I always think that someplace doesn’t really feel like “home” to me, until I’ve left for a while and felt relief upon returning. That’s how it was for me with Ann Arbor – I really wasn’t feeling it at all, and there was something that happened after my first or second trip away, or maybe even third or fourth, where entering the city from the airport, I felt a really nice relief – the “coming home” feeling.

The same thing with Chicago, although 2 big parts of that were definitely my beloved apartment and my cuddly little cats. When coming back to Chicago started to mean coming back to my kitties, that helped a lot.

Anyway, Paris doesn’t feel like that quite yet. It was nice to get back to the familiarity of our apartment last night, after a great weekend in Rome (though the 7:30 AM wake-up call via the construction downstairs was NOT comforting or familiar. Urgh.) But when we were touching down at Paris Orly, I had this weird feeling that I could get in a cab and go to my parents’ house in NYC, or A’s parents’ – e.g. that we were really returning home to NY. It definitely gave me a pang of homesickness.

It also reminded me of an incident, which is actually what I wanted to tell you about. At some point in the past year or two,  A and I got into a cab at LGA and the cab driver turned back as we closed the door and asked, “Williamsburg?” As in, he very casually assumed we were going to Williamsburg. I’m still not sure what to make of it. We were like “no, Upper East Side.” And he was like “oh, because a lot of people are going to Willamsburg these days.” Ha. Indeed.

From the “life could be worse” department…

Last night found me and Tracie B at Austin’s top music destination, Antone’s, for a Doug Sahm tribute (Doug Sahm is considered by many the father of the Central Texas music scene). We were there to see legendary bluesman Jimmie Vaughan. Since I moved to Austin nearly a year ago, I still hadn’t see him play and it was a thrill to hear his Strat from the edge of the stage (one of the things that’s so cool about Austin is how the venues, even Antone’s, which is one of the largest, are just small enough that you can still hear the music directly from the amps on stage instead of through the PA). But the most amazing thing was that our friend Felice’s boyfriend Ronnie James is Jimmie’s go-to bass player and so Tracie B and I got to go back stage and meet Jimmie. Now, I’m all growed up and have met plenty of famous folks but I can’t conceal that I was downright star-struck to shake Jimmie’s hand last night. I couldn’t resist ask him about his right-hand pick-less picking and hammering technique (he’s flat-picking in the photo above with LouAnn Barton on vocals).

“That’s the Gulf Coast style,” Jimmie told me. It was created by Clarence Gatemouth Brown and was also used by Albert Collins (another native Texan and one of my personal favorite bluesmen), he said.

That’s a detail from a photo of Gatemouth, left: you pick using all your fingers on your right hand while you finger and hammer with your left hand. There is just so much great music in this town and you can hear a blues or country great on nearly any given night. Man, I love that Tracie B for bringing me here! Her cooking ain’t bad either…

In other news, the best steak frites this side of Manhattan…

Above: Steak frites at Chez Nous in Austin.

I’m dying to try the new Relais de Venise Entrecôte in New York (as reviewed by Sam Sifton in The New York Times), but there is no dearth of great red meat in Texas.

In what seems to be becoming a bad habit of mine, I played hookey again Friday after being shanghaied for lunch by my friend John. We headed over to Chez Nous with a collector friend/client of his and opened a few interesting bottles that “needed” to be tasted.

Above: The 1994 Trimbach was tighter than I would have expected but it opened up nicely with a little aeration. The pairing with the duck pâté was sublime.

Chez Nous is everything that you wish it would be: quiet, unassuming, and friendly, with solid bistro cuisine that may not win awards but never disappoints. Owner Jacques always delivers classic staples of French cuisine — the pork rillettes and duck pâté always excellent. (I don’t know where Jacques sources his bread but it’s probably the best I’ve had in Austin.)

Above: Duck liver pâté at Chez Nous — highly recommended.

The Gimonnet premier cru Cuis also paired deliciously with the pâté but then again so did the 2006 Les Palliéres Gigondas (which we tasted in honor of Kermit’s visit to Austin on Monday, since Kermit owns the winery together with the Brunier brothers).

Jimmie Vaughan and 94 Trimbach on the same day? Life would be rough if I didn’t have such a beautiful lady in my life.

I have thus far refrained from complaining on the blog, but why? Why refrain when you can complain? So complain I shall. Alas, this isn’t even very interesting, just straight-up complainy. And sort of a request for advice.

So, the construction.

We have a beautiful, LARGE, centrally-located, pinch me I’m dreaming how did I get so lucky, 2 bedroom apartment in freakin’ paris. How could I complain about this? Well, I can. They are doing some serious, SERIOUS construction in the apartment below us. We first realized this the first day we were here, when we heard lots of banging and pounding. For several days I was convinced that the construction was happening above us, below us, and in one or both of the courtyards on either side of the building. The noise seemed to be coming from every direction and was echoing and reverberating through the courtyards, and in fact i thought it was possible that there was some sort of quarry or rock-smashing business that operated out of the courtyard. Now I am pretty sure that it is construction taking place only in the apartment below us, but MAN are they persistent and loud! Sometimes they do this drilling, jackhammery kind of thing that I can feel through the floor and kind of makes my teeth vibrate. Seriously, AWFUL.

I can feel the couch vibrating as I type this. And the intermittent BZZZ is punctuated by a nearly constant BANG BANG. Hammering and drilling? Hammering and power saw?

They seem to be doing this construction from almost precisely 9AM – 5PM. With, of course, an approximately 1 hour lunch break. Which would be fine if we were here in Paris working 9-5 jobs. But, we’re not. We’re home a bunch during the day. Adam is trying to work on his thesis and I am trying to do some writing. Its not like we intend on holing up here and never leaving the house to enjoy Paris. But it has been cold and rainy the past week, and part of the reason that we did rent such a lovely, light-filled apartment was so that it would be pleasant to spend time and work there when we were not out exploring the city. And furthermore, I know you’re going to think I’m spoiled for wanting to sleep until 9:30, but I am on a GAP YEAR, dammit, and no matter how much of an early bird you are, it is simply not nice to be awakened by a sound like someone jackhammering in your ear. This morning I managed to stay in bed until 9:30 by putting in earplugs and covering my head with pillows, but it was still basically intolerable Thankfully, we had to be at the bank by 10:00 for our third “rendezvous” regarding the very serious and complicated matter of opening a checking account– more on that later. So we got to get out of the house mighty quickly. But, seriously, AGH! The landlord did not mention anything about this construction to us before we got here. When A asked her about it last week, she seemed vaguely aware of it and thought it would be over “soon.” A believes her, but I am a bitter little pessimist and am convinced that this will go on FOREVER and cause me to grind my teeth down to nothing.

UPDATE: A just went downstairs to ask the workers how long they thought this would go on for. There was not much of a common language (they were not French, perhaps Polish?), but he THINKS they told him they thought they’d be around until December. Should I ask for a reduction in rent? I really don’t know what to do. I feel like this is a diminution in the value of the unit, especially given what we intended to DO with the apartment. E.g. sometimes (or often) spend time here during the day. What should I do?  I guess I could start working in cafes, but I have never felt 100% comfortable sitting in a cafe and ordering like one thing, and occupying a table for hours at a time, except in a college town like Ann Arbor. I know people supposedly do this in Paris, and I think it would be fun on occasion, but I’m already self-conscious enough about my French, and about being an obnoxious American, and I don’t even know how to figure out which cafes are the ones where you’re welcome to loiter. And I don’t want to spend mucho Euros every day on beverages I don’t actually need.  Am I being unreasonable?

Am descoperit cu puţin timp în urmă, în staţionarea noastră în Bucureşti (Oana, Alex, Victor, Cili tout va bien?), seria de animaţii Simon’s cat. Şi cum am avut la familia Pricop o pisică foarte sociabilă şi comunicativă (grrr grrr grrr toată ziulica) şi am regăsit una şi acasă (mau mau mau la uşă, în fiecare dimineaţă  pe la ora 5), vă las aici un filmuleţ care poate caracteriza toate pisicile din lumea asta, şi care îi va lămuri pe cei ce nu au încă feline acasă în privinţa unei dileme simple: de ce, dacă te hotărăşti să iţi iei o pisică, aceasta va ajunge, inevitabil, să pună stăpînire pe casa ta, să îţi modifice orele de somn şi de veghe şi să devină subiectul principal al poveştilor tale indoors ?

Seria a ajuns deocamdată la 6 animaţii, dar promite să aibă o continuare generoasă, de vreme ce Simon are trei pisici – Hugh, Maisie şi Jess – lucru care înseamnă, practic, o permanentă, neobosită, inepuizabilă sursă de inspiraţie. Pe experienţa mea!

În topul nostru mai intră: Cat-man-do şi Let me in! În concluzie: staţi cu ochii pe pisică!

p.s. Diesel, este, desigur, total de acord!

Alors celle-là, il fallait la prendre vite, avant que les oreilles commencent à bouger, les museaux à pointer, les yeux à me fixer.

La triade siamoise, par ordre d’apparition :

• Minette
• Daphné
• Charlie

A la fois, j’aimerais toujours les voir ainsi, à la fois, je les aime plein de vie, se chamaillant, dormant dans les quatre coins de l’appartement ou s’attendant à chaque angle pour faussement se bondir l’un sur l’autre.

Et puis enfin, imaginez moi dessous et vous aurez à peu près l’état de situation des nuits que nous passons tous les 3, 4, 5 ensemble dans un lit d’un mètre soixante de large ;o).

Google Actualités, c‘est une page qui vous montre en un clin d’œil les plus récentes manchettes des médias sur le net. C’est une sorte d’agrégateur RSS de l’actualité.

Or, Google Actualités vous permet aussi de faire une recherche dans des journaux du 19^e et du 20^e siècle. Pour y accéder, cliquez sur recherche avancée dans Google Actualités (en haute, à droite) ou cliquez ici

Par exemple, aisons une recherche avec les termes ”incendie” et ”Rimouski” . Je veux trouver des articles concernant l’incendie de Rimouski du 6 mai 1950, un incendie qui a ravagé en grande partie la ville de Rimouski ou tout autre incendie qui a eu lieu dans cette ville.

Les résultats de la recherche apparaissent. Ce sont des articles récents. Or, nous voulons voir des articles anciens.

Regardez dans la colonne de gauche et repérez Archives. Cliquez sur Autres dates. Choisissez une année ou une période de temps. Pour fin de démonstration, je choisi la période 1950-2000

Les résultats s’affichent. D’abord, on voit un graphique qui nous informe du nombre de résultats par année. Dans ce cas-ci, on voit que la majorité des articles recensés ont été publiés dans les années 2000. Ensuite, on a la liste des articles qui contiennent les mots-clés recherchés.

On clique sur un titre de l’article. L’édition intégrale du journal s’affiche. On voit notre mot-clé souligné en jaune. On peut zoomer et dézoomer le texte.

On peut partager un article en cliquant sur Link to article (en haut à droit) puis en cliquant sur le titre de l’article. Exemple : A la radio fm de Radio-Canada : le grand feu de Rimouski
Il n’y a pas de boutons pour Twitter, Delicious ou pour envoyer par email l’article.

Les journaux du Québec disponibles
Voici une liste non-exhaustive de journaux numérisés et disponibles via Google News. J’ignore si toutes leurs parutions sont en ligne.
La Patrie (Montréal), La Gazette des Campagne (La Pocatière), La Voix de Matane (Matane), Chez Nous (Rimouski), Le courrier de Berthierville (Berthierville), Le Bloc (Montréal), Nos droits (Cap-de-la-Madeleine), Journal de Waterloo (Waterloo), La Voix de Shawinigan (Shawinigan), Vers demain (Beauceville), Le Petit Journal (Montréal), Le Goglu (Montréal), La Province (Montréal), La Chronique de Magog (Magog), L’Action populaire (Joliette), Stanstead Journal (Stanstead), Le Canada (Montréal), Le Courrier (Trois-Pistoles), etc.

Commentaires
Les titres des articles ne sont pas toujours correctement identifiés dans les résultats de recherche, comme ici . On dit que le nom du journal est Le Nord, mais si on regarde en haut de chaque page, c’est écrit Le Canard.

La qualité de numérisation varie, mais elle est généralement acceptable. L’OCR (reconnaissance optique des caractères) semble être adéquate. Les pages se chargent vite. Si vous voulez imprimer des pages, bonne chance…

Je n’ai pas réussi à trouver la liste complète des journaux ainsi que les éditions numérisées. Les grands quotidiens comme le Soleil et le Devoir, par exemple ne sont pas disponibles. Ce sont surtout des hebdos qui sont numérisés. Beaucoup d’hebdos régionaux sont disponibles.

Il y a de la publicité à droite de l’écran. Ces pubs changent en fonction des titres des articles sur lequel on clique.

Si vous voulez voir tous les numéros d’un journal, bonne chancez, vous aurez à jouer du clic pour tous les trouver…

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BANQ) met elle aussi en ligne des journaux. Je souçponne que plusieurs hebdos sont disponibles aux deux endroits, mais Google semble en avoir mis beaucoup plus en ligne.

Conclusion
Googles Actualités vous donne accès à un large éventail de journaux. Ce qui manque, c’est une liste des journaux et des éditions numérisées. Ce serait bien de pouvoir faire une recherche par mots-clés à l’intérieur du journal sans avoir à retourner sur la page d’accueil de Google Actualités et recommencer le processus. Les pages se chargent rapidement à l’écran et la qualité d’image est généralement bonne.

Billet relié:

• Collection numérique de la BANQ: les journaux du 19e et du 20e siècle
  

L’interface du site vous rappelle quelque chose ? Normal )

Quand les goûts ne changent pas, pas besoin de courir après l’inspiration venue d’ailleurs, on reprend les mêmes et on recommence…

Alors voilà, à tou(te)s nos lecteur(trice)s de Suisse romande, que j’espère nombreu-ses-x et particulièrement celles et ceux qui résident sur la Côte, je vous présente mon service de pet-sitting : Pet-sitter.ch.

Le concept est simple : rendre visite et prendre soin de vos animaux en votre absence (vacances, déplacement professionnel, séjour hospitalier) à un coût raisonnable (le coût reste le même pour la visite d’un à quatre animaux dans un périmètre de 3 km) et dans un esprit “développement durable” (mutualisation et partage des coûts, transport vert autant que possible, carte de réduction).

Mon idée vous séduit ? Alors, allez nous rendre une visite sur Pet-sitter.ch, nous sommes à votre disposition. Liste des communes desservies et tarifs disponibles.

Attention !!! (pour une fois) Cette annonce n’est pas réservée qu’aux Thaïs et aux Siamois !!!

Merci et très bonnes vacances à tou(te)s, à deux ou quatre pattes ;o)