Getting a foothold in Dublin

After a five year sabbatical, I'm finally back in Ireland. I got in yesterday and was completely wiped out. I only slept for an hour or two on the plane. So what did I do? I went to UCD to check in to my room. I think I arrived around 9am. It might have been earlier, since my flight got in early and that was at 7:35am. Naturally, check-in wasn't until 3pm. So I dropped off some of my stuff at reception and figured I'd go get my readers tickets from the three major archives I'd be using in Dublin.

First I went to the National Library. It's a really nice building, right next to Leinster house on Kildare Street. So I went there and poked around a bit. I found out that if I want to look at the manuscripts collection I'd need a passport photo because they make a real-deal badge for you. I had kicked around looking at some of their manuscripts, but honestly, I hadn't hoped to find much there. I might still go back and do so, but we'll see what I have time to do. I'm more interested in their newspaper collection anyway.

Next, I went to the Dublin City Library and Archives; probably a 5-10 minute walk from the National Library. The folks there were very friendly and I talked at length with one of their archivists, Andrew O'Brien, who is interested in the First World War in Ireland. He gave me some good ideas for places to look. I also saw they had access to a number of Irish newspapers online, which is very helpful, especially for the larger-run, national papers.

So after spending sometime at the city library, I went off to find the National Archive. Street signs in Ireland are few and far between, and many streets change names in the course of a block or two. Needless to say I probably didn't take the most direct route to the National Archives. I got my readers ticket there and looked through some of their finding aids briefly, but I was really too tired to do any real work. I figured I'd leave it for another day.

Then I set off to find my way back to UCD. I wandered through one of the trendier parts of town and found a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. This was probably about 2pm local time and I hadn't eaten since breakfast on the plan. I scarfed some fish and chips and then went to find a bus to take me back to UCD. The problem with streets signs reared it's ugly head again. This, however, was exacerbated by the lack of route maps for the buses. Everything in Ireland seems to be intuitive and if you're not familiar with the system it takes a bit of trying, luck, and common sense to get it down. Since I wasn't sure what route the bus took to UCD I set off to find out. Needless to say, I walked most of the way to UCD before finding a bus. The college is about 2.5miles south of the city. By the time I found a bus (or did the bus find me?) and got back to the reception it was past three and acceptable to check-in. After unpacking a bit, and trying to get the internet to work, which was a trying ordeal (iChat and Mail still don't work, neither will Skype - this is some kind of hackneyed network here) and fruitless at the time, I went out to get a bite to eat. This was probably around 5:15pm. So I go to what is apparently the closest bar for a pint and some food. It's not the best place, but it's the best place around. I go there, and order a Smithwickes, and drain a glass for the World Champion Detroit Red Wings. The bartender informs me that food isn't served until 6pm. Poop and pee. Since it was a bit past 5:30 at that point I decided to wait it out. I got another pint and some food before going back to UCD (the exchange rate is killing me here - almost $7US for a pint!). I mill around for a bit before falling asleep. I get up, shower, and fall right back asleep.

This morning, I got up and the clock said 7:35am, or thereabouts. In fact, the time was 10:30ish and I had intended to wake up at 8:30 to be back to the Dublin City Archive by 10. I have no idea how a clock can loose 3 hours over night. Perhaps it was jet-lagged too? I got to the archive about 11:15am and spent the day going through the online newspapers. When I went to plug in the power adapter (not the converter, mind you, just the adapter) I was greeted with a pop and a green spark. Now aside from the fact that green is my favorite color, nothing good came of the spark. The adapter has a fuse, which clearly had blown, and was rendered useless. Hooray for me. So I spent the next 6 hours traversing Irish periodicals of yore. At closing time I inquired about a hardware store to get a new fuse, and there happened to be one just down the street. At the hardware store, the guy told me he didn't have any, but informed me of a place up in Parnell Square that could help me out. Having a vague recollection of where Parnell Square was, I set out to find the store. Once I got to O'Connell Street I couldn't find the store I was told to use as a landmark (Penney's) until I had already given up and gotten on a no. 10 bus back home. Naturally, I had gone much further than I needed to go to find the store. Upon my return to UCD, I deemed it necessary to procure some groceries because based on the accounting of the previous days two meals, I couldn't even afford those. I inquired about a real grocery store, since they always referred me to the little stop-and-shop here on campus. I told them I wanted a big grocery store, one that their parents would go to. They kindly gave me directions to Tescos where I was able to procure milk, cereal, PB&J fixin's, cutlery, plates, a bowl, and some decent TP. About $35 worth of food should be enough to feed me for a 3-5 days at least. Victory for me. I might head back there Saturday or Sunday to procure some beer and quesadilla fixin's. Now that's diverse cuisine! After meeting one of my suitemates, who was kind enough to help me get my internet configured - nice folks the Austrians, I spent the rest of the evening in my room going through the Irish Times' website, which helped ease the defeat felt this morning because of the alarm issues.

Salary for Mom

An interesting article on CNN about the would-be salary of stay-at-home mom's was very interesting. The concept behind the article and the study it's based on, monetizing and placing value on the work women do in their own homes, is not foreign to me. In courses that focus on women and gender (one of my advisers specializes in this area) the meaning and impact of moving women from the workplace is not uncommon. Joanna Bourke's Husbandry to Housewifery: Women, Economic Change, and Housework in Ireland, 1890-1914 directly focuses on this topic in an Irish context, yet Bourke's findings can be applied to other places as well. All of this begs the question of what do we make of these findings? If you ask the average parent, it's unlikely they would be surprised by the study. But what, if any thing, can be done to actually compensate parents for their time spent tending to their families? At the crux of my thinking about this issue is class. Bourke's work looks at what would be best classified as middle class (which for 19th Century Irish society was much different from what we think of as middle class today). I can't help but think that if there were some sort of renumeration for stay-at-home parents that as a society, we would see an improvement in America. I recently watched the Michael Moore film, "Sicko" and while I am by no means a supporter of Mr. Moore and the way he presents his views, some of the facts he presents are indisputable. While presenting information about France's health care system, Moore reveals that the government pays individuals to help out mothers with infants at home. It seems to me, perhaps indirectly, that the French government emphasizes the value of parenting. By having individuals help new mothers, the new mothers are able to be even more productive, and the domestic service industry, under the control of the government becomes more standardized and regulated. Of course, these are ideals, but still interesting concepts to think about. Nothing like this would ever fly in America because of our vast fear of "socialism," but it certainly seems like a step in the right direction to me in acknowledging the importance and value of stay-at-home parents.

Updates...

Memorial Day weekend was a good one. Syracuse men's lacrosse won their 10th national championship and the Detroit Red Wings went up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals complete with 2 shut out from Chris Osgood. From a sports point of view, it was a weekend for the history books.

In other news, I've got about a week until I depart for Ireland. I've got a ton of work to do while I'm there and I'm a little bit intimidated about the entire endeavor. It's safe to say that with all the preparation graduate school provides, it's difficult for an American university to prepare their students for European research (at least at my school that's the case). With the Euro and the Pound Sterling killing my savings account and little to no funding from other sources, it's fair to say I'm nervous. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some good pictures in my moments of free time over there and post them here.

Bring on Lord Stanley!

The Wings are back in the Stanley Cup finals! As one of about 10,384 who actually cares about the sport of hockey, I am pumped. The entire playoffs have been awesome this year and a Wings/Pens final should be a real show stopper. I think it's safe to say that Chris Osgood has solidified himself as a clutch goaltender and has proved he's a no. 1 guy in Detroit. Good man, Ozzie! Here's to another Stanley Cup in the Motor City!

Also, Syracuse men's lacrosse is back in the Final Four this upcoming weekend. They face Virginia in the semifinals - a team they lost to by one goal in overtime earlier this year. Hopefully the Orange can avenge their loss earlier in the season.

Officially ABD

Today I finally got an opportunity to defend my dissertation proposal. Unsurprisingly, I got a lot of good feedback from my advisers, and I have a better idea of how to structure my research and dissertation. The most pertinent suggestion was to limit the number of areas in my analysis. I had planned to hit as many cities in Ireland as possible to get a broad spectrum of evidence. My committee suggested choosing two or three cities in addition to Belfast and Dublin to conduct research. The most logical choices seem to be Cork and Derry based on a number of factors - presence of a local press and archives, recruitment levels during the First World War, and ease of access. Cork itself is interesting, especially in the late 10s and early 20s because it was a hotbed of Republican activity - a fact that may yield some interesting research findings. Now I've got three weeks to figure out my research agenda for my 9 weeks overseas. It is abundantly clear to me at this point, that this trip will be the first of several to Ireland. Although I can't afford to stay abroad for a long period of time, this trip will at least get me familiar with the archives and sources and help me to better plan future research in a more efficient manner.

Techno-aggravation

Last Friday my laptop died. Apparently the logic board on my iBook G4 went kaput. I took my machine into the Apple Store on Michigan Ave. The tech diagnosed the demise of the logic board and sent off the machine to get repaired. I tried to back-up some of my files before he took the machine, but I was having trouble with my external hard drive and the transfer would take too long, according to the tech, and I couldn't sit there all day. He assured me that the hard drive wouldn't be replaced so I relented. BIG MISTAKE. I got my iBook back today and they replaced the hard drive. Not only did they replace it, they failed to archive my old drive or provide me with the actual drive they swapped out (one would think that would be normal, like the auto industry. What are they going to do with my old hard drive?). The long short of it is that I lost four years worth of archived emails. Most pertinent, were items pertaining to my upcoming European research venture. I went up to campus today and talked to someone in IT. They said they'd try to recover some of my emails. I'm hopeful, but prepared for the worst. The moral of the story: make sure you back up. Ok, I already knew that. But if you find yourself in a similar situation, DO NOT let some tech pressure you into hurrying with your files. Take every precaution, examine the paperwork carefully, and make sure the repair people will archive your files if you cannot. I'm really angry at the folks at the Apple Store (although I retain my love for Apple in general), but I'm angry at myself for letting them pressure me into doing something that I didn't feel right about from the get go.