Category: Fourre-tout

A little bit of everything

The wise shopper

In the old days shopping was simple and painless.
When you needed something, you walked to a nearby store and picked what you wanted. Shopping was not yet a hobby and was never mentioned in polite society.

Buying an item was easy since there was only a single brand of pickles or vacuum cleaner and no Chinese knock-offs.
As Henry Ford said: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” It was simple indeed.

IMG_7912Today, shopping is a tad more complicated.
Thanks to globalization, the consumer now faces an embarrassment of riches and it becomes increasingly difficult to pick the right article.

To get the best deal and hopefully the best product, the wise consumer ought to start by scouting the Internet.
Far from the sound and furor of a shopping mall, he can leisurely compare and evaluate products. But before committing himself, the astute buyer should also read reviews written by professionals and previous buyers alike.
And it is not that simple either.

Just like politicians, professional reviewers don’t seem to be able to agree on any single product.
I have never seen two camera reviewers or two vacuum cleaner reviewers agreeing on a single item.
What’s great for some stink for others and vice versa. Previous buyers are not any better either. Some rave about a product, while some others denounce it.
What is a guy to do? (I am saying “guy” because “guyettes” don’t seem to have this kind of problem).

When zeroing on a product I first start looking for an item that generated a lot of reviews and comments. Then the number of positive reviews has got to be vastly superior to the number of negative reviews. If positive and negative comments are equal, it is wiser to ditch that product altogether.

I am often more interested by the negative comments than the positive ones. Why does a customer bad-mouth a product? Is it too flimsy, too heavy, unpractical, not politically correct?
I want to know…

When it comes to shopping, it is difficult to trust anybody, even close friends. When somebody you know recommends a product, you should ask this person if he/she had carnal knowledge of the vendor. If the answer is positive, this person is obviously biased and cannot be trusted.

To sum it up, shopping has become a gigantic pain in the wazoo and I wouldn’t inflict on my worse enemy.

But it is like a colonoscopy.
Sometimes you have to do it.

Alain

 

Shutterbug

I have been taking photographs for at least 40 years and I have been through to at least a dozen cameras.

I know a little bit about photography but know very little about the technical aspect of the craft. Don’t talk to me about Dynamic Range, ISO speed or Aperture values. This is all Hebrew to me and I not fluent in this lingo.

I am what you might call an amateur with good instincts, a paparazzo, a maverick lensman who shoots from the hip. I am a sniper who ambushes people at a distance and who withdraws before they realize that they have been hit.

My favorite subjects are humans or animals, but to pass muster, my shots have to be candid, when my preys are totally unaware of my actions.
My forte is anticipating and catching the unique moment when the subject is totally unguarded, left to his natural impulses.

To accomplish this (especially in a foreign land) I need a small camera; something inconspicuous yet sophisticated. Something with a decent zoom that I can pull out of my pocket, fire and conceal again quickly without drawing undue attention.

I also need a gadget that is not going to slow me down. I cannot afford to fiddle with a camera’s settings when I am on the prowl. What I need is a device that programs itself automatically and allows me to catch a fleeting, unique moment.

Canon s120The latest camera that I just I bought is very sophisticated and is supposed to do all these things. As a matter of fact, it does many amazing things. It will warn me when the subject blinks or when he/she smiles. It will recognize a face and will automatically focus on it when told to do so.

But it is extremely complex and even when set in the “Auto” mode, I am not sure that it is doing everything the way I would like it to do.

A new camera is like a new butler or even a new wife. You need to get used to them and understand their quirks to get along with them.

For the time being, I am still in the honeymoon phase trying to put up with my new toy sometime peculiar logic.
But it is small, nice-looking and seems eager to please.

I hope that this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Alain

 

Le Facteur AWOL

Yesterday, La Pétanque Marinière hosted its annual Mother’s Day tournament.

Due to this popular holiday, participants were in short supply, but everything nevertheless went according to plan.
Almost everything.

Before talking about the tournament, I would like to acknowledge the people who made this event possible.

Lately, after a few good soakings, our pétanque field started to look like a croquet lawn and with a tournament fast approaching it became urgent to dispose of the wild weeds that had colonized our field.

We appealed for volunteers but many doubted that anybody would show for Volunteers are shy, capricious creatures rarely seen in public.

Fortunately we have in our midst what Jules Romains called “des hommes de bonne volonté”, men (and women) of good will.
Last Thursday I came across such people.

They were Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Roger and Sabine Mattei, Claudie Chourré, Charlie Davantes and Liv Kraft.
They toiled for hours to make the field presentable.
On Saturday, Christine, Monique Bricca and Helga Facchini also joined our chained gang and helped to complete the task.
I particularly want to recognize Charlie and Liv, and Henry and Calvert who have been extraordinarily helpful.
If the field looked decent last Sunday, you owe it to all these people.

Back to the tournament.

On Sunday, the following people showed up to compete.

  1. Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
  2. Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
  3. Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
  4. Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen
  5. Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard
  6. Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
  7. Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
  8. Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
  9. Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
  10. Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
  11. Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
  12. Steve Jones & Christine Jones
  13. Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes

Four (4) timed games (45 minutes) were first played to determine who would compete in the Concours and who would play in the Consolante.

After the tryouts, the following teams qualified for the Concours:

  • Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur
  • Steve Jones & Christine Jones
  • Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes
  • Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz
  • Fosty Sabo & Teri Sirico
  • Adair Hastings & Jack Cannard
  • Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand
  • Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen

The following teams were assigned to the Consolante:

  • Francois Moser & Helga Facchini
  • Larry Cragg & Christine Cragg
  • Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
  • Colette Van Der Meulen & Monique VDM
  • Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei

In this particular tournament, I teamed up with Sabine Mattei (a very decent pointer) and things should have worked out pretty well.
But they didn’t.

  • In our first encounter of the day we lost 6/13 to Etienne and Bill Hansen
  • We won the second game 13/9 against Steve and Christine Jones
  • We lost 10/12 (time constraint) against Colette and Monique
  • After leading all the way, we lost our fourth game 10/12 to Francois and Helga
  • through a disastrous blunder of mine.

Then we lost a consolante game 12/13 against Henry and Calvert through a lucky break that allowed them to score the 5 final winning points.
Drat!

I didn’t play well for sure, but I must have done something to offend the Gods (I didn’t sacrifice a chicken) for they slapped me silly repeatedly.

The weather was good most of the day, but after 4:30 p.m. gusts of wind and clouds of dust made playing unpleasant.

In the Concours semi-finals:

  • Jean-Claude Etallaz & Le Facteur defeated Steve & Christine Jones 13/3
  • Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz beat Jean Bartkowiak & Charles Davantes 13/4
  • Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard overcame Frosty Sabo & Teri Sirico 13/12
  • Etienne Rijkheer & Bill Hansen got the best of Ken Lee & Jean-Claude Bunand 13/10

In the finals, the unthinkable happened!
Before the beginning of the final game Le Facteur left the field to attend a dinner engagement, forcing Jean-Claude Etallaz to face Adair Hasting & Jack Cannard by himself and armed only with 3 boules.
He naturally lost but still managed to score 5 points.

This type of behavior should not be condoned!
Even though Jean-Michel had told Jean-Claude beforehand that he might have to leave, this is a serious breach of etiquette and sportsmanship.
To ensure that this won’t happen again, the club should declare Jean-Michel AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) and officially reprimand him.

When you sign up for a tournament, you commit yourself for the duration.
Except for a dire emergency, a player cannot leave a tournament before he has completed his playing engagement.

Despite this flagrant “faux pas”, please join me in wishing Jean-Michel a happy 60th birthday (May 13).

In the Consolante, after miraculously defeating Sabine and myself 13/12, Henry and Calvert lost to Larry and Christine Cragg 12/13.

Final results:

IMG_4070

Concours:

1st place: Adair Hastings and Jack Cannard: $29.00 each
2nd place: Jean-Claude Etallaz: $21.00 each
3rd place: Kevin Evoy & Hans Kurz: $13:00 each

Consolante:

1st place: Larry and Christine Cragg: $12.50 each
2nd place: Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron: $8.50 each

Alain

PS: To look at photos of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn your computer sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.