Ghost blogger !!

I’m quite used to it, on and off the blogger world. The title I’m back is not relevant anymore as I’m always out. So what were the updates?

Internet access.

I finally have it in the office! I have been waiting for it since I started working here. It’s not that I had no right to have it on my computer, it’s just that my boss always forget to make the demand. Oh by the way, the demand is just a simple email - #&%$*@ !!!

My home access is not yet connected – we had to change our phone number, then stop the old contract, send the modem, then renew the contract. No other way to make it simpler!

We’re finally settled.

Everything on place now, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room.. even the toilet! As we are receiving my in-laws this christmas, it’s imperative that we decorate our house. Every French child believes in père-nöel so we have to continue with the tradition!! Last Friday, we bought a real Christmas tree and decided to place it near the chimney, that way, santa will not be tired traversing the whole living room just to reach it. Just as we tried to fit the Christmas tree to the support, frenchguy accidentally cut his index finger, so we rushed to the emergency hospital near our place – our first domestic accident!

Urgences (Emergency)

It was my first time. Never been in a hospital eversince! Just to give you a glimpse of an emergency à la française: we rushed to the hospital right after I put some cotton on his finger (the solution you should not do when you have cuts!), we arrived there around 10pm. After the registration with the blood-imbibed cotton on his finger, we waited 2 long hours before they took charge of him. After a 5-min-long disinfection of a 6-stitches deep wound, he again waited around 30 min before they finally put the bandage! He was finally released at 1am! Yes, France have an urgent need to boost their hospital employees.

2nd Encounter

I don’t know what my belle Peugeot pawis-steering 106 has, but the thieves again tried to steal it! The first tentative was infront of the company (I had no designated parking yet at that time), the second one was last week, just infront of our newly-acquired almost-furnished house! – our first domestic security dilemma!

Christmas package

Not that bad. Each of the employees had a backpack (best for little hikes), a picnic kit complete with utensils, 2 bottles of wine (red and white), a jar of foie gras (duck liver pâté), and a jar of terrine de veau (beef pâté).

Winter Blues

It will be my 3rd winter this year but it still feels like my first time – and this time, a real pain! It’s been over a week now that Dijon is covered with a very dense fog and a temperature which is always lower than 0°C. Since now I’m obliged to take the car everyday, that translates to everyday war with my car! I just broke that little piece of plastic they use to grate off those snows/frost, so my last resort is to pour lukewarm water on my car everyday, anyway, it’s not snow anymore, it’s ice! A pain - and not the best solution of course.

Work tidbits

I thought there will be a rally in our company today. As usual, the workers want an incentive increase. I saw a communiqué late yesterday saying our hourly manufacturing cost is twice higher than the Americans, not talking about our Asian counterparts of course. The question is, how could we compete? Productivity yields and quality – they’re all comparable, the big difference is the cost! Will the français react intelligently on globalization one day and become more competitive?