There's a FLOOD in my Hood

So we survived Hurricane Irene and even though the first two floors in our building were evacuated, we stayed put on the 5th floor and watched as the rain poured down like never before. By 9am, after a solid 12 hours of rain the floods were pretty severe. At noon we ventured out for a stroll and took some video and photos below. - Check out the 360 Panoramic too - Enjoy!

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Flood aftermath in our hood from PaddyinBA Quickroute on Vimeo.
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Tags: ..Hurricane Irene floods New York, New Jersey..

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Come on Irene

Ever had that moment of mixing up the lyrics for a famous song and when you sing it to somebody and then they look at you like you are .......dumb...nah me neither except for this...doh! As we await the onslaught on Hurricane Irene after the earthquake on east coast USA a few days ago, I started to sing the following lyrics to peeps in work but got some funny looks and couldn't figure out why?!

Come on Irene, oh I swear what he means   /   At this moment, you mean everything   /   With you in that dress my thoughts I confess   /   Verge on dirty, ah come on Irene   /   Come on Irene / Toora loora toora loo rye aye. 


OK - your turn - famous song - lyrics you misinterpreted - spill it?


Update: Was just sent this - Hat tip to Jack  


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Tags: ..Come on Irene..

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Twitter is DEAD, R.I.P. - Enter Google+ (plus) - Facebook Beware!

I've never been at the forefront of technology but I've never been too far behind the ol' techie-8-ball either. I was an early adopter of BBS (Bulletin Boards) for chatting / idea / file swapping back in the late 80's.  I was also an early adopter of FREE MONEY promotions on Amazon, eBay, PayPal, eTrade at the turn of the millenium when many scorned me as naive (aka there's no such thing as FREE! - Suckers were WRONG!).  I embraced blogging, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin before most.  I believe Google+ will eventually blow many social network sites out of the water.  Why?  Listen up..

1. Google size and reach - they already have a huge user base and finally have a viable product (Google Wave/Buzz sucked!) - this is the bulk of the reason they will be 'WINNING' - it's simple - it works - it integrates well
2. Features - ease of use - everything every other social network has and much more user friendly
3. Customization - Privacy settings - Easy to configure - Unlike Facebook
4. Financing - Google has so much cash on hand - they can swallow / incorporate new innovation / talent with ease
5. Less restrictive than twitters 140 character limit and less susceptible to spam bots


Facebook is safe for now because it will be hard to knock them off their pedestal with a 3 year jump start of gathering a user base but they better stay sharp cos' Google+ will come a knockin'


p.s. Ya See cuz Brendan, I'm not such a die-hard Apple FanBoy afterall! 

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Tags: .Twitter is DEAD, R.I.P. - Enter Google+ (plus)..

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Las Vegas

Having arrived in New York with a lottery green card in 1995, I soon began my wandering ways  and ended up in Las Vegas on my first US vacation.  I still vividly remember the sight and sound of the slots in the airport terminal.  Just in case you couldn't wait to get to your hotel, you had the option of pumping coins in the 'one arm bandits' immediately after touch down or before take-off as you were leaving.  

Three Irish lads and a Scot explored all the brights lights and big city had to offer and then some.  We expected our entertainment would be slightly limited since one of our group, my wee brother, was only 18.  Vegas has always been considered a 'tolerant' city however, so luckily we were still able to do pretty much whatever we pleased. We partied and gambled the night away.  One of our group (who shall remain anonymous - let's just call him Junior) partied harder and gambled more at the casino games than the rest of us combined. When I awoke the next morning, he was AWOL only to be found a while later still at the black jack table at 9am.  His initial lucky streak had fizzled out in the wee hours and he would now need a loan from one of our group (who shall remain anonymous - let's just call him Senior) to subsidise him for the remainder of the trip.  

This was to be the first of numerous adventurous 'Lads Trips' in the following years. I've mentioned a few on this blog before but if my memory allows, I'll try and share some more snippits of those trips here in the near future.


Have you been to Vegas? - How was it? - Share your experience in the comments below.

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USA, Las Vegas, 1995 from Paddy Quickroute on Vimeo.

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Tags: ..Las Vegas..

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How you can STILL Bulk Unfollow and Auto Follow on Twitter (tips, tricks)

Twitter has banned or severely limited most third party apps that used to allow auto twitter follow/unfollow.  Google+ (Google Plus) has the potential to seriously undermine Twitter in my humble opinion but for now I think I will cross post on both Google+ and Twitter.  Here is how you can trim down / remove all those Twitter spam bots you may have ended up following without having to click hundreds / thousands of times.

Update: Step 1 and 2 no longer necessary as ManageFlitter now has a Fast Select option


1. Use the Google Chrome Browser
2. Add the Chrome Extension - Check Them All
3. While already logged into Twitter - Goto this web Address - ManageFlitter - Click Start and authorize the app for your Twitter id
4. Click on the 'Unfollow' tab (up top) and 'Show All' (left border) - this will load the first 100 of the people you follow
5. Click the 'Check them All' button chrome extension - looks like a check mark (top right of your browser) - this will select all 100 people on the page - Uncheck those you wish to still follow
Note: the unfollow counter won't update to show you have selected all 100 users but once you click 'Unfollow x Selected' - all checked users will be unfollowed. (a message will confirm this)
6. Advance to the next page and continue / repeat as necessary (daily restriction = 1,000 unfollows)


Update: TwitCleaner is also worth a look as it analzes who you follow and bulk unfollows 


To auto follow people who follow you, you can sign up for Socialoomph and tweak the config options to auto-follow


Easy as 1-2-3-ish

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Tags: ..How you can STILL Bulk Unfollow and Auto Follow on Twitter (tips, tricks)..

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I'm black and I'm proud

There is a line in the movie the Commitments that goes like this "Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud!".


 I think the same could now be said of River Plate football supporters in relation to South America, Argentina, Buenos Aires, River Plate. This is one passionate River Plate supporter watching as his team gets relegated to the second division for the first time in it's 110 year history. Enjoy!

p.s hat tip to Duncan F. for link  

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Tags: .River Plate relegation..

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Road Trip - East Coast, USA

Recent photos (not in order!) from short road trip Red Bank & Long Branch, New Jersey - aka Jersey Shore, then onto Atlantic City for some gambling (won all of $25 but lasted 2 hours on the poker table) then west to Wilmington, Delaware, home of my wife's ex-boss Du Pont, then Annapolis, Maryland for a bbq with good friends, then Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and finally Princeton, New Jersey - enjoy!

Tags: ..Road Trip - East Coast, USA..

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