Olympics

I am not a huge fan of the Olympics, particularly the coverage in the U.S.  But it has been a pleasant change watching them here.  One of the main differences is the lack of ads on the BBC and RTE.  In the U.S., the Olympics feel like a giant advertisement.

Even better is the random commentary from our kids.  We were watching the some gymnastics the other afternoon, and ORBJ pipes up excitedly “Look, he’s upside down” as one gymnast is, well, upside down on the rings.  There were other random comments that I can’t remember.  Perhaps a “You betcha Margie!” (it’s important to teach half-Iowan kids important phrases from Fargo.)

Another enjoyment is the random sports featured on BBC1 or BBC3 (BBC2 has other programming like El Cid, our friend RB’s favorite movie, no doubt).  I’ve seen some sailing, men’s (field) hockey, badminton (mixed doubles), women's weightlifting (not the highlight), synchronized diving (also not the highlight), and rowing, as well as the old favorites like swimming, gymnastics, and basketball.  Also tennis – saw Serena Williams destroy her first-round opponent, as well as Andy Murray losing his doubles match with his brother.

This evening, FABJ, LBJ, and I made the swimming more exciting by picking (different) swimmers to win.  Our attempts to teach FABJ basic probability fell on deaf ears, though.  I tried to point out that she did quite well by picking the person who finished second out of eight, but she was disappointed that her swimmer finished behind LBJ’s.

The Irish are still waiting to get their first medal, although they’ve had some solid results in sailing (two races done out of 11).  And they have a few good boxers, perhaps not surprisingly – it involves fighting and it is done by weight.

Oddly, the BBC call it “Team GB” here – what about Northern Ireland?!)  I loved how people at the University of Kentucky call the UK "the other UK", as though the University of Kentucky is the center of the universe.  (A friend of mine half-jokingly called Rupp Arena the center of the universe.)

Updates

First, the hostage situation was diffused without casualties.  It was surprisingly easy.  LBJ called the customs people.  Someone actually answered the phone.  A week or so later, the wine glasses arrived (without paying any VAT).

The second update is on my work computer.  The monitor finally arrived on Monday.  I was very excited.  But the computer didn’t work.  Specifically, nothing would show up on the screen.  This was the same problem I had with a couple of different monitors (borrowed from elsewhere in the department), so I was quite disappointed.  I suspected that part of the problem lay in the cables.  Dell provided a VGA cable, but the computer has a DVI connection.  Dell included an adapter, but I don’t think it works.  I went into city center (as they call it here) for a meeting on Tuesday, so I went to an electronics store (where LBJ got our transformer for running our wine fridge and mixer, which we brought from the U.S.) and got a DVI cord.

Lo and behold, the computer worked fine when I hooked up the cord.  I had a few challenges installing Microsoft Office because I didn’t realize that the computer had a preloaded “starter” version (that doesn’t really work) as well as the version I downloaded from the university IT website (i.e. the version licensed for staff).  But I eventually worked that out.

All I need for my work computer is a copy of Stata.  I could have more challenges here.  Although there is a “spare” license I can use, all the department's licenses expire in late August.  One of my colleagues has inquired (multiple times) about getting a renewal, but he is not optimistic.  So I plan to run a lot of Stata between now and late August and hope for the best.

Work

I started work at the beginning of the month.  It was very low key starting an academic job in July, particularly in Ireland.  There are no summer classes, so the place is VERY quiet.

Preparations for the start of work went well.  First, I went to school, chatted with the department head, and figured out which office would be mine.  The offices are pretty similar, but I opted for the one with relatively more light and more modern furniture.  As that office isn’t available until August, I’m spending July in an office with furniture from the 1970s.  Plus, the office has lots of old papers and books, as the previous occupant died a couple of years ago (not in the office, literally).

I was even pleased that I could order my computer in the last week of June.  That way, I would have my PC shortly after starting work.  Despite warnings about atrocious customer service, I went with Dell because my last 3 (if not more) work computers were from Dell.  The computer arrived later that week, but the monitor was delayed.

Alas, the monitor still hasn’t arrived.  I borrowed another monitor, but the PC didn’t work with that monitor.  Dell, as I was warned, has provided no help on the monitor’s location.  Apparently one was shipped long ago, but it never arrived on campus.  Another monitor was due to arrive last week, but it still hasn’t.  If needed, I’ll use the monitor left behind in the office I’ll inherit in August.  Ugh!  So I’ve been lugging my “netbook” to work every day, focusing on teaching / referee reports rather than research.

I have plenty of teaching work.  A schedule change has me teaching two classes in the fall / autumn semester.  One of the classes is a new prep – a non-majors class with 300+ students and no textbook.  Although the previous professors shared their notes, I’ll probably make a bunch of changes (I’m just that way).  Fortunately, the other class is one I’ve taught in the U.S. a couple of times, and my U.S. syllabus is quite similar to the one taught last year.

I’ve gradually been meeting colleagues (I knew a few people before arriving), and they’re quite nice.  So I’m hopeful about the job, at least once my PC arrives!

Tennis in Ireland

The first difference between the U.S. and Dublin is that there are not really public courts in Dublin, at least not in the part where I live.  Although there are a fair number of courts in parks, one needs to belong to the appropriate association / group in order to play on the courts.  For example, these courts are in a park about a ten-minute walk from my house (http://www.carraigtc.ie/).  The courts are not in very good shape.  So far, I haven’t tried this club.

Another big difference is the surface of the courts.  Here, the courts are Astroturf with sand underneath.  Apparently, these are the only courts that are playable in this lovely climate.  It simply rains too much for hard courts – they’d be wet all the time.  It even rains too much for clay courts (and they’re a lot more work to maintain).  They are not so bad, but they are different – like a slow hard court (not good for my serve-and-volley style).

There is a nice club about five minutes’ walk from the house.  And it has a bar on site.  Furthermore, the annual fee includes a tab for the bar.  But it is not accepting members at the moment.  However, they anticipate that they will have an opening in the fall or winter, as there is a lot of turnover in membership.  Still, they let me come down and hit one evening.  Too bad that it was VERY windy and I hadn’t played in six weeks.  So I was terrible.  Still, I enjoyed meeting some people, and we had a pint afterwards while watching Wimbledon (Federer’s five-set match against Benneteau).  I fear that they were trying me out for their league team, and I failed.

In the meantime, I have joined the staff / grad student tennis club at University College Dublin.  It’s what they call here “cheap and cheerful”.  Membership is only 45 euros a year, and they have free court time on Monday and Thursday evenings.  My first event was a mixer – what they called a summer barbeque.  It was a mixed doubles round-robin followed by burgers (or hot dogs) and beverages.  Two or three were similar in ability, so I’m hopeful that I can arrange matches with them.  It was very multinational – I talked to people from Spain, France, Columbia, and Mauritius.  Rumor has it that another person from Iowa is a member of the club!

They have leagues and tournaments here as in the U.S.  I have learned a bit about a couple of the leagues, which I’ll share.  In the U.S., each player has a ranking, and then plays in leagues against people of similar rank.  It works pretty well aside from the people who are more interested in winning than in being ranked accordingly.  In Ireland, the leagues are divided like football (soccer) into divisions.  The top teams move up a division, and the bottom teams move down.

Another league is quite interesting, although I’ve forgotten the name of it.  Each match has four players.  The four names are put in a hat.  Two people chosen at random play singles, and the other two play doubles.  I think I’d like this league, as I’m happy playing singles or doubles.

I’ll conclude this post with a mention about tennis in Kentucky.  My tennis team finished third, and the first two teams make the playoffs.  However, my team got a wild card to the playoffs (because another team decided not to attend or because they needed another team to have the right number of teams overall).  However, we couldn’t field a team (I obviously could not attend).  It was the first time I’d made the playoffs in 6 years of tennis in Kentucky – bummer!

Grand theft candy

Our older daughter FABJ is enjoying summer camp, which is an easy 5 minute bike ride (with her in the bike seat) up the road.  The highlight is that she gets to go to the pool every day.  Moreover, she is not told what to do when in the pool, which was a major drawback to swimming lessons.  In general, she hates to be told what to do (except sometimes at school), which is a major drawback to learning just about anything (to read, to play tennis, to swim, etc.).  But she can swim and gets to go in the “second pool” without floaties, unlike the kids stuck in the “first pool” with their floaties.

Anyway, on Tuesday I pick her up, and she’s in an even better mood than usual.  She explains how she bought some candy at the “tuck shop.”  As far as I can tell, this is a shop in the school selling candy and other items to make money for the school.  Now I am a bit confused because a) she doesn’t have any money and b) the teacher told me that the shop was only open on Monday and Friday (i.e. not Tuesday).  So I foolishly ask how she bought the candy.  She goes into great detail that she “found” a two-euro coin at the art table.  Then she talked somebody into exchanging this two euros for some candy on a day other than the designated candy days.  This is not the kind of skill I want my daughter to have, but it was hilarious to hear her explain how logical the entire process was.  She had a look of utter disbelief as LBJ explained that if she found money in the future, she needed to give it to the teacher (to be returned to the kid who lost the two euros) rather than spend it on candy!

Here, I should point out that genetics are likely in play here.  My father went on leave at Stanford when I started first grade.  The teacher asked the class whether they preferred reading or recess.  To me, it seemed like a very stupid question.  Of course I wanted recess!  Apparently, we were supposed to ask our parents.  I knew my preference and did not feel the need to ask my parents.  When they found out about this situation a few weeks into the school, I suspect they had a similar reaction – laughter combined with fear about the teenage years.  Luckily for my parents, laziness and growing up in the middle of nowhere in Iowa largely kept me out of trouble as a teenager.

Furniture!

Finally, our furniture arrived on Saturday.  Needless to say, we’re very excited to have all our stuff.  There was one casualty, though.  The stand for LBJ’s mirror, from her grandmother (from her grandmother – it’s old), was damaged.  However, we believe that the stand can be fixed (using the insurance money). 

Otherwise, the move went pretty smoothly.  The grandparents kindly watched the grandkids for quite some time.  In practice, grandma watched the kids for much of the day alone.  Grandad went sailing (despite the lousy weather).  And LBJ’s brother, who was in town visiting, went off to town for much of the day.  So grandma deserves a gold star.  The kids seemed to have a good time.

They were very excited to wake up on Sunday morning with all their toys.  But the fascination was short lived.  By Tuesday, FABJ claimed that she would be SO bored if she wasn’t allowed to watch a DVD before dinner.  She must have cried for 10 minutes (I was busy cooking dinner and ignored the melodrama).

We exhausted ourselves unpacking (particularly LBJ, who unpacked nearly all the kitchen herself), but the place looks quite good.  LBJ did an excellent job of arranging our stuff.  Just need to figure out where to put all the stuff on the walls.

Next up is to sort out the tennis situation.  More on that soon…