I now have 63 pictures available in the Lucas section of my photo album at Opera Community.

Feel free to visit, add your comments or rate the pictures you prefer.

In order to be automatically informed when I post new pictures, I strongly suggest that you subscribe to the RSS feed over there.

Enjoy and thank you everyone for your good wishes!

Lucas' pictures

Have a look at my Opera Community photo album for some pictures of Lucas. You can check back often as I'll keep adding pictures over there.

A few pics of Baby Lucas. He was born on September 19, 2005!

Due date... but no delivery!

Today is the day and the day is almost gone. Lucas is still within his mother, keeping comfortable and warm. I like this kid: he knows how to appreciate a good moment and takes his time!

Lucas; latest mug shot!

Life is so simple

After having cooked a nice dish of Spaghetti with one of my secret cream sauce I finally have time and mood to seat down and reflect on the existence of Ka.
Actually if I was to do that, it'd probably mean that Ka is nothing more than a keyboard and screen wih a few electrons going the wrong way in between. For those who believe in Ka, it is probably much more than that. For those who don't know what Ka is, just read Stephen King's Dark Tower series. :-) Life is so simple!

As I am sitting at my desk typing this post and seeping a glass of Grey Monk Latitude 50, one of those very pleasant BC wines, I cannot help noticing that our beautiful Province actually makes some very nice an decent wines. The Okanagan Valley is surely not the banks of the Gironde but it is learning! Life is so simple!

Anyway, wine seems to un-rust my fingers!

Interstingly enough I was awaken this morning (12h30 is still morning, right?) by my delightful little cousin Alix. She was calling me from the one event I was really sad about missing this year: my (other) cousin Xavier wedding with a Taiwanese girl that he met at my own wedding 2 years ago. Life is so simple!

Alix called because she was sitting next to the bride's brother. She was placed there because she is the one in the family who's most able to speak English. This is fine as long as one assumes that the brother, who will have to forgive me as I do not know his name, also speaks English. Which was the assumption made. Turns out that Brother's English (sip some more!) seems limited to 3 words: 'yes', 'yes' and 'no'; tough to start a conversation. That or he had been forewarned against those hungry French girls! Life is so simple!

Anyway, Alix called because she was looking for a few Chinese expressions in order to break the ice and jump start the conversation. After all, she is a French girl and wouldn't leave that married Taiwanese guy alone so easily! I tried a few advises of mine but they were probably not suitable for a family gathering. So it ended up with Chiung-Wen giving a crash course in Chinese to my cousin over a 10000km phone conversation (talk about long distance calls). Life is so simple!

After that moment that I found particularly hilarious, we all went - that is, Chiung-Wen, her parents and I; my cousin remained at the wedding in France, of course - walking up and around Burnaby Mountain. A big name for a big hill and no pictures as I simply forgot my camera. The idea is to let Chiung-Wen move around a lot and encourage baby Lucas to come out. A Good view and fresh air should be encouragement enough! We'll probably do it again tomorrow. A succulent ice cream followed by my ever so succulent pastas, what's better to finish the day? Ha, yes, a glass of white wine and writing a blog post. Life is so simple!

I'll go pour myself another glass. Life is so simple!

Photo album at Opera Comunity

I am publishing a few photos on the Opera online community. There are mostly landscape taken by me in the past few years. Some are taken with digital cameras while some others are scans of paper photos.
I only select me favorites.
I'll keep adding more pictures in the future, so don't forget to check back!

Status update

As of the time of writing, the status is unchanged: baby is not here yet!
Hahaha!

New Opera Community Site

Today, September 6 2005, Opera software (http://www.opera.com) has released a new version of its Opera Community site.
With a new interface, entirely designed internally, Opera brings blogging and 300 MB of storage space to its users.
By committing to Strict XHTML 1.0 compliance, Opera is, once again, proving that one can develop a great site while adhering to standards. Google, Yahoo, MSN and many others should learn their lesson and start to imitate the Norwegian company.

Vote today with your browser, download Opera's latest version:

As a proof that we are doing well I offer you this picture of us on July 15 at a friend's wedding.

All is well

We are slowly settling down in our new penates although there are still quite a lot of things to tidy, arrange, classify, recycle, build and hammer. But we'll get there eventually.
Chiung-Wen is doing well and the pregnancy progresses nicely.

Moving

We are packing and packing and packing without seeing the end of it. We are supposed to be out of this place by 1pm this afternoon, that is, in a mere 12 hours, but the movers won't arrive before 2:00, at best... Which is kind of good for us as we are far from ready. Considering that we still need to sleep a few hours, I really can use the delay. We shall see, or rather, hear what the building manager will say about it!

Then, we'll have to wait for our new home to be free. I am not expecting to get the keys before 7:00pm.

Chiung-Wen is doing her fair share of the work despite her big tummy. She tires quickly tough. I am doing less than I could, because of a bad back that has been hurting me for the past 3 days.

Anyway, for those who wonder, we are getting a new phone number. I'll update those who need to know by e-mail. For the others, ask those who know! Meanwhile, you can contact us by e-mail as that does not change.

Time to go pack a few boxes.

A+

Keep up to date!

I should probably have posted this a few weeks ago but here it comes anyway: Opera has released version 8 of its desktop browser. Actually, since it's been a couple of month already, we are now at version 8.01, which includes a few security fixes and some other improvements.
You can grab your copy for Opera's download page.
As usual, it is recommended that you keep all your softwares up-to-date.

A nice selection of reds from last night "wine tasting". I preferred the Bordeaux, naturally, although the Australian won the popular vote. The Chilean, Marques de Case Concha, was not up to the standard of the 2 others.

Hicking near Vancouver last week-end, this is picture I took. A chance encounter?

New Opera version released

Opera 8, the newest version of the "Fastest browser on Earth", has been released on Tuesday April 19 and is available for download. Windows and Linux releases are available; Beta1 for Mac has also been released. This is a recommended update for all Internet users (no matter what your browser is).

So, drop everything else, point your browser to the Opera web site to learn everyhting about this new release. The download is only about 3.6MB and won't take you long, even on a dial up connection.
Those new to Opera can visit Tim Luoma's excellent write up "30 days to becoming an Opera lover". Those already convinced can learn Opera 8 in more details with non-troppo's flash tutorial.
Questions are to be asked and answers to be found in the ever so friendly Opera Community Forums. Just choose the forum relevant to your topic!

From the other side

Well, that's it, we are in Taiwan. After a long and, should I add, boring flight, we finally made it to the other side of the pacific.

The flight itself was relatively uneventful, with the usual lack of space but decent food. I think the highlight of those 12 hours was the fly over Japan in general and Mount Fuji in particular. This really was a beautiful sight. Amongst all those mountain range, isolated and alone (feels almost like the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit), towering over the other peaks but still way below the floor of the 747, there was this cone-shape mount wearing a white hat of snow. It's only a pity that I did not have a camera with me. Maybe on the way back.

Taipei is hot, stuffy and smoggy as usual. There are people and cars everywhere, at all time. Although the city seems to have expended even further, it has not changed with that respect. I am supposed to have a view from where I'm sitting but let just say that there is no horizon line!

Jia-Hao lent me his camera so I'll have an opportunity to add pictures in the next few days.

More news to come soon.

Our first lunch out in Taipei City. That was on April 18 and Little Angela took the picture.

Un profil de Saplairoles - 05-04-15

Un profile de Saplairoles - 05-04-15-2
Originally uploaded by lsaplai.

Cliché pris lors de l'écographie du 15 avril 2005 a l'hôpital pour les femmes de Vancouver. Encore un grand moment dans une annee qui s'annonce de plus en plus intéressante!

15 weeks and all is well

Yes, we have now reached the 15 weeks threshold and everything is going well so far. Some more exams are scheduled next week, an ultrasound by mid-April. That's most of it.
We are enjoying ourselves and Chiung-Wen's belly getting rounder. The feeling is really great (besides she's less (morning) sick now so that's even better).

Today is a special day

Je ne m'étends généralement pas sur ce genre de chose, mais je me dois tout de même de l'écrire. Finalement, je finis par me rapprocher de ce qui devrait être la moitié de ma vie (j'espère pas!) et aujourd'ui, le 18 mars 2005, j'ai passé le cap des 35 ans!
Je ne vous en ferais pas ici le bilan (too boring). Je vous invite simplement à lever votre verre a la santé des enfants du monde. Que notre richesse et notre intelligence les servent, pour les générations à venir.
(Amen!)

Quelques verres de vins de plus me feraient du bien ce soir!

Opera 8.0 Beta 3 available for testing

The newest beta of Opera's next version has been uploaded to the ftp servers. You can download it for testing purpose but I can let you know that I am using it as my main browser and have so far encountered no problem.

There are some interface changes and a few bug fixes as well as an even improved handling of IDN and secure sites. However, at the time of writing this post, the beta release is not official yet so the changelog is not available either. We will have to wait a little longer.

Canadian Chapter

Canadian Chapter
Originally uploaded by lsaplai.

I thought I'd post some pictures of Chiung-Wen and I, kind of a pictorial memorabilia. It won't be in chronological order though but rather in the prder I find pictures on my hard drive.
This was about our 1st wedding, in Vancouver.

What's in a bit? A heart bit that is.

This game was suggested to me by Isabelle and it could turn out to be a funny one. So, here it goes.

• Given that a normal heart rate for a foetus is between 120 and 160 pulsations per minute;


• Given that we, in British Columbia, are 8 hours behind he Greenwich Meridian Time;


• Given that a ship sails the ocean; that it left Boston with a cargo of wool; it grosses 200 tons; it is bound for Le Havre; the mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon;


• Given that the birth is schedule for mid-september;


• and that the heart rate recorded at week 12 is 160;

Given all that, how old is the captain? :-)
Sorry, the question is: what sex do you think our baby will be?

Late Winter Syndrome

I don't know if it is that but we are both dealing with a nasty cold, rattling our throats all day long and snizzing as if it was the mother of all colds. It's OK with me but it's a bit more annoying for Chiung-Wen as she cannot take any of the usual cold medicines. We're trying to treat her on lemon juice and honey and homeopathic pills but it takes time. I wanted to add some rum to her lemon juice but "they" say it's not good for the baby...

Having said that I went to treat my own condition with a few glasses of Vancouver made pale ale beer last night while she stayed home taking a rest... After all, as Cyril rightfully pointed out, these are my last egoistic moments so I'd better enjoy them!

About Comments

Thanks to a fellow Pegasus Mail user I realised that comments were turned off for non-members, which is unfair. After all, I sent that URL to many friends so that they could participate a bit in my life, so the least I can do is let them comment without forcing them to register with Blogger.

This situation is now corrected and anyone should be able to post comments. Obviously, I will enforce the policy of deleting any comment that is derogatory, insulting, unfair or that I just plain don't like: your freedom of speech stops were my sensibility starts to hurt! :-)

Edito de Pascal Barrand : "Faire vite" - Yahoo! Actualité

Edito de Pascal Barrand : "Faire vite" - Yahoo! Actualité
La campagne du référendum sur la constitution européenne a commencé, alors même que la date du vote n'a pas encore été fixée.

Chiung-Wen Citizenship Ceremony - November 4, 2004

I did not publish this here yet, so go, have a look at a few photos!
Chiung-Wen Citizenship Ceremony - November 4, 2004: "Chiung-Wen Citizenship Ceremony - November 4, 2004

Number of images: 6
Created on: Sun November 7 2004
Enjoy this gallery better by using the Opera Web Browser: Open the page and press F11 on your keyboard to go to fullscreen/Projection mode, then enjoy the show by pressing SHIFT x on your keyboard or use the 'hold right button, move mouse right' Gesture!"

15 Octobre 2004

Echographie

Echographie
Originally uploaded by lsaplai.

Chiung-Wen and I are happily spreading the news of our joy around the world.

At the intersection of the Orient and the Occident our Love met. The result today is this little bundle of joy, which will be delivered by mid-September 2005!

Hello again
It looks like the blogger editor is not working very well. It's not so important as I'd rather use words to express images and ideas rather than graphics. A text is a text. When I'll want to draw graphics, I'll choose an application that can!

Laurent sur le web et dans la Vie.

Laurent sur le web et dans la Vie.

I think I'm blogging myself...

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.