Prayers for Natasha and Stacy

There are some things in this world that just make you want to weep. Last Friday night one of those things happened. In Bucktown (a neighborhood in Chicago), two young ladies were struck in the head, repeatedly, with a baseball bat just for the cash and credit cards in their purses. You can read more about it here.

Natasha McShane and Stacy Jurich lie in a hospital trying to recover from head trauma. Stacy is coherent and was able to give enough evidence to the police for the police to make an arrest. Natasha is not doing so well and is currently in a drug induced coma.

Truth is that this kind of thing happens on a more regular basis than we think. This one registers on my radar because it's got the Chicago/Ireland link that I've been living for the last 9 months. It's sad that this kind of thing happens at all - to anyone. So I'd ask that you take a few moments and say a prayer for Natasha, Stacy, and all the other victims of senseless violence in this world.

Thank you.

The Blind Side

Beth and I borrowed The Blind Side from a friend (Thanks! Tiney) and watched it on Sunday. For those who are not up to speed on the movie scene (like us for example), this was the "true" (spiced with a dash of Hollywood) story of Michael Oher, Offensive Tackle for the Baltimore Ravens - drafted in 2009.

The movie was nominated a Best Picture Oscar and Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, the matriarch of a southern family that adopts Michael.

I won't go into too much detail, because I'm not here to give you the Cliff Notes on the movie. I just like to point out the profound things that I see in my life and write about them.

The profound thing that I saw in the movie was characters moving outside of their comfort zones to take a chance. People watching this movie might think that it was the Tuohy family that took the risk of letting an outsider into their car and their home. However, don't underestimate that chance that Michael took. He also took quite a few steps out of his comfort zone to get into the car with the Tuohy family in the first place. How did he know that they didn't have ulterior motives?

Imagine for a moment walking down a street by yourself. You're homeless and it's raining. All you want to do is to get back to a place that you know that is safe and dry. Imagine now that a car pulls over. Somebody gets out of the car and offers you a ride and a place to sleep for the night. Do you get in? Do you trust that this stranger doesn't have ulterior motives? Is this how children/teenagers end up missing?

At some point you have to look to your gut to help you make a decision in that hypothetical situation. Both Michael and the Tuohy family took a chance to step outside of their comfort zones and both were rewarded for taking that chance. The truth is, however, that something could have gone horribly wrong for either party.

I'm happy that it worked out for them all. I admire them for their bravery. It's not easy stepping outside of our comfort zone, but sometimes it's worthwhile to take the chance.

Oh, American Sports, How I've Missed You!

I've been home three days now and have had time to catch up on the two greatest sports in the world: Football (American) and Hockey.

I was lucky enough to catch the Blackhawks last two playoff games which were phenomenal. Saturday's game was particularly exhilarating with Kane tying the game shorthanded with 13 seconds left, then Hossa winning it in overtime - skating out of the penalty box straight to the net to score the game winner.

I also had time to catch up with my Chicago Bears and see what they've been doing in the offseason - who they brought in and who they let go. I'm happy to see Julius Peppers in the Navy and Orange. I'm not overly thrilled with the draft picks, but we traded a lot away to bring Cutler in. Still waiting to see Cutler to earn his paycheck.

Don't get me wrong. I have loved learning all the new sports that have been introduced or re-introduced to me while in Ireland: Soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, Rugby and Cricket. However, since I don't have any real reason to cheer for any teams in these sports, a lot of the experience has been lost on me.

I have been cheering for the Kerry Gaelic Football team (my company sponsors them) and Irish Soccer and Rugby, but it just isn't the same experience for me as sitting down in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon and watching a Bears - Packers game.

Perhaps, I'll regain some enthusiasm this summer during the World Cup. USA is in the same group as England and we have quite a few English people working on our project team that I can taunt and be taunted by. I'll definitely have to deck myself out in the Red, White and Blue for those matches.

In the meantime: Let's go 'Hawks! Stick it to the Canucks!

The Current Arrangement

It was absolutely wonderful to have Beth and RJ with me in Ireland. Oddly, that is the longest amount of consecutive time that I've been with my family since last summer. Today, my first full day back home, I'm having doubts about going back to Ireland.

Yes, I still have an apartment there. Also, I just told them that I would be willing to stay on for the Build phase of the project (we just completed the Design phase), which would keep the current arrangement going through September.

I'm not sure I can make it.

I'm continually amazed at how quickly RJ is learning things now. He's also gotten pretty attached to his Daddy . . . and his Daddy has gotten pretty attached to him. It's going to get harder and harder to return to Ireland without my family.

I'm accustomed to taking on too much. In fact, it is one of my (many) faults. I love to learn new things by taking on entirely too many of them. However, it's easy to say that I haven't found anything more enjoyable than this new experience of being a father. Over the next two weeks I'll be reevaluating my situation, discussing it with my wife and my VP to see what's really workable, because I don't think that the current arrangement (me in Ireland 100% of the time with Beth and RJ visiting about 50%) will work for me much longer.

European Union: Nutters, Anti-Semites and Homophobes?

First off, let me declare two things: 1) The family and I have arrived safely back home in the USA. 2) I don't quite understand how British politics works.

Last night the three party leaders in Great Britain were having a second debate on live TV. During the course of the debate Nick Clegg (leader of a 3rd political party know as the Liberal Democrats) accused one of his opponents (David Cameron, Conservative Party) of aligning himself with "nutters, anti-Semites, people who deny climate change exists and homophobes."

Right after Clegg uttered these words, Beth and I turned to each other (we were obviously watching the debate) mouths agape. It sounded to us that Nick Clegg had just accused the European Union of being nutters.

In actuality, it seems, he was only accusing certain parties within the European Parliament of being nutters. For instance, the late Polish President, Lech Kaczynski's, political party. Kaczynski had (in his term as Mayor of Warsaw) banned gay pride marches.

The interesting thing to Beth and I is that there was very little outrage about the comment that Clegg made. Had Clegg made that comment regarding an American politician, he likely would have been sued for slander (or libel - I forget which is written and which is spoken).

I'm still acclimating to European politics. Any other thoughts on how an American politician would respond to such an accusation?

The Flaming Ash Hole

Eyjafjallajokull? Go Eyjafjallajokull yourself. Yes, that is the name of the Icelandic volcano that has thrown European airspace asunder. Tomorrow, we get to take on the great Eyjafjallajokull by flying out of Ireland.

The flight that we're on goes back and forth between Chicago and Dublin every day. Ever since Eyjafjallajokull vomited its ash into the air, the flight had been grounded. Wednesday afternoon, serviced started up again and there have been two successful journeys to Chicago and one successful return trip.

God willing, we'll be able to fly home tomorrow. But just to be safe, we're looking to sacrifice a couple of virgins to the Volcano to appease it's hunger. Anybody know where we can find some?

Connemara, Part 5 - The Cliffs at the End of the Trip

As the sunset on Friday night, we started packing to head back to the apartment in Dublin. There was one last stop on our agenda, though: The Cliffs of Moher. This was the third and final miscalculation that I made in Irish driving time. I'm sure I'll make more miscalculations, but this would be the last one that I made on this vacation.

The Cliffs of Moher sit in County Clare and not technically in Connemara. But they tower over the ocean beneath and provide some spectacular scenery.

I give you the Cliffs of Moher:

Connemara, Part 4 - Connemara National Park, Achill Island

The last two days of our trip, we decided on hitting Connemara National Park and Achill Island. Though Achill Island isn't officially in Connemara, it was part of our trip. These were probably the two most beautiful places that we went.

Connemara National Park was a perfect place to take RJ as it had everything that a 15 month old could want: A playground, sheep (he got over his episode at Airfield Farm), Connemara ponies and a trek up the side of a mountain. Ok, perhaps the trek up the side of the mountain isn't something that a 15-month old would want - unless he's riding his Dad like a pony. :)

Here's a picture of RJ enjoying a Diet Coke (bottle):


Friday, we decided to take a short drive up to Achill Island in County Mayo. Yes, there is a county named after Mayonaise (not really). The short trip (which I expected to take 2 hours) took us 3 hours. Once again, my powers of drive-time estimation were foiled by narrow Irish roads. The good thing is that the payoff was great. We ended up at Keem Beach which was an absolutely fabulous place.


We almost didn't make it here, because we passed two other (not quite as) beautiful beaches that didn't involve us driving up over that last mountain - which involved a narrow road, no guard rails and very little margin for error between our minivan and the Atlantic Ocean.

Connemara, Part 3 - Kylemore Abbey

When you're out in Connemara, everybody says that you have to go out and see Kylemore Abbey. They're quite right, you do need to SEE Kylemore Abbey. It is absolutely beautiful architecture set against the backdrop of a mountain and a lake.

However, I don't know if I'd recommend actually paying the fee to go in. When we went, the cost was 10 Euro (Book of Kells was 9 Euro) per person to get in. That was the highest entrance fee I've paid to get into any historic site in Ireland.

Once you're in, you can take the walk down to the Gothic Church, tour the lower floor of the Abbey, and visit the gardens. Admittedly, we didn't visit the gardens and perhaps that would have made up the balance of the 10 Euro per person.

My recommendation is this: If you're on a tight budget, visit the Abbey, take some pictures and have lunch at the cafe there, but don't pay the entrance fee. There are a few places you can get good shots of the Abbey without going in. However, if you're not on a tight budget, drop the 10 Euro and go in. There are some beautiful views on the walk to the Gothic Church and my experience with gardens at other such places tells me that the gardens would have been wonderful as well.

Kylemore Abbey is an absolutely wonderful site to see.

Connemara, Part 2 - A bunch of driving and a haircut

We had planned on our second day in Connemara to head out to the Aran Islands. I've heard that it's absolutely beautiful there. To get there we'd need to take a ferry across. We ran into a couple of problems.

The first problem is that we did not have an internet connection or a phone book. Being so reliant on technology has its limits. We didn't know what time the ferry left. I figured if we left by 9:30AM, we'd get to the ferry port by 10:30AM and wouldn't have to wait too long. I was half right. If we'd gotten to the ferry port by 10:30AM we would have been right on time for the ferry. The second problem was that I didn't realize is that it would take us an hour and a half to get to the ferry port. This was my first lesson in Irish driving times that I would fail to learn two or three more times on our vacation (much to Beth's chagrin). We arrived at 11AM and the next ferry was at 1PM. We decided to skip the Aran Islands.

However, we did find a nice coral beach by Carraroe to spend the day. Since we had some beautiful weather, we stuck around Carraroe for lunch and then headed back to our own beach. Here's RJ at the beach at Carraroe.



The following day, we had planned to go into Clifden to get RJ a haircut. RJ did really well. Here's a picture of him at Dog's Bay beach sporting his new do.



In those first few days, we did a bunch of driving, too. Here's a couple of my favorite spots.

Dog's Bay Beach

Lough Inagh

Killary Fjord

Connemara, Part 1 - a Garden, a Cottage and a Beach

Beth, RJ and I had a fantastic time in Connemara (County Galway, Ireland). Now it's over and all three of us are wishing that we were back at our beach front cottage on the bay - not only for the wonderful view, but the for the amount of space we had at the cottage compared to the amount we have at our two room apartment back in Dublin.

I figured I'd do a recap of the vacation in a few parts. I don't know how many parts yet, but I'm guessing at least three, probably more. Beth and I got so many pictures and we had such good weather it might be easier to say where we didn't go in Connemara.

First, I'll start with our trip out to Connemara. We stopped at a place in Roscahill (just outside of Galway City) called Brigit's Garden. This was a great time for the whole family. After two hours in the car, RJ got to run around for a bit, we all had some lunch, and enjoyed the scenery. Beth liked it so much that she wants to back in the summer when everything is in bloom. Here's RJ entertaining himself with a stick that he found.


When we arrived at our cottage (pictured in the top right corner), we were amazed by the view and immediately ran across the road to the beach. This is RJ playing in the sand at the Coral Strand beach (north of Ballyconneely) right across the road from our cottage.


Here is picture of the sunset from the front yard of our cottage. We believe that those are Connemara Ponies (not horses) which are a special type of pony that have many legends about how they came to be. My favorite is the one about how the Spanish Armada ran aground in the area circa 1588 and let their Andalusians loose in the area. The result of the breeding between the Andalusians and the local ponies are said to be the ancestors of the Connemara Ponies.



End of Part 1

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

One of the benefits I have received from not being an avid reader for much of my life is that it's very easy for me to find great books that I haven't read. My reading list has a lot of award winners on it and books that have already received their kudos. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is one of those highly touted books.

In the mid 1980's this book won a Hugo Award (best science fiction or fantasy book of the year - published in English) and a Nebula Award (best science fiction or fantasy book of the year - US). You know what? It deserved them.

Card gives us a simple story about a child (Ender Wiggin) who is being groomed to be humanity's greatest general - and their last hope. Through a training regimen of war games, Ender learns everything he needs to know about being a battle commander, but nothing about being a child or a friend. Does he have control over his own actions, or is the school pulling his strings like a puppet? You'll just have to read it to find out.

The writing style is simple to follow, which makes it a great book for young adults as well. It's a great tale with a good twist at the end. I'll definitely be adding a few more of Card's books to my reading list.

2500 pages down 7500 pages to go. I'm 3-days behind schedule.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

I had a recent crisis of conscious when I realized that all those great books that I was supposed to read in high school - I didn't. A couple of you guys reading this blog (I'm talking to you, Jaime, Chuck and Wally) might remember Mrs. Herringer's junior year English class. All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the books that we were supposed to read.

I'll admit now (to the world) that I short-cutted the book by watching the movie, instead of reading the book. Years later, I've come to realize that I might have missed out on some great books, so I've decided to throw a few of them in as part of my 10,000 pages challenge.

All Quiet on the Western Front was a brilliant book. I don't think that I stand alone when I say that and its probably not news to anybody else. However, I would like to take a quote from the book because it very pertinent to me and my adventures overseas. Remarque wrote (from Paul Baumer's perspective):

". . . when you are on your own you start to look at nature, and to love it."

It's an obscure piece of wisdom that I've found to be completely true. In the weeks that I'm in Ireland by myself, I tend to spend my weekends in nature. It can get lonely over here, but when you see the majesty of nature you don't feel so alone. In fact, you quickly realize that you are not alone because God is with you - God who created the majesty.

Here's one of my favorite places thus far: Port Magee in County Kerry. Unfortunately it's over 4 hours drive away.



I've really come to love the rocky shorelines of the Emerald Isle. I'll miss them when I'm gone. 2150 pages and counting.

Free at Last!

It's vacation time! I'm not sure if we're going to have much internet or cell phone access out in Connemara. We head out tomorrow and will be there through Saturday next week. I'm missing a couple of project team parties (Wednesday was just the HCM stream) to commemorate the transition from Detail Design phase to Build phase. One of them is a trip to the Jameson Distillery. I suppose I'll have to stop there by myself some weekend.

If I don't have internet access, I'll see you in a week with a bunch of pictures to share.

One More Day Until Vacation . . .

. . . it must be time to get sick. All three of us are coming down with something. I think that RJ caught it first, then passed it to Beth and I. I'm hoping it goes away before we drive out to Connemara this weekend. I hate being sick on vacation!

Looks like we'll have good weather, too! (at least for the first weekend)

Sorry for the short post, but I don't want to barf on my keyboard.

The Gang's All Here

The HR reference group (executive team) is in town this week to approve all the work that we've done designing the software solution for our company. So I had dinner with them and a few drinks at the bar after dinner. We were joined by a few more team members from other workstreams.

Leaving the bar at midnight to get home, I'm still amazed at how many people I left at the bar with drinks in their hands.

Looks like our work has been signed off and we can progress to the build phase of our project. Sounds like a good reason for a drink to me.

Planning for Connemara

After months of hard work on the project, I'm finally getting a break. Next week (starting this Saturday), Beth, RJ and I will be spending a week in the Connemara area of County Galway. I did not take the picture on the right, but it's the kind of landscape that we expect to see while we're there.

We rented a cottage near Ballyconneely for the week which helps with the gluten free control. Instead of relying on our luck in finding gluten free restaurants, we have the ability to buy gluten free groceries before we go and cook for ourselves at the cottage.

The cottage is right across from a beach. Though, the weather here hasn't been beach weather. We're hoping that it's good enough to at least go out for walks on the beach in the morning before loading up the mini-van for more adventures in Connemara.

Here is the first official heads-up: the blog may be a little slow over that week, but I'm writing up a few pieces in advance for the times that I'm gone. I don't believe that we'll have internet access while we're in our remote cottage, so you may have to come to the blog site directly as I won't be able to re-post to facebook.

Happy Easter!

It's not easy to be away from family on holidays. I'm thankful that Beth and RJ were with me for Easter. Though, I did miss the usual get-together that my parents have every Easter. We made do and celebrated the holiday as best we could.

In the morning we headed out to the beach at Portrane. We didn't know it before we went there, but it became a seashell collecting expedition. We picked up a bunch of beautiful shells from the beach - though I have no idea what Beth will do with them. I suspect that they will adorn our home in McHenry in some fashion or another. The picture is Beth and RJ walking on the beach.

Later, we had a large Easter dinner that consisted of ham, potatoes, swede (rutabaga), carrots, asparagus, green beans, and biscuits. Beth did a good job with the meal and I am stuffed.

Happy Easter Everybody!

Daddy & Son Day

Today Mommy got a much needed break. RJ and I had a Daddy & Son day and Mommy got to stay at home and relax. I decided to take RJ to Airfield Farm and Antique Car Museum.

As you can see in the picture (or perhaps you can't) RJ got to see the Easter bunny hiding behind a chicken. He also got to see cows, sheep, pigs and ducks. Unfortunately, nothing interested him more than the buckle in his stroller.


His favorite animals were the chickens. He loved standing behind the fence and watching them run around. He was a little more timid around the larger animals but still liked petting the ponies.

He is not a big fan of sheep. I had him sitting on my knee next to one of the sheep pens and tried to get him to pet the sheep. The sheep bleated loudly right in his face; RJ began to cry. For the rest of the day we couldn't come within 10 feet of a sheep. Here's RJ's woolen nemesis:


We had a fun day and RJ slept all the way home. The End.

Dry Friday

Today is Good Friday. Traditionally, Ireland closes down it's pubs and prohibits the sale of liquor on this hallowed day. I witnessed it first-hand, noticing the liquor section of the local convenience store roped off today. No liquor is to be sold on Good Friday . . .

Unless you happen to be going to the big rugby match in Limerick. Muenster hosted Leinster today (the two Irish rugby powerhouses) and the city of Limerick was given an exemption from the prohibition since, I guess, it's impossible to enjoy rugby unless your drunk. I can also personally attest to this. The one rugby match that I attended was much more fun because I was sloshed.

The funny thing is the home team that the exception was made for (Muenster) lost the match. Could it be that the Good Lord took exception to the T-shirts that were being printed for the match that said things like: "Officially bigger than the Catholic Church - Muenster Rugby" or "Mass will now take place at Thomond Park."

I subscribe to the theory that it's not a good idea to throw sand in God's face.

On My Own

There's only one day to go before the Detail Design phase of our project is completed. That one day, however, is Good Friday. Most of our consultants are off on Good Friday and on Easter Monday. My company gets Easter Monday off work (at least the Irish do - I figured I'd commit myself to taking both Irish and American holidays while I'm living over here).

Most of the people, even from my company, are on the 3-4-5 schedule. That means that they stay in Dublin 3 nights and 4 days, then the 5th day is remote. So Fridays in the office are quite quiet because we don't technically have an office in Dublin. The halls get pretty quiet for those few of us who are resident in Dublin. Tomorrow it will be even moreso.

My two usual Friday companions from the HCM team will not be there: One is in Norway skiing, the other has been sick for the last few days. That leaves me as the only person on site for our team on the last day before a deadline. I don't like where this is headed . . .

Wish me luck.