FUN-travel: Ireland – Dingle to Galway
September 29, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Leave a Comment
Day 9 – Wednesday, September 21 - Dingle to Kilkee – cold, windy, thick low ominous clouds & fog w/occasional rain bursts turning sunny
Dunguaire Castle
- Depart 12:15 – Take 30 mile one hour drive of Dingle peninsula
- 1st stop – Beehive Huts – mysterious stone igloos clustered together w/in circular wall
- 2nd stop – view of Blasket Islands
- Head out northeast route – arrive Tarbert 3:25 for 3:30 ferry
- Stop in town of Kilrush for coffee @ Buttermarket Cafe – Ann suggests Murphy Blacks for dinner
- Arrive Kilkee 5 pm and find 40 euro parking ticket on car from Kilrush – had no idea you would have to pay to park in such a dinky, little town (that’ll never happen again)
- Stella Maris Hotel – 90 euro (also suggested by Ann & conveniently across the street from Murphy Blacks)
- FUN-food – Murphy Blacks – St. Tola goat cheese salad drizzled w/honey, steamed Garrigaholt mussels w/butter & wine, pan fried halibut in lemon butter w/au gratin potatoes & carrots, Dandelion wine 95% shiraz & 5% reisling – VG! (very good)
FF (FUN-facts) – we like it when the only high rise you see is a castle!
Not so FF – realized we lost a hubcap and have deep scratches on car from bushes & cut trees hugging the sides of narrow roads
Cliffs of Moher
Day 10 – Thursday, September 22 – Kilkee to Galway – windy, cloudy, cool, sprinkles – depart 9:45
Galway
- 1st stop – Cliffs of Moher – 10:45 – dramatic cliffs soar 650′ above Atlantic for 5 miles
- 2nd stop – Doolin – 12:00 boat ride of cliffs cancelled – next one @3:00 won’t work – have latte instead
- 3rd stop – Dunguaire Castle – 1520 4-story tower house sits in the bay surrounded by swimming swans
- 4th stop – car repair shop to replace hub caps – sent to Car Parts Warehouse who replaces hubcaps (40 Euro includes tip to put them on with ties) – sends us up street to body shop to fix scratches
- Arrive Sea Breeze Lodge B & B in Salthill 4:30 – 2 miles from city center – Freddie the owner upgrades us to king bed and gives us each a Guinness – What are the chances for such good luck!
FF – Today is Arthur Guinness Day and you get a free pint if you are in the pub by 17:59 (the year it was founded) Great gimmick, huh?
FUN-travel: Ireland – Dublin to Kinsale
September 21, 2011 by Susan Clarke · Leave a Comment
Day 5 – Saturday, September 17 - Dublin to Kinsale – cool, windy, rainy
Pickup Hertz car 10:30 – OMG! Worse than driving on the wrong side is sitting on the wrong side!
Kilkenny Castle
- 1st stop Kilkenny – “Ireland’s Loveliest Inland City” – cathedral & castle stand like historic bookends higgledy-piggledy on High Street of colorful shops and medieval facades – castle restored to Victorian splendor
- 2nd stop Rock of Cashel – high atop hill – one of most historic & evocative sights – built 300 ad
- Arrive Kinsale 4:30 & immediately park car! (Stay at Old Bank Inn for 190 euro for 2 nights includes breakfast)
- Stroll through town – very cute! has laid back Sausalito feel – pub stop for a Guinness & shot of Jameson
- FUN food find – Crackpot – mussels in white cream chowder like sauce, salad, fresh halibut w/fried potatoes and vegetables – YUMMY! We are now 5 for 5 on FUN food experiences!
FF (FUN-Facts) We purchased the Heritage Card (32 euro) in Dublin and have now seen 6 sites for free!
Rock of Cashel
Day 6 – Sunday, September 18 - Kinsale – cool, windy
- 1st stop Charles Fort- 45 minute walk to see Britain’s largest star-shaped fort built 1600′s
Kinsale
- 2nd stop Desmond Castle – 15th century was once customs house – then converted to a prison housing the French – includes wine museum with Irish families that moved to Bordeaux to make win
- FUN food – Fishy Fishy highly recommended – disappointed by extremely slow service – 45 minutes and still no mussels – ticket clearly got lost in the kitchen & no one was even aware until we asked (server did give us a free bottle of wine to make up) dinner took 2 hours! Monkfish w/risotto entree just so-so
FF – Service truly does make the food taste better!
WOW Word-Of-the-Week #371: Influence
September 14, 2011 by Susan Clarke · 1 Comment
Influence – the power or sway used by others to get us to say yes.
Are you an easy target when asked to support a cause? Do you have unwanted magazine subscriptions? Do you feel obligated to make donations, buy girl scout cookies, or help the school fundraisers, etc? Are you able to say no when called by a telemarketer? Do you have the ability to sway your customers, guests, clients or members to say yes when making a sale or recommendation?
Robert B. Cialdina, Ph.D. is the author of “INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion” and for the next seven WOW’s I am going to share ways that you can influence your customers, guests, clients or members to increase sales, as well as, how to not be swayed by someone trying to sell you something you may not want.
Dr. Cialdina writes, “Automatic stereotyped behavior is prevalent in much of human action, because in many cases it is the most 
efficient form of behaving, and in the other cases it is simply necessary. You and I exist in an extraordinarily complicated stimulus environment, easily the most rapidly moving and complex that has ever existed on this planet. To deal with it, we need shortcuts. We can’t be expected to recognize and analyze all the aspects in each person, event, and situation we encounter in even one day. We haven’t the time, energy, or capacity for it. Instead, we must very often use our stereotypes, our rules of thumb to classify things according to a few key features and then to respond mindlessly when one or another of these trigger features is present.”
“Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them. Take, for example, the ‘advance’ offered to civilization by the discount coupon, which allows consumers to assume that they will receive a reduced purchase price by presenting the coupon. We expect coupons to do double duty. Not only do we expect them to save us money, we also expect them to save us the time and mental energy required to think about how to do it.”
“It is odd that despite their current widespread use and future importance, most of us know very little about our automatic behavior patterns. Perhaps that is so precisely because of the mechanistic, unthinking manner in which they occur. Whatever the reason, it is vital that we clearly recognize one of their properties: They make us terribly vulnerable to anyone who does know how they work.”
This week’s focus is on influence. Both how you are affected and swayed by others, as well as, how you sway your customers, guests, clients or members. When asked to support a cause you really don’t want to support how do you get out of it? Have you ever been caught off guard and agreed to something and later wishing you hadn’t? Have you ever bought something (mindlessly) and then realized afterwards it wasn’t really what you wanted?
Reader Responses
“My wife gives me a hard time because I am an easy mark for solicitors of most stripes. I will ALWAYS buy Girl Scout Cookies or those canisters of caramel corn from Cub Scout Troops, because I was once a Cub Scout. And there are times when young men, usually dropped off by a van in our neighborhood, will attempt to sell large bars of candy for $5 a piece for team uniforms. If I have the money, I will buy those. One thing I won’t do anymore is purchase magazine subscriptions. I did that once and was burned. When asked if I have money for a cause or fund I am suspect of, I will show the person my empty wallet. If they persist and ask for a check, I will tell them I have two young girls I am trying to support, and they are getting all of my money. I say that I am sorry, but I can’t this time. Now, whenever I see a person on the street with a plastic cup, I will put whatever change that I have in the cup or a few dollars, because I know that is probably all that person is going to have for food that day. Most of those people live from day to day in cities all across the country. As with any other business, there will always be charlatans in soliciting. Whenever I get a hard sell from one of them, my antennae go up and I just cut the conversation short. Many car salesmen are like that. However, I am polite. I do not slam doors or get into arguments. That does not pay. But those are a few of the ways that I deal with it. Thanks, Susan. Have a wonderful weekend.” – “Warrior” Joe
Take Control of Your Life
March 28, 2009 by Susan Clarke · Leave a Comment
Experience for yourself the power of the One-on-One Success Discovery Process. Invest only two hours of your time and…
- Discover your real self…
- Start on the path toward total self fulfillment…
- Learn how to help others develop their full potential…
- Have total control of your personal and professional life…
- Find your true meaning in life…
This information is extremely accurate and is crucial to your personal and professional growth. Why? Because, we must first understand ourselves in order to understand our relationships with other people.
This seminar is designed to help you win, and to achieve a higher level of success in life and work. Achievers throughout history have had this in common-they know themselves. Achievers don’t underestimate what they can do. They don’t sell themselves short. They know their limitations and, by recognizing their weaknesses, are able to develop plans to overcome shortcomings and take full advantage of their strengths.
We all know an employee with the “right attitude” is more valuable than an employee with good skills and a bad attitude. Until now there has not been a practical and valid way to understand a person’s attitudes and how they affect work and relationships. Now There Is!
Here’s What You Will Learn About Yourself:
- How you act on the job.
- How you operate under stress.
- Things that motivate you.
- Your attitude toward knowledge, utilization of assets, aesthetics, helping people, control and power, and tradition.
- Insights into your personal behavior.
In an interactive, safe environment you will gain insights into behavioral styles regarding:
- Your Key Strengths
- How to Improve Your Effectiveness
Tendencies Relating To:
- Your Goals
- Your Judgements
- Your Influences
- Your Value to the Organization
- Your FearsKeys to Adapting Your Communication
- What to Do and Not to Do
- How to Socially Interact and Win in All Situations.
Take control of your life and your career…today! The choice is yours.
Creating Your Winning Team
March 28, 2009 by Susan Clarke · Leave a Comment
An understanding of people and yourself, gives you a tremendous edge in any interaction involving people.
- Do you have any idea the amount of money you’ve lost because of turnover?
- Are you spending time each week resolving conflicts among team members?
- Are you sure the person you’re hiring is “right for the job”?
- Do you really understand your employees and do they really understand you?
For years management has agreed that an employee with the “right attitude” is more valuable then an employee with good skills and a bad attitude. Until now there has not been a practical and valid way to understand a person’s attitudes and behaviors and how they affect work and relationships. You will learn and be able to understand:
- How you and your team behave on the job
- How stress affects you and your team members
- Things that motivate you and your team
- Recognizing the similarities and differences of others in the workplace can:
- Enhance your communication and your relationships
- Increase morale and overall job satisfaction
- Reduce stress, conflict and turnover
When you are ready to go to the next level Susan Clarke can help you achieve that goal.
“Helping You Find & Keep Top Performers Who Make Your Customers
Feel Good About Spending Their Money”