It's the friggin weekend, I'm about to have me some fun!

Ahh, Friday! Once again, the sun is obstructed by a large gray blanket. Gotta love Paris in the winter. The good news is that it should clear up this weekend for some sun and blue skies, highs in the mid 40s. Nice.

As said before, I'm going to have some strangers crashing at my place this weekend. Why am I not freaked out by this? I cleaned up the place, even mopping my tile floors, and it looks great. Plus, I feel good about it looking great. Not a bad side effect.

Why do I only clean if I know people are going to be around? I have no motivation to do chores of any kind, unless I know I'll have to present myself/my place (or if conditions get too bad). And they're not usually that bad to do. Am I just lazy? No, gotta be something else.

Here's what I think I think right now:

• The French really love incorporating English words into their vocabulary. They also like to shorten words for slang. For example: the word weekend has become part of the French language. If you want to say, have a good weekend, you say "bon weekend". Now the slang comes in, and it becomes "bon week". So... have a good week? Even though it's the weekend and you're actually trying to wish me a good weekend? This frustrates me.
• However, I try to be really cool and use verlan as much as possible. The young peoples are typically impressed by it.
  
• I watched some of the Clemens testimony this week. It's amusing when he contradicts himself, aka, "my wife never took HGH" to "we only talked about HGH because my wife was taking it". It's also funny that his trainer and his best friend are testifying against him, and they all admit his wife took HGH, but Clemens says he would never do such a thing. Sure, Rocket, keep trying to make us drink that kool-aid. Just 'fess up, already.
• Love Pedro's comments about dominating the steroid era while not taking PEDs. Check out this article. Apparently all you need to recover is some painkillers, some coffee, a little mango, and an egg. Awesome!
• Pitchers and catchers reporting. Go Sox!
• As always, GFY.

Bon week, tout le monde!

End of round one...

So I just had the "fight" I predicted I'd have tonight. It didn't go as I thought it would... as in, it went better. Big sigh.

Jour de Saint Valentin

It's Valentine's Day today, which means almost nothing in France. Really, it's no big thing here. There are no grand flower deliveries at the office, no bragging about gifts people bought for/received from their significant others... just no hype to the "holiday".

It really shows you how much this day is a byproduct of Hollywood and the greeting card companies. Those two sources set expectations high with movies, TV shows, and advertisements where people do incredible things in order to show how much they care about their loved ones. It's crazy how we get sucked in.

Factor in America's competitive nature. If you did not give or receive the most extravagant gift ever, then you're either not "as good" as everyone else. You might have given a thoughtful, intimate gift, but then your pal making $200K per year disses you since he got his S.O. a $5K ring, which makes your $30 thoughtful and intimate gift look like garbage. Here's a hint guys: girls like the thoughtful and intimate gift, especially if there's a story to it. Girls: if you get the random expensive gift, then your guy was searching for ideas... or he just doesn't know you that well.

OK, time for some random thoughts:

• So all that nice weather this week? Gone today. Thick fog this morning, and I mean thick like Mo'Nique's thighs.
• I'm going to have some random people staying at my place this weekend. Jessie has friends coming in tomorrow night and, since she has no room to house them, I'm being "the good guy" and letting them stay chez moi. I have no problem with this... but it will be interesting.
• I need to clean my apartment.
• I'm expecting to get into a fight with someone I care about. Of course, living in different countries, this makes things hard. Here I am with my thoughts, ready to go, and she's sleeping. I don't want it to be an email battle, needs to be over the phone (unfortunately, it's the most personal it can be, given the circumstances). Happy Valentine's Day, indeed.
  

Boulot

Just some random thoughts as I wait for an FEA analysis to finish:

• The new American Gladiators started off with a bang, probably because many of us were geared up for it. After watching the next few episodes and the heavy influence on inane interviews, corny catch-phrases, and insufferable back stories, I've had enough. So much wasted promise, a shame.
• I came here with the expectation of working a 35 hour work week. That is what I heard the French do. I have ended up with a 45+ hour work week. Apparently, at my company in France, there are three levels of employee: uneducated worker (35 hour work week), regular staff (35 hour work week), and "directors" (I'm on the "director" level, you manage your own hours). This has given me the 45+ hour work week I have now. In the US, I work a 40 hour work week. Considering that 2 or 3 days of the week, I drive 1hr15 each way, this sucks. Now, I barely have a social life during the week, and that is killing me.
  
• I wasn't alerted about the above until I had to sit down with the HR director while she bashed me for leaving early. Thanks.
• I've been focusing more on going out during the weekend instead of taking care of errands or enjoying what Paris has to offer. Not to say that I haven't seen the sights yet, but if anything starts before noon on a weekend, chances are I'm not awake to participate. The last weekend was a bit different, mostly because it was really nice outside. Hopefully the good weather will be a motivator.
• I'm really glad it's sunny again so I can wear my aviators.
• In a few weeks, I might be starting up a weekly poker game in Paris with a friend. Apparently, the people he knows who play are people who know the game, but are inexperienced (read: afraid). This could be good for my wallet.
• Also good for my wallet: I got a raise! Obviously, from the home office.
• I've been watching season 1 of House lately in order to see all the episodes. The pilot was not good, especially the music. I made a bet with myself that the guy who did the music for the first episode wouldn't be back for the second. He wasn't. Still, the show has a much different feel with the first few episodes. I'm glad the writers got the kinks out and I really enjoy what the show's become the last two seasons.
• I return to the US in 157 days. It's going to be long and hard.
• That's what she said.
  
• I will be spending Valentine's Day in "the world's most romantic city"... alone. More on this topic tomorrow.
  

Ça va? Oui, mais, j'ai une rhume.

One of the great things about experiencing new seasons in Paris is that you get to experience all the different strains of sicknesses along with the seasons. This happened in the fall and is happening again now that the weather is turning spring like. It's nothing more than a common cold, so, like a good American, I go to work instead of going to a doctor to tell me to take the over-the-counter medicine I am already taking and getting a free day off work. Wait... why am I not doing that?

Oh yeah, I earn my sick days. The French just take as much time as they need when they get sick.

The French seem to expect me to get sick every now and then, probably because visitors get sick here all the time. So, thank you, microbes parisiennes!

J'ai besoin de jus d'orange!

Here comes the sun, do-do-do-do

Il fait beau aujourd'hui... et hier... et la journée avant hier. Ce transformation est incroyable, parce que la semaine avant il faisait mal... du ciel gris, et il pleuvait. J'aime bien le soleil... je me sens plus fort, pleine d'énergie, plus heureux.

Very happily, the sun has decided to come out of its winter hibernation in Paris. The forecast for this week is sunny with highs around 11C (50F for you lazy Americans). I can't believe it's mid-February. I'm really happy about this (just in case you couldn't tell the other three times I've mentioned it).

I'm a person that believes weather can affect moods... which is terrible if you're in Paris during winter. For roughly two months straight, there was nothing but gray skies and a 35% chance of rain. It's tough to go through, and at the office, I see people going about their business sans joie de vivre. The reappearance of the sun makes me optimistic for both continued good weather and continued bonheur. April in Paris can't come soon enough.

Two colleagues from the US office got into town yesterday and we did a whirlwind tour of monuments, mais juste pour voir, pas d'entrer. It was a beautiful day and we just casually walked around the city passing by the big landmarks (arc de triomphe, champs élysées, place de la concorde, jardin des tuileries, louvre, tour eiffel). And we stopped into a restaurant to get some moules frites, which is never a bad thing (especially when they can expense it, haha).

Last week I was really grouchy. The "unpleasantness that occurred on February 3" caused me to stay up until 4:30AM, and I woke up that day at 8:00AM to go to work, which included a meeting at 9:00AM. Plus, the Frenchies heard about "the unpleasantness that occurred on February 3" and gave me crap about it. I felt like going nuts-o on the office. I was pretty much telling my colleagues "don't poke the bear". This continued into the week, but then Thursday afternoon the sun came out. And it's stayed out until today, which is a record streak for the year so far, and that's helped to lift my mood.

I really can't complain about anything right now. It's beautiful outside. Jessie and Justin are here, which gives me some friends from back home, which is very comforting, and I'm making new friends, with whom I get along very well.

I had some doubts as to my purpose here towards the end of January. I realize that Paris is not where I will be making my life, and I felt the longer I stay here, the more I would be delaying what is essentially the beginning of my life as an adult. When I took this job, I felt that I had nothing back home holding me down, giving me the freedom to pursue this experience. I've realized how wrong I was. I really miss my friends, my family, Boston, the American way of life. Now, I think I'm over that spell and am starting to enjoy being here again... although a random person on the street called me a "putain" on Saturday. The Parisians are such nice people!

A la prochaine!

PS - If you are unsure what I mean about "the unpleasantness that occurred on February 3", then you don't know me.

First Post, Fondue, and Title Explanation

Hello Interwebs-peoples,

I've jumped on the bandwagon. I'm following the pack. I've become another opinioner in a sea of millions. Simply put, I've created a blog.

Even though I've been in Paris since last September, I felt the time has come to mass-distribute my experiences to those who care. I hope this experience will make it easy for my contacts back at home to feel like they are still involved in my daily life, and vice versa (yes, I want comments people).

Now that the administrative stuff is out of the way, I hope to direct you to my friend Jessie's blog and check out her latest post on our fondue experience last night. We went to Le Refuge des Fondues (my second time, her first) and had a great night. Here's the link: http://jessieloveinparis.blogspot.com/. She does a much better job of capturing the moment that I could ever accomplish, so I'm not even going to try. Hope she likes the increased site traffic.

Le Cainri is French slang (verlan) for "the American". It's what my nickname has become at work. Why Cainri? Let's explore:

• American = Americain

• Take off the 'Ame' at the beginning and you get 'ricain' -- another word for American

• In French slang, you typically take the first two letters of a word and put them at the end. Examples: 'cigarette' becomes 'garetteci', 'metro' becomes 'trome'. The French are very impressed if you know this.

• So, in that vein, 'ricain' becomes 'cainri'.

There you go. Who says you can't learn anything from reading blogs?