God..Does anyone care anymore?

It's hard to get people's opinions on religion.. Not many will comment on whether there's a God or not.. It can be a touchy subject. I find that most people like to say they're catholics.. Even if they're not practicing! And then you've the type of people that go to mass just out of habit.. They never really think about religion, the existence of God or anything like that..They might not have even read The Bible! I'd be one of those people...
I never really think about the afterlife or how Jesus suffered for us or even pray that much. But I do notice that I turn to religion when I'm in need... Do you ever do that? Maybe that's our instinct telling us that we'll be safe if we have faith?

Two old men in a pub..I'd swear they're
 talking about religion!!!!

To be honest, it's not something I'd be too interested in, it's just a force of habit, I never really think about it.. Maybe in later years I'll turn more to God and have a better understanding of religion.. For now, I think I'll leave the topic to the auld fellas in the pubs to argue over!

1st Semester in the DkIT.. Hellish craic!!

Not much more could have happened in this semester... I got hypnotised (made a bolox of myself in doin so!), got to grips with what PR actually is, made plenty of nice new friends, started playing a wee bit of college football and missed just one Thursday night on the town so far since I started the course... (Prob didn't do the liver many favours.. or the belly..)

The hypnotism..

I never had much faith in this type of thing...Well guess what.. I do now! Managed to make a show of meself in front of a packed out Whitaker Theatre.. Loooked at a few video clips from the day.. Milked a cow, thought I was in a washing machine, acted like a cowboy, groped whatever poor divil was beside me, walked an imaginary dog through the crowd and eh... Almost done The Full Monty.. See I remember a little bit of that, just wakening up in front of the whole crowd with just my boxers on...Not embarrassing at all...
I don't think I'll post a video from that day :)
Oh, I forgot to mention, I also thought I had a wee leprechaun with me for a good while after..

The new friends..

We had a bit of a
PR Class meeting that night!

Before I started college I often heard people say, "Aw my class at college is full of dickheads!".. Lucky enough, I don't have that problem! :) They're a sound bunch, great craic, and we all like to take the mick at a few classes!
I met a right few sound lads through the football here in the college, half of them are Monaghan heads but sure I'd be used to them by now! There's lads from Cavan, Louth and Dublin there as well...
Then there's the people you'd meet on nights out, friends of friends, complete randomers, whatever it may be!
It's a nice atmosphere here in Dundalk, haven't had any run-ins with anyone yet and it doesn't look like I will anytime in the near future!

The football..

DkIT Freshers 2010/11

Well...What can I say...That was cruel this year! All-Ireland Semi Final, and to be bet by a point in extra time? Mainly because the referee couldn't be fair? Well, what can I say.. At least I now know how Louth people felt when Meath bet them in the Leinster Final this year :)

But yano what? Am feckin delighted I did start playing ball with the college.. Or, at least tried to anyway ;) Met plenty of decent lads, we had a few great nights out so far and I'm sure there'll be plenty more!

The nights out..

Halloween in Dundalk - Chilian Miner and TopGun man!

Well, I'd be lying if I said Dundalk was a bad place for a night out. Had some great nights here so far, met some great people! Drinks are only 3euro, add pre-drinking in a friend's house to that and it's a serious amount cheaper than a Saturday night in The Fiddlers!





So..All over, the first semester went quite well! :) Couldn't ask for much more! The only thing is we're at the shitty part of it now with all the tests and exams so I'll be looking forward to the start of next semester! The timetable looks good and we've a right few interesting modules to do!

The Reward is Cheese.....

Deadmau5 in concert

Who likes Deadmau5?? I like Deadmau5... Anyone ever listen to Deadmau5??
(It's pronounced "dead-mouse".... just incase... :) )
For about 6 weeks I was waiting anxiously on our Christmas exam timetable.. See on Tuesday 14th December I'm headin to Deadmau5 in the o2, I was worried that I'd have an exam the next day and I'd have to flog my ticket, fortunately I won't have to as I'm free the next day!

Joel Zimmerman

Deadmau5, or Joel Zimmerman if you want to call him by his real name, hails from Canada and he'd be known as one of the world's best dj's/producers.. His genre would be mainly house music and electronic.. To me, he's a feckin genius! His music is brilliant, it's just a pity a lof of nightclubs don't play his type of music too often.. Silence in Dundalk has a music dj though, it turns out Deadmau5 is actually his hero.. No bad spot for the tunes!




Not really sure what type of song to leave you with to sum up his type of music.. So I said I'd throw in "The Reward is Cheese" and a mini mix from his new album, "4x4=12"!

Search Engine Marketing.. It's a weapon!

This is something that's fairly interesting.. Probably one of the most interesting things I learned about in my 1st semester. With search engine optimisation, you can do so much to advertise your company! By editing your website, you can eventually make it up to the top of the list of results search engines throw out when someone searches for something relevant to your website. See, search engines pick up on how many hits your website has, how many people have links to your website and if the search terms are mentioned on your website a few times, it's more likely to make it to the top of the list! That's fairly handy! Yes, it takes a of of time..But there's no financial cost to it.. 

If you advertise on a search engine with a "paid for listing", you can choose what search terms your listing shows up for. You can choose which geographic location your listing shows up in, and you can choose what you want to pay for every "click" you get. Se every click costs a certain amount.. It's just a matter of finding out what the right price is to get you to the top of the paid for listings!

Snow...Never mind the hassle of it, time for acting the bollox!!

Yeh so it looks nice and all... And yeh it causes a lot of hassle on the roads... And schools get shut...
In fact, here's a pic of it from the front of my house... Although that wasn't the heaviest part of it, it's just the only pic I have at the mo!

But at the end of the day..Who Cares???? Snow brings out the child in us! How many of you threw a snowball? Or made a snowman? Or went flting down a hill on a bag of 10-10-20 filled with straw?? Or even got someone with a sly snowball when they weren't expecting it? There's no better feeling.. :)

When the snow came to Drumconrath, a lot of us got wrapped up, went out there, and destroyed each other with snow!! We even got a couple of poor divils driving by in their cars... But don't worry, it was safe enough, they saw us coming.. And if the tables were turned they'd be at the same!
At what other time would you get a community together for something like that? The Parish Priest even ventured out to slide down the hills on the sledge..This was after he asked the crowd at mass on Sunday morning, "Which hills had the most snow?".. It brings out the kid in everyone!

 

But, like I said, ya can't bate acting the mick in a good snow fight!
It's just a pity all the snow is gone to ice now.... Or is it? ;)

Advertising Online..Why not??

How could you go against advertising online? Sure it's win-win! In some cases, it won't cost you a penny. It may take time to set up a website and make it clear and helpful to the public, but if you know how to do it, it'll only cost you time! That's a lot cheaper than putting an advertisement into a newspaper, magazine, on the radio or on the telly..

Or... maybe... they're just too

 lazy to leave the house....?

And anyway, when people are looking for something in particular, where do they go? Do they switch on the radio and listen intently for an ad that's relevant to their needs? Do they sit there, glued to the telly? NO! Most of the time, people are going to go straight to the internet! Isn't it worth going to the bother of advertising online.. Just for that? What harm can it do you? You can showcase your company 24/7, people can view what services you provide from the comfort of their own homes.


Another good point; with online advertising, you can make your own videos.. Or "virals" as they're better known as! This is making your own video for the internet, advertising what you want.. Just like you would on the television, only much cheaper!
The only thing is, you have to try your best to get it spread right across the net..

Here's a nice, short viral done by Nike in their campaign to fight aids in Africa.

A very embarrassing... But very fun night!

Drumconrath Hunt for a Hunk

Drumconrath football club held a fundraiser on Saturday night, 27th of November. The fundraiser was called Hunt for a Hunk! "What's that?".. I hear you ask!
Well, it's like the Rose of Tralee... Only it'd be better if it was named the Thistle of Tralee. It's cheekier, cheesier and the piss gets ripped out of the contestants! So who else would be foolish enough to agree to being a contestant? Yeh... That's right!! Feckin me...

There were 10 contestants, you can check out the standard of the competition in this pic yourself!

Drumconrath Hunks! Doesn't say much for
the village...Does it? :) 

Each "Hunk" had to do a party piece. They varied from men singing, playing the guitar, trying to break the world record of eating 3 cream crackers in a minute, and even showing off their skills on a spinner bike!

Me, I TRIED to sing the Hucklebuck.. Pretty simple song, but i still managed to forget the lyrics! That's what nerves does to ya, eh? I tried to talk the talk and all that.. But he still managed to rip the piss outta me!




The MC on the night was Frank Mitchell, the man to used to present UTV's School Around The Corner.

UTV's Frank Mitchell

In saying that, many said the night was "the best the village had in a long time!". It was great fun, both for the spectators and the audience! It raised a massive amount of money, over 6,000euro, and half of which will be donated to Crumlin Children's Hospital. Thanks to all who sponsored the event!

I'll leave you with a clip from the night, all the contestants took part in The Riverdance while the votes were being counted1 Some lads wore blouses and dresses.. While others weren't as foolish! You'll see all the gobshites together at 1:30!