Archive for December, 2007

Hard to believe another year is over and i’m heading into a third year of blogging (Nov 2006 to present; 2007/2008).

Although it doesn’t feel like it, looking back, 2007 has been the biggest year of my life to date.

I passed my driving test, quit my part-time (which was actually full time) job which i’d had for over 3 years, started college, plus I managed to fit in a few breaks to Barcelona, London, Cardiff and one or two breakaway’s to Dublin.

2007 has been the foundation upon which my life will be built. It was the year i became an adult and started focusing on being happy, rather than making money. A valuable lesson learned early on in my life which should be a good thing. I was sick of work and not being challenged or motivated, money didn’t matter. So i packed it in.

I was then forced to decided whether i would head to college or work online. I hesitated but eventually came to my senses realizing i can’t become an online success story without some sort of background/experience in technology. I also thought it would act as a nice smokescreen as i still try to make it online. When people ask what you’re doing or what you plan to do, it’s much less hassle saying i’m in college doing ‘x’, rather than try to explain the whole online situation….

People don’t care about potential or ideas or love of something. All they care about is money. If i earn €40k a year doing ‘something in IT’ i’m great. If i earn €18k a year working in tesco’s i’m a flop. That’s the black and white way people look at it. Which is wrong obviously, but it’s so easy just to say i’m in college which is basically saying come back in 5 years and ask that question – it buys me time.

Anyway, i started college, like the course and the people. I enjoy it, despite having to commute 2 hours a day. On the money side of things i hit the illusive $100/month mark a few times, which i was happy about. I *did* get banned from adsense but quickly managed to turn things around and give the metaphorical two fingered salute to the adsense boys.

2008 WILL be the year of BeerChief. I vow to complete BeerChief, at all costs. I’ve been let down by my partner, but it’s his loss. I also have another project in the pipeline, which involves working with 4 or 5 different people and that will be on the road very shortly indeed.

So in summary 2007 was a good year for me. 2008 will *probably* be the year i either realize i can succeed or fail online, i’ll enjoy the ride either way and as always, keep this blog alive and fresh

I was on a mini vacation there for a day or two, as you can tell from the lack of updates.

Anyway, it gave me a great opportunity to test out my sat nav and i have to say, i can no longer get ‘lost’, thanks to this little beauty. I took little laneways and u-turns here there and everywhere and not once did it crash or guide me wrongly.

It also has a big speedo in kilometres so when i know the roads, i tend to leave it on that as i can see my REAL speed. It’s common knowledge the regular speedo on cars overestimates your actual speed so if it’s telling me i’m doing 100km/hr, i’m probably really doing 92km/hr or something and that’s pretty much the reading i get from the Sat Nav – 92km/hr. The Sat Nav is way more accurate (assuming of course you’re not going up or down a mountain or soemthing where the ground isnt very level) and it’s much closer to what the guards will have in terms of measuring speed.

Here’s a pic of me and my Sat Nav at Dublin airport watching the planes take off and land. Notice i’ve replaced the little default blue arrow with an army tank

I also stayed a night at the luxurious Clarion hotel in Dundalk. Now when you Irish folk hear the word ‘Dundalk’ mentioned you don’t think posh, luxury, class, elegance, but that’s exactly what this hotel is. Really top notch, only opened a few months and the staff were without doubt the friendliest and most helpful staff i’ve EVER seen in ANY hotel. That’s probably because they’re only in the job a few months and don’t want to put a foot wrong but top marks for the Clarion Hotel, if they had a leisure centre, i’d rate it 5 stars myself and it’s the only thing they lack.

The dining room is on the 13th floor (yes, thats 13 floors! – unheard of in Ireland). We had dinner and breakfast there and again couldn’t fault it. So a nice getaway for me and i have my trip to Sweden coming up in a couple of weeks. Hopefully i’ll be able to knuckle back down to work from now on, with only a few days ‘off’ for that Sweden trip. I love going away on breaks, but being brutally honest, i love getting back to blogging and working on projects/sites

I knew i’d be getting a Garmin Nuvi 610T from my girlfriend, and probably some clothes from my parents. Wasn’t expecting much more.

Anyway, i ended up with two pairs of new casual shoes, 2 shirts, 2 jackets, 3 pairs of jeans, AA membership (car breakdown service).

Plus, i’m also heading to Sweden with my girlfriend for 2 nights in January Gothenborg to be exact.

Plus, i’m heading away for a night to Dundalk to the newly opened Crowne Plaza Hotel… i’m heading this Friday (2 days away).

So a great Christmas for me, plus of course i got my GPS which i’m still playing with at the minute

Christmas Day is finally upon us

Rather than be PC about things like most bloggers, there’s no ‘Happy Holidays’ greeting from me – what am I? An American?

In Ireland, it’s ‘Happy Christmas’ or ‘Merry Christmas’ and that’s the way it’s staying

No snow for us this year which sucks. We do have some other stuff forecast to fall from the sky, unfortunately it’s stuff we’re all too familiar with here – rain

Have a good one folks and if you find yourself reading this on Christmas Day, press ‘ALT + F4′ now, shut down your PC and go eat some chocolates or talk to those relatives you only see once a year

Yesterday i missed a day of blogging for the first time in do knows how long..

Yeah shoot me, hang me up to dry, laugh at my failure, boycott my blog

The thing is, this is the ONLY time of year where you can ‘get away’ with this sort of crap.

If someone asks why didn’t i blog, i’ll tell them Christmas is a time for family and offline networking

It’s a nuisance in a way – Christmas. But it IS only once a year, the one time you can totally relax and put the feet up and enjoy being with the people you most like being with.

So apologies in advance if i’m not around much over the next few days, i’m sure you guys won’t be either

Between Christmas and New Years has to be the most non-productive time of year… everyone just eats, sleeps and drinks and cracks jokes