I love perks at work.

I stayed to work late yesterday and am SO glad I did - After talking up Croke Park the last couple of months I'm finally going. The boss came in and said he couldn't use his ticket to go to the Euro 2008 Qualifier soccer match between Ireland and Wales. As luck would have it, I was the only one in the office that is free tomorrow, so it was all mine! Apparently I have a prime seat in the lower-bowl at mid-field. It was a corporate ticket, so there is no price on it, but word around here is that it is worth about €500. I could only find tix online in the upper bowl and they are going for €300, so it seems about right - I just can't believe my luck.

In other news.

Snow. The fireworks on Sunday were canceled because we got a mini-storm out of nowhere. It was bright and sunny the previous week, all the flowers were in bloom, then wind/hail/rain/snow blew in and put a damper on the Paddy's weekend events. Jess and I ended up checking out some Trad music at a pub just outside of Temple Bar instead, which turned out to be way more fun then a night out in the cold watching fireworks would have been.
I had a random 24-bug on Monday and slept for most of the day (and no, I wasn't hung over - it was legitimate sickness). I had to head back to work after the long weekend, but Jessica made it out one day and we did the Guinness Storehouse tour (my 5th time). After checking out a few more authentic Irish pubs (eg. The Stag's Head), she took off to Spain to continue with her 5/6 week long Easter Break.

I'm now down to my last 5 days of work and am still waiting to hear if I have a job to come back to at the end of April when I finish my next little bout of traveling. I think it is pretty much a sure thing, but I'm trying not to count on it too heavily.
I just found out today that my contact at the recruitment agency (Kelly Scientific Services) left last week without any notice. I'm not really sure what the deal is there. I just hope they are still willing to job search on my behalf if I end up unemployed at the end of next month. . .

I plan on getting a bunch of Paddy's weekend and soccer pics up on Sunday.

Countdown to my next visitor (Tricia Wone) and backpacking around Ireland = 7 days