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February 28, 2006

Graveyard Shift

For the past few weeks I’ve been living a nocturnal existence. That’s right, I’m working night shifts again, though not with the frequency that I once used to do. I had four nights last week, a few more this week, and five more next week. The benefit of all of this is that once this little stretch is complete, I’ll have a few weeks off completely. On my days off I haven’t really attempted to get back into what 95% percent of civilized culture would call a “normal routine.” I’ve been staying up late, sleeping later. Since Jenniffer is not yet allowed to work, we still see plenty of each other, even when I’m working several nights in a row. It isn’t at all like when I worked in Iowa City, where we would often go three days without ever being home at the same time. Those were the weeks that eventually led me to change to a line where I worked day shifts and evening shifts instead. Anyway, the night thing isn’t permanent; it just feels that way at the moment.

In other less boring news, this last Saturday, Ireland played Wales in rugby. Since my arrival, I’ve really enjoyed watching this game. Sure I don’t fully understand what is going on most of the time, but it certainly is a blast to watch! Imagine watching an entire game that closely resembles the final play of the Michigan vs. Nebraska Alamo Bowl. Fun! Anyway, as I said above, Wales played in Dublin this last Saturday, and it made me feel a bit good inside because with all of the Welsh people I saw in town (wearing team colors, mind you) it reminded me of most any Iowa football road game, particularly bowl games, where local streets are flooded with black and gold. By the way, Ireland won in convincing fashion, which also felt good, just not as good as an Iowa victory.

Lastly, in a fit of meteorological madness, Dublin received some snow this afternoon. Sure, it was nothing like the two feet of accumulation Jeff received in New York a few weeks ago, but ANY snowfall here is significant snowfall. At the very least, it made for an interesting walk around the city for the two of us this afternoon.

As I type: Listening to Split Lip Rayfield “LIVE”

Posted by Brandon at 09:22 PM | | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

Olympics - British Style


So one thing I do to keep myself busy is watching a lot of Turino coverage. When I say a lot, I’m not exaggerating by any means. They show the games over hear about 10 hours of the day, it’s on BBC2, and the best part…commercial free. I never realized just how much coverage is “chopped-up” in the states until I got over here. Now don’t get me wrong, I miss Bob, I love Bob, Brandon would only let me leave him for Bob. (as long as he got to meet him first). That said, I DO NOT miss human interest stories, over sensationalism, and commentators talking over the competition.

I don’t want you to think the British coverage is perfect, it’s funny at times. In the US we would never be excited about 11th. Here you would think 11th=gold. They get so excited when their competitors are in the top 15. I really wish it was more like that in the US. Also, last night when a British Woman go their first medal in skeleton, we saw the run 5 times and that was for silver. I can’t imagine what it will be like if they win gold.

A final thought, I saw an American embarrass herself today in competition. I’m sure they’ll show it there, but the clue is this: it happened in the snowboardcross. Watch it and be embarrassed for America.

Posted by Jenniffer at 07:21 PM | | Comments (4)

February 14, 2006

My Funny Valentine

OK, so maybe I should do another one of these. It’s been a while, yes, but things have been a bit crazy. Before I forget, I should thank my lovely wife for posting occasional updates to let the world know that indeed, we are not dead. Now, I’ll get down to business and let you know what we’ve been up to.

On the 30th of January, Jenniffer did arrive safely in Dublin, though she nearly didn’t make it past the immigration officers. Apparently, when you arrive in a foreign country on a one-way ticket (with no pre-determined return flight in mind) on “vacation” to visit your husband (whose temporary visa had expired at the time), red flags will be waving. After an hour wait, she was allowed to pass through, but not before being told that, given the same set of circumstances, if she were someone visiting America, there is NO WAY she would be allowed to enter. She was allowed to enter, and that’s all that matters.


We’ve been trying to keep ourselves busy. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been to see Bob Mould perform at Vicar Street. A few days later we watched “Walk the Line” (which had just come out over here) before heading over to the Woolshed to watch the Super Bowl (which kicked off around 11:30pm and didn’t end until nearly 4:00am!) No, we didn’t stay for the whole thing, but we did stay for most of it. The next day, it was back to the Woolshed to celebrate Waitangi day with a friend of mine from New Zealand. Lastly, this weekend we went to a nice little brewpub to watch the Ireland vs. France rugby match. On the way home, we caught part of the act of a very funny comedian performing on the sidewalk in Temple Bar. David McSavage is his name, look him up, it’s good stuff!

Right now, I’m sitting in a tiny, yet quaint, hotel room in Galway. Jenniffer is on the bed behind me, watching the Winter Olympics. Basically, I had three consecutive days off of work, so we decided to raise up and get our travel on. We have never been Galway, plus I haven’t been out of Dublin (nor have I driven a car) since I arrived here in October. The drive over was nice, though it rained off and on. I guess you’ll have that over here. Tonight we’re going to have a little candlelit dinner, and then tomorrow we’ll explore the surrounding area a bit. I promise to do better and provide you, the reader, with a more timely update. Pictures will be available in a few days. Happy V-Day!

As I type: Listening to Jimmy Smith “Rockin’ the Boat” (thanks Frosty!)

Posted by Brandon at 08:06 PM | | Comments (0)

February 10, 2006

Pretty

sunset.jpg

See sometimes sunsets do happen in Dublin, not often that's why i had to take a picture. Actually we've had sun for a couple days in a row now, on and off. Of course Brandon has been working through them and this weekend when he's off it is suppose to rain. Isn't that the way it always goes.

Posted by Jenniffer at 12:56 PM | | Comments (3)

February 06, 2006

Together at last, and yes we're alive

superbowl.jpg
Just a quick post to let you know that yes we are alive and yes I made it into the country. Not having th interenet for almost two weeks was killer, but we finally have a semi-good connection and should be back up and running on the blog. I'll try to get Brandon to write soon...he's so much better at this than I am.

Posted by Jenniffer at 04:34 PM | | Comments (4)