Blue skies and sunshine indicate gusts of 140mph…
I’ve been waiting for someone to blow past my window. With the amount of Weather ALERTS and sandbags building up in the harbour near us, one might be expecting Armagedon. So far, there’s a slighty strong breeze and not a sign of the storm which caused the boardwalk in town to be closed yesterday. I think it goes without saying that us irish love the drama of the weather and if there is a slight chance of a stronger then usual breeze, we shut down. No flights, no ferry sailings and no tiddly winks. Nothing. Except for sure you’d have to the pub and discuss it. At length, because we are experts on all things espeically the weather. Although these storms must have delighted hairdressers up and down the country, now they really have something to talk about. Apart from summer holidays and paddies weekend. I often wonder is if part of their hairdressing course that they must be able to small talk you to death whilst making you look fabulous? Is it possible for a hairdresser to be amazing and not say one word to you? I don’t think so.
Friday night’s spud meet was fab, best ever so far methinks. Lots of newbies, everyone mingling and a good few heads from Team Spud out. Mammy2 was running late due to a puncture which turned out to be worse then it appeared. She had given her family a lift to the theatre the previous night and parked outside the theatre. This was obviously an invitation to slash our tyres on the passenger side. I don’t understand that kind of senseless vandalism. Back to the meet, it was great. Messagesboards go through phases of quietness and being busy and over the last while I had thought we were stuck in a rut of quietness. Friday night demonstrated that people still love the spud thank god. So I am all systems go again, with organising Pride and seeing whom from the team is available. I look forward to us making an impression at Pride this year.
Saturday morning even after a mad night out, I dragged myself to training. Towards the end of the class, some of the girls were complaining to the instructor about how the training is making their bums bigger. He started chatting about diet and eating habits, I felt like I was at a weight watchers class rather then a kick boxing class. But its funny how people percieve themselves espeically when it comes to weight. I mean the women who were commenting on their weight were not at all in need of dieting of any kind. But I suppose everyone has their own perception of their body. The media and society in general also place pressure on people, espeically younger girls. For example Mammy2’s niece who’s 8 came home from school one day and asked her mother if she thought she was fat. The girl is 8? Is the pressure already starting so young? Its insane. How do you protect a child from the pressures of dieting and losing weight and not wanting to be fat? Shield them from everyday communiation? Lock them up? Its a conundrum for parents definetly.
It was a fun night in Cavan with the in-laws. We arrived up there in good time for around 5.45 after dreadful driving conditions. Torrential hailstones and wind, all very dramatic. Dinner was at 7 and there was an issue with our dinner reservation, which left some of the staff looking slightly embaressed. Apparently there was no record of a booking for 14 people under the in-laws name. So they shuffled some things around and finally we were seated. The kids were very well behaved, I imagine it must be very boring for them sitting there with all the adults. The kids were brought to the bed after the meal by the parents who were in-laws, whilst we stayed up in the bar chatting and rounds being bought. The men can certainly sink a few, Mammy2’s brother didn’t look like it was having any affect after 6 or 7 rounds. Thankfully I wasn’t trying to keep up with them and stuck to the non-alco drinks. One of the sisters, the Don of the family for want of a better description came up to the bar with me at one stage and not being one for hugs, much like myself, enveloped me in a hug and kissed me on the cheek telling me how fab I was and that Mammy2 was lucky to have me etc. I looked around for my protective cones that I use to indicate personal space and how it is being infringed upon but alas they were no-where to be seen. It was a great night though and very nice of Mammy2’s parents to bring us all away and pay for us.
Yesterday was how Sunday’s should be spent, pottering around town whilst Mammy2 slept, playing for a bit online and then cooking a yummy dinner followed by some lesbian action in the shape of the L word. We’ve also gotten into Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chroicles, its quite good if a tad confusing. I need to rewatch the original Terminator films. The whole AI thing I find fascinating. For example, I found this program online.
http://turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html
It basically visiualises the amount of computations that the program goes through before it makes its move. Its very quick and really interesting. I remember as part of my fourth year project I had to write something AI based. Nothing as major as this but still at the time, it was a challenge. The program did learn though, as each time I ran it and it went through the various algorithims I had written, it got closer to the end result. Which means each time it ran, it picked up something. At the time I didn’t fully comphrend what it was doing, but now looking back it was impressive. I downloaded some open source chess program which can be used to build your own program. So I might give that I go when I have some time to spare. Which might be next week. I put in for some leave for next week so I finish on Friday and I’m not back in work until Tuesday the 25th of March :D. I cannot wait. I have arrange to meet no-one, no plans except lots of me time! Mammy2 reckons we shall have the cleanest apartment as a result. I am hoping the housework will only take up half a day. I will meet up with the kid and hopefully have a sister’s night. I have some new horrors which are worth checking out. I reckon a new hair style will be the result of that night.
