John, Jenny, Breanna and Joshua

Ireland Holidays

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:35:00 -0700

In 60 days we will be home, and really looking forward to my break, because everyone will get to see Joshua for the first time and we will get to enjoy countryside of Ireland. Sweet. :)

Rafa is out

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:23:00 -0700

So earlier this week I came across an article saying that Rafa was leaving Liverpool, which was funny, because I had told my wife that Liverpool would never sack him. Reason being that they would have to pay him a huge severance package, although to be perfectly honest with you, if I had that sort of money I would have paid him to leave. Over the last three years, Rafa has taken a great club like Liverpool and turned them into an ordinary team. Yes, two seasons ago we finished second to United, but when you look at that season and how we lost the league by 4 pts you can see where and why we lost it.

Rafa is too defensive for the English premiership, he is a great Champions league manager, because that is all about being defensive and hitting the other team on the break or getting that goal away from home and shutting up shop for the rest of the game. He never got the league and what it meant to the Liverpool fans, and that is what cost him his job in the end, because last season was by far the worst I have seen Liverpool play. There was no life in the team and when you saw them play, you knew that they had nothing, and the league position in the end showed that.

Now they need to find a new manager, I know every Liverpool fan want Kenny Daglish (as do I), but regardless of who takes over. They need to realise that want we want, is the league title, we want to put the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and so on in their place. Make Liverpool the power house of Football in England, and anything else after that will be a bonus. :)

Happy Birthday Joshua

IrishManInUSA — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:06:00 -0700

Yesterday Joshua was one year's old, hard to believe that he is one, only seems like yesterday that I held in my arms for the first time. The last 12 months have been a lot of fun, and i am looking forward to many more years of fun with him and our lovely daugther Breanna. Happy Birthday my lovely little boy. :)

Rangers Boys - U17

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:06:00 -0700

We played against the Muskegon U18 team today and beat them 7-2, couldn't ask for a better performance from the lads today, we scored after 26 seconds and by half time were 5-0 up. Second half they came back into the game a little, and even changed their formattion to play 3 up front, we adjusted by going back to a 4-4-2 and closed them down.

I am not sure what it is about Muskegon teams, they have some very talented players, but their attitude really sucks and they let themselves down. As long as i have been coaching in this league, this is how most of these teams seem to be....not sure why that is the case, but it does make easy to let our football do the talking on the field.

Tomorrow we play another Muskegon team, so it will be interesting to see how that games. :)

Spammers

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 22 May 2010 08:14:00 -0700

Looks as though spammers have thought of a different apporach to get their messages out on the web, or at least it looks like they have, one of the posts i did on this blog had 31 comments and as I was reading through them I was noticing a common trend. They just didn't seem legit, great to get so many comments, but they all looked like spam.

To Java or To .Net

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 22 May 2010 07:48:00 -0700

I have an interesting scenario developing right now in my career, do I go back to the Java route that I left when I took the road to .NET, working in .NET has been very good to me and technology wise I personally think it is better than Java. When you think about it, if I was in between jobs right now, would I be looking to work in Java or .NET, I know they say beggars can't be choosers when it comes to a situation like that.

I think if I was in that situation I would be looking for something that allows me to perform to best of my ability, and that would be .NET, lucklily enough I am not in that situation, although that thought has crossed my mind in the recent weeks.

I know there is a lot of Java developers out there and they swear by the product/framework, and they are entitled to that opinion, but for me I have never found Java to be a good solution for anything web related. I have found it to be slow and a real PITA. I know when I first started using it, the alternative was asp and we all know how great that was. I enjoyed working with ASP because it allowed me to use my visual basic skills, but it was not always the best environment for doing web development.

Then along came Java Server Pages (JSP), which gave you the best of both worlds, the ability to do web development in a object oriented way. I did some work on it, I remember doing something called DORA (acronynm for something I can't remember what it was) and I got to use javabeans and anything Java. It was interesting working on that, but I always felt there was something missing from it and still missed the opportunity to work with VB.

Then along came .NET and that changed everything for me in the development, 1.0 was so far ahead of asp 3.0, gave me the ability to work in VB and still get the benefits of Object Oriented coding. So it was an easy choice for me to switch more to asp.net and stop any further development on Java.

And now almost 10 years later it feels as though I have run into another fork in the road for my career and Java is back on the table, gives me food for thought on what is the best route to go with, but as I always say. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

What we do for a living

IrishManInUSA — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:50:00 -0700

It is kind of funny how one does their work, when you think about it, you get up in the morning and drive to work. And then do whatever it is that you do, and at the end of the day, whatever that time is for you. You head home, only to repeat the same cycle the following day and so on. At what point does that stop being fun, that is the question I am sure a lot of people ask themselves, are they happy in their job, do they like the work or would they rather be somewhere else.

For me, I was reading back through some of my older posts and thinking back to when I started working on the company web site. And how much fun that was, to be building something new and having a purpose to it. And not just going through the motions of turning up for work and repeat the above cycle that I called out above. True, there were some long hours, but that is probably why I enjoyed it so much.

These days I often wonder what it is that I am doing, am I doing something that I am enjoying, do I make a difference in my job for the company. Over the past year, I have wondered if I do make the difference or not, just feels as though that I talk and people think I am being negative....or....they don't ask me about something, and then wonder why when I say that is not possible in the amount of time allotted to the project. I know I may have set the trend when building the site, but at the end of the day, you have to plan out what is being worked on and by whom, and making sure that it is tested and ready for production.

I don't know, I just feel as though, that my current role at my company is in limbo and not sure how to rectify it. :(.

Someone once asked me what would be your favourite job, and I mentioned that I would love to be doing coaching on a full time basis, but then again no one ever gets paid for doing something that is fun to them. However, in coaching I get a lot of enjoyment, and I coach Football (soccer) to ye. Nothing like being on the side line and coaching your players, and making a difference to the team. Sure there is bad times, when you lose or when your players fail to play to their ability....or a player is mad at you for subbing them....and so on. To me that is fun and that is why I consider that to my favourite job.

How do I apply that to my current job, at other places that I have worked, I have learned the business and become the go to person. However, I have also tried to bring others along with me, and try to be a mentor. Kind of like a coach to a footballer, and for the most part I have been very successful at that. In my current job, I don't have that same feeling, yeah, I can sit down with people and go over how things work on our site, or try to educate them on somethings. However, it is still not the same and sometimes gets me down.

Anyways, at the end of the day....you get up in the mornings, drive to work, do your work to the best of your ability and the end of the work day you head home...and repeat the cycle the very next week day. That is why it is called work.

Another week down

IrishManInUSA — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:43:00 -0700

Time is slowly counting down till we go home, sometimes I wish it would go a little faster...hehehe. Still, summer is here and it just a case of making the most of it. And enjoying it and having fun. :)

Football - Soccer

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:24:00 -0700

Today was my little girls first out door football session at the Y, it was cold this morning, although alot of that could have something to do with the fact that I was wearing shorts...hehehe. Still it was great to see her out on the pitch and having fun, next week her coach will be out of town, so I will get to help out on the field. All that was dependent on my little girl agreeing to that, and she was cool with Dad being on the sideline as a coach. :)

Tomorrow at 2pm, Soccer Bowl in Geogretown, the Rangers U17 boys team play their first outdoor game. We have some injuries to two key players, so it will be interesting to see how the team plays, really looking forward to this game and being outside. I love this game, and as long as the lads give us 100% effort, I really dont mind what the scoreline will be.

Hopefully it won't be as cold as it was this morning, but this is Michigan, so you never know...hehehe.

My wife does Mary Kay

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:24:00 -0700

So if anyone is into that stuff and looking for a rep, I can vouch for a very good representative of Mary Kay in my wife.

http://www.marykay.com/jendaly/default.aspx

First indoor season game

IrishManInUSA — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:24:00 -0700

Today we had our first indoor game of 2010, the result of the game was not great, but it was great to be back coaching again and watching the guys play. Being the first game for some of them, did show that there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Busy week ahead

IrishManInUSA — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:04:00 -0700

The transfer window is finally over in England, and some interesting moves, Liverpool picked up one good player. So we will see how the rest of their season goes, as to work, well that is no different. Things to be done on the site, releasing product videos, webinars and all that kind of stuff, which I think will be good. Still not sold on the twitter/facebook things, but then again that is not my part of the job, so we will see how that goes in the long run.

As to home life, things are going good, little ones are growing up really fast (I know, I should have pictures of them on here, but I am lazy...hehehe) and my wife is doing well at school. So overally pretty good. :)

Twitter me that twitter me this, but what twitter is this all about

IrishManInUSA — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:17:00 -0700

So is this bowing to peer pressure, or just curious as to what twitter is all about, either way I finally created a twitter account

https://twitter.com/irishmaninusa

Kind of curious what will come of this, everyone keeps going on about it, twitter this and twitter that.

Rafa Out

IrishManInUSA — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:52:00 -0700

For those of you wondering who the heck Rafa is, let me just say that he is by far, the worst Liverpool manager I have seen at the club since 1977. Yes, we had the great Souness who basically moved the decline of Liverpool on by about 3 yrs when he was in charged, by getting rid of the old guard, but not have any replacements for them. Yes, we had the lovely Roy Evans who tried his best, and then had it all taken away from him when they brought in Houllier. And of course Houllier tried to his best, but that was not good enough and was replaced by Rafa.

I think Rafa is a great manager in terms of the Champions league, he is very good at reading other teams and finding their weaknesses....but the one thing that he never fully understood, and the great Bill Shankly once said. The league is our bread and butter, everything else is a bonus, and not matter what team you support....you always want to win the league. We had a great run last year, but again, Rafa lost the plot and also the league.

You see the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United going against weak teams and playing badly, but still coming away with the win, Liverpool go to Stoke yesterday and came away with a 1-1 draw. I saw the game on TV, and I have no idea what team was playing for Liverpool, because the football was not Liverpool's football. As bad as Stoke were in terms of attack, they always looked like they could score and probably should have scored.

Liverpool are a two man team....without Gerrad and Torres, they are crap and it showed how bad the decline has been under Rafa. The fans may blame the yanks for coming in and bolloxing up the club, and they may be right about that, but I think Liverpool was in decline long before they came long. Rafa, seriously who have you bought besides Torres that had made the grade....you have young french play Ngog who played like a player who really couldn't give a crap about the club. No heart...no desire to fight for the ball. You have had others that you have mistreated in some shape or form, Alonso for example....not saying him leaving has caused probably one of the worst seasons I can remember for the club. However, you tried to get rid of him and get in Barry, and then when he does leave you don't try to get Barry (who by the way, is not worth 17million).

You had Vornin....oh my freaking gosh.....where the heck did he come from, because if it was from some professional team. They must have shouted Sucker after you had bought him from them, but far the worst player I have ever seen to play for Liverpool.

Babel.....potential is there, but you have bolloxed up his confidence and he won't be any good for the club. And there is the Israli whose name I can't spell, but any time he has played, he has changed the game in our favour and yet to bollox him up by using him as a sub.

I said it a couple of years ago, and even last year, Rafa needs to leave the club and someone needs to be brought in who can turn it around. Kenny Daglish is back at the club, give him the reins till the end of the season and then get in someone who understands what the fans want for the club. And that is to win the freaking LEAGUE and everything else is a bonus.

Snow in Ireland

IrishManInUSA — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:37:00 -0700

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0106/weather.html

I was reading through the above article and was wondering why this is such a huge deal back home, especially considering that some of the temps compared to here are not that bad. -10c is like 17F and I had this morning while going into work and it was not that bad. I have experience colder temps here in the USA, I remember one time living in Chicago where it was like -10F below, but with the wind chill it is like -30F.

People use to laugh at me when I said a inch of snow would be tough for home, and although they are coping, you can see from the articles that they will have some more of this cold weather and will be interesting how it will go.

The big thing that is failing back home is sports, horse racing is get hit the hardest (not most exciting sport), football (soccer to US people) matches are being canceled, not so much because the fields are unplayable....more of the case of supporters being able to go to the games.

I worry about he old people, and how the cost of staying warm will be something that hits them the most, especially since they may not have budget for such things. I can't ever remember a winter being like this back home, I do remember one time getting over a foot of snow and getting time off from school. However, this kind of cold is more like a typical winter that we get here in Michigan.

Anyways, for those back home, stay warm and stay safe. :)