Maddie

Did Madeleine Mc Cann's parents have anything to do with her disappearance? I personally think they did. Although they may not have been directly involved in her disappearance, they certainly helped. Honestly what sort of parents leave their twins aged two and little girl aged three in an apartment on their own in the Algarve. Kate and Gerry Mc Cann didn't just leave their children for two minutes to go out to the shop they left them for an hour to have dinner in a restaurant with their friends. There defence was that the tapas bar was only a hundred meters away from their apartment. That may be so, unfortunately for Maddie that hundred meters was just too far. When the case first broke I thought that maybe they had killed her by accidentally overdosing her on tranquilisers to make her sleep. Then I realised they wouldn't have had much time to remove her body. When investigations revealed no hard evidence that they were involved in her disappearance everybody resigned to the fact that they were innocent. However I honestly believe that they are far from innocent and that they should be charged with gross neglect of their children and that the social services should think about removing their twins away from their care before something happens to them too. You may say that's too harsh but I feel really strongly about the abuse and neglect of children. You need a licence to drive a car it's my opinion that you should need a licence to have children too. Regardless of whether they did it or not, they left their kids unattended and the worst thing in the world happened. With all the money they have they wouldn't pay for a babysitter that the resort could provide. Some people long for children and can't have any and others just abuse and neglect them. At the end of the day the Mc Canns neglected their children and they should go to jail for that alone. As for Maddie, if she is still alive she is one very frightened possibly hurt little girl who wont understand whats happening to her or where her mum and dad are or why they left her and haven't come back to get her. I couldn't imagine any child going through that. For more information visit the Find Maddie helpline . If you don't agree with me just look at the following video and tell me how her parents could put her in that danger by leaving her alone and not be to blame.

Web standards

I have to admit I've never really thought about websites in great detail before this course. Ignorance is bliss! However after attending a lecture by Roisin Mulligan a lecturer in the college who is blind I sat up and realised the complexity of it all. Roisin showed us how she uses a computer and navigates around a website using specialised software called Jaws , it really got me thinking. Some websites were quite easy for her to navigate around but others such as Sky sports were virtually impossible. Even I who has all of my senses couldn't really make head or tail of their website. It was so busy, there was far too much information all on one screen. I truly think that Roisin is amazing, she hasn't let her disability stop her in any way. However, after witnessing how difficult it was for her to navigate around some sites, I really do think that web standards is an important issue. Whatever way you look at it, if a website can't be accessed by everybody it is a form of discrimination. It is not as if they can use the excuse that people with sight difficulties cant read a website anyway. That is actually not the case as proved by Roisin and the ability of jaws software. Therefore it is my opinion that it should be a legal requirement for all websites to be accessible to everybody regardless of their disabilities. I sincerely hope that all the students who are studying computers and website design in our college are taking note of these web standards as they are the future technicians and website designers of the world and the accessibility of websites for all including the disabled is in their hands. For the rest of us I hope that each and every one of us is grateful for everything we have and we realise how lucky we are not to have a disability such as blindness that could affect our every day life. Roisin is an inspiration to us all.

My experience in D.K.I.T

Well what can I say about my time here in D.K.I.T . I think it's fair to say it was the cause of most of my near mental breakdowns over the last few years. However I have to admit that although coming back to college as a mature student was very stressful it did give me a new purpose to my life that had been previously taken away. Apart from the educational experience, I made some fantastic new friends, the type of friends that are few and far between. The one thing I will take away from here is the feeling of pride, I pulled myself out of a very dark place and set myself a goal, which was basically to survive the first year. Yet here I am almost finished my honours degree and waiting acceptance onto a masters degree course in D.I.T . When I think about it now I can honestly say I made it, I pulled through with flying colours and even though I didn't know where this road would take me at the start, I have loved every minute of the journey and the future is looking bright. The following song always reminds me of good times. So cheers D.K.I.T you gave me plenty.

Search Engine Optimization

So, what is it ? Well my opinion is that it is just a very technical word for creating a very good website that Google likes. Are all those years that students spent at college learning how to create a really cool, flashy website for some big company while earning really extravagant salaries wasted because if you research SEO than you will know that Google and search engines like it don't actually like big flashy websites with loads of pictures and flashing lights. So therefore was it a complete waste of the companies money, that they hired someone to create this brilliant website when all Google likes is boring, text rich websites. If your a bit lost let me explain! You see the whole idea of creating a website is so that people will visit your site and think it is really good and therefore think your product or service must be really good. Hence they buy your product or service and hey presto you make money. The key to knowing how good your website,according to Google is how far up on page one it is. I do say one because if you are on page two ,forget about it.The key to getting people to your website is having a few key words that you supply to Google and every time someone enters one or all of your words in the Google search area then your business comes up on a Google web page. For example if I Google the words Dundalk and hotel the place where I work, The Ballymascanlon House Hotel comes up, but considering there are only four or five hotels in Dundalk, it only comes up number four on the page. Our main competitors The Crowne Plaza and The Park Inn come up before us. Not so good for The Ballymascanlon House Hotel I think. However if you type in the words golf, courses in Dundalk it comes up number five on the web page,the Crowne Plaza comes in at number one. Which is a bit strange as the Crowne Plaza doesn't even have a golf course. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that Dundalk is the major key word, and nothing to do with hotels or golf courses. Likewise I happened to be searching on Google for a picture of tea and biscuits and a hotel appeared on the web page, obviously some genius somewhere decided to put tea and biscuits into their key words, The mind boggles! After all that effort of choosing the right words you then have to be really careful not to annoy Google by doing sneaky things like hiding your words and other technical stuff like that, because if you do Google will find out and then mark you off their search engine forever, so if anyone ever "Google's" your website it will never appear ever again. Never mind Big Brother Google is watching you. If you feel I haven't explained the whole thing well enough for you to understand my blog then feel free to visit the following website to learn more about SEO. Oh and if you cant beat them join them. Here's Google's tips on getting into Google and staying there . Alternatively you could enroll on the honours degree course in business in hospitality at D.K.I.T , you do a module in E-Tourism and you actually learn quite a bit about this technological stuff there! P.S feel free to correct me if I have entered incorrect information.

Bye Bye Bertie

Is it just me or does anyone else in Ireland think that the fact that Bertie Ahern resigned this week is really sad. Now I'm not particularly very politically minded and if you asked me who the leader of any political party was I would more than likely give you a blank stare which would have you under no illusions that I hadn't a clue. However I do feel that Bertie was given a very raw deal. Now I know that he probably wasn't up to much good in those early days regarding his finances but sure what politician wasn't? I'm pretty certain that they were all at it at some stage, unfortunately for Bertie he got caught. It seems to me that a lot of Bertie's opposition were very quick to jump on the band wagon, but in the words of our Lord " Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" Gospel of John . I very much doubt that any of those politicians could afford to throw the first stone!. What really annoys me about the whole thing is how some of the people of Ireland were so quick to turn on Bertie. How could the people of Ireland be so idiotic that they were so quick to forget all the work he has done for our country. Without him there would be no Good Friday Agreement, details of which can be obtained by clicking on the following link Good Friday . In all honestly what has Bertie Aherns private affairs got to do with the way he ran our country, I for one don't think it affected it at all. He was good at his job, he did a lot for Ireland and I personally think that, that was what people of Ireland should be concentrating on rather than who or where he got his money from. Regardless of how I feel the country's media hounded and hounded him until they got their wish, poor Bertie Ahern resigned. My only worry is, have the people and media of Ireland made a huge mistake. All that said it was time for him to go and I have to say there were some very touching tributes to him as the country said goodbye to Bertie Ahern "man of the people". One of the best I heard was on Today FM , where the , Gift Grub Team did a very touching sketch for Bertie's farewell. For more information on the Ahern years The Irish Independent did a very good article. But If you just want a laugh then check out Irish Blogs.ie . As for me all I have to say is "Goodbye Bertie we will miss you"

Mobile Computing

The term "Mobile Computing " is used to describe the use of computing devices which usually interact in some fashion with a central information system while away from the normal fixed workplace. Mobile computing technology enables the mobile worker to: A) Create, B)Access, C) Process, D) Store and, E) Communicate information without being constrained to a single location. Mobile computing is an extremely versatile, capable and exciting technology that offers many otherwise unattainable benefits to an organisation that choose to integrate it into their fixed information system.(Zimmerman,1999). To read more interesting facts on mobile computing you can read the following article , Mobile Computing .Some examples of the uses of mobile computing in the hospitality industry is where several hotels in America are currently using a mobile computing system. They work in the following way, as guests check out and the rooms are vacated, the central property management system wireless signals the cleaning staff that the rooms are ready for cleaning. Any problems that the cleaning staff come across during the cleaning process such as maintenance issues, are immediately communicated to the mobile maintenance team for action. As soon as the rooms are cleaned and any maintenance issues are sorted the accommodation staff member wireless updates the central computer and the room is immediately available for check in of new guests. Another use of mobile computing in the hotel industry is the use of "Waiter Mates". "Waiter Mates" are a hand held computer system that the waiter of a restaurant brings to the table with him. The "Waiter Mate" allows him or her to enter the table order onto the hand held machine and it automatically transfers the order to a computer system in the kitchen. By using such devices it speeds up the process of the actual order getting to the kitchen and it allows the waiter to concentrate on serving the table rather than running in and out of the kitchen to place the order. It also reduces the chances of dockets being mislaid which can often happen on busy nights in a restaurant or kitchen. To look at some samples of a "Waiter Mate" you can access the following website. Waiter Mate

Young Suicides

While travelling into work the other day I was listening to the Gerry Ryan Show. A lady came on air talking about how her young son had hung himself in sheer temper because she had taken him out of the pub. She was saying that she knew for a fact that he didn't mean to hang himself, that in his own mind he was thinking "that will show you mammy for embarrassing me in front of my friends" and in reality she maintained that he didn't actually realise in his own head the actual consequences of committing suicide. He didn't realise that he would never get to hear her say " Oh I'm so sorry for embarrassing you I'll never do it again" because he KILLED himself, there is no coming back, there are no more nights out with his friends , no more girlfriends , no more holidays, no more laughter. The point she was making was in relation to the funerals of the two young students who committed suicide recently. She feared that due to the massive publicity they got and the elaborate funerals they received with everyone saying such lovely things about them and thousands of people attending the funeral, their favourite songs being played and the school closing for the duration of the mass actually made hero's out of them especially to their peers. Does shutting school's and allowing students to have their day in mourning when a student commits suicide send out the right message. I don't think it does . The lady made the point that maybe if students weren't allowed to go to the funeral and had to go to class instead they might realise that there is nothing heroic about it and at the end of the day normal life still has to go on and the person who is gone is gone forever not just for the day. I totally agree with her, do these kids actually know, I mean really understand what suicide means? Do they understand when the funeral is over and their friends go back to school that they cant join them because they are gone forever, they ended the life they had now and any life they could have had. In my opinion instead of letting the children go to the funeral they should say a prayer for the deceased and continue on with their work so as not to glorify the act. I also think schools should be more pro active when it comes to teaching young kids what it actually means to take your own life , that it is not an answer and that there is no coming back from it. Possibly schools should introduce counselling services or put up websites that deal with the topic of depression or suicide such as suicidal.com. This may help when students feel like there is no one they can talk to. Either way we as a society need to act on this spree of young children taking their own lives and it is up to each and everyone of us to take an interest in our children and explain to them what suicide actually means for them.

Virtual Communities

Virtual communities, are they just a place where sad people go who don't have the confidence to go out into the real world? or are the real world socialisers completely missing out on this phenomenon?. Take first life for example
first life. The whole idea of this just baffles me to be honest. Is the idea of socialising not that it allows you to get out of the house and meet with real life human beings? Now I know technically the lovers of first life will counteract that you are actually meeting people, just not face to face. I personally want to be able to see the person I am talking to, I want to see their facial expressions when I'm talking to them. Not an icon of what someone has created themselves to be. In first life the person may have created themselves to be a six foot hunk with rugged good looks and a body to die for. When in reality they may be a five foot nothing, overweight and balding middle aged man. What happens if you really build up a good rapport with someone in first life and decide to meet up in reality. You may be totally expecting the man of your dreams thanks to the picture you have built up in your mind and then the reality of it all bursts your bubble completely. Yes I hear what your thinking , you think I'm completely shallow and that looks aren't everything. I firmly believe that for a relationship to work you have to actually fancy your partner. What is the point in having someone who "makes you laugh" if your too embarrassed to be seen in public with them?. Furthermore when I go out I want to go to an actual pub and feel the atmosphere of people enjoying themselves, I want to hear the beat of the music,I want to smell the beer and the vodka and see the animated faces of everybody I meet and talk to while we have a conversation. First life is definitely not for me. Whereas I understand something like the Harley Davidson on line community Harley Davidson. Now that is something I would be interested in, not specifically Harley Davidson's but something along the same lines. These are people who are truly interested in the subject. They are people who want to meet other people to discuss the thing they love the most. I agree it is a good way of finding out what's happening in the world of Harley when otherwise they may be not be able to contact other people about the same subject as there are not too many people who own a Harley in every locality.Speaking of which check out this cool video. I think listening to that video gives us a taste of what it would be like to own and drive a Harley. So to end my blog on virtual communities, the brand ones such as Harley Davidson and Bebo I totally get it, people all over the world meeting up and having a chat about something they love, all while getting out and doing normal things in real life. Socialising in Virtual pubs! it's just not for me.

What a chef should see

Today's blog is about my canteen experience earlier on. At eleven o' clock I was feeling a little bit hungry, so I decided I would go over to the canteen to get a bite to eat. The breakfast section was on it's last legs so I decided I would have a sandwich instead. I stood in the queue for about 10 minutes while the lady behind the counter chatted to the other people in the queue. What's the problem I hear you ask , well the problem wasn't about her chatting, it was with the fact that two more girls who were with the girl she was chatting to skipped the queue (that's another blog . . I hate queue skippers). Finally it was my turn, I ordered a chicken salad roll. When I sat down to eat it a piece of chicken fell out. To my absolute disgust the chicken was really pink, now not the pink you get sometimes when you order chicken wrapped in bacon. That pink is absolutely normal as it is the dye that comes from the bacon. This pink was raw pink as in not cooked properly. I couldn't believe it the more I poked through the roll the more pink bits I found. I cannot believe that any chef even a commis chef would cut that chicken up and NOT realise it wasn't cooked !Any fool could see it wasn't cooked. I went back to the counter and explained this to the lady, I told her I was way to busy to get sick, she was ever so apologetic about it, but to my disgust the other lady said "I knew that wasn't cooked right", but yet and all she still served it and put people's health at risk. I really think she should have sent it back to the chef and said she wasn't serving it. Why are so many waitresses so afraid of chefs. As I'm a qualified chef myself I understand that people can be intimidated by our race, but really, should you be that afraid that you risk people's health?. I don't think so!. My point is why are so many so called chefs not even able to get the basic principles of cookery right, such as cooking things to the correct level i.e chicken and making nice soup. Horrible soup is something that drives me absolutely crazy. I cannot understand how a chef can't make nice soup, it's really easy to make so how can they get it so wrong. I have to say one of my biggest pet hates is ordering a bowl of soup and what I get is a bowl of watery tasteless muck. Have any of you out there had a really bad experience with food that you just have to get off your chest?

Is college worth it?

Hello there everyone. Well I haven't been blogging in a while. This is mainly due to the fact that I have a mountain of work to do in college and plus the fact that work has been really, really busy so in essence I just haven't had the time. Back to my topic, Is college worth it? You see I'm asking myself this on a daily basis for the last few weeks. The first time I went to college I studied professional cookery. I loved it and the career path was very simple. You were a commis chef for the first few years until you got some experience under your belt and then gradually with time you moved up the ranks and you knew your goal was to be a head chef. Hey presto career path. All was going well with my career path until I suddenly realised that I didn't really want to be a chef for the rest of my life. I thought I'd quite like to lecture in hospitality. So therefore I started my degree in hospitality management. Here I am 28 years of age, I've spent the last three years studying, the end is very near. Everything should be very clear at this stage, I should have a definite plan, but I don't. I have no idea where this degree can take me, and from asking advise from other people there are way too many options to decide from. So basically I will have to go back out into the industry and start from scratch just like everyone else. My point is that from my experience I know that this can be done without a degree. If you start in a good hotel you can work hard and move up the ranks gradually. So did I just waste the last four years of my life studying very hard to start at the bottom?. This question troubles me. So to finish off, if I don't get offered a really good position with a comfortable salary somewhere once I finish my honours degree I will be extremely distraught and will definitely arrive at the conclusion that maybe college wasn't worth it after all.

Weddings

In general I have to say I like weddings, they are usually a good day out especially if it's a family wedding or that of a close friend. I don't like weddings today at all and I don't care whose it is.
You see i work in the Ballymascanlon House Hotel and today was our wedding fayre. It's now 8.00pm and I have spent the entire day talking to brides. Don't get me wrong I like being nice to people after all I'm a receptionist, it's my job to be nice and polite, but after you hear the words, " I'm getting married here" a thousand times in one day it is pretty hard not to say " I don't care, I don't care who your band is , what flowers you are having or especially that you have lots of friends coming up from Galway , Sligo or wherever and that you need more rooms. The fact is we only sell rooms on a two night basis at the weekend and you have already got your twenty five rooms for one night, so your not getting any more!. Sadly I cant do that, well I could but the probability of me getting fired would be pretty high. Therefore I just sat and listened to them giving out and then once again tried to explain why I couldn't give them any more rooms.
Thankfully we only have a wedding fayre once a year and I'll never have that many brides in one day again, at least not until the next one.

P.S. I Love You

Have you seen the film? I thought it was very good, I laughed a lot during the film but in fairness cried a lot more. Maybe someone should have told Cecilia Ahern that she should have put a health warning on that film IE this film is not suitable for any person who has lost a partner in recent years due to its extreme ability to drag up every memory you have of that terrible time you went through, thoughts and feelings you thought you have safely tucked away to be brought out only when your ready for them, not in the middle of the cinema where people are looking at you funny because your crying uncontrollably , and I mean it is uncontrollable you just cant stop it. Some of you might think duh did you not read the book? Well I did but that was before my partner died and anyway its been two and a half years I thought Id come along way , obviously not ! ! Any thoughts?. P.s here's a wee clip