Sunday, March 06, 2005
Just a quick note to let you know that the smaller paperback edition of the first book is out now.
Should be reasonably easy to get hold of in Ireland, and in an increasing number of places in the UK (a search in a Waterstones in London revealed copies in half a dozen branches in London, and in many other cities besides).
I’ll update the purchasing page on the site when the online retailers update their inventory.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Well, not exactly dead. More like reborn.
Buendia and I are going on holiday to Dublin. This is a weird notion for someone who lived there for a dozen years, but we’ll see what happens.
At the end of my time there, I was coming to the conclusion that it was better to be a visitor there than a resident – the reverse of the situation when I first arrived in 1993.
Then, the craic was mighty, the Celtic Tiger was yet to be born, and no-one had much money.
People looked at me strangely when I told them I planned to stay after doing my Masters. Economically, things weren’t at their worst, but a lot of folks were still leaving to find work.
No big-name acts came to play, and we didn’t know about lattes or pannini.
By the time I left last year, it was all changed, and not entirely for the better.
But we’re not coming back for an analysis of the state of the country. More like to have a week of Sundays. We’re planning to do all the things we liked to do on weekends – some obvious (take the DART to Killiney and walk along the Vico Rd), some more unique to ourselves. I don’t imagine many visitors to Dublin would be going out of their way to pop into the Java Bay cafe on Manor St.
A lot of time will be spent catching up with old friends and old haunts. We’re staying in a hotel – another first for us in Dublin – and should have access to some kind of internet connection (especially if we can find a signal from those phone boxes Eircom have set up with free wireless access), so I’ll try sending a report from the front.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
I made an excellent discovery on my way to the new office this morning. A small coffee (with the cardboard sleeve so you can carry it) fits perfectly into the bottle cage on a bike.
This means I can call in at the Meridian cafe on the way to work (and get my 20% discount for arriving there by bike), and not have to walk the bike round to the office because I have to hold my coffee.
A small thing I know, but very pleasing. And no spills.
Here’s the coffee cage in action:
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
We’re now pretty much moved in to the downtown offices, and it’s great to be here for several reasons including:
1) Having a place to go to work has already improved my productivity, and created a good division between working time and time off
2) We’re surrounded by friends we know also working near here, so plenty of drop-in opportunities
3) There’s a community of small businesses in the building, which can only help with networking and the like
4) We’re in a pleasant space with nice light and views.
Here’s a picture of the new digs – or at least, my little office.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Buendia and I have just scored some great office space downtown in Santa Fe.
This means we both have a place to go to work (as does Buendia’s first employee, starting in a couple of weeks).
It also frees up the room at home for its new role in the summer, and will keep our work lives separate from the home existence.
We’ll also be handy for drop-ins and lunch dates – quite a few friends work in the heart of town.
The space is in a cool 50s building on East Palace Ave – a high-falutin’ address in Santa Fe, and we’ll be moving in next week. My jobs will include setting up the wireless network, so there’s a need for a funky Airport Express yoke.
Maybe some pictures to follow of us in the new crib – which looks out onto a little grassy courtyard.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Back from a weekend ski trip to Red River – up there in northern New Mexico near the Colorado border.
We weren’t doing the yo-yo ski-ing, otherwise known as downhill. Instead we were going cross country, which means you can go up and along as well as down.
It’s no accident that you can get those nordic ski indoor trainer things, because it’s hard work – the perfect winter sport for masochistic cyclists.
But the real challenge is keeping under control on the way down.
Without metal edges, and on light narrow skis, it’s very hard to stop yourself or steer when gravity begins to take over. Especially if you’re not very good, like me.
Buendia’s been doing this for twelve years, so she made it all look as easy as falling off a log. My performance was more based around avoiding crashing into a tree.
But the lesson I took was a great help, and it was good to get out in the snowy woods under your own steam. Another couple of trips and maybe I’ll be able to stop when I want to.
Back to Santa Fe yesterday with sore muscles.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
The generous and wise Buendia bought me a Playstation2 for Christmas – partly to replace the one we had to leave behind in Ireland when we moved, and partly as a gentle suggestion that I had become a little too serious of late, and wasn’t giving myself permission to play.
Her plan may have been a little too successful. After many hours of playing FIFA Football, my left thumb is sore, but under my management Everton won the League, the League Cup and the FA Cup last season. I turned down a move to Inter Milan for the chance of playing in the Champions League. With luck I’ll get hired by Arsenal at the end of the season, and then there’ll be real fireworks.
The game is great, but now whenever I watch real football on TV, I want to move the players around.
Interestingly, too, the game is actually called FIFA Soccer over here, and all the players on the box cover are Spanish – no prizes for identifying the one ethnic community in the US (excluding Anglo-Irish expats like me) that might be interested in a footie game.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
The anonymous blogger over at An Overgrown Path has recently put up a very favourable review of The Accidental Pilgrim. An excerpt:
“In his book dot com escapee David Moore manages to balance scholarship (he is a graduate of Cambridge and Trinity College, Dublin, but wears his academic background lightly) with readability, while managing to avoid the leaden ‘I am a dumb traveller, and these are the dumb things that happened to me’ style of humour regularly served up by Bill Bryson, namesake Tim Moore, and so many others . . . . The book also manages to avoid the trap of simply being a diary of places, journeys and punctures. In this his first book Moore manages to include enough personal detail to make the author as well as the journey come alive, and that is a difficult thing to achieve.”
The full review (part of a very interesting blog) is at: http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2004/12/accidental-pilgrim.html
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Taking a week off while my Mum is visiting us here in New Mexico.
The Christmas Eve farolito walk up a freezing and snowy Canyon Road was beautiful. Everyone had paper lanterns (ingredients: brown paper bag, sand, candle) in ranks on roofs and walls and all over:
And the bright sun throughout Christmas was such a change from Britain and Ireland, where you may as well keep the curtains closed this time of year.
More later, when I’m back to work next Monday. Hope everyone has a great time over this great time.
(Photo credit: Bill Belknap)
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
I caught part of a strange interview with Brian Williams, the journalist who’s taking over from Tom Brokaw as anchor for NBC’s evening news show. It was just a puff piece on an entertainment news show.
Ditsy interviewer: ‘That’s some big shoes you’re filling.’
Williams: ‘Oh absolutely.’
Dits: ‘And do you try and wear those shoes?’
Williams (looking surprised at such a ridiculously stretched metaphor): ‘Er, well, I think you just wear the ones you bring.’
A good save from Brian, but bizarre nonetheless.