*Terms and Conditions apply

Dan (Nagle) left early this morning to fly to Pittsburgh to visit friends and so our vice leader (leader in charge of Vice) Ivan took us to IBM.

Though that didn’t go quite as planned, after chatting to a rather ignorant security guard Ivan was turfed out of the building having been told that there may be tours but he didn’t know and wouldn’t be able to check. Laura was having none of this and so marched in and batted her eyelids and managed to get him to make a few phone calls. After all that we still didn’t manage to get in, and so we headed to the nearest mall (Same one as Tuesday) and lounged around for a bit.

Laura won tickets to the new Pink Panther movie; Cian bought a ridiculous hat for his skiing trip and myself, Dan and Gareth browsed around a toy shop, the apple store and a video game store. Purchases were made both for others and myself. I got a Picture viewer / Video player / mp3 player for my brother (who is also my God-son) for his birthday. Only when I got back to the hotel and Googled them did I realise how much of an ultimate nerd toy it was and so myself, Dan, Conal and Steve are returning in the morning to get more for ourselves. Oh, and they’re only going to work out to be a tenner.

After a rest and some astonishment at the new toy we went off to a bowling alley. All I can say is wow. These guys know how to impress; the place was like a mix between a nightclub and an alley. There was a bar, dance floor, large TVs above each lane, dim but not dark or dull lighting (and you could still see what you were doing) leather couches and a DJ playing good music. Oh, and it smelt nice, a rarity. This is how the game fared. Laura just watched due to her back and Steve stayed in the hotel and slept.

The game was split into two lanes with myself, Colm, Pili and Ivan in one lane and Cian, Conal, Dan and Gareth in the other. At the end of the second game Gareth had finished and Ivan was just about to take his last shot, he had 119. He got a strike and so two more shots, the first one getting five. All he needed to beat Gareth was 3 pins but he missed and so lost the round but still won the game.

I started very badly in the second game, missing the first and only getting a point a piece in the third and fourth runs. And it’s strange how my scores and Cians turned out so close.

After that we met up with three of Gareth’s friends for dinner in Cheers, the bar/pub which was the inspiration for the TV show. Dinner was extremely filling and so a doggy bag is sitting on the window-sil for consumption in the airport tomorrow.