Dennis Deery

[ ](http://www.dennisdeery.com/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1566.jpg) The Irish Sea as seen from Den's office [ ](/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1568.jpg) The Master Bedroom [ ](/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1569.jpg) Living/Dining Room [ ](/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1570.jpg) Dining Room [ ](/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1571.JPG) Kitchen [ ](/images/irelandimages/IRELAND1572.jpg) Kitchen [ !

We’ve rented a nice little house in the village of Tramore, County Waterford in Ireland (click for a map). It’s about a 10-minute drive to work for Kathleen, and about 15 minutes to the edge of Waterford, the nearest big city. We’ve got 3 bedrooms (we’re ready for company!) and 2 1⁄2 baths. We’ve even got a distant view of the Irish Sea from our front windows. Tramore has a great 3-mile long beach promenade for walking, a seafront amusement park, and plenty of little shops in a downtown that hangs on the side of a really big hill.

“Left side, left side, left side, left side.” We got a car today, so I’ve been repeating that little mantra in my head. Truth be told though, on many roads here it doesn’t matter which “side” you drive on, as they’re only wide enough to have one side anyway. We’ve got a nice little Ford Focus with a manual transmission, so I’m adjusting to shifting left-handed, while my right hand keeps reaching for the stick.

We’re in Ireland! We got in Sunday morning around 8:30. Our friends Willie and Katherine picked us up at Dublin airport and drove us to Dunhill, where Kathleen will be working. We had a great day seeing some of the sights around Dunhill, including a nice walk along the Irish Sea. Then it was off to the Dunhill Folklore Festival, where we got to see dancers and singers from Sardinia as well as some local folks.

In September 2006 we’re relocating temporarily to Ireland. My wife Kathleen will be working on a year-long project for UW-Stout on the southeast coast of Ireland, and I’m going with her. But fear not, the work of Irish Rose Consulting will continue. And since I’m in the technology business, I’m going to capitalize on modern technology to keep working for new and existing clients. Using voice-over-IP telephone service, I’ll have an American phone number and a toll-free number that will ring in Ireland - no international calling charges for you.

The Belmont High Class of 1986 has survived 20 years out of school, mostly intact. Click here to see some pics from the recent reunion.

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Yesterday I presented a 1-hour session at the Wisconsin Community Leadership Summit on “Tech Tools for Leaders”. You can find the complete materials for the session here.

Kathleen and I managed a short trip to Seattle last month. You can find the story and pics here.

 This Barnes & Noble store in Rochester, Minnesota was built in an old theater. Hey Walmart, take note. You're a wealthy corporation. When you move to a small town that doesn't want a big box, why don't you see if you can come up with a better design that fits the scale of the community instead of using your lawyers to steamroll the community?

*Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. * -Albert Einstein *The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. * -Albert Einstein Just finished reading the President’s speech from last night. The above seems the only appropriate response. How many times has he given that speech now? See you all again this time next year?

“You’re being unrealistic,” they said. “I don’t like the current reality,” he replied, “so I’m okay with that.”

Click to buy from Amazon Sub-titled “The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions,” this is a great, fast read. It chronicles the story of the so-called MIT Blackjack Team, a group of whiz kids who, with funding from anonymous backers, spent several years working as a card-counting team at casinos around the country. Blackjack, it turns out, is one casino game that is statistically beatable.

Click to buy from Amazon Parker Palmer is an educator, speaker and researcher who has spent most of his adult life thinking about community. His latest work begins with a discussion of the necessity of individuals living lives of integrity, of being true to your inner self. He contends (and I agree) that there is a price to be paid for living a divided life, a life without integrity of purpose.

Click to buy from Amazon Keith Ferrazzi has been writing a column for Fast Company Magazine, sharing his networking secrets. A master networker who counts Bill Clinton, Jack Valenti and countless other powerful people as members of his network, has some good tidbits to share. I meet a lot of people in business who believe that networking is about finding people who can do things for you - finding sales targets.

 Just a thought... If you're a community trying to boost your tourist traffic, perhaps a banner advertising hazardous waste collection, complete with skull-and-crossbones, isn't the best thing to hang over your trendy downtown.

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