Hello everyone! We're in Birmingham right now. We left London at 6:00am last Wednesday, and for those of you keeping up, yes, we had flight issues once again - if it's not flight issues, it's lost luggage - but we never have a smooth overseas flight where everything works perfectly. This time, we got stopped on the runway in London because the air controller computers went down all over England. We took off about 45 minutes late - just enough to make it very close to catch our connecting flight in Atlanta. Well, after running through the airport with about two minutes to spare (we're getting used to this), we find out that our flight has been cancelled. Fortunately, they had already booked us on the next flight to Birmingham - and all of our luggage even made it!

We recently went to the French Riviera (Cote d' Azur in French) and finally had a nice relaxing, sunny vacation. We flew into Nice (pronounced "neese"), which is the largest city in the French Riviera. We hired a car and drove to Monoco and Monte Carlo the first day, passing through the city of Eze. These countries are to the east of Nice, and only about a half hour away from Italy (we ate some really good Italian pizzas out there). Eze is referred to as Nid d' Aigle (Eagle's Nest) because of its remarkable location perched at the summit halfway between Nice and Monoco. The mountains are right on the coast and the views are amazing. Monoco is the second smallest country in the world, only larger than Vatican City - the population is only 30,000. Monte Carlo holds the infamous Monte Carlo Casino. The casino was opened in 1878 by Prince Charles III, and it's very different from Las Vegas. It's not near as big, and it's more like a mansion with table games and slots in several different rooms. Entry was not free either - they did have American games (blackjack for example), but they didn't start until 5pm. Unfortunately, the minimum bet was 25 Euros - you can't go to Casino Monte Carlo and not put down a bet, so we bet on one hand of blackjack. You gamblers out there can probably guess what happened next - we got 10 vs. a 9 and the book says to double down - so we did and lost it all. We played a few slot machines, but that was about it for our gambling. Their poker chips are different too - they are larger and thin plastic - don't even really look like poker chips.

Monoco and Monte Carlo are very pretty places - right on the coast with the mountains in the background. And the money is there - we've never seen so many expensive cars - lots of Mercedes, BMWs, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Bentleys, Lotuses, Rolls-Royces, and Ferraris. Rolex's were for sale all over the place, and people wore them too - and Jill informed me that all of the women had very expensive designer purses. One lady in the casino had a HUGE diamond necklace - it looked like she belonged on the red carpet. We drove the N98 (the road that goes along the coast) to Monoco and the N7 (goes along the mountains) on the way back. Both of these roads offered spectacular views. The N7 is high and it winds back and forth along the mountain - and goes through the mountain in places - this is the road that Grace Kelly died on in a car accident.

The next day, we drove to St. Tropez, passing through Antibes, Juan les Pins, Cannes, and St. Raphael. We drove the coastal road out and took the mountain road on the way back - and the views were just as spectacular as our drive the day before. Antibes was founded in the 5th century BC as a Greek trading post called Antipolis ("the city opposite") due to its location opposite of Nice. Juan les Pins became the first summer resort on the Riviera in the 1920s. Edouard Baudoin saw a film about Miami beach and decided to re-create it on the Riviera. He bought a piece of land with a strip of sand in 1924 and opened a restaurant and casino. It's still a very popular resort today. Cannes is one of the most chic resorts in the world, often referred to as the "Queen of the Coast" and "Pearl of the Riviera". It was originally used as a fishing village, named after the canes and reeds of the surrounding marshes. Today there is lots of glitz and glamour with lots of shopping and international and cultural business events including the annual Cannes International Film Festival. The Hotel Carlton is a great place to spot celebrities, especially during the festival. St. Raphael was put on the map by Napoleon when he landed there on his return trip from Egypt in 1799. It was developed into a national seaside resort in the 19th century - many of its grand hotels were destroyed in World War II. We saw a US 282 landing craft just outside of the city.

As we approached St. Tropez, the drive got higher and higher up the mountain - it was a little nerve-racking to be up so high with all of the twists and turns, but it was really pretty. St. Tropez is a little fishing port, reached the height of its international fame in the "swinging sixties", and continues to attract the rich and famous today. St. Tropez has long been a place for artists, and we saw them in the port painting away. There were lots of upscale shopping - all the famous purse shops, etc right in the heart of the small fishing village - it was really a neat atmosphere. We walked around and had some outstanding crepes (we could use some right now).

It was really nice driving along the Riviera - definitely the way to do it. The roads were narrow, twisted and turned all through the mountains, and the views were outstanding. Motorcycle drivers are pretty crazy though - they speed past you in the middle of the road even around sharp turns - they don't stay behind you like they do in the US - if there's a tiny spot to get around you, they take it - even if it means getting in the other lane against the oncoming traffic. The water along the French Riviera is very clear and very blue. We didn't see many big beaches during our drive - there were lots of small ones all along the coast - some sand, some pebble, and some rock - and people would make a spot to lay out anywhere - even on the rocks. There are lots of casinos all along the Riviera, but they are all very small - nothing like Vegas. We saw so many yachts during this trip - we never realized that there are so many rich folks in the world.

Before we turned the car in, we drove up the mountain in Nice to the Bellet Wine Region. Now this drive was scary - both Jill and I are scared of heights, and the road was so narrow, steep, and windy we seriously thought about turning around and going back down and skipping this excursion. I think we would have done it if there was a place to turn around. I'm not kidding. When we got to the top, we ran into a dead end on a cliff - I had to turn around without much room - Jill got out and directed me as thoughts were in my head of going over the cliff. Needless to say we were relieved when we got back down. Anyway, we went to the Folgolar Winery, which is a small family-owned winery. The wine is very good and has had excellent reviews in several magazines. The only problem is that all of the local French restaurants buy all of their wine so it's rarely found anywhere outside of Nice. We bought a couple of bottles - and would have bought more if we could have carried it back with us.

We spent the next few days in Nice, relaxing and laying out on the beach and by the pool. Bathing suit tops are optional, but the majority of women wore them. The beach is a pebble beach, and this is the first time we have been in the ocean with a pebble beach. It was hard to stand in the ocean (Mediterranean Sea) because of the pebbles. For those of you who have done this, you will understand. We stood on the pebbles in the sea and the waves would come up. Then as the waves went back into the sea, our feet would sink into the pebbles so we had to "climb" our way out - each step continued to sink - it's hard to explain, but it wasn't easy getting out of this - and it was pretty steep to climb back onto the main beach out of the water - by the time we got back up, our feet were hurting so bad we had to sit down and take a break. It was a very interesting experience. During the nights we walked along the beach to Old Town and had some outstanding French dinners - and more crepes too!

I went to Prattville last weekend for our annual Fantasy Football Draft and Golf Fest. We played the Robert Trent Jones courses down there, and we wore them out. We played golf Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - and two of those days were 36-holers. We were all worn out - that's a lot of golf and it was HOT! It was so hot that Smitty had to throw in the towel on the last day due to dehydration - no kidding - he had to go to the doctor on Monday. Carter wins "most improved" this year - he tore it up - excellent golfing Carter. If anyone is looking for Steve, "don't worry about it." I had first pick again this year, and after much debating over Manning and LaDainian Tomlinson, I finally decided to take L.T. We played a few poker tournaments - I won one and Carter won one - ask Rusty about the third game. Guys, it's always great to get together and hang out with every one of you. I already can't wait to do it again next year.

I played golf in London the weekend before we left, and it's a totally different ball game. First of all, it's crazy expensive. And carts, forget about it - it costs about 40 US dollars per person - that is if they even have carts. So we walk 18 holes - no coolers, drinks, etc. I wore pants - PANTS in August - walked 18 holes and didn't even sweat. It also takes most of the day - without a car, I have to take a train to and from the course, so add on about 3 hours to the time it actually takes to play. Needless to say, I haven't played too much this year, but after the Fantasy Football Golf Fest weekend, I think I've had enough for a while.

Work has been absolutely crazy over the past couple of weeks. I've been working really hard (as usual) and not getting much sleep. I'm hoping to get the issues resolved soon and then play catch-up on all the stuff I've put on the back-burner. I just got back from a work meeting in Atlanta today - great to see everyone! I'm working on a new support model project. I'm in charge of integrating a company from India with our operations team to handle front-line customer support. I'm working on setting up and configuring a new ticketing system as well as planning and creating tools for the support teams. It's a big effort, but it should help us provide better support to our customers as well as offload some of our work so we can concentrate on other tasks.

August 17th was a busy day - Rock Benson (proud parents are Bart and Kerrie) and MacKenzie Lee Isbell (proud parents are Chris and Kelly) were both born on that day. We can't wait to see them! Also, Russ and Stacey Shamburger are pregnant. A big congratulations go out to all of you, and we wish you all the best!

We are glad to say that Jill's family in Mobile are all doing well despite hurricane Katrina. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those that have been affected, especially those in New Orleans and Mississippi. Please continue to pray for everyone - the situation is still bad and they need all the prayers they can get. You can make a donation online at http://www.redcross.org/.

We have a new phone that is actually attached to our computer and has a Florida number - 321-206-5906. If you have free calling to Florida or free nights and weekends, you can call us for free. If not, it's still pretty cheap as the rates are the same as when you call Florida. Our contact info page has been updated with this number in case you ever forget. Please give us a call some time - we love hearing from everyone! Check out our pictures from the French Riviera here. We will be here until the 18th, so we hope we can get together with everybody. Until next time, we love and miss everyone, God bless, and roll tide!