Early Christmas gift

I got an early Christmas gift yesterday. I passed my PSYCH 261 – Physiological Psychology course. According to the instructor it was one of the hardest course in Psychology. It was more like taking a Biology class to be honest. Over the past few months, I was not able to study as much as I would have liked. Before the arrival of Angelica, I used to go to bed between 19h00 and 20h00, and wake up between 03h00 and 04h00. I would then study before heading to work. But, with Angelica around, the earliest I can go to bed is 21h00. It would not have been too bad if Angelica did not wake up at about 02h00 quite often. But, that’s life, and I had to accept it. Because I knew I did not have the best preparation for this exam, all I wanted was to pass the course.  The grade I got was among the lowest I got so far, but suprisingly, it was one which brought the most joy.  This was because usually, based on the amount of work I have completed, I knew I was not going to fail the course. This time it was different. I did not know if I was going to pass the course or not.

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Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année 2011 – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Je voudrais vous souhaiter un Joyeux Noël (si vous célébrez la fête de Noël) et une Bonne et Heureuse Année 2011.

Pour beaucoup , Noël perd de sa magie lorsqu’ils se rendent compte que le Père Noël n’existe pas, mais la récupère avec l’arrivée des enfants.

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I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas (if you celebrate Christmas) and a Very Happy New Year 2011.

For many, Christmas loses it’s magic when they learn that Santa Claus does not exist, but gets it back with the arrival of children.

The apple did not fall far from the tree

I am a very fast eater, mainly because I tend to put a lot of food in my mouth at once. And when I watch my daughter eat, I can honestly say that the apple did not fall far from the tree. She tends to put a lot of food in her mouth too 🙂

Halloween 2010

Angelica dressed up as a little bee.

 

My Little Bee

La Queuleuleu

Y a-t-il un mariage où on ne joue pas cette chanson à Maurice?

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Is there a wedding in Mauritius where this song is not played?

The difference between bad and great service

Das Keyboard Ultimate Model S

A few weeks ago, I bought a Das Keyboard from directcanada.com to add to my mechanical keyboards collection. I was so eager to get my hands on it that, in order to cut down on the waiting time, I  had it shipped to my work place. The keyboard arrived two days after I placed my order online. I immediately opened the box, pulled the keyboard out, hooked it up to my PC, and started to type. Everything was perfect, the keys (Cherry MX Blue switches) felt wonderful and the sound they produced was very soothing. I was in love until…I had to use the semicolon key. For some reasons, that particular key was very different. Even though it did produce a click when pressed, the tactile bump was not very noticeable. Therefore, I had no other choice than to request an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorisation) and ship the keyboard back. Unfortunately, I had to pay for shipping again.

A few days later, I got an e-mail from directcanada.com telling me that they tested the keyboard and that they did not notice any difference. I called them and explained to the person on the phone why I returned the keyboard, once again. He kept repeating that the person who tested the keyboard could not find any problem with the semicolon key. I told him that I clearly mentioned in my RMA request that if one were to just press on the key slowly, one will not notice a big difference. However, if one were typing at a high speed, then one would notice the difference when one pressed on the semicolon key. He then told me the stupidest thing, “Sir, it’s perfectly normal for a keyboard to feel different when typing at a high speed.” I then asked him how he would explain that only one key felt different, to which he replied, “the tester did not find any problem with the key.”  I was so angry that I told him to just process my refund and to charge me for the 15% restocking fee because “I returned a perfectly working” product.

After that, I e-mailed Metadot, the OEM, and told them what happened. They quickly replied telling me not to agree to the restocking fee, if I had not agreed to that yet, and that they were willing to talk to their reseller. I replied back saying that I did not really have a choice since I had to ship the keyboard back and that I was too far from the reseller to go in person to show what I meant by the semicolon was defective. Directcanada is in Vancouver. Then came a big surprise. Metadot told me that, although they do not ship internationally, they would send me a free keyboard to make up for my bad experience. Now, this is what I call great service.

I was not looking for anything in particular when I wrote to Metadot. I just wanted to let them know that mechanical keyboard buyers, in most cases, know their stuffs. When they decide to buy a particular keyboard, they have usually read a lot about it, about it’s switches, its controller, etc. And when they report a problem, the problem exists in 99.99% of the time. Therefore, telling us that the problem does not exist when it DOES exists (I had someone else tried the keyboard as well) is like an insult.

Credit to Metadot though for making the right move. It’s a win-win situation.

Update 1 November 2010

I received my Das Keyboard Model S today and started typing a few words as soon as I got home from picking it up from the UPS depot. All the keys worked as they should and the typing experience was very very pleasant. I can see this keyboard becoming one of my favourite ones if not my favourite. It has everything I like in a keyboard: blue Cherry MX switches which are plate mounted. Two keyboards, both equipped with blue Cherry MX switches, will feel different if in one the switches are plate-mounted whereas in the other they are PCB-mounted. It is my current keyboard at work for the time being.

Les enfants grandissent trop vite – Babies grow too fast

Décembre 2008

Août 2010

Patrick’s restaurant

No, I did not open a restaurant, but it certainly felt like I had one today. I spent most of my Sunday cooking five dishes, and if I had more time I would have cooked a sixth dish. Some people may think that it’s ridiculous, but I think they are using their perspective when evaluating whether or not spending my Sunday cooking is ridiculous, rather than viewing it from my perspective. And I think they should use my perspective to view the “problem” before forming their opinion since my spending my Sunday cooking does not affect them at all, does it?

So, why do my wife and I often spend our  Sundary cooking? Well, first, we just love cooking, especially from scratch whenever we can. Cooking is a fun activity for us. We love using a sharp knife to cut vegetables and meat and a cast iron pot for dishes that need to simmer for a long time over low heat. Second, having food ready for the week makes life easier for us. Time is a luxury when both parents work. And third, we don’t like to eat prepackaged frozen food if we don’t have to.

In conclusion, when viewed from my perspective, spending turning my Sunday into a cooking day is not so ridiculous, is it?

Canadian Road Design Engineers

There are times when I ask myself what were the Canadian road design engineers thinking about when they were designing the roads in Canada. Why would they put a pedestrian crossing in a turn or close to a roundabout is beyond me. Speaking of roundabout, it is a fairly new concept in Canada, and many Canadians simply don’t know how to tackle them thereby causing road accidents.

Pourquoi Franck Ribéry risque de ne pas être au match