Hey, howya been! After a short 12 year hiatus, we’re back, badder than ever. No van this time, unlike the good old days of 1997. No sweet Extreme Homeboy Division t-shirt like the one that cut a blazing swath through Europe from 1999- 2000. What we do have, however, is the significant addition of two Extreme Fellow Travellers, the renowned and exalted Quinn and Kinsey, also known as “our kids.” So, it’s a whole new flavor this time around — instead of the usual array of art museums, medieval history, and unfettered cultural exploration, it’ll be nothing but beer, tattoo shows, and cigarettes. Man, I can’t wait to introduce the kids to life in Europe!

Really?

Not so much on the tattoos & cigarettes, but for the rest, YES, we have indeed dusted off our old Extreme Telecommuting boots and greased them up for another metaphorical trip around the block! This time around, we’re headquartering Extreme operations in the lovely Rhone Alpes region of France, right outside Grenoble. We’ve got a work permit, a full complement of long stay visas, and a few French bank accounts…not to mention the near-empty reserves of patience we exhausted obtaining those things. Seriously — if you need something filled out by hand in triplicate, confirmed twice by registered letter, and attested to by employers, bankers, and Jean Claude Killy (he signs off on everything in ths part of France), well, we’re your family.

Barring any panicky, lack-of-sausage-driven escapes to Germany, we’ll be living in France through the summer of 2013, the months stretching out in front of us like a blank canvas waiting for us to paint our masterpiece or, at the very least, spray our graffiti. More on that later. For now, grab your favorite beret, light up a Gauloise, and join us for the latest update from the Office Odyssey!