North American Team in Nashville, Tennessee

For the remainder of the year, I expect to be in Nashville probably 4 days a week, two weeks a month. This week in Nashville was rather dull. Meetings during the day consisted of topics such as our documenting our current reverse logistics (returns) processes, mapping master data, and identifying potential system interfaces. Between the boring content and my cold medicine, it was difficult to stay focused.

The first night, a large group of us went to Hooters. I've not been to Hooters in many years. Most of the guys in our group were quite rude and crude to our waitress. It was somewhat embarrassing. But at the same time, I think anyone who wants to be a waiter at Hooters is just begging to be hit on and picked on. It sort of goes with the territory & the uniform.

On day two a different group of us went downtown to the Flying Saucer. This is a huge bar with over 200 beers on tap. While there, I ate some white goat cheese pizza and had a few obscure beers.

Mark (Florida), Daron (Kentucky), and Cedric (France) at Nashville's Flying Saucer

On day three we went to a restaurant called Caney Fork fish camp. The atmosphere there is quite unique. It's rustic with stuffed animals everywhere you look. These animals range from a large moose to an assortment of coyotes and foxes. There was also a live blue grass band. I didn't think to bring my camera but could have taken some interesting photos if I had. My meal consisted of wonderful corn fritters, fried pickles, fried catfish, white beans with ham, and hush puppies. Yum, yum.

Tijuana Trip

The business trip to Tijuana went great. The Mexicans were very intelligent, knowledgeable, and excited about working with us. Mission accomplished.

Apparently, Northern Mexico is no longer safe for American business men and tourists. Our driver told me that tourism is down 90% as compared to previous years and that the government is desperate to get tourists back into Mexico.

Due to security concerns, our company required us to stay in a hotel in San Diego, California and to commute daily. We were provided with a driver and an armored vehicle. The first day, the car was a modified Jeep Cherokee. It had bullet proof glass and armored plates inside the door panels. It looked like any other Jeep Cherokee but weighted around 9000 pounds. The car was a bit small since there were six of us counting the driver. On day two, they upgraded us to a much larger armored car which also looked like any other SUV on the street.

Each day, we went directly from the U.S. hotel to the Mexican factory and then back across the border. So, I didn't really get a chance to experience the real Tijuana. This is the only picture that I was able to take inside of Mexico:

We were told that if we reached the boarder after 5:00 PM that there would be a three hour wait. So, we left the office at around 4:00 PM each day to avoid the traffic bottleneck. This gave us the evenings to explore San Diego. The next picture was take just in front of the restaurant "World Famous on the Beach" where we ate a nice sea food dinner.


On Wednesday, we decided to hit Target, a store near our hotel, to buy swim suits. We spent a couple hours at the beach before going out to dinner.

Here's Mac & Chad showing off their new swim-wear:

Status Report

Sorry for not posting during the last couple of weeks. Last week, I worked in Nashville, TN. I don't have any pictures.... nothing much worth taking pictures of. Evenings consisted mostly of typical American chain restaurants.

This week, I am working from home. It is suggested that everyone take vacation this week. Due to lower seniority, I have half the vacation of most of my team. I don't want to burn my vacation yet as I hope to visit relatives in November. The result is that it's hard to get much work done as I can't seem to reach many people for calloboration. I might take a day and bring Sky & BJ to a water park depending on the weather. Next week I'm back in Nashville with the data team.

The upcoming trip to Tijuana is on. Don't expect many pictures. I can't take photos during work. And, they'll have an escort (possibly armed) to drive us each morning from San Diego across the border to the plant. Then, they'll take us back at the end of the working day. So, no exciting evening jaunts in Mexico. And for dinner, I suspect we'll wind up at a steakhouse chain.

Working from Home & Future Travel

I have been back in the States for a little over two weeks. It feels like a month has passed already. Skylar, my two year old son, keeps asking to go back to places in France. It's amazing how often pictures of key Parisian landmarks are shown in advertisements and product packaging. And, each time Sky sees one, he says, "I wanna go there again."

Now that I'm home, my role is changing once again. Instead of testing the core global system and reports, I'm starting to coordinate the mapping of data for logistics objects. My Lexington plant office is being moved to the other side of the building. Not that it matters since I mostly work from home when I'm not traveling.

Things I like about working from my house:

1. My home office / guest bedroom is so much more pleasant than a drab cubical.
2. Internet access is faster than in the office.
3. My Internet access is not monitored as long as I don't use the company laptop.
4. During conference calls, I can put the phone on speaker. In an office cubical, this is disturbing to others.
5. I can get more work done with fewer distractions.
6. I can cook lunch instead of always eating out.
7. My wife is a school teacher and has summers off. So, during the summer, I can eat lunch with family.
8. No dress code. I can even go to work in my PJ's or boxers if I want.
9. My morning commute now consists of simply rolling out of bed. With inflated gas prices, this saves money not just time.
10. I can bring my dog to work.

Next week, I go to Nashville for the official kick-off of "work ahead" data mapping for standard product plants in the U.S. and parts of Mexico. I'm likely to be required to travel to Nashville two or three weeks a month from now on. The schedule will be arrive Monday afternoon, leave Thursday afternoon. It's only a three and half hour drive from Lexington. And, unlike working in France, I get to have all of my weekends at home! If I gained anything from all of my travel abroad, it was a growing appreciation of family and my time spent at home.

Next month, I am planning a 4 day trip to Tijuana, Mexico. But, the trip may not happen due to increased security measures due to current unsafe conditions in parts of Mexico. I've been invited to Monterrey and other Mexican locations but don't have time to visit them all personally. Tijuana is the least safe of all but is where my key subject matter experts reside.

More of Paris...

While I work, the family plays. But on the weekends, we get enjoy Paris together....





On Saturday, we visited the catacombs beneath of the streets of Paris....

While roaming the streets of Paris, during tourist season, we found this appropriately named street.

Luxembourg Gardens has a section that houses bees. I'm not sure of the significance but thought that it was interesting to have such a thing smack in the middle of a public park.

My wife is taking lots of pictures of our son's stuffed animal "RJ" (Raffe Junior)...

Here's another pic from today's visit to the Rodin museum. This one's the famous "Gates of Hell". And here I am, walking up the steps...

This is likely my last trip to Paris. My involvement in "core" work has come to an end. Next week, I start working on North American projects and will be spending a great deal of time in "Honky Tonk" Tennessee.

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!