lifeasdaddy

lifeasdaddy - On a picnic with Ed

Yesterday Edward and I went on a picnic in Davidson Park under the Roseville Bridge which is part of the larger Garigal National Park.  It is about 6 minutes drive from our residence, but it is more than ten years since I've visited the park.

We had sandwiches, fruit and fruit juice.

Parked neaby was a classic Chevrolet, probably a 1956 vintage.  

lifeasdaddy - Microsoft HealthVault: A way to preserve and share your medical records.

Frank Arrigo drew my attention to Microsoft's new health product, HealthVault.  It's a service to store your personal health information and medical records which may be input by you, your medical professionals, or partners in the HealthVault system such as 3rd party health service providers.

It's built on the principle that "... you should control your own health records."

Australia's outdated and outmoded medical infrastructure is such that sharing of a patient's medical records between a private hospital, a public hospital, a family physician, a treating specialist, a health para-professional and a pharmacist are impossible.  The New South Wales Health Department is piloting such a system called Healthelink but the recent troubles in the NSW health system may see wide scale introduction a long way off.  Even if it were introduced in NSW, what happens when you go interstate, or overseas? 

As is apparent from the current election-mode blame games being played between Federal and State politicians, it is very difficult to get national agreement on the implementation of health systems in Australia.  So, a privately run system like Microsoft's HealthVault could be the way to go.

If you want to try out HealthVault yourself, you will need to sign in using a Windows Live ID.  the current beta-mode HealthVault is only permitting use by United States residents, so if you are outside the USA, the workaround is to alter your home address in the Windows Live ID account profile to an address inside the USA.  As such, and because there are presently no partner sites outside the USA there is certainly limited usefulness for those outside the USA, but go have a look for yourself.

This week the ABC 7.30 Report current affairs programme aired a segment lamenting the lack of electronic accessibility to medical records.  Read the transcript here, with link through to vodcast.

Here's the New York Times story about HealthVault which also focuses on the competitiveness within the IT industry to get into the medical records space.

lifeasdaddy - Kids wearing Crocs + escalator = danger!

Crocs near the side of escalator steps/treads can be very dangerous as the get stuck against the side  in a stationary position as the step continues to move.  Could result in amputated toes.

Check the Forbes article here.

And the addtional comment by Charles A. Buckman (escalator expert) here.

lifeasdaddy - Cool car for Mum, Dad, and the two kids.

We also followed a red Cadillac convertible, maybe  early 60's vintage.  The registration plate was "FINS".   A car which obviously only comes out of the garage for fine days and special occasions.  Like taking the kids for a drive.

When we stopped at the traffic lights I asked if we could take their photo.  The bloke was pleased.

lifeasdaddy - My best Father's Day present yet.

As today is the first Sunday in September, we  celebrate Father's Day here in Australia.

I was the grateful recipient of some chocolate, some books, and a wonderful photo frame made at Ed's pre-school.

And I got to spend the whole day with Edward.  In that respect almost every day is Father's Day for me.

The quote at the bottom on the frame is, "I like going on the train with dad, going to Melbourne to see the model trains .....'

Which appears to be his response to a question like, "What do you like best doing with your Dad?"

The visit we made to the Diamond Valley Miniature railway looms large in Ed's mind.

Today has been a very good day.  I have much for which to be thankful.

lifeasdaddy - A rainbow in the morning ...

This morning I mentioned to Ed that there was a rainbow in the sky.  He told me it takes water and the Sun to make a rainbow.

lifeasdaddy - Ed on the DVR miniature railway

Yesterday lifeasdaddy was on the road in Melbourne.  Edward wanted to see the Daimond Valley Railway which is a miniature railroad.  It's in Eltham Lower Park in Main Road, Eltham.

It runs almost every Sunday, and you can get the low-down here.

This shows Edward in a carriage being drawn by locomotive S301, painted in the traditional Victorian Railways blue and gold livery.

Other locomotives running yesterday were Milwaukee Road, NSW SRA 81 Class, and an honest to goodness steamie called Tom Thumb. All in miniature of course.

Children under 2 years are free, all other passengers pay $3.

This is a great way to spend an hour.

lifeasdaddy - Some Fisher-Price toys recalled in Australia, USA and elsewhere due to lead coating

Here's the story about US recall.

Here's the story about Australia recall.:

Mattel Australia recalled 43,000 Fisher-Price toys today after characters including Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street's Ernie and Barney the Dinosaur were found to be coated in dangerous levels of lead.

Here's the Fisher-Price Australia product safety recall page, however the information does not yet include this latest recall - as at 3.45pm August 2, 2007.

IMPORTANT:

Here's the USA product recall site, with some relevant information.

lifeasdaddy - A cherry picker visits our street

Edward enjoyed checking out the cherry picker and the linesman doing some work on the electrical power lines yesterday.

lifeasdaddy - Eating out on Oahu, Hawaii

Best meal we had during the trip was at John Domanis.  It was not mentioned in any of the 4 or 5 tourist guidebooks we consulted, but came as a personal recommendation to our friend and dining companion Jean-Marc from a long time resident.

John Domanis has great seafood, attentive service and a nice outlook over the ocean.  It is approached via part of Honolulu's working port, so don't be put off by that.  Valet parking is very reasonably priced too.  Check out the details and typical menus on the restaurant's website here.

Best tourist restaurant experience was at Duke's Waikiki. Duke's Canoe Club Waikiki is located inside the Outrigger Waikiki hotel. This restaurant is mentioned in every tourist guidebook. The food was pretty good, but what you really come here for is the ambience and people watching.  There's the restaurant, then there's the hotel's pool, and then on the other side the most famous beach in the world.  The restaurant is chock full of memorabilia about Duke Kahanamoku, the father of surfing.

HINT: We read that Duke's does not accept reservations for dinner, so early in the afternoon we asked the restaurant hostesses what time they suggested we attend to have the shortest wait for a dinner table.  On that Saturday, they suggested we arrive at 6.15pm, and expect one hour waiting time.  We arrived at 6.00pm and reported to the restaurant reception desk.  They noted our names, and we were advised to come back at 7.10pm.  Returning on time, we had to wait only 5 more minutes to be seated at our table.   The one hour waiting time gave us enough time to go next door to have a cocktail at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel's  Mai Tai  Bar.  Again, one of those quintessential experiences.  Sure it's commercial - but this is Waikiki baby, and money talks.  We had fun drinking our outrageously kitsch cocktails, and the friendly bassist from the bar's jazz trio who was on his break kindly took our group photograph.  (Photo will be posted when it comes to hand.)

DINING WITH CHILDREN ON OAHU

For dinner, the standout for kids is the Pacific Beach Hotel's Oceanarium Restaurant.  The aquarium is huge.  Maybe 6 metres high, and 30 metres long. The photo attached to the restaurant's website gives some scale against the dining tables and chairs.

The restaurant is very busy, and probably has at least 3 seatings per night.This place is obviously a favourite of locals, and there were at least 3 kids' birthday parties.  Not the place for a romantic dinner for two. The tables are generally long, seating 9 or ten people.  Prime tables abut the aquarium tank and the gimmick here is that a diver in the water swims up to the table celebrating a birthday and places a sign against the glass "Happy Birthday Billie".   When the birthday cake comes out for the boy or girl of the moment, 9 or 10 waiters gather around the table and sing Happy Birthday to You.   It's hokey, but the pay off is the ear-to-ear grin of the birthday boy or girl.  If I were 7 or 8 years old, I would think it was the bee's knees.  Bookings essential, and I assume to get one of those prime tables on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night you would need to book weeks ahead.  Gabrielle and I probably got more out of the aquarium aspect than Edward did, but he enjoyed the food, the general hubbub and sense of occasion.

The food is OK for a high volume buffet.  Like Duke's, you don't come here for the food, you come because this ambience is something you can't get anywhere else.

I couldn't take suitable photographs there, but here's some Flickr sets.   There's a nightly Dinner  Buffet, and on the Sunday night we dined the Dim Sum Station was active.

I'm not exactly sure how much  the Oceanarium Restaurant charges for the buffet, but we went with 5 adults and 3 kids under 4 years old, and paid about $35 each for the adults and nothing for the children.  Check their children's prices before you go. Drinks and tax were extra.  A great kids' holiday experience. 

For casual lunch eating with the kids, a standout was the  Poolside Grill at the Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa.

I mentioned this place when I was writing about beaches for kids, but what I didn't tell you is that less than a metre from our table was a giant pond full of hammerhead sharks.   On the two days that we lunched there, a hotel staff member came around with a group of hotel guests at 11.30am and fed the sharks.  The sharks feeders and guests actually stand in the pond, but are protected from the predators by a small rock wall.  This rock wall also allows the small fish to swim out of the reach of the sharks so there are no disturbing displays of the natural world to bring on tears in the little kids.

The food was tasty and hearty, and reasonably priced for an establishment of this type (read moderately expensive) The bonus is that a spend of more than $25 yields free parking in the resort car park, close to the Ko Olina lagoons where it is otherwise near impossible to park.

Generally, everywhere we went on Oahu children were warmly welcomed.