Locations

Learning to ski in Austria

Germany, Munich, Ski

I recently completed a 3-weekend skiing course based on the principles of Parallel Skiing out of Munich. It was a super-enjoyable course with great instructors who were incredibly patient and good-humoured. It was well-organised with every detail was taken care of like a different set of skis for each days tuition (the idea is to start on very short skis and learn how to stop using parallel movement and then progress to longer skis). The next course begins next January but if you send an email to null, you will be contacted in November next about the upcoming course.

Irish Examiner needs a geography lesson

Ireland

Related to an article about Conor Cruise O’Brien’s red bias in RTE. Perhaps the letter was a deliberate fake if they are quoting from the address on the letter. Some of the passages are hilarious in which case, if it was taken seriously, geography lessons should have been required much further up the line.

Writing on March 20, 1978, Joseph O’Reilly of Achill Island, Co Galway, wrote that he wished “to draw [the taoiseach’s] attention to the news coverage by RTÉ particularly on television, of the French elections”.

JP Grealis – Missing Irish Person in the Netherlands

Ireland

I just got an email forwarded on about an Irish person from Achill who has been missing since November 2008.

Dear All,
Happy New Year to all and apologies for not sending any Christmas cards this year, my family and I are going through a tough time as my brother, JP, is missing in the Netherlands.

I have a favour to ask, could you please pass on this mail with the information below – I know it’s a long shot but it may reach someone that has seen him in the past few weeks, we will try anything at this stage. We have been doing everything we can to find JP with the Police and the Embassy and also my sisters, Mani, my brother-in laws and JP’s friends have searched various places in the Netherlands but there appears to be no trace of him since he was seen in Eindhoven during the 1st week of November. It seems unlikely but he may have travelled outside of the Netherlands so we are also searching in
Belgium/Spain/Germany etc.

Thank you,
Clare

  • Nationality: Irish
  • Name: James Patrick Grealis, known as JP
  • Date of Birth: 14/03/1984 (24 years old)
  • Hair: Red (curly/wavy)
  • Height: approx.1.75 meter/ approx 5′ 9”
  • Build: Slim build with broad shoulders
  • Clothes: Generally wears T-shirts, jeans, hoodies etc (he has a habit of walking with his sleeves pulled down over his hands)
  • General Information: Smoker, works in building trade, likes to socialize

JP was last seen in Eindhoven (1 st week of Nov) and last called home from Breda (23 rd of Oct). He may have travelled to Rotterdam in November. Any information please contact me (00 353 (0)87 2393993) or the Irish Police on 00 353 (0)98 20830 or the Dutch Police on 00 31 79-345 8882 ( case number 08261250 for Dutch Police)


Email:clare.grealis@gmail.com
Mobile Telephone: + 353 87 2393993

His details are also included on the Dutch Red Cross site here and also on the Irish Missing Persons website here.


counter to blogspot


Misleading Obesity in Ireland

Ireland, Thought Provoking

From the Irish Times today, it seems like Obesity is now affecting one in five pregnant women. This is absolutely crazy. For a government running out of ideas, how about a tax proposal that would target obesity in the same way that alcohol and tobacco addition is targeted. How about a huge tax increase on all foods that have a fat proportion of over a certain level and then a sliding scale below that. One of the most laughable things I found on my last trip to Ireland was on the back of a pack of Tayto crips was a statistic that 2500 calories were the standing level for a man. Since I’ve been using Gyminee to track diet and exercise, the figure is close to 1700 for me. When is misleading packaging like that on Tayto (which I love by the way) going to be tackled in Ireland?

Rural broadband

Ireland, Tech, Web

FT reports on a rural broadband initiative in the UK. I’d love to see something like this being adopted in Ireland.

Not yet two years old, it is estimated to have brought in hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment by enabling entrepreneurs to thrive in areas that would have once been off limits, with 50,000 rural businesses now in reach of a fast internet connection.

Infrastructure investment is a mantra that has been heard from too long from the current Irish government. However, when it has come to prescient action, the efforts so far have look flat-footed and slow.

“We are levelling the playing field with urban areas,” said Andy Lister, marketing director of NYnet. Private companies have little incentive to build networks in sparsely populated areas and the costs for businesses increase the further they are from the exchange.

Getting into mobile internet

Munich, Tech, Travel, Web

I’m a late adopter when it comes to using the internet on a phone. This has mainly come about due to the dearth of services that were available, my reluctance to commit to any type of contract and I wanted to get away from being online when I am away from the office or my apartment. However, now that I do a weekly commute and the fact that the train services I use don’t have any wireless services meant that I was out of touch for long spells on Mondays and Fridays. That was annoying when it meant being out of the loop while news was breaking on Monday or social plans were being made on Friday. This all came to a head when I needed a new phone and after a terrible experiment with an Lg, I found a review of the nokia 6220 classic on youtube that suggested it had the features of the N82 but without the huge pricetag. I got it and I got a kick out of using features like GPS, google maps, twitter, etc. However, the frequency and cost of topping up my credit was a problem. I went into t-mobile in Munich and they offered me a priceplan of 10 Euro a month but I had to commit to a contract. Since then, I haven’t looked back. My costs have good down, my train journeys are not so boring and now I’ve written my first blog post on the phone. Have a nice weekend.