Hope

Wikipedia defines Hope as ".. the state which promotes the desire of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or in the world at large " 

It is Dr Noel's hope that in the face of metastatic cancer, he'll get to see his yet-to-be-born daughter. 

The story is a moving one -the couple appear affable, yet the situation is dire and the outlook seemingly hopeless. 

Or is it? There is always a silver lining. The story struck an accord with those who have been there, all the young parents/parents to be. The outcome of the short fundraising has brought some, albeit brief, financial relief to the family.

My reflection of the story is that hope is essential to the human existence. It is with the hope that tomorrow will be a better day, that we have decided to have kids. It is with the hope that our future will be brighter, that we work today. 

Hope underpins almost all the decisions that we make. I'm hopeful that better days are yet to come for the Noels.

Halloween

Later this week, 2.5 weeks old little Jonathan gets to experience Halloween in Canada - not that he'll remember it but that's not the point. The pumpkin most likely will be eaten and not crafted.. nevertheless, "festive" pumpkins of this size are no where to be seen in NZ, another first for us as a family!

photo after first bath at home

Looks like a little bunny outfit.. but it's just a towel over the head!!

Jonathan survived his first bath by mum and dad... now let's improve on my technique..

Jonathan Choi

Jonathan Choi - born at 4am MST, Foothills Medical Centre - Calgary, Canada on the 12th of October.

He is 51cm long and 7'11 lbs. 

A great little boy. 

Jonathan, may you grow up healthy and wise, to love and to serve those around you and be a positive influence in the world.

A cloudy Autumn day in Calgary

Trees turning yellow
Winter tires on
Frost on the ground
No boats on the Bow

Yesterday was a much better day as the skies were blue, but anyway, just wanted to capture the color of the trees outside, today.

Dani's contractions are keeping her from sleep at night, anytime now!

Library

Do you remember those days? Slogging it out in the main campus library at Auckland Uni. For me, that was about 13 years ago.. Robbie Williams's "millennium...." pounding out from the aftermarket Panasonic speakers, custom-fitted in my silver jap-import Mitsubishi 4-door Mirage. 

We (me and a handful of mates) were quite particular about where we wanted to sit. It had to be the 5th floor, the English literature and Arts section. The view of the city was the best from the 5th floor you see, and it was the most popular floor for everyone. That meant going there early to "reserve" our desks - putting a notepad here, a bag there, and a jacket here, so no one dares occupying our corner. We would disappear for lunch and dinner, leaving only when the library closed its doors at 11pm sharp. The rest of the gang would go home, and I would join Anthony in the Engineering Lab, till the mercury drops to 5 degrees or so. Those last few hours in the day were probably the most productive. Hardly anyone used a laptop back then, what is the point when you couldn't connect to the internet? An Ericsson T28 was as cool a gadget as you could get. What phone were you using then? I can remember my "banana" Nokia 8110, and of course the changeable shell of Nokia 232.. Who would have thought Nokia's phone division would one day be bought out by Microsoft?

When my son, in 15 or so years from now, tells me he's going to the library to study, I'll know what he is up to.

Thank goodness WiFi was not widely available back then.

Fast track to 2013. I found myself once again sitting in the library - Health Sciences Library in Uni of Calgary.

37 weeks

It is extremely naughty of me not to mention anything about our up and coming little boy in my blog so far. So here you go, 37 weeks and officially "full term". 

His birth will be life changing, the end of the life as both me and my wife know it. For the better, of course. As every single parent on earth will tell you.... (don't tell me about the sleepless nights, diaper changing, feeding every 2 hours)

I don't think I have been as excited and anxious as this for a long long while. Well, any time now but hopefully a few more weeks yet. 

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2013 - NZ Army Band

It was a few years ago, away at a conference somewhere with nothing much to do before bed. Whilst surfing channels I came across this - groups and groups of military band performing. First 5 minutes, interesting, next 5... pretty boring.

Now the 7 minutes or so performance by the Kiwis are pretty cool - a Haka, Psy's signature piece and other classics together.

Internet Archives

http://archive.org/ is seriously cool. It takes snap shots from website, dating back to 1996 (yes, when most people were still using dial-up to connect.. at least for uploading anyway, I think I started using the satellite dish from ihug pretty soon after that..).

So, this photo is from the www.TheGiftRoom.co.nz Mark II. The banner is long gone and the space is now reserved for "council use" only. It's of historical importance because it shows my silver Mirage with the tinted back-lights. The Gift Room first went online in 1994, so the oldest version of the website is truly gone - not captured by the archive.

Banff and Lake Louise