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!