New Year's Resolutions - UPDATE

Shur, why not?:-

1. To eat sushi for the first time - UPDATE - nearly managed it a few weeks ago when we were in Dublin for the Springsteen concert, only the sushi bar in the Dundrum Town Centre just seems to open for lunch
   
2. To get to see Arsenal play at least once this year - UPDATE - I'm booked to see the Gunners play Juventus as part of the Emirates Cup in early August (if I live that long...)
   
3. To visit a country I've never been to before (this one is looking good...) - UPDATE - sorted - the Czech Republic and Poland have been ticked off the list so far, and there is a slight possibility that Slovenia might be on the cards towards the end of the year.
   
4. To start cycling again as soon as the weather improves (this one is not looking good...) - UPDATE - I have gone cycling on a number of occasions in recent times, but not nearly as much as I should have. Still, it's some form of progress, innit?
   
5. To generally get the oul' bod a bit more together - UPDATE - see 4 above. And I have one or two other plans that might (or mightn't) work.
   
6. To move house - UPDATE - looking more like Christmas to be fair, but there has been a sudden surge in activity over the last few weeks. Who knows, eh?
   
7. To either change my car or keep it for longer - UPDATE - so far, it's looking like I'm keeping it, so, result...
   
8. To have a better year at work than I had last year (which wasn't bad, but had its "moments") - UPDATE - this year has been very good on the travel front and not so bad on other fronts, so I can't really complain too much
   
9. To see friends more - UPDATE - met Peter Fitz in Warsaw (how cool was that?) and my mate Jerry Kelliher the week before in Dublin. And I'm going to the Electric Picnic in September with my cousin Redmond, so I'm doing well here...
   
10. To stop wrecking me own head - UPDATE - well, 8 out of 10 ain't bad...

Regards,


djp

"I saw a saw sawing wood in Warsaw..."

Got back from Poland yesterday. Tired after a very busy, but very enjoyable, few days business.

Click here to see a few photos.

Warsaw looks rather like Prague in many ways. It certainly could do with a few bob being spent on it, but it is still rather attractive. One advantage Warsaw has over Prague is the fact that it is less afflicted by tourists, especially in the Stare Miesto area (Old Town to you (and me...)). However, there is a significant problem with poor service in restaurants and an unfortunate tendency to short-change tourists...

...oh, and for some bizarre reason, you can't buy postcards from the usual magazine/tobacco kiosks. Dunno why.

The best part of the trip was the fact that I met my old sparring partner Peter Fitzpatrick (he of the Pushing & Pulling blogsite) who was over from Dublin on business. I haven't met him in years. The occasion was so auspicious that it has been recorded for posterity (Peter's on the right...)

Would I go back to Warsaw. Certainly.

Regards,


djp

Well oiled...

Click here for a link to an RTE news report on the recent rise in oil prices.

The key sentence in the report is this:- "The weakening dollar boosts oil prices because it makes crude relatively cheaper for buyers using other currencies, analysts say".

The dollar has weakened significantly against the euro in recent months, and since oil is priced in dollars, you would then imagine that oil would be cheaper to purchase for those states which use the euro.

Nuh-uh.

Bear in mind that oil is a finite commodity and that the oil producers are purely motivated by the desire to make as much money as possible while the supply of oil lasts, then it is in their interest to address the issue of increased demand for oil (caused in part by the weakness of the dollar, which eats into the producers' profit margins) by increasing the price of oil.

So the sequence of events is not, as the man on the street might imagine:-

- weaker dollar vs. euro -> cheaper oil

but...

- weaker dollar vs. euro -> potentially reduced profits for producers -> more expensive oil.

On the face of it, and somewhat illogically, we in the eurozone would be potentially better off if the dollar was stronger against the euro, as this would mean that oil would be too expensive, therefore demand would fall, and consequently (in theory at least) the producers would have to reduce the price to stimulate demand. However, I doubt if that's the way the real world operates.

And even if there was a guaranteed unlimited supply of oil going on into infinity, I think the oil producers would find some way to ensure that the price of oil would always go up rather than down. You wouldn't want to give it away now, would you?

Oil is such a vitally important commodity to the global economy that the normal rules of the "punter" economy do not apply. Take avocado pears, for example. Hardly the most essential commodity in the world. And yet one might develop a taste for them and decide to buy them on a regular basis. However, if for some reason the price of avocado pears sky-rocketed, the normal punter might say "Naaah, too expensive..." and decide not to buy them so long as the price stayed high. It's the classic strategy for dealing with unacceptable prices. Am I happy with the price? No. Do I really need them? No. Will I continue to buy them? Not bloody likely.

The same simple scenario does not to apply to oil. Unless someone can come up with a truly viable alternative means of fuelling transport and the generation of energy (not to mention providing raw materials for plastics, fertiliser and the Devil knows what) then we will be compelled to buy oil at whatever price it is offered to us. We have no choice for now. The oil producers are in control. As my late mother might have delicately put it "The fuckers have us by the hasp of the arse".

Of course, one way of removing the oil producers from the equation completely is for us to use up all the world's supply of oil as quickly as possible. That way, the producers would soon run out of a commodity to control and could no longer hold us to ransom.

And I'm doing my bit to advance that strategy right now - I own a Lexus...

Regards,


djp

A busy couple of days ahead of me...

Off to Dublin tomorrow afternoon for meetings on Thursday and Friday. Back home Friday evening/night.

Off to Dublin Airport very early next Monday morning (as in 1 a.m.) to catch a flight to Warsaw in Poland for meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Back home Friday evening/night.

Sounds like a bit of a drag, perhaps. Still, it's good to be busy, innit?

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod Tracks - 01/06/2008

1. (-) - I'm Afraid - The Cardboard Lung
2. (-) - Ben Kenobi's Theme - Patrick Gleeson
3. (-) - Wrong Turnings - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
4. (-) - Do What You Wanna Do - Acid House Kings
5. (-) - Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi - Air
6. (-) - Hormone Love - Blowoff
7. (-) - Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen
8. (-) - Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers
9. (-) - The Certainty Of Chance - The Divine Comedy
10. (-) - Grounds For Divorce - Elbow

Regards,


djp

Plain ketchup

It's been a while since my last posting, but some interesting stuff has happened:-

1. Let's see - first, and perhaps most important - my elder daughter has graduated from second-level education (or "high school", if you prefer). She is about to face into her final exams (or "Leaving Cert", if you prefer) and is studying like mad. Last week, there was a "graduation" Mass said in her school. It was very pleasant and somewhat emotional - one does realise the passage of time when one's eldest offspring is finishing school and heading (hopefully) for university. Towards the end of the ceremony, the girls in her year sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" a la Jeff Buckley and it brought a tear to my eye - not just for the occasion that was in it, but for the stupendous loss to the world caused by the untimely death of Jeff Buckley. Hmmm... Of course, back in my time, there was no such thing as "graduation". You just "left school". How things have changed...
   
2. I finally got my Rickenbacker bass after almost two years waiting and a snafu with my order. When I opened the case, I was instantly transported back to 1974 when I bought Sparks' "Kimono My House", which featured Martin Gordon playing a Ric 4001 bass. I have lusted after a Ric bass for 34 years and finally got to fulfill my dreams when I opened the new Ric's guitar case and plugged it into my POD. That sound that at the age of 11 convinced me that I should learn to play the bass. 1974 - I mean Jesus!
3. Took Mrs. P to see Bruce Springsteen in Dublin last night. I am not a fan of The Boss, but "the boss" is, so when the tickets came up for sale, I had no hesitation in getting a brace of tickets. Whatever I might think about Springsteen, he puts on a great show with no fancy stagecraft involved. A most enjoyable night all told, but my feet and knees were aching when we got back to the hotel. Gettin' ould, boy...
4. So this morning, we skipped breakfast and went straight to the Dundrum Town Centre, where both Mrs. P and I went for cooked breakfast. Being the gentleman that I am, I paid for both of our breakfasts. The bill came to €13.50. Amazing! I asked the guy at the checkout had he possibly undercharged me. "No", he said, "I charged for everything. Great value, isn't it?" Who was I to disagree? And the fee for 2 hours' parking was only €2. Almost made me feel like moving back to the Big Shmoke. And then I bought 3 hoodies and a polo shirt in Penneys for €32. I know I'm supposed to be concerned about our poor brethren in the Far East who work in intolerable conditions in sweatshops to make such sinfully-cheap clothing. But €32? I mean come on...:-)

Regards,


djp

Ah, nostalgia...

So, I went up to Dublin to collect my iPod yesterday.

Of course, I completely forgot (big eejit that I am) that yesterday was the start of the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Everything was fine (more or less) until I got through that notorious traffic blackspot, Mountrath. On the Dublin side of town, there was a traffic tailback going some 3 or 4 km. I resolved that I was not going to be part of that...

Got to Dublin around 4.10 p.m., did the business (oo, er...) and started to head back to Nenagh around 4.45. It took me 75 minutes to get from the Jervis Street car park to the Red Cow "interchange" (it used to be a "roundabout", now it's an "interchange"...) - a distance, I'm guessing here, of about 6 or 7 km. I don't know if that's the usual length of time it takes to make that journey on a Friday evening, but it brought back memories of the almost-interminable journeys I used to make from Dublin to Kerry back in the 80s - before all the "road improvements" of recent years.

Once I got past Newland's Cross, it was plain sailing. But the thought of a tailback in Mountrath prompted me to consider an alternative route home. I toyed with the idea of turning off the M7 for Abbeyleix and heading toward Cork, turning off the N8 to go to Thurles and then home. But coming towards Mountrath, I realised that I really couldn't be arsed, so I continued on my normal route. The good news was that there wasn't so much of a tailback; more like a go-slow. I drove slowly, but relatively easily, through the town, only losing (according to "Hillary", my GPS guide) about 8 minutes. Got home a little before 8 o'clock. Not bad, really...

My thoughts went back to the earlier tailback going into Mountrath. Obviously, everybody thought they were being clever by leaving Dublin early to avoid the crowd. The fools! Haven't they learnt yet? You can never avoid the crowd...

...makes me glad I moved out of Dublin all those years ago.

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 01/05/2008

1. (-) - Love It When You Call - The Feeling
2. (-) - I Am Produced - Guided By Voices
3. (-) - We're Through - The Hollies
4. (-) - Snake Charmer (Live) - Jah Wobble & the Invaders of the Heart
5. (-) - Grace - Jeff Buckley
6. (-) - Mega Bottle Ride - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
7. (-) - Isaachar Dub - King Tubby
8. (-) - Wichita Lineman - Sammy Davis Jr.
9. (-) - Pain & Spectacles - Stereolab
10. (-) - No Way Of Knowing - A. Tent

OK, this is where I have a confession to make. This is actually the Top 10 for 21 April, since my iPod has been up in Dublin for the last week or so getting its plugs and points checked. On the assumption that the hard drive might be wiped in the process of maintenance, I backed up all the songs and took my Top 10 from the point of backup.

While the iPod has been in the A&E, I've been using my younger daughter's old iPod Shuffle to keep me musically mobile. For what it's worth (norra lo'...), here's the Top 10 tracks I've been listening to over the past week:-

1. - Get On With Your Short Life - Brian Kennedy
2. - Lady Double Dealer (Live) - Deep Purple
3. - EMI - Sex Pistols
4. - Luno - Bloc Party
5. - Paper - Brometer
6. - Burn (Live) - Deep Purple
7. - Wrong Turnings - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
8. - Face Like Summer - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
9. - Beginning Is the End - The Hungry I
10. - Friend, You've Got To Fall - Husker Du

I'm getting the iPod back tomorrow, so normal service will resume shortly.

Regards,


djp

A matter of principle (I suppose)

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed that a number of items I've posted on forums and blogs other than this one have been deleted by the moderators/bloggers.

I have absolutely no problem with this. It's the prerogative of the bloggers or moderators to assess whether any posted items are worthy of publication and are not just the witterings of people (such as I) who occasionally have too many shandies down the Dog and Dinosaur and come home in the wee small hours to type total "ráiméis". The world doesn't need it, quite frankly...

I have this principle that I try to live by:- if it can't happen, it won't happen. This principle can be applied successfully to almost any element of modern, everyday life, not least the posting of idiotic tosh on blogs and such.

So in an effort to make less of a nuisance of myself, I now intend not to look at any blog or forum between today and 1 September next. Just as a trial period. If I can't look at a blog, then I won't post a comment. Seems like a simple proposition...

Regards,


djp

God, Ted, I'm an awful eejit...

I had a dentist's appointment today for 2 p.m., and I forgot it...

I was working "á l'ordinateur" all day today and was quite happily uploading some shite online when the thought crossed my mind that I was supposed to be going to the dentist today...

...checked my watch...

...3.30!

Bollocks...and I wouldn't mind, but I'd thought about the appointment sometime before noon, as in "Mustn't forget to brush, floss and gargle before my dental appointment. At 2.00 p.m."

Losing it bigtime...:-^)

Regards,


djp

Tech trouble

Looks like there could be some significant financial issues ahead...:-)

My 6-year old Dell laptop is due for retirement in the Autumn, but I'm not sure it's going to make it that far. It's a Dell Inspiron, but it's performance these days is dull and uninspiring. It's been very slow to start-up these last two days, at least 15 mins and a couple of "hard-reboots", but unless I really have to, I don't want to splash out on a new laptop in a hurry. I want to do a lot of research and get the best I can afford - when I can afford it...:-)

And then there's my iPod. I reckon the battery's on the fritz, so a trip to Mr. iPod Repair Guy in Dublin looks likely. As it happens, I'm going there next Monday to see Elbow live, so I might just take the iPod along with me to see what happens.

Of course, you'll well remember the little spot of bother I almost got myself into in relation to iPods on Ebay last year. I still wouldn't mind a larger iPod (even an old 60Gb model would do, I'm not terribly fussy). Maybe Mr. iPod Repair Guy might have a re-conditioned model for sale at the right price. Might be worth a try.

We'll see. Whatever happens with either the laptop or the iPod (or both), my credit card might be taking a bit of a hit...:-^)

Regards,


djp

Creative inertia

A few weeks ago, we had problems with leaks from our bathroom into our kitchen.

After much beard tweaking, cursing and swearing (OK, in reality, effin' and blindin'), we discovered that the source of the leaks was a disconnected downpipe in the bathroom w.h.b.

I called Mr. Builder Guy and he sorted out the problem. But it was still necessary to rectify the consequences of the leaks:- water stains on the kitchen ceiling (multiple coats of paint has remedied this) and a jamming kitchen door. Water had been leaking through a small little hole in the edge between the kitchen ceiling and the supporting wall where the door lives. As a result, water had dripped down through the door jamb and on to the door itself, causing it to swell and stick in the doorway.

It had been my intention to sand the area of the door that had swollen. In order to identify that area, I hit upon the delightful wheeze of rubbing pencil graphite on to the door jamb above the door. The graphite would mark the door where it was sticking. Tried it out and, sure enough, it worked - I could see exactly where the door was sticking.

The next step would be to get some sandpaper and, well, sand. However, for whatever reason, I didn't get around to that task. As days passed, the door seemed to be less inclined to stick. Today, I discovered that the door wasn't sticking at all. Obviously, it has dried out in recent days and the swelling has reduced.

So that was a job saved, then...

Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. As I say, creative inertia.

Regards,


djp

Wonders will never cease No. 1

I was in Limerick today to pick up some materials from a builders' providers.

Having paid for the materials, I was given a docket and then sent around to the warehouse to make the pickup. Parked the old VW van round the back and went inside to meet the guy with the forklift truck.

I was amazed to hear some familiar music over the speakers in the warehouse:- "Flamenco Sketches" from Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" album.

I mean, Miles Davis. In a builders' providers' warehouse.

I blame the Celtic Tiger. Warehouse people won't put up with any old shite being played these days. Only the best.

Far from Miles Davis we were reared. An entire ocean and part of a continent away, in fact.

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tunes - 01/04/2008

1. (-) - Going Through The Motions - Aimee Mann
2. (-) - Once Upon A Time - Air
3. (-) - Drumnagarry Strathspey/Pirrie Wirrie/Big John's Reel - Altan
4. (-) - Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca - Andrei Gavrilov
5. (-) - If You Were There, Beware - Arctic Monkeys
6. (-) - Turtle - Artery
7. (-) - Penny Lane - The Beatles
8. (-) - No One Will Know - Bella
9. (-) - Stars - The Buzzcocks
10. (-) - T T T - The Buzzcocks

My iPod had one of its occasional total crap-outs (craps-out?) the other day and I had to re-format the damn thing. I also, for the first time, created my own "library" in iTunes. Up to know, the entire family had used the same library, but because of my...er...specialist taste in music, whenever I added anything to my iPod, I always deleted it afterwards from the library. Obviously, the material was either on a hard drive as a download or was on CD, so it was possible (though very painful) to track down all the material I'd had to delete. The whole process ran over three days..:-(

I also took the opportunity to drop some old material I'd been listening to for ages and introduce some new stuff. Plus I allowed myself to sample some of the stuff that my kids had on the main library - I know - taking my life in my hands and that.

Bottom line is - this month's chart bears absolutely no relation to that of last month. Sorry about that, chaps.

It strikes me that this type of thing was never an issue with vinyl - ah, me...

Regards,


djp

Prague Spring, 2008

Last week, I spent a few days in Prague on business. I got the opportunity to bring the family over as well, so I took it.

If you haven't been to Prague before, get ye there as quickly as possible. It's got wonderful architecture in the centre of the city - mindblowing, in fact. Mind you, where we were staying, everything was a bit Stalinist and run-down, working-class. But I got no sense of threat there.

The residents of Prague seem to be courteous, if not exactly friendly, but courteous is fine by me.

Herewith, some pics...

Regards,


djp

Read. Enjoy.

http://byneddiejingo.blogspot.com/2008/03/four-diamond-girl.html


Regards,


djp

Won me a competition...

... on David Cairns' wonderful movie blog, SHADOWPLAY.

Just me waxing a tad lyrical, as I am wont to do. Might even do something with it in the sweet by-and-by.

SHADOWPLAY is well worth checking out on an ongoing basis if you enjoy the world of cinema. Highly recommended!

Regards,


djp

Lotto-explaining-to-do

Last Saturday, the Irish National Lottery jackpot was heading for €10 million. That would buy a lot of Snickers ice cream, don't you think?

I don't play the Lotto terribly often. Usually only when there's a fairly decent jackpot roll-over. I seem to have no gambling gene at all - I'm just not interested. Quite the opposite, in fact - I almost have a pathological fear of being overcome with the gambling fever. So I limit my flutters to an occasional trip to the gee-gees and an (almost) annual bet on the Gunners every August. Not much more than that really.

And when I do the Lotto, more often than not I forget to check the results, so what's the point really? As I said, no gambling gene.

But you can't really ignore a €10 million jackpot, can you?

So on Saturday, I trekked over to Tesco and did my (for want of a better description, given the foregoing) "usual" play - four lines of Quick Pick and Lotto Plus. €8 stake. I walked away from the counter with the Lotto numbers and playslip in my left hand. Just as I was taking a sneaky peak at the front pages on the newspaper stand, I remembered that I needed to buy a ream of printing paper for my PC. I went to the appropriate aisle, found the paper and ventured towards the self-service checkout. Did the needful and emerged at the other side. At that stage I decided to check that I had my Lotto papers intact. To my horror, I discovered that while I had the playslip, I'd lost the actual Lotto numbers. I went back inside the store and re-traced my steps. No sign of the numbers. Obviously, some eagle-eyed passer-by had seen me drop the numbers and decided to help themselves to a free stake in the Lotto draw.

Cursing my stupidity, I went back to the counter and did another €8 play. €16 down - what a plonker...

As I went back to the car, I considered how terrible it would be if someone won the Lotto with my lost numbers, so I offered a silent prayer to the Guy in the Penthouse that no-one from Nenagh would win the jackpot, and guess what...

...there is a Guy in the Penthouse. The jackpot wasn't won at all, in Nenagh or anywhere else, and it rolls over to the next draw on Wednesday. Who knows how much that's going to be worth.

Of course, when I told my tale to Mrs. P, she concurred with my conclusion that I am, indeed, a plonker.

But the story doesn't end there - I decided to check my second set of numbers online and discovered that I'd "matched three" on the Lotto Plus 2 draw. And my prize? A free €1 scratch card. Big whoop - I'll probably forget to claim it or lose the numbers or summat.

As I said, no gambling gene...:-^)

Regards,


djp

Critter Cadaver No. 3 - Dead Mouse

Found at the side of the house yesterday. Panther's handiwork, I'd imagine...

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 01/03/2008

1. (1) - Burst Me Stitches (PC Mix) - Daniel Prendiville
2. (2) - Hello? Is This Thing On? - !!!
3. (-) - Sedition's Wish - 31 Knots
4. (-) - Life On Earth - The Divine Comedy
5. (8) - Moanin' The Blues - Hank Williams
6. (3) - Sam's Town - The Killers
7. (4) - Moon (John Peel Session) - Microdisney
8. (-) - Clean Up For Christmas - Aimee Mann
9. (-) - Californie - Air
10. (-) - Everything That's You - Airliner

Regards,


djp