The Colonel's Forum

I'm happy to say that I am typing this entry as I await the final leg of my trip home. I will never again return to Clermont-Ferrand. In fact, if I didn't see France again for another few years that would be ok too. I'd like to go back to Nice sometime, and also to Bordeaux. There are a lot of great things about France, I'll just have to re-read some of my own blog entries to remember them. Right now all I can think about is that I'm sick of "boarding by bus" at Charles DeGaulle, and things that don't work properly. I'm told that if you want to go somewhere in Europe where things work properly, you must go to Germany. Sounds good to me. One last note about events this month - Strother H. Brann II turns 60. That's right, my old man is reaching a big milestone in his life next week, and I'm excited that Ella and I will be celebrating with him and mom. We're all heading to Nashville for a nice relaxing weekend. Just a few short w...

... was quite a character. He was also my great-grandfather, though unfortunately I never got the chance to meet him. Earlier this year upon the occasion of my marriage to Ella, dad passed along to me a family heirloom - Leroy's pocketwatch. It's a really, really nice one, and it's still working in top shape. I have decided that one of the best ways to honor the memory of Leroy is to bring the watch with me on special occasions. I don't have specific criteria for this yet, but in general it's going to be events that I think he'd enjoy, and/or events where I think I could use his support. On October 7th of this year, P. Leroy came to Keeneland with me. I have to say I'm pretty sure he had a good time, and he definitely brought me good luck. Ella is continuing to take ove the real estate world in Lexington. She's got a great mentor/boss at the office who is one of Lexington's top agents. The two of them work well together, and Ella is really ...

On the up side of life, it's been a wonderful racing season at Keeneland. We've had great weather, and some really close races. We've brought several first timers out to the track, which is always fun. Because Keeneland is a non-profit and they have to put all the money they make back into their operations, they've made some major upgrades to the track this fall. There are new fences and rails (which is an understatement), there are 5 new high-definition video screens in the center of the track to replace the old scoreboard. I was sad to see the old scoreboard go, becauase it reminded you of the good old days, but at the same time these new screens are truly amazing, and they really improve the experience for the fans. Keeneland has also pioneered a new artificial track surface for horse racing. This is a highly involved system of layers of various artificial materials that look and act like dirt/clay/sand. It's really impressive. It's got the drainage ...

Air travel has really reached some new lows for me. 12 flights over the past 2 weeks, and right now, Delta has got a 59% on-time rate. Not bad, but not good. None of my delayed flights were due to weather. One single delay on my first trip turned a 13 hour trip into a 21 hour trip. Neat. Upon my arrival this week in Paris, I learned that all flights to Clermont were cancelled due to a strike by the baggage workers at the airport there. I guess 5 weeks vacation and a 35 hour work week aren't good enough - they want more money and contracts to ensure their job security. I know everything is relative, but these guys need a reality check. So I got to take the 4 hour train ride from Paris to Clermont. Neat. To add insult to injury, when I called Delta to ask what they would do to compensate me for this, their answer was that "we can't confirm that flight was cancelled." When I was consulting at McDonald's once I was astounded to learn that they have no idea...

The Carmes HQ for Michelin is an interesting place to work. You might think that the HQ of the world's #1 tire maker would be a nice compound of buildings. It's not. Half the buildings are falling down, many are former factory buildings. It's like Lexmark's HQ in Lexington but much older, and without air conditioning. And anyone who has been there knows that Lexmark's HQ is a nasty place to work - no windows, it's converted factory buildings, no sky lights, hallways are too small, conveniently located between the juvenile detention center and the strip clubs... really charming. We got to see some of the other buildings at Michelin over the past two weeks while we conducted some training labs. The conference rooms are all small, hot, and have broken presentation equipment. Their strict security often prevents you from being able to get to your meeting room. The chairs in all the meeting rooms are not the normal "conference room" or "execu...

Last weekend in Clermont-Ferrand was the inauguration of the Tram. Having been in the town since April, and since my French bosses backed out of their contractual obligation to rent us a car, because the French are cheap beyond all belief... where was I? Oh yes, the Tram. So I had to walk 60 round trips to the Michelin office. As the route from the VolcanHotelVille to Michelin HQ follows the tram line, I was able to watch most of the construction myself. The Tram is a light rail system that runs a loop around town. Clermont-Ferrand is building one because a ton of other French towns are building them, and the argument is that the Tram will increase tourism to the town. The validity of this logic is about like saying that, if you put a Tram loop around Momline Illinois, the tourists would just flock there. Of course they won't - it won't have much of an impact - we're talking about Moline, IL here. You go to Moline if you're lost, if you work for John Deere, and...

This morning I took my last shower and had my last croissant at the Volcan hotel. The Volcan hotel is mediocre at best, by anyone's standard. The rooms are really small. They have A/C in the summer and heat in the winter, but never both at the same time. The shower stalls are impossibly small, and the base of them are shaped like 25% of a pie chart - not sure how to explain it any better than that. They have tile on two sides, and a shower curtain that covers the curve. The problem is that the water pools around the edges, then runs out onto the bathroom floor. The result of this is that you get to shave and comb your hair in a swimming pool. Neat. The reception is only open certain hours each day. There is at least one thing broken in each room. Sometimes it's as simple as a light bulb that never works, sometimes it's something more significant like a toilet that doesn't flush properly. The towels reek of dry cleaning chemicals that as soon as your done wit...

One of my last meals in Clermont was a delightful lunch at a restaurant near Michelin. Turns out it was a salad of goose gizzards (cooked in fat, of course), with a main course of ham hocks or pork knuckles, I'm not really sure which. I did not know this when I ordered it, but as has often been the case, I simply got the "plat du jour" that the rest of my colleagues were having. What a treat - it was really good stuff. The pork whatever was similar to ham, but with more flavor. Not too fatty either. It was served over some lentils, onions and carrots. The Goose gizzard salad was really nice, I'd order it again. Seriously.

I am happy to report that these will be my last two trips to France. On the downside, since each trip involves 6 flights, that's 12 flights in 2 weeks. For those of you who don't get to experience business travel on a regular basis, I've decided to keep track of how the airlines do. Of my first 3 flights, two were delayed. That's a 33% on-time rate, which is pretty bad by anyone's standards. One flight was delayed this morning because ComAir called a mechanic to fix something, and the guy wasn't in their computer system. This means they had to call a 2nd mechanic (one who was in their system) to sign off on the work done by the first one. My flight to Clermont-Ferrand was delayed but they're not telling us why. This too is operated by a regional carrier, this time flying for Air France. As a result of today's experiences, I'm already pessimistic about getting home on time this Friday. On the flip side, the Frenchies can't seem to underst...

It's official. With the start of the fall racing season this weekend at Keeneland, fall has arrived in the Bluegrass. We had two beautiful days at the track with the Charles clan, and my brother in law Sam won a ridiculous amount of money. Sadly, my Sunday at the track was cut short for a 13 hour trip to France which turned into a 22 hour trip to France, but we'll get to the idiots at Delta airlines later. The signs of fall had been coming for some time. In the Bluegrass, this means every town puts on its own fall festival. The tobacco barns fill with drying tobacco leaves. People are tailgating at UK games. Oh yes, and the Bluegrass hills turn to an even more attractive landscape than usual - Bob Ross would be jealous. I'm stuck at the Paris airport for the moment, but when I get more time, I'll explain about my exciting trip this week.