General stuff

I am currently sitting in bed on what i thought would be the first morning in a long time that i would get to sleep in. But as I unwillingly suspected, I woke like clockwork at 8 a.m, not helped by the bells of both St. Patricks Cathedral AND Christchurch!! Still, its good to have a lazy morning in bed and I can't complain.

Things are moving along nicely now in college. I only have a week left of lectures in college so I have that feeling of excitement I used to get in primary school when you knew the summer was about to start, except its February! We've planned an impromptu 'Primary School Style' party for our Business Policy class on Wednesday so it'll be lots of buns, Tayto and small bottle of Cadet Orange (remember those!!!). I know its a bit of a contradiction saying a planned impromptu party, but the lecturer doesn't know about it so it sorta counts?!?



We've also planned, booked and paid for a house in Galway for a week after our exams. It sleeps 19 and so far there are about 30 odd going!! Not everyone will be there at the same time I don't think so it should be grand. I've seen pictures and I can pretty much guarantee that it wont look like when we leave!!

In other news, the Smurfit Kappa Graduate Programme I applied for, and had high hopes of getting accepted into, has been CANCELLED! DAMN YOU ECONOMY!!!!! SO its back to square one. Although I did apply to the IBEC Exporters Programme so fingers crossed on that one!! If i get that one I get to work abroad for a year which would be deadly!!

Ever since the recent closer of Road Records i've started moving away from the bigger stores and online stores for my music. Its a shame to see great small independent shops like that closing. If it wasn't for them, a lot of new emerging bands would never get a chance or somewhere to sell their music. I've started going to a shop in temple bar, City Discs. They have a great range of new and second hand CDs and vinyl and friendly staff who don't remind you of Jack Black in High Fidelity! I can't stand that know it all mentality! My latest purchase was Katie Kims album ,Twelve. Its kind of hard to describe what genre her music is. She puts it nicely though:

"new old school fantasm blues folk revival yodalik rock post mccarthyism drone noise phsyk horse tail blowing old wave eastern western style wicker stringed indian high pitch glam metal sometimes dub butnever reggae salsa cuban rave indie shoegaze alternative psykadelic shadowistic breakbeat old style needle rippin round chord scratchin up underneath sampled covertunes with dutch americana underlying bass house techno whistling classical guitar trench beatnick revival downtempo eclectic popsure galant freefolk bollywoodesque 70's grunge glass bottlecore hard range fast slowjam boroque noirscreeching howls of epic sandpits over the top egorock with softblend unfunk soul jazz experimental type leghopping on micleads overtures blended amongst yogurt samples jumping over kraut style accapella ecstaticism brass horn string teasing drunk gospel choir vocals drowning in sounds of bigdrum appreciation type gold recording on leather squeeks punching heels water plops above ambient chinese traditional concrete disco french fusion bossa grindcore industrial lyrical lounge religious tape music which brings punktrance and visual zoup type undertures into a world of ever the expanding."

Those are her words not mine!! I particularly like 'over the top egorock with softblend unfunk soul jazz experimental type leghopping on micleads overtures blended amongst yogurt samples jumping over kraut style accapella ecstaticism'. Rounds it up nicely I think!! Check her out at her myspace and listen to the song called 'Radio". Its amazing!!!

Other than that I dont have much more news. A neighbour from home is heading to Australia in a week or so, so we're all heading out for dinner in Patrick Guilbauds tomorrow night hopefully (yum!).

Trocaire 24hr Fast

While having lunch today, the college chaplain Sr. Mary came up to me and the lads and asked us if we were interested in doing the Trocaire 24hr Fast, kind of ironic seeing how we were stuffin our faces!! I had done it a few times in school so I thought 'Why not?' and signed up. For those who don't know, Trocaire is an Irish charity who do pretty much everything in most developing countries. They cover everything from tackling the HIV AIDS crisis to building a reliable way of life for people in the third world so they are a very worthy cause.

A new part of the fast is an online service that lets people sponsor you online by credit/debit card. So here's my sponsorship website so you've no excuse!! It only takes a minute and there are so many ways your money can make a difference. For instance, €35 would provide seeds and trees for a family left impoverished by the conflict in Uganda. This would help them to grow food and provide wood for construction and fires. Any amount is useful no matter how small!!

I know this is a Christmas ad but the massage is still important.

Another One For Good Measure

Sex on Wheels!!

Need I say more?!?!

Twitter??

Does anyone use Twitter?? I understand what it does but why? With everything else out there, why a service that lets you write a sentence? Facebook and most other social networks have similar features built in so why? I'm not saying I dont like it, just curious why!

Anything to add?

Song de Jour

Here's some classic Fonejacker!!!

Druids Glen

I spent the weekend with the family down in Druids Glen Hotel in County Wicklow. It was Dads birthday so we decided to take him away for the weekend. It was great to get away for a bit and see the brother.



While we were there we made a quick trip to Greystones to walk on the beach. Wicklow is a part of the country i've never really been to much before and it was nice to explore it a bit.




Also, on the way back we had some time to spare so we made a slight detour and visited Glendalough. Glendalough is monastic site built in the 6th century by St. Kevin which was destroyed by the English in 1398. What's left today dates from around the 10th century with the round tower as the perfect example.






Overall it was a great weekend. I was glad of the rest and some good food and drink. Back to the grind stone!!

Its been a while!!

Back again!

Its been well over 6 months since my last post. It was a busy summer and my blogging duties slipped somewhat. Or altogether would be a better description. A lots happened since then! I worked with Dad in Castlecool for the summer which was fantastic. While I was there I got the opportunity to redesign the logo and company image. Well I didn't design it myself but I found a great agency to do it. They're called Dynamo and when we finally sign off on it i'll give you the grand tour. Aside from that, I was also given the role of contract manager for Lindt chocolates and was responsible for ensuring that shops got their chocolate orders on time (there was more to it than that but I could be here all day). It was really busy but great experience!

In September I started back to college in the final year of my Marketing degree and now i'm half way through. Its REALLY different from my last four years with much more case based learning and at least two presentations a week! I used to get anxious when I had two a year but its amazing how used you get to something when you're forced to do them every week. So at the minute i'm just working away at college stuff. My dissertation is slowly but surely taking shape and I only have six weeks of class left till my final exams. Its hard to believe that in four short months i'll be done with college (well for the immediate future anyway).

I moved back into my old apartment complex in Christchurch lat week after living in Stonybatter for a year or so. Its good to be back because there was feck all to do in Stonybatter. Don't get me wrong, it's a grand place to live but compared to the city centre it's quite slow and there's not a whole lot to do in the evenings. I will miss living so near to Pheonix Park but you cant beat a 5 minute commute to college in the mornings!!

So things are pretty much the same as always but I will be posting a lot more often now so watch this space.

P.S. This is one of the funniest things i've ever seen!!!

Stains the Australian Shepard

This just in...

This has to be the funniest headline I have ever read...

Link

Rejected

This is a collection of cartoons by renowned cartoonist Don Hertzfeldt that were commissioned and rejected by the Family Learning Channel in America. THE FOOLS!!!! Watch and enjoy...

Song de Jour

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Venice Queen (Live from Slane Castle)

Watch out for the great bass playing in the last 30 seconds or so!!

Red Hot Chili Peppers on iTunes

Run Forrest RUN!!!!!

Ever since I got back from Berlin, which is about 3-4 months now, i've started going running to keep my fitness up. I live quite close to the Phoenix Park in Dublin which is ideal for running in. There's lots of hills and slopes, curvy paths and an endless variety of routes to keep me entertained. I had always ran in ordinary runners just but found that no matter how much stretching I did, I still woke the next day with splitting pains in my lower leg. They got better over time but it was still painful. So I decided to invest in a pair of proper running shoes and I had always wanted to try the Nike+ system that works with an iPod Nano.



So I went into my local Nike Store and began looking around only to find that one of the guys in my class in college worked in the shop. Now, not only did he work in the shop but he also trained new staff in the types of shoes and the theory behind them. I was amazed not only how much he knew about the shoes but also the science involved. What i always thought was a decorative piece of plastic or rubber could actually be crucial to keeping your foot in one piece. I ended up sitting there for about half an hour while we chose the perfect pair of shoes. Apparently I run on the outside of my foot, so a shoe with an exposed air bubble on the outside is preferable and something with a strong under arch support is essential. The most interesting thing was that when he asked me what shoes I was running in at the moment and I answered, he immediately grimaced and asked me are my shins not killing me!?!? There was the answer to what had been bugging me all this time!! the shoes I had were raising my heels too high and causing my shin muscles to flex in an odd way which was why they were so sore. It just amazed me that without telling him about the muscle pain that it was that easy to answer.

So after I got the shoes (30% off, thanks Rowan!!) he threw in the Nike+ kit for free (thanks again). This is the fun part!! The kit consists of an accelerometer that fits into a specially designed slot under the under-sole of one of your shoes,
and a receiver module thingy that plugs into your iPod Nano. The iPod then records that data which is sent wirelessly from your shoe to the iPod!!. Genius!! So this way you can get up to date information on how fast you're running, how long you've been running for and what pace your running at and how many calories you're burning, while your running and listening to music!! After your run is over, you plug in your iPod and your run information is sent to the Nike+ website where its presented in graph form showing a detailed summary of your run. You can then set goals to achieve, challenge other people around the world to a race, get online coaching and loads of other fun stuff.



Having something like this will keep me much more motivated than I usually would. When I ran before I had no real drive to beat my last run or progress onto harder runs but now that I can see how far and fast I'm running it will give me something to aim at!! So here goes....

General update...

Its been quite a while since I posted anything so I thought it best to give a little update. I've finally finished all my assignments for college, 6 in all. It was tough at times but now I have my exams to concentrate on so there's not much time to dwell on it. They're starting on Monday and i have 6 of them as well. Plenty to keep me busy!!

Since I last posted i've also started driving!! I found myself a nice car and applied for my driving test so its all go. I drove to Dublin for the first time about two weeks ago which was a great buzz. Its nice being able to leave when I want and never have to go to smelly Busarus anymore!!!

I booked flights back to Berlin to visit some friends who are still over there. I'm going for a week, the one after my exams, and i can't wait!! its gonna be great!!! I'm also bringing some friends over with me to see what is all about so it'll be a mad one as well. I was there for nearly six months and only now do they think of coming over!!! Typical!!!

There was some good news in the headlines today. Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, has decided not to close the St. James Brewery in Dublin!! I was getting a wee bit worried when I heard they were seriously considering closing it as its an integral part of the city, well it is to me anyway. I always love the smell you get every now and again during the brewing. Plus it would ruin the reputation of Guinness if people saw it moved to a brand spanking new, lifeless brewery in a suburb somewhere. The image of it being made where it has been for the past 249 years in the centre of Dublin is something unique to Guinness and Dublin and gives the city that something extra that others don't.







But there is some bad news. They've decided to close the breweries in Dundalk and Kilkenny and consolidate the production in a soon to be built brewery outside Dublin. However, the money they get for the sale of the two sites, is going to be pumped back into St. James Gate, around €600 million altogether. Not too shabby!!

Other than that, i'm all quiet. Just working away on the exams and dreaming of Berlin. I'll post more now that my college year is quieting down so watch this space!!!

Song de Jour

Snow Patrol - Spitting Games

Snow Patrol on iTunes

Pure poetry!!!

This piece of genius was thought up by a friend of mine in the pub recently. I think its worth hearing....


"When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands with the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat; the two will hover, spinning inches above the ground. With a giant buttered cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link major metropolitan areas.

Its as simple as that..."

I'm not sure if he should quit his day job just yet, but he's getting somewhere!!!

Dirty Money

I was watching a program last night on TV3 called 'Dirty Money'. It was about the crime scene in Ireland and more importantly, the history of The Criminal Assets Bureau. The unfortunate thing was that it appeared to be made and starred Paul Williams, the so called crime reporter for the Sunday World. That pretty much ruined it for me.

I cant stand Paul Williams!! Twenty Major says it better than I ever could:

"To me Paul Williams glamourises what he claims to hate. His stuff in the Sunday World is really terrible. It’s salacious, gossipy tripe, most of which is fed to him by Gardai and really does nothing to stop crime, only boost the profiles of the criminals who wallow in the infamy, and the author who, of course, has books to sell. One of the best things I ever heard in my life was that guy from jail calling him a ‘cunt’ on the Joe Duffy show. Criminal he might have been but that deserves some serious kudos."

The second part is next Monday night which should be the same waffle. In fairness it does document some of the biggest crimes over the past few years quite well. But I just cant take it seriously with Paul quoting from his books and pretending to look tough. Its a shame because it could be a really great documentary, if only it didn't have his smarmy face on it every few minutes.

Hang on....

Now mightn't be the time to buy the Bourne box set. Matt Damon has reportedly signed up to do another Bourne movie.



Is this a good thing or a bad thing????

Leavin' on a jet plane....

I cant believe i'm here already. I'm sitting in Schoenefeld airport waiting for the plane to arrive and take me home. It only seems like last week that I arrived and now 5 months have flown by and i'm packed and ready to leave. I didn't think i'd miss it but I already am. There's bits of it i'll miss a lot, like the fact that its Berlin, my new friends and other small bits like food etc. There's bits I definitely wont miss, like where we live, the language barrier and the unfriendly nature of some of the people. But all in all, I will miss Berlin. Its been quite an experience and not something I will forget anytime soon!!







Auf Wiedersehen!

Blue Man Group

This evening some friends and I went to see the Blue Man Group. Its kinda hard to explain but the Blue Man Group consists of three guys dressed in black with blue hands and faces. The show is a mix of music and comedy but the greatest part is that they never speak or change their facial expressions, yet the show was hilarious!!! Its all in the eyes!! Here's a clip of what's involved:



The show lasted around an hour and a half and we got to meet the band and the blue men after the show which was cool. Well worth the 40 euro!!! I've been meaning to go to the show since I got here but kept putting it off. But now that I have only 4 days left in Berlin, I thought it was time!!!!

Bauhaus & The Victory Column

Not long after my visit to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, I went on a trip to the Bauhaus Archive. Bauhaus is, or was, a architectural and product design style established in Germany in the early 20th century. This museum/archive has a great collection of original Bauhaus pieces and in one section, a complete replica of a exhibit from French Society of Interior Architects trade show in 1930. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me use my camera inside so here are someone elses!!!

The Bauhaus Archive in the typical Bauhaus style.

The museum interior.

After that then I walked for a few minutes and found myself at:



The Victory Column.

This is one of my favourite features of Berlin. Built in the 1870s to commemorate a number of victories by the Prussian Army, its been a favourite of Berliners ever since. It was originally placed in front of the Reichstag but was luckily moved by the Nazis in the 30's, otherwise it would've been destroyed in the war. It stands around 67 meters high and you can walk to the very top. Its A LOT of stairs but its worth it!!



The Chick on a Stick





A view from the top!!!



Since then i've had my five exams. I just finished today so I can finally relax!! There's a leaving party on tonight for everyone who's leaving in the next few weeks. Should be fun!!! I have only six days left in Berlin which is a bit scary to be honest. Where did the last 5 months go!?!?!

Well, i'm going to make the most of my last six days and see and do everything I still have yet to do. I better get to it so!!!!