A few updates

I haven't had Internet access again untill today so I have a few posting I have been saving....

19/07/06

Today was a meeting with our tax consultant with KPMG who helped us sort out the Irish tax schema.  It actually is much simpler than you would imagine and much simpler than the United States.  In fact, what you get every month is what you get, the taxes are deducted right away and there is none of the wondering about if you will need to pay or get a rebate – great system!  The only downside is the taxes are higher here, so we are still waiting to see what our ‘take-home’ is each month and hopefully it will leave a little left over for traveling! 

After our consultation we did a quick browse of Brown Thomas (the Irish equivalent of a Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman) a lovely little lunch at an outdoor table at a café off of Grafton Street and then the LUAS home.  This afternoon I have spent several hours trying to keep my promise to myself and our blog of Ireland.  Additionally, I have been updating my resume, and replying to a few e-mail before the neighbor, whose wifi I have been camping on, logs off.    

For dinner we went into Ramelagh for dinner again, this time for Indian at The Punjab Balti.  What a yummy place – the saag paneer was divine and although the naan was much thinner than we were used to, it was quite yummy.  I am looking forward to the future take-away from this new restaurant.

20/07/06

It is about 5 pm and about 85 degrees out – ugh – and very few places here have air conditioning.  I have not been dwelling on ‘what we left behind’ but right now I would kill for the a/c in out house!!  The week has been lovely without a drop of rain in sight, but I am ready for a few cooler days soon.  I really didn’t pack the right clothing for this warm of weather, so today I went by the Dundrum shopping town, a very familiar place to every American mall rat out there, and bought a pair of longer shorts and a couple linen tops at the department store The House of Fraser (a little nicer than Macy’s but not quite a Barneys).  They are having their summer sales right now and I have to say they are much better than the US.  Things were between 40-70% off and a great deal of the store was on sale. 

Today we also went to get our PPS number, the equivalent of a Social Security number which you need when you are employed and paying taxes.  Even though I don’t have a job yet I was able to get one since Reeves was doing his. The office was near Dun Laoghaire, which also happens to be the dock from which the car ferry leaves for Wales and England.  I really can’t wait to take that trip, but I think we need to be here a bit longer than a week. J

Right now I am just waiting for Reeves to come home from work so we can sup.  I am really glad I brought along my Sex and the City dvds.  They have been a great source of entertainment, especially since we can’t use Irish dvds in the computer till Reeves works his magic with the regional codes.