Irish Tim's rantings

Just a few pics

2007-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was going to upload a few pics here but I am just fed up with how long it takes to upload them to blogger. So instead let these three be a teaser and then go to facebook to see the rest. What you see below is the hospital that I got to visit just outside of Durban. The 1st is a general view from the front yard whilst the 2nd and 3rd is of the childrens ward and maternity ward respectively.

See you all on facebook (link to my page is on the right of this one).

Back to the Rat Race

2007-09-10T05:28:00.001-07:00

Hello all

So this is my first Monday back at work since I got back from South Africa. I am particular bored as I haven't gotten to go out to court today and have really spent the morning catching up on all sorts of administrative things. Anyways, no one is really interested in that I am sure but would rather hear about South Africa. And since, I still have another 15 minutes for lunch I shall try to oblige. Sorry, no pics yet, they are on my home computer but they are coming, I promise.

So here are 7 thoughts from South Africa

1 - South Africa must be the most economically diverse country on earth. I saw the most extraordinary wealth when I was in the country and yet I also saw incredible poverty. I am not talking Malone Road vs Shankhill Road but I am talking Royalty vs near death. It honestly amazed me that people could live so well and not be affected by what is on their doorstep. Still, the issues are far more complex than I can do justice to in this blog but suffice to say that the number of people in poverty is so vast that perhaps it will be many generations before they work their way out. However, the crazy thing is that South Africa is the rich African country!!

2 - Apparently people are keen on me with a beard. I shall let the readers be the judge upon posting a few pics soon.

3 - South Africa is incredibly beautiful. I guess to an extent, people had told me to expect beauty but I honestly had no idea just how fantastic the place was. From the mountainous terrain around Durban to the stunning Capetown waters and the vast Krugger National Park, there really is a little of everything. And I didn't even get to try the surfing!!

4 - Racism. What I mean by that is that it is not unusual for people out there to call people simply "the blacks" or "the whites" or indeed "the colours". Again, I was somewhat expecting it but when you hear it at first it's most peculiar. I definitely did detect racist undertones amongst some of the White South Africans that I met who honestly believe that their lifestyles are under attack. I suppose to an extent they are right. That's an interesting debate in itself. Affirmative Action, good or bad?

5 - The HIV crisis out there is very very real. I was "fortunate" enough that the doctor that I stayed with at the start of my trip brought me into all the areas of his hospital. What I saw there was incredible and gave me even more faith in the African people. People who were suffering with all sorts of ailments putting on their best face and not letting their difficulties get them down. The only exception to this was in the HIV ward in which there nothing but absolute despair.

6 - Paranoia. This is to do with the vast crime rates in the country. At the start of the trip when I was with my parents, everyone that I met couldn't believe that I was going to head off by myself. It got me so nervous that I felt like it was a 50-50 chance that I would be mugged as soon as I arrived in Port Elizabeth. No worries there though, PE must be one of the most chilled out places around.

What is odd with the crime though is that a lot of people have had bad experiences. Yet, everyone and I mean every single person that I met treated me well. I guess there must be a small minority that spoil it for the rest. But still, the majority are wonderful wonderful people.

7 - The highlight of the trip. Well, it might surprise you. It should be the safari that I was on and yes that was incredible (I even got to see all of the Big 5 on one afternoon). However, the real highlight was at the District 6 Mueseum in Capetown. Now bear in mind that I had been a bit unlucky with the weather in Capetown in that I had been prevented from going to either Table Mountain or out to Robbin Island (Nelson Mandela's prison for 18 years of his incarceration).

Anyways, I arrived at District 6 Mueseum was is basically a memorial to those "blacks" that were displaced from that region as a result of the apartheid policy. I spent an hour just wandering around the mueseum and as you can imagine the whole thing is quite moving. At the end of my time there though I wandered into a room at the back that I thought was the tea room and seeing that there was no one there went looking for someone who could get me some tea. I didn't realise that the back of the place was attached to a small local primary school and I wandered straight into it. When the kids saw me there, it was just incredible, so moving. When the kids saw me they just ran at me and started to hug me. I honestly didn't get it and at first I thought that they wanted money or sweets or something. Once I saw the teacher with them though I realised that this wasn't their objective but rather it appeared that they were just happy that a white man would actually come into their school and spend a little time with them. At least, that's what I was told. I'm still not sure that I understand. One's thing is for sure, I was moved.

Anyways, I've tried to give a quick summary albeit I know that this entry has probably went on a little longer than I had envisaged. I didn't even get to talk much about the fact that I did a rope swing with a freefall of some 110 metres. Very scary indeed.

If anyone wants anymore detail do let me know and I shall try to provide.

For now, I've gotta get ready for dinner with the President.

James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti (It's A Man's World)

2007-09-06T02:48:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm back from South Africa with lots to say and a few great pictures to post.

First though, I thought that in light of Luciano Pavarotti's death today I would post this video of two of the greatest singers of my lifetime. They will be missed

This is Africa

2007-08-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Port Shepherd some 100 km south of Durban. I have finally made to South Africa and the last few days just getting here have been something in themself.

Unfortunately I am on a slow connection and so don't want to spend some a lot of time on this entry except to say that I think that this holiday could be quite something. I have already spent some time in an absolutely luxurious hotel one night only to spend the next in a shanty town as filthy as perhaps I have ever seen followed by a hospital that, whilst being quite modern in its facilities is just full of tragic stories.

That and getting absolutely scared shitless about the prospect of doing some back packing by myself whenever all that people do it seems is talk about violent crime!!

The basic plan if it can be done/afforded is to head up to Krugger National Park for a few days potential safari and then fly to Capetown before perhaps going back up the coast towards Port Elizabeth.

It's all quite exciting, scary and to be honest humbling. More to follow

South Africa is the Call

2007-08-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

So as we enter the mid point in August, I have now been back working full time for at least two months. Since I still have another year to go before I qualify, I figure the best thing to do is go on holidays!!!

Typically I try to get back to Canada at this time of year and indeed for the longest time this year I was going to do just that and maybe try and combine it all with a trip to New York. The reality was though that any trip back to Toronto is done simply to catch up with people and whilst that is great, as time goes by I am discovering that those people aren't there anymore. So whilst I am letting Robin down by not visiting her in New York as I really wanted to do (sorry Robin!!), my new plan is even more exciting.

On August 23rd, I am flying to South Africa with my parents. Once there, I am spending two weeks by myself and with other friends that I am hoping to meet up with touring around the country. Now, I'll be honest and say that I really don't know much about South Africa aside from the fact that they have a pretty good rugby team and an ex President who is already considered one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. All that and also, I hear there is a lot of surfing.

I am so excited to learn about this place which is meant to be a model for how Northern Ireland should bring its divided communites together. I have so many friends who have already been to this place and not one of them comes back with a bad word to say about the place.

Anyways, that's it for the update for now. I will write again soon with this entry on false humility...I promise. Oh and if you're on Facebook check out Lindsay Bauer's page for pictures of her and Dave's trip to Northern Ireland.....good times.

Oh, and in case you haven't already, check out the video below. Seriously, it's something else. I actually heard an interview with the guy who filmed it and he said that the footage is actually from 2004 and that it had just sat on his home video collection until some somputer geek visited one day and posted it. 9 million views later......oh and without giving anything away about the ending of the video, any bad thoughts that you might have about the long term health of the animal involved are apparently misguided!!

Battle at Kruger

2007-07-31T12:32:00.001-07:00

I am honestly not kidding when I say that these piece of wildlife footage is possibly the most incredible I have ever seen. It takes about a minute to get going but keep watching trust me.

Why do we blog?

2007-06-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how many of my friends who blog have got updates at the minute that involve some sort of apology for not havingt posted more. I'll admit it, I do exactly the same thing. The strange thing is that of all of the links from this blog to others, it is really only Steve-o (and to a lesser extent Jeff Gulley and Sarah Flemming) who keep their blogs regularly updated.

So what's with this spate of inactivity in cyberspace? Is it that we are all leading such adult lives that we are leaving university behind and instead focusing on the working world and all the stresses that go with. Maybe, but I recall most of these people being equally busy throughout much of the last few years and still finding time to blog.

Alternatively, it may be the excuse that I often use - nothing exciting happens to me in my day to day life. Well that may be true but (and this is not meant to be an insult), but Steve-o leads a life as mundane as the rest of us, i.e. he works 9-5, enjoys going out and loves his sports and music and yet Steve-o manages to put together a blog which I generally find so interesting that I rarely am online each day without checking to see if it has been updated.

Another possibility is that we look at blogs of a higher quality of work that ours and feel somewhat embarrassed at how unprofessional or sometimes darn uninteresting our posts our. However, I can't buy that option either as it reeks of false humility as I am definitely arrogant enough to think that when I put my mind to it, I can churn something interesting. (Incidentally, this whole concept of false humility is definitely one for another entry).

However, if I am truthful, I know that the reason that I don't blog enough is that I no longer get the same attention out of it. If I wanted to make myself sound better, I would rephrase that and say I don't get the same kick out of it but let's call a spade a spade. When I started this blog, I did genuinely start it as a means of keeping in touch with Canadian friends who were near and dear to me. In the initial few months, I wrote often and indeed wrote quite well. The blog began many enjoyable MSN conversations and the compliments certainly helped feed my ego.

Somewhere down the line though I started to do two things. The first was that I stopped updating regularly out of nothing more that pure laziness and the second was that I did update, they were updates purely for that sake and as such were remarkably dull. Soon the MSN conversations and resulting compliments stopped and I started to go elsewhere to help fuel my ego. I would post the occassional decent entry (I still quite like "The Problem of Pain) but by and large my writing was substandard.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this entry was. Perhaps it was nothing more than a glorified "Sorry for not posting" entry but I hope not. Maybe just maybe, it is the start of me being a little more honest with the reader of this page and maybe just maybe in the potential resulting MSN conversations one or two original lines of thinking might come out.

Cheers for reading.
Tim

In the Process of a move

2007-06-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I am currently moving stuff back and forth to my new place in Belfast and as such my internet access is somewhat limited.

Normal limited service (i.e. one weekly update) will resume asap.

There's always next year

2007-05-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the game didn't go so well. To be honest, Liverpool probably had it coming. They have been in two major finals in the last two years and won both of them despite the fact that in both games they have been the poorer team.

Last night however, the absolutely dominated the game creating more chances against the Milan team that they somehow scored 3 goals against two years ago. Still, when a team concedes a goal in the manner of Milan's first (an absolultely brutal deflection), you kindof know it isn't going to be your night.

This is a good time to be a Liverpool fan though. The spine of the team is solid and in players such as Gerrard, Mascherano, Carragher and Reina are absolutely world class and in addition have in my opinion the best manager in all of European Football. This summer, he is going to be given an enormous war chest that can pretty much match that of Chelsea's and the Scum so there is definitely room for hope for next season.

Two final points though. UEFA seriously needs to take a look at the referring from that final from last night. When one bears in mind what Milan were accused of doing last summer, the fact that the ref called for time a minute early whenever Milan had wasted the entire last five minutes with an injury and a substitution is scandalous. I'm not saying that Liverpool would have scored, in fact they probably wouldn't have done so. But the fact remains that they should have been given an opportunity.

My final point is regarding the tickets. There is no way that for a Champions League Final both teams should be allocated 19,000 each but the Corporate boys at UEFA get another 25,000 or so. Liverpool fans spend an absolute fortune following their team and to hear some of the stories of people who didn't get into the stadium despite having legitimate tickets due to some UEFA cock up is just ridiculous. UEFA needs to take a long hard look at itself or else the Champions League Final is in serious danger of becoming the European Superbowl where they hype exceeds the actual quality of the game and the real fans are ignored.

Champions League Final & Moving Out

2007-05-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

As always, I haven't updated this blog in far too long but given that tomorrow night is a major night for any Liverpool man, I felt that I should say something.

It was only two years ago that Liverpool ended a 20 year European Cup drought by winning the most dramatic Champions League Final in history. I can still remember the scene at half time at the Windmill pub in York. Liverpool fans leaving en masse and those that stayed becoming either increasingly bitter or simply weeping. Milan had produced a half of football from was as near to perfection as could be imagined and were dominating with a 3-0 lead.

The problem was that Liverpool actually did produce a perfect 2nd half and came back to draw 3-3. By the time penalties came along, well there was that miss from Schevchenko, and there was no doubt that Liverpool would prevail.

My reaction, well lets say that it was as close to psychotic as I can remember ever being.

So here we are two years later and Liverpool are back in the final. For some reason, I have become a lot calmer with my sports since that memorable night two years ago and you might even say that I have matured to the point where if Liverpool were to lose tomorrow night, I wouldn't cry (I think).

In other news, I am getting out of my parents house at the end of the month and moving up to Belfast. I have now been home for about 18 months and whilst my original plan was to stay at home until I heard back from Canadian Immigration, it has been too long and I can't wait around forever. Besides my contract at my firm is for another year so hopefully the one year lease will work out perfectly and if at the end of that Canada is still an option, that would be perfect timing.

That's your lot for now. I'll try and write again soon with a more thought provoking update

Stephen Hawking Interview

2007-05-10T01:23:00.003-07:00

This is only 8 minutes long but I truly found it to be inspiring.

The Problem of Pain

2007-04-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am so bad when it comes to keeping this blog up to date. I mean, seriously I think about it often but something seems to always get in the way.

One of the reasons that I have been lacking in my updates as of late is that I have been using some of my free time to read a C S Lewis book "The Problem of Pain". This type of book pushes my limited intellect to the max and as such, it was a slow read but one that I recommend nonetheless.

I guess the reason that I have been reading it is due to recent events that have hurt. The most major of these I have posted on this blog but they have got me to consider the age old question of why God lets bad things happen to good people (I like to think of myself as good!!).

Frankly, this is an issue that I have done my best to avoid over the last few years as realistically if the God I believe in really does exist surely certain things in the world don't have to be as they are.

I can't say that I fully grasped all of Lewis argument and I will definitely have to read it again to see if I agree with what I did read. I will however make two points that at first glance at least I liked.

1 - Lewis does not believe in the concept of hell as most Christians think of it. Rather he sees it as a place where the "soul" is separated from God and simply ceases to exist. His argument here isn't too bad and if this is correct it would mean that to an extent he agrees with atheists in terms of what happens to you when you die. Those who don't believe in God simply cease to exist.

2 - More practically, in terms of life on earth, Lewis sees the problem of pain arising out of the concept of free will. Of course, to buy into this argument you have to believe in God but for a second lets assume that we all do. That God would have had two options when it came to creating humans. Let them have free will or control them as robots. Since God apparently chose to give us free will, he actually lost control of what we would do with it. As such, we are left to our own devices which means that we generally choose to please ourselves as opposed to pleasing other people. It is this selfishness that leads to one person screwing another person over and causing them pain. Ofcourse Lewis argues that God could intervene and prevent the evil doer doing as he pleases but then that person would have lost their free will. In essence therefore, it is our abuse of free will that causes pain.

I accept that I have simplified his arguments vastly and I apologise if I have offended in doing so. Furthermore, I am fully aware that these arguements honestly don't answer why a random event such as my cousin being paralysed played had to happen. However, the argument does perhaps enlighten a little in terms of some tragedies.

However, as I see it according to this argument one question remains. Should God have created robots or should he have created humans with free will (as Christians believe he did) or is it possible that God could have created humans who were only capable of doing good whilst still having free will. Lewis actually argues that it would have been impossible for God to do this third option but that argument is for another day.

Talk more soon.

PS - Northern Ireland has finally gone smoke free!! Wooohooo!!!!

Local Boy - Iain Archer

2007-04-08T08:21:00.001-07:00

This is quite a long video so I don't expect many people to watch it. However, for those music buffs amoungst you (Ty, Steve-o, I am looking at you)this is a guy whom I heard play at a small club in Belfast recently. It was some of the best music I had heard live in a long time and it wasn't just the whiskey talking.

So if you're bored for half an hour and just want to chill out, give this a listen. I particularly recommend Canal song which you can find at 9 mins 30 secs.

Inspired at Easter

2007-04-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

As regular readers to this blog must know (and indeed are probably getting sick of reading about), I consider myself to be a Christian albeit I really don't know how "Christian" my views on life really are. I often finding myself despising the Church as I just can't stand what it has done and in many cases continues to do to many of my friends.

However, this morning I had a particularly positive experience at church and I would like to share it now.

Being that it was Easter Sunday, I felt compelled to look past my views on the church and indeed on formal organised religion, if only for a day. So I went back to what I would consider as much my home church as any- Crossroads. The service itself was much of a muchness until it came to the sermon. It was taken by a young woman from Argentina who said that she wanted this service to be more than a regular Easter Sunday service which dealt with the same stories that we hear year in and year out since most people are now so familiar with those stories that theybarely impact at all.

She did of course read parts of these same stories but rather than being cliched about the resurrection of Christ, she decided to focus more on how these stories give us the power to forgive. As if to illustrate the point she then invited a guy of roughly my age to come out and speak for a few minutes. The man was a Palestinian Christian whom the speaker had met whenever she was recently in Palestine. He told us of what had gone out there since the fall of 2000 and how as a result he and his family had spent periods of up to 40 days hidden in the basement of their family home throughout much of the time up until 2005 due to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. As he went on I found myself moved for two main reasons.

This man whose life appears to have been turned upside by the Israeli army still managed to tell the story in what I perceived to be a fair unbiased account, always explaining both sides of the story whenever making any sort of political statement.
His continual attempt to show love and forgiveness to the people who (in his eyes) destroyed five years of his life. It was an example for me and indeed for everyone who was in attendance.

So thank you church for putting a human face on an old story and giving it some life again. Will I ever become a regular Sunday morning attender again, I don't know but for this Sunday and indeed for this Easter, I was inspired.

Northern Ireland vs England

2007-03-29T13:37:00.001-07:00

In light of my post about the great Northern Irish football team, lets remember that famous night less than two years ago when the country started to believe in their team again.

Ricky Gervais Comic Relief 2007 Red Nose Day

2007-03-28T15:04:00.001-07:00

Why is it that the best type of comedy has an element of truth to it?

Are you one of those people that are always cynical about celebrity's motives for getting involved in relief projects. If so, I am sure you will enjoy this video.

Ireland, it's still where its at

2007-03-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Has there ever been a better time to be an Irish sports fan? First of all, the rugby team win the Triple Crown (i.e beat England, Scotland and Wales) and indeed almost won the 6 Nations Championship only to be denied in the last minute against France.

Then the Irish cricket team (including my good school friend Andrew White) upset Pakistan in the cricket world cup and advanced to the Super 8 stage.

And then tonight, the super football team just went and beat Swedan ranked in the top 10 soccer nations in the world. In doing so, N.Ireland actually have a chance to qualify for the European Championships. Sure, it is a long way to go but you never know.

All this and Ian Paisley coming to an agreement with Gerry Adams and hopefully restoring home rule to the country.

Our wee country. Sometimes I still want to leave it but its hard not to also love it.

Are you serious?

2007-03-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I have just gotten back from a great weekend in Edinburgh watching Ireland kick ass at rugby, Ok, so maybe they didn't kick ass but at least they won!!

However, I have been meaning to post a wee story from about two weeks ago. Picture the scene. It's a Tuesday morning and I have just written an exam (one of about 15 that I have to write this year in order to finally qualify). The day is now mine for the taking and I am looking forward to seeing Dave Matthews in Belfast that night (and yes, I can't quite believe that he came to Belfast either).

So, a few of us solicitor trainees decide to spend the afternoon bowling and potentially partaking in a few beverages. I rush home and then start walking to the bowling alley. Upon my arrival, I reach into my coat pockets and to my complete shock, horror and disgust I realise that the Dave Matthews tickets are no longer there. My merry plans for the afternoon therefore changed rather quickly and instead of the afternoon of fun that was planned, I spent the next few hours rushing to the venue in an attempt to convince the organisers that I had indeed bought tickets and that I must have just dropped them on the street. Eventually, after somehow producing various bank records and the like, I was able to convince them to re-issue dublicates.

Now, my question is if you were the person who found my tickets do you think that it is fair game to suddenly just assume them as your own and go to the concert? Or alternatively, given than they had my name and address on them, should they have made some sort of effort to contact me. Because, let me tell you that upon my friend and I gaining entry to the concert and arriving at our seats the following conversation took place.

Me - "I think that you are sitting on our seats"
Them - "No, I don't think so mate"
Me - "Really, let me show you my ticket"
Them - "hmm, there must be some sort of mistake because our tickets say we are here as well".
Me - "Strange, do you mind if I have a look at your ticket"

Me - "Yes, I see what you've done. You see the way that my name and address is on the ticket. Obviously you have found these tickets on the streets and decided to use them for yourself. Now, I won't say anything if you leave now and there are a few other empty seats that you can maybe sneak into."

Them - (Slightly embarrassed) - Alright then.

I would honestly like to think that if I had found the tickets myself I would have made some sort of effort to track down the rightful owner. Am I really that naive??

An Historic Day?

2007-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

The term "historic" is perhaps the most over used term in all of Irish politics. From the "historic" IRA ceasefire in 1994 to the "historic" Good Friday Agreement in 1998 followed by the ,yes you've guessed it "historic" assembly shortly thereafter and then finally the all together now "historic" St Andrews agreement in November of last year. So perhaps you can forgive the people of this country if they turn their eyebrows of the talk of today being such a day.

Nonetheless, the potential for today to be a defining moment in our wee country's history is certainly there. For those that don't know today we voted (again!!) in an effort to set up an assembly that would take away direct rule from London and give the long suffering people of Northern Ireland direct access to politicians who would rule for the most part from Belfast. Essentially, the American/Canadian equivalent of state/provincial government.

It remains to be seen whether our politicians can cease this opportunity as to be fair we have been in this position before. However, anyone who has been to Belfast in the last couple of years will tell you that finally the place is booming and surely a local government can only further improve things.

I am not going to publically post who I voted for but I will say this. I honestly don't care (that much) who gets in so long as they stay there and try to sort this place out.

Bringing back the Blog

2007-03-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

I last updated this blog just before Christmas and at that time I honestly thought that I would close the blog in the New Year. I had started to find maintaining a blog more of a hassle than a privilege and needed a rest. Now two months later, I am back and am going to give this thing another go. I honestly do think that my writing can be somewhat decent at times and it is only by continually writing more and more that it will improve yet further. There are numerous ways that these improvements can be made and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to adopt a few of them.

Quite a bit has happened in the last few months but I will stick to the one major event that many if not most of you who already know about. It was only 7 weeks or so ago that my mum told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet incredibly and wonderfully, as I now write this, she has just phoned me from the Swiss Alpes where she is resting (skiing!!) following a successful operation that has apparently removed all signs of the cancer and somehow increased her life expectancy.

The outpouring of support for my family from various friends around the world was really quite staggering and I still feel extremely humbled by it all. As I say in truth, I haven't gotten my head around the whole thing - I mean who beats cancer in two months and futhermore how come my family is so blessed in so many ways when so many others continue to struggle. As strange and perverse and it seems, I actually feel slightly guilty when I think about the recovery my mum continues to make in the light of this reality. So many people were so kind to me and took time out to encourage either myself or my family directly and yet there are probably things that have been going on in their lives for much longer and in my ignorance I have said nothing to them about.

However, I'm not going to get too deep too quickly into my re-entry back in the blogosphere. For all of my feelings of guilt, there is a much stronger feeling of joy that overwhelmes those emotions. My mum is well, my family is happy and life is good. So basically, all I want to say for now to whoever is reading this is thank you.

Happy Christmas

2006-12-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

I tried to send as many people as possible Christmas cards this year but unfortunately I have lost many more people's addresses. So for those of you who missed out, 1 - send me your address and 2 - here was my yearly address. I am not sure whether or not I will keep this blog going in the year as I have been lacking motivation to keep writing and hence have likely lost a lot of readers. If I do come back, it will be with vigour and hopefully return to some of its previous glories.

Warmest Greetings to you all

It’s reached that time of year whenever I attempt to regain contact with my friends who seem to have stretched further and further around the globe.

Looking back on my last Christmas letter, I have distinct memories of stating confidently that this year would be extremely significant in that I would finally discover once and for all whether or not I would be able to immigrate to Canada. However, as anyone who knows anything about Canadian Immigration will tell you, they are not the most efficient bunch in the world and as such this year has passed by without so much as a peep from them.

The year began as many other years have began at a pub in Belfast. I don’t know why the Irish do it to ourselves but there is something about getting to a pub with a few friends and celebrating in the New Year with a few hundred more strangers! Maybe this year, I will be more sensible and organise some sort of house party. Far more civilised.

One of my New Years Resolutions was to try a new sport and I actually kept this one by taking up a sport that throughout the past few years I thought that I would be good at – American Football. For those of you that care, I am now the starting cornerback and kicker for the Belfast Bulls. Fair enough, we missed the All Ireland play offs this year but next year, we believe that the Shamrock Bowl will be ours.

I got more and more absorbed into my new career as the year went on but finally in the summer Sarah Fleming and Jeff Gulley were able to drag me away from it all for a memorable weeks travelling in Europe. If this week taught me one thing apart from how to be sick after suffering severe food poisoning, it was this. I love travelling and really should do more of it. Furthermore, if anyone is doing any travelling through Europe in the next few years, you must stop by Czesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It is seriously one of the most magical little towns that I have ever been to.

In September there was then my annual pilgrimage back to Canada where I finally managed to see an NFL game whilst almost being arrested by US Immigration as I entered America on a visit of no more than 4 hours! Most importantly though, I caught up with a lot of really great friends even if my karaoke rapping on the last night ensured for more than one reason that they might not be my friends for much longer!

The year however ended in extremely sad circumstances with my cousin Jamie being involved in a rugby accident which has left him paralysed from the waist down. While we are all thankful that he will still have a good quality of life ahead of him, it is hard to not to be extremely upset and indeed angry that such an innocuous incident of only a second will have such a devastating impact on his life.

As for the New Year, I don’t know what sort of resolutions to make. I will finally be starting the Bar Course in January and so hopefully by this time next year I will all but be a lawyer. My longing for travel has also increased tenfold since the summer so that must be pursued in some form this year. Anyone interested? As for Canada who knows. The longer I am back in Ireland the more comfortable I become but still the Great White North will always be calling me in some way.

That’s it for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. If I haven’t seen you this year, I will try harder next year I promise. Stay in touch.

Tim

Ireland - It's where it's at

2006-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Before I start, I would like to thank those of you who got in touch regarding my cousin Jamie. Your kind words are all appreciated. By way of an update, he had an operation last week which stablised the break. My understanding is that whilst they can't repair of the nerve damage caused by the break, they can cure the break itself. It's not much, but at least it's something. So thanks again, your thoughts are prayers are very much appreciated by everyone.

Onto slightly more upbeat news, I would just like to say that I have found some further evidence that Ireland really has come a long way and is actually a great place to live. At least, that's what Lonely Planet says.

"The landscape of Northern Ireland is astonishingly beautiful, the people are warm and genuine, and yet it is still relatively undiscovered which makes it the perfect destination."

The guide said the country is "abuzz with life: the cities are pulsating, the economy is thriving and the people, the lifeblood that courses through the country, are in good spirits".

Don't believe me, click here for the BBC summary of the article.

So if you haven't already done so come on over and check out God's country.

Jamie

2006-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for a while but for once it was actually for a good reason that being that I didn't know how to write what I knew I wanted and needed to write. I don't know if today I am any closer to knowing how to do this but I may as well try.

The picture on the left is that of my cousin Jamie. Jamie is 19 years old and for the last 18 months he has been at Newcastle University in England being sponsored by Price Waterhouse Coopers to take Accountancy.

This past weekend, Jamie was paralyzed playing rugby. Just typing that sentence makes me despair. Basically, Jamie was simply running with the ball when he slipped. From what I understand, he fell in such a way that his back was in an extremely precarious position. To be honest, that is not entirely unusual in rugby. Unfortunately in this case, the guy who was running to tackle him had so much momentum that he was unable to stop when he saw Jamie slip. As a result, he went straight over his neck completely severing Jamie's L1 nerve and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

I last saw Jamie about 2 months ago. He was about to head back to England having spent the summer working and touring in the US. We decided that some golf was an appropriate way to mark the occasion despite the fact that neither of us had played in almost a year. Whilst my swing fell apart, Jamie's was as smooth as always and needless to say he destroyed me on the course leaving me very much red faced.

Prior to that, I had last seen Jamie before he left for the US in Newcastle at the beginning of June. I had went over to write a company law exam and afterwards I met up with Jamie for drinks. Despite my wanting to get into the nearest pub, Jamie was insistent that we walk what seemed like half way across the city to a pub that he assured me I would like. He was not wrong.

I mention both of these stories but they serve to illustrate what a tragedy this is. Jamie was in great health and it is just not right that something like this has hit him whenever the best years of his life are still ahead. People tell me that he will still be able to do a lot and of course this is true. However, that doesn't make this any easier to cope with. Things like this just shouldn't happen to someone like Jamie but I guess what people have always told me is actually true. Life isn't always fair.

I have no idea what purpose I have by writing all of this. I just know that I need to get something down in print. As a rugby player myself, I have always been aware of the dangers of the game but in reality injuries like this are just extremely rare. Still I think to myself how can I ever play this game again but yet I know that I want to and probably will.

I don't want my rant about this to turn into one of self pity. The reality is that the sadness, despair and damn anger that I feel pale into insignificance whenever I consider what Jamie and his immediate family are coping with right now. As such, I will just close with this.

Jamie, I love you and I am just devastated for you. I know that you will come through this and become an even more wonderful person than you already are. But I know that it's not fair and I don't pretend to even have a slight clue as to why you should have to endure this suffering. Please just know that if you need any help enduring it I am only a phone call away.

I know that I can't speak to you directly for quite a while but do know that I want to see you and I definitely will as soon as you are back in the country. Love Tim

2006-11-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Gospel according to Bono

People often are confused by my idea of what my Christian faith means to me and indeed why I would be a part of it. This is perfectly understandable since Christianity itself has a lot to answer for

In this video, Bono hopefully articulates what it really means to be a Christian and to respect "higher laws". It's 20 mins long but I would encourage everyone to check it out.

Canada Pictures

2006-10-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my thumb is still nowhere near recovered and I still don't exactly know what is wrong with it. Some people are telling me a break, others a dislocation. All I know is that it hurts and I am going to get a proper X-Ray tomorrow as opposed to simply relying on expert opinions.

However, in the meantime, I will post a few pictures of my time in Canada without too much commenting on the pics (sorry, it just is too awkward to type lots). Enjoy!!

Ok so on the day that I arrived, I saw the Red Sox play the Jays at the Rogers Centre.

I then moved on to the Slanty Reunion. Try drinking whilst jetlagged. It's crazy.

The next day I went to see the Packers in Detroit. This is a huge story in itself and I can't type it all now so check out this

Steve and I immediately after the Pack game.

The next day I went up to Belleville to see Mel. Again, I have a rant here to do about Canada and monopolies particularly when it comes to public transport but it will have to wait. Instead you can simply just admire Mel and I climbing a tree.

It was then onto Kingston. The Gid came down to visit me from Ottawa. A great night.

2006-10-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Rock was then out in force. Here are Brad, Trevor, Ainsley and Jen.

Bobby (honourary Rock member) and Jeff. Cudos to Jeff who sacrificed his time basically the whole time I was there to either drink, eat, play sports or watch sports. Much appreciated Jeff.

Trevor and Christiane. Didn't get to see too much of them but what time there was was very sweet. Trev, how's the rugby going? Christi, what about Marks LSAT? Was he happy with how things went?

Meghan and I. If you want to see a cool project that Meghan is involved in, click here

2006-10-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Peter Vooys then entertained us all with some spectacular guitar.

After Kingston and following another stop off in Belleville with Mel, it was onto London to see The Who. A fantastic concert. I had never seen them before and to be honest only knew their famous songs. But, I loved it nonetheless!!

Steve and Ty were also. Ty likes to give the fingers.

It was then back to Toronto for a few days which clearly meant that once again I had to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. Team Ireland actually make it into it. I was so happy.

Of course no trip to Toronto would be complete without a beer tour. Thanks Chris.

2006-10-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

On my 2nd last night Chris Schryer and I went to see the Leafs home opener. It was amazing. This is me by the ice. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there.

This actually represents our view. Unfortunately the Leafs lost but have since made a big recovery and seem to be sitting comfortably in a playoff position.

So that's it. Unfortunately, on my last night out I forgot my camera. This is probably a good thing as I ended up doing a little karaoke. Apologies to all involved and in particular for the quality of the lyrics that I discovered where in my song.

What a two weeks it was. It was just what I needed. Canada I will be back.

An Apology

2006-10-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry to anyone who is hoping to check out some pics of my time in Canada. I have them ready to upload but just haven't had a chance this week to do so.

In fact I had vowed that I would use this afternoon to do a decent blog update but unfortunately yesterday I sprained my thumb very badly playing rugby and typing even this far has therefore been a bit of an ordeal.

Hopefully, I will be back to full fitness soon and can give this blog the attention it needs but in the meantime maybe this one picture will do for now.

We weren't really as close as that for the actual game but managed to sneak down to those seats for the warm up. Oh and the reason that the team is wearing only number 21 and number 4 jerseys is that those were the numbers that were being retired that night. Man, those seats would have been sweet.

In Ireland again

2006-10-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say that I am all safely arrived back in Ireland after an amazing two weeks in Canada.

Pictures, stories and new ideas to follow but unfortunately for the moment I am stuck formatting my own computer which has left me using a public one for this post.

Suffice to say though, between being detained by US Immigration and many many memorable nights out, it was not a dull trip.

2006-09-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to have to say this. Seriously, I am as pro equality as any man can be.

However, this female ref has shown why the gender differential must remain in football.

Watch this clip. The shot from the forward goes wide. The wee sneaky ball boy nips onto the pitch and kicks the ball into the net.

And the ref gives a goal. To be fair, the male linesman didn't do much better. So funny!!

Ball Boy scores goal (and it counts!!!)

One Year On Part 2

2006-09-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where

HEALY HEALY HEALY

Would you believe it. It is 364 days since N.Ireland beat England 1-0 in the greatest single local sporting moment I have ever witnessed and what just happened. They have just beaten Spain 3-2. Healy scored a hat trick!!! N.Ireland has a new hero again!!!

Goals to come as soon as someone posts it on youtube.

One Year On

2006-09-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

It's now almost a year since I returned to Ireland for the first prolonged period time of time since 1999. One year on and sometimes, I am perhaps as confused as ever.

Professionally, this has been the best 12 months of my life. I now work for one of the top law firms in N.Ireland and whilst I am still a ways from being properly qualified as a full lawyer, 75% of my days are spent doing what a real lawyer does. I now know for sure that I want to spend the next period of my life working in the law in some shape or form and if it hadn't been for my work here I maybe wouldn't know that.

Personally though, I sometimes wonder if I am any further on. Ireland is a different place to what left in 1999 and yet at the same time it is still the same. I guess what I mean is that there are some weeks that I think this is the greatest place in the world but others when I want nothing more than to leave it forever.

I guess in the same way as when I am abroad I miss my family, I really do miss my friends from England or more particularly Canada. A great Belfast writer C S Lewis talks about the problem that exists in life in that the stronger the relationship between people, the more it hurts whenever you aren't with that person.

Essentially what he is saying that is that every single relationship we have in life ends at some point and the thing is that the more we have put into those relationships, the more we end up missing that relationship. The key is to accept this as part of life and really enjoy our day to day relationships.

Maybe, that is my problem. I have to admit that I find it hard to get past previous friendships and really embrace new ones. But I would at least like to think that I am trying even if I do find it hard.

Anyways, I will at least see some of my Canadian friends in a few weeks time whenever I return. Oh, and it even looks like I might have gotten myself some Packers tickets after all. Things are looking up after all.

2006-08-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Ardal o'hanlon (Father ted)

Here is an hilarious Irish comedian in action.

"There's a reason why men suffer more than woman when they are ill. It's because there is always a part of the woman's brain thinking about shoes."

"Condoms, they're useless aren't they??.....They're ineffective and they burst......and your stomach just can't cope with the sudden impact of 2 kilos of cocaine."

Cursed Never to See Brett

2006-08-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

About 2 years ago, I had just left Canada but one of my big hopes was the I would go back for a weeks holiday and during that time see a Green Bay Packers game. You see all the talk was that Brett Favre would never play another season and I figured that I owed it to meself to see one of the all time great's while I still had a chance.

Those of you who have heard this story before will know that all that ended up happening with regards to the game was me being stranded in an airport for a full day and a bit, missing the game and almost getting charged with assault on a taxi driver.

Still two years later and Brett is still playing. So I have booked flights out to Canada again to catch up with all of my great friends there and I figured that this time, I would be less adventurous and plan only to go to Detroit to see a Pack away game.

Well, tickets went on sale this afternoon. I left strict instructions in my office. No appointments for the relevant 30 minutes, hold all calls, etc. So there I am sitting there in front of ticketmaster.com and clicking refresh, refresh, etc. I can see the minutes ticking down to the moment when surely I will be rewarded for my two year wait and get some tickets when suddenly......

My phone rings. I quickly snap "No calls" only for the secretary to reply "It's one of the partners and he wants to ask you about the case this morning." I realised at this stage that the ship has sailed in terms of me avoiding this conversation. I mean what sort of Irish employee is going to accept "I need to get NFL tickets as an excuse not to talk to him". So reluctantly, I talked to him. I vainly tried to follow the ticketmaster instructions but alas, I was unable to operate at 100% efficiency.

When I got off the phone 5 minutes later, I realised that it was all over and that the tickets were already sold out. Devastated, I vainly kept trying and actually did manage to get them to reserve one for me. However, as I tried to order another single ticket for my buddy ,it screwed everything up and the moment was gone.

So, it looks like no Packers for me this year. Still, I will have an amazing time catching up with everyone in Canada (23rd September to 6th October are the golden gates) and plus, I am hearing rumours. Brett to play for another season???

2006-08-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

It does look a pretty cool place though. I shall have to go back.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

My last day in Vienna. I have no other really good pics from there though as I got food poisoning on my first night there and basically left Sarah to explore the city by herself whilst I refused to leave my bed.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

One last shot of Czesky Krumlov. One of the most magical places I have ever been to.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Canadian Sarah and English Sarah with their tubes. Don't they look cool. Those girls aren't that tough though. I went tubing after midnight. Way harder.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Another great dinner out.The couple on the left were from Colarado. The girl on my right is from Manchester (I tried not to hold this against her). The guy on my left is Australian. The next guy...hmm...I can't really remember him but the guy on the extreme right went to Queens in Canada. Craaaaaazy!!
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:00:00.001-07:00

More crusing.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Czesky Krumlov (p.s I don't know how to spell the name of that wonderful town properly still!!)
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

I never thought that I would be cruising down a river in the Czech Republic with beer and beautiful Americans.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

The quaint little cobble streets of Czesky Krumlov.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:55:00.001-07:00

Dinner out with my old Canadian friends and my new Czech and American friends
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

I love this place
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Have you seen Mission Impossible? This is the gate at the start of the movie where one of the agents is stabbed!!
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:53:00.001-07:00

It is a beautiful city.
Posted by Picasa

2006-08-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Sarah in downtown Prague.
Posted by Picasa

Wolf Creek

2006-08-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hey all

Ok, so I haven't quite gotten my pics up yet from my holiday yet as there appears to be some issue with the connection between my camera and my computer. I really know nothing about these things.

This does however give me an opportunity to tell you about a truly terrifying movie that I saw last night. Wolf Creek was apparently out in cinema's last fall but somehow I missed it. The movie itself is a small production and is set in the beautiful outback of Australia. I urge everyone to watch it.

Essentially the plot is that there are two British backpack girls who go out to Australia where they hook up with a young Australian. Together they go off to see what is apparently the 2nd biggest crater in the world called Wolfe Creek (NB, I don't know why the spelling of the movie is different from the spelling of the crater). Anyways, upon returning to their cars, they discover that it no longer starts. They resign themselves to spending the night there whenever a true country man stops by and offers to tow them into town. Basically, it all kicks off from there.

The thing is this is a horror movie unlike I have ever really seen. Now, I am not very good at watching these type of movies but this one actually had me in pain because I was terrified and yet I was so behind the characters. To be fair though, it is also fairly horrific. I finished watching it at about 1am and since I was foolish enough to watch it alone I ended up staring at the ceiling in my room for the next hour before I could face the prospect of going to bed.

Fair enough, I am a wuss but seriously watch this movie. It breaks all the horror movie rules and it works.

The irony however is that my car broke down today. And what did I have to do but get a man out to load it up and take it to what he assured me would be a garage. Now admittedly it was the middle of the day and as such there were lots of people aruond so I wasn't really that scared. But still, it was in the back of my mind.

Ok, so this has been a fairly weird entry and I admit that it does nothing for the tough guy image that we all know that I have. But seriously, this movie......its messed up.

Alright.....pictures to come next time. Promise. I'm just still scared....seriously.

2006-07-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Headbutting - It's an epidemic

Hey,

Just back from holidays and I will post a good update soon along with some pics. I had a great time and I have to say that I likes the backpacking lifestyle very much.

In the meantime, enjoy this headbutt. After Zidane, it appears that this sort of thing is becoming an epidemic.

And that was it

2006-07-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well the World Cup has been and gone and I suppose I should close with a few thoughts.

1 - I am the only person I know who actually predicted that Italy would win the world cup. Those people who say I know nothing about football should take note. Then again, I didn't put any money on it so I can't be that good.

2 - Zidane is an idiot. I have often thought that he looked like a hot head and last night he proved it. Seriously someone with as much experience and ability as that should know better. And to those people who think this will fade away ask yourself what your lasting impression was of the following world cups? 1986, 1994 and 2002. I'll bet you that Maradona's hand of god, Baggio's penalty miss and Seaman's catasphrophic attempt to stop Ronaldinho's cross will certainly come to mind. For some reason, we like to see star's self destruct. I didn't put money on Italy but I would love to bet on the fact that in ten years, Zidane's chest butt will be the lasting impression of this world cup.

3 - Rooney has had a raw deal. Everyone that is slating Rooney has clearly never played football. I mean, until you have tried to stay on your feet with two defenders hauling you down, you can't say whether or not Rooney meant to do what he did. Plus, watch the ref, his eyes light up when he sees Rooney push the defender. Seriously watch it again, there is no doubt in mind that he was sent off for a push which is not a sending off offence unless you touch the person's head. Rooney pushed his chest, letter of the law says yellow card.

4 - The first half of the World Cup was amazing. The 2nd half should have been even better but it was only just ok. Peronally, I blame diving, over zealous officiating and a refusal to use technology for this. It is surely no coincidence that whenever there was finally a game where both teams wanted to play and not act (Germany v Italy), that we finally got one of the best games in terms of excitement and in terms of quality that I have seen all year.

5 - Extra time really screws teams over. This is my original thought for the day (or at least one that I haven't heard anyone mention yet). Look at the evidence. Ukraine wins after extra time, then loses their next game. Germany wins following extra time and then loses in the semi and Portugal also lost in the semis after beating England in a game involving extra time. Of course, the main exception to this rule is Italy who won the final but were taken to extra time in the semi. But to be honest, they were outplayed by France and the only way they were going to win the game was after penalties.

Its time for coaches to pay more attention to the fact that extra time screws teams when they try to perform in their next game.

There we go. That was the World Cup.

I will try to update again soon and indeed I shall try to make my next update somewhat more gramatically elequent. A few interesting things have went down recently including me potentially now finally doing the bar course to become an actual qualified lawyer and booking a weeks holiday which I am sure will reach epic like status with Sarah Flemming and Jeff Gulley. Bring it on!!!

Last 16 Predictions

2006-06-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I did fairly well in my predictions so far getting 13 out of the 16 teams to make through albeit that I got the order in the groups wrong on a few occassions such as Holland and Argentina. But that being said here are my predicitions for the last 16.

Germany 3 - Sweden 2
Germany have scored a lot of goals so far, some of them exceptional. Sweden showed a lot of heart after their blip against Trinidad but I expect that they will find the home support too much.

Argentina 3 - Mexico 1
Argentina have looked awesome so far and whilst Mexico have trained more than any other side in the World Cup, they just don't have the class.

England 1 - Equador 0
I still think England have a great chance in this world cup but they certainly don't look scoring a lot of goals. Expect this one to be another dull yet extremely tense affair.

Portugal 1 - Netherlands 1 (Portugal win on penalties).
Both teams have looked very good so far and it wouldn't surprise me to see them cancel each other out. This one is really too close to call.

Italy 2 - Australia 1
I called Italy to win it all so I can't change that now. This being said, Australia have tremendous heart and are perhaps the fittest team in the world cup. I hope they cause the upset but I suspect Italy may have too much class.

Switzerland 0 - Ukraine 0 (Ukraine win on penalties)
Neither of these teams have been talked about much so far and whilst my fantasy team needs Schevchenko to score, this one has yawn written all over it.

Brazil 2 - Ghana 1
Brazil have shown signs that they are now waking up (not least Ronaldo). Still Ghana bring that certain X Factor that comes with being an African team. I can't see them winning but they should keep it close.

Spain 2 - France 0
Perhaps the biggest 2nd round game of the lot. France have shown nothing so far whilst Spain have been very impressive. In any normal world cup that would be a sure sign that Spain would self destruct and France go through but I think the Liverpool connection is going to change that this year.

There you go. Come on England and also as strange as it seems, come on Australia.

God and shorts

2006-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine has recently started a blog detailing her travels around Europe. Most of you probably already know who I mean but for now I am not going to use her name as I am going to talk about an issue she raised in her last blog and I have not asked her permission to use her name in that regard.

This friend was talking about a trip she made to a church in Spain where upon entrying a church she (as a woman) was asked to put something over her shoulders as she was only wearing a tank top. This (understandably) upset her and she later writes in her blog "I am pretty sure, that if there is a god, that he has seen my shoulders, along with everything else. It is this uptight, conservative and sexist structure that is pushing young people away from religion."

For what they are worth here are my thoughts on the matter. I was going to post these on her comments but decided they were too long for any person who came only to read her blog to have to suffer through.

I guess I would say that I both agree with you and disagree with you. As you know, I consider myself a Christian albeit an extremely liberal one so with that in mind, here goes.

I am total agreement with you regarding what you wear in a church. To put it bluntly I don't think God gives two shits about what you wear in the same manner as I don't think that God cares that I just swore. Similarly, I don't believe that God wants anything to do sexism. So if some church elders in their wisdom decide that you have to cover your legs, shoulders and whatever else then it is only right that I (as an extremely handsome male) will also have to deprive the ladies from checking me out.

However, I do perhaps take issue with your comment that it is "this uptight, conservative and sexist structure that is pushing young people away from religion". As far as I am concerned, anyone who is turned off religion by things such as this misses the point of it to start with.

In the Western World, we like to make religion about the self, that is to say how can it meet our own personal needs. We all know how popular the phrase is "well that's great for you, it just doesn't work for me". The reality is that this thought process simply allows us to create our own individual Homer Simpson type religion with its own gods. So if the goal is meeting my own personal needs as I see them then quite frankly I may be able to survive on a day to day basis making gods out of woman, money, football (soccer) and beer. Under this pattern of thinking, there is no need for me to believe in or even think about any supernatural god.

However, I long ago decided that I believed that there was a God, not because I could go drinking with the pastor of my church or even because certain Christians I know do tremendous good in society. Instead, the reason I believe in God is because life as I see it makes more sense to me with him/her/it existing. For example, to my knowledge what science teaches us about how humankind began leads me to believe that something had to be there at the start in order for the process of evolution to begin. To me, what else could this be other than some form of God. This is not to take away from evolution as I am not one of those Christians who question it (albeit I do not sufficiently understand it), but for me evolution becomes more complete when you consider the role of God.

I won’t go into anymore examples as to life makes more sense with God in it as I am far from intelligent enough to begin to do them justice in written format. What I am getting at here is that I have decided that there is a God based not on whether he/she/it meets up to my moral standards but rather on whether I think the idea of God made sense.

It is only at this stage that one can work out what relevance God may or may not have for your life and it is only at this stage that one can base one's morals on what they believe God would desire. To be honest, I am still going through this stage but I don't think that my findings would particularly upset any non-religious person. I find evidence that God wants social justice, that God is against any form of discrimination and indeed that God simply wants us to enjoy life as opposed to being caught up in a catalogue of religious doctrine. However, other people perhaps reach different value judgments and to be honest I probably disagree with them strongly. But so long as they have reached these judgments in this manner that I have outlined, I feel that I should at least respect them although in truth I would rather avoid them!!

Getting back to your initial point, if someone decides that you should cover up in church, then as I have already said, I think it is ludicrous. However, hopefully they have come up with that particular value based on a process similar to mine where they genuinely believe that it is compatible with how God would have them live their life.

Surely then the best thing to do is to grin and bear the rule knowing that it represents one quite possibly flawed opinion of what God wants. It is not a reason to deny such an existence altogether.

World Cup Preview

2006-06-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it almost upon us, the sporting event that dwarfs all others. Say what you will about football/soccer but the next month is going to bring some great excitement and will keep us talking for the rest of the year.

It is a bit too complex to try and write out the results to every game, so I will do a shortform predictions. The beauty of the world cup is that there will be upsets and it just a matter of working out what those upsets will be.

Here we go.

Group A: Winners - Germany, Runners Up - Poland
Can't really see Ecuador or Costa Rica challenging European dominance. So when you consider that Poland haven't beaten Germany in 60 years and that Germany are on home soil you have to expect Germany to win the group.

Group B: Winners - England, Runners Up - Paraguay
England have to be a reasonable beat to win it all if they can avoid the dreaded penalty shoot-out. As for Paraguay, people ignore the fact that they are now the third best team in South America and with Roque Santa Cruz in the team have now found a genuinely world class striker.

Group C: Winners - Holland, Runners Up - Argentina
This is the group of death. I would not in any way be surprised to see Serbia beat one of these two teams out but I'm going to play it safe. Expect to see Argentina lose a game in this group as they have lost one group game in three of the last four world cups.

Group D: Winners - Portugal, Runners Up - Mexico
Don't know much about this group except that Portugal probably blew their big chance of winning a major trophy when they lost the Euro 2004 final on home soil. Nevertheless, expect them to qualify albeit not to go much further. Whoever qualifies from this group faces the qualifiers from the group of death.

Group E: Winners - Italy, Runners Up - Czech Republic
For the longest time, I thought that the US were going to be the surprise package at the World Cup before I actually looked at group they were in. Italy should win the group easily leaving it between the Czechs and the US for the runners up spot. America's record in World Cup's in Europe is poor and the Czech Republic have one of the best goalies in the world so I am going to have to go with them.

Group F: Winners - Brazil, Runners Up - Australia
Going through the Brazil team is like going through a who's who of the great in the modern game. Expect Brazil not to drop a point in qualification and indeed to win all three games by at least two goals. This leaves Croatia, Australia and Japan. It is hard to see Japan doing what they did before now that the tournament is in Europe. Croatia are lacking creativity which leaves Australia who I think will be the surprise package of the world cup.

Group G: Winners - France, Runners Up - Switzerland
France are another team that could definitely win it all and Switzerland qualified from a group that included France, Ireland and Israel. It's hard to see South Korea or Togo really making an impact.

Group H: Winners - Spain, Runners Up - Ukraine
At the start of every tournament some sucker like me predicts that Spain will do well and then they find a way to collapse. Ukraine on the other hand are unfancied but I think will do well. As much as I'd like to see Tunisia do well because Stuart and Linda are there right now, it just looks too unlikely.

Ok, bearing in mind all of the above, here are my short form predictions for the knock out phase.

2nd Round
Germany over Paraguay
Holland over Mexico
Italy over Australia
Ukraine over France (Big Shock Predicted here)
England over Poland
Argentina over Portugal
Brazil over Czech Republic
Spain over Switzerland

Quarter-Finals
Germany over Holland
Italy over Ukraine
England over Argentina
Spain over Brazil (Shock of the World Cup if this happens)

Semi-Finals
Italy over Germany
England over Spain

3rd Place Play-off
This game shouldn't exist seeing as both teams playing in it are so devasted not to make the final that they shouldn't be asked to play again. As such, I am not going to justify it with a prediction.

Final
Italy over England
I would love to see England win it all and this is surely their best chance in a long time. Whilst Rooney will play, I just can't imagine him being fit enough to make the crucial difference in this game when England need it most.

So there you go. I am tipping Italy. Brazil have never won a World Cup in Europe and I think they will have one off day in the knock phase that will cost them (albeit it may not be against Spain).

Germany are never a good enough side to get to the semis but I am counting on home advantage giving them that something extra.

Finally, if you are looking for two unfancied teams to maybe make the semis, consider Ukraine and Australia.

Enjoy the next month. It's gonna be great.

The Blame Game

2006-05-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to follow on a little from my post on the West Wing by referring to that quote of President Bartlett's that I lifted from the show. In it he talked about how playing the blame game is what is hurting society.

Run with me for so a second. I'll get back to this quote.

After posting my Ode to West Wing, I decided to check out some of the old comments on my blog and whilst there haven't been many recently (due to my inability to keep this blog running) I did come across one from a friend of mine Chris Schryer. (Chris, I am going to have a minor pop at you but don't worry, I know you can take it and will no doubt retort with something twice as intelligent).

Anyways, the comment followed the debate I had kicked off regarding whether or not it was acceptable for journalists to publish pictures of certain things knowing that it would lead to certain people viewing the pictures and being outraged as a result and potentially therefore leading to killings.

Now I had already stated that I was in no way attempting to implicate the journalists in any form of terrorism (far from it). I was merely asking whether it was responsible to publish the pictures knowing that it would INDIRECTLY lead to deaths. Chris you replied

"The Newspaper (trash though it may be) can't be held responsible for the terrorist reaction. In much the same way, if CNN reported on an oil-spill that endangered a whole marine ecology, which lead to an eco-terrorist killing a gas station atendant, CNN is not responsible for the atendant's death."

Chris, I can't argue that you are wrong and indeed I won't but I will say is that your comment reflects the mentality in society that it is all about blaming someone and I had already stated that I was not trying to that accusor.

No one but the guilty terrorist should be blamed directly for causing an attrocity, and I was just trying to make the point that it would be nice if journalists made a decision on what to publish based on what was best for society as a whole. Now, if you are telling me that it is better for society to have good reporting as may have been the case here, then fair enough. That's a valid argument.

All I am saying is rather than look at these issues through the Western mentality of who is to blame ask instead what actions of a responsible journalist/politician/policeman/lawyer will benefit society the most?

Let's not get caught up in this moral safe house where we are more worried about us not being blamed than we are concerned about taking responsibility.

Ode to the West Wing

2006-05-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

"Lots of times we may not know what right or wrong is but come on is this is one. I may not have had sinister intent at the outset but there were plenty of opportunities for me to make it right. No one in government takes responsibility for anything anymore. We foster, we obfuscate, we rationalise. 'Everybody does it', that's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame, so no one's guilty. I'm to blame, I was wrong."

This was the President's response when he recognised that he had made the worst decision that he had made thus far in his time at the White House.

How many people would believe me if I told you that this was a recent quote from George Bush? Probably no one and you'd be right because this was actually a quote from the fictional character President Bartlett of the West Wing, in my opinion the greatest television series that has been on in my recent lifetime and which sadly ended on Sunday night.

Now, if you aren't a fan of the West Wing, you have probably stopped reading this by now. But for anyone who has made it to this point, I urge you, go out and watch the DVD box set of series 1. It may give you a false hope as to what the political process can do, but what is wrong with a little dreaming if it serves to inspire.

After all would you rather listen to a President echoing the quote above or one that says "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, you can't me fool me again".

Spring has Sprung

2006-04-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

So I guess I should update this thing again. It has been a busy enough few weeks and I suppose that merely posting links to awesome videos that I have found on youtube.com doesn't really count as an update. But while I am on the subject, if you are British and feel like checking out this tv commercial of the best pub football team in the world click here.

Honestly, if you have any appreciation of English history of the beautiful game you will love this.

So what have I been upto. Well over Easter I headed over to York where I met up with a few of my old law school chums and also saw my uncle and aunt again (those being the uncle and aunt who were kind enough to put up with me for all of my time at law school over there).

Upon my return I hightailed it to Belfast Airport where I picked up my cousin three times removed (something like that) and my Queens friend Robin who is living in London this year. I had a great time with them for a few days showing them some of the sites of N.Ireland and even managing to find time for a little surfing.

The coolest thing we did though was what is known as the Black Cab Tour. This was unlike any other tour I had ever been on and so much better for that reason. Basically, what you do is arrive at Belfast City Hall and call this Taxi Company. They send one of their cabs round with a driver who proceeds to bring you round some of the political hotspots of Belfast. The thing is that these drivers have been in Belfast for 30 years and as such no more about the Troubles over here than most. It really was fantastic, the driver simply asked us what we wanted to see and then spent the next two hours bringing us to those places and explaining what everything meant. Like I say, I think that having lived here for many years, I understand what happens but I knew nothing of some of the stuff this guy was telling us. It really was just incredible if not extremely tragic.

Now, it is back to the grind. Some of you may know that whilst I am an apprentice with the firm I am with, I do still have to write some exams as well as several papers. Let me assure you this is very much sucking the life out of me. Still, just one month to go.

On top of that it is a beautiful day in Ireland and Liverpool are in FA Cup Final so I guess I can't complain too much.

Alright, that's my lot for now. I will try to talk again more soon.

Just do it

2006-04-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

In honour of the greatest golfing tournament in the world which begins today I urge you all to click here and see one of the most incredible golfing shots in history.

Picture the scene. Final round, the 16th hole. Tied for 1st place, just missed the water but facing one of the toughest greens in all of golf. Watch and learn.

The Great Evil

2006-04-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

I always likened Manchester United to the Al Qaeda of the football/soccer world. Perhaps some people thought that I went over the top but click here to see what was on the BBC just recently.

Steve-o, I told you. Don't worry, Liverpool will still welcome you.

Ants Marching

2006-03-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the main point of my post, I have to mention the fact that Belfast City Airport is no more. That's right, it's now called the George Best Airport (or at least it will be come May 1st). Well, I don't know what to make of it aside from to say that for all his faults if there was ever one guy that brought both sides of our community together it was him.

So ok, onto what I wanted to talk about. As is probably obvious, last night I was listening to a bit of the Dave Mathews Band. Now I don't particularly listen to his lyrics much but for once I actually paid attention to the song "Ants Marching". It was about how mundane our lives can become when we are stuck in a rut of work, sleep, work, sleep etc.

Now, don't take me the wrong way as I love Dave's music but I couldn't help but think this thought wasn't exactly anything groundbreaking. Indeed, when I think about it, I can't really think of any friends with whom I haven't at some point discussed the fact that we as humans are often little more than lemmings.

So my question is if we are aware of how pointless our life can become if we let it, why do so many people let it happen to them. Now fair enough, I am new to the working world but I can think of nothing worse than becoming one of those people that I am surrounded by who can do nothing but think of Friday evening.

There is so much to this topic that I don't understand. I mean I think that part of the problem is the fact that as humans we think that we have an image to live up to in our working lives. So we put so much pressure on ourselves to meet this image that we get fed up and just want to go home. Yet we spend pretty much more time working than we do anywhere else. So why is it that people allow themselves to become miserable just for a two night's pleasure every 7 days.

People always tell adicts that the first step to beating their problem is admitting that a problem does indeed exist. Surely as a human race, we are all aware of how awful and stressful this work/sleep life can become. So why can't we stop it???

Girls Football/Soccer

2006-03-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have said many things about girls playing football before and to be fair, a lot of them have not been good.

If you want to see why my comments are very wrong click here

If you want to see why my comments are somewhat justified, click here

You be the judge

British/Irishness

2006-02-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

My last post seemed to stir things a little as a few folk caught onto the fact that I mentioned that I believed that "British" lives would be lost as a result of publishing pictures. Apparently, my use of the word British ticked a few folk off.

So just to clarify, I was not in any way suggesting that I placed more emphasis on a British life than anyone else's. Rather, it was my respect for life in general that was causing me to ask the question whether it was responsible for journalists to print a story which I agree they are more than entitled to print but which I also believe would have consequences.

Moreover, can I also state that I in no way endorse the British policy with regards to Iraq, but we are were are and we have to move forward from there without harking back on the fact that this whole thing shouldn't have started. Of course, it shouldn't have started but it has, so what is responsible in this the current sitation.

Tyrone you said "a picture tells a thousand words. Publishing them informs the audience what happened. However, brutal violence/terrorism is not the proper form of constructive outrage". My point was what is right if you know that publishing would lead to violence (as it has in this case). Is it still right to publish and then hide behind a condemnation of the response?

Anyways, it may well be an unanswerable question. Interesting to think about though.

The ironic thing though with people latching onto my British comment is that people seem to think that I am pro-Britain. Yet look at the title of my blog, "Irish Tim's rantings". The fact that I write that should in itself be enough to assure people that I am not a loyalist to the crown.

One day I shall try to write a constructive entry about the Irish/British debate. I try to stay fairly neutral but that is a little impossible particularly when you are living in this country and the only thing that people can agree on is that no one can agree.

Alright, to close this entry, I am going to plagiarise entirely an idea that I got from a friend of mine from Muskoka Woods. Her name is Erin and she is doing an informal survey as to what people think the biggest problem in the world is today. I will answer with my thoughts in my next entry but for the meantime, let me know your thoughts.

Bloggers Block

2006-02-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

Well this is the first post that I have written in the last month. I really should try to keep this blog updated more since I lose most of my readers by not updating. Ahh, so be it.

My job has started to get very exciting in the last month. Unfortunately I am not really permitted to write much about it but suffice to say that I have spent the last two and a bit weeks working my first ever major Crown Court trial. If anyone wants to know more, they can get in touch but in such a public forum as this, I probably shouldn't say anymore.

The other exciting thing that I have gotten involved in during this past month has been American Football. Believe it or not, I have recently discovered that Belfast has a team that plays in an All Ireland league. So, I have tried out for that and have done pretty well (I think) as a cornerback. We haven't played any games yet as we are still doing pre-season stuff but hopefully, I will get some playing time and I have to say that I love the scrimages thus far.

Ok, to finish this update, I pose the following regarding responsible journalism. Now, I stress that I really don't have a firm opinion on this one but I invite your thoughts. This past weekend the News of the World (an extremely trashy British tabloid newspaper) published pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Now, lets make a big assumption and presume that the paper published this pictures for the right reasons. That is to say that using good investigative journalism they uncovered a major story that the public had a right to know about. While, that would certainly be a worthy objective, the reality is that this report will almost certainly lead to additional British deaths. Past experience has taught that "Islamic" terrorists will react severely when they learn of stories such as these.

So I guess my question is which is more responsible? Uncovering a major story or covering it up knowing that it will save lives. As I said, I really have no firm opinion on this one. Any ideas?

Divisional Playoff picks

2006-01-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

For sake of making an idiot of myself, here are my predictions for this weekends NFL games.

Seattle 13 Washington 7
New England 24 Denver 12
Indy 28 Pittsburgh 35 (I know, I can't believe I am being so dumb as to call this outcome!!!)
Carolina 21 Chicago 10

I really don't like Manning. I don't why. He is amazing....but I just seem to have to root for him to lose.

What we want from Politicians

2006-01-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

This post is mostly for the Canadian readers who still come to this page although I hope everything can get something from it.

From talking to some of my "Mother Cannucker" friends, it had become apparent to me how much apathy exists with regards to the upcoming Canadian election. It appears that people are going to vote based on who they dislike the least. I am sure that this is exactly the same as what happened in the US election when it was the battle of "anybody but Bush" vs "anybody but them damn liberals".

So why do we hate our politicians so much. Well, I have written about this before and when I did, I stuck up for these politicians. However, I do have to say that sometimes they don't help themselve and the Canadian election campaign seems to be no exception.

I therefore urge anyone who wants to see an example of what a poltician should be to click here

The speech here is one that Robin Cook gave shortly before the commencement of war. Now the point is not the fact that the speech was anti-war but rather the class with which it was made. Just to give it a bit of context, Mr Cook was one of Tony Blair's most trusted advisors throughout his years in government. As the war drew closer and closer he never once spoke out against it. This was despite the fact that he felt so strongly against it. Rather, he stood loyally with Mr Blair and tried to persuade him in private that war was not the answer.

It was only on the eve of war when Mr Cook finally knew that his efforts were in vain, that he made this speech. But look at the way he did it. He doesn't try to use it for his own political gain nor does he try to destroy anyone elses career. Rather he simple states his own views and that he can't go on in government in the circumstances.

Unfortunately Mr Cook died recently and British politics is the poorer. To see why, I urge you all to watch the speech which you can also do from the above link. It is about 10 minutes and it shows why we shouldn't give up on all politicians just yet.

Are you ready for some football!!!

2006-01-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

The NFL wildcard playoffs start in 60 mins, so for what it is worth here are my picks.

1. Washington 13. Tampa Bay 10. The Skins are my team to root for throughout the playoffs. Plus, I thought that last week their defence really stepped up when needed and they just seemed to make the plays that matter. Plus, its Gideon's team. I gotta support him .

2. Jacksonville 7. New England 31. I still the Pats have a lot to offer this month.

3. Carolina 21. New York Giants 28. Can Eli go further than his brother has before. Don't be surprised.

4. Pittsburgh 17. Cincinati 14.

Wow, if these games are as close as I am predicting, we are in for one great weekend of football.

The Greatest Game??

2006-01-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

According to the National Laboratory in New Mexico, football (soccer) is more exciting than Hockey, baseball, American Football and Basketball.

That is if you guage excitement by the amount of upset victories that you see. That is not an unfair guage as, lets all be honest here, what would be the point in watching sport if you were fairy certain that you knew who would win.

Basically, scientists reviewed the results of 300,000 games played over the last century. Apparently football is most likely to produce the most "upsets", closely followed by baseball. Hockey and Basketball were next on the list with the good old NFL coming in last place.

Strange isn't it that the league that prides itself on the fact that any team can win "on any given Sunday" is the most predictable.

So I guess football is the greatest game although I can't help but wonder why cricket wasn't in the study!!

My Year in Review

2005-12-31T10:09:00.000-08:00

So what with it being 6:30pm on December 31st, I figure that if I want to get this Year in Review posted in time, I better do it fairly sharpish. Following the format of a few other bloggers that I have seen, here are a few things that stand out in my mind as being 2005.

1 - Live 8. In the past year, I enjoyed concerts from both U2 and Coldplay and they were both fantastic. There is something great about seeing a band in their home city or seeing the last night of a tour and in these two aforementioned concerts, I did just this. Live 8, however was on another level altogether. Whereas generally a regular concert is emotional for about 30 minutes, Live 8 was a full 8 hours of something that I really just can't find the words to describe. Culminating with Robbie Williams, The Who and Pink Floyd, the day was something that I will never forget.

As I have said before the day was certainly contrived and even to an extent tacky. Futhermore, I must have been at least 200 metres from the stage. But all of that didn't matter one little bit. For the first time in my life I was a part of a large crowd which was together almost entirely because it wanted to see something positive get done. And did it ever get done!!

2 - My Car Accident. This was probably my closest brush so far with death in my life. I have played down the event many times, particularly in this blog. However, the reality is that I was extremely fortunate to walk away from the accident. Nuff said about that.

3 - Law School. Many of my elder peers have told me that once they got to Law School, they found the whole thing a little disappointing and that it never lived up to their expectations. I would have to say that the exact opposite happened to me. From my first day in class until graduating last June, I relished what I learnt and the subject became alive. It was hard work and there were times that I wanted to pack it in but it was also an incredible experience. The ironic thing is that my marks weren't exactly the greatest and indeed my average was far lower than it was during my economics undergraduate degree. But what the heck, I loved it and I even got a job out of the whole thing. And whilst I am still not a fully qualified lawyer and have even deferred that part for at least a year, I am on a career path now that I love and surely that is half the battle.

4 - Champions of Europe, We are the Champions. This is the chant that has echoed around most Liverpool games over the last months and has it ever been sweet. I have waited most of my life to see Liverpool win the European Cup. Why do I care so much? I have no idea but I don't think I can ever recreate such a sporting high as what happened on that memorable night in May. If you ever want to know more, I have the DVD and believe me I will watch it with you over and over again.

5 - Canada Holiday. I spent 5 weeks this past summer doing a wedding tour. This was a very worthwhile trip and one that I love. Don't get me wrong, I still love Canada and all signs point to me still living there eventually. However, going back there having been away for a year taught me a lot about what I loved and I what I did not love about the country. Believe me Blue Jays Security Guys, watch out for next summer.

So there you go. A year summarised into 5 events. I'll be the first to admit that I have left out many important things but hey, you've gotta draw the line somewhere.

What about 2006? I have the feeling that it will be one of the most important years in my life. I don't know why exactly but it just seems as though things are going that way. I expect to hear something back from Immigration Canada towards the end of the year so I will have to make some sort of decision then. For the first time ever, I am working a full time job and on top of that it is one that is challenging and giving me some great experience.

Other goals for the year include
1 - Beat Stuart more at golf
2 - Make the Agape starting lining up.
3 - Get the weight back to pre car-accident levels.
4 - Get more surfing in.
5 - Get re-acquainted with old high school friends
6 - A little more success with the ladies. Apparently I am not getting any younger!!

My last goal would be to develop my Christian faith yet further. University in Canada was the best thing that ever happened to my faith but it has perhaps made me a little cynical over many Christian things. I have been unable to tackle these issues successfully in the last year but hopefully this year, I can start to make sense of these things a little more.

With that in mind and bearing in mind that I have to post this without actually checking spelling, etc I wish all readers a very Happy and Peaceful New Year.

What it might mean to be Liberal

2005-12-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

I have just read Steve-o's blog and it has helped remind me of why I originally enjoyed writing blogs. Steve has written as thoughtprovoking piece on the tragic Toronto shootings and it has been fascinating to watch the debate between himself (a liberal)and Tyrone (who I have always thought to be somewhat conservative, correct me if I am wrong Ty).

It got me to thinking how easy it is for all to slip into what we are told to believe in terms of our political thoughts (and believe me guys, this piece is not meant to knock you both. I am only too aware of the fact that you both can out-debate me most days of the week!!).

This is a sin that I am only too guilty of myself. Today for example,I was chatting to a friend about the rights of affirmative action programs. By way of explanation, there is a policy in many jobs in Ireland stating that there should be a 50-50 hiring split in terms of Protestants and Catholics. This has always been a policy that I have agreed with as I thought that it helped promote Catholic interests which most people agree have been over-looked for far too long. However, this friend told me today that he had been passed over 5 times for a position in the police force in N.Ireland and he claimed that it was this policy that was responsible. I questioned him a little more on it as I assumed that the situation must have been that he was judged to have exactly the same degree of qualifications and therefore he didn't get the job because they couldn't separate him from any other applicants without looking at religion. However, he claimed to me that in reality he was more qualified that the individuals who did get the job and that it was because he was Protestant that he didn't get the position.

I left this conversation confused. Its not like I haven't heard this argument before and normally when I do hear it, I put it down to someone who is bitter about not getting a job. However, I have known this individual for many years along with all of his family who I respect immensely. So based on that reason, I am going to take him at his word.

My point is that Liberals are quick to promote welfare programs and initiatives such as these and I think that it is great that they do. However, a certain amount of realism must be maintained and in this case the reality is that a program with a worthy aim is screwing over a particular individual.

I do like to consider myself liberal but it is important that I and my leftist friends do not become become as robotic as we often perceive those on the extreme right. So the next time that you hear an individual talk about how gun control isn't necessarily the answer or how maternity-leave cripples small businesses, don't just dismiss it. Listen to them - they probably have the same ultimate goal as you do and between the two of you, you might just achieve it.

If you don't listen then I fear that the right wing joke about Liberals producing nothing but hot air may end up becoming more real than we like to believe.

Time to blog methinks

2005-12-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time since my last post, the main reason for this being that my old Dell Laptop decided that it was going to give up the good fight and leave me stranded without a computer. Now, I know that it may not have looked that way seeing as how I was continually signed into MSN but let me assure that the reason for that was that if I ever signed out of the program, there was a fair chance that the computer would freeze and it would take a good hour of my time to actually get the thing to work again.

So what has happened since my last post. Well, Christmas has come and gone and I have to say that I really had a lovely time building up to it in N.Ireland. It is kindof strange becausethis is my first ever Christmas at which I have been a working man leading up to it. The bad news about that is that you only get about a week off work but on the other hand one really starts to appreciate those days off that you do get.

There is something very nice about Christmas at home. The majority of readers here will know how much I love Canada but I have to say that when it comes to Christmas, I think we do things a little bit better. People seem a little less stressed out and we don't play the whole 'holidays' vs 'Christmas' name game. Now, if we could only have some more snow, things would be good.

That's all I've got for now. I will aim to post soon again though with some thoughts on the year that was 2005.

Pele said it "George Best was the best player in the world"

2005-11-26T06:10:00.000-08:00

"Posted by Picasa

Georgie Georgie, They call you the Belfast Boy

2005-11-26T05:31:00.000-08:00

I have been inspired to write again by the sad passing of the N.Ireland and Manchester United legend George Best.

His story is well documented. A footballer genuis from Belfast who for 10 years lit up the soccer world. I have spent much of the last two days watching old clips of him play. One of his best ever goals was a simple one that he scored from only 8 yards out. The ball dropped to him and about 5 players flew themselves in front of him to prevent him from shooting. Now, most players would just hammer the ball and hope that they manage to find a gap in the midst of these 5 players. But rather than do this, Bestie lobbed it over the 5 players and watched it drop perfectly into the top corner of the night.

It was a moment of footballing bliss and from the clips that I have seen this week, there were many such moments.

George Best lived his life to the full and as Steve-o pointed out in his blog, his most memorable quote was "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars--the rest I just squandered." I myself found another memorable quote from him descibing his reputation to miss appearances due a night of partying - "I went missing a lot - Miss America, Miss Canada, Miss UK".

As Steve-o also pointed out, it was this love for life that killed Georgie. He became an alcoholic and ended up getting himself into trouble on a semi-regular basis. On the last weekend of his life and in an effort to warn people of the dangers of alcohol he allowed a picture to be taken of him in hospital showing what he had become. It was published the next day and it doesn't make for pretty viewing. Alcohol was the one opponent that Bestie couldn't beat and it seems that ultimately that was his greatest regret.

This would be a good point to talk about the joys and dangers of alcohol but I am going to leave that for another day.

All I want to say is this. Georgie, you gave a lot of people in Belfast a lot of pleasure through what you did on the football pitch. My parents tell me that Belfast was not a fun place to be throughout the 60's and 70's and from what I have learnt in my own life, I have no reason to doubt that. But somehow George Best managed to unite the people of Belfast and that was perhaps a greater achievement that anything he accomplished on the pitch.

Bye Georgie. You'll always be our Belfast Boy.

Postscript

2005-11-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Question - Through the first 8 games of the season, one team has managed to achieve a positive points for/against spread and yet lose 7 of those 8 games. Name that team

Answer - The 2005 Green Bay Packers.

Another missed goal, a first and goal from the 3 which somehow led to a 90 yard Pittsburgh td and a crucial interception with 9 mins to go.

Somehow Green Bay manages to lose again!!

Time for an update

2005-11-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post as I am failing rapidly in my quest to keep this thing updated as often as I can. Also, I am a little mad. For you see the Packers had first and goal at the 3 yard line. However, following two poor plays, two false start penalties and a Brett Favre fumble, the Steelers ran almost 90 yards for a touchdown to go up 13-3. Is this is moment when I accept that the Packers aren't going to make playoffs this season?

So far, my work is going well and taking up a fair part of my life. Obviously, I can't really write much about it on my blog since I actually do harbour dreams of practicing officially at some point but needless to say, I am getting a great involvement in a vast amount of areas of law and meeting all kinds of people - many of them strange.

Also, this weekend I am heading to Londont vist my good friend and Bye Bye Birdie partner Robin. Hanging out with Robin is always a blast and I think I have managed to convince her to see the production of A Few Good Men starring Rob Lowe (aka Sam Seaborne of the greatest show on television - The West Wing).

Tomorrow evening, I am going to see a production of the CS Lewis book - The Screwtape Letters. This has always been one of my favourite of Lewis's writings and I will be interested to see how the book works as a production.

Aside from that not too much is new. I will try to write again soon with something a little more interesting. In the meantime, I end with a joke fitting with my choice of profession.

Q: How many lawyers does it take to change a lightbulb.
A: Fifty four. Eight to argue, one to get a continuance, one to object, one to demur, two to research precedents, one to dictate a letter, one to stipulate, five to turn in their time cards, one to depose, one to write interrogatories, two to settle, one to order a secretary to change the bulb, and twenty-eight to bill for professional services.

Hope the joke made the boring update a little more interesting to read. The Packers are driving again. What was I saying about giving up?

It's all part of the game

2005-10-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

So I finally have started work at a criminal law firm just outside of Belfast. We represent many holigans in N.Ireland and a few decent folk as well. They have broken me into the job quite smoothly and I haven't felt too out of my depth so far (except for something I had to do on my 2nd day which made me so nervous I wanted to throw up).

All in all though, this seems like it is going to be a positive part of my life. Who knows where the longterm future is but it is nice to have a little short term stability at least.

What I really wanted to talk about is how disappointed I have been with football/soccer recently. Now this is not a Steve-o rant where I slate my team excessively and then following half a game of good football against a team who is 1 and 5 suddenly believe they have a chance again.

Soccer has been really disappointing recently and what is more upsetting is the fact that the powers that be are doing nothing to help the problem. I mean one need only look at the rule changes in hockey this season to see how much a product can be improved.

But soccer officials refuse to impliment video referring and they allow tactics throughout a game which serve only to frustrate those who love to see pure sport (e.g. The Ashes!!). Why are teams allowed to make substitutions purely to run the clock down? Why is nothing done to prevent continual diving? And most importantly, why will no-one do something to attempt to restore some sort of parity in the English League? The only answer ever given to address these questions is simply - "It's all part of the game".

Don't get me wrong. There is still nothing like playing a good game of football. But last May gave me my greatest ever Liverpool highlight and if something isn't done, it may be my last one.

Who gets to decide?

2005-10-16T04:32:00.001-07:00

Last night I had the privilege of watching Theo Fleury's first game for the Belfast Giants. I don't recall ever seeing him play in the NHL but someone described the situation to me as if Theirry Henry (of Arsenal)signed with my home town to play football.

Suffice to say that this description appears to be correct. In his first two shifts he scored two goals and I actually lost count of how many points he got overall. My buddy Andy says he got 8, I say he got 7 but regardless, he did pretty well and the Giants ended up winning 11-2. Note that this game is under old NHL rules which is meant to favour defence!!

On the way home, I was listening to the same radio show that inspired my last post and another story struck me. A lady was assaulted by another lady and went to report it to the police. When asked to describe the assailant, she offered a thorough depiction but described her attacker as "fat". At this point, apparently the police took offence to the use of such a word and were most unhelpful to her from that point on.

To be honest from that point on, the discussion got kindof ridiculous as various people debated whether the word "fat" was appropriate. Some people had no problem with the use of the word while others stated that you should use the phrase "slightly overweight" instead.

I couldn't help but think though that if the lady had been assaulted by a person of colour and had later described her as a n*#%$er we would all probably be very offended and think that the police would be correct to be appalled.

As most people know, one of my all time favourite films is The Godfather. Now, I believe that this was made in 1972 (indeed I have just googled this and that date is correct). Now the crazy thing is that in this movie, the use of that offensive word is somewhat acceptable. I ask how often you hear that word in a movie today where the word is not spoken to illustrate a point of racism.

So if that word is now so offensive what is to say that in 10 years time, the word "fat" will not become offensive to everyone? What is to take it one step further? Maybe, it will become entirely inappropriate to describe someone as "slightly overweight". Who decides what we can and cannot say and what criteria do they use?

Honestly, our views of language can become so ridiculous. I remember in my first year in Canada that I found the word "retarded" extremely offensive and yet couldn't understand why I got in trouble for using the word "ass" in front of young children. In N.Ireland "ass" is used in everyday language but you would never hear someone describe something as "retarded". I realize now that just as I meant no offence by using the word "ass", no Canadians were deliberately trying to annoy me by using "retarded" (actually some did simply to annoy me but thats another story Jeff Berezny).

My conclusion is that language is what we make it. If we are superficial enough not to look behind what people are saying then we will not only miss the point of what they are saying but rather get frustrated with their language and lash out at them. One need only look at the recent Queens "Merciergate" debacle as clear evidence of this.

I close with one final story.
Some 6 or 7 years ago a preacher was lambasting his congregation over their attitude towards those people suffering in Africa. He said something along the lines of this.
"Everyday x amount of people are dying from Aids, hunger, malnourishment etc. To be honest most of this congregation right here doesn't give a shit. And whats even worse is that all you are thinking about right now is that I just said 'shit'".

The preacher was right as he received numerous letters of complaint and many more years past before a legitimate campaign to help Africa emerged.

Freedom of Intolerance?

2005-10-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

I like to listen to the radio as I fall asleep each night and yes maybe there is some deep psychological issue there relating to a need for comfort but that's for another time.

Normally I fall asleep within 5 minutes but last night the discussion fascinated me so much that I felt that it would be worth sharing it with my loyal reader(s?). A man in Scotland owned a Bed and Breakfast and he had a policy which stated that he would not allow homosexual couples to share a bed together at his home. His discrimination did not mean that he wouldn't allow them to stay with him but instead he would insist that they take separate beds. (NB, please ignore for this conversation the fact that this policy has a glaring hole in that merely making a couple take separate beds can hardly prevent any funny business!!).

The gentlemen's point was that he had the right to impose whatever rules he wanted in his own bed and breakfast and since he felt that homosexuality was morally wrong he was entitled to refrain from asking people from practicing it under his roof in the same way as he asked people not to smoke in his home because he also believed that to be wrong.

This man was absolutely slated for his stance and yet the funny thing is that he was breaking no laws since he was not actually turning anyone away for reasons of sexual orientation rather imposing a limit as to what they could do in his home. This got me to thinking as to what sort of freedoms of expression we really do have.

I would imagine that the vast majority of readers to this blog would remove this policy if they were in charge of the bed and breakfast in question. Some may even be sickened by such a rule but yet the question remains "Should the rights of this man to make such a rule in his home exist?"

I have to admit that each year I have a good chuckle right before the US Masters when I watch the campaign to admit women as members into Augusta Golf Club. Something inside of me thinks that it is nice to have 'men only' clubs in the same way as I think it is absolutely fair enough to have 'women only' clubs. Most of my girl friends understand my view and while they often don't agree with it, normally it doesn't cause them to fall out with me. Perhaps this is because they know that I have no illusions of any power that I have over woman and indeed, I am only too aware of the fact that were it not for a number of wonderful women, my last 5 years of education could have been a disaster from both an academic and personal point of view.

So why is it that I can get away with what many would perceive as a controversial view but the gentleman on the radio was lambasted for a policy that applied only to his home? (For the record, I am not stating whether I did or did not agree with the policy, merely wondering why he didn't have the right to apply his own thoughts to his own life).

The answer I believe is that as a society we have made a decision as to what sort of minority views we are comfortable with. So if someone wants to smoke, well nowadays that is a minority view but we are ok with it. This is despite the fact that we are often at risk from the dangers of 2nd hand smoke.

So the reality is that we condemn certain minority viewpoints but accept others. But who decides what we can accept?

There is a real danger in marginalizing certain groups even if that groups happens to marginalise others. If the law has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that in many legal judgments there is often a minority opinion. When someone looks at that opinion in retrospect, say 20 years later, it normally becomes clear that the minority opinion was wrong. However on occassions that opinion is shown to be correct and an earlier decision is overturned.

I am not saying that the owner of the bed and breakfast was correct in his actions and that in 20 years time we will suddenly see that. Far from it!! Rather, I am stating that there will be an issue of which we do not know that, in 20 years time, we will look at and think "How did we get that so wrong?"

So be careful how you react to intolerance. Yes, it is upsetting and yes it shouldn't happen but our lashing out against it will not make it go away. Proverbs 15 says "A gentle answer turneth away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger". I couldn't put it any better.

Old School Nintendo

2005-10-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Remember the good ole days of Mario (not just MarioKart) which led into Mortal Kombat etc.

Well, if like myself and every other guy I know you wasted too much time trying to work out how to get a star instead of a mushroom, click here.

Believe me, you won't regret it.

1-0 to the N.Ireland

2005-09-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Did I ever mention that N.Ireland beat England 1-0!!! What a night it was in Belfast!!!

Check out all the faces of the Irish crowd watching the ball sail into the top corner. Incredible.

Healy Healy Healy

Slight Errror

2005-09-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ok

In my last post, I wrote that the hockey season starts today. Ok, I might have jumped the gun there as it is actually next Wednesday not today when the Penguins get the league under way.

Still this does not take away from my love of the Leafs and if my sports karma continues to runneth the streets of Toronto may be a little crazy come next June.

Serving my time

2005-09-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

So I have been home in Ireland for about 3 weeks now and to be honest I haven't gotten as much accomplished as I would have hoped.

The up sides have been that I have managed to get myself another car. Bearing in mind the disaster that was my last car earlier this year, we can only hope that this one goes a little better. So far so good actually. Other upsides have been that I have finally beaten my future brother in law at golf again. To be fair, he has since returned the favour but I enjoyed my day of celebration.

I also got to go on an awesome stag party last weekend. My longtime Crossroads buddy Jonny Jordan is getting married in a few weeks time and so a bunch of his guy friends headed down to the Republic of Ireland where paintball is legal, (I know, it isn't legal in N.Ireland.....crazy!!!). Anyways, it was amazing and I feel like I represented pretty well. That evening we went out for some craziness. It all started with a monster meal. I ordered a Fillet Mignon but for some reason they gave me two of them. Bonus, I thought but man it was some eating. Afterwards, we did an awesome bar tour culminating in what seemed like a 2 hour walk through pitch black Irish countryside to get back to our bed and breakfast with nothing other than our cell/mobile phone lights to guide the way.

As I write this, I realize that perhaps I have done more than I realized. I guess though the main downside is that I am waiting to work still. Its not that there aren't legal jobs out there. It is more just that none of them seem to close until October. So, I am hanging around hoping/praying/assuming that I will get one of those.

Anyways, I hope all are well. I wanna write more about Make Poverty History as I realized that I never talked more about Live 8 etc and having just watched 2 hours of it recently during one of my nothing days a lot of those emotions came back to me on it.

Oh and it has reached that time finally. The Hockey Season starts tonight and make no mistake, I have ordered the N.American Sports Channel so I won't be missing Hockey Night in Canada (although isn't there some CBC strike?!!)

So all that remains to be said is GO Sox/Leafs!!

Canadian Sovereignty

2005-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Just before my flight from Toronto to Boston this past August, I discovered something kindof crazy.

So, I check in for the flight in the traditional manner and then I head through the area where you put your hand luggage through the X-ray machine. The only thing was that I was told to bring all of my luggage with me. I figured that this was due to increased security and thought "fair enough". After doing this though, we were all escorted to another room where I was shocked and stunned to find that at this point I had to go through US immigration.

Yes, thats right - You actually go through US immigration while in Toronto airport. Now, I admit that it is nice to not have the hassle of customs control when arriving in America, but I can't help but ask the question "why is this not a bigger deal?"

Effectively, the Canadian government is allowing another country to come in and exercise control in its own country. How does this benefit Canada? The same privilege is not extended to Canadians as I discovered when I came back to Toronto and had to clear customs there again. Of course, the US will benefit because it eases delay on its side of things but it only adds to the hassle factor in Canada.

Maybe it just because I am from Ireland and the idea of another country exercising sovereignty in N.Ireland would cause chaos (see the riots of this past weekend as evidence), but I would love someone to explain to me why Canada has so willingly gone out of its way to help the US. Is it really that you guys are that nice?

Bono

2005-09-15T08:28:00.001-07:00

I hear that two of my best friends this week got to shake the hand of Bono before he played at the ACC. No doubt PK will update on his blog soon about this so if you click here maybe he will tell you all about it.

Now the mature person inside of me wants to write how Bono is only a man. No big deal. Its not like they had a full conversation with him. However, I know in my heart that I am seriously jealous. Fortunately, my good bud Sarah who went to see U2 with me in Dublin this year sent me this picture that she took. Ok, so we didn't get to shake his hand but we were pretty darn close.

2005-09-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Oh how we love Bono. Look how close we were.

Guess who

2005-09-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

After 6 weeks, 2 countries, 10 different locations, 8 roadtrips, 1 exciting baseball game, 5 boring baseball games and many many good nights partying, I am now back in Ireland.

It will take me too long to describe the holiday in one update so I won't try. Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to describe some of my experiences along with how I feel that to an extent they have changed me. Now don't get me wrong, I still love Canada and may well end up there someday. However, I feel that this time I saw it in a less biased way but I think I learnt just how much I loved Canada for my friends there.

Anyways more on that to come as well as hopefully a few pictures from my time in Boston which again was extremely eye opening. However by way of a quick update as to my current plans, I actually intend to be living at home in Ireland for the next year at least. I know, strange isn't it. After five years away, I am even going to stay with my parents. To be honest, I am not too worried about either of these things as I have always had a great relationship with my folks and it is about time I spent some more time in Ireland anyway. If at the end of the day I decide to leave, I need to have given it one more chance.

So all things being well, I will hopefully be starting some paralegal stuff soon and then maybe writing the bar next year. We shall see......should be an exciting few months regardless.

Signing off for a bit

2005-07-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

To my faithful readers

This will be my last column for the next 6 weeks or so. On Wednesday I will be flying out to Canada to catch up with my buddies from uni and I will be in and around Toronto for most of the next month.

I originally started this blog as a mean of keeping up to date with everyone in Canada and by and large I think it has been successful. We have all shared in my run ins with the law, my brushes with death on an English motorway and of course who could forget the memorable night when Liverpool finally regained their title of Champions of Europe. I hope that these stories have amused you all as much as they do me when I think back over them.

What does the future hold? To be honest, that is as much a mystery as ever. The most likely outcome is that I will spend the next year working for a law firm in Ireland articling, etc before taking the bar course which I have decided to defer on taking by a year (for long and complex reasons). There is also a small possibility that I will be in Canada next year as I attempt to qualify there instead. Immigration currently has my application for residency and we shall see how that progresses.

It is fair to say that since I started this blog I am little further in working out where exactly I see myself in life. However, I genuinely believe that my character has developed throughout my confusion. Thomas Jefferson once said that "it is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read" and I do believe that my experiences have enabled me to do this even more.

So, I hope to be back in September, maybe with new ideas, perhaps with new dreams although those of you who know me well will be expecting nothing less than an entry on Liverpool Football Club.

Why?

2005-07-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

I had hoped that my next post could reflect the fantastic mood in the UK that has been present in the last week. I wanted to capture the mood following the Live 8 concerts last weekend that we as a people could change things without needing boring bureaucrats to 'show' us the way Furthermore, whilst changing thing we can enjoy ourselves as evidenced through perhaps the greatest line up of music of all time which I was privileged enough to see.

I also wanted to reflect on a rare sporting occurence in which a player actually put his love for his team ahead of personal ambition both in terms of money and in terms of personal success (Steven Gerrard of Liverpool). Finally, I had thought that I could talk about the opportunity that London and indeed the UK had as a whole following the decision to award the city the 2012 Summer Olympics.

My hope to discuss these events and the sense of optimism within the UK was shattered this morning when 4 bombs were detonated in London killing 38 people and injuring hundreds more. I simply ask the question - why?

I grew up with terrorism. While always living safely outside of the dangerous areas of Belfast, I was always aware of the danger of IRA attacks and it was not unusual to feel at least indirectly the consequences of their actions. But at least with the IRA, I had an understanding of what they were fighting for. Sure, I didn't particularly agree with their goal and I was certainly opposed to their use of violence in striving to achieve it but at least we as a people knew where we stood.

If we assume (as seems likely) that todays attacks were a result of so called Islamic terrorists, then this certainty of the purpose behind an attack on the UK disappears. What do they want? Those looking for simple answer say that they are evil and have no desire other than that but to reak havoc - in effect that the terrorists are mindless killing machines. Certainly I would agree that they are evil but would they honestly say that their objective is solely destruction. Surely they must be motivated by something On the other hand, I can't agree with those people who say that the attacks were a direct consequence of the British decision to go to war in Iraq. Surely the horrific events of Sept 11th 2001 took place well before any invasion of Iraq (even if such an invasion was always inevitable) and does anyone really think that if the British had pulled out of Iraq it would have prevented todays attacks. Last time I checked the French (opposed to the war) were equally at risk from such an attack.

And so I am left with the conclusion that as with so many other things in my life, I don't have an answer. All, I do know is that the overwhelming sense of pride and joy that has existed in Britain over the last week has been shattered and replaced by feelings of uncertainty and fear. A summit which was meant to present to be an historic opportunity to do some good in tackling world poverty and climate change will now be remembered for world leaders standing together in the face of another horrific terrorist attrocity.

Bono sings the memorable line "Don't let the bastards grind you down". My hope is that in time and with Gods help the UK can do even better than that and recover some of that optimism and joy that existed only 24 hours ago. But for now, I am angry and simply left with that question - why?

Thoughts on U2

2005-06-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

It is honestly difficult to describe just how amazing the U2 concert was.

Here is the thing. U2 are one of the leading bands in the world and play before 80 000 people each night of their tour. Yet they somehow managed to make all of their 3 shows in Ireland incredibly personal. On the first night they played 'Wild Horses' for only the 4th or 5th time ever and on Monday night they changed up their ending to their set so as t0 make those in attendance believe they were getting a 2nd encore. When I was there, it was the whole getting a member of the crowd to play with them thing.

Now, I am biased but not so biased as I am when it comes to following sports teams. I am the first to admit that I am far from a musical genuis but I do know what I like and man did I ever like U2. They may not be the worlds most talented band but they certainly know how to perform live.

Going into the concert, I was a little nervous. My expectations were so high that in some ways I thought that there was no way that they could be met. Steve-o had been getting at me over the fact that U2 were repeating Vertigo at the end of each show and his opinion that it was wrong. I saw where he was coming from and to be honest I hoped that they wouldn't perform that stunt at Croke Park. The strange thing is though that when they did perform Vertigo for the 2nd time, it just felt right. I felt like I had been taken on a journey by U2 for 2 and a quarter hours and finsihing the way they did only seemed right.

To anyone that doesn't like U2 I say this. Sure there are bands that you may think have more talent and sure you may say that U2 are too into politics for what is meant to be a rock band. However, using only 2 guitars, a bass and a drum set no one can move a crowd like Bono and co did over the past weekend.

Pics to come as soon as they are emailed to me!!! We were only 6 yards from the stage!!!

U2 - Incredible

2005-06-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

I may not find time in the next two days to do a review on last nights concert but I just wanted to say that it was incredible.

One highlight was when Bono saw a sign from Mike in Canada asking to play with the Edge. Within minutes U2 were adding a song to their set list for the night and Mike was on stage playing party girl.

I am aware of my own bias but I can still say - what a concert

Return of the Rant

2005-06-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

I promised that I would try to get back to this blog a little more so here we go.

In the last few weeks I have written some of the toughest exams imaginable. I can't honestly express just how difficult these exams were. Basically, imagine doing a three year degree and then writing 7 exams at the end of it which covers all 3 years of the course. If that is not bad enough, the exams count for 85% of my overall graduating average.

So as you can imagine, I am glad to be done. I don't enjoy waking up at 6 to study and now I have a few weeks in which I get back to my normal sleep pattern (i.e. do little else but sleep)

Ok, so for this update I thought I would publish those pictures that I was talking about in my last entry. The first two are of the car crash that I was involved in. Bear in mind, the car in the picture wasn't mine but you can see from the damage to the front of it just how badly it wrecked my car (his car was moving, mine was stationary).

The rest of the pictures show possibly my most memorable night of the last 6 months. Don't know how sad that is to say but nonetheless, Liverpool are Champions of Europe.

2005-06-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

Did I mention I was in a car crash?
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well at least I got paid 30 pounds for the spare parts
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

My buddy Pete. He supported me throughout the early trauma and enjoyed the later celebrations. Here he is whenever a Milan chance just misses.
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

I think this was when Liverpool equalized. They were 3-0 only 5 mins before this picture was taken
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

This was the moment that the penalty was saved and Liverpool became Champions of Europe
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

It was great, I got to hug random blondes
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

The magical moment when Liverpool lifted the European Cup for the first time in 20 years. This time we get to keep it.
Posted by Hello

2005-06-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I was quite happy - there may have even been some tears!!
Posted by Hello

Ahhhh Exams

2005-06-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry bout the recent lack of updates. I am the middle of finals and wrote 4 this past week. I have 3 more next week and then I shall try to get back to this blog.

I have a few pictures to post of the busted up BMW and a few more of the memorable Champions League night at the local Liverpool bar so be sure to check back for those.

Oh also my buddy Steve-o has posted a link on his blog to one of the weirdest things I have seen in some time. Hope you don't mind me stealing the link from you Steve-o but if anyone wants to see this click http://www.compfused.com/directlink/615/