I'm wise like a Native Chief

I always admired the Natives for living in communion with nature. Its common knowledge that they organised their daily lives based on the weather. For example, they used the Indian summer, a period of warm weather in autumn, to harvest their crops of squash and corn.

In my daily life, reacting to the weather means adopting different behaviors. For example, when the Weather Network announces on Wednesday morning that 30 cm is about to fall on Quebec in the next 24 hours, I drop everything and go snowboarding. All of that to say that today was an amazing day for the 30-odd skiers and snowboarders who made it to Mont-Edouard. Special thanks to the snow groomer!

Some people might think that ski resorts in Saguenay are not worth my while after having snowboarded in the Alps last year. However, snowboarding in a fjord below the tree line is always an experience.

My Christmas in a Video

I could blog about the amazing Christmas time we've had in Quebec, but I'd rather let Natalie's creative side tell it. Included in the video: our traditional réveillon, Christmas dinners with both sides of the family, gourmet dinner with maple-fed duck at home, friends gathering catered by my brother, and family and friends visit in Montreal for New Year's Eve.



Special thanks to that SLR camera which was the best excuse to take a break from French conversations for Natalie ;-)

Random stuff...

My last two weeks have been filled with many small random activities, and I want to immortalize them on this blog because they were so entertaining.

My friend Pierre-Luc and I went to see Martin Léon at L'Opéra. I personally think that Martin Léon's first album brilliantly named Kiki BBQ is amazing. No need to buy it though, just go watch him live, as he usually plays in small venues. L'Opéra is in fact a nice little new venue in Chicoutimi, which made his performance amazing.

My visa stories also brought me to Montreal and Toronto, where I caught up with many friends. First, JP and I had one of those quiet I'll-have-another-one-if-you-want-one-too Monday evening at the pub, followed by a sleepy Tuesday on the Mtl-T.O. train...

I followed that up with an ultimate game with The Hounds at the BMO field. These guys are so lucky, they have it all and they might not even realize it!


After a monster Risk and poker game the next day, my busiest and most famous friend made time in his calendar to have dinner with me!!! Now, having dinner with Jeremy Gutsche is guaranteed entertainment. Make sure to check his website and consider booking him for your next company event.

I ended my trip in Toronto with another quiet I'll-have-another-one-if-you-want-one-too Saturday evening at the pub with Andy and Felix. We took that time to celebrate Andy's latest addition to his family, Ava, over cigars. Good healthy fun.

What's next? Apart from the enjoyable Christmas events in Chicoutimi, my friends from Montreal have managed to find a date which will accomodate most of us to meet over the holidays (quite a challenge). There should be 18 of us, and my brother is signed up to cater the food! Stay tuned for more details...

Time's Top 10 of everything

IF you like top 10s as much as I do, you'll like this exhaustive list of top 10s the Time put together for 2008.

Christmas Time

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been really busy of late. Having to spend the month of December in Chicoutimi, I decided to learn all the memorable Christmas receipes our family enjoy every year.

Because apple crumble won't cut it on its own for the holiday season, my mother and I are cooking millions of small deserts. We are not done yet, but here is a sample of what we have achieved so far.



The Rice Krispies squares and the "biscuits bébé" were beginners receipes whereas the donuts required a bit more skills. The fake flower and the mean-looking Santas Claus were already made, thank God!

We still have a week to go, and so many more goodies to cook, I'm don't know if we'll have time!

Flashback

Thanks to Animoto (and my friend Geoff), I'm offering you a summary of my trip to India, something that I've been wanting to do for some time. I hope you like it!

Floor Story

Yesterday, Natalie asked me to wash the floor of the kitchen and the living room. The conversation went like this:

- The floor is dirty, it needs to be washed.

- You think so?

- Can't you see that it's dirty?

- No.

- Stop browsing and get off the couch and look at it, it's dirty I tell you.

- (still sitting on the couch) It looks clean to me.

- We have people coming over and it's dirty and it needs to be washed.

- But I thought you were really busy with school and your master degree?

- No, I would like you to wash it.

- ...

Now, you might envy the fact that I'm not working at the moment, but that would be forgetting Natalie's convoluted rational that I should do a bigger share of the house chores since I'm at home. Being skeptical by nature, I e-mailed a friend:

Hey,

Question: if your wife asked you to wash the floor, would you do it? I'm not sure the upside is worth avoiding the downside...

Pierre

His response took me by surprise:

Are you out of your mind? You better damn wash that floor (especially since you're not working currently and have the time). (Natalie must like my friends) Just do a crappy job so she doesn't ask you again-that way you can say that you did it, so you won't have to hear about that, and if she says you did a crappy job, you can just say - "Well, if you don't like how I do it, I won't anymore".

Armed with that wisdom, I made a Daniel-san out of myself and washed the floor. And please, if you come visit our house soon, no need to comment on how clean the floor is!



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On another note, I will be in Canada shortly. I plan to visit Toronto, Montreal, and Chicoutimi. To give back to my regular readers, I give you advance notice so that you can book some time on my calendar to have the privilege to spend time with me. See you soon!