Birthday time again...this time my little sis.

Maybe this could be for me also as I just had my birthday recently. My sister and I have birthdays just 3 days apart so we very often had the whole combined party thing. As kids I am sure we felt hard done by..not fair at all.

Weather update:- this morning we had very cold temperatures 9f/-13c, factor in the wind chill as there were some strong winds and it was even colder. Tomorrow will warm up to 20f/-6c.

Happy birthday little sister!

Winter is coming bit by bit.

Temperatures are slowly but surely dropping today it will be 38f/1c and tomorrow and Friday it is due to get colder 20f/-6c. We have had some snow but more small downfalls are expected.

Surprise!!!....So, how old are you now?

Ok so it was my birthday on Tuesday and all the time I was kind of expecting the whole work-surprise cake and card thing. The morning came and went and it got to about 3pm in the afternoon and I was thinking maybe it was not going to happen. Then one of the accounting people came over to talk to me about soccer (as they say over here) and more specifically "David Beckham", and his impending arrival to these shores. I was running the cutting table at the time and was preoccupied with getting the next sheet of board on the table.

When I came back with the sheet, there was everybody in the room with the cake and card and singing. I prefer to do the singing when birthdays come around but this time I was the recipient and had to stand there cringing slightly. It was at this point that they said lets get some forks and a knife to cut the cake with and they all left me to do the cutting. On top of this my boss came down and started to pick on me in a humorous manner, looking over my shoulders as I cut. Needless to say the slices got progressively worse and less aesthethic looking. It was a real surprise, despite my vigilence to look for the signs. And then the questions came...So, how old are you now?. Just another year gone by.

Waking up to the first snowfall of winter.

This is the first snow that we have come across this winter. Amazingly it has been a very mild winter so far and with it being mid january that is pretty good. For the next 2 months there will always be the chance of cold snaps and snow, for instance today it was 26f/-3c degrees and yesterday it was 16f/-8c degrees temperature. Add in the cold wind chill and its even worse.
This is the view of the walker fleet of cars which i had just brushed the snow from. It was light and fluffy snow - not even good enough for some snowball making. Also this is where Marc gets picked-up by the school bus (although they were late today).
You may be able to see the newspaper which was delivered - minus the plastic wrap to stop it from getting wet - in the driveway.

Funny and also one everyone can relate to.

Always look in your rear view mirrors.

For the last few days of last week and a few of this week, Marc has had short hours at school typically 8am - 10.30am. With this in mind I proposed to Jill that they should come and meet me for lunch here close to where I work...a 35 minute drive away. So yesterday it was decided that Jill would come and take Marc along too, they would be leaving at 11am and going by way of back roads and not the motorway that time would be sufficient to enable them to get here and actually be waiting as I left work for lunch. Coming closer to the time of midday I looked outside to see if they were waiting, no sign of them. It got to 12 o'clock and I proceeded to go out and see if they were there. No sign....I remembered as Jill said she would be a little nervous as she did not know the area too well, and I hoped she had not gotten lost. I started the car to get it warmed up and waited and watched and I waited and watched some more. I had been waiting for about 4 minutes when out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a blue car. It was Jill but she had driven right by, luckily I had the car running and warmed so I set off after her hoping to gain her attention. By the time I got onto the road there was a car between Jill and I who was following her, I followed as she drove on surely getting worried that she was lost at this stage.
In the course of following her the car betwwen us peeled away to a right turn and I followed Jill trying to get her attention to stop. I was frantically high beaming with my lights and she just seemed to drive on and on. It was quite funny as I realised my actions from her point of view may have been ones of an irate driver, nevertheless I had to continue to follow and as she came to a stop sign I waved my hands outside of the window. Amazingly this was not enough to get her to realise it was me. I followed on some more and finally got her to stop and realise it was me. Seven more minutes had passed and it had eaten into my lunchtime. And then we did finally go to lunch, it was a very funny senario as Jill was surely thinking "what the **** is going on with this driver behind me". It was the first time in 22 months that they had joined me for lunch whilst I was at work. I am sure we will do it again, just without the apparent road rage driving.

The case of the bermuda squirrel.

Yesterday as I was in a rush to work, I thought that I had killed a squirrel. Just before I was about to turn left into work a squirrel came running across the road. It froze still or so it seemed....I watched him go under the front view of my vision keeping the car centered as I hit the brakes. I thought the last thing I should do would be to turn the wheels as he would have no chance.
I braced for a bump or crunch and, as the car moved on I watched in the rear view mirror looking for a ball of roadkill or anything to show what had happened. I could not find anything. Even when I stopped at work barely seconds later, to look for any sign of what used to be a squirrel on the tyres or body work I could not find anything.
Perhaps he did escape afterall.

Ireland dates confirmed as posted previously.

Dates are as previously stated, arrive in Dublin on friday 30th March and departing on monday 9th April. I am looking forward with anticipation in seeing all the old faces back in the motherland.

A second song from the band.

Theme song "Magic Bean"

Magic Bean Band you-tube teaser.

Yes folks, it has been done. I can finally showcase (with the permission of Chris Thomas, lead singer) the music of Magic Bean Band. They have become a 5 strong group now having originally been a duo and sometimes solo entity. The two main members being Chris, lead singer and Charlie Illingworth, lead guitar and vocals. Chris is to the right of the picture while Charlie is to the left.
Many of you may know that Jill and I have gone to many of their shows and love their music, I am happy to be able show them here on this blog. Keep watching for the you-tube files I have been able to upload. These songs were from the show on Friday January 12th at the Java Lounge. Enjoy.

Moving back up the rungs of the ladder.

Step by step and rung by rung, I am slowly getting back to where I was career-wise when I left Ireland to come to the U.S.
Back then when I left I was quite happy designing for the packaging industry and working alongside a lot of you all. When I did come over it was not immediately easy to get back to this business and restrictions placed upon me over here was such that I could not seek any kind of employment until I received authorization from the government and got my social security card. This was over a period of 6 months and in this environment it was hard to find the exact type of work I specialized in. It became apparent that I would have to take whatever work came my way and I got a placement at a local mailing facility. (This subject matter has reminded me about that time and I will write more about the tales of this period in future posts.)

This lasted for exactly a year and for a time I was moved on by the agency to a furniture receiving place, the agency knew I was not too excited about this place and thankfully one of the ladies found me a position with a packaging company. This was the first sign that I was getting back to where I had been. However it had taken 18 months and this packaging position was not in designing, it was warehouse and product line work. I enjoyed it though as the manager knew of my previous experience and held me in some regard. As such I did get some different and interesting assignments (again perhaps a story for later). I was at this place for maybe 6 weeks and that was when I got perhaps my best break yet. A position to run the sample table with a large company and that is where I have been now for what in March will be 2 years.

So after 2 years I am now doing some semi-design work and getting back to where I was...slowly but surely. Which brings me to my news....something which had been in the pipeline for a while. The company have been trying to get someone in to take my place so I can design and now it seems like it may be happening. It will be part-time and that was the reason why it was taking some time to come to pass, but its another step. Another step back up the ladder. Another step back to designing.

Magic Bean to play tonight.

I may have mentioned this before, a close and dear friend of Jill's heads up a band which until recently has been mostly solo and sometimes a duo, but now has become a 5 piece ensemble. Chris Thomas plays original material mixed in with some covers of various artists, his original songs are particularly excellent and plans are in place for him to lay down his music in some form of recordable media.
His band Magic Bean even have a novel anthem theme song by the same title as the band itself "magic bean" (other musicians should have theme songs for their band). He has a voice and style very similar to James Taylor and its always great to go along and have a blast of a time. Jill and I plan to go tonight and I will have some pictures to highlight the event.

People power repels major retail giant.

A major player in the retail industry has had its planning permission turned down due to a large scale campaign orchestrated by the people of the slate belt region of Pennsylvania close to the state border with New York and New Jersey.

Walmart, a large player in the retail industry had planned to build on a 61 acre site, but opposition to the project was extremely strong and a campaign which included segments showing the cons of the retail chain during previews at local movie theatres. The opposition mainly stemmed from the low wages that the chain paid and sited the marked difference in traffic congestion the new venture would bring. This is truly a victory for the ethos of "people power".

Tentative dates for my trip to Ireland.

These dates are still unconfirmed as I have still to request time from work and I also have to book flights to and from, but these are the dates I would ideally go for.

Fly out on Thursday March 29th arriving in Dublin Friday March 30th and staying for the following week and returning on Monday April 9th A.M.
The whole Saw Doctors thing has got me thinking about their gig in Ireland on Friday March 30th.
Here is a useful link.

Clip of the "Docs"

Thanks to Colm and to Bob of clamnuts.com for the advice on embedding the clip. Who knows what I will have up next!

Seriously though back in July of last year I thought about doing a blog and now I have to say I am very glad that I did. The only thing is to try to keep it light and re-visitable (yes it is a real word) so that my pals will keep coming back to read and if it takes you away from your work for a minute each day then I will have performed a worthwhile service. I could write a lot about the problems this world faces but other people more knowledgeable than myself are doing that. I am using this as a tool for people I know to look across the pond and glimpse into my day to day routine and to watch what we are up to. I dont claim to be the best but I am trying to make it interesting and informative. Its always nice to hear that people are reading.

SOS answered, well kind of.

Here is the reply I received from Amanda, the manager of the Saw Doctors.

"Dear Ray, Jill and Marc,

Thank you for your email to our office yesterday. For the past couple of weeks, the Saw Doctors, along with their US agent, Tim Drake, have been trying to include a date in Bethlehem PA as part of the bands March tour of The States. Tim has spoken several times to the promotor in Bethlehem re. holding a concert with The Saw Doctors in the town on Monday March 12. The Bethlehem promoter wanted to stage the show in a local venue called Crocodile Rock, but unfortunately he has not been able to secure this venue for Monday 12 March. I understand that the Boston Irish band, Dropkick Murphys have been booked in to the Crocodile Rock, for Monday 12th March and it has not been possible to get them to switch the date at the venue to later in the week. As a result, The Saw Doctors will now not be able to visit Bethlehem PA during the March tour - the band are only travelling to the States for two weeks and the only date that was feasable for them to do a show in Bethlehem PA was Monday March 12. Everybody is disappointed that The Saw Doctors will not be able to play in Bethlehem PA during the March tour. All parties, i.e. the Bethlehem Promotor, The Saw Doctors, and our US agent are hoping that the postponed gig from October 13 last year can now be rescheduled for later in 2007. Up to a couple of days ago, the Saw Doctors were hopeful that the show in Bethlehem PA could be confirmed as the Crocodile Rock venue for Monday March 12. However, as this date in Bethelehem PA is not going to happen now, our US agent has moved quickly to confirm a show for the Saw Doctors in Philadelphia at the Theatre of the Living Arts, i.e. TLA on Monday March 12. I am enclosing below the full list now of the nine confirmed shows that the Saw Doctors will play in the USA in March.

The Saw Doctors - USA Tour - March 2007

Thur March 8 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
Fri March 9 Northampton, MA Calvin Theatre
Sat March 10 New York, NY Nokia Theatre
Mon March 12 Phildadelphia, PA TLA
Tues March 13 Lebanon, NH Opera House
Thurs March 15 Boston, MA The Roxy
Fri March 16 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
Sat March 17 Chicago, ILL The Vic Theatre
Sun March 18 Milwaukee, WI Potawatomi Casino

I'm sure you will be disappointed that The Saw Doctors will not now be visiting Bethlehem PA in March - please be assured that the band did everything possible to try and arrange a gig in Bethlehem PA during the March 07 trip. All I can say is that it will remain a priority for The Saw Doctors to visit Bethlehem PA during 2007 to make up for the fact that the band had to cancel the gig on October 13 at the Freedom High School."

Enough said really.....we will probably plan for the Philadelphia gig in The Theatre for the Living Arts on March 12th 2007.

Saw Doctors SOS.

Its getting close to that time when the Saw Doctors are coming to tour the states, in fact its all going to be based around March 10th as that is when they will play the Nokia Theatre in New York. So with only 2 months left until they arrive on these shores, and checking their website for any information on dates in March, I have moved to get some answers. I sent an e-mail to their management actually pleading for them to not forget us as last October (13th and a friday to boot) they could not get down to the gig due to a freak snow storm of biblical proportions. Read all about it in the Octber section. I await a reply and I am very hopeful as the band kind of made a pledge last October to come back and fulfill the gig on this tour.

Further pictures from Beamer Saturday.

A pathway that we found on our walk on Saturday.

The local river along which our walk took us.

Somebody had peeled the plastic fencing away in order to gain access across the bleachers over a small stream in what used to be an old railway track.

The fight for elbow space.

Anyone ever have the ordeal of going to a movie or taking a flight and hoping that it would be a luxurious and enjoyable experience but instead turns into a fight for your right to elbow space. Being kind of tall and certainly taller than the usual ergonomic model citizen I have experienced such circumstances on countless occasions. Imagine having to watch a movie you have been looking forward to with your elbows firmly fixed and set into your ribs as those around you hog the elbow rests either side of you. Such events which are supposed to be enjoyable turn into festering, annoying experiences. Am I alone in thinking this way?

The worst though is the plane journey as really, how many times do you fly a year? For me I used to fly a lot when I would be visiting Jill and it was always a source of worry as I claimed my seat to see who exactly would come to fill those seats principally to my left and to my right and also dont forget those who will be sitting directly in front of me. I always hoped for a person who would be small and wirey and also preferrably a person who was not social, the type who would not make a lot of conversation. There is a certain "journey etticate" a certain rule whereby you should not go so far in your conversation as to noticably annoy this person. So I always liked to see the teenage to early 20's person who had a walkman or ipod with earphones in tow, you always knew that they would totally dis-engage from their surroundings and keep to themselves. But sometimes it was not always those to your left and to your right that was the most critical positions around you. No rather it was the one directly in front of you. That un-identified person who could really invade your personal space. That person whom you knew was a man or a woman whether they were young or old, however the one thing you did not know was what type of person this would be. You know the type who worries about other peoples issues for want of a better word (and yes I realise these are my issues but I also hope they are shared by many others) or would this be the person who never had the slightest idea of what the result of their actions would do to others. So in effect would this person be an inconsiderate or not?. Would they be a seat adjuster?, or would they be sitter?. Generally I never knew when the seat adjusting would happen but sometimes it would be right away and then sometimes when after food had been served, and then when they wanted to sleep. Now some people may think that because they paid for a seat that they should and can do what they want, of course I disagree (hence the post creation), I believe that one should take every care to realise that there are people seated behind you and I would never invade their personal space. For a person of my height every area of space in a plane is precious and any slight adjustment of the seat in front of me is an invasion of this space. When this happens I long for the stewardess to come along and ask the person to set their seat in the upright position but alas it always takes far too long. Some of the stewardess' have OCD did you ever notice that they obsess about some small things such as making sure that all seats are in the upright position?. They are the good ones in my book. And so I ask who decided to have single arm rests between seats. Also a suggestion is to have an "elbow etticate" whereby everyone should rest only one elbow each. Left or right I dont care.

Its Beamer TV, but I'm not beaming.

Saturday started with a leisurely walk with Jill and Marc along a local trail which has been newly paved. We walked along the trail which had a lot of signs which stated that it was private trail and that tresspassing would be unlawful, however there seemed to be a lot of people walking the trail. The reason for such a big turnout was that for a january day it was unusually warm, I am guessing around 18 degrees celsius and in fact we all wore shirts in a one layer dress code. Along the trail there was an old bridge which had railroad type bleachers as a pathway which had been closed off with plastic wiring but it was quite easy to traverse (if somewhat dangerous) either side and move onward on your way.

We got back in time for me to order the pay per-view game Liverpool versus Arsenal (which I am glad to report Arsenal won 3-1. It was at this time that I decided to call my family in order to enquire about the setting up of a tv-phone system called Beamer TV. My mother not being up enough with any electronic devices it was good to have my sister there to help. After several calls to first of all get it set up with international voltage converter plugs and telephone lines et al, and then after finally having her find out how to set the tv channel to aux setting, we proceeded to make call after call in order to get this device to work. You see Beamer TV is a great concept...you can talk with people over the telephone and also visually see them, a unique device for someone in my position with family far away. But if in the process of trying this after several hours you become so annoyed with the device that you dont even want to think about it anymore, then you start to think differently about the uniqueness of it all. Afterall what use is it if it does not work practically. It transpires that maybe through the use of AT&T prepaid cards it may just work. So that will be the next step afterall a considerable sum of money was paid for these Beamer TV's so we must exhaust all options in order to make it work. Jill is going to call the helpdesk on Monday. I was thankful that the result of the game went well, otherwise Saturday would have been a real pain.

Youtube is the new Google.

My esteemed fellow blogger and friend Colm posted a piece about youtube where he debated that some people thought that youtubers were "just pathethic saps wasting their lives talking to nobody". And of course those people have the right to their opinion as last time I checked it was indeed still a free world. Colm goes on to make a very good point in what he sees as the major reason why people use youtube, as an outlet, as a tool to communicate and reach out to other people, other cultures and sample what makes other people, who 10 years ago even you could talk to via e-mail but you could not visually see what kind of stuff these people get up to. Its a unique media in which a person can showcase themselves or facets of their life and show what their interests are instead of listing them off in a boring typed letter. The human beings need to have communication and contact with others, is a deep rooted emotional feeling demonstrated by marriage and other social living arrangements between two people who need companionship. Youtube is the new media vehicle of the beginning of this century. Yes it can be weird and it can be wonderful but it is here to stay and those who object dont realise its value.

Today I celebrate 100 posts.

Yes ladies and gentleman I have reached the landmark of 100 and it has taken me only 7 months to get to the 100 mark, thats an average of 14 per month and 3 per week. Here's to the next 100.

Road Rage...Really?

Yesterday on the way in to work I exited off the motorway and proceeded along a smaller road about 5 minutes from work. I followed the road along and came to a part of the road I have often travelled and it bends a little to the left, but it is not a fork road, just looks like one, anyway from the other fork a lady was stopped waiting and as sometimes happens you get the feeling this person is going to do something but you never quite believe it. But then it did happen, with a blazing abandon for anyones safety mine or hers, she started to cross my path to get across and it was unbelieveable that she was giving me a look as if to say "what are you doing"?. Well I did feel like handbraking the car and turning on a sixpence to go after her and getting her at a light or something and telling her a few things about safety. Road rage? I think so. But I'm over it now! ;-) Its just a good thing that she was not from New Jersey.

My childhood friend Daffyd o'Shea and those Amstel ads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItzlYo8-chg

Congratulations to an old friend of mine from when we were kids. Daffyd O'Shea (he is the shorter one of the four) has been starring in these ads for a year or so now. Check the others in the series "the new world" and the one about the "horse of Troy". Very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrLV_tGkOJc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQSfA0EWxE

Alright I did the hard work for you.

Survival TV.

Lately I have been watching some of the stuff on the discovery channel http://dsc.discovery.com and I have found the show Man vs Wild to be really interesting, the idea of the show is to demonstrate how to survive in some very hostile environments if as a tourist you somehow lost the use of your transport and had only items such as the clothes on your back and a knife. Bear Grylls http://www.beargrylls.com/ the shows host gets dropped into some difficult regions of the world and he has to make use of the landscape and within a 5 day minimum he has to find civilisation making his way down from the top of the Rockies or the Swiss alps, all the time demonstrating how to survive a 70 foot jump into a large river or if while walking on thin ice and falling through how to get out and how to get yourself warm again. Also how to find food and how to catch food to live off, such as fish. There are also other interesting shows such as "I shouldn't be alive". Documentary type show which shows how some people have survived amazing ordeals.

The 2007 as I see it.

The year ahead can already be outlined by our various plans and traditions of past years.

January, February and March are generally slow months and because of the (usual) cold weather in these months are restricted to birthdays and holidays such as my own birthday on January 23rd and my sisters on the 26th and my mother in-laws on the 31st. My nephew Adam will have his 1st birthday on February 10th and then we will have various days such as Valentine's day - a romantic meal with the missus - and St Patricks day, a date with a bottle of guiness.

April will bring me back to Ireland to visit with friends and family and I am really looking forward to getting back to see everyone and perhaps reclaim some of the accent. May will bring an eagerness for the summer months and perhaps a trip to Long Beach Island and this time a gig with the Saw Doctors (we will be devastated if they dont come back to Bethlehem or if there is a freak snow storm to stop them again) - see last October's post.

June will be Jills birthday and most days at the pool and July will bring the same but also the day off for 4th of July, Independance day. August will be perhaps the highlight of the year when we have 10 days of Musikfest and a trip to Ocean City Maryland.

September is a tentative date for some of my family to come visit me over here it is also my sisters birthday. And October is a planned trip to Disney again, usually we go every 2 years but because we had such a good time last year and the fact that you must seize the day and enjoy life to the maximum we are committed to going again. Also halloween will be part of October.

November brings Marc's birthday and Jacks also and this is perhaps the last mild month until the winter comes again. December is my mams birthday and christmas and new years. So the year of 2007 went pretty fast....well lets live it first. Of course there will be lots of other stuff going on but its fun to project ahead.

Happy New Year, its 2007.

I trust everyone had a great new years eve and a very good Christmas in general. Jill Marc and I went to an old friend of Jill's from way back and in fact we have got together now on a few occasions, Theresa Mark and Jessica made us feel very welcome. We were welcomed by all of their family and I had a few beers and shots and played pool...I still have the pool skills!!! Jill was our designated driver and Marc had a good time. We couldn't stay until midnight as Jack was waiting for us to get back for midnight and we got back in time for to see the new years celebrations from times square in New York. People come from all over the world to see the ball drop on the eve of a new year. The ball is always manufactured from Waterford crystal. Before we went out we recieved a call for Richie to wish us a happy new year. Thanks bud for that! Here's hoping 2007 is a great one.