Track-Day Lapping
Track-day lapping is a passion that I've been enjoying since 2002. For those unfamiliar with this recreational sport, it involves bringing one's [preferably prepared] car to a race-track and then pushing the car and one's own limits to lap the track as fast as possible (or as sideways as possible :)). It can be a highly social activity, especially if you join a car-owner's club or lapping club which bring together other passionate drivers and car-buffs alike. I'm an active member of the RS-Team in France, and have been involved with the CADL and ASE Lapping Club in Canada over the years. Lapping usually evolves into some form of autosport, whether it be amateur competitions, rallying or asphalt race series. In my case, I have had the pleasure of discovering a wide range of tracks in Europe, as well as competing in sanctioned slalom & autocross events in France and Canada.
Some of my favorite track-day memories can be found here.
dj
I have been a music lover for as long as I can remember and I can't stress how important I feel music is for life. We have ears -- we need music. Thanks to my parents, I learned to 'play' the piano as a child. I practiced using the Suzuki method which was focussed on "play what you hear", and I have this to thank for my 'picky hearing' today. After highschool, I started listening to club music and I would marvel at how the tunes would never stop as the DJ weaved a beat-matched story with the vinyl. Many hours spent in DJ booths and record shops eventually led to my first gear purchase: a Pioneer and a JVC turntable, both equally crappy but loveable at the same time. And so began my DJ'ing passion. This gear -- both of these decks would frequently skip as I tried to cue-up songs -- led me to develop my own style of mixing: long blended mixes that played on vocals and hooks. I made mix-tape after mix-tape in this style for aerobics instructors, boutiques and friends. Later in life, I met a fellow vinyl junkie (and now good friend) at work. Together, we managed to produce a string of regular events over the course of two years in venues such as the former Club Med World in Montreal. Today I continue to enjoy mixing and collecting club tracks for my own listening pleasure, exploring all the new possibilities of DJ'ing with digital music.
Fitness
I'm not a fitness freak, but I freak out if I'm not fit. Fitness for me is an essential part of 'keeping the machine going', ensuring that your body can take whatever life has to throw at it. The hardest part for me has always been to incorporate regular training within the demands of the daily grind. It's not always easy to make time for yourself, to keep motivated and to push yourself to grow. My answer to these challenges has always been through some form of organized sport. I played competitive volleyball throughout highschool, CEGEP and university. In the following years as a traveling account representative, I did my best to keep fit by running and training alone, but it just wasn't the same. Living in France then gave me the opportunity to join the Levallois Sporting Club where I played competitive volleyball once again. More recently, I've been playing Ultimate Frisbee. I have also been fortunate to have met the great people at Esprit de Corps in Montreal, with whom I have been regularly sweating outdoors in team cross-training activities: there is nothing more motivating than teamates working and training with you, encouraging you to go further, faster, together to complete a défi or challenge.
Read more on Esprit de Corps and a recent training challenge completed together here.
Technology
The Radio-Shack TRS-80 was my first introduction to computers. A family friend had one and I was fascinated with all the different things possible with this machine: games, programming, word processing, spreadsheets, storing, sending and retrieving files, printing and more. Blunt by today's standards, the TRS-80 was a machine that, at the time, sent my imagination running wild; this was space-age stuff! My parents shortly thereafter bought me my first computer, a Commodore Vic-20. It was with the Vic-20 that I learned the basics of programming and gained an appreciation for computing (as well as an insatiable desire to complete Gorf missions). From this early foundation was born my passion for technology which later helped me develop a career introducing and leveraging technology in traditional business settings: e-commerce, internet marketing, and CRM, all core activities for successful companies today as well as centers of expertise in my professional profile.