Vernon God Little

Had to give a presentation in Enterprise Ireland's office in Merrion Hall in Dublin yesterday to a roomful of people and I suspect they were wondering what the hell I was doing there presenting to them in the first place. Quite nerve wrecking but once I got going the verbal diarrhea came hence forth at pace (note to self, learn how to use Powerpoint properly).

Flying home after the presentation yesterday was a real treat! Peter Finlay (aka DBC Pierre) sat down beside me. This is the guy who wrote Vernon God Little - a book I love. This is a MAN Booker price winner - this is a Whitbread winner for god's sake - and he sat down beside me! Of course immediately I blurted out that I was a big fan of his work and asked about any new work (I'm sure people like this are fed up of muppets like me asking them stupid questions) - he was so cool! While he didn't give the plot away he told me that his new book has just been completed (first draft) and that the publishers are kicking his ass about getting it to market. I think the process involved in producing Vernon God Little was a little drawn out for their liking. It's coming out on St. Patricks day in March and I can't wait (he says it's different but just as mad).

The flight itself was great fun as well. There was some big cross winds as we were coming into Sligo and the plane was all over the place. Pierre (my friend now) started talking really loudly about what we'd eat when the plane crashed and suggested that there might be large wild life running around - this was to the absolute horror of the two women sitting in front of us - they were appalled and scared shitless. It was absolutely magic and something I probably won't forget for a very long time. Besides I find bad landings exhilarating.

When we got off the plane all the baggage and ground crew were dressed up as firemen. The whole thing felt almost as farcical as DBC's book. Fantastic.

PC Times

I thought I had a great excuse for not having updated this recently - I gave up my photography laptop to a new employee (everybody say aaah) and I ordered a cool XPS one from Dell and it's been delayed until the middle of October!! I ordered it on the 12th of September! Something about a shortage of parts and compensation - that's all I could make out of the phone call.

Anyhow - I had setup our home system for blogging as well (Triona is supposed to be a contributor now) but guess what - that system won't bloody boot and looks like it's completely knackered (and all my music). Now - Diarmuid is asking me why are you pulling the side off my computer (long story) and why are you using that etc. etc. You see my excuse was that I had no system to use at home but Diarmuids one is great, so great actually that I think I'll just load up all my stuff on it and I'm sure Triona is thinking the very same. You see he had no internet access until recently so nobody bothered with his PC - but now ....sweet.

The Beard part 2

After much deliberation and a healthy adversion to doing what I'm told I have decided to grow my beard back. It's for a good cause though so settle your heckles. Tim and myself have signed up to do a trek in Scotland next year in aid of Amnesty International and we need to raise some funds. This is one of my 'hair' brained ideas - a sponsored shave - Tim is promoting a complete hair removal scheme. The jury is out.

I'll be posting a link shortly where people can sponsor us online. We are going to arrange a poker night as well and maybe a 'function'. Begging letters and door to door collections look likely also.

You've been warned.

Ireland v France

Diarmuid and myself went to our first International Soccer match, Ireland v France, on Wednesday. It was a huge buzz. Lansdowne Road was just mental. It's a shame the team weren't as up for it as the fans. Some of the comments from the crowd near us were worth the ticket price alone.

There was a banner left on each seat before kick off like this one. It made for quite a sight as thirty thousand odd fans held them up while roaring and cheering at kick off.


A picture of the main stand from where we were sitting at half time.

The Beard!!

Not sure if many of you remember me with a beard. I was looking for something today on my PC and I found this picture:

scary or what!! :) Actually I think I miss it. Hmmm.... should I grow it again? You decide - vote by leaving a comment below (no logon required).

Quick Update

I know I'm getting a bit tardy with these blog entries - sorry about that. Feeling a little swamped at the moment. I guess what we need to do is take some weekends off - of course though if we do that then you'll have nothing interesting (?) to read. Anyhow :) Big hello to Maria (who can't get through the day without reading this site), and Netty (whose having a fantastic time down under and checks in regularly).

We had a fantastic weekend down at the Electric Picnic in Stradbally. What an amazing venue and festival! Jenny, Tim, Shelly, Benny, Fidelma, Triona and myself headed down on Saturday morning (in beautiful weather, all weekend actually) and found ourselves a 'camp site' (that's another entry) in a field a small ways outside the town with 'security'. I didn't bring a camera with me but Triona did and she'll be posting pictures shortly which explain everything (oh dear). We'll be heading back next year for sure.

Diarmuid and myself are off to see Ireland v France (World Cup Qualifier, Soccer) tomorrow evening courtesy of Triona's uncontrollable urge to 'play' the auction game :) We're not complaining though. I'll post more shortly.