Friends

Its our 13th anniversary on monday.

We have been out with some great friends since friday and now are back getting things ready to spoil the boys.

I really needed this to start feeling better. Still wish I knew what was/is wrong but these kinda times sure do help

health

well....never in my life did i think that I would be watching videos like this..
http://www.ibduk.com/ulcerative-colitis-are-you-making-your-health-worse-3.html

I still have to go for a scan and more appointments but the doctors feel pretty confident that I will be back to normal in the next few weeks. its taken this long because its better to not try to guess at treatment so that other symptoms or clues dont get covered up.
If all I have to do out of this is change my diet (though substantial fo those that know me well) I will gladly deal with that. maybe take a few pill and eat differently...thats fine.
I cant help wonder in all this...what if I was not in the UK? if I was still in florida where we had little or no health insurance, what would I do? would I have put off treatment and just waited to feel better? to tough it out?...probably.
and how many of my friends are dealing with things like that? not affording insurance or putting things off till they have insurance or money for treatment??
this worries me because I know, like me, they probably would never say much to anyone about how they are feeling.
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when i see phil again i can tell him all the fun he missed eh?

....

Just when i think things are going ok and getting back to normal...i get something wrong that has decided to last for ages. Still dont know whats up with me....

Did have to go today along with mason to the dentist so stacey wouldnt faint. He had his tooth out and was actually very brave.

Devon is now learning to ride without his training wheels on his bike and is enjoying chasing everyone with masons tooth... stacey thinks this is funny....

Bad news

Just found out today that i might probable have a disease with no cure....while it may not kill me it does have a uncomfortable large amount of online support groups....

Will post more when i find out more test results...

Keeping up

Finally! I have a way of updateing the blog from my android phone so can start using the blog again and keep everyone up to date on our world....

Seems to work pretty well so guess i can get rid of the facebook soon...

android over iphone

We all know the iPhone, know how it works (or doesn’t work, in many instances). We know there is an app for just about every possible task on the planet. But an Android phone? You don’t really know an Android phone until you’ve worked with one. That’s when you’ll find how far you can push your mobile experience.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
1: Browsing

Let me first say I do like the Safari browser on the iPhone. It’s fast, it’s reliable, it’s stable. But flexible? Flash? Monopolistic? Yes Safari is the only browser for the iPhone, and that browser still does not do Flash. However, the Android browser is one of the best browsers on the mobile market. On my HTC Hero, I have Opera Mini, Dolphin, and the default Browser. I haven’t used Opera Mini since I used it a couple of times upon installation. Dolphin is outstanding, with its use of Tabs and Gestures. But the default Android browser just can’t be beat. It usually loads pages faster than Safari, has Flash support, and simply does everything a browser should do.
2: Desktop

Instead of just having icons littering your phone’s desktop (like the iPhone), the Android phone adds widgets to the desktop. These widgets tend to have an actual purpose. For example:

* The Twitter Widget allows you to update your Twitter status from your mobile desktop.
* The People Widget allows you to enable different actions for different contacts right from your desktop (say you want to call your wife with a single click and text your child from a single click).
* The Messages Widget allows you to instantly see your email from the desktop.

The Android desktop is on a completely different level from the iPhone desktop. To compare them is actually unfair. Apples to Éclairs as it were.
3: Connectivity

On one of the “pages” of my Hero desktop, I have four buttons:

* Turn on/off bluetooth
* Turn on/off Wifi
* Turn on/off Mobile Network
* Turn on/off GPS

These buttons let you instantly switch on or off the various connectivity options, which will go a long way toward conserving battery life. There is also an app in the Market called Y5, which will turn off Wi-Fi automatically when no known wireless network is available. To do any of this on the iPhone, you have to go into the Settings screen and navigate your way around the various options.
4: PC connection

Unlike the iPhone, you don’t need to have iTunes to manage your phone. Now, I say this with a bit of a chewed-up tongue because Android can’t sync with the Linux desktop yet. That’s okay for now. But Android can mount the SD card so that it is usable (via drag and drop) by any operating system. On this you can add music and files, which will then be usable on the phone. Simple.
5: Multi-notification

One of the issues I’ve always had with the iPhone is its notification system. Basically, it depends upon a single system that not all applications have access too. For instance, if you are a Twitterer, you can find out if you have updates only by opening the Twitter app on the iPhone. With Android, the apps have access to the notification system and can all report. The notification bar on the Android phone can alert you to new voice messages, email messages, Facebook notifications, new Gmail, new text messages, and much more. If an app has a notification, it can let you know quickly, and in the background.
6: Endless personalization

I hesitate to place this on the list because so many readers seem to think user-configuration is worthless. It’s not. The Android phone allows users to configure their mobile to look and behave exactly how they want it. If you’re a social network power user, you can have a screen for Facebook, one for Twitter, one for texting, and one for Flickr. Or if you are a business user, you can have a screen for contacts, for your calendar, for gmail, for email, for RSS, and more. Not only can you configure the desktop the way you want, you can configure the behavior of your phone. Set up default actions for different contacts — even add an entirely different desktop, should you want. The possibilities are endless with the Android phone. With the iPhone, you’re pretty much limited to what Apple says.
7: Market

Yes, Apple has an app for that. But so does Android. And chances are, the Android app is free and works as well (or better) than the iPhone app. And, believe it or not, there are thousands of apps in the Android Market. Apple does not (at least yet) have a patent on an application for just about everything. Give it time though. And installing applications on your Android phone is actually easier than it is on the iPhone. For free applications, you don’t have to worry about entering a password every time you try to install anything. And you do not have to link to Apple’s iTunes store to purchase applications from the Android Market. For those apps that have a price, you enter your information on the Google Market one time and you’re done.
8: Google integration

This one is almost not fair, since Android was built with the intention of integrating with Google. But wow does it integrate well. Want to search Google? Simply click the search button, enter your search string, and you’re off and running. Did I mention Google Voice? Yes, the Android has an app for that.
9: Open Source

Why does being open make Android better than iPhone? For the same reason that being open helps Linux: a planet full of developers with the ability to aid Android’s developers. Anyone can get access to the source of Android to better the system. This is also a double-edged sword, in that it allows those will less-than-ideal intentions to discover any weakness of the phone. But that can be seen as an indirect plus because when weaknesses are found in the open source community, they are quickly fixed. I assume that this tradition will extend to the Android phone. iPhone open? You’re kidding right?
10: Open to carriers

This is yet another reason why Android is superior. If you want an iPhone (at least for the time being), you better be open to AT&T (or o2 in UK). If you don’t like AT&T and you still want an iPhone, you better be open to doing a little jail breaking or move to another country. If you want an Android phone, you can join any number of carriers and have your choice of any number of outstanding phones using Android. No lock down.
other thoughts..... the g1 is still best maybe even over some android 2.0 phones since some phones like the hero have a modified version of android to suit htc or maker of phone.
my biggest complaint so far? battery life when using a fair amount. ordered a extended battery from ebay with back cover. will let you know... though...iphones have the same complaints. 45 mins of game play or surfing on an iphone and you're looking for a charger. mines not that bad! you can get an unlocked G1 on ebay U.S. for 200 or less and then find a payas you go that has data plans. you wont need it at home with wifi

I thought you might like to see where I'm working at the moment. This place is called Keele Hall and is about 10 minutes from our house. it was built in around 1850 but in the old gothic style and is a cool looking place with hundreds of acres around it along with the whole of keele university.
we're just remodeling some of the inside to make a bigger place for weddings and events but it's nice to have something different along side of just remodeling the student blocks all the time.
The other picture is of the new "potter's wheel" nearby at Trentham Gardens. it's a half size version of the "london eye" at 60 metre's (yes thats how they spell metre?!)
It's freakin COLD here now! the weather reports for the first two weeks of 2009 say we will have wind chills of minus 7'C!! my mother visit's us at the end of Jan into feb and I told her it wont be thats cold....oop's.

we feel lately that we are really settling in here. It was a year on december 27th already. we do wish we had more room or at least a garage to put all our crap in but we have more than most do so it's ok. The boys are doing good though Devon will be the death of us both. He still hardly sleeps. He usually goes to bed around 10:30 to 11 and is up most mornings before 8 - sometimes by 6:30 when I leave for work. so in hopes of making him be good and start to listen to us, I apoligise to all those I was bad and evil to when I was little and I hope this will be a short lesson in paybacks for me as stace is having to suffer for my wrongs as well!

Mason on the other hand is fine. He is doing very well with his school work and is still WAY ahead of where he should be. He has a spanish teacher come to the house once a week and is doing good with that too. He does say he misses some of his friends from Florida but of course we all do.

sorry for the spelling....i've been on the whiskey...