Today, a friend suggested that I participate in the upcoming Internet experiment called Le Baiser de La Matrice.

With this experiment, Véronique Aubouy suggests that over 3,000 individuals from all over the world read a page from “À la Recherche du temps perdu” by Marcel Proust in front of a web camera. By the end of the experiment, all the words from this book would have been read in French by people from all horizons and recorded into a 170 hours movie. The shooting will take place directly on the Internet starting at noon GMT on September 27th 2008. It is open to all and she invites all of you to register on her blog and invite others to built the network map of “Baiser de la Matrice”.

I registered earlier and will see where this will lead me. I will attempt to record in front of a raging wood fire in my living room.

If you speak French, why don’t you just join us?

It has been ten days since my last post. Let me give you a quick update.

Last Saturday, a group of twenty two colleagues and family members went rafting on the river that goes across Calgary and which is called the Bow. Okay, it was more floating that rafting since there is no white water but it was certainly a nice way to spend a few hours. This was fun and we ended up all wet. I fought with a six year old named Michael to see who would be the toughest. Some embarrassing photos were taken and I hope they will never surface on the Internet. I cross my fingers. The temperature was above thirty degrees celcius and I managed not to burn. This was a first for me. Sunscreen is usually a disappointment.

On Sunday, I spent six hours emptying the moving truck. I mean, I watched the movers unload while I was checking off items on the list. I helped a little but given their efficiency, I was mostly impeding their work. We received all the items and we only got one item broken that we will be able to repair. I suggest you go with Allied if you need to move. They were extremely professional from A to Z and I would not go with another company.

The house looks great and seventy percent of the boxes have been unpacked. Melissa is doing wonders with the furniture and accessories.

This week, I have continued to implement Scrum at work with one of my teams and it is quite fun. There is of course more work and learning to do but I will certainly recommend you give it a try if you have a chance.

This week end, Melissa and I are probably going for a bike ride. We acquired two road bikes a fortnight ago.

I am now commuting daily by bike which reduces my commute time from forty minutes to fifteen. I still have to try the bus for the “cool” days of winter.

In other news, I will probably go to SEG in Las Vegas next November and I hope to see you there.

The whole family is now safe in Calgary. We took off from Houston in the middle of the tropical storm Edouard. We landed in Calgary with a small thirty minutes delay.

We have been amazed by the kindness of Canada immigration and custom officers. They were extremely friendly, helped us all the way. Because of my status, Melissa was able to obtain a working visa right away. This is a big difference with the USA where, to my understanding, workers’ spouses are not allowed to work.

The cats are adjusting to the new home. They are confined to the mud room downstairs and the female (smarter than the males, this goes without saying), managed to escape the room at multiple occasions and we had to double our efforts to refrain her from escaping.

Our furniture is hopefully on its way and we should see it unloaded in about two weeks. In the mean time, we are camping in the house (sleeping bags, and all).

Today, we walked downtown for about ten kilometers to get Melissa started.

Saturday, we plan on going for a short hike. We need to enjoy the summer while it lasts…

I guess I am of the lucky kind. I am moving to Calgary with four cats in tow on Tuesday and that’s the day mother Nature has decided to send Edouard our way. I guess, I was not stressed enough by the move…

I am back in Houston for a few days. This is the last stretch in Houston.

Today, Allied sent a team of three persons to pack the house. They arrived at 08:00 and by 14:00 the whole house was packed. A truck will pick everything up on Monday. Their speed and professionalism was amazing. Two of the packers had over twenty years experience.

It was really weird to come back to Houston after a month. I guess that I am having such a blast in Calgary. I can’t wait for the six of us to be in the house in Calgary on Tuesday evening.