Monthly Archives: July 2008

A holding action

So after my conversation last night with a friend I am hoping to work with, I am now in a holding pattern. Effectively hold the line. This means I am getting my resume ready and out there, and my wife and I are going to start getting the house packed up in the POD things and then we will list the home for sale to see if we can get any bites.

Daleks, Cybermen, Void and Rose

So okay here we go on a rant which will make no sense to most! What the hell, Rose & the Dr? Dude he was going to say it. It was a perfect way to end that relationship as far as the series goes, but I had really enjoyed the character played by Rose and was just not happy with this folks! great piece of writing but not happy with the outcome folks!

So now what huh!

The Clash – should I stay or should I go now?

So in the words of the Clash who perhaps sum up some thoughts for me, quoting them:

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know!

This indecision’s bugging me
If you don’t want me, set me free
Exactly who’m I’m supposed to be
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
Come on and let me know
Should I cool it or should I blow?

So the question now is do I stay with ******** or do I leave them in pursuit of that better opportunity? Normally I am not as open with my blog and thoughts as this post is. The job I have is good, it is stable and has been great to me, to my family. But I believe the the times are a changing and the paradigm has shifted.

I am looking outside the office and trying to find something that will restore my ability to pay my bills etc. I have been very fortunate that right now I have help, however this only lasts for so long, so I need to commit. So what do I do? I find this is something I am very torn over. I am however excited about a prospect that I have, the opportunity there is huge, and the folks I would work for / with are those I respect greatly.

So the clock is now ticking and I need to make that decision,  should I stay or should I go now? If I go it means leaving the state. Closer to home and only one flight to get there. Lyd!!! Any thoughts here sis?

Punschkrapfen……Anyone?

So to explain what a ‘Punschkrapfen’ is, think of a French fancy. For those of you unaware of the glories of the French fancy they are small square sponge pastries with a dollop of vanilla icing on top, then completely covered in either chocolate, lemon or strawberry icing. These things are lovely.

So anywho, now you have the mental picture, think of the pink one on its own. Now make it a little bigger. Now make it reak of alcohol. Now you’re getting closer to a Punschkrapfen. It’s a high calory(328 for a small one) Austrian speciality.

It’s the evil French Fancy since it is a rum cake and it is wonderful, but very rich and really all I can manage is the one on its own, which is good news for my heart! So we bought a pack of four and I only ate two while we were there, so I brought two home in my carry-on, along with a Sacher Torte and a few bars of Milka chocolate for my friends.

A Sacher Torte is another Austrian speciality pastry. It’s a fancy chocolate cake with apricot jam through it so it’s got a tang. I kept hearing from Roll and Erica that it’s so rich and smells so chocolatey its sickening(Roll refuses to be in the same room as an open one) and that the best place to get them is the Hotel Sacher where they were invented in the 1800s. So halfway through our stay we went there and a slice cost me €4.90! Ok, you’d play this for a slice of cake in most places in Ireland anyway I guess….Anywho, it didnt have the smell and it was a bit dry for my liking, and to be honest, it wasnt great. It looked pretty, but that doesn’t really make up for it. Before we left I found a cheap one in spar, a fiver for a whole cake, so I brought it back in my handluggage and to be honest it better meets my expectations, even though it is horrenously sweet. Sacher Torte in the Hotel Sacher

So, I’m not sure if I already wrote this since I saved what I’ve written to this point yesterday….anywho….myself, my friend Roll, her sister and her sister’s friend (Ex-bf) rented an apartment on Glockengasse in Vienna. The apartment had an odd layout of as soon as you went in the front door there was a door to your right which I guess used to be a closet, but it was the toilet. Solely the toilet. No sink. On the left was the wall of the sink and glass bricks letting light into the kitchen. Ahead were two tables and four chairs for breakfast in the kitchen by the windows. Off this was the room with bunkbeds myself and roll shared. Then there was the sitting room, with bigass couch, bar and dinning table….plus alll german tv.

Back to the kitchen. Normal kitchen stuff. Sink, giant fridge, gas stove/oven, many many cupboards. Then swing doors like in a Saloon….These led into the bathroom…..yeah swingdoors in a bathroom…odd…so you can sorta see into the kitchen from the big multiple person bath and the shower over in the corner. Out of the other door from the bathroom, a door with frosted glass panels was the master bedroom. There was a window in the bathroom opposite this door opening into the hallway outside our apartment, the window was frosted glass too and there were bars infront of it to stop anyone using it to get into the apartment….but still odd……

We stayed for six days and in this time, went to the Succession building to see Klimt’s mural, the natural history museum, the national museum, the palace, the zoo, the aqua-terra zoo, the hotel sacher, huntwasser haus, Stephansplaz, the cocktail bar around the corner from us (x3)….and probably other stuff i can’t remember right now…along with general exploring of the city centre.
None of us had German, probably much to the annoyance of the locals…Will write more later. …..Have some photos….

Ant eater having a shower

The roof of Stephensplaz

Annubis likes football

Some random side street

Part of Huntwasser Haus

Does this come under Buyer Beware?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/30/backyard.bombs/index.html

So when they bought the homes no one appears to have conisdered that this being a former testing range that anything could be wrong? I would suggest that no one moves any furniture around their homes, just in case the pressure causes a permanent fung shui change!