Google Flight Simulator and Internet Security

Amidst all the posts about Alice, I would like to just add in a few small posts about some useful techie things I've discovered recently. All very useful; honest!

Did you know that Google Earth provides a flight simulator? Simply press Ctrl-Alt-A from within Google Earth to get to the flight simulator screen. The following page provides all the keys:
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/
Not the easiest plane to fly, but fun. I've crashed in to quite a few seas/ hills already. One of the start options is to begin flying from an airport runway. Many of these are particularly interesting airports with mountains or interesting cities nearby. Well worth a try if you already have Google Earth installed.

I've currently mid-way through a 30 day trial of some new internet security software (anti-virus and firewall). Eset's NOD32 has been a leading anti virus provider for many years, but their latest offering combines that virus protection with a firewall and anti-spam (for Microsoft mail clients) - see http://www.eset.com/smartsecurity/index.php. Since I installed the software, I have seen a huge improvement in the performance of the computer. Under our old security software, Firefox would take a good 10 seconds or so to start up; now it's down to two seconds. A remarkable improvement. It's like having a brand new computer. It's well worth testing out if your anti virus package is coming up for renewal. Anti virus software can affect different computers in different ways depending on the installed software, so a test for yourself is worth while. Following bitter experience, I would always suggest a trial period with a new anti-virus suite before parting with your cash.

A word of warning, anti virus software is tricky to test out. With an office suite (e.g. MS Office) you know what you are getting and you can test out all the functionality to check that you have all you need. However, anti virus software only really comes in to its own when you encounter a virus. That's not a common occurrence. In this case, I have read some magazine and web reviews of the Eset software. In summary, it's excellent at detecting web threats (where a website might try to take over your computer via an altered web page) and good at detecting software containing threats (that you might have downloaded on purpose).

Baby-led weaning update

Just wanted to update you all on how it is going. She's doing really well and seems to really enjoy eating with us at the dinner table. It is a long process, but we think very worth it. In the video she's eating; petit filous, roasted courgette, pear and pancake. She had everything we ate on Christmas Day and even downed half a brussel sprout. She doesn't eat huge quantities but her weight gain is moving up the centile chart. This just feels very natural, as she puts everything in her mouth anyway, why not her food too.

We're both more than happy to answer any questions you have about this form of weaning.

Alice's 1st Christmas

Alice caught quite a nasty cold on Christmas Eve and so was a bit poorly over Christmas, but we spent three days opening her presents. Not because she had loads, but because we had to do it in short bursts. She's feeling much like herself again, wanting to be mobile and standing and bouncing all the time, rather than just sitting on mummy's knee.

She got a rocking horse, which she was a bit reticent about initially, but got the hang of it quite quickly and rocks herself and tries to stand up on it too. Family and friends were very generous, so we thank them all.

Alice moving a bit more

Alice is just wanting to be on the move so much. We think she gets quite frustrated in that she's not quite there yet with crawling. She just wants to be on her feet all the time and it's almost like she wants to skip crawling and go straight to walking. She can't pull herself up yet and stand, but she's getting there.

Stuart reckons she'll be crawling by Christmas. So she's got less than a week!!

Alice moves. A bit anyway

Alice has recently turned her "sky diving" style flailing in to something more useful. As she gets stronger she can now wriggle across a room pretty quickly. Obviously, she only bothers with this energy sapping feat if the object of her desire is tempting enough. These tempting items include: the top and tail bowl; plastic bags of all types; remote controls; and shoe laces. On this occasion, it also included her own toys.

We've had a good weekend so far. Today we visited the annual French Market that sets up near where we live. We bought our usual bottles of sparkling , red grape juice which is becoming a bit of a tradition on Christmas Day. We went with Mike and Vicky (which is also becoming a bit of a tradition) and had the obligatory crepes with chocolate spread. Alice also enjoyed a bit of my crepe; minus the spread.