Scott Briggs, my French Connection, has found the guy at CDG. My computer has been located and identified. I will need to receive a bunch of forms (customs, release from damages, payment authorization, etc. blah) by FAX machine, then send them back and my Thinkpad will get shipped to me.
This may take a few days, but the situation has been elevated from an utter disaster to a mere inconvenience and I feel a cloud of gloom being removed.
Less than an hour after posting a blog about my lost Thinkpad, I received email from Stuart Mudie, an American living in Paris, who offered to trek out to the dreaded CDG Airport and try to track down my missing machine.
I thought this was incredibly generous, since Stuart and I, to my knowledge have never met. Stuart is a blogger and told me that he enjoys what I write and feels that there is some sort of women-inclusive Brotherhood of Bloggers.
I think he's right and I greatly appreciate his random act of generosity. Scott is not a blogger, but he's an old friend who has also been incredibly generous with his time and help. He says it's an excuse to brush up on his French. I think it is his nature to do the decent thing.