I rode my bicycle to and from the Rosedale park-and-ride (about three miles each way) both Monday and Tuesday. From there I took an express bus to work in downtown Minneapolis as I usually do. I gave my knees a break yesterday and drove to Rosedale, but I was back on the bike this morning. I hope to manage 3-4 carless commutes each week through the summer and early fall.

Long ago I read an article arguing that per passenger mile the bicycle was the most energy-efficient form of transportation known, not only to homo sapiens, but throughout the animal kingdom. It was in a reputable scientific publication, Physics Today IIRC, with plenty of numbers, equations, and graphs. I wonder if I could track down a copy of it.

Irish class, May 5, 2008

First exercise. Two lists of foods, in Irish and in English, but not in the same order. We had to match them up, doing as much as possible without the dictionary.

( The list )

I was able to get about half of them before opening up Foclóir Póca. This was not so much because of my vocabulary as by logic. E.g. I knew gairleog was "garlic", so beacáin ghairleoige had to be "garlic mushrooms. Sailéad torthaí was the only salad, so it had to be "fruit salad", which gave me torthaí, "fruit", etc.

Also, just by pronouncing seabhdar and sinséar I instantly recognized them. They are the same words as in English, just spelled according to Irish rules.

( More vocabulary )

---

There followed one of our inverted games of 20 questions. We each had a name tag stuck on our back where we could not see it but everybody else could. The name was of some famous person. We had to ask questions as Gaeilge to figure out who we were. This accounts for the odd questions below.

( Read more... )

I was tagged as Eliot Spitzer. It took me a while, and quite a few hints, to figure that out. We did not go over the Irish vocabulary to describe his downfall.

Accents matter in Irish. Today's example: post "job" (noun), pósta "married" (adj).

( Administrivia )

The rest of class was about reading and translating the first few paragraphs of the newspaper article "Pictiúrlann i nGaoth Dobhair?"

( Vocabulary and grammar notes )

I rode my bicycle to the Rosedale park-and-ride this morning, instead of driving there.

The standard belt clip on a Blackberry is not suitable for cycling. The upward hip motion while pedalling tends to dislodge it.

Fortunately, I discovered this before the thing fell on the pavement. From now on I will keep it in my briefcase or a bag while riding.

From our Building Operations Manager:

Property Services is in the process of investigating a water leak in the A-Tower. In order to investigate this further, all water in A-Tower has been shut off, which includes the restrooms. We apologize for the incontinence, please use the restrooms in C-Tower until further notice.

As mia_mcdavid wrote last night, she is home sick today. I got up this morning to find a note from our son J in the kitchen table. He is also unwell, and is staying home today. People I know from work, church, and colgaffneyis are also under the weather.

However, I am feeling OK, if a bit tired (perhaps more on that later), and am on my way to the office.

(Bealtaine/May blessings to you!)

Irish Class, April 28, 2008

( Read more... )

The last part of the class was for interviewing each other as Gaeilge. There were three questions, one being "What is you favorite Irish word?" After a moment's thought I settled on beoir ("beer"). Of course, someone in the class answered that question with póg mo thóin.

"As the Ghost of a Person dead these 250 Years and more, who had seen enough of Bedlam..."

And his next comment:

I should forbear to remark on any Physick of my Day to restore the Balance of Humours, except to note this Image of Mrs. Moore, the Actress much taken with Bleeding by Leeches as a Means of Cleansing the Blood, &c.

"Tis to be hoped that Sen. Obama does not need to make similar Resort to these Creatures to keep his Humours in Repair.

Irish village gets its 'harlot' back.

Via Agus Araile.

...For colgaffneyis first camping event of the season. mia_mcdavid is hauling the trailer of our corporate gear behind a borrowed van (Thank you, LS!). She called a few minutes ago as they passed Owatonna.

I am going home now. I will pick up a few things that were left behind, put them in our car (packed last night) and then be on my way as well.

Irish class, April 21, 2008

Bígi reidh le caint ar rud suimiúil atá ar siúl.
Be prepared to talk about something interesting that is happening.

I thought about saying something about the weekend's activities with colgaffneyis, but quickly rejected that--it is hard enough to explain as Bearla (in English). Instead:

Tá orm strus mór ag obair. Tá agam bainisteoir olc. Is tíoránach suarach é. Is fuath le na hoibrithe é. Beidh agam bainisteoir nua go luath b'fhéidir.

Misc. Vocabulary

Tá a fhios agam go ____	I know that _____
beidh tú i d'aonar	you will be alone (lit. "in your oneness")
pléigh	discuss
de ghnáth	usually
ullmhaigh	prepare

Indirect Speech

( Brother, can you paradigm? )

The last part of the class was about writing answers to some questions about food, from page 3 of “Liam agus Bairbre” 1

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton join John McCain in pandering to antivaccinationists

Clinton and Obama parrot the "vaccine and autism connection inconclusive" line

Via Bad Astronomy

Again following-up on last night's post from mia_mcdavid, yesterday we loaded colgaffneyis trailer for our first camping show of the season, in Charles City, Iowa. Setup is Thursday evening, down there. I am busy Monday (Irish Class), Tuesday (colgaffneyis dance), and Wednesday (Church choir), so I got my traveling woodworking kit together (I hope) this afternoon, and did most of my other packing this evening.

....in cyberspace.

Via Slashdot