Operation Aussie Out

Luke has been my new Aussie mate at work, but with slowing down, the office did not renew his 2 year work visa so he had to go. He did end up working for another architecture firm where his girlfriend works within just a week or so of leaving here. We were all sad to see him go, it will not be the same going down to the first floor printer for a bit of banter. So in true OMP fashion we had to send him off proper. We headed to Dicey Riley's, not one of our regular places for once, which had a great outside beer garden area, dancing and stiff drinks. Good combination.

Tullia and I headed in late so the lads could get a head start on us and maybe we could keep up into the wee hours of the morning. Luke was having me try all sorts of whiskies since that is what I drink. Needless to say, several drinks later I was tearing up the dance floor for the next few hours. There was a small group of us that made it to the very end. I had one of the lads escort me part of the way home since I was so hot from dancing and a bit of a walk is good before heading in for the night especially when it is not a rainy night! I tucked myself into bed by 4:00 and was the superstar back up by 8:00 to make it into work to let everyone in. Lucuzade to the rescue to get me through that next day!

New Social Committee Outing

Niall's girlfriend got our committee's name on the VIP list to a black tie affair after work for an opening of a new nightclub that wants social committees all over Dublin to book their venues there. How could we pass up gate crashing a party with free food and booze! It was a 'hot' Dublin day and I was actually got sunburned sitting out at lunch that day, so Anna and I started drinkng the super sweet red fruity drinks. This was my first mistake, always avoid the drinks that are red and you cannot taste the booze in! The team comprises of Me, Anna, Niall, Tom, Declan and Moiz.

There were stilt walkers mingling with people, jugglers, Little People as the bouncers and other characters dressed up to entertain us. We waited for Tom to arrive to kick off our first actually meeting. By the time he got there, we were feeling pretty good and the ideas were flowing! By this time I had Anna grab the pitcher of red stuff and fill our glasses one last time as the bar was closing. The champagne was still flowing strong, so of course we switched to that (second mistake).

We headed downstaris for the actually presentation of the facts when the free food and drinks then ended. We were not ready to go home quite yet, so on to Jack & Coke! We danced the night away to a great band that was playing that we may hire for our own Christmas party. That has been my task of late trying to book, and so far not much luck for the venue. The place we were at was nice, but not our type of place. By about 1ish I knew I had to head out to collect Amy first thing the next morning. And oh, how that next morning was a long one.... OUCH! The craic was ninety so it was worth every minute of it. We are a good team and have so many great ideas for the coming year to entertain the office!

Strange Anomaly #17

I know I am fitting in when I have been stopped twice in one week by Irish people and been asked for directions. Not only was I asked, but I knew the right answer and could get them right there! Now I am the anomaly!

Oompa Loompas

My office is sponsering a co-ed tag rugby team. I have never played rugby before but have been watching loads of it since moving here. We have only been training the last few weeks and I will miss the first 4 games due to a mate visiting from the States and our upcoming Holiday (more to come on that in future posts). The guys have all played since they were little and have not made it to training, but the girls have come out in full force. John O'Mahony, the OM in OMP, came out to just watch, but he could not just stand by and watch us, so he started to ref. Next thing we knew, he pulled on the tag shorts over his suit and started playing with us. Claire tried her hardest to catch up with him, but he is so fast! THe gang in the photo is Me, Ruth, Edell, Catherine, then Leslie, Tullia, Claire and Katrin.

My side had 3 while the other side had 4 while we were scrimmaging against each other. I am the biggest girl and maybe the most aggressive and competetive. May not be good, but I will try my darndest. I scored a few tries and had great craic trying to catch Claire as she blazed past me, she is a triathon athlete and can run! We crushed the opposition with 7 tries for their 1. I do my little ballarina turns to avoid my tag getting pulled and have tried to master the dodge and weave. It is a total workout and great fun. I have also been 'hired' as Tullia's personal trainer to get her in shape. The weather has been nice almost the whole month of May, so it has been quite a pleasure to meet in the park after work and throw the ball around and run drills. I cannot wait until the first game I can make it to! Who knows where those pesky bruises come from.

Strange Anomaly #16

There are rubbish bins all over the city and they have small cigarette disposal on the top of street garbage cans. Since you shouldn't litter by just stamping them out on the ground it is better then just throwing the still smoldering butt way. But still there are rubbish bin fires. Sometimes there may be a little metal box mounted on the side of the building for cigarette disposal as well. Good ideas to help keep butts off the streets!

Next Social Committee Member

Our social committee has done an amazing job over the last year and more. Sports day, skiing, Christmas party, pub quiz and other fun nightw out. But all good things come to an end. To mark the end of an era, we headed to our local pub, McSorley's, and had a few scoops with the group with OMP graciously paying. As Pierce, Michelle, Marcella and Glenn step down the new kids in town are Tom, Niall, Moiz, Declan, Anna and I will take over. Sean just happened to get in the picture as well. We hope to make the next year just as fun as they did.



It also was Michelle's last night out before she left to go to school for HR training. Claire and I are going to miss one of our partners in crime! But we know we will see her again soon!

Change in Politics

Our Taoiseach (tea-shock) Bertie Ahern stepped down from office April 2nd and he will tender his resignation to the President May 6th. The Taoiseach is the 'Prime Misister' of the country although there is a President, Mary McAleese When I first moved here it was elections and Bertie had just been voted in for a third time for his party Fianna Fáil (fee-na fall). The political parties are Fianna Fáil, Fianna Gael, Progressive Democrats, Sinn Féin (IRA legitimized), Green Party and Labour Party. Their terms last for 5 years, so Bertie did hold office for the last 11 years all during the big boom in Ireland. It is a long story but the reason he stepped down was misappropriation of funds. He just addressed the Dáil (or what would be a congress per se) for the last time before the Tánaiste (tan-ist-a) a sort of 'vice-president' takes over. Since the party was voted into power within the party they voted who would take over and it happened to be the Tánaiste Brian Cowen. One of Bertie's last acts was in front of the US congress stating that Ireland is at peace for the first time. Not a bad way to go out I must say!