Furniture Dublin

It's been a while since I last blogged but I have been busy. It's hard to blog and have a life too, or at least I find it difficult.

I've been working on a few sites lately and one is Furniture Designs.

It is a furniture shop on the Old Bawn Road in Tallaght and a friend of mine runs it.

The new design is concise and clear and shows off the range of furniture that they stock. I have to saw from being in the shop it is lovely. I'd need to either get rid of my current furniture or get a bigger house. I would love to take home a lot of what they have in there.

The site itself is HTML, CSS and some Classic ASP. It renders well in most browsers but if you have a problem, leave a comment and I will make sure to try and fix it.

So if it's Furniture Dublin you are looking for, go to Furniture designs.

The French

Well the French did it, they won and are on the way to the World Cup.

It was horrible, it wasn't particularly fair but I suppose that's why we love sports. It helps you forget about your real troubles for a few brief moments.

If Ireland get a penalty...

I think they should try this..

Would John Gormley do this?

In your time of trouble, would John Gormley do this?

I bet he would have recylced the iron bar!

Free stuff for €2.99

The Irish Independent, innovators that they are, have come up with an iPhone app to read the newspaper. I saw it online and thought that's a good idea.

I went to download the app and was horrified that it cost €2.99.

€2.99 to read the paper online, that you can read for free online! Are they serious?

I'm going to continue to read the Independent online, for free, I won't be wasting money on the iPhone app.

A new start I swear...

The last post was about being a lazy poster and then over a month later I'm pretty much going to say the same thing.

Marathon is finished, well for this year, a slow 4.46.20 but I really enjoyed this one.

Now expect a post every couple of days from now on.

Lazy Blogger

I have many excuses and some of which are pretty good, but the main reason I've not been blogging is I'm a bit lazy.

I've been training for a marathon and working and living my life so I've not been twiddling my thumbs.

I will try harder though!

Some Ideas for recovery.

German unemployment has risen to 8.3%. This doesn't sound too good but if you read on you will see that only 9000 more people have lost their jobs last month. That is a tiny fraction of the amount losing their jobs in Ireland.

Is it because the Irish economy is in a worse state than Germany's? Well yes, but the Germans have implemented a plan that subsidises jobs, and encourages shorter worker weeks, so that people will take a cut in wages but will not need to go on full unemployment benefit which is a lot of money. It also has the benefit of keeping manufacturing going and thus bringing in VAT and keeping exporters at work.

With a little bit more imagination and we could recover a lot sooner and there would be a lot less people heading towards skid row.

Sometimes simple solutions solve complex problems but trying to solve them invariably solves them quikcer than doing nothing.

Breaking news - a dog dies!

An old dog died today. Not just any old dog, the oldest dog in the world, ahem.

I have to go out now and get a black armband and fly the flag at half mast.

A no brainer.

If you have no brain, everything is a no brainer! Mary Harney yesterday said that it was a no brainer to ban sunbeds because they cause cancer.

But of course cigarettes are fine. They don't cause any health problems, nor does alcohol, fast foods, junk food... and so on and so forth.

I wonder was she just trying to impress Lance.

SQL Injection - Come on!!!

I read about the hacker who gleaned 120 Million people's credit card details. I thought he must have been some hacker, a savant to get access to that much information.

Then I heard it was a SQL Injection attack. This really is shabby that big companies with credit card and customer information are being exposed by such rudimentary attacks.

Obviously Fake video exposed as fake.

I read this on Sky News today and lost what little respect I had for the "news" channel.

Stupid Goverment plan to waste more money

When I read this morning, that the government want to convert a carpark back into a lawn that it was previously. I thought that isn't a bad idea.

When I head they were then going to hire car parking places instead and spend two hundred and thirty thousand on the conversion, I thought they ought to seek medical help because they are obviously having delusions.

John Gormley, so called Green Leader, says it has to be done because the planning permission for the car park was for 10 years. Give me a thousand euro and I will put a nice lawn in for you, and have a few hundred euro to spare!

I wonder how much a pint of milk will cost if John Gormley is buying?

A good start

An Australian town has acted with some common sense. It's banning bottled water! Whata great idea.

The impact on the bottled water industry is huge, the amount of effort transporting the water, not to mention the bottles themselves!

Good work!

No Comment

I don't think I need to add any further comment on this. Tribunals.... Hmmm

Judges and the pension levy?

Should the Irish Judiciary take a paycut or a pension levy like the rest of the public service? I think they should just to show the people they preside over that they are fair people who believe in justice.

What I really don't like is that it is politicians clamouring for the judges to take the cuts / levy. These are the same politicians who don't sit for nearly half the year. The same politicians who receive long term service payments, who get pensions while they are still sitting as TDs and senators, politicians who are on a leave of absence from their teaching jobs, these very same TDs.

It's just another attempt from the political classes to obfuscate and to distract from the mess they have partially gotten us into.

Wow I can sign in

I haven't been able to sign in to this blog in a few weeks and I'm not sure what the problem was. It's cleared up now so I have no excuses!!!

Local and European Elections

It was hard to muster the gumption to vote for any of them!!

The Star Bar challenge

I saw an ad for the volvic challenge recently. A challenge to drink water for 14 days. Easy. Too Easy, so I am embarking on a star bar challenge, I intend to eat a star bar every day for 14 days.

It's like a rubbish supersize me or a better idea than drinking water for 14 days. You decide!

Google Streetview

The controversial Google Streetview is happening on a street near you. I actually say one today on the quays in Dublin, beside Temple Bar. Imagine, you could see me on the internet. I hope I'm not picking my nose!!

Bob Dylan

We went to see Bob Dylan in the O2 in Dublin last week. I think it was my fifth time seeing him in concert and all in the same venue come to think of it.

I think it was the best I've seen him play and it was a really good set list. His website is pretty funky too.

The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland

I just finished reading The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland. I've read all the fiction this guy has published and this was an absolute pleasure to read it was a real return to form in my eyes.

So if you have read any of his other novels, like Life After God, JPod, Microserfs definitely check this out.

I've been busy

I'm getting less and less time to update my blog, or maybe I should say I am getting less inclined to update it. I'm so sick of computers lately that when I get home from work I haven't been switching it on.

I had to today to do a few updates to Neptune Adventure Centre's Website. I've added a new video to the homepage. Now I have to add some new documents to the Greendoor Accommodation Website.

Then there are 2 other sites I am working on and I really should get at least one of them done over the weekend, if I can bare turning the computer on, and if I get the time.

Lying ISP

I've been having broadband problems over the last few weeks. This week I had 2 days without broadband and when I mailed the ISP they replied with a nice long answer suggesting it could be anything but their system.

Suspiciously the broadband has been working perfectly since.

Suspicious! I'd much prefer if they told me the truth.

Budget Predictions

My budget predictions weren't bad. I got it wrong about VAT, but you live and learn. It is funny though that a week or 2 later they are back dating the levy just to stop people front loading bonuses etc.

Do they not think any of their ideas through?

budget predictions

so it's the night before the budget and not a creature is stirring...

Ok, so here is what i'm expecting. The income levy will be trebled and maybe quadrupled. Vat will be dropped and social welfare will be dropped an equal amount. The will add duty to cigarettes and alcohol but not too much and i expect DIRT to increase.

I also expect section 23 to be ended and a crackdown on rental properties and landlords and perhaps some property tax....

that's my guess

Confusing technologies

I've spent the last few weeks working on php, xml, xslt and ubuntu. I have got sick of ubuntu and not being able to install anything so I am working on my dell mini at the moment which is a lifesaver.

I've not been able to get xslt and php working anywhere except my live server so I have to be online to work on it, which is a pain.

I've been working on a letting site for a friend of mine in Norway and if I ever get it up and running I will put up the link.

I have learned some useful stuff though, like you need iso-8859-9 encoing on your xml to display norwegian characters.

I'm out of here before the battery goes

Hoop la like this blows my mind

I just read that Entropia the online game has been granted a licence to be a bank. Does that make any sense to you?

At first it made me feel unusual, but when I read there was over $400 million dollars worth of tansactions going on then I though that ain't a bad idea.

I think I should set up an online wold like that. Maybe Virtual Grfit.com I wonder would it work?

Some Action

The US law makers ar trying to put right what once went wrong by putting a tax of 90% on the bonuses of companies they have bailed out.

Now those bonuses should never have been paid in the first place, the ball was dropped but it is good to see them fixing it now.

The Irish government should take a leaf out of their book.

If the government bail you out you should have to play by their rules, or at leqst play by the rules. As for private companies not bailed out by the government, they should be allowed pay their staff and directors what they please.

Twittering on a blog

I just added Twitter updates to my blog. God only knows why!

Dwain Chambers is not evil

Dwain Chambers has been invited to run at the Golden League meeting in Berlin.

He broke the rules, but he has served his time and should be allowed back in the sport. They should make new rules going forward if they have such a problem with him.

I don't condone drug use or cheating, but I do promote second chances.

Good luck Dwain.

What I've been doing?

I've been very quiet lately and that is down to a few things. Lot's of work and I have been working on a few websites. I'm finishing up Magicman which is for a magician.

I'm also finishing up Neptune Outdoor Adventure Centre.

I have 2 or 3 more sites to work on over the next few weeks, it's good to have a few jobs coming in.

More Bankers

Bank of Ireland just named their new CEO. Richie Boucher has been given the role. I'm disappointed that the government help recapitalise a bank and then allow the bank to make an internal appointment. It seems like it's business as usual in the banks of Ireland.

I've finally decided

Now I am on twitter. I am not so sure about it but I will give it a whirl and see if it adds to my life in anyway. I'm open minded.

Are you kidding me?

RTE are spending money like it's going out of fashion on their Eurosong effort this friday. Unless of course all the presenters and all the people involved in the outside broadcasts are working for free.

I don't Jerry Springer will expect to be paid either, so that's alright then!

Ward off the recession - Marry a dog.

I read this story on Sky News today. A boy has married a dog in India, to avoid being killed by a tiger.

That is a sentence I never dreamed off typing.

The bus

I've been going wild with my annual bus ticket over the last few days. It makes you try and get the best value for your money.

So far it has been great, no delays and the bus is doing ok in rush hour traffic and long may that continue. I wonder how much impact the new transport policy will have though?

Will the document somehow make more people use public transport, when they are cutting buses and routes? Will 150 thousand people cycle to work??? I think it's up to us as individuals and as employees and employers to get the show on the road. No point waiting for this government to do anything.

So get on your bike, or bus or go crazy and run to work.

The Last week

I've been quiet lately because I fell off my bike and ended up in hospital with concussion. Luckily for me my fall on the cobbles didn't involve anyone else but me and the ground and my brand new helmet worked a treat protecting my noggin.

I have to go get the bike repaired now, nothing major to report a broken clutch lever and broken mirror and no broken bones for me.

It will be a long push to the garage unless some mystery benefactor would like to stump up to have it transported there...

Any takers?

Raheny 5 mile

I did the Raheny 5 mile yesterday. The weather was just awful on the way there but luckily for the race it was perfect. The same could not be said about the weather for the junior's and kid's races!

I did it in 42:56 which is around what I had expected and predicted on Thursday. I could have been 20 seconds better, but I had to stop and tie my lace. Let that be a lesson for when I am going for a personal best.

It was a really enjoyable event and the goody bag was great!

So my next run will hopefully be a short one tomorrow night. If I get the time I hope to do some fartlek intervals to try and build up speed and help my aerobic capacity.

The Run to Work - Today's Stats

Today's run was slightly shorter than before. It was 8.2 miles instead of 8.5. I didn't include the warm up part. I did it in 79minutes 49seconds which is a massive improvement of 15 minutes from last week. Average pace of 9.44 per mile.

My best mile was mile 6! How weird is that? I've just realised, I pushed it a bit to go until an hour for 10k!!! Makes sense now.

That's a good improvement. Roll on Raheny at the weekend and I hope to go sub 43minutes for 5 miles. I won't be near a personal best but anything until 45 I'll be happy.

Some People

I heard a question on the radio at the weekend. What popular board game was launched in 1955. The first 10 answers were Monopoly. Wrong. The 11th answer was Chess...

A short run

I got out lastnight for my planned 5k. I was lucky that the weather was kind to me. It was icey rain on the warm up walk to the park, but after I'd stretched and was ready to go the rain had stopped. The wind was strong but it wasn't overpowering.

I did 5k in 26.24 which I'm pretty happy with. I had my lap counter checking the mile times which were 8.48, 8.19, 8.22. That is a big improvement on the mile times from my long run, which were nearer 11.

I'm going to do my 8.5 mile run to work on Wednesday or Thursday and I am aiming for around 80 minutes. That is around 9.41 per mile which should be easily managed and it will be a 13 minute improvement on last week.

Then I hope to run the 5 mile in Raheny on Sunday.

Running - Some Stats

I got my new Garmin Forerunner 405 and it is fantastic. I love numbers and stats so here are some from my last run.

Distance	8.53 Miles
Time	94 Minutes 20 Seconds
Avg Pace	11.03/mile
Avg Speed	5.4 MPH
Avg Heart Rate	159 BPM
Max Heart Rate	176 BPM

It's a pretty slow time but it is great to see the stats. Tomorrow I'm doing a 3 mile or 5k run and I intend to have an average pace of 9 minute miles and then on my next 8.5 mile run I would like to take the time down by at least 5 minutes.

Oh dear

Times are getting tough and the government have decided to cut corners. So they've said public transport will be scaled back. That just isn't clever. Why can't the government see past the end of the year and think about the people who rely on public transport.

When jobs become scarce people will have to travel further and at different times to get there, but there won't be a bus service there for them.

Think people, think.

The Run to work

It's been a busy week, I haven't had a chance to write much.

Last week I ran into work, I'm not 100% sure what the distance was, I think it was somewhere between 9 and 11 miles. It took about 95 minutes. It was tough going, I think it was more mentally tough than physically tough.

When I'm on a normal run, if you don't feel up to it, you stop and head back home, normally I'm within a few kilometres of the house so it's easy to turn back. Running to work on the other hand, gives you a deadline and a destination. I've got to be in work at 9 and if I turn back I will be very late.

I think it's good practice for a marathon, it will help when I cross the start line with 26 miles to go, it will help me not to be overawed by the distance.

Walking and running

Happy New Year. It has been ages since I last posted but with Christmas there just isn't any time for that sort of thing. I did get out for a few walks and a few runs. I got a couple of 10kms in and a 5k.

Not bad considering. On my most recent 10k I came across a huge grey squirrel. Check him out!

I took a picture of a heron today when I was out for a walk with Junior, but the zoom wan't great. It's a shame but I think I might bring my camera on my next run to see what wildlife I can capture.