First Day

We departed Atlanta on Saturday evening. After checking in early at the Delta gate, the airline announced that if anyone had flexible travel plans that they would pay $400 in travel vouchers for taking a later flight. I quickly multiplied 400 times 2, got $800, and determined that I indeed had flexible travel plans. We were 2 hours late arriving in Paris, but with enough travel credits for a trip to California!

Jaime and I met Rick and Julie at the appointed cafe near Notre Dame. Of course, they had waited the extra 2 hours at the cafe (consuming a couple of bottles of wine).

Julie and Rick's apartment overlooks the Hotel de Ville and the Seine River. The weather last night was bitter, but we went across the Seine for dinner. Jaime was lagged so I brought her back some pizza.

The weather is much better today. Jaime and I went out early this morning (10:30) in search of coffee and cigarettes. By the way, Jaime's 2 cartons of cigarettes that she brought from the states is still in the large bag that didn't make it to Paris with us. The airline says we'll have it sometime today. We found coffee and cigarettes. Coffee is about $3 a cup and cigarettes are $10 a pack! If I had known this, I would have brought an additional suitcase filled with both and sold them on the street corner.

We met Julie's friend Noel for lunch at an Indian cafe. We've wandered about a bit this afternoon seeing the Luxembourg Park, the Senate, parts of the Latin quarter and more. Julie's apartment is in the 4th Adronisement. By the way, if you are expecting to see these French names and terms spelled correctly, you will be disappointed. I am writing this from an internet cafe were the rates are 3 euro per half hour, so if the spell check can't fix it, neither can I.

I have taken a number of photos, but I doubt that I will post them until later in the week if at all. I will post them when I get back.

That's it for now, folks.

Your friend in Paris,
Sam

Today is the Day

Well, it's finally arrived. The day we leave for Paris. We'll be leaving Atlanta about 6:30 tonight. Arrive in Paris 9:30 Sunday morning. We can't wait to see Julie and Rick. It has been a long time since we had an extended visit. Julie says to expect cold weather. In fact, Paris had snow earlier in the week. Snow in Paris is unusual she says. We managed to pack in only 2 suitcases! Three cheers to Jaime for packing light! Jessica and Talley will take us to the airport.

Plum

My friends Adam and David Churvis have recently released their latest gift the the ColdFusion world. It's a tool called Plum that allows developers to rapidly develop ColdFusion applications. This software features a number of modules that the developer may use to create large chunks of code that then may be tweeked as required. Within just a few minutes, a develper could show a client a working web site. Shrini and I are afraid that if we start using this product that we will forget how to code in ColdFusion!

Rotary International's 100th Birthday

Today, Rotary is celebrating 100 years since Paul Harris gathered 4 friends in his Chicago law office for what became the birth of the world's largest service organization. Rotary is truely world-wide with clubs in most countries. Our club, Muscogee Rotary Club, is now designated as a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club. This means that all of our members have given $1000 or more to the Rotary Foundation to help to the work of Rotary. This is a great distinction for a club!

Cliff Davenport

I saw my old friend Cliff Davenport on Wednesday for lunch. He seems to be doing fine. I mentioned to him that our class reunion will be held later this year. I don't know the exact date yet. It should be a lot of fun. Cliff mentioned that his son, Malcom, was working in Huntsville in technical sales. I think that George should look into this. Technical sales careers have the potential for higher earnings than a technical position.

Countdown to Paris. Two Days Until Blast Off

Well, I can't believe that our departure date is almost here. We'll be leaving on Saturday. I also can't believe that I have not packed a thing! Neither has Jaime. I could be Saturday morning before I pack, but it will happen.

I check the weather forecast for Paris on Yahoo Weather and it seems that it is currently snowing! We should see highs in the mid 30s and lows in the high teens. I guess that means I should pack very warm clothing.

Julie and Rick

Three more days before Jaime and I depart the USA. We're bound for gay Paris. We'll be spending a few days with cousin Julie and Rick. This is Julie, Rick, and Keeper in the photo.

Mid-term Test Day

Today is mid-term test day in my BUS105 and BUS202 courses that I teach at Columbus Tech. The pressure is on to make a good grade on "Mr. Singer's" test. Well I hope that everyone does well. Good luck, relax, take a deep breath and begin.

Countdown to Paris

Yes, only 17 more days until Jaime and I depart for Paris. We are going to visit cousin Julie and her boyfriend Rick. Leaving on Delta and scheduled to arrive about 9:30 Paris time at CDG airport. We are really looking forward to a long visit with Julie. We have seen her very little in the six years she has been in France. We plan to take in some museums and sample Parisian fare. We expect to be posting to our blogs daily while in Paris. Julie says that there are many internet cafes.

A Monday of New Releases

Monday marked a day of new releases in the CFer world. Macromedia released ColdFusion 7 to the world and across the country in Atlanta, Adam Churvis and son David release Plum. Well, I had a hard time deciding which product to download first. Sorry Adam and David, but I had to have CF7 first. Download was easy. I had to change my site definitions to find CF7. No other problems. I then downloaded Plum. I still have the ad version, but will upgrade to the non-ad version as soon as I can get Wiebke to approve the purchase.

Super Bowl Report

My cat, Maggie Mae, has been working out for Super Bowl Sunday. With just one day until the big day, she is handling a snap from the shotgun position with uncanny consistancy (for a cat). I've been filling in for her regular snapper, who is in Jacksonville. I'll have a photo of Maggie taking snaps on-line latter this afternoon.

Who Else is M & M?

Who else is M&M? The Mars candy named for the Mars brothers? The rap singer Eminem? No, I'm thinking of my cat Maggie Mae who is named for the character in the Beatle's tune by the same name. M & M is a very talented cat. As most of my friends and family already know, M & M retrieves fabric mice that I throw across the living room. Well last night she would retrieve, but she keep demanding that I throw more mice. I threw all of her old ones. She chased down each, but retrieved none. So the living room is now littered with the bodies of unretrieved mice. I didn't throw her new ones because she has started eating the tails off of them. Takes her all of one minute to gobble up a tail. I imagine that when I get home tonight she will have hidden all of the carcarses. Talented cat. Smart kitty!