Now you can label your visitors

Statcounter have released a new feature whereby you can label IP addresses, presuming you know for sure the address is who you think it is.



I noticed it this morning when I logged in and later today I received this email from statcounter explaining the whole deal.

Dear Red Mum,

Excuse us? What's in a name? A whole lot! That's what!

PARTICULARLY when that name can:

- Help you identify click fraudsters
- Make it easier to see when "the competition" has visited your site
- Identify recurring visitors
- Let you see just how many times your mom has been admiring your site...
So no more spreadsheets, no more post-it notes – now you can name IP addresses which visit your site.

- Login to your account.
- Click the stats for your project.
- Click "Recent Visitor Activity"
- Click the new "Label IP Address"
- Give it a description and you're DONE!

This also works for "Recent Pageload Activity", "Visitor Paths" and the "Recent Visitor Map"!

Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this Rose ;-)

You wanted it. You got it.

StatCounter Team

Laundry day

SUNDAY is among other things laundry day in our household. Not possessing or having the room in the flat to possess a washing machine is the single most pain in the ar*e in my life.



So each Sunday the laundry is trailed down to our local friendly launderette where I negotiate my way through the wash, the spin and finally the dryer.



I missed my go on the spinner yesterday because the door wouldn't open on my machine and 15 mins passed before I realised. This meant I had to wait about 45 for the spinner due to the influx of people after me.



Thems the rubs, so while I waited I snapped some very contrasty shots with my camera phone. For once I didn't have the real one with me and despite the chat going on at Gingerpixel's the launderette is one place where I would leave the camera behind.

Anyway I have told you before about the launderette rules, so if you shouldn't look at someone's washing, you probably shouldn't take pics of it either...





Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs

Eye witness news from the Young Wan

We'll hand over now to the Intrepid reporter Young Wan who is reporting on events in Dublin city centre this afternoon as the historic Ireland versus England rugby match takes place in Croker. She phoned me to say O'Connell Street was mad, so I'll let her tell you herself. As we speak Ireland is winning 29 to 13, GOooooowaaaannn Ireland.

"On my way back from drama it started as a normal afternoon my boyfriend was waiting outside the building with his friend.As we walked into O Connell street it was packed with gardai and riot vans!! so we hung around looking for news. i said to my boyfriend do you think theres going to be trouble? but before he could reply a man walked beside us and said "there WILL be trouble you can count on that!!!" then ironically we heard "GET THE F%CK OUT OF OUR COUNTRY" being shouted from a group of people behind them who were being followed by a couple of gardai.
So then i rang my mam to tell her that im going to walk home because the gardai were stopping the traffic and i did without a bother.as i write my boyfriend just texted me saying that a newsagents window on parnell street was broken after someone threw something at it."

I don't know if there will be trouble, it seems as if the Gardai are out in force today, there's apparently 1,000 working the match. We'll see in the next while as the match is nearly finished.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs

Anything happening in Croker?

I live on the route to Croke Park and just then a blaze of sirens went down the road. Normally this signals either President McAleese heading to the park or indeed teams making their way to Croker before the game.


Pic from RTE

I looked out and saw six police vans racing down the road, I wonder if anything has happened, it sure looks like it, they were racing to something. So far there is nothing much on either the Irish Times and just a report on the RSF protest on RTE.

Tagged on five things you might not know about me

I've been tagged by Elana on five things you might not know about me.

1. I was an extra in the movie Some Mother's Son for one of the funeral scenes. You can't see me.

2. I was a child model. Really!

3. I attended school in the States for a short while when I was seven. They put me in a class with other seven year olds and then had to move me up to a class with nine year olds. The school thought I was a child prodigy. I remember thinking the nine year olds were quite stupid because they would ask me all the time how to spell things like 'the'. I now know it's because American kids start school later.

4. My parents split up when I was four or five and my brothers and I lived with our Dad which was somewhat unusual in west Belfast in the 1970s. l I got my parents back together when I was 11. My Dad then moved out when I was 15. (Some of you may already know this because I wrote about getting them back together here.)

5. In primary school most if not all of my teachers fancied my Dad, who was the double of Noel Edmonds, but more handsome. I think he may have had some kind of liaison with my primary two teacher.

So there you go. I couldn't choose and had to forgo telling you about the time someone wanted to buy me from my parents when we were on holiday when I was three/fourish or the time I thought/misheard an American customs woman asked what colour knickers I had on. I won't tag people because I am aware there were other times I was tagged and I forgot to do it. Consider yourself tagged if you want to be.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs

RM February 9 - Dealing with sick children

This is linked heavily to my stomach bug post from a couple of days ago, the issue of working with small children has been very prominent.

Dealing with sick children

There can be sometimes nothing more stressful when you are a parent than your child being ill and when you are a single parent with no family living near you to help, this stress is intensified somewhat.

And as most parents know children have a propensity to picking up everything that is going around. You name it the Young Wan has had it and sometimes two and three times and sometimes completely inexplicably so.

She caught measles at 16 months, two months before she could be inoculated against it. She has had German measles, bronchiolitis which hospitalised her twice as a baby and left her prone to chest infections enduring the most awful and constant wheeze.

Thankfully she grew out of that by the age of three as well as the asthma it had also left her with.

If you are working outside of the home and your child is in a crèche they will pick up everything and more.

One of the most worrying illnesses the Young Wan has had in recent years was an awful attack of whooping cough.

Despite all the illnesses I have listed here I would consider her to be a very healthy child. She was always back to herself pretty quickly after each bout.

The whooping cough time I didn’t know what was happening – she just kept getting sicker and sicker as well as more and more lethargic as each day went on.

Until the day, despite not eating at all, she was violently throwing up. Before that point I hoped it was a bug she would shake herself, I am not into throwing antibiotics at every little sniffle. But it was apparent at this stage the poor honey would need some medical intervention.

I practically carried her 11-year-old self to the doctors crying who diagnosed whooping cough. I won’t go into the other patients in the waiting room who listened to her constantly being sick in the bathroom yet wouldn’t let her go in front of them while they obtained sick notes from the doctor.

So not only was I completely freaked out about how ill she was, I also had a serious amount of stress heaped on me by work.

At the time I didn’t work with anyone who had a child and some of them just didn’t get it or understand.

My immediate superiors were not very sympathetic – my having to take time off was a serious inconvenience that would certainly place more work on other’s shoulders.

The fact they had taken sick leave on occasions, something I rarely did, and some more than others was lost on them.

While there was support from my peers, the level of support from my bosses was slight. They managed to make me feel outrageously guilty when I would phone in. So my stress levels at that time were very very hard to deal with. But I somehow did.

Then today I got a call from the school saying she had a rash and what should they do.

Thankfully my work is now more supportive and I was able to have her come to me in work, where I checked the rash and it doesn’t look like anything.

And considering the fact she is now 15 years old I can send her home by herself without feeling like I am neglecting her. I am lucky to be able to do that, but if she was a couple of years younger it wouldn’t be so easy.

So for all of you out there juggling parenthood, work and small children, there’s a mum here who thinks you are great.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs Redmum column young wan

Red Mum in The Echo

THE Echo carried a piece on my reaching the Irish Blog Award's shortlist. Here's a (bad) rendition of the article which was entitled ' Echo's Red Mum goes for gold in blog awards.





Sorry I can't seem to make these readable, you can read them here and here on Flickr.

Technorati tags: redmum Irishblogs Irish Blog Awards blog awards

Stomach bug anyone?

WE FELL foul, and I mean foul, this week to a nasty stomach bug that has been doing the rounds. Firstly Tetra's baby E was ill on Friday night, then Tetra herself on Saturday night, then me on Sunday evening.

The last person in this particular strain is herself and she was hit hard today. At first I wasn't sure if she was pulling my leg, well she is seriously avoiding the S word (sssstudyding), but she was actually very sick.

She went back to bed and much as I didn't really want to I headed into work. It's a tough one for parents working, your child being sick is one of the biggest worries you have.

While I feel supported in work now and know if I need time off I will get it, it hasn't always been the case. In some cases far from it.

Fortunately for Tetra she is at a stage in her career with particular gravitas that when she went back to work in January she was able to tell them in no uncertain terms that the first few months would see her stretched.

And she has been. Poor wee E has caught everything, pretty typical for a child starting a creche. While we know eventually E's immune system will be all the better for it, the worry, stress and panic this has caused Tetra has been huge. Not to mention the distress of seeing your wee baby lethargic and not themselves or the distress to them.

She told me one thing that happened this week that made my blood boil. This week she had a call from the creche saying baby E had developed a rash all over her body and they were rushing her to a doctor.

In the middle of a meeting Tetra was distraught. She left and as she was on her way the creche phoned to say everything was okay, baby E was fine.

When Tetra picked up Baby E they told her the doctor said snottily 'well where IS the mother?'

'Excuse me, missus doctor, she is at work earning money to pay the €40 to pay you, not to mention the mortgage, bills, etc etc. And is currently attempting to cross town to get to her child.'

How dare anyone come out with nonsense like this, are they living in the same city as I am? Or maybe do they have so much money that money isn't a worry.

Obviously this woman didn't have children. If she did, as she was obviously working herself, she would realise that much as you want or try you can't always be at your child's side when you need or indeed want to. If someone wants to invent a starship Enterprise transporter work away, it would have certainly helped Tetra cross town in a split second.

Much as parents would like to change it, we cannot help or choose when illness strikes and sometimes it does when we are at work and away from our babies.

In conclusion, Baby E is fine, the rash went nearly as quickly as it arrived, and my baby is now tucked up in bed again after managing to eat and hopefully keep down some soup.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs sick kids doctors

RM January 25 - Grade does not reflect ability part 2

Good study practices

After my brush with my daughter’s annual parent-teacher progress report, among the common themes were ‘could do much better’ and ‘needs to apply herself’. Two pretty scary statements in the run up to her first State exam, the Junior Cert.

While nagging about studying is commonplace in our house, it obviously isn’t working so now it is time to try a different approach.

And I don’t mean bashing her over the head with her school books as tempted as I am, I doubt anything would get through that way.

While I have tried and tried to get her into a study routine throughout her school life, it has never taken effect. Time is now ticking by and it isn’t too late but it will be a shock to her non-studying system.

One search on the internet later and I have learned from some ‘experts’ that not all young people benefit from sitting at a desk with books layed out in front of them.
Some need to be able to move about, for these kids sitting prostrate at a desk will actually prevent them from learning. For others learning is all about what they take in visually and it is probably worth thinking about your own child and what method would benefit them best.

The same goes for music in the background. I personally think background noise is a bad thing however research does show that some need that stimulus but I would say wall and floor-shaking music defeats the purpose and don’t let your teen tell you otherwise. (Not that you would.)

Television is a big no no. It is impossible to sit in front of a telly and not be drawn to the screen so off it goes.

If possible designate an area of your home for studying, away from distractions. This can be in their room, the kitchen or in the case of my small abode, my bedroom.

In the next couple of weeks I am going to rearrange things in my room so I can put a desk there for the Young Wan to work on. There is a computer desk in her room, but I have decided there is no use nagging her anyway to make it into a work space, it isn’t going to happen.

Her books could not compete with her toiletries, make-up, non-school books and computer. So I have to come up with a better alternative and if that means her stuff strewn in my room so be it.

Organisation is key and something that is decidedly missing in the Young Wan’s psyche.

It is important to have reminders so study calendars, lists to show what’s been done and what’s left to do, not to mention tidy books and a tidy workspace all help sort out the mind.

The exam student should also be aware that studying is more than homework. When they read things, they should be taking down notes, they should be summarising what they have read, once they do these things they can then prepare flash cards/study points all of which will help reinforce the things and absorb important information they need to know.

Your student also needs your support that means regular meals, ensuring they get to bed at a reasonable time, helping with their homework where possible and when they are actually studying (not pretending) encourage them to take regular breaks to keep them fresh and ready to take in information.

All this is for starters, we are now into February, the exams are in June and the mocks are coming up in the coming weeks. It is as daunting for me as it is for her. But hopefully if we can both pull together it need not be a couple of months of hell.

Here’s hoping anyway.

Update: I wrote this two weeks ago and I wish I could say I have put the ideas into practice and can see a difference. I let her onto the computer to use the great skool.ie site only she tried (unsuccessfully I might add) to continually sneakily watch youtube. I am losing patience rapidly.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs Redmum column young wan

Out and about

I WAS out and about on Sunday with my camera with a camera on me, but that's a story for another day. I have to say I much prefer being behind the lens rather than in front of it.

Here's some of the shots of the day:

Thank you, thank you, thank you......

HAVING spent more of the weekend lurking around the Irish Blog Awards site, I was over the moon to find out I was shortlisted in two categories, Best Personal Blog and Best Photoblog. Course I am also delighted that the Dublin Community Blog, where I am a contributor, was also shortlisted in the Best Group Blog.

In all categories there is very strong competition but don't take my word for it, check them out for yourselves.

Once again thanks to everyone for both nominating and voting for me, I am more than delighted as is the Young Wan :)

Best Photo Blog - Sponsored by Pixenate.com - The online photo editor

• Caitriona.net


• Gingerpixel


• Headphoneland


• Ireland from a Polish perspective


• McAWilliams


• North Atlantic Skyline


• RedMum


• Rymus.net




Best Group Blog - Sponsored by PutPlace.com

• Blogorrah


• In Fact Ah


• One Breast Less


• The Community At Large


• The Dublin Blog






Best Personal Blog - Sponsored by Interactions - Creative Strategies for Business



• Annie Rhiannon


• Conor O’Neill


• Gingerpixel


• RedMum


• The Waiting Game

St Peter's, Phibsboro

HERE'S some pics of St Peter's in Phibsboro. The landmark is situated in the middle of two roads and in recent years it has been lit up at night. I used to tell the Young Wan when she was wee that Quasimodo lived in the spire and she used to wave up at him every time we passed. It's a beautiful building and this year a local primary school has moved into it's grounds. I'll have to go inside and get some shots.









More on Flickr.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs flickr dublin

Temple Bar and more

Flickr blog links to a very funny post on Wired News on how to turn your Flickr crush into a relationship! (To read the full article the previous button links to step 2.)

During my surfing I also found this, it would be great if it worked for Dublin, a cool way to find new places.

And finally here's some Temple Bar pics.













Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs flickr dublin templebar

Full list of nominees and don't forget to vote

I went over to Jason's and copied his full list of nominees for the Irish Blog Awards. I have been enjoying some linkage and traffic from the list as well as from the others who have also listed everyone so it seems apt to spread the love.

Anyway here''s the full list and don't forget to vote, it closes tomorrow.

Full List of nominations:

Best Blog

Alive in Limerick
An Irish Craftworkers Good Life
An Spailpin Fanach
An tImeall
Arse End of Ireland
ArseBlog
Backseat Drivers
Barbara’s bleeuugh!
Beaut.ie
BifSniff
Biz Growth News
Blogorrah
Bock the Robber
ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
Fustar
Head Rambles
I Take Photees
Ireland 16 Days
IrishElection.com
Letter to America
Manuel Stimulation
Mcawilliams.com
Mine’s A Jack Daniels
Nialler9
Pygment
RedMum’s Blog
Skinflicks
Snackboxdiaries
StigOnline
The Cedar Lounge Revolution
The Community At Large
The InFactah Blog
The Limerick Blogger
Tir na Blog
Twenty Major
Womans Aid

Best Blog Post- Sponsored by Hosting365

Ach go hairithe - We love Irish we do, but if we want our signs in English
An Cainteoir Dochais - Ag toraiocht na ndilseoiri i mBaile Átha Cliath
andcurve - Cock-blocking beats
Annie Rhiannon - Three years too late
Arse End of Ireland - Where do you get your smoke from?
Arse End of Ireland - The Bertles
Balrog - McDowell should walk over Rape crisis
Bifsniff - Should You Be Laughing At This?
Blather.net Snackbox Diaries - Introducing AbuseOS
Blogorrah - Rochegate: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Bock the Robber - Haughey
Conor’s Bandon Blog - You may feel a small prick
Cruiskeen Eile - Boys will be Boys
Cruiskeen Eile - Phwoarr. How to Report on the Troubles While Getting
David McWilliams - The Dundrum Paradox - Don’t be Paddy Last!
Dervala.net - The Passion-Industrial Complex
Earth and Universe - The day I quit as an Altar Boy.
Earth and Universe - The legend of Uncle Tom and the Bubble Car
ElBlogador - Bloody Sunday In Pictures
ElBlogador - Peter Robinson
Empire State View - Barry Egan, Journalist of the Year
From Bath to Cork with baby Grace - After traffic in Cork
Fustar - David Sque Interview Part 1.
Fustar - Chess with balls
Graham Ó Maonaigh - Ending Gun crime
iQblog - Irish kitchen sink usability
Irelands Few - Corruption WithIn Unionism?
IrishEyes - Richard Waghorne has a closed mind
Letter to America - Drama - Thy Name is Pong
Life is a Journal - Self Help and Personal Development for Lazy People
Madspoon - Sheep 34 Banana
Maman Poulet - 35 going on 13
Minesajackdaniels’ Blog - Pompoms and bottle tops.
Old Bitter Balls - Keeling Time
Political Quote - Bertie Ahern does a ‘Nixon’ over money scandal
Red Cardinal - Golden Spiders - Are These Really Ireland’s Best Websites?
Redfly Marketting - DMOZ Submission Guide
Ricks Breakfast Blog - A Religious Experience…
Ricks Breakfast Blog - Most Extraordinary Day of my Life
Skin Flicks - The JC Skinner guide to drinking
Stig Online - The most painful 12 miles of my life (and the other 14 were hardly easy)
The Adventures of Truculent Horse - Culture Shock III - The Language Barrier
The Dossing Times - The Riots and the consequences.
The Dossing Times - Riots in Dublin
The Great Wee Azoo - Awfully Awfully at Castleward Book Fair
The Midnight Court - Paper Round Exclusive!
The torture garden - the best songs of 2006
Twenty Major - A thousand words
Twenty Major - Countdown to the next election
Young Unionists - Ignoring the Big Issues
Young Unionists - In defence of the Act of Settlement

Most Humorous Post - Sponsored by Beecher Networks


Ach go hairithe - Reasons Behind Australian Rough-House Tactics In International Rules Series (Exclusive)
andcurve - Cock-blocking beats
Arse End of Ireland - Berties Perspiration
Arse End of Ireland - Won’t Somebody think of the children
Backseat Drivers - Sex - Breakfast of Champions
BifSniff - Dry White Seasoning
BifSniff - Spyware
Blogorrah - The Twink Tapes
Blogorrah - Why can’t we all just get along?
Captain Purplehead - Ah Tis All Too Much
Chetwynde Downs - The Naile Raye Quintet
Dublin Opinion - Property Market Causes Ireland to shit its brain
Earth and Universe - Legend of Uncle Tom and the Bubble Car
ElBlogador - DUP In Gay Marriage Shocker
ElBlogador - These are a few of my favourite things
Fustar - Dis-courtesy Call
Fustar - Manky Toy Monday: League of the Transformable
Gingerpixel - Garda Prank Call
Green Ink - Beep Beep Beep
Head Rambles - Giving Up Smoking
Head Rambles - Translation Help Needed
In Fact Ah - The Occasional Diary Entries of German Director Werner Herzog (Removed at request of owner)
Irish KC - A Kansas City Phone Call To An Irish Mother
Irish KC - Irish Conversations
Kav’s Blog - Westside Story Bud
Letter to America - Drama - Thy Name is Pong
Life’s a bastard - Scientists - I’m against them
Manuel Stimulation - From Bad to More Bad
Manuel Stimulation - Victory to Moroccan Imperialism
Old Bitter Balls - Or was this just a dream?
Political Quote - PDs new Spin Doctor
Pure Cork Boy - Music: The Roaring Forties
RedMum - Guilty Pleasures
Rick O’Shea - Ketchup… Catsup..
Rinceoir - Cry Havoc
Skinflicks - Babys called Bad Bad thing
Snackbox - AbuseOS from TwinkSoft
Snackbox - The Story of Jimbob (Remove on request)
The Great Wee Azoo - Awfully awfully
Twenty Major - Countdown to Next Election
Twenty Major - Post Secret
Wayne Ordinary American - Wayne loves you one and all

Best Photo Blog - Sponsored by Pixenate.com - The online photo editor

Caitriona.net
Capture Capture
Dancing Shades of Light
Derek Knight Photography
Donal’s blog
Focus Pocus
Gingerpixel
Glassey Alley
Headphoneland
How your mama now?
I Take Photees
Iced Coffee
I’m never gonna dance again
In Photos
Ireland from a Polish perspective
Kind I Like
Leigh ar mo T-leine e
Letter to America
Mcawilliams
North Atlantic Skyline
PAD - Photo a Day
Photographe à Dublin
Pygment
RedMum
Rymus.net
Seth Wheeler
Snoother
This is Diopter

Best Arts and Culture Blog - Sponsored by Poetry Ireland

Alan in Belfast
BifSniff
Blather.net
Contemporary Arts Review
Dead Beat
Empirestate View
Fustar
Georgiasam
Green Ink
In Fact Ah
KC Irish Fest
Letter to America
Maguires Movies
PaddyC Movie Reviews
Poet Blogg
Sinead Gleeson
Soundtracks for Them
Stunned
The Cat Flap
The Dreaming Arm
The Harlot’s Progress
The Torture Garden

Best Political Blog - Sponsored by Technofutures

1169 and Counting
A Tangled Web
An Caomhach
An Saol
An Spailpin Fanach
Balrog
Best of Both Worlds
Bock the Robber
Damien Blake
Daniel K. Sullivan
Dominic Hanngian’s blog
ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
Extra Extra
Graham O’Maonaigh
Green Ink
Harry McGee’s blog
ie-Politics by Gerry O’Quigley
Ireland - The Voice Of The Nation
IrishElection.com
Maman Poulet
Richard Delevan’s blog
Seamus Ryan’s blog
Semper Idem
Sicilian Notes - Richard Waghorne
Skinflicks
Slugger O’Toole
The Cedar Lounge Revolution
The Dossing Times
The Tuppenceworth Blog
The United Irelander Blog
The Young Unionists

Best Group Blog - Sponsored by PutPlace.com

ArseBlog (Removed at request of owner)
Backseat Drivers
Balrog
BifSniff
Blather
Blogorrah
Howth Coastguard Blog
In Fact Ah
Ireland 16 Days
IrishElection.com
Links Heaven
Old Rotten Hat
One Breast Less
Sligo Camera Club
Sligo Rugby Football Club
Team Geared Up
The Cedar Lounge Revolution
The Community At Large
The Dublin Blog
The Limerick Blogger
Tuppenceworth
UCD Science Librarians
Womens Aid Blog
Wow Blog

Best Personal Blog - Sponsored by Interactions - Creative Strategies for Business

Annie Rhiannon
Barbara’s bleeuugh!
Conor O’Neill
Dec’s Rambling
FatMammyCat
From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace
Gerry Gainford
Gingerpixel
Hangar Queen
Head Rambles
Kav’s Blog
Mine’s a Jack Daniels
RedMum
The Newbrowne Blog
The Rambling Man
The Waiting Game
Una Rocks
Wayne Ordinary American
Winds and Breezes

Best Use of the Irish Language in a Blog - Sponsored by Edgecast Media

Ach go hairithe
An Saol
An Spailpin Fanach
Arm Runda na Gaeilge
Blag Shomhairle
Chetwynde Downs
Hilary NY
Leigh ar mo T-leine e!
MH Wombat
nobyegarawn
Roinnt Smaointe
Seo Panu ag labhairt
Smaointe Fanacha Aonghusa

Best Contribution to the Irish Bloggersphere - Sponsored by FirstPartners.net

Bernie Goldbach
Cian and Simon for Irish Election
Conn O Muineachain
Donncha O’Caoimh
Gavin Joyce for Kick.ie
Macdara in the Leb
Michele Neylon for IrishBlogs.info
Rick O’Shea
Sarah Carey
Simon McGarr
Tom Raftery

Best Technology Blog/Blogger - Sponsored by Bitbuzz

5Pieces.com
Aidan Finn
Bernie Goldbach
Clare Dillon
Conor O’Neill
Creative Imagination - Ken McGuire
Donncha O’Caoimh
EdenWeb Blog
Firstpartners.net
Francis Shanahan
Ina O’Murchu
IQ Content Blog
James Corbett - Eirepreneur
John Collins
John Naughton
Justin Mason
Michele Neylon for IrishBlogs.info
Mobileblogr.com
Pat Phelan
Red Cardinal Blog
Robert Burke
Tom Raftery
What Will you see next?
Your Tech Stuff - Adrian Weckler

Best Designed Blog - Sponsored by Equisoft

5 Pieces
Ach go hairithe
Beaut.ie
BifSniff
Clamnuts
Creative Imagination - Ken McGuire
ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
From Ireland to Kansas City
Fustar
Ginger Pixel
Inside the mind of an idiot.
IrishElection.com
Jason Roe’s blog
John Handerlaar’s Blog
Kind I Like - Things that look like people
Leigh ar mo T-leine e!
Letter to America
Magooo
Nialler9
Pretty Cunning
RedFly Marketing
Soundtracks for Them
Spoilt.ie
Stunned.org
Team Geared Up
The InFactah Blog
The IQ Content Blog
Twenty Major
UnLaoised

Best Sport & Recreation Blog - Sponsored by Boards.ie

ArseBlog
Billy Lyons
Fustar’s World Cup
In Fact Ah
Irish Go blog
Laois Talk
Liverpool Access
On the Ditch
PaddyC Movie Reviews
Piranha Triathlon Club
Rebel BMX
Sligo Rugby Football Clun
SportCrazy.net
Team Geared Up
The Kop Blog
Tom’s Sporting Almanac
Wiffy Blog

Best News/Current Affairs Blog - Sponsored the Sunday Tribune

Adam Maguire
Alive in Limerick
An Spailpin Fanach
Best of Both Worlds
Dublin Opinion
IrishElection.com
Public Inquiry
Road Deaths.ie
Sarah Carey
Skinflicks
Stephen Spillane
The Limerick Blogger
The NewsWire
The Story

Best Specialist Blog - Sponsored by iQ Content Ltd

4Basra
An Irish Craftworker’s Good Life
Ask Direct
Ball*istic
Beaut.ie
Bibliocook
Burma Review
Clear of Cloud
Clerical Whispers
Graham O’Maonaigh
Green Ink
Howth Coastguard
Ice Cream Ireland
Ireland 16 Days
Irish Go blog
Irish KC
KC Irish Fest
Lean Healthcare Services Blog
Lexferenda
McGarr Solicitors
Munster Pubs
Myers Watch
One Breast Less
PR Matters
Random Grub
Siopa Eile
SSIA Watch
The Good Life
The Waiting Game
Wearie
Whois Ireland
World Debate Website

Best Newcomer - Sponsored by Edelman

4Basra
Alan in Belfast
An Irish Craftworker’s Good Life
An Saol
Arse End of Ireland
Beaut.ie
Betty the Sheep
Blogorrah
Bock the Robber
Dario Sanchez’s Angry Dome
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RM January 18 - Grade does not reflect ability - part 1

GRADE does not reflect ability/needs to apply herself - these phrases would be how I would sum up the Young Wan’s secondary education so far.

She is in third year and months away from the Junior Certificate and last night after a long day in work I got home to read a disgraceful school report.

Some of you may remember we made a deal in September. She was to do her homework to the best of her ability and study for an hour on top of that each weekday evening then the rest of the night would be hers to mess about with her make up, phone friends, listen to music, and the weekends would be hers until dinner time on Sunday evening.

I got screwed in that deal.

I forked €150 out for supervised study in the first term, representing nearly 100 hours of study, yet her Christmas exam results certainly do no reflect the amount of study she is supposed to have done.

I still find it hard to reconcile the student in the report card with the top-of-the-class child she was in primary school.

Secondary school was the best social club she ever joined, she has never had so much fun.

That’s all fair and well IF the required work was being done, but it has been obvious it has not and no amount of cajoling, encouragement, screaming and shouting has worked.

So now I am panicking, the Young Wan appears to be panicking but who knows for sure.

It is clear I need to do more. But in fairness I could come in from work, I could set her down in the living room at the table with no telly, no distractions and make her get her books out and do some work.

She could even go to serious lengths to show how she was studying but while her fingers can flick pages in books, her pen can make marks on paper, in her head she could be singing Nirvana’s 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

It is like that saying ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’.

I told her this is her time to do this, this is her responsibility, much as I would want to I cannot sit the exams for her. The study needs to be driven by her. I can do what I can, I can support her, encourage her and nag her like mad to get stuck in, all of which I have done and will continue to, but if she will not study she is wasting the brains she was born with.

It is now near the end of January, can she pull it all back? Yes she can but in some subjects, this will be harder than others. But it is still all very doable; she just has to make the decision that she will try her best.

Maybe this is the optimism of a mum who hopes her child will knuckle down in time to do herself justice. However I have a parent teacher meeting next week which will probably tell a different story and to be honest I am absolutely dreading it. I have no doubt they will paint a really bad picture in the hopes of scaring me into scaring her, like I haven’t already tried. But I suppose that is their job.

I know what I need to do and I just hope more than you will ever know that she finally realise what she needs to do. And it needed be the worst thing in the world, far from it. There is an immense satisfaction in studying when you realise that you have successfully tackled and now know what you need to.

That satisfaction knocks away any panic about exams, seriously it does. So for all you Junior and Leaving Certificate students out there who haven’t yet gotten the heads into the books and who are starting to feel the bite of panic, get started now, there’s loads of time. Do yourselves justice.

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Let the voting begin

STERLING work has been done by Damien and co and voting is now open for this year's Irish Blog Awards and I am delighted/thrilled/honoured to be nominated in four categories this year, Best Blog, Best Personal Blog, Best Photoblog and Most Humorous Post.



I am even more delighted because I have gotten one more nomination than my three last year which also pleased me no end.

For those of you who don't know how it works, the nomination process which ended recently made up the long list, the voting from now on will cull that long list down to a short list at which stage a judging panel will take over.

So if you like what I have been working away on here, give me a vote in whatever category you may think, as well as voting for the other blogs you feel deserve it too.

The voting form can be found here.

And if you are a blogger and didn't get to last year's awards do think of coming along this year, it is well worth it. I have to say I didn't really get the whole social networking site until I went and I was delighted I did.

Anyway it's late, I'm tired and delighted, night.

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Early morning at Heuston Station

AS promised here are some early morning pix from Heuston Station.


Just to verify the time, more for myself than anyone else





And as always there are more on Flickr.

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Blogging on a train 2

ONCE again I was up at the crack of dawn, well it hadn't actually cracked yet at all to catch the 7.30am train to Kilkenny. The only thing I like about getting up this early is the chance of taking some pics.

As I write this the sun is trying desperately to break through the morning fog to little success but the colours and muted tones it is throwing over the landscape is gorgeous and I am listening (through earphones) to some great music such as:

Amy Winehouse - Rehab
The Statler Bros - Flowers on the wall
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby Magee
Boomtown Rats - I don't like Mondays
Blue Oyster Cult - Dont fear the reaper
David Sylvian - Forbidden colours
Buffalo Springfield - For what its worth
Kraftwerk - Model
Otis Redding - Ain't no sunshine
Lily Allen - Smile
The Blues Busters - Soon you'll be gone
The Go-Betweens - Love goes on
Corrine Bailey - Put your records on
Asian Dub Foundation - 1000 Mirrors
Oasis - Half a world away
Sugababes (Daftpunk) - Hole in the head
Snow Patrol - Chasing cars

I'll post some pics later as the 3g connection doesn't appear to be very strong and while I have been able to upload some of this morning's pics which you can see on Flickr I haven't been able to grab the code to post any here or indeed go into organizr! Ah well you can't have everything.

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I need a sub

I NEED a sub, well probably more than one. I just noticed on my last post I called it 'what is the chances of that?' when we know it should have been 'what are the chances...'.

I must have had an Ali G moment, and then I noticed another plural mistake in the body of the post and reckoned I need a sub-editor to clean up my work. I hold my head up to not re-reading, or re-reading throughly enough.

As I started to post this I realise I need a sub to clean up other areas of my life. Work could not be busier and getting more so.

And it is tough on the home life, my honey is doing her Junior Cert and I realised before Christmas that I would need help.

She is a fantastic kid but I cannot trust her to study and she needs someone to crack the whip and be on her back. If I am out working that isn't going to happen. I'll be phoning her every 20mins asking 'are you studying?' - it just doesn't have the same affect at all. Though in fairness I realise that even being on her back isn't enough to make her study but it is a necessary thing nonetheless.

The truth is that even though I have the biggest deadline in the world coming up I also have a monumental time in my daughter's life coming up(as does she), her Junior Cert and I need to be here for her, I need to support her. And I have tried hard sometimes unsuccessfully to live by the mantra health, family, work, in that order.

Besides that when I am here there is a good dinner each night, I only realise now how important I obviously find having a good dinner on the table because I feel guilty if she has to heat up something and appallingly guilty if this happens two times in a week, which it has and sometimes three times.

And so far that is ridiculous because she is heating up good solid meals, Sunday dinners on a Monday including my home-made from scratch gravy, oven bakes and occasionally oven fried chips and Donegal Catch. Okay okay the last isn't healthily good at all but it is a lesser occurrence than reheated home made dinners.

At her age for me it was a different story but by even stating that am I going into the realms of sackcloth clothes, no shoes and you never knew you had it so well? Probably. But as a mum my number one urge in life is to worry and worry I will.

I realise I need help, I need someone to be there for her and for me, I just can't do it on my own.

So I took steps and asked Nanny to come and stay for my craziest time and she said 'no problem'. However I foresaw that time taking place later in the year. But as things were bananas before Christmas and even madder after I realise I need her for longer than I thought.

And I asked her today will she come sooner rather than later and she said yes and I am so grateful for the help.

Even thinking about it relieves so much from me I can't explain. So the plan is she arrives at the end of the month until probably the start of June and just because I need her and thank God for that. It isn't a worry gone but it is certainly a worry drastically lessened.

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What is the chances of that?

ONE of my most favourite things at the weekend is to potter about in pyjamas cleaning and tidying, drinking lots of tea while sending the Young Wan for the paper and to Clarkes bakery on New Cabra Road which bakes the most amazing bread on the premises to buy one of their freshly baked loaves and a half dozen egg.

I love getting those eggs, they are huge with beautifully yellow yokes. They are certainly far removed from the auld anemic eggs you buy in supermarkets so I presume (and must ask) they come from a farm.

The eggs are laid out in tall layer of shelves and you pick your own out. I wrote once before about how the Young Wan picks the biggest she can find and as they are on average larger than supermarket large eggs.

Well the Young Wan surpassed her egg picking this weekend.

As there was nothing else in the house we were having French toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

I cracked open the first egg for the bread and out came a double yolk. Then I cracked open two more for the scrambled eggs and out popped four yokes.

That was yesterday and today I began a kinda Russian roulette while preparing breakfast this morning. Hovering over the eggs I decided on one, cracked it and guess what a double yoke, then I decided on the second, another yolk, then the third and you guessed it another double yolk.

What is the chances of that, I mean 12 yolks in six eggs, I should do the lottery today.

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Blogging on a train

THIS IS the business and a far cry from one of my other recent journeys to Cork, I am currently in a nearly empty carriage, I am listening to Snow Patrol on my laptop whilst blogging thanks to a nifty little cute yoke from vodafone.



As I am doing I am also sorting and tagging hundreds of work photographs, this is bliss. The sheer amount of time I would need to spend in work archiving the pics would be too long in relation to all the other things I have to do. So this little 3g device is a life saver.



At this moment we are pulling up into Limerick Junction and I have about half an hour before I hit Mallow where I am getting off.

I had a few problems with the modem at the beginning, well more than a few problems it just didn't work. Two phonecalls, two instore visits and one new sim card later I was ready to rock and roll. And it couldn't be easier to use just plug it into your USB port and then connect. There are times when it says that it can't find the device but I have just restarted the programme and everythings fine.



There have been times on this train journey when the light on the modem has indicated poor coverage but it is still thundering all, albeit slowly at times. (I can report that Limerick Junction has a great signal.) But overall I am delighted with it. As I expect to be out and about a bit over the next while this will keep me in touch via email, up to date on the news as well as helping me keep on top of my photographs.

I had hoped it would be powerful enough for me to use my Flickr uploader button but I don't think it is unless there is a strong signal. When I take pics for work I can be uploading hundreds at a time and the uploader button has made that possible. I can upload a few at a time and that'll have to do for now. But I'll work on that.

The intial cost outlay is €150 and then €40 a month after that. (I hope this reads okay, it is harder than it looks to type while speeding down a train track.)

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Spring and all those new beginnings

YESTERDAY was the first day of Spring. New beginnings and all that. I've had a tough week and I am glad it's nearly over and behind me. The bloody powers that be have a very sick sense of humour. I think the effects of it will be felt for some time, I can't help that. I just have to ride it out in the knowledge that time will do the needful. Till then it is time to shake and dust myself off. And to remind myself I bought a beautiful bunch of daffodils.





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