§ ¶Look out!

I'm lucky I decided to stay in on Saturday. I was tired and needed to watch my budget, so I thought it was best to spend my weekend at home, reading a bit and watching some TV. That was a great idea, because sometime between 1 and 2 pm in the very centre of Dublin, a bus drove in to the queue of people waiting for that same bus, and some pedestrians. 5 people dead and loads more injured.

Imagine that. You're waiting for the bus like I do all the time, and then suddenly you're dead.

Nasty. My sympathies to anyone involved.

§ ¶w00t!

I should have every monday morning off. In fact, everybody should have every monday morning off. Productivity would go up immensely for the rest of the week if it would start on Monday afternoon. Trust me, it works! Besides, nothing important is going to happen on monday morning anyway.

I really needed this last monday morning off to get some extra sleep. The weekend with Nicole, Allard, Willem and Harald was crazy. It was a never ending hunt for w00t!, feistyness, and drinks so evil they will harm many brain cells who are good (go see the movie 'Kung Pow: Enter the Fist'). Check out the first batch of pictures of last weekend here, and stay tuned for even more pictures. I hope they enjoyed the weekend as much as I did.

When I finally arrived at work around 11:30, I found this Belgian surprise on my desk:

Bart the Belgian has established a very succesful import channel of Belgian Chocolates into Ireland. Last weekend he went to Belgium and smuggled over 5 kilo's of fine Pralines on his way back. That's legal, right? Anyway, 750 grammes of that had my name on it, and I can assure you it increases your popularity in the office if you put the box openly on your desk.

Needless to say the whole box of chocolates is already finished today (Wed.).

§ ¶Idea of scale

This is so funny, i had to post it. Flavio sent me an e-mail comparing the construction of the new Luas tram line that's being built in Dublin at the moment to the NASA going all the way to Mars:

Earth to Mars:

 * Distance: Approx. 77 Million kms
 * NASA Spirit Cost: Approx. 321 Million
 * Launched: 10-06-2003
 * Landed: Jan 2004
 * Status: Working

Luas tram system :(www.luas.ie)

 * Length of first two lines: Approx. 25kms
 * Luas cost so far: Approx. 675 million
 * Construction of Line A commenced in September 1999.
 * Status: Not working

Just to give some idea of scale, if there were to be
an Irish mission launched in the morning, at this rate it would take
13 million years to get to Mars, without actually working, in spite of
costing EUR208 trillion.

Thanks Flavio! :)

§ ¶T minus 5 days

Will Nicole, Allard (right), Harald (Left) and Willem all fit in my house? Who knows? We'll find out in five days, because they're flying to Dublin this Friday. I can't wait!

§ ¶Still alive

It has been a little bit quiet on this site, but it hasn't been quiet in Dublin. The beats of the club music last night are still thumping through my head today (ouch). I added two photo albums so you can see what i've been up to.

Friday was probably the first time ever that anyone attempted to have a barbeque in February in Ireland. You can count on the Italians to come up with such great ideas. You can also count on them for very tasty food and a good party, though. Just take a look at this:

Lots of italian Musica and good wine are key ingredients for celebrating Marco's birthday properly. Chin-Chin!