May 15, 2001 (France)

Hello everyone,
I'm in Nice, France this week doing webcasts for Novell's BrainShare conference (http://www.novell.com/webcast). I'm currently using Instant Messenger to talk with a tech support guy back in Provo to figure out why things aren't working very well.
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OKay we just figured it all out... I can keep my job. Some fun things that I've done while here: Spent all day on the beach in Nice, and got a little burned, but that's turning into a tan : ) I've seen quite of the many sites in Nice, which is a nice little town... : \ Then I took a helipcopter into Monaco (known as Monte Carlo to English speaking people) and video taped the whole thing. all 7 minutes of it... But it was worth every 450 francs (about 75 dollars). There, an English pal of mine (that I play soccer with in UTah) and I went to the castle, walked the race track for the Formula 1 grand prix, which is being set up currently for the 27th... and then did a call for Internal Communications from the Grand Hotel with the new Novell CEO and the number 2 man. (Big powerful people) We took the train back (considerably cheaper - 40 francs) and then hung out with all our foreign coworkers for the night.
So, I'm hoping to go to Cannes Film fesival tomorrow, just 15 miles west of here, then head out on a train to Basel where Wenke lives. We'll drive up to Jackson's for the weekend.
Happy Anniversary to me and my Bay-buh on the 20th! Even though I won't be there, (and Dusty's reminded me of this again and again) I will be with her in spirit : )
Then we'll have to celebrate it when I get back.
See you everybody
Murray

I'm not jealous of anyone who has to travel for a living anymore. It's rough.

After the UK (where I think I left off) Michelle Suzuki and I went to Paris where we stayed in a hotel near the Novell office in the La Defense plaza. A huge structure called the Grande Arche stands amidst huge skyscrapers and looks directly down the main road to Le Arche d'Triumph (the huge sculptured arch with the roundabout surrounding it.) Along the streets here, I bought Dusty some neat French clothes that you apparently need no bra to go along with...

We completed our work quickly and I went around with the Metro to Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower to get some footage. The next day we got on a jet to Duesseldorf and got there into the afternoon.

It was like going home to be able to speak the language and not have to use sign language to communicate with the people on the streets. A sales conference was being held so we had a lot of fun surprising people to tell the Novell story in their native accent (Swiss, Austrian are always favorites).

That night we visited Duesseldorf Altstadt (oldtown) to get footage of "German" culture. Beer drinking and sausage eating were very popular as expected.

The next day (Friday) I hit the train station and took the train down to Aalen to visit Jackson. He and Wenke and his cousin MArcus (who's now 16 and a good foot taller than he was last time I saw him) picked me up and we went to Reichenbach where they took me to see their favorite cover band, MacLoud. German culture is great, ACDC and the Eye of the Tiger will never stop pleasing crowds in these parts.

The next couple of days were spent relaxing around the Westhausen outdoor pool. It was a great way to end the long week.

Monday, Wenke drove me to Stuttgart where I flew to Paris, then transfered and flew to Atlanta, then Salt Lake. All in all, 20 hours of traveling. Dusty was at the airport with some kid I barely recognized (he was sitting up all by himself and was sooo cuddely with me - I think he missed his papa.)

Anyway, it's great to be home, now I have to start editing all the footage. The filming was the easy part. : )

byebye for now Murray

Talley-ho chaps. (OK, I haven't offically asked someone how they spell that)


Michelle Suzuki (my NetCam business partner) and I arrived around 11:30am on Sunday and spent the next 3 hours trying to find our hotel. A $150 later, we finally got to get some sleep and be ready for our busy day on Monday (yesterday). I was up for a long while because they just happened to remind me at dinner that the original part of the Manor (where our rooms are) is haunted by the ghost of a nun (that used the manor as a make-shift hospital during the war). Great. I'll blame all the noises on the air-conditioner.

We got in the office a bit past 9am on Monday and started filming all the NetCam interviews (tell us the Novell story and how it impacts your job, region, sales, etc.) We must be getting used to the process because we finshed up very quickly and were headed out right after lunch to go into London.

London was everything it was hyped to be. We saw Buckingham palace and St. James place, where the Queen lives (with a real-life, stand-in-front-of-you guard!) They're called Beef-eaters. Next, we went to Lanceister Square (west-end girls) and picked up some half-priced tickets to see Fosse (a musical dedicated to the works of the legendary choreographer, Bob Fosse - Dusty's going to be soooo jealous!) I got some footage on video tape to show her. Don't worry, Baybuh! We're going to do something soon!

We got back to the hotel aroung midnight and crashed hard. I think my body is getting used to the new time zone finally. Anyway, we have some interviews with customers today that we need to get onto, so Cheers from Paddington station, Notting Hill Gate, Wimbledon Square and Novell UK...

Murray

Sun's going down now. It's 5:45pm Brazil time (2:45 MT). We went around the city with Richard Cameron (Novell Managing Specialist) who is Brazilian born, but Scottish blood. Everyon's like that here. Very funny.

It's supposedly winter here, but it's still around 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit, but the humidity makes it feel even warmer. Jeans and a T-shirt work great.

We went and ate at a "typical" Brazilian restaurant where they bring the meat to your table (and just keep bringing and bringing) until you turn this "dilli-dally" over to its red side and they still ask. Great service though. Best I've seen.

We're going to hit the hotel now and crash (hard) cause we're dead. Have fun all.

After the crisis of thinking we had lost my passport (Dusty finally found it amongst some discs in my laptop bag) I got to the airport and didn't have my ticket. I called American Express Emergency services and they reran the company credit card and issued me an e-ticket. As it was processing, I ran to the gate, where it had gone through and I borded with a couple minutes to spare. Pleny of time : )

I arrived in Atlanta at around 6pm Eastern time... then we got a late start at 9pm after waiting for a bunch of luggage to get jigsawed into the plane. The flight was smooth, but long. It's hard for me to sleep in moving objects. I just kept thinking that I was hurtling through the night sky at 600mph...

So I didn't get much sleep. We arrived in Sao Paulo at 7am Brazil time (around 4am MT) and took a cab to the hotel. It was the longest cab ride I've ever taken - about and hour and a half! From the plane, I could see the sprawling city cover miles and miles of land, but in the traffic conjestion of San Paulo, it was really not a lot of fun. Over twenty million people live here, in a city that makes up more than 80% of Brazilian economics (Brazil as big as the USA).

At the hotel, I found the "glow worm" that Dusty packed in my bag (thanks Dust!) It made me miss my boy. More than usual I guess.

The people at Novell Brazil are really great. Most speak English, and they promise to show us around the city. It's cloudy today, so they hope that tomorrow will be more sunny and we can get a shot of the city from the 36th floor of the building that Novell's located in. We've already done a bit of shooting at the office.

I found out that we will be leaving on Tuesday evening (tomorrow) and will be back in Utah on Wednesday. (I'll let you know the time Dust).

til later.
Murr