To be clear, these aren’t ACTUAL views from an ACTUAL spaceship. Nor are they technically photographs, since they’re very definitely screenshots.
But one of the ways I’ve been finding calm and relaxation in this manic world of post-MBA Dublin is in my old game, Elite: Dangerous. Flying the spaceships I’ve optimized, running through the game loops I’ve locked down and understood, it’s nice. Calming. A sense of control in a world that offers me less and less control.
And you’ve got to admit – the views are pretty, whether they’re real or not.
Dublin had a new restaurant! A new branch of the famous steak and fries spot called Entrecote, and one that Andrea and I were excited to check out. She’d heard about it’s grand opening, and we got in line early to make sure we were some of the first to test it out – since it was one of those cool restaurants that doesn’t take reservations.
We waited for an age or two, then got seated. Lovely interior, friendly staff (if a bit harried), and excited looking patrons.
Then the food… Very pretty! And the fries were absolutely excellent! The steak… well, I like cooking steak, and I tend to find steakhouses don’t quite match up to my ability to cook it exactly as I like. Entrecote Dublin was no exception, unfortunately. The sauce was interesting too – brown, similar to my own flambe sauce, instead of the traditional entrecote green… but still, not a bad fare. Especially for the reasonable price.
We ate, we had wine, and we headed home full. Simple and normal, nothing else to be said, right?
Wrong.
A few days later, we learned an interesting fact – Entrecote Dublin, marketed as a new branch of the famous Entrecote brand, wasn’t associated with said brand. They hadn’t even heard of this new restaurant, in fact, and were actively pursuing information. All the news agencies that had advocated for this new restaurant were, unsurprisingly, silent.
One group dug a bit deeper, finding out that the Dublin restaurant was effectively just a rip-off. They published a story… but not before the new restaurant had “closed for remodeling”.
