for school.

You are tough and independent – one of your favourite phrases is “no! I do it self!” – and you adore music and sing along happily to any one of your many favourite tunes. You have a fiery little temper which often catches your brothers by surprise, and the ability to fall asleep almost anywhere.

It seem like only a few short months ago that you were born in the corner of our bedroom, and now you’re an independent, sweet and happy chatty little personality obsessed with Tinkerbell, music, books and your mommy.

Happy birthday Hannah Grace.

Population will mightily increase, and the earth will be a garden.
Governments will be conducted with the quietude and regularity of
club committees. The interest which is now felt in politics will
be transferred to science; the latest news from the laboratory of
the chemist, or the observatory of the astronomer, or the
experimenting room of the biologist will be eagerly discussed.
…
Men will look upon this star as their fatherland; its progress
will be their ambition; the gratitude of others their reward.
…
Disease will be extirpated; the causes of decay will be removed;
immortality will be invented. And then, the earth being small,
mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas
which separate planet from planet, and sun from sun. The earth will
become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all
the quarters of the universe. Finally, men will master the
forces of Nature; they will become themselves architects of
systems, manufacturers of worlds.

–The Martyrdom of Man, Winwood Reade, 1872

Happy 7th birthday my eldest son.

You’re a bright guy, so very sensitive at times and a deep thinker who would rather be indoors than outdoors.

Your rapidly improving reading and maths skills give me no end of joy to witness – you only realise how precious the ability to read is when you see it developing in your own child, and the worlds it opens up for them.

You are doing so well in “grown-up” grade 1 – I know how hard it can sometimes be to be the eldest child, doing so many things for the first time and easing the path for your younger brother and sister.

We are both working on controlling our tempers, and it only recently dawned on me that part of the reason why I have such (often unrealistically) high expectations of you is because I see so much of myself in you, far more than I do in your younger siblings.

I’m so glad you enjoyed your morning beachcombing :-)

I love you KB.

I (or rather my wonderful wife) ordered my Kindle on November the 30th 2010, only to sadly discover that due to stock shortages the delivery ETA was between January 21st and February 7th 2011. Understandable (Amazon is said to have sold over 8 million Kindle units in 2010), so I settled in for the wait and enjoyed Christmas.

Happily on January 8th they emailed me with a new ETA of January 17th.

On January 10th my kindle shipped, and I tracked it as it travelled the 16 thousand kilometre journey from Kentucky US to Durban, South Africa:

To my delight it arrived this morning, January 14th – so in total 4 days with only a few hours to clear customs in Johannesburg. Others had reported delays of several days in the past, but Amazon’s new expedited customs tactic (you pay up-front for customs duties, which are refunded if not used) seems to have made all the difference.

I bought the 3G version, for those interested the price breakdown is:

• Item Subtotal:    $189.00
• Shipping  and handling:     $20.98
• Import Fees Deposit:     $29.11
• Total:    $239.09 (ZAR 1,780.92)

Recommended resources:

• Simon Dingle’s post “how to buy a Kindle” is well worth the read for existing and prospective Kindle owners
• if you own a Kindle, you *need* Calibre.
• Instapaper is also a fantastic free tool