When you realise it’s time to go…

Published at April 28, 2008 in Diary of a Madman and Work. 1 Comment

Boss: “X piece of software needs to be updated on terminal server”
Me: “I’ve never troubleshooted or even used that software before”
Boss: “Ring programmer there and he’ll tell you what the story is”
Me: Hangs up & sighs loudly knowing full well it’s the start of yet another one of those conversations.
Me: “Eh, boss there said some software needs updating on terminal server. He doesn’t know if the version is up to date or not. User in other office cant login.”
Programmer: “Ah that was updated already. User in other office knows how to login but got error message and didn’t tell me what it was”
Me: “Ok, so I’ll talk to boss and see what the story is”
Me: Hangs up again, redials boss and places head in hands
Me: “Programmer said software is already up to date, user knows how to login but didn’t let programmer know what error message was”
Boss: “Ah, login to user account and try to login”
Me: Logs into server fine but encounters completely nondescript error message
Me: “Error message appeared” (reads error message over the phone)
Boss: “Hmm, don’t know what that is. Talk to programmer”
Me: Hangs up, looks for suicide pill in top drawer. It’s gone.
Me: “Error message appearing here” (reads error message)
Programmer: “Ah, setting is wrong. Change it and try again”
Me: Changes setting, tries, fails. Changes again, works now.
Me: “That seemed to work”
Programmer: “Grand, see ya!”
Me: Hangs up and redials boss
Me: “Changing a setting seemed to do it”
Boss: “Good, ring user in other office and explain how to login correctly”
Me: “But I’ve never used or troubleshooted this. When user asks a question I won’t know the answer”
Boss: “That’s ok. When user asks you a question, come back to me or programmer”
Me: “… ehh.. So I’m just relaying messages between you, programmer and user?”
Boss: “You’ll be fine”
Me: Starts to wonder what life is all about while dialing users extension..

Boss and Programmer are no more than 20 feet apart, separated only by a partition wall. Where’d I put that CV?

God help me…

Back to Square One

Published at April 15, 2008 in Blog and Photography. 2 Comments

Before the fourth birthday of this blog rolls around next month, I thought I’d revisit an old project. A little over 2 years ago, I first launched Glassey Alley. It was to become a daily photoblog, an extension to this place. When technical problems arose, it quickly ran aground and thus, the end of glassey alley.

Version 2 is back with a vengeance, less ambitious than it’s predecessor but back all the same. I’m going to take a temporary hiatus from this blog and concentrate on glassey alley, so keep an eye over there and I’ll be much obliged if you’ll all once again update your blogrolls with the link of the new site. Oh and don’t forget to subscribe. Every subscriber or comment poster will receive one portion of good will.

So once again (and finally)… www.glasseyalley.com

Chase me Damnit!

Published at April 15, 2008 in Irishphotos and Photography. 0 Comments

Chase me Damnit!

Another from Rocky Bay, this time practically right out of the camera. Slight boost in contrast, bit of sharpening and send to flickr. Nice to see that Claire finally buckled under the immense pressure and bought herself a 5D. Bad thing about that is, now she’ll be making the rest of us look even more like rank amateurs (as per usual).

The studying for the third module of the CCNA continues. Exams this Wednesday and Thursday. Good God how glad I’ll be once this course is over!

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Cut a Canyon

Published at April 13, 2008 in Irishphotos and Photography. 6 Comments

Valley

Water running towards the sea and cutting into the sand along the way. The ever wonderful yet little visited Rocky Bay in Cork. Went down the other day during the golden hour and felt immediately inspired. Such amazing light. All you’re going to be getting over the next week or so are Rocky Bay shots! :)

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Crumbles Bakery

Published at April 6, 2008 in Irishphotos and Photography. 6 Comments

Farmers markets; How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.. Took a spin down to the Farmers Market at Hosfords Garden Centre (few miles outside Bandon on the Clonakilty road). Garden Centres should be contractually obliged to provide the services of a constant farmers market. After being shown around every plant, tree and shrub in the vicinity, nothing is finer than settling down with a nice black coffee and your choice of breads, meats, cheeses or any of the wide variety of goodies to be found at many such markets.

Having sampled the herbed fried potatoes from one of the stalls, I swiftly moved onto dessert. None more capable to provide a wide selection of whatever you’re having yourself than Crumbles Bakery.

Patricia Delaney and Colleen O'Kane from Crumbles Bakery

Crumbles are a recent addition to the town of Ballydehob in West Cork. The bakery is run by Patricia Delaney and Colleen O’Kane, both natives of Bantry. As you’ll appreciate from the photos below, the spread on show was almost as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the taste-buds. I couldn’t resist, I bought two of everything. Well, almost everything. I just knew Sandy wouldn’t appreciate the delicacy which was the almond and pear slice.

Gingerbread people (I say people because they had both male and female gingerbread people)

I thought I’d last until I got home, but on the way back to the car I just had to make the little gingerbread woman a widow. Which is odd, because normally I can’t stand the taste of anything ginger (careful now). I’ve been known to run the opposite way when offered a ginger biscuit. Damned if that wasn’t the tastiest gingerbread man I’ve ever eaten.

Muffins

The smell in the car on the way home was sublime. I don’t know if it was the Gubbeen cheese bread or the general melee of sweets and pastries in the paper bag that produced the olfactory marvellousness but whatever it was, I strongly considered leaving the bags in the car full-stop so I could enjoy that wonderful smell every morning. Glad that I didn’t, as soon as I got into the house I destroyed the outstanding almond & pear slice I mentioned above. Then, a croissant and next, the bread is going into the oven for a few minutes as Patricia suggested earlier.

Brownies

Patricia Delaney from Crumbles Bakery

I’m already massively looking forward to a follow up trip to the bakery to shoot some more fabulous food. Err, and eat some more. You can contact Patricia and Colleen on 086 3387266 or crumblesbakery@live.com. But, why call or email when you can visit the bakery and invest in something truly delicious? Now, time for some of that bread… Oh, but these photos and a couple more are on flickr. Off with ye to Ballydehob!

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Back; Photos Soon!

Published at April 2, 2008 in Life in General. 1 Comment

Having returned from a short stint in the land of mystery, ghouls and ghosties (most people call it Edinburgh), I’m playing catch up again. Photos to process, college stuff to gain some sort of an understanding of and exams to do in a couple of weeks. It was a nice break, but damned if I don’t need another holiday right away to make up for the stress of being back. Good to be back to my comfy bed, big TV and the familiarity of good old routine. Photos in the next couple of days…

The Figure in Colour; Gallery ICA

Published at March 24, 2008 in Art. 0 Comments

galleryica3

The above photo contains all the words needed for this one so it’s only left for me to add that it’s well worth getting to this in Kinsale on Thursday if you’re free. The couple of photos I’ve posted here don’t do justice to seeing the pieces in person.

galleryica2

So, this Thursday (27th March) from 6-8pm in Gallery ICA (that’s between the Trident and Actons hotel or next to the Yacht club in Kinsale). While you’re down there, buy 5 or 6 of my prints too! Cheers.

galleryica1

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She who must be obeyed?

Published at March 20, 2008 in Irishphotos, Life in General and Photography. 2 Comments

RYAN-20

If only because our various working hours conspire against us on a weekly basis, or the fact that I attend college two nights a week… Or even her various courses and meetings, but lately, I’ve hardly seen her. To remind myself of what she looks like, here’s a photo taken at the recent Lough meetup. The better news is, it looks so damn fine in print. Even finer than it looks on the screen of my mac. Should we resort to sharing Google calendars to schedule some free time?

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Selling a part of the family

Published at March 16, 2008 in Diary of a Madman and Life in General. 3 Comments

Royal Star on the way to Cobh

It all started some years ago when I converted a Drag Star into cash, then after a long drive to Templemore and a short conversation with the unreasonably grumpy owner, I turned cash back into bike. It was the bike I’d been after for some time as what I wanted to do more than anything was load it up and head to warmer climes.

After what seemed like an eternity, that eventually came around when myself and herself hopped on the bike and took it to warmest of warm France via drizzly England. 2500 or so miles later and we were back where we started; Rosslare. So after that, it sat covered in the garage waiting for it’s next excursion. At that stage I’d found a job that offered a company vehicle. Bad news for the bike really. I didn’t fully realise it back then but it wasn’t long before the tax expired, the insurance expired and getting it back on the road seemed less and less likely.

So it sat in the garage under a canvas cover. I still had notions of getting back out on it for the summer but that dream went flat at the same time as the bikes battery. Wheeled out every so often for a wash and polish and once or twice when someone came to look at it. I mistakenly thought it’d be an easy bike to sell because it was rare. In fact, it’s probably the only one in Ireland. (That is, the only limited edition model). In reality though, all this made it harder to sell. I went through some unpleasant telephone conversations with dealers. Self styled motorbike guru’s who each assured me they knew the market backwards. Some offered to ‘do me a favour’ by taking the bike off my hands for significantly less than I asked for. No thanks.

It was listed on various advertising websites for ages and I’d get the odd phone call or email regarding it. Then, a very decisive bike owner from Wexford visited me yesterday and converted bike back into cash. I’ll miss it and I very much doubt I’ll be bikeless for very long but for now at least, it’s as if I’m missing part of the family. The only consolation is that with the cash raised from it’s sale, I can now be debt free for the first time in about 7 years. Well, apart from the mortgage… that doesn’t really count though as we’ll be paying that off for the next thirty years!

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The Lough

Published at March 14, 2008 in Irishphotos and Photography. 2 Comments

RYAN-11

Spent a most enjoyable couple of hours around the Lough last weekend with herself, Donncha, Donal, Katie, Kevin and Will just about made it! I haven’t taken any photos at the lough in.. well, probably years now. It’s a great spot for Christmas Day to walk off the dinner and test out all that new camera gear one gets for Christmas.

One could quite literally spend hours crouched at the side of the lake with a telephoto lens and a bag of bread bits. Throw a chunk of bread, point the lens and attempt to catch seagulls killing each-other for a nibble. The entertainment knows no limits. Now, I’m off to toast the end of an era. More on that tomorrow evening.

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