Back to work..

I started my new job with Global Mobile Encryption on the 20th July. One of the results of which has been the lack of activity on this blog (which I was keeping up to date while off from work). I've the first week down so hopefully I can start posting again. Check back soon!

Our Magnificent Miracle

The little man wearing a "Magnificient Miracle!" t-shirt (a gift from Russell & Katharine). 

Readers mull Chinese black helicopter mystery | The Register

Readers mull Chinese black helicopter mystery | The Register

Some more theories on why China would build a scale model of a moutain range from their border with India....

Chinese black helicopters circle Google Earth | The Register

Chinese black helicopters circle Google Earth The Register

Amazing...the register have done some great articles on military sites that you can find using Google earth (I was amazed to find missle sites near my Dad's home in Germany). However this one is definetly the most bizzzare. The Chinesse have created a 900x700m scale model of a mountainous landscape...from the India-China border. Why? Check the link above for some pics and theory 

They're all on Bebo

I had heard of social networking sites such as Bebo and myspace via the media, but until today I'd never actually bothered to check them out. I was talking to a friend recently who is studying at college and they mentioned that they had a page on Bebo, along with loads of their friends

I have to say I was really, really surprised to see how many people I know are using Bebo after only a few minutes of browsing (find a friend, then look at their friends and so on). Most pages are accessible to all (you don't need to register). There's quite a spread in terms of the age profile...but most of the people I know on there are in the 15-25 age group.

Here's what struck me about the whole thing:

1.) How it provides a means to project a certain persona. Whether it's via pictures, text or video you can come across in whatever way you like. It's always fascinating to compare what you know of people in person and what they share on something like this.

2.) Do their parents (or teachers!) ever look at these sites? Would it make a difference to what you post if you knew you're mother was reading? Of course you can restrict access to your page to registered users only... but the vast majority of pages I viewed weren't' blocked.

3.) It really does create a whole online/virtual community...and the scope for negative aspects such as bullying or voyerurism is real. However the positives of such a space should over shadow any negatives and I certainly wouldn't put off someone from having such a site (assuming you take some sensible precautions and realise that it's not just your close trusted friends who are viewing...your parents, teachers and other adults can use the internet too!)

4.) All of the above applies to some extent to blogs, including this one. Which makes me wonder about continuing this blog long term...what would I say? I have to remember that my family, friends, work colleagues, fellow Church members etc. could all be reading!

...and 5 years later it's goodbye

I finished up working with Motorola today. I'm starting my new job as a software engineer on Monday with GME. Below is the mail I sent out to everyone at Motorola Cork on my departure.....

Hi All,

just a short note to say goodbye to everyone. A special thanks to all those I worked with in the BSS team. The seeds of wanting to leave were definitely sown when the BSS group in Cork was disbanded. I've really enjoyed the learning curve on each of the projects I worked on (Horizon 2, Half-Rate, VGCS and WiMAX) and I will miss working with the many talented engineers here.

However almost 5 years at my first job feels like a good time to move on. So coupled with a new baby and house in the last few months and a new job it's all about change. For those that wish to keep in touch my e-mail address is ralph at depping dot com and I may keep the blog I started with arrival of Christopher up to date (http://ralphdepping.blogspot.com). God Bless,
Ralph

Today I went out for Lunch

So my Mum put these on instead of my usual vest or baby grow. We had a nice lunch out with Russel and Katharine Norton and their little girl Lowena, who is about 6 months old. 

Thanks to aunt Heidi for my lounge

A present from aunt Heidi. A winnie the pooh inflated play ring type thing....very comfortable, thank you! 

I'm not yawning...

...I'm pretending to be a lion. 

Under the thumb...

Christopher is definetly ruling the roost at the moment. Nearly everything at this stage is based on his schedule, which is ever changing! However as you can see we're happy fools for him :-) 

Christopher's First Week

Here's his first week in pictures. Enjoy. 

What happened to the old pictures or posts on this site?

They're still there, just not on the main page! If you want to see older posts and pictures then click on the Archives links on the right hand side of the side. It's archived by month, so clicking on July will show you everything to date (as the blog only started in July).

Thanks for all the gifts, cards and meal

We've been deluged with kind and thoughful gifts, cards and meals from you all. Thank you, on behalf of Christopher. Thanks especially to Sandra Tully for arranging a dinner rota from Church and thanks to everyone who has brought us a meal (it's a real help, even before Christopher came along it'd often take us quite a while to decide what to cook, let alone cook it!).

We don't expect to receive anything (and Christopher certainly doesn't!), so don't feel you need to bear a gift to call around and visit.

However people sometimes ask what to get as a gift or "what does he need". We've already received more clothes than he's likely to wear in 0-3 months. We've quite a number of lovely blankets and quilts as well at this stage. He might enjoy a toy or two, but again he has a few already and he certainly isn't lacking in them. There are far more needy Children around, even in Ireland.

But we're thankful for all the gifts we receive and as Over The Rhine would say (or sing!) "there's nothing harder than learning how to receive".

The three of us...

It's nice to have a few pictures of out little family...this is only the second one. I must remember to get people to take some more (or figure out how to use the timer on the camera!). 

A whole week old

Well he's been on the outside now for a week. Cherie says it feels like a life time. I think the week has flown by (probably because I only have one more week before I'm back to work!). Compared to day 1 or 2 his little face has cleared up a lot but he still has noticable "stork marks" on his forehead and above his eye. They should hopefully fade over time. Here is enjoying a nice 4 hour sleep.....

Collage of Christopher Depping

Here's a little collage done using Picassa (image link on each picture post). As John O' Sullivan points out you can tell I'm not back to work based on the number of blog entries! Hope to keep it going (at least a pic a month of little Christopher) for all the people who can't enjoy seeing him first hand. 

The absolute best music to listen to for sleeping babies and nursing mothers...

I'm a huge fan of a little known american band from Ohio called Over the Rhine. Linford Detweiler is half of this talented duo and has produced some lovely acoustic piano music (with some other instruments added in for good measure. I purchased all 3 albums when they were released with the aim of using them for those days when you could play the whole album through, sit back and relax. Please check them out (and Over the Rhine's recordings). There are loads of free mp3 songs scattered around the site along with a real audio sample of one of the piano albums.

I love Linford's liner notes...included here are the ones from the last piano album, Unspoken Requests...

NOTES.

When my family and I attended Wednesday night prayer meetings in small churches in Fairpoint, Ohio, or Hamilton, Montana, or Blackduck, Minnesota, or any of the small towns and communities in which we lived for a time here and there in this far-flung expanse of earth called America, we would generally begin by singing the verses of a few shaped-note hymns in harmony.

Then someone at the front of the room would ask if anyone had any prayer requests or anything to share. While we waited for someone to speak, the person at the front of the room would take out a small piece of paper and a pencil to jot down a few notes.

Edith might update us on a skin condition and request prayer for her doctor's appointment on Thursday afternoon. Virgil would ask for good weather for the hay harvest. And Bubbles was still having seizures.

Uncle Rudy and his family would be arriving soon for a visit, and we asked for traveling mercies. All of us were heartsick that Clovis was dying, a man in his thirties, his soft-spoken wife still so young. Andy Androsko Sr. was out of the hospital and doing much better.

And there were requests for wayward sons off in the city (that they would return safely home) and reports of encouraging conversations with unchurched Uncles and Aunts in neighboring towns. The impending arrival of new babies, high school algebra exams or the ongoing search for gainful employment now that the coal company was leaving town were all discussed and noted in front of a group of believers. It was news, it was keeping in touch, it was gathering together, it was part of a high call to love your neighbor and to pray without ceasing.

But there was something else.

Occasionally someone seated in a gently curving wooden pew would raise their hand and say simply, I have an unspoken request. If someone had an unspoken request, they could receive prayer without need of finding words to speak. Perhaps they had no words. Perhaps it was a situation too personal or painful to talk about just yet. We would pray that God would be with them and their unspoken request whatever it might be.

Unspoken requests nudged my imagination in those early years and left a deep impression on me. As a child, when I had no words, I often sat at home at the piano to try to find the impressions of what I could not speak. My heart would yearn toward something I could not name and my hands would follow along little by little. Those improvised imperfections drifted up out of the room and into the darkness.

I still don't know what I'm saying exactly when I sit down at the piano here at home, but I do often wonder about God listening when there is no other audience. I can remember slipping into an empty auditorium on a Friday evening after dark when many of the students at boarding school had gone home for the weekend. It was only me, a piano and 400 empty seats, but there was the hush of something holy in the room.

I suppose the piano has continued to be a means of helping my soul to grow still from time to time. This unpremeditated, unspoken music may be as close as I'll ever get to what the Benedictines call contemplative prayer, a form of prayer that requires being quiet and mostly listening.

I still hope to feel a little something when I sit down at the piano. I hope to breathe a little something. I hope to hear silence as well as music. I hope to sit in the stillness of a room, maybe even in the presence of the Lord, and just be my unimpressive self. No words. The occasional grin.

This is the third in a series of simple instrumental recordings I've made at home. Previously, painters painting, writers writing and especially new mothers nursing (all I think are forms of unspoken prayer) have expressed some gratitude for the simple, spontaneous backdrop that this music somehow provides. Thank you for your encouragement. These tiny songs without words, these unspoken requests are for all of us who at times find that we must pray without speaking.

Nursing mothers, loosen your blouses...

Linford Detweiler, February 2004

Now I'm behind on my mobile...

My mobile phone charger is on the missing list. It was packed for the hospital so well that it is has not been seen since Friday. As a result I'm using my sim in Cherie's phone every now and again. So sending texts or calling either of our mobiles at the moment is a little random. E-mail or our home phone are the way to go for the moment.

Primrose Leahy has a blog...

...which is news to me! Primrose is my sister-in-law and via a comment she left here I found her Blog. So here's a nice plug for it...well worth checking out..I have a lot of catching up on her to do :-) The latest entry has a nice map of the world showing all the places she has visited...I'm about to create one myself and see if I've visited more!

An Immigrant's Impressions - Reflections, insights & memorable moments from my life as a foreigner in Kosova

Another bunch of flowers...

...thanks this time to Paul, Sharma, Bailey, Jack, Eva & Yngvar! 

My little boy....

...in a nice touched up image, using soft edges and lighting enhancement to make him look like a little angel! 

Another cousin, another photo opportunity....

This is Christopher and his older (by about 6 weeks!) cousin called Gary. That's Gary's Mum (my sister Heidi) holding them both. 

Do I look like a Depping or a Leahy?

...or even a Ryan or a Stanley! I have to admit I don't like saying a child looks like one parent or another, but it's inevitable. Christopher will surely change over time and I can't see any resemblance at this stage. If you think he looks like one of us (or our respective families!) then do leave a comment. 

The little man asleep...

Birthday + 4. Here he is asleep in his pram (kindly donated by Ali & Beckie). He's at his most lovely asleep :-) 

Behind on e-mail and texts

To all those that have sent texts, e-mails, comments on this blog and left phone messages over the past few days - thanks. We've read and appreciated all of them. However I haven't been able to reply to many of them. We hope this little blog is a suitable way to keep most people up to date. Thanks again for the congratulations etc. and we'll try and get back to you soon!

Thanks for the Flowers Motorola Cork

A beautiful bunch of flowers arrived from work today (Motorola Cork). Thank You. 

Cherie & Chris

He does open his eyes every now and again....must try and get a picture of him with them open. Here he is relaxing with Mum. 

Ben meets "Chris"

Our nephew Ben came to visit to meet his new cousin...who at the moment is just "Chris" to him! 

Feel free to call by...

We're at home with baby Christopher since yesterday afternoon. We're still settling in and getting used to it all but if people would like to call by that would be great! It's worth just calling ahead, in case we get a load of people all showing up at the same time or Mum and Baby are both trying to sleep and you end up having to just talk to Dad :-) Hope to see you soon.

Remember to leave a comment!

It would be great if you could leave a comment while visiting this blog...especiall if you're here to see the pictures of Christopher! Thanks, Ralph

We're Home

They let us come home this afternoon, hopefully we can get him quickly into a routine and Mum can get some well deserved rest. 

Christopher Asleep

I have to say I'm beginning to appreciate it when he sleeps. He's lovely and peaceful. It also gives Mum a chance to relax a little. 

Uncle Stephen with Nephew Christopher

Uncle Steve, after a 2 hour 30 minute trek from Athy holding his new nephew. Only got to spend about an hour with him, then some time having dinner with me in Eco's and then had to face a long drive back to Athy...thanks for coming down uncle Steve and especially for leaving Granny Olive down to keep me on my toes :-) 

Another picture of Christopher

Christopher, all in blue! 

Christopher Adam Depping

Finally settled on a name (we had a definite girls name picked but had a number of options for a boy). We've decided to call him Christopher Adam Depping. Here he is sleeping soundly in St. Finbarr's Hospital in Cork. 

Cherie & Christopher

Cherie with little Christopher who is less than a day old. 

Leave a comment...

If you're visiting this blog please leave a comment under one of the posts....especially if you know us and are checking out the baby pics! We'd love to hear from you, Ralph & Cherie & Christopher

A Mother & Son

A tired Cherie and a happy little boy in the background. They kept him in the incubator for a short while so he could make a nice easy transition to life on the outside.