I am Erica

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I have not posted much about Erica’s progress with speech therapy. It takes her a lot of work to learn how to say new sounds and words. She is becoming much more understandable over the last little while. Just the other day though she started to say her name. My wife and I were quite shocked because we have not really worked on getting her to say her name. I do not usually share videos that I take of the kids but I wanted to make an exception this time because it is such a treat for me to hear my daughter say her name.

You might notice that she says “Erita” in stead of “Erica”. She is just starting to learn how to create the back K and G sounds.

ES File Manager

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You know you are a computer geek when instead of looking first for cool and exciting games to play on your new Android phone you go hunting for a file manager. Not that I did not download some games as well but a decent file manager is just a requirement to organize all of the media I am going to create using the built in camera, video recorder and of course to keep track of all the audio and other files I want to load from my desktop onto the phone. That is why one of the requirements I had for a file manager was to be able to connect to a file share on my home network.

There are many good file managers available for Android but they all lacked the essential feature to be able to connect to a network share. The best app I found was ES File Manager. Not only can you use it to manage files on the local SD card but it can connect to Windows/Samba shares and FTP servers. This was exactly what I was looking for. Now I can simply connect to my main desktop Samba share and copy the files I want on my phone easily. No need to connect the phone via USB cable. This also makes it easy to copy and move photos and video off the phone to my main desktop. The only thing that would make it easier is if Dropbox finally got their Android app finished so I could just sync those files. Until then ES File Manager makes it easy to do.

Check out the official ES File Manager website for more details. Great app for those that want to browse local network file shares. Not sure why people use the other file managers.

Joined the Smartphone Age

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It has been a long time coming but I finally broke down and bought a smartphone. A Motorola Milestone to be precise. You might have heard about this phone, it is called the Droid in the United States. Here in Canada it has been released by Telus. The Telus version of the Milestone was released today, unfortunately I live in Saskatchewan where Telus is not releasing the Milestone thanks to no 3G coverage here. The long and the short of that is due to Sasktel. Thankfully though, I did not get a Telus version, I bought an unlocked GSM version from NCIX.com. Add to that a Rogers.com pre-paid SIM card from Ebay.ca and I have a working Motorola Milestone smartphone.

The good so far:

  • It is fast.
  • Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps
  • The high resolution touchscreen looks great.
  • I now have a GPS, video recorder, camera, mp3 player etc. It does pretty much everything.

Things I have found to be not so great so far:

  • No upload with the web browser. I know I was shocked. You can upload through some apps but there is no upload ability through the web browser.
  • Why is there no app for Google Docs?
  • Rogers Pre-paid has no data plan for constant data connection.

It has been great so far to have this new phone. I am sure I will have more to say about it the more I use it.

Watch Hulu in Canada – Part 2

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Update: The service in this post does not appear to work any longer.
Your best bet is to try the Hide My Ass! Pro VPN Service.
Worked last time I tried it.

By far the most popular post I have written here is my How to Watch Hulu in Canada. Unfortunately the method using Hotspot Shield has stopped working. I did not care to much, since there was not much I was interested in seeing on Hulu.

Recently however I was doing some search engine optimization and discovered that the search engine results for Google.com appeared to be returning information that was different from what Google Webmaster Tools was telling me. Basically what was happening was Google knew I was in Canada from my IP address even though I was searching from Google.com and returning to me the same results that I would get from Google.ca. I had to get a US IP to test the search engine results.

While all that is great, what does any of it have to do with Hulu? Well the beauty of having a US based IP address can allow you to watch Hulu streams. The new VPN service I discovered is UltraVPN and it has been working great, to check my Google.com search engine results and so far to watch Hulu streams. While I have not watched a great deal of Hulu using it, I have caught a few episodes of shows that I have missed up here. If you are looking for a way to watch Hulu in Canada give it a try. No guarantees that Hulu will not close this one down at some point either, but until they do at least we can enjoy it.

Merry Christmas!

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Wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a joy filled holiday! I know we have been busy getting ready for Christmas! Going to school concerts, church concerts, Christmas parties, and of course spending some time together. No big plans here for the holidays. I think we are going to be happy just being at home relaxing. I hope whatever your holiday plans include you have a relaxing and joy filled holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2009

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Finally got around carving pumpkins here for Halloween this year. Not long ago me and the kids where at the local craft store picking up some Perler beads and we came across some pumpkin carving design books. No surprise that my daughter wanted the Disney Princess design book. My son went for the scary pumpkin design book, which was a bit of a surprise to me but he was quite certain that was what he wanted.

Tonight was the night to finally carve the pumpkins up, so we dug out the design books, brought the pumpkins we had bought in from the garage and set to work. My daughter decided on the Sleeping Beauty design, and my son went with the three headed dog. After about an hour we finally had two carved up pumpkins ready for display on Halloween. Since many of you that come here will not come by our house to check them out here are a couple of photos.

So what did you carve on your pumpkins this year?

Game Distractions

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I do not play a lot of computer games anymore, partly because it is hard to find the time to devote to such things. I do find time to play to occasional flash game on the Internet though. Here are a few of the games that have distracted me lately from the regular day to day activities.

Warzone Tower Defence

Warzone

Desktop Tower Defense

Desktop Tower Defence

Onslaught 2

Onslaught 2

So if you are looking for a way to pass some time online, there are my three latest distractions. What are your favourite flash games to play online? Leave a comment so I can check them out.

Cure for the Common Cold

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I have been feeling under the weather for the last few days. Nothing major just the common cold, you know runny nose, a little achy and the occasional cough. We are not talking N1H1 or anything drastic, but it has been putting me to bed early and I have not been as productive at work as I could be. Feeling a little under the weather I thought I would stop this cold dead in its tracks and get the cure for the common cold. Now I know you are all wondering how I could have found the cure for the common cold, since some of the greatest medical doctors can’t seem to solve this great mystery. The answer is simple really, and is probably only a short drive from your home.

The cure for the common cold is Taco Time! That is right, Taco Time. I have discovered this after many years of testing knowing that when I start to feel ill with a cold that a visit to Taco Time, and a simple order of a Super Beef Soft Taco, Mexi Fries, a drink and copious amounts of hot sauce will send the cold packing. So the next time you are feeling a little under the weather head on out to Taco Time and show that cold who is boss.

Of course everyone has their cure for the cold. What do you do?

Zip.ca Review

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Update: When Netflix opened up in Canada I cancelled my Zip.ca membership. While the service was ok it is not near as convenient as Netflix.ca and streaming.

It has been three weeks since I left Blockbuster and started trying out Zip.ca for DVD rentals. It has been an interesting change to go from wandering around a Blockbuster store to choosing movies online.

For some people wandering around the video store looking for a movie to rent is part of the experience. As a parent of two little kids it is a testing of patience! Moving to an online movie rental is much easier. There are no fighting kids, no distractions from the hundreds of movie titles with each kid wanting to get something different. I will often sit with the laptop on the couch and my son or daughter will look through the movies on the website for movies to add to our list. Gives them some choice while I have less headaches.

Getting movies in the mail is great, delivered right to my mailbox. This is a great bonus now that it has snowed and cold it seems even better. The closet mailbox to send them back is only a couple of blocks away and I pass it regularly when I go out for walks. Makes it easy to send the movies back.

Price wise renting movies online is probably not much cheaper than going to the video store. Sure there are no late fees and no annoying customer service people at the local rental store, but a break down of the cost of renting each movie is probably about the same. The price difference might come from not wasting a great deal of time wandering around the rental store or the gas that it I would have used before.

There are some things that take getting a little used too. With Zip.ca you can add movies to your list, and place an order that you would like to get them in, but you may not get the movies that you want at any one time. They ship what they have available, so you might not always get what movie you really want to see that week. If you are wanting the latest release you might be disappointed. This might get better when they start to offer streaming, but that is yet to be seen.

Shipping takes time. You go to the video store you usually walk out with something to watch that day. Movies delivered to your door takes time. Canada Post does its best to move mail across the country, but depending where you are you could be waiting several days for your movies to arrive. On average we have been waiting four days from the day the movie ships to when it arrives. All of the movies have shipped from Ontario so far, but they are being returned to Calgary. If they were being shipped from Calgary they might show up faster. I would guess that people in Ontario get their movies a little faster. Four days to go from Ontario to Regina is not bad.

For now I will keep using Zip.ca. The selection of movies is alright and we are not always in a rush to get the latest release. I am also curious about the streaming service that they are suppose to be offering sometime before the end of the year. There has not been a lot of details released about the streaming service except that it is coming. Hopefully I will be able to access it with my account level. Streaming from Zip.ca could easily move Zip.ca ahead of regular movie rentals.

Things I Have Learned About Apraxia

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While I am by now means an expert in Apraxia, I have certainly been learning a great deal since my daughter was diagnosed with it. Here are some of the things I have learned.

People have no clue what Apraxia is. I can understand that, I did not either until my daughter was diagnosed with it. The problem is, after you explain it to them, they still do not get it and say stupid things like, well she will grow out of it, or she will get better. Next time someone tells you their child has Apraxia, don’t try to make them feel better by saying things like that. Their child will not get better, they will not grow out of it and it will be a long hard road for them and their child. Their child will need a lot of speech therapy for many years, and even then there is no telling whether or not the child they love will be able to speak reasonably normal.

That some rules do not make sense. For example, my daughter was under the care of a speech therapist with the local health district, when she started school she could no longer be seen by the speech therapist that is part of the health district. In this case that is alright because my daughter is in a special school where she gets speech therapy twice a week for 20 minutes each time. The average amount of time a student gets in the public school system is 15 minutes a week with another student. My daughter is lucky, but when she moves into the regular school system that will not be enough time. The rules of the school and health district state that my daughter cannot be seen by a speech therapist in the health care system if she is part of the school system. Children with Apraxia need much more speech therapy than the school system can provide, their rules are not helping children, they are harming.

Private speech therapy is expensive. While my daughter is getting more speech therapy in her school than most, we have decided to hire a private speech therapist. While she is expensive in the few sessions my daughter has had they have been good. Progress is slow but my daughter has shown a willingness to work with the new speech therapist and hopefully she can help my daughter learn how to talk faster.

The Government can help. I know it shocked me as well to learn that the Federal Government can actually help kids with Apraxia. While the rules of the local health and school do not make sense and private speech therapy is expensive, the Federal Government offers the Disability Tax Credit. Children with Apraxia qualify for this tax credit and all you need is your speech therapist to fill out the form and then you send it in. The money we are getting from the Federal Government Disabilty Tax Credit is what is paying for the majority of the private speech therapy. All the help I can get for my daughter the better.

It is challenging having a child with Apraxia. I wait for the day that my daughter can tell me how she is feeling or say “I love you Daddy”. While she can communicate in many ways and is smart we live in a world where verbal communication is important and I just hope that my daughter will be able to be a part of it.