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