A New Bike!

We broke down and got a second adult-sized bike today from Belfield Bike Shop (located on the UCD campus!).

We figured that the weather can only get better and you can simply get around more easily with a bike (see earlier post on how both Sheila and I got to hurling and you'll see why I bought another bike).

I think the guys at the shop know me by now and even gave me an extra bike tool set, so it was easy to find a bike. I just went in and said "what's your cheapest, best used bike?" and walked away with one (I didn't recognize the brand or take a picture. That will have to be forthcoming!).

I literally drove it out of the driveway and it started pouring.

I think I've become immune to it though, and really, it was about 50 degrees, so it is just not that bad. Also, it was after class, so I was heading home.

With the wind at my back, I think I was home in ten minutes -- I'd take that over waiting for the bus any day!

So now we're set for transportation!

I met with experimental economist Orla Doyle for lunch. It was great. She's working on a fascinating project on early childhood interventions for low socio-economic families in Ireland. The project involves James Heckman (he's the economist who is all over the place talking about the importance of "soft skills" and how to help disadvantaged kids get them. There was a recent This American Life that interviewed him). This project is not completely, but relatively new to economics in the sense that they are essentially doing a random clinical trial of two interventions to scientifically test if the treatment causes an effect -- if the interventions improve the lives of the kids.

It is definitely a goal of mine to collaborate on a project with one of the researchers while I am here, or at least get a collaboration going.

Sheila had a huge day (and I'm hoping she will chime in on her own about this). She headed out to Dundrom to take a writing class! Really, she just wanted to get out and meet people, and there was a place that offered several classes for adults. This one worked out in terms of timing and availability for her. Honestly, she'll have to tell you her experience, needless to say, I'm jealous. Dundrom sounds interesting but it's difficult to get to even though it is probably only about ten miles away. I'm reading up on a bit of Irish history and the term "Dun" essentially meant outpost, usually the Normans against the Irish tribes. There was a castle built in Dundrom (which was rural and remote at the time) as early as the 13th century. From Wikipedia: "The village clustered around the original Dundrom castle and was considered a rural defensive outpost against assaults and raids from Irish tribes and families such as the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes." It is now home to (and this is according to Sheila) a shopping center that would rival the Mall of America!?!

I'm looking forward to it.

Johnny and Maggie had great days. We are taking Sheila's sister Kathy's advice and inviting a few girls over in a couple of weeks (Maggie has trimester exams next week and then an ENTIRE week off after that) to bake Valentines Day Cookies and watch a movie. We treaded lightly in our encouragement of this, but she seems interested and it sounds like she even mentioned it to a few girls today. What a relief. She seems to be settling in a bit. Reluctantly, perhaps, but settling none-the-less. She is also getting to sleep at a reasonable hour (to her chagrin--her friends at home are just getting home from school when she's turning out the lights) and we are seeing a correlation between increased hours of sleep and decreased doors slammed.

Johnny starts tennis with Oscar on Thursday after school. The courts are right behind our house in the park. He's always wanted to play and is now trying to con me into buying him a racket. How are we going to get all of his new-found sporting paraphernalia home?