Irish

Ahh the fishing season is once again upon us. Heres to the mindless slaughter of many innocent fish between now and September. Pictured above is Barphinny (sp?) lake, Molls Gap in the midst of an unreal fog.

Rick’s Breakfast Blog is the newest blog I’ve found in a while. The brainchild of one Rick O’Shea, one half of the team presenting the new breakfast show on 2FM. I have to admit, unless I’m up insanely early I only catch the last 20/25 mins of the show but it’s all good. Hard work keeping up with the truly stellar quality that Ryan Tubridy produced on a daily basis but it’s well worth listening to.

Now kiddies, lets all watch as this virgin weblog turns slowly into a rant of “reasons I hate getting up early”

Welcome Rick, nice to see another Irish blogger.

Finbarr Cogan of Cogans Bar fame has been ridden by the taxman to the tune of €1.7m for non payment of income tax, VAT and PAYE/PRSI. Adding insult to injury, he also posessed one of those hugely controversial bogus non-resident accounts. Cayman Islands anyone? Makes me wonder if there will actually be a Cogans Bar in Carrigaline the next time I’m down that way. Worrying…

(apologies for the crap quality)

The latest in the long line of phishing scams has targeted Bank of Ireland’s “365 Online” banking system. An email directing users to a supposed web page on the BOI website instructed whoever got that famed email to enter some personal details; all of which were of course sent to the brains behind the operation.

The rules are quite simple for avoiding being screwed in phishing. Don’t enter any personal details like passwords, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc into any website unless you are sure of it’s authenticity. It’s basic common sense people. I hope to update this soon, or as soon as I receive a copy of the email.

RTE News – BoI reassures over online services

Howstuffworks “How St. Patrick’s Day Works”

When St. Patricks day dawns, Markham (who seems to be new on the Irish blogging scene – apologies if you’re not) will be on his cold turkey quest to give up alcohol for one year. As a student in Dublin, I’m sure this will be no small feat. Personally I think it’s a great idea. Save a few quid and give your liver a fighting chance at the same time. I know it’s something I could never actually do myself, I might last 12 weeks at best; not the 12 months this courageous blogger is hoping for. Certainly one to keep an eye on. Good luck with it.

Year of the Big Drought

In a scene which strongly reminded me of the Father Ted “Lovely Horse” episode, ginger homosexual + 1 have been chosen to represent Ireland at the upcoming Eurovision song contest. Jade, a girl band who yesterday sounded very raw and out of sync/tune/their minds lost to ginger homosexual + 1 in what I can only presume was a hugely embarrasing episode. Imagine being beaten by a little leprechaun looking fecker (+ 1) whom were only armed with possibly the worst song I’ve ever been subjected to.

I watched the end of the first half of the show last night, I feared to watch the second lest I have to listen ginger homosexual + 1 again. Not that I have anything against ginger people, nor homosexuals for that matter. It’s just this guy and his sister that irk me majorly. He’s like “The Boy That Never Grew Up”. A nine year old in a suit. What are they even calling themselves? “The McCaul Midgets”? I dunno, something equally hilarious.

Does anyone else remember that episode of Father Ted? Indeed yes, the Eurovision must be getting too expensive for Ireland to host. Why else would we willingly enter such utter shite into the contest? Ahh for Monday and a mood of pure scathing bliss. Rant on you crazy diamond!

Update (10th March) – Quote of the season relating to this article heard on Ray D’Arcy show whilst driving toward Donegal. “Tis a fright to God that we have bosco on speed representing the country”. Laughed? I nearly seltzered myself.

After just checking my website email account for the first time in months, I find yet another comment from my new pal Sarah Ryan; of here and original article. In one of her ever sensible moods she writes;

Sarah Ryan is my name and I realised just this evening that i am on yere website. Could ye please make sure that this article is taken off yere site asap please as ye really don’t know the full and proper story about what happened and until ye do I would appreciate it if the article is removed-permission was never given to have it there in the first placa- I have never seen such a ridiculous website, what a joke and the people who post the comments are abviously preety desparate and boring. I will be checking this website daily to make sure that badly written article has been taken off. When ye know the facts, ye can post it back up.

Apparently now I need permission to include an item on my ridiculous website that recieved national coverage in a broadsheet newspaper. Go Free Speech! Always nice to have a new reader Sarah, I sincerely hope you have been checking the website daily as you said you would. I’ll be horribly depressed if you don’t. Given that at least a small percentage of your email was courteous I’m not going to be too harsh this time. I have a suggestion for you however. If you want this to go away, stop commenting on it. Every time you draw breath on the subject on this website I’m going to drag it all back up. Yes Sarah, I’m that petty.

a useful website for any potential $1m tippers – http://www.photobucks.com/

(side note: if you had not been so abusive and derogitory towards both me and my website I may have taken down the original article in a show of pity. That ship has well sailed now though)

After a load of texts, emails and carrier pigeons, a few minutes ago I finally got a message read out on todayfm. Good on ya Phil!

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s all a bit emotional..

U.TV, one of the resellers of Eircom’s DSL service and overall a budget Irish ISP. I’ve been with U.TV since the good old days, back when I was living in Carrigaline and almost bursting with the exciting thought of upgrading my analog phone line to ISDN. The 180 hour’s of dial-up surfing I availed of suited me down to the ground, alas I (along with most of the rest of Ireland) was ignorant as to what DSL could offer.

I’ve also had my U.TV account on direct debit since the very start. Back when they were the first flat rate ISP, sometime after the ill-fated Esat ‘No Limits’ fiasco dumped several hundred users for exceeding limits of some fashion.

When I moved to Douglas, it was of course a kneejerk reaction to get a phone line, get a line test eventually and hopefully get DSL. Which I did. From U.TV. When I moved from the grotty roach motel in Donnybrook Hill to my current abode on the Carrigaline road, of course naturally I stuck with U.TV. Perhaps only because I was tied into a 12 month contract however. Hmm. This is where the long, slippery slope started to show itself. They wanted �300 to move my connection. I offered �150. After several days, they accepted. It took 1 full month for my DSL to be reconnected. My fingernails were no more due to the apprehensive biting I had engaged in over this time.

The speed of U.TV’s DSL offering “Clicksilver” was always touch-and-go. Somedays it’d be fast, other days you might as well be using dialup. This was actually rectified, along with the ping problems gamers on the service had been wailing about since it’s launch. It seemed another problem had to rear it’s ugly head. Things just couldn’t go that smoothly…

Right on cue, they let me down again. Several months in a row. “Your bank has advised us that your account no longer exists” stated one letter boldly. Hmm, would that be the same account I’ve had since transition year in secondary school? The same account that Vodafone and several other companies have absolutely no problem whatsoever extracting money from? It would seem so.

Since about the second half of 2004, U.TV have been plauging me with letters (which always seem to include their standard direct debit application form) stating various phrases about my bank account either being closed, no longer existing, running away with the dish & the spoon or the most recent, no direct debit is setup. How can a company that offers a product not only to the republic of Ireland but to the entire island of Ireland be so incompetant? Were their staff given exclusive training from the same institution that teaches Eircom their techniques? I have sent no fewer than 3 cheques and filled in at least 2 direct debit forms. I should deduct the total bank charges they’ve cost me so far from the next (and final) cheque I have to send them.

I am ever so thankful that my DSL contract expires in April, as I’m sure many others are. I’m not sure which way I’ll go, but if possible I’ll go wireless when I get shot of this pseudo-broadband. At least then I can look forward to getting rid of the phone line altogether and going for one of those new (albeit seemingly unproven) VoIP products.

To anyone on a U.TV trial, think long and hard before you sign up to anything. To anyone who’s U.TV contract is soon to expire, well, I don’t have to tell you anything. I’ll see you on the beach when we all jump ship.