The latest and greatest reason to skip school!

We have had a few reasons, but this week we have had some great ones.

My 11 year old took off Monday to recover from a 22km hike up and down a mountain carrying all his own gear and staying overnight on Saturday. 

We then all took off Tuesday to go to the zoo.  It was a fantastic day, although a little rushed.  The weather was good, mostly sunny with a few clouds.  No major nasty wind and no rain!  That is pretty good for winter here.  Taronga Zoo is close to us, well, sort of.  It is a 2 hour trip down to Sydney but worth it.  I love it there and have my favourite exhibits.  I love the penguins, the reptiles, the platypus and the glider possums.  I don't like the koalas (smelly!) or the kangaroos (very boring).  Very unAustralian of me, I guess! 

After a full day at the zoo, photos to come, and an evening out we got home at the very unreasonable hour of 11pm.   Thereby creating a very good reason to have Wednesday off, don't you think?!

Something I have realised - an annual pass to a zoo is never a bad idea.  And there is a good chance you will make more of an effort to use it if you have already paid for the visit.  When we move north again it will be among the first Christmas presents - an Australia Zoo pass, and we will also add in a Dreamworld pass and maybe a Seaworld pass too.  Ahh, the joys of non-clutter presents!  lol

Best wishes
Jen

Recovering from a Tablet Crash!

My tips:

- Use apps that have an online backup service.  In the ideal situation it would be nice if all your apps with important data have a PC version also but it isn't always that way.

- Find out how the backup works and use it appropriately.  One of my apps has a back up service but needs to be synced manually for instance.  Another syncs only when you open the app, not a widget.   And another syncs automatically when it pleases.

- If TWLauncher for an Android device is the problem we found it possible to still get into the settings menu, attach the tablet to a computer via USB and save the whole drive across to the PC.  Bit tricky, in that my PC wouldn't recognise my Samsung tablet at all, but my hubby's PC did recognise it, although as a camera.

- Put things back on slowly.  At least 12 hours usage with every batch of additions before adding on more items.

- Learn about why it may have crashed in the first place so you don't do it again (hopefully!).  My best resources were

• http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/144?g=301
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php
• http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-android-tablets/
• http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/samsung-galaxy-tab/
• http://androidforums.com/android-tablets-mids/
• http://www.thegalaxytabforum.com/index.php?/forum/104-galaxy-tab-77-user-help-solutions/ 

 It seems my biggest issue may have been too many fingers (games the kids keep playing over each other's shoulders), too many downloaded apps then deleted still leaving a footprint, and not allowing an app to fully install, possibly leaving "corrupt" files behind.

Well, if this wasn't interesting to you, it is at least a record for me of where to go get help if I ever have a problem again. :-)

Best wishes
Jen

Oops, Tablet crash!

My tablet crashed very badly in the last week and I am in the middle of rebuilding it from scratch.  Big learning curve!

My advice - don't let your kids persuade you to put every free game on earth on to your tablet.  It don't like it!!!

Back soon,
Jen

(Oh, and the fridge died too!  Thankfully a new second hand fridge didn't cost much and I have a crisper drawer that holds celery bunches without any effort from me.)