BBM Europe Trip: Day 6

The last day of the show was without major incident. JK and I attended a VDI Best Practices presentation, in which there were a few new nuisances, but most of the detail work CCT has been promoting for quite some time.

I spoke at length with a member of VMware's Field Staff from Germany about their brokering technology, experiences providing Professional Services for European vs. US markets and where they are seeing good adoption in his region. Good conversation with a nice guy --fortunately it was in English, or we might be at war with Germany again, given my skills in their native tongue.

Now on to the last story of the trip --stick with me, it is a long story but I think worth it.. After booth teardown, the team all went out for drinks before TH had to leave for London. We go out to a pub then head back to the hotel after TH's departure and agree to meet up later for our last meal together in France -- and my first truly French meal.

We finally rally at about 10:30PM for dinner and find an absolutely charming little restaurant in the west end of Cannes and sit down to a good meal. After three quality courses filled with great conversation, SK and SJ head back to the hotel as they have an early flight the next morning. Now JK and I are left to our own devices.
A little background on JK: He is American born, living in London, married to a French woman who's family lives roughly 30 minutes from Cannes. He is fluent in French, and somewhat familiar with the town and absolutely the life of a party with strangers -- fearless and a very nice guy. Needless to say, this made him an excellent "Sherpa" for me in the south of France.

We decide to stay at the restaurant for a nightcap. When asked what I might want, I drew a blank -- big mistake. It was suggested that I try the regional liqueur (French name escapes me). Apparently, each region of western Europe have a distinct liqueur (for instance, grappa in Italy). Think regional European moonshine and you have the idea. At this restaurant, It is recommended with a Cappuccino -- so think, drink a coffee, do a shot of moonshine. Gasoline without the good aftertaste. I only did one, but it was enough. P-L-E-N-T-Y.

After an nice conversation with the chef and his friends, we were off to the next bar -- Morrison's, an Irish pub in town and had a pint. After last call, one of the doormen recommended another "after hours bar" and gave JK directions.

We arrive, and it looks to be a gentlemen's establishment. On the walk over, I receive a phone call from one of my co-workers and upon arrival at the bar, I loiter outside to complete the conversation. Whilst loitering, I see signage on the outside of the establishment with numerous pictures of only one voluptuous woman. I think to myself, "Wow, she must be something special, to have her own club?!?!?". Looking at the photos further I sense there something unusual about her pictures, but cannot place it. I complete my phone call and with some coaxing, I agree to go in… not to portray myself as some sort of angel, but I tend not to frequent gentleman's clubs for many reasons. Not the least of which, I have promised my wife I would keep these visits to a minimum, which is no great hardship , considering I am freaking cheap and they are where spending money goes to die. So, as mentioned, with coaxing, I am convinced to go in for one beer and a bathroom run. John heads to the restroom and I buy the first round -- 19 Euros for 2 Heinekens or roughly $28 for two metric beers smaller the a standard 12oz you might find in the states... May the sodomy begin. We start talking and take notice that there are very few women walking the floor, which is atypical in gentleman's clubs, but there is a stage.

We sit in the club, discussing various items and taking stock of the room. -- 15 or so young men, probably 3 women, but each of the women dressed as one might dress having just completed a shift at said establishment. As I look around, I notice a few men are sitting closer than one might find in an establishment of this kind in the states. I make note of this, but dismiss it as a "European thing". I also notice at the bar, a young man with a ridiculous amount of face makeup talking to the bartender.

****Crrreeeeeeaaaaakkkkkk ****

The wheels of my brain start to break loose from their French grappa induced stupor and think, "Could this be……..?" I ask JK, and we both take a deeper assessment of the room. During this time, Mr. Makeup apparently made his way backstage and the stage curtain was drawn closed again. We notice the activity behind the curtain and our nervousness begins to rise. What in the hell are we about to witness? Queue the music, the curtains draw open and out marches (literally marches) Mr. Makeup resplendent in Marcel Marceau's mime sailor suit and ensign's cap and he begins to sing at which time, every guy in the place jumps up as though a touchdown had been scored.

I turn and look at JK and the fight or flight look on his face, which I am sure mirrored mine, is something I will take with me to my grave -- absolutely hilarious!

We immediately bolt off to the coat check to leave. We enter the 3 foot by 6 foot space of the entrance/coat check where the doorman/coat-checker/bouncer is arguing in some Eastern Bloc language with another man who smelled of pastrami and ass. I think to myself, "If these two come to blows, knives or guns, and I am offed collaterally, what will be the story my family receives upon my demise? Killed in the coat check of a gentleman's gentleman's club. Nice.

Finally we collect our jackets and roll out of there laughing our fool heads off. I go back to the sign and notice this time, Mr. Makeup is actually dancing in one of the pictures with said voluptuous women. It is also then I realize what it was in her pictures I found odd… her subtle adam's apple.
JK attempts, nobly, to get me to attend another club (this time known for women) with him to "cleanse the palette," as it were. I respectfully decline and let him know that is was my wife's way of telling me I shouldn’t' have gone in the first place. He agrees and we head off to our respective hotels to sleep off the booze for our morning flight to Heathrow together.

I have uploaded the remainder of unposted pics from the trip. I also consolidated them into a single group on Flickr, and they are sorted by Date Taken so you should be able to jump ahead to any you have missed. Enjoy!

BBM and mgr Signing off from the La Cage a Foilles (yes he was there, sorry, no pics.)

BBM Europe Trip: Day 6 - VMworld Europe 2008: Day 3 - Final Post Delayed

Sorry folks, I just wanted to throw up a quick post to let you know I will have updates from the last day of the show (and our last night out)... BBM and I were out toooo late last night with JK from London (3:00AM) and had to leave for the airport at 8AM today.... we am hurting at the moment. We will be boarding the plane shortly so no time for details but I do have a very funny story to share which I will write up offline during the hop over the pond and post this weekend.

Check back soon. BBM and mgr signing off from Europe. Peese.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 5 - VMworld Europe 2008: Day 2 -- Late Edition

We went out to the large VMware Sponsored party Wednesday evening. One of the major messages in this show was the ever increasing focus on "Green IT" for in which, VMware products can be a valuable part. Therefore the theme of their after hours party was Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Kind of interesting -- French performance artists floating around the show dressed as trees and shrubs, at times blending in to the environment and then freaking out a passer-by with movement (present company included). One of the highlights of the evening was a French/English cover band had a room full of mostly male, conference attendees dancing like school girls to 80's covers. Good fun.

While watching, I turn around and find that Mendel Rosenblum (Co-Founder and CTO at VMware and keynote presenter for Day 2) was right behind me with his daughter on his shoulders, dancing away like the rest of us. Hero worship? Yes. Jealous he got to share something like that in the south of France with his child? Yes.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 5 - VMworld Europe 2008: Day 2

On the way into the show today, BBM and I are walking down the Boulevard de la Croisette to the Palaise de Festivals and pass the Han and Chewie sign you see gloriously displayed at the right. As I walk by, I think to myself "Man I wish someone was here to take a picture..." and then I realize there is someone.... inspiration comes in all forms and this may be my favorite picture of the entire trip.

A close runner-up in this picture on the right. To demo one of our 1 user to 1 blade products, we have a demo of Quake 3 Arena that we like to run.... performance is top-shelf and was definately an eye catcher for people walking by at the show. BMM both rocked against the built in Q3 "bots" all day long on the show floor -- that's right, I actually got to play video games on the show floor at VMworld Europe... la vie est bonne.

I write this between drinks with the team and meeting them out dinner at the regular European dinner time of 9PM. Between that and the fact that they put butter on litterally EVERYTHING, I do not understand how these people are not keeling over in the street with heart disease -- it must be the wine.

Only a few pics today -- a few in particular for my first commenter, when I saw someone had actually posted a comment, I felt like Navin Johnson upon receiving the new phonebooks... I am somebody now. A shout out to MG for the post and to let him know he is thought of highly by Nigel on his new team, whom I happened to meet today.

Off to dinner with the team. Peese.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 4 - VMworld Europe 2008: Day 1

OK, this will be short and sweet as all of this blogging has gotten in the way of "sleepy time" as of late and I am on the verge of picking up a cold -- it is bedtime for this Bonzo. BBM and I got to the show flor at about 8:15 to complete the balance of the setup. I still have a few minor outstanding issues I will need to talk to some of our engineering staff on, but very few show attendees want more than a very cursory dive.

Today was the first day of the Solutions Exchange. Most attendees (and there are many fewer that the 10,000 in SFO in September) seem to be partners or intgerators -- fewer prospects than we saw in the states. The only reason I can come up with is perhaps the expense of the area precluded many prospects from attending.

Nevertheless, clients liked the limited demo I prepped for them and we did get some positive feedback on on of our newest hardware devices -- not a virtualization play, but a very key differentiator for us at the show.

We finally left the show floor at 8:15PM, a short walk back to the hotel (picking up yet another Pizza on the way), post this entry and rack it out.

I have gotten some feedback from people who have taken a look at the site... it appears I have managed to pull off the the following:
- get people in trouble with their wives
- offend the entire state of Wisconsin (sorry CM, no offense intended :)
- wrought people with laughter crying and frustration.

To asuage your frustration, I offer you the ability to comment now on the VMworld Europe 2008 postings. Be freaking nice...

No pics on Flickr today, sorry -- no time to take any but the crappy picture above... BBM abides.
G' Nite.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 3

BBM and I had a very busy day. Up and out by 8AM for show setup. When we arrived, I found that our equipment was not shipped to the show floor as I thought, but rather to the hotel of the rest of the team. Fortunately, one of my team members was in transit from their hotel with the gear, which gave BBM and I time to stroll and grab a coffee.

Unfortunately, not all of the kit arrived as our friends at FedEx promised and as such, I did not have client devices to configure. FedEx when it absolutely, positively has to be there "around" the time you need. By 9:30AM, we were unpacking and getting the items we had received arranged and things were moving smoothly.... and then Mr. Murphy made another call on us. I had a firmware issue with some of the kit from HQ that took me about an hour and a half to work thru. Combined with some power and sawdust issues in the booth, I finally got to completing the software config at about 1PM.

By 6PM, a member of the team had made the round trip back to their hotel with the balance of the missing gear courtesy of FedEx's late afternoon delivery and we finalized plans for the gear to be shown at the show. I still have some cleanup and config work to do tomorow before the Solutions Exchange (VMware Parlance for Trade Show Exibit) at 10AM, but we should be ready.

All of that work and I did not stop to eat all day. By the time they ran us out of the building at 8:30PM, I was operating on one cup of said coffee, one Coke, and two bottles of water -- pretty famished. Not to blog too much about food, but much ribbing I have taken about how I might find nourishment in the land of pate, fois gras and veal kidneys (I swear to god I saw that one on a menu here). Well I have the answer to that -- I have been in France for 36 hours and have had 3 meals -- all Italian :) At left, the French take on the classic cheeze and onion pizza. BBM and I enjoyed it thuroughly, but after today, it could have been veal kidneys and I might have eaten it -- not really.

A shout out to my oldest little one who is laid up at home with the worst fever of his young life and my wife who is taking care of business - solo.

One last thing, I have a few pics you all might enjoy from today. Check them out.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 2

We were up early this morning for our flight to Nice, France --4:30AM GMT to be exact. After some delays and adventures on the ground, our flight finally took off at 9AM, which got us into Nice at about 12PM local time. Most of the flight we were flying above clouds that prevented us from looking down on most of central France, including a direct fly-over of Paris.

BBM and I did however get to see the French Alps as the clouds broke as we drew closer to the Mediteranean.

Once in Nice, the VMware team swept us up into a bus ride over to Cannes and then to our hotels -- first class service out of these folks. After settling in at the hotel, BBM and I went out to see the waterfront and work our way down to VMware Registration.

All I can say is, Cannes has definately outdone my expectations. It is not really a place to come and sight-see, per se, but definately a place to come and relax.

In all, I took nearly a hundred shots today, the camera in my Moto Q does suitably for those of us who are camera deficient. I have uploaded the good ones (according to me) into my Flickr account and annotated ever last one of them. Be sure to check them out and to read the annotations, my wife says it's worth it.

BBM Europe Trip: Day 1

Baby-Baby Murray (BBM), my illustrious Great-Great Grandson (son of Baby Murray, son of Murray son of Ben, son of Matt) is keeping me from getting lonely on a long trip to Europe this week. He asked that I assist him in keeping a journal of his world travels. He as asked before, but who really cares when we goto Wisconsin anyway? Day 1 started with nasty snow in Indy and some concern over missing our flight across the pond. After all of that settled, we stopped in the O'Hare's Admiral's Club for a banana, a drink and to check our email.

We were both impressed with our accommodations for the long flight to London -- good food, free drinks and the best seats in the airline industry. I worked and BBM slept the whole trip but were very excited to see our plane and "ride one last time" once on the ground in London.

From Heathrow, we grabbed a quick taxi over to our hotel near the airport and settled in for a good rest. Tomorrow is a big day, we are off to France!

More to come....