Keith Shirley

Peter Heary (aka. CroppyBoy1798) has made a new video of Carlow Past and present available online.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdtJTNcrok

For those of you that did not see them in the previous post – he has old photos of Carlow and takes new photos from the same place and angle. In the video he merges the two so you can see how things have changed.

I never seem to manage to guess where the old photos are taken. The videos are well worth a look – and take a lot of time I’m sure.

Anyone that has spent more than 5 minutes with me has probably had to listen to me talk about the house we’re building and the planning that has gone into it.

In order to support our new heavenly home – we’re selling the heavenly home where we currently live. It’s a 3 year old (but in showhouse condition) 3 bedroom semi-detached house in Sandhills in Carlow.

As all the “for sale” websites only show a few boring pictures I’ve started a site purely to give people a better idea of what the house is like – and why we loved living there so much. It will be updated (hopefully daily) with articles on what you can expect in the house, in the estate and local area and things you can do when you want to get out for a while.

If you know anyone that is interested then please ask them to have a look at www.73sandhills.ie and to contact us if they would like a closer look.

Like most people I’m good at bitching about things but don’t come up with too many solutions. If I do come up with solutions I sure as hell don’t want to get involved in politics to try and implement them. By its very nature it’s a thankless job. You can’t keep everyone happy – and I love to be loved. Awww.

I’m not well versed in who’s who in local (or even national) politics. It’s just one of those things that I should know more about but never made the time for.

With the aim of broadening my horizons recently I gate crashed one of the local political meetings. I’m sorry to say it was a big disappointment. Far from the fired up speeches about how they were going to kick ass in the next election I found it to be a very low key event. Possibly this was because it was a local party meeting rather than a public rally. There was only one candidate that I thought had the required polish. Even with that I’m probably biased as he was a boyhood friend of mine.

So it was with interest that I heard from T2 that they had developed an election info site in cooperation with KCLR. The site – www.localelections.ie - will provide all sorts of details on the elections and the candidates. Hopefully they can really get the candidates involved. I’m a bit fed up of all the junk mail that comes through the letter box but still gives me no idea of who the people really are.

Ken McGuire also wrote about it on his site -as I’m sure will a number of other local bloggers as T2 is hunting them down.

The site has a seperate Blog for Carlow and Kilkenny in addition to a blog by Sue Nunn from KCLR. The site is a bit text heavy at the moment but I’m glad it’s available. Maybe this election I’ll manage to educate myself properly.

Now I need to find out how and when I can get into the council meetings to see what goes on there.

I received a very nice thank you letter for helping out with the Special Olympics Fund-raising Event a few weeks ago. My part was so small I was both surprised and delighted to get it.

I thought I’d reproduce the info here – so you can see where your money is going.

“We had a good steady flow of visitors all day and the feedback from the event was how relaxed and enjoyable it was; the lovely atmosphere and how well co-ordinated it was. I am delighted to tell you we raised €3500 on the day.

Who the money goes to

Every Euro is lodged into our Special Olympics Co. Carlow account and monies will be passed on to the 4 Special Olympic Clubs in the county:

1. Delta Centre
2. BEAM
3. St Lazerians School
4. Carlow Special Olympics Club

What the money is for

It will assist with their travel expenses, kit, volunteers and reaching out to more people with intellectual disability including those who would love to be part of the games but haven’t the means.

”

So well done to all those organising the event. It was a fun and enjoyable day – and of course – well done for the funds raised.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Special Olympics Ireland – Fundraising (keithshirley.ie)

Bizcamp was featured a few times on the news. The sentiment that came across was exactly what we wanted – Feck the Recession – let’s just do business.

I appear in the background a few times.

Is that a claim to fame? My backside appeared in the news?

The RTE Link:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0307/6news_av.html?2502888,null,230

The News Report On Youtube:

Caelen King, CEO of ravehealth.com on fundraising

Campbell Scott, CEO of igopeople.com on fundraising

Keith Bohanna, Co-Founder of dbTwang.com on fundraising

I was right - it was a great day. A special thanks to all the presenters and the sponsors for their support and work. The feedback I’ve been getting from the attendees is great.

What did I get from the day? – Passion/ Action / Brass Balls

Passion:

It’s contagious. You need to have it to make your business really successful. If you are not passionate about what yu are doing then you cn’t expect much from your customers or potential supporters.

Action:

Just get up off your arse and do it. Now. Get started and keep pushing. Ideas are pretty cheap – they only become reality when you do something about it.

Now is a great time to start a business – you will learn how to be efficient and concentrate on core business requirements. When things pickup you’ll be in the position to make the most of it.

Brass Balls

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t be afraid to try something new and quirky. Be brave and confident aboutwhat you offer and make sure people get to hear about it.

My wife, Sylvia Shirley, will be taking part in a Special Olympics Ireland fund-raising event this coming weekend. The Mind Body and Spirit fair will be taking place at The Dolmen Hotel Carlow – 1^st March 2009 12 – 5 pm

I see a hot towel shave listed…..I wonder will Sylvia allow me to grow a stubble to test how good it is. I have a special kind of beard that seems to defeat electric razors – so I’d love to see how good a job a real cut-throat does. In addition there are all sorts of people/activities such as:

• Beautician (Completely unbiased I can say Carlow’s Best Cosmetic and Wellness Atelier will be there)
• Health Food Suppliers
• Clearing and House Blessings
• Homeopathy Practitioners
• Animal Healers
• Tarot and Angel Card Readings
• Yoga
• Body Massages
• Acupuncturists and herbalists
• Angel Healers
• Reiki
• Crystal Healing
• Personal Coaching
• Tai Chi
• Manicures

The Special Olympics Ireland – Carlow Fundraising Team has a fundraising target of €100,000 by the end of May 2009. The Dolmen Hotel have waived the room hire fee as their own donation to the campaign.

The organisers also have other events arranged including a Tug of War between County Carlow and County Kilkenny.  A Nintendo Wii Fit competition, a Treasure Trail in May, a Garden Party in the Delta Centre and a Carlow Garda Dinner/Dance on 3 April 2009 at the Seven Oaks Hotel.

Further Information about Special Olympics Ireland & Special Olympics (Co Carlow)

Note: This is copied from their distributed info

Did you know 58% of people with a learning disability in Ireland have no friends of their own?

Special Olympics Ireland is a national charity based in the 32 counties in Ireland and  will run a major all-island fundraising initiative from January 5th to June 5th 2009, called `Changing Lives’.  The money raised during our short campaign will support the 12,000 athletes and 18,000 volunteers in 420 clubs and also enable the recruitment of NEW athletes so we can realise our goal of reaching out to more people with a learning disability.

There are 943 people with an intellectual disability in County Carlow/Kilkenny but only 160 of them are County Carlow athletes in Special Olympics Ireland. Money raised will go towards providing sports training and competition for those athletes and to reach out to the clearly significant number of people in County Carlow not already involved.

The Special Olympic Athlete’s oath is “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt”  and in our brief 5 month campaign period we in County Carlow intend to work very hard to provide children and adults with an intellectual disability who participate in Special Olympics to develop improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence and a more positive self-image. They grow mentally, socially and spiritually and, through their activities, exhibit boundless courage and enthusiasm, enjoy the rewards of friendship and ultimately discover not only new abilities and talents but “their voices” as well.

Special Olympics Ireland changes the lives of people with an intellectual disability by giving them a real opportunity to achieve in life, through sport.  Belonging to Special Olympics has a powerful impact, not only on people with an intellectual disability but also on their families, volunteers and the wider community.

The World Games are held every 4 years – 2009 will see the Winter Games in Boise, USA and the next Summer Games are in 2011 in Athens, Greece. To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, athletes must be at least six years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: intellectual disabilities, cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction.

Whilst athletes can commence training at six years of age, they must be eight years old before participating in competions. Our Irish athletes participate in Alpine Skiing, Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Bocce, Bowling, Equestrian, Football, Golf, Gymnastics and Table Tennis. In addition there is a Motor Activities Training Programme offering cycling, kayaking, pitch & putt and tennis.

Special Olympics Ireland is sponsored by The Irish Sports Council and Eircom however in today’s tough economic conditions Special Olympics Ireland – Co Carlow Team couldn’t meet the needs of our own potential athletes without the generosity of supporters like you. Many Thanks!

It’s been a nice week for getting comments on how the blog is proving useful to people. Early on in the week I discovered a small review of the blog on the Silicon Republic site. I’m not sure how I missed it before. Then I got some comments via mail which always cheers me up.

On Tuesday the list for the 2nd round of the Irish Blog Awards was announced and I was very happy to see that I’d made it. This round will be judged by volunteer judges and the next (and final as far as I know) round will be judged by the public.

Let’s be honest however – with the caliber of people I’m up against there is not much chance of getting to the next step.

Let’s be really really honest and admit that I still want to! So fingers crossed that the judges deem my efforts good enough.

The nominees for:

Best Technology Blog/Blogger – Sponsored by Bitbuzz

• Keith Shirley
• Pat Phelan
• Karlin Lillington
• Contrast Blog
• Ken Mcguire
• Liquid Learning
• Justin Mason
• MJ
• Bernie Goldbach
• Donncha O’Caoimh
• Michele Neylon
• Robin Blandford
• Digmo
• eWrite Cork
• Digital Darragh
• John Braine
• Cormac Moylan
• TechCentral
• Gadget Republic
• Web2Ireland

Related articles by Zemanta

• Longlisted in the Irish blog awards (ewritecork.com)
• nom nom nom 2009 (willknott.ie)
• Who Are You Nominating For The Irish Blog Awards 2009? (krishnade.com)
• Irish Blog Awards… nominations open (sohosolowestcork.com)
• The wanderings of Paddy and other items (paddybloggit.com)
• The 2009 Irish Blog Awards – Nominations now open! (theangryhedgehog.com)
• Nominations are open (stephenspillane.blogspot.com)

I can write an advance review because I know it’s going to be great. I so thoroughly enjoyed Podcamp and Barcamp last year (especially Pat Phelan’s lunchtime chat) that when talk of organising a Bizcamp came up I knew I had to help out.

(insert name here)Camps are very informal but productive conference type events. They’re referred to as unconferences because you’re not going to be lectured at or given sales pitches in the regular sense. A camp has a general theme to bind it together and everyone is free to give short (15 minute) seminars/chats/presentations about topics they feel are helpful.

Helpful is the magic word – the whole point is to get to know people, get some insight into a topic and be helpful. You can pickup a huge amount of info in small chunks and followup later. I promise – you’ll come home with stacks of notes.

Bizcamp is obviously themed around business. The potential topics could range from funding to how to handle the stress. Unlike a normal conference – the agenda is not fixed. Anyone can decide on the spur of the moment to do a session – you just grab a timeslot on the day. Is there something you wish you knew when you started? Now’s your chance to pass on some pearls of wisdom. You don’t need to do a session at all – just come along for the ride.

I’ll be helping to organise the Dublin Event which is on Sat 7 March 2009. There will be a second bizcamp in Limerick on 21 March 2009.

I’ll be writing about this again but if you need more info then call me ( 087 9112027 ) or Email me K.Shirley@Shercom.com.

Yes – That really is my phone number and mail address.

You can already sign-up to Bizcamp or you can see who is going to Bizcamp.  I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

Related articles by Zemanta

• BizCamp coming to Limerick (stephenkinsella.net)
• BizCamp(s) (web2ireland.org)

Supervalu Carlow are running a special offer until the end of January – for every 50 Euro you spend on Thursday and Fridays you get 6 Euro off. It’s in the form of savings stamps but they can be cashed immediately.

That’s 12% off – Not bad in a cut throat industry. After that it’s continues but at 3 Euro per 50 Euro.

It’s my local Supermarket so I was wondering if the prices are higher in the first place – negating any savings. I decided to test it against Tesco to see what the totals would be – and boy was I surprised.

Here are the products I was able to compare directly – no special offers.

I was surprised that Tesco was more expensive – and that the prices were either almost exactly the same or wildly off.

The funny thing is – price is not everything. I would have accepted a slightly higher price for Supervalu as it’s so convenient for me.