text:
Nighthawks at the Diner

Nighthawks at the Diner

Every time I move away from somewhere, I realize certain things I miss, and find ways to adapt.  There are so many great things about Ireland I enjoy.  If I was having better luck at finding local work, I would be able to enjoy them more.  The local pubs always have good trad sessions going, and I have always LOVED trad music.  Even if I just have one pint, and get a cab home, it’s more than €10 Euro. I don’t think there are many times I just have one to be honest. The other thing I love doing here is just going for a drive (Americans…don’t call it a ride here!) And taking photos, or just enjoying the countryside (which is the whole country.).

Unfortunately, I’m still waiting on my licence 3 months later, and it will probably end up being restricted to automatics (impossible to find in this country) whereas in America and Canada we don’t have separate licenses. My advice would be to just go through the test process instead of exchange.

Finding work here locally is very tough as a local, let alone a foreigner who doesn’t have even an E.U. citizenship.  I just got two job offers though, so hopefully after the second interviews they will be solid.

I’ve been listening to one of my favorite albums: “Nighthawks at the Diner” by Tom Waits lately.  I used to get up at the crack of noon, or later, and work all night at my studio and before that, a bar or music venue.  Playing music into the wee hours and watching the late night characters over a corned beef on rye and coffee and pie at 3am.  The jazz and blues clubs got to know me well, and whereas the local pubs here are more if a social atmosphere…the jazz clubs and some bars in the u.s. are more geared to letting people disappear and blend into the darkness.  A calm, dark corner was always available after a long day or night, the diner was always a few blocks away open to serve day old pie and mud coffee 24 hours a day.  It’s probably better to be here now as I need a bit more structure these days, a change.  All of the things I miss are great, but nothing I can’t live without and it makes them all the more special for when I go visit home, or any of the other places I’ve lived, as a tourist or visitor.

Although I would love to introduce a late night business here, something different, it wouldn’t fly.  It seems the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Is more of a religion here.   There are only a certain type out all hours here, with a complete lack of other late night jobs and businesses… there is no further demand.  The same goes with the food.  There’s a certain take on every cuisine, and new or unknown things don’t do entirely well.  Perhaps I’ll check out the cities and do further research, but living in Dublin is completely out of the question considering living and rent expenses vs a pay rate that isn’t much different than the rest of the country.

I’ll have to roam Cork and Kilkenny soon to check out the life there since they are near enough.  I’m looking forward to getting citizenship here so traveling and doing business within the EU will be easier then.

I’m going to RE-ignite a project I started in America…going to pubs and recording stories and conversations of everyday folk…stay tuned. Good luck!

Park your ego at the door (part 2)

So where’s the talk of egos and snakes? What about New York?
In America, you’re taught to, or at some point realize you have to make yourself look better and exaggerate your qualities, maybe even just invent some, to get ahead or even just get. Everyone wants to be famous, in charge, or rich.  People seem to have to “keep up with the Jones'”  It’s all about who you know…  Not everyone is fake, but there seem to be many more masks here.  It’s not all bad like that, but there’s also a kind of code that people stick to socially to be polite, and it’s not always needed, sometimes a little honesty here and there would be refreshing.  In Ireland, people seem to be much more blunt and plain spoken.  They’ll tease you even if they don’t know you well, just let ’em in the door a little bit.  Some cultures might think some of the things they say are insulting or rude, it’s hard to explain because they aren’t rude or anything, it’s just a more straightforward and familiar way of interacting.  Getting back to the population and size differences.. New York alone, as I said in the previous post, is 19.75 million, give or take 750,000 illegal immigrants or so.  Ireland’s total population is around 4.6 million as of 2013.  And the landmass. Ireland is 35,595 square miles, or 84,431 square Km to the rest of the world.  The state of New York is 54,556 sq mi, 141,299 sq km.  You could imagine how hard it would be to get lost in Ireland,  and in small town Clonmel, everyone knows everyone.  It’s not just the sheer size, but Irish people are nosy, and talkative.  Loads of innocent gossip around the tea kettle.  I am actually excited for this in a way…  No, i’m not insane, I’m a man who wants to start a small business.  I want to tell the ladies in town something and have it reach across the continent by the end of Mass!  If you go to the pubs, people are actually talking to one another, in the US, it’s not as much a thing, people go and have a drink or two, yes, but strangers rarely get past some small talk before either continuing watching the game in silence, or talking to the bartender whenever they come over.  Not only that, but the audience is much smaller and less diverse here.   After work hours in Ireland, you’ll see everyone from 25-80 years old, give or take, strolling to their respective pubs.  You overhear conversations of all types, any day of the week.  It’s also acceptable to have business conversation, and to talk about work at the pubs.

To segue into the next section, Check your ego at the door… You don’t want to be puffing yourself up, or exercising your ego there…  It’s going to make them suspicious if anything.  You want to be honest about what you can and can’t do.  Don’t brag and boast.  Some well known people that I know from my industry really enjoy Ireland because they can go out to a pub and not be swamped by people taking selfies with them, or bothering them constantly.  The people around them may quietly say to their friend: “Hey, it’s your wan over there.” or ” look at him/herself over there”  but it’s pretty rare they are approached or swamped by anyone.  The president can be seen driving his own car, without security, to mass in some small town.   Peope arn’t impressed as much with who you are or your status (except in some circumstances in Dublin, D4 type areas maybe)  I have nothing against the area, or anything, but ALL of the people i’ve met and the stories I’ve heard, have all been sickeningly haughty and nose stuck up in the air, rude types.  I don’t enjoy anyone who looks down on others for any reason, let alone because they are “culchies” (people from rural Ireland, or rather, anyone not from Dublin) or because they are foreign, are of a certain service industry profession, etc… I’m sorry, but I’ve not been proven wrong to date, i’m sure there are many wonderful people from Dublin south, but….there ya go. Make up your own minds.  I’d rather go to a smaller town where people will go out of their way to help you or to say hi, be friendly.  This leads into a difference in cultures that seems contradictory though.  People in Ireland seem to be less likely to be inviting you over to their house for dinner or a movie night or something.   Family is family, and friends are friends, the line is distinct.  In the US, you can become part of the family with someone else’s family if you are a good friend for a while, but even if it’s not that case, people would be inviting you over if you are friends with them, it’s just what you do.  It can seem almost rude or suspicious if you’re coming from a place like the Hudson Valley New York.

I was thinking about adopting my friend’s Albino python as a pet when they asked if I would take it, I told them: “I don’t think Saint Patrick would like that very much!”  As a rule, I generally avoid talking about religion, politics, abortion, or sports with anyone, ever.  Now with the move, I’m more sure than ever about the first three.  Religion especially is a hot button issue there, and people are generally classed in two categories: Protestants and Catholics.  People glean a lot just from your last name or where you went to church or school in Ireland.  Judgement is made, and comments are sometimes made.

Don’t ever call the Irish, British, or refer to anything related to Ireland “British”  Just don’t go anywhere near that with a ten foot pole!  It’s not part of the UK, it’s not, Ireland has been a free state since 1922 after the Irish War of Independence ended when they sent those damn black and tans a packin’ and  Dáil Éireann declared independence from Britain.  Of course there are influences from the over 900 years of occupation, damn Normans…but it’s a vibrant, unique, and independent culture.

One of the biggest changes for me is a silly one… restaurants!  They don’t tip! who the hell doesn’t tip!? The Irish don’t..  They say it’s fine because they earn a regular wage, but i’m sorry, Millions of Americans make ends meet by providing a great dining experience to even more millions of Americans.  Waiters and Waitresses can work a weekend and a night or two maybe and pay their way through college, or support themselves and a kid very comfortably, and then some if they have a job at a good restaurant or bar.  Bartenders can make a lot of money here!  In return, the customers get a great, attentive dining experience that has extra effort put in to make their experience very enjoyable.  It’s supposed to be pleasant, friendly, and everything is supposed to be done, completely taken care of.  It depends on the type of establishment of course, and the people, and there are distinct levels in the type of restaurant.   It’s hard to really hit the nail on the head when explaining the Irish dining experience, because it’s not bad at all.  There is a decent cornucopia of food there in this new global world.  You can find food of all types, though it’s not nearly as diverse as other countries, it will hold it’s own.  I had some amazing food in Ireland each time I’ve gone.  The feel is completely different though, it’s not as welcoming or comfortable.  The seating arrangements and spaces are less intimate and more utilitarian and open.  The waitstaff does the minimum job required and is very standoffish.  You won’t find them often or easily if you need something, or have an issue (I never do have an issue, but sometimes you just want a little something else, or a side of sauce or something like that…  It’s not as friendly an atmosphere, yet, it’s nice in the way that it’s more focused on whoever you might be with that much more.  Overall it’s a laid back atmosphere.  I still feel like a complete (insert expletive of your choice here) every single time I leave a dinner without tipping.  It won’t change.  If they have a tip jar on the counter in a tea/bakery shop I get excited and feel very relieved! Not all is lost!  If I could get by on caramel squares and tea, I’d just eat at those places.

By the by..Caramel squares are amazing.

and those Neopolitan/cake/iced flaky things they sell in all the markets

and The Knot Irish whiskey

and chips drenched in salt and vinegar, maybe garlic sauce.

I am going to eventually open up a New York style pizza / Zeppole shop I think, because the pizza is not pizza.  “All the Italians came over with great recipes and started making Battered sausages and chips.”  There’s always good drunk food around!

So I think I’ll continue on with my lists of things to get used to next.  Stay tuned for all the new fees to pay, the home stuff, and more.

Park your ego at the door (And your snakes)

New Yorkers can be seen as loud, rude, egoistical, and a slew of other negative terms by outsiders. From the inside, we can describe ourselves as strong, resilient, no-nonsense people with strong family and community ties…die hard ones.
I’d say both New York and Ireland are among the most misunderstood and misrepresented communities in the world.   Ireland is seen as a land stuck in the 1800’s, thatched huts with no running water or electricity, men in paddy caps drinking in the pub next to a cow pen.  Horses, carts… bright and cheery people tipping their hats and greeting you with: “top o’ the morning!”. Ok fine, even if you don’t see that, you probably still have a fantastical picture that doesn’t jive with the real deal.  That’s not your fault, the country is portrayed that way, the accent is Always the same Americanized abomination instead of one of the myriad of real Irish accents.  If they do get it right, it’s always a Dublin accent, or a movie based in Dublin.  I’ve found that Dublin is probably the least Irish place in Ireland these days.  Should I rile up since Irish people by telling you why I think that?  Ok…maybe just some of the reasons… Dublin was heavily influenced by the British culture throughout the occupation, no blame here in anyone but the English, though the accent, egos, and condescending attitudes stuck!  Next, we have the tourists!  The tourists created the plastic paddy stuff.  All the things that people expect in Ireland, Dublin is almost the only place you’ll really see it besides the gift/souvenir shops or “American stores” as the Irish call them.  You know the stuff I mean, the little sheleighleighs, the leprechauns, shamrocks everywhere… paddy caps, even the names of the drinks.  See Americans think things like green beer, black Velvet’s, Irish car bombs and god forgive…black and tans are Irish drinks. If you ever dyed beer in Ireland they would beat and deport you. Black velvet was a London drink, And the black and tans were the biggest shower of b@$tards ever to roam the beautiful emerald isle! Why would they name a drink after them? It’s more likely to be called a half and half.  Anyway, back to Dublin. So the pubs in tourist areas like temple bar are not a good representation of Irish pubs, don’t do it.  There are so many things to see in Dublin, why does everyone go around concentrating on British colonial sites? VIKINGS people….Vikings…Nuff said.
Last but not least, the St. Patrick’s day parade…’s basically an American parade in Dublin.  It makes me want to throw up in my mouth a bit.  There are so many museums, educational centers, art and photo centers and the likes to see, I’d love to see the tourist travelers of the world, (the literal meaning, not the Irish ones) especially Americans, start learning about the true Irish culture, and not the American version.  And I pose a challenge to the Irish…STOP FEEDING US! Don’t you know Americans are like stray scabby cats? You feed us tasty garbage we are used to eating, we keep coming back for more, becoming more averse to the real thing, and peeing all over your house!
The Irish aren’t all hat tipping leprechauns with accents like Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise’s butcher jobs.  They are blunt, plain spoken people compared to Americans. They will tease and say things to you that even close friends don’t say in America.  They distrust, or frown on people that boast, or exaggerate for ego sake.  This also compliments the lack of importance they place on the famous, and celebrities.  Not all Irish people are big drinkers, though alcohol is extremely prevalent in the culture…
I could go on…
New York is next!
New York is a huge state, 19.75 million people live in the state.  Ireland has a population of 4.6 million!
Let’s keep that in perspective and continue in the next part!

Going to Ameri…Ireland! An American Moving to Ireland (Part 2)

Going to Ameri…Ireland!  An American Moving to Ireland (Part 2)

Once I decided to move to Ireland it was time to figure out what I had to do to make it happen.  I didn’t think it would be easy, but I wasn’t prepared for the difficulty awaiting.  From the most basic things, to the complicated official business, it’s a bear!

First, i’ll start with the basics.  One of my businesses is heavily reliant on electronics, not all of which are compatible or convertible to 220-240v.  American voltage on most electronics are 110 volt.  For the smaller things like cell phone chargers and some lower power laptop chargers, this isn’t a problem, just go out and get a different charger, or use a converter.  If you want to use anything that has a high wattage, such as power tools, amplifiers, kitchen appliances, etc… you would have to get a large, high capacity step up transformer.  These transformers are about the size of a small space heater or computer subwoofer and cost anywhere between 200 and 800 Dollars (depending on how many watts you want.)  Some of the audio visual equipment I have can be converted by opening up the case and re-soldering a wire or two to a different location on the circuit board, but not all.  Anything older is more than likely stuck to whatever voltage it was manufactured for.  I have some vintage studio rack equipment that are very rare pieces and super expensive and more often than not, they are from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.  The problem with some of these gets deeper in that there is also a difference not only in voltage, but frequency as well.  American electronics, especially when it comes to video equipment, operates at 60hz and euro uses 50hz.  Transformers do not address this issue.  So all in all, for the basic household things, TV, kitchen stuff, basic things, i’m going to sell it and just buy used items from (the irish craigslist) when I get there.  Some will say that there is craigslist there, but it’s only in dublin, and not widely used.  I’ve found a great deal of things on donedeal, and at reasonable prices just like craigslist.

While i’m on the subject of online classifieds, i’ll have to touch on the vehicle situation.  In another post I touched on the NIGHTMARE of getting an Irish driving license, but i’ll get onto the vehicle situation now.  In New York i’m used to the annoyance of having to pass an emissions test every year.  Not just an emissions test, but one that requires the service center to connect to the NYS system to pass the vehicle.  It will prevent you from renewing the registration because of this and ANY emission related code, even if it’s not increasing emissions, will fail the vehicle.  There are some loopholes in weight class and vehicle age, but for the most part, you can’t just get your mechanic buddy to slap on a sticker for a few extra bucks (the good old American way!)  I was just struck silent when I read, and heard about the Irish version though.  Not only do they make it really overly complicated (like EVERYTHING the government has there paws in) but it dips into personal freedoms as well in my opinion.  When I get on a rant about anything that has to do with freedom and governmental interference, my wife just rolls her eyes and gives me that “get over it!” look, but as an American, these types of things get right to our very core.  Granted, our country is full of frivolous bureaucratic bull of late, but there are some things that they just don’t touch.  For example, if I want to drive my car without a safety vest or road cones, I can.  If I want to have my washer fluid half empty, or have a temporary, non factory mirror, so be it.  They don’t check your headlight beam adjustment, or your tire pressure.  They don’t check your suspension more than visually or side slip.  They don’t check your exhaust emissions (except if you’re in California) They don’t check your brake balance, or even at all actually, just the brake lights.  Now I think that’s fine, I don’t mind them making sure they work, but sometimes your brakes wear unevenly, and unless you do your brakes every year, Rotors included, you won’t get balanced brakes ever.  They don’t check your doors to see if they open properly, and what if I want to have a custom car with no outside handles like I had in the past?  can’t do it in Ireland!  They don’t check your fuel filler cap.  We also do not check the brake lines and linkages etc under the car.  We don’t check the pedals to see if they are the OEM pedals, and they don’t care if you have a different size tires than the manufacturer specification, because depending on the terrain, season, etc.  it can be better to have a different tire on your car.  In the winter I use different size tires than the summer.  We don’t check the body work because it has nothing to do with anything except cosmetics.  We don’t check the exhaust pipes, only the emissions codes.  We don’t check to see if you have washer fluid.  Some of these things, I can see the safety aspect, but some are just frivolous.  Either way, none of these things are tallied for points or to pass or fail in the US for the most part.  If the inspector sees something dangerous, they will fail or tell you to fix it and come back, but they use common sense and it’s up to them and their knowledge and opinion.  I don’t like the idea of someone telling me what’s safe, or better, according to government and manufacturer specifications and rules.  There are a great many of instances where the government regulations and the manufacturer specifications are not the best thing.  The rules are not made by mechanics usually, and are mainly made so a profit can be made by certain sectors, companies, or unions.  Whatever the reasons, I’ll just have to suck it up and deal with it though.  I just highlight these things, because they are all increases in cost and frequency of costs in maintaining a vehicle in Ireland, thou hath been warned.  Then you have a vehicle tax yearly, depending on the year, engine size, fuel type, etc…  We don’t even have a yearly vehicle tax here. (not overtly at least.)  We pay a standard 60 bucks or so for a registration, and 21 dollars for inspection, and in most states, you do have to have insurance, which is comparable to Ireland.  The tax can be as much as, or more than insurance in Ireland though…that’s a hefty sum for some!  So tally up the Tax, Insurance, and the very high required maintenance costs, and you’re looking at a kick in the pants.  I guess i’ll be a bit better off than most in that I work on my own vehicle, as long as I don’t get in the testers faces!

Next, let’s look at size…(and i’m not talking about the Irish curse)

I knew very well that Ireland’s streets and vehicles were smaller and cramped as I had driven there before, but I really hadn’t soaked up all the other size differences.  The towns are more compact and centralized.  In towns and cities, the houses are stuck together in big rows, and if they arn’t, there isn’t much space between them at all, not to mention the yard (garden) size is pretty darn small.  Properties are sectioned off to the Centimeter it seems.  and every bit of the countryside is accounted for and worked it seems.  Look at the above picture of Ireland, and now look at this picture of my home town from above. usabove

Most of that land is either state park for public use, or not used at all, or it’s huge swaths of privately owned land that people just use for hunting, fishing, camping and hiking.  And that’s just one very small snippet of one county in one state.  Ireland is about the size of, or smaller than New York state alone, and the civilization is much older.  So you could imagine how it’s all been utilized to the brim.  This creates effects that trickle down to everyday aspects of life.  The way people live together, the way that people live and interact with each other, and even the accents of the language.

Driving on the small roads isn’t that bad, but you really have to be on point and can’t be as relaxed as you can be in America.  If you drift even slightly to where a shoulder would be in America, you’ll be in a ditch or hitting a hedge or wall.  If you drift slightly in the other direction, you’ll be asking for a head on crash.  Most roads in the US have shoulders that are half the size of the lane, or a whole other lane on highways, and then after that, you have nice flat cleared swaths of grass in case the shoulder wasn’t enough.  The center dividers or double yellow lines also add another foot between you and oncoming traffic, and the lanes are wider as well.  I’d say that most of the roads in Ireland are about a lane and a half of american road at best.  Get to the back country roads and it’s one lane that you have to squeeze two cars through.  Why wouldn’t they just make them a little bit wider?  They don’t have the expansion capability we have in America.  As I said before, the properties are long divvied up and nobody is about to sacrifice the precious small area they have already.  Not to mention the barriers are pretty permanent.  The permissions for building are ridiculously hard to get around as well.  If they want to build a road, there are so many more roadblocks (no pun intended) to overcome.  Consider the scenery and visual aspects are regulated, the archaeology aspect is considered and can permanently shut down a project, whereas here, they would just send in a team to excavate the site, and then project continues.  Agricultural aspects, private property aspects, you name it!  There is no “Eminent domain” so the government can’t just come in and claim it needs to shave off a few meters of your property, or take it over completely.  And if they can’t do that here, they just buy out the property owner.  In Ireland there are certain laws and agricultural regulations that prevent reduction like this I believe.

Instead of a glut of large, workhorse pickup trucks that make the life of a working person in America easy, and more capable, there are small delivery vans, compact light trucks, and tiny luggage trailers towed by compact cars.  I won’t be able to go and pick up all of the materials I need for a job in one shot, I won’t be able to carry all my tools and ladders I will need for my jobs, and I won’t be able to tow and haul much.  This translates into more trips, more cost, more fuel, more wear and tear, and more time.  All of these things mean less money, in a business climate that doesn’t allow me to charge as much as I do in America already.  In fact, for a job I charge 189 dollars here, the same job in Ireland on average costs about 50-70 euro.  Add on extra operating costs and i’m looking at a huge reduction in profit.  The Economy in Ireland is not doing well, and people are much more frugal.  Unemployment is incredibly high in Ireland as well. I won’t get into why I think that is though, it’s a complicated issue, and has many causes.  Even with these limitations, things still get done in Ireland, and all you need is a little ingenuity and will.  The good thing is, everything is closer in Ireland!

The Cities are all lower to the ground, you don’t have all the big skyscrapers and highrises, the massive underground systems, and massive engineering marvels.  The amount of cars and traffic is at a refreshing level of low!  Every drive I took there was like an easy Sunday drive in my home area.  I love the scenery, and the lack of huge, city sized areas of industrial wasteland.  I love the fact that the hillside scenery is regulated so you don’t see a clutter of massive houses built into the sides of mountains and hills.  I love that Ireland respects and takes care of their farmers!

Usually, portions of food in America are seen to be the biggest in the world for the most part, but I disagree!  Yes, the packaged products such as bottles, candy, and what not, are smaller in Europe, and the choices are much more limited.  I actually like this a lot.  I think we have too many choices here in the US and are over stimulated by them.  The obesity and diabetes rates are higher as well.  Sometimes you just want a king size Reeses peanut butter cup though, or maybe a Coca cola that’s not watered down (I am convinced the Irish produced American brand sodas are more diluted.)  The portions you get for breakfast, or when you eat at someone’s house though….Much bigger than America! (unless you come from an Italian family in NYC!)  I wasn’t able to eat a full fry (Irish breakfast)  and I was struggling horribly to eat the dinner that was literally slapped and piled down onto my plate.  So many SHPUDS!  and apple tart with custard up the whazoo!   Anything that involves in-country ingredients such as meat, bread, dairy, and potatoes…prepare to loosen your belt.

Moving on…  I am used to an extremely diverse culture, a mesh of hundreds of cultures in one crazy mixing bowl.  Ireland is simple to understand and get along in as long as you know a few simple things.  The culture is relatively uniform, and doesn’t change easily or quickly!  You need to know what not to say, who to avoid, and where to avoid.  Before you go to, or move to Ireland, you should learn about the travelers….travelers…well i’ll just leave it at that and let you do the research…….

Shnacks…well…that’s another research project.

Ok, now the more light hearted stuff.

  1. Do NOT ask for a ride, or say, lets take a ride…it does not mean drive.  It is more associated with bedroom or backseat fun.
  2. Mickey is not a mouse. So leave your Disney “I love mickey” shirts at home.
  3. Fanny is not a pack you wear around your waist. or a cute word for a but your grandmother says.
  4. Sorry is not just used as an apology, someone will try to get your attention by saying sorry

Ignorance of the latter did help me once though.  There was a girl of questionable character (see shnack) passing us by on a street and she started saying sorry, then she started screaming it louder as we kept walking. I didn’t know she was addressing me though.  Then she yelled something like “You in the whatever colored shirt! You don’t have to be an A@#hole, I wanted a fag!”  Thinking I was ignoring her.  When in reality, I was wondering why the hell she was screaming sorry in question form.  It was amusing.

There are areas and neighborhoods everyone knows to avoid, but they are in close proximity to everything else, or right in the middle of them, so it’s a good idea to get to know the area you’re visiting, or ask someone you may know, or are chatting with about these no go places.  There is a real Jekyll and Hyde effect in Ireland between night and day in some places.  It can be a nice area, calm, lots of people walking around and no problems at all, then at night….BOOM night of the living dead…seriously.  I saw kids of 17-20 out screaming in the middle of the street, stumbling up to you and I seriously couldn’t tell the difference between them and actors on an episode of The Walking Dead.  When it comes to alcohol…well, it’s part of the culture there, it’s everywhere and always.  Ones work ends, and the mammys, wives, husbands and couples are done making and eating dinner, the pubs all fill up.  In america, there are slow nights more often than busy nights in bars.  The weekends are usually fairly busy, but can be slow as well.  I don’t think there is any night that’s considered a slow night in Ireland.  Every pub is busy at night, almost every night.  If it’s a slow night, it’s remarkable.  And there is no “let’s go out for a drink or two”  or “I’m just having a drink and leaving”  Once the taps are flowing into the pint glasses, they keep going, and going.  if they don’t, the glasses get a few fair bit of fills at least.  The number of pubs is really just amazing really.  I was shocked when I learned that there were 52 restaurants in a SMALL town nearby my hometown.  Take that picture and just change the restaurant to pub, and you’ve got Ireland!  Every block, every street seems to have a few. Even the tiny, one horse hamlets in Ireland have a pub (Usually reminiscent of someones living room with a bar.)  I used to think that the drinking age being 21 in the US was just making alcohol a forbidden fruit that teenagers were just going more wild about because it was forbidden or restricted, and also disagreed with the fact that you could vote, be drafted, or choose to serve in the military, but still couldn’t drink.  If you take the mystery and intrigue out of something here, It doesn’t have the same draw of abuse and binge draw that it would if it was normal and legal.  As I got older, and it seems that people are maturing at a much older age, and began hating the bars that even the young twenty somethings were drinking at…I started to see that perhaps even 21 was too young in most cases!  I wasn’t even close to understanding until I saw the walking dead teens in Ireland, heard about and saw the horrible and annoying effects that it has.  The first time I stayed in my wife’s town, I stayed at a very nice small hotel/restaurant in the center of town.  It was a quiet area in the early hours of the night, and even during the day it was just traffic sounds and talking of pedestrians.  As the night went on, and went into the early morning…It was horrible, I couldn’t sleep a few nights because of the screaming, and I don’t exaggerate here…SCREAMING.  Breaking bottles, and more screaming echoing through the stone and stucco lined main streets.  Then you have the kids that were hitting the windows of shops and setting off the alarms (another topic i’ll touch on next)  And there were no gardai doing anything, or even to be seen, anywhere.  In contrast, if that was America…The police would have been called after a few minutes of noise, and they would respond within 10 minutes, 15 tops.  And it would be rare enough anyway because the kids know that the cops would come right away if they act up like that.  These kids were just sitting right in the middle of the main intersection in town, screaming, laughing for hours.  You would go out, I could yell, and they would just either ignore you, laugh, or go away for 5 minutes, wait for you to go back up and then they would return and be louder.  I didn’t want to get arrested on my trip, so I didn’t go up to them in a physical confrontation.  The gardai in Ireland are pretty impotent, and don’t really do anything about noise or disturbances anyway.  I’m used to seeing a fleet of police cars from 5 different departments patrol constantly at night, and respond super quickly to any call or disturbance.  They patrol areas near bars even more heavily and take their job very, VERY seriously.  Also, people in America are very quick to call about any disturbance of the peace in most areas, save college towns, but even there, they still will be called a LOT!

Every single house and building I saw in Ireland had an alarm box on the outside of it.  I was told it’s because insurance companies either require you to have one, or give you a much cheaper rate and incentives to have one.  Now, I was not only kept up by screaming kids, but alarms that would go off for hours, with a 5 minute break every half hour.  Nobody showed up to check it out, nobody turned it off, no gardai showed, NOTHING, zilch, nada, zero response. by anyone.  I thought that maybe it was faulty, or a rare occurrence, but when a kid passing by threw a beer bottle at another building’s window, and that alarm started it’s many hour shift, I realized that this was not the case.  The next night, another building or two were screaming into the night with no response.  OK.. what is the point if nobody shows to check it out?  Who knows!  So, I learned never to stay or live in the center of town unless I invest in soundproofing. And why rent in the center of town was so cheap!

So I now knew who, what, and where to avoid.  I knew what the business and employment situation was, I knew what the vehicle situation was… now to get into the nitty gritty bureaucratic process of becoming legal and getting permission to stay, work, and live in Ireland.  Yes, I’ve just highlighted a lot of negatives, but the positives, at least for me, outweigh any of these things.  Ireland is a wonderful, laid back, friendly, beautiful place,  with a progressive government and culture.  The history is rich and intriguing.  The lifestyle fits me, and I love it!  It’s a hop skip and jump away from the rest of Europe, and travelling is MUCH cheaper!  The fact that it’s part of the European Union causes some difficulty though.  Since it’s borders are open for all EU citizens to come and work or live, it’s had to legislate to reduce the rate of Non-EU citizens coming to work and live in Ireland.  In order to come and live/work there, you need to have them salivating to hire you, and have the company offering you the job to provide written proof of the offer and salary.  The salary must be over 60,000 euro annually, or be on a diminutive list of rare jobs that they allow offers that pay less.  OR  you have to have 300,000 euro in capital on hand to invest in a business.  Or if you are retiring there, you have to have 150,000 euro per person in your account but i’m young still… Or, you have to be married to an Irish citizen.  I would never have been able to move there if we didn’t decide to get married when we did.  It’s next to impossible unless you have a very impressive CV in a field that is having trouble finding citizen employees, or a whole lot of money.  At least I didn’t find any way.  Of course, there are ways to temporarily stay and work, but only temporary, and they tax you to the point of breaking in that case anyway.  I agree with this policy due to the alarming unemployment rates though, I just think that they should loosen the restrictions on small business startups.  I plan on adding a few jobs to their market, and could do so with a tiny fraction of what they require for capital, and small, local business is the backbone of anyplace these days.

To get married, we had to inform the local office of birth, marriage and deaths registrar at least three months ahead of time.  You CANNOT get married before that three month period is up, probably to reduce the impulse or hasty marriages.  They do take marriage seriously in Ireland, and I love this.  Divorce is much, MUCH less common in Ireland.  I believe the divorce rate is about 13 percent, whereas in America, it’s 53% to 60% last time I checked.  You schedule a date and location for the wedding ceremony within this 3 month period and choose an officiant.  In our case, the registrar did it herself, and we were able to choose a nice upscale, old hotel that was listed as a location, though you can choose your own location and officiant if you want.  We were just choosing to do a small civil ceremony at first and then we can do the big family wedding when I get moved, settled, and working there.  A week ahead of the wedding date, you have to go to the registrar’s office to pay a 200 euro fee, passports, birth certificates, and fill out some forms.  A week later we were married!  It was the best day of my life, and I couldn’t wait.  So many people these days see it as a ball and chain, or the end of your fun years…I can’t understand that.  If you are planning on spending the rest of your life with someone, why would you do it if you thought it was a prison, or mundane, or a negative thing in any way at all?

After the wedding I didn’t just automatically get permission to work, or residence rights.  You have to separately apply at the local gardai immigration office.  You have to register your marriage and meet with the officer in charge of immigration there.  They will review and make sure that all is in order, they may ask you questions to make sure it’s all on the up and up.  I think this is a great thing, as I am very opposed to marriages of convenience, people just using the institution of marriage to get into a country and work.  It takes away from and makes it harder for the people that are doing things for the right reasons, and that really love each other.  It’s hard enough to be scrutinized or have your personal love examined as it is.  Then you pay another 300 euro fee, or 500 euro for long term residency, get your fingerprints taken, your criminal backround checked, Photo taken, and then you wait for your id card to come in the mail before you go down and get the stamp for your passport.  After that you have to go back 6 months later to get stamped, then a year, then three years.. after 5 years you can apply for citizenship.

So now i’m legal, what now?  Well, I still have to sell most of my things, close my business, save enough money to cover a few months of rent, a vehicle, living expenses, and cushion money in case the money doesn’t start rolling in soon enough.  Rent is fairly cheap in Ireland, especially outside of town, but you really need a vehicle in Ireland unless you live near your workplace.  I have to have a vehicle for my business, and wanted one to increase my chances of employment if I have to get another job in the mean time.  The public transportation is ok, but not great, and doesn’t go everywhere.  It also doesn’t run around the clock.

I’m still trying to figure out how to make the move as seamless as possible, finding housing, and taking care of finding and registering a vehicle before i’m in country.

I also will write about finding health insurance, doctors, and other mundane tasks soon! I haven’t been able to find any concrete info, nor people that have written about any of these things in detail.  Getting information from any public office in Ireland is also a nightmare, and very, very, very, very inconsistent.  You’ll get five different answers from five different people if you get a response at all.  Most of the time they just say to come in person when I arrive.  Also, finding housing is not easy when i’m in a different country, as most people want to meet you in person understandably.  I’m going to find out options and share them.

So that’s my boring blog post for the week, i’ll add something a bit more colorful next time.  I’d love to hear any questions or comments as well, so feel free!

Go-wan, make my Tay!

I’ll return to my American Expat in Ireland journey next time, today, I was reminded of some differences I thought might be worth sharing.

Sometimes, the differences in culture are not overt. I have always blended well into the cultures around me, taking heed of the differences, as best as possible, at least, but there are differences that are fundamental to a culture.  You can’t always get by learning how to greet people, what gestures not to make, what words not to use, etc…  As an entrepreneur, and small business owner, as well as someone who has worked for, and represented other people’s companies, I have to be more diligent.  In the U.S. most people, no matter how small their business might be,  present themselves in the most professional manner they can.  A certain distance, or “bubble” is maintained, though in some places and situations, it’s ok to be more personal and relaxed regarding interactions with your customers.  This attitude and practice is familiar and expected, and if not maintained, can result in customers feeling they should be getting a better deal, getting lax on payment, scheduling, and the likes.

Ireland is fundamentally different.  I’ll use one of my businesses, the one that I plan on resorting to when I finally get back to Ireland, as an example.  I’m a chimney sweep amongst other things, and I deal with people in their homes most of the time.  I will greet them briefly, and get right down to business quickly.  Most people like this as customers, or they are indifferent about it.  If I were to do that in Ireland, without chatting with them a bit first, and being offered tea about 10 times, It would be viewed as almost rude, or suspicious in a way.   So here lies a problem for me…  Tea… I don’t really drink it much,  I don’t drink coffee much either, to be honest, but I do enjoy a cup of either occasionally.

Let me pose you a question.  What do you think the end result of 4-6 house calls a day would result in?  TAY!  more tea than I would drink in a year, in one day!  Irish women especially don’t seem to be able to hear the words “no thank you” when it comes to just about anything.  They just look at you with the eye of a CIA operative grilling a terrorist with rose colored glasses, and ask again, and again….and again….because obviously you must be mistaken, or confused about your want for tea, or spuds.   I’ve said no thank you to tea, just to find a freshly poured cup in front of me before I could finish saying: “No than…oh fine.”  Ok, so I had my first non-consensual cup of tea already today, now that i’ve processed what’s happened, I have to figure out what this story is that she’s already in the middle of telling me.  It’s got to do with someone named Mary, or John, something about mass, and a baby.  Forget it, you’re already lost, try to catch the next phase.  Oh no! She found out my last name is O’Brien,  There’s no way that an American can have a last name like O’Brien, so they ask if i’m sure i’m American, and then jumps into a story about one of the million O’Brien’s she knows.   Mind you, she knows my ancestors i’m sure, as my wife says, get a few of the old townswomen together, give them a few pots of tea, and let them at it for a few hours, and they’ll have traced my ancestry back to the baby Jaysus’ time.  Now i’ll have no Idea what time it is, how long i’ve been there, and i’m really itching to get started on the job so I can make my next scheduled client.  IF I make it out of there, I’ll have to do this all over again at the next stop!  Keep in mind, there’s going to be a bit of chatting after the work is done, and the vacuum can’t drown out the conversation anymore.  I’ve found that in foreign countries, i’ll be getting extra chatting to because i’m a foreigner, there are always questions and interests regarding that you can count on.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind a bit, really!  I love talking to new people, and hearing their random stories.  In my other business as a recording/audio engineer, I started a project where I set up a microphone at a random location, bar, park, street corner, and recorded random stories people had to share.  This world is full of stories, color, ideas to be heard and shared.  When it comes to getting work done though, this whole Irish tea and chat thing is becoming a foggy labyrinth that I have no idea how to begin to navigate.  I’ll have to figure out a whole new bag of tricks to move things along, but remain polite and personable.  I can’t drink that much tea, so i’m not sure how i’ll pull that off, maybe a hidden bottle to siphon the tea into, I don’t know, and I try not to think about it right now as I struggle enough with getting ready for the permanent move.

In the next post i’ll have to get into all the nitty gritty details, loopholes, and finagling that it’s taking to get over there, and what it took to become legal in the first place.

I’ll need to consult a sage on how to solve this tea debacle though…

<p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=””> <img border=”0″ src=”; alt=””> Stumble It! </a></p>

Going to Ameri…Ireland! An American Moving to Ireland

I think i’ve always wanted to move to Ireland.  I was born an O’Brien, proud of his Irish ancestry, in Hurley, New York.  The history, mythology, culture, accent, attitudes, all appealed to me from a young age.  This dream never seemed realistic to me until I met my now wife, who is born and raised Irish.

Here in The States, anyone with an Irish last name, is “Irish” though, if one of us American born were to say such a thing to an actual Irish person, well, I’d just recommend you don’t do that!  We come from so many different countries, rather, our ancestors did, and though we are Americans, what the rest of the world doesn’t seem to understand is our connection to our roots, and yearning to understand more and feel a connection to our mother countries.  We don’t have much history compared to most countries in the world, and I feel that the countries that our ancestors came from ARE part of us, and our identity.

When I met my red-headed, Aran jumper wearing, no-nonsense, bride, I was in limbo, recovering from a brain injury, and lost.  She was in a similar lost and despondent state, (minus the brain injury.)  We “met” in a very unusual way, we were penpals.  I always scoffed at these relationships, and never really heard of any that succeeded or that were genuine.  I had enough trouble with long distance relationships when they were in-person meetings and then forced into long distance mode, let alone an international one, where we had never even met in person!  Let me say now, the digital age is amazing.  In fact, i’d actually say to any TWO people that find themselves equally and completely taken with eachother.  We both knew almost right off the bat, that there was something amazing about this thing we found.  and I mean days.  Days of constant emails, every moment we had to write, we did.

Why would I recommend it?  WELL…You do not have the full force lust factor involved.  Yes, we saw eachother’s pictures a day or two after we started corresponding, but that’s just a general idea, and the natural human instincts, the physical body right in front of you, the smells, the voice, they are all hidden, or filtered through a screen and frozen in time. You really concentrate on the correspondence, we both can express ourselves better in writing anyway.  I don’t remember how long it took for us to video call for the first time, but it was a while.  After we both realized that we loved eachother.  I started recording my thoughts via my studio’s microphone after a while, and then she started recording her voice soon after.  I remember the first time I heard her voice, and saw her moving image on the screen, nervous, beautiful, and incredible.  It was a short video, she was just sitting on her bed, as she still does to this day, and said that I might like to see her and hear her to return the favor.  That was it, maybe 15 seconds long, but it will be in my head for the rest of my life.  We took one step at a time, Email, Whatsapp text, recordings, video, then video calls.   The video calls went from short ones, both of us nervous and excited, to longer ones as we lost track of time.  Today, we have been married for 7 months and have video called just about every single day since then, and we leave it running at night even so we can glance over and even wake up seeing each-other, but that’s what we have right now.  I still record my thoughts for her before I shut my eyes so she can listen when she wakes, just as I have done almost every single day since we met a year and months ago.  We talk to eachother more than any married couple I know.

I’ll talk more about the relationship some other time, I’ll get back to my decision to move.

We “met” in January, and I was on a plane to actually meet her in April.  By this time we knew this was IT for the most part, but we were both sensible people, (despite what you may think about our unique circumstance!)  So, we had to meet of course!  I wanted to go to Ireland anyway, and this was definitely reason better than any other.  I got on a Boeing 747 headed through Heathrow to Cork at night,  I love flying at night, the moon lighting the clouds below, the stars shining clear and bright.  The lights of New York City shimmered below in an orange and white ant colony below.  I saw them scroll off the window to the left and saw the moonlit Atlantic below.  The statue of Liberty, that so many millions of immigrants saw welcome them to this amazing country waved goodbye to me, and we were off across the sea.   I could not sleep, though I had been up for 20 hours already, the excitement was soaked to my bones.  The flight was calm, quiet, and comfortable, and it “flew” by much quicker than I thought it would. (pun intended)  It was still dark when Ireland appeared below.  The lights were further apart, scattered, disordered, the landscape was rolling and old.   The sun was about to start peeking around the horizon, but it was already brightening the sky halfway through our flight over Ireland.  I wish they could just land straight in Cork, but there were no flights directly from New York to Cork.  Cork being a small international airport.  I didn’t seem to hear her when she told me that I could get a bus from Dublin, straight to her town in Tipperary for only 20 Euro!  I wouldn’t make that mistake again!  Anyway, by the time we crossed the channel into English airspace, the sun was dawning and fog covered the land below.  We landed in Heathrow, and the sunny day, and crisp air woke me up the rest of the way.  I had enough time to get to my connection and grab a sandwich before heading to the next terminal for my half hour flight to Cork.  I texted my girl, who was waiting in Cork for the bus (she doesn’t drive.)  As I went through the UK border, the officer asked me a few questions, where was I going?  What was the purpose of my trip? do I have anything to declare?  He then proceeded to smile and say that he has family that are O’Briens, and joked about me going home.  I made brief small talk, and gathered my things, but started to feel like I really was going home.  I got onto the plane a little while after and was off to Cork!

When I arrived in Cork, I went through the Irish immgration station, and the officer there, then proceeded to tell me that he was an O’Brien as well, and said “welcome home!” I laughed and gathered my things, put on my belt, zipped up my boots, and made a “Bee-line” to the baggage claim, which, in this small airport, was almost straight ahead and in view.  I walked only a 100 feet then, through some red doors and saw a stunningly beautiful redhead sit down in a seat facing away from me just before I opened the second door.  I paused so she wouldn’t see me before she sat down because I wanted to surprise her.  It worked! I walked right up next to her and just stood there looking down until she looked up.  She was listening to Pride and Predjudice (her favorite book) in her earbuds, and was surprised to see some boots right next to her!  She stood and we immediately hugged so tight, and lingered as I smelled her hair, and whispered to her.  We then just started walking towards the exit as if all was familiar and normal.  We walked through the doors, and I was hit with a fresh air, mingled with the smell of a farm I remembered so well from my uncles organic farm in Pennsylvania.  There were no beeping cab horns, yelling pedestrians, vendors, police whistles and sirens… just fields and cows. I remember thinking “this is my kinda place!”  We stood in the smoking corral as I had a very much wanted cigarette, and I put my arm around her waist as I stood behind her.

I had no euro currency, as I thought I’d be able to exchange some when I got to Ireland, but not realizing it was a bank holiday there which the Irish take very seriously!  In America, i’m used to those types of services in airports and cities, to tbe open even on most holidays.  So it was a good thing she met me there, as I couldn’t even afford bus fare until I could change some money, my credit card stopped working when I got to Ireland, and I think it may be because I just used it in England an hour before.  I’d have to find somewhere, or hope that the hotel would allow me to just pay after my stay or until I could get money exchanged or my card sorted.  We got into cork city center, and were to meet up with her two friends that were with her in Cork to go out the night before.  I remember the sun being much brighter, but not as hot.  It seemed less filtered almost.  maybe it was the lack of humidity and smog, but also the latitude possibly.  We walked around a bit to find a pub and possibly a place to exchange my money, and ended up parking my suitcases in an outside area of a pub while she went in to get us pints.  We sat outside in the bright sun, talking and commenting on people walking by.  The owner of the pub came out and told me that I had to move my suitcases, they were taking up too much room apparently, though they were in between us and not in anyone’s path.  I must say that this put me off, and stuck in my craw a bit, but I can’t stand that kind of illogical act that is more than likely because he didn’t like the fact that I was an american and probably though t we were both tourists.  Who knows, I was just happy to be there with her relaxing on a sunny day in Cork city.  (Which is a rare enough thing!)

After our pint,  her friends showed up for another, and we drank, introducing ourselves and chatting for a bit before heading into town a bit more to look for food and a place to change money.  I was directed to a small internet cafe and print shop, and they were able to change some money for me, though it was at a fairly steep percentage!  Keep in mind that when you want to change money, it’s best to just go to a bank in a town somewhere, not in the airport or nearby, the percentage and fees are much more reasonable in the banks.  So, I had money, two pints, this amazing woman beside me, and annoying suitcases.  We had some time to kill, so we grabbed a hot chocolate and iced coffee drinks, and then headed to the bus after.  The bus ride to small town Ireland, in south Tipperary, was a beautiful, scenic one, it was short as well, in American standards.  I remember looking over at her, putting my hand on her leg, and holding her hand occasionally, there was a need to keep contact with her now.  The sun was starting to set, and the light a bit more orange than bright white and yellow.  The grass was so much greener, they don’t call it the emerald isle for nothing!  We got off at the bus stop and started wheeling back into the center of town to the small 8 room restaraunt and hotel I was staying at.  I arrived, and they already had my card info, so they gave us our keys and we headed up to the room to drop the suitcases and get ready to go back out.  It was so relaxing, we just wanted to lay there, quiet and content, and slightly tired from the journey and day, but I got changed, and refreshed, and we headed out to a local pub.

The town was beautiful to me, nestled in a valley near slievenamon, and on the river suir.  We walked around a bit and went to her favorite pub, a small antique pub in the center of town on a narrow street.  This is not a tourist town, so I was now getting the true, unfiltered. unedited Irish experience, I wasn’t there for tourism, but to see where she lived, her natural habitat, if you will.  We had a great night, and briefly headed back to my hotel before I walked her home, as she had some things to do around the house in the morning for her mother.  The weather had suddenly changed cold, the mist in the air was almost frosty, and I needed a jacket all of a sudden.  I was told the Irish weather changed very rapidly, and now knew, only slightly, what that meant.  We walked past a group of screaming teenagers, the pubs were all closed, and it was about 0200, but they were screaming none-the-less.  I was put off by this, an normally would have said something to them, but I was content, happy, and didn’t want any trouble to spoil my time.  We walked a few more blocks, slowly, and without a care in the world.  After I saw her safely home, I strolled back with my hands in my pockets, looking all around me, breathing deep, relaxed and content.  The kids had gone, and all was silent by now.  I thought how even in the small city I lived in upstate New York, there are 24 hour stores all over, and cars going every which direction.  Here, there was only one 24 hour store, that was a 20 minute walk, and closed it’s doors so you had to order through a window, but since I didn’t know what they had, or any of the brands, I just ordered a good old coca cola, a bottle of water, and left it at that before strolling back into town.

I went back to the hotel, and continued texting her until we fell asleep.  I would see her in the morning.

This was going to be my new home, I decided to move to Ireland for sure that night, and next, i’ll get into the process more, and all the things i’ve learned along the way.

To Be Continued…


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Articles in this Issue

Editor's Notes
Opening Letters

Double Fisting Degrees

comparing a UWEC studentship to some new adventures at CVTC

I feel more confident right now than I did walking across the stage to receive my bachelor’s … I’m rather disturbed by the reputation tech schools get, by the thoughts I had of it when I was in high school.

Add a Comment »

The Rear End

My Best Thanksgiving Memory

a huge dinner, my family, and a busted Nerf ball

Actually, I probably should have thrown up. I’d just eaten enough turkey and Stove Top Stuffing to choke a goat – just being outside and moving around was a miracle in and of itself.

Add a Comment »

Opening Shots

Ending the Jock Talk

our priorities need re-adjustment when athletic programs dominate school funding talks

What kind of a message are we sending when we find ways to build billion-dollar stadiums and are willing to pay to support them, but treat school districts like enemies?

Add a Comment »

The Shillelagh Lads

local Irish folksters keep the crowd going

The Shillelagh Lads consider their audience members to be Irish the second they walk through the door. As the only band in Eau Claire that exclusively plays Irish pub music ...

Add a Comment »

The Ronald Raygun

after three-year breakup, band reunites for album

Sometimes all it takes for a band to release a second album is to break up, wait three years, have a child, start a successful business, have a friend move up from Tennessee, and have a clear ...

Comments 1

Sword Story

new fantasy adventure novel The Bone Sword

Local fantasy author Walter Rhein has just released his latest epic adventure tale, The Bone Sword, distributed by Rhemalda Publishing, this month.

Add a Comment »

New Grandma-Tica Tome

For seven years now, editors Nancy Clark Scobie and Judith Bredeson have been gathering stories/poems of, by, and about grandmothers and publishing them in a book called Poetica Grandma-tica.

Add a Comment »

Visual Art

Visual Poetry

artist Andy Ducett weaves together array of imagery

You know that saying? The one that goes, “those who cannot do, teach?” Well folks, that is definitely not the case for Andy Ducett.

Comments 1

Local Look

UWEC's Master Plan

college plans big changes within the next 20 years

This may mean an off-campus arts center facility that could be used for multiple functions such as athletic games, concerts/forums, graduation ceremonies, and community events.

Comments 2

Thanks for Asking | Nov. 18, 2010

our local jack-of-all-facts tells you how it is

When the Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire (GRSEC) did a survey of Drammen Cemetery in 1996, they found 18 graves. Ten years later, a fellow named James Seidelman went through and photographed the stones – all 11 of them. Now there are six.

Add a Comment »

Stout Grad Designs Brand New Hog

UW-Stout alumnus Rich Christoph not only loves Harley Davidson, he also designs for them. Christoph’s latest design, the Forty-Eight, is an idea that came to him one night when he couldn’t sleep.

Add a Comment »

Library of Congress Hits the Road

What has 18 wheels, expands to three times its road width, contains priceless historical treasures, and rolls into Eau Claire on Nov. 19 and 20? It’s the Library of Congress’ newest traveling exhibit, the Gateway to Knowledge.

Comments 1

Shortcuts | Nov. 18, 2010

condensed local news about civic and cultural goings-on

Investigators are at it again. November 19 will mark the second time the local group of occult sleuths have been featured on Animal Planet’s The Haunted (Frank Smoot appeared in the first episode).

Add a Comment »

Kid Culture
Special Sections

Attracting and Retaining Talent

companies are getting creative in trying to find and keep the right people for the job

The recent dip in the economic climate has created a much larger pool of people looking for work ...

Comments 2

How to Enhance Your Brand

identify the distinctive qualities of the organization

Does your organization have a concrete, common understanding of its vision, mission, and strategic goals – along with an understanding of the talent required to fulfill those goals?

Add a Comment »

"Scrambling" on Christmas Eve

My family was scurrying around, rummaging through dressers and closets trying to find belts/ties/shoes that matched our brown/black/navy socks/pants/skirts. Mom and I were sequestered in separate bathrooms, singeing our foreheads with curling irons.

Add a Comment »

With joyful ring. All caroling.

Hidden Treasures organizes carolers to take holiday cheer to the streets around the Valley

If you are looking to share some holiday magic, consider warming others’ hearts in the cold winter weather. For the second year, Hidden Treasures invites you to sing Christmas carols around the Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, or Foster area.

Add a Comment »

Hire local singers or musicians

area schools and the university make it easy to book a group for the holidays

Instead of throwing in a totally familiar Andy Williams album at your holiday party this year, consider adding some extra vigor with live (and local) musicians.

Add a Comment »

Oh Snap!

last second ideas for your holiday card

Go to Hope Gospel, Savers, or Goodwill and find bad holiday sweaters, turtlenecks, vests and/or large prescription glasses.

Add a Comment »

A Buy Local Gift Guide (2010)

Here’s an idea: why not pepper this year’s “gifts to buy” list with a number of fine items crafted right here in the good ol’ Chippewa Valley? It’s fun, thoughtful, and it helps contribute to the place you call home.

Add a Comment »

Local Letters to Santa

colorful correspondence between area folks and the big, bearded guy

You’ll have to forgive us BECAUSE WE ARE A LITTLE ON EDGE. It’s just, you know, when your absolute destruction is coming, but you just don’t know when … THAT GUY HAS FIREWOOD – WAS IT PURCHASED LOCALLY?!?

Add a Comment »

What Local Kids Think Santa Does

what area third graders think Santa does at the North Pole each day

“I’ve got to win because Santa has never won, but not this year because I’m going to dominate! You’ve got to be ready for this day or you can die!” – Alex on the Santa's annual snowball fight

Add a Comment »

The best one-liners from kids’ letters

kids say the darnedest holiday-related things

Why does he deliver presents? If he has ninja elves the ninja will be quicker than Santa so he must let the ninjas deliver the presents for him and Santa can go to bed and rest. – Johnny, Locust Lane Elementary

Add a Comment »

Other Stuff

  Popular Articles

popular items in the last month

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-18
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for April 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-169-175-90.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


text:
Mascot v. Mascot

They’re both blue, made of fuzzy foam, and have the job of boosting school spirit. But which Chippewa Valley university mascot would win in a fight?

V1 Staff

UW-Eau Claire

NAME: Blu (although known in a prior incarnation as “Chip E. Wa”).
ALMA MATER: UW-Eau Claire.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Wingless blue and gold man-bird.
REMINDS US OF: One-quarter pre-Columbian bird god, three-quarters Muppet.
ORIGIN STORY: Discovered roosting in Council Oak when university was founded.
OFFICIAL STATUS: Student body mascot managed by the UWEC Student Senate. The university itself has no official mascot, just a disembodied nickname, the Blugolds.
MOST IMPRESSIVE FEAT: His (or her?) mere existence. UWEC has a long and convoluted history of not having a mascot.
PROS: Swift, birdlike movements; opposable thumbs.
CONS: Foam beak largely useless for combat or consuming birdseed.
QUOTE: “There’s some controversy with alumni that want to keep (the mascot) the Blugold spirit, but I think in today’s day and age it is important to be able to point to something and say, ‘That’s what I am,’ ” Erica Rasmussen, Student Senate Public Relations Commission (The Spectator, Nov. 6, 2013).

NAME: Blaze.
DEBUT: 2011.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Broad-grinned blue demon with sweatpants.
REMINDS US OF: Crownless version of old Burger King mascot, but less creepy.
ORIGIN STORY: Arose from the blue flames of a welding torch in a manufacturing tech class.
OFFICIAL STATUS: The real deal. UW-Stout’s teams have long had the “Blue Devil” nickname, but the first official mascot was created just a few years ago.
MOST IMPRESSIVE FEAT: Defeating other Chippewa Valley mascots in an Aug. 5 dance-off at the National Night Out on Crime in Eau Claire. (Seriously, Blaze can break it down.)
PROS: Rumored satanic powers; blindingly white teeth distract opponents.
CONS: Freakishly oversized head causes neck pain.
QUOTE: “Blaze is appropriate. We want our Blue Devil athletic teams to be hot in their sports, so Blaze will fit right in,” then-Chancellor Charles Sorensen, when Blaze’s name was officially revealed (, Feb. 13, 2012).


text:
Vom Banach K9 Forum

Private support community for use by Vom Banach K9 clients, friends, and select guest members.

When you purchase a Vom Banach K9 German Shepherd you are welcomed into a large and supportive community of working dog enthusiasts. In addition to the support of the breeder you can find information and help on raising and training your puppy in our private Vom Banach K9 Forum with over 155 members and over 43,500 posts on over 2560 topics.

This is a closed non-public forum by membership and invitation only. It is a supportive, civil community reserved for use by Vom Banach K9 clients, personal friends, and select guest members.

If you would like to be a member please go to the forum page and register to setup your account.

You must register using your real first and last name as your username. You will then need to email me letting me know who you are and what username you registered with. I do not activate any new registered users accounts that have not followed this process.


text:
It is a great joy for me to announce today that after the success of Professor S. and with the kind support of the Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg and the German Computer Game Award LudInc is now developing a new game for kids between the ages of 6 and 12 called:

The story follows the adventures of a little octopus girl called Ashta. She was born in a river at the northernmost tip of Indonesia on a little island called Pulo Aceh together with 51 little brothers and sisters. Ashta likes to swim close to the beach and listen and dance to the music the humans are playing. She loves to sit in the coral trees and watch the world go by. Unlike her fellow octopi, she is very sociable and she has a lot of friends in the lagoon. She loves to scare her friends by hiding and imitating different animals. Her father Bob is Ashta’s favourite relative and mentor. Bob enjoys the little pleasures in life. Ashta’s mum calls him lazy but Ashta loves his easy going attitude. Bob often takes Ashta to the beach to collect shells and candy the humans leave behind.

First character design draft of “Ashta”, the little octopus by Agnieszka Michalska.

One day, a group of sharks are feeding in the bay. Ashta barely manages to escape and gets separated from her family. Followed by the sharks she swims into the open sea. Having lost her way and with the sharks still in pursuit she swims farther into the ocean until she reaches the east coast of India. There, she makes friends with a young bull from Mexico and together they embark on an adventurous journey to reunite “Ashta” with her family.

The idea came to me last summer after I had spent almost every day over a six months period practising the physical exercises of the Ashtanga Yoga primary series. The practise continues to improve my life in many ways and I wish I would have discovered it sooner. Yoga not only promotes physical health and fitness but also emotional well-being, concentration and learning abilities. I believe I would have greatly benefited from being introduced to Yoga while I was still at school. However, when I was a kid, Yoga was virtually unheard of. That is why I am grateful for the opportunity to now introduce a younger audience to the practice using the tools I am most familiar with: storytelling, gaming and music.

A big thank you goes out to the Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg who continue to believe in us. A special thank you also goes to the German Computer Game Award (DCP) and the Goethe Institute who invited me to Sao Paulo last year for a wonderful opportunity to meet with and learn more about the Brazilian games industry. During my stay in Sao Paulo I also met our Brazilian co-producer Paula Cosenza. Paula’s company, Bossanova Films has recently opened an animation department which produces high quality children’s content and I am very much looking forward to working with her. “Ashta” will be our first international co-production and I am very excited about that.

The people that make “Ashta” possible from left to right: Paula Cosenza (Bossanova Films), Roshanak Behesht Nedjad (LudInc), Jan von Meppen, Ina Göring (Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg), Anja Riedeberger (Goethe Institut Sao Paulo). During the Berlin Film Festival in February we all met at the Brazilian embassy.

Our gratitude also goes to the Arnold Zweig School in Berlin, where we already had an opportunity to try the story and exercise sequence with a third grade class. There will be other opportunities to test the game mechanics later this month but even at this early stage of development, “Ashta” is a big hit with the students and teachers.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us and you can also help by sharing your thoughts: Do you practise Yoga? Do you think Yoga would be beneficial for your kids? Would you spend money on an app that teaches your kids yoga? Do you think an animated story is a useful teaching tool?


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Posts Tagged ‘William Wallace’

Busy today tidying up (though in truth I can only make a small dent in the tidying that needs doing). As I slide books back into their slots on my bookshelves, I noticed the great number of stories that have swords or blades in them.

My favorite swords are the lightsabers of the Jedi knights of Star War’s fame, King Arthur’s Excalibur, and the famed sword/s of The Lord of the Rings. There is always the debate whether Arthur had one or two swords. One pulled from the stone and a different blade given to him by the Lady of the Lake seems to indicate two different swords, but there are other takes on these mythical events.

As for The Lord of the Rings’ sword/s, I refer to Narsil, the blade broken into shards during battle. Isildur, son of the king, used the hilt-shard to slice the finger with the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. The Ring takes quite a journey, eventually ending up in the spindly hands of Golem, then in the pocket of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. From there, the Ring is placed in the care of Frodo, and finally is destroyed in the lava of Mount Doom. Now, back to the Shards of Narsil. These broken bits of sword, are re-formed into a new blade which is renamed, Anduril – The Flame of the West, and given to Aragorn to use. And yes, JRR Tolkien geek that I am, I didn’t need to research these names!

I found an interesting list of 15 Legendary Swords which not only includes my favorites, but a dozen more. By the way, I find the inclusion of William Wallace’s sword a novel idea. I wonder if it would have been on the list prior to Mel Gibson’s movie?

Skean copy In my fantasy novel, The Enchanted Skean, the blade mentioned in the title is a boot knife, though I do have Beck use a fighting blade, too. As I work on the sequel, I’m toying with the idea of introducing a magical sword — but I worry it’s a cliché’. What do you think?

Read Full Post »


text:
Wind Project In Northwestern Vt. Gets New Investor

Print More

Construction has started on a 10-megawatt wind energy development in northwestern Vermont.

The Georgia Mountain project will feature four wind towers over 400 feet high.

The development was launched by a local family. But recently it attracted a major new investor. Vermont renewable energy entrepreneur David Blittersdorf is now a member-owner of Georgia Mountain Community Wind LLC.

Some neighbors opposed to the wind development say the owners or state regulators should have told them that construction was about to start.

R.J. Potter of Milton lives near Georgia Mountain. He says neighbors were shocked last week by the clearcutting and construction activity.

"We didn’t know that there was new ownership," he says. "The Public Service Board didn’t notify us about anything whatsoever. Usually up to this point they’ve been pretty good about it. But nothing. And you’ve got a whole bunch of upset neighbors. This Blittersdorf, could he send us a postcard or something?"

Blittersdorf is CEO of All Earth Renewables, which sells wind and solar systems. He’s also a founder of NRG Systems, a leading producer of wind measuring equipment.

Blittersdorf was out of town and unavailable for an interview. Martha Staskus is overseeing the project. She says the energy entrepreneur became interested in the Georgia wind development after it won approval from the Public Service Board.

"And we started to look at purchasing turbines and lining up and preparing for construction, David Blittersdorf became interested in being a participating member of the Georgia Mountain LLC," she says.

Staskus says the company wasn’t required to send out a notice to neighbors that construction was about to begin. Although the project won PSB approval in 2010, she says the final transportation permits were obtained just recently.

"We’ve tried to stay in communication with the neighbors as well as we can," she says. "So the conditions of the permits were met…. The board has made no indication of a violation and therefore the project needs to move forward."

Melodie McLane of Fairfax lives with her family about 3,000 feet away from the wind project. She says the company and the Public Service Board should have done a better job communicating with neighbors.

"We had not heard from the board that they had full approval to start construction. So of course we were quite upset," McLane says. "And right up until that point on everything, every piece of correspondence, every condition that had to be met, we were copied and notified.

McLane says there are about 100 homes within a mile of the project. She says there’s simply too big an impact on the mountain and the neighborhood. But Staskus of Georgia Wind says the turbines will deliver local energy and local jobs.

"That’s sort of the real exciting part about of this project. It’s locally owned; the power is going locally to Burlington Electric," Staskus says. "And it’s locally financed and it’s creating local Vermont jobs in the renewable energy sector."

Staskus says the project needs to be up and operating by the end of the year in order to qualify for federal grants.

Comments are closed.


text:
Dress KARA

Sale price Price €25.00 EUR Regular price €40.00 EUR

Tax included.

Our new Vresh dress is wide-cut and designed for comfort and movability, perfect for relaxing at home or keeping cool at the beach in summer. It also also great for layering and adds a pop of colour to your other wardrobe basics. The main colour is Bordeaux with a small grey, embroidered logo. If you like your dress to be more fitted, choose a smaller size.

Our Vresh dresses are fair produced in Porto, Portugal by small family-owned businesses to ensure high quality as well as good working conditions. We respect people and the planet, always.

Made with a precise combination of cotton and polyester to ensure soft touch and durability. We are in the process of securing a recycled polyester fabric for future production, to make it even more sustainable.

50% Cotton

50% Polyester

Model wears size: S

Not sure what size you need? Check out our size chart:


text:
Upcoming Review: RJM Audio VSPS 400 Phono Stage

Steve Graham digs deeper into LP grooves with a Canadian phono board.

Richard Murdey is a Canadian originally from Newfoundland and Labrador.  The audiophile bug bit him early on courtesy of his Dad, but Richard discovered DIY while doing his PhD at the university of British Columbia.  He lives in Japan with his family and does post-doctoral work at Kyoto University, exploring solid state physics and physical chemistry.  Specifically, he studies the conductivity and photoconductivity of molecular semiconductors.  (WOW!)  Through his Phonoclone website, Richard promotes some of his DIY ideas on topics ranging from phono amps, line and headphone amp design, D to A converters, and interconnect cables.  Some of his audiophilic musings have made it to hardware available for purchase, either as PCB’s only, or with a complete set of parts as well.

As I’m on an LP comeback right now, I wanted to sample one of RJM’s phono boards.  To that end Richard is sending me a pair -each channel has its own board- of the VSPS 400 Phono Stage, assembled and ready to go.

And here’s the good part:

After I put the boards in a chassis, wire them up and do the review, Richard has graciously offered to let me buy them, return them, or sell them to a WoS follower.  If sold, all moneys raised will go support my favourite charity, Georgian Bay General Hospital.  Same deal as my line stage build from earlier this year – I’ll give you faithful Wall of Sound readers first wack at buying the unit, even if I love it a lot.

Related Articles

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


text:
Jeff Berwick: Diversify Your Assets Globally While You Still Can

Download Podcast!

Download Instruction: Right Click on the button and select “Save Link As” or click on the button and select “Save Page As” under the browser setting

Jeff Berwick

jeff berwick

website facebook twitter

Jason Burack had on returning guest Jeff Berwick founder of Dollar Vigilante and the popular Anarcho-Capitalist podcast, Anarchast

During this 40+ minute interview, Jason asks Jeff why the global financial system hasn’t collapsed yet? Jeff says a lot of money has been printed to keep the game going longer but that he would be surprised if things last another 5-7 years. Jason and Jeff discuss Keynesian Economics and the brainwashing of children in schools in the US to allow the government to do almost anything it wants.

Next, Jason asks Jeff if Austrian School Economist and founder of anarcho-capitalism, Murray Rothbard (if he were still alive) would be surprised the game has been kept going longer than expected? Plus much more!

  • googleplus
  • linkedin
  • tumblr
  • rss
  • pinterest
  • mail

There are 0 comments

Leave a comment

Want to express your opinion?
Leave a reply!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
The Italian Wine Journal

The Italian Wine Journal

Walton Brook Vineyard Pinot Gris 2013 classic method: tasting

Every year the Euposia Challenge presents interesting innovations in the panorama of the international classic method. This Pinot gris comes from Leicestershire, a vine not widely used in sparkling wines; technology and clones from Germany for this winery started in 2008 on hills facing south in this county in the heart of the United Kingdom, just north of Leicester. Walton Brook is a small winery, with just under 10 thousand vines planted and this Pinot Gris is 2013 with disgorging in 2018. Brilliant in the glass, it has immediate citrine notes of lime with white flowers, herbaceous and notes of powder. The palate is very fresh, acidic shoulder still important despite the evolution on the yeasts, wide palate where citrus notes, grapefruit and a soft almond finish typical of the vine return. Inviting to drink, very pleasant and overall very balanced.

Link here :

Share this post

Leave a Reply

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
My Cart

Paua Hei Matau

Legend holds that the north island of New Zealand was once a huge fish caught by Maui, the Great Mariner, using only a woven line and a bone hook.  The fish hook remained lodged in the side of the fish and can be seen today in the outline of Hawke's Bay.
For the Maori, the Hei Matau represents Strength, Prosperity, Fertility and a great respect for the Sea. It is believed to grant Safe Passage Over Water and has special significance as a gift.
The Hei Matau each come on a necklace cord you can adjust to fit anyone, with an informational card describing the meaning of the symbol. You should receive the necklaces within 2-5 days. If you are requesting international shipment, please just email us!

Join our Mailing List

Sign up to receive our daily email and get 50% off your first purchase.

My Cart

Subtotal: $0.00

Your cart is currently empty.


text:
war on the rocks

I Love Mattis, But I Don’t Love Him as SecDef

November 25, 2016

Among those in the Marine Corps I taught and deployed with, Gen. (ret.) Jim Mattis is a legend. The quotes, the foxholes, the knife hands. Everyone has their favorite story. I once handed Mattis a Diet Coke out of a cooler at Quantico. A mundane act? Yes. But I’ve remembered it fondly for 12 years.

He is Chaos, Mad Dog, and the warrior monk. But we should not add secretary of defense to that list.

I have long thought of Mattis as a “break glass in case of emergency” type of leader. He was uniquely suited to his roles in the early years of the War on Terror. He is a warrior and a leader of men in the application of violence. He is not, however, a man for all seasons. Many in defense circles have been so overjoyed at the prospect of a qualified secretary, that they seemed to have forgotten to stop and ask if Mattis would, in fact, be right for the job. He is not a politician, or a wonk, or a bureaucrat. To ask him to be any of those things would be like trying to keep a wave upon the sand.

As with all nominees, there are tradeoffs to Mattis running the Defense Department. He is a strategic thinker with a strong sense of history — his library is one of those aforementioned legends. He is a well-regarded leader who inspires fierce loyalty. But I fear Mattis may be wasted atop the vast expanse of the Pentagon. There are ultimately three primary reasons why we shouldn’t hope Chaos becomes secretary of defense.

1. Mattis a recently retired general and is therefore statutorily prohibited from serving as secretary of defense. And while a legislative solution is possible, this law exists for good reasons and overriding it bodes poorly for long-term civil-military relations.

2. Warfighters rarely make good bureaucrats. The Pentagon is one of the world’s largest bureaucracies, and Mattis has shown little patience for management and administration.

3. His boss won’t listen.

We should not dismiss these tradeoffs. They require serious thought, and I don’t expect everyone will conclude as I do. An ideal secretary of defense would have many qualities: strategic thinking, effective leadership, knowledge of the personnel and procurement systems, experience with the interagency, commitment to the warfighters, and steely loyalty to civilian control. It is unlikely we will find all those features in one nominee. But we should be clear-eyed about what Mattis would and would not bring to the office.

Given President-elect Donald Trump’s comments regarding general officers during the campaign, some turbulence in civil-military relations is to be expected in the coming administration. And while the president is the commander-in-chief, the chain of command passes through the secretary of defense. Civilian control of the military remains one of the hallmarks of the American political system, alongside the rule of law and separation of church and state. I have no doubt that Mattis, who recently co-edited a book on civil-military relations, believes that more strongly than most. The secretary of defense is the embodiment of civilian control. But having only recently retired, he cannot shoulder that burden on his own.

Nor should he share in this burden with the half-dozen or so former generals Trump is considering for other posts. The president-elect’s newfound love of general officers — without knowing much about the culture and traditions that animate them — should raise concerns. (His apparent courting of officers fired or driven out by President Obama is also troubling.) Indeed, if Mattis were the only general under consideration, the tradeoffs might appear different. But in this context, civilian control of the military must stand on firmer ground.

Some may feel more comfortable than I with a former general as secretary of defense. Indeed, much of #NatSec twitter was warm to the idea. Mattis is, after all a deeply thoughtful and capable person committed to his fellow warfighters and to our nation’s interests. But this brings us to my second point: Warriors make for bad bureaucrats. Rather few officers have shown success on the battlefield and in the hallways of official Washington. Gen. Al Gray comes to mind, as does Gen. David Petraeus (though his combat command came late in his career). And the last general to serve as defense secretary, Gen. George Marshall, was a staff officer. It was his experience as Army Chief of Staff during World War II that qualified him to be secretary of defense, after serving as secretary of state. Mattis’ record as a combat commander is unsurpassed, but he has never shown much interest in the staff assignments. He did serve a tour in Washington in the late 1990s (as military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense), but unlike other four-stars, Mattis never seemed particularly interested in coming back. And while his tours at Central Command and the now-defunct Joint Forces Command are to his credit, they also reveal the limits of his skills at bureaucratic infighting, given he was driven out from the former post after a falling out with the Obama administration on its Iran policy.

The point is not that Mattis is unqualified. Rather, the point is that he hates this shit. Budgets, white papers, and service rivalries, not to mention the interagency meetings and White House meddling — these tasks are not what you go to Jim Mattis for. Not only does the role of secretary of defense not play to Mattis’ strengths, but success in that role would compromise much that we admire most in him: his bluntness, clarity, and single-minded focus on warfighting. The secretary’s job is by necessity much more political than all that. You can’t run the Pentagon like the First Marine Division.

And yet, there are many who would argue that this is a time in which those traits are most needed at the Pentagon. In a discussion on Twitter earlier this week, former marine Paul Szoldra noted that “the best thing about him, and what would be desperately needed in Trump admin, is that he isn’t a yes man.” I don’t disagree, but would Trump even listen? His Mattis-inspired about-face on waterboarding notwithstanding, I’m not convinced the president-elect will be able to manage a coterie of competing advisors, much less listen to them. Indeed, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Flynn, soon be national security advisor, has apparently indicated he doesn’t want anyone who outranked him serving in the administration. What will Trump’s position on any number of crucial national security issues be tomorrow or next year? Can he be persuaded to change his view of Russia or better reassure allies in Europe and Asia? Would he accept Mattis’ view of Iran?

If Mattis were indeed asked to be secretary of defense, his decision would in some way mirror those of many more junior officials. Must all good people serve? Ben Wittes has written usefully on the distinction between those civil servants already in government, and those appointees contemplating joining. The full-throated support required of political appointees in an administration should provide more than a moment’s pause. By serving, can you better protect American values and interests? Would you or Mattis be able to shape policy and effectively advise the president? Or would you be complicit in the debasing of our alliances and institutions? How would you decide when enough was enough? And if you were Mattis, would your resignation trigger its own civil-military crisis?

These thoughts have tumbled around my head many times since the election was decided. There is no doubt this administration, like all administrations, needs good people in office. But to serve this president will be a frustrating and degrading affair. For my peers and those slightly older, I have few good answers. The arguments for joining the administration — even under immiserating conditions — are profound, but so are those against. But for Gen. Jim Mattis, my conscience is clear. We need a capable civilian as secretary of defense now more than ever. Despite the tradeoffs, he should say no.

Erin Simpson, Ph.D., is the newest War on the Rocks senior editor. She was the CEO of Caerus Associates.

Image: U.S. Marine Corps


text:
Northrop Grumman Corporation and CA Technologies Sign Cloud-Based Identity and Access Management Services Agreement

Amy Caro, Northrop Grumman

Amy Caro, Northrop Grumman Corporation

Northrop Grumman Corporation has signed an agreement with CA Technologies in order to increase the organization’s cloud-based services within the health care, civil government, and state and local markets sectors. Northrop Grumman will now provide customers with  CA CloudMinder–a secure, cost-effective identity and access management (IAM) solution.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based platform provides user provisioning; self-service user management and an access request system; strong risk-based authentication; and federated single sign-on for both cloud-based and on-premise applications.

“Protecting the security and privacy of our clients’ information is a top concern for Northrop Grumman. Providing the right access to the right information is also particularly important in the health IT market,” stated Amy Caro, vice president of health IT programs for Northrop Grumman. “By working together to build a secure cyberspace, Northrop Grumman and CA Technologies will be able to better address our clients’ mission needs and deliver cost-effective, low-risk solutions.”

“The U.S. government’s cloud-first strategy, combined with the cybersecurity Executive Order, demands unique solutions that help agencies secure their hybrid IT environments,” Mike Denning, senior vice president and general manager, Security Solutions, CA Technologies, said. “We look forward to working with Northrop Grumman and supporting its IAM-as-a-service solution for its government customers and improve security and efficiencies, reduce risk, and help meet cybersecurity mandates across cloud and on-premise applications.”

Northrop Grumman recently won a follow-on contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, details of which can be found here.

collabralink NEW TILE AD

Comments are closed.