July 25
Music Lessons for Miranda
Today we went to an unofficial open house at a local music school.
Many months ago Sasha emailed me about a music school that was open in Sooke. Because of the teacher's schedule it has taken until now to find out more. The teacher, Trish, lives on Townsend which is just off of Rhodonite. It's a nice 15 minute walk to get there. She has a music studio set up on her ground floor with 1 acoustic piano, 1 electric piano, and 3 keyboards. She teaches the Conservatory curriculum for older kids and a few early learner courses for younger kids (3-5 years). The classes are a combination of singing, movement, rhythm, keyboard, reading, and composition depending on the age. Class sizes range from 4-6 students depending on the level. Part of the open house was Trish assessing Miranda to see what her skills and limitations are for both music and general behaviour. She was impressed by her ability to sit still and follow instructions as well as with her enthusiasm to play piano. We signed her up for the Sunshine 1 level. The student materials include the music book, a magnetic staff for learning notation, a homework book, various aids they use throughout the year, and a bag to hold everything. The class runs September to May and it'll be once a week (either Tuesday or Wednesday) from 10-11. It's a parent participation class. I get to learn too!!
Prior to the class there'll be a mixer for all the parents. I think it'll be a very exciting and rewarding experience for all.
Many months ago Sasha emailed me about a music school that was open in Sooke. Because of the teacher's schedule it has taken until now to find out more. The teacher, Trish, lives on Townsend which is just off of Rhodonite. It's a nice 15 minute walk to get there. She has a music studio set up on her ground floor with 1 acoustic piano, 1 electric piano, and 3 keyboards. She teaches the Conservatory curriculum for older kids and a few early learner courses for younger kids (3-5 years). The classes are a combination of singing, movement, rhythm, keyboard, reading, and composition depending on the age. Class sizes range from 4-6 students depending on the level. Part of the open house was Trish assessing Miranda to see what her skills and limitations are for both music and general behaviour. She was impressed by her ability to sit still and follow instructions as well as with her enthusiasm to play piano. We signed her up for the Sunshine 1 level. The student materials include the music book, a magnetic staff for learning notation, a homework book, various aids they use throughout the year, and a bag to hold everything. The class runs September to May and it'll be once a week (either Tuesday or Wednesday) from 10-11. It's a parent participation class. I get to learn too!!
Prior to the class there'll be a mixer for all the parents. I think it'll be a very exciting and rewarding experience for all.
July 23
New Router
This month is the one year mark of working primarily from home. Generally, I think it's been a major improvement to our family's lifestyle, and with that extra two hours I get every work day, I've been able to:
I got a chance recently to speak to my boss about the situation (since I only see him once or twice a year) and he hasn't regretted offering this situation to me. He hasn't received any complaints. The only fly in the ointment that he was aware of was when I recently gave a demo to himself and another ESRI Canada employee in Vancouver. I was demonstrating some software over a web screen-sharing system and speaking on the phone. The problem was not in the demo or the software, it was that my voice was getting garbled when a lot of stuff was happening on-screen. Last November, we switched from Telus to Vonage for our home phone. This was primarily in support of working from home, having the ability to call pretty much anywhere for free. Since I am on the phone all the time with people in Vancouver and points east, it made sense.
However, it appears that when I am making heavy use of the upload bandwidth, the voice-over-IP internet phone suffers. So I did some research, and found that there are routers which can prioritize different types of network traffic. They are primarily directed at online video games, but VOIP quality is another use for them. So I ordered a D-Link DGL-4100 from TigerDirect and it arrived yesterday. I have got it set up and working, but I haven't really put it through its paces. I've enabled the QOS technology and some preliminary tests using TestYourVOIP indicated some improvements. Fingers crossed that this is an effective solution.
- Spend more time with Tammy, Miranda and Ian
- Enjoy a variety of extra activities, like more time for playing guitar, exercise
- Doing work around the yard
I got a chance recently to speak to my boss about the situation (since I only see him once or twice a year) and he hasn't regretted offering this situation to me. He hasn't received any complaints. The only fly in the ointment that he was aware of was when I recently gave a demo to himself and another ESRI Canada employee in Vancouver. I was demonstrating some software over a web screen-sharing system and speaking on the phone. The problem was not in the demo or the software, it was that my voice was getting garbled when a lot of stuff was happening on-screen. Last November, we switched from Telus to Vonage for our home phone. This was primarily in support of working from home, having the ability to call pretty much anywhere for free. Since I am on the phone all the time with people in Vancouver and points east, it made sense.
However, it appears that when I am making heavy use of the upload bandwidth, the voice-over-IP internet phone suffers. So I did some research, and found that there are routers which can prioritize different types of network traffic. They are primarily directed at online video games, but VOIP quality is another use for them. So I ordered a D-Link DGL-4100 from TigerDirect and it arrived yesterday. I have got it set up and working, but I haven't really put it through its paces. I've enabled the QOS technology and some preliminary tests using TestYourVOIP indicated some improvements. Fingers crossed that this is an effective solution.
July 20
End of the Hub-a-maniacs Season
It was predictable, and yet sad. Tonight my roller hockey team, the Hub-a-maniacs (a play on "Hulkamania", sponsored by Hub International insurance) lost our first playoff game and so we're finished for the season. We didn't have a banner year, ending up 10th out of 12 teams, but generally I'd say this year was more enjoyable than recent years. There was less whining and verbal sniping, fewer guys taking long shifts. Personally, I had a banner year offensively scoring lots of goals and icing it with another tonight. Unfortunately, when my goal counts as 1/3 of our team's total output, that's bad news... 
Ice hockey will be starting up in a month and a half. I'm looking forward to it. The roller hockey season is competitive, whereas the ice hockey is just shinny, with whites and darks picked the night of the game and no score being kept. I think that playing the ice hockey last winter helped me out this roller hockey season, as I was able to do more with the puck and pick my spots better.
Nevertheless, it would be nice if just one year there was balance in our division. It's more fun when the game's even.
Ice hockey will be starting up in a month and a half. I'm looking forward to it. The roller hockey season is competitive, whereas the ice hockey is just shinny, with whites and darks picked the night of the game and no score being kept. I think that playing the ice hockey last winter helped me out this roller hockey season, as I was able to do more with the puck and pick my spots better.
Nevertheless, it would be nice if just one year there was balance in our division. It's more fun when the game's even.
July 19
An Afternoon with Ilya
A couple of days ago Miranda was supposed to get together with Ilya for a play date. It didn't happen then, but we managed to arrange it for this afternoon. He was supposed to arrive at 1, but he was too busy poking around eating lunch. He finally arrived at 2. Gena, his grandpa, dropped him off and picked him up after 3:30.
They had lots of fun playing bubbles, beach ball soccer, sand box, and knights. They had some home made choc chip mini muffins, Kool-aid, and popsicles for snacks. Here are some pics from today.
They had lots of fun playing bubbles, beach ball soccer, sand box, and knights. They had some home made choc chip mini muffins, Kool-aid, and popsicles for snacks. Here are some pics from today.
July 16
Golf With the Hockey Team
Tonight, Tammy dropped me off at Metchosin Golf Course for a "nine and dine" with the guys I played hockey with last winter. It all started a couple of weeks ago when one of the guys who got me onto the team circulated an email asking if anyone was interested. Of course, I was on the mend at the time, but I healed enough to make it.
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