Happy Birthday, RJ!

Today is RJ's Birthday! We had a party for him this weekend (we limited the guest list to mostly family, so please no offense if you weren't invited). His grandma made him a bear shaped birthday cake and he just loved it - as witnessed by the picture.

Although I had many profound thoughts throughout the day, the one that struck me the most was just how lucky Beth and I are that RJ came into our lives.

We endured a lot of heartache and struggle to get to February 1, 2009. Now one year later, it's easy to say that it's all been worth it. It was easy to say that since the adoption was finalized, but it doesn't hurt to say it again. RJ is a blessing beyond blessings. In fact, Beth and I feel so blessed that we'll be re-entering the adoptive parent pool later this month.

This is one of the reasons that Beth and RJ aren't joining me full-time Dublin. We need to maintain residency in Illinois to be eligible to be in the adoption pool. So if we're doubly blessed, RJ will have a little brother or little sister sometime in the (hopefully near) future.

RJ says, "Thank you for all the presents," but it sounds more like "buh buh bah mah nuh dah"

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

I'm a little tired after RJ's first birthday party and don't know exactly where to start. So I'll push that story 'til tomorrow, which happens to be RJ's actual birthday. So in its place, I'll give you an idea of how my commute to Dublin works. I just got back from Dublin Friday night and will be flying back on Monday.

Here's what my Monday/Tuesday will look like:

2:30 PM CST - Beth drives me to the Crystal Lake train station.
3:00 PM CST - UP Northwest Line to Dee Rd station (Park Ridge)
4:00 PM CST - Taxi to O'Hare
4:15 PM CST - Check-in/Wait at Airport
7:00 PM CST - Board Plane
7:30 PM CST - Take off for Dublin
2:30 AM CST - Land in Dublin, Collect Baggage, Wait for Hotel Shuttle
3:45 AM CST - Shuttle to Hotel
4:00 AM CST - Check-in at hotel, Shower
4:30 AM CST - Go to Work (10:30 AM GMT)

That's about 14 hours of travel. During this time, if I don't get any sleep, I'm useless the next day. I really don't sleep well on planes. Thus, Advil PM is my friend.

The flight to Dublin is much harder than the flight home. On the way to Dublin, you lose sleep, on the way home you can gain sleep. So this past Friday when I came home, I fell asleep at 7pm and woke up the next morning at 6am . . . like that I'm back on schedule.

So to recap: Make sure to pack sleep aids (especially if you expect to function the next day). Flying West is easier than flying East. And . . .

Those aren't pillows! [download/rent the movie if you have to ask]

Book Report: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

I figured that since I've taken on the challenge of reading more, I'd include some old-fashioned book reports (or reviews if you like) in the blog.

The Blade Itself is Joe Abercrombie's first book. It also happens to be the first book of his trilogy The First Law. I pulled the title from a general list of Top 25 Best Fantasy Books. The library happened to have the whole trilogy, so I decided to get busy reading it.

The Best Part: This book is all about characterization. Abercrombie does a fantastic job creating the characters of Logen, Glokta, and Jezal. These seem to be the primary characters, though there is quite a bit of character development amongst the secondary characters as well. Glokta is particularly well written. Abercrombie's style is very easy to read, making the book hard to put down once you pick it up.

The Worst Part: The book is not much more than a characterization. Though I haven't read the second or third book of the trilogy, I imagine that this is a good introduction to them. You get to know the characters and some minor events occur. However, you really don't know at the end of the story what the heroes are doing or why they are doing it. This book could not exist on its own.

Life's Lessons Learned: The book has a few themes that you can pick up pretty quickly. The most apparent is that the extremes of good and evil don't manifest themselves in one human being. Good people do bad things, bad people do good things. Most of the time good and evil are relative to your perspective.

Rating: Like one of the main characters in the story, I give this book a Bloody-Nine fingers out of ten. The book left me chomping at the bit to start the next book in the series: Before They Are Hanged. However, it left me a little unsatisfied because nothing really happened of import - other than introducing us to a brilliant fantasy world and a fun set of characters.

Back to Square 1

Yesterday, I left the cliffhanger as I'd reveal which apartment I finally chose. The answer is that I chose the one closer to the hotel, but I'm moving into neither. Let me 'splain.

I had made an offer on Monday on the apartment closest to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Here is how the conversation went (they were asking 950 Euro per month):

Me: I'll offer you 875 for the six month lease

Them: Let me check with my manager . . . (a few moments pass) . . . No we're pretty set on 950.

Me: Ok, I can go up to 950 if you give me a 3-month "break-out" clause.

Them: Let me check with my manager . . . (a few more moments pass) . . . Ok, we can do that. When do you want to move in?

Me: How's Thursday?

That's how the initial conversation was left. Ever since then, they've been trying to get me to remove the 3-month breakout clause saying things like, "so long as you give 28 days notice, we'll just take the deposit as the last month's rent." It sounded feasible, but I felt that I need to do some due diligence to validate their claims.

I read through Irish letting laws most of the afternoon. I did find reference to the 28 day notice period, however, I did not find it referenced where I would not be liable for the remainder of the lease if I was to break at 3-months. I also had somebody from my company do a little look into it for me as well. I called them back late this afternoon:

Me: I checked with my company and their recommendation is that I get either the break out clause or your interpretation of the 28-notice added to the contract in writing.

Them: Let me check with my manager . . . (hangs up, then calls me back shortly). Sorry, my manager and the landlord think that a 3-month breakout clause is just like a 3-month lease. The landlord needs a 6 month lease.

Me: Ok, if you remember, I made an initial offer on the apartment at 875 without the break out option. Here's what I'm willing to do: I'll offer 900 a month for the place.

Them: Let me check with my manager . . . (hangs up, then calls me back shortly). Sorry, the landlord can't go below 950. He's got a mortgage to pay.

Me: That's too bad. Have a nice day.

Though at least 10 wittier things to say have come to me since like "900 Euro is greater than zero Euro," or "It's harder to pay the mortgage without a lease." But I was still feeling pretty good because the other apartment still looked to be available.

Alas it was not. Back to square 1.

The Northwood 350

By the time this blog posts, I will have completed my last lap of the Northwood 350. What is the Northwood 350 you ask? It's not a race, but it obviously does involve me doing laps - in this case up and down Northwood Avenue in Santry.

Because there is a catch 22 in regards to housing in Ireland (or any foreign country, I suppose), I've spent the last week and a half walking up to the local convenience store everyday to get cash from the ATM there. The catch 22 is this: To rent an apartment in a foreign country, you need a bank account. To get a bank account, you need an proof of address. The plot thickens.

Dun. Dah. Dah.

Lucky for me, cash is king. To rent the apartment that I'm looking at, I can also pay cash: first months rent and a deposit (equivalent to the last months rent). Two times rent is a significant amount of cash to be carrying around. The local ATM has a limit of 400 Euro. Thus, I've been making serial withdrawals from the ATM of $350 for the last week to be able to rent an apartment. I have thus dubbed the walk to and from the ATM, The Northwood 350.

Last night I stopped by the apartment that I'm going to rent. Today, I'm signing and paying. Next week, I setup a bank account over here so I don't have to walk the Northwood 350 again.

Ooohh the suspense . . . which apartment did I pick? Find out tomorrow in the next episode of The Adventures of HRputer!

Arbeit Macht Frei

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Sixty five years ago Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by soldiers of the Soviet Union. The sign that hung over the gate at Auschwitz read "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Makes One Free." Irony. Auschwitz was not a work camp, it was a death camp - part of a network of death camps created by evil men.

Though I could produce paragraph upon paragraph of text about the issue of evil in our world, so many more before me have done so already, and they've done it more eloquently than I could. Thus, I give to you a litany of wisdom from minds far greater than my own:

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings." - Helen Keller

"He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done." - Leonardo Da Vinci

". . . evil will always triumph because because good is dumb." - Mel Brooks [Spaceballs]

Do you get where I'm going with this? If you guessed "Evil flourishes because not enough people care to do anything about it" you're on the right track. One more quote for the heck of it:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayanna

Today, please take a moment to:

1) Remember the millions of people who have lost their lives to the whims of evil men.
2) Thank the good Lord (or other deity of choice) for what you have today.
3) Care enough to do something, anything for those who suffer at the hands of evil men.

Amnesty International is a good place to start if you're looking for ideas.

It's Raining Apartments - Hallelujah!

Yesterday, to pass time away while I was at the GNIB, I decided to make a call to a letting agent and make a deal on an apartment. This apartment could not be closer to the hotel where my company has our project based. It is literally right across the parking lot. We talked and I didn't get a great deal on the price, but it was within my budget. More importantly, I got a 3-month break clause so that if I need to return home after 3 months, I won't lose my security deposit.

Now, to bring the audience up to date, I had called a lady last Friday to make on offer on her apartment, but she said that she had already let it out. I got a call from her last night at 10pm (I was being anti-social and was already in bed) saying that she couldn't rent to those people. They didn't tell her they had a dog and the apartment complex doesn't allow pets.

So now here's my conundrum. I liked the lady's apartment better than the letting agents'. It's cheaper, but further from the hotel. It's also better furnished and closer to the shops.

The one that's close is a basic apartment, I wasn't thrilled with it. However it is very convenient. And the letting agent would probably be easier to work with than a landlord that is living abroad.

Decisions, decisions, decisions . . .

(By the way, the photo is of the apartment that is next to the hotel)