22 March 2008

Another week has flown by!  I can't believe it!

Let's see.  Last weekend, I made my way over to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day and to meet up with a friend of mine, of whom I haven't seen in 12 years.  He made some funny remarks like, "I haven't seen you since Hansen was on the top of the charts!", or, "I haven't seen you since before DVDs were out!", or, "I haven't seen you since before the internet!" ha.  We kept coming up with others as the time passed.  The DVD remark came about when I said, "Brett!  I just remembered that I have something of yours!  I have your Schindler's List movie on VHS!"  We had a great laugh.  It was almost like we had picked up from where we had left off.

Brett was in Dublin from San Francisco meeting up with some friends of his that he met backpacking in Australia.  Let's see... there was one Welshman, Matt, one Englishman, Chris, two Dutch ladies, Inge and Tanya, and Brett and myself.  Brett would have a good laugh at people trying to figure out where we were from.  Later, there were two girls from my dorms that had met up with us.  They live across the hall from me and was talking about "couch surfing", which stems from this website www.couchsurfing.com.  The mother hen in me did not like the idea of these two fragile girls sleeping at some random persons home, so I had invited for them to stay with Brett and myself.  They were such a delight to hang out with.

I didn't get to do much in Dublin, as there really isn't much to do or see... at least that I know of.  Coming from London, Dublin is quite a bit small.  I did notice some differences.  The people there are VERYYYYY friendly... and there are probably more bars per capita than anywhere else in the world.... other than maybe Victoria, Canada.  :)

Everything was expensive, as expected.  We went out for dinner one night at a Thai restaurant and my meal was nearly $30.00.  Luckily, Brett paid for that one.  It wasn't any place special.  I assume that because it was in the middle of Temple Bar, that the prices had been raised for that weekend.  Temple Bar is where we stayed.  It's kinda like the old Buckhead of Atlanta.  There are tons of bars and restaurants packed in this one part of town... also packed with loads of tourists and silly Americans.  We ran in to quite a few, actually.  Every night, we went out for drinks, but I'm not really the crowded bar kinda gal.  The first bar we went in to was so packed that we had to shove people to get to where we needed to go.  All I could think about was Tony's voice in my head, "If there were to be a fire, we would all be dead."  Tony is my Atlanta Fire Chief... and best friend.  So, I told the girls, as they became known, that it's not fun being in a crowded bar and that I was going to leave.  I mean, seriously, people were packed in there like sardines.  You didn't have any breathing space whatsoever.  So, we left there and went to The Purty Kitchen.  It has 4 levels and lots of space.  It was nice!  And I could breathe!  We ended up staying there the entire night in fear of any other bar being as packed as the first.

Since there isn't much to see in Dublin, I didn't take too many pictures.  The first day there, all the boys wanted to do was to sit in a pub and watch rugby.  I had wished I was with the Dutch ladies so I could at least walk around and see the sights.  But the next day, I told Brett, "The only thing that I would really like to do here is to go to the Guinness Brewery".  Guinness has a huge amount of history within the city.  We made jokes that it takes up a quarter of the city, which is partly true.  So, we did go to the brewery, but it was more like a museum.  We learned that Guinness had their own railway system, fire brigade, and electric company.  We learned how the beer was transported around the world in massive ships and trains.  And most importantly, I learned what a proper Guinness is suppose to taste like.  Still don't like it, but it was an interesting experience.  Brett and I really enjoyed it!  The others, not so much.  We ended up staying there for a few hours.  There was lots to do!  They had a live band on 3 of the 7 levels.  One room was huge and they were giving out some guinness bread with salmon on top with a taste portion of the beer.  Yumm.  As you got up to the upper levels, there was a nice bar with a live band, and the upper most level was another bar with a live 4 man irish band playing the fiddle, etc.  On this level, there was also the most beautiful panoramic view of the city.  It was a circle with glass windows going all around.  Absolutely beautiful.

We didn't get back to our hotel until around 9:30pm, and then it was time for dinner and drinks again.  I didn't stay out too long, since I had to get up a little early the next morning to fly back to London.

The Dutch girls were VERY cool.  I REALLY enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them.  We're so much alike, it seems.  So, I booked a flight to Amsterdam to go visit them for a couple of days next month.  I'm really looking forward to spending more quality time with them.

Other than the Dublin excursion, things have been rather tranquil.  On Tuesday, I applied for the Raiser's Edge Consulting position.  Sent an e-mail back and forth with Jodi and she said my next step is to interview with Azadi.  Azadi and I get along really well.  This might sound dorky, but I went to his desk one day and said, "So, you must really like furniture.  I see your little Eames and Le Corbusier chairs."  He had two little models on his desk that were a gift to him.  We started talking about furniture for a little while.  We're both artistic in some form and we both wear silly glasses, so I think we'll get along just great.  I really like him!  And he's really bright!  I would be honored to work with him.

What I like about the Consulting position is that I will have more client interaction.  I really enjoy building relationships and trust with people.  Raiser's Edge is the main product of the company and I believe it's going global, so I hope to use my language skills in the future to continue building these relationships.  It also allows for me to guide the client through the full like cycle of implementation from discover to deployment, training the client on how to navigate through the system, etc.  This is probably more information that you really care to hear, but I guess my point is that I will be able to see a full circle of a difference that I have made and that is what is important to me.  HOPEFULLY, they'll see that I'm a good fit and they'll welcome me to their team.  I'm trying to sneak in to some training classes for the tool so I will know more about it before I start working there.

Dan comes home from America on Monday and I can't WAIT!  It has been nearly 2 weeks since I have seen him last and am getting some major Dan withdrawals... I'm getting the shakes! ;)  Kidding.  But I really do miss him.

Until next time...

13 March 2008

The weeks are certainly flying by!

I had that talk with Jodi last week.  It was great!  We went out for lunch at a little French restaurant down the street from the office.  It was nice in that we didn't talk only about work, but I had an opportunity to get to know her a little better.  She's a very sweet and funny girl and she is also from America, so it was interesting to get her perspective on things and to have somebody to ask a few questions too.  I'd almost prefer talking to her since she kind of knows what I'm going through at the moment.

Her feedback at the end of the day was that if I wanted to go through the interview process, she would be happy to continue with that.  I felt that was very positive.  The next step was for her to forward me a few job descriptions, which I received yesterday, and then I was to let her know which job I was most interested in applying for.

This week at work was a bit stressful.  There is a massive report that is completed every month that nobody looks at.  I didn't realize it, but it takes days to finish populating the data for this thing.  It's crazy!  I had never fully completed the report until this month, and didn't realize this was something that I was going to do, but the lady who normally does it was too busy so I sorta offered to help.  It was a great learning experience, but it took me days to complete.  Last night, I had completed 99% (there was still some data I was waiting for) and printed it out.  We're meeting with the Managing Director on Friday morning to review the report to see what is helpful and what is not and to see what changes he would like to have made.

On a social level... things with Dan are going great!  He's such a sweet guy!  Since I had been cooped up for the past couple of weekends working on a school report, I had asked him if we could go walk around the city.  I wanted to see St. Paul's Cathedral and walk around that area and take some pictures.  We went to Borough Street Market, but it was closed.  I knew it was going to be closed.  It always is on a Sunday.  But there's a really great cafe there that I LOVE that I thought was going to be open, but it wasn't. :(  We ended up walking over to where they filmed Bridget Jones Diary and I took a picture of her apartment.  This is the picture you see attached here.  One of the girls at my old office was calling me Bridget a while before I left.  I love that movie!

Dan left for America yesterday.  He went to NYC to visit a friend and then a group of them are going to Costa Rica for his friends Bachelor party.  While he's gone, I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Dublin for St. Patricks Day.  My friend, Brett, reserved a couple of hotel rooms in Temple Bar.  I'm so excited about the trip!  I can't wait to see Brett and to meet some of his friends.  One of the guys is from Wales and we have been corresponding back and forth to one another over the past couple of weeks.  He's a really nice guy!  He has invited me to Wales whenever I'd like to come.  It would be nice to go visit him!  CEA is actually taking us to Wales at the end of April and I have signed up for a horseback riding excursion.  Can't wait!

Dan and I have also booked a holiday.  We're going to VENICE!  I have never been to Italy before, aside from an hour or two shopping in San Remo.  So, it'll be nice to see Venice and to take a million pictures.  It's going to be great!

Speaking of pictures, I have signed up for a photography contest.  I can win all of $250 and we have to show pictures of the city we are staying in and any other cities that we have visited through the program.  I'm allowed to send it to friends and family to have them vote for me when it has been posted.  So, look out for that in your e-mail!

Well, that's all for now.  Should get back to writing my Corporate Governance paper.  It's due today!  Yikes!

2 March 2008

So, it looks like this is turning in to a weekly thing.  It's probably best that way anyway.  Things have dramatically cooled down here.  Just trying to make things work for me here so I can stay for a longer period of time.  This seems to be the constant question in my mind, "Can I do it?"  I'm still in a bit of a doubt as to how this is all going to work out, and quite honestly, it's still a little scary not know what my future holds, but it's also rather exciting.

Again, this week, I was scheduled to speak to Jodi about the Consulting position they have available, but it seems as though we kept missing one another.  I'm sure next week we will be able to sit down and sort this all out.  Also, I finally managed to speak to Martin at Northgate.  We had a rather successful chit chat.  He is very helpful and is very keen on bringing me on board through to the end of my visa (7/15)... and I will be paid, which will be nice. :)  We are also in discussions about a more long-term position, but since they are going through a merger at the moment, it's hard to tell what their needs will be by the time May comes around.  But it all sounds very promising.

Exciting event of the week - went to go see Phantom of the Opera!  It was SOOOO amazingly good!  Only saw the movie, which I thought was fab, but seeing it on stage was even more amazing!  The lady sitting next to me broke out and sobbed on her friends shoulder.  It was too funny!

Last night, Rowan (Dan's roommate), Dan and I went to see Be Kind, Rewind with Jack Black.  It was a lot better than I had thought!  It was very creative.  Don't know that I would want to see it again any time soon, but I did enjoy it.  Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen La Vie en Rose yet, rent it!  It's the most amazing film I have seen in quite some time!  And Mdm. Cotillard won an oscar for her role.  It was well deserved.  www.edithpiafmovie.com

Other than that, I have been gearing up for my paper that is due on Tuesday.  I have been contemplating how I want to write it and the direction I want to go with it, which has been a very painful process.  BUT, I have finally found some direction and am targeted to complete it tonight or tomorrow at the latest.  Next week will be preparation for another paper due AND the trip to Dublin!  WOO HOO!