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Since the crazy flight into Paris things have gone extremely well. Saturday, after Peter and Joyce (his wife) arrived, we ate dinner at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant a few blocks from the Arc de Triumph. Falafel, hummus, and other other beautiful Mediterranean dishes topped off with delicious Lebanese sweets from their pastry shop next door. We walked down the street, stood at the River Seine, and enjoyed our baklava and nougat while watching the Eiffel Tower flash its 20,000 lights as it once an hour in the evenings.

Much of my time the next couple of days was spent giving our computers tune-up so I didn’t get to bed until 4:00 am Monday night. It’s sort of put a damper on my evenings since I’m still exhausted but the sun doesn’t got down until 10:00 pm so I have to take advantage of it.

One of the many beauties of Paris is the easy pedestrian access. Large parks, sidewalk cafes, shopping, architecture, art galleries - you name it, you can do it, and easily get there. Tuesday, I took a walk to unwind and passed many artistic sculptures, buildings, fountains and then came to a clearing with the Eiffel tower and Arc de Triomphe both in view. Everything here, new and old, catches your eye.

Yesterday, after work, the three of us took a walk through the courtyards of the Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries - another spectacular park which, if you keep walking, leads directly into the Champs Elysees and through the Arc de Triomphe.

Tonight, we enjoyed dinner at a tiny vegetarian restaurant with one long table - booth style setup on one wall, one single row of small tables, and then a span of chairs on the other side. The tables were completely flush against each other so you actually had to pull out the table to sit on the booth side. Interesting experience but cozy and a great treat.

Tomorrow’s the last day of the event and I hope to head to the Louvre in the evening. More info and pictures to come!

I arrived safely in Paris (my second time here) this morning after a not so restful flight. The economy class exit row seat had extra legroom but people still insisted on bumping my arms, chair, and stuffing their pillow between me and my armrest (what’s that all about?). Not to mention the icicles forming on my nose. So, the first thing I did after arriving at the hotel was take a nap.

I’m always baffled by the simple things that could make the experience so much better on flights. I know the seat recline is always an issue but I’m interested in other things. For example, I typically try to sleep during a flight in accordance with the time at my destination (if it’s bedtime I try to sleep). It helps my internal clock adjust sooner so there is less jet-lag upon arrival.

So why do people insist on elbowing you; flight attendants smashing their carts into your seat; announcements blaring over the speaker; the air-conditioning blowing at freezing temperatures (when it’s already well below freezing outside the plane); the idiot behind you slamming their tray table down so your seat bounces; the person (flight attendants included) using your seat as leverage and then launching you to a startling alertness?

As much as I’d love to change people… it’s not going to happen. Which takes me to the topic I’m really leading into - design and user experience. These concepts are something I’m always looking into whether it’s designing a web application or taking a plane ride.

Much, if not all, of my experiences could be helped by changing the design of the plane. Have a temperature setting for flight attendants that says “comfortable (25 C)” and it constantly monitors the cabin temperature and adjusts accordingly (this happens in your home, right?); make the bottom railing of the chair sit out an extra inch into the isle so that when the cart hits it instead of the arm of the chair; have the arms of the trays connected to your chair in a way that doesn’t distribute its movement directly into your head. I’m sure there are many simple and creative design changes that could make the experience better for the passenger as well as the flight crew (and hopefully giving some of them an attitude adjustment).

If only I knew someone with influence in this area… Grandpa!

If you’ve been to the site recently the photos are down. Flickr, which is where my new photos are hosted, had a storage glitch. All of the photos are automatically pulled into my site and added to the Photos section. Hopefully, they’ll be back soon.

Update: Photos are back online.

We arrived home a few hours ago after a great family reunion in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. I don’t remember anything from the previous reunion 21 years ago (since I was 4). Last night we counted 41 people at dinner and some of the family didn’t even make it to the event. Just goes to show that the Ford family will continue its legacy for years to come.

Canaan Valley is a wonderful area with lots of national park areas, waterfalls, trees, land, deer (must have seen at least 10 per day) and other wildlife. There are options for mountain biking, white water rafting and the cabin where we stayed is right next to Timberline, a great ski slope.

Hope we get to visit again in the winter for some snowboarding!

I arrived home Sunday morning from my first around-the-world trip. It consisted of U.S. -> Dubai, United Arab Emirates -> Islamabad, Pakistan -> Guangzhou, China -> U.S. - not including the many layovers in other countries.

Rumor about Guangzhou was that it’s mostly industrial and not very beautiful. We must have done it right then because we saw a gorgeous part. The last day before our flight home I blindly lead my colleague on a tour of Yuexiu Park. It’s 868,000 square meters of park and consists of a massive collection of trees, plants, water, flowers, bamboo, sculptures, an art gallery, amusement park, dance area, lawn bowling and anything else you might want to enjoy outdoors. Entry into the park cost 5 RMB which is about $0.63 USD. We spent a few hours and could have spent a few more but needed to get back to prepare for our departure.

When I’m traveling I tend to notice funny (at least in my mind) circumstances, such as my plate of food one night at the hotel buffet. My American style fries and ketchup were sitting right next to my dragon fruit and rice. Where else can you do that?

Four evenings during my stay I went for a massage at the hotel spa. How can you pass up an hour massage when it only costs $12.50 USD? That ought to give a clear perspective on the labor costs in China. I sure got spoiled.

Another note about my stay in Guangzhou was the language barrier. Typically, the staff in these hotels speak quite good english. However, this time only the upper level management and a few people could speak fluently. And forget about the stationary shop across the street. The rest of the staff knew typical greetings but that was all. Guess I need to brush up on my Mandarin… no, wait, Cantonese… but only for Hong Kong or Guangzhou? But Mandarin everywhere else? Geez…