Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Just learned that Dikembe Mutombo died earlier this week. He was only 58. I’m not a basketball guy and you may not be either, but if you’re my age, you probably played him in NBA Jam #aside

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Lidl were sold out of Football Special so I ordered a case online and… it’s grand. Like red lemonade mixed with cola, or a milder Irn-Bru. It’s no Dr Pepper or root beer, the kings of soft drinks, but I’ll take it #aside

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The crows and rooks outside are going nuts ’cause there’s a hawk with an entire pigeon in its talons trying to make a quick getaway #aside

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Janet Weiss has started a GoFundMe for Unwound drummer Sara Lund’s breast cancer treatment > https://gofund.me/eb7b2815 #aside

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Rescued a frog from the back garden a little while ago; little thing covered its eyes when I picked it up like “Ahhhhh!” #aside

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Limited-edition reissue of Double Nickels on Coke-bottle clear vinyl? I’ll be having that thanks very much #aside

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Had to knock off work early today (I wanted to pull all the teeth out of my mouth) but catching up on the Geoguessr World Cup is making me feel better #aside

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Aldi changed their cola bottles that used to be vegan with that lovely mushy texture and now they’re just bog-standard chewy gelatine ones, bleh #aside

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Just saw the trailer for the Smile sequel and boy, they really turned that one up to 11, didn’t they? #aside

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Just renewed my website’s SSL cert for another year. I made it easier on myself by remembering to keep a step-by-step guide, but what a convoluted process this is! #aside

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Randomly checked the site where I got my trail runners a few months ago; saw they’re having a sale and bought another pair. You never know, right? #aside

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I have been outside. Despite the dew point not matching the temperature, it is very humid #aside

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RIP to Sid, the master and ruler of the world #aside

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#NowPlaying Melt-Banana - 3+5 (the new album, their first in over a decade, and it’s a great one) #aside

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Right, that’s the Dutch Grand Prix done; now for six hours of wrestling live from Wembley #aside

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This same realisation may or may not have induced me to panic-buy a complete DVD set of DS9 #aside

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This came to mind upon seeing an ad on YouTube with a clip from Stranger Things and realising I’ve never seen even a minute of an episode, and most likely never will, I have almost zero frame of reference for it, and that’s the way things are now #aside

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Remember, in The Old Days, you’d click around channels on your TV and maybe happen upon a series you’d heard about but never caught when the hype was big and you watch for a few minutes to see if it’s for you, and maybe you’d do that a few times and discover things you ended up loving? Yeah, that kind of thing does NOT happen anymore #aside

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Managed to get ahead on a big work project that I thought would have me frazzled till the end of next week. I deserve this weekend! #aside

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Someone outside is burning smoky fuel and irritating my throat something fierce; besides that being illegal and all, it’s not even that cold yet? It’s still August? #aside

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I’ve been watching a lot of air crash investigation videos lately (it’s my thing) so you think I’d be inured to it but that plane falling out of the sky in Brazil today gives me chills #aside

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#NowPlaying a pristine, almost-original coloured vinyl pressing of the Meat Puppets’ Huevos #aside

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Catching up on Olympics stuff and hey, they played fIREHOSE’s “Brave Captain” after the men’s street skateboarding final! #aside

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Rugby sevens is my new favourite sport: it’s fast paced, high scoring and, best of all, a whole match is done within 20 minutes! #aside

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Finally nabbed a good deal for something I’ve had on my Discogs wantlist for a bit #aside

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So, this Olympic opening ceremony… everyone put in a lot of effort, except the TV director who should be sacked #aside

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Subbed to discovery+ for the Olympics and we need quite the convoluted set-up to watch it because they can’t be arsed providing an Xbox app in Ireland #aside

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One small thing #AEW could do for me is merge the International and Continental titles. They’re useless as is (especially the latter) so make them one championship and make it mean something #aside

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Tonight I learned that the band on stage in MST3K favourite Hobgoblins features half the lineup of Surviving You, Always-era Saccharine Trust #aside

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Forty years ago this week, both Double Nickels on the Dime and Zen Arcade were released into the world. An incredible achievement if it were only one of them, but two? Would that even happen now? #aside

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Good game, India; the best team in the #T20WorldCup deserves to win it. And kudos to South Africa for not choking #aside

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India did it for the kids and let England get over 100 runs before taking that last wicket. Roll on the #T20WorldCup final on Saturday #aside

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Never a good sign when your tap water looks like apple juice (it’s manganese, again) #aside

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Finally upgraded my smartphone to one with a bigger, OLED screen and it really makes a difference to these tired eyes #aside

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The Sound’s From the Lions Mouth is getting a vinyl reissue this autumn. What a fantastic album > YouTube #aside

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Just fixed a minor but annoying CSS display bug on my blog and I am inordinately pleased with myself #aside

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What looks like three rainouts in 24 hours in the #T20WorldCup is frankly embarrassing for the ICC. A predictable situation that could have been completely avoided but nah... #aside

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It’s 10 to midnight and there’s still a hint of light in the sky. That’s why summer is my favourite season #aside

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Bee had to turn off the South Africa vs Netherlands match (it was too cruel) so we’re watching England and Australia instead #T20WorldCup #aside

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Got my vote on an hour ago. That was the longest I’ve ever spent in a voting booth; the choices up here leave a lot to be desired #aside

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Up is down, down is up, cats and dogs are living together, and the USA just beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup #aside

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My red vinyl copy of NoMeansNo’s Wrong has finally arrived, only seven months after ordering. You might say I’d grown tired, tired, tired of waiting #aside

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Watching last night’s #AEWCollision and I’m distracted by the person sitting ringside opposite the hard cam who looks like the Wario of Green Shirt Guy #aside

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I’m wearing a blood pressure monitor for the next 24 hours and I’m not gonna get any sleep tonight, am I? #aside

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Some recent personal website housekeeping: I’ve re-styled some links, archived the old Wordle blog posts and added the time zone to the date-timestamps #aside

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Anywho, I just went to the Spindizzy site and ordered the (delayed) 20th anniversary reissue of …Burn, Piano Island, Burn because I cannot help myself #aside

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