Himself was giving me a hand reinstall a couple of my servers today. As you can see on the monitor behind I’m starting him off relatively lightly with Windows Server 2003. Early next week we will be moving on to the Sun Solaris boxes underneath the Dell Poweredges.

1. A model Tie Fighter.
2. A model Millenium Falcon or indeed anything related to Star Wars.
3. Anything to do with Star Trek.
4. Anything to do with Stargate.
5. A new MacBook.
6. Anything to do with guns, weapons and the military in general.
7. Anything that is alive.
8. Anything that was once alive.
9. A domain name (not until he is 10 at least so I’m told but it’s too late already!)
10. A Playstation 3.
11. Grand Theft Auto IV for PC or Playstation 3.
12. A ride on toy tractor. (Apparently he’s too small)
13. Dinkys and other toy cars. (He has enough already)
14. Anything that makes loud noises and requires batteries.
15. A 1TB external hard disk. (For his baby photos honestly!!)

I guess all that is left is Play-Doh but that’s what I got him for his birthday a few weeks ago. And here was me thinking buying christmas presents for kids was going to be easy.

Can’t wait until he’s older.

I haven’t left the house in that length of time either. I wonder if much has changed?

Anyway back to the flu. I have no idea if it was swine flu or not as I didn’t bother with any doctors or health professionals because I simply cannot afford them. A visit to the G.P. and a prescription would cost me in and around €100 which is half what I have to spend per week. Ironically of course I haven’t spent anything in the past week anyway other than getting someone to buy me the odd packet of cigarettes so I might have as well got myself checked out.

I’ve already mentioned alternating between being roasting hot and freezing cold, so what else can you expect? Absolutely aching bones and joints for a start. My hips were so sore I could barely walk at times. This started to fade after about the fourth day. Another thing is the dizziness. At times while sitting it was like the whole room was spinning around. Close your eyes and it felt like being in a washing machine. A week later and I’m still having dizzy spells and pounding headaches although not as frequently thankfully. I’ve discovered that lying down on my right hand side seems to stop the dizziness for some reason. It doesn’t work if you lie on your left

Oddly one thing that hasn’t been affected is my appetite. On the contrary I have been constantly hungry and no amount of food is satisfying. There must be some truth in that “feed a cold, starve a fever” adage.

The worst thing (apart from the suffering of course) is the boredom. Any of you following me on twitter may have read recently about the television falling off the wall, well the second T.V. is constantly tied up by my mother recording bloody soap operas so that ruled that out. Staring too long at a computer screen resulted in a few dizzy spells so that ruled that out as too it ruled out reading for the same reason. Still I’m on the mend at last so time to get through some of the bills and other letters that have been piling up while I’ve been laid up.

I see from a cursory glance that college are looking for €1,500 that I don’t have for a registration fee so I guess I will be finishing up there next week and my NCT is due as well.  I guess I should have stayed in bed.

So much has changed in those ten years. My father would be a grandfather now. Each time I look at my son I always think of how my father would have loved his first grandchild and of course how Lucas would have loved him. Each time I look at Lucas I see a bit of my father in him. Then I wonder what it would be like if he had not died that day ten years ago.

I still remember that day vividly. I was in the server room at work where on any normal day there would be no mobile phone reception but suddenly mine rang and I was surprised to hear my mother in tears when I answered telling me to get home, that my father wasn’t well and the ambulance was there. I remember asking what hospital they were taking him to but again all she said was to come home, come home.

Half way home and I still didn’t know for sure what was happening. My aunt overtook the taxi that I was in on the dual carraigeway. I rang her to stop somewhere and bring me the rest of the way home. I can still remember the exact spot in the road where she stopped her car waiting for me to catch up. It was half way between Midleton and Castlemartyr, just by the lake and it was there I was told for certain that my father had died at the age of 47.

I often have to drive past that spot and each time I do the memory of that day always comes back to me. I see my aunt getting out of her car and hugging me and telling me what I did not want to hear.

I have plenty of other memories of course all of them wonderful of the man who I adored, the man who taught me so much and made me who I am. I will always keep those memories but I just wish there could have been lots more.

To my father, how I wish you were still here.

Having spent the night camped near a river we decided to set off and drive the Ring of Kerry. Some spectacular scenery around there. I have tons of photos which I have to sort through but for the moment here are some photos of the Black Valley:

And finally here is a panoramic photo: Click for full size

Given that I was only selected as a candidate just 5 weeks before the election meant that I would have an awful lot of work and canvassing to do. My exams didn’t finish until the 7th of May which left me with just under four weeks to get out and about so the odds were against me from the start.

My realistic target was the ninth seat and from the start I knew my main opposition would be one of the sitting Sinn Fein councillors. Once the first count was over and the dust settled I was very very close. She had 168 first preference votes and I had 154. Her running mate topped the poll with 524 first preferences and that was a clear indicator for me that I was going to be out of luck. Sinn Fein have a very well oiled political machine and core group of tactical voters. With a quota of 342 they were going to have a huge surplus from their poll topper.

Sure enough this proved to be the case as the second Sinn Fein candidate pulled in a whopping 112 transfer votes to give her a lead of just over 100 votes on me.

One of my running mates had a first count of 508 first preferences and a surplus of 166 votes however as there were three of us Fine Gael candidates, the transfers were going to be split between us. This proved to be the case and from each count on I was trailing the Sinn Fein candidate by in and around 100 votes after each count.

So the end result is that I missed out by 93 votes but I’m not too disappointed! 154 first preference votes and by the end of counting I had a total of 246 which,  from my relatively short campaign is quite an achievment and I’m pretty pleased over all.

On the upside got my exam results on Wednesday and I passed!

So I can finally start enjoying my summer holidays!

All that remains is to congratulate the candidates that were elected and thank you to those of you who gave me your first preference. There is always next time.

All of April was spent preparing for my exams the last of which was on the 7th of May. From the 8th of May I was out pounding the pavement as much as possible. I’m now into my fourth and final week canvassing and althoughI’ve covered most of the town it is regrettable that there will be some areas that I just wont have the time to get to.

However on the upside by tonight I should have about 9 tenths of the town canvassed.

During the past four weeks we (my canvassers and I) have been freezing cold, soaking wet, bitten by dogs and for the past few days combating heat stroke! It has certainly been some experience.

The reaction that I have been getting on the doorsteps has been overwhelmingly positive. The most common reply after introducing myself has been “as least you are not from the other shower!” and many profane variants of the same.. It is probably obvious but the public anger towards Fianna Fail is much greater than I thought. It is hard to explain just how angry people are but I have heard from many life long Fianna Fail supporters who have said that they will never vote for them ever again.

So there are only three more days to go. Fatigue is starting to set in, as too is the resignation that I will not be able to canvass some areas which is personally very disappointing. But as polling day gets closer the more nervous things become. Still I can be proud of my campaign and the work that I have put in so far. None of which would have been possible without the fantastic support of the members of our local Fine Gael branch who have been out with me canvassing day and night. Whatever the results of the count on Saturday I will be forever grateful to them all.

Fingers crossed!

P.S. over on YoughalOnline there is a profile of myself with pictures of me on the campaign trail last week.

A big change in 9 months! Click for bigger!

It is with great honour to announce that I will running as a candidate for Fine Gael for the Youghal Town council alongside two existing Fine Gael councillors, Barbara Murray and Michael Beecher.

I have always had an interest in politics and local politics in particular. Living in a town with such a rich heritage and close community has always been rewarding and if elected to the town council it will allow me to contribute to and represent the people and interests of Youghal.

This is a town with great people and great potential. Although the town has been hit hard in recent years with the loss of several large industries (one of which I worked for) it is important that with the current economic downturn that we do not dwell on what we once had but instead focus on the future. As anyone who lives in Youghal would tell you, the town is certainly worth investing in.

Youghal and the surrounding area has justifiably been dubbed ‘The Irish Riviera’ we have unspoiled beaches and of course the mighty Blackwater River. It is a great town in which to live, it is a great town for people to visit and it is a great town for businesses to invest and as I already mentioned it is a town with great potential.

I believe that it is imperitive that we foster and support our local businesses, that we grow our tourism industry and that we do our utmost to attract employment in the town. However we also need to support each other in our community. We need continuing investment in local amenities and facilities and we also need to provide support for those in the town who need it the most.

These are among many resons that I have put myself forward as a candidate and I look forward to the opportunity to represent Fine Gael in working on behalf of the people of Youghal.