Old Blogs (2004)

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Friday, November 12, 2004

   First week of training is done! It looks like I'm going to be in Escondido for the next month or so on my first auditing assignment. I'm really looking forward to some serious on-the-job training now: I hadn't realized how I tired was of classrooms after 17 years of education... Oh, I've gotten a couple questions, so here's ABC's website for the curious.

   Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of Chicago, so sorry folks. Honestly, I wasn't anywhere near downtown, so there wasn't much to take photos of anyway.

Quote of the Day:     Seen in a chat room:  "how do i type?"   -maliiik

Posted by Tlynnec @ 2:28 PM PST

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

   Well, my first three days on the job are done... I flew into Chicago on Sunday night for a week of training for my new job as a Field Auditor for the Audit Bureau of Circulations. So far, it's been really interesting to me (though I won't bore everyone else with the details ^_^). More importantly, I know have my trainer assigned and I know where I'll be next week (So-Cal). For those who didn't know, this job is 100% travel, so I'll always be at a different location somewhere on the west coast. I've met some really nice people and I'm definitely more excited about the job now that I really know what I'm doing. Since I'll be all over the place, I'll try and keep this blog updated. ;p

Quote of the Day:   Why do they call the small candy bars the "fun sizes"? Wouldn't be more fun to eat a big one?
-Unknown



Posted by Tlynnec @ 3:53 PM PST

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

   I just felt the need to share this really awesome webpage: http://www.aoi-anime.net/404.shtml

   On a different note, my new job starts Monday!

Get out and VOTE!

Posted by Tlynnec @ 9:59 AM PST

Monday, October 18, 2004

   I just bought a new car! :-P Happy Birthday to me...

   Life is crazy right now, so forgive me if I'm slow to blog. As I start my job and begin traveling a lot, I'm expecting to blog more and pictures will come as well.

Quote of the Day:   "I like a little length on my short sleeves."      -Crypticgimp

Posted by Tlynnec @ 12:46 AM PST

Thursday, October 14, 2004

   Woo-hoo! My own real website: complete with a big site overhaul (that I'm still working on...)

   Other than that, my big news is: I got a great job! I'm all excited. I hope everyone else is having as good a day as I am.

Quote of the Day:   "I think my computer just insulted me... it just changed 'undergraduate' into 'undereducated'."    -Me :-P

Posted by Tlynnec @ 12:46 AM PST

Monday, July 12, 2004

   The first part of the London and Dublin photos are up :-)

Quote of the Day:   "Why is Charlie short for Charles if they both have the same number of letters?"    -???

Posted by Tlynnec @ 8:45 PM PST

July 8-11, 2004 (Dublin)

Thursday
   Today was long and began not-to-well, but it had a good ending. We got up bright and early this morning to catch our flight to Dublin. Unfortunately, we ended up waiting an extra half an hour to board because the plane was delayed, and then we had to wait an additional 45 min. on the plane itself because the airport was so busy. Talk about a hassle for a 50 min. flight! Anyway, by the time we made it into Dublin it was almost 4pm, so we immediately set out to find dinner. 10 of us ended up at a restaurant called "Oliver St. John Gogarty" in Temple Bar. It was a long walk, but well worthwhile; I had some of the best duck I've ever gotten.
   After dinner, half the group decided that they were too tired and went back to sleep, but the remaining five of us went over to a local hotel restaurant for live music and Irish dancing. We ended up hanging out for about 3 hours and really having a great time. So, a great night on a not- great day.

Friday
   Let's see... a very busy day. We got up this morning and went a few blocks over to the Irish Development Agency, where we discussed the "Celtic Tiger" phenomenon. I found the discussion greatly interesting (& I took pages of notes). My only wish was that we had a bit more time there, but the meeting was somewhat rushed.
   After a stop for lunch, we drove aproximately an hour outside of town to one of Ireland's new industrial parks. There we visited Welch-Allyn's Irish office and plant. Personally, I think this may have been the best visit of the trip. The general manager and senior staff were very willing to speak to us about all aspects of their business and gave me particular insight into the unique challenges of operating an American company aborad, not only in Ireland, but as a central point for Europe and Africa. I have to say, I was really impressed and gratified by the openness and detail that this company shared.

Saturday
   Well... today I 'departed' from the tour group to catch an entirely different tour out to the country. (I've already seen the city, so why not?) Ed, Kathryn, and I got up bright and early and walked downtown to catch the tour bus. It was nice because the 'bus' was actually a large 14-seater van- meaning that the tour group was smaller by default. We left town and took off down some narrow country roads until we ended up at Fourknocks, which is a an ancient celtic burial passage from aproximately 3000-2500 BC. It's actually larger than the really famous passage at Newgrange, but because our guide had to stop and pick up the key from a local farmer, it's much less visited.
   Let's see. From Fourknock we headed off again to the ruins of Monaster Abbey, one of the first Cistercian monasteries in Ireland, from 1132(?), and also the largest of it's time. From there it was onto Monasterboice: site of one of the oldest giant celtic crosses, dating from 953 AD! The cross was amazing, like a big comic book. Each panel on the cross depicted a different biblical story, but in a manner that would have made since to the Celts. For instance, the Celts had never seen Romans, so that part of the story of Jesus would hardly have made sense. Instead the Romans were depicted in Viking dress: an easily recognizable enemy to the Celts. Neat.
   Next stop: The battle of Boyne... just ask me how much Irish history I learned on this trip :-) Then finally, a late lunch at a small town pub. I've gotta say, pub fare is hard to beat. Yum. Then onward ho! We went up the Hill Slane, where St. Patrick lit a Pascal fire in 493 to proclaim Christianity in Ireland. From there it was on to our last and my favorite stop: the Hill of Tara. Now, what can I possibly say... the hill itself isn't that impressive, but the history surrounding it is just amazing. And now I've finally seen Tara, what better way to end the trip?
   When we got back into Dublin our guide let the three of us off with everyone else, but then kindly offered us a ride back to the hotel in his own car. That kind of attitude is exactly what I love about Ireland! The evening finished with a farewell dinner at the hotel, but not much to say there. What a great day!
   Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the plane we go. I shall sleep and then we go! Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho...

Sunday
   Waking up obscenely early, a long plane ride, but not too bad, and now I'm home. I can't wait to sleep. Photos will have to wait until tomorrow...

Quote of the Day: "I'd just like to go hug a cow right now."    -Teresa

Posted by Tlynnec on July 12 @ 5:41 PM PST

July 2-7,2004 (London)

Friday
   Well, I'm sitting on a plane on my way to London. For those who didn't know, I'm headed to a week of lectures in order to complete my Capstone project. School or no school, I'm still looking forward to this.
   On a completely different note: I have to remember to fly Virgin Atlantic in the future! I think economy on this flight beats Business class on certain other airlines (i.e. United and Northwest.)

Saturday
   Let's see,we arrived at 10:30 am and I am dead tired. Our tour guide, Avril, met us at the airport and we went into London to our Hotel, which is conveniently on High Street Kensington. After getting our rooms (wow, I have one all to myself!) Cindy and I took a walk to see some of the immediate area. We walked between 3 and 4 miles down to Kensington Palace and through the park. Later, we all met for dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was really good. Anyway, it wasn't much of a day since everyone is exhausted. I'm going to crash now...

Sunday
   This has been a great day! We got up early and met Avril, who took us all over London. We saw the Parliament buldings, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Harrods, the Millenium Bridge, the London Eye, and of course Harrods and all the other famous shopping. We watched the changing of the guard :-) and went to Market Square for lunch. After eating, we spent the entire afternoon in the Tower of London. The Crown Jewels are absolutely gorgeous, but they wouldn't let us take pictures :-(. We finally got back to the hotel about 5:30 and took a short rest before dinner.
   Everyone headed off in different directions for the evening, but four of us decided to walk down a couple of blocks and we ended up eating in a Persian restaurant. The food was good and the bread was fun to watch them make. The bread was a lot like nan and the slapped the dough on the inside wall of hot stone oven with a wood fire to cook it. Yum! Afterwards we wandered around for about. Eventually we Chris suggested getting a drink so we stepped into a place. It turned out to be a Persian club (lol). We really had a good time watching everyone there... particularly the twin brothers running the place who looked like characters out of the TV show The Sopranos. Having had a really good day, I think I'll head up to my room and iron out my shirt before our first lecture tomorrow.

Monday
   Hmmm... the day didn't start out so hot- our first business visit was canceled unexpectedly. Errg. Instead, we went to Royal Gallery and saw a lot of paintings, which were actually quite nice. Then we headed over to Westminster Abbey and had a nice long tour: wow the abbey is amazing! It's a little odd to walk over all the tombs though. After a quick bite of lunch we did go to our first business visit. We had a nice presentation all about the National Trust, which was really interesting.
   The best part of the day was undoubtedly the evening. Cathy and I got some of the half-price day of tickets and went to see Trocoraro, which was a Cuban dance performance. It was beautiful, funny, and really upbeat: A very good show that I really enjoyed. And it was even better because we had seats in the 3rd row! (Well, 7th, but they kept the first 4 empty so it was essentially the third :-). We did manage to get a bit lost on the way back, but let's not dwell on that...

Tuesday
   This morning we got up and headed to the Anglo-Irish Bank for another business visit. This one was just incredible; the three speakers had a great sense of humor and really made the commercial banking industry interesting. Plus, I learned more about commercial property lending than I ever thought I would want to know... and I enjoyed it!
   In the afternoon another visit was canceled (oh, the trip planner is going to hear about this!), but we made the best of it and did some more visiting. A couple of us went of to Canary Wharf, which is one of the new major corporate areas and had a look around. Then we went over to the old dockyards and had lunch in a pub that has been there since 1597! I finally had my fish & chips :-)
   After lunch we stopped in the British Museum for a while and saw the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon friezes. When we finally got back to the hotel about 4:30, my feet were dying, so I took a nice rest before dinner. For dinner, 6 of us walked down to a local Indian restaurant where we had a spectacular meal. I'm currently happy and very tired! Let's see what's more to come...

Wednesday
   Today was great! This morning we got up and went over to Lloyd's of London for a tour and discussion. I had no idea that insurance could be so fascinating. Nor did I know that Lloyd's does not actually insure anything! They are the only "insurance market in the world." The company's literally a membersip organization and standard creating location through which hundreds of investors, brokers, and underwriter's function. How cool is that? Anyway, suffice to say that was a really neat business.
   Next we went to Permira Investments, a venture capitalist company. That was also a very good meeting; focusing on differences between the UK and USA. We had a bit of time in the afternoon, so I walked to Leicester Square to try and get some tickets for the night's theater, but, unfortunately, the show I wanted was sold out. Oh well, c'est la vie. I did enjoy going down to a local pub for dinner with a bunch of the group. Anyway, tomorrow we fly to Dublin & I am so-o-o excited!

Quote of the Day: "My feet are on their last legs..." -Kathy

Posted by Tlynnec on July 8 @ 3:41 PM PST

Saturday, June 26,2004

   I think all of the vacation photos are up now... Enjoy!

Quote of the Day:     "I have a fishy shaped toothbrush holder on my desk holding pencils. It is staring at me."
   -Anthea

Posted by Tlynnec @ 11:46 PM PST

Monday, June 21,2004

   Just got back from family vacation in El Paso, Texas. The first half of the photos are up, and there are more to come...

Quote of the Day:   "She's not the fastest snail in the race..."    -Anonymous

Posted by Tlynnec @ 9:11 PM PST

Saturday, June 12,2004

   Wow, life has been busy. Anyway, I finally have my photos from Graduation posted :-)

Quote of the Day:   "Let sleeping ducks lie"  -Tara (yep...)

Posted by Tlynnec @ 6:13 PM PST

Monday, May 10,2004

   Look: a new layout!!! I've been meaning to do this for awhile: Peace Maker Kurogane (a very cool anime).
   Yay! Graduation in 5 days and counting...

Quote of the Day:   "If you don't pay your exorcist, do you get repossessed?" -???

Posted by Tlynnec @ 5:22 PM PST

Tuesday, April 27,2004

   I can't wait to be done with finals! Graduation is on May 15th: then I'll have a life again- yay!!! Until then, nothing else matters: unfortunately including this webpage. I'll get the new layout up eventually...
   In the meanwhile, I have posted photos from CA Grand Assembly 2004.

Quote of the Day:     "If you were a genie and a person wished, 'I wish you would not grant me this wish' what would you do?" -Heather

Posted by Tlynnec @ 1:16 PM PST

Wednesday, March 24,2004

I just added a new section to this webpage. Wallpapers are now available so go check 'em out. Also, coming soon - a new theme (finally!). Keep your eyes peeled...

Quote of the Day: "It's not stalking, its called 'appreciation'"   -Becky

Posted by Tlynnec @ 3:07 PM PST

Thursday, March 4,2004

Well, I'm jumping in with both feet here... I just uploaded my first AMV (Anime Music Video) to the net. The video is entitled Deceit and uses the song 'Bother' by Stone Sour. The anime is Rurouni Kenshin: the first OVAs (Trust & Betrayal). Fair warning, it came out very dark and somewhat violent, but I like it. So, if you're daring, it is available here. Have fun!

Quote of the Day: "Illigitimi non Carborundom"   -John

Posted by Tlynnec @ 11:13 PM PST

Tuesday, March 2,2004

Just a quick note... my youngest brother has just launched his first website: here.
This website is being massively updated so please continue to bear with me!

Quote of the Day: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave... not that anyone has time for weaving, what with naked men falling from the sky."   -Xepheus (AF)

Posted by Tlynnec @ 09:18 PM PST