Whoa ... it's been a while. :)

I went to Nice to meet Anny Friday morning. We got a double room with the hostel, but it was in a different building north of the train station, about 10 minutes walk from the hostel. I guess we were lucky though, because everyone we talked to at the hostel was either in a sauna (upper floor) or a dungeon (basement), complete with mould and two pet rats. Our room was pretty good, I must say - and only about 40 bucks a night for the two of us.

Anny was a bit jet lagged (long flight, lots of problems) so we took a quick 2 hour siesta and then went in search of food. After that we went back to the hostel where there is a pseudo-patio setup where the people staying in the hostel sit and have a few drinks and get to know each other, etc. We headed down to the beach and went to a open-air beach party, which was pretty good. The friskin' guys at the door took my Swiss Army knife (that I was using as a bottle opener) for the night ...

On saturday night we did the same sit-at-the-hostel, go-to-the-beach but then we went to a bar on the main drag called FORVM (Forum). It was pretty cool inside, but relatively small. Drinks weren't too expensive, but the cover charge was 100F (~20 CAN$) - yeah ouch. I think it was worth it though - it was my first night in decent club since I got here. :) And the company was good too - at the hostel we ran into a girl from Kitchener, Anca and a guy from Michigan that hade travelled together from Bordeaux. The guy from Michigan, Scott, had just lived a month and a half in southwest Germany where he worked in Switzerland. We also met an Australian girl, Nicole, that has been a live-in nanny for two years in Switzerland and more recently London. The club was open until about 6am, I think - but we left around 4. I don't know about those guys, but my feet and knees were blown ... they still are today. A lot of good walkin' was done this weekend, fo' sho'.

The funny thing was, I brought my camera and took no pictures. *sigh* ... :)

BTW, return flight is confirmed for the 15th of August. It was a hard time finding something this short notice, but I bugged the travel agent enough so she helped me. :) I'll be going through Frankfurt, Germany on the way back instead of Paris - flying Luftansa Airlines. See y'all soon.

Talked to Dale about a departure date today. Looks like I'll aim for a flight on Wednesday the 15th of August. Now I just have to change my flight ...

As far as I know, I'll be back before the 15th of August. I'll try to nail down a date tomorrow. Also doing a huge walking tour of Nice this weekend (probably Sunday) .... I plan on taking all 150 pictures ....

... that reminds me, I need batteries ... (how do I tell them that because of the unfreezing process I have no inner monologue?)

Didn't go anywhere this weekend - just hung around the office, doing projects for myself and other people. The weather was pretty bad all weekend, so I'll have to wait until next to 'get out' of Sophia for a bit. Finished reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (wow) ... and I'm now onto 1984.

Things are picking up a little at work, but I still find I'm playing a lot of FreeCell. *grin* I think I'm going to see if I can win 25 then 50 then 100 games in a row. Supposedly, every FreeCell game is winnable. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click the Start button and go to Programs --> Accessories --> Games --> FreeCell. If you don't have it, well .... *shrug* :)

Stay cool.

Saturday, July 14th is Bastille Day in France - their Canada Day or Independence Day. I was planning on going to Nice on Saturday, but now I'm second-guessing .... it's probably going to be crazy there and (knowing the French) none of the stores will be open ...... on the other hand, I'll get some great pictures. I probably won't stay the night ... with the crowds around it won't be worth it.

Next update will probably be on Sunday.

Question: who do I know at Cadabra? (*grin*) .... someone I ran into at the bus stop at Prince of Wales and Antares when I worked at Wann CD ....? heh. Please reveal yourself, oh mysterious one ..... I am quite curious. :)

Working on the weekend isn't fun, as you can imagine - but I've become quite the FreeCell player. The conference is going smoothly so far. Most of the computers set up there for the congress attendees are being used for e-mail instead of accessing our web site, so there is absolutely no web site traffic here.

There are no projects going on right now ... once this conference gets out of the way things might start up again. Dale is taking a few weeks off in August. I might forego the boredom of working here in August with no projects on horizon and just come home ASAIC to do contract work. We'll see.

Working this week-end to support the congress web site. I'll be on ICQ, as usual (118704871). Planning on a walking tour of Nice next weekend. Otherwise, nothing to report. *grin*

Finally got a cell phone (Philips Ozeo) from Dale. Drop me an e-mail if you want the number. The way cell phones here work means that when I receive calls, I pay nothing. *hint hint*. For me to call Canada (or anywhere else for that matter), it costs an arm and a leg and a .... I know you want to call me. I know you do. *hypnotizing glace* ....

Remember, I'm 6 hours ahead ... so don't go callin' me at like 8pm EST. ;)

Pretty uneventful weekend - beach on Saturday, stayed in Sophia Sunday. Read quite a lot of The Shining. Things are winding down, it feels especially that way after the last two weekends in Nice.

There was a remote chance that I might have gone to Paris this Wednesday for a week to take care of a backup web server we are sending up there (which I set up myself). However since I don't speak French, Dale knocked me off the possibility list right away. I guess I can understand that, but I still feel ripped off, kinda. Also, he needs someone in Sophia maintain the real web servers. Dale is going up to Paris to meet with people during the event so I'll be the only one who can do it. Waldemar certainly can't do that sort of thing.

*curses*