At Bryan and Cat's place the other night, I tried wine yet again. This time it was only half terrible. I'm experiencing the same thing that happened with Guinness; I find myself occasionally feeling a vague desire for a glass of wine, while at the same time remembering how terrible it tastes. I think that, just as with Guinness, what I'm actually drawn to is the environment that I associate with the drink — the theatrics of carefully pouring a pint of Guinness and enjoying the creamy head, or the relaxing experience of enjoying a glass of wine and good cheese in a pool with friends. Still, for whatever reason, I find myself slowly (and painfully) acquiring a taste for these things that taste so terrible at first.

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The visit in Clemson was perfect. I didn't miss out on any visits, and I got to do all the things I had on my list: I watched Metalocalypse with Meg, ate at Waffle House, took pictures at the abandoned mill in Newry, finally hung out with Katie in person, went to Super Taco, spent a good amount of time with Alia, did an Irish Car Bomb with Jeff and Bobby, hung out with Kells, and even got to see Jenn, which I though would be infeasible.

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For the last year or so I've been hosting a website called http://www.colorador...ridgebackrescue.org/ (longest domain name known to man) on BinRock for an organization that my friend Scott is involved with. I've never met Sally, the woman from the organization who actually owns the domain, but I understand she's a sweet woman.

Today I received an unexpected package in the mail which confirmed that fact. Apparently, as a way of saying thanks for hosting her website, she sent me a case of Guinness. Heehee. I'm so easy to shop for :)

Now my refrigerator contains milk, Guinness, and film. The essentials for a healthy lifestyle.

Cat sent me her pictures from the trip to New Orleans two weeks ago, so this seems like a good time to finally write about it.

I arrived on Friday evening, and, after some brief discussions of geography, we immediately set to drinking.

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Dublin was fun, though not as enjoyable for me as the countryside. The high point for me, of course, was the Guinness Storehouse. But that came last.

We got up this morning at 7am (OK, it became more like 8:15am) to eat a quick breakfast and catch the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus that stopped at our hotel at 9. We got off at the first stop, near the General Post Office where the IRA siezed the building in 1916 and declared independence from Ireland (and were subsequently shelled into submission). It also happened to be the location of the 400' Metal Spike Of Annihilation, to my glee.

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The trip continues to be an incredible experience. On Thursday evening we flew to Dublin, spent the night at a hotel there, and then in the morning took another short flight across Ireland to Shannon, where we rented a car. From there we visited the nearby Bunratty Castle and then drove southwest to Killarney, the starting point of the road that circles the peninsula, known as the "Ring of Kerry". We stopped along the way and ate at a small, family-owned restaurant named O'Flynn's, which I loved. The people were so nice and friendly, and the food was great. I had my first pint of Guinness in Ireland (on draught, of course).

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My first evening in Scotland was an appropriate one. One of Andrés' roommates, Gary (from Ireland), had a friend named David visiting, and it was his last night here. It was a given, then, that we go out to a few pubs. Over our first few pint, Andrés' Scottish roommate, Tony, taught me a few unintelligible Scottish phrases (for example, "See, you! Geddi dinye!" which can be loosely translated as, "Excuse me, sir. Pardon my intrusion, but it appears you aren't consuming your beverage quickly enough."), and I put them to great use throughout the evening.

Over the course of the night, I experienced loud, messy drinking games, a polite ejection from a pub, pissing in an alley in view of pedestrians, yelling my newfound unintelligible phrases at said pedestrians, and passing out on the floor. Ah, I belong here.

A few weeks ago I was talking with Henry and he brought up the interesting fact that we'd seen each other once every calendar year since we met. I was surprised, because it feels like we see each other so infrequently, but he listed each visit and he was right. I agreed that the streak could not be broken, and Henry and I made plans for him to come down to PR to visit. Once he had his plane ticket and I mentioned to my parents that he was coming, they reminded me of the fact that the house would be somewhat disassembled at the time. I said "Oops," but Henry said, "That's OK, it will be like camping."

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The weekend with Courtney was great. Although I only took two days off (Friday and Monday nights), it felt like a more substantial vacation. The weather was uncooperative though, so I didn't get to show her many of the cool things available here.

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So, is it true that one can survive on Guinness alone? Now we know for sure. I won't ruin the ending. Read bottom to top to preserve the suspense, or just read the two topmost posts if you're that kind of person. Is it troubling that, reading his graphic descriptions of the debilitating hunger he suffered while forcing down another Guinness, all I felt was an insidiously growing longing for a pint? :)

After our unfulfilling experience with early admission on Saturday, we didn't bother getting up early on Sunday. We slept in and woke up around 11am and leisurely got dressed and headed to the park a little after noon. The weather report said it was supposed to rain, so the park was much emptier than the day before.

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Hehe, unlike Ft. Lauderdale, at the Ohio airport the wireless access costs $8 for 24 hours (though of course it's more like $8 for however long you're actually going to be at the airport). I didn't remember how long I had to wait for Bryan and Cat, but I thought it was about 2 hours, so I figured it was worth $4/hour to be entertained. But seconds after I clicked the submit button on my payment, my cell phone rang and Bryan announced they had just landed. I quickly checked my email and shut down the computer to go meet them. $8 for 45 seconds or so... Not as good a deal as I had thought :)

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