Alexia Golez

Photo owned by DrZito (cc)
Like the very best scones, 2008 has been a gang of fruity goodness. For every sultana I picked out, there were masses upon masses of currents and soft baked pastry. To them, I send my hugs. Next year will rock.

A bit late blogging this and crossing my fingers that President Tommy doesn’t have me knocked off for being tardy. Last Sunday night’s blogger meetup at Chez Collison was an absolute treat. We were spoiled, entirely. Many thanks to Lily, Patrick and Silvana for doing all the dirty work and cooking for a rowdy blogger gang. And I have to get the recipe for that apple cake. 

The evening was filled with idle chatter, fun and laughter. I only have a single picture of the evening – Tommy on the ground. Hmm.. Was he drinking? He denies all knowledge. The truth is out there. 

Subscribe to Lily’s blog. She’s one of the most erudite and passionate bloggers I’ve read all year. Looking forward to see where she leads us. 

Another great arrangement from The Section Quartet. 

Two great competitions to ring in the New Year!

Damien has a competition with some nice mobile goodies – a Nokia 5220, a Voyager 815 bluetooth headset and an Elextex keyboard for your mobile and a super-dee-duper prize of a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet.  Damien’s blurb: 

For everyone that donates one or more mobile phones to the charity, they’ll be entered into a draw for three prizes (First, second and third out of hat) – a Nokia 5220, a Voyager 815 bluetooth headset and an Elextex rubberised portable keyboard for phones. The blogger who gets these people to donate phones will also be entered into a draw for a Nokia 810 Internet Tablet.

And just this morning, Pat opens his sack one final time this year for a mega New Year’s giveaway:

A few friends came up late for my Christmas gifts so I have decided to bring some cheer into what we are all aware will be a tough first quarter. I have two gifts to give away

1. A fabulous Nokia N79 with full video calling, 5 meg camera and wifi, perfect for Qik also I think.

2. A 37 inch HDTV LCD, I am not sure of the brand but knowing the source it will be top of the range.
There are no rules or regulations or any thing like that, these will be given away on the evening of the first of Jan.

What do I want, nothing, just leave a New Years comment and you’re in.

Both competition runners ask for you to help out the Jack & Jill Foundation – charity dedicated to providing respite care to very young children serious developmental delay problems. You can help by sending your old mobile phone to them for recycling. Pop it in a jiffy bag and sent to to Jack & Jill’s Freepost address: The Jack and Jill Mobile Appeal, Freepost, Ratoath Road , Finglas, Dublin 11. Do take part and give generously.

Have to say, I’m really loving the open wifi and convienent location of the Marriott while being home in Limerick. Tea is pricey at €4.50 a pot, but it’s smack-bang in the middle of the city centre, comfy and I have a nearby power point. What else can a girl ask for?

Today’s Selection Box post is from Irish techenterpreneur Pat Phelan. What an inspiring way to end the series and 2008. Thanks to everyone that donated their time!

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Christmas 1999

I had done it again, massive promises, massive anticipation, all the presents wrapped, house looking like a winter wonderland, 6 weeks sober and an idea came into my head, “I deserve a celebration drink on Christmas eve, I have been amazingly good for the last six weeks”.

I still remember the horror on their faces as I told them I would be back in an hour.

Arrived home 1am Christmas morning, drunk, suicidal, hallucinating and another fuck up behind me.

I woke up on the sofa on Christmas morning hallucinating so bad that I thought it was snowing in the house, snow was under my feet as I walking in the house, I was trying to remember was it Stalagmites or Stalactites that hung downwards whilst my brain was telling me that this couldn’t be real, snap out of it.

My wife and kids nursed me though Christmas until I was somewhat fit to get out of a tracksuit on the eve of a new millennium.

We had to get the bus to town as I was unable to drive.

We stood on Merchants Quay looking up at the fireworks and I prayed like I never prayed before.

“Give me one last chance and I will try to change”

I was fit enough to crawl into AA on the 7th of January, a new chapter begun.

Hope I never forget that Christmas.

Photographer Mr Iced Coffee Phil O’Kane is today’s Selection Box guest blogger.

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Another year, another set of goals, new memories and hopefully many good times. As is the norm this time of year, I have created a short list of resolutions; some vaguely realistic goals and achievements for the year ahead. I’ve never really been one to take resolutions seriously, though this year I think I’ve made a list of potentially do-able things.

Putting it into practice is always much harder while having a few

• Go to sleep earlier
  I seriously try to try to get to sleep earlier, but I just don’t like going to sleep. I always have far too much on my mind to keep me occupied.

• Be more creative
  By this I mean that I want to expand my range of photography even more and possibly also improve of Photoshop techniques.

• Meet more people than last year
  This was really a great year for meeting lots of new people, and Twitter did help a lot with that – I hope that this year will have even more new encounters.

• Travel more around Ireland (besides Dublin and Cork)
  I have been to the South of Ireland more times this year than in any other year. Many times in Dublin and twice in Cork. This year I want to venture to some other parts of the country; Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway, Waterford etc. There is a small chance of a Road Trip so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

• Understand the infrastructure of the Internet
  Cables under the sea! Name servers? IPs? General hosting woes. Yeah theres lots about the architecture of the web I would love to understand. It may take longer than a year.

• Save more money
  I’m terrible at doing this, but this year I hope to try very very hard.

• Become more confident at public speaking
  Ah yes, public speaking. So many people seem so damned good at it – the ones that are just have a certain amount of confidence in themselves, what they are saying and that the audience wants to hear it – that’s where I go wrong. This will be me year.

• Take more day trips around Northern Ireland
  I love taking train journeys around NI, usually somewhere by the sea (there are no trains in the West), usually somewhere slightly interesting to take lots of photos. I didn’t do it often in 2008 so big effort for 2009 – as well as a photo trip to the Giants Causeway still in planning.

• Email friends more often
  I just don’t write personal emails to friends often enough, I feel bad when I don’t. It’s often the feeling bad that puts of not doing it. Friends, you will feel the love this year.

Resolutions are one of those things that everyone asks about in the first week of January, right after saying they have just broken theirs by eating chocolate, having that takeaway, or having those drinks the very next weekend. It isn’t until two or three months later that they realise they still haven’t used the gym membership.

A year can be a long time, better planning of that time will be a major one really. The more variation of activities each day brings, the the shorter life won’t seem. No matter what it is, if each day is the same I want to make an effort to change that. Do more on the spur of the moment, hop on that bus/train when the opportunity arises.