England in the Rain....again

Fresh as a daisy after only a quick nap, Amy and I were off to England for the weekend. We arrived into London early in the morning, grabbed a bite to eat since we were STARVING, and dropped off our luggage and headed straight to the British Museum, which fortunately was across the street from our hotel. First off, the British Museum is enormous, and with so little energy, there was a lot we just cruised right through. The Greek stuff was amazing, just sad that they pried it off of the buildings and shipped it back to England. The central American exhibit was good, but we both know a lot about that stuff already. As lunchtime approached we headed out for our dramatic change into Egyptian Goddesses. Amy brought me a deadly wig from back home and we just had to go dressed for the occasion. Amy has been taking hieroglyphics for a few years, and can actually speak some Egyptian so it was great going with her an having her translate some of the sarcophagus' and other interesting items. We posed for photos and had a great time getting all excited about mummies, the Rosetta Stone, large stone carvings and of course Sekhmet! (I have a great story on why I like this Egyptian Goddess so much but that is for another day) This is when our energy really kicked in, and all thoughts of the night before dissipated.

We stayed until the very end, and saw all of the Egyptian stuff, and more! We de-Egyptified ourselves and headed into town for a bit of dinner at Savoir Faire and our Shakespearean play in the recreated Globe Theatre. It was not just one play, but more of a montage of Shakesperean plays all rolled into one large amalgamated production put on by Footsbarn Theatre troope. Think Oregon Country Fair. Lots of brightly dressed people running about spouting off quotes from the various plays. Through a riot of visual theatre, masks, dance, puppets, magic, circus and the juicy bits from the Complete Works it was Shakespeare for the attention deficit.A tightrope walking Juliet whilst playing the violin. Titania dropped from the Heavens by a large ribbon. After the play we went for a nice walk along the river wanting to grab a cab to make a quick drive by, so Amy could see the Tower of London. We tucked into our little hotel room for what we thought was to be a great nights sleep only to be awoke by the fire alarm at 3am, and having to head outside in the lashing rain. We were not happy bunnies since our alarm was to go off in a few hours....

As the rain continued to pour, we left for our tour. We hopped about our tourbus first stopping in Bath to take a look at none other then the old Roman Baths. There is a reason why Bath is called Bath, due to the natural hot springs. Go figure. We were only given 90 minutes in Bath, and were told the Roman Bath house would only take 30 minutes. Right so, we cruised through and skipped quite a bit of the boring stuff, but it still took us 80 minutes. We drank some of the natural mineral water, which was hot of course, and tasted of lead pipes, but we were hoping it would reinvigorate us. It did, since we had 10 minutes to run up a hill (in our wellies none the less) to see the Georgian Era Royal Crescent. It is just a huge curve of buildings overlooking a broad greenscape, but it is plastered all over our architecture history classes, so it was a must see. We took the panoramic shots and two photo-ops and were running back down the hill. They warned us that the bus was leaving promptly at 3:00 and they would leave us behind, and we arrived at 2:59. We made it on the bus just in time! We promised we would not be late again, though that would be proved challenging.....

Our next destination to discover was Lacock. This town is for the most part looks straight out of the 17 century except for the paved roads and the occasional car. This is also the town where the film countless period films, like Harry Potter. The bus let us off at where the film the Hogwarts scenes and let us wander around the town until dinner at The George Inn. We had a lovely supper and wandered through the town more. We went to where the bus dropped us off by, and there were only a few other people there. We started to worry since the time to leave was fast approaching, then the bus drove past us. We were meant to meet somewhere else, and forgot, so once again we were late. Next time though!

We were then off to Stonehenge! Luckily by the time we got to the main destination point the rain had subsided and continued to co-operate the rest of the day. We paid the extra money to run around among the stones and touch them, since most of the public just get to walk up to the fence set back three or so metres. Amy was super excited since this is what she came to see! We hugged, climbed, touched, rubbed, kissed and loved on those stones. I never thought I would see Stonehenge, and it was great to see it in person. Just a flat field with huge rocks brought from hundreds of miles away. Just amazing. We walked around everything and all over the site and made sure we were first back on the bus. We were not missing our ride back to London. We dozed on the way back to town and grabbed a small bite to eat before heading back to our place. By then it was midnight and we had another early morning flight to catch back to Ireland. We set our alarms and tucked in for a good nights rest only to be awoken again at 3am to a fire alarm, which we did not bother getting out of bed for and went off five minutes later. Annoying pranks by all of the high school students staying in our hotel. Once again, enjoying London in the lashing rain with a brutal hangover.

Good news on US-Irish visas

Today's Irish independent was talking about how the Taoiseach has been meeting with US congress in order to get US citizens to work essentially visa free in Ireland in a trade off for letting the illegal Irish immigrants stay in the US. That could be good news for us, or in the future if we ever did fancy a stint back in Ireland!

If it doesn't work just go to www.rte.ie and its one of the news stories in the top right hand corner.

Strange Anomaly #19

Irish Twins. A term I had never heard before until moving here. If a brother or sister is born within the same year as another brother or sister, say 10-12 months apart, they are Irish twins since they will be the same age for a short time.

Where our creative minds take us

I have been using a lot of photoshop as of late, and have been getting pretty good and editing files rather quickly. When we have our tea breaks, sometimes we come up with strange ideas here are just a few. Karen, myself, Sean and Colin all sit near each other and Claire is just down the floor below us, so we have the craic while we work. Here are some examples of how strange our brains are:

This particular day Sean had said I looked straight out of Star Trek, but in reverse, so I took Bones place in being transported. Beam me up, Scotty!
Then we were googling our names to see what popped up, now there are lots of other Karen Nolans in Ireland, so I edited on the the realtor's pictures out and put a cute picture of Karen from the BBQ.
Tuesday Sean went to see batman and since I wrote a story for Colin on his superhero alterego (Crumple Man), I had to work Sean's (Science Boy) into something. Teehee! In the words of Philip, I am 'mad as a box of badgers'!

My New Best Friend

Since Bruno is leaving I am forced to find a new best friend here in Ireland. And I have already found one. Meet my new best friend: iPhone...

I have been obsessed with the iPhone since it came out in the US about a year ago, but have been holding back for one reason or other. On Friday, with the release of the new iPhone 3G, I finally succumbed to my uber-geek urges and took the plunge.

For those of you who haven't been reading every iPhone related news article and blog post for the last 12 months, there is a new version of the iPhone: The iPhone 3G. The only major difference (beyond a few cosmetic changes) is that the new iPhone is equipped with a 3G capable cellular radio (which allows for faster cellular network based internet access) and that it now has GPS (which allows you to pinpoint exact locations through satellite positioning coordinates). Otherwise, the biggest change is that they made it significantly cheaper $199 and $299 for the 8gig and 16gig iPhones respectively, versus the previous $399 and $499. In Europe the price varies, but is generally more closely tied to the US price, making it even less expensive (my 16gig ran me €229($365) versus the €499($636) it was before and it would have been cheaper had I wanted a more expensive monthly plan). The other major upgrades are all in the new software version, which is avaialable for the original iPhone as well. Third party applications (applications created by developers other than Apple, such as eBay, Facebook, AOL, and a variety of game developers) along with robust suport for busness standards in dealing with email, contacts, etc.

In Ireland the phone company selling the phone, O2, took deposits and pre-orders from the start of the month, so I didn't have to worry about standing in line for the week in order to be one of the first owners of the 3G iPhone in Ireland. I was the fourth person in the store after it had opened (no line to speak of really, possibly because they had sold out of their stock with pre-orders within the first few days of taking them...) and I walked out the door with phone in hand about 45 minutes later (the process for signing people up was a bit slow, but nothing like some of the problems they had in the US or the UK).

After waiting a year, is it everything I was hoping for? YES!

I have only had it now for a few days, but so far it is just amazing. The way you interact with all of the applications just feels fluid. Everything is very usable and I rarely find instances where I am fighting the program to do what I want. The thing I am currently most fascinated with is the text correction system. Because the iPhone uses a software touchscreen keyboard, it's pretty easy (especially with big fingers) to hit the wrong letters when typing. I am finding, though, that Apple has really done an amazing job of designing text correction software that can figure out what keys I meant to hit and replace the mistyped word with the correct one (IE if I type "mpnkeu" it will recognize I wanted to spell "monkey" (the p is next to the o and the u is next to the y) and when I hit the space bar it will automatically replace it. This allows me to type along on the little keyboard without having to constantly go back and correct little mistakes. It is not perfect, of course, but it is exponentially better than any other predictive text system I have seen on a mobile device. It makes typing things out on what could be a frustratingly small keyboard, relatively pleasant.

I won't bore you all with too many geeky details, but suffice it to say it will keep me busily entertained for a good while. If people are interested I can post a more robust review once I have had time to live with it for a while.

One phone to rule them all! Yes...I am a geek...


(PS: Please note my Steve Jobs tribute black mock turtleneck in the picture above, worn proudly on release day.)

Move To Ireland!...Free Showers!

This is the new advertising campaign I have been working up for the Irish Department of Tourism. It's sure to draw in immigrants like flies to...well...you know. I mean, who doesn't need a shower!? And they're free!

This summer, they are telling me, has the potential to end up worse than last summer. This is something I wasn't aware would be possible. Last summer was the "worst summer in 200 years." Looks like this summer will be the worst summer in 201 years... If the local bookie carried odds on suicide rates, I'd be putting a few Euro down on a sharp rise...

Rain! And more RAIN!

It seems summer was actually back in May. That one month where we had some consistent sun. Oh no, it wasn't warm! That's asking way too much. It was actually still pretty cold in May with the wind. Just the sun. Most people would call this spring. It's actually Irish summer...

Odeon American Party

To break up the Fridays, when it is nice, the office with buy some gargle for people to head out back and have a few drinks whatever your choosing. I had to work a little late and had a beer at my desk before heading down to find out what the story of the night was. There was an American Party going on at the Odeon later but they were going for a few cheeky pints at Smiths just behind our flat. I wrapped up what i was working on, rushed home to pack for Amy and I heading off to London in the morning and dragged her out to meet me mates. I had really wanted her to meet Karen and Sean, but until that night Sean had been illusive. Upon entering the beer garden Sean sprang up to meet Amy and said, "here is a traditional Irish greeting" and proceeded to give her a hug and quite the hard butt grab, not only making a first impression but leaving an impression. Not the meeting of minds that I had pictured, but they both had a good laugh and were happy to meet each other. Most of the lads headed off to a gig, while Colin and the girls stayed behind to keep drinking. We had good craic and soon began to get hungary. We scarfed down some pizza and headed to the Odeon, Karen, Tullia, Colin, Amy and myself.

I knew it was getting late but what would be an American Party without authentic Americans. Ania of the social committee at work was putting on the party and was throwing it for one of her Polish friends coming to visit who has been living the States for the last several years. We got into town around midnight and started tearing up the dance floor. We stayed away from more drink since we had a taxi arriving at the house in only 4 more hours. We said our hellos and then headed home just in time to get a 2 hour nap before getting up again. Sean sent us a text just before he was heading in for bed, as we were leaving to go to the airport. If we had stayed out it would have been a MENTAL session. I knew Amy was a not going to be happy about partying so much since we would completly knackered getting on the plane, as we ended up being, but we had a blast and she could see a proper Friday outting in Dublin!

Dublin Ghost Tour

The week Amy was in Dublin flew by since between work and other prior commitments, I did not have enough time to think straight. But Thursday we scheduled a Dublin Bus Tour around the city. It was a double decker bus all painted up spooky with thick red velvet curtains over the windows. I think Karen and the tour guide were the only Irish on the bus, all the rest were Americans, so needless to say Amy and I fit right in without really wanting to. As we edge slowly through the evening traffic towards the River Liffey, we are joined by James, our guide for the evening, dressed in an immaculate high-collared white shirt, cravat and waistcoat. James introduces the rest of the crew: the driver, 'Francis "Blood-on-the-tyres" Schumacher. While crossing O'Connell Bridge, we pull back the curtains - it seems far too bright and sunny to be on a ghost tour.

As we wheel up D'Olier St., passed the offices of the Irish Times, James reels off a list of famous writers who had studied in the approaching Trinity College - including, of course, Bram Stoker. We learn of the year of Stoker's birth - 1847, or 'Black 47' - the worst year of the Irish Famine, his sickly childhood and Ballybock Cemetery, his habitual play place.

The tour guide was a trained actor and did a good job telling a few ghost stories as we drove past the old College of Physicians. The old headmaster used to pay good money for fresh corpses that were stolen from the non-religious cemeteries. They would then learn on them for anatomy, which at the time was very hard to get human bodies. Dr. Clossy, whose spirit is still seen walking the corridors carrying a bucket of human entrails was one of the few stories told. It was at this College that a Dr. Samuel Clossey operated his school of anatomy, apparently between 1786 and 1803. A 'tall, mean, overbearing' individual, he seems to have eschewed the frivolities of religion and emotion, to (paradoxically) revel in the delights of shocking his students - slicing up bodies to show that we are little more than meat. Clossey himself met a rather unsavoury end, thanks to his miserliness and bloodthirstiness. The same graveyard that the bodies were taken out of is where Bram Stoker used to hang out as a child which led to his most famous work, Dracula.

Our first stop off the bus was at an old cemetery, St Kevin's Graveyard on Camden Row, that has since been converted to a park. All of the old tombstones were dug up and placed around the perimeter of the park with the ruinous church right in the middle. It was a good night out, dusk and you could hear Bruce Springstein playing in the background since he was putting on a concert. We were shown how they use to take a large hook and pull the bodied out of the ground by hooking it under the chin and in one swift movement would pull the body out of the ground. Sort of creepy. Back on the bus and a few more ghost stories.

We went past Stephens Green where there was another story of the Walking Gallows, the notorious judge, jury and hangman dispatched his victims in a most gruesome fashion. A very tall and large British Soldier would deem an act punishable by death, tie a noose around the persons neck and go for a job which would slowly suffocate them on his back. Terrible!

The last stop was at the old Dublin steps, St Audoen's and the Forty Steps, which are said to be very haunted. This is one of Dublin's best kept secrets, few people get to pass through the ancient gates of this ost haunted place. It is situated in he heart of what old Dubs used to call 'Hell' where tales are told to this date about mysterious lepers, ghostly bells and Dublin's notorious Hellfire Club. It was great seeing the old gate, which is locked at night, that used to be the main entrance into Dublin. It was great to imagine what it would have been like hundreds of years ago to walk under that gate for the first time. We took lots of photos, but no glowing floating blobs for us to show up on the film. On the southern end of Hell, over on Fishamble St., a new pub called 'Darky Kelly's' can be seen. Kelly was an 18th century madame who kept a house known as 'The Maiden Tower' in the building in which the pub now resides. It was said to be 'notably labyrinthine' by officers of the law who once raided the place, probably because they spent so much time there before leaving... Darky Kelly was executed, for the alleged murder of her child, the body of whom was never actually produced. Her prosecutor? One Simon Luttrell, Sheriff of Dublin, alleged Hell-Fire Club member, and reportedly the father of the child... Her ghost can be seen running down into the labiryinthine after possibly dropping off the child at the church.

Not necessarily a scary night, but it was a lot of fun just the three of us, and I loved the history. Would recommend it if there was nothing else to do and maybe if you had a few pints before going on the bus!

Eurovision Entertainment

As I have said the weather has been nicer and with Karen's new BBQ Amy and I headed to her house for some good eats. It was important for my Irish friends to meet my American friends and it was perfect that it was just the three of us for a BBQ. Amy got to see how amazing Karen is (she is the little sister I never had) and vise versa. As we had some good food, and chats we tucked in for some tea and some Eurovision.

Eurovision is a new phenomenon for both Amy and I. Think Star Search from the 80's in American, but have it be adult singing and dancing acts representing each country. We tuned in just as the second act was going on, and there were about 20. Azerbaijan was our front runner with an angel and a devil singing. Most countries sang in English though. Belgium, which has 3 national languages Flemish, French and German, actually sang in a made up language, which was great! Of course I had to cheer for Ireland which used to have the most winners ever, but this year they put in a bogus contestant just to take the piss. Dustin the Turkey, which is an ugly Turkey puppet singing a terrible song with half dressed men, drag queens and strange looking women. Terrible!

One of the last acts was Russia which much to my surprise, they were singing on an mini icerink and was being circled by none other then the Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Champion Evgeni Plushenko, who did a wonderful skate performance to a Tom Jones's 'Sex Bomb' song while stripping down to a muscle costume and gold speedo. I am sure my mom remembers that. How it works is, each country phones in, but cannot vote for their own country and have 12 votes to distribute as they see fit. In the last few years Eastern Europe have been sticking together and have been winning it. Russia ended up winning in the end, and it was great watching the different acts go through. Next year then Russia will hold the event since they were the past winners. That night was definitely an experience of pure eurotrashness!

Sheehans Leaving Do

Michelle has left OMP to go back to school for HR. She really has been a glue that kept everyone together since she is so outgoing and was a part of the social committee so she knew everyone. We were sad to see her go but going back to school for what you really want to to is totally understandable. Ollie was also leaving to do a bit of traveing a moving back home to Galway in the West. Again there was quite a turn out to Sheehans to kick up our heals and have an excuse to enojoy some 'criac agus ceol' (fun and music).

We had the whole upstairs to ourselves for the most part so it turned into quite the mental session. Somehow Baby Guinnesses started to be poured and we all thought it was a great idea to start having several of those. (Pour the Kahlua in a shot glass and float the Bailey's Irish cream with a spoon. It looks like a "baby" Guiness. Take is as a shot and enjoy). Evil stuff since it tastes like chocolate and goes down so nice. Karen and I were goofing around a good bit, and I love the picture of us since I do stand a good 6 inches taller not in heals, I let her be the tall one for the night. Michelle is in the red flowery top in the middle of the shot photo. I went it a little late since I went home for a little cat nap after an 80 hour week. I ran out of steam at about 2 just as they were heading off to go dancing. A good night once again, and sent them off in style!

NEWS FLASH: We Are In The Center...Of The Universe!

On Thursday we put a deposit down for an apartment in the center (down town), just on the West edge of Temple Bar. It is right next to where Bruno lives. An area that we really wanted to be in. The truth is, we really wanted to take Bruno's place when he leaves, but that didn't happen to work out, and the logistics of killing his flat mate and taking over the lease were just too complicated...

The new place is on the first floor (upgrade from the ground), just above a few quiet (hopefully) shops. It is a decent amount bigger than the postage stamp sized flat we are in now (specifically it has a normal sized bathroom). It of course is a bit more expensive, but we figure we have earned it at this point. We are looking forward to being within 10-15 minutes walk of shops, movie theaters, the gym, and your odd restaurant. The only real downside is that we both will take longer to get to work, but it should be a fun change all the same.

We don't move in until the 2nd of August, so more information will follow once we get settled.

Silence Of The Portuguese

Gone are the days of me in a room full of Portuguese listening to them all jabber away in a language that sounds like Russian, but looks more like Spanish...

Last Monday Bruno told our boss, Pete, that he would be moving back to Portugal. This was, of course, not the first time I had heard of this. It wasn't exactly planned, but with Bruno's girlfriend back in Portugal it had been on his mind for a while. An opportunity came up that he just couldn't pass up, which would allow him to live in Portugal and earn a reasonable amount of money (the main reason why Bruno was in Ireland in the first place was because he was having to work very long hours for very little pay in Portugal). So, without the money bit holding him back he really didn't have anything holding him back from going home. Except the new friends he had made here...

Bruno, is the best friend I have made here in Ireland, so this isn't going to be an exit filled with roses and fireworks...at least not for me. I have found having a good friend at work to really helps in getting through the day. Suffice it to say, those days are just going to be a little harder now.

I am happy for him though. No really. It is really something that he needs to do. And our apartment just isn't big enough to kidnap and hold someone indefinitely...

You never know. Maybe he will hate the beautiful son, and beaches, and his girlfriend, and he will come back...

Yeah...probably not!

Kissing the Boss

With so many people leaving at the end of April, there was a combination party at the Market Bar. It is a huge open space that looks great, but once it is packed you cannot hear a thing. We took Ben's sister there while she was visiting, and luckily it was not packed yet when we were there. As a typical Friday evening, we all got off work and headed out to the pub. There was a good turn out of people with 5 people leaving that day.

John O'Mahony, the OM in OMP, bought a round of drinks. He was so impressed that Karen and I were the straight whiskey drinkers. When he returned with the round I thanked him, of course, and he leaned in with his cheek right in front of my face so my instinct (after 5 or so whiskeys by that point) was to kiss it. I thought nothing of it and continued on with the night.

As the night wore on the story got more and more taken out of context by all my co-workers and by then I realised what I had done. I mean, in fairness, he was leaning forward in a position that one would normally do for a kiss on the cheek, but it was to only hear me better. Check out the picture of him getting cheeky with the girls, it is in his nature. By the time rugby started up weeks later, we were on a first name basis and now can have a bit of banter in the office. Always a bit of fun out on Friday night!

Checking off more counties...

Since we still had the car, it was time to head south this time. Through Laois, Carlow and Kilkenny. We have always been told that Kilkenny is beautiful so we headed out with sunshine and ended our journey with rain. We pulled up to Kilkenny Castle just in time for the rain to start unloading on us. The main castle is right in the heart of the city on the river. We ate a quick lunch while trying to huddle underneath our umbrellas before the tour. The Butler family owned it for hundreds of years, but as it fell into disrepair the last heir sold it off for 50 pounds. The EU then help fund Ireland to fix it up. It is a great remodeled castle.

The skies started to clear up and we wandered around to find the churches of the area. Bruno and Ben ogled over his new camera while Amy and I frolicked around the graveyard and flowers and let them take the pictures. We found a great tower to climb, but just as we got to the entrance, they said it was close, we were heartbroken. The churches are beautiful since Kilkenny is known as Marble City. Lots of rock queries close by in the region. We wandered back to the city centre and stopped for some tea and dessert before heading back. As we were leaving it was sunny and of course the closer we got to Dublin the more it rained. We were doomed to be wet! We went for a great dinner and then tucked into bed since Amy was ready to hit Dublin running the next morning. Early morning wake up calls for her to come all week!

Strange Anomaly #18

There are regular sized tissues and then there are MAN sized tissues. To go with the man flu because that is worse then a normal flu. Women just would not understand how bad a man cold or flu really is. The mansized ones are about twice the size of regular tissues. They can be used for other things then just blowing their nose though.

Ancient Ireland with Amy

We hired a car to take us up to Boyne Valley. Amy had a good nights rest (or as good as you can get on an air mattress in a new place with strange noises) and headed off to County Meath. Amy may have worked at AMAA with me, but she luckily is not an architect, her interest lie with archaeological artifacts and not the stunning buildings of Ireland. The first stop on our little bus tour was Knowth for Neolithic passage tombs and megalithic artwork. What made this site so interesting is the amount of kerbstones that show ancient artwork. We climbed to the top of the burial mounds to get a great view of the valley.

Next stop was Newgrange on the other side of the valley which is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. How handy that it is right by where we live. Only 17 minutes for 4 days a year around the Winter Solstice the light will pour into to illuminate the passageway. There is a lotto draw, but of course I forgot to put my name in since only a few people each year can watch the event live from the passageway. You just have to hope for sunshine that day..... now I think I have more luck winning that lotto then sunshine.

We took a lunch break, and were smart enough to pack our own lunch of cheese, bread, granola bars and juice. We save lots of money and precious time by bringing our lunches and since Amy was a vegetarian we did not have to worry about trying to find something with no meat. We loaded up into the car and headed towards Monasterboice which have some of the tallest Celtic Crosses in County Louth. The crosses are covered with pictographs from both the new and old testament. It is always interesting roaming around old cemeteries, especially ones that have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.

We then headed to Hills of Tara since there will be a new motorway going straight through the middle of it in the next year or so. This is where St Patrick's church is and some of the old ring forts were for the High Kings of Ireland. The hills are so green that I had to run down the hills and then roll down them. Since a lot of the Druids used to go there and the birds migrate over it since there are strong magnetic connections, I also decided to try some headstands, which were quite successful. We went to the fairy tree to make our wish, and I found my old wish there from several years ago. And of course that wish came true! So I made another and Amy made one too.

The three of us rushed back to the car to make our last stop of the day, Trim castle. This medievel castle used to be the centre of commerece of that county back in the day. It has also been used for such movies as Bravehart. Sadly it was closed by the time we got there, but we got to walk around and climb all over it. Ben has now become an expert driver by this point and flew back to Dublin. We ended the night heading back to Bruno's for a large dinner with a large group of all our friends that Amy could meet.

Sing Song at Karen's

This summer has already been about 10 times better then last year. Since Karen has a large terrace she decided that it was high time to get a BBQ. Amy had just flown into town from the States so I tucked her into bed and headed back to Karen's. Karen's pad is only a 4.32 minute walk from work. She had loads of food and gargle.

As the sun set, the iPod was running out of juice and since we were not going to be short for tunes, Niall headed back to the office for that close walk to pick up the guitar he keeps at the office. Niall was giving guitar lessons for a while and Monday nights are jamming night he always has one there. Sean, Colin and Tom have been part of the jamming group so we where expecting great things from them.



While they were getting warmed up, I get the mood set by singing a little Tenacious D. We pulled out the whiskey and tucked in for an entertaining night. Maurizio was loving the whiskey with Karen and I as we took turns finishing off Karen's good stuff. As the boys were playing Karen also helped out by strumming the strings for them. It was great to watch all of them in action. As the session started to turn mental, I headed home since we were going to get up early to go sightseeing with Amy......