Legends in your Lunchtime

National College of Ireland, Metro Newspaper, and Newstalk Radio have been hosting a series of lunch time conversations with "Leaders" over the past few months - these are then played on Newstalk Radio. Last week I went to the Danuta Gray talk - she is CEO of O2 in Ireland. This week I attended the talk with Maria Mahon, who set up the IrishJobs.ie website. Despite being persuaded to attend by some of my NCI colleagues at the numbers were expected to be low, there were about 80 people there for an interesting talk between Ger Gilroy of Newstalk and Maria. She is certainly a very energetic lady and had some interesting things to say - especially about using the IrishJobs.ie model in other countries such as China. The full converstion can be downloaded from the Newstalk Podcast page or from iTunes.

At the end of the talk there was an opportunity for people in the audience to ask questions and I was first up to ask Maria which leader did she admire most - her answer? Barack Obama. You can hear my question and (part of) her answer by clicking on the play button below:

Irish Motorcycle Show

I went to the Irish Motorcycle Show in the RDS today to see the latest in bikes and accessories. After the dissappointing Boat Show last week, this was more my kind of thing!

I rode in to the RDS on my Harley (of course) and arrived at the opening time of 10.00am. A lot of other people had the same idea for an early arrival - there was a big queue and quite a crowd inside. There were lots of shiny custom bikes just inside the main door - everything from choppers, to Indians, to kids bike. All the main manufacturers were there - including Harley-Davidson. I met Jeff Murphy of H-D Ireland and thanked him for the great reduction in price on my new seat last summer. I decided not to tell him about the major trouble I had with the bike in France just after it was serviced in his shop.

I bought new boots which were reduced from €150 to €79 - a lot of items had huge reductions (including bikes). These are real motorcyle boots, but look like a casual boot as well - they should be better than my worn out hiking boots. No more wet feet for me. I looked at a lot of other gear as well, but only bought a tub of wax for leather (€15). I did buy a ticket for Crumlin Children's Hospital - the prize, a new motor bike of course!

There were some stunts and Wall-of-Death - a variety of stuff for everyone. On the way out I chatted to a guy from Enniscorthy who had a trike on his trailer - he had arrived too late to have the bike included in the show. The engine is an old Volkswagen air-cooled one and looked great.

It was a well organized event and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

A Vision of Students Today

This YouTube video tells us educators a lot about how students are working today - I have shown this video to many students in class. Students are much more digitally tuned in than their teachers/lecturers - which is a major challenge for us all. Take a look and see for  yourself:

The Boat Show (RDS)

Today I went to The Boat Show in the RDS - I'm not sure why!

I don't own a boat, but did take some sailing lessons last year. I fancy sailing (but not the yacht club scene) - so I decided to check out what was available. The Boat Show today was a strange event. It show-cased huge expensive motor boats that I'm certain very few people in the crowd could afford. Good on the organisers to get this going!

I was looking for info on sailing, but there was very little. Apart from a few dinghies, not much. I left none the wiser.  I did see some nice small boats. I also bought a ticket for a draw for a Morris Minor (€25), and picked up a handy magetized pen shaped tool for picking up iron based metal objects (I'm getting old!). 

The highlight was a presentation on deep sea diving on three wrecks - Audacious, Lusitania, and Curacao. I bumped into an old Trinity colleague, Dr. Ian Lawler, on the way into the Show. He mentioned that he was doing the presentation, so I stayed around for it. It was worth the wait - Ian and I chatted briefly afterwards - good to catch up.

Killiney Lions Charter Night

Last evening Roma and I went to the Killiney Lions Charter Night in Killiney Golf Club. As Roma is current President of the Killiney Lions it was a big night for her. There was the usual pomp-and-ceremony (slow hand clap for guests), but over all an enjoyable evening for me, but an especially good one for Roma. She made anexcellent speech, and looked great - every bit the Lions President. Lions members tend to be "older", and they all loved Roma (as of course I do!).

It was a long evening, but enjoyable none-the-less. At this stage I know quite a lot of the Killiney Lions. At dinner I sat beside two Lions from Sutton - good company (I did my bit!). I'm not a member of the Lions and have no plans ever to do so - nevertheless, the people involved are genuine. In the current climate, this is a good cause, but it is not for me.

We got a taxi home, but accidentally spilled a small amount of water (from a bouquet of flowers that Roma got) during the trip. Our taxi driver (who got €20, including €3 tip, for the very short trip) was not impressed, and told us so. I offered to bring out a towel and dry his cab, but he declined. F**k him.

iPhone - be careful about using abroad

I got quite a shock with my latest O2 bill - it has more than doubled. 

Since last October when I switched from Vodafone to O2 when I got an iPhone my bills have averaged between €50 and €60. I am on the lowest tariff available for the iPhone - "iPhone 175". This allows 175 minutes talk and 100 texts per month. On my most recent bill I had used only 53 minutes and 36 text messages. On examing my bill I could see that I had been charged almost €60 for "Roaming" - this of course was as a result of my trip to Reading in the UK last weekend, which was my first trip outside of Ireland using the iPhone. Most of this was made up of Data Usage - I had only a few calls and text messages. 

On the bill I note that my total Data Usage spend was €44.81 (+ VAT). My total for four calls for 4 mins and 47 secs was €3.46 (+ VAT). Two separate data costs were just over €12 each - I reckon these were due to using Google Maps to find my way around Reading. Each was for about 1.45MB of data. Total Data Usage was about 5.5 MB - about the exact same file size as the song Bohemian Rhapsody (5.58 MB). Apart from Google Maps I looked up train and bus time tables.

As I was passing through Dublin Airport on the way to Heathrow, they were selling small hand-held SatNav devices for only €99, but I said to myself "No point in buying that, sure I have GPS and Google Maps on my iPhone"!

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty - Second Cousin Twice Removed

I have been created a family tree at MyHeritage.com and currently have 416 people on it. The URL is http://eoloughlin.myheritage.com. Dad has a lot of family material collected over the years and I was fascinated with our roots. Last year's visit to Newmarket really got me going on this. Though I have never met her, my third cousin Catherine Culloty of Newmarket has provided both Dad and myself with lots of information going back to our great-great grandfather Patrick O'Loughlin (1821-1897). I have much of my Dad's side done, I have a lot more to do with Mum's side.

One interesting connection is to Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty - the so-called "the Pimpernel of the Vatican". He is my second cousin twice removed, and is related to me through Dad's grandmother Julia (Murphy) O'Loughlin. A distant relative, but an interesting one none the less! He was portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1983 file The Scarlet and the Black. Dad often mentions that there was a connection - now we know.  There is also a connection to Marian Finnucane of RTÉ through this side of the family.

Other connections to check out are to the late actor Donal McCann, and to founder of the Argentine Navy Admiral William Brown, through my Mum's side of the family. 

A lot done, but more to do.

Fake Work

I have been reading Elliott Masie's Learning Trends for several years - since my time in SmartForce.  I once met him in Dublin when he visited Ireland in the mid 1990s - at that time SmartForce was called CBT Systems. 

In today's edition he interviews the author of a new book called "Fake Work" - you can hear the podcast here (15 mins). The book focuses on "Why People are Working Harder Than Ever but Accomplishing Less, and How to Fix the Problem!". It is an interesting podcast that will ring true to many people - perhaps we are working on things that don't contribute to the Organization we work for. Things like writing reports and creating PowerPoint presentations, are regarded as sometimes being unnecessary. Have a listen, and think!

Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job

I read with interest this article about a Lecturer in the University of Ottawa, called Professor Denis Rancourt, who has been fired for giving all his students an A+ at the start of the year! The article states:

It was not his job, as he explained later, to rank their skills for future employers, or train them to be “information transfer machines,” regurgitating facts on demand. Released from the pressure to ace the test, they would become “scientists, not automatons,” he reasoned.

Interesting stuff. I  find marking one of the most difficult parts of my job - the difference for a student getting 68% vs 72% could affect the rest of their lives. My College has recently introduced Second Marking of all assessment - this has been greeted with disdain by myself and almost all my colleagues. Perhaps Professor has a simple, but effective solution to this problem?

Reading 0 - Preston North End 0

Brian and I went to our first Preston North End away game yesterday to the Madejski Stadium to see Reading take on PNE. Reading were second and PNE sixth in the Championship before the game, so it was an important one for both sides.

I flew over to London Heathrow having arrived at Dublin Airport at 05:45 (at least an hour too early) - the Aircoach service was much faster than expected. In planning my trip, I noted on a UK rail website that I could get a train in Heathrow direct to Reading, but I had to take two trains. The first, to Hayes was only a four minute journey but cost £4.90 (about €5.60)! The next, to Reading, was a more respectable £9.90. Our hotel, the Ibis, was very close to the station and I met Brian there. 

After a coffee we headed towards the stadium stopping off on the way at a wonderfully named pub - the World Turned Upside Down! We had a couple of pints and lunch, after which it was time for the match. 

The PNE fans were located at the south end of the ground. We sat in the middle, with the boisterous fans behind us. They kept up the singing and chanting throughout the game - "Alan Irvine's Yellow Army", "Yellow Army of the North End", and of course "Your Support is F***ing S**t" to the equally boisterous Reading fans. Good natured stuff that added to the atmosphere - Brian and I were enjoying ourselves, and joined in the singing (when we could figure out what the words were!). There was a lot of yellow balloons about as it was designated as a "Yellow Day" by PNE's CAST (Club And Supporters Together). Though it was a very cold day, one fan behind us had no top on for the entire match - they breed them tough in Lancashire.

The game was great from a PNE point of view - though Reading had many chances, PNE defended really well and gave the fans lots to cheer about. The result, 0-0, was about right - match report here. As Reading had four Irish internationals in their squad (Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Noel and Stephen Hunt), it added to the interest for us. Ominously for next Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Georgia, all were rubbish. Today I note that PNE's full back, Eddie Nolan, has been called up to the Irish squad for the same game.

After the game we walked back towards the town centre hoping to get to see Ireland vs France rugby game. We looked in through the window of The Wellington Arms and saw that they were showing the match, so we decided to go in. The pub was very quiet and had a dog which kept sniffing around us - at half time we left and went to O'Neills Irish Bar in the town centre. I was first refused entry because I was wearing a PNE jersey, but was let in after I took it off. The pub was packed and we had to stand to watch the game which Ireland won by 30-21 (report). After this we watched Portsmouth vs Liverpool which had a very exciting second half (Liverpool won 3-2).

For dinner we went to the Raj Indian where we had an excellent meal. Finally, we stopped off for a last pint in The Bugle which was directly across the road from our hotel, before collapsing into bed after a long day.

Today I got up at 07:00 to get a bus to Heathrow - again I was at least an hour too early and had a long wait in the airport. Tired, I finally got home at about 13.00 - Kate kindly picked me up at the bus stop.

How To...Create a Basic Gantt Chart in Excel 2003

I have posted another How To... video on creating a simple Gantt chart in Excel to YouTube.

I had seen a couple of videos on YouTube doing the same thing, but I fancied having a go at doing this myself and posting. Some of my students are still having difficulty creating Gantt charts, so I have referred them to this video. It took me a feww takes to do this as I had to find an appropriate video and audio format to keep the file size down.

How To...Embed a YouTube Video into a Moodle Course Page

I have added another video to YouTube as part of my How To... series. This one is about embedding YouTube videos onto a Moodle course page - I will be getting my e-Learning students to do this in class next week. There are three ways to add video to Moodle which are shown in the video -Moodle does not have a direct "Add a YouTube video" option, but it is possible if you know how.

Here is the video embedded into this Blogger page:

Dublin 1-16 - Tyrone 1-18, Croke Park

Last evening in Croke Park, the GAA celebrated its 125th anniverary year in front of almost 80,000 people at the opening match of the 2009 National Football League between Dublin and All-Ireland Champions Tyrone. I had given Kate a present of two tickets in her Christmas stocking and she kindly brought me to the match!

We had excellent seats in the front row of the upper Cusack Stand with a perfect view of all the proceedings. While it was cold, we were treated to a great game with a very exciting finish. Tyrone bossed the first half with Stephen O'Neill contributing eight points including one from just under where Kate and I were sitting - as the commentators say, it was "almost from an impossible angle". While Tyrone were running the show, Dublin kept in touch and were only four points down at half time - they could not have complained if it was 10 or 12. At half-time we were treated to some songs, including "Galway Girl" from Mundy and Sharon Shannon.

The second half was completely different, with both teams showing plenty of skill. Two goals really lit up the stadium which lead to the exciting finish. Dublin finally took the lead in injury time only for Tyrone to nick three points in injury time for a just about deserved win by 1-18 to 1-16 (match report). But the show wasn't over yet!

After the game there was a special event to commemorate 125 years of the GAA. First there were clips from past games on the big screen and then the fireworks started. With a backing track provided by Irish groups such as Thin Lizzy and U2 (Larry Mullan Jr. apparently arranged the music) - the fireworks were spectacular. The big ones were outside the ground - presumably on safety grounds, while inside a combined light and (smaller) fireworks show warmed us all up on a cold night. Kate and I loved the occasion - fantastic value for €20 each.

More people attended this game than went to see Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier in the day, or are expected at the Super Bowl Final in Tampa Bay this today. Croke Park probably won't be full again until either Dublin play again or the All-Ireland finals in September. 

Tommy Fleming at The National Concert Hall

Last evening, Roma and I went to see a Tommy Fleming concert at the National Concert Hall. Roma is a big fan and I bought her two tickets at Christmas. I have always liked his voice, but had never seen him in concert before. He is currently touring Ireland and is bringing out a "Best of.." CD this Friday called "The Best is Yet to Come" (which I'll be sure to get for Roma).

He had a nine piece band which sounded great, and also used a choir for several songs. He opened with "Carrickfergus" and "Raglan Road" and moved on to many well known songs such as "Isle of Inisfree", "Will ye go Lassie go", and "The Green Fields of France". He is best known for songs such as "Something Inside So Strong",  "The Contender", "You Raise Me Up", and "Hard Times" - which he sang with much gusto. A fantastic performance all around. 

There was a break in the middle before which his band played two intrumental pieces from the movies "Cal" and "Local Hero". The second half wasn't as good as the first for me as Fleming sang some songs I had never heard of before. For an encore he did a new song that was more rock 'n roll - very out of place compared to what had gone before. I don't even remember its name.

Overall, an excellent concert, and I'd certainly go to see Tommy Fleming again. I'll also put some of Roma's albums on my iPhone.

Before the concert we had a bite to eat in the Ely Wine Bar close to the NCH. I hate it when waiters place you beside another occupied table when the restaurant is practically empty, so I asked to move to another table. Our meal was pleasant enough - I have a great burger and fries. We had looked at two other restaurants beforehand which did early evening specials whch may have been better value. Ely is a bit over-priced for what they provide (or maybe in these days of recession I am looking for better value).

Family Get-together - 24th January, 2009

Brian came back to Ireland from England for the weekend and we had a family get-together in Ballingate. Unfortunately Roma could not make it as she was in England for her sister-in-law Fiona Bourke's mother's (Eleanor Lovat) funeral.

I had gone down to Ballingate earlier in the day to get some logs and had a very lucky escape when I was knocked over by a tree trunk being pulled by the tractor. Fortunately it did not break my leg, but I have a very stiff and sore knee as a result. I'll be sure to rest my leg in front of a hard earned log fire.

For the evening, Mum cooked up some delicious pheasant which had been shot by a neighbour (Gerry Myers) on the farm. We had a great chat with plenty of slagging (Brian thinks I'm 50 already and is letting me know about it!). I stayed over night, which meant I could relax a bit more (ie - have a few glasses of wine). A great family evening.

Next day, Dad, Brian, and I went to Carnew for 9 o'clock mass (said by Fr Martin Casey who played for Wexford hurlers in the 1976 All-Ireland final). I'm sure that the last time I was in this church was for Eileen Kelleher's Communion nearly 20 years ago. We were half way up the church and there were only 13 people in the seats in front of us - a far cry from the days when you had to be early for mass to ensure your got a seat.

When I got home to Dublin I had a mouse crisis to deal with - I set a trap and caught one very quickly (got a second on Monday). I think they are getting into the house through a ventilation shaft for the cooker - I'll cover in chicken wire to keep the little f*$&ers out.

Restaurant Review - Seapoint, Monkstown

Using another one of Roma's Christmas vouchers, we went out to dinner in a new restaurant in Monkstown Crescent called "Seapoint" last Saturday evening. We had to wait until 9.15 for a table as the place was packed with a vibrant noisy crowd. No sign of recession yet in Monkstown! The restaurant is a really nice place to eat - friendly staff and lots of nice paintings on the wall. We had a smashing meal - I had (from the menu): pan seared scallops, saffron risotto, pickled vegetables for €22.50. Roma had two starters instead of a main course. Neither of us had separate starter or dessert, we finished with coffee and port. Including a bottle of wine, the whole meal came to €95 - a bit pricy for what we had. A good job we had a voucher!

Overall, a very enjoyable meal out - Seapoint is recommended!

President Obama

I watched with interest with several of my NCI colleagues President Barack Obama's Inauguration and speech yesterday in the staff canteen (on an old TV set with a coat hanger for an aerial - recession!!!). Apart from messing up the oath - it was a perfect event. I think I was as excited as everybody else at the prospect of Obama becoming President and at watching a most historic event.

His speech was a masterpiece - I don't think anyone could have been offended by it. His offer of the hand of friendship to all in the world is not a false promise, nor were any of the other promises he made. I really felt like rolling up my sleeves and gettting to work straight away, being prepared to sacrifice, being prepared to take on the tough times - he was very inspiring. Extraordinary!

Leaderhip can be a tough mantle to carry - he has taken the first steps, and his people will follow. Right now he may be in the shortest honeymoon period of any American President ever, but if he does what he says he will do - he has the potential to be elevated to the select group of great American leaders such as Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt (FDR).

Long live the President!

Dreams From My Father (Barack Obama)

I have just finished reading Barack Obama's first book and very much enjoyed it. I wrote a review at Amazon which I have reproduced below:

A Must Read, 17 Jan 2009 By  EFMOL "eugeneol" (Dublin) - See all my reviews     As I write this review it is three days to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States - I followed his election with much interest. As Christmas present I got a copy of this book first published in 1995, well before he became better known as a Senator and Presidential candidate. My first reaction on finishing this book is that the USA and the world are in a safe pair of hands for the next four years.  This is a very refreshing book that tells in his own words about his early days in Hawaii and Indonesia - an ordinary life, though his colour and race were always an issue. His time in Chicago is what really moulds him into the man we now know. This man genuinely gave of himself to try to better the lives of Chicago's poorest people.  For me the best part of the book is when he describes his first visit to Kenya. The narration is sometimes funny, sometimes moving, but always honest. He describes his struggles to claim his identity - finally realizing who he was after visiting the grave of his father.  If you want to get inside the mind of the soon to be most powerful man in the world, then this is a must read. You will not be disappointed - even opponents of Obama will find this a fascinating book.  Do not miss it!

Restaurant Review - Odells, Sandycove

A quick review of a restauant that Roma and I have not been to for several years. Roma got a present of a voucher for Odells in Sandycove.  We felt the temptation to use the voucher before the restaurant goes out of business.

Odells is a small restaurant that should survive any recession. It was nearly full, with only a few tables not used. The tables are close together - a nice atmosphere. I had teh following (taken from the Odells website):

FOR STARTERS……

Louisiana fish cakes with fresh salmon, cod & smoked haddock, served with sweet cucumber relish & lemon and chive mayonnaise (€11.50).

FOR MAIN COURSE….

Fillet of Irish Beef. Char grilled with a garlic and red onion marmalade. Creamy Sherry and Green peppercorn sauce (€27.95).

Not cheap, but certainly worth the price. A very pleasant evening.

Unpublished Letter to The Irish Times

Many people have commented to me that they have seen very few 09 registration cars on the road. Normally at this time of year you see loads, but the recession is biting hard on the motor industry. I didn't see one until the afternoon of 6th January - I thought this a notable moment and wrote of it to the Editor of The Irish Times. Alas, she did not publish - but blogging of course allows me to publish it anyway! Here it is:

Sign of the times

Madame,

Today, 6th January, at ten to two in the afternoon I spotted an 09 registered car for the first time this year. Is this a record?

Yours etc.,

Eugene O'Loughlin,

2 Richmond,

Blackrock,

Co. Dublin

Day of blood!

Blood was the theme yesterday. In the morning I went to donate blood at the Irish Blood Transfusion Board's D'Olier Street clinic, after receiving a reminder to donate via text message. I only mention this because according to IBTS's records, this is the 25th time I have donated. I feel it should be a bit more than this as I have a Gold Pelican, which marks 20 donations, for many years (I'm guessing 15 years!). The next award, a Gold Drop, is for 50 donations which I should be able to reach if I keep up 2 or 3 donations a year over the next 10 years. 

At lunch time, I went out for a walk and passed by a murder scene on Summerhill Road. The previous evening, one of Dublin's most notorious drug dealers, Michael "Roly" Cronin, was shot dead by someone sitting in the back of his car, an accomplice was also shot and seriously injured - click here for Irish Times story on this. It's a strange feeling walking by the scene. The car was gone, there were several Gardaí about with clipboards stopping passers-by, and the tent that you see in the Irish Times front page photo was still there. Hard to believe that a violent bloody crime had been committed only hours earlier. I didn't actually see any blood. I do remember another murder scene outside the College three years ago when the next day there was still blood on the path and in the gutter. Why do they do it? Life is so cheap these days that drug dealers must know that their lives can be snuffed out for a few hundred euro at the hands of a hired killer. It's hard to feel any sympathy for them

Interview on Newstalk Radio

This morning I was interviewed on Newstalk Radio live in studio by Conor Brophy of The Breakfast Show. I had been asked to make five predictions for 2009 in the Technology area - three of my NCI colleagues had already been interviewed this week making predictions in other fields. Today was my turn.

It's my second time on Newstalk - a few years ago I did a phone interview on jobs in IT, but today's interview was a much more interesting experience in studio. I arrived at the studio at 8.30am and was on air at about 8.50. I had prepared my five predictions as follows:

1. Easy ones - computers will be cheaper, greener, and more powerful
2. Increase in the demand for IT courses at third-level
3. Third World War between Microsoft and Google
4. Release of Windows 7
5. New mobile phone features

I was shown to the studio during an ad break and Conor and I had a few seconds to discuss my predictions - he said we had loads of time. In the end, we only got through three (#2 and #5 above skipped). The interview is just under seven minutes long and is available as a podcast in iTunes (or search for the Newstalk). I have also added it here - click on the play button below:

Interestingly, the podcast was aleady available on iTunes when I got home less than two hours later. I very much enjoyed the interview and having listened to the podcast I'm happy with what I said, though disappointed not to have covered all that I had planned.

New Year - 2009

It's January 1st, 2009 and I'm taking it easy after a few busy days. On December 30th Roma and I went to my good friend Richard Hogan's 50th birthday party at his house in Terenure. Other than Richard and his lovely wife Carol, we did not know anybody, but settled in well for a very pleasant evening. We had a quick pint in the Terenure Inn beforehand as we were early - it was very quiet with just one barman looking after everything in the Lounge.

On New Year's Eve Joe and I played golf in Coolattin where I enjoyed a rare win (by 3 and 1) over Joe. I scored 29 Stableford points with 96 shots - a huge improvement on last week's game in St Annes (13 points). I was hitting the ball very well and even scored a birdie (on the par 4 first hole). Though it was very cold I really enjoyed the game. After a quick pint in the 19th we went over to see Mum and Dad in Ballingate - both are in good form though Mum was a bit tired after her recent trip to Ulverston to see Brian and his son Joe.

For New Year's Eve we were invited over to Roma's brother Peter's place and we marked the last day of 2008 and the first of 2009 with plenty to eat and drink (Peter is very generous with the Port!).

Resolutions for 2009? None really, though the first thing I have to do is lose some of the weight I put on over the Christmas. Some of the things I'm looking forward to this year are:

• Kate will be 18 (1st May), Claire will be 21 and Mum will be 75 (both on 27th August)
• Hosting the EdTech 2009 Conference at NCI where I will be the local Chair
• Getting my first book published
• Riding to Spain on my Harley for Summer holidays
• Learning to sail some more (I got a lesson from Roma for Christmas)
• Seeing Kate going to Trinity to do Science (as I did in 1978!)
• Finally - I will be 50 this year!

Christmas Day 2008

Happy Christmas!

Up at about 8.00am this morning - I felt like sleeping longer, but Kate came into our room, turned on the lights, and "ordered" us downstairs to open presents. We had good fun checking out each present - lots of clothes, books, DVDs, and make-up (for the girls). Vicki got a Guitar Hero and she and Claire spent a long time trying it out. I will be well dressed - a new shirt, jumper, jocks, and socks! Roma gave me some sailing lessons, and I also got Barack Obama's Dreams of my Father book, which I am looking forward to reading.

In the afternoon, Bryan and Eddie (two of Roma's brothers) called with their families - again great fun with kids. I have a train on the Christmas tree that I had not used in the past two years as it was broken. I fixed it this year, and Conor and James Bourke found these very interesting. We had some Champagne to get into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas dinner was great - delicious turkey and ham. We ate a lot. Vicki and I had a Christmas tinsel "fight" - our crackers were covered in this tinsel - I still have some on myself today.

We watched a little bit of a comedy DVD (Late Late Show extracts) but started to fall asleep in front of the TV. Vicki and Kate started a jigsaw puzzle, Claire went out to see some friends - Roma and I collapsed into bed after a long day.

During the day I called Brian, Joe, Kathleen, and Mum and Dad. All were in great form - it's nice to talk to family anytime, but Christmas is a bit more special. All in all, a very nice day.

Christmas Eve 2008

Today is St. Stephen's Day (or Boxing Day) and I am having a quick session on the computer to check email and place a bet at PaddyPower.com. My favourite bets are on golf and football, so I placed a "Lucky 15" bet on four matches in the Coca-Cola Championship.

On Christmas Eve - Kate, Vicki, and I went down to Ballingate to see Mum and Dad. This has been a tradition now for me and the girls since the early 1990s. Ever since we decided to have Christmas Day in our own house I have been travelling to Ballingate for Christmas Eve. I took the picture to the right just at the back of Mum and Dad's house - we had a very pleasant and mild day (12 C). This year will be Mum and Dad's first Christmas ever on their own. They are in great form - Dad broke open a bottle of Scotch that we gave him for his 50th wedding anniversary. Nice, and I had Kate to drive me home! I have to confess to having a large Scotch!

Joe and his crew weren't there this year as he had gone to Sligo instead. Kathleen, Eileen, and her son Daniel arrived in the afternoon - there's a little bit more magic in Christmas when there are small children around. I pretended to be Santa and called Eileen's mobile phone looking to find out where Daniel was staying that night - he fell for it and it was magic. (Sorry Daniel if you ever read this in the future - you were only 3 years old). Photo to the left of my sister Kathleen and I was taken by Kate in Mum and Dad's front room.

We went to Evening Mass in Foxrock church, but despite being 10 minutes early the church was full - I had to stand in the porch. The mass was 1.25 hours long, so I was glad I wasn't inside as the heat was difficult for people to bear - several left during mass. We stayed up to watch a Christmas movie whose name I forget and which was very boring.

Golf at St Annes, Clontarf

I played golf today with students and staff of NCI - it was the first time in my 6+ years there to take part in any student/staff activity (other than Graduation). I had practiced yesterday in Leopardstown Driving Range where I was "brutal" - as my brother Joe says, I "couldn't hit the ball out of my way".

View Larger Map

Sadly the bad form was to continue at St Annes Golf Club (Google Maps above) which is a links course. I want to say that I have always hated links courses, and after today I still do! On the first tee I had to tee off in front of all 12 people who participated. A shout from a player in another group didn't help and I promptly messed up my tee shot. I was also playing with Fintan Bonner who has just turned professional - fuck!

I never settled, and had probably my worst round of golf in 20 years. I managed 10  (yes ten) Stableford points on the front nine which included my only par of the day. This was fortuitous - my tee shot went about 20 metres, my second shot left me 130 metres from the pin, but I got up and down in two for a par 4. I didn't count, but I 'm sure that I didn't make the green in at least 8 holes'- I was having a miserable time. I only "scored" 3 points in the back nine, for a total of 13 points. A most awful golf day.

Links courses are hard, but I cannot blame the course for today's "golf". Anyway, there's always a next time.

Final Meal in South

On Saturday last Roma and I went out with her four brothers (Eddie, Peter, Angus, and Bryan) and their wives and partners (Karen, Dorothy, Fiona, and Maria) to the South Restaurant in Sandyford. We had a table for 0900 which was quite late - but when we got there the restaurant was far from busy. While the food was good, there seemed to be a lot of problems with any bottle of wine we ordered - "none in stock"! Service was irregular and not great. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves, though a long table for 10 people doesn't make for good conversation with everybody.

Next day we learned from The Sunday Independant that the Restaurant is to close on Tuesday 23rd December. The Recession is starting to bite hard.

How To...Draw a Polar Diagram in Excel

I have added a new video to YouTube as part of my "How To..." series. This one is about drawing Polar Diagrams in Microsoft Excel. I teach about Polar Diagrams as part of the subject of Performance Measurement. They are really useful and easy to draw - they can graphically show gaps in performance without the detail of figures.

It took me a few hours to create this video - I made so many mistakes that I had to re-record it several times. I used PowerPoint to record the audio and Audacity to edit the .WAV files. I found that the files skipped a lot so that they sounded like I had deleted very short sections. In the end, I recorded the audio in one take using Audacity and exported the audio to an MP3 file. I imported this into Windows Media Maker to which I also added the slides. I used the Print Screen button to capture the slides and PaintShop Pro to turn them into .JPG files. Windows Movie Maker converted this into a movie - this is embedded above and also uploaded into YouTube.

Business Analysts Association - Graduation Photo

A new photo featuring yours truly is placed on the home page of the Business Analysts Association of Ireland web site. The photo was taken at the NCI Graduation ceremonies on October 30th last.

This group represents students from the course Diploma in Business Analysis and Consultancy - I am Course Director and a Lecturer on one of the modules for this course. The course was run twice in Dublin and twice in Cork in 2007/2008. While over 80 students attended the course, only 18 made it to the graduation. Also in the photograph is President of NCI, Dr. Paul Mooney (beside me dressed in Trinity's scarlet and gold gown), and Phil Chambers (second from right at back) who organizes the course and the Association. 

The module I teach (Business Systems Analysis) is one of my favourites, and I always enjoy the classes with these students.

Fastest Broadband Connection Yet!

I have been a bit concerned about the speed of our new connection to Eircom Broadband. An earlier test (two posts below) showed download speed of only 0.757 Mbps out of a possible 3.0 Mbps. I ran several tests since and got almost exactly the same results.

Today I added more filters and a new splitter to our telephone lines. We have four phones (hall, kitchen, office, and bedroom), plus two connections to Sky satellite in our house. They now all have broadband filters. After fitting them I decided to take another test and as you can see above we have a lot faster connection of 2.2 Mbps - the fastest I have ever seen in this house. I don't know if it is a coincidence, or if the additional filters had an effect - but something has improved the connection. Back to surfing!

Camara

Camara is a charity based in The Digital Hub in Thomas Street near Dublin city centre. They take in second hand computers and rebuild them to give to schools in Africa. It's a fantastic idea and they get donations for individuals as well as businesses.

I brought along two old computers from the Pharmacy, plus two monitors, a printer, and lots of cables and other bits and pieces. I even gave away my old Palm Tungsten PDA. They took everything and were more than happy with all I brought along. I met Jim who is a volunteer for Camara and I told them I was a Lecturer in Computing at NCI and he showed me around. They have a very efficient operation and he brought me though the process from taking in the computers to shipping them out. Everything is checked - they get a lot of faulty monitors in particular which are sent for recycling. They are currently processing a shipment of Compaq computers from an office in Belfast. The big thing is that they have to guarantee that the hard disk is wiped and they have special Garda approved software to do this. For some computers they have to destroy the hard disk - banks like AIB won't give the computers otherwise. They first use a Degausser which renders the magnetic hard disk completely unusable and actually damages the storage system. The disk is then split and crushed using a special gadget like a guillotine. They have to buy new hard disks to replace these, and also buy a lot of mice - they got a shipment of 1,000 from China yesterday.

The rebuilt computers end up in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Lesotho. Camara also send out volunteers to teach IT and to maintain the computers. Jim told me it is a very successful operation. 

Hotel Eugenie, Rue de Rome, París in Street View

I am fascinated with Google and the nice gadgets and features that they produce. And the best part is that everything is free! Recently I noticed a little "man" appearing on Google Maps and I decided to click on it, and hey presto it gives a street level view (if available) - this was released on November 21st 2008 for the iPhone. 

From Wikipedia: Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.

I decided to show this off to Roma on my iPhone and looked up Hotel called Villa Eugenie on the Rue de Rome in Paris where we once stayed (we immediately re-christened these Hotel Eugene on Rue de Roma). This location is available on street view. Below is the interactive view from Google showing the Rue de Rome street sign and the Villa Eugenie hotel name:

View Larger Map

What will Google think of next? According to Google, this will expand to many more cities and metropolitan areas - they need people to drive around with special cameras to make the recordings. There are privacy concerns and Google have started to fade out things like faces and number plates.

New Eircom Broadband Connection

We switched from Clearwire to Eircom Broadband recently. Clearwire had increased our monthly subscription from €39 to €49 per month without telling me. I was outraged by this. I called Clearwire for an explanation and they told me that my fixed contract was over and that this meant I was put on a higher rate. They "kindly" offered to renew my contract, but I thought I would check out other offerings instead. Later when I called them to terminate the connection they went as low as €29 per month in an attempt to keep me as a customer.

Eircom came out the best - for €54 per month we get free local, national, and Meteor telephone calls. We get a 3MB connection instead of the 2MB from Clearwire. We also get Setanta Sports free on-line, and they don't block any sites such as Sky Sports and Limewire. So far the new connection has been good - I still have to get some filters for some of our extra phones, but so far it has been a great success. The only thing I was worried about in switching to Eircom is that they have a high contention rate (48:1) in my area. During the day I can get up to 1.8 Mbps, as as you can see from the graphic it drops right down at peak time - this test was done at 1900 hours. I'll post a high result in the near future just to compare to today.

Book Review - "Cool Waters - Emerald Seas"

As mentioned in a previous post , I met an old diving buddy (John Collins) from my Trinity days at the Cahill May Roberts weekend in Adare Manor a couple of weeks ago. While catching up on old times - we're talking the late 80s/early 90s, John mentioned that he had written a book featuring many of his photographs. 

I bought the book from Amazon and really enjoyed it - especially the photo of Calliostoma zizyphinum (the painted topshell) on page 60. John and I as members of the Dublin University Sub-Aqua Club (DUSAC) dived together several times - no doubt he collected many of the topshells I used in my PhD studies.

I have written a review at Amazon and gave it five stars. The text of the review is also below:

 Superb Collection of Photos, 29 Nov 2008

By	EFMOL "eugeneol" (Dublin) - See all my reviews

This is a most enjoyable book for everyone. If you ever wanted to get up close to what's under the sea, John Collins'wonderfully photographed book will take you there. This is both a work of art and a work of love by the author. The excellent photographs combined with the author's own written contributions, plus quotations from diving's pioneers works extremely well. 

The book is well edited and I'm sure it was a huge task for Collins and his editors to select the final photos from what was no doubt a massive collection. It is divided up into several sections like "Undersea Journeys" and " Sea Dreams". My favorite section was the "Face to Face" where Collins gets up close and personal with wonderful fish, dolphins, seals, and sharks. 

I also like the fact that the author does not use each organism's taxonomic full title - the common name "Painted Topshell" (p 60) sounds much more interesting than the more formal "Calliostoma zizyphinum". 

This book is like a collection of the best photographs from the National Geographic, with a personal touch added. It makes you want to put on a wetsuit, learn how to dive, and jump straight into the ocean to see the plants, creatures, and wrecks that are out of sight for us landlubbers. If you like a glimpse of the undersea world, you will not be disappointed with this book. 

Maith an fear tú féin John.

25 Year Old Research

In 1983 I did my finals in Science at Trinity, specializing in Zoology. My final year project was on Air Breathing Rhythms of Oxygen Consumption in the Shore Crab Carcinus maenas (L.). I enjoyed this project and got really positive feedback about it. The then Head of the Department of Zoology, the late J.N.R. Grainger said to me that I "had a talent" for research and I was inspired to continue my research studies by enrolling for a PhD.

I have often thought over the years that I should have tried to publish my research findings. Basically, air breathing rhythms in the shore crab had not been shown before (they had in water) - therefore my work was new to science. However, I never bothered to write my project up in a suitable format for a paper. It didn't help that in 1983 there were no computers - my thesis was typed up on a typewriter. In the last year I finally wrote the paper, with the aid of OCR and a scanner. I first submitted it to the Journal of the Marine Biological Association and it was rejected - but there were some positive comments (among the many negative). The main feedback was that it was too long. I tried two more journals with a shortened version, but was rejected on both occasions. It's time to give up trying to publish this in a scientific Journal.

The great thing about blogs is that you can publish anything you like yourself. So I hereby publish my own paper - it can be accessed from my Google Pages by clicking here. Of course I doubt if anyone will ever find it, let alone read it - but I have a little grin on my face as I publish this 25 year old piece of research.

Ride to Wexford General Hospital to see Dad

Bit of a scare this week in that Dad went to Wexford General Hospital after feeling unwell. I went down to see him last evening and I am glad to report that he looked very well and healthy after a tiring couple of days. We chatted for about an hour and a half, and I enjoyed the evening, Dad needs a change in medication for blood pressure - hopefully this will get him back to normal again.

View Larger Map

The ride was enjoyable too - I had not taken such a long journey (see map above - 160 miles/131km  round trip) since my journey home from France. The bike ran very well - no problems. I wrapped up well - I am using an old set of padded pull-ups that are very effective. Riding in the dark was also something that I had not done for a long time (London to Dublin in 2002) - lights are not great, but the there was enough traffic on the road to lead me on my way. 

Harley-Davidson Bar Stool

In the summer, for my trip to France, I changed the seat on my Harley-Davidson to one with a back rest. The new seat has been a great success and I like it very much. But what to do with the old seat?

I brought home the old seat from Dublin Harley-Davidson and decided to make a chair or stool out of it. At this time NCI were re-decorating some laboratories and there were some old broken office chairs ready to be dumped. I selected one that was in reasonable order and brought it home. I took off the old battered seat and fixed the Harley seat on top - the picture to the right shows the result. Now I have an interesting bar stool that moves up and down just like a real office chair. I moved it to our house in Wexford hoping to enjoy a few beers at the bar (kitchen counter) there. Now I can pretend I'm riding and drinking a beer at the same time!

Weekend in Adare Manor

Roma and I were slumming it in Adare Manor this weekend - it is a five star hotel and golf resort in the village of Adare in Co Limerick. We had last been in Adare in 1983 for a wedding (Ger and Martin in the nearby Dunraven Arms). The weekend was organized by Cahill May Roberts who supply many of the drugs for Roma's Pharmacy - they paid for everything. Cheers!

We drove down on Friday evening and arrived just after 10 pm. We went straight to the Tack Room (a bar) for some food and drink. A lot of people had arrived ahead of us and the party was in full swing. We met Pat and Anne Staunton from Castlebar whom we knew - Pat was in Roma's pharmacy class in Trinity. I also met an old SCUBA diving buddy - John Collins who is a pharmacist in Kinsale. We had a great chat about old times in Trinity and the sub-aqua club.

On Saturday I played golf - my partners were both from Cork, Tony Daly and Cormac Deasy. We had a very pleasant round and came in with a gross score of five over par in a scramble competition. This very respectable score wasn't good enough to get in the prizes - in fact we came last! I lost quite a few balls, but also more than played my part in the scoring - especially in sinking two long putts to save par. 

On Saturday evening we had dinner in The Minstrel's Gallery, which was very pleasant, followed by another session in the Tack Room. I was careful not to overdo the jar, but still didn't go to bed until 3.30. Sunday was about getting home - nice to be back after a nice weekend in a smashing hotel.

2nd Anniversary of Creating this Blog

It is two years since I created this blog and posted my first item - appropriately called "My First Post".  I had no real plan or idea about how the Blog would turn out - I just wanted to set one up to see what it was like. In 2006 I only made two posts (including the first above). This increased to 15 posts in 2007, and so far there are 109 posts (including this one) in 2008. I have become more prolific, though not like some bloggers who post several items every day.

I once showed my Blog to a visiting academic in NCI - he immediately started warning me about falling into the trap that many others fallen into, ie feeling that you have to post something about yourself every day (however trivial). People do get addicted to blogging - in this article, "10 Signs That You May Be a Blog Addict", several warning signs are given. My favourite is this one (#4):

You get inspiration for new blog posts at the strangest times - in the Jacuzzi, sitting on the toilet, during marital activities (cough, cough)... you get the picture

I know very few people read the blog - my rank in Technorati is 4,697,735. Not sure if this really means anything. I once reviewed a Conference and complimented one of the speakers - he saw the post and commented on it, presumably using Google Alerts.

I like the freedom of a blog - you can write and post anything you like. This self publishing phenomenon has captured my imagination, and I intend to keep going. Long Live Blogging!

Victory for Obama

I'm delighted with this morning's news that Barack Obama has won the US Presidential Election. I stayed up until about 3.00 am and followed the early results. At the early stages it was actually looking good for McCain -  but it was fascinating to watch the counts coming in and the results of each state being projected. The photo to the right is of a victorious Obama from the today's Irish Times website - too late for print version.

I mostly watched CNN, and once they had projected that Obama would win Ohio, and that he was was ahead in Florida - it was all over bar the shouting.  Time to go to bed.

I rarely stay up this late - especially to watch TV, but I was hooked and didn't feel tired. I would have liked to have been in Grant Park in Chicago where CNN kept showing us the crowds that were gathering early on for Obama's victory speech - this looked like a great party and a historic place to be last night. McCain had Waylon Jennings Jnr playing at his "victory" location - no wonder he lost.

Sadly for McCain, he will be forever remembered as a loser. His place in history as a maverick senator and war hero is assured, but who remembers Kerrey, Gore, Dole, Mondale and many others as anything else but as having lost a US Presidential election?

Now it's Barack Obama's turn at the Presidency - time to deliver. The world is watching!