Eiffel Tower at Night

Family in Paris

Once again, I'm in Paris. But this time, I brought family: My wife, our child, and my wife's 15 year old sister. We're staying sixteen days. While I work, they play. Last weekend, we hit Euro-Disney together. Euro-Disney reminded me an awful lot of Dollywood in Tennessee. It's even smaller than Six Flags. Regardless, we had a great time.

Business is still moving slowly. We're working on testing. Our North American implementation partners have now been on boarded and were here in France this week. We ate dinner on the river at a place that was depicted in one of Renoir's famous paintings.

This Week in U.S.

I was in Nashville Monday and Tuesday. We were working on ironing out details for our U.S. project to implement SAP in standard product plants. Today, I'm working out of my house. When working at home, the majority of my time is spent collaborating via conference calls. Tomorrow, I'm going into the local plant. Part of the day will be spent helping them with stuff related to a job I held over three years ago. On Sunday, I leave for France. I'm taking family with me this time...

English as the official language...

This article was in today's global company news...

To speak English still makes debate in firms

English has today become the language of the business world. Most French enterprises, which are present on the international stage, have chosen to use English in most of their everyday communications. This is notably the case of (company a) and (company b, my company), which has more than 120,000 employees in about 100 countries. However, HR Managing Director (Mr X, company b) regrets this decision as the use of the English language reinforces the hegemony of the British culture.
France, May 20th 2008

It's interesting that Mr. X's primary concern appears to be about re-enforcing the domination of British culture as opposed to doing what would best facilitate collaboration in a global company. Considering that probably 1/3 of the employees speak English as their native languare and that English is one of the most prevelent 2nd languages globally makes it one of the only viable options. I also find it a bit ironic that the article was published in English rather than French.

Note: As of May 26, 2008, Mr. X has moved on to another position within the company.

Another Day in Paris

Sunday, some of us went to the Museum D'Orsay where they have on display numerous famous pieces by Degas, Van Gogh, Whistler, Monet, Rodan, and others. This is now one of my favorite museums in Paris.















The following are a couple of pictures of billboard ads in train stations.

Normandy Invasion

Today, Mac and I did a tour of Normandy. I'm glad that I have had a chance to stand on the very same beaches that my grandfather invaded over sixty years ago. If it weren't for soldiers like him, the world would be a very different place and I probably wouldn't even allowed in France.

It's good to be home!

I was asked to go to Nashville this week. They told us that we didn't absolutely have to go if we'd been traveling extensively. Politically, I probably should have gone. But sometimes you have to put family first. I've seen very little of my two year old son over the last month. I even missed his birthday a couple of weeks ago. Sure, we had a party for him when I got back but it's just not quite the same.

Usually, when not traveling, I work from home. Yes, I could drive across town if I wanted to. But, I share a large office space with two other people and am on conference calls most of the day. I can't exactly put the phone on speaker and I feel that my talking on the phone all day would be a bit bothersome to them. I haven't been into my Lexington office for several months. I'm going to go in on Monday as I have a meeting to attend. It'll be nice to see old faces and meet the new hires. So much has changed this year at the plant. It'll be fun to walk around and see the new plant layout in action.

I return to France on Mother's day. I'll be there for two weeks. Then in June, I'm back for 2 1/2 weeks. But in June, I bring my family. Am I crazy to be bringing a two year old on such a long airplane ride? I imaging it'll be hard to keep the kid in his seat. Oh well. At least I know I'll have someone small in the seat next to me... more room to stretch out!

Going Home & Coming Back

This three week stay has seemed to go much faster than I would have expected. I think that the weekend trip to Munich really helped break-up the extended stay in Paris. I'll be on my way home tomorrow! Yeah! I'm looking forward to my son's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. I'll be home for two weeks and then come back to France.

As soon as travel is approved for June, I'm buying tickets for my wife, child, and wife's sister. We're all going to stay for two and a half weeks. That will give me two weekends with them in Paris. We're hoping to also go to Euro-Disneyland during the trip. I'm actually looking forward to coming to France in June. It'll be very nice to show my family around and let them experience some of what my life has been like for the last six months.

Weekend in Germany

This weekend, we went to Munich... a beautiful city with wonderful beer.

Another Weekend in Paris

Today is Monday, a travel day for most people on the project. The other Americans will arrive this afternoon. The Europeans who went home for the weekend will arrive tomorrow morning. So, there are very few people on the "platform" and there is very little core work available to work on individually. It's days like this that frustrate me the most. I come half way around the world to sit and twiddle my thumbs. The result is... time to post to my blog.

Friday night, I walked two miles to try a seafood restaurant & Jazz club near the Chateau Malmaison. The menu was very confusing. I hadn't realized the French had a dozen different types of shrimp all with different names. I ended up with a huge slice of white fish, the species unknown. Thankfully, they had German beer to wash it down. The Jazz band got set up just before I left. They were okay but not great jazz musicians.

K., an American from the services domain, was also in Paris this weekend. Unlike me, he stays downtown near Charles de Gaulle Etuille (Arche de Triumph) and commutes. We met up on Saturday and went inside Notre Dame. Afterwards, we visited the Musee des gouts de Paris (the museum of the guts of Paris). This is a tour of the sewer system. If you can get past the smell, the tour is quite interesting.

On Saturday, I went to the modern art museum at the Centre Pompidou. I'm not usually very fond of modern art. Too often the pieces are sloppy and thrown together with very little in the way of refined skills. But, I must say that the majority of works on display were quite good. There were only one or two pieces that I felt were a bit insulting. Such as the 3 white canvases. This goes well beyond the concept of minimalism and is, in my opinion the epitome of laziness. I can just picture the artist laughing his ass off about getting paid to hang up blank canvases!

Another Week in France

This week, we continue testing our SAP system which is to be implemented globally. The process is slow and very few scripts have succeeded on the first pass. While this is a bit frustrating, I am finally getting my hands on the system and learning how it works. This is great as the last three years, I have focused mostly on standardized business rules and data mapping with only an abstract concept of how these would be applied in SAP.

Right now, I am just about the only American on the team who is staying in Ruiel Malmason, France. Almost all co-workers who are here this week (mostly non-Americans) are staying in downtown Paris. I'm looking forward to Monday when the rest of my American team arrives. Eating alone hasn't made for the most exciting evenings. Plus, this week I have started back on my low-carb diet. It's a bit difficult knowing what to order while I still can't read half of the French menu descriptions. Breakfast is also a challenge. I'm cooking breakfast in the hotel microwave, alternating days between bacon & eggs and quesadillas (I brought my own low-carb wraps with me). Last night, I simply walked along the Seine river (pronounced "sin"). I took this picture (right) of myself standing on a dock.

This weekend, I think that I will be on my own. I'm going to finally hit Notra Dame and maybe Pompidou, a modern art museum. Or, I may just do whatever strikes my fancy at the time.

Yuck! Andouillette Sausage!

I have arrived in Paris. This time, I am staying for three weeks. I'm now determined to do low-carb even while abroad. Today, in the office cafeteria, I carefully selected a low-carb meal consisting of a large salad, green & yellow wax beans, and two plump sausages. The sausages looked like good 'ol German brats. But, when I cut into one, it crumbled into a pile of greasy, gristly chunks. I didn't know that andouillette sausage was made of pig stomachs and colons. I ate two bites and couldn't handle any more of it. I simply ate my beans and salad while trying not to breath the sausage's feces aroma. Yes, that's right, it literally smells like shit. I suppose this is because it is made out of intestines. I only hope that the two bites I ate doesn' t make me sick. Apparently this dish is very popular in France and considered a local specialty. Lesson learned: don't eat sausage in France!