Thursday, December 29, 2005
Last Night in Town
I'm not sure there is as much history in the US in any one place, and this trip has been fabulous as a learning experience.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Smoking in Paris
The wake up sequence in the French hotel is out of order: you smoke before you wake up, get your wake up call, then get breakfast.
When travelling in Paris you can smoke on the cheap. Just stick your head into any small restaurant, take three or four deep breaths, then be on your way.
There's nothing quite like the rush of second hand smoke from over 1000 cigarettes instantaneously ignited. Just wait for intermission at a big theatre or showcase and you're in for the experience.
More from Paris
Our trip is starting to wind down a little, so we'll enjoy our next two full days before we return on Friday.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Time for Catchup
We celebrated a specatular Christmas Eve and Day with the Fenders including exchange of gifts and splendid meals. We also went to the grand show at the Moulin Rouge.
Moved to a little hotel across the street from the Fenders -- traded a not so good bed in a remote location for a good bed and smoke in a great location. C'est la vie.
Looking forward to all that this day brings.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Versailles
An evening stroll in La Défense was quite spectacular and on the last working day before the holiday weekend, there were not a lot of people around. What a beautiful place this is for an office, and there is even a Starbucks
I continue to work on my French, and am getting helpful lessons from Ben's sister.
Paris around and about
Rewinding to our first night, the city tour -- a ride around to see the key spots -- left us thinking that Paris may be the most beautiful city we've seen. The Eiffel Tower is illuminated, the trees along the Champs-Elysées are lit for the holidays, and so many sites that pictures are really required rather than words.
We met Ben's cousin and family, and were warmly received into their home for an evening of food and drink. It was a late night, but a lot of fun.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Paris, Day 1
Looking forward to seeing the lights around the city tonight as the town is dressed up for the holidays.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Last Class
Next time, I'm going to call them out. These folks aren't my friends or neighbors; I don't work with them or for them. I can call it out politely, but really shouldn't have to.
Monday, December 19, 2005
More Yoga
The France trip is tomorrow, so it's time to start packing. Should be a simple pack -- electronic bag, and shoulder clothing bag. A suit, a coat, and the usual. France should be a real trip! Ma fille, who scored 790 on French SAT should be a big help along the way, so I'm planning on being extra nice to her so I'll get translation assistance when my French wanes.
New Yoga Class
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Yoga
The big question is which class will I enjoy on Monday.
Still Raining
It was good to resume study of French yesterday with more to follow today. I still find my strongest calling to keeping up with work. This is okay as long as I can balance out. Second calling is exercise followed by French and music.
Need to eat well and watch energy levels today. On a resting day (yeah, right) I should be able to maintain good energy throughout. For some reason, I seem to fade mid-afternoon and into the early evening with recovery around bedtime. Go figure.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Winding Down -- Not Really
Time to resume French and get ready for the trip. It will be too easy to stay focused on work, which is both good and bad. It's good because I really like my work, but bad because I should diversify my interests through reallocating my time -- in this case, to achieve the goal of my trip. In case you didn't know, my goal is to be in the best position to absorb the culture of a different country, different people who speak a different language with emphasis on Ben and his family.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Thursday
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Looking up
When your down pretty low, the only way to go is up. It's amazing how inspired you might become without sleep and while recovering from emotional toil. I found myself in two situation where negotiation was required, and found a way to go win win.
Also got encouraging news about opportunities that may fully enable the first quarter.
I know I'm tired tonight and need more than two hours sleep, for sure.
Also, shared travel plans with Jane since she'd been to France, and she indicated the trip would be great fun.
Took a Hit
I received a review of my performance from my team. Not good at all.
Means I have a lot of work to do to add a helper, or change the focus on
people and bypass growth. There are probably more options than these
two, but the real concern is peer perf.
Didn't sleep so well last night as I was pretty pumped from the
activities, and really pumped on what the team has accomplished.
Somehow there is a gap between how they feel, how they're represented,
and correlation to the results. This will be a good challenge for me to
resolve this.
So, it looks like I'll be dwelling on this for a while. But, knowing
that there is action to be taken, I'll take it and we'll move ahead.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
End of the Day
Early start on Monday, and there may be some Yoga in store for me in the morning. Sometimes I think there is more opportunity than there is time to capture it, so there must be an art in selecting the best activities for the time we have available.
I think I'm honing my biz skills which will be very useful for picking the right things to work on. Time will tell.
Sunday Afternoon
Looking forward to the forthcoming party for my mom and for the overseas trip. Should be a nice way to conclude the year. Also sounds like a NYE party is brewing, which should be fun to come home to.
Sunday Morning
I did my exercise early since I'll be leaving for brunch and business
trip this morning. It was good to get this accomplished as I won't have
an exercise opportunity until Tuesday. That is, unless I do Yoga in my guest room tonight or Monday morning.
Even though this is the early set of posts to my Blog, I wonder if I'm
going to keep doing it? One friend does this to improve writing
skills. I can see where it may be a good exercise to keep your head
clear on where you've been and where you're going. We'll see; time will tell.
For now, gotta do a little scramble to pack/prep for time away.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
You Can Blog by e-mail
Wow, I can e-mail to my blog and have it create a new entry. Will
wonders ever cease?
If I wanted to go deep, I could talk about the neighborhood holiday
party tonight. It was nice, but I'm more interested in seeing if the
post posts :)