As the post title says,

Congrats to Bernie and Ruth who got married yesterday – well done guys.

Thanks to Damien too for the tip-off!

I don’t normally do this kind of thing but I am making an exception in this case.

My brother-in-law has recently started looking for a new job. He’s an extremely high-powered telecoms guy, currently based in the US.

From his cv, his career highlights include:

• Management of telecom technology development, deployment and operations teams with up to 50+ staff and cost centers with yearly budgets of up to $40M
• Successfully managed development & deployment of 30+ products & technologies
• Worked in both vendor & operator environments, with both startup & growth organizations
• Combined SS7 signaling networks of three ATT divisions, saving 10’s of millions of dollars

his professional experience includes roles such as:

• Director of Architecture, Design and Planning – Managed Services Division
• Senior Director and Chief Architect of Multi Media Division and
• Sr. Dir. of Network Technology Development and Architecture

and accomplishments include:

• Direct the design, planning and life cycle management aspects of the hosted and managed services from multiple Geo diverse Data Centers
• Managed two directors and a team of senior architects. Led the overall technology architecture & QE activities for the wireless data, messaging & enhanced voice services for the consumer & enterprise segments and
• Directed several Sr. managers and was instrumental in the formation of the Multimedia division. Led software development, testing and deployment of the J2EE based mMode / wireless portal and related data, messaging and location based applications

So, if you know anyone who could benefit from talking to my brother-in-law, drop me a mail at tom@tomrafteryit.net and I can arrange an intro.

My older boy Tomás is starting school today. He has been looking forward to it all summer.

I’m proud and happy and sad all at the same time.

My little boy is growing up.

My dad needs a printer for his computer and I have no idea what to tell him to get!

His needs are very basic – he will only be printing out the odd web page and email. No photo quality needed. No scanner needed.

A simple printer which won’t burn a hole in his pocket every time he has to replace the inkjet cartridges.

I rang Cartridge World to ask them which printer has the cheapest replacement cartridges and they said the Canon ip300 sounded like it would fit the bill.

Anyone else want to make a recommendation?

Well, I am back after the break in the sun. Had a great break. Offline most of the time but couldn’t resist the odd bit of browsing from my phone!!!

It was a bit of a shock to the system to be in Ronda, in temperatures of 46C (115F) on Saturday and then land in Cork on Sunday to temperatures of 16C (61F)!

A big thanks to my blogsitter, FrankP for so ably looking after the blog in my absence. Frank made sure all legitimate comments on the site were published (a not inconsiderable task) and went even further to even publish a few posts. Thanks a million Frank. I’m afraid you may have earned the right to do so again next time I am away!!!

Ok, back to it…

I’m off on a three week house-swap holiday tomorrow morning bright and early with the family (if I remember to bring the right passports this time!).

In my absence I have asked good friend FrankP to look after the blog for me (to free up comments which have ended up moderated or in the Akismet queue inadvertantly).

I have also told Frank to feel free to go ahead and put up a few posts if he feels so inclined but as Frank already posts on Bifsniff.com and has a day job, he may not find time to do so.

In any case, I’m delighted Frank agreed to babysit the blog for me. I can head off now knowing the blog is in safe hands.

Thanks Frank.

What are they putting into our water in Cobh?

Our son Tomás had his ‘graduation’ from his Montessori class today. They dressed the kids up with mortarboards and had them singing songs!

It was great fun and Tomás had an absolute ball.

He starts in school in September.

I hate tag memes and rarely participate in them as I see them as little more than chain letters and time wasters (yeah, I know, bah humbug!).

However, I’ve been tagged by Gavin and Bill to add to this charity link meme. The idea is to improve the page rank of charities in Ireland. If ever there was a good reason to join a tag meme, this is it.

The list of charities so far is:

• MS Society Ireland
• Irish Red Cross
• Samaritans
• Cancer.ie – Irish Cancer Society
• Irish Hospice Foundation – Hospice and palliative care in Ireland
• Barnardos – Ireland’s leading children’s charity
• The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – Polish Charity
• CPR For Schools Across Poland – CPRTraining
• Program of Insulin Pumps in Diabetic Children Therapy – Insulin Pumps For Children
• Non-invasive Neonatal Breathing Support – Infant Flow
• Program of Universal Neonatal Hearing Screenings – Neonatal Hearing
• American Red Cross – disaster relief
• Raleigh Rescue Mission – homeless raleigh
• Samaritan’s Purse – emergency relief programs
• St. Jude Children’s Hospital – cancer research
• Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders – Humanitarian Relief
• American Red Cross – Emergency Preparedness
• AMREF – African Medical & Research Foundation – African Health Development
• DOROT – Programs for Elderly
• Feed the Children – Protect Children
• Service International – Disaster Relief
• Pujols Family Foundation – Children with Down Syndrome
• National Alliance to End Homelessness – Homelessness
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research – Parkinson’s Research
• Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Program – Child Healthcare
• Aids Research Alliance – Aids Research
• Wildlife Conservation Society – Wildlife Protection
• Cancer Research Institute – Cancer Research
• Second Harvest – End Hunger
• AARP Foundation – Helping Senior Citizens
• Bubblegum Club – Children In Crisis
• Autism NI – Autism Northern Ireland
• Adoption Ireland – Irish Adoption Charity
• Ireland Funds – Peace and Reconciliation In Ireland
• Dublin Simon Community – Combating Homelessness in Dublin
• Aware
• To Russia with Love

And the charity I am adding to the list is the extremely deserving
Debra Ireland

Who to tag next? How about –
Pat
Damien
Frank
Ina and
Justin