The Monday brief: Ireland edition

December 8, 2008 · 26 comments

The Monday Brief

Highlight of the week: As the title implies, I’m taking a vacation to Ireland! My friend Kelly and I are flying out of Chicago on December 31, celebrating New Years over the Atlantic, landing in Dublin on the 1st, and then spending the next week traveling around southern Ireland. Naturally, I am SUPER excited about it. I’ve always had a fascination with Ireland and it’s been at the top of my “must see” list since I can remember. And now it’s reality (we leave in 22 days, but who’s counting?). Right know I’m trying to connect with any Irish bloggers, and/or Twitterers, and/or Christians… if you know any, please leave a comment or e-mail me. Also, please comment or contact me if you’ve been there and know of places that we absolutely can’t miss.

Book(s) I’m reading: Once we had the flights booked, I ordered three books: Rick Steve’s Ireland 2009 travel guide, In Search of Ancient Ireland: The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English, and St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography by Phillip Freeman, my college Greek professor. I’m about 50 pages into In Search of Ancient Ireland, and hope to have that book and St. Patrick of Ireland read in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully reading them will make the trip both more interesting and more educational.

Music I’m digging: At the suggestion of Scott Lenger, I downloaded The Start of It EP by Meese (link opens in iTunes) and it’s fantastic. If you like The Fray, you’ll like Meese. The fact that the EP only has 4 songs just makes me want whatever they put out next even more. I also downloaded Mermaids by Slow Runner. I heard the song “Make You Love Me” a while back, and have wanted to download Mermaids since… I finally got around to it. Everyone who reads this blog should emulate Scott and suggest good music to me. Kthx.

Something(s) that blew my mind: Today I installed the Pano app (link opens in iTunes) on my iPhone, which, as the website says, “lets you take beautiful, seamless panoramic photos straight from your phone, no other software necessary.” It is sweet. On my first try, I took a sweet panoramic picture at Qdoba. I’ll definitely be using Pano in Ireland.

Ministry update: We’re busy preparing for a bunch of things: a Service of Remembrance on Thursday (for anybody who has lost loved ones), the Eikon Christmas Party, a spontaneous Parent’s Night Out on the 19th (it wasn’t on the calendar until last week), and Christmas Eve. Lots on my plate before Christmas! Oh, and here’s the promo video I mentioned last week:

Seminary/ordination update: I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with my Senior Pastor about the best way to move forward. Stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath).

Looking forward to: I would say Ireland, but that’s not coming up this week, so I’ll say I’m looking forward to ringing a bell for the Salvation Army this coming Saturday night. I just hope it isn’t freezing.

That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

Tagged as: iphone, ireland, ireland09, kelly thorsen, meese, monday-brief, pano, qdoba, slow runner, st. patrick, Travel, twitter

  • http://www.comingtolife.blogspot.com MIke Stavlund

    Hey, Jake, I know that there are like a bazillion memoirs about Irish/Americans, but I can personally attest to the quality of Thomas Lynch's 'We Irish and Americans' (everything else he writes is pretty awesome, too).

    Have a great trip!

  • http://adammclane.com adam mclane

    Just fair warning. Where you are going is the Republic of Ireland. Having been there a few times, terms can be important! You can say you're in the Republic, you can say you're in Ireland… but I wouldn't call it southern. One Island called Ireland, two nations. Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland. OK lecture over.

    Now for this part… I AM SO JEALOUS! Kristen and I went to Northern Ireland for our 10th anniversary trip and had an amazing time. We loved the people, the food, the sites, the pubs, everything about it!

    Most of my Irish friends live in the Belfast area, doesn't sound like you're headed here. But I'd invite you to look up Jon Covell. He's an American doing youth ministry in the Dublin area. http://www.gemyouth.org/whoweare.htm#

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    Thanks for the suggestion, Mike! What other kinds of things does Lynch write?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    These are good things to know, Adam. I am going to the *Republic* of Ireland (I DO know that the Republic uses Euros and Northern Ireland used British Pounds…).

    Thanks for the suggestion of Jon Covell… I'll look him up.

  • rachel

    ireland! awesome – i'm jealous… i have a friend from there – i can check in with him to see him and his english wife about what are the must-sees in their opinion… do you know about gareth higgins? his blog is: http://www.godisnotelsewhere.blogspot.com/

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    Thanks, Rachel. Let me know what they say! And yeah I know about Gareth… thanks!

  • http://www.comingtolife.blogspot.com Mike Stavlund

    Jake, Lynch is a poet and funeral director living in Michigan. He writes really beautiful and poignant and hopeful essays on life and death, and his book "The Undertaking" is right at the top of my list.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    Awesome. I'll have to check this guy out for sure.

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  • shawn

    So I’m totally jealous you’re going to Ireland! Try and see if you can catch a real “football” game! I remember how you came home with a Greek jersey!

    On a side note, I loved the Jim Carrey story. I think you should put up a link for the enneagram personality test. I had to know what I was when I read yours, so I took it and found out I’m a nine. Think that’s accurate?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    I'm not sure how much soccer is played in January… but maybe they're nuts and play all the time. I totally forgot about the jersey! (Probably because I porked up and it doesn't fit anymore…)

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/jakebouma Jake Bouma

    Thanks for the suggestions, Keith… and those are some awesome pictures!

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

  • http://line201.com Keith Petersen

    I recommend County Kerry for scenery/sightseeing. It's the most mountainous part of the island (most of Ireland is pretty darn flat). Killarney and the surrounding area is beautiful though the town is a little touristy. The Dingle Peninsula to the northwest of the town is spectacular. It was hard to believe it used to be one of the most impoverished places in Europe. I have some photos from my trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/krp05/sets/810901/

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