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I'm wise like a Native Chief

2009-01-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-04T14:01:00.001-08:00

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...

2008-12-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-24T10:37:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

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!

-----------------

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!

Are you following the elections?

2008-11-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Since everyone as asking for more elections after those for Canada and the US, the Liberal party in Quebec decided to throw the province into an election. Joy. For all the out of province readers of this blog, let me summarize the news coverage which was on probably the most popular news website in Quebec about the election on this lovely rainy Nov 9:

1) Hard core separatists get into a fist fight against ... medium-hard core separatists
2) Crazy old writer believes in his chance to defeat the chief of the opposition in his riding
3) A new separatist movement is confident to win one riding from the existing separatist party
4) The federation of university students request to maintain the under-funding of Quebec's universities
... and a few more idiocies.

I don't have a problem with giving the chance to everyone to try their luck in politics, I'm not against the separatist movement, I'm not against university students taking positions in the process. What drives me nuts is that Quebec is small enough for anyone to try to understand a few big important issues (let's say education, employment/economy, and health), and then debate on the best way to go forward. Somehow, even though I spent a few hours every day looking for that debate, it just doesn't seem to be happening...

One more month to go, I'll keep you posted if something smart is said.

Does anyone think about the children?

2008-11-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Time flies, things change. An increasing number of phenomenon are evolving exponentially faster: technology's performance and cost, number of services being performed online, the number of people able to play Nothing Else Matters on the guitar, etc. An interesting consequence from these changes is how fast the subjective unit of measurement we call "generation" changes.

To highlight how fast generations evolve, I guess it's interesting to look at children and teenagers' social life (friendship, relationship and sexuality). I'm however way too disconnected with any of these topics to even consider formulating a thought which would be wordy of a second sentence. Which is why I'd rather focus this post on the evolution of video games.

Now, I am not a gamer. The only games I play are Snake and Sudoku on my cell phone and an occasional online facebook poker tournament. The last game I bought could have been NHL 94 for my Sega Genesis. The last controller I saw looked too daunting with its fifteen buttons to play with.

I however feel like I can still "get the idea" if someone explains it to me slowly. And since the game industry is about to become bigger than the music industry, I feel like it's important to get the idea. If you feel like you also need someone to help you get the idea, watch this video with David Perry. Watch it, really. To entice you, here are a few interesting pieces from the talk:
1) 43% of the gamers are female
2) the average age of gamers is 30
3) there is a $800M market of Warcraft items online (buying and selling characters and land); that would put Warcraft in front of 18 real countries in terms of GDP based on the World Bank

Now where video games get interesting is in the hands of children. Natalie teaches fifteen 7-year old students. 11 boys and 4 girls. Half of them play video games: 6 boys and 2 girls. Interesting... I tried to convince Natalie to do a long-term experiment, noting down the evolution of the impact of video games on children. I'm thinking a 10-year study on the occurrence of video games in the children's journals. It could have been really interesting to analyze that data: split by age, gender, do they have siblings, etc. I was unfortunately unsuccessful, and so, I will have to find out how video games will impact future generations in a different way.

In the end, the only question I would like to be answered is: when I'll tell my children to stop playing video games and to go play outside, will there be other kids outside to play with?

Highlands = Freedom

2008-11-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

Natalie and I continued our world freedom tour and made a stop in Scotland last week. I was glad to go back there, as last time I went I didn't take the time to visit the Highlands and the islands. I was also excited at the idea of spending a few more days in Edinburgh, a truly beautiful city! Let me randomly comment my trip while entertaining you with the sight of the Highlands.

Even though I now understand the difference between single malt, blended malt, etc I still can't taste the difference between the various types of Scotch Whisky. And trust me, I tried!

Touring the Highlands on a mini-bus for five days is a great way to become expert at Sudoku on your cell phone.

Going to a comedy club is actually a great way to get exposed to the local culture, especially when they are headlining an Irish comedian in a Scottish club with some English in the attendance. Entertaining!

If you have the chance to go to Inverness, do it. It's a great small city with good golfing, nice restaurants, and neat waterfront. If you are lucky, you might end up at the B&B of an INSEAD alum!

If you bring your girlfriend to Scotland, you increase your chance of her wanting to watch Braveheart, Rob Roy, and Highlander by 42%.

Life changing events

2008-10-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Some events change us forever. Sometimes, a profound revelation makes its way to our too-often distracted brain. Other times, someone else helps us reshape our understanding of the world. Again, other times, a personal realization awakens our true potential.

Over the last week, I have had the immense privilege to perform one of these realizations. I mastered how to make an amazing apple crumble! Now I can safely say that there was the "pre-apple crumble Pierre" and there is now the "post-apple crumble Pierre". A new world of possibilities is opening up to me, and I intend to fully enjoy it.

To tell the truth, I have been wanting to improve my cooking skills for some time. Over the last two weeks, I got the missing ingredients for making great recipes: time! Needless to say that Natalie much appreciates my new hobby! I'm actually starting to wonder if I'm not going a little over the top with my new activity... Let me give you an example:

Yesterday, I was waiting for Natalie at the neighborhood doctor's office (a pregnancy scare or something like that, I wasn't really paying attention...) On the table, on the cover of a magazine, my eyes focused on this enticing title "20 recipes for week-day dinners". I excitedly picked up the magazine, skimmed through the recipes... and tore two pages to bring the best ones home.

Was I going to far? Was I crossing an imaginary point of no-return? I closed my eyes, to make sure that I didn't crave deep down to take a nice warm bath or to watch Sex in the City, and concluded that I was still normal. After this highly emotional episode, Natalie and I were happy to come back home to the warmth of a freshly-baked apple crumble!

Everything Stefan Sagmeister learned in life

2008-10-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite website is TED.com, a website which has for goal to share ideas. The website gives you access to 20-minute presentation from technology, entertainment and design expert speakers.

I just watched a talk from Stefan Sagmeister in which he listed everything he learned in life. I thought I'd share it with my readers...

-Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
-Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
-Being not truthful works against me.
-Helping other people helps me.
-Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
-Everything I do always comes back to me.
-Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
-Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
-Money does not make me happy.
-Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
-Assuming is stifling.
-Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
-Trying to look good limits my life.
-Worrying solves nothing.
-Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
-Having guts always works out for me.

What do people say about Stefan Sagmeister
Renowned for the album covers he created for the likes of Lou Reed, Talking Heads and the Rolling Stones, Austrian-born, New York City-dwelling designer Stefan Sagmeister invariably has a slightly different way of looking at things.

Feel like voting again?

2008-10-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

Vanity Fair is in the process of selecting the best picture of the century, from and American perspective. Interesting...

Today's time waister

2008-10-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Turn on your speaker, and enjoy this website dedicated to Sarah Palin.

Simply brilliant!

2008-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

His 700 billion two cents...

2008-10-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, I've been reading a lot about the financial crisis, trying to get my head around why my retirement savings are melting faster than the ice caps I so dearly want to protect. (In an ideal world, none of them would be melting, obviously!)

Anyway, I still don't fully understand every cause, but I'm getting there. That being said, what's coming for the US is actually more interesting to read about. English and French versions available...

...et pour les francophones qui vont cliquer sur le lien en francais, je vous fais apprecier la caricature de la version anglaise, laquelle j'apprecie particulierement!

Postcard from London

2008-10-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Geoff,

I hope San Francisco is treating you well. I gues you've been real busy since you started your new job. Let me know how things are going, it's always fun to hear from you!

Over here, things are going well. I had my first outing on an 8-person row-boat last Sunday and it was quite an experience. We started rowing with four people while the other four people stabilized the boat. We gradually stepped it up, but couldn't manage more than a few strokes with everyone at the same time. You would have laughed at how unstable and amateur we looked.

Today, I attended my first All Hands Meeting with the Carbon Trust. They call it an All Day. It's always interesting to see how companies put these events together, but this one was fairly similar to Capital One. The main difference was that there was no uncomfortable clapping to end each presentation.

As you requested in your last letter, I'm sending you my blueberry smoothie recipe. I hope you'll enjoy it:
1- Put one banana, half a cup of frozen blueberries, one spoon of flax oil & one spool of flax seeds in your blender;
2- Cover it with milk;
3- Blend and serve quickly, it's better if you drink it right away.
I tried your chocolate-cheesecake surprise recipe, but couldn't get the chocolate to stick onto the cake!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Pierre

The transformation has begun

2008-10-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

As a global citizen, I enjoy taking the best from the cultures I am exposed to. From my previous experiences, I have developed a fine-tuned "quebecois" sense of humor, I make a point to eat my share of French deserts as often as I can, and everyday I keep a beautiful English-Canadian girl by my side.

I am happy to tell you that I have already adopted two great aspects of the English culture. The first one: the tea break! The tea break is a wonderful invention. In London, it's a socially accepted excuse for non-smokers to take a 5-minute break in the middle of the afternoon. My secret: I subtly drop two sugar in my cup, and got myself an extra sugar fix to my day. L'essayer, c'est l'adopter!

The second aspect of English life I have adopted is rowing. I recently joined the Twickenham Rowing Club, and I love it! I've always liked water, the view from the Thames is fabulous around our area, and this team sport allows me to meet new people from the area. (I secretly hope that this will also help me enjoy the pub scene more often...) I have posted a picture of my last outing below. Unfortunately, Natalie had trouble with how fast I was going, so it's not really centered..

I stand unsatisfied

2008-09-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's 10h40pm on Wednesday evening, London time, and I am not in a good mood.

The Habs played yesterday (in Roberval!!!) and are playing again tonight, and I have been severely under-served in terms of Habs coverage. RDS.ca, my valuable, trustworthy news website failed me today. All I have had access to today was a recap of yesterday's game, an analysis of Carbonneau's power-play lines from yesterday's game, Marc Denis' impression on his short term career outlook, and how happy the inhabitants of Roberval were to host the Habs-Sabres game yesterday.

Now, some readers might be unfamiliar with hockey in general, and hockey news coverage specifically, so let me highlight what is blatantly missing from my daily dose of hockey coverage:

1) a preview of tonight's game against the Red Wings, with some emotional reasons to care about it (first real test for the Habs against the Stanley cup winner, first game against the post-Bowman era Wings, first chance for Quebecers to see Hossa with his new team...)

2) an inaccurate yet gap-filling guess of the lines the Coach will use during the game

3) an attempt at identifying the prospects most likely to be cut first

4) a second analysis of yesterday's game by another expert - or better, an analysis using the now oh-so-popular panel-discussion format

5) the daily interview summary with Carbonneau, Kovalev, Koivu, and one of the token-French speaking players

6) an overview of this week-end's games (again, with some emotional reasons to care)

RDS.ca: I will forgive you on this one on the basis that I go to sleep at 6pm HNE, but please, don't let the ocean which divides us kill the flame!

Richmond, United Kingdom

2008-09-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

We have been living in Richmond for almost two months now, and we couldn't feel more at home. Our "flat" couldn't be better, and Richmond is the coolest town to live in. We are 5 minutes away from 2 cool parks, tons of pubs, restaurants, shops, the "tube" and the Tames river! We are so delighted and grateful to live here, we can't keep it for ourselves. People even suspects that we work for a local rental agency...

What makes Richmond so special is the cool and relaxing atmosphere which permeates the area, in which we obviously fit right in. To really understand what Richmond is about, you must spend a sunny afternoon in town. You then discover that we, Richmonders, make it a priority to spend our week-ends by the river, casually drinking, people watching, sun bathing and enjoying the sight of Richmond Bridge. The following picture is the September 6, 2008 edition of the Richmond Bridge.

Obviously, cloudy days drive people away, but our favorite spot doesn't seem at risk from global warming and rising sea level!

You are more than welcome to come and visit, we'll gladly give you the tour!

My 700 billion two cents...

2008-09-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

Over the last few months, I decided to start blogging again. I came to the realization that I love posting my random thoughts online, I love sharing the best parts of my routine.. basically, I like to pollute the world wide web with MY inputs. Just because I can!

Now, I've been wanting to post for some time, but I'm suffering from the blank-page syndrome. I just didn't know what to blog about... until today! I need to warn you though, this might be a little anticlimactic. I just told Natalie what I'm going to write about, and this is what she responded:

"Really? That's boring. Anyway, do you want to make me a nice cup of soup?" *

So it's under these encouragements that I'm writing about the news coverage of the $700 billion plan from the US government to bail out the current financial system. Before you stop reading, let me tell you why I bore you with this: the coverage of the story exemplifies both the financial and mathematical miseducation of the mass.

I made an editorial call and decided to focus this post on the mathematical miseducation of the mass because I realize that writing about how we are witnessing the Republican government's abnegation of capitalism would not make you come back to this blog. Instead of making you reflect and laugh at the irony of the situation, I decided to highlight the laziness of the common brain when it comes to dealing with large numbers.

I would like to argue that the common brain doesn't know how to deal with large numbers, which leads to dumb mistakes. Everyone knows how much they pay on average for their groceries, to pay rent, to register for the upcoming ultimate season or to cover for an evening at the pub. These numbers make sense because they fall within our usual frame of reference. We all know that an evening at the pub should cost less than one month's rent, unless the waitress put too much vodka in that last vodka-vodka-vodka-vodka-red bull. But we easily lose our frame of reference when it comes to large numbers. I personally think that the common brain obeys the following rules:

- 2+2 = 4
- 100 is much greater than 10
- 1 million is a lot
- 150 million, 650 billion, 17 billion and 40 trillion are all large numbers

Do I need to mention that 650 billions is more than a THOUSAND times bigger than 150 million! I won't claim that this is dangerous, but I will claim that it is flawed logic. To prevent this from happening, I think it's useful for people to adopt a few frames of reference for large numbers, may it be only to filter news stories. If the editors of the most important news websites in Quebec would have adopted such filters, I'm convinced that they would not have buried the story of the recent US government's proposal under how fast Robert Lang thought Guillaume Latendresse skated during Saturday's practice...

700 billion is a large number, under most frame of references. This news story is important to understand. I will try to get what it really means, and I would advise most people to do the same.

Now, I must go because I really must prepare that cup of soup...

*I think this is an appropriate time to introduce you to Natalie's use of the word "nice". Natalie likes to use this word because it makes anything shines and sends a clear suggestion of her preferences. Here are a few example of you could start shaping your world by using the word "nice":

- Would you like some nice fresh pasta or some rice?
- I'd rather watch a nice romantic comedy than watching Fight Club.

- I thought painting the room would be a nice thing to do together.

Now that you are armed with the power of the word "nice", please use it wisely.

Only fools don't change their minds

2008-07-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

INSEAD is over, I have my life back, and I feel the urge to blog again.

My last post goes back to almost 6 months ago. So much has happened since then, although not much has changed at the same time! I'm still living in Recloses for a few more days (or weeks), and I'm preparing my move to London. As Natalie puts it, I'm at the start line of the next phase of my exciting life. I will update you on my upcoming projects in another post, as I want to spend some time to reflect on the year which just passed.

Doing my MBA at INSEAD has been the most extreme experience I have lived recently. An alumnus told me before the program started that you can only do 30% of what INSEAD has to offer, and that couldn't be more true. One needs to prioritize his energy among four main areas: academic, job search, travel, and social life (a.k.a. party). I chose to prioritize traveling and job searching, while making sure to get the most out of key classes and attending the most important social events.

How did I do? My focus on my job search slowly paid off during the year, as my network expanded and interesting opportunities came my way. In the end, I accepted an internship for the summer in London, which might be a topic of a future post. I also visited more countries than I could have imagined, spending a combined 7 weeks in Turkey, Morocco and India alone! On the academic side, I have to admit that I was impressed with the quality of teaching. In every of the 5 two-month periods, at least one professor was simply amazing, and the other ones were usually interesting and competent. Finally, I found it easy to surround myself with smart open-minded people, and I learned and partied a ton with them.

As I clean up my drawers and pack my souvenirs and course packs, I'm sure I'll reminisce a few more time on this blog about my experience. In the meantime, have a great week-end!

Negotiations & International Politics

2008-01-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

The last week has been fairly quiet, and so instead of talking about Dave's second visit or our quiet movie outing, I thought I'd talk about my two favorite courses of this period: Negotiations and International Politics.

The Negotiations class goes over the theory of negotiations and allows us to practice in various simulations. It's so much fun and very frustrating at the same time. It is a very popular class, and it grows on most of us. Many discussions off campus are now tainted by negotiation theories, which is funny in a geeky way.

International Politics is a simple, basic introduction to international politics. What makes it good though is INSEAD's international student body, the easy access to valuable information online, the current political state of the world, and my natural curiosity for the topic. Topics covered so far include the the future of the EU in a post Cold War era, the sustainability of the USA's international "leadership", and the key factors allowing for the Iranian revolution. I can't wait to get to more Asian oriented topics!

It must be tOLD: I love SCHOOL.

Turkish Delights

2008-01-13T12:43:00.000-08:00

It's been along time since my last post, and so much happened since then! Natalie and I went to a ski trip in the Alps and then flew to Turkey to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. We also went through the first week of school, which was way more demanding that it needed to be...

It would take me too long to write about everything we did, so I will simply highlight my top 5 of the last 3 weeks.

In 5th position, the main reason why I like ski trips: the apres-ski!!! Natalie being such a good spontaneous host, we celebrated a good day of skiing and the end of our second period in our little hotel room with as many friends as possible. We proved to be resourceful hosts once again: when we ran out of O.J. for the drinks, I squeezed all the oranges and clementines we had to make the healthiest drinks we ever had!

In 4th position, one of my favorite day of the year: New Year's Eve! Luckily for us, a couple from INSEAD from Istanbul invited us to a house party for the evening, and we had a great time! They also showed us around the city a few days later, which really added to our experience in Istanbul.

In 3rd position, we visited the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, which was the nicest building I have seen in a long time. We went twice. Enjoy!

In 2nd position, I have to admit that the Alps are simply amazing. The resort we skied at gave us access to 3 valleys, and the conditions where perfect. I hope I'll have the opportunity to go again!

In 1st position, we spent 5 days in the region of Kapadokia. We had amazing food, great scenery, good hiking, stayed in a cave for 5 days, and went on a hot-air balloon ride. If you go to Turkey, you have to go there!

Happy New Year to everyone, and may 2008 bring you health, money, and love!

Christmas Party at Natalie's!!!

2007-12-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

I like Christmas time. It's a great season to party, as everyone is always up for it. As usual, Natalie and I wanted to do something fun this year, so we decided to host a kick ass party.

Now, what is the first thing we need to throw a good Christmas party?

That's right. A Christmas tree.

What do you do when you are a student and have no money, and live beside a huge forest?

That's right. You got get yourself your own Christmas Tree.

I am particularly proud of my catch. I had scouted the area in November, and knew exactly where to go to find a small but somewhat furnished wild tree, which is quite uncommon.

Armed with that tree, we invited all the cool INSEAD people to our place last Friday. Natalie is an amazing hostess, and lived up to her reputation by decorating the house with holly branches, candles, and by preparing mulled wine and eggnog!!! A success, as you can see!

I was responsible for building and maintaining the fire and for the entertainment. I'm sure most of you will recognize the game...

(Can you believe that one of our guest pulled a muscle trying to pick up that little bag?!?)

The timing of the evening was great, since we had just written three final exams in two days, and were all about to cram Corporate Financial Policy all week-end-long to be ready for Monday morning.

------------------------------------------------

It might be a while until my next update. I am heading to the Alps on Tuesday afternoon for a section-trip. We will be back on the 22, but will leave again Natalie and I on the 24 for Istanbul. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season! Make sure to relax, enjoy your family and friends, and take some good resolutions for 2008!

Christmas season

2007-12-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hounds: It's a promise. Natalie and I will live up to our Christmas standards again this year.

Stay Tuned

Nudity

2007-12-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

Since it's been a while since my last post, I promise I'll write about nudity to entice you to cread until the end. It's been proven that some topics help more than others in creating awareness and loyalty, and I'm shamelessly using one of them right now. Enjoy!

Last week-end, Natalie and I went to Strasbourg and Baden Baden, in the French Alsace (somehow, this sounds better in French, "dans l'Alsace francaise"). Strasbourg is right next to Germany, and it has in fact changed country of ownership back and forth over history. As of last week-end though, it belonged to France.

Now here is the best way to explore 2 towns in a 2-day week-end:
1) Leave school or work on Friday as soon as possible
2) One person should be driving while the other one is reading about the place to visit
3) Arrive late, but still use the night to walk downtown, enjoy the city's nightlife, the 30-meter high Christmas tree (or whatever other city's attraction you should definitely see), make reservation for lunch the next day at the best restaurant in town, etc.
4) Wake-up early, go to the Christmas market (or whatever event ... you get the point)
5) Go enjoy a lunch at La Cloche du Fromage, an amazing cheese restaurant where you might have too much cheese fondue and cheese raclette!!! (see picture below, and find the raclette...)
6) Leave for the next town and start at #2.

Baden Baden, a german twon, was however a real discovery. It is probably the equivalent of Niagara-on-the-Lake (Ont) or Magog (Qc), but german style, built in a small valley. We discovered an amazing Christmas market, where we had fun ordering in German all kinds of sausages and other healthy treats.

Baden Baden is also known for its bath, which is where the nudity comes in. We went to a roman bath, which offers a relaxing 17-station, 3.5-hour experience of saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzis, pools, showers, massages, etc. Germans, and Europeans for that matter, being much more open than North Americans, allow for this building to be a nude spa only. In addition, Sunday is co-ed day! Natalie and I joined all the other couples who were looking for this relaxing experience. I have to admit that I felt weird for the first 10 minutes, but after that, it was all good.

This week-end we also drove our 10 000th kilometer in our little Citroen!!! It's holding on! It makes a frightening sound for 10 minutes when I start it, but it still works! Now I know, I know, some of you will do the math and point out that if you add every trip I logged on my blog, it only adds up to 9 500 kilometers. Well, the missing kilometers are coming form our impromptu Amsterdam trip from last week-end. The main reasons why we went back are:
1) We love the city
2) Other INSEAD students were also going on that week-end
3) And yes, we kinda went just because we can go

As for scenery, we took the time to visit the Van Gogh museum, and some traditional wind mills!!!

I love Europe.

How did we end up in Lausanne anyway?!?!?

2007-11-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

This week-end, my good friend Dave came for a quick visit. I was looking forward to catch up with him, especially since Dave and I see each other only a few times a year since graduation. Every time we meet, my other friend Good Conversations always seem to show up as well, which is nice.*

The plan was to go on a road trip. Now, people might think that going on a road trip is easy, but this is far from the truth. Road trips need to be impulsive by definition, and need to have a balance of good and bad surprises. I'm proud to announce that our road trip was extremely successfully.

We confirmed on Thursday that we would hit the road, and agreed on Dijon as the initial destination. We however quickly realized that Dijon didn't have much to offer. After finding a grocery store and buying some fine mustard (vintage 2006, one of the best), we decided to head towards Bern, Switzerland. We however missed our exit at the same time as the GPS ran out of battery. Fun. Lost in valley overlooked by a fortified castle, we could only find directions to Lausanne. We made it our final destination, and never looked back.

Although we spent less than 20 hours in Lausanne, we had time to quickly explore the town, enjoy cheese fondue and chinese fondue, befriend with a Quebecer waiter, and abuse of a nice "3L colonne" of beer (see picture attached), which resulted into a lovely well-deserved headache Sunday morning. This is what I call a good week-end!

On a more serious note, I am proud to announce that I will be working with an energy start-up based in Fontainebleau over the next few months. The company is called Ceram-Hyd, and is doing applied research on hydrogen fuel cells. I will work with them on their next round of fund raising, and will get credits at INSEAD for it!!! I'm obviously really excited about it.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who contributed either via e-mails or online to the list of potential destinations. The jury is still out on where we will end up, so stay tuned!!!

*Readers note: In that sentence, Pierre used an allegory to evoked an abstract concept by representing it in a concrete way.

Normandie: Checked!

2007-11-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

We just came back from a week-end road trip in Normandie which makes me realize how good we are becoming at this "sightseeing" thing. I spare you the details, but in short, we slept at Mont St-Michel (one of Natalie's 7 wonder of the world), had lunch in Bayeux and checked out the Bayeux Tapestry (a 1000yr-old, 70m-long tapestry depicting a war between English and French), payed tribute to the soldiers form D-Day on Omaha beach, had dinner, a nice walk and a good night sleep in Honfleur, and spent an afternoon in Rouen, finding out more about Ste-Jeanne-D'Arc. You'll also be happy to know that I had time to prepare my two cases for tomorrow's classes, and have the time to update my blog. I am changing my last name to Gutsche tomorrow morning.

Some of you might now wonder why I didn't take the time to update my blog last week... Well, I simply didn't want to disappoint you. Unfortunately, last week was a low-key week. We spent a quiet Friday at home, and a quiet Saturday at the Montmelian ball, a party hosted by the people form that chateau. It was actualy quite entertaining!

Apart from that, the second period at INSEAD is insanely busy. No matter how hard I work, I can't afford to take a break (during the week that is). Professors are very competent though, and my group is becoming more efficient and functional over time, which are both welcome improvements.

I would now like to ask you, my readers, a very important question. As I consider myself somewhat of your messenger/explorator, I open up this blog to your suggestions for future trips I should go on. This is also a way for me to survey who reads this blog, so if you read this post, you need to reply!!!

"Arrest me for what? Being awesome?!?!?!"

2007-10-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

First, thanks everyone for the support on my last post, your energy must have cross the ocean as I now feel great. I might also feel great because I just came back from Belgium, the land of chocolate and beer, or because the Habs are on a lucky streak. Anyway, things are good.

I'm sad to announce that after almost 10 years of perfectly legal driving, I got my first ticket. I would love to report that I was going 110 in a 30 zone, or that I was speeding, late for a Metallica concert... Unfortunately, I got a dumb ticket: not making a complete stop. That is: not bringing my four wheels to a complete stop, as I clearly gave priority to someone else and everything. @#$%$#@%#@%!!! And Simon, I have to admit that I forgot to quote that famous Old School line, but I won't forget next time!

To come back to this past week-end, we went to Belgium, which was lovely, and spent some time in Bruges, Anvers, and Brussels. Bruges was definitely the highlight, with its architecture, canals, chocolate, beers, and main square. I tasted some fine chicken waterzooi (amazingly tender chicken), and found some chocolate which was hard to resist!

Finally, I wanted to introduce you to my second best friend here in France. After Natalie, my axe has became my most fervent supporter. We heat our place with our woodstove and I'm in charge of making sure we have wood available. I went shopping and bought myself the biggest axe I could find. It is lovely! When I come back home, I chop down some wood and start us a nice fire. You can imagine how relaxing that activity is, especially since I have yet to find a yoga studio in Fontainebleau... Come to think about it, I might just have came up with the next big thing!!! I'm sure those yuppies would love it...

End of P1

2007-10-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was my last class of my first period (I know, already!!!). I have a marathon of 5 exams in 3 days starting Monday morning. That should be fun.

Leading up to this week of exam madness, I decided to play it cool. Last week-end, Natalie and I spent the day in Versailles. It was amazing. The castle, the garden, everything. Everyone needs to go there once. Check it out:

Then on Tuesday, I thought it would make sense to spend the evening in Paris to attend a concert from Malajube. They were playing in a small venue, so the show was awesome. Becasue I arrived early, I hung out with the band for a few minutes, but long enough for the very nice Genevieve Borne, who was shooting a documentary on the band, to buy me a beer. Thank you Genevieve, I owe you!!!

This week-end, I studied, but I also reflected on whether INSEAD was worth it so far. The answer was a resounding "I don't know". On the plus side, I do like living in France, exploring Europe, living away from North America, having a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my career, and a lot of support to actually make it happen. On the minus side, I do miss earning a pay check, I review a lot of the same material I studied in undergrad, and I do stress about being unemployed. On the "not sure if this is good for me" side, I do learn a lot about myself, how I interact in a group, what are my hot buttons, how to (and often not to!) influence others, etc.

An INSEAD professor who is also a psychatrist was comparing doing an MBA to the journey of a hero from a fairy tale who goes far away to fight some monster before coming back to reality feeling better about what he accomplished (psychatrists like myths...). This might sound totally weird to some, but right now, I decided that this is the analogy which describes best my journey here. Something to do with the idea of having to face patterns I thought were circumstantial and realizing that I'm actually creating them... I'm still fighting my monster though, so I'll let you know as soon as I destroy it... or mabe I'll try to become his friend (cute zen ending).

INSEAD is also known for its parties!!!

2007-10-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, for the first week-end in over a month, we decided to stay in Recloses and its vicinities. We enjoyed a great week-end, as the weather was amazing. I studied hard outside (or hardly studied...) and went for some good walks in the forest. There are however two highlights to the week-end.

First, we hosted a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner in our backyard. When I say we, I really mean Natalie hosted an amazing dinner. We invited a couple of Americans from INSEAD, to make sure we are not left out of the American Thanksgiving dinners scene :-) We had a nice meal, lighted a warm fire, and had lots of good discussions. I'm started to like this Thanksgiving event!

On Saturday, we also went to our first real INSEAD party. It was a nurse and doctor party, so we dressed up for the event as you can tell from the picture below. I was simply injured, while Natalie had a proper nurse costume. As usual, the party was in a castle... We partied hard until the wee hours of the morning, and came back home to a nice hungover sunday morning. I'm too old for these parties! I'll be the designated driver for tomorrow's Lebanese party. Stay tuned.

From Munich to Amsterdam

2007-09-30T13:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but the last 2 week-ends have been quite busy. I just came back from Amsterdam, and I also spent the previous week-end at the opening of Oktoberfest in Munich. Both week-ends were quite entertaining. Here is what I can remember from them.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is known for being one of the best party on Earth. I can now confirm that. To have an image of what Oktoberfest is like, simply picture a massive warehouse (a.k.a. "tent") where 10 000 people get together to celebrate to good music and good beer, served in gigantic bucks. Or to have a better idea, simply look at the pictures below. This is a 15-day event which starts at noon on a Saturday. I didn't see the end.

When I told Tarek in May that I was going to INSEAD, his first advice was:"Go to Oktoberfest". Thanks Tarek. The people I met from INSEAD on the bus and over there were all great, and they almost made the 12-hour bus ride enjoyable, which was quite a challenge. Stay tune for potentially more INSEAD trips to come!

Amsterdam 1.0

This week-end, I dicovered the most amazing city I've ever been in! Amserdam simply blew me away with all it had to offer. The city could be describe as quiet, relaxing, beautiful, lively, and crazy, and it would all be true! I loved the balance of it all.

Quiet: The city has been designed for boats and bikes, which leaves little room for cars. The level of ambient noise is kept at a minimum.

Relaxing and beautiful: There are very few high rises, which allow you to see very far every where you look. The architecture is nice and simple, and the canals bring it all together in a coherent mess.

Lively and crazy: The nightlife is something else. The tolerance level is at an all-time high.

I now just can't wait for the recruiting period at INSEAD! ING, where do I sign?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random event: On Friday, we bumped into Ed, a friend of Natalie. We spent the evening in his company, which was fun. He brought us at the coffee shop from Ocean's 12 (see below).

Random event #2: I wanted to show Natalie that I too knew people, so on Saturday, I bumped into Guilaume Fillion, from high school. It's a small world.

A flick, at last!

2007-09-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Finally, after abstaining from ultimate for the last 2 months, I went back on the field last week.

Photo : Tien Wong, JAM 2006

I practiced and played with the Fontainebleau ultimate club, a co-ed/open club which tours in France. Needless to say that I impressed them (they promptly gave me the nickname Mr Awesome), and they invited me to practice with them on a regular basis :-) Hopefully my schedule will allow me to do so.

Top 5 moments from the game:
#5 Warming-up for 60-minute
#4 A few fun interceptions
#3 One low key lay-out catch
#2 Going long with my flick. I missed that feeling so much, it was becoming an obsession!
#1 Playing until we couldn't see the disc anymore

My legs are still hurting, and I think I pulled a muscle in my neck, yet I can't wait to play again. Next step: finding a bar with good chicken wings.

Hounds and Beachers, make the most out of what you have!!!

Champagne SVP

2007-09-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

We spent the last week-end in Epernay, in the region of Champagne. They make wine there. Not just regular wine though. They make champagne!!!!

We were very pleased with that fortunate coincidence, and treated ourselves to some very fine champagne. We learned a ton, and I'm now turning my new knowledge into a little trivia game for everyone's pleasure.

A vos wikipedia, pret, partez!

Question #1: What are the 3 types of grapes which grow in the champagne region?

Question #2: Why would they call a champagne "Blanc de Blanc"?

Question #3: By the end of February, how many branches do each vine has?

Question #4: The second fermentation causes the wine to actually have bubbles in it. The artisanal way of making champagne involves a crazy step after the second fermentation. What is the name of that step and what does it consist of?

Question #5: How many kilometres of caves do Moet et Chandon have?

Question #6: After how many glasses of champagne do you start burping?

Enjoy!

Bad Beats

2007-09-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Poker is a great game. I however believe that any good player must have a great dose of humility as, in the end, luck is still part of the game.

To make me feel better about that stupid jack of diamond on the river from yesterday which made me lose with my pocket kings, I offer you this clip:

Now, just because everyone loves that movie, here are the 2 best poker scenes from Rounders. I put them in in reverse order, to remind you again that luck will sometimes be against you.
Scene #1

Scene #2

And then, there was light

2007-09-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chris (a.k.a. my e-hero), I bring you youtube clips on my blog. Now this opens up a world of opportunities, which should undoubtedly double up the traffic to my blog (I know that Chris will now come much more often, and Tien was the only regular, so...)

Now to get things started, I had to pick a scene from the Simpsons. Obviously.

Enjoy!

France, it's also Spain

2007-09-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Today, this blog invites you on a journey. You are invited to travel back in time, back to August 2007. Remember that time? The Hounds were still playing on Monday evenings, the subprime bubble was still going strong, and the Habs and Leafs had almost no press coverage. Those were the days. You'll also remember that for a long week, all eyes were pointed towards Spain, as everyone wanted to know if Spain would acclaim Pierre and Natalie the way other nations have done it in the past:

There was a worldwide sigh of release as Spain litterally opened its arms wide open for the beloved couple. The Catalan nation had prepared a little surprise for the couple. "The traditional catalan band playing on the main playa was like music to my ears" said Natalie

"I just couldn't believe it when they offered my a second seving of paella for free, and those Spanish men are so charming!!!" Pierre confide to a close source.

The trip was apparently a blast, and the couple is said to be exploring the possibility to buy a property in the Costa Brava region, to allow them to continue to explore the sandy beaches, the cultural attractions (Gaudi, Dali, Picasso), and of course, spend time with the many friends they made there.

First day off!!!!

2007-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day off since I started at INSEAD. It had been a very hectic week, with all the logistical things I had to take care of, a few introduction classes along with cases I had to prepare, a full day outside for team bonding, club try-outs, a few partys, etc. It has been a busy week, and I was happy to sleep-in this morning, as well as nap this afternoon (my favorite combo!). I capture here my impressions of my first week.

La Foret de Fontainebleau: There is a huge and amazing forest surrounding Fontainebleau. If my memore is right, it is the one they talk about in "Les Fourmis" from Bernard Werber. It has an unlimited amounts of paths, rocks to climb ("bouldering" is what they say), wild boars to feed (or avoid), and other things to do. I spent a full day for team building in it, and then went back for a hike this afternoon. I plan to spend more time there when I need a breath of fresh air, as it is a 5-minute walk from my place, and a 2-minute walk from INSEAD.

The academic challenge and the teachers: So far, I've been impressed by both aspects. The two courses we have had so far were interesting and challenging. The teachers do relate the material to the business world, and provide a personal perspective (that which of a teacher) which makes putting the material in perspective easier. The workload so far is overwhelming, and should get worst. My average day will soon look like this: 3 90-minute classes, 2 cases to prepare, 3 chapters to read, one job hunting thing to attend or work on. I need to focus on enjoying the journey!

The people: There is a wide range of people here. The diversity of course is amazing, both in terms of background and of nationalities. I think that I have an advantage over them in terms of cracking cases based on the exposure I had to strategy and presenting while being at Capital One, especially since the company went from a 40 people business to a 150 people business (as of June, as they are probably 200 by now...). I'll let you know which advantage they have over me on after I flunk my first exam...

Culture shock: France being not that different from Canada or Quebec, my culture shock section is somewhat thin. However, when these events happen, you still feel far from home, so please humor me. On the "small annoyance" side, most businesses are closed on Sunday, Saturday afternoon, Wednesday, and anytime between noon and 2h30pm. Spiders are as big here as in the movie "Arachnophbia". Grocery stores don't hand out bags, you need to bring your own (or make multiple trips to your car when you forget them). On the bright side, wine is sold everywhere. Roundabouts can be found everywhere, and I now love them!!! Partys happen in castles.

I will spend the next 4 months working with the same 4 people. I now introduce you to them, from left to right: Debanu (India), Anil (UK), Chingiz (Azerbaijan), and Alex (Greece). We will be cracking cases and killing each other until December. I will most likely see more of them than I wil see Natalie :-(

Finally, based on popular demand, I will disclose what A+ stands for. A+ = "A plus" = "A plus tard" = "See you later" = "See you" = CU = L8ter. All the french kids use it. It's cool.

A+

PS: Chris: how do you add youtube video to a blog?

INSEAD, Day 1

2007-08-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Today was "le jour J", my first day at INSEAD. I've been waiting for this day for a long time and I'm very excited that it has arrived. Here is a quick overview of what it was like.

First, I received a welcome package and found a seat between two guys from Belgium to go over it. I quickly realized that I was probably the slowest reader in the class since they left before I was even halfway done my reading. They were replaced by two students from Italy and Paris. I like the international flavor so far!

I then had my first and only disappointment. I found out that I already missed the first INSEAD party at Montmelian, a well-known castle from INSEADers. First rule of INSEAD: check the message board!!!

I then visited the many boots from all the different departments (IT, language, Health Insurance, Fitness, Phone, etc.). It's not because it's the first week that they go slowly. This probably explains why I'll have class starting on Thursday, and still have class on Saturday (8:30am to 6pm, that's right!). I'm not complaining though. How can someone complain when writing on his laptop from a nice little patio, drinking a little beer (250ml... what were they thinking about?), eating a lemon tart from the bakery around the corner...

Today's challenge: If you want to check it out, the link to the INSEAD website is: www.insead.edu. "Un morceau de robot" for the first one who can tell me what INSEAD stands for!

A+

23 Rue des Canches, Recloses, France

2007-08-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

This nice little French home is where my girlfriend Natalie and I will live this year.

The place has everything you can imagine from a rural French home: the rooms are beautiful and cozy, a woodstove will (hopefully) heat the place this winter, the courtyard opens up on our generous and welcoming neighbours, the crowing* of the rosters wake us up everyday, street parking is always an adventure, an there is an amazing French castle about 15 minutes from here.

Bienvenue chez nous!

* new word of the day, thanks to askNatalie.fr

1,1 2, testing

2007-08-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog!

I recently moved to Recloses, France, to study at INSEAD for the next 10 months. I expect this year to be defining, and have therefore decided to log my adventure on this blog. Over the next 10 months, I will post my thoughts on the people I meet, the French culture, my travels, life at INSEAD, and other random topics which will cross my mind. Family & friends please keepin touch through this interactive media.

Key people who are expected to contribute on this blog:
- Chris and Hamid, as they have given me the inspiration for starting this blog
- Jeremy Gutsche, who spends "(1-UM)" of his time online (see www.trendhunter.com for more details)
- Geoff Thiessen, because I just can't wait to read your view on my opinions
- Family members, because they like me
- Batman or Brad Pitt, because it would be so cool to have any of you write on my blog

Before getting started, I made an important decision: I will write this blog in English. The majority of my audience understand written English (especially when written by an ESL Chicoutimien). The key person who might have a hard time with this decision is my lovely mother. Since she has committed to perfect her English over the coming year, I consequently convinced myself that I'm actually helping her by writing in English.

Finally, I will shamelessly copy and steal format and ideas that have been used in other blogs, because that is the kind of person I am. Chris, just see it as a mark of recognition.

Enjoy!