Category :: ah, ireland
All photos taken by Ms. Jen on Feb. 4, 2006 with her Casio Xlim40
digital camera at the 'new' St. Brigid's Well in Kildare, Ireland.
Yeah! This weekend is the time for my two favorite, highly under-appreciated holidays! St. Brigid's Day today and Ground Hog's Day / Candlemas tomorrow!
Go out and celebrate the transitioning of winter-spring and the increasing daylight by giving your local Ground Hog a big kiss... ;o)
Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and we give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Inspire us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end.
... for at least 15 minutes. I even needed sunglasses during those 15 minutes. Given that I left my sunglasses in my car in SoCal, I should be glad that the big dark heavy rain laden clouds returned promptly.
Today was Mom and I's last full day in Ireland for this trip. We ventured southwest from Letterkenny to Glenties and then down the N-56 to the N-14 via Donegal town to Sligo. Most of the drive was lovely. The above photo was taken on the small, one lane road to St. John's Point.
While in the Sligo area, we visited the Creevykeel Goort Cairn, Strandhill Beach with surfers (to quote one after Mom asked after the water temps, "It is feckin freezing!"), and then off to Carrowmore Megalithic Tombs just before sunset.
The sky was completely dark by 4:30pm and we were off down the N-4 to Dublin. Tomorrow we fly back to the UK for the last week of the trip.
Mon 11.19.07 - Today Mom & I drove from Donegal to Omagh to go to the Ulster American Folk Park. About 2/3 of the way through the park, the clouds cleared a bit to give a view of blue sky. Photo taken on the 'Pennsylvania' side of the park, thus the log cabin.
After a lovely early dinner at the Sperrin Restaurant on the A-5 just south of the Folk Park, we drove to Letterkenny in Donegal for the night. Tomorrow is Donegal and Sligo.
Photo of a Crane in Dublin taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N95.
... so I can trot around the world taking photos of construction cranes. In lieu of winning the lottery, anyone want to sponsor me with a mobile art grant?
Sat 11.17.07 - Walking to brunch.
Fri Nov 16, 2007 - The Registrar, Jurgen, The Vice Provost, Ruth, The Vice Chancellor, Dermott, and another College official.
Fri 11.16.07 - Mom, Me, and Ruth just before entering Trinity's Public Theatre for the Commencement ceremony.
Around Ireland : A Mobile Documentation Project is a finalist in the "Student" category of the SXSW Web Awards 2007!
I am very excited. Simon said via email, "FANTASTIC". Shonagh wrote, "such brilliant news about the website! ". Jasper emailed, "hooray for us."
In case you missed my blogging about the Around Ireland project this last summer, here is a summary from the About page:
Around Ireland is a mobile documentary project completed as part of the MSc in Multmedia Systems at Trinity College Dublin. We have travelled the 32 counties of Ireland, gathering video and images on mobile phones over the course of the Summer of 2006. The mobile content is sent directly to our site, Aroundireland.net from camera-equipped mobile phones in real time.
Rather than sending an image to just one other individual via MMS, Around Ireland aims to act as a central respository for mobile photographic content, allowing visitors to browse submitted mobile pictures from all over the island, geotagged according to location.
A big thanks to SXSW Interactive and see y'all at the 10th Annual SXSW Web Awards on Sun. March 10, 2007 at the Downtown Hilton, Austin, Texas!
The above letter was mailed on Jan. 11th from Dublin, arrived in California on Jan. 25th (today). Deadline for the Feb. 16th graduate commencement was Jan. 19th, exactly one week ago. I was told that we would have received our letters by mid-November and our class voted to graduate on Feb. 16th. Even if I were to Fed-ex the commencement application back this afternoon, it would be a week and a half late.
I guess I will have my own party here in Calif. on the 16th. Who wants to join me?
We can go over to the Chapman University chapel for the dark wood university chapel ambiance, we will need someone with gray hair in a black robe to intone in Latin, all at 8am (to be in time sync with the 4pm graduation in Dublin), and then we can go over to pub (O'Hara's?) and get drunk after.... Or maybe we can stay in bed and go to Walt's at 5pm for happy hour instead... ;oD
Sun 09/17/2006 19:54 Saeed Testing the Stone
Sun 09/17/2006 18:50 Lia Fail
Sun 09/17/2006 18:41 Lìa Fail
Sun 09/17/2006 18:35 Mound of Hostages
Sun 09/17/2006 15:17 Graveyard
Sun 09/17/2006 15:16 Ogam Stone
Sun 09/17/2006 13:36
Sun 09/17/2006 13:33
Sun 09/17/2006 13:28
Tue 09/05/2006 18:19 : N9 Standing Stone, Gormanstown, Co. Kildare
Tues. Sept. 5, 2006 - Jerpoint Abbey, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
Tues. Sept. 5, 2006 - Jerpoint Abbey, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
Sun. Sept. 3, 2006 - The Dungarvan Fort / Castle / Type Object.
Sun 07.16.06 - View from the Catholic Martrys Memorial Garden. What a mess. I cried.
Sun 07.16.06 - A View from the Protestant side of the "Peace Wall", Belfast.
Sat 07.15.06 - The Europa Hotel and Grand Opera House, Belfast.
Sat 07.15.06 - The new bridge over the River Boyne.
Tues. 07.04.06 - Sparklers are my favorite. While fireworks are illegal in Ireland, sparklers can be purchased at joke shops. These sparklers were purchased this afternoon.
Thu 06/15/2006 17:03- West Cross, Monasterboice. GPS N 53 46.672' W 006 25.087
Thur 06.15.06 - East passage view. GPS N 53 42.072' W 006 29.436'
Wed. 06.14.06 - at Clonmacnoise.
Wed 06.14.06 - Using the GPS: N 53' 19.658' W 007' 45.120'
St. Manchan's poem (or so accredited):
Grant me sweet Christ the grace to find
Son of the living God!
A small hut in a lonesome spot
To make it my abode.
A little pool but very clear
To stand beside the place
Where all men's sins are washed away
By sanctifying grace.
A pleasant woodland all about
To shield it (the hut) from the wind,
And make a home for singing birds
Before it and behind.
A southern aspect for the heat
A stream along its foot,
A smooth green lawn with rich top soil
Propitious to all fruit.
My choice of men to live with me
And pray to God as well;
Quiet men of humble mind
Their number I shall tell.
Four files of three or three of four
To give the Psalter forth;
Six to pray by the south church wall
And six along the north.
Two by two my dozen friends
To tell the number right
Praying with me to move the King
Who gives the sun its light.
Fri 06.02.06 - Hundreds of sunburnt folks, BYOB*, no security, and a cricket game going on.
*I pre-purchased at The Corkscrew & am drinking a celebratory bottle of Raveswood Old Vine Lodi Zindfanel. Eoin & co are drinking cans of beer. Happy End of Exams to us!
Sun 05.21.06 - The last few days have been dark with heavy rains, but come evening the downpours cease and the skies clear. Anyone know why?
Wed 05.10.06 - Rather than 'Work in Progress'.
Can someone tell me why in English (UK version) it is "Works in Progress" or "I am good at maths" or "drinks driving" or... And English (US version) it is "Work in Progress" or "I am good at math" or "drunk driving" or...
Why the grammatical difference?
I do.
Last night, my apartment-mate, Angee, threw a lovely Korean dinner in honor of my birthday with a few friends from our building. The food was amazing, the wine lovely (Thanks, Simon & Eoin!), and the conversation lively.
At one point, Angee brought up my blog post of this last week and took issue with it, she felt I had been too harsh on Trinity College. Now, Angee is one of the very few International students in my acquaintance who is happy with her program and the service that she has received from the College.
I like my program, but I take issue with the bits of intrenched unnecessary and inefficient bureauracy that I have encountered time and again with various offices on campus.
After telling my network point story to the assembled dinner guests and getting everyone but Angee to admit that they too would be really angry at 40+ days of no broadband that one is paying for with school housing, Angee and Eoin challenged me. Both of them wanted to know what Do I like about Ireland?
Lots. In terms of institutions that I encounter and interact with daily, here are 3 Irish things I am happy with:
1) The Luas. While lots of folk I know are not happy with public transportation in Dublin, I am. The Luas is nice, convienent, runs regularily, and best yet has a purple and yellow interior color scheme. Thanks Connex for the good job.
2) Bank of Ireland: Nice Bank of Ireland. I go to the big fancy branch at 1 College Green. The staff is nice, courteous, and very helpful. The lines are short, service prompt and they have yet to give me any hassle at all. Best of all, they let me deposit US Dollar checks to my account and the money is available in Euros in less than a week. Thanks Bank of Ireland, you rock.
3) Irish Men: Now lots of the Irish women I know complain about Irish men the way I rant about my broadband problems. To them Irish men are passive and not handsome like ___________ (fill in some other nationality). I frequently tell the women in my program that they must need glasses because Irish men are good lookin', esp. their asses. Yes, Ladies & Gentlemen, the true delight of Dublin is the lack of flat white boy butt. Irish men, by and large, have very lovely round bottoms. This is one Irish institution I can get behind....
Sun 04.23.05 - The view from the Villa Farmhouse in Cushendun, No. IE.
Sun 04.23.06 - On the way to the Glens of Antrim.
Sun 04.23.06 - Carlingford Castle and Lough.
Sat 04.22.06 - Moone Abbey, Co. Kildare.
Southside base carving of an interlaced animal form.
Thu 04/13/2006 15:00 : The skies are blue, Happy Easter!
Tue 04/11/2006 19:22 - Cherie & Louisa
Sun 04.02.06 - The Porleek Dolmen at the Ballymascanlan Hotel golf course on the Dundalk-side of the Cooley Peninsula.
Sun 04.02.06 - In Carlingford looking up at Slieve Foy.
Sat 04/01/2006 17:32
View of the Round Tower and the Shannon River estuary from inside Teampall Ciarán.
Sat 04.01.06 - Angie inspecting a mat of frog eggs.
Wed 03.22.06 - Third day of Spring, the sun is shining for the 1st time since I got back to Dublin, and the dafodils are out in full force.
Wed 03/22/2006 14:27 - Water reflections.
The computer lab at the Trinity Collge MSCMM program has become an embattled segregated territory. Our computer lab is split in two with the "front" side that faces the Pearse Street station and a "back" side that faces a brick wall. The front lab has the newest and best-est computers and the back has all the people. Go figure.
But more importantly, most of the men, who are also most of the programmers, are in the front lab, and most of the women, designers and artists, are in the back. I personally could care less, as I prefer to work at home on my laptop, but I tend towards the back of the lab as more of my various project group members are there and the front lab has a lot of glare in the afternoon as the window blinds are all jacked up.
We were told at the beginning of the course by people who were in the course last year that folks would "settle" into a computer and it would be "theirs". At the time, I thought, "That's b.s.". I still think, "That's b.s.". Only problem is that it is causing bad feelings with the folk who feel a certain computer is "theirs".
All the computers are run of the mill Dell desktops with a variety of audio - visual - web - image - etc programs on them. I like to sit down at whatever one is open and go to work. If I am working on a project, I like to sit next to my group members so that we can talk as we work, even if it is on things that are not project related, as we can build community and riff off each other.
Continue reading That's My Computer!.
Mon 03/06/2006 11:14 - Last week Spring went on vacation and Winter showed up with a punch. And I got sick again. Bah
Well, Spring is back today. My jacket is unzipped, my gloves are in my pocket, and I feel well again, Thank God.
In other news, it is in the 80s in Austin this week!
Wed 03/01/2006 12:00 : Today I thankful that Spring is just around the corner, the skies are big & fluffy today, as well as the fact that our afternoon class was cancelled today, but most of all for the lengthing daylight AND that SXSW is a mere 9 days away!
Sun 02/19/2006 16:21 : Taking myself on a walk to the market to get food and get out of the house.
Mon 02.13.05 - Go away for 5 days and Trinity's lawns are abloom with snow drops, crocus, and other early spring bulbs. What a treat.
Sat 02.04.06 - with Edel in a convertible!
Fri 01.20.05 - I took a walk down to the local shops around 8pm to get water, diet coke, and a bottle of wine to take to an loempia/spring roll making party, when I looked up at my favorite stand of scots pine trees all lit up and could see the stars behind them.
Update: To answer El's question in the comments, the trees are lit by spotlights, which seems to be popular in this neighborhood of Dublin to light up one's big trees at night. My flash would not have gotten such great detail at such a distance as the tree canopy. I did have to switch the camera into night mode and leaned against a fence to stay as still as possible.
Tues 01.10.06 - See this bubbling pot of jam? Yes? That was my response to my lovely apricots getting a bit moldy and my utter frustration with the lack of organization and administration at Trinity College, Dublin. Chop. Chop. Boil. Boil.
Ireland is laid back. While Dublin is bustling, and the Irish Times complains of the go go stressful lifestyle in the new Dublin, it is still laid back. A couple of bong hits south of San Diego.
If you, the future post-grad/graduate student, seeking a nice, prestigious university to attend in a lovely country, such as Ireland, with a bustling, European metroplitian capital, let's say Dublin, decide to apply to Trinity College, let me warn you.... your average community college or little podunk bible college is better organized and administrated than one of the great, old universities of Europe.
But it might be the four hundred years of tradition weighing on the place. Or it might be that they are woefully understaffed in the administration employees and have grad students and professors performing jobs that secretaries and admins do at your local community college or podunk bible college. Or it might be that the EU students don't pay fees (tuition) or it is REALLY cheap, thus the university is funded inadequately by the Irish government and European Union. Hello, alumni and alumnae, where are you? Stop giving to the chuggers on Grafton Street and give to the Ole' TCD...
After months of staying quiet here on this blog, the dam burst today, after a month of trying to get my course co-ordinater and director to tell me the dates & which classes are being offered for the second semester, starting Jan. 30, 2006, as well as our Master's Exam dates, I called the Exams Office at Trinity and they did not know the dates of the exams.
Yes, today is Tues. Jan. 10, 2006. The exams will take place sometime between May 22, 2006 and June 16, 2006, but the University has not decided when.
The podunk bible college I used to teach at had exam and graduation dates set YEARS in advance. Not with five months to go...
If you are the type of person to carry a Covey Daytimer, Trinity may not be the school for you. If you love living a few bong hits south of San Diego, Trinity is definitely the school for you.
I live somewhere between Franklin Covey and San Deigo, I do want to nail down a few dates so that I know when my vacation days are so that I don't have to cancel flights and ask family and friends to spend extra to cancel and rearrange their flights.
Graduation? Each department and course chooses if they will even have one, months after the classes end. Maybe. Not sure, yet.
But I won't be here, as the Irish gov't and the Garda have limited my visa to Sept. 30, 2006.
Sat 01.07.06 - Fionnuala and I were walking to the bus stop to go out to classmate Amy's birthday party when I saw that the Bank of Ireland still had its Christmas Tree up, even if unadorned.
Mon. 12.19.05 - View from the airplane window.
Wed. 12.14.05 - Waiting for Ruth & Helen in the front foyer at ely place, when they arrived it was all booked up even to have just a glass of wine. We moved on to George's Wine Bar on South Frederick St.
Wed. 12.14.05 - The fellow who was off and on loading the kegs tried to charge me 10 Euro for taking this photo.
Mon. 12.12.05 - Dublin at its contemporary gaudy best.
Sun. 11.27.05 - The chandelier and ceiling of the Powerscourt center courtyard.
Sun 11.27.05 - Walking a new way to the Luas made for new discoveries.
Fri. 11.25.05 - I got out of the Luas this morning to find large white snowflakes falling. I had hoped to catch them fallign in this picture, but my lovely little cameraphone did not get the big white bits falling out of the sky.
It was lovely, I tell you. Yeah! Snow! Yeah!
Unfortunately, it is too warm to stick. Dang.
Thurs. Nov. 24, 2005 - It seems to be popular amongst the Dublin City utility trucks to have stuffed animals strapped to the grill or another part of the vehicle. This is the second Barney I have seen in two days.
Tues 11.22.05 - Not only has it been sunny for the last seven days, but it has also been cold. While that lovely H (meterological "high") has hovered over Wales for nearly a week, blessing Dublin with sun, it has also been cold.
With the barometric high and cold air, I, the woman with an unnatural affinity for barometric lows, started getting an "ice cream" headache in the middle of my face every time I went out last week. By the time Friday rolled around, I had a sinus headache that took up a painful, multiple day residency. I left Captain Sensible's DJ night at the Voodoo Lounge early last friday due to my headache, much to the shock of my fellow(ess) SoCal-ers.
By Sunday, I had a full fledged sinus/head cold with sore throat. I have missed classes, slept lots, drank lots of tea, taken my Advil Sinus / Cold tablets, etc. Every time I have to go out, I am very thankful for the extra long, extra wide leopard print fleece scarf that Stacey Hess gave to me as my going away present.
Thanks, Stace!
Mon 11.21.05 - We are now in our sixth full day of all day sun and starry nights here in Dublin, Ireland. I am not counting last Wed, as it was cloudy in the morning and did not get sunny until noon or so. The Irish Times' weatherman is forecasting a return to partly cloudy tomorrow, but maybe the sun will beat those clouds down...
Mon 11.21.05 - Walking to the Luas this morning, one of the last trees to put on it's fall colors is enshrouded in misty sunlight and frosty grass.
Sun 11.20.05 - Miracle upon Miracle. We are now on our fourth day, possibly fifth, straight of sunshine during the day and stars at night. Crisp, verging on downright chilly (see frost photo), but sunny. Will the wonders of Ireland not cease?
Also, last night I got a meet a delightful little rescued puppy named Keno. I miss the Scruff.
Sat 11.19.05 - At lunch with roommates Angie & Vanessa, plus Vanessa's brother Simon.
Continue reading The Damned.
Thurs 11.17.05 - Ever tried to tell someone in Ireland, "No, really, I don't want another drink."? It does not work. Really it doesn't. Dave next seat neighbor at the pub kept wanting to buy drinks for Kat & I. I kept saying no. He kept buying more, by the time we got up to leave and find some dinner, I had 2 and a half drinks lined up in front of me and Kat had 2. As we left, Dave and the bartender were astounded that we weren't going to drink it all before leaving. Sorry folks, when I mean no, I mean no.
Thurs 11.17.05 - Kat (aka Kaptain Trouble) is in town for The Damned show on Friday. She and I met up and went for drinks at the Foggy Dew in Temple Bar. The gentleman next to us became more friendly the more pints he consumed. His name was Dave.
Wed 11.16.05 - Someone recently told me, "Here in Ireland, we don't have a climate, we have Weather."
I have been entranced with the ever changing sky. In SoCal the sky comes in three varieties: sunny & clear, sunny & smoggy/smokey, and cloudy. Here there is the most amazing range of sunny and cloudy and everything in between. I am finding myself photographing the in between.
Sun 11.13.05 - Lunch at Mimo's in the Powerscourt Center with Sarah, Jonny (pictured), Mark, et al. The whole table, except one, had the very tasty and cheap (only 5.50 Euros!) seafood chowder.
Sun 11.13.05 - Walking from Grafton Street to the Powerscourt Center for lunch at Mimo's.
Sun 11.13.05 - Hackney cabs at St. Stephen's Green.
Sun 11.13.05 - The sky at the corner of Aungier and York Streets.
Sat 11.12.05 - View from the kitchen window.
Fri. 11.11.05 - At Mahaffey's after a long week. Mick stretching, Neil listening.
While the drink selection is low for Ms. Jen at Mahaffey's, the barkeep was so fabulous as to make me a cheese and ham ("Sorry, we are out of ham & cheese.") toasted sandwich with my rice & millet bread that I had bought earlier in the day. Cider and a sandwich. ;o)
Oct. 2005 - Scruffy (on the right) and his new hot girlfriend, Belle, on the left. Photo by Joe or Christine.
I have now been in Dublin for over five weeks and there are some things back home in Southern California (aka SoCal), that I am starting to miss:
1) Scruffy.
2) The Orange Circle.
3) My weird rock'n'roll friends, like Sean. Need I say more?
4) Renu Nakorn. There is no such thing as Thai food under $15 a plate here in Dublin-town. And there is certainly no such thing as Northern (Issan) Thai with sticky rice, papaya salad and beef larb. I know the first place I am going to after the plane touches down when I come home for Xmas.
(Whilst searching for Thai links, I found this recipe for Kangaroo Larb!)
Future Missing:
6) Looks like I will be missing Punk Rock Bowling 2006. Unfortunately, it falls on at the end of the semester and the start of serious writing of my thesis, which is due at the end of March, so I won't be able to take the 5 or 6 days off to fly to Lost Wages. What happened to middle of February, it would have been much easier to leave at the beginning of the 2nd semester...
Sat. 11.05.05 - The view from my window at sunset.
Sat. 11.05.05 - Sunshine hitting glass.
Fri. 11.04.05 - Walking towards the Old Library.
Fri. 11.04.05 - The tree across from the Luas stop.
Fri. 11.04.05 - Walking to the Luas. I don't know why but I always love November 4th.
Thurs. 11.03.05 - Ruth's hair.
Wed. 11.02.05 - This plane tree (aka sycamore) is one of the best trees on campus, it reminds me of the sycamores at John and Catherine's yard. I just noticed the sculpture for the first time today.
Wed. 11.02.05 - On my way to class, late of course, I decided that I had to test my new moblogging ability in the beautiful morning sunshine.
Tues. 11.01.05 - Nice Alex from South Africa wins for Vodafone employee of the month. And the only one in the last 35 days of my trying to get my moblogging from my phone working that has actually been helpful. If this MMS goes through to Flickr then... I am back!
Photo taken by Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610.
Thurs. 10.27.05 - A huddle on the Trinity College rugby field with the 19th cent. engineering building in the background.
Any family reading this: the one story brick bbuilding in the background is where (Great) Grandpa G.F.K. went to classes when he attended Trinity in the 1890s. I found out today that I can go to the Records office and get a copy of his attendance record. This should be *interesting*, I will bring it back at Christmas.
Sat. 10.29.05 - At lunch given by Christine for our Bible Study. ;o)
Tues. 10.25.05 - Walking from my course to Georges Street, I spy yet another crane on Pearse Street, juxtaposed with two signs and a billboard...
Sat 10.22.05 - The sky walking back from Rathmines center.
Ok, lest anyone fool you, the weather here in Ireland is not that bad. There have been more dry days than wet and a good 50/50 of sun to cloud. Now, mind you, the sun to cloud ratio will flipflop at least four times in one day, but there is sunshine. The last week has been in the upper 60s (F degrees) and I have not really needed my coat. I have worn short sleeves several days now and you can pick out the rest of the American crowd by who is wearing shorts and flipflops. The Irish remain optimistic that real winter will show up any day now, as they are wearing full coats and scarves, even as the temp is nearing 70 degress F (21 C).
But the best part of the weather here in Ireland has been the sky. Moment by moment it is to be watched as it is an ever changing light, cloud and color show.
All photos taken by Ms. Jen on Feb. 4, 2006 with her Casio Xlim40
digital camera at the 'new' St. Brigid's Well in Kildare, Ireland.
Yeah! This weekend is the time for my two favorite, highly under-appreciated holidays! St. Brigid's Day today and Ground Hog's Day / Candlemas tomorrow!
Go out and celebrate the transitioning of winter-spring and the increasing daylight by giving your local Ground Hog a big kiss... ;o)
Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and we give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Inspire us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end.
... for at least 15 minutes. I even needed sunglasses during those 15 minutes. Given that I left my sunglasses in my car in SoCal, I should be glad that the big dark heavy rain laden clouds returned promptly.
Today was Mom and I's last full day in Ireland for this trip. We ventured southwest from Letterkenny to Glenties and then down the N-56 to the N-14 via Donegal town to Sligo. Most of the drive was lovely. The above photo was taken on the small, one lane road to St. John's Point.
While in the Sligo area, we visited the Creevykeel Goort Cairn, Strandhill Beach with surfers (to quote one after Mom asked after the water temps, "It is feckin freezing!"), and then off to Carrowmore Megalithic Tombs just before sunset.
The sky was completely dark by 4:30pm and we were off down the N-4 to Dublin. Tomorrow we fly back to the UK for the last week of the trip.
Mon 11.19.07 - Today Mom & I drove from Donegal to Omagh to go to the Ulster American Folk Park. About 2/3 of the way through the park, the clouds cleared a bit to give a view of blue sky. Photo taken on the 'Pennsylvania' side of the park, thus the log cabin.
After a lovely early dinner at the Sperrin Restaurant on the A-5 just south of the Folk Park, we drove to Letterkenny in Donegal for the night. Tomorrow is Donegal and Sligo.
Photo of a Crane in Dublin taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N95.
... so I can trot around the world taking photos of construction cranes. In lieu of winning the lottery, anyone want to sponsor me with a mobile art grant?
Sat 11.17.07 - Walking to brunch.
Fri Nov 16, 2007 - The Registrar, Jurgen, The Vice Provost, Ruth, The Vice Chancellor, Dermott, and another College official.
Fri 11.16.07 - Mom, Me, and Ruth just before entering Trinity's Public Theatre for the Commencement ceremony.
Around Ireland : A Mobile Documentation Project is a finalist in the "Student" category of the SXSW Web Awards 2007!
I am very excited. Simon said via email, "FANTASTIC". Shonagh wrote, "such brilliant news about the website! ". Jasper emailed, "hooray for us."
In case you missed my blogging about the Around Ireland project this last summer, here is a summary from the About page:
Around Ireland is a mobile documentary project completed as part of the MSc in Multmedia Systems at Trinity College Dublin. We have travelled the 32 counties of Ireland, gathering video and images on mobile phones over the course of the Summer of 2006. The mobile content is sent directly to our site, Aroundireland.net from camera-equipped mobile phones in real time.Rather than sending an image to just one other individual via MMS, Around Ireland aims to act as a central respository for mobile photographic content, allowing visitors to browse submitted mobile pictures from all over the island, geotagged according to location.
A big thanks to SXSW Interactive and see y'all at the 10th Annual SXSW Web Awards on Sun. March 10, 2007 at the Downtown Hilton, Austin, Texas!
The above letter was mailed on Jan. 11th from Dublin, arrived in California on Jan. 25th (today). Deadline for the Feb. 16th graduate commencement was Jan. 19th, exactly one week ago. I was told that we would have received our letters by mid-November and our class voted to graduate on Feb. 16th. Even if I were to Fed-ex the commencement application back this afternoon, it would be a week and a half late.
I guess I will have my own party here in Calif. on the 16th. Who wants to join me?
We can go over to the Chapman University chapel for the dark wood university chapel ambiance, we will need someone with gray hair in a black robe to intone in Latin, all at 8am (to be in time sync with the 4pm graduation in Dublin), and then we can go over to pub (O'Hara's?) and get drunk after.... Or maybe we can stay in bed and go to Walt's at 5pm for happy hour instead... ;oD
Sun 09/17/2006 19:54 Saeed Testing the Stone
Sun 09/17/2006 18:50 Lia Fail
Sun 09/17/2006 18:41 Lìa Fail
Sun 09/17/2006 18:35 Mound of Hostages
Sun 09/17/2006 15:17 Graveyard
Sun 09/17/2006 15:16 Ogam Stone
Sun 09/17/2006 13:36
Sun 09/17/2006 13:33
Sun 09/17/2006 13:28
Tue 09/05/2006 18:19 : N9 Standing Stone, Gormanstown, Co. Kildare
Tues. Sept. 5, 2006 - Jerpoint Abbey, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
Tues. Sept. 5, 2006 - Jerpoint Abbey, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
Sun. Sept. 3, 2006 - The Dungarvan Fort / Castle / Type Object.
Sun 07.16.06 - View from the Catholic Martrys Memorial Garden. What a mess. I cried.
Sun 07.16.06 - A View from the Protestant side of the "Peace Wall", Belfast.
Sat 07.15.06 - The Europa Hotel and Grand Opera House, Belfast.
Sat 07.15.06 - The new bridge over the River Boyne.
Tues. 07.04.06 - Sparklers are my favorite. While fireworks are illegal in Ireland, sparklers can be purchased at joke shops. These sparklers were purchased this afternoon.
Thu 06/15/2006 17:03- West Cross, Monasterboice. GPS N 53 46.672' W 006 25.087
Thur 06.15.06 - East passage view. GPS N 53 42.072' W 006 29.436'
Wed. 06.14.06 - at Clonmacnoise.
Wed 06.14.06 - Using the GPS: N 53' 19.658' W 007' 45.120'
St. Manchan's poem (or so accredited):
Grant me sweet Christ the grace to find
Son of the living God!
A small hut in a lonesome spot
To make it my abode.
A little pool but very clear
To stand beside the place
Where all men's sins are washed away
By sanctifying grace.
A pleasant woodland all about
To shield it (the hut) from the wind,
And make a home for singing birds
Before it and behind.
A southern aspect for the heat
A stream along its foot,
A smooth green lawn with rich top soil
Propitious to all fruit.
My choice of men to live with me
And pray to God as well;
Quiet men of humble mind
Their number I shall tell.
Four files of three or three of four
To give the Psalter forth;
Six to pray by the south church wall
And six along the north.
Two by two my dozen friends
To tell the number right
Praying with me to move the King
Who gives the sun its light.
Fri 06.02.06 - Hundreds of sunburnt folks, BYOB*, no security, and a cricket game going on.
*I pre-purchased at The Corkscrew & am drinking a celebratory bottle of Raveswood Old Vine Lodi Zindfanel. Eoin & co are drinking cans of beer. Happy End of Exams to us!
Sun 05.21.06 - The last few days have been dark with heavy rains, but come evening the downpours cease and the skies clear. Anyone know why?
Wed 05.10.06 - Rather than 'Work in Progress'.
Can someone tell me why in English (UK version) it is "Works in Progress" or "I am good at maths" or "drinks driving" or... And English (US version) it is "Work in Progress" or "I am good at math" or "drunk driving" or...
Why the grammatical difference?
I do.
Last night, my apartment-mate, Angee, threw a lovely Korean dinner in honor of my birthday with a few friends from our building. The food was amazing, the wine lovely (Thanks, Simon & Eoin!), and the conversation lively.
At one point, Angee brought up my blog post of this last week and took issue with it, she felt I had been too harsh on Trinity College. Now, Angee is one of the very few International students in my acquaintance who is happy with her program and the service that she has received from the College.
I like my program, but I take issue with the bits of intrenched unnecessary and inefficient bureauracy that I have encountered time and again with various offices on campus.
After telling my network point story to the assembled dinner guests and getting everyone but Angee to admit that they too would be really angry at 40+ days of no broadband that one is paying for with school housing, Angee and Eoin challenged me. Both of them wanted to know what Do I like about Ireland?
Lots. In terms of institutions that I encounter and interact with daily, here are 3 Irish things I am happy with:
1) The Luas. While lots of folk I know are not happy with public transportation in Dublin, I am. The Luas is nice, convienent, runs regularily, and best yet has a purple and yellow interior color scheme. Thanks Connex for the good job.
2) Bank of Ireland: Nice Bank of Ireland. I go to the big fancy branch at 1 College Green. The staff is nice, courteous, and very helpful. The lines are short, service prompt and they have yet to give me any hassle at all. Best of all, they let me deposit US Dollar checks to my account and the money is available in Euros in less than a week. Thanks Bank of Ireland, you rock.
3) Irish Men: Now lots of the Irish women I know complain about Irish men the way I rant about my broadband problems. To them Irish men are passive and not handsome like ___________ (fill in some other nationality). I frequently tell the women in my program that they must need glasses because Irish men are good lookin', esp. their asses. Yes, Ladies & Gentlemen, the true delight of Dublin is the lack of flat white boy butt. Irish men, by and large, have very lovely round bottoms. This is one Irish institution I can get behind....
Sun 04.23.05 - The view from the Villa Farmhouse in Cushendun, No. IE.
Sun 04.23.06 - On the way to the Glens of Antrim.
Sun 04.23.06 - Carlingford Castle and Lough.
Sat 04.22.06 - Moone Abbey, Co. Kildare.
Southside base carving of an interlaced animal form.
Thu 04/13/2006 15:00 : The skies are blue, Happy Easter!
Tue 04/11/2006 19:22 - Cherie & Louisa
Sun 04.02.06 - The Porleek Dolmen at the Ballymascanlan Hotel golf course on the Dundalk-side of the Cooley Peninsula.
Sun 04.02.06 - In Carlingford looking up at Slieve Foy.
Sat 04/01/2006 17:32
View of the Round Tower and the Shannon River estuary from inside Teampall Ciarán.
Sat 04.01.06 - Angie inspecting a mat of frog eggs.
Wed 03.22.06 - Third day of Spring, the sun is shining for the 1st time since I got back to Dublin, and the dafodils are out in full force.
Wed 03/22/2006 14:27 - Water reflections.
The computer lab at the Trinity Collge MSCMM program has become an embattled segregated territory. Our computer lab is split in two with the "front" side that faces the Pearse Street station and a "back" side that faces a brick wall. The front lab has the newest and best-est computers and the back has all the people. Go figure.
But more importantly, most of the men, who are also most of the programmers, are in the front lab, and most of the women, designers and artists, are in the back. I personally could care less, as I prefer to work at home on my laptop, but I tend towards the back of the lab as more of my various project group members are there and the front lab has a lot of glare in the afternoon as the window blinds are all jacked up.
We were told at the beginning of the course by people who were in the course last year that folks would "settle" into a computer and it would be "theirs". At the time, I thought, "That's b.s.". I still think, "That's b.s.". Only problem is that it is causing bad feelings with the folk who feel a certain computer is "theirs".
All the computers are run of the mill Dell desktops with a variety of audio - visual - web - image - etc programs on them. I like to sit down at whatever one is open and go to work. If I am working on a project, I like to sit next to my group members so that we can talk as we work, even if it is on things that are not project related, as we can build community and riff off each other.
Mon 03/06/2006 11:14 - Last week Spring went on vacation and Winter showed up with a punch. And I got sick again. Bah
Well, Spring is back today. My jacket is unzipped, my gloves are in my pocket, and I feel well again, Thank God.
In other news, it is in the 80s in Austin this week!
Wed 03/01/2006 12:00 : Today I thankful that Spring is just around the corner, the skies are big & fluffy today, as well as the fact that our afternoon class was cancelled today, but most of all for the lengthing daylight AND that SXSW is a mere 9 days away!
Sun 02/19/2006 16:21 : Taking myself on a walk to the market to get food and get out of the house.
Mon 02.13.05 - Go away for 5 days and Trinity's lawns are abloom with snow drops, crocus, and other early spring bulbs. What a treat.
Sat 02.04.06 - with Edel in a convertible!
Fri 01.20.05 - I took a walk down to the local shops around 8pm to get water, diet coke, and a bottle of wine to take to an loempia/spring roll making party, when I looked up at my favorite stand of scots pine trees all lit up and could see the stars behind them.
Update: To answer El's question in the comments, the trees are lit by spotlights, which seems to be popular in this neighborhood of Dublin to light up one's big trees at night. My flash would not have gotten such great detail at such a distance as the tree canopy. I did have to switch the camera into night mode and leaned against a fence to stay as still as possible.
Tues 01.10.06 - See this bubbling pot of jam? Yes? That was my response to my lovely apricots getting a bit moldy and my utter frustration with the lack of organization and administration at Trinity College, Dublin. Chop. Chop. Boil. Boil.
Ireland is laid back. While Dublin is bustling, and the Irish Times complains of the go go stressful lifestyle in the new Dublin, it is still laid back. A couple of bong hits south of San Diego.
If you, the future post-grad/graduate student, seeking a nice, prestigious university to attend in a lovely country, such as Ireland, with a bustling, European metroplitian capital, let's say Dublin, decide to apply to Trinity College, let me warn you.... your average community college or little podunk bible college is better organized and administrated than one of the great, old universities of Europe.
But it might be the four hundred years of tradition weighing on the place. Or it might be that they are woefully understaffed in the administration employees and have grad students and professors performing jobs that secretaries and admins do at your local community college or podunk bible college. Or it might be that the EU students don't pay fees (tuition) or it is REALLY cheap, thus the university is funded inadequately by the Irish government and European Union. Hello, alumni and alumnae, where are you? Stop giving to the chuggers on Grafton Street and give to the Ole' TCD...
After months of staying quiet here on this blog, the dam burst today, after a month of trying to get my course co-ordinater and director to tell me the dates & which classes are being offered for the second semester, starting Jan. 30, 2006, as well as our Master's Exam dates, I called the Exams Office at Trinity and they did not know the dates of the exams.
Yes, today is Tues. Jan. 10, 2006. The exams will take place sometime between May 22, 2006 and June 16, 2006, but the University has not decided when.
The podunk bible college I used to teach at had exam and graduation dates set YEARS in advance. Not with five months to go...
If you are the type of person to carry a Covey Daytimer, Trinity may not be the school for you. If you love living a few bong hits south of San Diego, Trinity is definitely the school for you.
I live somewhere between Franklin Covey and San Deigo, I do want to nail down a few dates so that I know when my vacation days are so that I don't have to cancel flights and ask family and friends to spend extra to cancel and rearrange their flights.
Graduation? Each department and course chooses if they will even have one, months after the classes end. Maybe. Not sure, yet.
But I won't be here, as the Irish gov't and the Garda have limited my visa to Sept. 30, 2006.
Sat 01.07.06 - Fionnuala and I were walking to the bus stop to go out to classmate Amy's birthday party when I saw that the Bank of Ireland still had its Christmas Tree up, even if unadorned.
Mon. 12.19.05 - View from the airplane window.
Wed. 12.14.05 - Waiting for Ruth & Helen in the front foyer at ely place, when they arrived it was all booked up even to have just a glass of wine. We moved on to George's Wine Bar on South Frederick St.
Wed. 12.14.05 - The fellow who was off and on loading the kegs tried to charge me 10 Euro for taking this photo.
Mon. 12.12.05 - Dublin at its contemporary gaudy best.
Sun. 11.27.05 - The chandelier and ceiling of the Powerscourt center courtyard.
Sun 11.27.05 - Walking a new way to the Luas made for new discoveries.
Fri. 11.25.05 - I got out of the Luas this morning to find large white snowflakes falling. I had hoped to catch them fallign in this picture, but my lovely little cameraphone did not get the big white bits falling out of the sky.
It was lovely, I tell you. Yeah! Snow! Yeah!
Unfortunately, it is too warm to stick. Dang.
Thurs. Nov. 24, 2005 - It seems to be popular amongst the Dublin City utility trucks to have stuffed animals strapped to the grill or another part of the vehicle. This is the second Barney I have seen in two days.
Tues 11.22.05 - Not only has it been sunny for the last seven days, but it has also been cold. While that lovely H (meterological "high") has hovered over Wales for nearly a week, blessing Dublin with sun, it has also been cold.
With the barometric high and cold air, I, the woman with an unnatural affinity for barometric lows, started getting an "ice cream" headache in the middle of my face every time I went out last week. By the time Friday rolled around, I had a sinus headache that took up a painful, multiple day residency. I left Captain Sensible's DJ night at the Voodoo Lounge early last friday due to my headache, much to the shock of my fellow(ess) SoCal-ers.
By Sunday, I had a full fledged sinus/head cold with sore throat. I have missed classes, slept lots, drank lots of tea, taken my Advil Sinus / Cold tablets, etc. Every time I have to go out, I am very thankful for the extra long, extra wide leopard print fleece scarf that Stacey Hess gave to me as my going away present.
Thanks, Stace!
Mon 11.21.05 - We are now in our sixth full day of all day sun and starry nights here in Dublin, Ireland. I am not counting last Wed, as it was cloudy in the morning and did not get sunny until noon or so. The Irish Times' weatherman is forecasting a return to partly cloudy tomorrow, but maybe the sun will beat those clouds down...
Mon 11.21.05 - Walking to the Luas this morning, one of the last trees to put on it's fall colors is enshrouded in misty sunlight and frosty grass.
Sun 11.20.05 - Miracle upon Miracle. We are now on our fourth day, possibly fifth, straight of sunshine during the day and stars at night. Crisp, verging on downright chilly (see frost photo), but sunny. Will the wonders of Ireland not cease?
Also, last night I got a meet a delightful little rescued puppy named Keno. I miss the Scruff.
Sat 11.19.05 - At lunch with roommates Angie & Vanessa, plus Vanessa's brother Simon.
Thurs 11.17.05 - Ever tried to tell someone in Ireland, "No, really, I don't want another drink."? It does not work. Really it doesn't. Dave next seat neighbor at the pub kept wanting to buy drinks for Kat & I. I kept saying no. He kept buying more, by the time we got up to leave and find some dinner, I had 2 and a half drinks lined up in front of me and Kat had 2. As we left, Dave and the bartender were astounded that we weren't going to drink it all before leaving. Sorry folks, when I mean no, I mean no.
Thurs 11.17.05 - Kat (aka Kaptain Trouble) is in town for The Damned show on Friday. She and I met up and went for drinks at the Foggy Dew in Temple Bar. The gentleman next to us became more friendly the more pints he consumed. His name was Dave.
Wed 11.16.05 - Someone recently told me, "Here in Ireland, we don't have a climate, we have Weather."
I have been entranced with the ever changing sky. In SoCal the sky comes in three varieties: sunny & clear, sunny & smoggy/smokey, and cloudy. Here there is the most amazing range of sunny and cloudy and everything in between. I am finding myself photographing the in between.
Sun 11.13.05 - Lunch at Mimo's in the Powerscourt Center with Sarah, Jonny (pictured), Mark, et al. The whole table, except one, had the very tasty and cheap (only 5.50 Euros!) seafood chowder.
Sun 11.13.05 - Walking from Grafton Street to the Powerscourt Center for lunch at Mimo's.
Sun 11.13.05 - Hackney cabs at St. Stephen's Green.
Sun 11.13.05 - The sky at the corner of Aungier and York Streets.
Sat 11.12.05 - View from the kitchen window.
Fri. 11.11.05 - At Mahaffey's after a long week. Mick stretching, Neil listening.
While the drink selection is low for Ms. Jen at Mahaffey's, the barkeep was so fabulous as to make me a cheese and ham ("Sorry, we are out of ham & cheese.") toasted sandwich with my rice & millet bread that I had bought earlier in the day. Cider and a sandwich. ;o)
Oct. 2005 - Scruffy (on the right) and his new hot girlfriend, Belle, on the left. Photo by Joe or Christine.
I have now been in Dublin for over five weeks and there are some things back home in Southern California (aka SoCal), that I am starting to miss:
1) Scruffy.
2) The Orange Circle.
3) My weird rock'n'roll friends, like Sean. Need I say more?
4) Renu Nakorn. There is no such thing as Thai food under $15 a plate here in Dublin-town. And there is certainly no such thing as Northern (Issan) Thai with sticky rice, papaya salad and beef larb. I know the first place I am going to after the plane touches down when I come home for Xmas.
(Whilst searching for Thai links, I found this recipe for Kangaroo Larb!)
Future Missing:
6) Looks like I will be missing Punk Rock Bowling 2006. Unfortunately, it falls on at the end of the semester and the start of serious writing of my thesis, which is due at the end of March, so I won't be able to take the 5 or 6 days off to fly to Lost Wages. What happened to middle of February, it would have been much easier to leave at the beginning of the 2nd semester...
Sat. 11.05.05 - The view from my window at sunset.
Sat. 11.05.05 - Sunshine hitting glass.
Fri. 11.04.05 - Walking towards the Old Library.
Fri. 11.04.05 - The tree across from the Luas stop.
Fri. 11.04.05 - Walking to the Luas. I don't know why but I always love November 4th.
Thurs. 11.03.05 - Ruth's hair.
Wed. 11.02.05 - This plane tree (aka sycamore) is one of the best trees on campus, it reminds me of the sycamores at John and Catherine's yard. I just noticed the sculpture for the first time today.
Wed. 11.02.05 - On my way to class, late of course, I decided that I had to test my new moblogging ability in the beautiful morning sunshine.
Tues. 11.01.05 - Nice Alex from South Africa wins for Vodafone employee of the month. And the only one in the last 35 days of my trying to get my moblogging from my phone working that has actually been helpful. If this MMS goes through to Flickr then... I am back!
Photo taken by Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610.
Thurs. 10.27.05 - A huddle on the Trinity College rugby field with the 19th cent. engineering building in the background.
Any family reading this: the one story brick bbuilding in the background is where (Great) Grandpa G.F.K. went to classes when he attended Trinity in the 1890s. I found out today that I can go to the Records office and get a copy of his attendance record. This should be *interesting*, I will bring it back at Christmas.
Sat. 10.29.05 - At lunch given by Christine for our Bible Study. ;o)
Tues. 10.25.05 - Walking from my course to Georges Street, I spy yet another crane on Pearse Street, juxtaposed with two signs and a billboard...
Sat 10.22.05 - The sky walking back from Rathmines center.
Ok, lest anyone fool you, the weather here in Ireland is not that bad. There have been more dry days than wet and a good 50/50 of sun to cloud. Now, mind you, the sun to cloud ratio will flipflop at least four times in one day, but there is sunshine. The last week has been in the upper 60s (F degrees) and I have not really needed my coat. I have worn short sleeves several days now and you can pick out the rest of the American crowd by who is wearing shorts and flipflops. The Irish remain optimistic that real winter will show up any day now, as they are wearing full coats and scarves, even as the temp is nearing 70 degress F (21 C).
But the best part of the weather here in Ireland has been the sky. Moment by moment it is to be watched as it is an ever changing light, cloud and color show.
Everywhere I turn around Dublin, I see a construction crane. Dublin's biggest industry seems to be growing cranes.
Photos above, left to right: Sun. 10.23.05 Dublin Castle, Sun. 10.23.05 Stairs at St. Patrick's Park, and Thurs. 10.20.05 looking west down Pearse St.
Mon. 10.10.05 - Photo of my newly organized closet by Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610.
Sometimes is it the smallest things that make a big difference to make one at home in a new place, or on the contrary, the lack of the smallest things that make life difficult. And sometimes you make a judgement thinking, "Oh, I don't need to bring these, I can buy more for cheap when I get there."
It took me over a week and a half to find hangers for my closet clothes. I left a whole closet of good hangers back in Orange, as I didn't want to try to stuff them into my overly stuffed, heavy bags.
When I arrived in Ireland, I found all kinds of things but it took me time to find where to buy hangers. And then it was 4 (about $5) euros for 5 cheap plastic hangers. 28 euros later, I had enough to hang my clothes and then fold others and stack them at the bottom of the closet. Yikes, $35 for 35 plastic hangers.
There are quite a few things where the prices are equal to what they would be in the States, mostly big ticket electronic goods and textbooks, but for the average product the prices here in Ireland are anywhere from 20% more all the way up to 2 to 3 times as expensive as the same product in California. I knew it would be expensive, but I am having sticker shock on a daily basis.
All my friends who bargain basement shop at Target and Walmart would DIE here. My Irish friends call it the Ripoff Republic.
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Photos taken with Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610.
Sun. 10.09.05 - Autumn leaves & trees as seen whilst dillydallying/shillyshallying/dinking/looking around on my way to church.
Apparently one can't use one's email client on one's cell phone as a Vodafone Ready to Go customer. Apparently one must have the monthly contract to be able to send and receive email from the phone. Although one can have GPRS web browsing on the pay as you go plan. So, I have no email, no moblogging, but I can read boingboing. Be frightened. I am.
Only hitch in this scenario, is that they won't give me a contract without a utility bill or bank statement. I live in housing, so no utility bill and the bank is taking forever to send any official documentation that Vodafone would accept as proof of address.
I now have another letter from the Bank of Ireland with my address on it and will go to Vodafone this afternoon and see if I can convince them to sign me up. No computer and no moblogging has me more depressed than the weather.
Speaking of the weather, can I say how lovely it is? Cold and Cloudy. ;o)
Walking up to the St. Stephen’s Green Luas stop on Sunday afternoon:
A scruffy older gentlemen walked up to me and said, “A ticket for the Lord.”
Being Sunday, I thought he was an evangelist passing out tracks, so I looked at what he was offering and said, “Thank you, but I already have one.”
“No, Have it.”
“No, thank you, I have one.”
He walked off. The ticket was for the Luas and I really do already have one.
My hearing + Dublin accent = amusing interpretations!
