mandarine

By command of Her Royal Highness, I hereby answer a series of personal questions which make the blogging world a futile and friendly place.

Where I was ten years ago.

I think ten years ago was when I got my first doubts about my job. I had been working for two years then, in what is probably the finest job in the world for an engineer who likes hardcore technique: future spacecraft projects with the leading European space systems manufacturer. There’s nothing like achieving a childhood dream too early to kill glamour for good. The job was extremely interesting, but essentially abstract. One of the inventions I made back then did make it into a live spacecraft design, which is due to fly in 2010. That’s a five percent chance of seeing a concrete outcome for my work after twelve years. The job was (and still is) great fun, but essentially aimless. I have lost all illusions about space conquest (and will probably write soon why). There is no democratic debate on how the space subsidies should be spent either. I spend taxpayer’s money for things taxpayers have no clue about. Sometimes I feel like a Monsanto scientist doing fun stuff just because it can be done and it’s fun to do; and that which can be sold makes it to the market.

For the past two or three years I have been wanting to find some other job, one that would be more useful to mankind, but now I have decided to keep my fun (and mildly harmless) job, and save the world on my free time, like most superpeople do.

Five fatty snacks

1. Home-made nutella (which some would call Gianduja; it’s hazelnut butter with sugar and chocolate), by the spoonful
2. Roquefort cheese. My boy’s nanny is raising ewes, whose milk is used to make Roquefort. Each year, she gets discount cheese from the ‘caves’. We have six pounds of the treasure cheese hoarded in our freezer, bought for the price of burger-grade cheddar.
3. Saucisson. You’d probably call it dry sausage.
4. Foie gras. (We do it ourselves with our neighbour’s ducks, but not before November)
5. Tomates confites. Half-tomatoes that are slowly baked in the oven with olive oil, garlic and pesto.

Five other fatty snacks (no dietary duality in my world)

1. Tapenade. A paste made with olives.
2. Caviar d’aubergines. A paste made with eggplant and olive oil.
3. Ail confit. Garlic slowly cooked in duck fat.
4. Fresh cheese with herbs. Chives especially.
5. Onion jam.

Have you noticed? All go with bread. I must be French.

Five things I would do if I was a billionaire

1. Wonder where all that wealth came from
2. Subsidize conversions to organic farming in my region
3. Subsidize research in natural and organic farming all over the world
4. Donate heaps to open-source projects
5. Go back to work

Five jobs I have had

1. Math & physics tutor for rich but mediocre pupils
2. Summer camp leader (volunteer)
3. Metalworking lathe operator in French Guyana (2 month internship)
4. Flight control systems engineer for commercial aircraft future projects
5. Attitude control systems engineer for spacecraft future projects

Three of my habits

1. Going to sleep with the same chapter of the same audiobook on my mp3 player.
2. Commenting blogs in bed instead of reading serious books.
3. Reading blogs at work whenever I need a break. The more pressure there is, the more I read.
4. Driving slower than the elderly.
5. Taking a 30′ nap every other day.

Five places I have lived

1. Paris, France (0->1/2)
2. Trois-Rivières, Québec (1/2->2)
3. Paris, France (2-22)
4. Toulouse, France (22-32)
5. Home, Home (32-Inf)

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