Ireland: Day 1 – Dublin

Travel

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Greetings from Dublin! Our long awaited trip has arrived at last, and the fun started fast. My dad got us to our flight at National, from where we headed to Boston to catch our flight to Dublin. We did an extra lap on the airport shuttle at Logan Airport, thanks to the shuttle’s unexpected failure to announce when we were at Terminal E, the International terminal. But other than that, we got off OK. Memo to Logan, work on your signage problem, and also there’s a ‘D’ between ‘C’ And ‘E’!

All was smooth on the flight with the added bonus of some young children who spent the whole flight acquainting us with the wail of the Banshee, a sound whose portent of death we were close to welcoming by the time we arrived. As a parent who has flown with kids, I felt much sympathy for the mother of these wailers as she struggled with her screechers, but I also still silently prayed she could learn how to shut her kids up.

But I digress.

We landed at Dublin at 5:30 am local time, which was 12:30 am on Monday morning our time. We found a bus that said it would get us near Grafton Street, but which instead left us at the central bus terminal. So we caught a cab to the hotel from there. It was hours before we would be albe to check in, so we ditched our bags for a brief walk around the surrounding blocks, and then returned to the hotel for some breakfast.

Recharged, at least for a bit, we set out on foot towards Kilmainham Gaol, Dubin’s infamous prison which had come highly recommended by virtually everyone I spoke to about things to see in Dublin. It was a healthy morning walk for two tired travelers, but we got ourselves there about 10 minutes before opening, and the Gaol’s museum and tour were a sombering introduction to Ireland’s sad history of political oppression.

From Kilmainham, we continued on foot to the Guinness Storehouse, a popular tourist destination in honor of Ireland’s national drink. The self-guided tour gives a good lesson in the history and making of Guinness, and by the end of the tour when you get to collect your Pint in the 7th story Gravity Bar, the beer and the view are a happy reward. It was 12:30 in the afternoon here, but we had been up all night and it was 7:30 am Eastern time while we enjoyed our first pint in Dublin. Yes, the Irish breakfast of champions! We then paid our dues in the well-stocked Guinness store, buying some souvenir’s to bring home, and then caught a cab back to our hotel where we got checked in and crashed for a much needed jet-lag nap.

After waking up, we set out for the Temple Bar area, known for its shops, restaurants and pubs where we enjoyed a great dinner at The Quays Restaurant. From there we stopped at The Stags Head for another pint on the way back to our hotel. Now that photos are uploaded and Day 1 is in the blog, it’s time to crash again and get attuned to this time zone.

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Ants in my Samoas

Food, Guide to Life

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Big crisis in the kitchen today… some ants found their way into our Samoas. You know Samoas, the 2nd best selling of all the Girl Scout Cookies (look out Thin Mints, Samoas are gaining on you!), they are my favorite. So there was our open box of Samoas, with about 2/3 of the cookies still remaining, but crawling with little black ants. We shook off each cookie and put them in a Ziploc baggie and wiped out those left on the box and the counter. But it was quickly apparent that many ants clung to the cookies and were in the Ziploc as well. So I got out a second Ziploc, and individually transferred each cookie, first giving it a good shake, and then moving it to the second baggie. I was left with one baggie full of angry ants (who met a ghastly ending I won’t describe here), and a second baggie full of ant-free and delicious Samoas. Or so it seemed.

Of course, all of this Samoa-exposure had me craving them, and despite spotting a few who had made it to the second baggie, I ate three or four of these yummy delights and then set the sealed baggie down by my chair. Well I get things were getting warm in the Samoa bag, or something was drawing the ants out of the nooks of the remaining cookies to see what was going on, because each time I glance at the bag there were increasing numbers of ants in the sealed bag. Lesson learned, shaking a Samoa is not an effective way of removing ants, there’s just too many nooks and crannies in the cookies for them to explore. But eat them anyway, you’re bigger and higher in the food chain, and it takes more than a few ants to spoil a Samoa.

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Ireland Books: Eyewitness to Irish History

Books

I love reading history. And when it comes to history, you can’t often beat a first-person account. I have read a couple of different “Eyewitness to..” type of history books, which are compilations of first-person historical accounts. And so on my current quest for reading about Ireland, I was happy to find ‘Eyewitness to Irish History’. Of the Ireland books I’ve read so far, this was easily my favorite. From Ancient Ireland to recent history of the 90s, the historical accounts in this book give you a front row seat. And interspersed among them are very helpful, context providing text. Here’s one example, describing the aftermath of The Battle of the Boyne.

Althought the conflict at the Boyne was not a significant victory in military terms, for the Jacobite army was able to withdraw, regroup, and fight on for another year, James panicked and fled from Ireland back to St. Germain in France, earning him the title among the Irish of Seamus an Chaca (James the

One moving account is from the diary of Gerald Keegan, an immigrant who recounts setting out for Canada just days after his wedding in 1847, and the tragedy of their trip on what came to be known as a ‘Coffin Ship’ due to the suffering, disease and death that was so pervasive on them. His wife did not survive the trip, and Gerald lived only a few days after arriving in Canada, where he gave his journal to his Uncle, telling him, “It will tell to those unborn what Irishmen and women have suffered in this summer of sorrow.”

And more than any of the history I’ve so far read of Ireland, these accounts brought home the shocking degrees of suffering and oppression that the Irish have suffered for centuries under the English. From evictions, starvation, murder, slavery, deportation… there’s little the Irish haven’t suffered at the hands of the English. It’s a painful history captured in the books final sentences;

James Joyce, in Ulysses, was expressing the feellings of most Irish people when he caused his hero, Stephen Dedalus, to observe: “History is the nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” It is a nightmare from which Ireland is still struggling to awake.

This is an excellent read that I recommend to anyone interested in Irish history.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Diversions

The cold I’m fighting may slow me down a bit, but Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone just the same. That same cold and some unwelcome rain water in the basement have likewise derailed any thought of attending the Manassas St. Patrick’s Day parade which is a shame because it’s become a tradition for us to hit the parade and then fest at Philly Tavern. We’ll certainly be back next year.

Anyone who reads this blog has seen my Irish book reports and knows we’re deep in preparation for our trip to Ireland in just two weeks. For some more good stuff about St. Patrick’s Day, we watched a good program on The History Channel last night about The History of St. Patrick’s Day which was very good.

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Politics Online Conference

Politics
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I’m currently at the opening session of the 14th Politics Online Conference, which is hosted at the George Washington University by the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI). Phil Noble, President of Politics Online, and a long time champion and innovator in the field just introduced the opening panel.

I’ve been around since the earliest Politics Online conferences, both as a speaker and an attendee. I’m not certain, but I may have spoke at the first one, back when Dan Solomon founded the conference years ago. In his comments moments, Phil embarrassed and flattered me by pointing me out in the audience and acknowledging my role in bringing the first member of Congress onto the web (Senator Kennedy in 1994), and then Phil said, “… and look at him, he’s still a kid!”.

Thanks Phil for the kind words and recognition. And especially for the ‘kid’ label which was especially welcome today, when I might otherwise feel too much like an old dog 🙂

UPDATE: Sitting down to the post-lunch keynote address and some guy walks by me in my aisle and says, “Up close you don’t look as young as Phil said, I guess he couldn’t see you too well from up there.” Thanks Pal!

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UPDATE 2: I’m very proud of the fact that we took home a Golden Dot Award in the category of best web site for an Issue Advocacy Campaign for our work on behalf of The Great American Condom Campaign.

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Video Flashback – Pinewood Derby

Family

Here’s a flashback from the Casey video archives, the 2002 Pinewood Derby. Over the years I’ve participated in a half-dozen or so of these scouting events. Some kids show up each year with finely crafted hot-rods that their fathers have obviously put many hours of work into. I’m not that Dad. Even if I put many hours into it, I’m just not a woodworking type. And so typically, a night or two before the race, when the the task couldn’t be put off any longer, my son Will and I would hack our pine block into some kind of shape, get some paint on it, glue on the wheels and some weights and hope for the best. But in 2002 we found some inspiration by decorating Will’s entry with a sponsorship from my company, casey.com, and maybe that was what was needed (or maybe it was the well placed bolts in the passenger seat), because our close fourth place finish was our best ever in a Pinewood Derby, and only Ludwig Von could capture the feeling. Please excuse the herky-jerky camera work, the adrenaline was flowing strong and I just couldn’t keep still.

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Rock Art

Diversions, Music
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Are your LPs gathering dust in some old milk crate? Mine were. I don’t even own a turntable anymore, so I couldn’t play them if I wanted to. But they used to be such treasures. And face it, looking at album art on a CD case, or even worse some tiny postage-stamped size album cover in iTunes will never be the same as holding a full-size LP in your hands and drinking it in while you listen to the tunes.

While thinking about how to decorate my new basement manspace, it occurred to me that maybe I could build some kind of wood frame that I could slide an album cover into to display it like a piece of art. And while it was an idea of genius, I’m humble enough to recognize that it couldn’t possibly be an original idea. And it’s almost always easier to buy something than to build it. Next stop, The Google, and after some searching and comparing, I placed my order with Rock Art Picture Show for four acrylic frames with mats into which you can easily slide a standard LP. They’re great. Here’s my initial four, but this will be an ever-changing exhibition. I’ll probably start shopping LPs on eBay, just to add to my cover collection.

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Rat Scabies & The Holy Grail

Books, Music

For many years I have known Rat Scabies only as the drummer from The Damned, you know, the one licking the pumpkin pie off of his bandmates head on the cover of their self-named 1976 album. But recently my brother, as he often does, made a gift of an interesting looking book for me, Rat Scabies & The Holy Grail.

Christopher Dawes is a music writer who learned shortly after moving into his home in the London suburb of Brentford that Rat Scabies was a neighbor living just across the street, and in a short time a friendship was struck. Rat introduced Chris to his hobby, or obsession, with unraveling the mystery of the cathedral of Rennes-le-Chateau in France, and the suspected connection between the church and the Holy Grail. And the two pursue an Indiana Jones-ish quest, but from the back of a tour bus. It’s a fun tale of friendship, travel and adventure. You don’t need to be a fan of The Damned to enjoy the book, but it doesn’t hurt.

In hunting for links for the blog post, I came across Rat’s page on MySpace. It was a cool find, especially for the YouTube videos that Chris and Rat took of their travels and described in the book. And I’m glad to say Rat accepted my ‘Friend Request’, making me his 2,997th friend on MySpace, and he is my 15th. Stay tuned to lear more, as me and my friend Rat will set out in search of the Ark of the Covenant someday.

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