30 August 2006

lazy summer days in montana

Sat 26 Aug 20:30
“When the gravel disappears you’ve fallen off the map” –Mom

I guess that means that today we’ve proven that the world is as flat as the piece of paper containing our map while driving in Montana.

The goal: to visit some of my aunt & uncle’s friends.
The result: wondering if we’d managed to get on roads worse than those literally marked as “unsurfaced (inquire locally).”

Somehow we ended up going from the prairies of farm country Montana where I’m currently at visiting my relatives (Mom, aunts, uncles, and grandma) to the Bear(s) Paw(s) Mountain(s). (Pick your ‘s’ placement – you only get one and even the wildlife warden we met on the rez couldn’t tell us what ‘s’ was correct.)

We drove and drove and drove and didn’t find the cabin we were looking for so we kept going, following what we thought was a “gravel road” on the map towards a tiny town my mom and uncle remember going to rodeos in with my grandpa.

Heh – that was a joke.

I haven’t laughed that hard and long in a long time. This road got narrower, ruttier, rockier and cow-ier the further we went up it. Oh wait – was that a road? No, it was a logging trail. Ireland ain’t got nothing on this sucker since these were REAL mountains with switchbacks. And what were we driving these in? A lovely front wheel drive Ford Taurus. Brilliant!!

Going up a switchback past some cows, we started talking about where we were – no one was quite sure but my mom and uncle couldn’t remember ever going on this road in their lives. My aunt mentioned the need for GPS and my comment was “Your GPS would tell you ‘where the hell are you stupid humans?’”

Driving out of the Indian rez I thought we’d seen a lot of empty Bud cans and bottles. That didn’t have anything on what we saw as we crested the hill I’m surprised the little white Taurus that could made it up: an empty bottle of Southern Comfort. At that point, I needed oxygen from breathing so hard and we didn’t know whether to turn around or go forward. Apparently someone else let the liquor make that choice for them.

Mind you, we were driving in free range country – so when we stopped for a stretch and to let out some more laughter, I got friendly with the Family Bovine who were attempting to pass us on this tiny dirt logging path. By the end, the Dinner Family had introduced themselves as Mrs. Hamburger Bovine, Mr. RoundSteak Bovine and their two lovely children Lil’ RoastBeef and Ribeye Bovine. Ahhh – some good MOOOOS were had by all.

We finally made it out of the mountains after an exclamation by my uncle at another “huhwha” stop of “Sis, I don’t know which way to go. Relative to prairie, where are we?” – although we had no clue where as evidenced by the comment made by my uncle when we could finally see further than the trees in front of us “we’re out of the mountains… are we North or South of them though?”

We made it back to the teensy tiny farming town where we’re staying with Grandma only to need to stop for a refreshing beverage at the Redneck Club and Casino (I kid you not – pictures shall be had). American crap beer tastes like watered down crap at this point – wow, I never thought that’d happen.

In case you were wondering if I’d keep any of Ireland with me as I visit farm country USA – yes, I have. I caught myself saying bollicks in the car… and brilliant multiple times. Congratulations, Irish English, you’ve been introduced to the county of wheat country and ranch country Montana that has a teensy town my mom grew up in with a Redneck Club and Casion.

And to summarize my lovely day driving in Montana with my family: “I don’t want to know how they built this road, I want to know why!!!”

Sun Aug 27 09:30
Malt o’ Wheat

Mmmmm mmmmm good. There’s this wonderful substance that’s a bit grittier than Cream of Wheat which is perfectly amazing called Malt o’ Wheat. It was an uber-yummy breakfast. A bit o’ sugar and butter and we were perfectly in business.

I definitely love visiting Montana – so relaxing and fun. I just hope we get to play lawn golf today!!!

Mon Aug 28 11:25
Such a BIG town

My mother gave me directions to get to the grocery store and library today. I laughed so hard at her – she even drew a map. It’s beyond ridiculous here! C’mon mother – I think I c an figure out how to go 1.5 blocks to main street, turn left and follow traffic signs to stop at “the highway” and cross the tracks. Just tell me “about a block from the cemetery” or whatnot. Silly mother – you cannot get lost in this town. And the directions to the grocery store were beyond hilarious. First of all, I’ve been there before – many times. Secondly, it’s 3 blocks away and I’m odd for driving it.

Welcome to this huge metropolis of a sleepy town.

Mon Aug 27 21:33
Lawn Golf is tha Bomb Shizzle!

I can’t laugh anymore – it hurts – a lot. Lawn golf has to be the most ridiculous lawn sport ever invented. It’s not proper like croquet; it’s not random like bocce ball; it’s completely unique to play a game with piping and golf balls where you combine horseshoes and a bit of… ‘shrooms?

Holy holy holy – my lungs hurt and I sound like a lifetime smoker when I laugh because I’m hacking like a madwoman. Buckets of laughter were had by all… and then some! And yes, I was on the pink team and the pink beat the purple. It was siblings v. “the rest of us.” And you’ve never heard so many excuses or so much whining in however long you’ve been alive times 1000 years.

I can’t believe the stuff we said tonight – you would never believe me saying to the police officer across the street “sorry for disturbing the peace” after my mother decided to ask his councilwoman wife for more light to make sure the pink team wasn’t cheating. I told them to send her back to NY where they could handle crazy women.

Maybe I shouldn’t have sat at the Mint for so long friggin’ refusing drinks. I thought the Irish rounds system was bad – but at least then it’s you and the people you went in with – not the entire bar buying for the rest of the bar. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeesh. And American crap beer at that! Wooo.. Mom and I were doing well when we got home to eat with Grandma and then of course, there was Lawn Golf – the god of all sports. I should make myself a lawn golf set and have friends over for a bbq next weekend if there are people not concert going (and if I’m not concert going).

I think my lungs might be recovering, although I think an ice cream bar might be in order to make sure to numb the pain of laughing so hard.

I might be wearing purple pants, but pink still won at the brilliant game of lawn golf.

25 August 2006

here & there

So, how many flights can I take in the month of Aug? I'm going to be up to 6 next Wed.

Y'see, I got in Monday night from Dublin, and tomorrow night I'm flying to Montana - because, well, that's just the way I am. I travel far too much. Except I'm very apathetic about packing at this point. My room looks like a bomb exploded through my suitcases since I never unpacked (at least I did laundry!). And I really really really don't want to pack.

So y'know what? I'm not going to - I'm going to pack only the necessary stuff tonight (toothbrush, ID, deoderant and a book) and the rest is getting tossed in the general direction of my rollybag in the morning. Means I have to get up early, but my body's still not on PST so this feels disgustingly late (hi, it's 7:15am to my body in some senses - my alarm would've been going off at this exact time exactly one week ago) so I think a 6am wake up will be easier than my delerious and grumpy stay up tonight.

Oh, and did I mention all my other planned vacations for the year? Yeah - I think if I could always fly the same airlines, I might've become platinum this year.

Here I come Montana!

23 August 2006

well hello to you to pst time zone!

So, it's finally been over 24 hrs since I returned to the US. I can't believe I actually showed up in the office yesterday on what I'd guess was about 2 hrs of sleep. Sickness I tellya. And I even made it through till 6pm yesterday so that I could go out to dinner with a large group of great friends who welcomed me back to the states.

Granted, yesterday I wasn't supposed to do any work (about 2 hrs of work snuck in in the afternoon) but I answered the same welcome back questions over and over again. My desk had been raided by my coworkers who left their goods in an anonymous pile on the desk in the recent past knowing of my imminent return to the states. People were surprised to hear my voice or see me. I looked like crap twice over.. and somehow I managed to take the bus to work (but got a lift back to the house).

Don't know if my old work peeps miss me - but I'm oncall for the next 2 mins so they can't completely hate me since I took over 2 hours this morning (hey, I woke up at 7 before my alarm clock - and this after being up from 3-5 due to lack of sleepies).

But I feel much more rested.

Now I'm just scared of driving - because I'm still looking the "wrong" way when I cross the street. But my lovely car has been returned by it's fabulous baby sitters (thanks guys!!) and is begging me to drive it - specially since I need things like basic grocery goodnesses and to get my haircut this evening.

So yeah, I'm back in Seattle - it's pretty much the way I left it - I just missed the purty time of year since now it's overcast and gray out. But I'll deal since Ireland was worth it.

Ok - off oncall, so I'm safe to shower without wanting to throw my pager at something when I have shampoo in my hair and it goes off. Then, onto another boring day of work work work work work. At least the contrasts between the offices are amazingly apparent so that gives me pondering to use for procrastination.

22 August 2006

my last 2 weeks living in europe... (lots and lots of stuff - aka long)

I wrote this on the plane between Dublin and Atlanta today. Now I'm sitting on the couch in the main floor living room of the house we rent in Seattle. I'm here.

written at 1646 (my body's time) over the Atlantic 21 Aug

I just woke up to a snack of Haagen Dazs ice cream on my little trans-Atlantic flight and realized that I've lived the past 10 days in a blur of activity - none of which I've shared with the world. So this will end up being a very long blog entry probably - who knows - since I'm writing on a flight and where do I have to go? My battery's full and there's a really old episode of Alias on the inflight tv channel.

So, hrmm - what do I have to say? Well, there's France - you heard most of the things I wanted to write about the Riviera, but there's always Paris. And then there's my "last week in Ireland" and all the mumbo jumbo that involves.

France:

France's Riviera
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
I amazingly didn't miss my train from the Riviera to Paris or anything of the sort (grrr to the man in front of me who decided just now to lean back in his seat). Instead I arrived in Paris to find that my hotel was the cutest thing known to mankind. It was a little narrow "building" (more like a row house) just a few blocks away from St Germain (thus perfectly situated) with decor reminiscent of medieval times - including a coat of arms in the foyer. My room itself had a closet which was converted into a bathroom, a bed that was much larger than the room should hold and thus it was easier to walk across the bed than around it, a fake armoire and ceiling beams. Fantastic quiet street and beyond what I'd hoped for. I wandered to a cafe and a wine bar Monday night doing nothing special - just reading, writing and basking in Paris and a good glass of wine (or two).


Glace!
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
Tuesday I attempted to go to the Louvre but having not read my little guide book carefully enough, I didn't realize that the Louvre was closed, so I saw the glass pyramids (they fascinated me - forgive me if you look at my photos) and then started to head towards Notre Dame only to find myself having to.... SIT DOWN... when a friend of mine from Dublin decided he was going to take an impromptu vacation and join me in Paris since it would work out for him. A visitor was more than welcome on this trip as honestly, I was getting rather lonely. In reality, I'll never do a trip that long alone again - it was hard to keep going at times. So that invigorated me to no end knowing that he was going to try to arrive Thursday morning and we'd have the weekend to explore as 2 people, which is vastly different than exploring as 1 person. So Tuesday flew by in a whir of walking walking walking and texting and seeing beautiful stained glass windows in St Chapelle and Notre Dame (the free tour in Notre Dame was wonderful!) and visiting the Conciergerie and enjoying some good ol' Parisian cafes. I also managed to eat a few crepes, some glace, have some wine and go shopping in the Latin Quarter that day before feetsies had enough.


Mr Eiffel's Tower
at Night

Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
Wednesday did find me at the Louvre - this time successfully getting in. I liked the outside of the Louvre more than the inside - and that's just sad. I think that the Met has a much more easily navigated layout and just as good of artwork. Yes, I did see the Mona Lisa and all that stuff. I also happened to run into a student I taught AP Computer Science to my first year of teaching which was surreal to say the least!!! I was just sitting in a sculpture garden in the Louvre reading having pushed my way through the crowds to see the Venus D'Milo and I was ready for a break when this former-student walked up to me and said excuse me and I knew how I knew him right away - I just couldn't place his name. I still can't place his name, I just know that he was late to my class (and school since it was 1st period) more days than you can possibly fathom. Ridiculousness and what an odd moment. That evening I wandered and window shopped in St Germain, I walked through Luxembourg Gardens and the Sorbonne and I sat in another Parisian cafe after having a glace that had a presentation to die for - the glace was nothing more than really really really good glace, but the presentation made it phenomenal. I then ended up doing my normal "dinner find" of going to a random cafe with a lot of people, and in line met a woman from CA who was also traveling in Paris alone (although she was unexpectedly alone) so we shared a table and after a delightful dinner we took a river cruise on the Seine which was really really pretty.

Thursday through a bit of well timed text messages and my thankfully good sense of direction and mental map, I managed to find my friend in the large city of Paris and we dropped off his stuff before beginning our wanders for the day. Our wanders took us to the Eiffel Tower where we had a picnic of crepes and then decided to "stare up the skirt" of the tower. He was indifferent about going to the top and I got scaredy-catted so I didn't make it to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Don't regret it though either. After some good lounging in the unlikely sun, we continued wandering to make our loop past the Arc de Triomph, down the Champs Elysees (with a stop for some coffee along the way) past the Louvre and some funny sculptures and then on for dinner in the Latin Quarter. Hours and hours later with a bottle of wine split between us, a lovely day had been had and no one was dead from traveling with Yvette.


Yvette Snogs A Face of Stone
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
Friday brought us to another wander in the opposite direction - first I was aiming for the island that doesn't have Notre Dame on it in the Seine, but we missed that and instead ate paninis on the banks of the Seine where they should've been having a raucous Paris a Plage but where it was far too cool to lounge about outside scantily clad. Then we hiked on - having the destination of the Picasso museum in mind. It was marvelous and I made more kissy faces at statues on the wall. Then off on another ramble to see that section of Paris, stop for coffee, walk past the Pompodou Center and just enjoy our time in Paris. Nothing really eventful, but more laughter and smiles than you can possibly count.

Saturday it was rainy. So after being lazy bums because of the rain (hey, it was a holiday after all!!! No need to rush around on a holiday when the point is to relax and enjoy!) we set off to wander I can't remember where. We ended up doing a lot of window shopping, Yvette did a lot of hopping on one leg (I bruised my knee by falling on a slipper step) so we were slow going and we collected edibles for a picnic that evening when we thought the rain had let up. Y'see, I was determined to get "a view of Paris" and since I didn't go up the Eiffel - Sacre Coer seemed like a must. A 4EUR bottle of wine (it was the only screw cap available), bread, brie, grapes and berries later, we were ready to head up the hill (after a quick stop for glace after all). We made it up to Sacre Coer after twisting and getting more lost in Paris than I'd previously been (who'd've thought it could be so hard to "go uphill") and with my body reminding me that I am very out of shape. The view was amazing except there were so many tourists you couldn't figure out where to put yourself. The sun was up, and I wanted to see the lights after dark so we sat down and drank our Orangina (being the lateral thinker I am, I wanted us to have non-clear repositories for our red wine so that we wouldn't get in trouble with the police or anyone should they come along. Apparently this makes me a "good lateral thinker").We had our lil' picnic and it started to sprinkle so we put up and umbrella and cowered under it with the food. 4EUR wine is as bad as it sounds. YUCK! But after the first can, it goes down pretty smooth... Trust me, this was unforgettable to the two of us on the steps!! I was staying remarkably dry so I wasn't worried about things, but my partner in crime claimed that he was acting as my "sanitary pad" (his words - I promise - too disturbing even after more and more wine). Apparently his rear was not so dry..... Tee hee! Somehow we managed to stay there and not get horribly wet till the last 15ish mins when our wine was gone - so we scurried down to the metro and went back to the hotel to get dry - and it was late anyways).

With a slow start on Sunday, we headed out to a leisurely lunch and then made our way to the airport oblivious to the recent changes in airport security for travelers due to the threats in the London area. We didn't run into anything other than ridiculously slow security that wasn't any different than normal (it was just the French!) so that was good. All good. And home to Dublin safe after what was a great trip - I got some good me-time in, I learned a lot about how I travel by myself, I had a fabulous time in Paris with my friend, I lounged on the beach, I saw what I wanted to see, and I went back to Dublin thoroughly relaxed and in shock of my imminent departure for the US only 8 days away.

My last week in Ireland:
My last week in Ireland flew by. I was oncall at work from 6am-6pm every day but Monday and I packed a lot into that time. I almost can't remember what. I worked only what was required (and in that time got mounds of work done - huh!), I laughed with my coworkers tons and tons, and I just had a good time. Went out for burgers to prove to an Irish bloke that you can eat any hamburger with your hands (after having seen him very politely cut his burger and chips and eat them with a fork a few weeks before). It was a challenge of sorts since these were massive burgers of odd shapes, and he wanted me to go for the one with chili on it. It all worked out for the best and that's what we ended up with. And I finished the entire burger eating with my hands without a single spot on me - much to his shock. Apparently this was a feat worth documentation from his point of view.

I also got some fish and chips to prove that the fish in the states is significantly better than that in Dublin, however, the chips are not.


Pissed Coworkers
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
I went on a final Irish pub crawl after my last day in the Dublin office (Friday). It was a much smaller gathering than I'd initially thought there would be, but all the people that I wanted were there with me - so that's what mattered. We went to a bunch of pubs and I got genuinely tipsy. We even went down the stairs and past the glass door at the pub I had the "unfortunate incidents" at. There wasn't too much embarrassment on anyone's part, but lots of drunkenness. And the night ended with some good ol' kebabs at a late night kebab house when pubs without late licenses were starting to close.


Wicklow
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
Saturday was a rainy day so I took that to mean it should be a lazy day. And yesterday I was treated to a trip to the Irish countryside which I saw far far far far far too little of during my sojourn to Ireland. That was amazing - so pretty - and somehow it was mostly sunny the entire day. The company was fantastic, the views were brilliant, and it was a great way to end my stay in Ireland. I then went back to my apartment and did a whirlwind of packing.


Wicklow
Originally uploaded by yvettemn.
And this morning, through tears, I departed Dublin and am now flying to Atlanta.

I've been busy and my head's been a swirl of thoughts. I wish I weren't leaving Dublin. I was planning on living there for 6 months, so 4 not only feels still a bit like giving up, but it also feels like I just didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted to do at an Yvette pace. Then there's the fact that I was finally finally finding my place in the world in Dublin - work's been great (and work not being great was the reason I'd been forced to decide to leave - grrrr to that), I've got friends, people ask me to "do stuff" and I'm still traveling a lot. I haven't had any complaints for my last month in Dublin.

Then again, I'm happy to return to my friends in the States. They'll all be different and some might not live in Seattle for much longer, but they're good people and I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again. I just need to train them to call me again now that I'll be back. I can't believe I'm going into the office tomorrow.

I know things I'll miss about Dublin. I know things I'm looking forward to about Seattle. I'm all torn up inside in some ways - but overall it'll work out. Life does what it's supposed to - I just have to kick it along sometimes. I'm wondering if I'm kicking it in the right direction at the moment.

Cheers ladies and gents!

20 August 2006

less than 24 hrs remain

I fly out of Ireland at 11AMish tomorrow. Everything's arranged. I'm just not packed. I have tons to say, tons to think about, tons to write. Right now, I'm sad to be leaving Ireland - very very sad. However, I'm also enjoying my last errrr hours here. Now, off for an excursion with a lovely friend so that I can enjoy this country a bit more for this trip. Have no fear, Ireland, I shall return to you and your people some day.

14 August 2006

some people shouldn't be allowed to breed

So, another story from France - one that horrified me and made my entire trip worthwhile on my first weekend on the beach in the Riviera.

Mind you, my time at the beach was a complete and utter treat to myself. I spent my days relaxing in the sun on a beach chair with an adjustable umbrella and my book or floating out in the Mediterranean where my feet couldn't touch the bottom. Nothing harsh. Just that, a huge salad with a glass of vin rose for every lunch, a glace on the walk back to my hotel in the late afternoon, and a nice dinner with a glass of vin rouge for dinner and possibly a crepe for dessert. It wasn't meant to be eventful, and my previous entry written while at the beach should've been the highlight of my relaxing time there. I had intended to summarize it in a few sentences about nearly naked people and seeing too many thongs, plus playing with children and enjoying the absolutely perfect weather that held out my entire time there.

However, that's not the case.

In the middle of the afternoon I was out floating on my back in the water having just reapplied my SPF 50 (mmmm - unburnt Yvette for once!). I was all happy in the sun with the absolutely perfectly refreshing water rising and falling with the wake from various boats passing beyond the line of bouys that indicated the boundary of the swimming area to separate it from the boating area. This should've been perfectly reasonable - most people were in near the shore where their feet could touch ground, but I've always loved floating or treading water - I guess it's my buoyancy.

However, on this fateful day, a little girl was out floating on a raft - just your basic flat lie on your back sort of deal that so many people have. Her parents were relatively nearby - perhaps they could touch the ground (I could see it through the clear sea water, I'm just short) but their daughter most definitely could not have. I'd have guessed she was in the 4-5 year old age range.

This little cutie had no buoyancy devices at all. She fell off her raft. I was scarily closer than her parents when this happened and made it to her first, dragging her up as she sank to the bottom. Her little self didn't struggle thankfully, and my lifeguard skills kicked right in. It was very very easy to keep her afloat as she choked and sputtered and vomited sea water all over my arms (these are the sorts of things you don't notice until the hecticness of the rescue is over - it was sort of surreal to walk onto the beach and realize I was absolutely nasty and in need of a shower). I can't believe that I remembered my skills from 10 years ago when I got my life guarding certificate. I'm definitely not certified now, so I'm glad everything went ok - and I'm very thankful that she came up breathing so I didn't have to drag her into shore at a rapid pace. Plus, the lifeguards on the beach met us when I got to the point where I was able to touch bottom and hold her up with her parents following behind me. So they took over the care of her from there while the parents babbled at me incoherently.

I cannot believe parents could do such a thing. I'm torn between being insanely grateful for my swimming abilities and lifeguard training versus being horrified and outraged at the girl's parents. You do not do that with a small child.... NO MATTER WHAT! This is why some people shouldn't be allowed to breed.

But now, everything's safe and sound. There's no harm done to anyone involved. I managed to go in and get cleaned up in the employee restroom of the nice little place I was sitting at - and they didn't charge me for my chair or lunch at that place either. So it worked out in the end for the best - fairy tale ending.

If I never have to do that again, I will be beyond happy. Once is far more than enough. Good luck lil' cutiepie I dragged out of the Med.

written on the beach in juan les pins, france

Disclaimer: I wrote this while in France actually in my paper journal. I thought it was cute.

Today I ate lunch with a smelly Frenchman; then I was hit on by a cute blonde German lass over a before-dinner cocktail (mm - pina colada on the beach). They were both delightful; they were both 4 at the oldest.

After lounging on the beach for an hour or two I went to get lunch. The large party in the cafe at the table next to me had a herd of small children - one of whom was fascinated by me. I don't know what the thrall I have over the 4 year old male is, but after exchanging smiles he crawled into the chair opposite mine and helped himself to a piece of bread. His father was utterly horrified and turned red hearing my horrible French (aka nonexistent French with an American accent) reassuring him it was ok.

My little friend chattered at me for the duration of my meal and giggled at every word I uttered in either English or French. Delightful!

I continued my day relaxing in the sand and floating in the sea.

Then, waiting for my restaurant d'jour to open, I found a little wannabe tiki bar where a little towheaded German 2 year old climbed into my lap unexpectedly as I demurely sipped my drink and wiggled my toes in the sand. She kept trying to feed me popcorn from my lil' popcorn bowl they gave me on the table..... except she'd sucked on every piece first. At least her parents could speak English so they knew I wasn't upset at my newfound lil' friend. Adorable!

Today was a very cute day.

13 August 2006

home safe in Dublin

Hi all - thanks for all your concern over travel after recent events with airline security. I wasn't aware of any potential problems until I got home and read emails from friends and family. I didn't have any problems in the airport and we made it through to the flight all clear. Nothing out of the ordinary other than the slowest security checkpoint I've been through in a while. But hey - they're French!

I'll write more later. Right now, off to look at the heaps of laundry awaiting me.

08 August 2006

safe in paris

I made it to Paris tre bien. (those of you that speak French, please pardon my butchering of the language that I don't actually know.)

The Med was lovely - I have blog entries to type up and post when I return from lazy evenings drinking wine and watching the sun set over the water with sand in my toes.

I'm currently resting my lil' toesies before I return to walking in Paris. Today's tourism is done and now it's wander time. I have a nutella crepe in hand - so I'm all set to go.

Although I did a whole lot of relaxing on the sand and swimming while in the Riviera I have more stories from that portion than from my train ride and day in Paris. Go figure!!

And I'm all chipper cause a visitor is joining me later this week in Paris only to be dragged to the top of the Eiffel Tower and to other random Parisienne spots du jour. Mostly I mention the Eiffel Tower due to my fear of heights and my determination to get to the top anyways - so I'm greatful for the distraction on the way up and as I shakingly approach the edge with stoic determination. Yes, I really really hate man made heights! Take me to the steps of Sacre Couer for a view that won't petrify me at first. At least I've finally given up going up the inside of cathedral domes due to the fact I never get over that one no matter how long I'm up there.

Ahhh - feetsies good to go again. Aur revior! (errr - adios since I know I'm spelling that right. And I'm slowly learning this French keyboard thingie)

04 August 2006

smelly french keyboards

I lack the ability to type on this keyboard... and I thought Irish keyboards were hard enough but dang these misplaced as ms and ws.

Yes, I'm safe on the Mediterranean in France's Riviera and it's hot and beautiful. I have 8 more days in France and tomorrow I'm spending the entire day on the beach.

Adios (yes I know that's the wrong language.... but I keep nearly speaking in Spanish to people).

02 August 2006

today's PSA: rotating baa-ing sheep are brilliant

I hear baa's coming down the corridor towards me as I sit at my desk after getting to work rather late this morning due to utter and extreme laziness. Yes, it is an Irishman walking towards my back corner of the office with a sheep - a sheep that baas when you rotate it. Wiggle the sheep: it baaas; rotate the sheep: it baaaas. Irishmen and their sheep.

I think I've finally found my niche in this office. It's rather perplexing to me because this is about the same amount of time that it took me to find my place in the Seattle office... however, now I'm about to leave Dublin. Hrmmm...... I sit here laughing all day long and working away at a nifty little project that keeps me both confused and happy. Maybe I'd even make friends here.

But at the same time, Seattle's still a good home for me. So who knows - life happens and I'll go with it - having spent the past hour listening to the gentleman who sits next to me mutter about another coworker being brilliant.... for his moooing and his rotating baaaaing sheep!