Galway – Page 2 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Where’s the “any” key?

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When travelling to Europe a few years back I did not take a computer with me. It was pretty much “catch as catch can” in the various countries, between the odd Internet cafe and the various hotel or B&B provided terminals.

Something I knew, but did not fully consider, was that each country used a unique keyboard layout. This made it somewhat vexing when it came to typing certain characters. I recall struggling to find the key combination for the @ symbol on a French computer with the key symbols worn away from over-use.

If you know how to type without watching your fingers, and you have access to the computer settings then the easiest thing to do is go to the control panel and change the layout to US.

Microsoft offers step by step instructions in KB306560

If you’re a hunt and peck typist or you don’t have the ability to change the keyboard layout you will need to familiarize yourself with the keyboard layout of the country you’re visiting.

There’s a handy guide located at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

US KEYBOARD LAYOUT

UK/IRELAND KEYBOARD LAYOUT

One of the most frustrating differences on UK keyboard is that the quotation marks are on the 2 key while the @ sign takes the place the quotation marks.

Swans

Flocks of wild swans patrol the river and the entrance to the bay. Hundreds of them. The bulk of them hang out near one of the quay walls, drawn to those who throw bread down from on high…

Click for full size image

Marching To The Sea

The sun stays up till about 10:00 pm in this part of the world at this time of year. Not that there’s been much of it here lately. It’s rained and been overcast most of the past month or so. Looks like I brought some Texas sunshine with me on this trip because today was spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that I walked several miles down to the entrance to Galway Bay and back along the River Corrib.

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That pretty much wiped me out for the evening. Now I am back in the hotel and just updating this blog and getting ready for some sleep.

Travelling Fuel

It feels good to have been at the Galway office today. I got to meet/see again many of my Irish co-workers.

It’s a good atmosphere there. We made plans for initial phase of the domain migration and we’re pushing that part through this evening.
We’ll see how it went when we get in tomorrow morning.

Two of the lads took me to a place called Shambo’s that features sandwiches served on unique Shamrock shaped focaccia or wholemeal breads.

It’s not a tourist place. This one was located in very industrial area and it was full of working class and professional type people obviously out on their lunch break.

That didn’t stop me from photographing my lunch before chowing down, though!

Click for the yummy goodness of full size

It was quite yummy!

After work today I decided it was time to have my official first Guinness in Ireland. I’d heard all the stories about how Guinness tastes soooooo much better in Ireland and I wanted to see for myself, especially since I am not all that fond of Guinness in the first place.

Owen, Niall and Paul all unanimously agreed that Murphy’s Pub was the place to go for this so I wandered down toward the river to find it.
It wasn’t much trouble and went in and had a seat at the bar and placed my order with the bartender.

And I, being the camera toting dufus I am, captured the momentous beer for posterity.

Click for full size image

Let me state for the record that it is absolutely true. This Guinness tasted fantastic! Smooth and not bitter like I recall my American experiences.

I see a few more pints in my immediate future….

Time to explore, time to reflect

Keeping in mind that the baldheretic server is operating on local time in Houston, posts that appear to be made at 6:00 pm are actually going up around midnight due to the time difference.

In essence, I am blogging to my US readers from the not so distant future.
No flying cars or jet packs, but somewhat closer to developing cold fusion.

Haven’t found a way to play this to my advantage in regards to the lottery…curse the luck.!

Sighting of The Vagrant

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Spotted The Vagrant outside of Galway.
As it happened, I was joining my friend Owen and his family at their lovely home for lunch.

Wouldn’t you know, Mr. Finn and The Vagrant are old pals.
An Irishman? A sheep? No good can come of this!

Trust no one….

Photos of things that made me hum an Irish tune

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Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lies
Farewell to your gangers and gang planks
And to hell with your overtime
For the good ship Ragamuffin, she’s lying at the quay
For to take oul Pat with a shovel on his back
To the shores of Botany Bay

A small bird sat on an ivy bunch
And the song he sang was “The Jug Of Punch.”

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And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an “Ave” there for me.

Irish Princess(es)

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Wandering around, shooting pictures.
Feel a tug on the pant leg.
Look down.
See child.
“Hey Mister, please take our picture:”
Scan for parents.
Daddy nods.
“OK, gather round”
“SMIIIILE”
*click*

Elated children squeal with joy.

Ahhhh, Ireland…..