Bon le gouvernement Charest va poursuivre les fabricants de cigarettes pour 30 milliards.

Ok je veux bien.

Maintenant va-t-il poursuivre les dépanneurs Couche-Tard et autres endroits qui eux vendent ces cigarettes?

À votre avis concernant les cigarettes. Qu’est-ce qui est pire?  En fabriquer ou les revendre?

Pourquoi le gouvernement Charest ne poursuivrait pas ceux qui en vendent aussi ?  Pourquoi ne pas installer des postes à péages sur les réserves indiennes, grands fournisseurs de cigarettes aux fumeurs.

Ne vous faites pas de fausses joies trop rapidement.  Si jamais le gouvernement du Québec avait gain de cause contre les fabricants de cigarettes, okay il recevrait un certain montant et déduisez à cela les frais d’avocats.  Sur les 30 milliards demandés s’il reste qu’un seul petit milliard ça sera beau.

It will be a busy reporting week on the economic front with month over month Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index numbers coming out early in the week.

Initial jobless claims and continuing claims are being reported Thursday while Housing starts and building permit numbers will be reported on Friday.

On the earnings front, not many companies will be reporting next week. Alimentation Couche-Tard reports on Tuesday with consensus estimates coming in at .118 per share.

Corus Entertainment reports on Wednesday with expectations at .429 per share and Nexen reports Thursday with expected earnings per share of .284.

US earnings can be found by going to www.earnings.com

Have a great weekend

Marie Hélène Poitras ne serait probablement pas contente si je disais que je consommais de la chick litt depuis deux mois. En fait, c’est que l’auteure prétend qu’il n’existe pas vraiment de « littérature féminine »*, ce avec quoi je suis pas mal d’accord, mais son dernier projet, Rock & Rose, ne s’adresse inévitablement qu’aux adolescentes [dans l'âme], sinon aux jeunes homosexuels.

Mise en contexte: Rock & Rose, c’est le nouveau hit de la collection Épizzod (quel nom coooool…) chez La courte échelle. Ouais, le même concept que les terrible Pavel, a.k.a le flop de Matthieu Simard: 12 numéros d’un quarantaine de page, un genre de feuilleton. Renaud-Bray ne tenait pas le dernier numéro, donc je suis passée le prendre au Couche-Tard. Oui oui, dans la section des romans Arlequin, les Épizzod y sont. 5$.

Résumé: histoire de deux meilleures amies, bien entendu très différentes. Simone est un peu rockeuse, Juliette est fifille. Simone fait partie d’un band depuis peu, Juliette participe à The next Sweet Cherries (haha). Mais elle fail misérablement, et je vous dis pas pourquoi, c’est trop beau. Histoires d’amourettes, histoires de chicanes, histoires de mannequin, histoires de vraie bonne musique…

Critique: … enfin! Évidemment, l’auteure balance sans arrêt des noms et des noms de bands plus ou moins émergents, puisque Rock & Rose a comme but de faire connaître autre chose que Lady Gaga à nos fillettes en fleur. Et pas de Radio Dead ou de Loco Locrassse, des pages et des pages de vrai de vrai namedropping: Malajube, Arcade Fire, Navet confit, M.I.A, Justice, Boyz Noize, et j’en passe . C’est un truc (ça, et le fait que Simone signe son journal intime: Rock!) qui peut peut-être agacer les hipsters comme nous, mais que je trouve super pour les jeunes. Le récit ne cache rien des fausses cartes, de la drogue et de l’alcool, de la sexualité, bref, d’une partie de la vraie vie des ados qui souvent, reste tabou pour les matantes qui pensent les comprendre. (Souvenez-vous comment on attendait les scènes de baise dans Un hiver de tourmente. Ben oui, pis elle le fait une fois, pis elle tombe enceinte.) Tout ça, dans un style très Marie Hélène Poitresque, un style magnifique à mon avis, qui dose parfaitement poésie et déséquilibre.

Si je n’ai qu’une bitcherie à faire, c’est que je n’aime pas les illustrations. Elles jurent avec le style. Voilà. À noter sur l’image ci-haut: la petite souris sortie de nulle part avec un coeur brisé au dessus de la tête.  Sinon, à conseiller à toutes les fans de littérature adolescente qui préfèrent le réaliste aux elfes et aux magiciens, aux hipsters-filles qui sont capable de ce dire « ok, ceci a été écrit pour les jeunes et c’est très cool », à ceux qui écoutent encore juste Les cowboys fringants (de bonnes alternatives pour vous dans Rock & Rose) et à mon ami-gay qui sent le vieux botche et la robine, échoué sur mon sofa après une nuit ridicule. Le prochain, Tatouées sur le coeur, sort le 13 juillet.

* Écoutez ceci pour mieux saisir.  Ou simplement découvrir qui est cette personne que j’admire bien, vous comprendrez.

These are a bit out of order, basically it was amazing.

Agence Bos pour les pubs Couche-Tard:

-Alors, bonjour tout le monde!  C’est pas compliqué, pour la nouvelle campagne de pub on fait comme les autres années.  Une pub sur le net et c’est tout. 

- Pas de pub télé?

-Pas besoin, LCN va la passer en boucle pendant 24 heures.  En plus de Denis Lévesque on a droit à Jean-luc Mongrain, alors ça va être un jeu d’enfant.  On attend quelques jours que les matantes s’offusquent, et voilà c’est fait.

J’peux pas croire que LCN se fait avoir à chaque année.  Il n’y a personne dans la boîte qui dit: ”Heille, ça fait quelques années qu’ils nous font ce coup-là, on ne devrait peut-être pas en parler”.

Et comme dirait Mongrain sur son blogue: Vous êtes parent? Amenez votre jeune ado devant l’ordinateur, faites-lui visionner les pubs et transmettez-moi sa réaction.

Bravo à BOS!

Pour voir les pubs http://www.sloche.com/ : Si vous ne trouvez pas les pubs, vous ne méritez pas d’avoir un ordi!!!

Commentaire inutile à m’envoyer: Hmm pas facile, ok… oui… ça y est je les ai trouvées!!!

Alimentation Couche-Tard a acquis le réseau américain de magasins d’accommodation franchisés “On the Run” d’ExxonMobil ainsi que 43 sites exploités par cette dernière à Phoenix, en Arizona.

Est-ce que cela ouvre la porte à Couche-Tard pour acquérir d’autres magasins d’ExxonMobil et Esso?

Je viens de lire sur le Figaro qu’une étude a été menée pour évaluer les différences de performances entre les deux modèles.

2 extraits de l’article

<<    L’avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tard
Sandrine Cabut

Les personnes qui ont du mal à se réveiller tôt font preuve d’une plus grande capacité d’attention que celles qui ne traînent pas au lit. Et la différence s’accentue tout au long de la journée.

Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt, prétend un dicton populaire. Pas si sûr. Selon une étude menée par des chercheurs belges, suisses et français, et publiée vendredi dans la revue Science, lève-tôt et couche-tard ont des performances comparables le matin, mais en fin de journée les couche-tard sont plus alertes et plus attentifs.>>

<< Chronotypes extrêmes

«Nous pensions que les sujets “du matin” seraient plus performants le matin, et vice versa. En fait, après une heure et demie d’éveil, il n’y a pas de différence entre lève-tôt et couche-tard. En revanche, en fin de journée, les lève-tard sont moins fatigués et ont amélioré leurs capacités d’attention», explique le Pr Philippe Peigneux, de l’université libre de Bruxelles, l’un des coauteurs de l’étude. >>

Est-ce que je dois leur parler du “pilotage automatique” utilisé par la lève-tard que je suis pour ces cruciales deux premières heures de la journée ? )))

Accessoirement, je conclus que le dicton cité plus haut fait partie de ce que j’appelle des “slogans” destinés au bourrage de crâne sous une trompeuse apparence de logique, tels que “ça vaut mieux que d’être au chômage” ou “on ne peut pas accueillir tout le monde”.

Women will find this funny.  Some men will find it funny too.  I know I did.

I saw this in a unisex public bathroom at a local Couche-Tard convenience store during my recent visit to Montreal.  Too priceless not to capture on film.

While amusing, kind of tragic that someone (probably a woman) had to put this sign up because said person was tired of cleaning up afterward.

For those who don’t speak French…

Notice to Men
Lift the toilet seat, please
Thanks
Also, don’t smoke in our toilet

Like I said, some people will find this funny.  Sad, but funny.

If I was an employee of Circle K and got this repugnant piece of crap memo about Barack Obama from Alain Bouchard, I think I’d barf.  Then quit.

Read this rag of a memo.  You won’t believe it.

I got this by way of a Circle K employee.

Alain Bouchard, Circle K,  Mac’s, and Couche-Tard should be ashamed of themselves for letting something like this be sent to their employees.

I hope the Board of Directors does something with Mr. Bouchard.  At the very least they could teach him how to spell “Barack”.

[Update, December 27 8:55 pm: I received a reply from Apple:

Dear Alexandre,

Hello my name is Todd and i am happy to assist you. I understand that you would like a refund for your gift card that you purchased without knowing that you couldn't purchase applications unfortunately i am unable to approve a refund because once a Gift Card has been redeemed, it no longer has any value. The store credit on the card has been completely transferred to the account it was redeemed to. I did some research and i came across this link where apple customers go and send feedback about issues they have experienced and I think you may find this informative.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1780613

Thank you Alexandre for choosing iTunes Store and have a great day.

Sincerely,

Todd
iTunes Store Customer Support

please note: I work Thursday - Monday 7AM - 4PM CST

So it seems that the restriction is due to Canadian law. Which makes it even more surprising that none of the documentation available to users in the process of redeeming the code contains no mention of this restriction. I find Apple's lack of attention to this issue a tad bit more troubling in context.]

I’m usually rather levelheaded and I don’t get angry that easily.

Apparently, iTunes gift cards can’t be used on the App Store portion of the Canadian version of the iTunes store. It seems that, in the US, gift cards can in fact be used on the App Store.

This is quite disappointing.

Because of diverse international moves, I currently don’t have access to a valid credit card in my own name. During this time, I’ve noticed a few applications on the iTunes App Store that I would like to purchase but, since I didn’t have a credit card, I couldn’t purchase them. I do have a Canadian Paypal account but the Canadian iTunes doesn’t accept Paypal payments (while the US version of iTunes does). I thought that Paypal was able to provide temporary credit card numbers but it seems that I was mistaken.

So I thought about using an iTunes gift card.

And I started thinking about this as a gift to myself. Not exactly a reward for good behaviour but a “feel good” purchase. I don’t tend to be that much into consumerism but I thought an iTunes gift card would make sense.

So, today, I went to purchase an iTunes gift card for use on the App Store portion of the iTunes Store.

I felt quite good about it. The weather today is bad enough that we are advised to stay home unless necessary. There’s ice all over and the sidewalks are extremely slippery. But I felt good about going to a store to purchase an iTunes gift card. In a way, I was “earning” this card. Exercising a lot of caution, I went to a pharmacy which, I thought, would sell iTunes gift cards. I know that Jean Coutu sells them. Turns out that this smaller pharmacy doesn’t. So I was told to go to a «dépanneur» (convenience store) a bit further, which did have iTunes gift cards. Had I known, I would probably have gone to another convenience store: Laval, like other places in Quebec, has dépanneurs everywhere. Still, since that dépanneur was rather close and is one of the bigger ones in the neighbourhood, I thought I’d go to that one.

And I did find iTunes gift cards. Problem is, the only ones they had were 25$. I would have preferred a 15$ card since I only need a few dollars for the main purchase I want to make on the iTunes App Store. But, given the context, I thought I’d buy the 25$ card. This is pretty much as close as I can get to an “upsell” and I thought about it before doing it. It’s not an impulse purchase since I’ve been planning to get an iTunes gift card for weeks, if not months. But it’s more money than I thought I would spend on iTunes, for a while.

Coming back home, I felt quite good. Not exactly giddy, but I got something close to a slight “consumption rush.” I so irregularly do purchases like these that it was a unique occasion to partake into consumer culture.

As I was doing all this, I was listening to the latest episode of The Word Nerds which is about currency (both linguistic and monetary). It was very difficult to walk but it all felt quite fun. I wasn’t simply running an errand, I was being self-indulgent.

In fact, I went to get French fries at a local greasy spoon, known for its fries. It may be an extreme overstatement but a commenter on Google Maps calls this place “Best Restaurant in North America.” The place was built, very close to my childhood home, the year I was born. It was rebuilt during the year and now looks like a typical Quebec greasy spoon chain. But their fries are still as good as they were before. And since “self-indulgence” was the theme of my afteroon, it all seemed fitting.

Speaking of indulgence, what I wanted to purchase is a game: Enjoy Sudoku. I’ve been playing with the free “Enjoy Sudoku Daily” version for a while. This free version has a number of restrictions that the 2.99$ version doesn’t have. If I had had access to a credit card at the time, I would have purchased the “premium version” right away. And I do use the free version daily, so I’ve been giving this a fair bit of thought in the meantime.

So imagine my deception when, after redeeming my iTunes gift card, I noticed that I wasn’t able to purchase Enjoy Sudoku. The gift certificate amount shows up in iTunes but, when I try to purchase the game, I get a message saying that I need to change my payment information. I tried different things, including redeeming the card again (which obviously didn’t work). I tried with other applications, even though I didn’t really have a second one which I really wanted to buy. I read the fine print on the card itself, on the card’s packaging, and on the Apple website. Couldn’t find any explanation. Through Web searches, I notice that gift card purchases apparently work on the App Store portion of the US iTunes site. Of course, that web forum might be wrong, but it’d be surprising if somebody else hadn’t posted a message denying the possibility to use iTunes gift cards on App Store given the context (a well-known Mac site, a somewhat elaborate discussion, this habit of forum posters and bloggers to pinpoint any kind of issue with Apple or other corporations…).

The legal fine print on the Apple Canada website does have one sentence which could be interpreted to legally cover the restriction of applications from purchases made with the iTunes gift card:

Not all products may be available.

This type of catch-all phrasing is fairly common in legalese and I do understand that it protects Apple from liability over products which cannot be purchased with an iTunes gift card, for whatever reason. But no mention is made of which products might be unavailable for purchase with an iTunes gift card. In fact, the exact same terms are in the fine print for the US version of the iTunes store. While it makes a lot of sense to embed such a statement in legal fine print, making people pay direct attention to this statement may have negative consequences for Apple as it can sound as if iTunes gift cards are unreliable or insufficient.

I eventually found an iTunes FAQ on the Canadian version of Apple support which explicitly mentions this restriction:

What can I buy with an iTunes Gift Card or iTunes Gift Certificate?

iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates can be used to purchase music, videos and audio books from the iTunes Store. iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates may not be used on the Canadian store to purchase applications and games. iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates are not accepted for online Apple Store purchases.

(Emphasis mine.)

As clear as can be. Had I known this, I would never have purchased this iTunes gift card. And I do accept this restriction, though it seems quite arbitrary. But I personally find it rather strange that a statement about this restriction is buried in the FAQ instead of being included on the card itself.

The US version of the same FAQ doesn’t mention applications:

What can I buy with an iTunes Gift Card or iTunes Gift Certificate?

iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates can be used to purchase music, videos, TV shows, and audio books from the iTunes Store. At this time, iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates are not accepted for online Apple Store purchases.

Since, as far as I know, iTunes gift cards can in fact be used to purchase applications, the omission is interesting. One might assume that application purchases are allowed ”unless stated otherwise.” In fact, another difference between the two statements is quite intriguing: “At this time” iTunes Gift Cards are not accepted for online Apple Store purchases. While it may not mean anything about Apple Store purchases through iTunes cards in the future. But it does imply that they have been thinking about the possibility. As a significant part of Apple’s success has to do with its use of convenient payment systems, this “at this time” quote is rather intriguing.

So I feel rather dejected. Nothing extreme or tragic. But I feel at the same time disappointed and misled. I’ve had diverse experiences with Apple, in the past, some of which were almost epic. But this one is more frustrating, for a variety of reasons.

Sure, “it’s only 25$.” But I can do quite a lot with 25$. Yesterday, I bought two devices for just a bit more than this and I had been considering these purchases for a while. Altogether, the webcam, mouse, and Sudoku Daily were my holiday gifts to myself. Given my financial situation, these are not insignificant, in terms of money. I’ve had very positive experiences which cost much less than 25$, including some cost-free ones but also some reasonably-priced ones.

But it’s really not about the money. It’s partly about the principle: I hate being misled. When I do get misled by advertising, my attitude toward consumerism gets more negative. In this case, I get to think of Apple as representative of the flaws of consumerism. I’ve been a Mac geek since 1987 and I still enjoy Apple products. But I’m no Apple fanboy and occasions like these leave a surprisingly sour taste in my mouth.

The problem is compounded by the fact that Apple’s iTunes is a “closed ecosystem.” I listen respectfully to others who complain about Apple but I typically don’t have much of a problem with this lack of openness. Such a simple issue as not being able to use an iTunes gift card to purchase something on the iTunes App Store is enough to make me think about diverse disadvantages of the iTunes structure.

If it hadn’t been for the restrictive App Store, I could have purchased Enjoy Sudoku directly through Paypal. In fact, the developers already have a Paypal button for donations and I can assume that they’d be fine with selling the native application directly on their site. In the US, I could have purchased the application directly on iTunes with a US Paypal account. In this context, it now seems exceedingly strange that iTunes gift cards would not be usable on the iTunes App Store.

Which brings me back to a sore point with Apple: the company is frequently accused of “hating Canada.” Of course, the sentiment may be associated to Canadian jealousy over our neighbours in the United States. But Apple has done a number of things which have tended to anger Canadians. Perhaps the most obvious example was the fiasco over the Canadian iPhone as Rogers and Fido, Canada’s only cellphone providers for the iPhone, initially created such abusive plans that there was a very public outcry from people who wanted to purchase those cellphones. Rogers later changed its iPhone plans but the harm had been done. Apple may be seen as a victim, in this case, but the fiasco still gave credence to the notion that Apple hates Canada.

Yet this notion isn’t new. I personally remember diverse occasions through which Canadian users of Apple products had specific complaints about how we were treated. Much of the issues had to do with discrepancies over prices or problems with local customer support. And many of these were fairly isolated cases. But isolated incidents appear like a pattern to people if they’re burnt twice by the same flame.

Not that this means I’ll boycott Apple or that I’m likely to take part in one of those class action lawsuits which seem to “fall” on Apple with a certain regularity. But my opinion of Apple is much lower this afternoon than it has been in the past.

I’m sending the following to Apple Canada’s customer service (follow-up: 62621014). Not that I really expect a favourable resolution but I like to go on record about things like these.

I would like to either be credited 25$ for purchases on the App Store section of the iTunes store or reimbursed for this gift card.

I bought a 25$ iTunes gift card specifically to purchase applications on the App Store. The front of the card’s packaging says that I can use it “for music and more.” Nothing on the small print at the back of the packaging or on the card itself says that the card may not be used on the App Store. Even the legal terms of the card have no mention of this restriction:

http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ca/gifts.html

The only passage of that page which can be understood to cover this exception is the following:

Not all products may be available.

Bringing attention to this sentence may not be a very good strategy as it can imply that some music, videos, and audiobooks are also restricted.

The only explicit and direct mention of this restriction is here, in the support section of the site:

http://www.apple.com/ca/support/itunes/store/giftcard/

What can I buy with an iTunes Gift Card or iTunes Gift Certificate?

iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates can be used to purchase music, videos and audio books from the iTunes Store. iTunes Gift Cards and iTunes Gift Certificates may not be used on the Canadian store to purchase applications and games.

For those who know the personal reputation I’ve garnered over the years as a serial dater, the fact that I have somehow managed to tie myself down – and happily so – for three years (and counting) with one man is, well, quite impressive.  Somehow, I’ve morphed into the most likely candidate for the next alter waltz, and somehow, I’m far from running scared.  Boyfriend and I have celebrated our successful past and impending future each year by jaunting off to our favorite pseudo-Euro hideaway in Montreal, Quebec.  This year was no different, with the exceptions of strangely balmy weather (the last two years brought blistering blizzards) and the best B&B we could stumble upon (a full French breakfast made especially for us each morning!).  

We also checked out some new haunts, namely, the Biodome – a barrage of simulated indoor ecosystems ranging from the Amazon to the Antarctic, Le Musee Redpath – conveniently located in the heart of the McGill University campus, Warhol Live at Le Musee de Beaux-Arts – an extensively comprehensive composite of the artist at one of our favorite museums, as well as Vieux Montreal, Le Quartier Latin, Rue de Ste-Catherine, La Brioche Lyonnaise, Double Pizza (home of the world’s best poutine), and the ever-incredible Couche-Tard (think Wawa on Canadian crack).  And because Boyfriend generously paid for every stitch of our romantic getaway, I felt compelled to find a really stellar anniversary gift.  God bless eBay, which directed me to a vintage 12-string Fender acoustic guitar in a neighboring town.

As a big-time fan of The Byrds, Boyfriend has been pining over a twelve-string for as long as I can remember.  We also have collective aspirations of owning a plethora of musical instruments, and now, between the two of us, we own six guitars, one bass, one Shure 55SH microphone, one omnichord, one theremin, one mini-keyboard, a bass amp, and two guitar amps (including my amazing Orange combo).  We hope to one day create an epic music room, and seeing as we also just decided to move in together next year, this might actually come to fruition sooner than we thought.  This will be our year, it took a long time to come.        

Phy : NOTRE NOUVEL ENVIRONNEMENT

Nous avons la chance de loger dans une maison typique de Montréal, une maison sur 3 niveaux avec des escaliers extérieurs, comme je les aime. Par soucis de discrétion, je vais juste vous donner des exemples de maisons similaires.

Nous avons bien sûr tout le confort nécessaire, tout comme chez nous. La maison est très agréable et les enfants s’y sentent à leur aise (beaucoup mieux que si on avait été enfermé dans une chambre d’hôtel ou dans une location sommairement meublée). On a même un grand frigo américain, ce qui nous change quelque peu de notre frigo miniature à la maison.

Le quartier est calme et les voisins sont aimables et serviables. Sur les portes et parfois sur des panneaux dans la rue, on affiche ceci :

C’est tout de même mieux que “attention chien méchant”

Nous avons une cour extérieure à l’arrière où nous pouvons faire des BBQ et manger à l’ombre d’un arbre, chose que nous ne manquons pas de faire en ce moment où il fait entre 25 et 30 degrés. Cela peut paraître étonnant à Montréal quand on pense que l’hivers, la température peut descendre jusqu’à -40 (record observé en janvier 1957).

Non loin de notre rue se trouve la rue Sherbrook où s’égrennent une multitude de commerces et restaurants, majoritairement des fast food.

Il y a aussi pas mal de magasins à 1 dollar, comme dollarmax, dollarrama, dollarthèque…

Conséquences sans doute de la longueur des hivers, de nombreux magasins de location de vidéos affichent pignon sur rue comme vidéotron, Blockbuster video.

Sans oublier les célèbres “dépanneurs” et “couche-tard”.

Un dépanneur est une petite épicerie qui fournit de tout, ouvert de 7 h à 23 h. Le couche-tard fournit aussi de tout mais est généralement plus grand. On peut même y prendre son café. Il fait partie d’une chaîne et est certainement mieux achalandé. Mais il en est ,de ce fait, moins personnalisé ou humanisé. Il est tenu par des salariés alors que les dépanneurs en général sont tenus par des propriétaires, souvent étrangers.

TITOU ET LES “PIGEONS” DE MONTRÉAL

Si les Montréalais ne s’émeuvent plus de la présence familière des écureuils, il n’en est pas de même des Français. Derrière la maison, il y en a un ou deux qui viennent régulièrement chercher leurs nourritures et nous enchantent ainsi de leur vive agilité.

Titou : ” Pour l’écureuil j’ai mis du pain sur la table dehors. L’écureuil est venu et il a mangé. C’était très long. Il se cachait et il revenait. Il se régalait. Il était très mignon.

HUG:TELEVISION

C’est à peu près pareil que chez nous sauf qu’ils ont l’accent. Ils ne passent que 6 ou 7 pubs (toujours les mêmes) donc à la fin, on les connaît par coeur. Certains dessins animés passent aussi en France.

Bref, il n’y a pas de grandes différences.

Les copains de l’arrière cour : Félix, , Marco et Mégane. Difficile de se comprendre (beaucoup de “comment ? “, “hein ? “, “répète”) mais c’est sympa.

BRN : Note de bonne conduite

Ce qui me change dans la conduite à Montréal :

Les feux (lumières comme on dit ici) sont positionnés de l’autre côté de la rue. Idem pour les panneaux de direction “faire attention”

Aux carrefour, il y a presque toujours un stop. Il faut marquer l’arrêt. Pas de priorité à droite, le premier arrivé passe avant les autres.

Très peu de panneaux de code de la route et de panneaux de direction. Donc pas très évident pour s’orienter. Il faut se guider avec les numéro de voies et les directions (est/ouest/nord/sud).

Les revêtements de route sont effectivement très abîmés comme nous l’avait dit GNL. Il faut donner des coups de volants pour éviter fissures et nids de poule.

Par contre les automobilistes sont très courtois et prudents, bien plus qu’en France. Et quand on roule à vélo, on nous laisse facilement passer.

Voilà pourquoi au final, tout se passe très bien.

MONTREAL — Couche-Tard took a major step in reaching its goal of increasing foodservice sales throughout the chain yesterday with the official introduction of “Couche-Tard Menu” — a new self-service convenience store concept for prepared and ready-to-eat meals and fresh food items.

As reported in a CSNews Online newsflash yesterday, the largest company-operated c-store chain in North America held a media event here in Montreal to celebrate the seven new Couche-Tard Menu stores in the Quebec province (one more is slated to open in July in Montreal-North).

“We developed Couche-Tard Menu for men and women with very active lifestyles who are looking for convenient, but healthy food choices,” said Chantale Sajo, marketing director for the Canadian c-store chain.

The bright, boldly-signed stores carry a wide variety of brand name foods familiar in many Quebec supermarkets, including sushi, hearty soups, mousses, salads, smoothies, high-end Asian and Italian dishes, pizzas, pasta sauces, lasagna, wraps, breakfast sandwiches, fajitas, sorbets, pates, yogurts, low-calorie meals, desserts, Viennese pastries, cappuccinos, espressos, lattes and more. Pricing is competitive with supermarkets. (Click here to see the prepared food offering, and click here to see the baked goods case.)

In an interview with CSNews Online, Sajo and Business Development Manager Laura Gutierrez acknowledged that part of the challenge was introducing a new concept without alienating the retailer’s core consumer base. However, she pointed out that the stores have been open for several weeks and that customer reaction has been positive.

“We believe 20 percent of our current store network in Quebec can be converted to this offering,” Sajo continued. Among the criteria used to make that determination are space (the Menu stores have to be 1,200 square feet or bigger), sales potential, geography and surrounding demographics, and traffic patterns. The stores’ product mix is designed to maximize food sales potential for morning, lunch and after-work shoppers.

The centerpiece of the Menu stores is a stainless steel counter with cold drinks and grab-and-go food items. The stores include a section of standard Couche-Tard convenience store products as well as a section of ready-to-eat items. Each store has a fully trained food advisor staffing the department to assist customers and ensure product freshness, added Gutierrez. (Click here to see the centerpiece.)

“Innovation is at the heart of our new offer,” said Michel Bernard, vice president of Couche-Tard’s Eastern Canada Operations, at the media gathering. “We are proud to provide our many loyal customers with practical solutions in the form of exclusive, innovative products, more than 80 percent of which come from Quebec.”

Sajo told CSNews Online many of the local vendors developed products specifically for the new concept.

Menu is part of Couche-Tard’s efforts to lift foodservice sales from 5 percent in stores with the traditional offer to 20 percent at the Couche-Tard Menu stores, Sajo added.

Couche-Tard spent $2 million renovating existing stores to implement the new concept at eight stores in the greater Montreal region. Being close to the head office in Laval (a Montreal suburb) allows for the quick reception of customer feedback, according to the company. (Click here to see the store banner)

The new Couche-Tard Menu branches are located at:
– 1255 Notre-Dame West, Montreal;
– 2500 Jean-Talon East, Montreal;
– 4930 St-Charles Blvd., Pierrefonds;
– 550 Cure-Labelle, Laval;
– 40 Boulevard des Laurentides, Laval (Cartier metro station);
– 125 Boulevard Archambault, I’ile Saint-Jean, Terrebonne;
– 1049 Jean-Baptiste, Beloeil;
– 8755 Boulevard Pie-IX, Montreal-North (July 2008).

Direct deliveries are made several times a week to each Couche-Tard Menu store from food suppliers, according to Gutierrez, who added that some items are delivered daily, such as fresh bakery items, to ensure freshness and quality. Gutierrez also pointed out that Couche-Tard Menu is unique to the chain’s Quebec division, but noted that each of the retailer’s 11 divisions in Canada and the United States are currently developing their own strategies and concepts to meet the company’s foodservice growth goal. 

“We’re a very dynamic company and one of our strengths is that we are decentralized,” Gutierrez told CSNews Online. “For example, in the West, they’ve developed the Take Away Cafe. There’s a lot of sharing of best practices, but food is not like selling a case of beer. There are more differences by region. In Quebec, the trend is for healthy foods and Couche-Tard Menu is a result of that trend.”

For the remaining Quebec stores that don’t qualify to be converted to the Menu concept, Sajo confirmed that the company will evaluate the sales performance of every SKU and will likely determine that some of them could be deployed in the stores that don’t get the full Menu offer.

To see images of Couche-Tard Menu, click the following links:

Couche-Tard Menu Banner 

Store Centerpiece 

Baked Goods Case 

Prepared Foods

“Not only is the convenience channel responding to channel blurring by differentiating themselves through unique product offerings, but they are also addressing today’s health conscious on-the-go consumer with fresh food options. We in turn can further our retail partners initiatives by enhancing these offerings through merchandising, co-marketing and perhaps even begin developing exclusive Supplier-Retailer nutritionally responsible brands.”

Ceci n’est qu’un début, une sorte de chronique semi-régulière (selon mes trouvailles du moment). Malheureusement, on peut parfois manquer de bonnes occasions de photo (comme cette affiche annonçant un service de “maso thérapie” près de chez Eric… déjà retirée au bout de quelques heures ou jours, avant que mon appareil ait pu l’immortaliser…). Cependant, il reste beaucoup de trucs intéressants, drôles ou tout simplement absurdes à saisir avec mon appareil. Comme quoi il faudra que je le transporte en tout temps!!!

Cette photo a été prise au Couche-Tard au coin des rues St-Denis et Beaubien. Apparemment, Couche-Tard croit que le Boxing Day ne devrait pas durer qu’une seule journée mais plutôt plusieurs mois! Cette affiche particulière a été retirée depuis, mais on l’a vue récemment au Couche-Tard situé au coin de Jean-Talon et D’Iberville.

Photo prise au dépanneur Ultra sur l’avenue du Parc, près de Milton. Oui, c’est un néon qui est là depuis des années, mais ça me fait rire chaque fois que je le vois. Est-ce que ça veut dire que les employés ne quittent jamais leur dépanneur?

Cette photo a été prise près de chez moi, sur la rue Notre-Dame près de Cadillac. Aucune idée ce qui s’est passé ici (une auto qui a foncé dessus ou l’usure et le manque d’entretien?) mais heureusement que les appartements du haut ont sûrement un escalier de secours à l’arrière de l’immeuble!

D’autres photos s’ajouteront sous peu, donc c’est “à suire” (comme le disait si bien RBO)…

Aujourd’hui,

• j’ai décidé d’aller me coucher vers 1h du matin, juste après les résultats de Virginie,
• tout excité de la victoire triomphale d’Obama, j’ai décidé d’attendre jusqu’à 2h les résultats du District of Columbia,
• euphorisé par l’écrasante victoire de Barack, je suis resté debout jusqu’à 3h30, heure des résultats du Maryland,
• je me suis finalement résolu à aller me coucher après ce dernier triomphe, vers 4h, non sans avoir attendu la fin du discours du grand vainqueur,
• j’ai été réveillé par la douce odeur du café que m’avaient apporté mes deux anges, Rose et Victor,
• j’ai montré à ces derniers que leur vieux père demeurerait pour encore quelques temps le maître incontesté de la pétanque,
• j’ai pensé que Saint Pierre devait s’ennuyer ferme là-haut pour en être réduit à convoquer Carlos et Henri Salvador,
• à la place de Pierre Perret et d’Annie Cordy, je commencerais à m’inquiéter,
• j’ai regardé avec plaisir le très bon “Dialogue avec mon jardinier” (j’adore Jean-Pierre Daroussin),
• j’ai pris cette photo du “change we can believe in”

Dado que mi horario laboral actual es bastante irregular puesto que lo puedo amoldar a mis necesidades siempre que quiera me he dado cuenta de algunas cosas, que ya sabía, lo cual puede ser poco útil, si ya lo sabía. Lo que pasa es que nunca se está seguro de nada. Almenos yo.

El caso es que me estoy dando cuenta de que mi horario de mayor rendimiento es cuando el día está avanzado. Puede ser a partir de las 11 de la mañana o de las 5 o 6 de la tarde. Es la pura verdad, soy claramente “Búho” o “Couche Tard”. Por lo menos en mi período vital actual.

Os estoy hablando de cronotipos o de ritmos biológicos (de los humanos). Una de las cosas que nos hace diferentes los unos de los otros son los ritmos biológicos; así según los savios (como decía un conocido profesor mío) nos podemos encontrar con personas matutinas (Alondras – Lève-tôt) cuya actividad está en pleno auge a primeras horas del día, están más lúcidos y atentos por las mañanas; y de personas vespertinas (Búhos – Couche Tard) cuya lucidez y atención es mayor al final del día.

Nunca había sido capaz de catalogarme en uno u otro porque dependiendo del día estaba más atenta por la mañana que por la noche, o al contrario, al día siguiente no podía levantarme y en cambio a partir de las 6 estaba activa para hacer cualquier cosa y con una capacidad de concentración imperturbable. Pero últimamente estoy Búho total…

¿ Vosotros/as?