Conor

superb documentary highly recommended 9/10

what do you do?

Aye its a mad mad place. Have never rented and been paying a mortgage for the last 13 years. Rent is dead money as the old man always said to me. The stress in work goes up and down on a daily basis. sometimes i say fuck it - its a job and theres always more out there etc no big fucking deal. Other times i freak out about my current job and worry about losing it and being able to pay the bills and look after the missus and kids. work life balance - one hard bastard to try and conquer.

I work for a large multinational in Ireland and have done for nearly 20 years (since leaving college). had various roles in that time and moving up the wage scale as time went on. In those 20 years life has evolved and I now have a missus and 2 kids (one with special needs). The wife had to leave her job so she now looks after the kids meaning we are single income household. I live in Dublin which is one pricey fucking city to be in but fuck it - it is what it is and I cant change it. From a work life balance persepctive the job is not too bad. Its Sales so I can work from home when I want and I get out and about. It helps with giving the missus a dig out at home when needs be. The major problem is that I need to earn high wages just to survive (80k plus) to provide for all 4 mouths. In order to achieve that I have to take the shite that comes with the territory - high stress, long hours, weekend emails, office politics etc. I don't want to move up the ladder to better paid jobs, I just want to provide and pay the bloody bills. But I am getting to the stage that I hate my job. Have often thought about jacking it in for a less stressful job and take the hit on the money. However waking up in the middle of the night worrying about paying bills is something far more terrifying so I put up with the status quo. Its too big a risk to take considering all the above. Its a dilemma that few manage to figure out. Each to their own I guess. For now its grin and bear. The kids and the missus keep me going and make it worth while but there will become a point where enough is enough and something will give. Until then I have no choice but to keep going..........

2 games into the season and we cant burn them out? jaysus.

For whats its worth: American History X The Usual Suspects Trainspotting Wolf of Wall Street Raiders of the Lost Arc Close Encounters of the Third Kind Good Will Hunting The Dark Knight Inception The Breakfast Club

Twatter stating Gerrard is a major doubt with a hamstring injury

Going to the auld enemy game in Dublin on Sunday. Can't wait. Prediction is a cagey home win. Not expecting champagne rugby. It will be a war fought amongst the forwards. roll on 5pm saturday for The Frogs V the Welsh Boys. Now this is a game to savour. Fast flowing rugby with the loser effectively gone from everything. Old skool throw the ball around stuff. Cant wait. Scots V Italians. Interesting to see how this one goes. Scots have the makings of a decent team but still lack the art of scoring tries. Italians will get worse as the tournament takes its toll but still very dangerous in week 2. predictions: Sco 12 - 22 Italy Fra 26 - 24 Wal Irl 18 - 15 Eng

My lions selection as it stands after week 1 of the 6N: LHP - Healy HK - Best THP - Cole SR - Gray SR - Ryan BSF - Obrien OSF - Tipuric/Robshaw N8 - Heaslip SH - Youngs FH - Sexton IC - Manu OC - O'Driscoll LW - North/Bowe RW - Ashton/halfpenny FB -Kearney

The whole competition could well be decided on the first game of Wales V Ireland. The winner will take the momentum with them into the rest of the tournament and will stand a very good chance of winning it. Lose it and your tournament is effectively over. France are too inconsistent but when they are on it they are at times unplayable. England are in with a good shout but I would think the Autumn games against SA and AUS are more the barometer of where they are instead of the win against NZ. Still a good team but are basically a one dimensional team full of big bastards all over the park who try to bully their way to a win. The Northern Hemisphere Spring Boks if you like. Scotland and Italy are muck and will fight it out for the wooden spoon. An interesting couple of months ahead. Can't wait. Prediction: 1. Ireland 2. France 3. England 4. Wales 5. Italy 6. Scotland

Any side that Neil Warnock manages

Cant believe some of the shite thats been posted on this thread. Constantly slagging off players and the manager. Its unreal. Well played lads. Great result at a difficult ground and things are starting to come together. 4 points off 4th with a nice run of fixtures coming up. January window around the corner and new players will arrive. expecting a much better 2nd half to the season. Optimism Well done Redmen

I know Dalglish & Clarke would not have had us lose 4-0 here last season. :wallbutt: give it a rest

Watched a few recently: Ted - Very funny and original. Go watch it. 8/10 Total recall (2012) - Wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. Great effects. Decent watch. 7/10 From Nothing to something. The art of rap - Directed by Ice T and was expecting more than it delivered. Still worth a look (if you are into Hip Hop) but got a bit boring. 6 mics out of 10. Friends with Kids - The missus picked this one. If you dont have kids then dont bother. If you do then its worth a punt as at least its something you and the missus can watch together. Funny and enjoyable. 7/10 Chernobyl Diaries - Promised much but didnt deliver. Very straight forward american horror yarn. 4/10

do it hes a prick but would improve the squad end of

I can see similarities from this forthcoming league season to Rafa's first in 04-05. Some shocking defeats to poor teams but definite signs of progress and some great results against the big boys. BR needs time and i hope the very tricky first few games dont get the crowd on his back. Tomorrow could really be anything from a home win against the champions, to a proper pasting from them. Hard one to call Heart says vintage Gerrard in a 1-0 win Head says City too strong and a hard fought 0-1 defeat

PL Winners: City FA Cup Winners: Arsenal Carling Cup Winners: Spurs Champions League Winners: Real Madrid Europa League Winners: PSG (are they even in it?) PL Top Scorer: Mario PL Player of the Year: Aguero PL Flop of the Year: Giroud 1st PL Manager Sacked: Fat Sam Surprise Team of the Year: Villa Date on which Allardyce is linked with England job: Day after the fat fucker is sacked (Oct 2nd) Total goals will Van Persie score in United's first four games: Everton A, Fulham H, Southampton A, Wigan Athletic H 5

Reasons to be cheerful- part 2012/13 I love the eve of a new season, hope is at its maximum untainted by the inevitable misfortunes that the impending campaign will bring. For us it is also the dawn of a new era, the Rodgers era . One not skewed by the old tales of derring-do from the Dalglish reign, nor by the achievement conflict and intrigue of the Benitez years. Rodgers lack of history with us and track record is his greatest asset. He offers a fresh approach and precious little for the snipers to shoot at- apart from that there is precious little. His managerial status will be defined by what he does with us. He hasn’t put a foot wrong to date. There is much to admire in Rodgers so far. His assertive statement of authority in his exchange with Ayre at his press conference regarding a DOF was brave. His preparedness to grasp the nettles of the folly of both the Aquilani and Carroll misfires show a man prepared to deal with what was obvious to everyone else anyway. We haven’t scored enough goals, he has brought in a forward, and a goal scoring midfielder, that’s common sense. Allen? All mangers love a voice and an ear in the dressing room and a man who can show and support his methods, further evidence of his pragmatism. His international outlook, his knowledge of Spanish and the Spanish game, and his appreciation through Chelsea and Mourinho of what success looks like in the modern game are huge assets, as are his hands on knowledge of the transfer market Last season we were without Lucas for almost the entire season, Gerrard for a significant part of it and Suarez for a quarter of the league campaign. Having all three available would boost any team- we will be no exception. I loved the fact that Rodgers played a full strength side in the EL. As a club we have been defined by our Euro success. The UEFA Cup/EL has proved a fiendishly difficult prize to win for English sides in recent years, Man u and City’s exit in the competition last year reiterated that. An EL win would do much to put us back on track for future CL campaigns. We had one of the best defences in the league last year, that defence has remained in tact, a huge advantage going into the new season. Success will not be just down to us, it will be down to others. AVB at Spurs is a big risk, Di Matteo at Chelsea is doomed, Arsenal have just sold their top goal scorer- that could mean the difference between 4th and seventh. It could all just fall in our favour. FSG, they are solvent, the club has no money worries and with the sacking of Dalglish they have shown determination and resolve, all good qualities. And there is the opening game of the season at the Hawthorns, a proper ground, and a club steeped in the right sort of football through Astle, Hartford and Brown and the Three Degrees. A football contest with the added spice of taking on Steve Clarke, whom I wish well, I will be there. The 2012/13 trophies are unengraved, the table is zeroed – come on you Reds!

Great post mate. Agree with every word.

Hey folks Only realised it was a year since i originally posted this. Well the boy was officialy diagnosed as being autistic in January. Wasnt a great surprise to us. We knew it was going to happen. Of course you dont want to hear the words but we are happy that we know what we have to work towards and know what needs to be done. 12 months on and he has still big problems with speech and language. This is our main concern. He starts montesori in sept and we are praying that this brings him on. The plan is to get him into national school by sept 2013. This is our goal and what we are working towards. We have also been able to avail of the various benefits from the government (irish) - dont want to go into detail but if anyone is in a similar position just drop me a pm and i will let you know what you need to do. It makes a huge difference Living and trying to raise an autistic kid is very challenging for both me and the missus. However the smiles by far outweigh the frowns. The older he gets the harder it becomes but also the more hope we have that hopefuly he will have a normal life. We also got a dog today to see if this will help bring the boy along. We have done our homework and know this can help. Hes on a weeks trial so will see how it goes. The dog is adoreable and so far so good. the boy is interacting well. Small steps on a long road......

Brilliant stuff thanks pal will give it a shot so.

Off to Munich on Friday with 15 mates for the weekend - cant wait. staying in a city centre hotel right beside the main central train station any suggestions on places to go (bars, clubs, places for grub etc)

I would have him back in a heartbeat.

City have won 28 of their last 31 games at home we have just beaten them in a cup semi and people are moaning madness

Granted i was watching on TV but to me it seemed that the Oldham lad took offence to the kop singing for Suarez. The more he protested the louder the chant got and therefore why he went mad. Intitally i thought he was over reacting to all the shit that has gone on the last couple of weeks and the over hyped crap thats been spouted by the london hacks. But if he was abused by fans then ban them for life.