A while ago I was quite impressed with the occasion, provided by Google Maps, to see inside what would otherwise be a closed society such as North Korea.

I mean, it's practically another universe!

So with all of the news about Burma recently, I decided to do some searching. Lo and behold, Google has rolled out another great feature to satisfy the endless itch for knowledge. Try visiting http://maps.google.com and typing "Aung San Suu Kyi, rangoon". Before you know it, you are presented with a number of "user-created" digital thumbtacks indicating the residence (and current place of detainment) of the Nobel Peace Prize winning activist and several other important places in her personal history.

This user-created map shows the various temples that have been mentioned in the conflict.

Is this merely a very effective "TK" (time-kill) mechanism, as my boss likes to say? Or could the addition of this new, interactive, and collaborative perspective enable an increased understanding and, potentially, increased empathy with those suffering far from our comfortable homes?

Living in (or, at least, being a citizen of) a socialist country comes with perks. Like a surprisingly progressive and resource rich public broadcaster.

I continue to be impressed by the online offerings coming out of Radio 3 - they often seem to be better versions of some of the dot-com bumps that came and went in the early days of online streaming. Occasionally (ok, too often) I have "great ideas" for online music projects, only to discover that it's available already, for free, sponsored by my tax dollars. Worse is knowing that the hipster Cegep kids all probably knew about it way before me.

Today and yesterday I have been listening to user playlists at CBC Radio 3. If you like pre-filtered independent Canadian music, I encourage you to start with this one:

http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/walky/

Work things have stabilized a bit. When I spoke to my boss, I decided to take a direct approach and just say "this is what I intend to do". That seems to be the only way to do things in this company, and so far it pretty much seems to work. Occasionally people just don't respond, which means "I don't like that, but I'm afraid to say so". The good news is that it's not my job to interpret awkward silences (at least, I haven't seen that mentioned in a press release on the company website yet) so I still get what I want in those cases.

In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty easy to do this in a consulting gig, because I know exactly what I get billed at, I know all my own expenses (hotels, apartments, salary, flights, food, etc) so I just have to make sure that my cost stays on the right side of my revenue and it's not worth it for them to argue.

Of course, I also have to make sure that my behavior and work contribute to bringing in more work, and have a positive impact on client relationships. Fortunately, that's easy for me - I do work hard, I do work well, and I think I get along pretty well with most people who aren't entirely sociopathic.

Case in point: on Friday our "boss" from the client asked our plans for the weekend and I mentioned a bike ride. He immediately suggested going with me and showing me around. We had a great (if less than intensive) 65km ride including two very nice hills.

Sunday I went out for a ride on my own and did 75km - I had hoped to be good for 80 or even 100 but I guess that would have been unrealistic. And to be fair, it was actually my ass (and being hungry after a too light breakfast) that kept me from going on - my haphazard running, biking, and skiing over this winter seems to have helped sustain the lungs/heart/muscles.

I think next weekend I could pull off 100+.

Digressing a bit from the point about work, but it's actually really hard to do a long road ride in Norway, for the simple fact of a lack of roads. In most directions you run out of asphalt after 20km. Autoroutes seem to be the main connection (besides dirt roads and trains) between region. I have even asked at the big bike shops (where they sell $6000 road bikes), as well as a couple of cyclists riding $2500+ bikes, and none of them could give me good suggestions. What's the POINT of such bikes if you can't ride them anywhere?

But what they lack in long they make up for in steep. On Saturday one of the hills we climbed was "Holmenkollen" - site of the 1994 Winter Olympics (or, at least, the ski jump, which is still there and still impressive). The Holmenkollen climb is about 6km long with several quite steep sections. I did it again today, twice, and it took 23 and 25 minutes to climb. This is very nice after the boring flatness of Amsterdam.

Back to work: I will go home for two weeks (16 nights) on the 18th of May. A will visit Oslo for two weeks in June (on the company, part of the deal) and then I will return to Montreal, with no or minimal travel in July and August. If I decide to keep the job through the winter I will spend September and November in Norway, with a month in between in Montreal. 2008 remains to be seen, depending on how A's thesis shapes up (whether her physical presence in Montreal is required).

And of course, it remains to be seen if I will keep the job. The living apart is definitely taking its toll on my relationship with A, but at the same time this job pays a good 20 to 40 percent above what I could expect to earn staying in Montreal, and that helps reduce another source of stress, which is the debt that we have accrued trying to maintain and renovate the chalet plus the misfire of my Amsterdam "adventure" (which turned out a net loss, financially).

We have talked about selling the chalet, but it's tough. By the end of this year we could potentially have it renovated to the point of being rentable, and then we could afford to keep it. Also, if we do get these major projects done, it won't be such a money hole. What's needed is an accountant - I don't even know how much I need to save for taxes (with foreign - American - income, I have no withholding...).

What I know is that I want to start 2008 without thinking about money. I want to have a job that doesn't prevent me from enjoying my life, and if I need to find a new one, I want to be think first about lifestyle (being close to, and supportive of, my sweetheart), and second about the salary.

I told A that I would be really happy to be a stay-at-home dad. She was surprised that I was thinking about having kids - which surprised me, because I have been thinking about it so much over the last 6 months or so that I guess I kind of assumed she knew. But with distance, I guess it never really came up. Also, I kept saying, "I don't mind raising the kids while you play secretary general of the UN". Apparently she didn't take that seriously. Hmm.

The truth is that I have been thinking a lot about children. I see pregnant women everywhere. I think the percentage of pregnant women is actually higher in airports, contrary to my expectations.

The funny thing is that when we first met, A was kind of  "ehh" on kids, and I was like "absolutely, some day". At some point we switched. Then late last year I really had a change of heart again, so I think now we are both "absolutely" and now it's just a matter of logistics.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for today. I promise to post cell-phone pictures of Oslo soon.

Work is nuts. I don't even know where to begin except to say that I attract the strangest employers.

I can't say that the situation is really great. At least, it's not fun, or re-assuring in any of those good, touchy-feely, positive reinforcement type ways.

For example:

I found out that I am now Norwegian Delivery Manager. From my fiancé. Who read it in a news bulletin. On my employer's website.

Nobody has yet mentioned this to me.

Also, my boss basically neglected to find living arrangements for me and my colleague during our current 3 month contract in Oslo. On arrival I managed to find myself a gorgeous furnished 215 square foot studio apartment. That I am sharing with my colleague. Because nobody (including him) has bothered to find him a place. And after _I_ found him a place, it was vetoed because the company doesn't want two 9-month plus leases in Norway. So now they are moving him back into a hotel.

I would have preferred if this decision had been made days ago, so that I could have enjoyed even 10 minutes of privacy in my own apartment. Oh, wait. The decision was made several days ago (as far as I can tell) but they only told us after serious pestering today (the story is they were translating the contract).

I keep thinking I shouldn't write something so honest here, but I can't write this story without explaining these parts of it.

The situation is not awful. Firstly, I am getting some very interesting business experience. I'm even working with an important area of technology that I have no previous experience with, so marks for that. Another important aspect is that the financial side of things is really good - good enough that it seems worth it to hold the job and try to pay off debts and otherwise put myself and A in a more comfortable situation where we can make decisions less weighed down by mortgages and credit cards. And while I could have taken other jobs that would have provided the same benefits, they would have required me to live overseas permanently, whereas this one (in principal) only involves two week (and occasionally slightly longer) stints away from home.

I guess I am frustrated because in the last six weeks I have only spent two (separate) weeks and one weekend at home. And it now looks like I will not be back until the 19th of May - five weeks into my current stint. And nobody seems pressed to talk openly with me about the fact that this is not what we originally agreed upon, or to make sure that I am at least comfortable in the meantime.

After some "civil disobedience" that made it clear I was not a happy camper I suggested to my boss that we should try to have a voice chat every week or two just to improve communication channels. He called me two days ago to ask me to pick a time for yesterday. So I said between 9 and 11 PM my time - between noon and 2PM where he is this week. Well he called at 11:15 (I just missed picking it up, even though I was almost in bed) and again at 11:45 (I only know because I saw the missed call in the morning). We will try again tonight.

Positive things:

I brought my road bike here, and will go for a long ride on Saturday.

My apartment (though small) is really nice, with a great balcony and some interesting space optimizations. When I have it to myself it will be really comfortable.

My colleague moves into the hotel tomorrow.

A local family have pretty much adopted me and are looking after my emotional well-being.

I had my first Norwegian lesson on Tuesday and my teacher thinks I am "veldig flink" (quite clever) because I managed to figure out that "eller" means "or" after spending two weeks reading street notices, menus, etc.

I really do like Oslo. For example: you know you are in a land of haut cuisine when you pass a Mexican Wine Bar. OK, that was sarcasm, but the food is quite good and varied, certainly miles ahead of Amsterdam.

My trip to Oslo could not have been made more complicated. But I made it, it has been fun, and I even managed to squeeze in about 5 hours of wandering in New York City while waiting out an 8 hour layover.


After flight cancellations forced me to delay my departure by two days, I made a point of leaving much more time to make my connection in Newark airport. Originally intending to meet some Philadelphia based colleagues for lunch, I decided instead to have lunch in Newark when it turned out they couldn't make it.

When I tried to figure out the train to Newark from the airport, I discovered that NYC itself was only actually 40 minutes away by rather frequent connections. About 45 minutes later I found myself at NYC Penn Station.

I walked from Penn Station to the WTC site, stopping by Union Square for some pizza, before buying a metro ticket and proceeding to get completely lost. Happily so, because I ended up crossing the river (the Hudson?) on a subway bridge with a wonderful view of the Brooklyn bridge and the statue of liberty. After sorting that out, I made it to Times Square (as originally intended) for a bagel and cream cheese and then a return train to the airport.

In Oslo myself and two colleagues first stayed with a friend of "the company" (or at least, of several main people out of the 15 of us). She has a house near the city center which she shares with her boyfriend of 7 years and her 15 year old daughter. The three of us guests shared a small room with two double mattresses and a cot in the basement. This arrangement worked fine until the night I had too much coffee and also lost my earplugs.

What can I tell you about Oslo? To start with, it is a beautiful city with lots of space, lots of green, and lots of water. The people we have met have all been very friendly, and the weather has been remarkable (raining only once, and otherwise reaching 15 degrees or so most days). I've been able to go for two very enjoyable runs and will probably go once more tomorrow before leaving Thursday - the city is very amenable to running separate from heavy traffic.

The city also has an extremely efficient public transit system, although it took several days for me to notice this. My more business oriented colleague (the other is technical) does not seem very practical, and for the first several days we used cabs to get around. He has yet to make a significant effort to learn how to pronounce the address where we were staying, or even to learn what landmarks to use to tell cab drivers how to get there. At least 4 or 5 times he called our hosts on a mobile and asked them to give the driver directions.

All this would have been merely embarrassing if it wasn't also extremely expensive. Cabs here can cost as much as 40 USD to go 3 or 4 kilometers, and some days we spent 150 USD on cabs. I finally insisted that we take the bus on a couple trips, and even convinced them to walk to the nearest foreign VISA-accepting bank machine (10 minutes away). Lo and behold, Oslo is actually very walkable and buses come more frequently than taxis (which only stop at designated stops anyway). I think I have saved my entire plane fare in reduced taxi usage.

One thing about Norwegians: they seem to have an affinity for nude statues. Almost everywhere we go, there are statues of naked people in all kinds of poses (carrying briefcases, for example). We even visited a park (Vigeland Park) full of hundreds if not thousands of naked statues.

Our hosts are a wonderful and very gracious family. The woman really seems to enjoy entertaining and socializing, and prepared a wonderful feast for us in addition to several delicious breakfasts. I got along with her particularly well, including helping her to prune an apple tree (a great learning opportunity because my family has quite a few that are in disrepair). She insisted that A and I stay with her if A ever came to Oslo with me.

For business reasons we needed to extend our trip by four days, so we decided to rent a two room apartment for the last few days. Before we left, our host confided in me that she was a little put off by some of the behavior of my two colleagues - that she felt they had taken advantage of her hospitality in a few ways. I had already noticed, and I knew she was looking forward to her privacy, but I was really touched that she made a point of telling me she had noticed me making extra efforts and that she really insisted that I stay with her again in the future.

All in all, the trip has been great, and considering the cramped quarters I have gotten along pretty well with my new colleagues and enjoyed touring around a bit. The business meetings were interesting and, while nothing is certain, there is a lot of reason to think I will be spending a significant part of the next year here.

Still, I am looking forward to returning home.

After all of the uncertainty, at least a few things are now sorted.

Just before returning to Montreal I was reminded of a small company that I had previously gotten to know, based out of Philadelphia (OK, New Jersey, about 12 miles from Philadelphia according to Google Maps). Their area of work was very specific, and I happen to have better than average knowledge of this area. Furthermore, I knew that they had lots of work, that the work involved a lot of travel, and that their employees lived all over the place. I resolved to get in touch with them, but decided to wait until things with the Zurich folks were close to completion (since I figured the Philly people would act fast, and I wanted to synchronize).

Call it telepathy, but one of the guys from Philadelphia sent me an email the next day saying, "I'm passing through Amsterdam on my way to Oslo and thought of you - how's the new job?". So of course I told them that I was thinking of getting in touch with them, etc..

A few days later buddy flew into Montreal to discuss with me, and as I left for Zurich I was already discussing numbers with the Philly folks.

Long story short, both companies made good offers, and I ended up deciding for the Philadelphia position. The choices were radically different - as the Dutch would say, it was like comparing apples to pears. Zurich would have been very hands on and technical - Philadelphia is more commercial and customer facing. Zurich would have meant working in an office with all kinds of perks (company ski trip, free gourmet meals 3 times a day 5 days a week, ...) whereas Philadelphia means working from home with the bonus of traveling to exotic places. Zurich was an office of 200 and a company of 10,000, with Philadelphia I'm employee #13.

Ultimately, three things really clinched it for Philadelphia. First, I think it's much better training as I think about starting my own company some day. Second, it's much more flexible in terms of where A and I choose to live over the next few years. And third, it means that we can live in the same city now.

I don't know if there is any way that I could have ended up in this situation without first leaving Montreal. When I was here in 2006, I had a very stable, very secure job with people I liked and great pay. It was getting more and more boring everyday, but I would have been hard-pressed to leave for another company in Montreal - there was no way to justify going towards something that would have almost certainly been less stable and less payed, and where I would almost certainly not have liked the people as much. There was a lot of friction holding me in place. It took a strong force (Europe! Amsterdam! Adventure!) to jolt me into motion.
Once uprooted, I was subject to more forces. Call it the difference between static and kinetic friction (from my high school days: roughly, it requires a greater force to overcome friction and start an object moving than it does to keep the same object moving). Only then did I really start to consider all of the different choices that were available to me. In the end, the choice I made is a much more subtle change than the interim step was.

Some other metaphors come to mind (chemistry? catalysts? those graphs of the energy in a system with a big bump that has to be overcome before the reaction reaches a state that is ultimately exothermic? there's probably a concise word for this).

Enough of that - I'll try to post later about all the fun stuff I've been up to in Montreal. Oh, and I'm headed to Oslo in two days for work!

I'm back in Montreal after a whirlwind visit to Zurich. First impression is that it's a wonderful little city - about 350k residents, quite compact with at least two or three fun neighbourhoods each with its own boutiques, restaurants, cafés, and style, all connected by an extremely practical, clean, and simple public transit system. Although the city itself seems to have quite a moderate winter (my three days were all mixed sun and intermittent rain) to the south one can glimpse an impressive range of razor-tooth snowbound mountains.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this city was, indeed, the price of everything. Dinner was hard to find under 40 Swiss Francs ( = 40 CAD or 32 USD) - any kind of soda was $2.50 and a bottle of water at the train station or airport was $3.50.

As usual I did a fair amount of walking. On Saturday I took a 15 minute train to Uitlieberg, a hill to the southwest of the city featuring an impressive network of walking and biking trails. After about 80 minutes I took a cable car to the base of the hill and another train station from whence I was able to return to town. Walking from the city center I then headed up the hills defining the eastern edge of Zurich, home to the University of Zurich and some very lovely residential neighbourhoods.

Recently a friend of mine remarked on the under-utilization of funiculars as a form of public transit. I'm pleased to report that Zurich has at least one funicular that appears to actually be used by real people in real life. I took it from the university district to the top of Zurich Berg (berg = hill in German) and several other passengers were carrying groceries.

Both the cable car and the funicular were fully automated - no conductor in the cars or even in the base stations. They show up, the doors open, after a delay there's an audible beep, the doors close, and you're off!

I also managed to take in a "Saharan" band called Tinariwen at a jazz club called Moods. Tinariwen include three guitarists, a hand percussionist, a bass guitarist, and two vocalists dressed in what I assume is traditional desert garb. The music was bluesy, rhythmic, ambient... Quite enjoyable.

I'll keep this entry recreational, but I will post news from the interview front tomorrow!

Well that was fun!

I was treated to mostly incredible weather during my 8 day sojourn to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and surrounding areas.

In fact my first day of hiking in the Highlands (yes, I was able to go!) I spent the morning in a t-shirt. Meanwhile the Ben This's and Ben That's (Ben is apparently the Gaelic word for mountain) were covered in snow and disappearing into misty clouds that kept themselves otherwise quite out of the way.

I chose to hike from Crianlarich to Kingshouse, with a night at Bridge of Orchy. By relying on dinner and lodgings from the Bridge of Orchy hotel I was able to hit the West Highland Way with only a day pack to carry a change of clothes, picnic supplies, and a book. With the temperature being so surprisingly warm, I didn't actually have room for all the clothes I removed and had to strap them to the outside of the bag!

This part of the West Highland Way qualifies more as a cultural outing than a nature walk. You pass through a few village and farms, never stray very far from the road or railway, and never encounter any significant climbs. For the least picturesque 5km or so (out of 21) you are actually within site of the highway and its traffic. At the same time, you are surrounded on either side by massive peaks. If you had the right maps and gear you could easily go via the peaks instead of the valley route.

Day 2 started out ominously, with massive winds outside the hotel's bunkhouse. I actually struggled to walk to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Still, I decided to make a go of the day - an English father and son I met the previous evening insisted that the walk to Kingshouse was really stunning and worth the effort. The catch is that it is also much more remote and my guidebook described it as being very exposed to the elements and having no escape route.

I made it out about 4 km. All this time, I had to struggle to make forward progress, dragging my trekking poles through the wind as though it was swift water and then shoving them hard toward the ground to plant them. It was only lightly sprinkling but there was every reason to think that this was just a warm up for the real weather. Each time I tried to adjust my clothes or get food from my bag I was afraid some vital piece of gear would be swept away.

I hadn't even reached the exposed bit yet.

So I made the wise decision and reversed my steps back to the hotel and a bus direct to Glasgow. I probably could have completed the hike, but it would not have been fun, and would certainly have been unwise travelling solo without any provisions for overnighting in an emergency.

Glasgow itself was charming in a grungy kind of way that reminded me of Montreal. The West End in particular, near Glasgow University (and also where my hosts have their flat in a 19th century building) reminded me of a more sincere version of the Montreal plateau neighbourhood. Highlights included the necropolis (a cemetery with an amazing 360º hilltop view of the city), a 14th century house, and Kelvingrove Park (a lovely green valley dominated by the historic university buildings, art galleries, and Victorian houses).

Edinburgh, to which we made a day trip (only 1hr from Glasgow by trains that leave every 15 minutes), is even more overwhelming architecturally. Cobblestone street after cobblestone street lined with houses that look straight out of Oliver Twist or the like - with an impressive castle overlooking the city.

Last but not least we took a drive down to Ayr, a seaside village that supposedly featured the world's best fish and chips. After a very pleasant stroll through the town, and as stomachs started to make themselves heard, we put in a call to the parents of one of my hosts - "yeah, mom, where's that fish and chips place in Ayr that we went to that one time?". Turns out it was not in Ayr, but in Largs. A chocolate bar and 25 miles later we did indeed sample some very tasty fish and chips in another pretty seaside village.

All in all, a very pleasant trip. I got to meet many of H's friends (including the man), see some music, do some shopping (A will have to wait to find out what for), and even celebrate Chinese new year (a day early, and with Thai noodles and sake, but who's counting?). I wish I had been able to bring back photos, but alas, no camera was available. You'll have to go for yourselves!

I don't believe I have ever heard the word "alighting" used in common speech before.

The train from the airport was 35 minutes. Remarkably, the passing countryside seemed to be almost one uninterrupted golf course. Oh, and at "Troon" station, a single pink rose was lying on the opposite platform as we stopped. There must be a story...

After an uneventful flight and short train ride I arrived at Glasgow Central Station where H and her partner A promptly whisked me off to a pub specializing in import (and especially Czech) beers. It seems blasphemous to not start the trip off with a British ale but there will be time, and anyway I'm quite fond of Czech beer.

We did have fish and chips for dinner, so that ought to count for something.

Today I'll be exploring the city solo, hopefully picking up a guidebook before lunch to augment my natural sightseeing abilities. Apparently dinner will be curry - so we will quickly make up for the un-Britishness of that first pint.

The most frustrating part of the whole job search thing is that you are really at the whim of any number of HR managers, head hunters, directors of this or that, and so forth - each taking their sweet time in scheduling phone interviews, reporting their feedback to their own coordinators, and finally replying to you, the candidate.

The result is that, for the last month or so, I have not really been able to plan anything about my life, not knowing which of these possibilities might work out, which city, what date, and so on. When my first picks started moving along I decided I had to start making some plans of my own, so I bought the ticket to Montreal for the 21st, which was 15 days after my second phone interview with the #1 pick in Zurich.

Surely, I thought, surely in 15 days (if they like me) they will be able to arrange to meet me in Zurich and close this deal ("Deliver this baby," as one of my strangest managers ever liked to say). Seems reasonable, non? And of course I couldn't say, "Hypothetically, if you want to meet me, what date would it be..." - that would be bad form.

Well the good news is that they do want to meet me. The bad news is that they can't do it until the "28th, 29th, or 30th" of February.

I spent a solid two minutes trying to playfully point out the lack of 29ths or 30ths in this month to my HR contact before we decided on the 2nd.

So I still fly to Montreal on the 21st, and then the big G will fly me from there to Zurich only 10 days later. I like travel, but transatlantic flights? Kill me, please. The worst part is that, since I really don't know where I am going next, I will have to move all of my stuff back to Montreal, just to move it again in 6 or 8 weeks (I was hoping to ship it somewhere and have it stored til my arrival). I am already convinced that transatlantic moves are no fun - I didn't need to do it three times in a year to have statistically significant results.

Also, what about the company in Amsterdam that appears about to make a very nice offer but that is still a distant second to Zurich in my mind? It will be difficult to postpone a decision for 3 weeks without giving them a bad impression.

Upsides? I'm pretty confident in the Zurich thing, and I think it will be an excellent job as well as a great place to live. Also, while I'm there I can probably visit a friend in Munich for a few days - being unemployed has its benefits. Finally, all the time that I originally had set aside for this (next week) is free for the trip to Glasgow.

Finally all of the interviewing has been squared away, and I still have 11 days before I return to Montreal. A perfect little void to fill with a trip!

Tomorrow I'm flying to Glasgow, Scotland to visit a friend from "back in the day". H was the best friend of my first roommate after high school, later a roommate and very good friend of mine. She has been living in Glasgow for 5 or 6 years now pursuing a Ph.d in literature. Having caught that which she pursued, she remains there with her Scottish beau (who apparently plays in a heavy metal band or something? and also is a Ph.d in lit?).

10 days should give me enough time to explore a fair bit - apparently Edinburgh and the Scottish highlands are very easy striking distance from Glasgow, so I'm thinking a two or three day hike in the middle will be good, as well as a few day trips.

But I don't really know anything about the area, so do any of you have tips?

For example, is it a good deal to buy a bottle of scotch in Scotland? If so, what should I get?

Are there important museums or clubs that I shouldn't miss? Small villages that are easy and fun to visit?

So this morning there was a bit of frost outside Amsterdam, but imagine my surprise when I open the curtains at 4PM (ground floor, I keep them closed for privacy usually) to find an inch of the white stuff covering cars and sidewalks.

OK, you can't ski in it but perhaps I'll get a chance to skate the canals just once!

Since delqc has already mentioned it in her blog, I might as well give my own account of the great escape.

Last week my team at work was busy with a major preview release of our product. At some point I made up my mind to announce my resignation after the release - I didn't want to rock the boat during a critical moment, but I also didn't want to be involved in planning the next cycle.

I spoke to my VP on Friday at 4PM, and he was understandably upset. He asked me to explain my reasons, and I did so. I had already discussed most or all of these things with him previously, so there were no surprises. He acknowledged that he understood my perspective and seemed sympathetic. I further explained that, although I was contractually required to give notice, I thought it in everyone's best interest if I left immediately. He asked for the weekend to think about it.

Monday morning I got the "treatment". He spent 90 minutes trying to convince me that I was "seeing things in too harsh a light" and overreacting. I was asked if it was "about money". I finally ended the conversation and said that there was no chance of me choosing to stay and that I only wanted to discuss "when". He was visibly shaken - not on the verge of tears but nervous and agitated. He told me that they "had spent a lot of money to get me there" (~€3000, by the way, small change in the grand scheme) and that my departure put him in "a difficult position". He would have to consider what was best for [the company] and let's talk again Tuesday morning.

I spent the rest of Monday involved in planning the next release, fully engaged and making my best contribution. But I knew that my boss was feeling spiteful and steeled myself for a showdown the next morning. Monday evening I was too stressed to do anything.

Tuesday morning I arrived for our 10AM meeting. I saw that the boss had some papers (i.e. an agreement) in his hand, a good sign I thought. We sat down very coolly and got right to business. He decided to release me immediately, but the agreement was dated January 31st - he didn't see any reason to pay me for February - 3 days of work. I had something to say about that, but it concluded with "if it makes you feel better, suit yourself". He didn't want to pay out my vacation either, saying that as far as he was concerned I had stopped working the 31st - I pointed out that I had accrued that vacation in December and January, and he relented. The final point was my apartment (which was to be paid by the company up until Feb 12, and for which I had already paid the other half of the rent for February) - I insisted on having the agreement include permission to inhabit the apartment until the 21st.

All this was as bitter as you can imagine, but to add insult to injury, after coldly escorting me to the door, I got a last little jab. "I'm really disappointed... you have a lot to learn about leadership... very immature..." This coming from a guy who, from day one (actually before that) had been trying to emotionally blackmail me into putting up with the BS on site, and who, in the end, couldn't resist taking out his revenge by squeezing 3 days pay out of me. The epitome of immature, in my humble opinion.

So I'm happy to be out and "free". This week is quite crowded with interviews (4!) and I'm holding next week open for more, including a possible Zurich trip, but I will fly home to Montreal on the 21st. Whether I return here for a new job, head to Zurich, or stay in Montreal and take up gardening, only the next few weeks will tell.

PS, one of the founders, who heads up US sales from the SF Bay area, emailed me to express his regret and tell me that he held me in "high regard" after having met me briefly during quarterly planning sessions in December. He asked for a phone conversation to learn my perspective. I responded with a brief description of the immature and abusive treatment I had received during the way out and then declined to speak - I'm just happy to be done with it.

PPS More about the job hunt very soon - the most exciting interview is this evening.

I rented this film based entirely on its having an award from Cannes, and being en français. Watching foreign films is pretty much impossible in Amsterdam since the subtitles are, natuurlijk, in Dutch. Furthermore, the selection of a film, regardless of its origin, is reduced almost entirely to its cover and its title since the description on the jacket is, natuurlijk, in Dutch.

Imagine my consternation when i couldn't understand the French being spoken in the first few scenes! Luckily this film had French and Dutch subtitles, so I turned on the French ones, only to discover (to my relief) that the subtitles in no way matched the sound of the dialog. Turns out this movie takes place in Georgia (the country) and is spoken in French, Georgian, and Russian.

Once I figured that out, the movie was extremely rewarding. Wonderful acting and a minimal script combine for a real "show, don't tell" experience.

I highly recommend it. And if you don't speak Russian, Georgian, or French, I recommend the subtitles.

Now, it's bedtime.

Imagine that you are craving orange juice - really craving orange juice.
You pour a glass - you start to drink. Realizing one will not be enough, you close the carton (while still drinking) and shake it up in preparation for another glass.

I challenge you to shake a carton of orange juice with one hand while drinking a glass of the stuff from the other hand.

To be precise, the challenge is to do the above without spilling orange juice all over yourself.

I was reminded of this story after reading this post. I had meant to write about it earlier, but better late than never.

Last week I had a very unique and rewarding experience at work. One of the supposed differentiators of my current employer is their emphasis on "accessibility" with regards to their web development tools. In other words, the principle is that users without full or any use of hands, hearing, or sight should be able to make use of web applications built using these tools.

My VP had scheduled a meeting with a representative of one of the main vendors of assistive software for the blind. As it turns out, this sales representative was, himself, blind. It was probably the first time in my life that I have had a significant interaction with a blind person, and I was really grateful for the experience.

To start with, although I had heard he was blind, it took me several minutes to convince myself that it was true. Although his folded cane sat by his chair as I entered the meeting room, his uncanny ability to focus right on me as I spoke left me with real doubts. Only when I shifted positions and saw him address "me" in my previous location was I convinced that he was not actually partially sighted.

Our guest demonstrated his company's product, using Microsoft Outlook and several websites through the use of a Braille reader and voice-overs from his computer speakers. The tools are remarkably advanced, and admittedly worked better for many things than I expected, but in several situations he would encounter roadblocks that simply could not be navigated with the tools at hand.

We tried to have him use some demo applications built using my company's toolkit - they were almost entirely unusable.

My boss ended the meeting by trying to pressure for technical assistance and free copies of the screen reading software for development purposes. Our guest, always gracious, nonetheless pointed out that they were a small company and could expect no benefits in return. The boss kept at it - I was ashamed. After all, I haven't heard him call up Microsoft and ask for free copies of Windows to test compatibility. I don't see why a company making a product that could be compared to an "operating system for the blind" should be expected to act entirely out of benevolence towards "the cause" in helping one small company put a check-mark on its feature list.

I had the privilege of escorting our guest back to the train station and helping him onto his train, truly thankful for such an eye-opening experience.

The Amsterdam based software company wants to make me an offer, essentially a team lead position.

They started out by telling me that my CV was "over-the-top" - and could I please explain what I meant by "[having] a unique talent for understanding technology"? Well, one of my great mentors told me that if you don't sell yourself, no one else is going to do it for you. (Why do you think the sales guys get the fancy cars?). Would it have been better if I had said (a) "I don't understand technology", or (b) "I understand technology as well as the next guy", or (c) "my bosses always promote me, you do the math"?

OK, enough sarcasm - in the interview I kept my cool ;)

They liked me, it seems. But I have to say that I can't believe they would make an offer that fast. Apparently the company is adding 50 people per month - for a company of 800, that's fast. And my potential team has grown from nothing eighteen months ago to 20 developers four months ago and is currently at 45, expecting to double in the next year. Holy cannoli - that's a lotta ricotta!

The project looks interesting and eerily similar in terms of skills to my old Montreal gig - and the guys I met certainly talked the talk with regards to having a good software culture. But I would be blown away if they were able to keep things on an even keel growing that fast - you would have to be really lucky in your hires, and also in finding them (I wouldn't know where to find 50 CVs in a week, let alone good ones).

They were taken a bit aback by my salary request, but I assume they think they can come close with overall compensation because they agreed to invite me back to meet some of the other members of the team. Again, I'm a little concerned that I'm the one who suggested that it would be nice to meet some of my potential peers. An hour and a half with 2 people doesn't really cut it for me.

So that's it. My strategy was to highball the salary a bit in order to have an excuse for following through on my other interviews - "I'm really interested but I need to see if this other company can come closer to my salary needs" as opposed to "I might settle for this but I'd rather be somewhere cooler".

And I've suggested meeting the other team members next week, so I should be able to push off receiving an offer until the end of that week or even the next one. All of this should give me enough time to progress sufficiently in the Zurich situation to be able to compare apples to apples. It seems silly to be trying to delay getting an offer, but I feel like I have to act strategically here.

Do I even want the job? I genuinely don't know - I have a lot of questions for which there just wasn't time tonight (there was another candidate coming in after me - indicative? hm?).

How crucial a comma is. Without it I would be pining for Montreal, but instead I'm just whining about being home and sick.

All yesterday I was feeling a bit off - occasionally getting a bit dizzy. I attributed it to too much coffee - to be polite I had one with my boss even though I had finished my breakfast cup only half an hour before. But the feeling came and went through the day and evening.

Last evening I went to Quiz Night at Boom Chicago, an English language comedy club in the Leidseplein. I thought the spins would go after some food, and anyway I wanted to celebrate because, ahem, some American software company wants to interview me for a job in Zurich - apparently they're involved in search.

Anyway I didn't feel better and when I woke up this morning I couldn't go five minutes without getting dizzy - like being too drunk but in between spells I'm fine. So I called in sick.

I spent the morning reading more of Solomon Gursky Was Here, by Mordecai Richler. I haven't read Richler in a few years, but from what I recall this book seems much larger in scope, more fantastic, than some of his others (OK, Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang excepted). It's really gripping.

This evening I have an interview with an Amsterdam-based software company at 5:15 - I should be able to do it - I'm not visibly sick, just occasionally have to steady myself. This company makes GPS navigation devices, and I had previously heard of them through "my" headhunter, who warned me that the company culture is a bit wonky. But one of my French-speaking friends here works with them, and raved about it. So I decided to give it a go.

The other interview that I was supposed to have (on Friday evening, with a small but highly regarded consulting company) was canceled. This was organized through the headhunter who had been courting me to join his own firm - Thursday night I had strongly suggested that I wasn't interested in joining him, for a number of reasons but mostly because he's a communications flake and I don't trust him (I focused on the other reasons). In the morning the interview was canceled. Probably coincidence, but no new date has been arranged as of yet. I really don't get it, but luckily I don't need to stress about it with two other possibilities on the table.

Either way, I plan to return to Montreal for at least two weeks in February - if Zurich pans out it will probably be three months because that's how long a visa will take and I cannot stomach staying with my current job that long. I should be able to find a contract to fill in the gap. Yes, it means I will miss the snow for this winter, but I'll have a summer full of alpine cycling and trekking.

Just in case, I'd better go find myself a steep overpass to train on!

I saw some wonderful musicians in a wonderful venue last night.

The Dhafer Youssef Quartet consists of an Oud, drum kit w/ extra cymbals, bass guitar, and electric guitar. Throw in some live sampling/looping pedals for the Oud, a synthesizer/sampler for the guitarist, and a beat box for the drummer.

Oh, and Dhafer Youssef has an amazing voice, an instrument in its own right. Crystal clear notes across several octaves, and it carries.

The show was at the Tropentheater, part of the Royal Institute for the Tropics. Dhafer Youssef is from Tunisia by birth, although his bandmates are Norwegian.

The lobby of the theater is an ornate (decadent?) marble room with a high dome - sorry, I probably should have paid more attention and maybe taken notes to describe it here, but suffice to say it was impressive.

The concert hall, however, I can describe a little better. It looks like it might once have been  church, with the exposed roof beams giving the impression of an overturned boat hull. At the top of each column sits a wood statue (painted to look like stone - I suppose it could have been stone). The statues appeared to be scientists/inventors. This is in keeping with the street names around Amsterdam East, many of which are named after scientists (James Wattstraat, Radioweg, Rudolf Dieselstraat, etc.).

The music is described as ambient sufi by the band. I don't know what sufi means (Wikipedia didn't enlighten me on the word's musical connotations) but ambient fits.  So would industrial or house for some of the songs. The musicians create a very complicated sound scape out of many simple components, which may or may not have all been in the same time signature.

Speaking of time signatures, one of the songs was in something like 9 / 4 time. For other songs I couldn't identify a time signature. All the same, I think it could very easily be danced to, and I was more than a little disappointed that the show was seated.

Two other things marred my appreciation of the show: (1) serious technical problems in the second set resulted in very loud static throughout several songs, and (2) the audience was not exactly focused, especially during the quieter bits. When things picked up, the room was rapt, but when the music became more subtle the people around me were quick to start chatting.

The show was the idea of another expat (a girl from Strasbourg) who posted it to one of the community sites here. I've already met her several times, as well as another participant (also French), and get along with both of them quite well. I also brought along friends John and Dale (with whom Snackette and I celebrated new year's eve). So I think I'm starting to make some good connections here.