Mar
16
The joy of moving to a new studio!
Filed Under Daily
Monday 14/03: The internet technician came early to setup my internet connection.
Tuesday 15/03:
I moved into my new studio. It was a big day!
My credit card didn’t work and I had to give an ID card and signed some papers to allow the hotel to withdraw from my credit account, quite unexpected and embarrassing! I’ve spent too much and reached my limits. The electrician came and fired it up for me and there was the light in this dark and cold place! Then came the guy who was doing the formal checkup of the place in case i burn it down to ashes. Then came the TV. Joy oh Joy! my big fancy toy.
I slept on the floor and I forgot to buy a blanket. So I slept with all my clothes all over me. It was cold!
Internet is down for some reason but I can connect to a Freebox and use Wifi through their system. A bit slow but better than nothing.
Wednesday 16/03
I bought few more stuffs for the empty studio.
Mar
13
Cannot wait to move in!
Filed Under Daily
Friday 11/03/2011: I found the main water tap in the hallway and I could finally get water to flush the toilet full of shit and piss. It almost made puke! Horrible experience! Someone broke the lock of my mail box so I could check my own mail. I threw away everything from the previous owner.
Saturday-Sunday:
I’ve spent my weekend cleaning the studio. Lots of dirty work but I am happy. The place is clean. As soon as I get electricity, I’ll go deeper into dirty hidden corners.
I bought a desk (39 €), a TV (500 €),an elevated desk (322 €) and a mattress (79€). The desk should go under the elevated bed. I also bought tons of cleaning stuff and few tools.
I am extremely well located. Everything is around the corner or easily accessible by tram. Maybe it was worth the pain and the wait after all. A technician is coming Tuesday to connect the electricity to the studio. If all goes as planned I should get connected to the internet next Wednesday. The bed should arrive next Saturday. Then I’ll be settled. I am sore from carrying the desk I had to build. Next week it will be my bed’s turn.
I guess I’ll have to stick around a bit.
Mar
9
Finally after a long week and half of struggling, I am holding the keys of my studio in my hands. Yea Yea Yea! For the handful of people who might be interested in my life and who are wondering about my departure after a week of work, I can say today that I might stay a bit longer. Few things contributed to this longer stay:
1. The company paying me is based in Paris.
2. The leader responsible for this project/work is in Grenoble
3. After my first week, the project leader was … on vacation.
It is like 2 full weeks of adaptation with no stress. HAHA!
I will stay in this hotel until Sunday at least since I have no electricity or internet yet in my studio. A technician will come Tuesday (15/02/2011) to setup the electricity. I will try to change the internet setup to Tuesday as well. The city was full of students who came back after vacation. It was very lively compared to last week. I kinda of enjoyed it more.
I don’t really want to waste time writing about people I work with since I always made mistakes. It’s better to wait a bit to know them better. Also people tend to hide their dark sides at first when they don’t know you. I get along with the ones in my room. The other room is trying to kiss ass too much to my taste.
But seriously I do not really care right now: 6 months salary and then maybe I’ll stay or I’ll go …. we shall see! My eye is fine now and I am happy. I still need to see an optician nevertheless. I think my eye vision has changed.
Mar
5
First Busy Week in Grenoble!
Filed Under Daily
Sunday 27/02/2011:
13:30 Train iDTGV Paris-Grenoble. First class 54 Euros
16:30 Grenoble train station
18:00 Checkin into Kyriad Hotel at 18:00, 65-79 Euros per night. I lost an hour looking around. It was heavy to carry the luggage.
Problem: My left eye was red and started to irritate.
Monday 28/02/2011:
9:00 am: I met my new teammates and the person responsible for the project in this site. They are all alright compared to the crazy ones I’ve had before.
Monday-Wednesday:
I had to look for a room in a very short time since they only offered to pay my first week’s hotel. The eye infection had me worried. It wasn’t easy but I managed to find few hours to insert into a busy schedule to look for a room.
Wednesday 02/03/2011:
15:00 I left work early to visit some studios in the city. I found a studio I liked. The only bad thing was the weird smell, some kind of chinese’s food smell I reckon. I need to get rid of it after I move in.
Thursday 03/03/2011:
The annoying paperwork required for the room and the eye infection made my week hell on Earth. My left eye was in a very bad condition during the night.
Friday 04/03/2011:
16:00 My dad could get the confirmation from his work that he won’t be fired and sent it to me by email. Since he was on sick leave we could not provide the last 3 month salaries.
17:45 I was in the emergency room at Grenoble’s hospital to check my eye. It was too late nevertheless the interns were kind enough to look at my eye after I explained to them my problem. They gave me a prescription with some antibiotics.
AND everything was miraculously solved by the end of the day!
Saturday 05/03/2011:
10:00 Tour of Grenoble’s Center: Saturday morning market, Supermarket, etc…
12:30: I went to a Chinese’s restaurant for lunch It wasn’t good but since I was hungry I wasn’t to picky.
14:00: I managed to get an internet provider, Numericable. They will come next Wednesday between 17-18 hours to set up the connection. I will have a fiber optic connection (100 Mbit/sec hopefully). I really cannot live without internet and, of course, I want the fastest speed available.
15:00 I was annoyed by an insisting young beggar. He tried to get some money when I was trying to buy a tram’s ticket. I didn’t appreciate when he tried to cancel my order by pushing the button. Stupid kid!
Conclusion:
I kept my expectations very low this time and only focused on my goals. Grenoble isn’t that great compared to what I’ve seen. I need more time of course to check everything out. My room is right in the center of the city so I will have plenty of time to explore the city. At least I have access to all public transportation and I won’t need a car I think. All in all, I’d say it wasn’t that bad for a beginning. I do not look further than the next morning at the moment and just go along with whatever. The job isn’t bad. It consists of working on technical documentation in general: user guides mainly.
Feb
18
Technical writer for Schneider elec. (automate or device user guides written in english) …yea it sounds rather boring! That was what my sister said but who knows it might be less creepy than the previous one I had.
Company: Takoma (kind of a SSII, that works for Schneider electric)
salary: 30 k
starting date: Feb 28 2011
Location: Grenoble (meylan)
….I shall see.
Dec
2
What the fuck!
Filed Under Daily
I have noticed weird changes the last few months in my MSN and my Yahoo accounts. It took me few minutes to figure how to tun off all the social stuffs that were implemented without my agreement. I am not paranoid but I do not like the fact that programs or websites automatically set my privacy level.
Nov
24
Yesterday, my dad came home. It has been a long and painful experience but at least it is over. Let’s move on!
Nov
17
My dad’s recovery
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It has been 17 days since my dad’s surgery. He was transfered back to a normal hospital for a regular post-surgery surveillance. He walked, talked and was very clear. His voice was still broken and very weak. We do not know exactly why since other patients’ voices are fine. Maybe he shouted or it was a consequence of the tubes that hurt his throat.
His strong obsession with going home created some confusing situations. He is waiting for a transfer to a special institute. He will to be there for 2 weeks and will be able to practice exercises and learn how to take care of himself.
Nov
8
A bit of hope!
Filed Under Daily
I couldn’t write much since very alarming events occured in such a short time and they generated a long and painful wait. So here is the summary of the events:
28/10/2010: My dad was admitted to the hospital following his heart stroke around 4:30 pm. I only received a message from my brother around 10 pm saying my sister and my mother were at the hospital and my dad had an infartus. He would undergo surgery. My sister and my mother came home and confirmed the gravity of the event around midnight.
29/10/2010: My sister called his company and we were waiting for medical analysis. We thought the operation would take place anytime
30/10/2010: We all went to see my dad who was recuperating and the doctors were waiting for more medical analysis.
31/10/2010: Around 5 pm, I received news from my sister saying doctors have discovered another problem. My dad had a rupture of the aorta consequently to his infartus. He must undergo surgery as soon as possible. That will finally happen on Monday morning.
01/11/2010: The operation started at 9:45 am and ended around 15:45. We were told nothing unexpected happened and that we needed to wait for 48 hours before we could see him. He was admitted to an emergency room and was under intense care 48 hours.
From 01/10/2010 to 05/11/2010: He was in the coma and they tried to wake him up every day after 48 hours. He was unconscious and very agitated every time they tried so they kept him under artificial coma. They tried a new drug on Thursday. The situation was complicated because they wanted him back to reality and they wanted to take away the machines that helped him to breath.
05/11/2010: He finally woke up but he was extremely weak. He could not really follow directions with his eyes that were barely opened.
06/11/2010: We went to see him on Saturday and he was recuperating very well. He was fully awake and could move. The nurses said he was on a good path to recovery. He could not speak clearly when he tried.
07/11/2010: My sister is confident about his condition.
Oct
28
00:10 ON 29/10/2010
Filed Under Daily
My sister just left the house with alarming news about my father. He was admited to the hospital after a heart stroke. His condition is serious but stable. He will undergo an open heart surgery operation. Some tissues are damaged and need to be replaced.
I do not know what to say. I see my mother and my dad smoking everyday. They simply enjoy life but they hurt themselves badly doing so. My sister, myself and my brother were never involved in these things.
How can you tell someone to stop doing things that millions of us do? Each of us seems to have a personnal answer to our lifestyle.
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