Monday, April 30, 2007
Beautiful Galway Ireland
I landed in Dublin to a beautiful sunny morning. I have to say, the Irish are splendid hosts. The leader of the Dublin SQL Server/.NET user group and fellow MVP, Niall Flanagan, met me at the airport. We enjoyed breakfast together and took a tour of the city center. We even got out for a walk in one of Dublin's two beautiful public parks.After breakfast, it was off to the train station for a 2-3 our ride out to Galway. Niall was very knowledgeable and helpful with the travel plans. He had all of the train schedules on hand and put me on the best one. On top of that, he knew all of the tricks for the business travel - for example, there's only one spot on the train with power outlets, and I got it thanks to him!
The countryside was lovely. But jetlag got the best of me and I snoozed most of the time. I did wake up in time to see some adorable sheep with their lambs and lots of cows. I didn't realize that so much of Ireland was devoted to agriculture.
Although a bit flatter than Tennessee, Ireland reminded me a lot of TN with it's beautiful hues of green and earthtone and occassional rolling hills. I think my favorite feature were the hand-stacked stone fences that abounded around the countryside.Galway itself is a picturesque and lovely little
town (pop: 65,000) with a strong artistic flair. Tonight, after my presentation to the local user group, I hope to visit the famous King's Head pub. But in the meanwhile, I have a tour of the area scheduled to see all of the beautiful countryside including the Cliffs of Mohr, the Burren, and the magical Kylemore Abbey.One things for sure about the Irish - they LOVE their beer. In the picture at left, those are all of the empty beer kegs from the preceding weekend ready for pickup. Now that's a LOT of beer!
Labels: Travel
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Frogtastic
Now that spring is upon us, all of the bugs and critters are starting to come out. I actually saw a firefly the other day, though it wasn't lighting up. That's still about a month early to see them at all.
Emily and the girls have been enjoying the cool weather and all of the animals that are easy to catch now. Here's a pic of Emily with a very pretty frog that Katie and Anna caught.
They had to clamp onto it pretty tight because it was a real jumper. It got away several times but we managed to keep ahold of it until it was time to let it go in the creek out back.
Labels: Kids
Friday, April 13, 2007
Google Maps Humor
1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "Maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "start" box)
5. type "London, UK" in the second box (the "end" box)
6. scroll down to step #23
How long do you think it will take??
2. click on "Maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "start" box)
5. type "London, UK" in the second box (the "end" box)
6. scroll down to step #23
How long do you think it will take??
Labels: Humor
