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Tag: personal

  • Daury Genealogy


    Guess I should update the Daury family genealogical tree with our 8 and 4 year-olds. The one above was courtesy of my dad a few years ago and covers our branch of the family from 1647 to 1999.

  • No More Windows!

    http://twitter.com/#!/stephdau/status/27037550686248960

  • Martinican Rum: Appellation Martinique Contrôlée

    The empty Trois Rivières, Cuvée du Moulin is probably from 5 to 8 years old, found while cleaning up my home office closet. The J. Bally, Habitation Lajus on the right is still going and is from late 2009.

    Having lived in Martinique from 13 to 17 years old, bottles of the island’s sweetest nectars still always find their way to me, somehow. And they’re always greatly appreciated. 🙂

  • 1991 Passport Picture

    Hahahahah… *deep breath* Hahahahah! But seriously, this is the passport I immigrated from Martinique to Canada with in 1992. Found it while cleaning up my home office. Good times.

  • Back to Reality

    Had a blast in Mexico, but it’s now back to the reality that is Montreal’s Winter. You win some, you lose some. :p

  • New Tattoo

  • Huichol Fire Ceremony

    On December 21st, I had the privilege to be invited to attend a traditional fire ceremony during the total solstice lunar eclipse. As per NASA, “this solstice eclipse is the first in 456 years, although so far it appears that no one has figured out when the next solstice eclipse will be.”

    The ceremony was deeply rooted in the traditions of the Huichol (or Wixáritari) tribe of the Sierra Madre Occidental and was passed on to Leon, the Texas Apache shaman presiding our ceremony, when he spent 6 months studying with them a few years ago.

    As all religious events, it was very serious, elaborate and intense; lasting from dusk until dawn. It is not my place to divulge all of its details, but it involved 9 people, chants/prayers and traditional sacred medicines such as food, water, tobacco, copal and peyote (which I had never tried before).

    The tipi pictured above was setup in the Mexican Jungle, far from the city’s distractions. It had been used for years for native Americans ceremonies in the Bronx (of all places) and was brought to Playa del Carmen for a traditional wedding last year.

    When the morning came and the ceremony was complete, we topped it all off by going bathing in a nearby hidden cenote maintained by a local community. A perfect end to an unforgettable night.

    [wpvideo gnAKu8AP]

  • Temporary Desks this Week

    More of my temporary desks while working from the Sandos Playacar Hotel this week. If you look closely to the screen in the fourth photo, you can even catch a glimpse of Matt with his Santa hat on. 🙂

  • Blog Slacking? Nope, Limited Bandwidth.

    Looks like I’ve been slacking on my blog updates in the last two weeks, but it ain’t really so. I just had to conserve my 3GB worth of 3G bandwidth for work. On the other hand, not only will my real vacation kick in tomorrow (24th), but we’ll also be in a villa with (likely) ADSL and (for sure) wifi. Photo/video posts to follow! 🙂

  • Here We Are

    We’re now in Playacar, Playa del carmen, Mexico. We’ve been here for 3 days now but I was only able to activate my TelCel 3G stick this morning. 🙂