The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

No, this is not a picture of Stephane and his beautiful wife, Josie. For that matter, it's not a picture of Susan and me, either. Ice sculpture is a big part of Carnaval. They even have an ice castle complete with clown (I should have brought my own fool's cap for the occasion. Some no doubt believe I never take it off).

The real show for me, however, and one of my strongest and fondest memories of Quebec City will always be the Frontenac. Stephane gave me some of the history of Quebec City and that towering structure that rules over much of the city and the St. Lawrence River.

Histories always impress me. On our drives, Susan and I will often find ourselves going through small towns that, in their day, weren't small at all. What caused them to be there? What made people hundreds and thousands of years ago look around and say to themselves, "Yeah, this would be a good place to live."

Richard Jeni has what I consider a great line about people settling where they do; "I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"

At the time of the first European settlements in North America, what is now Quebec City makes great sense; along a river and up a very steep hillside. Defendable and with good transportation access. The Frontenac, by the way, was where we met Stephane and Josie, enjoyed a cup of coffee and hot chocolate, then walked on

We spent the afternoon and evening with the Hamels, taking in the sites and braving the crowds. Stephane wrote Hey! Thanks Joseph!, a wonderful post about our visit. He flatters me. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, as well. I've written in The Future of Web Analytics, Demystified that Stephane taught me something about web analytics. Let me tell you, it's rare someone can teach me anything and -- contrary to public opinion -- it's because I'm a bit thick some times.

What Stephane did was explain to me how he solved an abandoned shopping cart problem using web analytics. It is a problem that NextStage's technology could solve, yes. Part of learning is understanding how different disciplines solve the same problem differently. I envy Stephane's students for his patience.

I think it's safe to say Stephane and I are looking for ways to merge what we do into something greater. I'll let him comment or tell me I'm in error on that.

We had dinner at Gambrinus and then made our way back to our B&B. All in all, a wonderful time.

We took a different route on the way back than we did on the way up (something fairly common for us). This took us through St. Georges de Beuce, the final resting place of Benedict Arnold, and an encounter with three deer walking across the highway. We were the only vehicle on the road and I think the deer (all does) were shocked that we slowed, rolled down the window and wished them a hearty hello and safe travels.

Back through Jackman, Maine and over to Gorham, NH, then south to our Nashua, NH, home. We passed through several small towns, always wondering what caused people to settle there. As with Quebec City, sometimes it was obvious; river access. In other cases, was it good hunting? A rail spur told us that the town had relatively modern origins and probably tied to timbering. Sometimes towns grew up along frequently traveled overland trails simply because people needed to get off their horse or out of their coach for a while.

Ah, well. Enough ramblings for a bit. Now back to work...

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