Another new beginning following up yet another ending...

Sitting in the bus, for the last day of the year (2008, that is ;-)... I know, I've been neglecting you recently, but the holiday season is usually pretty busy for me. And this year, I decided not to take any vacations so that I would keep some for a trip down south in a month or so.... Without my kids... for the first time since... since I have kids...

I also challenged myself to finish the work I'm doing on my Novel by Jan 5th... Even that didn't get as much attention from me as it should have... But I still have a few days (and nights) left... We'll see... Go MAD Go!

For a lot of people, the end of the year is an opportunity to look back at what happened in the last year, and to plan the coming one... I usually don't do that myself... Actually... I do it all year long... Everyday, we receive from the past and we give for tomorrow... I'm always thankful for all that happened before our time to make life so enjoyable for us today so I invest energy today to try and help make the times after ours at least as enjoyable if not way better than ours!!!

Still, the end of the year is often seen as a transition point. The year number changes on our calendar. People working with budgets close one and open another one. For some of us, our work vacations time resets. There is also a song from Paul Piché (a traditional Quebec signer from the 70s), that says "C't'aujourd'hui l'jour de l'an. Y faut changer d'maîtresse mon Joe"... I let you figure out the translation...

I'm personally not very good with traditions myself (I told you in my previous post how non-conformist I like to be ;-), I don't really look at the year number on the calendar (on the rare occasions where I physically write a check, I sometimes have to think twice before writing the year number), I don't do budgets, I pushed a week of vacations into next year... etc...

But this year... The end of the year marks a moment, and I swear it wasn't on purpose, I know there are better times to do this... But it happened like that... For some reason... But I have a first date on Friday... So this is a period of transition for me after all.

Even though the cards were on the table since the beginning of my previous story, it is not easy to play the last hand and let the other player know that the game is over. Many great songs have been written to remind us that there are no easy ways to say goodbye. But GG was kind enough to make it easier for me... She was very sweet... Thanks for everything GG... You were great... xxx

But now... About that first date... I have been debating with myself if I should blog about this or not... I know both GG and the new lady will read it... But we all know I'm a good guy, right? So what could go wrong... Still... hesitation... Probably because the good guy in me was thinking that we should not talk openly about things like that... Why not?

What convinced me to talk to you about this? Well... While trying to plan this first date with the new lady, we had a few back and forth emails of possibilities (note that we already know each other pretty well, so it's not my typical first date with someone I recently met either on the Net or any other way)... And while I was verbosely explaining my thought process for why I would go about it one way or another, she actually mentioned that it would be good blog post material... So voilà... Now you know... :-)

BYE
MAD

P.S.: Now I hear some of you think: "Who's that lady he's talking about? If he already knows her, maybe I know her too!"... Don't even go there...

P.P.S.: Others might be thinking: "Hey! He said that his thought process about the first date would be good blog post material, but he doesn't share it with us, WTF?"... I'll keep that one for later... OK? ;-)

P.P.P.S.: HAVE A VERY HAPPY, MERRY AND FUN NEW YEAR!!! Enjoy it to its fullest and make it worth it... It won't come back!

MAD-Boxing morning...

Salut,

Sitting at Starbucks, having an espresso chocolate brownie thingy for lunch (and breakfast actually). I don't eat very well these days. Leaving room for improvement next year... I need a few good resolutions to get in better shape... :-)

I was planning on doing some late xmas shoping this morning but the stores were closed. So I had a first latté then, and went back home to shower (long story, maybe some day I'll tell you about it ;-). I thought the stores would open at noon, but nope. Only at one... so I started feeling a little hungry and aimed at specific a restaurant, but it doesn't open until three... ho well...

So here I am, alone at Starbucks, having a brownie and waiting for the long lineups to get in the stores that just opened so that I can get in to snif around and see if I can find gifts for family coming over to my place tomorrow for our traditional xmas/new year party on a Saturday in the middle, whatever the real day others celebrate.

I kind of like to be atypical, or non-conformist if you prefer. Beeing the dad of a split family kind of helps, but even as a kid, I don't know why, but I often strived to do things differently. I almost always question the norms... I do admit that they often make sense, and I do follow them in those cases. I'm not the kind to globally reject all norms, but I try to make up my own mind about it...

But I think you already guessed all that by now... Anyway... I'm done with my coffee and brownie now (I don't type as fast on a phone as on a regular computer keyboard of course, and I will most likely have a few typos to fix once I get to publish this online)... So I hope you are enjoying the holidays... Talk to you later...

BYE
MAD

A very merry whatever to you all...

Salut my loved ones,

Sitting in my bed (or actually laying, but not lying which is a typical francophone pronunciation mistake, and not laid either, I would never lie to get laid, but that is a whole other topic ;-), typing this on my new phone. "Why use your phone if you're at home?" I hear you say... first, my Dell is on the floor besides the bed out of battery. I intentionally left the power supply in the living room last night so that I don't abuse it in bed (I also left the Mac in the living room)... so when the Dell battery died on me, I had to resort to my TV to finish the incomplete lullaby that would eventually put me to sleep.

Also, I really like my new Google Phone, it is our xmas bonus this year...I know...spoiled... :-)

So I wanted to take this opportunity wish you all a great "whatever you celebrate at the end of the year". Some of us call it xmas even when we don't believe in the cults of the religion that invented that celebration. The idea behind it is kind of universal anyway. For my part, I stopped believing in many things that I used to take for granted without thinking about it to much. Now I only believe in what makes sense to me (though I do agree and accept that some things just don't, but I have faith that it could :-)... Still, the idea that a man called Jesus (or whatever other name he could have had) once claimed that we could and should love each other in times where love was nowhere near what we believe it is today (and I do believe in love, yes that word again, "believe", and even if many think that love makes no sense, still :-), I think it is worth celebrating this alleged birthday by sharing love with the people that make our lives worth living...

To you all that make MY life worth living, I wish you a very merry whatever... because I love you all...

BYE
MAD... with sore thumbs not used to these phone qwerty keyboards

I miss you…

Salut,

Sitting in the bus again, just dropped the kids at school for their last day of the year. They were still in their PJs, so excited to eat breakfast at school and spend the whole day in their pajamas…

And me? Well… I was wondering in the parking lot… How do I feel? Or actually… Do I feel?...

No excitement… Yet, I’m not feeling down either. I remember a few years ago, we had about 11 parties spread over 15 days around the xmas break… This year… hum… much more humble… But again, not feeling bad about it… I’m fine… Truly…

Am I boring? I’m not bored though… There are so many things that interest me that I barely have enough time to do half of it. Like writing here, I don’t do it enough, I miss it… But at the same time, I sometimes feel guilty doing it (no, not because of the kind of things I share with you, I have absolutely no guilt about that :-)… I could use this time to complete the re-write of my Novel (I’m up to chapter 7 (out of 18) now, page 120 (out of 303)… I gave myself a deadline for this, I want to complete it before the end of the year…

Not having too many parties (though now that I think about it, I already have 3 scheduled, not counting new years eve that I plan on celebrating alone with my kids, with a nice dinner à trois and a night of games and TV shows, they love that), so, I was saying, not too many parties, so probably enough time to spend on my Novel re-write.

I should also spend some time working on the music I want to put on a CD that I will insert in the book sleeve… I still have a lot of work to do there and it is not progressing fast… But that doesn’t need to be completed before I go publisher hunting again… I think I can present this part of the project as a work in progress…

So, with all this regain of interest and energy of working on my novel, combined with the fact that I recently switched projects at work, so I spend more time learning and getting familiar with the whole thing, I have much less time to post here… And I miss it…

As for the guilt… well… yes I do steal some bus or train time that I could use to work on my Novel… And when I get to the office and polish the post before I publish it online, I steal some time that I could invest in learning more about the architecture and infrastructure of Chrome (a great product by the way, very well done, you should try it :-)…

So there is a little guilt involved in writing here… But I think it is worth it… First, it is a treat for me, and I think I deserve it… Second, I actually train my writing skills… And third… well… if it makes me feel better, then it is worth the time investment while I’m at work, because if I feel better, then I will be more productive…

Ho! What did I just say? Writing here makes me feel better, so I do feel… Wow!... Thanks… It is all because of you… Otherwise, why would I write here if it wouldn’t be to be read by you… So actually, it is not to write here that makes me feel better, it is knowing that you will read me… So when I feel (this word again), when I feel that I don’t post here often, I actually feel that you don’t read me enough… And I miss you…

BYE
MAD… Starting to feel IT!

Similarly different

Sitting in the bus again. It’s the beginning of the last week before the Christmas break. It is also a good day to break in to my brand new pair of Rockport boots (thanks Charles and Stephen for the advice, you guys were right, these boots are great, though a little tight on the ankles for my own taste, by I guess my weirdly shaped feet will soon make themselves at home in there :-). I say that because it is raining today, on top of a thin layer of icy snow… Fun… lot’s of fun… :-)

But I didn’t want to blog about boots and weather this morning… Yes, for once, I actually have something to say this morning, and not just improvise on the spot as I often do. I received a few comments recently from people enjoying the read of this blog (and I really appreciate it, first and foremost the fact that they actually read me, and then, wow, they enjoy it, cool, that’s the goal, but to top it all off, they tell me about it… I think I died and gone to heaven ;-).

But what I find interesting (and you might then understand the reason for this post subject line), is that some people tell me that they think just like me (or that I think just like them, depending if they are as egocentric as I am, or not :-). While walking to the bus this morning, it reminded me of comments I often got while I was Internet dating (and yes, I said “was”, but that’s a whole different topic, maybe in tomorrow’s bus ride, but don’t worry, I’m still single, just not dating on the Internet anymore… ;-).

On one of the dating sites I used to go to, there is an automated message you can send to others (when you are not a paying registered member) that is entitled: “We are so much alike!” (actually, it is ”On se ressemble.” in French, but I thought I would improve it a little in English ;-). I also got registered members send me their own messages to tell me how much we were alike based on what they had read in my profile, or after we chatted for a little while…

At the same, time day after day, we keep realizing how different we are from each other. Men and women for example… Whoa… so many conflicts are based on the fact that we are different, we think differently, we are internally wired differently. I’m not saying that we are not equal; this is totally different. It's not about one being better than the other (though man are usually stronger physically and women are more emotional, but I don’t think that physical strength is more important than emotions, and vice versa, they just complete each other so well ;-).

And I think it is a huge problem when we can’t see or accept these differences. This leads us to assume things about others based on our own self (just in case you didn’t know, this is what we call projection, we project ourselves into others, and then what we perceived is largely influenced by our point of view).We then get to expect certain behaviors from others because this is how we would behave ourselves. (I actually blogged about something similar on my French blog MADeries.) We each have our own idea of the rules of the game we are playing, and we each have been dealt a different set of cards. We can’t change the cards we were given, but we can decide how we play them (as Randy Pausch was saying), and I like to add that we can also discuss our understanding of the rules with the people we want to play with.

Because, in the end… We are not that different after all. This is the reason I can actually tell you the things that go through my mind as I write this blog, and you might find it interesting because you think similarly (and hopefully, I write it in a way that you find entertaining, otherwise, why bother, I’m not smart enough that only what I say is interesting, it is also how I say it, right?).

If we would be so different and would keep on projecting ourselves on others, we wouldn’t stop fighting… But we do… We stop fighting and we love each other… Yes, we do love the differences between us. But we also find comfort in our similarities… So can I please be comfortable with you? Do you think we are similar enough? I promise to keep working hard at entertaining you with my differences, OK? Let’t try that…

BYE
MAD the similarly different guy, you love it or you hate it ;-)

Beating the clock

Sitting in the train, which will most likely happen more often next year since they finally added more departures on my line, and it will thus be more convenient for me. Then again, it is still a bit inconvenient since they are far less frequent than the buses and so when you miss one, you need to wait much longer… as I just did… And my lungs are still burning from running (almost) all the way from the office to the train station, only to see the train leave while I was stepping out on the deck.

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My plan was to leave the office at 4:20, but I was so taken up by what I was doing that I didn’t see the time fly and only woke up at 4:32… Still… I tried… And failed… you can’t beat the clock…

This morning, I was luckier… I had another of these weird mornings… It started with the wipers of my car dying on me because I was asking them to get rid of a few inches of snow on my windshield. I know, I shouldn’t do that, but I just wanted to start the car so it warms up while I remove the snow from it, but the wipers had been left on… When they started, I tried to make them faster, just to help them and then I heard a "clunk" and they just stop in mid-air… hooo nooooo….

Still, I could get the kids to school and then, I had to come back home to wait for the cleaning lady who was sick yesterday. So I would give it a try… I’m not very good with repairing things, but I’m brave and always game to try. It often gets me in trouble but it also sometimes get me out of it. This time I succeeded, but I had to bring the car in the garage, which implied that I get the other car out of the garage (bad idea… yes, having two cars can also be a bad idea, … anyway). Once I fixed the little arm that attaches the wipers to the motor, I was in business. But I figured I would leave the frozen car in the garage while I get rid of the snow in my driveway and only put back the other car in afterward… Anyway, it sounded like a good idea, since the other car is not very good on snow (this is why it usually waits for me in the garage).

The problem is, that other car (though I love it very much) was not able to climb back in the garage… Damn… Even after I removed the snow. Last time I did remove the snow, it was raining, so there is a thin layer of ice in my driveway and it seems to be enough for my small car to not want to climb it… I even put salt there, no help, I tried with and without the anti-sliding thingy that comes with the car... no help… I realized that it must have trouble because the rear propulsion (as opposed to front wheel drive traction), so I tried backwards… BINGO… So the car is in the garage…

But the cleaning lady isn’t there yet, and it is close to the time I need to leave to catch the last train of the morning… So I decided to finish shoveling the driveway and then get inside to make myself a coffee and breakfast, I’ll simply take the bus… And then… Ding dong… She’s there… I have 10 minutes to get to the train… That would be very tight… So why not? Let's try…

Give the lady her money, say hi and bye at the same time… and run to the train… I try not to go too fast, last year, I bumped a pole and made a big dent in my bumper by trying to catch a train… Still I get there almost on time, the train is still there, but the doors are closed… weird… I get out of the car quickly and look for my keys to lock the car… D’Ho! I left them in the car… And the car is still running… Whoa… That’s a big stupid mistake… Luckily enough, I have the reflex to search my pockets for my keys to lock my car as soon as I walk away from it…

Anyway, I got in front of the train doors and they suddenly opened for me… thanks Sesame… :-)… And it took off before I had a chance to get ot my seat… Talk about split second timing… Well… tonight… It didn’t work out as well… Ho well… You win some, you lose some… But you can NOT beat the clock… It will keep on ticking, whatever you do, however you do it… Unlike you, it will never stop… Or at least, not in a foreseeable future at least… But we will… Our clock will stop… We can’t beat that… So let’s make the best out of it… Even if it means to miss a train once in a while, to run like crazy and still don’t make it… To have our lungs burning, even though we stopped running for over half an hour (I really need to start the gym again)…

Hey… I just beat one clock… I finish writing that post before the train left the station… Now I can spend the rest of the ride working on my novel… Will you read it?... No, not this post, my novel... Even if it is in French? Let me know if you want a copy of the original version, or if you prefer to get the new chapters as I rewrite them, I’m finishing the 5th of 18th chapters now, which is about 80 pages out of roughly 300… Interested? Let me know!

BYE
MAD… Still coughing… Damn…

About repairing VS getting a new one?

Sitting in the bus again. Rushing home to get the kids to their dance and acting classes on time (yeah, right, wishful thinking).

I need to get new boots… I walk much more now, and since I’m often at the last minute, I walk quickly, and without proper shoeing, it ain’t now fun. I had a very comfy pair last year, and had to resort to my previous pair this week ‘cause the newer ones died on me. A big hole on the side is letting all the slush in and it ain’t no fun either… Especially these last few days… So I’m now using an older pair of boots that don’t let anything in… Except pain!!!

I wonder if I should try to get the newer ones repaired. Would it be worth it? It’s not just a question of money. I can easily afford new boots, and could definitely afford the repair. It is more about the trouble that goes with it. Seems like it is so much easier these days to get new stuff as opposed to get the old things repaired, I wonder how we got there…

A few generations away, people would repair themselves what was broken (at least most of the time), and most of these things they had, they built themselves anyway. Nowadays, we depend on so many things that we have no clue how they work, we wouldn’t dare trying to repair them ourselves.

Like recently, I decided to sew a few pairs of my favorite socks that had holes at the tip of my toes (I know, cutting my toenails more often would help prevent such problem, but would you please get off my back? Look at your own toenails! Are they always bright and shiny? Well… shut it! will you? :-).

Anyway, I really like these socks, they’re comfy and look pretty good on me. And since I hate shopping and don’t mind playing with needles and pins, I decided to sew them myself (as opposed to others who like to suit at will, I would rather sew ;-). I was chatting with a very good friend of mine (a woman, of course), and she was very surprised that I would do this as opposed to simply buy new socks… Even she doesn’t repair socks (and she has three boys), she says nobody does that anymore, especially men (stereotype intended here :-)…

So it seems people don't repair things anymore, they prefer to get new things… Could this be why relationships don’t last as long either? Do you see a pattern here? ;-)

Anyway, change of subject, the other night, when I got stuck standing up in the bus for an hour and a half, there was this woman standing behind me (until I decided to turn around and then she was in front of me… haaa… much better… :-)… Well… She’s right in front of me again… Except this time, there aren’t that many people in the bus today, so I’m sitting, but she is not… weird… even though there is a lot of empty seats… Is she doing this on purpose? Is she sending me a message here?

Ho, and, BTW, she removed her clothing… Well… not all of it, of course, but she got her coat and a few other accessories off… Which makes me think it might not be the same woman, it is not the same coat… But woman do that sometimes… Change clothing…. Right?

No, I’m pretty sure that’s her. I remember well, because…. Well…. First…. She stood in front of me for about an hour and a half… And… I kind of have some experience at looking… right? And she has a few noticeable features that I quickly recognized… And no, I’m not talking about big boobs!!! Thought her small pair looks pretty nice, especially with this little hearth shape necklace that elegantly falls right into place… Wow… ;-)

Also, I had noticed her before we got in the bus the other day… While I was walking quickly to the bus (I told you, always at the last minute), I walked by and noticed her because she was walking almost as fast as I was while crossing the train station (which doesn’t happen often, I’m pretty quick… long legs… ;-)…

So I recognized her that other night in the bus (mainly from her coat, ‘cause, even if woman change clothing often, they rarely do it between the time they’re quickly walking across a train station and a few minutes late when they climb in a bus)… Actually, I just realized that she must have been standing behind me in the line up to get in the bus that was about 15 minutes late the other night… Interesting… So maybe… the reason she is standing in front of me now is that she recognized me too and decided to expose her nicely looking slim body right in front of me…

Dream on MAD… You’re not THAT interesting… At least not at first sight… Unless she reads your blog and couldn’t wait for you to talk about her… Et bien voilà! It’s done… Nice meeting you… And your name is…. ???

BYE
MAD

Canadian Winter Chaos

A longer one
Sitting in the train this morning. Yesterday was our first snowstorm chaos. I left the office at about 8:50 PM, got to the terminus on time (the bus was supposed to leave at 8:58, but it only arrived at the terminus at 9:13), but there was a looooong line up. I have never ever seen this at that time of day, and only rarely, even at rush hour… wow…

On top of that, the bus took took a long detour to another bridge (I heard of delays of up to 5 hours to go home on a route that usually takes less than an hour with regular traffic). So I got to my car in the bus terminus parking at about 10:20 (the bus ride is usually 15-20 minutes top, and this time, for one of the very rare occasions, of course, I was standing up, no seats left, of course, and thus no writing, whether for you or for my novel, ho well..). I then took a few minutes to scrape off the ice and snow off my car, and then a few more just to get out of the parking lot… ‘cause… ‘cause… I’m dumb…

But to my defense, I will state that I got home pretty late on Monday night (guess why? ;-), and had to get up very early Tuesday morning, because our office was sponsoring an innovation in technology interest group breakfast (or something like) so I had to be at the office before 8AM. So I didn’t get check the weather and didn’t think twice before choosing which car I would use… stooooopid…

My Mazda RX8 is not made for the Canadian winters… Ho… I do have winter tires, of course, otherwise, I would still be in the parking lot this morning… But my little toy is not very high above the ground, and the parking lot had not been cleaned yet… D’Ho…

But anyway, I eventually got out of there, and the highways were pretty clean, but still, I was being careful and didn’t really benefited from all the advantages of owning a nice car like this… When I got to the last turn to my street… Ho no… They had not cleaned it up yet… Damn… though… There always is a bright side… I had less snow to remove from my drive way, ya know… But… I got stuck twice… In the middle of the street… A few 100 meters from my home… Câlisse…

Anyway, I finally got home a little after 11:00, and took a few attempts for my little baby to climb up the little slope of my driveway (after spending 10-15 minutes to remove the snow from there, of course), up the to the garage where it belongs in those rough Canadian winter days… You can bet, that this morning, I took the Murano (though it had about a feet of snow on it, and about a centimeters of ice to top it off, though it was fun to break the ice crust with nice fluffy snow underneath it :-)… Was almost tempted to take the clean and warm RX8 that slept in the garage…

Talking about sleeping… I got woken up by my kids this morning, even though they were with their mom… they called me at 7:15, to double check if their school was opened, they didn’t believe their mom… Aren’t they sweet?... Though I was sleeping so tight, ‘cause you can guess that I couldn’t get to sleep right when I got home, I was all wet and sweaty and full of adrenaline, so I had a beer, watched the tube a bit and did some email (I know, I’m addicted to email) so I didn’t get to sleep until about 1AM… Ho well… I love those kids anyway... Of course…

And even the winter weather… OK, yes, it caused chaos yesterday… Ho! BTW, GG had a lucky bad luck event yesterday. She had a little accident with her car on the way to work. Nothing serious, no injuries and no damage to the car (fortunately), just the towing fees and some scare. So she worked from home… Talk about a lucky bad luck ;-)

And looking outside the train window this morning… It is simply gorgeous. Ice rain can create such marvelous landscape. Even dead trees look nice this morning. There is an field close to the train tracks crossing highway 30 where many trees have been dead for many years. It usually looks like a scary swamp as we see in movies… But this morning… It looks great… See… We can find beauty everywhere, even in the result of a chaotic snowy/ice storm…

Ho… Talking about beauty… I should get my eyes off the laptop screen and see if I can also find some interesting landscape within the train, not just through the windows ;-)…

Have a good one!

BYE
MAD

My lonely Sunday...

Salut again,

still sitting in my living room but not on the same sofa, I took the opposite one this morning... Working from home until the voting office opens... I take a little break to have a healthy breakfast (what? Nutella is very healthy you know) and a nice hot café latté... miamm... And thus I decided to tell you a little bit about what I did (or didn't do) yesterday...

When I wrote about it yesterday, before I actually started my day, even though I told you I didn't have a plan, there were a few things I wanted to do... Like working on my Novel (didn't do it), get some work done (didn't do much, just hit a few walls, ouch!), do the laundry (I finally started it this morning, I had to sleep in the guest room because I had removed the sheets from my bed and they were lying on the laundry room floor, I didn't feel like putting them back, they're in the dryer now), get some rest (I got a good chunk of that), and have dinner at la Piazzetta with my parents... Got half of that done... My parents couldn't make it...

I got through a few backlogs of personal emails, listened to some music, had a few beers and chips, learned a new song on the guitar and vocals (Your song, from Elton John, great song, I just love singing it... If only I could sing it right!!!)... I also lost plenty of time trying to get my cell phone plan upgraded with a data plan (now that they are getting closer to be affordable), but both Rogers and Fido's web site are just plain broken unless you want to get a new phone... I don't want a new phone, even if you are giving it to me for free... I already have a phone that I love... I just want to be able to frikin use it as it was designed to be... to access Internet wherever I am without having to pay zillions of dollars in monthly fees... geeez... I guess I will have to call... I hate calling these people, this is why I looooove the Internet so much... Ho well...

And then, it was already time for dinner (geee time really flies)...

My plan was to go have dinner with one of my favorite friends, the one that often goes to bed with me and get me to go to sleep later than I sometimes wish I would.. You know who... My computer of course... :-) I wanted to go work on my novel while having a good salad at my favorite local restaurant but faith decided otherwise. I arrived there at the same time as two couples that are good friends of mine, they were with their kids (and the kids are friends of my kids, of course, but my kids weren't there, they're with their mom, I told you I was alone yesterday, weren't you listening? :-)... So... I didn't get to work on my novel, but I had a great dinner with friends...

It was interesting to hear them half jokingly bitching about their relationships and how they all have to make compromises for each other, and all these other things we complain about when we are in a relationship... Yet... I could feel the love between them... Real love... And I couldn't help being a little jealous of their complaints... As I was saying yesterday, about complaining that we don't have enough time for ourselves, and then, when we finally do... we feel lonely... Aren't we all fucked up or not?

Anyway, it is now time for me to get my ass off the couch and go vote before I get to work and be productive, so that I feel I deserve all these great perks that Google gives me (at least up to now)... But before I go... I want to come back to this complaining thingy... I usually try not to complain about anything... If it is too cold in the winter (or on a freezing autumn day like today... geeez -20C...), I remember the moments in the middle of summer when people were complaining it was too hot to sleep because their air conditioning was broken (or nonexistent)... I didn't complain then, because I knew that it would eventually get so cold that I would miss this over heat... Of course, these are extremes, but what I want to get to is, like whether you're in a relationship or not, stop complaining, make the best of it... the opposite side will show up soon enough and you will then complain that you miss what you were complaining about before...

Got it?

Now just shut up and get productive (ho, sorry, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to myself... Go MAD Go... literally! :-)

BYE
MAD... Having fun... as always... :-)

What a week-end...

Salut,

sitting in the living room, still in my PJs... Yes, I do wear them, but only when I get up... Guess what I wear when I sleep? When I DO sleep ;-P...

I was thinking, while typing the first word after Salut, above (which is a classic BTW, in the last 20 some years I have been using email and other sorts of virtual communication, I always started my message with "Salut [somename]," and end them with "BYE\nMAD" :-)... But I realize now that I start most of my blog post by saying where I'm sitting... Maybe I should change my name for Sitting MAD :-)... Whatever...

I had a great week-end so far (and intend to rest a little bit today so that I can properly attack next week, which seems promising too). First things first, office party on Friday. As I was telling you my my previous post, me and an another guy were volunteers to take care of the entertainment and be the skemmtanastjóri (which stands for something like Master of Entertainment in Icelandic). We only had a few people that registered to present something, but it ended up much bigger than we anticipated...

Many people stepped up to the plate with amazing performances... we had a lot of fun... I filmed a few of these performances but didn't get to transfer the videos in my computer yet. They will most likely show up in my Youtube account at one point... Stay tuned...

And last night... I went to see Mes Aïeux, they are amazing!!! I already love them on CD, and live it is even better... I'm not a big fan of folk or traditional music, but they do it in a kind of modern way and put a special touch to it that I just love... Very good musicians, great arrangements, all sorts of instruments and excellent vocal harmonies too... But what I love the most about them is their lyrics... So well written, funny, good rhythm, etc... Simply... Excellent...

OK, now to my Sunday alone... What will I do with it? What would YOU do with it? Do you often have full days alone with nothing planned like that? I must admit there are two edges to this sword... It is attracting in the sense that we often feel we don't have enough time for ourselves... And yet, when we do get some... We feel lonely... At least I do... But I don't want to complain about it... It's my choice... and I respect it... So let's see how I use this day... Of course... I'll try hard... to.... HAVE FUN!!!

Talk to you later...

BYE
MAD

On or off... stage

Salut,

sitting in the train… For once, I was in the train about 10 minutes before departure… I usually get it at the last minute (and once in a long while… too late…)… It’s a p-day at school today and the activity for the school day care service only starts at 9 so I went to have breakfast at the little café with the kids… they love that… and so do I… :-)

At the time I got in the train, there wasn’t anybody, so I couldn’t really tell you about the cuties around me (‘cause I know you are all craving for that, right?)… But I just added this paragraph as we just got through our 5th of 8 stops (which I rarely do, add paragraphs; you usually get a single stream of consciousness with only a few minor spelling tweaks done afterward). Why do I add this paragraph you think? Come on, I know you can easily guess… yess… that’s it… A good-looking girl just took the side seat right in front of me…

I’m sitting in a front facing seat with no other seats in front of me, but the side seats where she is sitting, so I get a pretty good view of her young body… I would say, she’s about 25… OK, maybe 21… I have no clue… Definitely much younger than me anyway… So I thought I would share this with you by inserting these two new paragraphs here, that I wrote after the rest, but that you get to read before… I love this… And hey, it could have been worst, I could have told you about this even younger red head teenager that got in a few stops ago… but I won’t… OK, now back to what I was writing about 20 minutes ago… ;-)

Tonight is our office Christmas party… Last year we were about 20 (about 12 employees and 8 spouses) and this year we should be about 30… So not too big, yet, not that small either. I used to be part of the Christmas parties organization for the last few years at my previous job, and was usually the MC of the night… Tonight, I’m sharing this task with one of our two interns.

The theme tonight has been suggested by one of our Icelandic colleagues who tried to make us believe that it is a tradition in their country to have the MC(s) motivate people to expose some special talent of their own to entertain the rest of the gang (now you’re starting to see where I was going with the subject of this post :-)…

I have been pretty busy at work these days and my CoMC is not the most vocal guy, so we didn’t succeed much so far in convincing people to sign up to take a part in the entertainment tonight (we both did, each with a partner, but that’s about all we got). But I have a few ideas of how I could convince them on the spot… And I have warned them that they should prepare something because they will go on stage whether they like it or not…

I often wonder what scares people when comes time to express themselves in front a crowed? Other people’s judgment? Lack of self-confidence? Lack of interest? I have a hard time with that, because, for me, it is the other way around… I have a hard time sitting in a room when there is a stage and I’m not on it. So others could ask: “what’s wrong with these people that are always looking for the follow spot?”, and my answer is very simple… IT FEELS SO GREAT!!!

I simply love being on stage… I really miss it when I don’t have opportunities to show my talent in front of a crowed. “Show off!” some people would shout… but of course… What’s wrong with that? Everybody likes to be entertained, right? Everybody likes getting attention, right? OK, some will say: “Ho, he is so much in need of attention, poor kid”… WHY? What is wrong with needing attention? When someone eats do we say: ‘ho, he is so much in need of food, poor kid”… Or when we breathe? OK, I think you get it… :-)

It is true that some people may become annoying with it. We don’t have the same level of endurance regarding entertainment… And we don’t all appreciate the same type of entertainment (don’t worry I won’t get naked with a light shade on my head ;-)… But still, I really get the feeling that many people over exaggerate their fear of stage and thus will also over complain about those who do like to be on stage… Are they just jealous? What do YOU think?

All in all, this is simply about HAVING FUN!!! So why not? :-)

BYE
MAD the stage addict…

The Beauty and the Bus

Salut,

sitting in the bus again, as I do on an almost daily basis (if you don't count week-ends and days when I take the train, or bring the car downtown). I was walking under the rain in the parking lot and thinking that it's been a while since I told you bus stories involving good looking girls.

Oddly enough, I'm currently sitting besides two beautiful young women, both with long dark hair and pale colored eyes. Maybe they are twins??? Hhhhuuummmmm twiiiiinss.... :-)

One of them has a very good-looking diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand... Lucky man... Lucky man... The other one is reading a book, so I can't see her fingers... The book is in English, but I can't see the title... ho well...

The bus is packed (as usual, which is actually a good thing, less cars on the street, or at least, across the bridge). We're sitting on the three side benches that we must flip to sit on, so not too comfortable, and my left arm is stuck against a little half wall/handle by the side door, so it is not easy to type... But it is worth it... The young woman reading besides me smells pretty good... :-)

What? Can't I enjoy this? If we put perfume (or use any other perfumed products on our body), isn't it so that others appreciate our smell? How often do you hear someone say that they appreciate the smell in a jam-packed bus? So think again before calling me a pervert (or whatever other term you might have came up with) when I tell you that I like the smell of the beautiful young woman reading besides me with her paled colored eyes brightening through her long dark hair... OK?

I know, I know, most of you reading this have heard me say things like that before, and if you are still reading this far, it is because you appreciate it... No need to thank me... But please leave a comment if you feel like it, right TD? :-)

We just got off the bridge now. Not that I can see a thing through the wet and humid windows, I just feel it on my butt... We stopped getting the bridge bumps and now we are getting the bad road vibrations we always get on the island...

We have a tendency to blame the city (or the province) for the bad state of our roads, and they truly deserve a large portion of that blame... But there isn't much that can be done against our local weather, without substantially more money, and I don't often hear people saying that we don't give enough money to the government... But hey... If we can't complain about the way the government takes care of our roads, what can we complain about? Not the smell of the people in a jam-packed bus, right? At least... Not me... Not today... When sitting besides the Beauty in the bus... :-)

Cool… We just got passed the first stop (the only one before the terminus), and neither of my beautiful neighbors stepped out… Let’s see how long our paths will be the same… I might tell you more about it a little later… Maybe before I actually post this… but then again… maybe not… We’ll see… Till then… HAVE FUN!!! :-)

BYE
MAD

The carrot and the stick

Salut,

sitting in my bed... I have a hard time getting up these days... I usually wake up often during the night, but now I just got two nights in a row where I don't think I woke up once in the 7-8 hours I slept... Yet, I still have a hard time coming back to life... weird...

I dream a lot though... I always dream quite a lot, but I get a feeling I'm dreaming much more these days, and very weird things too... For example, last night, there were many images of the current blurryness at work, but getting to work on ice skates, and having an ice skating path through l'échangeur Turcot in Ville St-Jacques, near the Angrignon exit, including an ice rink overpass...

That was weird, but even worst than that, meeting Marc Labrèche playing a guitar and borrowing it from him, only to realize it is all fucked up, OK, missing strings, having strings just going half way through the neck, OK, but then he gives me some sort of appendage that you stick to the guitar as a neck replacement, that was a little weirder, but the worst of it, is that I had a hard time playing the guitar because it was full of... spaghetti and meat sauce... Now THAT's weird...

I usually dream about stuff that are a little less weird, and I actually enjoy the other lives I live while I'm sleeping. But that's not what I wanted to to talk to you about this morning. I was thinking about a very interesting conversation I had with a friend last night, where I was telling him about how pain and pleasure drives our lives, and not money or the economy.

I think Freud said that we only have things driving us, sex and survival. Darwin would agree since we need the survival instinct to... survive and the reproduction instinct to... Of course... reproduce... And this is why sex is soooo much fun... Otherwise, who would reproduce just for the fun of it... And since survival can be so painful, yet crucial, we have to go through pain to keep having pleasure...

the carrot...

and the stick... ;-)

I truly believe that we are only driven by pain and pleasure... How much pain are you willing to endure to get to the pleasures you want? How much pleasures are you willing to deprive yourself to avoid the pain associated to earning those pleasures? And yes, I admit that the economy is a strong portion of that, how much money are you willing to painfully invest in the pleasure of buying?

I have a brother who is voluntarily single (and have been for a while) because he says that having someone to satisfy his needs of companionship that he strongly feels about 2 days a month, is not worth the investment of the painful compromises you need to make when you live with someone else during the other 28 days of the month... Or something like that...

So what drives YOUR life? The economy? The society of mass consumption, which we live in? Or... the carrot... and the stick?

BYE
MAD... The carrot?
or
MAD... The stick?
S:-P

About winter...

I used to hate winter... When I was a kid, I was convinced I would move out of Montreal as soon as I would get a chance. I was always attracted by California and Australia but anywhere without rough winters would do.

I met the mother of my kids at the university. My initial plan was to go do a PhD at MIT or Standford but she wouldn't follow, so I didn't go (I also got the opportunity of starting my PhD without finishing my masters degree, because I was sooooo gooooood :-). A friend of mine said that I was week... I had the choice between promise land... and.... sex... And I chose sex... week.... week.... soooooo weeeeek... ;-)

Well, as we often say, even though that relationship didn't work out for more than say... 16 years and a half... I have two great daughters, so it was well worth it...

But back to the subject of winter, it is true that having kids, help appreciate winter. They simply love it when it snows... But they don't have to shovel it!!!

I started to accept winter just a few years ago. There was about 3 feet of snow that had fallen during the night, and I had to go out to shovel the stairs down to our driveway (these are wide and deep stairs). I got dressed, sighing loudly, kind of discouraged about the task at hand, but resolved myself to do it.. I had no choice, right? Well... When I opened the door and stepped out, in the freezing cold, I took a deep breath of fresh dense oxygen, and actually appreciated it... I look at the big pile of snow in front of me and decided not to discourage myself as I usually do and approach it just one step at a time... A 3 feet deep step, but still... One step at a time... And I went through the whole thing in no time... And felt good about it...

Since then, winters have been much easier for me (though last year, I was really thinking about moving to California, and work at the Google head quarters, but I would never leave my kids behind, so this time it is not sex that prevented me from going to promise land, it is responsibilities... though it all started with sex of course... whatever)...

And the reason I wanted to talk to you about it today, is that I had a few interesting moments recently, where I simply walked in my kitchen, and had a winter feeling (I don't know if it is the outside temperature, the early darkness or what), but it really felt like winter and I appreciated the warmth of my kitchen and it kind of brought me back to passed winters spent in this kitchen (don't ask my why the kitchen, I don't know, there seems to be a special aura in there), but the weirdest thing is that... it felt... good... weird... It feels like winter, and it feels good... Really weird...

I tried to analyse this... Maybe it is because it reminds me of past winters when my family was still whole and I had my kids full time with a woman in the house... Maybe... Then again, maybe not... Maybe I actually appreciate the fact that for a few months we get secluded in our houses, and the warm comfort of our kitchen brings us a sense of well being that I learned to appreciate... Maybe.. I don' know...

How do YOU feel about winter?

BYE
MAD

Sleepy in the bus...

Salut,

sitting in the bus for my first morning ride in almost two weeks now. Got back from California Tuesday night, and did a little detour to GG's place until the wee hours... Hey... I had not seen her in about 10 days, come on, gimme a break... So I went home and went to sleep a little before 4AM on Wednesday morning, woke up at 8h24 to catch the 9AM train (I find the train more comfortable, but the schedule is not flexible enough for me to take it often... I could have used the train this morning, it is 9h23 now and the bus is just starting, so I would have been sitting in the train for the last 23 minutes as opposed to freezing my ass out at the bus terminal, but since the earliest train back is at 15h40, arriving home at 16h20, it will be a bit tight for my Thursday taxi night, there is a kids dance class that starts at 17h15 and I must have time to get some grocery, prepare dinner and eat it before, so out of the train at 16h40, at school 5-10 minutes after, kids out of school another 5-10 minutes later, this doesn't leave me much time...

Anyway, sorry for the information overload, but hey, I don't think you would be here reading this if you didn't crave for more... :-) But I must admit, it might not be as interesting to read about my public transport timing issues not being well synchronized with my kids school and leisure, but it's not just about what we say sometimes, it is how we say it that makes it interesting or not.

One of my literature teachers once said (and I say that, like if I had many of them when I only been to 3-4 creative writing courses at UQAM :-), most if not all stories have already been written. We simply tell them differently now, but all in all, they are the same stories told again and again and again and again... And we are not only talking about Hollywood movies here (and don't get me wrong, there are lots of good movies made in Hollywood, I just use it to make a point). We have been telling each other stories for a few hundred thousand years already, and there is only a finite set of them...

This reminds me of a very good short story from Borgès in his Fiction collection about an impressively large library that contain all potential books of 410 pages, each having the same number of lines and each lines with about the same number of characters. Every possible combination of characters was there, so there were lots of books. Only a small portion of these books were actually readable, and even fewer actually made sense. Yet, since all the possibilities of combinations of characters were there, all possible stories (that could be told in this given number of pages) were somewhere to be found, including the exact story of your life, or mine or anybody else, whether real or fictional... This is kind of impressive... mind boggling actually... Can you imagine finding one of these books? Wow...

So the point is (yes, there is a point to all this, even though it isn't always clear to me when I start writing a post, I always end up converging to something kind of interesting, and it is rarely on purpose :-), I didn't want to believe it then, but I do agree now that all stories have been told, all possible lives have been lived, yet, we keep on kicking, and I keep on writing... because, it is not only about the story itself, it is how it is being told, it is not about the life that you have to live, it is how you live it, or again, as I quoted Mr. Randy Pausch in a previous post, it is not about the cards you were dealt with, it is how YOU decide to play them.

So even when I simply tell you stuff that might not seem interesting in itself, ask yourself why are you reading? How come you want to keep reading? Is it just curiosity? Or is there something bigger, something harder to explain or even understand, that keeps us all together, like the force. May it be with you!

BYE
MAD... Obi MAD Kenoby :-)

Prepare for take off

Sitting in the plane, writing on a notepad because we just took off and we can't use electronic devices… But I just realized that taking off doesn't impress me as much as it used to… I remember the first time I was on a plane, taking off was soooo coooooool...

Ho, we can now use electronic devices, even though we must still keep our seat belt fastened, this plane has two distinctive warning lights, one for the seat belt and another one for "turn off electronic devices"...

So now, I'm typing on my computer, but not for long, because I don't have much battery left, I used it all on the first flight from SFO to ORD, and now I'm heading to Montréal.

So I'm hitting the save button every few seconds, because I don't trust my Mac to go to sleep elegantly, it sometimes do it in an unpleasant way... Ho well... Toys will be toys...

So, what I wanted to talk about is the fact that there are too many things that don't impress us anymore because we got used to it... Like the take off of an airplane... Or the colors of a sunset (though this still amazes me like crazy, I can't stop taking pictures of the sky at sunset even though I already have tons of pictures of sunsets, I just don't get tired of it)...

Actually, as I was taking pictures of the sunset and other interesting views from my airplane window between San Francisco and Chicago, I realized that I take way too many pictures... With digital, it doesn't matter too much, I used a bit of electricity, and shorten the life of my cell phone a little bit too, but nothing drastic so that it could be called waste...

But I wondered why I was taking so many pictures... Could it simply be to capture these moments that amaze me now, in case I get so used to them that they don't amaze me anymore? Like a plane taking off...

Or could it be because I'm alone? Since I have no one to share this with at the moment that I live it (like those walks on the beach along side California Highway 1), I take pictures to that I can share these moments with people like you until I get to live them with someone else?... Could it be?

I don't know, but at the same time, I don't want to stop being impressed by the magic of nature and also technology which you already know how much I love. When thinking about some pictures I took of myself on the beach, and also reading a book about the father of the main character that might suffer from Alzheimer, I was imagining myself, old and grumpy, not remembering a thing, and someone I love was showing me those pictures of the days when I was letting myself easily be impressed by something as simple as the sun setting down on the ocean while I watch it and take pictures of it with my back laying against the rock of a cliff...If I ever get in that state, with absolutely no chance of recovery... Please... pull the plug...

BYE
MAD... Feeling a little gray, coming back from Sunny California...

This is SOOOOO me....

BYE
MAD
P.S.: Yes, I'm alive... And I'll be back with a few post that I worked on while off-line yesterday... after a week of crazy work work work across the meetings galore I was describing previously... Did you miss me? Please say yes!!! Because as you can see in the image above, I have no clue how love works... So gimme some... :-)

WTF do I do with my life?

Sitting under the Californian sun at a terrace on Castro street in Mountain View.

View Larger Map
Click and drag on the map,
It's pretty cool!
Having a chicken Caesar salad and an Alley cat amber ale.
Don't know yet what I'll do with my afternoon. Might go to Napa. In my previous trips in the area, I often went to the beach, driving between the see and the cliffs, it's a beautiful scenic road the California Highway 1.

In those previous trips, I also often panic, thinking that I might not be properly investing the precious time of my life that I had the luxury of enjoying here.

I just took a picture of this page with an interesting shadow from my glass of water with coca cola logo on it.

Let's try it with my beer now :-)

OK, so, I was saying that I used to stress about not properly using my time here... But what does it mean to "properly" us one's time? It's all about what we want to do with our life, right? Most of the time, we think of what we are "going" to do with our lives, in the future tense... Like if our lives were only to become and never "to be"... Here... NOW!... So Now, I wonder, what am I doing?...

Well... I'm writing these words on a notepad that I will hopefully type on a computer (as I'm doing now, while eating at the Davenport Roadhouse :-) and post it (soon.... soon... :-)...

{some time passes}

Now I'm sitting in front of the starbucks (and I'm typing the text while in bed at the hotel) with a venti latté in my hand, ready to roll in the big Mercury Grand Marquis that Enterprise gave me because they were out of smaller cars... ho well...
But where will I go? So back to the topic of freaking out in the past because I might not "optimize" my time here based on standards that others have set to define what it means to "properly" use one's time... Well... you know what? I don't give a fuck!... I'm going to do whatever I please and if I feel like doing squat or even work instead of visiting a museum or watching a nice sunset while walking on the beach... Who cares?... My loss... My choice... But if I don't give a fuck, why should I worry... We are so weird...

Go MAD Go...

BYE
MAD
P.S.: I have a post about a similar subject, in one of my French blogs.

Meetings gallore...

Salut,

this is a small morning quickie, to show you that I'm still alive, I survived an incredible number of hours sitting at meetings for a single day. A bunch of us (from Google Montreal) are here (Mountain View, Ca, in the silicon valley) to pick the next project we will work on... So we are courted by a few projects that we will get to choose from.

It is interesting to see how we are openly given a choice of what we will work on, yet reminded that what the corporate priority would be, trying to influence the choice a little bit... But so far, we are still free to choose... Though they expect us to be at least 5 on the same project for it to make sense to have people in Montreal working on it, so our freedom is kind of limited by the freedom of the others...

So it will be interesting to see what comes out of this... But I surely wouldn't this to sound like a complaint what so ever, I know that in most other normal companies, you don't 'really' get to choose what you work on, you are being assigned... Google is so cool...'

Well, I'll finish by letting you know that I'm typing this in my bed while GG is watching my my head laying on a pile of pillows using the newly released Google Talk Video, have youn tried it? It is really good... Try it... You'll see... And you'll see VERY CLEARLY... Google rules!!! :-)

BYE
MAD

About to take off...

Sitting at the gate, waiting to board flight 8262 from United which is actually a Air Canada plane with another flight number, ho well…

It’s 7:23AM, we’re boarding at 7:30 to take off at 8:05. So I had set my alarm clock set at 5:00AM knowing I would take some time to get out of bed, in the shower, then in the car, on the road and to the airport early enough in case there would be some traffic at the customs and security. Of course, I had forgotten to print the details of my trip and the computer connected to my printer crashed (what else is new?)…

But I made it early enough to have time for a large latte and muffin (which I’m still taking some sips and pieces between the lines, like… now… :-))…

It amazes me to see the amount of detailed organizations our lives are floating through. Can you imagine the number of ideas from different people needed to converge so that the last 2 and half hours I have just lived worked as it did?

Some might say that simpler would be better. I could have woken up at the same time, have a breakfast at home, made from food that would have been raised on my land by a women that would have given me zillions of kids so that we would all get out of the house at sunrise and take care of the land and stock that feeds us. I would have built our house from my own hands with wood that I would cut myself on the land I own, etc… etc… etc…

But I was born with a set of skills that suites computer science so much better. And working for Google, which helps so many people find the information they are looking for. A company like Google, based on a technology like computers and Internet wouldn’t exist without the collaboration of multiple generations of people having the talent, the energy and the will to invent new things to make the life of others easier and hopefully more enjoyable.

Even though many people complain that technology has brought us a stressful fast pace life, I think it improved so many other things that it was worth it. It is just up to us to take the good and leave the bad out of it. Relax, don’t stress, breath in, breath out, one step at time, things will be good if you are good… Just trust your good side and invest a little bit of effort controlling the bad one, you’ll soon see, that you won’t try to blame technology so much anymore :-)

OK, boarding time… Talk to you later :-)

BYE
MAD
P.S.: Pour les francophones je vais aussi documenter mon voyage en Californie sur mon autre blog mad-voyages…

Sleep?

Am I getting tired? I barely posted this week (though you are still loyal and come visit almost as often, thanks, I appreciate it). I've been going to bed late almost every night, but busy with other things than blogging. And I try to use my bus rides time to catch up on emails or re-work my novel (I'm half way through the 3rd of 18 chapters now, and I expect much less changes as I get closer to the middle since most people who read it, or at least the ones who told me about it, said that after the first third, or maybe half way through the novel, it becomes a page turner, you just can't let it got, let me know if you would be curious to try it, it is in French though :-).

There is one night that I crashed in bed around 8:32 to sleep almost one stretch (I almost always wake up a few times during the night), to finally wake up at 6:48... This is because I was under attack... A big bad flu bug was trying to get the best of me... But I fought hard... And I think I won... So far... Let's see if the early flight and the jet lag of my trip to California tomorrow will not give him an unfair advantage if he still have enough strength for a second attempt... We'll see... I should try to get to bed early tonight, but I have things to prepare, and will most likely have one last interesting visit from you know who before I leave for around 10 days (and then come back for 6 days with the kids)...

What I would have needed is a long sleep this morning... But I have a very hard time doing that... I don't know why, but mornings are not for sleeping for me... Actually, late nights either, I love to stay up late... Fortunately, my body doesn't seem to need much sleep (there are much more important things that my body needs, like FUN for example... ho... and food... One of the things that kicked me out of bed early this morning, besides the fact that I couldn't sleep, because I could have still at least stayed bed... but no... My stomach asked me to get up and have breakfast.... I could hear it.... grrruuummmmbbbbllleeee... I know, long parenthesis, sorry, but you are probably used to that by now :-)...

I wish I wouldn't need any sleep at all so that I would have more time to do all those FUN things that excite me... Like writing those stupid things that go through my mind all the time and hope to entertain you with it. Write a little less stupid things in short film scenarios, and then write hopefully intelligent and more interesting things in novels, and also get some work done for my employer so that I can pay the bills and have a few little extras like that great week-end I had last week at L'Eau à la bouche, etc... etc... etc...

But nope, my body doesn't like it if I don't sleep enough. Earlier this week, I had an ugly blood stain in the white of my left eye, I also have two bad 'aphthous ulcères' in my mouth, one on the side of the tongue close where the upper and lower teeth meet... ouch!... very painful when I eat (so I kind of lost my appetite this week), and another one on the inside of my upper lip... no fun...

So my body talks to me by sending those weird encoded message when I don't have enough sleep... I say weird encoded because I don't really feel sleep, I don't feel tired, my mood doesn't change much (OK, I might a little less patient with my kids, but I still make them laugh a lot :-)... So it seems I need to suffer to get the message and try to sleep more...

But next week, I'll be in California, this is not a place to sleep. I'm there for work, first, of course, but I also want to get the best of it... we'll see... I'll keep you posted... But for sure... I'll have fun... I know I will... Especially tomorrow... I already told about this girl I haven't seen in 27 years, right? I'm taking off in about 24 hours now...

Till then!

BYE
MAD

What are we doing here?

Today I heard about a friend who passed away last night. Wasn’t a very close friend, but the little interactions we had a few years ago were very interesting. What struck me the most when I learned about his death is what his sister was saying about him; how he invested the last year of his life teaching others about life and death. You can read some of his teaching on a blog he wrote at http://healemru.com.

It reminded me of the Last Lecture from Randy Pausch, this Carnegie Melon professor who died less than two months ago after spending the last year of his life teaching the rest of the world about the importance of doing something with our lives.

Why wait for the last year of our lives to spread the word. I wrote an essay 10 years ago about the meaning of life (and I talk about it in this post about Making the world a better place). It was one of my first writing efforts and is a little clumsily written, but the essence of that essay can be summarized simply in two rules of life:

1. Do everything you can to make the life of others more enjoyable, either now or in the future.
   
   
2. Enjoy every moment of your life…
   Thanks to all that others have done in the past (and present)
   to make our lives more fun today.

In an even simpler way

1. Give for the future
2. Receive from the past

Darwin explained how natural selection helped species adapt to their environment by the survival of the fittest. Humans have found ways to adapt the environment to their needs and the ones that survived were those who paved the way for the coming generations… This is what makes us human…


So be human and invest your life in transforming our environment to better suit our needs, including yours… I know I will…

And never, ever, forget… to have fun!!!

BYE
MAD… a little sad, but still MAD…

Another morning train quickie

Salut,

long time no see... Did you miss me? I missed you... But things are a little eclectic (I actually meant hectic, but eclectic kind of fits too :-) these days. I'm currently sitting in the train, half way to my destination (which is the downtown terminus, and my home stop is at the other end of the track), we are now crossing Mercier bridge, and the view is great here, especially with the clear and sunny blue sky we have this morning, the St-Lawrence river is a a truly beautiful sight.

I was going through my email and decided to take a little break to talk to you a little bit. I told you about Kino on Friday, and then I went to a very nice place in the Laurentian called L'Eau à la bouche. very good food, and wine (we had the special menu where they provide a different type of wine with all the different dishes and explain why they chose that specific wine, very nice)... Anyway, very nice week-end... I also went to a VIP night for a Kino fund raiser on Monday, that was fun too, and my usual 120Km detour got me home at 3h30 Tuesday morning, so sleep is kind of ow priority these days...

I also told you a few post back that there will be changes at the office and that I might have to go to California to discuss it (poor kid). Well we finally booked our trip, we will be there next week. But fun thing about this trip is that I will make a pit stop in Denver and stay there for a few hours to meet a friend. We have seen each other just once, and that was over 27 years ago... We have writtne for a few years after that and found each other again recently via Linked in (no, Facebook is not the only way of making contact with old friends).

We had met at the "Sitting bull" ranch near Lake George in 1981 (I think), she was from New-York. We actually didn't spend that much time together, but she was very good looking (and nice too), and I was a teen, you know... And the funny thing is that, fate decided that we would keep contact in an interesting way. We were about to leave, and my dad realized that there was a mistake on his bill (or something like that) and had to go back to reception. I followed him and saw her on the way, we talked a little bit and when I told her we were leaving, she offered to exchange address so we could write... And we did... For many years...

OK, I think need to go back to work... I don't even have time to work on my Novel these days, just a few minutes here and there on the bus. But I started working on the music that will go with. I went to spend the night at my friend Norm who has an interesting studio in his basement (and he's a much better musician than I am), so that we start collaborating on this music... I will most probably post the results of our creative sessions here... as we make progress...

Talking about creation, I still didn't talk to you about the Creators Club Redux, but I will... Don't worry, I will... But not today... Gotta go back to work... Anyway, we are approaching downtown now... So I wish you a good one... Till next time...

BYE
MAD