Tales from Kilkenny and Boston

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Let there be Light

During my recent Kilkenny stay with my family, we had the big birthday party on the Saturday evening. I couldn’t really take too many photos but here are a few as the lighting (mostly candles) was being organisaed before the banquet.

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For the Troubled Times that are in it

A Rider at the Oval

Eduardo Montes Bradley

A stranger rode into the hall of power,
a weary traveler from a battered land.
He came not to beg, but to stand,
bearing the weight of his people’s sorrow.

Yet cruelty met him at the door,
words like stones, cold and sharp,
not from foes upon the battlefield,
but from hands once stretched in promise.

Oh, how the world watches in silence,
as dignity is trampled by arrogance.
But the rider will ride on,
for his people still stand.

And history will remember—
not the cruelty, not the insult,
but the unbroken spirit
of those who will not kneel.

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From the Internet

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The Irish Echo 2019

An entrepreneur must lead: Somers

News April 29, 2019

Sean J. Somers will be honored at the 2nd Annual Small Business-Big
Impact Awards in Boston on Friday.

By Peter McDermott

Empathy.

That what Boston’s Sean J. Somers believes is top of the list of
qualities that makes the entrepreneur.

That might seem strange from a businessman who stresses “winning” and
a management style that “motivates winners.”

And Somers, someone always on the technological cutting edge, espouses
what seems another counterintuitive view: dialing back on the digital
helps create the ideal pub.

But first, why empathy?

Well, that’s the way in to discovering what the customer thinks,
whatever his or her circumstances in life.

 “You must really listen to a problem they’re having – not give an
answer just to give an answer,” said Somers who is involved with
Somers Pubs of Boston, Keel Premium Vodka, U-Out Inc. and Canary Inc.

“[The entrepreneur] must put themselves in the other person’s shoes,”
he added. “They have to understand what the market is going for.”

Some people might suggest today that an entrepreneur is not a
team-orientated person.

“‘Entrepreneur’ is a trendy word these days,” said Somers, an honoree
at Friday’s 2nd Annual Small Business Big Impact Awards. “You hear
people say ‘I’m a one-man show, I’ve no employees, I’ve no office,’
blah, blah, blah.’”

Whereas in fact, he said, “an entrepreneur is someone who can lead –
who can lead from behind – someone who doesn’t need to be always in
the limelight.”

Words of wisdom from a Listowel man.

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A Fact

Gamophobia is the fear of getting married or being in a relationship.

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