News Archive

I've got webmail working (http://mail.irishguys.org/) now. Email me at matt@irishguys.org if you want an irishguys.org email address. For around $5 you can also buy your own domain name, and I can host the email and website for you for free. Let me know if you're interested in either service.

I've added some new pictures of the house, and I also reformatted it to the slideshow/thumbnail format on the Wedding Pics Pages. The pictures are available as a slideshow or as a set of thumbnails.

I've added our pictures from Aruba to the Wedding Picures page here. The first two pictures are panorama photos that have been resized to fit on the screen. To view the full-sized images, click on the links below.

Panorama from the top of the Casibari Rock formation of the countryside of Aruba.

Panorama of the sunset along the beach.

I've gotten some of the pictures up as a slideshow. You can view links to them on the wedding pictures page - here. I'll be adding more as I get the time.

Megan and I would like to thank everyone for helping to make yesterday special for us. We've started to get some of our pictures together, and we've gotten some of them up on our wedding pictures page. We're leaving for Aruba in the morning, but if you have some pictures you'd like to see online, email them to us at mattandmegan@irishguys.org and we'll get them up as soon as we get back. Thanks again, we couldn't have had a better day.

I've added a countdown to the wedding here.

We've gotten the hardwood floors done in our third bedroom, and I've gotten my desk built and all set up in there. It's starting to look like the "old-world study" look we're going for. My camera is out of power (no batteries...) so I was only able to get this one picture before the batteries died. I'll have more in the coming days, I'll put them up on the pictures page when I've got them up.

We've gotten some more stuff done in the house, and we have a new futon, thanks to the good folks at IKEA. We also did some work in the dining room, and put some blinds up in the third bedroom. We're gonna hopefully get hardwood floors in there this weekend, and then we'll have one more room done. Check out the pictures here.

Yesterday was my neice and goddaughter Rena's first birthday. I've got some pictures of her with her grandfathers, as well as some of her enjoying her first taste of birthday cake. You can find them here. This one is my favorite.

We've gotten quite a bit done in the past week, despite me falling off a ladder and getting eight stitches in my toe. The pictures are up on the same page as before, added to their respective rooms.

We've made some progress on the house in the past couple of weeks. I put up some new pictures of the work that's finished, or in progress here.

I also updated the server this past week as well. It's now running on an Athlon XP 2000+ (1.64GHz) with 624MB of RAM. Operating System (Windows Server 2003) and Web server (Apache 2.0.48) version are still the same.

We're almost there. The closing for the townhome in Lombard is in 9 days, and we're starting to get everything together. We started building and staining some furniture for the kitchen and for the study. Fortunately, we'll have time before we "need" to move in to get some of the more intrusive stuff done like painting and redoing some floors without worrying about where to put all of our furniture. We've got big plans, let's just hope we can pull them off.

Everyone should know by now that the last place (duplex in La Grange) fell through because it was in such bad shape. Well, after another couple weeks of searching, we found a new place. The inspection is done, and we're in the final steps of attorney approval, and it's looking like we've got it. I've moved the pictures from the old place to a different folder, and put the new ones here.

Well, just a few days after the contract was signed, the inspection was done, and it wasn't pretty. There were just too many problems, so we're leaving the place behind, and looking for something better. Hopefully we can find a place we like as much without all of the problems.

It's official! We now have a contract on the house I mentioned the other day. We close April 14th, so until then it's not actually our's. But we're definitely putting together plans for what we want to do with it. If you missed the pictures you can see them here or here.

Megan and I put an offer down on a house last night. We don't have anything yet, but I've got some pictures of it if you'd like to see them. You can view them here or here.

I'm going to be making some server updates in the coming days. It's currently running Windows 2003 Server, with Apache on an older machine (Celeron 667MHz). I'm going to move it over to a new server with Gentoo Linux running Apache on a faster machine (Athlon XP 1800+). So if you notice the site may be unavailable for a bit in the next few days while I move everything over.

I'm out testing the range on the wireless router. I'm in the empty lot watching the Bears game with a bonfire going, and the signal's still pretty good. This is good stuff. :-D

I just got a 8x DVD burner yesterday. It is really great, now I rent can make "Back-ups" of all Blockbusters and my friends movies :)

Just got a new wireless router for home. I love this wireless stuff. It's so nice sitting downstairs watching a baseball ame and being able to surf at the same time. I haven't really checked out the range on this yet, but it's much better than I had expected already. :D

Email is back up. If anyone was using their irishguys.org email address through Outlook/Outlook Express or a similar program, let me know and I'll post the instructions for you.

I'm still looking for a webmail product that's free. If anyone knows of one, let me know).

Found this cartoon online, thought it'd be worth posting. Hope you like it.

Well, the server got an upgrade tonight. I took the processor from my brother's old, otherwise dead, computer and popped it into the server for a 167MHz upgrade. It's probably not enough to notice a difference, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.

Also, I'm trying to get together some hardware to get a Linux server working. If you have any old parts or computers you're willing to give away, please let me know as I'd be more than happy to take them off your hands for you.

A big group of people went to the Old 97's/They Might Be Giants/Counting Crows concert at the Taste of Chicago in Grant Park this past Sunday (July 4th). It was a good concert, and the only complaint I have is this sunburn I have. I was luckier than Deirdre and Megan, who are both far more red than I, but I am a bit sore. If you see a giant lobster walking toward you, don't be afraid - it's probably just one of the three of us that got burned.

I haven't posted in a while, and I couldn't think of anything else to post, so I'll tell you a bit about my graduation. It was last Sunday (June 6) in Tinley Park at some hotel and convention center. Nothing much, but it was nice.

Don't know if anyone ever checked them anyway, but the stats pages had gone out of date as I never set them up to run once I moved to the new server. But that is all fixed, and stats will be generated now ever Sunday morning at 3:30. Feel free to check them out.

Well, I am now officially full-time at my job. After four months of being part-time, and waiting patiently, it paid off - literally. Just thought I'd keep everyone up to date.

Also, we have found the place for our wedding reception. It's going to be Saturday September 17, 2005 at the Renaissance Northbrook.

Congratulations to my sister Colleen and her husband Mike on their new baby boy. He was born this morning at 5:15, but as far as I know they have not yet named him. Congratulations!

I made a subtle allusion to it, but I have come through and you can now access your Irishguys.org email through our new WebMail system. You can access it through that link, or at http://webmail.irishguys.org/. The look will be changing slightly over the next couple of weeks as I have a chance to update things, but it will remain at that address and the functionality will remain the same as well. Please let me know if you have any problems with it. Enjoy!

Congrats Matt on your engagement. I wish you two the best of luck. Just make to sure to tell me what time the open bar will start at. :)

Yeah, if anyone out there (Chuck, Lynn?) knows how to map a network drive to an FTP server, let us know. I've seen some articles about how to do it, but nothing seems to work...

Well we have much luck lately with our server. We just got FTP set-up on it and so far so good. But we are trying to figure out how to map a FTP location to a drive, and hopefully without having to use a specific program. Well I guess we will see how it goes.

Well, one of the things I promised earlier has actually, finally, hopefully come true. We now have irishguys.org email addresses for anyone that wants one. Simply email me, with a username and password and I'll set it up, and let you know how to connect to it. This (for now) will only work with an email client like Outlook or Outlook Express on Windows, but we may have a web interface soon.

I've had this file for a while, figured now is as good of a time as any to post it. It's a television preacher with an interesting approach to his ministry. If just clicking on it doesn't work, right-click and Save File As...

Farting Preacher...

I know that may sound like a lot of technobabble, but it's really quite simple. The reason we are able to see in 3 dimensions is because our eyes are slightly off center (one to the left, one to the right). When these two images are "fused" together in our brain, the differences in distance from the center is what gives us the sense of depth.

I have (through online research) found a way to slightly mimic this with a regular camera. I have created a page with my first attempt(s) at this new form of art. I will probably be adding them more and more in a few days.

We're going to be slowly transitioning to a new server soon. I have it all set up, except that NewsPro (how we submit news) does not work properly on it yet. When I get a chance to work on it a little more in depth I should be able to get it working.

Another list of things that this new server could bring along with it is below. If I get even half of them working, I would consider it a big success.

• FTP access for everyone to have their own subdomain if they want it
• Irishguys.org email addresses
• Many more little things that none of you really care about that go on in the background...

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope this year is better than the last. Here's something really cool from Times Square in New York.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a great holiday.

...for the camera. He would smile as soon as a camera was pointed at him. Have a loog at some of the pictures from last night.

Anyone up for drinks after the Database final tomorrow? Since we're done with Windows Systems, I figured it'd be a perfect time to celebrate me and Chuck being done for good. We can do Applebee's like usual, or try somewhere new maybe not so close to school if anyone has any suggestions.

My apologies, I will make sure to check with you before I post any questions/problems just to be sure you don't have any good news! But congratulations on becoming a grown up. Its your last weekend as a kid...make it a good one!

CONGRATS!

I come here to give out some good news, and I've got a problem to deal with. It's always something with you, isn't it Sarah? :-)

Anyway, I went today to sign some papers and have a drug test so that I am now officially employed. I start Monday, and it's only part-time for now, but at least it's something. I work from Noon-5PM Monday through Friday, and besides being part-time the pay isn't too bad. So I can't complain especially since I haven't even graduated yet and I've already got a job. Just don't be expecting better Christmas presents or anything...

ok, simply right-click anywhere on any of the slides and choose Background. There is a drop down box (might look blank or have some color in it), expand it and select "Fill Effects...". Under that, select the "Picture" tab and choose the select picture button, choose your picture, hit OK and you're done. When you get back to the Background box, if you click "Apply to All" it will put that image as the background for all of the slides in the presentation.

Attention Computer Savvy Ones...
I have an image which I altered in Photoshop and saved as a jpeg. I want it to be the background for slides in Power Point, meaning I want the text to be over it. Anyone know how to?

Well I heard about the interview, and they are looking at offering me the job. I have to go through a background check, which could take up to a week. I should know by next Tuesday hopefully. I just have to hope that they don't find out about my drug-running past. :-)

I had an interview yesterday. Not sure how it went, but I should hear in the next couple of days. Hopefully I wil know for sure by Thursday or Friday. It's only a part-time position, but it would be a good start, and at the very least it would be a good thing to get my first interview out of the way.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope everyone enjoys the day off (or holiday pay for those who have to work) and time with your family.

*Sighs* I didn't read the news soon enough! We should have gone..we skipped half of the first class anyway! Hah

Anyone up for Applebee's tonight? We can celebrate, ummm, umm, only having 3 weeks of class left? :-)

Hmmm...Matt.

Sorry about that everyone...the censors caught it thankfully.

Warning: NEVER EVER EVER let Matt talk you into "The Cell Phone Game"
He tricks you into thinking it will be fun and you will win drinks, actually you just get real f****d up and fall down the stairs (Pat). Actually to clarify, he didn't fall down the stairs...he fell right before the stairs. Recovered slowly and then fell again in the bathroom. We are all fan of drinking games because everyone comes out a winner, but with this one there is no mercy. So to answer your question Matt, its because you can't have one or two drinks because the cell phone game warrants at least twelve.

How did I end up drunk after only wanting to go out for a drink or two? And who sent me a text message sayin they were looking for me at Cork and Kerry? And where did they send the message from? And what happened to Chuck? :-)

Missed class, had a big ebay deal going down. Had Blink 182 tickets, dont know why i had them, but sold them. Lynn, I'll tell you my issues with matrix in class today

Sure, one day I actually COME to class, and who's missing? CHUCK! Matrix was awesome :)

The news is now archived. You can access it from the link at the bottom of this page, below the current news, or from the etc. page.

Matt, Went to IMAX monday (saw Matrix), Worth the drive. It turned a C+ movie into a B. Screen=Ginormous, Movie=Too many stupid things. I would complain for about an hour, but many people didnt see the movie yet.

I got a new digital camera today. It can do things like this and like this. It can also shoot movies (low quality) and lots more features I have yet to figure out. And best of all, it's got a 3x optical zoom. Oh, and did I mention it's almost twice the resolution of my last camera? :-D

When you see this movie, you owe it to yourself to see it in an IMAX theater. Even if it's a 15-20 minute longer drive, it is so worth it. The size of the screen is (for lack of a better word) ginormous. I don't want to say too much to over-hype it, but it just makes everything better.
That's all I have to say about that...

ok, it's official. My sister and I are going to see Matrix: Revolutions at the 7:30 IMAX show in Woodridge. We will probably leave the Beverly area sometime around 6:00 to get there in time to have seats (we already have tickets). Anyone else is more than welcome to come with, but you must get your own tickets. They are $10.00, and available from here. Please let me know by either emailing me or calling me to let me know if you want to come with, the more the merrier! Hope to see some people at 6:00.

I think I might go see the new Matrix movie tonight. It looks better than Reloaded, but I haven't heard such good reviews. I guess I'll have to just hope for the best. [EDIT] I'm not going tonight, but I think we're going tomorrow to the IMAX to see it.

Well, it was nice while it lasted! ;)

General Note: Play Matt's Cell Phone Game. It makes people happy because everyone wins.

I have given access to a few new people to post. We might actually start seeing more frequent updates here soon. Look for the new posters as soon as they get around to posting.

I have created a statistics page for www.irishguys.org. You can get to it by clicking the link at the very bottom of this page that says "Stats by The Webalizer". These stats are updated every Sunday morning, so feel free to check them as often as you wish.

This goes out to anyone who can be in Matteson by 5:30 tomorrow (Wednesday, 29) to meet me and some friends from school for drinks and snacks. We will be at the Applebee's on Lincoln Highway just west of Cicero. The easiest way to get there is to take I-57 south to Lincoln Highway East. Applebee's is on the right a couple blocks after you get off the expressway. Hope to see some people there!

Okay, our sweetheart is way cuter, but doesn't this look like Deirdre? Maybe this is really her new job...Hmmmmm.

http://www.southwest.com/images/swa_people/031006_swa_people.jpg

Matt you forgot your birthday, what good is YOUR website if you don't make a fuss of you. Oh yeah, and don't forget Ralph's! :)

This is a birthday greeting to all the early October birthdays. Sarah turned 23 on the 1st, and Megan will be 24 on the 9th. Happy Birthday!

I don't really have anything to say, but I figured I'd update the front page to let you all know I'm still alive. School's almost at the midterm, so I'm almost halfway done with my last term of school. So I've got that goin' for me, which is nice. Other than that, I'm still scapin' the land and chillin' like a villain.

I was able to get around taking an extra class, so I now only have 10 credist left. None of these classes should be too difficult, so it should be a nice simple final semester. :-)

It looks like I may have to take another class so that I am a full-time student, for insurance purposes. While not lot of fun, I suppose this will be worth it in the end.

School's out for summer. I just finished my last final tonight, and I am done with school now for two weeks. Then I go back for the last 10 credit hours before I finish my Bachelor's Degree.

I got a new car today. My old one was brought in to get fixed, and was going to cost me nearly twice the value of the car. So I got a new one. It's a used Mercury Sable with 15,000 miles on it. I might take pictures of it soon, but if you really want to see what it looks like either come on down and look at the Sable parked in front of my house or look for pictures at Mercury's website.

I believe today was one of the more perfect Memorial Day's I have had. I ran the Ridge Run this morning, though not as well as I had hoped. Then we played some bean bags, took a break to eat and some napped, then we got Margaritas and played some more bean bags while we drank margaritas, and roasted marshmallows when it got daark and cold around a campfire. It was quite a nice night. This looks like it may be quite an enjoyable summer. :-)

My brother and his wife had their first child (my first nephew) yesterday morning (May 4, 4:11 AM). I am currently scanning in some pictures and will have quite a few more up once I get them from my brother's digital camera. You can see them by going here to see them on the IrishGuys website (since he's the latest IrishGuy).

It's that time of year again, St. Patrick's Day (week). Tonight I'm going to a concert at Navy pier, and the parade is Sunday. I love wearing green.

Just bought Unreal Tournament 2003 today. The game is awesome. About the only word I can use for it. Only thing that comes close is AweXome Cross 98.

Just for fun, I have added a speed test the site. For most people (unless you're on dial-up) the speed you get will be a lot smaller than your total connection speed. This is because the connection speed this server has to send out is lower than what it has coming in, so all you will see is the server's outbound speed (around 300kbps). You can do the speed test by going to the etc. page and clicking on the speed test button under "Other Random Stuff".

Hello, the other day, IrishGuys.org recieved a brand new connection to the internet. This one should be quicker for everyone. Hope you enjoy it.

Happy New Year! Hope this next year is better than this one.

Happy New Year! Hope this next year is better than this one.

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Irishguys! Hope Santa brings you the good stuff.

We have now added CurveBall to our ect. page for your enjoyment. All thanks to the good people at PD Media. See if you can get to level 10!

I have changed the Pictures page to an etc. page. This has various links and games that we like to play. If you have suggestions for other games/links to put there, feel free to e-mail either me or Duffy.

I've become very addicted to this game lately. It's a lot of fun, and very addictive. My current best is 2629. Can you beat me? ;-)

The upgrade is now complete, after much work to get everything just right. Hopefully this will increase the responsiveness of the page, but we still need more content to put here. Let me know if you have ideas.

Finally, I have gotten the server upgraded. It is currently running only at 1.15GHz, when it should be at 1.533GHz. I need better memory to get it running at full speed, and I can get it tomorrow. Hopefully I can find something relatively cheap.

The upgrade isn't going as quickly as I had hoped. I was supposed to have all the parts on Thursday, but one got delayed till Friday, and now it looks like it might not get here until this Wednesday. :(

I have decided to upgrade my computer (this server), the stuff should be here later this week. It will be going from a 450MHz Pentium 3 to a 1,533MHz Athlon XP. This should help with the server, and make things easier for me to get stuff done quicker.

I would like to get the pictures section up soon, so if you have some pictures that you would like to have hosted somewhere that friends can view them, let me know and I will do my best to accommodate you. Let's see if we can make this site useful for something.

I know it's been a while between updates here, but I want to do my best to keep things sorta up to date. I will hopefully be getting to the new server in the next few weeks, and then there will be a lot going on here, but we'll have to see if I can get the server working in the first place.

If you have suggestions, or are an Irish Guy and wish to post here, feel free to email me and tell me anything you want.

Now you can find out! Simply look below here, and you will be able to see what I am listening to. If you see a lot of Enrique Iglesias, that's a bug with the software, trust me I don't listen to that... ;-)

I've finally gotten the server back up. And the design is also the same on all of the pages now. Next we will get actual content on the pages, and then maybe even figure out something to do with the site. If you have anything you'd like to see here, get in touch with me or Duffy.

I'm having more trouble getting the server online than we expected. Hopefully we'll have it done before too much longer, bear with us.

There are still some small things I want to get changed before I "send the design out" to the rest of the pages. I don't want to have to change one line of code on 5 pages when I can just get it done now and only do it once.

Hopefully I will have the part tomorrow, so we can get the server built, and get that up and running tomorrow evening as well.

I decided to put newspro up on my computer so we could get everything operational right away. Hopefully this won't mess anything up too bad.