Just had to rescue S from a cabbage that threw a slug at her... She was not happy to find a second one!

I had a very brief trip to England over the weekend. Flew out to Southampton on Sat morning and got the train to Winchester then a bus to Mum and Dads (the last part being very annoying as I waited longer for one than it would have taken to walk!) I went over for two main reasons, to try and sort out Granny's laptop and to go to a Saints game. I started work on the laptop and then J and P turned up to take me to the game. It was the first time I've met P and he seemed really nice. The game was great, Saints won 2-0 but should have won by 6 or 7 but made hard work of scoring. The only person we have who can score is a 16 year old. Not that this is a problem until someone crocks him, which will happen sooner or later in that league! The game had all sorts of entertainment, a perfectly fine goal that was disallowed in the first minute, the opposition had a player sent off and of course we won. Then in the evening J, P me and Dad went to the Jolly for dinner. I took the opportunity to have some Old Speckled Hen again and a nice steak.

Sunday was spent sorting out various PCs (M&D have a nice new Dell laptop) and then visiting family. Then back on the plane at 7pm, home by 9:30. Brief but fun visit.

It's a bank holiday today in Ireland which is great as the UK doesn't have one at all around now. Being Halloween fireworks are exploding away outside - they are illegal here but everyone drives up north to get them and sets them off around Halloween. Just over the boarder there's a massive fireworks shop to cater for the whole republics needs. It was nice having got back from England yesterday ev to have a day together. We discovered a newly built retail park near by is now open so went there but the PC World was crap all use and had no idea what it was I was asking for (despite the thing I need being simple and standard within a modern PC) and Woodies didn't sell what we wanted. So we went home via Dunnes and got a log for the fire plus some nice food to eat. Which should be done fairly soon so I'm going to go and sort it out!

So much to catch up on I don't know where to start! Take it in order I guess:

Last week we were promised half a days corporate blurb (or death by powerpoint as G prefers to call it) then a night away in a nice hotel with 3 fun activities. We ended up with a full days boredom and a 3 hour coach trip to Carrick on Shannon when things improved. We had a guy from Jameson there giving us a whiskey tasting session - he had 3 different whiskeys with him which we tasted (and he left so we could drink as much as we liked) and then he was making whiskey cocktails. Apparently whiskey producers are worried that their marked is getting old and dying off so they are trying to appeal to a younger audience. One was quite nice, the other not so. Then we had dinner (by now was about 10pm). I had to send 2 steaks back cause they were well over done. Being the polite Englishman I am I would have lumped it and eaten them but the South African I was sitting next to insisted they go back, so back they went and eventually on the 3rd try they got one that was reasonably rare! Then the bar was open and free all night....

Woke up the next day to just about manage some breakfast then off to Clay Pigeon Shooting. I'm not sure what the wisdom of giving hungover people double barreled shot guns and live amo is but it was actually brilliant fun. I was utter crap to start with but got better as it went on and hit a fair bit by the end. It was a fantastic set up with around 10 different places to shoot from at clays going in various different directions. The guys helping my group were fantastic at giving advice but not seeming too patronising when you miss everything. I certainly got loads better with their help. We eventually made it back to the hotel for lunch at about 4pm, ate it quickly, gave out some prizes then a 2.5 hour trip back to Dublin. Although it was a lot of traveling it was fantastic fun plus I won a night B&B for two (mid week) in the hotel.

It's 7:40am and I've already been at work for half an hour. S is going to spend a few days with R&M in Holland and had to get the aircoach at about 7 so I stayed with her until it arrived then came straight to work. Having caught up on email I have about 20 mins more browsing to do until they start breakfast upstairs. The only slightly good side of coming in this early is getting to go at 4 however I would almost put money on the fact that someone will be wanting me to do something urgently then and not want me to go in the middle.

Just been into Dun Laoghaire for a mooch about and it was total crap! Most things were shut and those that did open did so at fairly random times. Half the shops didn't even bother to say when they did open for that matter. How can places like that expect to compete with the out of town shopping centres that you know when they're open and that when they are everything inside will also be open?

Just discovered that the new owners of a bit of C code that I need changes made to don't know any C. Fantastic! Got them to send it over so I can work it out myself. Been a long time since I looked at any C!

Went to band last night, despite not being entirely bothered before hand. Glad I did though as really enjoyed it. It was hard enough work though! Trombone part to one part is hard enough, almost hard enough that I might have to photocopy it and take it home to practice, which I've not done since I was 18!

Went to the UK over the weekend, first time I've been back for months! First time I've been to Hampshire this year I think! It's always nice to go back and see the place although we didn't get very long to mooch about. On Sat it was Granny's 80th Birthday which meant a big family "do". It went very well and she seemed to really enjoy it. Rest of the weekend was spent seeing various bits of family plus managed to find time for the one thing Ireland is deficient on - beer! A pint of Old Speckled Hen went down very nicely and remarkably didn't give me a hangover! Someone really should sell that stuff in Ireland, I'm sure there's a market for it.

We flew over with Flybe who were a much more pleasant experience than our recent trip with Ryan Air. Just having a seat number before you start makes queuing for the plane far less painful. People don't scrum like they're giving out tenners but queue patiently. Will certainly try and use them and not Ryan Air next time.

J, S and I gave Granny a laptop for her birthday. I hope she gets the hang of email and doesn't get frustrated with it. She got the hang of text messages quick enough though so I'm sure she'll be fine!

Oops! I pressed the publish button on that last post under the thought that being at home it wouldn't post! Oh well, nice to see that's working again, for now.

Work was wall to wall meetings today, with an extra couple of meetings thrown in. Also had my half year Performance Management today which went well until the career plan part. We're meant to give an indication of our career aspirations for the next 12 months, 12-24 and 24+ and I refused to fill it in last time. Mainly on the basis that my employer has made it clear that my job will be merged with other countries and not exist in Ireland within 5 years. So I don't see their commitment to my technical desires, so why bother to fill it in. Anyway my suggestion to put in the 12-24 months of "become a contractor and get paid lots" didn't go down too well either. However when it was pointed out that I probably don't want to be doing this job in 5 years I realised it was a fair point! So maybe I do have to think of some guff to go in those boxes.

Also a part of the major project I'm working on imploded today which was a shame. A "technical limitation" with one of the systems was found that meant my solution was impossible. Oh well, we can still deliver 2 out of 3 things, which someone once said "aint bad". That is so sad, I cant believe I just typed that.

I've been receiving complaints about lack of posts, so here we go! Look at the time it is so how dedicated I am to posting!! Or how I'm in work doing an overnighter...

S and I just had a weeks holiday over her 30th birthday week. To repay her for New York last year I had to pick a destination and keep everything secret until as close before we went as I could manage. She only found out on the morning we left for the airport which was good going! It was hard deciding on hotels etc without discussing with her! The destination was obvious, given who the holiday surprise was for - Rome. We had a fantastic week staying in a lovely hotel. The weather was perfect with around 25-27 degrees during the day and sunny. It rained one evening, which helpfully was the same evening they decided to close one of the metro lines that we wanted to use to go home after eating out, so we ended up walking half the way back in the rain.

Rome is a fantastic place. Round every corner there's an amazing 2000 year old building or ruin, several of which don't even make it into the guide book that in any other city would be the main attraction. We found perfect looking buildings from 400BC which I found amazing.

We took notes of what we did in case I get the urge to blog the holiday in more detail, but like with most things, if I don't post straight after the event it'll probably never happen!

Had the day off on Monday to attend a meeting on our proposed Uganda trip. It went very well and lots was discussed. Was in the office today but get tomorrow off as I'm here now. So a 3 day and one night week isn't bad.