Well, it’s finally time for a well-earned vacation. We’re off to Mauritius and the Reunion Islands for ten days, flying Air France via Paris. I’ve finally got an excuse to use all of those frequent flyer miles I’ve been saving up.

We travelled to London on Thursday evening, and stayed at an airport hotel since our flight left early on Friday morning. London was grey, cloudy, and cold when we left. Some people might complain, but I secretly love to leave London when it’s grey, cloudy, and cold — it reminds me of the good weather that awaits me on vacation. There doesn’t seem much point in leaving someplace warm and sunny.

Our flight to CDG was uneventful. CDG itself is a bit of a confusing mess, and once there, there’s not really much to do. So I passed the time taking a few photos…

Our AF 747 waiting at CDG Airport, Paris

More important than where we were, though, is where we were headed.

The French could learn a thing or two about forming an orderly queue from the British. None of this ‘boarding by zone’ that you get in the UK or US. No, it was an ‘every-man-for-himself’ fight for the door. How civilised.

Nevermind, we found our way onboard and had a glass of champagne. The holiday has officially started!

Sitting comfortably!

I’ve set up a whereabouts board HERE for anyone displaced who wants to input temporary contact details.

Well, I remain in constant awe of the power of communication and the internet.

I was approached by a friend. Her sister lives in Houston with her family, but is new to the area. They’ve been evacuated for Hurricane Rita, but had been unable to find anyplace to stay overnight. My friend called me to ask if I knew anyone in Texas who might have a room.

Well, a combination of instant messages, e-mails, and telephone calls found accomodation for everyone for as long as they need it. This generosity is amazing enough, and helps restore some of my faith in mankind. But what’s even more amazing is that this accomodation was arranged in under an hour, from 5000 miles away. Any way you look at it, that’s awesome.

To those of you who contributed in some way — making phone calls, passing along contacts, offering places to stay — I’m grateful. I believe in karma, and I hope one day I can return the favour.

To all my friends and family on the Gulf Coast (and there are a lot of you), please let me know if there’s anything I can do. You’ll be in our thoughts.

There wasn’t much time to plan a birthday party. Initially I hadn’t planned on having a party because I thought I would be in Malaysia. Nevertheless, we had a small gathering here and drank our fair share of champagne. Pictures to follow!

Many thanks to all of you who’ve send cards or e-mail. I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror — there don’t appear to be any new wrinkles or grey hair. And people definitely aren’t treating me with more respect.

I must have been right all along. It is only my 24th birthday.

They say that the mind is the first thing to go….

Well, it’s a little overdue, but a few days ago I promised that I had some news. I finally handed in my notice at SAIC and will be starting with Axon at the end of October. I’ll be joining their Enterprise Performance Management team.

(Shamelessly copied from their website) Axon consultants design, deliver and manage business critical solutions which enable large organisations to reduce cost, improve service and deploy strategy. Typical Axon assignments involve 5 to 50 consultants for between 3 months and 3 years.

Axon has grown profitably every year since their formation and they now employ over 800 people in London (their headquarters), New York, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. They are the leading company of their kind in their market and their clients include many of the most ambitious and successful organisations in the world, such as BP, Transport for London and Kraft.