July 16: 500 Euros a slide

So, I am sitting here in Lagos, Nigeria waiting for my driver to take me to the armed shuttle, which will take me to the airport to return back to Paris tonight. It seems as though I have just arrived in Lagos (last night) and here I am already leaving! The point is that I had to present a few slides to some people. In my downtime I calculated how much it cost the company to have me present these slides (see the title of the post) and it hardly seems worth it. And trust me, what I had to say was definitely not worth that at all! ...oh well, extra air miles I guess.

Speaking of airmiles, when I was returning from London on Monday the customs officer had to flip through my passport twice before he found an appropriate empty spot to stamp. Considering that my passport is still less than two years old and that I already have to get a new one because it is full tells me that I have been spending a little too much time on trains and planes these past few years!

Tomorrow I am back in the office until my vacay officially starts on Saturday. I will start my vacation by watching the Tour de France climb its way through the rugged Alps. If you are watching the tour on TV, just watch for a streaker running infront of the peloton. I will try to keep things updated as they happen, but no gaurantees.

And with that, the real TTR champion is on his way back to Paris!

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July 9: Pin Cushion

For the last couple months I have gone from a nearly empty vaccination booklet to one that consists of two booklets stapled together. All of this to get prepared to go and live in Nigeria. Today I had my last dosage of vaccinations in conjunction with my "exit medical exam" to leave France. Lately I have been a pin cushion for my local neighborhood doctor. This has become my standard look:

One of the things that they do in the medical exam is to xray your chest and check your lungs. After consistently breathing second hand smoke (and sometimes what I am quite convinced is first-hand smoke from the guy sitting at the table beside me while insisting on holding his cigarette infront of my face) for this past year and a half I was sure that the doctor was going to diagnose me with the black lung. Or, at the very least, warn me about the dangers of working in a coal mine or something...but fortunately this was not the case!

Tomorrow I am off to England for what looks to be a very wet and soggy weekend. I guess that just means more beer, Tour de France, and boardgames inside...let it rain!

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July 7: TdF update...

...so Lance is 'fractions of a second' behind the yellow jersey! I have to admit - I did not expect that! That being said, I certainly made my day to see team Astana do so well today in the team time trial! There is only one thing left to do to make this day complete...

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July 4: Havin' a Bud...

...to toast all of my American friends out there celebrating Independance Day today! Oh yeah, and also to toast the return of Lance Armstrong to the Tour de France, which started today.


Currently he is sitting 3rd (with some of the real contenders left to depart) after the first 15km time trial in Monoco. This tour is looking like it will be one of the best in a long time...I am also super excited since Jennie and I will be watching the tour live once it hits the Alps.

While watching the tour I have been "deboxing" all of our dvds. To cut down on storage and shipping space, I am throwing all of our DVD cases and putting the DVD's in a CD booklet. Here is my pile...moving sucks!


I ran 8 miles today, making 30 so far on the week with one day left...it feels good!

Happy Independance Day!

July 3: Eaves dropping on the metro

Today on my way home from work I was sandwiched between two english speaking people who deemed it necessary to continue their conversation over my book, around the other two people standing between them, and during the times when the brakes of the metro were squealing, which just meant that they should started talking louder. No longer able to concentrate on my book I decided to have a little listen...

Her: Can you believe it? I had a 61 euro dinner last night on the Champs Elysees and all I had was an entree, a plat, and a glass of wine.

Him: Wow! That is expensive! The Champs Elysees is a big street you know, perhaps you can find some place cheaper tonight?

Her: Yeah. I should also try to find a wine store. I think some people would want me to bring home some French wine.

Him: That sounds like a good idea. My wife wanted me to bring her home some French face cream but I cannot believe how expensive it is!

Her: Really?!

Him: Yes. Everything I can find is 200 or 300 euros. For that price, I would rather send her to South America for some black market plastic surgey instead...

This is where David looks up to see if he is actually serious...he did not look like he was joking. If I only knew French better, I am sure I would hear these gems of conversations all the time on the metro! Good stuff!

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July 2: Steak & Potatoes...

...do not make for a good pre-run meal! It has been so sticky and hot that I have been running these past few nights between 9-10pm when it is a little cooler, which means that I head out after dinner. I was actually quite thankful for the side cramps and the beef-burps I had during the run because, unlike Jennie, my dinner was still in my stomach!

The poor girl has seen nothing but porcelain and toilet water these past few months. If anybody has any advice as to what the correct thing for the husband to do during these episodes please let me know. It is a pretty helpless feeling - you really want to help, but the best thing to do is just to leave her alone. The one thing that I can do, which is a preventative gag reflex measure, is to use the toilet brush to clean up after each time I use it for the "big" jobs...I am sure that she appreciates that the only streak in the house is her running to the bathroom!

So far this week I have run ~ 22 miles and easy running is actually starting to feel, well, easy again!

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July 1: Happy Canada Day!

Today we celebrated Canada Day by going to the Canadian Embassy in Paris to have a few beers. Unfortunately, the beer that they poured was nearly all foam and I had to wait until the beer was nice and warm before all the foam magically turned back into beer. I guess the cargo ship that the beer was on hit some big waves and was well shaken up while crossing the Atlantic.

Jennie and I infront of the Canadian Embassy in Paris. Seeing that Maple Leaf, especially in other countries, always does my heart good.


At the Canadian Embassy we met one of Jennie's classmates and her friend from Alliance Francais (french lessons) and we joined them at The Moose for some more Canadian beer and cheeseburgers. (Jennie, of course, has not had anything to drink in the last 4 months, whereas I need to get it out of my system so I can be a good influence!)

Having a Moosehead at The Moose.


Have a great Canada Day, eh!!