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Crichton Chronicle - Standish Standard

$\parbox{7cm}{\it \begin{center} November 1999\\ 10th Edition \end{center}}$

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Family News

Many of you have probably been wondering whether the Crichton Chronicle Standish Standard (CCSS) had gone out of print -- well it's just been on hold for a very long time. Our last printed edition was in October 1997 -- Over 2 years ago!!

Many of you who have email facilities will have had some news since then -- but we realise that those of you, without email facilities, might not know the results of the then impending arrival of a child which was mentioned in our October 1997 issue.

So now to what for some of you will be first time news (others bear with us please) -- we had a beautiful baby boy, whom we called Hal William Scott Crichton-Standish. With such a long, double-barrelled surname, and with so many middle names, we had to give him a short firstname to compensate!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...al-newborn.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Hal at 10 days old} \end{center} }$

=4.5cm =-12 Apart from the fact
[4] that we really liked the name, Hal, the name itself has special significance. As we explained to those present at Hal's christening in November 1998, the name Hal is a very old, abbreviated form for
Harry or Henry. The fact that one of Russell's grandfathers was a Harry and the other is a Henry seemed perfect. It also has literary significance in that there is a Prince Hal in Shakespeare, (one time companion of Falstaff), who later goes on to become Henry V. And, yes, there is HAL the computer, which in the classic film, ``2001 A space Odyssey" is one step ahead of IBM (but, seriously, we didn't factor this into our thinking when deciding to give Hal his name).

Anyway, Hal came into the world, as he intended to live it -- that is, to its fullest! As a newborn baby, he didn't close his eyes for a full four hours after his arrival into the world! We didn't know if this was expected behaviour or not, but the staff at the Hospital were astonished by this very alert baby.

Looking over the last edition of the CCSS, it seems that we indicated our GP's prediction for a good looking and intelligent child. You can judge for yourself in the looks department with the photos herein, or the copious photos posted on the 'Net. Having dug out some photos of Kim at her Christening (aged 10 months), it is easy to see where Hal's (good) looks came from! (At least this is Russell's opinion -- actually we were all pretty amazed at the resemblance when we did compare baby photos at a similar age.)

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...psfbox{kimhal.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Guess who's who} \end{center} }$

Now 21 months old the resemblance is probably lessening as Hal takes on his boyish features and loses his babyness. But wherever we go everyone still comments on his big, green eyes.

At our first visit to the paediatrician with Hal aged 9 weeks, the paediatrician was predicting that Hal would be walking by nine months and talking in full sentences by twelve months. The paediatrician was clearly a bit optimistic in this assessment -- Hal started walking at around twelve months, and stopped about a week later, in that he has been running almost everywhere since!

=3.5cm =4 As far as talking is concerned, even though he didn't talk in full sentences by his first birthday, Hal is a real chatterbox (he has the gift of the gab like his mum). He also seems to have quite a gift with numbers. He amazed us when he started to count to 3 on his fingers at 14 months of age. Since then, he's learnt all his numbers in order (at least from 1 to 12), and has, in more recent times, taken to singing the ABC song, which involves reciting the letters of the alphabet. He misses the odd letter or two but it's definitely recognisable.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ....gz} } } \begin{center}{\it In church for Hal's Thanksgiving} \end{center} }$

Hal's Christening (actually it was technically a Thanksgiving ceremony to celebrate his life -- still held in the setting of the church but without us having to sell our souls to the church) -was held in November 1998. Over 100 people attended -- some who did commented that it wasn't a `christening', it was an event! Our very close friend, Judy Gombos, became Hal's godmother, and Dean Crichton and Greg Franklin (the latter still living in the Unites States and therefore unable to attend) his 2 `official' godfathers (I say `official' as Hal also has an `honourary godfather' -- Denis Wright -- our friend in Canberra)

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3.5cm]{ \epsfysize=.9... ...udy.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Godparents: Dean and Judy} \end{center} }$ $\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3.5cm]{ \epsfysize=.9... ...sfbox{gregf.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it and Greg Franklin} \end{center} }$

Hal is a real character -- he loves trying on hats and performing in front of an audience, or a mirror if an audience is not available. He loves singing and dancing to music and is a whiz at the hula hula. At Daydream Island, where this newsletter was started, one of the other parents commented that when she sees Hal on the stage in years to come she will be able to say she knew him once!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...box{hal-louise.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Hal and Louise} \end{center} }$

=-5cm =-9 Hal's very best friend is Louise -- he almost does cartwheels every time he sees her, which is usually once or twice a week. He is very sociable and enjoys the company of other kids - at playgroup, at our mothers' group, with most of the other 34 kids in our street and at childcare. His best friend at childcare, Liam, is overseas with his parents in Ireland at the moment. We are looking forward to their return in December.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...ah.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Hal with Blair and Chaanah} \end{center} }$

=5cm =-5 Other very special people in his life include his godmother, Aunty Judy, whom he sees at least once a week; and his `big' cousins Blair and Chaanah, now 14 and 13 years old respectively whom he sees almost every weekend during the school term (you may recall that Kim and Russell have been looking after the latter two on weekends during school term for quite a while now -- since Blair started at boarding school 3 years ago and Chaanah 2 years ago). Hal adores these people in his life.

Some of you may have heard of the words ``having a child will not change us'' ...famous last words! We knew it would change us, but we didn't know just how much. I guess the fact that it's been 2 years since the issue of the last CCSS is proof enough of the amount of change.

Another major change last year (for those of you who haven't seen Kim for a while) was a spur of the moment decision to have her long hair cut short -- long for the last 15 years -- reduced in 15 minutes!)

Travel for Pleasure

Hal has joined his parents in their travel for pleasure escapades these past 2 years and has become a real jetsetter. His first plane trip was to Dunk island at the age of 4 and a half months.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][5cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...nk.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Bushwalking at Dunk Island} \end{center} }$

=5cm =-14 Sadly, this trip had to be cut short due to the death of Kim's cousin Brett, who died after a long fight against cancer. Brett is sadly missed.

=5cm =-10 At 10 months of age, Hal accompanied his parents by plane to spend Christmas at Rivendell Gardens in Western Australia with Russell's family -- Kim's mum, Gwen, came too. This was the first Christmas since 1985 that Russell had spent with his family -- Christmases have traditionally been an incredibly busy time at Rivendell, so it hasn't been the most appropriate time to visit. However, with the bistro now being run as a separate business by another couple, and with Russell's dad, Pete, taking `semi-retirement', the time was right. It was also the first time that most of Russell's side of the family had seen Hal in the flesh. Granny Lu had been over a few days after Hal's birth and Uncle Tony had also made a visit but it was nice for Hal to meet his Poppy Pete, Uncle Mark and Aunty Wendy, cousins Sarah, Adam and Lachlan; and the rest of the Mosely/Standish clan. Our visit was the usual wine-sodden affair for us, although Hal seemed more intrigued by the sheep and horses, than the vines.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...endell.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Christmas at Rivendell} \end{center} }$

Just prior to going to Western Australia, Hal had his first major acting role (at the age of 10 months) when he was chosen to play the role of ``baby Jesus' in our street's inaugural nativity play. Every child in the street had a walk on or speaking part and all were dressed up appropriately for the occasion. Even the children's dogs had a part to play -- acting as sheep for the occasion. Two 12 year old girls orchestrated the scripts and the rehearsals as well as the live music. Santa (one of the fathers) made a guest appearance but was upstaged when a live camel (organised as a surprise by one of the other parents) sauntered down the street. Tables and chairs, food and wine were then brought out onto the street (something of a tradition in our street -- especially at Christmas and Australia Days) and the merriment went on until late in the evening. It was a wonderful event.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...egin{center}{\it Hal as baby Jesus in the Street Nativity Play} \end{center} }$

This year many of our neighbours will be away but all the children in the street will be going from house to house (there are only 20 in the street) carolling by candlelight. They will be dressing up as shepherds and angels. While not on such a grand scale as last year, it should be enjoyable.

But back to jetsetting...
[0pt][0pt] $\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...gin{center}{\it With Pam, Alex, Robert and Rebecca at Inverell} \end{center} }$

=-2.5cm =-10 Hal's third plane trip was in March/ April this year to visit Pam, a good friend of Kim's (since they were 8 years old) who had moved to a 2000 acre farm at Inverell in country NSW. This time it was the cattle and some Shetland ponies which impressed Hal. At 14 months of age, Hal was well and truly walking/running, so the animals held a new appeal for him.

=3.3cm =-11 At the beginning of April, we went to Canberra for the weekend to catch up with many old friends. We stayed with our good friends Denis and Louise. We timed the visit so as to be able to farewell Jenny and Andrew before they took off for a 2 year stint in Papua New Guinea. As Jenny and Andrew pointed out, we've managed to visit them on each occasion they have been living overseas in Manila and in Hanoi, so they expect us to keep our good track record -- PNG might be a trip of the future.

While in Canberra we were pleased to be able to catch up also with Michael Smitheram, Leslie-Anne, Leslie, Ruth and Phil, Joe & Alison, Jane Kriegel, Sue MacIntosh, Richard and Wendy Parker, and Michelle and Paul (and all their respective entourages). It was certainly a busy time but good to see everyone!

In May of this year, Kim flew to Dubbo (rural NSW, less than an hour's flight from Sydney) with her mother, Gwen for 2 days. The principal purpose of the visit was to visit the world renowned Dubbo Zoo, home of the black rhinoceros. But they also managed to fit in a trip to the Warrumbungles National Park before flying back home. On the one night that Kim was away on this trip, Hal wandered around at home, pointing at Kim in our wedding photo and saying in a very forlorn voice, ``Mummy, mummy!" Russell found himself having to track Kim and Gwen down in Dubbo where they were having dinner, so that Hal could talk to Kim, such was the intensity of his missing Kim.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ..., Blair, Natalie, Richard, Libby, Hal and Chaanah at Bundanoon} \end{center} }$

=4cm =2 We missed out on our annual picnic at a midway point between Canberra and Sydney with the Parkers last year but did meet up this year at Gerroa in July -- very enjoyable as usual but unfortunately, due to ill health, Gwen couldn't make it this year.

=4cm =-6 Actually, given that we missed out on meeting up last year, we decided to compensate by meeting up twice this year -- we met up with the Parkers again at Bundanoon at the end of November. Gwen was be able to make it this time.

It seems the only way the CCSS's get written these days is to take the laptop away on a holiday. The last CCSS was written during a week at Brampton Island, on the Great Barrier Reef area, back in October 1997. This current newsletter was started and largely written at Daydream Island, also on the Great Barrier Reef, in the Whitsundays, but which now has the added advantage of inbuilt childcare (alas for the future, to be discontinued next month through a change of management).

Hal's major discovery at Daydream Island was swimming. With water temperatures approaching that of a cool bath, it's now hard to keep him away from the pool. The ``floaties'' Gwen (Lalla) gave Hal last Christmas got a good workout. In Sydney, the water temperatures are still a little too cool to entice either Hal or Kim in (and Russell doesn't stay too long in the water either!).

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...m.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Hal Swimming at Daydream Is} \end{center} }$

=4cm =-13 Our trip to Daydream Island coincided with Halloween. All three of us had our faces painted and went ``trick or treating" along the corridors of the resort (any guests who did not want to participate were advised to out a do not disturb sign on their door). Hal didn't really know what the lollies were but he really got into the swing of things, holding out his ``goodies'' bag with all the other kids. The next day he had to be restrained from going ``knock knock" on guests' doors yet again -- no matter what the hour!

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\phl \epsfbox{halloween.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Halloween} \end{center} }$

=-5.5cm =-10 Just days before we were due to fly to Daydream, we had a rather traumatic experience which resulted in Hal being hospitalised. He was initially admitted
with high temperatures and lethargy and, thereafter, had some pretty gruesome tests done, including a lumbar puncture, to eliminate the possibility of meningitis. He was kept in the hospital (and us with him) for 48 hours to await the results of the various tests. Fortunately, all of the tests were clear and Hal recovered as quickly as he had deteriorated.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ....gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Denis, Louise, Hal and Mandy-dog} \end{center} }$

=4cm =-14 We were fortunate, therefore, to still be able to go to Daydream Island shortly after Hal's hospital stint. We had felt we needed a holiday before all of this but we certainly felt we needed it afterwards. Our ordeal was softened by a very friendly Daydream island employee, whom Kim had spoken to when Hal was in hosptial. This woman met us personally when we arrived and escorted us to our suite with spa bath -- she had upgraded us to the highest level of accommodation! -- and complimentary champagne and chocolates awaited us!

Almost as soon as we returned to Sydney from Daydream island, we headed off again to spend the weekend away down the south coast, in the Jervis Bay area, (about 3 hours south of Sydney) with our friends Denis and Louise, and their 18 month old black labrador. We really enjoyed our time there.

Gwen's Annus Horribilis

Gwen's medical trials and tribulations started with a planned heart valve operation in September 1997. Unfortunately, just two days prior to entering hospital for the operation, she was hospitalised instead with acute pneumonia. After a stint in the respiratory ward, and numerous courses of antibiotics, she was deemed well enough to return home, in spite of her frailty. Kim and Russell took turns at staying home with her, particularly Russell, as he is able to telecommute for much of his work. Despite this, with Russell working at home on the laptop on the dining room table, and Kim away giving a presentation in Canberra, Gwen stood up from where she was seated, and found that her legs gave way. Russell heard the crack from where he was seated, and was almost instantly by her side. From the angle of her leg, it was clear it was either a broken hip, or a dislocation. A quick call to 000 -- emergency services, and twenty pain-filled minutes later, the ambulance arrived to take her off to casualty. An X-ray confirmed the broken hip later that night. Russ, at the hospital, and Kim, in Canberra with friend, Alison by her side for moral support, were on the phone until well after 3 in the morning getting an ever changing picture of what the damage was. Kim was unable to get out of Canberra until the following morning, but returned just in time for Gwen's ``pin and plate'' operation. (This was, incidentally, performed by the same surgeon who had operated on Kim's knee some 2 years before -- he remembered Kim!)

Thus began the long road to recovery for Gwen. In cases like this, one has to learn to walk again, starting with a walking frame, then progressing to a walking stick before walking unaided. Gwen was the inspiration of the ward, going full blast at her physiotherapy. The staff wanted to keep her in longer to motivate others! Unfortunately, however, while on one of the exercise machines in the hospital, Gwen slipped and damaged her shoulder, which was then compounded when she tried to pull herself up on one of the ``monkey bars'' dangling above the hospital bed. She also developed a major bedsore, which took a month to heal after she left hospital.

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][3cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\phl \epsfbox{gwen.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Gwen and Hal} \end{center} }$

=5.5cm =-10 Finally, after
two months in hospital, Gwen was able to manage stairs, and returned home. The shoulder had become a major problem, preventing her lifting her arm above shoulder height. Over the next few months, she had extensive physiotherapy on the arm, and has been able to play only 2-3 holes of golf since -- a come down from her previous prowess. She now leads a normal life, although she can no longer drive, so she takes taxis to and from work each day. She had a brief stint in hospital due to a chest infection that stubbornly resisted all but intravenous antibiotics, but otherwise has succeeded in staying out of hospitals since the pneumonia/broken hip/torn shoulder ligament episode. Her recent cardiology review raised her spirits tremendously, so with luck, Gwen's annus horribilus is over.

Professional News -- Kim

=-1cm =-11 Although entitled to a year's maternity leave, Kim returned to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs for two days a week when Hal was 5 months old. Upon her return to the Department she moved into the Health Care and Services branch and has been involved in project managing high level IT work and also in managing strategies for the improvement of Discharge planning in contracted private and public hospitals. She is currently in the planning stages for a seminar/ workshop for practitioners in the industry.

Working two days a week provides a good balance in one's life -- these are my ``sanity" days; my ``be part of the real world and keep the grey matter ticking over" days. I enjoy being with Hal and being part of his phenomenal development but I don't think it would be good for either of us if we didn't have other forms of stimulation.

Initially, Russell looked after Hal while attempting to working from home, until 2 months later a place became available at Tigger's Place, one of the University crêches, and Hal started going to day care 2 days a week. From day one, Hal absolutely loved it -- usually when we drop him off, there's an absent minded ``bye bye'' before charging into some activity or another with his chums. He was getting so much out of it, that when the opportunity for an additional day came up earlier this year, we increased the number of days from two to three. Kim still works the two days a week, and now has a child free day.

On her childfree day Kim catches up on the myriad of things that one can't get done with a baby or toddler in the house. A good part of this childfree day has been taken up with a new passion -- genealogy. This has involved research on the Internet; accessing microfiche; microfilm and CD Rom material at libraries and the local genealogical society. At the start of her genealogical research little was known about the Crichton side of Kim's family beyond her immediate grandparents. Since then she has been able to trace back about 10 generations in Scotland. Similar progress has been made tracing the other branches of the family tree. Of course the further you go back the greater the number of branches and the slower the progress -- but it has been interesting.

Professional News -- Russell

In the last newsletter we mentioned that Russell had volunteered to run a Complex Systems conference in Sydney. Starting with the preparations in early 1998, the conference was a major preoccupation during the latter half of that year. A couple of international invited speakers, one of whom pulled out a couple of months prior to the conference; 30 odd papers contributed; conference barbecue and dinner; and 50 odd delegates. The biggest job was editing the proceedings, which was published as an online book, available from the conference website¹ or as volume 6 of the online journal Complexity International².

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][4cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\... ...box{c98banner.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it Conference Logo} \end{center} }$

All in all, the conference was a success, even turning in a small surplus (although it could have just as easily been a small loss). The biggest disaster occurred right at the beginning -- the directions and map for getting to the conference venue were posted in a somewhat obscure portion of the Website, and Russell had omitted to tell the staff of the University gates about the conference. UNSW main campus is like a small city -- 30000 students and 5-6000 staff, with high-rise buildings to accommodate them. About a third of the conference delegates were wandering around trying to find the venue for the first couple of hours.

In addition to organising the conference, and working on the various High Performance Computing (HPC) initiatives, Russell has been carrying out a research programme in artificial life, measuring the complexity of evolving artificial organisms in the Tierra Alife system. It is interesting to see if there is any trend, for example, a trend to evolving more complex organisms. This has turned out to be quite tough, requiring the use of high performance computers, but (for those of you interested) preliminary evidence suggests that Tierran organisms do not evolve greater complexity over time -- if anything, they evolve to become more simple.

This interest in artificial life has seen Russell attend two international conferences in the past 2 years. The first of these overseas trips was a 10 day trip to the United States in July 1998 to attend an Artificial Life (Alife) conference. There was little time on this trip for seeing friends, or touristing. Despite this, Russell did manage to meet Andrew, Valerie and Callum where they were then living in Orange County. He also managed to fit in a half day touristing in Santa Fe, where he visited the historical museum (located in the oldest Government building in the US -- the Governor's palace from the days when it was a territory of Mexico).

Originally Kim and Russell had given thought to taking Hal with them on this trip to America and then going on to France to barge down some of the French canals, but this idea was quickly curtailed when Russell discovered he had used up all his recreation leave when Hal had been born, and the fact that further research revealed LA to be a rather dreary place when you're four and a half months old. Added to that were the horror stories of the ensuing disrupted sleeping patterns of those babies who had travelled this path before us. We opted, instead to have a family holiday at Dunk Island, (mentioned above) only 2 hours flight to the North, and in the same time zone. At one point we thought we would have to move permanently to Dunk Island when Hal had his first whole night's sleep through there.

When Russell went on his 10 day trip to the United States, he left Kim with sole parenting duties. Kim was glad to see Russell return to resume some of his parenting duties. Being a sole parent is pretty demanding (hats off to those who have to do it permanently!). On Russell's return Kim pronounced that she didn't think Russell should go away again for 10 days until Hal was at least 10 years of age!

More than a year later Kim relented (or forgot!) and allowed Russell to trek off yet again. In September 1999, he went to the European Alife conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland. Again, we'd discussed the possibility of a family holiday in Europe, but had decided that an island holiday still had more appeal. So Russell went off on his own. On this trip he managed to catch up with Gilbert and Madelaine Gendre, who had helped us enormously with our wedding plans in Switzerland back in 1992. Russell also managed to catch up with Ritchie Parker, a colleague from Russell's PhD days who has been living in Lausanne for the last 11 years, and his partner Ros. Ritchie now works for Nestlé, computer modeling food production. Who says physicists are unemployable?

Closer to home, other major projects which Russell has been involved in include a $70 million national high performance computing (HPC) programme called the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC)³, involving a number of trips to Canberra, where the peak computing facility will be located, and a $20 million NSW State programme called Australian Centre for Advanced Computing And Communications ((AC)³). As part of the latter programme, Russell coordinated a successful bid for funds ($800 000) from the Australian Research Council to assist setting up sorely needed computing facilities.

The (AC)³ programme should be up and running by next year, with a director due to be appointed in early December. Russell anticipates having close involvement with the programme, most likely having a part-time (eg 60-70%) management position within the organisation, with the remainder continuing his current position at UNSW.

The new Millennium

This Christmas, we're heading over to Hong Kong for general celebrations and millennial festivities with Kim's brother's family. Hal will be getting his first passport before the age of two!

Our last visit to Hong Kong was in July 1997 for the handover celebrations. Hal was present at this time also -- although, he was in utero. It should be interesting to watch his reactions to all the foreign sights, smells and sounds this time around.

Uncharacteristically, this edition of the CCSS will be going out to you as Christmas and the new year approaches (We've never put our newsletter out at this time before -- having preferred in the past to avoid the Christmas mail rush and send the newsletter out at the more leisurely March/April time of year). But, as it does go out to you as the festive season approaches, we would like to extend our warmest greetings to each of you and wish you the happiest of years and millenniums ahead. Our warm regards, Kim, Russell and Hal

$\parbox{\phw}{ \fbox{ \raisebox{-\phl}[0cm][5cm]{ \epsfysize=.98\phl \epsfbox{daydream.eps.gz} } } \begin{center}{\it } \end{center} }$