07.16.2008
Toulouse Part 2
Day Two: Almost there!!!!

So today was a long day. It started out with a nice breakfast at the hotel, which will get charged back to the hotel at some point. Even though its more expensive to stay here at the hotel, it’s much more convenient. It’s very close to Airbus and the big room and friendliness of the staff makes the stay that much more enjoyable.

From a work stand point, today was ok. The team is a bit disjointed and rather unprepared, so the days are long and rather frustrating. I worked an 11 hour day today, which is not too different than the hours I usually work, but its much different doing it in France where the sun never seems to go down.

I arrived at Airbus to meet my buddy Daniel at 9am, and it was a breeze getting in to Airbus this time. I guess someone actually did their ob and turned in my badge application ahead of time. Amazing! I got in and resumed my usual post in the dungeon, except one seat over from where I normally sit. The working conditions are still rather poor as I listed back a few months ago, which makes it even harder to want to come to work. Hahaha….at least lunch comes faster when you get in at 9am.

For lunch, we went back to this place called Fifteen. It is about a 10 minute walk down the road from Airbus where they have an everyday special (plat de jour) and a few salads and baguettes pre-made to make lunch quick. They always have a combo that comes with a ‘boisson’ (drink), a roll, and dessert. Today was some sketchy looking veal so I opted for a salad, a chocolate éclair, and a diet coke. I also got a coffee (café) to try to keep me up through the rest of the day.

Good thing I had some coffee as it was a boring afternoon. I spent much of the day complaining about how disorganized my team is, while also trying to conquer the unknown. I say that I’m trying to conquer the unknown because we have had a few issues that we have never been able to get past, and it’s biting us in the arse at the moment, but what else is new? Enough about work…..

So I took this picture in the Airbus parking lot at about 7:30pm, and it looked like there were a few hours of daylight left.

Well it turns out there are a few hours of daylight left. Haha….it doesn’t get dark here until at least 9:30pm, which is kinda confusing if you aren’t paying attention to the time and are relying on the sun to give you an idea of what time it is. So, the lesson is, make sure you take a look at your watch every once in a while b/c the laptop is still on PST, which will make it seem rather early still, even when its not.

On the way to the market, I drove by Moog TF and noticed that Moog facility in Toulouse is getting a facelift. If you remember from last time, it just looked like a big barn. I guess they are turning it into a real office instead of just a repair station and warehouse. This is good news, it means that hopefully we won't have to spend a lot more time in the dungeon on the next trip over.

After leaving Airbus, I headed down the smallest street I could find over to the closest market, which is the Carrefour. Notice how far from the intersection I have to stop so a car turning right doesn't hit me coming around the corner. That definitely means the street is too small for cars. Duh.

If you remember the Carrefour from last time, it’s like Walmart in the states. If you can think of it, you can buy it here. There’s a small mall in the Carrefour which has a bunch of crappy little discount stores in it and tons of checkout stands. All of the little stores are having soldes (which translates directly to balances, but it really means sale). So the sign indicates that there are lots of sales inside, like on this patio furniture that looks to be only 7EU ($11), but that’s actually how much you save, so it’s kind of misleading. Jerks, got me all excited for nothing.

So this has to be the largest collection of various cheeses I have ever seen. I mean really, do you need that many different kinds of cheese? The answer is yes if you have spent any time eating in France because its one of the best things about being here.

In addition you have to have some meat to go with that cheese. Yes, that’s a lot of sausage and ham and salami and all kinds of other cured meats.

So this kinda makes me feel like I’m in Monterey Park again at a Ranch 99…btw….if you don’t feel like going all of the way to Monterey Park to get the smell of raw fish on ice, just stop by the Eagle Rock Plaza and go to Seafood City, but watch out for the copious amounts of Filipinos stalking Goldilocks and Jollibee. After typing this I am not sure that I am encouraging you to visit the Plaza, or discouraging….either way, it is what it is I guess. Lol.

I love these LCD price things. No really, I do. It’s genius. (sorry it's blurry)

So I finally figured out how the chained up grocery carts work. If you look closely at the big gray thing on the handle of the cart, you will see a slot were you put in 1EU or 2EU (I can’t tell) and it releases the cart from the chain. When you return the cart, you put the chain back in, and it dumps out your money. I had to watch someone do it today because it wasn’t totally obvious to me how it all worked, but again, this is genius. If we had this in LA it’d keep all of the shopping carts off of the street and prevent dudes from leaving them all over the place.

After picking up some bottled water and some granola bars I headed back to the hotel to drop off my laptop and grab some dinner.

On the way home I saw this sweet Peugeot 205 hatchback.

I had to take a picture because it reminds me of the Toyota Starlet I want, but not in this red color. If you don’t know what a Starlet is then you haven’t spent enough time with me. Lol. Because it is so small and light, they started making a GTI version which had more horsepower than the normal version and people used to roll around town screeching their tires. Wikipedia says, “The GTI version came in 1.6-litre and 1.9-litre, in-line four cylinder configurations, and is considered to be among the most popular hot hatches of the era. Compared to modern cars they can be tricky to handle, due to their tendency towards rather sudden lift-off oversteer during hard cornering, and a complete absence of electronic driver aids. However once mastered, or in the hands of a skilled driver, these cars are still known to offer a very rewarding driving experience. The 205 GTI was certainly one of the first front wheel drive cars said by many motoring experts to be as rewarding to drive hard as an equivalent rear-wheel drive car.” Sounds sweet right? And I know you guys think I’m crazy for liking these crappy little cars, but Wikipedia also said, “The chic Pinifarina styled 205 is widely regarded as a modern classic” so get off of my case!!! Lol. Anyway…that’s the story of the Peugeot 205.

By this time, its about 9pm, which is a little late for dinner for me, but it’s about right for most Frenchies, so most places are still open. I decided to skip the 30EU meal at the hotel and hit up the Chinese fast food place next to the Vietnamese place I ate at yesterday.

So this has to be one of the strangest fast food places I’ve been to recently. The cheesy sign outside should have been a sign that I was entering the wrong type of restaurant, but hey, its within walking distance and I’m damn hungry by this point.

So I roll in, scope out the big array of choices, and then watch the dude put the food in the microwave. Yes, the MICROWAVE!!! All of the food under the glass is cold and I have no idea why. It’s a great take out spot for sure, because as I was eating, about 10 heads rolled through ordering take out. Either way, the food was decent for 9EU. I usually try to keep a rule hat my dinner has to be twice as much as my lunch, but I failed today, and hopefully I won’t have to pay for it again tonight if you know what I mean.

So on the way back, I snapped a few pics of this place that sells tombstones and funeral plots and accessories. Check out the tombstone samples right there on the street. Kinda creepy if you ask me.

Also what’s strange is that this tombstone is longer than a Smart card. Now doesn’t that make you feel safe riding in that thing? Ya, thought so.

So, the last thing before I go to sleep tonight has to do with the Euro. I always forget to use the change in my pocket to buy stuff. Since the smallest paper bill they have here is the 5EU, all of the change you get that’s less than 5EU comes in coins.

The problem is, I just think they are quarters, and before you know it, I’ve accumulated 10EU in change in my pocket. Annoying. I mean I see why its efficient, but I’m so not used to it and I end up going through so much more paper than I need to. I guess I need to work on that.

Okies…well I’ve had enough for today. It’s time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be better all around.

Au revoir.