Drombeg Circle

This was cool - Drombeg Circle, otherwise known as Irish Stonehenge.

Apparently there are a lot of these Bronze Age stone circles around Ireland, but this is one of the largest ones. It also has an area to the side of the circle that they think was used for cooking, etc. Kind of interesting to think that people lived out on this hill so many years ago, which is now just the middle of a farm.

Some quaint Irish town in the middle of nowhere

Continuing along the West Cork Coastal Highway, I stopped at another town, that I have no idea what it's called now (need to look that one up). Not much in the town besides a nice view of the sea, and a cool little cafe at the town square.

I know this sounds really weird, but I like this cafe a lot for lunch because it had the best soup spoon - like a real spoon - deep instead of wide and shallow. I know, a little bizarre.

Timoleague

Ran down the coast of Kinsale to Timoleague, which is about 20 minutes by car from Kinsale along the coast.

Nice little place on the coast, which means there is no way to get there but a winding road through the countryside. But there could be worse ways to spend your Saturday afternoon. Not much to see other than the Abbey, which was destroyed during the Reformation.

The Irish Throne

On the way back from the plant on Saturday, I took the short cut - it's about a 1km shorter, but you have to hoof it up this relatively long hill.

On the way I passed a replica (supposedly) of the Irish throne - not sure why they picked this place in the middle of the countryside for it - might have to research that a little more.

A walk to the plant

One of the benefits of working in Ireland is that I probably have the most picturesque drive to the plant - there are a couple of castle ruins, estuaries, etc. along the way.

Kind of distracting on the narrow winding roads, so I decided to walk to the plant on Saturday. Turns out to be a pretty short walk - 7 km one way.

Also keep in mind that this is kind of a dreary day for Ireland - it's still winter over here - don't you love the Gulf Stream?

Shipment Arrives

Shipment of household stuff arrived today - all unbroken, and I think all accounted for.

Again let me make this observation - I really have too much crap back home - I feel a purge coming along when I get back.

The big question is how much of this stuff is going to expand six months from now.

"Is the fish fresh?"

One person missing from the Model Office picture, Marla Lewis - oops, sorry.

But I have to throw this one in . . . if you were a server at a Kinsale (a fishing village) restaurant, and someone (like Marla) asked you, "Is the fish fresh?" - what would be your response? Here are my top three . . .

3. Yes, unfortunately, fish freezers are banned in all quaint Irish fishing communities
2. No, I caught it myself more than three hours ago.
1. I'm sorry I couldn't hear that question over the rushing water and foghorns coming from the harbor 10 feet away.

Model Office in Kinsale

OK, I broke a couple of rules by forgetting no cameras on site, but here's a pic of the Model Office gang - from left to right - Angie Moder, Steve Rainey, Claire Glaccum, and Jamie Dunn.

Model Office was good - no major issues and pretty smooth - just glad it's over and I can start working exploring Ireland.

Advanced Design in Spain

So OK, I'm in Spain.

Although Spain does not officially starts its part of the project until two years, they are really complicated - so we're here for a week to talk through some major design considerations. All is going well - much better than I expected. But I must say I'm thankful John, Steve, and Jim are here - would have been pretty tough without them.

Kazoo

In case you've never seen the commercial of the traveling father who takes pictures of a teddy bear for his child back home, this post will make no sense to you - so move on.

OK, still with me? Turns out John Greene received from his son a kazoo right before John left for Spain - so John has been taking pictures of the kazoo throughout his travels. Kind of reminded me of Flat Stanley.

Madrid Airport

OK, first impressions of Madrid - the airport is WAY better than London. I mean I could write pages making fun of Heathrow airport - OK, I throw in just one . . . imagine if Hogwarts was built in the 1950's (minus the medieval stonework and schtick) and there had been absolutely no major maintenance to it in 50 years - alakazamy you have Heathrow. But I'm into positives . . .

Madrid architecture is awesome - great airport design (this is the ceiling by the way). They still do that European thing of "we're going to wait until the very last second before we tell you which gate you need to go to", but that can be forgiven under these great ceilings.

Eating in Spain

Ah to be in a country that has a food culture again.

Not to be a food snob, but there is definitely a way to eating in Spain. Granted it usually involves the back leg of Wilbur, but there's still a life that revolves around food.

The goal this week was to see if I was capable of doing the normal Spain dinner hours - which essentially dictates a 10 o'clock start time - that's 10:00 PM. Keeping in mind, that my bedtime on a school night is 10:00 PM. They do have an opt-out clause - otherwise known as Tapas - which are bar snacks served anytime after 6PM at a local bar.

So if you just want a simple meal - have some Tapas; if you're doing the big night out - wait until 10:00PM. The final report was that I could handle it - although it did take several days to get used to it. The trick is realizing that you don't need to go out to eat every night - usually just the weekends - and plan on having a big lunch.

Madrid

So I'm in Spain for a week to do a small Advanced Design session. Officially the project I'm on will not start the Spain project for at least another two years, but it's so complicated - we thought we'd better get started early.

Whole bunch of people over here now - too many to mention. The most important thing of the week will be whether or not I can adapt to the eating dinner at 10:00PM thing.

First Stop Kinsale

So the travel plans are Indy to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Cork, drop off luggage, eat, sleep, then fly Cork to London, London to Madrid.

Sounds worse than it really is. And it's a lot better than having to carry two huge suitcases (remember they are really overweight) throughout Europe for 8 days.

The only problem was that every single flight I took was cancelled, late, or delayed. Considering my experience in India and with Jamie, I thank the traveling Gods that nothing was missed beyond repair.

Jamie stuck in Chicago

So I skipped a couple of posts - one about Jamie Dunn (future co-worker in Kinsale) visiting the US for two weeks was one of them. But we now pick up the story in Chicago, where he was suppose to fly back to London around 9:00 Friday morning. Turns out when I got to Chicago O'Hare later that day, he was still there. We both ended up on the same flight back, which finally left around 11:00PM - sorry 23:00.

Wow, he was bumming, but what can you really expect from THE MOST BARBARIC FORM OF TRAVEL NO TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD !!!

Breakfast Time on hold

I'll probably get in trouble for posting a bad picture of my mother, but she'll hopefully forget by the time I get back.

So with the upcoming move to Ireland, no more Sunday breakfasts for awhile at Mom and Dad's house :( Although I will miss arguing with father when he's listened to too much Rush Limbaugh during the week, I think Obie is going to miss Sunday breakfasts the most - no more treats from Grandma.

Trying to get underweight

There's absolutely no way that I'm going to be underweight at the airport.

Not only have the airports lowered the maximum weight that you can take onboard (I think it's 5.2 pounds now), but that one black roller (you know, the one that everyone has) is enormous. I barely make weight if I only put clothes, and this time around it has some serious weight - oh well.

And I know the picture doesn't look that bad, but to put it in perspective . . . that one black bag measures about 3 and a half feet in length.

Lots of Beer at Weber's

After much rescheduling, we finally had a date with the Weber's et al (Chris and Jill Hagan, Gaby (yep, she was in town), Silvia and Glenn Rowell, and the Weber clan) before heading off to Ireland. Always looking for challenges, Weber came up with a menu that each item had beer in it. I really need to get the whole menu, but it was quite amazing - even the chocolate cake had some beer in it. And nope, it wasn't what you would think - it all tasted surprisingly good.

Patrick's Place

As I panic to get ready for the move to Ireland, I am reminded of the 2' by 3' piece of real estate on top of Patrick's dresser that I do not mess with. (I know, 6 square feet is a lot in a 2000 sqft house).

For those of you who have never met me, I inherited the DNA sequencing for control freak from my mother, paternal grandmother, and Hillary Clinton - which has caused a bizarre multiplicative effect that prevents me from even allowing a piece of mail to stay on the dining room table after the sun sets (God help us if the sun has indeed already set that day - the stupid envelope should have known better).

So you can imagine the spiritual growth I have reached, when I don't mess with 'Patrick's Place'. No doubt there are bills buried in that heap that will never see the light of day, but I'm OK with that - as long as Patrick is happy - and said pile does not fall on the floor and infect the top of my dresser.

So what to take to Ireland

So what to take to Ireland?

Unlike the longer term 18 month assignment, Lilly is pretty smart and realizes that we don't need to take as much stuff for a 6 month thing - that whole sharing of key learning - I hate that. Anyway . . . for this little trip we get 2 "E" containers instead of 2 "LDN" containers. For those of us who are not freight forwarders that would mean two big suitcases instead of two 1 meter cubes - big difference, Lassie.

So short of some clothes (I will have to cover the winter, spring, and summer seasons), the only thing we really needed to take was SCUBA equipment and kitchen stuff. Granted the apartment is fully-furnished, but you know they're not going to have Staub or Mona.

Tell me I'm wrong. P.S. You really need to make sure your speakers are on, when you click on 'Mona' - I really couldn't have planned that any better.

A brunch for Violet

Ain't she cute?

Even as someone who shuns children for their negative effect on my disposable income, I can see that this girl is cute.

To bring you up to speed, my friend (originally previous owner of our current house - how weird is that?), Kathleen Schuetz (sorry, if I missed the spelling - but it just doesn't look right) adopted a baby girl from China.

If there is a more profound story of patience and sense of purpose, it has been lost to history. You can check out the last 10% of the ordeal here at Violet's Thread.

To celebrate we threw a little shindig for Violet and Mom Saturday - it wasn't a dinner thing, instead a brunch. But it was still a blast. Besides, brunches are so much easier than the full on dinner thing - it can all be baked.

And of course, it was good to see Mary, Jody, Steph, and Laura before we left (Hello???!!! Leslie, DeAnn - where's the love?) - you missed the Spinach Strata with a Mimosa chaser.

Laurence has a slight injury

Just wanted everyone to know that it's just not me who crashes and burns on the ski slopes.

While Laurence was on vacation (yes, I know, when are the french not on vacation) - she did a little tumble down the mountain. Details are still sketchy, but Patrick and I thought it was worth a delivery by the florist (thanks Mama Liane - you know if I called my local florist, they would have asked where France was).

As of this writing Laurence is back at work, where she is no doubt planning her next vacation.