In Cork this weekend? Check out the Street Performance World Championships. Last year was brilliant craic, even as a volunteer. This year is going to be even bigger taking over both Fitzgerald Park AND the Mardyke Sports Grounds. If you can’t make it we’ll be posting all sorts on the blog over the weekend so check it out at spwc.wordpress.com, Facebook and Twitter.

In Dublin for the weekend? Well why not give the Tweasurehunt a go. The last one was a great laugh and great exercise to boot.

Jason Santa Maria on his favourite typefaces.

Bringing psychology to the web design toolkit. Stephen Anderson‘s note cards are available to pre-order now.

Looking for a freelancer of any description? Check out endor.se

Seth Godin enthusiast? Join the masses for the “first ever unofficial official Seth Godin Linchpin worldwide Meetup” in Buskers, Temple Bar on Monday 14th at 7pm. Check in on FourSquare to receive a free drink on arrival.

And some light relief courtesy or Redmum…

The Southern Smash

So today the boy and I eventually decided to head into town and find some nice grub and have a bit of a wander for ourselves. While considering retreating to the Westbury for a cosy sneaky pint I had the geeky brainwave that the Marble Bar in the Westbury was offering a deal on cocktails via FourSquare.

So I checked in while around the corner, had the good fortune of securing mayorship and thus unlocking their offer – buy 1 cocktail and get 1 free when you check in as mayor.

After settling into the cosyness of said bar I was pretty much sold on the idea of having a yummy cocktail anyway but the prospect of getting two of them for a tenner made it a little cosier.

The Southern Smash is now my favourite cocktail, just delish – Southern Comfort, honey syrup, fresh lime juice and fresh mint with ice and ginger ale.

That was my first time making use of an offer on FourSquare. And it worked. It enticed me into the place, got me spending my dollars while introducing me to a tasty new treat and reminding me how comfy the Marble Bar is. It did feel a bit weird/awkward/geeky presenting my iPhone with this offer at the counter and despite the staff not really getting what it was they went with it and honoured the offer anyway.

Win win win.

We danced home to the sound of this guy last night:

And started the day humming this lovely tune:

Donal Skehan‘s stew = win.

Open evening this Thursday at the Dublin Institiute of Design. Pop in and you could win a wee course.

Been looking at web app development frameworks for Safari on iPhone lately. If you want something other than Dashcode, check out the iUI Framework and JQTouch. May blog properly about this later on in the week.

You’ll be able to submit nominations for the 2010 Irish Blog Awards soon. Blogging may be dead but long live the Blog Awards.

My buddy Jenn combines two of her loves, writing and good beer, to create a new beer blog fresh from Colorado.

Via Damien, “No, Your First Impression Isn’t Wrong: Android ISN’T As Nice As The iPhone“. Read here and no, this isn’t Andriod bashing nor iPhone ass-kissing.

Finally, congratulations on getting through the first week of the year – arguably the most difficult first week of any new year we’ve had in a long time

Dame St, 7pm

There’s a running joke down home in Clare about how Dubs can’t handle any sort of negative change in weather, be it rain, wind, sleet or snow. In almost 8 years of living in the capital I’ve often chimed in with it. The first sign of a rainy day and it seems that every car-owner in town has to drive to work.

I grew up on the Atlantic coast which usually gets far more of a raw deal weatherwise than the east side of Ireland so maybe I’m just a thick-skinned culchie. However, in fairness to my fellow Dubliners, today’s bitter weather would put the most hardened weatherbeaten bogman to the test.

That acknowledged, it shouldn’t have had the dramatic impact on life in the city that it did today. By 5pm this evening our capital city had effectively shut down. Dublin Bus instructed drivers to pull over and abandon services until further notice while some Luas services were curtailed and Dublin Airport’s only runway had to close due to heavy snowfall and ice. Dublin Bus then tried to run a seriously limited service where it could. A city saturated with taxis didn’t have a cab in sight on most streets. Just before 7pm Dublin Bus decided it was stopping all bus services around the capital leaving thousands of commuters, myself included, somewhat stranded in an icy cold city centre that felt like 4am on New Year’s night without the merriment.

Dublin City Council clearing ice from paths

Yes, the roads were bad but really so severe that they had to pull the entire bus network out of action? Am I being too harsh in expecting more from our capital city?

I’ve seen and heard stories of people stuck on the M50 and other routes for hours, others walking home even as far as from the city centre to Blanchardstown (insane!). In comparison to some I probably did pretty good. I had offers of couches and spare beds near town if my attempt to get home failed, for which I’m hugely grateful. My only options aside from that was to slide the 4km home or try getting a taxi. I was very lucky that the latter worked out and I was happily turning the key in my door by 8.30. But…

What about those who were still standing at bus stops unaware of what was going on?

What about those who couldn’t find let alone afford a taxi home?

The whole thing reminded me of a Saturday in August 2008 when Dublin was hit by heavy rain and flooding turned into a similar chaotic mess. I sat for nearly an hour in a taxi and had to resort to walking home with my paper-bagged goodies so bad was the traffic.

Yes, these are extreme weather for our country but they’re not so extreme by international standards. I can’t understand why I hear more debate and argument about why it happens rather than what we should do when it happens.

Fail to plan, plan to fail. Dublin, you’ve got some work to do.

Fresh snow greets me at home

Last updated at 17.25, via Dublin Bus website:

Dublin Bus are currently starting to resume limited service on main corridors where possible. In some areas buses may not be able to access suburban estates and are likely to stay only on main roads. We advise customers to travel as early as possible but to be aware that the bus services are severely disrupted not just due to the adverse road conditions but also due to traffic congestion and accidents during the last number of hours. Dart are providing an enhanced service and both Dart and Luas will honour Dublin Bus tickets.

Due to high volumes of traffic to dublinbus.ie we have been experiencing problems with the site for which we would like to apologise and are making every effort to rectify

Last Updated 12:45

Curtailments currently in place;

3 – terminating at Viscount Pub, Swords Road

7 – from City Centre to Cherrywood only

11/a/b – not serving Wadelai, terminating at DCU

13 – not serving Sillogue and Ikea

13a – not serving Shangan, Coultry and Ikea

19 – not serving Tolka Estate

20b – not serving terminus at Maryfield

27b – not serving Castletimon

37 – not serving Blackhorse Avenue

38/a – not serving Ballycoolin Industrial Estate using Ballycoolin Road

40d – not serving Ballycoolin Industrial Estate using Ballycoolin Road

and not serving Blanchardstown Corporate Business Park, terminating at shops on main road at Tyrellstown Estate.

42b – up the Malahide Road turning right onto Tonglegee Road then right onto Springdale Road and back to normal route.

44b – to Blue Church in Kilternan only

50- not serving Killinarden Heights

51 – starting from Molloys in Clondalkin Village

51b/c – not serving Dutch Village/Woodford using Monastery Road

54a- via Wainsfort Road not serving Fortfield Road. Going up Blessington Road, not serving Kiltipper and terminating at The Square Tallaght

56/a – not serving Ballymount and Kingswood

65 – to Blessington Roundabout not serving or Ballymore Eustace

65b- not serving Killinarden Heights

66a – not serving Captains Hill

69 – not serving St. Johns Wood Estate

79/a – not serving Spiddal Park and Parkwest, terminating at Cherry Orchard Hospital

102 – not serving Forest Road

120 – using Fassaugh Avenue to 121 terminus

122 – using Quarry Road and terminating at Halfway House pub, Navan Road

123 – via Philipsburgh Avenue

140 – not serving Ikea, turning at Jamestown Roundabout

145- not serving Kilarney Lane, Herbert Road and Kilbride Lane. (Operating Up & Down Kilarney Road)

150 – not serving Millgate Drive

151 – not serving Adamstown, at Griffeen turning right and going to Superquinn Lucan

185 – from Bray to Enniskerry not serving Shop River

220 – not serving Ballycoolin Industrial Estate using Ballycoolin Road

238 – using Ballycoolin Road

Looking forward to their 15th anniversary gig at the National Concert Hall in June 2010 already. By the way, they’re looking for sopranos and basses to join them – all the info is here.

If you fancy catching some carols over the next while here’s some of what’s on around Dublin:

National Concert Hall

• Wed 16, Thurs 17 & Fri 18 at 8pm – Hanel’s Messiah (returns only)
• Sun 20 Dec at 3.15 PM & 8pm – Christmas Carol Singalong
• Mon 21 Dec at 3.15 PM & 8pm – Carols by Candlelight
• Tue 22 Dec at 3.15 PM & 8pm – The Glory Of Christmas

Tickets for all these events can be booked at www.nch.ie.

Christchurch Cathedral

• Wed 16 at 7.15pm – Christchurch Christmast Concert (tickets in advance via Tickets.ie)
• Sun 20 at 3.30pm – Carol Service (no tickets required)

Pro Cathedral

• Sun 20 at 3.30pm – Carol Service with The Palestrina Choir & St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Girls’ Choir (in aid of Temple St. Hospital)

Dublin Gospel Choir

• 19 Dec at 11.30am – 12pm at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre
• 19 Dec at 1 – 2pm at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre

Immanuel Church

• Sun 20, 6.45pm to 8.30pm – Christmas Carol Service

If you know of any more choral goings on over the next week or so, pop em in a comment below – would love to add them in.

Happy singing!

Update: we’ve been immortalised (heheh) on Dave’s Dublin 98 blog along with some seriously awesome stuff! http://www.dublins98.ie/onair/shows/morning-crew/scary-halloween-costumes/