Greetings everyone!
For months it’s been only Sabrina making the posts as I pull my hair out while emailing different recruiting agencies and potential employers.
I am stopping in now to announce the Grand Opening of our Geocities pictures page!
Yes, I know that when your browser is maximized the pages looks like it is off center, but hey, it’s the best I could do on short notice with people screaming behind me. (‘Where are my KEYS?!’ ‘I gave them BACK to you!’ ‘No you didn’t!’ ‘Yes, I did!’ .. about 5 minutes of that before he says ‘I always keep my keys in this pocket, and if you would have given the back to me I’d have them…oh…here they are. Sorry.’)
The URL is http://www.geocities.com/griffxx/index.html
If clicking on it doesn’t work, try copying it and pasting it into the address section of your Web browser. Oh, and if it says the 'allocation limit has been reached', try back in an hour or so. Since it's a free service they really throttle back how much bandwidth it uses.
The captions pretty much speak for themselves, although it is of note that on Page 2 has a picture that notes that the Bloom’s hotel is in the background. The reason I mentioned that is that was the first hotel we stayed at on our first trip to Dublin and it always brings back feelings of nostalgia.
Enjoy!
Howdy,
Matt has recieved three more calls today and yesterday from more recruiters about even more jobs (including Oracle), so we are in a celebratory mood :)
Actually I'm only here typing when I've little to say, because Matt just stepped away from the computer to take another call. Encouraging, yes?
Yesterday we went to The National Gallery and pretended we knew something about art.....It is truely amazing how OLD things are here. I guess that could be said of things in any art gallery, but the pictures here were quite often the family portraits of the local nobility of this country; so it felt so much closer to us personally, being within walking distance from the homes these portraits were painted in. For instance, one beautiful painting from the mid 1700's showed the Countess of one of the local towns (Clantarf? I can't recall now), sitting in her living room surrounded by her children. Nice, but not too special. But in the background, hanging in her living room were six other portraits of her family's anccestors. The gripping thing about iit was that it hung surrounded by the other portraits in the painting. Starting from the 1600's. That was pretty amazing :)
Matt has returned, so off I go :)
Fair play to ya!
Matt has recieved three more calls today and yesterday from more recruiters about even more jobs (including Oracle), so we are in a celebratory mood :)
Actually I'm only here typing when I've little to say, because Matt just stepped away from the computer to take another call. Encouraging, yes?
Yesterday we went to The National Gallery and pretended we knew something about art.....It is truely amazing how OLD things are here. I guess that could be said of things in any art gallery, but the pictures here were quite often the family portraits of the local nobility of this country; so it felt so much closer to us personally, being within walking distance from the homes these portraits were painted in. For instance, one beautiful painting from the mid 1700's showed the Countess of one of the local towns (Clantarf? I can't recall now), sitting in her living room surrounded by her children. Nice, but not too special. But in the background, hanging in her living room were six other portraits of her family's anccestors. The gripping thing about iit was that it hung surrounded by the other portraits in the painting. Starting from the 1600's. That was pretty amazing :)
Matt has returned, so off I go :)
Fair play to ya!
Here’s a little story I forgot to mention:
There we are walking home from the internet café, and a coffee/newspaper reading break at the next-door “coffee society” after meeting, it had started to rain lightly. As we approach the street we turn on to get to our place, we see a traffic-halting sight: a little old guy…. adorable little old guy…. trying to cross 4 lanes from his side (a giant Catholic cathedral) to our side. Let me tell ya something about his pace: I have seen a snail make faster get-away. It made me just want to cry. Or else to run on out, pick him up and trot on back to the curb.
This we were watching from about a block away. So, I’m thinking that by the time we get up to him, he will have reached his destination in safety, as none of the cars stopped by his passing were honking, or angry, because he cut such a sad and pitiable figure, scuttling across, inch by painful inch, arms akimbo, eyes squinted in the drizzle. I had a funny image of him reaching the corner and just making a mad dash for the alleyway, because he was just pulling our collective legs, like my great-grandpa used to do, wobbling up to you, pretending to falter, and then laughing at you when you jump up to help him….”fooled you, whipper-snapper.”
In thinking he would beat us to the corner I was in a word: Wrong. We made the corner, started to turn ever so slowly, the thought tugging us that we should do something, but not wanting to frighten the poor guy. So we stop and look his direction. He had stopped, not quite off of the street, almost tipping over backwards, on the slope upwards to the corner, with his hands outstretched like if he could just stretch far enough, he could reach the post, 5 feet in front of him. All this time, our hearts are breaking for him. He sees Matt and I standing there, and waves a little towards Matt, not saying anything. So, Matt steps over, and the guy gestures for Matt to walk him to the post, which he gladly does, very, very slowly. Upon arriving to safety, he tells us disbelievingly that someone had told him there was a 6pm mass there, when there was not. Not wanting to leave him in trouble, Matt asks him where he’s headed. “Just over to the bus stop”, at least a league away by the sound of his voice. So, Matt continued to be his human cane, walking him to the bus stop, half way back down the block we had just walked. By then it had started to rain in earnest. He slowed down with every step, and once completely stopped, Matt saying, “we can take a break if you want”. I had been walking on his other side, in case he needed a second cane, but I don’t think he even noticed me. I stabilized him once, as we topped a three inch rise in the sidewalk that nearly had him going backwards again, but Matt was the one whose had was gripped was though it truly were a cane, and his fingers the handle. All the while, I’m thinking, “Can I give this poor guy a tract? My Bible? He can barely see, let alone read. Since he doesn’t need mass, and he needs the new system, maybe a short speech about the Kingdom Hall and how to get there? A cookie? A hug?”. Instead we just go thanked gratuitously, and left him to wait for the bus, sitting on the bench, resting contentedly. I’ve never wanted to take someone home for a cup of coco more in my life. Although, he probably would have preferred a hot whiskey.
There we are walking home from the internet café, and a coffee/newspaper reading break at the next-door “coffee society” after meeting, it had started to rain lightly. As we approach the street we turn on to get to our place, we see a traffic-halting sight: a little old guy…. adorable little old guy…. trying to cross 4 lanes from his side (a giant Catholic cathedral) to our side. Let me tell ya something about his pace: I have seen a snail make faster get-away. It made me just want to cry. Or else to run on out, pick him up and trot on back to the curb.
This we were watching from about a block away. So, I’m thinking that by the time we get up to him, he will have reached his destination in safety, as none of the cars stopped by his passing were honking, or angry, because he cut such a sad and pitiable figure, scuttling across, inch by painful inch, arms akimbo, eyes squinted in the drizzle. I had a funny image of him reaching the corner and just making a mad dash for the alleyway, because he was just pulling our collective legs, like my great-grandpa used to do, wobbling up to you, pretending to falter, and then laughing at you when you jump up to help him….”fooled you, whipper-snapper.”
In thinking he would beat us to the corner I was in a word: Wrong. We made the corner, started to turn ever so slowly, the thought tugging us that we should do something, but not wanting to frighten the poor guy. So we stop and look his direction. He had stopped, not quite off of the street, almost tipping over backwards, on the slope upwards to the corner, with his hands outstretched like if he could just stretch far enough, he could reach the post, 5 feet in front of him. All this time, our hearts are breaking for him. He sees Matt and I standing there, and waves a little towards Matt, not saying anything. So, Matt steps over, and the guy gestures for Matt to walk him to the post, which he gladly does, very, very slowly. Upon arriving to safety, he tells us disbelievingly that someone had told him there was a 6pm mass there, when there was not. Not wanting to leave him in trouble, Matt asks him where he’s headed. “Just over to the bus stop”, at least a league away by the sound of his voice. So, Matt continued to be his human cane, walking him to the bus stop, half way back down the block we had just walked. By then it had started to rain in earnest. He slowed down with every step, and once completely stopped, Matt saying, “we can take a break if you want”. I had been walking on his other side, in case he needed a second cane, but I don’t think he even noticed me. I stabilized him once, as we topped a three inch rise in the sidewalk that nearly had him going backwards again, but Matt was the one whose had was gripped was though it truly were a cane, and his fingers the handle. All the while, I’m thinking, “Can I give this poor guy a tract? My Bible? He can barely see, let alone read. Since he doesn’t need mass, and he needs the new system, maybe a short speech about the Kingdom Hall and how to get there? A cookie? A hug?”. Instead we just go thanked gratuitously, and left him to wait for the bus, sitting on the bench, resting contentedly. I’ve never wanted to take someone home for a cup of coco more in my life. Although, he probably would have preferred a hot whiskey.
So, Saturday night's play (Beauty and he Beast) was lots of fun. About 15 others from the congregation, including 4 little girls joined us. We all enjoyed the entertainment, and went out for Indian food after. Well, 8 of us went out after, and then one of them left us, (Bro. Griffin) because he would "rather die a painful death than eat curry. So instead, he went to Eddie Rockets, the 50's burger joint down stairs. Someone volunteered to take all of the children out to McDonald's....sad, I know... The rest of us had a great time talking about what percentage better any other show we had been to was in comparison: "The Lion King was at least 10 times better." ..." I think the Scarlet Pimpernel was 50 times better easily" and on and on until each dish we had for dinner was better than the last by a certain percentage....and I don't like math...
By the time the addition was over, it was 1:15 in the morning.....out till all hours with the congregation elders and pioneers....kooky
I found out a lot more about the people in our congregation, like one of the sisters we had been spending quite some time with, was suddenly revealed to be the special pioneer in the congregation. Another couple there live at the Dublin Bethel branch. Another of the pioneer couples (currently helping the Russian group) lived in New York for 5 years....So, needless to say Matt and I hope that we can stay here in this congregation because they still need help covering the territory, and they are a really warm and friendly bunch. Not to mention the spiritual stability of the group.
Last night another couple, roughly our ages, invited us from the meeting to have dinner with them. They live far off the bus routes, so the husband (Leonard) came and picked us up, drove us to there house, and after dinner at 2:00 in the morning, drove us home. Apparently it took us that long to finish swapping Placerville country stories with Wicklow Mountains stories....Actually, I don't think we really finished. I got as far as Justin’s and the rattlesnake he accidentally didn't kill all the way dead before he threw it in the truck....Mom's winning Chilli cook-off recipe (bear, antelope, and rattlesnake (oh my) & no beans)....Matt and the cliff he drove off of....his puppy that never stopped drinking water because it's mental affliction of thinking it was always thirsty, and the time they left the hose dripping in the yard....I think we should compile and publish these, myself. They had some pretty great stories to add as well. Needless to say, again we had a great time. I told them (all of the groups we socialized with) thank you for inviting us out from the bottom of our hearts. Because its so easy to take for granted the company of a congregation when you have been away on vacation for so long. We really aren't on vacation anymore, so it feels like its time to give my next talk, and I don't know when that’s gonna be. And Matt should be running mikes, or reading at book study, or SOMETHING. You just get the need to contribute to your congregation. But we are floating in limbo, and hadn't realized how much we missed the association of witness friends. Internet contact is one thing, and daily interaction is another completely. So, they all got the warm fuzzies about helping keep us close to the organization and helping us to associate with the "world-wide" brotherhood. And we got to be taken care of. That reminds me; at Sunday meeting we had four girls visiting on vacation too. One from Germany, one from Spain, one from Belgium, and one from Italy. Pretty cool. They all answered and all of their magazines where in different languages....
Later that day:
Just kidding, its still the same time.....
Matt has had 4 more calls this morning (actually 6, but the other two were from a guy that kept calling back because he forgot to ask something). And this is on top of the four he got last week that he's waiting to hear back from. So, that’s a major esteem boost, and hope builder. He talked to one guy that says regarding the work permit: "Don't you worry about that. I got friends at the Embassy, I got friends at the Consulate, I know a guy at the Department of icky paper work. I've been doing this for 5 years and have successfully imported over 100 foreign nationals. We got 'cha covered, don't you worry. Although I don't know anybody in real-estate, so I'm having trouble buying a house". The icky paperwork bit was mine. But he has connections. Two of the guys he talked to said they would get back to him as soon as tomorrow, instead of next week, which is really unusual. So, the market is picking up, and that's only good for us :)
That’s about it for now. Fingers, toes and elbows crossed.....and keepin' up the prayers :)
By the time the addition was over, it was 1:15 in the morning.....out till all hours with the congregation elders and pioneers....kooky
I found out a lot more about the people in our congregation, like one of the sisters we had been spending quite some time with, was suddenly revealed to be the special pioneer in the congregation. Another couple there live at the Dublin Bethel branch. Another of the pioneer couples (currently helping the Russian group) lived in New York for 5 years....So, needless to say Matt and I hope that we can stay here in this congregation because they still need help covering the territory, and they are a really warm and friendly bunch. Not to mention the spiritual stability of the group.
Last night another couple, roughly our ages, invited us from the meeting to have dinner with them. They live far off the bus routes, so the husband (Leonard) came and picked us up, drove us to there house, and after dinner at 2:00 in the morning, drove us home. Apparently it took us that long to finish swapping Placerville country stories with Wicklow Mountains stories....Actually, I don't think we really finished. I got as far as Justin’s and the rattlesnake he accidentally didn't kill all the way dead before he threw it in the truck....Mom's winning Chilli cook-off recipe (bear, antelope, and rattlesnake (oh my) & no beans)....Matt and the cliff he drove off of....his puppy that never stopped drinking water because it's mental affliction of thinking it was always thirsty, and the time they left the hose dripping in the yard....I think we should compile and publish these, myself. They had some pretty great stories to add as well. Needless to say, again we had a great time. I told them (all of the groups we socialized with) thank you for inviting us out from the bottom of our hearts. Because its so easy to take for granted the company of a congregation when you have been away on vacation for so long. We really aren't on vacation anymore, so it feels like its time to give my next talk, and I don't know when that’s gonna be. And Matt should be running mikes, or reading at book study, or SOMETHING. You just get the need to contribute to your congregation. But we are floating in limbo, and hadn't realized how much we missed the association of witness friends. Internet contact is one thing, and daily interaction is another completely. So, they all got the warm fuzzies about helping keep us close to the organization and helping us to associate with the "world-wide" brotherhood. And we got to be taken care of. That reminds me; at Sunday meeting we had four girls visiting on vacation too. One from Germany, one from Spain, one from Belgium, and one from Italy. Pretty cool. They all answered and all of their magazines where in different languages....
Later that day:
Just kidding, its still the same time.....
Matt has had 4 more calls this morning (actually 6, but the other two were from a guy that kept calling back because he forgot to ask something). And this is on top of the four he got last week that he's waiting to hear back from. So, that’s a major esteem boost, and hope builder. He talked to one guy that says regarding the work permit: "Don't you worry about that. I got friends at the Embassy, I got friends at the Consulate, I know a guy at the Department of icky paper work. I've been doing this for 5 years and have successfully imported over 100 foreign nationals. We got 'cha covered, don't you worry. Although I don't know anybody in real-estate, so I'm having trouble buying a house". The icky paperwork bit was mine. But he has connections. Two of the guys he talked to said they would get back to him as soon as tomorrow, instead of next week, which is really unusual. So, the market is picking up, and that's only good for us :)
That’s about it for now. Fingers, toes and elbows crossed.....and keepin' up the prayers :)
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