Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Beautiful Ad


Beautiful picture, beautiful music and beautiful idea: this ad hits the mark.



La suite!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

My Sound Of The Day


Another guitar song: Phoenix - Long Distance Call (25Hrs A Day Remix).










La suite!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

See Carrefour And Die


Carrefour is an international retail chain from France like Wall Mart in the US or Tesco in the UK. Last week we went to Carrefour to buy some beers and we were completely stunned by the shop. The store looked like a hard discount store: uneven corridors, old shelves, dirty linoleum floor and products everywhere. I have never seen a supermarket in such a state, you can have a look at it below.




La suite!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Are You kidding Me? 2


Last October 16, the trolley that I left in the storage room of the Lindner hotel in Antwerp disappeared, it was first believed that the suitcase had been given to another customer by mistake.



Last week as I was fed up of waiting for the hotel to actually start looking for my suitcase, I went to see the hotel manager. This country seems to bring nothing but bad luck to me, the manager had gone on holyday the exact day I wanted to see him and he was returning 10 days later. I sat down with his assistant to talk about my trolley and I learned that the suitcase that was staying in the storage room belonged to a frequent hotel customer who wanted to travel light. Just like that I learned that my suitcase had been stolen from the storage room of the hotel (locked with a magnetic key) and not given to another hotel customer; if I hadn’t asked the hotel would probably not have told me. When I explain how the hotel should operate to find the thief, I just get an understanding smile from the manager. The hotel as no surveillance system but to video cameras are located on the side of the hotel entrance, one would just have to look at the video to see at what time the thief left the hotel with my trolley and crosscheck with the checkout of the hotel customers to know who stole my suitcase. But we can’t look at the surveillance video! But we can’t browse the checkout logs! But we can’t call all our clients! Once again I am faced with a total lack of will to find my suitcase. I leave telling her to contact the manager’s boss to find a solution and again she is not convinced with my idea.



On Thursday as I am going to have breakfast, I get stopped by a hotel employee who tells me that everything is settled and the assistant will explain it to me when she gets to the hotel. I stay calm and go enjoy my breakfast. When she arrived, she explained that she called the regional manager and he agreed to pay the amount that was on the bill I gave them. I told her that I wrote the bill to give them an idea of the money I would have to spend to buy back my things and to replace my door lock; I expected them to pay for everything and not just a part of it. The hotel was willing to pay for what was on the bill but nothing more, the assistant said that the hotel didn’t have to pay me any money because it was written on the storage room receipt that the hotel was not liable for anything happening to what was left there. I told the assistant that If I had made a more expensive bill (like my wife told me to) the hotel would have spent much more money, she answered that people are honest in Belgium. Amazing, they are willing to pay some of my expenses but not all of them! As I leave, I explain to her that I want a full refund and I am willing to go to court to have all my money back if necessary. As always she just nodded.



I went to the police station to declare the theft, as I was giving details the policeman explained that going to court would only waste my time and money as the case would not go anywhere. I finally accepted the hotels offer because my insurance company told me that hotels never pay anything when suitcases are lost in cases such as mine. The new lock cost 1000€, thank you very much Lindner hotel!


La suite!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

My Sound Of The Day


Crank up the noise, stand in front of the loud speakers and start moving your head up and down: Test Icicles - Circle.Square.Triangle.










La suite!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Are You kidding Me?


Last Friday, I do my checkout and ask the hotel to keep my trolley while I go to work before catching the train back home. After work I go back to the hotel 30 minutes before the train departure to fetch my suitcase. I give my ticket and start waiting, waiting, waiting...



The person I gave my ticket to comes and goes but each time without my suitcase. At one point she even asks me to whom I had given the trolley even though she was the one I gave it to in the morning. She is looking for my trolley but can't find it. I come with her to look for it in the storage area but it is not there: Lindner hotel has given my suitcase to someone else! As I have to catch my train and will be back on Monday I tell them to do what is necessary to find my suitcase and call me during the week-end to let me know so that I don't have to travel back to Belgium with another trolley. Of course I get no calls during the week-end and each time I call someone tells me that they have found no information about the person who has my trolley in the remaining suitcase.



I am back in Lindner hotel on Monday, I have to remind you that it is a 4 stars hotel, they still don't know who has my suitcase. When I tell them that they just have to call every person who left the hotel on Friday, they answer that Friday is their busiest checkout day so they couldn't do it. How great is that? They lose my suitcase and are patiently waiting for the person who has my suitcase to bring it back! The guy has my address and my frigging keys. I served them with a bill containing everything that was in the trolley and the replacement of our apartment door lock: a minimum of 600€! What a bunch of jackasses!


La suite!

Friday, October 16, 2009

A Poem In The Workplace


Here is a poem you can find fixed on walls in offices here:

This is a little friendly poem
Asking you to clean your desk before you go home

Keep the kitchen and meeting room clean
Than nobody has to look at you mean

Every day an office neat and tidy
With some extra effort on Friday

It will keep away the bugs
And you might deserve some hugs


La suite!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Breakfast In The City


This week i stay in a 4 stars hotel called Lindner Hotel & City Lounge in Antwerp, if i want to have breakfast in the morning in need to spend 18€! For that price i only can choose one kind of juice and i can't even have hot chocolate.
Thankfully i have managed to find the perfect place to have a french breakfast not too far from the hotel.




La suite!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

My Sound Of The Day


This week-end i listened to the DJ Kicks from Chromeo and there was this jewel inside: Cheri - Murphy's Law.










La suite!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

My Sound Of The Day


I just discovered the band Chromeo, i like them so much that i put 2 of their tracks today. The first track reminds me of the sound Prince had when he started, it also reminds me of the band The Time (for those who have a little bit of musical culture). Chromeo is one of those bands that can reuse everything that was good in 80's music and turn that into something fresh: Chromeo - Outta Sight.









Chromeo - 100%










La suite!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Belgium Here I Come


I am now on the way to Mechelen after my 3 day trip in Nantes. Let me remind you that I spend 3 days in Nantes to discuss the workshop in Mechelen this week. To make it even simpler: we discussed during the meetings in Nantes to decide what we would discuss during the meetings in Mechelen. You so want to be right now!



I am in the Thalys train taking me to Brussels surrounded by suits, I must be the only person in first class who is not wearing a shirt! Everything is done for the businessman who is always busy: free breakfast, power plugs for the laptop, taxi waiting at the station and free internet access through wifi... I feel a little bit lonely when I am in the middle of such a crowd because I can’t find anything common between those men and those few women. But at the same time I am writing my blog on my phone when everyone else is typing something on their laptop. I like Belgium very much so I am in quite a hurry to get their even though the workshop waiting for me would be a good reason to stay home.

P.S.: I had to make a round trip back to Paris in the evening because i realized when i arrived in front of the customers office that my laptop was at home.


La suite!

Monday, October 5, 2009

3 Days In Nantes


The best way to enjoy a travel is to go to 4 meetings of 4 hours each during 3 days and spend the rest of the time in the train travelling.



As is often the case in my job, I got called at the end of the afternoon because I had to urgently go to Nantes the next day. The project I am working on has more than one month delay and I was asked to find the blocking points and allow the project to move forward. Each specialist in a specific domain has been requested to take part in a 3 day workshop where each blocking point would be reviewed and the best solution would be found. As in many meetings, there was a lot of talk but not much decision making.



Going to Nantes usually means seeing respected colleagues and hanging out with them to have a good time. Sadly I had little time to go talk to them this time. I was so tired in the evening that I wouldn’t even have the energy to go have a drink in the city. I usually don’t go to meetings because it seems like as soon as people get out of room they forget what each of them have to do and you will spend time reminding everyone of their duties. I had no choice this time and I would be completely dead at the end of the day: this travel was all work and no play. It is a shame because Nantes is a beautiful and pleasant city.



Anyway I know that my next travel to Nantes will be much more laid back. I couldn't go to a small market where I could have found furniture for our next apartment.


La suite!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

De La Soul Live In Paris


Last September 9, i had the pleasure of being in Paris to go see one of my favorite bands live. At the end of the concert i learned from a guy who filmed the whole concert next to me with a professional camera that the concert would soon be available online.
You can now see De La Soul live at the Jazz a la Vilette festival in Paris thanks to GrandCrew, it is da bomb!



La suite!