My New Toy

After a couple months considering whether or not I wanted to buy an iPad, I decided to get a Samsung Galaxy Tablet.  I've been mulling over the decision for the last 2 months and then in the last two weeks the momentum just became too great to resist.  I finally broke down yesterday and bought the Galaxy.

I was originally going to wait for the Adam by Notion Ink (an Indian start-up) but I got tired of waiting for them to get their product through FCC approval.  Additionally, I decided that I wanted something smaller that could fit in my jacket pocket.  The Adam comes in at 10 inches, slightly bigger than the iPad.  I also considered waiting for the iPad 2, but couldn't want to wait until April (the supposed release date).

So why the Galaxy over the iPad?  First off, as I just said, I wanted something smaller.  At 7 inches, the Galaxy fits in my pocket, where the iPad with its 9 inch screen is just a little too big.  Other selling points for the Galaxy were the removable/expandable microsSD card, the front and rear mounted cameras, and its ability to run flash applications.

I spent a lot of time justifying this purchase and after owning it now for 24 hours, I think it was a good purchase  I think that the tablets have a ways to go yet and perhaps when I'm ready to upgrade in 2 years the products will be more mature.  For now, I'm happy that I bought it.  (and am now addicted to Angry Birds)

Underdressed

It's kind of funny that I should write a blog about being underdressed while I was in Dublin.  Since I've been there, I've been dressing up while at work - always wearing a suit or at minimum a sport coat and slacks (but no ties).  So how is that in one night, I felt SO underdressed twice?  Let me tell you the story . . .

It started with the intention to go on a Literary Pub Crawl and when that plan fell through (due to lack of interest), we decided to have a pint at a pub then head on the Dublin Ghost Bus Tour.  Neither of which would warrant anybody wearing anything more than jeans and a hoodie . . . so that's what I wore.  My colleagues wore similar.

Little did I know that the evening would take a turn to the more formal.  The Ghost Bus tour was full and we started our progressive dinner (more details).  As we departed Yamamuri and headed for Fallon & Byrne, we didn't realize how classy our next destination was going to be.  When we got to the restaurant, we could obviously tell that we were underdressed, but for some reason I still asked the maitre d' if he had room for 4.  He did.  In the back corner by the kitchen.  Sitting next to the kitchen in my hoodie, jeans and sneakers, I would have just as happily been sitting in the kitchen.  The men in the restaurant weren't dressed up so much (collared shirts & slacks)as the ladies (dresses).  Alternatively, would have been content if the maitre d' had turned us away for our dress (or lack thereof).  To his credit, he tried his best to make us feel comfortable.  It didn't work.  But, we stayed because the food was excellent!

By midnight, we were looking for one last place to have a drink and were guided to the Cafe En Seine (a.k.a. Cafe Insane) by one of our single colleagues.  I haven't been to a meat market like this in over a decade.  On our way in and before I said a word (and an accent could be distinguished) he said to me:  "An American are ye?"  I could only nod as continued.  "Ye couldn't dress up a little?  The ladies like that.  Jaysus! Ye're wearing runners for chrissake."  I guess we Americans have a habit of showing up to Irish clubs underdressed.   I replied, "I'm not looking to pick up any ladies."  After a little more slagging from the bouncer (". . . . well the men like it, too . . ."), we were finally let in.  Once inside, we all noticed how horribly under dressed we were.  We stayed all of five minutes before leaving.  I waited until the bouncer had his back turned and was talking to somebody else before I snuck out of the club.

To tell you the truth, after being here for 18 months it was good to be recognized as an American regardless of what stereotypes it perpertuates.

Lobster Stop

Due to a labour dispute at Aer Lingus, I had to take an alternate route home on Friday.  The route included a layover in Boston for 3 hours.  But the good thing is that I made it home - albeit 7 hours later than I would have been home if the direct flight from Dublin to Chicago wasn't canceled.

Anytime there is a customer service opportunity like this, I like to ask for a little extra.  Originally, I was going to ask for a free upgrade to business class (I think they would have done it considering my frequent flyer status).  However, I spotted a colleague of mine near the back of the line (and the line was not moving quickly ) so I asked if they could book my colleague on the same flights.  Aer Lingus were good enough to help him out.

So it was nice to have a colleague and friend on the same route.   He was appreciative of the time I saved him and the fact that he'd be getting back home to see his pregnant wife.  We had some lobster and beer at the Boston airport before flying back in to Chicago.  It was a good time and it was good getting to know him a little better.  But still, it was a long day.

Last Weekend Completed

Last Friday, I listed a bunch of things I wanted to do over the weekend.  The weekend went a little differently than planned.  After getting some feedback on the Literary Pub Crawl, we (myself and a few colleagues) decided that we didn't want to do it.  Engage the backup plan:  Dublin Ghost Bus Tour.

Uh-oh, we didn't book ahead of time for the Ghost Bus Tour and both tours were already booked for the night.  What was the backup to the backup?  We didn't have one, so we made it up as we went:  Progressive dinner at three out of the four places that I wanted to eat at before I left:  Yamamuri, Fallon & Byrne, and The Port House.

At Yamamuri we had excellent sushi - but an even more excellent Plum Sake Martini - for starters. We were under dressed for Fallon & Byrne, but their main courses were great.  Dessert at The Port House was my favorite and I ended up going back for tapas lunch on Sunday. 

On Saturday, I did get to feed the seals at Howth one last time (and managed a visit to the Antique Radio Museum).  Sunday was so beautiful that I couldn't justify going to indoor exhibits.  Instead I walked all over Dublin one last time visiting places like Merrion Square, St. Stephen's Green, The Docklands, The Point (and a ride on the Ferris Wheel), Grafton Street and Temple Bar.  Once the sun went down, I did manage a visit to Ireland's National Leprechaun Museum (fun but not worth 10 euro).

The cherry on top of the weekend was a Bears victory over the Seahawks.  Bring on the Pack!

One More Weekend in Dublin

That's right, it's almost over.  I fly home next Friday and shouldn't need to spend any weekends here anymore.  What does that mean?  My longest trips over here should only be for a week.  I'd fly out on Sunday evenings and back home on Fridays.

So this is my last weekend in Dublin - oh what should I do?  I'm thinking that I'm going to clean up a couple of things that I haven't done yet, like the Literary Pub Crawl and the National Museum of  Ireland.  I am also I'm going to try to get to my favorite place (Howth) to say goodbye to the seals.  All the while, I 'm going to eat at some of the places I've loved to dine at and try a couple that I haven't made it to yet.

One thing that will be on the docket will be a trip back to The Book of Kells.  I went to go see this exhibition early in my expatriation and sped through the exhibit because I didn't quite get it.  Now I get it and I'm going to try to get back to actually enjoy it.

Last but not least will be a visit to The Woolshed Baa & Grill to watch the Bears game.  Go Bears!

Dublinitis

We've coined a new phrase on our project team: Dublinitis.  You might think that Dublinitis is a good thing, that it is refers to a longing to be back in Dublin.  You would be wrong.  You might then think that it has something to do with drinking a little too much of the Guinness.  Once again you would be wrong.

Dublinitis refers to any type of illness that one catches in Dublin while working on our SAP project and is often brought home to our families.  Because we have over100 people who fly into Dublin on a weekly basis, there is ample opportunity for somebody catch some kind of bug on the airplanes coming into town - be it a cold or one of various strains of flu.  We don't segregate any more.  Swine flu? Avian flu? La Grippe?  It's all Dublinitis.

It's gotten to a point where our project management office has asked HR to procure flu shots (or "flu jabs" as they are lovingly referred to over here) for the team.  I sat through a meeting on Tuesday where our Project Manager told everybody that getting sick during our Northern Ireland deployment go-live was unacceptable because they were providing the flu jab.  Granted, I know she was kidding, but Dublinitis has taken it's toll on the project team (and our families).

I got to share Dublinitis with my family over Thanksgiving.  My son threw up on my wife just as she sat down to eat at Thanksgiving dinner.  They, in turn, shared it with family and friends as well. It's the gift that keeps on giving; it's always very contagious.

I think the next time I go home I'm going to have live in quarantine for a week .Sláinte

Clonmacnoise

Along the Shannon River in the western part of County Offaly sits a monastic site known as Clonmacnoise.  This abbey was founded in 548 AD by Saint Ciaran.  It is famous for two reasons: 1) Having two of the best preserved Celtic High Crosses in Ireland and 2) Being the location where some the oldest texts in Ireland were written.

The Celtic High Crosses have been moved indoors to better preserve them and replicas have been staged on the grounds.  Even so, it was an impressive place to visit.  On the left is a picture of the cross of the scriptures (in it's new protected location).  On the right, you'll see a picture of the replica in with the replica South Cross in the back ground


One of the manuscripts written at Clonmacnoise, The Book of the Dun Cow (oldest text written in Irish - circa 11th or 12th century), is now housed at the Royal Academy of Ireland.  The book was named so because of the belief that it was written on the hide of St. Ciaran's fabled Dun Cow.

The site - in addition to being the final resting place of St. Ciaran - is also thought to be the final resting place of many of the Kings of Ireland, specifically of the Kings of Connacht and the High Kings of Tara are buried here.  It's location which is the crossroads of the main thoroughfares of 6th century Ireland (the Shannon River running North to South and the East-West road running along glacial eskers from Dublin).

It's religious significance was recognized by Pope John Paul II in 1979.  It is believed that missionaries from Clonmacnoise brought Christianity to his home country of Poland.

Should Have Asked Santa for Tyvek

I caught a flight back to Dublin today and should have worn a Tyvek suit.  Ay Jaysus!.  The girl who sat next to me was coughing.  The guy behind me was coughing.  Half the frickin' plane was coughing.  I'm hoping that I escaped the plague through liberal use of hand sanitizer and copious amounts of Vitamin C.  The worst was the guy behind me.  I swear I could feel it on the back of my neck when he coughed.

I may need to further sterilize with Guinness this evening.

Bear Down, It's Playoff Time!

I will freely admit that I am surprised with my Chicago Bears' performance this season.  At the beginning of the season, I had them picked to win only 5 or 6 games.  They've surprised me and won twice that AND secured the second seed in the NFC playoffs, which comes with a coveted bye week .  This means that while the Eagles play the Packers and the Seahawks host the Saints, the Bears (and the Falcons) get to take an extra week to heal and prepare for their first playoff game.

This season has been a very odd one and I give Lovie Smith a lot of credit for what he's done.  They've gotten better every week of the season.  He's not an exciting coach, but he deserves kudos for what he's accomplished.  He already deserves coach of the year, and will deserve it more so if the Bears make any noise in the playoffs.  He's given me reason to be a cautious optimist.

It is with such cautious optimism that I approach the NFL playoffs.  I want the Bears to win the Super Bowl and I think that they can do it.  The only problem is I also believe they have the ability to get blown out at home against the likes of the Saints or the Eagles.  So, Bear Down, Chicago Bears and give your fans reason to drop the caution and become carefree optimists!  Take us to the Super Bowl and win it!

10,100 Pages

The official count is in and I accomplished my goal of reading 10,000 pages in one year. In fact, I beat my goal by 100 pages by finishing off Tony Hillerman's Skeleton Man this evening to get myself to my goal. For those who were or weren't keeping track, here is my official list of books that I read in 2010.

Title	Author
The New American Expatriate	William Russell Melton
The Blade Itself	Joe Abercrombie
Before They Are Hanged	Joe Abercrombie
Last Argument of Kings	Joe Abercrombie
All Quiet on the Western Front	Erich Maria LeMarque
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul	Douglas Adams
The Prince	Niccolo Machiavelli
Siddhartha	Herman Hesse
A Game of Thrones	George R. R. Martin
Free Prize Inside	Seth Godin
Persuasion	Jane Austen
Heart of Darkness and Other Stories	James Conrad
A Clash of Kings	George R. R. Martin
How the Irish Saved Civilization	Thomas Cahill
Water for Elephants	Sara Gruen
Blood of Elves	Andrzej Sapkowski
Thunderhead	Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
A Storm of Swords	George R. R. Martin
Catcher in the Rye	J.D. Salinger
A Feast for Crows	George R. R. Martin
The Graveyard Book	Neil Gaiman
Skeleton Man	Tony Hillerman

23 books total. I hope everybody else met their reading goals as well this year. I don't think I'm going to set the bar as high next year, mostly because I plan on setting some writing goals for the new year. Happy New Year's everybody!

Dude, Where's My Blog?

First off, let me apologize for the lack of activity as of late. My intent for this post is to explain the lack of content for October/November.

One thing I need everybody to understand is that I love to write. It is one of my favorite hobbies. I love to tell stories, share my experiences with others, and make people laugh. This is why I'm not shy about sharing the "Stupid Things I've Done." I know that I'm not the only person that does stupid things, I just post those stupid things on the internet - which may be stupid in it's own right.

So why the lack of content?

There are two real reasons that I have not posted anything over the last two months. The first is that blogging is much harder than I originally thought it would be. When I committed myself to posting new content every day, I didn't realize how much effort it would take coming up with new content, writing it, and revising it to publishable standards.

Secondly, my international adventure has ceased to be an adventure and has become a chore. This happened around September when I worked in excess of 14 hours for 24 straight days. I burned out on the project and Ireland. The excitement of Ireland as dissipated. I miss my family.

When writing becomes work and one lacks inspiration, it makes it extremely difficult to do. Since I already have a day job, I am not motivated to work another.

I suppose I could have claimed that I've been working crazy hours to get the project live. The truth is that the go-live was smooth and uneventful (just the kind I like). We're live on SAP in Germany and working towards a Northern Ireland pilot in February.

So what's the deal?

I'm going to attempt to make this fun for me again blog at a "hobby level." What does that mean? I'm not sure I know. It does mean that I will post more, but frequency and length of posts are still up in the air. I hope that you all enjoy and keep reading. I'll do my best to keep posting.

Playing Golf the Irish Way

I've been over in Ireland for over a year now and I finally got out to play a round of golf. Why did it take me so long to get out? Mostly I had too many excuses not to golf (it costs too much, I don't have my clubs with me, I can't get a ride to the golf course, I've got too much work to do, etc.). Last weekend I was back out in Tralee, where our Corporate HQ is located, and I was invited to stick around and play golf on Saturday at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, home of the 2010 Irish Open. Unfortunately I didn't get to play the course that the Open was played on as it was already booked.

My foursome was comprised of myself, the company CFO, the Corporate Controller, and the Director of Corporate IT. I've mostly gotten over being awestruck by such people, but it still does put one on edge on the golf course. Add that to the fact that I hadn't played in over a year and the result was an especially awful game of golf. Regardless, I still had fun walking the golf course, hoping the rain would stay away (it did, but we got plenty of wind) and getting to know a couple of C-Level employees.

One interesting thing was the negotiations that went on at the first tee. We negotiated what my handicap was (I have no idea) and they settled on giving me 14 strokes. So it ended up being a pairs match with myself and the IT Director against the Finance guys. Out of 18, I won one hole for my team. We lost the front nine, won the back nine, and lost overall. So I had to pay my fiver to the Corporate Controller. It was all in good fun, but I wish I would have played a little better.

Cooking at the Castle

On a peninsula northeast of Dublin sits a small fishing village called Howth (pronounced hote). It's a beautiful little town that has a lot to do: eat seafood, feed seals, walk along the cliffs, see a ruined abbey, and much much more. Tuesday night we had a team-building activity which involved taking a cooking class at Howth Castle.

It was a wonderful experience. We broke into two teams of eight and began cooking a four course meal under the guidance of a chef. The chef taught us how to cut, mince, stir, reduce and refresh. Our menu consisted of:

Mediterranean Feta Salad with Pomegranate
Parma-wrapped Chicken Breast with Ricotta Stuffing
Mushroom and Truffle Oil Risotto
Chocolate Truffle Torte

When we were done cooking, we sat down at the table and enjoyed the fruits of our labors. In addition to the fine dinner, we were treated to some legends of Howth Castle by it's current resident - a direct descendant of the builders of the original castle in the 12th century. The legends include a story about a female pirate abducting the heir to Lord Howth because she was offended by the gates being closed - a breach of hospitality. The heir was returned on the promise that the gates would never be closed and that the dinner table would always be set with an extra setting for an unexpected guest. The table is still set with the extra setting over 400 years later. Additionally, a new set of gates were built that could never close.

An intriguing and fun event - fun was had by all! The meal seemed all the more delicious because we prepared it.

Treadmills are Boring

There is one sure way to get me to exercise. Organize a game of anything that involves two teams playing against each other. Send out an email asking for participants and I will be there. Soccer, I'm there. Softball, I'm there. Team thumb twiddling, count me in!

I've loved team sports since I was kid. I'm sure that my parents remember all the different sports that I needed to play when I was younger (which they paid for and drove me to). I don't know why, but individual sports never appealed to me as much. I do like golfing, but that's more of a "get out with the guys" activity than a sport for me. I certainly don't like going to the gym and walking/running on a monotonous treadmill or going to a track and running in circles.

As I get older, I am lucky to get out and play one game of football a year (Turkey Bowl!). The muscles ache bad after the day of annual exertion. One aspect of my assignment that I've loved has been playing 5-on-5 soccer on Monday/Tuesday nights. I sucked early on, but my play has gotten much better - specifically in goal. However, I still have two left feet when trying to dribble and pass.

My goal keeper skills have won me the starting position for an 11-on-11 grudge match between my company and the hotel where we're working. Next Tuesday night we'll see if I can translate my skills from a small, artificial pitch to a large, grass pitch. I don't have any cleats with me, so I'm not predicting a particularly good showing. Also, I have to protect a goal that is much, much bigger.

Wish me luck!

Tipping in Ireland

Whenever other Americans come over to the project, there's usually a point where we end up going out to dinner. For me, it's a way to connect with people whose customs are more familiar to me. When I ask them who won The Game, they can tell me that the Bears beat the Packers, not that Man-U got a result against Liverpool. whenever we're out, there's always one question that get's asked, regardless of who's picking up the bill. How much do you tip over here?

For anybody who's curious, here's the answer: 0-10%. Tipping isn't expected over here the same way it is back in the States. That is one reason that it seems more expensive to go out to eat. Their waiters/waitresses get paid a better base wage, which is reflected in the cost of your dinner. However, if you feel you've gotten excellent service, you can give them a 10% tip. I usually won't tip at the bar (when I go up to buy drinks), but will usually tip at a sit-down restaurant. Typically 5-10% depending on the service. Bon Appetit!

Crypts, Stacks, Food & Flicks

I had a day out today that should make my father proud. I've apparently inherited his ability to fill a day of travel with more things to see than are humanly possible - yet still keep the trip under budget.

10:30am - Marsh's Library 2.50 euro
Marsh's library is a library in Dublin that came highly recommended from my Frommer's guide. The library is old (founded 1701), small and you can't take pictures of anything. However, I found the exhibit they had on old medical books quite interesting. Some of the books dated back to the 13th century. It's interesting to see how medicine and surgery have developed over the years. More impressive, though is seeing medical books that have diagrams drawn by Remmbrandt before he was a famous artist.

11:30am - Christ Church Cathedral 6.00 euro
The Cathedral was built in 1030 AD but has been rebuilt once since then due to a collapse of one whole wall. Though it is now part of the Church of Ireland, it was built before the division of Christianity into its various sects. It is an absolutely beautiful building with wonderful stained glass windows and ornate stone and wood carvings. The crypts are pretty neat, too.

1:00pm - Fish 'n Chips @ Leo Burdocks ~10.00 euro
Leo Burdocks is a famous chip shop in Dublin. There are two locations, one on Liffey St. and the one I went to that is right across from Christ Church Cathedral. The fish was great and the chips were plentiful, but there's nowhere to sit and enjoy your meal. On a sunny day, you can probably set yourself down somewhere on the Christ Church grounds, but it was wet outside. So I found a pub that had a beer garden with an awning. Nobody was outside, so I was able to enjoy my fish and chips in peace, unlike my experience in Monaghan.

1:30pm - Chester Beatty Library FREE!
This library had two large exhibits: Muraqqa' and Sacred Traditions. The artwork in the Muraqqa' exhibit was beautiful (taken from books dating from 17th century India and Iran), however the history was not all that intriguing to me. The Sacred Traditions exposition, however, mesmerized me. It was a wonderful exhibit on three of the major religions of the world: Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. I love getting a more worldly perspective and found a place to do that here in spades. Wonderful exhibits, and it's free! Also there is a wonderful garden outside the library that looks up on Dublin Castle.

3:50pm - The Other Guys ~ 10 euro
After the Library, I got a ticket to see the new Will Farrell/Mark Wahlberg movie. It was freakin' hilarious. I recommend you go see it. It was an interesting perspective seeing the movie with an Irish audience. I found there were a couple of jokes where I was the only one laughing (because the Irish apparently don't know who Ralph Nader is - well at least not this audience).

6:30pm - Fries & a Shake @ Eddie Rocket's ~ 10 euro
Eddie Rockets is what we'd consider a revival 50's diner. You know the type: red vinyl seats, waitresses in pink uniforms, and mini jukeboxes on the table. It's one of my escapes to Americana that I can get while I'm over here. The food was good, but expensive.

8:20pm - Inception ~ 10 euro
This is the movie that's been out for awhile with Leonardo Di Caprio in it. All I can say is that it was a phenomenal movie. I don't go out to the movies to often . . . mostly because I don't like paying 10 euro (that's about $14 US) to see a movie that will cost $4.99 on Comcast in six months. However, this one was worth the price of admission.

It was quite a busy day and I know that my father would approve - with optional criticism that I paid too much for the movies. I did end up cutting one thing from the schedule, but we'll put that one onto the itinerary for another day. So what did I learn today? Chiefly that there are a lot of old books in Dublin and that the Irish don't know who Ralph Nader is.

Feel Free to Continue the Meeting Without Me . . .

Two weeks ago, amid my 24 day work-a-thon, I got fed up with the project. I was so stressed out that I just needed a night off. The opportunity presented itself when our Subject Matter Experts (SME's) from Northern Ireland and Germany were in town for system testing.

Roughly 30 of us went out to the local Asian restaurant (the only decent restaurant outside of the hotel within walking distance). I had a few glasses of wine with dinner and when dinner was done, everybody headed back to the hotel bar. I should have kept walking past the hotel and back to my apartment. Instead, I ended up staying up with the late crowd and finally left the hotel for my apartment at 4am, having had more than my share of alcohol.

I skipped my 8am meeting, arriving to work the next day at 8:30am. My colleagues that didn't stay out so late covered the meeting for me (which I have done for others in the past). I was tired. I was hungover. I had SME's leaving that afternoon who I still needed to meet with from whom I needed some vital information. Unfortunately, the only time that they could meet was at 10:30am.

It's hard to explain our location setup . . . we take up so much space in the conference area of the hotel, we now also have some hotel rooms converted into small meeting rooms as well. One of those meeting rooms was open, so I booked it from 8:30am until noon (when my 10:30 meeting was to end). This was a good room, it had a fainting couch. I got up there, locked the door, turned the alarm on my Blackberry to wake me up at 10am and went to sleep.

The alarm went off as planned and I had time to get setup for the meeting. I wasn't as tired, but suddenly, the coffee I had as breakfast was sitting so well in my stomach. I soldiered on, wetting down my hair so it didn't look like I'd just taken a nap in on a sofa in a meeting room.

My colleagues arrived for the meeting and things went well for the first 15 minutes. The coffee in my stomach started making me nauseous again. I excused myself from the meeting, went to the bathroom, vomitted (in a very professional manner might I add - I didn't get any on me) , rinsed my mouth out, then returned to the meeting, picking up where I left off.

Now I know I wasn't the first one to do something like this, nor will I be the last one to do something like this, but I'm embarrassed just the same. It was the first time it has ever happened to me. Mostly I'm glad that people are a little more relaxed about that kind of thing over here in Ireland. I've seen plenty others come in after hard nights on the town. Now I can sympathize with them. Everybody's human, I'm no exception.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Just because I got back late (and I got a request for an update on my reading goals), today you get at Book Report. Stupid Things I've Done will be Friday thing this week. Look for it tomorrow . . .

Some of you may remember that I traveled over to Bristol and Bath a few months ago. On visiting Bath, I learned that the city was once Jane Austen's home and I even visited a Jane Austen Museum. The city was also frequently a setting for Ms. Austen's novels - specifically Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Though I had not read either of those two novels, I had read both Pride & Prejudice and Emma. So while I was at the museum, I thought I'd pick up one of the novels that was based in the city. Opting for the novel written later in her career, I bought a copy of Persuasion.

Reading the novel was a pleasant enough experience. Reading Austen, like reading Shakespeare, takes a little bit of time to get accustomed to. You need to read a few chapters before you get into the language of the era. One thing I can admit was that the book was alive to me. Having just visited the city of Bath, I could easily envision the atmosphere and could picture the places that Austen names in her book. The assembly halls were fresh in my memory and I remember walking The Circus and The Royal Crescent.

Persuasion is quite critical of the Bath aristocracy, painting them as duplicitous and untrustworthy. Simultaneously it idealized the simple values of the country folk. As with the other two novels of Austen's that I have read, the plot focuses on the misunderstanding and miscommunication that occurs between men and women. So it's no surprise that the plot is resolved when the two would-be lovers finally talk frankly to each other instead of relying on their own perceptions and the perceptions of others who might persuade them. Still, a fun read, though.

Since I find it hard to compare Austen to other fiction, I can only compare this work to her others that I've read. I found it more interesting than Emma, but less interesting than Pride and Prejudice.

As far as my 10,000 pages goal, I'm still behind schedule (I have 2 book reports yet to write for you all on other pieces I've completed) but I'm in the neighborhood of 6000 pages with 3 months to go. I better get busy reading!

HRputer is Back!

So where the hell has HRputer been? Stuck in the mire of a thing called Soft Code Freeze. As you may remember from previous posts, I am working over in Ireland on an SAP implementation. When you're working on a large project like this, they usually have two different kind of code freezes: soft code freeze and a hard code freeze.

A soft code freeze is a point in a software implementation where you restrict all defect resolution to Critical (can't go live without) and High (major deliverable cannot go live) issues. Medium and Low severity issues can no longer be worked on.

A hard code freeze means that all defect resolution and the system goes live as-is. This is done to make sure that there is stability in the product that goes live. Once the system is live, the code freeze is lifted and the system goes into maintenance mode where all defects and issues are dealt with according to a defined maintenance process.

On this project, HR is considered to be an add-on module, so we don't have any defects that qualify as Critical or High severity issues. Thus I spent September 1st through September 21st working constantly to resolve as many issues as possible (Yep, three straight weekends included). We have bargained in a couple of High severity defects since then, but in essence we've built and tested the product that we're delivering. I'm not overly happy with where we are, but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things, so my standards may be a bit higher than others'.

So, now that we are just about to a hard code freeze, I have a few moments to spare to get back going on the blog. There are plenty of things that I have to catch everybody up on, including at least one installment of a fan favorite: "Stupid Things I've Done." Look it up on the tags . . . I've done some stupid things.

Remembering 9/11

We all remember 9/11 in our own way. I remember the events of that day every time I step onto an airplane. Of the many undesirable things that have come with this assignment, frequent air travel is one of them that I like the least.

I don't mind an occassional flight, but when you are flying transatlantic every three weeks, you become very aware of your vulnerability to such events. No matter how often I tell myself that it is an unlikely of an event it is, I still say a prayer when the plane takes off and another one when its landing. Truly it isn't the risk of the event that I fear, but rather the severity of the consequences; the fear that I'd never see my family again.

So on this day of rememberance, I don't pray for the victims, but for the families of the victims. Nine years ago today, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, wives, and husbands were all lost to their families in the tragedy. May God bless them and ease their pain.