Fête des Neiges (Snow Festival)

When Saima had mentioned that she wanted to come and visit she had said that she would love to visit when the Fête des Neiges (Snow Festival) was on.

But by complete coincidence, it just so happened to fall on the weekend she was here, though no help of mine, we met up with Blake and Tanya to see what all the fuss was about, to top it all off after all the mild weather we had been having, it decided to snow, you can take a ride with Huskies, watch mad men throw themselves off 80ft drops into hot water or just eat beaver's tales and warm your hands, feet and every other part of you by the fire.


Dog with shoes!!! How cool is that?

Mont Royal in the Winter

Mount Royal Park is the crowning jewel of Montreal, and is where the city get's it's name from, so is a must see if visiting.

From the top no matter what the season you will always be greeted with breathtaking views. On a clear day you can see for miles around, we just so happened to pick one of those days.

Friday Drinks pt2 avec Guest.

Friday drinks are a regular thing now, it seems that since Jez left we are finding more and more random places, maybe we are looking for the next big thing after the Dieu?

With Saima's arrival it seemed like a good chance for her to meet everyone, the drinks started to flow, and as the drinks started to flow, the camera started clicking, neither a bad thing... But combine the two and your bound to catch someone off guard...

Boxing Night Drinkie's

There have been plenty of pictures of me drinking in Montreal. So it’s time for me to give you some pictures of the bars Southport has to offer, needless to say Boxing night would bring out the class.

Karen has mentioned to me as one of my oldest friends that she was disappointed not to be on the blog, she wanted to be on. So not one to want to disappoint her I brought my camera out. Saima and I met up with everyone in a generic bar on Lord Street (the main street in Southport), where Nick had said that he was going to join us, since I hadn’t seen him since London in the summer.

From there the 2 Sarah’s wanted to pass through Maloney’s so that that could see the barmen (They like to throw their bottles around), but the rest of us fancied going to Sugar near where I used to work, to show how much class this place has, it had a pole installed, of course the girls love it, and admittedly so do the boys. Personally I like to see how bad some of the so called ‘pole dancing’ is, which is usually just girls generically gyrating against the pole, trying to impress the fellas… Doesn’t really do it for me it has to be said, but its comedy all the same.

Girls if you going to do it at all, at least make an effort, up step Sarah, who schools all comers.

Friday Drinks pt1

Found a new bar on the corner of St Laurent... right by Ubisoft, even shorter distance to walk than the Dieu!

Evaluation.

Ubisoft evaluates its employees twice yearly once in July and again in January. So with the New Year comes a chance to sit down with our Leads and discuss how well we have performed, where we can improve and set goals for the forthcoming 6 months.

I feel mine went pretty well, with me receiving a lot of good feedback from Sylvain. Your performance is marked on a scale of 1 – 5

1. Does not meet requirements
2. Partially meets requirements
3. Meets requirements
4. Surpasses requirements
5. Constantly surpasses requirements

I managed to receive a good spread of 3’s and 4’s across all catagories, but the thing I find strange with this process is that once your superior has graded you, it then has to be justified to the HR dept, what they have to do with the process is anybodies guess, but that is part of the process.

This evaluation bodes well for my career here at Ubisoft, but only time will tell how far I can advance.

Ubisoft Prank's

Over the course of the project I'm working on, already there have been a few "pranks" by this I mean, little jokes played on team members either for birthdays or just because they might of left the office for a day, the reasons can be somewhat random.

I've noticed that there seems to be a competative element to these stunts now, with the newest prank trying to out-do the previous one. Some people have way to much time on there hands, but they are always fun to see. Here are just a few examples




These are all of the small bungalow for a member of the team, this involved fashioning a roof from wooden tiles, complete with frame work and shelving units... This goes above and beyond the call of a prank, BUT I WANT ONE!!!

Jim Murray - Artist/Genius

Ok, I don't personnaly know this guy, but I'm still allowed to call him a genius...

Jim Murray, is a British artist that currently works at A2M (Ubisoft Montreals nemisis), and creates some amazing artwork for games, comics and other personnal projects. I was shown some of his work and it blew my mind, so it's only fair that I let him blow yours.

Jim Murray Artwork

Snowboarding.

One of the many things I wanted to do when I came here, was take advantage of the amount of snow that falls here, before I left everyone was telling me to learn how to snowboard. So on Friday for just the second time, I was taken snowboarding; this time at Bromont, just south of Montreal for some night riding.

Even though it took me quite a while to get down one of the slopes (thanks to Jez for helping btw), I really felt like I was getting the hang of it. Woke up the next morning and the pain in my arms and legs said that I was at least using the right muscles. This was a strange one as the snow was melting due to the 'spring like' weather, so the snow was quite slushy. But I have to say that with a lot of help from Nick and Jez, I really enjoyed this and is something that I am definately going to pursue. Apparently I did pretty well... Especially for someone so clumsy.

'Thus far he's doing good. He's picking it up quickly. He's spending alot of time on his ass but thats usual'.

Jez Dowsett

Vic and Jeff got skills

Here's vic proving that yo yo's are more than a kid's toy, on a lazy Saturday afternoon, found out that he has hidden skills, and also why he seems to go though a sting every hour.

Caught this picture at the height of the action.

But Jeff not to be outdone, decided to display his talent by juggling not 2 not 3 but 4 balls at once... I enjoyed this until I realised that I needed a circus like talent, suggestions are always welcome.

Strange Weather.

So I was expecting it to be so cold that my nose would freeze whilst breathing, but as we speak it is 7°C.

So to keep track of the weather I have added a weather monitor to my blog, it can be found at the bottom, under the archives. I've also added the weather back in Liverpool as well, as all us Brits seem to talk about when ever we go anywhere... Is the weather.

Price of Cheese.

Ok yes Canada is cheaper in many areas, but I feel that it is all relative, and that there is 2 sides to both arguments. Especially if you are out for a couple of drinks with the lads, or you are doing your BIG shop.

If your a cheese lover, there may be a great selection of fine cheeses, but you will have to pay the price for your dairy fix. Amongst all the Brits here the biggest complaint that I have noticed so far isn't the cold, but the price of cheese.

Cheesed off?

Milk seems to be the new oil, in some place you will find that 360g of Mild Chedder will cost you $6.08 CAD(around £2.98 GBP), which is a hell of a lot considering you can get chicken breast for around $7.00 CAD (£3.42 GBP).

Song of the weekend.

Watched a lot of The Office this weekend, and felt that I should share the genius of David Brent's singer/songwritting skills:

David Brent - Free love on the Free love Freeway.mp3

A taste of blighty.

As much fun as I am having in Montréal, I've made it no secret about how much I miss England some times, especially with the extreme Montréal weather (although I've been told how mild it is this year). So you can imagine how excited I was to receive a British Gift basket, full to the brim of British goodies...

Jaffa Cakes, Ready Brek, Real Cadbury's Chocolate, Jelly Tots, Hob Nobs and Chocolate Digestives, sweet jesus they were a god send. 3pm Break anyone? I'll bring the biscuits.

Happy New Year Everyone

Spent New Year in Montréal this year, as who knows if how many chances like that I'll get. Some friends and I decided to see in 2006 by joining the jetset, and party at Altitude 737

This is a bar on top of a Skyscraper, 737 feet above Montréal center. Will definately be one to remember.

Paul holding an imaginary drink, whilst pointing at me with his imaginary cigarette.

Jolyne and I taking full advantage of the open bar.

Blake & Tanya (Blake came as a 70's porn star)

Jolyne, Vic, Me, and Julie. Vic's just enjoying the moment.

Random, sleeping... Obviously had a little too much fun.