You know you should!

I really should be sorting out my VAT for the last 2 months but is there ever a right time to do your VAT returns? This will be my first return done online thought the revenue online service so wish me luck.

My excuse tonight is that my digital cert is on my machine in work on not the one i'm at now so even if i did do it I wouldn't be able to submit it until tomorrow!

Stall tactics???

Testing

So you get caught taking drugs, your career is left in tatters. You serve your ban and come back to your sport, you make an impact, but you can never go to the olympics.

Your name is Dwain Chambers.

He has got a break in American Football and I hope he makes it. But now he is going to be tested more often because of his track record.

Is this the best method to catch drug cheats???

For the birds

A golden eagle egg has hatched in Ireland for the first time in over 100 years. They were hunted to extinction in the olden days when it was fun to shoot things.

All we need now are some wolves and some deciduous forest and we will be sorted! We can get back to shooting things again :o)

No Fair FIFA

Fifa have decided to ban matches at altitude. This comes after Peru had decided to move their world cup qualifiers to Cuzco.

There's me in goal playing football at altitude in Peru in 2006. I ran to the white line to get the ball and my vision went black, there was just no oxygen. It was a tough game of football, but we won so it's ok.

Fifa say it's for safety reasons, which I agree with, but I also think it is a bit biased towards the South American super powers.

And I also played football in the jungle and that was way harder than altitude!!!!

RTE.ie - Pure Quality

I waschecking out RTE's website today about the recent election. Check out the great screen shot from Sky News. Now maybe it's just me but you shouldn't really be promoting another channel on your own website and it is a poor quality picture. How about using some stock photograpy.

But what do you expect from RTE and their website that is paid for by the public and choc full of ads. Classy!

Fallen Idols?

Cycling has been turned on it's head even more today with Bjarn Riis's admission that he was taking EPO from 1993 - 1998. This means he was using EPO when he won the tour.

I remember watching every day of the Tour that year and being astounded by his performance, taking apart Big Mig in the Alps, the look on his face, the grimace mixed with a smile. He was the man who made Miguel Indurain seem human...

Now it turns out he was using EPO. Am I disappointed? I am a little if I am honest. You would like to thing cyclists are super human, you would like to think your heroes are invincible. They are not, they are human.

Does it take away from his achievements? Yes and no, let's not pretend that taking EPO will make you a champion, it won't. Year's of hard work and dedication make champions, but heroes?

He will no longer be a hero, but he will never stop being a champion, legend, idol even if it is a fallen one.

RTE.ie on election day

Well the results are coming in thick and fast and we are all eager to find out what version of fine something will be in charge (like it makes a difference!). RTE have been hyping up their result coverage but low and behold their website has been unaccessible all afternoon.

My licence fee at work!

Were they not expecting huge demand???

Irish Hobo makes good

I've always liked the romantic ideal of the hobo. Check this wonderful chap out. He has been living in a shack for 20 years and because he has been there so long sure why not give it to him. There you go mister hobo man, land worth a fortune.

No I am off to live in a shack in Herbert Park Ballsbridge on the off chance...

The whole house of cards

Drug taking in cycling has just been blown wide open. Ok, maybe not wide open, but wider. Telekom or T-Mobile as they are now know have one hell of a scandal on their hands. I wonder will any Tour winners make admissions? (2 in particular!)

As a former Tour de France director once said that they don't get up those mountains on fizzy water alone.

Should drug taking be allowed in cycling? Can it be stopped?! Discuss...

Charming Men

Take a read of this. This is the charming story of the young men who were brought up properly getting a slap on the wrist for a pretty serious crime.

I would like to see how this incident would be treated if it was committed in a less than salubrious area by people who had not been "brought up properly".

Word of the day - Barnacle

I was thinking last night of words that I find amusing and barnacle is one of them. So let's use it in a sentence.

The young lady was horrified when I asked her to inspect my undercarraige for barnacles.

Great sentence eh?

Driving Miss Daisy

I was out for my 4th lesson in about 8 days and I am really starting to get the hang of it. I seem to have found a really good teacher. I will give him a write up when i pass.

I cancelled my test so I won't be doing it for god knows how long. But I will stick with it and keep practicing.

So keep of the roads of Dublin, it's better that way!

So Long Politicians..

That time has come where no more electioneering can happen on the airwaves. So we can have a night off and enjoy the champion's league final.

If a politician dares call during it... They will feel the wrath!

The RSA

The Road Safety Authority have possible the worst customer service I have come accross. I have been on hold over 20 minutes and have been cut off and been told to ring other numbers that didn't work.

Please just answer the phone and let me talk to someone!

Myanmar

I was just looking around my google analytics for this blog and I looked at the countries who visited me. I got a visitor from Myanmar!!!

How remote is that? My word is stretching around the world!

So next time you are on and you are in Rangoon drop me a mail!

So very Tired

We were out last night carousing so I am exhasted and I can't wait to get home!

This is the best post ever!

Brian Cowen Smoked Dope!

First let me say a big whoop-a-dee-doo!

Who really cares what he did back in the 70's. Unless of course he killed someone or embezzled a load of money or beat some children. He didn't so who cares?

Although is it the start of his play for the top job? Clear out the skeletons....

What really struck me first was the lazy jounalism, some "journalists" read in hotpress that he smoked dope, so they write an article about that. That must have been difficult!

Lazy Journalism 1, Brian Cowen 0

Free Speech 0, Waste of time Stories 1

Politicians are children

In today's election news, Michael McDowell and John Gormely got into a slanging match in the street.

We vote for people like this to run the country when they are exactly the wrong type of person to run a country. We don't need childish egotists to run the country!

Read the article to the end, do you think Lucinda Creighton turned up because she had a good one liner??

Driving Lesson

I just had my first lesson in ages and it went ok once I got going. I was very rusty. I will need a hell of a lot of practice and luck to pass my test in a few weeks but I will try!

London Photos

You thought I would never get to it, but I finally got the album together. No comments yet but I put it up and that's enough for me.

London is an amazing town and I would recommend everyone goes there!!!

London Calling!

6th has gone mad!

Check out what is going on at 6thsensitive. I think 6th has gone mad! Or maybe it is a sugar addiction!!!

First you get the sugar,
Then you get the power,
then you get the women!

Patella Tedonitis - Update

It's been a few weeks since I lasted posted about my left knee. I bet you have missed the constant moaning!

Well, over the last few weeks I have had some pain and some general swelling on the inside of my left knee. I have run a few times even doing as much as 20 minutes without any ill affects. My knee doesn't sweel significantly more nor does it hurt much (the ocassional twinge).

The problem is that my gait running or walking feels very unnatural. My whole body feels off and I have had some shoulder muscle pain and I even had to take a day of work due to some back / shoulder muscle pain.

So today I went to my GP and got a referral to a podiatrist to see if that will stem the tide or maybe even improve them. I've also been given a referral to the Ireland football team's physio if the podiatrist doesn't help. So I have some numbers to call.

It would be great to know where I stand (even if it is all twsting and contorted).

Keep Running!

Accountancy and Tax Services - Connolly Consulting

I just finished updating my friend's website. He is a accountant and does tax returns and accounts and such. He is also my accountant and does a great job!

The site is best viewed in IE6 and looks exactly like his business card!

It looks pretty funky.

Careful Now!

I was riding home today from Tallaght to Lucan and I went up the Adamstown Road. Nothing unusual there. The weather was nice and I was cruising along. I was coming up to the roadabout and I slowed down as I do as it is a tight turn.

I get about 20 metres from the roundabout and I'm leaning slightly. And the front wheel completely lost grip and went on safari. They had put down an anti stick surface and it had not bound to the road so it was like sand.

I had just enough time, and going nice and slow to correct it before I would have been bounding straight through a roundabout or sliding along on my ass.

I was a bit shaken as i came to the next junction which had the same thing, at least this time there was a traffic cone that might imply something was going on, but no signs.

It is hard enough riding a bike in Dublin with the plethora of idiots out there without the councils putting booby traps in your way!

Put signs up for god sake!

The Evening Herald

I just walked passed a newspaper seller and today's headline says Harney's husband gets health service contract. Now I refuse to buy the rag but I wonder is there anything untoward happening there? As minister for health, does Mary Harney make such decisions or is it the HSE?

And is Mary Harney's husband a director of said company or just an employee? Enlighten me as I'm not going to buy the paper?

It got me to thinking about the lack of media outlets in Ireland. Independent News & media pretty much run all the evening newspapers in Ireland. This means these paper(is there more than one?) have a huge influence over the election, and printing sensational crap instead of actual journalism just doesn't held informed debate over actual issues in this election.

Let's ignore anything to do with Bertie's finances, or Mary Harney's husband. Let's talk about making this country better, better hospitals, better schools, safer streets etc.

Let's have a debate!

Entertainment.ie

The Irish Times have just bought 30% of Entertainment.ie for €1.5 million. That is a sweet pay cheque for a site that doesn't do anything new or even interesting.

I do really like it's celebrity gossip! How sad is that!?

Pangrams

Do you know what a pangram is? It is a sentence that contains all the letters in the alphabet, check out some of the strange ones.

My favorite is the latvian one!

Outdoor Adventure Centre near Drogheda

I am updating my friend's website for his outdoor adventure centre. It is called Neptune Outdoor Adventure Centre and is situated in Clogherhead in Louth.

I've been up to his hotel called the Greendoor in Drogheda and that was fantastic. It is a party town and myself and my good friend Olav sure did party!!

So if you are looking for a really cool place to stay near Newgrange, check it out.

If you are having trouble sleeping...

Read this for a snoozefest. I sometimes wonder about articles like this. I pity the journalist writing it.

If you are having trouble sleeping...

Read this for a snoozefest. I sometimes wonder about articles like this. I pity the journalist writing it.

London Calling

When I got the message that Manchester United had won the premiership I was sitting at Westminster Abbey. Do I look Happy???

Coconuts!

Do we really need a dependency on oil when we have coconuts. We survived for thousands of years without petrol and diesal so why not go old school.

I hate chuggers

During the day I often have to walk through Temple Bar or along Grafton St. I have not once been able to walk around here without being accosted by chuggers.

If you don't know what chuggers are, they are those people who stop you on behalf of a charity to try and get you to sign up to give money by direct debit.

No offence to charities but I am not going to give my money that way, I think the TV Ads and the crap I get sent through the post is enough.

I don't have time for Concern!

London Town

The lack of posts here was due to my trip to London. So be prepared for many many pictures to appear over at Dublin24 this evening.

The plot thickens

The Jumbo Jet that appeared, has disappeared.

Did he think no one would notice.

Driver gets lost making a delivery, so he does a runner, I wonder did anyone notice.

Science at it's best.

Check this out from Spain.

Up to 20 minutes!

I ran (ok, shuffled) for 20 minutes tonight, my knee was fine. It swelled a bit afterwards but no pain. All the pain was in my lower legs like my shins were about to explode.

I felt very flat footed too. I think it's time for some gait analysis.

Milan were too good!

I was too depressed to write anymore last night. Milan taught United a lesson.

That is all I will say!

Milan are too good!

It's half time in the champions league semi final and Milan are 2 - 0 up. Being a Manchester United supporter I am not having a good night!

Here's for a better 2nd half!!!!

Personal Finance Tips for Overseas travellers

Jimmy Atkinson over at www.yourcreditadvisor.com sent me over a great link to one of their articles. It's about how to look after your finances and yourself when you are travelling abroad.

Check out his 27 tips.