Aéroports côté français...

La grève des contrôleurs de la sécurité (dont les motifs m'ont eu l'air plus que raisonnables) est terminée, mais c'est encore un beau bazar au terminal 2 de l'aéroport Charles de Gaule: une file exclusive pour hommes qui ferme et rejette la fin de queue, d'autres files suivant un code de couleur mysterieux (vert, orange, jaune, mon billet a une bande verte, je termine orange après les avoir toutes essayées).

La bonne nouvelle c'est le wifi gratuit au terminal d'embarquement (decouvert apres avoir payé 5 euros pour une heure)!

Du moment que les avions décollent (et atterrissent!)...

Africa!

I am going to Chad, Africa, for two weeks, to visit some family and friends there. I hope to bring some good pictures!

I am bringing many presents to the people I will visit, and in parituclar some beautiful copper pieces made by my friend Alberto in Chile. From top/left to bottom/right (depending on your resolution): two African "Last Supper", four Canadian totems, and a Mexican mask, the fifth last made using the technique that Alberto and I designed, using a shaped wood support.

I bring some solar panels to reload my (four!) dictaphone, and some piece of art of my own!

Hopefully I will have good pictures when I come back. "Salam Salam!"

Paris!

As I went to drop the papers for my visa to Chad early morning, I had some time to kill before calling on friends for lunch: I went walking and taking a few pictures!

Ma vie en 5mns

Pour Noël Philippe m'a fait un album musical avec des photos de moi, de la famille et des copains, de la naissance aux années plus récentes. Vous vous y reconnaitrez peut-être!

For Christmas, Philippe made for me a musical album with pictures of me, my family and my friends, from birth to later years. You might find youself in it!

Para la Navidad, Philippe hizo un album musical con fotografias de mi, de mi familia y de mis amigos, desde el nacimiento a los años mas recientes. Quizas algunos van a reconocerse!

Dictaphone Scripts on GitHub

I have been using for two years now the "Digital Music Player NWZ B163F" from Sony Corp. as a dictaphone. I carry it everywhere with me, record short ideas in it which I process at the end of the week, and sometime conversations with doctors and administrative people which I want to review later. I carry a spare one when I travel in case I lose mine and can't replace it before getting home. I love my dictaphone!

I find the most usefull when I practice sport: I don't know if it is the oxygenation of the brain or the boredness, but ideas rush to my mind when I run or swim or roller blade, all times where it's not very practical to stop and take notes. TO this effect I put one dictaphone in a plastic ziplock bag which I keep on the side of the swimming pool, to record the ideas that come to me while swimming.

Along the months I developped some scripts in Perl to help me process those audionotes, which sources and wiki are kept on a git-hub. Feel free to contribute!

Premiacion en el Indesor

Friday was the celebration of the end of the year (both civil and educacional in the south half of the world) at the Institute for deaf people.

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I saw there my favorite students and auxiliares.

We gave diplomas to the students, and glasses as prizes for the three best projects (best animation, best story, best background). The institute gave us keyrings, I gave a discourse and we offered a glass to the people who helped us in the project.

Everyone had a lot of fun: we will do it again!

Etched Glasses for Indesor competition

J'ai gravé 6 verres qui serviront de prix durant la présentation des animations 3d des étudiants de l'Indesor, l'"Instituto de la Sordera": 2 par équipe, 3 équipes recevront un prix parmi 6, et chacun des 12 étudiants recevra un diplôme. Je ne sais pas encore comment j'assignerai les verres (e.g. premier, second et troisième prix, ou une paire pour "meilleure histoire", "meilleure animation", meilleur décor").

I etched 6 glasses to serve as prizes at the presentation of the 3d animations from the students of Indesor, the "Instituto de la Sordera": 2 per team, 3 teams will receive prizes out of 6, and each of the 12 students will get a diploma. I don't know yet how to assign the glasses (e.g. which pairs should serve as first, second and third, or which pairs for "best story", "best animations", "best scenery").

Ces deux-ci sont les chats endormis: l'un dans une fenêtre, l'autre sur la lune. Ils ne sont pas vraiment dans le thème Alice, mais je pense sufisemment mignons pour que les étudiants de l'institut les apprécie, et je me suis senti inspiré par ce nouveau type de verre avec une "fenêtre" ronde.

Those are the sleeping cats: one in a window, one on the moon. They are not really "Alice" related topics, but cute enough that I think the students from the institute will like them, and I was inspired by this new type of glass I found with a round "window" in it.

Ceux-ci sont les chapeliers fous. Les deux verres ont le même dessin (l'un un peu plus incliné que l'autre), parce que c'est mon personnage favori dans Alice.

Those are the mad hatters. Two glasses with the same drawing, one a bit more inclined than the other, because this is my favorite character from Alice.

En sus de mon deuxième personnage favori bien sur: le chat de Cheshire :) Ces deux-la sont gravés comme si regardant de l'intérieur du verre à travers d'une petite fenêtre, et leurs yeux vous suivent quand vous bougez le verre. Une fois encore la forme du verre se prète bien au jeu.

Along of course my other favorite character: the Cheshire cat :) They are etched as if showing out of the glass through a tiny window, and their eyes follow you when you move the glass. Once again the shape of the glass lends itself quite well to this.

Glass Etching Party

Saturday evening Kevin, Natalia and Marcela came to my apartment to dine, etch some glasses (and discuss the projects of the students of the course at the Institute for deaf people).

We etched some cats,

a Phoenix,

and a multicolored elf!