So I finally got to Dublin last Tuesday and spent a few days settling in, trying to learn the city, etc. It's really cool so far, definitely a little different than the States even though everyone looks like me and and everyone has the same names as they do in Boston hehe. We got super lucky with the location of our apartment too. It's definitely not glamorous but it's right in downtown Dublin and 5mins from this amazing beautiful park (Phoenix park....pics don't do it justice) but we're really lucky so far!
Anyways I had a meeting with my new boss on Thursday and Brayden had bball that night so on Friday morning we left for our first weekend trip. We had planed to go to Dingle on the West coast but since one of us doesn't fit well on buses... we decided to forgo the 9hr ride to Dingle for a 4.5hr ride South to Cork. We got to Cork Friday early evening, walked around the downtown (not too too much to see but it's nice), dinner, and stayed the night there. The rest of the weekend we spent in this adorable, brilliant little town on the coast called Kinsale.
Saturday we took an early short bus to Kinsale and it was maybe the cutest little town I've ever seen! We had a good breakfast (it's also the 'gourmet food capital of Ireland') which we didn't know but the food was great! Then we spent the whole day bike riding along the coast (it was unexpectedly really hilly!) Brayden took like 20 pictures of cows, I tried to climb over an old castle wall. Overall it was great! Unfortunately this ghost tour I wanted to do wasn't being held that night, but we had a really really awesome din and desert. Oh, also I found a lot of evidence of my name-sake in this little fishing town... among a few things there was a "Cotter Real Estate"!
Sunday we got up early and went to Blarney Castle. Although Rick Steves seriously disses Blarney in his newest Ireland book we both really liked it. The grounds were really pretty and despite me going in with no intention to kiss the Blarney Stone we both ended up doing it... uggg. But hopefully we'll have a lucky year!
8/10/10
If you can't say something nice.....
Today I went down to the mall looking for a wireless router for the apartment. I went to a store called Argos, which is the go-to place for home items. It's an interesting store, you can't pick out your item. You have to find the call number in a catalogue, bring that number to the desk and then buy your item. It gets delivered to you minutes later. Anyway, I digress.
In the course of ordering the wireless router I wanted, the cashier woman told me that the wireless router was not exchangeable. I've exchanged them before in the States, so I was a bit puzzled. I asked if I could change it for a different one, or receive store credit or anything. She told me flatly, "No. Nothing." This was rather odd, so I decided to press further.
Upon asking her why a wireless router could not be exchanged, she told me, "For the same reason earrings or a toothbrush can't be exchanged." Now I was totally stumped. What could these three things have in common? I'm not going to clean myself with this wireless router, on the contrary that seems like it would be quite unpleasant. I surely wouldn't wear it as a fashion accessory. What was I missing??
Thoroughly confused, I asked again for more clarification. The tone of her response told me she was growing quite tired of my stupidity. She responded, like it was the most obvious thing in the world:
"Because we can't know if you didn't put a virus on it."
I couldn't help but laugh. This is a piece of hardware, not software. The only virus that could be put onto a wireless router would not be a computer virus.
After I laughed I promised her that I wouldn't swab the router with Swine Flu, but the joke was (obviously) lost on her. She could see I was making fun of her and there was a long line behind me, so she asked me to leave the store. I wanted to buy an adapter for the DVD player, but she repeated that I had to leave the store. It's impossible to argue with someone that dense.
So I left the store smiling to myself. It's not often that you get confronted with something that ridiculous. I headed to a computer store a few floors up and found a similar router. That's when the smile quickly faded. Their cheapest router was 20 Euros more expensive. Since I couldn't go back, I had to bite the bullet.
When I was four years old, my mom tried to teach me a valuable lesson. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Clearly that lesson didn't take. Sorry mom!
In the course of ordering the wireless router I wanted, the cashier woman told me that the wireless router was not exchangeable. I've exchanged them before in the States, so I was a bit puzzled. I asked if I could change it for a different one, or receive store credit or anything. She told me flatly, "No. Nothing." This was rather odd, so I decided to press further.
Upon asking her why a wireless router could not be exchanged, she told me, "For the same reason earrings or a toothbrush can't be exchanged." Now I was totally stumped. What could these three things have in common? I'm not going to clean myself with this wireless router, on the contrary that seems like it would be quite unpleasant. I surely wouldn't wear it as a fashion accessory. What was I missing??
Thoroughly confused, I asked again for more clarification. The tone of her response told me she was growing quite tired of my stupidity. She responded, like it was the most obvious thing in the world:
"Because we can't know if you didn't put a virus on it."
I couldn't help but laugh. This is a piece of hardware, not software. The only virus that could be put onto a wireless router would not be a computer virus.
After I laughed I promised her that I wouldn't swab the router with Swine Flu, but the joke was (obviously) lost on her. She could see I was making fun of her and there was a long line behind me, so she asked me to leave the store. I wanted to buy an adapter for the DVD player, but she repeated that I had to leave the store. It's impossible to argue with someone that dense.
So I left the store smiling to myself. It's not often that you get confronted with something that ridiculous. I headed to a computer store a few floors up and found a similar router. That's when the smile quickly faded. Their cheapest router was 20 Euros more expensive. Since I couldn't go back, I had to bite the bullet.
When I was four years old, my mom tried to teach me a valuable lesson. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Clearly that lesson didn't take. Sorry mom!
Address in Ireland
So some people have been asking me for my address in Dublin. While I hope they're asking so they can send me American candy, they're probably just asking so they can check out the location on google maps so as to better plan their vacation. In any case:
9-13 Blackhall Place
Block B - Apartment 3
Harbour Hill
Dublin 7
Ireland
9-13 Blackhall Place
Block B - Apartment 3
Harbour Hill
Dublin 7
Ireland
8/5/10
Playing Pitt
So the past two nights I got to suit up for a couple different teams and play University of Pittsburgh (better known as Pitt). It was fun to play against them, and to get to meet Jamie Dixon. It was difficult playing with guys I've never met, especially when they wanted to run plays that they all knew. I was playing both wing and post, and not knowing the plays I found myself in the way quite often.
The first game I played really well, hit a 3 and abused the Pitt players with my pump fakes. I ended up with 18 and 10, but would have had more if I was getting the ball more. We got abused by 50 pts or something. It was like 104-57. I was the high scorer for the game though, so that's nice.
The next night we had a better team, ended up losing by 25. It was a close game until the fourth quarter started. I didn't play so well in this one. I hit a three, but then early in the second half I went up for a dunk and got fouled hard. Not dirty, just hard. Anyway, I ended up landing on my upper back and whiplashing my head onto the floor.
Being the idiot I am I hopped right up to shoot my free throws. I got to the line and was really dizzy, ended up missing both badly. I subbed out and after being checked out by the trainer was told I had a mild concussion. Not too bad, I remember everything that happened and all that. I felt something like this. Hope everyone knows what that is from!
All in all it was a fun experience, and now basketball people in Ireland know who I am. Not much else is going on, just counting down the days until Alisa gets here....It's now 6!!!
This photo is of me in the Ireland National Team jersey, along with two girls I've been coaching while over here.
8/1/10
Joe and Kate visit
Not too much going on here recently. Been playing a few days a week, working out more often than that. Just getting ready for the season and waiting for some camps to come up so I can coach and make some money.
The most exciting thing to happen since....well since I got here basically....was Joe and Kate Poles coming to visit. Kate is Alisa's cousin. They were only here for two nights and one day, but we had a great day of sightseeing. We walked all over Dublin, went to Trinity and took the tour there. Got to see the Book of Kells at Trinity. And the best part was the tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was pretty impressive.
Not too much else going on at the moment. Working a camp this weekend...Alisa is coming August 11th...Just waiting for that and for basketball/school to really get rolling.
The most exciting thing to happen since....well since I got here basically....was Joe and Kate Poles coming to visit. Kate is Alisa's cousin. They were only here for two nights and one day, but we had a great day of sightseeing. We walked all over Dublin, went to Trinity and took the tour there. Got to see the Book of Kells at Trinity. And the best part was the tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was pretty impressive.
Not too much else going on at the moment. Working a camp this weekend...Alisa is coming August 11th...Just waiting for that and for basketball/school to really get rolling.
7/20/10
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