Still alive

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted here. Well, in my defense I have to say that the last months I've been incredibly busy, even more than usual. So, what has happened in the meantime? I have transferred to another team and also relocated to Ireland. I flew to Dublin on November the 1st to go house hunting and was lucky enough to find a very nice house in Malahide. I spent 30-ish years living in Madrid so I'm not a big fan of big cities and, having spent the last 3 in Mons I knew I didn't want to live in Dublin. I was born in a seaside town and that's what I was looking for, so when I visited Malahide I knew that was the place where I wanted to live. I had never lived in a house before and really wanted to go for it. It's not too big so I don't have to spend the entire weekend cleaning but big enough for me and Athene. And, speaking of the devil, she is currently staying in Lissenhall and will join me in 2011. She is doing fine there so far although I miss her presence at home. There was quite a lot of paperwork involved both in Belgium and Ireland but thankfully all that has been taken care of already.

I know perfectly well that it's an odd time to come to Ireland with all the budget thing but I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine for me. Also keep in mind that I planned this back in late 2007, it just took me a while to get here.

We had a lot snow a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty clear that Ireland is not ready for this kind of weather. And now that we are entering snow time 2 we'll see what happens. I figured that, after what happened last year, authorities would be well prepared by now but it doesn't seem to be the case.

The fact that there is no language barrier here makes everything way easier, although my French was not too bad by the time I left Belgium. Overall I consider the experience of living there an interesting one but I will certainly not do it again. The taxes there are ridiculously high and there are too many culture differences and things that plain don't make any sense to me, like why you have shake your coworkers hand every single day and things like that.

The house I'm living in is fully furnished so I had to get rid of quite a lot of stuff, including most of my computer collection. Yes, that includes the Sunfire 4800 as well. But no need to worry, I'm still as geeky as it gets.

I relocated on the 20th of November so today it makes about 1 month, a good moment to look back and see how things have gone so far. And, so far, so good. I really like this country. Everyone has been very helpful and friendly and didn't have any major issues.

I've bought the "Complete Irish" book and will spend time 2 days a week learning Irish. While I don't expect to become proficient in the near future I'd be happy if I can get to understand signs and things like that. It's curiosity about the language itself more than anything else.

Today I've been to the movie theatre here for the first time. And the movie I've seen is, of course, TRON: Legacy. Considering how much of an impact the first one made on me when I watched it as a kid, this was one I could not miss. I wanted to see it in 3D so I've gone to the early morning pass at the Cineworld in Parnell St. I wasn't really sure about what to expect other than eye candy but I have to admit the movie does not disappoint. The story itself is nothing to write home about but it works very well. There are plenty of references to the original for the fans. It was great to see Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles with some help from the Special Effects department. I love the new light cycles and the recognizer looks great as well.

I like Daft Punk's score although I was hoping for a homage to Wendy Carlos' original one, but this one suits the movie very well.

The movie contains a mixture of 2D and 3D scenes but the 3D ones work very well, probably best 3D I've seen so far.

Inception notwithstanding, this is the best movie I've seen in 2010. But again, I'm a huge fan of Tron.

I will try to post more often now that I'm settled down and yes, I know I have to catch up on e-mail as well.