This is very touching and I can only begin to imagine, as the father of a 5 year old son, how I would cope with this. Strangely enough, I have given it some thought in the past. What if I am not here, how will my wife and son fare? What would I want to tell my son, being the age he is at and all of the experiences I would miss. You have already touched on video messages but also consider leaving her your written thoughts. These can be shorter musings, your inner thoughts to share with her. Stuff she can pick up without having to experience the intensity of a video. Take the opportunity to share who you are with her, your values, your hopes and dreams for her. Let her know that you love her mother, why you love her. This can be important to her later when she is experiencing her first relationships.

When I was in University (many years ago) I got my degree in Business. Majored in HR and got a job as an employment counsellor out of university. Business is what was needed in the world, and there were opportunities there. I was miserable. I once read of a man who spoke at a Career Day at a high school. In question period a student asked him what he should study, what did the world need. He took a deep breath and said that this was the wrong question. Ask yourself instead what gives you passion, then do that. Because what the world needs is people with more passion. It stuck with me and I moved into a Technology stream which is always something I enjoyed (it wasn't so clear cut when the major technology in the office was the photocopier). IT was not really even recognized as a profession in the business world at the time.

Apart from that, don't be afraid to post online in various circles with your real name. I use a pseudonym here because I would not really want some of my old comments to come back and haunt me. I could be a dumbass when I was younger. But lately (past several years) I have take to using my real name. My approach is to always post in a way that I can stand behind what I said as a person, even when posting pseudo anonymously. With your real name out there commenting on technology, social, political or business issues it is an opportunity to raise the level of discussion because it will force you to reread before hitting 'Submit'. Once it is on the net it will always be there, a legacy for her, that she can come across and be proud of. I would want my son to see a father who was engaged with the world and interacted with it in a dignified manner and with humour (maybe bad humour, he can judge that I guess). Life shouldn't always be serious.

Good luck to you in the coming months. I feel priviledged to have read your story and that you took the opportunity to reach out to your fellow geeks here.

i would drive that. especially if it was a SUV that got 2 miles per gallon.

By having a long term investing horizon and rebalancing periodically

He was asked an opinion and he gave it. If it can at least give pause and make people think about it then great. He didn't have to write a thesis on it.

And for forgot to add, no more attachments. Just send a link to the doc in email.

I hear ya. We use Sharepoint at work and it is very capable for version control. We have one library with over 2000 documents in it and they hold numerous minor and major versions of the docs. Even clueless users can be shown how to use it relatively quickly. Other nice features is Alerts. SP sends you an email if someone has modified a doc. Handy when you are waiting on information from someone before proceeding with your work. As soon as they check it in you get an email alert.

AC's message was crude, which is unfortunate, but there is a point in there. Some occupations attract one gender more than others. It would be better to ask why that is in CS rather than just throw money at the issue trying to balance out the numbers. If CS is a hostile environment for women that needs to be addressed. Once upon a time male nurses were scorned, but now it is common although still more dominated by women. Why is it more acceptable now, maybe there are lessons that can be learned from that. Oh and no matter how good it gets idiots will still be idiots so that won't change.

I'm taking notes.

Ya, ok, that will work.

Wife: "Honey does this dress make me look fat?"

Husband: "No baby, not at all, it's your big ass that does that."

This is brilliant.

Sounds like a case of hubris. He was overconfident in his abilities and probably got more and more sloppy as time went on, convincing himself that he was too smart to get caught.

That's just your opinion, and I disagree.

Not in Canada. Not sure where the hell you live but if prison wardens run your public schools you are in trouble. Your post comes off as a little cooky.

At kindergarten level it's not all about abc's. The social aspect of functioning in a larger group of your peers is also important. Does your son have a lot of kids in his life (siblings, friends, cousins etc etc)> Is he naturally extroverted or does he have a more introverted personality.

I also have a son of that age, only child. We have him in public school and have found that the academics at that age are secondary to the social aspect of school. Only you know what is right, and i am no expert. You should trust your parental instincts above all. Just consider that home schooling can be more isolating depending on your own family environment and social circle. Even if you try something and feel it is not working, no matter what you choose, do not doggedly persist to the bitter end. Monitor and stay flexible. Good luck!