I have the same resolution in 11” as I do in my 15.6” work laptop. Sharp to say the least. However, one thing I noticed after I installed a few of my usual apps was this strange blipping noise which would intrude on me at seemingly random times. I knew it was coming from somewhere but wasn’t sure what. In fact, I could remember something like this happening before on my last new machine. So the purpose of this post is to remind me when I get a new Mac again that it is Skype which is the culprit. By default it has a notification sound whenever someone on my list signs in. Argh. Not useful at all really.

The change of scenery has to do with the fact that I’m now blogging over at http://canuckinbermuda.com

This site isn’t going away, but might see a change of focus (and hopefully a redesign, this one is getting really old. :/ )

For those who skim paragraphs, the iPad is amazing.

First a quick introduction. The Apple iPad is a device which is roughly 9.5” tall by 7.5” wide, which is essentially a tablet computer. It has a full screen with multitouch capabilities similar to the popular iPhone. If you’ve seen or used an iPhone the iPad will be very familiar. In fact most of the iPhone applications run on the iPad without change. However, the larger form-factor brings along certain key difference from the iPhone which I will outline in my discussion.

Choosing a version

I ended up getting the 16 GB version which, for those of you not aggressively following along at home, is the version with the least amount of disk space. I didn’t arrive at this decision lightly, my knee-jerk reaction was to get 64 GB—go big or go home. However, I considered the situation and listened to some reason my peers were making as well. First I save a bit of money by going with less. Good. The real question became: what would I put on it?

Photos? Yes, some.

Movies? A couple at a time perhaps.

Music? This was where I paused. Music takes up the majority of the space on my iPhone which is 32 GB. But if my music was already there, why put it on the iPad too. I wasn’t going to ever be somewhere without the iPhone, and the larger screen on the iPad doesn’t really add value to music.

Also a factor was the fact that this is the first generation of the iPad. I waited until the 3rd generation of iPhone to get one. So in all likelihood, I will end up selling and replacing this iPad maybe even within a year. So, yea… I figured that the lowest end model would be fine.

Apps

As I mentioned above, the iPad can run applications from the iPhone and when I first synced it with my computer, all of my iPhone applications (save two) were added to the iPad. The iPad doesn’t have a camera, and as such, all of my camera apps don’t make a lot of sense. Some other apps didn’t make sense like some of my remote control apps and ones for better music control. It was during this process that I learned that some apps were universal apps which means that they are designed both for the iPhone and iPad—you buy it or download it once, it runs optimized for both devices. Nice!

However, only a handful of my apps fell into this category. It was then that I realized that some developers and companies were selling separate “HD” versions of their apps for the iPad. So you may have purchased a game for the iPhone but if you wanted to get a version designed for the iPad you would need to pay again, in most cases even more than the original. Of course you can play the iPhone version on the iPad, but it is confined to a smaller window within the large screen. Fair enough. A few of the better apps, I did end up buying again.

One particular example is Good Reader. This app allows you to view large PDF and text files much more smoothly than the built in viewer. It also can connect to a number of different remote services and your computer in order to retrieve documents. People complain about the interface, and relative to some apps, it isn’t fantastic, but it does the job of viewing large documents well (like books for example).

One class of apps which is taking off with the iPad and I expect to see a lot of competition soon is the note taking apps. Either in class, meetings or just at hand during other tasks, the ability to take quick notes, either on the keyboard or via handwriting is key. I’ve downloaded a few different apps for this, and some are better than others, but I actually use them, and I’m expecting them to improve over the next while as the platform matures.

Utility

With the larger screen, I find myself actually browsing and reading things on the iPad directly. The first week I had it I was up late each night in my living room, just using the browser and a few other apps to do some research and keep up on news and events. My armchair is my new desk. And why not? It is comfortable and convenient. The computer comes to me, and not the other way around.

Originally my intention had been to leave it at home and not take it to work with me every day. This was initially a convenience decision—the thing doesn’t just clip to my belt, so I’d need a case or bag for it. Also I assumed that I would use it for casual browsing and reading, things that I would do at home. However, because of the novelty the first week I was bringing it to work to show it off and to play with it.

What’s this? I found it to be quite useful at work. I found myself bringing it to meetings instead of a laptop. I could put my documents on there to refer to as necessary and that covered like 90% of my meeting needs. There is an app called iAnnotate which can be used to annotate PDF files, which would be useful but it isn’t as good with documents as Good Reader. I haven’t downloaded it, but it would be useful. I’m holding out for Good Reader to add that functionality. With that, I would be fully set. The iPad also supports Citrix Receiver, which means you can run your Xen server apps from work on your iPad. Office, in-house apps, whatever you need. All told, quite a useful tool in the workplace. And since I find myself at work much more than at home these days, that is a good thing. (I’m at the office as I write this).

Conclusions

The iPad is much more than a “big iPhone”. The landscape keyboard is big enough to touch type on. It is a bit awkward since there is not tactile feedback and the layout is slightly different, but I can hammer out text pretty quickly. The only reason I’m not using the iPad to write this review is that I didn’t bring it to the office today. I came in to use the gym and ended up writing this post. Which leads me to another comment. It isn’t something that you are going to bring everywhere. You likely won’t bring it the grocery store, just like you wouldn’t bring your laptop (unless you were stopping between home and work or something like that). You phone is simply a much more convenient factor to walk about with. You can put your grocery list on your phone, it make more sense there. But the iPad is great as a paper replacement in the office in some cases and as a more convenient way to bring the web and your tools to you in your house. I am definitely using my laptop and desktop less.

Would I travel without my laptop, only bringing an iPad. Maybe. It would depend on why and where I was travelling. Home for Christmas? Quite likely. It is good for showing off photos and checking my email, which is all I need when at home. However, as a software developer, I need a fuller computer to do my work, at least for the moment. With more ubiquitous networking, and a better development paradigm (especially the UI), I think that some day this is the form-factor we will all be using. It will be a part of our lives instead of us being apart of its “life”.

Canadian passports expire every five years, so this is something that people need to deal with on a somewhat regular basis if they are the traveling type. And usually it is when you are preparing to take a trip that you look at your passport and see that you are expired or soon to expire. In my case, I was well aware of my passport expiry since I’d written the date on so many different forms over the years. That date was approaching and since I am resident abroad, I knew it was important for me to renew.

Renewing a Canadian passport from Bermuda

Fortunately, renewing a Canadian passport from Bermuda (or the US) is reasonably pain-free. A former coworker had gone through his renewal process a few months before and provided some excellent advice.

The first thing you want to do is go to the Passport Canada page for Canadians living in the US or Bermuda. If you qualify, your easiest option is the Simplified Renewal Form PPTC 054. This form is only a couple of pages and doesn’t need anything signed or done by a guarantor. The PDF document itself helps validate your data as you type it in and contains a lot of instructions to make sure that the application is complete. In some places, the form and website make it seem like the form is for the US only, but I assure your that as of the time of this writing, it also applies to Bermuda as well.

In particular, when entering your address in the form, the available options under Prov./Ter./State didn’t include anything which would indicate Bermuda. In the end, I just filled in Bermuda by hand after I printed the form. I also had to attach a sheet to supplement my two year address history, but that one is based on your personal situation.

I also found out that if you want to pay an extra $5, you can get a double length business passport. It has 48 pages for those people who end up collecting a lot of stamps or visas. Given that the passport fee is already $97, the extra five seems like a no-brainer. However, there is no option for this on the application form itself, I ended up attaching a cover letter which indicated my desire. Totally up to you. For payment you fill in the credit card authorization slip which is on the first page of the form.

The only other consideration is the photos. There seems to be only one place to get Canadian passport compliant photos done in Bermuda, at least according to my coworker. That is Mall Passport and Portrait Studio in Washington Mall (Hamilton). It costs $17 and is done while you wait. All said and done, it was a pretty smooth process.

More expensive is the cost of couriering the finished application, along with your old passport to the facility in Canada which handles the processing. This was around $50 for me. But considering I’m including my passport, it was well worth it. The address is on the form that you fill out. End to end, the process took me a bit over two weeks. Two weeks without a passport, but now that I have my new one, I’m breathing a bit easier. Since all flights from Bermuda are international, going anywhere (like back to Canada for a wedding in August) requires my passport. I’m glad the process was as straight forward as it was.

Permitted to work

In addition to needing a new passport, my initial one year work permit in Bermuda was also nearing completion, so the company started the process to get me a new one. This time it was a three year permit since it would seem that I am going to be living here for a bit longer. At one point that would have been daunting news, but now that I’m settled here, I couldn’t imagine leaving any time soon.

Bermuda immigration isn’t really all that easy to deal with. They need lots of information and even then, the decision as to whether someone gets a permit or not feels somewhat arbitrary. But even with a passport soon to expire, I was granted my three year permit. And of course we have since updated their records with a notarized copy of my new passport. But it is all sorted now.

So if you need me, I’m safely and legally in Bermuda for the next few years.

I haven’t written anything for a while, and the last review of a book I did was ages ago, so that must tell you something about being compelled by this book to write something about it.

And in this case, compelled by positive factors not negative ones. This book was great. I was introduced to the author through his Jack West Jr. series, starting with the Seven Deadly Wonders. I’d heard of his other series, the Shane Schofield series, which he has written first and had tucked it away in my mind to read sometime. That sometime became a reality on my recent trip to Vancouver where I bought the book as something to read on the plane ride back. I did start it on the plane, and despite being very busy at work right now, found time to finish it this past week. Normally I don’t read after work, but I found this book stealing time from my regiment of TV shows.

As mentioned, this book is based around the character of Shane Schofield, a young Marine who is incredibly determined and resourceful. The events of the book unfold in a few short hours and the pace is very quick, with a lot happening at once. More time will likely pass with you reading the book than actually passes in the story itself.

If you like the idea of secret military installations with cool weaponry and close quarters combat, deadly viruses and a lot of deceit then I would say that this book will not disappoint. It isn’t for the feint of heart either, with some page-turning suspense and a few gory descriptions. I really can’t think of anything else to say but to pick it up and give it a read.

It wasn’t life changing in any real way, but it was an amazing experience, which is why I’m giving it nine out of ten. It was spot on my type of book, really enjoyed it.

If you have an invoice from FedEx as a recipient (for duty or taxes or whatever) but you are now in a different country from which the package was received, there are two things to know:

1. You can’t pay for it online. I think this is true even if you aren’t in a different country. But you can do it by phone.
2. The contact number for FedEx may not direct you to a place where they can help you. At all.

Case in point: you have an invoice from Canada (because you shipped yourself or your family something at Christmas from the US), but you are now back in Bermuda where you live. You click on the Canadian FedEx site thinking this is a good place to start. You find a contact number. It is toll free which might work from Bermuda, but may or may not actually be toll free. Calling this number connects you to a Caribbean/Bermuda contact centre. If you try to explain you have an invoice, the best case is you are transferred around for a while until you find someone who can help you. Worst case, you dead end on someone who can’t help you (or transfer you apparently).

The trick is as soon as someone answers (after 1 for English, and 0 for a human) is to ask for “Canadian billing” (or whatever country your invoice is from). Now you should be talking to someone who can actually help you. They may have to involve someone else but they actually know how to properly transfer a call. Have the invoice number and a credit card handy and you are good to go.

I don’t know how many of these invoices they serve, but this is my second inside of a year, so you would think that they would allow for online payment, since you can do most other things online. I guess I’ll have to enjoy my international scavenger hunt each time.

It has been another interesting year for me, moving to Bermuda once again, hopefully this time for a bit longer, but only time will tell that story. At the moment I am home in Nova Scotia with my family, which makes me happy. I only get to see them once or twice a year, so I definitely enjoy these times.

I suspect that 2010 will be a busy one for myself, but enjoyable none-the-less.

So if you are a bit of photo buff and feel like you have been languishing of late, perhaps this is the motivation you need. It was for me.

For anyone not in the know I am currently part of the Pacific Standard Tribe, visiting family and friends in Vancouver for a couple of days before drifting slightly eastward to Banff on Thursday. And since Banff isn’t a place that I am recently familiar with, I made sure that I was preparing for being there. It seems that everything I brought and packed was considering the current state of Banff, but an old state of Vancouver from when I was here last in June. Neglecting to remember that in the winter months it rains in Vancouver. A lot.

And not the type of rain that can be avoided with good timing and a careful watch on the doppler radar, this is a soul-crushing long-term drizzle that I suspect won’t let up the entire time that I’m here. At least is what the forecast seems to indicate. So while I brought gloves, scarf and toque to prepare for the -2°C temperatures in Banff, I didn’t bring an umbrella or rain jacket. How soon we forget. In Bermuda, rain is something that happens at a point in time. And you can literally watch it pass by overhead.

Bottom line, looks like I’m going to get damp. I’ll try to borrow an umbrella, but I’m not going to let some water from the sky stop me from seeing my friends and doing what I need to do. I’ll let you know how Banff goes at some point too (I’m there for the CanUX conference)

Well it was a slow Hallowe’en at our place in Bermuda, no one arrived at the door looking for candy. That just means more candy for me. I did even dress up for it.

So far, my experience has been quite pleasant. There seem to be a fair number of resources out there for all of these technologies, and if you stick a couple of the techs together in a search, you can find some articles on integration. A quick intro in case you aren’t keen to visit the pages. Sinatra is a special syntax for Ruby which makes it very easy to create web applications. It can essentially act as a front controller for your application, mapping URLs to blocks of code. HAML on the other hand can be considered a template library—putting it simply. It can provide the views that render into the HTML pages. Passenger is a tool for getting all of this to play nicely with Apache (the web server). I haven’t gotten to this part yet, but fingers crossed, it too will be smooth.

However, the first thing that I noticed after taking a quick peek at the output of my HAML is that all of the attribute values were surrounded by apostrophes. Whoa. It was like getting kicked in the junk by 1998. So something like:

<link rel='stylesheet' href='style.css' type='text/css' />

instead of

<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" type="text/css" />

It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it was to me. I went back to the HAML Reference and noticed there was an option called :attr_wrapper which defined which character to use. Knowing that, I tried to figure out how to set that option in Sinatra where I’m using HAML. After some searching I figured out that you can pass options to HAML each time I call it. However this seemed a bit cumbersome. Fortunately there is an answer, which was in the Sinatra Readme. You can set the option globally with the following at the beginning of the Ruby file.

set :haml, {:attr_wrapper => '"'}

I hope that this tidbit makes it out into the world and helps someone else solve this essential issue more quickly.

It is the other usages which pose the problem. “Our two month anniversary”. “Our three week anniversary”. Almost everyone understands what is being said here. But there is a contradiction here. I can’t speak for such development in other languages (feel free to comment if you have an idea), but in English I can picture two possible lines of evolution in this situation. The first is that new words will form derived from anniversary. The second and ultimately more likely scenario is that anniversary will lose its annual connotation and will be properly modified with other words like in my examples above.

All of this is an elaborate and well-researched introduction to my main point: I am 10,000 days old today. So you can call it my 10,000 day anniversary (which is a bit odd sounding), or we can coin a new word and call it my 10,000th dayversary. I don’t really like the form of that word though. I don’t like the yv together, it isn’t a combination which happens in English, so perhaps we can borrow on the more melodic spanish translation of day and use diaversary. With the pronounciation as /dia/, not /daɪə/. The word we use shouldn’t distract from the significance of the day. I think society would be more interesting if we denoted age in days as a matter of course. If the drinking age was 7000 days instead of 19 years (in NS and other Canadian provinces). I can definitely appreciate the extra cognitive overhead this would impose, and realize that is the reason we use years. Even with years, it takes me a fair bit of time after a birthday before I can consistently recall my new “age” if asked.

If you would like to play with dates and see when your next significant diaversary is I recommend visiting timeanddate.com. In general it is a great site for the temporally inclined (or those who would like to be).

Long story short, it was the SSL configuration file. It is located at /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-ssl.conf and it had been overwritten with the default file. So it pointed to a certificate that didn’t exist. It was thanks to Time Machine that I was able to quickly recover from this. Otherwise I would have had to remember the changes I had made. Let this be a warning to anyone else who hasn’t already upgraded and who has customized the SSL config. This could manifest itself as a server that won’t start (bad) or as an improperly configured security setup (worse).

Update: Some of my admin pages are in need of some TLC but nobody else sees those anyway.

I’ve been reminded more than once that I haven’t been updating my site with news. Normally that could indicate that there is no news. However, in this case there has been and I guess I will blame my alternative outlets as the culprit. I still do intend to integrate these other information sources into the site, but I’ve been having a lot of difficulty settling on certain aspects of the renovation. I guess it is a lot like building a new house, there are a lot of decisions to be made and I don’t want to rush it.

Since I’ve written last I’ve been off the island a couple of times. The first time was a quick trip up to visit my family in Nova Scotia. It was over the long Cup Match weekend in Bermuda and while only for a few days, it was a great trip. Unfortunately it coincided with my father’s trip to Malawi, so I didn’t get to see him, but Christmas isn’t too far away.

More recently, I took a quick trip to Europe. I flew into London where I stayed with my aunt and uncle for a few days. It was great to see them again, and came with the added bonus of getting to meet my new young cousins for the first time. Certainly a different experience compared to my previous stays with them, pre-children. No less enjoyable though and I just spent my days relaxing, with the occasional excursion and multiple trips to various food establishments that aren’t available to me in Bermuda. After a few days relaxing in London, I was off to Sweden for my primary reason for being in Europe, my friend Chris’s wedding.

I actually flew into Copenhagen, Denmark since it was the easiest to reach Malmö which is in southern Sweden. However Copenhagen was also the location of Tivoli, a decent sized inter-urban amusement park. So that was where Chris and I and most of the rest of the groomsmen went for the afternoon on the Thursday (20th Aug). It was a lot of fun, and after we were sufficiently dizzy and disoriented, we grabbed some dinner. We then took the train over into Malmö where we were all staying that night. Friday took us to Lund, and the wedding rehearsal. Saturday was the big day, and while the women went off for hair and makeup, the groomsmen had it a bit easier, enjoying a relaxing lunch out with Chris before returning to my hotel room to don the tuxes. It was a great ceremony, bilingual in English and Swedish. Lots of photos happened afterwards and then it was time for the reception. That was when I became the de facto wedding photograph. I’ve been uploading my photos from the event to my wedding Flickr collection. Sunday was spent exploring Lund a bit before returning to Malmö for a final night. The night was a short one as we were up at 3:30 to get out to the Copenhagen airport to catch our early morning flights.

It was a weekend I will remember for a long time, not everyday that you share in your best friend getting married. Congratulations Chris!

Where do I live?

I was answering some questions last night on Hunch, which is an interesting concept of a site, check it out and judge for yourself. One of the questions which it asked to get to know me better was whether I lived rural, suburban or in a major city. That really made me pause. I had no idea. I still don’t I guess. I would have been able to answer that question at any other point in my life.

• Growing up in Durham—definitely rural. Not quite on a farm or anything, but not far.
• University in Halifax—in a city. You can debate what makes a city “major”, but it is definitely a city.
• University in Reading—suburban. Apparently Reading isn’t a city. But even still the university was certainly in more of a suburb of the town anyway.
• University in Thessaloniki—city. A much older city, but I lived in the heart of it. Loved being able to get a souvlaki at 3am if desired.
• University in Madrid/Leganés—suburban. The fact that I actually lived in a suburb of Madrid is as good an indication as any.
• Working in Vancouver—major city, and I lived downtown (or close to it).

But Bermuda is a bit of a mystery of classification. I live just outside of the city of Hamilton, so you could say that is suburban, but Hamilton only has a resident population of around a thousand people. There is nothing urban or major about that. In fact the whole island has a population a fraction of those of the other places I’ve lived. Except Durham, Durham is tiny. But I can walk into a “city” from here, so I don’t know if that qualifies as rural either. Basically if you consider me suburban, then the whole island is suburban in my mind, likewise if you were to say it was rural. Put a gun to my head, and I choose suburban, but I’m not completely sold.

But whatever you call it, it is a good spot for Bermuda. Getting into work is smooth and the unit is new and comfortable. I will say that moving is a whole lot more difficult when you don’t have a car. Not that I have ever had my own car, but usually in the past, a car was available which I could make use of in some way. And if I asked around enough here, I’m sure I could have had access to one. But since I live light-ish with all the moving, there were only four things that needed car transport, three larger suitcases and my boxed up computer. So I packed it all up and took a bike load up to the new place. Then called a taxi to do the round trip. Most taxis here are vans since there are a lot of tourists moving luggage around. So once those items were safely over to the new place, it was a matter of making a number of bike trips to get the rest. Some food that I still had (that hadn’t gone bad), and odds and ends that didn’t really make it into the suitcases. I can get a fair bit on my bike as long as it isn’t too bulky. I managed to get a new toaster oven home just yesterday.

And on June 30, I locked my key in the old apartment and unceremoniously left. No love lost believe me.

And for anyone who actually read through this post, I will reward with a hint that future changes in this site are in the works. As was my original intention with this site, it should act more as a hub of my digital life. Fingers crossed that I can realize it into the thing that I have pictured in my head.

But not today. Tonight rather I am trying not to allow my rage to bubble over. That’s right: rage. I was originally going to tweet about it, but I didn’t feel that was going to be effective enough. I want this to be properly indexed on the web. For those outside of my close contacts (which unfortunately doesn’t include as many people as it should) I am moving soon. Probably tomorrow, but on paper at the end of the month. If you take anything away from this post, it is: do not live in “Flores” 122 Harbour Road in Paget, Bermuda. Ever.

As such, my current landlord is understandably trying to show my current place to potential tenants. I have been quite accommodating, cleaning up on sometimes less than the required 24 hours. Not that cleaning is actually a requirement of his ability to enter the premises, but that is beside the point. I am from the Maritimes, and as such I try to be courteous. But I too have limits, and those limits have been tested. It is times like this I am reminded of why I don’t drink.

Again, if we’ve spoken much since I’ve lived here, you know that this place is a bit of a dump. An extremely over priced dump. But my landlord thinks that it can sparkle (yes, he used that word). Because of this, he wants none of my things out when he shows it. I’m sure that he would prefer that my computer be boxed up, as he asked me to do just that when I went to Vancouver (I can talk about that trip later). And I do put things away. To a reasonable amount in that my clothes are where they should be and nothing is awkwardly laying about. I guess our concepts of tidy are different as he repeatedly will put away my three framed photos of family and friends that I keep on a table in the living room. He will hide my flip flops, he will tuck away the single Glade candle that I have beside my bed. Literally anything that isn’t the mismatching furniture and tacky art have been hidden for me to find when I return.

And each time I’m a bit pissed off but I keep telling myself that I’ll be out of here soon, close my eyes and go to my happy place. Which is basically not here. And since he is still showing it, I can only assume that he hasn’t found anyone. This is because the place speaks for itself and it is a renters market at the moment, which it wasn’t this time last year. This place could sit empty for months. The irony is, in a place like this that isn’t new and clean, you need those personal items of the current tenant to be out and around and make the place look lived in. Make a person relate to living there, give them something to picture in their heads. But they have been hiding that and it is contributing to their lack of success. Whatever.

The straw came tonight after returning home from a long day and late night movie. I entered the apartment in the dark and went over to the lamp to grope around for the foot switch. It is usually easy to find as it is in the same spot. Not tonight, it is back against the wall—a landlord special. The adrenaline starts flowing as I remove helmet and jacket. He was in. He was in and messed about with my stuff again, and he didn’t tell me about it before hand. He’d handled my pillows, my clothes, my suitcase and I was/am pissed.

They say not to email angry, and I am trying to evaluate this post through more rational eyes. I still see me posting it, and if you are reading this, then clearly I have. This has been building up in what has to be one of the oddest, most disruptive landlord-tenant relationships ever. For me anyway, because I know there is some weird stuff out there. So all I really want to do is spare someone the trouble of living here. There were two of us as tenants in this unit over the past year, and it was a sub par experience on both accounts. I don’t know what price they are asking, but even if it is half of what they are currently getting, it is too much. The only way I would consider staying is if it were free. Even then…

Bottom line: stay away from “Flores” 122 Harbour Road, Paget, Bermuda. Thanks for hearing me out. :)

PS: Transformers 2 was fantastic. Suck it critics.

The trip which was planned as a way to make sure all of my family has had a chance to visit this small island which I now call home. It also doubled as a graduation present for Adam who will be walking across the stage to receive his degree in a couple of weeks. They grow up so fast. I’m still coping with the thought of living a “real” life myself. Although sometimes living in Bermuda can make it feel a little fantastic.

As for the week, I rented scooters for my brothers and we cruised around the island playing the role of tourist. Beaches, forts, lighthouses and various other sites and activities were mingled amongst naps, BBQs, and evenings relaxing at home. It was low key, but at the same time high energy, at least if you consider heat to be energy. :)

There are photos and video of the week, and I’m hoping to have had a chance to go through them before too long, while it is still fresh, and share some of the memories with others.

UPDATE: I made a video of the week: Bate Boys Bermuda Bash

The first is that it has been a long time since I last coached baseball. I was trying to think of when it was and it was definitely at least ten years ago, maybe more like twelve or thirteen. I certainly wasn’t much older than the players at the time and was really just assistant coaching with my father. I also trained and received my umpire certification around that time as well. And I’ve come a long way in forgetting as many of those rules and techniques as I possibly could have. Or so I thought, but last night I was pleasantly surprised when much of it started coming back when I got back on the field.

Young children everywhere are very similar. At least the ones who are likely to sign up for a baseball league. Full of energy (way more than I have, or maybe ever had) which in turn translates into a loss of focus. Not all kids are like this, I wasn’t for example, but some of the kids on my team are and it is a double edged sword. Lots of energy can mean good hustle, good base running and even good fielding. On the other hand, lots of energy can mean distraction, bad base running and bad fielding. It really depends on how that energy is manifested.

And perhaps most telling for me, is that I definitely need to get out an do more on a regular basis. I really enjoyed the evening practice and hopefully the games will be the same. I do need to get a hold of some baseball clothes, as I really don’t have much that is appropriate for the ball diamond. And hopefully, after my brothers visit in May, I will have my own glove again. I will let you know how the season goes.