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Entries for April, 2007
| April 5th, 2007 |
| @marseille.fr~ |
Here I am... Marseille. Laying on a futon, listening to great loud music, watching my friend working while I stole her Internet connexion.  She has to work anyway. n_n Oops, phone call. Friend calling... Going out. Later!
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| Posted by Pouick at 03:31 PM | 1 bla bla |
| April 14th, 2007 |
| Medical Report~ |
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I sprained an ankle walking on a small stone... I sprained a wrist... I don't know how. Am I lucky, or what? I should consider donation to some tech research on bionic bodies... I might need one soon. u_u Hahem. Well, the ankle is not painful when I walk - it's the ligaments on the back that is concerned, no big deal. Still painful on some movements, though. The wrist is in braces for a few days and maybe longer if it doesn't get better. Left wrist, left-handed... How nice. 
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| Posted by Pouick at 05:11 PM in Life | bla me? |
| April 17th, 2007 |
| My Brother Is Back From Japan~ |
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This traitor went back to Japan two weeks ago. What was supposed to be a boy's trip ended being a couple + friend trip. Not really fun for the third party. As I thought, my brother was caught between the jealous girlfriend who joined more to keep a close eye on him than for the love of the country and his pal with which he was expecting to spend a two week crazy-fun-mad vacation. I can understand that at some point, the poor single guy preferred to spend the day at the hotel by himself than 'enjoying' my brother and his gf's company. They are cute together, smoochy-smoochy but on the long run, I guess it might get a tiny bit annoying. That, my brother doesn't seem to understand. Anyway, they are back now and I spent the evening at his place with a friend, we watched my bro's video, mostly taken by the gf. Arrrgh! I so want to go back there! How frustrating! My brother talked about his next trip to Japan. He talked about the Sapporo Snow Festival and that is something I definitely want to see. I remember some gorgeous pictures of snow lanterns with lights shinning in the night... And all these huge sculptures in snow and ice... There's some really amazing snow artists there! I was thinking, maybe my friend Takako and her sisters or some friends of her could plan the same week vacation or a weekend with us. It would be a wild time there, all of us. I will have to talk to her about this. n_n Huhu. Better no tell that to my brother's jealous girlfriend or she will want to come too... And then... I think I'd prefer to cancel.
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| Posted by Pouick at 06:57 PM in Family, Life | bla me? |
| April 18th, 2007 |
| A Call From The Past~ |
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Yesterday evening, while I was quietly chatting with a couple friends, the phone rang. I thought it was - again - one of these annoying call... You know... I hesitated between hanging up right away or letting the person speak. I chose the second solution... - [name] ? - Yes... - Who was a student in La Rochelle ? - Yes... - It's Melynda! - Wow! o_O' I haven't had any news form that girl in ages. At the moment she left the university to become a state employee, when she had her boyfriend and moved in with him. That is pretty much when I stopped having news. We used to be pretty good friends, though. I continued my little life on my side, moved, saw the world and settled back home, in Switzerland. While I'm still the eternal singleton, she had time to change boyfriends, marry the second one, move to Metz and now... She's in the middle of a divorce. Damn! We are the same age! What have I done? Studies, Ireland, USA, work. The end. Ten years of very little things. Anyway... We talked like old times. She doesn't seems to have change a lot. Maybe I'll try to see her if she managed to move back over La Rochelle next time I pass by. I could have hung up and miss all that...
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| Posted by Pouick at 02:19 PM in Friends, Life | 2 bla bla |
| April 19th, 2007 |
| A Pirate Story~ |
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To all the people out there who already sent me this joke about the dude with a stearing wheele stuck in his zipper that is driving him crazy... not funny! If you want to tell a joke, do it properly. Aaargh! A pirate walks into a bar, and the barkeep says "Excuse me, cap'n, but did you know that you've got your ship's wheel stuck in your pantaloons?" "Aye," says the pirate, "that thing be drivin' me nuts! Aaargh!"
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| Posted by Pouick at 02:29 PM in Rants | 2 bla bla |
| April 20th, 2007 |
| Big Brother~ |
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I'm not really comfortable with the whole surveillance thing that goes on in any company but it's not like we have a choice, hu. What time you arrive, how many breaks you take, how long is your lunch break, what time you leave... That was never an issue in my company. In fact, we were more the overtime kind of people. On 4/11, we received a nice email from HR... "Dear All, We would like to remind you that as per the employee handbook, the latest time to begin work is at 09h00. We would be grateful if you could please respect this. Best regards Human Resources" Needless to say all the overtime kinda people took it pretty bad. If you start complaining about the time one comes in you have to start reminding the management that leaving time is 6 pm, not 7, not 8, not 9. And what difference does it make? Some people prefer to arrive early and leave early, some other prefer to come in late and leave later. What's the big deal? Especially in a company where you have to deal with Asia as well as US... Either you arrive early to have more time to deal with Asia, or you leave late when you have to work with the US. As long as the work is done... The next day, we all came in to find a nice new shortcut on our desktops: 'Help Desk Info'. We - of course - clicked that thing to see what it was all about. Listed in a nice looking blue window, a bunch of info (IPs, servers names, computer serial numbers, etc.) and on the top line... 'Boot Time'. How on Earth is it relevant to the IT peeps to know at what time our machines where switched on? Didn't take us long to get that Big Brother feeling. So, OK, they can get the info anytime... And what? They want us to know they know? What's the point? Get people paranoid? In my team, we all decided to organize the Resistance (yes, capital R). We were not to switch off our computers ever again. My info still shows 'Boot Time: 16/04/2007 8:57'. Of course, the company's comp are not the top competition kind so a few of us had to reboot during the week, but overall, we managed. Although, my colleague Delphine and I were wondering when 'they' would ask us to switch off our computers every evenings... They didn't wait long. Today, we received this nice little propaganda pamphlet.  It could have been seen as a nice initiative if one of the 'What you can do at work' guidelines wasn't: "Always turn off your computer and lights when you leave at night." Way to motivate your troops. They were doing good already with the annual "Thank to you, we are making big profits in Europe!" and "Pay raise? Sorry, no budget." Now, we're waiting to see what's coming next. Oh I forgot about the wrist rest I asked for. It wasn't considered 'essential' and it was given to someone else... although I have a sprained wrist. Tsk. u_u
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| Posted by Pouick at 03:13 PM in Work, Rants | 5 bla bla |
| April 24th, 2007 |
| Weddings, Babies and Stuff~ |
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I came across my friend Kouloum (a.k.a. Kouloumette des Bois) on Gtalk during lunch break. She invited me to her wedding on 5/18. She is the last person on Earth I would though of getting married. Life is so unpredictable. I sure will do my best to go there. It's only 4.5h car ride, no big deal. I will probably arrive on Friday evening and get back on Sunday afternoon. Short trip. Another friend of mine – Gégé - is pregnant. I think she is due in June. I wanted to see her before the baby's born but I don't think it's gonna be possible. She lives in France, West coast. It's 10h by car and almost the same amount of time by train – go figure. My manager is taking a three week vacation mi-May and I can't leave at the same time as her. And right now, where I could pack up my things and take a week to go over and see my friend, she's moving to her new house. So I guess it'll wait. My friend Angel, who's been a mother for quite some time already, is finally getting married to her boyfriend, the father, in summer 2008. I figured I'm invited... Dunno yet. We have time before we receive the invitation. But I guess it's gonna happen somewhere in West France as well, where she comes from. Her family has a vineyard, they produce Cognac. They have this gorgeous house, almost like a castle... It should be an event to remember. My brother received an invitation for our... Let's see... Second cousin-in-law's baptism. My cousin's step sister Karine - who was always considered as part of the family – gave birth to a little boy last month. We didn't even know she was pregnant like we didn't really know when she gave birth to her first kid. See how news travels well in this side of the family... Weird. The baptism is in June over in West France (again!) so I guess I'll take a week vacation to go over for the baptism, a visit to my grand-parents, a visit to my friend Gégé and her big belly, a visit to my uncle who's just got surgery, a visit to my other uncle who wanted to see me next time I go over and a visit to my friends all over the area... Busy week. Last but not least... Other friends, but more local this time – well, at least for him (he's Swiss, she's French) – are expecting a baby. But this one is special. I'm going to be his/her god mother. I have mixed feelings but the strongest are happiness and pride. If there is a tiny bit of fear somewhere in the bottom, it's only fear of screwing up – which I don't intend to let happen. Yup, people are living their little lives... I might get a cat someday.
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| Posted by Pouick at 02:56 PM in Family, Friends, Life | 5 bla bla |
| Aaarh!~ |
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I found the perfect birthday gift for my brother - an invitation to the 5/4~6 Japan Manga Festival in Geneva. I had to tell him since he needs to book the dates. I thought he would be happy since he's a bigger Japan fan than I am (is it possible?)... But no... u_u I just forgot about the girlfriend in the equation. Of course, she planned something. What was I thinking? So I have to find something else. Hmm, hmmm... I wonder if that means my mom and I will not get to see my brother for his birthday... Aaarh! Couples!
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| Posted by Pouick at 04:51 PM in Family | 2 bla bla |
| April 26th, 2007 |
| Japan I-Robot~ |
We're not so far from science fiction...  "Apr 25 - Japan's latest humanoid brings new meaning to I-Robot, as Geminoid, the offspring of a university robotics professor, not only has his brains, but his looks. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro crafted his android twin by molding a figure based on his body, even implanting his own hair. Dan Sloan reports." >> Japan I-Robot <<
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| Posted by Pouick at 11:47 AM in Random | bla me? |
