April 22, 2006
Hedge clipping time
Twice a year I clip the hedges. If you let it go longer, you end up having to get the hand saw and cut individual branches.
This year I've noticed many leaves with holes or brown spots. Mom said it looks like a fungus. It's also on other leaves, like the ivy Nath has out back. Hope it doesn't eat up the nice plants.
Posted by Mark at 04:02 PM | TrackBack
April 18, 2006
First cut
Dana helped me finish the first cut of the grass this season. Between us I believe we spent just over 3 hours.
He said our grass is nevertheless easier to cut is some ways than many lawns. At least with ours the growth is fairly even in the spring. You don't have parts where the mower gets clogged alongside other parts where you cannot yet see you've already cut a row.
If anybody around Barraux needs grass clippings, let me know.
Posted by Mark at 08:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 15, 2006
Magnolia
The magnolia has blossomed. The rain will no doubt carry off the petals soon.
Posted by Mark at 06:07 PM | TrackBack
April 13, 2006
Toy soldiers
This is our living room floor since yesterday morning at 11:00 am. A battleground.
Posted by Mark at 10:04 PM | TrackBack
Dinner theater
We had theater after dinner tonight. In fact when I arrived home on my bike, Emma and Tim were on the front porch with Mom, telling me I had to hurry up. Their show was starting right away.
It turned out that we had to eat almost right away, immediately after I took a shower. So we had to wait for the show after all. I missed the show on roller skates.
After dinner, though, we were all more or less forced to watch the impromptu singing and dancing. Emma did a silent dance around the living room, while I physically held Tim back. (He was mad because she got to go first.) Then Tim sang, and Emma sang again. Even Diane got into the act.
Posted by Mark at 09:47 PM | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
Mass protests
Mass protests... but not in France. BBC News online has an article covering mass protests in the US, in favor of rights for immigrants including people who don't have legal permission.
On Friday, the US Senate failed to reach agreement on a compromise deal that would allow an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants apply for US citizenship.President George W Bush backs the guest-worker scheme but faces stiff opposition within his Republican party.
As a long-term guest in another country, I was ready to find myself biased off the scale on yet another issue here. Yet my actual position is perhaps close to moderate. I agree superficially with the President, at least insofar as this article reflects his position on the question.
Folks who go that far out of their way to make their lives in the US should have the opportunity to apply for citizenship.
One of the concerns current US citizens may have about this is more people arriving to compete for a limited number of jobs. (Not as big a deal in the US job market as in France or Germany, but nonetheless a real point.) There I'm virtually certain of having off-the-scale opinions. However I believe a reasonable argument can be made to say that those willingly leaving their home country to make a better life elsewhere are unlikely to add to the general level of slack in an economy. On the contrary they're likely to come with a lot of energy, appetite, and willingness to pitch in.
In the US where nearly everyone is descendant from immigrants, it seems fair that we'd lower barriers of entry. Not without serious discussion, of course. But the country should welcome those who honestly want to be there for most of the same reasons the folks already there want to stay.
Posted by Mark at 09:33 PM | TrackBack
April 09, 2006
Overtired
Last night by 8 pm I was tired enough to want to go to bed. Probably should have. Diane woke us up this morning, 5:18 am. Couldn't get back to sleep.
All I managed to do this morning was take all the now tires off the cars and put the summer tires on. Very bad temper. Neck still hurts from being angry. Paranoid thoughts.
Tried to sleep this afternoon. Slept maybe half an hour and woke up feeling worse than before. Then the girls came to jump on the bed.
Not sure what to do. It's like being sick.
Posted by Mark at 04:04 PM | TrackBack
April 03, 2006
Fatigue
Diane didn't wake up for whatever reasons she normally does. During the night this time it was a cough.
When I finally gave up and got out of bed at 5:45 am, I realized although I was exhausted Friday, I'm even more tired now. Nath seems to feel that way too. She was trying to go back to sleep.
Posted by Mark at 07:00 AM | TrackBack
March 30, 2006
Rain, rain, rain
This morning I got soaked on the way down to the train, riding into work, running, and riding back to catch the train. Maybe that's why I'm so tired at this point. No energy to go down in the basement and clean up my bike.
Rain is a primary drawback of commuting by bicycle. It's a no win situation as far as I can tell. The folks who suit up with rainproof gear sweat heavily inside their wetsuits. The rest of us shiver with cold only minutes into the ride. The bicycle chains are liable to rust. The grit goes everywhere. The only way to clean up completely after riding in a downpour, especially if you take the trails as I do, would be to take the bike apart and wash each component separately.
It's still marginally better than being stuck in traffic.
Posted by Mark at 08:16 PM | TrackBack
March 27, 2006
Particularly bad night
Diane has been waking up at night. This has gone on for a couple of weeks.
We tried not listening to her cry and complain at night, but she goes on and gets louder. We wanted the other ones to continue sleeping from 2 am to 4:30 am while she was carrying on.
Nathalie didn't fall asleep until 6 am. I probably fell asleep a bit after 5 am. We're not sure when Diane finally fell asleep, but she cried through school today and was very tired.
Nath's taking her to see the chiropractor Wednesday. Someone at school recommended that. She's also trying to get an appointment with the regular doctor. We wonder if Diane hasn't developed the same trouble as Emma.
Posted by Mark at 04:24 PM | TrackBack
March 26, 2006
Small potatoes
As mentioned in this morning's entry about the race, we have nice weather today.
Nath had some potatoes that had started to grow down in the basement, so Emma had me plant them with her. We hope to harvest more than we planted this time.
Two things are missing from Nath's photos today. She didn't get a frontal shot of my old LLBean aviator sunglasses, which Emma laughed at loudly and thoroughly, saying I'm unrecoverably behind the times. Nor did she get a shot of Tim taking a spin around the soccer field on Eddy's miniature motorcycle.
I have decided not to post the pictures of Diane running around in her underwear, sticking her tongue out at the camera.
Posted by Mark at 05:44 PM | TrackBack
March 25, 2006
Early spring photos
This is the first day we've had truly warm weekend weather.
We even have a few violet flowers among the grass (and weeds).
At first the children wanted to fly kites, but there's not much breeze. Instead they've started to put the lawn chairs out in the front yard, and to take their summer shoes out of the cupboard.
Posted by Mark at 03:33 PM | TrackBack
March 23, 2006
Cops & Robbers
If we had Canal+, we'd get 6 TV channels. And this evening we'd have 3 out of 6 prime time TV programs being cops & robbers shows.
No wonder Tim wants to work for the police. Sarkozy's got the right job if he wants the TV watchers to follow him.
Posted by Mark at 09:37 PM | TrackBack
March 22, 2006
Green
Now that spring has arrived, I noticed with dismay that the not only are the days getting longer, but so also is the grass. Grass has started growing again in my yard, though some leaves from the fall are still lying there. The yellow forsythia buds are almost ready to bloom.
Warmer weather makes life easier. Today I had no leftovers, so walked with Matt over to the sandwich stand to get something to eat. Went out in my t-shirt, which was just right.
Then by the time I had to get on the bike to catch the train, spring rain was pouring down. My bike shoes are still soaked inside. My chain has probably rusted.
Posted by Mark at 07:48 PM | TrackBack
March 21, 2006
Share the DRM
In France the legislature is voting on digital rights management related issues. BBC News online has an article covering the legal measure to push open, cross-platform formats for downloadable music. It also says:
The draft copyright law also introduces fines of between 38 and 150 euros (£26-£104) for people pirating music or movies at home.
Fabio and Jean-Luc told me the measures concerning "pirating," measures the article ignores, should prevent people from ripping their own CDs, or backing up downloaded music. The guys told me that Vivendi Universal rushed this stuff in the back door in an effort to prop up their flagging music business. Maybe it's just a rumor.
Posted by Mark at 09:31 PM | TrackBack
March 19, 2006
Bumble bee bodies
Nath has been painting bumble bee bodies for Diane's class. I'm not sure what they're going to do exactly. Our table has been full of demi tasses with yellow styrofoam eggs for the past week.
She's doing a total of 90 bumble bee bodies.
Posted by Mark at 02:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 15, 2006
Exhaustion
This morning at 5:45 am Diane started waking us. That's not so early, but I was already tired. Later she whined more. I finally went into her bed to calm her down.
She fell asleep again, but I could see why she was having trouble staying there. The light now streams in through her blinds quite early, and passing cars and trucks make lots of noise. I almost fell asleep at dinner.
Posted by Mark at 09:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 14, 2006
Electric trains
Andy sent me a link to an article on Yahoo! that says the SNCF is going to be putting electric lines between Gières and Brignoud.
That means they can stop running with diesel engines through that section of track. If they can also run the trains at 160 kph (about 100 mph), the trip will potentially take slightly less time.
What I'd like is more time sitting on the train reading however and less time riding the bike. I can read while walking, but have not yet tried to read while riding.
Posted by Mark at 08:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 04, 2006
160 kph is half speed
North of Macon a man came on the TGV intercom to announce that due to heavy snowfall we'd be travelling at the reduced speed of 160 kph (~100 mph) towards Paris, and so would arrive 45 minutes late.
I continue to look forward to the run tomorrow.
Posted by Mark at 12:04 PM | TrackBack
March 03, 2006
Packed up
I've packed up to get ready to go up to Paris. Metcheck.com's weather for Paris now says we'll have -5 C on Sunday morning with mild winds.
Maybe there'll still be snow on the ground. Apparently the snow and rain tonight is supposed to be "Torrential". Not exactly fired up for this run.
Posted by Mark at 10:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 01, 2006
Winter's not over yet
Here's a shot of the yard next door.
That should disappear this afternoon, however.
Posted by Mark at 08:48 AM | TrackBack
February 28, 2006
Down below the fog
The fog and a few flakes of snow came down off the mountains as I rode up through Chapareillan, Myans, then back to Montmelian and Pontcharra. Even on a chilly, windy Tuesday afternoon there were quite a few riders out. I met perhaps 15 in just over an hour, counting a couple of groups of 4-5.
Hope Nath, the children, and her parents are not freezing up their in mountain fog like we encountered last Friday. Most of the mountain tops I noticed even down this far were shrouded in mist.
Posted by Mark at 04:16 PM | TrackBack
February 24, 2006
Collet d'Allevard in the fog
Nath started joking with Colette at lunch that I was going to miss out skiing with them next week, and that I'd be jealous. I don't care too much. My skiing technique is too lousy to take the interesting trails or go off piste. I'd rather run or go biking.
But Nath sounded like she wanted to go, so I asked Colette if she minded watching the kids. She didn't mind. We ended up getting there shortly before 3 pm, so bought passes for the end of the day. They've gone to magnetic cards that let you through the turnstiles. Seems to work all right.
Conditions were less than perfect. As 5 o'clock approached, the fog got thicker and thicker. In the end we could no longer see more than about 15-20 feet ahead of us. It was getting hard to stay on the trails because we couldn't see from one baton to the next. Down at the bottom most of the snow had worn away as well. The last few hundred meters were crusty ice with a light dusting of fake snow here and there.
But we did have fun for the first 90 minutes. We could get above the worst of the fog by taking the ski lift up to Super Collet, where the snow was thicker and we even saw the sun through the thickening cloud cover.
On the first descent, when we could still see, I stopped to wait when we got back down to the lift. Nathalie took a while to catch up with me and she was breathing heavily. I go slowly, but she had to stop along the way to rest her legs now and then. That's the difference between running after the little ones every day, and running around outside 6 days a week.
Posted by Mark at 06:29 PM | TrackBack
February 19, 2006
Tim takes to the trees
The horror film forgotten, Tim's once again wanting to take to the trees. He's installed what he calls a pulley system in one of the evergreens in the back yard, and has been hounding me to find some boards so he can build a fort up there.
This morning we talked over the plans, which involve walls, windows, and a roof, plus a stairway. He graciously suggested that to save wood, we could potentially leave the vertical backs of the steps unfinished, relying only on the railings and actual steps themselves. He's probably given up on carpeting, at least in the stairwell.
After he'd talked most of it out of his system, he was willing to discuss the more mundane points of construction. The problem was that we cannot go to the town dump today to look for old boards. It's not open. He wanted to start on the roof right away instead. He ceded the point however that it would make sense to start with the floor before deciding on the roof. He also admitted that he'd need to pick a pine tree with branches roughly at the same level all around if we want to have boards nailed to more than one branch.
Now he wants me out there so we can clean the selected tree and prepare it for boards as soon as we get them. I was really hoping he'd go back to the horror film script, but a tree fort is no doubt more useful to an 8 year old boy.
Posted by Mark at 03:18 PM | TrackBack
Once again without instruments
Lately it's been warm, though mainly rainy. Today the rain had dried for the most part, yet it is still warm enough to ride. Although I wore my winter clothes, it was primarily to be comfortable. My hands and feet fared lots better than last Sunday.
Didn't take anything to measure my progress, but just rode up over the hills to Chambery and back. I've been out for at least a little real exercise every day since February 6, though some days I've been taking it easy. Still I don't want to work too hard on these off days.
Posted by Mark at 03:10 PM | TrackBack
February 15, 2006
Diane sick again
Yet another bad night. Diane had antibiotics for an ear infection only weeks ago, and now seems to have another infection in the same ear. Same symptoms. We're hoping spring will come soon and put an end to her illnesses. In between the ear infections she was coughing during the night. I think Colette ended up sleeping with Diane in her little bed most of Sunday night.
Nath called to say she has a doctor's appointment at 11 this morning.
Posted by Mark at 08:56 AM | TrackBack
February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day
I didn't forget. Didn't get Nathalie flowers, either, but instead a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream.
Posted by Mark at 08:02 PM | TrackBack
February 12, 2006
Through the frozen vineyards
This morning the sky was as clear as yesterday. We had heavy white frost on the yard and the cars. Last night I was so exhausted I feel asleep reading on top of the covers shortly after 9 pm. Then I woke up in the middle of the night and finally got up from 2:45 to about 5:30 before going back to bed and to sleep for 1:30. Since the other adults were sleeping, I took the 7-9 am shift with the four older children. Diane had also gotten up in the middle of the night and switched to her grandparents' bed, after wanting to turn on the light and play.
Nathalie slept in a little, but I brought her coffee at 9. I went to for a bike ride from about quarter past nine to quarter past ten. Though I met several cyclists, it was almost too cold to ride. My hands and feet hurt from the cold. They still tingle.
The scenery was a winter postcard, but without snow in the valley. A breeze blew the polution off to the south a couple of days ago, and so you can now see each edge of each ridge on the Chartreuse, especially in the cold morning. In the frozen vineyards, the wires that bare the grape vines glinted in the sunlight, giving the impression from far off of being powdered with shiny ice.
Posted by Mark at 11:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 11, 2006
Flu coming perhaps
When I went to see Rantz a while ago, he was expecting lots of people with the flu this month. Some folks at work have said their kids got it this past week.
As I was running around Pontcharra this morning, I saw on two occasions boys throwing up on the side of the road. Diane's been coughing the last two nights, and she's still coughing a bit, but nothing more than that so far. Hope we don't get unlucky.
Posted by Mark at 02:21 PM | TrackBack
February 09, 2006
To send the photos
Nathalie got a new digital camera for Christmas. The photos are at 5 megapixel resolution, so the JPEGs weigh 2.4 MB each.
She wanted to send 7 or 8 of these to her brother. We have asymmetric DSL, so uploading is only 1/4 the speed of downloading. Even at max. speed, each photo would take about 3 minutes to upload.
One of the techniques I showed her with the Gimp is that you can easily scale photos. When you make them 400x300 pixels, instead of their original size, the JPEGs weigh on the order of 40 KB, taking 3 seconds instead of 3 minutes each to upload.
Another technique, probably even more useful, is cropping photos. Why send all that space around the edges when you can just crop around the subject instead? Especially if you're going to shrink the photo, too. I've been trying to convince her to zoom in on her subjects, but in the meantime cropping is a partial fix.
In any case, it sure is easier than waiting for the paper photos.
Posted by Mark at 08:33 PM | TrackBack
February 07, 2006
Some disagreement over unemployment
We're at that point in every big project where it's on the mind. It's not entirely clear whether it's just my paranoia, or whether it's good intuition, but I worry about getting forcefully added to the ranks of the unemployed.
So in this frame of mind I noticed with amusement the BBC News article about French protests against the Prime Minister's CPE (contrat premier emploi) idea. The plan is to enact a law prolonging the trial period for young employees to two years, meaning essentially that instead of a 1-3 month trial period during which the employer can get rid of the employee without justification, the employer can get rid of the employee any time in the first 24 months without justification.
Since work contracts are entered into freely by both parties and neither party has an advantage in the negotiations, especially in France where unemployment of young people runs about 20%, employers welcome the proposition as a great way to combat unemployment.
According to a report I heard on the radio here, 52% of French voters surveyed think the law is not a good idea. That didn't show up in the BBC News article. Instead the BBC says this, which is total horseshit:
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has made it a priority to cut unemployment among young people.
Politicians, like managers and other people in favorable positions, prefer to be judged by their intentions, rather than their actions. Wouldn't you? Isn't that a damn good reason to turn the sound off and judge them purely by what they in fact accomplish, the part that could never be attributed to brownian motion, business cycles, or accident?
By the way, unlike the Fed, the European Central Bank is not legally concerned with limiting unemployment. According to the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed's monetary policy objectives are set up "to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates." (Emphasis added.)
Posted by Mark at 09:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 05, 2006
Very bad night
Boy, was I glad to remove this thing and turn the power off at 7:13 am this morning.
Last night we ate with Catherine and Andy and their friends Doug and Lorraine. Andy and Doug are both from Scotland. As a sort of ceremony, they wore their kilts. We ate haggis, potatoes, rutabaga, plus red wine and whisky.
Doug adressed the haggis with an impressive if mostly incomprehensible poem from Robert Burns, stabbing it with the ceremonial knife. I'd never eaten haggis before. Reminded me somehow of boudin noir.
When I finally got to bed after 1 am, I got to "sleep" in 40 minute intervals before the blood pressure machine would wake me up. Finally went to the couch in a daze after 4 am, when life had become so uncomfortable in my bed I could no longer keep from moving.
Nathalie was snoring when I left. I tried to read, nodding off now and then to be awakened by the infernal machine. I wondered if the stress I was feeling would show up in the blood pressure readings, and that made it even worse.
My wedding band seemed to be choking my ring finger, although it's usually nearly falling off in winter. The snug fit of the armband must've been preventing the veins from doing their job normally. Hope the children go easy on us today.
Posted by Mark at 10:02 AM | TrackBack
February 04, 2006
Chat perdu, part II
The cat who tried to move in at our house last weekend is now gone.
Nathalie took her (her, it turned out) to a shelter in Le Versoud where the woman in charge felt optimistic that someone would take her. At the shelter they have antibiotics for the cat's cold as well, and can keep their animals indoors. So apparently the cat was happy to end up there for the time being.
Posted by Mark at 04:58 PM | TrackBack
February 02, 2006
Should give in to check up, part IV
Other than my blood being fairly dilute, the tests didn't show anything odd. None of the measurements show readings outside the normal range. I write "dilute" because red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are all present in low-end-of-normal concentrations. Cholesterol and triglyceride readings are well below the risk thresholds. Creatinine clearance looks normal, as does the blood sugar level.
Posted by Mark at 07:39 PM | TrackBack
Should give in to check up, part III
Joanne told me yesterday I'm like her husband, Martin. If we could, we'd plan to take vacation to die.
This morning after I put out breakfast for the children I went in to get blood tests. Dr. Rantz told me to go see the cardiologist with the results of the blood tests so it would be easier to diagnose my blood pressure readings.
Later I called the cardiologist's office. The woman who answered the phone asked me if it was urgent. I told her it wasn't urgent, but that I'd prefer not to wait too long. She gave me an appointment for Saturday morning at 7:15 am.
Only after that did I notice the children don't go to school this Saturday. Yet Nath has to teach as usual on Saturday mornings. So we're going to have a babysitter come for the children. I wonder what sort of tests I should be prepared for Saturday.
Posted by Mark at 01:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 31, 2006
Should give in to check up
Went to see Dr. Handtschoewercker, my chiropractor, today, who sent me home without treating me. He told me to go see my regular doctor, telling me anything he'd do would be like fixing the alignment of a car that may have a few key parts missing.
Work piles up quietly, like heavy snow. That's nothing new.
I've dropped caffeinated beverages. Coincidentally I'm dead tired all the time. It's not clear whether that a cause-effect relationship or a chance correlation. Today on the DRS list, I noticed mention of the results of a study showing caffeine before exercise seriously decreases blood flow to the heart.
That leaves salt. I'm trying to avoid extra salt. If it's not salt, it's potentially something more ominous. After seeing Dr. Handtschoewercker, I've decided to go see my doctor even if the wait is long.
Posted by Mark at 09:29 PM | TrackBack
January 29, 2006
Chat perdu
Ce weekend un petit chat noir, malade et qui ronfle en respirant, se trouve a la porte de notre maison. En voici une photo un peu floue :
S'il est a vous, ou que vous voulez vous en occuper, laissez votre email en commentaire.
(We all feel horribly callous. If we take him in, however, we'll have to keep him and take him to the vet and so forth.)
Posted by Mark at 12:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 25, 2006
DSL down
Couldn't start working from home this morning. The DSL connection is down. The message flashed on the modem indicates according to the doc that the modem cannot authenticate with our DSL provider because of something in the DSLAM.
I tried the first suggestion, which is a hard reboot. After doing that three times, I tried the next suggestion that applied, which is to call France Telecom and ask if the line had been substituted. I'm not sure what that means techncially speaking, but seems like it would be some sort of hardware or software reroute of our normal telephone line that made it unavailable to our DSL provider.
France Telecom is of course fighting deregulation like IBM fighting to extend software patents to Europe. When you call the number they're required to provide to subscribers to get in touch with someone who can tell you whether they've done something that affects your contact trough their multiplexer to a competing DSL provider, something you'd only ever do in reality if they'd inadvertently or intentionally shaken up the connection between you and the DSL provider, who therefore is almost certainly your ISP, all their operators are "busy," but of course you can get in touch with them via the web...
Of course, it could be something Free, our DSL provider did, too. For some reason I cannot even bring up Free's website at work. France Telecom's site crashed Firefox last time I went there. BTW, when you go to France Telecom's website with the intent to find where to get help, you're going to spend a long time on RTC trying to get through. They conveniently put up a bunch of animated GIFs, and all the obvious links are for people who want to buy something.
Posted by Mark at 10:28 AM | TrackBack
January 24, 2006
Another short night, part II
Got up at 4:45 am, having had a hard time going to sleep though exhausted at 11:15 pm. Cannot figure out how I'm going to lower my blood pressure readings, since they seem to have risen as I ate healthier, lost weight, and increased my physical activity.
Posted by Mark at 08:42 AM | TrackBack
January 20, 2006
Another short night
Woke up before 5 am again today, although I tried not to fall asleep until almost 11 pm. Today Diane was crying out about something. Nath went to see her. Yesterday it was probably just me. Completely exhausted is a bad condition in which to start another busy day.
Posted by Mark at 06:44 AM | TrackBack
January 15, 2006
Station de Granier, part II
Here's a cobbled together picture of most of it. It's not a big place, but there was plenty of snow, and it's cheaper and closer than the bigger ski resorts.
Notice how we didn't have lots of clouds today. I don't think we spotted a single cloud the whole time we were in the Chartreuse.
Posted by Mark at 05:14 PM | TrackBack
January 13, 2006
Rough
Some blog, or maybe it was an RSS feed from a news service, had a link yesterday or the day before to an article on researchers finding that the moment some people get out of bed, their reaction times are worse than when they are somewhat drunk.
I usually get out of bed feeling ready to go, but sure felt awful this morning. After going to bed late having failed to figure out why installing new hardware would break my Xorg setup, already exhausted from the cold yesterday morning and the day before, Diane got me up repeatedly after 4 am. First time she had the covers off. Subsequent times it was nightmares or whatever. Fell asleep for a while. At 7:12 Emma came upstairs to the bedroom to ask if she could go downstairs.
Got up to get Emma's breakfast and Nath's coffee. Could hardly walk straight. I drove in to work this morning, but only after breakfast, coffee, shower and shave. I fear spending too much time in bitter cold while being exhausted might lead to a cold.
Posted by Mark at 08:30 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 12, 2006
Wireless access at home
The wireless router box was delivered today. It's fun to configure.
Ludo said the latency would increase, but I haven't noticed that yet here on the portable. The download speed right now on the Free.fr DSL line is 568.81 kbit/s down, 139.68 kbit/s up, so higher on both ends than the theoretical max. Don't see anything there about latency.
Posted by Mark at 08:44 PM | TrackBack
January 06, 2006
Two guitars
Both my classical guitars are cheap student guitars. I bought new strings for them from Woodwind & Brasswind, who seem now to have a store in Paris. They also have a store in South Bend, Indiana.
The first classical guitar is an Epiphone. It sounds like they added three layers of polyurethane too many. It's also missing a knob off the screw to wind the G string, so I tune that one with a pair of pliers.
The second guitar doesn't seem to have a name. It's frets are tiny little wires. It has a fairly bright sound, but unfortunately this is because they skimped on wood. The neck is bowed now such that the D string buzzes at the 12th fret. I got a sturdy case with it that's worth as much as the guitar.
Classical guitars sound nice when the strings are new. Even with a cheap guitar like one of mine you can hear nuances in the strings that don't come out in the same way with steel stringed acoustics or electrics. Not as impressive as a piano, but pleasing nonetheless. Once I manage to get the guitar to hold a tune, I could sit there all night and just make enjoyable (to me) noises.
Posted by Mark at 08:11 PM | TrackBack
January 03, 2006
Dispute over natural gas
As winter continues, the Russians and Ukranians are having difficulty agreeing on the price of Russian gas through the Ukraine. It's on the news in France, because this country depends on Russian natural gas in part. Forbes.com also has a writeup.
Putin reportedly set the terms for a new Ukraine contract--three months of gas at last year's prices, then an increase to market rates. Ukraine had been paying about $50 per thousand cubic meters of gas; Russia was looking for $230 before the talks broke down Sunday.
Slight difference in views on the price there. Russians claim Ukranians are siphoning off gas, which Ukranians deny. I wonder why they don't both gang up on the western European countries to loosen the purse strings. No doubt the Ukrainians are asking for lower prices so they don't die of hypothermia, not because they'd rather buy 1G iPods with the money instead. I would expect them to take a clue from civil suit lawyers in the US and go after the deep pockets, wherever those pockets happen to be.
Right after the above quote by the way was the quote from the WTO rep:
"These countries should pay today's market prices for their energy to improve the efficiency of their economies," Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, was quoted by AFX as saying of former Soviet satellite states.
I agree. Let's also charge people the oil prices cited in Critical Path, the ones with the externalities figured in, to improve the energy efficiency of our economies.
Posted by Mark at 07:09 AM | TrackBack
Outage, part III
More power failures during the night. When I woke up this morning the clocks were all flashing.
Nath said I was exaggerating to say we get one power cut per month on average. She may be right if we count each group of outages in 24 hours as one cut. Often when we get one, though, we get several. For example, yesterday evening we had at least a half dozen. If you count them individually, I'm fairly certain we get one a month on average.
Our electicity does not provide five 9s of availability. In software and computer hardware, when you want high availability you use redundancy to prevent a single point of failure from causing a service to disappear. Maybe there's not a good way of doing that on the part of the electric grid that reaches Barraux.
Posted by Mark at 06:50 AM | TrackBack
January 02, 2006
Outage, part II
What do Barraux, St. Petersburg, Menlo Park have in common?
Regular power outages. We just had another couple. EDF, the French electricity company, is being privatized. They took some of the cash they got selling stock and put it in home appliance and electrical equipment manufacturers. Now they have to get people to buy a bunch of new fridges, washing machines, TVs, DVD readers, PCs, etc. So they're power cycling in out of the way places to cause extra equipment failures.
Posted by Mark at 10:52 PM | TrackBack
Outage
Tim was upset. The power went out here in Barraux only 10 minutes after I got the PlayStation set up for him.
Nath got him a PAL PlayStation. She wasn't sure how to hook the thing up. In fact it was simply a setting on the TV to take input not from the antenna but from the other line.
When the power came back on, Nath played three games of SSX, which is a game Joanne recommended. You snowboard down some fairly hairy slopes, racing with computer players, listening to what is supposed to be snowboard music. I guess you could also race against another player on the same PlayStation. Maybe Tim and Emma will try it together.
Posted by Mark at 09:39 PM | TrackBack
January 01, 2006
Happy New Year
None of our trains were late today, so we managed to make it from Desvres to Barraux in only about 6 hours.
Last night Tim managed to stay up almost as late as I did. I was tired from running so went to bed at about 1:30 am. Nathalie came to bed probably about 2.
The trip today was exhausting. Emma and Diane are still too young not to get rambunctious after only the first hour of riding. Then you have wiggle worms for several more hours.
Posted by Mark at 08:18 PM | TrackBack
December 17, 2005
How much for Christmas
The Gmail RSS feed led to an article on Ask Yahoo! about how much people in the US spend on average on holiday gifts.
Can't wait? Answer: $835 on average. "As Myvesta.org points out, many spend 'out of proportion' to their income."
Posted by Mark at 10:04 AM | TrackBack
December 12, 2005
Snow
Metcheck.com has predicted more for this week. But it should only be like Indianapolis and Ann Arbor up in the mountains. Matt and Dad had huge quantities of powder to sweep away.
Here Kevin LeMay told me he went skiiing this weekend. Once you get above the clouds apparently it's beautiful blue with lots of fresh snow.
Posted by Mark at 11:43 AM | TrackBack
December 11, 2005
Christmas pageant
I now know how Vettier got on the inside track as mayor: His brother is none other than Santa Claus himself.
Posted by Mark at 04:55 PM | TrackBack
December 10, 2005
Broken trunk
A picture of the broken trunk door.
You cannot see this well but it's resting on a propane bottle. The guy doing the repairs found a dark metallic green replacement. Just in time for Christmas.
Posted by Mark at 02:38 PM | TrackBack
NTP for biological clocks?
Nodded off at about 10 pm last night. Woke up before 4 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. My mind and throat were bothering me. I need NTP for my biological clock.
Last night when I arrived, thankfully dry, at the station in Gières I experienced a moment of passing stupidity. In contrast to most moments (hours?, weeks?) of transiently low IQ, this one was particularly strange. I stood fumbling with my backpack, having great difficulty putting my gloves in there and taking my helmet off. Yet some part of me was also there calmly watching from the outside, noticing helplessly my diminishing mental faculties. That part of me got the other part of me to open Will Self's book and try to read as an experiment. The experiment confirmed my inability to read.
I'd been taking no drugs or medication. Just freezing my backside in the icy water for the last couple of days. The episode ended in the train and I was able to read again.
Posted by Mark at 07:16 AM | TrackBack
December 06, 2005
When you've been in France too long
Nathalie spent all evening online, shopping for beads. That's why I'm on here after my bedtime.
I know I've been in France too long now. They're running Le Père Noöl est une ordure for the 25th time on television. I caught myself laughing out loud. Pretty soon they'll find me sitting there with Michel happily guffawing away at Louis de Funès.
Posted by Mark at 11:20 PM | TrackBack
And speaking of animals
Now I know why I'm not very observant. Overwrought with tension from reading too many novels lately, I made the mistake of people watching this morning while waiting for the late train. There were the usual folks I recognize. One very neat, proper looking man with small round glasses was cursing the SNCF because the train was late, although the station attendant had explained the lateness was due to une intervention de la police in Montmélian. (That had me wondering if I'd correctly signed my weekly ticket.) The man's companion was standing near him. It was unclear whether she'd decided she should look worried because the train was late, or because her friend (husband?) was obviously going to suffer the consequences of his rage, perhaps getting high blood pressure or perspiring in his scrupulously clean shirt.
A couple of women in their late forties or early fifties looked more composed, even amused. They could've been thinking about Christmas shopping. It could even have been my ridiculous looking super hero riding costume covered with mud droplets from the descent to Pontcharra.
Or it could've been what happened when another, younger female cyclist showed up on her bike. First one guy who looked a few years older than me looked her up and down from behind. But that was rather subtle, compared to the adolescent boy who stood maybe two yards a way from her, checking her out, mesmerized.
I'd swore off lecherous staring for the new year if I didn't already have a resolution in mind. Instead I got out my book, shooting a few glances askance to see if there was a rock we gentlemen could crawl under temporarily.
Halfway to work from the station in Gières, I saw a puppy looking at a hen to chase. I swear the dog had the same stare as the boy.
Posted by Mark at 10:40 PM | TrackBack
Mouse in the house
We have an univited guest. I chased it around the bedroom yesterday, but halfheartedly. Couldn't figure out how to catch the tiny animal to put it outside.
Nathalie and Emma were mortified. For a moment I thought Nath was going to crawl up on my shoulders. I wonder if she'll buy a mousetrap.
There's certainly enough crumbs for a mouse to last the winter if not. In fact, there's probably enough food in Diane's booster chair for a mouse to last the winter.
Posted by Mark at 10:36 PM | TrackBack
December 04, 2005
Christmas decorations
While I was out running around Pontcharra, Nathalie was putting up the Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations this morning with the help of her three little elves. Apparently the short Norman Christmas tree we bought this year did not lose its needles already, as did some of the others. Some people opened their trees to find them brown and needleless.
The Christmas tree does look more like a bush to me than a tree, however. It's as wide as it is tall, and a little lopsided. I guess if it were a bush it would be thicker. We didn't want to get a really tall one because they take up so much space. Nathalie was strongly against my idea of buying a small, pre-decorated tree in a box, though. If I were a kid I'd probably want a real tree, too.
Janetta told me Friday that in New Zealand where she grew up, they play tennis on Christmas afternoon. They also used to eat the same food as people were eating in England. Things like Christmas pudding. Imagine having Christmas pudding at your barbecue in July.