Rémino

Long time no see, everyone!

remi — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:41:35 -0800

It's been since July since I've updated my journal. We already got our first snowfall last week in Ottawa -- Tuesday at 5:10 PM, to be precise -- and with November just starting, I thought I'd write about what's new with my life and what's happening with the site.

In August, my girlfriend and I went to New Brunswick. Since I still don't have a license, she had to do all the driving. The average person would take a day or two to get there, but we took our time and spent three days on the road. It gave us a chance to stay at some wonderful hotels and to explore some parts of Quebec and New Brunswick that we usually miss. We particularly enjoyed our stay at Lévis and Trois-Rivières, while the silence of Saint-Léonard was also strangely interesting. It was her first time to go in a Maritime province and to be among Acadians all around her. She had the chance to meet the people of my east coast life, although she was worried at first that her lack of French would make it difficult.

The two of us had a wonderful time with all of my friends, especially during Acadian Day. A few days after, they joined both of us dressed in yukata to walk around the Acadian Historical Village and eat sushi in Caraquet. It was a great opportunity for them to twist their tongues to speak English, which made her feel like one of us. Our Japanese became our secret language in the time. She also met my parents, grand-parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and last but not least, my sister and her fiancé during their engagement dinner. There were some rough times with the family, but at least their problems were not related to us, and we were able to flee at anytime, thanks to her vehicule. Everyone liked her very much. Let's face it: not liking her is simply impossible.

The trip was my girlfriend's last vacation in Canada. At least for a while. She only had the time for a party to meet many of her friends for a last time. On a whim, two of her friends met her, dressed up in kimono, and did unusual Japanese tea ceremonies outside. On the Parliament Hill, under the giant spider near the National Museum, and finally in Major's Hill Park. Curious people gathered up asking questions and taking pictures, but one impatient fat lady wanted us to move out of under the spider because she wanted to quickly snap some photos but she had "a bus to catch." We didn't move an inch. The implied official photographer I was, the ladies were kind enough to take their time and serve me a bowl of tea at every round they performed. "Maybe you should walk home instead," I thought, "I think it could only do you good! Or should I say 'roll' back home?" I wondered if throwing her a bag of chips would have kept her occupied long enough to stop pestering us... The weather was nice, but as soon as we were done, the heavy rain waiting to fall from the sky started pouring down. We took shelter in the Château Laurier.

Our friends, our family, and ourselves never wished for what was going to happen, but we all knew it had to happen someday. My girlfriend couldn't land a job here and it was time to move back home. September 9 was her last day in Ottawa. I remember how grim was that day. Her trusted tea ceremony friends were all there to bring her to the airport. They cried. I cried. After we saw her walk past security and board the plane, we watched patiently as her plane took off and disappeared in the thick morning fog. I was so sad that day. I was supposed to go back to work, but I didn't want to see anyone, and stayed home. Some friends who knew about my situation were already calling me to see how I was doing. It's tough, even two months after, but I know now my time to move in Japan will be soon. I'll do everything to make the big leap within reach next year. At least, I still talk and see my girlfriend every week thanks to the Internet.

September was not all sad news. It was also a month of change. Other than my girlfriend no longer being here, I moved into her apartment, and I started a new job. I now live and work downtown. No longer will I need to get on the bus to go to work, and no longer will I need to tolerate nosy roommates when I come back home. I warned my former employer several time about being too busy at work. I lost clients and it was hurting my portfolio. It was time to change and I did. The old apartment was small, and I was tired of living with strangers. Everything changed for the better. On top of this, someone who found me after doing a search online asked me to do some freelance work. This is a great surprise, and it will really help me get close to my girlfriend again soon. It's good money, good for my portfolio, and... the client is also downtown. The work is for a new Web site that will open in December.

I sold my Mac Mini just after I bought a new refurbished black MacBook with a printer. I finally did it. I finally replaced my main computer with a laptop. It was time, and it's a lot more convenient. So far, it never gave me any problem, and neither did the Mini. I also bought a Wii to help pass time when I really get tired of working.

As always, I'm also working on a few other projects, some personal and some volunteer. For Rémino, I wish to change it's back-end from Drupal 5 to WordPress 2.6, but it will take time. I also want to simplify the interface and maybe I'll move all my personal entries to my LiveJournal account and make everything only readable by my friends. Other posts about computers or Japan will be moved to other projects of mine. For my e-mail, since I was getting a lot of spam, I changed my mail service to use Google Apps instead. I'm glad I did: no more spam and I can use Gmail's interface -- a lot better than Squirrelmail -- when I'm not using Mail.app on my Mac.

People don't read my journal anymore. They don't have time to read, and I don't have time to write. It was fun having a journal before. Since it was uncommon years ago to know someone who has a Web site, friends were all curious to go see it. But nowadays, there are big social networking sites which are like Internet cities in glass domes where people want to get in but don't want to get out, and where content is treated like municipal tap water. In fact, the only way to have some people read what I have to say is to write inside the domes. Writing a journal used to be fun when it felt like it was a constant conversation with your friends. Today, there are hundred times more people online, yet it feels like I'm on an island with no one else in sight, writing my journal on toilet paper. (How did I get that, anyway?) This is unless I rant. Even if I whisper my complaints, some key words will be a beacon to attract trolls to flame my island. It is repetitive and pointless. As a matter of fact, I recently disabled commenting on my journal. At this point, should I still use a content management system?

Facebook is a perfect example of an online dome. It's both good and bad. I like having some of my close friends know what I'm doing in my everyday life, but why everybody else I've ever met in my life should know? Why would I let friends of mine meet other friends I have? Great. Now my mom just added me. Mixi and even Wikipedia are not better. All of these sites want to suck all the information and the citizens of the Internet in their domes.

Well, I guess this is it for today. Overall, everything is going smoothly, even if we're supposedly in an economical crisis. Although, I deeply miss my girlfriend and I want to hold her in my arms again really soon. In the meantime, I better do my freelance work and prepare for my Japanese language proficiency test in December. Maybe I'll put up a few pictures soon.

Until next time, take care of yourselves!

Dismembered

remi — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:46:19 -0700

At work, when discussing with a client about the scoring system of his site:

3 flags make for one strike. 2 strikes and you are 'dismembered'.

Now I imagine the BOFH pulling the arms out of every user who posts spam on the site. That would be really effective!

All laughing aside, my response to the client was basically, "Let's use the verb 'banned,' shall we?"

Finally Moving Out

remi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:12:52 -0700

My lonely roommate, who just came back home a moment ago:

-- I was speaking with the landlord yesterday. You're moving out?
-- Yup.
-- Still in Ottawa?
-- Um, somewhere.
-- Not sure yet?
-- Nope.

I just figured that my life is not, and never had been, her business. I don't know much about her, and I know virtually nothing about the third guy. The roommate has always been talking in other's backs about their private lives, and I'm putting this to a stop. I remember when I went to pick up a computer with her. The seller was trying to small talk with me and she kept answering for me:

-- So, Remi, you're learning Japanese?
-- Yes...
-- Yes, he's learning Japanese, every Saturday morning!
-- And what is you're last name again?
-- It's...

And there she cut me again to tell him my family name and spell it too. I'm old enough to answer myself, roommate, so shut the fuck up.

Finally, after August, I won't have to deal with roommates anymore.

Paint your wagon

remi — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:39:53 -0700

My girlfriend, some friends, and I went berry picking two weeks ago. While we were waiting for the wagon that will carry us to the berry fields, a middle-aged man with his wife was attempting his best shot at humour. "What will happen when the wagon comes? They'll paint it?," he said. The thought of some bizarre need of painting a wagon prior to a ride was a bit funny to me, to I smiled. The man noticed my smile:

-- Do you understand my joke?
-- Well, I think I do.
-- Do you know what reference I am making? It was a movie called "Paint My Wagon," or something. What was it?
-- I... I don't remember. (Actually, he just lost me there.)
-- You don't understand my joke do you. (Then he speaks to his wife.) Do you know what I'm talking about?
-- Yes, I do., she said.
-- Oh, so you understand my joke? That guy here doesn't understand my joke. He doesn't know what I'm talking about.

And then he kept complaining about how I didn't understand his joke. The wait for the wagon was becoming as long as waiting for a bus under the rain. I just had to say something to bring all this to an end. "Well, I'm sorry, sir. I was smiling just to make you feel better, because even your wife understood your joke and didn't think it was funny."

There. That worked -- didn't hear a single word after.

I think he was referring to this movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_Your_Wagon_%28film%29

Wrong Number

remi — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:35:48 -0700

My bosses bought a computer store recently. One of their clients ordered toner for his laser printer. Since none was in stock, my boss tried to call the supplier. As he was discussing with the supplier, the person at the other end of the line just exclaimed, "Hey! I'm the one who ordered that." The face of my boss turning red in embarassment, he realised that he called the client instead of supplier.

Priceless moment!

Repeating to a deaf person is like waving to a blind

remi — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:46:33 -0700

Just ten minutes I go, I went to the Tim Horton's nearby. I decided to order someone I haven't drank a long time ago: a chocolate ice cappucino, or ice capp, for short.

The service was slow this evening, as they were giving extra attention to a new trainee. That's okay. I waited.

Three customers later, I approached the counter, and I order:

-- Hi! I'll have a small chocolate ice capp.
-- Um, what's sir? Oh, wait, you said chocolate. (Punches in "1 brownie.")
-- No, not a brownie, a small chocolate ice capp.
-- Oh okay, a chocolate milk.
-- No... A... Small... Chocolate... Ice... Capp.

After finally getting my ice capp, well guess what, this time she understood every but the chocolate. It was a regular ice cappucino.

When I realised it was not what I ordered, I was already outside. I felt like I already wasted my time and $2 on something I didn't want, I wasn't willing to spend more time in line to solve the problem. Instead, I amused myself at splattering my ice capp down their gargage can in the parking lot. What a mess, but more fun than arguing.

Happy Canada Day!

remi — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:30:27 -0700

Bonne fête, Canada !

I know my busy schedule has been preventing me to write on Rémino recently, but for our nation's anniversary, I will leave you with an article on Canada.com featuring videos to make us proud:

Canada: A video tribute

In Need of Black

remi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:26:31 -0700

Speaking with a customer:

-- I'm looking at the black. Can I have a lighter shade of black?

-- You mean gray?

Firefox 3 Download Day

remi — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:19:37 -0700

The final release Mozilla Firefox 3 will be launched on June 17. (Which coincides with one of my coworkers' birthday.) For this event, Spread Firefox is encouraging people to download their copy of Firefox on that day, and help them set a Guinness world record.

I tried the latest release candidate of Firefox and I was really impressed. The interface has been refined and all the memory leaks, finally, have been patched.

If you think your browser is slow or not secure enough, even if you're running Firefox 2, I recommend you give Firefox 3 a try.

Happy downloading!

Only 20 Years To Go

remi — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:14:37 -0700

It's been a while since I wanted to do that, and this morning, I finally did.

I just added my name to the waiting list to get a Canadian flag that has flown on the Parliament. Anyone can add their name to their list, but there's a 20-year waiting period.

Here are the instructions in English and in French.