And i've done quite well since coming back from the Alps. It must be all the extra blood cells...
However, all my non-work computer time has been devoted to processing the Cham-Zermatt pictures. I thought I would have a slide show on line by now. Well, it needs the commentary. In the meantime, here are two of the best pics:
Worn off brake disk, faulty exhaust gasket: No car for a while. And i won't be able to afford weekends in the Alps with Oliver, one of the very few things that keep me sane at the moment.
So onto the bike. After messing with it for 20min, i realised that i didn't't have a hope in hell to fix it without a trip to the shop. Borrowed my housemate's car for a quick tour around town, the only bike shop open only sells mountain bike tyres. Stuffed, i won't tackle a 3-4 hours return bike ride to work on less than a perfect bike.
So i sit at home uploading pictures of last week ski expedition, waiting to see if i can get a lift to work. Maybe i should pull a sickie? The way things are, i won't have much choice...
I have neglected my beloved Mystery Machine lately. So it was no surprise that i didn't't realise that the MOT was due during my ski holiday. As you can imagine, planned to rush it through all the checks i can do myself before bringing it to the testing station on my return.
I had not planned on it being so reluctant to run, let alone to start. The fault was traced to worn off plugs, and more worryingly, corroded HT leads. Having replaced them, i am not worried about the emission test. That leaves the old tyres, the brakes, etc...
I'm dropping the car at the testing station on my way to take the train to London. If it fail, i might have to cycle to work tomorrow. wait, the bike has a puncture too!
It's not supposed to look like this
Coming Soon
Yesssss! My long awaited winter 2006 ski holiday has started. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time: The Chamonix-Zermatt ski traverse. It's best to do it late in the season, to minimise the risk of avalanches - and the low temperatures? As most of the skiing is done above 3000m high, lack of snow is no concern.
Here are a few links, mostly commercials but they give a flavour of what i'll be doing next week:
The queen of mountaineering traverse
Presentation US style: We do not recommend this trip for backcountry ski touring beginners!
Le rappel et barbecue du monde qui avance
Parmi les blogs que je lis regulierement, il y en a un qui se distingue par sa fraicheur et son serieux: Le blog du monde qui avance.
J'aime beaucoup lire ce que Delphine ecrit, car son analyse est pertinente, bien documente et n'est pas sectaire. Je lui souhaite bien du courage pour rester optimiste dans une societe aussi remplies de contradictions que la France.
Ce qui m'amene a un bouquin que je lis lentement pour mon projet de recherche: Culture and organizations de Hofstede et Hofstede. J'en ai besoin pour mon travail sur la communication et la culture d'entreprise. Mais le lire me fait realiser qu'il y a beaucoup de facons de mesurer la culture d'une organisation. J'ai compris un peu mieux pourquoi je me sentais aussi peu en phase avec la societe francaise. Leur analyse explique des concepts que je ne percevais que de maniere diffuse dans certaines contradictions, et qui me sont maintenant un tout petit peu plus facile a comprendre - et a accepter.
A propos de software of the mind, un autre bouquin qui m'occupe en ce moment est pour apprendre python, le language de programmation super pour faire des recherches de "pattern" dans des fichiers textes. Et voici une photo de mon weekend chez Oliver, a bosser facon cadres jeunes et super dynamiques du 21ime siecle. 3 portables autour du barbecue (mais pas pour des boites francaises, rassurez-vous!)
Auparavent, Oliver m'avait emene au bord du lac d'Annecy faire une voie longue, superbe: Harmonie. Avec des vieux chaussons troues, et un gros sac plein de gros vetements, inutiles tellement il faisait chauds, j'ai beaucoup tire au cloud dans les longueurs en 6a bien costaud sur calcaire a l'adherance hmmm..... Ambiance! Une seule bonne photo, pendant le rappel:
2 days in London for work. With no evening lecture/conference to go to, it was the ideal opportunity to meet up with MBA colleagues. Allan had booked a table in a Spanish restaurant. It was great to catch up, share work and lifestyle stories, and all the gossip of course. Good wine and tapas. Very relaxing and civilised, as can be seen in the picture below:
There are 5 nationalities in this picture: Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Russia, British and France. In fact, the photographer had a strong north American accent so that makes it 6...
Today, i was instructing rock climbing at Stanage popular end for a group of young adults from the charity lifeline for the homeless. I have never met such warmth and friendliness in any place of work i've been involved with before. these guys would shake your hand and thank you after every climb! they 've all been through tough times, and yet they were the nicest group of people i've met in a long time. We were also blessed with perfect weather, no wind, clear sky and a great view of Bleaklow and Kinder capped with snow in the distance.
Whatever problems i face pale into insignificance compared to what these guys have experienced. If only i could stay as nice as how they've been with myself and the other instructor and team leaders, i would be a very happy man.
Je dois en etre a huit. Courage! J'y suis presque... Sauf que cette fois, ca a fait mal.
Pour tout dire, je prefererais me planter de cette facon, c'est plus agreable:
C'est rare une photo de vol, au bon moment. Merci a la photographe anonyme, qui a tres bien maitrise mon nikon. au fait, c'etait dans ma voie fetiche, reincarnation a St Bau. Reincarnation. Voila une idee qui me plait bien, en ce moment.
Back in England
Back home, with typical British weather greeting me.
I have tons of paperwork to tidy up and process. I wish I could do some sports instead, but no-one is doing any climbing today so i'll just go running instead. Here is what I wish i could do today:
From my in-form favourite climb, reincarnation, at St Bauzille-de-Montmel. And to finish up on my india trip:
Street Annimals
Just a quick recap of the annimals i've come accross during my stay in India:
I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of a monkey. And i can't believe i didn't take any pics of the street dogs. There were so many of them, and they are not agressive at all!
Petit tour a Delhi
Hiers, j'ai fait un saut a Delhi, en voiture avec chauffeur. Je voulais visiter le "Indian Mountaineering Foundation". De la fenetre de la voiture, j'ai pris quelque photos:
La bonne nouvelle, c'est que j'ai trouve un mur d'escalade a Delhi! Je pourais faire du sport en exterieur lors de ma prochaine visite! J'ai egalement commence a me renseigner sur les modalites indiennes pour faire de la montagne. Et pour me plonger dans l'ambiance, j'ai achete les deux derniers numeros de ???
Bush and Bird flu
Bush et la grippe aviaire
Let's recap: 2 weeks in India to kickstart the research team here. The first few days, i got everything that depends on other people started. The plan was to then visit a few things instead of staring at the computer screen waiting for answers.
But then Georges W arrived. Now, India streets can be described as bursting with life and energy at the best of times, but right now it's more like complete chaos in Delhi. They've even given official instructions to allow students sitting exams to be allowed in if they arrive late and to let them stay longer to have their normal allocated exam time!
Hence no Delhi for Remi, and no Taj Mahal either as i would need to catch a train from Delhi.
I found one recommended thing to do from here, without going into Delhi: there is a famous wild bird reserve 20km from where i'm staying. But there is a bird flu warning in yesterday's paper about this place.
In the meantime, i've done some reading and worked on putting some colour on my website and pictures on my blog. I'm having problems ftp-ing from here though... This may have to wait till i come back.
Je suis en Inde pour deux semaines, pour le boulot. Je dois mettre en place une equipe d'analystes pour la startup Londonienne qui m'emploie 3 jours par semaine -et me paye deupis Octobre dernier (!) Les premiers jours, j'etais a fond pour demarer tous les trucs qui dependent d'autres personnes.
J'aurais alors du faire un peu de tourisme en attendant les reponses. Sauf que Bush est arrive! Pas question de mettre un pied a Delhi du coup. Deja que d'habitude, c'est un joyeux bazar, mais en ce moment c'est chaotique!
Pas de visite du grand muse, pas de train pour aller au Taj Mahal... Le seul truc que j'ai trouve qui me soit recommende par le Lonnely Plannet, de mon cote de Dlhi, c'est une reserve d'oiseaux sauvages. Mais le journal d'hiers deconseille d'y aller a cause de la grippe aviare!
Je profitte donc de tout ce temps libre pour lire et travailler mon site web. Sauf que mon programme de transfer de fichiers ne marche pas ici ?! C'est la vie!
The joys of international work assignments: Living from a hotel room
It may sound all exiting at first, being sent on an assignment abroad. And it's great, discovering a new culture... There are some surprises of course: power cuts, making me practice touch typing as i can't read the keys right now! The trick is to always stay positive.
One way to positive about all the time spent in the hotel room with very few distractions is to catch up with all the stuff on the computer that got postponed eons ago: tidying the MBA notes, putting colour and adding links on my site, reading old emails...
The one thing that i'm seriously worried about is the lack of exercise. No climbing wall in Delhi i'm afraid! And running outside may not be such a good idea here, with all the dust in the air. I've just about convinced myself that i need to go to a gym. That will be a first! I think i'll try one of these elliptic machines, for a laugh.
I will leave you with a picture of a strange street animal. Is it a wild pig or a domesticated boar?
Spiderman
Ma premiere soiree en Inde s'est passee en companie de Raja, mon collegue Indien, et sa fille, son gendre et leur petit garcon Pranav. Pranav etait deguise en "Spiderman". La semaine derniere, lors de mon sejour a Montpellier, j'ai passe une soiree chez Katia. Son fils Martin etait lui aussi deguise en "Spiderman".
Comme quoi, l'Inde n'est pas si differente qu'on ne le pense...
Tout nu dans la secretaire
Last weekend, I flew back to France to visit my Mum and nip over to Annecy to do a bit of winter mountaineering with my friend Oliver. But the bad weather and high avalanche risks meant that I stayed in Montpellier all the time.
Still, I managed to clock in a couple of days climbing. Antoine needed a break from studying and was very happy to do a couple of multi-pitch routes with me at a crag called "le Thaurac".
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| From the car park... | Antoine at the first belay |
The first route was very enjoyable, straightforward bolted climbing with a pumpy, overhangy exit. With lots of other parties around us, we aimed for a quieter part of the cliff for our second route. Antoine chose an "old classic" called la voie de la secretaire.
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| Old school climbing: ledges and chimneys | Me at the start of the second pitch |
Then it was my turn to lead. With two old pitons and a sling around the tree, the difficulty was to find where the route goes. The climbing was easy, but without my English rack of nuts and friends, i felt naked, as we say in French.
The following day, I met Guilhem at a crag half way between us: "La Clape". We choose a different cliff than our usual choice and enjoyed good rock, in a sunny, sheltered spot with view of the nearby beach.
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| View from the bottom of the clif | Guilhem |
Que font les grimpeurs anglais quand il fait un temps a faire sourire les grenouilles?
This is for my French friends and relatives. Anyway, English readers don't need the captions to understand what i'm on about...
La vue de ma fenetre ce matin:
view from my windowAu choix: On reste au chaud, on va au mur d'escalade, ou fait autre chose que de l'escalade. Aujourd'hui, c'etait du VTT dans la foret.
De gauche a droite: Matt, Remi, Ben, Rodger, Dan. On n'est meme pas reste propres 5 minutes...
J'ai essaye le petit saut:
Et ca m'a decourage d'essayer le grand. Bravo a Dan et Matt, et aussi Ben pour une belle gamelle!
big jumpC'etait une bonne apres-midi, tout compte fait!
Purple Gorilla
Something very unusual happened to me on the last day of January sales at the sports shop.
The price of the purple gorilla woman fleece was dropping by the hour, till it it the floor at £5. My team mates, who know my tastes for brightly coloured clothes, tried harder and harder to get me to buy one with every price drop.
So soon after Christmas, i couldn't afford to spend even a fiver! I was so convincing that...
... I was handed a present at the end of the day!
You've guessed it!
The only present i got from work mates before was when i left Dublin. But this time, i wasn't leaving, no one had to get me this!!!
So a big thanks all my team mates and especially Chris, who organised it
Deja Vu
It's funny how you can find yourself falling into a sticky situation that you've witnessed others grapple with.
I was told that a colleague from my MBA is a bit young and naïve - business wise – and should wait a bit before starting her own business, staying in her well paid city job and building up her experience for another couple of years.
Then again, not many projects would get off the ground if everybody plays it safe. How many startup would exist if their owners had not been naïve and underestimated the effort required to get it started?
I am working on putting together a research project, to replace the part time job that pays the mortgage but doesn't stretch me. Having found a way to put it into words, i had 4 meetings last week with good contacts in corporations and academia. The outcome is that i have a good idea, but I'll have a huge networking effort to do to get the kind of corporate support i envisaged! Alternatively, I can compromise on the research method...
Well, I've got a lot more to do before being able to submit the project to senior executives. It seems I, too, am naive!
As for my MBA colleague, my first effort at passing the feedback I was given about her have been so clumsy that she doesn't communicate with me anymore.
Maybe I need to learn coaching. I'm sure that would help me communicate with all my business contacts...
