Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of blogs lately. I am going to start scheduling blog entries to a minimum of every 2 weeks. Please hold me to that.
The biggest news is that we have moved from Dublin 4 to Dublin 18. I am much closer to work now. Its about a 20 minute walk instead of a 1 hour commute. The change is huge. There are lots of studies about commuting time and happiness and I can attest to them. More free time makes me richer and happier. Even though I was making the most out of my train rides before by listening to great audio programs, I still would rather be doing something else.
The new apartment is beautiful though - here are some pictures. We are on the 6th floor and we have huge floor to ceiling windows. The ceilings are 20 feet high. The high ceilings are very sexy, but I think my dream home will have regular ceilings. I preffer the cozy feeling of regular ceilings. Still, this place is perfect for this stage in our lives – it feels very “young professional”.
Today was saint Patricks day in Ireland. We got the day off work (even though it was a Tuesday which makes the week a bit weird). There was a parade downtown which was fun. People were hanging off anything high just to get a glimpse of the parade. Lots of funny pictures of people sitting on window ledges and roof tops. I was amazed at how many people actually brought their own step ladder into town to see the parade. We walked around the whole city mostly just people watching. Almost everyone was sporting some kind of green shirt or crazy green hat. Then we went to a bar for a few drinks. The bars were jam packed. The one we were at was about 50% Americans and 50% irish. I was very surprised at how many Americans come over for the festevities. The bar was an absolute blast though. Everyone was breaking all sorts of social rules like don’t take the microphone from the band and start singing or don’t take off your shirt and pants. Great craic!
I’ve been putting together a list of features I want my dream home to have. Some items have pictures. Check out this link and let me know what you think. Anything I am missing? Apparently I really like fireplaces, because I want one everywhere!
Work is going very well. My boss and my 2 levels up boss both think I am doing a great job. I am no longer a newbie and I am expected to pull my weight. I think I am fitting into my role very well. I am trying to do the little things that will get me ahead. I am trying to use the 80/20 rule to focus on the 20% of activities that get me 80% of my results. I’ll keep you posted on my results.
Microsoft won the best workplace in Ireland award for 2009! It’s not surprising though, it’s a pretty awesome company. I can see sticking around for many years to come. A few weeks ago, we actually had a psychologist come in to chat with us about how to achieve your best work/life balance. How awesome is that? She had some great tips actually. One I liked was “Fun routine is good”. Have nights in the week where you know you are going home to fun. For example, a movie night or soccer night, or new recipe night. It sounds lame because you are scheduling your life, but what you are doing is ensuring you take time to have fun!
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