Just a Canadian curious about the world
Aujourdui, j’ai reçu ma premier spam ou pourriel en français. Normalement, je recevais pourriel en russe.
Dans le dernier mois, j’ai répondu deux courriel en français. Le premier pour le club Motorsport Club du Ottawa (MCO), et le deuxième fois (heir soir) de le Coordonateurs des Instructeurs de la BMW Club de Quebec.
Aussi, en le questionnaire du recensement de 2011, Rosa a ecrit que je parler français.
Today is the last work day of the decade for me. I’m still working in the office in Lab 9, as I have some work to complete before I leave on vacation. I end the decade only feet from the exact point where I started the decade.
Jan 1, 2000, at 12:00:01, I was here at work, in Lab 6, as part of Nortel’s Y2K task force. We were all carrying pagers, waiting by the phone and basically doing nothing. For me, it was a non-event, as our software had been updated in the months before, and patches sent out to all of our customers. At the exact moment of the new millennia, I was in the cafeteria, where Nortel had brought in some light snacks and (secretly) handed out glasses of champagne to anyone working to celebrate. I did wish I was downtown though – I’m sure it would have been quite a party.
At the start of the decade, the US elections were in full swing. I told anyone who would listen that Bush would set the US back by decades. Never did I expect that his performance after becoming president without winning the election would have been worse than I anticipated. Of course, no one could have expected 9/11, except for the US agents who specifically told Bush 4 weeks before that an attack against the US was being prepared. And who would have guessed that the US would have invaded a country who had nothing to do with the 9/11 tragedy, other than Donald Rumsfeld who said on 9/12 that the US should attack Iraq because “there aren’t any good targets in Afghanistan“.
The year 2000 was also the start of the layoffs at Nortel. The earliest reference I can find is that they started in October 2000. This was my life for the next 9.5 years. I made it through the first year of layoffs before my entire team was cut 2 months after 9/11. I returned and worked for CDMA, dodging more than a dozen layoff rounds before being picked up in the Ericsson purchase a few months ago.
The time at Nortel was good in one respect. I was introduced to the love of my life at Nortel: a blind date over lunch in the Lab 6 cafeteria. Rosa and I talked for 2 hours that day, and we knew immediately that we had found who we were both looking for. Seven months later we got engaged in Paris, and on Jan 3, 2007, we married in Rome.
I’ve traveled more in the last 5 years than I had in my entire life. Rosa and I have visited Halifax, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Istanbul, Ankara, Athens, Warsaw, Krakow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Jerusalem, Amman and London. In 2 days, we leave for our next trip: Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Before Rosa and I met, I had also visited New York, Toronto, Montreal, Dallas. 2 years ago I had a business trip to Bangalore.
I seems like I have been racing for so long, but it was only in 2001 that I became a licensed marshal and 2003 before I received my race licence. I have raced in a 1971 Datsun 510 (“The Pumpkin”), 1991 Nissan NX2000, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, Formula-1600 and this year multiple Acura Integra Type-R’s. I also became a Secretary of the meet for 5 MCO Race Schools and 5 Ted Powell Memorial Race Weekends, including the first full race weekend at the new Calabogie Motorsports Park.
I’ve starting learning French, so I may become a bi-lingual Canadian. And I started to kayak.
I wonder what December 2019 will bring?
Le dernier mercredi, j’ai donné une présentation pour ma classe Intermediate-I. Le sujet a été ‘La Ville de Jérusalem’. Ce soir, j’ai eu mon examen orale; je pense que j’ai fait bien.
Ici est mon présentation…
Jérusalem est la capitale d’Israël, et une ville ayant une longue histoire. C’est aussi une ville très importante pour les 3 religions du monde, et la clé pour la paix dans le Moyen-Orient. Elle a été détruite deux fois, assiégée 22 fois, a attaquée 52 fois, et a capturée 44 fois.
Elle est l’une des plus anciennes villes du monde.
Elle a été à peu près il y a 5 mille années, pendant Le Chalcolithique.
Au 10e siècle av. J.-C., Jérusalem a été conquise par le roi David; c’est devenu “la ville de David”. Le Roi Salomon, fils de David, a fait construire le premier Temple de Jérusalem, sur le Mont Moriah. Le Temple de Jérusalem a contenu l’Arche d’alliance, ou on y gardait les tables de la Loi.
En 597 av. J.-C., Les Babyloniens a conquis Jérusalem et ils ont détruit la ville et le premier Temple. L’Arche d’alliance était perdue pour toujours.
Pendant le règne de Cyrus le Grand (l’Empire perse), le deuxième Temple de Jérusalem a été construit, aussi sur Mont Moriah. C’est la que les religions de juives, islamiques et chrétiennes se croisent.
C’est le plus saint lieu des juifs. Les Temples étaient situé dans la Vieille Ville, sur le Mont Moriah. Ils nomment le lieu ‘le Mont du Temple’. N’oubliez pas, le premier Temple a tenu l’Ache d’alliance. Aussi, les juifs croient que Dieu a créé le premier homme, Adam, avec terre du Mont.
Pour Les Chrétiens, Jésus est né un Juif. Il irait au deuxième Temple. Et il est crucifié à l’extérieur de la Vieille ville.
Pour Les Musulmans, dans le Coran, le Prophète Mahomet a commencé le voyage nocturne à le rocher surs le Mont Moriah. Les musulmans nomment le lieu ‘(al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf) ‘Le sanctuaire noble’.
C’est pendant la période romaine que Jésus est né. Quand il a eu 30-33 ans, il irait à la ville pendant la fête de la Pâque. Voici la salle qui, peut-être, était la salle de La Cène / dernier repas. Jésus est arrêté au jardin de Gethsémani. Finalement, Jésus est condamné par Ponce Pilate, et il est crucifié au lieu nommé Golgotha, à côté de la Vieille ville. Deux lieux ont été proposés pour le site de Golgotha – l’Église du Saint-Sépulcre ou le jardin de la Tombe.
En 70 ÉC, des juifs ce sont révolté contre des Romains. L’empereur romain Titus a détruit la ville, y compris le Temple. Seul le Mur des Lamentations est resté.
Jérusalem est conquise par les Arabes en 638. Les Musulmans ont construit la Mosquée Al-Aqsa, et le Dôme du Rocher. Le Dôme du Rocher est sur le même site que Les Temples. Dans le Coran, le Prophète Mahomet a commencé le voyage nocturne au rocher (sous le dôme), quand il a parlé avec Allah.
Pendant Les Croisades, les Croisés et les armées de Musulmans se sont battus pour la ville durant plus de 200 années. Finalement, Salah ad Din, a regagné la ville en 1187.
À partir du 16e siècle, la ville a été reconquise sous contrôle ottoman jusqu’en 1917 quand elle est devenue sous mandat britannique. Après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, la Grande-Bretagne a donné l’indépendance à de nombreux pays. Par exemple l’Inde.
Et, en 1948, David Ben Gourion a proclamé l’indépendance de l’État d’Israël. Mais, Jérusalem a été divisée.
Israël a eu de nombreuses guerres avec ses voisins. En 1967, à la suite de la guerre des Six Jours, Israël contrôle l’ensemble de Jérusalem.
Depuis 2003, les Israéliens ont construit un mur (ou barrière de sécurité) autour de la ville. C’est très controversé.
En résumé, l’historie de la ville de Jérusalem n’est pas terminée.
Nothing good happens to a person unless they do something to make it happen. Waiting for good luck to happen is bound to cause a profound sense of disappointment.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the last few weeks. It started when I was not able to go racing at Mosport. The tow vehicle broke down, leaving me without a car to race. I was already at the track when I found out. I could have stayed at the track, and possibly found another ride, but it was not very likely. Instead I drove all the way back (about 4 hours). It was a waste of my vacation day and an awful lot of gas.
Rosa asked me about the decision to drive back instead of staying at the track. Her point was that if I truly wanted something, I have to actively make it happen. If I want to race, I have to keep pushing, and not give up so easily when things don’t go to plan.
Same with photography. I know what I want, but unless I do something, and take that first step even when it is scary, nothing good will happen.
This evening I went to the RA Photo Club open house. I really wanted to see the studio, but once there I was very intimidated by the models and all the equipment and the dozens of people standing around watching. It was thinking about what Rosa said that I pushed my way to the front of the line, put the flash transmitter on the camera and started my first session with a professional model. It’s the first step.
Here are my goals for 2009.
Tonight, I feel good.
I studied hard this weekend and I think I passed my French mid-term this evening. It was scheduled for 2 hours, and I finished in 1 hour. I didn’t panic and forget everything as soon as the test was handed out.
I finished creating this web site, and have a working web gallery. It’s secure, and it’s finally set up the way I want it.
I am still employed.
My to-do list is only 6 items long, two of which are repeating tasks (weekly status report to my manager and monthly computer backup reminder).
My in-box at work is empty. I am staying on top of the work-load instead of being swamped like I have been for years.
I had a successful requirements review this morning. I could have done better, but I still had a lot of work to complete over the last few weeks.
I have created a transition plan for one of my four projects at work. I am involved in too many projects and need to cut down my project list. The plan has not been approved yet. One of the other projects is winding down too as the team in Beijing is taking over as we near customer release.
This past weekend, I had enough time to watch a DVD with Rosa. It was the first time in months.
I have transitioned all my MCO organizational work to others so I can focus on my racing this year.
And finally, and most importantly, I am married to the most wonderful woman. She means the world to me.
When I have moments of doubt and low moods, I should remember this evening.