Bank holiday, Tweeting & a baby boom BBQ

We had a great long weekend and saw lots of people but Jake's been a bit ill and incredibly, not sleeping well. We had a BBQ, hosted by Will and Maria for the NCT group and it was lovely but we had to go after a couple of hours as Jake had a temperature and went all floppy. I can't stand his crying but it's actually worse when he doesn't and looks limp and sad. We Calpoled him up and it brought his temperature down but it didn't help that it was also the hottest day of the year.

He was a lot better on Monday but still not right and his daddy had caught man flu over night. I remember working with a guy who had more sick days than I can remember as he was constantly either the incubator for or the taker onner of his kids ailments. No sooner had he come back from being sick having caught something from child one than he'd go lame again having caught something different from child two. It doesn't bother me too much as every time Jake gets over something he's getting stronger and developing a tougher immune system. If that puts me out for a bit then so be it.

So then, Twitter, what's that all about? I like to dabble in anything new on the web and some things grab me more than others. I first looked at
Twitter a couple of years ago when it was barely out of Alpha testing and my initial thought, like most people's who don't quite get it, was 'WTF?!' and similar. It seemed like a place for self indulgent celebrities who could gather armies of 'followers' to dull their insecurities and feed their egos.

I really couldn't care less what Stephen Fry is having for breakfast but for some reason I 'follow' him and a few others. Slowly though it's shown me it can be useful.

Recently the Smile Train started following me. Someone at Smile Train HQ had the good idea of searching Twitter for everyone that donates. It looks like they were pretty successful as they're currently following 1,115 people, many of which I guess will be regular monthly donators. You know how much I think of the Smile Train but this is really good PR made possible by a new technology. This is the essence of web 2.0 which I witter on about to anyone bored enough to listen. This is also what Jeff Jarvis witters on about to the thousands of people who hang onto his every word. This is how companies who take our money should be working. Removing the faceless corporate barrier and standing side-by-side with their customers who effectively own their brand anyway. Companies handing over control to its trusted patronage will survive and those who operate behind closed doors, too worried to hand over power, will not and it's as simple as that. It might take a generation to do it but it will happen, mark my words.

Anyway, the point is that after I updated the blog having received the letter from the Smile Train, I tweeted (!) @smiletrain (which is how people know you're writing about them) and the Smile Train promptly retweeted (again !!!) what I wrote. Retweeting is when you cut and paste something someone you're following wrote and put it on your timeline so people who are following you (1,115 in the Smile Train's case) get to see it. Then one of the Smile Train's followers also retweeted it and she had something like 1,600 followers who would all now see that she had also posted it...a retweet is like the best recommendation you can get, especially when it's from a stranger. After this exchange the blog got almost 100 new hits and I would imagine they were very relevant hits based on where they'd come from. Anyway, my jury is still considering its verdict on Twitter but it has shown me very quickly how powerful it could be. It's perfect if you have something to say like promoting a blog update but if you just want to know the colour of Ashton Kutcher's pants today, you're just a weirdo.

This brings me onto Facebook. I'm a fairly prolific Facebook user and why not? It's bloody brilliant and a perfect way to stay in touch and share stuff. Almost everyone I know uses it and it's hard to imagine an Internet without it. Nothing comes close in terms of seeing other people's photos and what they're up to. I can justify my time on the site as we use it commercially as well. We've developed apps and pages for clients to integrate with their websites and therefore need to know absolutely how it works. We've also used it to find a member of staff which saved us around £5,000 in recruitment fees.

People tell me I'm on Facebook a lot and to be fair, I am, but I always reply 'how do you know?'. If they're seeing me making comments and posting photos then they're obviously on it as well, the only difference is that I participate and that's kind of the whole point isn't it? If no one did anything then the site would be empty!

Anyway the whole reason for this is that two of my friends are pointedly not members of Facebook. One is a recovering addict and the other refused from the outset, a virgin if you will. Both of them are staunchly refusing to buckle and face the abuse that such a highhorse dismount would generate, but both lament the fact that they don't get to see everyone's pictures! I was like that about iPods...I'm not an Apple guy and had many mp3 players in the past before finally succumbing and buying an iPod. Why did I buy it? Because it was the best on the market by a million miles. I got some abuse but it quickly faded. I would imagine and hope that Malos and Mullet will buckle and join up soon. Or perhaps they already have under a pseudonym! In the mean time here are some photos just for them (everyone else has already seen them!).

Right, must do some work.

This first picture is our friends Sarah, Hamish and beautiful baby Sadie, who I'm very proud to be god father to. Hamish is also Jake's god father but didn't get a mention earlier on the blog as we hadn't told him at the time of writing!

Smile Train correspondence

Here is the letter I got back after I started donating:

Dear Mr. Fernie,

A few months ago, I sent you a thank you letter and in it I promised to send you a photo of a child we were able to help with your donation. I am sorry it took me so long but I did not forget.

Please allow me to introduce Smile Train patient Errol Ayson.

Errol is a one-year-old boy who lives in one of the poorest areas of the Philippines. His operation was performed by Dr Gilbert Esquejo on 19 February 2009 at the Philippines Band of Mercy Hospital. As you can see, his surgery went really well. It took less than an hour to put that big smile on his little face, a smile that will last for the rest of his life.

Errol does not know how lucky he is.

Most children born with clefts in the Philippines never receive surgery because they are too poor to ever afford it and there are no government programmes that provide it. 25% of people in the Philippines live on less than £1 a day, and most of the children we help live on much less. Without the Smile Train programme - and without donors like you - Errol would probably have suffered his entire life without ever receiving surgery.

I hope that you put these pictures up on your fridge or somewhere else you can see them so they'll be a happy reminder that there is a little boy half way around the world smiling today thanks to you.

On behalf of Errol and all the children we will help this year, I thank you.

With the economic crisis and our donations being down %22, your generous gift could not have come at a better time.

Thank you,

Brian
Co-Founder / Chairman.


Powerful stuff, eh? What other charity can do so much for so little? I doubt my £10 per month could have bought me more satisfaction with any other charity.

The other day I had a new hands free kit put in our car that also hooks up to an iPod. Annoyingly my iPod is the generation just before the oldest ones the hands free kit supports. So I went straight out and bought a shiny new iPod Nano in glorious orange and it cost £106. I'm not loaded by any stretch but I could afford to do that pretty much without thinking. £106 to someone like Errol is utterly unthinkable. When you can't even afford to have your face fixed, owning a new iPod must seem as unlikely as buying a Rolls Royce or flying to the moon.

Thank God for the Smile Train and big up yourself Dr Esquejo.

Here is the letter and before and afters of little Errol.

Talk about the feelgood factor!

What Now?! - one year on

Well, actually, tomorrow is the official anniversary of this blog but the reason for it is a year old today. It's gone past very quickly and the memory of the moment the sonographer said that all wasn't quite as it should be will be with us forever. I can still remember the warm feeling I got, as if about to faint, very clearly. We've come such a long way since.

People always say that a year goes past quickly. This is true in some cases but for us, it's been while since a year went fast. The reason a year flashes by is normally when nothing major happens. The days, weeks and months all blend into one another. Major events such as a house move, a job change, a marriage, a birth etc all provide big contexts to a given year. Since 2005, I've set up, run and sold a business, moved jobs 3 times, lived at 4 addresses, planned and had a wedding, Clare's been pregnant (twice), gone through the cleft thing and had a baby. All of these events have kept us on our toes so each year that passes seems eventful enough so as not to go by without notice. The next year maybe more likely to flash past and I for one will welcome that - no more nasty surprises, major events please, just some stability and predictability!

A busy day on the blog today but there's a lot going on.

Happy Birthday to What Now?! Thanks for reading.

Another boy!!!

Just got the fantastic news that Cosby Jnr number two (the one I first mentioned here) was born last night.

Candy gave birth to a little baby boy at 2.52am weighing 7lbs 12oz and 7 days early. There had been some complications early on but everything sorted itself out and Candy was able to have the home birth she wanted all along.

I was only playing Call of Duty online with Ben 12 hours ago, when he went offline to give Candy a birthing massage! I guess it did the trick as we've just got the email to say that all went smoothly and the new boy arrived safe and sound.

Massive congratulations to Ben, Candy and Noah who have now become the full nuclear family (whatever that means - actually, I think it means you don't have to have any more kids!).

Can't wait to meet the little fella. Wonderful news.

Friday's child is loving and giving.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain

Guess what everybody, it's another episode of the 'Jake's never gonna sleep properly' show.

I have a slight sore throat which is making things worse, but I can honestly say that today is the tiredest I've ever been. So tired in fact, that I don't even care that tiredest isn't a word. It might be but I can't be bothered to check.

Friends of ours had a night nanny for a night when their daughter was about Jake's age and had a similar sleep pattern. It was expensive but I'm seriously considering it. The idea of having a full night of sound, deep sleep is so seductive, I'd give my life savings. If I had any.

Jake was officially a 'shit' all day yesterday, firstly according to Clare's daily report which I get when I come home and then secondly as witnessed first hand. He didn't eat much all day, didn't want his milk, seemed constipated (although not when I checked!) and then slept like a woman going through the change.

Awake, screaming at 1.50am, again at 3am, fed at 3.20am, berserk at 3.50am and eventually slept from 5am to about 7am. So I managed around 4.5 hours of broken sleep and again have woken up feeling like I've died. I mentioned to him this morning that he was 'ruining my life', mainly to get a laugh out of Clare (but perhaps never a truer word than is said in jest) and he smiled at me. The bugger. What is it with that smile which changes my mood so? How can he go from villain to saviour with one tiny movement? It seems that however far he pushes us, how ever much we want to be angry, he can bring us back into line with one solitary action.

I don't know how I will ever successfully discipline him. Last night I watched the second episode in a rerun of series 1 of the Inbetweeners, a very funny show about 4 seventeen(ish) year old lads who don't fit in and follows their adolescent antics. One day they all skipped school, got drunk, called their best mate's dad gay, vandalised another's drive way, puked on a prospective girl friend and ended up getting caught red handed. Sat there taking their lecture, Will (the sensible one) gave an implausible excuse that they were all alcoholics and could only get through the hard times ahead with the love and support of their parents. The father who was in charge of the dressing down tried to continue his discipline but just laughed. That'll be me, I reckon. Not that I want Jake to become a tearaway but as long as he doesn't break any major laws or do anything nasty, I can't see how I'll be able to stay angry for too long. I'm not really a grudge person and I am pretty forgiving anyway but I will have to practice my serious face so it seems genuine when he gets caught drunk and disorderly later in life (like his dad did!).