Trinity

It is probably only a mild exaggeration to say that I have about a dozen of pictures like this one: my humble self, practically tasting my next stout, Trinity College in the background. Some of the pictures date half a century (okay, half a decade) back, and they all look pretty much the same. But this one is different, because now, this is where I work! Now, my office is actually in a modern building past the cricket pitch, but all the same, this is very special. There are very nice people in the lab (and they don't even read this). It takes me eight minutes to walk to work and yet I pass two pubs (note 'to' work).

Malahide

On Saturday we took the DART to Portmarnock and walked north on Coast Road to Malahide.  We've been having a lot of fun doing coastal walks and so far have done three of the many iWalks posted on the Dublin Tourism website.  It seems like a great way for tourists to see a city, because you can download the free podcasts and don't have to lug a tour book around with you.  The website also provides a lot of good ideas for other cultural walks centered around topics such as Viking history, Georgian Dublin and Ulysses.

Malahide is a coastal tourist town that caters to beach visitors and has lots to do.  We had lunch at a really great restaurant called the Greedy Goose that has small plate tasting menus.  Afterwards we went to the Saturday Farmers Market, then walked to the Malahide Castle.

The Vacation's Over: Working from Home

My three week vacation officially ended on Sunday and I've now completed half a week of working from home.  Part of the three week vacation involved some work, including packing all of our things in Nashville, organizing a garage sale, among other things.  Once we arrived in Dublin we had to take care of some things like finding an apartment, getting Irish bank accounts, electricity, internet, social security numbers, etc sorted out.  But we had fun in the meantime and had plenty of time to do some touristy things, go for some hikes and generally have fun exploring Dublin.  (I can't really complain though, considering Richard started work only two days after we arrived.)

We're now mostly settled into our apartment-- only partly settled since we won't receive our shipment from Nashville for another two more months or so.  Why would it take three months to get our stuff?  Well, only yesterday did our things arrive in Charleston, South Carolina to be loaded onto the boat.  That means our stuff sat in Nashville for about three weeks.  Once our things are loaded on the container ship in Charleston, it will take a few more weeks to arrive in the port of Felixstowe, England, then has to go through international customs.  Then it will be driven across England and Wales, ferried from Wales to Ireland, and finally driven to our apartment.  

I have a temporary office set up in our living/dining room.  Once our shipment arrives I plan to use the second bedroom as my office with our old kitchen table as a desk.  Until then this set up will work fine.  The technical logistics of working for a Nashville company from Dublin have so far worked out great.  We have a lot of tools to make this easy, included video conferencing, instant chat, email, and I can work through our Nashville server and access all the files and programs I used back at my old desk.  So, really, the only difference is the six-hour time difference and not seeing my coworkers and hearing the chatter in cube-land.

Well, that, and the fact that there's an Irish pub across the street.  Padraig Pearse, that is, where on Saturdays they have Irish karaoke.  Where two Saturdays ago I maybe sang a very sobering version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett (that one was especially for you, Mack and Holly).

Howth Harbor and Cliff Walk

On Friday and we went to Howth, a coastal town about 9 km north of Dublin.  We took the DART and it was only about a 25 minute ride.  There are several great reasons to go to Howth, the first being that it is a cute little town with a harbor full of boats, nice shops and pubs.  The reason we went was to do the cliff walk that goes around Howth Head.  The walk starts off in town then heads onto a small road with some really beautiful cliff houses with nice views, one of which W. B. Yeats (the Irish poet) lived in.  The walk then turns into a trails that goes for a few miles around Howth Head and ends up back in town.

The weather cooperated (read: it didn't rain) and we actually got a little hot at one point for the first time since we've arrived in Ireland.  The views were beautiful and it was a great day, finished off with a Guinness at the local pub back in town.

Swimming and Food Markets

Last Sunday we went a few DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train stops south of Dublin City to Sandycove, a small coastal town.  Click here to see the location in googlemap satellite.  It was a mixed day of sunny and overcast, and the swimming area was packed with little kids and grannies swimming as if the water wasn't even cold.  I looked up the average water temperature for the Irish Sea, and found that it's usually somewhere around 50F.  It seems that the Irish manage to make do with the climate they're given!

After a short swim (we managed to stay in only about 10 minutes) we got dressed and walked to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced something like "done leery"), the town where I had an internship with an engineering company in 2004.  We were very hungry and happy to find a food market/fair with food stands, cheese makers, olive artisans, etc. in a local park.  We ate a Beef and Guinness pie and a goat's cheese and roasted pepper Rosti (we learned that a Rosti is like a big pancake made with grated potatoes).  For dessert we had hand-made chocolate truffles (goji berry/pink peppercorn and cardamom/orange).  The market is every Sunday year round, so any of our visitors should expect a similar Sunday outing of swimming and shopping at the Dun Laoghaire market.

Other important Nashville mentionables

One more backpost: thank you to everyone who helped us with garage sales, moving out, and sending-off parties.  We miss you!

Kelsey's work party, posing at the "Musica" statue on Music Row.  (Yes, Richard also has coworkers and friends, but we don't have any photos from those nights.)

Brown's, our favorite dive bar, the night before we left Nashville with Tony, Candice, Brandon, Amy, Sara and Jenn

The weird statue in our front yard along with Sara, Candice and Amy

Our TV that no one bought from our garage sale, or took (for free) from the sidewalk, AND the reason for this blog name.  I can't even count the number of people that came into our apartment and asked, with raised eyebrow, "Is that your TV?"

And another very important shout-out to Britton Wells, coworker and friend, who bought the Volvo.  May the car mean as much to you as it did to me!

Birthday Celebrations

This is a belated post, but I feel it warrants a mention anyways.  The week before we left Nashville my parents came to help us pack and clean (huge: thank you!!).  More importantly, their visit coincided with my mom's birthday, my parent's 34th wedding anniversary, and my dad's 60th.

There were many celebrations, but the most exciting was a trip the night of my dad's 60th on one of the largest showboats in the country, the General Jackson Showboat.  The boat travels on the Cumberland River and goes through downtown Nashville so you get a nice view of the skyline at night.  We partly chose this as the big celebration because my parents like boats and rivers so much, but also for the campy music show that happens on the boat for the last hour of the cruise.  The music show travels chronologically through the history of country music, starting with gospel and ending with Taylor Swift.  None of us are big country music fans, but it was entertaining at least.

The Cumberland River

View of downtown Nashville

Inside the showboat

View under one of the bridges downtown

We've Arrived

We arrived in Dublin on Saturday and since then have managed to get settled in and find an apartment.  We're still working on getting our bank account, PPS numbers (the Irish equivalent of a SSN), my permanent resident card to allow me to stay more than 6 months, among other things.

Our apartment is a short walk from Richard's work and pretty much right in the center of town.  We looked at about nine apartments and this one was an obvious choice.  It has two bedrooms, and we're still deciding if we want to keep a bed in the second, since this will also serve as my office when I start working from home.  We want to make sure there is a comfortable bed for our (hopefully) many visitors!

Here are a few photos of our new (furnished!) apartment.