Boxing Day

For the first time in years, I went shopping on Boxing Day. We saw ads for great electronics and wanted in. I left at 9:00 with some trepidation. I had chosen an out-of-the-way venue, deciding the store would be unpopular and as deserted as could be. By the time I arrived (after circling a bit in the one-way streets), it was 9:45 and the store was quiet with just a few cars in the parking lot. I loaded the car with goodies and enjoyed the great savings. It was painless and I was happy (as much as things can make you happy - let's not go there, shall we?). I went to a few other stores, but a lot of them were closed on the 26 - it made sense to me. I wasn't working. Why should they?

As a teenager in Montreal, I went at least once or twice to Sam's the Record Man's Boxing Day sale. It was almost a rite of passage. You get loads of money and you get to spend it on music after waiting for hours in line talking to strangers in the bitter cold. It's a must when you're growing up in Montreal. I paid cash (I did not have a credit card yet) so my math skills had to be up to par. They were - tax was the tricky part but if you rounded up to 10% you were sure to have a safety net. Plus my brother was always there to bail me out. He received even more money than me since he was older. On our way back, we would compare our records and read the labels. There was no way to listen to them until we got home (an hour later) as those were vinyls. We did not mind the wait. It gave us time to decide which we would listen to first...

New job and old ones

I am starting a new job on Monday. My contract ran out Nov 30 and I was offered a permanent full-time position this week. Yay! I love that place! I will be heading over tomorrow to sign the papers. That's a mighty nice Christmas present.
Speaking of... I spent a bit of time shopping and what nice things there are out there! I really ought to go out more!

My to-do list is shrinking nicely:
- create and send Christmas cards Created and started sending
- create and wrap Christmas presents Created and started wrapping
- lunch with friends scheduled for Thursday
- practice the Secret hmmm... need to work on that one
- read Pullman's trilogy His Dark Material (which includes The Golden Compass, made famous by the movie of the same name) done! way cool
- de-cluttering my home office half-done
- scanning and printing old photo albums and negatives done with old photos; not started on negatives
- helping my mom to tidy her home for her Christmas party (a good excuse to catch up) planned for Thursday-Friday
- going out for a movie I think that will have to wait until the holidays proper

... and lots of rest. I am good at napping. I really enjoy that part...

Post Office

I went to the post office to retrieve a parcel. It seems I end up going every week to pick up something or mail something. It's that time of the year. I went in the afternoon, since I was home,
and had to wait in line (I usually rush on my way back home, tired and hungry). It was nice to wait leisurely in line. I don't shop much and would rather not buy than wait in line, unless I am reading a book.
This brought back memories of me and my grandma bringing Christmas parcels to the post office for my Australian cousins. First my grandma and I would pick out the fabric, then she would sew pajamas, then she would cut out paper grocery bags, turn them inside out and voilà! we had good solid wrapping paper. She would wrap the gifts and address the parcel and then we would get on a bus and go wait in line. My grandma would always complain that the shipping was too expensive. There would be a bit of back and forth while the clerk would try and figure a cheaper fare. Once, he told her if she made two parcels, it would be cheaper. We went back home with the parcel and she repackaged it and the next week we came back. I was mortified; my grandma was triumphant. All this came back in a flash. My grandma counting her coins and arguing and me wanting no part in the little drama. You gotta love the post office...

To-Do List

My contract at The Company is over and I have a bit of time before I start again over there (either full-time or as a replacement for a mat leave). Those of you who have worked with me won't be in the least surprised to hear I have created a To-Do List for my off-time:
- create and send Christmas cards
- create and wrap Christmas presents
- lunch with friends
- practice the Secret
- read Pullman's trilogy His Dark Material (which includes The Golden Compass, made famous by the movie of the same name)
- de-cluttering my home office
- scanning and printing old photo albums and negatives
- helping my mom to tidy her home for her Christmas party (a good excuse to catch up)
- going out for a movie

I have two weeks at the most! I guess that's why I am awake at this ungodly hour... So much to do, so little time. : )

Machine translation

The other day I had to evaluate a bunch of texts that had been machine-translated. The intent was to evaluate if for some highly technical, reasonably short, self-contained texts, machine translation (MT, for short) was acceptable. I did sentence-by-sentence analyses which brought to light a number of interesting conclusions:
- there are elements that are not translated. From one language to the next, some filler words (prepositions, for example) just go. They just weigh down the text and don't add meaning. An example is "then" in 'if-then' instances. The poor machine translated then as a time construct instead of causality - the results were disastrous as the added meaning was far from the original. Better to have skipped it altogether.
- some elements cannot be skipped. MT sometimes misses crucial notions. This has the unexpected consequence of making the sentence unreadable. Sometimes the verb or subject will be missing. I did not stop to analyze why - I suspect it has to do with style (syntax, really). The machine cannot recognize the element as important in relation to its position in the sentence.
- common words have many meanings that a human being understands because of context or experience. The word May was translated as a derivative of 'can' instead of the month it was representing.
By the end of the 6-hour exercise, I was in awe of the human brain. Never before had I truly appreciated the complexity of the translation work. MT really demonstrates the enormous amount of weeding that goes into choosing the correct words to translate a thought. It also highlights the thought processes and decision-making abilities of good translators.

The page-by-page analyses showed that even though individual sentences can be properly translated, it is rarely enough to get the meaning across. If important elements are dropped (a negation in a warning, for example), then no matter how grammatical your sentence is, the results are still unacceptable. The text ranged from poor to good, good being the category just above poor. I would have had categories such as laughable, miserable, poor, barely readable, understandable. Good would have been the highest possibility. This was an eye-opening experience...

Book of Revelations

Ok, so the title is already taken, but it's a fine one.
I will tell you about one little revelation: willpower. I realized this past month that what matters is not competence as much as the will to do. This quality I think is the one that guarantees things will get done. There are variants to this truth: they have to do with faith. "If you build it, they will come." And come they do.
Looking around me at work, I realize that personal integrity as well as a strong work ethics define the people with with I enjoy hanging out. These thoughts and others about how to live life fully have led me to believe that my life results not in my thoughts, my emotions or my actions - all things in which at one point I put my faith into - but in my drive which brings all of this into a neat little package. I more or less drifted into my life, not really imparting a conscious direction to it, though I felt and thought and acted in certain ways as though I had a goal or plan. Lately, I came to believe that this is not enough. All these elements need to be wrapped neatly in a direction.
Basically, willpower is the energy that propels thoughts, emotions and actions into reality. Will is the creative power without which nothing exists.
It is a very empowering notion that I plan to keep at the forefront of my thoughts day and night from now on.

Let's Talk about the Weather

So here's the thing: you can predict the weather basd on a caterpillar's colour. Not any caterpillar though. The fuzzy orange and black ones. See, the head is orange, the body black and the tail orange. The amount of black on the body indicates the dryness. You start counting in the Spring, presumably when it is born. If most of the caterpillar is orange, you're getting wet. I am not sure if you can get rings (an alternation of colours).
Anyhow, we found such a caterpillar and brought it to a learned friend who explained it to us. He showed us how we had had a rather dry summer and said not to expect a white Christmas.

It seems this ancient knowledge was used in Cambodia for centuries to plan rice crops.

Another effect of the climate change...

Work

As a rule, I don't blog about work. Today will be the exception. I started working outside my home in mid-July, as we realized Minuit was quite sick. He passed away a week later and I didn't blog for the next two months though I could have found the time. I just couldn't think of anything interesting to write about.

I had been meaning to work at The Company ever since I was laid off from my previous one. Of all the local companies, it had the best reputation, low attrition, no scandals. I personally knew ex-colleagues happily working there and was eager to have a foot in the door. After working there for three months, I still think the world of The Company. My cynicism hasn't kicked in, mostly, I think, because the people I meet are so constantly positive. It is a rare and beautiful thing to see that the core of a company is made up of so many happy people. The fact that they are competent and hard-working is an added bonus. Hard-working competent employees are fairly common in the business but a lot of them, IMHO, are disgruntled and unhappy with life. In The Company, I have met and become friends with people from various departments.

During the day, though we work in cubicles, the noise level is low. Yesterday, at EOD, I heard laughter and was really happy to be still working. It makes such a difference to be in a positive environment, with people who are happy to be there and to contribute. Some of you have heard my grievances about one of my colleagues. She behaved rudely with a number of contractors but, and that is the big thing, her behavior was NOT tolerated and our manager has followed her closely to make sure she would comply with the new behaviour and attitude he wanted her to adopt. It has been many weeks and the atmosphere around her has dramatically improved.

The way this problem was handled is also a testament to the excellence of the people in The Company. There are no perfect situations; our reaction to them is what matters.

So, basically, this is what I have been up to. Adapting to my new environment at work and at home. I think of all of you more often than this blog shows. Really. : )

Can't Explain

I have worked in corporations alongside tech writers for over 15 years (gasp). I always heard that using humor in technical texts is quite risky and should be avoided. Here is a case in point, taken from the label on my conditioner (yes, I read everything):

Directions: Try to contain your laughter. Work conditioner through clean, damp hair. Rinse and commence laughter.

Can somebody explain?

Gratitude

I just finished reading The Secret, a book that gives advice on how to live better. I incorporated a few of the ideas in my life. One of them is to write daily things that happened for which you are grateful. A friend of mine has been doing it for two years just as a general morale booster. I always thought it was a good idea - for her. I bought myself a notebook and started writing a few days ago. It's actually a lot of fun. Example: I am happy for my visit to the dentist (it didn't hurt); I enjoyed stopping for organic vegetables by the side of the road and paying though the honor system; I loved the mushroom sauce Paul made tonight...

Anyways, we'll see where that leads me.

Evolution

Minuit died on July 24. I used to write to Paul's mom as though I were Minuit and, since he died, I send her "extracts from his diary". She asked us if we thought he had been a human being reborn into a dog, which sparked a discussion later between Yseult and me when she mentioned that exchange to me. I told Yseult that I did not think it was possible to reincarnate into anything other than a human body. She argued that she did not believe humans were the highest life form and that we might be better off coming back as plants. She told me of an experiment where two plants were separated : one was kept in a lab and the other was sent into space. The scientists did things to the one on Earth and the one in space reacted immediately as though it was happening to it. "If plants can communicate immediately over such distances, why are we the evolved ones?"
Which got me thinking about how presumptuous it was of me to assume supremacy over plants and animals...

Logic and Me

I don't know why recipes are so hard to follow (see Twist: Technical Writing for another embarrassing example). Last time I baked a cake, I put too much sugar. Sometimes, if the ingredient is indented I don't see it (I tend not to read titles in red, either). This time, the ingredients were not listed in a logical manner (my logic) and the instructions were vague (it was a recipe transcribed, no doubt, from memory - but whose? a confused person, that's for sure). I managed to make a decent strawberry pudding with Paul's help - he pulled out the pudding when I realized I had forgotten to mix the eggs in! and proceeded to correct my mistake. We put it back in the oven. I then realized I hadn't put the required butter on the syrup you pour over it. Out of the oven it came again! By then, it didn't look like what it was supposed to but it turned out pretty good nevertheless.
Of course, it wasn't my fault. I decided the recipe writer must've been on drugs and proceeded to - yes, you guessed it - rewrite it to my satisfaction. And tonight, we are eating the same strawberry pudding just to prove my point (nobody is complaining). Btw - I just took it out of the oven and it is a nice golden colour... see for yourself.

Superstition

I was over at a friend's last week-end. He owns a store and was telling us about the new goods he had recently purchased. We got to talking about the cool umbrellas he carries (Yseult loves umbrellas) and he left the room and came back with a promo one. It features the polar caps and it looks really, really good. He got ready to open it and I suddenly felt uncomfortable "Surely he's not going to open it in the house? Maybe we'll all go on the balcony? You fool - what are you doing!!! You are not supposed to do that. You are only allowed to open it in the bathroom where you put it to dry!" Those thoughts spinned in my head fast and furious as quickly as I was trying to neutralize them, mock them and generally shut them down.
Wow - what a struggle! And to think I used to mock my friend who would toss salt over her shoulder if she (or I) knocked over the salt shaker. If I didn't toss salt over my shoulder, she would. It was just too strong an urge to block. Something we learned as kids and never fully understood (I think the salt blinds the devil that lurks in the shadows; as for the umbrella, I think it's a safety issue) but continue doing as adults. I couldn't believe I held such irrational and powerful thoughts.
The evening proceded without incident and - knock on wood - I hope the rest of the week continues that way...

Peaceful Canadians

For all the threats in the newspapers, there was no animosity displayed between the lawn chairs (cordoned off on the side) and the dancers. I had never been to a show where you can text messages on the big screen. It was a big part of the entertainment.... I taped that just for the fun of using the video feature on my phone...

I didn't enjoy the music as much as I did the CDs, which is a shame. I did get to buy more CDs - Metric and White Stripes - so that was cool. And I generally just enjoy hanging out at outdoor concert venues so all in all I had a good time...

Lawn Chair War

I changed camp this year and joined the lawn chair gang at the Blues fest. I'm not going to go and explain why I did that, I just did. Now I am dreading going to the concert, in fear I will be spat on and generally booed at. I will wear dark glasses and my very fast sneakers and hope I get through this ordeal without any permanent scars.

Keep your fingers crossed - I am hoping for rain to dampen the spirits of the other camp...

Canada Day riddle

Bear with me: I made up a riddle for Canada Day, but did not find the answer to it until today. What's red and white and moves?
It's me, walking with my new cell phone. The phone is white and has a red (detachable) faceplate. Spiffy! We bought it on Friday, I took pictures (yay) with it Saturday and I read the instruction manual (gasp! I hope you tech writers out there are proud of me) online Sunday. You think I would be able to make phone calls by Monday? Well, I was...
The camera is not bad at all and even has an integrated flash. We got a Canada Day rebate of $50 (I kid you not) on the package (we got 2). It has all sorts of cool features which I don't need now but might use down the road - who knows? Quite exciting. It had been a while since I had a new toy...

That's all the news, really. Had a quiet Canada Day. Had to deliver some files as I work for ... Americans who aren't patriotic about Canada... ; ) It's all right, we still had time for a little jaywalking in Merrickville - not sure if it's jaywalking if there are no sidewalks to go to and from... not many cars, either... Good fun.

I hope you all had a great Canada Day!

Expat

Today is saint-Jean-Baptiste day but it felt like any other day, here in Ontario, apart from an article in the Citizen (of all places - they are usually not too francophile) talking about 41 reasons to rejoice at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste and sending greetings to "have a good one". For the first since I moved here in 1990, I felt a little saddened by that fact. That was my warm and fuzzy feeling for the day... There were no flags, no reminder of that special day. I felt a tinge of envy towards those fortunate enough to be annoyed by the noise or resentful of the celebratory mood. You can afford to not fully appreciate the companionship when it is so freely given.
Or maybe I was just in a melancholy mood.
I sent a few emails to friends in Montreal, asking if or how they were celebrating. No answer. Were they out? Was it a no-brainer?A non-issue? What's the deal? Sigh.
We had a good dinner (no BBQ because of the impending rain, a toast to highlight the day, and that was it.
So - to all expats - Joyeuse Saint-Jean-Baptiste!

Grandma smell

I hit another "grandma smell" yesterday. I tended to the tomato patch, nipping off the little suckers that, well, suck out the plants energy and divert it to branches with no flowers (hence, no fruits, later on). The green smell I had on my hands so vividly called upon my grandma. We used to tend her vegetable patch together - she grew lots of tomatoes, green and yellow beans and... really, I don't remember much else.
As much as my father loved to experiment in his patch - growing enormous zucchinis that only a zucchini bread could handle - my grandma was a woman of tried and true things. We ate countless loads of fresh vegetables all summer, and our neighbours also benefitted from her green thumb. She also loved flowers and when we went on walks she would recognize the houses or streets by the flowers that were grown. I was fortunate to see the world through her eyes and learn to appreciate "things that grew". My world was around my friends - this is Susan's house, the neighbour has a dog. My grandma would recognize the double geraniums or the well-tended begonias. And we would go on chatting, sharing our worlds and appreciating each other's company.
I love the green smell.

Father's Day

My Dad loves trees.
When I was too young to go to church, I would go just for the pleasure of his company. We would walk to church and he would name all the trees we passed by and tell me about them.
He still goes to church. I live in the countryside, surrounded by trees.
Thanks for sharing your love of Nature with me, Dad. Happy Father's Day.

Summer Reading

For summer reading, I recommend "Heat". That's not true, though it's all about being very hot (think polar caps melting), it is not a light, fun read. On the contrary, it talks about the very serious issue of global warming. Between this and a thriller, Heat is scarier. It is also a "dry" read (no pun intended) and a slow one because of the topic.

I am not done but will start commenting on Heat now as there will be time to write other posts about it. If I don't post now, I will certainly forget what moved me, because it is such a slow read and my memory span is... well, as short as ever.

The net effect of this book is that I have started paying attention to what politicians say about global warming. I look for articles on global warming to try and make up my own mind on what is going on. Monbiot, the author, exposes where disinformation is coming from and who benefits from it.
Examples of government neglect are taken from the UK - for the Canadian edition, a virulent attack on Harper's ineptitude was added. This covers the first few chapters.

After identifying CO2 as the main culprit, we learn where the bulk of it comes from and what needs to be done to remedy that. In the UK, for example, houses are badly insulated and so people heat and heat throughout winter, burning coal and releasing tons of CO2 in the atmosphere. The author goes on to explore ways to "fix" the houses as well as alternate means of generating clean energy: nuclear power? wind mills? he goes through the list and shares his findings with us.

It is quite a disheartening and sobering read. A needed one too. The least it did for me was raise my awareness (as An Inconvenient Truth had done before) of things I can do on my own to make a difference. And so I read on and urge you to do the same.

(Add subliminal message here: Buy the book! Buy the book! jk - Blues bro lent me a copy. I am sure your local library has it.)

Sens fever

It seems a lot of fans believe that what they do influences the outcome of the game (for those not paying attention, I am talking about the hockey finals for the Stanley Cup between the Senators and the Ducks).

I heard first- or second-hand stories of magical thinking told by the most balanced people. For example: "Don't yell at them (the Senators), you will destroy their confidence." Or "If I pay too much attention to the game, the other team scores. If I go to another room, the Sens bounce back." Those people are watching the games on tv, in their homes, and are otherwise quite rational. Why do they admit to this magical thinking? I can only surmise they believe it works that way.

Babies with little experience in life will believe that they control curtains blown by the wind. We teach them about the wind and they drop that idea. Suppose we're wrong? We go to great lenght to recapture the innocence of our youth. Religions and philosophies expound on the clarity of a child's simple mind that sees things as they are. Some are based on the premise that we are all interconnected : if that is so, then every fan's doubt or vote of confidence trips his hero or sends the puck flying in the net.

The Senators won 5-3 last night. I, for one, think the fans were doing something right...

Beijing

I just came across this wonderful blog of this American student living in Beijing. She writes about her experience there and she is funny and writes so well she puts me to shame. In one of her posts, she mentions a "translation" by Ezra Pound. The word translation never applies when it comes to Pound because he was so innovative and creative in his work that they were really another creation inspired by the original. Anyway... the blog is a delight and makes me hanker for my linguistics classes - the only ones that really ever got my full attention for all the possibilities that they harboured (my bilingual dictionary is failing me).

I started a little personal blog on the side - it contains letters by my dog to Paul's mother. She keeps saying I should publish them because they make her laugh. That is my backup for them and I also intend to do little experiments with pictures and layouts, RSS feeds and whatever catches my fancy. When I figure things out, I will port the new technology over to this one... It's like going to the moon - the technology benefits related spheres (or not!)

Yes!

That's how it feels to be back amongst the living. I knew as soon as I awoke that I was better. My head was not as woozy and my ears were almost unplugged and the slight headache was only present when I blew my nose.
Two days ago I almost posted a blog on breathing - I knew only the absence of it at that time and was longing to breathe through my nose. I had a nanosecond of panic when I thought I was out of Breathe Easy strips - little strips that pull your nostrils out and help you breathe through the nose as you sleep.
I read in a book on yoga a few years back that you breathe through one nostril at a time. Something like a 90-minute cycle on one nostril and then the next cycle on the other. You were supposed to become aware of the cycle and control it, if I remember correctly.
I am thinking that if that is true, then you might be oxygenating one side of the brain when you breathe with one nostril and the other when you breathe with the other. Now, how does that affect your dreams? Are they more creative when your right side is oxygenated? What about if you are wearing strips? Does that affect the quality of your dreaming? Of your sleep? So much research to be done still...

This is my brain on cold medicine

Started a new cold. Finished a book* (yeah, they are related items: reading keeps me still.) My other brother is showing off his latest works both at the Galerie Graff in Montreal (I couldn't find my brother's name there so there's not much point in going - as well their site is still under construction - the English link doesn't work yet) and at the Musée de Joliette in, well, Joliette, starting next week. I promised I would go to the Montreal opening on Thursday so that cold better go away. Since I slept most of the day, I am hoping to be rid of it soon.

So - not much to talk about. I had a busy week working and when it's not raining, we are enjoying our BBQ...

* The book is Anna Gavalda's Ensemble c'est tout

Beauty is in the eye...

Dandelions have taken over the backyard. So how do we respond to the invasion? Depending on who you are:
a) You take pictures - and rant about the fact that busloads come to see tulips but no one bothers with dandelions. You just hate discrimination...
b) You cut them and bring them to the banks of the creek. You seed them in the hopes they will fight erosion.
c) You harvest them and macerate them and work them into a decent wine concoction.
d) If you live in my household, you do all of the above!

Mother Day story

We never ate grapes when I was a kid.
Years later, as I was grocery shopping with my Mom, she told me that she had lifted her boycott when apartheid in South Africa was finally officially over. I was puzzled. She explained that the grapes came from South Africa and she did not want to fund apartheid. So she fought apartheid by denying them her money.

One woman standing up to apartheid. I am proud to call her my Mom.

Happy Mother's Day all!

Spring

Spring has sprung a thousand leaves
in shades of light and tender greens

Spring has sprung a thousand colors
from daffodils to trilliums galore

Spring has sprung a thousand songs
Creeks and frogs and birds

Spring has sprung a thousand flies
A buffet set for one and all

Reality is overrated

I had this interesting conversation last night with a friend from Montreal who was puzzled by how our "realities" differ. She was engrossed in the debate of the French candidates and I was busy cheering the Sens. The Habs did not make the playoffs so , basically, hockey season is over in Quebec. On to other things. That is just the latest in a series of disconnects we have been experiencing. It doesn't help that I am not very interested in politics in general or specifically in Quebec politics.
I can't relate to people who always seem to be talking to themselves about themselves - hum, a bit like a blogger, if you see what I mean. But that's a different story.

Anyways, reality is overrated. I believe we each have our reality, our own world and relate well to people who share our world view.

Life is a state of mind is my all-time favorite quote from the movie Being There. It totally captures my reality...

In Praise of the Ordinary

I went looking for inspiration on my favorite blogs and am back here, clueless.
I had a vague idea of talking about the close race in France for the election of the first female President of the Republic and make parallels with Hillary Clinton's race...but I figured, what do I know? It would not be a factual analysis, just me and my prejudices in favour of women in power. What's the point, really? We can debate all we want about differences between sexes and the imbalance of power and the way women/men use power... we are really just blowing smoke. I think I want women in power 'cause we're on the same team! Rah! Rah!

A bar-b-q is not a snowblower

I was reluctant to start assembling the bar-b-q with Paul because my previous experience with assembling something with metal was mounting the snowblower on a tractor. Do they even test the instructions? Anyway - the instructions for the bar-b-q were strictly illustrated - no text whatsoever. If everybody were so clever, translators would roam the streets begging.
But - needless to say - they are not and so I make a decent living.
The pictures worked for us. No mistakes, we ended up with a sturdy bar-b-q and we even got to try it for the first time (the word is "étrenner" and you should get used to it because I won't use the English circumlocution anymore) the same evening with our friend Steve.

Steve brought a nice bottle of South African white wine and his lovely beagle to keep our dog company. Those two had a lovely time and ended up swimming in the creek - and then a bath! I am glad to have had a chance to taste the South African wine - we are usually partial to French or Italian (with some incursions into Latino ones or Californian).

I think summer started today (and I'm not saying that because of the black flies!). Sweet...

Tenth of a picture

The point of blogging is to write, right? In my case, I want to share news with friends and family I don't often see. I haven't been writing much for fun lately and I want to get back to it so I decided I would blog every day because I lurk at this one blog just cause the guy writes everyday. I like the variety. I figure if you stuck with me so far, I should at least make an effort. So I will post short blogs - no pictures, that's cheating - well maybe I will discover I like cheating?

We've been watching the Senators play against Brodeur. Brodeur is awesome. I have always had a particular fondness for goaltenders, a certain kin-ness if you will (the newly discovered spell checker did not allow "kinness" and doesn't seem to keen on this new version either. I hope you will tolerate it).

I know I have had a relaxing day when I actually read through the Saturday paper on the same day. Quite an accomplishment. I actually enjoyed a few articles so it was worth my time.

Oh - we bought a bar-b-q today to replace our old one. Tomorrow we plan to assemble it and hopefully try it for the first time. "Try it for the first time" actually translates in just one word in French. It's funny how languages differ. I guess it shows francophones like to try new things - so much so that they invented a word for this action.

Well, I will try a new thing and write more often...

Zen garden metaphor

I used to have a little zen garden at work, complete with sand, rocks and a little rake. I would come in in the morning and reflect on how I was feeling, then trace my design for the day. It was a fun thing to do and my colleagues who dropped by would sometimes offer creations of their own.

Now the funny thing is, a colleague I didn't like produced a garden absolutely not to my taste. After seeing that creation, it occurred to me that such a garden would be a great psychology test... She had piled the rocks in a corner and the lines from the rake were unequal. To me, this was the antithesis of calmness. I didn't think of it at the time and will never know if that pile of rocks had, for her, positive things associated with it. What is certain is that the creation was distasteful to me and I wasn't sure if it was because of the author or because of the creation. In any case, I found my reaction to it quite interesting and wondered if there was something fundamental in the reason why we did not get along. Perhaps our views on life were so opposite that we did not enjoy working together?

On the other hand, I was always pleased with my friends' efforts. In their uniqueness, there was always something I could relate to. And I guess that is the essence of friendship: the acceptance of the other in his/her uniqueness.

The Soul Attractions

We had a blast last night at the Tech Rocks watching the performance of Adobe's The Soul Attractions. The guys and gals were great if you judge by the reaction of the crowd (lots of Soul Attraction tees out there) but the judges went for "rockier" bands.
Unfortunately, I didn't stay for the whole show this time around: there were seven bands in all. Nevertheless, I hear the level of competition was quite high (higher than the previous week). I had lots of fun filming the whole thing (with Steve's awesome digital camcorder - I need one!) and mingling with my ex-colleagues. I was in a very festive mood and was just generally excited at being there. The Soul Attractions played 2 original songs and one soul song which I didn't know. I am told that all the Tech Rocks performances end up on You Tube so you might want to check them out later today or tomorrow to see what you missed. You will hear excellent solos from the members.
They are playing again at the site update meeting in Adobe tomorrow. It is not a public event but it will give a chance to the Adobe people who missed it to cheer the band.

Surprise!

This is what we woke up to today. April 16. What kind of a joke is this anyway? The stoic Canadian is turning into the weary Canadian.
Bring on summer already...

Tech Rocks

Two of my best friends are participating in Ottawa's Tech Rocks as part as the Adobe Systems band "The Soul Attractions". For those not in the know, this is an annual event showcasing Ottawa's tech talents. Bands from local tech companies compete for fun and a chance to win a recording deal.
We're going to size up the competition next Wednesday (details here) and of course I will be cheering them on the following week.
There's lots happening in our little town...

The Easter Bunny Rocks!

Yseult and Minuit went for a walk and saw bunny tracks around the house. THis has never happened before. They end in fron of the house (I guess he was looking for the door). Lo and behold, this morning we had a little basket with chocolate animals - an owl, a cat and a bunny! Sweet

Have yourselves a heppy Easter!

Bloody Cold

My head will shortly explode. It's when you can't breathe that you realize how precious breathing really is.
Man, I miss the good old days when I could keep my mouth close and breathe through my nose. Tell me they will come back? Actually, maybe the people around me will miss the good old days when I was breathing through my mouth and not talking so much... Le bonheur des uns...
So - just wanted to complain and let you know if I am not blogging it's because I am busy sneezing, coughing, napping, and all that jazz.
Don't worry, you can't catch it via blog.

Knick knacks

My cousin gave me a book on Pilates exercises with a ball - I will give it a try because:

Ckeaking knees
Going down
Creaking stairs

Minuit smells good on cold nights when he comes in from outside:

Winter smell
Bare feet under
Cold fur

Objects in camouflage

How often have you been looking for things that end up having been under your nose the whole time?
I am talking about disappearing utensils and clothes.
We once misplaced a lawn mower for several weeks in the summer time. It had hidden amongst the bikes, its chrome handle blending anonymously amongst the chrome handles of the bikes.
I saw a short movie (I think it was in the Twilight Zone series) about a crew of blue people who constantly recreate our environment while time stands still - sometimes they miss an object, forget to put it back in place - and when time starts "rolling" again, you look for your keys, hat, purse, or whatever was misplaced. Then time freezes again and the object is put back in its place and when it "rolls" again, well, you find it. That's when the "Twilight Zone" music starts playing... well in my head anyways... ; )

Lucky number 3

I just read another article on weddings on July 7 of this year (7-7-07). I have a numbers story of my own on crossword puzzles.

We bought a little crossword puzzles booklet a while back which one of us would pick up and play with. Somebody else would finish it. Then we started working in collaboration with one person saying the definition out loud and the other chiming in to help. But it wasn't until there were three of us participating that it got interesting.
It seems 3 is a magic number. We are funnier, faster and more efficient going through the crossword puzzle.

Here is the theory:
When three people are engaged in an activity, one is likely to be a more passive participant as the other two are debating. Being on the fringe, with no pressure, the third person comes up with a creative solution. Time and time again, we verified this theory. The quiet person (which varied) who seemed passive, actually contributed the tough words.

Think about that next time you want to exclude a third person in a decision-making process...

Dream

I want to tell you about a funny dream I had last night...
I was in a school cafeteria with current friends and this guy I don't know is coming on to me. I give him the brush off. He looks really upset and goes to eat by himself at another table, turning his back to me and my friends. My friend M. comes along, looks at the guy, looks at me, and says: "Why aren't we eating with him?" I look at him, puzzled. He says: "We chatted with him for a good while yesterday. He's lots of fun. You said he should eat with us today."
I explain to M. that I don't recognize people's faces. Another friend gets up to explain the situation to the guy I rejected. M. tells me I should go and apologize so I do and explain the whole thing to him. The guy is skeptical, smoking in my face the whole time I'm there.

Geez... I don't even get a break in my dreams! I can't claim that it doesn't bloody matter 'cause it's a dream!!! That's a new twist...

Ice Birds

Frost on the window as I let Minuit out the door.

I wonder if this could become an ephemeral art form? Artists get together and throw/drip/draw shapes on a glass surface in extreme cold and try and rival with each other... As the temperatures drop, the art evolves. There could be "cold" museums, where the art is stored at set temperatures. You need to take into account the heat generated by the patrons and keep the temperature steady so the art won't melt. Or hang the pictures in an ice castle... Or, I guess, show pictures of the art before it melts.
I like the ephemeral quality of art - it mirrors Nature. You need to always be on the lookout for it. Lovely.

The Art of Finding Lost Things

On the subject of legacy, my grandmother showed me how to find lost things:
Stop looking. Sit. Think back to when you last saw the object and play back the reel until the answer comes to you. Be patient! Resist the urge to get up and look for it as soon as you have an idea (I had trouble with that last one). If all else fails, pray to St. Anthony (I had to look it up on this site because I couldn't remember the name. I never liked asking for his help. It felt like cheating.)

The gift developed slowly. The first time I became aware of it was when I spoke to a friend who was visibly upset. She had been doing her homework on the kitchen table (due for the next week). She was interrupted at dinnertime and could not find her papers afterwards to finish the task. She looked everywhere but could not find it and was considering rewriting the homework, in frustration. I listened and applied the principles I had learned. I had her describe the whole scene in detail. We were at school so it was easy to resist the urge to go look for it. It happens that she had younger siblings and I mused that her papers could have mistakenly been set aside as scrap paper for them to draw on. Based on my deductions, she retrieved most of the homework, having lost only a few pages. I was very impressed with the efficiency of the method, but frustrated that she had lost some pages (I urged her to look on the back of drawings and so forth...).

A series of small successes followed, less spectacular but nonetheless useful. One that stands out is fairly recent. Yseult asked me if I knew where a piece of clothing was. I started by given her likely places to look for it. When that avenue was exhausted and I sensed she was beginning to doubt my abilities, I said tentatively that although this was rather unusual, I had dreamt that it might be (someplace). It turned out that was where it was. I must be St. Anthony's "instrument".

Yseult - and to a lesser extent, Paul - routinely ask me where they left things, which is great practice. We often joke that I know so well, because I hide them myself. The thing is, I have trained myself to notice when things seem out of place or what people do with objects. It turns out our right hand often doesn't pay attention to what our left hand is doing... It is quite fascinating to observe someone nonchalantly put down their glasses at an odd place while undressing or talking and then looking frantically for them later as they don't recall consciously putting them out of harm's way.

I jokingly tell Yseult to "invoke" me when she misplaces things. It sometimes work. The power of suggestion is a great ally.

I have been stymied recently by a request to find a gift that was misplaced. It was intended as a surprise for me and so I never got to see it. I can't get a clear picture of it in my mind and have resorted to unsystematic searches in unlikely places. With little success. I am not used to having objects resist my will and am a little frustrated by this sad state of affairs (not to mention saddened by the temporary loss of the present) and have developed theories for the resistance:
A) I never touched the object and cannot "call" it to me.
B) My emotional attachment is getting in the way of The Method.
C) It's a cover-up. The present never existed in the first place.

Which is your answer:
If you answered A: That, of course, is strictly BS since that is the case most of the time but once I expressed the thought, I sort of enjoyed the idea of possessing a magnetic supernatural power - Magnetic Woman: Finder of Lost Socks!
If you answered B - I think you might be onto something.
If you answered C - I just made that one up. It thought it would be funny.


Oh, and BTW, this long post is testimony that I am again having trouble sleeping...

Of grandmas and other smells...

This blog was inspired by Ms. Hedda's blog.

As a kid, I would linger at my grandmother's side as she got ready for the day. She would put a moisturizer on her face and I came to associate the smell of Noczema with her. She only smelled briefly of it as she applied it and the smell faded as the day wore on, but those intimate moments, where she joked around with me where the best.
Touch: Sometimes, my grandmother would ride in the back of the car with us as we went - I assume - to church. I remember, in winter, she would wear this gorgeous fur coat with very long hair. I would bury my face in it because I loved the caress of it on my skin. I would just smile and hum, content as a cat.

The smell of independance: My first apartment was gas-heated.
The smell of freedom: the smell as I rode for hours on my bike with the feel of the wind on my face.

March 8

March 8 for me is a very special day - it's my brother's birthday. We got to tease him with the appropriate "Happy Women's Day" uh, I mean "birthday".

When we were kids, my mom bought me and my brother presents to give my other brother (and like that for each kid). We would wake up with a wrapped gift to give our sibling. So we ended up being as excited on our birthday as on our siblings' because there was a surprise involved. Smart Mom!

So I dedicate this post to him and this picture too:
Bonne fête Paul!

Scrapbooking

I have been too busy lately to enjoy my new hobby: scrapbooking! Who would have thought I would enjoy it so much? I was never too keen on arts classes. I never really had inspiring ideas that made me enthusiastic about projects. Nor was I particularly praised for my efforts. I was pretty much average, though I did not dislike the activity. What was my surprise then to discover this new passion. I guess I love telling stories, and this is a graphic way to do so.
I always enjoyed comic books (or graphics novels, as they are called now) and toyed with the idea of creating my own. Recently, a friend who shares my love of scrapbooking lent me some graphic novels. One is very badly drawn and so I thought: Hey, I could do this! (I can only do it if I lower my standards significantly... ; -) )

I have big plans for the next little while: a whole thematic album, several cards, revamping an old album where pictures are currently badly preserved. I am planning two sessions this week: one with friend, the other by myself. Much joy to be had all around!

Face Blindness

Also known as prosopagnosia (from the Greek prosopon meaning "word", "a" not, and "gnosia" knowledge) = I have trouble recognizing faces.
Here is an explanation I found on one of the sites that might give you an understanding f what that means: "People who are "tone deaf" are not deaf to tones. They can hear tones, they just can't tell them apart. People who are "color blind" can see things that are in color. They just can't tell colors apart. Similarly, I can see faces. I just can't tell them apart."
Now anybody who has hung around me long enough has a story to tell about the time when I didn't recognize somebody I had just spent the afternoon with or about me confusing co-workers that absolutely don't look alike. It seems this disorder actually is a neurological problem that is not too widespread - as far as I am concerned, it would be problematic for the survival of the species if it were.
Foe or friend? Let me think. Are we related?
There are some heart-wrenching stories of people who are severely affected.
Tests are available on the Web to see if you suffer from the condition. I think normal people will find them entertaining as you are asked to recognize celebrities in one case, pair strangers in another. They actually provoked mild anxiety in me... I took them and my results were poor.

Nonetheless, I was relieved and excited about all the info I found. Here is a link for more studies.

French sources use the word "prosopagnosie".

Happy New Year

Today is the beginning of the Pig Year. We were invited for a New Year's Eve party yesterday and it really felt like we were getting off to a good start. Our best friends were reunited and we "pigged out" on glorious dishes. The mood was serene and we had good music. It was a lovely way to usher in the New Year.

I wish you all the best in this New Year: Health and Good Fortune!

By Popular Demand (reviewed AND translated)

Rum and Orange Cake

Note: For best results, let the cake soak in the juice for a day or two

Batter
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large oranges (juice and zest)
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk (I put regular milk)
1 cup walnuts (dates are good too)


Preheat stove to 350 F. Butter a tube pan.

Prepare the zest and fruit juices.
Cream butter and gradually add sugar, zest (orange and lemon) and eggs.

Sift together remaining dry ingredients. Alternate small quantities of flour mix and buttermilk to liquid batter (butter-sugar-zest-egg mix). Beat until smooth, then add walnuts (and dates, if you wish).

Pour into tube pan. Bake in oven for 60 to 70 minutes until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean. DO NOT remove from mold as you will be pouring the juice below onto it while the cake is still warm...

Juice to pour over cake
Juice from oranges and lemon
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of rum

Bring the juices and sugar to a boil. Add rum. Pour over warm cake.
The cake is at its best after a day or two. Enjoy!

Technical Writing

I was trying out a new cake recipe today.
It was given to me by someone who, perhaps, took notes from someone on their deathbed. It definitely didn't come from a book because it was very muddled and I doubt it had been tested. I ended up putting too much sugar, in the confusion. I read the recipe a number of times but it was not written in any order I could figure.
To make matters worse, there were numbered steps to make you think there was some kind of logic behind the whole thing. as though everything was carefully laid out.

There were several traps, all carefully crafted to make you waste perfectly good batter. I did not realize my mistake until the cake was in the oven and I was cleaning up.
When the cake is baked and still warm, you pour a mix of fruit juice, sugar and a bit of rhum. I had measured my ingredients but could not find the sugar... That is when I realized I had mistakenly added the sugar to the dry ingredients (mix all dry ingredients, it said). The trick was to notice the contradictions and make sense of them.

Ingredients
2 cups sugar (1 for cake, 1 for juice)
Whip butter, add sugar, eggs, zest

Later: beat together dry ingredients into batter. Later still: mix together sugar (what sugar!?), fruit juice and rhum (at that point, I was ready to drink the rhum and forget the whole thing - but I digress).

Oh, btw, for those who were wondering, the cake turned out fine.
After I was done, I rewrote the instructions following MY logic.

Who knew you were supposed to test the instructions... Maybe I should look for that job? Recipe tester sounds like just my line of work... : )

Stars and Strollers

While lurking on a friend's blog, I read that she went to the movies with her baby. It seems the cinemas have awoken to the novel ideas that parents are people too, and made accomodations for their new status. They have put aside screenings of brand new movies especially for parents. The sound is lower, the lights are dimmed and there is a stroller park (I am not sure if it is inside the movie theater or outside?-jk). You get to enjoy the latest movies while your child sleeps, nurses or whatever, with noone taking offense at your children quietly talking to themselves. No need for a babysitter! I think it is a great idea. To see if there is such a program at a theatre near you, go to: Stars and Strollers

I wonder how you deal with PG 13 with young kids... ; ) S-l-e-e-p

Current desktop backdrop

It's been awhile since I posted any pix. I figured this one was as good as any. This is what I see when I boot up every morning. This is precious because we hardly see ever catch him unawares. He was busy sniffing out the summer breeze. We usually never see a hint of teeth... I swear I can see his nostrils flaring.
You can see a hint of gray on his beard and a few petals on his blue-black coat.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Suite française

The novel Suite Francaise is available in English. It talks of the period of WWII when the German troops defeated France and invaded the country. It was written by an incredible writer, as the events were unfolding. The French novel is so well written! I just hope the translation is up to the task.

Je lis ces jours-ci "Suite française" d'Irène Némirovski. Ça se passe aux premiers jours de la capitulation de la France aux mains des Allemands et aux sentiments qu'éveillent de part et d'autre l'avènement de ce nouveau ménage. On voit la fuite de Paris, la coexistence pacifique des Français avec les conquérants et les sentiments confus et contradictoires qui les habitent. L'écriture est délicate et nuancée. On s'y croirait. D'ailleurs, les deux romans (parus ensemble sous une même couverture) ont été écrits à l'époque et publiés tout récemment par les filles âgées de cette écrivaine qui a péri à Auschwitz en août 1942. Le manuscrit était écrit très serré, à la mine, pour ^pargner le papier qui était si rare et ses filles avaient crû y trouver des notes personnelles, un journal peut-être. L'une d'elle s'est enfin résolue à les lire, car elle remettait les manuscrits à un musée et voulait vérifier le contenu de ces pages.

J'aurais voulu citer des extraits. Malheureusement, je n'ai pas pris de notes pendant ma lecture, de ce qui était particulièrement émouvant ou enlevant. Je ne voulais pas me priver du plaisir de la lecture et briser le rythme. Et je croyais qu'en feuilletant au hasard, je retrouverais bien assez vite ces passages. Alors je feuillette, et me sens de nouveau transporté dans cet univers. Mais jene peux me décider à choisir un passage plutôt qu'un autre. Je trouve qu'ils forment un tout...

Bonne lecture!

Strees Relief Update

We bought a new box of Melba toast - in Ottawa, this time. They were all intact. Yay to Dare Foods Customer Service for their help! I emailed the girl to tell her the good news and she was politely happy for me.

All is well that ends well. : )

It's a Dog-Bite-Dog World

We rescued a dog that had wandered onto our property. He was desperately trying to get inside the fenced yard. We checked his collar and called the owner who was beside herself with joy. We fed him a bit while we he waited, but he was not very hungry. She had lost her chocolate lab in the morning (it was noonish). She was afraid he would be cold (it was a -20 kinda day). We took him in - she had promised to come shortly - and Minuit and him were running around the house.

The owner came and we chatted. She got her dog into the back of her car and Paul noticed there was blood on his hand. Minuit was missing a sliver of his ear. There had been a skirmish in the stairs after the guest tried to hump Minuit (not a good idea) but nothing unusual.

Anyway, we headed off to the vet who shaved the affected area, put a blood clotting agent on the ear, gave him a shot of painkiller and sent us off home with antibiotics and reassurances. Oh, and a bill the owner of the guest promptly agreed to pay.

Minuit's was groggy from the painkiller but otherwise fine. We are somewhat sad at his crooked ear but ok too.

Stress relief

Today was a bloody busy day as I was scheduled to deliver a small contract.
I ended up nibbling on some crumbly Melba toast and that was just too much for me. It's not the first time that these wonderful crackers come broken to my table. Other times, I have suffered in silence. Not this time. My cup overfloweth! I seized the box and punched in the offending URL, found the offending product and wrote an offending email (no no, I wouldn't do that. I was very polite, very... Canadian?). Anyway, I stated my problem and waited. Very soon, a nice lady answered back with concern for my welfare, expressing regret and asking for more details, which I gladly provided.
More exchanges followed in which she explained that though they create a superior product, the delivery guys that take it from the warehouse might just be brutes. Actually, that was a good answer. I will try a different grocery store if the supplier is the issue.
That was a nice stress reliever.
The people handling complaints are bound to be compassionate, nice, polite people. I think I will keep a list of grudges handy so that when I am in a foul mood, I will get somebody nice to talk to me and put me back in a good mood. Yeah - instant friend! Forget yoga or deep breathing for quick stress relief...

More thoughts on global warming

The preceeding blog on global warming has generated the most comments ever. Thank you for your reading suggestions (which I will take on).
I am watching the weather with dread these days as it only confirms what was said in the DVD. I can't rejoice on the warm weather - I see flooding everywhere... I guess it's good for people biking to work - the season is longer.
I didn't realize that I should be unplugging the appliances I am not using - I guess I need to turn off my computer when I stop using it. I usually leave it on all day as a way of keeping in touch with friends through IM or emails (a bad habit from the days at the office). I am sure I would be a little more efficient if I were able to severe that link. For example, I got up at 7:00 am to work today and haven't started yet...
I liked the minimal packaging on Gore's DVD, as well as his very plain, no-nonsense approach.
I wonder what habits could be changed in the workplace, where it affects tons of people? Any suggestions?