Patagoniacs

Gotcha and Michael Tomson in Surfer's Journal

Some remarks about the issue #60 of the French version of Surfer's Journal.
The cover is not the same than on the US version. A kind of French change, and Gibus explains why in the magazine. So, Surfer's Journal France is getting its own identity, which is good I think.
There is a very good article about Michael Tomson, surfer, and founder of GOTCHA, the brand which said that if you do not surf, never start, but if you surf, never stop. This article shows the surf business in its pure format. Passion, errors, crazy trends and ideas, success, failures. This is far away from the glamor image of desert island and free surfer. No, here it's about life, passion, work (hard), money, drugs. The hidden side of what the marketing departments show. Very interesting article, and very human.
Surfer's Journal is definitely the best magazine from my point of view. But may be it's because I'm getting old :-))

Jet lag

2 hours. Only 2 hours of jet lag between Moscow and Paris.
If you come here for a week-end, moreover, in Summer time, you'll appreciate these 2 hours of jet lag, because you can enjoy nice sunny warm evenings.
But, when you come here for several days, to work, then these 2 hours are awfull. Imagine, go to bed at 23h every day, and get up at 07h, then one day, change it and try to go to bed at 21h and get up at 05h00. Honestly, it's very hard. And the more I keep coming here, the more awful it is.
The only way I found to solve this is to practise sports in order to get tired physically and try to sleep before midnight.
Only 2 hours ! It's worse than 6 hours I think. A detail, but details make life what it is ...

Electrostimulation - Cefar

I tried to train my legs with the Cefar Myo 4. I used this kind of "strange" tool last year after the 86 km from Courmayeur to Chamonix to recover. I found it very efficient.
So this year I bought the Cefar Myo 4, for the recover program after long training, but also to try to reinforce the muscles of the legs (yes, there is not any huge hills just around me, so I try what I can).
And, I think that doing one "strong" exercise every week will help. Last time I did one session, the day after I felt like after climbing 2,000 m in the mountains ...

First impressions in the air

She looked fragile, very nice, the kind of woman you help to carry her luggage. She was wearing birkenstocks with tights (strange in summer).
Then, she sat on the 9a, just one seat from me. She asked the steward why her seat was lower than the others. In fact, the 9 seats are in the emergency line and so, there is more place for the legs, and the 9a seat is a little bit different to open the door easier.
The plane was taking off and I saw her totally stressed. Due to the weather the plane was a little bit shake in the air, and she began to cry. She looked like the kind of girl you want to protect, so fragile.
Then she took 3 pills of Xanax, and slept 2 hours. When the steward came for lunch time, she asked for a special menu, and of course there was not any special menu for her. The real face of the maniac appeared ! From a nice fragile girl, she turned into a bothering usual unhappy customer, a maniac, obsessed by her food, the plane, and she began to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. The funny thing is that the woman who was sitting just near me had the same feeling than me. Strange how 2 people only can put one woman in the side of the crazy people.

Aloha ! Patagonia, Gerry Lopez, and Hawaiian shirts

Having a certain number of Hawaiian shirts, I began to read some books about the Aloha spirit and Hawaiian shirts. The reference, I think, is the aloha shirt
Gerry Lopez speaks about the Aloha spirit and shirts on the Patagonia Web Site.

Body desintoxication !

Some of you may have noticed that I am a chocomaniac. Chocolate is a fantastic aliment. A lot of Magnesium inside of it, so it is very good for the body, it gives a lot of energy for runners, and I remember some articles in special running articles, something about chocolate and the role of it for Ultra trails.
It's a very good anti-depression medicine.
So, it's good for you ...
But, when you eat more than 500g per day, it becomes to be a real addiction.
So I decided to try to reduce my chocolate consumption. I was smiling at smokers who tried to stop. I never understood people who told me it's really hard to quit an addiction.
It's been 4 days now that I tried to stop chocolate. It's really hard ! Really !
So, I concentrate my cooking and food on flowers, vegetables, fruits, and fresh sunny vitamins.
And at least, it makes me discover that you can eat a lot of flowers  ...

Books and universal conscious !

Strange feeling this morning that life is made of several feelings which, despite the deep impression that each people experience their own feelings, are exactly the same for everybody. Books tend to be the link showing that behind each story, different and unique for everybody, the life experience, love, hate, smile, courage, ... notions are  universal and universally shared.
To be honest, till few years I used to read "useful" books, that is to say, books in which you learn about a subject (politics, economy, surf ...). Very few romans.
Now, I take time to read pure useless books :-) and what stroke me is how parts of our life can be so well described in stories which look, at first, very far away from our daily life.

Bloc + Bio + Kailloux = Blouc !

You all know the famous Kailloux brand. Real T-shirts for unreal people.
Now Kailloux offers (sells ? :-)) a Bio range of T-shirts.
Go, climb the website, and get these Tshirts !

CRM - Blogs - True content (2)

There is a follow up ...
The funny thing, which almost always appear on blogs, is that, when people are criticizing the brand, when they speak about their bad experiences, you always have a lot of other people speaking about their good experiences.
Of course, this happens if the brand acts correctly, mentioning that effectively, sometimes they do mistake and without trying to avoid the conflict buy showing the brand is right, the customer is wrong.
The example of the comments of Mr or Mrs Very Unpleased is a good concrete business case for brands, marketers.
And good news for Patagonia, I am sure it will not harm their image, as everything is public, they did not hide the problem.
Looks like they managed it the right way.

CRM - Blogs - True content

All the brands are (were) afraid of opening a blog to talk more directly with the customers, the buyers, everybody. Usually, the main remarks from the big boss are : and what if ? What if someone writes bullshits, what if someone complains, what if ... ?
Usually the answer is : the community around the blog is the first moderator ! The people reading the blog are usually "pro" the brand and not "contra". Of course, sometimes, some people are coming on these websites just to mess around, and insert some "activity". So, usually, unless the brand does not manage the communication with straight clear speaches, everything goes fine.

This morning, I read on thecleanestline, a comment which criticizes Patagonia's CRM. Clear example which shows that Patagonia is a human organisation, which sometimes, makes mistakes, and cannot please everybody :-).
Let's follow up how Patagonia will react to this ...

Surf On Demand : Souviens toi le mois dernier

Available for EUR 6,99 on surfingmovie, the last movie of Lionel Sarran in VOD, and other movies ...
Very nice pictures. While crawling and paddling in the storm of blue sky and cold air in Moscow, this movie brought a little sunshine to begin this week correctly.

This movie will complete the collection I have on my Ipod.
Enjoy and have a nice week.

Chocolate of war !

Very interesting report from Global Witness NGO about the role of Cocoa in financing some conflicts in Africa, and especially in Ivory Coast.
You can download the full report here :

Download cotedivoire.pdf

I saw few weeks a ago on a TV boradcast, a subject about the Diamonds in Nigeria, and their role in financing the war.
I found that interesting but, as I do not buy diamonds every day, I slept well, knowing that at least, I haven't gave any money to finance this conflict.

Same thing with drug and Poppy in Afghanistan. I know that now Afghanistan is the leading producer of poppy and so opium, but once again, in some way, I consider this a little bit far away from me.

The hot chocolate report is different. As I eat a lot of chocolate, there is a high probability that I finally helped to finance the conflicts mentioned in the report.

Well, I am not going to stop eating chocolate, but for sure I will stay informed and check how I can avoid buying chocolate of war.

Here it is ! the 1kg pot !

Thanks to Manu again for supporting me, far away from home. Faraway so close !

Real good news !

Thanks to Manu for this info :
NUTELLA EXISTS NOW IN 1KG FORMAT.

You all know (I hope, if not, please never come back again on this blog :-)),that till then, there were small formats (250 g ...) for taking with you for a 2 hours walk,normal format with the 750 g for 2 days of breakfast and tea time, and the 3 kg format for Christmas.
But know, with the 1kg format, the revolution is on ! One pot, one week !

Thanks Nutella !

Shit happens

A good example of Murphy's law :
- Bad connection at the office
- Working troubles
- Misunderstandings

and
and
NO WATER TO TAKE A SHOWER AFTER ONE HOUR OF SPORTS !!!

Shit happens !

Accident

For those who went through any accident, with this strange feeling that everything was so slow and so fast at the same time. Still wondering how their body found the strength, the reflex to react to this accident.
Read the dirtbag diaries : Anatomy of an accident

Much more stories, music and nice pics on the dirtbag diaries