Things aren’t getting much better

News

So what’s all this about Global Warming?

Are the tree-huggers becoming more mainstream? Are these the same people who literally lived in trees trying to stop roads being built?

I have major reservations about the entire “Green” agenda. I just don’t believe it. And why should I believe it?

Let’s look at some facts. We have a major reliance on oil for energy. We have had this reliance for many years. I remember as a kid I wondered why someone didn’t invent an alternative source of energy for running a car. I was told that big business wouldn’t allow this. So what has changed? Has our environment changed so drastically in the last 20 years? I don’t think so.

I think that “big business” has finally decided that they need to look at other sources of energy ‘cause they don’t want to be at the behest of the oil producing countries. For them to maintain profitability and at the same time convince users to pay more for new cars then they need some brilliant marketing. Bring on the “green agenda”…….. let the people pay more and give them that warm feeling that they are saving the earth.

Balls to all that.

If I drive a 4×4 or a Prius makes no difference at all while China, India and other developing countries are opening up factories every day (burning coal and oil). Just look at the smog in Beijing before the Olympics.

However, it takes a brave person to stand up and confront all this myth. This time, the tree huggers have the media on their side. I’m not sure why but I think it wont be for long.

Anyway, I have no kids myself so what do I care what the planet is going to be like in 30 years…… doubt if I’ll be around myself then either. And if all comes to all we can move to the moon anyway.

America is gearing up for another Presidential election and this time it looks like the Democrats should storm home. However, don’t under-estimate how stupid the Americans really are. After all, they returned George W 2 times!!! That’s the problem with democracy – even the stupid people get to vote!

What’s so fecking great about democracy anyway? Why is it a better system? I don’t get it at all…….. We are fooled into thinking that we have selected our government by voting for them….. but its really all the money that they can raise which dictates whether they will be elected or not. With the money they raise they can buy media time, market themselves better and make a whole pile of commitments. In Thailand it even stretches to them BUYING votes from rural voters. So is democracy a good solution? I think not.

But until a better solution is proposed then it’s what we are stuck with. Personally, I like the idea of vote weighting. Some peoples votes should be worth more or less than others. The key here is to figure out an equitable way of weighting. It cannot be simply based on class, money, race or something as obvious as that. Perhaps base it on honesty tests? Or give people who help others a greater voting right. Perhaps teachers should have more voting weight? The honesty idea may have some merit. Imagine a country being run by people who have been voted in by the most honest people in the country.

How mad would that be? Not much madder than the madness we currently have.

I’m trying to sell a car for my Father. It’s a 1969 Jaguar E-Type Classic. You can get all the details on both these websites:

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_Detail.aspx?ID=2126302

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/applemanthai/JaguarEType1969

So if you know anyone interested please get in touch.

Politics & Biz

The Dail is on its LONG summer break but they are still trying to convince us that they are working hard during this time. Blah Blah.

Consumer sentiment must be very low and all the recent reports have been about recession, inflation, unemployment and other gloomy topics. I had an idea that every person in Ireland who wanted things to improve should donate €5 to me to feck off back to Thailand. Remember that the highest point of the ISEQ was the working day BEFORE I came home. I am pure jinxed. Only bad news since I came home so it would be in everyones interest for me to head away again.

I’m not going to harp on about it but things are really bleak here and most people are not expecting things to improve for the next couple of years – at least! Therefore, its time to batten down the hatches.

In Thailand they are preparing for the upcoming visit by George W and a whole lot of grandstanding with Cambodia over a Temple. It looks as if the government is still quite shaky over there and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a change of government in the next few months. Thaksin will be spending a lot of time in court defending himself so it’s unlikely he will have much time to allocate to all the political up-heavings. Anyway, he’s banned from politics anyway!

It’s also very interesting to see how active the Courts have been. They are getting their teeth into everything and were given a real spur by the King a good few months back. In the short-term this approach will have some negative impact and leave things in limbo but in the long term it will probably help to clear things up. I’ve just read that Thaksins wife has been found guilty of tax fraud and has been handed a 3 year jail sentence. They will appeal this decision but it looks like the judiciary are really serious about driving ahead with this.

As it stands now things are relatively quiet on the streets. There has been some minor disturbances and one killing already but if things keep going the way they are going I think it could get much worse.

On a positive note, at least inflation isn’t running as high as it is in Zimbabwe. They have a 10 billion dollar note that isn’t even enough to buy a loaf of bread! They are devaluing their currency by knocking off 10 zeros! That reduces someone with 10 billion dollars to 1 dollar. Bummer, eh!

Sport

The new Premiership season will be starting soon. There hasn’t been much activity in the transfer market and United haven’t made any significant signings. It looks like that Ronaldo will stay put for the coming season and it will be interesting to see how he is treated by the United fans.

The Olympics will also be starting up soon but I don’t really have much interest in it. Its interesting to watch the international community dealing with an Olympics in China!! The Chinese have made some concessions like banning dog in restaurants (not that you cant bring your pet dog to the restaurant – more like they cant serve him on a plate to you!). On the censorship issue there are still many concerns and it looks like the internet will remain censored even to the international media.

Kerry are playing this weekend in the Quarter Finals and hopefully the Paul Galvin saga is well behind them. It was really pathetic how long it dragged on for and the entire GAA should be ashamed of how they dealt with the whole situation.
Techie

Still playing away with my new HP IPAQ. Its running on WM6 which is definitely more stable than WM5. For some reason, my call sound quality has improved recently too which makes it even better. Really missing the radio though! I’ve been trying to get Skype running on it using www.fring.com but it doesn’t really work that well. I am trying it with a USB Active Sync connection but reckon it should work better with a wireless connection.

I recently finished a new website for my sister in law – take a look on www.orenutrition.com – if you are looking for any advice on how to eat better to feel better then make sure get in contact with her.

My next project is to work on www.rentmythaivilla.com – I hope I can setup this site for people to be able to rent directly from owners. I’m going to start off with my own villa and take it from there. We’re going to build it from scratch and although I have been planning this for ages I am only recently getting around to doing something about it.

Ents

Get up.

Shower.

Dress

Drive to work

Work

Drive home

Eat

Watch TV

Sleep

Repeat

Greys Anatomy is about the height of my entertainment schedule at the moment. Oh, and you can add Big Brother to that too. Not much going on in my life these days…. Booo hooooo

IMHO
So what next?

I definitely cannot stay in this negative mindset for too much longer. It’s not healthy.

They say you have to go through some bad times before you start to really appreciate the good times. I think that is very accurate. So hopefully the shite I am going through now will help me appreciate things when they improve.

But how can I speed up this process? I just need to get up off my arse. When I am not motivated then I am a lazy sod. However, when I am motivated I can become obsessed and can work like crazy. I enjoy working hard and won’t even see it as work as long as I am doing something that I enjoy and something that I want to do. Pushing paper in a big organisation is NOT what I want to do. As time goes by this is becoming more and more clear to me.

I would like to be able to setup something on my own again. Of course, this would be very risky in the current environment and it would also have some serious financial implications. I would have to curtail my spending dramatically as I have little or no savings to fall back on. Since I came back to Ireland I have haemorrhaged money just to have a basic standard of living. I have not been spending much on leisure and entertainment. I rarely go out to the pub or clubs and spend most of my money on rent, food and travel. Basics.

So what business could I setup on my own. I’ve mentioned these options before and I’m still not sure. First would be an Import/Export company. Second would be a small resort/guesthouse in Thailand and last would be a Spa retreat in Thailand and/or Ireland.

Although none of these options would make me a millionaire I do think that I would be happier working on these kind of projects.