I won’t explain why this is so unusual or why I’m devoting an entire blog post to it. Just go over and listen for your self.
Getting from A to B.
Get off the train. Let a few people go first. Their useful for following to find the right ticket validation machine to go through. Most people use the very wide one at the end of the row so it’s safe enough to follow them as that will leave you almost directly in line of the steps that lead down to the exit.
When you get off the train, turn left and be prepared to follow quickly as people leaving the station do so very quickly.
You will gradually turn to the right. Scan with the cane carefully as there are three steps to go down before you meet the ticket validation machines. These steps will be on your right side and as you go down them the ticket validation machines are in a row to your left.
When you get down the steps continue following the crowd to the left. There will be two very small plastic signs that most likely don’t even reach past knee level on the ground. One is at three steps that lead down to another area but I have no idea what it’s used for and I don’t know what the other sign is for. There’s a bin and a pole to the right of it. When you reach the pole your only a few feet away from the row of machines. If you stand with your back to this pole and bin and you walk straight forward, you’ll meet a machine however although you can get through this machine if you have the correct ticket with you, it’s not the best one to go through in terms of accessibility as you will find no land marks between it and the steps down.
Again, although you know of these land marks and their useful if the crowd is too quick for you to follow, try where possible to follow them as it’s much easier.
When you meet the ticket machine, go straight through. During rush hour there are usually two people there. One on the outside and one standing in the way of the door thing so it doesn’t close. This machine is slightly wider to allow access by wheel chairs but is used informally for commuters who purchase yearly tickets.
Again, continue following the crowd through this machine. They will turn gradually left as when you are facing with your back to this specific machine the stairs down are almost directly in front of you.
If you turn left with them, scan with the cane to the left. You’ll find a pole. Navigate around this pole and take a step to the left.
Walk straight ahead and you will find the side of the steps. This is a wall with a rail on your right. If you move about three or four steps to your left you’ll meet another wall. I find using the right is better. It’s personal preference though. I choose it because I can go straight out of the station at the bottom while following the wall and because most other people try to rush out the door nearest the traffic lights it usually results in me getting there before the rest of them. Oh, plus, I avoid the people giving out news papers too so its win win.
Right. Half way down the steps is a small platform. It only lasts for about two steps. When you get to the bottom you’ll notice tactile markings. Go straight out to the very edge of the footpath. Use the cane by scanning the edge of the path as you turn to the left. Follow that path with the cane scanning the step to your right. You will come across one pole that is out on the edge but it’s not a huge obstacle considering the mess on the left.
You’ll meet a dip. After this dip the traffic light pole is only a few steps away.
Use that crossing.
At the other side, move to the end of the tactile and take a sharp left. Attempt to continue in a straight line for around twenty feet.
After you do this, gradually turn left scanning to your right for a wall.
Continue down this road scanning the wall and steps on your right. These are reasonably straight so you shouldn’t have major problems. There are two areas however where the wall has been removed and the path widens. Simply carry on straight.
You will be aware when you come to the corner as the surface of the path changes and you will meet tactile markings that are sloped from a traffic light pole toward the corner. Find this corner and take a sharp right. Stay in close as there are a few poles and metal boxes used for maintenance or something on the outside of this path.
On this street, continue walking until you reach a change in the surface. Be aware that there are two points along the wall that jut out. However, the cane will detect these.
When the surface changes, immediately start walking to the right scanning for the ramp that marks the start of the road. This is a very wide corner that turns to the left. Continue following this ramp until you feel a slope up and a change in surface.
There are a lot of poles on the edge of the path on this road but the buildings on the right have very inconsistent fronts that angle, curve, jut out and are generally hard to follow. The road gradually curves to the right after a while but after meeting the first pole on the edge, take a step to the right and walk down the centre of the path for around 40 feet. This will likely help you avoid the person that begs at the wall and allows you to avoid a lot of the navigation you would need to do if you followed the building edge.
After 40 feet or so, turn to the right gradually and begin following the buildings around to the right. After the dip, you will soon meet a change in surface as well as access covers down to the seller for the pub on the right. After passing these two metal covers, step to the left and follow the middle of the path for a short time.
You will meet a tactile crossing. Use these traffic lights to cross the road.
After crossing the road, use the cane to find the gulley. Follow this gully for only a few feet. If you continue to follow this you will meet poles as well as the edge of the foot path. Veer in to your left but don’t follow the edge of the building. Go straight along the centre of the path. You will very likely meet a slope down as well as tactile markings. Cross this very quiet and narrow road and continue along the path following the buildings to your left. There is only one obstruction on this path. It is a barrier used by a coffee shop. After the barrier you are only a few steps away from the crossing at the bottom of Kildare Street.
This route is much more in-depth and complicated than when walking it with a dog. I’ll prove it.
Standing on the train, the doors open.
The dog with experience now takes this as his sign to start.
He carefully stretches off the train. It’s not a step; it’s more like a stretch. It’s great! By him stretching to the platform, I instantly know how far it is. I don’t even think he knows what he’s doing.
We walk, following the crowd to the machine. The dog stops at the step and as he knows I’m a bit to egar for my own good, he angles his body around my left knee just a little bit to stop me going any further. This is not something he’s trained to do but he rathers stopping at steps even if I know their there.
We change angle slightly so we’re not walking at a curve down the three steps. Once at the bottom, the dog corrects his angle and makes a bee line to the furthest ticket machine. He weaves to the right of the crowd that are now in front of us so we pass them out. We rather get to the machine ahead of most of the other passengers as it’s easier for the dog to take his time in placing him self so as we can continue the recommended guiding position even while walking through the gap.
We get through the ticket validation machine and the dog again veers to the right as he wants to get past others who have got through the machines while we were going through the one for yearly tickets / wheel chair users. He stops again at the steps giving me just enough room at the rail to walk down with him. Again, that’s another technique as it almost forces me to stop with him.
We go quickly down the steps but we take the door to the far left. This is because we are ahead of most of the crowd and if we time it right, we can usually get to the crossing just before the lights change.
That’s important as with a busy crossing like that, I don’t like to cross when the lights have changed before I get there as it breaks a very important habit. The dog should always stop at a controlled crossing.
We cross the road and swing around the traffic pole on the other side toward the left.
We keep going at a steady pace along the buildings on the right. The dog slows down at one point for an instant because there is a pole slightly too close to us and he rathers being on the safe side.
We meet the changed surface and turn tightly to the right.
We continue walking and he concentrates on the roadway into trinity that is denoted by the changed surface. If cars are going in or out of this gate he stops rigidly until they have passed.
We continue on our way, turning to our left along the narrow path where the strange building fronts are on our right.
The dog sees the seller covers in the distance so makes a decision to guide me around them.
We pass them and stop at the crossing.
Here, we do something that very few guide dog owners bother with; we perform a strict left turn. This is where the dog turns around to your right across your body and continues around in a circle with the handler following until they face left. This is done strictly at this crossing for two reasons. The first and most important is that the dog goes ahead of me and therefore is officially guiding and watching out for obstacles. I am basically not walking anywhere that he has not checked first. In my experience with this particular dog, this is not really necessary but it’s always good to be aware of. The second and most important reason is that we regularly continue down this road to the Dawson Street so he needs to be aware that stopping here is a necessity and although he may like going to Dawson Street, it is me who controls our direction. Simply stopping and doing what would be considered by trainers as an incorrect turn to the left doesn’t place in the dogs mind the importance of this junction.
Anyway, with all that rubbish out of the way, we cross and quickly turn to the right. We continue straight stopping at both crossings before hitting the corner of Kildare Street.
See? Isn’t that so much easier? Fortunately, I hope to have my dog working again tomorrow. I’m looking forward to cutting out all the complications.
We need to start from scratch.
These are my views and are strictly not those of my employer. I write this as an indevidual with specific personal political views and opinions. This post should thus be read as such.
Expanding on what others have said, It is true. Ireland does need an election. but first we all as a society and a nation need to analyse and fix The way the power is distributed as the way that legislative changes are discussed and made in Ireland is flawed at every level.
Look at the Oireachtas chambers and committees. Every motion goes through the same process resulting in the same messing every time. What is the point in having a chamber system based on a debate system when the debate is pointless. What is the point in having a demecratic system if party wips mean that party members must fall into line. couple that with the obvious majority being controled by the same wips and it’s not a democrisy we have, it’s a mess!
People keep complaining about ministers. When in actual fact Ministers are but puppets who’s strings are pulled by the departments they have been asigned to. Look at Noel Dempsy after his holiday last week. He was completely right to take a holiday and I understand his complacent attitude upon his return when hounded by the media. He’s only a man! He is suppose to be managing his department but all he really needs to know is what is going on. He hasn’t got experience in this area, he depends on the people working in his department to have that experience.
And, then look at the departments. Their staff are employed to do a job they’ve never been interested in really. for the majority of people there, they are taken in, trained to the minimum standard required to do their job then left at it. There are people right from CO’s right up to AP’s who have interests, abilities and skills in different areas but these are not utilized. There is one office that I am aware of where a CO has more computer experience than the one single person in her area who has been promoted to a position where he manages the entire IT infrastructure. I caught a small portion of a program last night that spoke about taking ownership of your career by improving the environment and processes you work with. I work for a private company. I attempt to do just this. However, people employed by the government work to very specific guidelines. Even when they have the ability and willingness to do more, the flexability in the government isn’t there to allow them to do it.
So, stop asking for a reelection and start demanding and implementing for your selves the reform that Ireland needs as a democratic nation to get back on it’s Feet. FG, FF, the greens, labour, none of them are going to be able to make a change in power. None of them because the current attempt at a democratic system doesn’t allow for it.
Electric avenue.
Usually, I’m quite a posative person. Today however, I am not.
So, just put up with it!
Firstly… I was out on Saturday. Problem was that I had just far too much on my mind for me ever to enjoy my self so the night was doomed right from the start.
To add sault to the woond, the group that I went to see was suggested to me by a lot of people but I found them utterly boring. Their called Electric avenue. Their a cover band so I didn’t really expect anything origional from them but what I found was so dull, so dry, so void of creativity I think I lost all faitth in humanity. How people can listen to this mind numming vomit is completely beyond me. If you want to listen to music that is arranged and sang like the artist who origionally performed it fine… That’s your thing so I cant and won’t be bothered listening. But if you cant do it, don’t try! Their music attempted to mirror every artists song they sang owver, look, put it this way, Pick a famous painter. if you could paint, would you try to mirror every stroke that painter used to create a piece of art or would you take inspiration from it and then put your own indevidual touch to it. Even if you knew you could never be as good as that painter, you’d still do what you could to enhance his or her art with your own style. That’s what i would do anyway. If you don’t do that, what’s the point? In painting terms, why not just take a picture of it. In music, why not just play a CD and have done with it.
Sorry. I’m probably being overly crewel. But, as i say. I’m in a generally negative and pissed off mood so tuff.
I heard a young singer lately. She did what she thought was a simple and uncleaned version of Molly Malone. I heard a recording of it by chance. It was so full of feeling and so full of indeviduality that she made the song her own. No one else could sing the song like that because the feeling in it was based on her experiences. Her loves, hates and heart break. The timing was not exactly normal,In fact, it was choppy. But it all fitted together like the song was written to sound that way. This woman has more singing and performance ability in her little tow than this group of six musicians as a band.
Twitter Psych.
AS you all probably know by now, I’m very active on twitter.
If you want to follow me, go on over to www.twitter.com/digitaldarragh
I heard about something today that caught my attention briefly. It’s called Twitter Psych. It examines the words you use in tweets and generates a psych profile of what you talk about most. Now, take it with a rather large pinch of sault but it’s some fun.
Visit the site your self at http://www.tweetpsych.com
Here is the analysis that it generated for me. Scary isn’t it? I dwell on the past,I don’t talk about sex half enough, I’ll have to fix that… I’m a control freek, with no regard for money, I’m overly negative and I dwel on morbid thoughts. Oh, I almost forgot, I’m imotive too! but hay, it’s all good. I’m highly analitical and quantitative, I like relaxing and being entertained, My thought processes are at a high level and my conseptual thinking is logical or something crazy like that. Jesus, I’m screwed up aren’t I?
Time
This user Tweets about time 49% more than the average user. This indicates references to time in general, including the past, present and future.
Past
This user Tweets about the past 48% more than the average user. This may indicate a preoccupation with events that occurred the past.
Numbers
This user Tweets about numbers 42% more than the average user. This may indicate highly analytical and quantitative thinking.
Leisure
This user Tweets about leisure activities 33% more than the average user. This includes activities other than work and may indicate a desire to engage in relaxing and entertaining behaviors.
Control
This user Tweets about control 31% more than the average user. This includes restraint and moral imperatives and may indicate a desire to impose order.
Thinking
This user Tweets about thinking 28% more than the average user. This includes abstract thought and cognitive mechanics and may indicate an high level of thought processes.
Conceptual
This user Tweets about conceptual thoughts 23% more than the average user. This includes higher-level abstract thought. Logical reasoning and philosophy are examples of conceptual content.
Negative
This user Tweets about negative sentiments 18% more than the average user. This includes negative emotions, negative feelings and morbid thoughts.
Present
This user Tweets about the present 16% more than the average user. This includes references to present time and currently occurring events.
Future
This user Tweets about the future 12% more than the average user. This includes Tweeting about time as it relates to the future and may indicate an interest in events yet to occur.
Senses
This user Tweets about physical sensations 6% more than the average user. This includes sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile feelings.
Anxiety
This user Tweets about anxiety 5% more than the average user. This includes uncertainty, nervousness and apprehension. It may indicate a stress and fear.
Constructive
This user Tweets about constructive behavior 3% more than the average user. This includes creating and building things and indicates an interest in development and creative processes.
Positive
This user Tweets about positive sentiments 2% more than the average user. This includes positive feelings, thoughts, emotions and agreeability.
Primordial
This user Tweets about primordial content 2% less than the average user. This includes lower level dream-state and unconscious modes of thought. Some researchers refer to this as “reptilian” thought.
Money
This user Tweets about money 3% less than the average user. This includes references to income and money in general.
Social
This user Tweets about social behaviors 3% less than the average user. This includes inclusive Tweets, social behavior and speaking directly to the listener.
Self Reference
This user Tweets about itself 3% less than the average user. This includes tweeting about themselves, their activities. In most social media, doing this too much is regarded as a faux pas.
Emotions
This user Tweets about emotions 9% less than the average user. This includes a wide range of positive and negative emotions and may indicate a generally emotive perspective.
Learning
This user Tweets about learning and education 41% less than the average user. This includes Tweeting about school as well as self-teaching activities.
Sex
This user Tweets about sexual references 69% less than the average user. This includes sexual references and may indicate a preoccupation with sex.
Media
This user Tweets about media and celebrities 86% less than the average user. This includes references to celebrities and mass media and may indicate an interest in celebrity culture.
God mode in Windows 7.
This has to be the best thing about Windows 7 I’ve seen to date.
If your a techy, this is a dream come through.
Add a new folder to your desktop and name it
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
you will now see the icon above on your desktop and a very extensive list of options.
You’ll find everything from the task manager, device manager, accessibility options, event viewer, troubleshooting wizzards for sound, printers, network connections and displays, network utilities for configuring the firewall, internet options, task bar and desktop properties and more. It’s a great way of getting to a configuration option quickly. Especially if your not mad about the newWindows 7 control panel.
If only you were mine and Maeves dance.
These are tunes composed by the legendary fiddle player Maurice Lennon A musician that I am very happy to play music with regularly when he’s in Ireland.
The first tune, If only you were mine, was composed by him when he was 19 when his heart was broken after a woman he loved married.
The second Tune, Maeves dance, was composed by him about two years ago. He watched a documentary that told of an Irish family who emigrated to Australia when their Daughter, Maeve was only six. After a short time passed, she was tragically hit by a car and was killed instantly. However, this is not what the documentary focused on. Instead, it focused on an imaginary world that Maeve created and wrote about in great detail in her diary. Maurice was captivated by this world and the second tune, recognised by its waltz tempo was the result of the inspiration he got from this world.
People into Irish music may notice there’s a swing to the waltz tempo. Maurice likes to play it this way to attempt to illustrate the child like nature of the world and the inspired tune.
I hope I do them justice.
Oh. let me dedicate this to someone who I really hope has a fantastic music career ahead of them. I’ve been very impressed with her singing over the past few days.
NickyKealy.com is now all new and shiny and stuff
I created the old nicky Kealy website years and years ago and it has been needing an update for ages.
Now, with some perswation from the twitter community, He has finally agreed to allow it to be updated again.
The new site includes a blog and a whole new layout and design that is more modern and functional.
Visit him today at www.nickykealy.com
Remember, if you would like a site done, please get in contact with me.
Cool light sign for Dublins98.
Emma described this to me while walking through Gragton street in Dublin last Friday night.
It’s a sign made of light that makes the letter show up really brightly on the ground. There are also little star things at random points too. She’d probably make a better job of describing it than me as I really have no idea what I’m talking about. Here’s the picture of it though for you poor people who can see.
Oh, I should have said, Dublins 98 are a radio station targeting dublin City.
The sign is in their Grafton street studio to highlight a campaign they are running at the moment. In a knuttshell, there is a large block of ice with what simbolises €30000 in it. The person who guesses how long it takes for the ice to melt cloceist when it’s taken out of the cooling unit next Saturday at 2PM wins the money.
Get your dell asset tag from windows.
I got this from a fella in work known as the Legend or the LegEnd. Not sure which.
But, thanks to him I was able to dig out the service tag of my laptop without getting someone to read th ebios or look at the serial number on the bottom.
Go into the command prompt. and type this:
wmic bios get serialnumber
It will return the code for you so you can use it on the Dell website to get support.
Very nice to have.