Ismael Chang Ghalimi

Posts from May 2006

Posted
31 May 2006 @ 6pm

Tagged
Work

Negotiations

Some days are more intense than others, and today must rank at the extreme of the intensity scale. I spent it negotiating with a stubborn entrepreneur advised by an incompetent lawyer for acquiring the rights on a piece of software that will be embedded into Intalio’s products. After six hours of non-stop negotiations, we finally reached an agreement and signed contracts. Having worked in the US for about seven years now, my negotiation style must be different from what is practiced in France, and I must say that the experience was quite painful. Nevertheless, I got what I wanted, the job was done, and the deal was so good that I could not feel any sign of buyer’s remorse. I just wish I won’t have to deal with the same people ever again. My lawyer was excellent though, and I look forward to working with him in the future. Time to catch my train to London now.

Posted
30 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Gastronomy

Les Éditeurs

I am a man of habits, and as such I like to always return to the same restaurant or hotel when I find one I like. For example, one of my prefered places to hangout in Paris is Les Éditeurs, a restaurant where I usually get a steak tartare slightly pan roasted, and a pint of Grimbergen. Today was no exception when I met Agnès, Gweltas and Nassim there. Agnès and Nassim are both lawyers, and I got to learn more about the French judicial system. Gweltas is having fun consulting for governments around the world, helping them regulate their respective telecommunications markets. Algeria, Centrafrique and Croatia in three months. Not bad…

Posted
29 May 2006 @ 5pm

Tagged
Flying

Pilatus PC-21

I am in Geneva today, visting Skyguide, the provider of civil and military air navigation services in Switzerland and one of Intalio’s customers. On the way there, I got to learn more about the Pilatus PC-21, a single-turboprop, low swept-wing monoplane advanced trainer with a stepped tandem cockpit manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. I think I found my dream plane! Before meeting my customer, I had lunch at Arnaud’s and met his wife, who is expecting in two weeks. I wish them both the best for the imminent birth.

Posted
28 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Road

Algeria

My father was born in Algeria. The last time I went there was in 1988, a year before the civil war started. My father went there once more in the early 90’s, when his mother suffered a slight stroke. Since then, she recovered, but my father never found the strenght to return, unwilling to see his country ravaged by corruption, crime, and war. A couple of months ago, he and my mother decided that time had come for them to make another trip there, and they spent the last couple of weeks visting friends and family. I got to see the pictures today, which convinced me that I should present May to her grandmother-in-law.

Posted
27 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Listening, Road

La Rochelle

My parents, my sister Sarah and I went to La Rochelle for Armelle’s birthday party today. She turned 30 and invited about 50 friends and family members for a dinner featuring a flamenco band. I stayed at the Hotel Mercure, which is perfectly located on the old harbour’s outer dock, near the new aquarium. Highly recommended. I also got to add a couple hundred miles to my logbook of stick shift driving experience. Happy birthday Armelle!

Posted
26 May 2006 @ 8am

Tagged
Gastronomy, Road

Nantes

Whenever I travel to Europe, I try to make a stop in Nantes, the city where I was born and raised, and where my parents still live today — technically, they live in Orvault, which is part of Nantes’ metropolitan area, but it’s close enough. These trips gives me the opportunity of witnessing the city’s evolution, at quarterly intervals. Because Nantes is one of France’s fastest growing cities, it is attracting a host of low-fare airlines, which makes it a cheaper hub than Paris for European traveling. And let’s be honest, nothing beats mom’s food…

Posted
25 May 2006 @ 8am

Tagged
Road

Tumi

May likes to make fun of me because of my unconditional love for some brands, among them Apple and Oakley, but we share one brand in common: Tumi. Being on the road today, I got to appreciate the value of having the right piece of luggage for the mission, in this particular instance a Generation 4.4 Briefs Expandable Organizer Computer Brief wrapped around the telescopic handle of a Generation 4 Lightweight International Carry-On. The former is perfect for carrying a computer and some traveling accessories, while the later nicely fits into overhead bins and lets you pack suits and shirts without getting them too wrinkled. Both were offered to me by Quang, May’s mother, for no particular occasion. Thank you Quang, your gift is making my traveling a much more enjoyable experience!

Posted
24 May 2006 @ 10pm

Tagged
Flying

Crossing the Atlantic

I am somewhere over the Atlantic, between Canada and Greenland, looking at the moving map that shows the position of the airplane relative to the ground. The more I know about flying, the more I would like to make such a trip as pilot in command. When flying a single engine aircraft, the risk of an engine failure in flight is not to be underestimated, but wearing a dry suit and carrying a raft, a portable GPS and a radio can increase your chances of survival significantly. Pilots ferrying planes across the Atlantic do that all the time, and they tend to live as long as anyone else on average, so I think I will give it a try one day.

Posted
23 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Flying

The Thrill of the Approach on Final

When training for an instrument rating, most of the flying is done under the hood. The student wears a view-limiting device that restricts the view to the instruments. Because of spatial and vestibular disorientation, motion sickness is experienced much faster than during VFR flight, making long flights under actual or simulated IFR conditions fairly challenging experiences. Today was no different, and after 1.6 hours under the hood, I felt that I was ready to get some rest. But when I was stabilized on final and Eliot asked me to remove the hood, the magic of seeing the runway lights blinking in the dark just in front of me made it worth all the efforts. Thrilling!

Posted
22 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Gastronomy

Lavanda

Tonight, I joined a group of executives working for Open Source software companies for a dinner at Lavanda in Palo Alto. I had been there a couple of years ago, but did not remember how good the food was. After Tamarine, this restaurant made it to the top of my list for dining on University Avenue.

Posted
21 May 2006 @ 7pm

Tagged
Sports

Bay to Breakers

San Francisco is a city well known for its excentricities, and it’s never more apparent than during Bay to Breakers, a race for which tens of thousands of participants run from the Bay to the breaking waves of the Pacific wearing colorful costumes or Eve’s outfit. For the past two years, I found myself flying back from Europe on the day of the event (third Sunday of May), and could not participate. Never two without three, and this year would have been the same, should I have not decided to postpone my business trip. So today, May and I joined a crew of a dozen, painted ourselves in gold and wore purple capes so that we would look like some kind of aliens. We also made sure to carry loads of beer in baby strollers, and to leave a barbecue set in a car parked along the way. What a blast! I cannot wait for next year’s race.

Posted
20 May 2006 @ 11am

Tagged
Home

Mojizu

A couple of days ago, I discovered Mojizu, a contemporary character design community. I sent the link to May, and she could not stop laughing. One of my prefered characters is Galatex, designed by zauker. The artist’s style reminds me of designs by Apollo, a now-defunct Italian fashion brand. Interestingly enough, zauker is from Italy as well. Coincidence?

Posted
19 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Flying

Channel 9

On the way back from Orlando on a United Airlines flight, I tuned to Channel 9 and listened to the conversations between pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC) all the way back home. It’s amazing how much you can learn about flying by just listening to this chatter. After a while, your mind starts building a three dimensional picture of the sky, and you get a very good idea of what’s going on with the flight you’re on. I wonder why other airlines are not offering a similar service. That being said, a couple of years ago Microsoft named one of its community websites (channel9.msdn.com) after United’s channel.

Posted
18 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Diving, Gastronomy, Work

Surf and Turf

I was supposed to attend a Sheryl Crow concert organized for SAPPHIRE tonight, but a customer flew from New York to Orlando just to meet me, so I decided to take him for dinner instead. We got treated to some excellent lobster and steak (surf & turf) at McCormick & Schmicks, and exchanged stories about scuba diving. Gilles, next time you’re in the Bay Area, let’s make sure that we organize a diving trip to Monterey and get you certified for NITROX diving. Many thanks for having made the trip, it was a real pleasure meeting you!

Posted
17 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Flying, Gastronomy

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

Tonight, I was invited for dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House by SAP Ventures, one of Intalio’s investors. The steak was cooked to perfection. I met Dan, an executive working for another SAP Ventures portfolio company and a passionate helicopter pilot. This gave me the opportunity of learning more about the piloting of rotary-wing aircraft. The requirements for staying current seem to be much more significant than for fixed-wing aircraft, so I guess I’ll stick to airplanes for the time being.

Posted
16 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Road

Rainy Florida

When you think Florida, the first picture that comes to your mind usually shows a sandy beach and a bright sun, isn’t it? Well, I’m in Orlando for SAPPHIRE 2006 today, and the picture I get in front my eyes does not have much sand nor sun in it. So much for the idea of renting a motorcycle for a ride. Oh well…

Posted
15 May 2006 @ 1pm

Tagged
Flying

Fast Moving Clouds

When preparing for a flight, I always take a look at a real-time satellite picture of the flight area, using the excellent Weather Underground service. Today, my friend Michael and I did exactly that, and we saw that the coast was covered by low altitude clouds, making a flight to Half Moon Bay (KHAF) impossible in VFR conditions. As we cruised along 101 toward San Francisco, we realized that the cloud layer was also covering the northern part of the city, so we decided to fly back to San Carlos (KSQL) right away. This made for one of the shortest Bay tours I ever did, but also one of the busiest on the radio, with all four runways being used at San Francisco International (KSFO). We met at the airport at noon, landed back in San Carlos around 1:10PM, had a quick lunch at the Ski Kitchen restaurant, and I was back at my desk fives minutes before 2PM. Perfect!

Posted
14 May 2006 @ 10pm

Tagged
Flying

French Pilot Connection

Today, I met with Matthieu Laban, another French pilot living in the Bay Area. Matthieu flies out of Palo Alto (KPAO) on Piper PA-28 161 and is the author of a very cool Flight Simulator for Microsoft Windows. I am very much looking forward to our first flight together.

Posted
13 May 2006 @ 11pm

Tagged
Flying

Angwin-Parrett

Today, my friend Daniel and I flew to Angwin-Parrett Field Airport (K2O3) on the N21591 Cessna Skyhawk 172SP. San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) did not allow any Bravo transitions because of the KFOG KaBoom fireworks, so we flew through Sunol. The runway at Angwin-Parrett is perched on a hill and is surrounded by trees, which makes landing there a very memorable experience. On the way back, we transitioned over the Oakland International Airport (KOAK) and the landing back in San Carlos (KSQL) was made interesting by some of the gustiest crosswinds I have had to experience so far. We logged 2 hours of flying, then headed back home for a barbecue with friends. Awesome day!

Posted
12 May 2006 @ 6pm

Tagged
Home

Sudoku

May has recently developed an addiction to Sudoku. Everywhere we go, she keeps looking for newspapers that have instances of the deceivingly simple yet highly addictive game. Yesterday, things got worse as she started playing online versions of the game, such as Web Sudoku. Hopefully, this fad won’t last and her short attention span will lead her to more creative endeavors.