Biometrics 101.

Yesterday I had the biometrics taken, really very quick as one would hope for as in the years gone by, Jill and I really gave them a lot of our time often having to wait in line for our case to be processed. Well yesterday was thankfully a much different senario as I was in there for a total of 20 minutes tops. Go in, fill out a form with only minimal information required, take a red card and wait to be called, get called, sit down for a photo, stand up for fingerprint right hand index finger, sign here and I was out. So a 4 hour round trip for 20 minutes....still if thats what they ask who am I to question.

One member of infamous "BLT" gang in custody.

Evil tomato has been arrested early last week in an ambush raid. The other members are still at large and we offer a large reward for their capture.

Biometric wednesday.

Well perhaps it was a good thing that on friday we got word of my biometrics appointment in Philadelphia is set for august 30th, mainly because Jill would not have enough time to worry about when it would be set for. The main part of her worry was our vacation in Disneyworld planned for late october but now clearly that is safe. Tomorrow I get to go to Philadelphia to get my fingerprints taken cause I'm a legal alien.

In memory of an old friend.

On thursday last our family pet had to be put to sleep. He had lived to the ripe old age of 15 years old which is very good for a canine. For the last 12-18 months he had been deteriorating and recently it got to the point where he had become scared of everyday members of the family. It was with a heavy heart that the decision was made to allow him to pass on. We all hope that there is a better place after we leave this earth and I hope somewhere he is running around like a march hare after a tennis ball.

I'm a legal alien.

Yesterday Jill received a letter from homeland security and wow was she in a panic calling me on the phone. After all her nervousness it turned out to be nothing more than a notice that I will be called in due course for biometrics in the city of Philadelphia. Now a few years ago I had to get my fingerprints and photo taken so I dont know why I have to do it again but if thats what they say then thats whats gonna happen I reckon. Yes I'm still a legal alien and thats fine by me to be legal is good to be un-legal is not so good. It may take a number of years until I am no longer an alien. But I feel fine about it, no really I do.

Marc is my blog star.

A lot of what we do, and a lot of the stories we have emanate from the Marcman, here's a good one I remember from a while back and Jill and I laugh about this from time to time.
Marc has no idea of what proper behaviour in a social setting is, and one time Marc Jill and I were in the the movie theatre watching a...movie. Marc produced a fart and usually he is used to us saying "stop farting" and he deemed this to be the usual practice so he decided to tell himself off and shouted out really loud (in a quieter portion of the movie), "stop farting"....of course every one else nearby probably assumed it was either Jill or myself who had done it. I just sank lower into my seat in embarrasment!!!. Still we can laugh about it now.

Nearly took the wrong turn.

Going to the bathroom just before break and its the second right beside the reception area well I nearly took the first right. That clearly would have been a mistake!!!

Teenage taunter caught red handed.

Another story from our day at camel beach water park was a teenager getting herself into trouble with us. Here's the story... we were walking back towards the wave pool, Marc's favourite thing in the park and being autistic and happy he was jumping for joy. Now Marc jumping for joy does look a spectacle and to other teenagers may look a bit dorky, well a group of 3 girls were walking past as he jumped high and screamed a happy scream, Marc was just a little ahead of me and Jill was about 10-15 yards back. We saw this teenage girl obviously trying to be cool in front of her friends, and jumping in a clear imitation of Marc and laughing about it. Well with all of us strung out in indian file and spread out they clearly did not think that Jill was Marc's mother. Well they had a shock coming as Jill stopped the girl and said "you know, its not very nice to make fun of a child with a disability". Oh yeah they had that shocked look, stunned even. That day even for just a few seconds, it was nice to bring an ego down just a notch.

Triple Venom is a real antidote.

I noticed it has been a few days since I posted so here goes - another chapter to hopefully entertain, make someone smile and chuckle. I think the reason has been that he last week has been busy. Now I have some news to tell, saturday was quite leisurely going to the pool, by this time in the season and with 1-2 weeks till start of school attendance has been very low. Saturday saw a total of 10-13 people coming to the pool and with almost as many staff there, they had to close "due to lack of attendance".
Sunday we planned a trip to camel beach water park, the forecast was for some rain and this was a good thing as waterparks can get crazy with lots of lines waiting for the rides. This was not so bad on Sunday and a good time was had Jack (brother-in law) and I went on the triple venom rides...fast,fast,fast!!! I went on them and pretty quickly I found this one to be fast, ****ing fast. I got off rather flustered after my helter skelter 20-25 seconds of thrill riding. I still had the exhilerating rush as I got off though. I waited for Jack as he came and sure enough he came down, its a funny thing to see someone after these rides you have the exhileration and the loss of your senses for a few seconds. Sure enough Jack tried to get out and slipped a little as if dizzy...he had just had the rush of his summer. We both did the grand prix chequered flag mat slide ride and that was so addicting I could have stayed there all day. Lots of fun, Marc and Jill went by the wave pool and that was a lot of fun too. check it out at www.camelbeach.com

Circle of friends.

If you are a human being you have one, a fantastic collection of people whom you call your friends. Each one fulfills a certain need or are linked to a certain hobby or interest you may have, some are closer than others but each one is important to you for some reason only you know. I have richie micheau and colm keegan as good friends who I play soccer with Jimmy who is mind of information useless or otherwise, hell I even have a designated german friend Marc. I have a best friend who just happens to be my wife (Jill) and Marc is my son who is my best friend- a kid who is autistic but I have been a defined role model for him and I see him growing and shaping each day. These people are important to me they fill certain areas in my life they help to keep me well rounded in life. Then you can say that any one of my friends has their own set of friends or their own circle of which I am linked through my friend. The world is made up of circles....circles of friends. Think about it and let your friends know how much they mean to you. For me personally I have a handful of friends but I consider them close friends.

Conspiracy theory.

Who runs the world? Is there one person or a group of people running the whole show?

Why do we get up in the morning and shower,shave,pluck ear and nose hair,file down our toenails and wax our backs and bikini lines, every day???. Why dont we all just stay in bed and sleep like we wish to? This all leads me to believe that we are slaves to something or someone, but who or what? Oh by the way I forgot the collonic irrigation I have twice a week.

Homer simpson type "Doh!!!"

At the pool we sometimes meet up with another family we know, the torsivio's. One afternoon I was hungry and referring to a snack we have brought I enquired to Jill "when are we going to eat the torito's?". Well needless to say I meant the dorito's we had packed but that was a funny moment.

Couple networking.

Being happily married now for 3 years I am no longer Ray and Jill is no longer herself, we are a clearly defined couple. We do a lot of things together and so we have come into the realm of couplehood. Sure I have my friends and Jill has her friends but the search has been on for similar couples to hang out with and do things. The criteria for such a search is very complicated and each partner must feel comfortable the opposite match-ups. The first candidate was a person I worked with indeed we did hang out for a while but it seemed they had too much to do and it fizzled out. Next up was a friend of Jills from way back and up till now we have gotten together one time, that looks good as we are talking about getting together again soon. And finally there is a couple at the pool we are friendly with.

This is not like when you just had yourself to find and make friends, couple networking is harder as there are more variables and you must ensure that there are no uncomfortable strandings involved....this is when you leave your spouse alone and conversation diverts towards the weather.

Pizza (there's never enough slices).

Pizza is my wifes favourite food. When we get it there are 8 slices and she is a two slicer now that leaves my brother in law and I. Now sometimes it comes down to this we each have had 2 slices and there's one left, as we eat our hopefully second to last slice we size each other up and there is a mental battle to see who will get the last slice, he eats a little faster and then I eat a little faster and then its like gunfight at the o.k. corral.
On one occasion I did get the extra slice and he later got nervified and confronted me about it. Now that was funny.

Proud to be Irish.

It is only when you live for a large amount of time away from something that you appreciate it more, and thats how I feel about Ireland. Growing up I had this immense feeling that this was the best country to be afiliated to and a feeling of being proud of my heritage and tradition. Also I know that such feelings can be heightened by being away but I will always be Irish and thats something I'm proud of.

Fest is over for another year.

Musikfest ended with a bang, fireworks lit up the night sky and the musical acts and food stands closed up for another year, our two favourite acts "Cast In Bronze" & "Runa Pacha" promised to return next year and that was the end of 10 days of musical acts and different cultural foods. The great news during the festival was that Cast In Bronze plans to be part of a large theatrical act which will play locally in about a year.

Oh yes there were many hideous and funny sites during the times we were there, I would have to say mostly beer induced sites but drunken dancing is always funny and it reminds me of a shirt I saw during the festival it had the words "beauty is in the eye of the beerholder". Musikfest will return.

Calling Ireland and an update.

So I am really just trying to shape this blog into a fun storyline of what we are doing from day to day, week to week. That being said I really hope that people that I know are tuning in and being entertained and keeping in touch. It would be an encouraging sign if anyone that does read this once in a while lets me know that they are out there. (That goes for you too Marc and Melli from Nurnberg).
Took my FCN (Nurnberg f.c.) shirt to indoor soccer on wednesday night and it drew immediate recognition from 2 of the guys there, one in particular I seem to get along with very well...he noticed it straight away and we talked about my time as a student working in Germany. Good times indeed. My fitness levels are going up...and playing against some teenagers thats only going to help. Mich and Colm will be glad to know that I'm enjoying it a lot even if I'm sore for a day or so after, I have an annoying pain in my heel and I think I know what it is, now I just have to get it sorted. Musikfest carries on apace and Now just the weekend coming with a fireworks display to finish. TFIF!!!

Runa Pacha Wind Rythms.

It amazes me to think that this family group have been playing Musikfest for over 10 years and true to say that they really do add to the overall feel of the festival. They play with a combo of whistles,wind pipes,guitar and banjo and they have a deep south american indian music sound. Check them out here.

Musikfest now in full swing.

One of our favourite shows, this medieval instrument the Carillon has a very unique sound all of its own.Check out www.castinbronze.com

Happy birthday brother.

Although you are on holidays right now in Lanzarote, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and hope you have a good day.

Another night pool photo.

Water looks clear and refreshing, just what you need after a hot day at work.

I'm going to patent this idea.

Neon signs in the back windows of cars that can be hooked up to a keyboard so that you can relay messages to your tailgating friend behind you ...some messages could be "go **** off and tailgate someone else" or "officer I'm speeding cause I need to take a dump". Lets not just stop with text you could have symbols like "the bird" or just a mad face depending on how pissed off you are.

I'm hosting an apology party.

This was suggested by my brother in law and I thought "yes thats a very good idea". Now I am thinking about inviting all those people that have wronged me and lining them up so that we could all have some music and food (it is a party after all) and then one after another they could apologise, just apologise not in person just to the whole group and get it out in the open.

Like the people who bitch about you while you drive slow, you know the ones who are perfect drivers themselves and feel really brave within the confines of their own car and rant and rave about the smallest thing.
Or the people who have to wait while you are checking out your large trolley of food items, I mean just because you got there before them.

It would be a big party I think.

Post champions league trip to D.C.

Our trip to Washington D.C. was a lot of fun (late may this year). At the Abraham Lincoln memorial with a great day and a great view, just a retrospective look back at our time in the capital. A nice photo don't ya think? We really have the squinty sun in the eyes thing going on!!!

Cell phone surgery.

Has the world really gotten so busy that people can only talk whilst driving? It has been noticed on every junction and every stop that people are rushing around driving with a phone stuck to their ear. People may soon develope rigamortes in their arms and have to get surgery to help or they may soon develop their neck muscles to have their head perched to one side touching their shoulder. This is the "like" generation.

Summer nights at the pool.

This photo was taken during a family night (there is about 3 per summer) at about 9pm, it was such a beautiful sky and setting that this had to feature as one of the first pictures.

Ants dont believe in personal space.

At the pool the last few days there has been a collection of ants, thousands of them all crawling all over each other, can you imagine having a whole load of people piling all over you, I couldnt take it I can tell you. Maybe they are all having drunken orgies all day long.

Just a bloody boring day.

Work sucks...when you have feck all to do, very little to do today and to add to that the temperatures rose to over 100 degrees (about 35c). I do like to work to some degree, I believe everyone wants to work, however some people work more than others...I fecking didn't have much of a choice. The working day goes by so fucking slow when there is not much real work to do. Of course you can potter around and find bits and pieces to do but that does not last too long. I try to give 100% every week, monday was 25%, tuesday was 10%, and today was 2%, guess I am going to have to make up the remaining 63% thursday and friday.

In other news a man was found belly down in the bathtub filled with milk,sugar and corn flakes, police are treating this as suspicious and feel it may be the work of a cereal killer. Ta Daa!!!

Musikfest is coming.

Musikfest is exactly what the title says except throw in a lot of different types of food from all corners of the world. The one constant highlight for us is to see Frank and his carillon, a medieval instrument which previously had been in cathedral and churches but now frank aka www.castinbronze.com has assembled a whole range of bells onto a tractor trailer type truck and he travels all over america playing at different festivals. Friday sees the start of musikfest and we will be there most every day enjoying his good musik and the sounds of other acts. The Saw Doctors played last year and to me that was a highlight. There are lots of types of food and music, such foods are fish and chips/gyro/chicken on a stick/chinese food/paella/struedels and various others. Its a fun time and a very hot time too. Immediately after work we get ready to go during the week and at the weekend we go in the evening time. The beginning of musikfest is fun but my brother in law gets very nervified at the end of it. He loves summer and he gets nervified at the end of musikfest, especially last year when he had 12 food tickets and did not know what to buy for his last item of the festival, as each stall was closing soon he began to run like a gazzelle to find what he could get for his 12 tickets and as long lines were forming he got more restless and more restless, it was quite a sight!!!.

Living in America.

Originally from good ole Ireland and now living in the states I get a lot of questions of this nature, whats the major difference between Ireland and America. I am thinking I am in the unique position now of being able to answer that question really well. But when I come to think about it I realise that people are mostly the same and life is what you make of it, of course you have minor cultural things like accent and weather. For example America is a cleaner place, rarely would you see any kind of minor litter on the roads, also I find that americans will walk around a lot without even looking or being aware of cars in a shopping mall or food outlet area, in Ireland you better have your wits about you as the automobile is king and pedestrian lights are for pedestrians.

I have this paranoia or fear that America is also more dangerous and that if you piss someone off whilst driving that they will flip out on me...perhaps a misplaced fear but a fear nonetheless. For a young Irish lad growing up in the 70's and 80's in Ireland, America held such mystery.. the expanse of the country and the hollywood aura it portrayed. I thought that every city was like hill street blues and dangerous, now I know that is not necessarily true but bad things do happen.

Today I celebrate 3 years in this country and soon to be 3 years married, 3 wonderful years of experiencing new things and a new culture of new food and new environments, I have gained a son also and its a joy to see his world expanding every day learning new things and taking on some of the things I have taught him. Life can be funny, when I was this innocent kid from 70's Ireland I never imagined I would one day be living in America. Its such a funny country too, a place where its all too easy to get a gun and a place where you can't hear a bad word on television (I ask you...which would be more detrimental to your health), a place where religion is taken way too seriously and a place where we have to god bless everything. I would just say "god bless the world".....peace!!!.