Ireland 2023

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

When are you all traveling?

[Greg]

Liftoff is May 1st. We'll be back May 17th.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Wow! Tick-tock, TICK-TOCK!

I'm really looking forward to the pics.

[Greg]

Be careful what you wish for.....

[Drunk Monk]

How do you say 'drone' in Irish?

[Greg]

Drón.

[Greg]

I don't understand why Irish food gets such a bad rap. I just learned of the greatest Irish/Chinese food creation every. It's called the 3-1 and is ubiquitous at Chinese takeaways. Basically, it's chips, rice, and curry sauce. If you are carb loading, how could you go wrong with a 3-1?

I might have to try it.......

[Drunk Monk]

Carbs? Weren't you just bemoaning your blood sugar this morning?

That does sound good tho...

And I luved the food I was getting in Dublin. Great seafood, great butter, brown bread...yum.

[Greg]

I never said I was consistent.

[Drunk Monk]

now i'm all hungry like...

[Greg]

Try not to think of brown bread and kerry gold or Leo Burdock's

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I did not have a bad meal the entire time I was in Ireland. Good food, better than England

[Greg]

One week out.

The trip planners giveth and the trip planners taketh away.

One of the stops I planned the trip around was being in Galway on a Thursday night so I could see a friend perform Irish Folk Tales. I first bumped into him back in 2009 on a trip with my father and God son. I think there were maybe 6 of us in the room, including Seanchan. I've been to a couple of performances since and I've always enjoyed them. He can now fill a fairly good size room at a much bigger pub. When I knew we were going, I put his name down as one of the stops, even left Dublin early so we could be in Galway for the show. Today I received a note from him that he will be performing on Wednesday of that week because he is meeting up with his father on that Thursday. Sigh. I already have too many plans on that day in Dublin including picking up the Queen mother from the airport. Curses.

When i was at school at the Crescent, I had a teacher named Michael Noonan, referred to as Mickey behind his back. He had a fearful presence around the school and just a biting way about him that didn't suffer fools. Of all my High School teachers, he is the one that most easily comes to mind. A few years after I left Ireland, Michael Noonan's political career took off. The highest he rose in government was minister of Finance but at one point he was running to be Prime Minister. He led the Fine Gael party for many years. I thought it would be funny to say hi to him after all these years but I thought there would be some complications with meeting a man so highly places in the government. Fortunately, I have a friend (we will be staying at his house several nights) who was the Managing Director for Google and Linkedin and we went to school together at the Crescent. I asked him if he knew of any way to contact Mickey. Turns out, my friend has Mickey's number in his phone. After some consultation with the former minister, I now have Mickey's phone number. Fingers crossed this goes well.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Why do you want to connect with Mr. Noonan?

[Greg]

Good question. I think it's a contrast and compare sort of thing. Of all the teachers at that school, he's the one I remember, not just because he achieved some fame.