louisworld.ca

We finally made the switch. When we moved to our present location 5 years ago, Videotron wasn’t reaching our house yet. We had then moved to ExpressVu. But lately, we became more and more disappointed by the service and price of the Bell offerings. By switching our phone, television and internet access to Videotron, we end up saving 40$ a month! The installation was a breeze and the technician very friendly. The phone and internet is served up by the same box. The cable enter that box and two connector go out, one for a computer/router and another to feed back into your existing phone lines inside the house. As for the TV, we don’t have a fancy HD TV yet so we settled for the basic digital offering. Now we just have to get used to the user interface of the decoder’s built-in navigation.

Nous avons… euh avions une souffleuse à neige qui rouillait sur place depuis quelques années à cause d’une soudure qui avait lâchée. Cette soudure manquante faisait que pendant l’utilisation de la dite soufleuse, les deux poulies d’entraînement de la mâchoire à neige se désenlignaient résultant en un désengament de la courroie… en bon français la strap débarquait.

J’avais toujours la bonne intention de faire réparer la soudure et de faire un entretien majeur du reste (nettoyage du carburateur, peinture, graissage, …) mais n’ayant pas la place, je ne l’ai jamais fait… Résultat: encore plus de rouilles après quelques années de plus à rien faire.

Mais revenons au sujet du jour. Comment se débarasser de sa souffleuse à neige facilement? Il suffit de la mettre sur le bord de la route la veille de la collecte des ordures! Nous n’étions pas certain que ça allait fonctionner, mais en moins d’une heure après l’avoir placer en bordure de la route avec le recyclage, résidus verts (à Gatineau, ils font ça) et ordures ménagères, quelqu’un embarquait notre futur-ex-souffleuse dans sa remorque.

Last Wednesday, there was a FedEx notes stickied to my door. Now, I hadn’t ordered anything recently so I had no clue as to what the package was. The tracking number revealed that it was coming from Illinois but that didn’t help. I thought it might be finally the iPod shuffle I won back in December. So I headed towards the FedEx depot, located in the boonies, a small street over at the airport… Upon my arrival there, I saw the sticker for OWC, the parent company of NewerTech, the maker of the miniStack that I returned under warranty when it abruptly stopped working on me.

Turns out the firmware on the device was damaged so they replaced the bridge board. Thanks OWC!

The last two weeks have been horrible! Rain, cold and even 3 inches of snow last Monday! Hadn’t taken my bike on since April 3rd… The next few days, the sun is supposed to grace us of its presence and warmth. Finally!

The last weeks have been very busy as well. Mostly outside of work with my professional association. The end of the fiscal year has passed and we need to prepare the annual meeting, prepare the end of year reports, organize the wine tasting event to draw people to the annual meeting.

Plus house work (it never goes away does it?) and a few more pens. I’m also still learning the software to drive my pen selling website.

There’s also lots of changes on Motorcycle-Journal.com. We changed owners again but this time it’s moving forward. The forum software was updated, we’re getting a new appearance finally and the revenue scheme will change as well, for the better.

Last Friday, we went to see Michel Donato, internationally known jazzman. He was playing at La Basoche, a small concert hall in Aylmer (now part of Gatineau). The hall is a cozy one with a maximum seating capacity of 120 people in a cabaret style: small round tables with chairs positioned to face the stage where you can sip you drink while listening to the musical event.

Donato was accompanied by 4 other musicians, Michel Felderbaum at the guitar,François Théberge at the tenor saxophone, Piotr Wojtasik at the trumpet and Michel Lambert at the drums (replacing for Karl Jannuska). Wojtasik was definitely the show’s highlight with a powerful presence and enthusiasm!

Bonne et heureuse année 2007 à tous mes lecteurs.

A happy and wonderfull 2007 to all my readers.

I’m currently sitting at the main Concert Hall at the National Arts Center in Ottawa. My daughter is on stage with her teacher for a Christmas rehearsal. I’m alone in the seats, my own little private concert with about 40 people playing for me I’m of course able to write these lines because there is wireless access at the NAC’s, fully open too… but hey it’s free.

My daughter was asked by her teacher to join the NAC Orchestra for National Arts Centre Orchestra Players’ Association presents Christmas FanFair concert. Needless to say that we are proud and thrilled that she is given this wonderful opportunity.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain. Why the early bird gets the worm. Life isn’t always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 – year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Calpol, sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents,

Truth and Trust; his wife. Discretion; his daughter. Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Reprinted from probably a multitude of websites