Won the lotto and moving out

So I won the lotto! Now in fairness I only won 5euro but that's more than I've ever won. After paying 4euro on a ticket, getting 5euro back is nice enough for me. All in all a net gain of 1 euro. Whatever shall I do with it, the list is endless. It's the little things like this that make me smile.

We also gave in our notice (my girlfriend and myself) yesterday to our landlord and said we're moving out in a month. Now in fairness when we sent him the message, we hadn't got a clue where we were going to go. Next thing ya know, I get a call from one of my good friends who lives out in Donabate, who had made a previous offer to me to house sit for him while he goes off travelling for a few months. He's looking for us to stay start of May till end of September, what are the chances that they match exactly what we weer looking for? How sweet is that?

Sometimes I think I really am a jammy git!
So Donabate here we come for a couple of months, bbq's, parties by the estuary and long summer evenings, it will be the life!! The two of us are so excited, we can't wait :D

April Fools Day

I had a great day yesterday. I pranked a load of people, I even got pranked myself. I fell for it hook line and sinker. It was great. It's been a while since someone actually got me proper.

Twitterfeed

Just signed up for twitterfeed, more on this later.

Cycle to Work Scheme

Was in Duff Cycles there in Omni over the weekend and I think I'm going to get myself another bike. I used to cycle a lot when I was younger and I miss it loads. Unfortunately I spent some money on two really good bikes and both of them got stolen, locks snapped and left as a reminder.

Anyways, they mentioned the cycle to work scheme, where your employer purchases the bike and you buy it off your employer. Essentially this means you don't pay any tax on the bike. Now I haven't asked our accountant here yet on the whole thing. But they claim you can save up to 50% off the bike. Which is very nice for someone like me who wants to spend about 500-600euro on the bike alone, before all the added extras.

The main types of bikes I'd be interested in are the Trek, Specialized and Giant models. I've had a Trek and Specialized before and really enjoyed riding both of them.

Of course, I'll have to wait until I move out of the 'Mun, don't think I'd have my bike long if I did that.

Here's a site on the biketowork scheme
http://www.biketowork.ie

and Duff Cycles Omni
http://www.duffcycles.com/

SASER!!

Just found this online, sounds mental! (literally :P)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Amplification_by_Stimulated_Emission_of_Radiation

Layout change again

I've changed the layout again, any comments?

TechOnline and Lenten Update

I decided to sign up for a few different newsletters like Embedded Systems Design from TechInsights. I got an email from them about a week ago and they'd linked a site from TechOnline with a load of free online courses. These are incredible. I recommend anyone who's into hardware engineering in anyway to check it out.

Here's the link: TechOnline Free Online Courses
The courses are presented by representatives that have been in the industry for a long time and from the big companies like Intel, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices and International Rectifier to name but a few.

So far, I've already watched the Fundamentals to FPGA's and the Fundamentals of x86 Architechture. I was very impressed by both and it's really helped me understand more of what I'm doing here in work.

Lent
So far so good. I haven't played any games or had any chocolate. I'm missing the games big time though and I'm going a little mad, especially since Bioshock 2 was released there last week. That game truly looks amazing. Even though I've also heard that it doesn't quite live up to the first game. Either way, I'd love to play it.

Take it easy guys, feel free to comment your thoughts below or if there's anything you'd like me to cover.