Best supporting actor - Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Best supporting actress - Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006)
Best actor - Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006
Best actress - Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006)
Best director - Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006)
Best film - The Departed (2006)

There were no major surprises in the main categories at this year’s Oscars. I think they were all deserving winners especially Helen Mirren for her excellent performance in the ‘Queen’ and Martin Scorsese for his directing of ‘The Departed’.

Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
One says, "I think I've lost an electron."
The other says, "Are you sure?"
The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive."

Don’t use toilet duck and bleach at the same time when cleaning the bathroom (without leaving a window open) as you could give yourself ammonia poisoning.

Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.

William Goldman, "The Princess Bride"

I had my fourth ballroom dancing class on Monday night and we started the class with an energetic barn dance. Obviously this isn’t a ballroom dance but it was an essential way of warming up because the room was freezing. After the barn dance we proceeded to start learning the waltz. When we learn a new dance the women line up at one side of the room and the men line up at the other side of the room, then the teacher goes through the new steps for each group separately. After we have gone through the steps a few times the teacher puts on music and we practice it to music. This week he had a CD of someone counting out the steps for the waltz but the guy on the CD sounded like something straight out of a hammer horror film. As I looked around at everyone practicing the steps with their arms outward (even when we practice the steps individually we have to have our arms in the same position as if we were dancing with a partner) it struck me that we looked like a room full of zombies. Needless to say that sent me into a fit of giggles and earned me a stern glance from the teacher. I’m finding it very hard to take this class seriously. :-)

I heard about this recently on the Rick O’Shea show on 2FM. The organisers of these Cuddle Partes describe the events as a playful social event designed for adults to explore communication, boundaries and affection. Facilitated by a "Cuddle Lifeguard on Duty," who creates a comfortable, non-threatening environment, it's a great place to make new friends and to learn about yourself. Cuddle Party was conceived in Feburary 2004 by two relationship coaches. Since then they (Reid Mihalko and Marcia Baczynski) have sought to bring clean, safe, welcomed affection to the world through these events. Rick had an Australian girl on the programme that had been to one of these events in Dublin recently and she gave a positive report of her experience at the Cuddle Party. Her reasons for going to this type of party were that she had been in a long-term relationship before coming to Ireland and that she was away from family and friends. The organisers recommend that you wear comfortable clothing to the event and it is perfectly acceptable to turn up in a pair of pyjamas. Apparently people go to Cuddle Party events for all sorts of reasons. Some people are really touchy-huggy types and enjoy being in an environment where that's okay. While others come to make new friends, or to practice their communication skills or to even take a nap. It all sounds like a bit of a mad pyjama party but the response was so good in Dublin that they are planning to hold another Cuddle Party event on the 4th of March and it will only cost you thirty euro to take part in this event!

I had an early start yesterday morning leaving the house at half six and heading to the airport for an Aer Arann flight to Dublin. The weather was particularly awful with lots of rain and strong winds. As I sitting in the departures lounge waiting to board the plane I looked out the window and could see the pole with lights attached swaying in the wind. This was not the best sight to see when you are about to board a small plane. We eventually boarded the plane after about a half an hour’s delay but the air hostess assured us that our arrival in Dublin wouldn’t be too delayed because with the strong winds we would be ‘blown all the way to Dublin’. I can’t say that I felt all that reassured by her comment. The take off wasn’t too bad and most of the flight was ok. Unfortunately the last ten minutes of the flight before landing were awful, so awful in fact that the women sitting in the seat diagonally across from me got sick three times. You know what it is like when someone else gets sick and you’re not exactly feeling honky dory yourself and all you can think about is not getting sick yourself. I was fairly impressed with the Aer Arann hostess on the flight as she was very kind to the passenger that had gotten sick. Our landing was a bit hairy with the plane literally slamming to the ground. Needless to say I was delighted to get off the plane and onto solid ground again. The return flight later that afternoon started off shakily with the plane was shuddering for the first five to ten minutes of the flight but thankfully the landing was relatively smooth. The whole experience has led me to the rather obvious conclusion that bad weather and flying do not go well together.

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Vinegar can be used to clean tiles and give them that extra sparkle. The vinegar is applied to each tile individually and swiped clean.

I started an evening class in Ballroom and Latin American dancing class a couple of weeks ago. This is my second attempt at ballroom dancing I also took a ballroom dancing class last year. My interest in ballroom dancing started a few years ago when I got addicted to Strictly Ballroom on BBC1. All of the people that took part just looked so graceful and elegant even the ones that weren’t that good still managed to look great on the dance floor. There is something mesmerising about good dancers, watching them glide around a dance floor is a bit addictive. I really enjoyed the first dancing class that I did and the teacher was excellent. She was great at explaining the steps and getting everyone in the large class to give it a try. The class that I’m doing now is in a different location and with a smaller group. Unfortunately the teacher of this class isn’t as good as the previous teacher that I had. It’s not that he can’t dance, he technically can but he just doesn’t look at all graceful or elegant when he is dancing. He sort of reminds me of the character of the priest (played by Graham Norton I believe) dancing in a caravan in an episode of Father Ted. I’ve been trying hard to get that image out of my head ever since the first class a couple of weeks ago. The class is still fun and we are due to learn how to Jive in a few weeks so I’m not willing to give up on it yet!

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.

Harlan Ellison
US science fiction author & screenwriter (1934 - )

The truth is out... according to Today FM the reason that women are cranky and moody is because of their hair. Bad hair days have a very detrimental effect on women causing many of them to pick pointless fights with their partners as a means of venting the frustration about their bad hair. According to research, over a lifetime a women will only have four good hair days per week. I was surprised by this piece of interesting news from the Ian Dempsey breakfast show and to be fair I think that four good hair days a week isn’t a bad result!

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

Robert Frost
US poet (1874 - 1963)

I went to an Opera Gala recently and it was very enjoyable. The National Symphony Orchestra and two soloists Paolo Gavanelli (Italien) and Mairead Buicke (Irish) performed at the Gala and they were excellent. It is hard to believe that Mairead Buicke is only twenty-four, she is a confident and competent performer. Paolo Gavanelli was superb and gave a very spirited performance especially during the encore. As I was sitting towards the end of the Gala listening to these classically trained musicians and singers it struck me that they are probably earning less than the likes of a pop idol winner. I find that thought kind of depressing!