Wacky World

Here are some really good things I have heard and seen recently:

I just tried to go into my friends website and his left this message:  "This site is currently offline but you are online so I guess you're doing better than this site."

Today at work the girls were talking about having given up smoking and drinking etc. and one of the girls turned around and said when a friend of hers is told he must give up smoking and drinking he says: "I was put on this earth for a good time, not a long time!"

Shopping

Terri just reminded me that I need to get something to wear for the wedding, what an excuse to go out and buy something nice and the problem is the wedding is in 3 weeks time, which doesn't really give me much time to find something.

Tomorrow I am having dinner with all my Irish mates in town and then meeting up with some other Irish mates later, and guess what by next Thursday I will be Irish too ... but that is a whole new long post that I will get round to once all the formalities are over.

Now where to start ????

Weddings

Yay, at last our 2nd wedding invitation in 7 years, when we first arrived in Ireland we were invited to Derrick's boss's wedding down in Kilkenny and now we have been invited to my friend Damien's wedding in October, I'll say it will be awesome - They are getting married at Darver Castle and with D's new Camera I'd say we'll get some nice photos, so watch this space ...

Daily Dilbert

World Guinness Day !

Today Guinness will be 250 years old, it's a milestone and I guess I won't be around for their 300 year celebration!

1759


It begins with a signature.

Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease on a disused brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin. It costs him an initial £100 with an annual rent of £45 – this crucially includes water rights. The brewery covers four acres and consists of a copper, a kieve, a mill, two malthouses, stabling for 12 horses and a loft to hold 200 tons of hay. Arthur begins brewing porter and ale.

Last year was my first visit to the Guinness brewery when my sister came to visit, here are some of my own Guinness photos.
 

By the way there was a petition on Facebook to declare today a public holiday, but seems only South Africa got it right, but they called it Braai Day - so hope everyone is enjoying their braai's and having a Guinness or two as well.

Folks

I have a list of folks I know...

all written in a book,

And every now and then...

I go and take a look.

That is when I realize

these names...they are a part,

not of the book they're written in...

but taken from the heart.

For each Name stands for someone...

who has crossed my path sometime,

and in that meeting they have become...

the reason and the rhyme

Although it sounds fantastic...

for me to make this claim,

I really am composed...

of each remembered name.

Although you're not aware...

of any special link,

just knowing you, has shaped my life...

more than you could think.

So please don't think my greeting...

as just a mere routine,

your name was not...

forgotten in between.

For when I send a greeting...

that is addressed to you,

it is because you're on the list...

of folks I'm indebted to.

So whether I have known you...

for many days or few,

in some ways you have a part...

in shaping things I do.

I am but a total...

of many folks I've met,

you are a friend I would prefer...

never to forget.

Thank you for being my friend!

Daily Dilbert

On our intranet site at work we get daily Dilbert so I thought I would share Monday and Tuesday with you:

News Update

Wow, we have been home 4 weeks tomorrow and it really has flown, I managed to have 3 of those weeks at home just catching up and getting life back to Normal. Emily started school on the 31st of August and is really coming along fine, it's almost as if she is a new child at school - she seems to be listening and behaving. Her day now is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. so it is rather long and the days they have swimming they only finish at 3:15.

I decided to get straight back into the job thing and with the recession in Ireland I was a bit worried, I sent my CV out and of course there was nothing out there for me, so luckily I contacted someone I knew and within a week, I had an interview and an offer of a contract. I started there on Friday and I must say I am so happy, it is a company that I really like, I like the way they do business and the directors are just so nice. The location is really nice as well albeit it a bit far, I climb on the M50 at about 8:40 (after spending 10 - 15 minutes in traffic on a journey that is only about 2 km's from our house to the M50), then by 8:55 I am taking the Bray / Greystones exit to the company, 15 minutes to do about 15 km's. The company is located in Co. Wicklow which is South of Dublin, so I am travelling away from the city passing rolling green hills with sheep and cows and towards the Irish Sugar loaf mountain.

My hours are from 9:00 to 14:00 so I leave there at 14:00 to pick up Emily from school and we only get home at about 15:30 - 16:00 depending on traffic, so it has been pretty hectic, but I am enjoying it so far - I might sound very different in a month’s time.

Other than that we are concentrating on getting the house and garden sorted, so no holidays for a little while although I was looking at Cyprus today and wondering when we could squeeze a trip in, so who knows ... watch this space!

Other than that we are all well, Derrick got right back into the swing of things and is working really hard, we just can't believe that it is only 3 months to Christmas now, which means that the social life will be hectic over the next few months.  Will keep you updated.

A Reason, A Season, A lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime..

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person..
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.

They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,

things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Tahiti Revisited

Well if you read my post on our 4x4 adventure in Tahiti, this picture is taken from google earth if you go into google earth and call up tahiti and then zoom in on the volcanic mountains, you will see the road or what should be a road that cuts through the middle of the Island, the road to hell ... it starts at Papenoo and comes out somewhere close to Papara.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Wow well there must be a baby boom in 2009 and at the moment it all seems to be boys!  My friend Tracy's sister had a boy at the begining of 2009 and then my neice Tasha had a baby boy, then my friend K gave birth to a boy in May and C had a boy on the 1st of September and now my friend Wendy in Oz had a bouncy boy yesterday morning, that's 5 boys so far. 

My other Friend Wendy in Cape Town her sister is expecting a boy and thank Goodness Larissa is expecting a girl in October ... where did all these boys come from! 

The boat that rocked

The great thing about flying is that you get to see all the latest movies, I manged to see 17 again, and a whole host of other movies including Hana Montana but one movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and want to go and see when it eventually comes to the cinema in Dublin is "The boat that rocked", here is the trailer - anyone want to go with? 

Robbie Williams New Song - Bodies

Hotel Surveys

Have you ever filled in those hotel surveys?  I do every now and again, I noticed in my in box while I was travelling that there was one from the Radisson Hotel in Tahiti and I kept meaning to go online and fill it in but decided that I would do it once I got back as I would have more time.

So the other day I duly filled in the survey, now trust me I have complained on surveys before especially the one I got from the hotel in Nottinghill 5 years ago, where the room was practically falling apart, and never even got so much as an apology.   Anyway I filled it in thinking it will probably just be thrown on the pile with the rest of them, I filled it in honestly and then afterwards thought maybe I shouldn't have complained about the arogant pool boy.  As you know from my post on Tahiti, I also complained about the price of food in the hotel.  However for ratings of everything I give them a 4 or a 5, 5 of course being exceptional.

So to my surprise this morning I had an email from the manager at the hotel in Tahiti and here it is:

Dear Rose-Marie:

 Firstly we wish to thank you for taking the time to complete a survey regarding your recent stay with us.

We are sorry to hear that you were not offered our breakfast a la carte menu for your child while dining in our restaurant, which would have best catered for his or her needs. Therefore as a token of our apologies, we have refunded your credit card for the amount of 2,950XPF which is the value of a child's breakfast buffet for the two mornings of 9/7/09 & 10/7/09.

 

On behalf of our entire staff here at the Radisson Hotels & Resorts we thank you for your business and hope you have returned home with some beautiful memories of French Polynesia.

 

Sincerely,

Christopher Turner

Room Division Manager

Hotel Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti

(689)488888

They even went to the trouble of checking to see which days we were charged for Emily's breakfast and have since refunded us, now that is 5 star service ...

My Graduation

So all the studying finally paid off.