on Wednesday I added a Hyper-V Cluster to the DPM at work, but it didn’t run at the first try. I had to fix some configurations (firewall, permission), but now they are are added and the replication is in progress and on Monday I have to test it for functioning. But for this I had to create a virtual machine so I can put in the backup, because it’s not recommend in a life enviroment.
In my last article I’ve spoken about the new contract in the cafeteria and they changed the breakfast on Friday, so they canceled the best meal of the week.
This weekend is the Comic Con in Belfast and I will post what happens there on my next article.
The fourth workweek is already over and now I’ve finally my „own“ little project. After we were at the hospitals (Royal Victoria Hospital & Belfast City Hospital) again, to replace a BIOS battery of the SAN volume controller and a hard drive, I’ve switched over to the apps team. Since Wednesday I try to work myself in a charity project. The task is the development of a website for the charity organization Hope and a Future. So I’am trying to get used to the ASP.NET MVC which is quite similar to the Bootstrap framework, that Tim and me used in our HTML course last year. Today nearly the whole office went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, to eat burritos and stuff. For me it was finally the first really spicy meal here in Belfast, that’s why that was definitely not my last visit there.
Have you guys ever had a song stuck in your head because you heard it somewhere, even though you didn’t hear the whole song but actually only caught a snippet over a conversation in a pub? For me it is this song that’s stuck in my head since yesterday evening. I heard it in the Glencormac Inn at the bottom of the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Wicklow. A group of 14 people from System Dynamics went up the mountain after work. It was a good hike and at the end of the day I had 17898 steps on my pedometer and a couple of sandwiches as well as 2 Guinness in my tummy.
Down there at the pub
Halway, almost all the way around 😉
Allllllllllmost there
Whoooohooo!
Also, Mr. Bavar, Mrs. Teichmann and Mrs. Neumann came to System Dynamics yesterday to see how and what I’m doing here. It was nice to be able to show someone what I actually do here instead of just having to describe it as best I can. Nicola and Eamonn were talking to them as well over tea and coffee.
Because I didn’t want to go to the hike in my work clothes, I changed into jeans and a t-shirt. Unfortunately, I’m a man of habit and my habit is to keep my Leapcard in my pants pocket… my work pants pocket…
I didn’t have any change for the bus but Bridgitta, a colleague from SD, gave me 3€ so I could at least take the bus home. I decided to walk to work this morning to bring my step count up and also because I didn’t have enough money at home. It was a nice exercise, took me just over an hour and brought me 8k steps for today. I’m now up to ~9500 and I’m thinking about walking home, as well. That would easily be another 17k-18k steps for today but I’ll sleep in tomorrow because I have to get a rest at some point. Depending on the weather, I might walk up to Howth around noon tomorrow but I might also just do that on Sunday or even next weekend. We’ll see…
On Sunday Leo, a friend of him and me decided to rent a car and start a trip towards the north of Northern Ireland. There is a long road called A2 a.k.a. Antrim Coast Road which is a pretty fitting term for the views you get. We started our tour at around 12 am in the noon. After taking a nice breakfast at Clements which is a café chain only located in Belfast, we went to Sixt to get the car. It was a well equipped and fuel-efficient KIA. When we started driving down the M2 even as passenger it was a different feeling, because you automatically keep looking for the traffic and stay alerted too. When we arrived in Larne we finally got on the A2. Along the road are many way points where you can stop with your car and take pictures of the great countryside and the ocean. These stops are usually parking lots or third lanes and are well placed. The roads we were driving down are not for nothing so called scenic drives, you can capture great pictures of the awesome surrounding. Luckily the weather was great, it was cloudy but dry and there were many clear spells which underlayed a great lightning to the scenery. We made a few stops in the bigger cities and we were able to see anything from mountains right next to us to forests which we’re similiar to jungles to ports just for yachts. Unfortunately the Bushmills distillery in the far north of Northern Ireland was already closed when we arrived there. They produce a famous whiskey brand which is a symbol of the country (5 – 10 and 20 Pound notes are featuring a drawing of it). It would have been a great souvenir, but probably I will take a ride to there with the bus again and participate on the tour around the factory. The famous landmarks Giants Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede are also located near Bushmills and as actual destinations of the trip we visited it right after leaving the town. It were unbelievable nice places to be and I think pictures can’t express the beauty of the nature and environment there but at least they can encourage you to visit it also if the chance exists. When we were able to tick those points for ourselves we again hit the road for driving to the last stop of the journey. It was a small town called Castlerock which offers a nice (baltic sea like) beach and a nice promenade. After a long day in the car and so much new impressions we became hungry and had a great dinner in the local „Temple Bar“ which offered a nice Northern Irish steak for a fair price. Saturated and happy to have had such a great experience we started driving back to Belfast (thru an inner-country route this time). – (pictures to follow)
on Monday Marco and I wanted to go to lunch, but Graham told us, that the contract between the NMNI(my Workplacement) and the catering company has changed. The contract are changing all 5 years. Now we can’t eat something in the cafeteria because all prizes increased and there are no chips, no custom sandwiches and the only remaining meal is a really expensive Daily Special and it tastes only sometimes. I’m really disappointed about that and now I have to bring my food to work.
After work Marco and I bought some burgers from the Chip Company and these burgers are awesome and very cheap, that’s why I can really recommend.them.
actually I would like to write something about our „Roadtrip“, but I read Angelo’s blog entry and guess there is no information that he hasn’t mentioned. I totally agree that the trip was a moment in my life that I won’t forget. The countryside looks like it was edited with „Photoshop“. Unbelieveable and a little bit unreal if you don’t see it with your own eyes. The only negativ point was that I worn my new white shoes. During our climbing they were full of mud but to me it was worth it. The view from the top of the mountain was awesome. On the top we took a little brake, eaten some cookies, enjoyed the nice air and the beauty of the nature.
Angelo organized the roadtrip more than good and he and Paul drove perfectly in the Irish traffic.
I thank you guys for the nice days, lovely birthday presents, beautiful and funny moments! I wish we could repeat this some day.
Now that the road trip is over and I completed the last calculations concerning payback to the guys, I can go ahead and make new plans. There’s not much I can do concerning tomorrow, when my supervisors will come and check out System Dynamics for themselves but I can make plans concerning my/our last hours here in Dublin.
I didn’t worry about the time the plane would depart when I saw the schedule a couple of weeks ago but now that I know about the public transport situation here in Dublin and also the rest of Ireland, I can’t really wrap my head around just what the people were thinking when they booked the flight for this ungodly hour. It might be absolutely ok and even possible to reach the Tegel or Schoenefeld airport in time at any hour of the day but here in Ireland that’s another story. The first bus arriving at the airport is number 16 at around 8am. My flight leaves at 7.10am… What’s wrong with this picture?
So, in collaboration with the guys from Derry, we’re planning to stay at the airport from Friday night to Saturday morning. It shouldn’t be a problem IF… we bring enough resources to keep us beertertained. Budweiser, Carlsberg, Heineken or any other liquid of the canned variety will take care of that but I guess I’ll come back to that when the date draws closer.
Tomorrow afternoon, there’s also the hike that is organized by the Sports&Social Committee here at System Dynamics. I’m taking part in that to see the Wicklow Mountains and raise my step count for the SD Summer Step Challenge 2014. I hope my team “The Caribous” will win or at least reach a good second place. 😉
The title refers to a common gambling in the british world of work. I’ve already heard about it somewhere, but I was still a little bit confused as my colleages asked me, if I want to play along. It’s some kind of lottery where everyone adds 2 pounds into the pot and have the chance to win everything after a month, if he hits the jackpot. But unfortunately I will be back in Germany at the time of the next drawing, so I couldn’t participate. And of course we were in the cinema again. After all, yesterday was Crazy Tuesday. We’ve seen X-Men in 3D and it was epic. In the first half of the movie my mind was still pondering, whether I would want to be the super fast guy or Magneto. I really like the actors and the realization of the movie, so he get’s a 8 out of 10 from me.
Arriving at Dublin Airport around 7.20pm on Friday, George and I went to Avis to pick up our car. After my VISA was declined, we had to book an insurance packet with Avis directly which cost us 12€ per day on top of what I had already paid in advance. It’s still very cheap to get a car for the weekend and after that minor setback, we were off to the guys in Derry. The drive up there was nice and after around 20 minutes on the road, sitting on the right side of the car, shifting with the left hand and driving on the left side becomes quite natural. The only thing that bothered me up until the end was the indicator being on the left side of the steering wheel which made it virtually impossible to use while shifting gears in a roundabout for example. When we arrived in Derry we had a small birthday party for George with Budweiser and Cake.
The next morning started off with a nice breakfast after which Joel came to Tobi and Paul’s place and then we were off to meet Max on a parking lot near to where his girlfriend was staying. Paul was kind enough to burn his road trip CDs for both our cars so after a few minutes our cars both looked kind of like this.
It took a little getting used to driving with another car behind me so when I came upon a place I thought was beautiful and well worth taking a couple of pictures, I pulled over with Paul rushing past me. Granted, I was kind of quick in my decision making and didn’t really have the time to indicate my desire to pull over so I wasn’t surprised that Paul didn’t make it. I was actually glad because I myself barely managed to come to a stop before the pocket ended. After that, it went rather smoothly. I tried watching out a little more and we reached every place safe and sound. We even came across a nice place where I had the chance to transform my Renault Mégane into a Dodge Ram. Well, sort of… 😉
Pimp my Ride, Hillbilly Style
The first stop of this journey was Mount Errigal in County Donegal. The Saturday sun blessed us with an amazing view as well as a nice tan/burn. We climbed 688 meters all the way to the tippy top which took us roughly two and a half to three hours and about an hour for the way down. I had to change my t-shirt and the others had to change their shoes and pants because the bottom of the Mountain was quite boggy. We started toward Galway at around 2pm and got there at 7.30pm. We spent the night at a nice little B&B run by Larry Bogan who’s a very nice man. Before going to bed, we decided to go into city center to eat something and maybe also have a pint of Guinness. It turned out to be quite hard to find a place that everybody could agree on and so we ended up in a diner eating burgers and drinking milkshakes. We were all pretty beat after climbing that mountain and driving down to Galway so we went home after that dinner.
Mt. Errigal
Mt. Errigal
The next morning, Larry made pancakes for us and we had toast and fruit as well. We left his B&B at around 9am, walking on the beach of Galway Bay for a bit, taking pictures and collecting a few shells; well, I did that anyway. After that we were off to the Slieve League Cliffs which are not as famous as the Cliffs of Moher but reach almost 3 times higher. The look down to the Atlantic waves smashing against the walls of the mountain was entrancing and so was the drive up and down the narrow roads there, going up and down, left and right.
Galway Bay
Sliabh Liag
Sliabh Liag
Since Paul had to return his car before the rental place closed, we had to make our way back rather quickly and also get gas before returning the car. We managed it all fine, got back to Tobi and Paul’s place and had a little time to relax before we made our way into the city to have something to eat and drink. Since their favorite restaurant was closed, we ended up getting bat wings coated in cornflakes and dipped in scalding hot fat. The Hillbilly’s Family Meal comes with 6 pieces of chicken, 4 helpings of fries and a 1l soda. I went to bed at half past twelve and got up at 8 to have a final breakfast in Derry, before leaving for Dublin via the Giant’s Causeway and the Causeway Coastal Route.
Beautiful Ireland
Dunluce Castle
The Giant’s Causeway was beautiful, the rope bridge tiny – from up where we looked at it – and the Causeway Coastal Route was amazing, breathtaking and fast. I had a blast riding that road like a dolphin rides the waves of the ocean.
George
Giant’s Causeway
The Chimneys
Der Causeway und ich
Giant’s Causeway
Giant’s Causeway
Rope Bridge
George and I stopped at a restaurant which made the famous ‘golden seagull’ its emblem and took off ‘flying’ down the M1 Motorway towards Dublin. Now, when I say flying, I don’t literally mean flying like but I was going almost 180km/h at one point though the overall speed limit is 120 if not lower. But what can I say; it’s frustrating, having a fast car that isn’t allowed to go fast.
Giving the car back at the airport was easy enough since there was no damage done to the car, the tank was full and we even threw out the garbage. We made our way into the city by bus and when I came home, I put my clothes in the washer, went to Tesco to get some cash as well as deodorant and had dinner and a pint of Guinness with Eamonn, my host dad. After that I took a shower, shaved and went to bed.
In short: whoever said that driving 250 miles is hard, is not well informed because after driving roughly 1331 kilometers this weekend, I think 250 mi are a piece of cake. 😉
I re-discovered my love for coffe! This morning were like every other morning and I was damn tired so I asked Peter where did he got his coffe and he told me that I bought his coffe at the central train station across the street. So I asked him if it were okay that I quick go there and buy me coffe and he said it were okay. At the train stastion I went into that coffe store and odered a big Cappuccino and wow was that an awesome Cappuccino. When I got back I already emptied it but I still wanted more coffe. I went to the vening machine and bought like 3 cups of coffe over the day. Damn it I really frickin love coffe!
I can say that I can work better with some cups of coffe and I think I know now where I go now before work starts.
