Well, there’s a platinum lining to my cloud of non-stop travel and heavy work load… I’m now a Platinum Member at Flying Blue, the Air France/Continental/Delta frequent flyer program, with an obscene 350k+ miles on the account.

Now I just need to find some time to use those miles to fly my Princess somewhere romantic and quiet.

Spent last week in Paris, and had dinner with the Priestess and the Step, the Chaton being out of the country playing Miami Vice. We had delicious Salmon Teriyaki, with Grey Goose iced teas and Haagen Daz ice cream. Got up to speed and learned that they’d both been doing very well for themselves. Steppi has indeed become the blog no-one will admit to reading, with 300 daily visitors, and the Priestess has been her usual busy socialite self, but I understand with a sidekick now.

Homerette has had surgery for suspected cancer, but the analysis of what was removed has proved negative for cancerous cells. Had dinner with her Friday and she had bounced back, but it had been a stressfull week or two for her.

It was good to see them all, but I was glad to fly home on Saturday. Even scored a first-row seat on the flight, and that makes all the difference.

Sunday the Princess and I cooked up some home-made Paella and Sangria, which you can admire below :

This week I’m in NJ, and probably not travelling at all. Next week I have a two day workshop in Columbus, Ohio. My first time off the coasts, really, aside from two trips to Nevada.

Lastly, the Princess took me to a local steakhouse for Father’s Day where we had fish and Martinis… which makes me think of one more thing… Chloe is coming to visit the last two weeks of July, more on that later.

Time for me to go read some blogs, and get reacquainted. I miss (some of) you guys.

Ok, ok, I’m back!

…crickets chirping…

hum, ok, well, I should have announced this earlier but with hindsight comes dyslexia or whatever, so I’m retro-announcing that until Bastille Day is past, I’m going to be just this busy with work.

So until the 15th of July, this blog is going to weekly updates on Saturday afternoons.

If you don’t like it, I’m sure you’ver already stopped reading

Anyhoo, this time around I get an extra day in the USA before I fly back to Europe, where I will spend Tuesday to Friday in France, Germany and possibly Sweden. Dubai the second time around was just work, not much fun at all, but I’m still amazed by this country where 80% of the population are expats and NO-ONE gets permanent resident status, where since 9-11 a couple decades’ worth of oil-money invested abroad has returned home to fuel the biggest real estate bubble I have ever seen, where the first IPO in the country’s history brought in eight times the GDP, which like in any oil country isn’t something to sneeze at, and where they are building the biggest tower in the world, and you can literally see high-rise condos climb to the sky as fast as kudzu, building 24-7 on the desert sand, like a giant Vegas without the neons.

Gold is dirt cheap and I found the ring the Princess wants for about a third the price. Bought a 300 gram colour scanner that I carry around with me on trips to make copies of expense receipts, for $70. It’s the size, but half the weight, of the battery on my Thinkpad.

Chloe, my daughter, is going to visit her poor, old, tired dad here in the US the last two weeks of July, but I suspect she’ll be spending more time with friends and cousins on her mother’s side than with me.

Anyhow, I’m rambling, and I have to go to the barber to trim my bushy beard, bubbah, so I’ll be seeing y’all next week.

Oh, and you may have noticed a rash of comment spam. I’ve taken measures, and don’t be surprised if your future comments don’t show up if they include words like casino or poker, or contain more than one link. If you must use those words, I suggest using c4s1n0 or p0k3r instead.

Turns out I’m wanted back in Arabia next week, Tuesday. Means I get home Friday afternoon, and leave again Monday morning.

The Princess is not amused, and I’m not terribly happy myself. We hope this is only the start of the project and that it will settle down to fewer trips and more time spent at home. If not, I’ll have to tell Management I can’t stay on the project, at least not in this leadership role.

Put in a twelve hour day and knowing I’ll be back in Dubai next week to tell you all about it has dampened my enthusiasm for describing how the land of the Arabian Nights works, so I’ll get back to my club sandwich and call it a night.

Slept only three hours per night last week and didn’t stop for the weekend, which was on a Friday anyway, and first full night of sleep was on the red-eye flight back… except it was back to Paris, not Newark, as the business trip got extended until Friday. Having landed in Paris at 6am, proceeded to the local office, where some were wondering why I still hadn’t gone to the US, and just put in a full day of more intense work. It’s ten PM in this time zone, midnight where I was twenty-four hours ago, and I have to get up for a meeting with a supplier tomorrow morning, so if y’all excuse me, I’m off to bed now.

I promise to tell you about the fascinating, engaging and breathlessly fast-paced country I just spent the last week in, just as soon as I remember what my name is.

Oh, and for the Paris dwellers amongst you, I’d love to see you and reminesce. Drop me an email.

Princess, Chloe sez hi. As for myself, I love you :*