Just got back from the Ring of Kerry, won't spoil the day for those of you looking forward to the recap when I get back. You're both welcome.

I will say that I was dismayed to see the Yankees pull even in the ALCS, but not surprised. Wishful thinking really to have the Sox win the first two in the Bronx. I actually didn't see the result of this game until getting to the computer. The CNN crawl which usually has such things was loaded for bear this morning with cricket, soccer, rugby, and even NHL scores. Odd that they'd have NHL scores but nothing about the playoffs. Then again, the CNN we're getting is much different from what we get at home. Not better, mind you, just different.

Worst part of the CNN here: there's some US-based jackass with perhaps the most annoying British accent. He was all over the California recall, so for the first few days we were here you couldn't avoid his grating voice. And given our lack of options (RTE 1 and 2, Channel 3, CNBC Europe, the German version of M2, and EuroSport), we heard more from him than I'd care to note.

I know EuroSport sounds like an option, but I'm not that into the world championships of fencing that much. The German M2 is OK until they start running anime dubbed in German. That's a problem.

Another oddity; when a movie runs into the news time, rather than push the news back they stop the movie. The last 30-45 minutes of Arlington Road followed RTE 2's half hour of news. In this case, I don't think the movie suffered.