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.!
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.
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….
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.
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.
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…
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.
Craic (pronounced “crack”) is the Gaelic word for “fun”
Actual conversation in the cab from the airport:
Cab Driver: Are you up for a bit of craic?
Me: No, I’m here on business…
—
Memorable slang so far:
Craic – Fun
Knackered – Tired
No Panic -No worries/problem
Shite – No good, awful
Dry Shite – Boring person
Deadly – Cool
Destroyed – Drunk
Plonker – Idiot
Note the special rack for carrying a walking cane…
It’s raining. The above picture was taken around 9:45 pm. The sun doesn’t set until 10:00 pm.
Like a duck, I braved the mucky weather and headed forth in search of a pub for a pint and some live music.
It’s easy to see the appeal and charm of an true Irish pub with weather like this. You go from wet, bedraggled and miserable to warm and comfortable in nothing flat.
I almost didn’t recognize it as an Irish pub because there was no bitter, hate-filled, resentment holding, proprietress scowling at the patrons, looking to alienate good people for reasons known only to herself.
Must be a Houston thing…
