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Imagine a factory covering 1km x 1km, a million square meters.  Now open your eyes, and look down the streets within the factory and by the haze that obscures the half kilometer to each side, you know the stretch is impressive.  And that the pollution is bad. Welcome to southern China.

Fortunately, it’s a very nice day. My colleagues at this factory, are as nice as the weather.  And the campus is landscaped with shaded walkways, koi ponds and trees – much more so than other factories. Over the next week, my office will be the conference room, and the tooling shop.   With the economy the way it is, international travel is reserved for high-risk projects with forethought and low-risk projects when they have emergencies.

And to be honest, I enjoy working hard if the cause is worthy. Pulling 16 hours a day for weeks is tough, but when I’m solving a critical “unsolvable” problem, I seem to work best.  And I look forward to the relief on the other side of each design emergency, when I feel good about the work I did and enjoy my comp time.

Problem is, my product is particularly ambitious and has had a string of ‘emergencies’ for various reasons, mostly beyond my control. To be honest, I’m starting to burn out.  But the finish is close and if I do things right on this trip, I’ll have some much needed rest when I get home.

As a bonus, I get to enjoy a weekend in Hong Kong, which I consider to be a nice mini-vacation.  Oh, I still work in my hotel room at night. But I sleep in late and explore the city by day.

Yes, I had been to Dublin before, but it was just for one night. I had brought Moni along on our business trip in 2007 and we wandered just one small, but exciting district of Dublin. This time, I was on my own for the weekend, and after crawling out of bed around lunchtime, I hopped on the DART (train) and headed in to downtown Dublin.

Dublin is an amazing town – I love the architecture and thoughtful design details in everyday objects like lamp posts and door knockers.  Most of the time, I wandered around on foot, just absorbing.  Sure enough, I eventually stumbled across the area I had been with Moni, called “Temple Bar,” where people were performing music on the street and the vibe was upbeat.  Thinking of our last trip here, I ate at the Hardrock Cafe, where should would have wanted to go.

Here’s the Guiness factory… sadly I arrived minutes after the general tour closed, so the closest to Guiness I got was at dinner. Waking up late has its disadvantages, I admit.

Although it was my first rugby game, my colleagues at Design Partners had briefed me on the rules and appeal of the game.  One of the Designers I work with, Eugene, is extra passionate – he even coaches at just below pro level.

And it was Eugene that bought my ticket and decided to introduce me to the whole rugby experience… starting with a few pints of Guiness at the pub!

I’m not a big drinker, mind you.  Some years ago, I was sitting at Applebees, contemplating my remaining half pint of beer that had gone warm… and my feeling very thirsty for something clean and light.. like ice tea. As I ordered and paid for an inexpensive ice tea, pushing aside my unappealing warm beer, I realized something – I don’t really enjoy the beer experience.. at least not when I always just finish half and trade money for a thirsty feeling and half a glass of warm beer.

However, the night was crisp and chilly and when we crowded into the bar the air turned to get-this-jacket-off-me heat.  Did I mention that Eugene had decked me out in Leinster gear – to support his home team?  Incredibly 20,000 fans need more space to spread out when in a stadium, but could fit inside a half-acre of pub that seemed to be just 30 feet wide for its full length.   Now, this is not a bad thing — you couldn’t escape the feeling of excitement and camaraderie and friendly rivalry.  It was fun!

By the time we left, I had two Guiness in me.. and a quick lesson on how to drink Guiness without looking like a tourist!

Outside again. The chill air was refreshing!  The pub emptied in a continuous river of people toward the stadium and although feeling a bit of a surprise buzz, I made it to my seat and waited for it to start.

Right off, I was lost.  There were probably rows of smiles behind me as they watched me accidentally cheer for the wrong team, or cheer for the right team, but 3 seconds late.  No matter, I was having a  good time, being equally amused at how enthusiastic many of the fans were.

One woman wearing outrageous gear and sporting a VERY loud drum was rooting for London Irish. And I found a lot of joy in watching her go against the grain with a curdling voice and boisterous drum.

By the time I finally started to recognize a basic pattern of play, to predict what would come next, figured out what the numbers on the scoreboard meant, it was time to go.  Leinster lost by a slight margin, but I was just happy to be there.

And then, what else? Back to the favorite pub!  The previous drinks had worn off and it was time to learn a little more about sportsmanship and ribbing, drinks and Dublin.

Well, I’m back in Ireland, this time for two weeks!  It’s one of the more enjoyable places Logitech could send me and the weather in Dublin was beautiful yesterday.

At the airport, I was assigned a blue VW Jetta, stick shift, of course.  And despite having a GPS (or maybe because of that stubborn piece of equipment), I ended up driving right through downtown Dublin and along the waterfront!  I took some video on my iPhone and will have to share it when I get back.  It was a new driving experience – driving on the opposite side of the road, in an unfamiliar city… in a diesel.

Perhaps one of the funniest moments was when I got into the car park at the hotel and realized that I didn’t know how to get the silly thing into reverse!  Backing into a compact space sitting in the wrong side of the car became very interesting once other cars arrived wanting to get by… and I was unable to get the car into reverse!  Eventually I blundered into reverse and got into the parking spot, which was small, even for a Geo Metro.  To give you an idea of how tight – I had to walk sideways to access either side of the car and cold barely get in and out.

The Royal Marine Hotel is very nice, here in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary), which is south of the center of Dublin.  Apparently some famous people stayed here, including Laurel and Hardy.  Ireland’s full of history and I hope to have time to explore during my 2 week stay.

Design Partners, the ID firm we’re working with is located another 20 minutes south and I managed to find the least direct route, again through downtown Bray.  I love the way they’ve designed their workspace at Design Partners to be conducive to creative design. From the CNC machines in their model shop to the main shared workspaces, it just feels more creative and usable!  By 5pm, after just a few hours in the office, I was exhausted.  No wonder, since I hadn’t slept since Sunday morning when I boarded the plane!

Having worked my way back to the Royal Marine through the highways and suburbs, I also realized I hadn’t really eaten since the airplane.  Taking a recommendation from Don (who comes here often), I tried out “Real Burger,” where I had perhaps the best burgers I’ve had this year.  Moni really, really wanted to come along this trip, but we couldn’t swing the cost. So last night, I had a beer for her!  Funny thing is that the beer arrived 10 minutes before the food.. and on an empty stomach, I was actually a bit buzzed.

It reminds me of the story of the man who would come into the same bar every night and order three beers.  The bartender asked “why do you order three beers?”  The man replied “I drink one for each of my brothers.”  Apparently, his brothers were living a long way from him, and he missed them. So this was his way to remember them.  After several years of this tradition, one day he comes in and orders just two beers.  Fearing the worst, the bartenders offers his condolences and asks “which one of your brothers died?”

With a smile the man said “Neither one; they’re both doing fine.  But I decided to quit drinking.”