Triona's 30th Birthday Party

Tri's party is tonight on Moonriver. Should be great craic. I'll post pictures ASAP.

The Shannon Rally is also starting this weekend so it's going to be a busy time for us for the next 10 days. I'll try and keep this blog updated (if I can get this vodafone connect card to work properly that is).



Here's a picture of us from the fancy dress party at last years rally. Triona's costume was hilarious and she certainly acted the part. I got to wear a dress which meant a lot to me.

Now I've got a million and one jobs to do so I better get the finger out.

Lanzarote 2005

We're just back after a wonderful week in Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote. It was Triona's surprise 30th birthday present.

We stayed in Hotel los Fariones.



Pretty nice spot with lots of natual shade around the pool provided by the lovely mature palm trees and it was over looking the sea with it's own private beach. Shame that the bar staff weren't just a little bit friendlier - they were really the only black (minor) mark I could have against the hotel.



Here's Diarmuid on one of his many assaults of the pool.



Here's a picture from our hotel room over looking a little harbour outside our room at night. Diarmuid and his friends enjoyed diving (and generally just throwing themselves off in what looked like convulsions) from the pier. The sound of the sea at night lapping up was very relazing.



We took a day trip to Fuerteventura and got to spend some time on a beautiful white beach. Diarmuid has developed a new pose ...most interesting :)

Spot the cork! Dee is a bit of a novice with the auld champers.

Dee & Mick addressing the assembled crowd (of hecklers and feckers)

The happy couple

A selection of pictures from Mick & Dee's 30th Wedding Anniversary party on Saturday last

Making the most of it!

And one last one...

There were a good few surfers out. Small surf though with little swell. This guy with the cap made the most of it.

Got a chance to try out the new lens down in Strandhill yesterday evening...

Dee & Mickey (Triona's Aunt and Uncle) are having their 30th Wedding Anniversary party later today which we are all really looking forward to.

They are a lovely couple which we should all strive to be more like, and they're great craic to be around as well! I'll post some party pics later :)

Got a new zoom lens this week - a 100-400 IS EF L Canon jobby and used it to get this shot of a young greenfinch this morning from the back door of the house. Compared to my other lenses this one kicks ass. This image hasn't been touched and was shot hand held fully extended. It should come in handy for the new Rugby season!


It's a monster!

Our neighbours Donal, Dearbhla, and Gabriel hard at work this morning in the garden (putting the rest of us to shame - now I have to mow the lawn!)

Alienware - The Conclusion?

OK Shelly - I promise this is the last installment on this :)

Well - I had to call them back as I hadn't heard from them (they promised they would call me back in an hour - after 5 I gave in). Finally got talking to a tech who at least seemed to know how to go about tracing the problem and between us we fixed it. Sound (pun intended). Now it turns out that they shipped the wrong CD drive (was supposed to have a DVD drive in it) but I couldn't be arsed to go through the process of getting this resolved as it would be cheaper to just buy the one I want from Computerbits.ie and install it myself.


The system is up and running and it's pretty sharp. The Hyundai 19inch 8ms LCD TFT is a marvel alone. It's a real shame that they just couldn't have taken more care when QA'ing the system (faster shipping would have been nice to).

Alienware Part III

System arrvied yesterday in a very large box. Took it out and got it all setup. No problem so far. Started it up - no sound. Had a quick look at the wiring and all seemed in order. Checked Control panel and no Audio Device is configured or available. Bugger. Time for the user manual. Alienware ship a lovely personalized folder with all their systems which contains your user manual - well in our case it just contained the table of contents. Nice.

The system took a month to deliver. Is comparatively expensive and was supposed to go through a full system test by somebody called 'Keith'. My Arse.

A call to their support desk this morning is pending resolution. More later.

Our friends Mary, Dave, Barry and Majella at Triona's 'End of Year' BBQ on Friday last. As you can see Corona with lime was the flavour of the night (.... says he as he wipes the drool from his mouth)

Our friends Dave and Majella popped in on Saturday with their six month old son James. Talk about a happy camper!!

Triona and a few of her colleagues had their 'End of Year' barbecue on Friday night. It was a great success. Triona entertained while I showed off how well I could burn stuff with our new grill.