Spa Nordic Station; the Android experience

SPA NORDIC STATION in MAGOG
I've discovered a new world. For the first time in perhaps years I've managed to phase out what's running in my head, without having to do some inane activity like playing Minecraft with the kids or cleaning up.

I went to a Spa.

Suzanne and I went to Nordic Spa today where we had a most pleasant experience. I never thought that spending 15 minutes in a very hot place, then dipping yourself in a very cold place, relaxing for 15 minutes, then repeat the cycle over and over again would make me phase out but it did. I was in pure relax mode, with nary a thought.

And that total body massage... Wow!

Thanks Kim for introducing Suzanne to it, and Donna to tell me that real men actually go to these places, and for Sylvain (Donna's husband and a great guy) to actually go. His words to me were simply: "Enjoy."

And we did.

ANDROID a few days before the iPhone announcement seven years ago.
Seven years ago yesterday Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world.

Today, we're introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone...are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone

Too many of my Android friends keep annoyingly telling me stuff like "Your crappy iPhone" or "Oh, I'm glad Apple copied this from our phone." Now I don't really care about other people's phone that much (though to be honest just the fact that most of my Android friends need to change their phone once a year is not a great testament on how great their phones are; I still absolutely love mine after 1.4 years) but please stop annoying me with how great your phone is, because it isn't. It wouldn't even be had the iPhone not been created, you wouldn't have a phone. Case in point, from an Android engineer:

Chris DeSalvo’s reaction to the iPhone was immediate and visceral. “As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over.’” [...] 
“What we had suddenly looked just so . . . nineties,” DeSalvo said. “It’s just one of those things that are obvious when you see it.”

Here's what the Android phone looked days before the iPhone announcement:

Dentist Day and Adult Toothbrushes

Thank you Kim for inviting the kids to go play at your place. We couldn't go because of our dentist appointment, but it would have ended a great vacation perfectly.

I'm am glad to announce that the kid's teeth are in perfect condition. No cavity, no problem, just a need to brush a bit harder. We have the greatest dentist ever.

But it's kinda hard when your daughter receives an adult toothbrush. She's no baby no more.

We went skiing again today...

And we had a GREAT time. We barely waited to go up and the snow was fast and beautiful. We did the snow park 4-5 times (and Mathieu hit the all the jumps pretty much all the time). We had a great time.

The Chris Christmas Party

For a reason or another we had to push the annual Christmas dinner to today. It was also Chris' birthday yesterday and we took the occasion to celebrate him. Sophie cooked an excellent traditional turkey dinner that while good was barely touched because we ate way too much before supper. We then gathered around the Christmas tree to open the presents.

Here are the two cousins posing as yo-men (as named by Mathieu)

After the gifts we celebrated Chris's name day. 

The cake looked so good but I just couldn't eat another bite so full I was. Nick promptly told me that it was "bad luck not to eat some of the birthday cake." I had to ponder about this.

"For whom?" I asked.

It's soooo coooold (and Minecraft)

And we have cabin fever. It's too cold to go outside or to go skiing, so we pass the time by reading, playing Minecraft and doing some work.

I've been playing Minecraft with the kids. We all sit at a computer each and connect through the network. We enter a giant block-like world where we need gather resources like wood and stone to build tools and shelter during the 10 minute day to survive the 10-minute night full of monsters that just want to kill you. As characters in the game we are equal. It's really fun to play with the kids. We have a lot of fun together.