New Zealand Mountains

There we're several places in New Zealand that make you feel like you're standing at the end of the world.

The World Down Under

The last month for me has been crazy times.  Hopefully things have been going more peaceful for you.  I have a cousin who has a house in Sydney, Australia and has been emailing me for a few years asking me to come down and visit.  He's been inviting me down for a few years now and while I really wanted to go, I just never made any plans to go.  But when a last minute chance opened up for me to travel with some friends to go see the Irish national team play in the Rugby World Cup I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to make my visit. 




Since I was out at sea for several weeks, I left it up to Gareth and my cousin Mike to make the plans.  So I went to sea for my few weeks and I have to take a moment here to mention I was able to take my cat with us for his first visit at sea.  At first he was scared of the new surroundings, although the car ride to the dock was more stressful to him.  It was great having my little buddy along for the voyage he really enjoyed the attention he received.  


Returning home from the voyage I found that Gareth had backed out of going along for work obligations and wouldn't be going with me.   I had just a few days to rest before heading out on the long flight to the other side of the world.  I was beginning to think the world was getting smaller everyday, but after this flight I can attest that its still really big. 


While our group arrived a bit tired and weary, we made it.  Unfortunately, one of my bags didn't.  So anyone that finds my bag let me just state the Justin Beiber shirt was a gift for a friend, its wasn't mine.  No really, seriously.  




My cousin met us at the airport and I couldn't tell you how nice it felt to be on the ground and seeing the sites of the city.  I could spend my life on a ship, but a plane, not so much.  Sydney is probably the most beautiful city I have ever been too.  I have been amazed by so many things since arriving.  


My cousin has a beautiful home.  I joked with him that even though he bought it already furnished, I loved his decorating touch of half dead house plants, dirty clothes and probably some clean ones thrown around his bedroom floor, and lots of half eaten take out food sitting on the counter of the kitchen, not from the night before, but from three nights before.  You can tell he is still a bachelor. 


It's about 7:15 am right now if I'm looking at the clock right.  Still suffering a bit from jet lag.  Which reminds me, one of our group didn't know about jet lag.  So we told him he was feeling weird because he was in Australia and upside down and the blood was rushing to his head.  That was a good laugh.  As mentioned above, not much food wise I trust to eat from his place, so there is a group of six of us going out for breakfast. 




I'll write more when I get a chance.  I'm missing Gareth a lot right now, so I want to call him before we leave.  Everyone else, enjoy your morning or night. 

Rugby World Cup 2011

Ireland touched down in New Zealand on Thursday after completing an epic 43-hour journey that began in Dublin and featured stops in Dubai and Sydney before concluding in Queenstown. 

The Irish squad opens World Cup 2011 play with a match against the United States on September 11th.  

More than 500 supporters gathered at Queenstown airport to greet the squad, who will be based in one of the country's most spectacular locations for the first week of the World Cup.

The team is training against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains and O'Driscoll admits the location has been well received.

"It feels like the World Cup has really started now. Once you get on that plane the realization sinks in a bit," he said. "We're finally here after all the work we've done in the build-up.

"It's great to be here. It's certainly one of the more beautiful spots to be in. Hopefully we'll get some good work done over the next week to put ourselves in good shape for the matches."

More Troubles For the Irish Squad

The Irish squad faces more trouble with John O’Shea having been ruled out of the trip to Moscow to face Russia in the Euro 2012 qualifiers after succumbing to calf and hip strains and has returned to Sunderland for treatment.

With Seán St Ledger suspended, O’Shea was arguably the most important player remaining in the Republic of Ireland squad. His absence will now force Giovanni Trapattoni into some difficult decisions, with Kevin Foley, Stephen Kelly and Darren O’Dea waiting in the wings to fill two places.

“The Football Association of Ireland today confirmed that following medical examination, John O’Shea has been declared unfit to take part in Tuesday’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Russia,” a statement read. “John was suffering from a calf and hip strain and will return to his club later this evening. All other players in the squad will travel to Moscow, departing this afternoon at 2.30pm.”

O’Shea was favourite to replace St Ledger alongside Richard Dunne in the centre of defence, having been deployed at right-back in the 0-0 draw with Slovakia in Dublin on Friday night. 

Without 50 per cent of his first choice defense - not including the absence of veteran Kevin Kilbane from left-back - Trapattoni now has to decide who to deploy at right back and central defense.

The only natural centre back available to him is O’Dea, who played well in the 2-0 win over Italy alongside St Ledger in June, but Kelly is also an option. The latter might also be considered for the right-back slot, with Wolves man Foley capable of starting there as well.

When Marco Tardelli admitted this morning that O’Shea was a doubt for the game, he also hinted at question mark over the fitness of goalkeeper Shay Given, who has been nursing a back strain since the Aston Villa’s stalemate with Wolves 10 day’s ago.

“I don’t know because the doctors are together for the scan,” said Tardelli this morning when asked about the Donegalman.

With three games remaining, Ireland need to win against Russia to have any realistic hope of topping the group. They finish with a visit to Andorra and a home game against Armenia in October. Both are winnable, but without victory on Tuesday, their fate will be in the hands of others.

Five Out Of Six - Champions Again

Kilkenny 2-17 Tipperary 1-16: Kilkenny are All-Ireland champions for the fifth time in six years, and 33rd overall, after reclaiming their title from Tipperary with a dominant display at Croke Park. Goals from Michael Fennelly and Richie Hogan, plus eight points from Henry Shefflin, were simply too much for Tipp.

They were outplayed and outfought from the off by Kilkenny, while their stars failed to shine like they did last year when blowing today's opponents away with Lar Corbett's three goals.

“We’ve had this day in our sights for 12 months and it’s great to have it back again,” said Kilkenny manager Brian Cody afterwards.

His opposite number, Declan Ryan, was gracious in defeat.

“It’s very disappointed dressing room,” said . “We were perhaps fortunate to be only five points down at halftime. Hats off to Kilkenny, I think they showed they were real champions.

He added: “We struggled to get out of the blocks today for whatever reason … but I’m very proud of the guys, they’ve won the blue and gold with pride all year.”

Torchwood Gay Sex - John Barrowman and Casey Dillon

Torchwood continues to push boundries. 

DinnerTime

Lunchtime At Sea

Norway Memorials

My heart also goes out to the victims and families in Norway that became victims of a mad man.  Sometimes it is hard to come back from the peace of the sea and turn on the news and hear the madness that engulfs our world. 

Amy Winehouse

Just got in from my last voyage and heard about the death of Amy Winehouse.  I'm not surprised at hearing this news, but feel saddened by it.  I always liked her and even with all her drama and issues, I was rooting for her to pull herself together.  Very sad ending to a life that was once full of promise.

Danny Amendola - American Football

 

The hottest man in the NFL. 

Final Liftoff

As I watched the final spaceshuttle mission launch into space today, I had mixed feelings about seeing this part of the space program come to an end.  For me, I am ready to stop just circling the earth and want to see NASA start to focus on going to the moon and other planets or an asteroids. 


I agree with the direction the last two U.S. Presidents want to take the space program.  The best thing to do is turn the near earth orbit missions over to private companies and let NASA focus on the bigger picture.  The problem is that a lot of the technology needed to do these missions doesn't exist yet.  Will we who are alive now, live to see another man make a deep space mission in our lifetime or will that be for future generations?  Who knows, but I'm hoping it can happen in my lifetime.  I want it to happen in my lifetime.  Imagine all that humanity could accomplish if we lived in a better world and could spend money not on wars, but on projects such as space exploration.  Astronauts have always been my hero's and I hope they don't become an icon of the past as Knights, Vikings, Indians and Cowboys have become. 

Along The Coast

It's good to be back home today even though its a bit quieter now with only one of my little buddies greeting me at the door.  After slipping off my boots, I opened my duffle bag and took out the little wooden box that contained the ashes of my little girl cat.  Before coming home, I stopped by the vets office to pick up her cremated ashes.  I was kind of surprised by how small the box was and yet how heavy it felt.  I walked across the room and sat her on a shelf in the corner where she loved to nap and picked my little boy cat up and walked to the bedroom.  After sitting down on the bed and scratching his ears for a few moments we both fell on the bed and went fast asleep.  I awoke to him about 45 minutes later kicking me in the head as he tried to push me over for more room on the bed.  After lying there for a few minutes I peeled off my clothes and took a shower.  Being tired I forgot to shave, so I now have a slight beard growing. 


After the shower, I slipped on a pair of boxer shorts and me and the cat went to the kitchen to raid the fridge.  I could tell by the look my cat gave me after he inspected the fridge that I wasn't the only one disapointed to find only fruits and vegetables there and one lonely can of unopened tuna fish.  This is what happens when you live with a doctor who makes you eat healthy food.  So it appears I'll be doing some food shopping later today. 


After sharing a piece of cheese with the cat I decided to throw my sea clothes into the washer and then proceeded to play some video games but I got bored with that.  Part of me wants to go workout and hit the bags a little and then the other part of me is content after having a shower and feeling clean to stay that way and just relax and read a book.  After talking to Gareth on the phone and finding out he won't be home til late I decided to go see a movie, not sure which one yet, then do some grocery shopping.  Looks like its just going to be a boring day.

Goodbye My Friend

I came home from my last trip out on the ocean for work two days ago and walked in the door to find one of my cats greeting me as always at the front door.  I sat my bags down and kissed Gareth who sat on the couch reading some office work.  I went to check on my little girl cat who was missing and found her sleeping under the sink in the kitchen.  This is a spot where she normally slept curled up in a big round bucket that was supposed to be used for cleaning, when I bought it, but she had other ideas for it and turned into a bed.   She lifted her head when she saw me and left out a soft meow as I patted her on the head and said hello.  I just figured she was tired or comfortable and would come see me later that evening when she was ready to stretch her legs.

As the evening wore on, I went to check on her and she wasn't in her spot under the sink anymore, but I found her in her other spot which is a little box tucked in the corner of the living room where she liked to sleep and hide.  I didn't think much of it because there were times when she slept alot and then would get up in the middle of the night and roam the house full of energy from all the napping she did during the day.  That night was no exception and when I heard her roaming the house and playing I just thought it was a normal night for her. 


The next day I went out to do some errands and Gareth was at work when I returned.  I was greeted by both my cats at the door as usual and it was feeding time so I got my boy cat a can of food and she has a routine to follow me to the bathroom where she climbs on the sink to get a drink of water after I wash up.  I noticed as she was drinking she had trouble swallowing the water and realized something wasn't right. 

As the evening progressed I noticed she stopped eating and drinking, so I gave her a little bit of vanilla ice cream that she always loved.  She ate it and I thought maybe she just had a sore throat or something.  I kept my eye on her throughout the night and noticed she kept going from spot to spot as if she couldn't get comfortable.  She also kept going into the bathroom to play with the water which she always done since she was a kitten.  This is one cat who loved water and would climb in the shower with me and get wet.  But as she got older, she grew out of that and would only play in the sink or wait til after I got my shower and then go in and play in the puddles left behind. 


Around 2am I noticed she still wasn't drinking water or wanting food and I started to get really worried.  She being almost 18 years old didn't have the strength to go that long without food and water.  At 4am, my other cat came and sat next to her as she laid by the back door.  They touched noses and looked at each as if comforting each other.  Around 6am she got up on the window seat and watched the sun rise and I sat with her talking to her and petting her.  I called the vet when they opened and made an appointment to get her in to be checked.  I decided to get a shower and as I was doing this she crawled into the tub with me, meowed, and not wanting her to get wet quickly turned off the water. She splashed about in the puddles as if she was a kitten again.  Then laid down out of exhaustion and gave me a sad look. 


At this point I was fighting back tears and telling myself they could give her some fluids and she'll be back on her feet.  But when Gareth got home and saw her lying in the tub I heard him whisper, "Oh no, its not good."  And it wasn't.  We took her to vets but she was diagnosed with kidney failure and as I held her in my arms, wrapped in her blanket, I talked to her of all the journeys we had been on and told her she had one more journey to make and that this time I wasn't going with her.  I told her I loved her and thanked her for the many years of love she had given me and the family.  She had been brought home from the humane society home by my mother and became the family pet.  When my parents died I took her in and she has been with me every step of the way through all my travels and adventures.  She was the last link of my current life to the past life I had with my family and the place where I grew up.  As we gathered around her, I held her in my arms as she looked into my eyes she passed away. 


Its been a full 24 hours now without her and I feel heartbroken and lost.  This is the first day that is she is not there when I look for her.  I expect to see her walking by on her way to something that interested her or tossing a toy around or crawling up on my lap to get a scratch.  There was a plant on the back porch she always nibbled at and I would yell at her to not eat the plant.  It still has the bite marks from her last snack attack. 


My other cat is now walking around just as lonely and lost and sad as I am.  He jumps into my lap and gives me such a sad look.  Every noise the house makes he looks excitedly as if she made the noise and when he realizes it was just a noise he lays down on the floor, head between his two paws and mourns for his friend. 

I can find comfort in knowing that I got to spend almost 18 years with my little friend.  Still, saying goodbye is never easy and when someone you love goes from being a part of your life to just a photo of a memory on a shelf you realize how fast time goes by and how short of time we have to spend with each other on this planet.   I'll never forget my little friends passion for life and how even on her darkest day, she found time to play in one last puddle and enjoy being alive one last time.  I love you, my dear friend.  Goodbye.

Hurling Semi-Finals

In the Munster Hurling Semi-final Tipperary's Lar Corbett scores third goal between Patrick Donnellan and Patrick O'Connor of Clare in Thurles, Ireland