Setting one's mind...

We often forget it, but if we really set our minds to accomplishing something, it always work. I don't believe in fairy tales, Santa Claus or the Bible's God, but I do believe that when I set my mind to doing something, it never fails, it always work! I just need to set it seriously enough and follow the steps I have to follow.

I have plenty of proofs to back this assertion up... So next time, when you or I are in a “pickle” and believe that a positive outcome is even remotely possible, we must always remember this universal truth and set our minds to making it happen!

Norm MacLeod, 1929-2013

Even though I haven't spent much time, one-on-one, with him, Norm has had a huge influence on me, both as an inspiration and an example. Norm passed away on July 10 in Bend, Oregon.

A former marketing executive with Beconta, a leading sporting goods distributor in the 60s and 70s, Norm MacLeod was before anything a passionate skier, which often is a rare trait among ski business leaders that are in the industry for their own image, the prestige it gave them and to a slightly lesser extent, the money they can reap.

Before anything he loved the sport of skiing and as a true-blooded skier, was also an opinionated maverick and a free spirit. The first time I met with him at the Look ski binding factory in France, I liked him. I remember that at that time, Look had a tough time transitioning its famous Look Nevada / Grand Prix binding into a mass market item (Salomon was starting to seriously erode its number 1 position).

One day of 1975, Norm was showing Look's founder and his R&D director a polycarbonate binding made by Allsop, an american company, telling them this was the future, and sure enough, three year later, it became the present, in other words, the state of the art... Norm provided me with the example I needed and also inspired my move to the Western United States.

Thank you Norm for the example you set for me, and I hope your soul finds some great, magical snow on her new pathway!

How should sellers shop for a realtor?

In America, the key to selling a property is to have it listed on the Multiple Listing System (MLS). It's not a big-name listing agent that will make things happen. In fact, the choice of realtor is almost irrelevant, except that the most successful – the one will the most listings – will have less time to push a given property among the many others listed in their portfolio.

The people that sell real estate are buyer's agents that show what falls in the target needs and price range of their client. So what's a homeowner to do when it's time to picking a listing agent?

Easy; push the selling commission down. Refuse to go with the “customary” 6% and push for 5% or even 4%. If that works, the intelligent thing to do is to allocate that cost saving into a lower selling price to further guarantee that the property will sell as soon as possible.

When I dreamed to become a graphic artist!

The web is full of treasures. Current, past and totally forgotten.

Yesterday, as I was watching a video about a summer ski race on a left-over snowfield, near my hometown in the French Alps, I literally stumbled upon an old ski model, made by my good friend Michel Duret.
I suddenly remembered that I had come up with a name for these boards(inspired from the Ford Galaxy that could be seen on the Nascar circuit in the late 60s...) and the graphic that was splattered all over them.

That what when I still love to draw and would have like to become a car designer or some sort of graphic artist! Perhaps was I on to something, but who will ever know?

Almost free from Facebook

It's been now several months since I decided to drastically cut my consumption and my participation into Facebook and today I can honestly say that my life is better from it. More time, more focus and less of that wasted feeling of misspent energy and moments.

Even though my side job is with “social media”, I'm not missing much by not having my face glued on my many (about 300 by last count) “friends.” In retrospective, my intense stint with Facebook now feels like these many experiences – good and bad – that cross our lives at one time or another and make us say: “Been there, done that!”

Are construction costs right?

Yesterday was the end of a long road. We just finalized our choice for a general contractor and were about to begin construction later in the week. Selecting an architect was comparatively easy, but in the end, I felt good about that long vetting process.

The bids varied enormously and it's only when I called my insurance agent to give us an insurance quote that all cleared up. Their estimate of the total cost of the house were almost right in line with the bid offered by the contractor we had just selected. The two other bids, however, stood between 30 and 36 percent higher.

Our long and arduous selection process had paid off and showed that some contractors were either padding their bids to make more money, were not as organized or simply had no clue. I would never have thought of using insurance as a benchmark, though!

Sweet healing?

Running comes from its supply of pesky injuries. For a while, I suffered from repeated torn calf-muscles and that was a major impediment, requiring a long time without running. Since July 1, I've got a shin-splints, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), a common injury that affects runners.

It manifests itself as a pain in the lower part of the leg between the knee and the ankle. It is apparently caused by repeated trauma to the connective muscle tissue surrounding the tibia and can only be treated by rest until it gets better. What I have discover however is that I can ride my mountain bike instead of running, which makes my healing and my recovery super fun.

Will it work? We'll see!