News items

I've got a few news items for you:

1. You should have gotten an e-mail from Sally at the travel agency confirming your details before she sends you your "cruise kit". Take a look at her message and if anything looks wrong, let her know right away.

2. We have just 40 days before we leave! It's going to get here before you know it.

3. Today's item to pack is Tamiflu. With this swine flu spreading, better safe than sorry. Our medical director suggests that you take care of this quickly, given that there's likely to be a run on the stuff. Tamiflu and Relenza are two anti-viral drugs that are effective against this bug when taken early. I've got a supply left over from our adventures in Vietnam (bird flu was the scare two years ago, if you'll recall), and I'll be bringing our stash with us.

4. It won't help us, but on July 1 the restaurant tax in France will drop from 19.6% to 5.5%. Oh well. Maybe it will mean that a lot of French folks will hold off on fine dining for the couple of weeks before the big price drop, which will mean easy reservations or short waits for us in Paris. Just a thought.

5. This one is kind of wacky. Apparently someone broke into the apartment of the brother of the former boyfriend of the First Lady of France Carla Bruni. The only things stolen were intimate videos and pictures of the first lady and her ex. Look for those to surface soon, causing much embarrassment to all. Apparently Bruni's ex, gave the pictures and videos to his brother for "safekeeping", and reports are that the break-in was suspicious.

7. Lance Armstrong is getting over a broken collarbone and says he'll be ready for the upcoming Tour de France bicycle race.

8. A Euro costs $1.33 today. It's been hovering between $1.29 and $1.33 for the last several weeks.

Found while looking for something else

Travel Channel Video - Paris, etc.

I saw a program on the Travel Channel this weekend on Paris. It was Samantha's Brown - "great weekends" show. So, I've googled her and paris and apparently there are many video clips of her travels there. She ate in a bistro that we MUST try - fabulous chocolate mousse served in a large bowl for the table.

Here's a link to the search I did: http://search.travelchannel.com/travel/Samantha%20Brown%20Paris

Special swine flu edition

If you've turned on your TV or looked at a newspaper in the last day or two, you've heard breathless coverage about the swine flu "pandemic" in Mexico. Of course if you live in Alabama, you may not know about this since it's been pretty much wall to wall coverage of the big wrecks at the Talladega NASCAR race for the last couple of news cycles.

Don't you just love the media? First of all, it's not a pandemic . . . yet. For this breakout to become a pandemic it has to go global and effect a whole lot more people than it has so far.

While it's true that over 100 people in Mexico have died from this bug, which is pretty bad, the cases that are showing up in the US appear to be much milder.

The real news from this is that the European Union's health commissioner today urged Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to the United States or Mexico due to swine flu.

What does this mean for us and our trip? Who knows? Is it theoretically possible that this flu outbreak could cause all transatlantic travel to be stopped for a period of time and cancel our trip? Yeah, I guess, but it's really unlikely. Let's hope that this outbreak is contained and it's old news in a month or so when we're heading to Europe.

Experts say that stopping air travel at this point won't work anyway as it's really difficult to contain a flu breakout by banning travel quickly enough in these days of air travel. Besides, the first case of this bug has already been reported in Spain, so the virus has made it to the EU already.

So here's the advice from our Médecin examinateur En chef (Colleen, our chief medical officer). "When you get to the what to pack or update entries, can you post a reminder to everyone to make sure that they have had a flu shot this year? (not that it covers Influenza A H1N1) I am monitoring the swine flu issue, and am packing a N95 mask for each of us in case things get worse. Everyone should pack hand sanitizer. Wouldn't it be crazy to be quarantined in France?"

Totally selfish blog post

Okay guys, I need your help with something completely unrelated to Marjorie.

In just over a month I'm going to be a self-employed individual. It occurs to me that I need a business card, web site, whatever, in order to make this mid-life crisis thing look respectable.

To that end, I am wide open to suggestions for two things:

1. I need a perfect name for a "company" of one person that is dedicated to long form writing projects. Teri has come up with the best name so far "Bayberry Ink", but I'm rejecting it on the grounds that it's got more than a whiff of femininity about it. My company name doesn't necessarily have to be macho, but should be gender neutral at a minimum.

2. I need to give myself a title. President and CEO would work, but isn't very imaginative. I thought that "Chief Inkslinger" might work until I Googled the word "inkslinger" and discovered that lots of writers and tattoo artists are already all over that one.

So if you've got ideas for either the company name or the title for its sole employee, bring 'em.

French Sunsets

I don't know what made me think of this, but one thing that may surprise you is that it's going to get dark very late during the time we're in France, or at least later than you're used to.

We'll be there during the days of the year when there's the most daylight. I'm pretty sure we'll be flying home right around the time of the summer solstice--the longest day of the year (well, they're all 24 hours long, but you know what I mean).

Teri and I have been in France at the same time of year in past trips, and I remember how late it was when it finally got dark. This will come in handy as we have evening bonding time on deck.

Of course it will eventually get dark. Teri and I were in Russia during "white nights", several years back. White nights are what the Russians call the time around the summer solstice and they call it that because it never gets dark.

It was so weird going to the ballet in Saint Petersburg and emerging from the dark theater around 10 p.m.into a world of bright sunlight. It literally seemed like it was still mid-afternoon. Completely disorienting for those of us who are used to it actually getting dark at night.

We won't face that problem on this trip, but we will be far enough north that we'll be blessed with extra hours of daylight while we're in France which will give us more time for all kinds of things.

Lucky us!

Roll Tide!

I think most of you know that Teri has been advising (coaching) the University of Alabama Ad Team. This is a huge project that runs all year and culminates in district competition. It involves a lot of long days, late nights and there is always more than a little drama involved in a project that produces this much passion and dedication on the part of the students involved.

Well, I just got a call from Baton Rouge, the host site this year, and the University of Alabama Ad Team just won the district. Now they're on to the national finals in Washington, D.C. Teri will be getting home from the national finals just a few days before we head for Paris.

Go Teri! They just won the SEC for Bama before Nick Saban, the Alabama football head coach, and she did it for a lot less than his famous $4 million salary.

Picture found while looking for something else

This is the restaurant where Mike has us booked for our group dinner in Paris. Cool N'est pas?

It's been a while

Hi there Marjorites.

Can you believe we're leaving in less than two months?

I'm not sure if you missed me or you've noticed, but it's been a few weeks since I last posted on this blog.

I've been a busy boy and so have a bunch of the rest of you. March is always the most frantic and exhausting month in my business. Things will start slowing down for me to a more usual pace starting about now, so I promise I'll resume bombarding you with fresh posts.

I regret that I blew the opportunity to do my planned April 1 blog post announcing that the Marjorie 2 had a serious kitchen fire and was out of service for the summer, the travel agency wasn't offering us a refund and I was having to call off the trip. It's just as well I guess.

A little news.

Cathleen has had fairly major surgery but is back in fine form and ready to take France by storm.

Teri has been overwhelmed preparing her Ad Team and all the other projects she has taken on--they compete next week. Teri has been on physical therapy for her bum knee the last few weeks. For you "Biggest Loser" fans, she has nicknamed her physical therapist Jillian. It's going well--she's walking better than she has in years and she's lost a bunch of weight in the process. Significant weight loss seems to be a trend with the ladies in our group--not a trend I've shared, I'm afraid.

Mike became our personal symbol of the economy--he was laid off and then re-employed by the gigantic insurance company he works for--and now Mike, Jen and the kids will be moving to Richmond.

Steve and Mel have a new home, which they absolutely love--and their permanent Austrian houseguest has departed for good. Hey Steve, thanks for the book! I'm bringing it with me to read while we're on the trip. Seems appropriate.

Colleen has been jet setting--most recently to Los Angeles--and now she's preparing to be descended on by a bunch of rabble rousing Jazz Festers (including moi).

I don't have any Beau and Kathy news--what's up with you guys? Oh, Beau, I'll walk the streets of Paris with you any time! Also I hope you join me on a couple of bike rides along the canals of Burgundy.

Teri and some of the other ladies are planning a Biloxi shopping trip in May.

I'll be a kept man starting June 1 as I'm taking at least a year long break from toiling for any organization other than myself, my church or the Henley Family. I keep reminding Teri that I'm not going to be unemployed--I'm going to be self-employed--but I can see the doubt in her eyes. I'm sure we'll all have long discussions of this over dinner along the way.

Oh, who is up for a second CD of French songs? I've got one ready to burn, but if y'all didn't groove to the last one I won't bother, so you have to beg me to do it. I will tell you that you haven't lived until you've heard "These Boots Are Made For Walking" and "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Bikini" sung in French.

That's the news from Lake Woebegone.