Edy’s: Grand Ice Cream, Amazing Company!

So my summer of handing out ice cream couldn’t have gone any better! I got right in to the swing of things and started going to local HyVee’s and Fareways. I found that it is a lot of fun promoting our products and that the interaction with people is what really makes this job. By the time I am finished I should have given over 15,000 samples of ice cream to smiling faces this summer. It is pretty amazing when you think about it. I have found myself saying in my sleep, “would you like to try our Edy’s Slow Churned Ice Cream? It has half the fat and a third of the calories of regular ice cream.” It’s true and the ice cream is amazing, I am lucky I can still fit in the van. While giving out samples I have been all over the place and stayed in lots of hotels. Some of the towns you may have seen me and the sampling van in are Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Quad Cities, Des Moines, Sioux City, Mason City, and many others in Iowa, as well as Yankton and Sioux Falls South Dakota. I have also been to Chicago, IL several times. I got a coworker about half way through July. Maureen has been a lot of fun to work with. It is nice having someone to travel with and a lot more people take samples when one of us is outside the van drawing attention. I keep wanting to have a scooping competition but she won’t bite. The job has been great and the company has been even better. There is a lot of positive reinforcement. Edy’s uses a reverse pyramid style management and has a GROOVE mentality that makes it a ton of fun. Everyone is upbeat a really seems o be enjoying their job. This is contagious. I am really fortunate to have the experience of working for them. Thanks Edy’s for all the great memories, hopefully we’ll cross paths again.

Missing civilization

So not too much is new. I caught a ride in to Westport yesterday to enjoy civilization for a while which is always a good thing. I haven’t been lonely but it is amazing how being stuck in one place for extended periods of time can really affect a person. I mostly just ran errands and stopped at the pub for a couple pints. I watched with the locals as the new budget was read on the telly (TV). Cigarettes went up 30 cents a pack but alcohol and petro stayed the same. Everyone seemed pretty content with what they heard. The worst news was they are going to up the tax on vehicles based on their emissions. After that I caught a ride home with Sarah, David my boss’s wife. They met at Delphi Lodge 15 years ago. She came from Australia to work and never left. She travelled as I am now doing and said it was great, but living in a different country then your family can be tough. I would agree. My next set of travel plans are now booked thanks to my travel agent, Matt Kyhnn. He has to take care of everything online right now as ours is still down at the lodge. The plans are to head to Norway from Dublin on December 26th, then head to the UK on the 30th. I don’t know anything about Norway but why not. It should be a great time. Now we just have to figure when we are heading to Spain to see our friend Cat from college and things will be grand. I am really excited to hit the road again!
Today we caught 30 salmon and the temporary office arrived. It reminded me of living in the camper during August. Ahh the good times of sunny, humid, Iowa weather. It has been rainy and windy all week. On the bright side the insurance company cleared the building and are now going to send a specialist to see if it was lightning that caused it. We took inventory or all the gear and now have to get prices on replacements. I can’t wait to get my new rain gear; I’m tired of getting soaked all the time. Well it’s off to bed for me, I have to work in about 7 hours. Peace out!

It only takes a couple seconds

I haven’t been neglecting my blog lately I promise! The internet at the lodge got taken out the same day of the hatchery fire so I just haven’t been able to post anything.
Today I learned a little more about the life of a salmon. That little bit being the first seconds of many salmon’s lives. For the first time this year we stripped the hens (females) and milked the males. The process is quite simple; first you get a hen that is ready to spawn. You can tell because their stomachs are very soft. Then you squeeze the eggs out by running your thumb from head to tail. It looks really easy. So far I have just been holding the tubs. We put one salmon’s eggs into each tub and record it. We then go about milking a male. To do this is similar to the females but there is no way to tell if a male is ready, you just have to grab one and do a similar action with your thumb and forefinger. You have to be really careful not to let any water touch the milk as this activates it and it will only stay fertile for a couple seconds. The next step is putting the milk in with the eggs and a little water, swirl it around and let them rest for several minutes. Most of the fertilization is done within a few seconds but we give them several minutes to be on the safe side. Then we gently rinse the eggs and place them in special trays that have holes to let running water through but not the eggs. Then we leave them. I am told that in about 4 to five weeks they will start to get eyes and will wiggle if you watch carefully. Lets cross my fingers that I did everything right so we can have first generation Wolken salmon come spring. It is amazing to see really. The eggs change from a translucent orange to a cloudy orange after they have been fertilized. It is really cool stuff and we will keep this process up for about the next three weeks. I will try and get some pictures and maybe even a video and try and post them. Cheers and g’night!

What's the worst that can happen, you burn the place down?

That is the common phrase we say when we are left to look after something for the first time, and none of us ever think it going to happen right? Well today was the first day I was solely in charge of the Delphi Salmon fishery and what did I do? You guessed it, burnt it down, sorta. The day started off as normal as possible, I checked all the tanks and filters, took out the rubbish from the lodge, and then started to get some paperwork in line for Monday as we were going to start stripping the fish. I went to make some copies and to clean all the coffee mugs from the office. At this point it had begun to rain which is nothing new because it rains a minimum of three times a day here. Well today’s storm brought with it something I had yet to see or hear in Ireland while it rained, yep, common thunder and lightning. And while it was only a couple shots it was violent and quit close, but none of us could have guessed how close. After making my copies, washing the mugs, and chatting with the ladies in the kitchen I headed back to the fishery. When I came over the hill I saw a lot of smoke and thought that’s odd. When I got to the fishery I could see it was on fire. I ran back and informed the staff at the lodge and then sprinted back. I started throwing water on it from the stream next to it. By this time the whole lodge staff was over helping. We got in out fairly quickly and I then went to shut the generator off, and had one of the regular staffers make sure that all the power was shut off to the fishery. There was a lot of damage, but nothing that can’t be replaced. After all this the fire brigade finally showed up, as it’s a 35 minute drive from Westport. They cleared it and said the building was safe to be in. They also said that the cause of the fire was unknown. It was amazing to see how some of the electrical leads were blown apart. It makes me thing that lightning struck something. Luckily no one was working today because it all occurred about 10:30 in the break room where we would all be gathered for morning tea. Luckily no one was hurt. There is a lot of damage but nothing that can’t be replaced. Now we have to wait ‘til Monday for an insurance adjuster, get and electrician, and start the cleanup. And for now, you’ll find me hand feeding the fish about every 15-20 minutes while the sun is up. And as my boss said, try and keep the place in order tomorrow, and well, at least you can’t burn the place down… you already took care of that today!”

Life as a Salmon Farmer

Well that’s what I like to call myself anyway. I am currently working for the Delphi Fishery, which is a part of the Delphi Lodge. In the spring, summer, and fall the lodge primarily functions as a fishing lodge. Guest from around the world come to spend time fly fishing for salmon in the renowned lakes and rivers of the Delphi Estate. In the winter the lodge and cottages are used to host house parties for anyone who wants to rent the place out. It is a great get-away and I have yet to see a guest who isn’t smiling and having a great time. As for me, I am doing general work for the fishery itself.
I start off every morning by checking the 12 holding tanks of salmon. I check to make sure everything looks to be in order and when one of our friends goes belly up (dead) I scoop 'em out and dispose of them. I also check the system filters and make sure the food is being rationed properly. The morning routine is fun and usually followed by a tea break. After break me and the lads, Lawrence, Giles, Rodek, David, and several other stand ins go about the day’s work. This can be a range of things from plucking birds from the recent hunts, cleaning out streams so the local sea trout can make it up the rivers to spawn, hauling rubbish from the lodge, and every day we clean the nets and go netting. This has to be the most fun of the job. We take nets and go fishing in several different locations on the two lakes. We almost always do the stream on Finlough as the salmon wait here to head up the stream to spawn next to the hatchery where they were raised. We catch anywhere from 10 to 50 salmon per netting. We also only keep those salmon that have their back fin docked which means they are a Delphi hatchery raised fish. All wild salmon are released back into the waters. We then put them in a transfer tank and head back to the hatchery. We separate the males and females and also check for id tags. We kill any salmon that currently have tags as they are a non-native species that is no longer needed in the system. The first couple of weeks of December will bring a new set of jobs as the salmon will then be ready to spawn.
Once they are ready to spawn we will harvest the eggs from the females, milk the males, and start the next generation of Delphi salmon. It should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it. At this point I know way too much about the lives of salmon, but I don’t intend to quit learning until my six weeks here is finished. I will let you know more about the process as I learn.

antique internet equipment = dial-up access

So, did I tell all of you that I wasn’t going to neglect my blog only to neglect it? No! I promise I have a ton of post ready to go but they are on my laptop and we lost the wireless connection when a storm hit last week. We are down to dial-up service. Yep, it still exists. It has been really windy and rainy here at Delphi. We get sleet and small hail about once a day. It is light around 8 and dark by 4:30. It is crazy, but then that’s just winter in Ireland. Today I helped set up the new feeder system, and went netting in a tiny stream by the hatchery. It is about 5 or six feet wide and usually from6 inches to a foot deep. When it rains a lot like it did last night it rises to waist deep water. This is when the salmon come in as they are ready to spawn now. We got 31 out of the stream and at least that many got by me. It is a ton of fun walking up a stream and scooping fish out of a stream, I suggest you try it if you get the chance. It is yet another moment that makes me glad I came on this journey. Sometimes I stop and think to myself, I am really doing it. I’m living in Ireland. Matt calls and says he and his roommates often times find themselves saying the same thing. It is a great thing that will soon end as I move to the UK. I leave on the 26th with a 4 night stop in Norway. Why you ask? Why not, it was a cheap flight at 67 euros. Then after I spend the New Year in Edenborough it will be off to Spain for 10 days with me and Matt's friend Cat. I think she may have a blog as well. I’ll look into that. I have a ticket scoped round trip at 37.50 euros a piece. I am going to book in a half hour when the system comes back online. It is amazing how cheap you can find flights. These have both been found at a great site Matt heard about called www.skyscanner.com You can get detailed and type in cities and dates or go as broad as from Ireland to Europe, anytime. It then tells you where you can get to super cheap. I recommend it if you are planning a trip soon. Well I have to get back to writing some x-mas cards to the family but look for more posts next week when the wireless is back up here at good ‘ol Delphi Lodge.

Whatever happened to that guy?

So if any of you are still trying to keep up with me I apologize. I got here and got so caught up with everything that I have neglected my blog for almost 3 months. To say the least a ton has happened to me in that 3 month period. So where am I in Ireland? What have I been doing? Where am I working? Well I am going to get you up to speed. The first few entries will be the quickest and most brief overview of the entire trip. Then I will break it down into more detail but I think you can look at Matt’s for a good review of what happened before we headed in different directions. His blog again is www.matthew-kyhnn-year-abroad.blogspot.com

So I instantly fell in love when I got off the bus in downtown Ireland. I had to ask a cop on a horse where to find the Temple bar district as we were staying there. After a couple hectic and sleepy days in Dublin we began to travel the countryside. Galway, Kells, Tramore, Donegal, Cork, Aughram, Ennis, and many other towns were hit. I saw tons of historical sites. The History over here is amazing. Everywhere you turn there is something that some town is proud of. And if you a curious just ask a local at one of the pubs and you’ll pry get an answer. And if you are in Kells you may have to knock on Mrs. Carpenter’s door to find the real answer. I have seen castles, high crosses, the Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery, Jameson Brewery, high crosses, towers, light houses, monastery ruins, cemeteries, and tons of churches! There is no shortage of sites to be seen in this great country the size of Iowa. So after about three weeks of traveling I had spent all the money I had brought and plus some.

So Matt and I had looked at a company called Face2Face Fundraising before we left. We applied and got the job which entailed talking to people in the street about a said charity and then trying to get this person to give 12-21 Euros a month. They did this by giving us their bank details for a direct debit. Sounds easy right? Well after 7 days I thought so. Then I didn’t sign anyone up for the next five days and got sacked (fired)! Oh well, the hours were long and pay was just ok. The plus was they had been providing my transportation and lodging. So it was back to Dublin for me as my couch surfing friend Lori happened to be coming to town the day after I got fired. We met up and I showed her all over Dublin. Then we grabbed a few pints, listened to some stellar traditional music and she headed back to her hostel as she had to catch a flight back to DC the next morning. From here I headed back to Galway. The young bustling town that 7 other Face2Face ex-employees were also moving too, to live it up. I got here before most of them and had a harder time than I thought finding a job. I finally did as a kitchen porter at Martine’s Quay St wine bar. I washed dishes, and on occasion plated a dessert. This lasted two and a half weeks. It was really tough work which didn’t bother me as I was eating first class food every night. Then I found out I wasn’t going to have any hours for two weeks as we were hitting our slowest time of the year. I couldn’t go too long without work and began looking elsewhere. I came across an ad at bestjobs.ie and now I am working at the Delphi Lodge Salmon Fishery. And I must say I couldn’t be happier. It’s funny how you find your way to a job that suits you. Even all my friends in Galway after being here just one week all told me I was in a much better state of mind! As I am now about an hour and a half from Galway I don’t get to see them too often. Working here in the nursery, netting salmon, clearing streams is great. Love it! Now I am starting to plan my transition to the UK as it is less than a month away. So that’s as short and sweet as I could possibly keep it. Oh how the time flies. That’s it for now but check back soon. I promise I won’t neglect my blog again!

Galway:

Day 3. So today was a pretty relaxed day. I woke up about 12:30 and headed down to the commons where I started work on my CV (Europe’s resume). I needed to add my Ambassador position and Skybox as previous bar experience is quit necessary here in Ireland. As for finding a place to live we have to wait until Wed. because a list comes out with all the flats available. I’ve heard the line starts forming about an hour before it is released. I submitted my CV to a company called face2face fundraising. They would send me around Ireland trying to raise awareness and funds for various non-profit organizations. Pay is great and I wouldn’t have to rent a flat which would save me a bundle. Now the question is do Matt and I try and rent a flat or do we bank on getting these traveling jobs. That’s something we are going decide first thing tomorrow. As for dinner went we attempted cooking for the first time in a hostel, which was crazy. There are tons of people fighting for burners and pans. As for the cuisine, Penne pasta, lasagna sauce, black pudding, and white pudding (that’s blood and bloodless sausage). We had attempted to go to 3 pubs each which had just quit serving food. Of course we didn’t find this out until after we had ordered our pints. After dinner I hit the hay in hopes that I can get a few things accomplished tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll hear back from face2face and I still need to get my PPS (SS#) so the Irish government can tax me!

Days in Dublin

Day 1: So it’s finally a reality. I have made it to Ireland! We landed about noon local time and got our bag which was a bit of a relief, we had 3 plane changes and London has one of the worst track records for losing luggage. All went well we got our bags, caught a bus and in about 30 minutes were at the city centre. Our Hostel was about a 15 minute walk from here. We stopped by the Temple Bar in temple bar district. Our first pints went down quit well and we ended up meeting another American that had taken his student loan and was backpacking Europe. The black stuff (Guinness) is easy to drink, mostly I think because the locals are so friendly. After heading back to the hostel to get caught up on some sleep I went out for another pint or two. It is outrageous that the pints are average 5 Euro’s. I don’t even want to do the conversions. After enjoying some live Irish music I called It a night. Back to the hostel where I have to share my room with 8 others, one whom is German and snores lightly. More to come when a few sights have been viewed

First Days Away

So things started a little rocky leaving from Chicago. Nobody informed us that the public transit ran on the Sunday schedule for Labor Day. So we headed to our 6:30am flight about 4. It was supposed to be a 45 minute L-ride. Thing is the orange line wasn’t running. Ok, no problem we will take the bus as informed by a friendly guy who had just gotten off work at a downtown club. Well, turns out the bus doesn’t go to the airport on Labor Day early but we ended up taking it anyway. We got close to the airport and by this time it was 5:30 with-in an hour of our plane leaving. I flagged a cab and got dropped off at the Southwest terminal and went to check in. Time was now getting tight as to whether we were going to make the flight or not. Luckily southwest had a short line and I was quickly to the front of the line only to find out that our flight was now being operated by ATA and that we needed to check in there. ATA had a long line and we then found out that we use a kiosk and still check our baggage. Matt and I did this and dashed for the plane. We made it time for the final boarding call. I caught a little sleep on the plane and was refreshed and ready to go when we got to DC. We headed out to Bethesda for a drink at the Rock Bottom. This turned out to be quit a stop. What was supposed to be a quick stop quickly changed? I ended up meeting a guy named Gerry Lee from Galway, Ireland. He was full of knowledge and stories. He bought us our drinks and even called a friend who might have work for us helping at banquets and events around Ireland. We are supposed to check in once we get to Dublin. After this we stopped by the coffee shop to check in with our families and grab a cup of coffee. Of course my PC wouldn’t pick up the signal so I ended up taking a nap while Matt spent an hour or so emailing, blogging etc. He had to point out several times that had I simply bought a Mac I wouldn’t be having these problems. From here we headed to Chinatown to meet our couch surfing host. For those of you not familiar with the site, you basically stay at people’s houses, apts, etc. on their couches for free in hopes that someday people can do the same on your couch. This was my first experience with anything like this and I was a little weary. We met Lori at a Thai restaurant were we talked and got to know about each other. Matt and I picked up the tab and then headed back to her place. She lived only several blocks from Capitol Hill. We continued our discussions and called it a night. The next day I woke up, enjoyed a cup of coffee and headed out. After a quick tour of our nation’s capitol it was time to head to the airport. We went back to Lori’s, got our backs and jumped on the metro. This time we got there checked right in and were ready to be on planes and in airports for the next 12 hours. It should be quit a trip, and the anticipation is now building.

More officialness

So, the airline ticket has been purchased for a while but what about the work visas. Well with the help of BUNAC.org and a money order for $1069 I can happily say I have attained work visas for 4 months in Ireland, and 6 months in Britain. I also have health insurance included for my time abroad. The first three nights I will be staying in hostels booked in Dublin. I have to attend an orientation meeting before I can get jobs, an apartment, etc. I also have to drop another €100 to register at the Garda when I arrive. There Ireland will give me a tax number and validate my work visa. This should be an exciting start to the trip. I still don’t know where I’ll be living or what I’ll be doing. Hopefully it will be picking potatoes, herding sheep, or caddying on a golf course. I’ll be living out of my Whitney backpack made by Gregory, which I purchased at moosejaw.com for a little over $300. I got a rain cover to go with it, as I hear it rains a lot in Ireland. Next up is to find a raincoat, pack my bag, and jump on the plane. The time is flying by, and I am getting really excited now. The ice cream gig has been great and I have been able to pay off some debt while saving money for the trip. There is still a lot of paperwork to take care of: lining up reference letters from banks, landlords, and previous jobs, selling my car, international driving license, and spending some extra time with the family. I’ll let you all know how it goes and the progress I make in the next few days!

The homeless life.

So as July ended so did having an apartment. Luckily I have been traveling with Edy’s and the ice cream mobile and haven’t needed a place all that often. I have gotten to see a lot of Iowa and had a great time. I have also found that the amenities at a hotel can really add to the enjoyment of the stay. I got to barbeque while staying at a Hampton Inn and it almost felt like I was at home. The whole traveling has been a lot of fun and when I have been back in IC, I have just crashed on friends couches or headed back to Monticello to see my family. It wasn’t until about a week ago that I needed an actual place to stay. This is when I dusted off the ol’camper and headed towards the Coralville Res. Matt and I booked a spot for two weeks which will take us up to the time we need to leave. Stop out and say hi if you wish, we are the ones with quality flare around our 34 foot residence. The flower stung up in the tree, pink flower pinwheel, and Floyd the flounder on the picnic table should set us off. At $16 per night it is a great set up. With the assistance of my brother’s trusty tailgating grill(the grill has over 10,000 miles on it!) we have been eating great meals and living the high life! Hard to believe in 10 days I’ll be starting my journey across the drink! Matt and I fly out of Chicago Labor Day and are going to spend a day in DC before heading over to Ireland. Check out Matt’s blog too at Kyhnn-year-abroad.blogspot.com. It’s getting really close now and the excitement just keeps building.

The DC expirience!

So I am going to visit Matt in DC. I am sure at this point he is like, Brian is coming to visit? Seriously? And he was pry a little weary as we hadn’t really hung out much. Luckily Adam Brown was in town with his mom visiting his brother. He did a lot of out planning and took us to a few of his brothers favorite places(…bears). Lots of beers were drank, a few shots of jamo slammed and an oyster or two were eaten. It was a short trip and I crammed all the culture I could in. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln monuments, Vietnam wall, FDR memorial, Smithsonian Aviation(I am Brian Wolken and I want to walk on the moon!), Capitol Hill, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Georgetown, etc. I saw a lot of great sites. We hit a lot of great local drinking holes and eateries as well. One night in particular we consumed a large number of beverages and were headed towards the metro. This is when I decided to give Matt a little shove. He had just finished using the restroom and had no clue that I was playing middle linebacker down the street. After what I recall was a minor shove, Matt bit the curb, literally. Dazed and now bleeding it was lucky he didn’t break anything. It was a sobering moment and I now had to figure out how to get us home. We got to the closest metro stop and after some talking convinced the security guard that I wouldn’t let matt fall on to the tracks or get blood on anything. With the help of some friendly metro riders and kleenex we got the bleeding stopped from his scraped nose and upper lip. At this point matt’s favorite saying was “why would you do that to me?” Matt tried to get off at every stop, as he was a little po’d at me, but we finally made it out to Bethesda. While walking home Matt decided to take a scenic route by a nice water fountain. This route involved going up a bunch of stairs and attempting to go down more stairs to street level. I say attempting because he got to the bottom but it was face first. He didn’t walk down the steps, he dove down them. Now the damage I had done was minimal and he was bleeding again. We luckily made it back to the apartment without anything broken and without getting arrested! His roommates couldn’t believe the shape Matt was in and that I would do that to him. We put some frozen peas on his face and went to bed. I was awoken to a stunned Kyhnn, asking holy crap, what happened last night. We filled in the missing pieces and continued site seeing. I felt pretty bad, and Matt got over the whole situation amazingly quick. I did have to give him a one time free pass though and now at anytime, Matt can punch me, tackle me, hit me with a car, whatever, but he only gets one free pass so I think he’s holding on to it just until I forget about it. We went to a few more sites, and then both headed off to Thanksgiving with our families where Matt had a lot more explaining to do because of the ruffed up face. The trip was the beginning of a great friendship! I am not sure if this is because Matt really likes me, or if he is just afraid that I will beat the crap out of him if he’s not my friend. Either way it works out great for me.

How I met Matt

So some may be wondering how I know Matt, as we are embarking on this great journey. Well no need to worry as I am about to bring you up to speed. As a college student who have racked up some credit card debt I needed to find a job. I saw an ad to work at the University of Iowa Foundation as a Telefund Caller. The job paid $9.40 and the hours were 5-9 3 days a week. I figured what a great way to make some quick money and still have plenty of time to go out. I started the job and really enjoyed it. As a caller I got to cultivate relationships with University Alumni and raise money for the school at the same time. Friendraising as we call it is where I met Matt. When I started we were both callers. Matt was known for his unconventional need to stand and walk around while calling. He also resembled a guy who wanted to be a hippie but couldn't quit fully commit. Shaggy hair and bandannas were the common look for this guy. As you may be able to tell I didn't much like the guy. I don't know why but I just hated having to work by him never really talked much too him. Shortly after starting I interviewed to become a PA and didn't get it. This was understandable as I hadn't put enough time in yet. However, Matt did get promoted. He was now basically my boss. This drove me nuts. He was very to the point, and often times harsh. He was know as Mortal Kyhnnbat for his ability to make girls cry while trying to coach them to make better phone calls. This didn't help my liking for him. The next time we had PA interviews I got the promotion. I was now working side by side with Matt. As I was learning my new position I didn't find Matt helpful, in fact remember him reminding me how slow I did tasks. What can I say, we can't do everything lightning fast like he did. I finally got acquainted to my new position and started looking up more and more to Matt as he lost the mortal attitude and I learned more about him. It was when I found out that Matt was leaving to work for a non-profit in Washington D.C. that I started looking at Matt as my mentor. I had grown to realize that Matt added a lot to our staff and if I didn't step up the program was going to be missing a big piece of the puzzle. This is when I became a better PA and realized that Matt wasn't such a bad guy. It wasn't until Matt was gone until I realized what a huge impact he had on me. This is where the friendship began.

It's official

So today marks the completion of my first week as an Ice cream man. It's been great so far and it is adding some great padding to my bank account as I prepare to move to Ireland and Britain for the next year. Who would have thought that an ad in the Daily Iowan stating "Ice Cream Sampler Wanted" Would turn out to be such a great job. I am officially the Ambassador of Fun for Edy's Ice Cream. I go around the state of Iowa and into Chicago to hand out samples of Edy's Slow Churned Ice Cream(It has half the Fat and a third the calories of regular Ice cream) and Edy's Dibs(the next great thing in ice cream snacks). It is a great gig because the company has international ties and who doesn't like free ice cream.

Moving to Ireland is official as it can be for right now. My friend Matt and I booked our tickets. We will go to DC on the 3rd of September for a day and then head for Dublin on the 4th. We should arrive about noon on the fifth. Booking a one way ticket is a great feeling. Now I have to get my work visa and I will be set. No word on a job or where I will be living.

Well it's back to work for me so that I can pay off some debt and save a little $ for the big move. It's a nervous and exciting feeling all at once!