2011 Daily Picture project.

So, as I mentioned below, this year I shall endeavour to take a photograph every day. It may not be very good, but we'll see how it goes. I suppose it'll probably reflect where I am or what I'm doing of a day/evening, and I'll try to make it not so boring. Though it probably will be.

On the off-chance you're interested in the photos, you can see them on pix.ie here. One is an evening view (fairly dark) of Templemore, Tipperary

And for today, 2nd, I was in Kilkenny for a few minutes and took a snap of the Brewery Gate.

2010 Photography!

Wow, I've just been browsing through the pix.ie Picture of the Year for 2010, and I am amazed. The quality of all of these images is breathtaking! I hope to be inspired to take more and better photos this year, and aspire to approach that kind of quality during 2011.

For a side project, I've decided that in 2011 I will make a daily picture - one picture from every day of the year. I've already started, so as not to be incomplete, and will post details later! It's likely to be somewhere here...

So, I wish you all a Happy New Year. I'm looking forward to a happy, eventful year myself and am sure that it all works out. With any luck the weather will be kind to us - not too cold and not too wet (not much to ask!), and things will get better on the national scene aswell.

To 2011 let's raise a glass,

Hope all our wishes come to pass.

(Not too soppy, I hope!)

Budget 2011

Well, yesterday was budget day here. Nobody likes budget days, and I think it's fair to say that this one was a toughie. Tax bands were dropped, social welfare payments cut, minimum wage cut, and a whole raft of other chops and changes were made to help shore up the state's coffers. I'm not an economist so I'm not gonna go into the whys and whats of it all, but I thought it might be useful to share with you a link to a calculator that might help you to understand how the changes will affect you. I had a look around and I found a few, but the one below was the most comprehensive. It deals with both private and public sector employees, while many of the other calculators only deal with private salaries.

http://www.taxcalc.eu