There is a long way to go, just starting, before I complete my master thesis. I have 9-10 months to go, and have to write between 100 and 150 pages work. Will need to read about 1500 pages, and interview 16 people, write 4 monographies... get it all linking together, interpret the data and edit the whole thing. Sounds like a piece of cake, but to me sound like a long road. Just like this one:

Source of image, created by kaddy

Images, Дипломна работа | коментирайте

It is just too funny : the more time you spend in academia life, the less you are able to say what you REALLY do... happens to me already.

PHD Comics

Life, universe and everything, Images, UQAM | post a comment

A few months ago, back from Ottawa, I published an image from the Inuktikut stop sign (see here). And then, waling in the small streets of the old part of Quebec city (see below), I saw the sign A-R-T (see further below). Nicely done.

La rue Tourelle, freshly painted :

Rue Tourelle, Québec

And the stop sign, freshly remade:

Stop sign, rue Tourelle, Québec

I adore Quebec, it is a city worth seing.

Made in Canada, Images, Travel | post a comment

Just found the right quote on the Quotations Page :

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

— Samuel Beckett, "Worstward Ho", 1983
an Irish author, dramatist, & novelist in France (1906 - 1989)

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For some unknown reason, Czech Airlines (CSA) have stopped their flights to Montreal (Canada). This is weird and they do not give any explanation - I looked everywhere on their website, wrote to them personally. The only response I get is "We are sorry to give you this news. Thank you for your understanding".

I am really astonished because these flights were always full. A few years ago it was one flight per week, but because of the demand, they added another one. So, it is really weird that they suddenly stopped offering it.

I have used CSA to travel to most of my destinations, including Bangkok and multiple times Montreal. It was the most reliable and nicest service, the best plane food (if such exists), the least waiting tha the aiport. It was missing this hypocrisy of the big companies (such as AirFrance, AirCanada, Lufthansa).

And the transit airport is great! Waiting there for 5 hours is really nothing: there is a calm baby room with bed and place for changing diapers, there are multiple seats (missing in Paris Charles de Gaule), there are restaurants, but also small local shops... and it all reminds me Prague... And if you have more hours, you can certainly make yourself a day trip in Prague. Beautiful!

So, here is my hypothesis: since CSA is in partnership with mastodons such as Air France, KLM and others, the so called Sky Team, they have pressured them to stop their flights. In this way they will have a monopole of the YUL (Montreal) destination.

And indeed: to buy a ticket to some destination in Europe ritght now, there are the following possibilities (compare with the 660 Euros of CSA):

 Air France - 920 Euros
 KLM - 1030 Euros
 Lufthansa - 911 Euros.

When Lufthansa and Air France flight become the cheapest opportunities, we need to get worried!!!

Made in Canada, Globalisation | post a comment

I just had a course in Social Neworks Studies, which presented people as vertex and their relations as links between them. We had to make ego-centric analysis of three people around us, which ended nowhere, but in the end it was fun to do.

I liked the course, since it helped me understand how much one can learn from just looking at relationships between people, projects, events, etc.. For exemple, how much you can conclude from knowing who communicates with whom and how often, without really knowing the contents of the messages...

But apart from this, it also helped me understand this comics, posted on xkcd.com a few weeks ago:

... with the following text: Check it out; I’ve had sex with someone who’s had sex with someone who’s written a paper with Paul Erdős!

Life, universe and everything, Images | post a comment

Now that I have the chance to travel more often for fun and much less often for work, I make the difference.

From one side, I am missing a bit the dynamics of the travel adventure, the switch from the everyday life to the plain, for landing on the other side of the planet just in a few hours. I am missing the mobilisation before, the preparation of my hand luggage, which will contain all my life necessities for the next few days. At the same time, there are two inconveniences: 1) I often used to travel solo, which made me more self-entertaining person and 2) I would go to another world, full of discoveries, but would stay for a couple of days, often not having even a few hours for looking around.

So, I am asking myself: is this what I really want, is this what I really enjoy? 7 days in Sri Lanka (exceptional length), 5 days in Brazil, 6 days in Tunis, 7 days in Niger, 5 days in Los Angeles... to get to the 3-days trips (usually from Thursday to Sunday, which also kills your weekend). And finally, to the 1 and 2-days trips, which would be arrival somewhere in the morning, straight to the conference, food, sleep, conference, trip back. What and enjoyment! What a consumership! What a pollution! My longest journey was in Prague, in 2001, for two weeks. It was, obviously the most enjoyable one.

Rather than these last months, when for one or for another reason (1 is the birth of my baby, and 2 is the change of my lifestyle, work intensivity and country of residence) I had to drop the travel for work from my agenda, I am experiencing a new phenomenon: travel for fun.

What is the difference? Travel for fun is much more rare, but longer usually. More planning, less stress, more sight-seeing and choice for destination and activities. Travel for fun includes some favourite people joining you, include visiting friends at the place of destination... hmm.. Do I need to feel sorry for this change or just the opposite? I have been in the past year to:

1. Bulgaria - 1 month
2. Cuba - 1 week
3. Quebec city - 3-4 days
4. New York - 4 days
5. Mont Tremblant - 3 days and
6. every weekend out of the city.

I am planning:
 a trip to Ottawa/Niagara/Toronto
 a week in Quebec (for study and pleasure)
 a month in Bulgaria and Germany
 a trip in a tent and bikes...

Some people might find it minimum, but I know there are others who never get out of their town or village. So, let’s not be maximalists. My daugher of 14 months has already visited 5 coutries. Are there many adults who can say the same?

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