I'm from Melbourne, Australia and I'm sure we have a very similar work culture to the US. A culture where a whole lot of people define their social value, and a great part of their self value to their work. I think we all get sucked into this to some degree. Then my girlfriend got a job in Paris and I threw it all in and tagged along. Now I work maybe 8-9 hours a day, down from 10-12. No one eats at their desk because food it respected enough to give it some respect. The work we do is of high quality because we're not stupid after staring and screens for too long. And we tend to spin our wheels less and waste a whole lot less time. So overall I'd be surprised if productivity is really down. And life is much nicer. France isn't perfect (far, far from it) and your anecdotal milage may vary but hey, so far, so good.

I like running for lots of reasons but here is a few: - I can do it anywhere, just throw on my gear and I'm off. - If I don't have much time, I can run fast for a short period of time. If I have a while I can slow it down and stay out for a while. - With a GPS watch (I use a Garmin Forerunner 305) and some software I can map where I've run, how fast & my heart rate - When I get home I can see when I start to tire and if it was because of hills, etc - This info is perfect if your training for a goal, 5000 meter, 10k, Half-Marathon or THE MARATHON(TM) - Runners are annoying nice people, they wave and wink when you pass and are happy to run with you for a bit. - Chicks dig guys who run marathons...