Saturday, July 29, 2006

Rain, Ice Cream, and Damn I Miss Hockey

It's my fourth day in Dublin, and I've seen it all: the rain, the drizzle, the sprinkling, as well as the beautiful blue skies and the mugginess that reminds me of childhood summers in upstate New York (but I don't think that last one is normal for these parts). None of it has been all that severe; pretty mild and mostly harmless (kind of like the food so far). It really is pleasant for the most part, but I'm holding my breath for winter.

Some of the things I've noticed so far:

They have ice cream trucks here, and they play music that sounds an awful lot like something I would classify as a jig.

There are 2 big parks near my apartment, and one of them has a come-hither looking statue of Oscar Wilde. The other one has a pond with ducks in it. I can't remember which is Merrion Square Park and which is St. Stephen's Green, but they're both really freaking cute.

Just like the French, the Irish put butter on everything. This makes me happy.

Dubliners love their Friday nights and their pubs.



It was at least this happening when we left last night around 1:30 am, and half of the patrons were still in their suits and high heels from the work day. Very impressive. Thankfully, the quickie mart type places (I haven't figured out what they're called here yet) stay open real late in the drinking neighborhoods so you can chase your Guinness with a Magnum or a Flake ice cream. They even have (get ready for this, Dad!) Tim Hortons donuts! Talk about a small world.

Friday, July 28, 2006

I live here now!



Well not in the River Liffey. But down the street! Exciting!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Erin Go Bragh

Safe arrival post! Made it to Dublin safe and sound. The apartment is wonderful, the city is beautiful, and the people are friendly. I'll try to get some photos up later today after I've done a round of site seeing.

I love new adventures!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

So this is what "intensive" means

Wow. This publishing course is no joke. I don't know whether I'm coming or going. For all I know, I'll wake up tomorrow and it will turn out that I only dreamed that I posted to my blog. Eesh.

Does anyone who reads this blog go to Stanford? Is the dorm food always this good?

Friday, July 14, 2006

Is it the first day of the rest of my life yet?

So in about 2 hours, I'll be checking into my dorm on the Stanford campus--my home away from home for the next 10 days while attend the Stanford Professional Publishing Course.

Yesterday I cleaned out my desk at The Planning Shop. All of my snow globes, my box of Farrah Fawcett heads, my stacks and stacks of crap--gone. Boxed up. There's no sign of Deborah in The Planning Shop office other than my shadow box from team-building day. That and the weird dog smell.

In 12 days, I'll be boarding the plane to Dublin. I plan to sleep on the transatlantic flight. Sleep and dream of leprechauns.

So if I don't blog much over the next couple of weeks, it's because I'm busy learning, networking, and experiencing life-changing events. And if I do blog much, it's probably because learning means reading (and we all know how I feel about reading), networking is scary, and life-changing events have pretty much been the norm this year. Either way, I'll be having a great time.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Wild Like Children

Mir and I went to see Tilly and the Wall last Saturday. It was my last hurrah in the city before I leave for Dublin. They played at Cafe du Nord, which is 2 blocks from my old apartment. No, there weren't any tears (not from me), but it did contribute to the growing general feeling of "Wow. I'm leaving the country. And my hometown. For, like, a long time. Cool!"



Sure we could have gotten a better picture, but I really didn't feel like muscling my way through a bunch of sweaty hipsters. Sheesh, what a fashion show. And hair show. Good music though. It's hard to beat the poppiest of pop combined with tap dancing. Even if the tap dancer might as well have been holding a big cardboard sign that read "Look at me! I'm super cool!" Listen, sweetie, you're already a tap dancing percussionist for a pop band. From Omaha. We know you're cool. You don't have to convince us. Now take off the tutu.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Mine eyes have seen all kinds of stuff

Ozzy update: it's a miracle!

We went to the doggie opthamologist this morning, and Dr. M. told us that Ozzy's got 100% vision in his right eye and 90% in his left eye. The side effects of the prednisone--lethargy, general mopey-ness, peeing like there ain't no tomorrow--will subside as we lower the dosage over the next couple of weeks. He will need to take a low dosage of prednisone for the rest of his little doggie life, but it won't have any of these adverse effects on him. It will just keep his little doggie eyeballs from breaking again. Good boy!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I'm seriously not kidding

Oh crap--it just hit me that I'm going to really miss some people when I move to Dublin in a few weeks.

Like, *really* miss some people.



Can you guess who I'm anticipating missing right now? That's right--Dolph Lundgren.

This one's for you, my once and always doppelganger.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Knee-deep in the hoopla



We go together like, um, public beaches and illegal fireworks. Together forever like, er, 12-packs of Bud Light and illegal fireworks.

Spending the 4th of July at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was as fun and entertaining as it was surreal and terrifying. The fireworks display after sunset was huge, impressive, and in no way approved or regulated by any official body. The quarter-mile long stretch of beach was occupied by dozens upon dozens of pyromaniacs equipped with large and loud illgotten fireworks. As long as you stay aware and be ready to run if you see someone sprinting away from a box or tube or anything smoking or with a fuse, you'll probably be safe. And the view can't be beat.

Ozzy update: Poor guy. His vision seems to be returning, at least some of it. It looks like he's responding well to the steroids that the opthamologist prescribed, but the pills are making him feel and act out of sorts. Our next eye doctor appointment is scheduled for Saturday morning. He's a real trooper, that's for sure!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Slightly more pathetic than he was last week

Question:

"What did you do this weekend?"

Examples of acceptable answers:

"I saw a movie and went for a hike."

"Met some friends for dinner and drank way too much."

"Nothing really--puttered around the house and did laundry."

"Ran around doing errands, took the kids for ice cream, watched the ball game."

And then there's my answer:

"I woke up Saturday morning and my dog had gone blind."

Seriously. Blind as bat. Blinder, actually. Only Ozzy could experience spontaneous blindness. One diagnosis of two detatched retinas and a prescription for prednazone later, his eyesight is slowly returning. I wish the same could be said of my sanity and low blood pressure.

Thankfully, he's not in any pain. I think he's rather enjoying all of the extra attention. "Here, Oz, have some hamburger. Let me carry you to bed, buddy." I sure do love that accident and illness prone dog. Even when he's got goofy eye.