October 15, 2013

A father’s obligation

Category: Being Parents

When one is a father to a daughter, one has the obligation to indulge, in all the little things that one would never think a father of a daughter would ever condone before the little daughter comes along.

It is such bond that makes a father-daughter relationship ever so special. And, this is what makes most fathers such an amazing dad for their precious little daughters.

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SUCKKKKER!

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October 12, 2013

Gadget Chick

The world has been a little crazy with the launch of Samsung Note III in the recent weeks (or has it?), with the promise of the first of its kind in the evolution of technology.

Meet Note III: A phone and a tablet combined, boasting the latest in line and  bringing back big (make that PLUS size phone) into style. Oh! And one that comes with a pen too!

Thanks to my current employer, I now have got into the bandwagon once again to be one of the first few in Thailand to own Samsung Note III before it was officially launched in the market. From not wanting to own another Samsung mobile phone because of a disappointing past experience, to owning TWO (corporate) mobile phones (the other one being the S3) as part of my current gig in embracing technology.

Considering that I was once a gadget freak in my early twenties and used to be a big fan of Apple (and now boycotted), this has been a welcome break to get back into the gadget grind and in keeping up with the evolution of technology without actually burning a hole in my own pocket.

I am not going to do a full product review here as if you Google for reviews, you would be able to get a far better review and perspective than I would ever do. That being said, I’ll tell you what I really like about the Note III:

It’s cool.

Hell, yeah! It really is big for a phone and is a little bit tricky to hold when answering/making a phone call, but I just happen to think that it is quite a cool beast for a notepad that also happens to work as a phone! (Notice I say NOTEPAD)

S-Pen

I have a thing with scribbling and taking notes with a pen versus typing things out, and for, that it appeals to me. Sure you can compare that to an iPad and how much cooler an iPad is – the thing is, if you don’t already know,  I boycotted Apple products a long time ago and I.don’t.care.for.it.

One thing I like about it is the fact that it converts my handwriting into text. All I have to do is write on the screen and the note transforms everything I write into normal text that can go into my document, emails and whatever else I am composing.

There is also a function in which you can enable where the S Pen will beep you anytime you move away from the pen and save you from leaving the S-Pen behind. Nifty function for a forgetful person like me!

Multi-screen

Do I even need to explain this? With its gargantuan screen, it is a joy to be able to view things in split screens

Air Command screen capture

This is just cheap thrill! Instead of pressing down the Home and Power button at the same time to capture a screen shot, just wave your hand across the screen and bingo! A screen capture. True story.

Scrap Book

A collection of stuff you cut out from the screen and save them for later viewing. It’s associated with metadata and able to provide context of the various clippings by harvesting data from the surrounding app or web page that can be tagged or categorise. A function which I need to familiarize myself better with.

Its quirks?

It is a big, big device and something completely outside my comfort zone to be used for a phone. It feels weird and uncomfortable when held close to the ear. I am also confused as to why the S-Note and Action Memo app are separate – to me they are the same! Lastly, it is just way too expensive and I am glad that I didn’t have to pay for it!

Still. I love it. It is a F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S thing!

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October 9, 2013

A morning of “NO”

Category: Being Parents

They come in drafts, these phases of perpetual “NO-s” and sheer defiance. Just when you thought that things were getting a little better than 36 hours ago, a 3-year old massive temper tantrums with incredible amount of defiance can hit you like pellets from a BB-Gun.

That was one of our mornings circa 3 weeks ago. According to Spud, everything was a NO.

NO. She didn’t want to get out of bed.

NO. She didn’t want to take off her pajamas.

NO. She didn’t want to shower.

NO. She didn’t want to brush her teeth.

NO. She didn’t want to walk and would rather lie down motionless on the floor, claiming that she couldn’t get up.

That morning also happened to be Silver Bullet’s turn for Spud’s morning routine, and for several days in a row that week, Spud decided that she was going to focus her efforts on Silver Bullet and Silver Bullet alone. It was, in our household, a pretty rare occurrence where Silver Bullet got it rougher than I usually would. He was so frustrated with her that he ignored her and just left her lying on the floor with her cheeks stuck to the bathroom floor (her doing!)while he went about his daily morning business.

Watching from the sidelines as I attended to Squirt, I could feel Silver Bullet’s frustrations escalated as smoke was concurrently coming out of his ears. I took over as calmly as I could as Silver Bullet exited the scene. Spud surprised me by co-operating with me and she literally was ready in record time!

10 seconds later at breakfast, the NO-s continued.

NO. She didn’t want her milk in her cereal. She was upset that there was actually milk in her cereal and took the opportunity to throw yet another temper-tantrum. She wouldn’t stop whining and complaining to me about the milk in her cereal. Not wanting to lose my temper, I acknowledged her “misfortune” and told her to eat them around her milk.

Being the little imp that she is, she then decided to quit complaining and then started draining off her milk into her mouth, a spoonful at a time.

Then, it was a NO, she didn’t want to put on her socks.

NO. She didn’t want to put on her shoes.

NO. She didn’t want to carry her schoolbag.

And then she wanted a band-aid on her scraped knee. When we said that she didn’t need it, she then insisted she needed some water from the kitchen first even though a) she drank more than a camel would have drunk for breakfast and b) she could drink it from her water bottle which was already in her bag!

The battle for power continued, and  we were already running late. Tired of negotiating and trying to handle the situation as calmly and as objectively as we could, we finally left her at the door. This would usually be enough for Spud to realize that we mean business, but on that day, Spud showed her side of stubbornness we haven’t witnessed before. She refused to give in and continued to mercilessly test Silver Bullet;  so much so that Silver Bullet lost his patience and left her behind, closing the door behind us.

We then went into the elevator and as soon as the elevator door started closing on us, I thought I heard our main door opened and saw her standing right in front of the elevator in a frenzy, screaming away.  She then screamed her guts out – and at the back of my mind, I was almost freaking out, thinking of the bizarre possibility that she had gotten herself caught between the elevator’s doors! A strong set of lungs she was born with, as when the elevator descended to the 3rd floor, we could still hear her scream! (Further fueling my worry that something untoward may have happened!)

I put the thought out of my head. Thinking that  the drama was mainly between Silver Bullet and Spud, I stepped back and let him handle the situation. I then walked to the car when we got to the lobby while Silver Bullet decided that he was going to give it one more shot with her and turned around to go back up and get her.

The next thing he knew, Spud came out of the elevator. All by herself, and, crying bloody murder. She had, in her sheer defiance, left her Nanny and took matters into her own hands. The poor Nanny, having witnessed the drama earlier on, was all frenzied as she wasn’t quick enough for Spud to try to stop her from taking the elevator herself as she was minding  Squirt at the same time.

A little bit more drama ensued, and I think all of us, Spud included, were in a little bit of a shock. I don’t think we expected Spud to take the elevator by herself, and I believe Spud surprised herself by doing so. That must have been quite a freaky experience for a 3-year-old to go down some floors in an elevator alone!

Some comfort, hugs and kisses later, everything went back to normal. Suddenly that moment of NO to everything and the sheer defiance which she had bestowed on us disappeared like it never happened.

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