Random thoughts

This Friday was my friend J's 30th birthday. She was dreading it but ended up dealing pretty well, or at least it appears so. Her boyfriend came out for a long weekend, which definitely helped. On Friday another coworker hosted a little get together for her. We then went to the pub next door to their place. It was more of a traditional Irish pub. It was dark, chairs didn't match, and it had sofa type seats in one area. I liked it.

On Saturday, we went to the local. It is different than more traditional pubs but I still like it a lot. Their beer selection is excellent and it has a character of its own. They also have about 5 different ciders. I decided that I should try them all. I have one left to try. While there, we saw the guy who sells the only decent Mexican food that we have found so far in Dublin. He sells food and salsas at the Temple Bar Market on Saturdays. He was there with his family so we had the waitress take him a drink. It was fun because she was obviously flustered by us. First, we fight over who should pay for drinks, then we buy a seemingly random guy one. It was fun and he recognized John as a customer. He thanked us on his way out.

On Saturday, J and her boyfriend went up to Howth to wander around. They went in and out of pubs since it would suddenly downpour for a few minutes and if you were outside, you got soaked. Anyway, they said that they were in this pub and it was playing American music over the speakers. They stopped playing the music a couple minutes before a tour bus pulled in. They then had some musicians (I think) play traditional Irish music. The group had a drink, left, and the regular music went back on!

On Sunday, I had to get a prescription filled. I used to pay about $40.00 a month for this medicine at home. It was available in generic for about $25.00 but my doctor didn't want me to take it because it is slightly different. Anyway, I got four months worth here for 7.50! That raised the question that I ask myself a lot (and is a huge political debate in the States): why are drugs so expensive back home? Ok, this is an older medication and my doctor told me that it had actually been taken off the market because it was too cheap (why didn't they just raise the price then?). All of my medications are cheaper here but comparatively, this one is far less than the others. I wonder why.