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!

Finally, its here...

Hi all,

I can't believe its finally Christmas! Finished up today for the rest of the year :-) Not back to work till the 2nd January so plenty of time for some Christmas cheer and enjoying the buzz in town...

Tomorrow and Sunday are the final shopping panic days - I always love them. They invariably have to start by me buying myself things so that I can get in the mood.... and then if there's time, I'll get some gifts for others...

Talk to you all soon!

Is anyone still there?

Its been a crazy, crazy few weeks... The site finally went live on the 28th November - bugs and all - and the past few weeks have just been a blur... I get to the office in the morning and make my coffee and then, zoom, before I know it its getting dark outside and its almost time to leave! I've never experienced anything like it. The days appear to be melting one into the other so that they all just become one long continuous stream of tiredness and stress.

But still, I'm having a ball. I would never have thought this time last year, that my life would have changed so much in so short a space of time. The biggest change for me personally is that I can honestly say that despite how much it is taking it out of me, I enjoy every minute that I'm at work, and that's a first for me. I don't get the blues at the idea of going into work on a Monday. I don't spend my week wishing for the weekend to arrive. I don't even think about when I might take a day off next. Its all a big adrenaline rush...

The down side is the waiting for the kettle to boil part. Watching the incoming orders coming - or not - through the system. The doubt about whether I've done everything I can and the frustration when others haven't. My social life is pretty much gone up the in smoke (I'll make up for it over Christmas though ...) and the gym and the pool are just a distant memory.

I got my wish though - I set up my own business! Now the next wish - to make it successful. There's a long way to go there but I'll get there.

To all of you - and you know who you are - who have helped me to get this far, who have given their time, effort and support, I have to say a huge thank you. I know its a cliche but I mean it when I say that I couldn't have got this far without you. Something like this can't be done by one person alone and the fact that it is now on its legs is thanks to you.

I won't wish you the Season's Greetings yet because I plan to post at least once more before then, but this is just to say thank you and sorry for not being around or in touch recently.

Talk to you soon and happy pre-Christmas prepping :-)

I did the deed...

I finally succumbed and got a pair of Doobs... In the words of a friend of mine, the purchase may have been 'age ambitious' but I lurvvvv them....

Watch 10 seconds at least and tell me you don't think its funny!!

Stuff I heard on the radio.....

Thanks to the fact that I now work in the D12 area, I have the luxury of extra radio-listening time in the car on the way in and back from work... Lately I've become addicted to radio in general. I listen to Newstalk all the time and a bit of 2FM (when the knob gets stuck...).

On 2FM the other night though they had this program on with a bunch of people having an 'informal' and light hearted chat about things in general. The main topics of the day were about the new attempted enforcement of penalties etc. for L drivers and the way the minister had stupidly rushed in to make it law within a week without any other warning... Among the huge uproar it caused, there was an outcry of protest, not just from those affected directly (ie: the L Drivers) but the Driving Instructors union. One of the guys pointed out that, only in Ireland, could it happen that the aforementioned union would be called IMPACT...

As they went on to discuss this and other topics, one of the guys said how equally ironic it was that the Minister for the Gaeltacht didn't even speak Irish, the Minister for Finance had no business qualifications at all and the Minister for Health... well, what can I say....?!

Tips when trying to stop smoking!

If you are going the hell that is called quitting, let me give you some minor tips that may help...

Use Nicotine Replacement Patches or Gum or whatever works for you. I think Nicquittine CQ Clear patches are really good.

Join http://www.stopsmokingcenter.net/ - its free and its excellent...

Drink water as if you were about to be abandoned in the middle of the Sahara desert..

DO NOT eat large quantities or sultana raisins, peanuts or other protein-rich foods. Believe me, try it out and you'll know why by that evening...

Good luck!

Gotta Kill Something.....

Day 6 off the smokes.... Nightmare... gonna do it though... :-) Wish me luck!

He's a grown-up now!

Fraggle is celebrating his 36th (sorry.... 26th..)birthday today... It could be touch and go. I have the bottox and valium on hand just in case we have an 'episode' but, fingers crossed, all should go smoothly... If things go pear-shaped, I've recorded enough reality-TV programs to keep him sedated for the rest of the weekend...

Anyway, Happy Birthday Fraggle!! Have a brilliant day and stop checking the mirror for wrinkles :-)

For those of you who know George Hook from Newstalk FM!!

George Hook

Its Saturday.....

And I'm at work.... Been here since about 10.00 this morning to let some guys in to do the last bits and pieces to the office and warehouse in one big blitz this weekend. Of course, Murphy's Law kicked in and the sun's been shining all day, its been warm and basically one of the best Saturdays we've had this summer.... Spending it in an industrial estate in Walkinstown wasn't my idea of the perfect Saturday (or Sunday for that matter, because I'm here tomorrow too...) but its exciting, oddly enough...

Seeing your business coming together like that, is actually a real kick.

The guys told me they'd be here at 10ish... Oh yes! The all important unit of time measurement for the trades here.... the big 'ish'! Now this unit of time varies in definition depending on who you're dealing with. These guys for instance consider the 'ish' as being anything in the region of 1 to 1and a half hours, which by my experience of getting people in to do work, is actually considered to be punctual. I've had ish's that went from 4 hours to infinity (ie: they didn't show up at all...).

For instance, consider the worst of the Irish industry definitions of this term. Its currently held by NTL. If they tell you that they'll be there between 9.00am and 13.00, you need to take the period of time involved (ie: 4 hours), multiply it by 2 or 3 and then add a couple of extra hours in for good measure... Then add a week...That's for a scheduled appointment. Now, if you need a service or a call out and you want to get a date from them, forget it.....

Anyways, that was just a minor rant, which I'm allowed given that I'm in at the weekend and that I'm not getting overtime for it :-) Talk soon...

Burrrrminham!!

I'm in Birminghan at the moment for the Autumn Fair expo.... Really well organised, very professional, generally really good... But ( and I'm going to rant again, but hey!, are you surprised?!) I'm staying in the Holiday Inn near the airport... They've a smoke ( cig ) machine here in the lobby. Now where I come from, we think smokes are a rip-off at 7 Euro.. Here they charge GBP7.40 a pack (which is what?.. 10 or 11 Euro a pack?!..) and the worst thing is A: the exchange rate means I'm paying the best part of 10 squids for a pack..but then B: the bastards have the audacity to have just 16 smokes in a box!!! Unreal... I always thought the Irish were a bit extreme on the smoking thing but now I have to say, the Brits have beatin' us!!

So, apart from that, all is going well.. F went home this avo which kinda felt (no, actually felt..) weird and depressing...I was left all on my own, but more to the point, I felt like I'd lost the functional part of my brain... F is a really good sense-check to have around.. He knows the stuff we're meant to see and also keeps tags on how long we spend in each place. If it was up to me, we'd be flying the demo helicopters all day :-) I do love them though...... (and apart from that, I wish he was here anyway...)

So, I have one more day here and then home (TG!). I really think Christmas and the start of the New Year are going to be a bitch... but, you know what, I am having a ball... I'd prefer to be up to my goolies in stress and exhaustion doing what I'm doing now, rather than doing what I was doing before..

Right - up early in the morning.. So off to bed.

Talk to you soon -

Fred

I know just how he feels!!

Muriel Robin on stage...

This is a clip of French comediene Muriel Robin that I thought was cool.... But if you don't speak any French, you won't get the full effect....

Muriel Robin (fou rire)
Uploaded by dj_jean_jean_01

Morning Radio!

I normally avoid RTE like the plague, both their radio and their TV programs... Not because they're particularly crap or anything, but mostly out of a sense of resentment for the way they get away with running their business. They have the comfort of, not only their TV Licence revenues, which seems to be enough for the BBC in the UK, but also their advertising revenues. Now, I don't have a huge issue with that extra revenue in itself. Fair play to them that they've managed to get that one over on the public for so long without being held to judgement for the crap that they put out on the air.

But you've got to wonder if we're really getting value for our Euro when you see them just taking an idea from the Beeb or any of the other stations, and changing the name, the set and the people on it, making a 2nd rate job of re-hashing an imitation and then broadcasting it... I mean, who watches that crap? It can only be those poor bog warriors who have no choice but to watch these programs because they've fallen out of the reach of satelite and cable coverage...

I recently had first hand experience of how well run the place was when I was with a friend going over to the studios in Donnybrook to drop off something for the Late Late Show. We got to the security gate - and I use the term extremely loosely here - got to the barrier only to be subjected to the most rigorous of screening...

We opened the window in the car and told their Rottweiler of a guard - fierce, he looked! - that we had a parcel to be dropped off at Studio 1 for the Late Late. 'Grand' he said and promptly lifted the barrier to let us in...!!

Surely in this day and age of terrorism - to which Ireland is not immune - a little more caution should be exercised by the national TV broadcaster?! He had no idea what was in the parcel, he never asked who we were... And, Studio 1 itself, was fully open and accessible. I hardly need to highlight the potential of a situation like that...

But I digress... The main reason I hate RTE at the moment is for taking Marty Wheelan off the air on the 2FM Morning Show. I'd never really been into Marty until I heard the morning show... Then, soon after I got hooked to it, they got rid of him and replaced him, not with another of their homegrown talents, but with the Strawberry Alarm Clock crew from FM104. I can't listen to them.... I've been aimlessly wandering the airwaves now for months and still haven't found anything remotely as good... Every radio show in the morning seems to be obsessed with making skin-crawlingly cringeable crank calls....

There is one thing I like in RTE though... Marian Finnucan :-)

Just not right!!

Seriously people! I know I'm ranting again now, but how much bloody water can clouds hold?! Its been lashing non-stop almost since we got back from holidays 2 weeks ago!

The garden, unlike our expectations, did not die away from thirst while we were away. No sir. Quite the opposite. We came back to not only find the place had turned into a sub-tropical jungle, but the fish pond was almost overflowing! Another week of this and they'll be able to swim across the garden and I'll have to swap the Vespa for a dingy.

I just came back from my customary pilgrimage to the Centra for smokes and milk, only to find that the plastic bag I was carrying the stuff in had also managed to grab the equivalent of about a cup of water at the bottom... And, I was carrying an umbrella so that gives you some idea of what I mean by 'shite weather'!

I'm just not a happy camper!

Have they moved Christmas?

I just need a quick rant...

I went down to the shops just now to get a pack of smokes (yes, I'm still smoking, but definitely giving up soon...). Anyway, I'm in the shop and they had the radio turned on in the background.

"Book your Christmas extravaganza now at the Burlington Hotel to avoid disappointment...!" Christmas Extravaganza.... Its the 9th of July for God's sake! As if it wasn't bad enough that the weather so far has been shit and its rained almost everyday since May, they add insult to injury by starting the Christmas season in mid-Summer!

Maybe its just me... Maybe I am turning into Victor Meldrew....

OK - I'm about to Blog again... but this is just a starter to get me warmed up...

I found this on YouTube a while ago and I think's its sooo funny... Hope you enjoy it too :-)

Making Sense of the Elections!

For those of you, like me, who cannot make head nor tail of the difference between the various political parties here and what they stand for, they have come up with a brilliant tool that works it out for you.

Just answer the few questions that they give you and they'll tell you who the closest party is to your views! That simple! Just follow this link.