James

James
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Who knew one could find such cutie pies at Tim Hortons? Actually, our first official "Date" 4 years ago, was at the Tim Hortons on Mount Royal.

So long ago, yet it feels like yesturday.

My Car

My Car
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Not the best photo, but you asked for it, you got it!

Many of you have requested that I post a picture of my car, its about time, considering that I bought it in November. So, here it is. I present you my "Cocotte".

She is a lovely Mazda Protégé 2002 LX 2.0 with currently 83 500km. I have managed to put 6000km since November. Not too shabby. My mother would be proud.

I know I had sworn I would never own a vehicle, but living downtown and working in Kirkland for the past 2 years has made it necessary. I used to waste 3 hours a day to get to work on public transit. But with the car, I can do it all in less than 1/2 that time.

So now, I can sleep until 7:`15 in the morning, instead of waking up at 6:30. BIG BIG difference. And I will not talk about the freedom that owning a car has brought. OH MY GOD

But I have not completely abandoned my environmental side. I have started carpooling. Something that nobody at work ever considered.

I am also now partaking in activities that make my hair stand on end : oil changes, tire changes, visits to the garage, and oh good lord, I need to put windshield washer fluid in the car this week, and I have no idea where it goes. I`m so gay, its scary.

Poinsettia

Poinsettia
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

You know Christmas is really over when the office is giving away free poinsettias. Elisabeth was taking a few home, and I high jacked one of them before she left to take snap a few shots.

the past few days. Actually, I'm not even Sorry I posted so late, but I have been busy beyond beliefwriting this blog from my computer, I'm actually at James's place watching a movie with him and eddy. We are watching Bring It On . If you have not seen this movie, i strongly suggest it. I have seen it about 50 times and i know almost all the dialogue by heart. It rules. its almost as good as Legally Blonde.

So yeah, curling is in full swing, my teams won 3 in a row, so tomorrow night I'm hopping we can pull the 4th one in a row. Go Team Robichaud! I'm playing in two leagues this year, Montreal West Curling Club and at the Royal Montreal Curling Club.

Another exciting thing is that I am finally starting my MBA, in 11 days. Woo hooooo! The school sent me some prep material, so I already have tons of reading to do. Oh and did I mention that it's crunch time at work.

All of this is pretty awesome. I feel alive.

Dangerous Duo

Dangerous Duo
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I love this photo. The angle makes these two objects look so dangerous and scary. Probably one of my favorite pictures just because of how odd the subjects of the photo are.

Weird Lamppost downtown

Weird Lamppost downtown
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Not too far from my curling club there is a bunch of lamp posts that are multicolored year round. I tried to capture them but it was cold, and my hand was shaking too much to really get a good effect. The really problem is that I can't really control the shutter speed as much as I wish I could, but you get the general idea.

I really need an SLR.

Candles

Noël 47
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Saturday we had a diner party with "Les Français" to celebrate christmas now that we are all back together. It was a lot of fun, and I couldn`t believe how thoughtfull the gifts were. I was really touched!

I had to leave early though because I developped some weird stomache flue / headache from hell.

Apart from that, a good time was had by all!!

Café Art Java

Café Art Java
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

First there was the one on The Plateau. Now there is a great coffee shop downtown as well. I think this is my new favorite hang out!

Atwater Market

IMG_1742
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Had lunch today with James and his sisters, we then took a stroll around Atwater Market. We get an interesting perspective of the city at the Market. Defenately will be exploring this area more when the weather heats up. It was too cold to be out walking around today, so didn't really do much of it.

Graffiti sur la rue St-Dominique.

Graffiti sur la rue St-Dominique.
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I took this picture a long time ago... well... a few months ago. If any of you out there in the blogosphere know the name of this guy, please, let me know!

I love this guy. too bad they don't show him anymore.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE - 2007-01-14

Thanks to my friend Rémi, I now know what the heck this is called. It comes from a cartoon called "La linea" and the little guy's name is Mister Linea or Balou.

Mystery solved!

Dominoes

Dominoes
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I love dominoes. I really do. I love the colors, I love the sound they make when you shuffle them around and I love all the things you can do with dominoes. But most of all, I love the memories they bring back.

When I was a little boy, back on the farm, my brothers and I would spend entire weekends playing with dominoes. We would line them up all over the farm house. We would start in the living room, criss-cross the room around the furniture, near the TV, up the coffee table and down again, all the way through the hall and into the large kitchen where we had lots of room to make domino pyramids, domino steps, towers, dominoes that would rest next to a ball, dominoes lined up in shapes of triangles, flowers, houses, people to finally go into the dinning room, climb up a chair then unto the big 8 place dinning table where we would line up as many dominoes as we could.

Hours were spent in quasi silence just lining up all these little pieces with the discipline of Buddhist monks. Once in a while, we would look up from our labor to make sure our end of the line was in sync with what the brothers were doing.

Oh there were problems. The slightest vibration could set the whole thing in motion, which would in turn cause a screaming match and sometimes abandon. But for the most part we would just line them up again. No matter how many times they fell.

Once we ran out of dominoes, or whenever my mother got tired of seeing all these little rectangular shapes all over her house, the time would come to reap the fruits of our labour.

Like architects unveiling their greatest works, we would announce to the whole house that it was time to topple the dominoes. The entire family would gather to watch as one of us would flick the first piece and then we would all follow the trail as the pieces toppled one after the other. First in the living-room, all around the furniture, around the TV, through the hall into the large kitchen. The Robichaud's would follow the zipping sound of falling plastic into the dinning room to watch as the final piece came to rest.

It was always anticlimactic, but it was fun nonetheless. All we had left to do was start all over again.

Eddi

Eddi
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Last night I met James' friend Eddi over a game of dominoes and the first hour of the "People's Choice Awards".

The dominoes were fun, Eddi was great, but the Peoples Choice Awards were crap. It was basically just a big hunk of Trash with glitter sprinkled on top of it.

And whats up with Queen Latifah. She is expanding exponentially. But she is all that, and a bag of chips.

Jodi and Café au lait

Jodi and Café au lait
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Sunday I had coffee with my good friends Jodi and Jean. Both of whom are on my curling team. We had a little meeting to iron out some kinks in our game, very productive meeting at that.

As we were waiting for Jean to find his way to the coffee shop, I took a few shots and I really like this one of Jodi through the handle of my cup of Café au lait, or as they say in the USA, my Latte.

You know that bugs me. Latte! What the heck is that. Latte. ITS CAFÉ AU LAIT. Yet another reason why I hate $tarbuck$. I blame them for the whole Latte thing.

It's even more infuriating that I had to order a "Latte" at the Presse Café, which if i am not mistaking is a Québecois company. Well, I ordered a Café au Lait, and that's what I got.

Vive la résistance!

OK, so maybe I am over reacting a teeny tiny bit. Check out the definition of Café au lait on Wikipedia. Its all very murky.

Ma mère et Sébastien

Ma mère et Sébastien
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Technically, not the best photo, but it does have a certain cuteness factor.

I'm in a weird mood today. still have a cold. The temperature is still outta wack. +1 this morning when i left for work, with freezing rain coming down. The world is outta wack. Start panicking.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Here I am. This is me. 32 years old. Its starting to show I think. I'll have to use more of that Biotherm Age Fitness cream. I'll take all the help I can get ;)

Games

Games
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I am so Sick! *grumble* I dont know what it is this year but I seem to be catching colds one after the other. This is my 3rd one since October. *GRUMBLE* Oh well. There is one good thing about being sick, its the perfect excuse to stay home and play video games!! YAY!

Prize winning Photo

Colourful Thumbtaks 2
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I entered this photo on a contest in Flicker. And I won!! woo hoo :)



This shot is part of a series I am doing. I am taking all kinds of shots from objects that are around the office. You can see them all on my Flickr page.

West Island Sunset

Sunset in Kirkland
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

I was walking through the parking lot at work to get to my car, and this caught my eye. How could it not. The sky was incredible. We rarely get such beautiful sunsets in Montreal. Or maybe I just have not been paying attention to them.


That's one thing I noticed since I got my new Camera, I actually pay attention to my environment. I look. I really look at what is around me, and I see it in a different way. I see lines, depth and colours in a way I completely ignored before. I almost feel like I am living in a heightened state, in which my senses have been awoken.

I must say, I quite like it.

Bonsai Part Deux

Bonsai 2
Originally uploaded by Acadieman.

Same tree different shot. In fact the two shots are so different, I am not sure which one I like the best.

Two Bonsais. One metaphore.

Black and White.

Yet, the same tree.

I promise. No more bonsai trees.

Bonsai

Bonsai 1
Originally uploaded by gabrielrobichaud.

What a cute little tree. This is one of my favorite plants from James' indoor garden. Beautifull plant.

Today is also Day 1 at work in the new year. Looking forward to more data problems, quality checks and automatition software. Wooo hooo. Quite the exciting world I live in! Oh yeah baby!

Since October, Mathua has been leaving comments on my blog. I thought Mathua was my friend Steve in NB. Oh my. Boy did I ever make the wrong assumption about that one.

Well Mathua, your identity eludes me no longer!! Honestly, I'm happy you are reading my blog. I won't talk about why publicly, but I really do appreciate the comments. I re-read them all last night. The one you left on "Pee-shy" makes a lot of sense now.

And I aggree 100% with what you are saying.

Life has a way of teaching you intereting lessons. Some are harder to learn than others, but those are the ones you need to learn the most.

New Year In Bloom

IMG_0638
Originally uploaded by gabrielrobichaud.

I had a really hard time picking the picture for the blog today. I took over 640 pictures in the past 24 hours. I really went nuts. I decided I was going to take the time to really get to know my camera. So don't be alarmed if you find a lot of freaky looking shots on flickr. Mind you, there are many many good ones.

Happy New Year.