Return Date, Visitors & Misc.

I have officially set my return date. I will fly back to Denver in mid-November, celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and return to work in the Denver office on November 26. I will be home to celebrate the Christmas season with family and friends!

I have a very full apartment right now! My cousin, Cherie and her friend (Susannah) and Susannah's sister (Corie) are all staying with me. The beds are full and someone will have to sleep on my very modern no-fluff sofa tonight. We just returned from church and some sightseeing in Dublin. We had a picnic on the steps of the church in Trinity college and tried to get some shelter from the rain. They have 3 more nights in Dublin before they head to Paris for a few days.

In other news, it appears that my apartment complex is very popular for other people on assignment with my company. There is one guy who is in the building next door and we can wave to each other from our balconies. (Kinda like the building on Friends). Well, a new Canadian guy come to Dublin a couple weeks ago and he moved into my building yesterday. Not just my building, but MY FLOOR! For someone who usually keeps work and personal life a bit more separated, it is weird! Cherie, Susannah and I were leaving for some touring yesterday and we ran into Jeff with all of his boxes moving in to the building. I guess I'll have to think twice before I run to the grocery store in my sweats for coffee! :)

Also, I forgot to mention in my last blog about my manual driving skills. So, as many of you know, I have not learned to drive a manual and over 90% of the cars in Ireland are manual. It is very difficult and much more expensive to rent an automatic car. So, when Bill was here, he drove. One evening in Edinburgh, Scotland we found a great parking lot and he let me drive. I have to say that just a couple weeks before I had done the same thing with my dad and managed to move the car about 5 feet as I jerked it 5 times and killed it each time. So, when I was driving the second time I was sceptical that I would even get the car to move, but I am happy to report that I drove it in figure 8's in a parking lot and didn't kill it once. I still haven't gotten out of first gear, but it was a vast improvement. At the rate I'm going, I may be able to drive a manual car around my 80th birthday! Maybe I'll have a late life crisis and get a sports car for 80....hmmm. Hopefully that brings a smile to anyone reading this!