so posting here has become non existent for a variety of reasons. reason number one is the most obvious reason: the simplicity and shortness of twitter and facebook has seduced me. however, there is also the issue of my long departed laptop. my little sweetie stopped working back in february and since then i’ve been living first computerless, then with this little dinky retarded wannabe computer some folks call a netbook. i call it azerty hell. see, it’s french and – as could be expected from a computer that functions in another language – its keyboard is layed out differently. there is a certain logic to this: easily accessed accents for example. the french are particularily fond of the one touch accent é, è, ç, and à. ù is also an easy reach, while ô is a bit more complicated. oddly enough it is easier to hit &锑(-è_çà than it is 1234567890 as all numbers are only reachable with the help of the shift key. periods are fun… see, to make that ellipsis i had to hold down the shift key. without the shift key i would have had this; helpful, but not nearly as useful as a . period. what other changes are there on this keyboard layout? well my ? took a shift key pressing, there is an € on the e and */µ key which i’m confused by. there is also a key that does this: $£¤ depending on which shift alt/gr button combinations you use. otherwise the other keys are similar, but just different enough to completely frustrate the hell out of you when trying to communicate in any language other than gibberish. to begin, azerty is named so because they are the first 6 letters on the upper left of the keyboard. the american equivalent is qwerty. so my q is where my a should be and my z has replaced my w. ahen i aqke up i usuqlly type like this. the only remaining difference that is significant enough for me to cavil at is the m having been put under my pinky. see, on a qwerty keyboard i have to move my finger down right of the n to find it. on this keyboard it sits under my right pinky, acting as a replacement to ; actually, come to think about it; this is the only change i like among this endless frustrating finger brain coordination reprogramming i am currently undergoing. on top of all of these changes i am dealing with two other distrubances. first, the micro size of the keys makes me feel like i’m a neanderthal pounding confusedly opon them. hitting three keys with one finger makes for some pretty sweet rfdesults. the second is not so much a problem of the keyboard layout, but one i can only blame on the absolute crap that this little joke of a computer is. see, it has a touchpad mouse system; a system that works wonders when, well, it works. in this case however it has a tendancy to just randomly put the cursor where ever if feels so damn inclined. which frequently gives me sentences that look more like schizophrenic musings than coherent sentences. or to put that another way: it haas tendjustacy uptto it weverhere fit ant.s
and so is the story of the long forgotten blog. and yes laziness is a large part too. in fact, the only reason i’m here now is because my domain expired which reminded me i had a blog in the first place. in order to ease the guilt of the $17.99 purchase to renew it for another year, i decided i should at least give it a little shout out. so hello. and goodbye.
st clue was when i was walking home from chaumont’s fabulous 19th century viaduct and spotted a horse drawn carriage slowing traffic as it traversed a roundabout. now chaumont is a small town and the haute marne is indeed a rural place, but we are not quite that behind in transportation options.
paté were both fascinating and disturbing in appearance, it was the regional winemakers that piqued my interest. it took me wondering around a bit and standing intently at booths before i got up the nerve to ask for a taste. unlike in america, where you would be offered a taste upon approaching and looking interested, in france the custom seems to be to ignore as much as possible. for as long as i would stand at their booth looking at their wines, pamphlets, and having a staring contest with their sample glasses not once was i offered a taste. eventually i gave up hope that they would ever just pour me some and hand it to me, and finally i made eye contact with the kind lady and asked her if i could taste her champagne. she cordially poured me a taste of delicious haute-marne brut followed by a taste of the brut reserve. both were outstanding. at 12-14 euros a bottle these were by far some of the best champagne values i’ve ever had, or even imagined existed. they were supple, perfectly balanced, toasty and wonderful. on top of that they were made nearby from a small producer probably not even heard of outside the region. sure champagne of the haute-marne doesn’t have all the flash, glamour, and advertisements with anorexic super models the grand marques of reims and epernay have, but it has something large world renowned wineries often lack: heart.
