Carraroe And The City

2012 - Day 53 - Lent!

2012-02-23T15:16:00.001Z

Pantheism as a "belief" has crap logos! :)

I did lent as a kid and I continue to do so today. Not so much for my devotion to the Church, more to the fact that a good idea is a good idea. Traditionally of course I know that lent is Christian observance of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Well I did not know it in that detail, that line is from Wikipedia. But in the same way that I am not a pagan but I enjoy Halloween, I am a pantheist that likes Lent. It is an excellent idea to give up things that you like every now and again. I like the challange of watching what I am eating, doing better things for myself like excercise and more reading.

It is funny becuase the standard answer now days that people have is "I am not giving up anything - I am going to start something!" and then they laugh. Why laugh? Thats a brilliant idea... take up eating healther or reading more! Of course they are the things that float my boat. You could choose anything or nothing. What I like the most about lent is that going into summer, you have just left a (probably) nasty winter behind and lent can be like a fresh start into the new season.

I think the problem that alot of people have is that they see lent as punishment... I see it as a reward. I am alive. I am rewarding myself by doing lent because anything I do will have made me a better person at the end of it. We can all do with rewarding ourselves, spiritually and physically. Thats what I am doing for lent.

2012 - Day 52 - Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Mardi Gras

2012-02-23T15:04:00.000Z

Did you know Americans have a thing called Fat Tuesday on the same day that we have Pancake Tuesday! I assume that it comes from the same lent tradition that we have our Pancake Tuesday for. Anyway, in the spirit of having a bit of a get together simply because the oportunity presented itself, we had some family and close friends over for our Pancake Celebration. Seth and Rick were on pancake detail - as was I - and after churning out a few dozen pancakes and we got the kids out of the way we enjoyed our grub. So it was a bit of effort having everyone over but it was all worth it! Seth took a picture of me flipping a pancake... I have to get it off him and post it here...

Oh yeah.. Fat Tuesday.. you think you never heard of it. It is Mardi Gras! You know the bead necklaces, music, partying, laughing, drinking, singing... our get together was not quite all that - bar the noise which I am sure the kids beat any Mardi Gras.

2012 - Day 51 - China Human Rights Violations

2012-02-20T12:16:00.000Z

You know what I am tired of, people always raggin on about China and China's human right abuse. Now, listen to what I am saying... am I saying the Chinese government does not violate human rights? No... China violates alot of things, number one thing that bothers me about China is it firewall on information on the internet.

But as for the point of this post! The Irish government also violates if you ask me. Paying of billions to bankers, taking money from schools, closing hospitals, putting millions and millions and into roads! Yippee we can go to Dublin faster! What for? The trains are a piece of crap, too slow or too cold take your pick. Throw in the occasional drunk idiot and your nicely in hell... wait a second, something is missing? Your train journey isn't quite bad enough yet.. ah that's it, charge them through the nose for it too!

Homelessness is on the increase, domestic abuse is on the increase, poverty in general is on the increase. I can't confirm that drug abuse and illiteracy are on the increase but they are all part of the 'treat a peoples nation like dirt' package and it all goes hand in hand.

My equation is, as long as people buy trashy papers, look at trash television and gossip and trash talk about other people then we are all appealing to each others lowest common denominator. Believe it or not, the government controls the lowest common denominator. If kids took violin lessons, practiced painting and studied art history... studied philosophy and theology instead of Christian religion, studied cultures instead of ostracising non-native Irish speakers (thats a nice Carraroe one there), put emphasis on fittness instead of getting the first born male of the family playing GAA.... learnt about fine food and the effect of diet on the body instead of nurturing a pub culture and for the most part if everyone looked after their own business then the regular Irish civilian would be a very different person.

And then...

and only then...

should we begin to think that China is "worse" than we are. Now alot of you will have read this and misunderstood what I am saying, so let me put it in a last one-liner. China is bad but Ireland is really bad and we should not think that we are better people as a nation or that we have a better government than China, because in really we do not. Chinese government governs 1.2 billion people. The Irish government rules 4.5 million and look at the state we are in.

2012 - Day 50 - Kris Kristofferson

2012-02-19T12:09:00.001Z

I love country music... very much in particular American Country and Blue Grass.Of those, one of my favorite is Kris Kristofferson. I was lucky enough to see him in concert once. It was actually one of my first introductions Linda had with some of my family.

But I like this song too because when we were young we used to listen to country music being play in the car on a cassette player my mother had. Today I woke up to a lovely morning, went for a good jog with Mart and after I settle down after my shower I was really tired and this song seemed appropriate to play.

In this video his voice is no where near as good as it used to be I think, and he is solo, the way I saw him when he was in concert. But it is still very nice. He is a legend.

*** lol - Lucy my 3 year old is beside me on the bed as I am writing this. She just said "Dad I know what that is - its a muppet!" whilst point at the picture of poor old Mr. Kristofferson ***

2012 - Day 49 - ??? eh?

2012-02-19T12:05:00.001Z

What the?

Where is day 48 gone? We were at Seth and Jens yesterday and we had a lovely American style dinner. We had stripped pork in BBQ sauce is it? Corn bread... what else, beans... not baked beans. We also had ice tea... and again, the drink not the rapper. That was all good and extremely tasty and Marielle had gotten a pavlova cake. Delicious.

But what happened to day 48? Sorry about that one....

2012 - Day 47 - Friday

2012-02-18T04:11:00.002Z

Space, the final frontier...

Heeeyyyyyy it is Day 47! In Star Trek: The Next Generation there was a recurring theme with the number 47. Again and again the number popped up! So for example if the starship Enterprise came across a ship that had a certain number of people on it, and Picard asked how many, Data would probably answer 47... "how many light years across is that cloud - 4.7!"... the ship has a virus! how concentrated is the virus 47ppm! You get the idea. But then I have noticed that the number 47 pops up in real life too alot. The Hacker/Maker Space that we go to the board games club to that we attend is at number 47 for example. Alot of 47s in real life too, eh!

I had a crush on Diana Troy! (thats the chick on the left)

Eh!

Eh!

2012 - Day 46

2012-02-16T08:20:00.001Z

I have often thought about getting a tattoo. I always imagined it on my wrist... on my right hand. But I never did. Not because I was scared of the pain, or what would people think. None of that. I just never knew a really meaningful tattoo to get. And if I were to get one it would have to be meaningful. There are alot of little philosophical snippets that I would like to have inscribed onto my wrist but then how would they be written on? In what font etc. Believe it or not, they are the kind of reasons I have not got one so far.

I wouldn't have a tattoo on my back... if it cannot be seen by me, it is not for me. My wrist would be good, if ever I should...

2012 - Day 45 - Valentines Day

2012-02-15T10:40:00.002Z

You know what, I think I had one of the most enjoyable valentines days ever. I had my lovely romantic valentines day dinner with the kids and Linda of course. We had a lovely three course meal... the kids behaved like they were in a restaurant. It was funny. We read the history of Valentines Day from Wikipedia to the kids and we all learnt something.

"Dear << INSERT NAME HERE >>, I love you with all my heart!"

Basically, it was nice. Just because you have kids does not mean that anything is deminished from the night. Put them to bed at the regular time. Watch Desperate Housewives... It is easy to think that because you have kids you can't go out and therefore the night will not be the same, any you know what, the night will not be the same but it can still be lovely and romantic.

Looking your love in the eyes and expressing your feelings should not cost a cent.

2012 - Day 44

2012-02-15T10:28:00.000Z

Karate...

I got punched in the solar plexus... wow. It was like being shot in the chest. For a few seconds my ability to breath disappeared. Then a few seconds later I was fine. The old human body is a funny thing. Also, we looked at the higher grades doing their katas. That was a second wow moment.

We have a long way to go, me and my yellow belt...

2012 - Day 43 - Formula 1

2012-02-12T21:50:00.000Z

Ahh... Formula 1.

I am going to test something. One year, or rather, over the span of a few continuous years, I followed Formula 1. I knew the drivers, the teams, the ever changing rules, the politics. But then I missed a race or two in a season. Then I missed a season or two in the last few years... then I realised that I just missed Formula 1. I loved it but I never saw it any more. I never followed soccer, basketball, any football, any sport really. When I stopped watching F1 I stopped watching any sport.

Go Team!

Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Eddie Irvine were the drivers of my era. I even went to Spain with my brother and a few friends. It was amazing. The sound was unreal. The cars were so fast. There was glitz and glamour and tasty food and smells and pit babes everywhere. And the race was brilliant as we observed it from a dirt mound we loving called the Ant Hill because of the formicarium we perched ourselves on.

Gotta have the pit-babes.

Ah... onto my test. You see I am aware of the whole rose tented glasses syndrome. In my memories Formula 1 was brilliant. But there is nothing more unreliable than a memory so I will test my passion for the race once more. I will get to know the drivers again, get to know the cars, the teams, the team principals and the tracks. I will study it like a journalist. I will give it a proper test.

Roll on Melbourne 18th March.

2012 - Day 42

2012-02-12T13:33:00.000Z

Saw a really cool film today that addresses cancer. The film is 50/50.

The odds are that you will like the film - or not like it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan are in it. Basically if Seth Rogan is in a film it is a must see. He is on my must see list. If he is in a film it is simply a brilliant film. Now seemingly the same can be said of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Now I am not saying 50/50 is the best film ever. It is simply a good film. My observation is more about JG-L on my must see list.

2012 - Day 41 - Friday + Stupid Stupid Eircom

2012-02-12T13:03:00.000Z

STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID....

Eircom, in a word with the word repeated!

They had 3 laptop stolen and all 3 of them had person information on them about customers and all of them were unencripted. Really that is all I want to say. This is the same company that is in charge of laying down the internet infrastructure for Ireland. Come on... they can even protect their machines in their own offices. Crap like this makes me sad to be living in Ireland. While other countries have blistering broadband at dirt cheap prices lots of people in Ireland are still on dial up speeds and paying through the nose for 2 or 3 megabyte lines that they are sharing with dozens of people when the line get busy.

Someone is suing Eircom now because their data has been stolen. Ha ha Eircom. Ha.. you idiots!

2012 - Day 40 - Google Adsence

2012-02-09T13:10:00.000Z

Ok folks, I really need your help here. I am at a cross roads and I really need an answer. You see I am wondering if I should Google Adsence to my site.

I can taste it! Only messing... ahem... really.

For me there are pros like I might get some money. We not talking much money here... cents kinda thing. But for all those cents I could have that add... just one add I think... on the right hand side of the page there. See, where the pics are at the moment.

Basically this whole blog for me is a test and I would like to have the add there are a further part of that test. But guys, if it is going to ruin the site, tell me.

Should I or shouldn't I?

2012 - Day 39 - Half Life = Sweetness

2012-02-08T15:58:00.001Z

Here is the address:

Half Life Wiki

Have you played Half Life? No, but you like games? What can I say here... ok. Imagen you love to eat apples. And all your life you ate apples, alone and you though this is great but they could be better!

Half Life Series - A seriously Good Game Series

Then you discover a warm apple pie and you fall in love with it and it is amazing!!!! The best thing in the world.

Call your self a gamer? Stop messing about and play every single Half Life and Half Life related game (Portal 1, 2 etc).

Because you'll cry... they are that great...

2012 - Day 38 - At Home...

2012-02-08T15:50:00.000Z

So... the economy eh...

I have been put down from 5 days to 3 days in work. I have every Tuesday (today) off, and Friday. Now, instead of sleeping in until 12 and walking around the house in my jocks and playing computer games, I was up at 8am and was kept going all day spending alot of time with my 3 year old Lucy. In other words, I had a fantastic day!

2012 - Day 37 - Monday

2012-02-06T08:49:00.000Z

Google+'ers will have seen this before but my goodness... check it out! It is worth looking at...

2012 - Day 36 - Lucys Party!

2012-02-06T08:46:00.001Z

Lucy was/is 3 today! We had a lovely little party for her of family. It was really nice.... I took some photos so I am going to upload them soon.

Princess Cake my our little Princess Girl

Totally and absolutely dead pan very serious not messing about Lucy... totally normal!

2012- Day 35

2012-02-05T01:43:00.002Z

Did some shopping in town... and went to a christening. But it make me think of a few things....

2012 - Day 34 - The Big Taboo

2012-02-04T02:31:00.000Z

Friday!

Just had a good night of playing games with Rick, Linda and Marielle. We played Taboo, or Bindy Bob as we call it as Bindy Bob is a character, an avatar, that you play with in the game. Shocked how much we play it after all this time really when I think about it.

The Big Taboo - Featuring Bindy Bob.

Our good friends Tissy and Max opened up a massage and health spa? center? centre? - but anyway they opened it up in Spideal. We were at the official opening and it was nice, I hope she does well and guess what!

YOU'RE INVITED!!!!

Have a massage for a very reasonable cost (the actual cost of it slips my mind at the moment). Anyway it is in Spideal in the same building at the Chinese take away. Which is also nice

2012 - Day 33 - Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

2012-02-02T10:24:00.002Z

As a once powerful leader said there are "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics"

I believe that it was Stalin that said it, but then again I have just read that Mark Twain said it too. Well here are my statistics.

"Carraroe And The City" has had 6,804 page views! Now this number has rocketed up since I began the 2012 series of blog posts.

In the last month I have had 1,171 page views... so at this rate there should be around 10,000 page view by some time in the end of April or the beginning of May! Cool...

The post that has had the most views is for some reason 2012 - Day 4 - Colin McRae This page has had 216 page views! Mad.

Here are the details of my audience:

Ireland

3,097

United States

2,372

United Kingdom

361

Germany

126

Russia

114

Canada

China

India

Australia

France

Cool eh... good old USA. There are many reasons why I love America.

More information on browers...

Pageviews by Browsers

Internet Explorer

3,437 (52%)

Firefox

1,887 (28%)

Chrome

664 (10%)

Safari

359 (5%)

Opera

81 (1%)

Mobile Safari

61 (<1%)

Mobile

20 (<1%)

GranParadiso

14 (<1%)

Jakarta Commons-HttpClient

9 (<1%)

Java

8 (<1%)

This piece is pretty self explainatory I guess although I never heard of GranParadiso.. thats like huh? Finally there is the page views by Operating System.

Pageviews by Operating Systems

Windows

4,973 (73%)

Macintosh

1,089 (16%)

BlackBerry

214 (3%)

Linux

122 (1%)

iPod

109 (1%)

Other Unix

85 (1%)

iPhone

57 (<1%)

Android

56 (<1%)

iPad

23 (<1%)

Nokia

20 (<1%)

So I think I have to make my page more relevant to Android and Apple users... see the stats... the reason that more smart phones is not visiting my site is not to do with blogger.com as we can see from the fact that BlackBerry is 3rd on the list.

So there is loads of statistics. All brilliant and all for free from Google. When you think about it, it's brilliant. You've got to love that company. They certainly are not evil...

2012 - Day 32 - Feb 1st

2012-02-01T23:00:00.000Z

Look what I came across :)

Month number 2! 11 to go for me to

Today Linda and many many others from Connemara travelled up to Dublin to march outside the Dail about the stupid idea that the government have about cutting teacher numbers in schools. We benefited greatly from having the teacher in the school that they are talking about getting rid of.

I have said it before, take money from alot of other stuff if need be, but leave it in Education and Health.

2012 - Day 31 - Jan 31 - Gears of War

2012-02-01T21:03:00.000Z

My god, today sucked... I was as sick as a dog... not vomiting up my guts sick but swollen glands in my neck sick. And every single muscle in my body ached like hell. Really, when I moved, it hurt, when I sat down and stayed still it hurt! Swallowing hurt! Fortunatly in this day and age, we have hot lemon. Lots of it, in packages that are easily deployed in times of need. So I had around 4 of them.


Come on brilliantness... kick in quick.

I was in fact so tired that I was not really in the mood to play the xbox even though I had a chance to. Plus I was on the fairly rubbish television - but I play for the first time Gear Of War... now, I played Gear Of War 1... the first one. But I have to say, I don't get it. It is cool enough but I definately don't see what all the hype is about. I guess if I play more of it I will understand?

2012 - Day 30 - Jan 30

2012-02-01T20:49:00.001Z

You know, some days are unevenful. When a day like this happens there is really nothing to write about. Well, left me put it this way - there is always something to write about but I do not have the ability to make it in any way interesting!

The only thing of significance that happened today was that I was at Karate. It was as usual, of course, brilliant. Though and exausting and very worth while!

2012 - Day 29 - Jan 29 - Hugo

2012-01-29T21:50:00.002Z

Saw Hugo today with the kids and Linda in the cinema. First off, it is worth seeing? Well, yes... if you really like films. As in, if you like the history of films believe it or not. I went into the cinema expecting something like a mechanical Pinochio with magic and lots of CGI animation and drawn characters, like animation. It was none of this, and what is turned out to be was quite good infact.

There seemed to be like a bit of over acting from Chloë Grace Moretz at times and a few too may Speilberg-esk closeups to the very blue eyed Asa Butterfield . The adds threw me off when the film was first shown in Ireland. It is back now on the silver screens due to the Golden Globes and the Oscar (i think it has 11 nominations or something crazy like that). Anyway, while I know I will be happier coming out of the cinema after seeing Star Wars I The Phantom Menace 3D the 3D in Hugo was good and it was a good film.

Yeah.. 7.2 on the Donal Scale.... how do ya like me now Scorsese.

Lets think for a second... let me mark Hugo out of 10 on a few things:

Acting: 6/10

Sound: 7/10

Effects/3D: 8/10

Direction: 7/10

Production: 8/10

Total of 7.2/10

Interesting... I should mark more films like that.

Please comment!

2012 - Day 28 - Jan 28 - Modern Warfare finished.

2012-01-29T21:28:00.001Z

Finally, and amongst some confusion, I finished the single player campaign of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Thing is I was not expecting to finish is so soon... I had the TV and the xbox 360 moved into the sitting room (where there is a TV of course, but not one good enough for the xbox) and I was actually settled down for the night to play a good few solid hours of MW3 and I looked at my progress that said I was at around 50% through the game and then I began playing... then boom.

Game Over. I am not sure how to get 100% in the single player campaign?

But I am not ready! I am not ready to go online! Nooooo! It is too soon. Maybe tomorrow...

2012 - Day 27 - Jan 27 - Friday!

2012-01-29T21:20:00.001Z

W00t...

Friday... yippee it is Friday...

No, wait a second, it is not w00t. No, not w00t at all... today is the last day that we will be seeing Wallace and Dee, my (our) American friends. Wallace and Dee are in one way totally normal and but in another way very unique. From the very normal way I mean that as Americans in Ireland they are intelligent, wise, funny, interesting, entertaining and caring. Most if not all Americans that I have ever met are like this, both in America and in Ireland. This is what is normal about them. This is why as a nation I love Americans.

What makes them unique cannot be encapsulated by a boorish word wrangler such as I. Every time I ever spoke to them them both - I felt they were listening. Every time I asked for advice from them I felt they considered what I was saying and answered carefully. They went around their business passively but gave a hundred percent to what they were doing. They are generous (thanks for the lens), good cooks, good hosts, good at so many things this post would begin to turn into some kind of freaky homage to them should I carry on. Basically, they are good people. They are role models.

So we had a nice meal in Cavas with them in Galway city. Myself, Linda and a bunch of friends met up. It was nice. It was tasty.. man was it tasty (side note: if you have never been to Cava's, go there). It was a nice send of.

Wallace and Dee... see you again soon, well, somewhere around "2012 - Day 210".

2012 - Day 26 - Bail Out :(

2012-01-26T09:34:00.000Z

This youtube video, while brilliant and funny, says alot about the Irish mentality towards the bail out. Just watch it, it is not too long.

Please, leave your comments below... when you have finished crying.

2012 - Day 25 - Irish website hacked.. lol

2012-01-25T16:22:00.001Z

Yesterday the Department of Justice and Finance was has because they are going to attempt to enact "SOPA" style laws into legislation.

Wait a second... what the hell is SOPA? Here is a wiki explanation of what it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Basically SOPA is "Stop Online Piracy Act". The Acts aim was to give the American government (it was an American act) the ability to cut off funding of suspect sites, enforce tougher intellectual property law etc. All bad for pirate but also for those people who built the Internet on the philosophy that information should be free.

Well that the were the brave men and women of anonymous come in. I am not sarcastic either, I love them. They speak and are heard when other voices are drown out. Enda Kennys email was hacked too I believe. It is all kinda funny in a way.

2012 - Day 24 - Working on a website :(

2012-01-25T01:41:00.002Z

I have a sad smiley face on my post title but I am not really sad, it is just that it is so much work! So much work goes into a site that you are not in 100% control of. I learnt alot though. That is why I make websites, I love it and it pays the rent etc. But there is alot that I am still learning, and it takes time for the brains of this old man to process what he is looking at.

HTML... A scripting language... not a programming language...

But I had to miss my weekly gym night to make the website! When that happens it is not so cool...

2012 - Day 23 - Karate Kid (not)

2012-01-25T01:40:00.001Z

Oh yeah.. did Karate today.. it was very tough and brilliant. Exactly the way a class should be. Was fecked at the end of it though

2012 - Day 22 - Sunday morning Jog

2012-01-25T01:38:00.006Z

Today myself and Linda were late meeting up with the jogging club in Carrraroe so we had to catch up with them. It was cool and nice... going for a run with my loved one. You know, running with her...

...not away from her! :)

2012 - Day 21 - Lazy Saturday

2012-01-25T01:38:00.004Z

I played Modern Warfare 3 agains't Sheila and Nadia again. While we both kicked Sheilas ass Nadia gave me a good whoopin. I really should be better at games in general...

... but I am not....

2012 - Day 20

2012-01-25T01:38:00.002Z

2012 - Day 19

2012-01-25T01:37:00.001Z

2012 - Day 18

2012-01-20T00:40:00.001Z

I can't believe that I have done it. it being a bad thing in this case. I missed a karate class because I had work to do :-C so I worked and that sucked. i am not even going to write the work I did - that would give the work meaning in some way and it had no meaning. I did play more with the kids and that's good. but I missed karate

2012 - Day 17 - hmmm...

2012-01-18T13:25:00.000Z

Isn't it funny how many days in your life float by without you noticing it. My week is measured in the following way:

Monday - Karate
Tuesday - Gym
Wednesday - Karate
Thursday - Teacher/Board Games
Friday - Chill
Saturday - Get some house work done
Sunday - Jog/Chill

Thats a week. Those seven little line cover my whole week 1/52th of my WHOLE year in seven lines. Of course there are all the things in between - living life, caring for your family, work, eat, sleep etc. My point is that there are things we do - like I have outlined in the 7 days above - and then there are things we are.

None of the things above tell you really who I am. I could 3 foot tall or 7 foot tall from my seven day description. I could be a sadist or a saint but you could not tell from my seven day description. It tells nothing about who I am, what I like, what I do not like, who I like or dislike.

This really is not a nice image - why did I put it here?

But when it comes to judging people, and I do not mean that in a bad or good way, we tend to look at what they do. This can lead to alot of incorrect assumptions about people. I know that they only way we really can judge people is by what they do however. That is why a person should realise, if they want to be judged as close to whom they really are then they should act and do things in a way that represents them the closest.

The fact that I do exercise 4 times a week would outwardly say that I like exercise. Well, to tell the truth - I would prefer to sit on my ass and play computer games. But really I know that if I want to be still playing computer games in 60 years that I have to loose weight today. It is easy to project an image of yourself as being a kind of person. It is harder for you to project an image of who you really are.

2012 - Day 16 - The Guard

2012-01-17T01:00:00.002Z

last night we saw the guard. I have to say it was a very good film. I did not know that it was actually set in Connemara. I read a New York times review of it afterward that liked the film too but did point out some things about it that could be improved that I agree with. what it did not point out was the one bad thing in the film. a person answers the door speaking Irish and has funny quirky conversation. thing is, his Irish was crap! I thought his acting was terrible. considering the acting tallent there is in the west and the islands to carraroe to spideal it seems like a strange oversight. still it was a class film.

2012 - Day 15 - Blackwater

2012-01-15T23:42:00.000Z

How do I keep track of my days? If I say that today is day 15, I can look at my calendar and see that today is also Sunday the 15th January... so I have the end of January to be able to monitor this progress, but then in the middle of March when I am on Day 85 or something how will I be able to make sure that day 85 correlates to the actual 85 day of the year really... what if I miss a day by mistake, something basically that I have to figure out and keep an eye on, I am sure that there is a simple solution I am just not seeing it yet.

Anyway... onto something that is not 100% irrelevant. Ever hear of Blackwater, Xe. If I told you that Blackwater is after you would you be concerned. What if I told you that they are one of the biggest armies in the world and are, I believe, the 3rd biggest private army in the world. Who are their clients? Well Obama for a start. The USA have hired them for example in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do everything from being your private body guard to over throwing a pesky government that is getting in your way. They are primarily a business. Erik Prince, started - well co-founded, Blackwater (at the time the business was not named Blackwater) in 1997.

Now, private armies have always existed. Nothing new there. So why am I pointing out Blackwater, well I can see whole governments not bothering with the expensive business of training an army in the future, it is costly, your sending your boys and girls home in a body bag, no one wants that! People want to sit down, look at Sky television and pay their taxes. Your neighbour bothering you - call up Blackwater. But what happens if your neighbour (neighbour being another country by the way) is using Blackwater too? What does Blackwater do? Conflict of interest! The logical thing is that you would get the next biggest competition that Blackwater has, some other large huge mega massive private army and you get them to kick Blackwaters ass. But remember that this is business, money. It is only a matter of time before this situation arises that two huge private armies will have to battle each other. But what if the accounts for both armies realise that it is more beneficial for their armies to join up and make one huge army and over throw the countries that hired them? Again, remember that this is business.. from a financial point of view this would make since would it not? Take over a whole country yourself, it is what I would do.

I might be sounding crazy when I write that, but it is only logical that the scenario could happen. It is business.

2012 - Day 14 - Guppies

2012-01-15T04:31:00.000Z

We got a delivery of guppies today. Here is a picture of a guppy...

This is a mommy guppy.

2012 - Day 13

2012-01-15T02:54:00.001Z

I am writing this on my mobile. It is not actually too bad. So were allowed to kill intruders that come into your home now. Well use justifiable force to stop them. if that results in their death so be it. Do you think a person deserves to die if they break into your home?

2012 - Day 12

2012-01-13T01:21:00.002Z

I was walking through town and a G4S security van was changing money going out in a pub or hotel or something. But I was trying to make out their gun... are they Steyres? Definitely I have spelt it incorrectly even if I did the model correct. But today was a good weather day. Sun was shining everywhere. It created the since of spring in the air, people looked better, there was no traffic, Galway looked better.

Linda is doing piano lesson so I got this sustain pedal for the keyboard it uses, it does sound pretty good.

2012 - Day 11 - Bruce Lee

2012-01-13T01:13:00.001Z

Damn, I stayed up really late doing work today. It has sapped away all my energy to do any writing...

Bruce Lee simply rocked and he kicked ass.

But I did watch 2 films tonight! Inglorous Bastards and Enter The Dragon. I forgot to look for the "No Animals Were Hurt In The Making Of This Film" sign that comes at the end of the Enter The Dragon. There is a scene in it where the Master Bruce Lee is walking through the Colassium and for the plot to move along a cat runs down the steps and Bruce Lee sees the cat, the stair and runs up to the Big Boss (the one and only Chuck Norris) at the end.. just like a computer game. The funny thing is that the cat was obviously thrown down the stairs because the first frames the cat is in he/she is upside down. Maybe the cat was so excited that it was seeing Bruce Lee that it tripped. Then again, maybe it was just thrown.

I was thinking about Bruce Lee - he is the classic in 'Die young and leave a good looking body'. Imagen if he had grown old, what would he be like, I assume he would have made 10 brilliant more films.

2012 - Day 10 - Comments

2012-01-11T00:41:00.000Z

Ok folks... we're doing pretty good so far. Not an end of the world in site.

But there never is, is there? The worst things in life seem often to happen instantaneously. One second your walking around the place happy as Larry the next second your world is shattered... But with good stuff strangely enough, it seems to take ages. Like, "its a baby boy!" and your like 'ok... I am happy but this took nine months'. Or your house is finished! 'Ok... I am happy with this but THIS took 4 years.'

I'm just rambling now.... I'll stop.

Sorry Anonymous... your logo is cool. Please don't hurt me...

Hey you know what, feel free to leave comments... tell me with brutal honesty what you like or dislike about the blog. I would love to hear first hand, I love feedback... Or tell me something that is on your mind... something that bothers you. Something you feel some way about. I don't care what it is, you might not know me and you can leave your comment as Anonymous. This can be your place to say anything... I will comment on it.

(As another side comment, a hacker activists group exist called Anonymous. They rock. The mask above is one of their logos - from V for Vendetta. )

Drop me a line and get something of your chest.

2012 - Day 9 - I'm Old

2012-01-09T23:47:00.000Z

Ahh took down the Christmas tree today! Well, when I say "took down" implying that I had a great deal to do with it, I mean Linda did. I only threw it outside. There was a competition in Limerick I think, or Sligo, somewhere in Ireland where they had a Christmas tree throwing competition. The world record is for a chap in Germany that threw his tree 12 meters! The Irish record is 7. I threw it 4. Smeg... did I mention I was throwing it against the wind.

But onto the title... do you ever feel like you old? Are you old? I don't mean any of this "you're only as old as you feel" lark. I mean... what age are you. I am 35 (hmm... right?). Basically, I am closing in on 40. Funny thing age. You see I am actually very aware of my age. I look at myself in the mirror and I see a 35 year old looking back. I like to realise my age every now and again... when I do I think for a moment. This is my age. I am this old. I am this young. I use these times to accept my lot in life. In alot of cases I have exceeded my own expectations... in alot of cases I have come nowhere near them. I planned to be a millionare by the time I was 30.

I am not a millionaire :)

I would love to own a fantastic BMW or Merc... instead I drive a Fiat Punto that was gifted to me by a fantastically generous aunt. I constantly plan at being better at my job, but life gets in the way of studing... then I get tired... then I wake up and go to work, life, sleep, work, life, sleep....

But I have two kids that I would literally give the world for... never really pictured myself in this situation. I play Modern Warfare 3 on the 360 and I love it... I have of course Linda. My point is this. Every now and again I look at my life and I remind myself how finite it is. And when that happens I like to accept what I have, how I have it. Accept my situation. I don't look at the greener fields next door and go "why not me!". But I know alot of people do. But there is no point.

Of course it would be terrible to not want better for yourself, that is not what I mean.... you should want more and better for yourself all the time, no matter what age. What I am saying is that it is also ok to look at something and realise, well, I won't be doing that ever again, I am too old. There is nothing wrong with getting old. Prepare for it. Plan for it, enjoy it.

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." - Shawshank Redemption

When someone asks you your age do you proudly say you real age or give the joke "I am 16! ha ha!" or "I am 25" or "I am just 35!" answer. Well I would advise to enbrace your age. Look at what you have done. Remind yourself that what you have done up to now has moulded you into the person you see in the mirror. Be proud of that person like a child would be of their papa. You know the saying "The child is father of the man." You are the greatest thing you ever did. I realise this. I am proud of what I have done, in what I have botched up, and I will be proud of what I achieve in the future.

As for the Christmas tree, I look forward to chopping it up and enjoying it a bit more warming me up in the fire.

2012 - Day 8 - Freaky Minecraft

2012-01-09T12:00:00.002Z

This morning I went for a run with the fledgling running club that is in Carraroe. The club does not have a name. But we meet on Sunday mornings. So we met at 10:30am and I went for an 8k run... I ran it with Mart and I actually kept going! It was my longest run ever!

The scray crap are the two lads in the background, not the cute kitten that is about to be blown up!

I have a passion for Zooey Deschanel. I would watch her in any film and now she has her own television program.. whats it called again? That Girl or something, but 500 Days Of Summer was on and for some reason I was freaked out by it and I did not know why. Then I realised it is the guy that is in 500 Days Of Summer with Zooey... he was in Inception.... and the music of 500 Days and Inception are kinda similiar and both remind me of the mood of the game Minecraft!!! Thats what was freaking me out, I even told Linda that I did not want to keep watching 500 Days cause it was giving me an eerey feeling. That is the effect of the brilliant and strange Minecraft...

2012 - Day 7 - Sinead O'Connor Hate

2012-01-07T11:33:00.002Z

No prizes for guessing that this article is about. You know who I hate with a passion. Sinead O'Connor. She is the embodiment of everything bad, ignorant, ugly and distasteful of people in society. I really hate the way that this disturbed fractured mind is using sex and relationship to keep herself in the news. She recently announced that she was marring some poor plonker only to announce that she was divorcing him a matter of days later and now is announcing that she is not going to divorce him, or is reconsidering the divorce. Now personally I could not be bothered if she was run over by a 1800's size heard of buffalo migrating across a prairie in America so why am I writing about her.

It is a kind of therapy I guess, I dislike her so much I have to get it out of my system. I would call her the Moriarty to my Sherlock Holmes but the comparison to Moriarty and O'Connor would be a huge insult to the genius that was Moriarty. One of the reason I hate her so much is because Irish people like her so much.

Why do you all like her!!!!

Did she really say she could only be satisfied by multiple men at the same time!!! WTF people! Do you like to hear that about this lizard!? I was enjoying the radio going into Galway one morning and she and her dolt of a husband to be came on speaking like two twelve year olds "I love her so much" "he's the person for me". Its like when you see people on Facebook putting all the messages to each other saying how much they love each other and they are the only one. You know the message "can't wait to see you again babz", "hurting so much because I have not seen you in 2 minetz". Like Warf said in Star Trek 'empty barrels make the most noise'.

If no one talked about this woman I would be happy. But I guess it human nature to talk about strange and obscene things. I saw a video on youtube about this boy who had a huge, really massive zit on his shoulder of all places. His friends videoed him bursting it and made sure that they got all the horrible festering puss exploding out of it. When I hear her speak - she voice is this puss in my ears, when I see her face - it is this puss in my mind. In a seven degrees of Kevin Bacon kinda way someone who knows someone will read this who knows Sinead O'Connor... show her this article.

2012 - Day 6

2012-01-07T03:19:00.000Z

I was back at work today... Christmas is over I guess. Lights are coming down, being turned off. Today, Womans Little Christmas, was traditionally when women had one day off after working like slaves all December and up to now in the new year. Well after being at the Board Games Club in Galway last night and work today and my leaving my brothert in law John back to Galway (as he leaves for Spain) it has been a long couple of days. Indeed, I'm happy Christmas is over. Not in a grumpy negative way but in the way that we has Christmas, it turned out well all over and now I am ready to move on. Roll on Spring!

2012 - Day 5

2012-01-05T16:02:00.001Z

I am not feeling the best today. I think the whole holiday being over and everything has sunk in. I am back to work tomorrow so things are settling back into routine again. I like routine. In fact, when I do not have routine I kinda feel myself going a bit crazy.

My new office... no where near an xbox!

I have gotten a new "office" for myself, I say office very loosely because it is just a room in one of the family homes. The window that I look out used to have a fantastic view of the sea, now there is a view of a tree. I do not even know the type of tree is it. Sad, I should know, they are all over the place and at this house in particular. But that's the problem isn't it, we all really know nothing about our environment do we?

2012 - Day 4 - Colin McRae

2012-01-04T12:18:00.001Z

I actually loved watching Colin McRae drive. You know who he is? He was/is a World Rally Championship legend. Years ago, and I mean alot of years, like 10.. or Jesus, could it be around 15 years ago a Colin McRae game was released. I loved it. You could set the kind of tyres you wanted, the gearbox ratio, basically everything that would make the car go faster and better on the kind of road you were on. So if I was racing in England with lots of tarmac I would have a set up that would give me slower acceleration but more speed with certain tyres but if I was on the twisty dust roads of Africa I would have a quick acceleration but with less speed... you get the idea. Fast forward to today, Dirt 2 is the great great great grandchild of Colin McRae. I can say that definitely it is no where near as fun as the first one was. Sure the graphics are photo realistic, the car damage is incredible, and I can play my friends anywhere in the world - but it simply not as fun as the first one was.

Colin McRae - Legend!

It always happens. I remember my brother learning to play poker from an encyclopedia - not wikipedia - a book! We played it, it was good fun. Then after a while I played it a different bunch of people who changed their personalities when the cards were brought out. Seriously, the turned into men. Their expressions changed. They spoke differently. Basically they turned into tossers.

This is what success does to things. Not always, but in alot of cases success turns people and things into tossers. Colin McRae was class, fun, cool. A while later the franchise needed a facelift. It lost the fun element and turned very serious. Thats why also I laughed my ass off when I was looking at my daughter play Dirt 2. She was not taking it really seriously at all, she was crashing into everything, going over the edge of the road, playing it very not correct. And it was hilarious. It brought the fun back.

Colin McRae died in a helicopter crash in 2007. I was sad when he died. It was the end of an era or racing around the same time that I stopped really watching Formula 1.

2012 - Day 3 - Politics

2012-01-04T02:43:00.000Z

"One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is just a statistic."

Stalin said that not me. I am after watching, finally, the film about Hitler called Downfall. In it the director and script writers portray a powerful but disillusioned man who lived in his own dynamic reality. Hitler was in my opinion an idiot. But ultimately he came to be known for his career as a politician. Not as a soldier, a politician. In fact, the film says alot about World War II but not that many films point to the fact that the 50 million that died, did so because of politicians.

Do his eyes look extra evil in this picture?

But that was world war 2! That was 60 years ago. How are our politicians doing things differently today? What have we learnt? The governments that Ireland have had up to today encourages death, family violence, poverty and ignorance when it sooner gives money to a bank than to a hospital, or sooner gives itself a pay rise rather than providing more money for schools, or builds a stupid motorway instead of providing nursing homes for the elderly. Poverty and homelessness could have been eradicated in Ireland by now. It could have - can you truly say "it was more important to have a motorway from Dublin to Galway that it was to end homelessness in Dublin and Galway".

My point is this... of course we need roads, of course we need banks. I am not a fool, believe me I understand. It is just sometimes I see a film, or read a book about the past and I realize how much we have learnt.

We have learnt nothing.

But we are all to blame, just like the Germans stood by and did not as a whole stand up against Hitler. Of course they did not know how bad the situation was... nor did/do we. Politicians are people - politics is human nature.

2012 - Day 2

2012-01-03T01:57:00.001Z

Damn, talk about crappy weather. I woke up in the morning, got up, looked out the window and it was sunny and looked fantastic. I even said to myself that it was particularly good weather. So I walked directly up to the kitchen and it was pouring rain and windy and terrible. Its been like this all winter so far so I guess there is no reason for it change now is there.

Ireland - 9:01am

Ireland - 9:02am

Ireland - 9:03am

I played a bit more of Modern Warfare 3 today and I kept getting stuck on a level called Dome... now, when I say level, it is a part of the game where you choose a map, Dome, and wave after wave of enemies come after you. Basically, I suck at Modern Warefare :)

2012 - Day 1 - xbox360 and Steve Jobs

2012-01-02T03:29:00.000Z

Steve Jobs by Walter Iasscson

(Don't worry about the date - I am writing this late at night on January 1st)

So the first day of the new year eh! I am going to attempt again to have a blog entry a day for the whole of 2012. I hope to get a 100 readers for one of my pages at some time in this year too. To do that I will be writing on purpose about populous issues, such as the title here shows, I am mentioning the 360 and Steve Jobs.

About those two topics actually, I got an xbox360 for christmas. I got Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 too. However it took me a while to realise why I could not play multiplayer on either of those two games, I should have realised the common denominator! I did not have an xbox Live! account... well to be more specific an xbox Live! Gold account. I should have figured that I would have had to pay for that. But I got it anyway and I have played online and have gotten my ass royally handed to me.

Ohhh... this is what I got for Christmas!

Modern Warfare 3 kicks ass though, I had some friends over the other night and we all played it for a few hours and I have to say it was a brilliant night. So to Steve Jobs, I have gotten the Walter Isaacson book entitled the said Steve Jobs. I love the book. If you own and Apple product, you should read it. If you work in computers - you should read it. If you want a business book on how to handle people - you should read it. Am I making my point here yet? I love computer history anyway, so this book is a no brainer for me. With that said, I had not bought it myself and it was infact a present for Christmas.

So what are my resolutions? Hmm, well fill in this blog for one thing. Also, I want to drop to 15 stone. That is a big ask since I am hovering around 16 stone. So basically loose a whole stone weight. Like, if i were 14 stone and 13 pounds or something I would be happy. Well I would be delighted. But it is going to take a whole change of eating habbit and life style, alot of which I have already begun in 2011 so it is just a matter of buckling down and following though and other saying that having to do with exercise.

I also have to get better at my job. I work in the field of website creation. Basically, become alot better at what I do. Be more reliable.

In fact, that is a big thing. If something has to be done, do I need to do it? If so I should do it as soon as possible - and finish the bloody thing straight away. Again with the follow through. Most of all with most things I need to get my mind in order, I have so many things flying around in my mind it is impossible for me to focus on one thing. That's why I find it hard to finish stuff? Are you like this, do you find it hard to finish things?

Well I better finish this post. See you again tomorrow, and the day after... and the day after etc. etc.

Happy New Year!

My weight...

2011-12-21T21:37:00.000Z

I was at one point 17 stone something... I think 17.5 stone.. thats around 245 pounds or 111.36kilograms. Then I realised... I am going to die sooner than I need die if I keep on gaining weight. I will get diabetes... or a heart attack... or something. So I made a few changes. Nothing difficult at first, I started looking at what I was eating. I got a notebook and wrote down everything I ate for a few days. Then I wrote down the amount of calories all these things had in them.

Can of Coke Cola.... how many calories? 2 slices of white bread, how many calories? Funny how quickly all food changes from this yummy thing you ate that really you never thought about to this thing... this product that adds weight on to you.

This is not me.... This is Arnold Schwarzenegger!

But I am realistic. I know that if I have a good work out and then have a cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards that I have pretty much undone my workout. You have to do something here. Be consistent... ve-ry con-sis-tent. Either do not diet at all! Or be 100% on your diet.

Well being 100% on it is very difficult, I would say I am around 70% on it. I do kinda watch what I am eating now. I still eat lots of crap.. why? Because I like eating crap. But I know that I am going to have to bust my ass working it off again.

Which takes me onto my last point... and it is very simple. Unless you exercise you will not loose weight. Well at least that was true for me. I try to get a good bit of exercise in a week, in any way that I can. Walking up stairs, not taking the lift. Doing karate. Walking to the shop if it a reasonable walk instead of taking the car. Going to the gym.

So in the space of around half a year I have lost over a stone and a half. It is not easy. It is slow... painful. But at least I regularly weigh in around 16 stone or half a pound under, like 15 stone 13 1/4 or 224 pounds around. I lost 21 pounds. My aim is to get to between 15 and 15 and a half stone. At least if I get a heart attack, or something, I can say... like Jack Nicolson in 'One Flew Over The Cookoos Nest' when he tried and failed to throw the sink across the room, "at least I tried".

My most popular post ever!

2011-12-16T10:30:00.001Z

Follow this link then get back to me here....

http://carraroeandthecity.blogspot.com/2010/09/34-years-old-15-days.html

Back yet?

That post my most popular post ever... weighing in at an awesome 61 views for that one page! Yes people.. Marts finger dressed up as a little person! The average amount of people that click on my site is around 7, 8 for each page. My aim in the next year is to get 100 views for some page and have an average of 30 - 40 for each page. But you never know what people like.. I never would have figured Marts finger as the most popular thing on my blog :)

PS - Now that page is at 64 views!!! :) - 19/12/2011

Page A Day For 2012!!!!

2011-12-15T14:54:00.000Z

I have made up my mind.. I am going to do it. I am going to try to follow through with it this time. Last time I tried it I was in a "bad place" in my mind.

So what is it that I am talking about. Well for my 34th year on Earth I tried to fill in this blog - an entry every day. But I realised that there were loads of problem with the approch that I was taking. I was going it more like a diary - I can see now in hindsight - whereas it should have been more like a magazine that like minded people to myself would read.

There was also alot of stuff happening in my life and it was really really hard to find the time and the inspiration to do the page a day. I was closing down I business, well 2 business! We were dealing with banks, I was gaining alot of weight with stress... ahhhh! the whole thing.

But thank the lord all that is behind me. I have the best friends in the world and I now worry about very little indeed. I am now definately in a "good place".

The first entery for the 2012 thing will be on January first..... and assuming that we world has not ended the last will be on December 31st. Every post will be titled the new title + the day (+ any interesting topic in particular I am writing about). So... what title will I give my 2012 page a day project? Any suggestions? Please do leave a comment and tell me what you think.

What defines an English person...

2011-12-13T16:14:00.000Z

Just for the record I have nothing agains't anyone English, but come on... this is funny....

New .xxx domain available

2011-12-09T13:36:00.000Z

You know, mnow that I think about it, its funny that xxx domains were not around before now. In case you do not know what I am talking about a domain is a name given to a name of a website on the internet. So I have the domain cupantae.ie - the .ie at the end there says it is an Irish registered company. I also own lonelyatoms.com... the .com does not mean it was bought anywhere in particular but it is the most common domain extension.

So, enter the .xxx domain. Why have a domain that is so obviously sex orientated. There are many different types of domain extensions, .org, .mil, .co.uk, .edu... they all say something about the type of domain that you are looking at. Now, sex is massive seller on the internet. It generates alot... I mean ALOT of money in case you did not know. So if I chose to open up a sexually orientated website I would actually find if difficult to find a fitting domain, a .ie domain does not exactly sound like a whole lot of fun whereas .xxx clearly sounds sexually orientated. The difference is clear for example when you compare full domains... buns.ie sounds like a nice little business where I would imagen a little kitchen that churns out homemade quality tasty pasteries, scones etc...

Now compare that to buns.xxx!

Battles - Icecream

2011-12-07T08:43:00.001Z

I was thinking "I shouldn't put this video up". Its obviously a video for guys - well no, aimed at guys, but for whom ever. You know, there are good looking girls everywhere in it, some of those girls are licking nobs... yes. Then I realised, I don't really care what haters think. You got something agains't hot chicks? Funny how I feel like a bit of a sleeze posting this... Whats wrong with me? It is actually a good video. I know I sound like the guy who says he reads Playboy for the article, but I am too tired to care :) I just got an hour sleep last night!

Getting a game for the PC

2011-12-02T11:10:00.001Z

There are a few ways to get a game for your PC... note that in the title of this post I did not call it, "Purchasing a game for the PC" I called it "Getting...."

First way is to download the game though a torrent. Go to a site like like torrentz.com, look for the product you are looking for (anything and everything will be here so be carefull if you know what I mean) in the search bar on the top of the page, ensure that you have utorrent downloaded and installed before hand and bang you are away.

Second way is to purchase the game in a shop. You walk in to the shop and speak to a human, you hand over your plastic card or paper cash and gives you a physical disk in return.. you have your game.

Third way is to download the game (legally this time!) through an online store. I am going to say, but it is open to disagreement, that there are two major players here. First is Steam - hundred of top quality games can be found here and Steam is owned by Valve that have the Half Life game franchise as their cash cow. The second is the newer Origin by EA (Electronic Arts). Now while Valve is a famous and big enough software development company they are nothing in size and mass to EA. Value is the X-Wing to the EA Deathstar... it is the speed of sound to the speed of light that is EA... you get the picture. Both have website that are worth checking out so that you will be in the know if you are not already...

Steam is at SteamPowered.com

Origin is at Origin.com

Scientists invent the lightest thing ever....

2011-11-21T08:25:00.000Z


Yes it is sitting on top of a dandelion!

Boffins have invented this "ultralight metallic microlattice," 100 times lighter than styrofoam. While there is no actual specific use for it yet... its worth it for the picture alone is it not?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/lightest-material-on-earth.html?track=lat-pick

A picture of a warsaw ghetto

2011-11-16T12:43:00.000Z

I came across this picture just now. On my iGoogle home page I have 'what happened in this day in history' gadget.... So on this day:

"Nazis imprison 380,000 people in the Warsaw Ghetto." It is accompanied with the following picture...

It is a very telling image. I can say nothing that has not been said before of course, but what sticks out for me in this image are the kids. As my kids get older I realise what they understand at certain ages. And more importantly what they do not. Sure, a kid in this picture would understand that the soilders with guns meant bad news and that they (the kids) should just do what their parents were doing. But they do not understand the bigger picture.

It is just a really sorry image. A brilliant picture that tells a terrible story. A story that should have finished 60 years ago but never did...

Most Advanced Robot - I love you Asimo

2011-11-14T15:51:00.000Z

Wow, look at this, it is fantastic and makes me actually happy to see it, he makes me smile - he is so amazing. Look at Asimo here running, hopping on one foot, and carefully opening a flask of juice and pouring it out. Brilliant and cute!

Asimo is a robot (well a series of robots really) that Honda have been working on for a few years. This video shows the latest that this amazing little robot can do...

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1264811886001/most-advanced-robot-ever/?playlist_id=162838

Earth calling Austin....

2011-11-11T09:36:00.001Z

I have a land line number. I am going to X out some of the numbers so that stranger will not be calling me, but rest assured my number is something like 869XXX

However I like in county Galway so the area code there is 091. So my number is 091 869XXX.

Now Ireland is a country in a phone network, and Ireland needs to be identified by its own code. The code for Ireland is 353. So our number now becomes 353 91 869XXX, you knock off the 0 of the 091. Now to be more precise, our number is actually 0035391869XXX, the 00 is often not written in and is just replaced with a + sign, so you might see our number, if it were written on a website that needed to be able to be called from anywhere in the world it would be +35391869XXX.

Now take that a tiny bit further... some day people will colonise the moon. They definately will some day. And Mars... they definately will. So will Earth now have an area code? And the moon and Mars? And if so, will our moon be a part of the Earths area code? We might say, the Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun, so Earths new area code is 03, so now my new number would be 0335391869XXX, or +335391869XXX.

But Mars would be 04... so if i had a business on Mars, and I wanted people to call me my number could be +4 XXX XXX XXXX XXXX

But what then of Moons? Should they have their own planetary area codes? Or should our moon be lumped in with our planet Earth? We have 1 moon so maybe our moon could be area code 01... so maybe if I were on the moon, lets say with my current number, it might be 0301 (see my planet, my moon) followed by my number... so it would be +40135391869XXX.

But then it get kinda complcated... ok, we have a nice clean planet. We have 1 moon. Mars has 2 moons.. Phobos and Deimos. So if I were living on Deimos my number would be 040235391869XXX... obvious! But what if I were living on an asteroid on Saturn? Also, we are 1 sun in a galaxy of billions! And there are billions of galaxies!

Call my brother who lives in the delta quaderant! Now thats gonna be a phone number... but I hope we have skype.. otherwise the bill is going to astronomical!

Eyes Wide Shut

2011-11-04T08:50:00.002Z

Hey blogger has changed its interface a good bit. I don't know if it looks different when the blog is published but from my side, where I am writing the blog it looks pretty cool! It told me that for example, my blog has had 4998 hits! Cool.. you are probably reader number 5000+. Nice....

Friday morning, I am feeling awake because last night before going to bed nice and early I did a good 20 to 25 minutes of exercise and had a shower. All that equates to a good nights sleep.

On the radio this morning I heard the piece of music, I was listening to Lyric FM by the way.... it is from Shostakovich - Jazz Suite No. 2. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=tSBRrvzTpGw

Depending on how much of a Stanley Kubrick fan you are you might primarily know it from his (what I now call good film when referneced from my minds eye) 1999 film "Eyes Wide Shut".The youtube link I have provided here shows fighter planes flying and blowing stuff up. But look at the planes, beautiful. The footage is not the best, but still cool.

So thats it... talk again soon... and by the way, the piece of music is 3:42 in length. Take the time to listen to it. Its nice.

How big is our sun... small, thats how big!

2011-10-26T14:15:00.000+01:00

I came across this YouTube video today... look at it... it puts into perspective how small Earth is... how tiny we are in the Universe... now, people go on alot about "we're nothing compared to the nature" or "we know nothing about the Universe" or "when you see how big the Universe is only God could have made it!"

I am not saying any of those because I am of course a pantheist. What I am saying is... Cooooooooool.... the Universe is amazing and beautiful...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4iD-9GSW-0&feature=related

You know what, I am going to throw the defination of Pantheism in here as well...

"Pantheism is the view that the Universe (Nature) and God (or divinity) are identical.^[1] Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek (pan) meaning "all" and the Greek (theos) meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of relating to the Universe.^[2] Although there are divergences within Pantheism, the central ideas found in almost all versions are the Cosmos as an all-encompassing unity and the sacredness of Nature."

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism

Kronum - New game for new era of athlete... hmmm

2011-10-19T16:00:00.000+01:00

What... anyone ever hear about this sport? It seems like a Mickey Mouse sport in that it seems like a sport that kids would make up when they are bored.. however, seeminly it is kinda popular.... I'm showing it here aren't I.

Here is a video from yahoo that explains it..
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/article/44729/

Kronum Pitch...

Here is a link on wikipedia about it... very new sport too evidently...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronum

Kronum = 8 points (evidently)

X-Ray Vision

2011-10-19T08:46:00.000+01:00

While we are a long way from popping on your x-ray vision glasses and watching what your neighbours are up to by "looking" at them through the wall the boffins at MIT have invented an x-ray machine that shoots over 40 beems of radiation through a wall. In the process of doing this around 99% of the energy of the radiation is lost but enough of it comes back bouncing off people that are inside the room you are looking at. Again, when the signal bounces back through the wall again around 99% of the energy is lost again leaving the remaining radiation that is picked up again by the machine that shot it in the first place very low... but it is still enough energy to be able to pick is signature image of a moving (assuming it is moving) person or animal.

Want a better explination! Go here and the coolness in action.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/science-research-radar-mit-military,news-12921.html

While this is very primitive at the moment think of what this will be like in 10 years!

Space Law - Official Page!

2011-10-10T08:16:00.000+01:00

I came across this page this morning. It is about what countries are and are not allowed to do in space. The link is here:

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html

Basically is says that space belongs to no one State or person. It is cool. Worth the read, well, the read of the home page anyway at least, as that is all I have read.

Some of the crap we say...

2011-07-30T19:10:00.001+01:00

You ever think about some of the crap we say? Special K have an add at the moment where the voice over of a woman says, "it's a woman perogative to change her mind".

Now, come on. Why? Because your a woman? Why do you say your allowed to change your mind... think about it. To me it sounds really insecure to say "I am a woman I am allowed to change my mind!!!!". How would it sound if I stood in the middle of Carraroe and said "I am a man... I am not having Coke after all, I am having 7-Up!". People would look at me and say "crazy damn fool".

So the reason that it is acceptable for women to say "it is a woman perogative to change her mind" is simply because people before her have said it. It is thick. It is silly for a person to stand up and exclaim something like that.

(Of course really it is neither silly nor smart - it is just a meaningless utterance that is given a meaning by those that hear it.)

But it makes you think.. what else do we utter? What other sewage comes out of our mouths? (And before you make reference to this blog ask your self whom is worse, he who feeds the sewage or he who eats it!) How many other things do we say on a daily basis that really means nothing? Now the answer to this is that in one way, nothing we say actually means anything does it? Words only have a meaning becuase we have given them a meaning. Right. But with that said, some words, some sentences are more dangerous than others.

For example, my bugbear in Carraroe is the Irish language issue (didn't know it was an issue - well it is). In Carraroe we "should" speak Irish. Oh! Oh sorry. We should. I forgot that eleventh commandment - "And when thou arth in Carraroe in the year of our lord 2011AD speak Irish or I shall teareth thee a new ass holeth". You see some "shoulds" should be looked at again and questioned. I come a philosophical background where there it is said that "the unquestioned life is not worth living". It is a pretty powerful statement.

Oh course with most of my areguements, the are subjective... if you disagree - good. If you agree - good. All I am saying is this - listen to what you are saying and listen really to what people are saying to you. A shocking amount is meaningless, but it is the meaningless that we live by. Talk about the weather, who died, who is born. But some is not meaningless and it is dangerous, and takes away our freedom and erodes away our rights. Words might flow over you like water off a ducks back but there are other people who place words carefully to make you think that their thoughts are your own. These are the dangerous people. When you have read this please take a moment to think. Is there anything that you disagree with? Does someone agree with it? Why do you disagree with this? Is someone slowly spoon feeding your mind with poison and killing your independant thought?

Bounce Rate...

2011-07-26T09:42:00.000+01:00

My bounce rate is 70%

What does that mean. Well I have st up Google Analytics and it monitors my site cupantae.ie. Google Analytics set me what country the person that visited my site was from. It tells me how long they stayed on the site. It tells me basically everything that I need to know about the traffic that goes through my site. Now, when a person lands on my site and does not click any of the links on the page, in other words, they do not stay on my site at all (and in my case there are only a few lines of text on the site so I know that they simply find those lines either interesting and they click on them or boring and leave my site) this is called bouncing.

If I have a bounce rate of 100% that means that NO ONE clicked on any of the links on my site! At the moment I have a bounce rate of 70%... so 3 out of 10 people do like what they see when they land on the site and the click on more links. Now, I could make my bounce rate down to 10% if I wanted by putting links to sex sex sex, porn, fast cars, guns... but you know what... I am not that type of person.

Well, yet anyway...

Artifical Intelligence Program on the web...

2011-07-21T11:27:00.000+01:00

I love these... some day I will have a conversation with a command line on a computer screen and I will not know if I am speaking to a computer program or real person. This is not because I am weak of mind, but because the artifical intelligence of the computer has become so good you cannot tell who you are speaking to.

To see two of these programs at work go to the following sites:

http://www.jabberwacky.com/

http://www.cleverbot.com/

Enjoy them, take a moment and try to have a real conversation and see what happens. It is fun... but soon it will be so real it will be scary...

Website Updated

2011-07-21T08:40:00.000+01:00

I have updated my cupantae.ie website. I have shaven it back, back, back to the bare essentials of what I want on it. I have begun working with Joomla. Joomla is a content management system (CMS) and I think that will use such a program to work with my website creation. What I wanted from my websites was to learn Javascript, PHP, CSS and even if I use a CMS I will still be learning all these programs, as well as learning a CMS.

I have learnt reciently that alot of CMS' are the same in conept, the way that they are set up, so it is of course good for me to begin using one. It gives a fuller picture of how the whole Internet thingy works, which should be handy should the internet ever catch on.

So I have added new pictures to my lonelyatom.com site. Check them out. I was doing my lonelyatoms site manually too, as in typing in all the script by hand but it too time consuming. So again, mostly for lonelyatoms sake I will be utilizing a CMS.

Thats it, I miss writing here. I love it and I miss it.

34 Years Old + ? Days

2011-07-05T21:02:00.000+01:00

Not the most flattering picture for what is a great achievement of a billboard for Linda. Cool isn't it...I, for one, am impressed! Its almost like the letter jump out at you too.... cool!

34 Years Old + X+Y Days

2011-07-03T18:06:00.001+01:00

Its a day down at the beach. there is alot to observe.. look at. there is a seagull standing
down by the sea shore, looking around. hes probably thinking the same thing. there is alot to
see. and it nice and quiet, for some reason, there is no one here. i don't know where they are,
but they are not at the beach, maybe there is a game on or something. i am at the grave yard
beach in carraroe, beside the seagull there are two wooden polls and on the topof them are huge
signs say "Subsea Power Cable" and there is a picture of an anchor with a line through it that
means "Do Not Anchor Your Boat Here - You could feck up either your boat or the cable." Of
course wouldn't you know it, there is a boat anchored exactly where the cable must be. Water
cover I think 70% of the earths surface, why did he have to park exactly there!?

Makes you think about sign though. At this same beach there are more signs "Coasc or Dhumpáil
Fineail €3000" If you put "ail" after english word you have the new Irish language - see - no
need for the Acadamh afterall! But on the other signs on the beach say "No Campfires", "No
Tents", and "No Campervans". I think that is what they say. Thing is they are open to
inturruptation. They are only pictures. Course, maybe they should be written, you know, as in
in words "Do not set up tent here". But then again that is not fair becuase alot of the people
in the state of Ireland are not able to read, did you know that. Rest assured your not one of
them if you are reading this, don't worry. But it is the states respondsibility to ensure that
you can read.

So what would happen if I walked down to the beach, and I could not read - and because I do not
read I would not observe the campfire with a line through it, becuase studies have shown that
alot of people that cannot read are less inclined to observe signs because they are not in the
habit of it. Why would they be, you usually read signs. So you start a little fire, nothing
major, you not going to glass the earth or anything (Halo fans understand this - otherwise look
up the properties of Glass + Silicon + Beach Sand). So there I am with my little fire and a
Garda comes and fines me €3000. Which at the moment I cannot pay so I would have to get free
legal aid. And If i were not able pay for my fine at all I would have to be imprisioned I
guess, which is even more cost to the state. Of i would not be fined and I would be just let
go, which is a waste for the state toput up the sign at all in the first place.

So, even at the beach, when it is nice and quiet, no one around, there is alot to observe. I
observe how there is one sign that is really relevant seemingly that is being ignored (the boat
anchored over a line that could send him to the moon if he snags it) and I see a sign that
there is just too much administration in some cases. Who gives a good god damn if i have a fire
at the beach. And I would clean up after myself - but do you think that this sign is going to
stop people who would have messed up the beach otherwise from messing it up? Of course not.

34 Years Old + X Days - Lost things

2011-06-29T08:26:00.001+01:00

What day is it?

I started the year long blogging project as a test. Could I keep it going for a year... Sadly it seems that I could not. But it did not happen as I expected. A few weeks ago I did not know what was happening to me. All of a sudden I would loose a day, writing the blog, I would not fill it in for a day, but then I would catch up. Then once I realised that I had not updated it for a few days, and I said, well this is too much to do right now. I will have to do it when I have some time.

Some time... How many good intentions have been lost in the sea of "some time"?

Now it does not matter what happens, I can never go back and really fill in those days. I have some regreat, now of course I wish I did keep my little project going. I had a few regular readers and I know I have to some degree disappointed them by simply stopping. Sorry guys.

But there is really a lesson here. And I have already learnt this in a few aspects of my life. Tomorrow is really just a concept. The 4th Dimension - it is time. One will never be "in" tomorrow. I planned my blog in "tomorrow". Thats why my project failed. So now, I will see over the next few days what I will do regarding my blog. But I know one thing... it is great to be back.

34 Years Old + 254 Days

2011-05-19T08:32:00.000+01:00

Wednesday,

Karate again today. This was our last class before the grading on Saturday. I am nervous becuase there are still so many little things that I am still botching up. But by 11:30am on Saturday it will all be over.

34 Years Old + 253 Days

2011-05-18T08:04:00.001+01:00

Tuesday

Her Majesty the Queen Elizibeth II came to Ireland today. I don't know if she ever stepped foot on offically Irish soil before. What I find, did find in the past, and will find in the future, annoying is people that give out about the Queen. If I came across someone who hated a country and because of the hatred to that country never bought their produce, never supported them in any way, didn't sing their songs, but still knew their history, I would respect their opinion to hate them. I would not hate them myself becuase of their opinion, I make up my own mind (and I believe that hating anything or anyone makes no sense).

So you have the "Anglo-Irish" situation. The Queen visited to bridge relations between the two countries. Definately there have been bad days in our history. But at this state in the relationship it tiresome to hear people protesting about the whole thing. And I know that Irish people still have strong emotions about the death of family members caused by the English government, but are you going to hold onto this forever? Are you ever going to say, "we still await an appology - but we will welcome the Queen". If not why not? Well what are you doing sitting on your ass then? Go an do something about your missing apology - do it and get over it.

I might sound ignorant here but I do not care. I have children and the moment they do not know hate. But they will learn of it eventually. And myself and Linda will teach them that hate is not good and it only hurts those who harbour it. Please, if and when they do learn it, let it not be from my own country people. Is that your aim? To hate the English monarchy so much that you will chew up and blacken the souls of the young so that they too will not live, but exist in that erie twilight of ignorance and fear that hate breeds? Thats worse than anything Queen Elizzibeth ever did to me....

34 Years Old + 252 Days

2011-05-17T23:22:00.001+01:00

Monday..

Power is a funny thing, it is a double edged sword really. To get to be really powerful you have to, usually, behave in a manner that exerts your "power". Someone who is in charge of a large company didn't get there by just being nice, I believe that getting to the top of the ladder involves opening alot of doors for yourself... not waiting for other people to open them for you. Of course in the same manner, alot of door are closed behind you too, and sometimes this makes enemies.

Look at the now famous case of DSK, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Leader, managing director of the IMF (International Monetery Fund). The guy had money, lots of money by the way. He had fame. He had security, or at least that is what is seemed like. He was well respected and liked, and possibly would have been the next president of that most fantastic nation of breads and snails, France. He had power. So did he or did he not imprision a chamber maid in his room for a while? He he sexually abuse her in some way? I certainly do not know, nor do many people at this point. But as Aristotle said, there is no use in having a skill potentially. You only have the skill if you use it actually. Maybe in a moment of madness SDK put his power into practice.

I agree in using your power if you have it. But like a gun that too is powerful, do not shoot your self in the foot. Use the power to control people for good. Aim the gun at the pleb masses not at the innocent chamber maid. But look at me rambling on again, who said she was innocent for example. I was just thinking what an interesting thing power is. How would I manage it if I had it?

34 Years Old + 251 Days

2011-05-15T23:15:00.000+01:00

Sunday,

We were at a dedication today. What is a dedication you ask. Well the parents of the child, baby, that was being dedicated have their beliefs, like all of us. They are not however "stamping" one religion on the child. When the kid grows old he can then choose the path that he wishes to walk himself. What the parents will do is enable him best they can to find the true path.

I like it, it is probably one of the most civilized approches to religion I have ever heard of, and today, have seen in person.

Large on the interest radar today was the news that Builin Blasta has opened up today. This was of course previously cupantae.ie that I used to own. It was strange to tell the truth. I set up the business, it failed. Now someone else is taking over. Thats kinda what it feels like. But I wish him well, I am really happy Bobby is in there and I am delighted to have a cafe in Carraroe again for the people to go to.

34 Years Old + 250 Days

2011-05-15T22:51:00.000+01:00

Saturday...

It was First Communion day in Carraroe today. My nephew was there, Carribre - he was brilliant. He did some reading in the beginning of the mass. There was some food in the hall of the school afterwards, which was nice becasue it kinda takes the need for people to have to go out for big dinners out of the equation. I think alot of people just went home and had a nice meal with the family there. We went down to Malis and had a lovely day there.

Later on in the night I went down to Mart and played some xbox with 2 friends and Mart. That was cool cause we played Halo Reach and we only just this night played the Race mode on it, I have to say that the race mode is fantasic. We had even raced some of the same race maps before when we were playing slayer, the kid of free for all mode.

34 Years Old + 249 Days

2011-05-14T18:36:00.001+01:00

Friday,

Yeah.. the end of the week! i love weekends, they rock. Not that I have anything agains't you sweet Monday to Thursday, but the weekend means so much when that is, chill the beans. Today we went up to Marts and played us some Settlers Of Catan (google that) and we saw one of the funniest films ever, "Dale and Tucker vs Evil) google it!

It was a good night.

34 Years Old + 248 Days

2011-05-14T18:33:00.001+01:00

Thursday..

Every Thursday for the last few months, more or less every Thursday that is, we have been meeting up in Galway city in a place called the Hacker Labs in unused commercial unit beside the Revenue office across from the Radisson. The place was called 091 labs. We met up there for out board games club. Now lately it was just getting into swing, last Thursday, we had 18 people. That actually is pretty good. Thats 3 whole 6 player board games. This Thursday we had a good showing as well but we were met with some sad news, they Hacker lab is moving, they are currently looking for a new place to set up in town.

In case you are wondering what all the talk is that I am doing about the Labs, check out their website:

http://091labs.com/

34 Years Old + 247 Days

2011-05-14T18:25:00.003+01:00

Wednesday...

Karate again, the realisation that karate grading is in two weekends time was hitting home. We practiced katas, basic moves. And practiced, and practiced.

34 Years Old + 246 Days

2011-05-14T18:24:00.001+01:00

Tuesday...

Visited a friend in town, Barry. We talked about some guitar playing. we both used to play guitar tiny bits when we were younger, not that much younger, we lived in town in the same apartment. It was a cool apartment looking over the docks. I had begun learning the names of the boats, and to learn the tides, as the window of my bedroom was overlooking the docks itself. It was cool.

34 Years Old + 245 Days

2011-05-14T18:20:00.001+01:00

Monday...

I have karate lessons in the hall in Carraroe every Monday and every Wednesday until the end of the season before summer students take over Carraroe. Normally it is just Monday, but we were getting a few extra classes in before it ends. But the funny thing is, I am going on a pre marrage course in three weekends time. Now I was mean to have done it by now but we had karate grading at the same time! So the pre marrage took the back seat. Now, we have karate grading again a week saturday. When the instructor told me I was thinking "oh crap... I can't possibly put off the karate again.... I am going to miss grading :( ". Of course then I realised that the karate grading was on the weekend BEFORE. Linda isn't at all anrgy, but I think she woudl have deserved to give me a black belt quality beating if I renaged on my marrage course again. Luckily she not that, just for the record.

34 Years Old + 244 Days

2011-05-14T18:09:00.001+01:00

Sunday,

We had a coool day today with the kids, we went into Galway with the kids and we saw Winne The Poo film. The kids loved it and I love it because A) the film was really cheap and B) the film was FREE for adults and only €2.50 each for kids. You can't beat that value.

The we came out to Carraroe and had a fine free dinner at dads place. I say free but that does not mean that we usually have to pay for it... it just means maybe, the best things in life are free?

34 Years Old + 243 Days

2011-05-14T18:04:00.001+01:00

Saturday

Played settlers....

34 Years Old + 242 Days

2011-05-14T18:03:00.002+01:00

Friday....

We hosted a dinner at our house for some friends, it was cool. We had lovely food and desest the night was spent singing. The kids ended up going to sleep at an increadibly late 11:30pm! It was an excellent night though...

34 Years Old + 241 Days

2011-05-14T18:01:00.002+01:00

Thursday...

Good board games club in the Labs today in galway city... http://091labs.com/ There were 18 people...

34 Years Old + 240 Days

2011-05-14T18:00:00.002+01:00

Wednesday....

Karate! I loved it! It was a nice class....

34 Years Old + 239 Days

2011-05-10T08:35:00.001+01:00

Tuesday

My first day back in town again, doing what I do. Making websites. Thing is I am so busy during the week that my blog takes the hit.

34 Years Old + 238 Days

2011-05-08T20:03:00.002+01:00

Monday....

Osama Bin Laden Dead!

That is one scumbag I am happy to hear about being dead. I was in Boston on September 10th 2001 Bin Laden. I watch the telly and I was listening to the radio as your little idiots crashed their second plane into the Twin Tower. You lived in fear all your life and you ruined peoples lives. I am impressed with the Americans that shot you dead that they treated you so well. What I know about Muslim makes me understand that it is not a tool that should be used to make people hate. In my belief system there is no one god external to the universe, and I do not think that there is any good or bad. Therefore I think that bin Laden was neither good nor bad. I simply think he was just a rich man that abused people. He was a sick idiot. Well now he's dead. To talk more about him is to almost pay him hommage in some way.

Freedom 1 : Fear 0

34 Years Old + 237 Days

2011-05-08T11:22:00.000+01:00

Sunday...

Cleaned the house and went to loughlow Farm. We all had a fantastic time but Sophie spraned her ankle.

34 Years Old + 236 Days

2011-05-08T11:20:00.000+01:00

Saturday....

34 Years Old + 235 Days

2011-05-08T11:19:00.005+01:00

Friday...

Today was the Royal Wedding Day of William and Kate. I have no idea what they are the Prince and Princess of, but for the record I think that it is really cool that England is carrying on this tradition of Royal weddings, anyone thought that really knows me knows that I really believe that the monarchy is not run properly in England. Are some a nazi scum wannabe? Happy slapped someone and robbed their mobile phone? Rapist feeling a bit horny? Chop off the offending appendage in each case. What is the government for? Try to make sure the badness does not happen in the first place, but if it does, do something about it. William, grow a pair of balls. Don't let spitting image make a mockery of you. Respect is earned in alot of ways, but none as sure as fear. When I hear someone in Carraroe complain about the queens visit later on May this year I first roll my eyes to the heavens on hearing it, and I hang my head in shame in thinking of the lack of respect people have for the Queen in England.

Interesting, I got a comment on this post before the post was even finished! :) Yes, I watched it kinda in the background. I looked at it in a "oh, what this could be" kind of way...

34 Years Old + 234 Days

2011-04-29T01:03:00.000+01:00

Thursday...

Linda went over to the ceardlann today for a while, and in that time I folded some clothes, studied some php, and practiced my first two katas. I felt really good after the katas and the study. We were meant to go into town to the board game club but it was cancelled as we were not sure if there was going to be a key holder for 091 labs (where we have our games). So Mart, Marielle, Rick but also PJ and Decco came over, it was cool and good in equal measure. Linda could not play as she was busy :(

Good day.

34 Years Old + 233 Days

2011-04-29T00:56:00.000+01:00

Wednesday...

I turned up, and very much looking forward to karate but it turned out that it actually was not happening today afterall, I landed back at the house and hung up my karate suit again, I realised that of all the clothes I own, and indeed of all the things I own, my suit and belt are some of the things I keep in the best condition.

There was a big do for Trevor in Tí Shé for it was announced that he has been offically voted in as a member of the Seanad. He is a senator now! It is good, for he put so much work into his political career so far. Enough said though, it seems strange talking about him like this, it sounds as if I am fake or something. But I am not.

34 Years Old + 232 Days

2011-04-29T00:45:00.005+01:00

Tuesday...

Trevor has gone up to Dail Eirean to see if he is going to be voted in as a member of the senate.

We came down from Castlebar today. It was actually a really good stay up in Castlebar. We saw Lindas brother and sister in law, we saw her parents of course and we saw her sister and soon to be the latest member to be married into the family, Mark. When we were leaving it was like a holiday was finishing.

The Ceardlann in Spideal was having it first (after a whole 27 years!) open week. There will be crafts and etc and more etc there. Fun will be there too, and she wants to hang with you man! But it looks cool.

34 Years Old + 231 Days

2011-04-25T17:02:00.000+01:00

Monday...

Happiness... today I did some stuff of my own for myself. Hence the happiness. One thing I did was to finally, yes finally, post up some pictures onto the lonelyatoms.com. That is my other website that I am using to test out my php, html and javascript on. I could do everything on it a million times faster with a blogging program, much like this program blogger.com but I want to learnt it all myself.

I did loads of work so far on a board game that I am creating with another person (Mark Ahern being the other person). It is falling out cool enough so far.

34 Years Old + 230 Days

2011-04-25T16:56:00.000+01:00

Sunday...

Easter!!! First thing we did I am happy to say, considering it was Easter, was to go to mass in the main church in Castlebar. It was the children mass. There were adult at it, but it was the mass that was considered ok for kids to be screaming and talking through it, which is good. I went with Sophie and Lucy into the sacristy with around 2 other kids. Sadly a large chunk of the time was spent taking the names of the kids. It was explained to me twice that the reason that the names were taken was for protection of the children. The world has gone so paranoid and careful about anything to do with kids. Not everyone is bad, not everyone wants to harm kids. As they appoligetically handed me a sign in form to put my name on they explained to me again that it was for the safety of the children. Sadly, I guess it all has to be done. If I sound off about this it is for the following reason. If it comes to children being protected and people who harm them being brought to justice it ultimately comes down to what rights kids have vs. what right the people who harm kids have. In which case, the people who harm kids actually have loads of rights, and in out state, as in Ireland our governments do not care about children. Not really. Going to Galway city this morning I passed over a road works on a road that in my opinion (and I drive on it a few times a week) was ok. This road work cost how many thousands? How many? We have a new motorway going all the way now from Galway to Dublin... how much did that cost? How much has the state wasted on the banks? On tribunals? Lawers? Private jets... junkets to USA for "trade meetings". Cover your teeth if your going to stand in front of me and tell me that the Irish government cares about children or I might knock them out of your mouth. Did you ever visit a womens shelter where women have to hide from their alcholoic husbands.. shelters that survice mostly if not totally on fund raising, where women come to hide with their kids....