Celtic Bart

What im working on...

2008-11-17T13:06:00.004Z

So it's about time i wrote a little bit about what I've been doing for work. While working in Ireland, I interviewed a guy named Dawid from Poznan and after we hired him he turned out to be a great developer. We got along well and started thinking about business ideas. It didn't take us long to realize that there wasn't much development talent in Ireland and that was one of the main reasons we saw many software projects failing or producing low quality software (one look at Bank of Ireland's Business Online banking software and you'd be convinced). We looked for an opportunity and when it finally arrived we made the right moves and launched our company. We hired a couple developers in Poland and were off. It's been almost 2 years since then, we've both transitioned to work at this full time, the company has gone through a name change, we've opened up an office in Poland and just a few days ago we launched our web page BarooSoftware.com just in time for the global downturn :)

What do we do exactly? We an outsourcing company that helps Software Product companies build their core product...we have a similar culture, very high hiring bar and we all come from a product development background. See our page to learn more.

Anyone still reading this?

2008-10-27T18:32:00.004Z

This is what happens with blogging...you get caught up in life and forget to do it!

So what's new...I'm currently on a 2 week work/vacation in Cali, Colombia visiting the most amazing girl in the world. I've rented an apartment in the center of the city and spend my days working on my laptop. It's hot, it's colombia, i love it. This coming weekend im heading up to Bogota with kate and some of her friends to see the city and party of course.

My regular life now of course is in Poznan, Poland. I've made many friends, mostly through the couchsurfing network. A couple of weeks ago i had a house warming party (called a parapetowka in polish) which was a huge success...about 35 people, candles, music and dancing into the night.

On the work front, things are going well...i've got this little software company I'm building...more on that later when i have a web page to show off.

Final update, two of my old friends are traveling the world! Shawn is doing it hardcore...after a year of being a ski bum in whistler he's taken off on a world tour that will only end when his funds run out...i think it will be a while (microsoft pays well). Check out his blog...notice how he partially blames me for his lifestyle :) Also, Dan is traveling with his girlfriend...great blog by the way...lots of reader interaction.

Who's Happy?

2008-08-30T14:17:00.002+01:00

Every year someone does a big world survey to figure out which nation is the happiest. Some countries dear to my heart that made the top 10:
- Colombia is number 3!!!
- Canada not too shaby at 9...way ahead of the americans woohoo!!!
- Ireland is still ranked high at 6...but i think this survey was taken a few months back...real estate is currently in a freefall so they'll most likely be off the top 10 next year.

Poznan - my new home

2008-08-26T19:37:00.001+01:00

Time goes by and I've been in Poznan for a month now. I've been living in cozy hostels and for about 2 weeks now couchsurfing with some students i've met here. It's summer so the weather is fantastic, the streets are filled, the outdoor beer gardens are filled and everyone seems to be in great mood. In the past i've spent some time in other polish cities (gdansk, warsaw, cracow, wroclaw) and i really have to say i love poznan. the people seem to be friendlier and there's waaaay less tourists. i've been making lots of new friends, mainly through couchsurfing (the community is really active here) and im in the process of signing up for salsa lessons (really popular in poland for some reason) and spanish lessons. apartment hunting has proved to be a challenge as it seems everyone wants a cool flat in the city center :S luckily though, today i found one! i move in soon, and like always, guests from around the world are welcome :)

Google Mail?

2008-08-18T16:21:00.002+01:00

I was in Berlin over the weekend and this is what you get when you type www.gmail.com in a web browser:

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

If you're traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com.

Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Bummer.

I don't know the reason behind this, but I'm guessing that google wasn't allowed to do this as germans would think that the 'G' in Gmail stands for Germany...some kind of nationalistic email program. But then again, the word Germany is Deutschland in german and www.dmail.com is not blocked...hmmm.

North and then East

2008-08-08T16:14:00.002+01:00

So Celtic bart is continuing the rollcoast ride called Life. After Colombia, i made a short stop in Miami...spent a few hours being harassed by tough-guy american customs agents...for some reason the following story doesnt sound right "vacation in colombia 2 months, i don't work, i was living in ireland for last 2 years, im going to visit my parents in toronto, i have a polish passport cause my parents are polish, all my visa stamps looks suspicious: colombia, turkey, egypt, etc." Anyway, after sweaty miami i spent a week relaxing in TO with my family and also caught up with some old friends. Next i was in ireland, weather as miserable as i had remembered it to be...but of course good friends, good time. Now im back in the motherland, Poland...to be specific, in Poznan...a city that's underrated in my opinion. Stay tuned.

Miss Universe

2008-07-23T21:42:00.003+01:00

Here's something i forgot to blog about. A few weeks ago was the Miss Universe pageant and there was lots of hype in Colombia because the runner up was from Colombia (actually from El Poblado the same neighborhood that i lived in for 5 weeks). Also interesting that 4 out of the top 5 were latinas...Venezuela won.

Colombia i will miss you...

2008-07-23T21:38:00.001+01:00

So my 2 month stay in Colombia is over. Really i could stay there for much much longer but unfortunately my visa expired and life is waiting. It was an unforgettable experience which i am so happy i was fortunate enough to finally do.
What made the trip was the people i met...i made some really cool friends and a special someone i will never forget. Thanks Colombia, i will miss you.

Coffee and Volcanos

2008-07-13T04:01:00.003+01:00

After a memorable time in Cali, Soeren and i headed north to a city called Manizales where we based ourselves from. The city itself is pretty cool...extremely hilly and filled with universities...you can definitely feel the university vibe while walking down the city streets.

The following day we visited a Hacienda de Cafe (Coffee farm) where we had a private, 2-hour tour of the entire place. We got to see coffee production through the entire cycle and finally enjoy some fresh colombian coffee from beans we had just roasted. Did you know that one coffee plant produces 1kg of coffee beans per year which sells for anywhere between $0.50 and $2.00 (depending on quality)? haha...the best thing was that then entire tour was in spanish and i understood everything!

Our final day, Soeren and i took a trip to Nevado del Ruiz. The weather wasn't great, so no beautiful views, but we did manage to make it to 4850m. In the end we were rewarded for our efforts with a long soak in a hot spring.

Salsa & Soeren

2008-07-09T05:16:00.000+01:00

What does Salsa and my buddy Soeren from Dublin have in common? I encountered both in Cali. Cali is Colombia's Salsa city and i got to see quite a bit of it. I arrived before soeren, and was lucky watch a football match which included a team from Cali - the street party afterwards was awesome! Soeren and I didn't do too much in cali, as there isn't much to do (except dance salsa of course) but it was warm weather and chillin was the name of the game. I also met a really cool Calena via couchsurfing who showed me a few new dance moves (gracias katherine)!

Highest Palm Trees i've ever seen!

2008-07-09T05:08:00.001+01:00

My first quick stop after leaving medellin was Salento. It's a really small town next to a Palm Tree invested valley called Valle de Cocora. I spent the day hiking with an australian buddy through this beautiful place. Most of the land has been cleared by farmers except for Palm trees which remain due to their protected status. It's quite surreal to see 60m high palm treas standing at various elevations along a mountain side with nothing but grass around them. Also, we stopped an a mountain house and got to see various species of hummingbirds feeding. Nice to be out of the city and see some nature!

After 5 weeks...good-bye Medellin

2008-07-09T05:01:00.001+01:00

Sorry...im catching up on the blogging...

After 5 weeks of living in Medellin, i took a deep breath, a few good bye kisses, some "see ya later dude" 's and i left my colombian sanctuary to checkout some more cool before my visa expires.

I gotta say, I love Medellin and it will always bring back warm memories. Of course this bias is always present when one gets to live in a new cool place for a short period of time so take it with a grain of salt. ...I'll be back :)

Hot Songs in Colombia

2008-06-29T10:18:00.003+01:00

This post is mainly for me...to remember the music i've been listening to everyday, on the radio, on TV and in the clubs. If you're interested to hear the popular music currently in Colombia...download these and enjoy!:

Frank Reyes - Tu Eres Ajena
Daddy yankee - Ella Me Levanto
Cabas - Bonita
Felipe Pelaez - Loco
Vicente Fernandez - Estos Celos
Enrique Iglesias - Donde Esta Corazon
Mana - Si No Te Hubieras Ido

La Rumba in Medellin

2008-06-12T01:51:00.001+01:00

So a few weeks have gone by and i've settled down in Medellin. I have my own flat, take spanish lessons everyday, go to the gym, lye by the pool, meet friends and party of course. In most spanish-speak countries the word 'fiesta' is used for party, but in colombia it's 'rumbia' presumably after the latin dance Rumba.

I've decided to dedicate this post to list a few peculiarities of the night-life culture here in Medellin:
1) Every kind of latin music is played (salsa, meringue, reggaeton,etc) but no one, i mean no one knows how to properly dance to them. People dance only in couples here and it's the same dance for every song. Guy/girl very close swinging hipps right and left. Positive side is that it's not hard to learn for a gringo like myself.
2) There are no open dance floors. Huge nightclubs are packed wall to wall with tables and chairs. People come in groups, occupy tables, drink and then when the moment is right, stand next to their tables or on their chairs and dance.
3) Bottle service is not a luxury, it's the norm. E-v-er-y-one has bottle service here. You sit down at your table and order a bottle of Medellin Rum with coke or 7-up...you get refills of ice, popcorn (i've eaten more of this in the last few weeks then my entire life combined), and some exotic fruits.
4) There are 'shows' where sexy girl and guy dancers come on stage and put on a show before moving to dance on the bars. Sometimes midgets are present too (only at the best clubs).
5) Chicken soup is served around 3am. Sounds very strange, but it's brilliant after a night of drinking/dancing.

Ya, exactly...strange but it's unique which makes it kinda cool.

The Nice People of Medellin

2008-05-30T01:44:00.002+01:00

For the past week, i have been living in Medellin "the city of eternal spring". The home of the world's most famous drug cartels, is now a safe, modern city beautifully settled in a mountain valley. My buddy igor is here with me for a week and we've decided to go all out and rented a pimp apt. Days consist of lazy tourism, eating and nightlife. The people here are the nicest people i have met ever. For example, the other day, Igor and i were lost looking for a restaurant...so we stopped by a chicken fast food joint and asked for help. All three staff got to work, first finding the restaurant in the yellow pages, then calling them to get precise directions, writing it all down on paper for us and then coming outside to point us in the right direction. Another example happened today on the public bus. A young girl who was sitting next to igor, tapped a man that was standing next to her and offered to hold a bunch of documents he was carrying with him.

Im in the process of trying to organize some spanish lessons...turning out harder than expected.

Sweatin it out in Cartagena

2008-05-22T18:21:00.001+01:00

Hola Amigos! So i´ve finally executed on a dream that started over 2 years ago. My first attempt failed a few months ago, but now im in Colombia. I arrived to Cartagena without any luggage, but managed to survive a day before it was delivered to my hotel. It´s figgin hot and humid here...so im taking about 3 showers per day and trying to walk slowly. Cartagena is a beautiful small city, full of colours and history. The people are great so far, everyone is chill and smiling. Im only here for 3 days (thankfully cause i won´t be able to stand the humidity much longer) but enrolled in a language school as it´s a easy way to meet people and to refresh my spanish. Like yesterday, i met a very cool korean girl and we ended up taking marengue lessons after which we practiced our new skills at a bar built on the old fortress walls (which surround the city) overlooking the sea.

Last Day In Ireland

2008-05-18T11:23:00.001+01:00

After 2 years and 2 weeks, my final day in Ireland has arrived and another chapter of my life is closed. My time here has been incredible, i've enjoyed every after work pint, every deep philosophical conversation, every couchsurfer, every weekend trip, every party in Studio56. But it's time to move on again for new challenges and new excitement. I will miss Dublin, i've connected more to this city than any other place i've ever lived. So I'm sure i'll be back to visit.

Last night, I took it easy, went to see a film 'In Bruges' which is absolutely fantastic. Then to a good friends house for a goodbye drink. Today I fly out to NYC and a few days later to Cartagena, Colombia. Stay tuned.

Booze Cruise

2008-05-12T00:34:00.004+01:00

The journey continues. After an inspirational conversation from my friend Tomasz, me and my two buddies Nick and Soeren booked a short party trip. After missing my flight to Stockholm, i managed to book another one the following morning. I arrived, and met my buddies and my good friend Ida whom i have not seen for three years. It's amazing that after such a long time, you can see someone and pick up exactly where you left off. Thanks Ida and i'll see you again somewhere in this world. The three of us then took a party boat cruise across the baltic to estonia. This was something amazing. A cruise boat, filled with young people, a duty free liquor store onboard and a few discos...we partied the night away with estonians. We have spent the last two days in the beautiful town of Tallinn...continuing what we started on the boat. One more day and we're back on the party boat to Stockholm. What a trip.

Sunset on the Baltic (photo by S. Kunst)

Highest Cliffs in Europe

2008-05-06T16:53:00.003+01:00

Just spent the last three sun-filled days on the west coast of ireland with my sister. We started in Galway, then headed north through Conomara National Park where we hiked to the top of Diamond Hill and saw plenty of beautiful beaches. We visited Archile Island and then drove to Donegal where we hiked up Europe's highest cliff. At nights we would eat local seafood at nice restaurants and drink at the local pubs...we even bought an irish music CD for the car to ensure a full irish experience. Overall i think it was a great journey...she has a couple more nights in dublin before flying home and i fly out to sweden!

Beach in Conamara

The 'Bens' in Conamara

Looking down from highest cliff in Europe

Me and my sister

The Best Place in England

2008-04-28T14:37:00.002+01:00

And the award goes to...(drumroll)...Brighton! To be honest, i haven't seen much of England at all but i really don't think it can get any better than Brighton. It's like a mini-san fransisco but filled with students. Similar architecture, sunny weather (hence the name), beach, hippies, organic food, alternative bars, you name it! I can't believe i've never heard of this place until very recently.

Brighton also has an amazing palace built by King Henry (the 4th i think) called the Royal Pavilion...you've never seen anything like this in your entire life - a palace built by a English Playboy Prince in a Indian/Chinese style to throw huge parties for his friends.

During my last night in Brighton, i attended a Divorce party. Yes, two people (who married 5 years ago, separated a few years later and now finally were officially divorced) were celebrating and decided to have a big party. To summarize: "Just Divorced" balloons, a Wedding-style cake but cut in half (with the groom on one side and the bride on the other), couchsurfers from all all over the world, lots of alcohol, 'Just divorced' speeches and skinny dipping at 2am.

On the way to london from Brighton i stopped at Stonehenge to take a few photos. I decided it was not worth the £6.50 for the entrance so i took photos from outside the perimeter fence (i love my new zoom lense). Was i impressed...not really...i've been spoiled by egypt :)

India? Guess again...

San Fran? Guess again...

It's Brighton!

Rains in Spain?

2008-04-25T16:03:00.002+01:00

I've been traveling for the last week in the only place in Spain were it does rain quite a bit...and boy did it rain! My friend Djali and I started our journey in Galicia, the very north-west province of spain. Our first destination was Santiago de Compostela...a small beautiful town, famous for being the end point to the 'Camino' or Road to Santiago which is a month-long trek that starts in the Pyrenees. It's also famous for its seafood...which i endulged in from the moment i got there. The most famous dish is Pulpo (octopus)...yumm. The area is nothing like the rest of spain...it's hilly and very green...greener than seattle, greener than ireland...even the churches have moss growing on them. After a day in santiago, we met a very nice couchsurfer (luis) who took us on a drive all along the coast...magnificent cliffs, beaches, etc. Next was Vigo were i bought some fresh oysters from old ladies :) From Vigo we crossed the border to Porto, Portugal. I really liked this place...it had a very undisturbed decrepit feel to it- very charming. I spent most of my time getting lost in small side-streets and discovering little nooks here and there. My final day was taking tours of Port Wineries and port tasting of course. That's it...no story, just an update :)

Lonely Beach

Porto in B&W

Porto in Color

The Sandman

Old Port...3000EUR per bottle

Egypt - The End

2008-04-07T19:24:00.005+01:00

Well, that's it. I've added some fotos to old posts below, but really they don't do the place justice. I must say Egypt is one of my favs. There aren't too many places in the world where you can look thousands of years in to the past, experience the desert, the sea, meet friendly people and explore a different culture all on the cheap.

Walk like and Egyptian

Sharm, Sharm, Sharm

2008-04-06T14:08:00.002+01:00

After a very long and relaxing time in Dahab, i made my way over to Sharm el-Sheikh. My whole life i've heard nothing but great things from egyptian friends back home, but after arriving egypt i would consistently get the opposite message from other backpackers. So, i decided to check it out for myself. Sharm in a nutshell: Take the tackyness of Las Vegas and mix it will a beach town, add world class diving, great nightclubs (like Pacha which i went to last night), add lots and lots of Russians (the stylish and beautiful kind) and raise the prices to european standards. So i guess the like or dislike of Sharm comes down to what you're looking for in an egyptian vacation. For me, I place it at the end of the list, luckily i only budgeted 1.5 days here. On the up side, instead of staying at one of the resorts, im couchsurfing with a cool English guy who's been living here for two years as a diving instructor. Tonight, I fly back to Cairo to meet up with my buddy ahmed for dinner and then back to chilly dublin.

Relaxing in Dahab

2008-04-03T14:18:00.002+01:00

So this place it is folks...the coolest place in world :) Ok that may be an overstatement, but Dahab is simply amazing. Imagine a small little town, lined with chillout restaurants and bars on the most beautiful red-sea water you can imagine. Add the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the sea and another mountain range behind the town. 350 days of sunshine per year, world class diving and windsurfing and packed with backpackers.

I met some cool russians who live here, mainly working in the windsurfing centers...tonight im invited to a BBQ followed by a firedance show...nice.

Be like Moses

2008-03-31T17:03:00.004+01:00

After two nights of no sleep, it's time to blog.

After taking a 16 hour bus ride from Luxor, I arrived in Dahab, the backpackers paradise of Egypt. Dahab it filled with hostels, chillout restaurants by the sea, a few bars and shops. Every backpacker ends up here at one point or another, and it seems no one wants to leave. It's also a hot-spot for scuba diving and windsurfing.

After spending the day strolling around town, followed by a great seafood dinner, i departed at 11pm for a night hike up Mt. Sinai. The hike started at 2am, and i reached the summit at around 4 or so in time for the sunrise. As the story goes, this is the place where God gave Moses the Commandments...now it's packed with Polish and Russian tourists. After the sunrise, everyone headed downhill to visit St. Catherine's Monastery which is the site where Moses spoke to God via a burning bush. There's a bush within the monastery which is apparently a descendant of the original bush...although im not sure if the have conducted any bush DNA tests to verify this...i guess for many, faith is enough, as everyone was lining up to touch it (including myself).

Heavenly

Temples Galore

2008-03-28T16:08:00.004Z

Well I gotta say im all templed-out. Though i must admit this stuff is incredible. I'm not gonna go into details and recite names as it will mean nothing to you unless you've been here and experienced it for yourself. But there have been at least four occasions now over the last few days, where i have just stopped and looked up at a 5000 year old monument in complete awe (and i don't get awe'd that easily).

Final note, if you're ever in Luxor stay at the Bob Marley Hostel...it's rockin.

Threading Ambush

2008-03-27T13:47:00.003Z

Another day, another story. So yesterday i decided to get another shave. Found a nice barber shop, the guy didn't speak much english but smiled a lot so i decided to give it a go. Very good with the blade, i was impressed. My shave was coming to a close, when he opened up the drawer next to me and pulled out a long string...about a meter in length and folded it. Now the following paragraph happened faster than you can read it.

My first thought at seeing this long string was that he wanted to floss my teeth. Just a natural reaction after having my dentist floss my teeth over the years. Before i could open my mouth and to say "Ahhh", he started 'threading' the tiny hairs left on my upper cheak after the shave. Shock is the only way to describe it, then pain. This man was fast...with my eyes closed all i could hear is the thread spinning. Then i felt pain all over my face...and a few seconds later it just stopped. I opened my eyes, the smiley barber exclaimed "beautiful". A quick look in the mirror and i quickly realized that not only did i get a shave but also an eyebrow threading. Wowzers. Luckily, he only 'cleaned them up' instead of doing some kind of shaping.

I walked down the street back to my hostel, passing by other barber shops and witnessed many more egyptian men getting this done. Back home this threading business is reserved for women, homosexuals and metrosexuals. But here, it seems to be the norm, along with pairs of straight men walking down the street with their arms locked. I think i have a good idea for the next (metro) GQ ad...how about David Beckem and Robbie Williams walking into a movie premier together? (BTW, as i type this, there's a 6 or 7 year old kid having a smoke next to me).

Today i took a train with the 'locals' from Aswan to Luxor...entire ride cost me 1 euro. To put that in perspective, if you take the 'tourist train' then this same journey would cost 25Euro.

Peace from the middle east.

The Deep South

2008-03-25T17:01:00.004Z

Just a short update today. My final day in Cairo was spent visiting Coptic Cairo with my buddy Ahmed. All was great except for the fact that he kept getting harrassed by the 'Tourist Police'. Aparently if an Egyptian wants to walk down the street with a tourist they need carry some special tourism card. I know this is probably for some greater good...but come on. After saying good-bye, i hopped on a night train with a gazzilion other tourists and woke up the next day in Aswan. Aswan is pretty far south down (or should i say up) the nile. Today i spent the day on the river...i had my own personal Faluka boat (old school egyptian sail boat). Yaman (the captain) worked like a dog all day while i sipped tea and took pictures...so i gave him a huge tip for his effort (and to ease my conscience).

El Capitan

Faluka Boat

Sunset on the Nile

Belly Dancing = Paaaartay

2008-03-23T16:52:00.004Z

Last night a bunch of us decided to go see a Belly Dancing show. According to our trusty loney planet we had one of two options: classy and expensive show at one of cairo's 5-start hotels, or cheap and sleazy with egyptian locals. One of the american girls who was coming with me was on a low budget so we defaulted to cheap and sleazy :)

So at 11pm, 5 of us hit up a place called Palymra. Unfortunetly, when we arrived we were told the show starts at midnight but we were invited to a bar next door. This was the begining of one of the most bizzar/fun nights i've had in a long time. This little bar was so tacky, you could call it cool. The place was decorated as it it was someone's birthday (think coloured ballons lining the walls). The locals in this pub were ultra friendly, they would come up shake our hands and introduce themselves. But the best thing about this bar was the service. In general, i've found the service in egypt to be quite poor...for example, i've been to a nice bar where you have to place an order for beer a few times before it comes. At this place, the moment the word 'Stella' starts rolling off your tongue, there's a guy running to the fridge to get it for you. Ashtrays immediately are replaced after every cigarette. Anyway around 12 we moved onto the Belly Dancing bar which slowly filled up until it was full around 1:30. There was a live band, singers, and a new dancer every half hour. Now for the bizzar bit. At one point one of the audience members decides to go on stage and shake his fat belly along with the dancer...cool i think. But at the end of the dance, he reaches into his pocket and takes out a stack of cash and proceeds to through large sums of real money into the audience. At this point i thought it was part of the show. But then the next song another guy gets up and walks up the the first guy (who is sitting at his table smoking shisha) and pours money onto his head. Anyway, more guys get involved in this money pouring fiesta and the place is alive. The dancers are happy of course because all the money that is thrown around ends up in their pockets...there's a guy who's sole purpose is to collect money from the floor - I wonder what he writes on his resume. To cut long story short, a few hours, many beers and a couple shishas later im on the dance floor with the belly dancers pouring money on an egyptian guy's head (i made friends with him earlier as i was sitting next to him)...which of course was kindly recipricated later :)

This morning, i woke up with a wicked headache and spent the morning in bed trying to make sense of what happened last night. The afternoon was spent in the famous Egyptian museum...the highlight was of course the mask of king Tut.

Shake it like a polaroid picture

Celtic Bart in Egypt

2008-03-22T18:35:00.003Z

That's right, after 2 years of essentially no sunshine i've decided to take a vacation to the land of the sun. And man, is it ever sunny...has been hitting 35C ever since i got here which i've been told is very hot for this time of year.

I arrived in Cairo, which is absolutely massive. I was thinking that this would be a good opportunity to get off the drink for a while, but of course, to my dismay, there are local beers in Egypt which of course i have to try. So the first night was spent with a few fellow backpackers on the roof terrace of a hotel smoking Shisha and drinking beer.

My first real day was spent visiting pyramids. I hired a personal driver along with a nice swiss couple and we spent the entire day visiting a series of pyramids (including the famous Giza pyramids). Not wanting to be a complete tourist, we passed on the camel/horse rides and did all our sightseeing on food through the dessert...fantastic! They truly are breathtaking. We had the opportunity to go inside the Red Pyramid which was a cool experience as well.

Today i met up with Ahmed (aka Chronoman) which is a developer i hired to do some work for me a few months ago via the rentacoder.com website. We spent the day visiting Islamic Cairo, many beautiful mosques as well as the Citadel and a cemetery know as 'The City of the Living and the dead'. Just like in Morocco, i couldn't resist building up a little facial hair and then going for a traditional shave.

So far so good. I'll be off in a couple hours to seek out a belly dancing bar.

The famous Giza Pyramids

Me

Cairo in B&W

Prayer time in the Citadel

Negotations with the landlord

2008-01-14T15:47:00.000Z

Yesterday, Soeren (my flatmate) got a phone call from our landlord. "Shit, he wants to raise the rent by 100Eur per month (50 each)" says Soeren. So we invited him over for a round of negotiations on our turf...Studio 56 (this is what we call our flat).

Before we get into the details, lets state a few facts. The rent that we pay for our flat is great; smaller apartments in our building go for 300 EUR per month more. We haven't had a rent raise in 2 years even though apartment and rental prices have risen significantly during this time. Finally, our landlord is a shrewd business man (owns 30-40 apartments in the city).

We had a couple hours to prepare before his arrival so Soeren and I came up with a game plan. Our opening position would be that we were happy with the current situation (paying low rent) and that we did not want any change. This would give us a good starting point as we knew he would come in with the opposite goal - to raise the rent. Next the plan was to concede on the rent raise but in return to get lots of cool stuff for our apartment in return.

Arguments were in the following order (LL- is landlord)-
LL - I want to raise the rent by 100 per month as it is already low and i have not raised it in 2 years. This is just to cover inflation.
SB - We don't want to raise the rent we are happy like this.
SB - We know our rent is good. But at the same time when we compare our flat to our friends who have similar flats their flats are better furnished.
SB - We are good tenents, never cause problems, keep the place clean and fix things ourselves and never bother you.
SB - Look at that shit TV in the corner, it's not even a TV. And this couch, it has a hole in it and it's not leather.
LL - TV is not good for you and the couch is fine.
SB - We like watching sports on TV and the couch has a hole...people can fall through and sue us.
LL - But the couch is made of wood
SB - That's not an argument.
SB - We want a new TV, leather couches and the rent increase will not start for another two months.
LL - Ok, we can delay the rent increase but i can only do the TV or the couch.
SB - We want both. Look, at 100EUR extra per month, that's 1200EUR extra per year. We can find a TV and couch for half of that.
LL - OK we have a deal.

That's how it went. Anyway, that evening Soeren and I picked out a 32" LCD TV for 630EUR which he prompty purchased for us. Now we just need to find a leather couch set....will probably be another 600 or so.

So all in all...we are pretty happy. We still have a good deal on the rent and Studio 56 is pimpin.

And 2008 Begins...

2008-01-02T15:22:00.000Z

Happy New Year! Hope everyone passed it well. I was in Amsterdam for 2 days celebrating. We rented a very nice flat in the city center with a bunch of my friends from Dublin. New Years was spent at a pimp club called Supper Club which was pretty good cause it allowed us to get away from the swarms of tourists invading the city during this time of year....but i did manage to sneak out of the club just before midnight to watch the fireworks in the main square (with the swarms of tourists). Nice.

2007 in Review

2007-12-28T21:06:00.000Z

There goes another year folks. It's been a great year now that I think back on it. Many great parties, lots of travellers and old friends stopping by my flat in Dublin, some cool vacations, running my small software company (www.baru.ie if you haven't heard of it!), fell in love for the third time in my life and discovered Facebook!!

I've been in Dublin for over a year and half now and have really settled down into the place. I've walked every street, been to 'almost' every pub, and really do feel like a local. I'll admit that im also starting to feel antsy, but when i leave for a few days i always feel great the moment im back in the dub. Something very comforting about knowing a city so well but at the same time i still recognize that it's a really special place to live...or should i say, a special place/time to live. For those who don't know, dublin his just over the peak of a huge boom in the economy, it's the 'youngest' population of any european capital and it's just filled with people from all over europe coming to study english work and party...mix in the traditional irish love of everything alcohol and you get the general picture. I can't say it enough, if you haven't been, go! And go now! I've had many people visit and everyone has gone back with a smile. So for 2008 - it's still gonna be ireland :)

I've taken number of trips this year. Started off with a failed attempt at going to Colombia which turned into a vacation in Malta and Poland. My hiking trip in Scotland was probably the highlight...excellent mix of cities, hiking and spending time with a close friend. On the sporty side of things, I've launched back into windsurfing with a trip to the canaries. On top of this was a bunch of weekend trips: Stockholm, Dusseldorf, London, Warsaw, Southampton and Riga. I already have travel plans for 2008! At the end of March I'll heading over to Egypt for three weeks. I've got a wedding in San Fran in february and finally but most importantly i've been given a 3 month leave of absence from work starting May so I'll be heading back to south america!

Another new thing for me this past year was opening my first business with a fellow coworker of mine. It's been an interesting roller coaster ride and i've learned quite a bit along the way. Im proud to say that Baru Software has done some really cool projects since we've opened 10 months ago and that's all thanks to our talented engineers. Our plan for 2008 is to continue the good work we've been doing and hopefully grow our team further.

And of course, the year finished off great with a week with my family in Toronto!

Well that's it for this year...im hopping on a plane tomorrow and flying to Amsterdam to finish off this great year with a bang! See you in 2008!
Bartek

Contacts

2007-09-26T15:45:00.000+01:00

Many people probably don't know, but my vision isn't perfect. Five years ago i used to wear glass on a regular basis. Back then my vision was -1.5/-0.75; meaning that i could see well up close but not so well for distance, luckily my vision was always within the legal driving limits. After loosing my glasses a number of years back i have been lazy and haven't had a chance to go in for another eye test or buy new glasses. So the years passed, and i forgot about it completely. But recently, i started thinking about contacts....they were never really an option for me before since i have seasonal allergies and used to suffer from dry eyes syndrome (DES). My DES was cured a few years back with something called punctal plugs which are essentially really, really small silicone plugs that are inserted into your tear-ducts to slow down tear drainage; you're not producing more tears, but they take longer to drain from your eye. And my seasonal allergies are gone as Ireland doesn't really have any seasons :) So i went in for an eye test and to my surprise found that my vision had improved...now only -1.0/-0.5. woohoo! now i got some disposable contacts and am enjoying my new found vision :)

Long time, no blog...

2007-09-04T17:00:00.000+01:00

It seems like the summer has gone by without a single blog entry from your favorite blogger. I know this fact because when i compare the dates of my previous post to the little date popup at the bottom right side of my computer screen, apply some complex mathematics and turns out a few months have passed. If i didn't have that magnificent little popup, which i admit i've used more times than any other computer program (except for the web browser), i would still think it's spring. why? cause there has not been a summer this year in Dublin...period. rain, clouds, wind for 4 months. wonderful. luckily i managed to escape to Fuerteventura for a wonderful sun-filled week of windsurfing and relaxation. more about windsurfing in a later post.

but now onto a more important topic: the US economy and in particular the event some of us have been waiting for for a while...the housing market crash hehehe. alright, 'crash' is probably much too harsh of a word for what is happening but it's fun to exaggerate once in a while. some economists call it a 'correction' or 'rebalancing'. Im living in Ireland and if you thought the housing market in the US was a little over-cooked...come check out the fine real estate for sale on the emerald isle. For example, this lovely shack on the edges of the city center will be yours for 450,000EUR (multiply by 1.4 for USD or CAD). I imagine this rebalancing will spread to other countries around the world which have gone through the recent housing boom due to 'free money'. Even places like Colombia have had high rises built, the apartments scooped up by foreigners for 200-300k per apartment in a mad frenzy to buy...but how many people actually need a vacation home in Colombia? If not, who's gonna rent the place? And if they have to sell it, will regular Colombian's buy them? Anyway, this topic goes on and on...luckily we have some very smart people up top who know exactly how to help out...idiots.

Top 10 Tips for Backpackers

2007-06-18T14:45:00.000+01:00

Lots of my friends are starting to get into the backpacking culture and one of them suggested I start a backpacker tip of the day on my blog. I think that may be overkill, but instead i've decided to create my top 10 list of tips (the kind you only learn from backpacking a few months) for backpackers:

1) Don't travel with any white clothing. No white shirts, underwear, nothing. It gets dirty much faster than colors, it's a bitch to clean, and ends up turning pink when you accidentally wash it with a color. Once exception: if you're going to Rio de Janeiro for New Years.

2) Travel with a Cocoon. It's a very light, silk, sack you can sleep in when you end up in a hostel that ain't up to your standards of cleanliness. Buy one at your local camping store.

3) Travel with a role of Duct tape. You can fix anything with Duct tape.

4) Travel with Imodium. If you plan to backpack on any other continent other than your own, bring this stuff....it's worth it's weight in gold.

5) Don't bring shaving cream. The water in different parts of the world is different, and your shaving cream/gel is made to foam with the water back home....absolutely useless and takes up lots of space/weight in your pack.

6) Only take three pairs of underwear, max!!. Face it, if you're traveling for a while you're gonna have to do laundry (by hand in the sink). Once you get over this, you realize you don't need a week's worth of underwear and socks. Spend 5 minutes doing laundry every night and you have clean underwear everyday and a much lighter pack. Make sure to buy high-tech hiking underwear...dries in 2 hrs!!!

7) Hide some cash somewhere other than your wallet.

8) Don't travel with your girlfriend, best friend, sibling or any person from back home. Ok, that's a little harsh, but don't do it for too long cause you'll miss out on meeting new people...that's half the fun of backpacking!

9) Use a website like HospitalityClub or meet locals and get free accommodation. I know partying with Americans/Canadians/Australians/English/Irish is fun...but how about a little fun with the locals too?

10) If you're Canadian, don't put that silly flag patch on your pack...looks cool for the first week and then you realize you're a nerd. If you're American, buy a Canadian flag patch and put it on your bag.

Social Networks Galore

2007-06-18T14:17:00.000+01:00

Social networks have come and gone, i was an early adopter of a few of them, including Orkut which ended up being hijacked by brazilians, but after a while i got tired of them because they didn't really provide much value.

Over the last month, I've jumped back onto the social networking band wagon to see how things have changed over the last couple years. I chose two social networking sites which many of my ex-coworkers were on: LinkedIn and Facebook.

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals was a challenge to get started. I found the system of linking up with old friends (who i hadn't kept email contact with) quite time consuming (and not very intuitive): ask a friend to introduce person X, hassle your friend to forward it on (some people are better at forwarding than others), person X approves and sends back their email address, copy the email address and add a new contact with the email, request is then approved by person X. Do this for 30 people (only 5 at a time unless you upgrade your account) and you'll understand the pain. But after all the setup, i think it's been worth it. Other people write reviews of your work, which im sure will be read by future employers and you get to keep all your contacts in one place receiving updates about their careers even though you're not working together anymore. They also have a nifty 'Answers' feature which allows you to ask questions via the social graph. Recently I asked a question about hosting providers in the US and got a stream of high quality answers...ended up choosing Slicehost in the end (very cool btw). Overall i'm pretty pleased with LinkedIn.

Facebook, a 'web 2.0' social networking site that i've been hearing about for years has been quite a bit easier to setup. Literally in one evening, I had upload pictures, found university/highschool/elementry school friends, added a map of places i've been to around the world and even poked someone! But seriously, the main reason I actually got onto Facebook was due to them opening up with platform to third-party development...it's a great idea and seems like a win-win for almost everyone involved, but still very early to tell. Thumbs up regardless.

Mon gone

2007-06-11T10:36:00.000+01:00

Another great weekend in Dublin, we finally have some summer weather. Monika, a friend of mine from canada, visited and was treated to our usual warm Dublin welcome which included excessive drinking and partying...for the play-by-play visit her blog. She made quite a good impression and im sure i'll be fielding many 'when is monika coming back' questions for some time.

Stockholm

2007-06-05T13:09:00.001+01:00

Hey all. Just a quick update...i spent the weekend in Stockholm with a couple friends of mine.
Many things were as expected:
- Clean city
- Meatballs
- Beautiful women
- Ice Bars

But there was also a few unexpected things. For instance, it was cheap!! Ya, i've been living in Dublin for too long... But the strangest thing was small pieces of American culture scattered about. For example, 7-11 on almost every corner! Plus, they're crazy about classic American cars. The weather was great, so all the swedes were out styling their 1960's muscle cars or 1930's whatever.

Hiking in Scotland

2007-05-08T21:26:00.000+01:00

So another trip over and it's time to blog :)

I spent 10 days in Scotland with Ania. What made the trip was the weather. We were both expecting typical Scottish weather but were greeted with day after day of blue skies. First was Glasgow...some site seeing, partying with university exchange students and preparing for the trip.
The next four days were spent trekking the West Highland Way, Scotland's most famous trek. Beautiful mountains (some with a little snow), wild hairy cows and great camping. After the trek, we based ourselves in Fort William, a small town in the highlands from which we spent a day visiting Loch Ness (no monster), climbing Ben Nevis (Britain's highest mountain) and day road trip to visit the Island of Skye. After all this good outdoorsy stuff we spend a couple days in Edinburgh which in my opinion is one of Europe's nicest cities. I also managed to eat some Haggis which is a typical Scottish dish made out of sheep's lungs...yummmmm.

End of the West Highland Way

Cool dude

Church in Glasgow

Church again

Top of Britain

Random castle

Moooo

One year @ Vision

2007-05-08T11:24:00.000+01:00

Today is my one year at Vision Consulting.

I can say that it's been an interesting experience. I've been given lots of responsibility, been involved in many different projects and played may roles. I've been mostly learning as i go through brute-force and it's probably the best way...i've been lucky as i haven't tripped up along the way.

Year two begins :)

BTW, i just spent the last week in Scotland...blog and pics coming soon.

Wicklow Way

2007-04-09T10:09:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter (for all those who celebrate it). I had an amazing weekend in the Wicklow mountains, which are just outside dublin but feel like a world away. Rafael (who i met through hospitalityclub) and I took a bus to Glendalough on friday and picked up the Wicklow Way about the halfway mark. The weather couldn't have been better all weekend...my new rain jacket was just weight in my bag.

The first day we visited Glendalough, it's churches, cemeteries and beautiful lakes...very nice but also very touristy. That night we took a little detour off the official way and found an amazing camp spot on a white sand beach with a beautiful lake in front, green valley behind and mountains on both sides all to ourselves! The following day provided views of the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain, many valleys and animals (i think we saw between 100-200 deer that day). We camped by a river in a valley that night. The last day was physically the hardest for us, but it was a great feeling to come over the final mountain and see all of Dublin before us. The hike finished in a park on the edge of the city (this is actually the starting point of the Wicklow Way...we had decided to do it backwards), from there we took a bus home where we immediately bought some fish n' chips and beer.

BTW, all photos were taken by Rafael with his spanking new D80.

Glendalough

Officially starting the way. Notice that i already look like i've been hiking for a few days...long week at work.

Sunset at our first camp site.

Sunrise at our first camp site.

Sex legs!

Where's Bartek?

Rafael and I at the end of our hike (beginning of the Wicklow way)

Alone and not so alone

2007-04-04T21:27:00.000+01:00

Wow, im sitting on my couch tonight and i just realized that it's the first night since i moved to dublin that i'm alone. My flatmate Soeren flew out to Germany this morning, my best buddy Tomasz is in Madrid with his girl Almo, my girl is in Poland, Jarmo (probably swimming the Liffey), other friends are in Poland as well.

Anyway, cooked myself a great vegi dinner and opened a 2002 vintage bottle of wine....not too shabby.

This weekend is a 4 day weekend, and i've decided to go hiking in the wicklow mountains...in particular i will be doing half the wicklow way. I was planning to do this alone, but a couple days ago i got an email from a Hospitality Club member from Guatemala who is visiting ireland for a week or so. He emailed me for a place to stay at in dublin for a night or two over the weekend and also mentioned he's also into hiking and photography. I couldn't offer a place to sleep, but i offered to take him with me on the hike. So he organized the proper equipment for himself and we're off on friday!

15C and sunny in dublin today :)

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-22T21:42:00.000Z

For all of you who didn't notice, St. Patrick's day was last weekend. I had the pleasure of celebrating it in Dublin. Our weekend included bar hoping, a hospitality club gathering and a huge party at my place. To make things even better, my buddy Cam came with a friend to join the celebrations. They're now off traveling around europe and should be back this saturday for one last dublin-style bash before heading home...im sure they'll have plenty of good stories to tell.

One year countdown begins again :)

Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

2007-02-26T12:47:00.000Z

While on vacation I had a chance to hit a few off the ol' reading list. One was a classic personal development book - The 7 Habits for short.

In general when i invest time into such books, my simple formula for evaluating is something like (amount learnt) * (quality of the learning) - CONSTANT * (reading time). Im sure the price of the book should be in there too but let's keep things simple and assume unlimited financial resources. Now i don't know what the constant is or what units everything is measured in...but i hope you get the general idea.

To be honest i was a little disappointed by this wildly read book. Although the quality was high I don't feel i learned enough for a book this size. After the first chapter i was already skimming pages, skipping entire sections and wishing there was a reduced version for lazy business students. I found that there was an excessive use of examples (i particularly fell asleep when he referenced problems/solutions with his wife or son) and rambling that bloated this book. The habits are important and i honestly believe that by improving them you will become a more effective person...i would recommend finding and reading a condensed version.

They say 'you can't judge a book by it's cover'...ha! take a look at the long-winded title and you'll get a feel for the entire book.

Relaxing in Malta

2007-02-22T16:28:00.000Z

My week of relaxation in Malta is nearing its end so i figured i'd give everyone an update. My first three days were spent in the beautiful city of Valletta...architecturally one of the most amazing cities i've seen...reminds me of Dubrovnik but with much less tourists. The history is really fascinating and makes this place worth visiting. This is a country that has been under foreign control for almost all it's history...Romans, Arabs, Normans, Order of Knights of St. John, France (Napoleon was here!) and England...you can see these various influences everywhere. The city of Valletta itself is a huge fort that was built by an Order of Kings (ex-crusaders that needed something else to do) and is fascinating just to walk around. For art buffs, Caravaggio lived here...he was accepted into the Order of Knights and painted a few works...one of which was his largest work - the beheading of St.John the baptist which still hangs in the main cathedral.

I also took a short trip to Mdina, another nice but much small town to stroll through.

After 3 days of history and carnival, i changed hotels to the Westin in a touristy area called Paceville :) Five-stars, king bed, balcony looking out into the Mediterranean, swimming pools, Jacuzzis, gym, chandeliers, a man in white gloves playing a piano, and everyone calls me 'sir' all for €60 per night (great low season internet rate - in high season the same room would go for €250).

Wroclaw

2007-02-17T14:16:00.000Z

I must admit, Wroclaw has exceeded my expectations. It is now my favorite city in Poland and i would recommend it for anyone who is interested in visiting this area of the world. The old town is huge and beautiful...everything restored so well...there are nice shops and restaurants everywhere and it does not feel over touristed as other popular eastern European cities. Most importantly, the locals here don't walk around with that depressed look on their faces that is a common sight in other polish cities.

The new plan...Malta!!

2007-02-14T19:51:00.000Z

Happy valentines day everyone. We just came back from a pimp restaurant in gdansk...very classic, very european and very romantic. Tomorrow, ania and i are taking the train to wroclaw, a town in poland that i've never visited before...we'll spend a few days there and then im flying to Malta. Yes Malta, i'll be there for the last three days of carnival and then some. Send me an email if you're interested in joining...18C and sunny :)

Big Change

2007-02-12T22:58:00.000Z

My colombia plans have gone up in smoke. I flew over to Madrid, where i met up with a group of americans and went out partying. We hit-up a few clubs, the best one being Capital...a 7 story club that was packed until the wee hours of the morning. The next day, i headed for the airport, hung over but on time. When it was time to checkin, the woman at the counter had trouble with my reservation, left for a while and then informed me the bad news. Apparently, Iberia Airlines has a strange policy which requires you to confirm your ticket purchase with 48 hours. If you don't, they cancel your booking and refund you - this is what happened to me. So i had no ticket to colombia, the next available fight was a few days away and would cost more. This compounded with the fact that i was already planning on cutting my vacation in half (from 4 weeks to 2) and i decided it was not worth it. With only 2 hours of sleep, it was probably one of the most stressful days of my life; so i checked into a nice hotel next to the airport and slept had a good sleep.

The next day, i purchased a ticket to warsaw and then gdansk (Poland). Im hanging out with my girl and having a great time.

Sometimes you just can't force something, life just decides to put you on another course and you just gotta go with the flow.

Vacation time!

2007-02-05T16:38:00.000Z

After 9 months of working it's time i take a vacation. I'm tired, pale white and my spanish is starting to get rusty; so what better place to vacation than south america!! There's a few countries that i have not visited and one in particular grabbed my interest just as i was departing SA from my previous visit: Colombia. For a few weeks i had travelled with a fantastic couple...let's call them Androel. Androel spent a little more time in SA than i did and managed to visit a few more places including Colombia. They highly recommended it due to the beauty of the country, the friendliness of the people and the utter lack of tourists. So let's do it!

Compared to my last adventure, I have more money, less time and no DSLR. Generally speaking, having more money is a good thing, i can take flights instead of long bus rides, stay at hotels if i get tired of the hostel scene and try some nice restaurants. I do have less time but quite enough, 4 weeks! And my poor DSLR which died at the top of Volacano Baru in Panama has not been replaced, but i have borrowed a decent point-n-shoot from a friend.

I will continue to update this blog with stories and pictures. First stop: Madrid Spain.

Green Card Ireland

2007-01-31T13:40:00.000Z

Working in Ireland has never been easier. New legislation coming into effect next month gives foreigners instant access for 2 years via a Green Card. All you need is a job offer and make at least €60K. And if your occupation is in the selected list of eligible occupations then there is only a €30k requirement.

YouTube

2007-01-27T20:17:00.000Z

I had a few hours to kill today so i decided to drain the day away by surfing YouTube. I've been guilty of this a few times, and im sure you have too. But up until today i had basically seen videos fall in three categories: comical (ie comedians, tv commercials, etc), pirated (ie simpsons) or cheesy-sleazy. But for the first time today, after filtering out all that nonsense i actually struck into the core of YouTube and what makes it such a revolutionary service: the ability to give real artists a medium to reach the world without the help of a big label.

Here's a great 10min short film entitled Who Wants to be an Amerikan by a Canadian Film Student Aaron Beckum.

And here is Mia Rose, who literally 4 weeks ago was just a girl with a great voice, and after posting a few videos of her singing is in the process of signing a record deal. Most of her songs are covers...but she's also posted a few of her own songs, for example Husband to Be - after being posted for only 3 weeks, has been viewed over 500,000 times! Listen folks, 10 years ago, she would be sitting in some grungy recording studio try to put together a "demo tape" and trying to sell it at "gigs" hoping that some "scout" would stumble upon her and sign her to their label.

The times a' changin'.

New Years Resolution

2007-01-14T15:58:00.000Z

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I had a great time in toronto after which i flew back to Dublin to celebrate the New Year (which by the way turned out to be one of the best parties we've thrown, i passed out at 4 but it was still going strong till 7).

I usually never make new years resolutions, i think it's one of those things that was invented by the marketing group at some Fitness Gym conglomerate and somehow has embedded itself in our society. But generally, making resolutions, ones that if successfully achieved would make you a happier/wiser/healthier person, should be done all the time, not just once per year.

When i was on the coast in Croatia last year, i thought to myself...this is a beautiful place, but the best way to see this part of the world would be from a sail boat...maybe one day i will come back and do it again the right way. At the time it was a dream...and really, it still is a dream. But there's no better feeling in the world than turning a dream into a reality...and the first step is to learn how to sail. I live next to the Irish Sea, it's windy here _all_ the time, the Irish National Sailing School is in dublin, i have no excuse. My newest resolution is to learn how to sail by summertime.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-28T01:25:00.000Z

Finally got some snow on the ground today...2 days late, but better late than never. I've been spending time with the family and catching up with old friends (many of who have sworn to visit me in dublin...we'll see).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just little more to the right...

2006-12-21T16:06:00.000Z

I like two kinds of photographs...beautiful ones and funny ones...check out what happens when you take a picture from just the right angle.

History of Religion

2006-12-20T15:53:00.000Z

High level view of how the various religions of the world spread.

CN Tower

2006-12-20T13:23:00.000Z

It's coming to the end of a year and like usual, it is a time for joy and celebration...but just in a couple years, for all my dear Torontonians, it will be a time of great sorrow. I always knew this day would come, i hoped it would always be the same, but finally the end is in sight. Two years from now, our beloved CN Tower, which has put Toronto on the map for so many years as being "the world's highest free standing structure" will be surpassed by the Burj Dubai! How can this be? When someone foreign asks me what's special about Toronto...what will i say? My line about canada was always "Montreal's got the culture, Vancouver's got the beauty, Calgary's got the oil and the mountains...but TO's got the CN Tower". No one cares about the second tallest free standing structure in the world. All you torontonians out there...enjoy it while it lasts, milk it for all it's worth, because it will never be the same again. Sorry for this depressing post.

Here's a list of all the tallest free standing structures throughout history.

London

2006-12-18T19:04:00.002Z

A couple weekends ago i visited London to meet up with a few old friends from seattle. Mukkul (who you remember from a previous post, or my europe trip) flew in from copenhagen and we stayed at Nick's place in central london. We partied both nights, very expensive, but a change from the dublin scene so it was all good. During the day on saturday i went shopping at a designer sale that was recommended to me by a Finnish friend. This is the type of place you'd never in your life find unless someone told you about it: in a residential area, down an alleyway, through a small door with a piece of paper above it labeled "Sale". Once inside, a different world...everything you have on you must be checked...only allowed to have one layer of clothing on...huge rooms filled with this years designer clothing (prada, boss, armani, diesel, blah, blah, blah) and people going through it like it's their job. The sale only happens 8 times a year, 4 weekends for women and 4 weekends for men...i was lucky to just happen to be in london during one of the men's sales. Discounts range from 50-80%, so some of these clothes are actually affordable...i ended up buying 2 jackets and a tie. Anyway, if you're into shopping and in the london area...may be worth a look...it's been labeled "one of the top ten reasons to live in london".

Tiss the Season 2

2006-12-13T16:15:00.000Z

The numbers are in and we beat last year's amount, grand total €2700.

Tiss the Season

2006-12-13T10:08:00.000Z

In most nations, christmas is a time for family, friends and loved ones. Ireland is a bit of an exception, where the entire month of december is dedicated to heavy drinking (with family, friends and loved ones). Last night we had our first (of two) christmas parties. Again, the irish do things a little different here. Back in good old north america, a small company such as ours would organize a dinner at a nice restaurant, kriss kingle, speech from the CEO, a few drinks and call it a night. In ireland, the employees get a huge wad of cash, reserve their own room at a bar and drink all night. We even had a "beerometer", a big thermometer type thing that we used to measure how much money we've spent on alcohol. Last year, roughly €2500 was downed, so the goal was to beat that...not sure if we succeeded...the beerometer got destroyed halfway through the night. Anyway, if you're ever travelling the world and find yourself trying to figure out what to do during christmas "cause everything is quite during the holidays", head over to ireland for a good craic.

Sauna Sundays

2006-11-30T17:49:00.000Z

Back when i was travelling, i had lots of time to think about various things...everything really. Sometimes i would even come to a decision about something that i promised myself i would do when i got back to the real world. So i kept a list of completely random plans for the future. One of them was to go to the sauna a least once per week. I think i came up with this one during my daily visits to saunas in Budapest. You really feel amazing after you spend a couple hours soaking in the bubble baths and sweating in the steam rooms. So a few weeks ago i got a membership at a nice gym close to my work, and in addition to working out during the week, i use the sauna on Sunday evenings. It's a great and relaxing way to finish the weekend (actually, i look forward to it all week). Try it, you'll be hooked!

Go Shawn!

2006-11-25T22:26:00.000Z

My buddy shawn is trekking in the peruvian andes...his trip blog.

1/2 year on the job & christmas plans

2006-11-09T14:32:00.000Z

Six months have come and gone, feels like just yesterday when i joined the company. I'm really happy with all that i've accomplished here in such a short time...everyday has been exciting and challenging. That's the great thing about working for a small company, responsibility piles up real fast...no need to wait for yearly reviews or for some senior guy to step aside. At the moment for instance my development team is working on 5 parallel projects, each with their own requirements, resources and deadlines! Plus ive started the Waterloo Co-op program (we've secured a superstar intern btw) in addition to regular hiring. So much happening i've been looking forward for some R&R during christmas. Yes, i'll be in TO for christmas (23-30), so if anyone wants to get together, just send me an email or call my home number 905 773 5454.

A couple pics from poland

2006-11-05T20:13:00.000Z

Had a great time with anna in poland. Like i mentioned earlier, pimp apartment attached to a 4 star hotel for 35 euros per night. Also had my first professional massage...as expected, relaxing.

Gdansk old town

By the sea

Multinational Dublin

2006-10-25T19:43:00.000+01:00

This weekend im heading to poland for a much needed 4 day vacation...for the same money that will cost two people staying at a hostel in dublin, i'll get an apartment connected to a 4-star hotel by the sea. Lovely.

Over the last little while we've been having lots of great parties at my house over the weekends. The last weekend was the pinnacle i must say. After a rather lengthy party on friday night, i called up a bunch of friends and had round two on saturday night. It really was beautiful, great music, candles all around the apartment, lots of dancing...the greatest thing was the mix of people...at one point i looked around and counted the different nationalities...9 in total (Canadian, Polish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian, Hungarian, Finnish and Irish)!!! And i thought toronto was multinational...

Oyster Festival

2006-10-03T14:44:00.000+01:00

I spent the weekend in Galway with a friend of mine. The main attraction was the International Oyster Festival. I wasn't sure exactly where this festival was located so we just spent the night on the town. The following day, while walking around town we just happened to run into a marching band, which was followed by a Bag-pipe group of Scotts, then some classic cars and finally a bunch of people holding massive flags. I quickly located the Canadian flag and went over for a chat. It turns out this parade was heading for the oyster festival...and each of the people holding their countries flag was the "oyster opening" champion of their respective country. After 20 minutes of parading, we reached a massive tent where the event was set to be held. Unfortunately, tickets where €100 per person. But we're clever lads, so we managed to get in through the back door without paying a penny. Once inside, the party began! A couple thousand people, open bar, oysters, seafood chowder, smoked fish, live bands, irish dancing...and this all started at 1pm! The oyster opening competition was great, about 18 countries represented...Ireland finished 1st...Canada in 9th...no Polish entry which was disappointing since landlocked countries like slovakia were represented. The party ended at 6pm, at which point we went back to our hostel, met a group of Brazilians that had just arrived and headed out on the town once more. What a weekend...im still recovering :)

More on Education

2006-09-28T11:41:00.000+01:00

Only a couple weeks after i bashed the education system in canada, The Economist has a very interesting article about the education system in Alberta (province in Canada) comically entitled "Clever red-necks". What a big surprise (sarcasm)! It turns out that if you properly invest money into the things that really matter...you get some smart kids.
"Many educators acknowledge that over the past 30 years Alberta has quietly built the finest public education system in Canada. The curriculum has been revised, stressing core subjects (English, science, mathematics), school facilities and the training of teachers have been improved, clear achievement goals have been set and a rigorous province-wide testing programme for grades three (aged 7-8), six (10-11), nine (13-14) and twelve (16-17) has been established to ensure they are met. "

Still Catching up

2006-09-22T14:23:00.000+01:00

So apparently the world didn't stop innovating while i was touring around the world. Since I've gotten back to reality, it's been a pleasure discovering all the new great web products/tool that have been developed...and although it's probably old news to many of you...damn some of these are really cool. It seems like almost every possible desktop application has being re-written for web2.0...which doesn't amuse me all that much...lets be real here, an online word processor or excel sheet hasn't made my life any easier, but i guess it's cool. Yup, now you can even go to a website to watch copywrited videos, famous football goals, and hot girls doing whatever. Now onto the cooler stuff. Although still in the labs, Google's notebook is nifty, something that should have been around years ago...but great it's when doing research on the web (no longer need to flick between your browser and notepad to jot things down). But my real favorites have got to be del.icio.us and digg.com. These bad-boys are helping to solve the biggest problem facing the internet...how to separate the little bit of good content from all the crap. I'm not a member of Digg, although i spend hours and hours using it and "kunowski" is my del.icio.us account...if you have a membership, please link to me, i wanna see what you've been reading! If not, join one of the coolest (but actually useful) social networking sites out there.

Mind Mapping

2006-09-20T11:43:00.000+01:00

A few months ago, a co-worker of mine introduced me a new way to organize my thoughts, tasks, and ideas...using a Mindmap. Although sceptical at first, I came around to the concept after a while and download some software that allowed me to easily draw my own mind maps. The product that i've been using on a daily basis for the last few weeks is called FreeMind - it's free, open source and written in Java...and most importantly easy to use. I have one mind map for work which i track all the open issues with various projects im managing, team members, customer requests, recruiting, and personal to-do (like a shopping list), plus other random tasks im working on. I used to have two large white-boards at my desk filled with all kinds of information, different colours, stars, circles and after a while it got to be too much; now everything is in my mind map. I've also found it to be a great brainstorming tool...i've been working on various business ideas over the last few weeks and it's amazing how easily such a tool allows you to properly document bursts of spontaneous thoughts. If you're a person with lots of things on the go...try it.

The Education Epidemic

2006-09-08T17:58:00.000+01:00

A common problem facing many western countries is the low level of education of their youth. Growing up in Canada and attending non-private school throughout the 90's, i always remember my Eastern European - educated parents complaining that the material that i was learning (most likely for the 3rd year in a row...cause some kid's just don’t "get it" the first two times) was too simple and they had learned the exact same stuff at a much younger age. I also remember stories of other immigrant children who've moved to Canada after a few years of education in their motherland and were immediately advanced a few grades. The perfect example was while i was in my final year of high school, i remember going to my Calculus class with a Chinese girl who was already 2 years younger...she regularly laughed at the homework we received because she had learned it at the age of 14 (i was 18). Luckily for me (although i didn't realize it at the time), my father spent hours every week teaching me advanced maths and sciences (lessons that i would be taught in regular school years later) so that i could graduate at the top of my classes and that would eventually lead to a Computer Science degree from a top university. Having smart engineers for parents was my blessing...even better than having very rich parents who can send their children to private schools. Either way, most children don't have rich parents or parents who can teach them trigonometry...so their education (or lack-there-of) lies in the hands of the education system they attend.

Poor education is not just a problem in canada...america, ireland, UK, germany...almost every western country suddenly has an education epidemic and can’t seem to figure out what went wrong or how to fix it. Maybe it's always been this way and we've never cared because our economies were strong and life was good. But with the fear of globalization looming over our heads...booming economies of countries such as China and India where hundreds of millions of youth are being educated far better than we are (and learning english too), we've realized that without better education, the beautiful western lifestyle that we've gotten accustomed to will not be transferred to our dumb, uneducated, unmotivated, spoiled western children.

What to do? I'll tell you what not to do is throw millions of dollars at it and hope that fancy laptops and "smart boards" are going to make our children smarter. The analogy here is taking a beat-up VW Bug from the junk yard, attaching a Corvette steering wheel to it and trying to race it against an Acura NSX. Sorry, your car isn't Herbie and it's not a Disney world. If it was, I'd be dating Jessica rabbit...she was my favorite. Ok, ok, i have to admit, MS's approach is not all about fancy technology...they also plan on using the "`education competency wheel`, patterned after a set of desirable traits Microsoft encourages among its employees"...oh god shoot me now. In general i hate this kind of management speak...but let’s assume that there is some real theory to this stuff. Unfortunately, there's one thing the really smart people at MS have overlooked...the fact that they're all really smart!! MS recruits the smartest/best/brightest/motivated people in the world! They walk in the door that way...on day one they're solving some of the most complex software problems in the world. So assuming you have a genius, then your main goal is to use him/her to their ultimate potential (so that you can make lots and lots of money, bundle your crappy software with an OS that has a market monopoly and take over the word) and your desirable traits will be tailored to this type of person. I honestly don't know how you can apply the same theory to an unmotivated 12 year old who's only motivation in life is to progress to the next level of some video game. ok,ok,ok, lets assume the best possible scenario here, that the fancy technology and the Education Competency Wheel are a big hit and the kids graduate at a higher level...now what? Is our great plan to build these schools all over the western world? This school cost $63,000,000 which will service 700 children. This of course excludes the cost of running the school which will, in addition to the regular costs of running a school, need to invest money in such things as extra electricity to charge all those laptops and educating the school janitor to run the anti-virus utility when the toilet contracts an Outlook virus. Anyway, $63M per 700 students to start...and how many children need to be educated in America alone? Do the math...it's trillions of dollars. Now lets look at this from an economic stand point...if we need to be spending trillions of extra dollars so that little Billy can learn 7x7=49 at an earlier age...we're never, ever going to be able to compete globally. And just as an added kick...im sure Billy will never learn 7x7 cause every time he's asked that question he'll open up Window's Calculator and punch it in...brilliant.

Ok, so as you can see, in not a fan of the MS approach to solving the education epidemic facing western youth...so do i have a solution? Not really, but a good place to start would be to look at how other countries do more with less money. Maybe it’s time we give our teachers more authority in the schools, bring back those ugly uniforms, and start shipping the naughty kids to Australia.

Week with the Parents

2006-09-07T12:41:00.000+01:00

Today, after spending a really nice week in Dublin, my parents have left back to Canada. As always, it was great to see them again...they went home with lots of memories and photographs in addition to heaps of Guinness memorabilia. This past week was a busy one...i got to take a tour of the Guinness Brewery (great 360 degree view of dublin at the very end) and Trinity College (with one of the coolest libraries i've every been to). We also managed to sneek in a trip to Kilkenny, a small town a couple hours from Dublin. We randomly chose a very special day...kilkenny won the national hurling championship while were were there visiting. I think my parents had a great time and left having gotten a real sense for the irish culture and dublin life. I hope they will return again to see more of ireland.

In other news, i've purchased a wine rack and i've started building up my wine collection (the current goal is to fill it with cheap wine...). Also, my parents bought me a laptop for my birthday...thanks!! Now i'll be able to blog more, rent DVDs, and chat to people at later hours!! woohoo.

Mom & Dad drinking guinness

New Pad

2006-08-30T14:54:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was a busy weekend. First off, i turned 27 (on the 27th) years old. I think 27 is one of those inconcequencial years, and 28 and 29 will be the same...their importance is darfed by the big three-zero. Anyway, we drank lots of vodka and went to a fancy nightclub. But the main event over the weekend was moving out of The Happy House and into a new apartment. Two of my spanish roommates are leaving for spain (for good) this weekend and i thought it would be good time to make the swap as well. Without paying extra rent, i've managed to upgrade to a pimp apartment were i have my own bedroom/washroom, extra-king sized bed in a modern building in the centre of town. The area is a little more dodgy than my previous upscale neighborhood but i've also managed to cut my commute to work by 20 minutes in both directions. My new roommate is Soeren, a german dude who works for IBM in sales. All is well in dublin. Vistors welcome as always :)

The Burren Way & The Cliffs of Moher

2006-08-24T17:41:00.000+01:00

So blogger, the blog engine i use to create my wonderful blogs has a new beta version that i've upgraded to. The interface looks slightly different, the spell-checker is improved (taken from gmail) and publishing is ultra fast...they also have some new way of customizing the look 'n feel of your blog...maybe it's time for a make-over. The interesting this is that they force you to consolidate your gmail and blogger accounts. This is cool, i imagine they will be able to come up with some need stuff once they have the ability to share data between the two services.

I just realized i haven't blogged for a few weeks...so much to talk about. Lets start with a long weekend a few weeks ago. Anna and i packed our bags with polish food, our tent, sleeping bag (yes only one), and headed out for the west coast of Ireland where we walked The Burren Way. This is one of Ireland's famous walks and is a total of 45km and it took us a little over two days to complete. The walk started in a small town called Ballyvaghn where we stocked up on some extra food at an outdoor market. We then spent the day walking through a desolate area called the Burren...think, small round mountains formed by lava with lots of cracks in the ground. That night we camped on the final hill/mountain. The next day we walked down from the Burren to a cute town called Toolin where we stopped for pints of guinness before continuing on along the Cliffs of Moher. These are the cliffs you see in all the Ireland postcards and TV commercials. Absolutely breath-taking...the highest cliffs in europe. The second night we watched the sunset over the atlantic with a group of billy goats. In the morning, we woke up to see the cliffs one last time and hiked for a few more hours to the finishing town. This was the first time to really test my new hiking backpack...a world of a difference compared to the crap i was hiking with in south america.

Another weekend was spent in poland at a wedding...nothing terribly interesting to report except for the fact that i drank more vodka in that night than in any previous week of my life.

Collecting flowers as we go

Famous Cliffs

My little pony

errr...green field

Barg'in Ireland

2006-07-30T18:23:00.000+01:00

Last weekend, Daniel, a co-worker of mine invited me an Anna for a weekend boating trip on his father's barge. A barge for all those who don't know is a long flat boat used for transporting stuff. The barges that exist in ireland were used to move goods around the country using the system of canals that were built by the english back in the day. They, of course, have long been replaced with trucks, and the 100 or so barges that have survived are all now in private hands. A community of barge-lovin people have emerged who spend weekends barging around the country with no real purpose; daniel's family own the oldest irish barge in existence at 160 years old...that's a few decades older than canada! Speaking of old things, the evening before embarking, we visited Ireland's oldest pub which has dated back to 800AD! The weekend was great...we played Risk, drank lots of beer and ate lots of food.

That was last weekend, this weekend was spent in Belfast. Yesterday we visited many sites...the coolest was seeing Hotel Europa "The World's most Bombed Hotel". On Sunday, i was actually working in Belfast...we launched the newest version of the software that my team is working on! Woohoo!

A barge

Ring of Kerry

2006-07-20T17:36:00.000+01:00

This post is a little late, but better late than never. This past weekend, anna and i took another road trip driving to the very south west part of ireland...county kerry. This is the wild and remote side of the island...the largest mountain range, a national park and lots of great little towns. We had, and currently have, a "heat wave" in ireland...temperatures breaking over 30C. We spent our entire first day driving around the ring of kerry...180km of winding roads, green valleys and mountains on one side and the dramatic irish coast and beaches (yes ireland has beaches) on the other. This is the kind of place where they film for Irish Tourism commercials...i really felt the urge to listen to some Cranberries. The following day, another clear-skied, warm day, was the highlight of the trip for me. We hiked up ireland's highest mountain Mt. Carrauntuohill (1041m). It was a very enjoyable hike which finished in grand style with a swim in a lake at the base of the mountain. I hadn't felt that alive since hiking in patagonia.

Pausing for a photo on the Ring of Kerry

Top of Ireland

Chavez

2006-07-14T12:53:00.000+01:00

A couple nights ago i went to a socialist meeting :) Not cause im a socialist but because there was a speaker from Venesuela's Chavez government giving a speech. There are lots of really interesting political movements happening right now in south america, one of them being the "Bolivarian Revolution" (named after Simon Bolivar who helped many south american countries gain independence from Spain) in Venesuela. The meeting hall was packed with people, hot and very humid...i think they wanted their south american visitor to feel at home. The speech was fairly interesting, i tried my best to understand the spanish (although everything was translated to english). There was a couple of young irish anti-chavez communists that were initially not allowed into the meeting, but after putting up a big fuss were allowed in. The highlight of the event was the Q&A session at the end. A very attractive vensuelan girl got the microphone and with almost tears in her eyes rejected most of the claims made by the speakers...she was boo'ed by some, others were very keen to hear what she had to say...that there isn't a clear division be between poor and rich, between Chavez supporters and the others, and it's wrong to paint the picture that chavez is this hero supported by all the normal people. This was followed by an old venesuelan lady who spoke passionately about how chavez is a humanist and has brought literacy and medicine to poor people throughout venesuela. I need visit this country soon :)

The Good Old North

2006-07-10T17:51:00.000+01:00

Me, Anna and 8 other spanish friends rented a couple cars and explored Northern Ireland for the weekend. The weather was fair (at best) but we still managed to see everything we wanted without getting too wet. On friday night we drove north from dublin, past belfast until we were too tired...so we found a national reserve by the water, pitched tents, partied a bit and when to sleep. The following day we followed the coastal highway around the top of the island visiting all the major sites including the Giant's Causeway and a cool suspension bridge linking the mainland with a smaller island. I had the liberty of driving (on the left hand side of the road, changing gears with my left hand) the whole time...it was 2 days of non-stop windy roads...the kind that make your mouth water if you're into driving. I even had the opportunity to take the car onto a huge beach and since it was raining at the time, it was empty and the sand was packed very hard...lets just say Collen McRae would have been proud. The last day was spent in Derry...a town know for it's Irish/English (or Protestant/Catholic) troubles. This is serious business and although the IRA have recently given up arms...there's lots of hatred in this city and it can be felt everywhere. I found the locals to be very strange...friendly but i never got a good vibe so i always felt on edge (something i've never felt in any other city i've been to). We visited the main catholic and Protestant communities...everything was draped in flags, the curbs and lamp posts painted in the appropriate colors (green/white/orange or red/white/blue). The most interesting (or frightening) to see were huge murals depicting past acts of violence and various other hateful things painted on buildings. This coming wednesday is the anniversary of when an English war ship came and liberated the citizens of Derry from an Irish King who had sieged the city walls for 100 days. Im sure it'll be a gay old time.

I think Megadeth used a similar image to promote their albums

But-her-face

Surprise Party

2006-06-28T17:31:00.000+01:00

After a long day at work yesterday, i came home and met up with raf. We cooked some dinner, watched the football on the tele and decided to go out afterwards since the mood in the house had dropped after Spain's defeat. So we went out to a couple places, but i was really tired so we headed home around 11. Getting closer to my house, i started noticing lots of spanish people walking in the same direction and when we arrived at the front door there was about 10 people waiting outside to get in. So i opened the door, and surprise...there's a party at my house (not a "surprise" party, but a surprise party). In total over 30 people, singing and dancing. So raf and i grabbed some beer and joined in...lots of really cool people, even some irish and italians. Ahhhh, the happy house.

In other news, my girlfriend flies into Dublin tomorrow and raf leaves on an adventure to the west side of the island.

me & anna & raf

Search Referrals

2006-06-25T14:58:00.000+01:00

My old travel blog which i don't write to anymore still gets about 3 views a day, almost all of them coming from search pages (yahoo, google, ask, altavista,etc). I've just gone through the list of my latest referrals and here are some of the more interesting search terms that have brought people to my site:
"nazca condor tattoo"
"stick of dynamite tattoo pictures"
"morocco sandboard dunes"
"What is the one place in North America where you can see both the Atlantic ocean and Pacific Ocean?"
"smokiest cafe in paris"
"Monsieur underwear"
"purchasing absenth from czech republic"
"pimp my bart"
"bachelor party patagonia"

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2006-06-24T16:27:00.000+01:00

Great video of George Bush singing U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Wam! Bam!

2006-06-24T16:13:00.000+01:00

The news papers have been covering it for days, people have lined up in masses, everyone can feel the excitment all over dublin. Yes my friends, our fellow canadian, pamela anderson stopped by dublin for 2 days. She started off with an event at the Brown Tomas dept store where she gave a $20,000 cheque to help fight AIDS...she briefly spoke about how it's important for people to get tested and prevent spreading it to other people (still bitter about contracting hep C from tommy no doubt) and then spent the rest of the time doing what she does best. Last night was a VIP only party at St Stephen's Green (a park one block from my house) where other do-gooders like Bono attended. I passed up my date with pamie and bono to party with my buddy Raf and his bro who've come from toronto to visit.

Mukkul

2006-06-19T18:07:00.000+01:00

Mukkul, my friend from seattle who is currently working in copenhagen visited over the weekend. We ventured into a few new areas of dublin that i had not visited prior...finding a cool market, which i will return to to have some local oysters and cheese. The highlight, from a touristic standpoint, was our visit to the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery. "Old" means it's no longer produced there but in Cork (another town in ireland). It was still interesting (although the Jack Daniels tour in Lynchburg Tennessee is way better) and ended with Mukkul being selected to taste-test Jameson whiskey verses 4 others. Being a true north american, he opted for JD. The mushy movie that starts the tour is also a good laugh...typical early 90's short film with cheesy music and scenes of ireland...lines included "Irish whiskey goes back to the beginning of time" and "Irish Whiskey is the story of Ireland".

World Cup is on

2006-06-11T16:17:00.000+01:00

So everyone knows the world cup is here. Since ireland didn't qualify, most of the radio stations and papers have decided to support poland (since polish immigrants outnumber all others in ireland). Unfortunately, we've already had a humiliating loss to ecuador...a team who's qualified for the world cup only twice. To make matters worse, Mayra, an ecuadorian friend is visiting tonight and im sure ill hear all about it. On a more positive note, the weather has been simply perfect for the last week, but most irish are warning me that this past week has been "the summer" and not to expect this for the next three months. You wouldn't believe it, but i just realized that after a month in dublin, i have not traveled outside of dublin 1/2 (the core) except for my trip to france. Leaving the city center is for suckers ;)

Bank Holiday

2006-06-05T13:48:00.000+01:00

It's a bank holiday today so i have the day off. The area around my house is filled with thousand upon thousands of scantily clad women :) Why? cause it's dublin's annual woman mini-marathon, and it just happens to begin a block from my house. Paris was great, i really enjoyed my time there which included an evening of house partying and clubbing with Igor & Elodie.

Party on the Seine

2006-06-03T14:38:00.000+01:00

This weekend im in paris visiting my dad who is here on business. I arrived late last night and headed straight for the latin quarter where i had a crepe followed by some watered-down wine and shisha. In addition to the l'eau-avec-vin scam, they also charged us 2 euro for an extra coal...so i decided to leave the tourist area and head for the hotel. Walking along the seine, i came accross a bridge (that crosses the river) which had a few hundred university-aged people partying on it. The sides of the bridge was decorated with artwork and people were either sitting in big circles or standing and chatting...drinking large quantities of french wine of course. Had i not been tired i would have stayed to enjoy this very unique party. Today i bought a kilo or two of various french cheeses which ill bring back and enjoy in dublin.

Taxes Done Right

2006-05-31T17:53:00.000+01:00

Everyone hates taxes, not just paying them, but the laborious task of actually doing them. I've filed in both Canada (with the help of an accountant) and the USA (on my own) and both processes have put gray hairs on my head. Everyone stresses and complains but finally the taxes are filed and you try to erase all memory of this process until the following year. Ahhh but there is a better way. In ireland, all that is required is to fill out a very-easy-to-understand 2 page document when you beginning working. The main pieces of info are you social security number and your employer's. Once that link is made, taxes are automatically deducted (based on your income bracket) from every paycheck and YOU NEVER HAVE TO FILE TAXES!! ...unless of course you have other sources of income. You also check a few boxes like: im single, i rent, etc and any tax credits are factored in. So at least in my case, i don't have to deal with accountants, i don't have to learn H&R blocks new web interface, i don't have to install any tax software on my non-existent computer and i don't have to print and mail pages of tax forms which i don't understand (but am required to sign as if i do).

Lessons learned from Marketing

2006-05-30T18:24:00.000+01:00

Great post about marketing that can be easily transferred to the software world. Next time your boss asks you for yet another version of the UI for the product you're working on and says they'll "know it when they see it" respond:
Actually, you won't. You didn't know it when you saw the first iPod or the first iteration of Google. You didn't know it when first exposed to email or JetBlue or the Macarena or Britney Spears....

...ok...i must confess, i knew britney was going to be huge from the first time i saw her ;)

Say at my place!

2006-05-28T15:43:00.000+01:00

One of the things that i really enjoyed about my recent backpacking trip was being able to meet, converse with and party with people from various parts of the world. It's always interesting to get a different world perspective: speak to a dane about the cartoon fiasco, a ukrainian about the revolution, a french student about job security, etc. But if you're not traveling yourself, how can you facilitate this? Actually, it's easier than you think :) There are plenty of websites on the internet that allow you to "host" travelers as they come through your town. It's free, you're not obliged to host anyone unless you want to and there are various ways to ensure the people who are coming to stay at your place are credible and won't steal your italian sofa. The two most popular sites are Hospitality Club and Couch Surfing. Of course, you can also use this while traveling...instead of staying in an expensive hotel or a hostel filled with typical backpackers (canadian, american, australian & english), use one of these sites to hook up with locals. Im currently hosting people at my place in dubin, we've had lots of interesting people so far, including Syrun a crazy french guy who is on his 5th year of a 12 year trip. Give it a go!

Football

2006-05-24T17:11:00.000+01:00

All these posts about sports, you'd think i was a big sports fan. Outside of north america, football (errr soccer) is _the_ sport. a couple days ago i was walking down the main street in dublin looking for stores that sell maps (im looking to put a world map on my wall...but that's another story altogether). finally someone points me to a large bookstore. i walk inside and it's absolutely packed with people...my immediate thought is, how on earth are they going to prevent people from stealing books? anyway, all of a sudden i hear a loud cheer from the back of the store where most of the people are concentrated...so i go over for a look, and sitting down signing copies of his new autobiography is Pelé. Yes Pelé. So there i am, Mr. Pelé is a few steps away, but im hungry, and instead of picking up a copy of his book and waiting in line like the rest of the lemmings, i went home to eat lunch...told you i'm not much of a sports fan.

To redeem myself, today after work im going to a Chilé vs Ireland football match. Yes, both teams didn't even qualify for the world cup, but the tickets are free.

Calling all Java Devs

2006-05-22T17:33:00.000+01:00

My company is looking for a senior java developer to lead a team of java developers in creating our flagship product. Check out the monster job description and send your resume today! mail to: bkunowski at vision.com

Munster Madness

2006-05-21T16:55:00.000+01:00

It has been a really random weekend. It started on friday night when I met up with Edd, an English friend who i met in slovenia a while back. Although he's traveled more european countries that any other person i've met, it was his first time in ireland. it was great seeing him again, hope he makes it out here more often. half way through the night, i had to leave and meet up with a polish girl that was staying at our place for the night. another late night in dublin. the following day, was the european rugby championship were Munster (a team from south west ireland) won the cup. this was huge deal for ireland, unfortunately i couldn't celebrate saturday night because early sunday morning i drove up to Belfast to meet with a client (from work). now the weekend is almost done, im not rested and it's raining, but life is good.

dublin @ night

Jaywalking

2006-05-19T16:54:00.000+01:00

When im in a city walking down a busy street, i do my best to fit in with the crowd. Being spotted as a tourist just makes me cringe...and the easiest way to tell Dubliners and tourists apart is to see who crosses on a red, and who gets left behind. You see, they drive on the left side of the road...so even a seasoned jaywalker from new york will think twice before making the dash. it really is a sign of cool, a status symbol, and i'm proud to say, that im jaywalking with the best of them.

F1 & Futbol

2006-05-18T17:38:00.000+01:00

It's been a great week for spain. A few days ago Spain's own Fernando Alonso won the F1 Grand Prix in Barcelona. This was followed up by yesterday's Barcelona 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the Euro Cup Final. I watched the game in an overcrowded sports bar. I thought the game would provide all the night's excitement but i was proven wrong when five or six Arsenal fans started a full-out brawl with 4 bouncers in the middle of the bar. Im sure someone was hurt. Current weather in Madrid: sunny and 29C.

Chillout Radio

2006-05-15T17:58:00.000+01:00

On a recent trip to Lithuania I met an American guy who was really into techno. Since i never really understood the different forms of techno we started a fairly lengthy conversation. After a while it was quite clear he himself didn't the ability to explain the difference between Acid Jazz, Euro Funk and Break Beats (just to name a few). Finally we found a great site that shows how all these styles are related, provides full descriptions and music samples. It turns out there's a form of techno that really appeals to me...chillout. I haven't had the energy to look for MP3s or the money to buy CDs but I have found a great webradio site called OverXposure.FM which I've been listening to on a regular basis for the past month. It's based out of Seattle and supports MP3Pro...give it a listen.

Livin the vida loca

2006-05-13T17:13:00.000+01:00

I just finished my first week of work. Im working for Ecceleration, a small software company which is owned by a larger consulting company called Vision. This is my first full time role as a technical project manager. Although im only a week in, im enjoying it already. Although i can't go into the details of my project, i will say that there's some good work to be done and i think I can learn a lot in the process. Working hours are fairly standard 9 to 5:30 with an hour lunch, but as will most software companies this is just a guideline. My commute to work is acceptable, first a beautiful 15 minute walk along the Grand Canal to the train station. Then 15 minutes on the DART and a 15 minute shuttle bus to the east point business park.

After a week of work, it was time to have some fun. Me and my roommates, along with other guests pre-partied at our house until 4:30 after which we went to crackin' house party till 6 (when the Garda decided it was time to finish the spanish/italian bash).

Spanish Lessons

2006-05-11T17:17:00.000+01:00

My roommates and I are getting along just great. The spanish are a very social people, so there always seems to be guests over. Once in a while we cook a house dinner, it feels like the beginning of year 2 in uni. I've made a deal with a couple of the girls in my house, a few times per week we'll be having English/Spanish lessons...last night was the first. Soon i'll be speaking with a Catalan accent, not my favorite of the various latino accents, but they won't "acthept" anything else.

Boat Ride

2006-05-08T17:40:00.000+01:00

Yesterday after moving into my new house i went for a stroll in my new neighborhood. When i came to Grand Canal, Dublin's prettiest canal, i noticed boats making their way through it. The canal has a series of locks which are all manually operated. That is, you need to jump of your boat, raise/lower water levels using a big wrench that raises/lowers water barriers and then manually push/pull the locks open. After seeing the Panama canal in action only a few months ago, it was cool to see it done the old fashion way. I arrived when the first of thirty boats where coming through (this happens once a year, so was very lucky) and noticed that they were having trouble opening one of the locks, so i offered to help and five minutes later i was on the boat with 3 Irish gentlemen cruising down the canal. Great way to spend an sunny afternoon in Dublin.

Got me a home

2006-05-06T20:10:00.000+01:00

I've been in a mad rush over the last couple of days trying to find a place. There are lots of rooms going up for rent but I have quite a few requirements. I want something central, in a cool neighborhood with lots of shops and cafes. Also, I want to get by without a car, and since traffic is really bad in the city, buses are also out of the question. This leaves the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) line as my only option which only has 3 stops in the city. Plus i want cool roommates that will let me have guests and yadda yadda yadda the list continues. The biggest factor has been time, i start work on monday and i don't want to be worrying about this or living in a hostel. Finally, i found a place, it's not perfect but good enough. Here is the house graded:
Location 10/10 - just of Baggot Street...lots of little shops, cafe's, best night life, beautiful Georgian arch and close to DART
House 4/10 - think student house without students
Room 2/10 - very, very small
Roommates 10/10 - of course i just met them once and this score can easily change, but i'll be living with 5 Spaniards in their 20's (3W & 2M + me)...this means a year from now i should be fluent in Spanish :)
Rent 6/10

Guinness

2006-05-05T14:24:00.000+01:00

Sooner or later I would have to dedicate a post to this wonderful black beer, so here it is. Last night I went out bar-hopping trying to get a feel for the night life here. I had my first Guinness in Ireland...I don't think it actually tastes better than in other parts of the world (although Im sure many Irish would argue) but they do serve it at the 'perfect' temperature, with the right amount of head, etc, etc...so i does taste good. Another interesting observation is how beer is priced a pubs. First off, brands don't matter...beers are categorized and priced by the type (ex. Stout or Ale). The price of a beer also goes up later in the night and even more interesting is that the increase in price is not uniform. For instance, a stout would go up by 50c while a lager by 10c. Regardless of the pricing scheme, lots of beer is drunk every night. It's funny to walk around town in the morning as Guinness trucks unload kegs and kegs of the stuff...you get a feel for how much they love it. I also visited St. Patrick's Cathedral today, and guess who had a statue next to the church? Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness...but he did a lot more than just run a beer company (like donating lots of money to restore the church). Another popular beer here is Smithwicks which with an Irish accent is pronounced "Smidicks"...if you wanna fit in with the crowd you just gotta do it their way.

My first guinness in ireland

Just walking around

2006-05-04T19:13:00.000+01:00

Dublin is a beautiful city. I spent hours and hours walking around (with an umbrella of course), passing countless Irish pubs, beautiful churches & parks. It's very clean compared to most European cities despite the crowds of people walking down the main streets. There's lots of money here, high-end shops and expensive cars abound. The economy has been so great, many people (like myself) has moved here from all over the world...i heard many languages today, and Polish is one of the most common. I even found a Polish food store...i will not go hungry :)