life in DE

Tweet Up in a Brewery #tub4

- paul

Christmas is well and truly over, the Christmas markets are disassembled and people are back in work, so it would be the perfect time for some midweek beers to talk about random tech stuff. So presenting the next instalment, #4, of Tweet Up In A Brewery {aka #tub4}.

About Tweet up in a Brewery

A few English speaking tweeters in Munich have come together and decided to have an informal tweet up. It’s open to everyone, the language is generally English, but most of us speak-the-german too. Think of it as an open coffee club meeting with beer ! We generally meet after work in a central bar / brewery in Munich and chat about a whole host of topics.

A quick thanks to equinux who sponsored a few beers at tub3. They showed off their new prodcuct Tizi, which turns your iPad into a digital receiver, and picked up the tab while we oooh and awwwed over it.

Details of TUB4

Signup for TUB4

[EVENTR REGISTRATION 4] Upon sign up you’ll be send to the twitter search results page.
[EVENTR ATTENDEES 4]

Previous Tweet up in a Brewery

This is the 4th meeting in the series. [1] [2] [3]

HashTag for the event : #tub4, a list of some previous attendees can be found here.
See you there !

Travel travel travel

- paul

Last year was a very strange year for me, strange in the new sense of the word. I started to travel for work contracts, and got to see some amazing parts of the world for the first time (especially the Baltics). There was a few firsts, like going business class trans-atlantic flight and navigating cities like Belgrade on my own (top tip, make sure you get a map that has Cyrillic names of the streets, and make sure the address you want to go to also is in Cyrillic), and having a business trip based on hobby website of mine, (my skiiing tips website).

Travel for work can be fun, but it can als be a little over rated, it’s great to get to see these places & meet people face to face, but besides that, there generally isn’t such a great attraction to travelling for work. More often than not, travelling for work is done on tight schedules, so you don’t always get a full feel for a place, like you would on holidays. On the other hand, trips are a great change from working in an office on your own, where after a while the walls start to get a little too familiar.

Later on in the month I will try to do a post with my favorite picture form each place I took. But for now there is just a list.

The trips taken in 2010

  • Cork, Ireland
  • Boston, US
  • Florida, US
  • Zurich, Switzerland
  • Austria
  • Rome, Italy
  • Paris, France
  • Valetta, Malta
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Krackow
  • Galway, Ireland
  • Skopje, Macedonia (Former Republic of)
  • Tallinn, Estonia
  • Belgrade, Serbia
  • Florida, US
  • Jamaica
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Cork, Ireland

I’ve started to put some of the trips on Dopplr, (my profile) if you are bothered to look. What does 2011 have in store for itself ?

Update : 18/2/2011 There is another email doing the rounds, this time from http://www.revenue.ie.casefileform.com/refund.php?form=19294030 Again it is a phishing attempt to get you fill in your details. On the 2nd page it take you to a page where they ask you for your credit card details. The from email address is listed as service@revenue.ie

Tweet Up in a Brewery #tub3

- paul 1 Comment

After the success of our two previous tweet ups, which were fuelled by a bit of beer, we are getting ready for the next one. This time the location has been chosen by Geoffrey Teale, and it will be at the Löwenbräukeller at Stiglmaierplatz. This is the day before the Munich Google Developer Day (#gddde), so if anyone is coming to Munich for that then you are more than welcome to join in also.

The background : A few English speaking tweeters in Munich have come together and decided to have an informal tweet up. It’s open to everyone, the language is generally English, but most of us speak-the-german too. Think of it as an open coffee club meeting with beer !

Details of TUB3

  • Date : Monday November 8th 2010
  • Time : 18:30 (6:30pm CET)
  • Location : Löwenbräukeller, Nymphenburgerstrasse 2. (near Stiglmaierplatz)
  • Transport : U-bahn : Stiglmaierplatz (U1)

Map :

Google seems to have killed the embedded map, so you can visit the link here : http://goo.gl/maps/BnU9.
Or check out the Bing Maps

HashTag for the event : #tub3

Attendees

[EVENTR ATTENDEES 3]

Signup

[EVENTR REGISTRATION 3]

Photo Tours in Munich

- paul 1 Comment

Yesterday I had the chance to pop on a personal tour of Munich, with a nice lad called Dave Douglas. Dave runs GuidedMunich.com, which offers photo-tours with a twist. With the decline in the price of DSLR cameras, more and more people now posses one. Dave aims to teach you how to use your camera, in the tourist setting of Munich. The idea is quite a unique one, because well you get  photography tuition from an expert photographer, while being brought around Munich by someone who has some great insider knowledge of the city. It’s a nice mix, especially if you are visiting on a limited time schedule.

Pictures of Munich

Here are some of the images I took on the trip. Despite it being an overcast day, we still managed to work with the light that was there, and in some pictures used it to a good effect.

We went through all the different modes of my Canon, and we tested out some of the more advance things I tended to avoid in the past, such as Exposure compensation, and when to use shutter vs. aperture priority.

Dave climbing to get that picture

So if you are looking for interesting things to do in Munich, I would advise you to check the tour out.

Ballymaloe relish at the airport

- paul 2 Comments

In Cork airport it’s easy to find Ballymaloe relish (and rashers, sausages and smoked salmon), as it’s all in the duty free shop. But when you use Dublin airport, things are a little bit more complicated because of the scale. Last week I was there, and I eventually found some hidden in a small shop called Wrights of Howth. It’s located in between the two security checking places, on the main concourse. If any of you love this stuff as much as I do, I’m sure this post will welcomed. !

My Ballymaloe


Here is a picture of my latest haul !

Flannerys Hotel Galway a review

- paul

seeing as I posted this on Roomex about Flannerys Hotel Galway, Best Western, I might as well add it here. One other note, Best Western does price matching apparently on their official website, but it really wasn’t worth the hassle of going through them, when RoomEx was cheaper. You would have to pay the full price, and then request a refund explaining where you could have gotten a better price.

Review of Flannerys Hotel Galway

Keeping in mind it’s a 3 star hotel, I would say it was still below satisfactory. I was staying in one of the non renovated rooms, which really could have done with a sprucing up. The bathroom is from the 80’s or 70’s. The bed was comfortable, but the linen looks like it was past its best. In a hotel when the linen starts piling it should be thrown out.

Interestingly enough these guys give you a RTÉ Guide for your incredibly small TV. One positive is that there is free WiFi everywhere, not just in the lobby as advertised.

Breakfast is less than average. The buffet style is not really a buffet style, as someone puts together your Irish breakfast for you. I’m guessing this is a cost saving idea (rather than a safety issue). The fruit salad was no great shakes either, as it was mostly apple chopped up, no bananas, berries or anything else. Don’t attempt to drink the coffee, as it tasted either like it was instant coffee, or it had been standing in a metal pot for a 1/2 hour. A Nespresso machine, that costs about €0.30 per cup would go a LONG way. Thankfully on my 2nd morning I wasn’t even offered coffee, but sadly I missed out on the toast too. The selection of juices was nice (apple, orange, cranberry and pineapple), but they failed to offer water as a drink. The breads and few pastries weren’t tested.

Food at the restaurant wasn’t anything spectacular to report, and the attitude of one barman would lead you to think that you were putting him out when ordering drinks or meals. Prices for food were around the €12-€18 range, and simply not worth it for the level of service offered. I offered to pay my bill when ordering at the bar, but instead, I get interrupted while eating, and a bill is put on the table instead. I’m guessing the bar staff could do with a bit of re-training.

The verdict

Would I go back ? No, probably not. The price to service is certainly not something I was entirely happy with.