dove ad

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Before:

After:

Click Play to watch.

It really makes you think... I wish I has those Photoshop skills!

via Will

comics

I like Comics. I love them via email!

I get Dilbert every day thru my email - Tip Top Comic, I also like Scotts Blog!


I also used to get Garfield then switched to Calvin and Hobbs, but I find both of them really boring. I also haven't found anything interesting on GoComics to change to!



I found wulffmorgenthaler, a free comic emailed everyday. Quite good!


Then there bLaugh, The (Un)Official Comic of the Blogosphere! Emailed every day that there is a new Comic!



Explosm.net also has come quite good comics, they have a feed but no option to have the comic emailed. Their feed also just alerts you to a new comic does not even show the image! You then have to go onto the website to see it! Pain in the ass!

Anyone know any other good comics sent by email?

UPDATE: I nearly forgot about xkcd! Yet another good webcomic, with a RSS Feed, and no email feature :-(

Wikipedian Protester!

darran in the simpsons

Ever wonder what you might look like as a Simpsons chatater?
This is how I see myself!

With the new Simpsons movie coming out this summer, only a matter of weeks from now, everyone is jumping on the bandwaggon! 7-Eleven Stores are even being turned into Kwik-E-Marts selling "Squishees", "Buzz Cola", and "Krusty-O's" Cereal!

News Link

Go here and click on "Create Your Simpsons Avatar"

team geared up - june

It has been a quiet few months with no activity on the Team Geared Up Blog for May! But I managed to squeeze in 2 posts in June!

28th - Season in Whistler

29th - Jetpack Flights for Sale

how to: fill your ipod

(like a bus, there is none for ages and two come along at once)

There are loads of music videos online on sites like YouTube where you can watch them all for free on your computer. Set up your own playlist on the site and leave it run in the background for constant music. So why can't you listen to it from your ipod?

Here is a step by step on how to get a video off you tube and onto your ipod as a .mp3!

1. Find the song you want to put on your iPod or music player.
Example: The current No.1 single: Rihanna - Umbrella - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7bK4Vee36M

2. With the url of the song (similar to that link up there) head over to KeepVid and get the download link.

3. Save the file to your computer and rename it from get_video to songname.flv, in this example Rihanna - Umbrella.flv

4. Download, install and open SUPER ©

5. Drag the .flv file into the box at the bottom and choose MP3 as the output container on the top left, then click Encode.

6. The MP3 is then usually saved straight onto the C Drive, find it. Move it to where ever you keep your music. (You can rename it too... Rihanna - Umbrella.flv.MP3 to Rihanna - Umbrella.mp3)

7. Open iTunes and add file to Library. Rename the file and Sync to your iPod.

8. Wash, Rince and Repeat.

EASY!

kenya

From Weebls Stuff, this is classic Internet! Reminded to me by Seb.

Click Play to Watch!

wikis in plain english

Following up on the RSS in Plain English video, Common Craft have created a video explaining wikis!



Click Play to Watch!

emigrating to canada

November 1st
Moved to Canada. I am so excited. It's so beautiful here. The scenery is great, the trees are so tall. Can't hardly wait to see them with snow covering them.

November 5th
Canada. It is the most beautiful place on earth. The leaves have turned all colours and shades of red and orange. Went for a ride through the beautiful countryside and saw some deer. They are so graceful. Certainly they are the most wonderful animals on earth. This must be paradise. I love it here.

November 211th
Deer season starts soon. I can't imagine anyone wanting to kill such a gorgeous creature. Hope it snows soon. I love it here.

December 2nd
It snowed last night. Woke up to find everything blanketed with white. It looks like a postcard. We went outside and cleaned the snow off the steps and shovelled the driveway. We had a snowball fight (I won). When the snow plow came by, we had to shovel the driveway again. What a beautiful place. I love Canada.

December 12th
More snow last night. The snow plow did his trick again to the driveway. I love it here.

December 19th
More snow last night. Couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work. It's beautiful here but I'm exhausted from shovelling. That fucking snow plow.

December 22th
More of that white shit fell last night. I've got blisters on my hands and a sore back from shovelling. I think the snow plow hides around the corner until I'm done shovelling the driveway. That freakin idiot!

December 25th
Merry freakin Christmas! More freakin snow! If I ever get my hands on the freakin idiot who drives the snow plow I swear I'll kill the idiot. Don't know why they don't use more salt on the roads to melt the freaking ice.

December 27th
More freakin white shit last night. Been inside for three days now except for shovelling out the driveway after that snow plow goes through every time. Can't go anywhere, the car's stuck in a mountain of white crap and it's so freaking cold. The weatherman says to expect another 25 centimetres of snow again tonight. Do you know how many shovels full of snow 25 centimetres is?

December 28th
That freakin weatherman was wrong. We got 75 centimetres of snow this time. At this rate it won't melt before summer. The snow plow got stuck up in the road and that idiot came to my door and asked to borrow my shovel. After I told him that I had already broken six shovels shovelling out all the snow he had pushed into my driveway, I darn near broke my last one over his freaking head.

January 4th
Finally got out of the house today. Went to the store to get food and on my way back a damned deer ran in front of the car. Did about $3,000 damage to the car. Those freaking beasts should be killed. They are everywhere. Wish the hunters had exterminated them all last November.

May 3rd
Took the car to the garage in town. Would you believe the thing is rusted out from all that salt they put all over the roads?

May 29th
I am going back to Ireland. I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would ever want to live in such a God forsaken place as Canada!

towel day

Don't forget today is Towel Day!

It is the Tip of the hat to Douglas Adams Day! I must get thru the rest of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy over the summer.

Today is also the first Universal Day of the Jedi.

Some online suggestions have including dressing as a Jedi to work and attacking colleagues with Force FX Lightsabers; or stating "May the Force be with you" to everyone one passes by.

Anyone going to dress like a Jedi with a Towel? Now that would be confusing...

result

Last week I posted a little test about Google's Adsense Program Policy about encouraging clicks. It mustn't of violated any policies because I haven't heard anything from Google (yet).

The real test was to see if talking about your ad's or encouraging click would result in any actual clicks. With about 300 page views I got 0 clicks in the last 7 days.

Maybe my ads are placed in the wrong area of the site or blend in too well!

I was just curious anyway... Now I know!

-END-

cormac harrington

A hello and welcome to the world to my new cousin Cormac David Harrington.

Cormac, you'll be looking at this when your all grown up after Googling your name. The time stamp is a day before your Birthday because I'm in Canada! I can see into the future!

UPDATE: First Photo!

idea

"What are you doing?"
Yup, that's Twitter.

Bebo also asks the same question, and Facebook wants your status. Google also has a Daily Me Gadget you can easily make for your iGoogle page.

However the only one I update is Twitter. Bebo is stuck on "twitter.com/darran" and Facebook gets that same status every week or so!

Why isn't there a service/website that you can sign up to that will update everything all at once. Everyone then can just see your status on which ever service they prefer!

Now that is an Idea!

P.S. My little test going well... update this Sunday.
P.P.S. I'm thinking of picking the "Closed sign"as my Flickr Photo for the 5th of May.
P.P.P.S. You can get to this blog by just typing in langersblog.com :-)

mr tayto

I'm sure this is all over the news and everyone knows about it at home. I heard about this a couple of weeks ago, there have been a few "Vote for Mister Tayto" election posters up. I just found their party political broadcast!

Press Play.

UPDATE: I just found this one too:

a little test

Google's Adsense Program Policy about encouraging clicks states:

Encouraging clicks

In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, publishers may not request that users click the ads on their sites or rely on deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. Publishers participating in the AdSense program:

• May not encourage users to click the Google ads by using phrases such as "click the ads," "support us," "visit these links," or other similar language
• May not direct user attention to the ads via arrows or other graphical gimmicks
• May not place misleading images alongside individual ads
• May not promote sites displaying ads through unsolicited mass emails or unwanted advertisements on third-party websites
• May not compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behavior
• May not place misleading labels above Google ad units - for instance, ads may be labeled "Sponsored Links" but not "Favorite Sites"

Does talking about your ad's violate the policy?

my 24 hours

With a shift change at work, my plan for getting up the mountain in the afternoon was interrupted. Instead I managed to take a load of pictures around the village and at work!

Take a look here and leave a comment on which one I should submit to the group!

www.flickr.com

personal dna

I am a Generous Leader, apparently!

Not your typical way of answering questions. Be warned, at 11 pages, it is a long survey/quiz!

Give it a try!

flickr day

This Saturday is 24 Hours of Flickr. What happens around the world in one day? Life.

To celebrate this global community, we invite you to join us in "24 Hours of Flickr" – a day-long global photo project. On May 5, 2007, grab your camera and whatever else you need, and chronicle your day in pictures. The group's photos will be featured at Flickr events around the world this summer and in a companion book, which will contain a selection of photographs chosen from the group (more about this soon!).

So get your camera, charge the battery's, clear the memory and get snapping on Saturday. Then Join the 24 Hours of Flickr group and upload!

This is similar to Ray D'Arcys project for the book "Us". I'll update you with how I get on. I'm working Saturday so I don't think I'll get any photos on the mountain skiing, but I might head up as a foot passenger for a few snaps after work...

UPDATE: If you have a photo that is selected to get in the book, they will send you a free copy!

team geared up - april

4th - Gear: Drybike Weathershield

6th - Bounce-Ometer: Shows The Laws Of Physics On Jiggly Bits

9th - Rescue: Girl Airlifted after Fall in Connemara

10th - Snow Surfing with a Solar-Powered Robot

18th - Gmaps Pedometer

23rd - Whistler Blackcomb: Peak to Peak Gondola

ssia

5 years down, and now it's d-day...

My SSIA Matures Today!!!

Yay me!

vote cork

Click Here to Vote for Cork!

Roscommon seem to currently be in the top spot. But the other place that we should aim for is #9, St. Stephens Green which is the most landed on spot!!

Spread the word, tell the entire county, and vote every day!! Vote Cork!

rss in plain english

I found a great video to explain RSS and that that big orange button does in Plain English!

Click Play to Watch.

bank of ireland

I'm just sitting here, waiting and watching the clock. I'm waiting for 1am to come around.

I need to contact my Bank. Bank of Ireland in Carrigaline. The problem with being here in Canada is that to get in touch with any business at home requires you to stay up until the wee hours of the morning.

I just checked out the Bank of Ireland Website and it turns out my branch isn't open until 10am (2am Canada time)! Just brilliant! Banks in Ireland are really a joke. How come they manage to stay stuck in the stone age. This is 2007. Take this for example:

Earlier this year I wanted to change my billing address to Canada so I could buy stuff on-line and get it sent to my billing address here in Canada. Like buying iPods or other things off websites. My branch told me that I had to submit this request in writing. An email wouldn't do. A fax wouldn't do. I had to write the request in a letter and post it. Taking the 2 weeks for it to get to Ireland and another 2 weeks to process it, I felt it wasn't worth it. Especially since I'll only be changing it back about now.

Another example: My friends are with AIB. They offer their on-line customers the ability to transfer funds to an international account, so they could send themselves money over the web, no worries. Bank of Ireland on the other hand... "Sorry, we don't do things like that on-line". The request has to be written and posted into the branch. They can then transfer the amount once they confirm that it is you making the request (this process made harder considerably as I'm about 7,000Km away). Repeat as necessary for each transaction.

Why is the Irish banking sector so power happy and feel they can do what they want? They have banking 365, but all their operators seem to like referring me to my branch to answer questions. So going back to the opening times; they are open 36 out of 168 hours a week (21% of the week)! Opening at 10am gives all their employees a lovely lie-in and they can avoid the rush-hour traffic. Then closing at 4pm must really cut into their drinking time down the pub, after all they don't have to be back at work until 10am the next morning!

When I get home I'll be considering moving my SSIA money to anywhere else but there! Not a happy camper here.

Thankfully I have my new addiction to Desktop Tower Defence to keep me company for the next hour thanks to Ambrand... ya bastard!

start of telus

It is the start of the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival here in Whistler. This comic was in the Question this week, and it sums up the feeling of nearly everyone here. We did get 22cm on Saturday tho!

This is also my first Post via Flickr...

scouting ireland news feed

I think I've gone mad with feeds...

The Scouting Ireland Website is great. There is loads of information on it for all sections and the chat forum is a great source for news and information that can't be found anywhere else on the website.

Unfortunately it's still shite. There is no RSS feed for the news page or any page for that fact! So those of us looking for updates have to guess when they post something new and then go to the website to check it out!

It got me thinking, is there a service or website that can take a page on the Internet and update me, via a feed, when there is some new news. After a bit of searching I found FeedYes.com

So I have created a feed for the news section of the Scouting Ireland website! If you want to keep up to date with the news, add this feed to your reader!

Feed: Scouting Ireland News

turning canadian

You know you’re turning ‘Canadian’ when...

• You understand the phrase "Could you pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine, on the chesterfield."
• You eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.
• You drink Pop, not Soda.
• You know that a Mickey and 2-4's mean, "party at the camp, eh!!!"
• You know that a pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway.
• You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
• You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
• You know that Casey and Finnegan were not part of a Celtic musical group.
• You get excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.
• You brag to Americans that: Shania Twain, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Candy, William Shatner, Tom Green, Matthew Perry, Mike Myers, Neve Campbell, Pamela Anderson Lee & many more are Canadians.
• You know that the CEO of American Airlines is a Canadian.
• You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• You know that the last letter of the English alphabet is always pronounced "Zed".
• Your local newspaper covers national news on 2 pages, but requires 6 pages for hockey.
• You know that the four seasons mean: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road work.
• You know that when it's 25 °F (-4°C) outside, it's a warm day.
• You understand the Labatt Blue commercials.
• You know how to pronounce and spell "Saskatchewan".
• You perk up when you hear the theme song from 'Hockey Night in Canada'.
• You are in grade 12, not the 12th grade.
• "Eh?" is a very important part of your vocabulary, and is more polite than, "Huh?"
• You say "aboot" instead of "about"
• Your Beer Case handles Are Big Enough To Fit Your Mitts
• You froze your tongue to something metal and survived to tell about it.
• You know that we don't all live in igloos and ride polar bears to work

via the SWAP E-Bulletin 2 April 2007

firefox

Comon... this year 55% of people here on my blog are using Internet Explorer. Only 36% use Firefox. Get those numbers higher!

Watch it on YouTube

GetFirefox.com

changes to my blog

A new month, some new changed to the blog!

First thing you may or may not notice is the address. I purchased LangersBlog.com, for the mess, to check out Google Apps for your Domain. I then wanted at see if I could then use that domain for Bloggers 'Custom Domain' hosting option! With a bit of messing around and a email to the hosting company sorted that out! Now everything is up and running on the new address: LangersBlog.com [which then forwards to blog.langersblog.com :-) ]

I have also added a few more subscribing/feed options. Under the regular feed button (the huge orange thing on the bottom right of the page) there are two more options for you:

• - You can subscribe to my comment feed.

And for all you technophobes:

• - You can subscribe to receive updates directly into email inbox.

To Sum Up: You can update your bookmarks or whatever, or not, it doesn't matter! Everything is the same and continue to work as normal! So what changes?!

P.S. For those Twitter fans... check out the twitter of the blog: twitter.com/LangersBlog

team geared up - march

1st - Google Image Update

10th - N!ergy Tent - Camping With Power

10th - The Storm Whistle

employee of the year

The Whistler Chamber and American Express thanks all Whistlers Star Employees for their outstanding work for the season and invite them to a Service Recognition Awards Night with Dinner, Prizes, Awards and an After Party!
I got nominated as Employee of the Year for Rogers Chocolates (Whistler)! This is what they had to say:

Darran has remarkable ability to put in just a little extra for each and every customer, each and every time. He is also really SMART! He is willing to work extra shifts -even on a powder day. He sees what needs to be done and does it efficiently and with a smile. His warmth and patience with customers is beyond compare.

As part of the award I got a letter as well as a really nice photo frame of Blackcomb Glacier. It is a great photo because you can make out all the areas and shoots I go playing on on the glacier! I also won $100 worth of gift certificates to the Longhorn!

There was also free caricatures from Cruelty Free Cartoons! I let him flex his muscles and do whatever he feels, only telling him I work in a Chocolate Shop! Here is the final result:

He spelt my name wrong, but I still plugged his website! Aren't I a nice guy!?

twitter round 2

I'm going to give Twitter another go! (It's the new Buzz word...)

What am I doing?

Last time I checked: (no updates right now)

Add me as your Twitter Friend: twitter.com/darran

adding search to blogger

How to add a nice little search button to your blogger blog:

1. Click on the a Layout of your Blog in your dashboard:
2. Click on Add a Page Element:
3. Choose HTML/JavaScript and click ADD TO BLOG:
4. Put in a Title (maybe something like Search?) and put the following code in the Contents:

<form id="searchthis" action="/search" style="display:inline;" method="get">
<input id="search-box" name="q" type="text"/>
<input id="search-btn" value="Search" type="submit"/>
</form>

5. Click SAVE CHANGES

Sin é!

shamrock mission in photos

Here are some photos of our mission on Paddy's Day, taken on Taidy's camera!

The Shamrock Artists!

The Finished Shamrock!

Size Comparison :-)

The St. Patrick's Day Team!

10k

In the last few days I reached 10,000 page loads! That is not too bad for a half-arsed attempt at a blog! I still want to go back and digitize my Log from my explorer Belt in Italy in 2001.

I'm thinking about investing in a domain: darran.ie or ablaze.ie This week only, get yourself a .ie domain for €25 from blacknight! Not too bad eh?! Anyone suggestion for good hosting for a poor ex-student, who only needs it for hosting a blog and shite?

shamrock or graffiti?

UPDATE: More Photos here!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day in Whistler and we needed to show off our Irishness. (Especially considering everyone seemed to be Irish yesterday)

So we came up with a plan! Armed with 6L of water, a couple of bottles of green food dye we headed up the slopes to a location where we thought would be good to mark out a giant shamrock. The location, which could be seen from 2 lifts, as well as the Roundhouse (the biggest Mountain Restaurant in North America [the world?])


The final result can be seen above (original photo slightly edited to you can clearly make out the Shamrock!). We needed to go on a mission half way through for another 6L of water! There was also a lot of cheers from people on the Peak Chair lift wishing us Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Hope you had a good one?

pre paddys day

St. Patrick's Day is coming up again. Tomorrow I believe! My plans for the day? I got the day off so I'm off Skiing!

So according to a report I read via Dec's Ramblings most of the Ministers at home are off doing their thing: "maximising opportunities for showcasing Ireland". There are two TD's left to run the country! So where are they all going? I made a map!

No one is in New Zealand or Australia and I haven't heard where the President is?! She is off to the Vatican City next week tho, so I guess she has to stay and watch the parade!

Things to do tomorrow:

• Wear Orange on Saint Patrick's Day - Back in 1999, it was Orange you had to wear... some very mixed up ideas there... :-S
• Make Brown Bread & Guinness Ice Cream - Not my cup of tea...
• Buy a St. Patrick's Day Flash Card - Necessary!
• Go to the Dubh Linn Gate Pub from some Après-ski - Actually.. Don't. Please Don't. That is the Worst Pub in the World... or at least Canada!
  

two down

Two years old today. Well, 2 years on Blogger after transferring from Dreambook! It is amazing what a year can do. What will this place look like next year?!

dst on xp sp1

The title of this post reads: Daylight Savings Time on Windows XP Service Pack 1.

The background:
As you may or may not be aware, America with their infinite wisdom (who knows they might prove me wrong!) decided, as part of the Energy Policy Act 2005 (US) to move the date they put their clock forward from the first Sunday of April to the second Sunday of March. Canada then followed suit.

The Problem (My Problem):
I run Windows XP Service Pack 1. I haven't been bothered updating to SP2. Microsoft issued a number of patches for nearly all their operating systems. The solution for XP SP1 was update to XP2 and then install their patch. I'm really not bothered doing that, so I needed a solution.

The Solution:
After the temporary solution of actually changing the time zone to -07:00 from -08:00 I really needed a more permanent one. I came across a blog that dealt with DST updates for older versions of Windows. The answer is to download and install one of these unofficial patches... and voilà! I'm back on -08:00 and the clock reads the correct time!

update

What I've been up to lately:

• A bit of house keeping, replacing Gurr with Grrr! It turns out I was expressing the wrong emotion! Sorry Vanessa, hope I make more sense now!

• I'm trying to sort out my flights to return to Canada Ireland, but my USIT login isn't working. They updated the system to the 2007 programme! So I'm waiting for a reply from USIT. That could be some time... BASTARDS!

• I'm also waiting for Scouting Ireland to get back to me re: My application for Jiingijamborii, which I sent them 3 weeks ago, and still no results! international@scouts.ie seem to just gobble up emails.

• I have also added a small AdSense banner at the bottom of all pages on my blog. I'm noticing a difference with a few people clicking! It is only small, it blends in and most people won't notice it as it's at the bottom of the page!

• Besides that, I'm a terrible team member on Geared Up Blog, but constantly looking for a new story. Any ideas? Drop me a mail! Thanks!

• I'm also quite busy at work:

P.S. Sorry for clogging everyones RSS readers up when I updated a few of the posts. Blame Blogger!

UPDATE: I'm returning to Ireland not Canada! Thanks Elisabeth :-)

team geared up - february

2nd - Video: Maposaurus

9th - Robot Everest Rescue Helicopter

9th - Nike Trial Vans

19th - New Skis: K2s Public Enemy

go ireland

As everyone who knows me knows I'm no Sports Head. But today Ireland played trashed England in the Six Nations at Croke Park. The score: 43-13!

You can watch the news stories about the Match here. It is a shame that both the BBC and RTÉ aren't streaming the live match to people outside Ireland and the UK. There are no pubs showing the match here in Whistler. Not even the worst Irish Pub in the World! Bastards!

This is the second Rugby match to be held at Croke Park. RTÉ did a nice programme on the opening of the GAA Stadium.

This specially commissioned half-hour programme celebrates the moment when Ireland unites in sport as the Irish rugby and soccer teams play in Croke Park for the first time.

Watch it here.

yahoo pipes

So I was wondering how I could link all the blog posts (or the few that I do get around to do) that I write for Geared Up Blog on my own Blog.

After much thinking and pondering I gave Yahoo Pipes a whirl. Basically, it allows you to create a custom feeds. I took the Geared Up Blogs Feed and just added a Filter. This custom feed only spits out a post that contains WHISTLER, BC (what my posts all begin with this) and I was able to add the feed to the side of my site.

Thus you can now see all my posts by looking on the right! I'm a genius!

valentines day

Valentines Day is Finally Over!The last week or so has been so busy at work and today I spent most of it dipping Strawberries in Chocolate, like the Google Logo for for the Day showed a one nicely dipped strawberry!

So after this weekend I should have a lot more time to myself and catch up on posting!

Oh... and Happy Valentines Day ;-)

need help

Ok Guys! Irish Blog Awards are here, and Team Geared Up are nominated.
I need 20 seconds of your time. Please follow these instructions:

1. Go to http://www.awards.ie/vote/
2. Enter your name etc.
3. Scroll Down for ‘Best Group Blog‘ select “Team Geared Up”.
4. Scroll Down for ‘Best Designed Blog‘ select “Team Geared Up”.
5. Scroll Down for ‘Best Sports & Recreation Blog‘ select “Team Geared Up”.
6. Check the ‘I have checked my nominations’ tickbox
7. Click Submit

Thank you!

montage video

A video of our trip so far... Bringing a tear to my eye!



Only half way through our adventure...

tubing in whistler

I went tubing a few days ago. I took a video of it and uploaded it to both YouTube and Google Video. It was the exact same video uploaded to both, but as you can see, the Google Video version of the clip rendered a lot better than the YouTube one.

Google Video:


YouTube:

team geared up - january

I'm going to do a month by month review of my posts on the Team Geared Up Blog here on my blog... so those of you who don't read the Team Geared Up Blog (Shame on you first of all) can catch up on what I've be saying else where!

26th - Cartwheels In A Swimsuit At The South Pole

31th - Video: Tubing in Whistler

31th - Gear: Reusch’s Solaris Ski Gloves

first post

Well I managed my first guest post on the Geared Up Blog!!
Posting will be a bit quiet here for a while till I get into a rhythm and find my feet. You know, build confidence and getting the hang of it all. It is kinda strange blogging for a blog I'm so used to reading!
Anyhow, this is how that post turned out:

Cartwheels In A Swimsuit At The South Pole


WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (Geared Up Blog) - Boing Boing has this photo of one crazy girl who decided to strip off on a trip to the south pole.

Sandwichgirl is stationed at McMurdo, in Antarctica. She took a trip from there to the South Pole, and in this photo she is doing cartwheels in a bathing suit at that site: - 25.5° F (-31.9° C), -44.7° F (-42.6° C) windchill, 9.4 knots. This chick's got some major cojones.

Link: Sandwichgirls Blog!

team geared up

Today I was chatting with Robin from Team Geared Up this afternoon. He invited me to become a guest poster on the Blog! I'm really excited about this as I get to write on stuff like outdoor gear, and my favourite, gadgets! With me being in Whistler as well I should be inspired with some other ideas!

The only problem now is getting past the writers block for that first Blog post. I should have something before the end of the weekend, and then the posts will flow!

I'll update you when I post my first Guest Post!

kandersteg webcam

** Promote * Promote * Promote ;-) **

With the new webcam up and running showing us the International Scout Centre in Kandersteg (and their lack of snow), I was able to update the code for the gadget I created, so you can once again personalise your Google homepage with a handy gadget and your favourite content from the web i.e. my webcam gadget and the KISC Webcam!

Tell your family and friends ;-)

piston broke

My friends father recently returned from his challenge where he drove from Cork, Ireland to Banjul, The Gambia as part of the Plymouth - Dakar Banjul Challenge.
The two man team drove a Punto across the desert to reach their destination. It took them over 20 days to complete the journey. That is a pretty impressive achievement. They kept in touch with his satellite phone and the car made it to the end. It was one of the better ones as well because it was such a small simple car that didn't cause many problems!

The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge or the Ultimate Banger Challenge is a cheap alternative to the Dakar Rally. The entrants must use a car worth approximately £100 for the 4,000 mile or 6,000 km adventure where all proceeds go to charity!

Read about their adventure on their team website: Piston Broke

global heating

So it finally comes around to bit us in the ass. Global Warming is here!

Take a look at a few pictures from last January I took on my holiday to Kandersteg. I have matched them up similar photos taken a few days ago from Patrick who is back for his own holiday. The differences are scary.

As you can see from these photos of the village, there is a severe lack of snow.

These photos of the campsite path shows you exactly how little snow there is. Last year you could cross-country ski through the campsite. This year it doesn't look too good.

More worrying is this photo I found on Flickr.

Originally uploaded by u_sperling.

So I think I got the best deal this winter with a record snow fall here in Whistler!

24 tips

With 24 starting this week over here in North America, I found some nice tips for 24 Newbies I though I'd share my favourite one with you.

• Chloe is right. Don’t ever question that girl. Believe it or not, she can shoot a gun.

You can read the rest at feld.com

bebo badge

I have just discovered bebo Badges!

They are a cool way to tell people outside bebo about your profile! Just copy/paste the html for one of the badges below into your other blogs or spaces around the web so more friends can see your page.

As anyone who has seen my bebo page knows, I delete any comments I get. Why? If you want to tell me something, send me an email, don't put it on show for everyone in the world to see. I donno, I just never liked the idea of everyone reading everyone personal messages.

[Update] I have removed the badge as it doesn't seem to load correctly in both Internet Explorer or Firefox! Stupid bebo! You can view my profile here.

24

Jack is back!
24 starts here in less than 30 minutes! 2 hours tonight and 2 hours tomorrow!!

all right

Great news coming to me in over the web! They have dropped Old Man Marty on 2FM! Sorry... RTÉ 2FM. Moved Rick around, and got the breakfast guys from FM 104 to do the Breakfast Show!

Dec sums it up well here. I'll be happy when I return, that is if it looks the same in a few months!

blogger hacks

As everyone is aware I use Blogger to blog. I use them because back in the day, I needed a service provider to host my blog and because of the great work Google did with search and other services like Gmail I decided to give them a shot.

With their major update they have successfully put my urges for moving at bay with all their new features. But I came across this article that shows a plug in you can get for WordPress. It picks up if you are viewing the website/blog from a PSP, DS or a Wii and reformats the page to fit! Pretty ingenious! Its a pitty Google won't open their Blogger software to allow developer plug ins, instead we have to rely on hacks! I have found a few sites with these hacks for blogger, so have a look at the current news from these hack sites for blogger:


I think I will be holding off on a WordPress install for a while tho. At least until I get home and get me a proper computer!

new year

So I put off this post for a while. There isn't much to say, so I guess there isn't much to write about! New years was totally uneventful, where the most exciting thing that happened was... hang on, nothing exciting happened! I stayed in and watched some Comedy DVD's I had. We ended up not having our Back to the Future night.

Besides that the past few weeks have been pretty much work and Skiing! I have a taste for new ski's after demo'ing some new ones one morning. I also wasted a week organising a 3 day road trip from Dallas Texas to Whistler that fell through. Long story.

Work has been pretty easy after the huge Christmas rush, it is a little bit too quiet! Conor also arrived home with presents and chocolate! Life is pretty boring, with nothing much happening. Snow is quite good tho... Am I rambling yet? Repeating myself? No? Then I'll stop.

2006

What a year! I did not have any killer post this year that push my page views up to over 1,400 in one month like last year, but I'm not still doing too bad!

Total for 2006:

• 3,821 - Page Loads
• 2,439 - Unique Visitors
• 1,948 - First Time Visitors
• 491 - Returning Visitors

On average, each day:

• 12 - Page Loads
• 8 - Unique Visitors
• 6 - First Time Visitors
• 1 - Returning Visitors

I hope everyone had a great 2006. For me it has worked out fantastic, but I'm really looking forward to 2007! Have a great night where ever and when ever you are in the world when you ring in the new year!

That's it for me for this year... Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting and supporting me :-)

signing off...

Darran.

happy everything

It has been a very busy week;

It was Christmas!! It came and went so fast! Not too bad for my first Christmas away from home. We went skiing for the morning, where I taught how to Ski. After about 2 or 3 hours, we decided i needed a bit of time to get off the green slope and get in some real runs! Myself and Taidy headed up to a very windy peak. It was a total white out as we took the peak-to-creek run down, turning off to head towards mid-station (have I mentioned enough runs that no one knows what I'm talking about yet...? Here is a map!) to meet Heather. It was impossible to see where you were or where you were going at the top. You had to rely on people being in front of you to see their outline, or else if you were lucky, there was a marker warning you of a cliff or something. Good times!

Following a trip home to open presents, and a Shower we headed out for Christmas Dinner. We had reservations booked at the Hilton in Whistler! It was a lovely buffet Christmas dinner, with as much as you want to eat. I had 2 starters, a main course, another starter and then some desert! It was class, we didn't have to wash up or anything after!

After that it was out for a bit of dancing, or that was the plan, which failed on 2 accounts, 1. We were way too early for dancing, and the club was empty and 2. We were all stuffed after dinner! So it was home and then to bed after a great day! I hope you all had a good day what ever you got up to.

The day after, Stephen's Day was so lovely! The sky was so blue and the sun was shining so bright! If I wasn't trying to get over this cold I have I would of loved to be up the mountain.

Besides that I have be working like a trooper, and going to enjoy a well deserved day off on the slopes tomorrow! I hope you all had a great Baby Jesus Birthday and everyone has a plan for New Years. Back to the Future I, II and III over in Nordic Drive if anyone interested in attending :oP

readers

I know that friends and people I know read this Blog from time to time, thanks to StatCounter! I see how they find my blog and what they are looking at. I don't usually take notice because it could be any one of my friends.

Yesterday I noticed that I got a visitor from Ireland, finding my Blog via a Search for Taidy and their address had a host name ending with .amazon.com. There could be only one person that fits a description like this! If i was putting money on it... I would have to guess...

AMY

Was it you reading my Blog? You know you can all leave comments after every Post!!

back online

Early Friday morning our broadband connection was lost at home. After nearly 5 days were back online here in Whistler. Bloody ridiculous!

It has been terrible for business, the week before Christmas, as if you used high-speed Internet access for your credit or debit cards you could not process any of these transactions. Thus a severe loss of business. I know where I was working, we didn't have a dial-up back up in place and it took till Sunday before we had to set it up ourselves.

This is not helped either with Whistler Cable/SHAW Cable and their terrible technical support. I was in contact with them 5 times in total, twice for work and the rest for home, the first time to find out was it us or is everyone out. They could only give me a straight (or correct) answer last time I rang. Every other time they didn't really know what the problem was at the moment or when it would be fixed. About as helpful as a kick in the face.

I really wouldn't mind if they told us what went wrong, which we now know:

Heavy snow had weighed down B.C. Hydro wires on a transmitter near Whistler, which touched the Telus line, knocking out ADSL access to Whistler and neighbouring Pemberton.

via CBC News

But we weren't. There was a severe lack of communication. It was word of mouth and rumour that kept us up to date. Things I've heard over the last five days were from Solar flares and Sun spots to the Internet would be out for at least 2 weeks. We found out yesterday it had something to do with a fiber-optic line broken, which really isn't true either. What kind of Joke Company is this... would they got away with this in Ireland? Maybe... but I'm sure there would be way more complaining ;-)

On the lighter side of things, I started to Snowboard yesterday. I would show you a video of my first few runs, but Taidy took it so who knows when I will have access to it...

wii fitness

I did it!

I got my Wii Sports, Wii Fitness age down to 20! The perfect Score! And here is the proof:

sushi village

I had Sushi for the first time ever last night. We have been putting it off for a while now, but considering there are a few sushi restaurants here in Whistler, we couldn't put off going out for some any longer.

We headed in to the Sushi Village, in the Village (funnily enough), where we tried to make out what is nicest and what we should try. Of course we didn't have a clue, so we just got come combinations.

For starters:

• Sweet Potato Tempura - サツマイモの天ぷら

This was basically sweet potato, that kinda looked like deep fried hash browns. It was alright, it gave up some practice with using our chopsticks to get ready for the main course. Which was a selection of:

• Tekka-Maki - 鉄火巻き - Fresh tuna wrapped in the center
• Kappa-Maki - かっぱ巻き - Sliced cucumber in the center
• Salmon-Maki - サーモン巻き - Fresh salmon in the center
• Spicy B.B.Q. Salmon Roll - スパイシー バーベキュー サーモン 巻き - B.B.Q Salmon, avocado
• Spicy Scallop Roll - スパイシー 帆立巻き - Scallop, Cucumber
• Spicy Tuna Roll - スパイシー 鉄火巻き - Tuna, cucumber, radish

They were all covered in rice and then what were guessing is sea-weed type thing to hold it all together, or else the sea-weed thing and rice on the outside! We were not too fond of the Tuna or Scallop, altho the Spicy Tuna Roll was quite nice.

There was about 12 little pieces of sushi each, and it was quite filling. That also might be the fact this was our first time trying it, so we got full on raw fish pretty fast! One pointer is the small bit of green stuff you get on the side of your dish, my suggestion is, try a tiny bit and then just don't touch it. It's Wasabi and its the worst substance known to man.

Overall, it was a great night. You'd need to be in the mood for sushi, but it very different, but defiantly worth a go!

P.S. Do ya like the way I put in some Japanese into this post! Hopefully it might be noticed! Hello all my Japanese readers :-)

a tedious job

This has to be one of the most tedious jobs I have ever done. There was 60 single boxes, that first of all had to be constructed. Then I had to put some poof or stuffing in to line the bottom. Then add a single chocolate truffle. Close and seal with a little sticker. Then cut a small length of ribbon and tie it in a bow. As you can see, at this stage I had 7 done and another 53 to go! Fun fun fun!
I got them finished before the night was out. Olé!

year in review

Here is something you can all try. I got this idea from a Blog I'm reading the simple life honey about someone who is also in Whistler! You take the first sentence from the first post for each month of the year. It gives you a summary of 2006! Maybe next year I might be more creative at the start of each month! Strange to look back at the year! Good times, good times!!

January: So its the start of a New Year and this is usually the time I make 1 very achievable goal for my self!

February: Conor... the optician... or whatever.... you work with glasses...

March: I'm looking forward to The West Wing tonight.

April: That is what the penalty points website looked like up until Sunday, the day before the new points came into affect, and the same they the government started advertising on TV and Radio.

May: This guy bet his girlfriend that any old website could get 2million hits.

June: I came across this website that generates a graph of any website by reading the html on the page, and then makes a a graph to represent what it finds!

July: Ciara Crowley & John O'Mahony

August: I have added 5 more!

September: I have visited 11 countries (4%)... i better get moving!

October: Taidy arrived home today and was so tired he fell asleep in Conors.

November: I have arrived in Canada!

December: I got my left wisdom teeth out yesterday.

trams for cork

The Green Party today unveiled plans to bring a light rail system to the city of Cork.

YAY!

Dan Boyle announced that it would be a rail line connecting Ballincollig to Mahon going through the city centre. Then a spur line linking Bishopstown to CIT and Cork University Hospital. After that they could extended the line to Passage West, (and maybe Carrigaline?) and develop a light rail network for the Northside of the city.

After that news, other candidates and councillors came up with more crazier plans such as a harbour water bus service, from the city centre to Ringaskiddy, Rochestown, Cobh and Mahon.

Altho the plan for re-opening the Cork to Midleton rail line isn't really a bad idea, it could work! But what about re-opening the Cork to Crosshaven line? Servicing Carrigaline, that would take a lot of cars off the road. Pitty most of that old rail line is a road now!

But whatever the government does, they have left cork out of this transport 21 plan. They have to do something!! Get the finger out >:-(

Green Party Proposal

euro firefox

The Internet Browser Firefox is in Europe. As you can see, very much so in Finland, Germany and Poland as you can see from this map.

The browser is now used by some 23.2 per cent of European PC web surfers - up from 19.4% in April.

via The Inquirer

This shows that there is a lot more non-technical people using Firefox. That's good!

Spread the word! Spread the Fire! Get your families, friends, next door neighbours, EVERYONE to use it!!

GetFirefox.com

P.S. Big shout out to the Danish and Norwegian readers reading my Blog! Please identify yourselves!!

wii'ing

So we have had the Wii for the last 2 weeks, and it's Brilliant! Here is a photo of Taidy getting really really excited about getting his own Nunchuk and Wiimote!We have a total of 90 Mii's, who take many forms from Friends at home to Famous people and complete members of bands! A detailed list will be posted here when I'm in the mood!

The best game by far is Wii Sports! The free game that comes with it. I'm a Professional in Tennis and Bowling and on my there with Golf and Baseball. Boxing is just too energetic for me so it will be the last one I go for!

Every night at mid-night we do out fitness, where we are given 3 random training levels and have to do out best at them. Then the Wii calculates our age! I've been between 22 and 35 mostly!

The other games we have are Red Steel and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. Haven't really gotten into them yet, as most of our time is spent getting out skill level up on Wii Sports!

If you have a Wii and would like to see some of our Mii's, our console address is: 6429936395951829 or send an email to our console at w6429936395951829[at]wii.com

day of the ninja

Today is the Annual Day of the Ninja.

On this day, people are encouraged to dress as ninja, engage in ninja-related activities, and spread information on ninja via the Internet.

Not to be confused with Talk like a Pirate Day, this is totally different. The last thing we want is a Ninja-Pirate blood fest. Altho it would make a great movie!

Other names for today include:

• International Creep Like a Ninja Day
• Stalk Like a Ninja Day
• Sneak Like a Ninja Day
• Move Like a Ninja Day
• or simply Ninja Day

ouch

I got my left wisdom teeth out yesterday. YUCK.

That's about all the news i have. I won't be skiing for a few days and I don't have work till Friday, so I'm just relaxing!

I've closed up on my own about 3 times now, twice with Zero Cash Difference! I even got practice with the Alarm! Saturday night when i armed the alarm, and closed the shop, I forgot i left the safe open. So i knew it took a while to fully alarm the shop, so i waited what seemed like for ages and then opened the door again. Straight away the alarm went off... so loud as well! It wasn't fun. I then had to turn it off and wait on the phone while an operator at the alarm company could take my call! Interesting night indeed!

That's me!