Since a few months, I am telling myself that I need a new mobile phone to replace my old Nokia 3410 (battery is nearly dead, some keys are not working all the time, etc.). Yesterday, Trolltech, the company behing Qt, announced the shipping of a green Linux-based mobile phone in September 2006. I don’t know if it will be a true product or “only” a development tool (a kind of prototype for developers). But I know that I want one if it’s available. ...
Today, 15th of August, is the Independence Day of India. Happy Independence Day! Picture from ISAL Today, the Indian Embassy in Belgium held a very small ceremony (but I was in my lab at that moment ; MS-Word invitation). I guess it is/was celebrated all over India ( more pictures on the Times of India website). By the way, Bozar are organizing an India Festival from October 2006 to January 2007. You’ll enjoy expositions, listen to music, see theatre plays, listen to literature, watch cinema and dance, both from old-style India and from modern India. If I have to pinpoint one event, it will be the Dhrupad concert where my father-in-law will sing with the Gundecha Brothers ( dhrupad on Wikipedia). It will be on Wednesday 17.01.2007 at 20:00. But, of course, there will be many more great artists from India …
Especially when one loses a beloved aunt …
This Friday (June 23rd), we went to IMEC, a research center in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology (in Leuven). We weren’t there for the technology but because they organised an afternoon with Indian dances, songs, etc. We were only able to attend the last few dances but we met people from ISAL (I am tempted to add: “as usual”). It was nicely done with posters explaining some Indian traditions, huge flat screens showing Bollywood dances and food (of course). Looking for more informations on their website, I see that they have a bioelectronics section where they are studying neurons interactions with electronic chips :-) (a.o.). Unfortunately, there isn’t any jobs for biologists in this department for the moment.
Sunday, we went to a restaurant with my in-laws. They used to go there since a long time and they personally know the restaurant owner. Each time they eat there, it’s an opportunity to chat about the respective families ; so, when my wife is with her parents, the owner remembers what my wife is doing in life. But, since a few months, we went there three or four times alone (i.e. just my wife and me) and the owner never recognised my wife. ...
I am slowly beginning to look for a job ; at least, for what I’ll do after my Ph.D. (there is still a lot of work in order to finish it!) (some people find that I am too slow at this quest for a job). I worked hard to develop the behavioural lab but I think that I wouldn’t be able to continue in this field (behavioural science doesn’t get a lot of funding). Anyway, I have some other people to see before I perhaps decide to reject this career option for/by myself. ...
Not because it makes a beautiful “moustache” when we drink the coffee (as I told a Nespresso commercial) but to keep the coffee aroma inside the cup (as he told me, later). This short line to say that the week-end was full of “things to do” and these “things” kept me away from real work. We went to Spa Balmoral for a grant interview for my wife, we went to Brussel for Bharati the show, we spent a delightful, sunny afternoon with my parents and we spent some time at the usual, annual Falisse cousins meeting (and it was also a pleasure to meet them all). Therefore, I am not sure to be able to do everything I planned in due time.
The Indian Students’ Association of Leuven warmly invites you to experience the magic of Indian music and dances! It will be on May, 17th, 2006, at P. De Somer Aula, in Leuven (Deberiotstraat, 24). (And, by the way, it’s Nandini -my wife- that drew the poster ;-))
After one year of hard work, we finally took some holidays. We spent three days in Middelkerke, at Hotel Were-di. It’s a nice hotel, clean and small. It’s not too far from the beach and the city is much less crowded that other big cities on the Belgian coast. The restaurant on the ground floor is nice, food is good but I still don’t understand the need to pay so much for the “nouvelle cuisine” (I know: I am a greedy fellow). ...
I’ve recently learned that the Jabber.org server was an experimental one but I was too lazy to change my Jabber ID. Now that the Jabber.org server is down (apparently since 23.00, Belgian time), I am forced to change. My new Jabber ID is “jepoirrier at jabber.fr”. I will still use the old one (“jepoirrier at jabber.org”) but I will gradually switch all my contacts to this new ID. BTW, the Jabber.org status can be found here. The Jabber.fr server is hosted by APINC and its status are here. ...