I just now got around to putting the picture of them up here, because I just now got photoshop so that I could shrink the images….YAY! Now I can work on my portfolio. I have no more excuses.

I almost forgot! One of my best friends and roommates, Colin Blake, just got engaged to his very sweet and patient (just kidding Coleen) girlfriend Jennifer. I have to admit that I do feel a little responsible for their relationship….who knows if he would have ever asked her out if I hadn’t blackmailed him to give him the courage to do it in the first place! I have been friends with Colin since freshman year, and we have had many interesting experiences together - CS homework nights (i.e. margarita nights), the night we got my/our couch (i.e. my birthday), dave matthews concert (i.e. my birthday present from colin), soap operas after school, that trip to the bookstore….hee hee, the hunting(s) of the mouse - anyway, the list of memories goes on and on. I realize that no one really picks up on any of this except Colin and me, but I am writing it specifically to him to let him know how much he means to me and how proud I am of him. So congratulations Colin, and no matter how much I have picked on you in the past, I think Jennifer is a very lucky lady, especially since you cook so well

I wanted to space out these new pictures so that you guys wouldn’t get bored over the next week or two when I don’t have any more pictures to put up, but I have a french presentation tomorrow, so you know what that means….procrastination.

So anyway, these are a few candid photos of my fellow irish travellers. Becky obeys well; when I tell her to be silly in front of the camera, she does it all - dancing, eating snowflakes, you name it. Casey isn’t as good of a follower, but we still love her anyway. Oh, by the way, the picture of them yawning wasn’t a command at all. They were just that enthused at the sight of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where we actually went to the end of a church service….Catholics are interesting people.

Our new friend Ashley rented a car and took us to the beach outside of Dublin. It was absolutely beautiful, but cold. As you can see I learned how to skip rocks over the course of about half an hour, and in these pictures, the rocks actually did skip a little. Afterwards, we had a marvelous time laughing at Ashley’s attempts to drive his rental car back to the rental car station. He was definitely a good sport about our jokes, but definitely not a good driver

The Jameson Distillery is a museum-like place where you can go to learn about the making of Irish whiskey. If you are a student it only costs 5.75 euros (almost =$6). I learned all about the processes involved to make Irish whiskey, plus the differences between it and scottish and american whiskey. Plus, I reluctantly volunteered to be a taste-tester with this old man beside me for a demonstration for everyone else on the tour. I should have taken a picture of my certificate, which says that I am a “qualified Irish whiskey taster”…. and ofcourse I didn’t drink all of those shots on the table by myself. I think the tour was well worth my 5.75 euros. Immediately following this tour, I hi-jacked an elevator (I really just turned the key, but this sounds better) that took us to the top of an overlook tower where we could see the city. When we came back down the attendant, who was absent when we went up, was waiting for us as she realized how completely useless her job really is, considering we didn’t need her at all.

The last night we were in Dublin was a memorable one. We justified the trip because John Mayer (who just won a grammy and who we saw play at a frat party two year ago) was playing in Dublin. The venue was small and great and we were the only true fans who have followed his entire career there. Surrounding us were hundreds of screaming sorority girls who all thought they were going to experience their own Cindarella story that night once the concert was over and they could convince John to keep them. So the first picture is of Becky and our new friend Brian at a bar after the concert. The last picture is of Brian and me late at night on our walk home. The other two are of John Mayer jamming at the concert.

I have more pictures formatted and ready to put on the website. I just didn’t want to bombard you too much all at once. So keep looking for them. As always, sorry for the neglect. I just got back from a week in Berlin, Prague, and Krakow (although I wasn’t compelled to take any pictures of a very large concentration camp), so those will be coming as soon as I get through the Dublin pictures, as if chronology really matters.

The first picture is of the river and the line of buildings along it. The second picture is of the main square on the north side of the river. It is where all the college kids, and consequently tourists, hang out. The third picture is of a median that is preserving the outline of an old viking hut. And the fourth picture is of a church that was near our hostel.

The first picture is of St. Patrick’s Cathedral as we are driving by it. The other building is the sketchy “airport” outside of Paris where we left. It looks more like a redneck bowling alley to me than an airport, but whatever. The other pictures show my fascination with the steering wheel being on the other side of the car as well as the cars driving on the other side of the street. It doesn’t take much to amuse me.

This is me in Venice (per request of my mom who wanted to see a picture of me instead of my boys) trying to find out where to go using a photocopied map out of Lonely Planet travel guide. If you know me you know I am stubborn enough not to get a real map that might actually have street names on it, and if you know CBQ you know he is annoying enough to turn around and comment about my certainty of our location every five seconds, which explains the look on my face (just kidding hun ).

Casey, Becky and I are going to Dublin tomorrow morning (I have to wake up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, eeeek!) on a sketchy airplane leaving from an airport that we didn’t know existed in Paris. It is probably the middle of some man’s field that he rents to a couple of small, but prospering, airlines on the weekends. Anyhow, we don’t get back until Tuesday morning, if anyone might wonder why they haven’t heard from me. I know that no one is worried; otherwise they would have called me! So just to make sure that you all know, I am fine and having the best time in Paris, and getting some work done as well. Have a great weekend