Just got home from a mini-reunion of sorts. One of my cousins came home to the Philippines from Seattle. His mother cooked up a feast. I almost didn't go. I had gone to work last night and am on my way to work in a couple of hours. But I told myself, I haven't seen the guy in some 15 years. Might as well go see him.
We spent the better part of the day there chatting with relatives and eating the usual Kapampangan holiday fare. Cameras were all around. I still find it cheesy that the older generation (i.e. my mother, aunts and uncles) still joke about digital cameras running out of film. Before we said our goodbyes, we swapped phones numbers and promised we'd get together (the boys only) before my balikbayan cousin flew back to Seattle.
Ironically, my being a techie was no achievement as everyone but me had a Friendster account. I joked about being the only one without it and got an encouraging goading to get one to stay in the loop with all my cousins, their wives and 6th degrees. I just smiled back and cussed at myself for openly admitting I was an anti-social introvert in the social networking scene. I gave them my usual "you say tomato : I say tomahto" to-each-his-own speech and moved on to another topic. Even though I mostly sat around, ate and drank, I felt tired near the end of the afternoon. Upside was, I came home with a big smile on my face, a full belly and a warm fuzzy feeling from feeling connected - offline.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Christmas Carols
Earlier this morning, we brought our son Matt to his school's Christmas presentation. I was a bit worried as I stood backstage with him. He was fidgeting, as the noise and chaos was getting to him. It was noisy and people in colorful costumes were running around. It was sensory overload for him. I worried normal people wouldn't understand if he "misbehaved". I held his small hand in mine as long as I could. As one of the teachers led the kids to the stage area, I held my breathe.
I saw the teacher lead Matt to the open area beneath the front of the stage. There were too many kids to fit into the small elevated stage. As the teacher (my son's favorite, actually) climbed up the stage, I saw my son running in a panic and then bolting to climb to the stage. I almost ran to him. I told myself, if no one steps in to guide him, I'll do it myself. Good thing another teacher saw him and guided him to an open spot on the stage. She was patient enough to talk to him to get him to stay on the same spot. The music came on and they began to sing. Matthew sang along.
After the performance, the teachers marched the children down the stage and Matt was one of the first. I gladly took his hand as one of the teacher guide him over to where I was. I breathed a sigh of relief, the ordeal was over. My son had coped and made his mother proud.
The thing that gets me is for parents of children with autism, simple milestones like these are special. It doesn't take much to make us happy or proud of our children. Small steps make the biggest impressions on us. Things that normal parents with normal kids most likely just ignore, we treasure. It's both a blessing and a cross to bear. These contradictions will never see light in the perspective of regular people.
I saw the teacher lead Matt to the open area beneath the front of the stage. There were too many kids to fit into the small elevated stage. As the teacher (my son's favorite, actually) climbed up the stage, I saw my son running in a panic and then bolting to climb to the stage. I almost ran to him. I told myself, if no one steps in to guide him, I'll do it myself. Good thing another teacher saw him and guided him to an open spot on the stage. She was patient enough to talk to him to get him to stay on the same spot. The music came on and they began to sing. Matthew sang along.
After the performance, the teachers marched the children down the stage and Matt was one of the first. I gladly took his hand as one of the teacher guide him over to where I was. I breathed a sigh of relief, the ordeal was over. My son had coped and made his mother proud.
The thing that gets me is for parents of children with autism, simple milestones like these are special. It doesn't take much to make us happy or proud of our children. Small steps make the biggest impressions on us. Things that normal parents with normal kids most likely just ignore, we treasure. It's both a blessing and a cross to bear. These contradictions will never see light in the perspective of regular people.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Low-Power "Cloudbook"
Just as I was almost resolved that the Asus Eee PC would be the best solution for a low-power solution for the home, news of a new Everex notebook slowly filtered into the Net. Here's an article from LinuxDevices.com: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6962839488.html
Here're a couple of pics:
This tiny notebook will have a 7-inch screen much like the Asus Eee. It will be powered by a Via C7 ultra-low voltage processor and will come outfitted with 512MB of memory. It will differ with the Eee in that it will have a 30GB hard drive instead of the Eee's 4GB solid state disk. Power consumption seems to be almost at par with the Asus Eee's 18 watts, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 watts.
Those spec will make it more flexible than the Eee when it comes to what you can load onto the disk. More space will mean more options.
Here're a couple of pics:
This tiny notebook will have a 7-inch screen much like the Asus Eee. It will be powered by a Via C7 ultra-low voltage processor and will come outfitted with 512MB of memory. It will differ with the Eee in that it will have a 30GB hard drive instead of the Eee's 4GB solid state disk. Power consumption seems to be almost at par with the Asus Eee's 18 watts, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 watts.
Those spec will make it more flexible than the Eee when it comes to what you can load onto the disk. More space will mean more options.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Geeking Out With Lean PCs
Here are two articles from George Ou, who geeked out and assembled a PC and a home-made VESA stand for a weekend project . View and pictures and instructions and you'll say to yourself, "now there's a project any weekend geek warrior could put together with a little elbow grease."
View the articles here:
Sunday, December 2, 2007
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