The famous San Martinu of Patrimonio churchWhere I Live

As of August 31, 2005 I live in Patrimonio, Corsica, France.  The picture on the right is of the "famous" San Martinu church, in the village where we live. Yea! I live in a famous village in France! emoticon Patrimonio is located at the bottom of the "Cap Corse" area (the top tip/finger part of Corsica) just east of St. Florent. (So we’re on the St.Florent side of the mountain between Bastia and St.Florent.)

Visit the Lonely Planet’s Guide To Corsica for more interesting stuff. Many of my posts will be about life in Corsica, because it’s all pretty new for me.

(I used to live in Vancouver, BC, Canada.)

About Me

Well, you asked for it! I was born on September 20, 1974 and.. ummm… well… I can’t think of what to put here. One day I might come back to this page and put it together into a nicely formatted and properly written auto-biography.  Or heh, someone else who cares could do it. emoticon

I’m not much of a writer, so for now here’s some random scatterings from deep inside the burrows of Henri:

  • I enjoy working, but I hate the actual work part. I think that must be the Corsican in me.
  • I’ve been married since August 16, 1997. Most of it happily. Some of it not so happy. Right now I’m mostly happy.
  • My wife’s name is Cara Marie. She’s an American. emoticon (No, not the gun-toting kind. She’s the kind that actually knows about other countries and cares about what happens around the world.)
  • I’ve been fortunate to travel to a lot of different countries and places. Some trips were longer then others, but I loved them all.  Travelling is one of the few things I really like a lot. (Besides Taco Bell, but more on that later.
  • Some of the places I’ve been too include every state in the US except Hawaii, Alaska and Rhode Island, Baffin Island (Northern Canada), Papua new Guinea, New Zealand (just one day), Australia (only one day), most countries of Western Europe, most countries of the Middle East, Russia, Greenland.
  • My favorite country so far is Turkey. I loved the people (every had apple tea in the back of some carpet shop while chatting with the owner about whatever subject comes to mind?), and the country is downright amazing. If I ever get back into climbing shape, maybe one day I’ll go back and tackle a mountain or two.
  • My wife and I drove around pretty much the entire perimeter of the UK in 6 days, including Scotland! It was due more to bad planning then purpose. (Imagine my face upon hearing Cara say, "Well, on the map it didn’t look so far away!")
  • My dad was from Corsica. He died when I was 15 years old — a victim of lung cancer caused by asbestos mining near the small village where he lived. Two of his brothers (and probably both his parents but nobody can prove it) also died from the same thing.
  • My all-time favorite food is my "regular" order from Taco Bell. I always get the same thing: double-decker taco, chicken quesadilla, bean burrito without onion, and a large water. When we go to the US (to visit Cara’s parents or whatever), it isn’t unusual for me to eat five or 6 times at Taco Bell during the weekend. Mmmmm.. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
  • My second favorite food is the "Legendary Burger Platter" (basically a hamburger and fries) at any Whitespot restaurant.
  • I often call myself "Henri The Great" or "Henri The Amazing" or "Henri The Spectacular" or "Henri The Wonderful" or "Henri The Awesome".  Hey, someone’s gotta toot my horn.
  • I have no shame whatsoever. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it’s really really bad.
  • I have one brother, named Philippe Henri. Yup.. he’s got my first name as his middle name.  He’s a good brother, and always looked out for me when we were growing up. He’s only 1.5 years older then me, and he had a lot of looking out to do. I think he’s almost done now. Hi Bro!emoticon
  • Philippe’s wife’s name is Rebecca. I like her a lot, and she’s a super-good mom!
  • I have two step-brother’s. Tony and Michael.  My step-dad’s name is Dave.  He’s a hunter/fisher type of guy, and a very different person then anyone I’d ever met before. I like him a lot and also respect him a lot because he’s been through a lot in his life and seems to have figured out how to actually live a life of grace.
  • I love my nephew and nieces.  They’re like little people, but more fun! Luc, Kate, Amy, and now Evan. One of the biggest things I miss (living away from them) is them.
  • I really enjoy talking with people and having a good discussion about anything. 
  • I’m not much of a social person, as I vastly prefer one-on-one communication. Actually, I despise social occasions and social groups.
  • I enjoy astro-physics quite a bit. I have trouble with the math, but I can usually figure things out. The whole subject of astronomy and causology are facinating to me.
  • I’ve climbed most of the local mountains around Vancouver, BC.
  • I lived in Invermere, BC for a while. Nice place. Good memories.  I miss my Uncle Dave.
  • I’ve climbed most of the major mountains in the Purcell Mountain Range.
  • Some of the work I’ve done during my life so far include (in no particular order) McDonalds (about 1.5 months), dishwasher, gas station attendant, bookstore clerk, heli-ski bum, sound man for big and small groups and bands, electrician, computer fixit guy, software architect, project manager, technical architect (computers, not houses), systems consultant, laborer for my step-dad who is/was a brick layer (toughest summer job I ever had — and the work was hard, too!)
  • My mom’s name is Ann-Therese, and she’s the best mother I’ve ever seen.  Heck, she did a darn good job raising me!
  • My wife says my feet smell. Really bad.emoticon She also says I snore, but I’ve never heard myself, so I think it’s all in her head. She, on the other hand, does actually snore.

Well, that’s enough about me for now. If you can think of something that I missed, feel free to comment below.

Sincerely,

Henri The Great