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July 30, 2007

Shameless Self-Promotion

In case anyone is wondering what the heck I have been doing with my time recently – I just posted a new blog entry over at my other blog (should I call it "my work blog"??), which captures some of the “adventures” that have been going on recently.

I feel pretty proud of what has been accomplished in these last few months – from a crazy idea to a fully fledged charity that is getting kids outside. And all within 6 months.
Here is the blog: http://www.ChildrenOutside.com/

And "otherwise", how have I adapted to life in the "real world"? Well here is a snippet of mail I recently sent to a (soon to be) former colleague. 
  • I have been regularly found, just hanging out at my son’s preschool (up until 3 weeks ago when he "graduated"). I would bike to school with him and then would end up chasing the kids around outside or even doing foolish things like reading books or telling silly stories. Then before lunch, I’d head home (and look forward to 4.30 when I could bike down and pick him up). Such a sorry and unproductive existence.
  • I now spend 7 days a week with my wife and child and I seem to be riding my bike more than can really be healthy for me (and my car misses me so much)
  • While we have been going away camping and such – we seem to only get places during the week, when no one else is around! For one trip we even ended up with a large section of the Oregon coast to ourselves. It was hard to figure out what to do with just sand, kites and Frisbees around.
  • I miss the weekends – in fact all they have turned into are the two days of the week when there are more people around. How can I recapture that "Friday feeling"????
  • I have noticed that my use of acronyms has diminished greatly. I worry that I may in fact, lose the skill entirely.
  • The same concern applies to monthly status reports and other favorite past-times. (my wife has found me in "my office" just sitting on the phone, pretending to be on a conference call)
  • And then there is the terrible question ---- "so what do you do..?". How the hell are you supposed to answer that one!
  • Even more strange, I have found myself attracted to "causes" – and I now find most of my time consumed by a passion to get children out into the wilderness. I am founding a not-for-profit called WILD. I hope soon to be able to build it to the point that I need a systems roadmap and a general infrastructure which will force me to contemplate outsourcing something to someone else. I can only hope……

Here's to the WILD life!

Posted by ronanmc at 08:51 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

July 24, 2007

Our consolation

It's time to update and catch up...

So instead of the planned trip to Ireland (see earlier saga) we decided to head out to the Metolius river and Camp Sherman in central Oregon (close to Sisters).
I guess this is one of those places that as people find out about, they decide to keep quiet about it -- because it is such a great place.
(Aside-- we however are bucking that usual trend of secrecy).

We stayed at the great Lake Creek Lodge and did some nice hiking and relaxing for a few days. Just the tonic that the doctor ordered.... Here are some shots - just click on the play icon to get the slideshow started (about 20 photos).

Posted by ronanmc at 09:19 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Look at them trees!

Our recent trip to the redwoods really opened our eyes. What a wonderful place -- we camped in Elk Prairie in the Praire Creek redwoods State Park (map here and park info here). Here are some snapshots of what we did (What is not captured are the great camp sites and the fantastic ranger programs at nights for kids --- ours was all about banana slugs)... A really wonderful trip -- just click on the play to see some of the pictures....

Posted by ronanmc at 09:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 13, 2007

Taking my mind off....

So in order to try and block out the fact that we aren't going to Ireland, I decided to take my first effort at video editing. We used the video camera on our recent trip to California with the Frauenfelder clan -- and here is what I put together....

This one is a fun one too...

Posted by ronanmc at 09:04 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gutted

Thanks to everyone for the calls and emails after what happened yesterday (see post)...
Today saw us cancel the trip to Ireland after the passprt debacle and now we are still trying to figure out what to do...
We can't get a passport without a ticket and Expedia won't do anything for us until they receive the (damned) paper tickets and take a couple of business days to process the credit.

It has been a pretty miserable experience.

Posted by ronanmc at 09:01 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 12, 2007

And Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky?

I hope that Thursday the 12th has seen us use up all of our bad luck. What a miserable day...

It started out with me forgetting about the bikes on the roof rack of the saab and trying to park the car in the local grocery store's garage.
**CRUNCH**
I have often thought about what would happen in the event that I was stupid enough to try to squeeze the car + bikes into such a small space.
And if you have ever had such similar thoughts -- let me help you fill in that particular void.

Well firstly I destroyed the saddle post on the bike and I think I managed to bend the rear forks and/or frame of the bike...
Secondly I managed to twist, warp and snap practically every piece of the roof rack -- cross bars, locks and of course those fine bike mounts that go on the rack. Yes everything....
Thirdly (and finally) I managed to gouge the roof of the saab with the bikes and the bare metal from the roof rack as it came crashing down and skidding along the roof.

So now you don't have to put yourself through the hassle of driving your car, rack and bikes through a small space, just to see what will happen.
I am not the first one however -- here is a 1998 article on "Wheel Crunchers Anonymous".
From now on I will put a sticker in plain view with the motto "watch for the bikes you fucking moron".

Donations through PayPal to help me rebuild/repair/repaint are gratefully accepted.

And if only that were the whole story....

This evening as we began packing for our trip to Ireland, Anne checked the passports only to find Cian's passport expired last week.

This day is getting better and better, I tell ya!

So after 3 -4 hours of calls to the US Passport folks, the Irish consulate in San Francisco ("can't I just let him travel on my Irish passport?.... PLEASE?"), calls to the airlines and calls to the travel agents -- we have come to the harsh realization that there is no way in hell we can get on a plane tomorrow morning and fly to Ireland.

So then comes the issue of getting him a new passport and changing our tickets. The US passport folks won't say how long it'll take to renew the passport ("expedited cases are currently taking about seven business days") and won't even give us an appointment until we reschedule our flights. But we can't reschedule our flights until we know we can get a passport. And no passport without rescheduled flights.... Huh?

Chicken or egg, anyone?

And now there is the slight issue of changing the travel dates for our flights. Expedia just informed me I will have to pay $3500 ON TOP of the original $3000 we paid if I want to try and fly next Friday.

Oh ok -- so let me pay $6500 to maybe fly to Ireland? Pay for new tickets in the hope that I might actually get Cian a new passport and just might be able to catch the plane...
And what happens if I miss that flight next week -- how much will I have to pay then?
Fuckers...

As with the bike/roof rack debacle -- donations are being (gratefully) accepted to help fly us to Ireland. PayPal me.

And in the meantime -- here's to not having another day like today.
Ever.
Really.
Forever
And
Ever.

Posted by ronanmc at 09:14 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)