Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Car Hire Cork Airport


Pagan Rites, Lovely Daughter, Something Red, soda bread, Nation's Capital, Mad-Cap Adventure, Car Hire Cork Airport, Super Competitive Hotel, Rugby, Blue Moon Monkey, James Joyce, Shamrock, Chocolate Cart......no this is not a proper sentence, but rather a fancy lead-in for my post about the multiple and random window watching movie invading all sense of privacy. The BBC America channel was showing one of my favorite Alford Hitchcock films, Rear Window.

Its funny actually because when I first saw this movie, it didn't appeal to me, because it lacked the suspense of Psycho. Yet the second time around of watching this film, I found it fascinating, the idea of peeping into other people's lives. Now it lists as one of my favorite Hitchcock flicks! Let's be honest, to an extent, we have all become Jimmy Stewart, its become a part of our lives, no?

Nowadays, with people having complete cell phone conversations in the subway or at the restaurant table next to you, you can't help but overhear (I say, if you are speaking that closely to me, than you don't deserve privacy!).

Factor in the Internet and such items like blogs or YouTube and nothing is sacred anymore, no? Has my generation done a 180 and now nothing is private or off-limits? Is this a good thing? With Jimmy and Grace, it was helpful, they were able to catch a killer, can we do that better now than before? Are there less bad guys out there because of this lack of privacy as in the past?? Does anyone know where one could find such statistics?

Add in reality television and we are done for! Like it or not, it has game changed our culture and there is no going backward! The notion of privacy from the times of Rear Window are gone and we shall have to see what replaces it.

So with that I conclude with these words: lighthouse, Celtic Cross, Circle of Friends, Car Hire Ireland, Green Fields, Pototoes, Golden Ring, Book of Kells, wrist watch, County Cork, Tenor, Snakes, Moose Munch.

ps - I am off to Florida for a job interview for the next few days, wish me luck!

pps - saw a bumper sticker the other day here in Phoenix that lauded that Joe Wilson scream during President Obama's health care speech, "You Lie." Get me out of this state!!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Local Nation and Dublin Airport Car Hire

Hello all!

Submissions are in for the Local Nation Contest and voting has started. I am reiterating to you, my friends and family to vote now for my submission. I've fallen to fifth place! Votes may be cast once a day through January 29, 2010.

The winners will receive 200,000 Wyndham Rewards points, a Flip Video camera, two $400 American Express Gift Cards and will be featured writers on Women on Their Way's Local Nation landing pages.

I might use my 200,000 points for a stay in Ireland, it is a land I've wanted to visit for some time now and this past weekend the hubby and I went to a friend's birthday party at an Irish pub. It was neat, made to look like a church. They were playing traditional Irish music, quite infectious!
Though there is one thing about the Irish, they are definitely not a rainbow nation (smile), yet the people seem so warm and welcoming. If I win the contest, I would only have to pay for airfare and Dublin car rental. Plus don't you think a visit to Ireland would lend itself to a fantastic article for a landing page in the Women on Their Way's Local Nation??

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tragedy in Mass!

I am devastated about the results in MA - the Ted Kennedy seat gone to a guy who posed nude for Cosmo Magazine!

But in this instance I blame the Democrats. They had a 30 point lead and lost it!!! What is wrong with you?! Seriously - a Democrat losing in MA, that is nuts and that too Ted Kennedy's seat! I hear the President's health care reform was one of the key causes for the defeat, that people couldn't understand it and began to believe the lies told by the Right regarding the changes in health care.

I think what all of this points to is a serious deficit in certain Americans, an inherent selfishness, the idea that I have mine, so screw yours. This thinking must stop if we are to prosper as a nation. It is clear that many in America are kind and compassionate - look at the response to Haiti, yet that same compassion doesn't seem to extend to their fellow Americans. Why is there such a short-sightedness in our American psyche....lest we forget, it took the last president EIGHT years to screw us over, why does everyone assume President Obama would be able to clean that up in LESS THAN ONE YEAR?!

What is wrong with people??

I'd like to think this result in Massachusetts is not a referendum on President Obama but more on the candidate in question, who effectively ignored her race until it was too late. At this point all I can say is God bless America.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Cheap Skiing Holidays

It is upon us - the start of the Olympic season is now in full swing! Beginning today and for the next week, in Spokane Washington, the fate of the United States Olympic Figure Skating team will be decided, it is the United States Figure Skating National Championships!

Whoever wins, I'm not holding out a lot of hope for America's chances at the Vancouver Olympics when it comes to the sport of Figure Skating. This will be the first time in at least 20 years that America has sent such a weak team. The only real medal chances the USA has comes in the Men's and Dance discipline; in Men's it will be primarily about Evan Lysacek and in Dance about Belbin and Agosto (though White and Davis are good and did win the Grand Prix last month, the international judges would not put them above Belbin and Agosto).

What is really pathetic about this whole situation is the ladies field. This 2010 Olympics will not see an American woman on the podium for any color medal - that hasn't happened since 1964! And in that case the US Figure Skating world had just taken a terrible loss three years earlier when the entire National team, the 1961 Figure Skating team (who were all the 1964 Olympic hopefuls) was killed in an airplane crash that year.

Aside from Figure Skating, other sports I like to watch during the Winter Olympics include hockey, ski jumping, speed skating and downhill skiing. In the spirit of the upcoming Winter Olympics I've been looking into ski holidays, actually I don't really know how to ski but I love the pictures. This site for ski holidays has some beautiful photos of lodges. I wouldn't mind chilling at a ski resort, they seem like neat places, having only gone to two in my life, though there are cheap ski deals out there.

I wish I skied better than I do, it looks like so much fun, swooshing down the slopes at a high speed! It must be quite a rush; plus the views from way up at the top of the mountains...just gorgeous!

Let the countdown begin, the Winter Olympics start in less than a month!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Queen Victoria ans Ski Holidays


First off – thank you all for the votes for the traveling website – it seems that one can only vote once but I’m getting a bunch of votes, so muchos gracias to everyone for voting and for passing along the message!!! You guys are the best!


This weekend the hubby and I went to see two movies. On Friday we finally got to view the Sherlock Holmes film. It was VERY good. I don’t know what the critics are talking about; I really enjoyed it as did the husband. I certainly think this is the kind of film one should see on the big screen – lots of movie magic (you know big explosions, hi-tech workings, etc). Plus hats off to Robert Downey Jr., what a great actor, if I didn’t know better I would have said that he was British by birth. If there is any complaint its Rachael McAdams, she is a fine actress but this role was so dumb, it didn’t need someone as big name as her.


Saturday night we were suppose to go see Up In the Air but missed the last showing so instead I piped in that we should view Young Victoria, with Emily Blout. I LOVED IT!!!!! As regular readers of my blog are well aware, I adore all things European Royalty and in particular with Queen Victoria and her offspring. This film really allowed someone like me, a voyeuristic glimpse of life behind the royal curtain, particularly for Queen Victoria who was such a private personality. The film, aptly focuses on Queen Victoria in the months before she becomes Queen and than her first few years of reign; it definitely appeals to the females as it shows the romance between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I liked how they portrayed Albert as a kind soul who was so calm and rational to Victoria’s more emotional fancies – one of the funniest scenes is when Victoria and Albert are riding in public in the carriage, immediately after a fight and she is being very childish and Albert’s responses are hilarious!!


Part of the enjoyment of the film is seeing the courtship between Victoria and Albert and how micromanaged it was by other political/royal parties in Europe! Yet, Victoria and Albert did get to enjoy life together, hunting, sleigh-riding, horse-back riding, dancing, music, heck if they had the wherewithal, they probably would have even gone skiing – like on a cheap ski holiday!


I highly recommend, if you haven’t gone out to see any movies this year (2010), check out one of these two!

Monday, January 04, 2010

Virginia Gal Needs Your Vote!

Hello my dear blogging friends,

As you know I am a traveling fiend as well as an avid writer - well this website called Women on their Way, has a contest going on for 10 traveling bloggers, where they will give you some free stuff, including vacations!!

The way to win the contest is for me to get as many votes (thumbs up) as possible!!!

This is were you come in my dear dear people, can you please go onto this website

http://www.womenontheirway.com/local-nation/

and vote for me?? I should be on page 4 or 5. I am the picture of the girl standing next to one of those smart cars, the car is painted blue and sky clouds. It should say Glendale, Arizona.

The website might ask you to register before voting, to which I am very sorry, but after the contest, you can go and mark them as spam mail! You only have to register once and after that you can vote once a day, till the contest ends, which is January 29th.

My particular entry is right here -
http://www.womenontheirway.com/local-nation/details.php?id=70

I promise no money is involved, just mere simple votes.

I know, I know, 2010 has started and already I'm asking for favors....my bad. But thank you very much!!!

Tusind tak!!!!
Virginia Gal

ps - please feel free to forward to friends who would be kind to my plight : )