Work hard, Play hard... et un peu de déconne!

An absolute must read (or hear)...

2009-04-07T02:09:00.003+02:00

J K Rowling's Harvard BS commencement speech

I am ashamed not to have posted this earlier!

Simple, humble, powerful...

Cheers,
P

RTW - VIII - San Francisco - Feb 11th to 16th

2009-03-26T03:38:00.005+01:00

I am determined to finish this series, if only so that I have archives come any trip down memory lane

Just back from Las Vegas, it was time to finally chill in San Francisco...

Good times were had by all as I stayed four days at Julien's and three at Adgenie's (I guess Adrien & Eugenie are Adgenie, just like Tomkat and Bradgelina, no?). Under the same logic, I'd like someone to explain how to combine Julien and Julie... Thx!

Some highlights need to be shared though:

The gigantic pillow fight on Valentine's Day

btw, if you like flashmobs, you'll just love that

So I had a couple considerations from the nightlife, given that Julien took me out quite a bit:
- I finally had an occasion of showing off my knowledge of the capital city of Honduras (Tegucigalpa) as I met a couple girls from Honduras at “French Tuesdays”. Yep... Go figure...

- It's official: in North America, girls and guys learn how to dance in hip hop music videos. Funnily enough, the lower the class, the more like it...

- Kindergarten teacher's assistant is a job that exists. And some find me attractive...

- Young girls don't understand me when I negligently say this line after a nerdy joke
“Well, you see darling, in Rain Man, I'm more Dustin Hoffman than Tom Cruise”
“In what? Is that a movie?”
“Pff... A tray... Lord Darth Vader? … Oh Forget it!”
leaves

Well, the pictures album on fb is there...

Cheers,
P

PS: Mysterious Valentine's day girl, you'll be remembered! What a mystery...

RTW VII - Las Vegas - Feb 7th to 10th

2009-02-26T04:23:00.004+01:00

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...

So do the ca. 250$ I've lost at the Texas Hold'em tables... Considering the ca. 7% rake the bank takes I didn't really give money to other players at all, rather the contrary!

I finally healed the itching I had to become a pro poker player. I'm sure I could do it, if I gave it time, but I'd probably die of boredom...

This is still exciting though

And the nights in Vegas, you say?

I haven't narrated anything about going out, so I'm not starting now obviously...

I just think a note is needed about a BFBD, who would repeatedly throw stashes of one $ bills... A better investment than some money wasted in Vegas ;-)

Here's the mandatory FB album, I guess, for the ones not on FB

Cheers,
P

RTW VI - Sydney - February 3rd to 6th

2009-02-24T22:17:00.006+01:00

I love Sydney!!

Wow... So I fly to Sydney via Christchurch AND via Auckland... Thank you Mademoiselle, who booked my trip at Zurich airport!

At least I get to shop a bit: Hendrick's for Thomas v/o Fari and an All Blacks shirt for me (after being the equivalent of a big black dude in Japan, I felt entitled to that)

So I arrive in Sydney and, first thing, the customs guy calls me Daniel Vettori, apparently I'm a doppelganger of the Captain of the Kiwi cricket team... OK OK... I'll take it as a compliment!

Thomas picks me up and drives me straight to a Bavarian joint for a so-called Riesenschnitzel... I had had a lot of food in the lounge in Auckland, since my flight had been delayed, but I manage this tiny piece of veal like a German moustache wielding weight-lifting champ... Why do I add this? Because I can...

There follow three days of general happiness with a couple highlights:

I am positively in love with the Opera House :
here my facebook album about it

David Jones – the local Globus, very high-end supermarket... I love it a go shop for a pic-nic and also end up drinking a tomato, roquette, ginger & carrot juice – Fan-freaking-tastic!

Bondi Beach – I think I saw another HSG alum, but didn't have the balls to go and talk to her... Turns out it wasn't her ;-)

Bondi Burger – Oporto is a local fast food chain with grilled chicken, yum yum! Try the Bondi Burger...

Krispy Kreme – my first experience with those donuts, that are apparently so good... Chris Rock thinks so!

Top Gun – this really never gets old... Fari, Kerry & I doing a pic-nic in the park for an open-air movie. Couldn't have been a better movie... To think Fari hadn't seen it... Pfff...

And above all: Congrats Fari & Kerry, I'm so happy for you both!!!!!!

Here the album of my tourism in Sydney

Cheers Mate!
P

RTW V - Tokyo - January 31st to February 2nd

2009-02-20T21:33:00.005+01:00

Tokyo was really really fun! Thank you Mio for taking me around...

Eight little considerations about Japan

On business cards, the titles come before the names. In the West, the other way round

On elevators, Japanese people walk on the right side and stand on the left...

They love schoolgirls, and they have bars dedicated to them... The local Hooters I guess!

Manners they tend to bow & clap at lot... and sleep on subways!

Food is fantastic:
- Bean based dessert are surprising but really really good “Age man ju” for example
- Sushi in small sushi places costs ridiculous 120 Yens for two standard pieces on sushi (the price of a cheeseburger)
- On the other hand alcohol is really expensive as they get drunk on three drinks. Hehe...

The beckoning cat is a cultural symbol... And I think it's an origination of the popular brand “Hello Kitty”

The Japanese alphabet is an alphabet of syllables, like Lo Cha Ti... Those are all just a letter. That explains why Japanese brands have such odd names like DoCoMo... In Japan, it's just a three letters acronym!

In Japan, foreigners are called gaijins. And we do inspire a bit of shock & awe... Here are some a prioris that Japanese people have about us (often rightfully so)
- We are rude. Tact, Japan style, goes way beyond our normal politeness
- We don't know how to eat with sticks (my style was adjusted)
- We are tall, blond and curly... Oh yeah, I abused that one too...
- We inspire some fantasies for some Japanese ladies...

Here are my pictures with impressions of Tokyo

Voilà, cheers,
P

RTW IV - Shanghai - January 27th to 30th

2009-02-12T11:25:00.005+01:00

Oh God!

I arrived in Shanghai and met Aline in my hotel (I had booked a free SPG night)...

Shanghai is closed seven days a year: Chinese new year... And that's exactly when I was there!

So we ended up eating at my hotel... Hmm... Lasagna...

After this odd start, I "moved in" at the girls: Nice apartment!!!

And right then and there started about three days of nice life in Shanghai:

Museum of Urbanism
Museum of Posters of Communist Propaganda
Element Fresh
Massage parlor
Szechuanese restaurant
Xintandi quarter
Bar Rouge

I was babysitted like a real baby! And got to learn:

Straight ahead, to the left, to the right
Very good
Hello
Thank you
Cold water...

So when I left, all I could say in my approximative mandarin was:

Xie Xie Aline, you're a Bing Shuei guide...

Thank you Aline, you're a cold water guide!!!

Hehe...

Make sure to check out the facebook album

Still thanks! I'll be back in 2010 for the world expo in Shanghai!

P

RTW III - HK - January 24th to 27th

2009-02-04T14:28:00.007+01:00

Aaaaaaahhhh, a week-end in Hong-Kong with Lam!

Splendid...

After a plane ride to Beijing and two first taste of chinese behaviour
i) In Moscow at Shermentievo: pushing and shoving and disrespecting queues...
ii) In Beijing, where an airport employee clearly just doing his job went on a rant that I needed to pay him "ten dollars" (about as much english as he knew) for his services, i.e. cabbing me around for 300m as I was the last passenger the flight was waiting for! Oh unfortunately for him, I had no money so I gave him 8 roubles in coins...

These two themes ended up being recurrent so I won't really go into it any deeper. I'll just state that you always have to fight, bargain, push, claim, ask twice or more, and and and... Pfff!

Then again, Hong Kong was fantastic with a couple highlights:
- The flight attendant coming to tell me I'm "golden" and she'll take care of me [read: I have an airline gold status and she's responsible for my satisfaction with this flight]... Then coming back a couple minutes later and asking me with a shy smile "have I seen you on television?"

- Very good nightlife in Kowloon and in Lan Kwai Fong

- Shopping and visiting HK with Lam: Where we ended up being little "Victoria Beckham"s (thank you Vince for the nickname) "Lam? Maybe a pullover?"

- The food was fantastic, especially the Thai with Brad, an american golfpro met in aforementionned Lon Kwai Fong (and also especially after Moscow - Wink to Nico)

- Chinese New Year on Sunday was impressive...

- I loooooooooooooooooooove asian kids, they are the cutest... At some point, i had to stop taking pictures, because I thought I might come off a little politically uncorrect**!

If I was a bit let down by the attitude of some chinese people and really liked the one of native HK people, the attitude I come to disrespect most nowadays is the expat attitude, but that will be the topic of another article. And don't mistake me: It's not expats per se, it's people behaving like archetypical expats/colonialists that make me nauseous...

As ever, for more and spicy comments, enjoy the facebook album

Cheers,
P

** or to quote the movie "In Bruges" (quite good actually):
"What two things is Belgium know for?"
"..."
"Well, chocolates and child abuse... And they only invented chocolate to give to the kids..."

RTW II - Moscow - January 16th to 23rd

2009-01-28T11:46:00.007+01:00

Postponed too many times, here's my recounting of the Moscow tales, only the ones you haven't seen on facebook though...

I guess the Moscow Metro must be my first topic...
- After some time I was quite familiar, how do you think I re-learnt cyrillic the hard way?
- after some time I even figured out how to find the nearest exit... It's basically only all about looking for the wet trail of incoming passenger. Clearly visible on the ground. Only later would I learn that 'Gorod' means street! Hehe...

Two little anecdotes about specific Moscow sights: Melnikov's House & the Gorki Park

Melnikov's House used to be one of the only privately owned houses in 'CCCP'. It is a little architecture jewel... But it is nigh impossible to find in the Smolenskaya quarter. I promptly lost myself and found myself in front of the Romanov theatre, surrounded by surveillance cameras, armed tall musculous guards, fancily dressed people, Bentleys and men carrying suitcases... Hmmm... Suspicious? No! I'm just a tourist looking for sight number 27 on the plan on page 248. Any potential picture of the guard looking at my plan and trying to make sense of my person would be priceless... Unfortunately, they don't exist... (all other mentionned items you'll find on my facebook album

Gorki Park is a recreational park, but what I ignored is the fact that the youngsters come here in winter to do some ice skating while drinking beer. That was an eye-opening moment...

On a side note about the architecture, there is a diktat of pre-communist conventions and everything is decorated with the same old same old columns and frontons... This made me think of Howard Roark, I instantly understood what the book constantly refers to as overdecorated heavy and useless parts architecture...
*** Wink to Ayn Rand fans across the world!***

Of course, as in the rest of my tales, the nightlife remains a secret, but I can narrate a juicy anecdote of Nicolas and I in the Real McCoy, a meat market for expats and russian girls...
So Nicolas and I queue for the washrooms, that are common to men and women, when I note, in french of course:
P: "You know, Nicolas, when we were at Etag, a girl and a guy came out of the washrooms and the girl behind me assured me it was a common occurence..."
N: "That's true! At the Real McCoy, it's even almost a tradition... Most have done it..."
P: "Ok, even the girl in front of me?"
N: "Yeah, sure..."
P: "Ok, so if I asked her, maybe she'd agree?"
N: "Well... Maybe..."

And at that point, the girl in front of me flashes us her wonderful smile and retorts without an ounce of bitterness:
"I understand everything..."

awkward silence by N and I...

NICE... We chuckled on the way home...

The albums of the Moscow escapade are online:
Here for the cyrillic cultural sights
and
here for the tourist part

Cheers,
P

PS: Stay tuned I intend to release HK, Shanghai and Tokyo quite soon...

RTW I - Athens - Jan 12-15th

2009-01-22T04:49:00.005+01:00

*** Pardon my temporary departure from this theorical opinions blog, but this here is my forum for sharing the new of my travels around the world. Enjoy! ***

I had a great time in Athens, but most of the people who know me will know I am fond of antique history and tales... Hence a lover of old stones too!

What is it about Athens that no one knows?

Well there's three things, that I'd like to share:

i) Athens is closed on Tuesdays... The entire city: Museums, Parks, Monuments...

ii) You should go and drink fresh orange juice, wherever you can. There are oranges everywhere, so juices they know about. I had a fresh orange, carrot & apple juice and it did start my craze. I think it'll hold my entire trip... So far it did!

iii) Athens is very slippery when wet. Being build and restaured with a lot of marmor surfaces that were polished by feet over the centuries, Athens becomes a true ice ring whenever it is graced by rain. Yours truly still hurts from encountering these surface with parts of his anatomy not meant for that kind of contact...

The picture album is on Facebook, but you can view it through this link (even if you're not on facebook!)

Cheers,
P

The Hail Mary Pass... Or why some guys do and some don't!

2009-01-17T15:41:00.001+01:00

Foreword
This is a call to all other dorks, nerds and other intraverted blokes reading my blog... We need to go out there and try things more!
As I was narrating the story of the end of my evening to a female friend in Canada, I realized this was prime material for some of my readership, so here you are somewhat delayed the edited version of this chat. If you are not a single male, please stop reading now... Or read on to your discretion...

To Barney S. and the Naked Man, without whom this could never have been possible...

The Intro (and a bit of shameless commercial for myself)
[01:01:09] PC says: And you? You'll have a tough time then I hear?
[01:02:01] Young Lady says: with this semester? well, the entire semester is going to be rough, but i know when you're coming in, so as long as I don't have a presentation the next day, then i should be up for whatever
[01:02:23] PC says: COOOOOOOOOOOOL
[01:02:33] Young Lady says: i'm excited! it's always a fun time with patrice!
[01:02:38] PC says: let me tell you two things preventively...
[01:02:45] Young Lady says: ok...

The reason this chat took place in the first place
[01:03:05] PC says: #1 : Even though my speech (chat) might sound coherent - I am somewhat under the influence right now...
[01:03:12] Young Lady says: hahahahaha
[01:03:13] Young Lady says: nice
[01:03:18] Young Lady says: i wouldn't expect less, patrice.

The topic of the chat - the Hail Mary pass
[01:03:19] PC says: AND
[01:03:28] PC says: #2 : I have to tell you a little story about what big sport bet enthusiasts call the "Hail Mary Pass"
BTW: sorry you might have slipped into my whining about the current evening, please feel free to do something else while I write my sorry story

The setting of the story

So tonight I had some pints with a couple friends in a trendy location (somewhat off the trend, it was actually trendy 4 years ago, but still)
So I am with those two good friends (two ex-BCGers) at the tramway station (Zurich still has tramways, they are way cool btw)
and we watch the SNL short "Dick in a box" on an iPhone

[01:06:30] Young Lady says: hahaha, that's an amazing skit

then they go with a tram, but I have to go in the opposite direction...

The story per se
I cross the lines and start waiting... and I see a gorgeous even though a bit older looking woman... (when I say a bit older I mean mid-thirties)

[01:07:52] Young Lady says: haha, ok.

so I go up to her and ask:
"Are you waiting for a tram? Do you know for sure a tram is coming?"
She answer that yes, a 2 and a 3 are coming... or an 8 or a 14... No a 2 or a 3...
"oh ok, we live in the same region... Kalkbreite, right?"
She nods... and she says something about my accent and about the fact that she has lived in France back in the days...

We chat for about five minutes about accents, about her having been in France, her being from Germany, not far from Luxemburg, me knowing Luxembourg, her having been in Zurich for 8 years, me being from Lake Geneva region, her knowing Lake Geneva region, me not being french, her knowing Lake Geneva region, her speaking French, her having been in france twenty years ago upon completion of high school...

well... I figure she's at the end of her thirties... She obviously loves my accent, I think of her more and more as a potential lover, so I even decide to go for a so called "Hail Mary Pass" (like in American Football, when a Quarterback goes for an impossible pass in the hope a wide receiver or a tight end will get it)

Then she somehow mentionned she had had two too many wine glasses. That's where I missed my first opening...

We talk a bit more about accents and I go all shy on saying I like to conceal my accent as I don't like to play it as a seductive play...
She replies it has "du charme" and she "loves it", but she also states she likes it much more than her boyfriends accent, her boyfriend being Swiss German...

And there...

I lost it...

All seduction theory says you should ignore when a girl says she has a boyfriend... But I just didn't... Stupid me!

[01:22:10] Young Lady says: awwwww, you went for it anyways?

No, I didn't! I kept saying "well... You ought to love the Swiss German accent" and imitated it to great comic effect...

I suggested "dinner among girlfriends?"

She said no, dinner with her boyfriend

[01:24:18] Young Lady says: and....?

I should have replied "so why is he not with you?"

By the way: by this time we have gotten out of the tram and we are talking on the street... So attraction is proved, as she'd have walked out on me if it hadn't been the case!

[01:26:13] Young Lady says: hm

So I should have replied "so why didn't you take him home" and followed with a classic "I don't know how you feel about him, I feel you're not so sure, but I'll be away for 8 weeks and I'd hate myself for not doing this..." and kissed her right there on the spot...

[01:26:55] Young Lady says: but you didn't

Considerations
A bit of theory might be needed here

40 year olds think kissing is trivial and shagging can be explained by a mere physical need... So one should kiss them and try to lead from that to actual scoring...

[01:27:43] Young Lady says: well, maybe

It's funny how some women deny the fact that a good kiss with a hand in the hair at the right place and the right whisper at the right strength in the ear can ultimately lead to sex. It's not about feelings anymore, it's all just learned skills... like a circus monkey!

Anti-Climax
But I went with a much more defensive line... I made her laugh a bit more and then we parted ways...

[01:30:11] Young Lady says: haha

Much like a quarterback putting his knee down without hope of getting anything out of the drive instead of doing a Hail Mary Pass and try to get somewhere with that... I dropped the ball on "third and ten"! And then all that was left to me was to kick myself...

tsss...

Until next time, may you go for the Hail Mary Pass sometime...
Cheers,
P

Friends with benefits? It's all about bargaining power...

2009-01-08T17:21:00.005+01:00

Here my two pennies to that subject as I recently went off uncontrolled in a forum...

The question was:
Is it possible to transform a friend with benefits (FWB) into something more

The thing is: Women invariably fall in love in situations of repeated sexual relations, but they fool themselves into thinking they can go and eff around like boys, so they end up trapped: For better or (more often) for worse...

Depending on the bargaining power between the two persons involved in a multiple night stand (or any repeated act of physical love after some attraction period), there can be different scenarii:

Friends with benefits
Open relationship
Relationship
Relationship including a pussy whipped man...

Depending on the discrepancy in general attractiveness (to this topic this is brilliant http://ladder.politicals.com/) of the two lovers, they agree on next steps...
... If she really shows she needs him and he plays his cards right, he can convince her to become FWB
... If she is just a bit more self-conscious, she'll insist on formally being with him, but he'll say something akin to "ok, but I need my freedom... we can be an open relationship"
... If they are on equal terms and/or the man is not afraid of committment, they'll end up in a relationship
... It he's super needy or obviously doesn't deserve her, he'll become her pussy-whipped puppy

Of course, the girl is considering all these relationships as exclusive, where in the FWB and "open" scenario, the guy feels it's his options to go and look for something else in the meantime...

She ends up broken hearted and there's a game of jealousy, revenge and useless sleeping with guys to get back at him... This is really bad and unhealthy and leads to the destruction of the couple!

For women to come out of FWB-ness and/or open relationships, they need to state it clearly and make sex conditional, sad but true!

It's just the game of life...

And the saddest part in it is that men who have had sex with multiple women during the starting period of a FWB-relationship or an open relationship never really consider the girl as long-term material (or are just pathological cheaters... in both cases, the girl is going for a heartbreak!)

As for me, I'm not into games at all: Honesty honesty honesty...

Cheers and sorry,
P

Just to say hi to friends...

2009-01-07T18:58:00.002+01:00

GVA-ATH 12 JAN 2009, Depart 17:20, Arrive 23:05 1249 miles
ATH-SVO 15 JAN 2009, Depart 10:55, Arrive 17:40 1432 miles
SVO-HKG 22 JAN 2009, Depart 18:35, Arrive 11:25 4839 miles
HKG-PVG 27 JAN 2009, Depart 13:05, Arrive 15:30 773 miles
PVG-NRT 30 JAN 2009, Depart 13:20, Arrive 17:00 1111 miles
NRT-SYD 2 FEB 2009, Depart 15:30, Arrive 8:00 5942 miles
SYD-SFO 6 FEB 2009, Depart 16:15, Arrive 10:37 7426 miles
SFO-YYZ 17 FEB 2009, Depart 12:10, Arrive 19:59 2254 miles
YYZ-GIG 21 FEB 2009, Depart 19:00, Arrive 10:00 5145 miles
GIG-GVA 28 FEB 2009, Depart 18:15, Arrive 12:15 5726 miles

Actual trip when I'll have added the little back and forth I couldn't book on the RTW:
Athens-Moscow-Hong-Kong-Shanghai-Tokyo-San Francisco-Las-Vegas-Toronto-Montreal-Rio de Janeiro-Geneva (and then three weeks of army to chill down... so that you don't hate me!)

Decoding of the unusual:
SVO - Shermentievo (Moscow, or should I write MOCKBA?)
PVG - Pudong (Shanghai)
NRT - Narita (Tokyo)
YYZ - Pearson (Toronto)
GIG - Rio de Janeiro International Airport

Stats:
8 flights on an Airbus, 7 flights on a Boeing, 1 flight on an Embraer

Longest flight:
SYD-SFO - 13h22 of flying time
Shortest flight:
SYD-SFO - arrival 5 hours and 38 minutes before depature!

Cheers,
P

Choices, goals and satisfaction: Short-term, long-term...

2008-12-24T04:37:00.010+01:00

I recently received this in my e-mail:

Key ideas from the Harvard Business Review article by Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson

Chasing after success is like entering a landscape of moving targets: Every time you hit one, five more pop up from another direction. There's always more work to be done, more money to make, a bigger house to buy. Is it any wonder we're stressed?
To get a fresh perspective, think about success in terms of its four distinct components: happiness, achievement, significance (positively affecting those you care about), and legacy (helping others find future success). Unless you regularly hit on all four categories, any one win will be unsatisfying. So instead of relentlessly pursuing one goal (be it making partner by 30 or being the world's best soccer mom), focus on racking up victories in all areas. To maintain a steady flow of wins, however, you'll need to set limits on the time you spend on any one activity. In other words, you've got to figure out how much is "just enough"—the amount you need to accomplish before you feel comfortable putting down one task and moving to another.
Real success is emotionally renewing, not anxiety provoking. By actively making choices and setting limits, you'll be able to reach your goals, tally up more "wins," and truly enjoy all the successes you achieve.

It is very very good!

But I had already heard about that and I think, I truly do, that there are four area pillars where you should be scoring points:
Career
Relationship
Friends
World Discovery

Where every job or activity is a trade-off between the four first areas, the type of success pillars is all about how you set your priorities and more closely linked to the psychological perception of success and happiness. Hence you make long-term decisions about your priorities in life when choosing a direction and this impacts your area priorities...
This is very important because it influences what environment you live in and what kind of challenges you face day-to-day: Curing AIDS in a lab, curing malaria in the field, having a baby with your high-schoool sweetheart, segmenting clients of a major bank, controlling accounts of Coca-Cola across the entire world, blah blah blah you name it...
These are long-term choice influencing what the frame of your possibilities are... At all... A guy changing land every week doesn't build a relationship or a social life but discovers the world. A guy raising his child in Mississauga doesn't discover the world...

The HBR article adds a layer for combination with the type of success pillars:

Happiness (that you could call "carpe diem")
Achievement (that you could call "creation / mastering hurdles")
Significance (that you could also call "impact on truly loved ones")
Legacy (that you could also call "helping others")

... but the short-term focus (the constantly updated focus of your attention) determines whether your day-to-day focus is more on enabling others, helping others, achieving own goals or just enjoying the moment.
This is also very important because, in any choice you make for your
area of activity, it impacts whether you want to be helpful, recognized as a
superstar, slack but live a good life, be the alpha person of your group as
everyone relies on you... and so on...
Think about it, it is very important to choose while considering the long-term trade-offs, but in life it's also really important day-after-day to think of being versatile enough to get all
type of satisfactions!!!

Cheers,
P

Setting-up one's mid-life crisis...

2008-11-24T23:37:00.010+01:00

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
- Jane Wagner

Lately, I realized that many couples are doomed to fail!

And it's also somehow the consensus, not just me being all weirdy. And above all that, not only are they doomed, but one or more parts of the couple is aware of it...

Well, it's not quite the topic of the day. You could say this is a symptom of people just "enjoying life", just like socialists are "helping each other". Without stopping for a moment and thinking that maybe there is a trap, just maybe...

I had already written about the differences in short-term and long-term investment in one's life here and I definitely intend to finish my piece on strategy sometime soon. But for now...

My topic for the day is settling for an unsatisfactory job and/or a suboptimal relationship

Why?
My theory remains a combination of frustration, fatigue & hedonism.
- After enough time of far misses a near miss looks like a victory
- After a long period of low tide/bad beats, a little respite in what seems to have steady-state quality seems like a good idea
- There's nothing wrong in doing oneself some good

What does that mean?
That means a period of prolonged stability in a job and/or with a partner that is not fitting for the long-term.

How is that bad?
It's bad for different reasons: Lock-in effect & loss of valuable time
- The lock-in effect can occur in a job where the wrong skill set is developped leading to a permanent lock into an undesired job type, or in a relationship where faith into the couple is key and a self-convinced "I love her" can set you up for a long time...
- If the suboptimal situation is ever acknowledged and accepted, the lost time to find a better steady-state can only be interpreted as a mistake

And finally, the killer in my opinion: The mid-life crisis

Let's first quote what Wikipedia says about midlife crisis:

Midlife crisis is a term used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the "middle years" of life, as a result of sensing the passing of youth and the imminence of old age. Sometimes, transitions experienced in these years, such as aging in general, menopause, the death of parents, or children leaving home, can trigger such a crisis. The result may be a desire to make significant changes in core aspects of day to day life or situation, such as in career, marriage, or romantic relationships.

A midlife crisis could be caused by aging itself, or aging in combination with changes, problems, or regrets over:
- work or career
- spousal relationships
- maturation of children
- aging or death of parents
- physical changes associated with aging

Individuals experiencing a mid-life crisis have some of these feelings:
- search of an undefined dream or goal
- a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished
- desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness
- need to spend more time alone or with certain peers

In other terms, settling for what they shouldn't have settled for or not thinking about what they really wanted!

Hence a piece of advice I have already given several times:
Challenge yourself, challenge your status quo - Live!

Really I mean it!
P

My opinion on the newest Bond

2008-11-13T14:06:00.005+01:00

Pros

- Good action movie
- Fast paced
- Incredibly well filmed, ambiance very strong a lot of good effects: dampened sounds, slow-motion on Tosca Music, 8mm handcam grain effect
- Very little product placement (you barely see an omega, of course there are a few fords, alphas, and the occasional Smirnoff flash, Gordon Gin or this Kina Lillet, but it's nothing over the top)

Contras

- Too little Bond-like discussions (some but too little)
- No Champagne
- No "Bond, James Bond" !!!
- No Q, nor gadgets
- Too few shags: He only does Gemma A, but not Olga K. As a reminder: James used to actually shag three per movie...
- Crappy non-philharmonic theme song

All-in-all, I'm not as disappointed as some. I'm rather positive even... It's a great movie!

It's no Top 5: Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Goldfinger, Diamonds are forever, The Spy who loved me...

But it's in the league of the good ones, not in the bottom 3: Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Die Another Day...

Cheers,
P

Plain ladies - Slutiness or Virtue?

2008-11-10T00:10:00.010+01:00

Here's a theory that I've had for some time and finally made it to digital!

[Some lines of transversal discussion have been removed but most the chat is complete...
Unedited for orthography nor grammar!
The name of my sparring partner has been removed, but I can only say it's a very smart cookie!!!]

The intro & the build-up

[01:18:57] A Fabulous Chick: patrice!!
[01:19:02] A Fabulous Chick: cheer me up please :)
[01:19:32] ME : I'm in a Skype threesome right now and at the same time online with S and trying to write an article about fat chicks
[01:20:03] ME : but let me stop all that NOW
[01:20:13] A Fabulous Chick: lol
[01:20:25] A Fabulous Chick: fat chicks...? i dont even really want to know what triggered that
[01:20:29] *** PC has changed the chat topic to "Patrice goes for the better task of cheering up Mademoiselle!!!"
***

The theory

[01:32:03] ME : I've had this theory for a long time: Unattractive ladies tend to drift one of two ways and then reinforce that stance progressively until it's not really decent anymore...
[01:35:04] A Fabulous Chick: and im not sure i get your theory, but thats not really surprising lol
[01:35:09] ME: Either they get laid and discover the carnal pleasures and then tend to be a bit easier and more explorative (for lack of a better word) than regular ladies
[01:38:13] ME: so back to our slightly overweight ladies
[01:38:21] A Fabulous Chick: yes
[01:38:34] A Fabulous Chick: well i have a theory on that too
[01:38:41] ME: so either they have a normal sex life and become slutty in order to get some
[01:38:47] ME: sorry for the reduction
[01:39:11] ME: Or they rationalize the fact that they don't get men by stating that they themselves are quite picky and waiting for Mr. Right
[01:39:23] ME: of course this attitude is the highway to spinster...
[01:39:49] ME: but some stay this course for a looooooong time before going for diet or slutdom
[01:40:00] A Fabulous Chick: well OR they realise that overweight is not a characteristic but rather a current state and actually take action
[01:40:01] ME: (or is it rather sluttiness)
[01:40:19] ME: true - going for diet
[01:40:32] ME: I know people who went that way quite successfully actually

The awkward moment

[01:40:48] A Fabulous Chick: i dont think that there is a higher proportion of fat women dressing slutty than other women
[01:40:59] A Fabulous Chick: i just think you notice them more (in a weird way)
[01:41:36] ME: I'm not talking about dressing
[01:41:40] ME: I'm talking behaviour
[01:41:45] ME: putting out
[01:41:52] A Fabulous Chick: still, im not buying it
[01:41:57] ME: well
[01:42:31] ME: the prude, pruder, even more prude, so prude it's silly and finally Sister Maria-Magdalena prude evolution has been proven
[01:42:44] ME: and the "put out" version not quite...

The very awkward moment

[01:42:56] A Fabulous Chick: mmmmmmmmmmm
[01:43:06] A Fabulous Chick: have you been sleeping with fat women?? is this the issue

The finale

[01:43:06] ME: but first and foremost because many quite attractive women are also happy in bed...
[01:43:14] A Fabulous Chick: (smirk)

Thank you Mademoiselle, you are truly fabulous!

Cheers,
P

PS: Dédicace spéciale à un admiratrice silencieuse... Chose promise, chose dûe!

Quit the bandwagon...

2008-11-05T19:49:00.007+01:00

As it seems, lately, that most of the people were pretty sure of themselves and without contrast in their opinion, I have to add my grain of salt!

I don't like people without doubts and I couldn't help noticing how people who normally would shy away from any kind of intelligent political talk seemed to have a firmly rooted opinion:
Obama it is!!!

Really???

Are you sure you have an opinion???

After a long work for myself determining whether all the arguments were worth voting for what still amounts to a socialist and finding that yes, they were so:
- Creationism, guns, a wall against immigration, pro-life, etc...
- The fact that J McC had a great likelihood of dying a president and that Palin in his place would be a catastrophe (the killer one)

I'd just like to post two cards to show my irony towards this collective behaviour and tell people:
Really! Stop getting on those trendy bandwagons and think for yourself!!!

Now! Really? Can you tell me?

Cheers,
P

The main topic is "whether at all" not "how"...

2008-10-12T12:44:00.006+02:00

My pet peeve is to find statements I don't like and provoke thoughts around me... It's just really easy with some medias and/or some topics:
In an article titled Inmate takes too-fat-to-execute argument to Supreme Court, I found one of my newest grieves:

"The high court has not offered clear guidelines on what medical standards need to be met before an inmate is eligible for death"

Really?

My take on it is that either you are FOR death penalty or AGAINST, but you don't argue about how much hurt...

At the end of the article the appeal that started it all:
"A Washington state killer was given a reprieve in 1994 after claiming he was too obese to hang"

Oh really?

...

?

Was he going to die to fast?

Oh well...

P

Just a pause to reflect about something...

2008-09-29T09:24:00.002+02:00

You just have to love Sarah Palin

Yes, you do...
Hehe...
P

The one where I had to kiss my iPod goodbye...

2008-09-22T21:49:00.004+02:00

My travels to UAE part II - Ramadan

Where had I left... Oh yeah...
Upon the anouncement of our imminent landing in Dubai, my glance landed on the magazine "Time Out Dubai". On the cover of the magazine, this enticing title "The Dos and Don'ts of Ramadan"... I quickly snatched the mag and opened it at the indicated page...

+++ Aside +++
Now what just about everyone know is that during the month of Ramadan, Muslims don't eat or drink while the sun is up.
It's a bit more than that actually. It's a time of enlightment and spirituality...
From dawn*, nothing is allowed to enter the body as long as the sun hasn't set. That includes chewing gum, smoking or even having sex.
... but also of giving and sharing
After dark, people eat and play games in tents. This meal is called the Iftar and it's quite interesting to witness
+++ End aside +++

DON'T sing or dance in public , any form entertainment is prohibited during Ramadan
And then I tought "oh shit"... Only thought, because the previous line was

DON'T swear in public during Ramadan. In normal times, it will only earn you a frown, but it is a severe insult during Ramadan

I'm some what lost... If you know me, you know that:

This is going to be hard

Bye bye iPod

Snif...
Cheers,
P

* and please distinct dawn and sunrise. Dawn being the moment preceding sunrise, where the sun illuminates the sky without being apparent. This is also one of my pet peeves in french vocabulary:
L'aube et l'aurore en français. L'aube étant le crépuscule du matin et l'aurore le lever du soleil.
Le crépuscule définissant le matin ET le soir l'instant durant lequel le ciel est éclairé par le soleil sans que le soleil ne soit apparent.

PS: Matt damon about Sarah Palin

How I didn't get to sit back, relax and enjoy Cameron Diaz's purple bra...

2008-09-15T21:19:00.002+02:00

My travels to UAE part I - Censorship

Aaaahhh... Gotta love all those little questions:
- Champagne? Orange Juice? Water? No thanks!
- Something else? No thanks!
- Little appetizers No thanks!
(she stills brings them)
- Hot towel Yes please!

And then finally: Sit back, relax and enjoy your flight!

I watch "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and it starts with the little disclaimer:

This movie has been cropped to fit this screen and eidted for content

I don't really pay attention and watch the movie, stopping once for the following consideration:

In the end, if it's about Harrison Ford kissing that 60 year old woman with a bit of impatience, I'm not even really sure I'd like to see it... In other words, never mind!

Then I watch a couple of episodes of Family Guy. Just btw, Emirates - Best... Airline... Ever... The inflight entertainment loads another episode of the same sitcom, when you're done. I'm just figuring about 6 potential hours of HIMYM. Legend... Dairy!

After a couple of Family Guy episodes with that bizzare intro with only Brian and Stewie and an excellent foie gras (albeit served too cold to my likings), I decide to switch back to movies...

I know! Life is really tough...

So I figure I'll watch What happens in Vegas . Now I have been scrolling for a couple minutes and I can't really wait for the movie to begin so I fast forward a bit...

The movie is a riot... I just love it!

And then somewhere after an hour and ten minutes, Ashton Kutcher, lovable stupid loser ad perpetum says something that will crush my world

Well, what is it with you women and granny panties. Do you really mean to say "we will never have sex ever again" *

They're comfortable and supporting just like men should be

Well your purple bra in Vegas was really hot

Oh my God! He said purple bra... I should have seen Cameron Diaz in a purple bra, but I didn't...

Grrrr...

I still watch the end of the movie. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and today I ceremonially proclaim myself to old to change that... Hehe!

Well, long story short, I went to the beginning of the movie after that and there it was staring me back in my face:

This movie has been edited for content!

Cheers,
P "I'll live... really!"

* With the much vaunted speaking.like.every.word.is.its.own.sentence

PS: Episodes of those great american sitcoms restart from Sept 22nd - Download on Amazon to avoid censorship... Possible? Who knows?
PPS: Today, just to test of course, I tried to retrieve some stuff from the internet today and everything was blocked - OMG OMG OMG...
No wonder men are not allowed to look at women, that would trigger a lot of unreleased... Hmmm...
Let's just say the western guys have Maxim, FHM, oh well...

Wow... What a nice pair of gray pants!

2008-09-10T17:39:00.005+02:00

"Probably 1% spandex, 6% elasthane and 93% coton. I really like the rugged grey look".
That's what I could have been thinking, while watching a young lady walking in front of me. Said pants spanning from a pair of very nice black leather mid-heeled shoes all the way along very nice legs to an adorable... belt!

But let's take a step back: I've been in Montreal for a while and almost gave up blogging. There are various reasons:

Life was taking up so much time. The project was quite intensive and all side activities all did require more time than I had in the first place.
Facebook makes many purposes of the blog quite moot: Status updates and photo-sharing are no longer an exclusive of bloggers. You could even argue that everyone blog their lives on facebook.
Losing time on the internet was taken up by this amazing online postcards site

But then I went on holidays and reflected about that among other things*.
Maybe I need to refocus my blog on opinion pieces and humorous updates of my life? May some commentary about political** and world news?

And then I went to the military and saw a very good new american sitcom: Californication, where a man very committed to his midlife crisis blogs about his (sex-)life as an author.
At that point I thought: I need humor, politics and sex in my blog... Here you are:

And then I was back in Switzerland and several people told me:
How was Canada? I read on FB that you've been to Vegas? Cool! Oh and by the way: I just loved your piece on elevators and hookers!

That's it, I'm back in business...

It was a sunny lunchtime in the Niederdorf and I was walking with my take-away basil chicken in a little bag and my iPod softly feeding me some mid-nineties forgotten rock songs and the odd Julio ballad. When I noticed this pair of pants and the matching vest with long black hair to top it off. My attention focussed on a perfectly shaped... belt.

I tuned my pace to be just 3 meters behind her and at same speed.
After maybe 20 seconds, I decided that I had to see if shirt and make-up*** were kept the slient promises of the ... well... belt!

+++ Aside +++
Now in order to take a nice discrete peek, you have to overtake at considerable speed (suited up, I call it a decisive businessman walk) and then stop in front of a shop, you are then at a 90° of the frontside. Thankfully the Niederdorf offers an abundance of art galleries that lend themselves to this exercise.
+++ End aside +++

For the males among the readers: a very nice face, dark brown skin, but even that was not the best feature... Thank god for tense second shirt buttons!
For the females: Pink shirt, tailored, very nice...

So there I am wondering for a second why old gravures of the city of Zurich are labelled in french and discretly watching a young woman approaching and then passing in my back. I intended to resume my walk and go eat my take away food, when she stops beside me and takes a look at lifesize photographs of almost naked people. Attractive and intriguing... Hmmm... I stay there beside her about twenty seconds and resume walking shortly after her, repeating the exercise, but instead entering my office building - that's 2 seconds of 90° of front!

I'm waiting for my elevator, when she enters the mini-lobby too, so I figure she comes to the therapeutical massage salon...
Nope! She rushes a bit and steps into the elevator with me. At this point it is clear, she is one of the many new people of the office that I don't know. Wow!

I'm Patrice...
I'm Alicia****
[short silence - both faces brighten up, big smiles]
You're the one I'm meant to talk to about this one project, we've exchanged a couple mails.
Yes, I'll just eat and drop by for coffee. Are you very busy?
No no...

She gets off the elevator, I stay in and whisper to myself
"Welcome back to Zurich"

Hehe...
P

* Also the fact that anyone visiting my blog did so via google by looking up such atrocities as "Jeune trainee hard", "M109 Kawest" or the odd "video super hard Claudia Schiffer"
** instead of writing long comments on my socialist youth friend's blog
*** Composing this anecdote reminds me strikingly of the shock I once provoked in my Canadian team after alluding to the recto and the verso. Of course this can be attributed to the lingering diktat of political correctness, the closeness to the word "rectal" that will get you fired any day, but I prefer to chalk it up to plain old ignorance seeing that both words mean the same in english:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recto
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verso
**** of course, this name has been changed to protect privacy

Somewhat tired...

2008-06-27T02:01:00.002+02:00

I'm kind of jealous of the life I'm supposedly leading.
- Zach Braff

The truth is a lot of work and some partying! That's it...

I've been to busy to finish my piece on strategy and the one on Europe's position towards money.

I am well though and will soon post all my worthy Canadian pictures on FB!

Have a nice week-end...
P

Johnny's Mom

2008-05-10T00:48:00.004+02:00

Good politics:
- Funny
- Deflecting from his age and his anger outbursts, two of his weaknesses!
- And funny again...

Cheers,
P

Anecdote of Montreal

2008-05-05T22:13:00.006+02:00

A little anecdote from the W, that will make some men smirk... And most people frown!

Setting the Scene
I was getting back from my saturday evening meal at Otto's and wanted to drop off some stuff and then head towards the Wunderbar, the hotel bar/disco, as I had been (somewhat ill-) advised by the barmaids of the Otto!

The Scene - Act I
I am in the elevator and two chicks with incredibly short skirts and revealing cleavage also board it:
- A stunning blonde, about 5'8'' (1,70 m) including heels, with black leather dress and an engineered chest, somewhat vulgar.
- An ever more stunning Brunette, at least 6'2'' (1,87m), very decent black dress with much more standing than her friend, nonetheless revealing what can only be described as a naturally perfect body...

So that's what goes through my head:
Demon inside smiling: "They are so hookers... Incredible!"
Angel inside chastising the demon: "You should be ashamed. You are so prejudiced... All day long you praise North America for slutty outfits. And when they are provided, you think like an asshole..."
Me, speaking to them as they get out: "Have a nice evening"

The Scene - Act II
I board the elevator again, dressed more lightly with a pimp shirt (irony intended)... Four boys, the bachelor party type, are coming down from level ten, the suite floor. They have various alcohol containers (as those tend to be labeled on this continent) in their hands!
Me: "Four boys at suite level! Sounds like a party..."
They: "Yeah!" Giggles
Then at floor five, the blonde enters again...
At the Mezzanine level, where a cool bar is located, they get out and one of them asks her to come with them!
She hesitates, looks to get out, looks at me as I prevent the door from closing before her, then gets out completely for a second... I understand I'm meant to hold the elevator. Or I think I do, by now I'm curious just as much as I'm being a gentleman!
At that moment I overhear her saying in a ushered voice: "I'll stay, but it's at least 300 dollars"
I push on the open button once and then I let the elevator close as I hear the guy saying "Okay"

Demon saying to angel "They are so hookers... Incredible!"

Smile

I smile a lot as I enter the Wunderbar...
Cheers from Montreal!
P

L'efficacité ou l'administration... Petit conte!

2008-05-02T17:42:00.002+02:00

Petit débat, dont je veux faire part le lectorat francophone!

Il trouve sa racine dans un débat sur les chèques scolaires, sorte de réumnération aux parents envoyant leurs enfants à l'école privée, mais il finit en pamphlet pro-efficacité et pro-libre entreprise

"Je suis sans opinion sur le sujet en ce moment, mais il faut bien dire aussi une chose: D’un autre côté, en général, un enfant en école privée n’est pas un coût marginal à l’école publique…

Donc, si on veut être équitable, il faut rémunérer ce sacrifice…

Et si JC y voit une subvention de l’école-business? Et bien, c’est une fois de plus la preuve que la production de biens de façon privée et concurrentielle est plus efficace que la douche d’argent gérée suboptimalement par des fonctionnaires!

Et ce qui est le plus beau, une fois de plus, c’est que l’amélioration et l’augmentation de qualité et d’efficacité ne coûte à personne. Parce que c’est justement ça la beauté de l’efficacité!

Je m’explique:
- Administration: Cinq cons fabriquent dix petits pots par jour… Comme c’est des fonctionnaires, on dit “bien, votre objectif est de produire deux pots par con et par jour”. On les vend pour vous, ne vous en faites pas! D’ici une année, essayez d’en produire entre deux et cinq de plus ok?

- Privé: Un mec malin explique à quatre cons comment fabriquer douze pots par jour… Puis le jour d’après, il engage un autre malin qui se charge d’une amélioration constante du processus de fabrication du pot. Il vire un des cons qui produisait les pots, le moins productif. Après quelques années, trois cons produisent vingt pots par jour, un con en vérifie la qualité et les vend, le dernier s’occupe des finances, de l’achat de matière premières et de remplir les déclarations d’impôts! C’est notre premier malin du début: Ses pots sont de meilleure qualité que ceux de l’administration, puisqu’il doit trouver des volontaires pour les acheter…

Au niveau social après une année,
- Du coté administratif: cinq cons produisent maintenant douze pots par jour de qualité moyenne de façon manuelle
- Du côté privé, il y a un machine qui aide la production, la qualité est plus haute, les salaires sont plus élevé. Mais au final, c’est simplement cinq personnes qui produisent vingt pots par jour…

Sinon il y a tous les corollaires:
- Les quatre employés du privé et le patron dépensent plus d’argent dans la gastronomie, la construction etc… Ils aident le tissu économique!
- Le patron a un abonnement général des CFF en première classe (il subventionne du coup de facto les transports publics)
- L’entreprise paie des impôts, les employé paient plus d’impôts…

Innovation et esprit d’entreprise… C’est ce qui est le plus important! Car l’efficacité, c’est surtout trois cons qui produisent le double de cinq cons. Et ça sur le long-terme c’est la différence entre Cuba et Singapour!

Merci, bonsoir,
P"

It's all about that real true deep intimacy...

2008-04-22T04:56:00.006+02:00

It's not about the sex, it's about the initmacy that sex allows two people to establish between each other!

And ask yourself now: How do things start?

I have been repeating this for a long time now...

Among the five levels of possible man-woman interaction:
1 - Chit-chat/Small-talk
2 - Actual conversations
3 - Confidence and secret sharing
4 - Intimate confidence and familiarness *
5 - Sex

The fourth is the most important...

The hick is: It doesn't come from confidence and secret sharing. It comes from sex... Wild animal dirty out-there sex!

Why is it the most important?
- Because (except in teenage years) noone has really ever been in love before having had sex. And somehow there's only ever sex where a girl is fascinated with a man or just wants sex for various reasons... None of those reasons is because she's already in love with the guy!
- Because it's the feeling you are left with when you stop sweating...
- Because it's the feeling you feel when you sit next to someone at a table, instead of being bored being cousin Alfred recounting his army stories!
- Because it's the feeling that makes you feel "this is my man" / "this is my woman", where somewhere in level 3 you were at best thinking "I admire this individual" or "this is an ideal parent to my children / a safe solution for my future"
- Because it's this vibration people call love, creating longing over oceans... Creating (oh my god) long-distance relationships...

Are there examples why this could be the most important?
- Beaten wives still loving their husbands?
- Suspicious wives/gfs not even feeling like hugs anymore?
- Nymphomaniacs sleeping with anyone for an hour of that feeling... Then feeling disgusted as he puts his clothes on and leaves...
- Women helplessly in love with a bastard playboy they had sex with and who then took them in their arms even a fraction of a minute...

Notice how this is all connected to the physical act of sex?

It's all normal...

That's what sexually successful men understand intuitively, even though it's really not about one-night stands:

To get and keep a girl: Shag first, ask questions later

Sad, but true...

But think about "intimate confidence and familiarness"...

P

* Familiarness ---> not to be confounded with familiarity

PS: Fro reference this is excellent: Thank you Bull Durham! I believe... you are on point in a weird and kind of baseball heavy way...

Canada

2008-04-18T17:23:00.004+02:00

Hello World,

I'm flying to Canada on Monday... Banking case in Montreal!

Everything else in Europe is kinda cancelled for the coming three months...

Ciao,
P

PS: when I come back, I'll be like this

I won't be from Quebec (hopefully)

I won't be William Shatner

And I hope to be a master beaver chaser...

This is John Galt speaking...

2008-04-11T15:12:00.005+02:00

... and picking up where I left about the fears!

So where the controlling characterstics are objectively leading to rational behaviour, the passive characteristics lead to complaining and passive/aggressive resistance...

The sad news is that political correctness accepts fear of change and fear of self-realisation as romantic values, but rejects fear of commitment and fear of imperative as characteristics of unfeeling freaks!

Here's what the common sense of the politically correct masses will tell you
"What if you have to go do this and that? In order to keep everyone happy..."
"What if you have to rely on other people? In order to get by, it's ok..."

Well, let me tell you this is not something I agree with. The first compromise leads to all sorts of compromise that cannot be made...

I have just read one of the best books in my life Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Many important people in the economy long secretely swore by this book. I'll try to sum up a facet of my findings:

The achieved, and only it, is the earned

- There's no shame in reaping the earned
- The used of the earned is at total discretion of the earner
- Expected pity or expected generosity is a very pure evil as it bases on the some freely felt guilt of the honest men and women

There can be no real satisfaction besides the earned one

- Making false pretenses about oneself leads to servility towards one's image before others
- Trying to reap the unearned leads to self-deception and ultimately to frustration
- Being accepted as an individual defined by some characteristics under false pretenses leads to seeking excuses, hiding & deceiving one's world

There is only two categories of dealings between humans: Peaceful trade or violent coercion
- Trade is moral as two individuals freely agree to deal with each other
- Violence and coercion are immoral and are never ever to be allowed

Denying this is mysticism or collectivism : Both morals of sacrifice...
- Sacrificing the individual to the collective
- Sacrificing an objective view of the world to a subjective and arbitrary one
- Sacrificing the reason and the mind to the intuition and the unfounded belief
- Sacrificing the productive to the unproductive

Trying to enslave the mind is ultimately doomed to fail, because any system ruled by looting & looters, being through mystic or collectivist subjectivity, is doomed to decay from its inner mechanisms

***

Here, I'd like to quote La Rochefoucauld's moral maxims a bit, it will get the french all giggly and the Ayn Rand fan all relativizing (yes it's all been said before):

About being objective towards the world and towards ourselves: Self-deception - Maxim 11
Il ne faut pas s'offenser que les autres nous cachent la vérité, puisque nous nous la cachons si souvent à nous-mêmes
We should not be upset that others hide the truth from us, when we hide it so often from ourselves

About jealousy, that comes from the fact that we cannot admit we didn't make it, where others did - Maxim 25
Il faut de plus grandes vertus pour soutenir la bonne fortune que la mauvaise
We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune

About gratitude and the expectation of generosity - Maxim 298
La reconnaissance de la plupart des hommes n'est qu'une secrète envie de recevoir de plus grands bienfaits
Gratitude is the lively expectation of favours yet to come

***

I urge any and everyone to read at least the wikipedia article about Ayn Rand as it contains a very good summary of her thoughts...

And, of course, have a good week-end! Without fears nor deceptions...
P

Four fundamental fears

2008-04-08T18:41:00.006+02:00

According to Fritz Riemann, there are fundamental fears. I'd like to scope those out as they are a helpful framework that I might refer to onwards...

Fear of commitment - as the fear of losing one's "I", identity and independance
Fear of self-realisation - as the fear of isolation
Fear of imperative - as the fear of finitness & loss of freedom
Fear of change - as the fear one's transient nature & insecurity

Basically two pairs of fears along two dimensions
- Fitting in vs Differentiating oneself
- The relation of time and being
And two characteristics
- Controlling
- Irresponsible

The happy news are
- that bascially noone is fear-free
- that state-of-the-art psychology seems to think everyone is sick!

The bad part, the value of a good equilibrium lies in the eye of the beholder...

But more on this another time,
P

PS: For the german speakers, an article I've liked about the fears

Reprint - Wisdom about long-distance

2008-04-06T18:22:00.002+02:00

I had published this... Then removed it by feminine request...
Now I restate it because I was watching How I met your mother (short HIMYM, btw youtube this!)

And Ted made this statement:
Long-distance is a lie teenagers tell each other to get laid the summer before college

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me start with a bold statement I live by:
They don't work, except if the long-distance part is limited in time!*

"I think I'll stay here this week-end, why don't we spend the week-end split" - random expat

"What will she know?" - random drunk chick

"And where is your boyfriend now?" "Why isn't he here with you?" - random horny dudes

And, according to me, planning ahead should never exceed the current duration-to-date of the relationship... Admit it: Other stances are freaky!*

"My parents will love you, when you'll meet them at Christmas" - Yes, you don't dream. It's sunday and you meet her at Friday's after drink by the lake. After all it's early september...

"What do you do in Summer?" - that chick you met after new year's eve, that party you ended up spending with your own parents :-)

"Next month, who knows?" - That chick you've been with for nine months, before you leave for 4 weeks...

An ex [23:52]:
you've got a mail btw
mais tout parait tellement organisationnel, je souhaiterais un we spontané ou hop on saute ds un avion et on se retrouve, random comme ça avec tout notre temps devant nous...
c'est beau de rêver!!
Choffat Patrice [23:53]:
oui
les week-end spontanés sont le luxes des couples pris dans un daytoday dans la même ville

Just my 2 pennies...

Ciao,
P

* Most quotes from own experience...

Top three things women have to come to terms with...

2008-03-13T00:09:00.003+01:00

If you are cute / beautiful / sexy / [insert other attribute that makes guy want to screw you]*, guys will behave weirdly around and about you!

The game of attraction is necessary: You wouldn't be interested in the guys you pretend to be interested in anyway!

To you, but most likely not to him, having sex is conducive to love: Have sex repeatedly with a guy and you'll end up loving him... No matter what you may have thought previously... No matter what you think about the guy, who he is and what kind of guy you want!

The consequences and my recommandation to women about those three aspects of man-woman interaction:
1) be aware of it and act in consequence
2) be aware of it and act in consequence
3) be aware of it and act in consequence

The thing I hate about myself! I kinda know how to play, love to play and really sometimes get caught in the play. But when I get tired of playing, then I suddenly hate to play and that's usually when I have to play for all the marbles...
What do I have to do?
Be aware of it and act in consequence, I guess...

Well well,
P

* tongue piercing, generously chested, extra-smart/extra-dumb (some of us are kinky), etc...

Ultimate consulting kick? Or kick in the nuts?

2008-02-26T09:33:00.005+01:00

I am in Vienna... On a somewhat short notice! But let me tell you the tale of a consulting day abroad. To some, the ultimate consulting kick, to me right now much more of a pain...

So I just cancelled a few lunches, angry girls, sorry sorry sorry!

Then I got to wake up very early this morning and ...
.. .meet a colleage flying to Milano in order to get to Lugano
"I'm just as fast as with the train"
... greet a fellow consultant of another firm happy to get two flights for his Monday program
"I connect in Vienna towards Romania. Just got to love the lifestyle"
.. found myself next to some transcended colleague in the plane enjoying every second of it...
"I'll have another glass of orange juice... God I love this!"

"Big fat whatever..." I'm just thinking of my much needed sleep!

A day of work in the Vienna office later, I am in my hotel room: Radisson SAS Style ( high-class SAS)

Vois...
C'est moi ce soir qui fait le premier pas, on s'ennuyait un peu mon coeur et moi. Je reviens près de toi...

"Oh look the same soaps as at the Park Hyatt in Milano and the same Villeroy & Boch sinks as in my favorite restaurant in Luxembourg..."

No soap cup though, I guess I'll have to put in down on the back of a glass?

Is there a million dollar "customer discovery" project waiting to be sold, where the output would just be to convince the hotel director to sleep in his hotel just once?

At least the room's colors match my stuff. This for some reason makes me happy for a second...

... The minibar is on the house, or on hte company, or on the client... I don't really know.
I pop a bottle of sparkling and fire up the laptop, there's some more work to do. And networking or blogging or somesuch...

On tv, ARTE proves that leftists also get their share of nakedness, only not in club of any kind (too expensive), but in the sleazy outfits conceived by some "artistic genius": i.e. quasi-naked like in this piece Eldorado ARTE runs right now... I shortly hesitate to settle on Canale5: Indecent proposal in italian! But then I end up on an italian music festival... I.e. beautiful ladies aplenty and no need for sound... I cut the noise and listen to my newest fad instead. Bliss!

Je sais...
En amour, il faut toujours un perdant...

Thank you Julio!

As for me, back to work, I still have an hour of it...

The ultimate kick? The perks they hold us with? A kick in the nuts I'd rather say...

Signing off,
P

Fatality starts with affirmations...

2008-02-19T14:02:00.003+01:00

Each and every inspirational or life-changing book will invariably tell you this one thing:

The first step to change is (i) admitting the facts as they stand and (ii) as such the need to change

Deep down

No concessions, no ifs, no buts...

The problem with this is that people have taken to the admitting facts (i), but not the need to change (ii). I call this the guilty smile method!

I am just like that...

I just can't resist peanuts...

I'm just not a morning person...

I just can't switch off a television set

Even in my job, some people just say
I just don't understand IT management, complicated excel or whatever with a guilty smile and that is effectively a beg for me to do this part of the work. Am I meant to feel good? Should it make me feel powerful? Is it a call for pity?

People openly admitting their faults think it absolves them. Well it's effective to make people tolerant to those faults, while one is working to change them... And that's just the point!

Today dear reader, you'll have a task:

You will pick up a fight with someone... and you'll lose!

No, much easier...

Spot fatality in your own speech and just reformulate it into a positive statement

I am resisting peanuts this time

I'll just switch off the tv

...

This is not about pretending to be a better person than you are, this is about - step I (ii) "admit the need to change" - actually becoming a better person!

Deep down

Seriously

See you tonight to watch the Champion's League!

P "usually I'm arrogant, but today I'll be humble"

PS: The author would like to thank Mr. Coué and all writers of coaching literature for the inspiration on that one...

Last week kinda socked...

2008-02-14T19:42:00.016+01:00

Lately, dared by "Bedide Frau", I bought a pack of socks at H&M with the days of the week on them... I then proceeded to prove via MMS that I would them every single day!

And now lovely Yvonne from the office taunted me and told me: "Isn't that blog material?"

Yes, definitely... Contrary to popular belief, I remain a dork and I'll prove it to the world!

Saturday and proving it!

Sunday, walking by the lake

Tuesday, moving house... leaving Seehüsli!

Monday, back at work

Wednesday, jetting to London for the night...

Thursday, coffeine day!

Friday, a jacket, a scarf, a ticket to a party... and the socks of course...

And on Saturday, the socks kinda hang out with their peers, but always as a couple...

Well well, chill y'all, I wish I were eating something with someone, but that was not to be...

P

Bonus Link for the valentine haters

Backlog - Mobile - January 2008

2008-02-04T11:57:00.001+01:00

Sing to U2 tune The CFAs are coming...

Whisky degustation with the BCG boys... Amazing!

Nice and Cannes last week-end with Little Miss Sunshine...

Oh... And this one has been a tough week-end, but nonetheless:

"Happy birthday Dude!"

Signing off to go lunch,
P

Backlog - Mobile - end of 2007

2008-02-01T08:36:00.000+01:00

I beg your pardon, if this is full of personal messages...

Romeo's CDC application

Barcelona, as Wayne Newton elegantly states it

"Though we go ooooohhh our separate ways, still the memory stays, for always, danke schoen"

Why I became fat in Luxembourg...

Paris, gare du Nord...

Hotel laundry... Boy do I miss this...

Ze MIS Modell... Dedicato a tutti quelli che... Thank you Stéphane!

I told you so... Adrien!

At the very moment of shooting this, it seemed like a good idea...

A party I went to in Geneva... Yeah, that was a real sausage party!

Let me quote Mike Myers "Silly is you in a natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again." Sév & Luci!

The world is our playground? Extraordinary holidays... Merci MICK!!! (qui d'autre arrive à organiser des vacances et te fait rencontrer ton boss, sa copine qui est partner dans la même boîte, etc???)

That's me buying a bottle of water at the airport and having it sealed to drink at the gate (and by the way Tony: "yes, I only felt so so that morning in Vienna")

Those clown noses I put up in our office somehow keep disappearing...

Wild...

Dude in front of christmas tree... In Miami, they don't even know that fir trees exist for real...

Stay tuned for the first samples of 2008...
P

PS: I know I am the very very very last one, but I finally added Skye to my arsenal... A very special thank goes to Seb v/o Pint for that one!

The future of human evolution...

2008-01-28T15:58:00.001+01:00

Futur de l'évolution humaine as seen in the movie "Idiocracy"

Amazing,
P

That bloody splinter...

2008-01-24T12:01:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, while sitting at home in front of a beer...

*** Aside ***
Dinner with Susan was great, but at some point I had to come home to Marc... y'know
*** End aside ***

Well rather than while sitting... While getting seated opposite Marc, a splinter (80% of the size of a match) got out of our wooden bench and into my thigh!

An hour of surgery later, I had suffered quite a lot and endured Marc's comments

"The thing I'm the most worried about right now is you farting"

To produce my wound, Marc had used:
- Plum brandy
- His swiss army knife
- An old pair of tweezers
- Kitchen paper

What the pictures show are just the remnants of the last bit of the splinter... What a night!

Ciao,
P

The Anglo-Swiss 2008 report

2008-01-22T20:43:00.000+01:00

"How to make 10 additional facebook friends" or "The tale of sausages"

In memoriam Hans Kessler, 1920-2007

Wednesday - First contact
Getting out of work on Wednesday was a moment of pure joy: Traffic, picking up someone downtown at peak hour and crossing beautiful "Downtown Switzerland" at the contemplative speed of 30km/h. Soon though, as the conversation with Pius - my picked up SAS Bern partner - and the speed of the car picked up, we were going. Given some sliding during the driving up the Julier under hefty snowfalls, Pius and I were really in the mood for mountains at our arrival in St Moritz.
Soon after we met the entire BUSC team, Markus and Will the organizers, and the first SAS-ler, who had already arrived. The following meal was delicious. Already the quality of the meat was praised, much to the dismay of Clément and Alix, who arrived too late had to settle for pop corn and a lowly sandwich. A very enjoyable evening saw the boys continue to literally fraternise, the girls having soon given up after the first bar.

Thursday - First Harp, first ski
At the breakfast table on day two, the ambiance was surreal with a harpist and her harp... well... harping away, immediately prompting the bullies to fantasise about one famous stout... The skiing on Thursday was a really interesting way of getting to know each other. Group dynamics, whom to follow, with whom to be seated on the lift. Within a day of this and consequent alternated seating in the famed "Corviglia Club Hütte" for the three course lunch, we had gotten to know each other: Gemma, her rower boyfriend and her medecine studies... Dan the law student... The Newcastle team and their dry slopes anecdotes... Everyone chatting away merrily under a clement sun, while skiing on fantastic snow!
The evening routine seemed set with Jas showing off some evening kilt and the rest of us just sporting blazers and appropriate SAS or BUSC ties. As an aside the ladies should really be mentionned as they gratified us with a festival for manly eyes... Now that I think of it: a little wink and thank!
Intense partying among our group in the King's Club ensued and ensured a proper consolidation of the previous networking... Good stuff!

Friday - Where do you go to my lovely (sled?)
I'll readily admit my guilt, that Friday I put my iPod and willingness to sing to the service of oldie song "Where do you go to my lovely"... Friday went down very similarly to Thursday, except for a few tributes to the beginning of the week-end:
- A small group got some Glühwein at the Alpina-Hütte!
- Back at the hotel: Stones were brushed in and out of the house when an epic curling game saw Leonie, Alistair and Fréderic beating Alix, Pius and yours truly, whereas John, Gemma, Constantin, Jas, Dan and Scott were wielding other sticks and taking some hotel guests and staff in a ruthless game of ice hockey...
- Most of the competitors went to service their skis themselves, because they know how. Let me here state my admiration for Fréderic who to my knowledge did about four pairs. I didn't service myself, but the hotel took care of it...
- But last and certainly not least, Matt booked us some seven sleds to go slide down the Cresta bobsleigh run...
Oh boy, we did and all crashed (even though Cynthia did clear the run for us, except for one "little" hose)!!! I know for a fact that some of us had some explanations to give when back home: "No violence involved honey, I swear". The prize then again come to the brit team of Dan and Matt, who after losing their sled - Yes two of the teams had to finish without the sled having let it go during a crash - found a huge snow shovel and finished with it. Defenders of correctness can rest assured that the shovel was then returned... Sadly, noone really had the power to keep going on, so we settled for an early night...

Saturday - A kilt on the slopes
The early night turned out not to be good enough for me with a big crash as I tried to emulated Super-G moves by the other competitors. I instantly knew the competition would be stiff, except of course for Alistair who was wearing a kilt and acting as forerunner with me for the super-G. After our last lunch in the Corviglia Club Hütte, we went for the slalom. If the Super-G in the morning had turned out to be a close call with the british team emerging a close victor, the slalom in the afternoon was not really contested with the anglo part of anglo-swiss dominating. The entire gang found its way to the Alpina-Hütte for some Glühwein and serious meshing. Alix and Al deserve a special mention for intensive crashing and grabing in the snow... The return at the hotel saw the teams meet for the traditional afternoon delight: Friendly hot tub games among which drinking champagne (thanks to Leo, Cynthia, Matt & Scott for going and getting some) and learning new english words...
When everyone was dressed up, it was finally time for the apero, the award ceremony, the diner and the ceremonial part. Toasts were had to the Queen and our president, thanks were given where due: Badrutt's family, Palace, Presidents, current and former organizers. A deserved and duly observed minute of silence was held in caring memory of the late Hans Kessler, great supporter, spender and friend of the Anglo-Swiss competition as well as a personal friend to many.
Then came the captain's speeches: What can I say except that I had the honor to give a short losing captain speech talking somewhat randomly about Asterix, tea and magic potion, sausages and international friendship? Probably that Matt saved the day once again giving a robust speech with wits, thanks and a sip of the cup... the very same cup I ended up literally and metaphorically draining to the dregs. A crazy night in the King's Club later, we were ready for breakfast.

Sunday - Much adieu about nothing
Of course, this had to finish like Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta after their holidays "And so we said that's were it ends, and so we promised we'd still be friends"... Much fun was made of the various luxury cars and promises were taken to see each other again!

Pics are on facebook as ever...
P

Discussions & disputes: Ways to treat your counterpart...

2008-01-09T14:53:00.001+01:00

There are different ways to handle human interaction in a disagreement, a couple of them who make me quite mad quite fast, and various degrees respectfulness...

These holidays I had a little argument and my counterpart ended up taking the high road and saying

"Well with the little sleep you have had, it's quite normal that you should be in a bad mood"

And it drove me even more nuts...

Lastly, after everything had cooled down and sides had admitted their faults and taken a more objective view, I felt I had to write about it.

Voilà, just know that taking one of the two top roads can lead to my being more pissed than before, not less... And the third will almost invariably result in my pity and my saying "Stay on top of things"...

Have a nice day,
P

Obama & Huckabee make the race...

2008-01-04T19:23:00.000+01:00

Commented on CNBC by one-time housemate of the 'Hüsli: Louis Perron

Ciao,
P

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf

2007-12-13T00:55:00.000+01:00

... va selon moi accepter son élection au conseil fédéral!

Une longue discussion avec des collègues suisses-allemands m'a forcé à sortir de ma réserve et faire un prognostic: Le voilà officiel!

Les raisons:
- Elle a toutes les raisons du monde de vouloir devenir conseillière fédérale
- L'aile zürichoise de l'UDC énerve ses correspondantes Bernoise, Baloise, Grisonne et autres...
- Blocher paie pour le culte que lui vouent une certaine part de l'UDC, l'aile zürichoise à la Moergeli (le genre de type qui a inventé les moutons*)
- Le conseil fédéral a une tradition d'être au-delà des partis et une UDC modérée pourrait surmonter les clivages et convaincre les uns et les autres (comme d'autres surprises du genre Stich à l'époque d'ailleurs)
- La théorie du jeu semble donner comme meilleure réponse
a) Elle refuse et le chaos éclate: Nouveau tour de table avec élection à la clé: Blocher ne passe probablement pas plus qu'avant... Possible élection d'un autre UDC (solution préférée des radicaux) ou d'un PDC (solution préférée des PS). A ce moment là, le parti UDC est en cohésion, mais pas vraiment arrangé dans un cas ni dans l'autre (à moins, mais je ne le pense pas, que Blocher passe). Dans le scénario, PDC élu, l'UDC fera de l'opposition (voir plus bas)!

b) Elle accepte et plusieurs options s'offrent à l'UDC
b1) Opposition: Tout le monde en parle, mais personne ne sait la définir, sauf les principaux intéressés qui parlent d'appuyer systématiquement les positions qu'ils soutiennent et de recourir contre les autres. En gros cela deviendrait... l'UDC qu'on connaît! Les deux UDC du gouvernement sont tancés, mais sans conséquences (c'est déjà arrivé à Schmidt)
b2) Vrai désaveux et split: Samuel Schmidt et Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf sont désavoués par l'UDC officielle (i.e. via son président Ueli Maurer) et on en vient forcément à une explication interne, vu que les Bernois, Bâlois, Grisons et autres sont fédérés par la personne de Blocher (un peu), mais surtout déjà agacés par l'aile zürichoise. Dans cette éventualité et en allant jusqu'au boût:
b2i) Split: l'aile zürichoise dure devient un nouveau parti qui perd à priori les soutiens des chefs de file modérés: Spuhler, Brunner, les Grisons et Bâlois in corpore... Le parti (ca. 10% d'intentions de vote) devient la cible de tous (ou presque) et l'autre parti UDC devient un parti légèrement à droite des radicaux, donc acceptable par le reste de la classe politique: les perdants l'aile dure!
b2ii) Elections interne et les zürichois durs renoncent: Le nouveaux président s'appelle Spuhler ou Zuppiger et Mörgeli, Maurer et co. doivent se ranger (peut-être même retourner à leur "day job")

A l'heure actuelle les UDCs (surtout l'aile zürichoise) doivent préparer le scénario a et une possible ré-élection de Blocher pour des raisons évidentes de théorie du jeu, car en cas de scénario b) ils voient bien qu'il n'ont pas le choix, ergo les discussions de gros bras de ce soir... En gros, tout dépend d'elle mais elle a toutes les raisons du monde d'accepter et si elle refuse ses raisons invoquée seront les suivantes:
- Blocher a fait un bon boulot et on ne désavoue pas qui a fait un bon boulot (si les résultats électoraux suivent)
- Je préfère rester dans mes montagnes que de grimper dans la non-collégialité, car j'aime l'UDC
Deux arguments valables et vrais, mais quie ne tiennent pas la distance qu regard de ce qui est dans la balance...

A bon entendeur, bonne nuit!
P

PS: Je me permet d'indiquer à mon lectorat romand que le 24 heures est une feuille de chou dangereuse dont pas un seul correspondant ne semble jamais avoir écouté ou compris un discours politque prononcé à droite et/ou en allemand... Et dont les propos partisans en politiquement correct niais sont partisans, à l'emporte-pièce et nocifs à la démocratie avec des expressions de type
"Ce front uni ne saurait être de trop face au premier groupe parlementaire, encore renforcé par les élections" QED
PPS: J'aime pouvoir dire directement après qu'un journal fait preuve de correctitude, as ever, la nzz:
"Die Wahl der Bündner Regierungsrätin Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf ist ein demokratischer Akt eines souveränen Wahlgremiums und als solcher ohne Wenn und Aber zu akzeptieren. Es ist keine Regierungs- und schon gar keine Staatskrise, wenn eine Wahl für einmal nicht nach Schema F abläuft"
--> Ce n'est pas à cause de surprises que le système ne doit pas être respecté
"Das hat Mitte-Links am Mittwoch geschickt ausgenutzt, ihrerseits aber das von ihr bemühte hehre Prinzip der Konkordanz arg strapaziert. Wenn die derzeit zwei Regierungssitze der wählerstärksten Partei im Land just mit Vertretern besetzt werden, die nicht dem Mehrheitskurs der Partei folgen, entspricht dies mit Sicherheit nicht dem Willen einer Mehrheit jener Stimmbürger, die am 26. Oktober der SVP und Blocher trotz oder wohl gerade wegen dessen Politikstils die Stimme gegeben haben. So betrachtet ist am Mittwoch eben doch so etwas wie die Systemfrage gestellt worden. Die SVP und Blocher dürften diese Diskussion in den kommenden Jahren eher an den Wahlurnen als im Bundesrat und im Parlament führen. Die Sieger vom Mittwoch könnten dann die Verlierer sein."
--> Mais en ne respectant pas la ligne majoritaire du plus gros parti politique, les partis profitant de la concordance viennent peut-être de se tirer dans le pied (en permettant à l'UDC de motiver le peuple à changer le système en un système majoritaire comme on les connaît dans nos pays limitrophe [NDLR: Vu son maigre électorat, le ps Suisse n'aurait RIEN à dire dans un système pareil])

* l'affiche, pas St Exupéry

Back in Black...

2007-12-03T10:15:00.000+01:00

After meeting the CEO, his gf and my billing partner in Miami in different chance encounters, I'm back in ZH...

So I decided to relive this blog a bit!

No more Geneva, no more Luxembourg, just ZH and reliving my social life and using up my backlog of ideas and pictures...

So here goes my first batch of backpics: Miami...

Wildlife I - "Zere iz a tcherman tourist in efry wan af us"

Wildlife II - "The Miami school for legs who want to learn to look good and do other stuff good too"

Hotel - "Dream location"

Friend - "Are you guys gay or straight?"

More of course on FB

Ciao,
P

PS: Music tip of the day: user-generated content or rather as they'll have it talent-generated content Valeska Steiner, j'adore...

Just chillin' in Miami...

2007-11-30T22:45:00.000+01:00

Bon week-end!
P

Miami

2007-11-29T19:31:00.000+01:00

Que dire sur Miami sinon que...
... La Miami school for long legs juste devant nous est fantastique (photos suivent vu que Mick les a prises)
... Il y a X-Mas time in the city...
... la plage est sympa
... on a vu Ramsy ou Eric, mais je ne sais pas lequel...
... il fait beau et chaud...

Ciao,
P

Get up and seize the world! Really...

2007-11-19T21:35:00.000+01:00

There's a theory of romantic interaction amongst humans that fits the reality quite well, people either chase the real deal or the symptom they think can fulfill their needs!

One can chase love or try to have a trophy wife...
Try to have sex with women (or men) in order to feel loved...
Chase the riches and dilapidate them in inconsequent ways in order to feel popular...
Give ostentatiously in order to feel generous or even worse for other people to think one is generous...
Have the biggest, best and most expensive christmas gifts to make people think one is so great, but not offer one coffee in the year...
And so on and so on...

Well, there is work to be done in order not to have one's choices made for oneself...
- Chase whatever one wants to chase...
- Choose whatever one wants to choose...

Sure, it demands that one get out of one's comfort zone by
- Taking a moral stance, but remain able to live tolerance...
- Having an opinion and making it heard (even if it's being neutral, moderate or even having the guts of affirming that one doesn't know, when apparently everyone knows)
- Standing for your fears, limits and weaknesses. Everything most people hide because they feel they are a fraud about to be uncovered
- Standing for your ambitions, strengths, passions and desires. Everything one is not supposed to admit, everything that makes one unique and apart from the crowd (sometimes admired, sometimes envied, sometimes contempted from the politically correct)

The beautiful part in those honest ways is that in the end one becomes what one should be:
- For starters, independant and moved by self-confidence
- Knowing one's path and purpose in career and life
- And if one has a good nature, often quite attractive

Well...

What do you think?

Really?

P

PS: The author would like to thanks Ayn Rand, Buddha & Kevin Cashman for their contribution to this post...

Mes trousses, mon shampoing, mon scrub...

2007-11-18T23:21:00.000+01:00

Je viens de quitter l'assassin de ce blog... Et chez elle, j'ai oublié mes trousses de toilettes!

Après la semaine des 4 hotels, il y a 12 jours:
- Royal, Luxembourg, le lundi
- Bulgari, Milan, le mardi
- Dorint, Cologne, le mercredi
- Radisson SAS, Cologne, le jeudi

Durant laquelle j'avais perdu mon shampoing miracle et mon scrub!

J'en commence une pareille: Suitehotel, Krawat, Royal... Et je fais un kick-off digne...

Ciao,
P

Happy birthday Fari !!!

2007-11-13T00:11:00.000+01:00

Din Bruederli...

Just so it's official...

2007-11-06T23:56:00.000+01:00

I'm happy...

11 days in my life (last Thursday lunchtime to next Monday lunchtime)
Lux-ZH-Barça-ZH-Lux-Milan-ZH-*-München-Ge-LS-ZH-Lux

Notice de mon Managing Director: Don't you need to be in Luxembourg for those meetings?

So the star* might become one more Lux...

Oh, and I'm going to Miami with Mick... Yay for the home team!

Bonne soirée,
P

How youtube can change your life...

2007-11-05T12:53:00.000+01:00

... or something!

I love comedy... I love comedy so much I even went alone to stand-up comedy clubs a couple times in NYC last time I was there!

You know: Friends, Seinfeld, Scrubs, Dream on, The Simpsons... And so on... Those light-hearted shows that are carved out of pure puns and a cunning mastery over words. Well youtube lets the users choose the best stand-up comedy, or the very moments you should remember, so I thought I'd share some insiders with you!

Now you can enjoy

Chris Rock - From never scared* About legal drugs

Dave Chappelle - Kids' Cartoons

Eddie Izzard - Cake or death (the playmobil version)

Pablo Francisco - Movie previews & Tortillas

Well, enjoy and post your preferences, I'm sure I'll check them out in the near future...

Ciao, P

* Is this place wrong for Krispy Kreme Donut dedication to a guy?

Well...

2007-10-24T00:34:00.000+02:00

Happy birthday, Stegmanns!!!

P

Reflexion on socialism...

2007-10-23T00:11:00.000+02:00

With the background of pollitical election in Switzerland, and due to the fact that it's close to 1 am and that I am still working I feel compelled to write about socialism...

First off: I voted for the rigth wing green party... Apparently an exclusivity in ZH*!

Well, one more time** the entire left wing went on battle stating basically one thing
"The other guy is a bad guy, he's a racist"

The entire leftist stance relies on the fact that people should be happy together and put more good feelings into politics.

Fact #1 about the real world for our leftist friends***

1 - good feelings among people who know each other MAY lead to everyone acting for the greater good of the community (most of the time it won't though)
2 - good feelings among many people not knowing each other will invariably lead to everyone trying to maximize their own utility, trying to freeride on other people's efforts

I guess that the corollary of these very serious & politically untainted works is
"most people systematically do try to abuse the system"
in Switzerland this translates into two very concrete things.
- For every guy subventionned by the government for doing nothing there's three working guys paying**** (and I'd like to say that they are paying in full for that: No roads built with that money, no teachers paid, no police, no judges, no cleaning up cities, no army, no hospitals, no refugees homes, no culture sponsorships,...)
- Denying that fact ruins the credibility of your party
- Denying that is the biggest insult you can do to your target audience: Hard-working low-to-middle-class (some of them even honest "working poor")

Redistributing more is encouraging those not working and downright a slap in the face of the working class (I'll use that term for whoever works, so that once in my life I will qualify for working class... After all if 70 hours a weeks won't do that, what will?)

Fact #2 about the real world for our leftist friends

A country cannot in the long-term consume more than it produces...

That one was just for the road (and I like the fact that the only counter-example is crumbling under our eyes right now...)

Fact #3 about the real world for our leftist friends

"More redistribution of wealth leads to less value creation because the rewards are less" Here the corollaries
1 - Less rewards for value creation leads to less investment "will you invest the same amount of money in something that pays 3 a year or 2 a year? Yeah, I thought so... me too"
2 - Less investment leads to less productivity of work "Would you rather reap with a reaping hook or a reaping machine******?"
3 - Less productivity of work leads to less pay, less consumption, less tax income...
4 - The ultimate state is nation's poverty

What is nation's poverty? Does it matter that our nation's becoming poorer and poorer? Isn't it more important to redistribute what we can and have? No one will die from it?

Oh yes, most of you will chuckle to that one...

Nation's poverty will drive your grandaughter into prostitution hard (actual prostituion) or soft (marriage into a richer country, where she'll do everything to deny she's from your country in the first place), your granson most likely into a nice dealer and pimp career in a richer country?

Well let me explain that one, it's my catch phrase after all...

Fact #4 about the real world for our leftist friends

Remember the guys, who did the communist thing?
1 - First they redistributed happily: Building state housing, giving away enough money for the basics to everyone without ever checking if they gave anything back?
2 - Then noone cared about the day after tomorrow
3 - And the next thing they knew, they:
a) Had the worst pollution, because they had never thought of making better factories
b) Had the worst supplies of everything, because noone ever really had an interest in making anything better
c) Were the most unsatisfied people in the world
4 - All that because they had denied the individual the frame to unleash his contribution to the world and the fair reward that is accompanying it: Whatever people will pay for the result of his labor... Also called market price!!!
5 - Then, they were so poor and unsatisfied, that whenever they had contact with the outer world, their daughters would become prostitutes (either to eat or to buy stuff, either way the choice denotes something really wrong in their parent's work, no?)...

Well, two questions:
A) How can we avoid our daughters leaving for chinamen (and - oh boy! - those will need wives in the coming twenty years...)?
B) How can we know it started?

B) It's easy - think planified economy:
- Government build state housing
- Government spending quote of GDP is high
- Subvention of outdated industries
- Labor market is unflexible
- Unemployment is high
- Investment is low
- Renewal of capital is low i.e.
Yes, but P, what can I observe?`
- Higher taxes on your income statement
- Older cars on the roads
- No or few shiny new tools (those trains used to be new, as did the airport, as did the roads...
... If this sounds like a country you know, it's probably because you are European... Although I have to admit a certain admiration for Luxemburg!

A) Think the contrary
- Good frame conditions for the economy
- A thinking party at the lead (even british labour won't do the real bad blunders anymore) understanding how a rule affects the people and the economy
- And I'm tempted to say: A good grasp for the environmental issues at hand... But even I voted for that too, that's off topic today!!!

With a tip of the hat to my good teenage friend J.-C. S. turned completely out of hand and politically speaking completely out of touch with reality... Yet a very lovable human!

Signing off,
P

* Don't you just have to love the city?
** remember France a couple months ago?
*** Please read Gaechter, Fehr, et al. and host of others about gift exchange theory, collective punishment and such
**** Swiss average income is ca. 65'000 CHF, 12% taxes plus 1% for invalids and 6.5% for the old, that's about there... (of course, we're basing this on a very basic case of 2'250 CHF a month per dead weight guy)
***** This seems so obvious I won't go into details - for details read anything that doesn't have a hammer and a faucet on the cover page
****** Vous préférez faire les moissons à la faux ou à la moissonneuse batteuse?

Hotel troubles "de Lux"

2007-10-10T09:29:00.001+02:00

Ceci n'est pas une télécommande pour chute de tartines beurrées...

So I walk into the shower this morning... And the cleaning team has changed all the programmation of the remote...

DOUCHE FROIDE!!!

Avec le pommeau fixe du haut, inarrêtable, en trois jets concentrés et intermittents...

C'est vrai quoi!!!
P

This has to be here...

2007-10-05T01:27:00.000+02:00

I know I once swore I'd use my brains on this blog and not just the fun spam I get... but this is top 5%, so I'll post it anyway!
P

Bonjour de Luxembourg

2007-10-03T15:43:00.000+02:00

Voilà, c'était donc le calembour lourd du jour...
P

Souples...

2007-09-30T23:17:00.001+02:00

Quelques liens pour s'amuser et rigoler un peu...

Souples?

Une boite bien établie comprend le marketing viral

Bonne journée,
P

Samedi passé: La fête au Roof Gardens...

2007-09-25T19:04:00.000+02:00

Sometimes everything is so simple...

2007-09-24T22:29:00.000+02:00

Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
- Ambrose Bierce

Oh god I love the contest of principles, but I hate politics!!!

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
- Henry Kissinger

Do the end of the week... And then go... To Luxemburg!

And although, there is 360 days of rain a year in Luxemburg, I think I'll love it!

Have a nice day,
P

De retour à Genève...

2007-09-23T23:34:00.001+02:00

... pour mes cinq derniers jours! C'est cool

Week-end à Londres... Incredible!

J'espère que tous les invités ont aimé. Perso, j'ai trouvé très très bien... Photos à suivre, hopefully (surtout celles qui sont sur londonparties.co.uk, I'll retrieve them)...

P

Elles sont arrivées...

2007-09-12T09:43:00.001+02:00

... les photos de notre petite escapade!

Le tout sous Facebook chez David qui s'appelle comme le soldat de Spielberg (une périphrase pour éviter qu'on ne le google ici... Après tout, il y a des photos de clowns sur la page)

Ciao, P

C'est drôle, tu es partie...

2007-09-09T18:47:00.000+02:00

... et pourtant tu es encore ici, puisque tout me parle de toi: Un parfum de femme, l'écho de ta voix.

Ton adieu, je n'y crois pas du tout, c'est un au revoir, presqu'un rendez-vous...

(Merci Joe et) A bientôt Diane!

P

Jamais, oh grand jamais...

2007-09-07T01:34:00.000+02:00

... ne vous douchez jamais à côté d'une machine à laver le linge qui tourne! J'ai ce matin vécu une véritable montagne russe d'émotions mouillées chaudes et froides...

Sinon, en partant de cette pensée et en voulant blogger l'événement, je me suis rendu compte que ce que je voulais faire de mon blog, c'était...
... the quote critic of the week
... un album de photo perpétuel
... des réflexions bizzare sur la vie

En gros, n'importe quoi... Et que ce ne serait jamais marketable... Et que si la seconde partie se fait mieux sous FB, alors pourquoi continuer...

Et alors je me suis souvenu aussi:

Art is one percent talent and ninety-nine percent perspiration

Et que je ne me donnais pas les moyens de de faire de l'art, pour l'art! Peut-être, enfin, est-ce là la fin de mon blog.

Je suis actuellement très heureux, ça doit suffire! Non?*

Mais une promesse au moins avant de me retirer, je produirai une explication de cette citation "To be or not to be, that is the question", que je hais franchement voir abusée (latest on FB), et une ébauche d'introduction à Ayn Rand

Et qui sait? Peut-être aurais-je un jour le temps de terminer dans une qualité décente** mes 25 posts de réflexions en cours de rédaction... Mais avant cette époque certainement bénie, ne vous

Ciao, P

* Disons simplement que c'est plus satisfaisant quand même de prendre une belle femme, aimée de surcroît, dans ses bras que d'écrire un article de torturé qui fait passer Schopenhauer pour un joyeux promeneur dans le soleil du mois de mai...
** C'est à dire d'y mettre les 99% de transpiration pour pouvoir constater si le pourcent de talent y était ou non...

Sweet as sugar...

2007-09-03T10:18:00.000+02:00

Je suis de retour à Genève et sous le coup d'un sacré 'jet lag'...
L'adorablissime D adoucit mon retour, mais c'est dur quand même de se lever à l'équivalent d'1h du mat' et d'aller bosser à 3h...

Ciao et à très bientôt*,
P

PS: Voilà deux des photos que j'ai prises avec mon téléphone portable avant de déballer mon vrai appareil photo... Et qui donc ont été sauvées:

Mon premier petit déj' en Amérique du Sud...

Le MMS pour l'anniversaire de Luciano (que j'ai fini par envoyer hier :-) )

* Of course j'attend les pictures de Dude, puisque mon appareil a été volé, y compris malheureusement la seule photo de Dude avec la 'Clown house' (lo siento hombre)

Benvenido a Miami...

2007-08-30T01:12:00.000+02:00

As Will Smith once put it...

All's well on earth!

Ciao, P

Hmmm Cartagena or no?

2007-08-27T06:35:00.000+02:00

C'est la question du moment, car il a commencé à faire un temps médiocre qui doit s'installer jusqu'à la fin de la semaine sur la côte Caraibes de la Colombie...

The next episode... Miami or no?

Bon début de semaine,

P

Quando te hablen de amor...

2007-08-25T14:28:00.000+02:00

... de illusiones... Y t'offrecan un sol et un ciel entero...

Je chante du Julio toute la journee et D me manque bcp!

J'avais l'intention de l ui envoyer une carte postale par jour, mais comme dit "Dude": C'est difficile de backpacker et de faire autre chose en meme temps...

Bien sur, nous avons fait les trucs locaux obliges ces derniers jours: bains de boue, sortie de fous, rencontre avec des backpacker pedes·, seins refaits et a vendre... bref the usual...

Ciao, P

PS: D !, I miss you a lot, je t'envoie une photo du toucan!

· someone will smile I kow that... Merci Marc... "Release the meteor!!!" is an usual quote for David and I...

100 % of all damages happen to people who took a risk...

2007-08-23T19:49:00.000+02:00

After explaining that to Adrien the day before yesterday:
- I got robbed my iPod Shuffle, my camera and my RSA-token· of my luggage while transferring from Quito to Cartagena
- someone broke into my car c/o lovely Diane to steal someone's laptop on the backseat

While I wasn't fully aware of luggage frisking habits in South America, I think one should be aware that valuables in sight are an invitation to break into a car...

Well that's two lessons learnt I guess... Cartagena is sunny and we are happy (¿you take the apero?)

Hugs and Kisses
P

· the thing I connect to BCG mails with...

PS: Yes, it does mean I have lost the pictures of friday's party... I'd like to thank all the particpants nonetheless!
PPS: God bless Adrien and Amex, the latter for coming up for my damage and the former for pointing it out!
PPPS: I have only very sporadic access to my bcg mail, so please contact me on my gmail if you feel like contacting me that is... (patrice.choffat (at) gmail .com)

Je ne sais pas trop quoi dire...

2007-08-22T20:59:00.000+02:00

... si ce n'est que ces vacances sont amusantes:
- monter en teleferiQo
- visiter le centre historique de Quito
- manger des trucs degeus
- se faire deposer en rase campagne par un bus
- profiter des retrouvailles d'avec Dude - Chess, baby-foot, Lost World (we finished the game)
- et des retrouvailles d'une FYCB partielle avec LeBron - party dans le Valmann local (¿or shall I say loco?)

P

Bon... voila et bref...

2007-08-22T17:16:00.001+02:00

Tout le monde va bien!
P

Patrice is free...

2007-08-17T16:45:00.000+02:00

... und es ist auch gut so!

Et comme disait le DJ Sash...

Ecuador!

I love my previous post, but I need to post this...

2007-08-15T12:09:00.001+02:00

It's just too good!
P

PS: not quite the best quote for that, but it'll do...

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
- George Bernard Shaw

Cette fille, elle est terrible!!!

2007-08-15T10:33:00.000+02:00

"Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember" - Oscar Levant*

Well I dare to differ... I am experiencing happiness right now...

Bonne journée, P

* Un pianiste ricain médiocre de l'après-guerre...

Seehüsli... Yeah baby yeah...

2007-08-13T23:51:00.000+02:00

For more, try this slideshow... (click the cross at the bottom right to access the actual album!

P

PS: While uploading this Picasa-generated mosaic of Picasa-enhanced pictures on Blogger* and creating a Picasa** Webalbum, I also found the time to upload a video for my cousin Vincent on Youtube***

Oh, and I was listening to RadioBlogClub on my iGoogle page too :-)

Thank you Mr Schmidt for taking care of my life! And oh my god, you are so goooooood (this guy is structure, charisma, smartness and... and... and... "You said Microsoft?")

PPS: Here the video...

* A Google Inc. Company
** A Google Inc. Company
*** A Google Inc. Company

Backlog: Week-end passé à Lausanne

2007-08-13T00:33:00.000+02:00

En attendant des photos de la plus belle...
P

PS: Oui, ce blog redevient basé sur des photos... J'en ai décidé ainsi... Il y aura encore un occasionnel article d'opinion, mais il sera épisodique et travaillé pour être court et précis...
PPS: Félicitations à Marc, Andreas, Fiona, les Allemands, Sarah-Lotte, Rebecca T., Hubertus...
PPPS: Good Luck aux étudiants pour leurs exas à venir...
PPPPS: Merci à Diane, mes collocs de ZH et Anton... (for being yourselves)

Au pays des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois...

2007-08-09T02:08:00.000+02:00

... Mais il faut quand même relever qu'il ne fait pas forcément bon vivre dans un pays où personne n'apprécie la vue et où le monde vit à tâtons...

Think about it!
P

La différence entre les managers et les ingénieurs...

2007-08-08T19:23:00.000+02:00

Les managers ont appris que les gens pouvaient faire les choses de façon de plus en plus efficace et coupent donc les budgets sans raison ...

... les ingénieurs, après avoir crié à l'impossibilité, doivent aller trouver la solution ensuite pour réaliser l'irréalisable.

Le jour où c'est chose faite les deux sont persuadé d'avoir eu raison, sauf que le seul à avoir une augmentation c'est le manager!

And that my friend, is what they call helicopter view*...

Ciao,
P

PS: Je ne suis plus fait pour mon boulot du tout.
On m'appelle aujourd'hui pour aller à Dublin deux jours aux frais de la princesse, etc... yadda yadda...
Et j'ai décliné poliment! Simplement, comme ça...
Par désintérêt et honnêteté intellectuelle!
Je n'y peux rien si je suis "IT in FS" experienced, mais cela ne m'intéresse pas...
Bref, et moi qui ne suis jamais allé en Irlande, malgré le fait que mon ami David soit un extremiste catholique irlandais :)

* Ou Auflösungskegel pour les fans de Gomez Probst

Week-end bien aussi...

2007-08-07T09:30:00.001+02:00

... Mais j'attend les photos de Caro pour samedi midi et soir!

En tout cas, brunch samedi midi et repas de famille pour l'anniversaire de mon grand-père samedi soir... Puis Villars et retour via Paudex...

Et via Chexbres pour prendre la route de la Corniche: Arrêt et photos de rigueur...

Yep, it's quite steep

En plus d'autres innombrables qualités: She is so hot...

Ciao, P

PS: Pour la route, a treat is on youtube

Zen saying: Wisdom or no?

2007-08-06T17:03:00.001+02:00

Chris K. sent me this zen saying:

"On your deathbed, you never wish you had spent more time in the office."

The question is only...

... does this casue you to underinvest in your future? As talked about in this article of mine and this subject is really a hot topic in my mind right now...

Take care,
P

1er août sur le lac avec les ami(e)s de Diane

2007-08-06T09:56:00.000+02:00

La très amusante et sympathique Claire

Et une bonne partie du reste de la Crew: Stan baissé, Pierre, Alexia et Diane

Très très bien comme après-midi, surtout que cela suivait une grasse matinée, un lunch à la Nautique et une après-midi piscine...

C'est beau la vie...

P

Backlog - Helsinki I

2007-07-30T13:07:00.000+02:00

She is sooo hot!

Pour le reste des images de la soirée i.e. pour ceux qui ont envie de voir quelques blondes

Ciao, P

D'abord, c'était de la tarte jusqu'à Ruinettes...

2007-07-29T20:50:00.000+02:00

D'abord une petite soirée au clair de lune (presque full moon)...

Faire du vélo à Verbier, même en partant depuis le bas de la station... Ca fait bien plaisir à Mick!

P

Et l'attaque de Gentianes...

2007-07-29T20:16:00.000+02:00

Peu après, ça donne ce genre de choses! Mick pendant une brève pause de souffrance...

Puis finalement ça! Quelques jpegs pour récompenser un effort...

P

About a book...

2007-07-27T01:29:00.001+02:00

About the books I sometimes talk about, extract of the thoughts I recently gave to someone who was reading a few of them...

My cherished "Leadership from the inside out"
The very Hollywoodian "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life"
Yet another guru pointer "The Power of Now. A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment"
Or even the secret of success "The secret of success" :-)

Most of these books end up saying the same "be true, be yourself, be zen"

But it's often more about reading them with an open mind, than reading them at all...

Pause for a moment and think about this maxime:

"Der gemeine Mann hält bei seinem Kirchengehen und Bibellesen die Mittel für Zweck." Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

How does this apply to all those "Must Dos" in one's/your life?

Does your heart go into your love or is an habit?

Do your brains go into your work or is it mechanical?

Do your guts do a funky waltz, when you play and party... Or do you socialize because it is meant to be done?

Let's do something: Live fully for a couple of days... Put yourself on the line for every detail, help out, make a difference!

That's when you'll feel good... intrisically!

Ciao, P

Et moi qui ai arrêté de chanter...

2007-07-25T13:17:00.000+02:00

L'argument de base pro-chanson dont mon père, il y a quelques années déjà, pronait la véracité: Quelqu^'un qui chante est quelqu'un d'heureux...

Vivement le week-end!
Vivement dimanche soir!
Vivement les vacances!

Bref...
P

Oh life...

2007-07-24T17:47:00.000+02:00

Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it.
- Cullen Hightower

;-)

P

Les deux écoles de la tarte aux myrtilles...

2007-07-22T20:08:00.000+02:00

... c'est probablement une des questions cruciales du week-end!

Puisque cela ne dépend pas de l'âge. Et oui, en ce moment, la question pour moi c'est surtout la position de la sauce vanille sur la tarte aux myrtilles: Dessus ou à côté...

Et quelle meilleure introduction sur le vrai thème du moment: Je suis heureux et tout bronzé car je reviens de 48 heures de vacances en Finlande... Dans la petite ville de Hanko, avec les parents, le frère, l'oncle, la tante, le grand-père "farfar", la grand-mère "farmur", les 4 cousins, dont le filleul d'une très belle fille pleine d'humour et cette fille même... Dont je suis très amoureux!

Mais passons puisqu'elle n'aime pas l'étalage de sentiments sur la place publique!

Les circonstances ayant cependant offert la possibilité de les exprimer en toute solitude à deux, j'ai passé un excellent week-end...

Quelques photos suivront à partir du moment où son frère me les transmettra ;-)

Et là je suis de retour à Genève...

Ô tristesse de cette solitude à un...

Et la réponse à l'interrogation de base est: sauce vanille sur la tarte, mais avec parcimonie!

Voilà,
P

Adrien Bron est un enfoiré...

2007-07-20T18:41:00.000+02:00

Lui qui m'appelle pour me dire qu'il entame deux mois de vacances...

Ainsi, on peut dire qu'il a maintenant deux semaines de training et deux mois et demi de caleçon de bain!!!

Sinon, il faut bien le dire l'autre calembourg du jour, c'est encore lui qui me demande

"C'est ou amoureux? J'ai cru que tu allais en Finlande"

Bon ok, j'aurais pas du dire que j'allais faire un week-end en amoureux...

Blog, ces trois derniers jours ont été intenses dans ma vie, pour cause de surcharge de labeur mais intense néanmoins, et tu m'as manqué! Mais, et de loin, pas autant que ma belle que je revois ce soir...

Bon week-end à vous aussi,
P

PS: Merci à Dieu et/ou à Alain Gillot-Pétré* pour avoir fait tomber la pluiue sur Genève alors que j'étais en infraction de parking et bloqué en meeting client! Les pervenches Genevoises n'aiment pas la pluie, je l'ai constaté récemment...

* Spécial dédicace old school...

Life's too short for the wrong job...

2007-07-18T00:55:00.000+02:00

Merci à Vincent pour ce week-end et ces photos...

Merci à Florian pour cela...

Enorme et cela laisse songeur...
A part bien sûr mon ancien Project Leader qui nous envoie ceci

Bonne journée,
P

Joyeux anniversaire!

2007-07-17T09:27:00.001+02:00

Comme Attila, son évocation suffit à semer la terreur dans le coeur de ses ennemis...
Mais comme Russel Crowe, sa présence insuffler le courage dans celui de ses amis...

Comme Wentworth Miller, plusieurs centaines de femmes brûlent des cierges en priant tous les soirs qu'il ne soit pas PD...
Mais comme Michael Douglas, il aime les femmes, toutes les femmes, parfois même plusieurs à la fois...

Comme le Dude, il est Consultant en Stratégie dans une boîte très renommée...
Mais comme moi, il préfère l'amour en mer et autres histoires farfelues...

Comme M Siffredi, son prénom est synome de fantaisies folles et de fertilité...
Et comme Karl Lagerfeld, il n'a pas d'âge, mais c'est toujours une fête grandiose lors de son anniversaire...

Joyeux anniversaire Adrien!
P

744...

2007-07-16T12:52:00.000+02:00

... C'est le nombre de photos que j'ai de ce week-end, mais ne le dites pas à l'IT... ;-)

Sinon, pour les stats on a également:
2 c'est le nombre de suçons que j'ai dans le cou de la part de congénères masculins... Merci les gars!
3 # de demoiselles du village (et / ou Parisiennes) avec lesquelles le fous de notre groupe ont dansé sur la place du village à Goult le 14 juillet (non Victo, la cinquantenaire qui t'apprend le square dancing ne compte pas)
4 # de voitures pour amener ce beau monde à St Pantaléon
5 # de points marqués par Mick et moi-même en deux parties de pétanque (5-7, 0-7, outch...)
6 # de mecs dormant dans l'antichambre de la chambre des maîtres (ou maîtresses en l'occurence ce week-end)
7 # d'iPod en activité ce week-end
8 # de bouteilles prises au troquet à côté de la place du village
12 # de participants au week-end
15 # de cacahuètes au Wasabi que Patrick a pris en une fois dans la bouche...
16 # de fesses sur une des photos la plus réussie du week-end
24 # de cadavres laissés sur place (22 bttles de rosé, 2 bttles de Cachaça)
28 # de vidéos du week-end
51 # de fois que nous avons déploré l'absence de Pastis
57 # de photos du week-end déjà disponibles sur FB

Et s'il ne fallait n'en garder qu'une seule, ce serait celle-là
Félicitations à Alex P, heureux gagnant d'un échantillon de shampoing à retirer dans une coop participant à l'opération...

Enfin, bref...
P

Quand je serai grand je ferai du marketing pour McDo Suisse...

2007-07-12T15:15:00.000+02:00

*** Attention: Cet article part un peu en cacahuètes sur la fin ***

Je m'explique... Je passe au McDo, hier soir avant de prendre le train, pour manger mon petit McDo poulet Standard*: Menu Chicken Nuggets, Chickenburger, 1-2 Cheeseburger et/ou salade!

Et on me répond: "Nous n'avons plus de Chickenburger, mais nous avons le Chicken Napoli si vous voulez..." [NDLR: traduit généreusement du Suisse Allemand par l'auteur]

Débat interne et petit désespoir... Un court regard me confirme qu'il s'agit d'un burger avec du poulet dedans... Bon... Va pour le Chicken Napoli!

"Mo-Mol ! Es Tchi-Kren Na-Pooooo-Lit, dai-Nai gai-r-r-n" [NDLR: laissé concuspicieusement en Suisse Allemand par l'auteur pour faire rire ses amis Saint-Gallois]

J'ai sorti mon billet de vingt francs, ça devrait être 19.40, j'hésite même un court instant à commander trois Ketchup pour pouvoir biller** 20 francs tout ronds...

"20.40" [NDLR: le doute subsiste, ce blog n'est-il pas passionnant]

Perdon?

Et là, le Dieu du marketing et de la business intelligence m'est apparu...

Quand on vendait trop de Chicken Burger, les gens se remplissaient d'un sandwich pas assez cher***... Donc on perdait du chiffre puisque le but du jeu est de maximiser le ticket de chaque client (vu les débits limité des nombres de McDo peuplant nos villes****)

Ergo il a fallu monter le prix du populaire Chicken Burger...

Mais noooooooooooooon... Car là est le hic*****: On n'augmente pas le prix d'un produit populaire... On le substitue par un truc similaire, mais plus cher... lalalère?******

Voilà donc la véritable histoire de la mort du Chicken Burger

Vive donc le Chicken Napoli... Ou pas... Car je ne l'aime pas trop au final moi le Chicken Napoli! j'aurais préféré qu'on me fasse payer un franc de plus pour mon sandwich au curry préféré. Mais ne sont-ce pas tourjours les meilleurs qui s'en vont, comme dit le dicton?

Bonne journée,
P

* Par opposition au McDo standard de base composé d'un Big Mac(tm) Menu, d'un cheeseburger et d'un autre item selon envie...
** Faire porter le chapeau financier de mon escapade McDo à mon boss qui touche plus que moi sur mes heures de boulot... Ou inversément, ne coûter que 20.- à mon boss susmentionné, alors que j'aurais très bien pu passer prendre un sushi dans un bar de 5* pour 150.- en arrivant à Genf... En l'honneur de St Michaël V, ce ne sera qu'une quittance de McDo!
*** Mon fils! (Pour ceux qui se souviennent de la pub, pour les autres get a clue )
**** Nos campagne nettement moins déjà, sans même que José B ne veille au grain...
***** Et si Carla ne veut pas de Loïc, qu'elle se choisisse nu mec elle-même... Oui, je fatigue un peu thanks for asking
***** Comme alternatives, j'avais encore au choix en trois ou quatre syllabes finissant en /R/: Boule-de-nerfs, Immonde glaire, Apothicaire, Va en enfer, cousin Hilaire ou encore Chicken Burger... Vous reconnaîtrez donc en lalalère un choix aussi judicieux que dépaysant (tiens voilà à propos de José Bové)!

Il fallait bien que cela arrive...

2007-07-12T00:27:00.000+02:00

Hier mardi, j'ai reçu un mail de notre IT:

"Et si tu faisais "detect & repair" depuis ton excel? Ce serait bien pour éviter à ton excel de planter régulièrement"

Fast forward quelques minutes plus tard: Plus d'Outlook, Excel & Power-Point se plaignant à l'ouverture de chaque fichier...

Fast forward vers la fin de ma conversation d'une heure avec l'IT: Bon, on te répare ton histoire demain, mais tu dois l'amener à ZH. Si c'est impossible, j'ai besoin d'un mot de ton manager et on t'envoie un mec de l'IT sur place...

Impossible n'est pas Peter, ni Patrice d'ailleurs! So off I was direction ZH un beau mardi soir... ou disons simplement un mardi soir! Hier soir...

Après quelques heures de train et un changement à Hauptbahnhof, me voilà à Uetikon savourant l'arrivée du guerrier et me réjouissant du proverbial repos me semblant promis...

Pas de clés: Merde, elles sont dans ma voiture

Pas de réponse de Marc J. : Probablement chez sa copine, en train de se réconcilier du week-end

Pas de réponse d'Hanno: Direct sur combox... Bon il dort... Pas grave... Sa voiture est là...

Je sonne 5-6-7 fois...

Balcon fermé, entrée jardin fermée...

Je réalise de mieux en mieux à quel point il pleuvine quand même pas mal...

Bon, Hotel Krone! Je traverse la rue et sonne à l'hotel 2-3-4 fois...

Rien...

Finalement, une lumière dans la nuit, alors même que je pensais finir par appeler un taxi pour me rapatrier en ville, i.e. me couper l'option de tuer Hanno au matin et d'avoir du linge frais, sec et propre...
Une chambre à l'hotel Krone? Pas de problème... J'ai une pensée émue pour OB, car je me sens finalement "bien au sec et vraiment protégé"
Puis, le moment de vérité, elle me fait remplir la feuille d'hôte...

CHOFFAT
Patrice
Soubey (JU)
18.09.1980
Seestr 126, 8707 Uetikon am See...

Uh Oh...

L'hotel est au 119 de la même rue!

Elle me regarde, fait un sourire qui doit faire deux fois le tour de sa tête environ et me dit avec toute la compassion du monde

Ooops, on a eu quelques petits problèmes avec Madame?

J'éclate de rire, lui raconte mon histoire, reçoit ma clé et vais me coucher...

Depuis mon lit, j'ai la vue sur la Seehüsli!

CLOWN!

P

Something I have been arguing for ages...

2007-07-10T15:49:00.000+02:00

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
- Bertrand Russell

My arguments were
--> being intrisically motivated makes one happy
--> being intrinsically motivated allows one to avoid greed, envy and/or anger about one's surroundings

Just to make you guys think, maybe...

And then, seriously read this book

Or read this book seriously...

It's not about leadership even if it may seem so at first glance...

Ciao, P

Tous mes amis sont partis (pardon Victo & Bechara)...

2007-07-09T19:29:00.000+02:00

Mon coeur a déménagé...

Paul a fini ses exas, Marc P. part à Londres, Nicolas S. est à l'école de recrues (seriously? and you're 25 y.o.?), mes parents et ma soeur partent spontanément à Paris quelques jours...
Mais surtout, surtout!, mon coeur a déménagé...

Du coup, je m'explique vu que certaines et certains ont un peu de peine avec mon status actuel sur FB*

Voilà, my life in a pic IV:

On y voit donc:
1) Que j'ai passé le week-end à Zürich au nombre de factures
2) Que je suis passé au bureau à Zürich au petits cadeaux laissés sur mon bureau:
- les haribos que Stein me ramène du Danemark (Guldbamser?)
- le CD des photos de notre petite escapade à Cannes par Anja
- un cube BCG pour jouer en découvrant notre nouveau "Brand identity". C'est effectivement marqué "Set your data free" sur la photo, pour ceux qui vont double-clicker dessus pour agrandir comme Adrien par exemple... Risquerais-je un "oh yeah" ?
3) Que j'ai une réunion avec des objectifs [NDLR: pas atteints, mais ce n'est pas une raison pour ne pas avoir quelques heures de travail sup' en découlant pour autant]
4) Les pounds et les euros restant de mes autres week-ends amusants...
5) Les cartes de visites et, surtout!, les cartes de restaurant dont la collection me tient un peu lieu de revanche contre la morosité ambiante...

Bref, que du bonheur a priori, sauf qu'elle n'est pas là et que Lamartine m'offre un dépeuplement aussi triste que le temps de cette mi-juillet...

Hugs!
P

* For ref: "Patrice is missing someone a lot... and that's a lot worse than missing a lot of people a bit..."

Backlog: Amicitia-Ball

2007-07-05T13:28:00.000+02:00

How's it Robbie? "I come undone..."
The great looks of Apero with my new glasses
Oepel und Lu

Malheureusement, la plus belle du bal a réussi à effacer toutes les photos d'elle que j'avais réussi à faire...

Ciao, P a.k.a. Dzi in some circles

Merci Daphné...

2007-07-04T14:03:00.000+02:00

Voilà la meilleure photo qui ait été prise de moi depuis bien longtemps...
Bientôt sur un site de networking near you... or not? Vote to determine it...
P

Londres war cool...

2007-07-03T19:46:00.001+02:00

Il y a plus de photos de mon week-end à Londres sur FB que je ne peux en uploader sur ce blog... Voilà donc un florilège pour tous ceux qui ne connaissent pas les gens que j'ai vu ce week-end...

Les 4 belles - true, il manque Julia et Olivia qui ne seraient pas mal placées dans un sextett composé par ailleurs de ce quattuor, mais bon on fait avec ce qu'on a...

Representing "not one gramm of fat", le frérot en chemise trendy col Mao, et representing reste of world, well... moi...

Rencontré Damien K. pour ceux qui connaissent... au Cuckoo's (unusual?) en train de se faire marcher dessus par une petite demoiselle (it's not unusual)...

Bref, ce week-end m'a redonné pretexte à repenser une millième fois à l'intérêt d'être un alpha-mâle... Ou du moins de ne pas être trop beta!

Que cela aille du switch de boyfriend parce que le sien propre s'est eclipsé pour éviter de payer les bouteilles du Cuckoo's au regard non-sexuels d'une minette pourtant livrée à lui-même.

Les femmes sont cruelles par intérêt et par instinct, ergo men have to step up!

Of course, who cares about all those beauties... Une petite dédicace à une personne chère qui s'envole demain pour la Finlande - attention mielleux à souhaits!!

Ciao a tutti, P

Done!

2007-06-29T16:40:00.001+02:00

My parents live in a reserve...

A fine place to live indeed...

P

Let'em, Joe...

2007-06-29T15:53:00.000+02:00

... They' re just nuts about Columbia!

Talking Haribos? I guess...
P