Rattlin' Blog

Happy BlogDay!

2008-02-26T10:35:00.003Z

Yep, it was one year ago today that I set up this little slice 'o the net to chronicle my plans and adventures in Ireland. Fitting then that I'm writing this, the 251st post, a year later, from the terminal at Shannon Airport, on my way home...again.

It's been a good little trip, and a nice epilogue to my adventures this previous spring. Strange packing in a quick revisit of most of the highlights of my time in Galway into just a few days, with a few other new and old experiences tossed into the mix, but a good time. Still, I think this time back and reflecting on my time here and the time since has reaffirmed that I'm at a place in my life and world where I belong. Adventures will always be there for the taking, and should be taken whenever feasible. But life goes on too.

When I get back I may try and sum up some more of the highlights and thoughts from this trip, but then again, I'm not sure there's much more that needs to be said that wasn't covered over the first 250 posts. It may be that this particular blog has run its course and is due to be retired.

Then again, maybe not...

Toolin' 'round Doolin

2008-02-23T10:50:00.003Z

Just a hyper-quickie as I need to get on the road back to Shannon to dump my car and catch the bus up to Galway. Trip is going grand so far. After a fantastic breakfast in Limerick with Conal and Emma yesterday, I headed out along the north edge of the Shannon estuary, all the way round loop head on the very tip of Co. Clare, then made my way up the coast through Doonbeg, Milltown Malbay, Lahinch and finally into Doolin. As Doolin was the home of the late Micho Russell, a legendary whistle player, and this weekend is the memorial festival in his honor, so a town already known for great trad music was brimming with it last night. I quietly slipped from pub to pub, taking in pints and tunes and the scent of peat in the cool, damp night air.

Will update again from Galway or possibly Shannon if I get stuck waiting for a bus.

There Once Was a Boy from Ann Arbor

2008-02-21T18:31:00.003Z

Who ran into a girl from Ann Arbor.
He's writing this Limerick,
'Cuz it happened in Limerick--
A fuck of a ways from Ann Arbor!

It didn't take long for the small-world coincidental magic to manifest itself on this trip. Just about an hour after arriving in Limerick, while catching up with Conal at the student union coffee shop on the UL campus, one of his friends from the music program showed up. The friend, Nick, it turns out, is from Mt. Pleasant, and with him was his friend Becca, who apparently lives upstairs from a prominent Indian restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor at the moment. She arrived yesterday to hang out and visit for a week. I'd be more shocked and surprised, but have grown quite accustomed to the fact that random coincidental run-ins like this are amazingly commonplace on this small island.

Aside from that, the trip has been relatively uneventful so far. Made it in safe this morning, had a nice little drive around the backroads of East Clare while killing time until Conal would be out of class. Heading out shortly to grab some dinner and catch Aoife and Emma's play then off to a session and a pint (or two).

Final thought for the day: It's quite striking how a place can seem so utterly foreign and yet completely familiar at the same time.

What I Did With My Winter Non-Vacation

2008-02-18T06:19:00.005Z

Hey! Lookee here what I found! It's me ol' blog!

Yeah yeah yeah...shame and scorn, lashes with soggy noodles... I haven't really forgotten about this place. It's just that I've had little that interesting to say lately, and less time to say it.

Not that I've been in complete hibernation for the past 2.5 months (though there've been times I might've wished it). There's just been nothing terribly blog-worthy on a daily, weekly (or even, apparently, monthly) basis.

But since you're curious enough to be reading this anyways, here's a quick rundown of the few things that have been going on in my plane of existence this winter:

1. Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez, as mentioned in the last post on 1201 S. Main, just a mere two weeks more recent than the last post here. So much for that brilliant idea (the other blog, not hiring RRod. Hiring RRod, was, in fact, a brilliant idea.)

2. So yeah... that other blog. It may become something still at some point. Construction on the stadium continues, but they haven't started completely tearing down the pressbox yet or anything. I've got pics, I'll get them uploaded and talk about it at some point. Maybe. I guess this is something that's not going on in my plane of existence, but what the hell...

3. I bought a new car. Mazda RX-8. It's sweet. Except when there's snow on the ground. Good thing we've only had the snowiest winter in ten years, the first major fall of which came the day after I signed the papers on the car. Lovely.

4. I finally caved in to the peer pressure to expand my appreciation of the works of Joss Whedon. I have watched the entire series of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and am down to about a dozen episodes left of "Angel." The first season of Buffy was cheesy, but it picked up after that and remained a very solid show right through the end. I found Angel to be very slow starting up, but the last couple seasons have been very enjoyable. Put those two on the shelf along with "Firefly", and Whedon is my brilliant effin' hero. Spike may be one of the best characters ever written for TV. Oh yeah, and in an interesting postscript, the character of Angel was originally from.... Galway! Throughout both shows there are a number of flashback scenes set in Galway in the mid 1700's when he was turned to a vampire. Bonus sweetness, aside from David Boreanaz' awful attempt at a Connaught brogue.

5. Found a new addiction: Settlers of Catan. If you've played it, you know. If you haven't, you should.

6. Plumbing issues up the wazoo. (Hmm... I suppose that statement takes on completely different meanings depending on which half of it you take literally.)

7. Michigan hockey team has been kicking ice.

8. Oh yeah... there was also that whole little Capital One Bowl shocker over Florida, adding to the bi-polar nature of being a Michigan fan these days. Naturally, I was down there for the game, completing my third perfect attendance season in the past 4 years. Being the ever-edgy partybears that my traveling mates and I are, we rang in 2008 with a hyper-competitive round of mini-golf at the cheesy place across I-Drive from our hotel. We got to watch the fireworks from Disney and all the other theme parks ringing around the horizon from the green on the 16th hole on the top of Congo Mountain Volcano at midnight. Yeah, we're reckless bloody fools, I tell ya.

9. Playing lots of Irish music. I've been hitting the session here in town at Conor O'Neill's occassionally, and treking up to Dick O'Dow's in Birmingham pretty regularly as well. I shouldn't say anything to jinx it, but it looks like I may actually be in on a paying gig or two coming up soon (including St. Patty's Day). Oh, and more recently, I've once again rededicated myself to practicing the pipes. We'll see how long it lasts this time. :)

10. And finally.... I'm getting ready to head back to Ireland! Only for a quick visit this time, unfortunately. I'm heading out to Chicago tomorrow, then flying out of O'Hare on Wednesday, returning the following Tuesday.

The rough agenda will be:
Thursday morning - head to my favorite city in all of Ireland (and by that, I mean the one and only city in Ireland, that I actually hate)--Limerick. Planning on hanging out with my old housemate Conal for a bit that day and that evening, catching the latest Mephisto Theatre production, which as you may recall was the production company my housemates Aoife and Emma founded.

Friday - cruising Co. Clare. No particular plans... just going to poke along and enjoy the countryside and at some point find someplace to bed down for the night and catch some tunes. Will likely end up in Ennistimon, or maybe Doolin, but I might roll the dice and try a town I haven't stayed in before. Perhaps Milltown Malbay or Lahinch. Will mostly depend on where I can dig up a Friday night session I suppose.

Saturday - head up to Galway. If I get up there in time, hit the farmer's market falafil stand. Hunker down in a pub with a pint and get lost in the music and craic.

Sunday - Hit the farmer's market falafil stand (again?) then get to the Crane in time for the afternoon session with Sean Ryan and wibble at the knees listening and realizing how amazing of a whistle player I'll never be.

Monday - See above, sans the falafil stand.

Tuesday - fly back to Chicago.

Since being back in Ireland should equate somewhat to having interesting thoughts again, I will try and post a few updates while I'm gone, but time will be somewhat scarce, so I don't want to make any lofty promises and let down my hordes of adoring readers.

So there you go.... two and a half months worth of blog material in one post! Don't say I didn't get you anything for Christmas now, will ye?

Introducing: 1201 S. Main

2007-12-01T19:48:00.000Z

Since I got back from my travels, I've been trying to decide what to do with this space. Obviously, my thoughts of late have been centered on Michigan football, particularly with some exciting stuff going on right now.

I hemmed and hawed a bit about turning this into a Michigan football blog. It's not really why it existed in the first place, and furthermore, I felt that there's really little that I could add to the Michigan Sports Blogosphere, especially in a time when MGoBlog is incredible, beautiful blogzilla that it is. I can't touch what Brian does there in terms of in-depth analysis and reporting.

But one thing I do have: Proximity to Michigan Stadium. As I drove by yesterday, I noticed that the back wall of part of the press box has been knocked out and gutted. With all the talk of the renovations, this was the first indication I had seen or heard that the press box seems likely to come down *this year*. (The construction plan does call for a new pressbox, but it is also slated to take part in phases over the next several years.

So, I thought a blog dedicated to Michigan Stadium, and all the ancillary facets of Michigan football might be a fun little niche that I can fill.

While driving by the Big House a few nights ago, I was struck by the sign on the gate at the SW corner that I'd never really noticed before, prominently noting the address of Michigan Stadium: 1201 S. Main.

Seemed as fitting an address as any for a blog dedicated to the stadium.

However, as I set up the name this morning, much bigger things are stirring in the world of Michigan football... The head coaching search is at a boiling point. As of early this morning, ESPN was reporting that Les Miles was going to be Michigan's next head coach, and not only that, but that he'd already picked out his new defensive coordinator.

Since then, however, ESPN and the world of Michigan chatrooms, blogs and message boards has been a maelstrom as reports have come out that he has in fact signed an extension to stay at LSU. Reports and counter-reports have been flying back and forth. Tension is high, anyone's guess at this point how this is going to shake out, though it's not looking promising for Michigan at the moment. (But that could change. It already has several times today).

So yeah... my blog dedicated to Michigan Stadium already has three posts on it, not one of them dedicated to Michigan Stadium. It happens.

But without further ado, I present in it's earliest, rawest form, with a temporary layout, etc:

1201 S. Main

Updates? Updates.

2007-11-28T20:03:00.000Z

There's really not much to update though. We're not much closer to knowing what bowl Michigan will be in OR who our next coach will be.

We do know one bowl and one coach that WON'T be matched up with Michigan, soon, however.

The Outback Bowl in Tampa has extended an invite to Wisconsin, which they accepted. And Iowa's Kirk Ferentz has been eliminated (whether by his choice or ours hasn't been specificied, though it appears to be his) from the coaching search.

So where does that leave us? (Bowl edition): At this point, it all depends on whether Illinois gets a BCS bid or not. If they do, we'll most likely be in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on New Years Day. (If I understand the rules and trust posters on the Victors Board correctly, we would be the only team left that Capital One could take with OSU and Illinois BCS-bound and Wisconsin already committed to Tampa.)

If Illinois does not get a BCS bid, it's believed that they will get the Capital One invite, dropping us to fight it out with Penn State for two undesireable late-December games: The Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, and the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. I'd imagine we'd probably go to Champs Sports in this case, and PSU to Alamo, since we were just in San Antonio two years ago, and there can't be many M fans eager to repeat that trip. PSU, on the other hand, has only played there once--8 years ago.

So where does that leave us? (Coach edition): Miles away. Or, Miles closer. The speculation is almost unanimously on Les Miles at the moment. Brian Kelly's name has been tossed around, and one ridiculously unreliable rag even went so far as to say that he was in "if the interview doesn't turn off the Woman President". Bwahhahah.

Few other candidates have been receiving much attention lately, which seems to indicate Miles is at the very least, Michigan's clear next choice. That Ferentz was apparently their first choice is scary, but that bullet appears to have been dodged for now, so no harm done.

If things with Miles don't pan out, Kelly certainly appears to be next in line. Rumors have it that he has been contacted by Nebraska about their opening as well, though, so we may need to move quickly to avoid having to fall down to choice #4.

And it's anybody's guess at this point who that might be.

The hunt is on

2007-11-21T05:18:00.000Z

So yes, as expected, Lloyd did officially announce his retirement on Monday morning. He will coach the team through the bowl game, and then the Lloyd Carr chapter of Michigan football will be closed.

It's strange to see the perception of the man in the aftermath. It's as though the fanbase overall is tripping over themselves to try and figure out how they feel. There is a very strong outpouring of gratitude and warm remembrance towards Lloyd for all that he brought Michigan, but it is mixed with equal doses of relief and joy that he is finally moving on. The past 13 years have had some of the finest moments in Michigan football, but they've also had some of the lowest. He's been responsible for both.

What isn't being debated though, is that he is a class act and a fine gentleman and representative of the University and that we have been lucky to have had him here.

But there's also little hiding the excitement of the possibility that a new coach could elevate Michigan to a consistently elite level that, outside of 1997, Lloyd always seemed to fall just short of. So who might this superman savior be? For those who haven't been spending the past days scouring internet message boards and newspaper clippings, here's a pictorial rundown of the likely and not-so-likely candidates:

Front Runners:
1. Les Miles, Head Coach, Louisiana State - You'd have to have just emerged from under a rock to not know who Miles is at this point. A "Michigan Man", Miles played for Bo and was later an assistant under both Bo and Gary Moeller. He has the pedigree of being part of Bo's lineage, yet has spent considerable time outside the program, including as an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys, and as the head coach of Oklahoma State and now LSU, where he has the Tigers poised to win a National Championship. The notion of a coach leaving in the midst of, or immediately after, winning a National Championship is unprecedented, but Miles has made it clear that Michigan is his dream job. The timing, however, is going to make things incredibly tricky. Could or would Michigan lure him away before the National Championship game? Can they afford to wait a month and a half until it's over? The best case for Miles to be the next coach is ironically for LSU to lose either against Arkansas on Thanksgiving, or in the SEC Championship game.

2. Kirk Ferentz, Head Coach, Iowa - Ferentz's name has been tossed around occasionally over the past couple of years as a potential replacement for Lloyd. Just today, speculation and rumors have put him neck and neck with--and depending on who you listen to, ahead of--Miles. Ferentz has had several very successful years at a program where recruiting and winning is much more difficult than at Michigan, however, his past few seasons have not been so shiny. UM President Mary Sue Coleman was the president at Iowa when Ferentz was hired there, and they are reportedly very close. In addition, Ferentz has a daughter at UM. Of the available coaches out there, Ferentz would be the most like Carr, both pros and cons. As AD Bill Martin has been quoted as saying he'd like to "clone" Lloyd Carr, this seems to point towards Ferentz as being exactly the type of character coach that Martin would strongly consider. It may very well drive the fanbase nuts, though.

Reasonably Possible Candidates:
3. Brian Kelly, Head Coach, Cincinnati - If Michigan is looking for their very own Tressell--someone with local ties and a high track record of success at a lower level--Brian Kelly is that man. Before taking over at Cincinnati, Kelly led Central Michigan to the MAC Championship, and prior to that, he built Grand Valley State into a Division II powerhouse, winning two DII National Championships there.

4. Greg Schiano, Head Coach, Rutgers - The man has built a successful program at Rutgers. Yes, Rutgers. Being an East Coast guy, though, it is believed he is planning to wait it out for the Penn State job to become available. Good luck with that, Greg. That job will not be available until Joe Pa dies, and at the rate he's going, his entire team might be made up of juiced-up cockroaches before that happens.

5. Rich Rodriguez, Head Coach, West Virginia - Has been very successful in Morgantown, but WVU is his alma mater. Seems unlikely we'd pull him away from there, but it's possible. And how much would WVU fans hate us if we poached RRod just a year after stealing away basketball coach John Beilein?

6. Mike DeBord, Offensive Coordinator, Michigan - It's largely believed that he was being groomed as Lloyd's hand-picked successor, but his offenses always left Michigan fans wanting so much more. There was much rejoicing when he left a few years ago to be the head coach at Central Michigan, but he resigned there after just a few short, disappointing seasons, citing that the program had "barriers to success" (His successor, #3 above, didn't seem to have a problem with these obstacles, though you could argue that Kelly benefited from DeBord's recruiting at CMU). If he wanted to jump start his candidacy, a 91-yard, 3-point outing by his offense against Ohio State was not the way to do it. DeBord will get a courtesy interview, but Bill Martin will have a fan mutiny on his hands if he actually hands the keys to the program over to him.

7. Ron English, Defensive Coordinator, Michigan - a more palatable choice than DeBord, but his lack of experience and relatively short tenure at Michigan are not doing him any favors. Nor are his defense's performances in several key games over the past couple of seasons, although his initial impressions were very high and he is very well liked by the players.

8. Mike Trgovac, Defensive Coordinator, Carolina Panthers - Trgovac is another former Michigan player. He has NFL experience, but no head coaching experience. I really don't know anything more about him.

9. Cam Cameron, Head Coach, Miami Dolphins - Cam was a long-time assistant at Michigan, where he was praised for helping to develop many of Michigan's star QBs and WRs of the late 80's and early 90's. His career has been up and down since then and has included stops with the Washington Redskins, Indiana Hoosiers, and San Diego Chargers. Unfortunately, he seems to be a much better assistant than head coach, based on his track record thus far.

10. Bret Bielema, Head Coach, Wisconsin - Bielema's name sort of came out of nowhere recently. He's only in his second year as Wisconsin's head coach, and while he's been fairly successful, there does not seem to be enough evidence to prove that he'll be a great coach, and even less to indicate that he has any interest in Michigan.

Longshots:
11. Jeff Tedford, Head Coach, Cal -Tedford has done an amazing job at Berkley, building an academic powerhouse/football doormat into a perennial challenger in the Pac 10. He is particularly known for his success in grooming successful quarterbacks everywhere he's been. His disciples include Trent Dilfer, Joey Harrington (yes, Lions fans, please remember that he was actually a good QB in college!), Akili Smith, Kyle Boller and Aaron Rodgers. He is firmly entrenched on the west coast, however, there have been reports that he's not happy at Cal and may have hit the ceiling there and could be looking to move on to a more promising program. Unless he thinks Pete Carroll (USC) or Mike Belotti (Oregon) are going to be hanging it up anytime soon, that would most likely mean leaving the coast and heading inland.

12. Jim Harbaugh, Head Coach, Stanford - A year ago, Harbaugh would have been a very intriguing choice. One of Michigan's favorite sons, he burned a lot of bridges after taking over as Stanford's head coach by repeatedly taking verbal shots at Michigan's academic standards and expectations regarding their athletes. He had a very successful run as the head coach of the University of San Diego before taking over at Stanford, where his first season has been disappointing, save for a shocking upset over USC.

13. Steve Spurrier, Head Coach, South Carolina - Laugh if you will, but rumors are the "Ol' Ball Coach" wants out of SC. Personally, I can't stand the guy, (and he's 3 months older than Carr) but if by some chance he was interested in the position, you absolutely have to at least talk to him.

14. Jon Gruden, Head Coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Gruden's name has been linked to some degree with both Notre Dame's and Ohio State's previous coaching searches as rumors have crept along The Internets that he is interested in coaching at the college level. But whether there's any basis in those rumors or whether they just keep resurrecting themselves every time a major collegiate position is open is unknown.
15. Bill Cowher, currently retired - The longtime coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers retired after winning the Super Bowl two years ago, but he is only 50. It is conceivable that he could still return to coaching, either at the college or NFL level, though he seems to be content to be out of it. His alma mater, NC State, apparently approached him last year and he declined, so getting him up here seems incredibly unlikely.

My personal preferences? It's hard to say where I'd rank the Longshots, other than Tedford being my overall clear number one (aside from the Ludicrously Unpossibles, such as Pete Carroll, Bob Stoops, Bill Bellichek and Cryogenically Restored Fielding H. Yost). Of the Front Runners and RPC's, my preference is as follows, with the cut-off line between "excited about" and "disappointed with" being drawn at 4.5:

1. Les Miles
2. Brian Kelly
3. Rich Rodriguez
4. Greg Schiano
5. Kirk Ferentz
6. Cam Cameron
7. Ron English
8. Mike Trgovac
9. Bret Bielema
96. Osama Bin Laden
97. A wooden cut-out painted in the likeness of Woody Hayes, Block O cap and all

98. A friendly amoeba

99. Mike DeBord

Update: A couple other names that have been tossed about which I forgot about: Randy Edsall, Head Coach, UConn and Paul Johnson, Head Coach, Navy. Both have been relatively successful at lower-profile D-IA schools, and I'd list them probably under the Reasonably Possible Candidates. On the Exciting-Disappointing line, they'd probably fall somewhere between Ferentz and English.

Update to the Update: I also forgot Bobby Petrino, Head Coach, Atlanta Falcons. Petrino was instrumental in building Louisville into the national contender that they've become. I'd also file him under the RPCs and would rank him either side of Rich Rodriguez.

It wasn't supposed to end like that

2007-11-17T21:46:00.000Z

It rarely does the way it should.

"Sometimes life just kicks you in the balls" -Dave Mineau, 11/13/1993

Maybe later I'll have more words.

Bo

2007-11-17T07:00:00.000Z

He would never want the emphasis to be on himself.

But that is why we remember him today.

Bo Schembechler
April 1, 1929 - November 17, 2006

Go Blue. Beat the Buckeyes.

Thank you, Part II

2007-11-16T03:58:00.000Z

One night in April of 1995 was a dark spot in the history of Michigan football. Then head coach Gary Moeller's night of bad judgement at a metro Detroit restaurant promptly led to his dismissal. A short while later, his defensive coordinator and good friend was named interim head coach. Exactly 6 months later, 10 games into his first season as head coach, the 'interim' label was removed, and Lloyd Carr officially became the 16th head coach at the University of Michigan.

Born in Tennessee, Carr's family moved to Riverview, MI when he was 10. He was a star quarterback at Riverview and later at Northern Michigan. He returned to the metro Detroit area and taught and coached at several high schools before becoming an assistant at Eastern Michigan. In 1980, he was hired as an assistant on Bo Schembechler's staff at Michigan. For 27 years now he has walked the sidelines of Michigan Stadium in some capacity or another. He is a Michigan Man.

Carr's career as head coach has been marked by both incredible highs, and frustrating lows, but now, after nearly 13 years, it appears to be coming to a close.

It's been a familiar drill this time of year for each of the past several seasons. The internet starts to rattle and hum with rumor and speculation that this could be the end of the Carr era. Each year the speculation grows more intense, but this year, it would appear to finally be correct. Multiple sources, most notably Brian Cook at MGoBlog have reported that the decision is final and that all that's left to decide--for Carr anyways--is the timing of the announcement. Carr would never be one to put the center of attention on himself rather than the players or THE GAME, so there will be nothing before Saturday. But an announcement could be coming as early as next week.

To say that Lloyd Carr has been universally beloved by Michigan fans would be a gross overstatement, if not an outright lie. A fanbase used to high expectations has grown increasingly weary of disappointment against lesser teams. Struggles against middling teams early in his career, and a failure to win against Ohio State or in bowl games over the past several years has turned many a Michigan fan against him. The historic upset against Appalachian State and utter dismantling at the hands of Oregon early this season were the final nail in the coffin for many, and helped seal even most ardent Carr supporters' opinions that regardless of the successes he's had, it was time for him to go.

But yes--Don't for a second be fooled into thinking that Carr has not been a successful coach at Michigan. During 12 full seasons under Carr, Michigan has posted a winning percentage of 0.75839, good enough for 9th in the nation. By the time this season is complete, they will probably be 7th. Only five active coaches have a higher winning mark. For comparison's sake, during the last 12 years of Bo Schembechler's career, Michigan's winning percentage was 0.75172--also 9th in the nation over that span. Carr's 121 victories and 5 conference championships put him third all-time at Michigan in both categories, behind only Bo and Fielding H. Yost.

And of course, Carr did manage to do what no other Michigan coach--including Bo--had done since Bennie Oosterbaan did it in 1948: win a National Championship.

In 1997, Carr was entering his third year as Michigan's head coach, and the pressure was starting to build. His first two seasons each featured 4 losses, including disappointing bowl losses to Texas A&M and Alabama. Going back to Moeller's last 2 seasons, Michigan was riding a streak of 4-straight 4-loss seasons. Michigan had not been to the Rose Bowl in 5 seasons, marking the first time since 1975 that a group of seniors had played a full career at Michigan without getting to play in Pasadena.

As if the pressure of the losses wasn't trouble enough for Carr, he had himself a quarterback controversy to resolve. Over the two previous seasons, both Scott Dreisbach and Brian Griese had split considerable playing time. Dreisbach had shown considerable promise early on, including leading a 17-point fourth quarter comeback against Virginia in Carr's very first game as head coach. But injuries and confidence issues had opened the door for Griese later in the season both in '95 and '96. Griese struggled at times, though he did lead Michigan to victories over Ohio State in both of those seasons. The fanbase was somewhat divided, though the majority seemed to like the potential of the younger Dreisbach, and were quite displeased when Carr opted for the 5th year senior Griese.

But, Carr, it seems, knew what he was doing afterall. Four months later, the Wolverines found themselves in Pasadena, celebrating their first undefeated season and National Championship in 49 years. While Charles Woodson took home the Heisman Trophy in December, the MVP of that Rose Bowl game was Brian Griese. Carr, for his part, was named national Coach of the Year.

Aside from 1997, some highlights of Lloyd Carr's tenure have included an utter domination of rivals Penn State and Michigan State. After losing 3 of his first 4 games in East Lansing, the last on a highly controversial "last second" play, Carr's Wolverines have now won 6 straight games over MSU, including three in a row at Spartan Stadium. Against the Nittany Lions, the domination has been simply unfathomable as Michigan has defeated PSU in 8 straight meetings going back to the "Judgement Day" domination in 1997 that launched the Wolverines into the #1 spot for the first time all season.

One black hole for Lloyd Carr's Wolverine teams had always been South Bend. Despite taking favored teams into games against the Fighting Irish, time and time again, they came up short when playing on the road. Add in a frustrating upset at home in 2005, and it was beginning to look like Notre Dame had a decided edge over Carr's teams. But in 2006, Lloyd's boys got over the hump in grand fashion, destroying the #2 ranked Irish on their own field, 47-21. This season, a 38-0 whitewashing gave Lloyd his 3rd blowout victory over Notre Dame in 5 meetings, not to mention a much needed shot of penicillin to cure the ails of an 0-2 start.

When it comes to Ohio State, Lloyd's career is a tale of two halves. Not coincidentally, those halves are split in Columbus along a different and distinct line: The Cooper-Tressell line. In the first six games of his career, Lloyd Carr held a 5-1 record against John Cooper and the Buckeyes. In the 6 years since, Jim Tressell has held up a mirror to that record, levelling Carr's all-time record in THE GAME to 6-6. Assuming that this is, in fact, his final season, this week's game will seal Carr's legacy in THE GAME.

Lloyd Carr has been called many things, a good number of which are not suitable for print here. Yet throughout his tenure, across his ups and downs, no one has ever seriously questioned his integrity. Even his most ardent detractors acknowledge him to be great person, and a fine representative of the University. His teams have won without scandal and all who have met him speak very highly of his personal interactions with the fanbase. This alone, coupled with the success of his teams, indicates that he deserves to go out with dignity and on his own terms.

Lloyd, as a fan who has attended every home game of your tenure save for the very first, and more than my fair share of road and bowl games, I thank you for all that you've given to Michigan. I wish you all the best in your retirement, and in your remaining games as Michigan's head coach, whether it be just two, or more.

Thanks, coach. Thanks for what you've been and done for Michigan.

GO BLUE!

Thank You, Part I

2007-11-15T06:58:00.000Z

Four years ago, history was made when, on the eve of the season opener against Miami of Ohio, Lloyd Carr opted to let a true freshman lead his offense as quarterback to kick off the 2004 season. It was the first time a true freshman had started at quarterback for Michigan since Rick Leach in 1975. Gone was veteran starter John Navarre and in the week leading up to the opener, Navarre's heir apparent Matt Gutierrez suffered an injury to his throwing arm, which sadly, for all intents and purposes, ended his career at here*. Thus started the Chad Henne era at Michigan.

Over the course of the 2004 season, Henne showed tremendous promise. He was not without his struggles, but his freshman campaign was marked with pockets of brilliance. More than anything, he showed a penchant for poise and confidence when trailing late that Michigan fans hadn't seen since Tom Brady. The wonder of his late comeback scoring drive over Minnesota, capped by a TD pass to Tyler Ecker with just 1:57 left in the game, was completely blown away just a few weeks later. With some help from Braylon Edwards and Jason Avant (and an onside kick recovery by Brian Thompson) his performance in the final 8 minutes of regulation and 3OTs against Michigan State is already the stuff of legend. By the time the year was done, Henne had cemented his place in history by becoming the first true freshman quarterback ever to lead a team to the Rose Bowl, where he led seven offensive scoring drives and threw 4 touchdowns, tying both the UM and Rose Bowl records for touchdown passes in a single game.

Chad's poise and late-game heroics were not limited to his freshman campaign. As a sophomore with his team struggling mightily, Henne gave fans a gem of a memory with a literal last-second touchdown pass to Mario Manningham against Penn State. It was the Nittany Lions' only loss of the season. As a junior, Henne connected with Manningham for three long touchdowns at Notre Dame, exorcising demons that had haunted the Wolverines in South Bend since 1994, and doing it in style. Even a slow-starting and injury-riddled senior campaign was not without some highlights, including an encore to his 2004 performance against Michigan State--down 10 points with under 8 minutes to go, Henne tossed two touchdown passes to seal his career sweep over the Spartans.

Chad Henne will leave Michigan owning the school record book for quarterbacks. He already is the career leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns, while he needs just 66 more attempts to lock down that record as well. If he can manage 6 touchdowns in his final two games, he will tie Purdue's Drew Brees' for the Big 10 record for career touchdown passes. He is certain to carry on the legacy of success that Michigan quarterbacks have had over the past 20 years playing in the NFL.

* For the record, Gutierrez eventually transferred to Idaho State for his final year of eligibility. After a successful senior campaign there, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New England Patriots, where he is currently backing up Tom Brady. He is the 8th former Wolverine quarterback since 1990 to play in the NFL.

Jake Long came to the University of Michigan in 2003 from the town of Lapeer, not far from my old stomping grounds. He redshirted his freshman year, but was being heaped with praise throughout spring practice later that year. The expectations for him for the following year and beyond were as big as his 6'7" 315 pound frame.

But on a warm June night the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, tragedy struck. The house that Long shared with several team mates caught fire and burned to the ground . Long, awakened by the smoke detector, had to jump from his second story window to escape the blaze. While everyone in the house thankfully made it out alive, several had minor injuries. Long got the worst of it, and spent several days in the hospital as a result of smoke inhalation.

All this proved to be but a pile of sand to the road-grader who has been wearing number 77 for the Maize and Blue. Long has since started 38 games at tackle for Michigan, compiling a track record and reputation as one of all-time great linemen at a school which has produced it's fair share of them.

As a red-shirt freshman in 2004 he earned 2nd team All-Big 10 honors, as well as Freshman All-American. Injuries hampered his 2005 season, but in 2006 he came back strong as a consensus All-American and the Big 10 Offensive Lineman of the Year.

It's difficult to write at length about the career highlights of an offensive lineman. There is no glory in the position, and it's said that the only time a lineman is noticed is when he screws up. Jake Long's play has gone largely unnoticed by the masses. But it has not been missed by his teammates. Twice they have elected him as their Team Captain.

As early as the fall of 2002, the internet started to buzz with jaw-dropping clips of a pint-sized running back from tiny Onandonga HS near Syracuse, New York. As a sophomore, junior, and again as a senior, he led his team to Class C/D State Championship titles. His 65-yard touchdown run in the championship game his junior year will live forever in YouTube lore as "The Run", though perusing the "Related Videos" section will show that it was hardly a lone highlight.

By the time he graduated from Onondaga Central High School, he held national records for touchdowns, points scored, and 100-yard games (46 games... consecutive, by the way.).

The buzz across fan message boards following his recruitment had elevated him to the status of a cyber folk hero, but the recruiting services and scouts were less impressed. He was too small, at 5'9, 175 lbs. He was too slow, with a 40-yard dash time listed as a charitable 4.4. And while his runs looked impressive, they came against the smallest and least-competitive division in the state of New York. He was a novelty, but considered unlikely to ever be a starting running back at the Division IA level. Even Lloyd Carr was reportedly doubtful that he'd ever much more than an occasional role player, but the Wolverines were one of a handful of major programs to make a scholarship offer to the tiny wonder from Onondaga.

Mike Hart chose Michigan.

He played very sparingly in Michigan's first two games, but by the third game of his career, Mike Hart was Michigan's starting tailback. He ran for 124 yards against San Diego State that day, and has been seen as an elite Michigan back ever since. His ability to squeeze out extra yards with such steadfast consistency is matched by his determination to hold onto the football. He lost a fumble just once his entire freshman season. He has not lost one since.

Overwhelming success against underwhelming expectations. That is what Mike Hart has represented. He is very much like a mythical folk hero. It is a common practice in literary fiction to give characters names that evoke certain qualities that we are to associate with that character. Some great author fittingly gave this young man the name "Hart".

Rarely before has a player been seen who better typifies the cliche of "playing with heart" than Michael Hart. His lack of physical stature and top end speed only add to the mystique. How could a slow, small kid from a tiny high school in New York ever be a contributing player at an elite college football school? By playing with heart. By working harder than the next guy. And by refusing to be stopped, literally, and metaphorically.

As a true freshman, Hart began piling up yards from his first start. By mid season, he notched three consecutive games with 200+ yards rushing--the first Wolverine player ever to accomplish such a feat. This season, despite missing approximately 4 and a half games in total, he surpassed Jamie Morris and Anthony Thomas and became Michigan's all-time leading rusher. Even in Michigan's two season opening losses, Hart ran for a combined 305 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The play that most typified Hart this season may have come late in the Appalachian State game. Dinged up early in the game, Hart was held out for most of the second half. On a few occasions, the coaches had to nearly physically restrain him to keep him on the sideline. But with 4:36 left in the game, the Wolverines found themself in an unthinkable position--trailing 31-26 to a Division I-AA team. Hart sought to correct that. He re-entered the game and put the entire team, the entire crowd of 109,000 people on his back, and carried us all 54 yards to the endzone. That dazzling touchdown put Michigan back in the driver's seat and the lead for the first time since the first quarter. It should've been enough, but the defense let it slip away yet again, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mike Hart is already a legend, and will forever be remembered not only as one of Michigan's greatest players, but one of it's favorite sons. But one thing remains.

Chad Henne, Jake Long, Mike Hart, and the rest of Michigan's seniors have never defeated Ohio State.

Yet.

Thank you Chad, Jake, Mike and the rest of the seniors. You've given us 4 years of fantastic memories.

This Saturday, make some great ones for yourselves.

Remembering Saturday, November 22, 1969...

2007-11-15T06:26:00.000Z

The day they came to bury Michigan,
All wrapped in Maize and Blue.
The words were said,
The prayers were read,
And everybody cried.
But when they closed the coffin,
There was someone else inside!
Oh, the Buckeyes came to bury the Wolverines,
But Michigan wasn't dead!
And when the game was over,
It was someone else instead!
Twenty-two Michigan Wolverines
Put on the gloves of grey,
And as Revelli played 'The Victors',
They laid Woody Hayes away!

-Bob Ufer

This is a belated Wednesday post. I hope to have more up later (today) tomorrow.

We've got highlights...

2007-11-13T15:33:00.000Z

Do you think a game with this much history might have some classic highlights from games gone by? As Ufer would say, 'You bet your cotton-pickin' Maize and Blue heart it does!'

Let's punt--er, kick--it off right with the most exciting single play I've ever witnessed in person:

I can recall with great distinction jumping on my seat in Section 26, sreaming beyond my voice, extolling Sir Charles to "DO THE HEISMAN! DO THE HEISMAN! DO THE HEISMAN!" as he trotted down that same sideline into that same endzone and towards that same sought-after hunk of copper that Desmond Howard had done 6 years earlier.

Let's back up a bit. Maybe I should explain why we hate these guys so much:

WARNING: Might want to turn your speakers off for this one, lest your ears be punished with the sounds of "Hang On, Sloopy".

The 1995 edition of THE GAME featured a Heisman-winning Running Back. But it was this guy who ran for 313 yards:

"Eddy WHO?"

Well here's a random one. Not really much of a highlight, but I thought this was funny. Would you believe that this man once had such an amazing day running, passing and kicking the football at Ohio Stadium that he got a standing ovation from the full crowd as he left the field? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Tom Harmon, Cereal Spokesman

The real catch is that, unlike in this clip, he was wearing Maize and Blue that day.

Yes, Brent, the "Buckeyes came up big in the biggest" in this one, but I would be remiss if I didn't include anything about last year's titanic #1 vs. #2 showdown:

RIP Bo.

On a brighter--or at least bluer--note, how about taking it back 10 years for this gem, compliments of Tai "Takin' it to the" Streets:

Two words to drive any Buckeye nuts: "Springs Slips"

Did I mention why we hate these guys?

The guys in the "Don't Give a Damn" video certainly gave a damn about Steve Breaston, Chris Perry and Braylon Edwards later that day...

The 100th edition of THE GAME

Winding this down, let's take a look at the game that put THE GAME back on the map, the start of the modern era of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, Bo Schembechler's first meeting against Woody Hayes in 1969:

"They've got Schembechler on their shoulders! Ripley couldn't have written it any better. The final score: Michigan 24, Ohio State 12!"

Finally, let's wrap this up with a nice bookend to match the first clip.

Hellooooooo Heisman!

Michigan-OSU Monday: Painting the Bowl Picture

2007-11-12T20:27:00.000Z

I had a lengthy post queued up on Thursday to post on Friday outlining the various bowl possibilities given the possible scenarios that could play out over the last two weeks for Michigan. I didn't get it posted, and now, with not only Michigan but also Ohio State losing on Saturday, the picture is far more simple, yet far from complete.

Michigan and Ohio State both are tied for first place in the Big 10 at 7-1. All other teams have at least two losses already, so the winner of THE GAME is the outright champion and will therefore be the conference's BCS representative and will play in the Rose Bowl.

IF MICHIGAN WINS...
The Wolverines will be celebrating New Years Day in Pasadena for the fourth time in five years. The other half of the Rose Bowl picture is still as hazy as the LA smog, but there is a very distinct possibility that Michigan could find themselves squaring off again against Dennis Dixon and the Oregon Ducks. *shudder*. Arizona State and USC are both within striking distance of the Pac 10 title should the Ducks either stumble, or if they cruise all the way to the title game. If OU does make the title game, their spot would go to an at large, which could mean the Pac 10 runner-up, or could mean another non-traditional matchup against a top team from another BCS conference.

Meanwhile, Ohio State's holiday destination would be a little less clear. Despite coming off two straight losses, there's a chance they could still be eligible for an at-large BCS bid, likely the Orange or Sugar Bowls. If they don't make the cut, or would be seen as unlikely to bring the $$$ with a disappointed fanbase (unlikely, I say, as OSU will travel well regardless of where they're at and their record), then the Capital One Bowl would have to make a tough choice between Illinois (who beat OSU head-to-head), or an Ohio State team that is likely to bring the fans. I think this one goes to OSU, since they have not played in the Capital One/Citrus Bowl since the 1995 season. That would suck for Illinois, though, to be honest. The loser of that decision will find themselves in Tampa for the Outback Bowl.

IF OHIO STATE WINS...
There is still an outside mathematical possibility that a win over Michigan, coupled with at least one more loss by 5 of the top 6 six teams could get Ohio State back into the Championship game in New Orleans, but the odds of that are incredibly slim, especially with three Big XII teams all round-robbining in the mix ahead of them. Though, this has been a crazy year, so I have to acknowledge that (almost) anything is possible.

While failure to make the Championship game would be surely disappointing for the Buckeyes, they would have to be happy about finally returning to Pasadena. It's crazy to think about, but in spite of (and in a way, because of) the success that Ohio State has had over the past several years, they have not been to the Rose Bowl since the 1996 season!

Michigan meanwhile, would most likely have a New Years Day date in Orlando for the Capital One Bowl--the biggest of the non-BCS Bowls. The Wolverines have not played in Orlando since the 2001 season, when they got shellacked by Tennessee in the then-named Citrus Bowl.

Again, assuming Illinois wins out, they will be tied with the loser of THE GAME for second place, but a decision between Michigan and Illinois should be a no-brainer for the Capital One committee. Not only did Michigan win head to head, but they should travel better, with the disappointment of the season being offset by the prospect of seeing Mike Hart, Chad Henne and--probably--Lloyd Carr on the Michigan sidelines one final time.

If the Capital One opts for the Illini, it would relegate Michigan to the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Thankfully, there do not appear to be any circumstances that could drop us back to another disastrous outing in San Antonio.

At this point, with several regular season games and a championship game yet to be played in the SEC, it's pointless to speculate who the SEC representatives to either the Capital One or Outback Bowls will be. How crazy would it be if LSU stumbled and the Capital One matched up Michigan with the Tigers in a Winner-Gets-An-Office-In-Schembechler-Hall-Next-Season deathmatch? (If you don't understand what I'm talking about here, watch this space later this week for more details.)

THE GAME

2007-11-11T21:38:00.000Z

"Hello everybody! Yes, sir it's finally here--Meeechigan versus Ohio State in football! ...Call it what you will, it promises to be two and a half hours of some of the most exciting football in the hundred and four year history of man's inhumanity to man...This is what intercollegiate football is all about! All morning long the caravans of cars filled with Buckeye fans have been pouring across the border from down south and echoing from each of those cars is the old, familiar chant, 'We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan!', while all of us up here in the Water Wonderland never forget that 'Ohio' is still a four-letter word! Isn't it great? I can hardly wait until kickoff and I know that you can't either!" - Bob Ufer

This is only the second time in history that both Michigan and Ohio State are going into THE GAME while coming off of losses in the previous week. Not exactly the sort of history either team wanted to be setting, especially after last year's historic #1 vs. #2 matchup, but the more things change, the more they stay the same: the 2007 edition of THE GAME is for the undisputed Big 10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Just the way it should be. Yesterday's results took care of all the ambiguity and other scenarios that might've been out there, so right now, it's as simple as history: win THE GAME; go to the Rose Bowl.

Right now, Wisconsin does not matter. Illinois does not matter. Appalachian State and Oregon do not matter, nor do the 18 combined wins the teams have notched so far this season. All that matters right now is which team will claim that 19th win and all the spoils that go with it. All that matters is the Maize and Blue, the Scarlet and Grey. Woody, Bo. Winged Helmets and Buckeye Stickers. The Victors and Script Ohio. From State Street to High Street, men, boys, women, children and families will turn their thoughts, chats and dreams this week to a game involving 22 young men agitating a bag of wind up and down a hundred yards of plastic and ground rubber.

Isn't this great, indeed, Bob.

GO BLUE! BEAT THE BUCKEYES!

Must-See TV

2007-10-22T17:58:00.000+01:00

Seriously, short of a victorious, post-OSU, Lloyd Carr Retirement Special hour-long episode of Michigan Replay, could there be an hour of television more perfectly tailored than tonight's Heroes...

... with Detroit native Kristen "Veronica Mars" Bell...

... running around kicking ass...

... in Ireland?

Seriously.

And I'm going to be driving all evening.

Please, Our Lady of Blessed Comcast DVR, don't fail me now.

Rainy Day, Busy Day

2007-10-16T17:14:00.000+01:00

Frantic work issues, a fresh glass of hazelnut mocha.
My cozy Tigers sweatshirt
and both windows open letting in the sound and smell
of a steady autumn rain.
The dulcet tones of Liam O'Flynn's piping carrying it through the day.

I resemble that punchline!

2007-10-05T16:01:00.000+01:00

Swap out livejournal for blogger, and that about sums up my April-June!

But you already know that.

Anyways, props to this comic that someone just pointed me in the direction of. Give it a read... it's some good stuffs:

XKCD

By the light of Tiki torches and a nearly full moon on a perfect, cloudless night...

2007-09-25T02:01:00.000+01:00

Young's Oatmeal Stout, a couple sweet-apple chicken sausages grilled up and topped with sauerkraut and Stadium Mustard, fresh corn on the cob, and few sad, sweet tunes on a Hohner Blues Harp.

Oh, and did I mention?

WE OWN....PENN STATE!

Life is pretty fucking good right now.

edit: Icing on the cake? Awesome season premier of Heroes, with the final scene set where else, but Cork, Ireland. Feckin' A!

Triumphant Return

2007-09-20T04:09:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not posting about the return to glory of Michigan football.

This evening, I booked my a flight to Ireland.

Thanks to Aer Lingus' 48-hour sale, I could not pass up the opportunity to return, even if just for a short trip. Not for $300 for a round trip, especially when I have places to stay and won't need to rent a car, so the entire trip is going to cost nothing more than that rather minimal airfare, food, and Guinness.

Unfortunately, it's a little ways off, what with football season, the holidays, and an inevitably busy January production cycle at work.

But February 21st I'll be back on Irish soil again for a nice 5 day stint of catching up with old friends and old haunts.

Life is good right now.

The passing of another Ann Arbor icon

2007-09-17T22:56:00.000+01:00

First off, yes I am still in afterglow mode from Saturday, but will wait until after the Penn State game this week to truly gauge my optimism regarding the rest of the season. Notre Dame just really is that bad.

But I need to take a solemn moment up here to mark the sad news of the passing of a man who, after losing Bo last November, may well have been the next most well-recognized man in Ann Arbor... "Shaky" Jake Woods.

If you've spent any time living in Ann Arbor, you know Shaky Jake and have seen him around. He'll be missed.

Godspeed to you, Jake...

Yes, Lucy, I'm ready to kick that football again.

2007-09-15T06:10:00.000+01:00

Ever have a recurring situation, which no matter the logic and reason, you keep feeling the incessant need to repeat past detrimental behavior?

I'm psyched for the game tomorrow.

I can't wait for Michigan to go out there and kick the living crapbags out of Notre Dame tomorrow.

This is the one day of the year where all my whacked out faux-Irish wanna-be tendencies are wiped away and I might as well be Oliver fuckin' Cromwell for my hatred of leprechauns, clovers and the Rakes of Fuckin' Mallow... Dress our D in Black and Tan. Oppress those motherfucking dirtbag French northern Indiana Amish obstinant arrogant insults-to-the-fine-people-of-the-Republic-of-Ireland pricks. And God Save the Queen.

Nevermind the fact that we have no defense to speak of, a true freshman with only one half of game experience starting at QB and a coaching staff that has to take the short bus to the stadium.

As long as we have Hart, we have Hope.

GO BLUE! BEAT THE IRISH!!

The sun still rises in Ann Arbor

2007-09-04T15:19:00.000+01:00

Just got back from a nice walk around the block. The sun is out, and it's a beautiful day, despite wide-spread reports of snow showers all weekend long just up the road.

Been going through the various stages of the grieving process all weekend:

1. Denial: Woke up Sunday morning, shaking off a bad dream. When does football season start again?

2. Anger: DAMMIT LLOYD!

3. Bargaining: If we can somehow beat Oregon...and ND... and PSU, MSU and OSU.... and win the bowl game... that might almost erase the pain. Almost.

4. Depression: Who am I kidding. We won't be any of those teams. We flat out suck.

5. Acceptance: check back with me in a few years on this one.

PS - I still (heart) Hart.

Go Blue.

2007-08-31T17:01:00.000+01:00

I guess running off to another country for a few months and then spending the latter part of summer scrambling to readjust to reality had the inadvertant side-effect of really throwing off my mid-to-late-summer football jonesin'.

I've been in this hazy awareness that another season of football was coming right down the pike, but even moving into a house where I can look down the street from my front lawn and see Michigan Stadium didn't really kick the adrenaline into high gear the way it normally is this time of year.

If any of you are also suffering from a disturbing case of football lethargy, or if you're full out craving and need a fix to wind the cork even tighter, you might find that these will help.

They worked for me! GO BLUE! BEAT THE MOUNTAINEERS!!

Stevie B, doing what Stevie B does

DOMINATION!

1997

Daydrian Taylor

The Braylon Edwards Show, 2004

The Best MMB Half-Time Show Ever - Part I

The Best MMB Half-Time Show Ever - Part II

"One man... goodbye! Hellooooo Heisman!"

More Desmond

Embedding is disabled on this one, but if you've got a HART you'll want to click on it.

Thrilling last-second heroics...

...and the man that invented them:

Adventures in Home Rentership

2007-08-20T14:56:00.000+01:00

Okay, so as it may seem obvious by now, this space is starting to wake up again. I'm not sure how long it'll last, but with the new changes and adventure of settling into my new place, I figure I'll have a lot of amusing observations and anecdotes about the house, and about living back in Ann Arbor. I'm going to be pretty busy the next few weeks, so don't expect anything of great substance, but I hope to toss a couple thoughts here and there.

For now, I'm dealing with the fact that none of the rooms in the house other than the kitchen and, (ironically) the sun room, have light fixtures. At the moment, I have one floor lamp that I have to keep moving from room to room with me. Meijers trip number one: floor lamps.

Also, I'm bemoaning the lack of an accessible Einstein Bros bagels. There is one in town, but it appears to be in the University hospital. I'll have to scope it out later, but I have a feeling its not a place that can be hit up for an easy, morning bagel-and-Mel's-Cool-Cap run. Instead, I ran out Barry Bagels on Jackson. Unimpressed by their selection, but the asiago I just had wasn't bad and they make a tasty iced mocha, so all may not be lost.

On a related note, I'm going to be living on bagels and cream cheese for probably the next 36 hours or so.

Abhaile Sweet Abhaile

2007-08-20T14:03:00.000+01:00

I forgot to mention that it has been at least drizzling ever since I crossed over the Michigan-Indiana border Saturday afternoon. It's currently pouring. I just checked the forecast for this week:

Today
Showers and thunderstorms...heavy rainfall possible. Highs 63 to 67. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent.

Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 74 to 78. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph...turning to southwest late. Chance of rain 40 percent.

Wednesday
Mostly cloudy through mid morning...then becoming partly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 85 to 89. South winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Thursday
Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 86 to 90. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Friday
Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 82 to 86. Chance of rain 40 percent.

Saturday
Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs 77 to 81. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Did I really ever leave Galway?

p.s. - It was definitely better moving whether than what we've had a majority of the time since I've been back. I love a good rain shower/thunderstorm. It's just the endlessness of it that gets tiresome.

Home Sweet Home.

2007-08-20T05:56:00.000+01:00

After a rather chaotic, busy and tiresome weekend, I am now, save for a few odds-n-ends, fully moved in to my new place.

Now unpacking and settling in is a different story altogether. It will hopefully not involve anything as dramatic as moving trucks tearing bumpers off of innocent bystanding cars, police reports, rain storms, or 3 hour traffic jams, making it instantly better than this weekend.

The Parting Glass, raised in honor of Tommy Makem, 1932-2007

2007-08-07T21:08:00.000+01:00

I haven't been perusing some of the Irish music forums frequently lately, but I just happened in for the first time in a while today. Had I waited another day, I likely would've missed seeing that Tommy Makem passed away last Wednesday. Tommy was a legend of the Irish folk music scene, performing for many years with The Clancy Brothers and as a solo act. I had the good fortune of finally seeing him perform at the Milwaukee Irish Fest a few years ago, and his voice and enthusiasm were every bit as golden as in the recordings that made up some of my very first musical memories.

To Tommy Makem, the Bard of Armagh, we raise this toast:

Oh all the money that e'er I had, I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done, alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit to memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had, they are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had, they would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call good night and joy be with you all

If I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

My dearest dear, the time draws near when here no longer can I stay
There's not a comrade I leave behind, but is grieving for my going away
But since it has so ordered been what is once past can't be recalled
Now fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

If I had money for to spend, If I had time to waste away
There is a fair maid in this town, I feign would while her heart away
With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin, my heart she has beguiled awa'
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you a'

If I had money for to spend, I would spend it in her company
And all the harm that I have done, I hope it's pardoned I will be
And all I've done for want of it to memory I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ordered been by a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

A seat house on the 50

2007-08-07T15:43:00.000+01:00

I have a home!

Last night I signed a lease for a 2 bedroom house in Ann Arbor. It's a small house, but it is very close to The Big House. In fact, it is 1 block exactly due west of the 50 yard line!

I'm definitely excited to have a new, fresh, change of scenery to mix things up, and looking forward to my triumphant return to Ann Arbor residency! Being within walking distance not only of the stadium, but also downtown, Yost Ice Arena, Washtenaw Dairy, etc. is going to be great.

I take possession on the 16th, but for now I just need to figure out how and when I'm going to collect all my assorted belongings from their various locations and get moved in!

Still Life Talking

2007-07-30T04:59:00.000+01:00

The past couple weeks have been pretty subdued. To be honest, I've really been in a bit of a depressed funk to have come down from what an incredible high I was on for 3 months and back to the reality of work and a 'normal' life. I'm still a bit down, but there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, for now.

My primary focus for now is on finding a place to stay. With all due respect to my dad and family, living here for even just a few weeks has been a somewhat detrimental arrangement. To go from such a ridiculous level of independence to living back under a parents' roof is a very jarring adjustment, nevermind the fact that I'm working from here, I have a step-sibling who is home most of the day, and I really don't even have more than a bed to call my own here. My bags are still barfing their contents on the floor where I dropped them three weeks ago when I got back.

So, to expedite improving my situation, and to allow for the possibility that settling back in Michigan isn't quite something I'm as ready to do as I had long imagined, I've decided to put off buying a house just yet and rent for 6-12 months and see where I am then. There's still questions to answer...roomates vs. no roomates, apt. vs. house, in town vs. out, etc, but I hope to start resolving those pretty quickly over the next couple of days and ideally will have a lease signed by the end of the week. That's the first and most important step to trying to get back on the happy side of life.

Of course, trivial pleasures will always help as well, and tonight came a pretty big one that'd been long-anticipated, but never quite certain until now: the commitment of the star of this highlight video to be a part of Michigan's incoming class of football recurits next fall. He's been quite the internet sensation for several months now with highlight videos that have been the most eye-popping thing since those that floated around of a pint-sized high schooler named tearing up the competition in upstate New York four years ago. (You might've heard of that kid, too... Mike Hart, anyone?) But for now, ladies and gentlemen, I present, the newest Wolverine, Sam McGuffie:

Pulse check

2007-07-17T07:04:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie to let everyone know that I (and this blog) am still alive and well. I've been meaning to put together a post on my first week (now crawling into week-and-a-half) back, but to be honest, so far there just hasn't been all that much that's been terribly exciting. It's a lot of indecisive ponderings about living arrangements and the future in general, with a bit of mixed contemplativeness on the past, both recent and otherwise. But not a lot of entertainment value, really.

Plus, I am back to work, albeit only half-time so far, so that's obviously cutting into my blogging time. Although I was working when I started this thing and found time for it, so that shouldn't be too much of an excuse.

So yeah... my week in a nutshell:

Went sailing with Dad and Judy my first full day back. That was great, except for a little engine mishap that led to us being towed up the Clinton River at the end of it. Not so great. Nothing like being welcomed home with a three hour tour. A three hour tour.

I got to spend some good quality time with my nephews, and have been gradually reconnecting with friends that I haven't seen in a while, too. Oh yeah, and I made it to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on opening night. Let's just say I hope I enjoy Book 7 more than Movie 5.

So yeah... nothing exactly comparable to spontaneously deciding to take off and fly to the Aran Islands for a couple of days, or planning a few days in France... But some big stuff should be in the works soon with living arrangements, so I'll keep you posted as I start to figure that out.

Home.

2007-07-07T07:27:00.000+01:00

Back at Dad's house in Dearborn. Very long day. Nearly 24 hours since I woke up in Galway. Drive back from Chicago was uneventful, save for getting my Taco Bell fix on. HUGE thanks to Emma and Dad for providing transport to and from airports today, respectively, despite them both being substantial drives!

I hardly slept at all on the plane, so I'm crashing now, finally. Looking forward to spending some time (sleeping) on the boat tomorrow while trekking it up to Mt. Clemens, then seeing the rest of the family on Sunday!

More later when I'm a bit more rested.

Shutting down now. Again.

2007-07-06T16:25:00.000+01:00

We were supposed to have left almost 2 hours ago. Word is our plane has at least finally arrived, though. Ran into a friend from sessions in Chicago though who is on the same flight, so between that and chatting on Messenger, have killed the time okay.

But at this point, I just want to be on my way......... You may have noticed that the "Rambling" clock above has stopped. I set it to stop when we were supposed to leave. I guess I'll have to add about 2 hours... heh.

Anyways, next post should be from back on American soil.

A Different Destination

2007-07-06T14:27:00.000+01:00

Around the time I was finishing up the previous post, another column of US soldiers--all Marines this time--appeared in the waiting lobby.

I offered my laptop to a few of them to check and send email, but they politely declined. Spirits seemed high. I grabbed a sandwich and had a seat near another group, including an older officer--a colonel, I believe--just as a page came over the terminal intercom for 'Mike Hunt'. The colonel shook his head and laughed, and with a chuckle, I asked "that was one of your guys, wasn't it?" He just smiled and nodded.

Given the spirits, and that the last group I ran into here was homeward bound, I guess I assumed the same. Still, I leaned in and asked one of the other fellows if they were "heading over or back home".

"No. We're going to a different destination" was the reply.

Lump in the throat.

I finished my sandwich and as I got up to use the restroom, I wished them good luck and thank you. They all replied in kind, and one of them, seeing my hat, offered up a "Go Blue".

Lumps.

Best of luck, men. As they say over here... Slan Abhaile. "Safe home".

So What Happens Now?

2007-07-06T13:43:00.000+01:00

Well, this is it. The end of the Great Adventure. I'm back once again at Shannon Airport. My bags are checked and I'm through security. Hopefully they all make it through intact. I could still turn around one more time, but if I did so now, I'd be returning to Galway with nothing but the clothes on my back, my laptop and my pipes, whistles and harmonicas. Hmmm.... come to think of it, that's not all that bad. Heh.

No, all great things must come to an end, and this is a good end. Staying last week was the right decision. So was shuffling things around again to come back today rather than in another two weeks. My last week was good, and my final night last night was just right. Not going out with some crazy bang, but certainly not the near-literal whimper that my last "last night in Galway" was.

I've been thinking a lot for a while now about not only what life is going to be like for me after I get home, but also specifically, what purpose this blog will hold. It's easy to imagine that it will not be as interesting reading about some schmuck living and working back home in Michigan. I'm sure for a bit, I'll still fill it with reflections and memories, but it won't take long for that content to dry up. As to how I will rectify that in the long run, I'm still trying to figure out.

But, I have figured one thing out.

This entire trip, as much as being an adventure, has been an accomplishment. It was a goal and a dream, and I made it happen. So what to do after accomplishing something like that?

Do it again. Find another goal. Fulfill another dream.

One other thing that I've long believed is that I have a book in me. Or a screen play, perhaps. My next Great Adventure is to find it, excavate it, and get it published.

I have a lot of ideas, including fiction and non-fiction. Certainly I have ideas and inspirations I can take from this trip, but I have many other passions in life that have been little touched upon in this space that I can tap into as well.

The possibilities are endless. But among whatever else I keep track of here, I plan to continue to chronicle my progress on this next goal here, or in some similar follow-up site.

Stay tuned!

Back... to the Future

2007-07-06T04:42:00.000+01:00

So here I am, enjoying my last few days in Galway and I heard this pop and a roar and look out my window and see a set of flaming tire tracks running down O'Connaire Rd. Probably not the strangest thing I've seen over here, but it's up there.

There's a knock on the door. Then I remember I sent myself ahead in time to ask me about my time here three months ago. I wonder briefly how I knew to wait an extra week.... :)

Looking back, I really nailed the answers to several of these.

So I says to myself I says to me..............

(Original speculative answers from three months ago in blue)

Q: Did you find a job? Are you going to be staying, or returning shortly?

I've acquired a permanent position as a Guinness taster. Unfortunately, I won't ever be returning home because I am unable to pick myself up off the floor of the pub. Kidding. In all seriousness, this is a bad question to start off this interview with, and I'm going to have to break character already because I really have no sense at this point for whether I'm even going to want to try and stay longer, let alone, whether I'll be able to. There's still a lot of great things to be had about staying for 1 year, but the goodbyes I've said in the past few days have been rough enough. Coming back in July only to have to turn back around and leave for a longer period of time would be much worse. Not to mention the fact that I likely have a very promising employment situation that will likely be waiting for me in 3 months. It's questionable whether it'll be there for me in a year. But still, the rich experience of living here for an entire year and seeing all the seasons cycle through with all that brings with it is an enticing draw.

No. I'm looking forward to resuming my services to Synthesis Technology, who made this all possible. Furthermore, there are no seasons in Ireland. Only varying levels of rain and temps in the high versus low 50's.

Q: Where did you end up living?

Galway, in a house with three other fantastic people.

Yup. Except that it was five other fantastic people, though never more than three at any one time. Aoife was here the whole time (sans when she was out of town, which was frequently), Conal for about the first six weeks, Kesstan for about three weeks when Aoife was in Sligo, Emma for about the last six weeks, and Julia for about the past month.

Probably the biggest surprise of the housing situation was that of the five other people who lived here during my time, four of them were American. Only Emma was a native Irish girl, and even she was from the other side of the country.

I think the main reason for that was that the primary means our landlord (who lives in NY, btw) has used to advertise the space is craigslist, which just has not gained critical popularity over here, despite there being a Dublin site, anyways.

Q: What other countries did you end up seeing?

Italy, Germany, England, Scotland. Didn't make it to Wales, France, Poland, Spain or any place else I was hoping to hit, unfortunately, but that'll save something for next time. Particularly bummed about Wales.

All true, except that I did make it to France. Wales will be very high on a return trip priority.

Q: What did you miss the most?

Family and friends.

Of course.

Q: Okay, so maybe that's a given. What trivial aspect of daily life did you miss the most?

Hi-powered laundry dryers.

Not gonna lie, that is certainly up there. Spending sometimes a day or more trying to get a load of laundry dry in Ireland's climate can be frustrating, not to mention how air-dried clothes tend to get stretched out and crunchy.

For the first two weeks, though, the answer would definitely be "internet access". I really couldn't believe how much it was driving me crazy to not have constant, immediate, hi-speed net access up until we finally got it installed here at the house.

I also missed some sports. I would've loved to have hung out with friends and family watching the Wings and Pistons during their playoff runs, as well as the Tigers. I'm definitely looking forward to getting out to Comerica Park and/or Wrigley Field when I get back.

Q: What was one thing you missed more than you thought you would?

Work. Seriously.

Wow. I have to admit, this is one I was dead wrong on. I really thought I would miss having a daily routine and expectations and such. I honestly did. While I miss the folks at work and some of the office banter and atmosphere, I can not honestly say that I missed working at all. I did do some while I was over here, and while the hours I put in were very limited, it took much effort to get even that done.

I should add, though, that this probably would have been true, had it not been for really maxing out the side-adventures. The amount of time I spent not only travelling outside of Galway, but preparing for said trips, and reporting on them when I got back really did take up a lot of my time here and kept me from having too many days when I had nothing to do.

Internet (see above) would be a better answer, and another one I didn't think of is "dishwasher".

Oh, but the number one answer: Drinkable tap water. Yes, the cryptosporidium contamination is still an issue here in Galway, and looks like it will be until sometime in the fall, so we have not had potable water my entire time here.

Q: What was one thing you missed less than you thought you would?

American junk food.

Actually, I'm going to go with TV shows here. While I did spend this morning finally catching up on what was left of season 1 of Heroes, which Justin brought over for me last week, and I'm looking forward to catching up on The Office and what was apparently the final episodes ever of Veronica Mars when I get back, it didn't really bother me at all to not be able to keep up with them as they were broadcast. The way my TV viewing habits had changed in the past year or two, I had expected that I would've really missed seeing my shows on a regular basis.

I didn't miss junk food all that much, but it was mostly because it's all pretty readily available here, not because of some newfound discipline.

Q: What will you miss most about Ireland?

The friends I've made here.

definitely true. But also...the sessions, and the scenery, and the vibe, and the relaxed, laid-back nature of things, and the easy access to other European destinations, the breakfasts, and the weather... well, maybe not the weather so much, but I'm sure when I'm sweltering in 90+ degree humidity back in the States, I'll be longing for a cool mid-afternoon shower and temps in the 50's again.

Oh yeah, and ready-made Indian food!

Q: Meet anyone... special?

Ummm... you do realize this is still me you're talking to, right? Even three months in the future?

Everyone I met was special.

But as has been already tipped here: Yes. But it ultimately was not meant to be anything more than friends. I'm glad that it worked out that way in the end.

Q: So how are the pipes coming?

Meh. Got some great pointers and had a chance to do some quality practicing, but it's a long, slow road to learn to play the uilleann pipes, and three months is but scratching the surface.

This is pretty much true. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't manage to find a teacher here in Galway to continue lessons and sort of gave up on practicing the latter half of the trip, even. However, when I was in Dingle trying out the practice set that was for sale in the shop down there, the shop owner asked me how long I'd been playing, and when I told him just a year, he sounded very sincere when he said I was doing pretty good for that. Considering how little I've put into it compared to what I should be putting in if I ever want to become proficient, that really made my day.

Of course, he was trying to sell me a 2000 euro practice set, too.

I'll also add though, that I've gotten enough of a confidence boost from certain friends who have heard me play, and even did take them to my would-be last session at Richardson's and played my small handful of tunes that I semi-know on them, and it was appreciated and enjoyed by those there, so I think there's still some hope...

Q: And the whistles?

Pretty good. Learned a few new tunes, anyways, and feel like I've improved overall.

Again, that's pretty much right on. The main reason I kind of stopped practicing the pipes regularly was because I was about half-way through my time and hadn't played in any sessions yet. I knew I wouldn't be taking the pipes to any sessions soon (which turned out to not be completely true), so I wanted to knock the rust off my whistle. It was also about this time that I discovered the "improvers" class and session at Richardsons on Monday night, so I started to put a lot more focus on the whistle.

I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it now, though I definitely still have a ways to go. But I'm comfortable enough sitting in on most sessions, if only for a tune or two. Probably the biggest change and improvement is that I am getting over my self-consciousness about playing solo in public, as evidenced by my busking outside Blarney Castle and playing for the backpackers on the hill at the base of the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye. Also, that I've gotten up the courage to sit in on sessions at not only Richardson's, but The Crane, An Pucan, Taaffe's, the pub on Inis Meain, and even that session in Scotland.

Q: Favorite single memory? (25 words or less)

*bzzzt*crackle*static*What was that? I didn't copy*bzzt* Damn sunspots... (Did I say something about a DeLorean? I meant that I was communicating with future me via an old ham radio. Yeah, that's it.) Either way, looks like we'll just have to wait until June to see the answer to that one.

Just one? Road trip to the North my would-be last week here.

Q: Who came to visit you from home?

Met up with Jen C in Italy, and Justin G in Scotland. Russ, Justin B and Mom all talked about coming to visit in June, but it didn't end up happening.

Again, I pretty much nailed it. Justin G's trip ended up being in June instead of May, and he brought along his brother.

I also got to meet up with Traci from the Grafton Pub in Chicago when she and her fiance were over here visiting his family, and I did meet up with Raeanne from Memphis when I was down in Kilfenora, if that counts.

Q: Any hassles with immigration?

Only getting back in the country from the UK after the England/Scotland trip.

Actually, not even then. In fact, the officer was talking on the phone while checking passports and he didn't bother to look at any other pages in my passport, or even ask me a single question. Rather, he gave me a stamp and wrote in the date that I have permission to stay until:

September 1st.

The first of many signals that led me to decide to extend my trip, if only for a bit.

Q: Worst thing that happened to you?

Got drunk and passed out in a pub, woke up with an atomic wedgie, a shaved chest and my wallet replaced with a stinking dead fish, after dreaming all night that I was stuck on the evil boat ride from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original version, but with Johnny Depp's creepy glasses staring at me the whole time).

No, not that. Really, nothing too traumatic happened at all. I mean, what's a little heartbreak amongst friends? :)

Q: When are you going back?

:)

Gonna have to leave it at that, for now. I have definitely left some things un-done, though not many. I still have not been to the "sunny southeast" of Waterford and Wexford. There's a "Magic Road" in the Comeragh Mountains down there I'd love to find, though after the past month, I'd find any place in Ireland that can claim to be regularly "sunny" to be just as magical and unbelievable. I also have somehow managed to circumvent County Monaghan in all my travels, I believe. I'd have to check the map, but I believe Monaghan, Wexford and Waterford to be the only 3 of the 32 counties of both the Republic and Northern Ireland that I have not been to now. But there are still plenty of specific spots... Valencia Island, Clare Island, the other two remaining Aran Islands, the Bluestack Mountains, the peninsulas of West Cork, not to mention tons of spots to explore further where I have been.

If I have some particular goals or ideas, though, I'd love to return for about a month around this time of year and take in the Craiceann bodhran festival on Inis Oirr and piggyback that with Willie Clancy Week (piping-focused general music festival) in Miltown Malbay.

About to hop in the shower...

2007-07-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

...and speaking of such, Caelus just asked in the comments below about my experience with showers over here.

Glad you asked, because it reminded me of one more small observation I've been meaning to post about since I got over here.

But first, showers in general... Caelus and his wife just returned from Italy, and found the showers to be roughly the size of a small phonebooth. Yes, my friend, that is very common across Europe. I think the smallest shower I had was in my room in Venice. The entire shower plus bathroom was smaller than many closets back in the US (and FAR smaller than the mid-sized cave that was my closet in my room in Chicago for those who were familiar with it). But many others in Ireland, Scotland and other places are not any different.

I'll add that size aside, the best shower I had in my entire time over here was at the Bayfield Backpackers Hostel in Portree, Isle of Skye. Clean, great temperature control and water pressure like a firehose!

The other interesting thing about showers over here is that most of them are electrically operated. There's often a switch on the wall (often *outside* the bathroom) that has to be turned on to operate it, then a dial or button to turn on the water. Some, like ours here at the house, make this gawdawful racket when they're operating. The room I was in until Conal left was right against the shower wall, and when someone turned that sucker on in the morning, there was no more sleep to be had.

Now, one more bit about our shower here that has amused me on a nearly daily basis:

Our shower is not tiny. Not huge, but not a phonebooth, either. Rather, its a normal (well, okay, smallish) tub, with a shower unit on the wall. The shower unit is on the back wall, near one end of the tub though, rather than being on the end wall like you might normally find it. The result being when you're standing in the shower with your back to the unit, you're facing out staring at the shower curtain, instead of the other end of the tub.

Our shower curtain has fish on it. Fish with assorted colors and patterns. This is the fish that is directly at eye level such that I spend most of my shower staring at it:

Notice anything funny about the pattern on the crown of his head, particularly? Now, wanna tell me this whole thing wasn't just meant to be???

Back to packing...

2007-07-05T09:41:00.000+01:00

...and it STILL sucks!

So that's what Irish ex-pats feel like on St. Patty's Day in the States?

2007-07-05T00:54:00.000+01:00

Well, not quite for sure, but it was a just slightly tweaked experience, if only in its seemingly forced-gratuitousness-yet-ultimately-ignored sort of way.

I went to the premiere of Aoife and Emma's short plays tonight at the Bank of Ireland Theatre on the campus of the NUI Galway. They plays, two original shorts produced by the company that Aoife and Emma are founding members of, were brilliant, by the way. Aoife directed both, Emma acted in both. But that's an aside for now.

Afterwards, we went to the "College Bar", which is, in fact, a bar that's right on the campus, next to the theatre. The campus is very much isolated from the city pub scene, so think of it as like a student union, but with beer (any Wisconsin grads reading this, think of it as like your student union, but without the lake).

Anyways, up on the walls surrounding the bar were red, white and blue balloons and streamers. There were two large, flat panel TVs on the wall above the bar, and a large projection screen at the end. All three were looping a video which kept projecting "4th of July" in large, cartoonishly star-spangled letters, followed by clips of fireworks and assorted images from around the US, the first of which was unmistakeably, in a paradoxically intriguing twist to my observation basis, the Chicago river, dyed bright green for St. Pat's.

For what its worth, I did not notice any particularly pro-American stuff in any other places around town. I suspect the college bar did it out of respect to the very large portion of the student body that are American. Not like the other day when a quick look around Shop Street revealed that about every fifth person had a Canadian flag painted on their face.

Apple pie and baseball

2007-07-04T18:01:00.001+01:00

A few quick thoughts on things I'm looking forward to in the days, weeks and months ahead, in no particular order...

Chicago style pizza. A fresh load of laundry warm right out of the dryer. A glass of tap water. Going to Comerica Park to see the Tigers. Sailing on Lake St. Clair. BBQing with friends, and meeting some new additions to their families. Decent burgers. Catching up on TV shows. Poker games. Sitting on the deck of the boat sipping a dark-n-stormy. Weather warm enough for Teva's and shorts. Wearing the rest of my wardrobe. Greenbacks (and making some again). Monday Lunch Meetings. The Grafton, and bringing some new tunes to the session there. Hitting up the session at Conor O'Neill's. New Harry Potter--movie 5 and book 7. Buying a house. Ann Arbor in the fall. Gameday weekends at my new house in town?

And of course, seeing the look on my nephew's face when I first see him again, and the disbelief in how big he and his baby brother have gotten in the past three months. And joyful embraces from the rest of my family as well.

Final change in plans. For sure this time.

2007-07-04T02:53:00.000+01:00

Yes, that was an intentional bit of foreshadowing when I re-iterated my indecisiveness in my last post. I had to check some things, but it's now official:

I'm coming home on Friday.

Staying last week was the right decision. I had to see about some things. They didn't work out, and I guess I at least thought it'd take a bit longer to find that out, but things go the way they go. But I'll never regret staying to find out out, regardless. And, for what its worth, the situation is ending on a mutually amicable and respectful note, rather than one of bitterness and anger, as it very easily could've.

But now, it is time to come home. Staying another two weeks is not going to change anything, and my overall mood has been one of a longing to be home. I really now think that was the reason I was meant to stay--to want to come home. Last Friday, I didn't want to leave. While I'll still be sorry to see this fantastic chapter of my life come to a close, I won't be dragged kicking and screaming from it as I would've been had I left when I had originally planned.

For those of you who know me in real life... family, close friends, co-workers... I can't wait to see you all again very soon. For anyone who I don't know, but who has enjoyed reading this, drop me a line if you're ever in the Port Huron, Dearborn, Ann Arbor or Chicago areas, as I expect I'll be spending plenty of time between those locales... I'd love to meet all of you and would be glad to share some tales from the road in person.

And if any of you happen to be a beautiful, young, single woman who would admire a well-travelled, introspective, funny, creative, passionate, hopeless romantic who would literally turn around just yards from the bus stop with all his luggage in tow before hopping back across the globe on the mere chance that there could be something special... well then, what the hell are you waiting for???

This weather is starting to drive me nuts

2007-07-03T16:30:00.000+01:00

Seriously.

I didn't know that I'd sold my soul to the devil to get the fantastically, improbably dry April that I had when I first got here. Or maybe someone else did it and brought us all down with them. But we're now going on at least 2-3 weeks since there's been a single complete day without any rain. It's really a bit of a bummer.

And frustrating too, because it's so spotty. So many times recently I've left the house without my umbrella or rain jacket because it seemed like it was going to be nice out, only to regret it later. Or else I take it along and end up carrying around town for no reason. There's no winning.

Just now I was down at a coffee shop and overheard one of the girls at the counter telling the other she'd read in the paper that this was the wettest June here since 1950. And in Ireland, that's really saying something.

Walking out of there, I was going to wander around town some more, but the wind and the rain kicking up made me decide that coming back to the house to get long sleeves would be a good idea. Of course by the time I got back to the house 5 minutes later, it's sunny and warm and long sleeves would be overkill.

Indecisiveness seems to be a strong common theme in my life here recently, and the weather is no exception.

I'm not sure I'd ever believe that I'd be longing for the nasty, humid heat of a midwest summer...

Tons of new photos are up

2007-07-02T12:16:00.000+01:00

I'm not going to link all the sets individually, as there's about 11 new sets encompassing the remainder of Nathan and Justin's visit to Ireland, our time in Scotland, the Salthill Airshow, and my road trip to Dublin and Northern Ireland last week.

There are some really cool shots in there, IMHO, particularly the Isle of Skye set and the Road Trip Part II set, so it's work a look:

Flickr Me!

Recap

2007-07-02T09:05:00.000+01:00

So yeah. I'm still here in Galway. This was not a creative ploy, cute practical joke or a strange dream. I seriously changed my mind at the last second and decided to stay and re-booked my flight for July 19th.

There were a whole myriad of reasons and signs telling me that staying was the right thing, and in the end, I'm sure it was. The biggest of them though is something that's rather personal and I'm not comfortable going into a lot of detail in a public forum, at least not right now. But that's also been pre-occupying most of my thought process lately, and since this space is normally just a place to dump out that thought process, it's left me with little to write about here. We'll just say it involves a girl and a what appears to be a much longer shot chance than it should be, and leave it at that.

But at the end of the day, at least I can say I tried and what a story it will make someday.

In the meanwhile, I've been trying to make the most of my extra time here. I played in a session at the Crane the other day, and for a bit last night at An Pucan, another great trad pub that I hadn't even been to previously. I'm also trying to ween myself back into being ready for some real tech work by helping update the web site for my housemates' theatre company, as their next production goes on stage later this week.

Give it a look and if anyone in Galway happens to read this, I strongly encourage you to come out and support the folks in this production:

Mephisto Theatre Company

The Two Paths

2007-06-30T00:11:00.000+01:00

Walking down the cobblestone pedestrian-only mainstreet, a light rain falling, dampening none of the spirit on the night street. Musicians playing in front of every third darkened shop stoop mingle with crowds overflowing from Tigh Coili's and Taaffe's, standing in the street, sipping their pints under the cheerful drizzle while still more music wafts out the doors behind the smokers and the early-to-bedders. A puppeteer is still performing at the fork where Shop St splits into Quay and High Streets.

Walking the neon-lit underground corridor on moving sidewalks between terminals in O'Hare airport, burdened by a load of bags as heavy as my heart to be ending this fantasy I've been living and wondering what I might have left behind. Walkway ending. Please watch your step. Waiting, possibly for hours, for loved ones to reach me, then facing a prolonged stretch of feeling anywhere but home in between two happier places.

Those are the two paths I could've been walking approximately an hour ago.

Whatever the reasons, whatever the results, I chose correctly.

Well. That was unexpected.

2007-06-29T17:33:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid I lied. I'm still in Galway.

I shut down the computer after the previous post, and tossed it in the bag--the last thing to go, always. I loaded up my bags in a cab bound for the bus station that would shuttle me off to Shannon.

I had one last stop to make before getting on the bus. And there, just about 50 yards from the bus station, I changed my mind. I found another cab and came right back to the house.

There are a large number of reasons and circumstances why, but I'm not going to get into them all now.

Suffice to say the details for now are that I've rebooked my flight to return July 19th.

And for the moment, I couldn't be happier.

Farewell to Galway

2007-06-29T09:06:00.001+01:00

Final post from what's been my home for the past 3 months.

Mood is very melancholy and apprehensive. I'll check in again when I get to Shannon and will have a few hours.

Packing sucks

2007-06-28T18:53:00.001+01:00

No matter which side of the ocean you're on or which way you're going, it's a universal truth.

I'm mostly over my emotional duldrums for now, but am just burning out. The good news is, it's currently looking like I should be able to fit everything into my bags. Now whether they'll be over the weight limit is another question...

A little too rough to post much right now

2007-06-28T16:43:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to pack. I'm going on little sleep and the surge of emotions good and bad are just making an ugly mess. Galway is sending me out with her finest weather (grey, cold and horizontal rain that looks to continue for my remaining hours).

I thought I'd want to post a lot more right now, but I just gotta get through this and get home. Can't wait to see family and friends, but the end of what's been a most amazing chapter of my life is sitting very heavy right now.

I'll be in touch soon.

Pipers are a surly lot

2007-06-26T10:06:00.000+01:00

This was an observation I started to make here some time ago and figured I'd come back to it eventually. It does seem that many of the uilleann pipers I've met have been, or have a reputation of being, a bit on the surly side.

I wondered whether there was something about the pipes that appealed to folks with a cranky disposition, or whether it was the pipes themselves that made the pipers so pissy.

I figure I'm a pretty happy, cheerful and friendly lot for the most part, so I was leaning towards the latter. Last night, I had them out while playing over at a friends' place, then took them along and abused the good folks at the Richardson's session at the end of the night with a few attempts at tunes.

Pictures were taken, and try as I might, I could not get anything approaching a smile while trying to wrestle with those damn things. So here's photographic evidence that its definitely the pipes that make the pipers poor company. And by the looks of this shot, its an area-effect weapon, spreading the doom and gloom to everyone in earshot. Hehheh...

I'm off now on my last mini-trip. I won't be back until Thursday afternoon, at which point it'll be time to pack everything up and be ready to leave. Normal road rules apply, though: I'll try and check in when I can.

Some late Irish observations

2007-06-25T17:03:00.001+01:00

Walking back from town just now, I just noticed for the first time that one of my neighbors' mailbox has "NO JUNK MAIL" painted in neat, hand-painted letters above the slot. I wonder if that works. Is it really that simple over here?

Also, on a less light-hearted note, I've been meaning to post this up for a while...

It's a pretty shocking example of the different public mentality over here regarding censorship in the media. This is an actual commercial/PSA that's been running frequently on TV during prime time over here. WARNING... It is very graphic and disturbing:

Far more graphic than any anti-drunk-driving campaign you'd see on TV in the States, and it's just for speeding.

Pressed for Time...

2007-06-25T11:29:00.001+01:00

...happens to be the name of one of my favorite Flook tunes, but it's also a rather fitting description of how I'm feeling right now.

I fly home on Friday. Friday. THIS Friday!?

Where on earth have the past three months gone?

Well, I'll tell you where... Dunbeg, Ennis, Galway, Shannon Airport, Rome, Florence, the Austrian Alps, Munich, Ulm, Venice, Normandy, Dublin, Rosscahill, The Burren, Ennistimon, Kilfenora, Inis Meain, Connemara, Limerick, Dingle, Cork, Edinburgh, Grantown-on-Spey, Loch Ness, Isle of Skye, Stirling... It's gone to The Crane, Tigh Coili's, Richardson's, Tigh Neachtain's, the Roisin Dubh, The Quays, Taaffe's, The Front Door, Cooley's House, An Droichead Beag, The Hi-B. It's gone to McDonough's, Dunnes and the Farmer's Market. It's gone into bangers, rashers and black pudding, and pint after pint of Guinness. It's gone into music, and friendship, and craic, as well as personal reflection and much-needed relaxation.

And yet, its not quite done yet. My last 4 days in town just got cut down into about 1 and a half, as one last mini-trek has been thrown together. Tomorrow afternoon, my friend Kimberly and I are heading to Dublin to see Riverdance. "On the way" back to Galway, we're going to head up north to see the Giant's Causeway, which is the number one thing left on my list of sights left to be seen in Ireland (of course, it's not the last thing on the list, so there will always be a new number 1). The route will take us through the Mourne Mountains, Belfast, Derry, and the five remaining counties of Northern Ireland that I have not yet been to.

It's also going to leave me with only Thursday afternoon to clean out my room and pack to go home. But I have no doubt it will be worthwhile.

While I'm definitely starting to bemoan how little time I have left to this particular chapter of my life, there is a great sense of excitement and anticipation that I feel towards being "home" again so soon and reconnecting with friends and family there.

Back again

2007-06-24T11:08:00.000+01:00

I think I'm going to wait to upload most of my Scotland pictures at this point. There's a ton and it really takes up some time to go through them, organize them and label them all. I'll toss a few up here and there under the 1000 Words, but the big load will probably come sometime late next week after I'm home. I've got too much else to soak up this week to spend too much time dealing with photos. Plus, once I'm back stateside, I'll get Justin's photos too, as he's got some I'll want to include as well.

I do want to tell one tale from the road though, of a particular favorite memory. On Thursday we explored the Isle of Skye, which was hands down my favorite part of the whole trip. Simply stunning scenery and a great, rustic cultural feel, very different from Strathspey and the eastern Highlands, and of course the cities of the Lowlands.

In the late afternoon, we decided to hike up to the Old Man of Storr, a crazy rock outcropping high up a hill overlooking the Sound and Isle of Raasay and back towards the western Highlands. It's a well-marked and well-travelled path, but still a bit of a climb.

Near the base, there's a final slope up to the rock pillar itself. I climbed about halfway up this slope, found a good spot to dig in, and enjoyed the view. There were some backpackers a bit below us, so I waited for them to round the bend and be out of site, then I pulled out my whistle and naturally, the Skye Boat Song came out. A few other tunes followed it. It only took a few more minutes for a few of the backpackers to come back from around the bend and be standing at the bottom of the small slope watching and listening. A few had climbed up to the path that was about parallel to where I was. After playing my few tunes, I started making my way back to meet back up with Justin and Nathan who'd been exploring the area around the base just below me.

When I came across the backpackers on the path, they practically begged me to play some more. Always enjoying an appreciative audience, I sat down and played a bit more. I was fighting off the wind and the midgies (small, biting gnat-like bugs), but it was fantastic. Justin and Nathan later said that it was just ringing off the high stone cliffs behind which really added an amazing, magical quality to the music, befitting the scenery around us.

This is the Old Man of Storr, as seen from about half-way up from the road. It was another 20 minutes or so of hiking from this point to reach the final slope at the base of the spire, which just sort of blends in with the rest of the hill from this angle. The clouds that were dancing with it cleared up by the time we reached it. Steep rock cliffs stand just behind it, which bounced my tunes around in the wind.

A taste of Michigan in Edinburgh airport? Sorta.

2007-06-23T20:09:00.000+01:00

I might've been confused had I not stumbled across an article on wikipedia a few months ago.

See, I had always grown up believing that pasty's were Michigan's one, true, original cuisine. Local lore has it that the miners in the Upper Penninsula concocted these tasty little pockets of hot meat, potato and veg wrapped in dough as a meal that could be taken along in the morning which would stay hot until lunch time.

But, those yooper miners, many of whom were Cornish immigrants, brought the dish from their native land.

So I was only mildly surprised and amused when I stumbled across the West Cornwall Pasty Co. in the terminal area of Edinburgh Airport. I mean, not that we're in Cornwall, but at least its on the right island.

I should add though, that this hardly looked like your typical, rustic yooper pasty shack. Rather, its a converted VW minibus, painted black with flames down the sides, and a couple of matching surfboards strapped to the top. Speakers mounted at the sides were blaring gritty Chicago style blues.

How could I not stop in and sample the fare?

So yeah... at an airport. Again. More waiting. What's more is I'll probably check in again from Shannon, as I'll have another long wait for the bus there tonight, and won't get back to Galway until probably around 2am. But it'll be nice to be back there.

The next week, however, is going to be insane. I'm going to have a lot of thought I'll want to get out in word here, but I already know I'll hardly have the time. I've got tons of pictures and stories from Scotland (not to mention Dingle and Cork) but I'll probably try and keep the commentary there to a minimum, as I don't want to lose "the now".

In addition to just enjoying enough of the same sessions and pints that have been my every day life for the past few months, tomorrow is the Salthill Airshow. On Tuesday night, I'm going to Dublin to see Riverdance. My friend Meg, who I've been corresponding with now for a few months, has just arrived in Galway on the beginning of a similar journey to the one I've been on, and I'm looking forward to meeting and hanging out with her. And I have many other friends and acquaintences to enjoy my last days with while I'm here as well.

That's not even getting into packing, or buying last-minute souvenirs.

Or trying to figure out where my life (and this space for that matter) will be going after Friday.

William Wallace territory

2007-06-22T21:05:00.000+01:00

Tonight we're in Stirling, home of the William Wallace monument and sight of his historic victory over the British. It looks like a pretty cool town, but we just rolled in and it started pouring. We're at a hostel right next to Stirling Castle, and had a good dinner at a place owned by a guy who's apparently a big NHL fan, so we talked hockey for a bit. Go figure.

Gonna check out the castle and the monument and maybe a bit more of town in the morning before heading back to Edinburgh tomorrow, where Justin and Nathan will catch a train down to London while I fly back to Shannon.

The past day or so on the Isle of Skye were fantastic. Climbed around in some amazing scenery, and I even got to sit in on a Scottish trad session for a bit last night. Hope to fill in more details later, but running out of time for this connection period. Next post will probably be from back in Galway.

Still a small world, even in Scotland

2007-06-21T16:10:00.001+01:00

Wandering around Kyleakin last night, we ran into a couple of young guys out trying to find a way to the small castle ruins. Got chatting with them for a bit and asked them where they were from.

Turns out they were both recent UM grads, one of which is now in grad school at the University of Chicago.

The other one was from Dryden, right down the road from Memphis.

btw... Justin and Nathan did make their way to the ruins. I turned back with the Michigan guys and headed back to town. It was nearly midnight, though there was still plenty of twilight glow in the sky.

Over the sea to Skye

2007-06-20T21:54:00.000+01:00

Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing,
Onward the sailors cry,
Carry the lad that is born to be King,
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the winds roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air,
baffled our foes,
stand on the shore,
follow they will not dare.

Though the waves leap
soft shall ye sleep,
Oceans a royal bed,
Rocked in the deep, flora will keep,
Watch by your weary head.

Manys the lad fought on the day,
Well the claymore did weild,
When the night came, silently lay,
Dead on Cullodens field

Burned are our homes, Exile and death,
Scatter the loyal men,
yet oer the sword, cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again.

The Skye Boat Song tells of the escape of Charles Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, to the Isle of Skye, after being defeated at the Battle of Culloden's Moor by the British. This morning we paid a quick visit to that historic battlefield, on our way from the Strathspey region of the eastern Highlands, escaping across to the Isle of Skye ourselves. En route, we also stopped off to visit a small lake you may have heard of called Loch Ness. The only monster spotted was the storm that ushered us in, but left us as we drove along the banks.

The western Highlands, and what we've seen of Skye (which is very little so far--we're staying tonight in Kyleakin, just across the bridge from the mainland) are absolutely stunning.

Getting back on topic for a moment, the Skye Boat Song has a bit of personal significance to me as well. Several years ago, while sailing on Lake Huron with my dad, we came into the town of Kincardine, Ontario, which has a very strong Scottish heritage. One of their several local traditions is a piper playing at sunset from the top of the lighthouse near the harbor entrance every evening in the summer.

That evening, he spotted us coming in to the harbor and held off until we'd made the final turn into the harbor, before piping us right into the marina to the slow, beautiful tune of the Skye Boat Song. It was just one of those moments that was "perfect".

I might also add that the other end of the story, the battle of Cullodens Moor, was also told in the song "Sound the Piobroch", performed by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy in their live concert recording, yet another personal favorite.

A quick 'Hi' from the 'Hi'-lands

2007-06-19T11:27:00.000+01:00

We rolled into Grantown-on-Spey yesterday afternoon and were greeted with the best weather we've had so far since Justin and Nathan arrived.

Grantown is a pretty quiet, small town, though it's the capital of Strathspey. We had a nice walk around the town and in the vicinity of Castle Grant, though it is a private residence these days and we weren't able to get too close.

As Justin and Nathan are Grants, they are certainly enjoying seeing their roots, though they're having a bit of a Malkovich, MalkovichMalkovich-Malkovich-type experience as they're name is literally everywhere!

We came down to nearby Aviemore this morning, which is a bit more of a touristy destination, to do some laundry and hop online, though net cafe's are still far harder to come by here than in Ireland, somewhat suprisingly. We eventually found a hostel outside town that has a single terminal, though.

Anyways, time is running out on my connection here for now, so I'll update more later.

The Scotsman Lounge: aka the Irish Embassy of Edinburgh

2007-06-18T00:51:00.000+01:00

Just got back to the hostel, have a beer from the bar here and thought I'd sign in for a few happy-drunken rambles.

We went out on the town this evening (after spending most of the day exploring Edinburgh Castle--fantastic!), but there was a differing of opinions as to what constitutes a fun evening. Justin and his bro were looking for a good alternative rock bar, but as we walked past a place called "The Scotsman Lounge" which had a live group doing pub songs, I decided to part ways with them for the night. No point in dragging them along, any more than dragging myself along with them if someone was going to end up not having a good time.

Now, I want to point out, braggingly a bit, that one thing I've gotten out of being over here is a vastly-improved ability to quickly distinguish between the accents of other various English-speaking countries. The Scottish accent has been incredibly and obviously very different from the Irish, and I've had no problem very quickly identifying Irish accents when I hear them here in Edinburgh.

But I really didn't need such skills when I walked in the door of The Scotsman Lounge. While the group singing was obviously Scottish, a good quarter of the crowd were wearing GAA jerseys... Counties Cork, Dublin, Sligo, Laois, and Tyrone at the least were all well represented, as well as Leinster and Munster as provinces. Though I should mention that being able to identify those jersies does take a certain degree of Celtophilia as well, as in the GAA standard, county names on jerseys are exclusively in Irish. Corcaigh, Baile Átha Cliath (Dublin), Sligeach, Tír Eoghain... between the Irish names and the county colors, I was able to identify them all.

I was only a might bummed not to see any Maroon and White of my "own" Gallimh to share a quick 'Up Galway!' with, as I would give a 'Go Blue' to any maize-and-blue clad fan run across during travels.

Just as I knew the jerseys, I knew the songs... Though a few well-known Scottish tunes were mixed in, they were smartly playing to the mainly-Irish crowd with such pub favorites as Whiskey in the Jar, I'll Tell Me Mar, and of course, the namesake of this very blog, The Rattlin' Bog.

Sure, you might think it a bit silly to spend my time in Scotland in a pub that was effectively Irish , but its not like I couldn't hear any great alternative rock at home, or in the Roisin Dubh in Galway, either. I do hope to find a pub that has some good live traditional Scottish music, but I'm really not sure it is embraced here the way the tradition is embraced in Ireland.

I will say, however, that the town has been nearly littered with Highland pipers out busking for a few coins. One particular piper stationed himself on the Royal Mile just outside the gates to the castle this afternoon, and was absolutely fantastic. But as we stood on the defence platforms overlooking the city of Edinburgh, pipe music could be heard coming from at least 3 or 4 different locations in the city spanning below us.

That made me smile.

I also saw an exhibit on the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo which takes place for 21 days each August, and I must say I've added that to my list of things I must see and do before I die. A fantastic, dramatic display of music, dance, culture and military precision, set in the esplanade just outside the gates, with the castle in the dramatic background, it brings an international flare with countries from all over the world participating. The US Army's 'Pershing's Own' Band has performed, as well as the USMC jazz band, plus music and drill outfits from over 40 other countries. Jamaican military steel drum bands, Russian drill teams in mock sword fights, the Swedish Guard with their extremely precise drumline... and many more. It looks to be quite the spectacle!

While walking back to the hostel, I tried one last time to reach Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day. I'd tried several times earlier in the day, but the calls were not going through. Apparently maybe I just needed to be drunk enough to randomly push the right buttons to over-ride whatever call routing thing was prohibiting the calls from going through earlier.

So, I managed to have Dad 'accompany' me back to the hostel along Prince St. underneath the misty-cloud obscured castle which looms over the city on Father's Day, apparently making both of our days.

As unworthy of any hyperbole these past 3 months have been, I am definitely looking forward to being home again with friends and family where I belong.

From the home town of J.K. Rowling...

2007-06-17T02:06:00.000+01:00

Safely in Edinburgh. In the early part of my second attempt at a hostel. Hopefully it works out better than the last time. So far, so good.

Yesterday, after knocking around Dingle, we headed to Cork. We found a B&B near city center and went out on the town, which was a different perspective on Cork than I've had on any of my previous stays in town. I made a point track down the Hi B, which was the favored haunt of David Monagan, author of Jaywalking with the Irish, an entertaining and insightful book about his experience as an American free-lance writer who up and moved his family to Cork a few years ago, which I read as part of my preparation and ramp-up for this trip. Its character was exactly as I expected (quirky and VERY local), though it seemed to defy any description.

After that, we headed to a pub called An Bodhran. To make a long story short, Nathan got separated from us and unbeknownst to us, was kicked out of the place for dress code violation. He wasn't back at the B&B when we finally made our way back there. He stumbled back in a few hours later after meeting up with some locals who took care of him for the evening, though, so all's well in the end. Sounds like he had a great, off-the-wall time in the meanwhile, and I'm hoping I might be able to write up something on his night for a bit of a guest spot here, but we'll see.

In the morning, we stopped in for a brief visit with Anne and Bernard, which was great. Unfortunately, none of their kids were around, but it was good to sit and chat with them for a while.

Leaving Cork, we headed up to Blarney. I decided that if I haven't the Gift of the Gab after kissing that damn stone twice in my life, a third time wasn't going to do it, so while Justin and Nathan explored the castle, I figured I'd try my hand at busking.

I put down my hat and sat just outside the gate playing tunes on my whistle for about an hour. Quite a few people tossed in some coins, and though they were mostly of the small variety, I managed about 6 euro!

At one point, a group of college-aged kids walked by, with several of them wearing Notre Dame paraphernalia. I thought about it for a second, then slyly sucked up my pride and burst into Rakes of Mallow, a tune popularised by the film The Quiet Man, which the ND Marching Band plays frequently during games. That got a definite rise out of the crowd which simultaneously made me chuckle and cringe as they came over and tossed a few coins into my hat. When I finished the tune, I looked over smiled and nodded a 'thanks', but couldn't resist holding up the hat they'd just tossed money into so that they could see the bold, maize block M on the front.

We opted out of the hurling match in Tralee or trying to track down the Magic Road in Waterford due to concerns after the traffic horror in Limerick on Thursday, but as hoped/expected, it was a non-issue on a Saturday afternoon, as we passed through town in about 15 minutes.

So, now here we are once again in Edinburgh. After settling in our room at the hostel, we set out to walk around in the misty rain a bit and find a bite to eat, and the first thing we see as we walk out the door is a fight in the making. Fantastic.

Edinburgh is far more lively and trendy than anything in Ireland, other than possibly Dublin. But we are right near the castle and the old part of the town, which is absolutely beautiful. Oh, and we did finally find a quick bite to eat at a local fast-foody chip shop. Not being brave enough to try the "Jumbo Haggis" just yet (though I will definitely try it before I leave), I opted for the white pudding and chips. The white pudding was more or less the same as the white pudding that's a standard to the Irish Full Breakfast...

but it was an entire length of it...

deepfried.

And, then smothered in brown sauce. Wonderfully horribly fantastically disgusting.

Well, that brings us pretty much right back to here and now, but to bring this back full circle with the title of this post, I did pick up one interesting souvenir in Dingle:

Harry Potter agus an Orchloch

Dingle

2007-06-15T11:59:00.000+01:00

Made it to Dingle yesterday. The 3 hour and 20 minute trip only took us 6 and a half hours. I now have a least favorite city in Ireland to counter my lengthy list of favorite cities: Limerick. And not because we got stabbed or robbed or anything of the sort that typically happens in Limerick. Rather, it just took us nearly 3 hours to get through the city due to traffic. I can honestly say it was the worst traffic I have ever driven through in my life.

But, all's well in the end. Dingle is fantastic, and we even got a few drops of sunlight yesterday afternoon, and the sky is threatening some more today, though we haven't seen it yet. Re-visited An Droichead Beag to see Eoin Duignan playing the pipes and low whistles last night.

And at a music shop just a bit ago, I got to try out a nice practice set of pipes. I figure if I can find a decent deal on a practice set that's better than mine, I might seriously think about upgrading. Unfortunately, this one was anything but a decent deal. I'm glad I waited to ask about price until after chatting it up with the shop owner and convincing him to let me try them out, though first. At least I got a sense of what difference a "real" practice set might make versus my Daye penny chanter. Not a huge one, but possibly enough to motivate me to up my practice regiment.

We're going to head out fairly shortly, take the scenic route back around the penninsula and back towards Cork, hopefully meeting up with Anne and Bernard and giving Justin and Nathan time to check out Blarney Castle, but at the rate we're moving... we'll see.

I'm also nervous about trying to fit in much on Saturday, due to the terror of how long it might take us to get back up through Limerick again. Being a Saturday (and not rush hour, therefore), I'm hoping it'd be much better, and therefore better than taking the more rural route up and crossing the Shannon River via the Tarbert ferry, but we'll see.

Heading out shortly

2007-06-14T13:24:00.001+01:00

Had a nice drive through Connemara yesterday, although it was rainy most of the time, really mucking with what should've been some amazing scenery.

Getting back into Galway we headed to McDonough's for Fish N Chips (I tried the sting ray for a change of pace!) then meandered around the town, meeting up with Emma and my friend Kimberly for a while. We ended up at the pub at the Spanish Arch Hotel, which had a group called "Alale" that was practically a Flook cover band, subbing a double bass for the second flute/accordion role, but their whistle player also busted out a set of Galician (Spanish-Celtic) pipes for a few tunes, which was a cool twist.

And any night that culminates with Emma once again cooking breakfast for the lot of us at 3am is a good time.

Looking ahead, we've made arrangements for our B&B in Dingle for tonight and am nearly set to move out. Looks like the rest of my pics and vids and such from yesterday will make it up with the big batch when I get back to Galway in a week and a half.

Otherwise, I'll check in a bit from the road when I can.

Two more victims fall to the awe of stone fences and towering cliffs

2007-06-12T18:46:00.001+01:00

Successfully met up with Justin and Nathan this morning. I took the bus down to Shannon to meet them after giving up any hope of being able to give them directions to navigate through Galway to my place. Besides, I figured if they got any sleep at all and would be up for a couple hours of sight-seeing, we could hit the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren on the way back up to Galway, saving some time later in the week.

First stop though, since we were roughly in the area, was Ennistimon, and I bought them their first round of Guinness at Cooley's House. The place was surprisingly busy for 11 in the morning.

Coming out of town, we missed a turn and ended up taking about a 30-40 minute detour down through Miltown Malbay "on our way" to Lahinch, but it gave them a good chance to see what passes for "roads" in northern County Clare were like, along with the rolling farmlands they crossed.

We eventually got back on track and stopped off at the Cliffs of Moher. I remember being surprised at how much more developed the cliffs were as a tourist destination two years ago, versus my first visit there in '94. Well, the development has continued since then, with a large car park (parking lot) across the road. Eight euros it costs now to park a car and wander, with a very nice, well-polished visitor center (an Atlantic Edge exhibit can be taken in for an additional 4 euro per head. We passed on that.) and a covey of little shops dug into the hillside leading up to the cliffs.

Passing a woman on the walkway doing a poor job of playing a concertina, it struck me that had I brought my whistle and wore something other than a U-M T-shirt, I could've sat there and played some tunes, and in the time that Justin and Nathan were exploring the cliffs, have made enough to have covered our parking fee. Hindsight.

Oh, one more thing of note from the Cliffs... I think I can cross one more thing off my list: seeing a puffin. Maybe. To be honest, I have no idea whether the tons of tiny black dots covering Goat Island at the base of the cliffs were puffins or not, but a sign there indicated that they could be seen there today, so I'm guessing they were. Not a very satisfying mark off the list, but a mark nonetheless.

After the cliffs, we headed to Doolin to grab an extremely overpriced lunch at Gus O'Connor's. Sadly, I think Conal's assessment of Doolin is pretty right on. What was once a tiny, quaint, quasi-town and wonderful hub of traditional music has become little more than a glorified tourist trap. Sad.

From Doolin, we made our way north again, through Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora, and up across The Burren. We stopped off to walk up and take a close look at the Poulnabrone Dolmen, which while I had driven past and admired from the road several times, I'd never ventured up close to. It's yet another site that has been ridiculously over-developed since the first time I saw it, but at least they're not charging admission...yet.

On the road again and just past Kinvarra, we stopped again to have a quick look at Dunguaire Castle. Apparently, like at Bunratty Castle near Shannon, they hold a medieval feast. Had we known in advance, it might've been a fun thing to do, as it was nearing dinner time by the time we got there, and the doors were closed in preparation. We walked the grounds a bit though before getting back on the road and finally getting back into Galway.

It turned out to be a fairly full day for a first day in, as we got back to Galway around 6 o'clock. Justin's taking a nap right now, Nathan, "The Iron Man" just went for a run and is gonna hop in the shower. I'm going to run and pick up an air mattress that I'm borrowing from a friend so that we all have a place to sleep and then going to run to Dunnes to get stuff for breakfast in the morning.

After that, a little dinner, some drinks and a session at the Crane, and we'll call it a night whenever those guys are ready to crash.

Tomorrow will be a pretty full day of touring Connemara and knocking around Galway some more, plus at some point, I need to pack for Scotland.

So, updates may be somewhat sporadic from this point on, but I'll check in when I can.

Photos of Day 1 of Justin and Nathan's visit.

We've got highlights

2007-06-12T00:55:00.000+01:00

Not as many as I'd intended, but YouTube is being frumpy with me right now.

It was a mixed day for the Faithful County faithful at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise yesterday. In the Leinster Senior Football Championship match, Offaly defeated an overmatched Carlow side by a score of 2-19 to 3-7. In the semi-final round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, however, Kilkenny outclassed Offaly in the second half to finish with a 1-27 to 1-13 victory.

Translation please?

In both Hurling and Gaelic Football, the pitch (field) has a goal at either end, similar to a soccer goal, but with upright poles extending on the sides making an H with the crossbar across the top of the goal. Getting the ball into the net beneath the crossbar is called a "goal" and is worth three points, while getting the ball between the uprights over the crossbar is simply called a "point". The winner is determined by the highest total of points (number of points plus 3x the number of goals) but the scores are always represented in terms of goals-points.

To put this into American terms, you might say that Michigan defeated Notre Dame last year by a score of 6(6)-2 to 3(3)-0.

In the football match, Offaly scored 2 goals and 19 points for a total of 25 to Carlow's 3 goals and 7 points (16). The match was not nearly that close though. Carlow scored first, but the rest of the game belonged to Offaly, save for a late flurry of goals and points that came too little too late for Carlow.

Carlow attacking, but the point attempt goes wide left

The Hurling match was the feature event of the day, with Kilkenny being consistently among the best hurlers in the nation (Cork has a fine hurling tradition themselves, so I'm now fortunate enough to have seen two of the very best hurling counties in action, as I saw a Cork-Antrim match when I was there in 2005.). Offaly hurling had some strong years in the 80's and 90's, but has fallen on hard times now. I sense that the rivalry with Kilkenny is still a fierce one nonetheless.

Kilkenny were really brilliant. They were deadly in notching points from all over the field and took advantage of nearly every open shot. They jumped to a quick lead with 3 points in the opening minutes, but Offaly fought back and tied it shortly therafter. Another point a few minutes later, though, and Kilkenny would lead the remainder of the match.

Just before the intermission, though, came the highlight of the day. Offaly brought the match back to a 1-point margin with the first goal of the match on a free (penalty shot) making the half-time score 0-14 to 1-10 in favor of Kilkenny. I have a great video of this, but its one of the ones YouTube is not allowing for some reason. Instead, though, here is a clip of a point Offaly scored on a penalty shot earlier in the half:

The second half belonged to Kilkenny, though, as Offaly was able to manage but 3 points in the side. to Kilkenny's 1-13 making for a fairly lopsided final.

The atmosphere was fun and festive. The matches were played back-to-back and tickets (20 euro for general admission in the "stand"--covered seating--and 15 for standing room only in the "terrace") covered both matches. We got their early and opted to pop the extra 5 euro to be able to sit in the shade, vs. standing in the sun, and easily found a couple of seats right in the front row, close to midfield.

The venue, O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, County Laois, was about as geographical neutral as you can get, being centrally located amongst the three counties that were participating. Offaly fans seemed to be by far the most well represented, probably owing mainly to the fact that they were playing in both matches. Kilkenny and Carlow had plenty of support as well, though, with their black and gold striped jersies for Kilkenny and the green gold and red of Carlow being sprinkled around the pitch.

The attendance, per official reports on the matches was 11,490, which seemed to be about 80% capacity.

It took about 2 hours to drive there, but coming back, with plenty of daylight left, we opted for a scenic detour home and drove through the Slieve Bloom mountains on the Laois/Offaly border, also stopping off briefly at Redwood Castle near Portumna, and grabbing dinner at an Indian Restaurant in Birr, which apparently is joked as Ireland's coldest town (rather than it's drunkest town, if the name were pronounced the other logical way that it might be.).

For more photos of the match, as well as the drive home, Flickr it!

Odds n Ends

2007-06-11T14:26:00.000+01:00

I have a report on the hurling and football matches coming up, but am once again waiting for the video clips I uploaded to YouTube to be available.

So in the meanwhile...

HOLYSMOKEMYTIMEHERE'SALMOSTATANEND!

My co-worker Justin and his brother Nathan arrive tomorrow morning. We're going to spend tomorrow and Wednesday knocking around Galway and doing a drive up through Connemara, hopefully to Westport if we have time. Thursday morning we're going to set out south for Kerry, probably staying in Dingle Thursday night and hopefully catching Eoin Duignan at An Droichead Beag. Stumbling across his regular Thursday night gig there was one of several highlights of my trip 2 years ago, and probably one of the biggest single influences in my crazy decision to try and learn the uilleann pipes.

From Dingle, I think we're going to head over to Cork and I'm going to hopefully meet up and visit with the O'Gormans for a bit while Justin and Nathan explore Blarney Castle and town. Friday night and Saturday are a bit unplanned right now, but might include another hurling match or heading over towards Waterford and Wexford, possibly stopping off to find The Magic Road in the Comeragh Mountains.

But by Saturday night, we need to be back at Shannon Airport for a hop over to Scotland for a week. We'll be spending a day or so in Edinburgh before venturing up to explore Granttown-on-Spey and the surrounding areas, plus Inverness, Loch Ness, Isle of Skye and whatever else we find time for along the way.

The following Saturday night I'll fly back to Shannon getting back here again in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

By that time, I'll be down to my last five days before I return home.

Wow. I can't really believe it. I'm excited to be home and really can not wait to see friends and family again, but I'd be lying if I said this stretch of time has not been one of, if not THE most amazing 3 months of my life, and the thought of closing the book on this particular chapter is really tough.

I need to start working out the details of Life After, but it appears that a house search in the Ann Arbor area is going to be my top priority, along with returning to work full-time (albeit remotely) for my company in Chicago. My leave of absence extends to mid-July, so I'll have a couple weeks to get acclimated and start to figure things out. I somehow doubt that'll be enough time to buy a house, close and move-in, though, so the remainder of the summer is looking to be rather interesting at this point.

So that covers the "Ends" portion of this post. For "Odds", how about a quick clip from Father Ted:

GAA!

2007-06-10T00:45:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not choking on something. Just expressing some excitement that tomorrow I'll be crossing off not one, but two things from my list of things-to-do-before-I-leave that I had more or less given up on: attending a Gaelic football match, and attending a hurling match. Both sports fall under the rule of the GAA, or Gaelic Athletic Association.

There weren't going to be any decent GAA matches in Galway for the rest of my time here by the looks of it, but I got looking at the fixtures (what they call "schedules" over here) tonight, and in my typical way of warping a sense of spontaneous reason, was intrigued by the fact that County Offaly is playing a football match against County Carlow at 2pm, followed by a hurling match against Kilkenny at 4, both at the same stadium in Portlaoise. (Yes, the matches really only last 90 minutes, and as both sports use the same field configuration, this is completely possible.)

I convinced my housemate Julia to go as well, (Emma is quite bummed that she has to work, otherwise she'd be game for it) so we're renting a car and driving "across the country" to Portlaoise for the two matches. Of course we don't have tickets, but it looks like they should be readily available for 15-20 euro for both matches. At least I hope that's the case. Trying to find this stuff out online at the last second is more difficult than it should be. I did come across one web site that even indicated that the hurling match was in fact being played at Croke Park in Dublin, not Portlaoise, but several other sites support the notion that both are in Portlaoise, so we'll see. (Have I mentioned my frustration with the fact that Irish web sites are not the reliable end-all-be-all of information that they should be?)

And here's a little post script of yet another way that rental car companies like to make my butt hurt: I quickly found a car online from Budget for tomorrow. Started booking it to pick it up from Galway City Center, but noticed that there was a 25 euro "location fee" for picking it up in city center! (The rental was only 33.) I changed it to pick it up at the small airport outside town after Emma said she could drive me out there to pick it up in the morning and went ahead and booked it. After finalizing the reservation, I noticed in small print on the page that a 25 euro "airport fee" would be added for picking it up at the airport.

Fer feck's sake. I just can't win with these guys.

The Aran Islands

2007-06-09T17:05:00.000+01:00

The Aran Islands are a series of islands sitting off the coast of western Ireland. They stretch across the mouth of Galway Bay, with the Connemara region of western County Galway to the north, and the Burren region of northern County Clare to the east.

There are three main islands: Inis Mór (Inishmore), Inis Meáin (Inishmaan) and Inis Oírr (Inisheer). Inis is the Irish word for island. Mór is the Irish word for big, Oírr means east, and and Meáin means middle. To see how aptly named they all are, check them out in Google Maps.

The islands are a protected Gaeltacht, or region where Irish* is still the primary language of the residents. Many other aspects of daily life on the islands preserve the old ways as well. Thatched cottages can still be found, fishing and farming are the primary trades, and stone fences cover the islands.

There are many archaeological sites on the islands, including some fort ruins that have been dated to at least the 1st century AD, and are believed to possibly be as many as 4000 years old.

Despite being in the general area on both of my previous trips to Ireland, I had not made it over to the islands, so they were high on my list of Must-See things for this time, particularly since I was going to be so close. Ferries and flights to the islands leave from Rossaveal and Inveran, respectively, in County Galway, with additional ferry service available from Doolin in County Clare.

Talking with my housemate Aoife, she recommended Inis Meáin, as it is the one of the three that has been least trampled by tourism. It certainly was that. Though it is the middle island in terms of size, as well as location, it has the smallest population of the three: a mere 154 people per the 2006 census. As mentioned previously, there is only one pub. There is also very little in terms of sights to see. Two old forts, a beehive hut and the remains of a couple of old churches cover most of it. There is also a cottage where author/playwright J.M. Synge spent much of his time, and it was from his time on Inis Meáin that he drew the inspiration for the themes in Playboy of the Western World and other works.

Near the western edge of the island is a small stone enclosure that Synge apparently built called Cathaoir Synge, or Synge's Chair. Just big enough for one person to sit inside and be protected from the sides, it sits high atop the cliffs over looking the ocean and Inis Mór. It was Synge's favorite spot on the island, and apparently where he did a great deal of his writing. I found it to be a lovely place to sit, completely undisturbed, playing some tunes, both mornings that I was there. The video clip at sunset posted previously was shot near Synge's Chair, but a bit further up the hill.

In addition to the 150 or so year-round residents and numerous livestock, the other main "residents" of the island are students who go there for three-week spans to live with families on the island as part of a specialized program to improve their Irish language skills. I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting up with several of them in the pub Wednesday night, as a few of them had brought fiddles and pulled the bodhran down off the wall behind the bar for an impromptu session. Luckily, I'd brought my whistle down in the hopes that something just like that might pop up.

Apparently, I was pretty fortunate that it did, because weeknight sessions are not particularly common, and are never planned. It just sort of depends on who shows up and if they decide to bring some instruments down and play or not. It was also great fun as I got to spend a good chunk of time banging on the bodhran, in addition to contributing a few tunes on the whistle (and even one on the harmonica, too!).

As I alluded to, I opted to fly to the island rather than take the ferry. It was only 45 euro round trip, where the ferry would've been around 25. But if there's one thing I enjoy more than being out on a boat, it's being up in a plane, and small planes particularly! Plus, given the location, I figured a flight to the islands would give a fantastic, bird's-eye view of The Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara and Galway Bay. Unfortunately, while it was clear and sunny, it was also pretty hazy, so the views of the mountains in Connemara and The Burren were somewhat limited on the flights, but it was still very cool.

I already linked to the photo galleries from the island (see two posts below, "There's only one pub on the whole island"), but here are a few additional videos:

Landing on Inis Meáin

Waves crashing against the cliffs on the west end of the island

Returning to Connemara Regional Airport in Inveran

* People in most parts of the world would refer to the language as Gaelic, however the Irish are very particular about referring to their particular language as Irish. Gaelic, in fact, is a more general term for a family of languages that in addition to Irish, includes Manx and Scots Gaelic.

Multiple Choice

2007-06-09T00:18:00.000+01:00

So if you were to know only that I was living in Ireland right now, and that one of my housemate's grandmother was visiting today, which of these would seem to be the most likely topic for the distinguished, elderly woman to bring up in a disapproving conversation in our kitchen this afternoon:

A) The Troubles in the North.
B) The "music" kids these days are listening to.
C) The proposed plan to build luxury boxes in Michigan Stadium.

The correct answer, of course would be: C).

To be fair though, she lives in Grosse Pointe and has been a huge Michigan football for much longer than I've been walking this earth.

Needless to say, I enjoyed meeting and talking with her.

(I also got a chuckle the other day when I was in the kitchen while she was on the phone with someone back home, and described Galway Bay as "like Saginaw Bay". heh. :) Laughs aside, though, it's actually a fairly decent comparison, at least size-wise. Galway Bay is a bit narrower at this end, but more triangular shaped and less enclosed at the mouth.)

There's only one pub on the whole island

2007-06-08T02:33:00.000+01:00

That should give you an idea of how small, quaint and old-fashioned Inis Meain is.

It was fantastic. I got a ton of pics uploaded to Flickr, but am too tired right now to parse through highlights, so you're on your own to peruse the galleries:

Inis Meain - Day 1
Inis Meain - Day 2

But I will leave you with this. The playing's not perfect, and unfortunately, it cuts off just before the last phrase of the tune, but this was how I got to enjoy sunset yesterday:

Off to da Islands, mon!

2007-06-06T08:05:00.000+01:00

Sorry, not much time for a long post. Just booked a last-second seat on the Aer Arann flight over to Inis Meain and the shuttle bus leaves for the airport leaves in less than an hour. Need to toss some clothes together and grab a quick shower and breakfast and get outta here.

I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with lots more pictures and stories!

Super-Regional Bound!

2007-06-05T11:54:00.001+01:00

Finally some good news from the sporting world back home!

The U-M baseball team upset overall #1 seeded Vanderbilt twice to claim the Regional Championship and advance to the Super-Regionals.

They will now play a best-of-three series against either Oregon State or Virginia, with the winner advancing to the College World Series. The CWS is a double-elimination round of 8 teams, so they've still got a ways to go to reach the top of the mountain, but the Super-Regionals are essentially baseball's "Sweet Sixteen".

This is Michigan's first Regional Championship since 1984--a good year for baseball in SE Michigan.

Not much, just some more photos

2007-06-04T11:51:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to get some short audio clips from around various sessions and street performers up to give you a taste of what Galway sounds like, but am having some tech difficulties. (If anyone happens to know of a good site that will host a small number or short .mp3s and allow remote linking to them for free, please let me know!)

In the meanwhile, here's a set of some more assorted shots I've taken around town over the last couple of days. I'm somewhat fascinated by the myriad of criss-crossing channels and canals that stretch across Galway and tried to capture that a bit here. I also spent some time yesterday walking around the campus of NUI Galway finally, and have a handful of pics from there, too:

"So do you like photos, man???"

Well... that was different.

2007-06-03T00:26:00.000+01:00

Went to Monroe's tonight, another place I hadn't checked out yet. Live music, but an amped up gig-type deal rather than a trad session. One guy with a button accordian, another with a guitar and a harmonica rig thingy.

Let's just say, you haven't heard true musical fusion until you've heard a country rendition of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" played into CCR's "Proud Mary" played into a set of traditional reels.

Or "Sweet Caroline" into a set of Irish polkas.

They also really REALLY like their Johnny Cash here. Whodathunk it'd make a great launch-pad into some jigs, though?

Crazy stuff, but good times.

Travel advice: If you ever go to the Phillipines, skip the karaoke bars...

2007-06-02T17:20:00.001+01:00

...unless you're really REALLY confident in your singing voice:

Man shot dead for bad singing in Philippine karaoke bar

MANILA (AFP) - A jobless man was shot dead by a security guard for singing out of tune in a Philippine karaoke bar, police said Thursday.

Romy Baligula, 29, was halfway through his song on Tuesday night in a bar in San Mateo town, east of Manila, when 43-year-old security guard Robilito Ortega yelled that he was out of tune. As Baligula ignored his comments and continued singing, Ortega pulled out his revolver and shot him in the chest. Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas said Baligula died instantly. The security guard was detained by an off-duty policeman shortly after the shooting.

Deaths and violence are not uncommon in Philippine karaoke bars. The popular Frank Sinatra song "My Way" has been taken off many karaoke bars in Manila after it was found to be the cause of fights and even deaths when patrons sang out of tune.

A slice of Blues on the Emerald Isle

2007-06-02T10:45:00.000+01:00

Headed down to The Crane again last night, but this time for something a bit different: The Lazy Blues Band.

Quite the international ensemble, with an Italian drummer and a Polish harmonica player (who was fantastic, by the way), they put on a solid show that might have for a split second or two given me a tinge of homesickness for Chicago!

A dog with the name, if not heart, of a lion

2007-06-01T02:08:00.000+01:00

I just got word that Mufasa, our family dog, had to be put down today, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He held out much longer than the 3-6 weeks he was given back in February, but his condition worsened this week, and it was time.

Originally belonging to my good friend Rachel when we were both in college, he needed to find a good home when Rach graduated and was moving off to California. Knowing that he'd be much loved and cared for, and would have plenty of open space to run around, Rachel asked if my mom would take him, and she did, much to the wonderful delight of everyone involved, including Moo. Despite his name, he was a bit of a scaredy cat at his core, and he always seemed perplexed by my on-again-off-again presence across his multiple homes, but he was nothing if not a total sweetheart and loyal friend.

Farewell, Moo. You will be sorely missed. Thank you for your time together and for always looking after Mom (even if it was from two steps behind her).

Coming Full Circle: Ennistimon Then and Now

2007-05-31T19:48:00.001+01:00

Since 'Full' seems to be the theme for the day...

As I mentioned, near the tail-end of my day yesterday, I stopped off in Ennistimon to revisit the spot where I had arguably the best night of my trip here two years ago, culminating in a fantastic evening of craic at Cooley's House pub downtown.

If you haven't already done your homework, go back and re-read "A nod towards Ennistimon". The most astute of you may recall that this is not my first time back in Ennistimon since I came over here. During my first week when I was staying at The Flowing Tide, I accompanied Bill, Tania and some friends to a gig at The Falls Hotel. I made note of a couple changes and left some questions. But it was night and we only passed through the darkened downtown stretch. This time, I got to walk around again, and was able to get some answers to said questions.

Alright. All caught up now? Right. Moving on....

The More Things Change.

I first took some time to wander the town a bit, making my way over to get a photo of the old Post Office. Slight angle and lighting differences aside, I think these two photos, if nothing else, show the difference in photo quality between my old Nikon and my Canon. The Canon's great for its speed and easily fits in a pocket, but I really think the Nikon's image quality is superior, despite being a much lower megapixel:

2005 - Nikon Coolpix 850
2007 - Canon SD600

Crossing the street from the old post office, I wandered down by the falls for some more comparative photography:

2005
2007
Then, it was back to the main street to check out the places I recalled from before. In the past couple of years, Ireland has introduced some incredibly stiff new legislation to crack down on drunk driving. While that seems great in theory, the sad effect is that it has apparently been decimating Ireland's pub industry, particularly in the small rural towns. It can't be understated what a huge part of Ireland's cultural identity the pub holds. It's not just a bar for drinking, but a place of music, conversation and friendship. It is very much the social hub that brings and holds Irish communities together. I was curious to see what effect it had had in Ennistimon since 2005.

This is what apparently used to be Cagney's Pub. It's possible that it still is, but with no name painted on the sign, there was little indication whether it is still in business or not.

Here is the Fisherman's Rest, formerly The Carrig. Walking by, not being fooled by its much more pleasant exterior demeanor, I only quickly looked inside and saw that it's been completely gutted and re-arranged inside as well. The bar has been moved to the other side of the room, and the interior decor... well, at least there IS interior decor now, and that's change enough.

Fortunately, Cooley's House has not gone anywhere, and has changed little. The Budweiser sign is gone from the outside, and the bright, hand-written neon orange sign proclaiming "Saturday - Folk Songs and Ballads" has been replaced with a bright, hand-written neon green sign proclaiming "Wednesday - Traditional Music".

I stepped inside, and had really hoped to find Joan still standing behind the bar.

But instead, a young guy with curly hair and glasses was standing in her place. The place was nearly empty when I walked in, then those who were there left, and after a bit a few more came in their place.

I pulled myself up to the same bar stool (fourth one up from the bottom of the pic above) I'd sat on that fateful night, and struck up a conversation with the man behind the bar, Jerry. (I'm now convinced, if I weren't already, that there is a town ordinance mandating that all people in Ennistimon must have names starting with 'J'.) He was every bit as friendly as Joan and I started asking about the folks in town that I'd met.

View from "my" stool at Cooley's House
Joan does still work there. I just happened to be in on her night off. Jerry assured me that she remembers just about everyone though, and promised to tell her that the guy from Chicago who played the harmonica there on his birthday--which was also Mother's Day--two years ago stopped in and said 'hi', and he assured me that she'd remember. Jimmy is still around it seems, and as I suspected, the new look and feel of the Fisherman's Rest is nothing but lipstick on the pig still known as 'The Hatchet'.

Mural on the back wall of Cooley's House, depicting largely what it was like by the end of night that I spent here in '05. Sadly, on this trip, I had to get back to Galway, so I only stopped in for one quick pint in the mostly-empty pub.

The Full Monty

2007-05-31T13:08:00.000+01:00

Nope, this not a post about nekkid English blokes. Sorry ladies.

Rather, its about one of my favorite aspects of Irish culture... well, other than the Guinness, and the pubs, and the music, and the scenery, and..............

I'm talking about the traditional "Full Irish Breakfast". If you've ever had bacon and eggs for breakfast, you've had the scrawny, watered-down, bastardized great-great-grandson of the Full Breakfast, but until you've had it over here, you don't know what breakfast is.

It starts, naturally with eggs. Typically fried, sunny-side-up or over-easy. Then add rashers. Rashers are the Cadillac of bacon. Not some brown, dried up scrawny little strips of mostly fat, rashers are wide, thick slices of lean cured pork meat, more similar to Canadian bacon than the anemic stuff we use in the States. Next up are the bangers. You'd recognize them as sausage links, but again they really aren't comparable in quality to their American counterparts. Juicy, fresh and whitish in color, they have distinct and wonderful mild flavor.

Now, what really sets the breakfast off as an full Irish breakfast are the black and white puddings. These aren't chocolate and vanilla, and your tastes will be in for quite a shock if you bite in expecting such. Black pudding is essentially a blood sausage, with congealed pigs' blood mixed with other fillers such as grains, suet and meat. White pudding is similar, but is made without blood, so it is whitish in color and milder in flavor.

I have to admit black pudding is a bit of an acquired taste. It may taste pretty disgusting the first time you have it, and only slightly better the second, third and fourth times.... But eventually you'll come around. Why bother trying something repeatedly that you don't like? Well, here's a short list of some of my favorite things, which I wouldn't touch if I hadn't made myself keep trying them until I liked them:

Beer
Coffee
Hummus
Guacamole
Indian food
Black pudding

After the puddings, the meal also generally includes a side of baked beans, fried tomato, or sauteed mushrooms. Toss in some white toast and/or Irish brown soda bread and a cup of tea or coffee, and you've got yourself a Full Irish Breakfast!

You may note that it doesn't include hash-browns or other potatoes. While it is occasionally served with them, more often than not, they are omitted. Funny for a country who's entire cuisine is believed to revolve around the potato!

One of my top goals when I get home is to find a place that will import black and white puddings, as well as real Irish rashers and bangers, for the occasional weekend treat.

Full House, etc

2007-05-31T10:39:00.000+01:00

Julia moved in to the house yesterday, giving us a full allotment once again. She's from San Jose, and is a current Harvard undergrad working over here for the summer.

I did get my bike back yesterday morning, too. For €30 I got a new chain wheel, new back tire and a new cable for one of the shifters. The front shifter is locked up and wasn't going to be worth fixing, so I don't think I'll be taking it on any treks out of town, but it'll be good enough for getting about town quicker.

That scratchy throat I had the other day has developed into a full-fledged bug. Bit of a nasty sore throat and cough this morning. Need to head out and get some OJ and/or Vitamin C supplements, but don't think I'll be doing too much else exciting today. Oh well, I need to log some hours for work anyways.

Oh, and I finished watching the third and final season of Father Ted yesterday. Good stuff. A bit odd and certainly different, but at times, truly hilarious. I may need to add it to my collection when I get home.

Mini-trip report: The Burren and northern Clare

2007-05-31T01:49:00.000+01:00

Despite it only being a day-trip, I took enough photos to break them down into three separate galleries:

Apparently the first "mountain" I climbed is only a hill, called Abbey Hill. Still not too shabby, it's the right-most peak seen in this photo that I took on Monday evening from the park near Salthill:

Abbey Hill was a fairly easy climb. Mostly large, stable rock, at a gentle enough incline. At the top was a large stone pile and the intersection of several stone fences that cut the mountain like a pie. The peak of Abbey Hill can actually be seen in high res satellite images on Google Maps here.

Lunar landscape on Abbey Hill

As I got near the top, I saw a man sitting on the peak, possibly wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He appeared to be sitting there, having a picnic with a bottle of wine next to him. As I got a bit closer, I realized the bottle of wine was in fact a person, and the man was the stone pile. By the time I reached the peak (I laid back and made my way to the large plateau area just below the peak to the north to give them time), whoever had been there was gone. I had the mountain to myself, it seemed and I lingered a good half hour or so, busting out my whistle to play a few tunes. After a while, a man and his young son came along. I left the summit to them and started making my way down.

Panoramic view from the peak of Abbey Hill

When I got back to the car, I decided I'd play normal tourist a bit and find Ailwee Cave. Not a difficult challenge, what with large signs for it all over the region and all, but I'd heard good things about it--plus... it had just been featured in an episode of Father Ted that I'd seen the night before!

Ailwee Cave is not just a cave--it's a showcave. And it's not just any showcave. It's Ireland's Premier Showcave. Seriously, its pretty impressive. It's very much developed with a visitor center, gift shop, cafe, guided tours and the whole works. The cave itself runs for something like a mile into the mountain itself. Only part of it is open to the tour, for obvious reasons, but most of it was big enough to walk around in, with a few chambers that were several stories high, including this one with a waterfall:

Back in the parking lot, is the starting point for a mountain walk up Ailwee Mountain, in which the cave is set.

Ailwee Mountain was a much rougher hike than Abbey Hill. There were a lot of short, but steep terrace sections that often involved a little bit of climbing on all fours, at least for stabilization. Nothing like true rock-climbing that would require equipment or spotting or anything, but not a simple walk, either. On top of that, much of the terrain was covered with scrubby grass, which actually made for difficult walking. The grass was generally just a thin layer of growth over the rocks, which did nothing more than to hide the gaps and loose, smaller stones. It was on this terrain that I did take a few small spills, mostly on the way back down, twisting my ankle and scraping up my wrist and hand a bit on one.

On top of that, the mountain just seemed to keep going and going. Particularly near the top, it was actually relatively flat. Large, sloping fields were frustrating as I kept trying to find the very peak. I finally set my sights on a large rock pile that appeared and made it my goal to get to that. It was certainly a local peak, although the field appeared to continue to gradually climb up a bit to the north from there, there didn't seem to be much indication that it was going to be much higher.

It was from this point that I texted-in the post below, describing the fantastic view that was to be had, seen in the round, here:

Panoramic from Ailwee Mountain.

After I made it down from Ailwee Mountain, I headed off to nearby Kilfenora, where I finally got to (re?-)meet Raeanne, and her husband Mike. Long-time readers will remember me mentioning Raeanne in several of the early posts, as she was very helpful in providing info and advice during the planning stages of this trip. She immigrated to Ireland from my own hometown several years ago after studying abroad here and meeting and marrying Mike. We chatted for a while about home and Ireland over a pint at Nagles Pub in downtown Kilfenora. Unfortunately, I had the camera in my pocket the entire time, but forgot about it until I was about a mile down the road. So, no pictures of Raeanne and Mike.

By this point, it was dinner time, but I still had plenty of daylight, so I headed down the road to the site of my favorite memories from my previous trip: Ennistimon. My return to Ennistimon and the reflections on the prior trip--particularly Cooley's House pub--are worthy of their own post, which will hopefully follow tomorrow. But if you haven't already, I highly recommend as a primer, reading my thoughts on my first trip there: A nod towards Ennistimon.

I left Ennistimon as the shadows were getting long, and made my way towards the coast, taking the lengthy, scenic coast road all the way back around and into Galway, stopping frequently to take pictures of the gradually setting sun over the Atlantic, and nearly full moon rising over the Burren.

Sunset over the Aran Islands--my next mini-trip destination???

All in all, it is difficult to imagine how the day could've been much better, other than to have possibly had someone to share it all with.

But that's where you come in.

Well that was a great way to spend my "1 month until I go home" day!

2007-05-30T00:10:00.000+01:00

I have a scratchy tingle in the back of my throat, I tweaked my ankle apparently worse than I thought and put a bit of a gash in my right wrist and hand.

And I feel as healthy as I have in quite some time.

Today was one of the best days I've had in a while, and mind you, I haven't been having many *bad* days since I left!

Two mountains climbed, a cave explored, a fellow hometowner connected with, a favorite pub and town revisited, and just some amazing scenery the whole way through.

Tons of pictures to follow tomorrow, but here's a (lame compared to most of the pictures, but it works for symmetry with the picture posted below) teaser:

Galway City, as seen from The Burren across Galway Bay

Blogging from a mountaintop

2007-05-29T15:52:00.001+01:00

this morning i climbed a mountain. them i did it again. as i look out right now, i can see galway, the 12 pins mtns in connemara,croagh patrick in mayo, the mcgillicuddy reeks down in kerry, and even some mtns far off to the east that i think are the wicklows near dublin. pics to follow tonight.

Land of the midnight sun?

2007-05-29T00:54:00.000+01:00

Maybe not, but closer than I expected. As I was walking home around midnight tonight from a session at Richardson's (oh yeah, I've finally found a great, laid back session for intermediate-types, in a fairly dead-empty pub. Perfect for working on brushing up some tunes and skills!), I noticed a bit of a glow in the sky.

It was the slightest lingering glow of the setting sun. At midnight.

I'm looking very much forward to being way up in the highlands of Scotland on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.

But first off, I have some mini side-treks I want to take. I'm going to try to make the first one tomorrow, to do some hiking here:

The Burren, of County Clare, as seen from across Galway Bay

That shot is one of many I took while walking along the bay this afternoon. The best of the rest are all found here and may be some of the nicest shots I've taken.

So yeah, my plan is to try and rent a car (the bus schedule is just not conducive) in the morning and head down to Clare to do a bit of light hiking in the Burren. I'm also going to try and meet up with Raeanne and her husband finally since they live down that way, and depending on how things go, may try and grab one quick pint (and only one, sadly, since I'll be driving) at Cooley's House in Ennistimon, just for old time's sake.

If I haven't posted anything further by Thursday, send a search party. ;)

The funny thing about travelling is... you get used to it.

2007-05-28T10:14:00.000+01:00

One thing that's really stood out to me, particularly on my various side-treks, is that the more you travel, the more you do get used to it.

Sure, this can lead to a lower level of anxiety because you have a better idea of what to expect in general, even if it's a place you've never been. Knowing the routines and general ins and outs of foreign travel can be handy and tend to be the same wherever you go, so being a seasoned travel vet can make it easier.

But the bigger impact seems to be that it is much harder to be 'wowwed' by what you see when you get there. That's not at all to say that you don't still enjoy and appreciate your destination. Rather, it's just that in some of my earlier travels, there was often this feeling of absolutely giddy fascination, born sometimes simply out of the shock of "being there" as much as by the sites to be seen.

I haven't really had that feeling much since I left, which has been a bit of a surprise. I realized on Day 1 here in Ireland, while Bill and I were driving through the rolling Clare countryside back to his school that, this being my third trip to Ireland, the countryside was no less beautiful, but didn't have this "wowwww... cooooool" effect on me that it had previously had. A quiet, warm smile of appreciation still crept across my face, but the adrenaline rush that might have accompanied it in the past was gone.

Even on seeing completely new places like Italy, Germany and France for the first time, those sorts of feelings were diminished some. It's been a bit sad in a way that seeing such distant and foreign places no longer gives quite the same level it once did.

But here's something to chew on for a bit:

"Which is worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored?" - Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent

From the dusty backhall archives of Internet lore

2007-05-27T17:01:00.000+01:00

I can't believe this page is still in existence.

An absolute classic from the early days when the entire web was just simple static HTML put up on industrious college students' websites, its rustic look and feel are as fittingly cold and simplistic as the message it gets across. Ten or so years later, and a couple thousand miles away, the page is as timeless and constant as its subject matter:

"I Just Want to be Friends" - Joelogon's Foolproof Guide to Making Any Woman Your Platonic Friend.

God bless you, Joe Logon, wherever you may be today. I'm not sure I could ever manage this tricky feat without your step-by-step guide. Oh wait... yeah, I manage it all the time. But at least it's good to know I'm not alone. Well... yeah, I guess I am, otherwise I wouldn't be digging up this dusty ol' page every couple of years. heh.

Feck it, anyways... thanks for still being there for a laugh.

Drink! Feck! Arse!

2007-05-26T11:52:00.000+01:00

Er, sorry about that. Spent some more time watching "Father Ted" last night. While the Dougal character had the honor of making my Top 10 TV Idiots list, it's the drunken, abusive Father Jack that really makes the show. It's impressive how much mileage actor Frank Kelly is able to get out of a character whose dialogue consists 95% of shouting "Drink!", "Feck!", "Arse!" and "Girls!" at random.

But regardless, that's an appropriate sentiment for my feelings towards the weather at the moment.

I got up this morning and it looked nice. A few clouds in the sky, but sunny. I finally decided to take my bike down to the shop. Well, I first took it down the other day, and got air in the tires, but he was too busy to have a look at the fact that the gears aren't shifting, so he told me to brink it back later in the week. Trying to ride it home (now that it had air in the tires) I found that the chain is also slipping something fierce.

So, I go get the bike out of the back yard and as I'm starting off from the house, it starts to sprinkle. That continues the whole way down to the shop.

When I arrive and tell him of the problem, he says to me again, that he doesn't have time to look at it now, and further that if its the chain and the gears, it's likely to cost more than it's worth to fix. My 'free' bike is now looking anything but. But he says for me to chain it up to the post outside and he'll have a look at it later.

As I'm in the process of trying to chain it up, the sky just opens up and starts dumping all it's got on me. I get the bike chained and duck into a shop across the street to wait out the rain a bit. When it slows, I make my way back up the hill. As I'm walking in the door, the sun peeks out from the cloud again in all her glory.

I used to describe the springtime weather back in the midwest as "schizophrenic". It would amaze me how, usually in early-to-mid-April, there'd be a span where the temperature would swing 30 or 40 degrees back and forth for a few days in a row. It would not be uncommon to be wearing T-shirts and shorts one day, and have snow the next. When I first got here, I marvelled at how un-schizophrenic the weather here is. The entire time I've been here, the temperatures have very rarely travelled more than 10 degrees either side of 65.

But the weather here is no less fickle. It's the precipitation and cloud cover, not the temperature, and it's on a much shorter scale. It'll switch between sunny and downpours four or five times within a couple hour span at times. You don't know the definition of 'scattered showers' until you've lived in western Ireland.

As I was sitting here a few minutes ago, it was looking like it had cleared up, so I was going to head down to the farmer's market to have a look around. I got my wallet and was just about to walk out the door when it once again started to pour.

I think I'll stay inside for a bit longer.

Although it's looking rather nice out at the moment....

ps - "Feck", while often used as a socially acceptible alternative for a certain other word, is actually derived from an Irish word 'feic', which means 'to see'. 'Feck' is also used to mean to nab, or steal, as in "feck a loaf of bread".

TV Land

2007-05-25T12:28:00.000+01:00

After an initial burst of watching a lot of TV when I first got here, I've pretty much cut that out completely, except for a bit here and there when eating. It seems Stargate SG-1 always seems to correspond to my breakfast/lunch time. And in the evenings, its typically Mythbusters. Go figure.

But last night I had the pleasure of watching the first season of "Father Ted" on DVD. It's a pretty wacked out Irish sitcom about three outcast priests who have been assigned by the church to "Craggy Island", an isolated rock off the coast. Goofy, ridiculous but with some real genuine laugh-out-loud moments, I think it's going to bring 'feck off' into my daily lexicon for a while, much the way Deadwood did for 'cocksucker', for better or worse.

Watching the show inspired me to put together a list of my Top 10 Favorite TV Idiots:

10. Lowell Mather, "Wings"
"I give blood all the time. Just between you and me, Roy, I'll do anything for a sugar cookie. "

9. Michael Kelso, "That 70's Show"
"I wonder if that's what I'm doing right now? Sometimes my brain is doing things that I don't even know about."

8. Klinger, "M*A*S*H*"
Frank Burns: "Klinger, I want you out of that dress tonight!"
Klinger: "Never on a first date, sir!"

7. Sean Garrity, "Rescue Me"
Chief Jerry Reilly: [watching Sean Garrity and Probie playing Scrabble] "Look at this - a meeting of the minds and the minds are a no-show. "

6. Oswald Lee Harvey, "Drew Carey Show"
Drew Carey: "Hey, what were you doing upstairs?"
Oswald Lee Harvey: "I was using your blow dryer to defrost my crotch."

5. Woody Boyd, "Cheers"
Diane: "Methinks the man does protest too much."
Woody: "Excuse me, Miss Chambers, but shouldn't it be 'I thinks?'"
Carla: "Not in your case, Woody."

4. Entire cast except for Stewie and Brian, "Family Guy"
Chris Griffin: "Dad, what's the blowhole for?"
Peter Griffin: "I'll tell you what it's not for. And when I do, you'll understand why I can never go back to Sea World."

3. Father Dougal, "Father Ted"
Ted: "You can praise God with sleep, y'know, Dougal...
Dougal: "There's lots of ways to praise God aren't there Ted? Like that time you told me to praise him just by leaving the room...."
Ted: "Yes, that was a good one..."

2. Jayne Cobb, "Firefly"
Jayne: "Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in command."
---
Mal: "Are you offering me a trade?"
Jayne: "A trade!? Hell, it's theft! This is the best damn gun made by man. It has extreme sentimental value. It's miles more worthy than what you got."
Mal: "What I got? She has a name."
Jayne: "So does this!" (caresses the gun lovingly) "I call it Vera."
Mal: "Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."
---
Mal: "Looks can be deceiving."
Jayne: "Not as deceiving as a lowdown, dirty... deceiver."
Mal: "Well said. Wasn't that well said, Zoe?"
Zoe: "Had a kind of poetry to it, sir."
---
Jayne: (wearing ugly homemade hat) "How's it sit? Pretty cunning,don'tchya think?"
---
Jayne: "I'll be in my bunk"

1. Dwight Schrute, "The Office"
"Ever since Michael dumped Jan for Carol, Jan’s been bitching out on him. Reject a woman, and she will never let it go. One of the many defects of their kind. Also, weak arms."
---
"Dammit, he put my stapler in Jell-O again!"
---
"Aw, man! Am I a woman?!?"
---
"In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead."
---
Dwight Schrute: "What does the female vagina look like?"
Toby: "Technically, I am in Human Resources, and Dwight was asking me about human anatomy. Um... I'm just sad the public school system failed him so badly."
---
"I have been Michael’s number two guy for about 5 years. And we make a great team. We’re like one of those classic famous teams. He’s like Mozart and I’m like...Mozart's friend. No. I’m like Butch Cassidy and Michael is like...Mozart. You try and hurt Mozart? You’re gonna get a bullet in your head courtesy of Butch Cassidy."

In other not-so-new-news--as it's been official for a few weeks now--Veronica Mars, the show that, in conjunction with TiVo, is most responsible for my relapse into watching TV shows again, has been cancelled. Not a terrible surprise, but disappointing. Hopefully Detroit-native Kristen Bell can spin her short-lived success and brilliant performances on the show into a promising career elsewhere, along with her other castmates, particularly Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni and Percy Daggs.

I haven't watched any new episodes of Veronica Mars or any of my other current shows (Heroes & The Office, mainly) since I came over here, and we have a monthly bandwidth limit on our ISP, so I haven't been downloading them. But when Justin comes to visit in a few weeks, he's supposed to be bringing me a few discs to help me get caught back up. In the eternal words of Eric Cartman.... "Super-sweet!"

Permapost: Happiness Is...

2007-05-24T17:02:00.000+01:00

Any of my old-school (I mean really old-school) APO folks who might happen to be reading this would remember ConferU. Confer was sort of a pre-cursor to modern day message boards, where we had various pre-defined topics that anyone in the group could add their thoughts to. One of them was "Happiness is..."

In order to bring a bit of an interactive nature to this site, I'm going to put up a permanent link on the right-side navigation to the comments on this post. Please feel free to leave comments there and tell us what's making YOU happy today, or any day. Post as often as you like! (Within reason folks. Unless you're a spammer, then by all means, please clutter my little sunny corner of the net with your V1ag ra and m0rtg^ge rubbish!)

Seriously, I'll leave it un-moderated and open for now, as long as there's no problems.

I'll start...

Normandy Report: - Post-Post-Script

2007-05-24T10:11:00.000+01:00

I nearly forgot! Not wanting to clutter up my Blogabond map with too many details, I decided to create a second one just with the details of my stops for this trip. As with the map on the side, you may not be able to see the embedded version here if you are using an older version of IE, but you should be able to click HERE to view the map directly on Blogabond.

This, like the map on the side, is an interactive Google Map, so you can drag it around, zoom in, zoom out, and switch between Map, Satellite and Hybrid views to really get a sense of the places I stopped.

Normandy Report: Post-script - There's Hertz... not exactly.

2007-05-24T02:44:00.000+01:00

(Or, The $100 quarter tank of gas.)

I mentioned that I was cutting it close on my timeframe getting back, right? And alluded to credit card problems? Yeah... that kind of bit me in the butt.

I'd hoped to be able to get back to Beauvais on one tank of gas, but as I was rolling along the Calvados coast, it became evident that wouldn't be the case. I stopped and filled up in a small town and figured I'd just have to top off when I got back by the airport. I was proud of myself for noting when I left that there was a station right near where I came out of the airport, so I figured I'd be all set.

Well, as I was rolling into Beauvais, it was just after 8pm. My flight was at 9:50, so I was already at about the time that I would've liked to be checking in. But, small airport and all, I figured I was still okay. I made the mistake, however, of assuming that a town the size of Beauvais (moderately large, but not a really major city) would have fairly good signposts to the airport.

Not so much. And, I found out as I was rolling in, that the directions I'd printed off consisted of "Now entering Beauvais; Turn left". No indication of what I was turning left onto, or what signposts to look for.

So, I lost about 20 minutes driving around Beauvais trying to find the airport. I finally get near by it and pull into the gas station. The station itself is closed, but it's a modern BP station with Pay-At-The-Pump. No problem. Until the card reader rejected my card. Every card I had.

There were no other gas stations in sight, and at this point, I do not have time to try and find one, so I take the car in, with the tank 3/4 full, hoping that they'll let it slide or that I can convince them to cut me a break, as the fee for not returning it with a full tank is 73 euro.

I pull in and the Hertz "return" booth is empty. I go around to the main rental office and there are about half a dozen people in line in front of me and two clerks slowly working the desk. I stood in line there for about another 20 minutes. I finally hand over the keys and contract and the desk clerk has to go check the car. He comes back five minutes later, hands me the receipt to sign and says I'm all set.

Now at this point, I'm down to only about 45 minutes before my flight is scheduled to leave, so I didn't pay particular attention to the bill. The desk clerk didn't mention anything about the gas, so I figured it wasn't a big deal and hastily signed off on the bill.

I got home later and took a look.

An extra 73 euro tacked on. That's $101 and change. For a quarter of a freakin tank of gas.

Yeah, my own fault for signing without looking at it, but even if I had, I'm not sure I'd have been able to argue it down. I signed the agreement ahead of time that I'd pay 73 euro if I returned it without a full tank, and I'm not sure how understanding they'd be if I tried to talk my way out of it.

Just another sign of why car rental companies are among the most evil, bastardous, blood-sucking businesses out there.

Normandy Report: Part III - Omaha and the Calvados Coast

2007-05-23T13:26:00.000+01:00

The plan for Friday was to check out of the B&B early and begin to head east back towards Beauvais, taking the coast road along the Calvados coastline, hitting Omaha, Gold, June and Sword Beaches, along with other points of interest on the way.

This portion of the trip was intruiging to me, because unlike the Cotentin peninsula area north and west of Carentan, which had been the base of the US airborne operations, I knew very little about the action that occured along Calvados. Moving west to east, the beaches were designated as Omaha (US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions), Gold (British 50th Infantry Division), Juno (Canadian 3rd Infantry Division) and Sword (British 3rd Infantry Division). On the left (eastern) flank of the invasion, the British 6th Airborne Division was dropped in and tasked with protecting the invasion's flank, as well as capturing key bridges in the area.

My first stop was Pointe-du-Hoc, just east of the town of Grandcamp Maisy. Pointe-du-Hoc is a rocky outcropping that was the site of a large gun battery, capable of raining fire down on both Omaha and Utah beaches. Though the site had been heavily bombarded in the days and weeks leading up to D-Day, it was not destroyed, so the task of neutralizing the guns fell to the men of the 2nd Rangers battalion.

Equipped with specialized climbing equipment, the Rangers managed to scale the sheer cliffs from the sea and captured the site--only to find out that the five 155mm guns which were there objective, had been previously moved inland to a different location. Resistance had been strong, nonetheless and casualties were high.

The most striking thing about the Pointe-du-Hoc site is that unlike the other sites, where farmers were eager to regain use of their fields after the war, the terrain at Pointe-du-Hoc has been left more or less as it was, which is to say, so pockmarked with bomb craters that it has an eerie, lunar feel:

Pointe-du-Hoc

I had planned to hit the Rangers Museum near Pointe-du-Hoc, but apparently the museum is in the town of Grandcamp Maisy, and I somehow missed it while passing through. Nonetheless, the site at Pointe-du-Hoc was incredible, and is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in visiting the D-Day area. The beautifully scenic views of the coastline offered from the point strike a hard contrast with the brutal ruins of concrete tumbling in the countless craters covering the expansive site.

From Pointe-du-Hoc, I continued on into the town of Vierville-sur-Mer, at the western end of Omaha Beach.

In general, I was surprised at the contrast between Utah and Omaha, not only in terms of terrain, but also level of development. Utah was a gently sloping beach with short, grassy dunes at the top. Inland from the top of the dunes, stretched a low, flat expanse of quiet, sleepy farmland that feels as though its been perfectly preserved in time. Were it not for its historic significance, it seems few folks other than local farmers would visit the area.

Omaha Beach, and the entire Calvados coast (the west-to-east coastline that encompasses Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches) for that matter, has much more of a resort/beach town feel to it. Many such towns stretch across the entire coastline area. Omaha Beach itself has a nicely landscaped, paved road right along the top of the beachhead, with a string of vacation homes, restaurants and guesthouses lining the opposite side of it. Behind the road and the beach homes are tall, scruffy bluffs that made for a formidable defense. It's not surprising, therefore, that the assault on Omaha was much more brutal, and took much longer, than the one at Utah. Atop the bluffs, the region is still farmland, but it is more nicely manicured cropland, whereas the Cotentin region behind Utah seemed to focus on livestock pastures and had a much more rustic feel.

Omaha Beach
Near the center of the 3.5 mile beach stands a monument, and a sculpture, entitled Les Braves.

Les Braves

At this site, there was a plaza with a series of flagpoles, and as I was there, a ceremony of some sort was going on. I didn't quite get what the ceremony was about, but I did manage to catch some video of what was one of the most poignant and emotional moments of the trip:

American flag being raised over Omaha Beach

After the ceremony, I headed to the D-Day Memorial Museum which was right up the road a few hundred yards. It was nice, though smaller than the Utah Beach museum. There are at least two or three D-Day Museums in the Omaha Beach area alone, though, and this was the only one I got the chance to visit.

I'm now going to jump out of order for a moment.

The next spot that I visited was the American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach. But I'm going to save those thoughts and pictures for a fitting end to this post.

The next site moving east was the third and final gun battery location that I visited, near Longues-sur-Mer. This battery sits in a wheat field high on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the English channel between Omaha and Gold Beaches. It is the only battery in Normandy to still have its original gun turrets in place.

One of the gun emplacements at Longues-sur-Mer

Looking east from Longues-sur-Mer, one could see the remains of the 'Mulberry' artificial harbor that was built off the town of Arromanches at the western end of Gold Beach:

Down the road from Longues-sur-Mer, I stopped off on the cliff hanging over the eastern end of Arromanches, where there is a cinema presentation called Arromanches360. It's a 15 minute-or-so film presented on 9 screens in the round, which brings together vintage film from WWII, along with scenes of Normandy in the modern day, many of which were filmed in the round, from helicopters, ships, and people walking through streets. It's presented without words and is a very moving (emotionally and at times, physically). Very cool and another site I would highly recommend for anyone touring the area.

From the cliff outside the theatre, you have a beautiful view overlooking the town of Arromanches, which seems that it would be a fantastic place to stay if someone were looking for a more traditional vacation getaway:

Unfortunately, by this point, I was running short on time and did not have a chance to explore the town in detail, though it looked lovely.

Starting to crunch for time, I was frantically calculating how much time I was going to need to get back to the airport. I'm notorious for giving myself far more time than I need (generally a good plan, I feel), but in this case, I knew that doing so would cheat me out of seeing one or two more things that I might regret missing later. After quick deliberation, I decided I could still squeeze in a quick visit to the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer.

After all, how many places in the world outside of the Great White North and various Olympic Ice Hockey venues do you get to see Canada take center stage?
I talked a bit about my stop at the Juno Beach Centre previously, and it was definitely one of my favorites of all the museums I visited. Like I said, it was the only museum in Normandy to feature a curling stone:

After my brief stop at Juno Beach, I quickly began to make my way back towards Beauvais. Unfortunately, I had to skip past Sword Beach at that point, and did not get to visit any of the British-oriented museums. My route (aimed to not only maximize my sights along the Calvados Coast, but also to circumvent Caen and any traffic problems I might have run into there) took me through the towns of Benouville and Ranville and past Pegasus Bridge, which was a major objective of the British 6th Airborne during the invasion, but by then, I definitely did not have time to stop. Back on the A13 tollway shortly after that, I was cruising my way back to Beauvais.

I'm going to wrap this post up now with some final thoughts and photos from the American Military Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer. The cemetery has all the appropriate grace and dignity that the men who rest there deserve. It is beautifully laid out, and the absolute precision with which the crosses are aligned in every direction, make the cemetery itself a work of art, fittingly memorial. From nearly any point among the markers, lines seem to radiate in every direction as the crosses and gaps between them line up along such perfect edges, as though the spirits of the men who lie there--and of freedom itself--are radiating out from that very spot.

For the rest of my pictures, please see the following links:

Hats off to the Red Wings

2007-05-23T09:12:00.000+01:00

They had a heck of a run this year. Each year lately folks have been wanting to claim that the end of the era that produced the three Cups has finally arrived, but this year they came back as strong as they have since '02. Datsyuk did a lot to shed his 'playoff choker' image and it seems like the team grew up. Hopefully the younger guys just keep getting hungrier and hungrier and they can stay at or near the very top for years to come, drinking from Lord Stanley's Cup at least once or twice more in the near future.

Moving on, Go Senators! As if wanting to keep the Stanley Cup out of Disneyland wasn't enough reason, this should convince you.

Normandy Report: Part II - Utah and the Cotentin Peninsula

2007-05-22T11:28:00.000+01:00

After such a short night sleep and a long drive the day before, I knocked off pretty early, so I didn't have much problem waking up at 5:30 the next morning. I packed my camera up and quietly snuck out of the darkened B&B in the earliest traces of morning light. Or rather, morning grey.

It was heavily overcast, with light sprinkles. I knew I wasn't going to get my great sunrise photos, but I was already up, so I wasn't going to stop now. It was a quiet, pleasant 20-minute drive on deserted country roads to reach Utah Beach. I pulled off near the museum and climbed up the back of the small dune at the top of the beach, and was there.

It was low tide, and the beach spanned for several hundred yards in front of me. Far out, near the water line, several tractors with their lights on were combing back and forth across what were apparently mussel cages, literally farming the seabed. I had a quiet moment of reflection, took some pictures, and texted in this post from my phone at exactly H-Hour (the designated time of the landing on D-Day): 0630.

Utah Beach at H-Hour

I spent about 20 minutes wandering the beach and reflecting before heading back to the car. I decided to cruise up the road a bit and stumbled across the remains of a pillbox, or German bunker.

Pillbox near Exit 3, Utah Beach

I cruised up the road a bit more to the memorial at Exit 4, then decided to make my way back to the B&B for breakfast. After a nice, light breakfast of a croissant, a bit of yogurt and some bread (I've decided by the way, that I think Ireland may be the only place in the world where the 'breakfast' part of 'bed & breakfast' is taken seriously.) I gathered the rest of my stuff and headed back out.

I passed by Dead Man's Corner, but as the museum wasn't open yet, I figured I'd hit that later in the day on my way back into town. Just a stone's throw up the road was the town of St. Come-du-Mont.

Let me step aside here for a second and say that a lot of my prior knowledge of the spots in this region, and the action that occurred here in early June of 1944, came not only from HBO's "Band of Brothers", but also from the "Brothers In Arms" series of PC games which follow a fictional squad of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne, from D-Day, through the fall of Carentan, and beyond.

I realize it seems trite to look back at something so serious and significant as the Normandy campaign through the glass of a video game screen. However, in the case of the BiA series, the team at Gearbox Software put a phenomenal amount of time into framing the events as realistically and historically as possible. Each mission in the game is based on actual after-action reports filed by paratroopers of the 101st, and is set in a game world that was modelled with an extreme level of authenticity and accuracy. Further, as you progress through the game, the perks that you unlock are, in many cases, small featurettes that delve even further into the history of the real events, people and areas, including maps, diagrams, photos and reports.

My experience playing that game was, in many ways, my guidebook to the region, and it was fascinating, and at times, eerie, to visit these locales and have the distinct feeling that I'd been there before. It, like "Band of Brothers" and the many various movies, TV and other media representations of war, was, and is, to many, the key to unlocking a deeper interest in the history behind the entertainment.

The first such spot was St. Come-du-Mont. St. Come was where the troops gathered and regrouped before making their push into Carentan along the road I drove up and down several times, known in history as "Purple Heart Lane".

The south entrance St. Come du Mont along the N-13 highway.

Passing through St. Come du Mont after a few pictures, I continued to St. Mere-Eglise. St. Mere-Eglise was the first town in France liberated by American forces, and is the home of the Airborne Museum honoring the men of the 82nd and 101st. The museum features two buildings, both shaped like parachutes, which house a C-47 Dakota and a Waco Glider, among other various vehicles, weapons and artifacts.

The church in the center of St. Mere-Eglise has a mannequin of a paratrooper hanging from its steeple, a dramatic portrayal of Private John Steele, whose chute snagged on the steeple during the D-Day drop. Private Steele hung from the tower for 2 hours, playing dead, before being briefly captured by the Germans.

Interesting side bit I just learned while checking wikipedia to try and recall Steele's name: The airdrop for the 82nd Airborne into Normandy was known as Operation Detroit. The 101st's drop was known as Operation Chicago. Both, obviously, were sub-operations of the overall invasion plan, known as Operation Overlord.

From St. Mere-Eglise, I headed northeast, to the gun battery at Azeville. Azeville was a relatively small battery site, compared to the other two I visited, but the admission included a guided tour of the tunnels connecting the various bunkers and pillboxes. The most impressive site at the Azeville site was a hole that was punched in the back wall of the firing room of pillbox #3 by a shell from the USS Nevada, shown in the following sequence of photos:

These photos shows how amazingly precise the shot from the Nevada was. That window is only about 3-4 feet high and maybe 15 feet across. The Nevada was about 14 miles away. The second photo shows our guide next to the hole for scale.

The shell punched through the wall without exploding, and into the command room on the other side. This is the hole as seen from inside the command room on the other side of the wall (top). It glanced off the floor and up passing through the back wall of the command room (bottom).

This is looking back from outside the command room, following the path of the shell. It passed right through the entire pillbox without exploding, but the concussion alone killed 15 officers and soldiers manning the gun there. It was a demoralizing blow for the German garrison stationed there and led to the surrender of the site.

From Azeville, it was a short hop up the road to another gun battery at the hamlet of Crisbeq, near Saint-Marcouf. This site included several bunkhouses that had been set up as dioramas, and in at least one case, fully restored with its interior, to convey what life was like for the German soldiers stationed there:

Occasionally, I'd stop off to try and get a photographic sense of the countryside. Here are a few shots that I particularly liked:

Farm fence, peeking through a hedgerow, and cows

From Saint Marcouf, I started to make my way back down towards Utah Beach to catch the museum. On the way, I passed through another town that had been represented in "Brothers in Arms - Road to Hill 30": Foucarville.

Foucarville, it seems, has not changed much since 1944. In the game, you begin in the building on the left and make your way up to the crossroads, making a right and eliminating road blocks ahead, before securing and defending the church.

From Foucarville, I cut back over towards the beach and caught back up with the shore road near Exit 4, the northernmost of the four designated exits from the beachhead that were to be secured by the 101st Airborne in order for the armored and supply units to be able to move inland. (In anticipation of the invasion, the Germans had flooded the low-lying fields all up and down the peninsula, making the roads the only way inland from the beaches.)

Monument at Exit 4

I headed back down the road from Exit 4, passing by the pillbox I'd explored earlier that morning and back towards the museum. By this time, the grey clouds were finally breaking up, allowing for some nice shots of the museum and beach in the afternoon sun.

The beach shines in the sun, while the museum structure guards over the beachhead

An LCVP (or "Higgins" boat) personnel carrier sits at the entrance to the museum

"Hedghog" beach obstacles on display near the museum

This gun was one of the guns captured at Brecourt Manor by Dick Winters and the men of Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. This assault on the gun position was portrayed in the "Day of Days" episode of "Band of Brothers".

I spent a good hour and a half to two hours perusing the museum and the beach some more, before starting to make my way back down the road towards Dead Man's Corner and Carentan.

Dead Man's Corner is so-named because early in the fighting, a US tank was destroyed at the corner, and for several days, it was left there, with the driver's body fused to the turret. The men began to refer to it as "the corner with the tank with the dead guy". Eventually, the "Dead Man's Corner" moniker stuck.

The house that is now home to the Dead Man's Corner museum was there in 1944, and was used as a German command post prior to the invasion. The fighting that took place in this area is well represented and well modelled in "Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30":

On the top is a composite image showing the house at Dead Man's Corner as it was in 1944, and how it was rendered in "Brothers in Arms". On the bottom is how the house--now a museum--appears today. St. Come-du-Mont lays half a mile down the road on the left, while Carentan is a mile in the opposite direction.

Inside the museum are a number of displays, including some that are centered around and show an appreciation for the attention drawn to the area by, both "Band of Brothers" and "Brothers in Arms":

The "Band of Brothers" display features equipment and personal effects of Dick Winters, Carwood Lipton, and other members of Easy Company, while the "Brothers in Arms" display focuses on Col. Cole's historic bayonet charge on the edge of Carentan, which was featured in the game.

By the time I was done with the DMC Museum, it was nearly 6 o'clock, so I headed back into Carentan. As I mentioned above, the road between St. Come-du-Mont and Carentan, particularly the last half mile or so, is a stretch known as Purple Heart Lane. The low lands on either side of the road were flooded and crawling in German soldiers a week after D-Day. In order to move in on Carentan, the Airborne forces had to advance along this road, flanked on either side, with basically no cover.

Purple Heart Lane

After dinner in Carentan (fish this time, not sausage), I had a few hours until sunset, so I just went for a drive. I tried, unsuccessfully, to find the location of the Battle of Bloody Gulch, near Hill 30 just outside Carentan, where the 101st, with the assistance of the 2nd Armored Division, repelled a German counter-attack on Carentan. Instead, however, I took a nice drive through several sites to the north and west which were represented in the sequel, "Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood", including Baupte, Etienville, and the locks at La Barquette.

Etienville

Picauville

Chateau le Bel Enault - I'm not sure if this was the chateau represented in "BiA: Earned in Blood". I've seen some stuff online indicating that it was, but I'd have to go back and check the game to be sure.

By that time, dusk was quickly approaching, so I returned to Carentan for the night, a full day complete.

For more photos on these areas, see the following sets on my Flickr account:

To be concluded soon with a summary of Omaha Beach and the Calvados coastline...

Normandy Report: Part I - Tollbooths and Sausage

2007-05-22T00:51:00.000+01:00

The morning I left was rough. Conal's going away fiesta the night before had dragged on until just about 3 hours before I had to get up. I don't get hangovers very often, but combine a decent amount of drink with a heavy breakfast just before a short "nap" and it made for an unpleasant car ride to the airport.

Also, on the way to the airport, I had the realization that this was probably the least prepared I'd ever been for a trip to a foreign country, particularly in terms of local language and customs. I hadn't even picked up a single guidebook on France. I had a large, detailed map of Normandy, on which I had marked specific sites I wanted to see that I had researched on-line. In that regard, I was prepared. But in terms of getting around and communicating? Clueless. I at least have enough rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, which was able to carry over some and help in Italy. And in Germany, I had the benefit of a guidebook with a short phrasebook section.

In France, I realized I didn't even (and still don't) know how to say 'please'. I got 'thank you', at least, but beyond that, I'm pretty much clueless on French vocabulary, and my pronunciation is just out the window.

Physically, anyways, I felt a bit better by the time I got on the plane, and managed to doze off for a bit on the way over. As I mentioned earlier, I woke up about an hour in and through a hole in the clouds below, spotted the gleaming white cliffs of Dover on the southeastern English coast. I scanned the sky solemnly, knowing that I didn't have to wait until the next morning to see famed battlefields. I was dancing in one at that moment.

The clouds broke up further as I came in towards the airport at Beauvais, about 30 miles north of Paris. I find the geographic layout of the countryside in Europe (Germany appeared to be similar to France in this respect. Ireland is somewhat, but less so) strangely fascinating: in the rural areas, all houses and buildings are clumped together in small towns. These towns are in turn clustered fairly densely across the countryside, sometimes only a mile or so apart. But there will be NO buildings along the roads in between. Looking at it from ground level, when a town expands, they might build a new, small development close in on the outer edge of town, expanding the well-defined town boundaries. But you will not see plots of land popping up and gradually sprawling across the roads between the towns like you do in rural parts of the US. It's really sort of strange and beautiful to look at from the air.

I landed at the airport on time and went to collect my rental car (a Rennault Clio, for the record). It was then that it struck me that I hadn't driven a car in over a month, and hadn't driven a stick shift in probably about 6 years, not to mention that I had never driven in France. But hey, at least they drive on the right side of the road, so I had that going for me.

Actually, it was fine, although I learned a valuable lesson in the French language:

On signs seen approaching a toll booth, cartes does not mean car. Rather it means card. As in credit card. I pulled up to the gate ready to give a handful of heavy coins to the nice toll-taker and found an unmanned card reader. Kicking myself for being so stupid (really, I've gotten pretty good at deciphering key important phrases in other languages, and that one particularly I should have known!), I didn't even realize it was credit cards--I assumed it was for some local pass card. (Really, it might not have mattered--my credit card didn't work in the reader for the gas station--more on that fiasco later--so it may not have worked here anyways).

I pushed the 'help' button. Repeatedly. Near panicking, with traffic backing up behind me (but no one honking! What nice, polite people, the French!) I threw on my blinkers and started to get out of the car, when the lady from the nearest manned tollbooth finally came over to help. She figured out what happened, took my money and returned with a card to open the gate for me, smiling and laughing, rather than scowling. Now holding up both my lane and hers, still no one honked. I might've pegged the French wrong all along.

The route took me through the fairly major cities of Rouen and Caen. In both cases, I was basically on an expressway running near the city center, but not exactly right through it. From what I saw of it, though, Rouen may be one of the most beautiful cities I've seen. It's nestled in the midst of a tight valley with lush green hills and rocky cliffs all around it. The cathedral in the middle nearly matched the one in Ulm for gothic beauty. Unfortunately, trying to find my way through the interchanges in the midst of thickening pre-rush-hour traffic, I did not get a chance to even stop for one picture of this lovely city.

In Caen--or several miles outside it, rather--I hit some inexplicably ridiculous traffic. The tollway that I was on became a parking lot, reminiscent of a major construction project or accident on a busy Michigan interstate in the summer. But there did not appear to be any construction or accidents. It was just backed up traffic. Just before the city center, my route veered off onto the northern part of the beltway, diverging from the bulk of the traffic that was heading onto the southern beltway and towards downtown. From a very limited viewing, Caen did not impress me much. My route took me through what I suppose to be the northern suburbs, which seemed to be littered with bland, generic hotels and high rises. The town itself was to the south, and I didn't get much of a glimpse at all. The surrounding terrain was still slightly hilly, but not nearly as picturesque as Rouen.

Still, I would've liked to have stopped to get at least one picture of a sign marking the name of the town, if for now other reason than the goofy personal trivia that I once worked at CAEN.

With a few stops to stretch my legs and to grab a sandwich at what was basically a rest area, I finally rolled into Carentan about 4 hours after leaving Beauvais. I found the B&B with no problem, checked in and headed off to grab some dinner. I walked into a small, family-style restaurant on the main street. The woman working did not speak English. I took a menu and tried to make some sense out of it. Somehow, despite not knowing how to say 'please', I knew that 'champignones' was 'mushrooms', so I ordered that. Apparently, that was just the appetizer option on a fixed-price menu, though. She managed to get across that I was supposed to order something from the bottom part as well. Oops. Ummm.... okay... here's something that says 'Andouillette' or something... hey, that looks like 'Andouille'. Probably sausage. Great! I'll take it.

Oh, it was sausage alright. A big, fat, fresh sausage, that was probably the nastiest sausage I've ever had. Why the Germans ever would've wanted to invade this country to begin with when they had all that fine bratwurst, bockwurst and weißwurst at home is beyond me. Luckily, there was some spicy brown mustard on the table, and they are serious about their spicy brown mustard in France! This stuff nearly an ounce-for-ounce equivalent to wasabi. A little of that spread along made the sausage edible.

After dinner I wandered around town a bit and took some pics of the cathedral. Since it was dusk and grey and rainy, they weren't that great, but here's a shot I took under better conditions the next day:

Carentan is a mid-sized city, I suppose, which is to say, by American standards, its pretty small. Some comparable-sized towns in Michigan would be Saline, or Sandusky. Try to imagine Saline being a critical strategic point in history, though. Carentan was significant because its location was the linkage point between the US forces that landed on Utah Beach, and those that came in on Omaha. It was also situated on the major highway that ran all the way up to the port of Cherbourg on the tip of the Cotentin peninsula. The 101st Airborne had the task of securing the city in order to enable the joining of the two invasion forces. It took them a week to do so after D-Day.

Its central location also made it an ideal place for me to base my stay. I looked around at several B&Bs and guest houses in the region, but settled on the Chambres d'Hôtes in Carentan. The place was very nice, and at 40 euro/night, or roughly half of what I paid for any of the places I stayed in Italy and Germany, it was a steal! Here are some thoughts I jotted down offline that night:

I'm apparently the only one staying here right now, so they gave me what must be the king's family suite. The room itself is roughly--nay, at least--the size of the living room in my place in Chicago. There's a queen sized bed, a second "kids?" bed that's about a double-size, a couch, a roll-top desk, a rocking chair, and oh yeah--a baby's crib (complete with a baby doll that creeped me the frick out when I first walked in and saw its head propped up in the corner. In fact, it creeps me out every time I look at it.). There's also the biggest freakin' armoire I've ever seen. I swear, when I first opened it, I expected it to be a door to a magical land with a lampost and Santa Claus and talking beavers and stuff.

Instead, it has a TV--the very best available in the 1972 catalogue, I'm sure of it--with a note that says, in four languages: "This is the only room that has a TV. Please do not share the sound with others when they cannot share the picture." M'kay. There also about 2 metric tons of assorted pillows and blankets, and a copy of what appears to be "The French Revolution: The Board Game".

The bathroom is no less impressive. Really cool tile work lines a huge main chamber with an elevated tub in an alcove by the window. The sink is very nice and spits out the best tasting tap water I've ever had (that I'm currently living in a place where the tap water is not fit for drinking may be skewing my perspective on the matter some). In each corner of the room is a door. Behind the first one on the left is the actual toilet. The other three, going clockwise, lead to: the water heater (I'm guessing?), a "closet" that is all of about 8" deep, and the hallway outside.

Speaking of doors, back in the main room, there is a door opposite the one that leads to the bathroom. I opened it up and behind it was a curtain drawn across.
I sat there staring at the curtain for several long seconds, trying to decide if I was brave enough to peek behind it. The climactic scene of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix flashed before my eyes, and I closed the door without touching the curtain.

I turned in for a good night's sleep, setting my alarm early. I had decided ahead of time I wanted to be on Utah Beach at 0630, with hopes of getting some great photos of the sun rising over the beach...

To be continued...

For more pictures around Carentan (mostly taken the second evening when the weather was better), click here.

Oof

2007-05-21T01:43:00.000+01:00

Can't believe the Wings lost that one. It sounded like they were really outplaying the Ducks, particularly in the 3rd and yet the Ducks got a break late and a fluky goal in OT. What crap.

And to make matters worse, I've been working on uploading, organizing and labeling pictures for the past 5 hours or so and have only gotten through the first full day.

Go ahead and check out the link to my Flickr galleries over on the right if you're impatient, but when I get them all up, I'll post highlights, direct links, info and all that jazz... hopefully that'll be tomorrow.

Game day traffic

2007-05-20T19:22:00.000+01:00

I tried to head out to catch the session at Taafe's a bit ago and both car and pedestrian traffic on Newcastle road near the house was considerably heavier than normal. I noticed a few cars had car flags and soon saw that most of the occupants were wearing sports jerseys. I made it across the road and as I made my way downtown, the city was just starting to crawl with folks decked out in maroon and white Gallimh (Galway) and red and green Maigh Eo (Mayo) jerseys.

Apparently there'd been a big Gaelic football match in town today. Wish I'd known. It was eating me up a bit being in the midst of the aftermath of a sporting event atmosphere and being completely on the outside looking in. To be honest, I didn't even know what sport they'd been playing until I got back and managed to look it up.

I've tried looking up match schedules on line to find a game to go to, but the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) web site ain't exactly ESPN.com. Combine a fairly static site with a sport culture and terminology that is completely different from what I'm used to, and it is nearly useless to me. It's just another example of how folks here, while being fully aware of and frequent users of the internet, still have yet to realize its full potential and all-consuming usefulness.

I'm not even certain who won (real-time score updates online is not a concept that has made it over here yet), as neither group of fans was particularly boisterous. Although, I did hear a few "Mayo" chants, and I can say that the Mayo jerseys outnumbered the Galway ones about 5-to-1. I figure there's a few possible explanations:

The Mayo folks are just more prone to wearing jerseys (unlikely)
They were all hitting the town after making the drive down, while the Galway folks all just went home. (only slightly more likely)
Galway, being the artsy hippy town that it is, just doesn't care about sports that much. (May be getting warmer, but the fact that all the Sunday evening sessions in town were apparently called off is a huge strike against this argument)
All the Galway jersies came off in shame as soon as the match was over (I think we may have a winner here)

Either way, I'm now on a mission to make it to a GAA match of some type while I'm here and am going to have to double up my efforts to do so. The fact that today was an absolutely perfect day to be at a sporting event--mostly sunny, warm enough when the sun was on you, but with a strong breeze that kept it from being too warm, even in a crowd--made it all that much worse.

Oh yeah, and speaking of relative numbers of various sporting team clothing, I may have been premature in calling the GASTLR Collegiate rankings for Notre Dame. I've seen three more people wearing Michigan stuff in the past two days. If I were still keeping count, I think it'd be very, very close, if not a Michigan lean.

Well, anyways... the Red Wings game is on in 5 minutes, so I'll be tuning into that while working on getting the rest of my Normandy pictures uploaded and formulating some posts on that trip, so expect some more stuff up soon.

In the meanwhile, here's a gallery of pics from Conal's last night in town on Tuesday, which consisted of a session at Coili's, fish-n-chips from McDonough's, a comedy act at a club, then closing out The Crane, followed by closing out the Roisin Dubh, all topped off by a full traditional breakfast that Emma made when we got home at about 2:30. Conal and I had planned on making breakfast, but once we got home and started, Emma apparently decided she'd rather have her life in her own hands and took over the cooking. By the time we were done, we had about 3.5 hours before we had to all get up as Emma was driving Conal and I to the airport for our flights to Filly and Phrance, respectively. Good times. Good times.

Also hanging out with us that night was Melissa, a friend of Aoife's from Boston who had just flown in that morning, on the first day of a three-month backpacking trip across Europe.

Moving day (the intra-house edition)

2007-05-19T16:22:00.000+01:00

So I moved today. It was a tough move. All the way around the wall and into the next room.

With Conal heading home on Wednesday (sent off to much fanfare including a stand-up show, then closing out The Crane and the Roisin, followed by a traditional full breakfast when we got back to the house around 2:30--pictures forthcoming), that left open a room that was twice the size of mine, with a bed that was twice the size of min, with about 10x the storage space and... wait for it... a desk! And I was next in line in house seniority, since Aoife was staying put in her room that's even bigger and--more importantly--has an en suite bathroom.

So when I got up this morning, I started carting all my stuff over. I'm amazed how much stuff I have, seeing as I basically brought it all over with me. Stuff just has a way of expanding and multiplying once it's out of that suitcase/backpack, though...

It's a beautiful day out. Very windy, keeping the temp somewhere just a shade below perfect, and we had a textbook "isolated" shower and a brief hail storm this morning. But aside from that cumulative 7 minutes, it's been bright and sunny all day. We used to say back in Michigan and Chicago that if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes--it'll change. Galway's weather is perfect for those who are less patient than that.

I forgot until just now that this weekend is the Galway Early Music Festival. This year's theme is "Pirates of the Corribean" (no, that's not a typo, just a pun on the Corribe River that runs through town). Unfortunately, I've missed most of the cool programs already, but may try and catch the Cornette concert tonight and will try and see a few things tomorrow.

But as it's so nice out, I'm going to head out and knock around town a bit for a while. Will try and get pictures posted and stuff from Normandy later tonight.

I've seen London, I've seen France...

2007-05-18T23:19:00.001+01:00

...and that was just in the past 4 hours. But still no sign of the Queen in her damned undies.

On my way over on Wednesday, the weather was thickly overcast and rainy in Shannon. I dozed off for a bit, but woke up about an hour in and looked out the window and through a small opening in the clouds, gleaming in the sun, saw some beautiful white cliffs.

On the way back today, I spotted them again in the dusk, set around an odd-shaped peninsula with a port town on it. I wondered if they were the famous 'white cliffs of Dover' that pilots returning to England from missions over France loved to see so much, but didn't know. I flipped through Ambrose's 'D-Day' which I happened to have on my lap, and found a map illustrating the Allies Assault Paths for D-Day. It noted the port town of Dover, sitting on an odd-shaped peninsula matching exactly the coastline I was looking down at.

The north side of the peninsula led right into the Thames River, which I was able to follow through the diminishing daylight all the way into London.

Juxtaposition.

As The Grafton was my home-away-from-home in Chicago, the lounge at Shannon Airport is getting to be my home-away-from-home(-away-from-Home) here. At least they have free wireless, and since I have my laptop with me this time..... :)

I'm back now, waiting once again for the bus back to Galway, which doesn't leave for another hour still. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Tons of more thoughts and photos on the trip that I'll try and get up in the next couple of days. Glad I took both my cameras as I ran through both batteries on my Canon and filled up a couple of cards (to be fair, they weren't empty to begin with and I didn't get a chance to clear them off) on my Nikon.

So much to think about and process. Here's the high-level list of what I saw today, though:

Pointe-du-Hoc, Omaha Beach (and museum), American cemetery overlooking Omaha (wow), artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer, remains of the 'Mulberry' (artificial port) at Arromanches, the Arromanches 360 theatre show, Gold Beach, Juno Beach and the Juno Centre, Sword Beach (sort of drove past it, anyways) and Pegasus Bridge.

A quick light note on the Juno Centre. Juno was the site of the Canadian infantry divisions landing. The museum was nice. Very similar to the others, except with a distinct, quirky Canadian stamp on it. For example, it's the only museum in Normandy (I'm assuming anyways) that has a display featuring hockey and curling equipment. And not 'this-is-stuff-the-troops-brought-with-them-for-fun' stuff, but instead, modern 'this-is-what-Canada-is-all-aboot-eh!' stuff. It was also located in a room that had personal video kiosks on various topics set up in three small circle where you sit around a centre pylon that I believe were supposed to be evocative of sitting around the stovepipe in an Inuit igloo. Different, but good.

Also, the Juno Centre was apparently staffed entirely by Canadian college students, which was a nice touch. It's safe to say that Canadians and Americans both have a great deal of national pride, but it's very different in the way it is manifested in each populace.

Day of Days

2007-05-17T21:52:00.000+01:00

I'm back at the B&B. No WiFi, but they let me plug in my laptop directly to the router, so it's something.

Yes, the post below was in fact made, via a phone text, from Utah Beach at 0630 this morning. I decided I wanted to be on the beach at H-Hour, and to try and get some pictures of the sun coming up over the beach. Well, I got half of that. It was extremely overcast, windy with light on and off rain. I've got a bunch of pics, but I'm not sure how well they'll turn out.

After exploring the beach for a bit, I came back to the B&B for breakfast, then set out for the day hitting St. Come-du-Mont, the Airborne Museum in St. Mere-Eglise, the gun batteries at Azeville and Crisbeque, then back to Utah to check out the monuments at Exit 4 and the D-Day museum before heading back towards Carentan, stopping off at the Dead Man's Corner museum between Carentan and St. Come-du-Mont.
I got back into Carentan in time to grab a nice dinner and had a few hours of daylight left, so I set out to just explore a few other towns whose names I'd heard in passing: Baupte, Vierville, Foucarville, Etienville, among others, and trying to find some other particular less-marked spots of interest.

I have a TON of photos, but I'm not going to take the time here to sort through them all and upload them, but to bring a little levity back first, I do have to share some pics of a store I discovered on the outskirts of town. I hereby declare Carentan the coolest city in France, and possibly the coolest city in all of Europe, outside Galway:

I first saw that on my way out of town this morning and was just shocked. It doubled up when I was coming back into town this evening and saw the side of the building: