UMTravels

Work in the morning, drive a little mid-day, relax in Olympia before cooking dinner for C & B, drink whiskey, play poker, made about $10 which I’m sure covers the whiskey, salad, lamb, bread, and gas.

My day in a nutshell.

[221.8 but after breakfast]

So far the jet-lag doesn’t seem to be affecting me — of course going to bed dead tired helps. Didn’t even take an Ambian.

What a first day back though…

• Work
• Grocery Run
• Jonathan To Try And Fix Dead Main Computer (no, it really is dead)
• Work
• Shirts To The Cleaners
• Meeting With Swanda
• Open House At Office Nomads (nice space!)
• Home For Dinner
• Work
• Bed

That was my day. And as Swanda reminded me, I still need to assemble the “10 Ways To Be A Good House Guest” — which number ten is “Write a thank-you note when you get home and send it ‘old skool’, as in snail mail”.

[219.8 — amazing considering I was on the road]

If you take out all the time changes, I got up at 7pm on Tuesday night, and flew until Wednesday night at 9:30pm. Ouch!

First flight – Dublin to Frankfurt (THANKS Mindi for getting up a 4am to take me to the airport). Running late, but not enough to miss my connection. Breakfast on-board was a roll, some fruit, some yogurt — a little light. Flight time should have been 1.5 hours, but with delays getting into Frankfurt-Mein, 2+ hours.

Frankfurt airport — what a mess, totally in the middle of being renovated. Add to that the shear size and the need to change terminals, you’ve got a mess even if you have two hours between flights (think buses to a plane parked on the tarmac). Snack at the Red Carpet Club First Class Lounge (complete with showers, but I did that before I left Dublin).

Second flight – Frankfurt to Washington, DC. 8.5 hours. Only four of us up front, meaning that there were 4 or 5 unused seats — which it’s odd since I had to book 6 months in advance to get a frequent flier seat. Dinner?

• Teriyaki duck breast with ricotta and spinach egg flan with a soy-ginger sauce
• Creamy corn soup
• Fresh seasonal greens with cherry tomatoes, radishes and croutons
• Grilled filet mignon (over cooked) with bordelaise mushroom sauce served with roast potato wedges (a little greasy), overcooked asparagus and carrots.
• Ice cream sundae as they seemed to be out of the promised cheese selection

Lunch was a cold platter of  smoked salmon, honey ham, salami, asparagus, egg wedge and dinner roll.

Washington, DC airport – flight on time, but oddly enough with all the international flights coming into IAD, there are no shower facilities in the Red Carpet Rooms.

Third flight – Washington, DC – Seattle. Flight running late but but it had two choices for dinner, some pasta dish in tomato sauce and the chicken tika which is what I had. Long gone are the days when that flight would have the ice cream trolley go down the aisle.

Home at 9:30pm. In bed by 10:30.

[? ? ? and who knows since I stopped taking Alli last week]

So much for today’s plan of doing the Hop On/Hop Off tourist bus today. Can you say cold,

wet, and drippy?

I was out of bed at my usual time on this trip… 10am. That’s a little late (by two hours)

for me, but it allows both Jeff and Mindi to get through their morning routine without me

clogging up the one bathroom in the house. Maybe that should be another “good houseguest”

tip.

With the rain coming down in buckets I settled into the couch and cleaned up email with my

morning coffee. A shower, then some breakfast, and it was still raining.

By noon I was back in bed for a nap, hoping the weather would clear. Not.

I’m cooking in again tonight — with supplies from the Halal grocery and butcher on the

corner (and I still got cold and wet!). For under 6 Euro I got 3 leg/thigh chunks of

chicken, three tomatoes, three peaches, and a cucumber. Tonights meal?

Starter: Ripe peach slices wrapped in prosuitto
Salad: Greek-style salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and crumbly cheese
Main: Broiled chicken in a pesto sauce

And today’s picture is of their lovely house in Dublin.

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What a lovely lazy day in Dublin.

My goal for today? Getting the fixings for dinner. 3 lovely peppered steaks for the bar-b-gue, a bottle of South Africa Pinotage, a little more whiskey… and it truly is a lovely day.

The meat came from a butcher just a 15 minute walk from here (yes, I WALKED), and the “off-license” store was on the way back across the street on the sunny side.

So — today’s theme, Spoiling and Spoiled. What’s that all about?

Spoiled: Me. Great trip to see long-time (better than saying “old”) friends. Shops to pick up fixings for dinner within walking distance. A nap in the morning while reading, a nap in the afternoon while reading. A fridge to graze on for meals. My own bedroom. Friends.

Spoiling: Cooking for my friends (and occasionally their neighbors). Shopping for food in strange currencies and weights and money. In the end the preparing is calming for me — and they seem to like the end result it as well.

Maybe at the end of this journey I should blog on the “Ten Important Skills For A House-guest”. I’ll leave you with one of the ten… restock the bar.

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Crap — forgot the link to the pictures to what is in the Windows Lauch Party Pack!

http://www.stuffiwrote.co.uk/2009/09/29/windows-7-party-pack-unboxed/

Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I travel.

Today I experienced a flight delay like no other. We had a plane, the weather was good, we had all the crew we needed and we were making a quick stop to pick up more passengers when the aircraft was hijacked/commandeered, what ever you’d like to call it when suddenly “operations” says they need this aircraft elsewhere IN THE MIDDLE OF SCHEDULED SERVICE.

Needless to say the 5 Pound voucher an hour after being trapped on the cigar tube AND AN HOUR BACK IN THE WAITING ROOM after we’d already gotten our snacks didn’t help.

So, here is the f**king plane that didn’t get me to Dublin close to on time:

There is no excuse for delaying 23 people for three hours just so you can move 50 other people around from another city.

Now that my pissing match is delayed until I write the nasty letter….

Let’s go back to my lovely holiday, and here is the latest scroller bar with some great pictures of Plymouth and the moors — and the occasional sheep:

The one positive note from delay — the chance to chat up a ginger lad who is a  bank examiner at 23. Made the delay totally worth it… and hopefully there will an ongoing connection via email. I’m hoping it’s more than any gay stranger in a port/storm/delay.

Through the joys of international text messaging Mindy and Jeff have been notified of my lateness.

On the way home (and before presents) we head for a pub called “The Barge“.

They were out of the duck so I went for the lamb — what seemed to be a whole lamb. Damn I’m stuffed.

Back at the house presents were distributed — 3 pints of various Cornwall stout beers for Jeff, a bottle of Plymouth Gin for Mindi and the remainder of the 114.2 proof single malt scotch for me.

And the scotch died tonight. Time to replenish the booze tomorrow on my grocery run.

Ready for my own bed.

[? ? ? feeling like a cow]

Before I go into lunch details — I’ve been meaning to talk money. As in the Exchange Rate.

Here is what my dollar is worth to the Euro:

Here is that my dollar is worth to the Pound:

And my British friends have been complaining about how close the Euro and the Pound are in worth — the Pound used to have a premium::

As for me — it is one of the best exchange rates for the Dollar/Pound and the worst for the Dollar/Euro. Thank goodness my I’ve got free lodging and only one intra-Europe flight to pay for.

Now as for that stunning birthday lunch, it was at Tanners Restaurant.

Three birthday boys, one whose birthday it is today (Nigel). Mine was Monday, Mark’s is next week.

And what a birthday lunch — the prix fix menu I chose was the mackerel salad for a starter and the plaice for the main — and I was so stuffed that I declined the dessert (or pudding as they say here). A couple of nice bottles of white and I was ready for a nap!

Tonight we are having the chicken roasted with some other sides, but with the huge lunch I’m less than hungry — no clubbing for me tonight.

Back to Dublin tomorrow afternoon.

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A lazy morning around the house with Mark. Mark’s boyfriend Nigel is due later in the afternoon to join us for dinner, but first — today’s tourist activity.

The Plymouth Gin distillery in lovely old town Plymouth, England.

It was a lovely tour — in fact, I do believe that it ranks near the top of the distillery tours that I’ve taken — and that is quite a few.

A lovely tour guide, small group, one cutie, watered down nosing samples of the Plymouth Gin and a tipple of their Sloe Gin (which I was prepared to dislike but it was lovely, not the sweet stuff from the states) followed by a 1 pound off coupon and a chit for a free Gin and Tonic up in the Refectory Bar (which is worth a visit on its own).

I picked up a bottle of Plymouth Gin for Mindi to try (it really is good), and will get some for my mother to try as well since she’s looking for a new house gin (ever since the demise of Tanquarey Mallaca Gin some eight years ago). For myself I picked up a 35 pound bottle of 57.1% by volume single malt from the Chivas family of distilleries that they have a relation with. That’s my yummy sipping whiskey for the rest of the trip — hopefully there will be some for Jeff to try once I’m back in Dublin.

For today’s humorous photo we have:

By the time we were done sightseeing, Nigel had arrived at the house with his dog Doogie/Google (depending on the mood of owner or dog, not sure)…

Nigel’s mum had packed a ton of food so instead of roasting the chicken we’d bought we ploughed trough an amazing salted ham quiche and some salad. There is a whole additional pie, a cake, and a ton of other food that she sent along. I doubt we will starve.

Late in the evening we were joined by Nigel’s friend for a bit before they both left to do a little clubbing. After that dinner the two Mark’s were ready for their respective beds.

[?  ? ? — feeling like a cow]

Saint Mindi ran me to the airport this morning — me feeling a bit worse for wear from last night’s festivities. Got to the airport in plenty of time (yes, I know me to the airport early). It was your basic Dash 8-300 regional prop plane for the 1 hour flight to Plymouth. On the way back I fly through Newquay — seems they run a circle route all day.

Mark was at the airport to meet me, and off we went on a little jaunt around the countryside and up to the reservoir that serves Plymouth and the surrounding cities. We stopped a couple of times for pictures — the mores really were beautiful with the sun out.

Next stop was Saintbury’s Market for the remaining ingredients for tonights meal — which turns out to be very close to last night’s meal in that it’s a leg of lamb we got on special over a bed of roasted root vegetables — no salad tonight, just green beans, whiskey and wine.

It’s good to see Mark again — still trying to figure out when we were here last. It would have been with Jill, in the spring, when we also did Scotland, saw Pucci, and I went to the production of Equus in London.

[? ? ?]

Such grand goals for today — getting stuff together for dinner with Jeff and Mindi’s neighbors.

After the shopping:

And after cooking:

It was a lovely dinner — though Mary who is pregnant decided to decline at the last minute due to a wee bit of nausea. A rolled ham on a bed of roasted vegetables and a salad of tomato, cucumber and bell pepper. Yum.

Off to Plymouth, England tomorrow.

[? ? ?]

Today is “tour” day. This means that both Mindi and I are up “butt early” — what time is “butt early”? 6am and to the train station by 6:40am for a 7:10am train from Dublin to Galway. Ick.

I grabbed a sandwich and a Diet Coke in the train station as I’d heard the food on-board wasn’t that great — and from what I saw on the trolley, I’d believe that — personally I was sleeping for half the trip even though we were going through the Irish version  of Kentucky’s Blue Grass area of horse breeding.

By a little after 10am we were on the bus — the one person from the train that was part of my tour — and 19 other’s assembled in Galway. Nice new train from Hyundai of South Korea:

One of the highlights of the day trip was the Kylemore Abbey. I didn’t opt for the extra 8 Euro ticket to the tour the walled garden and the Abbey proper. I thought eating, shopping reading and relaxing was the better way to go. Here is a stunning shot of the Abbey from across the lake:

Yeah, I think I could live there assuming I had staff. Scares me to think what it would cost to heat.

Lots of photo stops on the trip, so here is the scrolling bar:

Back in Galway after the tour I finally located an “off-license” store — that’s Irish and British for liquor store — so I could restock Jeff and Mindi’s bar (one of my tips for being a good house guest, the subject of a blog post in the next couple of days).

Got back to the train station around 9pm and took a 10 Euro taxi home to have night caps with the kids.

Looking forward to a full night’s sleep.

[? ? ?]

Happy birthday to me and greetings from Dublin, Ireland.

A little work in the morning (sorry Swanda, couldn’t help myself) and then off on today’s adventure — the Guiness Storehouse. What? Basically a “listed building” that Guiness couldn’t tear down to make a modern factory so they turned it into an “edutainment” center with a cool 7th floor circular bar with some of the best views in the city and a free pint of Guiness (after you paid your 15 Euro to get in).

Here is today’s photo — me at the distillery with a cute guy in the background. It was one of those “electronic postcard” kiosk thingees:

I walked to the brewery from Mindi and Jeff”s place — handy. If you want to see the really shitty video from the “mixing room” which is the top floor, this would be it:

Grabbed a quick sandwich on the way back to t house and a nap soon followed.

Dinner tonight was stunning. A little Italian place on the canal called Nonna Valentina.We all went for the 3 course 30 Euro meal — and started with a bottle of Prosecco followed by a Montepuciano red. One of the nicest birthday meals I’ve ever had. Thanks Jeff and Mindi!

Back at the house we were all like beached seals — having eaten more than we should. And two of us have to get up early in the morning tomorrow for my tour of the West Coast. Thanks Mindi for running me to the train.

[? ? ?]

A fairly lazy start to the day — thank goodness for Ambien to keep the thumping of the disco out of my dreams.

Eggs Benedict at the hotel in the morning, then off to tour the castle grounds and art gallery filled with conceptual pieces, beyond contemporary art and sort of an odd match for the castle — guess that would be the personal tastes of the Duke of Devonshire who still lives in the castle.

At least the windows are double glazed — though I still bet it’s a bitch to heat in the winter.

Next up on the tour is the Midleton Distillery, home to Jameson whiskey (and a couple of others). Jeff took this great picture of me in front of the waiting area bar (Irish Coffee for 6.50 Euro).

After the tour of the history grounds (the current working distillery is modern and located just behind the old distillery) we went to the tasting room where both Jeff and I got certified as official tasters — and I cleaned up all the leftovers from the other 7 tasters… something like 15 of those tiny little cups. Should I have wanted to purchase shots, there was one shot on the menu that was going for 250 Euro. Ouch!

Lunch afterwards was down the road a bit from the car park — an interesting place called Mojito, which couldn’t quite make up it’s mind what sort of a menu they had — Jeff had the Nachos Grande and I had the Mojito Salad(which was salmon, goat cheese, greens, olives and a yummy dressing). It’s right on Distillery Walk by the distillery.

Three hours back to Dublin, Jeff driving while I slipped in a little nap.

Just a lazy day around the house that evening — a lite meal of sandwiches made from the pork from the other night. Got to keep food moving through the fridge when it’s a half-size model.

Tomorrow is the big 53rd birthday. I don’t feel a day over 52.

[? ? ?]

A slow morning around the house — guess last night was later than I thought.

Mindi was worse for wear this morning, enough so that she is staying in bed rather than coming on the road with Jeff and I on the tour to the south. As it turns out, it was a good idea with the zig-zaggy quality of the roads and the condition of said roads — I think we would have been stopping a lot by the side of the road.

We got out of the house around noon for the 2 hour run to Waterford Crystal to see the showroom (but not the factory as they are in receivership) — luckily they no longer make the pattern that Helene gave me two martini glasses a couple of years ago. All in all, a C- as a stop. It was nice to shop for chandeliers — but I don’t have a spare 5K for lighting.

That stop over — we were off to Lismore (one of my favorite Scotches, but we are in Ireland) for an overnight at the Lismore House Hotel. We have a room for three — with two singles and a double — and generously sized with free broadband (cable at front desk).

Here is the view from our hotel (210 years old) window:

We will be touring the castle (Lismore Castle Gardens and Gallery) tomorrow after our full Irish breakfast.

After we checked in we did a walking tour of the town — voted cleanest Irish city in 2002. It is a clean town — we only say one pile of dog poo, luckily in front of a cemetery. We did find a bunch of nice knockers on the doors. You can find them in the link below:

Dinner was in the hotel restaurant… I had the fish and chips even though I probably shouldn’t have… but they were good. And that will be enough for the trip. Jeff had the pasta/chicken/bacon/cream. At least mine came with a salad.

With a bucket of ice from the bar, we headed back to the room and settled in with TV, computers, and Irish Whiskey.

[? ? ?]

Up at 8:30, rolled over and re-awoke at 9:30. Got to love Ambien for being able to sleep through the night and avoid jet lag.

Bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, sandwiches around 2 for lunch — just  a lazy day around the house with all three of us sitting on couches working away at our computers.

As part of the celebration of Arthur Guinness’ 250thbirthday (yesterday), the celebrations continue though the weekend. Tonight is Culture Night in Dublin, with pretty much every venue offering multiple programs. Our pick for tonight was an Organ Recital by Mark Duleyat the National Concert Hall… half an hour in length, and free if you didn’t count the cab ride to/from.

That would be the organ…

This that would be Jeff and Mindi! Not bad pictures considering they are off my cell phone.

After the concert is was off the the local fresh market — but the meat counter was closed so we’ll thaw pork chops when we get home. At least we were able to restock the wine cabinet and get some more Diet Coke for me.

I was the designated chef — whipping up a salad, steamed asparagus, and pork chops with fried onions and plums. Yum.

A late night — let’s hope it doesn’t affect our tomorrow plans for Middleton and Waterford.

[? ? ?]

Got into London at 6am. I immediately headed into the Arrivals Lounge for the Star Alliance — judging from some of the signage in the shower, it used to be a British Airways lounge.

Nice to be able to shower and change into a fresh shirt after a long day of travelling….makes you feel human again.

The BMI flight was on time, even early getting into Dublin where Mindi was to meet me. That was when the real trouble happened. I didn’t have her number and she couldn’t find me.

It was noon (I got in at 10:15) before I got an email from Jeff with directions to give the cab driver so I could get to the house. It was simple after that (except that the cash machine only wanted to spit out 50 Euro notes.

Spend the afternoon chatting with Mindi (Jeff was still a work) before settling in for a two hour nap, which I really needed only getting an hour of sleep on the plane to London and 1/2 hour on the flight into Dublin.

By the time I was awake, Jeff was home and it was time for cocktails while Mindi took a conference call.

Dinner tonight was out for Lebanese food — yummy. Try out the Rotan Cafe at 31 South Richmond Street in Dublin. No wine with dinner but after a couple of cocktails at home I didn’t really need it.

Evening ended with a nightcap, a couple of blog entries, and slinking off to bed.

[? ? ?]

Up at 5:30am and by 6 RB (Rent Boy) and I are out the door headed to the airport.

What a mess United Airline is! Two 757’s parked at gates near each other both grounded for mechanical problems. Our has some seal that they replaced that now the epoxy needs to cure, and the other, landing gear issues.

Needless to say, my plane was late leaving… 10am instead of 8:25 — thereby killing my layover time in Chicago.

To my amazement I actually made the connection but with no time for dutyfree or even to pee. Luckily they handed me champagne as
I boarded the 767-300 for the rest of the trip. Guess I won’t need the other three flights they had reserved space held for me.

Here is a picture of the pod on the 767-300 in first class.

It even had armrests that drop down to exposed another 6 inches of butt room on either side. Nice digs if you can get them.

By tomorrow I’ll in be in London.

[forgot to weigh myself this morning]

Up at 8am feeling a little foggy… maybe it was the ribs.

Out of the house at 9:30am with Mom in tow… dropping her at the library for a self-tour while I headed to the eastside for this weeks marketing meeting. Dad was lazing about the house when I left.

A long meeting today, but when there is a check at the end of it, it makes it seem so much more fun. Nice bank deposit when combined with a birthday check from the parents, and my Florida client paying his last two invoices. Almost enough to cover the bills!

Back at the house, more work while both my parents lounged around/napped/snacked…. they are easy guests. at 3:15pm off to the train station we go, their next stop is Glacier National Park before onto Chicago.

When I got back to the house I found this WONDERFUL picture from the cruise… taken the final night Friends of Dorothy meeting. Almost all of us were there — 14 in this shot, probably 20 gay men on board best I could tell… 20 out of 2002:

And now back to me (to paraphrase Swanda)…

Tonight it is packing, then a dinner of leftovers, followed by an evening service call by the rent boy who will also be running me to the airport in the morning, followed by mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, and buffing SOB (the wax is showing).

In the meantime, more work.

[220.5 — hey, where is all that cruise line weight gain?]

Got a full house today — I’m living in the office, and my parents have taken over the bedroom. Luckily, I have low maintenance parents!

Spent lots of today working on E&A stuff, and taking Dad grocery shopping with me while Mom stayed behind and read on the couch. Her big trip is tomorrow to see the downtown library while I’m on the eastside at the weekly marketing meeting.

Wonderful came to dinner — and brought wine from the apartment (and the key and card). The wine went well with the rack of pork ribs, roasted potatoes and asparagus and fresh bread.

Short entry today… got too many balls in the air what with leaving for Ireland on Wednesday morning. But here are all the pictures from the cruise.

[221.1]

My prediction of a rough morning was correct. Painfully early for us — 8am.

Choked down a little breakfast, before they called our color to get the hell off the boat.

One update from last night before I go on — we had 14 guys show up at the final Friends of Dorothy meeting… WOW. I can’t wait for someone to forward me the picture of the group that we got the waiter to take of us all.

Now back in waking up in San Francisco….

The plan was for Pudgy to pick us up at the terminal and drop me at the airport and take Jonathan home with him… until he didn’t pick up the phone because of a very late night of drinking…. new plan. Cab for me to BART — I should have just taken the NCL Shuttle for $35 and been done with it.

Part two of the plan that didn’t work… hanging out in the Alaska Board Room and working after I checked my bag in at United. The security line in the Alaska terminal would have taken me an hour to get through — and with no first class ticket (like my United one) to use the short-cut line, it just wasn’t worth it, not with how tired I was.

Solution? Go back to the United terminal and have lunch, and find an outlet for the laptop and tether my phone to it — almost as good as free wi-fi. Too bad I didn’t bring the camera or video in carry-on with me so I could have uploaded new goodies to Twango. Later today, or tomorrow.

Flight isn’t until after 4pm, and Wonderful is going to pick me up at the airport and borrow my key to Swanda’s place so he can deliver the chair he used at the auction — if I think about this more I can figure out how to do this at the same time as I pick up my parents at the train station across the street…. they are due in at 8:45 and last time I checked they were running 45 minutes early, which means I’ll be late picking them up.

Time to get to the almost 300 emails that I received since Juneau.

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