Reinforcements Arrive

Last night my boss and the Sr. VP of Ops and CTO arrived from Canada, very late and tired. Brandon and I returned to the scene of the crime - that cool little walking street with all the terraces. We were whipped but of course needed to eat and guzzle. We had a cool couple of hours, then I went home to get my game face on for the big pitch today Tuesday, the culmination of my work over the past 3 weeks (I was only front and center on translation for a few days but it was cool).

Anyway, I had prepared this large presentation, then translated it into French, then of course we re-worked it a bunch of times and got feedback from our clients.

Today there were about a dozen big muckety-mucks all gathered around to listen to me deliver this spiel including the President and CEO of 47 plants and a few of his direct reports. They were nice and we had some fun too. I presented the whole thing in French and two things became clear very quickly: first, I scored with everyone. They can see that I will make all this happen, and I will, no doubt. This is my niche, this is my thing. Secondly, they are convinced after a lot of analysis that our product is the right thing. I am sitting here waiting for them to call us in and give us their decision, but I think I know where they are going. They want three more things from us before giving the green light unconditionally:

1. a detailed plan right through to the end of the first 3 trial/pilot sites.

2. a process for getting the business requirements for all 47 sites. there are 30 "super" users involved from plants all over FR who will make decisions on how our products will be married with their business policies and processes.

3. we need to hire the two other people that will form our French team. We interviewed a guy today but he couldn't put a sentence together in English.

Looks like they want my butt here most of the time, I guess it's no surprise. I had been hiding from that. This is a big issue for me because of friends, but that's not the end of the world, we always stick to the closest friends and find a way to see each other.

Also, they want to send several people to Vancouver for a lot of training in July which is a great idea and the right place and time. I hope I have the time to go too. Looks like I will, as I will stick to my plan of going home on the 28th of June. PHEW. I still feel OK, but know that homesickness will appear soon.

Enough business - sorry - just wanted to capture that for posterity's sake.

I found a really cool-looking studio with a kitchenette at less than half the price of my broom closet hotel that we left today. I mean it looks cool on the internet. We will spend the next two nights at the local French HQ (I have been at our customers' Euro HQ until now) which is in the south-east corner of the city, so we changed hotel so that we wouldn't have to spend an hour in a taxi.

Anyway, that studio is smack-dab right in the middle between the French HQ and the Euro HQ, which is a somewhat political statement from me as I do not want either group to think I care about the other more. Corinne comes from Group and as mentioned I respect her so much. My French customers come from the French HQ, so I have to hang close to them.

It's also a less expensive area without so many tourists, more of a local feel, I like that.

Thursday June 12, 2008

PHEW, my bosses went home!! My direct boss was driving me nuts. Technoweenies always micromanage things because business objectives confuse them. They don't know what else to do. My boss is a really nice guy, but he's a content expert, not a project manager. Manoj, I can hear you all the way from India hahaha. Anyway, I remind you that my offer letter said "....Initially you will report to Mr. Technowhoopie...." Someone else knows what's up and that be the Sr. VP/CTO. He is not a turkey. He's pretty tough though, just the way I like them.

Anyway, we spent two nights with the French at that broom closet number hotel close to the French HQ. It was a broom closet but the service was sort of like being at home, so it was a great great couple of days. We went to a wicked Chinese the first night and it was AWESOME. We had Peking Duck and chicken wrapped in banana leaves and you-name-it. Funniest part was this Chinese waiter who kept coming to the table to describe dishes and take orders and stuff, but nobody could understand him. All the francophones looked at all the francophones with puzzled expressions. Same deal for all the anglophones. My boss said he understood some of the Chinese but we were still baffled. Finally we understood that he is also Canadian from Montreal. EUREKA. So we tried English. Didn't work either. Very funny guy though.

Last night we had a feast at the hotel and it was like being at home. Very comfy, professional, yet informal, without the phony American crap "Hi I'm Jimmy and I'm going to be your waiter tonight." They should make them bring a barf bucket to the table when they say that. What they really mean is "Hi, I'm Jimmy, and I haven't got a clue but I want to make lots of tips."

One sure reason why the French are skinny is the size of the portions. Very simple solution.

Last night I had a starter of sardines with this-and-that. Delicious. Know how many sardines there were? FOUR. Perfect, really all I needed. That was followed by a salmon with a dollop of rice about the size of a bar of soap and some spinach, just delicious and of course very light. So that is why the French remain skinny in spite of their love of food.

Then I went outside for half a cigarette, Sara, and started slobbering over this mini car thingy (see photos). There was a gang on the terrace drinking up a storm and they started right in on me: Did I like the car? Did I want to buy the car? I think they thought I couldn't speak French, so when I answered them we really started to have fun. They were cool. Then they offered a package deal: the car plus the only girl at the table (very cute actually). Of course I said yes. And on and on it went. The French are extremely sociable, and as I said before, every interaction requires a conversation even if you don't know the people.

Then we went off to bed to our broom closets and I awoke early and worked on my plan, then went to the office to work with our clients until my bosses left at 5. I left with them, I am very bagged, and will just go through the motions tomorrow and maybe Monday too. I deserve it. Nobody ever gives you time off, they just talk about a balanced life style, so I will take it. I have worked every day since starting Monday the 19th and actually started before, so enough is enough.

I wanted to stay and have a last night with Brandon from Dallas but decided to move HQ to Montparnasse, which is politically located right between the Euro and French offices as I mentioned.

Settling In and Breaking Out on a Saturday Night

After 3 days I feel somewhat settled although my sleep has been disturbed each night - not sure if that is the remnants of the cold I caught in Vancouver, the time change, or both. Anyway, no problems, we are so busy there is no time to think about being tired.

On the first evening my friend went to meet his parents so I just grabbed some take-out from a bakery. On Thursday we found a cool walking street with restaurants and sat around and talked and ate and drank and people-watched. Awesome. Civilized. That is the operative word here.

Last night both team members wanted to stay later than me at the office, I was dead at 7 PM and they also wanted to hit the town, so I went back to the same place alone and sat around for a while and ate and guzzled some more wine. Lovely.

Here is the sequel to my video in Aguas Calientes Peru tee hee


Sunday June 8, 2008

Hangover Edition, Hope this Makes Sense

I enjoy translating expressions back and forth, then using them to everyone's confusion. For example, a hangover in French is called a "guele de bois" which transliterates to "a wooden head" which of course means nothing to anyone unless they already know French. Anyway, that's where I am now at 0830 on a Sunday morning. We had a great time last night!

Firstly, I would like to introduce my teammates: Corinne Gaschet from our customer Smurfit Kappa. Corinne is a Euro regional Project Manager who is located in Paris. Late 30's, career girl type, works hard, plays hard, offers to iron stranger's shirts. Fantastic person, really has her heart in all this. Then there is Brandon Verwolf, who coincidentally is also based in the US, he and I are the only remote employees in the US, he lives in Dallas. He is married with a couple of kids, he's 34, but his brain is about 75 years old. Sharp cookie.

These situations are really tricky, kind of like Survivor or something like that. You're thrown in with a couple of people you don't know, many miles from home with nobody to wipe your nose, crazy deadlines, long hours, a lot of pressure.

What we are doing is translating this huge software application that does everything for a corrugated packaging plant into French in time for a demo for our customers, Smurfit Kappa France, next Wednesday and Thursday. Impossible, but we're trying. In parallel, I am preparing my sales pitch in French for Tuesday when we hope to seal the deal. We are hoping to get some sort of a green light so we can move forward this summer and start installing in their 47 plants in France. We also have a more detailed 3 day demo scheduled for Bordeaux June 24-26 which will be entirely in French, so by then we have to have everything perfect. We will, no problem.

I could not have ended up luckier with the teammates that fate has thrust upon me!! These two people are fantastic and fun to work with and fun to go out with. I can't believe they were able to drag me out and make me stay out until 2 a.m. Can't remember the last time I made it past midnight to tell you the truth!

I worked until about 4, then abandoned ship. I went back to the hotel and tried to find a studio apartment for the 10 days after my colleague and bosses go home and before Bordeaux, but to no avail. They worked until 7, then we met up and went on a long forced march down the Champs Elysees all the way to the Louvre, then crossed over into St. Germain des Pres into the Latin Quarter.

It was ROCKING on a Saturday night. Wall to wall people and every second door in the place is a restaurant or bar of sorts.

We found a place with outdoor seating at a strategic corner and while they were preparing our table, Corinne spotted the Host from a restaurant across the street doing a mime for us about how sad he was that we were frequenting his neighbor's place. It was hilarious and we immediately agreed to jump ship, much to the disgust of the Host from the other place. People are incredibly sociable, everything requires a conversation. I know why, they don't spend their lives looking at the TV the way we do. Anyway, they traded unkind words across the street for quite a while about the situation. We had worked up a powerful thirst with all that walking, so we guzzled beer and poured over the menu. We had the usual awesome dinner, no surprise there. Brandon is tracking the number of excellent meals: We are up to 8 out of 8 now even though the filet mignon de porc was a tad tough.

Then we went wandering around a bit and found a jazz club but the entry was like 22 dollars, so I balked and we found a piano bar and camped out there. It was run by the Russian mafia, you could tell by their insincere friendly veneer. Scary. Things have changed on that front quite a bit, lots of Eastern European influence around.

So we drank and listened and kept discreetly changing the music on the computer when the singer was on break. Son of a gun if it suddenly wasn't about 2 a.m., thought, OK, time to go home. So we staggered around the warren of little streets until we got back to the Seine and Corinne got us a taxi and I showered and crashed.

Today I would like to prep some stuff for Tuesday and take them to La Defense, that 25 storey edifice made in the style of a huge cardboard box open at each end. It is both French and unique, nobody could come up with such a monstrosity. I have always loved it.

The Old Push Back from the Gate and Leave On Time Trick!!

So last night's trip was about an hour or so late because American Airlines got us all settled in THEN said some button was wrong and they had to go over the entire plane. This way they can report they left on time. Everyone is a crook these days. Still it was a pleasant trip except for the fact I didn't sleep a wink. I did do a lot of relaxing however, so I was able to make it through the afternoon at the office today at least semi-lucid most of the time.

Arrived at Charles de Gaulle and had to wait for my colleague coming from Dall-ass. Great guy, has lived in 11 different states and knows his way around. We are visiting our European customer who is a really cool lady, even offered to do my shirts to save money LOL. Hmmm, you could be waiting a very long time for a similar offer in the US haha. Of course I politely declined and found a little place to do my laundry and iron my shirts.

Thanks to Bush's economic policy, the dollar is worth less than nothing. For example, a coffee and a bottle of water cost me $9 at the airport this a.m., my shirts will cost $5 each to launder, my hotel room is the size of a broom closet yet goes for $300. OK, this is prime real estate, the Seine is right up the street, the Eiffel tour around the corner, and you can see Notre Dame a few minutes walk away.

So, I have decided to ignore the true cost and pretend that a Euro is the same as a dollar, works for me, I'm not paying anyway, can't do anything about it.

A few observations:

1. everyone takes time to talk, even in such a huge city. A conversation is required with every transaction.
   
2. people put a lot of pride into their food - it is a celebration, not a gulp and run.
3. everyone still walks around with their baguette in the evening
4. there are practically no fat people
5. there are tons of those little mini car things everywhere, not sure what they are called.
   
6. the whole city is a post card, gorgeous architecture everywhere
7. I said everyone in Vancouver smokes, here it really is EVERYONE.
8. People drink wine at lunch like crazy.
9. The people are extremely polite in impersonal situations such as bumping into each other on the street. I accidentally touched a couple of people with my luggage cart in the airport and they really noticed it, you must excuse yourself in these situations or else.
10. Fast food is hard to come by.
11. Parking is optional. People just find an empty spot on the road, sidewalk, handicapped area, or whatever, and just abandon their cars. Practical approach.
12. There is no more dog poop on the streets. Paris used to be the world capital for dog poop, people scraping their shoes off and cursing and sliding and stuff. No more.
    
13. There are no cops, haven't seen one in two days, very interesting.
14. Can't find any homeless either, just the odd one here and there.
15. The days are incredibly long, it is after 10 and the sun has just gone down and the Eiffel tour is all light up behind me, quite a site.
    

This is somewhat of a homecoming but not completely as I never lived in France, just spent extended stays on projects and boondoggles to Cannes and Nice when I had people in my group based in Southern France.

I managed to stay up until 10 exactly as planned and slept mostly through the whole night YIPPEEEEEE.

Last night my friend from Dallas' parents were here on vacation so he went out with them. I had an opportunity to scout around, found a bar for a glass of wine and did some people-watching, then a cleaner for my shirts, and several interesting little stores and restaurants. I will try to avoid heavy restaurant meals but it will be tough as my buddy is counting on me to be his guide and translator until he leaves a week from tomorrow.

This trip was originally foreseen for next week, then hasty arrangements were made to advance it so we could be here and work with our customers to translate our products in time for next weeks' big presentation.

Retour vers le Futur/ Back to the Future for Grik!!

OK kids, here we go with another "Who'd a thunk?" situation. I have been away from Europe for over 16 years after spending 13 there, so it will be strange but good to return.

Tomorrow I go to JFK and will stay overnight at the airport antiseptic hotel as it cuts about 40% and 3 time zones off the trip to make the JFK to Paris leg only 7:45 elapsed with a 6 hour time difference. Including the hotel cost it still comes out about the same or cheaper than taking the direct flight from SFO, so no problem there.

I will arrive in Paris, wait a couple of hours for my colleague from Dallas to arrive, then we will stagger downtown to our hotel and try to work the whole day Wednesday.

I should add that I saw a taxi parked at a house around the corner and have made great friends with this brudda from East Palo Alto who also spent years in Vietnam in the war and Alaska working on the pipelines. Really cool guy, makes my trips to SFO very simple.

And away we go!