Sunday Lunch with the Tramore Gospel Choir

Roma, Kate, Vicki, and I went down to "The Pub" in Monkstown Crescent for Sunday Lunch today (Claire's exams start tomorrow, so she decided to study instead). We had a very pleasant lunch but got a nice surprise to find that the Tramore Gospel Choir were going to perform in the restaurant while we were there. We had just finished our main course when they started up singing songs about Mary weeping and Pharoah's army being "drownded". Our table was right beside where they set up, so we had the best seats in the house. There were some great harmonies and plenty of hallelujahs. The choir was lead by the finest grey hair and beard I have seen in a long time (the guy at the back in the photo). He had plenty of tattoos, and I couldn't help wondering if he also had a Harley-Davidson, as there is a very active group of Harley riders in the Waterford/Tramore area. Praise be!

Response to my Letter in The Irish Times

Daniel K. Sullivan of Limerick replied to my letter of April 13th last about the emergency budget in The Irish Times on 15th April. Here is the text of his letter (copied from The Irish Times Letters page without permission):

Madam,

In reply to Eugene FM O’Loughlin, (April 13th), I suspect that looking at the recent Budget, the spirit of John F Kennedy might more plausibly have put it to the Government: “Ask not what your country did to you – ask what you did to your country”. –

Yours, etc,

DANIEL K SULLIVAN,
Abbeyvale,
Corbally,
Limerick.

Walk on Carrickgolligan Hill

Yesterday Roma an I set out for a walk on Carrickgolligan Hill - this is is the hill where Ballycorus Chimney is located that I posted on before. It was a glorious week end here in Dublin with bright sunshine all day long. It was a bit hazy though and we did not get too much of a view. On a clear day you can see a long way from here - but not for us. Despite this we enjoyed the walk - it is not too long and not difficult. In the Google Map below we started out at the Carrickgolligan car park which is located at the bottom left of the map, and went anti-clockwise around the hill.

View Larger Map

Of course we went to see the chimney - Roma had not been up to see it before. I took the picture above with my iPhone on the path just down from the chimney. Afterwards we went up to Johnny Fox's Pub where I had a very nice pint of Guinness among the throngs of tourists in a very busy bar. A very nice day out.

Seamus Heaney at 70

All this week there have been celebrations of Ireland's only living Nobel Laureate - poet Seamus Heaney who was 70 last Monday. I have to confess I know nothing about his poetry, and have never to my knowledge read any of it. I don't recall if his poetry was on the English syllabus while I was in school - but that was the 1970's which was early in Heaney's career. Even though he is the most famous living Irish literary figure I have no plans to read any - such is my disinterest in poetry.

I do have something in common with Seamus Heaney - he was conferred with an honory doctorate (D. Litt.) in Trinity on the same day as I was conferred with my PhD on 8th July 1988. This was before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995 - I had no idea then that I was in the presence of greatness. I have kept all the ceremony documents to this day - also receiving honory doctorates on that day were scientist John Stewart Bell and Bishop Donald Caird. The citations were read out in latin - in fact the whole ceremony was in latin. Thankfully, translations in English were provided for the citations. For interest, here is what Trinity said about Seamus Justin Heaney:

My Letter in The Irish Times - 13th April 2009

I recently wrote another letter to the Editor of The Irish Times about our recent emergency budget, and though I did not buy the paper yesterday it was published on the Letters page on Monday 13th April. I found it on-line today. The image shows the text of the letter that was published.

I sound a bit pontifical?

This is the third time I have had a letter published by The Irish Times, and as before it was edited from my original letter - this time quite heavily with a reference to Monty Python completely removed.

Here is my original:

Madam,

It seems to me that media coverage of Budget 2009 is mostly about the impact on each of our own pockets, as we are all asked to pay a heavy price for our economic woes. Now more than ever we need to believe in the spirit of John F. Kennedy - "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country", rather than in the Monty Python spirit of "what has the Government ever done for us?".

Yours etc,

Eugene F.M. O'Loughlin,

Richmond,

Blackrock,

Co. Dublin.

Easter weekend

I went down to Wexford for the weekend leaving on Good Friday. I was on my own and enjoyed the easy drive down. I stopped off at our house in Skuna Bay to empty my very full car before heading over to Ballingate to see Mum and Dad. After a nice cup of tea and a few of my Mum's delicious homemade biscuits we went to Good Friday Prayers in Askamore Church where Dad sings in the choir. Religion is thriving in the country-side as the church was full. I enjoyed the ceremony as it has been many years since I went to Prayers on Good Friday.

On Saturday I decided to start a new passageway from our garden down to the beach. The steps Dad and I built three years ago are sadly deteriorating and a new set of steps was needed. I cut them out of the sand - hard work. I also went on a long walk down to Glasscarrig Point before doing some more work on a book chapter I am working on (more about this later if it gets published). By evening time I was preparing dinner for Roma, Vicki, and her friend Joanna - barbecued chicken, a Eugene special.

Sunday was meant to be an O'Loughlin family lunch, but both Joe and Kathleen's families couldn't come. Claire and Kate didn't make it either from Dublin as Claire's car was broken in to with her (my old) iPod being stolen. We went to Easter Sunday mass in Ballygarrett where there is a wonderful choir. Roma prepared a brilliant lunch for Mum and Dad - a lovely day overall. In the afternoon I got a message from a guy who found the iPod (my number was on the back) - so Claire's iPod was restored later that evening to her. Honesty is still out there.

Today we cleaned up the house before heading back to Dublin - the traffic was wicked. The trip back was 2.5 hours - usually it is about 1.25 hours. I am exhausted as today I finished up the new passageway by hammering some wooden stakes into the ground to support the new passageway - this was very hard work. Anyway - I hope the new passageway is worth it for the summer.

How To...Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint

To celebrate 10,000+ YouTube views for my "How To..." channel, I have uploaded a new video entitled "How To...Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint". This is one of the quickest videos that I have made - I recorded this in one go without too much messing with settings. I now use CamStudio for recording both my screen movements and audio. This creates a video in AVI format that can easily be uploaded to YouTube. Here's the video embedded below:

This video shows the user how to embed a YouTube video into a PowerPoint presentation. This looks better than a hyperlink to click on and to launch your browser separately. It also makes your presentation looks a bit more professional, and makes you look a bit "cooler"!

YouTube - 10,000 views!

A couple of years ago I started a YouTube channel with a "How To..." series of videos showing how to do simple things with (mostly) Microsoft Office tools. Today I am pleased to report that views of my videos have reached a landmark figure of 10,000 views (10,043 as I write this) and I am averaging over 100 views per day. Yesterday I uploaded my ninth video about embedding YouTube videos into PowerPoint.

The viewing figures for all nine videos are as follows:

How To...Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint	3
How To...Create a Project Network Diagram in PowerPoint	155
How To...Create a Basic Gantt Chart in Excel 2003	801
How To...Embed a YouTube Video into a Moodle Course Page	117
How To...Create a Windows Media Video Using PowerPoint and Windows Movie Maker	324
How To...Draw a Polar Diagram in Excel	186
How To...Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) in Excel	1608
How To...Create a Pareto Chart in Excel	4815
How To...Convert PowerPoint to iPod Movie	2034

Some are more popular than others - the video on drawing a Pareto chart is the most popular - accounting for almost half my total views. While 10,000 views is a modest figure compared to viewing figures for other similar videos, I am happy that some people find them useful. I have had a few, but very positive comments on these videos.

All this proves that people want to learn using tools like YouTube. My videos are amateur, with no studio or special equipment in use. I simply record using a standard microphone and software such as Windows Movie Maker and CamStudio. It's easy to do once you get to grips with the technology, and could be a useful add-on for tutorials and revision for students.

Quidam - Cirque du Soleil

Last evening Roma and I were invited to Quidam - Cirque du Soleil at the The O2 as guests of Cahill-May Roberts (CMR). What a fantastic show!!! I was not really bothered about going and had suggested that Vicki or Claire go instead, but both were otherwise engaged. I walked up from NCI to The O2 and met Roma there. We were greeted by CMR organizers, but went into the wrong Reception room. We met Gemma and Michael Maughan (Bryan Bourke's in-laws) and had dinner with them. Bank of Ireland Private Banking were hosting this reception and I got the chance to talk to some rich folks. We hadn't really noticed that there were no other pharmacists around. As we were in the wrong Reception we had not been given our tickets and it took us a long time to find the right reception where CMR folks were frantically trying to find us.

Our seats were right in the middle of the mid-tier - perfect for viewing the aerial acrobatics. The whole show was a blast of energy and acrobatics, with everything timed to almost perfection. It had everything - German wheel, banquine, hand-balancing, aerial contortion, skipping, diabolos, and of course a clown. We both thoroughly enjoyed the show. We had drinks afterwards - this time at the right Reception, and chatted to the CEO of CMR (Gary) and some pharmacists. A good night out!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad, Joe O'Loughlin, is 78 years young today - Happy Birthday to him!!!

He was born on 31st March, 1931 and has always loved to sing - here's a picture taken of him at our family get together last January when he was probably singing "The Mountains of Mourne". I'm hoping we'll all meet up again on Easter Sunday in Wexford - we might even sing "Happy Birthday" to him!

150 Years of The Irish Times

Today is the 150th anniversary of the first edition of The Irish Times. To celebrate, the IT included a free copy of the first edition of the IT in Saturday's edition. While it made for interesting reading, not a lot seemed to be happening in Ireland in 1859. The ads on the front page were the best part.

As part of their 150th celebrations, the IT has made their digital archive available free for a limited time. I had never kept a copy of the paper from the day that my engagement to Roma was announced on Saturday 7th September, 1985. A quick ego search using my name found the notice which of course was sent to the IT by my late parents-in-law - Billy and Mary Rose. We had actually got engaged on 15th June earlier in 1985.

The notice after ours was for the writer Fergus Hanna Bell - a son of novelist, short story writer, and playwright Sam Hanna Bell (1909-1990). I read one of Sam Hanna Bell's books - December Bride which was also a film starring the gorgeous Saskia Reeves and my distant cousin Donal McCann.

28th March, 1989

Today, 28th March 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of my first day at work with CBT Systems (which became SmartForce in 1997, and SkillSoft in 2002). I was dressed in a suit with shirt and tie and I took the bus from Llewellyn Park in Rathfarnham where we lived at that time. I still remember the walk down Mount Street to No 39/40 and a very nervous ring of the bell. The receptionist (Olive Bolger) let me in and I was introduced to Ronan Fitzpatrick who would be looking after us for training. He showed us some CBT content and it was the first time I had ever seen some. In my interview for the job I did not know what the letters CBT stood for (Computer Based Training). There were two others starting the same day, including Kate McCarthy who is still with the company. I had a great 13 and a half years leaving with the company, made some money, traveled quite a lot, and took voluntary redundancy in 2002. I still have some of my business cards from my time there - perhaps the best job I did was as Production Manager (as in card above) responsible for getting courses completed on a monthly basis from four production centres. It seems like a lifetime ago when I started - a lot has happened to me in the intervening 20 years.

Queue Jumper

This morning I needed to get petrol for the Harley on the way to work and I stopped off at Esso in Stillorgan. I had a 9 o'clock class and was in a bit of a hurry. Typical... the woman in front of me at the check-out wanted to pay in coins. She had several bags which had to be counted out by the guy behind the counter - this was taking quite a bit of time. Another woman came in behind me and became impatient. She had the correct amount of money and decided to jump ahead of me to get the attendant to take her money - I was annoyed at this. Rightly, the attendant told her that he was dealing with another customer (the coin woman), and to wait. In the end she left the money on the counter and walked out. Bitch! To make matters worse, when the coin woman left the attendant refused to deal with me when I asked him until he had put the bitch's money in to the till and to record the sale!

I got a minor amount of satisfaction when I passed the bitch out in traffic a few minutes later. Was I right to be annoyed at this queue jumper? I said nothing to her, but wanted to say "Hey - there's a queue here!". I took the easy way out, avoided confrontation. and let the bitch jump ahead of me.

Paying Parking Fine On-line

Kate and Roma managed to get a parking ticket for my car in the car park at Blackrock DART Station yesterday - they had overstayed their Pay-and-Display ticket by 30 minutes. The fine is €40 if paid within 28 days and of course these days you can pay a fine on-line at APCOA. The parking ticket man took six photos of the car, including the one shown here. I'm impressed with Kate's parking abilities to get the car into such a tight spot! 30 minutes is not much of an over-stay, but these days there is no mercy shown.

PS

Since Google have been in the news a lot this week about privacy concerns over their Street View mapping tool with a lot of people wanting their details blotted out - I have blotted out the Ambulance drivers face in the photo above. (Just in case he ever stumbles upon this blog post!)

Failed Seminar - Lessons Learned

Yesterday I "delivered" the lunch time seminar as part of NCI's Professional Development Series - the topic of my talk was "Getting the most out of Moodle". However, it was one of the most depressing experiences I have had doing this type of thing.

At 0908 in the morning I logged a call on the IT Helpdesk that there was something wrong with Moodle - I was preparing for the seminar, but nothing seemed to work. Little did I know it, but it would take until the middle of the afternoon to sort out the problem. I had access to a second Moodle server, so I decided to go ahead with the seminar. Big mistake - I should have cancelled.

I was about to give a seminar on Moodle which was to feature how I use this system - without it being available!!! Nevertheless, I persisted in the hope that it would be available on time and I checked my setup in the minutes before the seminar. Next problem was that the projector I needed was in a locked office - I had to get Security to let me in to get it with a master key. The projector too was to be problematical throughout my presentation. The seminar was poorly attended (about 10 people) - it was an unusually fine day. Right at the start I almost had a bottle of orange juice spilled onto my laptop - the omens were not good! Moodle was still not working. With the second Moodle server I was able to do a few things - but one of the first, adding in a RSS News Feed, didn't work. I had practised this, but could not get it to work in the seminar. Next thing to go wrong was that my wireless connection to the Web started to slow down and then dropped all together. I could only get it back with "limited (ie useless) connectivity" - now I couldn't do anything. (No exaggeration - nine times out ten when I try to use the wireless network there is always something wrong.) Some people left, and I was reduced to describing about what I do rather than showing it. Even though it was almost 2 o'clock when we finished - I felt like a right eejit after this fiasco.

I shoulda...

• transferred everything I wanted to show onto the backup Moodle server
• not used a portable projector
• sorted out the RSS feed in advance
• not relied on the wireless network
• cancelled the seminar before it started
• not done a seminar on a fine day
• had a plan B, C, and D!

The Maulin Trail, Co Wicklow

Today Roma and I decided take a hike over the Maulin Trail in Co Wicklow. Starting point was Crone Wood carpark close to Enniskerry. The trail is seven kilometres long and neither of us had done it before. We had a free guide from The Irish Times to help us on our way - the IT told us the walk was "Suitable for all grades of walker". The first part towards Powerscourt Waterfall was easy enough - we had an excellent view of the Waterfall from the top. After this we headed into the woods along a narrower trail which was quite steep in places. We stopped a few times to catch our breath, but it was not too difficult. I had hoped to get to the top of Maulin Mountain (570m) - the guide told us the view was excellent. However, the trail does not go over the mountain, and while the guide describes how to get back on the trail - it does not tell how to get off it. The way down and back was easy and we made the round trip in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

We went to the Powerscourt Arms Hotel afterwards for lunch and a well deserved pint. We got home in mid afternoon and did a spot of gardening. Overall an excellent and energetic day!

Breaking a link

Today I ended my last connection with CBT Systems/SmartForce/Skillsoft by selling 1,195 shares that I owned in the company. These shares were purchased between May 2000 and May 2002 for just over twice the price that I sold them for. Skillsoft stock rose over 25% today and I decided that this was a sign to sell - I have held on to these shares for nearly nine years and they have never been worth more than what I paid for them.

I joined CBT Systems almost 20 years ago to the day (28th March, 1989), when it was a small company - my employee number was 36. It went public on the NASDAQ in April 1995 - between then and 2002 when I left I had a lot of stock options and for a short period made some good money. At its height, it was worth over 6 billion dollars and employed over 1,500 people. It was great to be part of the dot com boom, not so great to be part of the dot com bust. I took voluntary redundancy in September 2002 and have never been sorry that I had left the company.

How To...Create a Project Network Diagram in PowerPoint

One of my favourite topics in my Project Management and Business Systems Analysis classes at NCI is Project Network Diagrams (PND). They are used to show graphically the sequence of activities in a project, to show the critical path, and to calculate the duration of the project. They are relatively straight-forward to do, but not the first time you try one. I almost always set an exam question on this topic.

Today I created a short video for my YouTube How To... Channel. This shows first of all how to draw a PND based on some data I have provided, and then shows how to put it together for display on a PowerPoint slide. Here's the video:

This video was created using CamStudio, but I still have not mastered the art of creating quality videos under 1GB in size (YouTube upload limit). The quality is not great, but is good enough to view. After a while in the video you will notice that the video starts to lag behind the audio - this is OK for a while, but by the end of the video it is very noticeable. 

I recorded this video several times to try and get the quality right within the file size limitations. This version is about 0.4GB, so I could have increased the data rate to improve the video a bit more. I always use 8-bit mono (instead of 16-bit stereo) for audio to keep file size down. I also recorded a very good quality version using Adobe Captivate - but this only generates Flash SWF files that are not recognised by YouTube. It was my first time time using Captivate and it is an excellent and easy to use tool.

Plinky

Plinky is a service for Bloggers who are having difficulty coming up with ideas to blog about. The idea is simple - Plinky provides "Prompts" to get you thinking and you post your response. 

Some recent prompts:

• Animal face-off! Who would win in a fight between a bear and a shark?
• You've been invited on a talk show to explain your job to the hosts. What would you say you do on a daily basis?
• What's the last place you visited that made you wish you were back home?
• What’s the most awkward movie you’ve watched with your family?

Plinky sends you a weekly list of prompts every week. I might find this useful as sometimes it is hard to think of something to write about. 

Book Review - Battles for the Three Kingdoms: The Campaigns for England, Scotland and Ireland - 1689-92

The title of this book - Battles for the Three Kingdoms: The Campaigns for England, Scotland and Ireland - 1689-92, was an attractive one as I always enjoy reading about the War between James II and William III. The book was slightly disappointing - here is the review I wrote at Amazon:

 Interesting read about Williamite Wars, 1 Mar 2009

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

In secondary school history class, the period 1689-1692 was one of my favourites - it had: brave Irish soldiers such as Patrick Sarsfield, gallant French allies, a single cannon ball depriving the Irish victory at the Battle of Aughrim (and General St Ruth his head!), and of course the dastardly anti-Catholic English desperate to put the Irish in their place. All of this is described by John Barratt in this interesting book. 

A measure of how good a book is for me is often how long it takes me to read it. I bought this last November and it has taken three months to read. While the book is interesting, it tells us little more than what students of secondary school Irish history will already know about what we in Ireland called "Cogadh an Da Ri" (War of the two Kings). Most of this war was fought in Ireland with the two largest land battles taking place at the Boyne and Aughrim. However, John Barratt does a good job in adding in other events in Scotland and at sea - this gives a more complete picture of what happened during this period. 

Overall - the book is a worthwhile read, particularly for those not familiar with the War in Ireland. Barratt's thoughts on the indecision that racked both sides at crucial times, the influence of the French, and the likely outcome of the war in Britain's favour regardless who won the Battle of Aughrim, make for an interesting angle that just about makes the book worth buying.

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