My first days in Strasbourg

Here I am, 2 miles away from Germany, in this city which is going to be my home for the next 9 months or so. The apartment I found on internet is pretty small but very cozy. It is on the 5th floor (with no elevator) which made my move very interesting as it took me about 1.5 hours to unload the all car and carry everything upstairs… At least I’m sure that I’m going to do some exercise everyday! The apartment is about 2 minutes away from a tram station and it takes about 10-15 minutes to go downtown. Going to school is another story though as it takes about 50 minutes door to door by the tram. I might get a car mid-September but gas is just so expensive here (1.3€ per liter which is about $6.2 per gallon) that I’m going to wear my soles out for a while.
The city is really nice, with a lot of small places where to find trouble. I have been walking the streets quite a bit and I’ll post pictures soon. As far as the food is concerned, it is far to be light but it is so gooood! The beer and wine are also really good. Hopefully, I have my 5 floors everyday to keep my figure!
So for now, I’m working a bit and relaxing before school starts (one more week). I won’t have internet at home before the 5th of September… and for those of you who are wondering how I can survive without internet, I have to say that I’m doing OK even if I’m feeling like a junkie without crack sometimes ;) What the hell are they doing at France Telecom???? ;)
The pics of the apartment are here and I’ll post some of the city soon.

From the far West to the far East.... of France !

Today was my last day at work. It has been a good experience and I made a little bit of money too which is always good. Tonight I'm packing as I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Switzerland with Tom. From there, I'll be loading my mum's car with my stuff (hope everything fits in there...) and we'll be driving to Strasbourg on saturday. So saturday night will be my first night at my new home. Actually I should say "our" new home since I'm going to share the place with Chris, from Canada and Daniel, from Israel. Having people from 3 different countries, speaking different languages and with different cultures, living together without knowing each other before will be some kind of an adventure ;) So for now I'm packing and cleaning this mess:

before putting it on the east side of the country... ;) And if everything goes as expected, I'll be posting my next message and pics from my home, a beer in one hand and a slice of Flammenkusche in the other one (what do you think toes are for???)

My last week-end in Brittany...

This week-end was my last one on the island since I'm moving for Alsace and Strasbourg by the end of next week. Friday evening I went to La Baule and spent the night at my grand-parents. Alex took off saturday morning to meet up with her choir. So I came back to Suce on Saturday morning and spent the day there working. Saturday evening, I sat down on the deck with a blanket (nights are chilly here too) and spent half of the night stargazing as the Perseids were visible like every year in August. It has been a while since I took the time to enjoy a starry sky.... I have totally forgotten how magic this can be... Sunday I drove back to l'Ile aux Moines to meet up with Dad. Dad sailed in a regatta all day and came up pretty tired at the end of the day... He finished 13th out of 25 which is not too bad ;) Monday (today), we just spent the all day enjoying the sun and watching boats racing in the Gulf.


Next week-end I will be in Strasbourg, moving in my new appartment. Matt will be arriving on the 26th so I need to find the good places to have beers so I can take him for a drink...
The pictures of the week-end are here. Enjoy !

What a day!

Since a few days I'm working on risk analysis. My job is to study what happens when any particular server or rack goes down. Basically I have to determine which department is affected and/or which part of the production chain is stopped by a server crash. Then I have to write a procedure that would allow the company to resume its activity as quickly as possible. That's pretty interesting and challenging too when you know that they have some 18 servers here. Anyway, today at about 10:30 am everything crashed. Very badly. It seems that overvoltage is the cause of the crash. The whole circuit blew. All the servers went down, the APC was unable to reload... No PCs, fax, or telephone lines... The nightmare scenario... We lost servers (mother boards burnt out) so it took us a while to have the minimum working (basically telephone lines and the business application they are using there) as some of the servers that were supposed to be used as spare were damaged too... And try to have a HP technician to come at noon in the middle of August in France... After struggling with burnt hubs, workstations and servers, we finally ended up having something working.... 5 hours after the crash.... I don't know how many miles we ran this afternoon between the different departments and computer rooms but probably a lot ;) I haven't had time to study such a crazy scenario before it actually happened but now I know what should be done and what shouldn't...
As for tonight, I'm enjoying Jack Johnson and Sting while playing with the pics of our Bahamas trip. Way more relaxing. This week-end is a 3-day week-end as the 15th of August is a holiday here. Friday I'm going to spend the night at my grand-parents' with Alex in La Baule, come back to Sucé saturday and leave again for the Gulf of Morbihan on sunday morning to meet up with dad.
I have 9 days left before moving in Strasbourg. It will be very nice to finally settle down for a few months and meet with my new roomies. The only thing I'm concerned about is that it might take 10 days to have internet at home... Can I live during 10 days without an internet connection??? not sure at all ;)
Aaaaah here is my favorite song... remind me his concert in Eugene in April... I have a live version of this one (from the album "All the time") and that's a good thing I don't have any neighbour here ;)
I'm leaving you with the lyrics. Have a good night...

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play, every night you stay
I'll be watching you

Oh, can't you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face
I look around, but it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please,

Oh, can't you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake
I'll be watching you
Every move you make, every step you take
I'll be watching you
I'll be watching you

~Sting

They're back home!

I didn't know I could hold my breath for 45 minutes... I can barely feel my fingers. It was fascinating to watch this bird touching down.
I'm going back to work now. People here are wondering what I'm doing with headphones and my eyes glue to the monitor...

Changing a light bulb...

How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, darkness is the new industry standard.

How many helpdesk operators does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, the lightbulb seems to be working fine at our end.

How many Linux programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, The lightbulb is a tool of the 'man' we have engineered a new LED that is 10x more efficient but requires 2 months to learn how to flick the switch.

How many IBM corporate marketers does it take to change a lighbulb?
Thousands, but there will be only 3-5 massive bulbs located around the country...after all, what kind of market will there be for such things?

How many CIA hackers does it take to change a light bulb?
There are no hackers in the CIA....*insert silencer sound here*

How many Xerox engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
None, after developing a completely new bulb, they give away the trade secrets to be used by other companies..

How many software engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Can't be done -- it's a hardware problem.

How many mathematicians does it take to change a light-bulb?
Two. One to change it and one to give a non-constructive proof that it can be changed.

How many Freudians does it take to change a light bulb?
None, like light bulbs have anything to do with your mother...

How many government administrators does it take to change a light bulb?
Well, the details are uncertain but if you apply for a light bulb changing form, you might be able to replace your bulb sometime in the next 6 months.

How many college professors does it take to change a light bulb?
Who are you? Does my committee know that your here??

How many Resident Advisors does it take to change a light bulb?
Man...If I don't see it, don't hear it, don't smell it...I don't know about it...

24 more hours to wait...

Weather conditions instable over KSC... You can watch and listen to the crew on Nasa TV. I'm going back to work...

Less than 6 hours before landing...

Discovery is now undocked from the International Space Station. De-orbit burn is scheduled at 3:43 am (ET) and landing at 4:46am (ET). This mission has really been fascinating and stressful to follow. Just keep our fingers crossed and pray for them...

Another awesome WE...

I had such an awesome WE. On friday evening, we went for crepes and cider with Dad and Alex. Then, Alex and I spent most of saturday together as Dad left for Vannes. After a very late breakfast (11am...) and some vacation homework for Alex (I did mine before coming!), we decided to go for ice-cream (the one with the most Chantilly cream on it, of course!) and to wait for Dad on the jetty, where we took crazy pics.

In the evening we took our bikes and went to listen to some traditional Breton songs on the Penhap headland. Sunday was 100% goofing off (saturday wasn't!): late breakfast, more crepes and cider for lunch, nap and then my 2 hour-drive back to Sucé.




The pics of the WE are here.

A week-end in Brittany...

Ile aux Moines, (literally Monks' Island), is located in the Gulf of Morbihan, Brittany. It is a very quiet and small island (about 14 miles round trip) where (almost) no cars are allowed. They have great crepes and dry cider overthere and nice little wooden boats as well. And more especially, it is a place where Dad loves to hide when he is not working... So I went there to spend the WE with Dad and Alex (my younger sister).


We had a lot of fun sailing on "Clin d'oeil" and trying to fly a kite... On saturday evening I went on a small 2-hour hike and I enjoyed crepes and cider (maybe too much... ;)) I left on sunday morning to go see my grand-parents in La Baule (kind of the same as Nice but on the Atlantic coast).


I had a great week end and I enjoyed the time with my sister. She is growing up so fast... this is amazing... I'll be there again next WE and this time we'll have the kite to fly!

If you want to see some pics, they are here.