Adventure on the Big Wheel!

Hello friends and family, I had a couple of pictures on my phone from some recent events in October and November, and thought I had better blog about them ASAP! Bad form on the blog vacation, I know :) 

You might remember my new friend Michelle Ryan that I mentioned last post, well, she and three of her friends recently completed a serious undertaking recently for charity (Bone Marrow for Leukaemia) that consisted of spending 24 hours straight in a pod on the Dublin Big Wheel to set a Guinness World Record for longest time on a Ferris Wheel (which was invented in Chicago during the World's Fair in 1893, by the way, little tid-bit for ya.) Let me reiterate, 24 hours in that tiny-ass pod pictured below. 

Dublin Big Wheel Pod

Peadar's sister Catherine and I donated a few bob (money) to support the cause, which entitled us to go down to the Point and go for a spin on the wheel with them. Well let me tell you Michelle Ryan is a  far braver woman than I.

Funny side-story: While C-Bone (Catherine's married last name is Bowens, pronounced Bones, so that's what you get for a nickname) and I were waiting for Michelle's pod to come around so we could board, there was a cool looking dad with his two kids, a girl about 7-8 and a boy maybe 4-5. Well the dad had already purchased tickets for the kids to go on the wheel, and the little girl was dying to get on the ride, but the little boy was absolutely terrified and screaming his head off begging his dad not to go. This was going on for about 15 minutes while we were waiting and we started debating what the proper thing to do as a parent is here. Do you: A) Force your son to go on the ride and scar him for life? B) Let your daughter go on the big wheel by herself in one of the pods with only women from the charity (read: strangers) in it? At least then you know they aren't going anywhere with your child. C) Go with the daughter on the wheel ride and leave your son at the base of it with the charity organizer (also a woman, but still, a stranger) and risk potential kidnapping? Or finally, D) Take both the kids home and scar your daughter for life for taking her to the wheel but then not actually letting her go on it? What would YOU do?

Anyway, I never thought of myself as afraid of Ferris wheels. I've gone on the giant one at Navy Pier in Chicago, and the London Eye in the UK. I don't remember being scared. So what changed? I stepped into the pod completely confident. Then as we started to wheel around, taking a few pictures, delivering the care package of chocolate and magazines we brought the girls, laughing... the conversation turned to the quality of the building material of the Dublin Big Wheel.

Michelle Ryan on the far right and her friends who stayed on the wheel  for 24 hours

The girls started saying they were a bit freaked out their first hour or two, but had come around to the fact that they were relatively safe and had gotten use to the wheel creaking around turn after turn. But then they pointed out that rain water was leaking in. Yes, it had started to rain, and the wind was really picking up, and it was very dark. But you couldn't even tell it was dark because the windows were so fogged up and rain-streaked. Yes, the girls went on, rain was actually leaking into the pod from outside through parts where the metal had been welded together. My stomach started to get uneasy. Were we at the top? And then they started taking about how a wheel had never run for 24 hours straight before, so who's to say the motor could actually handle it? My stomach was feeling really tight, I had just eaten before we got on, maybe I was accidentally glutend? We had gone around 2x fully and were starting our 3rd turn upward. As we climbed and climbed, the wind really started to pick up howling and the wheel was creaking hard. We stopped about three quarters of the way up. I was ready to be sick. Then the wheel started going back down. I wondered out loud why it had changed direction? Sometimes it does that, the girls said. But then we stopped again, and started going back the original direction.

WTF, I am ready to get off this thing! But then the girls said sometimes the coordinators don't let you out until they can, because they can't keep stopping and starting the wheel. Or sometimes even if you wave at them like you want to get off, they can't see you because the window is so fogged up. With this news I sprang into action. As the wheel came back around the bottom, I started waving my hands at the operators for dear life. Let me off, let me off I was yelling! I wished the girls a hasty "good bye and good luck" and jumped out of that pod. I will never again be visiting the Dublin Big Wheel. That little boy was right.

Pic of the big wheel from the Gibson Hotel where C-Bone and I went for  a drink after our adventure. You can kind of see the rain in the glass but you will never be able to feel how windy it actually was. 

In equally adventurous news, one of my best friends Andrea Schnorr is getting married! She is the first of my core group of girlfriends from high school to tie the knot and we are so excited for her. The wedding is on my birthday (the ever-fabulous, July 27) next summer back in Chicago and I am a bridesmaid! We recently got the save-the-date magnet in the mail and are displaying it proudly on the fridge. I saw Andrea recently when I was home for Thanksgiving break and we all went out one evening for drinks. Her fiance Shawn decided he wanted to walk home from the bar (very responsible) and climbed a fence to get into his neighborhood, which is just around the corner from where we were. Apparently he landed on his ankle and broke his foot and now needs surgery (not very responsible, but love you Shawn). Andrea is getting to try out that "for better or worse" thing a little early ;)

Peadar pointing at the save-the-date magnet

Me and Pad, loving life

At the end of October, my company boxPAY exhibited at the Dublin Web Summit, which is this really innovative event in town that loads of important people in the tech world go to, like the Co-Founder of YouTube (and fellow Illini alumn) Jawed Karim. There I am below walking the step-and-repeat. A little nostalgic for my days back working at Aspen Peak Mag and Michigan Avenue Mag.

We were in the Start-Up Zone, which only allows for a small table and pop-up banner, but we utilized our red branding to stand out.

The coolest thing by far at the event was the Tweet Cafe. It was this type of vending machine with coffee and water and chocolate in it, but everything was free, and instead of typing in a selection on a keypad you tweeted @ their Twitter handle with a hash tag (#) saying which box you wanted open. Then it would just pop open! Very cool. 

To sign-off with I thought I would share a little cultural fact from this side of the pond with you. In Ireland it's socially acceptable to play the national lottery. In fact, people love it and play it regularly. Seriously, I was in the shop (Americans, read: convenience store) and you will see this well-dressed sharp looking business woman in heels paying for her salad and water at lunchtime, and then ask for a lottery ticket. It's hilarious. 

I've started buying scratch cards. 

Yup,

Amanda