New Painting

The painting I bought arrived home yesterday. A Jeff Schaller's encaustic painting, it conveys carefree happiness in an inspiring fashion.

I fell in love with it in the art gallery ... and now it hangs in my living room (OK at a certain cost but hey!). Would be glad to hear what you think!

Louise RIP

My beautiful cat -- Louise -- died a few weeks back and I still can't quite get used to her absence... to the fact that she won't come under my cover and sleep on my arm while I read in bed in the evening, that she is not there when I get home, waiting for a cuddle and to play in the staircase. It is a weird feeling after 13 years of almost daily life together.

I lost a lot of sleep in the past months thinking of the day I would have to take her to the vet for the last time. As I saw her become weaker and weaker, I knew that the end was getting closer. One day there was no more escaping the hard reality. She could not really eat anymore, was getting thinner by the day and almost never moved from het cot in the kitchen. The time had come.

We took her to the vet for what would be the last shot. In the waiting room I had trouble keeping my tears back especially when another customer saw her and said how gorgeous she was. And this is true, even in her last moments she was still utterly gorgeous: big green eyes, tiny pink nose, beautiful grey coat.

Lately, her Mom Bonnie, who is the only remaining cat in our house, has taken up the habit of miaowing frantically from the top of the house. Is she looking for Louise? Is she lonely, bored? Does she do that only when we are home? Should we get a kitten to keep her company?

Complicated (and gritty) keyboards

Complicated (and gritty) keyboards
Originally uploaded by egoes

Here a pic taken by my friend Enrique while on the road in Thailand. Made me smile because I have had quite a few keyboard discussions recently, so it just seemed fitting.

Let me tell you more about why keyboards are a topic of discussion...

My work keyboard has a broken "leg"... that is, it won't stay level and it is driving me bananas. So I ventured out and starting looking at potential replacements.

I fell in love with the flat Mac keyboard, sooooo "sweet" but the alt and apple key are reversed compared to a PC keyboard (sigh). I guess I would get used to it :-)

Then I thought that a keyboard with a touchpad (aka a cat) would be cool to have. With that I could reduce the time my arm spends extended over a mouse and -- thus -- help reduce my shoulder tendinitis (still going on - re-sigh). I found a few but so far it does not look good for a Swiss French layout (re-re-sigh).

Then my friend Chris asked if he could borrow a keyboard to enter some stuff faster into his iTunes library. "Sure!" I said. Off I went and found my old keyboard in the attic (white - yuk!) and happily brought it with me for him. Silly me forgot that the PS/2 adapter is no more a fixture on modern laptops (re-re-re sigh). ended up having to "borrow" a keyboard from a colleague's desk... but don't tell anyone!

So you see keyboard are at the forefront on my mind these days. Fascinating life I live!

One Step Closer to the Digital Home

This week I finally got all the elements together to stream my digital music collection on my stereo system.

First I has to find a NAS hard disk with an iTunes server. Luck stroke in FNAC where I found something that looked the part: LaCie Home Edition 500 Gb. Check!

I'd been eyeing the second part of the installation for a while but at 500.- Sfr., the Logitech Squeezebox was just a little dear for my budget. Especially when one is in experimentation mode... So, after another trip to the FNAC (!), I came back with a Soundbridge device (by Roku Labs). Check!

Then started the battle, I plugged everything in and the bloody devices were not talking to each other. For that matter, the LaCie iTunes server was not talking much to anything wireless. I could access the hard disk volume wirelessly but not the iTunes server part... Back to the drawing board, or in this case, the support boards!

I visited the Roku, Axentra, LaCie support boards and read a lot of stuff until the wee hours to no avail. And then after a good (tho' short) night's sleep the solution dawned on me... What if it was my router that was the issue? Quite a few elements were pointing in that direction so I visited yet another support board; the Netgear one this time.

Once I had worked out which router version I have (finally found it on the sticker under my router - no way you can find that in the admin panel it seems), I ventured to download the latest firmware. And here something I have the biggest problem with on the Internet happened: I was redirected to a page in German and ONLY in bloody German (I will write about my frustration on this one in a separate entry soon, I can feel my blood boiling again). Trying to stay calm, I downloaded the new file, uploaded it to my router and voilà! my iTunes server and wireless streamer were on speaking terms!

So now on to the next stage: digitalizing my CD collection... I have been diligent in the last two years and every CD I bought in that period is on the server already. But when it comes to the 1,500 CDs bought beforehand, I am afraid I have only reached the letter B... At an average of 10 minutes per CD, I believe I have 250 solid hours of work before me. And then, the CDs still need to be imported into each iTunes library as there is no way to share one library with multiple users over a common network. And here the LaCie NAS drive was of no help whatsoever. So if you have multiple users with iPods, you still need multiple iTunes libraries... :-(

I don't consider myself an expert on this but I think I am definitely one step closer to being able to understanding and discuss this (at length)... Good or bad news? As long as I don't become a total Anorak, we're (you're) safe! ;-)

What If Idealism Is The New Realism?

This just one of the many remarkable quotes from the closing session of the Annual Meeting 2008 where Benjamin Zander, Conductor of the Boston Philarmonic, gave an amazing talk on his vision of leadership and collaboration. Touching, funny, engaging, Mr Zander makes people in the room laugh, sing, cry (you don't see it on screen but believe me it happened), giving them a moment of deep joy and emotion.

You can check the Zanders' book: The Art of Possibility and if you ever want to watch the session, let me know and I'll try to dig up a DVD of it (unfortunately we were not allowed to keep the webcast online for copyrights reason)

Garçon!

One of my favourite songs these days. Very funny -- and militant to some extent -- lyrics and a catchy tune! Fun! You can listen to the song via the YouTube video below.

GARCON!
Koxie, 2007

Tout à l'heure
Je roulais sur mon scooter dans Paris
D'une voiture, au feu rouge, un mec me dit :
«Eh madame il est quelle heure ?»
Je lui réponds : «Midi»
Il me dit : «Madame qu'est ce que t'es bonne !
Tu veux pas m'faire une gâterie ?»
Ses potes rigolent
Sur le moment j'ai pas compris
Je réponds : «Mon grand,
C'est pas comme ça qu'on parle aux gens
Tu n'aimerais pas qu'on parle comme ça à ta maman»
Le mec me r'garde
Avec une tête de chien d'garde
Il m'fait : «Vas-y parle pas d'ma mère ou j'te défonce»
J'lui réponds : «Du calme Alphonse !
J'te connais pas, tu m'agresses
C'est quoi ce manque de délicatesse ?
On t'a pas dit d'traiter les femmes comme des princesses ?»
Il me dit : «Ouais, mais toi j'te baise !»
Je lui dis : «Ben nan justement
C'est bien ça l'malaise»
Tu sais que...

{Refrain, x2}
Garçon
Si t'enlèves la cédille
Ça fait gar-con
Et gare aux cons ma fille
Gare aux cons
Gare aux cons
Gare aux cons
Qui perdent leur cédille
Di di doum
Di di dam
Di di di di di di

J'continue mon chemin
Au feu suivant
J'entends : «Hé grosse cochonne !
Quand tu veux j'te prends»
C'est encore Alphonse avec sa tête de gland
Je lui dis : «Là tu t'enfonces, c'est indécent
J'y crois pas, mec, redescends d'ta planète
Tu t'prends pour Tony Montana
T'as même pas d'poils sur la quéquette !»
Il m'dit : «Vas-y, sois pas vulgaire
Tu vas voir où je vais t'la mettre !»
Je lui dis : «C'est moi qui suis vulgaire ?
Non mais là c'est la fête !
Je rêve, pour qui tu t'prends ?
Maintenant tu t'arrêtes !»
Je descends, il descend,
J'dis : «C'est l'bordel dans ta tête !
Qu'est-ce que tu comptes faire ?
Là t'es en galère, j'veux des excuses
J'attends, et j'lâcherai pas l'affaire»
Il me dit : «Nan, toi tu t'excuses
Espèce de vieille sorcière !»
«C'est la meilleure je t'ai donné l'heure,
J'aurais mieux fait d'me taire»
Tu sais que...

{au Refrain, x2}

Voilà comment parlent certains garçons
Quelle honte !
Ils mériteraient une bonne leçon
Tu veux jouer ? On va jouer
J'lui dis : «Baisse ton caleçon
Tu parles beaucoup, ça manque d'action
Tu m'as demandé ? Une fellation ?»
Tout à coup Alphonse a une révélation
Il renonce et me dit :
«Ouais, vas-y c'est bon !
Lâche-moi, pardon»
J'lui dis : «C'est bien
Là, t'as l'air moins con,
C'est pas normal d'avoir besoin
D'parler aux femmes de cette façon
Y a un sérieux problème d'éducation
Pourtant j'suis sûre que t'as un bon fond»
Il me dit : «T'as raison j'me sens tout bidon
C'est mes potes qui m'poussent, j'ai la pression !»
Je lui dis : «C'est bon, pleure pas !»
Il manquait plus qu'ça
Alphonse qui fond en larmes dans mes bras
Tu sais que...

{au Refrain, x2}

Not enough sleep impairs intellectual faculties. Tested for you!

It's been a weird week sleep-wise and yesterday I ended the working day slightly distracted and very (I mean VERY) tired. Once home, even tho' I was really tempted to go to bed without even having dinner (!), I decided to watch a film on Simone De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre on ARTE. I always was interested to know more about their partnership's dynamic, so even if not entirely awake, I gave it a shot. Approximately one hour and a half into the film, I realised that the narrative voice I was hearing was not part of the film's technique but the commentary for blind people... It is definitely time to get serious about getting more sleep!

December 2007 Mix

The last mix of 2007 is hot off the CD burner. You know what to do to get your copy!
As always, happy to hear your comments and critiques about the listed songs.

1. Mattafix: In The Background
2. Peder feat. Anne Trolle: White lilies
3. Timbaland: Apologize (feat. One Republic)
4. Dinner At The Thompson's: Short & Sweet
5. Justice: D.A.N.C.E.
6. Cherry Ghost: Thirsty For Romance
7. Cocoon: Christmas Song
8. KT Tunstall: Saving My Face
9. Smile Smile: Sad Song
10. Lole: A Home I Cannot Grasp
11. Stereophonics: It Means Nothing
12. Blonde Redhead: Top Ranking
13. Runaway Diamonds: Itty-Bitty Thoughts
14. Keren Ann: In Your Back
15. Seal: Rolling
16. Angus & Julia Stone: Paper aeroplane
17. The Cognac Jays: Mr Rain
18. The Cat Empire: How to Explain
19. Beirut: Nantes
20. Radiohead: All I Need

Battling with FTP settings

I have been battling with my FTP settings for months so that I can publish this blog. Two days ago, not only could I not post anymore, my whole blog had disappeared... My hosting provider kindly restored it ... Let's say I was a little surprised to find out it was a one-year-old version that they'd put back up... So now everything is back and I hope to be a little more regular in my postings.