February 2006 Archive
In this day and age
07 February 2006, 18:09
can someone explain how with all the technology and money spent on research and development, do oven chips still taste like warm cardboard.
Unemployment, Builders, Buffy, Insane House Guests and Employment
22 February 2006, 11:13
Wel, its been a while since I wrote anything. I'm blaming it on the trauma of the oven chips and a bout of extreme laziness. So lets catch up with the last two weeks.
First off, the month got off to a bad start with the news that due to adverse business conditions, I would no longer have a job. It wasnt totally unexpected but still a bit of a blow when the news is finally delivered. So I wandered home and spent the rest of the afternoon wallowing in disappointment, but an afternoon was all i was allowing myself. That evening I had updated my CV and sent it out to a few agencies and employers. The following afternoon I had a preliminary phone interview , which then turned into a face to face interview and subsequently a job offer. So as from next monday I will be, once again, gainfully employed.
The builders have also been in over the last couple of weeks, carrying out essential repairs, sadly there was not one good looking man between them. However, they have installed a new shower and repainted the hall. The just have a few external jobs to carry out and that will be that.
The unexpected time off has given me a chance to catch up on the final two season of Buffy, that are currently been shown on Sky. I had missed all of the final series, so its been nice to get to see them. As well as buffy, I've also been treated to Malcolm in the Middle and futurama. I'm beginning to appreciate Futurama, a lot more. I still think its flawed and that its potential was never reached but in fairness to it, the jokes are holding up well, and the star trek episode is very funny.
On top of the job loss, and the builders, we have also been visted with an imposed house guest. The land lord asked that his wifes sister be allowed to stay in the 3rd bedroom while the repairs were being carried out. I wasnt overly thrilled about it but wanted to be helpfull. Since it was only going to be a month, I thought whats the worse that can happen. As it turns out quite a lot. The first week was uneventful. She wasnt there alot and mostly stayed in her room. Week 2 saw here het drunk nightly, and on one occassion, tried to dye the carpet in her bed room, ok she was dying her hair at the time. Then She has the boyfriend over one night. I arrived home in the early hours, to hear loud music blaring from her room and as time went on, noisily closing doors and talking. This caused the other housemate to have a sleepless night and be late for work. he wasnt happy. I slept through the worst of it
Valentines day rolled around, yes flowers did arrive from parts foreign,I came back from the front lounge. She was in the front lounge, twisted drunk. The hose was filled with the smell of cigarette smoke, which is not allowed by the land lord. I mentioned that to her but she claimed that the rules didnt apply because she was the landladys sister. The eyes were rolling in her head. i took my leave to go to bed, I came back down a few minutes later to get my laptop and she was unconscious on the sofa. i turned off the TV and left her there. I was awoken sometime during the night. There was a kerfuffle out on the landing. It seems she had woken up, and gone upstairs and was trying to get into my housemates bed. Eventually she was escorted to her room but not without a struggle.
She disappeared for a few days after that but was back on saturday, with boyfriend and noise in tow. that was the last straw. The other housemate who on saturday morning was nursing a hangover, rang the landlord and the result was that by the time i came back from seeing 11 men out at the film festival, he bags were packed back and sitting outside the door. Some of them are still there.
So that was the forthnight that was. I had planned on having a dinner party but with all the work going on in the house, the dust levels were quite high, so i decided to hold it off till next month.
Some quick obsevations on this mornings TV.
Jeremy Kyle, you are not jerry Springer..so please stop trying..even if the guests with tourettes were entertaining.
Enda Kenny, is a tool. He's standing there in the dail with about as much clout as a dry sponge, but less charismatic..future taoiseach..my arse.
A more innocent time
23 February 2006, 12:36
I was browsing the channels this morning..TG4 were showing a movie called Young Man with a Horn..sadly it wasnt what i was hoping for
Are you Riot there Michael?
26 February 2006, 13:00
On the morning after disasters and such, i like to play a little game as i head down to the shop to buy a paper. I make up headlines and then see if any of the newpapers have used the same headline. Today I decided on the Headline "Scum". Once again I was not disappointed. The Oirish Star on Sunday had the headline of YOU SCUM . The NOTW and The Sindo had the same headline of DUBLIN BURNS or DUBLIN BURNING . The NOTW wasa bit let down by its accompanying picture and it was just a few Gardai standing around a very small fire. It didnt really portray a city under siege. The SINDo did have a better photo of a Garda in riot gear standing in front of a burning car. I'd say it was a photoshop job however.
I see once again that rather than blame the rioters, the blame has been aportioned to the Michael McDowel, the contractors who left building supplies on OConnell Street, but lets not forget who the real blame belongs to, The rioters.
Afterall, it was only 700 people who were there to march down the street. I dont agree with the march, but we should be big and secure enough as a nation, to allow them to march. I do think that the march was organised knowing that they would be able to provoke a riot and once again, manage to grab the moral high ground. Yeah ok, Sinn Fein have officially said that they had told their supporters not to protest, but i suppose years of operating on the understanding that they were to do the opposite of what the leadership was saying publically, may have led to some confusion. This was a organised operation, from a thug element, in their uniform of A Celtic Jersey, maybe the only sanction they would understand is an excommunication from the Celtic Football Club.
I also feel that the whole thing was massively over hyped. I was in town yesterday. It wasnt a whole scale lockdown. It was an isolated area, a few windows were broken, tracksuits stolen and a couple of cars were burnt out. The rioters, I'm sure went back from whence they came, sand long and hard into the night of famous marthyrs, and went to sleep with pride that they did their part to rebell the hun. The rest of us will just see it as a bunch of idiots acting the hardshaw. If this doesnt open peoples eyes to what modern republicanism about. They are a threat to this country and cannot be allowed a place in government. its time for right minded people to wake up to this threat, to stop the tide of revisionism. We cannot allow ourselves to be bullied.
I did see a nice story in the Sunday Times that made me smile. Noel Dempsey was talking to some school kids in the dail gallery during the week He was asking one kid if he knew who was down in the chamber. He pointed to Bertie and Mary and aked if the boy knew who they were, and he answered correctly. He pointed to another TD and the boy once again answered correctly. As Noel Dempsey was taking his leave, the boy turned to his teacher and asked her, "Who was that man?
