ArchiveMarch 2021

The weather has been quite moody today — sunshine when I get up, then an icy blast of sleet/hail midday, followed by alternating bright and dark periods. I attend another webinar in the morning on nonprofit governance, risk and compliance sponsored by the Charities Institute Ireland. It’s rather ho-hum, and thankfully only 45 minutes. I’m itching to get out for a walk, but given the weather I opt...

This morning I woke up early to attend a 3.5 hour webinar about nonprofit reporting in Ireland, which turned out to be very enlightening and informative. Ireland seems to mirror the UK’s practises closely, and while there are many similarities with U.S. standards and practises, it seems that they are decades behind. I’m having to get accustomed to differences in terminology (apportion...

There’s more grey and drizzly weather in Dublin, and I don’t venture out of the apartment for a second day in a row. I spend most of the afternoon concentrating on my CMA studies and learning how to use the multiple regression functions on my financial calculator. The recent news cycle has been dominated by Oprah’s interview of Harry and Meghan. I haven’t been paying much...

Today’s big event is another video conference interview for the CFO job at OCCRP scheduled for 4:00 PM. Earlier in the day I go about my usual routine, including reviewing more material for this week’s CMA lesson. I start getting ready for the interview after lunch by reviewing previous notes on OCCRP, then I focus on making myself presentable. It’s been awhile...

It’s a beautiful mostly sunny day, but still chilly in lower 50s / high single digits C. In the afternoon I meet up with my friend CJ, whom I haven’t seen in awhile. We take the Luas light rail down to Milltown, a suburb on the southern end of Dublin, named for its location on the River Dodder. There is a riverside walking paths and a small park on one end with a shipping...

It’s been an uneventful day. There was not a repeat of last weekend’s anti-lockdown protest here in Dublin, and the one that did take place in Cork was apparently peaceful. There have been reports that another large protest is being planned for St. Patrick’s Day. For my afternoon walk, I cross the Liffey then westward until I reach Croppies Acre Park, which I had passed by last weekend. The...

Another week comes to an end… it’s becoming more difficult to interrupt the monotonous rhythm of lockdown. My weekly grocery order is delivered by a new person, Liam, who is a very Irish man in stature and personality, probably a few years older than me. As he’s unloading the bins of blue plastic bags containing my items, he chats me up asking where I was from (know...

Tensions have flared up over the Northern Ireland Protocol that was part of the Brexit agreement. The Northern Ireland Protocol — part of the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement — was created to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland and therefore preserve the Good Friday Agreement of the late 1990s. The protocol pushes the border between Ireland the UK out to the...

It’s another grey, chilly, hazy/foggy day in Dublin — good weather for focusing on the next lessons in my CMA study programme. However, I didn’t get out at all yesterday, so I’m determined to go for at least a short walk this afternoon. By default I head towards Stephen Green, walking down Grafton Street. On the way I stop into Bewley’s Oriental Cafe for a chai...

It’s been a busy day — went through my usual morning routine, began reading up on Strategic Planning and Budgeting for the next section of my CMA study programme, sent a follow-up email about the CFO job at OCCRP (I haven’t heard anything for a couple of weeks), attended a 2-hour webinar on tax issues pertaining to charities in Ireland sponsored by The Wheel (a nonprofit support...