Its nearly Christmas...

I've been getting ready for Christmas since June.... Don't ask! Its part of the business I suppose. But even so, I can't believe that its already looming up in 3 weeks.

No matter how much I watch the calendar, it always seems to sneak up on me and before you know it, BAMM.. its already too late to post your cards to the US. Next thing you know, that social snowball starts to get out of control with people calling and saying, 'we really must meet for a drink before Christmas'.

The guilty realisation that you may not in fact have seen them since last Christmas suddenly has you accepting every possible invitation that comes your way and,before you now it, you're already relishing the thought of going into post-Christmas detox. Well, actually, its just a thought - I've never tried the real thing. I don't think detox is my cuppa tea to be honest. I think my body might go into seizure or shock if I suddenly withdrew one of its staples.

Anyway, what was I ranting about....? Damn it... its gone - probably the first symptom of it then...

Loss of a Legend - Miriam Makeba 1932-2008

And they're off.....

Finally, the U.S. goes to the polls and although we don't know who the winner will be (it'll be Obama) at least we know one thing..........

BUSH IS GONE!!!! Woohoo....

Got this from the BBC website - worth looking at for a laugh. Its an 'Obama / McCain Dance Off'

Enjoy!

Its Official... Not that you'd know it by looking around....

Its Official! Ireland is now in a recession as of yesterday. And this was very evident as we left the house to go and have a bite to eat at the Milano's on Baggot Street Bridge. The atmosphere was noticeably heavier and darker than of late. Now this could be due to the oncoming winter - hard to know.

As we entered the restaurant, we could clearly see the recession in action. The place was full of people, noise, bottles of wine flowing to every table - all the signs of the local population trying to console themselves over the shock news.

Thankfully though, we have what is probably the best government in place to handle this national crisis. Known for their wisdom, frugality and strict moral standards, its only a matter of a month or two before everything is back to normal.

This is too funny....

Mykonos is just the bees knees...

Go there if you get a chance someday. Great nightlife, great scenery and beaches and loads of talent! Its like being on a Versace catwalk (watching that is.... not actually modelling...)

Although it can be very frustrating I have to add... Thankfully I don't have a complex in that area. No, I have come to accept myself as one of the future drooling 'oul ones that leer at the beautiful people.

Well, I'm not actually that bad yet, but I am heading there :-)

iPhones are the best thing since sliced bread!

I recently got an iPhone and was almost - I say 'almost' - got to the point where I was going to think, well, that's just another gadget in a nice design!

But then, one day, my iTunes asked me to update my software and what did I see when I switched my newly updated phone back on? A little icon with the words 'App Store' discreetly noted below a little blue 'A' icon. What's this I wondered?

Well to cut a long, and not particularly well-narrated, story short, I have now downloaded and installed the coolest gadgets for my iPhone.

One app, called Remote, allows you to use your iPhone as a remote to control anything you have at home with iTunes on it or Apple speakers (like Apple TV or AirPort). Its cool - I can now switch music on in almost any room using this widget.... And best of all, its free.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch, you've got to check it out. There's even an app which allows you to 'listen' to a clip of music and it will then name the artist, the song, the album, give you the artwork and the option to buy it in iTunes.... Just fantastic stuff!

Family Guy

I'm a late but dedicated convert to the Family Guy. I was watching an episode recently where the dad was trying to give his son advice about how to handle women and relationships. The son took the advice and promptly paid the price for it.

So his dad decided to get him a present to make up for his bad avice and to cheer him up.... This is what happened... I could watch this over and over and over again.... But that could be because I have the memory-span of a goldfsh :-)

New-ish site I heard about...

I was speaking to a friend of mine who mentioned this site as being quite good

http://www.ifoods.tv/

Its run by 2 Irish guys and it really seems very interesting - they use a lot of video to show you how to cook and stuff..... Perfect for the helpless nerd like me :-)

I'll have a good poke around the site later when I get home.

So, how's your day going?

Its just not funny anymore.....

I know I keep going on about this but, in past week, we've had:-

showery rain
occasional rain
heavy rain
persistent rain
localised flooding
downpours
blustery rain
and cats and dogs....

We've decided to stock up on tinned foods and learn a bit of carpentry... The need for an ark is looking decidedly more real....

We will be needing some giraffes and other pets... anybody? anybody??...

What we left behind

In case anyone is interested, this is what we've left behind... A sharp contrast to what we came back to!

Back from holidays.....

And today, is the first day it hasn't rained - although the day's not over yet. We got back on Thursday at about 1am... A very unpleasant flight that took us on a detour via another Greek island and Luton - all in all, about 10 hours door to door.

It must be something about XL Airways that they feel the need to detour or delay every return charter flight. Each time its something to do with the fuel and either being able to, or, not being able to re-fuel.

Last year we had to sit on the tarmac in Mykonos for about 2 hours while they 'de-fuelled' the aircraft - a new one on me I admit. Apparently, the aircraft was over-weight and the extra fuel being removed would solve this problem. After the 2 hours had elapsed, we finally took off only to be told by the captain, that we needed to have a stopover in some remote Italian airport for a refuel.

At least this year they were a little more creative with their reason for needing to refuel at an un-scheduled airport - it seems it was too warm to refuel in Greece, hence the need for a visit to Luton! 35c ! I wonder how the airports in warmer climates deal with this? Do they all need to fly up north to cooler airports to refuel?

Odd that XL haven't worked out the whole 'fuel - weight' equation yet though...

Not looking good folks!!

Well, I've been waiting with bated breath, fingers crossed and anything else I can think of in the hope of a possibility of a few days of warm sunshine... But, so far, no joy.

The best we have been able to get is an intermittent spell of warm sun in between downpours. Not the type of stuff you can plan a bar-b around really so it looks like this summer is yet another washout.

We're off on holidays pretty soon and I'm hoping that we're not bringing any shitty weather with us... I may not be beach material at the moment (well, I am, but I'm more along the lines of 'washed up' or 'beached whale' type thing), but I am still looking forward to bit of heat - the notion of being able to eat out and even better, not bringing a brollie with me on the way out the door. Its just so exciting....

On the other hand, this is the first time I'll be leaving my newly set-up business on its own for any period of time and that's kinda freakin' me out a bit (read 'a lot').

So, its Sunday afternoon. The Men's Final at Wimbledon is on and we're sitting in Searsons having a couple of pints. Nice atmosphere - not too many people around. Just a Sunday feeling.

Might get a DVD or something for later. Anybody seen anything good lately?

Have a good Monday and a good week :-)

I've moved....

I had to do it... I had been resisting it for a while but I finally made the jump...

I have ditched the first of my Windows PCs in favour of an Apple. I've only been using it for a few hours, but I can already see that we are going to be close friends. I am afraid to even start hoping this, but there is a chance that I may not even need to find out what Apple's equivalent of the Task Manager is!

I would never have considered jumping if it weren't for two things:-

1. My first experience of anything Apple was the iPod. I had ventured into the world of MP3 players when they had first come out and had decided that, although a really good idea, there was still a fair bit of development to be done before these things would become accepted as a replacement for the Walkman as the mainstream music player. The iPod changed my mind and, I would think, quite a few others' too. It had everything you could want - it was sexy, small, reliable, functional and fashionable. It was gorgeous!

2. Vista - I am sick and tired of upgrading my software only to get less and less performance with more and more problems...

You just get this feeling with an Apple, that its more intuitive and generally less likely to become a burden. I haven't had to go through the countless questions that Windows makes you answer before allowing you to use a PC. It booted up in less than half an hour - which is something that most Vista users will appreciate.

The Apple laptop that I now have, seems almost apologetic about the fact that, after using it in Searsons for the past hour on battery power, it will only be able to carry on for another 3.56 hours. Enough time to watch a couple of movies on its ultra hi-res screen. My last PC (and this is not necessarily Microsoft's fault, but a general compliment to Apple) would collapse from battery exhaustion in just 45 minutes.

Its black, its sexy and its what a computer is meant to be - a help, not a hinderance! Definitely a good spend...

So far so good...

Well, on the smoking front anyways! I'm off them since the 7th April so doin' well but still craving them..

On the Blogging front - I'm not doing so well as you'll see by the date of the previous post... I'll try and fix this :-)

A bit late, but Happy New Year!

I meant to post a quick note earlier than this to wish everyone a Happy New Year, but I'm only getting around to it now...

2007 was a fantastic year for me. I took the leap and left Alcatraz, started my own business and for the first time in my life, felt as things were going my way. This Christmas was probably the best I ever had, surrounded by friends, family and fun.

Despite what happened at the end of the year, I am feeling better and more optimistic than ever that things are changing in a very positive way for me and I'm being reminded that life is a journey. Like all journeys, you have to make sure you have brought enough to keep you going, that you have the right travel companions with you and, above all, that you're heading for a destination that you really want to get to. Unlike other journeys though, this one is on a one-way ticket so you have to make sure that you don't miss out on anything. But, very important..... don't forget to bring a good book with you! :-)

I hope that 2008 is full of happiness, wealth, health and love for you all. Happy New Year!