Matthew Lang

Jennifer and I spent the day watching Drew play at Stirling Golf Club today in a Stephen Gallagher Foundation event. Stirling is a fantastic golf course with great views of the castle from just about every hole on the course.

Despite a rocky start on the first three holes, Drew found his groove on the back nine and finished second in the net scores. These events are a great opportunity for him to learn more about his golf game and play many courses across the west of Scotland and the central belt. Back at it tomorrow for another SGF event at Whitecraigs Golf Course, which is thankfully, just down the road.

Our oldest, Ethan, returns home for the summer after his first year at McKendree University in Illinois. Just getting his breakfast order ready now for him walking through the door.

He was home at Christmas for a few weeks, but with the whole summer ahead of us, it will be good to get a proper catch-up with him and get a few rounds of golf together.

Later today, our youngest, Drew, is playing in a Stephen Gallagher Foundation event up at Paisley Golf Club. The first individual competition of the season for him, and with a new set of irons in the bag, I’m sure he’s going to have quite a few good rounds of golf ahead of him over the summer.

Once that’s done, it will be back home for a family dinner for four. Our first time together sitting down to a meal since Christmas.

Looking forward to a summer of family, bbqs, golf and good times.

I love Saturdays like this. No plans, no need to go anywhere. Just going with the flow.

The Goonies Lego build is coming along nicely. Some really great finishing touches, and it’s great to have most of the movie in a single build. I’m leaving the next couple of bags for Drew to do tonight.

I put the finishing touches on a new learning feature in Dailymuse today. It’s a spaced-repetition feature that sends notes to you over a period you define. It’s like flash cards by email. I’ll be testing this myself for the next few weeks before I release it.

Fajitas for dinner tonight, followed by an episode of Tulsa King and an episode of Shrinking, will wrap up a much-needed relaxing Saturday.

Lots of family adjustments are being made this week.

Ethan’s been going through his inductions, student orientation, meeting team mates, and getting to know his way around campus this week. I’m glad to see he’s settling in nicely at McKendree. He’s got a spot of volunteering today. Classes begin on Monday, the gym opens on Tuesday, and the golf team start preparations and work on Thursday.

The hardest part for Ethan has been the lack of golf this week. He’s only played one round this week, but there’ll be plenty of golf ahead when the fall competition schedule begins.

At home, we’re slowly getting used to Ethan not being around, and I’m glad his brother is still optimistic about the whole situation. Drew has been kept busy with his golf and going back to school.

He’s also looking into a potential new hobby in the form of Warhammer. That may spill over to me as well. I am curious about it. I played D&D during high school, but I haven’t played it since. This might be a nice way back into some elements of D&D, but without having to endure a long-running campaign.

Said our goodbyes to Ethan this morning as he heads to McKendree University in Illinois to play as part of their golf team.

It’s been a weekend of ups and downs but mostly tears as our close family of four deals with the prospect of Ethan living abroad for most of the year.

The good thing is he’s back for Christmas for a few weeks and then he’s back in April / May for the start of the golf season.

It’s going to be a great opportunity for him and I’m sure he’ll be a better person and golfer for it once he finishes his four years.

Go Bearcats! 😄

In a couple of weeks, it’s the start of another school year here in Scotland. Another to-do list comes with the usual items for this time of year. School uniform, school bag, topping up the meals account and many other things. I’ve added another potential item to the list.

AI subscription.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and the many other AI subscription services became popular at an ideal time for my oldest. He was in his final year of school. He was curious about how it could be used to aid his homework and studies. I showed him how I use it for my own coding and learning, and its benefits.

He used it to his benefit in his first year of college and finished with good grades in his coursework. I also reinforced to him that it shouldn’t be used to do the work for him. Research, yes; learning, yes, but final essays and coursework should be his work and his work alone. He’s now off to college in the US in a couple of weeks, and I think he’ll use it well to help his studies.

My youngest is going into his second year of high school, and now I am wondering if I should be onboarding him to AI tools to help his studies. In his first year of high school, he didn’t get much homework, and trying to ensure he was on the right level for his age was difficult. My thought process behind introducing him to AI tools at this age is to show him how to use these tools correctly and not just use them as copy-and-paste tools.

AI tools are here to stay, and my hope is that by onboarding him to these tools early, he uses them correctly and enhances his learning. I’m also hoping that he finds another use for them beyond schoolwork. He’s pretty creative and has a good imagination. It’s a quality that his teachers commented on in primary school, but in high school, he’s yet to find an outlet for this. It might be that introducing him to these AI tools now would not only help his schoolwork but also provide him with access to other topics he might want to learn about.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that introducing him now to these tools is the right move, and in doing so, would ensure that he’s comfortable with AI tools and how to use them appropriately.

My wife mentioned that our oldest was talking to her in the car, and he said that it didn’t feel like Christmas.

I get that he’s older, practically a man, but even in my late teens and twenties and before my wife and I started our family, Christmas always felt like Christmas. It’s a chance to indulge, purchase gifts for loved ones, visit the Christmas markets, watch Christmas movies at home, or even go to the cinema and see the latest blockbuster release. My wife and I have always enjoyed Christmas, and there’s not been a year where we’ve had a less-than-enjoyable Christmas.

My wife and I agree with our oldest. This year, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. The tree is up, we’ve got our usual decorations up, and we’re looking forward to a few days of chilling at home. However, something is missing this year, and we can’t quite put our finger on what it is.

I’m still looking forward to Christmas day, and I’m sure it will be a great day, but the build-up to it hasn’t been the same. I’m hoping it’s just a one-off this year.

It’s day 2 of no Wi-Fi in the house after a complication occurred yesterday when a new fibre line was being installed. In the meantime, I’m using my mobile phone data to connect to work, and the big yin is using his mobile phone data to finish his college work.

Don’t get me wrong—last night was great. With no Wi-Fi, everyone had to resort to alternative forms of entertainment, but it was a rather relaxing night. A few things were a nuisance to overcome, but at the end of the day, that’s what they were. A nuisance.

I’d be pretty happy to have more days like yesterday.

Like all of their friends, they’ve been walking to and from school alone since they first attended at the age of six. They were given their own set of house keys soon after. This is the parenting way in Norway – it’s decidedly free-range, with an emphasis on independence, self-determination and responsibility, with a dash of outdoor fun thrown in for good measure.

How to be a Norwegian parent: let your kids roam free, stay home alone, have fun – and fail

I read this and wished I could have been more of a free-range parent when the boys were growing up. Yes, we are a bit more risk-averse in the UK, but as a country, we’re definitely not in the same ballpark as Norway.

A Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Photo by Les Anderson on Unsplash

The boys pitched in this afternoon and tidied up the back garden. Leaves were raked away, patio furniture cleaned down and stored away, golf nets and mats put away, and we topped up the bird feeder.

We then got the Christmas tree and decorations out and put them up all around the house. It’s nice having to look forward to over the next few weeks.

The Lang household is ready for winter.

A couple of weeks ago Drew bought this Lego Marvel Venom set. We decided to try out the additional light kit for it from Light My Bricks.

I have to say, the final result looks pretty good. The LEDs and wires fitted into the build nicely, although the green LEDs that go in behind the Venom’s teeth were a bit of a pain to fit and to stay in place.

Unbeknownst to Drew, he’s got a another light kit heading his way for Christmas which will be for the Lego DC Batman head we’ve bought him. I’m looking forward to seeing how that one turns out.

A final trip to Rockchapel today for nine holes before our flight back to the UK tomorrow. Papa making up the fourball for today.

All of us headed down to Niagara Falls for the day to enjoy some of the sights down there. The first thing we all did was the boat trip to see the falls up close. We haven’t done this since Drew was born so it was nice for him to experience this with all of us. After a wander round Clifton Hill, we grabbed some pizza and did the Sky Wheel to take in some great views of the falls.

Me and Ethan played Hidden Lake again today. We stuck with what we liked and played the new course. We also got paired with a couple of locals who kept us right and gave us a few pointers to deals on local courses. Nice to see that the food is still great at Hidden Lake as well. Highly recommend the smash burgers!

First visit to our favourite nine hole course in the Oakville area, and that’s the Rockchapel course just past Waterdown. Nice being able to play in the sunshine with a good short course for Drew.

A great afternoon range session for the boys before the rain started rolling in.

My in-laws have a new home in Canada, so a few changes to the sleeping arrangements. They still have a great spot outside for a quiet coffee though.

Today we headed up to St Andrews to see some golf at the final practice day of the week before the 1st rounds begin tomorrow. After an early start, and a couple of hours of driving, we finally arrived. Blue skies and a strong wind featured for most of the day.

After spending some cash on a few goodies at the store, we headed over to the practice area and watched some of the players putting and pitching. Drew managed to get a few signatures from some of the professionals, but he was chuffed to bits with his signed golf ball from the world’s top ranked amateur, Keita Nakajima.

Finally, we spent some time in the stands watching players coming through the 16th and 17th holes.

It was a great day and I’m glad to say we’re heading back up on Sunday to do it all again!

The wee guy channeling his inner artist in the corner of the garden this afternoon.

Walking round the peripheral of the Trump Turnberry course while Ethan plays his county match. Such a beautiful part of the world.

Cracking night for 9 holes with Ethan.

Had a great nine holes with Drew today. He played fantastic today. So proud.

I just had a wee lunch date with Jennifer at one of our favourite local restaurants.

Nice to get out of the house, have the cooking done for you and be in great company.  Shame I have to get back to work now.

First hit of the year for me and Drew at Paisley Golf Club today!

A glorious afternoon of weather and a welcome change to the snow and rain we’ve had the last few weeks. I was a bit rusty but Drew has managed to find some extra yardage to his drives over the winter. I’ve got some catching up to do!

Well, Christmas Day is almost over in the Lang household. My parents have just left for the night, and I have to say they loved their Christmas lunch and the evening’s entertainment.

It’s not over, so I can still send season greetings to my little blog’s readers.

So, Merry Christmas to you all, and I wish you all a great day.

Every year, our home town has an open doors day where many building and places that are usually closed off, are open to the public.

We usually miss this as the boys have something on this day, but this year we had a free day so decided to head into two for a wander.

We enjoyed a wander round the Thomas Coats Memoria Baptist Church where Jennifer spent much of her student life included taking many exams in the halls of the church and graduating from university here.

We wandered through the town to a few more places but we wanted to see Paisley Abbey and the views from the roof as this section is usually closed. The views didn’t disappoint and with the weather being great we managed to get a few great photos as the sun shown through some of the windows.

It’s nice to have a town with centuries of history and be able to walk through those places and experience some of that history.

Drew’s played his first six holes on the course today from the shortened blue tees we have for our younger players. Despite the pouring rain, he played well and picked up some tips from Ethan.

It’s great to see the boys share an interest. Even with the age gap, they can always do it together.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that my youngest son Drew is spending a crazy amount of time drawing. You can usually find him sprawled out on the floor of his bedroom with sheets of paper everywhere and a circle of Sharpies around him. He loves it, so what harm can come from it?

The thing is, the source for his new love of drawing comes from a Youtube channel that we found one day while he was looking for some drawing inspiration. The channel is the Art for Kids Hub.

After we checked it over, we thought it was okay for him to be left alone with it for an hour. Now though, we’re at the point where he doesn’t draw without it.

I remember being slightly older than Drew when I first started taking an interest in drawing. I did the same thing, except instead of watching Youtube videos, I frequently drew from books and comics that I had in my room. After a while, I realised that I had enough of the basics down that I could pretty much draw anything. And I did.

The concern we have now is that he’s using a screen to do it. Sometimes he can be in his room for hours drawing. When’s he’s done he will come down with about ten drawings from a single session. Is that amount of time spent in front of a screen good for him?

There are so many conflicting reports and findings of kids and the amount of screen time they should have. The saving grace here I suppose is that he’s not just sitting there doing nothing. He’s doing something creative, and the screen is only a guide.

As long as he’s producing drawings, I can’t see any harm in it. I think in time, he’ll realise that he doesn’t need the iPad and he’ll start drawing on his own.

According to philosophy professor Jordan Shapiro, parents should embrace the technology that their kids are using and not worry so much about the time they are spending on it.

“Your job as a parent is not to stop unfamiliar tools from disrupting your nostalgic image of the ideal childhood, nor to preserve the impeccable tidiness of the Victorian era’s home/work split. Instead, it’s to prepare your kids to live in an ethical, meaningful and fulfilled life in an ever-changing world,” he writes. To do this, he argues, families and schools must embrace technology, including gaming, to prepare kids for an uncertain but determinedly digital future.

— A philosophy professor argues kids should use more technology, not less by Jenny Anderson for Quartz

As a tech-loving parent of two boys I know full well the impact of technology on our family. We do have a few ground rules when it comes to technology. No devices at the dinner table, no devices during movie nights and at least one night a week spent reading instead of gaming. Sure there are times when even I think that the boys have spent too much time on their games consoles and so we’ll huckle them off, and we’ll do something else.

Mostly it’s all about balance in our house, but I definitely lean towards allowing them to spend a bit more time on their games consoles. I remember spending whole weekends playing my games consoles and computers as a kid, so I’m in the camp that video games are not a bad thing. We also have more creative and educational games available. Minecraft anyone?

Maybe I’m a bit more forgiving in this respect because my oldest and I have started gaming together online recently. It certainly helps in the competitive matches in Overwatch to have a player you know to communicate with. We just need to get Drew to practice a bit more, and we’ll have a solid trio to play as online!

It’s the first day of the school summer holidays here in Scotland.

In previous years I would have dropped Drew off at nursery and then dropped Ethan off at the golf. This year though Drew is at school, as he no longer goes to nursery, and Ethan is still resting after fracturing his foot last week.

All I can say is thank goodness for golf and Fortnite. It’s the only two things that will keep them occupied for the next week until our family holiday kicks in.

Following a raft of measures to cool off the property market, sales have plunged, down 35% overall in Feb 2017 relative to Feb 2016; prices are down an average of CAD110,000, and listings are up (which will drive the prices down further).

— Toronto’s real estate market is imploding via Boing Boing

Imploding might be a strong word in this case as it’s only based on one month’s sales, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the start of a decline in house prices in Toronto and the surrounding areas.

With my in-laws in Ontario and annual trips out there with the family, we’ve see vast amounts of land swallowed up by builders over the last two decades. The rate of building and development has been staggering.

In the last ten years though house prices have sky rocketed.

My wife and I have toyed with emigrating to Canada in the past few years. The always increasing house prices mean that we would have to look at smaller properties near Toronto or larger properties away from Toronto for the move to be worth it.

With a dip in house prices though, maybe a move is still possible?

It wasn’t Ethan’s day at the Stanley Morrison Trust event down at Dumfries & County GC yesterday. A lack of concentration and fast greens seen him finish well outside his usual scoring zone.

Still, he had a good time and great to see that one of the Renfrewshire Golf Union groups walked away with a prize.

Looking forward to seeing Ethan playing this event again over the next few couple of years. Still time yet for Ethan to bag a prize there.

It’s back to basics over the next few weeks with some work to be done with his short game and putting.

A lot colder tonight than last week, but glad to get out for a hit with Ethan.

Enjoyed a few holes with Ethan out on the course tonight.

Just when I think we’re out of the woods with winter, Drew gets a nasty cold. We skipped his Taekwondo this weekend as he was loaded. Thankfully he started to get better on Monday and he’s back to his usual cheeky self.

The weather is finally taking a turn for the better which means there’s normally plenty of work to do in the garden. This year its less work than usual to thanks to Victory Gardens & Landscaping who came out last week and did a big chunk of work to tidy the place up. Just got the new BBQ to assemble and we should be ready for plenty of outdoor grilling.

Sunday was another day on the road for me and Ethan as he was playing in the second round of his junior flag challenge at East Kilbride Golf Club. Conditions were great and he really looked a lot more settled than he did last week. Highlight of the day was his eagle on the 7th. He finished the nine hold round with a score of 44 which he was delighted with despite a couple of putts that just lipped out. Next round is in a couple of weeks, so Ethan gets to play in the medal next Sunday at his local club which means I can put my feet up for the day!

Is it April already? Where did March go? Yip, it’s been one of them months where it’s over before it’s even began.

The last three weeks have definitely been like this. I’ve been busy working and we’ve been out and about a bit more now that the good weather is with us and getting the boys outdoors isn’t such a problem.

Saturday was errands day. Heading to a few places to get some ideas for the garden. We invested some time and money into the garden last year and this year we’re ready to finish most of the heavier work in the garden. I can’t wait for the day that I can just put me feet up in the garden, fire up the grill and start on a couple of cold beers.

Sunday was Ethan’s return to weekly medals at Paisley Golf Club. He’s spent a fair amount of time over winter putting in extra practice and it’s starting to pay off. Once the course dries out a bit more though and he’s had a few more practice rounds he should start to see his handicap fall.

Easter holidays have started for the school kids. I took Ethan up to Paisley for a round of golf. Weather was favourable (it wasn’t raining) and the course was in great condition. Ethan played very well as always. I was a little slower to get started and couldn’t hack the pace at the turn. By that point my back and arms were tired. We’re heading back out on Wednesday again, so hopefully I’ll be a better playing partner!

Again, this was sitting in my drafts. Doh!

The weekend was something of a blur. After a trip down to see a client and a few days back at my desk catching up, I was glad to have some downtime with the family.

Saturday started as it always does with Drew’s Little Tiger Cubs class. As always he’s slow to start with the warm ups but as soon as they get to the kicking and punching he’s front and centre! After that it time to head home as Jen was going for the day so it was just me and the boys. Drew was invited to a birthday party next door so I took him through for that will Ethan entertained himself on the Playstation.

Sunday was Ethan’s first group lesson with the rest of the Juniors at Paisley Golf Club. Even though he’s hardly had a chance to play on the course over the winter, Ethan’s been improving his swing over the winter and this will be a big year for him. His lesson went well and he learned a few things the hard way but it’s sometimes the only way you learn.

Sunday morning was also my first jaunt back out on the mountain bike. The first bike ride of the year is always rubbish. You find out it now that your bike needs a service or new parts and you’re also getting back on the bike after a number of months since the last time you were on it. This year was no exception.

With a slow puncture at the rear I decided to top up the wheel with air to see how slow it was. Unfortunately my pump split in two and couldn’t get any air into the wheel. I had enough air to get back to the card, but it did cut my ride significantly short. Added a new pump and a new rear tyre (it is blading) to the bike shopping list.

Sunday afternoon saw Drew heading out for a Little Tiger Cubs assessment. He’s been attending the classes for a few months now and he’s earned the stripes for his belt. At his assessment he earned his next belt up and walked away with a certificate.

This weekend was something of a bust. It’s that time of year when kids of a certain age turn from innocent little chaps and madams to plague carrying monsters. Little Drew started us off with a case of the lurgy last week and it’s ran rife through the house. There’s still a couple of us fighting on into this week. Hopefully by next weekend we’ll all be back to full health.

On a more positive note this weekend saw the return of what for me is the greatest show on Earth. The Super Bowl. I get that not everyone likes it, but there’s no denying it was a great game to watch.

I had no intentions of staying up to watch the game though having already started my lurgy phase and the fact that I was working the next day, so I recorded the game in the hopes of watching it the next day.

I already knew the score before watching the game, some media blackouts you just can’t get through unless you unplug your wireless router but I needed that for work.

It certainly wasn’t a disappointing game. The Falcons routed the Patriots in the first half but the momentum of the Falcons started to die in the second half. Despite the rocky start in the third quarter the Patriots stepped up and proved that there were more than capable of matching the Falcons in their first-half.

With the game tied, the Super Bowl went into overtime for the first time. The Patriots opted to receive the punt, made the drive to the red-zone and scored the touchdown. Game over.

It’s hardly seems fair to decide a game like this, maybe they should play the whole overtime quarter regardless of the number of possessions each time has and decide it on points.

Anyway, that’s the Patriots and the Brady/Belichick combo with their fifth Super Bowl win. So the countdown begins to the next season.

Me and Ethan are Packer fans but Jennifer and Drew like the Patriots and no-one was as happy as Drew was when he discovered that his team had won the Super Bowl.

Apologies. Missed a couple of these in November and December!

After the feasting and festivities over Christmas, the New Year weekend was a chance to get some sense of normality back.

Me and Jen took the boys to the ten pin bowling on the Friday morning just to do something different. Poor performances by all except from Drew who won both games!

New Years Eve was a quiet day and a chance for the boys to mess about with their presents.

New Years Day involved dinner at my parents house. While most people might have ordered their steak pie from their local butchers (not a bad option by the way), my mum opted to make hers from scratch. It went down a storm, especially with the boys who love their steak pie.

To round off the long weekend I took Ethan up to the golf club for a few holes. The weather wasn’t great but it didn’t stop him putting in a solid nine holes. I’m starting to find some consistency as well which is good.

Parents with young kids on long haul flights rejoice!

In all seriousness though, it’s about time Netflix added this feature. It’s surprising how many places still lack a decent signal or even wifi.

Working on Friday right down the to wire again and then a quick turn around to get ready to go out for dinner and celebrate my Dad’s birthday. Caffe Royale was tonight’s choice and it didn’t disappoint. Italian theme restaurant with a great selection of food. Highly recommended.

We’ve been looking at purchasing a “nearly new” second car for quite some time, but nothing has shown up that matches our price point. A car showed up on the web through the week, but no pictures meant we had to go down to the showroom to get a closer look. Glad we did. Found ourselves a great little runaround car within our price point. Later on, went to church with Ethan and then headed home for dinner and few hours in front of the television catching up with the golf.

The weather on Sundays has been terrible over the last few weeks. Ethan did have a medal scheduled for Sunday but he’s been loaded with the cold. He wasn’t up for a full round so I took him out for nine holes just to get out the house for a while. He’s playing well with his new Ping clubs and I’m sure by the start of the season next year he’ll be ready to slash his handicap down.

Rounded up the weekend by finishing my sketchnotes for the Ryder Cup and then watching the final matches come in. Europe didn’t play their best and the USA did. You can’t argue with a simple point like that, but hats off to each of the European players for a good effort. It’s not always going to work out on the day and it didn’t for some of the European players but that’s just the way golf is.

Still taking it easy from my back spasming out last month. It’s put a lot of things on hold but I’m getting back to normal. As a result there wasn’t much to report from this past weekend. It wasn’t completely uneventful though.

My mum and dad celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary with a meal at our favourite Italian restaurant in Paisley.

Little Drew had been suffering from a cold and cough in the last few days but he rallied round for the meal. He’ll do anything to get some chips and ketchup!

Ethan had a fun night at Paisley Golf Club with the rest of the kids that get coaching there on the Friday night. Hats off to Andy Carlton and Claire-Maire Macauley for putting on a great event and bringing all the kids together. No prizes for Ethan but he did score quite well in the putting.

Twinged my back early on Saturday morning which ruled out any work I was going to do in the garden that day. That was nothing though compared to Sunday morning when I completely put my back out and put out any plans we had for the day. A visit to the out-of-hours GP got me some pain killers. My back is on the mend today after a treatment of physio this morning and I’m going back on Wednesday for more treatment.

I had a great time with Ethan yesterday playing at Paisley Golf Club.

Another Sunday, another medal under the belt. Ethan’s settling in well at Paisley Golf Club and the boys in the junior section have been great in welcoming him.

Ethan played in his first competition of the year at Paisley Golf Club. He’s still struggling with the longer tees in these competitions but he enjoyed the challenge. Looking forward to seeing him out on the course a lot over the rest of the year and getting his handicap down.

I was just reminded this morning that it was two years ago that the ice storm hit Toronto and the surrounding area. We were visiting Jen’s family in Toronto at that time.

Having never experienced an ice storm, it was quite strange waking up that morning and seeing the amount of ice everywhere. I captured a few shots of the aftermath over the next couple of days.

We were more fortunate than others. We didn’t experience any power cuts and we were able to get stocked up for Christmas day.

Aside from the ice storm, we had a great time spending Christmas and New Year with Jen’s family. Hoping to do it again soon.

Black Friday does not mean shopping; it means we watch the first Christmas movies of the year - Die Hard, followed immediately by Die Hard II - and start with the sounds of the Christmas season. This schedule will provide four solid weeks of Christmas music - plenty of time to become tired of the stuff.

— Exactly when… by Cultural Offering

What a fantastic Christmas tradition! Starting the Christmas holiday season with a real Christmas movie.

Me and Jen watched this religiously years ago. It’s great to see it coming back.

To me the sports are not comparable; they are simply different games. I prefer to watch football in my home. I can yell, cheer, and make a fool out of myself with only my family around to see the spectacle. Baseball is a game I truly enjoy watching at the event. It allows me to observe the preparations, and many interactions I simply don’t notice at a football game.

— Sunday by Kurt Harden

I completely get where Kurt is coming from. Me and Jen love going to the baseball when we visit Toronto. You get to see the baseball game more up close than you would a football game. Also the beer and hot dogs aren’t a bad thing either!

NB is back with essential skills for the new semester. Number 6 on the list is strictly enforced in our house on a Sunday from September to the end of the year.

Relaxation: the ability to easily let go of the deadline for 8 hours and get some quality sleep, to watch the game without guilt, to know what is truly important at this point. Do less, achieve more.

— Back to School II by Nicholas Bate

During this time the rule is that Sundays are for home cooked meals, everyone sitting round the table to enjoy it, taking the boys for a walk on their bikes and then sitting down for a couple of hours of NFL.

Ethan’s back at school today. Having to adjust to the house being quiet again. Back to work for me as well I suppose.

I was watching Ethan this morning as he was playing with a friend on the Playstation. A session of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare was in full play and the boys we’re chatting about new video games, golf, going back to school as well as planning their next zombie assault. It got me thinking how different things are for kids today when it comes to media and whether that change is causing kids to mentally age faster.

The biggest difference I see is the prescence of media now. Everywhere we go, we have instant access to the latest news and headlines, trending topics and sometimes things that are just too horrifying to believe have happened.

I remember being the same age as Ethan and growing up in Canada. We had a record player, tape deck and a television. That was the extent of our media devices in the house. Most days my parents would get their fill of news from newspapers that they bought on a daily basis, but I never read those. I don’t remember ever watching the news on television but I always watched cartoons like Spiderman and shows like Knightrider and the ice hockey was always on at night. I just don’t remember the news at all.

Compare this with Ethan who has his own iPhone and a Playstation. He gets his fill of news from the BBC Newsround website which is news for younger kids. It’s good because it explains what’s happening in the world without complicating the story. They report most of the events that are in the news and explain why it’s happening. We tend not to watch the news on television unless it’s something serious but that’s thankfully not happened for a while. If we are watching and Ethan sees it, we explain as best we can why it’s happening.

As for exposing him to other media, we certainly draw the line on movies and games. Me and Jen use our own judgement when it comes to these but games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto are out until he’s older. The same goes for movies. There’s ratings on them for a reason.

Most of us have probably played some kind of war based game as kids but when we did we drew on our knowledge from television and movies that we had seen. When we were kids and running about shooting each other we used our experiences from movies to feed our imagination. That has changed and the advancement of technology means that movies and games now have a better sense of realism. Whether it ages your kids mentally though is difficult to measure but I always like to err on the side of caution.

Controlling and curating the media that our kids consume doesn’t mean they won’t grow up fast, after all I’m sure he’s getting an education in the school playground. It just means we’re slowing down the rate at which they grow mentally and that’s not a bad thing. There’s plenty of time to experience what the world has to offer but as a kid you get more from using your own imagination. And I rather see that for as long as I can before they experience the reality of the world.

This post highlights the benefits that youngsters get from playing golf. Ethan’s first year on the junior team has been a huge learning experience for him. Learning etiquette, being responsible and managing your emotions have been at the forefront.

I’m glad to see Ethan developing with his golf. It’s definitely a great sport for youngsters.

Ethan played in the Junior Open at Elderslie Golf Club yesterday. He had a good time but it was a long slog for him. Playing off the longer yellow tees made some of the holes extremely difficult for him. Good experience for him though.

I had big plans for this week, but it was effectively written off as our youngest son was ill all week.

The great thing about my work being flexible is that I can schedule work around times like this. Yes, this week was a bust, but there’s always next week or the week after.

Some people might view it as a week lost, but I see it as something that needed to be done.

Our youngest is finally on the mend and laughing and smiling. Seeing that happen is definitely more important than any work I could have been doing.

It’s certainly not impossible.

You may wonder how we get our kids to eat kale and clams, and here is the answer: we make them (we’re warm but firm), and we don’t offer choices. Psychologists will tell you that kids respond to consistency and confidence. While I can’t say I’m great at this when it comes to bedtime, I never waver at the table. People don’t want to hear this because we live in the Age of Coddling but I strongly believe that kids need and actually crave guidance and direction, especially when they’re young. And since I also believe that we should eat the same meals as our kids—showing unity and companionship—I don’t want to eat boring food, so they’re not getting boring food.

— Parenting, Lunchmaking, and Hoping Your Kids Will Love Food by Food52 - Amanda Hesser

Our oldest son is more of a challenge in this respect but he’s getting there with the different meals we make. Our youngest couldn’t be happier though. He loves trying new foods, especially when he opts to just use his fingers!

via Kottke

After a rocky start to the year, it seems that Ethan is finding his form again. It was a big ask for Ethan to beat James in his match but despite losing, his scorecard was made up of fives, sixes and sevens. Well done kid!

Elderslie Golf Club continues to be a great place for Ethan and the rest of the juniors to develop their game. Hat tip to Scott and Craig and everybody else involved in helping develop the junior team there.

Kids have the wonder and curiosity that adults have spent many years replacing with logic and skepticism. To a kid, what looks like some moss on a rock is, in fact, a fairy chair. That skyscraper is a rocket ship. A few trees in a park are a mighty forest where woodland creatures come alive. A kid will shoot the truth they see.

— Give your camera to your kid … by Patrick Rhone

It was a good weekend for the members of Elderslie’s Junior Newton Shield squad. Coaching on the Saturday with the club pro followed by an opportunity to play on the course for all levels of members in the junior section on the Sunday. All those involved with this in the club should be commended. It’s great to see kids of all ages being encouraged to play and compete.

Last weekend our son came home with the school quarterly bulletin. As always we familiarised ourselves with everything that was coming up in the next few months, asked him what events he would like to go to and made sure there was nothing else that needed our attention. One last thing caught me wife’s eye though as she read through the bulletin. The school are looking for volunteers to help re-vamp their school website.

The next day I phoned the school to let them know I would be willing to help out. I got a call back a few minutes later with a date and time to speak to the assistant head teacher at the school who will be handling the website. All good so far.

The school’s website is okay as an information portal but it definitely falls short in terms of how it looks. Well, when the site says that the school kids contribute to the look and content of the site, you’re not exactly going to be expecting something that wins web design awards. Looking at other web sites in the area, and it’s clear that the school web site isn’t a primary concern for some schools. There is more an emphasis on getting the school children involved and that’s not a bad thing.

Today’s school children though are far different in terms of technology exposure than school children have been in the past. In the last ten years, mobile technology has become so engrained in day to day life that homes often have two or more mobile devices with kids often having their own tablet or even smartphone.

It got me wondering about the approach to take in getting the school children involved in the new school website. Is it better for them to know how to edit and update web pages by hand or will the kids be more interested in maintaining the school website through something like Wordpress?

I might be jumping the gun here a bit, but I’ve been keeping a list of questions like this to ask at my meeting with the school this week.

The main good thing to come out of this though is the chance to do something for an organisation in my local community. Yes, I’ll be doing the work for the school for free but with our oldest already a pupil there and our youngest due to start there in a few years, the chance to contribute something to their school can’t be a bad thing.

After the ice storm that hit the Toronto area before Christmas, I managed to get a few shots of the fields across the road from my in-laws house just as the sun was setting. These were taken over two days which explains the change in the clouds.

Meet my son Ethan.

He loves playing golf. He’s also quite good at it. He might not be the next big thing in golf, but he’s better than most kids his age. He attends golf lessons for one hour a week and this year we even got him in as a junior member at a golf club in the area where most of his family play. A chance for him to meet other kids his age and also to get out onto a proper golf course for a change.

Now as parents we all want the best for our kids. It’s natural. The best criteria though is interpreted different by different parents though. My interpretation is that I want my kids to be happy and do what they enjoy the most.

Me and Jen don’t do the pushy parent thing. He plays golf when he wants to play golf. We don’t make him practice for hours on end at home, nor do we make it his exclusive hobby. Just for variety he goes swimmming, plays tennis and wants to up upgrade his bike to a mountain bike for Christmas so that he can go mountain biking with me.

He also does all the usual things kids do, watches television, plays video games, plays outside with his friends and a whole heap of other things that kids are supposed to do (and sometimes not supposed to do!). Quite a good mix for any kid if you ask me.

I’m hoping that this no pressure approach to his golf gives him enough breathing space to be himself and not be put under pressure. He’s still a kid and needs to experience his childhood. Sure we still give him a gentle nudge now and again, but that’s all it is, a nudge.

Me and Jen took the bus home from Niagara Falls on Thursday, a first for us as we usually drive back. We’ve been to Niagara Falls countless times over the years and this is the first time we’ve seen the old parts of town. A lot of interesting buildings here that have sadly seen better days. I’m glad we wandered off the beaten track this time. We wouldn’t have seen these buildings if we hadn’t decided to take the bus.

I might not approve of Curtis McHale’s choice of journaling tool (just kidding), but I do approve of his reason for journaling.

I’d like to think that they will want a better picture of what I was in my 30′s as my family was starting. I’d like to think that I’m interesting enough to leave a legacy for them that they’ll be interested in.

— Knowing those that came before you by Curtis McHale

I have a new hobby, sort of. Last weekend I bought myself a new set of golf clubs and last night I took my oldest son to the driving range for a boys night. He got to fine tune his swing and I got the chance to become familiar with the first set of golf clubs I’ve had in 20 years. It’s sure been a long time since I played a round of golf, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with a new set of golf clubs. The surprising thing was that I could actually hit the ball reasonably well.

This new hobby isn’t about me though, it’s more about my son. Being a great little golfer means I want to get him on the course as often as possible, but access to golf courses for kids isn’t easy, especially when you thrown in the unpredictable Scottish weather. Also he’s a bit young to be out playing a round on his own.

So I decided to arm myself with some clubs and get into this golf thing with my son. Hopefully over the summer and autumn I can get him onto some public courses near us, but more importantly he can teach Dad how to play golf!

It was my oldest son’s parents night at his school tonight. We had a fair idea what his teacher was going to say about him and his progress. We weren’t disappointed.

The format is simple. You get 10 minutes with the teacher in which time they will go over the your child’s progress (that you have already read the week before) and then you get to ask any questions about your child and identify any area where they can try and make improvements. Fortunately our son is doing great so there was just a couple of minor areas for him to improve on.

If you think the format is familiar then you would be right. Parents night is just the kiddie version of the annual review that many permanent workers go through. However, how is it that organisations can get this wrong when the basic format seems so simple?

I’ve experienced the annual review first hand in a number of companies. Very few of them actually did an annual review on a regular basis and even fewer followed through from the previous annual review.

A neighbour of mine worked in a really well known international bank where annual reviews were not done by your line manager but by someone even higher up. In an organisation such as this where the number of employees runs into thousands, there was a good chance that the person doing your annual review doesn’t even know you to look at. In this case our friend did indeed get their annual review done by a director who had only met him twice. Not exactly a good example of an annual review.

Twice a year my son’s school give a parents night without fail. They provide a report for your child that you get a week before parents night so that you can raise any questions during parents night. They give feedback on your child’s progress and give suggestions on areas where your child can improve. They do it for all the kids in the school. That’s hundreds of kids.

It’s not hard to do.

Last night our oldest son gave us a bit of a scare. He started to run a very high temperature after dinner and through the night he was sick a couple of times. This morning he was shivering and still had a fever. No school for him then.

Why am I telling you this?

It sets the background for one of the key benefits to working from home. In the rare occurrence that your children are ill, it makes child care a lot easier.

Depending on your child’s illness you can still look after them and get some work done. I said some work because of course your child’s health comes first. Do some work while they are napping or watching a movie. You’re never going to get a full days work in on these days, but being a freelancer it is great to have this option.

Being a parent is tough at the best of times, but being a parent, holding down a job and working on anything else that takes your fancy is hard too. As a developer I like tinkering with code and ideas, but these aren’t a priority and so I only work on side projects when I can. However, even short bursts of coding can be productive as John Polacek points out:

It has happened to me over and over again. I get away from what I’m working on, then when I come back, I focus on it in a fresh way. I can accomplish in 10 minutes what may have taken me an hour or more had I just stayed ‘heads down’.

— How Getting Married and Having Kids Made Me a Better Programmer by John Polacek

My focus is family first, income second and then everything else. So only when I have exhausted all my options about the house do I crack open my text editor and start coding. I might only get 10 minutes or half an hour, but it’s all I need to move project forward.

The surprise for me is that I thought that with freelancing I would be able to set aside some time for side projects, but the priority for freelance work is to simply save what I can. When the work stops coming in for a short spell, then I can focus on my side projects for a period of time until I find other work. For the moment though I’m happy to only work on side projects when I can.

I would love to sit down and teach my sons how to code, but I think it’s more important to teach them about applying thinking to problem solving.

Scott Hanselman rounds it up nicely:

We need to teach kids to think and to be excited about thinking.

— Programming’s Not For You by Scott Hanselman

Staying connected with family in the modern world is great. Thanks to the Internet, the only thing to stop you contacting family on a different continent is whether it’s an inconvenient time. Just recently though I didn’t realise how many different ways technology lets me stay in contact with family.

So there’s the usual forms of communication like phone, email and video are the most common forms of keeping in touch with family but what else is there?

Apps from social networks offer a very easy way to stay in touch with family, providing their all on the same network of course.

In our family we use Path to stay in touch and share photos and updates. Path’s benefit is that it’s a private network. Only people that you allow to follow you get to see your updates. Path is so simple that even my parents are on Path as well. It took them a bit of persuading to sign up, but now they can see photos of all their grandchildren at the touch of a button. With my sister in Dublin and my sister-in-law in Toronto it’s great having them both on Path so that we share pictures of the kids as they grow up.

At home myself and my wife Jen use an app called Avocado. Getting more smaller and private again, Avocado is a service for just two people. Not only does it let you message each other privately but it also provides a calendar and todo lists which are shared automatically with your other half.

Of course there’s the big three of social networks: Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Of these three I’m only on Twitter but these days I mainly use it for just connecting with other developers and not for staying in touch with family.

There’s probably many others apps and services you can use, but what’s great about technology now is that there are so many more choices.

Digital technology. The great invention of the late 20th century and now integrated into our daily lives on such a scale that many of us take it for granted. It’s a very present in our home. We have the usual things like a laptop, a tablet, a games console, a reading tablet, smartphones and a number of other devices like televisions, digital picture frames and various MP3 players.

We also have two sons, our oldest is six years old and extremely well versed in the various digital devices around the house. While I applaud his ability to use all these devices un-supervised, for a while there I was worried about the frequency and time that he was using these devices. Every day started with a request to play this device or that device. I felt he was becoming too dependent on the devices for entertainment.I’ve read a number of articles in the past about the current generation of youngsters that have been brought up in an on-demand environment. If they want it, they can have it. And that is very true when it comes to digital devices. Very few things are out of reach with laptop or a tablet. I don’t want this way of thinking for my kids. Technology is great, but it also has it’s place.

Technology plays an important part in education and in the workplace. I’m not suggesting that technology is bad, but rather it’s best used in moderation. While I like him playing Minecraft, I also like to see him play with his Lego. Drawing on the iPad is another activity he does, but I like to see what he can create with his own hands using crayons, pencils and paper.

Kid activities such as playing with toys, drawing, reading and getting him outside are things my wife and I are going to encourage this year with our oldest son. This isn’t about restricting access to technology, instead it’s about teaching him that technology has it’s place and he shouldn’t be too dependent on it.

Learning to appreciate technology and when to use it is an important subject to teach children. We shouldn’t forget that there’s a world for our kids to see with their own eyes rather than seeing it through a browser.

Some of you might already know this from my tweets in the past but for those that don’t here’s the thing. My son has been playing golf since he was 1 year old. Yes you’re reading that right. 1 year old.

In the last 5 years we’ve slowly encouraged the sport with him by taking him to the driving range, local golf courses and he’s had some coaching from a couple of professionals in the past. He loves the game. He watches all the majors when they are on and cheers for his favourite golfers.

In order to develop this little talent further we decided to take our son to coaching a couple of years ago. The coaching was one to one with a professional. I would drop my son off and then observe from a distance while he hit some balls, played some games and then after half an hour I would collect him.

After a year it seemed like he wasn’t making any more progress, but I decided to let it go on the basis that he is only a kid after all. The most worrying part though was that he wasn’t really enjoying it anymore.Then one Saturday, during one of our frequent trips to the driving range, we just happened to see that the driving range were doing group lessons for kids. We asked our son if he wanted to go and he jumped at the chance.

He now gets coaching alongside other kids and since moving him to the group coaching, he has come on leaps and bounds. His progress in the last six months has been great. The best part of it is that he enjoys his golf again and wants to do better.

In hindsight the one to one coaching was the wrong choice for our son, but as a parent you want the best for your kids and to give them all the opportunities you can.

Rather than wanting the best for your kids, you should also remember to let them enjoy being a kid. I’m glad now that our son is enjoying his golf again but more importantly, he’s enjoying it with other kids his age.

Can’t wait to show my oldest son this!

via Distracted By Star Wars

An old post from the svn blog at 37signals but a reminder that not everyone’s number one concern is the big project at work.

That’s why I like working with the family man or woman. They come in as a cold bath of reality. When people have other obligations outside of work that they actually care more about than your probably-not-so-world-changing idea, the crutches are not available as an easy way out, and you’ll have to walk by the power of your good ideas and execution or you’ll fall fast and early. That’s a good thing!

— Hire Family People by 37 Signals

I initially drafted this in August 2011, during my stint on
750words.com. Since then it’s been sitting in a file waiting to be published, until now.

I’ve just had to run back up the stairs and console our 4 year old son who was scared that the aliens and robots in space would come down from space and get him. Poor little guy. He’s probably the biggest fan of Star Wars I know, and he watches and plays with his Star Wars stuff everyday. Since we moved him into the larger bedroom though, he’s become a little restless at night and he frequently worries about things coming into his bedroom.I was a kid once, and I remember going through the same thing. E.T. the Extra-Terrestial had just come out at the cinema and I think it was my birthday. As a treat, my mum and dad took me to the movies to see it. At the time I had no idea what the movie was about and at the start you are faced with this creepy little creature being chased through a forest.Now when you’ve barely just started school and you’re not very wise to the world and everything in it, the first thing that springs to you’re mind when a bunch of guys are chasing something through a forest is that whatever they’re chasing, that thing is dangerous and should be caught right away. Eventually the guys give up and the creature finds itself, looking down on the suburbs of a sprawling American city.

After that experience I had plenty of nightmares about the strange little alien getting chased through the forest (who wouldn’t at that age), but nothing compared to the thoughts I had at the last house that we lived in before moving back to Scotland.We had a nice detached house with bedrooms upstairs. I always remember being similar to the Elliot’s house in the movie. The similarities don’t end there though. Across the road from our house was a spot of wasteland and next to that was the dual carriageway. After that was a hill with trees dotted all over it. I didn’t know what was on the other side, but I didn’t need to ask. My imagination was running riot.Every night my imagination told me that there was a stranded alien over that hill and it would be my house it would be curious about. I think the worse thing was that my bed was at the top of the room and when I lay in my bed, I would look down at the bottom of the room, where the window was. What did my window look onto? The tree covered hill across the road.Now at the time, I didn’t know why my bedroom window was open. Apparently it was too hot at night, so my mum would leave the window and curtains open slightly to let some cool air in after the house was baking all day in the summer heat.Now you might laugh and mock, but when you’re a kid, there’s no bounds to your imagination. You don’t know about the physical constraints around the world. In your eyes, anything can happen. The cardboard box that your parents new television gets delivered in becomes a space ship, the back garden becomes the venue for an epic battle with giant robots, the stairs become the biggest mountain in the world, and you must scale it all the way to the top. Too bad most of us lose that imagination as we get older.

I think it’s great my son has such a vivid imagination, he creates anything out of whatever he has and he loves pretending and using his imagination. Looking back at my episode in Calgary with E.T., I realise how much of an imagination I had. I know I had seen the movie and I simply lifted that scenario to my own world, but it was my first experience of really using my imagination. Since that chapter in my life, I’ve been a frequent reader of sci-fi and fantasy books, and I’ve started writing my own short stories. All because I freaked out over an alien that I thought lived in the forest across the road from me.

When my son is a bit older and wiser, I’ll remind him of how great his imagination was when he was little boy and the things that he used to make believe about and be scared of. He would do well to keep his imagination fed with a genre of his choice. I know he’s going to be a great golfer when he’s older, but there’s no harm in having a backup career in case that falls through.

Forgive the cute picture of my 2nd son who was born today, but today’s wish is to get this little guy and his mum back home where they belong. Little Drew was born this morning at 11:12am. Welcome to the world little man!