Tuesday, November 29, 2005

My bad start to the week

First off, my curiousity has gotten the better of me, does Leaseplan Corporation N.v mean anything to anyone reading this? Mail me at the address on the left. I'm dead curious.

I tried to give blood yesterday, but the doc messed up the final part of sticking me with the needle bit and couldn't go in again. So that was a waste of time. The house you will have read about prior to this. My PC power supply blew yesterday, so I was without my machine until lunch time today, the 'man' came from Dell and replaced it and the motherboard today.

Played for a fool

I was out Sunday afternoon on my bike, and passed the house I had thought I had bought and it still has a sign outside it, but now the sign says SOLD. So, I seem to have been royally screwed.

I mailed the auctioneer and indicated that I'm perplexed, can't imagine I'll get much response.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Georgie Best, Superstar...

walks like a woman and he wears a bra.

Well, that is how the lyrics went when I was a lad. Could have been a London thing.

I have mixed feelings about his death. It is always sad when someone passes, but perhaps he is safe from whatever demons plagued him.

I never saw him play in person. Yet, his raffish image, tendency for long hair and love of the ladies must have had some impact on this particular youth.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving to all concerned

Just a quick message to say Happy Thankgiving to all who observe the day.

I've had 2 Thanksgivings and I have to say it's a holiday I rather enjoy.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Trip tales Part 5: I've got to get back to Bahrain tonight

In my usual arse backward manner, I'm starting my posting about the weekend trip with the return journey, go figure that for narrative structure.

I was waiting in line for check-in and what did I see only a poster with my name of it on the baggage cart in front of me. Seriously! It's not everyday that happens, and especially not when you are holding a piece of id that mentions your name. I was half thinking/hoping that I might be mistaken for this Daniel Sullivan and feted with great applause. Sadly, it was not to be.

Getting back from Mainz turned into more of an ordeal and gamble than expected. Ms. X, (who can't be named for legal or taxation reasons or some such, I'm never quite sure if she is on the run from the law, the taxman or if perhaps she is the law and the taxman) txted me via someone else's phone from the uni on monday evening about 6pm as I was packing to tell me that no flights had left Frankfurt-Hahn all day or for most of the previous day due to fog. I was suprised and left a little undecided as to what to do, see tedious details here

- the flight was at 10.55pm, the last bus from Mainz was 7.50pm arriving at 9pm, and the last bus back to Mainz was/is at 12.30am, which meant that should the flight be delayed past then and then cancelled I couldn't make it back to Mainz. Also, if I took the 12.30 I wouldn't get back until nearly 2am and would be waking her up.

So my choice was, should I go to Hahn and see what the story was or give up on it and try and book another flight back on Tuesday /Wednesday, but they would be full of those people left over from from Sunday /Monday, or go to Hahn and risk it? I decided to risk it. Real risk taker, me! I bought return ticket for €15 instead of the oneway for €10.50 (you want tedious details, you can't handle the tedious details.)

The bus was almost empty. Which did not bode well.

As the bus got to Hahn and there were planes on the ground which had a just landed look about them (don't ask me to describe it, I suspect it's something in the way they lean, I know things about planes), I reckoned it was probably all systems go. I held off phoning until I was through the security but by then the phone had packed in and there were no pay phones on other side.

Upstairs, there was an erotic shop which was rather odd. The fact of the shop in such a small airport, not the shop itself. It's not like I went in and thought this is an odd shop, or that in I went in all.

On the other side of security, I fell into conversation this bloke who is playing with the Roncalli Circus which features the Kelly Family who are huge on the contintent, or so their site says. I remember Dave pointing out their house outside Cork. The guy had been in the airport since Sunday afternoon, he was playing some sort of mandolin instrument in the circus for the opening number which involved a Bolshoi trained ballerina and he carried the instrument about the whole time. He was quite annoyed with the whole situation. Can't blame him. All in all, I was dead lucky to have booked a flight on the Monday rather than the Sunday.

I was watching the time pass and as planes were taking off, late but still taking off I decided to stay on and give the bus back a miss. At that point I was committed to the return. However, I couldn't ring to confirm I wouldn't be coming back and I wasn't 100% sure what we'd agreed would be the assumption if I didn't ring. So, that was annoying as I didn't want her not sleeping in case I was going to ring.

Finally, the flight left about an hour late, but it was quick enough off the ground.

The plane landed in Shannon about 1am, and I was out of baggage collection by 1.25am. At that point there no buses, so I had to plump for a taxi. How can Shannon call itself an international aiport when there is no transport links from midnight until early morning? There was this yank who shared the cab to Bunratty. Bloody thing cost more than the flight. Was home in bed, (a cold bed) for about 2.30am.

The purpose of hips

A personal gripe of mine as an old geezer is the current popularity of low slung jeans. Or rather overly tight waisted pants that don't come up to the waist.

Now, I'm all in favour of bared female flesh provided the weather is appropriate. However, what I'm seeing around me is just plain silly. Hips have a purpose in emphasising the differences in shape between males and females and with the decline in distinguishing hair styles down through the years it was one of the few things that was a reliably indicator in a dark night spot.

The current insistence on material that is too tight and cuts into the area below the waist is doing nothing to assist in making the wearer look well or attractive. It produces an unpleasant looking fold of flesh which makes the person look overweight when clearly they are not. And don't get me started on the bum cleavage aspect.

These flares of the noughties will embarras those poor misfortunates for years to come.

Le comte is on record as saying that the whole thing is a jip to increase the profit margin for the rag trade. Shave 5% off the material cost and convince the purchasers that it's fashion while charging the same price and you've up a 5% gross increase in profit. The net figure would be even higher.

Sister-Sibling

I was home for 3 days last week for Kevin's funeral. He had a really good send off and I suspect would have quite enjoyed the few days. Kevin was my Godfather.

There were 6 children in the Foley's in all, Nellie, Mary, Joan(who I think may have been christened Hannah), Kevin, Bridie and Sheila(mom,who was christened Julia).

My dad's family also had 6, Dad is the eldest, and then Margeret, after that I'm actually a bit vague on the order of Christy, Paddy, Pauline, and Nancy. This is partially because both Paddy and Nancy died in the 1960s well quite young. Auntie Margeret who was my Godmother passed away, jeez, it must 2 1/2 years ago now.

This means that mom, aunties Joan and Bridie are the sole surviving Foleys. And mom and dad are the sole couple of the bunch. Mom is the youngest of the lot. There were twins that didn't make it to term, they were 2 months shy apparently. Perhaps today they would have made it, I'm not sure but they were both boys I think. My maternal grandmother was a Corkery, and we are also kind of related to Diggins, who I think my grandfather Paddy Foley's mother married after my greatgrandfather died shortly after my grandfather was born.

Those would have been quite small, or less than average family size for their time. I'm not sure I could manage 6, there again, my part were be the more straightforward so I guess it wouldn't be for me to say.

Kind of brings it home,

Families are strange organisations when it comes down to it. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. And it seems to mark out the fact that blood is a thick, murky treacley substance, full of iron for strenght and family can be a lot like that too.

Love is a odd thing, there are all kinds. In particular I was put in mind of the love that siblings have for each other. You grow up together and probably there is a certain amount of looking out for one another. This can lead to all kinds of tensions as one sibling may feel that they know best as regards what another should do with their life and they will express their disappointment or displeasure at decisions the other sibling(s) make. This is even more problematic when it comes to giving advice or opinions involving the spouse or family of the one's siblings. Mother may be the one who knows best, but she will tend to display more tact or cop on than siblings will.

I've been kind of spared this as Biddy isn't likely to start giving me advice and then resenting me for not following it. It is something that people don't quite understand sometimes. I've never considered my sister as someone with a disability, first and foremost, she's my sister. She's been a pain, an annoyance, and she took my dessert sometimes too. And she never took her turn drying and washing the dishes. But all that was done in the manner of what any sister or sibling would do. And as a result I feel responsible for ensuring that she is ok. I suppose it never occurred to me as a reality that I might actually have to choose between doing that and other things in life. And it's not a choice you can really make. Essentially, the type of person you are makes the choice for you. And you can't realistically ask someone to take on that responsiblity with you, it just wouldn't be fair.

It occured to me recently (actually, I was walking along the Rhine) that God made man in his image, when we come to make something in ours, what will it look like?

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Missed a call from Mom this afternoon, only got around to listening to it about 4pm. Turns out my Uncle Kevin, Godfather and the man from whom the K. in Daniel K. comes from passed away at 12.10am this morning or last night depending on how you look at it. Mom said in her message that she was going to bed as she was up most of the night with the rest of the family. So, I'm no 100% clear on the details. Need to ring later this evening to get those.

I was home last weekend and popped in for a visit which I'm really glad now I had. He was in good spirits and seemed very much aware that things weren't looking good for him. Plenty of talk about having had a long life, and how we're getting old. Course, mom corrected him telling him they were old not, getting old. And there was some general chat about the then upcoming match, Laune Rangers against Dr. Crokes. I did think he might make Christmas but I'm not much of a judge it appears. I'm not sure exactly what it was though I have some suspicions and while this isn't necessarily somewhere to idly speculate, I'm inclined to point the finger at the ciggies. I think he was 84 or 85.

Strangely, my Godmother passed away about 18 months ago.

Anyway, as a result I'm going to be off-line for a few days, removal is tomorrow and the funeral Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

A farewell to all that

The last of these for a while.

You scored as Shepherd Derrial Book. The Preacher. Out here, folks need a minister, if only to remind them that God hasn't forgotten them. It isn't about making them worship, it is teaching them to do right by themselves and other people. Why is that so hard for some to understand?

Shepherd Derrial Book

81%

The Operative

75%

Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye

75%

River Tam

75%

Simon Tam

75%

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

69%

Capt. Mal Reynolds

63%

Inara Serra

44%

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

44%

Jayne Cobb

44%

Which Serenity character are you?
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This I didn't see coming


You scored as Angel. Angel is Buffy's vampire boyfriend. He used to be the infamous vampire, Angelous and was when he lost his soul. Before Darla turned him into a vampire, he was a worthless drunk. He murdered Jenny Calender. He was sent to Hell by Buffy. He moved to LA at the end of season three.

Angel

70%

Giles

65%

Willow

60%

Anya

60%

Buffy

50%

Faith

45%

Oz

40%

Cordelia

40%

Xander

25%

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer Character are you?
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And a bundle more while I'm at it.

Have to say I love the photo that goes with this!!! I so didn't have a hat like that.

You scored as Loner.

Loner

81%

Goth

63%

Geek

63%

Punk/Rebel

44%

Drama nerd

44%

Stoner

31%

Ghetto gangsta

25%

Prep/Jock/Cheerleader

19%

What's Your High School Stereotype?
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Geee who knew? I have to say that this one, while correct, in this case doesn't really seem all that reliable based on the questions asked.

You scored as Goth. Your A Goth!

Goth

45%

Rocker, Mosher

35%

Prepy

20%

Emo

20%

Chav, Townie, Rude Boy, Ned, Kev

15%

Trendy

10%

Skater

0%

What Group Are You? Chav, Rocker, Skater, Emo, Goth, Trendy, Prepy E.c.t
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And no real surprise here either. Not sure is it is meant to be intentional or not.

You scored as Posion. Your death will be by poison, probably because you are a glutton and are around so many people that it would be easy to get away with it. Several important people in history share your fate.

Posion

73%

Bomb

67%

Suicide

67%

Natural Causes

67%

Disappear

60%

Gunshot

47%

Disease

47%

Eaten

40%

Accident

33%

Drowning

27%

Cut Throat

27%

Suffocated

20%

Stabbed

20%

How Will You Die??
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That piercing really brought this one together in the end I reckon.

You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. Roguish,quick-witted, and incredibly lucky, Jack Sparrow is a pirate who sometimes ends up being a hero, against his better judgement. Captain Jack looks out for #1, but he can be counted on (usually) to do the right thing. He has an incredibly persuasive tongue, a mind that borders on genius or insanity, and an incredible talent for getting into trouble and getting out of it. Maybe its brains, maybe its genius, or maybe its just plain luck. Or maybe a mixture of all three.

Captain Jack Sparrow

79%

Neo, the "One"

75%

Batman, the Dark Knight

75%

The Terminator

75%

Lara Croft

67%

Indiana Jones

63%

The Amazing Spider-Man

63%

Maximus

63%

William Wallace

58%

El Zorro

54%

James Bond, Agent 007

50%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
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Hmmm.... I personally regard this as more aspirational than anything else. There again, a piece of cold metal can lead to all sorts of possibilities.


You scored as A Slave To BDSM. Admit it, you like being tied up and being told you've been very naughty. You like teasing your partner and making them squirm, and not letting them be able to do anything about it. Some people think what you do is sick and disgusting, but you know it's all in good fun.

A Slave To BDSM

93%

Sex God

65%

A Romantic

55%

Virgin

48%

How are you in bed
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This is probably to be filed under the heading of way too much information and it appears not to match the above...so I might have been lying at some point just to throw people off the scent.

You scored as Wet. You're wet 'n' wild, while that isn't always a good thing, we have to give you points for trying...right?

Wet

63%

Awkward

63%

Violent

56%

Soft

50%

Sweet

50%

Hot

50%

Shy

44%

Exciting

44%

What is your sexual style?
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Who am I again?

And another one based on Lost.

I had to take tie breaker which appears to have plumped for me being Sayid rather than Kate! How very strange.

You scored as Sayid. You're Sayid! You're ashamed of your past and feel guilty about things you have done.

Kate


75%

Sayid


75%

Shannon


63%

Sawyer


63%

Jack


56%

Locke


56%

Charlie


50%

Boone


50%

Sun


50%

Jin


38%

Hurley


38%

Michael


31%

Claire


31%

Who is your "Lost" alter ego?
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The all seeing I.

Another one of these who are you things from the net.

I have to wonder how reliable such things are given where most of them are originating. I say another which seems to be a chain paragraph in which you are asked to comment on someone's blog about some abiding shared memories, and then post the paragraph on your own blog inviting comments. Seriously, shared memories, like there isn't enough inappropriate sharing in the world. I'm sure people expect some fluffy positive nonsense instead of the more likely bile of " that the time you ignored in the hall, or didn't invite me to the school trip to the zoo".
Let's all keep our memories to ourselves and move on I say.


The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to good manners and elegance.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage something you've always wanted... though you haven't really thought about it.

In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Wish it were so

The West Wing had a live presidential debate as part of its format with weekend.

Saldy, we won't get to see it until the new year. By then we'll probably know the winner. Wouldn't it be great if the real thing was like this.

I was home for the weekend, I had intended to travel home the previous weekend but sis wasn't home so I postponed. I try to travel where possible when she is home. As my being about is as much for her to enjoy as it is for me.

Can't say I'm much of a brother. I read her a story when she goes to bed, which she seems to like. I'd never read Roald Dahl as a kid so this is a treat for me too.

Pat's dad was Kerryperson of the year for 2005. Apparently, it was a good night and there were loads of photos of various individuals in the Kerryman last week.

Steve and Peig were about for the weekend too, well the Saturday night. We had a few scoops in Kingston's and went home relatively early, well the weather was miserable and we are all old.

I was looking at some projects that IBM Watson in Cambridge have and there is this visualisation thingy that was used by a baby name company, the baby name wizard and they had used it to track baby names in the US over the last 124 years or so. It's great fun, just type in names and see how they've gone up and down. The speed is quite snappy, it looks just the type of plug-in that PMs would love for tracking bug fixes rates and check-ins etc.

On the baby name side of things, though I'm legally obliged to use Daniel at some point in the eldest wee one's name (and again with the eldest male), I'm kind of easy on names. It doesn't have to be the first or commonly used name, just so long as it is there somewhere in the list.

Anyway, what makes the wizard so much fun is to look at cultural (tv) influences on names, like Angel as the 44th most popular boys name in 2004! though it didn't exist before that, and the explosion of Xander, and Willows. No one seems to be naming their girls Buffy thankfully and Cordelia died a death in the 40s and hasn't come back, nor has Giles.

Oddly enough Daniel appears to have lost popularity after I was born. Actually, quite a few names like Rod and John appear to drop off after people of that name came to promenience.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Nature of evil

some people reckon it's just the absence of good, or that Hell is living for eternity while denied the glory of seeing God.

Not so. There

I caught part of the Exorcist III on the goggle box last. An interesting film, it is based on the sequel book to the Exorcist, called Legion. George C.Scott slowly moves about the film casting gravitas whereever he goes. His mini-speech has stuck with me,

From the Imdb.com

"Dt. Kinderman: My wife's mother is visiting, Father, and Tuesday she's cooking us a carp. It's a tasty fish, I'm not against it. But because it's supposedly filled with impurities, Mary's mother buys it alive, and for three days now it's been swimming in my bathtub. Up and down. Cleaning out the impurities. And I hate it. I can't stand the sight of it moving it's gills. Now, you're standing very close to me, Father. Have you noticed? Yes. I haven't had a bath in days. So I never go home until the carp is asleep. I'm afraid that if I see it while it's swimming, I'll kill it. "

the pace of th film put me in mind of another film that I enjoyed but which didn't prove terribly popular. Mr Frost, with Jeff Goldblum. Why don't you try asking Mr. Frost?

Another one is in the mouth of madness which is quite strange indeed.

And whoever thought I had good taste in movies.

There was an enlightening talk in the dark coffee room about strange experiments. And apples and dodgy priests.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Witching hour

Friday night headed to the lads on Katey street for a Hallowe'en gathering.

I was kind of stuck for something to wear (isn't that always the case?), and the lordland was willing to lend me some authentic Arab headdress which he had gotten in Jordan. Then in a flash of inspiration I though about the oversized dressing robe I had gotten in Bangkok for the dad abotu 7 years ago. I made the mistake of thinking the sizes were local and so got a xxl and that means it almost stretches all the way to the floor. Not the best idea I've had and I've had some bad'uns. Anyway, I put it on and it seemed to work as a loudish dressing gown and I decided I'd wear a pjish shirt underneath and if I bought a cigar holder I could pretend to be Hugh Hefner! A bearded, overweight Hef, but still.

So, that's what I did. I got a superquinn bag and put my custome into it and proceed to flat via the bus. Got off the bus, into fine wines, got a case of beer. The old Labatts is back on offer. 19.99 for 24 bottles!, how bad! Then up to flat.

There was a pleasant and familiar crowd in situ in the aparto. There could have been more ladies, single or otherwise, but the quality was good.

Turns out a friend of the lads Darryl was in Japan 02/03 I think so we were chatting for a while about all things Nihon and Nihonjin. Eoin headed off to meet some people and left me a witch's hat which had some suitably green Hallowe'en hair attached. Suddenly I was transformed into 'the wiz'. After a while the hat became quite addictive.

We headed off to Termights for a bit to see what the lie of the land was, and if our outfits were in keeping with the season about 12.40am. Though Ben made it there, he was soon back home again.

I got some kudos from the patrons that were already there. The place was quiet initially thought by 1.15am it had picked up nicely. Even the bar people seemed pleased with the whole get-up. Which makes a change for me. There was some eejit who took a dislike to Darryl and after he had headed home, the same character decided he wasn't liking me much either. I was heading into the jacks at one point and he was giving me grief and I said, look I'm going in here and I'll be out in a minute and I'll talk to ya then and at which point people I've never meet before are telling the eejit to leave 'the wizard' alone. Result! Strange people in toilets are rallying to my cause!

I really have to get a proper pointy hat. They're just so practical! It's just like in the Pratchett novels.