Yesterday, I started to set up my new MacBook laptop. As it is a Mac, it is already ready to work. So, I was able pretty quickly to get all the source code from the Company servers and build the products. I simply had to download and install Xcode, that is freely available from the Apple web site.
I also downloaded Firefox (web browser) and Thunderbird (e-mail tool), as this is what I have been using on Linux and Windows. What took me a long time was to transfer my Thunderbird profile, so that I keep all my e-mails on the new laptop. Compressed, the Thunderbird profile takes 900 Mega Bytes! The procedure that I found on the Internet works beautifully.
This morning, I also transferred personal files. Then, I installed OpenOffice.org.
The next step was to install VMware, that the Company provided. And I have just installed Windows 7 Professional that I received from the Company yesterday.
I will have to be accustomed to the specifics on MacOS compared to Linux with GNOME. Already, I am missing the 18 (3 rows of 6) work spaces that I have been using on the Linux laptop.
Something that I am surprised to like is the multi-touch track pad. I was sure that I would need a 3-button mouse, but I am no longer so sure.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Receiving my new laptop
My new laptop, a MacBook Pro 17 inches, was ordered by the Company last Thursday, March 3rd. I received notification by e-mail that it was being sent to me on March 5th.
I tracked the package on the FedEx web site. It arrived at FedEx in Shanghai, China, the 5th, left Shanghai on the 6th. It reached Anchorage, Alaska, on the 7th, where it went through customs. It arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, during the night and left to Miami less than two hours later. It was ready to be delivered yesterday morning, March 8th.
Unfortunately, my apartment number was not specified on the address, so it could not be delivered. FedEx called me and I told them the apartment number. In the afternoon, it was still not delivered, the reason given that there were nobody home. I certainly was home, as I did not dare to leave the apartment for one minute so that I could receive the laptop as soon as possible. There was no notification on my door, so obviously FedEx did not go to my apartment. There must be an efficiency reason why FedEx drivers do not phone the customer, but in my case it would have been cheaper for them to phone me during the morning delivery and ask me the apartment number.
So, I phoned FedEx and went to get it at 8 PM in their warehouse. I cannot really complain, as it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow Friday March 10th in the afternoon.
During the rest of the week, I will learn how I will work on this new laptop with an operating system I don't really know. Already, I have managed to install Firefox and I am typing this blog entry on the new laptop.
I tracked the package on the FedEx web site. It arrived at FedEx in Shanghai, China, the 5th, left Shanghai on the 6th. It reached Anchorage, Alaska, on the 7th, where it went through customs. It arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, during the night and left to Miami less than two hours later. It was ready to be delivered yesterday morning, March 8th.
Unfortunately, my apartment number was not specified on the address, so it could not be delivered. FedEx called me and I told them the apartment number. In the afternoon, it was still not delivered, the reason given that there were nobody home. I certainly was home, as I did not dare to leave the apartment for one minute so that I could receive the laptop as soon as possible. There was no notification on my door, so obviously FedEx did not go to my apartment. There must be an efficiency reason why FedEx drivers do not phone the customer, but in my case it would have been cheaper for them to phone me during the morning delivery and ask me the apartment number.
So, I phoned FedEx and went to get it at 8 PM in their warehouse. I cannot really complain, as it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow Friday March 10th in the afternoon.
During the rest of the week, I will learn how I will work on this new laptop with an operating system I don't really know. Already, I have managed to install Firefox and I am typing this blog entry on the new laptop.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Getting a new laptop
My current working laptop is a Dell 15" Latitude D830, with two cores, that is running GNU/Linux. I have had it for four years. It still works well enough, except for the letter L that no longer works. I bought a wireless keyboard, so the disappearance of the letter L is no longer a problem.
I will keep this laptop, but I have asked the Company to buy me a MacBook 17", with four cores, where I will run MacOS and Windows 7. I will then be able to run three different operating systems on two machines, one in 32 bit and the other in 64 bit.
The process to get this new laptop was amazingly simple. Last Tuesday, I sent an e-mail to the president and the vice-president of the Company explaining why I would like to get this new laptop, and they both replied within less that 10 minutes "Sounds fine". That's it, no need to more paperwork, I had the approval. The reasoning is that the cost of a good machine every 3 years is less that 2% of the cost of a good engineer and it will increase the productivity of the engineer by more than 2%.
Also, there is no operating system war inside the Company. On their laptops, the president is running Windows (he used to run OS/2), the vice-president is running MacOS and many engineers are running GNU/Linux.
I expect to receive the new laptop next week.
I will keep this laptop, but I have asked the Company to buy me a MacBook 17", with four cores, where I will run MacOS and Windows 7. I will then be able to run three different operating systems on two machines, one in 32 bit and the other in 64 bit.
The process to get this new laptop was amazingly simple. Last Tuesday, I sent an e-mail to the president and the vice-president of the Company explaining why I would like to get this new laptop, and they both replied within less that 10 minutes "Sounds fine". That's it, no need to more paperwork, I had the approval. The reasoning is that the cost of a good machine every 3 years is less that 2% of the cost of a good engineer and it will increase the productivity of the engineer by more than 2%.
Also, there is no operating system war inside the Company. On their laptops, the president is running Windows (he used to run OS/2), the vice-president is running MacOS and many engineers are running GNU/Linux.
I expect to receive the new laptop next week.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Jet-lagged and sick
I should have known better than to "expect to recover in two to three days". I should have remembered that I always sleep rather well the first night I am coming back from Europe, because I am dead tired after a very long day where I was not able to sleep.
So, no, I did not recover quickly and last night was the first one where I slept enough.
In addition, I have been sick starting Monday evening: sore throat, fever and constipation. I have almost recovered today only.
It was not a standard cold, as my nose was not running. I used to have what I called "week-end colds", that start Friday evening and end Monday morning, just in time to go back to work. My theory is that you are most likely to get a cold when you are tired, which is more the case at the end of the week. I have not had one of those for quite some time.
So, no, I did not recover quickly and last night was the first one where I slept enough.
In addition, I have been sick starting Monday evening: sore throat, fever and constipation. I have almost recovered today only.
It was not a standard cold, as my nose was not running. I used to have what I called "week-end colds", that start Friday evening and end Monday morning, just in time to go back to work. My theory is that you are most likely to get a cold when you are tired, which is more the case at the end of the week. I have not had one of those for quite some time.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
And back to Miami
Thursday night, I went to the house of my brother Antoine. We were six: Antoine, his wife Marie-Hélène, his sons Adam and Cantor and his daughter Orlane. They were living in Seattle in 2000-2002, and I have not seen the children often since then. Orlane, the youngest, was polite and told me that she was remembering me. The two boys, Adam in first year at university of medicine and Cantor in equivalent of grade 11, being older, were remembering me very well.
Antoine was the sixth of my siblings that I saw during this trip. Sixth out of nine is not too bad. My mother was not in Versailles this week, so I did not have the opportunity to see her again.
Yesterday, Friday, I flied back to Miami, a ten hour direct flight. In the plane that was full, there was a group of around twenty teenagers. So, I expected the flight to be noisy. I said so to the woman on the next seat, and she told me that they were a group of high school students from Fort Myers, Florida. They were studying theater and/or French and they were coming back from Great Britain and France, where they had visited the Globe theater in London and la Comédie-Française in Paris. She was the theater teacher. She assured me that they will behave, and she was absolutely right. Later, one of the flight attendants commented to her that indeed her group of teenagers were exceptionally quiet.
I arrived at home at 16:45 and at 18:45 I was crashing, so I went to bed, after checking that there were no work emergency. I had a relatively good night. Of course, I was awake several times, starting at 2 AM, but I was able to sleep more than 8 hours in total. When we were living in Vancouver, it would take me more than a week to recover from the 9 hour difference. Here in Miami, with only 6 hour difference, I expect to recover in two to three days. Much better.
Antoine was the sixth of my siblings that I saw during this trip. Sixth out of nine is not too bad. My mother was not in Versailles this week, so I did not have the opportunity to see her again.
Yesterday, Friday, I flied back to Miami, a ten hour direct flight. In the plane that was full, there was a group of around twenty teenagers. So, I expected the flight to be noisy. I said so to the woman on the next seat, and she told me that they were a group of high school students from Fort Myers, Florida. They were studying theater and/or French and they were coming back from Great Britain and France, where they had visited the Globe theater in London and la Comédie-Française in Paris. She was the theater teacher. She assured me that they will behave, and she was absolutely right. Later, one of the flight attendants commented to her that indeed her group of teenagers were exceptionally quiet.
I arrived at home at 16:45 and at 18:45 I was crashing, so I went to bed, after checking that there were no work emergency. I had a relatively good night. Of course, I was awake several times, starting at 2 AM, but I was able to sleep more than 8 hours in total. When we were living in Vancouver, it would take me more than a week to recover from the 9 hour difference. Here in Miami, with only 6 hour difference, I expect to recover in two to three days. Much better.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Diners with my brother and with old friends
Tuesday night, I had diner with my 52 years old brother Grégoire. He is a priest. He is currently working on a PhD in philosophy at the Sorbonne university. I don't see him very often, so we had a good exchange about what is happening currently in our respective lives.
And yesterday, Wednesday night, I went to diner to the home of Bruno, one of my comrades from École Navale, the French Naval Academy. We shared a dormitory for two years in 1968-1970. We were seven at the diner party: Philippe and Dominique, two of our comrades and their spouses were also invited. They are both retired admirals that I have rarely seen in the last forty years. We reminisce about our lives in the French Navy around the world. We also spoke about two subjects that are usually taboo in ships'wardrooms: politics and religion. It was a very enjoyable dinner party, so we left rather late, 20 minutes before 1 AM.
Today is my last day at the Paris office. Tonight, I will go to my brother Antoine's house in Châtillon and have dinner with him and his wife Marie-Hélène.
And tomorrow morning I'll will fly back to Miami. I should be at the apartment before Daisy returns from work at 5 PM.
And yesterday, Wednesday night, I went to diner to the home of Bruno, one of my comrades from École Navale, the French Naval Academy. We shared a dormitory for two years in 1968-1970. We were seven at the diner party: Philippe and Dominique, two of our comrades and their spouses were also invited. They are both retired admirals that I have rarely seen in the last forty years. We reminisce about our lives in the French Navy around the world. We also spoke about two subjects that are usually taboo in ships'wardrooms: politics and religion. It was a very enjoyable dinner party, so we left rather late, 20 minutes before 1 AM.
Today is my last day at the Paris office. Tonight, I will go to my brother Antoine's house in Châtillon and have dinner with him and his wife Marie-Hélène.
And tomorrow morning I'll will fly back to Miami. I should be at the apartment before Daisy returns from work at 5 PM.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Back to Paris
I flew back to Paris Sunday afternoon and was at the hotel around 5 PM. This is hotel Le Péra, an hotel I have never been before. I did not sleep very well on the first two nights, because there was a humming noise. Fortunately, tonight I will be in another room that seems less noisy.
I am working in the Paris office until this Thursday. Unfortunately, this is a period of school vacations in the Parisian region, and some of the engineers I wanted to see this week are not here. I will have to contact them by e-mail.
Yesterday, Monday, I went to have diner in Versailles at my sister Nicole's, and my brother Benoit and his wife Jeanne-Marie came specially from Dreux to see me. Benoit is the one of my siblings who never finished high school when he was young, became a successful farmer and is the richest of all of us.
Tonight, I'll have diner with my brother Grégoire, who is a priest, in a restaurant near by.
Wednesday, I'll have dinner with 3 of my comrades at the French Naval Academy (in 1968-1971).
And Thursday night, I'll visit my brother Antoine and his wife Marie-Hélène for diner.
During the days, I am working at the office and starts to know two newly hired engineers that were not there yet two weeks ago.
I am working in the Paris office until this Thursday. Unfortunately, this is a period of school vacations in the Parisian region, and some of the engineers I wanted to see this week are not here. I will have to contact them by e-mail.
Yesterday, Monday, I went to have diner in Versailles at my sister Nicole's, and my brother Benoit and his wife Jeanne-Marie came specially from Dreux to see me. Benoit is the one of my siblings who never finished high school when he was young, became a successful farmer and is the richest of all of us.
Tonight, I'll have diner with my brother Grégoire, who is a priest, in a restaurant near by.
Wednesday, I'll have dinner with 3 of my comrades at the French Naval Academy (in 1968-1971).
And Thursday night, I'll visit my brother Antoine and his wife Marie-Hélène for diner.
During the days, I am working at the office and starts to know two newly hired engineers that were not there yet two weeks ago.
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