Yesterday was uneventful, other than getting out for a walk in the afternoon to the Blessington Street Basin park while listening to some podcasts. The weather has been chilly, in the 40s F / high single digits C, but been dryer than expected… I still haven’t used an umbrella since my arrival. This morning I have my interview over Zoom with Outhouse, Dublin’s LGBT centre. One...
Remembering dad
Today would have been my dad’s 90th birthday. I visited him in Greeley, Colorado in 2011 on his 80th birthday, and then a few weeks later he ended up in the hospital with severe pneumonia. I flew out to Colorado again and was at his bedside when he passed away. Despite living with multiple sclerosis for the last 30 years of his life and having other health issues (including a heart...
Productive day, more good weather, walk to St. Stephens Green
It’s been a productive day. I apply to a few more jobs on my to-do list, including one at the University College Dublin (UCD) National Virus Reference Laboratory — this is a different UCD position than the one for which I’ve already been invited to interview on May 4. I also start reviewing the lessons in the final section of my CMA study programme. After staring at my laptop for a few hours, I...
Malahide day trip + catch up from past few days
It’s been beautiful weather over the last few days. There hasn’t been much exciting to warrant daily posts, so I’ll catch up from the most recent day and work backwards. Today (Sunday), I meet up with my friend CJ to take a day trip up the coast to the town of Malahide, which I had driven past back in December when I was getting my first COVID test at the Dublin airport. For this...
A lovely Earth Day in Dublin
It’s been an uneventful past couple of days, so I’ve skipped daily posts. I’m continuing to focus more time on studying for my first CMA exam that’s just three weeks away, and today I finished the next-to-last section on the topic of internal controls — I passed the test exam questions on my first try. Today I also had a brief 30-min interview with Climate2025.org...
CMA studies, walk along Liffey, vaccines open for 65+
I haven’t posted in a few days… I’ve been intentionally focusing on my CMA study program since I only have three weeks before my first exam. As a result, I’ve stayed in and haven’t had much to write about… I assume no one really wants to here about absorption costing, variable manufacturing overhead, or the weighted average value method for valuing work-in-process inventories. In...
Studying, another bank bites the dust, more hotel quarantine updates, and… a bunny!
Today is all about study, study, study… I’m trying to ramp up for the 1st exam for my CMA qualification scheduled for May 13. As a consequence, this will be a brief post. My weekly SuperValu grocery delivery is scheduled for my usual window of 10:30-12:30, and shortly after 11:00 I get a call from the delivery person saying they are downstairs. I don’t recognize him from...
Food truck dumplings, cherry blossoms at Herbert Park, hotel quarantine updates
The last time my walking buddy CJ and I met up was on Easter, mostly due to the moody weather since then. We finally meet up today to take advantage of the warmer and drier conditions. On Thursdays, food trucks line up along a section of the Grand Canal — as I serendipitously learned on my first day out of self-quarantine back in October when walking to the U.S. Embassy to drop off my...
Coffee/lunch meetup, walk through Iveagh Gardens and St. Stephens Green, package deliveries!
It’s slightly warmer today, with highs in lows 50s F / low 10s C — the kind of weather that’s makes it tough to pick the right coat or sweater; in the sun you feel a bit too warm, but in the shade you pull the zipper up higher. Mid-day, I meet up with O., an Australian friend I’ve made online, at St. Patrick’s Park for coffee and lunch. He has lived in San Francisco (briefly), as well...
Restrictions eased (slightly), job applications and studies
As of today, some restrictions are loosening up in Ireland: • The 5 km travel restriction has been eased so that people can travel anywhere in their own county *or* up to 20 km from home to allow for some cross-county travel. • People from two households can meet outdoors in public, but not in private gardens. Otherwise, people are still not to visit other households except for...