Archive for November, 2009

25 Nov 2009

drunkest guy ever challenger

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Work | Leave a comment

On my trip to Paris, i talked about a lot of things but i deliberately left out this… as it deserves a whole post of it’s own…

After the match, a lot of the Irish fans traveled back in to the city where they were based. Nothing strange about that, but from here on in, it gets a little random.

Earlier that day, Algeria had just beaten Egypt to qualify for the world cup finals and France is full of Algerians, so they were all out and about celebrating in the streets of Paris (literally thousands of them). Unfortunately it spilled over in to trouble in central Paris with windows being smashed, cars set alight etc… Police were called in and used tear gas.

Luckily we didn’t witness any of that, but we did see cars rallying around at all hours, relentless beeping of horns, people on the roofs and bonnets waving flags, literally hanging out of car windows etc… i got some video of all the madness and in amongst it you’ll notice a contender for the ‘drunkest guy ever’ title.

This has to be one of the most WTF videos ever… it’s Paris, it’s about 2am, Irish fans are drowning their sorrows having lost to France. The French fans are all away to bed, embarrased by their win and it’s the Algerians who are partying like theres no tomorrow. Mix all that together, chuck in what appears to be be a random drunk guy with no connections to anyone and finally we have a sober guy genuinely trying to sell roses in the middle of it all (At 2am. Outside a pub. To football fans).

YouTube Preview Image

In case some of you haven’t seen it yet, this is where the title of this post comes in… i doubt anyone will ever beat this guy for title of ‘Drunkest Guy Ever’…

YouTube Preview Image
24 Nov 2009

another strike on the way

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Work | 1 Comment

Today i was off college due to a strike by public sector workers (including lecturers). I wasn’t complaining… it was a welcome day off for me and it allowed me to catch up on college work. I got a lot done and it’s amazing how much you get done at home -v- anywhere else.

I think it’s because i control everything… the lighting, the music, the equipment etc… it’s all to my liking and comfort so naturally enough that should be the place where i perform best. Here’s what i did today;

  • Created my part of a group presentation due on Thursday.
  • Put together about 15 pages of a 30 page project report due for next Monday.
  • Uploaded another video to youtube from my Paris trip.
YouTube Preview Image
  • Installed windows live movie maker (didn’t realise it doesn’t come with windows 7).
  • Sent off some long overdue emails to people.
  • Updated client site with new content / made some layout tweaks.
  • Upgraded plugins on this site.
  • Upgraded plugins & wordpress on theleavingcert.com.
  • Made a post on lucky.ie.
  • Responded to any emails i got today.
  • Bought new theme & made a start on theleavingcert.com revamp.
  • Downloaded & installed macromedia director 2004 (need it for a project) – because college doesn’t use latest version :roll:

Now most of that stuff i do on a daily basis anyway (such as responding to emails, installing software) but i never really blog about it or regard it was work, even though it does eat up a lot of my time. If i actually sat down and listed everything i did on a typical day, it would probably be something like above + a full day at college which is another list all together.

Anyway, i’m looking forward to relaunching theleavingcert.com… it will finally be something solid and constructive that i’ll get off the ground. For the last few months i feel like college has taken over from everything. With just 7 days of college remaining until my exams (there’s another strike scheduled for next thursday), that’s gonna change very shortly.

23 Nov 2009

8 days of college left

Tags: , ,
Posted in Work | Leave a comment

I now have just 8 days of college left until i sit my Christmas exams. I didn’t realise that until this second, but it’s a nice boost knowing i can’t get any more work after that. At long last i’ll start to free up my time….

Overworked desk
Creative Commons License photo credit: sparkypics

Tomorrow i’m off college thanks to a strike and it’s important i put it to good use. I’ll be doing my best to avoid all distractions and to get as much work as possible done. I have two presentations to work on along with one project and one smaller assignment.

There’s no way i can complete all of that in one day, but i’ll do my best to get a good 40-50 pages of material created & formatted. Whether it’s slides, word documents or both. I’ll be blogging about what i’ve done this time tomorrow and hopefully i’ll have a nice weight off my shoulders for another while…

22 Nov 2009

strike is a welcome break

Tags: , ,
Posted in Work | 2 Comments

On Tuesday, some of my lecturers will be on strike along with half of the country (most public sector workers). So that means i get a day off and i’ll be very glad of it. Although i had a nice break last week, it was a different type of break to the one i need.

Local 2 on 3 day strike at Westin St Francis 234
Creative Commons License photo credit: Steve Rhodes

Because we had no midterm break this year around halloween, work has piled up and we just haven’t had a chance to clear the backlog. So i’ll be spending Tuesday trying to get as much college work as possible done. One really annoying thing about ALL modules is that we don’t really know how well we’ve done so far.

Some modules are 100% continuous assessment, others are 50%, 40% etc… so obviously if i’ve already gotten 40% in those 100% modules, it would be nice to know as i could slam on the brakes in those modules and focus on others.

I’ve probably passed 3 modules so far (out of 6). One more i should be safe in, 2 i’d regard as not safe. So ideally i’d like to spend zero time on the 3 or 4 i’ve already passed but because i don’t have black and white results comfirming i’ve passed, i can’t risk not working in those modules and so i still have to spend time working in them – time that could be better spent on my weaker subjects.

Usually, i’d be giving out about strikes… they never ‘work’ and just increase the divide between both sides. Cuts in wages or cuts elsewhere in disguise… public sector workers will not win and cannot win if the country is to balance the books. So it’s a pointless strike as most are but one i fully support just for the day off :mrgreen:

21 Nov 2009

Playing Catch Up

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Work | Leave a comment

When i arrived back from Paris on Friday morning i had 77 emails in my inbox. I also had to get all my pictures and videos categorized and uploaded as i knew if i left it any longer, i’d never put them online :smile: So i got most of the pictures uploaded yesterday to my flickr account. Here’s a few panoramic shots i added today…

Shannon Airport

Paris

stade de france

I’d upload the videos only they take forever to upload on a 3mb connection. The videos are all in HD and all 100mb + in size so they simply take too long to upload. Still, i’ll get there eventually and i already have one uploaded…

YouTube Preview Image

This weekend there’s only one thing on my mind – an asp.net project that has to be done for Monday. I’ve made some progress today but it’ll be a late night tomorrow… I also have a lot of other college work to get done before our exams in mid December.

Presentations, assignments, projects… there’ll be a few more exams too before my main Christmas exams so it’s a very busy time for me in college. It’s eating up all my thoughts & time so i’ll be glad to ‘get rid’ of college for 4 or 5 weeks over Christmas.

Page 2 of 6123456