Bad news .... More bad news .... Great News!

Some people in my family knew that I was going to short 8 day trip to Ireland. The first four days I was actually there for work, I was attending a conference. I was able to establish some good networks and I am hoping that I can continue to meet more people and further my career. The last four days were vacation, I traveled around Ireland a bit. The four days were definitely not enough time but I am just happy I was able to go. I promise there will be some great pictures, movies and many post all about Ireland.

Dublin castle, Dublin Ireland

Bad news - Sept 6th
But I first have to tell you about the Bad news. =(  Only a few people know that I basically live off my ipod touch. It is my calender, my alarm clock and when I am behind on my blog post (like I am now) the notes feature on my ipod becomes my notebook where I write details about my adventures so that I can later put it on my blog.  I love my ipod touch. Well .. during the 'conference tour' I lost my ipod. =(  The coordinators for the conference had people looking everywhere.

During the tour we took two buses to the Ireland research center, then we went to the research fields and then we took a tour of an Irish dairy farm. They looked everywhere on the buses and the research center. They said that they will keep an eye out for the ipod on the research field and the dairy farm. But I knew if they did not find it in the buses or the research center that the ipod was  just gone. I was and still am really frustrated at myself for losing it. And I still feel a little lost without it but I am getting by.

More bad news - Sept 7th
The very next morning I woke up to my apple laptop crashing. *sigh*  My boyfriend (C) and I knew that this NVIDA graphics crash would happen eventually the timing was just awful I just lost my ipod the night before. Since I knew this graphic crash was coming I knew that it would be best to have some proof so I took some pictures and a video. Just in case Apple was going to dispute the problem.

NOTE: Even though the video says 0:00 for time - It DOES work. Just click the play button.

The good thing is that since this NVIDA graphics problem is well known issue Apple will assist in the repair. If you laptop is purchased within 4 years of the graphics crash they will repair the laptop for free. *sigh* My lap top was just over 4 years old when the crash occurred.  Long story short --- Apple will provide the part at no charge I just have to pay for the labor.  I still consider that a win for me because instead of paying $900 to get my laptop fixed I am only paying $200.

Note: When I went to pick up my laptop, there was no charge for the labor. It seems that Apple actually paid for all of it, parts and labor. I was so thrilled. I kept asking the guy behind the counter  "are you sure?" He replied "You really want to pay for this!?" I just wanted to make sure the company that did the labor to get screwed.  But I really did not have to pay for anything, that news made my day.

Great News!! - Sept 12th 11:00 pm Copenhagen, Denmark
You could just imagine how depressed I was -- I lost my ipod and now my laptop but I really tried to enjoy my four vacation days in Ireland. And I did have lots of pictures to show you all. But now that I was back in Denmark I knew that I had a lot of work to do and I was not looking forward to it.

Originally I was supposed to land in Copenhagen at 10 pm, giving me plenty of time to catch the 11:10pm train back to the town where I live. Well the plane left Dublin late so we were behind schedule. I landed in Copenhagen at 10:30pm, I quickly made my way through the almost empty airport, quickly got through passport control and then waited and waited and waited for my luggage to arrive.

While I was waiting I was freaking out, 'What if I miss this train? Is there another one?'. While I was waiting for my luggage to arrive I was using my cellphone to call my boyfriend (C) to ask him to look up if there is another train and when it would be. I called both of his offices he was not at either one, I was pissed. I need someone to help me there while I wait for my luggage. So I called my dad and told him the situation. I told him if I do not call back on 20 minutes I made the train. If I do call back I obviously missed the train. He said 'OK I will stay near the computer so that I can look this up for you'.

At 11:04pm my luggage showed up, I grabbed it and started running to the where the trains are. I went through the final security doors and start quickly making my way through the crowd to get to the train. All of a sudden I hear a voice say 'Miss can you tell me how to get to ________?'  (The blank is the town in Denmark where I live.)  I turn around and look and there is my boyfriend!!! What he was not scheduled to come over and people who know him know that he HATES to fly.  He said "SURPRISE!"  I had to touch him to make sure he was real I just could not believe it for a while. I was hugging him when I realized 'TRAIN' so I grabbed his hand and started running to the train.

We made the train! During the entire train ride I could not stop hugging him I could not believe that my boyfriend who hates to fly came all the way to Denmark to see me.  I was so happy.  I sometimes give (C) crap about how he is not romantic, I can not longer do that. It was so romantic for him to come all the way over here and surprise me.  (C) was able to stay for 12 days and I was able to get 5 more days of vacation while he was here. (C) helped me get my apple laptop sorted out and fixed. I showed (C) around Copenhagen, taking him on a canal tour. Over the weekend we went to a free Jazz concert in NyHavn, went swing dancing in Nørrport and  found this great Italian restaurant. There was one day we just walked around the town where I live, holding hands, talking and just enjoyed each others company.

I was sad to see him get back on a plane on September 23rd, but I really enjoyed my surprise and the time I got with my boyfriend.

Staff Club fun : The Nightclub Karel

So in April of 2011 all the members of the staff club got an interesting email.  A nightclub in Copenhagen offered 50 people from our research center a free dinner on May 27th.  And then the Staff Club would pay for three hours of drinks (~120 kr OR ~$25)

Now as we all know if the deal is too good to be true, then in most cases the deal is not true. So I went to the secretary to ask her if this deal is really true.  She said the Staff Club checked it out and it was really true.  She mentioned this is something that nightclubs do to get more profits from drinks and increase the number of people who know of the nightclub.  So I signed up.

So on the day of the nightclub dinner, Dot, Kn and I went to Kn's apartment in Valby, a suburb of Copenhagen.  After a long day at work we all took a shower, redid our makeup, made our hair look all pretty and change into some more nightclub 'clothes'.  Dot and Kn wore really nice cocktail dresses, whereas I just wore a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt. I kind of felt under dressed.  As Dot, Kn and I walked to the S train and got on the metro tram,  I could not stop laughing. I counted at least 14 guys who I saw that were staring at Dot and Kn.   When I arrived at Karel nightclub and met everyone else, I no longer felt under dressed, there were many other Staff Club members in t-shirts and shorts.

At 7pm we were allowed to enter the nightclub and it was really classy place.

So when we enter the nightclub we there were three long tables for us to sit down. We were not that far from the bar and on the bar was 50 cocktail drinks. We were told by the bartender that these cocktails were for us.

After taking a sip of the cocktail I could tell that all it was a fruit cocktail juice with vodka, but I was not going to complain over a free drink.  We continued talking and mingling with co-workers until one of the chefs came out and began playing a saxophone.   Once he finished he welcomed all of us to Karel and described the dinner buffet available. He spoke in Danish, but I could still pick out some Danish words and plus if I had any questions I had plenty of Danish co-workers around me that I could ask.

We had a great dinner with roasted potatoes with cheese and spinach, roasted chicken with rosemary and vegetables, pasta salad, coleslaw and fresh baked bread.  It was a simple dinner but it was a good tasting dinner and it was FREE!  We were also offer free wine for the next three hours, now of course the nightclub does not want to loose money so the wine was not actually the most tasty but again it was FREE.

We had a great time, we drank a lot and we ate a lot. But around 10:30 pm when we went to the bar for more free wine, they cut us off. Ahhh No more free wine. However I do have so great pictures of Dot and Kn looking into an empty wine bottle but I am not going any incriminating photos on the internet. Then at 11pm, the waitstaff tells us we need to move because they need to remove the tables. We get up and scattered through out the nightclub, some people went near the bar others went outside to the balcony.

I was kind of impressed by some of my co-workers, at work they act very professional but when they play...they really play hard.  One of the accounts from the research center I occasionally interact with is very professional and helpful at work; I was happy to see his fun side at the nightclub. The account was dancing on the dance floor with in a glass of wine in one hand and a pint of beer in the other.

After a great time at the nightclub, Sm (who actually lives in Copenhagen) walked Cr and I to Central station and then Cr and I had an interesting train ride back home.  The midnight train was canceled so Cr and I got a packed 1 am train. We were lucky enough to get seats, cause with all the wine we drank while at the nightclub I am not sure if we could stand in a moving train car.

Cr and I went our separate ways at the train station, I walked home, drank some water and crashed in bed.

It was a great experience and I am glad that I went to the nightclub in Copenhagen.

Staff Club : Eagle Watching

Website about the White-tailed Sea Eagle

The White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla re-colonised Denmark in the 1990's after having been extinct for almost a century. Today, around 30 pairs breed, mostly at sheltered waters of  southern Denmark. Sunday the 10th of July, the Staff Club’s  Nature Group arranged an eagle watching trip to the island of Glænø where it was possible to view of the nest of a pair of Sea Eagles on the neighboring Ormø. One of the good view points was a fine picnic spot. We meet at the research center and drove to Glænø. When we arrive I noticed it was a nature reserve with a beautiful view. 

Just looking around it was just amazing to see such a peaceful place. 

We began walking from the road where we parked the cars down a trail into the woods. It was just a great day I really enjoyed the walk. As we were walking for found a nice cottage on the island. I was later told that actually the island is owned by a rich Danish family and for a lot of money you can rent the cottage. 

Now we were on the island Glænø and the eagles are a small island of Ormø so the only way to get a good view of the eagles is by binoculars or by a telescope.  

In this picture, you can see our nice picnic area and in the background you can see the island of Ormø where the eagles are nesting. 

There was no way that I could a picture of the eagles on the island of Ormø because it was over 100 yards from the other island of Glænø, so I tried to take a picture through the telescope. These pictures are not that good but I wanted to at least try. 

You can see on the bottom of this picture two large birds sitting on the top of the dead trees. These two birds are the White-tailed Sea Eagles.

When first looking at the White-tailed Sea Eagles they looked a lot like the Bald Eagle back at home.

We did see one young adult eating a fish (we are assuming the fledging from the mating pair) but I did not get a picture of it. There was about 30 of us taking turns looking into the telescope, so we each got a small glance at the eagles.  After having a relaxing lunch in the sun, we all walked back to our cars and enjoyed the peaceful view we enjoyed the peaceful view again. 

We drove back to the research center and waited for the next bus to go home. It was a nice relaxing trip.