Category: Co. Galway
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Switch and save Mobile phone provider – and money left to donate to #Bumbleance or #MND
Hi all,
Today is the 1st of September , and my kids have gone back to school! Don’t they just look adorable!
We had a great time during the summer holidays, we even managed to go camping on InishBofin, it’s becoming a bit of a yearly tradition and would highly recommend it.. here is link to a previous post about InishBofin..So I finally came out of my phone contract halfway July, and didn’t waste much time to switch to another company. I was with 3 and was paying a basic monthly charge of 55 Euros. The contract started about a year and a half ago, and gave me unlimited calls, texts and Data AND an I-Phone. At the time it was a pretty good offer, as other providers were charging 99 Euros, so I was getting a good deal..Fast forward one and a half years, and the mobile phone scene has changed a lot:)Now that I am no longer locked into my contract( and my phone is still working!) I checked out the options.I did talk about this before, check out this post.
I saw this offer from Tescomobile Sim Only , top up for 15 Euros every month, and get unlimited calls.
Top Up and we’ll give you €5 FREE Tesco Mobile to Tesco Mobile texts. €10 FREE Tesco Mobile to Tesco Mobile calls & text. 250 FREE webtexts €15
or more
in one goUNLIMITED Calls to All Mobiles & Landlines
FREE Tesco Mobile to Tesco Mobile calls & texts, 250 Free webtexts
Keep your €15 credit – Spend on added value add ons.How to Top UpOk, I’d like that!
The switch over was fairly easy, had to get my phone unlocked, which took about 48 hours, and then I needed to get a Tesco Sim Card. They are free, and you can order them here.With the 15 Euros I have topped up, I can then buy add-ons buy 1 GB of Data for 5 Euros, 5 GB of data for 5 Euros, and /or unlimited texts for 10 Euros.The first month I bought 5 GB of data, as wasn’t sure how much I really needed, and used the 5 remaining Euros for text. Turns out I use just about 1 GB, so the next month I bought 1 GB and have 10 Euros left for texts.They have an app which you can download, and if you are connected to WIFI, you get 200 free national texts, and 50 free international texts. I thought that was really neat, as usually those free texts are only accessible if you log onto their website.. it’s great that you can now text from the app, essentially for free!Net result? My phone bill has gone down from 55 Euros to 15 Euros AND I still have credit.
So I texted Buzz to 50300 and donated 2 Euros to #Bumbleance . You’l see I also donated to the #MND
What a great start to my monday!
Katleen
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Where to find accommodation in the West of Ireland, auctioneering sites,newspapers
Hi all,
I am enclosing a list of auctioneers( Real Estate Agents)(primarily) in the West of Ireland.There is one particular site which is not on the below list, which is called DAFT , which stands for Dublin Accommodation Finder Terminal – it used to be solely restricted to Dublin properties, but has long since been rolled out nationally and is a great place to get an idea on pricing and availability.Many of the below agents will push their properties to rent(let) or buy to Daft as well.If it’s West you are thinking of heading, I’d recommend you check a local free paper that comes out every Thursday which is called the Advertiser.To get more info on moving to the West of Ireland, please check out this websiteThe main paper is the Galway Advertiser classified property section, but there is also an Advertiser inI remember when we moved from Dublin to Galway, we found our house via the Advertiser:)Happy Househunting!
Katleen -
Galway Science and Technology Fair 2013 & the Bodkin Roundabout
Hello Readers,So this year we headed to the Galway Science fair again, and the kids loved it.
I wrote an article about it last year too and by and large, the main hall had the same familiar companies that were exhibiting the latest in science and technology. We entered our names in a few of the competitions, and got lucky, as Alex won a speaking microscope (thanks to Medtronic )There was a new hospital ward section which showed the basics of CPR, bloodpressure. It was good to see that this was added as it brings it all much closer to real life. The kids enjoyed doing CPR to a dummy!(see picture)As we arrived early this year( just past 10 o’clock) it wasn’t that busy yet, we spent some time looking at various projects of participating schools, which was great. There were lot’s of schools who were displaying their projects, so I’ll just cover a few that I that got talking to( or the ones I found interesting!!)Scoilroisdominicanns – Dominican School showed me their projects, one of them measuring water quality/polution by measuring the heartbeart of mussels ( see picture). A device was strapped to mussel that measured the heartbeat of the mussel and the opening of closing of its shell.They had another project where instructions were written down to draw a squirrel versus watching a video on how to draw a squirrel. They then showed the results of the pupils that drew a squirrel based on written instructions versus those that watched the video tutorial, and it was clear that those who watched the video tutorial produced a better looking squirrel than those that drew it based on written instructions.Safreeze: Helping consumers identify whether their frozen food is safe to consume or not. Safreeze is a dual-coloured ice cube that will form a single colour if frozen food is defrosted and refrozen. Therefore it will be clear to the consumer that the food is unsafe to consume.The last school – Milltown National School – showed me their Digital Heritage Archive Project of Milltown. The pupils got together with the community to document historic pictures and objects, and uploaded them onto Flickr. They won first prize in the Digital project last year.
You can see the results of their project on Flickr.Another interesting stand was the 091labs.com – 091 Labs is a collaborative community space based in Galway City,
Ireland. It is a shared physical space for any and all creative
projects: art, woodwork, software, photography and electronics and
related activities.
There was also Ignite: which is a global
lightning presentation format where speakers have five minutes and
twenty timed slides to enlighten and inspire the audience about their
chosen topic. Entry is €5 and the enlightenment is free!We left around 2 o’clock when there was a sea of people, and decided to go for some food at the Bodkin Roundabout at the Tesco shopping centre.
For those who haven’t been to Galway City in a while, be aware!! There has been a major transformation of the once “magic”roundabout. Galway has lot’s of roundabouts, and this one was particularly difficult to navigate.
The new roundabout has lights, a lot more lanes, so if you are not sure what lane to choose, check out this image.I hope that next year we’ll remember to book our tickets via Eventbrite, there are a variety of sessions that are very popular and book out very fast! Follow the Galway Science Facebook page to keep up with developments!
Have a nice remainder of the weekend!
Katleen
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A Fortnight Plus Half – An Ireland Adventure. (irelandtrip.ca)
Hi all,
I came across this collection of videos a while back, but never posted the link
on my blog.
It’s called : A Fortnight Plus Half – An Ireland Adventure. (irelandtrip.ca)
It’s recorded by a Canadian couple who were on on their honeymoon in Ireland!
It features footage of architecture, coastline, waterfalls, mountains and traditional music sessions.It also incorporates footage of the food they ate and features the challenges of navigating in a foreign country and driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.
All together, you are looking at 16 hours of footage, so if you are thinking of visiting Ireland, check this out, it will give you a good idea what’s where, so you can start planning your trip!A Fortnight Plus Half – An Ireland Adventure. (irelandtrip.ca) from Stephen Parker on Vimeo.Shannon + Stephen Parker trek across the Atlantic for some Irish adventures.
3 weeks in Ireland distilled into a highlight reel for your enjoyment.Shot with a GH3, 2 GoPros and (when necessary) an iPhone.
Track listing:
1) Young Galaxy – We Have Everything ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgWyQ0Xwd4 )2) Chvrches – Recover ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyqemIbjcfg )
3) Goldroom – Fifteen ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFtpvdTUWYc )
4) Young Galaxy – Pretty Boy ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSpM9zDPwj4 )
5) Valentina – Ladders ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uljOzH5J0eM )
6) Young Galaxy – New Summer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7cCB7v5W4 )
Enjoy!
Katleen -
Swim , step , Swim,Step Galway Science & Technology Festival Exhibition
Dear Readers,
We visited the Galway Science and Engineering Science & Technology Festival ExhibitionIt was very well organized and a lot more manageable than two years,when it was nearly impossibly to navigate the main hall, due to crowds!There was a great mix of stands, university departments showing off their departments with scientific experiments, all the main Galway multinationals ( Cisco, Avaya, SAP, Medtronic, Boston Scientific) anda variety of schools , displaying their scientific experiments.Aside from the stands, there were a variety of free activities you could partake in, however those required prebooking via Eventbrite ( they also have a handy app for your phone) and unless you booked the events ahead, there were long queues, and you were unlikely to get in , unless you had a ticket:)The kids loved it, particularly the stand of the engineering stand , where they could play with …. Lego!Below you see a picture of the boys and another boy at the Engineering stand.
Alex, Two other boys, and RuebenHaving walked around the various stands of university departments, multinationals and local schools, I came to realize that there are a number of projects between a few of the multinationals and the local primary/secondary schools, but those projects are very much concentrated to schools where parents that work in the multinationals are working, so the further away the schools are from the city, the more likely the school would not be aware of the opportunities to expose primary school children to the world of science and engineering. ( I am a bit biased as my kids are in primary)Below are just a few of the projects I observed:
The Lego League
Organized by Robotics Ireland, and is for 3 age groups:
Junior First Lego League : 6 to 9 year olds
First Lego League : 9-16 year olds
Robotics Ireland Intervarsity Challenge (currently third level students)I had never really heard about this , but I think it’s a great initiative and if your kids/schools are interested in taking part in this challenge, you can contact them via this email Once an adult or teacher can get 6-12 interested children together, a team can be made.They are no longer taking applications for 2012, but maybe it’s something you can get involved with in 2013. As someone said to me yesterday if your child at a young age likes playing with Lego, fast forward 20 years, they might become an engineer.I am enclosing a small clip of a moving robot/spacerobot that the pupils programmed to make those moves.Another really exciting initiative is Scratch, which was showcased by Avaya.It’s an interactive software programme aimed at primary and post primary pupils which will allow students to create interactive stories, animations,games, music and art and share their creations on the web.It’s not restricted to schools, as the software can be downloaded free of charge here and the following link contains Scratch resources/lessonplansThe inititiave is very closely linked to Coderdojo, which I covered in another blogpost a while ago.The Steps website offers free visits of an engineer to primary and post primary schools and more info how schools can get involved in engineering, during Engineering week next year (25th of February till 3rd of March) for Schools to get involved in Engineering week 2013Rueben was quite intrigued by putting a stent into a display of a heart at the Boston Scientific stand, loved watching through a miscroscope at the content of a teabag( I can see rocks he said) and controlling a submerged robot at the Marine research stand, was the icing on the cake!We managed to get into the Blackrock Castle Observatory’s StarDome activity, which was a dome which looked a bit like a bouncy castle, as it was walls were filled with air, with a very narrow entrance, and required a swimming motion to open the doors then step into the middle and another swimming motion to get in the dome(hence the title of this blog article). Once we sat down on the floor, a very interesting display of the various star formations at night was shown, planets and their history, and a futuristic glimpse into 2075, where a grandad ( who origanlly came from earth) lives with his grandchildren on the moon.Anything is possible:) who knows!A thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all, and we are already looking forward to next years Galway Science & Technology Festival Exhibition! And hey, I even caught a fish!
Katleen
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The West is Alive! Check out all Job announcements!
Hi all,
There is this expression, Feast or famine, meaning things are really good, or things are really bad..
This post is about the Feast part of the expression, as I can hardly keep up with all the job announcements in the last two weeks!
Below is just a overview of each announcement at Cisco, SAP, Merit Medical and HP!
*Oranmore-based technology company Cisco Systems announced
115 new jobs
Check out the Cisco System Galway current vacancies here*100 jobs were announced at software giant SAP in
Ballybrit
Check out the opportunities at SAP Galway here*Merit Medical in Parkmore will be
creating up to 300 new jobs at its new Merit Vision facility here as
part of a €20m investment. I found this page where you can see all their vacancies worldwide*Hewlett Packard (HP)
will be building a new 90,000 square foot premises in Oranmore, which
will cater for at least 200 extra staff, while around 100 jobs will be
created in the construction phase.
Check out their current vacancies here and select location Ireland, GalwaySo if you are thinking to make your big move to Galway and looking for accommodation, I’d recommend you check out Daft . There is also a free local newspaper called The Galway Advertiser, which comes out on a Thurday . You can view their online classifieds here.
Please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions you may have about living in Galway!
My email : katleenworkinginireland@gmail.comUp Galway!
Katleen -
Easter Egg Hunt at Kylemore Abbey and Dublin
Dear Readers,Unfortunately the sunny weather left us just before the kids went onto their Easter Break ( 2 weeks) but this did not stop us going on a few Easter Egg Hunts around the country.I recently became a fully fledged member of “Vlamingen in the Wereld” ( Flemish people around the world) and they organized an egg hunt in Dalkey. Thinking about it, the day of the actual actual Egg hunt turned out a very bright day, and the kids had plenty of fun running outside on the grounds of St Patricks . The eggs were hidden around the grounds, all wrapped in a see through bag.
Once all the eggs were found , they were put into various boxes and then equally distributed between all the kids.I took a picture of all the various Belgian/Irish kids, there was more than I had expected!
Most Belgians live around Dublin, and I was the only one who came from Galway, but I am glad I did, it was a great day! ( I am looking forward to the next activities, a BBQ, a visit to a petfarm etc..)
Our second Egg Hunt was at Kylemore Abbey in Co. Galway. Although we live in Galway, we live in East Galway, so to drive from our house to Kylemore Abbey, takes about 2 hours!The weather was damp, went and windy, but it was absolulely worth the trip!
The gardens are beautiful and I would highly recommend a visit to Kylemore Abbey!
You can book your tickets online too, you’ll save 10% ( money you can spend in the tearooms with yummie cakes lol ).
I’d recommend you read the story of Kylemore Abbey, it’s inspiring:)As it happens we weren’t alone, I overheard people speaking French, German, Italian, and I got talking to a couple with their young kids from New Zealand. To make some small talk, I asked if they enjoyed our “damp” weather, and they said they loved it ! Exactly what they were hoping for. Turns out they live in Sierra Leone, and rain isn’t something they ever see, so you see, it all depends, some tourists really don’t mind our damp weather! After getting completely drenched, we treated ourselves to tea and cakes, and the easter eggs, well, they didn’t stand a chance!
A Happy Easter to all!
Katleen -
NAMA, recession and domestic stabilisation?
Hi all,
I have never really touched on the subject of the Irish Economy, the bailout, the Troika
and the (possible ) reason(s) of our current debt problems.I have no intention to personally give you an answer to all of these questions either :), but there are plenty of people who have very good knowledge of this all, and I’ll share some resources with you where you can read up about it to your heart’s content or watch some videos..
I recently attended a conference in Galway, organized by the EU called
The economic challenges facing Ireland, 24 March 2012 Galway
I heard about this conference via a blog I follow by Krishna De.It’s seldom that the EU ( who have offices in Dublin) come to Galway to hold a conference, as usually these things are held in Dublin, so I was delighted to listen to the various presentations.
The conference was hosted by Margaret E WardThere were presentations by :
- Professor John McHale, Professor and Head of Economics at the National University of Ireland
- Dr Aidan Kane, Lecturer in economics at the National University of Ireland
- Seamus Coffey, Lecturer in economics at the University College Cork
- Ronan Lyons, Independent economist
If you click here, you can listen to them too!
During all these presentations, there were quite a few resources mentioned.
The ones that I wrote down were :
http://www.irisheconomy.ie/ – Commentary and information about the Irish economy
http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/ – all you want to know about NAMAhttp://www.ronanlyons.com/ – Economic Analysis: Stats, Graphs, etc
http://www.charliefell.com/ -Financial market analyses and investment
http://www.bruegel.org/ – Bruegel is a European think tank working in the field of international economics
http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/ – Economist, Broadcaster, Author
And last but not least, check out http://www.boards.ie which has lively debates about any subject!Warm regards from an exceptionally sunny Galway!!!
Katleen
