The Augury

Rose's Idea of a Spring Break

2008-03-27T13:27:00.003-04:00

I would like to remind everyone that a break at Rose isn't a break - it's "project time." For me, that includes projects in two classes with large deliverables on the day (or second day) after break, senior project work, and even some shooting in prep for my other class. That means I will be doing work for every single class in some form or another over my "break." Let's hear a woo for spring break. Anyone?

In other news, I will be spending a few days in Northern Kentucky the latter half of next week. Get in touch if you're interested in seeing me.

Most Influential Modern Parodies

2008-03-07T02:29:00.000-05:00

Amazon.com Widgets

NotchUp Beta Invites

2008-02-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

I have several NotchUp Beta invites to give out, comment if you want one.

Terre Haute Google Street Views Released

2008-01-18T15:18:00.000-05:00

Here's my new house. Awesome to see that Terre Haute has been hit by the Google Street team! It even works in Linux.

Elfin' A

2007-12-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

What would my department look like if we were all elves?

Origin of the term "screw you"?

2007-12-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

An episode of "What the Victorians Did for Us" said that in Victorian-era England prisons, solitary prisoners had to turn a crank 10,000 times a day. To make things harder, the jailer would come along and tighten the screw on the crank every so often. A possible origin of the term, "screw you"?

Panera

2007-08-08T09:40:00.001-04:00

So...many...old...people...@Panera...9:40am.

Germany Reflection

2007-08-08T09:16:00.000-04:00

My time in Germany was an interesting experience. To prepare I read a few books on German culture during the eight and a half hour Air India flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. I didn’t find the airline quite as bad as some people had suggested. I spent my first night in Frankfurt at the Hotel Anna where there was an international student discount. On my way out I asked the gentleman at the reception the cheapest route to the train station and he gave me vague directions to the nearest tram. About half way there his directions failed me and, although I now know that I was going the right way, I was unsure of where I was. I of course packed too much luggage and was finding it troublesome to lug it the several city blocks to the tram. I broke out my pocket German language guidebook and asked someone if I was heading the right way. He was kind enough to help me get my luggage to the tram stop and show me how to use the automated ticketing machine. From here I made my way to the train station and got on the first of many trains that I’d take while in Germany.

I did not have any German language experience prior to arriving in Germany, and it was my first time traveling internationally, so all of this was new to me. Throughout the course of my stay I picked up enough German to get around but I usually still need a dictionary to translate uncommon words.

I checked into my dorm at Wileystrasse and met several other ICEP/IEEP students from Kettering and one girl from China. The Chinese girl and I were lucky because the student tutor who was sent to pick us up at the train station had a car (small as it was); I heard stories of another student tutor who showed up to pick up Wileystrasse students on his bike! Wileystrasse is located in Neu-Ulm, which is in a different state than Ulm and the main train station, so those unfortunate students wound up sharing a taxi to get to their dorm which is about 30 minutes away. The Kettering people mostly all knew each other and hung out together, and there were no other Rose students at Wileystrasse, so I found Wileystrasse a rather uneventful place to live. I shared a bathroom with a 30-year-old German auto-mechanic student who went home to Stuttgart on weekends and wasn’t too sociable to begin with. I stopped getting invited to parties and dinners when people realized I didn’t have any money. I couldn’t even afford the little outings that the Erasmus group put together.

Classes went well. The teachers were easy enough to understand on most days as their English was better than some of the visiting professors at my own college. The work load was acceptable and the material was well paced. I assume I got A’s or B’s in all of my classes but it’s been over a month and my school still doesn’t have the German transcript which was supposed to be mailed.

The best part of my German experience was during Pentecost break when I was able to meet up with a class from my school who was taking a sight-seeing trip across Germany. We started in Frankfurt and took a boat trip up the Rhine River so we stopped in towns like Bacharach and Boppard. Then we took a bus to Berlin, stopping in towns like Eisenach, Jena and Weimar on the way. Living in Ulm/Neu-Ulm is interesting, but to get the real German experience you must venture out and see the northern and eastern parts of the country. Each region has its own culture and tastes.

By this point I had a student loan finally come through so I was able to start enjoying Europe. By using trains and cheap airlines like Ryan Air I got to see Venice, Austria, and most importantly Ireland. I’m actually of Irish heritage – I don’t have a drop of German blood in me – so making it up there was important to me. I didn’t know it was so cheap to travel inside Europe so I didn’t know that this was something that I’d be able to do before I came. I only learned of Ryan Air from overhearing all of the Kettering students talking about what country they were going to so-and-so weekend. I think getting out and seeing Europe was also a big aspect of my study abroad experience. Learning about Germany is one thing, but one should also be able to take in the contrasts that Europe provides.

I found German History to be a good class, and enjoyed the field trip to Munich. Since everyone is an engineer it’s hard to find my own enthusiasm shared by my classmates, but I think this was a good addition to the curriculum. The local field trip to the Gold Oschen brewery the day previous was also a good idea since this was the first time I got to tour one. Alcohol was certainly an important part of the German and European experience since in America I’m not old enough to legally drink but while over there I was. From the German history teacher’s bier gardens in Munich to the German language teacher’s schinken bier in class, we were able to sample a good amount.

The biggest problem I had was at the end with the “internship.” The definition of that word in America must be different than in Germany. I assumed that I would be placed at some local company working, but instead I was given a lab assistant roll to a professor on campus. It was very disorganized. It took weeks for the professor to get me the materials and then come to turn out he didn’t have the right parts for me to even accomplish my job. He and his actual lab assistant had no regular hours so half the time when I’d spend the half hour to travel from Wileystrasse to campus, I couldn’t find either of them around. I wound up just doing a translation of the project documentation from German to English.

All in all it was a good study abroad. I got to do a lot of things that I never thought I’d get to do due to financial limitations imposed by our college system in America. If only we could figure out tuition-free undergraduate education like Europe has, we’d be set.

Map of My Travels Now Available

2007-07-28T09:53:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to plotting out where I've been in the world on Google Maps. You can have a looksy (with photos and videos!) here.

The Adventures of a Talented American College Student

2007-07-24T18:24:00.000-04:00

Yeahhhh really loving America right now, let me tell you. I'm not someone who likes to accept hand outs but just to get through August as a student at Rose it looks like I'm going to have to find the food stamps office in Terre Haute. I will also be homeless, sleeping at friends houses, maybe even taking showers in the SRC if I have to. God I love America!! Woooo, "We're #1, we're #1!"

How did I get in this situation? A twisted combination of fate and personal choice of course. I chose to try and get a "top-rate" education by leaving Kentucky. Fate put me where I am right now. But somehow I persevere and push on. I do my best not to let it all get me down. No one around me understands what it's like...they all admittedly are at Rose because of their parents or family support.

I worked hard in high school so that I could be where I am today. It just so happens that the place where I am isn't all it's cracked up to be. Yeah, there's a gold pot at the end of the rainbow, but you've got to starve and overwork yourself to get there. It's a ridiculous system that only our European brethren have figured out how to fix. But I'm not a citizen here, I'm a citizen in what was once the "greatest nation on Earth" - America. And in America, youth are treated like shit and have to put up with discrimination in a whole host of areas from credit to employment.

Sorry...I think I'm entitled to vent a little about our fucked up system. I'm in the trenches living it, and it fucking sucks. And Rose is pissing me off more than I can stand: did you know that I actually got APPROVED for a fucking loan to cover my housing this fall while I co-op at Sony and the bastards in the financial aid department won't give me my loan? Yeah, I go on co-op each fall to afford the rest of the year at Rose. And they won't give me my loan BECAUSE I'm on co-op. How fucked up is that? Not to mention illegal, since the co-op is a pre-approved school program that keeps my legal status on as a full-time student. And the law states that you can't deny aid to a full-time student. But whatever...they can keep laughing at me from behind their golden walls. I'm going to get through this shit and never donate a fucking cent to them after I graduate because of how much crap they put me through.

God bless America!!! Education is our top priority!!! (Yeah, right.)

Warning! Plot Spoiler

2007-07-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

Hermoine is a transformer.

(psst...pass it on!)

Wedding Fireworks?

2007-07-20T16:12:00.000-04:00

Unexpected surprise tonight as I found some booms next door to be a fireworks display at the Wiley-Club. They usually host wedding receptions there so I assume that's what it was for. Nice fill in for missing July 4th, I suppose!

Everyone go vote!

2007-07-17T16:38:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBUmCtsxMLQ

Vote it 5 stars so that I might have a chance to go to the Democratic Presidential Debate next week and have my question shown on TV and answered by the candidates!

Gamer Wedding Cake

2007-07-10T19:44:00.000-04:00

I don't understand how she married a non-gamer? Haha. But seriously, this is a great idea. Your wedding cake should reflect you and your interests. You might have to order online, but it's totally worth it. Look for a PC Gamer version when I get married someday.

SiCKO Highlighted on CNN

2007-07-10T11:37:00.000-04:00

You know what pisses me off the most? Glancing over the 'SiCKO' Factual Backup, "terrorists" at Guantanamo Bay receive services funded by my tax dollars that I am not even entitled to receive! Do I have to blow up a fucking building to get a teeth cleaning up in here!?

"Detainees receive medical, dental, psychiatric, and optometric care at U.S. taxpayers' expense. In 2005, there were 35 teeth cleanings, 91 cavities filled, and 174 pairs of glasses issued." "Ten Facts About Guantanamo," Department of Defense, September 14, 2006.

It is your patriotic duty as an American to see this film.

Late Night Ramblings

2007-07-06T19:39:00.000-04:00

I suppose I knew this already before coming, but I must say that PDA is much more prevalent in Europe. Last night at the airport a couple sat down next to me in the cramped waiting area and I had to wonder if they were about to take off their clothes and do it right then and there. They even had what I assumed was a younger sister with them, who appeared as disgusted as I was but she apparently had given up trying to stop them a long time ago. From their language I believe they were French. Interestingly enough, I had met two other French people that same day over in Co. Sligo. I have no idea why the French are flooding Ireland at the moment, but they're there. Anyways, there are advantages and disadvantages to this kind of public behavior and I can't really decide which is better. But it is a bit annoying when it's right next to you. I don't think I mind it much when it's in the far corner and their lips aren't smacking within earshot.

On a different topic, but I guess it could be tied in, I am always amazed at how inconsiderate some people are. And I'll just leave that at that. Good night, all.

Ireland: Day 7 – Thursday, July 5, 2007 and Final Thoughts

2007-07-06T10:33:00.001-04:00

I woke up early, a little bit after Ivan left for the morning, and decided to catch an earlier bus back since I remembered I was supposed to have been checked out of the hostel by 10:30am. I got there a little past noon but they didn’t give me any hassle.

I stopped by the reference library again to have a look at the Easky church records but they were closing for lunch. So I went over to the central library, which doesn’t close for lunch, to use the Internet. I had to wait for a bit and then I was able to get on one, but about 5 minutes later the fuse blew and all of the computers went black. They tried flipping the breaker to no avail, and said they’d have to call an electrician, so I gave up waiting and went on to lunch.

I had lunch at McDonalds and the lack of seating found me next to a 53 year old woman and her young child. She was an interesting character, claiming to be a faith healer, a psychic, a medium and what not. She was excited that she had just been accepted to IT Sligo and asked my opinion of it. It was a long conversation; I think I got her whole life story in about 15 minutes. It’s amazing how open everyone is with you here. I guess today was gypsy day on O’Connell Street, as the good Irish music I heard on the street a few days before was replaced by two boys, not 5 years old, on opposite ends of the street playing a slow hand organ melody while their parents tried peddling balloons to the people walking by. In the midst of this I was approached by some guy around my age who asked me to talk to him, as he was from some charity organization, but once he heard where I was from he moved on. It was a much different feeling than the street had the other day, but still interesting.

Back at the reference library I combed the baptismal records for Feeney’s and Connolly’s. I found my great-grandmother’s baptism in 1864, which was the first year they kept those sorts records (or they survived anyways), so I was lucky to find that. With the baptism record you can gather the parents’ names (including mother’s maiden) and usually the sponsors will be related somehow, but you’ll probably need more information to tie in the sponsors to your tree.

Next I checked the Tithe Applotment from 1833 and found only one Feeney in Owenbeg owing a Tithe. This doesn’t mean that there weren’t other Feeney’s around, as there were all sorts of loopholes to get out of paying tithe, but it does give me another name. Finally I ended the day going through books of graveyard inscriptions for Easky, which gave me dates and some relationships for some markers that I had missed while I was visiting in person the other day. Let me tell you, if you’re going to have a family plot, it would be GREAT if you included words like “daughter” and “son” and “wife” as this helps someone like me several generations removed and hundreds of years later put the pieces together. A few of the Feeney’s did that, the rest didn’t. I didn’t have time to check out too many of the Connolly’s inscriptions, but I did notice about three different ways that they spelt that name over the years.

On the bus ride back to Dublin I was greeted with a full sized rainbow crossing above the road. The city is beautiful at night with all of the bridges lit up on the sides with green lighting underneath. Another night at the airport and I’ll be back in Germany.

WHAT I LEARNED
Rural Ireland is an area still very untouched by the outside world. Many times while riding my bike along even the “main drags” I was able to stop and listen to the silence of nature, from farm animals and bees to majestic streams and waterfalls. The land is filled with natural beauty and wonderfully nice people who honestly care about how you’re doing. From farmers to bus drivers, everyone waves and asks how you are.

I found it a tad different than even rural America. The houses have no numbers, and many of the streets used by the locals are not even on the map, despite their being paved. As you can guess, they also have few street signs, although there are more than somewhere like Germany and when you do see one, it usually is quite helpful.

How they operate like this isn’t a mystery: everyone knows everyone. When you send mail to someone out here, you just put their name and the town name and the post master knows where to take it. I do wonder what would happen if the post master passed away abruptly one day, but I’m sure the locals would point the new one on his way.

Seeing as how I was trying to trace my relatives who I had a hunch might still live in the area, all of this came in quite handy. All I had to do was stop in a few shops and ask around, and someone there would point me in the generally right direction, and as I got closer and closer to the exact area (Owenbeg in my case) it became easy to find who I was looking for.

This is something that you just can’t find in America anymore. You used to be able to in the small towns and farming communities, but even those are now overrun by suburbs filled with people who just don’t want to know their neighbor. Unfortunately this is also now happening to Ireland, as related to me by my relative and confirmed by my travels around. Land is being sold to developers as people move from farming to other professions since higher education is free in the EU and the suburbs they build become filled with people from all over the EU. Apparently some towns in Ireland are beginning to face what we’ve been facing in America for a long time: immigrants who don’t speak the language and send their children to English-speaking schools. As a result of all this, Ireland has put in place strong immigration controls, as I experienced when I flew in and went through the non-EU citizen line. Nonetheless, it was relatively easy for me to find a relative in under a day since I knew the general location and a good number of the names of the brothers and sisters of the last generation to be born there.

Another thing I found difficult to adjust to was how the spelling of nouns like town names and family names doesn’t seem to matter to anyone here. Even official signs will change the spelling of the town name depending what corner you’re on. When pronounced it’s fine, but that many spellings can get confusing. Apparently this all comes from the English influence here, as the English tried to change the Gaelic names of everything to something more Anglican. I believe the Gaelic version of the town names only comes in one form, but that’s not what you’ll find on a map.

Life in a hostel isn’t so bad. It is interesting, as you meet a good number of interesting characters. One evening I was stopped by a hippie-looking guy who I think was camping outside in the yard and he asked me the most random of question, and was quite hesitant to do so: “What year were the Atlanta Olympic games?” Apparently this was an important question to him. I also got to meet some French guys and some guys from the Czech Republic, who I chatted to about my upcoming trip to Prague. And despite its outside looks, Eden Hill has some nice facilities, especially the kitchen, dining room, and showers. They also have a house keeper come in each morning and tidy up the place, including making your bed. It’s a shame that it’s closing down for good on September 1, 2007, but I’m glad I was able to experience it while it was operating.

BYPASSING THE COUNTY GENEALOGY CENTER
Yes, the records are mostly free. All you’re paying for at the center is for someone to do your research for you. There is a reference library down the road from the central library which has the property records, like Griffith Valuations, and the census records. The central library doesn’t have anything. You’ll need to know the surname and exact location (not just the county). To get to the reference library, walk east along Stephens St. from the central library and turn right on Bridge St. The reference library will be on your left, about half way down the block.

If you are unsure of the exact location, it might be listed on your ancestor’s birth record. To get a copy of birth, death, or marriage records, you’ll have to go to the Markievicz House (Health Services Board - HSE) up the road from the central library. Walk west along Stephens St. and take the first right up Holborn St. Veer left at the fork in the road and Markievicz will be on your left in a fenced off parking lot. It will cost you 6 euro for a research copy of a record. The location and the mother’s maiden name is about the only thing you’ll find of use on a birth record from the late 1800’s in Ireland – they did not include the parents’ dates and places of birth like we did in the United States. These records also only go back to 1864.

If you want maps, you’ll need to contact the Valuation office in Dublin. They can issue you a map based on the information in the first column of the Griffith Valuation for your ancestor’s land. It is located in the Irish Life Center on Lower Abbey St.

Source Material at the Sligo Reference Library
1. If you know your ancestor’s religion, you can consult church records going back to 1762 in some parishes. This may include births, marriages, and deaths and you can find the parents names (including mother’s maiden) on the baptismal records.
2. 1901 Census of Ireland.
3. 1876 Return of Land Owners Co. Sligo.
a. This would only be for rich families, as landlords hadn’t given over the land to their tenants yet.
4. 1857 Griffith Valuation.
5. 1846-1851 The Famine Immigrants (6 Volumes).
6. 1842 Sligo Borough Valuation.
7. 1837 Sligo Voters Lists.
a. There was not universal suffrage of any kind, so you’re unlikely to find someone here unless they were very influential and wealthy.
8. 1823-1837 Tithe Applotment Books.
9. 1795-1797 Voters Lists for Co. Sligo.
a. See voter lists note above.
10. 1749 Census for the Diocese of Elphin.
11. 1670 Books of Survey and Distribution for Co. Sligo.
12. 1664 Hearth Money Rolls.
13. Graveyard inscriptions sorted by graveyard and indexed by surname for Sligo County, mostly taken from the late 1980’s.

If all you’re doing is records research, it may be easier to base yourself out of Dublin. Aside from the Valuation Office, it also has the National Library, General Register Office, National Archives, Registry of Deeds, and various church libraries. Most of the Sligo Reference Library microfilms are just duplicates of the ones at the National Library.

Ireland: Day 6 – Wednesday, July 4, 2007

2007-07-06T10:32:00.002-04:00

Today I woke up around 10am and biked to Delia’s house. It’s about 20 miles give or take. On the way, between Beltra and Dromard a kind gentleman from New York by the name of Pat Boyland was walking on the road and we chatted and he invited me in for a cup of tea and a ham sandwich (this must be a pretty typical lunch around here). He spends his summers here and his winters at his home in New York, although he was born a county over in County Leitrim. His wife wasn’t coming over from the states for a few more weeks so he was living alone and enjoyed the company. We talked by the fireside about differences between the states and here.

Down the road in Skreen I took the detour to see Adamnan’s Holy Well and the 14th century Church of Ireland founded by St. Adamnan himself. The guide book said it was a ruined church, but it clearly was still being used for weekly service.

For the past couple days my leg muscles have been killing me from the cycling so you can bet I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to Easky. I stopped in Easky first because I wanted to see if I could find the graveyard where my great-grandfather was buried. Turns out that I did find it, but I didn’t find any Feeney’s in it on first glance and continued on down the road to examine the other graveyards in the town. I found a few Feeney’s in the other ones, but not the Feeney’s I was looking for.

So on to Delia’s I went. A little red car drove by as I was on her road, and as it turns out the driver was Ivan, Delia’s son. So I got to meet him today. They invited me in to relax with as much pure spring water as I wanted (their house has a nice spring well attached) and some more ham sandwiches, which I dared to try with some Irish coleslaw on top. The time was a quarter to six in the evening: it had taken me nearly 8 hours on my journey because I was in first gear most of the way, walking up hills, not to mention all of those little stops along the way.

Ivan was nice enough to drive me around a bit. We went to see the stone watchtower ruin on the Easky beachhead and the ruin of Dowd Castle, and stopped for drinks in Inishcrone. Inishcrone, much like Easky, has various ways you can “correctly” spell it. We then went to the Roslea graveyard where I had stopped earlier and he showed me some of the family plots, although we missed my great-grandfather’s again, getting him mixed up with my great uncle by the same name. We also stopped at the Feeney Farm which hadn’t been remodeled too much to my delight. There were even some trunks in the barn that I was able to rummage through.

It gave me a good feeling of what life would have been like for my family back then. The primary school was next door, so you can imagine the kids walking through the yard to get there in the morning. It is not the same school it was when they were there – a fire burned it down in 1966 – but it is still in the same location, and it’s where Delia and her brothers and sisters and her children all went.

We then had dinner – scrambled eggs and toast – and started filling in the blanks on my family tree. I got the names of everyone living (i.e. I filled downward since I filled sideways last time I was here) and then we discussed as much upward as she knew. I still couldn’t break my great-grandfather, but I was able to confirm that John Connolly was my great-grandmother’s brother and that she had another brother named Michael. We also got Jerry Toher, the guy who drove me back to Sligo the other day, onto the tree through Delia’s mother’s side and discussed the origin of the Feeney name. The two told me that it was a 100% Irish name, deriving from the Gaelic word “fenian” meaning rebel, the people who fought against the English invasions back in the day. They supported my westward migration theory, saying that the Feeney’s were driven out of their past homeland by the English.

We also discussed a great many non-family things, from Bush and drafts to accents and rural life. Ivan and I got along well, talking for a few hours past when Delia went to bed. We didn’t retire for the night until 2am. A makeshift bed was setup for me in the unfinished bathroom.

Ireland: Day 5 – Tuesday, July 3, 2007

2007-07-06T10:32:00.001-04:00

Today I spent the day researching my genealogy at the library. From the central library I was pointed to the reference library down the street, and from there I was pointed to the HSE where the birth certificates are kept. The birth certificate confirmed what I already knew about the location, but changed the birth date of my grandfather significantly. The “queue” for the certificate office is in the waiting room of the county dental clinic, strangely enough. It’s also where they register new births, so there was a screaming baby ahead of me in line. There was a machine that you pressed a green button on and it printed a “now serving” number, and a chime was played whenever they incremented the number on the sign above the door.

Back at the reference library I examined several sources, including the 1901 Census on microfilm, the Griffith Valuation for Dromore West (1857), and the four previous censuses from 1659-1861. From these I was able to gather that the Feeney surname once existed a bit east in the Barony of Tireril (that is, the area around Ballysadare) in the form of six family members using the O’Feeny name around 1659, and migrated westward towards Easky parish into the Barony of Tireragh, dropping the O prefix by 1857. There was also a good increase in the number of Feeney’s by this time. The Feeney’s in Owenbeg all added the extra “e” before the “y” between 1857 and 1901.

The library closes from 12:45-2:00pm for lunch so I spent the time browsing stores in Sligo town. I found a medium sized Sligo flag for 5 euro at the sports shop on the river, and a large Sligo magnet for 2.95 euro in the gift shop on O’Connell Street. I also printed photos at a kiosk in the Kodak one hour shop in the indoor strip mall off that street for about 50 cents a photo. The post office, at the north end of that street, is the first one I’ve found in Europe to have a good variety of special issue stamps.

I also discovered that both the reference and central libraries offer Internet access to the public for free if you happen to be in the area when they’re open. Just put down “visitor” in the library card number space on the sign-in booklet and have a seat.

Ireland: Day 4 – Monday, July 2, 2007

2007-07-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

Today I got up early to go to the genealogy center here in Sligo. They do not offer any free services, and no longer offer the “same-day” research service or the family crest creation still listed on their website. They will, however, give you an application to fill out and mail back to them if you want them to do your research for you.

The public library in town does offer free genealogy research for you to do on your own, but I cycled over there and they were of course closed on Mondays. So I went on over to the bus station to look up the last bus to Dublin on Thursday. The last bus 23 leaves at 6:10pm, and you have to switch over to a 22 at Longford.

From here I went on over to IT Sligo in hopes of what we in America would call a “campus visit.” There is no such thing here. You’re welcome to walk around on your own and the “reception” will help you out a little, but there’s no one to talk to about things. The department heads weren’t even around seeing as how it’s summer and they’re doing a bunch of construction on the place. They have several computer labs, but the computer majors are classified under the business department instead of the engineering department. They have a café that sells coffee, tea, and fruits but no smoothies. There is wireless Internet, but you need to be a student to use either the computer labs or the wireless. There is a student union with a nurse and a shop, but the shop was closed. There were no classes going on that I could sit in on, but from my perspective it just doesn’t seem like a good working atmosphere. There’s housing on campus but it is managed by an outside firm, and I wonder what outrageous price they would charge for Internet if it was available at all in your dorm. The whole feeling about the place is that it’s a commuter campus, maybe even catering to adults more so than college-aged students. I have decided that although they offer the four-year web development program that I’ve always looked for, the place just isn’t for me. The atmosphere just isn’t right.

After lunch I went to the Internet café and got in touch with everyone. I followed this by some portions of the Two Bird Mountain Tour as laid out in the aforementioned guide book. Heading east along the River Garavogue from the city center I came to Doorly Park, a beautiful stretch along the river. It has a flat walking trail that extends for a good ways through the woodland canopy directly next to the river wetlands. The water was a very clear blue, lending credence to the guide book’s comment: “the water quality is so good that it complies with the most stringent of water quality regulations.” At the end of the trail there is no way back to the main road, so you either have to turn back or do as I did and dodge sheep paddies and climb over a few fences while making your way through a large field. Here I came upon the Sligo Regional Sports Center, which offers a public pool at certain times of the day (the schedule changes weekly). I might head back over there later in the week. It costs 4 euro for a student to swim there and you don’t have to be a resident or anything.

I continued along the tour and stopped at a “car-park … (easy to miss) on right” like the guide said but there was nothing there. It was supposed to be Carns Forest but all I could see was a gated off open field with a running track or trail, as one jogger was visible. There simply weren’t enough trees to be a forest, so maybe I was at the wrong car-park but I saw no other one as I continued further. I also somehow missed the turn-off for the detour to the viewing point over the Lough Gill lake. There was good downhill road for the rest of the stretch to Tobernalt Holy Well. Just as I pulled up a tour bus also pulled up and unloaded a group of older people who spoke another language but they didn’t stay for too long. The well area was interesting, with shrines to the Christian religious symbols and a number of miracle markers. During the Penal Laws when the Catholic religion was outlawed, mass would be held here in secret. Apparently the whole thing was borrowed from the pagans though, as they performed rituals here in the pre-Christian era. There is another legend concerning St. Patrick here, that the indents on the erratic boulder are where he laid his hand. It’s said that you can rest you’re back against this rock to obtain a cure for a backache, and that the water from the well has cures for eyesight and headaches. The sign says not to drink it, but I saw one pilgrim make the sign of the cross using it, as it is holy water after all.

On down the road I went left on R287 and skipped the Dooney Rock and Slish Wood hiking trails to make it on to Castleore Stone Fort since it was getting late in the evening. The one lane road leading to it is a rocky stone path, so I left my bike at the turn-off and walked the rest of the way. It’s a nice example of a cashel but nothing too impressive. On my way out I decided to stand on one of the large rocks in the center of the circle and low and behold I was greeted by my first Irish rainbow to the east. This marked the end of my evening and I took R287 all the way back to N4 and Sligo. It started raining as I left the turn-off to the cashel, and by about half way to Sligo it was really pouring down. I was absolutely soaked when I got to the hostel.

Ireland: Day 3 –Sunday, July 1, 2007

2007-07-02T10:27:00.002-04:00

There’s a wonderful Sligo guide called “Sligo: land of heart’s desire – Driver Tours and Short Walks” that I suggest picking up at the tourist office if you’re in the area. Today I decided to spend the entire day biking the northern portions of the Queen Maeve’s Tour as laid out in that guide. From Sligo I took R292 west towards Strandhill. The tide was low in the late morning so I took the route across Sligo Bay from Cummeen Strand to Coney Island, guided by centuries old pillars as I crossed the bay. This was the first time I had ever seen a “road” like this: sand and rocks crossed by a low tide.

It took about an hour to bike from Sligo to Coney Island. I can now say that “I have been to the real Coney Island” since this is the one that the New York one is named after. There’s not much on the island, however. There’s an empty beach that I stopped at on the west side of the island and St. Patrick’s Chair (an erratic boulder) on the north side. The legend goes that if you sit on the chair – or put your hand on a certain spot on it, depending on who you ask – you are granted one wish per year. To get to the chair, you have to open a gate to a field and mind the cattle. One lady told me there was a bull there but luckily I didn’t encounter him. It was exciting trying to sneak around without the cattle noticing, though. Since the directions in the guide suck here’s how you really get there: once on the island, go straight on the only road (i.e. don’t take the beach turnoff) and follow it past when it goes from a road to just grass. When you reach the rocky beach after rounding the curve to the left on the north tip of the island, it will be one of the fields on your left. It faces the lighthouse off the shore, although when you sit in it you’re not facing that lighthouse. The tide stayed low for the hour I was there around noon, so take your time.

I got back on R292 and went on to Strandhill. There are suburbs like crazy as you approach the town. Keep hanging rights to get to the beach. There’s a surf school and shop, along with a few restaurant-bars. There’s also some walking trails, but I grabbed a bite to eat and got back on the road. The place I went into was a bit strange. You had to walk all the way to the back to order food from the kitchen, pay as you walked back into the place, and then go to the bar to pay again for a drink. At least they bring your food to you, but with the number of waitresses on duty you’d think they’d be able to give people menus at their table like a normal restaurant.

I was terribly exhausted by this point so I skipped Knocknarea (pronounced “knock na ree”) and its half mile uphill road to the “carpark” (parking lot) which is followed by a 45 minute hike to the peak. I went on to Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery a few kilometers down the road. For 1.10 euro I got a student ticket in to see the passage tombs, although all you can see is a few boulders arranged in circles on the ground or a re-created cairn. It’s kind of interesting since it’s the largest megalithic cemetery in Ireland and one of the most important in Europe, but they still really don’t know much about it – a lot of what the tour guide will tell you is speculation by the various archeologists who have been there.

From Carrowmore I went on to Ballysadare in search of the waterfall pictured in the book. It’s on your right as you approach the town, behind the wall. There’s a private salmon fishery who owns it, but if you’re lucky the owner will let you step in to view it from the top of the hill by the gate. From here I took N4 back to Sligo and decided to turn in early for the night since the genealogy office opens at 9am. I spent 10am-7pm on the road, and got quite a burn even though it was cloudy with off-and-on showers most of the day. Don’t forget your suntan lotion if you’re going to be biking that long!

Ireland: Day 2 – Saturday, June 30, 2007

2007-07-02T10:27:00.001-04:00

I got up around 11am and went to the tourist center. I picked up all of the free hand-outs and found out that the genealogy center was only open weekdays 9 to 4 (with a break for lunch in the middle, of course). They did not have a good, detailed map of Sligo County so they told me to go into town and get one at a shop. I stopped at the book store in town and found one for 5 euro, although it still didn’t have as much detail as I had hoped. But it was water proof, which is important because it rains here about twice a day.

Stopping at a café for an ice cream cone, I overheard an author talking about research she was doing today at the library. So afterwards I went across the river to the library and asked if they had a genealogy section. “It’s closed weekends,” the lady behind the counter told me. I then decided that since everything was going to definitely be closed on Sunday too, I would spend the weekend on my bike, seeing the country.

First stop: Owenbeg. Unsure of how long it would take to bike there, I paid the 9.90 euro two-way ticket at the bus station, with the additional 10 euro fee to bring my bike along. No bus goes to Owenbeg, but one does go to Easkey, as well as Dromore West, which was a good point in between the two so I chose to take the bus to there. Turns out it’s a short route, N4 to N59 and only takes an hour by bus.

At Dromore West I was greeted by a Feeney’s Pub and a Feeney’s grocery store. I stopped in both to ask if there were any Feeney’s around, and there were of course none, but one of the customers at the store took me outside to ask his wife. Everyone I spoke to remarked on how many Feeney’s were in the area, but they didn’t know of any in Owenbeg. His wife also didn’t know, but at the same time a group of elderly gentlemen drove up. They knew of one in Owenbeg and told me the directions. Off on my bike I went.

About half-way up the turnoff I ran into an elderly gentleman riding his bike, and I asked him if I was going the right way. He pointed me towards “the Sean Feeney’s” or the “Craig Feeney’s” since neither I nor him knew which one I was looking for. I got no response to the doorbell on Sean Feeney’s house so I decided to follow the road and see where it went. It went to Owenbeg, of course. The scale on the maps really throw you off – everything is much closer than it seems.

A storm was approaching, and I saw a sign for Easky Church. No, I’m not misspelling it, it’s spelt both ways apparently, and no one cares much about it being as such. I noticed that a Feeney had once been a priest there, and that the door was open. I went inside but no one was there. So I sat down and investigated the visitor’s book while the storm passed. About a half hour later a lady came in, followed by a retired priest, and both told me about the area and the parish. The retired priest made a point to talk to me about the English invasions and how people react to being invaded, and remarked that the US should look at the history of England and Ireland to know how the hearts and minds of the people in Iraq will wind up.

A mass was happening at 7pm so I left a little before that, back up the hill to Sean Feeney’s house. He was home this time. He invited me in and we chatted about our genealogies and he decided to take me over to Shamus Feeney’s house because he might be related to me since he himself was not. I met Shamus and Joe and Jerry Toher on their farm, and we discussed much the same in front of Shamus’s stables. It was decided that Delia Gibson (Feeney) might be related, as she had aunt’s in America with the same names as the ones on my tree. Shamus claimed to be related to Delia through a third great-grandfather, though. It was good that I stopped here because I was able to arrange a ride back to Sligo tonight with Jerry since by this point I had missed the last bus back. Down the road I went to Delia’s.

Delia invited me in (I was lucky because normally she’d be in that 7 o’clock mass, but she skipped it tonight because her son would be home the next morning to go to Sunday morning mass) and was shocked to hear that I was really Jim Feeney’s son. “That cannot be, you’re much too young!” Delia was, in fact, related to me. She was my father’s first cousin, and had last seen him as a little boy when she visited America in her youth. She fixed me ham sandwiches and soup, but couldn’t let me stay the night because she was remodeling and the guest bedroom had supplies in it. We discussed many things, from how the contractors in this part of Ireland all know each other and won’t finish another’s job if you fire him for never getting the job done (the remodeling has been going on for months, her contractors working for a day and then not coming back for weeks at a time to work a second day) to how Bush had no reason to invade Iraq. I guess this is a recurring theme out here – and no, I was not the first to bring it up on either occasion. We also talked family, believe it or not.

Turns out the family farm had passed from my great-grandfather to one of his daughters, then to her son, and finally to his nephew who sold it just a few years ago. He kept the house although he sold the land, but the house is under renovation while the nephew is living in California. One family mystery solved.

Ireland: Day 1 – Friday, June 29, 2007

2007-07-02T10:26:00.000-04:00

I traveled from Frankfurt Hahn to Dublin by plane. RyanAir has great prices, but I had to forego sleep for a night since there is no early morning train from Ulm to Frankfurt. I would of course catch a few winks on the bus to Hahn and on the plane. My initial experience was a bit dampened by Bus Eireann, whose website allowed me to buy a ticket for a route that apparently doesn’t exist (from the airport to my destination). I wound up buying a ticket for the 747 Dublin Express city bus from the airport to the bus terminal for 6 euro. At the terminal the bus driver told me he did not issue tickets even though my printed online ticket said to take it directly to the driver. So I was sent to the ticket window. The brightly red-haired and red-freckled agent told me to tell the bus driver to change his route to Dublin Airport so he could print the ticket. I went back to the driver, who informed me that he “did not print tickets when the station is open.” Again sent to the ticket window, I asked the agent to go tell the driver what he had told me. After getting three additional people involved, including radioing people for a Dublin Airport route number, and considering buying another ticket, one of the workers in a bright yellow vest coaxed the bus driver into just letting me go. As the bus door was shutting he was telling me, “You just go on and we’ll get your account all settled for ya now.” I am very happy that someone there had my feelings in mind.

I took several pictures of the beautiful Irish landscape along the route. It was an insanely long route, taking several detours to pick up people in each city and town that we neared. After about four hours I was in Sligo. From the bus station I walked to the Eden Hill hostel along Adelaine, Temple, Mail Coach, and Pearse roads. I passed Market Yard, which I remembered from the Internet as having a bike shop called Flannery’s Bikes, so I stopped in to check it out. Here I saw my first Feeney business: Feeney’s Garden Center. It is next door to Flannery’s. I inquired as to the price of a bike rental, and was told they didn’t have any bikes in right now, but if I came back the next day he could see about getting me a mountain bike from somewhere else for 50 euro/week. Since this was the same price as the bike rental at Eden Hill, I decided to just go ahead and get the one from Eden Hill. I also unexpectedly passed the tourist center, which contained the Sligo County Genealogy and Heritage Center, so I took a note of their opening hours.

I found out that there is no early bus line from Sligo to Dublin so I decided I would have to forego sleep once again and take the last bus from Sligo the night before my plane back to Germany. Thus it was 90 euro to stay six nights at Eden Hill. I spent the late afternoon biking around Sligo, even all the way up to IT Sligo just so I knew where it was. I returned by foot in the evening since the bike did not have a headlamp and apparently you need one by law here. I had hoped to find people my age partying it up somewhere, but I found none. A few went to the Cinemas but the rest seemed to just be heading home. I could find only people older than I filling the bars that dotted the streets with names like “Connolly’s” and “O’Conner’s.”

Call to Join the Kentucky Youth Advisory Council for the USPSA

2007-06-17T17:31:00.000-04:00

Attention all college and high school students interested in grassroots campaigning and public service:

My name is Sean Feeney and I'm the Kentucky State Representative for the National Youth Advisory Council of the United States Public Service Academy (USPSA). Each state is creating their own local advisory councils to coordinate campaigning inside of their state, and it's time for Kentucky to create one!

As a member of the Kentucky Youth Advisory Council you will help get the word out about the Academy to your friends and colleagues and help arrange meetings with influential people in your area! You'll circulate the petition and blog about all things USPSA.

For more information please visit the USPSA website at www.uspublicserviceacademy.org.

If you are interested in joining, please contact me by commenting on this or sending me a message.

If you are from another state and would like to help in your own state, you can also contact me and I'll arrange that for you!

The U.S. Public Service Academy is an exciting effort that is capturing the imagination of young people all across the country. You can become an important part of our movement by joining your state’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC). As part of the YAC, you will help us build the Academy in three important ways:

1) Youth mobilization
We need to spread the word about the Academy to young people everywhere – in schools, churches, synagogues, malls, FaceBook, MySpace, . . . The best way to get young people involved is to have another young person tell them about what we are doing. YAC members will help us get more young folks involved in the movement.

2) Political action
Think you are too young to make an impact on politics? Wrong! Young people have already been tremendously helpful in getting a bill to create the Academy in front of Congress. The U.S. Public Service Academy Act (S. 960 in the Senate and H.R. 1671 in the House of Representatives) was introduced in March 2007. Now that the bill has been introduced, we need to convince people in Congress to support it. YAC members can help us organize letter-writing campaigns and call-in days that will encourage representatives and senators to join us.

3) Blueprint feedback
As part of the movement to build the Academy, we are writing a Blueprint that will describe what the school will look like from the ground up. This document will cover admissions, faculty, students, student life, post-graduation placement, and other important topics. YAC members will read through the document to make sure that we don’t screw it up – after all, young people will attend the college, and we want to be sure that our plans make sense to them.

As part of the Kentucky YAC, you will help us change the face of higher education in this country. You will be expected to spend 1-2 hours a week (more if there is a major event coming up) working on the Academy. The hours are flexible, and much of the work can be done online.

"There is too much blood in my alcohol level!"

2007-06-14T13:05:00.001-04:00

"Do you know how much fun it is to pour gasoline on people and set them on fire and watch them run around wildly, setting fifteen other people on fire?" -- Random conversation of the day.

Today was fun. For our field trip we went to Dana (Victor Reinz Plant) for a tour and then the Gold Oschen brewery for a tour followed by a "traditional German meal" in the brewery Canteen. I actually didn't mind the unfiltered - it had less of an aftertaste. We ended the day with a beer BBQ at school.

Up tomorrow is another field trip, this time to Munich for a short walking tour, then some museums, and finally the biergarten with our history prof.

Did I mention our language prof brought beer to class yesterday, and he's bringing us our favorites to drink before/during the final? Hahaha, school is so much better here.