Ireland Day 5

Today was a lazy day.

Got up around 8am, watched TV for a bit, hung out with the family, read a book. This afternoon we drove to Tralee to have dinner in Muenster's Pub. Every year there is a pageant in Ireland, and the United States called the "Rose of Tralee Festival" You can read more about the festival here: http://roseoftralee.ie/ My sister Shoshana participated in the festival for several years in the Dallas regional competition. The winner from each region gets to compete in the international festival in Tralee, Ireland. Though she never won, she made some great friends through the festival, and one of her goals during our stay here was to go to Tralee and eat in the pub that hosts some of the participants.

It was great. We got to meet the owner John O'Sullivan and had a great time talking to him.

Came back to our Villa and some of us shared a bottle of Mead. It's a honey-based wine, very good.

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Ireland. :(

As always there are photos, though not many today since we didn't really get out.

https://plus.google.com/photos/101108978688444895068/albums/5814897493524023265

Ireland Trip Day 4

Yo! Woke up at a decent time this morning, though we did get a bit of a late start because of Mythbusters on TV during breakfast. (My fault :D).

It got cold last night, everything was frosty this morning, but it warmed up after an hour or so.

We first went to Blarney Castle, Blarney, which is about 8 miles from Cork. It was a bit of a drive but the scenery like everywhere else in Ireland is beautiful. The Blarney stone is said to gift eloquence to whoever kisses it. What they don't tell you is that it is at the very top of the Blarney Castle, which sits on top of a decent hill. On the approach to the castle, there is a lot to see. There is a cave that the defenders used to escape the castle one time during a siege. We went a pretty good ways into the cave, it's very tight and pretty cool.

After climbing the hill to the castle proper, you proceed inside and begin to climb. Another windy spiral staircase going up about 6 or 7 floors, and it get's tighter and steeper the higher you climb. You reach the very top, and are looking out over the parapets, where the view is breathtaking. After walking halfway around the top you come to a couple of guys sitting with their legs dangling over the edge of the parapet. The Blarney stone is the bottom stone from the outer edge of the parapet. In order to kiss it, you sit down with your back to the stone. then you lay down and grab these two metal bars with your hands. One of the guys sitting there then grabs your legs so that you don't fall down through hole to the ground. After you take hold of the bars, you slide backwards, and head down about 2 maybe 3 feet, then lean out and brush your lips to the very bottom stone. It's over in seconds, but it's worth the effort.
Climb back down and pick-up our certificates and photos that prove we kissed the stone.

Next stop, the Drombeg Standing stones, which is near Glandore, on the southern coast of Ireland. The stones date from 945-830 BC. It was very cool, seeing such history.

Side note, while driving to there from Blarney, we passed through a town that is celebrating 600 years of existence. Wow!

From there we started making our way back to Adare, but we took a different route through some beautiful land, and a national forest.

I am so blessed to have been able to make this trip. It has been amazing!

Ireland Day 3

Slept in a bit. Got ready. Had Breakfast.

Today we are heading to the Cliffs of Moher, should be good. It's about a 30-45 minute drive or so on the southwest edge of the Burren region in the county Clare of Ireland. Dad still was not feeling good, so he did not come with us today.

Wow, the scenery is beautiful! Little towns and even tinier roads. We came around this hill and there was a bay, big waves washing in from the ocean. We found a small pier and stopped to walk around and take a few photos. It was very wet, when the waves would hit the pier, they would splash over the top. Very windy and chilly also. Heading on.

We reached the visitors center for the Cliff of Moher. Parked and we were ready for quite a bit of walking. It was a hike.

Walking up to the cliffs, is like walking up to the edge of the world. They are sheer drops, of about 120 meters (390 feet) down to the Atlantic ocean. Since there was quite a bit of swell, there were some impressive waves crashing into the cliffs. The wind driving in off of the ocean, drives the spray up the cliffs in a reverse rainfall. It was very cool. I got a video of the spray just as the sun came out so I got a pretty rainbow. There is a tower called O'brien's Tower up the cliffs. From there you can see the Aran islands off in the distance. It was very impressive. It's definitely worth a trip out to see.

Heading back we stopped at the Bunratty Castle. It is the most complete castle in all of Ireland. And it was impressive. There is a small village setup on the castle grounds to show what it might have been like living there at the time the castle was built. There were soo many floors, 3 great halls stacked one on top of another. Tiny and very steep stairways. I went down some steps to one of the dungeons, and I barely fit through the doorway. I have some videos which I hope convey the tightness and steepness of the stairs. Climbing to the top, and walking out on the parapets was breathtaking. And not just because of the steps, the view was amazing. Climbing around, seeing the different rooms and bedrooms, pantry, kitchen, servants quarters. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to live there.

Heading back to the Villas. It's been a great day seeing everything. Time for dinner at Aunty Lena's pub in Adare.

Tomorrow looks like The Blarney castle and stone, and visiting Tralee.

*edit* photos and videos are not done uploading yet, I'll add a link when they are done, most likely tomorrow afternoon.

Ireland Day 2

Woke up at 7 am this morning. Not too early, or so I thought anyway. Showered, dressed for the day, ate breakfast, you know, the usual morning routine. No one else was up yet, so I did some exploring.

Took a few photos outside the Villa we are staying in. It was a nice and chilly morning, bit overcast, and windy too. I went up to the Manor, and wow, it was incredible. It's huge! The Adare Manor is described as a Calendar House, which means that there are 365 windows, each one depicting a day of the year, there are windows depicting the days of the week. There are more details to see the more you look. I walked around the inside and out for a bit.

Back at the Villa, people are finally stirring...Some slept for about 14 hours last night. First order of business, we headed to Waterford to the Waterford Crystal Factory. Before we headed out, we found out that the Manor was having a 5 course Thanksgiving dinner tonight, so we stopped and put in our reservation for 6:30 pm.

I got to drive today, and I must say it was interesting to say the least. It was actually not to difficult, and I got used to being on the left side pretty quickly. Shifting left handed was different as well.

We got to see some very interesting country. The houses are each one unique, and most are works of art as well. There is so much character in each house and building here. Waterford is about 114km from Adare. Actually driving it was about a 2 hour drive.

Tipperary was the first big-ish city we drove through, and it was challenging. People park on the sidewalk, just because there is no room on the street, and even then I'm swerving back and forth to the oncoming traffic lane. At one point I was up on the sidewalk myself to get by.

Ate lunch in a small town, I had a Battered Burger meal, with chips, and a drink. The patty was battered in the same batter the store used for their fish. Huge chips(fries) with salt and vinegar. Quite tasty to be honest. It called itself a burger, but there was no bun, unless you can count the breading as a type of bread..,.jury is still out on that one.

Waterford is situated on a river, and the crystal factory is just off of downtown along the river as well. It was some beautiful glass there. The factory shutdown and no longer produces the Famous Waterford Crystal, but some of the artisans that worked there have formed their own company to keep the glass-blowing skill and tradition alive. Did a bit of shopping, got a perfect gift for my brother. :D Cant say yet what it is in case he is reading this.

Time to head back to make our reservation.

6:30

Unfortunately, my dad was not feeling well when we got back so he was unable to join us for the dinner. The meal, was amazing. Worth every penny. First course was a Adare Manor Caesar Salad with Crispy Cajun Chicken. Heavenly. Second course was Roast pumpkin soup, with Parmesan and paprika croutons. Amazing. Main course was Roast Turkey Crown, Herb stuffing, creamed potatoes, Sprouts and Chestnuts,  Buttered Corn, Red Wine Jus. Desert was Sticky Date Cake with Caramelized Banana Mousse,  Coco Nib Ice Cream. Last was Coffee with Petit Fours. Wow I paced myself and was still stuffed afterword, gonna need quite a bit of extra walking to make up for this trip.

Last of the evening we headed back to Pat Collin's pub, to have a pint of Guinness and watch the Cowboys get beat. Side note, the Guinness was soooo much better than the Guinness I've had at home. It was smooth, and very good flavor. I understand that the process of shipping it, and the time delay cause a bitterness in the beer.

All in all a great day today. I hope you all have had a great and awesome Thanksgiving day with your friends and family today.

Here are the pics!
https://plus.google.com/photos/101108978688444895068/albums/5813817120015283409

Ireland Day 1

Woke up at 6am in Bedford, Tx on Tuesday morning. Left for the airport by 7am to catch our first leg of our journey to Ireland. First stop, Chicago. We landed in Chicago a little after noon, collected our bags and found out we would have to wait until 3:45pm to be able to re-check them in for our Ireland flight. So got to spend some time hanging out in the international concourse, ate some deep dish pizza from Uno's.

Yumm!

We didn't actually start boarding our Aer Lingus plane until about 8:30 pm. The plane was huge! It's an Air Bus 300. We had 8 seats per row, 2-4-2, the dashes are the isles. It was a bit cramped for me with my legs, but not too bad. Dinner on the plane was decent, so was breakfast. It was a good flight, very little turbulence, and most of that not until we were descending into Dublin to land.

Ireland!

Customs was a breeze, the Garda agent I talked to was not very talkative, but polite. We originally had a two car rental for our trip, but after talking to the rental agent, we got bumped into a mini-van instead. It worked out much better, we could all ride together, and save on fuel as well.

Let's see, it was about 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit when we stepped out of the terminal, but it was beautiful out, bright and sunny.

Ireland is green! Everywhere it's green! After one look it's easy to see why Ireland is known as the "Emerald Isle" Ireland enjoys a temperate maritime climate, due mainly to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the presence of the Gulf Stream. This also means that it gets a lot of rain as well.

The drive from Dublin to Adare was about 211 km, or about 131 miles.

Navigating for my sister as she took the first turn driving on the wrong side of the road in a mini-van with a manual stick shift left-handed was interesting. We have a new key mantra while driving....stay in the left lane....stay in the left lane.....stay in the left lane...Round-a-bouts are another added layer of challenge. There are a million round-a-bouts here. I think there are probably more round-a-bouts that people here, though I could be wrong. :D

We drove through some beautiful country. Actually that is an understatement really, Ireland is absolutely beautiful. I know I've used that word a lot but it fits. Ireland has a long and rich history, it's been cultivated for a very long time. Farms, low stone walls, very dense forests between farms, the ruins of towers, buildings and castles. There is a lot of history here. 

We stopped once about halfway for a rest, caffeine and snacks. We arrived in Adare around 11 am local time. Btw, Ireland is 6 hours ahead of central time. The Manor where we are staying is amazing! The grounds here are beautiful! We have not even made it to the Manor House itself yet. The villas we are staying in are in another part of the grounds. After checking in, negotiating for who gets which room, I got the one I wanted, we decided to do a bit of exploring.

The manor grounds butt right up against Adare, so we were able to park in the grounds, and walk through a small gate right into town. I have pics of some of the thatched-roof shops, and some of the local buildings, and even a local church. There is a park right in the town, but the weather started to get wet, and colder so we didn't linger there. Did some shopping in a local store, then hit up Collin's pub just across the street from the town hall.

The food was amazing! I had the Pat Collins Burger. It came with bacon, chips(french fries to us Americans), a special sauce, a small salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and a very unusual cole-slaw, that was not sweet like I'm used to, but it was a great compliment to the rest of my meal. Everyone agreed that the food was very very good.

It's been a very long day for us, looks like we are turning in very early here this evening. Photos are up, follow the link below to my album. I'll be posting pics and videos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/101108978688444895068/albums/5813374502151102753

Overcoming your Fear - Dani Johnson

This is from my notes that I made while listening to a motivational conference call.

Overcoming your Fear - Dani Johnson

Fear of Failure.

Fear of Rejection

Fear of Humiliation

Fear of doing it wrong or Making a mistake

In your job/career, have you made the decision that this is your chosen profession?

"Where there is no commitment, there is fear"

You must walk by faith and not by sight.

In order for you to succeed, and overcome your fear, you have to decide that you will do this no matter what happens, that you are not going to be on the fence no matter how long it takes.

Why?

Because it's going to be worth it.

Those that only do a halfhearted commitment, don't succeed. Only those who burn the bridges to their doubt and fear make it happen.

If you are not convinced, and you haven't made the decision to commit 100 percent, then you lack the faith, and your posture is weak, and that weakness leads to fear, and fear leads to failure.

You have to act upon what you have said that you will do.

Are you all talk?

When you first started you first career or job in the workplace, I guarantee that you were afraid. When you first start something new you are uncomfortable, you are uneasy.

That's called life.

By the end of the first day you are more comfortable, by the end of the first week, you are feeling much better, by the end of the first month it's almost routine, etc..

We have trained ourselves to drive on autopilot.

When we first start driving, we are afraid, we are nervous. But as we drive, and learn, and practice, we get better, until we don't have to think about it anymore, we just do it.

When you realize that this fear/nervousness is a normal feeling whenever you start something new, you can overcome this fear, because you have already overcome it before.

Idle hands and lips lead to poverty.

You have something burning in you to not settle for less.

You know that you have not been giving it your best shot, the time is now.

10 steps to overcoming your fear:

1 You are a product of your environment:

When we surround ourselves with people who are going nowhere, we go nowhere. But when we surround ourselves with people who are going somewhere, then we will reach our destination. Hang out with people who are building a business, not talking about, but doing it.

2 Doubt: Don't open the door to doubt. When you entertain a seed of doubt. Those thoughts of doubt will continue to snowball, if you even entertain even just one thought of doubt, they will grow and you will fail. You have to listen to what is in your own head. Are you meditating on what is working? Or what is not working? When you start to feel doubt, you make the decision to make it happen. Do not agree with doubt. You must root it out. You must move forward. It's a decision, that you must make, to move forward in faith.

3 Commitment: Are you 100% sold out? Are you going to step up your commitment level? Make that commitment to yourself. A person who has made that commitment is someone who will invest in themselves. And move forward. Someone who has a strong commitment is staying away from doubt.

4 Surround your self with like minded individuals: Are your companions people of dreams? People of vision? Or are they people who have given up and are just waiting to die? Have they become drones? Surround yourself with people who are living and growing.

5 No action = Fear: Step up now. When we slow down in our activity level we give in to fear.

6 Listen to tapes. Listen to things that inspire and motivate you. Constantly control what goes into your mind. Everything starts with a thought. Life or death is in the tongue, and if you continue to speak negativity, you are speaking death, to yourself and others. Listen to what you are saying.

7 You need to stay involved: Invest in yourself and your education. No excuse for you not to stay involved no matter your income level. You are being influenced wether you know it or not. By radio, tv, music, friends, etc...what are you motivating yourself? What are you being groomed for? Success or Failure? What are you listening to?

We get off track so easily... idleness leads to fear leads to doubt leads to unbelief leads to failure..

8 Practice practice practice: You would be amazed how your skill will improve if you just triple the number of people you are in front of. You will get better.

9 Never ever quit: Quitting is not an option no matter what. If you have a point of failure, then you are entertaining fear. You will have people quit, you will have people flake, you will face trials, but do not quit. If you interact with people, you will face trials. I am never quitting. Quitting is never an option.

10 You need to have a strong revelation and realize that if you don't do this, what will happen? If you don't overcome your fear? You Will Fail. If you think that it wont happen to you, god help you. We sit idly bye and let things happen, when we could have done something. People die every day because of ignorance. We are going further and further into debt every year, the writing is on the wall. There will be massive regret when you settle for less, and miss your chance, because of your fear.

It is your skill that you bring to the marketplace, not your fears.

You can get over your fear, you can improve. If you just make the decision, and close the door to fear. Things will begin to happen, you will begin to grown and succeed.

If you are willing to rise up and make something happen, you can make a difference in the people around you.

Let's not cast down debt to our children, let's not cast down fear, idleness to our children.

We have to step up first and show an example.

Trust is a Soap Bubble

Trust, what a concept. What a beautiful, delicate, fragile thing. And yet, almost our entire life needs trust in one aspect or another. With our friends, our family, our coworkers, our business partners, etc. When we are growing up, the people we meet, we naturally assume that they are trustworthy, until they prove otherwise. But if you do that, you are called naive. As if that was a bad thing.

When did cynicism become the natural, and accepted way of living? The last season of the tv show House, had a character, a Dr. Masters. House set out to "cure" her of her naiveté throughout the season. And we laugh at her foolishness. But, really, is it foolish? Maybe in todays day and age it is. And that is a very sad thing.

Used to be, a man could shake hands, and you knew that he could be trusted. If someone gave their word, you knew it was their bond. Sadly now if you extend trust, you are more likely to get hurt, abused, conned, etc. But without trust, in ourselves, and others, we will live a very bleak life won't we? How empty our life is.

How many friends will we have if we can't trust anyone? If we can't trust anyone, who will pick us up when we stumble? Are we there to pick up our friends when they stumble? When friends betray us, it's painful. When family betrays us it's excruciating. When our love betrays us, it's devastating. We learn not to trust, to keep our trust to ourselves. It's a natural reaction to being hurt, to protect ourselves from getting hurt again. We close up, we don't let people in.

But what are the consequences of this? Yeah, we might not be hurt anymore, but we miss out on so many opportunities. In friendships, in business, and in relationships. How many business deals have you missed? Opportunities that slipped away because of your fear? How many friends could you have had? But fear kept you from opening up? Relationships, what love have you missed out on, because you were too afraid to let them in.

Remember, it's is a two way street. When someone wants to be friends they are facing the same dilemma you are. They are sometimes just as afraid of extending their trust to you, as you are to them. And do you know what happens when you don't trust someone? That's hurts the person who is extending their friendship, their trust. People take a risk and open their hearts, and you withdraw, prevaricate, let fear hold you back. You let indecision hold you in place.

You miss out.

Yeah, it's scary to trust. Especially when you have been hurt before. I've been there, I know. It hurts like almost nothing else can. When you feel your world crashing down around your ears. And you have a bit empty hole where your heart used to be. But, I also know that you will miss out on some of the best friendships/relationships of your life when you let the fear control you.

I know it's hard, to learn to trust again. To overcome your fear and take a risk. Yeah, you might get hurt again. That is a risk that you take. But when you find someone trustworthy, then the hurt you have experienced is worth it. That feeling when your faith in someone or something is vindicated.

Some people might say it's your own fault for being so naive and trusting. But I say Bullshit! It's THEIR fault for not being trustworthy. It is up to us to be men and women of honor. It is up to us to make a difference in our life, and the lives of those around us. These are responsibilities we have. We have to be trustworthy. Are you a man or woman of your word? Are you a man or woman of honor? Do your friends trust you? Can they count on you?

You need to take a look at yourself and see what kind of character do you have. Are you someone who people can release their fear with? When you are a trustworthy person, the rewards are amazing. In business when you are trusted you are given raises, better jobs, better opportunities. In life, the quality of your friends is awesome. People want someone to trust.

Remember, when someone extends their trust to you, it is YOUR responsibility to keep that trust. You have been given a very precious gift. I try my best to be dependable, and trustworthy. I do my very best to keep my word. I hope that, when I'm gone, people will say about me, "he was someone you could trust" I think there can be almost no higher praise. Strive for something in this world. Stand out. Be Trustworthy.