Christmas

Writing this from the food court at ATL, awaiting my connection to LAX.

Due to the actions of a certain moron there were "extra security measures" in place at Dublin Airport - a pat-down and a baggage search at the gate before we were allowed to board. Thankfully the no electronics or getting up in last hour rule appears to have been rescinded.

Ironically, there were separate boarding queues for men and women (so as to line up with the male and female screeners) - this struck me as something the average Islamic extremist would approve of. Good times.

As for the actual Christmas holiday, it was an enjoyable one.

Highlights:

• Samantha meeting the folks and friends.
• Catching up with said folks and friends.
  
• Showing Samantha around the Irish countryside.
• Christmas dinner with Samantha and the folks.
• Newgrange attempt 1. Roads were so iced up the shuttle bus from the visitors' centre to the Newgrange site wasn't running. Nearly got stuck in the car park, took to the top of 3rd gear in the Toledo to get up a verry icy hill at the car park exit. Ended up giving a lift to some ILUG people who were stranded in nearby Donore village. Good times.
• Birthday dinner with the folks and Samantha in Bellinter House
  
• Newgrange attempt 2. Weather greatly improved, was lucky with the timing, there were only 2 other people in our session, Samantha got some good photos.
• Galway. Stayed at the Glenlo Abbey hotel. I was distinctly underwhelmed. Upon arrival we were informed the heating in the Pulman restaurant was broke, and hence closed. The internet connection remained broken for the entire evening. The room itself was rather chronically underheated (even for a hairy Irishman), and the breakfast service was decidedly bad - took a good 15 minutes from being seated to someone coming to take my order, and that was only because Samantha caught the eye of a waitress. For the money, I wouldn't return to the Glenlo Abbey.
• New Years with Samantha, Sharon and Alan, had a low-key dinner and drinks at the excellent Eastern Seaboard.

The parents gave me the loan of (and insured me on) my old Seat Toledo, which made getting around and showing Samantha the country a lot easier. Much appreciated.

I should be back in LAX around 9:30pm local time - by that point I'll have been awake around 22 hours, so with a good night's sleep I should take up reasonably adjusted back to PST tomorrow. I better, as I'm back to work in Treyarch monday morning :)

Harry

My nephew Harry was born yesterday, to my sister Miriam and her husband Lawrence. All reports point to a healthy mother and child, which is a tremendous relief. The nephew was born in Saudi Arabia, has an Irish mother, an English father, an Irish uncle living in the US, Irish grandparents (at least on his mother's side of the family), and an Irish aunt and uncle living in Ireland. I'm sure he'll have quite the multi-cultural upbringing.

So: I'm now Uncle Ewan, and my parents are now Granny and Grandad Oughton.

Good times.

In other news, it's Thanksgiving here, which means I get to have a 4-day weekend. God bless America. We're having some of Samantha's friends over for dinner and drinks, I'm really liking having my own place.

My draw shoulder has finally loosened up, so I'm going back to archery training soon. I've been reading Inside the Archer back and forth, coupled with what Jeep has been showing me I think I have the beginnings of a stable shot. Taking it nice and slow.

Work continues apace; writing some interesting stuff. Can't even begin to elaborate on it.

I bought an extended battery for my ADP1 off Dealextreme; for $12 (yes, twelve US Dollars) I've doubled the battery capacity of my phone, and it'll now do three days between charges, at the expense of considerably increased thickness.

Speaking of the adp1, I finally got a public alpha of TargetScheme out the door. Feedback so far has been positive; I'm working on adding in some needed features and stabilising it before putting it up on the Android Market.