my 5 year old wants to vote

There's no way of knowing what goes on in the mind of a child. My 5 year old (to be fair he is only 4.56 years old but considers himself sophisticated enough to be a 5 year old) casually noted today that he intends to vote for Alex White in the upcoming elections in Ireland.

Clearly he can't vote but he does intend to vote for Alex White when he is old enough. I suspect Alex will not be actively campaigning then. Too bad.

I suspect that he likes the name Alex (his best friend is called Alex, his cousin is called Alex and one of the main characters in Madagascar 2 is called Alex) though he may indeed have a deep appreciation for politics.

I don't know why I'm nervous

Re my previous post..

I don't know why but I am nervous about calling.

My head is full of lots of daft stuff these past few weeks.. you wouldn't believe what has been going on.

I am SUPER-indecisive these days. I know what is triggering it but I'm struggling to park it.

I am delighted for the person in question but am not in the right frame of mind to say what it is I mean to say.

I'm guessing that none of this is making sense.

I need to go for a walk in the mountains perhaps. Clear my head.

A little bird

A little bird tells me that a former colleague of mine is expecting her first baby...

I am so delighted for her and her husband, more than she can know.

I will call her later this week to say hi.

Now I want brownies

Come to think of it, I'd actually really like to bake (and eat) a whole pile of brownies. Trouble is I don't have a decent recipe.

If anyone has a decent recipe that is fool-proof (no, really.. I mean it) I'd love to get a copy or maybe point me to a link somewhere.

I'm looking for a recipe that is easy to make and hard to mess up. Also I am in Ireland so I don't have access to Semi-sweet tollhouse chocolate morsels or stuff like that.

I tried making flapjacks some time ago and they tasted like muck.

CHiPs and Pot

My two sons are suddenly into watching CHiPs again. Remember CHiPs. Of course you do. That timeless TV show from the late seventies and early eighties. Two motorcycle cops on patrol on the highways of California. Yes that's the one.

Well yours truly is a fan. I mean I was a fan when it was on the TV. I was only a young lad then of course.

Some time ago it was showing again on one of those channels that plays endless re-runs of The Dukes of Hazzard or The A-Team. One saturday morning it was on and I paused briefly out of nostalgia and my little boys were hooked.

That led to me buying the DVD of season 1 which we all watched and loved. Then season 2 came out on DVD but by that time they had kind of moved on to Mario Kart and there I was all alone with my green-coloured box set.

Until this weekend that is. They just asked to watch it and have watched a fair few episodes over the weekend.

There is one that really stands out. The one where Jon and Ponch fall foul of a bunch of frat kids on their way back from mexico with a bag of the old fella.

It all ends rather bizarrely with the frat kids making a batch of hash brownies an trying to slip them into the Highway Patrol's cake sale. Needless to say Jon and Ponch save the day and the brownies end up on the ground unfit for consumption by the fine citizens of California.

Excellent.

everything is certain again

aH THAT'S GRAND

CURSE THIS NEW KEYBOARD - WHERE IS THE CAPS LIOCK BUTTON

AAAGGHH

Tough interview questions? puh-lease

OMFG (as hip people say)

I opened my web browser today and saw a link to an article called "Eight toughest Interview Questions".

Given that I spent almost four years trying to improve the standard of interviewing at my former employer I thought 'I'm gonna take a look' so I did. And boy was I sorry.

Sheesh! Where do I even begin.

p.s. Saddest fact about this. Tips come from a career-related website. Ahem.

Head games

Looking at the picture of the fella getting off the plane today from Guantanamo and reading the statement read out by his lawyer one can only begin to barely comprehend what it must be like to suffer torture, especially all the mind-torture.

I'm in the middle of a period of life right now where I've never felt less certain about the road ahead. I have always been confident that no matter what happens I'll figure out some way to survive and keep afloat.

But lately there's just so much uncertainty, so many people around me all worrying endlessly about the future and what will happen. And all the time the people who should be leading just aren't. 

Take the situation in Ireland as a clear example. Businesses have been pulling out of Ireland, and people have been losing their jobs. On top of that the banks have pretty much disgraced their profession, showing themselves to be less than adept at managing their businesses than the average small trader and in some cases being plan dishonest. 

So people the length and breadth of the country are wondering if these 'gougers' will be brought to account, if they will have to pay for their mismanagement and misdeeds like ordinary people have to. Sadly up to this point the usual maxim applies.

Those who can afford the best legal advice tend to enjoy the greatest legal protections. There's a lot to be said for getting good advice but when you view this disaster that is Ireland's economic standing and reputation from afar then you see it for what it really is. A greed pit with an escape hatch.

And on a more local scale, that uncertainty prevails too. And there is a real lack of leadership.

I always liked the vision of the leader as the one who climbs the tallest tree to see where the edge of the jungle is. Well right now it seems that all is happening where I am is lots of huddles around camp fires, waiting for God knows what.

It's like mental torture for some people. The not knowing. The waiting. The lack of information. The pain of amplified rumours as each person adds another little bit of power to a rumour and to misinformation.

Sometimes it's better to turn off the radio. Put down the newspaper. Switch off the TV or PC and go and do something that you and only you can influence. Like taking a walk or making a cup of tea or taking a drive to some place calm and beautiful. And take in what you can of what you actually see and actually experience.

We don't need anybody else's filter to tell us how to see what is happening in our own life. Yet that's exactly the problem. 

We've all become hooked on the views of economists and accountants and business commentators and news anchors and all the rest.

Maybe it's time to see again with your own eyes and just live the life that you have now. There you go. I just sorted my own mind out. Grand.

There is always a lesson

I spent two hours in the car with my two boys on Tuesday night trying to get home in the snow.

The weather has been unusual in Ireland for this past 4 days especially. We don't normally get a lot of snow and we're not totally prepared for it to be honest. So 4 days later, 3 of which have had pretty much constant snowfall on the east side of the country, and I think people are getting a bit tired of being boxed in by the weather.

Anyway it was kind of interesting being there in the car with my 6 year old and my 4 year old sons. Naturally the 4 year old fell asleep on the back seat and he was pretty much out for the count for the whole arduous journey.

The 6 year old was a different prospect. He has such an interesting take on life. For him everything is interesting and everything is there to be understood. So the two hours was long, dull and pretty much going nowhere fast. But the 2 hours spent chatting with him about snow, traffic, other motorists (!) and everything else that came up was really great. 

Eventually he and I agreed on an escape plan. We decided we'd turn off the main route and risk taking the back roads. It took an age to get to the turn itself but once we did we agreed that we both decided to turn off the main road. 

It turned out great.

We ended the journey with a sense of what I once heard described as "complicité", a kind of shared experience that bonds people together.

Granted this was no "Alive" but it sure was good to get home and it was fun chatting to my son.

Naturally as soon as we did get home the Wii was powered up and I was once again relegated to my previous role of "that's just my dad".

p.s. I'm not sure why I linked the word Wii for people who don't know what a Wii is. Is it possible that there are people out there who don't yet know what a Wii is?