Skiing on Mud

My office yet again is amazing and set up one more office trip for the year. It was a skiing trip in Glenshee, Scotland for 30 of us. Thursday morning we all met at the airport to fly to Aberdeen where the debauchery began. Since we got paid mid December, it has been over 5 weeks without pay, and I was broke. I came with my fist full of euros and once I exchanged them in to pounds, I had a fist full of change. We checked out bags into the Train station and walked around the city. Catherine had been a college student there so she gave us a great tour, and we ended up at the local students pub where we began drinking for cheap. We got to check out some local boys in their kilts, which was a treat and just have the craic. At 8pm we met up with our drivers to take us to the lodge, about 2 hours from the city. We had the quiet lame bus, where everyone else sang all the way up there. I think our bus driver was quite happy to have the sleepy group. The rain began on the way where and we were all hoping it would turn to snow! We arrived about 10pm to Gulabin Lodge and we found our rooms which were all named after birds. The wild boys all ended up in Eagle and they came up with names for each one of them. There were six of us girls in our room, Curlew, but the rooms ranged from 2 to a room, to 8 to a room. The rooms were about 15' high, with a single bed, a bunch bed and a sink right when you open the door, and then when you climb up the scary ladder, there were two sets of bunk beds up above on the mezzanine. I took the upper floor with Claire and Catherine, and had Karen, Emer and a different Jaqui on the bottom floor. We took over the whole lodge which was perfect, because if we had had anyone else there, we would have driven them mental. It was just a large house that had tall ceilings so they could convert normal sized rooms into the 'suites' they were. There was a piano in the main living room and one the lads brought his guitar so we had a sing along next to our roaring fire. I just wish I knew how to play either of those instruments, or had an amazing good voice. Just because I have the same name as a famous singer does not automatically make me a good singer. I hit the sack about 4 since I wanted some sleep before my first day skiing on snow and we had a 7am breakfast call, but that did not stop most from staying up all night.

I should have just stayed up with the group since the storm did not let up all night, and the rain washed a lot of the snow away. There were 100mph winds so even though we all got up for the 7am breakfast, there was to be no skiing that day. Most of us went back to bed for a few hours and got up for a hike. I am so glad I bought some wellies since we were trudging through mud, sheep poo, small creeks and huge puddles. We climbed halfway up one of the hills too get a good look of our surroundings. It was such a tranquil place and very picturesque. The hills just rolled and were covered in lush grass and craggy outcroppings with small streams winding down them. After our walk, most of use got back into the vans and headed into a local town, Dundee. We grabbed some lunch, hit all the local pubs and picked up some treats and spirits for later, since there is no bar in our lodge. We had a hot cottage pie dinner waiting for us when we got back and ate until we were stuffed. We did find out that there was a local pub about a 5 minute walk from place so we headed there. We played some pool which I did amazing at because I had that perfect balance of confidence fueled by beer and what talent I do have. We headed home after the pub closed and I decided to hit the sack since we were going to go skiing that next morning!

After a full breakfast of eggs, rashers, sausage, hash browns, cereal, juice, tea and toast, we were back on the buses to drive to the Glenshee ski resort. When we got off, I was amazed! Amazed of how little snow where was. There is 100 times more snow on Mt Hood during a drought season in the middle of July then there was there, and it was packed with people. I have had a few lessons so 5 of us girls and 2 overly confident boys headed off to the advanced beginner classes. We got on the button lifts and I happened to be in the back, so the first 7 up kept falling and I was the only one to make it up on the button lift the whole time and never fell. I was quite proud of that. All of the advanced people were waiting at the top of the lift so they cheered as I got off, I looked more advanced then I really was. It was so windy up at the top that although it was not snowing it was blowing around what snow there was. Our class was an hour and a half with most of it just doing little turns in the snow plow. The girls were the stars of the bunch as he took us down the large main hills. I stayed in my snow plow, leaned forward and headed down the hill falling every 5 or 6 turns since I would pick up so much speed that was the only way to stop. Claire is ultra competitive which is great for me, because we push each other to do better and go faster. She had been skiing before, so I tried my hardest to keep up. We skied over grass, heather, mud, ice and maybe a little snow. Let me tell you, it is impossible to ski over mud, you just stick into it and the top half of your body still wants to go forward while the lower half has stopped. I had a huge 8" round black bruise on my hip that took about 2 weeks to heal from landing on rock and ice, it was a beauty! We exhausted ourselves and headed back to the lodge for a nap and a shower before heading into yet another town. We had to split up in groups of around 10 to eat dinner since no place was big enough to hold the whole lot of us. We went to all the pubs ending up in the one dance club. We were definitely the outsiders, and it was so obvious that we were also outnumbering the locals in the club. There was a small dance floor all of us girls took over and we had quite the night. By the time we left we were finally outnumbered and we were all surprised that we did not end up in a scuffle since they were all eyeballing us, but we were all on our best behaviour and headed back on our buses.

The next morning we were back up at the mountain and it was even warmer so there was even less snow and more sunshine. We had yet another lesson which was great since it was just the four of us girls, Claire, Ruth, Catherine, and me. By the end of our lesson most of us could parallel ski down the mountain. I could almost keep up with some of the other girls since I got so good at getting up so fast and could keep going. We had a race by the end of the day and I came in third. I just wish we had one more day since I started getting decent at it! It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. Our last night we spent at the local pub where we had a great dinner all of us and a final night of pints. We were all exhausted and after partying way too much and skiing way to hard, we were looking forward to going home. At six in the morning we all had to be one the buses back to Aberdeen. It was a great trip and one I will never forget!

OMP Dinners

Just before the Christmas break, our Team Hussey got together for dinner and a Kris Krindle present exchange. We all met for a very nice dinner, so Karen and I got all dressed up at her house before going straight from work. She lives about a 3 minute walk from work, so we had about 12 minutes to get changed, dressed and reglorified before hopping in a cab and meetting people for early pints before our 7:00 dinner. After our starters we exchanged gifts. I had Ruth who is quite girly so again Jacquie had advised me on what to get before she left. I got Ruth a small tea pot that has a matching cup that fits below the pot. She loves it and uses it everyday at work. I got a great gift from one the guys on our team after Jacquie telling him that I need something to organize my jewelry. My necklaces have been sitting on a pile on my dresser so Michael got me this lovely black (of course) victorian dressed maniquin that instead of a head, has these branches that come out that you can hang the jewelry off of, it is about 12" high. He did very good, and did not even have his girlfriend pick it out. After dinner we went for more pints at two different pubs, and then by this time, the guys had enough to drink that they thought dancing would be a good idea. We headed to a dance club where we met up with another team from work after their dinner. Good turn out with about 20 of us dancing up a storm on a Wednesday night with the bosses!
The Friday before that was our company dinner. I got my hair cut at the salon so that way I could look good without having to do it myself. I met up with Tullia at her house to change really quick and we headed north. Great meal, open bar all night, no partners invited and no speeches. It was great to hang out with some of my other co-workers I don't normally see on other floors outside the office. It was general mayhem and madness. I gave up around 1:45 when I could still catch a cab back over to the Southside since I was in ridicously tall heals and an hour plus walk was not sounding very appealing to me. Especially since my toes were already bruised from some many drunk people stepping on them while dancing the night away. Luckily there is only a handfull of pictures from the night since it was a mental session!

Comedy Night Out

There is one comedy club in town and it was having its 10th anniversary party it was a huge thing. Karen's boyfriend's grandfather died* on a Thursday night very unexpectedly so since she had an extra ticket at the last minute on Friday, so I decided to be her date for the night with a group of about 15 of her college mates. Coincidentally a group of 10 other OMP people were also going, so all in all, we ended being quite a large group. The first performer came out, Dermot Whelan, and he was hilarious. At the time I did not know, but he has a morning radio show and is just inherently funny. He was asking where people where from; Any Germans in the audience? Any English in the audience? and then he would of course slag that country for stereotypes, but it was not harsh, except for the love/hate between Ireland and England. He then began talking about Irish porn, and how it does not exist in such a catholic society. This in-turn led to him asking if there were any Americans. Now at this point in the evening I am on my 4th or 5th pint and feeling pretty good so I raise my hands and yell, WOO HOO! The whole place was silent. I was the only one who cheered. And your man said "Of course ye are! Feckin loud Americans!" He then began to take the piss out of the Americans and then h e asked where in the US I was from and I said Oregon, which he had no idea where that was. He then asked Karen where she is from, Kerry (which is a small Irish town) that according to him is right next to Wisconsin. After chatting with me in front of everyone, he asked my name, which I said was Bambi without hesitation. First his mouth hung open and then he laughed so hard. I thought that Karen's eyes were going to pop out she was so shocked and Sean even spit out his beer he was so shocked. Now what possessed me to do that, I will never know, but it caught him off guard and I guess that was the point. So the comedian figured Bambi came over for the Irish porn. Later in his routine he was talking about how people in Ireland throw money at the gym all year long, but only go that one day a year. He was pretending to be working out and while flexing his butt checks, he asked " Hey Bambi, you know what muscle I am working now?!" Of course we all had a laugh and I was cheeky and gave me a big smile and nod.

He went off and there was an intermission between the next few performers. Then every single man rushed up to talk to Bambi, who knew that name would be such a hit. Sean had to fend them off for me, but for the single girls in the group, they were loving it! Then for the night, most of us girls picked a different name and alter ego to go by. I love having such an effect on people and getting them to do things they would not normally do, I am the corrupter of the group (in a good way, Mom, I promise!). Tullia was Morgana from Oregon who was 22. She is has a very thick Italian accent, but she still had the boys lining up. The next two performers were funny, but just not in a laugh out loud kind of way. As they were wrapping up the last comedian, in the background they set up a DJ table and just has he walked off , the dance party started. We danced for hours, with Sean still being our "bouncer" for the night getting rid of our unwanted suitors. Needless to say, when I am being bold, the Bambi Love name has stuck with my friends. Now who says Blonds have more fun, with a name like Bambi, there is fun galore!

*Just a side note, it is interesting that they still have wakes here. So Dave's grandpa died Thursday, they had him embalmed by Friday and brought him back in his coffin to his house where he was laid on the dining room table. The whole family and friends came over for drinks and nibbles late into the night. And with only four rooms in the whole house, you had to either be in the living room/dining room with the coffin or in the kitchen. The next morning Dave went out with his father and uncles to dig the grave at the cemetery since the funeral was that afternoon and apparently out in the country it is quite common to have the gravediggers be a little late or not really do it at all. This custom is just so different from how Americans treat death and burial.

Architects vs Technicians

There are two distinct professions within architecture in Ireland, an architect that goes to school for 5 years and learns how to design and a technician that goes to school for three years and learns how to put together a set of construction drawings, understands construction, detailing and drafting. In America we are only taught the 5 years and then have to some how on our own figure out how to do the other three, which iscoincidentally the three years that we are required to intern before taking the architect exams. They do not have drafters here since what the country is in dire need of architects and technitians knowing how to do the building, hence Ben and I being here.

It is nice to finally do a job that my degree is actually for and I can finally design. I am rusty and a little self conscious, but with the pace that things are moving, I can only hesitate for 2.123432 seconds before I have to make a decision and get cracking on a design. Should be good for my confidence when I come back to the US to do architecture there, or I will just have to work with my friend Michael again since he is always good for bouncing ideas off of, and only being made fun of a little bit. With the departure of Jacquie and two other architects throughout the year, our team now only has three architects besides my Director, so on a team of 20 I have a lot of help trying to get a set pulled together. But at the same time, there just are not that many people to ask questions to, so there have been a lot of educated guessing that so far have been right. I just had my yearly review and they are happy with what I have been doing since with all the projects they have been throwing at me it was sink or swim, and luckily I know how to swim! I will try to post some stuff on some of the other projects I have been working on eventually, but sadly Ben has to remain confidential, if we told you, we would have to kill you. Secret government stuff!!

The Next Day Of The Rest Of My Life...

So...I'm 30 now... Yay!...

This wouldn't be much of an issue really, except I have been feeling old lately. My knees hurt. Probably this is from working out, but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. I'm growing my hair out, but some of it heard about the writers strike in Hollywood and has gotten on board... You know, the usual.

Fortunately I am still alive.

Despite these facts, I had a fairly enjoyable birthday weekend. We went and saw a few movies (Cloverfield and Juno - I recommended both for different reasons, but Juno was really great!) on Friday night. On Saturday (my birthday) we went clothes shopping for me most of the day getting a variety of different new work clothes. I haven't gotten anything in a while, so I was due. Nothing too flashy. Some new jeans, button up shirts, a few sweaters. Most of it from H&M (for those of you sad Oregonians who have never heard of this store...it is a great trendy clothes shop with reasonable prices). This, for the most part is just making up for not buying anything for a while, but the birthday was a good excuse.

For the real deal birthday present I am looking at upgrading to a proper SLR digital camera (a full sized pro-style digital camera) so we can have even better pictures of our travels. I'm still not sure I will want to be carry around that kind of monster, but I think I will enjoy taking pictures with it. I'm doing some research on types and brands and whatnot, though, so the verdict is still out.

We ended the night hanging out at Bruno's for a bit to have some good craic.

All in all a good day. I reflected upon it today eating candy that Mariah's mom sent me for my birthday...all day long... Pleasure and pain all rolled into one!

I'm going to go be sick now...