Aujourd’hui, tu nous as quitté, et un grand vide s’est créé dans nos coeurs.
Tes leçons de vie étaient simples. Respecter le travail du mineur, comprendre le sens de la retraite, découvrir une certain forme d’amour. Notre famille s’est agrandie au fil de tes voyages, et ta maison était la plus grande de toutes.
Respet. Générosité. Amour.
Aujourd’hui, tu es avec nous pour toujours, et nos coeurs sont pleins de joie.
With recent deliveries from Santa Claus, my little collection of Star Wars LEGO sets is shaping up nicely. It’s far from being complete, but I managed to get my hands on most of the Ultimate Collector’s Series sets that are still available for purchase from the LEGO store. Here is my current inventory:
Here are the available sets that I still need to acquire:
And finally, the sets that are discontinued:
These will have to be bought from BrickLink. Sealed boxes only!
My brother Nassim and I spent most of our childhood playing LEGO together. Our favorite theme was space exploration, and we built all kinds of space crafts, spending an extraordinary amount of time fine tuning their lights, lasers, and cockpits. Over the past couple of years, May and I built a fair amount of sets from the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, including the Death Star II and the Republic Star Destroyer, which have 3,417 and 3,104 pieces respectively. During the Christmas break, I hope we’ll get to build the Millennium Falcon, which tops the charts with 5,195 pieces. But the penultimate Star Wars LEGO set ever built is the Republic Star Destroyer, which was put together as a one-of-a-kind model by Lego Master Builder Erik Varszegi two years ago. This model is truly massive, counts over 35,000 pieces, and required a custom-built steel frame mounted on wheels so that it could be moved around. A high-resolution picture is available here, and many detailed pictures are served there. Over the past couple of weeks, I have studied these pictures extensively, and came to the conclusion that I might be able to put together a same-scale replica. I recently ordered the first 15,000 pieces from BrickLink, and built a custom application using Salesforce.com to manage my inventory. I give myself a year to complete this project, and will post pictures on this site tracking my progress. Wish me luck!
The conference is over, now I’m back on track, with time to blog. The discipline required for daily posts is beyond what I am capable of at this point, so I will experiment with a totally random posting schedule. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Tonight, May went to bed early after a long day at home, and I took care of our little snow flake. For the first time, she fell asleep in my arms, and I managed to put her to bed without waking her up. After half an hour of sleep, she would start complaining, I would hold her in my arms, and she would fall asleep again. We performed the same ritual a couple more times, until she fell asleep for good. Feeling her head resting on my shoulders and her little hands grabbing on my sleeves then slowly letting go must be one of the most amazing feelings a father can be blessed with. Unconditional love rewarded by unconditional trust. Double happiness.
Today, I am trying to catch up with blogging, while taking care of our little flake. Fortunately, one of our friends gave us one of these wonderful BabyBjörn baby carriers, and I am typing at the computer while Neige is sleeping, tightly tucked against my belly. Awesome!
Update: I managed to find some time for another ride today, and completed the loop through Pagemill Road, Moody Road, and Foothil Expressway. The climb on Alpine Road was pretty tough, but I managed to complete it without one stop. 29.5 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Time for sleep now…
May, Neige, and I came back home from the hospital yesterday around lunch time, and we’re getting used to our new lives together. May and I took turns at feeding our little snow flakes last night, and started giving her some formula in order to make sure that her weight does not drop too much. Earlier today, I also found the energy to drag myself to the gym, and complete my usual rountine: 30 minutes of weight lifting, and 30 minutes of biking. I do not think that I will manage to get to 21 mph as I had wished last week though, and I think I will move this goal to next week, when things should have settled a bit. Holding on to my daily exercise routine should be plenty enough.
Oui tu es le bonheur,
Le morceau de beurre,
Qui rend la vie si délicieuse.
(Ouvrir mon coeur, ouvrir ton coeur)
Excuse-moi, j’ai tant résisté,
Notre miroir m’a tant appeuré.
Là ton coeur.
C’est toi qui lui donne son goût profond.
(Ouvrir mon coeur, ouvrir ton coeur)
La peur me quitte, je peux me livrer,
Je peux sentir et enfin t’aimer.
Là ta bouche.
La chaleur monte dans l’abdomen,
Tu l’alimentes et le feu se réveille.
J’étais de glace dans la glace,
Complètement à la masse.
Le feu crépite, il a trouvé les os.
Les flammes s’agitent, elles me redonnent la force.
Ta chaleur grandissante
M’a fait fondre, me délivre.
Double Rocker
Lyrics and music by Stereolab
I love you May.
We’re now less than two weeks away from the expected delivery of our little pea in the pod. The house has been cleaned, and all possible accessories received as gifts or bought from what could be the only stores on Earth that cater to the needs of customers who cannot actually buy anything. We’re ready for a big change in our lives, and very much looking forward to it.
Yesterday, May and I attended Holger’s birthday party, during which Holger and Sasha announced their engagement. We also learned that Holger had proposed on New Year’s Eve in Germany. I had previously made the bet that Holger and Sasha would get engaged before the end of 2006, and Dave smartly pointed out that because of the 9 hours time difference with California, I technically won the bet. So here we are: this engagement gives me double happiness, and I wish our two friends a very happy life together.
Today, May and I attended a baby shower organized for our little garbanzo bean. The party was organized by Kim, Daniel, Ellen, and Dave. May and I got to demonstrate our masterful abilities to change diapers while being blindfolded and using only one hand, and our friends litterally showered us with gifts that barely fit in our car on the way back home. At this point, I am very worried that this first kid will be totally spoiled by friends and family. In any case, thank you guys and girls for this great party: coed baby showers seem to be a lot more fun than their women-only counterparts…
Today, I started a new diet and workout program. On the gastronomic side, less red meat, less saturated fat, less sugar. On the aerobic side, daily workout sessions from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM at the Form fitness center in Palo Alto, CA. I will put together a simple online database to track my progress.
According to my father, the interactions May and I are having with our little pea-in-the-pod through touch and sound have been theorized into a science called haptonomy, which was originally developed by Frans Veldman. I have no way of telling wether Veldman’s work has any merit from a scientif standpoint, but I can already report that singing Stereolab tunes when the music is playing in the background seems to trigger quite a bit of foetal activity. The exceptional BBC Radio One Sessions recorded between 1991 and 2001 with John Peele (R.I.P.) are topping the charts currently, trailed by Idir’s A Vava Inouva.
May got me the Y-wing Attack Starfighter (Ref. 10134, 1,473 pieces) for Christmas, and we decided to build it today. This is the fourth addition to our growing collection, which will be on permanent display in my office, for we have no room available at home. After some online research, I found some discontinued models that we might try to acquire: Rebel Blockade Runner (Ref. 10019, 1,748 pieces), TIE Interceptor (Ref. 7181, 703 pieces), X-wing Fighter (Ref. 7191, 1,304 pieces), and the Snowspeeder (Ref. 10129, 1,457 pieces) previously mentioned. We will remain busy for quite some time I guess…
Nicole and I managed to convince the Changs that we should open presents on Christmas Eve, so here they come. Emily, as newest addition to the family, and only grandchild, got spoiled by everybody. It’s too bad really, for she cannot appreciate it yet, but that’s the way these things go I guess. Ducky got all of us some cool WESC clothes, and May got me yet another Star Wars LEGO set. Last year, I spent half a day in one of Tokyo’s busiest shopping areas looking for the perfect pendant for May and finally bought one, only to find out later on that she did not really like it, so we eventually returned it. This year, I got a little bit smarter and decided that we should look for it together. We could not find anything in the malls we visited, so we opted to buy one online. We also spent quite a bit of time looking for this cool Black & Decker power scissors, but they were out of stock in every store we visited, so we’ll have to go the online way as well. Before we opened the presents, we played a game of poker, which gave me an opportunity to learn Texas Hold ‘Em. Merry Christmas everybody!
Today, we celebrated the retirement of Ning-Ming, May’s father. He worked for Citi as a software engineer for over thirty years. Early on in his career, he was part of the team that developed the very first ATM. While we were partying, I had some thoughts for Josette, my mom, who also retired this year. She worked as an orthophonist, helping kids with learning disabilities. Her patience with children was legendary, and this must have helped her raise my borther and I, for we were not the easiest kids on the block. Josette, Ning-Ming, congratulations for your well-deserved retirements. May and I wish you the best for this next step in your lives. The best has yet to come.
As mentioned in this previous post, I love playing LEGO. A couple of months ago, May and I built the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyers (Ref. 10030, 3,104 pieces). We had so much fun building it that May recently bought Vader’s TIE Advanced (Ref. 10175, 1,212 pieces) and the Imperial AT-ST (Ref. 10174, 1,068 pieces). May picks the pieces up, and I do the assembly. Next, we might get the Death Star II (Ref. 10143, 3417 pieces), or try to get our hands on the now discontinued Snowspeeder (Ref. 10129, 1,457 pieces). And we are eagerly waiting for the rumored release of the collector series Millenium Falcon.
I am back home from a three-day trip to Europe for work. May and I are expecting ish+may 2.0 to be released sometime in February, so no more travels until then. Technical specifications are still being defined as I write these lines, but the model is believed to be of the XX kind. Let’s wait until delivery though, for the manufacturer might make some last minute design changes.
Today, I attended the wedding of Ann Marie and Alex. When the newlywed couple stepped out of Ss. Peter and Paul Church, they got greeted by hundreds of San Franciscans dressed as Santa Claus, as shown on this picture. These folks were part of Santarchy, a cheerful parade started twelve years ago, and the meeting was purely coincidental. It made for a great omen though. The following party was held at the Westin St. Francis, where the food was oustanding. I especially enjoyed the seared fois gras served as appetizer. Ann Marie and Alex: May and I wish you the best for your life together.
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