Now that you have gotten past my woes traveling to Ireland I will now try to tell you what I did on the first day.
My cousin Sarah was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. I had no problems with customs and my bag was one of the first to come off the plane. Bet ya that won’t happen when I fly back home. LOL
I have not seen Sarah in close to 20 years. The last time I saw her she was most likely 14 or 15 years old. I was not sure if I would recognize her or she me. Amazingly she recognized me right away. Hmmm I guess in my family we ALL do look alike. 
We drove to my hotel, The Shelbourne, which until then I did not realize was a REALLY nice hotel!! I was only supposed to stay there one night before I would go over to my cousin Martin’s house where I would stay the next two nights. But Murphy’s Law was in full force which I will get into later.
So I get to the hotel and Sarah left to park her car back by where she lived about 15 minutes walking distance and she would come back and play tour guide for the rest of the day. I did an early check in and since the room was not ready just left my bags with the desk and went to the lobby to wait for Sarah. Do not forget about my flight over, I was a little tired and when I sat down in the chair I really did not know if I would be able to get back up.
to be continued………………….
My nephew borrowed my laptop from Sunday to Thursday to finish a paper for school. I felt that was more important than updating my blog. I am now taking the next day or so to put my thoughts down and hope to have a LOAD of things in the next day or so.
Well, the trip started off OK even though the flight over was a tad rough. I was able to leave work early which let me leisurely make sure I had everything I needed packed, Left for the airport a little after six o’clock and made it to the parking lot with no problem. Heck, the traffic on the Belt Parkway was not to bad for a Friday evening in the summertime. LOL
Got to the terminal, checked my bag and stood in line for security screening. Went through that with no hassle even with all the electronics I was bringing on board. But I did have to take off my belt since the buckle made the metal detector go NO,NO, NO!!
I had plenty of time to kill at this point so I made my way to the bar and ordered some food and had a beer and talked with a fellow traveler for a little while about…….traveling!!
Well it finally came for us to board the plane and with my seat being at the back I was one of the first to board. Got to my seat, stowed my bag, took out my Kindle, bottle of water and my noise cancelling headphones (a GODSEND you will see later) and sat down.
Once I sat down I knew I would have a problem, the seats were damn uncomfortable! After a while I was longing for the seats I take on the bus to work, they are sooooooo much more comfortable. My seatmate came by and got in next to me (I was in an aisle seat, his was the window and we both proceeded to start reading. Neither of us said a word to each other during the entire flight, I have no idea why.
Well the flight takes off about 40 minutes after it was scheduled to (all the taxiing and waiting on the runway) and I put my headphones on. These things are FANTASTIC!!! They must have cut down at least 90% of the engine and cabin noise and you were able to hear people talking (although more muted). They were doing a great job until the babies started crying.
Yes, there were at least 2 or 3 infants on the flight and it appeared that at least 1 of them was crying through the ENTIRE flight!! I swear the headphones were good but they were no match for this kids crying and screaming. I felt bad for the parents and the other passengers that could not drown out the noise as much as I could with my headphones but even still the baby got through.
After the beverages, snacks and dinner were served I tried to close my eyes and get some sleep. It was not to be.
As mentioned earlier the seats on the plane were extremely uncomfortable. The bottom did not seem to have enough cushioning. I had the leg room and the people walking in the aisle did not bother me that much but I just could not get into a comfortable position to sleep. Combine that with the baby and the almost non stop crying and you had a very miserable experience.
I think I could count the amount of sleep could be counted in minutes instead of hours. Needless to say when I finally arrived I was tired but elated to be in Ireland. So now that my travel travails have been exorcised on to Dublin!!!!!!
Had a busy day yesterday in Dublin. Will update with the details later.
Here is a picture to tide you folks over.
Ok, here it is, less than 36 hours before I take off for the Emerald Isle. I have pretty much everything packed. Only need to pack my carry on which will hold all the electronics I am bringing:
Laptop
Kindle
Digital Camera
HD Video Camera
BlackBerry
Think I have enough?
I will try and take and post as many pictures as possible and when I get back maybe I might manage to figure out how to add video.
Hopefully I might make my first post on Saturday night (if I am not to inebriated 
).
CYA all later!!!!
Well here it is, 24 days till it is wheels up and I am off to Ireland. I am going to try and do a travel blog while I am away. I will be taking my laptop and some camera’s so I will be posting pictures.
I have done some things to prepare for this trip as far as my lifestyle is concerned. After having problems with my feet when I was walking around Washington DC in May and in New York when Blackfield came to play I have decided to go back to the gym after close to two or more years. Starting about two weeks ago I would hit the gym after work at least 3 or 4 times a week. I had started off with 30 – 40 minutes of cardio on an elliptical machine but I have cut that down to 25 minutes since I started weight training a week or so ago. I will usually start the workout with 10-15 minutes on the elliptical followed by the weight training and finish with another 10-15 minutes on the elliptical.
I weighed 216 lbs before I started going back to working out and I am hoping to shed at least 10 or more lbs before I leave on Aug 5th and when I come back to lose and additional 10 – 15 lbs.
In addition to getting the body in shape with exercise I have altered my diet. I am snacking a lot more on vegetables and some fruit (bananas, oranges, peaches). Breakfast will consist usually of a whole grain cereal and milk or occasionally a ham, egg and cheddar on a wrap. Lunch at work I have stayed with soup and a salad and dinner some sort of chicken or make a soup with a little turkey sausage thrown in. On the weekends I will stick with some sort of chicken sandwich or other protein. If I order out I will usually have sushi or some Thai food. No more fast food or pizza. I have also cut down my soda intake, even though I only drink diet soda I felt it was something to try and not have as much of.
So, at the end of all this I hope that in the short term it will let me explore Ireland and London without it stressing my body from the excess weight and in the long run be able to be a lot more active and get out of the apartment more and not be the couch potato I have become in the past few years.
So there, I have posted. LOL
I do want to look into how you upload video’s in the blog.
Ok, once I download a few pathetic pictures from my BlackBerry I will post some pictures of what I could see of the show. Edit: Photos are uploaded.
Now, the story behind the pictures above are as such. Steve and I got into Irving Plaza at around 7:15 pm or so and after purchasing t-shirts and a beer headed up to the 2nd floor to stake out our territory to see the show. Where we were standing was right at the entrance to the VIP section (it was a roped off section at the side of the 2nd floor). About 15 or 20 minutes later (before the opening act started) I noticed someone walking out of the VIP section ( I was only a foot or so from the entrance). It was Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater!!!!!!! I could not believe it! I had seen him back on Sept 24th walking down the aisle at Radio City Music Hall at the Porcupine Tree concert and here he was again. Was he stalking Steven Wilson or me, who knows?
Well he went back to the VIP area about 20 minutes later or so just before the show began.
The show was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!! The opening act Anathema did a nice acoustic set since there were only 2 of the 6 members of the band. What was suprising that Steve noticed were there were more people wearing Anathema t-shirts than Porcupine Tree and I was amazed at how many people were singing along with the songs. I must check out this band.
Blackfield came out about 10 or 15 minutes later and blew us away. I knew most of the songs since I had their old album but I had not heard any of the songs from their latest release. My favorite song “Blackfield” was the 2nd song played but the song that stood outmost to me was the song “Open Mind”. (I will attach links to the songs on YouTube at another time).
Now, I had made the decision to delay my departure to see if I could say hello to Jordan Rudess and if possible get a picture. I have never seen Dream Theater perform live but I have listened to almost every song they have released. My friend Steve on the other hand is a HUGE Dream Theater fan having seen them (correct me if I am wrong Steve) about 8 or 9 times.
So, the show ends and I am keeping my position by the VIP section waiting to see when Jordan might leave, I did not have to wait long. About 5 minutes later he walks out and I was able to catch his eye but all I could say was “Hey,how are you?”. How lame is that? LOL
Well another person actually started talking to him asking him things like how the new drummer for DT was doing and about the new album that was being released. I hung around the periphery waiting for Jordan to finish talking. I was determined not to crumble and act like an idiot and interrupt the conversation. A few minutes later the conversation ended and I was able to get the nerve to ask if it was all right if I could get a picture. Jordan was extremely nice and said sure. But instead of having Steve take the picture I asked Jordan if it was ok if my friend could have his picture taken first since he was such a fan of Dream Theater. Jordan was very gracious in letting Steve have the first picture. After I snapped the photo Steve took the picture of Jordan and I. After it was done I thanked him very much and shook his hand. In hind sight there was a question that I did want to ask and that question was if there was a possibility of John Petrucci (DT guitarist) and he doing another live album ala “An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess”. Sadly I never asked the question
All in all it was a great evening of good music with a friend who appreciates music as much as I do and being able to connect with someone who brings a lot of joy into my life with the work that he does and the music he creates.
Here is the set list to the show Blackfield did at Irving Plaza in NYC on May 20th, 2011.
