Anyway, my name is Jim Lucas. Welcome to my website. 

I've decided to have another go at revamping this so bear with me.  This site deals with me, my family  and my interest in sport, music, movies, and general socialising.

I'd like to think of this site as a way of making new and interesting friends. Hopefully I will be able to get a few more photos of myself and my friends but over the years I've tended to be the photographer rather than the photographed. So whenever I appear in a photograph, it's tended to have been taken by someone else using my camera and there has been a tendency for drink to have been involved. Thus the picture shown here.

Nov. 22 2000 - Miami Florida

My first and so far only trip to the USA was when I had the good fortune to be sent to Miami Florida for a week by my employers. It was an very interesting experience and we managed to get some time to have a look around. Click on the link to see my Page with some photographs from the trip. 

Well I'm from County Wexford originally, a town called Gorey, but I've lived in Dublin for most of my post-school days. I came here in 1977 to start working for one of Ireland's major retail banks. At that time, after initial training for a fortnight, we could have been sent anywhere in the country. So when I was asked if I was interested in a posting to the Computer Centre I jumped at the chance.

The job entailed working shift work and was initially for 6 months. As it transpired I ended up spending almost 12 years on shift before I got an opportunity to move to a more sociable 9 to 5 post. By then I had started to attend Trinity College by night so the 'day job' was more than welcome although I missed the shift 'bonus'.

That move was in 1989 when I went from Computer Operator to Operations Analyst. Since then I've gone on to be a Technical Developer, Lead Technical Developer and Technical Specialist.

Nowadays, I no longer work for the bank, directly at least. Our department has been set up as a new company, jointly owned by the bank and an well-known American IT company. In this 'brave new world' we tend not to have titles per se. So when I'm asked what I do I say "I'm in IT". If that doesn't satisfy the enquirer I'd say something like technical specialist, systems applications developer, or whatever. That usually gets the response, "Oh you're a programmer." Yes! is the easiest answer.

Essentially I look after systems software packages that deal with getting printed output out to the bank's units and customers. But I'm expected at times to be a guru in many other areas. One of the reasons I originally built this site was to learn HTML and Java. I've partially succeeded in that I know more now than I did then.

For more info about me and/or a few more photos, go here ABOUT ME or ABOUT MY FAMILY

I attended Trinity College, Dublin for four years from 1988 to 1992 where I obtained a BSc in Computer Science. I've a separate page which may be of interest to my class-mates from these years. The Thursday Club Page.

Over the years I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of good people many of whom I've been proud to call my friends. Even though some of them have drifted away over the years their impact on my life has been considerable. 

Friends tend to come in cycles. You have your school pals, then as you go out into the workplace or college you make new friends. 

In my case, I had some great friends in school. At National school, we were a small bunch but we were tight. Even though I was a 'townie' I attended a country school becuae my dad taught there. There were only 9 in my class, five guys and four girls. When I started secondary school, I once again ended up in a small class. But again I made a lot of new friends. I knew some of the guys in the class, the guys I played football and hurling with, and I got to know the rest pretty quickly. Certainly there some people that you didn't get on with as much as others and there were a few fights. I didn't fare too well in some of them but I did OK. Over the years, I've lost touch with everyone of them and only know where a handful of them are. A few I meet at Xmas and I think there's only one or two still living in the locality.      

When I moved to Dublin, I made new friends from among my colleagues and  also had another circle that I hung around made up of people I met hanging around the Sound Cellar or Murray's Record Store in Grafton Arcade. The latter is long gone while the Cellar is still there although I haven't been in there in years. With this group I went to gigs every week seeing everybody from the Clash, to Ian Dury, the Jam, the Ramones, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, you name them. If they played Dublin in the late 70s I probably saw them (unless I was working that night). 

There came a time it seemed everybody I knew was starting to getting married except for me. In a group of people where everybody was married, it was tough being single. I guess that might have had something to do with me moving back to Gorey in the 80s. That allowed me to re-acquaint myself with some 'old faces'. I enjoyed those years, I got to play hurling, winning a district final and getting to the county semi-finals. The in-jokes that I used to hear on my odd weekends home and went over my head then, now all made sense. There was a great camaraderie. On any given night you knew who would be in the pub. I was able to become more politically active as well, joining the local branch of Fine Gael.     

When I moved back to Dublin it was with a large degree of regret but I knew I had to if I wanted to take up my academic studies. Anyway I made a lot of new friends through the college connection. It was a great four years in Trinity. If you were there with me or want to get a feel for what a bunch of allegedly 'mature' students get up to, see The Thursday Club Page.

After college I decided to stay in Dublin. I then crossed paths with two other groups of people, one a bunch of guys from the area where I ended up buying my house. and the other a group of guys I met through attending gaming conventions. From both these groups I've made a more good friends and they are still the social circles that I occupy.

So where am I today? Well my ambitions a few years were 

• graduate from college
• buy a house
• progress my career
• be happy

Have I achieved all these? I don't know is the answer. Sure the first two are done and dusted. The career has certainly progressed. Do I still want to go further? I don't know that either. I like what I'm doing at the moment. I don't know if I want to go further and take on more pressure, more heartache. 

What I know is that, in the main, life is good. Good job, good money, my own gaffe, don't have any major worries. Apart from having to watch my diet more carefully these days, you know less processed crap, more fruit & veg, drink loads of water, etc., the health is in reasonable shape.

I could probably do with a bit more exercise, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to that. I had it a bit easy when I was younger, working shift work kept the weight down and even though it interfered with my training regime, I got enough through sports to keep up a reasonable fitness level. The college years changed that, sports went out the window, I took up a day job and by the time I finished I'd gained over two stone. Since then, 1992, its crept up by another stone. I'd be happy now just to get rid of that.  

Am I happy? I guess most of the time I am and you can't ask for more than that. Would I like to get married? I have never ruled out the possibility but I don't think it would be easy. I like my life the way it is now and the other person would have to be very special to make me want to change any of it, or else willing to let me continue as is. 

I am always open to is new friends. I'm a sociable kind of guy. I like going to the pub, good restaurants, movies, concerts, gigs, etc., heck I've even been to the ballet a few times. I like to party but I like the quieter things in life as well.

mailto:jflucas@eircom.net

Updated 23rd April 2001