In today’s Dublin Randoms episode, we have the following pictures – Khaleesi on a scooter, selfies with the girls, Michelle hobnobbing, Fitbit nerd stuff, some burgers, a scooter pack, and a number of shots around the office at work.
Fun with Kids
Khaleesi has been practicing her scooter riding with the goal of being able to ride to Dunnes with Mila, Maddex and I. We all walked to Dunes one Sunday after work and Khaleesi rode her scooter alongside us. She made it all the way down and most of the way back before she finally admitted her leg was getting tired. Love the concentration in the first picture with her tongue out focusing on riding. Then the smile in the next shot. You can tell she is pleased with her progress having a great time.
Taking some selfies with the girls waiting for school to release Maddex to us.
Hobnobbing Around the Town
Michelle likes to say “hobnobbing around” referring to going out and about exploring. The kids and I found a biscuit called a hobnob and we had to buy them for Michelle to try
Nerding out with Fitbit Numbers
I’ve been annoyed for a while now that Michelle and I will go out for a walk and she’ll get 23,000 steps and I will only register 14,000 on Fitbit. While we were in London we did some experimenting. We swapped trackers, I moved trackers to my other wrist, we swapped stroller pushing duty, and I put my tracker in my pocket vs. wearing it on my wrist. Turns out my apple watch and my Fitbit are less the accurate registering steps when I’m pushing a stroller. When the steps count, because I’m competing with someone on Fitbit, my fitbit now goes in my pocket while pushing the stroller – readings are much more accurate / numbers are bigger now.
Below is the difference in steps between wrist and pocket walking the kids to school pushing a stroller
Maddex Scooter Tuesdays
On Tuesdays, I scooter into work on my scooter and carry Maddex’s scooter on my back. Maddex used to use the smaller folding scooter the fits in a backpack. He’s outgrown that scooter and we picked him out the white version of mine. We tried a skateboard backpack to carry it but that was not going to happen. I’ve been hauling his scooter in my 5.11 rush 72
Birthday Party cooking
The kids were invited to a birthday party on Saturday. They had a bounce house, trampoline, and a small pool. It was nice sunny day but there was plenty of shade in the backyard. No clue if the kids were wet from sweat or jumping the pool, or from kids getting in the pool and going it the bounce castle – either way they went home tired and wet. Being the American at the party I took over the grill and cooked the meat
Around the Office
There are some odd hallway sections at work made up of ~1.5″ thick sheets of wood with black laminate on them positioned vertically spaced out with large openings in the middle to make a hallway. Some of the floors have seating areas in the hallways around the wood, others have office space. A few floors have a padded hole through the wood panels the kids like to jump through.
Pork chops are a bit different here I guess. They are called Bacon chops and brined to taste more like bacon. One of the breakfast specials this month was a Bacon Chop with Poached egg on top covered in hollandaise sauce. I might have tried it for breakfast and I might have liked it.
Walking around the building having a one on one meeting with the boss’s boss’s boss, looking for the rock room the other day, we found a Lego wall. 12-year-old Kev screamed with glee inside ” LOOK LEGOS ON THE WALL!! MUST PLAY WITH THEM. Old Kev had closer look at the Lego wall to check it out and he noticed the bricks are not real Legos. “EWW” Old kev was a bit sad inside. – Even if they are not real legos the wall is like totally gnarly radical.
Someone on the fourth floor puts their head against the wall, and raises their left hand and places it on the wall while they pee. This same person appears to have a preference for the second urinal from the right as you are facing the four urinals. You can see whats going on based on the oil marks on the laminate in the below image. Checking back over the course of a few weeks you can see the oil is cleaned and comes right back in the same pattern.
The building is laid out to avoid symmetry and direct paths between things. The designer wanted to help people avoid going on autopilot as they navigate the building over time. The below image is taken from the front catwalk, looking towards the third-floor coffee stand. Normally the coffee stand has a queue of people 10 deep all day long. We might need another coffee stand in the building.
