There’s a bit of Irish in all of us they say, though there’s certainly more in some than in others. If you take the popularly glorified Irish spirit, then I agree wholeheartedly. No matter where you’re from, you can’t help but love the Irish fondness for a practical joke and to see the lighter side things, even when all else is stacked against you. It’s that sense of mischief that most of us have, or have had, that brings out the Irish in us all. Stay young I say. I think it was Billy Connelly that said that growing up’s a bore, but growing old is lots of fun.

I’ve been going to the gym 5 times a week for the last 3 weeks and have largely stayed away from the dreaded drink so I’m feeling fit as fiddle (apart from another small, annoying cold I seem to have contracted). The scales tell me I haven’t lost more than 1 or 2 pounds – about a kilo – but I feel like I’ve dropped quite a bit of fat and it’s turned into much heavier muscle. I do a mixture of cardio and muscle work at the gym and always try do 20 minutes of warm up to get the heart rate up to about 140 BPM. The muscles have adapted well and I’m starting to up the weights and drop the reps. My love handles are going away and tying my shoe laces doesn’t have the slight discomfort it started to bring.

The doctor was also impressed when I went for my routine checkup and to establish myself with a Dr. here in the US. I had a BP of 100/72 and resting rate of 60 – all very good indeed. Good liver, good kidneys, good boy. The place I’m going to has students participate in the process and they’re quite funny to watch – seniority between the 3^rd year and 2^nd year students (all girls by the way) caused some catty comments and oversights – like forgetting to take me to the lady that takes blood samples! I had to go back the next day for that as the 2^nd year student let me go. The overseeing Dr said – “You lost the patient!” Funny stuff.

The weather here is still gloomy with the odd sunny day starting to poke through which tantalizes for a moment and reminds me that it’s been a full year since I moved over here. It’s taken a full year to feel established and relaxed about things and I’m really enjoying myself now. I’ve picked up an XBOX 360 and High Def TV set top box so that I can watch the programs I like whenever I have the time, rather than being at the mercy of the TV’s schedule. The Commonwealth Games Opening ceremony is recorded and I’m getting through it – though I was a bit bamboozled by the ballet mixed with the motocross bikes, can’t remember them on the streets of Melbourne last time I looked.

Have a day of leave for St. Patrick’s day and a group of us are heading to one of the Irish establishments for the craic and the Guinness of course. I’ll be pacing myself on the black stout and relaxing after a pretty hard working month filled with sleeplessness. The construction going on in my apartment building is waking me every morning at 7 which wouldn’t be so bad if I wanted to be up at 7. Having another 1 or 2 of sawing, hacking, hammering and yelling has taken its toll. My marketing plan is coming along really well and I’m pretty excited about getting it completed shortly and then doing some of the work to implement it.

U2 back to Oz in November and Bono interviewed by Denton, my old boss and friend Frank visiting from Sydney, my old boss and mate Dave Sajfar visiting from Melbourne – what a month! Oh and I’m going to a singing lesson, finally, on Saturday. Wish me luck.